Design and research of gymnasium structure in Zhejiang University

This paper deals with the issues involved during the design of a complex gymnasium located at the new campus of Zhejiang University. The complexity comes from the gymnasium’s being of three parts: long-span membrane structure, prestressed concrete structure and extraordinarily long tubular steel structure without seams. The paper first presents considera- tions of the prestress design, followed by analyses of the stress states due to temperature changes and concrete shrinkage. Buckling and postbuckling analyses were performed to determine the load-carrying capacity of the perfect and imperfect tubular steel structure of the inclined arch system, while dynamic relaxation method and general nonlinear finite element analysis were used to carry out shape-finding and stress analyses of the membrane structure respectively. Finally, collated monitoring date was applied to control the construction quality and verify the design parameters. Some useful conclusions are available at the end of the paper.

Energy absorption potential of concrete floors containing secondary （shrinkage and temperature） reinforcements

This paper experimentally investigates the namely, normal density concrete and structural low-density energy absorption potential of two types of concrete floors, concrete, containing secondary （shrinkage and temperature） reinforcements. The test program considered the following secondary reinforcements： 1） traditional welded-wire steel mesh, 2） steel fiber and 3） poly composite fiber. To estimate the extent to which crushing of floor slab materials would help absorb energy, a series of concrete penetration tests employing patch loading was undertaken on scaled down model slabs. Each concrete-secondary reinforcement combination considered slabs of 50 mm in depth with square plan dimensions ranging from 50 to 500 mm, resulting in a total of 30 test specimens. The first part of the paper discusses the test specimens, the test setup, and the test procedure. The second part of the paper presents the experimental results and establishes the energy absorption of different concrete- secondary reinforcement combinations. Sieve analysis results of the crushed specimens were used to derive a ＂work index＂ value that relates the pulverized particle size distributions to energy inputs. The work index values of concrete-secondary reinforcement systems can be used to assess the energy dissipation potential associated with such floor slabs in buildings undergoing progressive collapse. The results indicate that floors with secondary reinforcements could play an important role in helping arrest global progressive collapse.

Extraction of a novel tanning agent from indigenous plant bark and its application in leather processing

The use of vegetable tanning materials in leather processing has drawn attention as an alternative to basic chromium sulphate for its natural abundance and environmental aspects.In this work,an attempt has been made to extract vegetable tannins from Xylocarpus granatum bark using different solvents(e.g.,water,methanol,ethanol,and chloroform)and compare with conventional vegetable tanning agents such as mimosa and quebracho.The highest extraction efficiency was observed 31.22%by methanol.The presence of tannin content and polyphenolic compounds,e.g.(-)epicatechin(503 mg/100 g dry extract),catechin hydrate(218 mg/100 g dry extract),catechol(29 mg/100 g dry extract)were ensured by UV-Vis,FT-IR spectroscopy and HPLC.Again,condensed tannins,moisture content,and pH of the methanol extracted tannin were found 47.80%,5.82%,and 3.97 respectively.The leather tanned by Xylocarpus granatum tannin showed a shrinkage temperature of 86.34±1.52℃.Other properties such as tensile strength,tear strength,grain cracking load,and distention at grain cracking were comparable to conventional vegetable-tanned leather.The cross-sectional morphology of the tanned leathers was also characterized by scanning electron microscopy(SEM)which revealed a compact structure of the leather fibers.In light of the findings from the study,X.granatum bark tannin could be a well alternative to chromium and a new source of vegetable tannin for the leather industry.

Extraction of a novel tanning agent from indigenous plant bark and its application in leather processing

The use of vegetable tanning materials in leather processing has drawn attention as an alternative to basic chromium sulphate for its natural abundance and environmental aspects. In this work, an attempt has been made to extract veg-etable tannins from Xylocarpus granatum bark using different solvents (e.g., water, methanol, ethanol, and chloroform) and compare with conventional vegetable tanning agents such as mimosa and quebracho. The highest extraction efficiency was observed 31.22% by methanol. The presence of tannin content and polyphenolic compounds, e.g. (-)epicatechin (503 mg/100 g dry extract), catechin hydrate (218 mg/100 g dry extract), catechol (29 mg/100 g dry extract) were ensured by UV-Vis, FT-IR spectroscopy and HPLC. Again, condensed tannins, moisture content, and pH of the methanol extracted tannin were found 47.80%, 5.82%, and 3.97 respectively. The leather tanned by Xylocar-pus granatum tannin showed a shrinkage temperature of 86.34 ± 1.52 °C. Other properties such as tensile strength, tear strength, grain cracking load, and distention at grain cracking were comparable to conventional vegetable- tanned leather. The cross-sectional morphology of the tanned leathers was also characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) which revealed a compact structure of the leather fibers. In light of the findings from the study, X. granatum bark tannin could be a well alternative to chromium and a new source of vegetable tannin for the leather industry.