• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.227-237
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• 2020

Strain rate investigations are needed to calibrate strain-rate-dependent material models and numerical codes. An appropriate material model, which considers the rate effects, need to be used for proper numerical modeling. The plastic concrete cut-off wall is a special underground structure that acts as a barrier to stop or reduce the groundwater flow. These structures might be subjected to different dynamic loads, especially earthquake. Deformability of a structure subjected to dynamic loads is a principal issue which need to be undertaken during the design phase of these structures. The characterization of plastic concrete behavior under different strain rates is essential for proper designing of cut-off walls subjected to dynamic loads. The Cowper-Symonds model, as one of the most commonly applied material models, complies well with the behavior of a plastic concretes in low to moderate strain rates and will be useful in explicit dynamics simulations. This paper aims to present the results of an experimental study on mechanical responses of one of the most useful types of plastic concrete and Cowper-Symonds constant determination procedures in a wide range of strain rate from 0.0005 to 107 (1/s). For this purpose, SHPB, uniaxial, and triaxial compression tests were done on plastic concrete samples. Based on the results of quasi-static and dynamic tests, the dynamic increase factors (DIF) of this material in different strain rates and stress state conditions were determined for calibration of the Cowper - Symonds material models.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.399-408
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• 2019

Structural health monitoring is important for the safety of lives and asset management. In this study, numerical models were developed for the piezoresistive behavior of smart concrete based on finite element (FE) method. Finite element models were calibrated with experimental data collected from compression test. The compression test was performed on smart concrete cube specimens with 75 mm dimensions. Smart concrete was made of cement CEM II 42.5 R, silica fume, fine and coarse crushed limestone aggregates, brass fibers and plasticizer. During the compression test, electrical resistance change and compressive strain measurements were conducted simultaneously. Smart concrete had a strong linear relationship between strain and electrical resistance change due to its piezoresistive function. The piezoresistivity of the smart concrete was modeled by FE method. Twenty-noded solid brick elements were used to model the smart concrete specimens in the finite element platform of Ansys. The numerical results were determined for strain induced resistivity change. The electrical resistivity of simulated smart concrete decreased with applied strain, as found in experimental investigation. The numerical findings are in good agreement with the experimental results.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.85-97
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• 2017

With a special attention to the different stages of a typical loading path travelled in a fluid confined concrete test, this paper introduces a physically consistent model for the stress-strain curve of actively confined normal-strength concrete in the axial direction. The model comprises of the five elements of: (1) a criterion for the peak or failure strength, (2) an equation for the peak strain, (3) a backbone hydrostatic curve, (4) a transient hardening curve linking the point of departure from the hydrostatic curve to the failure point, and finally (5) a set of formulas for the post-peak region. Alongside, relevant details and shortcomings of existing models will be discussed in each part. Finally, the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed model have been verified in a set of simulations which compare well with the experimental results from the literature.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.189-199
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• 2024

To properly extract the strain components under varying operational conditions is very important in bridge health monitoring. The abnormal sensor readings can be correctly identified and the expected operational performance of the bridge can be better understood if each strain components can be accurately quantified. In this study, strain components under varying load conditions, i.e., temperature variation and live-load variation are evaluated based on field strain measurements collected from a real concrete box-girder bridge. Temperature-induced strain is mainly regarded as the trend variation along with the ambient temperature, thus a smoothing technique based on the wavelet packet decomposition method is proposed to estimate the temperature-induced strain. However, how to effectively extract the vehicle-induced strain is always troublesome because conventional threshold setting-based methods cease to function: if the threshold is set too large, the minor response will be ignored, and if too small, noise will be introduced. Therefore, an autoencoder framework is proposed to evaluate the vehicle-induced strain. After the elimination of temperature and vehicle-induced strain, the left of which, defined as the model error, is used to assess the operational performance of the bridge. As empirical techniques fail to detect the degraded state of the structure, a clustering technique based on Gaussian Mixture Model is employed to identify the damage occurrence and the validity is verified in a simulation study.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.395-404
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• 2017

In this paper, the mechanical property of CFRP, BFRP, GFRP and their hybrid FRP was experimentally studied. The elastic modulus and tensile strength of CFRP, BFRP, GFRP and their hybrid FRP were tested. The experimental results showed that the elastic modulus of hybrid FRP agreed well with the theoretical rule of mixture, which means the property of hybrid composites are linear with the volumes of the corresponding components while the tensile strength did not. The bearing capacity, peak strain, stress-strain relationship of circular concrete columns confined by CFRP, BFRP, GFRP and hybrid FRP subjected to axial compression were recorded. And the confinement effect of hybrid FRP on concrete columns was analyzed. The test results showed that the bearing capacity and ductility of concrete columns were efficiently improved through hybrid FRP confinement. A strength model and a stress-strain relationship model of hybrid FRP confined concrete columns were proposed. The proposed stress-strain model was shown to be capable of providing accurate prediction of the axial compressive strength of hybrid FRP confined concrete compared with Teng et al. (2002) model, Karbhari and Gao (1997) model and Miyachi et al. (1999) model. The modified stress-strain model was also suitable for single FRP confinement cases and it was so concise in form and didn't have piecewise fitting, which would be easy for use in structural design.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.17 no.5 s.89
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• pp.843-852
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• 2005

Presently, test results and stress-strain models for poorly confined high-strength columns, more specifically for columns with a tie volumetric ratio smaller than $2.0\%$, are scarce. This paper presents test results loaded in axial direction for square reinforced concrete columns confined by various volumetric ratio lateral ties including low-volumetric ratio. Test variables include concrete compressive strength, tie yield strength, tie arrangement type, and tie volumetric ratio. Local strains measured using strain gages bonded to an acryl rod. For square RC columns confined by lateral ties, the confinement effect was efficiently improved by changing tie arrangement type from Type-A to Type-B. A method to compute the stress in lateral ties at the concrete peak strength and a new stress-strain model for the confined concrete are proposed. Over a wide range of confinement parameters, the model shows good agreement with stress-strain relationships established experimentally.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.79-85
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• 2012

This paper presents the differences in growth of time-dependent strain values in reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and pre-stressed concrete (PSC) flexural members through experiment. It was observed that at any particular age, the time-dependent strain values were less in RCC beams than in PSC beams of identical size and grade of concrete. Variables considered in the study were percentage area of reinforcement, span of members for RCC beams and eccentricity of applied pre-stress force for PSC beams. In RCC beams the time-dependent strain values increases with reduction in percentage area of reinforcement and in PSC beams eccentricity directly influences the growth of time-dependent strain. With increase in age, a non-uniform strain develops across the depth of beams which influence the growth of concave curvature in RCC beams and convex curvature in PSC beams. The experimentally obtained strain values were compared with predicted strain values of similar size and grade of plane concrete (PC) beam using ACI 318 Model Code and found more than RCC beams but less than PSC beams.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.607-642
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• 2015

The stress-strain relationship of concrete in flexure is one of the essential parameters in assessing the flexural strength and ductility of reinforced concrete (RC) columns. An overview of previous research studies revealed that the presence of strain gradient would affect the maximum concrete stress developed in flexure. However, no quantitative model was available to evaluate the strain gradient effect on concrete under flexure. Previously, the authors have conducted experimental studies to investigate the strain gradient effect on maximum concrete stress and respective strain and developed two strain-gradient-dependent factors k3 and ko for modifying the flexural concrete stress-strain curve. As a continued study, the authors herein will extend the investigation of strain gradient effects on flexural strength and ductility of RC columns to concrete strength up to 100 MPa by employing the strain-gradient-dependent concrete stress-strain curve using nonlinear moment-curvature analysis. It was evident from the results that both the flexural strength and ductility of RC columns are improved under strain gradient effect. Lastly, for practical engineering design purpose, a new equivalent rectangular concrete stress block incorporating the combined effects of strain gradient and concrete strength was proposed and validated. Design formulas and charts have also been presented for flexural strength and ductility of RC columns.

• KCI Concrete Journal
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 2001

Based on the orthotropic hypoelasticity formulation, a constitutive material model of concrete taking account of triaxial stress state is presented. In this model, the ultimate strength surface of concrete in triaxial stress space is described by the Hsieh's four-parameter surface. On the other hand, the different ultimate strength surface of concrete in strain space is proposed in order to account for increasing ductility in high confinement pressure. Compressive ascending and descending behavior of concrete is considered. Concrete cracking behavior is considered as a smeared crack model, and after cracking, the tensile strain-softening behavior and the shear mechanism of cracked concrete are considered. The proposed constitutive model of concrete is compared with some results obtained from tests under the states of uniaxial, biaxial, and triaxial stresses. In triaxial compressive tests, the peak compressive stress from the predicted results agrees well with the experimental results, and ductility response under high confining pressure matches well the experimental result. The reinforcing bars embedded in concrete are considered as an isoparametric line element which could be easily incorporated into the isoparametric solid element of concrete, and the average stress - average strain relationship of the bar embedded in concrete is considered. From numerical examples for a reinforced concrete simple beam and a structural beam type member, the stress state of concrete in the vicinity of talc critical region is investigated.

• Computational Structural Engineering : An International Journal
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.39-48
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• 2001

An analytical compressive stress-strain relationship model for circular and rectangular concrete specimens confined with laminated carbon fiber sheets (CFS) is studied. Tsai-Hill and Tsai-Wu failure criteria were used to implement orthotropic behavior of laminated composite materials. By using these criteria, an algorithm which analyzes the confinement effect of CFS on concrete was developed. The proposed analytical model was verified through the comparison with experimental data. Various parameters such as concrete strength, ply angle, laminate thickness, section shape, and ply stacking sequences were investigated. Numerical results by the proposed model effectively simulate the experimental compressive stress-strain behavior of CFS confined concrete specimens. Also, the pro-posed model estimates the compressive strength of the specimen to a high degree of accuracy.