A New Method to Determine the Steel Fibre Content of Existing Structures—Test Setup and Numerical Simulation

The diagnostics of constructions built with steel fibre reinforced concrete are extremely difficult to conduct because, typically, no information on the actual amount and orientation of the fibres is available. Therefore, it is of great interest to engineers to have the possibility to determine the steel fibre content and, at best, also the orientation of the fibres in existing structures. For this purpose, an easy-to-use test setup was developed and tested, in the course of laboratory investigations. This method can be used for cylinders, for example drilling cores, that can later be taken of existing structures, to determine both the fibre content and orientation. Based on these results, a model for cylindrical specimens was derived, which can be used for varying concrete compositions with steel fibre contents of up to 80 kg/m3. In the case of missing information concerning the concrete composition, it allows an initial estimation for the fibre content. In case additional information about the concrete composition is available, a much higher accuracy of the projected steel fibre content and therefore, an assessment of the building’s condition is possible.

A New Method to Determine the Steel Fibre Content of Existing Structures—Evaluation and Validation

The in-situ measurement of the content and orientation of steel fibres in concrete structures is of great importance for the assessment of their specific mechanical properties, especially in the case of repair. For existing structures, the actual fibre content as well as the orientation of the fibres, which is based on many factors such as casting or compacting direction, is typically unknown. For structural maintenance or rehabilitation, those factors have to be determined in order to apply meaningful structural design calculations and plan necessary strengthening methods. For this reason, a new method based on the analysis of drilling cores of concrete structures has been established. The newly developed non-destructive test setup used in this research consists of a framework for cylindrical specimens in combination with an LCR meter to determine the electrical resistance of the fibre reinforced concrete. In combination with a suitable FEM model, concretes with fibre contents up 80 kg/m3 were analysed to derive a first model to assess the actual fibre content of steel fibre reinforced concretes. After a calibration of the literature’s equation by use of an adjusted aspect ratio for the analysis of drilling cores, the estimation of the fibre content is possible with high accuracy for the tested material combination. The results show that the newly developed test method is suitable for the rapid and non-destructive structural diagnosis of the fibre content of steel fibre reinforced concrete based on drilling cores using electrical resistivity measurements.

Evaluation of Nutritional and Nutraceutical Content of Polished and Unpolished Barnyard Millet - An Analytical Study

Barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacaea) is an indigenous under utilized millet variety of south India with bounty of health benefits due to the abundance of dietary fiber antioxidant and minerals like iron. This gluten free wonder millet can be a healthy alternate dietary source for diabetic, obesity and CVD patients. Scientific evidence based studies on nutritional quality of this millet both in polished and unpolished form is less. The current study aims at “Evaluation of nutritional and nutraceutical content of polished and unpolished barnyard millet”. Both polished and unpolished barnyard millets were procured from local market, cleaned to remove dirt, dust and stone. The cleaned millets were dried powdered and sieved using 60 mesh sieves (250 Micron). The powdered millet flour was stored in airtight container. Nutritional content of Barnyard millet was analysed for macro, micro nutrients and nutraceutical properties of both polished and unpolished form using standard AOAC method - 20th edition (2016). The analysed nutrient content were compared statistically at 99% and 95 % confidence interval (t-test).The result shows that, the quantum of carbohydrate present in polished barnyard millet was 11.37 % lesser than the milled parboiled rice and 9 % lesser than the brown rice and 12.45 % lesser than the raw milled rice. The total dietary fibre content of unpolished barnyard millet was 14.2 gm and polished barnyard millet was 8.5 gm. Crude fibre content of unpolished barnyard millet was noted as 11.2 gm and the same in polished barnyard millet was 4.5gm. The protein content of unpolished barnyard millet (10.4gm) was found to be superior to polished barnyard millet (6.8gm).The presence of nutraceutical components were more nutritionally superior in unpolished barnyard millet compared to polished one.

Measurement and optimization of multi-attribute characteristics in milling epoxy granite composites using rsm and combined ahp-topsis

Epoxy granite composites with its wide range of applications in machine tool industries are manufactured by molding process and require post cast machining operations to meet the desired dimensional accuracy for assembly of machine tool structures. In this research work, milling of epoxy granite composites are carried out based on the experimental design from Response Surface Methodology (RSM) techniques and further the optimal solutions are determined by a novel hybrid algorithm AHP-TOPSIS. Central Composite Design (CCD) model is applied with three factors-three levels and the measured output responses are thrust force, tangential force and surface roughness. Experimental combinations of 20 different trials are performed using high speed steel end mill cutter of diameter 10mm with three levels of input parameters: speed; fibre content and feed rate at a uniform depth of cut. The relative importance matrix formulated proved to be highly consistent with its consistency ratio to a maximum of 0.000641 which lies below the higher range of 0.1. Consistency ratio of 0.000641 reveals that the optimal solutions determined will be highly reliable and the decision making is much more judicious. Optimal solution determined from hybrid AHP-TOPSIS methods are: speed 1800 rpm; feed rate 0.03 m/min and 0% percent fibre content. Functional relationships among parameters and responses established by RSM are consistent upto 95% and its significance is tested by analysis of variance. Comparison among predicted and experimental values of three measured responses convey that the percentage variations are minimum with up to 2.03% for surface roughness, 2.50% for thrust force and 2.71% for tangential force components. This research work provides a systematic procedure and clear framework for determination of optimal machining conditions by hybrid methodology on the basis of technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) combined with analytical hierarchy procedure (AHP) for attribute weights and further analyzes the influence of machining parameters over measured responses.

The Influence of the Addition of Rosehip Powder to Wheat Flour on the Dough Farinographic Properties and Bread Physico-Chemical Characteristics

An in-depth analysis of wheat flour (WF) substituted with 0.5–2.5% rosehip powder (Rp) concerning the proximate composition, dough farinographic properties, and bread physico-chemical characteristics was performed. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the use of Rp as a natural alternative for synthetic ascorbic acid in breadmaking was appropriate. A sample of wheat flour with an ascorbic acid addition of 2 mg/100 g was also used. Rp showed higher ash, carbohydrates, and fibre content, as well as lower moisture and protein content compared to wheat flour, and a vitamin C content of 420 ± 16.09 mg/100 g. A proximate composition analysis revealed a decrease in moisture, protein, and wet gluten, and an increase in ash, carbohydrates, and fibres for the flour mixtures compared with WF. Farinographic properties were positively influenced by the Rp addition and the high fibre content in the flour mixtures. Water absorption increased from 58.20% (WF) to 61.90% (2.5% Rp). Dough stability increased for the 0.5–1.0% Rp addition, then slightly decreased. The physico-chemical properties of bread prepared from flour mixtures showed a significant increase in height: 100.10 ± 0.14 mm (WF)–115.50 ± 0.14 mm (1.5% Rp), specific volume: 142.82 cm3/100 g (WF)–174.46 cm3/100 g (1.5% Rp), moisture: 41.81 ± 0.40% (WF)–43.92 ± 0.15% (2.0% Rp), and porosity: 87.75 ± 1.06% (WF)–89.40 ± 0.57% (2.5% Rp). The results indicated that the Rp used in breadmaking to replace synthetic ascorbic acid could be suitable.

Effect Steel Fibre Content on the Load-Carrying Capacity of Fibre-Reinforced Concrete Expansion Anchor

The article presents the pull-out strength tests carried out on M10 expansion anchors in non-cracked and cracked concrete with a crack width cw = 0.30 mm. The breaking loads and the average pull-out strength of anchors in fibre-reinforced concrete substrates were determined. Fibre content ratios of 15, 30 and 50 kg/m3 were used. In addition, two different classes of concrete (C20/25 and C50/60) were tested. The addition of steel fibres caused a decrease in the pull-out strength by 5% for non-cracked concrete of C20/25 class and fibre content up to 30 kg/m3 and a further 7% for the remaining specified dosage. While for concrete of the C50/60 class, it a decrease in the pull-out strength of up to 20% was observed. For cracked concrete class C20/25 with crack initiation cw = 0.30 mm, the reduction was from 9% to 16% in relation to non-cracked concrete and a maximum of 18% for the fibre content of 50 kg/m3. The difference between the tensile load capacity of C50/60 class cracked and non-cracked concrete was lower than 5% and fell within the measurement error.

Evaluation of mango seed kernel and pineapple peels as carbon sources for microbial protease production

Proteolytic enzymes are ubiquitous in occurrence and find multiple applications in various industrial sectors. Although there are many microbial sources available for producing proteases, only a few are recognized as commercial producers. Utilization and recycling of renewable resources that pose threat to the environment can be systematically carried out to bring about resource productivity needed to make human activity sustainable. In the present study, we evaluated the phytochemical, antimicrobial, and protease production ability of mango seed kernel and pineapple peels. The proximate compositions and antimicrobial analysis of Mango seed kernel and pineapple peels were evaluated using standard protocols. We evaluated the protease production of Bacillus megaterium using the mango seed kernel and pineapple peels as the carbon sources. Our results revealed that mango seed kernel has low moisture, ash and crude fibre content but has high oil and crude protein content while pineapple peels have high moisture and fibre content but low in ash, crude protein and oil content. Mango seed extract also demonstrated antimicrobial activities against B. subtilis, less sensitive to B. megaterium and no activity against A. niger. However, the pineapple peel extracted is highly sensitive to B. subtilis and S aureus but demonstrated no activity against P. aeroginosa and A niger. The B. megaterium exhibited higher protease production ability when mango seed kernel was used as a carbon source at all tested concentrations. In conclusion, the information obtained from proximate and antimicrobial analysis of mango seed kernel and pineapple peels serves as a guide for the possible utilization as carbon sources for microbial enzyme production. Thus, both pineapple peel and mango seed kernel can be bio-remediated when used as carbon sources for protease production.

Determination of Single Parameter for Serviceability Requirements of Fibre Reinforced Concrete: Study of Fracture Characteristics

This The influence of fibre reinforcement on crack propagation in concrete was studied . Thirty-five double torsion specimens, made with three types of fibres (fibre glass , straight steel fibres and deformed steel fibres ) were tested . The variables were the fibre volume and size of the fibres. The test results indicated that the resistance to rapid crack growth increased somewhat with increasing fibre content up to about 1.25% - 1.5% by volume. The degree of compaction had an enormous effect on the fracture properties .The fracture toughness increased with fibre content up to about 1.25% by volume, and then decreased , due to incomplete compaction. It was found that in this test geometry, fibres did not significantly restrain crack growth. It was also observed that once the crack had propagated down the full length of the specimen, the system changed from a continuous system to a discontinuous system, consisting of two separate plates held together by the fibre reinforcement. Different types of fibres did not significantly affect the fracture toughness. Keywords: Fibre glass, straight steel fibers, deformed steel fibers, fracture toughness.

Nutritional Content of Sliced Bread Available in Quebec, Canada: Focus on Sodium and Fibre Content

Bread is a highly consumed food and an important source of nutrients in the diet of Canadians, underlining the need to improve its nutritional quality. The Food Quality Observatory (Observatory) aimed to evaluate the nutritional value of the sliced bread products available in Quebec (Canada), according to their grain type and main flour. Analyses included comparing the bread’s sodium content to Health Canada’s daily values (DV) and sodium voluntary targets, comparing the bread’s fibre content thresholds with the source of fibre mentioned, and assessing whether the main flour was associated with the nutrient content. The nutritional values of 294 sliced breads available in Quebec were merged with sales data (from October 2016 to October 2017), with 262 products successfully cross-referenced. The results showed that 64% of the breads purchased were ‘low’ in fibre (i.e., below 2 g per two slices), while 47% were ‘high’ in sodium (i.e., above 15% DV per two slices). Attention should be paid to 100% refined grain bread and to bread with refined flour as the main flour, since they are great sellers, while showing a less favourable nutrient content. This study shows that there is room for improvement in the nutritional content of Quebec’s bread offer, particularly regarding sodium and fibre content.