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The paper presents the experience of a working group within the RILEM Technical Committee 223-MSC ‘Masonry Strengthening with Composite materials’, aimed at developing a standardized, reliable procedure for characterizing the bonding mechanism of masonry elements strengthened with composite materials under shear actions. Twelve laboratories from European universities and research centers were involved. Two different set-ups were compared, for single-lap and double-lap shear tests (the latter in two versions). Four kinds of fiber fabrics, i.e., glass, carbon, basalt and steel, were applied with epoxy resins (wet lay-up system) to clay brick units, for a total of 280 monotonic tests. The results provided information regarding the response of externally bonded-to-brick composites in terms of observed failure mechanisms, load capacity, effective transfer length, and bond shear stress–slip behavior. The test results of the 12 laboratories constitute a set of statistically representative data which may conveniently be used for setting appropriate design provisions and guidelines

We estimate the mean steric sea level variations over the 60°S-60°N oceanic domain for the recent period (from August 2002to April 2006, by combining sea level data from Jason-1 altimetry with time-variable gravity data from GRACE. The observed global mean sea level change from satellite altimetry results in total from steric plus ocean mass change. As GRACE measurements averaged over the ocean represents the ocean mass change component only, difference between GRACE and altimetry observations provides an estimate of the mean steric sea level. Two different sets of GRACE geoid solutions (the GRGS EIGEN-GL04 and the GFZ EIGEN-GRACE04S products) have been used. Each GRACE data set computed with in situ hydrographic data. However over the last 3.5 years, we note a strong discrepancy between altimetry minus GRACE and in situ-based steric sea level trend, the latter exhibiting a negative slope. The cause for such a discrepancy is yet unknown but may be related to inadequate sampling of in situ ocean temperature measurements 3 Introduction.

Motivated by mechanical analysis of bones and bone-implant systems, a 3D constitutive law describing the macroscopic mechanical behaviour of both cortical and trabecular bone in cyclic (not fatigue) overloads is developed. The proposed model which mathematical formulation is established within the framework of generalized standard materials accounts for three distinct material evolution modes where elastic, plastic and damage aspects are closely related. The anisotropic elasticity of bone is described by a morphology-based model and distinct damage behaviour in tension and compression by a halfspacewise generalized Hill criterion. The plastic criterion is based on the intact elastic compliance tensor. The algorithm applies three distinct projections based on the relationship between the internal variables and criteria. Their respective consistent tangent operators are presented. Numerical resolutions of several boundary value problems and a biomechanical application are presented to illustrate the potential of the constitutive model and demonstrate the expected quadratic convergence of the algorithm.

[1] The sea level variation (SLV total ) is the sum of two major contributions: steric and mass-induced. The steric SLV steric is that resulting from the thermal and salinity changes in a given water column. It only involves volume change, hence has no gravitational effect. The mass-induced SLV mass , on the other hand, arises from adding or subtracting water mass to or from the water column and has direct gravitational signature. We examine the closure of the seasonal SLV budget and estimate the relative importance of the two contributions in the Mediterranean Sea as a function of time. We use ocean altimetry data (from TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason 1, ERS, and ENVISAT missions) to estimate SLV total , temperature, and salinity data (from the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean ocean model) to estimate SLV steric , and time variable gravity data (from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Project, April 2002 to July 2004) to estimate SLV mass . We find that the annual cycle of SLV total in the Mediterranean is mainly driven by SLV steric but moderately offset by SLV mass . The agreement between the seasonal SLV mass estimations from SLV total -SLV steric and from GRACE is quite remarkable; the annual cycle reaches the maximum value in mid-February, almost half a cycle later than SLV total or SLV steric , which peak by mid-October and mid-September, respectively. Thus, when sea level is rising (falling), the Mediterranean Sea is actually losing (gaining) mass. Furthermore, as SLV mass is balanced by vertical (precipitation minus evaporation, P-E) and horizontal (exchange of water with the Atlantic, Black Sea, and river runoff) mass fluxes, we compared it with the P-E determined from meteorological data to estimate the annual cycle of the horizontal flux.Citation: García, D., B. F. Chao, J. Del Río, I. Vigo, and J. García-Lafuente (2006), On the steric and mass-induced contributions to the annual sea level variations in the Mediterranean Sea,