Background: Scoliosis is a health problem that causes a side-to-side curvature in the spine. The curvature may have an “S” or “C” shape. To evaluate scoliosis, the Cobb angle has been commonly used. However, digital image processing allows the Cobb angle to be obtained easily and quickly, several researchers have determined that Cobb angle contains high variations (errors) in the measurements. ...

Panel zone is one of the most important elements for transferring the lateral load to other elements in Steel Moment Resistant Frames. To some extent, this element through its suitable ductile behavior with beams, that themselves have been known as ductile elements, can increase the overall ductility of SMRF. The suitable design procedure for this element and details, can highly affect the perf...

A reliability function β(Q) is defined as the ratio of the expected value of the natural logarithm of the safety margin of the structural system divided by its standard deviation. The safety margin is the minimum value of the ratio of the story deformation capacity to the corresponding responseassociated demand, and Q is the peak ductility demand of a simplified reference system subjected to th...

It is generally observed that the existence of geometrical discontinuity like notches in materials will lead to strength weakening, as a resultant of local stress concentration. By comparing the influence of notches to the strength of three typical materials, aluminum alloys with intermediate tensile ductility, metallic glasses with no tensile ductility, and brittle ceramics, we observed streng...

Discontinuously reinforced aluminum metal matrix composites (MMCs) with about 20 vol.% reinforcement produced by powder metallurgy (PM) are attractive for many structural applications because of their high specific strength and stiffness. While they exhibit reduced ductility and toughness at room temperature, many of them can be superplastically deformed at high-strain rates in the vicinity of ...

The TWIP steels show high strain hardening rates with high ductility which results in high ultimate tensile strength. This makes their processing by equal channel angular pressing very difficult. Up to now, this has only been achieved at warm temperatures (above 200 C). In this paper, a FeMnCAl TWIP steel has been processed at room temperature and the resulted microstructure and mechanical prop...

Braced piers of steel truss bridges having braces with latticed built-up cross-sections may su er significant damage during earthquakes due to the buckling, rapid strength degradation, and fracture of the braces. One retro t alternative for such a bridge pier is to supplement the existing structural system with a system of energy dissipation devices (or structural fuses) that will yield and dis...

Polysynthetically-twinned titanium aluminide (PST-TiAl), a fully lamellar γ-TiAl+α2Ti3Al dual-phase alloy, is under evaluation for applications in rotary components in aircraft and automobile industries due to its high specific strength, and a high strength-retention capability at elevated-temperatures. However, the low ductility at roomto mid-high temperatures of the material hinders its appli...

Mixed-surface octyl/methoxyundecyl a-zirconium phosphonates (ZrPs) were investigated as distributed nanoscale fillers, in concentrations up to 50% w/w, for the purpose of increasing the elastic modulus and yield strength of polycaprolactone (PCL) without a meaningful reduction of its ductility. The volumetric nanoparticle loadings were estimated to be over 70% higher than those in nanocomposite...

Many natural structures use a foam core and solid outer shell to achieve high strength and stiffness with relatively small amounts of mass. Biological foams, however, must also resist crack growth. The process of crack propagation within the struts of a foam is not well understood and is complicated by the foam microstructure. We demonstrate that in cancellous bone, the foam-like component of w...