The article presents an analysis of the change in air voids in asphalt mixtures subjected to fatigue tests at three temperatures of 0°C, 10°C and 25°C. The X-ray computerized tomography imaging method, XCT, was used to identify the air voids in the samples. The research allowed to determine changes in the content of air voids in subsequent fatigue cycles in the sample area. The relationship between air voids volume and the stiffness modulus value was also determined during fatigue for three temperatures. The largest changes were found in samples with notches at 0°C. The analysis of the change in the content of air voids showed that the micro-cracking nucleation processes develop with the number of fatigue cycles. Using the numerical model finite element method we determined the distribution and change in fatigue damage in the extreme areas of the sample during various stages of fatigue. We found clear relationship between the damage and the increased content of air voids.

Increasing environmental awareness, perceived climate change and easier access to information have contributed to changing the perception of the environment and its reserves. Unfortunately, it happens that still misunderstood economic development and urbanization contribute to inefficient management of the city’s resources, such as space.

The aim of this paper is the assessment of the impact of unused urban space for widely understood city attractiveness. The research was conducted on the example of Katowice city. The article presents the results of identification of unused urban spaces, made based on information contained in the study of spatial development conditions and directions, and available orthophotomaps and topographic maps using GIS type software. The theoretical aspects connected with the influence of unused areas on the attractiveness of the city and the results of research carried out by the Otodom service were used for the analysis.

The post-mining areas due to the difficulties of those, often associated with expensive activities, usually take the form of wasteland. In contrast, unavailable, unused and alien areas the mentality of residents, are identified with empty space. The purpose of the authors was to answer the question: Are post-mining areas becoming empty spaces? Her research basis was changes in the functioning of post-mining areas and empty spaces in Katowice – a city with a long-standing mining tradition. Using GIS tools, a spatial analysis was carried out to determine the empty spaces functions and the perceiving of the post-mining areas by residents or users of a given district nearby.

The main energy source in Poland is still hard coal and lignite. The coal combustion process produces large quantities of by-products, e.g. fly ashes, slag furnace and harmful chemical gases (CO2, NOx, sulfur compounds) which enter the atmosphere. Fly ashes, due to their being fine grained (cement-like), chemical and phase compound and reactivity, have also been widely used in various technological solutions e.g. in the production of ordinary cement, hydro-technical cement and the new generation of cements. The adequate amount of fly ashes additive has a positive effect on fresh and hardened cement slurry properties. What is more, it allows for the pro-ecological and economic production of cement mix The exploitation of natural resources is connected with performance mining excavations at different depths. After a certain period of time, those voids break down which, in turn, leads to the slip of upper layers and the so-called landslides forming on the surface. This situation imposes the necessity of basis and sealing rock mass reinforcement. To minimize the risk connected to geotechnical problems on the mining areas, there is a need to use engineering solutions which could improve soil bearing in a universal, economical and efficient way. This leads to the development of new cement slurry recipes used during geoengineering works, especially in the mining areas. Moreover, economic requirements are forcing engineers to use less expensive technical and technological solutions simultaneously maintaining strength properties. An example of such a solution is to use suitable additives to cement slurry which could reduce the total unit cost of the treatment.

Mine drainage and discharge of salt waters into water bodies belong to main environmental issues, which must be appropriately addressed by the underground coal mining industry. The large area of exploited and abandoned mine fields in the Upper Silesia Coal Basin, as well as the geological structure of the rock mass and its hydrogeological conditions require the draining and discharge of about 119 million m3/yr of mine waters. Increasing the depth of mining and the necessity of protection of mines against water hazard result in increased amounts of chlorides and sulphates in the mine waters, even by decreasing the total coal output and the number of mines. The majority of the salts are being discharged directly into rivers, partly under control of salt concentration, however from the point of the view of environment protection, the most favorable way of their utilization would be technologies allowing the bulk use of saline waters. Filling of underground voids represents a group of such methods, from which the filling of goaves (cavings) is the most effective. Due to large volume of voids resulting from the extraction of coal and taking the numerous limitations of this method into account, the potential capacity for filling reaches about 17.7 million m3/yr of cavings and unnecessary workings. Considering the limited availability of fly ash, which is the main component of slurries being in use for the filling of voids, the total volume of saline water and brines, which could be utilized, has been assessed as 3,5–6,5 million m3/yr

This paper is focusing on 3D Finite Elements Analysis (FEA) based modelling of protrusions as defects or imperfections in the XLPE high voltage cable. This study is aiming to examine the impact, protrusions have on the initiation of partial discharges. Spherical and ellipsoidal protrusions with different sizes at the conductor screen of the high voltage cable is an essential content of this paper. In addition, a spherical gas-filled void is placed inside and outside the protrusions, and a water tree produced from protrusions is under consideration. The partial discharge influence taking place at the protrusions and the stress enhancement factor is determined for all the variations mentioned to quantify the rise in the inception of partial discharges due to the protrusions.

This paper deals with problems of failure mechanisms of S235JR structural steel. One of the fundamental parameters of the Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman damage mechanics-based material model is considered in order to describe the behaviour of the material at the plastic range. The analysis was performed on the void volume fraction f_F determined at failure of S235JR steel. The case of low initial stress triaxiality η = 1/3 was taken into consideration. Different from the most popular methods such as curve-fitting, the experimental method based on the digital image analysis of the fracture surface of S235JR steel is proposed in order to determine the critical parameter f_F.

The effect of the initial porosity on the material response under multi-axial stress state for S235JR steel using the Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman (GTN) material model was examined. Three levels of initial porosity, defined by the void volume fraction f₀, were considered: zero porosity for fully dense material without pores, average and maximum porosity according to the metallurgical requirements for S235JR steel. The effect of the initial porosity on the material response was noticed for tensile elements under multi-axial stress state defined by high stress triaxiality σₘ/σe = 1.345. This effect was especially noticeable at the range of the material failure. In terms of the load-bearing capacity of the elements, the conservative results were obtained when maximum value of f₀ = 0.0024 was used for S235JR steel under multi-axial stress state, and this value is recommended to use in the calculations in order to preserve the highest safety level of the structure. In usual engineering calculations, the average porosity defined by f₀ = 0.001 may be applied for S235JR.