• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.241-260
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• 2002

The effect of shear coupled with axial force variation on the inelastic seismic behaviour of reinforced concrete bridge piers is investigated in this paper. For this purpose, a hysteretic axial-shear interaction model was developed and implemented in a nonlinear finite element analysis program. Thus, flexure-shear-axial interaction is simulated under variable amplitude reversed actions. Comparative studies for shear-dominated reinforced concrete columns indicated that a conventional FE model based on flexure-axial interaction only gave wholly inadequate results and was therefore incapable of predicting the behaviour of such members. Analysis of a reinforced concrete bridge damaged during the Northridge (California 1994) earthquake demonstrated the importance of shear modelling. The contribution of shear deformation to total displacement was considerable, leading to increased ductility demand. Moreover, the effect of shear with axial force variation can significantly affect strength, stiffness and energy dissipation capacity of reinforced concrete members. It is concluded that flexure-shear-axial interaction should be taken into account in assessing the behaviour of reinforced concrete bridge columns, especially in the presence of high vertical ground motion.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.69-84
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• 2023

This paper proposes a novel frame element on Winkler-Pasternak foundation for analysis of a non-ductile reinforced concrete (RC) member resting on foundation. These structural members represent flexural-shear critical members, which are commonly found in existing buildings designed and constructed with the old seismic design standards (inadequately detailed transverse reinforcement). As a result, these structures always experience shear failure or flexure-shear failure under seismic loading. To predict the characteristics of these non-ductile structures, efficient numerical models are required. Therefore, the novel frame element on Winkler-Pasternak foundation with inclusion of the shear-flexure interaction effect is developed in this study. The proposed model is derived within the framework of a displacement-based formulation and fiber section model under Timoshenko beam theory. Uniaxial nonlinear material constitutive models are employed to represent the characteristics of non-ductile RC frame and the underlying foundation. The shear-flexure interaction effect is expressed within the shear constitutive model based on the UCSD shear-strength model as demonstrated in this paper. From several features of the presented model, the proposed model is simple but able to capture several salient characteristics of the non-ductile RC frame resting on foundation, such as failure behavior, soil-structure interaction, and shear-flexure interaction. This confirms through two numerical simulations.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.1369-1389
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• 2016

The soil-structure interaction effect significantly influences the design of multi-storey buildings subjected to lateral seismic loads. The shear walls are often provided in such buildings to increase the lateral stability to resist seismic loads. In the present work, the nonlinear soil-structure analysis of a G+5 storey RC shear wall building frame having isolated column footings and founded on deformable soil is presented. The nonlinear seismic FE analysis is carried out using ANSYS software for the building with and without shear walls to investigate the effect of inclusion of shear wall on the moments in the footings due to differential settlement of soil mass. The frame is considered to behave in linear elastic manner, whereas, soil mass to behave in nonlinear manner. It is found that the interaction effect causes significant variation in the moments in the footings. The comparison of non-interaction and interaction analyses suggests that the presence of shear wall causes significant decrease in bending moments in most of the footings but the interaction effect causes restoration of the bending moments to a great extent. A comparison is made between linear and nonlinear analyses to draw some important conclusions.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.693-708
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• 2023

Composite beams, two materials joined together, have become more common in structural engineering over the past few decades because they have better mechanical and structural properties. The shear connectors between their layers exhibit some deformability with finite stiffness, resulting in interfacial shear slip, a phenomenon known as partial shear interaction. Such a partial shear interaction contributes significantly to the composite beams. To provide precise predictions of the geometric nonlinear behavior shown by two-layered composite beams with interfacial shear slips, a robust analytical model has been developed that incorporates the influence of significant displacements. The application of a higher-order beam theory to the two material layers results in a third-order adjustment of the longitudinal displacement within each layer along the depth of the beam. Deformable shear connectors are employed at the interface to represent the partial shear interaction by means of a sequence of shear connectors that are evenly distributed throughout the beam's length. The Von-Karman theory of large deflection incorporates geometric nonlinearity into the governing equations, which are then solved analytically using the Navier solution technique. Suggested model exhibits a notable level of agreement with published findings, and numerical outputs derived from finite element (FE) model. Large displacement substantially reduces deflection, interfacial shear slip, and stress values. Geometric nonlinearity has a significant impact on beams with larger span-to-depth ratio and a greater degree of shear connector deformability. Potentially, the analytical model can accurately predict the geometric nonlinear responses of composite beams. The model has a high degree of generality, which might aid in the numerical solution of composite beams with varying configurations and shear criteria.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.545-566
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• 2009

Bridge columns are subjected to combined actions of axial force, shear force and bending moment during earthquakes, caused by spatially-complex earthquake motions, features of structural configurations and the interaction between input and response characteristics. Combined actions can have significant effects on the force and deformation capacity of RC columns, resulting in unexpected large deformations and extensive damage that in turn influences the performance of bridges as vital components of transportation systems. This paper evaluates the seismic response of three prototype reinforced concrete bridges using comprehensive numerical models that are capable of simulating the complex soil-structural interaction effects and nonlinear behavior of columns. An analytical approach that can capture the shear-flexural interacting behavior is developed to model the realistic nonlinear behavior of RC columns, including the pinching behavior, strength deterioration and stiffness softening due to combined actions of shear force, axial force and bending moment. Seismic response analyses were conducted on the prototype bridges under suites of ground motions. Response quantities of bridges (e.g., drift, acceleration, section force and section moment etc.) are compared and evaluated to identify the effects of vertical motion, structural characteristics and the shear-flexural interaction on seismic demand of bridges.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.601-618
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• 2015

Soil-reinforcement interaction mechanism is an important issue in the design of geosynthetic reinforced soil structures. This mechanism depends on the soil properties, reinforcement characteristics and interaction between these two elements (soil and reinforcement). In this work the shear strength of sand/geotextile interfaces were characterized through direct and simple shear tests. The direct shear tests were performed on a conventional direct shear device and on a large scale direct shear apparatus. Unreinforced sand and one layer reinforced sand specimens were characterized trough simple shear tests. The interfaces shear strength achieved with the large scale direct shear device were slightly larger than those obtained with the conventional direct shear apparatus. Notwithstanding the differences between the shear strength characterization through simple shear and direct shear tests, it was concluded that the shear strength of one layer reinforced sand is similar to the sand/geotextile interface direct shear strength.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.455-464
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• 2002

There is a growing demand to assess the remaining strength and endurance of existing composite steel and concrete bridge beams due to the aging infrastructure, increases in permissible vehicle weights and increases in their frequencies. As codes are generally dedicated to the design of new structures, new procedures are required to aid in the assessment of existing bridges to ensure that they are utilised to the full. In this paper, simple expressions are presented to perform partial-interaction analyses directly from full-interaction analyses, so that the beneficial effect of partial-interaction on the shear forces on the shear connectors can be utilised in assessment to extend the fatigue life of simply supported bridge beams and to determine the effect of remedial work if necessary. Use of the assessment technique is described by way of an illustrative example.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.383-393
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• 2023

Conventional reinforced concrete design codes assume ideal strain evolution in semi-deep beams with externally bonded fiber-reinforced polymer (EB-FRP) web strips. However, there is a strain interaction between internal stirrups and web strips, leading to a notable difference between code-based and experimental shear strengths. Current study provides an experiment-verified detailed numerical framework to assess the potential strain interaction under quasi-static monotonic load. Based on the observations, steel stirrups are effective only for low EB-FRP amounts and the over-strengthening of semi-deep beams prevents the stirrups from yielding, reducing its shear strength contribution. A notable difference is detected between the code-based and the study-based EB-FRP strain values, which is a function of the normalized FRP stress parameter. Semi-analytical relations are proposed to estimate the effective strain and stress of the components considering the potential strain interaction. For the sake of simplification, a linearized correction factor is proposed for the EB-FRP web strip strain, assuming its restraining effect as constant for all steel stirrup amounts.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.141-163
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• 2016

Fiber models have been developed and applied to various structural elements such as shear walls, beams and columns. Only scarcely have fiber models been applied to circular foundation systems such as cast in drilled holes shafts (CIDH). In pile foundations with constraint head boundary conditions, shear deformations can easily contribute to the lateral pile response. However, soil structure interaction formulations such as the p-y method, commonly used for lateral pile design, do not include structural shear deformations in its traditional derivation method. A fiber model that couples shear and axial-bending behavior, originally developed for wall elements was modified and validated on circular cross sections (columns) before being applied to a 0.61 m diameter reinforced concrete (RC) pile with fixed head boundary conditions. The analytical response was compared to measured test results of a fixed head test pile to investigate the possible impact of pile shear deformations on the displacement, shear, and moment profiles of the pile. Results showed that shear displacements and forces are not negligible and suggest that nonlinear shear deformations for RC piles should be considered for fixed-head or similar conditions. Appropriate sensor layout is recommended to capture shear deformation when deriving p-y curves from field measurements.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.427-443
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• 2014

This paper presents detailed analysis of the internal forces of interior beam-column joints of reinforced concrete (RC) frames under seismic action, identifies critical joint sections, proposes consistent definitions of average joint shear stress and average joint shear strain, derives formulas for calculating average joint shear and joint torque, and reports simplified analysis of the effects of joint shear and torque on the flexural strengths of critical joint sections. Numerical results of internal joint forces and flexural strengths of critical joint sections are presented for a pair of concentric and eccentric interior connections extracted from a seismically designed RC frame. The results indicate that effects of joint shear and torque may reduce the column-to-beam flexural strength ratios to below unity and lead to "joint-yielding mechanism" for seismically designed interior connections. The information presented in this paper aims to provide some new insight into the seismic behavior of interior beam-column joints and form a preliminary basis for analyzing the complicated interaction of internal joint forces.