Preparation and Reinforcement Adaptability of Jute Fiber Reinforced Magnesium Phosphate Cement Based Composite Materials

To improve the brittleness characteristics of magnesium phosphate cement-based materials(MPC)and to promote its promotion and application in the field of structural reinforcement and repair,this study aimed to increase the toughness of MPC by adding jute fiber,explore the effects of different amounts of jute fiber on the working and mechanical properties of MPC,and prepare jute fiber reinforced magnesium phosphate cement-based materials(JFRMPC)to reinforce damaged beams.The improvement effect of beam performance before and after reinforcement was compared,and the strengthening and toughening mechanisms of jute fiber on MPC were explored through microscopic analysis.The experimental results show that,as the content of jute fiber(JF)increases,the fluidity and setting time of MPC decrease continuously;When the content of jute fiber is 0.8%,the compressive strength,flexural strength,and bonding strength of MPC at 28 days reach their maximum values,which are increased by 18.0%,20.5%,and 22.6%compared to those of M0,respectively.The beam strengthened with JFRMPC can withstand greater deformation,with a deflection of 2.3 times that of the unreinforced beam at failure.The strain of the steel bar is greatly reduced,and the initial crack and failure loads of the reinforced beam are increased by 192.1%and 16.1%,respectively,compared to those of the unreinforced beam.The JF added to the MPC matrix dissipates energy through tensile fracture and debonding pull-out,slowing down stress concentration and inhibiting the free development of cracks in the matrix,enabling JFRMPC to exhibit higher strength and better toughness.The JF does not cause the hydration of MPC to generate new compounds but reduces the amount of hydration products generated.

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.

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.

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.

Structural Performance of Smart CFRP-FBG Reinforced Steel Beams

Many beam structures suffer from gradual performance degradation with the increase of service life.To recover the bearing capacity of these beams,carbon fiber reinforced polymer(CFRP)plates are developed to attached on the beam bottom.To check the structural performance of the CFRP reinforced beams,smart CFRP plate with FBGs in series is designed and LVDTs are adopted to measure the deformations.The deflection of the reinforced beam is given based on the elastic conversion cross-section method.The experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.The study shows that the CFRP reinforced zone has a larger flexural rigidity than the pure steel beam zone.The general distribution of the deflection along the span of the CFRP reinforced beam can be described by the proposed formula.It provides a scientific design guidance for the deflection control of CFRP reinforced structures.

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.

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.

Prediction of Load Carrying Capacity of Corroded Reinforced Concrete Beam

A novel method for prediction of the load carrying capacity of a corroded reinforced concrete beam (CRCB) is presented in the paper. Nine reinforced concrete beams, which had been working in an aggressive environment for more than 10 years, were tested in the laboratory. Comprehensive tests, including flexural test, strength test for corroded concrete and rusty rebar, and pullout test for bond strength between concrete and rebar, were conducted. ne flexural test results of CRCBs reveal that the distribution of surface cracks on the beams shows a fractal behavior. The relationship between the fractal dimensions and mechanical properties of CRCBs is then studied. A prediction model based on artificial neural network (ANN) is established by the use of the fractal dimension as the corrosion index, together with the basic information of the beam. The validity of the prediction model is demonstrated through the experimental data, and satisfactory results are achieved.

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.

Comparison on construction of strut-and-tie models for reinforced concrete deep beams

With consideration of the differences between concrete and steel,three solutions using genetic evolutionary structural optimization algorithm were presented to automatically develop optimal strut-and-tie model for deep beams.In the finite element analysis of the first method,the concrete and steel rebar are modeled by a plane element and a bar element,respectively.In the second method,the concrete and steel are assigned to two different plane elements,whereas in the third method only one kind of plane element is used with no consideration of the differences of the two materials.A simply supported beam under two point loads was presented as an example to verify the validity of the three proposed methods.The results indicates that all the three methods can generate optimal strut-and-tie models and the third algorithm has powerful capability in searching more optimal results with less computational effort.The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm III has also been demonstrated by other two examples.

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.

Lagged strain of laminates in RC beams strengthened with fiber-reinforced polymer

Based on the theory of concrete structure, a new expression was derived for lagged strain of fiber-reinforced polymer （FLIP） laminates in reinforced concrete （RC） beams strengthened with FRP. The influence of different preloaded states and nonlinear stress-strain relationship of compressed concrete were both taken into account in this approach. Then a simplified expression was given by ignoring tensile resistance of concrete. Comparison of analytical predictions with experimental results indicates satisfactory accuracy of the procedures. The errors are less than 8% and 10% respectively when the tensile resistance of concrete is or not considered. While the maximum error of existing procedures is up to 60%.

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.

Long-Term Loading Test of Reinforced Glulam Beam

Due to creep characteristics of wood,long-term loading can cause a significant stress loss of steel bars in rein-forced glulam beams and high long-term deflection of the beam midspan.In this study,15 glulam beams were subjected to a 90-day long-term loading test,and the effects of long-term loading value,reinforcement ratio and prestress level on the stress of steel bars,midspan long-term deflection,and other parameters were compared and analyzed.The main conclusions drawn from this study were that the long-term deflection of the reinforced glulam beams accounted for 22.5%,20.6%,and 18.2%of the total deflection respectively when the loading value was 20%,30%,and 40%of the estimated ultimate load under the long-term loading.The higher the loading level was,the smaller the proportion of the long-term deflection in the total deflection was.Compared with ordinary glulam beams,the long-term deflection of the reinforced glulam beam was even smaller.Under the condition of the constant loading level,the total stress value of the steel bars decreased by 17.5%,13.6%,and 9.1%,and the proportion of the long-term deflection of the beam midspan in the total deflection was 26.9%,24.2%,and 20.6%respectively when the reinforcement ratio was 2.05%,2.68%,and 3.39%.With the increase of the reinfor-cement ratio,the stress loss of the steel bars decreased,and the proportion of the long-term deflection decreased as well.When other conditions remained constant and the prestress level of the steel bars was 0 MPa,30 MPa,and 60 MPa,the total stress value of the steel bars decreased by 9.1%,9.4%,and 10.2%,respectively,and the propor-tion of the long-term deflection in the total deflection was 20.6%,26.1%,and 64.9%,respectively.With the increase of the prestress value,the stress loss of the steel bars increased,and the proportion of the long-term deflection increased as well.

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.

Shear strengthening of pre-damaged reinforced concrete beams with carbon fiber reinforced polymer sheet strips

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on the response of pre-damaged reinforced concrete （RC） beam strengthened in shear using applied-epoxy unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced polymer （CFRP） sheet. The reasearch included four test rectangular simply supported RC beams in shear capacity. One is the control beam, two RC beams are damaged to a predetermined degree from ultimate shear capacity of the control beam, and the last beam is left without pre-damaged and then strengthened with using externally bonded carbon fiber reinforced polymer to upgrade their shear capacity. We focused on the damage degree to beams during strengthening, therefore, only the beams with sidebonded CFRPs strips and horizontal anchored strips were used. The results show the feasibility of using CFRPs to restore or increase the load-carrying capacity in the shear of damaged RC beams. The failure mode of all the CFRP-strengthened beams is debonding of CFRP vertical strips. Two prediction available models in AC1-440 and fib European code were compared with the experimental results.

Strength Evaluation of Normal Strength and Self-compacting Reinforced Concrete Beams under the Effect of Impact Loading

This paper is devoted to investigate experimentally the strength evaluation of normal strength and self-compacting reinforced concrete beams under the effect of impact. The experimental work includes investigating of eight （180×250×1,200 ram） beam specimens. Three variables are adopted in this paper： tensile reinforcement ratio, type of concrete （NSC （normal strength concrete） or SCC （self-compacting concrete）） and height of falling （dropped） ball （1 m or 2 m）. The experimental results indicated that the number of blows increased with increasing of tensile reinforcement ratio and compressive strength by about 35% and 123%, respectively. Maximum mid-span deflection was increased with increasing falling height and decreased with increasing reinforcement ration and concrete compressive strength. The increasing of concrete compressive strength is more effective than increasing of the reinforcement ratio, it appeared that the percentage of increasing exceeds 50%. The ultimate strength is decreased with increasing the falling height for about 34%-44%.

Detecting Damage in Reinforced Concrete Beams Using Vibrational Characteristics

This paper evaluates two methods of diagnosing damage, Natural frequency and Stiffness-Frequency change-Based damage detection method in reinforced concrete beams under load using vibration characteristics such as natural frequency and mode shape. The research uses finite element method with crack damage instead of deleting or reducing the bearing capacity of the element like in previous studies. First, a theory of the damage diagnosis method based on the change of natural frequency and mode shape is presented. Next, the simulation results of reinforced concrete beams using ANSYS will be compared with the experiment. Particularly, the investigated damage cases are cracks in reinforced concrete beams under loads. Finally, we will evaluate the accuracy of the damage diagnosis methods and suggest the location of the vibration data and specify the failure threshold of the methods.

Interfacial Interaction of CFRP Reinforced Steel Beam Structures

Due to the increase of service life,the phenomenon of performance degradation of bridge structures becomes more and more common.It is important to strengthen the bridge structures so as to restore the resistance level and extend the normal service life.Carbon fiber reinforced polymer(CFRP)materials are thus used for the assembly reinforcement of bridges for the advantages of high strength,light weight,corrosion resistance and long-term stability of physical and chemical properties,etc.In view of this,based on the previous theoretical study and the established formula of the interfacial shear stress of CFRP reinforced steel beam and the normal stress of CFRP plate,this paper discusses the sensitive parameters that affect the interfacial interaction of CFRP strengthened beam structures.Through the analysis,the priority design indicators and suggestions are accordingly given for the design of reinforced beam structures.Young’s modulus of CFRP composite and shear modulus of the adhesive have the greatest influence on the interfacial interaction,which should be carefully considered.It is suggested that CFRP material with Ec close to 300 GPa and thickness no less than 3 mm,and adhesive material with Ga less than 5 GPa and 3-mm thickness can be adopted in CFRP reinforced steel beam.The conclusions of this paper can provide guidance for the interfacial damage control of CFRP reinforced steel beam structures.