Reliability-based service life prediction of existing concrete structures under marine environment

Chloride-induced corrosion of the reinforcement is considered as one of the major mechanisms resulting in the reduction of structural resistance of reinforced concrete structural elements located in marine and other aggressive environments. A study of reinforced concrete structures located at the Fangcheng dock in the Beibu Gulf port, China, was present. The result from field survey indicates that the concrete cover depth and chloride diffusion coefficient fit best normal distribution and lognormal distribution, respectively. The service life of structure is about 55 a, while initiation time is 45 a. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the most influential factor of the structure service life prediction is concrete cover, followed by diffusion coefficient, diffusion decay index, critical chloride concentration, surface chloride concentration, current density and localized pitting corrosion. Finally, the effects of diffusion decay index and critical chloride concentration on structure service life prediction are discussed.

On the seismic fortification intensity during succeeding use of the existing structure

In this paper, according to difference of the characteristics of the existing structure from design structure, the authors defined fortification intensity of the existing construction during succeeding use. It aims at the enhancement of antiseismic administration in city reconstruction at present. Some decision methods (Method of equal intensity, method of equal probability of exceedance, method of equal occurrence ratio) for fortification intensity in succeeding use period of existing construction were provided to meet higher levels of seismic fortification criterion and changing use of buildings. With earthquake risk analysis, it is useful for discussion on antiseismic endurance of construction.

SIMILARITY TRANSFORMATION, THE STRUCTURE OF THE TRAVELING WAVES SOLUTION AND THE EXISTENCE OF A GLOBAL SMOOTH SOLUTION TO GENERALIZED KURAMOTO SIVASHINSKY TYPE EQUATIONS

The existence of a global smooth solution for the initial value problem of generalized Kuramoto-Sivashinsky type equations have been obtained. Similarty siolutions and the structure of the traveling waves solution for the generalized KS equations are discussed and analysed by using the qualitative theory of ODE and Lie's infinitesimal transformation respectively.

Formation of Hybrid Ring Structure of Cyanurate/Isocyanurate in the Reaction be-tween 2,4,6-Tris(4-Phenyl-Phenoxy)-1, 3,5-Triazine and Phenyl Glycidyl Ether

Reaction products of 2,4,6-tris(4-phenyl-phenoxy)-1,3,5-triazine derived from 4-phenylphenol cyanate ester and phenyl glycidyl ether were analyzed. In addition to an isocyanurate compound and an oxazolidone compound which were well known as reaction products of cyanate esters and epoxy resins, compounds with hybrid ring structure of cyanurate/isocyanurate were determined. Gibbs free energies of the compound having hybrid ring structure of cyanurate/isocyanurate with two isocyanurate moiety were found to be lower than that of the compound with cyanurate ring structure through calculations. Calculation data supported the existence of hybrid ring structure of cy-anurate/isocyanurate. It was revealed that isomerization from cyanurate to isocyanurate occurs via hybrid ring structure of cyanurate/isocyanurate in the reaction of aryl cyanurate and epoxy.

Seismic collapse simulation of existing masonry buildings with different retrofitting techniques

Masonry buildings are primarily constructed out of bricks and mortar which become discrete pieces and cannot sustain horizontal forces created by a strong earthquake.The collapse of masonry walls may cause significant human casualties and economic losses.To maintain their integrity,several methods have been developed to retrofit existing masonry buildings,such as the constructional RC frame which has been extensively used in China.In this study,a new method using precast steel reinforced concrete(PSRC)panels is developed.To demonstrate its effectiveness,numerical studies are conducted to investigate and compare the collapse behavior of a structure without retrofitting,retrofitted with a constructional RC frame,and retrofitted with external PSRC walls(PSRCW).Sophisticated finite element models(FEM)were developed and nonlinear time history analyses were carried out.The results show that the existing masonry building is severely damaged under occasional earthquakes,and totally collapsed under rare earthquakes.Both retrofitting techniques improve the seismic performance of existing masonry buildings.However,it is found that several occasional earthquakes caused collapse or partial collapse of the building retrofitted with the constructional RC frame,while the one retrofitted by the proposed PSRC wall system survives even under rare earthquakes.The effectiveness of the proposed retrofitting method on existing masonry buildings is thus fully demonstrated.

The Existing Structural Problems in World Economy

Since the seventies,world economy has been engaged in adjustment princi-pally in the following three fields.First,the shift of economic developmentmode from that of aggregate quantitative growth to that of quality-effective-ness.Second,the reform of economic system with more and more countries realiz-ing market economy.Third,the economy getting more opened as economic global-ization further avdances.

Seismic Response Improvement of Existing Prototype School Buildings Using Water Tanks, Port Said City, Egypt

There is a global trend for seismic response improvement of new buildings to reduce cost and future damage. It is also important to improve existing structures that are designed without consideration of seismic load or using old provisions that cannot meet the new one. The objective of this paper is to draw attention to evaluate existing reinforced concrete school buildings, then to present a proposed methodology to improve the behaviour of such schools with low cost especially in a developing country. The proposed method uses overhead water tanks as a tuned mass damper. A pushover analysis has been performed to evaluate the existing schools and perform a feasibility study to select the best solution to achieve seismic response improvement of the existing structure. Of course, the proposed methodology can be applied easily to other existing structures.