• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제90권4호
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• pp.371-390
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• 2024

Investigating the impact of openings on the structural behavior of ferrocement I-beams with two distinct types of reinforcing metallic and non-metallic meshes is the primary goal of the current study. Up until failure, eight 250x200x2200 mm reinforced concrete I-beams were tested under flexural loadings. Depending on the kind of meshes used for reinforcement, the beams are split into two series. A control I-beam with no openings and three beams with one, two, and three openings, respectively, are found in each series. The two series are reinforced with three layers of welded steel meshes and two layers of tensar meshes, respectively, in order to maintain a constant reinforcement ratio. Structural parameters of investigated beams, including first crack, ultimate load, deflection, ductility index, energy absorption, strain characteristics, crack pattern, and failure mode were reported. The number of mesh layers, the volume fraction of reinforcement, and the kind of reinforcing materials are the primary factors that vary. This article presents the outcomes of a study that examined the experimental and numerical performance of ferrocement reinforced concrete I-beams with and without openings reinforced with welded steel mesh and tensar mesh separately. Utilizing ANSYS-16.0 software, nonlinear finite element analysis (NLFEA) was applied to illustrate how composite RC I-beams with openings behaved. In addition, a parametric study is conducted to explore the variables that can most significantly impact the mechanical behavior of the proposed model, such as the number of openings. The FE simulations produced an acceptable degree of experimental value estimation, as demonstrated by the obtained experimental and numerical results. It is also noteworthy to demonstrate that the strength gained by specimens without openings reinforced with tensar meshes was, on average, 22% less than that of specimens reinforced with welded steel meshes. For specimens with openings, this value is become on average 10%.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제14권5호
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• pp.493-509
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• 2013

Bending behavior of reinforced concrete slabs encased over shallow I-sections at different levels of compression heads were investigated in present study. 1500 mm long I-sections were used to create composite slabs. Compression heads of monolithic experimental members were encased at different levels into the concrete slabs. Shear connections were welded over some of the I-sections. The testing was carried out in accordance with the principles of four-point loading. Results revealed decreasing load bearing and deflection capacities of composite beams with increasing encasement depths into concrete. Mechanical properties of concrete and reinforcing steel were also examined. Resultant stresses calculated for composite beams at failure were found to be less than the yield strength of steel beams. Test results were discussed with regard to shear and slip effect.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제13권1호
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• pp.1-10
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• 2022

Concrete is a brittle material and weak in tension. Traditionally, web reinforcement in the form of vertical stirrups is used in reinforced concrete (RC) beams to take care of principal stresses that may cause failure when they are subjected to shear stresses. In recent decades, the potential of various types of fibers for improving post-cracking behavior of RC beams and replacing stirrups completely or partially have been studied. It has been shown that the use of steel fibers randomly dispersed and oriented in concrete has a significant potential for enhancing mechanical properties of RC beams. However, the studies on deep steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) beams are limited when compared to those focusing on slender beams. An experimental program consisting of three RC and nine SFRC deep beams without stirrups were conducted in this study. Besides, various models developed for predicting the ultimate shear strength and diagonal cracking strength of SFRC deep beams without stirrups were applied to experimental data obtained from the literature and this study.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제81권6호
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• pp.751-767
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• 2022

In the hogging bending moment area, continuous composite beams are subjected to the ultimate limit state of lateral-torsional buckling (LTB), which depends on web stiffness as well as concrete slab and shear connection stiffnesses. The design of the LTB and the determination of the elastic critical moment are produced approximately, using the European Standard EN 1994-1-1:2004, for continuous composite steel beams, but is applicable only for those with a plane web steel profile. Also, and from the previous researches, the elastic critical moment of the continuous composite beams with corrugated sinusoidal web steel profiles was determined. In this paper, a finite element analysis (FEA) model was developed using the ANSYS 16 software, to determine the elastic critical moments of continuous composite steel beams with various corrugated web profiles, such as trapezoidal, zigzag, and rectangular profiles, which were evaluated against numerical data of the sinusoidal one from the literature. Ultimately, the failure load of a composite steel beam with various web profiles was predicted by studying 46 models, based on FEA modeling, and a procedure for predicting the elastic critical moment of composite beams with various web steel profiles was proposed. When compared to sinusoidal web profiles, the trapezoidal, zigzag, and rectangular web profiles required an average increase in load capacity and stiffness of 7%, 17.5%, and 28%, respectively, according to the finite element analysis. Also, the rectangular web steel profile has a greater stiffness and load capacity. In contrast, the sinusoidal web has lower values for these characteristics.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제17권3호
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• pp.215-236
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• 2014

The flexural behaviour of steel beams significantly affects the structural performance of the steel frame structures. In particular, the flexural overstrength (namely the ratio between the maximum bending moment and the plastic bending strength) that steel beams may experience is the key parameter affecting the seismic design of non-dissipative members in moment resisting frames. The aim of this study is to present a new formulation of flexural overstrength factor for steel beams by means of artificial neural network (NN). To achieve this purpose, a total of 141 experimental data samples from available literature have been collected in order to cover different cross-sectional typologies, namely I-H sections, rectangular and square hollow sections (RHS-SHS). Thus, two different data sets for I-H and RHS-SHS steel beams were formed. Nine critical prediction parameters were selected for the former while eight parameters were considered for the latter. These input variables used for the development of the prediction models are representative of the geometric properties of the sections, the mechanical properties of the material and the shear length of the steel beams. The prediction performance of the proposed NN model was also compared with the results obtained using an existing formulation derived from the gene expression modeling. The analysis of the results indicated that the proposed formulation provided a more reliable and accurate prediction capability of beam overstrength.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제30권5호
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• pp.483-492
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• 2019

In the current study, the influence of the initial lateral (sweep) shape and the cross-sectional twist imperfection on the lateral torsional buckling (LTB) response of doubly-symmetric steel I-beams was investigated. The material imperfection (residual stress) was not considered. For this objective, standard European IPN 300 beam with different unbraced span was numerically analyzed for three imperfection cases: (i) no sweep and no twist (perfect); (ii) three different shapes of global sweep (half-sine, full-sine and full-parabola between the end supports); and (iii) the combination of three different sweeps with initial sinusoidal twist along the beam. The first comparison was done between the results of numerical analyses (FEM) and both a theoretical solution and the code lateral torsional buckling formulations (EC3 and AISC-LRFD). These results with no imperfection effects were then separately compared with three different shapes of global sweep and the presence of initial twist in these sweep shapes. Besides, the effects of the shapes of initial global sweep and the inclusion of sinusoidal twist on the critical buckling load of the beams were investigated to unveil which parameter was considerably effective on LTB response. The most compatible outcomes for the perfect beams was obtained from the AISC-LRFD formulation; however, the EC-3 formulation estimated the $P_{cr}$ load conservatively. The high difference from the EC-3 formulation was predicted to directly originate from the initial imperfection reduction factor and high safety factor in its formulation. Due to no consideration of geometric imperfection in the AISC-LFRD code solution and the theoretical formulation, the need to develop a practical imperfection reduction factor for AISC-LRFD and theoretical formulation was underlined. Initial imperfections were obtained to be more influential on the buckling load, as the unbraced length of a beam approached to the elastic limit unbraced length ($L_r$). Mode-compatible initial imperfection shapes should be taken into account in the design and analysis stages of the I-beam to properly estimate the geometric imperfection influence on the $P_{cr}$ load. Sweep and sweep-twist imperfections led to 10% and 15% decrease in the $P_{cr}$ load, respectively, thus; well-estimated sweep and twist imperfections should considered in the LTB of doubly-symmetric steel I-beams.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제54권1호
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• pp.1-17
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• 2015

An experimental investigation is conducted to examine the behavior and cracking of steel fiberre-inforced concrete spandrel L-shaped beams subjected to combined torsion, bending, and shear. The experimental program includes 12 medium-sized L-shaped spandrel beams organized into two groups, namely, specimens with longitudinal reinforcing bars, and specimens with bars and stirrups. All cases are examined with 0%, 1%, and 1.5% steel fiber volume fractions and tested under two different loading eccentricities. Test results indicate that the torque to shear ratio has a significant effect on the crack pattern developed in the beams. The strain on concrete surface follows the crack width value, and the addition of steel fibers reduces the strain. Fibrous concrete beams exhibited improved overall torsional performance compared with the corresponding non-fibrous control beams, particularly the beams tested under high eccentricity.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제90권2호
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• pp.143-157
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• 2024

Cold-formed steel (CFS) I sections are increasingly being used as load-bearing components in building constructions, and such I sections frequently incorporate web holes to facilitate service installation. The economical and structural advantages of these elements have prompted many researchers to investigate the behavior of such structures. Despite numerous studies on the buckling stability of castellated beams, there is a notable absence of experimental investigation into oval castellated beams with stiffeners. This study examines the local buckling of cold-formed steel castellated I-beams stiffened with oval constellations through experimental and numerical analysis. Four specimens are fabricated with and without stiffeners, including parallel, perpendicular, and intersecting types attached to the web portion of the beam, along with cross stiffeners for the oval-shaped openings at the beam ends. Additionally, a numerical model is developed to predict the behavior of castellated beams with oval openings up to failure, considering both material and geometric nonlinearities. Codal analysis is performed using the North American specification for cold-formed steel AISI S-100 and the Australian/New Zealand design code AS/NZS 4600. The anticipated outcomes from numerical analysis, experimental research, and codal analysis are compared and presented. It will be more helpful to the preliminary designers.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.35-43
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• 2017

This paper presents the findings of experimental and numerical investigations on failure analysis and structural behavior of notched steel I-beams reinforced by bonded Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) plates under static load. To find solutions for preventing or delaying the failures, understanding the CFRP failure modes is beneficial. One non-strengthened control beam and four specimens with different deficiencies (one side and two sides) on flexural flanges in both experimental test and simulation were studied. Two additional notched beams were investigated just numerically. In the experimental test, four-point bending method with static gradual loading was employed. To simulate the specimens, ABAQUS software in full three dimensional (3D) case and non-linear analysis method was applied. The results show that the CFRP failure modes in strengthening of deficient steel I-beams include end-debonding, below point load debonding, splitting and delamination. Strengthening schedule is important to the occurrences and sequences of CFRP failure modes. Additionally, application of CFRP plates in the deficiency region prevents crack propagation and brittle failure.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제37권1호
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• pp.1-14
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• 2020

Composite beams with corrugated steel webs represent a new innovative system which has emerged in the past decade for medium span in the construction technology. The use of composite beams with corrugated steel webs results in a range of benefits, including flexible spaces and reduced foundation costs in the construction technology. The thin corrugated web affords a significant weight reduction of these beams, compared with hot-rolled or welded ones. In the current research, an optimal designed I-girder beam with corrugated web has been proposed to improve the structural performance of continuous composite girder under bending moment. The experimental program has been conducted for six simply supported composite beams with different loading conditions. The tested specimens are designed by using one of the stochastic techniques called hunting search algorithm. In the optimization process, besides the thickness of concrete slab and studs, corrugated web properties are considered as design variables. The design constraints are respectively implemented from Eurocode 3, BS-8110 and DIN 18-800 Teil-1. The last part of the study focuses on performing a numerical study on composite beams by utilizing finite element analysis and the bending behavior of steel girders with corrugated webs experimentally and numerically verified the results. A nonlinear analysis was carried out using the finite element software ANSYS on the composite beams which were modelled using the elements ten-node high order quadrilateral type.