• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.207-221
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• 2011

This paper aims to study the behavior of short reinforced concrete columns confined with external glass Fiber Reinforced Polymers (GFRP) sheets under eccentric loads. The experimental part of the study was achieved by testing 9 specimens under eccentric compression. Three eccentricity ratios corresponding to e/t = 0, 0.10, 0.50 in one direction of the column were used. Specimens were divided into three groups. The first group was the control one without confinement. The second group was fully wrapped with GFRP laminates before loading. The third group was wrapped under loading after reaching 75% of failure loads of the control specimens. The third group was investigated in order to represent the practical case of strengthening a loaded column with FRP laminates. All specimens were loaded until failure. The results show that GFRP laminates enhances both failure load and ductility response of eccentrically loaded column. Moreover, the study also illustrates the effect of confinement on the first crack load, lateral deformation, strain in reinforcement and failure pattern. Based on the analysis of the experimental results, a simple model has been proposed to predict the improvement of load carrying capacity under different eccentricity ratios. The predicted equation takes into consideration the eccentricity to cross section depth ratio, the ultimate strength of GFRP, the thickness of wrapping laminate, and the time of wrapping (before loading and under loading). A good correlation was obtained between experimental and analytical results.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.763-771
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• 2007

Over the last few decades, many researches have been conducted in order to find solution to the problem of corrosion in steel reinforced concrete. As a result, methods such as the use of stainless steel bars, epoxy coatings, and concrete additives, etc., have been tried. While effective in some situations, such remedies may still be unable to completely eliminate the problems of steel corrosion. Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) elements are appealing as reinforcement due to some material properties such as high tensile strength, low density, and noncorrosive. However, due to the generally lower modulus of elasticity of FRP in comparison with the steel and the linear behavior of FRP, certain aspects of the structural behavior of RC members reinforced with FRP may be substantially different from similar elements reinforced with steel reinforcement. This paper presents the flexural behavior of one-way concrete slabs reinforced with FRP bars. They were simply supported and tested in the laboratory under static loading conditions to investigate their crack pattern and width, deflections, strains and mode of failure. The experimental results shows that behavior of the FRP reinforced slabs was bilinearly elastic until failure. Also, the results show that the FRP overreinforced concrete beams in this study can be safe for design in terms of deformability.

• Fibers and Polymers
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2004

In the present paper, a variety of fiber reinforcements, for instance, stabilized OXI-PAN fibers, quasi-carbon fibers, commercial carbon fibers, and their woven fabric forms, have been utilized to fabricate pseudo-unidirectional (pseudo-UD) and 2-directional (2D) phenolic matrix composites using a compression molding method. Prior to fabricating quasi-carbon fiber/phenolic (QC/P) composites, stabilized OXI-PAN fibers and fabrics were heat-treated under low temperature carbonization processes to prepare quasi-carbon fibers and fabrics. The thermal conductivity and thermal expansion/contraction behavior of QC/P composites have been investigated and compared with those of carbon fiber/phenolic (C/P) and stabilized fiber/phenolic composites. Also, the chemical compositions of the fibers used have been characterized. The results suggest that use of proper quasi-carbonization process may control effectively not only the chemical compositions of resulting quasi-carbon fibers but also the thermal conductivity and thermal expansion behavior of quasi-carbon fibers/phenolic composites in the intermediate range between stabilized PAN fiber- and carbon fiber-reinforced phenolic composites.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.41-47
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• 2012

Fiber-Reinforced Polymers (FRP) are used to enhance the behavior of structural components in either shear or flexure. The research conducted in this paper was mainly focused on the shear-strengthening of reinforced and prestressed concrete beams using FRP. The main objective of the research was to identify the parameters affecting the shear capacity provided by FRP and evaluate the accuracy of analytical models. A review of prior experimental data showed that the available analytical models used to estimate the added shear capacity of FRP struggle to provide a unified design equation that can predict accurately the shear contribution of externally applied FRP. In this study, the ACI 440.2R-$08^1$ model and the model developed by Triantafillou and Antonopoulos$^2$ were compared with the prior experimental data. Both analytical models failed to provide a satisfactory prediction of the FRP shear capacity. This study provides insights into potential reasons for the unsatisfactory prediction.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.299-305
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• 2013

This paper presents the experimental results of behacior of slender square hollow section columns strengthened with carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) sheets subjected to concentrated axial loading. Three long specimens were fabricated and one stub column were fabricated. The main parameters were the number of CFRP layers. From the tests, it was observed that global buckling were occurred at the center of specimen for unretrofitting slender column. However, CFRP retrofitting could prevent the global buckling of slender column. Maximum increase of 22% was also achieved in axial-load capacity with three longitudinal layered CFRP applied on four sides of steel tubes.

• Fibers and Polymers
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.42-50
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• 2006

In this paper, elasto-plastic constitutive equations for highly anisotropic and asymmetric materials are developed and their numerical implementation is presented. Some engineering materials such as fiber reinforced composites show different material behavior in the different material directions (anisotropy) as well as in tension and compression (asymmetry). Although these materials have mostly been analyzed using the anisotropic elastic constitutive equations, the necessity of consideration of plastic properties has been frequently reported in the previous works. In order to include both the anisotropic and asymmetric properties of composite materials, the Drucker-Prager yield criterion is modified by adding anisotropic parameters and initial components of translation. The implementation procedure for the developed theory and algorithms is presented based on the implicit finite element scheme. The measured data from the previous work are used to validate the present constitutive equations.

• Fibers and Polymers
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2000

Impact behaviors of the large deformable composites of Kevlar fiber reinforced composites of different preform structures have been investigated. An analytic tool was developed to characterize the impact behavior of the Kevlar composites. The image analysis technique, and deply technique were employed to develop energy balance equation under impact loading. An energy method was employed to establish the impact energy absorption mechanism of Kevlar multiaxial warp knitted composites. The total impact energy was classified into four categories including delamination energy, membrane energy, bending energy and rebounding energy under low velocity impact. Membrane and bending energy were calculated from the image analysis of the deformed shape of impacted specimen and delamination energy was calculated using the deplying technique. Also, the impact behavior of Kevlar composites under high velocity impact of full penetration of the composite specimen was studied. The energy absorption mechanisms under high velocity impact were modelled and the absorbed energy was classified into global deformation energy, shear-out energy, deformation energy and fiber breakage energy. The total energy obtained from the model corresponded reasonably well with the experimental results.

• Advanced Composite Materials
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.209-219
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• 2009

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have shown great potential for the reinforcement of polymers or fiber-reinforced composites. In this study, mechanical properties of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT)-filled plain-weave glass/epoxy composites intended for use in radar absorbing structures were evaluated with regard to filler loading, microstructure, and fiber volume fraction. The plain-weave composites containing MWNTs exhibited improved matrix-dominant and interlaminar fracture-related properties, that is, compressive and interlaminar shear strength. This is attributed to strengthening of the matrix rich region and the interface between glass yarns by the MWNTs. However, tensile properties were only slightly affected by the addition of MWNTs, as they are fiber-dominant properties.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.182-189
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• 2010

The strengthening performance of FRPs(Fiber Reinforced Polymers) is directly affected by the environmental conditions such as freezing-thawing and moisture because FRPs are usually bonded on the concrete surface. It is, therefore, strongly required to evaluate a durability of bond between FRPs and concrete as well as FRP materials itself. The freezing-thawing resistance of FRPs is evaluated in this study with the variables of freezing-thawing conditions, types of FRP and freezing-thawing cycles. From the test results, it is found that tensile strength and pull-off strength of CFRP are not affected by the freezing-thawing. On the other hands, those of GFRP show a little degradation because of continuous water immersion during thawing process. But, cautions are needed on the bond durability between FRPs and concrete in case of continuous water supplying from adjacent to the concrete.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.253-260
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• 2008

Environmentally friendly biocomposites were made using plant-based natural fibers, such as henequen and kenaf. The natural fiber reinforced polypropylene (PP) and unsaturated polyester (UP) biocomposites were examined in terms of the reinforcing effect of natural fibers on thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers. Kenaf (KE) and henequen (HQ) fibers were treated with an electron beam (EB) of 10 and 200 kGy doses, respectively, or with a 5 wt% NaOH solution. Four types of biocomposites (KE/PP, HQ/PP, KE/UP and HQ/UP) were fabricated by compression molding and each biocomposite was characterized by dynamic mechanical analysis and thermogravimetric analysis. The kenaf fiber had the larger reinforcing effect on the dynamic mechanical properties of both PP and UP biocomposites than the henequen fiber. The highest storage modulus was obtained from the biocomposite with the combination of UP matrix and 200 kGy EB treated kenaf fibers.