Mechanical performance of the mixed post-installed connection in low-strength concrete

Due to inadequate bearing capacity of the chemically-planted steel bar in low-strength concrete, a new mixed post-installed connection is proposed using small diameter anchoring steel bars and grouting materials together to anchor the main steel bar. To investigate the feasibility of the proposed post-installed connections, a series of pull-out tests with different anchors were conducted for comparison,including fully adhesive anchors, partially adhesive anchors,grouting material anchoring connection and the new mixed post-installed connection. The experimental results of the single steel bar pull-out test show that the mixed post-installed connection can effectively enhance the bearing capacity of post-installed steel bars in low-strength concrete. The bearing capacity is increased by nearly two times with no cone-type concrete failure compared with the fully adhesive anchor. The results show that adopting the new mixed post-installed connection can ensure that joint performance meets the requirements if the space dimension is available.

Experimental Research on Seismic Performance of Storey-Adding Frame Structures

The seismic behaviors of an integral concreting frame, a light steel storey-adding frame and a storeyadding frame strengthened with carbon fiber reinforced polymer(CFRP)were investigated under low-cycle and repeated load(scale 1∶3). The failure characteristics, hysteretic behavior, rigidity degeneracy, deflection ductility and energy-dissipation capacity of the three specimens were compared. The test results reveal that chemicallybonded rebar technique can meet the requirements of storey-adding engineering. The carrying capacity, the deflection ductility, the energy-dissipating capacity and seismic performance of the light steel storey-adding frame are higher than those of the integral concreting frame, and they are the highest in the storey-adding frame strengthened with CFRP.

Seismic retrofi tting of RC columns with RC jackets and wing walls with different structural details

An original reinforced concrete(RC) column and four strengthened specimens, two with RC jackets and two with wing walls, were tested in this study. The original column specimen was designed to comply with older(pre-1999) design standards so that the usual detailing defi ciencies in existing school buildings in Taiwan could be simulated. Two different structural details were chosen to fabricate the full-scale specimens for each retrofi tting technique. The study confi rmed that either RC jacketing or the installation of wing walls with two different structural details can effectively improve the stiffness and strength of an existing column. RC jacketing shows a better improvement in energy dissipation and ductility when compared to the columns with wing walls installed. This is because the two RC jacketed columns experienced a fl exural failure, while a shear failure was found in the two columns with the wing walls installed, and thus led to a drastic decrease of the maximum lateral strengths and ductility. Since many factors may affect the installation of a post-installed anchor, it is better to use standard hooks to replace post-installed anchors in some specifi c points when using RC jacketing or installing wing walls.