The reinforcement potential of novel nanocellulose-based scaffolding reinforcements composed of microfibrils 5 to 50 nm in diameter and several microns in length was investigated. The cellulose nanofibril reinforcement was used to produce a three-dimensional scaffolding. A hybrid two-step approach using vacuum pressure and hot pressing was used to integrate the nanocellulose reinforcements in a...

The floor beams of steel buildings, cold-formed steel floor joists in particular, often require large web openings, which may affect their shear capacities. A cost effective way to mitigate the detrimental effects of such openings is to weld/fasten reinforcements. A difficulty associated with an experimental investigation to establish suitable reinforcement schemes for openings in shear zone is...

In this work, a Mg-5Nb metal–metal composite was reinforced with nano SiC (SiCn) ceramic reinforcement of varying volume fractions, using the disintegrated melt deposition technique. The extruded Mg-5Nb-SiCn composites were characterized for their microstructure and mechanical properties. Based on the results obtained, it was observed that the volume fraction of nano-SiC reinforcement played an...

Introduction Engineering textiles used in composite materials can be considered as porous materials because of the open spaces between the fibers in a bundle and between the woven bundles themselves. These spaces are commonly referred to as microscopic and mesoscopic pores. The dual scale porosity of fibrous reinforcements is of great importance when studying Liquid Composite Molding (LCM) proc...

Conventional near-surface mounted (NSM) FRP methods rely on expensive and less durable epoxy-filler bond to transfer tensile force from reinforcements into concrete elements, generally failing fully develop the strength of reinforcements. In this paper, cost-effective potentially more fillers (e.g. cement-based paste ceramic tile adhesive) combined with anchorages have been proposed improve con...

Learning from reinforcements is a promising approach for creating intelligent agents. However, reinforcement learning usually requires a large number of training episodes. We present an approach that addresses this shortcoming by allowing a connectionist Q-learner to accept advice given, at any time and in a natural manner, by an external observer. In our approach, the advice-giver watches the ...

We present an adaptation of the standard genetic program (GP) to hierarchically decomposable, multi-agent learning problems. To break down a problem that requires cooperation of multiple agents, we use the team objective function to derive a simpler, intermediate objective function for pairs of cooperating agents. We apply GP to optimize first for the intermediate, then for the team objective f...

Self-consolidating concrete (SCC) is becoming a popular choice in concrete industry due to ease of placement in congested reinforcements, reduced labor and equipment, nonsegregating character, and smooth surface. Due to its sensitivity to aggregate grading, proportions, admixtures, and filler contents and being a relatively new material, more information are required on the effects of aggregate...