• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.275-283
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• 2020

Reinforced concrete (RC) does not provide sufficient resistance against impacts and blast loads, and the brittle structure of RC fails to protect against fractures due to the lack of shock absorption. Investigations on improving its resistance against explosion and impact have been actively conducted on high-performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composites (HPFRCCs), such as fiber-reinforced concrete and ultra-high-performance concrete. For these HPFRCCs, however, tensile strength and toughness are still significantly lower compared to compressive strength due to their limited fiber volume fraction. Therefore, in this study, the tensile behavior of slurry-infiltrated fiber-reinforced cementitious composites (SIFRCCs), which can accommodate a large number of steel fibers, was analyzed under static and dynamic loading to improve the shortcomings of RC and to enhance its explosion and impact resistance. The fiber volume fractions of SIFRCCs were set to 4%, 5%, and 6%, and three strain rate levels (maximum strain rate: 250 s^-1) were applied. As a result, the tensile strength exceeded 15 MPa under static load, and the dynamic tensile strength reached a maximum of 40 MPa. In addition, tensile characteristics, such as tensile strength, deformation capacity, and energy absorption capacity, were improved as the fiber volume fraction and strain rate increased.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.85-97
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• 2021

In this study, the effect of steel fiber utilization, boundary conditions, different beam cross-section, and length parameter are investigated on the free vibration behavior of fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete beam on elastic foundation. In the analysis of the beam model recommended by Euler-Bernoulli, a method utilizing Stokes transformations and Fourier Sine series were used. For this purpose, in addition to the control beam containing no fiber, three SCC beam elements were prepared by utilization of steel fiber as 0.6% by volume. The time-dependent fresh properties and some mechanical properties of self-compacting concrete mixtures were investigated. In the modelled beam, four different beam specimens produced with 0.6% by volume of steel fiber reinforced and pure (containing no fiber) SCC were analyzed depending on different boundary conditions, different beam cross-sections, and lengths. For this aim, the effect of elasticity of the foundation, cross-sectional dimensions, beam length, boundary conditions, and steel fiber on natural frequency and frequency parameters were investigated. As a result, it was observed that there is a noticeable effect of fiber reinforcement on the dynamic behavior of the modelled beam.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.87 no.6
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• pp.615-624
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• 2023

The focus of this study is on the structural behaviour of reinforced concrete beams in which basalt fiber and SBR latex were added and the cement was partially replaced with 10% of hypo sludge. Eight different mixes of reinforced beam specimens were tested under static loading behaviour. The experiments showed, the structural behaviour with features such as load-deflection relationships, crack pattern, crack propagation, number of crack, crack spacing and moment curvature. A stress-strain relationship to represent the overall behavior of reinforced concrete in tension, which includes the combined effects of cracking and mode of failure along the reinforcement, is proposed. The structural behaviour results of reinforced concrete beams with various types of mix were tested at the age of 28 days. The investigation revealed that the flexural behaviors of hypo sludge reinforced concrete beams with addition of basalt fiber and SBR latex was higher than that of control concrete reinforced beam. The specimen (LHSBFC) with 10% hypo sludge, 0.25% Basalt fiber and 10% SBR latex showed an increase of 5.08% load carrying capacity, 7.6% stiffness, 3.97% ductility, 31.29% energy dissipation when compared to the control concrete beam. The analytical investigation using FEM shows that it was in good agreement with the experimental investigation.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.149-167
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• 2013

The complete stress-strain behavior of steel fiber reinforced concrete in compression is needed for the analysis and design of structures. An experimental investigation was carried out to generate the complete stress-strain curve of high-performance steel fiber reinforced concrete (HPSFRC) with a strength range of 52-80 MPa. The variation in concrete strength was achieved by varying the water-to-cementitious materials ratio of 0.40-0.25 and steel fiber content (Vf = 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5% with l/d = 80 and 55) in terms of fiber reinforcing parameter, at 10% silica fume replacement. The effects of these parameters on the shape of stress-strain curves are presented. Based on the test data, a simple model is proposed to generate the complete stress-strain relationship for HPSFRC. The proposed model has been found to give good correlation with the stress-strain curves generated experimentally. Inclusion of fibers into HPC improved the ductility considerably. Equations to quantify the effect of fibers on compressive strength, strain at peak stress and toughness of concrete in terms of fiber reinforcing index are also proposed, which predicted the test data quite accurately. Compressive strength prediction model was validated with the strength data of earlier researchers with an absolute variation of 2.1%.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.455-468
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• 2011

Although retrofitting and strengthening reinforced concrete (RC) columns by wrapping fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have become a popular technique in civil engineering, the study on reinforced high-strength concrete (HSC) columns is still not sufficient. The objective of these companion papers is to investigate the mechanical properties of reinforced HSC square columns confined by aramid FRP (AFRP) jackets under concentric compressive loading. In the part I of these companion papers, an experiment was conducted on 54 confined RC specimens and nine unconfined plain specimens, the considered parameters were the concrete strength, the thickness of AFRP jackets, and the form of AFRP wrapping. The experimental process and results are presented in detail. Subsequently, some discussions on the confinement effect, failure modes, strength, and ductility of the columns are carried out.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.65-75
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• 2017

In this study, a novel application of symbolic regression (SR) is employed for the prediction of ultimate shear strength of steel fiber reinforced (SFRC) and glass fiber reinforced (GFRC) corbels without stirrups, for the first time in the literature. A database is created using the test results (42 tests) conducted by the authors of current paper as well as the previous studies available in the literature. A symbolic regression based empirical formulation is proposed using this database. The formulation is unique in a way that it has the capability to predict the shear strength of both SFRC and GFRC corbels. The performance of proposed model is tested against randomly selected testing set. Additionally, a parametric study with a wide range of variables is carried out to test the effect of each parameter on the shear strength. The results confirm the high prediction capacity of proposed model.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.65 no.2
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• pp.155-162
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• 2018

A smart glass fiber reinforced polymer (SMFRP) reinforcing bar with a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor was fabricated using a pultrusion technique, while ribs were formed to improve bonding between concrete and SMFRP. Then, strain of SMFRP bars were measured for a uniaxial tension test of an SMFRP bar, and a four-point bending test of concrete beams reinforced with SMFRP bars. The results of a uniaxial tension test illustrate that the strain obtained from an FBG sensor agrees well with that obtained from electrical resistance strain gauge (ERSG). Additionally, concrete beams reinforced with SMFRP bars were fabricated, and actual flexural test were performed while the strain of with an FBG sensor was compared with that of ERSG. The experimental results demonstrate that SMFRP bars can be used as reinforcement of concrete member while providing deformation information. Furthermore, SMFRP bars may provide stronger durability and smart monitoring to reinforced concrete members under corrosive environments during a service life.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.599-607
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• 2020

This paper deals with the experimental investigation on the behavior of RCS beam-column exterior joints. Two full-scale specimens of joints between reinforced concrete columns and steel beams are tested under cyclic loading. The objective of the test is to study the effect of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) on the seismic behavior of RCS joints. The load bearing capacity, story drift capacity, ductility, energy dissipation, and stiffness degradation of specimens are evaluated. The experimental results point out that the FRC joint is increased 20% of load carrying capacity and 30% of energy dissipation capacity in comparison with the RC joint. Besides, the FRC joint shown lower damage and better ductility than RC joint.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.625-638
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• 2017

The flexural behavior of Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) sheets has gained much research interest in the flexural strengthening of reinforced concrete beams. The study on flexure includes various parameters like increase in strength of the member due to the externally bonded (EB) Fiber reinforced polymer, crack patterns, debonding of the fiber from the structure, scaling, convenience of using the fibers, cost effectiveness, etc. The present work aims to study experimentally about the reasons behind the failure due to flexure of an externally bonded FRP concrete beam. In the design of FRP-reinforced concrete structures, deflection control is as critical as much as flexural strength. A numerical model is created using Finite element (FEM) software and the results are compared with that of the experiment.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.513-525
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• 2019

In this work, an experimental research has been performed on Steel Fiber-Steel Reinforced Concrete (SFSRC)specimens subjected to four-point bending tests to evaluate the feasibility of mutual replacement of steel fibers and conventional reinforcement through studying failure modes, load-deflection curves, stiffness of characteristic points, stiffness degradation curves and damage analysis. The variables considered in this experiment included steel fiber volume percentage with and without conventional reinforcements (stirrups or steel fibers) with shear span depth ratios of S/D=2.5 and 3.5. Experimental results revealed that increasing the volume percentage of steel fiber decreased the creation and propagation of shear and bond cracks, just like shortening the stirrups spacing. Higher crack resistance and suturing ability of steel fiber can improve the stability of its bearing capacity. Both steel fibers and stirrups improved the stiffness and damage resistance of specimens where stirrups played an essential role and therefore, the influence of steel fibers was greatly weakened. Increasing S/D ratio also weakened the effect of steel fibers. An equation was derived to calculate the bending stiffness of SFSRC specimens, which was used to determine mid span deflection; the accuracy of the proposed equation was proved by comparing predicted and experimental results.