• Computers and Concrete
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.399-408
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• 2019

Structural health monitoring is important for the safety of lives and asset management. In this study, numerical models were developed for the piezoresistive behavior of smart concrete based on finite element (FE) method. Finite element models were calibrated with experimental data collected from compression test. The compression test was performed on smart concrete cube specimens with 75 mm dimensions. Smart concrete was made of cement CEM II 42.5 R, silica fume, fine and coarse crushed limestone aggregates, brass fibers and plasticizer. During the compression test, electrical resistance change and compressive strain measurements were conducted simultaneously. Smart concrete had a strong linear relationship between strain and electrical resistance change due to its piezoresistive function. The piezoresistivity of the smart concrete was modeled by FE method. Twenty-noded solid brick elements were used to model the smart concrete specimens in the finite element platform of Ansys. The numerical results were determined for strain induced resistivity change. The electrical resistivity of simulated smart concrete decreased with applied strain, as found in experimental investigation. The numerical findings are in good agreement with the experimental results.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.505-513
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• 2020

Grading of aggregate influences significantly almost all of the concrete performances. The purpose of this paper is to propose practicable equations that express the optimized total aggregate gradation, by weight or by number of particles in a concrete mix. The principle is based on the fractal feature of the grading of combined aggregate in a solid skeleton of concrete. Therefore, equations are derived based on the so-called fractal dimension of the grain size distribution of aggregates. Obtained model was then applied in such a way a correlation between some properties of the dry concrete mix and the fractal dimension of the aggregate gradation has been built. This demonstrates that the parameter fractal dimension is an efficacious tool to establish a unified model to study the solid phase of concrete in order to design aggregate gradation to meet certain requirements or even to predict some characteristics of the dry concrete mixture.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.75-84
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• 2023

Currently, polymer matrix nanocomposites (PMCs) are a prominent area of research due to their outstanding mechanical, thermal, and durability properties. The increase in recent studies justifies the possibility of using PMCs in structural retrofitting and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure and serving as new structural material. Using nanotechnology, nanocomposite panels in flooring combine concrete and steel, providing a very high level of performance. In sports flooring, high-performance concrete has become a challenge for reducing sports injuries and refinement in rehabilitation. As a composite material, this type of resistant concrete is one of the most durable and complex multi-phase materials. This article uses polyvinyl alcohol polymer (PVC) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes as concrete matrix fillers. Solution methods have been used for dispersing PVC and carbon nanotubes in concrete. The water-cement ratio, carbon nanotube weight ratio, and heat treatment parameters influenced the concrete nanocomposite's tensile and compressive strength. The dispersion of carbon nanotubes in cement paste and the observation of nano-microcracks in concrete was evaluated by scanning electron microscope (SEM).

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.89-102
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• 2023

This study investigates the eccentric performance of concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) stub columns strengthened with steel tube and sandwiched concrete (STSC) jackets. It was revealed that the STSC jacketing method effectively weakened the cracking of concrete in CFST columns on the convex side and the crash on the concave side. Substantial increases in the eccentric bearing capacities were demonstrated after strengthening. A numerical study was further conducted. The decrease in diameter-to-thickness ratio and increase in strength of outer tube contributed to increase in peak load of all components, whereas the increase in sandwiched concrete strength resulted in load increase on itself and had negligible effects on other components. The parametric study showed the effect of inner concrete strength on columns' bearing capacity was magnified after strengthening, whereas that of inner tube thickness was reduced. Within the parameters investigated, high-strength concrete and high-strength steel can be applied without the concern of early abrupt failure of inner low-strength concrete or steel tube.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.5
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• pp.505-515
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• 2024

In this study, obtaining theoretical stress-strain curves and determining the parameters defining the equivalent rectangular stress block were aimed for 3 and 4-layered rectangular Reinforced Concrete (RC) cross-sections subjected to flexure. For these aims, the analytical stress-strain model proposed by Hognestad was chosen for the concrete grades (20 MPa≤fck≤60 MPa) used in this study. The tensile strength of the concrete was neglected and the thickness of the concrete layers in the compression zone of the concrete cross-section was taken as equal. In addition, while concrete strength was kept constant within each layer, concrete strengths belonging to separate layers were increased from the neutral axis towards the outer face of the compression zone of the concrete cross-section. After the equivalent rectangular stress block parameters were determined by numerical iterations, variations of these parameters depending on concrete strength in layers and layer numbers were obtained. Finally, some analytical equations have been proposed to predict the equivalent stress block parameters for the 3 and 4-layered RC cross-sections and validities of these proposed equations were shown by different metrics in this study.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.291-307
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• 2010

A specific type of structural damage that would benefit from remote sensing is discussed and a solution is suggested.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.57-75
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• 2014

This paper presents an analysis of the results of an experimental program on the performance of a novel configuration of a hybrid FRP-concrete beam. The beam section consists of a GFRP pultruded profile, a CFRP laminate, and a concrete block all wrapped up using filament winding. It was found that the thickness of the concrete block and the confinement by the filament-wound wrapping had a profound effect on the energy dissipation behaviour of the beam. Using a shear punching model, and comparing the predicted results with the experimental ones, it was found that beyond a given value of the concrete block thickness, the deformational behaviour of the beam shifts from brittle to ductile. It was also found that the filament-wound wrap had many benefits such as providing a composite action between the concrete block and the GFRP box, improving the stiffness of the beam, and most importantly, enhancing the load carrying ability through induced confinement of the concrete.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.403-412
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• 1994

The durability of concrete is related to the permeation characteristics of its near surface. An attempt was made to use the permeation characteristics namely, absorptivity, permeability and diffusivity, to predict the freeze/thaw resistance of concrete. Test results indicate that in general, there was a trend that freeze/thaw resistance of concrete was enhanced with improved absorptivity and diffusivity whilst the freeze/thaw resistance of normal concrete was found to have the best relationship with its intrinsic permeability. The latter method is therefore proposed to be adopted to predict freeze/thaw resistance of normal concrete. Since Figg air test is an inexpensive and simple test method that measures indirectly the intrinsic permeability of concrete, it is further proposed that it could be used as a quality control tool to assess, non-destructively, the freeze/thaw durability potential of in-situ concrete.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.517-523
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• 2020

An experimental system on three point bending notched beams was established to study the fracture process of concrete. In this system, the acoustic emission (AE) was used to build the cumulative generation order (AGO) and dynamically track the process of microcrack evolution in concrete. A grey-cusp catastrophe model was built based on AE parameters. The results show that the concrete beams have significant catastrophe characteristic. The developed grey-cusp catastrophe model, based on AGO, can well describe the catastrophe characteristic of concrete fracture process. This study also provides a theoretical and technical support for the application of AE in concrete fracture prediction.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.355-363
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• 2018

In the following paper, a socio-political heuristic search approach, named the imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) has been used to improve the efficiency of the multi-layer perceptron artificial neural network (ANN) for predicting the compressive strength of concrete. 173 concrete samples have been investigated. For this purpose the values of slump flow, the weight of aggregate and cement, the maximum size of aggregate and the water-cement ratio have been used as the inputs. The compressive strength of concrete has been used as the output in the hybrid ICA-ANN model. Results have been compared with the multiple-linear regression model (MLR), the genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). The results indicate the superiority and high accuracy of the hybrid ICA-ANN model in predicting the compressive strength of concrete when compared to the other methods.