• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.341-352
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• 2023

Long-short pile composite foundations bear both vertical and horizontal loads in many engineering applications. This study used indoor model tests to determine the horizontal bearing mechanism of a composite foundation with long and short piles under horizontal loads. A custom experimental device was developed to prevent excessive eccentricity of the vertical loading device caused by the horizontal displacement. ABAQUS software was used to analyze the influence of the load size and cushion thickness on the horizontal bearing mechanism. The results reveal that a large vertical load leads to soil densification and increases the horizontal bearing capacity of the composite foundation. The magnitude of the horizontal displacement of the pile and the horizontal load borne by the pile are related to the piles' positions. Due to different pile lengths, the long piles exhibit long pile effects and experience bending deformation, whereas the short piles rotate around a point (0.2 L from the pile bottom) as the horizontal load increases. Selecting a larger cushion thickness significantly improves the horizontal load sharing capacity of the soil and reduces the horizontal displacement of the pile top.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.4
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• pp.503-518
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• 2023

In tall constructions, the outriggers are regarded as a structural part capable of effectively resisting lateral loads. This study analyses the efficacy of hybrid outrigger system in high rise RCC building for various structural parameters identified. For variations in α, which is defined as the ratio of the relative flexural stiffness of the core to the axial rigidity of the column, static and dynamic analyses of hybrid outrigger system having a virtual and a conventional outrigger at two distinct levels were conducted in the present study. An investigation on the optimal outrigger position was performed by taking the results from absolute maximum inter storey drift ratio (ISD_max), roof acceleration (acc_roof), roof displacement (disp_roof), and base bending moment under both wind and seismic loads on analytical models having 40, 60 and 80 storeys. An ideal performance index parameter was introduced and was utilized to obtain the optimal position of the hybrid outrigger system considering the combined response of ISD_max, acc_roof, disp_roof and, criteria required for the structure under wind and seismic loads. According to the behavioural study, increasing the column area and outrigger arm length will maximise the performance of the hybrid outrigger system. The analysis results are summarized in a flowchart which provides the optimal positions obtained for each dependent parameter and based on ideal performance index which can be used to make initial suggestions for installing a hybrid outrigger system.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.233-242
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• 2022

An attempt is made to develop an eco-friendly concrete with ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) and pond ash as partial replacement materials for cement and fine aggregate, respectively without compromising the strength and durability. Sixteen concrete mixes were developed by replacing cement and fine aggregate by GGBS and pond ash, respectively in stages of 10%. The maximum replacement levels of cement and fine aggregates were 50% and 30% respectively. Experimental results revealed that the optimum percentage of GGBS and pond ash replacement levels were 30% and 20% respectively. The optimized mix was used further to study the flexural behavior and durability properties. Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams were cast and tested under a four-point bending configuration. Also, the specimens prepared from the optimized mix were subjected to alternate wet and dry cycles of acid (3.5% HCl and H₂SO₄) and sulphate (10% MgSO₄) solutions. Results show that the optimized concrete mix with GGBS and pond ash had a negligible weight loss and strength reduction.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.507-518
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• 2023

The effects of various supporting arrangements have been investigated on an excavation support system using a numerical tool. The purpose of providing different supporting arrangements was to limit the pile wall deflection in the range of 0.5% to 1% of the excavation depth. Firstly, a deep excavation supported by sheet pile wall was modeled and the effects of sheet pile wall thickness, excavation depth and distance to adjacent footings from sheet pile wall face were explored on the soil deformation and wall deflection. Further analysis was performed considering six different arrangements of tieback anchors and struts in order to limit the wall deflections. Case-01 represents the basic excavation geometry supported by sheet pile wall only. In Case-02, sheet pile wall was supported by struts. Case-03 is a sheet pile wall supported by tieback anchors. Likewise, for the Cases 04, 05 and 06, different arrangements of struts and tieback anchors were used. Finally, the effects of different supporting arrangements on soil deformation, sheet pile wall deflection, bending moments and anchor forces have been presented.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.87 no.4
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• pp.375-389
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• 2023

In many fiber concrete beams with Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP), debonding occurs between the carbon sheets and the concrete due to the low strength of the bonding resin. A total of 42 fiber concrete beams with a cross-section of 10×10 cm with a span length of 50 cm are fabricated and retrofitted with CFRP and subjected to a 4-point bending test. Graphene Oxide (GO) at 1, 2, and 3 wt% of the resin is used to improve the mechanical properties of the bonding resins, and the effect of length, width, and the number of layers of CFRP and resin material are investigated. The crack pattern, failure mode, and stress-strain curve are analyzed and compared in each case. The results showed that adding GO to polyamine resin could improve the bonding between the resin and the fiber concrete beam. Furthermore, the optimum amount of nanomaterials is equal to 2% by the weight of the resin. Using 2% nanomaterials showed that by increasing the length, width, and number of layers, the bearing and stiffness of fiber concrete beams increased significantly.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.115-132
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• 2023

The present study experimentally and analytically investigates the effect of tensile reinforcement ratio and arrangement on the behavior of FRP strengthened reinforced concrete (RC) beams. The experimental part of the program was comprised of 8 RC beams that were tested under four-point bending. Results have shown that by keeping the total cross-section area of tensile reinforcing bars constant, in specimens with a low reinforcement ratio, increasing the number and decreasing the diameter of bars in the section lead to 21% and 29% increase in the load-carrying capacity of specimens made with normal and high compressive strength, respectively. In specimens with high reinforcement ratio, a different behavior was observed. Furthermore, the accuracy of the existing code provisions and analytical models in predicting the load-carrying capacity of the FRP strengthened beams failed by premature debonding mode were evaluated. Herein, a model is proposed which considers the tensile reinforcement ratio (as opposed to code provisions) to achieve more accurate results for calculating the load carrying capacity of FRP strengthened RC beams.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.293-318
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• 2023

This study aims to examine the elastic stiffness properties of Elliptic-Braced Moment Resisting Frame (EBMRF) subjected to lateral loads. Installing the elliptic brace in the middle span of the frames in the facade of a building, as a new lateral bracing system not only it can improve the structural behavior, but it provides sufficient space to consider opening it needed. In this regard, for the first time, an accurate theoretical formulation has been developed in order that the elastic stiffness is investigated in a two-dimensional single-story single-span EBMRF. The concept of strain energy and Castigliano's theorem were employed to perform the analysis. All influential factors were considered, including axial and shearing loads in addition to the bending moment in the elliptic brace. At the end of the analysis, the elastic lateral stiffness could be calculated using an improved relation through strain energy method based on geometric properties of the employed sections as well as specifications of the utilized materials. For the ease of finite element (FE) modeling and its use in linear design, an equivalent element was developed for the elliptic brace. The proposed relation was verified by different examples using OpenSees software. It was found that there is a negligible difference between elastic stiffness values derived by the developed equations and those of numerical analysis using FE method.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.163-171
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• 2023

Face gear transmission is widely used in aerospace shunt-confluence transmission system. Tooth wear is one of the main factors affecting its bearing transmission performance. Furthermore, the installation errors of face gear are inevitable. In order to study the wear mechanism of face gear tooth surface with installation errors, based on tooth contact analysis numerical method and Archard wear theory, the UMESHMOTION subroutine in ABAQUS is developed.Combining with Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian adaptive mesh technology, the finite element mesh wear model of abraded face gear pair is established.The preprocessing conditions are set to generate the inp files.Then,the inp files for each corner are imported and batch processed in ABAQUS.The loading tooth contact problem at each rotation angle is solved and the load distribution coefficient among gear tooth, tooth root bending stress, tooth surface contact stress and loaded transmission error are obtained. Results show that the tooth root wear is the most serious and the wear at the pitch cone is close to 0.The wear law of tooth surface along tooth width direction is convex parabola and the wear law along tooth height direction is concave parabola.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.745-757
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• 2023

In order to study the fatigue performance of the flat steel plate-lightweight aggregate concrete hollow composite bridge slab subjected to fatigue load, both static test on two specimens and fatigue test on six specimens were conducted. The effects of the arrangement of the steel pipes, the amplitude of the fatigue load and the upper limit as well as lower limit of fatigue load on failure performance were investigated. Besides, for specimens in fatigue test, strains of the concrete, residual deflection, bending stiffness, residual bearing capacity and dynamic response were analyzed. Test results showed that the specimens failed in the fracture of the bottom flat steel plate regardless of the arrangement of the steel pipes. Moreover, the fatigue loading cycles of composite slab were mainly controlled by the amplitude of the fatigue load, but the influences of upper limit and lower limit of fatigue load on fatigue life was slight. The fatigue life of the composite bridge slabs can be determined by the fatigue strength of bottom flat steel plate, which can be calculated by the method of allowable stress amplitude in steel structure design code.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.133-154
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• 2023

Obscured structural members are mostly under-evaluated during condition assessment due to lack of visual inspection capability. Insufficient information about the integrity of these structural members poses a significant risk for public safety. Time domain reflectometry (TDR) is a novel approach in structural health monitoring (SHM). Ordinary coaxial cables "as is" without a major modification are not suitable for SHM with TDR. The objective of this study is to propose a practical and cost-effective modification approach to commercially available coaxial cables in order to use them as a "cable sensor" for damage detection with the TDR equipment for obscured structural members. The experimental validation and assessment of the proposed modification approach was achieved by conducting 3-point bending tests of the model piles as a representative obscured structural member. It can be noted that the RG59/U-6 and RG6/U-4 cable sensors expose higher strain sensitivity in comparison with non-modified "as is" versions of the cables used. As a result, the cable sensors have the capability of sensing both the presence and the location of a structural damage with a maximum aberration of 3 cm. Furthermore, the crack development can be monitored by the RG59/U-6 cable sensor with a simple calibration.