TOULOUSE (France), April 10: Pedestrians are using specially designed pavements to generate electricity in a two-week energy-saving trial in the French city of Toulouse.

The group of paving slabs installed in the city centre can generate 30 watts of electricity, enough to power overhead street lights. The pavement was invented by Dutch firm Jaap Van der Braak.

"It is an experiment for now, but this system, unique in the world, allows us to anticipate a whole series of applications for the city," the deputy mayor in charge of sustainable development, Alexandre Marciel, told Reuters.

The paving slabs contain micro-sensors that capture the energy created by people walking on them, and store it in a battery. This could enable the city to collect electricity during the day for use at night when there are fewer people on the streets.


Pavement which produces electricity – by walking on it (every step by step)

In France scientists develop pavement which produce electricity while people walk on it. Pressure pads under pavements could generate electricity from walking over it.

In pavement there are micro sensors which collect electricity while people walk over it and save it into batteries. This pavement can produce electricity during the day (when there is more people) and released it in to public light over the night.

Pavement is sensitive on touch and transforms energy of the motion into electricity. Pavement can provide up to 30 Watts of electricity which is enough for public light.

Generally pavement is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain vehicular or foot traffic. In the past cobblestones and granite setts were extensively used, but these surfaces have mostly been replaced by asphalt or concrete. Such surfaces are frequently marked to guide traffic. Today, permeable paving methods are beginning to be used for low-impact roadways and walkways.

The term road metal refers to the broken stone or cinders used in the repair or construction of roads or railways and is derived from the Latin metallum, which means both mine and quarry. Metalling is known to have been used extensively in the construction of roads by soldiers of the Roman Empire but a limestone-surfaced road, thought to date back to the Bronze age, has been found in Britain.
Metalling has had two distinct usages in road surfacing. The term originally referred to the process of creating a gravel roadway. The route of the roadway would first be dug down several feet and, depending on local conditions, French drains may or may not have been added.
Next, large stones were placed and compacted, followed by successive layers of smaller stones, until the road surface was composed of small stones compacted into a hard, durable surface. Road metal later became the name of stone chippings mixed with tar to form the road surfacing material tarmac.

Guys, do any of you know the Wind Code used in Haiti ?

Im aware that Haiti never implemented nor has a standard building code (reason why many buildings damaged during the earthquake), but is there a code that is used as a reference that is applicable for Haiti Wind loading/design?

I will be designing a telecom structure in that country but I am aware it is within the hurricane belt of the Caribbean.

I have heard about a 'Caribbean Uniform Building Code', but I dont know if any of you can post a copy for dl.

Thanks, A

Hi Admin and Moderators,

I'd like to suggest to start torrent section for Software and Books. It would be much easier to download large items.

Regards,

# Full title: Uniform Building Code 1994(volume 1,2,3)
# Language: English
Dear Friends, I need UBC 94 urgently, If anyone can share I will be really greatfull

thanks.

Dear all,

Now I'm writing my thesis concerning to the box girder with two cells. It's supported by cables which are connected to the arch at above the box. I need to know how to design it manually or by AASHTO LRFD. Anybody help me, please!

Hi,

I’m using midas Civil 2010.

1st problem: I have problem with the run of the Composite plate girder design, I click Design and I get the following message: "Load combination data for composite plate girder design has not been entered." where do I have to enter the load combinations for composite girder? I created load combinations with Results>Combinations...>Concrete tab, in the table of load combinations, I made at least one of the combinations as Strength (under Active column). But I still have the same before-mentioned message.

2nd problem: I would like to analyse a steel-concrete composite bridge with double composite action, additional bottom concrete slab in the area of the intermediate supports. I created the cross section with MIDAS/SPC and exported to Midas Civil Composite-General Section Type. My question: Can I handle the time dependent behaviour of the concrete parts as in the case of typical Composite Steel-I section? I linked material to the composite parts in the SPC but I guess this required only for the calculation of the idealized (homogenized) cross section properties.
I created a beam model with only one girder, because from another accurate model (with shell finite elements) I calculated the lateral distribution function.
Here are the midas model files and the SPC composite export file:

Can any one please suggest me any book which gives the design aspects and drawings of substation foundations and transmission tower foundations. Any free downloads suggestions appreciated.
Pls send the link to [email protected]
thanks
shahid