• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.351-363
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• 2023

Reducing the self-weight of reinforced concrete structures problem is discussed in this paper by using two types of self-weight reduction, the first is by using lightweight coarse aggregate (crushed brick) and the second is by using styropor block. Experimental and Numerical studies are conducted on (LWAC) lightweight aggregate reinforced concrete slabs, having styropor blocks with various sizes of blocks and the ratio of shear span to the effective depth (a/d). The experimental part included testing eleven lightweight concrete one-way simply supported slabs, comprising three as reference slabs (solid slabs) and eight as styropor block slabs (SBS) with a total reduction in cross-sectional area of (43.3% and 49.7%) were considered. The holes were formed by placing styropor at the ineffective concrete zones in resisting the tensile stresses. The length, width, and thickness of specimen dimensions were 1.1 m, 0.6 m, and 0.12 m respectively, except one specimen had a depth of 85 mm (which has a cross-sectional area equal to styropor block slab with a weight reduction of 49.7%). Two shear spans to effective depth ratios (a/d) of (3.125) for load case (A) and (a/d) of (2) for load case (B), (two-line monotonic loads) are considered. The test results showed under loading cases A and B (using minimum shear reinforcement and the reduction in cross-sectional area of styropor block slab by 29.1%) caused an increase in strength capacity by 60.4% and 54.6 % compared to the lightweight reference slab. Also, the best percentage of reduction in cross-sectional area is found to be 49.7%. Numerically, the computer program named (ANSYS) was used to study the behavior of these reinforced concrete slabs by using the finite element method. The results show acceptable agreement with the experimental test results. The average difference between experimental and numerical results is found to be (11.06%) in ultimate strength and (5.33%) in ultimate deflection.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-23
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• 2023

Various efforts have been made to reduce the weight of concrete slabs while preserving their flexural strength. This will result in reducing deflection and allows the utilization of longer spans. The top zone of the slab requires concrete to create the compression block for flexural strength, and the tension zone needs concrete to join with reinforcing for flexural strength. Also, the top and bottom slab faces must be linked to transmit stresses. Voided slab systems were and are still used to make long-span slab buildings lighter. Eight slab specimens of (1000^*1000 (1000^*1000 mm²) were cast and tested as two-way simply supported slabs in this research. The tested specimens consist of one solid slab and seven voided slabs with the following variables (type of slab solid and voided), thickness of slab (100 and 125 mm), presence of steel fibers (0% and 1%), and the number of GFRP layers). The voids in slabs were made using high-density polystyrene of dimensions (200^*200^*50 mm) with a central hole of dimensions (50^*50^*50 mm) at the ineffective concrete zones to give a reduction in weight by (34% to 38%). The slabs were tested as simply supported slabs under partial uniform loading. The results of specimens subjected to monotonic loading show that the combined strengthening by steel fibers and GFRP sheets of the concrete specimen (V-125-2GF-1%) shows the least deflection, deflection (4.6 mm), good ultimate loading capacity (192 MPa), large stiffness at cracking and at ultimate (57 and 41.74) respectively, more ductility (1.44), and high energy absorption (1344.83 kN.mm); so it's the best specimen that can be used as a voided slab under this type of loading.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1998.04b
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• pp.469-474
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• 1998

To overcome the common deficiencies found in two-way slabs, such as excessive cracking around columns, excessive deflections and low punching shear strength, it was proposed to investigate the strategic use of steel fiber-reinforced concrete. Providing fiber-reinforced concrete results in an increase in the punching shear resistance, a significant increase in the ductility, greater post-cracking stiffness and better crack control.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.60 no.2
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• pp.301-312
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• 2016

In a concrete member under pure tension, the stress in concrete is uniformly distributed over the whole concrete section. It is supposed that a local bond failure occurs at each crack, and there is a relative slip between steel and surrounding concrete. The compatibility of deformation between the concrete and reinforcement is thus not maintained. The bond transfer length is a length of reinforcement adjacent to the crack where the compatibility of strain between the steel and concrete is not maintained because of partially bond breakdown and slip. It is an empirical measure of the bond characteristics of the reinforcement, incorporating bar diameter and surface characteristics such as texture. Based on results from a series of previously conducted long-term tests on eight restrained reinforced concrete slab specimens and material properties including creep and shrinkage of two concrete batches, the ratio of final bond transfer length after all shrinkage cracking, to THE initial bond transfer length is presented.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.87-106
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• 2016

This paper deals with the reliability analysis of design formulations derived for predicting the punching shear capacity of FRP-reinforced two-way slabs. Firstly, a new design code formulation was derived by means of gene expression programming. This formulation differs from the existing ones as the slab length (L) was introduced in the equation. Next, the proposed formulation was tested for its generalization capability by a parametric study. Then, the stochastic analyses of derived and existing formulations were performed by Monte Carlo simulation. Finally, the reliability analyses of these equations were carried out based on the results of stochastic analysis and the ultimate state function of ASCE-7 and ACI-318 (2011). The results indicate that the prediction performance of new formulation is significantly higher as compared to available design equations and its reliability index is within acceptable limits.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.709-737
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• 2014

Fibre-reinforced self-compacting concrete (FRSCC) is a high-performance building material that combines positive aspects of fresh properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) with improved characteristics of hardened concrete as a result of fibre addition. To produce SCC, either the constituent materials or the corresponding mix proportions may notably differ from the conventional concrete (CC). These modifications besides enhance the concrete fresh properties affect the hardened properties of the concrete. Therefore, it is vital to investigate whether all the assumed hypotheses about CC are also valid for SCC structures. In the present paper, the experimental results of short-term flexural load tests on eight reinforced SCC and FRSCC specimens slabs are presented. For this purpose, four SCC mixes - two plain SCC, two steel, two polypropylene, and two hybrid FRSCC slab specimens - are considered in the test program. The tests are conducted to study the development of SCC and FRSCC flexural cracking under increasing short-term loads from first cracking through to flexural failure. The achieved experimental results give the SCC and FRSCC slabs bond shear stresses for short-term crack width calculation. Therefore, the adopted bond shear stress for each mix slab is presented in this study. Crack width, crack patterns, deflections at mid-span, steel strains and concrete surface strains at the steel levels were recorded at each load increment in the post-cracking range.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.489-505
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• 2012

This paper presents a simplified grid beam model for simulating the nonlinear response of reinforced concrete flat-plate structures. The beam elements are defined with nonlinear behavior for bending moment and torsion. The flexural stiffness and torsional strength of the beam elements are defined based on experimental data to implicitly account for slab two-way bending effects. A failure criterion that considers the interaction between the punching strength and slab flexural behavior is incorporated in the model. The effects of bond-slip of slab reinforcement on connection stiffness are examined. The proposed grid beam model is validated by simulating large-scale tests of slab-column connections subjected to concentric gravity loading and unbalanced moment. This study also determines the critical parameters for a hysteretic model used to simulate flat-plates subjected to cyclic lateral loading.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.62 no.3
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• pp.373-380
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• 2017

Concrete structures are often subjected to long-term static and short-term dynamic loads. Due to a relatively low tensile strength and energy dissipating characteristics, the impact resistance of concrete is considered poor. This study investigates the feasibility of using polypropylene fibers to improve the impact resistance of reinforced concrete slabs. Fourteen polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete slabs were fabricated and tested using a drop weight test. The effects of slab thickness, fiber volume fractions, and impact energy on the dynamic behaviors were evaluated mainly in terms of impact resistant, crack patterns, and failure modes. The post impact induced strains versus time responses were obtained for all slabs. The results showed that adding the polypropylene fiber at a dosage of 0.90% by volume of concrete leads to significant improvement in the overall structural behavior of the slabs and their resistance to impact loading. Interestingly, the enhancement in the behavior of the slabs using a higher fiber dosage of 1.2% was not as good as achieved with 0.90%.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.5
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• pp.515-524
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• 2019

The present study deals with the simulation of low velocity impact on prestressed and reinforced concrete (RC) slabs supported with different end conditions. The prestress is pre-applied on the RC slab in an analytical approach for the prestressed slab. RC slabs with dimensions $500{\times}600{\times}60mm$, $500{\times}600{\times}80mm$ and $500{\times}600{\times}120mm$ were used by changing support condition in two different ways; (i) Opposite sides simply supported, (ii) Adjacent sides simply supported with opposite corner propped. Deflection response of these specimens were found for the impact due to three different velocities. The effect of grade of concrete on deflection due to the impact of these slabs were also studied. Deflection result of $500{\times}500{\times}50mm$ slab was calculated numerically and compared the result with the available experimental result in literature. Finite element analyses were performed using commercially available ANSYS 16.2 software. The effectiveness of prestressing on impact resistant capacity of RC slabs are demonstrated by the way of comparing the deflection of RC slabs under similar impact loadings.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1-9
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• 2013

This paper presents high-velocity impact analysis of two-way RC slabs, including steel fibers and strengthening with fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) sheets for evaluating impact resistance. The analysis uses the LS-DYNA program, which is advanced in impact analysis. The present analysis was performed similarly to the high-velocity impact tests conducted by VTT, the technical research center of Finland, to verify the analysis results. High-velocity impact loads were applied to $2100{\times}2100{\times}250$ mm size two-way RC slab specimens, using a non-deformable steel projectile of 47.5kg mass and 134.9m/s velocity. In this research, extra impact analysis of material specimens was carried out to verify the material models used to the analysis. The elastic-plastic hydrodynamic model, concrete damage model and orthotropic elastic model were used to simulate the non-linear softening behavior of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC), and material properties of normal concrete and FRP sheets, respectively. It is concluded that the suggested analysis technique has good reliability, and can be effectively applied in evaluating the effectiveness of reinforcing/retrofitting materials and techniques. Also, the Steel fiber and FRP sheet strengthening systems provided outstanding performance under high-velocity impact loads.