• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.1099-1120
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• 2015

External prestressing has been applied to both new construction and retrofitting of existing reinforced and prestressed concrete structures. Continuous beams are preferred to simply supported beams because of economy, fewer movement joints and possible benefits from moment redistribution. However, this paper argues that continuous prestressed concrete beams with external unbonded tendons demonstrate different full-range behaviour compared to reinforced concrete (RC) beams. Applying the same design approach for RC to external prestressing may lead to design with a lower safety margin. To better understand the behaviour of continuous prestressed concrete beams with unbonded tendons, an experimental investigation is performed in which nine such specimens are tested to failure. The full-range behaviour is investigated with reference to moment-curvature relationship and moment redistribution. The amounts of moment redistribution measured in the experiments are compared with those allowed by BS 8110, EC2 and ACI 318. Design equations are also proposed to estimate the curvature ductility index of unbonded prestressed concrete beams.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.1045-1067
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• 2016

Concrete bridges with corrugated steel webs and prestressed by both internal and external tendons have emerged as one of the promising bridge forms. In view of the different behaviour of components and the large shear deformation of webs with negligible flexural stiffness, the assumption that plane sections remain plane may no longer be valid, and therefore the classical Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam models may not be applicable. In the design of this type of bridges, both the ultimate load and ductility should be examined, which requires the estimation of full-range behaviour. An analytical sandwich beam model and its corresponding beam finite element model for geometric and material nonlinear analysis are developed for this type of bridges considering the diaphragm effects. Different rotations are assigned to the flanges and corrugated steel webs to describe the displacements. The model accounts for the interaction between the axial and flexural deformations of the beam, and uses the actual stress-strain curves of materials considering their stress path-dependence. With a nonlinear kinematical theory, complete description of the nonlinear interaction between the external tendons and the beam is obtained. The numerical model proposed is verified by experiments.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.625-642
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• 2015

Prestressed concrete bridges with corrugated steel webs have emerged as one of the promising bridge forms. This structural form provides excellent structural efficiency with the concrete flanges primarily taking bending and the corrugated steel webs primarily taking shear. In the design of this type of bridges, the flexural ductility and deformability as well as strength need to be carefully examined. Evaluation of these safety-related attributes requires the estimation of full-range behaviour. In this study, the full-range behaviour of beam sections with corrugated steel webs is evaluated by means of a nonlinear analytical method which uses the actual stress-strain curves of the materials and considers the path-dependence of materials. In view of the different behaviour of components and the large shear deformation of corrugated steel webs with negligible longitudinal stiffness, the assumption that plane sections remain plane may no longer be valid. The interaction between shear deformation and local bending of flanges may cause additional stress in flanges, which is considered in this study. The numerical results obtained are compared with experimental results for verification. A parametric study is undertaken to clarify the effects of various parameters on ductility, deformability and strength.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.451-472
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• 2009

Based on a numerical method to analyse the full-range behaviour of prestressed concrete beams with unbonded tendons, parametric studies are carried out to investigate the influence of 11 parameters on the curvature ductility of unbonded prestressed concrete (UPC) beams. It is found that, among various parameters studied, the depth to prestressing tendons, depth to non-prestressed tension steel, partial prestressing ratio, yield strength of non-prestressed tension steel and concrete compressive strength have substantial effects on the curvature ductility. Although the curvature ductility of UPC beams is affected by a large number of factors, rather simple equations can be formulated for reasonably accurate estimation of curvature ductility. Conversion factors are introduced to cope with the difference in partial safety factors, shapes of equivalent stress blocks and the equations to predict the ultimate tendon stress in BS8110, EC2 and ACI318. The same equations can also be used to provide conservative estimates of ductility of UPC beams with compression steel.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.233-240
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• 2018

Pullout tests are usually employed to determine the ultimate bearing capacity of reinforced soil, and the load-displacement curve can be obtained easily. This paper presents an analytical solution for predicting the full-range mechanical behavior of a buried planar reinforcement subjected to pullout based on a bi-linear bond-slip model. The full-range behavior consists of three consecutive stages: elastic stage, elastic-plastic stage and debonding stage. For each stage, closed-form solutions for the load-displacement relationship, the interfacial slip distribution, the interfacial shear stress distribution and the axial stress distribution along the planar reinforcement were derived. The ultimate load and the effective bond length were also obtained. Then the analytical model was calibrated and validated against three pullout experimental tests. The predicted load-displacement curves as well as the internal displacement distribution are in closed agreement with test results. Moreover, a parametric study on the effect of anchorage length, reinforcement axial stiffness, interfacial shear stiffness and interfacial shear strength is also presented, providing insights into the pullout behaviour of planar reinforcements of MSE structures.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.343-362
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• 2018

A simplified spring connection modelling approach for steel flush endplate beam-to-column connections in fire has been developed to enable realistic behaviour of connections to be incorporated into full-scale frame analyses at elevated temperature. Due to its simplicity and reliability, the proposed approach permits full-scale high-temperature frame analysis to be conducted without high computational cost. The proposed simplified spring connection modelling approach has been used to investigate the influence of connection ductility (both axial and rotational) on frame behaviour in fire. 2D steel and 3D composite frames with a range of beam spans were modelled to aid the understanding of the differences in frame response in fire where the beam-to-column connections have different axial and rotational ductility assumptions. The modelling results highlight that adopting the conventional rigid or pinned connection assumptions does not permit the axial forces acting on the connections to be accurately predicted, since the axial ductility of the connection is completely neglected when the rotational ductility is either fully restrained or free. By accounting for realistic axial and rotational ductilities of beam-to-column connections, the frame response in fire can be predicted more accurately, which is advantageous in performance-based structural fire engineering design.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.615-631
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• 2023

Steel corrosion induces structural deterioration of concrete-filled steel tubes (CFSTs), and any potential extreme action on a corroded CFST would pose a severe threat. This paper presents a comprehensive investigation on the lateral impact behaviour of CFSTs suffering from localised pitting corrosion damage. A refined finite element analysis model is developed for the simulation of locally corroded CFSTs subjected to lateral impact loads, which takes into account the strain rate effects on concrete and steel materials as well as the random nature of corrosion pits, i.e., the distribution patterns and the geometric characteristics. Full-range nonlinear analysis on the lateral impact behaviour in terms of loading and deforming time-history relations, nonlinear material stresses, composite actions, and energy dissipations are presented for CFSTs with no corrosion, uniform corrosion and pitting corrosion, respectively. Localised pitting corrosion is found to pose a more severe deterioration on the lateral impact behaviour of CFSTs due to the plastic deformation concentration, the weakened confinement and the reduction in energy absorption capacity of the steel tube. An extended parametric study is then carried out to identify the influence of the key parameters on the lateral impact behaviour of CFSTs with localised pitting corrosion. Finally, simplified design methods considering the features of pitting corrosion are proposed to predict the dynamic flexural capacity of locally pitted CFSTs subjected to lateral impact loads, and reasonable accuracy is obtained.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.433-445
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• 2020

A new code, called PRaFULL (Piled Raft Foundation Under Lateral Load), was developed for the analysis of laterally loaded Combined Pile Raft Foundation (CPRF). The proposed code considers the contribution offered by the raft-soil contact and the interactions between all the CPRF system components. The nonlinear behaviour of the reinforced concrete pile and the soil are accounted. As shallower soil layers are of great relevance in the lateral response of a pile foundation, PRaFULL includes the possibility to consider layered soil profiles with appropriate properties. The shadowing effect on the ultimate soil pressure is accounted, when dealing with pile groups, as proposed by the Strain Wedge Model. PRaFULL BEM code obviously requires less computational resources compared to FEM (Finite Element Method) or FDM (Finite Difference Method) codes. The proposed code was validated in the linear elastic range by comparisons with the code APRAF (Analysis of Piled Raft Foundations). The reliability of the procedure to predict piled raft performance was then verified in nonlinear range by comparisons with both centrifuge tests and computer code PRAB.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.255-263
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• 1999

Blends of two thermotropic liquid crystalline polymers, HX2000 and Vectra A950, were prepared by melt blending. Effects of transesterification on these blends are investigated by comparing properties of the blends with and without the addition of an inhibitor, in terms of blend miscibility and rheology. Both the uninhibited and inhibited blends are found to be largely immiscible with very limited miscibility in HX2000-rich phase. No strong evidence indicates the occurrence of transesterification in the blends in the solid state. Dynamic rheological behaviour, such as shear storage modulus (G') and shear loss modulus (G") as a function of frequency, of the blends are interpreted by a three-zone model. HX2000 shows terminal-zone and plateau-zone behaviour, whilst Vectra A950 shows plateau-zone and transition-zone behaviour. The un- inhibited blends show plateau-zone behaviour up to 50% Vectra A950 content and the inhibited blends show plateau-zone behaviour up to 60% Vectra A950 content. Compositional dependence of the complex viscosities of the uninhibited and inhibited blends displayed positive deviations from additivity, which is a characteristic feature for the immiscible thermoplastic blends. When under steady shear, both the uninhibited and inhibited blends show shear thinning behaviour and their viscosities decrease monotonically with the addition of Vectra A950. Compositional dependence of the steady shear viscosities of the two sets of blends displayed negative deviations from additivity and the uninhibited blends were more viscous than the inhibited blends for the full composition range. Although limited agreement with the Cox-Merz rule is found for the inhibited blends, these two sets of blends, in general, do not follow the rule due to their liquid crystalline order and two-phase morphology. Despite being immiscible blends, transesterification, such as polymerization, in the blends might occur during the rheological characterization, supported by the facts that uninhibited blends show HX2000-dominant behaviour at lower Vectra A950 content and are more viscous than the inhibited blends. The addition of transesterification inhibitor in such blends is advised if only physical mixing is desired.ired.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.93-109
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• 2020

Developed from conventional concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) members, concrete-encased CFST has attracted growing attention in building and bridge practices. In actual construction, the inner CFST is erected prior to the casting of the outer reinforced concrete part to support the construction preload, after which the whole composite member is under sustained service load. The complex loading sequence leads to highly nonlinear material interaction and consequently complicated structural performance. This paper studies the full-range behaviour of concrete-encased CFST columns with initial preload on inner CFST followed by sustained service load over the whole composite section. Validated against the reported data obtained from specifically designed tests, a finite element analysis model is developed to investigate the detailed structural behaviour in terms of ultimate strength, load distribution, material interaction and strain development. Parametric analysis is then carried out to evaluate the impact of significant factors on the structural behaviour of the composite columns. Finally, a simplified design method for estimating the sectional capacity of concrete-encased CFST is proposed, with the combined influences of construction preload and sustained service load being taken into account. The feasibility of the developed method is validated against both the test data and the simulation results.