• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.82 no.1
• /
• pp.81-92
• /
• 2022

Ultra-high performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) is a composite building material with high ductility, fatigue resistance, fracture toughness, durability, and energy absorption capacity. The aim of this study is to develop a nonlinear finite element model that can simulate the response of the UHPFRC beam exposed to impact loads. A nonlinear finite element model was developed in ABAQUS to simulate the real response of UHPFRC beams. The numerical results showed that the model was highly successful to capture the experimental results of selected beams from the literature. A parametric study was carried out to investigate the effects of reinforcement ratio and impact velocity on the response of the UHPFRC beam in terms of midpoint displacement, impact load value, and residual load-carrying capacity. In the parametric study, the nonlinear analysis was performed in two steps for 12 different finite element models. In the first step, dynamic analysis was performed to monitor the response of the UHPFRC beam under impact loads. In the second step, static analysis was conducted to determine the residual load-carrying capacity of the beams. The parametric study has shown that the reinforcement ratio and the impact velocity affect maximum and residual displacement value substantially.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.21-40
• /
• 2004

In this paper, we modify the L-L model (Li et al. 2003) and extend the application of this model to concrete confined by both steel reinforcement and CFRP. Thirty-six concrete cylinders with a dimension of ${\varphi}30{\times}60$ cm were tested to verify the effectiveness of the proposed model. The experimental test results show that different types of steel reinforcement have a great effect on the compressive strength of concrete cylinders confined by steel reinforcement, but the different types of steel reinforcement have very little effect on concrete cylinders confined by both steel reinforcement and CFRP. Compared with the stress-strain curves of confined concrete cylinders, we can conclude that the proposed model can provide more effective prediction than others models.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.183-198
• /
• 2015

Chloride ingress implies a complex interaction between physical and chemical process, in which heat, moisture and chloride ions transport through concrete cover. Meanwhile, reinforced concrete structure itself undergoes evolution due to variation in temperature, relative humidity and creep effects, which can potentially change the deformation and trigger some micro-cracks in concrete. In addition, all of these process show time-dependent performance with complex interaction between structures and environments. In the present work, a time-dependent behavior of chloride transport in reinforced concrete beam subjected to flexural load is proposed based on the well-known section fiber model. The strain state varies because of stress redistribution caused by the interaction between environment and structure, mainly dominated by thermal stresses and shrinkage stress and creep. Finally, in order to clear the influence of strain state on the chloride diffusivity, experiment test were carried out and a power function used to describe this influence is proposed.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.513-525
• /
• 2023

This research presents the experimental and theoretical evaluations on circular steel-fiber-reinforced-concrete (SFRC) columns reinforced by glass-fiber-reinforced-polymer (GFRP) rebar under the axial compressive loading. Test programs were designed to investigate and compare the effect of different parameters on the structural behavior of columns by performing tests. Theses variables included conventional concrete (CC), fiber concrete (FC), steel/GFRP longitudinal rebars, and transversal rebars configurations. A total of 16 specimens were constructed and categorized into four groups in terms of different rebar-concrete configurations, including GFRP-rebar-reinforced-CC columns (GRCC), GFRP-rebar-reinforced-FC columns (GRFC), steel-rebar-reinforced-CC columns (SRCC) and steel-rebar- reinforced-FC columns (SRFC). Experimental observations displayed that failure modes and cracking patterns of four groups of columns were similar, especially in pre-peak branches of load-deflection curves. Although the average ultimate axial load of columns with longitudinal GFRP rebars was obtained by 17.9% less than the average ultimate axial load of columns with longitudinal steel rebars, the average axial ductility index (DI) of them was gained by 10.2% higher than their counterpart columns. Adding steel fibers (SFs) into concrete led to the increases of 7.7% and 6.7% of the axial peak load and the DI of columns than their counterpart columns with CC. The volumetric ratio had greater efficiency on peak loads and DIs of columns than the type of transversal reinforcement. A simple analytical equation was proposed to predict the axial compressive capacity of columns by considering the axial involvement of longitudinal GFRP rebars, volumetric ratio, and steel spiral/hoop rebar. There was a good correlation between test results and predictions of the proposed equation.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.567-575
• /
• 2019

In order to investigate the dynamic impact resistance of steel fiber reinforced full light-weight concretes, we implemented drop weight impact test on a total of 6 reinforced beams with 0, 1 and 2%, steel fiber volume fraction. The purpose of this test was to determine the failure modes of beams under different impact energies. Then, we compared and analyzed the time-history curves of impact force, midspan displacement and reinforcement strain. The obtained results indicated that the deformations of samples and their steel fibers were proportional to impact energy, impact force, and impact time. Within reasonable ranges of parameter values, the effects of impact size and impact time were similar for all volumetric contents of steel fibers, but they significantly affected the crack propagation mechanism and damage characteristics of samples. Increase of the volumetric contents of steel fibers not only effectively reduced the midspan displacement and reinforcement strain of concrete samples, but also inhibited crack initiation and propagation such that cracks were concentrated in the midspan areas of beams and the frequency of cracks at supports was reduced. As a result, the tensile strength and impact resistance of full light-weight concrete beams were significantly improved.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.635-642
• /
• 2021

In this paper, soft learning techniques are used to predict the ultimate torsional capacity of Reinforced Concrete beams strengthened with Fiber Reinforced Polymer. Soft computing techniques, namely Artificial Neural Network, trained by various back propagation algorithms, and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, have been used to model and predict the torsional strength of Reinforced Concrete beams strengthened with Fiber Reinforced Polymer. The performance of each model has been evaluated by using statistical parameters such as coefficient of determination (R²), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), and Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE). The hybrid PSO NN model resulted in an R² of 0.9292 with an RMSE of 5.35 for training and an R² of 0.9328 with an RMSE of 4.57 for testing. Another model, ANN BP, produced an R² of 0.9125 with an RMSE of 6.17 for training and an R² of 0.8951 with an RMSE of 5.79 for testing. The results of the PSO NN model were in close agreement with the experimental values. Thus, the PSO NN model can be used to predict the ultimate torsional capacity of RC beams strengthened with FRP with greater acceptable accuracy.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.407-421
• /
• 2016

This paper presents numerical modeling of the structural behavior of CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced polymer) strengthened RC (reinforced concrete) beams under four-point bending. Simulation of debonding at the CFRP-concrete interface was focused, as it is the main failure mode of CFRP strengthened RC beams. Here, cohesive layer was employed to model the onset of debonding, which further helps to describe the post debonding behavior of the CFRP strengthened RC beam. In addition, the XFEM approach was applied to investigate the effects of crack localization on strain field on CFRP sheet and rebar. The strains obtained from the XFEM correlate better to the test results than that from CDP (concrete damaged plasticity) model. However, there is a large discrepancy between the experimental and simulated loaddisplacement relationships, which is due to the simplification of concrete constitutive law.

• Advances in concrete construction
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.173-181
• /
• 2020

Fracture properties of concrete depend on the mix proportions of the ingredients, specimen shape and size, type of testing method used for the evaluation of fracture properties. Aggregates play a key role for changes in the fracture behaviour of concrete as they constitute about 60-75 % of the total volume of the concrete. The present study deals with the effect of size and quantity of coarse aggregate on the fracture behaviour of steel fibre reinforced self compacting concrete (SFRSCC). Lower coarse aggregate and higher fine aggregate content in SCC results in the stronger interfacial transition zone and a weaker stiffness of concrete compared to vibrated concrete. As the fracture properties depend on the aggregates quantity and size particularly in SCC, three nominal sizes (20 mm, 16 mm and 12.5 mm) and three coarse to fine aggregate proportions (50-50, 45-55, 40-60) were chosen as parameters. Wedge Split Test (WST), a stable test method was adopted to arrive the requisite properties. Specimens without and with guide notch were investigated. The results are indicative of increase in fracture energy with increase in coarse aggregate size and quantity. The splitting force was maximum for specimens with 12.5 mm size which is associated with a brittle failure in the pre-ultimate stage followed by a ductile failure due to the presence of steel fibres in the post-peak stage.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.31 no.5
• /
• pp.567-585
• /
• 2009

The aim of this study was to investigate the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with a novel strengthening system. Concrete beams were strengthened with a hybrid retrofit system consisting of high strength steel cords impregnated in an inorganic fireproof matrix (Geopolymer). The strengthened reinforced concrete beams along with non-strengthened control beams were tested monotonically under four point bending loading conditions. Moreover, an analytical model is introduced, that can be used to analyze the flexural performance of the strengthened beams. The experimental results indicate that the failure of the strengthened beams was based on the yielding of the reinforcement in the tension face of the beams, followed by a local slippage of the steel cords. The flexural stiffness of the strengthened beams was significantly improved compared to the stiffness of the non-strengthened beams. In conclusion, the strengthening system can provide an effective alternative to commercially available systems.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.37 no.1
• /
• pp.111-129
• /
• 2011

This paper presents a nonlinear analysis of reinforced concrete column with lap splice confined by FRP wrapping in the critical hinging zone. The steel stress-slip model derived from the tri-uniform bond stress model presented in the companion paper is included in the nonlinear frame analysis to simulate the response of reinforced concrete columns subjected to cyclic displacement reversals. The nonlinear modeling is based on a fiber discretization of an RC column section. Each fiber is modeled as either nonlinear concrete or steel spring, whose load-deformation characteristics are calculated from the section of fiber and material properties. The steel spring that models the reinforcing bars consists of three sub-springs, i.e., steel bar sub-spring, lap splice spring, and anchorage bond-slip spring connected in series from top to bottom. By combining the steel stress versus slip of the lap splice, the stress-deformation of steel bar and the steel stress-slip of bars anchored into the footing, the nonlinear steel spring model is derived. The analytical responses are found to be close to experimental ones. The analysis without lap splice springs included may result in an erroneous overestimation in the strength and ductility of columns.