• Computers and Concrete
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.365-382
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• 2013

Although shear reinforcement in beams typically consists of steel bars bent in the form of stirrups or hoops, the addition of deformed steel fibres to the concrete has been shown to enhance shear resistance and ductility in reinforced concrete beams. This paper presents a model that can be used to predict the shear strength of fibrous concrete rectangular members without stirrups. The model is an extension of the plasticity-based crack sliding model originally developed for plain concrete beams. The crack sliding model has been improved in order to take into account several aspects: the arch effect for deep beams, the post-cracking tensile strength of steel fibre reinforced concrete and its ability to control sliding along shear cracks, and the mitigation of the shear size effect due to presence of fibres. The results obtained by the model have been validated by a large set of experimental tests taken from literature, compared with several models proposed in literature, and numerical analyses are carried out showing the influence of fibres on the beam failure mode.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2019

Thermal energy from high temperatures can cause concrete damage, including mechanical and chemical degradation. In view of this, the residual mechanical properties of high-strength fiber reinforced concrete with a design strength of 75 MPa exposed to $400-800^{\circ}C$ were investigated in this study. The test results show that the average residual compressive strength of high-strength fiber reinforced concrete after being exposed to $400-800^{\circ}C$ was 88%, 69%, and 23% of roomtemperature strength, respectively. In addition, the benefit of steel fibers on the residual compressive strength of concrete was limited, but polypropylene fibers can help to maintain the residual compressive strength and flexural strength of concrete after exposure to $400-600^{\circ}C$. Further, the load-deflection curve of specimen containing steel fibers exposed to $400-800^{\circ}C$ had a better fracture toughness.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.155-160
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• 2019

The use of recycled aggregate concrete for the purpose of environmental and resource conservation has gained increasing interest in construction engineering. Nevertheless, few studies have reported on the bonding performance of the bars in recycled aggregate concrete after exposed to high temperatures. In this paper, 72 pull-out specimens and 36 cubic specimens with different recycled coarse aggregate content (i.e., 0%, 50%,100%) were cast to evaluate the bond behavior between recycled aggregate concrete and steel bar after various temperatures ($20^{\circ}C$, $200^{\circ}C$, $400^{\circ}C$, $600^{\circ}C$). The results show that the recycled aggregate concrete pull-out specimens exhibited similar bond stress-slip curves at both ambient and high temperature. The bond strength declined gradually with the increase of the temperature. On the basis of a regression analysis of the experimental data, a revised bond strength mode and peak slip ratios relationship model were proposed to predict the post-heating bond-slip behavior between recycled aggregate concrete and steel bar.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.127-129
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• 2019

Heterogeneous photocatalysis is developed rapidly in the field of engineering of environmental. It has a good potential to tackle with the enhancing traffic pollution. Adding photocatalyst to usual building materials such as cement and concrete makes friendly environmental materials against the air pollution. TiO2 nanoparticles are a good item for concrete structures for diminishing the air polluting affect by gasses of exhaust. In specific, the transformation of NOx to NO3- is studied and the interaction of TiO2 nanoparticles and concrete is investigated here by experimental test. This paper presents an overview of the principle of photocatalysis and the application in combination with cement, as well as the results of the laboratory research, especially towards air purifying action. In addition, by the analytical models, the influence of TiO2 nanoparticles is studied on the stiffness of the concrete. The Results show that TiO2 nanoparticles have significant effect on the reduction of environmental pollution and increase of stiffness in the concrete structures.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.463-478
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• 2020

Multiple mathematical modeling for prediction of slump, compressive strength and depth of water penetration at 28 days were performed using statistical analysis for the concrete containing waste limestone powder as partial replacement of sand obtained from experimental program reported in this research. To extract experimental data, 180 concrete cubic samples with 20 different mix designs were investigated. The twenty non-linear regression models were used to predict each of the concrete properties including slump, compressive strength and water depth penetration of concrete with waste limestone powder. Evaluation of the models using numerical methods showed that the majority of models give acceptable prediction with a high accuracy and trivial error rates. The 15-term regression models for predicting the slump, compressive strength and water depth were found to have the best agreement with the tested concrete specimens.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.129-137
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• 2022

Dynamic response of a laminated porous concrete beam reinforced by nanoparticles subjected to harmonic transverse dynamic load is investigated considering structural damping. The effective nanocomposite properties are evaluated on the basis of Mori-Tanaka model. The concrete beam is modeled by the sinusoidal shear deformation theory (SSDT). Utilizing nonlinear strains-deflection, energy relations and Hamilton's principal, the governing final equations of the concrete laminated beam are calculated. Utilizing differential quadrature method (DQM) as well as Newmark method, the dynamic displacement of the concrete laminated beam is discussed. The influences of porosity parameter, nanoparticles volume percent, agglomeration of nanoparticles, boundary condition, geometrical parameters of the concrete beam and harmonic transverse dynamic load are studied on the dynamic displacement of the laminated structure. Results indicated that enhancing the nanoparticles volume percent leads to decrease in the dynamic displacement about 63%. In addition, with considering porosity of the concrete, the dynamic displacement enhances about 2.8 time.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.331-339
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• 2022

Geopolymer concrete (GPC) is one of the best substitute materials for conventional concrete in construction. The conventional concrete provided by Portland cement has a detrimental influence on the environment during its production. In this study, the bond strength, which is an important structural property, of deformed steel bars with slag-based GPC was measured. In accordance with the ASTM C234 procedure, bond strength was measured on 18 specimens of slag-based GPC with three sizes of steel bars and different embedded lengths. Two groups of GPC specimens with different compressive strengths, which were cured under ambient conditions, were tested. The results indicated that the bar diameter has a great effect on the bond strength, and the bond strength behavior of the slag-based GPC is comparable with that of conventional concrete. The ACI-318 Code for the bond strength of ordinary Portland cement concrete can be used conservatively to determine the bond strength of the GPC reinforced with deformed steel bars.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.229-239
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• 2023

Anti-tank weapons are among the infantry weapons used by the armies of many countries. Anti-tank rockets and explosives such as TNT, generally used for armour piercing, are also frequently used in terrorist attacks. These attacks damage the protection facilities built from reinforced concrete. Rockets or similar explosives' rapid speed and burst temperatures pierce reinforced concrete during strikes, resulting in casualties and damage to crucial strategic structures. This study aimed to devise an economic and applicable reinforced concrete plate that could absorb the impact of anti-tank rockets and Trinitrotoluene (TNT) type explosives. Therefore, 5 different samples, produced from C50 reinforced concrete and 150×150 cm in size, were formed by combining plates of different numbers and thicknesses. Also, a sample, which was a single thick plate, was prepared. In destructive testing, Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG-7) was used as the anti-tank rocket launcher. As a result of this study, the impact damage was reduced with hollow concrete plate geometries, and recommendations were developed for complete prevention.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.615-623
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• 2023

Crack detection is an essential method to ensure the safety of dam concrete structures. Low-quality crack images of dam concrete structures limit the application of neural network methods in crack detection. This research proposes a modified attentional mechanism model to reduce the disturbance caused by uneven light, shadow, and water spots in crack images. Also, the focal loss function solves the small ratio of crack information. The dataset collects from the network, laboratory and actual inspection dataset of dam concrete structures. This research proposes a novel method for crack detection of dam concrete structures based on the U-Net neural network, namely AF-UNet. A mutual comparison of OTSU, Canny, region growing, DeepLab V3+, SegFormer, U-Net, and AF-UNet (proposed) verified the detection accuracy. A binocular camera detects cracks in the experimental scene. The smallest measurement width of the system is 0.27 mm. The potential goal is to achieve real-time detection and localization of cracks in dam concrete structures.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.231-241
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• 2023

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the practical application of high-flowing concrete for a steel-concrete panel (SCP) module for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage tank. We evaluated the physical properties and filling performance of the developed concrete for the SCP module. First, slump tests were performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed standards for the filling tests. All the concrete mixes showed satisfactory performance. Based on the results of the previous study, the reliability of the required time measured using the T₅₀₀ test and the rheometer results measured before and after pumping was 0.94, indicating that segregation and blocking should not occur. L-box and U-box tests were conducted before and after pumping. All the recommended standards showed satisfactory performance. The SCP structural module for LNG storage tanks was fabricated to a full scale to evaluate its practical application at the final site. Satisfactory filling performance was confirmed for all the specimens.