scholarly journals The Performance of Wood Decking after Five Years of Exposure: Verification of the Combined Effect of Wetting Ability and Durability

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 903 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miha Humar ◽  
Davor Kržišnik ◽  
Boštjan Lesar ◽  
Christian Brischke

Wood is one of the most important construction materials, and its use in building applications has increased in recent decades. In order to enable even more extensive and reliable use of wood, we need to understand the factors affecting wood’s service life. A new concept for characterizing the durability of wood-based materials and for predicting the service life of wood has recently been proposed, based on material-inherent protective properties, moisture performance, and the climate- and design-induced exposure dose of wooden structures. This approach was validated on the decking of a model house in Ljubljana that was constructed in October 2013. The decay and moisture content of decking elements were regularly monitored. In addition, the resistance dose DRd, as the product of the critical dose Dcrit, and two factors taking into account the wetting ability of wood (kwa) and its inherent durability (kinh), were determined in the laboratory. DRd correlated well with the decay rates of the decking of the model house. Furthermore, the positive effect of thermal modification and water-repellent treatments on the outdoor performance of the examined materials was evident, as well as the synergistic effects between moisture performance and inherent durability.

Author(s):  
Lotfali Mozafari Vanani ◽  
Mani Ghanbari ◽  
Hadi Ghasemi Zavaragh

In a vehicle, bulbs called the P-group are responsible for warning other drivers or pedestrians and they are known as signal bulbs. Signal bulbs have been used to emit warning and hazard signs in parts such as brake lights, direction indicator, hazard lights (night vision) as well as tail bulbs and car park alarms. There has been limited researches on the photometric characteristics of these lamps, but a review of these studies revealed that no detailed research has yet been done on optimizing these characteristics, and there is a scientific gap. In this study, factors affecting the service life and luminous flux were evaluated by using Taguchi design of experiments method. The results showed that the two factors of weight percent composition of bubble filling neutral gases and the volumetric efficiency of gases injected into the bubble had the most influence on the target parameters. Experimental results showed that the optimum composition of neutral gases injected into the bulb bubble can extend the bulb service life to approximately 341 h, which is three times the service life of a bulb with the inappropriate composition of fill gases. Then the optimum state of the service life and the luminous flux were determined to meet the reference standards. Although the service life and luminous flux parameters were able to reach 341 h and 513 lumens in the maximized state, however, in the optimum state with satisfying reference standards, the service life and luminous flux were 330 h and 463 lumens, respectively. Then, the bulb bubble filling with inert neutral gases and its effect on the bulb service life was investigated. The results showed that if the volumetric efficiency of gas injection increased from the normal 75%–100%, the service life of the test lamps would be improved by about 10%.


Author(s):  
Steven Nolan ◽  
Marco Rossini ◽  
Chase Knight ◽  
Antonio Nanni

AbstractWithin the last century, coastal structures for infrastructure applications have traditionally been constructed with timber, structural steel, and/or steel-reinforced/prestressed concrete. Given asset owners’ desires for increased service-life; reduced maintenance, repair and rehabilitation; liability; resilience; and sustainability, it has become clear that traditional construction materials cannot reliably meet these challenges without periodic and costly intervention. Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites have been successfully utilized for durable bridge applications for several decades, demonstrating their ability to provide reduced maintenance costs, extend service life, and significantly increase design durability. This paper explores a representative sample of these applications, related specifically to internal reinforcement for concrete structures in both passive (RC) and pre-tensioned (PC) applications, and contrasts them with the time-dependent effect and cost of corrosion in transportation infrastructure. Recent development of authoritative design guidelines within the US and international engineering communities is summarized and a examples of RC/PC verses FRP-RC/PC presented to show the sustainable (economic and environmental) advantage of composite structures in the coastal environment.


2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minghui Li ◽  
Xinggang Wang ◽  
Yuquan Xie ◽  
Yeqing Xie ◽  
Xian Zhang ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Jiang ◽  
Yi-Chung Hu ◽  
Ghi-Feng Yen ◽  
Hang Jiang ◽  
Yu-Jing Chiu

As a crucial part of producer services, the logistics industry is highly dependent on the manufacturing industry. In general, the interactive development of the logistics and manufacturing industries is essential. Due to the existence of a certain degree of interdependence between any two factors, interaction between the two industries has produced a basis for measurement; identifying the key factors affecting the interaction between the manufacturing and logistics industries is a kind of decision problem in the field of multiple criteria decision making (MCDM). A hybrid MCDM method, DEMATEL-based ANP (DANP) is appropriate to solve this problem. However, DANP uses a direct influence matrix, which involves pairwise comparisons that may be more or less influenced by the respondents. Therefore, we propose a decision model, Grey DANP, which can automatically generate the direct influence matrix. Statistical data for the logistics and manufacturing industries in the China Statistical Yearbook (2006–2015) were used to identify the key factors for interaction between these two industries. The results showed that the key logistics criteria for interaction development are the total number of employees in the transport business, the volume of goods, and the total length of routes. The key manufacturing criteria for interaction development are the gross domestic product and the value added. Therefore, stakeholders should increase the number of employees in the transport industry and freight volumes. Also, the investment in infrastructure should be increased.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md. Safiuddin ◽  
A. Kaish ◽  
Chin-Ong Woon ◽  
Sudharshan Raman

Cracking is a common problem in concrete structures in real-life service conditions. In fact, crack-free concrete structures are very rare to find in real world. Concrete can undergo early-age cracking depending on the mix composition, exposure environment, hydration rate, and curing conditions. Understanding the causes and consequences of cracking thoroughly is essential for selecting proper measures to resolve the early-age cracking problem in concrete. This paper will help to identify the major causes and consequences of the early-age cracking in concrete. Also, this paper will be useful to adopt effective remedial measures for reducing or eliminating the early-age cracking problem in concrete. Different types of early-age crack, the factors affecting the initiation and growth of early-age cracks, the causes of early-age cracking, and the modeling of early-age cracking are discussed in this paper. A number of examples for various early-age cracking problems of concrete found in different structural elements are also shown. Above all, some recommendations are given for minimizing the early-age cracking in concrete. It is hoped that the information conveyed in this paper will be beneficial to improve the service life of concrete structures. Concrete researchers and practitioners may benefit from the contents of this paper.


2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
S. Hassim ◽  
K.T. Teh ◽  
R. Muniandy ◽  
H. Omar ◽  
A. Hassan

A prototype for an expert system in road construction material selection system, which is based on the outcomes of Friedman and multiple comparisons statistical methods was developed. The outcomes were acquired through questionnaires from selected pavement experts. The factors affecting pavement materials under each particular site condition were incorporated into the specific rules of the system. The system knowledge-base was extracted from the statistical testing outcomes and then rearranged and compiled prior to the development of the system. Visual Basic 6.0 was adopted as the programming tool for development of the system, while the knowledge-base of the separate system was kept in Microsoft Access 2000. The prototype expert system can be used to emulate part of the professional reasoning capabilities based on the knowledge of a pavement expert or a specialist to solve problems on materials selection. The system can help road designers to improve their professional ability to evaluate all available materials even before carrying out any laboratory tests.


2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-70
Author(s):  
Thuan Quoc Pham ◽  
Dao Xuan La

The objective of this study is to identify the major factors that impact on the quality of financial reporting and to suggest model of the factors affecting on the quality of financial reporting for Vietnamese enterprises . There are two factors group affecting on the quality of financial reporting: internal factors and external factors, this study is limited to the scope of the external factors. By using case studies, analytical results indicate that Tax Pressure factor has the greatest impact on the quality of financial reporting, the remaning factors include: Listed Securities, Accounting Software and Independent Audit. Two factors, Politics and Regulatory Environment have limited impact on the quality financial reporting.


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