• Composites Research
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.368-374
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• 2019

Basalt fiber reinforced epoxy composites with inorganic filler (BFRP-F) such as Mg(OH)₂ (magnesium hydroxide), Al(OH)₃ (aluminum hydroxide), Al₂O₃ (aluminum oxide) and AlOOH (boehmite) were prepared by hand lay-up and hot pressing. The combustive properties of BFRP-F were improved comparing with basalt fiber reinforced epoxy composite (BFRP) without inorganic filler. At a 30 wt% resin content, the limited oxygen index (LOI) of BFRP is 28.9, which is higher than that of epoxy (21.4), and the LOI of BFRP-F is higher than that of BFRP. The BFRP-F showed the lower peak heat release rate (PHRR), total heat release (THR) and total smoke release rate (TSR) than those of BFRP. We confirmed that the flame retardant properties of the composite were improved by the addition of inorganic filler through the dehydration reaction and oxide film formation.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.93-104
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• 2020

Basalt fiber is an eco-friendly fiber and comparatively newer to the world of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites. A limited number of studies have been reported in the literature on the strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) beams with basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP). The present experimental work explores the feasibility of using the BFRP strips for shear strengthening of the RC beams. The strengthening schemes include full wrap and U-wrap. A simple mechanical anchorage scheme has been introduced to prevent the debonding of U-wrap as well as to utilize the full capacity of the BFRP composite. The effect of varying shear span-to-effective depth (a/d) ratio on the behavior of shear deficient RC beams strengthened with BFRP strips under different schemes is examined. The RC beams were tested under a four-point loading system. The study finds that the beams strengthened with and without BFRP strips fails in shear for a/d ratio 2.5 and the enhancement of the shear capacity of strengthened beams ranges from 5% to 20%. However, the strengthened beams fail in flexure, and the control beam fails in shear for a higher a/d ratio, i.e., 3.5. The experimental results of the present study have been compared with the analytical study and found that the latter gives conservative results.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.153-160
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• 2020

Columns are one of the most critical parts of a structural system subjected to earthquake excitations. In this regard, extensive experimental studies have been conducted to evaluate the effect of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) wrapping on the seismic performance of reinforced concrete (RC) columns. Among them, many studies focused on the behavior of circular or square RC columns strengthened with CFRP or GFRP sheets. Since the cross-sectional shape affects confinement by FRP wrapping, its strengthening effect and final damage pattern may differ with shapes. In this study, a series of cyclic tests was conducted to investigate the seismic behavior of rectangular reinforced concrete columns strengthened with basalt-based fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) sheets and composite fiber panels. The result shows that the effect of strengthening is not significant, and it implies a little increase of confinement by BFRP sheets and composite fiber panels, which is considered partly due to the cross-sectional shape of the columns.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.47-54
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• 2023

In this study, the tensile behavior of concrete specimens reinforced with GFRP (Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer), BFRP (Basalt Fiber Reinforced Polymer), and CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer) bars was experimentally analyzed. The tensile strength of the FRP bars is appeared to be similar to the design strength, but the elastic modulus was somewhat lower. Additionally, the specimens for tension stiffening effect were manufacured using OPC (Ordinary Portland Cement) and SFRC (Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete), with dimensions of 150(W)×150(B)×1000(H) mm. The crack spacing of specimens was most significant for GFRP reinforcement bars, which have a lower elastic modulus and a smoother surface, while BFRP and CFRP bars, with somewhat rougher surfaces and higher elastic moduli, showed similar crack spacings. In the load-strain relationship, GFRP bars exhibited a relatively abrupt behavior after cracking, whereas BFRP and CFRP bars showed a more stable behavior after the cracking phase, maintaining a certain level of tension stiffening effect. The tension stiffening index was somewhat smaller as the diameter increased, and GFRP, compared to BFRP, showed a higher tension stiffening index.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.607-616
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• 2022

Corrosion and degradation of reinforced structures due to abnormal climates and natural disasters further accelerate the aging of structures. Coping with the decrease in structure performance, many old structures are being repaired and reinforced with low-weight and high-strength materials such as glass fiber composite material (GFRP). To further contribute, this paper focus on a more economical and eco-friendly material, basalt fiber composite (BFRP), which provide a more effective lateral constraint effect for seismic reinforcement. The main variables considered in this study are the curing temperature during the manufacturing of BFRP and the material characteristics of the target concrete member. The lateral constraint reinforcement effect was investigated through the evaluation of the performance of normal concrete and those with improved durability through fiber reinforcement. The reinforcement effect was 3.15 times for normal concrete and 3.72 times for fiber reinforced concrete, and the difference in reinforcement effect due to the improvement of the durability characteristics of the compression member was not significant. Lastly, the performance of the BFRP was compared with the results of the GFRP reinforcement from the previous study. The effect of the BFRP reinforcement was 1.18 times better than that of the GFRP reinforcement.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.337-357
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• 2017

Knowledge of thin films mechanical properties is strongly associated to the reliability and the performances of Nano Electro Mechanical Systems (NEMS). In the literature, there are several methods for micro materials characterization. Bulge test is an established nondestructive technique for studying the mechanical properties of thin films. This study improve the performances of NEMS by investigating the mechanical behavior of Nano rectangular thin film (NRTF) made of new material embedded in Nano Electro Mechanical Systems (NEMS) by developing the bulge test technique. The NRTF built from adhesively-bonded layers of basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) laminate composite materials in Nano size at room temperature and were used for plane-strain bulging. The NRTF is first pre-stressed to ensure that is no initial deflection before applied the loads on NRTF and then clamped between two plates. A differential pressure is applying to a deformation of the laminated composite NRTF. This makes the plane-strain bulge test idea for studying the mechanical behavior of laminated composite NRTF in both the elastic and plastic regimes. An exact solution of governing equations for symmetric cross-ply BFRP laminated composite NRTF was established with taking in-to account the effect of the residual strength from pre-stressed loading. The stress-strain relationship of the BFRP laminated composite NRTF was determined by hydraulic bulging test. The NRTF thickness gradation in different points of hemisphere formed in bulge test was analysed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.491-506
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• 2014

Buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) have excellent hysteretic behavior while buckling-restrained braced frames (BRBFs) are susceptible to residual lateral deformations. To address this drawback, a novel self-centering (SC) BRB with Basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) composite tendons is presented in this work. The configuration and mechanics of proposed BFRP-SC-BRBs are first discussed. Then an 1840-mm-long BFRP-SC-BRB specimen is fabricated and tested to verify its hysteric and self-centering performance. The tested specimen has an expected flag-shaped hysteresis character, showing a distinct self-centering tendency. During the test, the residual deformation of the specimen is only about 0.6 mm. The gap between anchorage plates and welding ends of bracing tubes performs as expected with the maximum opening value 6 mm when brace is in compression. The OpenSEES software is employed to conduct numerical analysis. Experiment results are used to validate the modeling methodology. Then the proposed numerical model is used to evaluate the influence of initial prestress, tendon diameter and core plate thickness on the performance of BFRP-SC-BRBs. Results show that both the increase of initial prestress and tendon diameters can obviously improve the self-centering effect of BFRP-SC-BRBs. With the increase of core plate thickness, the energy dissipation is improved while the residual deformation is generated when the core plate strength exceeds initial prestress force.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.307-325
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• 2014

A newly developed method based on energy is presented to study the damage pattern of FRP material. Basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) is employed to monitor the damage under fatigue loading. In this study, acoustic emission technique (AE) combined with scanning electronic microscope (SEM) technique is employed to monitor the damage evolution of the BFRP specimen in an approximate continuous scanning way. The AE signals are analyzed based on the wavelet transform, and the analyses are confirmed by SEM images. Several damage patterns of BFRP material, such as matrix cracking, delamination, fiber fracture and their combinations, are identified through the experiment. According to the results, the cumulative energy (obtained from wavelet coefficients) of various damage patterns are closely related to the damage evolution of the BFRP specimens during the entire fatigue tests. It has been found that the proposed technique can effectively distinguish different damage patterns of FRP materials and describe the fatigue damage evolution.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.41-54
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• 2021

This paper introduced three new strengthening systems for isolated footings: BFRP wrapping system, CFRP wrapping system, and steel jacketing system. The proposed systems are more practical than the current traditional methods, which involves installing many dowel bars and splicing reinforcing steels to join new and old concrete segments. In the proposed three new systems, BFRP wraps, CFRP wraps, or steel jackets are installed on the exterior surface of the enlarged footing, with construction adhesive or a few steel dowels being applied to the contact surfaces. To investigate the effectiveness of three systems, forty-four models were constructed in ABAQUS, with different parameters being considered. All footings investigated failed in punching shear, including original and retrofitted footings. According to FEA results and parametric studies, the three strengthening systems were capable of improving the punching shear resistance of footings. By introducing a new factor η, the punching shear equation in Eurocode 2 was modified to predict the punching shear resistances of the strengthened footings. A linear formula was developed to present the relationship between the new factor η and the investigated parameters.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.199-220
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• 2018

In this study, the effects of sulphuric acid on the mechanical performance and the durability of Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) specimens were investigated. The carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) and basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) fabrics were used to evaluate the performances of the confined and unconfined ECC specimens under static and cyclic loading in the acidic environment. In addition, the use of CFRP and BFRP fabrics as a rehabilitation technique was also studied for the specimens exposed to the sulphuric acid environment. The polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber with a fraction of 2% was used in the research. Two different PVA-ECC concretes were produced using low lime fly ash (LCFA) and high lime fly ash (HCFA) with the fly ash-to-OPC ratio of 1.2. Unwrapped PVA-ECC specimens were also produced as a reference concrete and all concrete specimens were continuously immersed in 5% sulphuric acid solution ($H_2SO_4$). The mechanical performance and the durability of specimens were evaluated by means of the visual inspection, weight change, static and cyclic loading, and failure mode. In addition, microscopic changes of the PVA-ECC specimens due to sulphuric acid attack were also assessed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to understand the macroscale behavior of the specimens. Results indicated that PVA-ECC specimens produced with low lime fly ash (LCFA) showed superior performance than the specimens produced with high lime fly ash (HCFA) in the acidic environment. In addition, confinement of ECC specimens with BFRP and CFRP fabrics significantly improved compressive strength, ductility, and durability of the specimens. PVA-ECC specimens wrapped with carbon FRP fabric showed better mechanical performance and durability properties than the specimens wrapped with basalt FRP fabric. Both FRP materials can be used as a rehabilitation material in the acidic environment.