• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.143-153
• /
• 2015

In this paper, the standard fire resistance test under load and associated numerical study were carried out to evaluate the fire resistance of unprotected partially encased beams and slimfloor beams. The temperature evolution and the deflection increase of the composite beam specimens were investigated and the effects of the key behavioral parameters including the load ratio, the reinforcement, and the fire exposure were analyzed. The test results showed that the temperature rise of the partially encased beams and slimfloor beams is considerably slow compared to the conventional H-shape composite beams. Up to at least 90 minutes, the reinforcements in the partially encased composite beams maintained below the temperature at which the cold steel strength is sustained. Unprotected partially encased beams and slimfloor beams in the experimental program achieved the fire resistance more than 2 hours according to the limiting deflection criteria. This implies that unprotected partially encased beams and slimfloor beams can be very promising alternatives to enhancing the fire resistance of steel beams. This study also conducted the fully coupled thermal-stress analysis by using the commercial code ABAQUS to the thermal and structural behaviour of composite beams in fire. The numerical predictions provide acceptable correlations with the experimental results.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.541-562
• /
• 2011

In the design of earthquake resistant reinforced concrete (RC) structures, both flexural strength and deformability need to be considered. However, in almost all existing RC design codes, the design of flexural strength and deformability of RC beams are separated and independent on each other. Therefore, the pros and cons of using high-performance materials on the flexural performance of RC beams are not revealed. From the theoretical results obtained in a previous study on flexural deformability of RC beams, it is seen that the critical design factors such as degree of reinforcement, concrete/steel yield strength and confining pressure would simultaneously affect the flexural strength and deformability. To study the effects of these factors, the previous theoretical results are presented in various charts plotting flexural strength against deformability. Using these charts, a "concurrent flexural strength and deformability design" that would allow structural engineers to consider simultaneously both strength and deformability requirements is developed. For application in real construction practice where concrete strength is usually prescribed, a simpler method of determining the maximum and minimum limits of degree of reinforcement for a particular pair of strength and deformability demand is proposed. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the application of both design methods.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.52 no.1
• /
• pp.35-49
• /
• 2014

This paper studies the behaviour of deteriorated reinforced concrete (RC) beams attacked by various forms of simulated acid rain. An artificial rainfall simulator was firstly designed and evaluated. Eleven RC beams ($120mm{\times}200mm{\times}1800mm$) were then constructed in the laboratory. Among them, one was acting as a reference beam and the others were subjected to three accelerated corrosion methods, including immersion, wetting-drying, and artificial rainfall methods, to simulate the attack of real acid rain. Acid solutions with pH levels of 1.5 and 2.5 were considered. Next, ultrasonic, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic, and three-point bending tests were performed to investigate the mechanical properties of concrete and flexural behaviour of the RC beams. It can be concluded that the designed artificial simulator can be effectively used to simulate the real acid rainfall. Both the immersion and wetting-drying methods magnify the effects of the real acid rainfall on the RC beams.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.49-57
• /
• 2012

The main objectives of this research were to experimentally evaluate the impact of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) amount and strip spacing on the shear behavior of prestressed concrete (PC) beams and to evaluate the applicability of existing analytical models of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) shear capacity to PC beams shear-strengthened with CFRP. The Ushaped CFRP strips with different spacing were applied externally to the test specimens in order to observe the overall behavior of the prestressed concrete I-beams and the mode of failure of the applied CFRP strips. Results obtained from the experimental program showed that the application of CFRP strips to prestressed concrete I-beams did in fact enhance the overall behavior of the specimens. The strengthened specimens responded with an increase in ductility and in shear capacity. However, it should be noted that the CFRP strips were not effective at all at spacing greater than half the effective depth of the specimen and that fracture of the strips was the dominant failure mechanism of CFRP. Further research is needed to confirm the conclusion derived from the experimental program.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.29-35
• /
• 1998

There has been necessity of an air free ionization chamber using the gold-crystal-aluminium plates, henceforth called the crystal chamber. The crystal chamber formed of parallel plates is very small in size and has more response for absorbed dose of therapeutic radiation beams. The gold plate on the crystal facing the photon and electron beam acts as an intensifier of signals and crystal plate as an ionization medium respectively. Both the copper guard ring and the aluminum collecting electrode are connected to an electrometer. Using high energy photon (6, 15 MV) and electron (9, 12, 15, 18 MeV) beams, the responses of the crystal chamber are evaluated against a PTW Farmer-type chamber at a field size of 10${\times}$10cm$^2$ and 100 cm SSD. The responses of crystal chamber for therapeutic radiation electron and photon beams are greater in magnitude by several order than Farmer. The crystal chamber has good linearity without correction factor C$\_$t,p/ with respect to the signals, a reading reproduction with good accuracy and precision less than 0.5%, and has other useful functions in measuring radiation beams.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.135-156
• /
• 2007

Three 3D nonlinear finite-element models are developed to study the behavior of concrete beams and plates with and without external reinforcement by fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP). All three models are formulated based upon the 3D theory of elasticity. The stress model is modified from the element developed by Ramtekkar, et al. (2002) to incorporate material nonlinearity in the formulation. Both transverse stress and displacement components are used as nodal degrees-of-freedom to ensure the continuity of both stress and displacement components between the elements. The displacement model uses only displacement components as nodal degrees-of-freedom. The transition model has both stress and displacement components as nodal degrees-of-freedom on one surface, and only displacement components as nodal degrees-of-freedom on the opposite surface. The transition model serves as a connector between the stress and the displacement models. The developed models are validated by comparing the results of the analyses with an existing experimental result. Parametric studies of the effects of the externally reinforced FRP on the load capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) beams and concrete plates are performed to demonstrate the practicality and the efficiency of the proposed models.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.493-500
• /
• 2018

Due to the fact that the ratio of their height to their openings is very large compared to normal beams, there are difficulties in the design and analysis of deep beams, which differ in behavior. In this study, the optimum horizontal and vertical reinforcement diameters of 5 different beams were determined by using genetic algorithms (GA) due to the openness/height ratio (L/h), loading condition and the presence of spaces in the body. In this study, the effect of different mutation operators and improved double times sensitive mutation (DTM) operator on GA's performance was investigated. In the study following random mutation (RM), boundary mutation (BM), non-uniform random mutation (NRM), Makinen, Periaux and Toivanen (MPT) mutation, power mutation (PM), polynomial mutation (PNM), and developed DTM mutation operators were applied to five deep beam problems were used to determine the minimum reinforcement diameter. The fitness values obtained using developed DTM mutation operator was higher than obtained from existing mutation operators. Moreover; obtained reinforcement weight of the deep beams using the developed DTM mutation operator lower than obtained from the existing mutation operators. As a result of the analyzes, the highest fitness value was obtained from the applied double times sensitive mutation (DTM) operator. In addition, it was found that this study, which was carried out using GAs, contributed to the solution of the problems experienced in the design of deep beams.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.91-103
• /
• 1995

An analysis to determine shear centers for anisotropic elastic thin-walled composite beams, cantilevered and loaded transversely at the free end is presented. The shear center is formulated based on familiar strength of material procedures analogous to those for isotropic beams. These procedures call for a balancing of torsional moments on the cross sectional surface and lead to a condition of zero resultant torsional couple. As a consequence, due the presence of anisotropic coupling, certain non-classical effects are manifested and are illustrated in two example problems. The most distinguishing result is that twisting may occur for composite beams even if shear forces are applied at the shear center. The derived shear center locations do not depend on any specific anisotropic bending theories per se, but only on the values of bending and shear stresses which such theories produce.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.7 no.5
• /
• pp.417-432
• /
• 2011

The present paper is devoted to vibration canceling and shape control of piezoelastic slender beams. Taking into account the presence of electric networks, an extended electromechanically coupled Bernoulli-Euler beam theory for passive piezoelectric composite structures is shortly introduced in the first part of our contribution. The second part of the paper deals with the concept of passive shape control of beams using shaped piezoelectric layers and tuned inductive networks. It is shown that an impedance matching and a shaping condition must be fulfilled in order to perfectly cancel vibrations due to an arbitrary harmonic load for a specific frequency. As a main result of the present paper, the correctness of the theory of passive shape control is demonstrated for a harmonically excited piezoelelastic cantilever by a finite element calculation based on one-dimensional Bernoulli-Euler beam elements, as well as by the commercial finite element code of ANSYS using three-dimensional solid elements. Finally, an outlook for the practical importance of the passive shape control concept is given: It is shown that harmonic vibrations of a beam with properly shaped layers according to the presented passive shape control theory, which are attached to an resistor-inductive circuit (RL-circuit), can be significantly reduced over a large frequency range compared to a beam with uniformly distributed piezoelectric layers.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.50 no.6
• /
• pp.689-703
• /
• 2024

Construction of high-rise structures, formwork systems that can be installed quickly, resistant to external loads, can be used more than once, have become a necessity. Timber and composite timber materials are preferred in the formation of such formwork systems due to their durability, ease of assembly, light weight and easy to use more than one time. Formwork beams are the most commonly used structural component in the formation of such formwork systems, and these beams can be damaged for different reasons during their lifetime. In this study, H20 top P type timber formwork beams with 1800 and 2450 mm length which is among the products of DOKA(c) company is damaged under the effect of static loading up to a high load level of 85% of the maximum ultimate capacity and after being retrofitted using anchored CFRP strips, performance and behavior of the beams under the influence of various loading types such as static, fatigue and impact are investigated experimentally. Two different lengths of retrofitted timber formwork beams were tested by applying monotonic static, fatigue and impact loading and comments were made about the effects of the retrofit method on performance under different loading types.