Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:06:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FranciscoJPF.pdf: 1681554 bytes, checksum: 4238148885bafd3e26a8d8ca7de20466 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-07 / Nowadays the environmental issues are increasingly highlighted since the future of humanity is dependent on the actions taken by man. Major efforts are being expended in pursuit of knowledge and alternatives to promote sustainable development without compromising the environment. In recent years there has been a marked growth in the development of reinforced composite fiber plants, as an alternative for economic and ecological effects, especially in the substitution of synthetic materials such as reinforcement material in composites. In this current study the chemical- physical or (thermophysics )characteristics of the babassu coconut fiber, derived from the epicarp of the fruit (Orbignyda Phalerata), which the main constituents of the fiber: Klason lignin, insoluble, cellulose, holocellulose, hemicellulose and the content of ash and moisture will be determined. A study was conducted about the superficial modification of the fibers of the epicarp babassu coconut under the influence of chemical treatment by alkalinization, in an aqueous solution of NaOH to 2.5% (m/v) and to 5.0% to improve the compatibility matrix / reinforcement composite with epoxy matrix. The results of the changes occurred in staple fibers through the use of the techniques of thermogravimetric analyses (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results found on thermal analysis on samples of fiber without chemical treatment (alkalinities), and on fiber samples treated by alkalinization show that the proposed chemical treatment increases the thermal stability of the fibers and provides a growth of the surface of area fibers, parameters that enhance adhesion fiber / composite. The findings were evaluated and compared with published results from other vegetable fibers, showing that the use of babassu coconut fibers has technical and economic potential for its use as reinforcement in composites / Atualmente as quest?es ambientais ganham destaque cada vez mais acentuado, j? que o futuro da humanidade est? dependente das a??es tomadas hoje pelo homem. Grandes esfor?os est?o sendo despendidos na busca de conhecimentos e solu??es alternativas sustent?veis que promova o desenvolvimento sem comprometimento do meio ambiente. Nos ?ltimos anos tem havido um crescimento acentuado no desenvolvimento de comp?sitos refor?ados por fibras vegetais, como uma alternativa econ?mica e ecol?gica, principalmente, na substitui??o de materiais sint?ticos, como material de refor?o em comp?sitos. No presente trabalho foram analisadas as caracter?sticas qu?mico-f?sicas de fibra oriundas do epicarpo do coco baba?u (Orbignyda Phalerata), sendo determinados os principais teores dos constituintes da fibra: lignina Klason insol?vel, celulose, holocelulose, hemicelulose e os teores de cinzas e de umidade. Foi realizado um estudo da modifica??o superficial das fibras do epicarpo do coco baba?u sob efeito de tratamento qu?mico por alcaliniza??o, em solu??o aquosa de NaOH a 2,5% (m/v) e a 5,0% (m/v), visando melhorar a compatibiliza??o matriz/refor?o em comp?sito com a matriz de ep?xi. Os resultados das modifica??es ocorridas nas fibras foram estudados atrav?s de t?cnicas de termogravimetria (TG) e de calorimetria explorat?ria diferencial (DSC). Os resultados encontrados nas an?lises t?rmicas em amostras de fibras sem tratamento qu?mico e em amostras de fibras tratadas por alcaliniza??o mostram que o tratamento qu?mico proposto aumentou a estabilidade t?rmica das fibras e proporcionou um crescimento na ?rea superficial das fibras, par?metros que melhoram a ades?o fibra/comp?sito. Os resultados obtidos foram avaliados e comparados com resultados publicados de outras fibras vegetais, mostrando que a utiliza??o das fibras de coco baba?u tem potencialidades t?cnicas e econ?micas para o seu uso como refor?o de comp?sitos

Fires following earthquake (FFE) have historically produced enormous post-earthquake damage and losses in terms of lives, buildings and economic costs, like the San Francisco earthquake (1906), the Kobe earthquake (1995), the Turkey earthquake (2011), the Tohoku earthquake (2011) and the Christchurch earthquakes (2011). The structural fire performance can worsen significantly because the fire acts on a structure damaged by the seismic event. On these premises, the purpose of this work is the investigation of the experimental and numerical response of structural and non-structural components of steel structures subjected to fire following earthquake (FFE) to increase the knowledge and provide a robust framework for hybrid fire testing and hybrid fire following earthquake testing. A partitioned algorithm to test a real case study with substructuring techniques was developed. The framework is developed in MATLAB and it is also based on the implementation of nonlinear finite elements to model the effects of earthquake forces and post-earthquake effects such as fire and thermal loads on structures. These elements should be able to capture geometrical and mechanical non-linearities to deal with large displacements. Two numerical validation procedures of the partitioned algorithm simulating two virtual hybrid fire testing and one virtual hybrid seismic testing were carried out. Two sets of experimental tests in two different laboratories were performed to provide valuable data for the calibration and comparison of numerical finite element case studies reproducing the conditions used in the tests. Another goal of this thesis is to develop a fire following earthquake numerical framework based on a modified version of the OpenSees software and several scripts developed in MATLAB to perform probabilistic analyses of structures subjected to FFE. A new material class, namely SteelFFEThermal, was implemented to simulate the steel behaviour subjected to FFE events.