• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.817-834
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• 2014

An experimental program was designed in the current work to examine the structural behavior of ferrocement beams reinforced with composite materials under three point loadings up to failure. The experimental program comprised casting and testing of twelve ferrocement beams having the dimensions of 120 mm width, 200 mm depth and 1600 mm length. The twelve beams were different in the type of reinforcements; steel bars, traditional wire meshes (welded and expanded wire meshes) and composite materials (fiberglass wire meshes and polypropylene wire meshes). The flexural performances of the all tested beams in terms of strength, ductility, cracking behavior and energy absorption were investigated. Also all the tested beams were simulated using ANSYS program. The results of the experimental tests concluded that the beam with fiber glass meshes gives the lowest first crack load and ultimate load. The ferrocement beam reinforced with four layers of welded wire meshes has better structural behavior than those beams reinforced with other types of wire meshes. Also the beams reinforced with metal wire meshes give smaller cracks width in comparing with those reinforced with non-metal wire meshes. Also the Finite Element (FE) simulations gave good results comparing with the experimental results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.443-456
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• 2017

Many authors have established the usefulness of concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) sections as compression members while few have proved their utility as flexural members. To explore their prospective as part of CFST frame structures, two types of connections using extended end plate and seat angle are proposed for exterior joints of CFST beams and CFST columns. To investigate the performance and failure modes of the proposed bolted connections subjected to static loads, an experimental program has been executed involving ten specimens of exterior beam-to-column joints subjected to monotonically increasing load applied at the tip of beam, the performance is appraised in terms of load deformation behaviour of joints. The test parameters varied are the beam section type, type and diameter of bolts. To validate the experimental behaviour of the proposed connections in CFST beam-column joints, finite element analysis for the applied load has been performed using software ATENA-3D and the results of the proposed models are compared with experimental results. The experimental results obtained agree that the proposed CFST beam-column connections perform in a semi-rigid and partial strength mode as per specification of EC3.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.309-324
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• 2014

In the design of reinforced concrete structural walls, in order to ensure adequate inelastic displacement behaviour and to sustain deformation demands imposed by strong ground motions, special reinforcement is considered while designing. However, these would lead to severe reinforcement congestion and difficulties during construction. Addition of randomly distributed discrete fibres in concrete improves the flexural behaviour of structural elements because of its enhanced tensile properties and this leads to reduction in congestion. This paper deals with effect of addition of steel fibres on the behavior of high performance fibre reinforced cement concrete (HPFRCC) slender structural walls with the different volume fractions of steel fibres. The specimens were subjected to quasi static lateral reverse cyclic loading until failure. The high performance concrete (HPC) used was obtained based on the guidelines given in ACI 211.1 which was further modified by prof.Aitcin (1998). The volume fraction of the fibres used in this study varied from 0 to 1% with an increment of 0.5%. The results were analysed critically and appraised. The study indicates that the addition of steel fibres in the HPC structural walls enhances the first crack load, strength, initial stiffness and energy dissipation capacity.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.39-47
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• 2017

In this paper, mode I fracture toughness of rock was determined by direct and indirect methods using Particle Flow Code simulation. Direct methods are compaction tension (CT) test and hollow centre cracked quadratic sample (HCCQS). Indirect methods are notched Brazilian disk (NBD) specimen, the semi-circular bend (SCB) specimen, hollow centre cracked disc (HCCD), the single edge-notched round bar in bending (SENRBB) specimen and edge notched disk (END). It was determined that which one of indirect fracture toughness values is close to direct one. For this purpose, initially calibration of PFC was undertaken with respect to data obtained from Brazilian laboratory tests to ensure the conformity of the simulated numerical models response. Furthermore, the simulated models in five introduced indirect tests were cross checked with the results from direct tests. By using numerical testing, the failure process was visually observed. Discrete element simulations demonstrated that the macro fractures in models are caused by microscopic tensile breakages on large numbers of bonded discs. Mode I fracture toughness of rock in direct test was less than other tests results. Fracture toughness resulted from semi-circular bend specimen test was close to direct test results. Therefore semi-circular bend specimen can be a proper test for determination of Mode I fracture toughness of rock in absence of direct test.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.65 no.3
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• pp.223-231
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• 2018

A numerical investigation of the impact of steel ductility on the strength and ductility of two-way corner and edge-supported concrete slabs containing low ductility welded wire fabric is presented. A finite element model was developed for the investigation and the results of a series of concurrent laboratory experiments were used to validate the numerical solution. A parametric investigation was conducted using the numerical model to investigate the various factors that influence the structural behavior at the strength limit state. Different values of steel uniform elongation and ultimate to yield strength ratios were considered. The results are presented and evaluated, with emphasis on the strength, ductility, and failure mode of the slabs. It was found that the ductility of the flexural reinforcement has a significant impact on the ultimate load behavior of two-way corner-supported slabs, particularly when the reinforcement was in the form of cold drawn welded wire fabric. However, the impact of the low ductility WWF has showed to be less prominent in structural slabs with higher levels of structural indeterminacy. The load-deflection curves of corner-supported slabs containing low ductility WWF are brittle, and the slabs have little ability to undergo plastic deformation at peak load.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.461-468
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• 2018

In this paper, to access the suitability of recycled aggregate for structural applications, concrete strength i.e., compressive, tensile and flexural strength were evaluated and compared with those specimens made of natural aggregates. Test results indicated that 30 to 42% of the mentioned strength decreases. To study the performance of frame structures made of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) two reinforced RAC frames were prepared and tested under monotonic loading. The joint regions of one of the RAC frame were casted with micro-concrete. A reference specimen was also prepared using natural aggregate concrete (NAC) and subjected to a similar loading condition. The RAC frame resulted in a brittle mode of failure as compared to NAC frame. However, the presence of a micro-concrete at the joint region of an RAC frame improved the damage tolerance and load resisting capacity. Seismic parameter such as energy dissipation, ductility and stiffness also improves. Conclusively, strengthening of joint region using micro-concrete is found to have a significant contribution in improving the seismic performance of an RAC frame.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.231-238
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• 2004

This paper presents the tensile behavior of the stud connection between reinforced concrete(RC) and steel members. Hanger reinforcements are placed around the studs to transfer the tensile and flexural loads to the opposite side of the concrete member. Eight specimens for the tensile tests are tested with variables, which are the arrangement details of hanger reinforcements, the reinforcing bars, and the embedment length of stud. The results of the tensile tests show that hanger reinforcements are effective to increase tensile strength for stud connections. Hangers and reinforcing bars near stud bolts contributed to the reduction of brittle failure. From the evaluation on the tensile strength by previous design guidelines, it was shown that CCD (Concrete Capacity Design) method was more suitable for estimation of test strength.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.69-77
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• 2015

Ultra High Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) has a outstanding tensile hardening behaviour after a crack develops, which gives ductility to structures. Existing shear strength model for fiber reinforced concrete is entirely based on crack opening behavior(mode I) which comes from flexural-shear failure, not considering shear-slip behavior(mode II). To find out the mode I and mode II behavior on a crack in UHPFRC simultaneously, maximum shear strength of cracked UHPFRC is investigated from twenty-four push-off test results. The shear stress on a crack is derived as variable of initial crack width and fiber volume ratio. Test results show that shear slippage is proportional to crack opening, which leads to relationship between shear transfer strength and crack width. Based on the test results a hypothesis is proposed for the physical mechanics of shear transfer in UHPFRC by tensile hardening behavior in stead of aggregate interlocking in reinforced concrete. Shear transfer strength based on tensile hardening behavior in UHPFRC is suggested and this suggestion was verified by comparing direct tensile test results and push-off test results.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.219-226
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• 1994

In the comparison result of residual strain calculated from the load-strain curve under the repeated loading cycles, it was found that the larger the laminates is, the larger the stiffness of GFRP pipes under fatigue load is. This phenomenon is true until the fatigue failure. According to the S-N curves drawn by the regression analysis on the fatigue test results, the fatigue strength for percentage of the static ultimate strength increases by increasing the laminates of GFRP pipes. The fatigue strength for 2, 000, 000 repeated loading cycles In GFRP pipes with the laminates varing 15, 25, 35 shows 75.2%, 79.5%, 84.2% on the static ultimate strength, respectively.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.379-398
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• 2015

Confinement is known to have important influence on ductility of high-strength concrete (HSC) members and it may therefore be anticipated that this parameter would also affect notably the moment redistribution in these members. The correctness of this "common-sense knowledge" is examined in the present study. A numerical test is performed on two-span continuous reinforced HSC beams with and without confinement using an experimentally validated nonlinear model. The results show that the effect of confinement on moment redistribution is totally different from that on flexural ductility. The moment redistribution at ultimate limit state is found to be almost independent of the confinement, provided that both the negative and positive plastic hinges have formed at failure. The numerical findings are consistent with tests performed on prototype HSC beams. Several design codes are evaluated. It is demonstrated that the code equations by Eurocode 2 (EC2), British Standards Institution (BSI) and Canadian Standards Association (CSA) can well reflect the effect of confinement on moment redistribution in reinforced HSC beams but the American Concrete Institute (ACI) code cannot.