In the context of the shortage of river sand, two types of manufactured sand (MS) were used to partially replace river sand (RS) to design manufactured sand concrete (MSC). A total of 81 specimens were designed for uniaxial compression test and beam flexure test. Two parameters were considered in the tests, including the types of MS (i.e. limestone manufactured sand (LMS), pebble manufactured sand (PMS)) and the MS replacement percentage (i.e., 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%). The stress-strain curves of MSC were obtained. The effects of these parameters on the compressive strength, elastic modulus, peak strain, toughness and flexural strength were discussed. Additionally, the sensitivity of particle size distributions to the performance of MSC was evaluated based on the grey correlation analysis. The results showed that compared with river sand concrete (RSC), the rising slope of the stress-strain curves of limestone manufactured sand concrete (LMSC) and pebble manufactured sand concrete (PMSC) were higher, the descending phrase of LMSC were gentle but that of PMSC showed an opposite trend. The physical and mechanical properties of MSC were affected by the MS replacement percentage except the compressive strength of PMSC. When the replacement percentage of LMS and PMS were 50% and 25% respectively, the corresponding performances of LMSC and PMSC were better. In generally, when the replacement percentage of LMS and PMS were same, the comprehensive performance of LMSC were better than that of PMSC. The constitutive model and the equations for mechanical properties were proposed. The influence of particle ranging from 0.15 mm to 0 mm on the performance of MSC was lower than particle ranging from 4.75 mm to 0.15 mm but this influence should not be ignored.

This study investigates the bending and stability properties of cylindrical constructions, with a focus on their use in the design and implementation of sporting equipment. The work focuses on a cylindrical construction resembling nanomotors, similar to components seen in sports equipment, using mathematical modeling based on high-order beam theory and nonlocal strain gradient theory. The analysis provides important insights into the dynamic behavior of these systems, revealing light on the impact of numerous factors such as rotational velocity, section change rate, and structural dimensions. The results show a relationship between angular velocity growth and section change rate, which leads to an increase in fundamental frequency values. Furthermore, the research emphasizes the effect of structural factors on dynamic deflection, giving critical information for increasing the stability and performance of sporting equipment. This study adds to the area of sports engineering by providing a more nuanced understanding of how cylindrical constructions react under diverse settings. The results will help to guide the design and manufacturing processes of sports equipment, assuring improved stability and performance for players across a wide range of sports.

Concrete structures may become vulnerable during their lifetime due to several reasons such as degradation of their material properties; design or construction errors; and environmental damage due to earthquake. These structures should be repaired or strengthened to ensure proper performance for the current service load demands. Several methods have been investigated and applied for the strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) structures using various materials. Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) reinforcement is one of the most recent type of material for the strengthening purpose of RC structures. The main objective of the present research is to identify the behavior of reinforced concrete slabs strengthened with FRP bars by using near surface mounted (NSM) technique. Validation study is conducted based on the experimental test available in the literature to investigate the accuracy of finite element models using LS-DYNA to present the behavior of the models. A parametric analysis is conducted on the effect of FRP bar diameters, number of grooves, groove intervals as well as width and height of the grooves on the flexural behavior of strengthened reinforced slabs. Performance of strengthening RC slabs with NSM FRP bars was confirmed by comparing the results of strengthening reinforced slabs with control slab. The numerical results of mid-span deflection and stress time histories were reported. According to the numerical analysis results, the model with three grooves, FRP bar diameter of 10 mm and grooves distances of 100 mm is the most ideal and desirable model in this research. The results demonstrated that strengthening of reinforced concrete slabs using FRP by NSM method will have a significant effect on the performance of the slabs.

Methods for designing the post-tensioned anchorage zones at ultimate limit state has been specified in current design codes based on strut-and-tie models (STM). However, it is still not clear how to estimate the serviceability behavior of the anchorage zones. The serviceability is just indirectly taken into account by means of the reasonable reinforcement detailing. To address this issue, this paper is devoted to developing a modified strut-and-tie model (MSTM) to predict the behavior of concentric anchorage zones throughout the loading process. The principle of stationary complementary energy is introduced into STM at each load step to satisfy the compatibility condition and generate the unique MSTM. The structural behavior of anchorage zones can be achieved based on MSTM from loading to failure. Simplified formulas have been proposed to estimate the first cracking load, bearing capacity and maximum crack width with the consideration of the details of reinforcement bursting bars. The proposed model provides a definite method to control the bursting crack width in concentric anchorage zones. Four specimens with different bearing plate ratios have been designed and tested to validate the proposed method.