• Computers and Concrete
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.439-448
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• 2017

Reinforced concrete (RC) infrastructures often require strengthening due to error in design, degradation of materials properties after prolong utilization and increases load carrying capacity persuaded by new use of the structures. For this purpose, a newly proposed Side Near Surface Mounted (SNSM) composite technique was used for flexural strengthening of RC beam specimens. Analytical and non-linear finite element modeling (FEM) using ABAQUS were performed to predict the flexural performance of RC specimens strengthened with S-NSM using steel bars as a strengthening reinforcement. RC beams with various SNSM reinforcement ratios were tested for flexural performance using four-point bending under monotonic loading condition. Results showed significantly increase the yield and ultimate strengths up to 140% and 144% respectively and improved failure modes. The flexural response, such as failure load, mode of failure, yield load, ultimate load, deflection, strain, cracks characteristic and ductility of the beams were compared with those predicted results. The strengthened RC beam specimens showed good agreement of predicted flexural behavior with the experimental outcomes.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.307-330
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• 2012

This work intends to contribute for the improvement of the procedure suggested by Brazilian Technical Code that takes into account the cracked concrete stiffness in the estimative of the displacement of reinforced concrete beams submitted to service loads. A damage constitutive model accounting for induced anisotropy, plastic deformations and bimodular elastic response is used in order to simulate the concrete behaviour, while an elastoplastic behaviour is admitted for the reinforcement. The constitutive models were implemented in a program for bars structures analysis with layered finite elements. Initially, the damage model is briefly presented as well as the parametric identification of the materials that have been used in the reinforced concrete beams. After that, beams with different geometries and reinforcement area are analyzed and a statistical method (ANOVA) is employed in order to identify the main variables in the problem. Soon after, the same procedure is used with another resistance of concrete, where the compression strength is changed. The numerical responses are compared with the ones obtained by Brazilian Technical Code and experimental tests in order to validate the use of the damage model. Finally, some remarks are discussed based on responses presented in this work.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.637-647
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• 2018

Numerical approach using finite element method has been used to evaluate the behaviour of reinforced concrete frame structure subjected to fire. The structure is previously designed in accordance with Eurocode standards for the design of structures for earthquake resistance, for the ductility class M. Thermal and structural response are obtained using a commercially available software ANSYS. Temperature-dependent nonlinear thermal and mechanical properties are adopted according to Eurocode standards, with the application of constitutive model for the triaxial behaviour of concrete with a smeared crack approach. Discrete modelling of concrete and reinforcement has enabled monitoring of the behaviour at a global, as well as at a local level, providing information on the level of damage occurring during fire. Critical regions in frame structures are identified and assessed, based on temperatures, displacements, variations of internal forces magnitudes and achieved plastic deformations of main reinforcement bars. Parametric analyses are conducted for different fire scenarios and different types of concrete aggregate to determine their effect on global deformations of frame structures. According to analyses results, the three-dimensional finite element model can be used to evaluate the insulation and mechanical resistance criteria of reinforced concrete frame structures subjected to nominal fire curves.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.235-251
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• 2019

Corrosion of reinforcement is the greatest threat to the safety of existing reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Most of the olden structures are gravity load designed (GLD) and are seismically deficient. In present study, investigations are carried out on corrosion damaged GLD beam-column sub-assemblages under reverse cyclic loading, in order to evaluate their seismic performance. Five GLD beam-column sub-assemblage specimens comprising of i) One uncorroded ii) Two corroded iii) One uncorroded strengthened with steel bracket and haunch iv) One corroded strengthened with steel bracket and haunch, are tested under reverse cyclic loading. The performances of these specimens are assessed in terms of hysteretic behaviour, energy dissipation and strength degradation. It is noted that the nature of corrosion i.e. uniform or pitting corrosion and its location have significant influence on the behaviour of corrosion damaged GLD beam-column sub-assemblages. The corroded specimens with localised corrosion pits showed in-cyclic strength degradation. The study also reveals that external strengthening which provides an alternate force path but depends on the strength of the existing reinforcement bars, is able to mitigate the seismic risk of corroded GLD beam-column sub-assemblages to the level of control uncorroded GLD specimen.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.533-546
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• 2019

This study presents an experimental investigation on six beam-column joint specimens under the lateral cyclic loading. The aim was to explore the effectiveness of steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) in reducing the transverse shear stirrups in beam-column joints of the reinforced concrete (RC) frames with strong-columns and weak-beams. Two RC and four SFRC specimens with different types of reinforcement detailing and steel fibers of volume fraction in the range of 0.75-1.5% were tested under gradually increasing cyclic displacements. The main parameters investigated were lateral load-resisting capacity, hysteresis response, energy dissipation capacity, stiffness degradation, viscous damping variation, and mode of failure. Test results showed that the diagonally bent configuration of beam longitudinal bars in the beam-column joints resulted in the shear failure at the joint region against the flexural failure of beams having straight bar configurations. However, all SFRC specimens exhibited similar lateral strength, energy dissipation potential and mode of failure even in the absence of transverse steel in the beam-column joints. Finally, a methodology has been proposed to compute the shear strength of SFRC beam-column joints under the lateral loading condition.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.77 no.5
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• pp.637-650
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• 2021

The paper presents an investigation of the widely varying mechanical performance and behaviour of steel and Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) reinforced concrete beams using non-destructive techniques of Acoustic Emission (AE) and Digital Image Correlation (DIC) under four-point bending. Laboratory experiments are performed on both differently reinforced concrete beams with 0.33%, 0.52% and 1.11% of tension reinforcement against balanced section. The results show that the ultimate load-carrying capacity increases with an increase in tensile reinforcement in both cases. In addition to that, AE waveform parameters of amplitude and number of AE hits successfully correlates and picks up the divergent mechanism of cracking initiation and progression of failure in steel reinforced and GFRP reinforced concrete beams. AE activity is about 20-30% more in GFRP-RC beams as compared to steel-RC beams. It was primarily due to the lower modulus of elasticity of GFRP bars leading to much larger ductility and deflections as compared to steel-RC beams. Furthermore, AE XY event plots and longitudinal strain profiles using DIC gives an online and real-time visual display of progressive AE activity and strains respectively to efficaciously depict the crack evolution and their advancement in steel-RC and GFRP-RC beams which show a close matching with the micro-and macro-cracks visually observed in the actual beams at various stages of loading.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.217-230
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• 2023

Methods for designing the post-tensioned anchorage zones at ultimate limit state has been specified in current design codes based on strut-and-tie models (STM). However, it is still not clear how to estimate the serviceability behavior of the anchorage zones. The serviceability is just indirectly taken into account by means of the reasonable reinforcement detailing. To address this issue, this paper is devoted to developing a modified strut-and-tie model (MSTM) to predict the behavior of concentric anchorage zones throughout the loading process. The principle of stationary complementary energy is introduced into STM at each load step to satisfy the compatibility condition and generate the unique MSTM. The structural behavior of anchorage zones can be achieved based on MSTM from loading to failure. Simplified formulas have been proposed to estimate the first cracking load, bearing capacity and maximum crack width with the consideration of the details of reinforcement bursting bars. The proposed model provides a definite method to control the bursting crack width in concentric anchorage zones. Four specimens with different bearing plate ratios have been designed and tested to validate the proposed method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.89 no.3
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• pp.283-300
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• 2024

Machine learning (ML) models based on artificial neural network (ANN) and decision tree (DT) were developed for estimation of axial capacity of concrete columns reinforced with fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) bars. Between the design codes, the Canadian code provides better formulation compared to the Australian or American code. For empirical models based on elastic modulus of FRP, Hadhood et al. (2017) model performed best. Whereas for empirical models based on tensile strength of FRP, as well as all empirical models, Raza et al. (2021) was adjudged superior. However, compared to the empirical models, all ML models exhibited superior performance according to all five performance metrics considered. The performance of ANN and DT models were comparable in general. Under the present setup, inclusion of the transverse reinforcement information did not improve the accuracy of estimation with either ANN or DT. With selective use of inputs, and a much simpler ANN architecture (4-3-1) compared to that reported in literature (Raza et al. 2020: 6-11-11-1), marginal improvement in correlation could be achieved. The metrics for the best model from the study was a correlation of 0.94, absolute errors between 420 kN to 530 kN, and the range being 0.39 to 0.51 for relative errors. Though much superior performance could be obtained using ANN/DT models over empirical models, further work towards improving accuracy of the estimation is indicated before design of FRP reinforced concrete columns using ML may be considered for design codes.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.99-107
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• 2008

This paper presents the prediction of the actual strength of shear reinforcement on the basis of the concept of effective stirrups. The prediction method incorporating the shear cracking angle was proposed with the estimation by the Modified Compression Field Theory (MCFT). To check the validity of the method, discussion of the current ACI 318-05 and comparison of 39 test results from the literature including author's retrospective test data were made. The influencing factors of compressive concrete strength and type of shear-reinforcement were also investigated. Furthermore, two full-scale beam specimens shear-reinforced with headed bars were tested to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.159-168
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• 2011

In the present study, an improved design method was developed for the punching shear strength of interior slabcolumn connections and column footings with and without shear reinforcement. In the evaluation of the punching shear strength, the possible failure mechanisms of the connections and column footings were considered. The considered failures modes were inclined tensile cracking of concrete, yielding of shear re-bars, and concrete crushing of compression zone/strut. The punching shear applied to the concrete critical section was assumed to be resisted mainly by the compression zone. The punching shear strength of the concrete compression zone was evaluated based on the material failure criteria of the concrete subjected to the compressive normal stress and shear stress. For verification of the proposed design method, its prediction was compared with the existing test results. The result showed that the proposed method predicted the strengths of the test specimens better than the current design methods of the KCI code for both the shear reinforced and unreinforced cases.