• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.563-580
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• 2010

Composite beams using bolts to attach steel plates to the side faces of existing reinforced concrete (RC) coupling beams can enhance both their strength and deformability. The behavior of those composite beams differs substantially from the behavior of typical composite beams made up of steel beams and concrete slabs. The former are subjected to longitudinal, vertical and rotational slips, while the latter only involve longitudinal slip. In this study, a mixed analysis method was adopted to develop the fundamental equations for accurate prediction of the load-carrying capacity of steel plate strengthened RC coupling beams. Then, a rigid plastic analysis technique was used to cope with the full composite effect of the bolt group connections. Two theoretical models for the determination of the strength of medium-length plate strengthened coupling beams based on mixed analysis and rigid plastic methods are presented. The strength of the strengthened coupling beams is derived. The vertical and longitudinal slips of the steel plates and the shear strength of the anchor-bolt connection group is considered. The theoretical models are validated by the available experimental results presented in a companion paper. The strength of the specimens predicted from the mixed analysis model is found to be in good agreement with that from the experimental results.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.473-487
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• 2021

The review of the literature and design guidelines indicates a lack of design codes governing the shear strength of reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened with ultrahigh-performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC). This study uses the results of a 3D finite element model constructed previously by the authors and verified against an experimental programme to gain a clear understanding of the shear strength of RC beams strengthened with UHPFRC by using different schemes. Experimental results found in the literature along with the numerical results for shear capacities of normal-strength RC and UHPFRC beams without stirrups are compared with available code design guidelines and empirical models found in the literature. The results show variance between the empirical models and the experimental results. Accordingly, proposed equations derived based on empirical models found in the literature were set to estimate the shear capacity of normal-strength RC beams without stirrups. In addition, the term 'shear span-to-depth ratio' is not considered in the equations for design guidelines found in the literature regarding the shear capacity of UHPFRC beams without stirrups. Consequently, a formula estimating the shear strength of UHPFRC and RC beams strengthened with UHPFRC plates and considering the effect of shear span-to-depth ratio is proposed and validated against an experimental programme previously conducted by the authors.

• International journal of steel structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1497-1507
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• 2018

Most of previous studies on fire resistance of restrained steel beams neglected creep effect due to lack of suitable creep model. This paper presents a finite element model (FEM) for accessing the fire resistance of restrained high strength Q460 steel beams by taking high temperature Norton creep model of steel into consideration. The validation of the established model is verified by comparing the axial force and deflection of restrained beams obtained by finite element analysis with test results. In order to explore the creep effect on fire response of restrained Q460 steel beams, the thermal axial force and deflection of the beams are also analyzed excluding creep effect. Results from comparison infer that creep plays a crucial role in fire response of restrained steel beam and neglecting the effect of creep may lead to unsafe design. A set of parametric studies are accomplished by using the calibrated FEM to evaluate the governed factors influencing fire response of restrained Q460 steel beams. The parametric studies indicate that load level, rotational restraint stiffness, span-depth ratio, heating rate and temperature distribution pattern are key factors in determining fire resistance of restrained Q460 steel beam. A simplified design approach to determine the moment capacity of restrained Q460 steel beams is proposed based on the parametric studies by considering creep effect.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.77 no.5
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• pp.637-650
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• 2021

The paper presents an investigation of the widely varying mechanical performance and behaviour of steel and Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) reinforced concrete beams using non-destructive techniques of Acoustic Emission (AE) and Digital Image Correlation (DIC) under four-point bending. Laboratory experiments are performed on both differently reinforced concrete beams with 0.33%, 0.52% and 1.11% of tension reinforcement against balanced section. The results show that the ultimate load-carrying capacity increases with an increase in tensile reinforcement in both cases. In addition to that, AE waveform parameters of amplitude and number of AE hits successfully correlates and picks up the divergent mechanism of cracking initiation and progression of failure in steel reinforced and GFRP reinforced concrete beams. AE activity is about 20-30% more in GFRP-RC beams as compared to steel-RC beams. It was primarily due to the lower modulus of elasticity of GFRP bars leading to much larger ductility and deflections as compared to steel-RC beams. Furthermore, AE XY event plots and longitudinal strain profiles using DIC gives an online and real-time visual display of progressive AE activity and strains respectively to efficaciously depict the crack evolution and their advancement in steel-RC and GFRP-RC beams which show a close matching with the micro-and macro-cracks visually observed in the actual beams at various stages of loading.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.243-254
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• 2022

Reinforced concrete (RC) deep beams are critical structural elements used in offshore pile caps, rectangular cross-section water tanks, silo structures, transfer beams in high-rise buildings, and bent caps. As a result of the low shear span ratio to effective depth (a/d) in deep beams, arch action occurs, which leads to shear failure. Several studies have been carried out to improve the shear resistance of RC deep beams and avoid brittle fracture behavior in recent years. This study was performed to investigate the behavior of RC deep beams numerically and experimentally with different reinforcement arrangements. Deep beams with four different reinforcement arrangements were produced and tested under monotonic static loading in the study's scope. The horizontal and vertical shear reinforcement members were changed in the test specimens to obtain the effects of different reinforcement arrangements. However, the rebars used for tension and the vertical shear reinforcement ratio were constant. In addition, the behavior of each deep beam was obtained numerically with commercial finite element analysis (FEA) software ABAQUS, and the findings were compared with the experimental results. The results showed that the reinforcements placed diagonally significantly increased the load-carrying and energy absorption capacities of RC deep beams. Moreover, an apparent plastic plateau was seen in the load-displacement curves of these test specimens in question (DE-2 and DE-3). This finding also indicated that diagonally located reinforcements improve displacement ductility. Also, the numerical results showed that the FEM method could be used to accurately predict RC deep beams'behavior with different reinforcement arrangements.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.4
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• pp.475-493
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• 2022

The results of research focusing on the experimental and numerical performance of ferrocement RC beams with openings reinforced with welded steel mesh, expanded steel mesh, fiber glass mesh, and polyethylene mesh independently are presented in this article. Casting and testing of fourteen reinforced concrete beams with dimensions of 200×100×2000 mm under concentric compression loadings were part of the research program. The type of reinforcing materials, the volume fraction of reinforcement, the number of mesh layers, and the number of stirrups are the major parameters that change. The main goal is to understand the impact of using new appealing materials in reinforcing RC beams with openings. Using ANSYS-16.0 Software, nonlinear finite element analysis (NLFEA) was used to demonstrate the behavior of composite RC beams with openings. A parametric study is also conducted to discuss the variables that can have the greatest impact on the mechanical behavior of the proposed model, such as the number of openings. The obtained experimental and numerical results demonstrated the FE simulations' acceptable accuracy in estimating experimental values. Furthermore, demonstrating that the strength gained of specimens reinforced with fiber glass meshes was reduced by approximately 38% when compared to specimens reinforced with expanded or welded steel meshes is significant. In addition, when compared to welded steel meshes, using expanded steel meshes in reinforcing RC beams with openings results in a 16 percent increase in strength. In general, when ferrocement beams with openings are tested under concentric loadings, they show higher-level ultimate loads and energy-absorbing capacity than traditional RC beams.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.84 no.3
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• pp.361-373
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• 2022

This paper examines the flexural performance of concrete beams reinforced with glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars under fatigue loading. Experiments were carried out on concrete beams of size 1500×200×100 mm reinforced with 10 mm and 13 mm diameter GFRP bars under fatigue loading. Experimental investigations revealed that fatigue loading affects both strength and serviceability properties of GFRP reinforced concrete. Experimental results indicated that (i) the concrete beams experienced increase in deflection with increase in number of cycles and failed suddenly due to snapping of rebars and (ii) the fatigue life of concrete beams drastically decreased with increase in stress level. Analytical model presented a procedure for predicting the deflection of concrete beams reinforced with GFRP bars under cyclic loading. Deflection of concrete beams was computed by considering the aspects such as stiffness degradation, force equilibrium equations and effective moment of inertia. Nonlinear finite element (FE) analysis was performed on concrete beams reinforced with GFRP bars. Appropriate constitutive relationships for concrete and GFRP bars were considered in the numerical modelling. Concrete non linearity has been accounted through concrete damage plasticity model available in ABAQUS. Deflection versus number of cycles obtained experimentally for various beams was compared with the analytical and numerical predictions. It was observed that the predicted values are comparable (less than 20% difference) with the corresponding experimental observations.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.79-85
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• 2017

This paper summarizes the experimental study of the shear behaviour of Hybrid Fibre Reinforced Concrete (HFRC) beams retrofitted by using externally bonded Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) laminates. To attain the set-out objectives of the present investigation, steel fibre of 1% and polypropylene fibre of 0.30% was used for hybrid steel-polypropylene fibre reinforced concrete: whereas for hybrid glass-polypropylene fibre reinforced concrete, glass fibre by 0.03% and polypropylene fibre of 0.03% by volume of concrete was used. In this study, 9 numbers of beams were cast and tested into three groups (Group I, II & III). Each group containing 3 numbers of beams, out of which one serve as a control beam or a hybrid steel-polypropylene fibre reinforced concrete beam or a hybrid glass - polypropylene fibre reinforced concrete beam and the remaining two beams were preloaded until shear cracks appeared up to 75% of ultimate load and then preloaded beams (damaged beams) were retrofitted with GFRP laminates at shear zone in the form of strips, as one beam in vertical position and another beam in inclined position to restrict the shear cracks. Finally, the retrofitted beams were loaded until failure and test results were compared. The experimental tests have been conducted to investigate various parameters of structural performance, such as load carrying capacity, crack pattern and failure modes, load-deflection responses and ductility relations. The test results revealed that beams retrofitted using GFRP laminates considerably increased the load carrying capacity. In addition, it was found that beams retrofitted with inclined strip offers superior performance than vertical one. Comparing the test results, it was observed that hybrid steel-polypropylene fibre reinforced concrete beam retrofitted with GFRP laminates showed enhanced behaviour as compared to other tested beams.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.223-236
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• 1999

The need to monitor and undertake remidial works on large structures has greatly increased in recent years due to the appearance of widespread faults in large structures such as bridges and buildings, etc, of 20 or more years of age. The health condition of structures must be monitored continuously to maintenance the structures. In order to do in-situ monitoring, the sensor is necessary to be embedded in the structures. Fiber optic sensors can be embedded in the structures to get the health information in the structures. The fiber sensor was constructed with $3{\times}3$ fiber couplers to sense the multi-point strains and failure instants. The 4 RC (reinforced concrete) beams were made to 2 of A type, 2 of B type beams. These beams were reinforced by the reinforcing bars, and were tested under the flexural loading. The behavior of the beams was simultaneously measured by the fiber optic sensors, electrical strain gages, and LVDT. The states of the beams were interpreted by these all signals. By these experiments, There were verified that the fiber optic sensors could measure the structural strains and failure instants of the RC beams, The fiber sensors were well operated until the failure of the beams. It was shown that the strains of the reinforcing steel bar can be used to monitor the health condition of the beams through the flexural test of RC beams. On the other words, the results were arrived that the two strains in the reinforcing bar measured at the same point can give the information of the structural health status. Also, the failure instants of beams were well detected from the fiber optic filtered signals.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.153-172
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• 2024

Due to the fast development of constructions in recent years, there has been a rapid consumption of fresh water and river sand. In the production of concrete, alternatives such as sea water and sea sand are available. The near surface mounted (NSM) technique is one of the most important methods of strengthening. Aluminum alloy (AA) bars are non-rusting and suitable for usage with sea water and sand concrete (SSC). The goal of this study was to enhance the shear behaviour of SSC-beams strengthened with NSM AA bars. Twenty-four RC beams were cast from fresh water river sand concrete (FRC) and SSC before being tested in four-point flexure. All beams are the same size and have the same internal reinforcement. The major factors are the concrete type (FRC or SSC), the concrete degree (C25 or C50 with compressive strength = 25 and 50 MPa, respectively), the presence of AA bars for strengthening, the direction of AA bar reinforcement (vertical or diagonal), and the AA bar ratio (0, 0.5, 1, 1.25 and 2 %). The beams' failure mechanism, load-displacement response, ultimate capacity, and ductility were investigated. Maximum load and ductility of C25-FRC-specimens with vertical and diagonal AA bar ratios (1%) were 100,174 % and 140, 205.5 % greater, respectively, than a matching control specimen. The ultimate load and ductility of all SSC-beams were 16-28 % and 11.3-87 % greater, respectively, for different AA bar methods than that of FRC-beams. The ultimate load and ductility of C25-SSC-beams vertically strengthened with AA bar ratios were 66.7-172.7 % and 89.6-267.9 % higher than the unstrengthened beam, respectively. When compared to unstrengthened beams, the ultimate load and ductility of C50-SSC-beams vertically reinforced with AA bar ratios rose by 50-120 % and 45.4-336.1 %, respectively. National code proposed formulae were utilized to determine the theoretical load of tested beams and compared to matching experimental results. The predicted theoretical loads were found to be close to the experimental values.