• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.299-308
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• 2020

This study aims to carry out the experimental and numerical investigation on the flexural behavior of sandwich honeycomb composite (SHC) beams reinforced with novel triaxially woven fabric composite skins. Different stacking sequences of the carbon fiber reinforcement polymer (CFRP) laminate; i.e., 0°-direction of TW (TW0), 0°-direction of UD (UD0), and 90°-direction of UD (UD90) were studied, from which the flexural behavior of SHC beam behaviors reinforced with TW0/UD0 or TW0/UD90 novel laminated skins were compared with those reinforced with UD0/90 conventional laminated skins under four-point loading. Generally, TW0/UD0 SHC beams displayed the same flexural stiffness as UD0/90 SHC beams in terms of load-deflection relationships. In contrast, TW0/UD90 SHC beams showed a 70% lower efficiency than those of UD0/90 SHC. Hence, the TW0/UD0 laminate arrangement is more effective with a mass reduction of 39% compared with UD0/90 for SHC beams, although their stiffness and shear strength are practically identical.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.635-645
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• 2018

Beam-column joints play a significant role in static and dynamic performances of reinforced concrete frame structures. This study contributes a numerical approach of topologically optimal design of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) to retrofit existing beam-column connections with crack patterns. In recent, CFRP is used commonly in the rehabilitation and strengthening of concrete members due to the remarkable properties, such as lightweight, anti-corrosion and simplicity to execute construction. With the target to provide an optimal CFRP configuration to effectively retrofit the beam-column connection under semi-failure situation such as given cracks, extended finite element method (X-FEM) is used by combining with multi-material topology optimization (MTO) as a mechanical description approach for strong discontinuity state to mechanically model cracked structures. The well founded mathematical formulation of topology optimization problem for cracked structures by using multiple materials is described in detail in this study. In addition, moved and regularized Heaviside functions (MRHF), that have the role of a filter in multiple materials case, is also considered. The numerical example results illustrated in two cases of beam-column joints with stationary cracks verify the validity, benefit and supremacy of the proposed method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.77 no.5
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• pp.673-689
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• 2021

This paper addresses the efficiency of thermal insulation layers applied to protect structural elements strengthened by fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) in the case of fire event. The paper presents numerical modeling and nonlinear analysis of reinforced concrete (RC) columns externally strengthened by FRP and protected by thermal insulation layers when subjected to elevated temperature specified by standard fire tests, in order to predict their residual capacity and fire endurance. The adopted numerical approach uses commercial software includes heat transfer, variation of thermal and mechanical properties of concrete, steel reinforcement, FRP and insulation material with elevated temperature. The numerical results show good agreement with published results of full-scale fire tests. A parametric study was conducted to investigate the influence of several variables on the structural response and residual capacity of insulated FRP-confined columns loaded by service loads when exposed to fire. The residual capacity of FRP-confined RC column was affected by concrete grade and insulation material and was shown to improve substantially by increasing the concrete cover and insulation layer thickness. By increasing the VG insulation layer thickness 15, 32, 44, 57 mm, the loss in column capacity after 5 hours of fire was 30%, 13%, 7% and 5%, respectively. The obtained results demonstrate the validity of the presented approach for estimation of fire endurance and residual strength, as an alternative for fire testing, and for design of fire protection layers for FRP-confined RC columns.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.139-151
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• 2022

Filling materials poured into precast member joint are subjected to restraint stress by the precast member and joint reinforcement. The induced stress will likely cause cracks at early ages and performance degradation of the entire structure. To prevent these issues and design reasonable joints, it is very important to analyze and evaluate the restrained shrinkage cracks of filling materials at various restraint conditions. In this study, a new time zero-that defines the shrinkage development time of a filling material-is proposed to calculate the accurate amount of shrinkage. The tensile stresses and strengths at different ages were compared through the ring test (AASHTO PP34) to evaluate the crack potential of the restrained filling materials at various restraint conditions. The mixture which contained an expansive additive and a shrinkage reducing agent exhibited high resistance to shrinkage cracking owing to the high-drying shrinkage compensation effect. The high-performance, fiber-reinforced cement composite, and ultra-high-performance, fiber-reinforced cement composite yielded very high resistance to shrinkage and cracking owing to the pull-out property of steel fibers. To this end, multiple nonlinear regression analyses were conducted based on the test results. Accordingly, a modified tensile stress equation that considered both the geometric shape of the specimen and the intrinsic properties of the material is proposed.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.191-198
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• 2022

FIB is introduced as the sole guideline for the design purpose that results in a practical relationship for the torsional capacity of concrete beams strengthened with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP). This study applies first-order reliability method to assess the reliability evaluation of the torsional capacity of CFRP-strengthened beams on the basis of FIB guidelines. In terms of steel reinforcement losses, this study applies a corrosion model to investigate the ceaseless deterioration of the existing structure. Hence, the average of reliability indices varies between 2.68 and 2.80, indicating the reliability viewpoint of the design methodologies. The average values are somehow low compared to the target values of reliability (3.0 or 3.5) applied in the calibration stage of the FIB guideline. In this way, the partial safety factors may change in the forthcoming guideline revisions. For this aim, the reliability of strengthening ratio was applied to assess the variation in the average value of the reliability index with different partial safety factors. The performance of parametric study for the factor proved that minimum values of 1.60 and 2.32 are required for target values of reliability (3.0 and 3.5), respectively.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.527-536
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• 2023

Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) bar has emerged as a viable and sustainable replacement to steel in reinforced concrete (RC) under severe corrosive environment. The behavior of concrete columns reinforced with FRP bars, spirals, and hoops is an ongoing area of research. In this study, 3D nonlinear numerical modelling of circular concrete columns reinforced with Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) bars and transversely confined with GFRP spirals were conducted using fracture-plastic model. The numerical models and experimental results are found to be in good agreement. The effectiveness of confinement was accessed through von-mises stresses, and it was found that the stresses in the concrete's core are higher with a 30 mm pitch (46 MPa) compared to a 60 mm pitch (36 MPa). The validated models are used to conduct parametric studies. In terms of axial load carrying capacity and member ductility, the effect of concrete strength, spiral pitch, and longitudinal reinforcement ratio are thoroughly investigated. The confinement effect and member ductility of a GFRP RC column increases as the spiral pitch decreases. It is also found that the confinement effect and member ductility decreased with increase in strength of concrete.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.163-173
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• 2024

Fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) have a proven strength enhancement capability when installed into Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams. The brittle failure of traditional FRP strengthening systems has attracted researchers to develop novel materials with improved strength and ductility properties. One such material is that known as polyethylene terephthalate (PET). This study presents a numerical investigation of the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams externally strengthened with PET-FRP systems. This material is distinguished by its large rupture strain, leading to an improvement in the ductility of the strengthened structural members compared to conventional FRPs. A three-dimensional (3-D) finite element (FE) model is developed in this study to predict the load-deflection response of a series of experimentally tested beams published in the literature. The numerical model incorporates constitutive material laws and bond-slip behavior between concrete and the strengthening system. Moreover, the validated model was applied in a parametric study to inspect the effect of concrete compressive strength, PET-FRP sheet length, and reinforcing steel bar diameter on the overall performance of concrete beams externally strengthened with PET-FRP.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.19-34
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• 2007

This paper presents results of a non-linear finite element analysis of axially loaded slender hollow structural section (HSS) columns, strengthened using high modulus carbon-fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) longitudinal sheets. The model was developed and verified against both experimental and other analytical models. Both geometric and material nonlinearities, which are attributed to the column's initial imperfection and plasticity of steel, respectively, are accounted for. Residual stresses have also been modeled. The axial strength in the experimental study was found to be highly dependent on the column's imperfection. Consequently, no specific correlation was established experimentally between strength gain and amount of CFRP. The model predicted the ultimate loads and failure modes quite reasonably and was used to isolate the effects of CFRP strengthening from the columns' imperfections. It was then used in a parametric study to examine columns of different slenderness ratios, imperfections, number of CFRP layers, and level of residual stresses. The study demonstrated the effectiveness of high modulus CFRP in increasing stiffness and strength of slender columns. While the columns' imperfections affect their actual strengths before and after strengthening,the percentage gain in strength is highly dependent on slenderness ratio and CFRP reinforcement ratio, rather than the value of imperfection.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.110-118
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• 2008

The use of FRP bar as reinforced concrete beams is considered as one of the most prominent solution that may overcome the corrosion of reinforcing steel bars. However, in the case of FRP reinforced concrete, both the reinforcing and the reinforced materials are brittle. For this reason, ductility of structures with FRP reinforcement is much less than that of structures with steel reinforcements. In this study, a method has been suggested to provide a meaningful quantification of ductility for concrete beams reinforced with FRP bars. This paper shows which the confinement to the compression concrete by the spiral can increase the ductility of FRP over-reinforced concrete beams.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.717-726
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• 2007

If conventional reinforcements are used for high-strength concrete (HSC) structures, a large amount of the reinforcement must be required to compensate for the brittleness of HSC and make the best use of HSC. This raises some structural problems such as steel congestion and an increase in self-weight. Therefore, alternative reinforcing materials and methods for HSC structures are needed. In this study, four full-scale beam specimens constructed with HSC (100 MPa) were tested to investigate the effect of the different shear reinforcements on the shear behavior. These four specimens were reinforced for shear stirrups with normal and high strength steels, headed bars, and carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) bars, respectively. In addition, steel fibers were added to the HSC in the two of the specimens to observe their beneficial effects. The use of high strength steels resulted in the improvement of the shear capacity since the shear resistance provided by the shear reinforcements and the bond strength were increased. The specimen reinforced with headed bars also showed a superior performance to the conventional steel reinforced specimen due to the considerably high anchorage strength of headed bar. CFRP bars used in this research, however, seemed to be inadequate for shear reinforcement because of the inferior bond capacity. The presence of the steel fibers in concrete led to remarkable improvement in the ductility of the specimens as well as in the overall cracks control capability.