Aggregate gradation design of asphalt mixture with stone-to-stone contact based on fuller's model

Based on Fuller＇s model, a gradation design is presented for the load-carrying capacity of an asphalt mixture with stone-to-stone contact. The coarse aggregate gradation, fine aggregate and filler gradation are respectively designed for their different effects on an asphalt mixture with stone-to-stone contact. The equation of coarse aggregate gradation is deduced from the Fuller＇s model. Fine aggregate gradation is calculated by using Fuller＇s equation. The asphalt mixture with the 16 mm maximum size of aggregate is verified. When the coefficient of coarse aggregate gradation is 0.35 and fine aggregate gradation is 0.25, the volume parameters of asphalt mixture meet the technical specifications. Moreover, the high temperature stability and crack resistance at low temperature are all well.

Bond of Seawater Scoria Aggregate Concrete to Stainless Reinforcement

This study investigates the bond between seawater scoria aggregate concrete(SSAC)and stainless reinforcement(SR)through a series of pull-out tests.A total of 39 specimens,considering five experimental parameters—con-crete type(SSAC,ordinary concrete(OC)and seawater coral aggregate concrete(SCAC)),reinforcement type(SR,ordinary reinforcement(OR)),bond length(3,5 and 8 times bar diameter),concrete strength(C25 and C30)and concrete cover thickness(42 and 67 mm)—were prepared.The typical bond properties(failure pattern,bond strength,bond-slip curves and bond stress distribution,etc.)of seawater scoria aggregate concrete-stainless rein-forcement(SSAC-SR)specimen were systematically studied.Generally,the failure pattern changed with the con-crete type used,and the failure surface of SSAC specimen was different from that of OC specimen.SSAC enhanced the bond strength of specimen,while its effect on the deformation of SSAC-SR was negative.On aver-age,the peak slip of SSAC specimens was 20%lower while the bond strength was 6.7%higher compared to OC specimens under the similar conditions.The effects of variables on the bond strength of SSAC–SR in increasing order are concrete type,bond length,concrete strength and cover thickness.The bond-slip curve of SSAC-SR specimen consisted of micro-slipping,slipping and declining stages.It can be obtained that SSAC reduced the curve curvature of bond-slip,and the decline of curve became steep after adopting SR.The typical distribution of bond stress along bond length changed with the types of concrete and reinforcement used.Finally,a specific expression of the bond stress-slip curve considering the effects of various variables was established,which could provide a basis for the practical application of reinforced SSAC.

CONSERVATIVE ESTIMATING FUNCTION IN THE NONLINEAR REGRESSION MODEL WITH AGGREGATED DATA

The purpose of this paper is to study the theory of conservative estimating functions in nonlinear regression model with aggregated data. In this model, a quasi-score function with aggregated data is defined. When this function happens to be conservative, it is projection of the true score function onto a class of estimation functions. By constructing, the potential function for the projected score with aggregated data is obtained, which have some properties of log-likelihood function.

Compressive Performance of Fiber Reinforced Recycled Aggregate Concrete by Basalt Fiber Reinforced Polymer-Polyvinyl Chloride Composite Jackets

The development of recycled aggregate concrete(RAC)provides a new approach to limiting the waste of natural resources.In the present study,the mechanical properties and deformability of RACs were improved by adding basalt fibers(BFs)and using external restraints,such as a fiber-reinforced polymer(FRP)jacket or a PVC pipe.Samples were tested under axial compression.The results showed that RAC(50%replacement of aggregate)containing 0.2%BFs had the best mechanical properties.Using either BFs or PVC reinforcement had a slight effect on the loadbearing capacity and mode of failure.With different levels of BFs,the compressive strengths of the specimens reinforced with 1-layer and 3-layer basalt fiber reinforced polymer(BFRP)increased by 6.7%–10.5%and 16.5%–23.7%,respectively,and the ultimate strains increased by 48.5%–80.7%and 97.1%–141.1%,respectively.The peak stress of the 3-layer BFRP-PVC increased by 42.2%,and the ultimate strain improved by 131.3%,relative to the control.This reinforcement combined the high tensile strength of BFRP,which improved the post-peak behavior,and PVC,which enhanced the structural durability.In addition,to investigate the influence of the various constraints on compressive behavior,the stress-strain response was analyzed.Based on the analysis of experimental results,a peak stress-strain model and an amended ultimate stress-strain model were proposed.The models were verified as well;the result showed that the predictions from calculations are generally consistent with the experimental data(error within 10%).The results of this study provide a theoretical basis and reference for future applications of fiber-reinforced recycled concrete.

Aggregated morphodynamic modelling of tidal inlets and estuaries

Aggregation is used to represent the real world in a model at an appropriate level of abstraction.We used the convection-diffusion equation to examine the implications of aggregation progressing from a three-dimensional(3D)spatial description to a model representing a system as a single box that exchanges sediment with the adjacent environment.We highlight how all models depend on some forms of parametric closure,which need to be chosen to suit the scale of aggregation adopted in the model.All such models are therefore aggregated and make use of some empirical relationships to deal with sub-scale processes.One such appropriately aggregated model,the model for the aggregated scale morphological interaction between tidal basin and adjacent coast(ASMITA),is examined in more detail and used to illustrate the insight that this level of aggregation can bring to a problem by considering how tidal inlets and estuaries are impacted by sea level rise.

Cyber-physical Modeling Technique based Dynamic Aggregation of Wind Farm Considering LVRT Characteristic

With the increasing penetration of wind power,large-scale integrated wind turbine brings stability and security risks to the power grid.For the aggregated modeling of large wind farms,it is crucial to consider low voltage ride-through(LVRT)characteristics.However,in aggregation methods,the approximate neglect behavior is essential,which leads to inevitable errors in the aggregation process.Moreover,the lack of parameters in practice brings new challenges to the modeling of a wind farm.To address these issues,a novel cyber-physical modeling method is proposed.This method not only overcomes the aggregation problem under the black-box wind farm but also accurately realizes the aggregation error fitting according to the operation data.The simulation results reveal that the proposed method can accurately simulate the dynamic behaviors of the wind farm in various scenarios,whether in LVRT mode or normal mode.

Physical Model of Drying Shrinkage of Recycled Aggregate Concrete

We prepared concretes（RC0, RC30, and RC100） with three different mixes. The poresize distribution parameters of RAC were examined by high-precision mercury intrusion method（MIM） and nuclear magnetic resonance（NMR） imaging. A capillary-bundle physical model with random-distribution pores（improved model, IM） was established according to the parameters, and dry-shrinkage strain values were calculated and verified. Results show that in all pore types, capillary pores, and gel pores have the greatest impacts on concrete shrinkage, especially for pores 2.5-50 and 50-100 nm in size. The median radii are 34.2, 31, and 34 nm for RC0, RC30, and RC100, respectively. Moreover, the internal micropore size distribution of RC0 differs from that of RC30 and RC100, and the pore descriptions of MIM and NMR are consistent both in theory and in practice. Compared with the traditional capillary-bundle model, the calculated results of IM have higher accuracy as demonstrated by experimental verifi cation.

Impacts of Aggregation Methods and Trophospecies Number on the Structure and Function of Marine Food Webs

Aggregation of species with similar ecological properties is one of the effective methods to simplify food web researches.However,species aggregation will affect not only the complexity of modeling process but also the accuracy of models’outputs.Selection of aggregation methods and the number of trophospecies are the keys to study the simplification of food web.In this study,three aggregation methods,including taxonomic aggregation(TA),structural equivalence aggregation(SEA),and self-organizing maps(SOM),were analyzed and compared with the linear inverse model–Markov Chain Monte Carlo(LIM-MCMC)model.Impacts of aggregation methods and trophospecies number on food webs were evaluated based on the robustness and unitless of ecological net-work indices.Results showed that aggregation method of SEA performed better than the other two methods in estimating food web structure and function indices.The effects of aggregation methods were driven by the differences in species aggregation principles,which will alter food web structure and function through the redistribution of energy flow.According to the results of mean absolute percentage error(MAPE)which can be applied to evaluate the accuracy of the model,we found that MAPE in food web indices will increase with the reducing trophospecies number,and MAPE in food web function indices were smaller and more stable than those in food web structure indices.Therefore,trade-off between simplifying food webs and reflecting the status of ecosystem should be con-sidered in food web studies.These findings highlight the importance of aggregation methods and trophospecies number in the analy-sis of food web simplification.This study provided a framework to explore the extent to which food web models are affected by dif-ferent species aggregation,and will provide scientific basis for the construction of food webs.

Brittleness Generation Mechanism and Failure Model of High Strength Lightweight Aggregate Concrete

The brittleness generation mechanism of high strength lightweight aggregate concrete(HSLWAC) was presented, and it was indicated that lightweight aggregate was the vulnerable spot,initiating brittleness. Based on the analysis of the brittleness failure by the load-deflection curve, the brittleness presented by HSLWAC was more prominent compared with ordinary lightweight aggregate concrete of the same strength grade. The model of brittleness failure was also established.

Asymptotics of discounted aggregate claims for renewal risk model with risky investment

Under the assumption that the claim size is subexponentially distributed and the insurance surplus is totally invested in risky asset, a simple asymptotic relation of tail probability of discounted aggregate claims for renewal risk model within finite horizon is obtained. The result extends the corresponding conclusions of related references.

On use of the alpha stable self-similar stochastic process to model aggregated VBR video traffic

The alpha stable self-similar stochastic process has been proved an effective model for high variable data traffic. A deep insight into some special issues and considerations on use of the process to model aggregated VBR video traffic is made. Different methods to estimate stability parameter a and self-similar parameter H are compared. Processes to generate the linear fractional stable noise （LFSN） and the alpha stable random variables are provided. Model construction and the quantitative comparisons with fractional Brown motion （FBM） and real traffic are also examined. Open problems and future directions are also given with thoughtful discussions.

Crack Propagation and Failure Characteristics of Modeled Concrete with Natural and Brick Aggregates

The failure characteristics of recycled concrete containing brick aggregates are still indistinct,especially how the angular aggregates effect the crack propagation.Based on the concept of modeled concrete,the development of cracks in concrete containing the natural aggregate and brick aggregate under a compression loading was studied.The strain distribution was analyzed with the Digital Image Correlation(DIC).The modeled aggregates include circular and squared ones,and the squared modeled aggregates were placed in different orientations,including 0°,22.5°and 45°.The results show that when the aggregate is placed at 45°,the upper and lower vertices of the aggregate lead to the highest critical strain concentration,therefore,cracks are easy to propagate from these areas and the strength of the corresponding modeled concrete is the lowest.When the modeled natural aggregate is placed at the orientation of 0°,the strain concentration first appears at the interface on both lateral sides of the aggregate.The brick aggregate has a lower elastic modulus and strength than the surrounding mortar.As a result,cracks always propagate through the brick aggregate,which is the primary reason for the low strength of the corresponding concrete.

Experimental Investigation and Development of Artificial Neural Network Model for the Properties of Locally Produced Light Weight Aggregate Concrete

The developments in the field of construction raise the need for concrete with less weight. This is beneficial for different applications starting from the less load applied to foundations and soil till the reduction of carnage capacity required for lifting precast units. In this paper, the production of light weight concrete from light local weight aggregate is investigated. Three candidate materials are used: crushed fired brick, vermiculite and light exfoliated clay aggregate (LECA). The first is available as the by-product of brick industry and the later two types are produced locally for different applications. Nine concrete mixes were made with same proportions and different aggregate materials. Physical and mechanical properties were measured for concrete in fresh and hardened states. Among these measured ones are unit weight, slump, compressive and tensile strength, and impact resistance. Also, the performance under elevated temperature was measured. Results show that reduction of unit weight up to 45%, of traditional concrete, can be achieved with 50% reduction in compressive strength. This makes it possible to get structural light weight concrete with compressive strength of 130 kg/cm2. Light weight concrete proved also to be more impact and fire resistant. However, as expected, it needs separate calibration curves for non-destructive evaluation. Following this experimental effort, the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) technique was applied for simulating and predicting the physical and mechanical properties of light weight aggregate concrete in fresh and hardened states. The current paper introduced the (ANN) technique to investigate the effect of light local weight aggregate on the performance of the produced light weight concrete. The results of this study showed that the ANN method with less effort was very efficiently capable of simulating the effect of different aggregate materials on the performance of light weight concrete.

Research on Flexural Behavior of Coral Aggregate Reinforced Concrete Beams

Through the flexural behavior test of coral aggregate reinforced concrete beams(CARCB) and ordinary Portland reinforced concrete beams(OPRCB), and based on the parameters of concrete types, concrete strength grades and reinforcement ratios, the crack development, failure mode, midspan deflection and flexural capacity were studied, the relationships of bending moment-midspan deflection, load-longitudinal tensile reinforcement strain, load-maximum crack width were established, and a calculation model for the flexural capacity of CARCB was suggested. The results showed that with the increase in the reinforcement ratio and concrete strength grade, the crack bending moment(Mcr)and ultimate bending moment(Mu) of CARCB gradually increased. The characteristics of CARCB and OPRCB are basically the same. Furthermore, through increasing the concrete strength grade and reinforcement ratio, Mcr/Mu could be increased to delay the cracking of CARCB. As the load increased, crack width(w) would also increase. At the beginning of the loading, w increased slowly. And then it increased rapidly when the load reached to the ultimate load, which then led to beam failure. Meanwhile, with a comprehensive consideration of the effects of steel corrosion on the loss of steel section and the decrease of steel yield strength, a more reasonable calculation model for the flexural capacity of CARCB was proposed.

Simulation research on monomer agglomeration of nonmetallic inclusions in steel with a diffusion limited aggregation model

The monomer agglomeration of nonmetallic inclusions was simulated with a diffusion limited aggregation （DLA） model of the fractal theory. The simulation study with a random two-dimensional diffusion was carried out. The results indicate that the DLA model can be used for the simulation of agglomeration behavior of the cluster-type inclusions. The morphology of clusters was observed with SEM and compared with the simulated agglomerates. The modelling procedure of the DLA model is applicable for the agglomeration process. The uncertainty of agglomeration process and the persuasive average agglomerative ratio was analyzed. The factors about the agglomerative ratio with the collision path distance and the size of particles or seed were discussed. The adherence of the nonmetallic inclusions on the dam, the weir and the walls of a tundish, and the absorption of inclusions by stopper or nozzle were also discussed.

The Complete Stress-strain Curve of Recycled Aggregate Concrete under Uniaxial Compression Loading

The mechanical performance of recycled aggregate concrete （RAC） is investigated. An experiment on the complete stress-strain curve under uniaxial compression loading of RAC is carried out. The experimental results indicate that the peak stress, peak strain, secant modulus of the peak point and original point increase with the strength grade of RAC enhanced. On the contrary, the residual stress of RAC decreases with the strength grade enhancing, and the failure of RAC is often broken at the interface between the recycled aggregate and the mortar matrix. Finally, the constitutive model of stress-strain model of RAC has been constituted, and the results from the constitutive model of stress-strain meet the experiment results very well.

Investigation of molecular aggregation mechanism of glipizide/cyclodextrin complexation by combined experimental and molecular modeling approaches

Cyclodextrin complexation is a wise strategy to enhance aqueous solubility of waterinsoluble drugs.However,the aggregation mechanism of drug-cyclodextrin complexes is still unclear.This research aimed to investigate the molecular aggregation mechanism of glipizide/cyclodextrin complexation by the combination of experimental and modeling methods.Binding free energies between glipizide and cyclodextrins from modeling calculations were higher than those by the phase solubility diagram method.Both experimental and modeling results showed that methylated-β-cyclodextrin exhibited the best solubilizing capability to glipizide.Size-measurement results confirmed the aggregation between glipizide and all four cyclodextrins in high concentrations.Glipizide/γ-cyclodextrin and glipizide/β-cyclodextrin complexes showed stronger aggregation trend than HP-β-cyclodextrin and methylated-β-cyclodextrin.The substituted groups in the rim of HP-β-cyclodextrin and methylated-β-cyclodextrin lead to weak aggregation.This research provided us a clear molecular mechanism of glipizide/cyclodextrin complexation and aggregation.This research will also benefit the formulation development of cyclodextrin solubilization.

An Efficient Certificateless Aggregate Signature Scheme Designed for VANET

The Vehicular Ad-hoc Network(VANET)is the fundamental of smart transportation system in the future,but the security of the communication between vehicles and vehicles,between vehicles and roadside infrastructures have become increasingly prominent.Certificateless aggregate signature protocol is used to address this security issue,but the existing schemes still have many drawbacks in terms of security and efficiency:First,many schemes are not secure,and signatures can be forged by the attacker;Second,even if some scheme are secure,many schemes use a large number of bilinear pairing operation,and the computation overhead is large.At the same time,the length of the aggregated signature also increases linearly with the increase of user numbers,resulting in a large communication overhead.In order to overcome the above challenges,we propose a new certificateless aggregate signature scheme for VANET,and prove the security of the scheme under the random oracle model.The new scheme uses pseudonym to realize the conditional privacy protection of the vehicle’s information.The new scheme does not use bilinear pairing operation,and the calculation efficiency is high.At the same time,the length of the aggregate signature of the new scheme is constant,thereby greatly reducing the communication and storage overhead.The analysis results demonstrate that the new scheme is not only safer,but also superior in performance to the recent related schemes in computation overhead and communication cost.

Three-Dimensional Mesoscopic Investigation on the Impact of Specimen Geometry and Bearing Strip Size on the Splitting-Tensile Properties of Coral Aggregate Concrete

The use of coral aggregate concrete(CAC)as a novel construction material has attracted significant attention for the construction of reef engineering structures.To investigate the static splitting-tensile behaviors of CAC under the influence of two factors,namely specimen geometry and bearing strip size,a three-dimensional(3D)mesoscale modeling approach with consideration for aggregate randomness in shape and distribution was adopted in this study.We established 12 different specimen models with two specimen shapes(i.e.,a cube with an edge length of 150 mm and a cylinder with dimensions ofφ150 mm×300 mm)and six strip widths(i.e.,6,9,12,15,18,and 20 mm)for calculation.The effects of specimen geometry and strip width on the splitting-tensile properties of CAC,such as failure processes,final failure patterns,and splitting-tensile strength(fst),are analyzed and discussed systematically.The results indicate the high reliability of the developed mesoscale modeling approach and reveal the optimal computational parameters for simulating and predicting the splitting-tensile properties of CAC.The fstvalues of CAC are associated with both the specimen geometry and width of the bearing strip.The fstvalues of the cube model are slightly higher than those of the cylinder model for the same bearing strip size,representing geometry effects that can be explained by differences in fracture area.Additionally,the fstvalue of CAC gradually increases with the relative width of the bearing strip ranging from 0.04 to 0.13.Based on the elastic solution theory,the variation area of CAC fstvalues with the relative width of the bearing strip was determined preliminarily,which has great significance for studying the tensile performance of CAC.

Recycled Aggregate Pervious Concrete: Analysis of Influence of Water-Cement Ratio and Fly Ash under Single Action and Optimal Design of Mix Proportion

Pervious concrete is recommended,which is of great benefit to the ecological environment and human living environment.In this paper,the influences of five water-cement ratios and four fly ash contents to replace the cement by mass with a water-cement ratio of 0.30 on the properties of Recycled Aggregate Pervious Concrete(RAPC)were studied.Following this,based on the Grey relational-Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution(TOPSIS)optimization method,the strength,permeability,abrasion loss rate,and material costs of RAPC were adopted as evaluation indices to establish a mix proportion optimization model.The results show that the increase of water-cement ratio and fly ash replacement level of RAPC leads to decreased compres-sive strength while an increase in the permeability and abrasion loss rate.According to test results based on the optimal model 0.30 was identified as the best mix proportion.In addition,ecological-economic analysis of RAPC raw materials was carried out by comparing different natural aggregates.The results of EE(embodied energy)and ECO 2e(embodied CO_(2) emission)pointed out that the combination of recycled aggregate and fly ash leads to sig-nificant ecological and economic benefits.