Flexural behaviors of steel reinforced ECC/concrete composite beams

An engineered cementitious composite （ECC） is introduced to partially substitute concrete in the tension zone of a reinforced concrete beam to form an ECC/reinforced concrete （RC） composite beam, which can increase the ductility and crack resisting ability of the beam. Based on the assumption of the plane remaining plane and the simplified constitutive models of materials, the stress and strain distributions along the depth of the composite beam in different loading stages are comprehensively investigated to obtain calculation methods of the load-carrying capacities for different stages. Also, a simplified formula for the ultimate load carrying capacity is proposed according to the Chinese code for the design of concrete structures. The relationship between the moment and curvature for the composite beam is also proposed together with a simplified calculation method for ductility of the ECC/RC composite beam. Finally, the calculation method is demonstrated with the test results of a composite beam. Comparison results show that the calculation results have good consistency with the test results, proving that the proposed calculation methods are reliable with a certain theoretical significance and reference value.

Bond strength improvement of GFRP rebars with different rib geometries

Based on the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) criteria,105 pullout specimens were tested to investigate the effect of different rib geometries on bond strength of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) rebars embedded in concrete. Two kinds of conventional reinforcing rebars were also studied for comparison. Each rebar was embedded in a 150 mm concrete cube,with the embedded length being four times the rebar diameter. The experimental parameters were the rebar type,rebar component,rebar diameter,rebar surface texture,rib height,rib spacing and rib width. Theoretical analysis was also carried out to explain the experimental phenomena and results. The experimental and theoretical results indicated that the bond strength of GFRP rebars was about 13%～35% lower than that of steel rebars. The bond strength and bond-slip behavior of the specially machined rebars varied with the rebar type,rebar diameter,rebar surface texture,rib height,rib spacing and rib width. Using the results,design recom-mendations were made concerning optimum rib geometries of GFRP ribbed rebars with superior bond-slip characteristics,which concluded that the optimal rib spacing of ribbed rebars is the same as the rebar diameter,and that the optimal rib height is 6% of the rebar diameter.

Vibration analysis of wind tunnel support

In order to enable a wind tunnel support to have a high enough natural frequency to prevent experiencing mechanical resonance and excessive vibration displacement, five kinds of wind tunnel support structures have been simulated and analyzed individually under five different load conditions by means of a nonlinear finite element numerical method. With natural frequency and three directions vibration displacement given, simulation and analyses indicated that additional supports is more beneficial than heightening the rigidity of steel reinforced concrete in support pillars and adopting steel wrappers on the pillars to increase natural frequency of support structure. Increasing the rigidity of steel reinforced concrete, adopting steel wrappers and providing additional supports are all helpful in reducing three directions vibration Max displacement. and additional supports are comparatively more effective. Therefore, a structure scheme with steel reinforced concrete support pillars, steel wrappers and additional supports should be adopted in practical wind tunnel support construction.

Application of steel fibre reinforced sprayed concrete to a deep tunnel in weak rocks

Based on an engineering background of a deep tunneling in weak rocks, the numerical modeling is used to compare different support schemes of tunnel at great depth in this paper. Focused on the general behaviors of weak rocks at great depth, a tunneling scheme with rock bolting and steel fibre reinforced sprayed concrete is proposed. This scheme is practiced successfully at a deep tunnel in weak rocks in Coal Mine No 10 of Hebi Coal Mining Administration.

Strength and Toughness of Steel Fibre Reinforced Reactive Powder Concrete Under Blast Loading

The blast resistance of structures used in buildings needs to be investigated due to the increased threat of a terrorist attack. The damage done by Composition B or Powergel to steel fibre reinforced reactive powder concrete （SFRPC） panels and ordinary reinforced concrete （RC） panels of equivalent static flexural strength is compared. A 0. 5 kg charge was detonated at a distance of 0. 1 m from the 1. 3 m × 1. 0 m × 0. 1 m （thick） panels, which were simply supported and spaning 1.3 m. Dynamic displacement measurements, high-speed video recording and visual examination of the panels for spall and breach were undertaken. The SFRPC panels withstood the bare charge blast better than the reinforced ordinary concrete panels. Neither type of panel was breached using a O. 5 kg charge, The RC panel exhibited more spalling when Composition B was used. Under successive Composition B loading conditions, the RC panel was breached. In comparison the SFRPC panel was not breached. Exposure to fragmenting charge loading conditions confirmed these performance differences between the SFRPC panel and the reinforced ordinary concrete panel.

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.

Double linear strain distribution assumption of RC beam strengthened with external-bonded or near-surface mounted fiber reinforced plastic

Rehabilitation of existing structures with fiber reinforced plastic(FRP)has been growing in popularity because they offer superior performance in terms of resistance to corrosion and high specific stiffness.The strain coordination results of 34 reinforced concrete beams(four groups)strengthened with different methods were presented including external-bonded or near-surface mounted glass or carbon FRP or helical rib bar in order to study the strain coordination of the strengthening materials and steel rebar of RC beam.Because there is relative slipping between concrete and strengthening materials(SM),the strain of SM and steel rebar of RC beam satisfies the double linear strain distribution assumption,that is,the strain of longitudinal fiber parallel to the neutral axis of plated beam within the scope of effective height(h0)of the cross section is in direct proportion to the distance from the fiber to the neutral axis.The strain of SM and steel rebar satisfies the equation εGCH=βεsteel,where the value of β is equal to 1.1-1.3 according to the test results.

Numerical Determination of Shear Strength of Steel Reinforced Concrete Column Strengthened by CFRP Sheets

The earthquake resistant property of reinforced concrete members depends on the interaction between reinforcing bars and surrounding concrete through bond to a large degree. In this paper a general system aimed at dealing with the failure analysis of reinforced concrete columns strengthened with carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) sheets including bond slip of the anchored reinforcing bars at the foot of the columns is presented. It is based on the yield design theory with a mixed modeling of the structure, according to which the concrete material is treated as a classical two dimensional continuum, whereas the longitudinal reinforcing bars are regarded as one dimensional rods including bond slip at the foot of the columns. In shear reinforced zones both the shear CFRP sheets and transverse reinforcing bars are incorporated in the analysis through a homogenization procedure and they are only in tension. The approach is then implemented numerically by means of the finite element formulation. The numerical procedure produces accurate estimates for the loading carrying capacity of the shear members taken as an illustrative application by correlation with the experimental results, so the proposed approach is valid.

Probability calculation of rebars corrosion in reinforced concrete using css algorithms

Reinforcement inside the concrete is protected from corrosion and its damages until several years after the construction. After corrosion initiation, the cross section of reinforcement begins to reduce and often load bearing of the reinforced concrete structure will be reduced significantly. Corrosion of reinforcements in concrete in polluted and contaminated areas can occur in two ways: chloride and carbonation. In this work, meta-heuristic approach of charged system search(CSS) is used to calculate corrosion occurrence probability due to chloride ions penetration. The model efficiency is verified by comparing the available examples in technical literature and results of Monte Carlo analysis. According to the analyses performed, using different probabilistic distributions regardless of probabilistic moments based on real distribution leads to diverse results. In addition, influence of each effective parameter in corrosion occurrence varies by changing other parameters.

Strengthening of Concrete Box Girder Bridges under Close-in Detonations

The response of a bridge superstructure under blast loading might depend largely on the extent of the local damage experienced due to close-in explosion threats. This paper investigates the local and structural response of box girder bridge decks strengthened using CFRP （carbon fiber reinforced polymers） under close-in detonations. Due to the lack of experimental research on this topic, the study is conducted using the explicit finite element computer program LS-DY-NA. The numerical study will be verified using the results of strengthened reinforced concrete slabs under field detonations. The blast load was assumed to be detonated above the bridge deck. The key parameters investigated are the charge size, and the strengthening location on the deck. This paper will present the results of this investigation and provides recommendations for predicting the local damage level based on the CFRP strengthening design under blast threat.

Comparison and Finite Element Analysis of Steel or Synthetic Fiber Reinforced Precast, Prestressed Beams

Usage of fiber reinforced concrete to replace shear reinforcement has become more common in the precast industry in recent years. In some cases, the use of steel fibers could be problematic because of corrosion, hence, synthetic material could be a suitable alternative material solution. Thus, it would appear logical to undertake a comparison of these fibers＇ load bearing capacity to determine suitability in each case. In this paper, the bending and the shear tests of four large-scale and prestressed beams made of steel or synthetic fiber reinforced concrete without stirrups are presented. The post-cracking residual tensile strength diagram of the fibers, according to RILEM （International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures） TC162, is given and the experimental behavior of the fiber solutions is compared. The modified fracture energy method is used to define an advanced material model for the fiber reinforced concrete in the finite element analysis. The numerical calculations and the test results are compared in terms of crack propagation and the loading-deflect＇ion process. As a consequence, both steel and synthetic fibers seem to be good alternatives to replace the stirrups. However, the behavior of each fiber is not the same. The numerical calculation provided a good approximation for the real scale tests.

A Hybrid Device for Anchoring FRP Sheets Aimed to Enhance the Flexural Capacity of RC Elements

The potential of externally applied FRP （fiber-reinforced plastic） sheets, being employed in retrofitting schemes aimed to repair and strengthen RC （reinforced concrete） structural elements damaged by prototype strong earthquakes, is presented and discussed in this study. The limitation of the debonding mode of failure of these FRP sheets is highlighted and the necessity to develop efficient anchoring devices for these FRP sheets is underlined. The behavior of such a novel HAD （hybrid anchoring device） capable of anchoring CFRP （carbon fiber reinforcing plastic） sheets to RC structural elements, is presented and discussed. The behavior of the device itself was studied through a 3D non-linear numerical simulation at the preliminary design stage in order to establish certain desired features such as the ductile behavior of the device itself as well as the satisfactory performance of the FRP sheets wrapped around this device. This HAD was next applied as part of a strengthening scheme aimed to upgrade the flexural capacity of an RC bridge-type pier specimen subjected to a cyclic seismic-type loading sequence. The obtained results demonstrated an increase in the specimen＇s flexural capacity by 100% as well as a similar increase in its capability of dissipating energy in a ductile manner during the cyclic load sequence. Moreover, the employed 3D non-linear numerical simulation yielded reasonably good agreement between the measured and the predicted cyclic response of this specimen strengthened by CFRP layers, which were anchored by the novel HAD. The successful behavior of this novel HAD, which has been patented with No. WO2011073696, is currently being tried with a number of other retrofitting schemes employing FRP sheets externally attached on RC structural elements.

Axial compressive behavior of GFRP-timber-reinforced concrete composite columns

This paper investigated the compressive behavior of a novel glass fiber reinforced polymer(GFRP)-timber-reinforced concrete composite column(GTRC column),which consisted of reinforced concrete with an outer GFRP laminate and a paulownia timber core.The axial compression tests were performed on 13 specimens to validate the effects of various timber core diameters,slenderness ratios,and GFRP laminate layers/angles on the mechanical behaviors.Test results indicated that with the increase in the timber core diameter,the ductility and energy dissipation ability of the composite column increased by 52.6%and 21.6%,respectively,whereas the ultimate load-bearing capacity and initial stiffness showed a slight decrease.In addition,the GFRP laminate considerably improved the ultimate load-bearing capacity,stiffness,ductility and energy dissipation capability by 212.1%,26.6%,64.3%and 3820%,accordingly.Moreover,considering the influence of timber core diameter,an ultimate load-bearing capacity adjustment coefficient was proposed.Finally,a formula was established based on the force equilibrium and superposition for predicting the axial bearing capacity of the GTRC columns.