This article presents an innovative method of bio-mediated soil improvement for increasing the shear strength of loose sand.The improvement is realized by mixing the loose sand with the inoculum of Rhizopus oligosporu...This article presents an innovative method of bio-mediated soil improvement for increasing the shear strength of loose sand.The improvement is realized by mixing the loose sand with the inoculum of Rhizopus oligosporus,a kind of fungus widely used in food industry for making Indonesian tempeh.The objective of this article is to investigate the performance and mechanism of mixing tempeh inoculum as a binding agent of loose sand particles.The inoculum dosage,water content of loose sand,and curing time were examined for identifying the increment of unconfined compressive strength(q_u)of the samples.The results showed that q_u of the treated samples increased when the inoculum dosage was elevated.It shows that 5.24%inoculum could yield 68 kPa of q_u,and 5%water content and 3 d curing time produced the maximum q_u.Moreover,the mechanism of hypha and mycelium in binding the soil particles was clearly observed using a digital microscope and scanning electron microscope.展开更多
Purpose-This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the Brazilian freight railway system,examining the efficacy of the current concession renewal model in light of persistent structural problems such as market con...Purpose-This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the Brazilian freight railway system,examining the efficacy of the current concession renewal model in light of persistent structural problems such as market concentration,cargo dependence on export commodities and underutilization of the network.Situating Brazil within the broader international debate on railway reforms,the paper evaluates whether the ongoing early renewal of concessions can deliver a more diversified and competitive freight system.Design/methodology/approach-The study adopts a sequential mixed-methods research design that integrates longitudinal quantitative analysis with qualitative institutional and policy evaluation.The quantitative component examines time-series indicators published by ANTT,DNIT and INFRA S.A.from 1999 to 2023 to identify structural patterns in traffic growth,investment,safety and market concentration.The qualitative component employs a process-tracing logic to reconstruct the evolution of concession renewals and the implementation of Railway Law 14.273/2021,drawing on concepts from regulatory economics,institutional theory and industrial organization.These empirical streams are synthesized through an analytical framework that connects three dimensions-regulatory design,market structure and system performance-allowing for a systematic assessment of how Brazil’s institutional configuration shapes incentives,competitive dynamics and network utilization.Findings-The analysis confirms that the early renewal of concessions has successfully secured substantial private investment for capacity expansion on existing trunk lines.However,it has perpetuated the vertically integrated model,reinforcing the market power of incumbent operators and failing to significantly promote intramodal competition or cargo diversification.The system remains dominated by iron ore and agricultural commodities,with general cargo representing a minuscule share.The new authorization regime and short-line railway policies present a viable pathway for market opening but face significant operational and institutional barriers to implementation.Originality/value-This research offers a timely and critical assessment of a pivotal moment in Brazilian railway policy.It moves beyond a simplistic evaluation of volume growth to a structural analysis of market failures and the interplay between concession renewal and regulatory innovation.The findings provide actionable insights for policymakers in Brazil and other emerging economies seeking to balance private investment with public interest goals in railway infrastructure,highlighting the necessity of complementary,pro-competitive measures alongside financial investment.展开更多
As underground mining advances to greater depths,cemented paste backfill(CPB)is increasingly subjected to complex thermo-mechanical loading conditions,including multiaxial stress states and elevated temperatures.This ...As underground mining advances to greater depths,cemented paste backfill(CPB)is increasingly subjected to complex thermo-mechanical loading conditions,including multiaxial stress states and elevated temperatures.This study investigates the coupled effects of field-representative vertical self-weight and horizontal rockwall closure stresses,along with in-situ temperatures,on the mechanical behavior and pore water pressure(PWP)evolution of CPB.Experiments were conducted using a novel apparatus capable of controlling multiaxial stress and temperature during curing,replicating in-situ stress paths and thermal profiles typical of deep mine environments.Results show that multiaxial stress enhances CPB strength and stiffness by promoting denser particle packing,reducing porosity,and increasing frictional resistance.Elevated temperatures independently accelerate early-age cement hydration,further improving bond strength and stiffness.When combined,multiaxial stress and elevated temperature produce a synergistic enhancement in unconfined compressive strength(UCS)and elastic modulus,as confirmed by two-way ANOVA and synergy index analysis.PWP responses were also highly sensitive to thermo-mechanical conditions.The evolution of positive and negative PWP was governed by the interplay of thermal expansion,hydration-induced desaturation,and mechanical compaction.Multiaxial stress amplified early positive PWP and delayed its dissipation,whereas elevated temperature accelerated hydration and reduced pore pressure,leading to enhanced suction at later ages.A transient“stress-induced resaturation”effect was observed under late-stage excessive horizontal stress but was mitigated by elevated temperatures.These findings provide critical insights into the coupled mechanical and hydraulic behavior of CPB under realistic field conditions and offer guidance for optimizing backfill design,binder content,and barricade stability in deep mining applications.展开更多
Advanced intensity measures(IMs)based on an inelastic deformation spectrum improved the evaluation of the median engineering demand parameters(EDPs)and reduced dispersion.In this regard,an optimized two-degreefreedom(...Advanced intensity measures(IMs)based on an inelastic deformation spectrum improved the evaluation of the median engineering demand parameters(EDPs)and reduced dispersion.In this regard,an optimized two-degreefreedom(2DOF)modal pushover-based scaling procedure(2DMPS)has been developed for a nonlinear dynamic analysis of asymmetric in-plan buildings.The 2DMPS procedure scales ground motions to approach close enough to a target value of the inelastic displacement of the first-mode inelastic 2DOF modal stick,extended for structures with significant contributions of higher modes.Further,4-,6-and 13-story RC SMRF buildings were selected for analyses using ground motion records scaled by the 2DMPS procedure,the modal pushover-based scaling method(MPS),and ASCE/SEI 7-16 scaling procedures.The median values of EDPs on scaled records closely matched the benchmark results.The bias in the EDP values due to the scaled records in every group regarding their median value was lower than the dispersion of the 21 unscaled records.These results generally demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the 2DMPS method.Additionally,the 2DOF modal stick’s inelastic response spectra are better suited for calculating seismic demands for one-way asymmetric-plan structures than the SDOF inelastic response spectra.展开更多
This study examines the dynamic response of two adjacent 9-and 20-story benchmark steel buildings subjected to six near-fault earthquake records.Two-dimensional numerical models were employed to account for the comple...This study examines the dynamic response of two adjacent 9-and 20-story benchmark steel buildings subjected to six near-fault earthquake records.Two-dimensional numerical models were employed to account for the complexities of structure-soil-structure interaction(SSSI).The research focuses on the separation gap between the buildings and the effects of pounding while considering Fixed Base(FB)and SSSI models,evaluated according to UBC 94 and ASCE 7-16 seismic codes.Key findings reveal that pounding occurs with the UBC 94 separation gap when earthquake frequency aligns with system frequency,leading to increased column stresses in the 9-story building.In contrast,the ASCE 7-16 standard effectively prevents pounding in both the FB and SSSI models.Additionally,drifts and displacements of lower floors in SSSI models exceed the allowable limits of ASCE 7-16,underscoring the impact of soil-structure interaction on seismic response.展开更多
Received:06 December 2025;Accepted:25 February 2026;Published:30 March 2026 ABSTRACT:In the last decade,the importance of sustainable construction and artificial intelligence(AI)in civil engineering has been underline...Received:06 December 2025;Accepted:25 February 2026;Published:30 March 2026 ABSTRACT:In the last decade,the importance of sustainable construction and artificial intelligence(AI)in civil engineering has been underlined in many studies.Numerous studies highlighted the superiority of AI techniques over simple and mathematical regression analyses,which suffer from relatively poor generalization and an inability to capture highly non-linear relationships among inputs and output(s)parameters.In this study,to evaluate the compressive strength of concrete with glass powder(GP)and recycled aggregates,600 concrete samples were tested in the laboratory,and their results were evaluated.For intelligent assessment of concrete compressive strength(CCS),the study utilized an improved artificial neural network(ANN)with particle swarm optimization(PSO)algorithm and imperialist competitive algorithm(ICA).For training the models,the experimentally obtained data were used.The concrete ingredients formed the inputs of the AI-based predictive models of CCS.The experimental findings reveal that the implementation of recycled coarse aggregates in concrete from a sustainable construction point of view is advantageous and can enhance the CCS by 11.43%.Apart from that,findings indicate that utilization of 10%GP can lead to a nearly 20%increase in CCS(from 44.6 to 54.1 MPa).Additionally,the experimental observations show almost 40%improvement of CCS when 5%micro silica was used in the concrete mixture.Based on the findings,the study suggests the utilization of waste glass powder to partially replace cement in concrete,which can reduce the amount of cement production.This reduction from economic,energy-saving,and environmental(reduction in greenhouse gas emissions)points of view is of interest.On the other hand,the AI results show that the PSO-based ANN model outperforms the ICA-based ANN for the utilized dataset.According to the findings,the PSO-based ANN predictive model(with a coefficient of determination value of 0.939 and root mean square value of 0.113 for testing data)is a capable tool in predicting the CCS.Hence,this study recommends the implementation of AI-based models in CCS assessment.展开更多
This study presents a multi-physical modeling approach to analyze the dynamics of moisture potential and stress-deformation features near deep desiccation cracks in clayey soils under three consecutive years’climate ...This study presents a multi-physical modeling approach to analyze the dynamics of moisture potential and stress-deformation features near deep desiccation cracks in clayey soils under three consecutive years’climate variability in an arid region.A triple research approach of statistical analysis,analytical framework,and numerical modeling was used to investigate the complex thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of desiccation-cracked soil,incorporating realistic climatic data of Qom,Iran.The results revealed the interplay between stress,strain,and pore water pressure over time,demonstrating that soil experiences significant swelling and shrinkage due to cyclic wetting and drying.The horizontal stress distribution shows compressive stress concentration at crack tips during wetting,transitioning to tensile stresses uniformly across the soil surface during drying paths.Similarly,vertical stress distributions exhibit localized compressive stresses along crack boundaries during wetting and tensile stresses during drying,highlighting the critical stress conditions at crack tips.The model differentiates between microstructural and macrostructural changes in porosity.Annual trends in micro-porosity revealed cyclic-dependent behavior,with significant volumetric changes occurring in the first year,stabilizing with successive cycles.The results also indicated that part of the volumetric changes are irreversible,with volumetric plastic strain increasing exponentially but at a decreasing rate over three years.Principal stress analysis indicates a shift from compressive to tensile stress states around cracks,driven by climate-induced wetting and drying cycles.These findings underscore the critical role of climate variability in shaping cracked soil behavior in arid regions,providing insights into the heterogeneous behavior of cracked soil surfFicial layers.展开更多
Urban geochemical alteration and transformation are complex processes that affect air,water,and soil,potentially posing serious health risks to the residents.Our health is determined by where we live now,and where we ...Urban geochemical alteration and transformation are complex processes that affect air,water,and soil,potentially posing serious health risks to the residents.Our health is determined by where we live now,and where we have previously lived and how long we have been there.This review explores patterns of urban environmental pollution and public health risks associated with potentially harmful elements.Academic databases including Scopus,Web of Science,and Google Scholar were used to find pertinent peer-reviewed papers,reports,and case studies.It discusses urban environmental and medical geochemistry,focusing on toxic heavy metals of public health concern and their urban sources.Case studies on geochemical anomalies in street dust,atmospheric,lithochemical,and hydrochemical contexts are critically examined.The review evaluates the effectiveness of geochemical indices in assessing pollution and health risk patterns in road dust,soil,air,and water,emphasizing the importance of geochemical background in urban geochemistry and medical geology.Strategies to reduce toxic heavy metal pollution in urban areas are also reviewed to protect public health.Finally,it offers conclusions and recommendations for future research.It is obvious that the environmental geochemistry of soil,street dust,water,and air contain a wealth of information about the state of urban environments.The outcomes of this study will help to raise public awareness of urban pollution and associated health risks,promoting environmental preservation and health protection in urban settings.展开更多
In response to the demand for seismic-resilient structures,various innovative solutions have emerged to reduce local damage and residual deformations,facilitating repair operations in the aftermath of high-intensity e...In response to the demand for seismic-resilient structures,various innovative solutions have emerged to reduce local damage and residual deformations,facilitating repair operations in the aftermath of high-intensity earth-quakes.This paper examines the seismic performance of a steel-concrete hybrid wall system equipped with a selfcentering solution to mitigate earthquake-induced residual deformations.The considered hybrid system includes a Reinforced Concrete(RC)shear wall with two steel side columns connected by coupling steel beams.In this study,a novel type of coupling beams featuring a friction-damped self-centering system is implemented.The system is referred to as Self-Centering Hybrid Single-Pier Coupled Wall(SC-SP-HCW)and aims to minimize damage and residual deformations after earthquakes,which in turn facilitates repairs and enhances seismic resilience.Unlike conventional self-centering coupling beams with post-tensioned tendons,the self-centering configuration in this system does not rely on a gap-opening mechanism at the wall-beam connection interface,eliminating frame expansion effects.The proposed self-centering devices can also be implemented as preassembled links,which facilitates installation and reduces uncertainties associated with the on-site posttensioning procedure.The seismic performance of SC-SP-HCWs is investigated through nonlinear static and incremental dynamic analyses on case study SC-SP-HCWs designed as the lateral load-resisting systems of an eight-story building.The seismic response of the case study SC-SP-HCWs is investigated,considering both local and global engineering demand parameters(EDPs).The results demonstrate the ability of the SC-SP-HCWs to significantly reduce earthquake-induced residual deformations without exacerbating damage to structural ele-ments typically observed in conventional coupled walls.展开更多
The accurate mechanical analysis of thick-walled pressure vessel structures composed of advanced materials,such as hyperelastic and functionally graded materials(FGMs),is critical for ensuring their safety and optimiz...The accurate mechanical analysis of thick-walled pressure vessel structures composed of advanced materials,such as hyperelastic and functionally graded materials(FGMs),is critical for ensuring their safety and optimizing their design.However,conventional numerical methods can face challenges with the non-linearities inherent in hyperelasticity and the complex spatial variations in FGMs.This paper presents a novel hybrid numerical approach combining Physics-Informed Neural Networks(PINNs)with Finite Element Method(FEM)derived data for the robust analysis of thick-walled,axisymmetric,heterogeneous,hyperelastic pressure vessels with elliptical geometries.A PINN framework incorporating neo-Hookean constitutive relations is developed in MATLAB.To enhance training efficiency and accuracy,the PINN’s loss function is augmented with displacement data obtained from high-fidelity FEM simulations performed in ANSYS.The methodology is rigorously validated by comparing PINN-predicted displacement and von Mises stress fields against ANSYS benchmarks for various scenarios of FGMconfigurations(with material properties varying according to a power law)subjected to internal and external pressurization.The results demonstrate excellent agreement between the proposed hybrid PINN-FEMapproach and conventional FEMsolutions across all test cases,accurately capturing complex deformation patterns and stress concentrations.This study highlights the potential of data-augmented PINNs as an effective and accurate computational tool for tackling complex solid mechanics problems involving non-linearmaterials and significant heterogeneity,offering a promising avenue for future research in engineering design and analysis.展开更多
We investigated the effects of fly ash(FA)content on the mechanical properties of recycled aggregate concrete(RAC)and its regeneration potential under freeze and thaw(F-T)cycles.The physical properties of second-gener...We investigated the effects of fly ash(FA)content on the mechanical properties of recycled aggregate concrete(RAC)and its regeneration potential under freeze and thaw(F-T)cycles.The physical properties of second-generation recycled concrete aggregates(RCA)were used to analyze the regeneration potential of RAC after F-T cycles.Scanning electron microscopy was used to study the interfacial transition zone microstructure of RAC after F-T cycles.Results showed that adding 20%FA to RAC significantly enhanced its mechanical properties and frost resistance.Before the F-T cycles,the compressive strength of RAC with 20%FA reached 48.3 MPa,exceeding research strength target of 40 MPa.A majority of second-generation RCA with FA had been verified to attain class Ⅲ,which enabled their practical application in non-structural projects such as backfill trenches and road pavement.However,the second-generation RCA with 20%FA can achieve class Ⅱ,making it ideal for 40 MPa structural concrete.展开更多
Accurate precipitation estimation in semiarid,topographically complicated areas is critical for water resource management and climate risk monitoring.This work provides a detailed,multi-scale evaluation of four major ...Accurate precipitation estimation in semiarid,topographically complicated areas is critical for water resource management and climate risk monitoring.This work provides a detailed,multi-scale evaluation of four major satellite precipitation products(CHIRPS,PERSIANN-CDR,IMERG-F v07,and GSMaP)over Isfahan province,Iran,over a 9-year period(2015-2023).The performance of these products was benchmarked against a dense network of 98 rain gauges using a suite of continuous and categorical statistical metrics,following a two-stage quality control protocol to remove outliers and false alarms.The results revealed that the performance of all products improves with temporal aggregation.At the daily level,GSMaP performed marginally better,although all products were linked with considerable uncertainty.At the monthly and annual levels,the GPM-era products(IMERG and GSMaP)clearly beat the other two,establishing themselves as dependable tools for long-term hydro-climatological studies.Error analysis revealed that topography is the dominant regulating factor,creating a systematic elevationdependent bias,largely characterized by underestimation from most products in high-elevation areas,though the PERSIANN-CDR product exhibited a contrasting overestimation tendency.Finally,the findings highlight the importance of implementing local,elevation-dependent calibration before deploying these products in hydrological modeling.展开更多
Concrete-filled steel tubes(CFST)are widely utilized in civil engineering due to their superior load-bearing capacity,ductility,and seismic resistance.However,existing design codes,such as AISC and Eurocode 4,tend to ...Concrete-filled steel tubes(CFST)are widely utilized in civil engineering due to their superior load-bearing capacity,ductility,and seismic resistance.However,existing design codes,such as AISC and Eurocode 4,tend to be excessively conservative as they fail to account for the composite action between the steel tube and the concrete core.To address this limitation,this study proposes a hybrid model that integrates XGBoost with the Pied Kingfisher Optimizer(PKO),a nature-inspired algorithm,to enhance the accuracy of shear strength prediction for CFST columns.Additionally,quantile regression is employed to construct prediction intervals for the ultimate shear force,while the Asymmetric Squared Error Loss(ASEL)function is incorporated to mitigate overestimation errors.The computational results demonstrate that the PKO-XGBoost model delivers superior predictive accuracy,achieving a Mean Absolute Percentage Error(MAPE)of 4.431%and R2 of 0.9925 on the test set.Furthermore,the ASEL-PKO-XGBoost model substantially reduces overestimation errors to 28.26%,with negligible impact on predictive performance.Additionally,based on the Genetic Algorithm(GA)and existing equation models,a strength equation model is developed,achieving markedly higher accuracy than existing models(R^(2)=0.934).Lastly,web-based Graphical User Interfaces(GUIs)were developed to enable real-time prediction.展开更多
Usingfieldmonitoringdata,this studydirectly compares the stress responses of fatigue-proneorthotropic steel deck(OSD)details with an epoxy asphalt concrete(EAC)overlay during in-service winter and summer seasons.This ...Usingfieldmonitoringdata,this studydirectly compares the stress responses of fatigue-proneorthotropic steel deck(OSD)details with an epoxy asphalt concrete(EAC)overlay during in-service winter and summer seasons.This study was conducted on the E’dong Yangtze River Bridge in China,a cable-stayed bridge featuring a main span of 936 m and an EAC-paved deck pavement.The findings reveal that across all OSD details,stress levels and loading cycles are generally higher in summer than in winter.The most pronounced increase occurs at the rib-to-deck(RD)detail,particularly on the deck plate side.Under wheel loading,the deck plate side of the RD detail experiences both overall and local stress effects,which are more pronounced in summer.This indicates that high summer temperatures significantly reduce the elastic modulus of the epoxy asphalt pavement,decreasing the pavement layer’s contribution to the stiffness of the bridge deck and increasing the risk of fatigue damage to theOSD.In addition,among allOSD details,the RD detail can distinctly capture the effect of individual truck axles within axle groups,with each axle producing a separate and identifiable stress peak.In contrast,the three rib-to-floor weld details and the Cutout detail only reflect the axle group as a whole,indicating lower fatigue loading cycles at these locations.展开更多
The Nelder-Mead simplex method is a well-known algorithm enabling the minimization of functions that are not available in closed-form and that need not be differentiable or convex.Furthermore,it is particularly parsim...The Nelder-Mead simplex method is a well-known algorithm enabling the minimization of functions that are not available in closed-form and that need not be differentiable or convex.Furthermore,it is particularly parsimonious on the number of function evaluations,thus making it preferable to convex optimization paradigms in the case,common when dealing with control design problems,that the objective function of the optimization problem is non-differentiable,non-convex,and its closed-form is not available or difficult to be computed analytically.The main goal of this paper is to show how the joint use of the Nelder-Mead simplex method and the Morrison algorithm can be successfully used to solve relevant and challenging control problems that cannot be easily solved using analytic methods.In particular,it is shown how the problems of strong stabilization,static output feedback stabilization,and design of robust controllers having fixed structure can be framed as optimization problems,which,in turn,can be efficiently solved by coupling the two above mentioned algorithms.The performance of this procedure is compared with state-of-the-art techniques on dozens of static output feedback benchmark case studies,and its effectiveness is demonstrated by several examples.展开更多
This research centers on structural health monitoring of bridges,a critical transportation infrastructure.Owing to the cumulative action of heavy vehicle loads,environmental variations,and material aging,bridge compon...This research centers on structural health monitoring of bridges,a critical transportation infrastructure.Owing to the cumulative action of heavy vehicle loads,environmental variations,and material aging,bridge components are prone to cracks and other defects,severely compromising structural safety and service life.Traditional inspection methods relying on manual visual assessment or vehicle-mounted sensors suffer from low efficiency,strong subjectivity,and high costs,while conventional image processing techniques and early deep learning models(e.g.,UNet,Faster R-CNN)still performinadequately in complex environments(e.g.,varying illumination,noise,false cracks)due to poor perception of fine cracks andmulti-scale features,limiting practical application.To address these challenges,this paper proposes CACNN-Net(CBAM-Augmented CNN),a novel dual-encoder architecture that innovatively couples a CNN for local detail extraction with a CBAM-Transformer for global context modeling.A key contribution is the dedicated Feature FusionModule(FFM),which strategically integratesmulti-scale features and focuses attention on crack regions while suppressing irrelevant noise.Experiments on bridge crack datasets demonstrate that CACNNNet achieves a precision of 77.6%,a recall of 79.4%,and an mIoU of 62.7%.These results significantly outperform several typical models(e.g.,UNet-ResNet34,Deeplabv3),confirming their superior accuracy and robust generalization,providing a high-precision automated solution for bridge crack detection and a novel network design paradigm for structural surface defect identification in complex scenarios,while future research may integrate physical features like depth information to advance intelligent infrastructure maintenance and digital twin management.展开更多
The India-Asia collision resulted in the formation of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.Lower crustal flow model was proposed to explain the mechanism of Cenozoic tectonic deformation of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.In this study,we pro...The India-Asia collision resulted in the formation of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.Lower crustal flow model was proposed to explain the mechanism of Cenozoic tectonic deformation of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.In this study,we propose a new approach by combining centrifugal analog modeling with numerical simulation to simulate the tectonic uplift history of the plateau based on the lower crustal flow model,and to investigate the material migration characteristics and the influence of crustal motion velocity and ductile layer viscosity on the plateau tectonic geomorphology.The models reproduce steep-sided flat-topped geomorphic features and clockwise rotation of the material at eastern Himalayan Syntaxis,verifying the rationality of the models.The results show that the greater the crustal motion velocity and the greater the ductile layer viscosity,the steeper the terrain change;and conversely,the smaller the crustal motion velocity and the smaller the ductile layer viscosity,the gentler the terrain change.This study further indicates that the weak lower crust plays an important role in the formation of geomorphic features and material migration characteristics of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,and provides a new insight for the study of the uplift mechanism of the Tibetan Plateau.展开更多
To explore mix proportion design of RAC with aggregates tightly packed,the dry and wet packing density of recycled coarse aggregates mixture system and recycled coarse and fine aggregates were tested,then the influenc...To explore mix proportion design of RAC with aggregates tightly packed,the dry and wet packing density of recycled coarse aggregates mixture system and recycled coarse and fine aggregates were tested,then the influence of replacement rate and particle size ratio on the packing density of particle system was explored,the packing density prediction model of recycled coarse aggregates based on particle morphology was constructed,and the mix proportion optimization for recycled aggregate concrete with dry-wet packing model was carried out.The experimental results show that,with the increasing of recycled aggregate replacement rate or fine-grained volume ratio,the dry packing density of recycled coarse aggregates decreases gradually.With the increasing of replacement rate,the particle gradation can be optimized by increasing coarsegrained volume ratio.There is a significant effect for particle morphology parameter K and the particle size ratio on the packing density of the binary mixed system,and the packing density prediction model of recycled coarse aggregates based on particle morphology was constructed.The maximum increase in compressive strength and tensile strength of RAC with mix proportion optimized by the dry-wet packing model are 12.94%and 11.09%,and the cementitious materials is reduced by 21.83%,then the superiority of the mix proportion optimization of RAC with the dry-wet close packing model is confirmed.The results of this paper can provide a theoretical basis for the mix proportion design of RAC.展开更多
This paper uses a complete washing and sieving method and accurately determines the clay mass contents in the loess deposits at the eight regions of Xianyang,Ili,Xi'an,Yan'an,Lvliang,Linfen,Xining,and Lanzhou ...This paper uses a complete washing and sieving method and accurately determines the clay mass contents in the loess deposits at the eight regions of Xianyang,Ili,Xi'an,Yan'an,Lvliang,Linfen,Xining,and Lanzhou in China.The method uses nylon cloth sieves with apertures from 0.0008 mm to 0.048 mm and standard steel sieves with apertures from 0.063 mm to 28 mm.It uses a rotary vibration machine to wash and sieve the loess into many clay,silt,sand,and gravel subgroups.The masses of the separated materials construct the complete mass-based particle size distribution(PSD)curves for the tested loesses.The results show that the Xianyang,Ili,Xi'an,Yan'an,Lvliang,Linfen,Xining,and Lanzhou loesses contain 65.28%,56.73%,56.76%,38.7%,31.78%,30.55%,30.1%,and 26.29%clay in mass.These clay contents are 1.3-14.9 times higher than the clay contents from the past publications for the eight types of loess.On the other hand,the plasticity data in past publications show that loess belongs to the clay type of soil.The clay contents in the publications are underestimated,which is caused by the inseparability of fine soils(or clay and silt mixture)from the existing PSD test methods.Macro-photographs,micro-photographs and SEM photographs present the separated materials of individual clay,silt,sand,and gravel particles.Particle sizes measured from the SEM photographs confirm their particle sizes within their size limits.The clay particles exhibit strong internal cohesion,while the silt,sand,and gravel particles are individual and non-cohesive.Atterberg limits test results further demonstrate the clay particles'high plasticity features and the silt particles'non-plasticity features.展开更多
This study proposes to use the unconfined compressive strength(UCS)and the bender element(BE)tests for determining the strength and the initial small-strain shear modulus of Bangkok soft marine clay improved by cement...This study proposes to use the unconfined compressive strength(UCS)and the bender element(BE)tests for determining the strength and the initial small-strain shear modulus of Bangkok soft marine clay improved by cement and polyester fibers.This study varies the content of admixed cement(1%–20%)and polyester fibers(0–20%),including the curing time(3–28 d)for preparing 360 samples.Moreover,this study uses the Michaelis-Menten kinetics concept to model cement hydration saturation.From the study,it is concluded as follows.The modelled results reveals that at least 10%cement and 1%polyester fiber are recommended to attain the 28-d UCS standards(294 kPa)for highway subgrade materials in Thailand.This also fulfils sustainable construction due to reducing normal-use cement from 20%to 10%.Unfortunately,the addition of polyester fibers into the Bangkok clay with at least 5%cement reduces shear modulus by 1.12–1.32 times.The Abram's relationship between shear modulus and the mixing-water-to-cement ratio is found time-dependent.From the composite theory,the BE detects the polyester fiber zone as a defect in the Bangkok clay(matrix)with 5%–20%cement.So,the 28-d shear modulus in the polyester fiber zone is negative(up to0.034 MPa for 20%fiber),similar to softening phenomenon in concrete cracking(negative stiffness).For the 28-d shear modulus of fiber zone,the optimum cement content is around 2%for the positive influences of polyester fibers.Experimentally,the timedependent normalized UCS for 10%and 20%cement is compatible with other studies,and its development rate increases with the cement content as 0.3017,0.3172 and 0.3204 for 5%,10%and 20%cement,respectively.The 28-d relationship between shear modulus and UCS shows that low-cement soft clay requires high polyester fiber content(5%–20%)to activate UCS improvement.However,the soft clay with enough cement(20%)causes the uniformly distributed UCS improvement.展开更多
基金the research funding provided by Ikatan Alumni Teknik Sipil(IATS)UnparUniversitas Katolik Parahyangan.
文摘This article presents an innovative method of bio-mediated soil improvement for increasing the shear strength of loose sand.The improvement is realized by mixing the loose sand with the inoculum of Rhizopus oligosporus,a kind of fungus widely used in food industry for making Indonesian tempeh.The objective of this article is to investigate the performance and mechanism of mixing tempeh inoculum as a binding agent of loose sand particles.The inoculum dosage,water content of loose sand,and curing time were examined for identifying the increment of unconfined compressive strength(q_u)of the samples.The results showed that q_u of the treated samples increased when the inoculum dosage was elevated.It shows that 5.24%inoculum could yield 68 kPa of q_u,and 5%water content and 3 d curing time produced the maximum q_u.Moreover,the mechanism of hypha and mycelium in binding the soil particles was clearly observed using a digital microscope and scanning electron microscope.
文摘Purpose-This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the Brazilian freight railway system,examining the efficacy of the current concession renewal model in light of persistent structural problems such as market concentration,cargo dependence on export commodities and underutilization of the network.Situating Brazil within the broader international debate on railway reforms,the paper evaluates whether the ongoing early renewal of concessions can deliver a more diversified and competitive freight system.Design/methodology/approach-The study adopts a sequential mixed-methods research design that integrates longitudinal quantitative analysis with qualitative institutional and policy evaluation.The quantitative component examines time-series indicators published by ANTT,DNIT and INFRA S.A.from 1999 to 2023 to identify structural patterns in traffic growth,investment,safety and market concentration.The qualitative component employs a process-tracing logic to reconstruct the evolution of concession renewals and the implementation of Railway Law 14.273/2021,drawing on concepts from regulatory economics,institutional theory and industrial organization.These empirical streams are synthesized through an analytical framework that connects three dimensions-regulatory design,market structure and system performance-allowing for a systematic assessment of how Brazil’s institutional configuration shapes incentives,competitive dynamics and network utilization.Findings-The analysis confirms that the early renewal of concessions has successfully secured substantial private investment for capacity expansion on existing trunk lines.However,it has perpetuated the vertically integrated model,reinforcing the market power of incumbent operators and failing to significantly promote intramodal competition or cargo diversification.The system remains dominated by iron ore and agricultural commodities,with general cargo representing a minuscule share.The new authorization regime and short-line railway policies present a viable pathway for market opening but face significant operational and institutional barriers to implementation.Originality/value-This research offers a timely and critical assessment of a pivotal moment in Brazilian railway policy.It moves beyond a simplistic evaluation of volume growth to a structural analysis of market failures and the interplay between concession renewal and regulatory innovation.The findings provide actionable insights for policymakers in Brazil and other emerging economies seeking to balance private investment with public interest goals in railway infrastructure,highlighting the necessity of complementary,pro-competitive measures alongside financial investment.
基金the University of Ottawa, the China Scholarship Council and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for their financial support.
文摘As underground mining advances to greater depths,cemented paste backfill(CPB)is increasingly subjected to complex thermo-mechanical loading conditions,including multiaxial stress states and elevated temperatures.This study investigates the coupled effects of field-representative vertical self-weight and horizontal rockwall closure stresses,along with in-situ temperatures,on the mechanical behavior and pore water pressure(PWP)evolution of CPB.Experiments were conducted using a novel apparatus capable of controlling multiaxial stress and temperature during curing,replicating in-situ stress paths and thermal profiles typical of deep mine environments.Results show that multiaxial stress enhances CPB strength and stiffness by promoting denser particle packing,reducing porosity,and increasing frictional resistance.Elevated temperatures independently accelerate early-age cement hydration,further improving bond strength and stiffness.When combined,multiaxial stress and elevated temperature produce a synergistic enhancement in unconfined compressive strength(UCS)and elastic modulus,as confirmed by two-way ANOVA and synergy index analysis.PWP responses were also highly sensitive to thermo-mechanical conditions.The evolution of positive and negative PWP was governed by the interplay of thermal expansion,hydration-induced desaturation,and mechanical compaction.Multiaxial stress amplified early positive PWP and delayed its dissipation,whereas elevated temperature accelerated hydration and reduced pore pressure,leading to enhanced suction at later ages.A transient“stress-induced resaturation”effect was observed under late-stage excessive horizontal stress but was mitigated by elevated temperatures.These findings provide critical insights into the coupled mechanical and hydraulic behavior of CPB under realistic field conditions and offer guidance for optimizing backfill design,binder content,and barricade stability in deep mining applications.
文摘Advanced intensity measures(IMs)based on an inelastic deformation spectrum improved the evaluation of the median engineering demand parameters(EDPs)and reduced dispersion.In this regard,an optimized two-degreefreedom(2DOF)modal pushover-based scaling procedure(2DMPS)has been developed for a nonlinear dynamic analysis of asymmetric in-plan buildings.The 2DMPS procedure scales ground motions to approach close enough to a target value of the inelastic displacement of the first-mode inelastic 2DOF modal stick,extended for structures with significant contributions of higher modes.Further,4-,6-and 13-story RC SMRF buildings were selected for analyses using ground motion records scaled by the 2DMPS procedure,the modal pushover-based scaling method(MPS),and ASCE/SEI 7-16 scaling procedures.The median values of EDPs on scaled records closely matched the benchmark results.The bias in the EDP values due to the scaled records in every group regarding their median value was lower than the dispersion of the 21 unscaled records.These results generally demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the 2DMPS method.Additionally,the 2DOF modal stick’s inelastic response spectra are better suited for calculating seismic demands for one-way asymmetric-plan structures than the SDOF inelastic response spectra.
文摘This study examines the dynamic response of two adjacent 9-and 20-story benchmark steel buildings subjected to six near-fault earthquake records.Two-dimensional numerical models were employed to account for the complexities of structure-soil-structure interaction(SSSI).The research focuses on the separation gap between the buildings and the effects of pounding while considering Fixed Base(FB)and SSSI models,evaluated according to UBC 94 and ASCE 7-16 seismic codes.Key findings reveal that pounding occurs with the UBC 94 separation gap when earthquake frequency aligns with system frequency,leading to increased column stresses in the 9-story building.In contrast,the ASCE 7-16 standard effectively prevents pounding in both the FB and SSSI models.Additionally,drifts and displacements of lower floors in SSSI models exceed the allowable limits of ASCE 7-16,underscoring the impact of soil-structure interaction on seismic response.
文摘Received:06 December 2025;Accepted:25 February 2026;Published:30 March 2026 ABSTRACT:In the last decade,the importance of sustainable construction and artificial intelligence(AI)in civil engineering has been underlined in many studies.Numerous studies highlighted the superiority of AI techniques over simple and mathematical regression analyses,which suffer from relatively poor generalization and an inability to capture highly non-linear relationships among inputs and output(s)parameters.In this study,to evaluate the compressive strength of concrete with glass powder(GP)and recycled aggregates,600 concrete samples were tested in the laboratory,and their results were evaluated.For intelligent assessment of concrete compressive strength(CCS),the study utilized an improved artificial neural network(ANN)with particle swarm optimization(PSO)algorithm and imperialist competitive algorithm(ICA).For training the models,the experimentally obtained data were used.The concrete ingredients formed the inputs of the AI-based predictive models of CCS.The experimental findings reveal that the implementation of recycled coarse aggregates in concrete from a sustainable construction point of view is advantageous and can enhance the CCS by 11.43%.Apart from that,findings indicate that utilization of 10%GP can lead to a nearly 20%increase in CCS(from 44.6 to 54.1 MPa).Additionally,the experimental observations show almost 40%improvement of CCS when 5%micro silica was used in the concrete mixture.Based on the findings,the study suggests the utilization of waste glass powder to partially replace cement in concrete,which can reduce the amount of cement production.This reduction from economic,energy-saving,and environmental(reduction in greenhouse gas emissions)points of view is of interest.On the other hand,the AI results show that the PSO-based ANN model outperforms the ICA-based ANN for the utilized dataset.According to the findings,the PSO-based ANN predictive model(with a coefficient of determination value of 0.939 and root mean square value of 0.113 for testing data)is a capable tool in predicting the CCS.Hence,this study recommends the implementation of AI-based models in CCS assessment.
基金support provided by the Research Grant Office at Sharif University Technology by way of grants G4010902 and QB020105 is gratefully acknowledged.
文摘This study presents a multi-physical modeling approach to analyze the dynamics of moisture potential and stress-deformation features near deep desiccation cracks in clayey soils under three consecutive years’climate variability in an arid region.A triple research approach of statistical analysis,analytical framework,and numerical modeling was used to investigate the complex thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of desiccation-cracked soil,incorporating realistic climatic data of Qom,Iran.The results revealed the interplay between stress,strain,and pore water pressure over time,demonstrating that soil experiences significant swelling and shrinkage due to cyclic wetting and drying.The horizontal stress distribution shows compressive stress concentration at crack tips during wetting,transitioning to tensile stresses uniformly across the soil surface during drying paths.Similarly,vertical stress distributions exhibit localized compressive stresses along crack boundaries during wetting and tensile stresses during drying,highlighting the critical stress conditions at crack tips.The model differentiates between microstructural and macrostructural changes in porosity.Annual trends in micro-porosity revealed cyclic-dependent behavior,with significant volumetric changes occurring in the first year,stabilizing with successive cycles.The results also indicated that part of the volumetric changes are irreversible,with volumetric plastic strain increasing exponentially but at a decreasing rate over three years.Principal stress analysis indicates a shift from compressive to tensile stress states around cracks,driven by climate-induced wetting and drying cycles.These findings underscore the critical role of climate variability in shaping cracked soil behavior in arid regions,providing insights into the heterogeneous behavior of cracked soil surfFicial layers.
基金funded by the Central University of Technology,Free State’s University Research Grants and Scholarships Committee(RGSC).
文摘Urban geochemical alteration and transformation are complex processes that affect air,water,and soil,potentially posing serious health risks to the residents.Our health is determined by where we live now,and where we have previously lived and how long we have been there.This review explores patterns of urban environmental pollution and public health risks associated with potentially harmful elements.Academic databases including Scopus,Web of Science,and Google Scholar were used to find pertinent peer-reviewed papers,reports,and case studies.It discusses urban environmental and medical geochemistry,focusing on toxic heavy metals of public health concern and their urban sources.Case studies on geochemical anomalies in street dust,atmospheric,lithochemical,and hydrochemical contexts are critically examined.The review evaluates the effectiveness of geochemical indices in assessing pollution and health risk patterns in road dust,soil,air,and water,emphasizing the importance of geochemical background in urban geochemistry and medical geology.Strategies to reduce toxic heavy metal pollution in urban areas are also reviewed to protect public health.Finally,it offers conclusions and recommendations for future research.It is obvious that the environmental geochemistry of soil,street dust,water,and air contain a wealth of information about the state of urban environments.The outcomes of this study will help to raise public awareness of urban pollution and associated health risks,promoting environmental preservation and health protection in urban settings.
基金supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No.101027745(Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research Grant Scheme H2020-MSCA-IF-2020:Self-Centering Earthquake-Resilient Hybrid Steel-Concrete Shear Walls with Rocking Beams-SC-HYBWalls)the support from the Royal Society-Interna-tional Exchange programme under the grant agreement IES\R3\213175.
文摘In response to the demand for seismic-resilient structures,various innovative solutions have emerged to reduce local damage and residual deformations,facilitating repair operations in the aftermath of high-intensity earth-quakes.This paper examines the seismic performance of a steel-concrete hybrid wall system equipped with a selfcentering solution to mitigate earthquake-induced residual deformations.The considered hybrid system includes a Reinforced Concrete(RC)shear wall with two steel side columns connected by coupling steel beams.In this study,a novel type of coupling beams featuring a friction-damped self-centering system is implemented.The system is referred to as Self-Centering Hybrid Single-Pier Coupled Wall(SC-SP-HCW)and aims to minimize damage and residual deformations after earthquakes,which in turn facilitates repairs and enhances seismic resilience.Unlike conventional self-centering coupling beams with post-tensioned tendons,the self-centering configuration in this system does not rely on a gap-opening mechanism at the wall-beam connection interface,eliminating frame expansion effects.The proposed self-centering devices can also be implemented as preassembled links,which facilitates installation and reduces uncertainties associated with the on-site posttensioning procedure.The seismic performance of SC-SP-HCWs is investigated through nonlinear static and incremental dynamic analyses on case study SC-SP-HCWs designed as the lateral load-resisting systems of an eight-story building.The seismic response of the case study SC-SP-HCWs is investigated,considering both local and global engineering demand parameters(EDPs).The results demonstrate the ability of the SC-SP-HCWs to significantly reduce earthquake-induced residual deformations without exacerbating damage to structural ele-ments typically observed in conventional coupled walls.
文摘The accurate mechanical analysis of thick-walled pressure vessel structures composed of advanced materials,such as hyperelastic and functionally graded materials(FGMs),is critical for ensuring their safety and optimizing their design.However,conventional numerical methods can face challenges with the non-linearities inherent in hyperelasticity and the complex spatial variations in FGMs.This paper presents a novel hybrid numerical approach combining Physics-Informed Neural Networks(PINNs)with Finite Element Method(FEM)derived data for the robust analysis of thick-walled,axisymmetric,heterogeneous,hyperelastic pressure vessels with elliptical geometries.A PINN framework incorporating neo-Hookean constitutive relations is developed in MATLAB.To enhance training efficiency and accuracy,the PINN’s loss function is augmented with displacement data obtained from high-fidelity FEM simulations performed in ANSYS.The methodology is rigorously validated by comparing PINN-predicted displacement and von Mises stress fields against ANSYS benchmarks for various scenarios of FGMconfigurations(with material properties varying according to a power law)subjected to internal and external pressurization.The results demonstrate excellent agreement between the proposed hybrid PINN-FEMapproach and conventional FEMsolutions across all test cases,accurately capturing complex deformation patterns and stress concentrations.This study highlights the potential of data-augmented PINNs as an effective and accurate computational tool for tackling complex solid mechanics problems involving non-linearmaterials and significant heterogeneity,offering a promising avenue for future research in engineering design and analysis.
基金Funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province(No.BK20220626)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.52078068)+2 种基金Science and Technology Innovation Foundation of NIT(No.KCTD006)Jiangsu Marine Structure Service Performance Improvement Engineering Research CenterKey Laboratory of Jiangsu"Marine Floating Wind Power Technology and Equipment"。
文摘We investigated the effects of fly ash(FA)content on the mechanical properties of recycled aggregate concrete(RAC)and its regeneration potential under freeze and thaw(F-T)cycles.The physical properties of second-generation recycled concrete aggregates(RCA)were used to analyze the regeneration potential of RAC after F-T cycles.Scanning electron microscopy was used to study the interfacial transition zone microstructure of RAC after F-T cycles.Results showed that adding 20%FA to RAC significantly enhanced its mechanical properties and frost resistance.Before the F-T cycles,the compressive strength of RAC with 20%FA reached 48.3 MPa,exceeding research strength target of 40 MPa.A majority of second-generation RCA with FA had been verified to attain class Ⅲ,which enabled their practical application in non-structural projects such as backfill trenches and road pavement.However,the second-generation RCA with 20%FA can achieve class Ⅱ,making it ideal for 40 MPa structural concrete.
文摘Accurate precipitation estimation in semiarid,topographically complicated areas is critical for water resource management and climate risk monitoring.This work provides a detailed,multi-scale evaluation of four major satellite precipitation products(CHIRPS,PERSIANN-CDR,IMERG-F v07,and GSMaP)over Isfahan province,Iran,over a 9-year period(2015-2023).The performance of these products was benchmarked against a dense network of 98 rain gauges using a suite of continuous and categorical statistical metrics,following a two-stage quality control protocol to remove outliers and false alarms.The results revealed that the performance of all products improves with temporal aggregation.At the daily level,GSMaP performed marginally better,although all products were linked with considerable uncertainty.At the monthly and annual levels,the GPM-era products(IMERG and GSMaP)clearly beat the other two,establishing themselves as dependable tools for long-term hydro-climatological studies.Error analysis revealed that topography is the dominant regulating factor,creating a systematic elevationdependent bias,largely characterized by underestimation from most products in high-elevation areas,though the PERSIANN-CDR product exhibited a contrasting overestimation tendency.Finally,the findings highlight the importance of implementing local,elevation-dependent calibration before deploying these products in hydrological modeling.
基金funded by United Arab Emirates University(UAEU)under the UAEU-AUA grant number G00004577(12N145)with the corresponding grant at Universiti Malaya(UM)under grant number IF019-2024.
文摘Concrete-filled steel tubes(CFST)are widely utilized in civil engineering due to their superior load-bearing capacity,ductility,and seismic resistance.However,existing design codes,such as AISC and Eurocode 4,tend to be excessively conservative as they fail to account for the composite action between the steel tube and the concrete core.To address this limitation,this study proposes a hybrid model that integrates XGBoost with the Pied Kingfisher Optimizer(PKO),a nature-inspired algorithm,to enhance the accuracy of shear strength prediction for CFST columns.Additionally,quantile regression is employed to construct prediction intervals for the ultimate shear force,while the Asymmetric Squared Error Loss(ASEL)function is incorporated to mitigate overestimation errors.The computational results demonstrate that the PKO-XGBoost model delivers superior predictive accuracy,achieving a Mean Absolute Percentage Error(MAPE)of 4.431%and R2 of 0.9925 on the test set.Furthermore,the ASEL-PKO-XGBoost model substantially reduces overestimation errors to 28.26%,with negligible impact on predictive performance.Additionally,based on the Genetic Algorithm(GA)and existing equation models,a strength equation model is developed,achieving markedly higher accuracy than existing models(R^(2)=0.934).Lastly,web-based Graphical User Interfaces(GUIs)were developed to enable real-time prediction.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.52278509)the National Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province(Grant No.2022A1515010261).
文摘Usingfieldmonitoringdata,this studydirectly compares the stress responses of fatigue-proneorthotropic steel deck(OSD)details with an epoxy asphalt concrete(EAC)overlay during in-service winter and summer seasons.This study was conducted on the E’dong Yangtze River Bridge in China,a cable-stayed bridge featuring a main span of 936 m and an EAC-paved deck pavement.The findings reveal that across all OSD details,stress levels and loading cycles are generally higher in summer than in winter.The most pronounced increase occurs at the rib-to-deck(RD)detail,particularly on the deck plate side.Under wheel loading,the deck plate side of the RD detail experiences both overall and local stress effects,which are more pronounced in summer.This indicates that high summer temperatures significantly reduce the elastic modulus of the epoxy asphalt pavement,decreasing the pavement layer’s contribution to the stiffness of the bridge deck and increasing the risk of fatigue damage to theOSD.In addition,among allOSD details,the RD detail can distinctly capture the effect of individual truck axles within axle groups,with each axle producing a separate and identifiable stress peak.In contrast,the three rib-to-floor weld details and the Cutout detail only reflect the axle group as a whole,indicating lower fatigue loading cycles at these locations.
基金partially supported by the Italian Ministry for Research in the framework of the 2020 Program for Research Projects of National Interest(2020RTWES4)。
文摘The Nelder-Mead simplex method is a well-known algorithm enabling the minimization of functions that are not available in closed-form and that need not be differentiable or convex.Furthermore,it is particularly parsimonious on the number of function evaluations,thus making it preferable to convex optimization paradigms in the case,common when dealing with control design problems,that the objective function of the optimization problem is non-differentiable,non-convex,and its closed-form is not available or difficult to be computed analytically.The main goal of this paper is to show how the joint use of the Nelder-Mead simplex method and the Morrison algorithm can be successfully used to solve relevant and challenging control problems that cannot be easily solved using analytic methods.In particular,it is shown how the problems of strong stabilization,static output feedback stabilization,and design of robust controllers having fixed structure can be framed as optimization problems,which,in turn,can be efficiently solved by coupling the two above mentioned algorithms.The performance of this procedure is compared with state-of-the-art techniques on dozens of static output feedback benchmark case studies,and its effectiveness is demonstrated by several examples.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.52308332)the General Scientific Research Project of the Education Department of Zhejiang Province(No.Y202455824).
文摘This research centers on structural health monitoring of bridges,a critical transportation infrastructure.Owing to the cumulative action of heavy vehicle loads,environmental variations,and material aging,bridge components are prone to cracks and other defects,severely compromising structural safety and service life.Traditional inspection methods relying on manual visual assessment or vehicle-mounted sensors suffer from low efficiency,strong subjectivity,and high costs,while conventional image processing techniques and early deep learning models(e.g.,UNet,Faster R-CNN)still performinadequately in complex environments(e.g.,varying illumination,noise,false cracks)due to poor perception of fine cracks andmulti-scale features,limiting practical application.To address these challenges,this paper proposes CACNN-Net(CBAM-Augmented CNN),a novel dual-encoder architecture that innovatively couples a CNN for local detail extraction with a CBAM-Transformer for global context modeling.A key contribution is the dedicated Feature FusionModule(FFM),which strategically integratesmulti-scale features and focuses attention on crack regions while suppressing irrelevant noise.Experiments on bridge crack datasets demonstrate that CACNNNet achieves a precision of 77.6%,a recall of 79.4%,and an mIoU of 62.7%.These results significantly outperform several typical models(e.g.,UNet-ResNet34,Deeplabv3),confirming their superior accuracy and robust generalization,providing a high-precision automated solution for bridge crack detection and a novel network design paradigm for structural surface defect identification in complex scenarios,while future research may integrate physical features like depth information to advance intelligent infrastructure maintenance and digital twin management.
基金supported by Excellent Research Group Project for Multiphase Evolution in Hyper-Gravity of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.52588202)。
文摘The India-Asia collision resulted in the formation of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.Lower crustal flow model was proposed to explain the mechanism of Cenozoic tectonic deformation of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.In this study,we propose a new approach by combining centrifugal analog modeling with numerical simulation to simulate the tectonic uplift history of the plateau based on the lower crustal flow model,and to investigate the material migration characteristics and the influence of crustal motion velocity and ductile layer viscosity on the plateau tectonic geomorphology.The models reproduce steep-sided flat-topped geomorphic features and clockwise rotation of the material at eastern Himalayan Syntaxis,verifying the rationality of the models.The results show that the greater the crustal motion velocity and the greater the ductile layer viscosity,the steeper the terrain change;and conversely,the smaller the crustal motion velocity and the smaller the ductile layer viscosity,the gentler the terrain change.This study further indicates that the weak lower crust plays an important role in the formation of geomorphic features and material migration characteristics of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,and provides a new insight for the study of the uplift mechanism of the Tibetan Plateau.
基金Funded by joint Funds of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.U1904188)the Key Research Project of Henan Province for Colleges and Universities(No.26A560009)+3 种基金the Jiaozuo City Science and Technology Planning Project(No.2025210099)the Henan Provincial Science and Technology Research Project(No.252102320305)the Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province(No.252300421917)the Project by Key Laboratory of Intelligent Construction and Safety Operation and Maintenance of Underground Engineering in Henan Province(No.KFKT2024-01)。
文摘To explore mix proportion design of RAC with aggregates tightly packed,the dry and wet packing density of recycled coarse aggregates mixture system and recycled coarse and fine aggregates were tested,then the influence of replacement rate and particle size ratio on the packing density of particle system was explored,the packing density prediction model of recycled coarse aggregates based on particle morphology was constructed,and the mix proportion optimization for recycled aggregate concrete with dry-wet packing model was carried out.The experimental results show that,with the increasing of recycled aggregate replacement rate or fine-grained volume ratio,the dry packing density of recycled coarse aggregates decreases gradually.With the increasing of replacement rate,the particle gradation can be optimized by increasing coarsegrained volume ratio.There is a significant effect for particle morphology parameter K and the particle size ratio on the packing density of the binary mixed system,and the packing density prediction model of recycled coarse aggregates based on particle morphology was constructed.The maximum increase in compressive strength and tensile strength of RAC with mix proportion optimized by the dry-wet packing model are 12.94%and 11.09%,and the cementitious materials is reduced by 21.83%,then the superiority of the mix proportion optimization of RAC with the dry-wet close packing model is confirmed.The results of this paper can provide a theoretical basis for the mix proportion design of RAC.
基金supported by grants from the Research Grant Council of the Hong Kong Special Administra-tive Region,China(Project Nos.HKU 17207518 and R5037-18).
文摘This paper uses a complete washing and sieving method and accurately determines the clay mass contents in the loess deposits at the eight regions of Xianyang,Ili,Xi'an,Yan'an,Lvliang,Linfen,Xining,and Lanzhou in China.The method uses nylon cloth sieves with apertures from 0.0008 mm to 0.048 mm and standard steel sieves with apertures from 0.063 mm to 28 mm.It uses a rotary vibration machine to wash and sieve the loess into many clay,silt,sand,and gravel subgroups.The masses of the separated materials construct the complete mass-based particle size distribution(PSD)curves for the tested loesses.The results show that the Xianyang,Ili,Xi'an,Yan'an,Lvliang,Linfen,Xining,and Lanzhou loesses contain 65.28%,56.73%,56.76%,38.7%,31.78%,30.55%,30.1%,and 26.29%clay in mass.These clay contents are 1.3-14.9 times higher than the clay contents from the past publications for the eight types of loess.On the other hand,the plasticity data in past publications show that loess belongs to the clay type of soil.The clay contents in the publications are underestimated,which is caused by the inseparability of fine soils(or clay and silt mixture)from the existing PSD test methods.Macro-photographs,micro-photographs and SEM photographs present the separated materials of individual clay,silt,sand,and gravel particles.Particle sizes measured from the SEM photographs confirm their particle sizes within their size limits.The clay particles exhibit strong internal cohesion,while the silt,sand,and gravel particles are individual and non-cohesive.Atterberg limits test results further demonstrate the clay particles'high plasticity features and the silt particles'non-plasticity features.
基金allocated by National Science,Research and Innovation Fund(NSRF)King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok(project no.KMUTNB-FF-67-B-44 and KMUTNB-FF-67-B-45)supported by the NSRF through the Program Management Unit for Human Resources&Institutional Development,Research and Innovation(grant no.B40G660036).
文摘This study proposes to use the unconfined compressive strength(UCS)and the bender element(BE)tests for determining the strength and the initial small-strain shear modulus of Bangkok soft marine clay improved by cement and polyester fibers.This study varies the content of admixed cement(1%–20%)and polyester fibers(0–20%),including the curing time(3–28 d)for preparing 360 samples.Moreover,this study uses the Michaelis-Menten kinetics concept to model cement hydration saturation.From the study,it is concluded as follows.The modelled results reveals that at least 10%cement and 1%polyester fiber are recommended to attain the 28-d UCS standards(294 kPa)for highway subgrade materials in Thailand.This also fulfils sustainable construction due to reducing normal-use cement from 20%to 10%.Unfortunately,the addition of polyester fibers into the Bangkok clay with at least 5%cement reduces shear modulus by 1.12–1.32 times.The Abram's relationship between shear modulus and the mixing-water-to-cement ratio is found time-dependent.From the composite theory,the BE detects the polyester fiber zone as a defect in the Bangkok clay(matrix)with 5%–20%cement.So,the 28-d shear modulus in the polyester fiber zone is negative(up to0.034 MPa for 20%fiber),similar to softening phenomenon in concrete cracking(negative stiffness).For the 28-d shear modulus of fiber zone,the optimum cement content is around 2%for the positive influences of polyester fibers.Experimentally,the timedependent normalized UCS for 10%and 20%cement is compatible with other studies,and its development rate increases with the cement content as 0.3017,0.3172 and 0.3204 for 5%,10%and 20%cement,respectively.The 28-d relationship between shear modulus and UCS shows that low-cement soft clay requires high polyester fiber content(5%–20%)to activate UCS improvement.However,the soft clay with enough cement(20%)causes the uniformly distributed UCS improvement.
