Determination of Strength Characteristics of Construction Timber Strengthened with Carbon and Glass Fibre Composite Using a Destructive Method
Beams strengthened with a composite material consisting of carbon and glass fibre stabilised with two types of adhesives were evaluated. The primary objective was to determine the technical attributes of joints, the maximum bending strength capacity, deflection, and modulus of elasticity. The reinforcement fibres tested were based on carbon and glass fibre. Epoxy and polyurethane adhesives were used for stabilising the fibres on a spruce timber beam. Composite beams glued in both a prestressed and non-prestressed condition were tested and then compared with non-reinforced control beams. A four-point deflection pursuant to EN 408 (1995) was used in the determination of the strength of the load-bearing construction beams based on composites, consisting of a fibre type, adhesive type, and spruce timber. This approach was applied to define the size of the construction beams and process the measurement results. Reinforcing construction beams with fibres applied in a prestressed condition resulted in an increase in the bending strength capacity by 31.6 to 44.4% compared with a non-reinforced solid timber construction beam. These construction elements, strengthened with carbon and glass fibre composites glued with epoxy and polyurethane adhesives, are suitable for applications that require bending resistance perpendiculary to the glued joint direction.
A method for flexural reinforcement of old wood beams with CFRP materials
This paper presents a study on the reinforcement of existing wood elements under bending loads through the use of FRP materials. An analytical investigation was first conducted on the behavior of a generic FRP-reinforced wood section. This study, in turn, led to a numerical procedure based on non-linear wood properties, suitable for application in the design of FRP reinforcement of old, pre-existing wood beams under varying configurations of intervention layouts and materials. An experimental programme based on a four-point bending test configuration is proposed to characterize the stiffness, ductility and strength response of FRP-wood beams. Mechanical tests on the reinforced wood showed that external bonding of FRP materials may produce increases in flexural stiffness and capacity. The FRP composite material was made of High Tensile Carbon monodirectional reinforcing fabrics embedded in an epoxy resin matrix. This reinforcing method can be applied without necessitating the removal of the overhanging part of the pre-existing wood structure, thus maintaining the original historical structure. In addition, a beam non-linear model was proposed to predict ultimate load. At the end of this paper results of the experimental programme are presented and used for comparison with the numerical procedure.
The Prevalence of Dietary Supplement Use among College Students: A Nationwide Survey in Japan
To clarify the prevalence of dietary supplement use among college students, we conducted Internet-based nationwide questionnaire surveys with 157,595 Japanese college students aged between 18 to 24 years old who were registrants of Macromill Inc. (Tokyo, Japan). Among the 9066 respondents (response rate 5.8%), 16.8% were currently using dietary supplements. The prevalence of dietary supplement use did not differ significantly between males (17.1%) and females (16.7%). However, it increased according to their grade (13.1% to 20.5%), and it was higher in medical and pharmaceutical college students (22.0%) compared to others (16.7%). The main purpose of dietary supplement use was for the health benefits in both males and females. Other reasons were to build muscle in males, and as a beauty supplement and for weight loss in females. According to the purpose of dietary supplement use, the most commonly-used dietary supplements were vitamin/mineral supplements in both males and females, then protein and weight loss supplements in males and females, respectively. Although most students obtained information about dietary supplements via the Internet, they typically purchased the supplements from drug stores. Of the students surveyed, 7.5% who were currently using or used to use dietary supplements experienced adverse effects, with no significant difference between genders (8.8% in male, 7.0% in female). In conclusion, the prevalence of dietary supplement use increased with grade among college students in Japan. Some of them experienced adverse effects. Education may be important to prevent adverse effects resulting from supplement use in college.