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The key to understanding the shear failure mechanism of prestressed concrete girders lies in how to properly deal with the combined effects of the applied load, the support reaction, as well as the prestressing force. This paper firstly conceptualizes a combined stress field model, which integrates these effects by manifesting several subfields to disclose the potential failure patterns at different locations in the short shear span. Then, shear tests of four full-scale pretensioned concrete T-girders with a height of 1.6 m and two kinds of shear-span-to-depth ratios were carried out. The test results showed that all the specimens failed in a web-crushing pattern near the support accompanied by a bond-slip of the deflected strands. By analyzing the deviated compression subfields in the highly stressed webs and introducing a failure criterion for cracked concrete, the ultimate shear strength of pretensioned concrete girders was formulated. Finally, the shear strength evaluated by the proposed formula and by some other design codes were compared, and it was proved that the results of the proposed model were closer to the test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fanning compression stress pattern in RC deep beams under uniform load presents a challenge to formulating the configuration of strut‐and‐tie model (STM). To this end, this paper proposes an alternative method for creating a graphical discontinuous stress field model (DSFM) to fill up the whole beam continuum. It comprises a certain number of trapezoidal stress‐bands with varying bandwidths, and their stress values can be calculated based on force equilibrium conditions. Several stress subfields are defined through a certain stress combination from several directions. The DSFM is implementable for both service limit state (SLS) and ultimate limit state (ULS) in that its configuration is primarily oriented by elastic stress field and only a limited plastic redistribution is allowed for plastic failure. The graphical procedure of DSFM is demonstrated and examined by a test deep beam example, which shows that the predictions are fairly in good agreement with the test results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many 'as-built' reinforced concrete (RC) bridge piers are suffering from insufficient flexural rebars in China. A novel retrofitting technique was proposed to enhance their seismic-resistant capacities, by enclosing the plastic hinge zone with the ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) jacket. Three RC piers were loaded cyclically, with two of them retrofitted with the UHPC jackets of 400 and 850 mm height, respectively. The test validated the effectiveness of the UHPC jacket in enhancing a RC pier's lateral strength, self-centering capacity, energy dissipation capacity, etc. In addition, a three-dimensional (3D) continuum-based finite element (FE) framework is developed for the simulation of the UHPC jacket-retrofitted piers' behavior. The robust 3D FE model integrates the softened damage-plasticity (SDP) concrete model, Menegotto-Pinto steel model, and bond-slip behavior between concrete and reinforcements. Furthermore, the effectiveness of concrete damage plasticity model is also investigated, which is widely accepted and embedded in ABAQUS software. Equipped with viscous regularization, the FE model overcomes the convergence difficulty brought about by the material softening behavior, which enables the adoption of implicit incremental-iterative Newton-Raphson algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of hydrogels that are responsive to external stimuli in a well-controlled manner is important for numerous biomedical applications. Herein we reported the first example of a hydrogel responsive to hydrogen sulphide (H2S). H2S is an important gasotransmitter whose deregulation has been associated with a number of pathological conditions. Our hydrogel design is based on the functionalization of an ultrashort hydrogelating peptide sequence with an azidobenzyl moiety, which was reported to react with H2S selectively under physiological conditions. The resulting peptide was able to produce hydrogels at a concentration as low as 0.1 wt%. It could then be fully degraded in the presence of excess H2S. We envision that the novel hydrogel developed in this study may provide useful tools for biomedical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precast segmental ultra‐high‐performance concrete bridge presents broad application prospects. UHPC keyed joints play significant roles in the structural performance of such bridges, which require systematic investigation to comprehend their shear behavior and mechanism thoroughly. This study aimed to explore the shear mechanism of UHPC epoxied‐keyed joints. Experimental and numerical investigations were conducted to investigate the influence of key size, key number, key angle, and reinforcement form on the shear performance. The test results showed that the failure mode was primarily affected by the key number and reinforcement form, which can be divided into three categories: direct shear, segmental shear, and stepwise shear failure. The large‐keyed joints exhibited superior shear performance compared to the three‐keyed joints. The initial shear stiffness, ultimate bearing capacity, and normalized shear stress were 15%, 5.3%, and 5.6% higher, respectively. Furthermore, the mechanism of the two reinforcement forms was clarified. The key rebars mainly improve the ductility of the specimens, while the dowel action of the embedded rebars can enhance the shear efficiency and synergistic force ability of the joints. The numerical simulation results indicated that 2.7% was the best ratio of key rebar, and embedded rebars with larger diameters can strengthen the shear capacity and post‐peak performance of the joints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given its increasing importance in transforming biomedical research in recent years, microarray technology has become highly popular as a powerful screening platform in detecting biomolecule interactions, discovering new inhibitors, and identifying biomarkers as well as diagnosing disease. The success of microarray technology in various biological applications is highly dependent on the accessibility, the functionality, and the density of the surface bound biomolecules. Therefore, compound immobilization represents a critical step for the successful implementation of microarray screening. Herein we describe a fast and site-specific microarray immobilization approach by using trans-cyclooctene-tetrazine ligation. This approach not only ensures fast immobilization and uniform display of biomolecules, but also allows the optimum orientation of biomolecules after immobilization. All these excellent properties facilitate subsequent interactions of the biomolecules and their interacting partners during the screening process. We envision that the immobilization strategy described here can find useful applications in many other microarray related studies.