Neste trabalho utiliza-se uma formulação do método dos elementos de contorno (MEC) para a análise de pavimentos de edifícios, dando-se particular ênfase à análise de lajes cogumelo feita com a incorporação da não-linearidade física. Nesta formulação são consideradas as tensões normais e cisalhantes possibilitando, assim, a determinação da resistência última da estrutura. A formulação é inicialmente desenvolvida para a análise de flexão de placas utilizando-se a teoria de Reissner. A seguir, a formulação é estendida de modo a considerar a interação da placa com outros elementos, como vigas e pilares. Na interação placa-viga, o enrijecimento produzido é computado através de uma combinação com o método dos elementos finitos. Este modelo permite uma avaliação precisa dos momentos e forças cortantes nas interfaces da placa com os elementos lineares. Admite-se a ocorrência de um campo de momentos iniciais, viabilizando, dentre outros, o estudo de pavimentos com não-linearidade física. Para a análise do comportamento não-linear, implementa-se um algoritmo incremental-iterativo baseado no método da rigidez inicial. Visando-se obter uma melhor representação do comportamento do concreto armado, a integração das tensões ao longo da espessura é feita por um esquema numérico tipo gaussiano; a contribuição da armadura é feita de modo discreto considerada concentrada em seu centro geométrico. Pode-se, assim, avaliar separadamente o processo de danificação do concreto e o escoamento das armaduras. Para o concreto adota-se o modelo de dano de Mazars e para as armaduras longitudinais, um modelo elastoplástico uniaxial com endurecimento isotrópico. Quanto à absorção dos esforços oriundos das tensões cisalhantes, adota-se um modelo semelhante à idealização da treliça clássica de Ritter e Mörsch para vigas de concreto armado. Admite-se ainda que, após o início da fissuração, as tensões cisalhantes sejam absorvidas apenas pelas armaduras transversais. Para estas, adotase comportamento elástico linear. Objetivando-se a comprovação da eficiência da formulação proposta, são analisados alguns exemplos cujos resultados são comparados com resultados experimentais ou resultados de outros métodos de análise / This work deals with a formulation of the boundary element method applied to slab floor analysis with special emphasis concrete flat slabs exhibiting physical non-linearities. In this formulation normal and shear components of the stress tensor are taken into account to capture more accurately the ultimate strength of the structural element. The boundary element formulation in the context of Reissner’s plate bending theory is initially studied. Then, the formulation is extended to deal with combinations of plate elements with other elements such as beams and columns and also to incorporate internal support effects, for which full contact is assumed over small areas. The plate-beam and plate-column interaction model is based on a combination with the finite element method. Thus, this model allows an accurate evaluation of the internal forces along the plate-linear element interfaces and also over its vicinity. The presence of possible initial moment fields is also taken into account, which enables us to consider physical non-linear behaviours. The solution of the nonlinear system of algebraic equations is based on an iterative algorithm with constant matrix. In order to obtain a better modelling of the reinforced concrete slabs, the stress integrals along the thickness are performed with an appropriate gauss scheme; the reinforcement contribution is computed by considering concentrated effects at its geometric centre. Thus, the concrete degradation and the steel yielding can be independently evaluated. To represent the concrete behaviour the Mazars’ damage model has been adopted, while the steel material is governed by a uniaxial elastoplastic criterion with isotropic hardening. After the initial cracking of the concrete the shear stresses are properly transferred to the shear reinforcement using the Mörsch truss concept. The accuracy of the proposed formulation is illustrated by the analysing some practical examples. The results obtained are compared with experimental results and other numerical technique solutions

As vigas mistas de aço-concreto vêm ganhando espaço no mundo e no Brasil. Sua grande vantagem é o aproveitamento das melhores propriedades que cada material apresenta. O aço possui excelente resposta para esforços tanto de tração como os de compressão e o concreto para esforços de compressão. As vigas mistas envolvem basicamente o perfil de aço, a laje de concreto, os conectores e as armaduras. Na interface destes materiais ocorrem fenômenos que merecem destaque, como grau de interação, cisalhamento na superfície de contato e separação vertical. Os procedimentos normalmente empregados em projetos de estruturas convencionais de concreto armado e de aço fornecem muitas respostas para questões semelhantes nas estruturas mistas, porém, no geral, não abordam a questão mais relevante que é a ligação entre o aço e o concreto. Na vizinhança dos conectores de cisalhamento, a laje da viga mista de aço e concreto está sujeita a uma combinação de cisalhamento longitudinal e momento fletor transversal, por isso a interface é a região que necessita de uma análise cuidadosa. Esses aspectos são os objetos principais da pesquisa. Adicionalmente são discutidos os procedimentos de projetos adotados pelas normas brasileira (NBR 8800-86), americana (AISC) e européia (EUROCODE 4): nas regiões de ligações entre os materiais por meio de conectores em perfis de aço sob lajes de concreto, no controle da fissuração em seções solicitadas por momentos negativos e nas armaduras transversais de costura. / The use of composite steel-concrete beams is increasing in Brazil and in the world, because this is to take advantage of the best properties of each material. Steel has an excellent response to compression and tension and concrete has to compression. Composite beams include basically the steel beam, concrete slab, connectors and reinforcement. Some phenomena in the interface of these materials must be considered, like the degree of interaction, shear in contact surface and uplift. The procedures normally taken in design of conventional structures of reinforced concrete and steel structures supply many answers to similar questions in composite structures, but, in general, they do not approach the most relevant question which is the bond between steel and concrete. The slab of composite steel-concrete beam is affected by a combination of longitudinal shear and transverse flexure, in the neighborhood of the shear connector. The analysis of the behavior of the slab and the reinforcement are main aspect of the work. In addition, some design procedures adopted by Brazilian Standard (NBR 8800-86), American Standard (AISC-2005) and European standard (EUROCODE 4) are discussed, in especial the related to connects, the crack control in sections with hogging moment and in transverse reinforcement.

Prefabricated concrete elements are widely used in the construction industry today. With advantages such as time savings, increased safety at the construction site and minimized material usage, prefab becomes a major challenger to the traditional on-site casting construction method. However, constructing a bridge in concrete still presents challenges when using prefab as a construction method. Hence, more research in the area is needed. This master thesis has been studying the behavior of a prefabricated skew angle slab and the connection between the slab and wall elements of a bridge. The study was conducted using a finite element software, where three 3D-models of skew angle slabs were created. The three models had different skew angles (0, 15 and 30 degrees) and crossed the same path. The models could represent both the slab and the slab-wall connection. The finite element analysis showed that slabs with angles up to 15 degrees could be designed as a straight bridge. However, when the skew angle increases to 30 degrees, the behavior of the slab and connection changes significantly. Furthermore, the results show that a stress concentration occurs in the obtuse corner and that the stress increases when the skew angle increases. Moreover, there is a slight uplift in the acute corner when the skew angle increases to 30 degrees.

O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar uma nova formulação direta do Método dos Elementos de Contorno (M.E.C.) para análise de placas, utilizando a teoria de Kirchhoff, admitindo três parâmetros nodais de deslocamentos para sua representação integral: deslocamento transversal e suas derivadas nas direções normal e tangencial ao contorno. Dois valores nodais são usados para os esforços, momento fletor normal mn e força cortante equivalente Vn. Desta forma são escritas três equações integrais de contorno por nó, obtidas a partir da discretização da placa, segundo a forma usual do método. A vantagem mais perceptível desta formulação é a possibilidade de se fazer a ligação da placa analisada pelo M.E.C. com elementos lineares, representados por três valores nodais de deslocamentos que passam a ser compatibilizados diretamente, para a análise de edifícios. São apresentados exemplos numéricos da formulação e das ligações para comprovação da formulação. / The aim of this work is to present an alternative formulation for plate bending analysis, using Kirchhoff\'s theory, in wich the boundary equation for displacements and its derivative in tangential and normal directions to the boundary for each boundary node are used. The efforts, according to Kirchhoff\'s theory, are the normal bending mn and the equivalent shear force Vn. This formulation is adequate for the analysis of plates coupled with flexible colunms and beams because these structural elements have three nodal displacement values at its nodes. Many examples of single plates and buildings slab are presented using the formulation proposed in this work.

Strata in the Cook Inlet forearc basin in south-central Alaska record the effects of tectonic events related to normal subduction and two flat-slab subduction events. Through detrital zircon geochronology we track provenance changes of strata deposited in a forearc basin in conjunction with these different subduction processes. Our data from strata deposited concurrent with normal subduction help to confirm previous provenance models of forearc basins that suggest provenance is sourced primarily from a proximal, coeval arc. However, compared to these models, our data from strata deposited coincident to flat-slab events show markedly different provenance signatures dependent upon: (1) geographic position relative to the flat-slab event; (2) pre-established, or lack thereof, topography; and (3) type of flat-slab event. Detrital zircon signatures of strata deposited in the Cook Inlet after flat-slab subduction of a mid-ocean ridge diversify to include older detritus found in the distal inboard region. This distal signature is then incrementally cut-off in younger strata due to deformation of the upper-plate from progressive insertion of a shallowly subducted oceanic plateau. Detrital zircon signatures for strata associated with each flat-slab event are largely older than depositional age due to the lack of coeval arc activity. Our data may help to improve the ability to recognize other flat-slab events through detrital zircon geochronology. In particular, changes in detrital zircon signatures found in strata deposited during flat-slab subduction of an oceanic plateau correlate well with the exhumation of rocks associated with the propagation of deformation in the over-riding plate due to plate coupling.

This work highlights slab coupled optical sensors (SCOS) and their ability to measure high voltages. Although other high voltage measurement techniques exist, most of these techniques are electrical devices and are therefore more susceptible to stray ground currents and other electromagnetic interferences (EMI), which may cause signal distortion. Optical sensors are less susceptible to such interferences and these sensors, such as the Pockels cell, have been used in measuring high voltage. SCOS offer an alternative method of measuring high voltage optically. Consisting of an optical fiber and an electro-optic slab waveguide, SCOS have the advantage of being very small in size (0.2 mm x 0.3 mm cross-section), simpler composition, and potentially less coupling losses. Issues associated with high voltage measurements are addressed such as unwanted corona, arcing, and EMI. Solutions are also explored which include insolating materials, electrode geometries, Faraday cages, and using optical sensors such as SCOS. Although the SCOS has been traditionally used to measure electric field, the SCOS is able to measure high voltage through the use of an electrode structure. The SCOS' ability to measure high voltage is showcase through the construction and output measurements of several high voltage systems: an ignition coil-based circuit, a dual ignition coil circuit, a Marx generator, and a 200 kV generator used in a capacitor discharge configuration. These measurements show the SCOS' ability to measure at least 111 kV capacitor discharges with 6.6 ns rise times and other various high voltage waveforms.

<p>Like the rest of the society modern health care has to deal with the ever increasing information flow. Imaging modalities such as CT, MRI, US, SPECT and PET just keep producing more and more data. Especially CT and MRI and their 3D image stacks cause problems in terms of how to effectively handle these data sets. Usually a PACS is used to manage the information flow. Since a PACS often is implemented with a server-client setup, the management of these large data sets requires an efficient representation of medical image stacks that minimizes the amount of data transmitted between server and client and that efficiently supports the workflow of a practitioner.</p><p>In this thesis an efficient wavelet representation for large medical image stacks is proposed for the use in a PACS. The representation supports features such as lossless viewing, random access, ROI-viewing, scalable resolution, thick slab viewing and progressive transmission. All of these features are believed to be essential to form an efficient tool for navigation and reconstruction of an image stack.</p><p>The proposed wavelet representation has also been implemented and found to be better in terms of memory allocation and amount of data transmitted between server and client when compared to prior solutions. Performance tests of the implementation has also shown the proposed wavelet representation to have a good computational performance.</p>

The objective of this research program is to further evaluate the performance and constructability of reinforced concrete (RC) column-steel beam-slab systems (RCS) for use in low- to mid-rise space frame buildings located in regions of high wind loads and/or moderate seismicity. To better understand these systems, two full scale RCS cruciform specimens were tested under bidirectional quasi-static reversed cyclic loading. The experimental portion of this research program included the construction and testing of two full-scale cruciform specimens with identical overall dimensions but with different joint detailing. The two joint details evaluated were joint cover plates and face bearing plates with localized transverse ties. The construction process was recorded in detail and related to actual field construction practices. The specimens were tested experimentally in quasi-static reversed cyclic loading in both orthogonal loading directions while a constant axial force was applied to the column, to simulate the wind loads in a subassembly of a prototype building. To compliment the experimental work, nonlinear analyses were performed to evaluate the specimen strength and hysteretic degradation parameters for RCS systems. In addition, current recommendations in the literature on the design of RCS joints were used to estimate specimen joint strength and were compared with the experimental findings.

Subduction zones are places where one hydrated oceanic plate goes underneath another plate, and releases its fluids into the overlying mantle wedge. Slab-derived fluids play a key role in subduction zone processes. They serpentinize the cold forearc mantle at shallow depths; and deeper, they trigger hydrous mantle melting beneath the arc volcanoes and sometimes at backarc basin (BAB) spreading center. Examining the composition of arc and BAB magmas helps understanding genesis of subduction-related magmas, nature and composition of their mantle sources and slab-derived fluids. However, investigating such processes at shallow subduction zones is challenging, because the cold forearc mantle generally does not melt. Here, I investigate an unusual region in the southernmost Mariana convergent margin in the Western Pacific, near the Challenger Deep. The SE Mariana forearc stretched to accommodate opening of the southernmost Mariana Trough ~5Ma ago, opening the SE Mariana forearc rift (SEMFR) and causing seafloor spreading ~2.7-3.7Ma ago. The subducted slab beneath SEMFR deepens from <50km to ~100km, thus studying SEMFR lavas provides a unique opportunity to understand shallow subduction processes. By examining the major and trace element composition, the Pb-Nd-Sr isotopic ratios and the volatile contents (H2O, CO2, Cl, S, F) of SEMFR basalts, associated glassy rinds and olivine-hosted melt inclusions (Ol-MI) collected during three cruises (YK08-08, YK10-12, TN273), I show that: (i) SEMFR lavas were produced by adiabatic decompression melting of depleted asthenospheric BAB-like mantle at ~30±6.6 km depth and 1224±40oC; (ii) Ol-MI represent hydrous melts trapped by forearc mantle olivines. Xenocrysts were entrained with SEMFR basalts during ascent; (iii) SEMFR mantle flowed from the forearc towards the arc volcanoes and was metasomatized by shallow aqueous fluids; (iv) SEMFR shallow fluids are more aqueous than the fluids released beneath the Mariana arc and Mariana BAB; (v) the aqueous slab-derived fluids and the volatile fluxes are greatest at ~50-100km slab depth, suggesting that the minerals from the subducting plate mostly broke down beneath the arc to release their fluids. Such results provide new insights into shallow subduction processes, as previous studies showed that volatile fluxes and aqueous slab-derived fluids should increase toward the trench.

Reinforced concrete slab-column structures are widely used because of their practicality. However, this type of structures can be subject to punching-shear failure in the slab-column connections. Without shear reinforcement, the slab-column connection can undergo brittle punching failure, especially when the structure is subject to lateral loading in seismic zones. The shear bolts are a new type of transverse reinforcement developed for retrofit of existing structures against punching. This research focuses on how the shear bolts can improve the punching-shear capacity and ductility of the existing slab-column connections under vertical service and lateral seismic loads. A set of nine full-scale reinforced concrete slab-column connection specimens were tested under vertical service and cyclic loads. The vertical (gravity) load for each specimen was kept at a constant value throughout the testing. The cyclic lateral drift with increasing intensity was applied to the columns. The specimens were different in number of bolts, concrete strength, number of openings, and level of gravity punching load. Strains in flexural rebars in the slabs, crack widths, lateral loads, and displacements were obtained. The peak lateral load (moment) and its corresponding drift ratio, connection stiffness, crack width, and ductility were compared among different specimens. The testing results show that shear bolts can increase lateral peak load resisting capacity, lateral drift capacity at peak load, and ductility of the slab-column connections. Shear bolts also change the failure mode of the slab-column connections and increase the energy dissipation capacity. The thesis includes also research on the development of guidelines for shear bolt design for concrete slab retrofitting, including the punching shear design method of concrete slab (with shear bolts), dimensions of bolts, spacing, and influence of bolt layout patterns. Suggestions are given for construction of retrofitting method using shear bolts. Recommendations are also presented for future research.