No description available.

With the popularity of outdoor activities like hiking, the demands of certain types of employment, or being a student, an individual’s ability to carry a load is an important mobility consideration. By understanding the changes to an individual’s gait when supporting a backpack load, an individual’s ability to carry heavy loads for prolonged periods could be improved. Most biomechanical studies have examined the changes in able-bodied gait when carrying a load. However, research is lacking on the effect of backpack loads on amputee gait patterns. This project examined the effects of a backpack load on the gait patterns of unilateral transtibial amputees. Ten participants performed walking trials on four surfaces (level ground, uneven ground, walking up an incline, and walking down an incline), without a pack and with a pack. A total of 40 trials were collected per subject, with 10 trials collected on each surface. Three-dimensional motion data were collected with an eight-camera Vicon Motion Analysis system to describe limb motion as well as compare kinematic outcomes between tasks and conditions. Force platform data were collected during the level ground trials and used to calculate kinetic measures for both limbs. With the addition of the pack changes were seen on each surface, with different changes occurring to each limb. The ramp up surface created the most changes when comparing the two conditions. The only change seen across all four surfaces was a decrease in ankle dorsiflexion before push-off on the prosthetic limb. The two next most common changes were increases in knee and hip flexion during weight-acceptance.

With the popularity of outdoor activities like hiking, the demands of certain types of employment, or being a student, an individual’s ability to carry a load is an important mobility consideration. By understanding the changes to an individual’s gait when supporting a backpack load, an individual’s ability to carry heavy loads for prolonged periods could be improved. Most biomechanical studies have examined the changes in able-bodied gait when carrying a load. However, research is lacking on the effect of backpack loads on amputee gait patterns. This project examined the effects of a backpack load on the gait patterns of unilateral transtibial amputees. Ten participants performed walking trials on four surfaces (level ground, uneven ground, walking up an incline, and walking down an incline), without a pack and with a pack. A total of 40 trials were collected per subject, with 10 trials collected on each surface. Three-dimensional motion data were collected with an eight-camera Vicon Motion Analysis system to describe limb motion as well as compare kinematic outcomes between tasks and conditions. Force platform data were collected during the level ground trials and used to calculate kinetic measures for both limbs. With the addition of the pack changes were seen on each surface, with different changes occurring to each limb. The ramp up surface created the most changes when comparing the two conditions. The only change seen across all four surfaces was a decrease in ankle dorsiflexion before push-off on the prosthetic limb. The two next most common changes were increases in knee and hip flexion during weight-acceptance.

No description available.

No description available.

With the popularity of outdoor activities like hiking, the demands of certain types of employment, or being a student, an individual’s ability to carry a load is an important mobility consideration. By understanding the changes to an individual’s gait when supporting a backpack load, an individual’s ability to carry heavy loads for prolonged periods could be improved. Most biomechanical studies have examined the changes in able-bodied gait when carrying a load. However, research is lacking on the effect of backpack loads on amputee gait patterns. This project examined the effects of a backpack load on the gait patterns of unilateral transtibial amputees. Ten participants performed walking trials on four surfaces (level ground, uneven ground, walking up an incline, and walking down an incline), without a pack and with a pack. A total of 40 trials were collected per subject, with 10 trials collected on each surface. Three-dimensional motion data were collected with an eight-camera Vicon Motion Analysis system to describe limb motion as well as compare kinematic outcomes between tasks and conditions. Force platform data were collected during the level ground trials and used to calculate kinetic measures for both limbs. With the addition of the pack changes were seen on each surface, with different changes occurring to each limb. The ramp up surface created the most changes when comparing the two conditions. The only change seen across all four surfaces was a decrease in ankle dorsiflexion before push-off on the prosthetic limb. The two next most common changes were increases in knee and hip flexion during weight-acceptance.

The wall design equations available in major codes of practice (e.g. AS3600 and ACI318) are intended for the design of normal strength concrete load bearing walls supported at top and bottom only. These codes fail to recognise any contribution to load capacity from restraints on the side edges. They also fail to give guidance on the applicability of the equations to high strength concrete. Further, they do not consider slender walls. In many situations walls have side edges restrained and are composed of high strength concrete with high slenderness ratios. The recognition of these factors in the codes would result in thinner walls and consequently savings in construction costs. In this thesis, the focus is on the development of a design formula and new design methods for axially loaded reinforced concrete wall panels. The design of walls having side restraints and being composed of high strength concrete is given particular attention. An experimental program has been undertaken to obtain data for the derivation of applicable formulae and to verify the analytical methods developed herein. Note that, the test results and other data available in published literature have also been used to develop the design formula. The formula encompasses effective length, eccentricity and slenderness ratio factors and is proposed for normal and high strength concrete walls simply supported at top and bottom only (one-way) and simply supported on all four sides (two-way). The major portion of the experimental program focuses on a series of normal and high strength concrete walls simply supported at top and bottom only (one-way), and simply supported on all four sides (two-way) with eccentric axial loading. The behaviour of the test panels is noted, particularly the difference between the normal and high strength concrete panels. A Layer Finite Element Method (LFEM) is used as an analytical tool for walls in two-way action. The LFEM gives comparable results to the test data and the proposed design formula. As part of the research, a program named WASTABT has also been developed to implement a more accurate analytical method involving the instability analysis of two-way action walls. WASTABT is proven to be a useful design tool in situations where the walls have (i) various reinforcement ratio in one or two layers; (ii) composed of normal or high strength concrete; (iii) various eccentricity.

The subject of this thesis is the static design of load bearing structure of a flat-building. The flat-building is designed as a two-floors building with cock-loft. The ground plan of the house is 15,04 x 16,74 m, the height is 9,25 m. The house is considered as II. snow area and II. wind area. The load bearing structure is designed in two variations. In first variation is designed load baering structure of the house by steel thin-walled sections, in second variation is designed by timber sections. In both variations load bearing structures is made of columns, garlands, ceiling beams and roof truss.

Unreinforced masonry walls subjected to blast loading are vulnerable to collapse and fragmentation. The objective of this thesis is to conduct experimental and analytical research for developing a blast retrofit methodology that utilizes polyurea. A total of four unreinforced masonry walls were constructed and tested under various shock tube induced blast pressures at the University of Ottawa Shock Tube Testing Facility. Two of the retrofitted walls had surface-sprayed polyurea. The results indicate that the use of polyurea effectively controlled fragmentation while significantly increased the load capacity and stiffness of masonry walls. Polyurea proved to be an excellent retrofit material for dissipating blast induced energy by providing ductility to the system and changing the failure mode from brittle to ductile. Single degree of freedom (SDOF) dynamic analyses were conducted as part of the analytical investigation. The results show that the analytical model provides reasonably accurate predictions of the specimen response.

Unreinforced masonry walls subjected to blast loading are vulnerable to collapse and fragmentation. The objective of this thesis is to conduct experimental and analytical research for developing a blast retrofit methodology that utilizes polyurea. A total of four unreinforced masonry walls were constructed and tested under various shock tube induced blast pressures at the University of Ottawa Shock Tube Testing Facility. Two of the retrofitted walls had surface-sprayed polyurea. The results indicate that the use of polyurea effectively controlled fragmentation while significantly increased the load capacity and stiffness of masonry walls. Polyurea proved to be an excellent retrofit material for dissipating blast induced energy by providing ductility to the system and changing the failure mode from brittle to ductile. Single degree of freedom (SDOF) dynamic analyses were conducted as part of the analytical investigation. The results show that the analytical model provides reasonably accurate predictions of the specimen response.