Modelling and Sizing of a Floor Reinforced by Ballasted Columns Intended to Support a Tank

This work aims to study the modeling and sizing of a floor reinforced by ballasted columns. We are studying the system of reinforcement by ballasted columns because this technique is able to replace deep foundations that are technically difficult to realize and their cost is higher. The modelling and dimensioning of foundations on a ballasted column will be an important contribution to the state of the art of this method because it will highlight the mode of transfer of loads, and will expose the induced deformations by also allowing to verification criteria of bearing capacity and allowable settlement according to geometric information of the model. The columns on a substrate located at 9 m have a length of 9 m and a diameter of 40 cm and were obtained by incorporating ballast of granular class 0/31.5 of internal friction angle of 38˚ and a density weight of 21 kN/m3. The choice of this method is based on the geotechnical characteristics of the initial soil. Thus, identification and characterization tests were carried out to estimate the bearing capacity and the settlement giving respectively 125 kPa and 57 cm. These results show the ground does not have sufficient mechanical properties to withstand the loads transmitted by the tank. By adopting the reinforcement of the soil with ballasted columns, numerical calculations show that after applying a load equal to 265.1 KPa, 20 cm vertical settlement and 17 cm horizontal displacement were obtained. This is in the tolerable deformation range for our tank, namely, less than 20 cm. Analytically, in addition to reducing settlement, ballasted columns, Due to their high stiffness, they have effectively contributed to the increase of the permissible soil stress up to 257 kPa.

Experimental study on concrete columns hybrid reinforced by steel and FRP bars under seismic loading

In order to study the dynamic behavior of hybrid reinforced concrete columns, shaking table tests of three concrete columns with equal initial stiffness were conducted.The longitudinal reinforcements include an ordinary steel bar,a steel-fiber reinforced polymer（FRP） composite bar（SFCB）, and hybrid reinforcement（steel bar and FRP bar, CH）. Test results show that the peak ground acceleration（PGA） responses of different columns are similar to each other. For an ordinary reinforced concrete（RC） column, the plastic strain of the steel bar develops rapidly after the PGA of the input ground motion reaches 100 cm / s^2, and the corresponding residual strain develops dramatically. For a SFCB column, even after the peak strain reaches 0. 015, the residual strain is below 5 × 10^- 4. For the hybrid column C-H,the residual strain of the FRP bar is similar to that of the SFCB column. In general, concrete columns with hybrid steel and FRP bar reinforcement can achieve smaller residual deformation, and the SFCB reinforced columns can be constructed in extreme environments, such as offshore bridges, due to good anti-corrosion performance.

Seismic strengthening of reinforced concrete columns damaged by rebar corrosion using combined CFRP and steel jacket

In order to study the effectiveness of combined carbon fiber-reinforced polymer （CFRP） sheets and steel jacket in strengthening the seismic performance of corrosion-damaged reinforced concrete （RC） columns, twelve reinforced concrete columns are tested under combined lateral cyclic displacement excursions and constant axial load. The variables studied in this program include effects of corrosion degree of the rebars, level of axial load, the amount of CFRP sheets and steel jacket. The results indicate that the combined CFRP and steel jacket retrofitting technique is effective in improving load-carrying, ductility and energy absorption capacity of the columns. Compared with the corrosion-damaged RC column, the lateral load and the ductility factor of many strengthened columns increase more than 90% and 100%, respectively. The formulae for the calculation of the yielding load, the maximum lateral load and the displacement ductility factor of the strengthened columns under combined constant axial load and cyclically increasing lateral loading are developed. The test results are also compared with the results obtained from the proposed formulae. A good agreement between calculated values and experimental results is observed.

Influence of Steel and Carbon Fiber Reinforcement Bars on Seismic Performance of Precast Segmental Bridge Columns

为了得到快速施工和利用新材料的预制节段桥墩设计方法，研究了部分钢筋替换为碳纤维筋时预制节段桥墩的水平承载力和破坏等级．首先通过与拟静力试验结果的比较证明了仿真分析的正确性，然后研究了部分普通钢筋替换为碳纤维筋，对拟静力循环荷载和地震地面运动分别作用时预制节段桥墩响应的影响．结果表明：碳纤维筋能提高桥墩水平承载力，增大有效刚度，降低等效粘滞阻尼比和滞回能量耗散．地震时程计算表明：部分普通钢筋替换为碳纤维筋时，使得预制节段桥墩在较强烈地震底面运动下不倒塌．利用绝对能量法分析了桥墩在地震地面运动下的能量吸收和耗散情况，并主要研究了4种桥墩试件在3种不同地震地面运动作用下的输入能量和滞回能量耗散，结果是随着桥墩输入地震能量的增大滞回能量耗散增长缓慢．

Experimental study on the seismic response of braced reinforced concrete frame with irregular columns

A 15-storey K-braced reinforced concrete model frame with irregular columns, i.e., T-shaped, L-shaped, as well as ＋-shaped columns, was constructed and tested on the six-degree-of-freedom shaking table at the State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering in Tongji, China. Two types of earthquake records, El-Centro wave （south-north direction） and Shanghai artificial wave （SHAW） with various peak accelerations and principal-secondary sequences, were input and experimentally studied. Based on the shaking table tests and theoretical analysis, several observations can be made. The failure sequence of the model structure is brace→beam→column→joints, so that the design philosophy for several lines of defense has been achieved. Earthquake waves with different spectrums not only influence the magnitude and distribution of the earthquake force and the storey shear force, but also obviously affect the magnitude of the displacement response. The aftershock seismic response of previously damaged reinforced concrete braced frames with irregular columns possesses the equivalent elastic performance characteristic. Generally speaking, from the aspects of failure features and drift ratio, this type of reinforced concrete structure provides adequate earthquake resistance and can be promoted for use in China.

Hysteretic behavior of special shaped columns composed of steel and reinforced concrete(SRC)

This paper describes a series of experimental investigations on seventeen specimens of steel reinforced concrete special shaped(SRCSS) columns under low cyclic reversed loading using parallel crosshead equipment. Nine T-shaped SRC columns, four L-shaped SRC columns and four +-shaped SRC columns were tested to examine the effects of shape steel confi guration, loading angle, axial compressive ratio and shear-span ratio on the behavior(strength, stiffness, energy dissipation, ductility, etc.) of SRCSS column specimens. The failure modes and hysteretic performance of all the specimens were obtained in the tests. Test results demonstrate that the shear-span ratio is the main parameter affecting the failure modes of SRCSS columns. The specimens with small shear-span ratio are prone to shear failure, and the primary failure planes in SRCSS columns are parallel to the loading direction. As a result, there is a symmetry between positive and negative loading directions in the hysteretic curves of the SRCSS columns. The majority of displacement ductility coeffi cients for all the specimens are over 3.0, so that the SRCSS columns demonstrate a better deformation capacity. In addition, the equivalent viscous damping coeffi cients of all the specimens are greater than 0.2, indicating that the seismic behavior of SRCSS columns is adequate. Finally, the superposition theory was used to calculate the limits of axial compressive ratio for the specimens, and it is found that the test axial compressive ratio is close to or smaller than the calculated axial compressive ratio limit.

Experimental study on ductility improvement of reinforced concrete rectangular Columns retrofitted with a new fiber reinforced plastics method

Reinforced concrete （RC） columns lacking adequately detailed transverse reinforcement do not possess the necessary ductility to dissipate seismic energy during a major earthquake without severe strength degradation. In this paper, a new retrofit method, which utilized fiber-reinforced plastics （FRP） confinement mechanism and anchorage of embedded bars, was developed aiming to retrofit non-ductile large RC rectangular columns to prevent the damage of the plastic hinges. Carbon FRP （CFRP） sheets and glass FRP （GFRP） bars were used in this test, and five scaled RC columns were tested to examine the function of this new method for improving the ductility of columns. Responses of columns were examined before and after being retrofitted. Test results indicate that this new composite method can be very effective to improve the anti-seismic behavior of non-ductile RC columns compared with normal CFRP sheets retrofitted column.

Square concrete columns strengthened with carbon fiber reinforced plastics sheets at low temperatures

Twenty-one square concrete columns were constructed and tested. The testing results indicate that bonded carbon fiber reinforced plastics(CFRP) sheets can be used to increase the strength and improve the serviceability of damaged concrete columns at low temperatures. The failure of the specimens,in most cases,takes place within the middle half of the columns. And the failure of strengthened columns is sudden and explosive. The CFRP sheets increase both the axial load capacity and the ultimate concrete compressive strain of the columns. The ultimate loads of strengthened columns at-10,0 and 10 ℃ increase averagely by 9.09%,6.63% and 17.83%,respectively,as compared with those of the control specimens. The axial compressive strength of strengthened columns is related to the curing temperatures. The improvement of axial compressive strength decreases with reducing temperature,and when the temperature drops to a certain value,the improvement increases with falling temperature.

Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Columns under Combined Axial Load and Bending in Accordance with a Nonlinear Numerical Model

A nonlinear numerical model was developed to analyze reinforced concrete columns under combined axial load and bending up to failure. Results of reinforced concrete columns under eccentric compression tested to failure are presented and compared to results from a numerical nonlinear model. The tests involved 10 columns with cross-section of 250 mm × 120 mm, geometrical reinforcement ratio of 1.57% and concrete with compression strength around 40 MPa, with 3,000 mm in length. The main variable was the load eccentricity in the direction of the smaller dimension of cross-section. Experimental results of ultimate load and of the evolution of transverse displacements and concrete strains are compared with the numerical results. The estimated results obtained by the numerical model are close to the experimental ones, being suitable for use in verification of elements under combined axial load and bending.

Experimental study on slender reinforced concrete columns wrapped with CFRP

By axial compression tests on 6 reinforced concrete slender columns wrapped with carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP),with slenderness ratio(SR) from 4.5 to 17.5,the results show that when SR increases the retrofitting effect declines. In the case of same SR,the stability coefficient (SC) for the reinforced concrete(RC) columns with CFRP is much less than that without CFRP. There is 20% increase of stable bearing capacity to the former as compared with the latter when the SR in less than 17.5. The study summarized the simplified formula for SC,which provides a reference for engineering designers.

Compressive Strength Estimation for the Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP)-Confined Concrete Columns with Different Shapes Using Artificial Neural Networks

An evaluation of existing strength of concrete columns confined with fiber-reinforced polymer( FRP) was presented with extensive collection of experimental data. According to the evaluation results, artificial neural networks( ANNs) model to predict the ultimate strength of FRP confined column with different shapes was proposed. The models had seven inputs including the column length,the tensile strength of the FRP in the hoop direction,the total thickness of FRP,the diameter of the concrete specimen,the elastic modulus of FRP,the corner radius and the concrete compressive strength. The compressive strength of the confined concrete was the output data. The results reveal that the proposed models have good prediction and generalization capacity with acceptable errors.

Seismic Performance of Steel Reinforced Ultra High-strength Concrete Columns

The seismic performance of steel reinforced ultra-high-strength concrete columns(SRSHC) with various shear-span ratios(λ) were studied through a series of experiments.The concrete compressive cube strength value of experimental specimens ranged from 92.9 MPa to 108.1 MPa.The main experimental variables affecting seismic performance of specimens were axial load ratio and stirrup reinforcement ratio.The columns(λ=2.75) subjected to low cyclic reversed lateral loads failed mainly in the flexural-shear mode failure and columns(λ≤2.0) subjected to low cyclic reversed lateral loads failed mainly in the shear mode failure.Shear force-displacement hysteretic curves and skeleton curves were drawn.Coefficient of the specimen displacement ductility was calculated.Experimental results indicate that ductility decreases with axial pressure ratio increasing,and increases with stirrup reinforcement ratio increasing.Limit values of axial pressure ratio and minimum stirrup reinforcement ratio of columns are proposed to satisfy definite ductility requirement.The suggested values provide a reference for engineering application and for the amendment of the current Chinese design code of steel reinforced concrete composite structures.

Mesoscopic investigation on seismic performance of corroded reinforced concrete columns

In addition to the normal service loadings,engineering structures may be subjected to occasional loadings such as earthquakes,which may cause severe destruction.When the steel rebar is corroded,the damage could be more serious.To investigate the seismic performance of corroded RC columns,a three-dimensional mesoscale finite element model was established.In this approach,concrete was considered as a three-phase composite composed of aggregate,mortar matrix and interfacial transition zone(ITZ).The nonlinear spring were used to describe the bond slip between steel and concrete.The degradation of the material properties of the steel rebar and cover concrete as well as the bonding performance due to corrosion were taken into account.The rationality of the developed numerical analysis model was verified by the good agreement between the numerical results and the available experimental observation.On this basis,the effect of corrosion level,axial force ratio and shear-span ratio on the seismic performance of corroded RC columns,including lateral bearing capacity,ductility,and energy consumption,were explored and discussed.The simulation results indicate that the mesoscopic method can consider the heterogeneity of concrete,to more realistically and reasonably reflect the destruction process of structures.

Shear capacity of reinforced concrete columns strengthened with CFRP sheet

This paper discusses the results of tests on the shear capacity of reinforced concrete columns strengthened with carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) sheet. The shear transfer mechanism of the specimens reinforced with CFRP sheet was studied. The factors affecting the shear capacity of reinforced concrete columns strengthened with CFRP sheet were analyzed. Several sug-gestions such as the number of layers, width and tensile strength of the CFRP sheet are proposed for this new strengthening technique. Finally, a simple and practical design method is presented in the paper. The calculated results of the suggested method are shown to be in good agreement with the test results. The suggested design method can be used in evaluating the shear capacity of reinforced concrete columns strengthened with CFRP sheet.

Model Experiment on Integral Seismic Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Frame with Split Columns

Based on a series of previous studies, an experiment on the integral seismic behavior of a 1/3 scaled model of two-bay and three-story reinforced concrete frame with split columns at lower two stories is performed under cyclic loading. The original columns at lower two stories of the model frame are short columns and they are replaced by the split columns. The hysteresis curves between the horizontal cyclic load and the lateral displacement at the top of the model frame, indicate that under the cyclic loading, the model frame undergoes the process of cracking, yielding, and maximum loading before being destroyed at the ultimate load. They also indicate that the model frame has better ductility, and the ratio of the ultimate displacement to the yielding displacement, reaches 6.0. The yielding process of the model frame shows that for the frame with split columns, plastic hinges are generated at the ends of beams and then the columns begin yielding while the frame still possesses the bearing and deformation capacity. The design idea of directly changing the short column to long one in the reinforced concrete frame may be realized by replacing the short column with the split one.

Seismic behavior of multiple reinforcement,high-strength concrete columns:experimental and theoretical analysis

This study investigates the seismic performance of multiple reinforcement,high-strength concrete(MRHSC)columns that are characterized by multiple transverse and longitudinal reinforcements in core areas.Eight MRHSC columns were designed and subjected to a low cycle,reversed loading test.The response,including the failure modes,hysteretic behavior,lateral bearing capacity,and displacement ductility,was analyzed.The effects of the axial compression ratio,stirrup form,and stirrup spacing of the central reinforcement configuration on the seismic performance of the columns were studied.Furthermore,an analytical model was developed to predict the backbone force-displacement curves of the MRHSC columns.The test results showed that these columns experienced two failure modes:shear failure and flexure-shear failure.As the axial compression ratio increased,the bearing capacity increased significantly,whereas the deformation capacity and ductility decreased.A decrease in the spacing of central transverse reinforcements improved the ductility and delayed the degradation of load-bearing capacity.The proposed analytical model can accurately predict the lateral force and deformations of MRHSC columns.

Experimental Study on Seismic Behavior of Exterior Joints of Special-shaped Columns with Different Lengths of Limbs

Four exterior joints with special-shaped columns which have different lengths of limbs are tested under low cyclic loading. Speeial-shaped columns adopted are L- and T-shaped in section. It can be concluded that crack pattern, failure mode and shear strength of joints are affected by the length of limb, and that shear strength and ductility increase with the length of limb; the joints with the flexural failure of the beam have better seismic behavior than those with the shear failure of the joint core.

Shear reinforcement effect of reinforced concrete tie-columns on the lateral resistance of confined masonry walls

Tie-columns improve significantly the lateral resistance of masonry bearing walls against persistent, transient and accidental loads. The research work described herein has been carried out to assess the lateral resistance of confined masonry walls, where contribution of the masonry panel is evaluated according to material mechanics and tie-columns effect is estimated by a proposed analytical formulation based on a model reported on previously. This approach takes into account the effect of dowel support on the reaction of its adjacent shear reinforcement： the conditions for the various contributions of transverse reinforcements are better defined following a clear evaluation of the participation ratio of these reinforcements. Lateral resistances of confined masonry walls measured in full-scale tests and gleaned from the literature are compared and checked with resistances calculated using the present approach.

Comparing the Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Columns Embedded in Walls and Subjected to Fire

Fire is an exceptional action that may occur during the life of a building.So,it must be considered when designing a building structure.The standards provide several types of design methods for that propose,used for single elements,parts of structure or the structure as a whole.The fire design of columns is important both for new project as for remodel buildings and also for verification of the residual resistance of columns that have suffered a fire accident.In this way,the aim of this work is to analyze numerically different ways of fire exposure to check the compressive strength of the columns when subjected to fire and the influence of the adjacent walls to a column in case of fire.The thermal advanced analysis of the sections columns was performed using the finite element software,Abaqus CAE,where the standard fire curve,ISO 834(International Organization for Standardization 834),was used,with 4 h of fire duration.It was possible,with the two methods used in this work,to compare them to verify which model is more conservative and which is closer to the advanced numerical model,for calculating temperatures in the column section.It was checked that the walls act as thermal insulators,protecting part of the columns from the convection and radiation of the fire.Consequently,the effects of raising the temperature over the compressive resistance of the reinforced concrete column,were reduced.

Earthquake simulation test of circular reinforced concrete bridge column under multidirectional seismic excitation

Structures behave multi-directionally when subjected to earthquake excitation. Thus, it is essential to evaluate the effect of multidirectional loading on the dynamic response and seismic performance of reinforced concrete bridge columns in order to develop more advanced and reliable design procedures. To investigate such effects, a 1/4 scaled circular reinforced concrete bridge column specimen was tested under two horizontal and one vertical components of a strong motion that has long duration with several strong pulses. Damage progress of reinforced concrete columns subjected to strong excitation was evaluated from the test. The test results demonstrate that the lateral force response in the principal directions become smaller than computed flexural capacity due to the bilateral flexural loading effects, and that the lateral response is not significantly affected by the fluctuation of the axial force because the horizontal response and axial force barely reached the maximum simultaneously due to difference of the predominant natural periods between the vertical and the horizontal directions. Accuracy of fiber analyses is discussed using the test results.