Critical load position for cavities beneath CRCP slab under vehicle loading

In order to study the critical load position that causes cavities beneath the continuously reinforced concrete pavement（ CRCP） slab under vehicle loading, the elliptical load is translated into the square load based on the equivalence principle.The CRCP slab is analyzed to determine the cavity position beneath the slab under vehicle loading. The influences of cavity size on the CRCP slab＇s stress and vertical displacement are investigated. The study results showthat the formation of the cavity is unavoidable under traffic loading, and the cavity is located at the edge of the longitudinal crack and the slab corner.The cavity size exerts an obvious influence on the largest horizontal tensile stress and vertical displacement. The slab corner is the critical load position of the CRCP slab. The results can be used to assist the design of CRCP in avoiding cavities beneath slabs subject to vehicle loading.

Displacement-based seismic design of flat slab-shear wall buildings

Flat slab system is becoming widely popular for multistory buildings due to its several advantages. However, the performance of flat slab buildings under earthquake loading is unsatisfactory due to their vulnerability to punching shear failure. Several national design codes provide guidelines for designing flat slab system under gravity load only. Nevertheless, flat slab buildings are also being constructed in high seismicity regions. In this paper, performance of flat slab buildings of various heights, designed for gravity load alone according to code, is evaluated under earthquake loading as per ASCE/SEI 41 methodology. Continuity of slab bottom reinforcement through column cage improves the performance of flat slab buildings to some extent, but it is observed that these flat slab systems are not adequate in high seismicity areas and need additional primary lateral load resisting systems such as shear walls. A displacement-based method is proposed to proportion shear walls as primary lateral load resisting elements to ensure satisfactory performance. The methodology is validated using design examples of flat slab buildings with various heights.

Direct ink writing of continuous SiO2 fiber reinforced wave-transparent ceramics

This article reports the first example of 3D printed continuous SiO2 fiber reinforced wave-transparent ceramic composites via an adaptation of direct ink writing technology to improve the mechanical and dielectric properties of ceramics.The ceramic inks showed good printability by adding nano-SiO2 powder.The effective continuous fiber-reinforced printing progress was achieved through the design and optimization of the coaxial needle structures by finite element simulation.After printing,the continuous fibers were evenly and continuously distributed in the matrix ceramics and the high molding precision for fiber reinforced composite was kept.It is demonstrated that 10 vol%continuous SiO2 fiber improved the bending strength of ceramics by about 27%better than that of the ceramics without fiber and the dielectric performance has also been greatly improved.The novel method unravels the potential of direct ink writing of continuous fiber reinforced wave-transparent ceramics with complex structures and improved properties.

Thermal conductivity and bending strength of SiC composites reinforced by pitch-based carbon fibers

In this work,pitch-based carbon fibers were utilized to reinforce silicon carbide(SiC)composites via reaction melting infiltration(RMI)method by controlling the reaction temperature and resin carbon content.Thermal conductivities and bending strengths of composites obtained under different preparation conditions were characterized by various analytical methods.Results showed the formation of SiC whiskers(SiC_(w))during RMI process according to vapor–solid(VS)mechanism.SiC_(w) played an important role in toughening the C_(pf)/SiC composites due to crack bridging,crack deflection,and SiC_(w) pull-out.Increase in reaction temperature during RMI process led to an initial increase in thermal conductivity along in-plane and thickness directions of composites,followed by a decline.At reaction temperature of 1600℃,thermal conductivities along the in-plane and thickness directions were estimated to be 203.00 and 39.59 W/(m×K),respectively.Under these conditions,bending strength was recorded as 186.15±3.95 MPa.Increase in resin carbon content before RMI process led to the generation of more SiC matrix.Thermal conductivities along in-plane and thickness directions remained stable with desirable values of 175.79 and 38.86 W/(m×K),respectively.By comparison,optimal bending strength improved to 244.62±3.07 MPa.In sum,these findings look promising for future application of pitch-based carbon fibers for reinforcement of SiC ceramic composites.

3D Printing of Continuous Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites:Development,Application,and Prospective

Continuous fiber reinforced polymer composites(CFRPC)have been widely used in the field of automobile,air-craft,and space due to light weight,high specific strength and modulus in comparison with metal as well as alloys.Innovation on 3D printing of CFRPCs opened a new era for the design and fabrication of complicated composite structure with high performance and low cost.3D printing of CFRPCs provided an enabling technol-ogy to bridge the gaps between advanced materials and innovative structures.State-of-art has been reviewed according to the correlations of materials,structure,process,and performance as well as functions in 3D printing of CFRPCs.Typical applications and future perspective for 3D printing of CFRPCs were illustrated in order to grasp the opportunities and face the challenges,which need much more interdisciplinary researches covering the advanced materials,process and equipment,structural design,and final smart performance.

A Reinforcement-learning-based Bidding Strategy for Power Suppliers with Limited Information

The power market is a typical imperfectly competitive market where power suppliers gain higher profits through strategic bidding behaviors.Most existing studies assume that a power supplier is accessible to the sufficient market information to derive an optimal bidding strategy.However,this assumption may not be true in reality,particularly when a power market is newly launched.To help power suppliers bid with the limited information,a modified continuous action reinforcement learning automata algorithm is proposed.This algorithm introduces the discretization and Dyna structure into continuous action reinforcement learning automata algorithm for easy implementation in a repeated game.Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed learning algorithm.