• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.223-240
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• 2006

Taking into account the geometrical and material nonlinearities, an ultimate behavior of reinforced concrete cooling tower shell in hyperbolic configuration is presented. The design wind pressures suggested in the guidelines of the US (ACI) and Germany (VGB), with or without the effect of internal suction, are employed in the analysis to examine the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of each design wind pressure. The geometrical nonlinearity is incorporated by the Green-Lagrange strain tensor. The nonlinear features of concrete, such as the nonlinear stress-strain relation in compression, the tensile cracking with the smeared crack model, an effect of tension stiffening, are taken into account. The biaxial stress state in concrete is represented by an improved work-hardening plasticity model. From the perspective of quality of wind pressures, the two guidelines are determined as highly correlated each other. Through the extensive analysis on the Niederaussem cooling tower in Germany, not only the ultimate load is determined but also the mechanism of failure, distribution of cracks, damage processes, stress redistributions, and mean crack width are examined.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.69 no.3
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• pp.327-334
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• 2019

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the hygrothermal effects on the behavior of reinforced-concrete beams strengthened by bonded composite laminate plates (${\theta}n/90m)s$. This work is based on a simple theoretical model to estimate the interfacial stresses developed between the concrete beam and the composite with taking into account the hygrothermal effect. Fibre orientation angle effects of number of $90^{\circ}$ layers and effects of plate thickness and length on the distributions of interfacial stress in the concrete beams reinforced with composite plates have also been studied.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.584-592
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• 2001

The cracks are developed in reinforced concrete(RC) beams at the early stage of service load because of the relatively small tensile strength of concrete. The structural strength and stiffness are decreased by reduction of tensile resistance capacity of concrete due to the developed cracks. Using the fiber reinforced concrete that is increased the flexural strength and tensile strength at tensile part can enhance the strength and stiffness of concrete structures and decrease the tensile flexural cracks and deflections. Therefore, the RC beams used of the fiber reinforced concrete at. tensile part ensure the safety and serviceability of the concrete structures. In this work, analytical model of a dual concrete beams composed of the normal strength concrete at compression part and the high tension strength concrete at tensile part is developed by using the equilibrium conditions of forces and compatibility conditions of strains. Three groups of test beams that are formed of one reinforced concrete beam and two dual concrete beams for each steel reinforcement ratio are tested to examine the flexural behavior of dual concrete beams. The comparative study of total nine test beams is shown that the ultimate load of a dual concrete beams relative to the RC beams is increased in approximately 30%. In addition, the flexural rigidity, as used here, referred to the slope of load-deflection curves is increased and the deflection is decreased.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.117-126
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• 2018

This research investigate the behavior of reinforced normal and lightweight aggregate concrete hollow core slabs with different core shapes, shear span to effective depth (a/d). The experimental work includes testing seven reinforced concrete slabs under two vertical line loads. The dimensions of slab specimens were (1.1 m) length, (0.6 m) width and (0.12 m) thickness. The maximum reduction in weight due to aggregate type was (19.28%) and due to cross section (square and circular) cores was (17.37 and 13.64%) respectively. The test results showed that the decrease of shear span to effective depth ratio from 2.9 to 1.9 for lightweight aggregate solid slab cause an increase in ultimate load by (29.06%) and increase in the deflection value at ultimate load or the ultimate deflection by (17.79%). The use of lightweight aggregate concrete in casting solid slabs give a reduction in weight by (19.28%) and in the first cracking and ultimate loads by (16.37%) and (5%) respectively for constant (a/d=2.9).The use of lightweight aggregate concrete in casting hollow circular core slabs with constant (a/d=2.9) (reduction in weight 32.92%) decrease the cracking and ultimate loads by (12%) and (5.18%) respectively with respect to the solid slab. These slab specimens were analyzed numerically by using the finite element computer program ANSYS. Good agreements in terms of behavior, cracking load (load at first visible crack) and ultimate load (maximum value of testing load) was obtained between finite element analysis and experimental test results.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.509-524
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• 2008

Containment structures not only are leak-tight barriers, but also may be subjected to impacts caused by tornado-generated projectiles, aircraft crashes or the fragments of missile warhead. This paper presents the results of an experimental study of the impact resistance of steel fiber-reinforced concrete against 45 g projectiles at velocity around 2500 m/s. An explosively formed projectile (EFP) was designed to generate an equivalent missile fragment. The formation and velocity of EFP are measured by flash x-ray. A switch made of double-layered thin copper sheets controlled the exposure time of each flash x-ray. The influence of the fiber volume fraction on the crater diameter of concrete slab and the residual velocity of the projectile were studied. The residual velocity of the projectile decreased as the fiber volume fractions increased. In this work, the residual velocity of the projectile was to 44% that of plain concrete when the fiber volume fraction exceeded 1.5%. Based on the present finding, steel fiber reinforced concrete with the fiber volume fraction exceeding 1.5% appear to be more efficient in protection against high velocity fragment impact.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.399-406
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• 2018

The present study focuses on the performance of basalt fiber reinforced concrete (BFRC) lining in tunnel situated in sandstone rock when subjected to internal blast loading. The blast analysis of the lined tunnel is carried out using the three-dimensional (3-D) nonlinear finite element (FE) method. The stress-strain response of the sandstone rock is simulated using a crushable plasticity model which can simulate the brittle behavior of rock and that of BFRC lining is analyzed using a damaged plasticity model for concrete capturing damage response. The strain rate dependent material properties of BFRC are collected from the literature and that of rock are taken from the authors' previous work using split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB). The constitutive model performance is validated through the FE simulation of SHPB test and the comparison of simulation results with the experimental data. Further, blast loading in the tunnel is simulated for 10 kg and 50 kg Trinitrotoluene (TNT) charge weights using the equivalent pressure-time curves obtained through hydrocode simulations. The analysis results are studied for the stress and displacement response of rock and tunnel lining. Blast performance of BFRC lining is compared with that of plain concrete (PC) and steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) lining materials. It is observed that the BFRC lining exhibits almost 65% lesser displacement as compared to PC and 30% lesser displacement as compared to SFRC tunnel linings.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.6
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• pp.757-770
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• 2022

For the design of flexural and shear crack control for reinforced concrete (RC) beams related to serviceability and reparability ensuring, eight simply-supported normal-strength reinforced concrete (NSRC) beam specimens are tested and the existing high-strength reinforced concrete (HSRC) experimental data are included in the investigation of this work. According to the investigation results of flexural and shear cracks, this works modifies the existing design formulas to determine the spacing of the tensile reinforcement for the flexural crack control of a HSRC/NSRC beam design. Additionally, for a specified shear crack width of 0.4 mm, the allowable stresses of the shear reinforcement are also identified. For the serviceability and reparability ensuring of HSRC/NSRC beams, this works proposes the relationship curves between the maximum flexural width and allowable stress of the tensile reinforcement, and the relationship curves between the shear crack width and allowable shear force that can be used to do the crack width control directly.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2020

This paper looks into how the shape of headed bars may influence the durability of reinforced concrete structures. Nowadays the only heads used in site works are cylindrical in shape. An alternative shape of head is studied in this piece of work. The new head reduces the concentration of stresses and so the appearance of cracks. In this work durability is studied based on both, first cracking and failure mode. An experimental campaign of 12 specimens and finite element modelling are described. The specimens were subjected to an accelerated corrosion process using an electrical current supply. Direct current was impressed on the specimens until breaking. Test results and the results obtained from numerical models are presented. Results are presented in term of comparison between the two shapes of heads studied. It was shown that the shape of the head has a significant influence on durability of reinforced concrete structures with headed reinforcing bars.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.271-285
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• 2014

This paper aims to examine the behavior of slender reinforced concrete columns confined with external glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP) sheets under eccentric loads. The experimental work conducted in this paper is an extension to previous work by the author concerning the behavior of eccentrically loaded short columns strengthened with GFRP wrapping. In this study, nine reinforced concrete columns divided into three groups were casted and tested. Three eccentricity ratios corresponding to e/t = 0, 0.10, and 0.50 in one direction of the column were tested in each group. The first group was the control one without confinement with slenderness ratio equal 20. The second group was the same as the first group but fully wrapped with one layer of GFRP laminates. The third group was also fully wrapped with one layer of GFRP laminates but having slenderness ratio equal 15. The experimental results of another two groups from the previous work were used in this study to investigate the difference between short and slender columns. The first was control one with slenderness ratio equal 10 and the second was fully wrapped and having the same slenderness ratio. All specimens were loaded until failure. The ultimate load, axial deformation, strain in steel bars, and failure mechanisms of each specimen were generated and analyzed. The results show that GFRP laminates confining system is less effective with slender columns compared with short one, but this solution is still applied and it can be efficiently utilized especially for slender columns with low eccentric ratio.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.479-484
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• 2020

This work performed to analyses the impact of hooked end steel fibres on the mechanical properties of high performance concrete. The mechanical properties considered incorporate compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength. Taking in to thought parameters, such as, volume fraction of fibres, fibre aspect ratio and grade of concrete, a logical strategy called Taguchi technique was utilized to discover the ideal blend of factors. L9 Orthogonal Array (OA) of Taguchi network comprising of three variables and three dimensions is utilized in this work. The evaluations of concrete considered were M60, M80 and M100. M60 contained 15% of metakaolin as bond swap though for M80 it was 5% of metakaolin and for M100 it was 10% metakaolin and 10% of silica smolder. The volume portion of fiber was fluctuated by 0.5%; 1% and 1.5% and the viewpoints proportions considered were 50, 60 and 80. The test outcomes demonstrate that incorporation of steel fibres enhance significantly the the strength characteristics of concrete, predominantly the splitting tensile strength and flexural strength. In light of relapse investigation of the test information scientific models were produced for compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength of the steel fibre-reinforced high performance concrete.