• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.75-98
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• 2013

This study focuses on shear strengthening performance of simply supported reinforced concrete (RC) T-beams bonded by glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) strips in different configuration, orientations and transverse steel reinforcement in different spacing. Eighteen RC T-beams of 2.5 m span are tested. Nine beams are used as control beam. The stirrups are provided in three different spacing such as without stirrups and with stirrups at a spacing of 200 mm and 300 mm. Another nine beams are used as strengthened beams. GFRP strips are bonded in shear zone in U-shape and side shape with two types of orientation of the strip at $45^{\circ}$ and $90^{\circ}$ to the longitudinal axis of the beam for each type of stirrup spacing. The experimental result indicates that the beam strengthened with GFRP strips at $45^{\circ}$ orientation to the longitudinal axis of the beam are much more effective than $90^{\circ}$ orientation. Also as transverse steel increases, the effectiveness of the GFRP strips decreases.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.305-317
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• 2021

The bond between the concrete and bar is a main factor affecting the performance of the reinforced concrete (RC) members, and since the steel corrosion reduces the bond strength, studying the bond behavior of concrete and GFRP bars is quite necessary. In this research, a database including 112 concrete beam test specimens reinforced with spliced GFRP bars in the splitting failure mode has been collected and used to estimate the concrete-GFRP bar bond strength. This paper aims to accurately estimate the bond strength of spliced GFRP bars in concrete beams by applying three soft computing models including multivariate adaptive regression spline (MARS), Kriging, and M5 model tree. Since the selection of regularization parameters greatly affects the fitting of MARS, Kriging, and M5 models, the regularization parameters have been so optimized as to maximize the training data convergence coefficient. Three hybrid model coupling soft computing methods and genetic algorithm is proposed to automatically perform the trial and error process for finding appropriate modeling regularization parameters. Results have shown that proposed models have significantly increased the prediction accuracy compared to previous models. The proposed MARS, Kriging, and M5 models have improved the convergence coefficient by about 65, 63 and 49%, respectively, compared to the best previous model.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.4
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• pp.485-495
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• 2018

This paper presents the results of an experimental study on the structural performance of an innovative GFRP-concrete composite beam construction, which is reinforced with longitudinal GFRP pultruded box-profile and transverse steel stirrups. GFRP perfobond (PBL) shear connectors are employed to enhance the bonding performance between the GFRP profile and the concrete portion. To investigate the shear and flexural performance of this composite system, eight specimens were designed and tested under three-point and four-point bending. The main variables were the height of the composite beam and the shear span-to-depth ratio. The test results indicated that bonding cracks did not occur at the interface between the GFRP profile and the concrete until the final stage of the test. This shows that the specimens performed well as composite beams during the test and that the GFRP PBL connectors were reliable. Based on the test results, two calculation methods were used to determine the flexural and shear capacity of the composite beams. A comparative study of the test and theoretical results suggests that the proposed methods can reasonably predict both the flexural and shear capacities of the specimens, whereas the provisions of ACI 440 are relatively conservative on both counts.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.679-688
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• 2017

A GFRP-concrete composite bridge deck is presented in this paper. This composite deck is composed of concrete and a GFRP plate and is connected by GFRP perfobond (PBL) shear connectors with penetrating GFRP rebar. There are many outstanding advantages in mechanical behavior, corrosion resistance and durability of this composite deck over conventional reinforced concrete decks. To analyze the shear and flexural performance of this GFRP-concrete composite deck, a static loading experiment was carried out on seven specimens. The failure modes, strain development and ultimate bearing capacity were thoroughly examined. Based on elastic theory and strain-based theory, calculation methods for shear and flexural capacity were put forward and revised. The comparison of tested and theoretical capacity results showed that the proposed methods could effectively predict both the flexural and shear capacity of this composite deck. The ACI 440 methods were relatively conservative in predicting flexural capacity and excessively conservative in predicting shear capacity of this composite deck. The analysis of mechanical behavior and the design method can be used for the design of this composite deck and provides a significant foundation for further research.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2014

This paper demonstrates an experimental study to evaluate the effects of environmental exposures on the bond between ribbed Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) reinforcing bars and concrete. The equation recommended by ACI 440-1R-06, for the bond stress,was evaluated in this study. A total of 16 pullout samples, 12with GFRP bars and 4with steel bars, were exposed to two different harsh environments for different periods of time. The exposed harsh environments included direct sun exposure and cyclic splash zone sea water. The variation in the shear (bond) strengths before and after exposure was considered as a measure of the durability of the bond between GFRP bars and concrete.Experimental results showed there is no significant difference of the bond strength between 60 and 90 days of exposures.It also showed that the empirical equation of the bond stress calculated by ACI 440-IR-06 is very conservative.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.112-121
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• 2013

FRP reinforced lightweight concrete structures can offer corrosion resistance and weight reduction effect simultaneously, so practical use of the structures may be expected afterwards. But to make concrete structures using lightweight concrete and FRP bar, that can resist external forces without internal slip of the FRP bar, it is very important to understand bond characteristic between lightweight concrete and FRP bar. During that time, a lot of studies for bond behaviors of FRP bar in normal concrete were conducted, but studies for bond behavior of FRP bar in lightweight concrete are very limited to date. So, bond characteristic between lightweight concrete and helically deformed GFRP bar was investigated in this study. Three main parameters were considered in experimental investigation: type of rebar, concrete type, and compressive strength of lightweight concrete. As an experimental result, it could be known that bond strength of helically deformed GFRP bar in lightweight concrete was 0.49 times bond strength of steel reinforcement in normal concrete.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.759-774
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• 2015

This study simulates the flexural behavior of ultra-high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) beams reinforced with steel and glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) rebars. For this, micromechanics-based modeling was first carried out on the basis of single fiber pullout models considering inclination angle. Two different tension-softening curves (TSCs) with the assumptions of 2-dimensional (2-D) and 3-dimensional (3-D) random fiber orientations were obtained from the micromechanics-based modeling, and linear elastic compressive and tensile models before the occurrence of cracks were obtained from the mechanical tests and rule of mixture. Finite element analysis incorporating smeared crack model was used due to the multiple cracking behaviors of structural UHPFRC beams, and the characteristic length of two times the element width (or two times the average crack spacing at the peak load) was suggested as a result of parametric study. Analytical results showed that the assumption of 2-D random fiber orientation is appropriate to a non-reinforced UHPFRC beam, whereas the assumption of 3-D random fiber orientation is suitable for UHPFRC beams reinforced with steel and GFRP rebars due to disorder of fiber alignment from the internal reinforcements. The micromechanics-based finite element analysis also well predicted the serviceability deflections of UHPFRC beams with GFRP rebars and hybrid reinforcements.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.271-285
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• 2014

This paper aims to examine the behavior of slender reinforced concrete columns confined with external glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP) sheets under eccentric loads. The experimental work conducted in this paper is an extension to previous work by the author concerning the behavior of eccentrically loaded short columns strengthened with GFRP wrapping. In this study, nine reinforced concrete columns divided into three groups were casted and tested. Three eccentricity ratios corresponding to e/t = 0, 0.10, and 0.50 in one direction of the column were tested in each group. The first group was the control one without confinement with slenderness ratio equal 20. The second group was the same as the first group but fully wrapped with one layer of GFRP laminates. The third group was also fully wrapped with one layer of GFRP laminates but having slenderness ratio equal 15. The experimental results of another two groups from the previous work were used in this study to investigate the difference between short and slender columns. The first was control one with slenderness ratio equal 10 and the second was fully wrapped and having the same slenderness ratio. All specimens were loaded until failure. The ultimate load, axial deformation, strain in steel bars, and failure mechanisms of each specimen were generated and analyzed. The results show that GFRP laminates confining system is less effective with slender columns compared with short one, but this solution is still applied and it can be efficiently utilized especially for slender columns with low eccentric ratio.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.143-151
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• 2006

This paper presents the comparison of the goodness-of-fit test of analytical bond models between concrete and steel or GFRP reinforcements. Bond test specimens were prepared in accordance with the CSA codes and the rebars used in the test were steel and two types of commercial GFRP rebar products. Using the test data, a bond model was proposed, and comparison of goodness-of-fit test for existing bond models and proposed bond model was carried out by the least squares method. The result indicates that the proposed bond model has better goodness-of-fit test than the existing ones.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.475-487
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• 2024

The usage of fiber-reinforced polymer materials increases in the construction sector due to their advantages in terms of high mechanical strength, lightness, corrosion resistance, low density and high strength/density ratio, low maintenance and painting needs, and high workability. In this study, it is aimed to improve mechanical properties of GFRP box profiles, produced by pultrusion method, by filling the polymer concrete into them. Within the scope of study, hybrid use of polymer concrete produced with GFRP box profiles was investigated. Hybrid pressure and bending specimens were produced by filling polymer concrete (polyester resin manufactured with natural sand and stone chips) into GFRP box profiles having different cross-sections and dimensions. Behavior of the produced hybrid members was investigated under bending and compression tests. Hollow GFRP_xx profiles, polymer-filled hybrid members, and nominative polymeric concrete specimens were tested as well. The behavior of the specimens under pressure and bending tests, and their load bearing capacities, deformations and changes in toughness were observed. According to the test results; It was deduced that hybrid design has many advantages over its component materials as well as superior physical and mechanical properties.