Eurocodes [1], [2] cover presently only the so-called basic design situations where the beam-to-column joints are subjected to hogging bending with a negligible influence of the axial force. Design requirements for structural robustness in case of exceptional or extreme actions are being developed in which the joint ductility demand is one of the primary requirement [3][6]. Localized structural damage due to these actions may propagate through a large portion of a structural system causing its entire collapse or the progressive collapse process may be restricted to the relatively small region that is in proportion to the load effects caused. The latter might be provided by design ensuring the ability of transfer the so-called tying forces. Eurocodes do not give any guidelines on how to calculate the tying resistance of joints, mainly because of lack of experimental evidence on the joint ductility under extreme actions. For robust design, joints need to pose the rotation capacity required for inelastic redistribution process to take place on the so-called alternative equilibrium path. The capability of a structure to sustain local damage is evaluated by a notionally conducted removal of its column(s) and checking whether the local damage may be absorbed by the deteriorated structural system. This requires investigations conducted into the behaviour of joint responses to sagging bending accompanied by an axial tying. This paper is concerned with experimental tests of steel and steel-concrete composite sub-frames through which the beam-to-column joint behaviour in typical standard and exceptional design situations is possible to be evaluated. Problems related to the joint strength, stiffness and rotation capacity response under sagging moment in case of the column removal that simulates the frame system behaviour in an exceptional situation are addressed and conclusions drawn.

Various types of pavement deterioration can affect pavement performance, including rutting, which causes safety and service quality problems on the highways. Rutting, often referred to as permanent deformation of a pavement surface, causes longitudinal depressions, creating channels in wheel paths. There are many in-service pavement performance databases, but the Long-Term Pavement Performance database (LTTP) is the largest of its kind in the world. It encompasses data from four different climate zones in North America. Data on flexible pavements from only the dry freeze zone were included in the scope of the study reported herein.

Regression analysis was performed to develop a rutting model. The proposed model indicates that the voids in the mineral aggregate (VMA) of hot mixed asphalt are the most important factor, and the positive values of the regression coefficient of VMA imply that rut depth increases when VMA increases. The other important factors in this model are Marshall stiffness and freeze index. The negative values of the regression coefficients of Marshall stiffness and freeze index indicate that the rut depth will decrease when the Marshall stiffness and freeze index increase.

This paper presents a method of generating realistic electricity load profile data for the UK domestic buildings. The domestic space features have been investigated excluding the heating and hot water systems. A questionnaire survey was conducted and the feedback were collected from a number of occupants at different intervals of times on daily bases in order to establish the probabilistic record of the estimated use of electrical appliances. The model concept of this study also considers the results of previous investigations such as that available in public reports and statistics as input data elements to predict the global domestic energy consumption. In addition, the daily load profile from individual dwelling to community can be predicted using this method. The result of the present method was compared to available published data and has shown reasonable agreement.

Abstract:

Voltage instability problems in power system are an important issue that should be taken into consideration during the planning and operation stages of modern power system networks. The system operators always need to know how far the power systems from voltage collapse in order to apply suitable actions to avoid unexpected results. This paper propose a review of some static voltage stability inddices found in the literature to study voltage collapse reveals that various analytical tools based on different concept to predict voltage collapse phenomena. These static voltage stability indices present reliable information about the closeness of the power system to voltage collapse and indentification of the weakest bus, line and area in the power network. A number of static voltage stability indices have been proposed in the literature, but in this only four of them will be considered. The effectiveness of these indices is demonstrated through studies in IEEE 14 bus reliability test system. The results are discussed and key conclusion presented.

A numerical simulation of a two-stage reciprocating compressor has replicated the operations of the compressor under various conditions for the development of diagnostic features for predictive condition monitoring. The simulation involves the development of a mathematical model of five different physical processes: speed–torque characteristics of an induction motor, cylinder pressure variation, crankshaft rotational motion, flow characteristics through valves and vibration of the valve plates. Modelling both valve leakage and valve spring deterioration has also been achieved. The simulation was implemented in a MATLAB environment for an efficient numerical solution and ease of result presentation. For normal operating conditions, the simulated results are in good agreement with the test results for cylinder pressure waveforms and crankshaft instantaneous angular speed (IAS). It has been found that both the IAS 

The heterogeneous design of multi-core processors, 

such as the Cell processor, introduced new challenges in porting 

high-level languages. Our project is developing tools that hide the 

underlying details of the Cell processor and eases parallel 

programming. We present a Virtual SIMD machine (VSM) 

paradigm that can be used to parallelize array expression 

automatically. The novelty is the use of a virtual SIMD machine 

model to completely hide the underlying details required for 

programming the Cell processor. The VSM paradigm can also be 

used to develop an automatic parallelizing compiler for the Cell 

Broadband Engine (Cell BE). In this paper we give an overview 

of the VSM interface and present preliminary results that show 

the performance of our VSM and its behavior on multiple 

accelerator cores using basic arrays operations

Historically, applications for traditional phenolic resin/polyurethane materials are limited due to the inherently weak thermal stability of urethane-phenolic linkage and slow reaction rate. A novel concept has been developed to produce phenolic resin/polyurethane copolymers ...

The unique features of polybenzoxazines make them attractive for a wide range of applications. The characteristics of polybenzoxazines such as excellent dimensional stability, lower surface energy, higher Tg, and lower moisture absorption are attributed to the stable intramolecular hydrogen bonding in their network structure. The features make polybenzoxazines excellent candidates for the applications that require near zero shrinkage and high dimensional stability. Polybenzoxazines are formed by the autocatalytic polymerization of benzoxazine monomers. Polybenzoxazines are well known as a new class of thermoset polymers used for high performance applications. They provide the characteristic properties found in phenolic resins, such as high thermal stability, excellent electrical properties, good mechanical properties, and better flame retardancy. Furthermore, they have the advantages …

Hydrodesulfurization (HDS) and Hydrodearomatization (HDA) of a real Straight Run Gas Oil (SRGO) were investigated over CoMo–S sulfide catalyst in a high–pressure fixed–bed integral reactor. The effect of the key process parameters on the quality of product was studied by varying the temperature (200–370°C), pressure (20 to 50 bar) and space velocity (1 to 4.7h-1). Experimental results revealed that HDS,% activity improved up to 81% when the temperature was increased up to 370°C but reduced to 60% with increase of space velocity up to 4.7 h-1. It has been also found that the rate of HDA, % activity enhanced up to 40.6% by increasing pressure up to 50 bar. The Cetane index underwent an increase of 1–3 degrees and gravity increased by 1–1.7° API. The implication of these results on refining industry is that mild hydrotreating of diesel fuels using the single–stage technology will not enable local refineries to produce diesel fuel meeting the current specifications (<15 ppmwt) except with severe/deep once–through desulfurization or two–stage once–through desulfurization with or without splitting the first reactor effluent. Key words: Diesel fuel; hydrodesulfurization; hydrodearomatization; CO–MO–S/ Al2O3 catalyst

With the increase inherent technologies and parties involved during the design process of green buildings, Green Design Process (GDP) becomes more complex motion. The selection of a competent Design Team (DT) is essential to overcome the complexity for high performance green design. Certain attributes of the design team are required. The overall objective of this research is to provide the green design team with key attributes that design team should have to be used to improve their design performance of buildings. Furthermore, Internal and external factors influencing these attributes, specifically, Governance system, client quality and Project Nature to be investigated. Design team attributes variables were identified based on literature within the domain of green design team responsibilities. By conducting a questionnaire survey this study identified the common design team attributes and their relative importance to design green buildings. A sample of 277 respondents has been covered under the study, including architects and engineers practicing design and consultancy in Malaysia. Analysis data includes descriptive and quantitative analysis by using SSPS software version 16 was carried out. A correlation and regression models was established to explore the relationship between identified factors. The results showed that the design team needs to comply with certain knowledge and skills that necessary to overcome complexity of the green design process. On the other hand, Clients should consider green design need additional time. Moreover, Governance system and client quality have major influence on design team attributes. An effective approach such as training courses to design team to increase their competency in order to improve green design performance.