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.

Tensile Strength Characteristics of GFRP Bars in Concrete Beams with Work Cracks under Sustained Loading and Severe Environments

To investigate the effect of different environmental conditions of GFRP bars in concrete beams with work cracks subjected to sustained loads, the beams were exposed in indoor, freeze/thaw cycles and immersed in alkaline solution at elevated temperature. The bars were carefully extracted from the beams and tested in order to evaluate residual tensile properties. The results show that the tensile strength decreased significantly in the highly aggressive conditions but not in the natural conditions. The effect of GFRP bars casting in concrete beams demonstrated approximately 2.5% decrease of tensile strength caused by pore water environment in concrete beams on basis of those of the original bars. The effect of sustained loading plus work cracks demonstrated about 10.5% tensile strength decrease on basis of those of the bars only casted in concrete beams. The effect of environments under sustained loading plus work cracks demonstrated about 17% tensile strength decrease caused by a saturated solution of Ca（OH）2 and 60-2 ℃ tap water （pH=12-13） and about 8% tensile strength decrease caused by freezing and thawing cycle （F/T）, both on basis of those of the bars of the indoor beams only under sustained loading plus work cracks. The results demonstrate the effects of the tensile strengths under different environmental conditions of GFRP bars in concrete beams with work cracks subjected to sustained loads.

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.

Theoretical analysis of natural frequency of externally prestressed concrete beam based on rigidity correction

A dynamic test on externally prestressed simply supported concrete beams separately with three typical types of tendon distributions was conducted. The results show that the natural frequencies of the beams increase with the increase in the prestressing force at the tensioning stage, and the natural frequencies decrease after the cracks occur in the beams. Following the calculation formula of natural frequency of externally prestressed beam, which was reported in a literature, the natural frequencies of the experimental beams are calculated, and big errors are found between the test results and the calculated ones of natural frequency values. As a result, this paper has tried to adopt two methods to correct the rigidity parameter of the concrete beam in the formula for natural frequency calculation, and to use the corrected formula to calculate the frequencies of the experimental beams. The calculation results indicate a good consistency with the experimental ones, which verifies the feasibility of the corrected formula.

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of High-Strength Concrete Beams Including Steel Fibers and Large-Particle Recycled Coarse Aggregates

In order to study the performances of high-strength concrete beams including steel fibers and large-particle recycled aggregates,four different beams have been designed,tested experimentally and simulated numerically.As varying parameters,the replacement rates of recycled coarse aggregates and CFRP(carbon fiber reinforced polymer)sheets have been considered.The failure mode of these beams,related load deflection curves,stirrup strain and shear capacity have been determined through monotonic loading tests.The simulations have been conducted using the ABAQUS finite element software.The results show that the shear failure mode of recycled concrete beams is similar to that of ordinary concrete beams.The shear carrying capacity of high-strength concrete beams including steel fibers and large-particle recycled coarse aggregates grows with an increase in the replacement rate of recycled coarse aggregates.Reinforcement with CFRP sheets can significantly improve the beam’s shear carrying capacity and overall resistance to deformation.

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.

Fatigue Damage Modeling for Partially Prestressed Concrete Beams under Repeated Loadings with Variable Amplitude

A full-range nonlinear analysis method for fatigue damage in prestressed concrete beams is presented. New damage accumulation models are proposed to describe the fatigue damage evolution in concrete and reinforcement respectively. Based on the stress analysis for cross section, the stress redistrbution in the fatigue damage process, due to the different damage mechanisms of concrete and reinforcement, is considered. The nonlinear damage analysis is achieved by means of piecewise linearity, and it is applicable on the condition of repeated loadings with variable amplitude. Fatigue damage modeling of a beam is implemented to illustrate that the proposed method can preferably fit the experimental results.

Behavior of Corrosion-Repaired Concrete Beams Reinforced by Epoxy Mortar

The performance of concrete beams repaired with epoxy mortar was investigated by constructing twelve beam specimens.All the beam specimens were subjected to a constant current for accelerated corrosion.Six specimens were corroded without subsequent reparation as a control group,and the other six beam specimens were corroded and repaired utilizing epoxy mortar.All specimens were tested to failure.During test process,we focused on the failure pattern of beam specimens,structural cracks,mid-deflections,bearing capacity,and probed into the influence of corrosion degree and repair of epoxy mortar on the performance of beam specimens.It was observed that corrosion-repaired beams in the loading test were in a bending failure pattern.It is obvious that cracking loads and bending stiffness of repaired beams and corrosion-repaired beams were larger than those of unrepaired beams and secondly-corroded beams.When the mass loss of main steel bars was smaller than 10%,the bearing capacity of the repaired beams was similar to that of the unrepaired beams.When the mass loss of main steel bars was larger than 10%,the bearing capacity of the repaired beams increased significantly compared with that of the unrepaired beams.

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.

Fracture characteristics and ductility of cracked concrete beam post-strengthened with CFRP Sheet

The present paper concerns the fracture characteristics and ductility of cracked concrete beam externally bonded with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheet as well as the integration behaviors between CFRP/concrete interfacial debonding and concrete cracking.Three-point bending tests were carried out on the CFRP-strengthened cracked concrete beams with varying specimen depth and initial crack length.A straingauge method was developed to monitor the crack initiation and propagation in concrete,and the CFRP/concrete interfacial bonding behaviors,respectively.Clip gauges were used to measure crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD) and the deflection at midspan.Experimental results revealed that CFRP-strengthened specimen shows a higher load capacity under the same deformation level and a better inelastic deformation capacity compared with the unstrengthened one.For there are two manifest peak values in the obtained load versus displacement curve,the ductility of CFRP-strengthened concrete beams were investigated using index expressed as area ratio on the load versus displacement curve.The calculated results indicated that the contribution from CFRP sheet to the ductility improvement of specimen is notable when the deflection at midspan exceeded 10.5 times the first-crack deflection.

PEELING-OFF PHENOMENON IN FRP STRENGTHENED CONCRETE BEAMS DUE TO THERMAL RESIDUAL STRESS

Peeling-off phenomena in FRP strengthened concrete beams are investigated in this paper. Based on the beam theory and the fracture mechanics, a new theoretical model is proposed to analyze the peeling-off behavior near FRP-concrete interfaces, which is governed by residual thermal stresses. Numerical examples are presented to provide a clear insight into the failure mechanism. Some suggestions are provided for the optimal design of FRP strengthened structures.

Simulation of Fatigue Stiffness Degradation in Prestressed Concrete Beams under Cyclic Loading

In order to investigate and research the fatigue cracking of prestressed concrete fatigue properties and loading and stiffness degeneration process,cyclic loading tests were carried out on six prestressed concrete beams and the stiffness degradation under fatigue was investigated. A simulation model of stiffness degradation is proposed based on the stiffness analysis of the fatigue-damaged section. The elastic modulus of damaged concrete and the effective residual area of steel were introduced as well as an adjusted three-stage concrete fatigue damage evolution model. The strip method was used to analyze concrete damage due to changing stress along the depth of the beam section. The simulation and test results were compared and a method of predicting fatigue deflection was presented based on the simulation model. The predicted results were compared with that of the neural network method. It is in good agreement for the simulation results with the test results. It is only less than5% error for the simulation model which can reveal the two-stage degradation of prestressed concrete beams under cyclic loading. It is more precise for the simulation prediction method under proper conditions.

Compatibility of Fly Ash and Slag from Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler for Concrete Beam

The applications of fly ash and slag from circulating fluidized bed boiler were studied as mineral admixture and aggregate for steel reinforced concrete beam.The results show that the concrete beam with fly ash and slag from circulating fluidized bed boilers has a similar ultimate cracking load coefficient as the ordinary cement concrete and a higher bending moment limit.Under the same load,it has a smaller deformation than the ordinary concrete.

The Design and Analysis of Long-Span and Low-Depth Prestressed Composite Steel-Concrete Beam Bridge

The design scheme of long span and low depth composite steel concrete beams is introduced, and the methods of avoiding the cracking of concrete deck in the negative moment regions are proposed. Moreover, significant exploration for problems of the composite beams has been made, such as optimizing construction steps to regulate the stress, applying jacking technique to exert prestress on the concrete deck, investigating the uplifting force principle of the shear connectors by means of model test and non linear finite element analysis, and pointing out the countermeasure to reduce tension force of the shear connectors.

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.

Design Procedure for Reinforced Concrete Beams and Reinforcement Replacement by Bamboo

The use of non-renewable resources by the construction industry has several environmental consequences, contributing to excessive energy consumption and loss of materials. So, the construction sector is always in search of improvement and methods that innovate the existing techniques, aiming at the use of alternative and sustainable materials. Bamboo is a perennial plant with fast growth rate and low cost that has great physical and mechanical characteristics that assure its performance in the building environment. The use of beams with total or partial replacement of steel by bamboo has been well studied, due to the possibility of using the same design methods used in reinforced concrete beams, since the bamboo-reinforced beams meet the Bernoulli-Kirchoff bending theory. The objective of the work was to adapt a design procedure into an electronic spreadsheet for bamboo reinforced concrete beams subjected to four-point bending, with rectangular section, according to Brazilian Standard NBR 6118 (2014). The spreadsheet was tested based on other authors taking into consideration a steel double reinforcement. The resulting values were equivalents to those obtained by the authors, validating the efficiency of the worksheet. This methodology aims to optimize the design process of beams and enable the substitution of steel by bamboo, highlighting the validation, from the structural point of view, obtained by the authors.

Experimental Shear Study on Reinforced High Strength Concrete Beams Made Using Blended Cement

With the increased application of High Strength Concrete(HSC)in construction and lack of proper guidelines for structural design in India,behavioral study of high strength concrete is an important aspect of research.Research on the behavior of HSC reinforced beams with concrete strength more than 60 MPa has been carried out in the past and is still continuing to understand the structural behavior of HSC beams.Along with the many benefits of the high strength concrete,the more brittle behavior is of concern which leads to sudden failure.This paper presents the behavior of reinforced HSC beams in shear with considering the effects of various factors like shear reinforcement ratio,longitudinal reinforcement ratio,l/d ratio(length to depth ratio),etc.Ten numbers Reinforced Concrete Beams of various sizes using concrete mix with three different w/c ratios(0.46,0.26 and 0.21)were cast for shear strength assessment.The beams were tested in simply supported condition over two fixed steel pedestals with load rate of 0.2 mm/minute in displacement control.Mid-point deflection was measured using LVDT.A comparative analysis of theoretical approaches of Euro code,extension of current IS code up to M90 and the experimental data was done to understand the behavior of beams.Shear capacities of beams without any factors of safety were used to assess the actual capacities and then was compared with the experimental capacity obtained.Results of this study can be used in the design of high strength concrete and will be more reliable in Indian continent as the regional materials and exposure conditions were considered.

Dynamic responses of reinforced concrete beams under double-endinitiated close-in explosion

The reinforced concrete(RC) structural component might suffer a great damage under close-in explosion.Different from distant explosions, blast loads generated by the close-in explosion are non-uniformly distributed on the structural component and may cause both local and structural failure. In this study,an experimental study was conducted to investigate the dynamic responses of RC beams under doubleend-initiated close-in explosions. The experimental results show that the distribution of blast loads generated by the double-end-initiated explosion is much more non-uniform than those generated by single-point detonation, which is caused by the self-Mach-reflection effects. A 3 D finite element model was developed and validated in LS-DYNA by employing the modified K&C model. Intensive numerical calculations were conducted to study the influences of the initiation way, scaled distance and longitudinal reinforcement ratio on the dynamic responses and failure modes of RC beams. Numerical results show that the RC beam suffers greater damage as the cylindrical explosive is detonated at its double ends than the scenario in which the cylindrical explosive is detonated at its central point. RC beams mainly suffer flexural failure and flexure-shear failure under the double-end close-in explosion, and the failure modes of RC beams change from the flexural damage to flexure-shear damage as the scaled distance or the longitudinal reinforcement ratio decreases. The direct shear failure mode is not usually observed in the double-end-initiated explosion, since the intense blast loads is basically concentrated in the midspan of RC beam, which is due to self-Mach-reflection enhancement.

Impact performance of BFRP and steel-reinforced concrete beams with different span-to-depth ratios:Numerical and analytical studies

Many studies have focused on reinforced concrete(RC)slender beams,while there is a paucity of studies on deep beams.Furthermore,there is a lack of studies on the impact performance of FRP-reinforced concrete beams.In this study,a 3-D numerical model was established to explore the impact behavior of the basalt fiber reinforced polymer(BFRP)and steelreinforced concrete beams with different span-to-depth ratios(l0/h).The effects of impact mass and tension reinforcement ratio were analyzed and discussed.It is determined that the impact behavior of the shortest beam with l0/h=1.5 corresponds to punching shear failure,which is distinctive from the other deep beam.When l0/h exceeds 3.0,the failure mode gradually changes from shear dominant to flexural dominant.The increase in the impact mass leads to a linear increase in the max midspan deflection,the duration of the contact between the hammer and member,and the duration of the dynamic reaction force.The max midspan deflection has a negative correlation with the reinforcement ratio.The max reaction force increases with an increase in the reinforcement ratio,which is more evident for higher l0/h.The failure mode of the BFRP-reinforced concrete beam is similar to that of the steel-reinforced beam.Under the impact condition,in this study,part of the steel bars yield,whereas BFRP bars exhibit no signs of fracture because of their higher tensile strength and better deformability.A simplified calculational method based on energy is proposed in this study,and the method accurately predicts the residual deflection of the concrete beams with different l0/h.Furthermore,it is established that it is difficult to reproduce the impact response of the deep beams via the singledegree-of-freedom(SDOF)model,which is based on the assumption of the same deflection shape as that of slender beams.Hence,a more rational simplified model for deep beams under impact loads is still required.

Heterogeneous Fracture Simulation of Three-point Bending Plain-concrete Beam with Double Notches

Plain concrete is regarded as a two-phase material comprising randomly distributed aggregates and mortar matrix. A series of three-point bending concrete beams with symmetric or asymmetric double notches are modeled using the modified random aggregate generation and packing algorithm. The cohesive zone model is used as the fracture criterion and the cohesive el- ements are inserted into both the mortar matrix and the aggregate-mortar interfaces as potential micro-cracking zones. The dead and alive crack phenomena are studied experimentally and nu- merically; and the influences of notch location, aggregate distribution and gradation on fracture are numerically evaluated. Some important conclusions are given.