TECHNICAL TERM AND MEANING
AASHTO
American
Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
ABILITY
Strength of Materials
The
intrinsic characteristic of a material to respond to external stresses, (e.g.,
absorption ability, de formation ability).
ABILITY
BENDING TEST
A
test to check the ability of steel to undergo bending stresses without
significant degradations of its internal structure.
A
test bar positioned on two parallel supports is bent by a round punch pressed
in the centre of the bar. No cracks must appear either on the edge or convex
faces of the fold in the bar.
ABLATION
1. Loss of mineral matter of a rock due to Erosion.
2. The eroding of a river bed due to the combined abrasive
action of water and
Waterborne
materials in it.
ABNORMAL
COLORING
Defects (Building Materials)
A
color modification in wood that indicates a change of its chemical composition
and, thus of its properties. This defect can make the wood unsuitable for some
uses. Syn. With ABNORMAL TINTING
ABNORMAL
CONTACTS
Defects (Civil Engineering Structure)
In
suspension or guy bridges, parasitic contacts between the mechanically
independent parts that
Are
due to a bad design or bad adjustment of the suspension. These contacts can
occur between cables or distinct layers or with a part of the structure, such
as: abutment, deck, parapet, etc.
ABNORMAL
PERMANENT SAG
Defects (Construction)
The
abnormal sag of a portion or a complete
Span
in the absence or presence of any accidental overload on the entire work. The
abnormal sag can be stable or evolutionary and can result from: a geometrical
error during construction; an increase of the permanent load, or a diminishing
of the bearing capacity of the structure; an accidental loading on a portion of
the structure.
ABRASION
A
wearing phenomenon that generates a loss of metal mass due to mechanical action
of an external body. Or
The
deterioration of stones or bricks due to matter removal on the surface by solid
bodies carried by water or air. Abrasion can be superficial or deep.
ABRASION
RESISTANCE
Building
Materials the resistance in a material that opposes surface wearing generated
by the action, intentional or not, of another material or fluid.
ABSOLUTE
POROSITY OF STONE
Building
Materials the ratio of the volume of the voids to the total apparent volume of
the stone, the void including the volume occupied by both imbibition and hygrometric
water (excluding combination Water).
ABSOLUTE
DENSITY
The
specific volume of the particles of a portion of ground that is assumed to be
without voids; it is called YS.
ABUTMENT
Construction
The
end bearing of a deck, a vault, a beam or an arch. Abutments are highly
important parts of a bridge and must be studied carefully, since their morphologies
quite different.. A bridge can comprise arches, vaults, or decks, and the abutment
supports these structures and connects the bridge to the natural rock by
supporting generally speaking, the earth pressure. In the case of arches or
vaults, the abutment supports the pressure of these structures. Abutments can be
built of masonry, concrete, reinforced concrete, possibly pre-stressed
concrete, and even in curtains of sheet piles. Abutments comprise, generally a
front wall and lateral walls called wing walls or return walls according to
their location.
ABUTMENT
PIER
Construction
A
half-arch-shaped pillar for staying a wall or a vault in order to reinforce it.
Syn. with ARCHED BUTTRESS; FLYING BUTTRESS. Or
1. A pier placed between two unequal arches or between a
masonry arch and a metal span.
2. In a viaduct with equal arches, a pier that shows an
allowance compared with the others (one on four or five) and that is buttressed
on the lateral part. This type of construction limits the destruction of the
work in case an arch breaks.
3. A construction intended to resist a strongly inclined
force.
ABYSSINIAN
WELL
Foundation
The
ancestor of the Well Point. A pointed tube with regularly spaced perforations,
through which water gets in the tube, is driven into the ground. Water is then
extracted from it by pumping.
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