• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.505-523
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• 2018

Static pushover analyses of typical existing reinforced concrete frames, designed according to the previous generations of design codes in Greece, have established these structures' inelastic characteristics, namely overstrength, global ductility capacity and available behaviour factor q, under planar response. These were compared with the corresponding demands at the collapse limit state target performance point. The building stock considered accounted for the typical variability, among different generations of constructed buildings in Greece, in the form, the seismic design code in effect and the material characteristics. These static pushover analyses are extended, in the present study, in the time history domain. Consequently, the static analysis predictions are compared with Incremental Dynamic Analysis results herein, using a large number of spectrum compatible recorded base excitations of recent destructive earthquakes in Greece and abroad, following, for comparison, similar conventional limiting failure criteria as before. It is shown that the buildings constructed in the 70s exhibit the least desirable behaviour, followed by the buildings constructed in the 60s. As the seismic codes evolved, there is a notable improvement for buildings of the 80s, when the seismic code introduced end member confinement and the requirement for a joint capacity criterion. Finally, buildings of the 90s, designed to modern codes exhibit an exceptionally good performance, as expected by the compliance of this code to currently enforced seismic provisions worldwide.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.623-639
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• 2015

Self-compacting Concrete (SCC) Filled Square steel Tubes (SCFST) was used to strengthen square RC columns. To establish the efficiency of this strengthening method, 17 columns were tested under axial compression loading including 3 RC columns without any strengthening (WRC), 1 RC column strengthened with concrete jacket (CRC), 13 RC columns strengthened with self-compacting concrete filled square steel tubes (SRC). The experimental results showed that the use of SCFST is interesting since the ductility and the bearing capacity of the RC columns are greatly improved. The improvement ratio is significantly affected by the nominal wall thickness of steel tubes (t), the strength grade of strengthening concrete (C), and the length-to-width ratio (L / B) of the specimens. In order to quantitatively analyze the effect of these test parameters on axial loading behavior of the SRC columns, three performance indices, enhancement ratio (ER), ductility index (DI), and confinement ratio (CR), were used. The strength of the SRC columns obtained from the experiments was then employed to verify the proposed mode referring to the relevant codes. It was found that codes DBJ13-51 could relatively predict the strength of the SRC columns accurately, and codes AIJ and BS5400 were relatively conservative.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.263-270
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• 2003

Before the implementation of the 1992 seismic design provisions in Korea, longitudinal steels of RC bridge piers were practically lap-spliced in the plastic hinge region. Experimental investigation was made to evaluate the seismic performance of RC bridge pier specimens in a flexure/shear mode. Six circular test specimens in an aspect ratio of 2.5 (600mm in diameter) were made with test parameters confinement ratio, lap splices, and retrofit FRP materials. They were damaged under a series of artificial earthquakes with 0.22g PGA, being compatible in Korean peninsula, through the pseudo-dynamic test. Probable damages were assessed by the Park and Ang damage index. Approximate 0.1 and 0.3 damage indices were obtained for RC specimens without lap splice and with lap splice, respectively. Directly after the pseudo-dynamic test, damaged test columns were laterally actuated under inelastic reversal cyclic loadings simultaneously under a constant axial load. Through curvature measurements, residual seismic performance was evaluated for test specimens. Test results show that RC pier specimens with lap-spliced appeared to fail at low ductility, but significant improvement was obtained for the ductility of these specimens if externally wrapped with FRP.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.405-426
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• 2000

Two approximate methods based on mechanism analysis suitable for seismic assessment/design of structural concrete are reviewed. The methods involve use of equal energy concept or equal displacement concept along with appropriate patterns of inelastic deformations to relate structure's maximum lateral displacement to member and plastic deformations. One of these methods (Clough's method), defined here as a ductility-based approach, is examined in detail and a modification for its improvement is suggested. The modification is based on estimation of maximum inelastic displacement using inelastic design response spectra (IDRS) as an alternative to using equal energy concept. The IDRS for demand displacement ductilities are developed for a single degree of freedom model subjected to several accelerograms as functions of response modification factor (R), damping ratios, and strain hardening. The suggested revised methodology involves estimation of R as the ratio of elastic strength demand to code level demand, and determination of design base shear using $R_{design}{\leq}R$ and maximum displacement, determination of plastic displacement using IDRS and subsequent local plastic deformations. The methodology is demonstrated for the case of a 10-story precast wall panel building.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.539-561
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• 2017

In this study, the effects of initial damage of concrete columns on the post-repair performance of reinforced concrete (RC) columns strengthened with carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite are investigated experimentally. Four kinds of compression-damaged RC cylinders were reinforced using external CFRP composite wraps, and the stress-strain behavior of the composite/concrete system was investigated. These concrete cylinders were compressed to four pre-damaged states including low -level, medium -level, high -level and total damage states. The percentages of the stress levels of pre-damage were, respectively, 40, 60, 80, and 100% of that of the control RC cylinder. These damaged concrete cylinders simulate bridge piers or building columns subjected to different magnitudes of stress, or at various stages in long-term behavior. Experimental data, as well as a stress-strain model proposed for the behavior of damaged and undamaged concrete strengthened by external CFRP composite sheets are presented. The experimental data shows that external confinement of concrete by CFRP composite wrap significantly improves both compressive strength and ductility of concrete, though the improvement is inversely proportional to the initial degree of damage to the concrete. The failure modes of the composite/damaged concrete systems were examined to evaluate the benefit of this reinforcing methodology. Results predicted by the model showed very good agreement with those of the current experimental program.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.165-173
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• 2022

The effect of basalt and polypropylene fibers on the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) beams is investigated in this paper. The compressive and tensile behaviors of the basalt concrete and polypropylene concrete cylinders are also investigated. Eight beams and 28 cylinders were made with different percentages of basalt and polypropylene fibers. The dosages of fiber were selected as 0.6%, 1.3%, and 2.5% of the total cement weight. Each type of fiber was mixed solely with the concrete mix. Basalt and polypropylene fibers are modern and cheap materials that can be used to improve the structural behavior of RC members. This research is designed to find the optimum percentage of basalt and polypropylene fibers for enhancing the flexural behavior of RC beams. Test results showed that the addition of basalt and polypropylene fibers in any dosage (0.6%, 1.3%, and 2.5%) can increase the flexural strength and displacement ductility index of the beams where the maximum enhancement was measured with 1.3% fibers. The maximum increments in the flexural strength and the displacement ductility index were 30.39% and 260% for the basalt fiber case, while the maximum improvement for the polypropylene fibers case was 55.5% and 230% compared to the control specimen. Finite element (FE) models were then developed in ABAQUS to predict the numerical behaviour of the tested beams. The FE models were able to predict the experimental behaviour with reasonable accuracy. This research confirms the efficiency of basalt and polypropylene fibers in enhancing the flexural behavior of RC beams, and it also suggests the optimum dosage of fibers.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.173-184
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• 2023

In this study, mechanical, flexural post-cracking, and torsional behaviors of recycled steel fiber-reinforced concrete (RSFRC) incorporating steel fibers obtained from recycling of waste tires were investigated. Initially, three concrete mixes with different fiber contents (0, 40, and 80 kg/m³) were designed and tested in fresh and hardened states. Subsequently, the flexural post-cracking behaviors of RSFRCs were assessed by conducting three-point bending tests on notched beams. It was observed that recycled steel fibers improve the post-cracking flexural behavior in terms of energy absorption, ductility, and residual flexural strength. What's more, torsional behaviors of four RSFRC concrete beams with varying reinforcement configurations were investigated. The results indicated that RSFRCs exhibited an improved post-elastic torsional behaviors, both in terms of the torsional capacity and ductility of the beams. Additionally, numerical analyses were performed to capture the behaviors of RSFRCs in flexure and torsion. At first, inverse analyses were carried out on the results of the three-point bending tests to determine the tensile functions of RSFRC specimens. Additionally, the applicability of the obtained RSFRC tensile functions was verified by comparing the results of the conducted experiments to their numerical counterparts. Finally, it is noteworthy that, despite the scatter (i.e., non-uniqueness) in the aspect ratio of recycled steel fiber (as opposed to industrial steel fiber), their inclusion contributed to the improvement of post-cracking flexural and torsional capacities.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.163-173
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• 2024

Fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) have a proven strength enhancement capability when installed into Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams. The brittle failure of traditional FRP strengthening systems has attracted researchers to develop novel materials with improved strength and ductility properties. One such material is that known as polyethylene terephthalate (PET). This study presents a numerical investigation of the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams externally strengthened with PET-FRP systems. This material is distinguished by its large rupture strain, leading to an improvement in the ductility of the strengthened structural members compared to conventional FRPs. A three-dimensional (3-D) finite element (FE) model is developed in this study to predict the load-deflection response of a series of experimentally tested beams published in the literature. The numerical model incorporates constitutive material laws and bond-slip behavior between concrete and the strengthening system. Moreover, the validated model was applied in a parametric study to inspect the effect of concrete compressive strength, PET-FRP sheet length, and reinforcing steel bar diameter on the overall performance of concrete beams externally strengthened with PET-FRP.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.175-182
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• 2001

Five reinforced concrete frames were constructed and tested to study the structural performance of retrofitting effect reinforced concrete frame during and load revesals simultaneously. All specimens were modeling in one-third scale size. Experimental research was carried out to develop and evaluate the hysteretic behavior of reinforced concrete frame designed by high performance techniques, using carbon fiber plate, ALC panel, steel plate system with or without stiffener. Experimental programs wore carried to evaluate the structural performance of such test specimens, such as the hysteretic behavior, the maximum horizontal strength, crack propagation, and ductility etc. Specimens(RFCP, RFAR, RFSR, RFSR-S), designed by the improvement of earthquake-resistant performance, were attained more load-carrying capacity, energy dissipation capacity, and stable hysteretic behavior.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.467-484
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• 2015

Seismic performances of dual steel moment-resisting frames with mixed use of rigid and semi-rigid connections were investigated to control of the base shear, story drifts and the ductility demand of the elements. To this end, nonlinear seismic responses of three groups of frames with three, eight and fifteen story were evaluated. These frames with rigid, semi-rigid and combined configuration of rigid and semi-rigid connections were analyzed under five earthquake records and their responses were compared in ultimate limit state of rigid frame. This study showed that in all frames, it could be found a state of semi-rigidity and connections configuration which behaved better than rigid frame, with consideration of the base shear and story drifts criterion. Finally, some criteria were suggested to locate the best place of the semi-rigid connections for improvement of the seismic performance of steel moment-resisting frames.