Search results

Development of Self Compacting Concrete (SCC) is considered as one of the most significant development in the construction industry due to its numerous inherited benefits. With the introduction of super-plasticizers and viscosity modifying agents, it is now possible to produce concrete with high fluidity, good cohesiveness which does not require external energy for compaction. The proper understanding of the effects of elevated temperatures on the properties of SCC is necessary to ensure the safety of buildings made with SCC during fire. During the present investigation, an attempt has been made to study the stress-strain behaviour of Normal Compacting Concrete (NCC) and Self Compacting Concrete at a temperature of 900°C. A significant reduction in the Ultimate compressive strength of SCC was observed during this study. The reduction was found to be more for SCC compared to Normal compacting concrete. The reduction in the compressive strength of SCC was found to be 81.5 % for M40 concrete when exposed to 900°C.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of standard fire on the strength and microstructure properties of concrete with different strength grades.

Different strength grades of concrete used for the investigation are M20, M30, M40 and M50. An electrical bogie hearth furnace was developed to simulate the International Standards Organization 834 standard fire curve.Concrete samples were subjected to high temperatures of 925, 1,029, 1,090 and 1,133°C for the duration of 1, 2, 3 and 4 h, respectively, as per standard fire curve. Compressive strength, tensile strength, thermal crack pattern and spalling of heated concrete specimens were evaluated by experimental investigation. Scanning electron microscopy and thermo-gravimetric analysis were performed to investigate the microstructure properties of heated concrete specimens.

Test results indicated reduction in the strength and changes in the microstructure properties of concrete exposed to elevated temperature. The degree of weight and the strength loss were found to be higher for concrete with higher grades. An empirical relation is proposed to determine the residual strength of concrete with different strength grade using regression analysis.

Results of this research will be useful for the design engineers to understand the behavior of concrete exposed to elevated temperature as per standard fire.

When concrete is exposed to elevated temperature, its internal microstructure changes, thereby strength and durability of concrete deteriorates. The performance of concrete with different strength grade exposed to standard fire is well understood. This research’s findings will be useful for the designers to understand more about fire resistance of concrete. A simple relationship is proposed to determine the residual strength of concrete exposed to various durations of heating.

Building elements that are damaged by fire are often strengthened by fiber wrapping techniques. Self-compacting concrete (SCC) is an advanced building material that is widely used in construction due to its ability to flow and pass through congested reinforcement and fill the required areas easily without compaction. The aim of the research work is to examine the flexural behavior of SCC subjected to elevated temperature. This research work examines the effect of natural air cooling (AC) and water cooling (WC) on flexural behavior of M20, M30, M40 and M50 grade fire-affected retro-fitted SCC. The results of the investigation will enable the designers to choose the appropriate repair technique for improving the service life of structures.

In this study, an attempt has been made to evaluate the flexural behavior of fire exposed reinforced SCC beams retrofitted with laminates of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP), basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) and glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP). Beam specimens were cast with M20, M30, M40 and M50 grades of SCC and heated to 925ºC using an electrical furnace for 60 min duration following ISO 834 standard fire curve. The heated SCC beams were cooled by either natural air or water spraying.

The reduction in the ultimate load carrying capacity of heated beams was about 42% and 55% for M50 grade specimens that were cooled by air and water, respectively, in comparison with the reference specimens. The increase in the ultimate load was 54%, 38% and 27% for the specimens retrofitted with CFRP, BFRP and GFRP, respectively, compared with the fire-affected specimens cooled by natural air. Water-cooled specimens had shown higher level of damage than the air-cooled specimens. The specimens wrapped with carbon fiber could able to improve the flexural strength than basalt and glass fiber wrapping.

SCC, being a high performance concrete, is essential to evaluate the performance under fire conditions. This research work provides the flexural behavior and physical characteristics of SCC subjected to elevated temperature as per ISO rate of heating. In addition attempt has been made to enhance the flexural strength of fire-exposed SCC with wrapping using different fibers. The experimental data will enable the engineers to choose the appropriate material for retrofitting.

The purpose of this study is twofold. First, to consider the ways in which transportation could be more sustainable in North Cyprus, which is mostly dependent on tourism and higher education as a small island destination. Second, to investigate current issues in the transportation sector related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study employed a qualitative approach, and a descriptive analysis technique was used to analyse semi-structured interviews, conducted by telephone and face-to-face. To investigate current problems in the North Cyprus transportation sector – one of the most affected by the pandemic – travel agencies were chosen as the study’s population and research participants were selected purposively.

The findings indicate that the unpredictability of domestic policies combined with the structural challenges confronting North Cyprus contribute to unsustainable current transportation policies. North Cyprus transport and tourism both suffered significant losses during the pandemic but travel agencies were disproportionately impacted. Our study results showed that exorbitant ticket prices, taxes and transportation costs have emerged as the most significant issues in the transportation sector.

More efficient and accurate policies that meet the needs of the sector and give opportunity for development are required. This is a critical issue for policymakers to address, as they also represent a significant barrier to the sector's long-term competitiveness.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first qualitative study to look at North Cyprus’ transportation problems from the perspective of travel agencies and the impact of the pandemic. It is thought that this study will contribute to the development of solutions for transportation problems and sustainable practices in small island developing states.

Nowadays, cloud platforms are used in many fields, including e-commerce, web applications, data storage, healthcare, gaming, mobile social networks, etc. However, security and privacy are still two significant concerns in this area. The target of this paper is to present a system for trust management in industrial cloud computing using the multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach. MCDM techniques have been developed to accommodate a wide range of applications. As a result, hundreds of approaches have been generated with even minor variations on current approaches spawning new study fields.

Cloud computing provides a fully scalable, accessible and flexible computing platform for various applications. Due to the multiple applications that cloud computing has found in numerous life features, users and providers have considered providing security in cloud communications. Due to its distributive nature, dynamic space and lack of transparency in performing cloud computing, it faces many challenges in providing security. For security improvement, trust management can play a very influential role. This paper proposes a generic analytical methodology that uses a series of assessment criteria to evaluate current trust management testing prototypes in industrial cloud computing and related fields. The authors utilize a MCDM approach in the present article. Due to the multi-dimensionality of the sustainability objective and the complexities of socio-economic and biophysical processes, MCDM approaches have become progressively common in decision-making for sustainable energy.

The results of comparing and evaluating the performance of this model show its ability to manage trust and the ability to adapt to changes in the behavior of service providers quickly. Using a simulation, all results are confirmed. The results of simulations and evaluation of the present paper indicate that the proposed model provides a more accurate evaluation of the credibility of cloud service providers than other models.

The number of cloud services and customers is vast and extremely competitive in cloud environments, where novel cloud services and customers can join at any time, while others can withdraw whenever they want. Because of cloud services' highly dynamic and dispersed design, trust management mechanisms must be highly flexible to obtain feedback and update trust outcomes as quickly as possible. The model presented in this article tries to improve users' trust in the cloud industry.

Using a method (MCDM) to find the best trust management solution based on user experience in industrial cloud computing is the novelty of this paper.

This paper aims to investigate the three-dimensional natural convection and entropy generation in the rectangular cuboid cavities included by chamfered triangular partition made by polypropylene.

The enclosure is filled by multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)-H₂O nanofluid and air as two immiscible fluids. The finite volume approach is used for computation. The fluid flow and heat transfer are considered with combination of local entropy generation due to fluid friction and heat transfer. Moreover, a numerical method is developed based on three-dimensional solution of Navier–Stokes equations.

Effects of side ratio of triangular partitions (SR = 0.5, 1 and 2), Rayleigh number (103 < Ra < 105) and solid volume fraction (f = 0.002, 0.004 and 0.01 Vol.%) of nanofluid are investigated on both natural convection characteristic and volumetric entropy generation. The results show that the partitions can be a suitable method to control fluid flow and energy consumption, and three-dimensional solutions renders more accurate results.

The originality of this work is to study the three-dimensional natural convection and entropy generation of a stratified system.

Most literature on workflow (WF) adaptation considered the control flow correctness like absence of dead lock, live-lock, etc. during adaptation. The data aspect of WF adaptation like data flow, database schema changes and their correctness are less studied. When the WF schema is modified, their data flow and the database schema changes. The existing approaches used for adapting these data changes in the underlying database schema are time consuming and/or affect the old data persistence. The purpose of this paper is to concern the dynamic adaptation of the WF schema and implementing its data changes in the existing database schema.

A conceptual framework developed to adapt on-the-fly, the concomitant data changes during WF adaptation. The framework consists a set of data schema compliance criteria (DSC) which identify the data changes that can be directly accommodated in the existing database schema. Data adaptation algorithm (DAA) is developed to handle the data changes that does not conform to the DSC in the existing database schema.

In this approach the existing database schema is dynamically evolved without re-creating it, after WF schema adaptation. Therefore the WF schema changes can be implemented on-the-fly without stopping the running system. It also ensures the persistence of old data residing in the existing database.

A novel approach developed to adapt the data changes in the existing database schema, without requiring recreation or migration the data. This automated consistency checking of data attribute changes in the database schema and implement them dynamically.

This study aims to synthesize pigment and resin from agro-wastes and use them in the formulation of eco-friendly surface coatings.

The pigments and resin were synthesized through a chemical modification of agro-wastes. The pigments were characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and were screened for their antimicrobial activities. The physicochemical characteristics of the cashew nutshell liquid (CNSL)-modified resin were evaluated. These precursors and other natural additives were used to formulate surface coatings, and their drying and adhesive properties were evaluated using international testing methods.

It was observed that the curing of the CNSL-modified resin depended on time and temperature. The pigments exhibited antimicrobial activity against E. coli and S. aureus and had high melting points, affirming their stability. The chemically modified precursors successfully yielded surface coatings with acceptable drying times and adhesion to the base substrate.

The use of agro-wastes as the main components of the surface coatings implies waste valorization, a reduction in production costs and the creation of job opportunities for sustainable development. To increase the chemical, physical, corrosion resistance and antimicrobial qualities of paint compositions, chemically modified peanut skin extracts and CNSL can be used as pigments and resins, respectively. This could be a green approach to achieving the targets of Sustainable development goals 11 and 12.

The paper outlines a prospective approach to use unwanted waste (peanut skin, cashew nutshells) and other natural additives as industrial raw materials. These novel surface coating precursors are cost-effective, readily available, eco-friendly and could replace conventional precursors.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the possibility of dyeing polyester (PET) fabric with natural dye extracted from annatto seeds using high temperature dyeing method.

PET fabric was dyed with annatto extract by varying dyeing parameters (temperature, time, pH and dye concentration) to determine the optimum dyeing conditions. The influences of KAl(SO₄)₂, FeSO₄, gallnut mordants or a commercial UV absorber on colour yield and fastness properties were further studied.

Optimum results were obtained when the fabric was dyed at 130°C for 30 min in a dyebath containing 15 per cent (owf) annatto dye at pH 6. The dyed fabric had an orange shade and exhibited good to excellent wash, crock, perspiration fastness and fair light fastness. Further dyeing with mordants or UV absorber mostly resulted in lower colour yield and similar fastness properties.

Although the light fastness was slightly improved to moderate level for the sample with UV absorber, a noticeable colour staining on cotton portion of multi-fibre fabric occurred when subjected to standard washing test. Compared to C.I. Disperse Orange 73, the annatto dye exhibited comparable colour fastness but had inferior light fastness when dyed at approximately the same colour strength.

Natural colourants from annatto seeds can be used to dye PET fabric at high temperature without mordants, yielding deep orange shade and satisfactory fastness properties. This study provides a promising application to reduce the environmental impact of synthetic dyes.

Sulphur dyes provide an inexpensive medium to dye cellulosic fibres with heavy shade depths. They offer moderate to good fastness to light and wet treatments. However, owing to the environmental hazard produced by the use of sodium sulphide, the practical implication of these dyes is steadily decreasing. Moreover, these dyes are prone to oxidation causing pronounced fading on exposure to laundering. This paper aims to present the green processing of sulphur dyes by using a biodegradable reducing agent in place of sodium sulphide to dye cotton fabrics. The study also proposes after-treatments with tannin to improve the fastness properties of the dyeings.

In this study, dyeings were produced on cotton fabric with a range of C.I. Leuco Sulphur dyes, which were reduced with sodium sulphide and glucose. Sulphur dyeings were after-treated with an environment-friendly tannin-based product (Bayprotect CL (BP)); subsequently, the after-treated samples were evaluated for colour strength, wash, light and rubbing fastness.

A novel after-treatment method was developed, which substantially improved the wash fastness of C.I. Leuco Sulphur Black 1 dyeing to ISO 105 C06/C09 washing. However, the degree of this improvement varied for the other sulphur dyes used. The surface morphology and the possible mechanisms for the improved fastness properties were also discussed.

The effect of after-treatment was significant for improving the wash fastness of sulphur black dyeings in particular, while the effect on other colours was minor. Significant improvements were observed for light and wet rub fastness for most of the dyeings, which signifies the importance of tannins as a finishing agent.

It is observed that the tannin-based product, BP, is found to provide the photoprotective effect by improving the lightfastness of the dyeings. Future research may involve the exploration of various tannins as a finishing agent to sulphur dyeings.

This novel finishing technique is found significant for improving the wash fastness of sulphur black 1 dyeings for both the reducing systems. Improvements were also observed for light and wet rub fastnesses for most of the dyeings.