Search

A timely knowledge of concrete and ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) strength is possible through the so-called strength-equivalent time (Et) curves. A timely knowledge of concrete strength is useful, for instance, to precisely determine when the shores of a hardening structural element can be safely removed. At the present time, the preparation of the strength-Et curves requires time-consuming and labor-intensive testing prior to the beginning of construction operations. This paper proposes an innovative method to derive the strength-Et and total heat-Et curves for both normal strength and UHPC. Results confirmed that the proposed method is fast, inexpensive, self-calibrating, accurate and can detect any variation of the concrete mix proportions or components quality. In addition, the quality of predictions of strength–maturity curves can be constantly improved as the specimens’ population increases. Finally, results obtained with the proposed method were compared with those obtained using standard methods, showing a good agreement.

The von Mises truss has been widely studied in the literature because of its numerous applications in multistable and morphing structures. The static equilibrium of this structure was typically addresses by considering only geometric nonlinearities. However, Falope et al. (2021) presented an entirely nonlinear solution in finite elasticity and demonstrated that material nonlinearities play an important role in the prediction of both snap-through and Euler buckling. In such work, the von Mises truss was subjected to a vertical load and thus the system was symmetric and the deformations were relatively small. The present contribution extends the investigation to the case of a horizontal load, which is much more complex due to asymmetry and very large deformations. Since most rubbers employed in technological applications exhibit hardening under large stretches, we propose a new hyperelastic model capable of reproducing this behavior. The advantage of such model compared to the ones available in the literature is that the equilibrium solution maintains a straightforward mathematical form, even when considering compressibility of the material. In addition, in this work we present a new formulation in nonlinear elasticity to predict Euler buckling. The formulation takes into account shear deformation. The analytical prediction agrees well with both finite element (FE) and experimental results, thus demonstrating the accuracy of the proposed model.

We consider here the problem of a three-dimensional (3D) body subjected to an arbitrarily oriented and remotely applied stationary heat flux. The body includes a non-conductive inhomogeneity (or pore) having the shape of two intersecting spheres with different radii. Using toroidal coordinates, the steady-state temperature field and the heat flux have been expressed in terms of Mehler–Fock transforms. Then, by imposing Neumann BCs at the surface of the spheres, a system of two Fredholm integral equations is obtained and solved based on Gauss–Laguerre quadrature rule. It is shown that the components of the resistivity contribution tensor exhibit a non-monotonic trend with the distance between sphere centers. In particular, if the inhomogeneity has a symmetric dumbbell-shape, then the extrema of the resistivity contribution tensor components occur when the two overlapping spheres have the same size. Differently, when the inhomogeneity has a lenticular shape, then these extrema are attained for a non-symmetric configuration, namely, for different radii of the intersecting spheres.