• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.153-162
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• 2021

This paper aims to simulate the isotropic elastic damage theory of Liu Jun (2012) using the self-programmed UMAT subroutine in the interface of ABAQUS. Liu Jun (2012)'s method based on the mechanic theory can not be used interactively with the currently commonly used finite element software ABAQUS. The advantage of this method in the paper is that it can interact with ABAQUS and provide a constitutive program framework that can be modified according to user need. The model retains the two scalar damage variables and the corresponding two energy dissipation mechanisms and damage criteria for considering the tensile and compressive asymmetry of concrete. Taking C45 concrete as an example, the relevant damage evolution parameters of its tensile and compressive constitutive model are given. The study demonstrates that the uniaxial tensile stress calculated by the subroutine is almost the same as the Chinese Concrete Design Specification (GB50010) before the peak stress, but ends soon after the peak stress. The stress-strain curve of uniaxial compression calculated by the subroutine is in good agreement with the peak stress in Chinese Concrete Design Specification (GB50010), but there is a certain deviation in the descending stage. In addition, this paper uses the newly compiled subroutine to simulate the shear bearing capacity of the shear key in a new structural system, namely the open-web sandwich slab. The results show that the damage constitutive subroutine has certain reliability.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.253-268
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• 2021

The present paper treats the free vibration problem of the masonry wall strengthened with thin composite plate by viscoelastic adhesive layer. For this goal two steps are considered in the analytical solution. In the first one, an efficient homogenisation procedure is given to provide the anisotropic properties of the masonry wall. The second one is dedicated to purpose simplified mathematical models related to both in-plane and out-of-plane vibration problems. In these models, the higher order shear theories (HSDT's) are employed for a more rigours description of the shear deformation trough the masonry wall and the composite sheet. Ritz's method is deployed as solution strategy in order to get the natural frequencies and their corresponding loss factors. The obtained results are validated with the finite element method (FEM) and then, a parametric study is undertaken for different kinds of masonry walls strengthened with composite sheets.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.395-406
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• 2021

This study experimentally and analytically investigates the shear behavior of corroded reinforced concrete (RC) beams repaired using steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) in the flexural zone. The experimental parameters are the corrosion degree (0%, 12%, and 17%) and the steel fiber volume in the SFRC (1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0%). The test results reveal that corrosion degree significantly affects the shear resistance of the beams. The shear capacity of the beam with the corrosion degree of 17% was higher than that of the uncorroded beam, whereas the shear capacity of the beam with the corrosion degree of 12% was lower than that of the uncorroded beam. The shear efficiency of damaged beams can be recovered by repairing them using SFRC that contains a reasonable amount of steel fibers. In addition, two methods to estimate the shear capacity of the repaired beams are developed using the modified truss analogy and strut-and-tie models. The estimated shear capacity of the beam using the modified truss analogy model agrees well with the experimental data.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.225-236
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• 2022

In this article, Multi-Gene Genetic Programming (MGGP) is proposed for the estimation of the compressive strength of concrete. MGGP is known to be a powerful algorithm able to find a relationship between certain input space features and a desired output vector. With respect to most conventional machine learning algorithms, which are often used as "black boxes" that do not provide a mathematical formulation of the output-input relationship, MGGP is able to identify a closed-form formula for the input-output relationship. In the study presented in this article, MGPP was used to predict the compressive strength of plain concrete, concrete with fly ash, and concrete with furnace slag. A formula was extracted for each mixture and the performance and the accuracy of the predictions were compared to the results of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) algorithms, which are conventional and well-established machine learning techniques. The results of the study showed that MGGP can achieve a desirable performance, as the coefficients of determination for plain concrete, concrete with ash, and concrete with slag from the testing phase were equal to 0.928, 0.906, 0.890, respectively. In addition, it was found that MGGP outperforms ELM in all cases and its' accuracy is slightly less than ANN's accuracy. However, MGGP models are practical and easy-to-use since they extract closed-form formulas that may be implemented and used for the prediction of compressive strength.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.165-173
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• 2022

The effect of basalt and polypropylene fibers on the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) beams is investigated in this paper. The compressive and tensile behaviors of the basalt concrete and polypropylene concrete cylinders are also investigated. Eight beams and 28 cylinders were made with different percentages of basalt and polypropylene fibers. The dosages of fiber were selected as 0.6%, 1.3%, and 2.5% of the total cement weight. Each type of fiber was mixed solely with the concrete mix. Basalt and polypropylene fibers are modern and cheap materials that can be used to improve the structural behavior of RC members. This research is designed to find the optimum percentage of basalt and polypropylene fibers for enhancing the flexural behavior of RC beams. Test results showed that the addition of basalt and polypropylene fibers in any dosage (0.6%, 1.3%, and 2.5%) can increase the flexural strength and displacement ductility index of the beams where the maximum enhancement was measured with 1.3% fibers. The maximum increments in the flexural strength and the displacement ductility index were 30.39% and 260% for the basalt fiber case, while the maximum improvement for the polypropylene fibers case was 55.5% and 230% compared to the control specimen. Finite element (FE) models were then developed in ABAQUS to predict the numerical behaviour of the tested beams. The FE models were able to predict the experimental behaviour with reasonable accuracy. This research confirms the efficiency of basalt and polypropylene fibers in enhancing the flexural behavior of RC beams, and it also suggests the optimum dosage of fibers.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.197-207
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• 2022

Population growth in cities increases the need for service facilities and different urban spaces, and the organism of the city undergoes profound changes. One of the main problems that endanger the physical environment of the city due to this turmoil is the lack of public spaces and cultural complexes that increase individual and social pollution and on the other hand make leisure facilities available to the public. It severely limits people and, ultimately, the flourishing of individual and social artistic tastes. Thus, dealing with an issue called cultural complex has special importance and is one of the most basic categories in the field of architecture and urban planning, so dealing with it must be done in a measured, comprehensive and accurate manner. Cultural shock results from the immersion of an unprepared traveler in a foreign culture. In other words, human connection with people, objects, places, organizations and institutions, thoughts and the world of information will be constantly becoming more unstable and diverse. As a result, there is a need to create places for information or, in a central sense, to acquire up-to-date knowledge that requires information in the fields of human individual and social life. Spaces and places are all kinds of media tools from gramophone records to cassettes, CDs, newspapers, magazines, Internet books, etc. Each person can use them according to his needs and work.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.43-74
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• 2022

Machine learning technique is recently opening new opportunities to identify the complex shear transfer mechanisms of reinforced concrete (RC) beam members. This study employed 1224 shear test specimens to train decision tree-based machine learning (ML) programs, by which strong correlations between shear capacity of RC beams and key input parameters were affirmed. In addition, shear contributions of concrete and shear reinforcement (the so-called V_c and V_s) were identified by establishing three independent ML models trained under different strategies with various combinations of datasets. Detailed parametric studies were then conducted by utilizing the well-trained ML models. It appeared that the presence of shear reinforcement can make the predicted shear contribution from concrete in RC beams larger than the pure shear contribution of concrete due to the intervention effect between shear reinforcement and concrete. On the other hand, the size effect also brought a significant impact on the shear contribution of concrete (V_c), whereas, the addition of shear reinforcements can effectively mitigate the size effect. It was also found that concrete tends to be the primary source of shear resistance when shear span-depth ratio a/d<1.0 while shear reinforcements become the primary source of shear resistance when a/d>2.0.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.75-83
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• 2022

This study introduced a post-tensioned precast concrete system that was developed and designed to improve the performance of joints by post-tensioning. Full-scaled specimens were tested to investigate flexural performances at the negative moment region, where the test variables were the presence of slabs, tendon types, and post-tensioned lengths. A specimen with slabs exhibited significantly higher stiffness and strength values than a specimen without slabs. Thus, it would be reasonable to consider the effects of a slab on the flexural strength for an economical design. A specimen with unbonded mono-tendons had slightly lower initial stiffness and flexural strength values than a specimen with bonded multi-tendons but showed greater flexural strength than the value specified in the design codes. The post-tensioned length was found to have no significant impact on the flexural behavior of the proposed post-tensioned precast concrete system. In addition, a finite element analysis was conducted on the proposed post-tensioned precast concrete system, and the tests and analysis results were compared in detail.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.19-32
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• 2022

This paper presents an investigation into the failure of RC columns under impact loadings. A numerical simulation of 19 identical RC columns subjected to single and repeated impact loadings was performed. A free-falling hammer was dropped at midspan with the same total kinetic energy input but varying mass and momentum. The specimens under the repeated impact test were struck two times at the same location. The colliding index, defined as the impact energy-momentum ratio, was proposed to explain the different impact responses under equal-energy impacts. The increase of colliding index from low to high indicates the transition of the impact response from static to dynamic and failure mode from flexure to shear. This phenomenon was more evident when the column had a greater axial load and was impacted with a high colliding index. The existence of the axial load had an inhibitory effect on the crack development and increased the shear resistance. The second impact changes the failure mode from flexural to brittle shear as found in the specimen with 20% axial load subjected to high a colliding index. Moreover, a deflection prediction equation based on the impact energy and force was limited to the low colliding index impact.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2022

Several aspects influence corrosive processes in reinforced concrete (RC) structures such as environmental conditions, structural geometry and mechanical properties. Since these aspects present large randomnesses, probabilistic models allow a more accurate description of the corrosive phenomena. Besides, the definition of limit states in the reliability assessment requires a proper mechanical model. In this context, this study proposes a straightforward methodology for the mechanical-probabilistic modelling of RC structures subjected to reinforcements' corrosion. An improved damage approach is proposed to define the limit states for the probabilistic modelling, considering three main degradation phenomena: concrete cracking, rebar yielding and rebar corrosion caused either by chloride or carbonation mechanisms. The stochastic analysis is evaluated by the Monte Carlo simulation method due to the computational efficiency of the Lumped Damage Model for Corrosion (LDMC). The proposed mechanical-probabilistic methodology is implemented in a computational framework and applied to the analysis of a simply supported RC beam and a 2D RC frame. Curves illustrate the probability of failure evolution over a service life of 50 years. Moreover, the proposed model allows drawing the probability of failure map and then identifying the critical failure path for progressive collapse analysis. Collapse path changes caused by the corrosion phenomena are observed.