• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.625-636
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• 2021

This paper examines the fire performance of uninsulated and uncoated restrained steel-concrete composite beams supplemented with externally prestressed strands through advanced numerical simulation. In this work, a sequentially coupled thermo-mechanical analysis is carried out using ABAQUS. This analysis utilizes a highly nonlinear three-dimensional finite element (FE) model that is specifically developed and validated using full-sized specimens tested in a companion fire testing program. The developed FE model accounts for nonlinearities arising from geometric features and material properties, as well as complexities resulting from prestressing systems, fire conditions, and mechanical loadings. Four factors are of interest to this work including effect of restraints (axial vs. rotational), degree of stiffness of restraints, the configuration of external prestressed tendons, and magnitude of applied loading. The outcome of this analysis demonstrates how the prestressing force in the external tendons is primarily governed by the magnitude of applied loading and experienced temperature level. Interestingly, these results also show that the stiffness of axial restraints has a minor influence on the failure of restrained and prestressed steel-concrete composite beams. When the axial restraint ratio does not exceed 0.5, the critical deflection of the composite beam is lower than that of the composite beam with a restraint ratio of 1.0.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.4
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• pp.543-555
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• 2018

Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP), which has a high strength to weight ratio, are now regularly used for strengthening of deficient reinforced concrete (RC) structures. While various researches have been conducted on FRP strengthening, an area that still requires attention is predicting the debonding failure load of prestressed FRP strengthened RC beams. Application of prestressing increases the capacity and reduces the premature failure of the beams largely, though not entirely. Few analytical methods are available to predict the failure loads under flexure failure. With this paucity, this research proposes a method for predicting debonding failure induced by intermediate crack (IC) for prestressed FRP-strengthened beams. The method consists of a numerical study on beams retrofitted with prestressed FRP in the tension side of the beam. The method applies modified Branson moment-curvature analysis together with the global energy balance approach in combination with fracture mechanics criteria to predict failure load for complicated IC-induced failure. The numerically simulated results were compared with published experimental data and the average of theoretical to experimental debonding failure load is found to be 0.93 with a standard deviation of 0.09.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.18 no.2E
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• pp.111-116
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relations between unbonded tendon stress and its influential parameters, i.e. bonded reinforcement ratio, span/depth ratio, and loading type. To this end, the influence of such parameters was examined with twenty eight test results of previous studies. Afterwards, an experimental study was carried out with twenty one test specimens. The investigation of previous and current experiments revealed the followings; (1) The bonded reinforcement ratio and prestressing ratio were proved to be important variables on the unbonded tendon stress. (2) The ratio of span to depth and the type of loading affected the unbonded tendon stress partially although their effects varied with bonded reinforcement ratio. (3) AASHTO LRFD Code and Moon/Lim's design equations predicted the experimental results well with the safety margin.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.369-379
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• 2015

Friction in a post-tensioning system has a significant effect on the distribution of the prestressing force of tendons in prestressed concrete structures. However, attempts to derive friction coefficients using conventional electrical resistance strain gauges do not usually lead to reliable results, mainly due to the damage of sensors and lead wires during the insertion of strands into the sheath and during tensioning. In order to overcome these drawbacks of the existing measurement system, the Smart Strand was developed in this study to accurately measure the strain and prestressing force along the strand. In the Smart Strand, the core wire of a 7-wire strand is replaced with carbon fiber reinforced polymer in which the fiber Bragg grating sensors are embedded. As one of the applications of the Smart Strand, friction coefficients were evaluated using a full-scale test of a 20 m long beam. The test variables were the curvature, diameter, and filling ratio of the sheath. The analysis results showed the average wobble and curvature friction coefficients of 0.0038/m and 0.21/radian, respectively, which correspond to the middle of the range specified in ACI 318-08 in the U.S. and Structural Concrete Design Code in Korea. Also, the accuracy of the coefficients was improved by reducing the effective range specified in these codes by 27-34 %. This study shows the wide range of applicability of the developed Smart Strand system.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.77-83
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• 2014

Prestressed concrete girder bridge has been one of the most widely used bridges in the world because of its excellent construction feasibility, economic efficiency, serviceability, and safety. In certain situations, the prestressing tendon is supposed to be bent by the construction error and the radius of curvature at the continuous joint of PSC girders, and this leads to the loss of prestressing force. However, this kind of prestress loss is not considered in the design and construction processes. This study proves that the prestress loss occurs at the continuous joint due to the local bending of tendon by the construction error or the radius of curvature. Also, a method that can reduce this type of prestress loss is proposed, and proved by the experiment. The result shows that maximum 10% of prestress loss occurs at the continuous joint and the proposed block-out method can reduce the prestress loss ratio by maximum 5%, approximately. This means that the block-out method can enhance the prestressing efficiency of continuous PSC girder bridges.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.471-474
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• 2005

This thesis presents the results of a study on improvement in flexure capacities of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with prestressed CFRP plates. Test variables included the type of strengthening, steel ratio and prestressing level. The experimental results show that proposed methods can increase the flexure capacity such as strength, stiffness of the beam remarkably.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.451-472
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• 2009

Based on a numerical method to analyse the full-range behaviour of prestressed concrete beams with unbonded tendons, parametric studies are carried out to investigate the influence of 11 parameters on the curvature ductility of unbonded prestressed concrete (UPC) beams. It is found that, among various parameters studied, the depth to prestressing tendons, depth to non-prestressed tension steel, partial prestressing ratio, yield strength of non-prestressed tension steel and concrete compressive strength have substantial effects on the curvature ductility. Although the curvature ductility of UPC beams is affected by a large number of factors, rather simple equations can be formulated for reasonably accurate estimation of curvature ductility. Conversion factors are introduced to cope with the difference in partial safety factors, shapes of equivalent stress blocks and the equations to predict the ultimate tendon stress in BS8110, EC2 and ACI318. The same equations can also be used to provide conservative estimates of ductility of UPC beams with compression steel.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.323-337
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• 2017

This paper presents the results of a comprehensive experimental investigation on the compressive behaviour of steel tube-confined concrete (STCC) stub columns with active and passive confinement. To create active confinement in STCC columns, an innovative technique is used in which steel tube is laterally pre-tensioned while the concrete core is simultaneously pre-compressed by applying pressure on fresh concrete. A total of 135 STCC specimens with active and passive confinement are tested under axial compression load and their compressive strength, ultimate strain capacity, axial and lateral stress-strain curves and failure mode are evaluated. The test variables include concrete compressive strength, outer diameter to wall thickness ratio of steel tube and prestressing level. It is shown that applying active confinement on STCC specimens can considerably improve their mechanical properties. However, applying higher prestressing levels and keeping the applied pressure for a long time do not considerably affect the mechanical properties of actively confined specimens. Based on the results of this study, new empirical equations are proposed to estimate the axial strength and ultimate strain capacity of STCC stub columns with active and passive confinement.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.181-192
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to analyse and compare experimentally flexural behavior of RC beams strengthened with CFRP plates by different methods, and finally suggest the evaluation equations of flexural capacity of RC beams with the aim of application of prestressed CFRP strengthening. The experimental parameters are compressive strength, reinforcement ratio, prestressing level and strengthening methods. The non-prestressed specimens failed on account of separation of the plates from the beams due to premature de-bonding, while most of the prestressed specimens failed due to CFRP plate fracture. The evaluation equations of flexural capacity of RC beams is suggested and these equations have a good reliability in predicting flexural strength of RC beams.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.469-481
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• 2017

This paper aims to analytically investigate the effect of shear stress at the concrete-steel interface on the mechanical behavior of the circular steel tube-confined concrete (STCC) stub columns with active and passive confinement subjected to axial compression. Nonlinear 3D finite element models divided into the four groups, i.e. circumferential-grooved, talc-coated, lubricated, and normal groups, with active and passive confinement were developed. An innovative method was used to simulate the actively-confined specimens, and then, the results of the finite element models were compared with those of the experiments previously conducted by the authors. It was revealed that both the predicted peak compressive strength and stress-strain curves have good agreement with the corresponding values measured for the confined columns. Then, the mechanical properties of the active and passive specimens such as the concrete-steel interaction, longitudinal and hoop stresses of the steel tube, confining pressure applied to the concrete core, and compressive stress-strain curves were analyzed. Furthermore, a parametric study was performed to explore the effects of the concrete compressive strength, steel tube diameter-to-wall thickness ratio, and prestressing level on the compressive behavior of the STCC columns. The results indicate that reducing or removing the interfacial shear stress in the active and passive specimens leads to an increase in the hoop stress and confining pressure, while the longitudinal stress along the steel tube height experiences a decrease. Moreover, prestressing via the presented method is capable of improving the compressive behavior of STCC columns.