• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제76권4호
• /
• pp.491-503
• /
• 2020

This study extends previous experimental research on the shear behaviour of macrosynthetic fibre-reinforced concrete beams and compares them to steel fibre-reinforced concrete beams with similar mechanical and geometrical properties. This work employed two fibre types: 60/0.9 (long/diameter) double hooked-end steel fibre and 60/85 monofilament polypropylene fibre. Beams were tested by shear loading covering parameters, such as two different cross-section widths, two shear-span-to-effective-depth ratios, two fibre types and using repetitions with and without transverse reinforcement. For quantitative comparison purposes, crack pattern evolution was studied along increasing loads levels. Effects were studied by photogrammetry, including influence of fibres on crack propagation in uncracked and dowel zones, influence of fibres on stirrup behaviour, and shear deformation or kinematics of critical shear cracks. The results evidenced similar effectiveness for both fibre types in controlling shear crack propagation and horizontal dowel cracking. Both fibres provided similar shear ductility and shear deflections. Consequently, the authors confirm that residual flexural tensile strengths are a convenient parameter for characterising the shear behaviour of fibre-reinforced concrete beams.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제69권5호
• /
• pp.579-589
• /
• 2019

Numerous experimental studies have been conducted on reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened in shear with externally bonded fiber reinforced polymer (EBFRP). The objectives of this work are to study the behavioral trends of shear strengthened EBFRP RC beams after updating the existing database. The previously published databases have been updated, enriched and cross checked for completeness, redundancy and consistency. The updated database now contains data on 698 EBFRP beams and covers the time span from 1992 to 2018. The collected database then refined applying certain filters and used to investigate and capture better interactions among various influencing parameters affecting the shear strength of EBFRP beams. These parameters include the type and properties of FRP, fiber orientation as well as the strengthening scheme, the shear and the longitudinal steel reinforcement ratios, the shear span ratio, and the geometry of the member. The refined database is used to test the prediction accuracy of the existing design models. Considerable scatters are found in the results of all tested prediction models and in many occasions the predictions are unsafe. To better understand the shear behavior of the EBFRP RC beams and then enhance the prediction models, it was concluded that focused experimental programs should be carried out.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• 제46권1호
• /
• pp.115-132
• /
• 2023

The present study experimentally and analytically investigates the effect of tensile reinforcement ratio and arrangement on the behavior of FRP strengthened reinforced concrete (RC) beams. The experimental part of the program was comprised of 8 RC beams that were tested under four-point bending. Results have shown that by keeping the total cross-section area of tensile reinforcing bars constant, in specimens with a low reinforcement ratio, increasing the number and decreasing the diameter of bars in the section lead to 21% and 29% increase in the load-carrying capacity of specimens made with normal and high compressive strength, respectively. In specimens with high reinforcement ratio, a different behavior was observed. Furthermore, the accuracy of the existing code provisions and analytical models in predicting the load-carrying capacity of the FRP strengthened beams failed by premature debonding mode were evaluated. Herein, a model is proposed which considers the tensile reinforcement ratio (as opposed to code provisions) to achieve more accurate results for calculating the load carrying capacity of FRP strengthened RC beams.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제49권3호
• /
• pp.285-296
• /
• 2014

Material damping affects the dynamic behaviors of engineering structures considerably, but up to till now little research is maintained on influence factors of material damping. Based on the damping-stress function of steel, the material damping of steel beams is obtained by calculating the stress distribution of the beams with an analytical method. Some key influence factors of the material damping, such as boundary condition, amplitude and frequency of excitation, load position as well as the cross-sectional dimension of a steel beam are analyzed respectively. The calculated results show that even in elastic scope, material damping does not remain constant but varies with these influence factors. Although boundary condition affects material damping to some extent, such influence can be neglected when the maximum stress amplitude of the beam is less than the fatigue limit of steel. Exciting frequency, load position and cross-section dimension have great effects on the material damping of the beam which maintain the similar changing trend under different boundary conditions respectively.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제5권3호
• /
• pp.257-268
• /
• 1997

The elastic deflections and Euler buckling loads are investigated for a class of tapered and initially curved cantilevered beams subjected to loading at the tip. The beam's width increases linearly and its depth decreases linearly with the distance from the fixed end to the tip. Unloaded, the beam forms a circular are perpendicular to the axis of bending. The beam's deflection responses, obtained by solving the differential equations in closed form, are presented in terms of four nondimensional system parameters: taper ratio ${\kappa}$, initial shape ratio ${\Delta}_0$, end load ratio f, and load angle ${\theta}$. Laboratory measurements of the Euler buckling loads for scale models of tapered initially straight, corrugated beams compared favorably with those computed from the present analysis. The results are applicable to future designs of the end structures of highway guardrails, which can be designed to give the appropriate balance between the capacity to deflect a nearly head-on vehicle back to its right-of-way and the capacity to buckle sufficiently that penetration of the vehicle may be averted.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• 제26권5호
• /
• pp.595-606
• /
• 2018

A calculation method was presented to calculate the deflection of GFRP-concrete-steel beams with full or partial shear connections. First, the sectional analysis method was improved by considering concrete nonlinearity and shear connection stiffness variation along the beam direction. Then the equivalent slip strain was used to take into consideration of variable cross-sections. Experiments and nonlinear finite element analysis were performed to validate the calculation method. The experimental results showed the deflection of composite beams could be accurately predicted by using the theoretical model or the finite element simulation. Furthermore, more finite element models were established to verify the accuracy of the theoretical model, which included different GFRP plates and different numbers of shear connectors. The theoretical results agreed well with the numerical results. In addition, parametric studies using theoretical method were also performed to find out the effect of parameters on the deflection. Based on the parametric studies, a simplified calculation formula of GFRP-concrete-steel composite beam was exhibited. In general, the calculation method could provide a more accurate theoretical result without complex finite element simulation, and serve for the further study of continuous GFRP-concrete-steel composite beams.

• 한국자동차공학회논문집
• /
• 제13권5호
• /
• pp.171-180
• /
• 2005

Bending performances of aluminum square tube beams reinforced by aluminum plates under three point bending loads have been evaluated using experimental tests combined with theoretical and finite element analyses. A finite element simulation for the three-point bending test was performed. Basic properties of aluminum materials used for initial input data of the finite element simulation were obtained from the true stress-true strain curves of specimens which had been extracted from the Al tube beams. True stresses were determined from applied loads and cross-sectional area records of a tensile specimen with a rectangular cross-section by real-time photographing, and true strains were obtained from in-situ local elongation measurements of the specimen gage portion by the multi-point scanning laser extensometer. Six kinds of aluminum tube beam specimens adhered by aluminum plates were employed fur the bending test. The bending deformation behaviors up to the maximum load described by the numerical simulation were in good agreement with experimental ones. After passing the maximum load, reinforcing plate was debonded from the aluminum tube beam. An aluminum tube beam strengthened by aluminum plate on the upper web showed an excellent bending capability.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제66권1호
• /
• pp.125-138
• /
• 2018

This paper proposes a transfer matrix method for the bending vibration of two types of tapered beams subjected to axial force, and it is applied to analyze tapered beams with an edge or multiple edge open cracks. One beam type is assumed to be reduced linearly in the cross-section height along the beam length. The other type is a tapered beam in which the cross-section height and width with the same taper ratio is linearly reduced simultaneously. Each crack is modeled as two sub-elements connected by a rotational spring, and the method can evaluate the effect of cracking on the desired number of eigenfrequencies using a minimum number of subdivisions. Among the power series available for the solutions, the roots of the differential equation are computed using the Frobenius method. The computed results confirm the accuracy of the method and are compared with previously reported results. The effectiveness of the proposed methods is demonstrated by examining specific examples, and the effects of cracking and axial loading are carefully examined by a comparison of the single and double tapered beam results.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제42권2호
• /
• pp.131-152
• /
• 2012

In-plane free vibrations of circular beams with stepped cross-sections are investigated by using the exact analytical solution. The axial extension, transverse shear deformation and rotatory inertia effects are taken into account. The stepped arch is divided into a number of arches with constant cross-sections. The exact solution of the governing equations is obtained by the initial value method. Several examples of arches with different step ratios, different locations of the steps, boundary conditions, opening angles and slenderness ratios for the first few modes are presented to illustrate the validity and accuracy of the method. The effects of the geometric parameters on the natural frequencies are investigated in details. Several examples in the literature are solved and the results are given in tables. The agreement of the results is good for all examples considered. The mode transition phenomenon is also observed for the stepped arches. Some examples are solved also numerically by using the commercial finite element program ANSYS.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제62권1호
• /
• pp.33-42
• /
• 2017

We present in this paper a finite element formulation for nonlinear torsional analysis of 3D beams with arbitrary composite cross-sections. Since the proposed formulation employs a continuum mechanics based beam element with kinematics enriched by the extended St. Venant solutions, it can precisely account higher order warping effect and its 3D couplings. We propose a numerical procedure to calculate the extended St. Venant equation and the twisting center of an arbitrary composite cross-section simultaneously. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed formulation are thoroughly investigated through representative numerical examples.