Study on High Strength Concrete Confined by Continuous Carbon Fiber Sheet

Eight high strength concrete (HSC) prisms strengthened with continuous carbon fiber sheet(CFS)were tested.As a result of the confinement provided by CFS,the concrete would fail at a greater strain than the unconfined and then a significant increase in ductility can be achieved.The lateral pressure exerted by CFS would increase the compressive strength of the concrete,resulting in higher load bearing capacity.This paper proposes the stress strain curve of this kind of hybrid specimen,which agrees well with the test results.Based on the stress strain relationship and the assumptions proposed in this paper,a computer program was developed to analyze HSC columns,confined by CFS,which were subjected to axial compression and biaxial bending.The results shown in this paper indicate that the ductility of HSC column is significantly improved and the strength is also increased by some degree.

RESEARCH ON T SHAPED HIGH STRENGTH CONCRETE MEMBERS SUBJECTED TO AXIAL COMPRESSION AND BIAXIAL BENDING

Based on experiments, a computer program is developed. The calculated results agree well with the experimental results. The flexural behavior of T shaped high strength concrete members subjected to axial compression and biaxial bending is studied. The main factors affecting the flexural behavior of T shaped high strength concrete members are loading angle, axial compression ratio and reinforcement ratio.

Strength of circular concrete columns under concentric compression

An experimental study, in which six columns were loaded concentrically toinvestigate the behavior of reinforced normal strength and high strength circular columns underconcentric compression, is described. The concrete strengths of the columns were 30 MPa and 60 MPa.The primary variables considered were the concrete strength and the amount of transversereinforcement. Test results indicate that smaller hoop spacing provides higher column capacity andgreater strength enhancement in a confined concrete core of columns. For the same lateralconfinement, high strength concrete columns develop lower strength enhancement than normal strengthconcrete columns. Both the strength enhancement ratio (f'_(cc) /f'_(co)) and the column capacityratio (P_(test)/P_o) were observed to show linear increase variations with rho_s f_(yt)/f'_c incircular columns.

STRENGTH CRITERION FOR PLAIN CONCRETE UNDER MULTIAXIAL STRESS BASED ON DAMAGE POISSON’S RATIO

A new unified strength criterion in the principal stress space has been proposed for use with normal strength concrete （NC） and high strength concrete （HSC） in compressioncompression-tension, compression-tension-tension, triaxial tension, and biaxial stress states. The study covers concrete with strengths ranging from 20 to 130 MPa. The conception of damage Poisson＇s ratio is defined and the expression for damage Poisson＇s ratio is determined basically. The failure mechanism of concrete is illustrated, which points out that damage Poisson＇s ratio is the key to determining the failure of concrete. Furthermore, for the concrete under biaxial stress conditions, the unified strength criterion is simplified and a simplified strength criterion in the form of curves is also proposed. The strength criterion is physically meaningful and easy to calculate, which can be applied to analytic solution and numerical solution of concrete structures.

Internal Curing Using Water-releasing Material for High Strength Micro-expansive Concrete

Due to its low water content, it is difficult for expansive agent to have an effective expansive effect on high strength concrete to compensate its extensive shrinkage and form a certain expansion. To solve this problem, water-releasing material with water storage and releasing characteristics was incorporated into high strength micro-expansive concrete to provide internal curing, and expansive effect of expansive agent was improved. Migration of water from initially saturated water-releasing material to the surrounding hydrating cement paste was investigated. Based on a given efficient diffusion distance of water stored in water-releasing material, the mass and real water-cement ratio of cured cement paste were estimated. At the same time, the effect of internal curing of water-releasing material on the volume deformation of high strength micro-expansive concrete was investigated.

Influence of MB-value of Manufactured Sand on the Shrinkage and Cracking of High Strength Concrete

The relation between methylene blue （MB） value of MS and its limestone dust content and clay content was investigated. The effects of MB value ranging from 0.35 to 2.5 on the workability of fresh concrete and crack propagation characteristics at the age of 24 hours, and effects on the mechanical properties, dry shrinkage of the harden concrete were tested. The experimental results show that the MB value is not related with the limestone dust content of MS, but in direct proportion to clay content. With the increase of MB value, the concrete workability decreases, and the flexural strength and 7 d compressive strength reduce markedly, whearas the 28 d compressive strength is not affected. When the MB-value is less than or equal to 1.35, the change of the MB-value has a little influence on early plastic cracking and dry shrinkage property of concrete, but when the MB-value is more than 1.35, the tendency of plastic cracking and dry shrinkage is remarkable.

Digital Vision Based Concrete Compressive Strength Evaluating Model Using Deep Convolutional Neural Network

Compressive strength of concrete is a significant factor to assess building structure health and safety.Therefore,various methods have been developed to evaluate the compressive strength of concrete structures.However,previous methods have several challenges in costly,time-consuming,and unsafety.To address these drawbacks,this paper proposed a digital vision based concrete compressive strength evaluating model using deep convolutional neural network(DCNN).The proposed model presented an alternative approach to evaluating the concrete strength and contributed to improving efficiency and accuracy.The model was developed with 4,000 digital images and 61,996 images extracted from video recordings collected from concrete samples.The experimental results indicated a root mean square error(RMSE)value of 3.56(MPa),demonstrating a strong feasibility that the proposed model can be utilized to predict the concrete strength with digital images of their surfaces and advantages to overcome the previous limitations.This experiment contributed to provide the basis that could be extended to future research with image analysis technique and artificial neural network in the diagnosis of concrete building structures.

Modified imperialist competitive algorithm-based neural network to determine shear strength of concrete beams reinforced with FRP

Fiber reinforced polymers (FRPs), unlike steel, are corrosion-resistant and therefore are of interest;however, their use is hindered because their brittle shear is formulated in most specifications using limited data available at the time. We aimed to predict the shear strength of concrete beams reinforced with FRP bars and without stirrups by compiling a relatively large database of 198 previously published test results (available in appendix). To model shear strength, an artificial neural network was trained by an ensemble of Levenberg-Marquardt and imperialist competitive algorithms. The results suggested superior accuracy of model compared to equations available in specifications and literature.

Experimental investigation of axially loaded steel fiber reinforced high strength concrete-filled steel tube columns

An experimental study on the compressive behavior of steel fiber reinforced concrete-filled steel tube columns is presented. Specimens were tested to investigate the effects of the concrete strength, the thickness of steel tube and the steel fiber volume fraction on the ultimate strength and the ductility. The experimental results indicate that the addition of steel fibers in concrete can significantly improve the ductility and the energy dissipation capacity of the concrete-filled steel tube columns and delay the local buckling of the steel tube, but has no obvious effect on the failure mode. It has also been found that the addition of steel fibers is a more effective method than using thicker steel tube in enhancing the ductility, and more advantageous in the case of higher strength concrete. An analytical model to estimate the load capacity is proposed for steel tube columns filled with both plain concrete and steel fiber reinforced concrete. The predicted results are in good agreement with the experimental ones obtained in this work and literatures.

Seismic performance of steel reinforced ultra high-strength concrete composite frame joints

To investigate the seismic performance of a composite frame comprised of steel reinforced ultra high-strength concrete （SRUHSC） columns and steel reinforced concrete （SRC） beams, six interior frame joint specimens were designed and tested under low cyclically lateral load. The effects of the axial load ratio and volumetric stirrup ratio were studied on the characteristics of the frame joint performance including crack pattern, failure mode, ductility, energy dissipation capacity, strength degradation and rigidity degradation. It was found that all joint specimens behaved in a ductile manner with flexural-shear failure in the joint core region while plastic hinges appeared at the beam ends. The ductility and energy absorption capacity of joints increased as the axial load ratio decreased and the volumetric stirIup ratio increased. The displacement ductility coefficient and equivalent damping coefficient of the joints fell between the corresponding coefficients of the steel reinforced concrete （SRC） frame joint and RC frame joint. The axial load ratio and volumetric stirrup ratio have less influence on the strength degradation and more influence on the stiffness degradation. The stiffness of the joint degrades more significantly for a low volumetric stirrup ratio and high axial load ratio. The characteristics obtained from the SRUHSC composite frame joint specimens with better seismic performance may be a useful reference in future engineering applications.

Experimental study on the seismic behavior of high strength concrete fi lled double-tube columns

To study the seismic behavior of high strength concrete fi lled double-tube(CFDT) columns,each consisting of an external square steel tube and an internal circular steel tube,quasi-static tests on eight CFDT column specimens were conducted.The test variables included the width-to-thickness ratio(β1) and the area ratio(β2) of the square steel tube,the wall thickness of the circular steel tube,and the axial force(or the axial force ratio) applied to the CFDT columns.The test results indicate that for CFDT columns with a square steel tube with β1 of 50.1 and 24.5,local buckling of the specimen was found at a drift ratio of 1/150 and 1/50,respectively.The lateral force-displacement hysteretic loops of all specimens were plump and stable.Reducing the width-to-thickness ratio of the square steel tube,increasing its area ratio,or increasing the wall thickness of the internal circular steel tube,led to an increased fl exural strength and deformation capacity of the specimens.Increasing the design value of the axial force ratio from 0.8 to 1.0 may increase the fl exural strength of the specimens,while it may also decrease the ultimate deformation capacity of the specimen with β1 of 50.1.

Effects of binder strength and aggregate size on the compressive strength and void ratio of porous concrete

To test the influence of binder strength, porous concretes with 4 binder strengths between 30.0-135.0 MPa and 5 void ratios between 15%-35% were tested. The results indicated that for the same aggregate, the rates of strength reduction due to the increases in void ratio were the same for binders with different strengths. To study the influence of aggregate size, 3 single size aggregates with nominal sizes of 5.0, 13.0 and 20.0 mm （Nos. 7, 6 and 5 according to JIS A 5001） were used to make porous concrete. The strengths of porous concrete are found to be dependent on aggregate size. The rate of strength reduction of porous concrete with small aggregate size is found to be higher than that with larger aggregate size. At the same void ratio, the strength of porous concrete with large aggregate is larger than that with small aggregate. The general equations for porous concrete are related to compressive strength and void ratio for different binder strengths and aggregate sizes.

Mechanism of improving ductility of high strength concrete T-section beam confined by CFRP sheet subjected to flexural loading

For the purpose of inventing a new seismic retrofitting method for the reinforced high strength concrete （HSC） T-section beam using carbon fiber reinforced polymer （CFRP） sheet, three series, a total of twelve T-section beams with nine specimens confined by CFRP sheet in the plastic zone and three control beams were conducted up to failure under four-point bending test. The effectiveness of confining CFRP sheet on improving the flexural ductility of tmstrengthened T-section beams was studied. The parameters such as the width and the thickness of CFRP sheet and the type of T-section were analyzed. The experimental results show that ductility and rotation capacity of plastic hinge can be improved by the confinement of CFRP sheet, and the ductility indices increase with the increment of width and thickness of CFRP sheet. A plastic rotation model considering the width of CFRP sheet and the effect of flange of T-section beam is proposed on the basis of the model of BAKER, and the test results show a good agreement with the perdicted results. The relevant construction suggestions for seismic retrofitting design of beam-slabs system in cast-in-place framework structure are presented.

Effect of Polypropylene Fibers on the Long-term Tensile Strength of Concrete

The influence of low volume fraction of polypropylene（PP） fibers on the tensile properties of normal and high strength concretes was studied. The experimental results indicate that the addition of PP fibers in concrete leads to a reduction in tensile strength during the age of 28 d. Whereas, after 28 days, there is a notable effect in tensile strength due to PP fibers restraining the formation and growth of microcracks in concrete, which improves the continuity and integrality of concrete structure, Thus, a low volume fraction of PP fibers is beneficial to enhancing the long-term tensile strength of concrete materials and improving the durability of concrete structures.

Residual Mechanical Properties and Explosive Spalling Behavior of Ultra-High-Strength Concrete Exposed to High Temperature

In order to explore the characteristics of ultra-high-strength concrete exposed to high temperature,residual mechanical properties and explosive spalling behavior of ultra-high-strength concrete( UHSC) and high strength concrete( HSC) exposed to high temperatures ranging from 20 ℃ to 800 ℃ were determined. The microstructure of the specimens after exposure to elevated temperature was analyzed by means of scanning electron microscope( SEM) and mercury intrusion porosimetry( MIP). The residual compressive strengths of UHSC and HSC were first increased and then decreased as temperature increased. After exposure to 800 ℃,the compressive strengths of UHSC and HSC were 24. 2 % and 22. 3 % of their original strengths at 20 ℃,respectively. The residual splitting tensile strengths of both UHSC and HSC were consistently decreased with the temperature increasing and were approximately 20% of their original strengths after 800 ℃. However,the residual fracture energies of both concretes tended to ascend even at 600 ℃. The explosive spalling of UHSC was more serious than that of HSC. Moisture content of the specimens governs the explosive spalling of both concretes with a positive correlations,and it is more pronounced in UHSC. These results suggest that UHSC suffers a substantial loss in load-bearing capacity and is highly prone to explosive spalling due to high temperature. The changes in compressive strength are due to the changes in the density and the pore structure of concrete. The probability and severity of explosive spalling of UHSC are much higher than those of HSC due to the higher pore volume in HSC.

Autogenous Shrinkage of High Strength Lightweight Aggregate Concrete

The characteristic of autogenous shrinkage（AS） and its effect on high strength lightweight aggregate concrete（HSLAC） were studied.The experimental results show that the main shrinkage of high strength concrete is AS and the amount of cement can affect the AS of HSLAC remarkably,At the early stage the AS of HSLAC is lower than that of high strength normal concrete,but it has a large growth at the later stage.The AS of high strength normal concrete becomes stable at 90d age,but HSLAC still has a high AS growth .It is found that adjusting the volume rate of lightweight aggregate,mixing with a proper dosage of fly ash and raising the water saturation degree of lightweight aggregate can markedly reduce the AS rate of HSLAC.

Mechanical properties of high-strength concrete subjected to high temperature by stressed test

Recently, the effects of high temperature on compressive strength and elastic modulus of high strength concrete were experimentally investigated. The present study is aimed to study the effect of elevated temperatures ranging from 20 ℃ to 700 ℃ on the material mechanical properties of high-strength concrete of 40, 60 and 80 MPa grade. During the strength test, the specimens are subjected to a 25% of ultimate compressive strength at room temperature and sustained during heating, and when the target temperature is reached, the specimens are loaded to failure. The tests were conducted at various temperatures (20-700 ℃) for concretes made with W/B ratios of 46%, 32% and 25%, respectively. The results show that the relative values of compressive strength and elastic modulus decrease with increasing compressive strength grade of specimen.

Mechanical Properties and Flowability of High Strength Concrete Incorporating Ground Granulated Blast-furnace Slag

The high strength concrete(HSC)was produced by partially replacingthe normal portland cement with special ground granulatedblast-furnace slag(GGBS)ranging up to 60/100. The effects of the GGBSon the flowabilityand mechanical properties of HSC were studied. Thehydration process and microstructure char- acteristics wereinvestigated by X-ray diffraction(XRD)and scanning microscopy(SEM),respectively. The test results indicate that the GGBS has especiallysupplementary effect on water reducing and excellent property Ofbetter control of lump loss.

Predicting Concrete Compressive Strength Using Deep Convolutional Neural Network Based on Image Characteristics

In this study,we examined the efficacy of a deep convolutional neural network(DCNN)in recognizing concrete surface images and predicting the compressive strength of concrete.A digital single-lens reflex(DSLR)camera and microscope were simultaneously used to obtain concrete surface images used as the input data for the DCNN.Thereafter,training,validation,and testing of the DCNNs were performed based on the DSLR camera and microscope image data.Results of the analysis indicated that the DCNN employing DSLR image data achieved a relatively higher accuracy.The accuracy of the DSLR-derived image data was attributed to the relatively wider range of the DSLR camera,which was beneficial for extracting a larger number of features.Moreover,the DSLR camera procured more realistic images than the microscope.Thus,when the compressive strength of concrete was evaluated using the DCNN employing a DSLR camera,time and cost were reduced,whereas the usefulness increased.Furthermore,an indirect comparison of the accuracy of the DCNN with that of existing non-destructive methods for evaluating the strength of concrete proved the reliability of DCNN-derived concrete strength predictions.In addition,it was determined that the DCNN used for concrete strength evaluations in this study can be further expanded to detect and evaluate various deteriorative factors that affect the durability of structures,such as salt damage,carbonation,sulfation,corrosion,and freezing-thawing.

Structural Behavior of Continuous Prestressed Steel Fiber Reinforced High Strength Concrete Beam

The flexural behaviors of continuous fully and partially prestressed steel fiber reinforced high strength concrete beams are studied by experiment and nonlinear finite element analysis. Three levels of partial prestress ratio （PPR） are considered, and three pairs of two-span continuous beams with box sections varying in size are designed. The major parameters involved in the study include the PPR and the fiber location. It is concluded that the prestressed high strength concrete beam exhibits satisfactory ductility; the influences of steel fiber on the crack behaviors for partially prestressed beams are not as obvious as those for fully prestressed ones; steel fibers can improve the structural stiffness after cracking for fully prestressed high strength concrete beams; the moment redistribution from mid-span to intermediate support in the first stage should be mainly considered in practical design.