Experiments on Hybrid Precast Concrete Shear Walls Emulating Monolithic Construction with Different Amounts of Posttensioned Strands and Different Debond Lengths of Grouted Reinforcements

This paper proposed a hybrid precast concrete shear wall emulating monolithic construction (HPWEM) that utilized grouted vertical connecting reinforcements and unbonded posttensioned high-strength strands across the horizontal joint for the lateral resistance. The grouted reinforcements with predetermined debond length were used to provide strength by tension and energy dissipation by yielding. The posttensioned strands were mainly employed to offer the restoring force to reduce the residual displacement by elastic extension. The overlapping welded closed stirrups improved the confinement property of the restrained concrete, avoiding the brittle failure. Six HPWEM specimens, considering variables including the amounts of strands and the debond lengths of grouted reinforcements, as well as one referenced cast-in-place monolithic wall specimen, were tested under the low-cycle reversed lateral load. The HPWEM specimens were capable of providing strength, stiffness, ductility, and energy dissipation equivalent to that of the monolithic wall specimen under certain variable condition

SuperVAE: Superpixelwise Variational Autoencoder for Salient Object Detection

Image saliency detection has recently witnessed rapid progress due to deep neural networks. However, there still exist many important problems in the existing deep learning based methods. Pixel-wise convolutional neural network (CNN) methods suffer from blurry boundaries due to the convolutional and pooling operations. While region-based deep learning methods lack spatial consistency since they deal with each region independently. In this paper, we propose a novel salient object detection framework using a superpixelwise variational autoencoder (SuperVAE) network. We first use VAE to model the image background and then separate salient objects from the background through the reconstruction residuals. To better capture semantic and spatial contexts information, we also propose a perceptual loss to take advantage from deep pre-trained CNNs to train our SuperVAE network. Without the supervision of mask-level annotated data, our method generates high quality saliency results which can better preserve object boundaries and maintain the spatial consistency. Extensive experiments on five wildly-used benchmark datasets show that the proposed method achieves superior or competitive performance compared to other algorithms including the very recent state-of-the-art supervised methods

Study of the Injection Control Strategies of a Compression Ignition Free Piston Engine Linear Generator in a One-Stroke Starting Process

For a compression ignition (CI) free piston engine linear generator (FPLG), injection timing is one of the most important parameters that affect its performance, especially for the one-stroke starting operation mode. In this paper, two injection control strategies are proposed using piston position and velocity signals. It was found experimentally that the injection timing’s influence on the compression ratio, the peak in-cylinder gas pressure and the indicated work (IW) is different from that of traditional reciprocating CI engines. The maximum IW of the ignition starting cylinder, say left cylinder (LC) and the right cylinder (RC) are 132.7 J and 138.1 J, respectively. The thermal-dynamic model for simulating the working processes of the FPLG are built and verified by experimental results. The numerical simulation results show that the running instability and imbalance between LC and RC are the obvious characters when adopting the injection strategy of the velocity feedback. These could be solved by setting different triggering velocity thresholds for the two cylinders. The IW output from the FPLG under this strategy is higher than that of adopting the position feedback strategy, and the maximum IW of the RC could reach 162.3 J. Under this strategy, the prototype is able to achieve better starting conditions and could operate continuously for dozens of cycles

Seismic Performance of Precast Concrete Frame Beam-Column Connections with High-Strength Bars

As the construction industry is striding towards the industrialization of green buildings, a precast concrete frame beam-column joint with high-strength reinforcement was proposed. Simulate reversed cyclic loading was carried out on two precast connections and one cast-in-place connection to examine the seismic behavior of the proposed new precast connection. The main test variables between the two precast connections were the strength of the reinforcement at the bottom of the beam. The failure shape, hysteresis curve, skeleton curve, strength, deformation ability, stiffness degradation, and energy dissipation were monitored and compared with the cast-in-place connection. The findings of this paper showed that the precast joints had good strength reserve, and the seismic performance in the later stage of loading even exceeds the cast-in-place joints. It was also found that the plastic hinge zone of the beam could be moved away from the column surface via reinforcement method. Additionally, based on the experiment, a detailed nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) method was developed to reproduce the test response of specific types of bending moment-resistant precast concrete beam-column connections under a reversed loading test, which provided a theoretical reference for further research of the connections

Effect of Entrance Frame on Crack Development around Prefabricated Subway Station Openings

The openings at the sidewalls of subway station entrances generally reduce the localized load-bearing capacity of the sidewalls and lead to concentrated stress around the openings. In this study, to strengthen the sidewalls with openings in a newly-developed prefabricated subway station, a prefabricated steel-reinforced concrete (SRC) frame around the entrance was developed. To further investigate the effect of the developed entrance frame on the mechanical behavior of the sidewalls, a monotonic static test and finite element analysis were performed on a 1/2 scale station entrance substructure, including the proposed entrance frame and the adjacent top slab, bottom slab, and sidewalls. It was found that the developed entrance frame could effectively prevent stress concentration in the adjacent sidewall region. The most severe crack development was concentrated at the corner of the opening, which could be attributed to the torsional moment at the SRC beam end. The ratio of the torque shared by the beam to the total bending moment of the slab end varied from 21.2% to 26.8% in the elastic stage of all cases. In addition, both the improvement in the torsional bearing capacity of the SRC beam and the out-of-plane flexural capacity of the SRC column could positively contribute to controlling the crack development around the opening

Development and seismic behavior of precast concrete beam-to-column connections

A new precast concrete beam-to-column connection for moment-resisting frames was developed in this study. Both longitudinal bar anchoring and lap splicing were used to achieve beam reinforcement continuity. Three full-scale beam-to-column connections, including a reference monolithic specimen, were investigated under reversal cyclic loading. The difference between the two precast specimens was the consideration of additional lap-splicing bars in the calculation of moment-resisting strength. Seismic performance was evaluated based on hysteretic behavior, strength, ductility, stiffness, and energy dissipation. The plastic hinge length of the specimens is also discussed. The results show that the proposed precast system performs satisfactorily under reversal cyclic loading compared with the monolithic specimen, and the additional lap-splicing bars can be included in the strength calculation using the plane cross-section assumption. Furthermore, the plastic hinge length of the proposed precast beam-to-column connection can be estimated using the models for monolithic specimens

Theoretical and Experimental Study on the Antisliding Performance of Casting Steel Cable Clamps

For large-span cable structures, a cable clamp is a key joint that connects adjacent structural components. In general, the antisliding performance of cable clamps determines their resistance capacity, and the antisliding force is generated by the clamping force induced by the high-strength bolts and the contact surfaces between the cable and the clamp. Since the existing methods are not sufficiently comprehensive for use to predict the precise bolt preload, a theoretical model developed by considering transversely isotropic material and the generalized Hook’s law is presented to predict the attenuation values of the bolt clamping force and the corresponding parameters. Then, to meet the requirements of Eurocode 3, a new laboratory test is performed to reveal the antisliding mechanism of cable clamps, considering the effects of long-term creep and cable tension. According to the results of the data collected by real-time monitoring, the actual ultimate antisliding force of the clamp and the comprehensive friction coefficient are determined. Finally, a comparative study between the theoretical results and the experimental results is conducted. The proposed theoretical model can predict the actual attenuation of the bolt clamping force after cable tension. The results show that the stiffness of the clamp plate should be minimized when designing the clamp to reduce the loss of the bolt preload

Helium and Argon Isotopes in the Fe-Mn Polymetallic Crusts and Nodules from the South China Sea: Constraints on Their Genetic Sources and Origins

In this study, the He and Ar isotope compositions were measured for the Fe-Mn polymetallic crusts and nodules from the South China Sea (SCS), using the high temperature bulk melting method and noble gases isotope mass spectrometry. The He and Ar of the SCS crusts/nodules exist mainly in the Fe-Mn mineral crystal lattice and terrigenous clastic mineral particles. The results show that the 3He concentrations and R/RA values of the SCS crusts are generally higher than those of the SCS nodules, while 4He and 40Ar concentrations of the SCS crusts are lower than those of the SCS nodules. Comparison with the Pacific crusts and nodules, the SCS Fe-Mn crusts/nodules have lower 3He concentrations and 3He/4He ratios (R/RA, 0.19 to 1.08) than those of the Pacific Fe-Mn crusts/nodules, while the 40Ar/36Ar ratios of the SCS samples are significantly higher than those of the Pacific counterparts. The relatively low 3He/4He ratios and high 40Ar concentrations in the SCS samples are likely caused by terrigenous detrital input with high radiogenic 4He and 40Ar contents. The SCS crusts and nodules have shorter growth periods, implying that in situ post-formation radiogenic 3He, 4He and 40Ar produced by decay of U, Th and K have no effect on their isotope compositions. Thus, the SCS crusts/nodules inherited the noble gases characteristics of their sources. Helium and Ar isotope compositions in the SCS Fe-Mn crusts and nodules reflect the product of an equilibrium mixture between air-saturated seawater and radiogenic components during their growth, while the partial 3He excess in some SCS samples may represent a little mantle-derived origin. The different He and Ar isotope compositions of the Fe-Mn crusts and nodules between the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean are due to their different sources and genetic processes. The characteristics of He and Ar isotope compositions in the SCS polymetallic crusts and nodules are similar to the properties of hydrogenetic Fe-Mn oxide/hydroxide precipitates, which reflects mainly the product of an equilibrium mixture between air-saturated seawater and radiogenic components