Maintenance and rehabilitation of existing masonry and reinforced concrete structures are of great importance in the field of civil engineering. Due to deterioration and severe environment, numerous structures fail to meet functional or safety requirements, and as a result, they should be strengthened. Several methods have been utilized to repair the structures, including steel plate bonding, cable post-tensioning, and section enlargement. However, these methods bring disadvantages, such as significant added dead load and high labour cost. Therefore, externally bonding with composite materials has attracted considerable attention recently. Externally bonded fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) sheets have been widely used to strengthen reinforced concrete and masonry structures. FRP has been a common method to provide a higher service life for structures for several decades. However, strengthening structural members with FRP introduces certain drawbacks, such as their poor performance in fire scenarios caused by the rapid softening of the polymer-based resin. An alternative strengthening system known as a fabric-reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM) has been developed to address this issue by replacing resin-based material with an inorganic cementitious-based matrix. Nonetheless, the performance of FRCM at high temperatures has not been investigated sufficiently so far. Hence, this research focused on the mechanical behaviour of FRCM at high temperatures. This experimental research investigates the tensile performance of carbon FRCM at high temperatures. First, the temperature distribution within the specimens during heating was studied using nine specimens with one, two, or three layers to reveal the required time for the inner fabric to reach a steady temperature. Then, the tension and stiffness degradation of FRCM coupons were studied at different temperatures. A total of 84 FRCM coupons were fabricated and tested in tension; 60 of the tests were conducted at steady-state conditions in which temperature was held constant and load increased, and 24 specimens were carried out in transient-state tests, in which load was constant, and temperature grew. In order to provide a more comprehensive knowledge concerning the FRCM composite, some key variables were included in this research. These parameters are the number of layers (1, 2, 3) leading to different thicknesses (20, 30, 40 mm), the orientation of the fabric layer (unidirectional and bidirectional), target temperature (ambient, 100, 200, 300, 400°C), and heating condition (steady-state, transient state). These tests aimed to reveal the primary mechanical characteristics such as ultimate strength and cracked elastic modulus at different temperatures and compare them with control specimens tested at room temperature. With the increase in the number of fabric grids from one to two and three, the stress at failure decreased by about 11 and 18%, respectively. With regards to cracked elastic modulus two and three-layered specimens showed 18 and 20% reduction in value. It is also noteworthy to mention that overall load capacity of specimens rose with the increase in number of layers; however, due to the more significant increase in area, the stress was reduced. The same decreases in the cracked elastic modulus and ultimate strength were observed as the target temperature increased. Increasing the temperature to 400°C led to a decrease in ultimate strength and cracked elastic modulus of approximately 60 to 70%. Furthermore, the bidirectional specimens showed a better behaviour than unidirectional specimens in terms of ultimate strength; however, their cracked elastic moduli were almost the same. With regards to the transient-state tests, as the material became thicker, the failure temperature increased considerably. For instance, a 20-mm specimen failed at 467°C with a 20% sustained load, while a 30-mm specimen failed at 558°C. Another vital parameter studied in transient-state tests was the decrease in temperature with the increase in sustained load. An example of this is the 20-mm specimens which failed at 352 and 258°C, while they were preloaded to 40 and 60% of their capacities. The conclusions of this study suggest that FRCM materials do retain a non-negligible strength capacity at high temperatures. However, further investigations to reveal FRCM bond behaviour and retrofitted structural members at high temperatures are still required to provide comprehensive knowledge.

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京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第20578号 / 工博第4358号 / 新制||工||1677(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科材料化学専攻 / (主査)教授 木村 俊作, 教授 瀧川 敏算, 教授 秋吉 一成 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DGAM

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(人間健康科学) / 甲第21042号 / 人健博第58号 / 新制||人健||4(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科人間健康科学系専攻 / (主査)教授 坪山 直生, 教授 黒木 裕士, 教授 松田 秀一 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Human Health Sciences / Kyoto University / DFAM

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The overall goal of this research was to explore new living radical polymerization methods and the blending of renewable polymers. Towards this latter goal, polylactic acid (PLA) was blended with a new renewable polymer, poly(trimethylene-malonate) (PTM), with the aim of improving mechanical properties, imparting faster degradation, and examining the relationship between degradation and mechanical properties. Blend films of PLA and PTM with various ratios (5, 10, and 20 wt %) were cast from chloroform. Partially miscible blends exhibited Young’s modulus and elongation-to-break values that significantly extend PLA’s usefulness. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) data showed that incorporation of 10 wt% PTM into PLA matrix exhibited a Young’s modulus of 4.61 GPa, which is significantly higher than that of neat PLA (1.69 GPa). The second part of the bioplastics study involved a one-week hydrolytic degradation study of PTM and another new bioplastic, poly(trimethylene itaconate) (PTI) using DI water (pH 5.4) at room temperature, and the effects of degradation on crystallinity and mechanical properties of these films were examined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and AFM. PTI showed an increase in crystallinity with degradation, which was attributed to predominately degradation of free amorphous regions. Depending on the crystallinity, the elastic modulus increased at first, and decreased slightly. Both bulk and surface-tethered stimuli-responsive polymers were studied on amine functionalized magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles. Stimuli-responsive polymers studied, including poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM), poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA), and poly(itaconic acid) (PIA), were grafted via surface-initiated aqueous atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP). Both Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectroscopies showed the progression of the grafting. The change in particle size as a function of temperature was measured using dynamic light scattering (DLS). Once the PIA was grafted from the Fe3O4 nanoparticles for 13 h, the PIA thickness was around 13 nm. After the PNIPAM was grafted for 6 h, the stimuli-responsive nanocomposites with a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of 32 °C exhibited a particle size of 236 nm. Moreover, a variety of stimuli-responsive bulk block copolymers were synthesized. The stimuli-responsive nanocomposites could be good candidates as drug carriers for the targeted and controllable drug delivery.

This study examines the nanoindentation (energy inclusive) properties of 0.2 mg/kg alendronate treated ribs at one and three years against a vehicle treated control in a fresh-frozen, non-cold-mounted, condition. This was to verify if the tissue-level properties for 0.2 ALN treated beagles would increase because of an increased level of mineralization despite a microdamage increase. A total of twelve (12) skeletally mature (1–2 years old) female beagle dogs were treated daily for three years and one year with oral doses of vehicle (VEH, 1 mL/kg saline) or alendronate (ALN, 0.2 Merck, Rahway, NJ). The 0.2 mg dose corresponds, on a milligram per kilogram basis, to those used for treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis. Transversely cut samples were ground and polished to 0.3μm, and were then mounted while nanoindentation was performed. The data obtained were analyzed using two modes of diamond area functions: ideal function and general function. The statistical analysis for the data were carried out using a repeated measured ANOVA (SAS V 9.1, Cary NC.) with the measured and calculated mechanical property (elastic modulus or hardness) or energy property (elastic work or plastic work) as the dependent variable and treatment (control, 1 year or 3 years) modeled as the subject. Either Turkey-Kramer or Bonferroni method was used to compute the pair-wise difference. The results indicate that when compared to one year, the three years of alendronate medication for postmenopausal osteoporosis did not have any effect on the strength of the canine cortical bone, whereas this had effect on the hardness of the subjects. This increase in the medication time resulted in an increase in the elastic work but a decrease in the plastic work. The two methods (modes) of diamond area function analysed showed different mechanical properties (elastic modulus and hardness).

yes / This paper introduces a novel symbolic regression approach, namely biogeographical-based programming (BBP), for the prediction of elastic modulus of self-compacting concrete (SCC). The BBP model was constructed directly from a comprehensive dataset of experimental results of SCC available in the literature. For comparison purposes, another new symbolic regression model, namely artificial bee colony programming (ABCP), was also developed. Furthermore, several available formulas for predicting the elastic modulus of SCC were assessed using the collected database. The results show that the proposed BBP model provides slightly closer results to experiments than ABCP model and existing available formulas. A sensitivity analysis of BBP parameters also shows that the prediction by BBP model improves with the increase of habitat size, colony size and maximum tree depth. In addition, among all considered empirical and design code equations, Leemann and Hoffmann and ACI 318-08’s equations exhibit a reasonable performance but Persson and Felekoglu et al.’s equations are highly inaccurate for the prediction of SCC elastic modulus.

Heart valve disease is currently one of the leading forms of heart disease. Current literature has shown that endothelin I, angiotension II and 5-HT are vasoactive agents which cause concentration dependent contractions in aortic valve leaflet tissue. This study tested the mechanical properties of leaflets cut in the radial direction after they were exposed to the agents at varied concentrations or for 0.5, 6 or 24 hours. The elastic modulus, ultimate tensile strength and the yield strength were calculated. In the time trials the elastic modulus and the ultimate tensile strength both showed a significant increase at 24-hours. However, there were no significant differences found between the concentrations. Indicating the amount of vasoactive agent is not as significant as the length of exposure.

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