• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.55-69
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• 2006

The results of tests conducted on 11 concrete-filled steel tubular columns were reported. Concrete was partially filled in circular steel tubular columns. The primary test parameters were radius and thickness of steel tubes, concrete height, loading patterns and attachment of diaphragm and studs. Concrete strain was measured directly by embedding strain gauges so that the effect of diaphragm on concrete confinement could be investigated. The effects of concrete height and diaphragm on ultimate strength and ductility of steel tubes were investigated. The comparisons of the test results with the existing results for rectangular cross-sections were made on the basis of ultimate strength and ductility of concrete-filled steel tubular columns.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.195-206
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• 2016

Today, application of additives to replace cement in order to improve concrete mixes is widely promoted. Micro-silica is among the best pozzolanic additives which can desirably contribute to the concrete characteristics provided it is used properly. In this paper, the effects of AP2RC and P1RB micro-silica gels on strength characteristics of normal concrete are investigated. Obtained results indicated that the application of these additives not only provided proper workability during construction, but also led to increased tensile, compressive and flexural strength values for the concrete during early ages as well as ultimate ones with the resulting reduction in the porosity lowering permeability of the micro-silica concrete. Furthermore, evaluation of microbial contamination of the mentioned gels showed the resultant contamination level to be within the permitted range.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2018

With the increase in industrialization and urbanization, growing demand has enhanced rate of new constructions and old demolitions. To avoid serious environmental impacts and hazards recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) is being adopted in all over the world. This paper investigates successive recycled coarse aggregates (SRCA) in which old concrete made with RCA in form of concrete cubes was used. The cubes were crushed to prepare new concrete using aggregates from crushing of old concrete, used as SRCA. The mechanical behavior of concrete was determined containing SRCA; the properties of SRCA were evaluated and then compared with natural aggregates (NA). Replacement of NA with SRCA in ratio upto 100% by weight was studied for workability, mechanical properties and microstructural analysis. It was observed that with the increase in replacement ratio workability and compressive strength decreased but in acceptable limits so SRCA can be used in low strength concretes rather than high strength concrete structures.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.125-137
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• 2020

As confining materials for concrete, steel and fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have important applications in both the seismic retrofit of existing reinforced concrete columns and in the new construction of composite structures. We present a comprehensive review of the axial stress-strain behaviour of the FRP-confined concrete column. Next, the mechanical performance of the hybrid FRP-confined concrete-steel composite columns are comprehensively reviewed. Furthermore, the results of FRP-confined concrete column experiments and FRP-confined circular concrete-filled steel tube experiments are presented to study the interaction relationship between various material sections. Finally, the combinations of material sections are discussed. Based on these observations, recommendations regarding future research directions for composite columns are also outlined.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.243-260
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• 2008

The present article summarises the fundamental characteristics of concrete behaviour which underlie the formulation of an engineering finite element model capable of realistically predicting the behaviour of (plain or reinforced) concrete structural forms in a wide range of problems ranging from static to impact loading without the need of any kind of re-calibration. The already published evidence supporting the proposed formulation is complemented by four additional typical case studies presented herein; for each case, a comparative study is carried out between numerical predictions and the experimental data which reveals good agreement. Such evidence validates the material characteristics upon which the FE model's formulation is based and provides an alternative explanation regarding the behaviour of structural concrete and how it should be modelled which contradicts the presently (widely) accepted assumptions adopted in the majority of FE models used to predict the behaviour of concrete.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.317-334
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• 2014

The work is concerned with an investigation of the advantages stemming from the use of lightweight aggregate concrete in earthquake-resistant reinforced concrete construction. As the aseismic clauses of current codes make no reference to lightweight aggregate concrete beams made of lightweight aggregate concrete but designed in accordance with the code specifications for normal weight aggregate concrete, together with beams made from the latter material, are tested under load mimicking seismic action. The results obtained show that beam behaviour is essentially independent of the design method adopted, with the use of lightweight aggregate concrete being found to slightly improve the post-peak structural behaviour. When considering the significant reduction in deadweight resulting from the use of lightweight aggregate concrete, the results demonstrate that the use of this material will lead to significant savings without compromising the structural performance requirements of current codes.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.1183-1191
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• 2016

The internal crack propagation, the failure mode and ultimate load bearing capacity of the steel-concrete-steel composite beam under the four-point-bend loading is investigated by the numerical simulation. The results of load - displacement curve and failure mode are in good agreement with experiment. In order to study the failure mechanism, the composite beam has been modeled, which part interface interaction between steel and concrete is considered. The results indicate that there are two failure modes: (a) When the strength of the interface is lower than that of the concrete, failure happens at the interface of steel and concrete; (b) When the strength of the interface is higher than that of the concrete, the failure modes is cohesion failure, i.e., and concrete are stripped because of the shear cracks at concrete edge.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.145-159
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• 2015

The evolution of nanotechnology provides materials with advance properties. It's a fast growing area of research to introduce the oxide nanoparticles into the cement pastes to improve their performance. The purpose of this paper is to review the effects of oxide nanoparticles (such as $SiO_2$, $TiO_2$, $Fe_2O_3$, $ZnO_2$, $Cr_2O_3$ and $Al_2O_3$) on both of hardened concrete properties (i.e., compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength, water permeability, Abrasion resistance and pore structure of concrete) and fresh concrete properties (i.e., workability and setting time). Graphical representations of all these parameters were presented to facilitate the comparison of the effect of oxide nanoparticles on concrete processing. The paper also introduces some discussion about future work in this direction by identifying some open research area.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.501-516
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of precast concrete pier cap system. The proposed precast pier cap provides an alternative to current cast-in-place systems, particularly for projects in which a reduced construction time is desired. Five large-scale pier cap specimens were constructed and tested under quasistatic monotonic loading. The computer program, RCAHEST (Reinforced Concrete Analysis in Higher Evaluation System Technology) was used for the analysis of reinforced concrete structures. A bonded tendon element is used based on the finite element method, and can represent the interaction between the tendon and concrete of a prestressed concrete member. A joint element is used in order to predict the inelastic behaviors of segmental joints with a shear key. This study documents the testing of the precast concrete pier cap system under monotonic loading and presents conclusions and design recommendations based on the experimental and analytical findings. Additional full-scale experimental research is needed to refine and confirm design details, especially for actual detailing employed in the field.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.19-32
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• 2007

This paper is concentrated on the behaviors of five different types of fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) in uniaxial tension and flexural impact. The complete stress-strain responses in tension were acquired through a systematic experimental program. It was found that the tensile peak strains of concrete with micro polyethylene (PEF) fiber are about 18-31% higher than that of matrix concrete, those for composite with macro polypropylene fiber is 40-83% higher than that of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC). The fracture energy of composites with micro-fiber is 23-67% higher than that of matrix concrete; this for macro polypropylene fiber and steel fiber FRCs are about 150-210% and 270-320% larger than that of plain concrete respectively. Micro-fiber is more effective than macro-fiber for initial crack impact resistance; however, the failure impact resistance of macro-fiber is significantly larger than that of microfiber, especially macro-polypropylene-fiber.