Due to its direct link to structural security, crack width is thought to be one of the most important parameters reflecting damage conditions of concrete structures. However, the width problem is difficult to solve with the existing structural health monitoring methods. In this paper, crack width monitoring by means of adhering enameled copper wires with different ultimate strains on the surface of structures is proposed, based on smart film crack monitoring put forward by the present authors. The basic idea of the proposed method is related to a proportional relationship between the crack width and ultimate strain of the broken wire. Namely, when a certain width of crack passes through the wire, some low ultimate strain wires will be broken and higher ultimate strain wires may stay non-broken until the crack extends to a larger scale. Detection of the copper wire condition as broken or non-broken may indicate the width of the structural crack. Thereafter, a multi-layered stress transfer model and specimen experiment are performed to quantify the relationship. A practical smart film is then redesigned with this idea and applied to Chongqing Jiangjin Yangtze River Bridge.

This paper reports the large-scale finite element analysis (FEA) of a 3D angle-interlock layer-to-layer woven composite material undergoing low-cyclic three-point bending fatigue at microstructure level. A microstructure geometrical model of the 3D woven composite material was established to model the real structure of the woven composite. The fatigue behaviors of the 3D woven composite undergoing three-point bending with sinusoidal wave-form were investigated from experimental and FEA approaches. Based on displacement-controlled bending and inelastic hysteresis energy fatigue damage criterion, the interior deformation, energy absorption, and stress distribution characteristics during the fatigue process were analyzed. The different failure mechanisms and damage patterns of yarns and resin were discussed. The influence of the 3D woven structure on the fatigue behaviors was discussed. The fatigue damage morphologies and stiffness degradation were obtained to compare with the experimental results. The results show that the most of energy was absorbed by warp yarns. Stress concentration was emerged on the inclined part of warp yarns and the interface between yarns and resin. The damage morphologies from experimental and FEA results are in good agreement. The stiffness degradation curves also show the same tendency.

In order to improve the mechanical properties of poly (lactic acid) (PLA), cotton fiber/PLA composites were prepared by melting compounding and injection molding. The effects of cotton fiber content and coupling agent on mechanical properties, crystalline behavior and interface morphology of the composites were studied by universal testing machine, DSC and SEM, respectively. The results showed that the crystallinity of the composites increased gradually with the increase of cotton fiber content, whereas the mechanical properties of the composites increased firstly and then decreased with further addition of cotter fiber. The composite with 20wt% cotton fiber had an optimal mechanical performance. In addition, with the incorporation of 1wt% coupling agent, the interfacial adhesion between cotton fiber and PLA improved obviously, and the mechanical properties of the composites increased accordingly. Compared with the neat PLA, the tensile strength, flexural strength, flexural modulus and impact strength of the resultant composites were increased by 66.0%, 27.4%, 45.8% and 60.4%, respectively.

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SUMMARYThe incident steady-state SH waves in the neighbourhood of a boundary node point are first expanded in terms of a few plane waves at different incident angles, the motion of the boundary point is then related to those of its adjacent node points to form the multi-directional transmitting boundary conditions, which reduce reflections from the boundary over the entire range of incident angles. This feature of the boundaries is demonstrated by finite element computations of SH motions of a layer fixed at its base, in which the incident wave may travel parallel to the boundary as the frequency of excitation approaches one of the natural frequencies of the system.