• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.689-697
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• 2017

Nowadays, there are a great number of various structures that have been retrofitted by using different FRP Composites. Due to this, more researches need to be conducted to know more the characteristics of these structures, not only that but also a comparison among them before and after the retrofitting is needed. In this research, a model steel structure is tested using a bench-scale earthquake simulator on the shake table, using recorded micro tremor data, in order to get the dynamic behaviors. Beams of the model steel structure are then retrofitted by using CFRP composite, and then tested on the Quanser shake table by using the recorded micro tremor data. At this stage, it is needed to evaluate the dynamic behaviors of the retrofitted model steel structure. Various types of methods of OMA, such as EFDD, SSI, etc. are used to take action in the ambient responses. Having a purpose to learn more about the effects of FRP composite, experimental model analysis of both types (retrofitted and no-retrofitted models) is conducted to evaluate their dynamic behaviors. There is a provision of ambient excitation to the shake table by using recorded micro tremor ambient vibration data on ground level. Furthermore, the Enhanced Frequency Domain decomposition is used through output-only modal identification. At the end of this study, moderate correlation is obtained between mode shapes, periods and damping ratios. The aim of this research is to show and determine the effects of CFRP Composite implementation on structural responses of the model steel structure, in terms of changing its dynamical behaviors. The frequencies for model steel structure and the retrofitted model steel structure are shown to be 34.43% in average difference. Finally, it is shown that, in order to evaluate the period and rigidity of retrofitted structures, OMA might be used.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.407-417
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• 2017

RC shear walls are considered one of the main lateral resisting members in buildings. In recent years, FRP has been widely utilized in order to strengthen and retrofit concrete structures. A number of experimental studies used CFRP sheets as an external bracing system for retrofitting of RC shear walls. It has been found that the common mode of failure is the debonding of the CFRP-concrete adhesive material. In this study, behavior of RC shear wall was investigated with three different micro models. The analysis included 2D model using plane stress element, 3D model using shell element and 3D model using solid element. To allow for the debonding mode of failure, the adhesive layer was modeled using cohesive surface-to-surface interaction model at 3D analysis model and node-to-node interaction method using Cartesian elastic-plastic connector element at 2D analysis model. The FE model results are validated comparing the experimental results in the literature. It is shown that the proposed FE model can predict the modes of failure due to debonding of CFRP and behavior of CFRP strengthened RC shear wall reasonably well. Additionally, using 2D plane stress model, many parameters on the behavior of the cohesive surfaces are investigated such as fracture energy, interfacial shear stress, partial bonding, proposed CFRP anchor location and using different bracing of CFRP strips. Using two anchors near end of each diagonal CFRP strips delay the end debonding and increase the ductility for RC shear walls.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.171-179
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• 2014

Low temperature cure prepregs are being developed for use in the preparation of large-structured fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites with good performance. Cure behavior and chemorheology of low temperature cure epoxy resin system, based on epoxy resin, curing agent, and accelerators, were investigated to provide a matrix resin suitable for the prepreg preparation. Characteristics of cure reaction were studied in both dynamic and isothermal conditions by means of differential scanning calorimetry and rheometry. The low temperature cure epoxy resin system suggested in this study as a matrix resin was curable at $80^{\circ}C$ for 3 h, and showed the gel times of 120 and 20 min at 80 and $90^{\circ}C$, respectively. Thermal and mechanical properties of the cured sample were almost the same as high temperature cure counterparts.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.361-372
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• 2019

Tubular joints are used in the construction of offshore structures and other land-based structures because of its ease of fabrication. These joints are subjected to different environmental loadings in their lifetime. At the time of fabrication or modification of an existing offshore platform, tubular joints are usually strengthened to withstand the environmental loads. Currently, various strengthening techniques such as ring stiffeners, gusset plates are employed to strengthen new and existing tubular joints. Due to some limitations with the present practices, some new techniques need to be addressed. Many researchers used Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) to strengthen tubular joints. Some of the studies were focused on axial compression of Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) strengthened tubular joints and found that it was an efficient technique. Earlier, the authors had performed studies on Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) strengthened tubular joint subjected to axial compression. The study steered to the conclusion that FRP composites is an alternative strengthening technique for tubular joints. In this work, the study was focused on axial compression of Y-joint and in plane and out of plane bending of T-joints. Experimental investigations were performed on these joints, fabricated from ASTM A106 Gr. B steel. Two sets of joints were fabricated for testing, one is a reference joint and the other is a joint strengthened with CFRP. After performing the set of experiments, test results were then compared with the numerical solution in ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL). It was observed that the joints strengthened with CFRP were having improved strength, lesser surface displacement and ovalization when compared to the reference joint.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.645-658
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• 2018

Despite being one of the most abundantly used construction materials because of its exceptional properties, concrete is susceptible to deterioration and damage due to various factors particularly corrosion, improper loading, poor workmanship and design discrepancies, and as a result concrete structures require retrofitting and strengthening. In recent times, Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites have substituted the conventional techniques of retrofitting and strengthening of damaged concrete. Most of the research studies related to concrete strengthening using FRP have been performed on undamaged test specimens. This contribution presents the results of an experimental study in which concrete specimens were damaged by mechanical loading and elevated temperature in laboratory prior to application of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) sheets for strengthening. The test specimens prepared using concrete of target compressive strength of 28 MPa at 28 days were subjected to compressive and splitting tensile testing up to failure and the intact pieces of the failed specimens were collected for the purpose of repair. In order to induce damage as a result of elevated temperature, the concrete cylinders were subjected to $400^{\circ}C$ and $800^{\circ}C$ temperature for two hours duration. Concrete cylinders damaged under compressive and split tensile loads were re-cast using concrete and rich cement-sand mortar, respectively and then strengthened using CFRP wrap. Concrete cylinders damaged due to elevated temperature were also strengthened using CFRP wrap. Re-cast and strengthened concrete cylinders were tested in compression and splitting tension. The obtained results revealed that re-casting of specimens damaged by mechanical loadings using concrete & mortar, and then strengthened by single layer CFRP wrap exhibited strength even higher than their original values. In case of specimens damaged by elevated temperature, the results indicated that concrete strength is significantly dropped and strengthening using CFRP wrap made it possible to not only recover the lost strength but also resulted in concrete strength greater than the original value.

• Composites Research
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.241-246
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• 2017

The brittle nature in most FRP composites is accompanying other forms of energy absorption mechanisms such as fibre-matrix interface debonding and ply delamination. It could play an important role on the energy absorption capability of composite structures. To solve the brittle nature, the adhesion between pines and composites was studied. Thermal treated pines were attached on carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) by epoxy adhesives. To find the optimum condition of thermal treatment for pine, two different thermal treatments at 160 and $200^{\circ}C$ were compared to the neat case. To evaluate mechanical and interfacial properties of pines and pine/CFRP composites, tensile, lap shear and Izod test were carried out. The bonding force of pine grains was measured by tensile test at transverse direction and the elastic wave from fracture of pines was analyzed. The mechanical, interfacial properties and bonding force at $160^{\circ}C$ treated pine were highest due to the reinforced effect of pine. However, excessive thermal treatment resulted in the degradation of hemicellulose and leads to the deterioration in mechanical and interfacial properties.

• Composites Research
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.44-51
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• 2010

Recently, to solve the problems associated with the neutralization and corrosion of reinforced concrete compression members, the structural configurations such as CFFT (Concrete Filled GFRP Tube) and RCFFT (Reinforced Concrete Filled GFRR Tube) have been developed and applied to main members of civil engineering structure. These members can increase structural performance in terms of structural stability, ductility as well as chemical resistance compared with conventional concrete structural members. Many researches in numerous institutions to predict the load carrying capacity of the concrete compression member strengthened with FRP materials have been conducted and they have been suggested an equation for the prediction of the load carrying capacity of the members. Through the review of the research results, it was found that their results are similar each other. Moreover, it was also found that the results are not directly applicable to our specimens since the results are largely depended upon the member configurations. Also, since the accurate design criteria for the RC members strengthened with FRP such as RCFFT have not been established properly, relevant theoretical and experimental investigations must be conducted for the application to the practical structures. In this study, structural behavior of RCFFT was evaluated through compressive and quasi-static flexural tests in order to formulate design criteria for the structural design. In addition, the RCFFT members were also investigated to examine their confinement effect and the equations capable of estimating the compressive ultimate strength and flexural stiffness of the RCFFT members were proposed.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.4A
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• pp.761-766
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• 2006

Polymer composite are increasingly considered as structural components for use in civil engineering, on account of their enhanced strength-to-weight ratios. Unsaturated polyester (UP) resin have been widely used for the matrix of composites such as FRP and polymer composite, due to its excellent adhesive. Polymer nanocomposites are new class of composites derived from the nano scale inorganic particles with dimensions typically in the range of 1 to 1000 nm that are dispersed in the polymer matrix homogeneously. Owing to the high aspect ratio of the fillers, mechanical, thermal, flame, retardant and barrier properties are enhanced without significant loss of clarity, toughness or impact strength. To prepare the MMT (Montmorillonite)-UP exfoliated nanocomposites, UP was mixed with MMT at $60^{\circ}C$ for 3 hours by using pan mixer. XRD (X-ray diffraction) pattern of the composites and TEM (Transmission Electron Micrographs) showed that the interlayer spacing of the modified MMT were exfoliated in polymer matrix. The mechanical properties also supported these findings, since in general, tensile strength, modulus with modified MMT were higher than those of the composites with unmodified MMT. The thermal stability of MMT-UP nanocomposite is better than that of pure UP, and its glass transition temperature is higher than that of pure UP. The polymer concrete made with MMT-UP nanocomposite has better mechanical properties than of pure UP. Therefore, it is suggested that strength and elastic modulus of polymer concrete was found to be positively tensile strength and tensile modulus of the MMT-UP nanocomposites.

• Composites Research
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.221-226
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• 2018

The Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar(SHPB) has been the most widely used apparatus to characterize dynamic mechanical behavior of materials at high strain rates between $100s^{-1}$ and $10,000s^{-1}$. The SHPB test is based on the wave propagation theory which was developed to give the stress, strain and strain rate in the specimen using the strains measured in the incident and transmission bars. In this study, the SHPB was directly designed and fabricated for the dynamic mechanical properties of fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) composites. In addition, this apparatus was verified for the validity by comparing the strain data obtained through the high speed camera and Digital Image Correlation(DIC) during the high strain rate compression test of the self-reinforced polypropylene composite (SRPP) specimen.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.439-447
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• 2020

This paper presents two sets of full three-dimensional thermoelastic finite element analyses of superimposed thermo-mechanically loaded Spar Wingskin Joints made with laminated Graphite Fiber Reinforced Plastic composites. The study emphasizes the influence of residual thermal stresses and material anisotropy on the inter-laminar delamination behavior of the joint structure. The delamination has been pre-embedded at the most likely location, i.e., in resin layer between the top and next ply of the fiber reinforced plastic laminated wingskin and near the spar overlap end. Multi-Point Constraint finite elements have been made use of at the vicinity of the delamination fronts. This helps in simulating the growth of the embedded delamination at both ends. The inter-laminar thermoelastic peel and shear stresses responsible for causing delamination damage due to a combined thermal and a static loading have been evaluated. Strain energy release rate components corresponding to the Mode I (opening), Mode II (sliding) and Mode III (tearing) of delamination are determined using the principle of Virtual Crack Closure Technique. These are seen to be different and non-self-similar at the two fronts of the embedded delamination. Residual stresses developed due to the thermoelastic anisotropy of the laminae are found to strongly influence the delamination onset and propagation characteristics, which have been reflected by the asymmetries in the nature of energy release rate plots and their significant variation along the delamination front.