Sharif Digital Repository

Mechanical properties and microstructural analysis of Expanded Perlite Aggregate (EPA) concretes are presented. Using 10% EPA, the effects of using various types of fibre were investigated. For all specimens, fibrous and non-fibrous, the compressive and the splitting tensile strengths were obtained. Complete stress–strain curves for fibre-reinforced specimens were obtained. A new index for representing the toughness of fibre-reinforced Perlite concretes is introduced. The addition of fibres substantially increased the splitting tensile strength. Steel fibres with “indentations” had the best performance in this regard. Regarding the toughness, specimens with “hooked” steel fibres performed... 

Mechanical properties and microstructural analysis of Expanded Perlite Aggregate (EPA) concretes are presented. Using 10% EPA, the effects of using various types of fibre were investigated. For all specimens, fibrous and non-fibrous, the compressive and the splitting tensile strengths were obtained. Complete stress–strain curves for fibre-reinforced specimens were obtained. A new index for representing the toughness of fibre-reinforced Perlite concretes is introduced. The addition of fibres substantially increased the splitting tensile strength. Steel fibres with “indentations” had the best performance in this regard. Regarding the toughness, specimens with “hooked” steel fibres performed... 

This paper presents the results of an experimental study on the flexural behavior of ten 10 × 15 × 120 (cm) steel reinforced high strength concrete beams under deflection control loading conditions. Test variable includes volumetric percentage of steel fibers (0%, 1.5%, 3%, 4%, 5%). The plain concrete strength was 30MPa. The monotonic concentrated load was applied at the center of the beam, the relative deflection was measured, and demec points were used to determine curvature of the beam. Load-deflection and moment-curvature diagrams have been obtained and plotted for each beam individually. Test results indicate that higher fiber content considerably improves flexural behavior and provides... 

This paper deals with investigation of fracture behavior of steel fiber reinforced high strength concrete (SFRHSC) and compare it to plain high strength concrete (HSC). Based on an experimental program, a series of three point bending tests were carried out on 54 notched beams, as recommended by RILEM. The fracture parameters were measured by two methods: work of fracture method (WFM) and size effect method (SEM). Then the fracture parameters obtained from these two methods were compared. The results showed that with increase of steel fibers, fracture energy of GF in WFM and Gf in SEM increase but this increase in work of fracture method is more significant. The effective size of the process... 

This paper investigated the combined utilization of recycled waste ceramic aggregate (RWCA) and waste carpet fibers (WCFs) in high strength concrete (HSC). Concrete mixes containing different percentages of RWCA including 20%, 40%, 60% (by weight) as partial replacement of natural coarse aggregate (NCA) were prepared. To enhance the tensile and flexural strength of concrete, 1.0% (by volume) WCF was added to the mixes. The slump and density of the fresh concrete were evaluated, both of which demonstrated a decreasing trend with incorporation of RWCA and WCF. With regard to the hardened concrete, replacing 40% of NCA with RWCA led to the optimum mechanical properties and increased the... 

Routinely, behavior of floor diaphragms is assumed completely rigid in their plane, which leads to erroneous results in analysis and design of some particular buildings. In this study, 4-story RC buildings, with end shear walls and plan aspect ratio of 3, are considered in order to investigate the influence of diaphragm openings on their seismic response. It is concluded that although in-plane floor flexibility has enormous effects on pre-yielding part of pushover curve, it has no influence on post-yielding part of that. Furthermore, the opening beside shear walls has crucial impact on response of building. Hence, it would be better off avoiding opening near the shear walls; if not, the... 

Because of their unique physical and chemical properties, nanoparticles have been gaining increasing attention and have been used in many fields to fabricate new materials with novel functions. If nanoparticles are integrated with cement-based building materials, the new materials might possess some outstanding properties. Ferrocement is a type of thin-wall reinforced concrete commonly constructed of hydraulic cement mortar reinforced with closely spaced layers of continuous and relatively small-sized wire mesh. The low level of technical skill required to make ferrocement and the ready availability of its materials make ferrocement suitable for a wide variety of applications. This study... 

This study proposes a response-based parameter for strong motion duration which is computed for structures and is the total time they are nonlinear during an earthquake. Correlation between structural response and duration for structures, subjected to a set of spectrum matched ground motions, is employed to examine the efficiency of the proposed method. The spectral matching procedure ensures that the influence of amplitude and frequency content of motions on structural response variability is significantly removed. Four concrete building type systems are studied and correlation coefficients of structural response with the proposed duration definition are examined. Comparison of the proposed... 

Heavy damages on structures caused by near field earthquakes in recent years has brought serious attention to this problem. An examination of previous records has shown significant differences for near field earthquakes, including a large energy pulse, unlike far field earthquakes. But as a general rule, the effects of near field earthquakes have been ignored in most building codes. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of near field earthquakes on reinforced concrete (RC) moment frames. To achieve this goal, the Erduran damage index, an efficient way to calculate damage, was employed to analyze two 4- and 8-story RC moment frame buildings. The buildings with moderate and... 

Mechanical shear connectors are commonly used to transfer longitudinal shear forces across the steel-concrete interface in composite beams. Steel pipe as a new shear connector is proposed in this research and its performance to achieve composite strength is investigated. Experimental monotonic push-out tests were carried out for this connector. Then, a nonlinear finite element model of the push-out specimens is developed and verified against test results. Further, the finite element model is used to investigate the effects of pipe thickness, length and diameter on the shear strength of the connectors. The ultimate strengths of these connectors are reported and their respective failure modes... 

This paper focuses on the performance evaluation of several concrete models in reinforced concrete (RC) structures subjected to seismic loading. Despite many studies conducted on implementing different characteristics of concrete in constitutive models, there is an essential need for investigating the ability of these models in predicting the behavior of structures in seismic applications. In this paper, several developed plasticity-based constitutive models with the combination of fracture and continuum damage models are investigated for application in seismic loading conditions. Damage-based isotropic and anisotropic models and smeared cracking approach have been applied as complementary... 

This paper presents a novel computer vision-based methodology for assessment of the seismic damage in reinforced concrete moment frames using visual characteristics of surface damage following an earthquake. An extensive collected database comprising 974 images associated with 256 cyclic-loaded damaged beam-column joints, providing a set of cracking and crushing progression with increasing the evolution of damage level, is collected and used for the development and validation of the methodology. Employing image processing techniques, the characteristics of the surface damage, including the cracking length and crushing areas, are measured and used in a scenario-based assessment for the... 

After a significant earthquake, the updated status of the structural elements is usually determined based on a qualitative visual inspection. Although visual inspection provides a prompt assessment of the damaged elements, the output of this subjective method is influenced by the experience and decision of a trained inspector, which may vary from case to case. In this study, an innovative machine learning-based procedure is developed to automate damage state identification of non-ductile reinforced concrete moment frames (RCMFs) utilizing visual indices of crack patterns of the concrete surface. An extensive database including 264 surface crack patterns is constructed corresponding to 61... 

As the reinforcing bars used in concrete structures located in earthquake-prone areas experience strain rates higher than normal quasi-static ones, it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of the behaviour of such materials under these rates of loading. In this work, in order to study the behaviour of grade A-III reinforcing-bar steel (based on the GOST standard, a set of technical standards maintained by the Euro-Asian Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification), a number of monotonic tests on its tensile and compressive strength on (short and long) specimens at various strain rates, 0·002, 0·01, 0·02 and 0·04 s-1, experienced during earthquakes, were carried out.... 

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of pyrogenic nanosilica with different specific surfaces areas (200 and 380 m2/g) on mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced high-performance concrete (FRHPC) produced with two different types of fibers including steel and polypropylene fibers. Accordingly, different mechanical tests (compressive, splitting tensile and flexural strengths) as well as electrical resistivity were performed at 7, 28, and 91 curing days. In addition, the modulus of rupture and flexural toughness of FRHPC prisms were calculated based on the flexural testing results. Also, scanning electron microscopy test (SEM) was conducted to evaluate the... 

This article deals with the mechanical properties of steel-reinforced concrete precast slab tracks on non-ballasted elasto-plastic foundations. To work out the spanning behavior of slab tracks, a FEM analysis was executed for discrete and continuous systems. At first, full-size slabs without foundation including solid and hollow-core specimens (with 30% weight reduction) were tested under centric static (monotonic) line loads, and loaddeflection curves were extracted. Then, FEM results for zero foundation stiffness were verified with those of experiments, which were in good agreement. Original results include the effects of several parameters on the cracking load, ultimate load, and energy... 

Mechanical properties of slab tracks on a foundation with nonlinear stiffness are accounted for. At first, the cracking stages were inspected in FEM models, and it was learned that slab tracks have one-way exural behavior. Secondly, experimental full-scale models were made, and the accuracy of analyses was verified by comparing the FEM loadde ection curves with those of previous studies and validating the cracking and ultimate loads with those obtained from experiments. Finally, the effects of several parameters on the cracking and ultimate loads and the energy absorption of steel fiber-reinforced slab tracks were investigated by examining the real behavior of slab tracks on elastic... 

An investigation into the mixed mode fracture of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) beams with one percent volume fraction of steel fiber is presented. A series of notched beams with different notch depths and locations are tested under three-point bending. The test results for apparent fracture toughness, crack trajectories, and fracture energy are presented. The crack paths for SFRC and plain concrete beams are compared. The apparent fracture toughness values were more scattered for SFRC than for plain concrete. The load-deflection curves were used to obtain the fracture energy. To this end, two methods were utilized for center notched beams, and the results were comparable to each... 

Steel systems composed of Reinforced Concrete column to Steel beam connection (RCS) have been raised as a structural system in the past few years. The optimized combination of steel-concrete structural elements has the advantages of both systems. Through beam and through column connections are two main categories in RCS systems. This study includes finite-element analyses of mentioned connection to investigate the seismic performance of RCS connections. The finite element model using ABAQUS software has been verified with experimental results of a through beam type connection tested in Taiwan in 2005. According to verified finite element model a parametric study has been carried out on five... 

Complex nature of diagonal tension accompanied by the formation of new cracks as well as closing and propagating preexisting cracks has deterred researchers to achieve an analytical and mathematical procedure for accurate predicting shear behavior of reinforced concrete, and there is the lack of a unique theory accepted universally. Shear behavior of reinforced concrete is studied in this paper based on recently developed constitutive laws for normal strength concrete and mild steel bars using the nonlinear finite element method. The salient feature of these stress-strain relations is to account the interactive effects of concrete and embedded bars on each other in a smeared rotating crack...