This paper studies the behavior of reinforced Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) two-way slabs under static and repeated load. The experimental program included testing six simply supported RPC two-way slabs of 1000 mm length, 1000 mm width, and 70 mm thickness. All the tested specimens were identical in their material properties, and reinforcement details except their steel fibers content. They were cast in three pairs, each one had a different steel fibers ratio (0.5 %, 1 %, and 1.5 %) respectively. In each pair, one specimen was tested under static load and the other under five cycles of repeated load (loading-unloading). Static test results revealed that increasing steel fibres volume fraction from 0.5 % to 1 % and from 1% to 1.5%, led to an increase in the: first crack load by (32.2 % and 52.3 %), ultimate load by (36.1 % and 17.0 %), ultimate deflection by (33.6 % and 3.4 %), absorbed energy by (128 % and 20.2 %), and the ultimate strain by (1.1 % and 6.73 %). It also increased the stiffness and the ductility of the specimens especially at the final stages of loading. Additionally, it delayed the propagation of the cracks, controlled their growth, kept the integrity of the specimens at post cracking stage, and avoided their ruin at the failure stage through its “bridging” effect. For the repeated load test, applying five cycles of repeated load to the steel fiber reinforced RPC two-way slab specimens led to a decreasing in the ultimate load capacity, ultimate deflection, ultimate strain, and absorbed energy in a comparison with the corresponding static test specimens, and that because of the loading-unloading process which causes a fluctuation of stresses and more damages in concrete. Increasing the steel fibers volume fractions decreased the dissipated energy of the specimens that subjected to a repeated load, where the difference percent of dissipated energy between the first and second cycles of (R0.5 %, R1 %, and R1.5 %) specimens were (68.0 %, 46.2%, and 32.4%) respectively.
Pultruded materials made of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) come in a broad range of shapes, such as bars, I-sections, C-sections, etc. FRP materials are starting to compete with steel as structural materials owing to their great resistance, low self-weight, and cheap maintenance costs, especially in corrosive conditions. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel concrete Composite Column (CC) using Encased I-Section (EIS) as a reinforcement in contrast to traditional steel bars by using Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) as I-section (CC-EIS) to evaluate the effectiveness of the hybrid columns which have been built by combining GFRP profiles with concrete columns. To achieve the aims of this study, nine circular co
... Show MoreReactive Powder Concrete (RPC) can be incorporate as a one of the most important and progressive concrete technology. It is a special type of ultra-high strength concrete (UHSC) that’s exclude the coarse aggregate from its constitutive materials. In this research an experimental study had been carried out to investigate the effect of using three types of materials (porcelain aggregate) and others sustainable materials (glass waste and granular activated carbon) as a partial replacement of fine aggregate. Four percentages had considered (0, 10, 15 and 20) % to achieve better understanding for the influence of these materials upon the compressive strength of RPC. Four curing ages had included in this study, these are; 7, 28, 60 and
... Show MoreBubbled slabs can be exposed to damage or deterioration during its life. Therefore, the solution for strengthening must be provided. For the simulation of this case, the analysis of finite elements was carried out using ABAQUS 2017 software on six simply supported specimens, during which five are voided with 88 bubbles, and the other is solid. The slab specimens with symmetric boundary conditions were of dimensions 3200/570/150 mm. The solid slab and one bubbled slab are deemed references. Each of the other slabs was exposed to; (1) service charge, then unloaded (2) external prestressing and (3) loading to collapse under two line load. The external strengthening was applied using prestressed wire with four approaches, wh
... Show MoreWhen the depth of stressed soil is rather small, Plate Load Test (PLT) becomes the most efficient test to estimate the soil properties for design purposes. Among these properties, modulus of subgrade reaction is the most important one that usually employed in roads and concrete pavement design. Two methods are available to perform PLT: static and dynamic methods. Static PLT is usually adopted due to its simplicity and time saving to be performs in comparison with cyclic (dynamic) method. The two methods are described in ASTM standard.
In this paper the effect of the test method used in PLT in estimation of some mechanical soil properties was distinguished via a series of both test methods applied in a same site. The comparison of
... Show MoreWhen the flange of a reinforced concrete spandrel beam is in tension, current design codes and specifications enable a portion of the bonded flexure tension reinforcement to be distributed over an effective flange width. The flexural behavior of the RC L-shaped spandrel beam when reinforcement is laterally displaced in the tension flange is investigated experimentally and numerically in this work. Numerical analysis utilizing the finite element method is performed on discretized flanged beam models validated using experimentally verified L-shaped beam specimens to achieve study objectives. A parametric study was carried out to evaluate the influence of various factors on the beam’s flexure behavior. Results showed that
... Show MoreThis study investigates the impact of varying glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) stirrup spacing on the performance of doubly GFRP-reinforced concrete beams. The research focuses on assessing the behavior of GFRP-reinforced concrete beams, including load-carrying capacity, cracking, and deformability. It explores the feasibility and effectiveness of GFRP bars as an alternative to traditional steel reinforcement in concrete structures. Six concrete beams with a cross-section of 300 mm (wide) × 250 mm (deep), simply supported on a 2100 mm span, were tested. The beams underwent four-point bending with two concentrated loads applied symmetrically at one-third of the span length, resulting in a shear span (a)-to-depth (h) ratio of 2.
... Show MoreThis study expands the state of the art in studies that assess torsional retrofit of reinforced concrete (RC) multi-cell box girders with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) strips. The torsional behavior of non-damaged and pre-damaged RC multi-cell box girder specimens externally retrofitted by CFRP strips was investigated through a series of laboratory experiments. It was found that retrofitting the pre-damaged specimens with CFRP strips increased the ultimate torsional capacity by more than 50% as compared to the un-damaged specimens subjected to equivalent retrofitting. This indicated that the retrofit has been less effective for the girder specimen that did not develop distortion beforehand as a result of pre-loading. From
... Show MoreThis study expands the state of the art in studies that assess torsional retrofit of reinforced concrete (RC) multi-cell box girders with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) strips. The torsional behavior of non-damaged and pre-damaged RC multi-cell box girder specimens externally retrofitted by CFRP strips was investigated through a series of laboratory experiments. It was found that retrofitting the pre-damaged specimens with CFRP strips increased the ultimate torsional capacity by more than 50% as compared to the un-damaged specimens subjected to equivalent retrofitting. This indicated that the retrofit has been less effective for the girder specimen that did not develop distortion beforehand as a result of pre-loading. From
... Show MoreGypseous soil, which covers vast area in west, middle, east and south west regions of Iraq exhibit acceptable strength properties when dry, but it is weak and collapsible when it comes in touch with moisture from rain or other sources. When such weak soil is adopted for earth reinforced embankment construction, it may exhibit hazardous situation. Gypseous soil was investigated for the optimum liquid asphalt requirements of both cutback and emulsion using the one-dimensional unconfined compression strength test. The optimum fluid content was 13% (7% of cutback with 6% water content), and 17% (9% of emulsion with 8% water content). A laboratory model box of 50x50x25 cm was used as a representative of embankment; soil or asphalt stabilize
... Show MoreMany researchers have tackled the shear behavior of Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams by using different kinds of strengthening in the shear regions and steel fibers. In the current paper, the effect of multiple parameters, such as using one percentage of Steel Fibers (SF) with and without stirrups, without stirrups and steel fibers, on the shear behavior of RC beams, has been studied and compared by using Finite Element analysis (FE). Three-dimensional (3D) models of (RC) beams are developed and analyzed using ABAQUS commercial software. The models were validated by comparing their results with the experimental test. The total number of beams that were modeled for validation purposes was four. Extensive pa
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