Sharif Digital Repository

This research investigates the flexural behavior of a polymer concrete beam/pile encased with carbon fiber sleeve. The mechanical properties of carbon fiber sleeves in tension and cement and polymer concrete in compression were determined. Polymer concrete beams were tested in flexure to determine the bending moment capacity. Then, the test results were compared to the theoretical model results. Finally, a parametric study was conducted to determine the influence of beam/pile parameters on the capacity of the element. Based on the investigation, carbon fiber sleeve filled with polymer concrete exhibits outstanding structural performance including ductility and bending capacity. © 2017 Taylor... 

In this work, the effect of strain rate on the ductility, intermediate temperature brittleness and fracture surface of Zr-based BMG over a wide range of temperatures from 0.1 Tg to near Tg, has been systematically investigated. The results showed two remarkable ductile to brittle transition at low cryogenic and intermediate temperatures. At low temperatures, below 0.4 Tg, the activation of diffusion mediated phenomena is negligible and the combined effects of strain rate and temperature contribute to the plasticity of material by changing the STZ volume, hence the possibility of forming multiple shear bands. At the temperature range from 0.4 Tg to the temperature at which the intermediate... 

A practical procedure is developed for the design of passive control systems using viscous fluid dampers for nonlinear structures. The design methodology takes advantage of the modification of the damping, strength, and stiffness properties of the structure to achieve the desired relative displacement and absolute acceleration response. For this purpose, a study of poles in the complex plane is used to determine the required changes in the dynamic properties of nonlinear structures. Furthermore, a relatively simple relation between the ductility demands of highly damped single- and multiple-degree-of-freedom (SDF and MDF respectively) systems is established to reduce the computational burden... 

This paper reveals the consequences of practicing the 2015 National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) soilstructure interaction (SSI) provisions, which form the basis of the 2016 edition of the seismic design standard provided by the ASCE. For this purpose, the probability that the practice of SSI provisions, in lieu of fixed-base provisions, increases the ductility demand of the structure computed. It is subsequently investigated whether the NEHRP provisions are indeed an improvement upon the SSI provisions of the current ASCE seismic design standard. To this end, 720 soil-structure systems with different numbers of stories, structural systems, aspect ratios, and foundation... 

In this paper the performance of light weight K-braced cold formed steel (CFS) shear panels under cyclic loading is experimentally evaluated. It is generally known that the brace-stud connection details has an important effect on the performance of the braced CFS shear panels in terms of lateral stiffness, energy dissipation, and ductility factor. In this study, four full-scale, 2.4 m × 2.4 m, braced CFS shear panels made of C-sections were tested. It was observed that proper modification of the currently utilized braced to stud connections in K-braced, CFS shear panels could enhance their performance considerably by increasing their ultimate shear resistance up to 7 folds. Furthermore,... 

Conventional lateral resisting systems can provide sufficient strength and ductility for design based earthquakes, although the considerable residual deformation remaining in the plasticized regions undermines the resiliency of the structures. In order to resolve this problem, various self-centering systems have been proposed and tested in recent years, most of which are specified for new buildings and are not simply suitable for retrofitting applications. Moreover, the available self-centering systems are costly and complex to assemble, which can be considered as a serious barrier for practical application. To address these drawbacks, an innovative Core-Less Self-Centering (CLSC) brace is... 

This paper revisits the phenomenon of dynamic soil-structure interaction (SSI) with a probabilistic approach. For this purpose, a twofold objective is pursued. First, the effect of SSI on inelastic response of the structure is studied considering the prevailing uncertainties. Second, the consequence of practicing SSI provisions of the current seismic design codes on the structural performance is investigated in a probabilistic framework. The soil-structure system is modeled by the sub-structure method. The uncertainty in the properties of the soil and the structure is described by random variables that are input to this model. Monte Carlo sampling analysis is employed to compute the... 

Flow stress and ductility behaviors of the annealed and severely deformed Al were investigated at warm deformation temperatures. Constrained groove pressing (CGP) method as a severe plastic deformation process was used. The tensile test was carried out at the temperature range of the 298-573 K and strain rate range of 0.001-0.1 s−1 to present the elevated temperature deformation behavior utilizing hyperbolic sine constitutive equation. The flow stress of the CGPed sample is increased with the number of CGP passes and decreased with temperature. Dynamic recovery and strain softening are found as main restoration mechanisms. Flow stress amounts are not remarkably affected by the strain rate.... 

Previous studies have shown that a small variation in the chemical composition of metallic glasses (MGs) can drastically alter their strength and ductility. However, the underlying structural origin and atomistic mechanisms remain unclear. Using large-scale molecular dynamics simulations, we studied the effect of chemical composition and affinity on the microstructure and deformation behaviour of Zr50Ni50 − xAlx MG by varying the value of x in the range of 5 ≤ x ≤ 25 (at.%). We show that an increase in x is able to strengthen and embrittle the material. In particular, a ductile (homogeneous deformation) to brittle (shear banding) transition occurs at x ~ 15. To reveal the structural origin,... 

This paper examines the effects of foundation uplift on the dynamic response of steel frames supported by shallow foundations. In order to achieve this goal, the dynamic responses of a number of two-dimensional concentrically braced steel frames with fixed base, flexible base preventing uplift, and flexible base allowing uplift, are compared. The steel frames are modeled by considering material nonlinearities and P-Delta effects, while the soil-foundation system is modeled through the Winkler foundation approach. The dynamic analyses are conducted using 15 far-fault ground-motions with various intensities and different response parameters are monitored. According to the achieved responses,... 

In this paper, a seismic reliability-based approach is proposed to design inelastic steel moment frame structures isolated by lead-rubber bearing (LRB) systems. An equivalent two-degree-of-freedom system is assumed in which a bilinear behaviour is assigned to both the superstructure and the base. Furthermore, uncertainties associated with the equivalent superstructure mass, stiffness, and yield properties are taken into account by employing proper probability density functions. The proposed design approach is twofold: 1) Reliability curves that return the key design parameters of the inelastic base-isolated structure including: the period of the superstructure, the target base displacement,... 

In the present work, friction stir welding technique was applied on 2 mm thick ferrite-martensite DP700 steel sheets at rotational speeds of 600, 800 and 1000 rpm. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the welds were evaluated. It was found that Zener-Hollomon parameter decreased with increasing rotational speed that leads to grain coarsening in the stir zone. It was also found that increment of rotational speed increased softening phenomenon in sub-critical heat affected zone. The results also showed that the presence of WC particles in the stir zone, which was due to the tool wear, as well as formation of a soft ferrite band degrade the tensile properties at rotational speed of...