• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.73 no.4
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• pp.381-395
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• 2020

Study on the inelastic response of bare and masonry infilled Reinforced Concrete (RC) frames repaired using Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) and Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymers (GFRP) subjected to quasi- static loading is presented in the work. The hysteresis behaviour, stiffness retention, energy dissipation and damage index are the parameters employed to analyze the efficacy of FRP strengthening of bare and brick in-filled RC frames. It is observed that there is a significant improvement in load carrying capacity of brick infilled frame over bare RC frame. Also FRP strengthened brick infilled frame performs much better than FRP repaired bare frame under quasi static loading. Repair and retrofitting of brick infilled RC frame shows an improved load carrying and damage tolerance capacity than control frame.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.187-194
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• 2017

To reuse a broken plain concrete (PC) arch, a retrofitting method was proposed to ensure excellent structural performances, in which carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) were applied to repair and strengthen the damaged PC arch through bonding and wrapping techniques. Experiments were carried out to reveal the deformation and the load carrying capacity of the retrofitted composite arch. Based on the experiments, repairing and strengthening effects of the CFRP retrofitted broken arch were revealed. Simplified analysing model was suggested to predict the peak load of the CFRP retrofitted broken arch. According to the research, it is confirmed that absolutely broken PC arch can be completely repaired and reinforced, and even behaves more excellent than the intact PC arch when bonded together and strengthened with CFRP sheets. Using CFRP bonding/wrapping technique a novel efficient composite PC arch structure can be constructed, the comparison between rebar reinforced concrete (RC) arch and composite PC arch reveals that CFRP reinforcements can replace the function of steel bars in concrete arch.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.735-742
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• 2012

This paper presents the experimental results of axially loaded stub columns of slender steel hollow square section(SHS) strengthened with carbon fiber reinforced polymers(CFRP) sheets. 6 specimens were fabricated and the main parameters were: width-thickness ratio(b/t) and CFRP retrofitting. From the tests, it was observed that two sides would typically buckle outward and the other two sides would buckle inward. A maximum increase of 33% was achieved in axial-load capacity. Also, stiffness and ductility index(DI) were compared between unretrofitted specimens and retrofitted specimens. In the last section, a prediction formula of the ultimate strength developed using the experimental results is presented.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.5
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• pp.637-643
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• 2017

Carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) have been recently investigated as an alternative material for Geosynthetics to improve soil properties. One of the factors influencing the fiber orientation and mechanical properties of CFRP is the effect of soil overburden pressure. This study investigates the tensile behavior of cast-in-place CFRP. During the curing time of specimens, a wide range of normal stress is applied on specimens sandwiched between the soils. Two different soil types are used to determine the effect of soil grain size on the mechanical properties of CFRP. Specimens are also prepared with different specifications such as curing time and mixing soil in to the epoxy. In this study, tensile tests are conducted to investigate the effect of such parameters on tensile behavior of CFRP. The experimental results indicate that by increasing the normal stress and soil grain size, the ultimate tensile strength and the corresponding strain of CFRP decrease; however, reduction in elastic modulus is not noticeable. It should be noted that, increasing the curing period of epoxy resin and mixing soil in to the epoxy have no significant effect on the tensile properties of CFRP.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.4
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• pp.439-444
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• 2018

This paper presents a numerical study on the behavior of continuous hollow steel beam strengthened using carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP). Most previous studies on the CFRP strengthening of steel beams have been carried out on the steel beams with simple boundary conditions. No independent study, to the researcher's knowledge, has studied on the CFRP strengthening of square hollow section (SHS) continuous steel beam. However, this study explored the effect of the use of adhesively bonded CFRP flexible sheets on the behavior of the continuous SHS steel beams. Finite Element Method (FEM) has been employed for modeling. Eleven specimens, ten of which were strengthened using CFRP sheets, were analyzed under different coverage length, the number of layers, and the location of CFRP composite. ANSYS software was used to analyze the SHS steel beams. The results showed that the coverage length, the number of layers, and the location of CFRP composite are effective in increasing the ultimate load capacity of the continuous SHS steel beams. Application of CFRP composite also caused the ductility increase some strengthened specimens.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.187-202
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• 2009

This paper focuses on the flexural behavior of RC beams externally strengthened with Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) fabric. A non-linear finite element (FE) analysis strategy is proposed to support the beam flexural behavior experimental analysis. A development system (QUEBRA2D/FEMOOP programs) has been used to accomplish the numerical simulation. Appropriate constitutive models for concrete, rebars, CFRP and bond-slip interfaces have been implemented and adjusted to represent the composite system behavior. Interface and truss finite elements have been implemented (discrete and embedded approaches) for the numerical representation of rebars, interfaces and composites.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.193-206
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• 2011

The use of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) to strengthen reinforced concrete beams under bending and shear has gained rapid growth in recent years. The performance of shear strengthened beams with externally bonded CFRP laminate or fabric strips is raising many concerns when the beam is loaded under cyclic loading. Such concerns warrant experimental, analytical and numerical investigation of such beams under cyclic loading. To date, limited investigations have been carried out to address this concern. This paper presents a numerical investigation by developing a nonlinear finite element (FE) model to study the response of a cantilever reinforced concrete T-beam strengthened in shear with side bonded CFRP fabric strips and subjected to cyclic loading. A detailed 3D nonlinear finite element model that takes into account the orthotropic nature of the polymer's fibers is developed. In order to simulate the bond between the CFRP sheets and concrete, a layer having the material properties of the adhesive epoxy resin is introduced in the model as an interface between the CFRP sheets and concrete surface. Appropriate numerical modeling strategies were used and the response envelope and the load-displacement hysteresis loops of the FE model were compared with the experimental response at all stages of the cyclic loading. It is observed that the responses of the FE beam model are in good agreement with those of the experimental test. A parametric study was conducted using the validated FE model to investigate the effect of spacing between CFRP sheets, number of CFRP layers, and fiber orientation on the overall performance of the T-beam. It is concluded that successful FE modeling provides a practical and economical tool to investigate the behavior of such strengthened beams when subjected to cyclic loading.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.307-313
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• 2022

This paper performs an experimental study on the flexural behavior of preloaded reinforced self-compacted concrete beams strengthened with carbon fiber reinforced polymers CFRP. A group of six preloaded strengthened beams was investigated along with one unstrengthened beam used as a reference beam RB. All beams have the same dimensions and reinforcement details: three beams are strengthened with CFRP laminates against flexural failure and three beams are strengthened with CFRP sheets. For simulating actual conditions, the beams are loaded before strengthening. Then, after strengthening, the beams are tested for flexural strength using 4-point loads where cracked and ultimate load and failure mode, along with load-deflection relation are recorded. To study the different configurations of strengthening, one layer, two layers, and U-wrap formation of laminates and sheets are considered. The results show that strengthing the RC beams using CFRP is an effective method to increase the beam's capacity by 47% up to 153% where deflection is reduced by 5%-80%. So, the beams strengthened with CFRP laminates have higher load capacity and lower ductility in comparison with the beams strengthened with CFRP sheets.

• Composites Research
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2023

Demand for energy consumption reduction is increasing according to the development expectations of future mobility. Lightweight structural materials are known as a method to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency. In particular, fiber reinforced polymer composite (FRP) is attracting attention as a material that can replace existing metal alloys due to its excellent mechanical properties and light weight. In this paper, industrial applications and research trends of carbon fiber reinforced composites (CFRP, carbon FRP) and self-reinforced composites (SRC) were reviewed based on the reinforcement, polymer matrix, and manufacturing process. In order to overcome the expensive process cost and long manufacturing time of the epoxy resin-based autoclave method, which is mainly used in the aircraft field, mass production of CFRP-applied electric vehicles has been reported using a high-pressure resin transfer molding process including fast-curing epoxy. In addition, thermoplastic resin-based CFRP and interface enhancement methods to solve the recycling issue of carbon fiber composites were reviewed in terms of materials and processes. To form a perfect matrix-reinforcement interface, which is known as the major factor inducing the excellent mechanical properties of FRP, studies on SRC impregnated with the same matrix in polymer fibers have been reported. The physical and mechanical properties of SRC based on various thermoplastic polymers were reviewed in terms of polymer orientation and composite structure. In addition, a copolymer matrix strategy for extending the processing window of highly drawn polypropylene fiber-based SRC was discussed. The application of CFRP and SRC as lightweight structural materials can provide potential options for improving the energy efficiency of future mobility.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.375-391
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• 2022

This paper examined the impact of the cross-sectional structure on the structural results under different loading conditions of reinforced concrete (RC) members' management limited in Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP). The mechanical properties of CFRC was investigated, then, totally 32 samples were examined. Test parameters included the cross-sectional shape as square, rectangular and circular with two various aspect rates and loading statues. The loading involved concentrated loading, eccentric loading with a ratio of 0.46 to 0.6 and pure bending. The results of the test revealed that the CFRP increased ductility and load during concentrated processing. A cross sectional shape from 23 to 44 percent was increased in load capacity and from 250 to 350 percent increase in axial deformation in rectangular and circular sections respectively, affecting greatly the accomplishment of load capacity and ductility of the concentrated members. Two Artificial Intelligence Models as Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) were used to estimating the tensile and flexural strength of specimen. On the basis of the performance from RMSE and RSQR, C-Shape CFRC was greater tensile and flexural strength than any other FRP composite design. Because of the mechanical anchorage into the matrix, C-shaped CFRCC was noted to have greater fiber-matrix interfacial adhesive strength. However, with the increase of the aspect ratio and fiber volume fraction, the compressive strength of CFRCC was reduced. This possibly was due to the fact that during the blending of each fiber, the volume of air input was increased. In addition, by adding silica fumed to composites, the tensile and flexural strength of CFRCC is greatly improved.