• Computers and Concrete
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.165-173
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• 2022

The effect of basalt and polypropylene fibers on the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) beams is investigated in this paper. The compressive and tensile behaviors of the basalt concrete and polypropylene concrete cylinders are also investigated. Eight beams and 28 cylinders were made with different percentages of basalt and polypropylene fibers. The dosages of fiber were selected as 0.6%, 1.3%, and 2.5% of the total cement weight. Each type of fiber was mixed solely with the concrete mix. Basalt and polypropylene fibers are modern and cheap materials that can be used to improve the structural behavior of RC members. This research is designed to find the optimum percentage of basalt and polypropylene fibers for enhancing the flexural behavior of RC beams. Test results showed that the addition of basalt and polypropylene fibers in any dosage (0.6%, 1.3%, and 2.5%) can increase the flexural strength and displacement ductility index of the beams where the maximum enhancement was measured with 1.3% fibers. The maximum increments in the flexural strength and the displacement ductility index were 30.39% and 260% for the basalt fiber case, while the maximum improvement for the polypropylene fibers case was 55.5% and 230% compared to the control specimen. Finite element (FE) models were then developed in ABAQUS to predict the numerical behaviour of the tested beams. The FE models were able to predict the experimental behaviour with reasonable accuracy. This research confirms the efficiency of basalt and polypropylene fibers in enhancing the flexural behavior of RC beams, and it also suggests the optimum dosage of fibers.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.84 no.1
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• pp.49-61
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• 2022

This paper presents an experimental investigation into the effectiveness of using carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) and steel plates to repair damaged reinforced concrete (RC) beams with circular web openings at shear zones. It highlights the effectiveness of externally bonded CFRP and steel plates in repairing damaged RC beams by analysing the repaired beams'load capacity, deflection, strain, and failure mode. For the experiment, a total of five beams were used, with one solid beam as a control beam and the other four beams having an opening near the shear zone. Two beams with openings were repaired using inclined and vertical configuration CFRP plates, and the other two were repaired using inclined and vertical configuration steel plates. The results confirm the effectiveness of CFRP and steel plates for repairing damaged RC beams with circular openings. The CFRP and steel plates significantly increase ultimate capacity and reduce deflection under the openings. The inclined configuration of both CFRP and steel plates was more effective than the vertical configuration. Using an inclined configuration not only increases the ultimate capacity of the beams but also changes the mode of failure from shear to flexural.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1999.04a
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• pp.507-512
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• 1999

In recent years, glassfibers have been used for strengthening in RC structure because of low material cost and easy repairing work. The purpose of this study is to experimentally and analytically investigate the effect of glassfibers for enhancing the capacity of RC flexural beams and shear beams. The experimental result shows that yield and ultimate strength of RC flexural beam with glassfibers are increased by approxiamate 13% and 26%, comparing with those for without glassfibers, and also ultimate strength of RC shear beam with glassfibers are increased by 34%, comparing with those for without glassfibers.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.481-489
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• 2014

The function of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) reinforcement in increasing the ductility of reinforced concrete (RC) deep beam is important in such shear-sensitive RC member. This paper aims to investigate the effect of CFRP-strengthening on the energy absorption of RC deep beams. Six ordinary RC deep beams and six CFRP-strengthened RC deep beams with shear span to the effective depth ratio of 0.75, 1.00, 1.25, 1.50, 1.75, and 2.00 were tested till failure in this research. An empirical relationship was established to obtain the energy absorption of CFRP-strengthened RC deep beams. The shear span to the effective depth ratio and growth of energy absorption of CFRP-strengthened deep beam were the significant factors to establish this relationship.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.84 no.2
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• pp.253-268
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• 2022

Using non-destructive Acoustic Emission (AE) and optical Digital Image Correlation (DIC) methods, the moment-curvature behavior of steel and GFRP bars reinforced concrete beams under flexure was explored in this study. In the tension zone, laboratory studies were carried out on steel-RC and GFRP-RC beams with varying percentages of longitudinal reinforcement ratios of 0.33 %, 0.52%, and 1.11%. The distinct mechanism of cracking initiation and fracture progression of failure in steel-RC and GFRP-RC beams were effectively correlated and picked up using AE waveform characteristics of the number of AE hits and their amplitudes, AE energy as well as average frequency and duration. AE XY event plots and longitudinal strain profiles using DIC gives an online and real-time visual display of progressive AE activity and strains respectively to efficaciously depict the crack evolution and their advancement in steel-RC and GFRP-RC beams. They display a close matching with the micro and macro-cracks visually observed in the actual beams at various stages of loading.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.129-143
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• 2017

Seismic design of reinforced concrete (RC) structures requires a certain minimum level of flexural ductility. For example, Eurocode EN1998-1 directly specifies a minimum flexural ductility for RC beams, while Chinese code GB50011 limits the equivalent rectangular stress block depth ratio at peak resisting moment to achieve a certain nominal minimum flexural ductility indirectly. Although confinement is effective in improving the ductility of RC beams, most design codes do not provide any guidelines due to the lack of a suitable theory. In this study, the confinement for desirable flexural ductility performance of both normal- and high-strength concrete beams is evaluated based on a rigorous full-range moment-curvature analysis. An effective strategy is proposed for flexural ductility design of RC beams taking into account confinement. The key parameters considered include the maximum difference of tension and compression reinforcement ratios, and maximum neutral axis depth ratio at peak resisting moment. Empirical formulae and tables are then developed to provide guidelines accordingly.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.255-258
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• 2005

The current ACI design code does not take into account the contribution of concrete for the torsional moment of reinforced concrete(RC) beams subjected to pure torsion. This code is not capable of evaluating the inter-effects between concrete and torsional reinforcement on the torsional resistance of the RC beams. In this study, 9 RC beams subjected to pure torsion were tested. The main parameter of the beams was the amount of torsional reinforcement and the angle of twist. Test results indicated that the current ACI code over-estimated the torsional strength of RC beams that had larger amount of torsional reinforcement.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.283-286
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• 2005

The effectiveness of shear strengthening with glass fiber sheets on normal or low strength RC beams have been investigated experimentally. A design compressive strength of concrete of 13.5MPa has been planned considering the degradation state of the existing structure to be strengthened in this study. Also, concrete surface reinforcing agent was applied to increase bond capacity between concrete and GFRP sheets in case of low strength RC beams. Comparing the test results of low and normal strength beams strengthened with GFRP sheets indicated that total shear capacity of beams was decreased with concrete strength decreased, but the shear strengthening capacity of GFRP sheets are hardly affected by concrete strength. In addition, shear strengthening effects of RC beams strengthened with GFRP sheets can be estimated by $\rho_w{\cdot}f_w$ based on the maximum effective strain of FRP sheet proposed by ACI 440.2R recommendation.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.69-80
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• 1999

The strengthening of reinforced concrete structures by externally bonded GFRP has become increasingly common in resent years. However the analysis and design method for GFRP plate strengthening of RC beams is not well established yet. The purpose of present paper is, therefore, to define the failure mechanism and failure behavior of strengthened RC beam using GFRP and then to propose a resonable method for the calculation of interface debonding load for those beams. From the experimental results of beams strengthened by GFRP, the influence of length and thickness, width of plate on the interfacial debonding failure behavior of beam is studied and, on the basis of test results, the semi-empirical equation to predict debonding load is developed. The proposed theory based on nonlinear analysis and critical flexural crack width, predicts relatively well the debonding failure load of test beams and may be efficiently used in the analysis and design of strengthened RC beams using GFRP.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.457-482
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• 2014

This paper summarizes available literature on the optimization of reinforced concrete (RC) beams. The objective of optimization (e.g. minimum cost or weight), the design variables and the constraints considered by different studies vary widely and therefore, different optimization methods have been employed to provide the optimal design of RC beams, whether as isolated structural components or as part of a structural frame. The review of literature suggests that nonlinear deterministic approaches can be efficiently employed to provide optimal design of RC beams, given the small number of variables. This paper also presents spreadsheet implementation of cost optimization of RC beams in the familiar MS Excel environment to illustrate the efficiency of the exhaustive enumeration method for such small discrete search spaces and to promote its use by engineers and researchers. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis is performed on the contribution of various design parameters to the variability of the overall cost of RC beams.