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Article
Publication date: 7 May 2024

Pingping Hou, Zheng Qian, Meng Xin Hu, Ji Qi Liu, Jun Zhang, Wei Zhao, Xiao Li, Yong Wang, HongYan Huang and Qian Ping Ran

The purpose of this study is to explore the interfacial adhesion between superhydrophobic coatings FC-X (X = 1%, 2%, 3%, 4% and 5%) and the concrete substrate, along with the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the interfacial adhesion between superhydrophobic coatings FC-X (X = 1%, 2%, 3%, 4% and 5%) and the concrete substrate, along with the impact of FC-X on the water repellency characteristics of the concrete substrate.

Design/methodology/approach

One synthetic step was adopted to prepare novel F-SiO2 NP hybrid fluororesin coating. The impact of varying mass fractions of F-SiO2 NPs on the superhydrophobicity of FC-X was analyzed and subsequently confirmed through water contact angle (WCA) measurements. Superhydrophobic coatings were simply applied to the concrete substrate using a one-step spraying method. The interfacial adhesion between FC-X and the concrete substrate was analyzed using tape pasting tests and abrasion resistance measurements. The influence of FC-X on the water repellency of the concrete substrate was investigated through measurements of water absorption, impermeability and electric flux.

Findings

FC-4% exhibits excellent superhydrophobicity, with a WCA of 157.5° and a sliding angle of 2.3°. Compared to control sample, FC-X exhibits better properties, including chemical durability, wear resistance, adhesion strength, abrasion resistance, water resistance and impermeability.

Practical implications

This study offers a thorough investigation into the practical implications of enhancing the durability and water repellency of concrete substrates by using superhydrophobic coatings, particularly FC-4%, which demonstrates exceptional superhydrophobicity alongside remarkable chemical durability, wear resistance, adhesion strength, abrasion resistance, water resistance and impermeability.

Originality/value

Through the examination of the interfacial adhesion between FC-X and the concrete substrate, along with an assessment of FC-X’s impact on the water repellency of the concrete, this paper provides valuable insights into the practical application of superhydrophobic coatings in enhancing the durability and performance of concrete materials.

Details

Pigment & Resin Technology, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0369-9420

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 December 2020

Zhen Li, Shaowen Zhang, Qingfeng Meng and Xin Hu

The Chinese construction industry is experiencing a rapid growth these days. Due to the requirements of energy conservation, emission reduction and construction waste management…

1140

Abstract

Purpose

The Chinese construction industry is experiencing a rapid growth these days. Due to the requirements of energy conservation, emission reduction and construction waste management, the development of prefabricated buildings (PBs) has attracted much attention in the Chinese construction industry. However, the development of PBs are still in their infancy in China, which have been negatively impacted by many obstacles. It is of great significance to clarify and analyze these obstacles for the purpose of promoting the development of PBs in China. Due to the wideness and complex features of obstacles, the existing literature exploring the research topic lacks comprehensiveness. The purpose of this paper is to systematically identify and discuss the obstacles that hinder the development of PBs in China.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper adopts the method of news report analysis based on the news reports retrieved from China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and nine major portals in China. The Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) method of content analysis was used to rank the obstacles according to their importance.

Findings

A total of 79 obstacles to the development of PBs in China are identified, and the 79 obstacles are divided into 8 dimensions. Among the Top 20 obstacles, the government dimension accounted for the highest number of 5, the market and consumer dimension and development organization dimension were 4, Manufacturing Enterprise of Prefabricated Components (PCs) dimension, construction organization dimension and design organization dimension were 2, logistics enterprise dimension was 1, and industry association dimension was 0. Among them, the biggest obstacle is the high transportation costs.

Research limitations/implications

First, data collection may not be very comprehensive. Second, this paper is only based on the obstacles in the development of PBs in China, and the universality of the management conclusions needs to be further strengthened.

Practical implications

The research results help the stakeholders in the Chinese PBs industry to better understand the barriers hindering the industry development in a systemic way, which will help propose appropriate strategies to address these barriers.

Originality/value

This paper clarifies the obstacles of China's PBs and makes an analysis, which is of great value to the development of China's PBs.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 28 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 June 2022

Zhen Li, Yutong Jin, Wenjing Li, Qingfeng Meng and Xin Hu

The impacts of COVID-19 on construction projects have attracted much attention in the construction management research community. Nevertheless, a systematic review of these…

2025

Abstract

Purpose

The impacts of COVID-19 on construction projects have attracted much attention in the construction management research community. Nevertheless, a systematic review of these studies is still lacking. The purpose of this paper is to systematically analyze the impacts of COVID-19 on the different stages of a project life-cycle, and comprehensively sort out the epidemic response measures adopted by project participants. In addition, the study also attempts to explore the challenges and opportunities faced by project management practitioners under the context of COVID-19.

Design/methodology/approach

This study comprehensively demonstrates the systematic review process of COVID-19 related research in the construction industry, systematically summarizes the research status of the impact of COVID-19 on construction projects, and defines the strategies to deal with COVID-19 in project management; and through the visualization research, determines the current key research topics and future research trends.

Findings

This study identifies 11 construction activities in the project management life cycle that are affected by COVID-19 and finds that the COVID-19 epidemic has the greatest impact on construction workers, construction standards, construction contracts and construction performance. The study further summarizes the six main epidemic countermeasures and mitigation measures taken within the construction industry following the arrival of the epidemic. In addition, the results of this study identify opportunities and future trends in intelligent construction technology, rapid manufacturing engineering and project management in the construction industry in the post-epidemic era through literature results, which also provide ideas for related research.

Practical implications

COVID-19 has brought severe challenges to society. It is of great significance for the future sustainable development of the construction industry to identify the impact of COVID-19 on all phases of the project and to promote the development of coping strategies by project stakeholders.

Originality/value

First of all, there is little study comprehensively reviewing the impacts of COVID-19 on the different stages of construction projects and the strategies to deal with the negative impacts. In addition, from a life cycle perspective, the used articles in this study were grouped into different categories based on project stages. This promotes an integrated and comprehensive understanding of historical studies. Moreover, on the basis of a comprehensive review, this paper puts forward future research directions to promote the sustainable development of the construction sector.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 30 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 November 2014

Xin Wang, Wei Bing Hu and Zhao Bo Meng

The purpose of this paper is to establish the damage alarming indexes for ancient wood structures and study the damage sensitivity and noise robustness of these indexes under…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to establish the damage alarming indexes for ancient wood structures and study the damage sensitivity and noise robustness of these indexes under random excitation.

Design/methodology/approach

Xi’an Bell Tower is taken as a case in this paper to simulate the damage of ancient wood structures through finite element (FE) simulation and determine the satisfactory damage alarming indexes with wavelet packet energy spectrum.

Findings

The results of this paper show that: 1) the damage alarming indexes can effectively identify the damage of ancient wood structures, each index with a different damage sensitivity; 2) the energy ratio deviation is greater than the energy ratio variance and is close to the maximum variation of energy ratio; 3) the energy ratio deviation has a better alarming effect than the energy ratio variance during the initial period of the damage. With the accumulation of the damage, the energy ratio variance outperforms the energy ratio deviation; 4) the sensitivity of the energy ratio deviation and variance varies from positions, changing from the highest to lowest at the mortise-and-tenon joints, the beam mid-span and the plinth; 5) if signal to noise ratio (SNR) is 40db or larger, the indexes can accurately identify the damage of ancient wood structures. As SNR increases, the indexes will have an increasingly higher sensitivity and certain ability to resist noise.

Research limitations/implications

The FE model is simpiy, it does not completely reflect Xi’an Bell Tower.

Practical implications

It will provide a theoretical basis for the damage alarming of Xi’an Bell Tower.

Social implications

It makes structural health monitoring through structural vibration response under ambient excitation a new research field in damage detection as well as a positive way of ancient architecture protection.

Originality/value

This paper studies the damage alarming effect on ancient wood structures from different wavelet functions and wavelet packet decomposition levels. To study the effect under white noise environment, this paper adds Gaussian white noise with a SNR of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 db to the acceleration response signal of intact structure and damaged structure.

Details

Multidiscipline Modeling in Materials and Structures, vol. 10 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1573-6105

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Review of Marketing Research
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-85724-727-8

Article
Publication date: 26 February 2021

Lijun Meng, Xinyu Li and Xin Tan

A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor was designed to measure the door gap of automobile bodies.

Abstract

Purpose

A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor was designed to measure the door gap of automobile bodies.

Design/methodology/approach

The gap sensor was designed through a combination of the sliding wedge and cantilever beam, involving a magnetic force installation and arc structure of the force transmission point. Moreover, the sliding block adopted an anti-magnetic and wear-resistant material and the temperature compensation of the two FBGs was conducted. The magnetic force and contact stress of the sensor were examined to ensure that the sensor exhibited a certain magnetic attraction force and fatigue life. The performance of the gap sensor was examined experimentally.

Findings

The sensor could measure gaps with dimensions of 5 mm to 11 mm, with a sensitivity and measurement accuracy of 150.9 pm/mm and 0.0063% F.S., respectively. Moreover, the sensor exhibited a small gap sensitivity, with a repeatability error of 0.15%, anti-creep properties and magnetic interference abilities.

Originality/value

The sensor is compact and easy to install, as well as use for multiple sensor locations, with a maximum size of 43 mm, a mass of 26 g and installation type of magnetic suction. It can be used for high-precision static and dynamic measurements of the door inner clearance with a resolution of 0.013 mm to improve the efficiency of internal clearance on-line analysis and assembly quality inspection.

Details

Sensor Review, vol. 41 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0260-2288

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 May 2015

Min Zhang, Hong-Hua Ge, Xue-Juan Wang, Xin-Jing Meng, Yu-Zeng Zhao and Qiang-Qiang Liao

– The purpose of this study was to explore the differences in the corrosion behavior of carbon steel in simulated reverse osmosis (RO) product water, and in seawater.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to explore the differences in the corrosion behavior of carbon steel in simulated reverse osmosis (RO) product water, and in seawater.

Design/methodology/approach

The wire beam electrodes (WBE) and coupons made from Type Q235 carbon steel and were immersed in simulated reverse osmosis product water, and in seawater, for fifteen days. The corrosion potential distribution on the WBE at different times was measured. The corrosion rates of the carbon steel in different solutions were obtained using weight loss determinations. The different corrosion behavior of carbon steel in the two kinds of solution was analyzed.

Findings

The results showed that the average corrosion potential, micro-cathode potential and micro-anode potential of the WBE decreased with time in simulated RO product water. During this period, the maximum potential difference between micro-cathodes and micro-anodes on the WBE surface also decreased with time. The potential difference was more than 260mV at the beginning of the test and was still greater than 110mV after fifteen days of immersion. The positions of cathodes and anodes remained basically unchanged and corrosion took place on the localized anode during the experiments. The average corrosion potential, micro-cathode potential and micro-anode potential on the WBE surface also decreased with time in the simulated seawater. However, the maximum potential difference between micro-cathode and micro-anode on the WBE surface in the simulated seawater was much smaller than was the case in simulated RO product water. It was 37.8 mV at the beginning of the test and was no more than 12mV after two days immersion. The positions of cathode region and anode kept changing, leading to overall uniform corrosion. The actual corrosion rate on the corroded anode region in simulated RO product water was greater than was the case in simulated seawater.

Originality/value

The corrosion behavior differences of carbon steel between in RO product water and in seawater were revealed by using wire beam electrodes (WBE). From the micro point of view, it explained the reason why the actual corrosion rate of carbon steel in RO product water was greater than that in sea water. The results can be helpful to explore future corrosion control methods for carbon steel in RO product water.

Details

Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, vol. 62 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0003-5599

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 July 2020

Cecile Kung

This paper aims to collect and compile the historical data of Guanfu Salt Farm, officially built by the Song Dynasty (960–1279) within modern Hong Kong territories, to reconstruct…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to collect and compile the historical data of Guanfu Salt Farm, officially built by the Song Dynasty (960–1279) within modern Hong Kong territories, to reconstruct its history for the reflection of Hong Kong society of the time.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is largely based on identification and analysis of historical documents, including keyword search on electronic databases and verification with the original sources, with reference to archaeological findings when necessary.

Findings

This paper reconstructs the history of Guanfu Salt Farm based on documentary sources with reference to archaeological findings. English translation of Chinese sources is also provided when necessary.

Originality/value

There has been an absence of systematic compilation of historical data of Hong Kong during the Song Dynasty, which are limited in quantity and scattered across different sources. This paper seeks to fill the vacuum of knowledge about pre-colonial Hong Kong, with a more comprehensive reconstruction of the history of Guanfu Salt Farm.

Details

Social Transformations in Chinese Societies, vol. 17 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1871-2673

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 December 2023

Yueyue Liu, Xu Zhang, Meng Xi, Siqi Liu and Xin Meng

For start-ups or growing firms, to effectively navigate the unpredictable nature of digital development and achieve superior innovative performance, it is crucial to have a…

Abstract

Purpose

For start-ups or growing firms, to effectively navigate the unpredictable nature of digital development and achieve superior innovative performance, it is crucial to have a workforce comprised of creative and innovative employees. Drawing upon the principles of social information processing theory, this study aims to investigate whether specific combinations of organizational internal and external environments, as well as work characteristics in the digital age, can foster a high level of employee innovative behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

By collecting a multilevel and multisource data set comprising 693 employees and 88 CEOs from 88 start-ups or growing firms, this study used fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to examine the distinctive configurations associated with achieving a high level of employee innovative behavior.

Findings

The study found that six solutions enabled employees to innovate more effectively, but six solutions led to the absence of employee innovative behavior.

Research limitations/implications

The findings of this study offer important theoretical and practical implications to motivate employee innovative behavior in Chinese enterprises.

Originality/value

First, this study contributes to the literature on employee innovative behavior by addressing the need to explore the impact of the digital context on promoting innovation among employees. Second, this study adds to the existing literature on employee innovation and entrepreneurship by examining multiple organizational contexts and their influence on innovative behavior. Third, this study makes a significant contribution to the field of employee innovative behavior by examining the macroenvironment surrounding digital transformation within enterprises and integrating both internal and external organizational factors.

Details

Chinese Management Studies, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-614X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 April 2012

Hur‐Li Lee

This study aims to understand the epistemic foundation of the classification applied in the first Chinese library catalogue, the Seven Epitomes (Qilue).

1022

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to understand the epistemic foundation of the classification applied in the first Chinese library catalogue, the Seven Epitomes (Qilue).

Design/methodology/approach

Originating from a theoretical stance that situates knowledge organization in its social context, the study applies a multifaceted framework pertaining to five categories of textual data: the Seven Epitomes; biographical information about the classificationist Liu Xin; and the relevant intellectual, political, and technological history.

Findings

The study discovers seven principles contributing to the epistemic foundation of the catalogue's classification: the Han imperial library collection imposed as the literary warrant; government functions considered for structuring texts; classicist morality determining the main classificatory structure; knowledge perceived and organized as a unity; objects, rather than subjects, of concern affecting categories at the main class level; correlative thinking connecting all text categories to a supreme knowledge embodied by the Six Classics; and classicist moral values resulting in both vertical and horizontal hierarchies among categories as well as texts.

Research limitations/implications

A major limitation of the study is its focus on the main classes, with limited attention to subclasses. Future research can extend the analysis to examine subclasses of the same scheme. Findings from these studies may lead to a comparison between the epistemic approach in the target classification and the analytic one common in today's bibliographic classification.

Originality/value

The study is the first to examine in depth the epistemic foundation of traditional Chinese bibliographic classification, anchoring the classification in its appropriate social and historical context.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 68 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

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