Characteristics of Grade 60 and Grade 72.5 Re-bars in Pakistan
In Pakistan, quality assurance of re-bars is practically non-existent and there is no generally accepted testing method for testing of re-bars. Steel re-bars of Grade 60 are exclusively used in Pakistan; however production of high strength re-bars has recently started. In this study, thirty samples of steel re-bars of Grade 60 and thirty samples of Grade 72.5 were tested using ASTM standard testing protocol to obtain the stress-strain curves and comparisons were made between the experimental results of Grade 60 and Grade 72.5 re-bars. It can be concluded that Grade 72.5 steel shows less deformation capacity as compared to Grade 60 steel. For Grade 60 re-bars, the yield strengths of all individual re-bars were much higher than the prescribed minimum yield strength, i.e. 60 ksi. For the Grade 72.5 rebars, about 50 % of the re-bars did not reach the prescribed minimum yield strength of 72.5 ksi. The experimental curves were then compared with an idealized stress-strain curve developed by using a fractional equation. It is recommended that instead of producing Grade 72.5 ksi reinforcing bars, the traditional ASTM Grade 75 reinforcing bars be produced.
Complete Triaxial Stress-Strain Curves for Concrete
A method to predict the ascending and the descending parts of stress-strain curve of concrete subjected to triaxial compressive stresses is presented. The proposed analytical stress-strain relationship depends on the values of the three principal stresses and strains at the ultimate compressive strength. A criterion to predict the triaxial compressive strength is proposed, which is sensitive to all three stress invariants. To enable predictions of the post-peak stress-strain relation, experiments were conducted on concrete confined by steel tube. Concretes with different compressve strengths were confined by steel tubes of varying thicknesses. The predicted stress-strain curves compared favorably with the available experimental data on uniaxial, biaxial, and triaxial compression.
Traceability strategy for gear-pitch-measuring instruments: development and calibration of a multiball artifact
There is a strong demand to ensure the traceability of gear-measuring instruments (GMIs). We propose a multiball artifact (MBA) for the evaluation of pitch-measuring accuracy. The aim of the MBA is to transfer the minimum uncertainty from a calibrated value at the National Metrology Institute of Japan (NMIJ) to a measured value of GMIs at a shop floor. The MBA is composed of equally spaced high-accuracy balls around an axis. The pitch-measuring accuracy of GMIs is evaluated by measuring the angular pitch deviation of the balls instead of the angular pitch deviation of a gear. We calibrated the angular pitch deviation using a coordinate measuring instrument (CMM) at the NMIJ and adapting a multiple-orientation technique. We proposed a calibration strategy of the angular pitch deviation. The calibration value of the pitch deviation for the MBA at the NMIJ was obtained with a measurement uncertainty (U95) of 0.2 µm. We evaluated the pitch-measuring accuracy of a GMI using the calibrated MBA. Each value of U95 for the cumulative and single pitch deviations for the left and right flanks was less than or equal to 0.5 µm. The small uncertainty was transferred from the NMIJ to the GMI.