Experimental study of polyurea-coated fiber-reinforced cement boards under gas explosions

Five types of polyurea elastomers were synthesized by changing the isocyanate component and the mechanical properties of polyurea materials were measured. Fiber-reinforced cement boards(FRCB)strengthened by polyurea with different formulations were processed, and a series of experiments were carried out on the specimens with gas explosion devices. The results showed that the conventional mechanical properties of different types of polyureas had their own advantages. Based on the gas explosion overpressure criterion, the blast resistances of reinforced plates were quantitatively evaluated,and the best polyurea was selected to guide the formulation design. The three typical failure modes of polyurea-reinforced FRCBs were flexural, shear, and flexural-shear failure. Dynamic thermodynamics and shock wave spectral analysis revealed that the polyurea did not undergo a glass transition in the gas explosion tests but retained its elastic properties, allowing it to effectively wrap the fragments formed by the brittle substrates.

Strengthening reinforced concrete beams using prestressed glass fiber-reinforced polymer-Part II:Analytical study

Strengthening reinforced concrete (R. C.) beams using prestressed glass fiber-reinforced polymer (PGFRP) was studied experimentally as described in Part I of this paper (Huang et al., 2005). In that paper, R. C. beams, R. C. beams with GFRP (glass fiber-reinforced polymer) sheets, and R. C. beams with PGFRP sheets were tested in both under-strengthened and over-strengthened cases. The test results showed that the load-carrying capacities (ultimate loads) of the beams with GFRP sheets were greater than those of the beams without polymer sheets. The load-carrying capacities of beams with PGFRP sheets were greater than those of beams with GFRP sheets. The objective of this work is to develop an analytical method to compute all of these load-carrying capacities. This analytical method is independent of the experiments and based only on the traditional R. C. and P. C. (prestressed concrete) theory. The analytical results accorded with the test results. It is suggested that this analytical method be used for analyzing and designing R. C. beams strengthened using GFRP or PGFRP sheets.

Deriving Tensile Properties of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymers (GFRP) Using Mechanics of Composite Materials

This work addresses the tensile properties of glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP) and investigates the different ways of estimating them without the cost associated with experimentation. This attempt is achieved through comparison between experimental results, derived in accordance with the ASTM standards, and results obtained using the mechanics of composite materials. The experimental results are also compared to results derived from work by other researchers in order to corroborate the findings regarding the correlation of tensile properties of the GFRP material and the fiber volume fraction.

Experimental Investigation on Flexural Performance of Masonry Walls Reinforced with GFRP

This paper presents the results of a test program for flexure reinforcing characteristics of gless fiber-rein forced polymer（GFRP） sheets bonded to masonry beams. A total of eight specimens subjected to monotonic four-point bending were tested up to failure. These specimens were constructed with two different bond patterns. Six of these specimens were reinforced by using GFRP sheets prior to testing, and the remaining two were not reinforced. The test results indicate a significant increase in both load-bearing capacity and ductile performance of the reinforced walls over the unreinforced ones.

Prediction model for determining the optimum operational parameters in laser forming of fiber-reinforced composites

Composite materials are widely employed in various industries,such as aerospace,automobile,and sports equipment,owing to their lightweight and strong structure in comparison with conventional materials.I aser material processing is a rapid technique for performing the various processes on composite materials.In particular,laser forming is a flexible and reliable approach for shaping fiber-metal laminates(FML.s),which are widely used in the aerospace industry due to several advantages,such as high strength and light weight.In this study,a prediction model was developed for determining the optimal laser parameters(power and speed)when forming FML composites.Artificial neural networks(ANNs)were applied to estimate the process outputs(temperature and bending angle)as a result of the modeling process.For this purpose,several ANN models were developed using various strategies.Finally,the achieved results demonstrated the advantage of the models for predicting the optimal operational parameters.

Strengthening of RC T-beams with Shear Deficiencies Using GFRP Strips

The shear performance, modes of failure, and strain analysis of simply supported reinforced concrete （RC） T-beams, externally strengthened in shear using epoxy bonded glass fiber reinforced polymer （GFRP） strips are focused in the present paper. Six RC T-beams of 2.5 m span without shear reinforcement are cast. Three beams are used as control specimens and rest three beams are strengthened in shear with GFRP strips in U-shape, side bonded at 45° and 90° to the longitudinal axis of the beam. All the beams are tested in a Universal Testing Machine. The test results demonstrate the feasibility of using an externally applied, epoxy-bonded GFRP strips to restore or increase the shear strength of RC T-beams. It is also observed that the RC T-beams strengthened by diagonal side strips outperformed those strengthened with vertical side strips.

Experimental Investigation on the Properties of Recycled Concrete Using Hybrid Fibers

Due to the inherent property of concrete being very weak in tension, efforts have been made to overcome this deficiency by adding various type of fibers like carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP), glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP), polypropylene fiber (PPF) and stainlesssteel fiber (SSF) smeared into the concrete mix. The present study involves experimental investigation on the use of GFRP, CFRP and SSF fibers alone or as combination to improve the mechanical properties of concrete. Furthermore, concrete cylinders were cast and tested for compression and tension using 10% fly ash as cement replacement in all specimens. Besides fiber material types, fiber reinforcement ratios of 1% and 1.5% were tested to investigate the mechanical properties of concrete. In all concrete cylinder tests, the fiber reinforcement ratio of 1% had a significant contribution in increasing the tensile strength as oppose to compressive strength. As a result, the tensile and compressive strengths were increased by 26% and 11%, respectively as compared to the control specimen. Increasing the fiber reinforcement ratio from 1% to 1.5%, resulted in diminishing the mechanical properties of concrete. However, reduction in concrete compressive strength was more prominent than the tensile strength. Furthermore, it was observed that, the crack propagation was decreased with the increase of fiber content when compared to the control specimen.

Ductility improvement of GFRP-RC beams using precast confined concrete block in compression zone

Fiber-reinforced polymers(FRPs)have received considerable research attention because of their high strength,corrosion resistance,and low weight.However,owing to the lack of ductility in this material and the quasi-brittle behavior of concrete,FRP-reinforced concrete(FRP-RC)beams,even with flexural failure,do not fail in a ductile manner.Because the limited deformation capacity of FRP-RC beams depends on the ductility of their compression zones,the present study proposes using a precast confined concrete block(PCCB)in the compression zone to improve the ductility of the beams.A control beam and four beams with different PCCBs were cast and tested under four-point bending conditions.The control beam failed due to shear,and the PCCBs exhibited different confinements and perforations.The goal was to find an appropriate PCCB for use in the compression zone of the beams,which not only improved the ductility but also changed the failure mode of the beams from shear to flexural.Among the employed blocks,a ductile PCCB with low equivalent compressive strength increased the ductility ratio of the beam to twice that of the control beam.The beam failed in pure flexure with considerable deformation capacity and without significant stiffness reduction.

Predetermination of potential plastic hinges on reinforced concrete frames using GFRP reinforcement

In the past,glass fiber-reinforced polymer(GFRP)-reinforcement has been successfully applied in reinforced concrete(RC)structures where corrosion resistance,electromagnetic neutrality,or cuttability were required.Previous investigations suggest that the application of GFRP in RC structures could be advantageous in areas with seismic activity due to their high deformability and strength.However,especially the low modulus of elasticity of GFRP limited its wide application as GFRP-reinforced members usually exhibit considerably larger deformations under service loads than comparable steel-reinforced elements.To overcome the aforementioned issues,the combination of steel and GFRP reinforcement in hybrid RC sections has been investigated in the past.Based on this idea,this paper presents a novel concept for the predetermination of potential plastic hinges in RC frames using GFRP reinforcement.To analyze the efficiency of the concept,nonlinear finite element simulations were performed.The results underscore the high efficiency of hybrid steel-GFRP RC sections for predetermining potential plastic hinges on RC frames.The results also indicate that the overall seismic behavior of RC structures could be improved by means of GFRP as both the column base shear force during the seismic activity as well as the plastic deformations after the earthquake were considerably less pronounced than in the steel-reinforced reference structure.