Time-dependent reliability and resilience of aging structures exposed to multiple hazards in a changing environment

Engineering structures are often subjected to the influences of performance deterioration and multiple hazards during their service lives,and consequently may suffer from damage/failure as a result of external loads.Structural reliability and resilience assessment is a powerful tool for quantifying the structural ability to withstand these environmental or operational attacks.This paper proposes new formulas for structural time-dependent reliability and resilience analyses in the presence of multiple hazards,which are functions of the duration of the reference period of interest.The joint impacts of nonstationarities in multiple hazards due to a changing environment,as well as the deterioration of structural performance,are explicitly incorporated.The correlation between the structural resistances/capacities associated with different hazard types is modeled by employing a copula function.It is observed that,under the context of multiple hazards and aging effects,the time-dependent resilience takes a generalized form of time-dependent reliability.The proposed formulas can be used to guide the adaptive design of structures,where adaptive strategies are identified across a range of possible future service conditions.An example is presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method for structural reliability and resilience analyses.

Preheating-assisted solid-state friction stir repair of Al-Mg-Si alloy plate at different rotational speeds

Additive friction stir deposition(AFSD)is a novel structural repair and manufacturing technology has become a research hotspot at home and abroad in the past five years.In this work,the microstructural evolution and mechanical performance of the Al-Mg-Si alloy plate repaired by the preheating-assisted AFSD process were investigated.To evaluate the tool rotation speed and substrate preheating for repair quality,the AFSD technique was used to additively repair 5 mm depth blind holes on 6061 aluminum alloy substrates.The results showed that preheat-assisted AFSD repair significantly improved joint bonding and joint strength compared to the control non-preheat substrate condition.Moreover,increasing rotation speed was also beneficial to improve the metallurgical bonding of the interface and avoid volume defects.Under preheating conditions,the UTS and elongation were positively correlated with rotation speed.Under the process parameters of preheated substrate and tool rotation speed of 1000 r/min,defect-free specimens could be obtained accompanied by tensile fracture occurring in the substrate rather than the repaired zone.The UTS and elongation reached the maximum values of 164.2MPa and 13.4%,which are equivalent to 99.4%and 140%of the heated substrate,respectively.

Environmental and economic assessment of structural repair technologies for spent lithium-ion battery cathode materials

The existing recycling and regeneration technologies have problems,such as poor regeneration effect and low added value of products for lithium(Li)-ion battery cathode materials with a low state of health.In this work,a targeted Li replenishment repair technology is proposed to improve the discharge-specific capacity and cycling stability of the repaired LiCoO_(2) cathode materials.Compared with the spent cathode material with>50%Li deficiency,the Li/Co molar ratio of the regenerated LiCoO_(2) cathode is>0.9,which completely removes the Co_(3)O_(4) impurity phase formed by the decomposition of LixCoO_(2) in the failed cathode material after repair.The repaired LiCoO_(2) cathode mater-ials exhibit better cycling stability,lower electrochemical impedance,and faster Li^(+)diffusion than the commercial materials at both 1 and 10 C.Meanwhile,Li_(1.05)CoO_(2) cathodes have higher Li replenishment efficiency and cycling stability.The energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of LiCoO_(2) cathodes produced by this repair method are significantly reduced compared to those using pyrometallurgical and hydro-metallurgical recycling processes.

Mode-I fracture and durability of FRP-concrete bonded interfaces

In this study, a work-of-fracture method using a three-point bend beam （3PBB） specimen, which is commonly used to determine the fracture energy of concrete, was adapted to evaluate the mode-I fracture and durability of fiber-reinforced polymer （FRP） composite-concrete bonded interfaces. Interface fracture properties were evaluated with established data reduction procedures. The proposed test method is primarily for use in evaluating the effects of freeze-thaw （F-T） and wet-dry （W-D） cycles that are the accelerated aging protocols on the mode-I fracture of carbon FRP-concrete bonded interfaces. The results of the mode-I fracture tests of F-T and W-D cycle-conditioned specimens show that both the critical load and fracture energy decrease as the number of cycles increases, and their degradation pattern has a nearly linear relationship with the number of cycles. However, compared with the effect of the F-T cycles, the critical load and fracture energy degrade at a slower rate with W-D cycles, which suggests that F-T cyclic conditioning causes more deterioration of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer （CFRP）-concrete bonded interface. After 50 and 100 conditioning cycles, scaling of concrete was observed in all the specimens subjected to F-T cycles, but not in those subjected to W-D cycles. The examination of interface fracture surfaces along the bonded interfaces with varying numbers of F-T and W-D conditioning cycles shows that （1） cohesive failure of CFRP composites is not observed in all fractured surfaces; （2） for the control specimens that have not been exposed to any conditioning cycles, the majority of interface failure is a result of cohesive fracture of concrete （peeling of concrete from the concrete substrate）, which means that the cracks mostly propagate within the concrete; and （3） as the number of F-T or W-D conditioning cycles increases, adhesive failure along the interface begins to emerge and gradually increases. It is thus concluded that the fracture properties （i.e., the critical load and fracture energy） of the bonded interface are controlled primarily by the concrete cohesive fracture before conditioning and by the adhesive interface fracture after many cycles of F-T or W-D conditioning. As demonstrated in this study, a test method using 3PBB specimens combined with a fictitious crack model and experimental conditioning protocols for durability can be used as an effective qualification method to test new hybrid material interface bonds and to evaluate durability-related effects on the interfaces.

Restoration of the facade of the Pirelli skyscraper in Milan and the repair of damage to reinforced concrete structures caused by a plane crash： An example of critic conservation

The restoration of the former PireUi Tower in Milan, which dates back to the early 1950s, is an example of various issues in approaching the ＂conservation of the new＂. This project was completed with the broad use of industrial products that evoked different kinds of reflections, if only within the same planning methodology, common to all interventions of architectural restoration. This restoration constitutes an exemplary episode where only a careful and critical evaluation facilitated the understanding of which elements are important in conservation and which can be substituted or updated. This approach uses case-to-case evaluations. The conservation of ＂new＂ architecture is similar to other restoration problems, except for the closeness in time to the original works and, sometimes, with its creator. The main intervention concerns the recovery of the structure with over 10,000 m^2 of continuous aluminum and glass facade in a skyscraper designed by Italian master Gio Ponti and the repair of the damage to the reinforced concrete （RC） structures （designed by another Italian master, Pier Luigi Nervi） caused by a plane crash. The straightening and repair of the RC using entirely innovative methods and the conservation of the structures of the whole fasade also translates into financial savings. Approximately 20% of the savings is derived from the complete substitution of the curtain wall. This idea of authenticity results in a method of restoration in which all single parts may not always be replaced for every functional upgrade. This scenario is important news, especially for modern architecture that usually prefers the value of what appears to be new, showing parts that are always perfect since the time they were built. People also consider the conservation of items that were considered as merely industrial products a few years ago.

Laser additive manufacturing for infrastructure repair:A case study of a deteriorated steel bridge beam

As our transportation infrastructure ages,its deterioration is becoming a growing concern.Rapid and effective methods for repair can reduce the need for time-and cost-intensive replacement of structures such as roadway bridges.In this work,laser-based additive manufacturing(AM)was developed for the repair of damaged beams in steel bridges.A corroded structural beam of low-carbon A36 steel was selected for this case study and 316L stainless steel was used for repair due to its excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance.Simulated repair experiments were performed on specimens extracted from the beam,and prepared with various groove shapes(Rectangular,Trapezoidal,and U-shaped).More in-depth parametric and microstructural studies were carried out with a series of U-shaped specimens repaired with the linear laser input energy varied from 19.5 to 30.0 J mm–1.The tensile properties of the repaired specimens and interface structures were also investigated in detail.It was found that the repaired specimens had a slightly higher tensile strength despite a reduction in tensile elongation compared to the A36 steel base metal.The influence of interfacial microstructure and heterogeneity on the mechanical properties of the repaired specimens was discussed.Our work suggests the promising potential to employ AM for structural repair and provides fundamental insights into processing-structure-property relationships in laser AM-repaired materials.