• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.509-525
• /
• 2020

Steel-concrete composite slabs with profiled steel sheeting are widely used in the execution of floors in steel and composite buildings. The rapid construction process, the elimination of conventional replaceable shuttering and the reduction of temporary support are, in general, considered the main advantages of this structural system. In slabs with the spans currently used, the longitudinal shear resistance commonly provided by the embossments along the steel sheet tends to be the governing design mode. This paper presents an innovative reinforcing system that increases the longitudinal shear capacity of composite slabs. The system is constituted by a set of transversal reinforcing bars crossing longitudinal stiffeners executed along the upper flanges of the steel sheet profiles. This type of reinforcement takes advantage of the high bending resistance of the composite slabs and increases the slab's ductility. Two experimental programmes were carried out: a small-scale test programme - to study the resistance provided by the reinforcing system in detail - and a full-scale test programme to test simply supported and continuous composite slabs - to assess the efficacy of the proposed reinforcing system on the global behaviour of the slabs. Based on the results of the small-scale tests, an equation to predict the resistance provided by the proposed reinforcing system was established. The present study concludes that the resistance and the ductility of composite slabs using the reinforcing system proposed here are significantly increased.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.253-267
• /
• 2014

Based on the test on a 1/2.5-scaled model of a two-bay and three-story inner frame composed of reinforced concrete beams and lattice steel reinforced concrete (SRC) irregular section columns under low cyclic reversed loading, the failure process and the features of the frame were observed. The subsequence of plastic hinges of the structure, the load-displacement hysteresis loops and the skeleton curve, load bearing capacity, inter-story drift ratio, ductility, energy dissipation and stiffness degradation were analyzed. The results show that the lattice SRC inner frame is a typical strong column-weak beam structure. The hysteresis loops are spindle-shaped, and the stiffness degradation is insignificant. The elastic-plastic inter-story deformation capacity is high. Compared with the reinforced concrete frame with irregular section columns, the ductility and energy dissipation of the structure are better. The conclusions can be referred to for seismic design of this new kind of structure.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.115-133
• /
• 2017

To investigate the effectiveness of using fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) sheets in confining heat-damaged columns, 15 circular RC column specimens were tested under axial compression. The effects of heating duration, stiffness and thickness of the FRP wrapping sheets were examined. Two specimen groups, six each, were subjected to elevated temperatures of $500^{\circ}C$ for 2 and 3 h, respectively. Eight of the heat-damaged specimens were wrapped with unidirectional carbon and glass FRP sheets. Test results confirmed that elevated temperatures adversely affect the axial load resistance and stiffness of the columns while increasing their ductility and toughness. Full wrapping with FRP sheets increased the axial load capacity and toughness of the damaged columns. A single layer of the carbon sheets managed to restore the original axial resistance of the columns heated for 2 h yet, two layers were needed to restore the axial resistance of columns heated for 3 h. Glass FRP sheets were found to be less effective; using two layers of glass sheets managed to restore the axial load carrying capacity of columns heated for 2 h only. Confining the heat-damaged columns with FRP circumferential wraps failed in recovering the original axial stiffness of the columns. Test results confirmed that FRP-confining models adopted by international design guidelines should address the increased confinement efficiency in heat-damaged circular RC columns.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.453-464
• /
• 2018

The objective of this study is to devise an alternative strengthening method to the ones available in the literature. So, external steel members were used to enhance both flexural and shear capacities of reinforced concrete (RC) beams having insufficient shear capacity. Two types of RC beams, one without stirrups and one with lacking stirrups, were prepared in the study. These beams were strengthened with external steel clamps devised by the authors and with external longitudinal reinforcements. Although the use of clamps alone didn't have a significant effect on the load carrying capacity of the tested beams, the ductility increased approximately tenfold and the failure behavior changed from brittle to ductile. Although the use of clamps and longitudinal reinforcements together did not significantly increase the ductility of the beams, it approximately doubled their load capacities. The results of the experimental study were compared to the ones obtained from nonlinear finite element analysis (NLFEA) and it was observed that they were compatible. Finally, it can be concluded that the devised method could be applied to structural members as an alternative to methods in application due to lightness, low-cost, easy applicable and reliable.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.505-523
• /
• 2018

Static pushover analyses of typical existing reinforced concrete frames, designed according to the previous generations of design codes in Greece, have established these structures' inelastic characteristics, namely overstrength, global ductility capacity and available behaviour factor q, under planar response. These were compared with the corresponding demands at the collapse limit state target performance point. The building stock considered accounted for the typical variability, among different generations of constructed buildings in Greece, in the form, the seismic design code in effect and the material characteristics. These static pushover analyses are extended, in the present study, in the time history domain. Consequently, the static analysis predictions are compared with Incremental Dynamic Analysis results herein, using a large number of spectrum compatible recorded base excitations of recent destructive earthquakes in Greece and abroad, following, for comparison, similar conventional limiting failure criteria as before. It is shown that the buildings constructed in the 70s exhibit the least desirable behaviour, followed by the buildings constructed in the 60s. As the seismic codes evolved, there is a notable improvement for buildings of the 80s, when the seismic code introduced end member confinement and the requirement for a joint capacity criterion. Finally, buildings of the 90s, designed to modern codes exhibit an exceptionally good performance, as expected by the compliance of this code to currently enforced seismic provisions worldwide.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.20 no.6
• /
• pp.351-360
• /
• 2016

In regions of low-to-moderate seismicity, various types of lap splices are used for longitudinal reinforcement of columns at the plastic hinge zones. The seismic performance of such lap spliced columns, such as strength, deformation capacity, and energy dissipation, is affected by material strengths, longitudinal re-bar size, confinement of hoops, lap splice location, and lap splice length. In the present study, cyclic loading tests were performed for columns using three types of lap splices (bottom offset bar splice, top offset bar splice, and splice without offset bend). Lap splice length($40d_b$ and $50d_b$) was also considered as test parameters. Ties with 90-degree end hooks were provided in the lap splice length. The test results showed that strength, deformation capacity, and energy dissipation of columns significantly differed depending on the details and the length of lap splices. The bottom offset bar splice showed high ductility and energy dissipation but low strength; on the other hand, the top offset bar splice and the splice without offset bend showed high strength but moderate ductility and energy dissipation.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.107-120
• /
• 2014

A Reinforced concrete (RC) shear wall system with coupling beams has been known as one of the most promising structural systems for high-rise buildings. However, significantly large flexural and/or shear stress demands induced in the coupling beams require special reinforcement details to avoid their undesirable brittle failure. In order to solve this problem, one of promising candidates is frictional hysteretic energy dissipating devices (HEDDs) as an alternative to the coupling beams. The introduction of frictional HEDDs into a RC shear wall system increases energy dissipation capacity and maintains the frame action after their yielding. This paper investigates the strength demands (specifically yield strength levels) with a maximum allowable ductility of frictional HEDDs based on comparative non-linear time-history analyses of a prototype RC shear wall system with traditional RC coupling beams and frictional HEDDs. Analysis results show that the RC shear wall systems coupled by frictional HEDDs with more than 50% yield strength of the RC coupling beams present better seismic performance compared to the RC shear wall systems with traditional RC coupling beams. This is due to the increased seismic energy dissipation capacity of the frictional HEDD. Also, it is found from the analysis results that the maximum allowable ductility demand of a frictional HEDD should increase as its yield strength decreases.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.1-20
• /
• 2002

Fiber-Reinforced Plastics (FRP) have received significant attention for use in civil infrastructure due to their unique properties, such as the high strength-to-weight ratio and stiffness-to-weight ratio, corrosion and fatigue resistance, and tailorability. It is well known that FRP wraps increase the load-carrying capacity and the ductility of reinforced concrete columns. A number of researchers have explored their use for seismic components. The application of concern in the present research is on the use of FRP for corrosion protection of reinforced concrete columns, which is very important in cold-weather and coastal regions. More specifically, this work is intended to give practicing engineers with a more practical procedure for estimating the strength of a deficient column rehabilitated using FRP wrapped columns than those currently available. To achieve this goal, a stress-strain model for FRP wrapped concrete is proposed, which is subsequently used in the development of the moment-curvature relations for FRP wrapped reinforced concrete column sections. A comparison of the proposed stress-strain model to the test results shows good agreement. It has also been found that based on the moment-curvature relations, the balanced moment is no longer a critical moment in the interaction diagram. Besides, the enhancement in the loading capacity in terms of the interaction diagram due to the confinement provided by FRP wraps is also confirmed in this work.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.399-408
• /
• 2017

This paper experimentally studies the cyclic behavior of hybrid connections between steel coupling beams and concrete shear walls with embedded steel columns. Four beam-to-wall connection specimens with short and long embedded steel columns are tested under monotonic and cyclic loads, respectively. The influence of embedment length of columns on the failure mode and performance of connections is investigated. The results show that the length of embedded steel columns has significant effect on the failure mode of connections. A connection with a long embedded column has a better stiffness, load-bearing capacity and ductility than that of a short embedded column. The former fails due to the shear yielding of column web in the joint panel, while failure of the latter is initiated by the yielding of horizontal reinforcement in the wall due to the rigid rotation of the column. It is recommended that embedded steel columns should be placed along the entire height of shear walls to facilitate construction and enhance the ductility.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.409-419
• /
• 2017

In order to analyze the vibration control effect of viscous damper in the concrete archaized buildings with lintel-column joints under seismic action, 3 specimens were tested under dynamic excitation. Two specimens with viscous damper were defined as the controlled component and one specimen without viscous damper was specified as the non-controlled component. The loading process and failure patterns were obtained from the test results. The failure characteristics, skeleton curves and mechanical behavior such as the load-displacement hysteretic loops, load carrying capacity, degradation of strength and rigidity, ductility and energy dissipation of the joints were analyzed. The results indicate that the load-bearing capacity of the controlled component is significantly higher than that of the non-controlled component. The former component has an average increase of 27.4% in yield load and 22.4% in ultimate load, respectively. Meanwhile, the performance of displacement ductility and the ability of energy dissipation for the controlled component are superior to those of the non-controlled component as well. Compared with non-controlled component, equivalent viscous damping coefficients are improved by 27.3%-30.8%, the average increase is 29.0% at ultimate load for controlled component. All these results reflect that the seismic performance of the controlled component is significantly better than that of the non-controlled component. These researches are helpful for practical application of viscous damper in the concrete archaizing buildings with lintel-column joints.