Flexural rigidity evolvement laws of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with carbon fiber laminates

Extensive research has shown that externally bonded carbon fiber reinforced polymer （CFRP） laminates are particularly suitable for improving the fatigue behavior of reinforced concrete （RC） beams. This paper presents the research on flexural ngidity evolvement laws by testing 14 simple-supported RC beams strengthened with carbon fiber laminates （CFL） under cyclic load, and 2 under monotone load as a reference. The cyclic load tests revealed the peak load applied onto the surface of a supported RC beam strengthened with CFL is linear to the logarithm of its fatigue life, and the flexural rigidity evolvement undergoes three distinct phases： a rapid decrease from the start to about 5% of the fatigue life; an even development from .5% to about 99% of the fatigue life; and a succedent rapid decrease to failure. When the ratio of fatigue ＂cycles to the fatigue life is within 0.0.5 to 0.99, the flexural rigidity varies linearly with the ratio. The peak load does not affect the flexural rigidity evolvement if it is not high enough to make the main reinforcements yield. The dependences of the flexural rigidity of specimens formed in the same group upon their fatigue cycles normalized by fatigue life are almost coincident. This implies the flexural rigidity may be a material parameter independent of the stress level. These relationships of flexural rigidity to fatigue cycles, and fatigue life may be able to provide some hints for fatigue design and fatigue life evaluation of RC member strengthened with CFL; nevertheless the findings still need verifying by more experiments.

Corrosion damage evolution and mechanical properties of carbon fiber reinforced aluminum laminate

Fiber metal laminates(FMLs),a kind of lightweight material with excellent comprehensive performance,have been successfully applied in aerospace.FMLs reinforced with carbon fiber have better mechanical properties than those with glass or aramid fiber.However,carbon fiber binding metal may lead to galvanic corrosion which limits its application.In this paper,electrochemical methods,optical microscope and scanning electron microscope were used to analyze the corrosion evolution of carbon fiber reinforced aluminum laminate(CARALL)in corrosive environment and explore anti-corrosion ways to protect CARALL.The results show that the connection between carbon fiber and aluminum alloy changes electric potential,causing galvanic corrosion.The galvanic corrosion will obviously accelerate CARALL corroded in solution,leading to a 72.1%decrease in interlaminar shear strength,and the crevice corrosion has a greater impact on CARALL resulting in delamination.The reduction of interlaminar shear strength has a similar linear relationship with the corrosion time.In addition,the adhesive layers between carbon fiber and aluminum alloy cannot protect CARALL,while side edge protection can effectively slow down corrosion rate.Therefore,the exposed edges should be coated with anti-corrosion painting.CARALL has the potential to be used for aerospace components.

Low-velocity impact of rectangular foam-filled fiber metal laminate tubes

Through theoretical analysis and finite element simulation,the low-velocity impact of rectangular foam-filled fiber metal laminate(FML)tubes is studied in this paper.According to the rigid-plastic material approximation with modifications,simple analytical solutions are obtained for the dynamic response of rectangular foam-filled FML tubes.The numerical calculations for low-velocity impact of rectangular foam-filled FML tubes are conducted.The accuracy of analytical solutions and numerical results is verified by each other.Finally,the effects of the metal volume fraction of FMLs,the number of the metal layers in FMLs,and the foam strength on the dynamic response of foam-filled tubes are discussed through the analytical model in details.It is shown that the force increases with the increase in the metal volume fraction in FMLs,the number of the metal layers in FML,and the foam strength for the given deflection.

FACTORS AFFECTING FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH RATES OF FIBER REINFORCED METAL LAMINATES

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Analysis of vibration attenuation characteristics of large thickness carbon fiber composite laminates

The vibration attenuation and damping characteristics of carbon fiber reinforced composite laminates with different thicknesses were investigated by hammering experiments under free boundary constraints in different directions.The dynamic signal testing and analysis system is applied to collect and analyze the vibration signals of the composite specimens,and combine the self-spectrum analysis and logarithmic decay method to identify the fundamental frequencies of different specimens and calculate the damping ratios of different directions of the specimens.The results showed that the overall stiffness of the specimen increased with the increase of the specimen thickness,and when the thickness of the sample increases from 24mm to 32mm,the fundamental frequency increases by 35.1%,the vibration showed the same vibration attenuation and energy dissipation characteristics in the 0°and 90°directions of the specimen,compared with the specimen in the 45°direction,which was less likely to be excited and had poorer vibration attenuation ability,while the upper and lower surfaces of the same specimen showed slightly different attenuation characteristics to the vibration,the maximum difference of damping capacity between top and bottom surfaces of CFRP plates is about 70%.

A FATIGUE FAILURE CRITERION OF NOTCHED GFRP LAMINATES

A fatigue failure criterion for predicting the fatigue life of notched orthotropic fiber reinforced plasties (FRP) plates based on the concept of stress field intensity (SFI) near the notch root is subjected to further experiments. The investigation is accomplished by obtaining experimental data on the notched specimens of glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP) with edged notches under tension tension cyclic loading. The process of initiation and growth of fatigue damage near the notch root is measured by means of the optic system with a computer controlled display (CCD) camera. The experimental results show that the number of loading cycles required to initiate fatigue damage is governed by the stress field intensity.

Residual Characteristic of High-Velocity Steel Fragments Penetrating UHMWPE FRP Laminates

The mechanical performance of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fiber (UHMWPE) and its composites were proposed. Penetrated properties of different thicknesses UHMWPE FRP laminates (URP) impacted by 3.3g cubic high velocity fragments were studied. According to the ballistic experimental results and theoretical analysis, the linear relation between ballistic limit vBL and area density AD was confirmed. The relative parameters of showing experientially residual velocity vr were expressed by the function of AD. In the end, versatile experiential expression between vr and AD was found. Prediction of vr and vBL using obtained expressions under the above stated condition of impacting URP was consistent with the experimentaled results. Consequently, the two experiential relations can be used to predict the residual velocity and ballistic limit of cubic high velocity fragments impacting URP. The residual characteristic of high-velocity steel fragments penetrating UHMWPE FRP laminates can be more exactly forecasted by the two derived experiential formulas.

PREDICTION OF FATIGUE LIVES OF RC BEAMS STRENGTHENED WITH CFL UNDER RANDOM LOADING

The investigation on fatigue lives of reinforced concrete （RC） structures strength- ened with fiber laminate under random loading is important for the repairing or the strengthening of bridges and the safety of the traffic. In this paper, two methods are developed for predicting the fatigue lives of RC structures strengthened with carbon fiber [aminate （CFL） under random loading based on a residual life and a residual strength model. To discuss the efficiency of the model, 12 RC beams strengthened with CFL are tested under random loading by the MTS810 testing system. The predicted residual strength approximately agrees with test results.

Study on Strengthening of RC Slabs with Different Innovative Techniques

This paper presents a focused study on using different methods to enhance the ultimate capacity of flexural behavior in RC slabs. Four RC specimens were casted with common compressive strength and reinforced with steel mesh. Specimens were strengthened with different methods such as usage of GFRP sheets, carbon fibers laminate strips and near surface mounted steel rebars. All specimens were subjected to two-point loading setup. Load was increased from zero to failure load. First crack was recorded and crack pattern was observed. The behavior of strengthened specimens was compared to that of the control specimen to judge the efficiency of the used techniques. Test results showed that the used techniques were effective in enhancing the behavior of the strengthened slabs by noteworthy values.

BUCKLING AND POSTBUCKLING ANALYSIS OF ELASTO-PLASTIC FIBER METAL LAMINATES

The elasto-plastic buckling and postbuckling of fiber metal laminates （FML） are studied in this research. Considering the geometric nonlinearity of the structure and the elasto- plastic deformation of the metal layers, the incremental Von Karman geometric relation of the FML with initial deflection is established. Moreover, an incremental elasto-plastic constitutive relation adopting the mixed hardening rule is introduced to depict the stress-strain relationship of the metal layers. Subsequently, the incremental nonlinear governing equations of the FML subjected to in-plane compressive loads are derived, and the whole problem is solved by the iterative method according to the finite difference method. In numerical examples, the effects of the initial deflection, the loading state, and the geometric parameters on the elasto-plastic buckling and postbuckling of FML are investigated, respectively.

Fatigue crack growth in fiber-metal laminates

Fiber-metal laminates(FMLs)consist of three layers of aluminum alloy 2024-T3 and two layers of glass/epoxy prepreg,and it(it means FMLs)is laminated by Al alloy and fiber alternatively.Fatigue crack growth rates in notched fiber-metal laminates under constant amplitude fatigue loading were studied experimentally and numerically and were compared with them in monolithic 2024-T3 Al alloy plates.It is shown that the fatigue life of FMLs is about 17 times longer than monolithic 2024-T3 Al alloy plate;and crack growth rates in FMLs panels remain constant mostly even when the crack is long,unlike in the monolithic 2024-T3 Al alloy plates.The formula to calculate bridge stress profiles of FMLs was derived based on the fracture theory.A program by Matlab was developed to calculate the distribution of bridge stress in FMLs,and then fatigue growth lives were obtained.Finite element models of FMLs were built and meshed finely to analyze the stress distributions.Both results were compared with the experimental results.They agree well with each other.

ANALYSIS OF ELASTO-PLASTIC POSTBUCKLING AND ENERGY RELEASE RATE FOR DELAMINATED FIBER METAL LAMINATED BEAMS IN THERMAL ENVIRONMENT

The elasto-plastic postbuckling of fiber metal laminated beams with delamination and the energy release rate along the delamination front are discussed in this paper. Considering geometrical nonlinearity, thermal environment and geometrical initial imperfection, the incremental nonlinear equilibrium equations of delaminated fiber metal laminated beams are established, which are solved using the differential quadrature method and iterative method. Based on these, according to the J-integral theory, the elasto-plastic energy release rate is studied. The effects of some important parameters on the elasto-plastic postbuckling behavior and energy release rate of the aramid reinforced aluminum laminated beams are discussed in details.

Fibrous Separator with Surface Modification and Micro-Nano Fibers Lamination Enabling Fast Ion Transport for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Appropriate materials collaborated with reasonable structure can significantly increase the separator performance for lithium-ion batteries.In this work,taking the advantages of microfibrous and nanofibrous membranes and compensating for their defects,we developed a composited separator(GOPPH)with excellent overall performance by first wetting-modifying the polyethylene terephthalate microfibers and then laminating a polyvinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene nanofiber layer.Such a combination not only offers the GOPPH separator,from the perspective of structure,with high porosity and hierarchical structure in terms of fiber diameter and pore size,but also provides satisfactory features including wettability,mechanical strength and thermal shutdown function that benefit from the selected materials.Meanwhile,as determined by experimental and theoretical approaches,the obtained GOPPH separator exhibits considerably enhanced lithium ion transport ability with a high lithium ion transference number and transport rate,which thereby endowing the cell with superior cycling stability with a capacity retention of 93%after 200 cycles at 1 C.Therefore,considering battery safety and performance,the GOPPH fibrous membrane could be a promising separator candidate for lithium-ion batteries.

Experimental and Numerical Investigation on Impact Performance of Carbon Reinforced Aluminum Laminates

It is known that fiber metal laminates （FML） as one of hybrid materials with thin metal sheets and fiber/epoxy layers have the characteristics of the excellent damage tolerance, fatigue and impact properties with a relatively low density. Therefore, the mechanical components using FML can contribute the enhanced safety level of the sound construction toward the whole body. In this study, the impact performance of carbon reinforced aluminum laminates （CARAL） is investigated by experiments and numerical simulations. Drop weight tests are carried out with the weight of 4.7 kg at the speed of 1 and 2 m/s, respectively. Dynamic non-linear transient analyses are also accomplished using a finite element analysis software, ABAQUS. The experiment results and numerical results are compared with impact load-time histories. Also, energy-time histories are applied to investigate the impact performance of CARAL.

The Effect of Internal Delamination Damage on the Tensile Strength of Aeronautical Composites

For aeronautical composite materials,the appearance of internal delamination has a fatal impact on their mechanical properties and may even seriously threaten aircraft flight safety.In this study,the effect of internal delamination damage with different sizes and depths on the tensile strength of aeronautical composites was investigated.Firstly,based on carbon-fiber-reinforced composites commonly used in aircraft,laminate specimens with internal delamination damages of different depths and diameters were fabricated,and tensile tests of composite materials were carried out.Then,the finite element model for the carbon-fiber-reinforced laminate specimens was established,and the validity of the model was verified by comparing its simulation results with the experimental data.Furthermore,by changing the geometric parameters of the internal delamination damage model,the influence of delamination damage on the tensile strength of carbon-fiber-reinforced composites was analyzed and summarized.The results show that,on the one hand,for the internal delamination damages of the same area,the closer is the delamination damage to the surface layer,the lower is the tensile strength.In particular,the closer is the delamination damage to the surface layer,the greater is the decrease in tensile strength,which exhibits an obvious nonlinear relationship.On the other hand,for the internal delamination defects of the same depth,the difference in delamination area has little effect on the tensile strength.This law provides a reference for the damage detection and maintenance focus of aeronautical composite structures,which is of great significance to ensure the safe use of aeronautical composites.

FATIGUE LIFE PREDICTION OF RC BEAMS STRENGTHENED WITH PRESTRESSED CFRP UNDER CYCLIC BENDING LOADS

The application of prestressed carbon reinforced polymer （prestressed CFRP） in reinforced concrete （RC） members can improve the mechanical properties of strengthened structures and strengthening efficiency. This paper proposed a semi-empirical prediction fornmla of fatigue lives of the RC beams strengthened with prestressed CFRP under bending loads. The formula is established based on the fatigue life prediction method of RC beams and fatigue experimental data of non-prestressed CFRP reinforced beams done before. Fatigue effect coefficient of the formula was confirmed by the fatigue experiments of the RC beams strengthened with prestressed carbon fiber laminate （prestressed CFL） under cyclic bending loads. Fatigue lives of the strengthened beams predicted using the formula agreed well with the experimental data.