In this paper, time-continuous constitutive equations for strain rate-dependent materials are presented first, among which those for the overstress and the consistency viscoplastic models are considered. By allowing the stress states to be outside the yield surface, the overstress viscoplastic model directly defines the flow rule for viscoplastic strain rate. In comparison, a rate-dependent yield surface is defined in the consistency viscoplastic model, so that the standard Kuhn-Tucker loading/unloading condition still remains true for rate-dependent plasticity. Based on the formulation of the consistency viscoplasticity, a computational elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model is proposed for the short fiber-reinforced fresh cementitious paste for extrusion purpose. The proposed constitutive model adopts the von-Mises yield criterion, the associated flow rule and nonlinear strain rate-hardening law. It is found that the predicted flow stresses of the extrudable fresh cementitious paste agree well with experimental results. The rate-form constitutive equations are then integrated into an incremental formulation, which is implemented into a numerical framework based on ANSYS/LS-DYNA finite element code. Then, a series of upsetting and ram extrusion processes are simulated. It is found that the predicted forming load-time data are in good agreement with experimental results, suggesting that the proposed constitutive model could describe the elasto-viscoplastic behavior of the short fiber-reinforced extrudable fresh cementitious paste.

The increasing concern for reinforced concrete structure durability has been justifying in many ways in the last few decades. However, there is no perfect durability test method till now. In this research an alternative method, which is based on the cumulative moisture loss percent of the concrete specimens after oven-drying, was proposed to estimate the durability performance of the concrete. Two temperatures were considered for the oven-drying tests: $100^{\circ}C$ and $200^{\circ}C$. Test results showed that oven-drying at $200^{\circ}C$ was obviously an unsuitable procedure to preserve the fragile microstructure of cement-based materials. By contrast, experimental results through oven-drying at $100^{\circ}C$ allowed estimating the moisture loss percent of cement-based materials in a more rational manner. Moreover, the magnitudes of the cumulative moisture loss percent obtained from oven-drying tests at $100^{\circ}C$ for 48 hours have good correlations with the data of other well-known methods, namely, electrical resistance test, water permeability test, and mercury intrusion porosimetry test. This investigation established that regarding the oven-drying test as one of the tests for evaluating the potential durability of concrete is considerably practicable.

In this paper, a mesoscale model of concrete is presented, which considers particles, matrix material and the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) as separate constituents. Particles are represented as ellipsoides, generated according to a prescribed grading curve and placed randomly into the specimen. In this context, an efficient separation procedure is used. The nonlinear behavior is simulated with a cohesive interface model for the ITZ and a combined damage/plasticity model for the matrix material. The mesoscale model is used to simulate a compression and a tensile test. Furthermore, the influence of the particle distribution on the loaddisplacement curve is investigated.

Most previous studies have generally overlooked the contribution of thermal stresses generated within the concrete mass when subjected to microwave heating and reported on pore-pressure as being the dominant cause of surface spalling. Also, the variation in electromagnetic properties of concrete and its effects on the microwave heating process have not been studied in detail. In this paper, finite element modeling is used to examine the simultaneous development of compressive thermal stresses and pore-pressure arising from the microwave heating of concrete. A modified Lambert's Law formulation is proposed to estimate the microwave power dissipation in the concrete mass. Moreover, the effects of frequency and concrete water content on the concrete heating rate and pattern are investigated. Results show high compressive stresses being generated especially in concrete with a high water content when heated by microwaves of higher frequencies. The results also reveal that the water content of concrete plays a crucial role in the microwave heating process.

In the design of reinforced concrete (RC) beams, apart from providing adequate strength, it is also necessary to provide a minimum deformability even for beams not located in seismic regions. In most RC design codes, this is achieved by restricting the maximum tension steel ratio or neutral axis depth. However, this empirical deemed-to-satisfy method, which was developed based on beams made of normal-strength concrete (NSC) and normal-strength steel (NSS), would not provide a consistent deformability to beams made of high-strength concrete (HSC) and/or high-strength steel (HSS). More critically, HSC beams would have much lower deformability than that provided previously to NSC beams. To ensure that a consistent deformability is provided to all RC beams, it is proposed herein to set an absolute minimum rotation capacity to all RC beams in the design. Based on this requirement, the respective maximum limits of tension steel ratio and neutral axis depth for different concrete and steel yield strengths are derived based on a formula developed by the authors. Finally for incorporation into design codes, simplified guidelines for designing RC beams having the proposed minimum deformability are developed.

This paper investigates bond behavior of structural lightweight concrete (SLWC) and ordinary concrete (OC) comparatively using bending test called Standard Belgium Hinged Beam Test (SBHBT). For this purpose the experiments were carried out as three series on 36 beam specimens (12 specimens of SLWC and OC with $20{\phi}$ development length, 12 specimens of SLWC with $25{\phi}$ development length). For each series bond behavior of steel rebars with 8, 10, 12, 14 mm diameters were tested. The results indicate that bond strength of SLWC is considerable lower than OC and $20{\phi}$ development length is insufficient for steel rebars with 12 mm and 14 mm diameters. Therefore development length of SLWC was extended to $25{\phi}$, even if 8 and 10 mm steel rebars provided acceptable bond strength. In this way, bond strength between SLWC and 8 and 10 mm steel rebars was developed. In addition, adequate bond behavior was achieved for 12 mm rebar but the beam in which 14 mm rebar used exceeded their bearing capacity by shear forces before yield stress. This result shows that SBHBT is more convenient for small sized steel rebars.

In designing a flexural member for structural safety, both the flexural strength and ductility have to be considered. For this purpose, the flexural ductility of reinforced concrete sections has been studied quite extensively. As there have been relatively few studies on the flexural ductility of prestressed concrete sections, it is not well understood how various structural parameters affect the flexural ductility. In the present study, the full-range flexural responses of reinforced and prestressed concrete sections are analyzed taking into account the nonlinearity and stress-path dependence of constitutive materials. From the numerical results, the effects of steel content, yield strength and degree of prestressing on the yield curvature and ultimate curvature are evaluated. It is found that whilst the concept of flexural ductility in terms of the ductility factor works well for reinforced sections, it can be misleading when applied to prestressed concrete sections. For prestressed concrete sections, the concept of flexural deformability in terms of ultimate curvature times overall depth of section may be more appropriate.