Experimental investigation of ultra-early-strength cement-based selfcompacting high strength concrete slabs(URCS)under contact explosions

In this paper,UR50 ultra-early-strength cement-based self-compacting high-strength concrete slabs(URCS)have been subjected to contact explosion tests with different TNT charge quality,aiming to evaluate the anti-explosive performance of URCS.In the experiment,three kinds of ultra-early-strength cement-based reinforced concrete slabs with different reinforcement ratios and a normal concrete slab(NRCS)were used as the control specimen,the curing time of URCS is 28 days and 24 h respectively.The research results show that URCS has a stronger anti-explosion ability than NRCS.The failure mode of URCS under contact explosion is that the front of the reinforced concrete slab explodes into a crater,and the back is spall.With the increase of the charge,the failure mode of the reinforced concrete slab gradually changed to explosive penetration and explosive punching.The experiment results also show that the reinforcement ratio of URCS has little effect on the anti-blast performance,and URCS can reach its anti-blast performance at 28 days after curing for 24 h.On this basis,the damage parameters of URCS for different curing durations were quantified,and an empirical formula for predicting the diameter of the crater and spalling was established.

Lead spall velocity of fragments of ultra-high-performance concrete slabs under partially embedded cylindrical charge-induced explosion

When an explosion occurs close to or partially within the face of a concrete structure, fragments are rapidly launched from the opposite face of the structure owing to concrete spalling, posing a significant risk to nearby personnel and equipment. To study the lead fragment velocity of ultra-high-performance concrete(UHPC), partially embedded explosion experiments were performed on UHPC slabs of limited thickness using a cylindrical trinitrotoluene charge. The launch angles and velocities of the resulting fragments were the determined using images collected by high-speed camera to document the concrete spalling and fragment launching process. The results showed that UHPC slabs without fiber reinforcement had a fragment velocity distribution of 0-118.3 m/s, which are largely identical to that for a normal-strength concrete(NSC) slab. In addition, the fragment velocity was negatively correlated to the angle between the velocity vector and vertical direction. An empirical Eq. for the lead spall velocity of UHPC and NSC slabs was then proposed based on a large volume of existing experimental data.

The dynamic response and damage models of rebar reinforced polymer slabs subjected to contact and near-field explosions

Non aqueous reactive polymer materials produced by the reaction of isocyanate and polyol have been widely used in infrastructure construction,which may be subjected to explosion loads during complex service conditions.The blast response of composite materials is a crucial aspect for applications in engineering structures potentially subjected to extreme loadings.In this work,damage caused to rebar reinforced polymer slabs by surface explosive charges was studied experimentally and numerically.A total of 6 field tests were carried out to investigate the performances of the failure modes of rebar reinforced polymer slabs under contact and near-field explosions.The influence of explosive quantity(10-40 g)and stand-off distances(0-20 cm)at the damage modes were studied.The results show that the failure modes of rebar reinforced polymer slabs under near-field explosion mainly were bending and surface spalling,while under the impact of contact explosion,the failure modes were craters of the top surface,spalling of the bottom surface,and middle perforation.Furthermore,a detailed fully coupled model was developed and validated with the test data.The influences of explosive quantity and slab thickness on rebar reinforced polymer slabs under contact explosion were studied.Based on this,the calculation formula between breach diameter,explosive quantity,and slab thickness is fitted.

Influence of key factors on deflection of bonded prestressed concrete simply supported slabs subjected to fire

In order to validate the accuracy of nonlinear fire simulation programs,comparison analysis is carried out between simulation and experiment induced from small-scale specimens,and then fire resistance of large-scale prestressed concrete slabs is further investigated through parameter expansion.The influences on fire resistance ratings controlled by deflection are explored and discussed,including effective span,concrete cover thickness,load level,prestress degree,effective prestress,composite reinforcement index and other factors.The calculated results indicate that fire resistance ratings of large-scale bonded prestressed concrete simply supported slabs are bigger than those of small-scale ones.Finally,the calculation formulas of fire resistance ratings controlled by deflection are established,which rationally consider the influence of effective span,concrete cover thickness,load level,composite reinforcement index and so on key factors.

Vibration Reduction Performance of Damping-Enhanced Water-Lubricated Bearing Using Fluid-Saturated Perforated Slabs

As the first link element for the transmission of shaft vibration to the pedestal and even to the hull,water-lubricated bearing plays a key role in suppressing vibration.Although the porous structure is considered as one of the main methods for improving the wideband vibration and noise reduction performance of materials in many industrial fields,the studies in the field of water-lubricated bearing remain insufficient.To enhance vibration reduction performance,a fluid-saturated perforated slab is designed in this study,and via the establishment of a fluid-solid coupled vibration model,the influence law and impact levels were analyzed and verified by simulation and experiments.The results obtained verified that the total vibration amplitude of damping-enhanced stern bearing in the vertical direction was smaller than that of the normal stern bearing,and the reduction amplitude of the characteristic frequency agreed with the optimal value at approximately 0.1 of the volume fraction of the liquid phase when the solid-fluid phase was rubber–water.Additionally,the increase in fluid fraction did not enhance the damping effect,instead,it unexpectedly reduced the natural frequency of the raw material significantly.This research indicates that the design of the fluid-saturated perforated slab is effective in reducing the transmission of the vibration amplitude from the shaft,and presents the best volume fraction of the liquid phase.

NONLINEAR ANALYSIS OF REINFORCED CONCRETE RECTANGULAR SLABS USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

The nonlinear analysis of reinforced concrete rectangular slabs undermonotonic transverse loads is performed by finite element method.The layered rectangu-lar element with 4 nodes and 20 degrees of freedom is developed,in whichbending-stretching coupling effect is taken into account.An orthotropic equivalentuniaxial stress-strain constitutive model of concrete is used.A program is worked out andused to calculate two reinforced concrete slabs.The results of calculation are in goodconformity with the corresponding test results.In addition,the influence of tension stif-fening effect of cracked concrete on the results of calculation is discussed.

Sensor location in concrete slabs with various layout of opening using modified ‘FEMS-COMAC’ approach

Two-way concrete slabs are widely used around the world for the construction of many types of infrastructures and common buildings. The optimal sensor placement(OSP) in slabs with various opening positions is the most important issue in structural health monitoring(SHM) to increase reliability. In this study, a novel approach of OSP was evaluated to obtain the number and placement of sensors using examination of the closed loop performance. The nonlinear finite element(NFE) was used to discretize the mechanism behavior of slab. Multi-Objective Optimization based on the coordinate modal assurance criterion(COMAC) and cost considerations was considered in the optimization processes. All of the analysis, discretization and optimization process was designed and developed as a novel approach in Matlab by the author under the name ‘FEMS-COMAC’(FEM analysis of slab with COMAC). The points in the finite element method(FEM) mesh were classified as line by line information along the slab. The OSP in each line was optimized according to the objective function. The slabs with various width, thickness, aspect ratio and opening position were selected as case studies. The results of the OSP using the COMAC algorithm around the slab openings were compared with the novel ‘FEMS-COMAC’ method. The statistical analysis according Mann-Whitney criteria shows that there were significant differences between them in some of the case studies(mean P-value=0.54).

FREQUENCY-DOMAIN METHOD FOR RECONSTRUCTION OF THE PARAMETERS OF DIELECTRIC SLABS

The complex parameters of dielectric slabs can be reconstructed according to thescattered field data if the slabs are illuminated by a harmonic electromagnetic wave and thescattered field is measured.This paper describes a method for reconstruction of the parametersof single or double inhomogeneous lossy dielectric slabs.The numerical results are demonstrated.

Optical properties of the two-port resonant tunneling filters in two-dimensional photonic crystal slabs

We have designed and fabricated two types of two-port resonant tunneling filters with a triangular air-hole lattice in two-dimensional photonic crystal slabs. In order to improve the filtering efficiency, a feedback method is introduced by closing the waveguide. It is found that the relative position between the closed waveguide boundary and the resonator has an important impact on the dropping efficiency. Based on our analyses, two different types of filters are designed. The transmission spectra and scattering-light far-field patterns are measured, which agree well with theoretical prediction. In addition, the resonant filters are highly sensitive to the size of the resonant cavities, which are useful for practical applications.

Corner crack mechanism of boron-containing LCAK steel slabs

At Baoshan Iron ＆ Steel Co., Ltd., comer cracks of boron containing LCAK steel slabs had caused remarkable quality loss and mass flow disorder. With the help of fractography and thermodynamics analysis, the embrittlement mechanism of this steel grade was studied and the results are as follows： 1 The transformation from 3＇ to a starts at the austenite grain boundaries and a layer of thin ferrite film gradually forms around the austenite grains. Strain concentration will preferentially start inside the ferrite phase when the stress accumulates to a certain level. 2 The coarse BN particles acceleratedly precipitated at the γ/α interfaces further deteriorate the ductility of the ferrite film, and brittleness results in strain concentration and microvoid coalescence inside the ferrite film. Therefore the austenite grain boundaries are prone to intergranular failure. 3 The stoichiometry among Al, N and B is a very important factor influencing the hot ductility of this steel grade. By controling the B-to-N atomic ratio to above 1, all N can be fixed by B instead of A1. Thus coarsegrained steel is available and fewer grain boundaries and higher ductility can reduce the risk of comer cracks. （4） By adjusting the B-to-N atomic ratio,Baoshan Iron ＆ Steel Co.,Ltd. successfully reduced the number of cracks to nearly one tenth of that in the past and the hot tensile tests confirmed remarkable improvement in the hot ductility of this steel.

Web Shear Strengthening Technique of Deep Precast Prestressed Hollow Core Slabs under Truck Loads

Precast prestressed Hollow Core Slabs (HCS), are one of the famous and widely used slabs for concrete structures all over the world and widely implemented in the Middle East. HCS are used in industrial, commercial, residential buildings, as well as, in the parking structures. This paper succeeded to present new special details for deep HCS to enhance and strengthen the web shear strength capacity of HCS 400 and 500 mm depths respectively at the open parking area. This is subjected to heavy truck wheel loads so as to achieve the LRFD Code’s requirements. However, it is noticed many web shear cracks of HCS are used at parking area at many projects in Gulf Region. On the other hand, ACI318-14 permits no shear reinforcement in prestressed HCS thickness of less than 12.5 in (320 mm). The paper presents experimental tests program, to verify the numerical finite element of deep HCS under maximum design uniform loads, in addition to the new strengthening techniques. New strengthening techniques succeed to enhance the web shear capacity by significant percentage, due to the new details for HCS 400 by 68% up to 256% increasing of the web shear capacity compared to the ordinary HCS section. Also, HCS 500 shear capacity is enhanced with different percentages of strengthening techniques by 55%, up to 197% based on the different cases of strengthening. Furthermore enhancing deep HCS shear performance;the new techniques have an advantage of an easy execution at the site;casting with structural topping, otherwise the preparation can be done in precast factory before site handover, which saves time and cost compared to the others traditional strengthening techniques.

Performance Evaluation of One-Way Concrete Slabs Reinforced with New Developed GFRP Bars

The incorporation of fiber-reinforced-polymer (FRP) bars in construction as a replacement to steel bars provides a superior material which is capable to overcome corrosion problems. However, serviceability requirements are important issues to be considered in the design of concrete elements reinforced with glass-FRP (GFRP) bars which are known to have larger deflections and wider crack widths as well as weaker bond compared with steel reinforced concrete. As a solution to this problem, square GFRP bars are proposed. This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation that was performed, in which newly developed square and circular GFRP bars were fabricated in the lab. Also, the GFRP bars were tested and used to reinforce concrete slabs. A total of nine full-scale GFRP-reinforced concrete (RC) one-way slabs were constructed, tested and analyzed, considering the most influencing parameters such as the cross sectional shape of GFRP bars, reinforcement ratio, the concrete characteristics strength, and adding polypropylene fibers to the concrete mixture. The test results were showed that, the tested slabs with GFRP square bars improved the deflection and cracking behavior as well as the ultimate load.

Effect of the Shear Reinforcement Type on the Punching Resistance of Concrete Slabs

Punching shear failure of flat concrete slabs is a complex phenomenon with brittle failure mode, meaning sudden structural failure and rapid decrease of load carrying capacity. Due to these reasons, the application of appropriate punching shear reinforcement in the slabs could be essential. To obtain the required structural strength and performance in slab-column junctions, the effect of the shear reinforcement type on the punching resistance must be known. For this purpose, numerous nonlinear finite element simulations were carried out to determine the behavior and punching shear strength of flat concrete slabs with different punching shear reinforcement types. The efficiency of different reinforcement types was also determined and compared. Accuracy of the numerical simulations was verified by experimental results. Based on the comparison of numerical results,?the partial factor for the design formula used in Eurocode 2 was calculated and was found to be higher than the actual one.

Surface plasmon polaritons of symmetric and asymmetric metamaterial slabs

The p and s-polarized surface plasmon polaritons （SPPs） of symmetric and asymmetric slabs formed arbitrarily by four types of conventional materials： dielectrics, negative dielectric permittivity materials, negative magnetic permeability materials, and left-handed materials are comprehensively analysed. The existence regions, dispersion relations, and excitation of SPPs in different frequency regions are investigated in detail. For symmetric slabs, the numbers and the frequency positions of surface polariton branches are quite different. At the same time, the pairs of the p or s-polarized SPP branches occur in the same frequency range. For asymmetric slabs, the SPP branches in mid- and high-frequency ranges are greatly different. In addition, the slab thickness has a great effect on SPPs of asymmetric and symmetric slabs. The attenuated total reflection spectra for the cases of p and s polarizations in these slabs are also calculated.

Acoustic Polaron in Free-Standing Slabs

The ground-state energy and its derivate of the acoustic polaron in free-standing slab are calculated by using the Huybrechts-like variational approach. The criteria for presence of the selftrapping transition of the acoustic polaron in free-standing slabs are determined qualitatively. The critical coupling constant for the discontinuous transition from a quasi-free state to a trapped state of the acoustic polaron in free-standing slabs tends to shift toward the weaker electronphonon coupling with the increasing cutoff wave-vector. Detailed numerical results confirm that the self-trapping transition of holes is expected to occur in the free-standing slabs of wide-bandgap semi-conductors.

Numerical simulation of seismic damage and cracking of concrete slabs of high concrete face rockfill dams

Based on the damage constitutive model for concrete, the Weibull distribution function was used to characterize the random distribution of the mechanical properties of materials by finely subdividing concrete slab elements, and a concrete random mesoscopic damage model was established. The seismic response of a 100-m high concrete face rockfill dam(CFRD), subjected to ground motion with different intensities, was simulated with the three-dimensional finite element method(FEM), with emphasis on exploration of damage and the cracking process of concrete slabs during earthquakes as well as analysis of dynamic damage and cracking characteristics during strong earthquakes. The calculated results show that the number of damaged and cracking elements on concrete slabs grows with the duration of earthquakes. With increasing earthquake intensity, the damaged zone and cracking zone on concrete slabs grow wider. During a 7.0-magnitude earthquake, the stress level of concrete slabs is low for the CFRD, and there is almost no damage or slight damage to the slabs. While during a 9.0-magnitude strong earthquake, the percentages of damaged elements and macrocracking elements continuously ascend with the duration of the earthquake, peaking at approximately 26% and 5% at the end of the earthquake, respectively. The concrete random mesoscopic damage model can depict the entire process of sprouting, growing, connecting, and expanding of cracks on a concrete slab during earthquakes.

Behavior of steel-concrete composite slabs subjected to standard fire

Finite element method is employed to calculate the temperature fields for two kinds of steel concrete composite slabs: composite slab with profiled steel sheeting and LJMB composite slab. The calculated results are in good agreement with those of tests. Fire resistance of the two kinds of composite slabs is calculated by using a numeric method. The results show that: due to heat absorbing of concrete, the performance of composite slabs under fire is better than that of unprotected steel structure, and fire resistance of composite slabs mentioned in this paper is at least 30 min subjected to standard fire. Parameters related to the fire resistance are discussed. It was found that with increasing of concrete strength and thickness of slab, fire resistance increases, and with increasing of steel strength and steel ratio, fire resistance decreases. Also thickness of fire proof is calculated by a numeric method. The results obtained in this paper may be referenced for practical engineering.

Strain in solidifying shell of continuous casting slabs

Two-dimension unsteady heat transfer model was applied to obtain the surfacetemperature and the shell thickness of continuous casting slabs during the process ofsolidification. On the basis of which, the mathematical model of strain at the interface of solidand liquid steel was set up. Through which, the strain in the solidifying shell under normal andabnormal operation conditions was gained. The results indicate that the strain is small under thenormal operation conditions and the internal crack never happens. However, when the variation of theroll gap is above 2 mm, the strain caused by which is greater than that caused by bulging.Furthermore, the total strain exceeds the critical one and the internal crack is the result. So itis of great importance to maintain the fine state of continuous casting machine to avoid theappearance of internal crack.

Longitudinal surface cracks on continuous casting slabs of P and Cu containing container steel

The fact that the amount of the mold flux components differs at differentlocations on the cracking surface indicates that the longitudinal surface cracks are initiallyformed in the mold and are enlarged in the secondary cooling zone. Based on the hot ductilitymeasurement of two typical container used steels, it is known that the steels are in severeembrittlement state in the temperature range of 825-775 deg C. By means of increasing Cr/Ni platingthickness on the upper part of the mold, reducing mold heat flux, adopting new secondary coolingpattern, etc., the occurrence of the surface longitudinal cracks on the steel CC (continuouscasting) slabs has been significantly reduced.