How do trees support their upright massive bodies? The support comes from the incredibly strong and stiff, and highly crystalline nanoscale fibrils of extended cellulose chains, called cellulose nanofibers. Cellulose nanofibers and their crystalline parts-cellulose nanocrystals, collectively nanocelluloses, are therefore the recent hot materials to incorporate in man-made sustainable, environmentally sound, and mechanically strong materials. Nanocelluloses are generally obtained through a top-down process, during or after which the original surface chemistry and interface interactions can be dramatically changed. Therefore, surface and interface engineering are extremely important when nanocellulosic materials with a bottom-up process are fabricated. Herein, the main focus is on promising chemical modification and nonmodification approaches, aiming to prospect this hot topic from novel aspects, including nanocellulose-, chemistry-, and process-oriented surface and interface engineering for advanced nanocellulosic materials. The reinforcement of nanocelluloses in some functional materials, such as structural materials, films, filaments, aerogels, and foams, is discussed, relating to tailored surface and/or interface engineering. Although some of the nanocellulosic products have already reached the industrial arena, it is hoped that more and more nanocellulose-based products will become available in everyday life in the next few years.

https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/adma.202002264

Surface and Interface Engineering for Nanocellulosic Advanced Materials.

Utilization of fly ash cenosphere as lightweight filler in cement-based composites – A review

Seismic behaviour of tunnels: From experiments to analysis

In current practice, the force-displacement and moment-rotation behaviours of inter-module connections for modular steel buildings are established by a combination of theoretical, experimental, and numerical analyses. The simplified connection behaviour is then incorporated into a numerical model of the overall structure for analysis and design. For engineering design analysis, it is desirable to estimate the inter-module connection stiffness by means of simplified calculations. Methods for estimation of the stiffness of traditional steel connections are available in the literature, however, their application to inter-module connections (also known as inter-connections) remains to be investigated. This paper summarises existing inter-connection details, including their purpose and associated design methods and models. The inter-connections selected from the literature provide details of the typical force-displacement and moment-rotation behaviours. For the selected inter-connections, the numerical and experimental results are compared with the calculated theoretical results predicted by existing theoretical models. The existing theoretical models are compared, and their limitations are outlined.

Review of bolted inter-module connections in modular steel buildings

A review on modular construction for high-rise buildings

Mechanical properties of normal strength mild steel and high strength steel S690 in low temperature relevant to Arctic environment

Steel–concrete–steel (SCS) sandwich composite structure is a relative new type of system that combines the advantages of steel and reinforced concrete structure Due to its excellent strength to cost performance, it exhibits versatile potential applications in building and offshore constructions In order to reduce the self-weight of the structure and achieve composite action between the steel and concrete, ultra-lightweight cement composite and novel shear connectors have been developed and applied in the SCS sandwich composite structures, respectively Meanwhile, the development of design guidelines lags behind the innovation of the structure In this paper, experimental studies on SCS sandwich composite beams with different types of concretes and novel shear connectors are presented This is followed by the development of analytical model to predict the ultimate strength of the SCS sandwich composite beams Finally, the proposed analytical model is verified against the results from a series of beams tests which include Bi-steel sandwich beams, double skin beams, sandwich beams with J-hook connectors, angle connectors, and cable connectors Through the analysis and verification, new methods to predict the ultimate strength of SCS sandwich composite beams are recommended for design purposes

Experimental and analytical study on ultimate strength behavior of steel–concrete–steel sandwich composite beam structures

http://paginas.fe.up.pt/~iccs16/CD/721-760/728Sohel.pdf

Behavior of Steel–Concrete–Steel sandwich structures with lightweight cement composite and novel shear connectors

Steel-concrete-steel sandwich composite structures-recent innovations

Prefabricated modular construction is a new type of promising structures. This type of structure is an excellent alternative to conventional on-site buildings with advantages of shortened construction time, improved construction quality and reduced environmental pollution. A new concept of modular construction with novel connections has been proposed. This paper mainly focuses on the behavior and design of the innovative steel column working together with tenons at both ends. The fourth-differential equation was firstly adopted to develop a theoretical model to determine the buckling length of the column. Then, a 3-D nonlinear finite element (FE) model was developed to simulate the ultimate strength behavior of the novel column under pure compression. Parametric studies reveal that the tenons play a significant role in affecting the ultimate load and the corresponding end shortening, among which the length of the tenons is the most important factor. The design approach and recommendations are also discussed through assessing the applicability of the current design code.

Jia-Bao Yan

Papers

Mechanical properties of normal strength mild steel and high strength steel S690 in low temperature relevant to Arctic environment

Experimental and analytical study on ultimate strength behavior of steel–concrete–steel sandwich composite beam structures

Behavior of Steel–Concrete–Steel sandwich structures with lightweight cement composite and novel shear connectors

Steel-concrete-steel sandwich composite structures-recent innovations

Analytical and numerical studies on steel columns with novel connections in modular construction