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The lateral torsional buckling (LTB) of steel-timber composite (STC) beam with partial interaction was investigated in this paper. The composite beam is constructed by connecting the timber to both flanges of the H-shaped steel with bolts or screws. Twelve push-out specimens were designed to evaluate the shear performance of bolt or screw connectors. It was shown that the slip stiffness and the shear bearing capacity of the connectors increased with the thickness of timber increasing. Then, eight full-scale composite beams with lengths of 6000 mm were studied through bending tests and compared to a bare steel beam. The experimental behaviors of the specimens were identified, including the failure mode, load-deflection relationship and load-strain response. The LTB phenomenon and composite action were discussed by analyzing the strain distribution, stiffness and strength. The results demonstrated that the STC beams fastened with bolts or screws displayed partial composite action. Although the stiffness of the composite beam showed little augmentation, the maximum strength of the composite beam substantially increased by suppressing the LTB phenomenon. A finite element analysis was conducted to reveal the failure mechanism of the specimens with different geometric and physical parameters, including the number of timber layers, the interface shear stiffness and the initial imperfection. It was found that increasing the number of timber layers in the upper flange suppressed the lateral torsional buckling, and the interface shear stiffness was the key factor to control the stiffness and failure modes of STC beams.

For this study, spruce–pine–fir (Picea–Pinus–Abies [SPF]) specification material, oriented strand board (OSB), and domestic twisted nails that were driven vertically and perpendicular-to-grain were selected. Referring to GB/T 13942.1-2009, nailed joints specimens were exposed both to white rot fungus and brown rot fungus for 1 month to 6 months. The monotonous loading test was applied to the specimens based on ASTM D1761-88. The holding power of the nails and weight loss of both OSB and SPF were investigated. Theoretical maximum load of the nailed joints was calculated according to Eurocode5. Results illustrated that the load, stiffness, and energy consumption of the nailed joints showed significant linear decline with the decay time. A linear decline of the ductility coefficient was not obvious, and there was no obvious difference between white rot fungus and brown rot fungus. Effect of decay on the OSB was much greater than the impact on the SPF. The decay grade of the nailed joints was established according to the linear relationship between weight loss and maximum load. Based on Eurocode5, the study calculated the maximum load of the nailed joints and introduced the correction coefficient γ to better predict the maximum load.

Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP) is a rare genetic disease caused by heterozygous missense mutations in Activin A receptor type I which is also known as Activin-like kinase 2 (ALK2), a type I receptor of Bone Morphogenetic Proteins(BMP). Patients with FOP usually undergo episodic flare-ups and the heterotopic ossification in soft and connective tissues. Molecular mechanism study indicates that Activin A, the ligand which normally transduces Transforming Growth Factor Beta signaling, abnormally activates BMP signaling through ALK2 mutants in FOP, leading to heterotopic bone formation. To date, effective therapies to FOP are unavailable. However, significant advances have recently been made in the development of FOP drugs. In this article, we review the recent advances in understanding the FOP mechanism and drug development, with a focus on the small-molecular and antibody drugs currently in the clinical trials for FOP treatment.

The development of steel in engineering structures or components faces the problems of high cost and high carbon emission, which demands new materials used as reinforcement to be proposed and applied. Bamboo is a green and renewable natural material, and has higher tensile strength parallel to grain compared to wood. Based on the excellent mechanical properties in the parallel-to-grain direction of bamboo fiber, this paper proposed an innovative bamboo fiber-reinforced polymer tendon with U-head (BFRP tendon). To analyze the tension capacity and mechanical behavior of the BFRP tendon, the thin-shell model and thick-shell model have been proposed in succession. Both models were compared with the results of tensile test and good agreement was achieved in the stress distribution and the ultimate load. The tension capacity of the BFRP tendon has been proved to be reliable, which can give full play to the advantages of bamboo fiber.

Ecological concrete could reduce the environment impacts of the tremendous construction of infrastructures due to its favorability to plant growth. Nonetheless, the alkalinity of the ecological concrete is usually too high when using ordinary Portland cement (OPC). To solve this problem, the magnesium ammonium phosphate cement (MPC) was used to prepare a novel porous ecological concrete instead of OPC. The pH value and compressive strength of MPC were analyzed and the pore structure was evaluated. The chemical composition and morphology were investigated by an X-ray diffraction test and scanning electron microscope observation. In addition, the void ratio, compressive strength and planting-growing characteristic of MPC-based porous ecological concrete were also studied. The pH value of the MPC suspension ranged from 6.8 to 8.5, which was much lower than that of OPC. The pH value of MPC gradually increased with the increment of phosphorus/magnesium molar ratio (P/M) and the compressive strength reached a maximum value of 49.2 MPa when the P/M value was 1/4. Fly ash (FA) and ground blast furnace slag (GBFS) could improve the pore structure and compressive strength; however, the pH value was slightly increased. As the paste-to-aggregate ratio increased, the void ratio of concrete gradually decreased, while the compressive strength gradually increased. The meadow grass was planted in the MPC-based ecological concrete, and the seeds germinated in one week and showed a better growth status than those planted in the OPC-based ecological concrete.

An arch glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) I-beam with a 600 mm height was developed based on the latest curved-pultrusion technique to overcome the most critical design issues of large-scale GFRP beams, including excessive deflections and premature buckling failures. To achieve this goal, a review was first conducted regarding the complex buckling behaviors of pultruded GFRP beams, building a theoretical basis for the development of the curved beam. Then, a series of three-point bending tests for beams were conducted at full scale, in which the typical failure modes, load-carrying capacities and deflection and strain data were obtained. Compression flange delamination was found to be the dominant failure mode. The load–strain curves for flange and web plates demonstrated that the proposed beams were exempt from local buckling issues. Additionally, an analytical study and finite element modeling were carried out. Excellent agreement between experimental, analytical and numerical studies was observed. The design approach for conventional straight profiles is readily applicable to curved beams as the difference is limited. In the end, a 20-m-long full-scale GFRP pedestrian bridge was designed, constructed and tested. The great potential of the proposed curved-pultruded GFRP arch beam was successfully demonstrated.

As a quasi-brittle material, bamboo scrimber exhibits size effect behaviour. In this study, we used the boundary effect model to conduct a three-point bending transverse fracture test on bamboo scrimber samples with geometric similarity and dissimilarity. This test was conducted to investigate the impact of the size effect on the fracture parameters of bamboo scrimber: tensile strength ft and fracture toughness KIC. Normal distribution, Weibull distribution, and lognormal distribution were used to analyse the test data. Normal distribution was selected to predict ft and KIC values owing to its high accuracy and reliability. Then, ft and KIC were determined as the mean values of normal distribution analysis with 96% reliability. The ft value predicted was in good agreement with the ideal tensile strength obtained using the tensile strength and volume fraction of fibre bundles. Furthermore, the results showed that the ft value obtained using the BEM was unaffected by the size effect in both geometrically similar and dissimilar samples because ft is an intrinsic material property that is not affected by material defects. Because the BEM solution is size-effect independent and is a straight line that passes through the zero point, it can be used to predict the bearing capacity of large structures of bamboo scrimber using the common size samples in the laboratory.

As a pivotal anti-corrosion structure in the wet flue gas desulfurization system, the huge filament-wound GFRP (glass fiber-reinforced polymer) tube is often employed as the chimney liner. However, the study on its mechanical properties is rare. Three large-scale stiffened cylindrical GFRP chimney liner segments were tested under the axial compression, including an integrated filament-wound chimney liner specimen with two ring stiffeners, a specimen with two ring stiffeners cut into two segments and joined by a hand-wound technique, and a specimen with an outside ring bracket. The failure modes, load-displacement relationships, variation of strains during the loading process, were acquired by test. The effects of ring stiffeners on the mechanical behavior, service reliability of the joint between the two segments of the chimney liner, and the reliability of the ring bracket were examined. Comparisons between theoretically calculated stiffness and experimentally measured stiffness were discussed. Finally, finite element analysis was performed to examine the failure modes and axial load-displacement behavior of the investigated chimney liners. Different ranges of diameter to thickness ratios and load eccentricity values were selected to examine their effects on the mechanical behavior of chimney liners. Finally, suggestions on the design of chimney liner structure were given.

A method to improve the mechanical behavior of 3D-printed elements is presented. 3D-printed elements are orthotropic and weak in their interlayers; thus, FRPs, which are easy-formed, light-weighted and high-strength, are ideal materials to enhance 3D-printed elements. To investigate the reinforcement effect, uniaxial compression tests were conducted on circular column specimens, and four-point flexural tests were conducted on beam specimens. The results indicated that wrapping 3D-printed columns with FRPs changed their failure modes from brittle to ductile, increased the peak loads that they could endure by 1427.2–1792.0% and increased the largest deformations they could achieve by 833.9–1171.3% using different numbers of layers and types of reinforcement. For the 3D-printed beams reinforced with FRPs, the bearing capacities were increased by 179.6–604.5%, and their flexure deflections at their mid-spans were increased by 40.8–225.8%. The failure modes of the 3D-printed beams were affected by numbers of layers and types of reinforcement. Additionally, finite element analyses were conducted to simulate the failure modes of the 3D-printed elements based on the maximum stress criterion. The results showed that the predicted failure locations corresponded with the experimental failure locations observed. According to this study, 3D-printed elements reinforced with FRP sheets showed potential for future development and applications in construction.

The three dimensional (3D) printing technology has undergone rapid development in the last few years and it is now possible to print engineering structures. This paper presents a study of the mechanical behavior of 3D printed structures using cementitious powder. Microscopic observation reveals that the 3D printed products have a layered orthotropic microstructure, in which each layer consists of parallel strips. Compression and flexural tests were conducted to determine the mechanical properties and failure characteristics of such materials. The test results confirmed that the 3D printed structures are laminated with apparent orthotropy. Based on the experimental results, a stress–strain relationship and a failure criterion based on the maximum stress criterion for orthotropic materials are proposed for the structures of 3D printed material. Finally, a finite element analysis was conducted for a 3D printed shell structure, which shows that the printing direction has a significant influence on the load bearing capacity of the structure.

This paper presents an elastic shear stress distribution theoretical model at the carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP)-adhesive interface of a single-rod and a multi-rod straight-pipe bonding anchor. A comparison between theoretical and finite element analysis results reveals that the accuracy of the theory can be used to guide the preliminary design of CFRP rod bonding anchors. The mechanical performance of the inner cone bonding anchor for multi-rods are evaluated within different coefficients of friction and inner inclined angles. Numerical results indicate that the straight-parabolic inner cone bonding anchor has a significant effect on reducing the shear force at the loading end.