• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.33 no.6
• /
• pp.849-864
• /
• 2019

One way to achieve sustainable construction is to reduce concrete consumption by use of more sustainable and higher strength concrete. Modern building codes do not cover the use of ultra-high strength concrete (UHSC) in the design of composite structures. Against such background, this paper investigates experimentally the mechanical properties of steel fibre-reinforced UHSC and then the structural behaviors of UHSC encased steel (CES) members under both concentric and eccentric compressions as well as pure bending. The effects of steel-fibre dosage and spacing of stirrups were studied, and the applicability of Eurocode 4 design approach was checked. The test results revealed that the strength of steel stirrups could not be fully utilized to provide confinement to the UHSC. The bond strength between UHSC and steel section was improved by adding the steel fibres into the UHSC. Reducing the spacing of stirrups or increasing the dosage of steel fibres was beneficial to prevent premature spalling of the concrete cover thus mobilize the steel section strength to achieve higher compressive capacity. Closer spacing of stirrups and adding 0.5% steel fibres in UHSC enhanced the post-peak ductility of CES columns. It is concluded that the code-specified reduction factors applied to the concrete strength and moment resistance can account for the loss of load capacity due to the premature spalling of concrete cover and partial yielding of the encased steel section.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.39 no.4
• /
• pp.367-381
• /
• 2021

Reinforced concrete (RC) columns can be strengthened by direct fastening of steel plates around a column, forming composite actions. This method can increase both the total load bearing area and the concrete confinement stress. To predict the axial load resistance of strengthened RC columns, the equivalent passive confinement stress of the stirrups and the steel jacket should be accurately quantified, which requires the stress in the stirrups and shear force in the connections to be first obtained. In this paper, parameters, i.e., the stress ratio of the stirrups and shear force ratio of steel plate connectors are utilized to quantify the stress of the stirrups and shear force in the connections. A mechanical model for determining the stress ratio of the stirrups and shear force ratio of steel plate connectors is proposed and validated using the experimental results in a previous study. The model is found to be robust. Subsequently, a parametric study is conducted and the optimum stress ratios of the stirrups and the optimum shear force ratios of connectors are proposed for engineering designs.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.73-84
• /
• 2018

Low cyclic loading tests are conducted on the steel reinforced recycled concrete (SRRC) column-steel (S) beam composite frame joints. This research aims to evaluate the earthquake damage performance of composite frame joints by performing cyclic loading tests on eight specimens. The experimental failure process and failure modes, load-displacement hysteresis curves, characteristic loads and displacements, and ductility of the composite frame joints are presented and analyzed, which shows that the composite frame joints demonstrate good seismic performance. On the basis of this finding, seismic damage performance is examined by using the maximum displacement, energy absorbed in the hysteresis loops and Park-Ang model. However, the result of this analysis is inconsistent with the test failure process. Therefore, this paper proposes a modified Park-Ang seismic damage model that is based on maximum deformation and cumulative energy dissipation, and corrected by combination coefficient ${\alpha}$. Meanwhile, the effects of recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) replacement percentage and axial compression ratio on the seismic damage performance are analyzed comprehensively. Moreover, lateral displacement angle is used as the quantification index of the seismic performance level of joints. Considering the experimental study, the seismic performance level of composite frame joints is divided into five classes of normal use, temporary use, repair after use, life safety and collapse prevention. On this basis, the corresponding relationships among seismic damage degrees, seismic performance level and quantitative index are also established in this paper. The conclusions can provide a reference for the seismic performance design of composite frame joints.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.37 no.5
• /
• pp.503-516
• /
• 2020

A novel spiral confined angle-steel reinforced concrete (SCARC) column was developed in this study. A total of 16 specimens were prepared and tested (eight of them were tested under axial loading, the other eight were tested under eccentric loading). The failure processes and load-displacement relationships of specimens under axial and eccentric loads were examined, respectively. The load-carrying capacity and ductility were evaluated by parametric analysis. A calculation approach was developed to predict the axial and eccentric load-carrying capacity of these novel columns. Results showed that the spiral reinforcement provided enough confinement in SCARC columns under axial and low eccentric loads, but was not effective in that under high eccentric loads. The axial load-carrying capacity and ductility of SCARC columns were improved significantly due to the satisfactory confinement from spirals. The outer reinforcement and other construction measures were necessary for SCARC columns to prevent premature spalling of the concrete cover. The proposed calculation approach provided a reliable prediction of the load-carrying capacity of SCARC columns.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.291-298
• /
• 2017

The objective of the present study is to evaluate the cyclic flexural behavior of a hybrid H-steel-reinforced concrete (HSRC) beam at the connection with a H-steel column. The test parameter investigated was the configuration of dowel bars at the joint region of the HSRC beam. The HSRC beam was designed to have plastic hinge at the end of the H-steel beam rather than the RC beam section near the joint. All specimens showed a considerable ductile behavior without a sudden drop of th applied load, resulting in the displacement ductility ratio exceeding 4.6, although an unexpected premature welding failure occurred at the flanges of H-steel beams connecting to H-steel column. The crack propagation in the RC beam region, flexural strength, and ductility of HSRC beam system were insignificantly affected by the configuration of dowel bars. The flexural strength of HSRC beam system governed by the yielding of H-steel beam could be conservatively evaluated from the assumption of a perfect plasticity state along the section.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.559-573
• /
• 2019

Spiral spacing effect on axial compressive behavior of reinforced concrete filled steel tube (RCFST) stub column is experimentally investigated in this paper. A total of twenty specimens including sixteen square RCFST columns and four benchmarked conventional square concrete filled steel tube (CFST) columns are fabricated and tested. Test variables include spiral spacing (spiral ratio) and concrete strength. The failure modes, load versus displacement curves, compressive rigidity, axial compressive strength, and ductility of the specimens are obtained and analyzed. Especially, the effect of spiral spacing on axial compressive strength and ductility is investigated and discussed in detail. Test results show that heavily arranged spirals considerably increase the ultimate compressive strength but lightly arranged spirals have no obvious effect on the ultimate strength. In practical design, the effect of spirals on RCFST column strength should be considered only when spirals are heavily arranged. Spiral spacing has a considerable effect on increasing the post-peak ductility of RCFST columns. Decreasing of the spiral spacing considerably increases the post-peak ductility of the RCFSTs. When the concrete strength increases, ultimate strength increases but the ductility decreases, due to the brittleness of the higher strength concrete. Arranging spirals, even with a rather small amount of spirals, is an economical and easy solution for improving the ductility of RCFST columns with high-strength concrete. Ultimate compressive strengths of the columns are calculated according to the codes EC4 (2004), GB 50936 (2014), AIJ (2008), and ACI 318 (2014). The ultimate strength of RCFST stub columns can be most precisely evaluated using standard GB 50936 (2014) considering the effect of spiral confinement on core concrete.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
• /
• 2006.05a
• /
• pp.62-65
• /
• 2006

This study investigated the behavior of R/C column confined with headed crossties subjected to eccentric loading. The 16 specimens are designed to have adequate confinement steel, determined by ACI seismic design. The variables studied in this research test are eccentricity to depth ratios, spacing of lateral steel and the anchor type of end of crossties. From the test results, all columns showed similar behavior up to the peak load but those columns laterally confined with head presented more ductile behavior after the peak load. The comparisons indicate that the flexural behavior of confined-concrete columns can be computed resonable accurately by P-M interaction curve.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.39 no.4
• /
• pp.559-578
• /
• 2011

In regions of high seismic risk, high-strength concrete (HSC) columns of tall buildings are designed to be fully ductile during earthquake attack by providing substantial amount of confining steel within the critical region. However. in areas of low to moderate seismic risk, the same provision of confining steel is too conservative because of the reduced seismic demand. More critically, it causes problematic steel congestion in the beam-column joints and column critical region. This will eventually affect the quality of concrete placing owing to blockage. To relieve the problem, the confining steel in the critical region of HSC columns located in low to moderate seismicity regions can be suitably reduced, while maintaining a limited ductility level. Despite the advantage, there are still no guidelines developed for designing limited ductility HSC columns. In this paper, a formula for designing limited ductility HSC columns is presented. The validity of the formula was verified by testing half-scale HSC columns subjected to combined high-axial load and flexure, in which the confining steel was provided as per the proposed formula. From the test results, it is evident that the curvature ductility factors obtained for all these columns were about 10, which is the generally accepted level of limited ductility.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.325-333
• /
• 2010

In this study, new moment-resisting precast concrete beam-column joint made up of hybrid steel concrete was developed and tested. This beam-column joint is proposed for use in moderate seismic regions. It has square hollow tubular section in concrete column and connecting plate in precast U-beam. The steel elements in column and beam members were connected using bolt. Furthermore, in order to prevent the premature failure of concrete in hybrid steel-concrete connection, ECC(engineered cementitious composite) was used. An experimental study was carried out investigating the joint behavior subjected to reversed cyclic loading and constant axial compressive load. Two precast beam-column joint specimens and monolithic reinforced concrete joint specimen were tested. The variables for interior joints were cast-in-situ concrete area and transverse reinforcement within the joint. Tests were carried out under displacement controlled reverse cyclic load with a constant axial load. Joint performance is evaluated on the basis of connection strength, stiffness, energy dissipation, and displacement capacity. The test results showed that significant differences in structural behavior between the two types of connection because of different bonding characteristics between steel and concrete; steel and ECC. The proposed joint detail can induce to move the plastic hinge out of the ECC and steel plate. And proposed precast connection showed better performance than the monolithic connection by providing sufficient moment-resisting behavior suitable for applications in moderate seismic regions.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.711-722
• /
• 2011

Beam-column gravity or Intermediate Moment frames subjected to unexpected large displacements are vulnerable when no seismic details are provided, which is typical. Conversely, economic efficiency of those frames is decreased if unnecessary special detailing is applied as the beam and column size becomes quite large and steel congestion is caused by joint transverse reinforcement in beam-column connections. Moderate seismic design is used in Korea for beam-column connections of buildings with structural walls, which are to be destroyed when the unexpected large earthquake occurs. Nonetheless, performance of such beamcolumn connections may be substantially improved by the addition of steel fibers. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of steel fibers in reinforced concrete exterior beam-column connections and possibility for the replacement of some joint transverse reinforcement. Ten half-scale beam-column connections with non-seismic details were tested under cyclic loads with two cycles at each drift up to 19 cycles. Main test parameters used were the volume ratio of steel fibers (0%, 1%, 1.5%) and joint transverse reinforcement amount. The test results show that maximum capacity, energy dissipation capacity, shear strength and bond condition are improved with the application of steel fibers to substitute transverse reinforcement of beam-column connections. Furthermore, several shear strength equations for exterior connections were examined, including the proposed equation for steel fiber-reinforced concrete exterior connections with non-seismic details.