• Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.41-46
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• 2014

RCC consumes large quantities of natural resources like gravel stone and steel, and there is a need to investigate on an innovative material that utilizes limited quantities of natural resources but should have good mechanical strength. This study deals with the experimental investigation of strength evaluation of cementitious composites reinforced with polyolefin fibers from 0% to 2.5% (with interval of 0.5%), namely Polyolefin Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composites (PL-FRCC) and developing statistical regression models for compressive strength, splitting-tensile strength, flexural strength and impact strength of PL-FRCC. Paired t-tests (for each PL fiber percentage 0 to 2.5%) bring out that there is significant difference in compressive and splitting-tensile strength when curing periods (3, 7, 28 days) are varied. Also, a strong relationship exists between the compressive and flexural strength of PL-FRCC. The proposed mathematical models developed in this study will be helpful to ascertain the mechanical strength of FRCC, especially, when the fiber reinforcing index is varied.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.1233-1250
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• 2015

The behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) columns made from high strength materials was investigated experimentally. Six high-strength concrete specimen columns (1:4 scale), which included three with high-strength transverse reinforcing bars and three with normal-strength transverse reinforcement, were tested under double curvature bending load. The effects of yielding strength and ratio of transverse reinforcement on the cracking patterns, hysteretic response, shear strength, ductility, strength reduction, energy dissipation and strain of reinforcement were studied. The test results indicated that all specimens failed in splitting failure, and specimens with high-strength transverse reinforcement exhibited better seismic performance than those with normal-strength transverse reinforcement. It also demonstrated that the strength of high-strength lateral reinforcing bars was fully utilized at the ultimate displacements. Shear strength formula of short concrete columns, which experienced a splitting failure, was proposed based on the Chinese concrete code. To enhance the applicability of the model, it was corroborated with 47 short concrete columns selected from the literature available. The results indicated that, the proposed method can give better predictions of shear strength for short columns that experienced a splitting failure than other shear strength models of ACI 318 and Chinese concrete codes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.2
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• pp.263-271
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• 2018

Compressive strength and elastic modulus of concrete are constantly changing with age. In order to determine long-term development of compressive strength and elastic modulus of concrete, an investigation of C30 concrete cured in air conditions was carried out. Changes of compressive strength and elastic modulus up to 975 days were given. The results indicated that compressive strength and elastic modulus of concrete rapidly increased with age during the initial 150 days and then increased slowly. The gain in elastic modulus was slower than that of compressive strength. Then relationships of time-compressive strength, time-elastic modulus and compressive strength-elastic modulus were proposed by regression analysis and compared with other investigations. The trends of time-compressive strength and time-elastic modulus with age agreed best with ACI 209R-92. Finally, factors contributed to long-term development of compressive strength and elastic modulus of concrete were proposed and briefly analyzed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.837-851
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• 2013

In construction industry, strength is a primary criterion in selecting a concrete for a particular application. The concrete used for construction gains strength over a long period of time after pouring the concrete. The characteristic strength of concrete is defined as the compressive strength of a sample that has been aged for 28 days. Neither waiting for 28 days for such a test would serve the rapidity of construction, nor would neglecting it serve the quality control process on concrete in large construction sites. Therefore, rapid and reliable prediction of the strength of concrete would be of great significance. On this backdrop, the method is proposed to establish a predictive relationship between properties and proportions of ingredients of concrete, compaction factor, weight of concrete cubes and strength of concrete whereby the strength of concrete can be predicted at early age. Multiple regression analysis was carried out for predicting the compressive strength of concrete containing Portland Pozolana cement using statistical analysis for the concrete data obtained from the experimental work done in this study. The multiple linear regression models yielded fairly good correlation coefficient for the prediction of compressive strength for 7, 28 and 40 days curing. The results indicate that the proposed regression models are effectively capable of evaluating the compressive strength of the concrete containing Portaland Pozolana Cement. The derived formulas are very simple, straightforward and provide an effective analysis tool accessible to practicing engineers.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.74 no.3
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• pp.435-443
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• 2020

The objective of this study was to determine the effective compressive strength of a column-slab connection with different compressive strengths between the column and slab concrete. A total of eight column specimens were fabricated, among which four specimens were restrained by slabs while the others did not have any slab, and the test results were compared with current design codes. According to ACI 318, the compressive strength of a column can be used as the effective compressive strength of the column-slab connection in design when the strength ratio of column concrete to slab concrete is less than 1.4. Even in this case, however, this study showed that the effective compressive strength decreased. The specimen with its slab-column connection zone reinforced by steel fibers showed an increased effective compressive strength compared to that of the specimen without the reinforcement, and the interior column specimens restrained with slabs reached the compressive strength of the column.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.739-760
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• 2016

This paper reports on punching shear behavior of reinforced concrete panels, investigated experimentally and through finite element simulation. The aim of the study was to examine the punching shear of high strength concrete panels incorporating different types of aggregate and silica fume, in order to assess the validity of the existing code models with respect to the role of compressive and tensile strength of high strength concrete. The variables in concrete mix design include three types of coarse aggregates and three water-cementitious ratios, and ten-percent replacement of silica fume. The experimental results were compared with the results produced by empirical prediction equations of a number of widely used codes of practice. The prediction of the punching shear capacity of high strength concrete using the equations listed in this study, pointed to a potential unsafe design in some of them. This may be a reflection of the overestimation of the contribution of compressive strength and the negligence of the role of flexural reinforcement. The overall findings clearly indicated that the extrapolation of the relationships that were developed for normal strength concrete are not valid for high strength concrete within the scope of this study and that finite element simulation can provide a better alternative to empirical code Equations.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.141-152
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• 2004

The bonding behaviors of Lightweight Aggregate Concrete (LWAC) and normal weight concrete were investigated experimentally. Pull-out tests were carried out to measure the bond strengths of three groups of specimens with compressive strength levels of 60, 40, and 20 MPa, respectively. Test results showed that the difference in the bond failure pattern between LWAC and normal weight concrete was significant as the concrete compressive strength became lower than 40 MPa. The corresponding bond strengths of LWAC were lower than that for normal weight concrete. As the compressive strength of concrete became relatively high (> 40 MPa), a bond failure pattern in normal weight concrete occurred that was similar to that in LWAC. The bond strength of LWAC is higher than that for normal weight concrete because it possesses higher mortar strength. Stirrup use leads to an increase of approximately 20% in nominal bond strength for both types of concrete at any strength level.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.301-314
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• 2001

The purpose of this experimental study is to investigate the damage mechanism due to shear-fatigue behavior of high-strength reinforced concrete beams under repeated loading. The relationship between the number of cycles and the deflection or strain, the crack growths and modes of failure with the increase of number of cycles, fatigue strength, and S-N curve were observed through a fatigue test. Based on the fatigue test results, high-strength reinforced concrete beams failed at 57-66 percent of static ultimate strength for 2 million cycles. The fatigue strength at 2 million cycles from S-N curves was shown as about 60 percent of static ultimate strength. Compared to normal-strength reinforced concrete beams, fatigue capacity of high-strength reinforced concrete beams was similar to or lower than fatigue capacity of normal-strength reinforced concrete beams. Fatigue capacity of normal-strength reinforced concrete beams improved by over 60 percent.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.247-258
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• 2020

The shear strength of unsaturated soils, a research hotspot in geotechnical engineering, has great guiding significance for geotechnical engineering design. Although kinds of calculation models for the shear strength of unsaturated soil have been put forward by predecessors, there is still need for new models to extensively consider the nonlinear variation of shear strength, particularly for the nonlinear effect of the net normal stress on the shear strength of unsaturated soil. Here, the shear strength of unsaturated soils is explored to study the nonlinear effects of net normal stress with the introduction of a general nonlinear Mohr-Coulomb (M-C) strength criterion, and the relationship between the matric suction (or suction stress) and degree of saturation (DOS) constructed by the soil-water characteristics curve (SWCC) of van Genuchten is also applied for unsaturated soil. Then, two calculation models (i.e., an envelope shell model and an effective stress model) are established for the shear strength of unsaturated soils under the nonlinear strength theory. In these two models, the curve of the shear strength of unsaturated soils versus the net normal stress exhibits a tendency to gently. Moreover, the proposed formulas have flexibility and convenience with five parameters (for the effective stress model) or six parameters (for the envelope shell model), which are from the M-C strength parameters of the saturated soil and fitting parameters of SWCC of van Genuchten. Thereafter, by comparison with the classical theory of the shear strength of unsaturated soils from some actual cases, the rationality and accuracy of the present models were verified.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.287-298
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• 2018

High strength steels have been widely applied in recent years due to high strength and good working performance. When subjected to fire conditions, the strength and elastic modulus of high strength steels deteriorate significantly and hence the load bearing capacity of structures reduces at elevated temperatures. The reduction factors of mechanical properties of high strength steels are quite different from mild steels. Therefore, the fire design methods deduced from mild steel structures are not applicable to high strength steel structures. In recent ten years, the first author of this paper has carried out a lot of fundamental research on fire behavior of high strength steels and structures. Summary of these research is presented in this paper, including mechanical properties of high strength steels at elevated temperature and after fire exposure, creep response of high strength steels at elevated temperature, residual stresses of welded high strength steel member after fire exposure, fire resistance of high strength steel columns, fire resistance of high strength steel beams, local buckling of high strength steel members, and residual strength of high strength steel columns after fire exposure. The results show that the mechanical properties of high strength steel in fire condition and the corresponding fire resistance of high strength steel structures are different from those of mild steel and structures, and the fire design methods recommended in current design codes are not applicable to high strength steel structures.