• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.77 no.6
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• pp.705-720
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• 2021

Reinforced concrete (RC) columns are the primary type of vertical support used in building structures that sustain vertical loads. However, their strength may be insufficient due to fire, earthquake or volatile environments. The load demand may be increased due to new functional usages of the structure. The deformability of concrete columns can be greatly reduced under high axial load conditions. In response, a novel steel encasement that distinguishes from the traditional steel jacketing that is assembled by welding or bolt is developed. This novel strengthening method features easy installation and quick strengthening because direct fastening is used to connect the four steel plates surrounding the column. This new connection method is usually used to quickly and stably connect two steel components by driving high strength fastener into the steel components. The connections together with the steel plates behave like transverse reinforcement, which can provide passive confinement to the concrete. The confined column along with the steel plates resist the axial load. By this way, the axial load capacity and deformability of the column can be enhanced. Eight columns are tested to examine the reliability and effectiveness of the proposed method. The effects of the vertical spacing between adjacent connections, thickness of the steel plate and number of fasteners in each connection are studied to identify the critical parameters which affect the load bearing performance and deformation behavior. Lastly, a theoretical model is proposed for predicting the axial load capacity of the strengthened RC columns.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.77 no.5
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• pp.673-689
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• 2021

This paper addresses the efficiency of thermal insulation layers applied to protect structural elements strengthened by fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) in the case of fire event. The paper presents numerical modeling and nonlinear analysis of reinforced concrete (RC) columns externally strengthened by FRP and protected by thermal insulation layers when subjected to elevated temperature specified by standard fire tests, in order to predict their residual capacity and fire endurance. The adopted numerical approach uses commercial software includes heat transfer, variation of thermal and mechanical properties of concrete, steel reinforcement, FRP and insulation material with elevated temperature. The numerical results show good agreement with published results of full-scale fire tests. A parametric study was conducted to investigate the influence of several variables on the structural response and residual capacity of insulated FRP-confined columns loaded by service loads when exposed to fire. The residual capacity of FRP-confined RC column was affected by concrete grade and insulation material and was shown to improve substantially by increasing the concrete cover and insulation layer thickness. By increasing the VG insulation layer thickness 15, 32, 44, 57 mm, the loss in column capacity after 5 hours of fire was 30%, 13%, 7% and 5%, respectively. The obtained results demonstrate the validity of the presented approach for estimation of fire endurance and residual strength, as an alternative for fire testing, and for design of fire protection layers for FRP-confined RC columns.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.285-299
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• 2024

Recently, many engineering computations have realized their digital transformation to Machine Learning (ML)-based systems. Predicting the behavior of a structure, which is mainly computed with structural analysis software, is an essential step before construction for efficient structural analysis. Especially in the seismic-based design procedure of the structures, predicting the lateral load capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) columns is a vital factor. In this study, a novel ML-based model is proposed to predict the maximum lateral load capacity of RC columns under varying axial loads or cyclic loadings. The proposed model is generated with a Deep Neural Network (DNN) and compared with traditional ML techniques as well as a popular commercial structural analysis software. In the design and test phases of the proposed model, 319 columns with rectangular and square cross-sections are incorporated. In this study, 33 parameters are used to predict the maximum lateral load capacity of each RC column. While some traditional ML techniques perform better prediction than the compared commercial software, the proposed DNN model provides the best prediction results within the analysis. The experimental results reveal the fact that the performance of the proposed DNN model can definitely be used for other engineering purposes as well.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.191-199
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• 2021

In seismic design, hollow section concrete columns offer advantages by reducing the weight and seismic mass compared to concrete section RC bridge columns. However, the flexure-shear behavior and spirals strain of hollow section concrete columns are not well-understood. Octagonal RC bridge columns of a small-scale model were tested under cyclic lateral load with constant axial load. The volumetric ratio of the transverse spiral hoop of all specimens is 0.00206. The test results showed that the structural performance of the hollow specimen, such as the initial crack pattern, initial stiffness, and diagonal crack pattern, was comparable to that of the solid specimen. However, the lateral strength and ultimate displacement of the hollow specimen noticeably decreased after the drift ratio of 3%. The columns showed flexure-shear failure at the final stage. Analytical and experimental investigations are presented in this study to understand a correlation confinement steel ratio with neutral axis and a correlation between the strain of spirals and the shear resistance capacity of steel in hollow and solid section concrete columns. Furthermore, shear strength components (V_c, V_s·, V_p) and concrete stress were investigated.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.501-520
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• 2015

Presence of torsional loadings can significantly affect the flow of internal forces and deformation capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) columns. It increases the possibility of brittle shear failure leading to catastrophic collapse of structural members. This necessitates accurate prediction of the torsional behaviour of RC members for their safe design. However, a review of previously published studies indicates that the torsional behaviour of RC members has not been studied in as much depth as the behaviour under flexure and shear in spite of its frequent occurrence in bridge columns. Very few analytical models are available to predict the response of RC members under torsional loads. Softened truss model (STM) developed in the University of Houston is one of them, which is widely used for this purpose. The present study shows that STM prediction is not sufficiently accurate particularly in the post cracking region when compared to test results. An improved analytical model for RC square columns subjected to torsion with and without axial compression is developed. Since concrete is weak in tension, its contribution to torsional capacity of RC members was neglected in the original STM. The present investigation revealed that, disregard to tensile strength of concrete is the main reason behind the discrepancies in the STM predictions. The existing STM is extended in this paper to include the effect of tension stiffening for better prediction of behaviour of square RC columns under torsion. Three different tension stiffening models comprising a linear, a quadratic and an exponential relationship have been considered in this study. The predictions of these models are validated through comparison with test data on local and global behaviour. It was observed that tension stiffening has significant influence on torsional behaviour of square RC members. The exponential and parabolic tension stiffening models were found to yield the most accurate predictions.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.439-442
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• 2005

Steel encased composite columns are widely used due to their excellent structural performance in terms of stiffness, strength, and ductility. However, these columns were usually utilized for building structures and had higher steel ratio for small sections. For bridge pier applications, it is necessary to design the SRC columns having low steel ratio, which is nearly the same steel ratio as the normal RC columns. In this study, the evaluation of the composite columns with a core steel in term of the stiffness and the strength was investigated using experimental results. The effects of the steel ratio was also estimated using design provisions. The calculation of steel encased composite columns with multiple steel sections were performed and compared with RC columns.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.297-306
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• 2019

The extension of existing RC buildings is a challenging process, which requires efficient connection between existing and new materials to guarantee load transferring between the lap-spliced longitudinal columns' reinforcement. Therefore, the length of the columns' starter bars is a crucial factor, which decisively affects the seismic response of the new columns. In particular, when the length of the starter bars is short, then the length of the lap splices of reinforcement is inadequate to ensure load transfer between steel bars and concrete, with an indisputable detrimental impact on the seismic behaviour of the columns. Moreover, in most of the existing RC buildings the column starter bars are of particularly short length, while they have probably been bent, cut or corroded. In the present study, the effectiveness of both welded rebar and mechanical splices of reinforcement in ensuring load transferring between the starter bars and the longitudinal reinforcement of the new column was experimentally evaluated. Four cantilever column subassemblages were constructed and subjected to earthquake-type loading. Three of the specimens were used to examine different types of shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), while in the fourth subassemblage mechanical splices were tested. The hysteretic response of the columns was evaluated and compared to the behaviour of a fifth specimen with continuous reinforcement, tested by Kalogeropoulos and Tsonos (2019). Test results clearly demonstrated that the examined types of SMAW were equally satisfactory in ensuring the ductile seismic performance of the columns, while the mechanical splices found to be more susceptible to exhibit slipping of the bars.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.19-27
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• 2020

Reinforced concrete (RC) buildings built in the 1980s are vulnerable to seismic behavior because they were designed without any consideration of seismic loads. These buildings have widely spaced transverse reinforcements and a short lap splice length of longitudinal reinforcements, which makes them vulnerable to severe damage or even collapse during earthquakes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of bidirectional lateral loads on RC columns with deficient reinforcement details. An experimental test was conducted for two full-scale RC column specimens. The test results of deficient RC columns revealed that bidirectional loading deteriorates the seismic capacity when compared with a column tested unidirectionally. Modeling parameters were extracted from the tested load-displacement response and compared with those proposed in performance-based design standards. The modeling parameters proposed in the standards underestimated the deformation capacity of tested specimens by nearly 50% and overestimated the strength capacity by 15 to 20%.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.159-168
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• 2009

In this study, strength, stiffness and confinement effect with stress-strain and stress-volumetric strain curves for improved uniaxial compressive behavior of RC circular columns laterally confined with prestressing aramid fiber strap were experimentally investigated. The test variables were the specimens with or without axial reinforcing bar and the number and spacing of strap, prestressing level, the types of reinforcing fiber (CFS, GFS). As a result, the failure type of the columns was very stable and strength increase rate was about 73% comparison with the general RC columns. Moreover, the strain increase rate is very small and the axial displacement confinement effect was very effective compared with existry methods (CFS, GFS), the initial and final lateral confinement effect was excellent.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.209-214
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• 2001

Most reinforce concrete Columns of Building structure are subjected to both axial load and biaxial bending. However, It is hard to estimate the moment capacity of biaxial bending by exact solution. Thus, columns under biaxial bending are designed by approximate methods in practice. The purpose of this study is to compare experimental result with approximate methods and exact solution by computer. Parameters of the present test are compressive strength of concrete (350, 585, 650kgf/$\textrm{cm}^2$) and shape ratio of rectangular section. Ultimately, an experimental shape factor for rectangular RC column section is obtained through the test program. The shape of load contour is dominated by this shape factor obtained experimentally. So, reasonable design of RC columns subjected to both axial compression and biaxial bending depends on load contour.