• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.84-92
• /
• 2008

This study is to investigate the flexural performance of Near Surface Mounted (NSM) strengthening method using Fiber reinforced Polymer (FRP) materials to concrete structures. For this study, the inverse-shaped trapezoid CFRP composite material which has been registered as New Excellent Technology (NET) 351 was adopted to the concrete structure. In this study, two types of the CFRP types were considered; Type A ($15{\times}13{\times}6mm$) and Type B ($4{\times}3{\times}10mm$) with different strengthening ratio. In the result of the test, it was proved that NSM strengthened specimens had more flexural performance of 20-100% than that of the unstrengthened specimen. With this test result, the structural efficiency was investigated based on the coefficient of ductility and coefficient of crack resistance.

• Advances in concrete construction
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.71-79
• /
• 2020

Ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) is recognized as a promising material in future civil engineering projects due to its outstanding mechanical and durability properties. However, the lack of local UHPC materials and official standards, especially for prestressed UHPC structures, has limited the application of UHPC. In this research, a large-scale prestressed bridge girder composed of nonproprietary UHPC is produced and investigated. This work has two objectives to develop the mixing procedure required to create UHPC in large batches and to study the flexural behavior of the prestressed girder. The results demonstrate that a sizeable batch of UHPC can be produced by using a conventional concrete mixing system at any precast factory. In addition, incorporating local aggregates and using conventional mixing systems enables regional widespread use. The flexural behavior of a girder made by this UHPC is investigated including flexural strength, cracking pattern and development, load-deflection curve, and strain and neutral axis behaviors through a comprehensive bending test. The experimental data is similar to the theoretical results from analytical methods based on several standards and recommendations of UHPC design.

• Advances in concrete construction
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.35-48
• /
• 2020

This paper deals with a comparative study among three different rehabilitation techniques, namely, (i) carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP), (ii) glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) and (iii) ferrocement on the flexural strengthening of reinforced cement concrete (RCC) beams. As these different techniques have to be compared on a level playing field, tensile coupon tests have been carried out initially for GFRP, CFRP and ferrocement and the number of layers required in each of these composites in terms of the tensile strength. It was found that for the selected constituents of the composites, one layer of CFRP was equivalent to three layers of GFRP and five layers of wiremesh reinforcement in ferrocement. Rehabilitation of RCC beams using these equivalent laminates shows that all the three composites performed in a similar way and are comparable. The parameters selected in this study were (i) the strengthening material and (ii) the level of pre-distress induced to the beams prior to the rehabilitation. It was noticed that, as the levels of pre-distress decreases, the percentage attainment of flexural capacity and flexural stiffness of the rehabilitated beams increases for all the three selected composites used for rehabilitation. Load-deflection behavior, failure modes, energy absorption capacity, displacement ductility and curvature ductility were compared among these composites and at different distress levels for each composite. The results indicate that ferrocement showed a better performance in terms of ductility than other FRPs, and between the FRPs, GFRP exhibited a better ductility than the CFRP counterpart.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.925-946
• /
• 2015

This paper presents a new cost-effective hybrid GFRP-Concrete deck system that the GFRP panel serves as both tensile reinforcement and stay-in-place form. In order to understand the fatigue behavior of such hybrid deck, fatigue test on a full-scale specimen under sagging moment was conducted, and a series of static tests were also carried out after certain repeated loading cycles. The fatigue test results indicated that such hybrid deck has a good fatigue performance even after 3.1 million repeated loading cycles. A three-dimensional finite element model of the hybrid deck was established based on experimental work. The results from finite element analyses are in good agreement with those from the tests. In addition, flexural fatigue analysis considering the reduction in flexural stiffness and modulus under cyclic loading was carried out. The predicted flexural strength agreed well with the analytical strength from finite element simulation, and the calculated fatigue failure cycle was consistent with the result based on related S-N curve and finite element analyses. However, the flexural fatigue analytical results tended to be conservative compared to the tested results in safety side. The presented overall investigation may provide reference for the design and construction of such hybrid deck system.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.35-41
• /
• 2010

Water management is an important issue of PEM fuel cell operation. Water is the product of the electrochemical reactions inside fuel cell. If liquid water accumulation becomes excessive in a fuel cell, water columns will clog the gas flow channel. This condition is referred to as flooding. A number of researchers have examined the water removal methods in order to improve the performance. In this paper, a new water removal method that investigates the use of vibro-acoutic methods is presented. Piezo-actuators which are devices to generate the flexural wave are attached at the end of a cathode bipolar plate. Flexural wave is used to impart energy to resting droplets and thus cause movement of the droplets in the direction of the traveling wave.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.58 no.5
• /
• pp.825-845
• /
• 2016

The Turkish Earthquake Code was revised in 1998 and 2007. Before these Codes, especially 1998, reinforced concrete (RC) beams with low flexural and shear strength were widely used in the building. In this study, the RC specimens have been produced by taking into consideration the RC beams with insufficient shear and tensile reinforcement having been manufactured with the use of concrete with low strength. The performance of the RC specimens strengthened with different wrapping methods by using of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) and Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) composites have been examined in terms of flexural strength, ductility and energy absorption capacity. In the strengthening of the RC elements, the use of GFRP composites instead of CFRP composites has also been examined. For this purpose, the experimental results of the RC specimens strengthened by wrapping with CFRP and GFRP are presented and discussed. It has been concluded that although the flexural and shear strengths of the RC beams strengthened with GFRP composites are lower than those of beams reinforced with CFRP, their ductility and energy absorption capacities are very high. Moreover, the RC beams strengthened with CFRP fracture are more brittle when compared to GFRP.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.42 no.6
• /
• pp.799-813
• /
• 2012

Five two-span reinforced concrete (RC) slabs and seven two-span RC beams were tested under the ISO 834 standard fire with different durations. CFRP strengthening was then applied to some of the specimens after the damaged concrete was removed from the specimens and replaced with polymer mortar. All the specimens were loaded to failure to investigate the influence of fire-damage and the effectiveness of strengthening methods. Test results indicated that the flexural capacities of specimens decrease with the fire duration increases. Moreover, fire exposure had more significant effect on the flexural rigidity than on the bearing capacity of the specimens. After rehabilitation, the bearing capacities of specimens reached or even exceeded that of the reference RC specimen, and the strengthening methods seemed to have limited effect on flexural rigidity recovery. From the analysis of moment redistribution of tested beams, elevated temperature is found having different impacts on sagging moment region and hogging moment region. The damage of RC continuous member is definitely a comprehensive response of different regions.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.1-13
• /
• 2023

This paper discusses a framework for predicting the flexural strength of prestressed and non-prestressed FRP reinforced T-shaped concrete beams using soft computing techniques. An analysis of 83 tests performed on T-beams of varying widths has been conducted for this purpose with different widths of compressive face, beam depth, compressive strength of concrete, area of prestressed and non-prestressed FRP bars, elasticity modulus of prestressed and non-prestressed FRP bars, and the ultimate tensile strength of prestressed and non-prestressed FRP bars. By analyzing the data using two soft computing techniques, named artificial neural networks (ANN) and gene expression programming (GEP), the fundamental parameters affecting the flexural performance of prestressed and non-prestressed FRP reinforced T-shaped beams were identified. The results showed that although the proposed ANN model outperformed the GEP model with higher values of R and lower error values, the closed-form equation of the GEP model can provide a simple way to predict the effect of input parameters on flexural strength as the output. The sensitivity analysis results revealed the most influential input parameters in ANN and GEP models are respectively the beam depth and elasticity modulus of FRP bars.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2017

This paper proposes nominal flexural strength considering strain-hardening effect of HSB600 high performance steel for compact composite I-girders in positive bending. Unlike conventional steels, HSB600 undergoes strain-hardening just after yielding without going through yield plateau. However, because the nominal flexural strength specified in domestic and foreign bridge design specifications has been developed for the conventional steel composite girders, the nominal flexural strength does not appropriately consider the strain-hardening of HSB600. Therefore, plastic moment considering a strain-hardening is proposed so as to consider effect of the strain-hardening of HSB600 on flexural strength and then moment-curvature analysis is performed to a wide range of cross-sections. From results of the analysis, a parameter representing the effect of the strain-hardening on the flexural strength of HSB600 composite girders is proposed. Furthermore, by using this parameter, the nominal flexural strength considering the strain-hardening effect for HSB600 composite I-girders in positive bending is proposed and then evaluated by comparing with the current AASHTO LRFD bridge design specifications.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.209-217
• /
• 2021

This paper investigates the effect of high strength hooked-end steel fiber content and aspect ratio on the compressive and flexural performance of concrete. A total of ten mixtures were prepared and tested. Concretes with specific compressive strength of 30 MPa were reinforced with three different aspect ratios (l/d) of steel fibers 64, 67, and 80 and three different percentages of steel fibers 0.25, 0.50, and 0.75% by volume of concrete. Tensile strengths of steel fibers with l/d of 64, 67, and 80 are 2,000, 2,400, and 2,100 MPa, respectively. The compressive and flexural properties of plain and steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) mixtures were evaluated and compared. The experimental results indicated that the incorporation of high-strength hooked-end steel fibers had significant effects on the compressive and flexural performance of concrete. With the increase of steel fiber content, compressive performances, such as Poisson's ratio and toughness, of concrete were improved. The steel fibers with the least l/d of 67 resulted in a larger enhancement of compressive performances. The residual flexural strength, that is, post-cracking flexural resistance and toughness, of concrete is mainly depended on the dosage and aspect ratio of steel fibers. The residual flexural strength at serviceability (SLS) and ultimate limit state (ULS) defined in fib Model Code 2010 (MC2010) is increased as the fiber content and aspect ratio increase.