• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.627-634
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• 2018

Soil stabilization is an essential engineering process to enhance the geotechnical properties of soils that are not suitable for construction purposes. This study focuses on using coconut coir, a natural fibre to enhance the soil properties. Lime, an activator is added to the reinforced soil to augment its shear strength and durability. An experimental investigation was conducted to demonstrate the effect of coconut coir fibers and lime on the consistency limits, compaction characteristics, unconfined compressive strength, stress-strain behaviour, subgrade strength and durability of the treated soil. The results of the study illustrate that lime stabilization and coir reinforcement improves the unconfined compressive strength, post peak failure strength, controls crack propagation and boosts the tensile strength of the soil. Coir reinforcement provides addition contact surface, improving the soil-fibre interaction and increasing the interlocking between fibre and soil and thereby improve strength. Optimum performance of soil is observed at 1.25% coir fibre inclusion. Coir being a natural product is prone to degradation and to increase the durability of the coir reinforced soil, lime is used. Lime stabilization favourably amends the geotechnical properties of the coir fibre reinforced soil.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.1421-1424
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• 2005

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of two diets different in crude fibre content and ingredients on performance and on caecal characteristics of rabbits around weaning. Thirty litters from thirty New Zealand White does were divided at Day 18 in two groups fed, respectively, a low fibre concentrate (LFC, consisting mainly of soybean meal, delactated whey, barley) from Day 18-28 followed by a creep feed (CF, consisting mainly in alfalfa meal, barley and wheat bran) from Day 29-32, and a CF from Day 18-32. After weaning (32 days) both groups were fed the CF ad libitum for two weeks. During the pre-weaning period, mortality, milk intake and solid feed intake (from Day 20) were recorded daily, while the live weight of kits was recorded twice, at 18 and 32 days. At day 28, one rabbit/litter was slaughtered in order to obtain data on caecal content characteristics. After weaning, the rabbits were located in collective cages, feeding ad libitum CF; feed intake, live weight and mortality were recorded weekly for two weeks. During the preweaning period, there were no differences between the groups in milk and solid feed intake and, by consequence, in live weight at weaning; instead, the mortality was higher (12.5 vs 4.5%) for the group (A) that changed diet at 28 days. Group A showed also a higher caecal pH (6.12 vs. 5.72), propionate to butyrate ratio (0.73 vs. 0.46), ammonia content (9.3 vs. 7.1 mmol/l), but a lower total volatile fatty acid content (66.8 vs. 82.1 mmol/l) than B Group, probably due to the dried milk whey in the concentrate. After weaning, there were no significant differences between the two groups. The authors concluded that the use of a low fibre concentrate for suckling rabbits is not recommended.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.507-514
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• 2001

Two experiments were carried out to investigate whether duckweed is useful as a dietary protein source for fine-wool Merino sheep and to evaluate its effects on wool yield and characteristics. In Experiment 1, the sheep were given one of three maintenance diets consisting of oaten chaff (520-700 g/d) supplemented with 16-32 g crude protein/d in the form of fresh (1 kg/d) or sun-dried (50-100 g/d) duckweed. Each ration was estimated to provide 5.4 MJ (1.3 Mcal)/d of metabolisable energy (ME). The sheep readily ingested the fresh or dried duckweed. None of the wool measures (yield, rate of fibre elongation, fibre diameter) differed (p>0.05) between dietary treatments. In Experiment 2, oaten-chaff-based diets (800 g/d) supplying 6.5-7.2 MJ (1.6-1.7 Mcal)/d of ME were supplemented with iso-nitrogenous amounts (4-5 g N) either of urea (8 g), cottonseed meal (60 g) or dried duckweed (100 g). In this experiment, the rate of wool fibre elongation, thought to be related to intestinal amino acid absorption, was lower (p<0.05) for sheep given the oaten chaff/urea diet than for those given either oaten chaff/cottonseed meal or oaten chaff/duckweed for which the rates did not differ (p>0.05). Fibre diameter, which ranged from 16.0-16.7 mm, did not differ (p>0.05) between diets, but tended to be lower on the oaten chaff/urea diet so that volume of wool produced was also significantly lower (p<0.05) on this diet than on the diets containing duckweed or cottonseed meal. Rumen ammonia concentrations at 4.5 and 7.5 h after feeding were higher (p<0.05) for sheep given the oaten chaff/urea diet than for those given the other two diets. A comparison of the rumen ammonia concentrations, wool growth rate and predicted flows of amino acids from the rumen of sheep supplemented with duckweed rather than cottonseed meal suggested that duckweed is a valuable source of 'escape protein' for ruminants.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.131-157
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• 2014

Special track systems used to divert a train to other directions or other tracks are generally called 'railway turnout'. A traditional turnout system consists of steel rails, switches, crossings, steel plates, fasteners, screw spikes, timber bearers, ballast and formation. The wheel rail contact over the crossing transfer zone has a dip-like shape and can often cause detrimental impact loads on the railway track and its components. The large impact also emits disturbing noises (either impact or ground-borne noise) to railway neighbors. In a brown-field railway track where an existing aged infrastructure requires renewal or maintenance, some physical constraints and construction complexities may dominate the choice of track forms or certain components. With the difficulty to seek for high-quality timbers with dimensional stability, a methodology to replace aged timber bearers in harsh dynamic environments is to adopt an alternative material that could mimic responses and characteristics of timber in both static and dynamic loading conditions. A critical review has suggested an application of an alternative material called fibre-reinforced foamed urethane (FFU). The full-scale capacity design makes use of its comparable engineering characteristics to timber, high-impact attenuation, high damping property, and a longer service life. A field trial to investigate in-situ behaviours of a turnout grillage system using an alternative material, 'fibre-reinforced foamed urethane (FFU)' bearers, has been carried out at a complex turnout junction under heavy mixed traffics at Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia. The turnout junction was renewed using the FFU bearers altogether with new special track components. Influences of the FFU bearers on track geometry (recorded by track inspection vehicle 'AK Car'), track settlement (based on survey data), track dynamics, and acoustic characteristics have been measured. Operational train pass-by measurements have been analysed to evaluate the effectiveness of the replacement methodology. Comparative studies show that the use of FFU bearers generates higher rail and sleeper accelerations but the damping capacity of the FFU help suppress vibration transferring onto other track components. The survey data analysis suggests a small vertical settlement and negligible lateral movement of the turnout system. The static and dynamic behaviours of FFU bearers appear to equate that of natural timber but its service life is superior.

• International Journal of Reliability and Applications
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-17
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• 2012

This Paper deals with the stochastic behavior and failure analysis of a Viscose Staple Fibre Plant which produces fibre for making clothes. The fibre making plant is a complex system with various subsystems as: Vendor (supplies Charcoal and Sulphur, raw materials for the process), Carbon di sulphide Plant, Acid Plant, Pulp Plant and Processing Plant. The considered system can completely fail due to failure of any of the subsystems. The Carbon di Sulphide Plant can fail in two different ways, due to lack of Sulphur or Charcoal. Processing Plant has the configuration 5-out-of-10: d and 6-out-of-10: f. It is also assumed that the system can fail due to workers strike and catastrophic failure. All failures follow exponential time distribution whereas all repairs follow general time distribution. Preventive Maintenance policy has been applied to reduce the failure in the system. Various reliability characteristics such as transition state probabilities, steady state behavior, reliability, availability, M.T.T.F and the cost analysis have been obtained using supplementary variable technique and Gumbel-Hougaard copula methodology.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.81 no.6
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• pp.729-736
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• 2022

Earth is facing a serious problem of pollution and scarcity of energy sources. The synthetic fibers used in automobile and Aerospace manufacturing sectors are non-renewable and harmful to environment. International Agency such as FAA and SAE is forcing for green fuel, green materials and structures. Further exploration is much needed to understand its potential in structural applications. In the current study, hemp and Jute fibre based composites were developed and tested for assessing their suitability for possible applications in automobile and aerospace sectors. Composites were undergone tensile test, water absorption test, and fatigue analysis to understand its behavior under various loading conditions. The finite element analysis has been carried out to understand the fatigue behaviour of composites. The results revealed that the usage of hemp and jute fibre reinforced composites can improve mechanical properties and have shown a viable alternative to replace synthetic fibres such as glass fibres for specific applications. Hemp reinforced bio-composites have shown better performance as compared to Jute reinforced bio-composites while water resistance characteristics for hemp is poorer to jute fibres.

• Journal of the Korean Professional Engineers Association
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.44-58
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• 1994

• Journal of the Korean Professional Engineers Association
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.5-21
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• 1995

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.449-460
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• 2008

PET fabric is used as a regular clothing in the middle-east region which is called Chador as a women's clothing and Thobe as a men's clothing. Then there is a big difference of export price according to the minute hand characteristics of the PET fabrics, of which characteristics are due to the fibre and manufacturing process characteristics. This research surveys the optimum manufacturing conditions related to the fibre and fabric for the Thobe clothing which were developed in this study through comparison with high price Teijin Thobe manufactured in Japan. In this research, four kinds of Teijin fabrics made in Japan were prepared as a target quality specimen, and five kinds of developed fabrics were produced as an experimental specimens. These specimens were made by changing yarn denier, twist, yarn setting conditions and fabric density, which are also changed by twist contraction, weaving and finishing shrinkages. As a result of this study, the sensitive characteristics of Teijin Thobe fabrics can be analysed from fibre and fabric, and then the manufacturing design technology was constructed under the base of low twist texturing and 3 dimensional fabric design simulation technologies.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.1091-1091
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• 2001

Previous reports have shown that Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) can be used to assess physical and chemical properties of flax fibre and fabric quality. Currently, spinners assess yarn quality mainly based on strength and regularity measurements. There two key characteristics are influenced by quality of raw fibres used, especially the degree of rotting and strength. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the use of NIRS for assessing quality of weft grade yarn available on the commercial market. In order to develop the NIR calibrations, a range of samples representing poor, medium and good quality weft yarn samples was included in the calibration and validation sample sets. The samples were analysed for physical and chemical parameters including caustic weight loss, fibre fractions, lipid, ash and minerals. A detailed protocol for assessing yarn quality has been developed to maximize the accuracy of the reflectance spectra. The development of partial least squares regression models and validation of the calibration equations using blind samples will be presented and discussed.