• Computers and Concrete
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1175-1194
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• 2016

Nonlinear models, capable of taking into account all the phenomena involved in the cracking and in the failure of lightly reinforced concrete beams, are nowadays available for a rigorous calculation of the minimum reinforcement. To simplify the current approaches, a new procedure is proposed in this paper. Specifically, the ductility index, which is lower than zero for under-reinforced concrete beams in bending, is introduced. The results of a general model, as well as the data measured in several tests, reveal the existence of two linear relationships between ductility index, crack width, and the amount of steel reinforcement. The above relationships can be applied to a wide range of lightly reinforced concrete beams, regardless of the geometrical dimensions and of the mechanical properties of materials. Accordingly, if only a few tests are combined with this linear relationships, a new design-by-testing procedure can be used to calculate the minimum reinforcement, which guarantees both the control of cracking in service and the ductility at failure.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.519-534
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• 2009

This study intends to examine the characteristics of compressive behavior and conducts comparative analysis between normal compressive strength under existing equations (LRFD, ACI 318, EC 4) and experimental the maximum compressive strength from the compression experiment for the unstiffened steel plate-concrete structures. The six specimens were made to evaluate the constraining factor (${\xi}$) and width ratio (${\beta}$) effects subjected to the compressive monotonic loading. Based on this experiments, the following conclusions could be made: first, compressive behaviors of the specimens from the finite element analysis closely agreed with the ones from the actual experiments; second, the higher the width ratio (${\beta}$) was, the lower the ductility index (DI) was; and third, the test results showed the maximum compressive strength with a margin by 7% compared to the existing codes.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.424-432
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• 1996

The fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites(FRTP) were prepared with polypropylene fiber(PPF) as matrix and vinylon(VF), Aramid(KF) or nylon fiber(PAF) as reinforcing materials using the integrated fiber mixing apparatus. The composite sheets were prepared by compression molding and their impact and morphological properties were characterized. VF/PP system showed the maximum value in Izod impact strength, while KF/PP system showed the maximum value in high rate impact properties. Ductility Index(DI) order was VF/PP>KF/PP>PAF/PP. A maximum DI for VF/PP, 2.43, was obtained when the weight fraction of VF was 20%. The optimum amount of the reinforcing organic fiber was found to be 20~30%. As a result, it is concluded that VF/PP system has better interfacial adhesion properties than either KF/PP or PAF/PP.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.513-525
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• 2023

This research presents the experimental and theoretical evaluations on circular steel-fiber-reinforced-concrete (SFRC) columns reinforced by glass-fiber-reinforced-polymer (GFRP) rebar under the axial compressive loading. Test programs were designed to investigate and compare the effect of different parameters on the structural behavior of columns by performing tests. Theses variables included conventional concrete (CC), fiber concrete (FC), steel/GFRP longitudinal rebars, and transversal rebars configurations. A total of 16 specimens were constructed and categorized into four groups in terms of different rebar-concrete configurations, including GFRP-rebar-reinforced-CC columns (GRCC), GFRP-rebar-reinforced-FC columns (GRFC), steel-rebar-reinforced-CC columns (SRCC) and steel-rebar- reinforced-FC columns (SRFC). Experimental observations displayed that failure modes and cracking patterns of four groups of columns were similar, especially in pre-peak branches of load-deflection curves. Although the average ultimate axial load of columns with longitudinal GFRP rebars was obtained by 17.9% less than the average ultimate axial load of columns with longitudinal steel rebars, the average axial ductility index (DI) of them was gained by 10.2% higher than their counterpart columns. Adding steel fibers (SFs) into concrete led to the increases of 7.7% and 6.7% of the axial peak load and the DI of columns than their counterpart columns with CC. The volumetric ratio had greater efficiency on peak loads and DIs of columns than the type of transversal reinforcement. A simple analytical equation was proposed to predict the axial compressive capacity of columns by considering the axial involvement of longitudinal GFRP rebars, volumetric ratio, and steel spiral/hoop rebar. There was a good correlation between test results and predictions of the proposed equation.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.623-639
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• 2015

Self-compacting Concrete (SCC) Filled Square steel Tubes (SCFST) was used to strengthen square RC columns. To establish the efficiency of this strengthening method, 17 columns were tested under axial compression loading including 3 RC columns without any strengthening (WRC), 1 RC column strengthened with concrete jacket (CRC), 13 RC columns strengthened with self-compacting concrete filled square steel tubes (SRC). The experimental results showed that the use of SCFST is interesting since the ductility and the bearing capacity of the RC columns are greatly improved. The improvement ratio is significantly affected by the nominal wall thickness of steel tubes (t), the strength grade of strengthening concrete (C), and the length-to-width ratio (L / B) of the specimens. In order to quantitatively analyze the effect of these test parameters on axial loading behavior of the SRC columns, three performance indices, enhancement ratio (ER), ductility index (DI), and confinement ratio (CR), were used. The strength of the SRC columns obtained from the experiments was then employed to verify the proposed mode referring to the relevant codes. It was found that codes DBJ13-51 could relatively predict the strength of the SRC columns accurately, and codes AIJ and BS5400 were relatively conservative.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.131-150
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• 2013

This paper presents the experimental results of axially loaded stub columns of slender steel hollow square section (SHS) strengthened with carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) sheets. 9 specimens were fabricated and the main parameters were: width-thickness ratio (b/t), the number of CFRP ply, and the CFRP sheet orientation. From the tests, it was observed that two sides would typically buckle outward and the other two sides would buckle inward. A maximum increase of 33% was achieved in axial-load capacity when 3 layers of CFRP were used to wrap HSS columns of b/t = 100 transversely. Also, stiffness and ductility index (DI) were compared between un-retrofitted specimens and retrofitted specimens. Finally, it was shown that the application of CFRP to slender sections delays local buckling and subsequently results in significant increases in elastic buckling stress. In the last section, a prediction formula of the ultimate strength developed using the experimental results is presented.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.51-66
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• 2022

This paper presents the axial compression behavior of partially encased composite (PEC) columns using H-shaped structural steel. In the experimental program, a total of eight PEC columns with H-shaped steel sections of different flange and web slenderness ratios were tested to investigate the interactive mechanism between steel and concrete. The test results showed that the PEC columns could sustain the load well beyond the peak load provided that the flange slenderness ratio was not greater than five. In addition, the previous analytical model was extended to predict the axial load-strain relationships of the PEC columns with H-shaped steel sections. A good agreement between the predicted load-strain relationships and test data was observed. Using the analytical model, the effects of compressive strength of concrete (21 to 69 MPa), yield strength of steel (245 to 525 MPa), slenderness ratio of flange (4 to 10), and slenderness ratio of web (10 to 25) on the interactive mechanism (K_h = confinement factor for highly confined concrete and K_w = reduction factor for steel web) and ductility index (DI = ratio between strain at peak load and strain at proportional load) were assessed. The numerical results showed that the slenderness of steel flange and yield strength of steel significantly influenced the compression behavior of the PEC columns.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.735-742
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• 2012

This paper presents the experimental results of axially loaded stub columns of slender steel hollow square section(SHS) strengthened with carbon fiber reinforced polymers(CFRP) sheets. 6 specimens were fabricated and the main parameters were: width-thickness ratio(b/t) and CFRP retrofitting. From the tests, it was observed that two sides would typically buckle outward and the other two sides would buckle inward. A maximum increase of 33% was achieved in axial-load capacity. Also, stiffness and ductility index(DI) were compared between unretrofitted specimens and retrofitted specimens. In the last section, a prediction formula of the ultimate strength developed using the experimental results is presented.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.3
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• pp.399-415
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• 2023

This paper presents the experimental and numerical evaluations on the circular SFRC columns reinforced GFRP rebars under the axial compressive loading. The test programs were designed to inquire and compare the effects of different parameters on the columns' structural behavior by performing experiments and finite element modeling. The research variables were conventional concrete (CC), fiber concrete (FC), types of longitudinal steel/GFRP rebars, and different configurations of lateral rebars. A total of 16 specimens were manufactured and categorized into four groups based on different rebar-concrete arrangements including GRCC, GRFC, SRCC, and SRFC. Adding steel fibers (SFs) into the concrete, it was essential to modify the concrete damage plastic (CDP) model for FC columns presented in the finite element method (FEM) using ABAQUS 6.14 software. Failure modes of the columns were similar and results of peak loads and corresponding deflections of compression columns showed a suitable agreement in tests and numerical analysis. The behavior of GFRP-RC and steel-RC columns was relatively linear in the pre-peak branch, up to 80-85% of their ultimate axial compressive loads. The axial compressive loads of GRCC and GRFC columns were averagely 80.5% and 83.6% of axial compressive loads of SRCC and SRFC columns. Also, DIs of GRCC and GRFC columns were 7.4% and 12.9% higher than those of SRCC and SRFC columns. Partially, using SFs compensated up to 3.1%, the reduction of the compressive strength of the GFRP-RC columns as compared with the steel-RC columns. The effective parameters on increasing the DIs of columns were higher volumetric ratios (up to 12%), using SFs into concrete (up to 6.6%), and spiral (up to 5.5%). The results depicted that GFRP-RC columns had higher DIs and lower peak loads compared with steel-RC columns.