Durability of concrete beams reinforced with CFRP sheet under wet-dry cycles and loading

The test results of eight concrete beams reinforced with carbon fiber reinforced polymer （CFRP） sheets subjected to an aggressive environment under a sustained load are presented. The beams are 1 700 mm long with a rectangular cross-section of 120- mm width and 200-mm depth. The beams are precracked with a four-point flexural load, bonded CFRP sheets, and placed into wet-dry saline water（ NaCl） either in an unstressed state or loaded to about 30% or 60% of the initial ultimate load. The individual and coupled effects of wet-dry saline water and sustained bending stresses on the long term behaviour of concrete beams reinforced with the CFRP are investigated. The test results show that the coupled action of wet-dry saline water and sustained bending stresses appears to significantly affect the load capacity and the failure mode of beam strengthened with CFRP, mainly due to the degradation of the bond between CFRP and concrete. However, the stiffness is not affected by the coupled action of wet-dry cycles and a sustained load.

Strengthening effects of BFRP on reinforced concrete beams

Reinforced concrete （RC） beams externally bonded with basalt fiber reinforced polymer （BFRP） are experimentally investigated by using different numbers of bonding plies, transverse anchorages as well as the initial conditions of strengthened beams. The performances of the BFRP strengthening are compared with those of the carbon fiber reinforced polymer （CFRP） and the glass fiber reinforced polymer （GFRP） under the same experimental condition. Experimental results indicate that the strength and ductility of the strengthened beam with two plies of the BFRP are improved remarkably than those with one ply. The strengthening effects of the BFRP lie between those of the CFRP and the GFRP. The BFRP strengthening is little influenced by pre-cracks of concrete. Most failures are caused by interfaciai debonding induced by flexural cracks in the experiment. Clamping of Uwraps along the whole beam is less efficient than endpoint anchorage for increasing the ultimate load of the strengthened beam. Finally, the models suggested by the five guidelines for predicting the debonding strain of the CFRP are extended to the BFRP and the conservative estimates of the debonding strain of the BFRP are given as well.

Ultimate load bearing capacity evaluation of concrete beams subjected to freeze-thaw cycles

A theoretical prediction method based on the change of concrete material is proposed to evaluate the ultimate bending moment of concrete beams which have undergone freeze-thaw cycles （PTCs）. First, the freeze-thaw damage on concrete material is analyzed and the residual compressive strength is chosen to indicate the freeze-thaw damage. Then, the equivalent block method is employed to simplify the compressive stress-strain curve of the freeze-thaw damaged concrete and the mathematical expression for the ultimate bending moment is obtained. Comparisons of the predicted results with the test data indicate that the ultimate bending moment of concrete beams affected by FTC attack can be predicted by this proposed method. However, the bond-slip behavior and the randomness of freeze-thaw damage will affect the accuracy of the predicted results, especially when the residual compressive strength is less than 50%.

Flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams with high performance fiber reinforced cementitious composites

This article presents an experimental study on the flexural performance of reinforced concrete(RC)beams with fiber reinforced cementitious composites(FRCC)and hybrid fiber reinforced cementitious composites(HFRCC)in the hinge portion.Beam specimens with moderate confinement were used in the study and tested under monotonic loading.Seven diverse types of FRCC including hybrid composites using fibers in different profiles and in different volumes are employed in this study.Companion specimens such as cylindrical specimens and prism specimens are also used to study the physical properties of composites employed.The moment?curvature,stiffness behavior,ductility,crack pattern and modified flexural damage ratio are the main factors considered in this study to observe the efficacy of the employed hybrid composites.The experimental outputs demonstrate the improved post yield behavior with less rate of stiffness degradation and better damage tolerance capacity than conventional technique.

Tensile Strength Characteristics of GFRP Bars in Concrete Beams with Work Cracks under Sustained Loading and Severe Environments

To investigate the effect of different environmental conditions of GFRP bars in concrete beams with work cracks subjected to sustained loads, the beams were exposed in indoor, freeze/thaw cycles and immersed in alkaline solution at elevated temperature. The bars were carefully extracted from the beams and tested in order to evaluate residual tensile properties. The results show that the tensile strength decreased significantly in the highly aggressive conditions but not in the natural conditions. The effect of GFRP bars casting in concrete beams demonstrated approximately 2.5% decrease of tensile strength caused by pore water environment in concrete beams on basis of those of the original bars. The effect of sustained loading plus work cracks demonstrated about 10.5% tensile strength decrease on basis of those of the bars only casted in concrete beams. The effect of environments under sustained loading plus work cracks demonstrated about 17% tensile strength decrease caused by a saturated solution of Ca（OH）2 and 60-2 ℃ tap water （pH=12-13） and about 8% tensile strength decrease caused by freezing and thawing cycle （F/T）, both on basis of those of the bars of the indoor beams only under sustained loading plus work cracks. The results demonstrate the effects of the tensile strengths under different environmental conditions of GFRP bars in concrete beams with work cracks subjected to sustained loads.

Behavior of Corrosion-Repaired Concrete Beams Reinforced by Epoxy Mortar

The performance of concrete beams repaired with epoxy mortar was investigated by constructing twelve beam specimens.All the beam specimens were subjected to a constant current for accelerated corrosion.Six specimens were corroded without subsequent reparation as a control group,and the other six beam specimens were corroded and repaired utilizing epoxy mortar.All specimens were tested to failure.During test process,we focused on the failure pattern of beam specimens,structural cracks,mid-deflections,bearing capacity,and probed into the influence of corrosion degree and repair of epoxy mortar on the performance of beam specimens.It was observed that corrosion-repaired beams in the loading test were in a bending failure pattern.It is obvious that cracking loads and bending stiffness of repaired beams and corrosion-repaired beams were larger than those of unrepaired beams and secondly-corroded beams.When the mass loss of main steel bars was smaller than 10%,the bearing capacity of the repaired beams was similar to that of the unrepaired beams.When the mass loss of main steel bars was larger than 10%,the bearing capacity of the repaired beams increased significantly compared with that of the unrepaired beams.

Comparison study on calculation methods of bending behavior of Chinese reinforced concrete beams from 1912 to 1949

In order to study the calculation methods of bending behavior of Chinese reinforced concrete beams from 1912 to 1949, tests on the mechanical performance of 66 rebars from different modem Chinese concrete buildings, the concrete compressive strength of 12 modem Chinese concrete buildings, and the concrete cover thickness of 9 modem Chinese concrete buildings are carried out; and the actual material properties and structural conformations of modem Chinese concrete buildings are obtained. Then, the comparison on calculation methods of bending behavior including the original Chinese calculation method, the present Chinese calculation method, the present American calculation method and the present European calculation method is studied. The results show that the original Chinese calculation method of bending behavior is based on the allowable stress calculation method, and the design safety factors are 3.55 to 4. 0. In term of the calculation area of longitudinal rebars of reinforced concrete beams, without considering earthquake action, the original Chinese structural calculation method is safer than the present Chinese structural calculation method, the present European structural calculation method, and the present American structural calculation method. The results can provide support for the structural safety assessments of modem Chinese reinforced concrete buildings.

Long term behavior of self-compacting reinforced concrete beams

Tests were carried out on 8 self-compacting reinforced concrete(SCC) beams and 4 normal reinforced concrete beams. The effects of mode of consolidation,load level,reinforcing ratio and structural type on long term behavior of SCC were investigated. Under the same environmental conditions,the shrinkage-time curve of self-compacting concrete beam is very similar to that of normal concrete beam. For both self-compacting reinforced concrete beams and normal reinforced concrete beams,the rate of shrinkage at early stages is higher,the shrinkage strain at 2 months is about 60% of the maximum value at one year. The shrinkage strain of self-compacting reinforced concrete beam after one year is about 450×10-6. Creep deflection of self-compacting reinforced concrete beam decreases as the tensile reinforcing ratio increases. The deflection creep coefficient of self-compacting reinforced concrete beam after one and a half year is about 1.6,which is very close to that of normal reinforced concrete beams cast with vibration. Extra cautions considering shrinkage and creep behavior are not needed for the use of SCC in engineering practices.

Experimental and theoretical analysis on the natural frequency of external prestressed concrete beams

Analyses and computations of the natural frequencies of external prestressed concrete structures are the bases for studying the dynamic properties of such structures. We carded out dynamic tests on three types of external simply supported beams, pulling the beams gradually. Then vertical loads were applied to the beams while the frequencies and related coefficients were measured at every step. We calculated natural frequencies and the results indicate that natural frequencies increase as the prestressing force rises in the pre-crack stage, and decrease significantly during the post-crack stage. Substantial incoincidences exist between the calculated and experimental results for the frequency and its tendency to changel Based on the experimental results, we modified the stiffness and other parameters in the equations. The results calculated using the modified equations agree with experimental results well, so the modified eauations can be used nractically.

PEELING-OFF PHENOMENON IN FRP STRENGTHENED CONCRETE BEAMS DUE TO THERMAL RESIDUAL STRESS

Peeling-off phenomena in FRP strengthened concrete beams are investigated in this paper. Based on the beam theory and the fracture mechanics, a new theoretical model is proposed to analyze the peeling-off behavior near FRP-concrete interfaces, which is governed by residual thermal stresses. Numerical examples are presented to provide a clear insight into the failure mechanism. Some suggestions are provided for the optimal design of FRP strengthened structures.

Experimental Shear Study on Reinforced High Strength Concrete Beams Made Using Blended Cement

With the increased application of High Strength Concrete(HSC)in construction and lack of proper guidelines for structural design in India,behavioral study of high strength concrete is an important aspect of research.Research on the behavior of HSC reinforced beams with concrete strength more than 60 MPa has been carried out in the past and is still continuing to understand the structural behavior of HSC beams.Along with the many benefits of the high strength concrete,the more brittle behavior is of concern which leads to sudden failure.This paper presents the behavior of reinforced HSC beams in shear with considering the effects of various factors like shear reinforcement ratio,longitudinal reinforcement ratio,l/d ratio(length to depth ratio),etc.Ten numbers Reinforced Concrete Beams of various sizes using concrete mix with three different w/c ratios(0.46,0.26 and 0.21)were cast for shear strength assessment.The beams were tested in simply supported condition over two fixed steel pedestals with load rate of 0.2 mm/minute in displacement control.Mid-point deflection was measured using LVDT.A comparative analysis of theoretical approaches of Euro code,extension of current IS code up to M90 and the experimental data was done to understand the behavior of beams.Shear capacities of beams without any factors of safety were used to assess the actual capacities and then was compared with the experimental capacity obtained.Results of this study can be used in the design of high strength concrete and will be more reliable in Indian continent as the regional materials and exposure conditions were considered.

Research on Flexural Behavior of Coral Aggregate Reinforced Concrete Beams

Through the flexural behavior test of coral aggregate reinforced concrete beams(CARCB) and ordinary Portland reinforced concrete beams(OPRCB), and based on the parameters of concrete types, concrete strength grades and reinforcement ratios, the crack development, failure mode, midspan deflection and flexural capacity were studied, the relationships of bending moment-midspan deflection, load-longitudinal tensile reinforcement strain, load-maximum crack width were established, and a calculation model for the flexural capacity of CARCB was suggested. The results showed that with the increase in the reinforcement ratio and concrete strength grade, the crack bending moment(Mcr)and ultimate bending moment(Mu) of CARCB gradually increased. The characteristics of CARCB and OPRCB are basically the same. Furthermore, through increasing the concrete strength grade and reinforcement ratio, Mcr/Mu could be increased to delay the cracking of CARCB. As the load increased, crack width(w) would also increase. At the beginning of the loading, w increased slowly. And then it increased rapidly when the load reached to the ultimate load, which then led to beam failure. Meanwhile, with a comprehensive consideration of the effects of steel corrosion on the loss of steel section and the decrease of steel yield strength, a more reasonable calculation model for the flexural capacity of CARCB was proposed.

Dynamic responses of reinforced concrete beams under double-endinitiated close-in explosion

The reinforced concrete(RC) structural component might suffer a great damage under close-in explosion.Different from distant explosions, blast loads generated by the close-in explosion are non-uniformly distributed on the structural component and may cause both local and structural failure. In this study,an experimental study was conducted to investigate the dynamic responses of RC beams under doubleend-initiated close-in explosions. The experimental results show that the distribution of blast loads generated by the double-end-initiated explosion is much more non-uniform than those generated by single-point detonation, which is caused by the self-Mach-reflection effects. A 3 D finite element model was developed and validated in LS-DYNA by employing the modified K&C model. Intensive numerical calculations were conducted to study the influences of the initiation way, scaled distance and longitudinal reinforcement ratio on the dynamic responses and failure modes of RC beams. Numerical results show that the RC beam suffers greater damage as the cylindrical explosive is detonated at its double ends than the scenario in which the cylindrical explosive is detonated at its central point. RC beams mainly suffer flexural failure and flexure-shear failure under the double-end close-in explosion, and the failure modes of RC beams change from the flexural damage to flexure-shear damage as the scaled distance or the longitudinal reinforcement ratio decreases. The direct shear failure mode is not usually observed in the double-end-initiated explosion, since the intense blast loads is basically concentrated in the midspan of RC beam, which is due to self-Mach-reflection enhancement.

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of High-Strength Concrete Beams Including Steel Fibers and Large-Particle Recycled Coarse Aggregates

In order to study the performances of high-strength concrete beams including steel fibers and large-particle recycled aggregates,four different beams have been designed,tested experimentally and simulated numerically.As varying parameters,the replacement rates of recycled coarse aggregates and CFRP(carbon fiber reinforced polymer)sheets have been considered.The failure mode of these beams,related load deflection curves,stirrup strain and shear capacity have been determined through monotonic loading tests.The simulations have been conducted using the ABAQUS finite element software.The results show that the shear failure mode of recycled concrete beams is similar to that of ordinary concrete beams.The shear carrying capacity of high-strength concrete beams including steel fibers and large-particle recycled coarse aggregates grows with an increase in the replacement rate of recycled coarse aggregates.Reinforcement with CFRP sheets can significantly improve the beam’s shear carrying capacity and overall resistance to deformation.

Stress redistribution of simply supported reinforced concrete beams under fire conditions

This study presents experimental and numerical investigations of simply supported steel reinforced concrete(RC)beams under fire.The temperature field of cross sections,the vertical deflection at mid-span,and specifically the axial expansion displacement at beam-ends were measured during the fire tests.A novel finite element(FE)model of a RC beam under fire was developed,in which the water loss in the heat transfer analysis and the concrete transient strain in the mechanical analysis were considered.Based on the validated FE model proposed in this study,parametric studies were conducted to investigate the effects of the beam type,the protective layer thickness,and the load ratio on the thermal and mechanical behavior of simply supported RC beams.It was found that greater fire resistance and fire performance of girder beams in comparison to secondary beams contributed to the non-structural reinforcements,which effectively compensated for the reduced tensile capacities of structural reinforcements because of the degradation of the material properties.In addition,the history of normal stress distributions of concrete under fire can be divided into three phases:expansion,stress redistribution and plateau phases.

Experimental research on refractory performance of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with CFRP sheets bonded with an inorganic adhesive

To meet the requirement of fire endurance for concrete structures strengthened with CFRP sheets, this study develops an inorganic adhesive whose strength at 600 ℃ is not lower than that at normal room temperature. The inorganic adhesive is then used to bond CFRP sheets on reinforced concrete beams in order to strengthen them. The fire protection of the CFRP sheets is done using the thick-type fireproofing coatings for tunnel ( TFCT) and steel structure ( TFCSS) respectively. Four specimens are tested in the furnace together. Specimens are exposed to fire for 1. 5 h in according to the ISO834 standard fire curve,and then naturally cooled for 1 h. In the tests,the largest displacements at the mid-span positions of specimens are only from 1 /1400 to 1 /318 of actual span corresponding to the highest temperatures from 300 ℃ to 470 ℃. After the specimens are naturally cooled to the normal temperature and the fireproofing coatings are then removed,it can be seen that the CFRP sheets keep in a good state,which indicates that CFRP sheets can be tightly bonded on the concrete and work well together with the concrete beams during and after fire. Besides,the tests also verify that the fire performance of TFCT is superior to TFCSS for the strengthened beams.

Fatigue Damage Modeling for Partially Prestressed Concrete Beams under Repeated Loadings with Variable Amplitude

A full-range nonlinear analysis method for fatigue damage in prestressed concrete beams is presented. New damage accumulation models are proposed to describe the fatigue damage evolution in concrete and reinforcement respectively. Based on the stress analysis for cross section, the stress redistrbution in the fatigue damage process, due to the different damage mechanisms of concrete and reinforcement, is considered. The nonlinear damage analysis is achieved by means of piecewise linearity, and it is applicable on the condition of repeated loadings with variable amplitude. Fatigue damage modeling of a beam is implemented to illustrate that the proposed method can preferably fit the experimental results.

Performance of Epoxy-Repaired Corroded Reinforced Concrete Beams

Reinforcement corrosion has a serious impact on the durability and safety of reinforced concrete structures.Six reinforced concrete(RC)beam specimens are constructed.After beam specimens are subjected to accelerated corrosion with the constant current,beam specimens are repaired with epoxy mortar and the flexural test of beams is investigated.Then the behaviors of repaired corroded reinforced concrete beams are evaluated.The experimental results show that cracking and ultimate loads of corroded RC beams are enhanced after being repaired.And the strain distributions measured across sections of beam specimens still obey the assumption of plane section.After being repaired,the number of cracks decreases and the crack spacing increases.

Simulation of Fatigue Stiffness Degradation in Prestressed Concrete Beams under Cyclic Loading

In order to investigate and research the fatigue cracking of prestressed concrete fatigue properties and loading and stiffness degeneration process,cyclic loading tests were carried out on six prestressed concrete beams and the stiffness degradation under fatigue was investigated. A simulation model of stiffness degradation is proposed based on the stiffness analysis of the fatigue-damaged section. The elastic modulus of damaged concrete and the effective residual area of steel were introduced as well as an adjusted three-stage concrete fatigue damage evolution model. The strip method was used to analyze concrete damage due to changing stress along the depth of the beam section. The simulation and test results were compared and a method of predicting fatigue deflection was presented based on the simulation model. The predicted results were compared with that of the neural network method. It is in good agreement for the simulation results with the test results. It is only less than5% error for the simulation model which can reveal the two-stage degradation of prestressed concrete beams under cyclic loading. It is more precise for the simulation prediction method under proper conditions.

Shear Strength of Reinforced Concrete Beams Under Sea Water

The marine structures such as harbour,pier and inshore concrete terrace are exposed in adverse circumstances in a long period of time .Owing to the attack of external corrosive medium,their safety,durability and reliability decline.Especially the reinforced concrete(RC) structures in the wave splash area are more likely to be subjected to destruction and the loss is vast. Now the safety ,durability and reliability of structure have become increasingly an important subject to be studied.By way of the soaking and drying cycle test on the different mix proportions oblique section of 10 pieces of RC beams suffered artificial sea water(ASW) corrosion under 0,35,70,105,140 times of dry-wet cycles,the compared results of exerting pressure test of these beams under simply supporting were investigated. The law about the changes of the mechanical performance for RC beams with different mix proportions under different time periods for suffering corrosion of dry-wet cycles is as follows: the resistivity to ASW corrosion of the concrete specimens with various water cement ratio(various initial strength)is different;the characters of oblique section failure for RC beams attacked by sea water are about the same as those for ordinary RC beam; along with the extension of the time for sea water attack, the bearing capacity for oblique section of RC beams varies wave upon wave.The specimens attacked by sea water for about 35 times of corrosion cycle achieve minimum bearing capacity.