• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.4
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• pp.371-390
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• 2024

Investigating the impact of openings on the structural behavior of ferrocement I-beams with two distinct types of reinforcing metallic and non-metallic meshes is the primary goal of the current study. Up until failure, eight 250x200x2200 mm reinforced concrete I-beams were tested under flexural loadings. Depending on the kind of meshes used for reinforcement, the beams are split into two series. A control I-beam with no openings and three beams with one, two, and three openings, respectively, are found in each series. The two series are reinforced with three layers of welded steel meshes and two layers of tensar meshes, respectively, in order to maintain a constant reinforcement ratio. Structural parameters of investigated beams, including first crack, ultimate load, deflection, ductility index, energy absorption, strain characteristics, crack pattern, and failure mode were reported. The number of mesh layers, the volume fraction of reinforcement, and the kind of reinforcing materials are the primary factors that vary. This article presents the outcomes of a study that examined the experimental and numerical performance of ferrocement reinforced concrete I-beams with and without openings reinforced with welded steel mesh and tensar mesh separately. Utilizing ANSYS-16.0 software, nonlinear finite element analysis (NLFEA) was applied to illustrate how composite RC I-beams with openings behaved. In addition, a parametric study is conducted to explore the variables that can most significantly impact the mechanical behavior of the proposed model, such as the number of openings. The FE simulations produced an acceptable degree of experimental value estimation, as demonstrated by the obtained experimental and numerical results. It is also noteworthy to demonstrate that the strength gained by specimens without openings reinforced with tensar meshes was, on average, 22% less than that of specimens reinforced with welded steel meshes. For specimens with openings, this value is become on average 10%.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.417-426
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• 2024

Shield tunneling method is widely used to build tunnels in complex geological environment. Stability control of tunnel face is the key to the safety of projects. To improve the excavation efficiency or perform equipment maintenance, the excavation chamber sometimes is not fully filled with support medium, which can reduce the load and increase tunneling speed while easily lead to ground collapse. Due to the high risk of the face failure under non-fully support mode, the tunnel face stability should be carefully evaluated. Whether compressive air is required for compensation and how much air pressure should be provided need to be determined accurately. Based on the upper bound theorem of limit analysis, a non-fully support rotational failure model is developed in this study. The failure mechanism of the model is verified by numerical simulation. It shows that increasing the density of supporting medium could significantly improve the stability of tunnel face while the increase of tunnel diameter would be unfavorable for the face stability. The critical support ratio is used to evaluate the face failure under the nonfully support mode, which could be an important index to determine whether the specific unsupported height could be allowed during shield tunneling. To avoid of face failure under the non-fully support mode, several charts are provided for the assessment of compressed air pressure, which could help engineers to determine the required air pressure for face stability.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.545-561
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• 2024

Piled raft foundation has become widely used in the recent years because it can increase bearing capacity of foundation with control settlement. The design for a piled raft in terms vertical load and lateral load need to understands contribution load behavior to raft and pile in piled raft foundation system. The load-bearing behavior of the piled raft, especially concerning lateral loads, is highly complex and challenge to analyze. The complex mechanism of piled rafts can be clarified by using three dimensional (3-D) Finite Element Method (FEM). Therefore, this paper focuses on free-standing head pile group, on-ground piled raft, and embedded raft for the piled raft foundation systems. The lateral resistant of piled raft foundation was investigated in terms of relationship between vertical load, lateral load and displacement, as well as the lateral load sharing of the raft. The results show that both vertical load and raft position significantly impact the lateral load capacity of the piled raft, especially when the vertical load increases and the raft embeds into the soil. On the same condition of vertical settlement and lateral displacement, piled raft experiences a substantial demonstrates a higher capacity for lateral load sharing compared to the on-ground raft. Ultimately, regarding design considerations, the piled raft can reliably support lateral loads while exhibiting behavior within the elastic range, in which it is safe to use.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.675-688
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• 2024

Cold-formed steel (CFS) is prone to buckling failure under loading. Lightweight concrete (LC) made of lightweight aggregate has light weight and excellent thermal insulation performance. However, concrete is brittle in nature which is why different materials have been used to improve this inherent behavior of concrete. The distortional buckling (DB) performance of cold-formed steel-lightweight concrete (CFS-LC) composite columns was investigated in this paper. Firstly, the compressive strength test of foam concrete (FC) and ceramsite concrete (CC) was carried out. The performance of the CFS-LC members was investigated. The test results indicated that the concrete-filled can effectively control the DB of the members. Secondly, finite element (FE) models of each test specimen were developed and validated with the experimental tests followed by extensive parametric studies using numerical analysis based on the validated FE models. The results show that the thickness of the steel and the strength of the concrete-filled were the main factors on the DB and bearing capacity of the members. Finally, the bearing capacity of the test specimens was calculated by using current codes. The results showed that the design results of the AIJ-1997 specification were closer to the experimental and FE values, while other results of specifications were conservative.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.627-641
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• 2024

This paper presents an experimental and numerical study to investigate the behavior of the precast segmental concrete beams (PSCBs) utilizing high-strength concrete (HSC) connected in the zone of the maximum bending moment using steel extended endplate connections (EECs). The experimental study consisted of five beams as follows: The first beam was the control beam for comparison, which was an unconnected one-piece beam made of HSC. The other four other beams consisted of two identical pieces of precast concrete. An important point to be noted is that at the end of each piece, a steel plate was used with a thickness of 10 mm. Moreover, this steel plate was welded to the lower and upper reinforcing bars of the beam. Furthermore, the steel plate was made to connect the two pieces using the technique of EECs. Several variables were taken in these four beams, whether from the shape of the connection or enhancing the behavior of the connection using the post-tensioning technique. EECs without stiffeners were used for some of the tested beams. The behavior of these connections was improved using stiffeners and shear bolts. To get accurate results, a comparison was made between the behaviors of the five beams. Another important point to be noted is that Abaqus and SAP2000 programs were used to investigate the behavior of PSCBs and to ensure the accuracy of the modeling process which showed a good agreement with the experimental results. Additionally, the simplified modeling using SAP2000 was able to model the nonlinear behavior of PSCBs connected using steel EECs. It was found that the steel pre-tensioned bolted EECs, reinforced with steel stiffeners and shear anchors, could be used to connect the precast HSC segmental beams via the internal pre-stressing technique.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.153-172
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• 2024

Due to the fast development of constructions in recent years, there has been a rapid consumption of fresh water and river sand. In the production of concrete, alternatives such as sea water and sea sand are available. The near surface mounted (NSM) technique is one of the most important methods of strengthening. Aluminum alloy (AA) bars are non-rusting and suitable for usage with sea water and sand concrete (SSC). The goal of this study was to enhance the shear behaviour of SSC-beams strengthened with NSM AA bars. Twenty-four RC beams were cast from fresh water river sand concrete (FRC) and SSC before being tested in four-point flexure. All beams are the same size and have the same internal reinforcement. The major factors are the concrete type (FRC or SSC), the concrete degree (C25 or C50 with compressive strength = 25 and 50 MPa, respectively), the presence of AA bars for strengthening, the direction of AA bar reinforcement (vertical or diagonal), and the AA bar ratio (0, 0.5, 1, 1.25 and 2 %). The beams' failure mechanism, load-displacement response, ultimate capacity, and ductility were investigated. Maximum load and ductility of C25-FRC-specimens with vertical and diagonal AA bar ratios (1%) were 100,174 % and 140, 205.5 % greater, respectively, than a matching control specimen. The ultimate load and ductility of all SSC-beams were 16-28 % and 11.3-87 % greater, respectively, for different AA bar methods than that of FRC-beams. The ultimate load and ductility of C25-SSC-beams vertically strengthened with AA bar ratios were 66.7-172.7 % and 89.6-267.9 % higher than the unstrengthened beam, respectively. When compared to unstrengthened beams, the ultimate load and ductility of C50-SSC-beams vertically reinforced with AA bar ratios rose by 50-120 % and 45.4-336.1 %, respectively. National code proposed formulae were utilized to determine the theoretical load of tested beams and compared to matching experimental results. The predicted theoretical loads were found to be close to the experimental values.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.5
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• pp.467-480
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• 2024

The mechanical properties and durability of concrete pavements may be degraded in extreme situations, resulting in the need for partial repair or total replacement. During the past few decades, there has been a growing body of research on substituting a portion of Portland cement with alternative cementitious materials for improving concrete properties. In this study, two different configurations of powdered and granulated blast furnace slag were implemented, replacing fine aggregates (by 12 wt.%) and Portland cement (by 0, 20, 40, and 60 wt.%) in the making of roller-compacted concrete (RCC) mixes. The specimens were fabricated to investigate the mechanical properties and durability specifications, involving freeze-thaw, salt-scaling, and water absorption resistance. The experimental results indicated that the optimum mechanical properties of RCC mixes could be achieved when 20-40 wt.% of powdered slag was added to concrete mixes containing slag aggregates. Accordingly, the increases in compressive, tensile, and flexural strengths were 45, 50, and 28%, in comparison to the control specimen at the age of 90 days. Also, incorporating 60 wt.% of powdered slag gave rise to the optimum mix plan in terms of freeze-thaw resistance such that a negligible strength degradation was experienced after 300 cycles. In addition, the optimal moisture content of the proposed RCC mixtures was measured to be in the range of 5 to 6.56%. Furthermore, the partial addition of granulated slag was found to be more advantageous than using entirely natural sand in the improvement of the mechanical and durability characteristics of all mixture plans.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.243-260
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• 2024

Thirteen self-compacting recycled concrete filled aluminium tubular (SCRCFAT) columns were tested under concentric compression loads. The effects of the replacement ratio of the recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) and steel fibre (SF) reinforcement on the structural performance of the SCRCFAT columns were studied. A control specimen (C000) was cast with normal concrete without SF to be reference for comparison. Twelve columns were cast using RCA, six columns were cast using concrete incorporating 2% SF while the rest of columns were cast without SF. Failure mode, ductility, ultimate load capacity, axial deformation, ultimate strains, stress-strain response, and stiffness of the SCRCFAT columns were studied. The results showed that, the peak load of tested SCRCFAT columns incorporating 5-100 % RCA without SF reduced by 2.33-11.28 % compared to that of C000. Conversely, the peak load of tested SCRCFAT columns incorporating 5-100% RCA in addition to 2% SF increased by 21.1-40.25%, compared to C000. Consequently, the ultimate axial deformation (Δ) of column C100 (RCA=100% and SF 0%) increased by about 118.9 % compared to C000. The addition of 2% SF to the concrete mix decreased the axial deformation of SCRCFAT columns compared to those cast with 0% SF. Moreover, the stiffness of the columns cast without SF decreased as the RCA % increased. In contrast, the columns stiffness cast with 2% SF increased by 26.28-89.7 % over that of C000. Finally, a theoretical model was proposed to predict the ultimate loads tested SCRCFAT columns and the obtained theoretical results agreed well with the experimental results.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.91 no.1
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• pp.75-86
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• 2024

In this paper, the porous metal PM-35 is proposed as the filler material of filled thin-walled tubes (FTTs), and a series of experimental study is conducted to investigate the dynamic behavior and energy absorption performance of PM-35 filled thin-walled tubes under impact loading. Firstly, cylinder solid specimens of PM-35 steel are tested to investigate the impact mechanical behavior by using the Split Hopkinson pressure bar set (SHP); Secondly, the filled thin-walled tube specimens with different geometric parameters are designed and tested to investigate the feasibility of PM-35 steel applied in FTTs by the orthogonal test. According to the results of this research, it is concluded that PM-35 steel is with the excellent characteristics of high energy absorption capacity and low yield strength, which make it a potential filler material for FTTs. The micron-sizes pore structure of PM-35 is the main reason for the macroscopic mechanical behavior of PM-35 steel under impact loading, which makes the material to exhibit greater deformation when subjected to external forces and obviously improve the toughness of the material. In addition, PM-35 steel core-filled thin-wall tube has excellent energy absorption ability under high-speed impact, which shows great application potential in the anti-collision structure facilities of high-speed railway and maglev train. The parameter V0 is most sensitive to the energy absorption of FTT specimens under impact loading, and the sensitivity order of different variations to the energy absorption is loading speed V0>D/t>D/L. The loading efficiency of the FTT is affected by its different geometry, which is mainly determined by the sleeve material and the filling material, which are not sensitive to changes in loading speed V0, D/t and D/L parameters.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.273-284
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• 2024

The steel-concrete composite system has been playing a vital role in the construction sector for the past two decades. By using steel and concrete together, we achieve strong load resistance with minimal deflection and bending stress. The study focuses on the numerical and analytical behaviour of concrete encased steel castellated beams and compared them with previous experiments. The study used five composite beams, including one control reinforced concrete beam (CC), one fully concrete encased steel beam (FCES), and three fully concrete encased castellated beams. The major variable is the opening configuration of the castellated beam, such as openings along the longitudinal axis, above the longitudinal axis, and below the longitudinal axis. The 150 mm × 250 mm cross section and 2000 mm in length of beams were used. Using the finite element software ANSYS, we conduct nonlinear finite element analysis for the entire beam and compare it with test data. The numerical load carrying capacity of concrete encased steel castellated beam with a hexagonal opening above the longitudinal axis (FCESCB H2) is 160 kN is closer to the experimental observation. Von Mises strain of FCESB is 0.004232, which is lower than CB and composite castellated beam. The ductility factor and energy absorption capacity of FCESB are 5.090 and 1688.47 kNm. It was observed that the configuration of the opening will influence the strength of the composite beam. Plastic moment methods were employed to estimate the ultimate load carrying capacity of the beam. In the analytical study the beams were assumed as perfectly plastic. The ultimate analytical load carrying capacity of FCESCB H2 is 21.87% higher than FCESB. It found that performing FCESCB H2 is superior to the entire specimen.