Rheological behaviour of fresh concrete is an important factor in controlling concrete quality. It is recognized that the measurement of the slump is not a sufficient test method to adequately characterize the rheology of fresh concrete. To further understand the slump measurement and its relationship to the rheological properties, an elasto-viscoplastic, 2-D axisymmetric finite element (FE) model is developed. The FE model employs the Bingham material model to simulate the flow of a slump test. An experimental program is carried out using the Slump Rate Machine (SLRM_II) to evaluate the finite element simulation results. The simulated slump-versus-time curves are found to be in good agreement with the measured data. A sensitivity study is performed to evaluate the effects of yield stress, plastic viscosity and cone withdrawal rate on the measured flow curve using the FE model. The results demonstrate that the computed yield stress compares well with reported experimental data. The flow behaviour is shown to be influenced by the yield stress, plastic viscosity and the cone withdrawal rate. Further, it is found that the value of the apparent plastic viscosity is different from the true viscosity, with the difference depending on the cone withdrawal rate. It is also confirmed that the value of the final slump is most influenced by the yield stress.

The ductility of reinforced concrete bearing walls subjected to high axial loading and moment can be enhanced by improving the deformability of the compression zone or by reducing the neutral axis depth. The current state-of-the-art procedure evaluating the confinement effect prompts a consideration of the spaces between the transverse and longitudinal reinforcing bars, and a provision of tie bars. At the same time, consideration must also be given to the thickness of the walls. However, such considerations indicate that the confinement effect cannot be expected with the current practice of detailing wall ends in Korea. As an alternative, a comprehensive method for dimensioning boundary elements is proposed so that the entire section of a boundary element can stay within the compression zone when the full flexural strength of the wall is developed. In this comprehensive method, the once predominant code approach for determining the compression zone has been advanced by considering the rectangular stress block parameters varying with the extreme compression fiber strain. Moreover, the size of boundary elements can also be determined in relation to the architectural requirement.

The objective of this paper is setting out, for a cable-stayed bridge with a curtain suspension, a method to determine the modes of vibration of the structure. The system of differential equations governing the vibrations of the bridge, derived by means of a variational formulation in a nonlinear field, is reported in Appendix C. The whole analysis results from the application of Hamilton's principle, using the expressions of potential and kinetic energies and of the virtual work made by viscous damping forces of the various parts of the bridge (Monaco and Fiore 2003). This paper focuses on the equation concerning the transversal motion of the girder of the cable-stayed bridge and in particular on its final form obtained, restrictedly to the linear case, neglecting some quantities affecting the solution in a non-remarkable way. In the hypotheses of normal mode of vibration and of steady-state, we propose the resolution of this equation by a particular method based on a numerical approach. Respecting the boundary conditions, we derive, for each mode of vibration, the corresponding frequency, both natural and damped, the shape-function of the girder axis and the exponential function governing the variability of motion amplitude in time. Finally the results so obtained are compared with those deriving from the dynamic analysis performed by a finite elements calculation program.

This paper summarizes an experimental study on the seismic behavior of lower stories of a mid-rise reinforced concrete frame building. Two reinforced concrete frames with two stories and one span were tested and each frame represents lower two stories of an 11-story RC frame building. Both frames were designed in accordance with Japanese design guidelines and were identical except in the variation of axial force. The tests demonstrated that the overall load-displacement relations of the two frames were nearly the same and the first-story column shear was closely related to the column axial load. The columns and beams elongated during both of the tests, with the second-floor beam elongation exceeding 1.5% of the beam clear span length. The frame with higher axial loads developed more cracks that the frame under moderate axial load.

This paper discusses 2D lattice models of beams for simulating the fracture of brittle materials. A simulation of an experiment on a concrete beam subjected to bending, in which two overlapping cracks occur, is used to study the effect of individual beam characteristics and different arrangements of the beams in the overall lattice. It was found that any regular orientation of the beams influences the resulting crack patterns. Methods to implement a wide range of Poisson's ratios are also developed, and the use of the lattice to study arbitrary micro-structures is outlined. The crack patterns that are obtained with lattice are in good agreement with the experimental results. Also, numerical simulations of the tests were performed by means of a lattice model, and non-integer dimensions were measured on the predicted lattice damage patterns.