• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.35-48
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• 2020

This paper deals with a comparative study among three different rehabilitation techniques, namely, (i) carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP), (ii) glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) and (iii) ferrocement on the flexural strengthening of reinforced cement concrete (RCC) beams. As these different techniques have to be compared on a level playing field, tensile coupon tests have been carried out initially for GFRP, CFRP and ferrocement and the number of layers required in each of these composites in terms of the tensile strength. It was found that for the selected constituents of the composites, one layer of CFRP was equivalent to three layers of GFRP and five layers of wiremesh reinforcement in ferrocement. Rehabilitation of RCC beams using these equivalent laminates shows that all the three composites performed in a similar way and are comparable. The parameters selected in this study were (i) the strengthening material and (ii) the level of pre-distress induced to the beams prior to the rehabilitation. It was noticed that, as the levels of pre-distress decreases, the percentage attainment of flexural capacity and flexural stiffness of the rehabilitated beams increases for all the three selected composites used for rehabilitation. Load-deflection behavior, failure modes, energy absorption capacity, displacement ductility and curvature ductility were compared among these composites and at different distress levels for each composite. The results indicate that ferrocement showed a better performance in terms of ductility than other FRPs, and between the FRPs, GFRP exhibited a better ductility than the CFRP counterpart.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제11권4호
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• pp.307-324
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• 2011

With the increasing use of concrete-filled steel tubes (CFST) as structural members, there is a growing need to provide suitable measures for possible strengthening or repair of these kinds of structural elements. Fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) jacketing is a recent method and is particularly attractive in which it does not significantly increase the section size, and is relatively easy to install. Thus, it can be used to enhance strength and/or ductility of CFST members. Very little information is available on the performance of FRP-strengthened CFST members under fire conditions. This paper is an attempt to study the fire performance of CFST columns strengthened by FRP. The results of fire endurance tests on FRP-strengthened circular CFST columns are presented. Failure modes of the specimens after exposure to fire, temperatures in the cross section, axial deformation and fire resistance of the composite columns are analysed. It is demonstrated that the required fire endurance can be achieved if the strengthened composite columns are appropriately designed.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제9권2호
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• pp.173-181
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• 2020

Fracture properties of concrete depend on the mix proportions of the ingredients, specimen shape and size, type of testing method used for the evaluation of fracture properties. Aggregates play a key role for changes in the fracture behaviour of concrete as they constitute about 60-75 % of the total volume of the concrete. The present study deals with the effect of size and quantity of coarse aggregate on the fracture behaviour of steel fibre reinforced self compacting concrete (SFRSCC). Lower coarse aggregate and higher fine aggregate content in SCC results in the stronger interfacial transition zone and a weaker stiffness of concrete compared to vibrated concrete. As the fracture properties depend on the aggregates quantity and size particularly in SCC, three nominal sizes (20 mm, 16 mm and 12.5 mm) and three coarse to fine aggregate proportions (50-50, 45-55, 40-60) were chosen as parameters. Wedge Split Test (WST), a stable test method was adopted to arrive the requisite properties. Specimens without and with guide notch were investigated. The results are indicative of increase in fracture energy with increase in coarse aggregate size and quantity. The splitting force was maximum for specimens with 12.5 mm size which is associated with a brittle failure in the pre-ultimate stage followed by a ductile failure due to the presence of steel fibres in the post-peak stage.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제6권1호
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• pp.19-43
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• 2014

A risk assessment framework for evaluating building structures is implemented in this study. This framework allows considering sources of uncertainty both on structural capacity and seismic demand. In particular randomness on seismic load, incident angle, material properties, floor mass and structural damping are considered; in addition the choice of fibre modelling versus plastic hinge model is also considered as a source of uncertainty. The main objective of this work is to study the contribution of these sources of uncertainty on the fragilities of steel and steel-reinforced concrete composite 3D building structures. The fragility curves are expressed in the form of a two-parameter lognormal distribution where vertical statistics in conjunction with metaheuristic optimization are implemented for calculating the two parameters.

• 한국공작기계학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국공작기계학회 2005년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.429-434
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• 2005

In this paper sandwich structures like beams and plates are optimised by using parametric study. The structures are composed of fibre reinforced composites for facial material and resin concrete and PVC foam for core materials. The stacking sequences and thickness of the composites are controlled as major parameters to find out the optimal condition for machine tool components. For the plate structure for machine tool bed composites-skined sandwich structure which has several ribs are proposed to enhance both directional bending stiffnesses at the same time. From the results optimal configuration and materials for high precesion machine tools are proposed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.345-365
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• 2003

The adoption of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) rebars (whose behaviour is elastic-brittle) in reinforced concrete (RC) cross sections requires the assessment of the influence of time-dependent behaviour of concrete on the load-carrying capacity of these sections. This paper presents a method of computing the load-carrying capacity of sections that are at first submitted to a constant long-term service load and then overloaded up to ultimate load. The method solves first a non-linear visco-elastic problem, and then a non-linear instantaneous analysis up to ultimate load that takes into account the self-equilibrated stress distribution previously computed. This method is then adopted to perform a parametric analysis that shows that creep and shrinkage of concrete increase the load-carrying capacity of the cross section reinforced with FRP and allows for the suggestion of simple design rules.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제41권2호
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• pp.231-242
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• 2012

This research work aims to develop an optimal design using Finite Element (FE) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) methods to replace the traditional concrete and timber material by a Synthetic Polyurethane fibre glass composite material in railway sleepers. The conventional timber railway sleeper technology is associated with several technical problems related to its durability and ability to resist cutting and abrading action of the bearing plate. The use of pre-stress concrete sleeper in railway industry has many disadvantages related to the concrete material behaviour to resist dynamic stress that may lead to a significant mechanical damage with feasible fissures and cracks. Scientific researchers have recently developed a new composite material such as Glass Fibre Reinforced Polyurethane (GFRP) foam to replace the conventional one. The mechanical properties of these materials are reliable enough to help solving structural problems such as durability, light weight, long life span (50-60 years), less water absorption, provide electric insulation, excellent resistance of fatigue and ability to recycle. This paper suggests appropriate sleeper design to reduce the volume of the material. The design optimization shows that the sleeper length is more sensitive to the loading type than the other parameters.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제14권5호
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• pp.355-368
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• 2022

This paper investigates the impact of length and volume fractions (VFs) of banana fibres (BFs) on the mechanical and physical properties of concrete. The mechanical properties were compressive strength, splitting tensile, flexural strength, and bond stress, while the physical properties were unit weight and absorption. The slump test was used to determine workability. The concrete's behaviour with BFs was studied using scanning electron microscopy. Experimental work of concrete mixtures with BFs of various lengths (12 mm, 25 mm, and 35 mm) and VFs (0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5%) were carried out. The samples did not indicate any agglomeration of fibres or heterogeneity during mixing. The addition of BFs to concrete with VFs of up to 1.50% for all fibre lengths have a significant impact on mechanical properties, also the longer fibres performed better than shorter ones at all volume fractions of BFs. The mix10, which contain BFs with VFs 1.5% and length 35 mm, demonstrated the highest mechanical properties. The compressive strength, splitting tensile, flexural strength, and bond stress of the mix10 were 37.71 MPa, 4.27 Mpa, 6.12 MPa, and 6.75 MPa, an increase of 7.37%, 20.96%, 24.13%, and 11.2% over the reference concrete, which was 35.12 MPa, 3.53 MPa, 4.93 MPa, and 6.07 MP, respectively. The absorption is increased for all lengths by increasing the VFs up to 1.5%. Longer fibres have lower absorption, while shorter fibres have higher absorption. The mix8 had the highest absorption of 4.52%, compared to 3.12% for the control mix. Furthermore, the microstructure of concrete was improved through improved bonding between the fibres and the matrix, which resulted in improved mechanical properties of the composite.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제12권6호
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• pp.469-477
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• 2021

Keratin fibres are waste products of the poultry industry. Natural materials made from chicken feather fibres (CFFs) are used in concrete-reinforced composites in this study. Brittleness is a major problem of high-strength concrete (HSC) that leads to sudden failure at the ultimate capacity of concrete. Hence, this work aims to investigate effects of using CFFs on improving the brittle behaviour of HSC. Two scenarios are performed to analyse the effectiveness of using CFFs. HSC containing different ratios of CFF (0% as the control, 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, 2%, and 3%) by volume are tested in the first scenario. Glass fibres (GF) are used to replace CFFs in the other scenario. Tests of fresh, hardened and morphological properties for concrete are performed. Results showed the enhanced brittle behaviour of HSC when using both types of fibres. The preferable ratio of both types of fibres is 1% by volume. Flexural and splitting tensile strengths increased by about 44.9 % and 42.65 % for mixes containing 0.1% GF, respectively. While they were increased by about 21.6 % and 21.16 % for mixes containing 0.1% CFF, respectively.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제77권5호
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• pp.637-650
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• 2021

The paper presents an investigation of the widely varying mechanical performance and behaviour of steel and Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) reinforced concrete beams using non-destructive techniques of Acoustic Emission (AE) and Digital Image Correlation (DIC) under four-point bending. Laboratory experiments are performed on both differently reinforced concrete beams with 0.33%, 0.52% and 1.11% of tension reinforcement against balanced section. The results show that the ultimate load-carrying capacity increases with an increase in tensile reinforcement in both cases. In addition to that, AE waveform parameters of amplitude and number of AE hits successfully correlates and picks up the divergent mechanism of cracking initiation and progression of failure in steel reinforced and GFRP reinforced concrete beams. AE activity is about 20-30% more in GFRP-RC beams as compared to steel-RC beams. It was primarily due to the lower modulus of elasticity of GFRP bars leading to much larger ductility and deflections as compared to steel-RC beams. Furthermore, 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 which show a close matching with the micro-and macro-cracks visually observed in the actual beams at various stages of loading.