An analysis of fictional literature for material suitable for use in a program of biblio-therapy for adolescent stutterers

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

The relationship of certain administrative factors to the number of academic courses pursued by the academically talented students in the 1959 graduating classes of the public secondary schools of New Hampshire

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston Universit

Failure and impact behavior of facade panels made of glass fiber reinforced cement(GRC)

GRC is a cementitious composite material made up of a cement mortar matrix and chopped glass fibers. Due to its outstanding mechanical properties, GRC has been widely used to produce cladding panels and some civil engineering elements. Impact failure of cladding panels made of GRC may occur during production if some tool falls onto the panel, due to stone or other objects impacting at low velocities or caused by debris projected after a blast. Impact failure of a front panel of a building may have not only an important economic value but also human lives may be at risk if broken pieces of the panel fall from the building to the pavement. Therefore, knowing GRC impact strength is necessary to prevent economic costs and putting human lives at risk. One-stage light gas gun is an impact test machine capable of testing different materials subjected to impact loads. An experimental program was carried out, testing GRC samples of five different formulations, commonly used in building industry. Steel spheres were shot at different velocities on square GRC samples. The residual velocity of the projectiles was obtained both using a high speed camera with multiframe exposure and measuring the projectile’s penetration depth in molding clay blocks. Tests were performed on young and artificially aged GRC samples to compare GRC’s behavior when subjected to high strain rates. Numerical simulations using a hydrocode were made to analyze which parameters are most important during an impact event. GRC impact strength was obtained from test results. Also, GRC’s embrittlement, caused by GRC aging, has no influence on GRC impact behavior due to the small size of the projectile. Also, glass fibers used in GRC production only maintain GRC panels’ integrity but have no influence on GRC’s impact strength. Numerical models have reproduced accurately impact tests

Near Wellbore Hydraulic Fracture Propagation from Perforations in Tight Rocks: The Roles of Fracturing Fluid Viscosity and Injection Rate

Hydraulic fracture initiation and near wellbore propagation is governed by complex failure mechanisms, especially in cased perforated wellbores. Various parameters affect such mechanisms, including fracturing fluid viscosity and injection rate. In this study, three different fracturing fluids with viscosities ranging from 20 to 600 Pa.s were used to investigate the effects of varying fracturing fluid viscosities and fluid injection rates on the fracturing mechanisms. Hydraulic fracturing tests were conducted in cased perforated boreholes made in tight 150mm synthetic cubic samples. A true tri-axial stress cell was used to simulate real far field stress conditions. In addition, dimensional analyses were performed to correspond the results of lab experiments to field-scale operations. The results indicated that by increasing the fracturing fluid viscosity and injection rate, the fracturing energy increased, and consequently, higher fracturing pressures were observed. However, when the fracturing energy was transferred to a borehole at a faster rate, the fracture initiation angle also increased. This resulted in more curved fracture planes. Accordingly, a new parameter, called fracturing power, was introduced to relate fracture geometry to fluid viscosity and injection rate. Furthermore, it was observed that the presence of casing in the wellbore impacted the stress distribution around the casing in such a way that the fracture propagation deviated from the wellbore vicinity

Diseño de hormigón durable

Some of the factors affecting the durability of modern concrete structures are discussed, with an emphasis on the problems caused by modern portland cements. This is followed by a description of some concrete durability issues of current interest, such as plastic shrinkage, seawater attack, and sulfate attack. The strategies for testing for durability are also discussed. It is concluded that, to produce durable concretes, a holistic approach to concrete construction must be adopted.Se discuten algunos de los factores que influyen en la durabilidad de las estructuras de hormigón modernas, haciendo énfasis en los problemas causados por el cemento Portland. A esto sigue una descripción de algunas cuestiones de interés general de la durabilidad del hormigón tales como la retracción plástica, el ataque por agua de mar y el ataque por sulfatos. Se discuten también las estrategias de los ensayos de durabilidad. Se concluye que para producir hormigones durables se debe adoptar un enfoque holístico de la construcción con hormigón

Globally Anisotropic High Porosity Silica Aerogels

We discuss two methods by which high porosity silica aerogels can be engineered to exhibit global anisotropy. First, anisotropy can be introduced with axial strain. In addition, intrinsic anisotropy can result during growth and drying stages and, suitably controlled, it can be correlated with preferential radial shrinkage in cylindrical samples. We have performed small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) to characterize these two types of anisotropy. We show that global anisotropy originating from either strain or shrinkage leads to optical birefringence and that optical cross-polarization studies are a useful characterization of the uniformity of the imposed global anisotropy.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, submitted to Journal of Non-Crystalline Solid

Bridge distress caused by approach embankment settlement

Surtees Bridge, which carries the A66(T) over the River Tees near Thornaby-on-Tees in the UK, has been showing signs of distress that predate its opening in 1981. Subsequent investigations have shown that the bridge distress is related to unexpectedly large settlement of the eastern approach embankment. Recent ground investigations prompted by a proposed widening of the river crossing have produced many new data on the alluvial deposits underlying the site, and explain why embankment settlement was so much larger than originally anticipated. Comparison of the geotechnical parameters obtained from the original and more recent ground investigations suggests that the original investigation significantly underestimated the thickness of an alluvial clay layer underlying the site, and that its coefficient of consolidation was overestimated. Settlement analyses using geotechnical data from the original ground investigations predict moderate embankment settlements occurring principally during construction. Settlement analyses based on all the available data predict far larger embankment settlements occurring over extended time periods. The latter analyses predict an embankment settlement similar to that observed and of sufficient magnitude to cause the observed lateral displacement of the bridge due to lateral loading of its piled foundation

An efficient method to derive statistical mechanical properties of concrete reinforced with spiral-shaped steel fibres in dynamic tension

Steel-fibre-reinforced concrete (SFRC) has been recognised as an effective solution to resist impact loading on structures. The reliable application and efficient design of SFRC structures depends on the knowledge of its mechanical properties. Since many important factors, including the locations and orientations of fibres and aggregates in concrete and the material properties of concrete matrix, are intrinsically random, the mechanical properties of SFRC present a high level of randomness. To accurately quantify them, effective statistical techniques are indispensable. Using traditional statistical techniques, a large quantity of data, from either experiments or numerical simulations, are needed to derive the correlation between the mechanical properties and the random factors. However, both ways are time-consuming and costly. Therefore, very little information regarding the statistical mechanical properties of SFRC can be found in the current literature. In this study, a kernel-based nonparametric statistical method is proposed to derive the statistical mechanical properties of SFRC with limited number of data. The behaviours of SFRC with randomly distributed spiral-shaped fibres and aggregates under impact loading are simulated using commercial software LS-DYNA. The simulation accuracy is validated by the experimental results. The influences of various volume fractions of fibres on dynamic increase factor (DIF) of the tensile strength of SFRC specimens under dynamic loadings at different strain rates are quantified through a prediction model obtained from kernel regression. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is able to estimate the DIF value of SFRC based on the tensile strength and strain rate, and to derive the statistical mechanical properties of SFRC