• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.527-536
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• 2023

Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) bar has emerged as a viable and sustainable replacement to steel in reinforced concrete (RC) under severe corrosive environment. The behavior of concrete columns reinforced with FRP bars, spirals, and hoops is an ongoing area of research. In this study, 3D nonlinear numerical modelling of circular concrete columns reinforced with Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) bars and transversely confined with GFRP spirals were conducted using fracture-plastic model. The numerical models and experimental results are found to be in good agreement. The effectiveness of confinement was accessed through von-mises stresses, and it was found that the stresses in the concrete's core are higher with a 30 mm pitch (46 MPa) compared to a 60 mm pitch (36 MPa). The validated models are used to conduct parametric studies. In terms of axial load carrying capacity and member ductility, the effect of concrete strength, spiral pitch, and longitudinal reinforcement ratio are thoroughly investigated. The confinement effect and member ductility of a GFRP RC column increases as the spiral pitch decreases. It is also found that the confinement effect and member ductility decreased with increase in strength of concrete.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.173-184
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• 2023

In this study, mechanical, flexural post-cracking, and torsional behaviors of recycled steel fiber-reinforced concrete (RSFRC) incorporating steel fibers obtained from recycling of waste tires were investigated. Initially, three concrete mixes with different fiber contents (0, 40, and 80 kg/m³) were designed and tested in fresh and hardened states. Subsequently, the flexural post-cracking behaviors of RSFRCs were assessed by conducting three-point bending tests on notched beams. It was observed that recycled steel fibers improve the post-cracking flexural behavior in terms of energy absorption, ductility, and residual flexural strength. What's more, torsional behaviors of four RSFRC concrete beams with varying reinforcement configurations were investigated. The results indicated that RSFRCs exhibited an improved post-elastic torsional behaviors, both in terms of the torsional capacity and ductility of the beams. Additionally, numerical analyses were performed to capture the behaviors of RSFRCs in flexure and torsion. At first, inverse analyses were carried out on the results of the three-point bending tests to determine the tensile functions of RSFRC specimens. Additionally, the applicability of the obtained RSFRC tensile functions was verified by comparing the results of the conducted experiments to their numerical counterparts. Finally, it is noteworthy that, despite the scatter (i.e., non-uniqueness) in the aspect ratio of recycled steel fiber (as opposed to industrial steel fiber), their inclusion contributed to the improvement of post-cracking flexural and torsional capacities.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.185-206
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• 2023

This article aimed to explore the optimization of mineral admixtures and retarding admixture for high-performance concrete. In essence, fresh concrete can be regarded as a mixture in which both coarse and fine aggregates are suspended in a cement-based matrix paste. Based on this view, the test procedure was divided into three progressive stages of binder paste, mortar, and concrete to explore their rheological behavior and mechanical properties respectively. At each stage, there were four experimental control factors, and each factor had three levels. In order to reduce the workload of the experiment, the Taguchi method with an L9(3⁴) orthogonal array and four controllable three-level factors was adopted. The test results show that the use of the Taguchi method effectively optimized the composition of high-performance concrete. The slump of the prepared concrete was above 18 cm, and the slump flow was above 50 cm, indicating that it had good workability. On the other hand, the 28-day compressive strength of the hardened concretes was between 31.3-59.8 MPa. Furthermore, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) results showed that the most significant factor affecting the initial setting time of the fresh concretes was the retarder dosage, and its contribution percentage was 62.66%. On the other hand, the ANOVA results show that the most significant factor affecting the 28-day compressive strength of the hardened concretes was the water to binder ratio, and its contribution percentage was 79.05%.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.207-215
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• 2023

This paper investigates wave propagation in functionally graded carbon nano-reinforced composite (FG-CNTRC) plates under the influence of temperature based on Reddy' plate model. The material properties of Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) are size-dependent, and the volume fraction of CNTs varies only along the thickness direction of the plate for different CNTs reinforcement modes. In addition, the material properties of CNTs can vary for different temperature parameters. By solving the eigenvalue problem, analytical dispersion relations can be derived for CNTRC plates. The partial differential equations for the system are derived from Lagrange's principle and higher order shear deformation theory is used to obtain the wave equations for the CNTRC plate. Numerical analyses show that the wave propagation properties in the CNTRC plate are related to the volume fraction parameters of the CNTRC plate and the distribution pattern of the CNTs in the polymer matrix. The effects of different volume fractions of CNTs and the distribution pattern of carbon nanotubes along the cross section (UD-O-X plate) are discussed in detail.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.123-137
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• 2023

To fully understand shear mechanisms and composite effects of circular concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) columns, systematic numerical investigations were conducted in this paper by improved finite element models. The triaxial plastic-damage constitutive model of the concrete and the interactions between the concrete and steel tube were considered. Afterwards, the critical and upper bound shear span ratios of the circular CFST column under lateral shear loading were determined. The composite effects between the two materials were analyzed by comparing the shear resistance with plain concrete column and hollow steel tube. In addition, a method that predicts the shear bearing capacity of a circular CFST column was proposed. The confining effects on the concrete core and the restraining effects on the steel tube were considered in this method. The proposed formula can predict more accurate results than the methods in different codes and references.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.151-161
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• 2023

This paper presents an investigation of variables that cause spurious cracking in numerical modeling of concrete fracture. Spurious cracks appear due to the approximate nature of numerical modeling. They overestimate the dissipated energy, leading to divergent results with mesh refinement. This paper is limited to quasi-static loading regime, homogeneous models, cracking as the only nonlinear mode of deformation and cracking only due to tensile loading. Under these conditions, some variables that can be related to spurious cracking are: mesh alignment, ductility, crack band width, structure size, mesh refinement and load increment size. Case studies illustrate the effect of each variable and convergence analyses demonstrate that, after all, load-increment size is the most important variable. Theoretically, a sufficiently small load increment is able to eliminate or at least alleviate the detrimental influence of the other variables. Such load-increment size might be prohibitively small, rendering the simulation unfeasible. Hence, this paper proposes two alternatives. First, it is proposed an algorithm that automatically find such small load increment size automatically, which not necessarily avoid large computations. Then, it is proposed a double simulation technique, in which the crack is forced to propagate through the localization zone.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.163-171
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• 2023

Face gear transmission is widely used in aerospace shunt-confluence transmission system. Tooth wear is one of the main factors affecting its bearing transmission performance. Furthermore, the installation errors of face gear are inevitable. In order to study the wear mechanism of face gear tooth surface with installation errors, based on tooth contact analysis numerical method and Archard wear theory, the UMESHMOTION subroutine in ABAQUS is developed.Combining with Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian adaptive mesh technology, the finite element mesh wear model of abraded face gear pair is established.The preprocessing conditions are set to generate the inp files.Then,the inp files for each corner are imported and batch processed in ABAQUS.The loading tooth contact problem at each rotation angle is solved and the load distribution coefficient among gear tooth, tooth root bending stress, tooth surface contact stress and loaded transmission error are obtained. Results show that the tooth root wear is the most serious and the wear at the pitch cone is close to 0.The wear law of tooth surface along tooth width direction is convex parabola and the wear law along tooth height direction is concave parabola.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.97-110
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• 2023

This study investigates experimentally the impact of magnetized water (MW) on the fresh and hardened characteristics of concrete. Five types of MW are produced using magnetic fields of 1.4 and 1.6 Tesla for treating water with 100, 150, and 250 cycles. The concrete properties are assessed using the slump test, compressive strength test, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry (FTIR). Furthermore, the chemical-physical characteristics of tap water (TW) and MW are evaluated. The results showed the magnetic field intensity has a significant impact on the magnetization effect; the best magnetizing conditions were found when TW was exposed successively to magnetic fields of 1.6 T and 1.4 T for 150 cycles. In addition, 150 MW cycles can be used to improve the compressive strength and workability of concrete by 40% and 17%, respectively. pH, total dissolved solids, and electrical conductivity improved by 15%, 17%, and 7%, respectively, when using MW. Additionally, MW can be used to enhance cement hydration chemical processes and made concrete's structure denser.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.321-331
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• 2022

Egg yolk is widely used to extract lecithin, which is utilized in the food and cosmetics industry. After lecithin is removed, the rest of egg yolk is generated as a by-product. Thus, it is necessary to properly utilize it. In this study, egg yolk protein extracts were produced using ethanol (EYE-E) and water (EYE-W). Their antioxidant and immunomodulatory effects were then evaluated. Antioxidant activities of EYE-E and EYE-W were determined using cellular antioxidant capacity (CAC) assay and comet assay. EYE-E and EYE-W showed significant (p<0.05) scavenging effects on intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in a dose dependent manner. At a concentration of 50 ㎍/mL, EYE-W showed higher (p<0.05) antioxidant activity than EYE-E. EYE-E and EYE-W also exhibited protective effects against DNA damage caused by oxidative stress. After treatment with EYE-E and EYE-W, DNA damage level of 48.7% due to oxidative stress was decreased to 36.2% and 31.8% levels, respectively. In addition, EYE-E and EYE-W showed immunomodulatory effects by regulating Th1 cytokines (TNF-α and IL-2) and Th2 cytokines (IL-10 and IL-4) in Balb/c mouse splenocytes. These data suggest that EYE-E and EYE-W could be used as functional food ingredients with excellent antioxidant and immunomodulatory activities in the food industry.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2023

This paper discusses a framework for predicting the flexural strength of prestressed and non-prestressed FRP reinforced T-shaped concrete beams using soft computing techniques. An analysis of 83 tests performed on T-beams of varying widths has been conducted for this purpose with different widths of compressive face, beam depth, compressive strength of concrete, area of prestressed and non-prestressed FRP bars, elasticity modulus of prestressed and non-prestressed FRP bars, and the ultimate tensile strength of prestressed and non-prestressed FRP bars. By analyzing the data using two soft computing techniques, named artificial neural networks (ANN) and gene expression programming (GEP), the fundamental parameters affecting the flexural performance of prestressed and non-prestressed FRP reinforced T-shaped beams were identified. The results showed that although the proposed ANN model outperformed the GEP model with higher values of R and lower error values, the closed-form equation of the GEP model can provide a simple way to predict the effect of input parameters on flexural strength as the output. The sensitivity analysis results revealed the most influential input parameters in ANN and GEP models are respectively the beam depth and elasticity modulus of FRP bars.