Boron carbide (B4C) is a hard material whose value for extended engineering applications such as body armor; is limited by its brittleness under impact. To improve the ductility while retaining hardness, we used density functional theory to examine modifying B4C ductility through microalloying. We found that replacing the CBC chain in B4C with Si-Si, denoted as (B11Cp)-Si2, dramatically improve...

Current concrete technology has made higher concrete grades more affordable to mid and high-rise buildings; hence its use has been increasing in the late years as it allows for smaller cross-sections, reduction of the structure’s weight, improve durability, among other benefits. However, it is known that brittleness of plain concrete increases with the strength; therefore, some national codes h...

In order to calculate the flexural strength of normal-strength concrete (NSC) beams, the nonlinear actual concrete stress distribution within the compression zone is normally replaced by an equivalent rectangular stress block, with two coefficients of α and β to regulate the intensity and depth of the equivalent stress respectively. For NSC beams design, α and β are usually assumed constant as ...

This work demonstrates applicability of electron beam welding (EBW) and laser (LBW) techniques for manufacture tailored welded blanks (TWBs) from Al-5251 (H22) Al-6082 (T6) sheets. A combination dissimilar sheets as well thicknesses (1.5 mm 2.5 mm) has been used in addition to a similar combination. An optimal post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) was determined that effective relieving stresses impa...

‎The goal of this study is to introduce an Asymmetric Uniform-Laplace (AUL) distribution‎. ‎We present a detailed theoretical description of this distribution‎. ‎We try to estimate the parameters of AUL distribution using the maximum likelihood method‎. ‎Since the likelihood approach results in complicated forms‎, ‎we suggest a bootstrap-based approach for es...

Seismic ductility reduction factors for flexural-type structures with vertical irregularities subjected to pulse-like and nonpulse-like ground motions are investigated in this paper. By establishing various multi-node flexural cantilever-column models, the ductility reduction factor of vertically irregular structures is studied by modifying the ductility reduction factor of irregular structures...