This study presents experimental and numerical investigations on seven one-way, reinforced concrete (RC) slabs with a new technique of slab weight reduction using polystyrene-embedded arched blocks (PEABs). All slabs had the same dimensions, steel reinforcement, and concrete compressive strength. One of these slabs was a solid slab, which was taken as a control slab, while the other six slabs were cast with PEABs. The main variables were the ratio of the length of the PEABs to the length of the slab (lp/L) and the ratio of the height of the PEABs to the total slab depth (hP/H). The minimum decrease in the ultimate load capacity was about 6% with a minimum reduction in the slab weight of 15%. In contrast, the maximum decrease in the ultimate load capacity was about 24% with a maximum reduction in the slab weight of 40%. Moreover, the mode of failure changed from flexure to shear failure, especially for those slabs with an lP/L ratio equal to one. The geometric and material non-linearity was adopted in the proposed finite element (FE) model to simulate the slabs with PEABs using Abaqus software. Good agreement was obtained between the developed FE and experimental results.
Current design codes and specifications allow for part of the bonded flexure tension reinforcement to be distributed over an effective flange width when the T-beams' flanges are in tension. This study presents an experimental and numerical investigation on the reinforced concrete flanged section's flexural behavior when reinforcement in the tension flange is laterally distributed. To achieve the goals of the study, numerical analysis using the finite element method was conducted on discretized flanged beam models validated via experimentally tested T-beam specimen. Parametric study was performed to investigate the effect of different parameters on the T-beams flexural behavior. The study revealed that a significant reduction in the
... Show MoreIn this research the behavior of reinforced concrete columns with large side openings under impact loads was studied. The overall cross sectional dimensions of the column specimens used in this research were (500*1400) mm with total height of (14000) mm. The dimensions of side openings were (600*2000) mm. The column was reinforced with (20) mm diameter in longitudinal direction, while (12) mm ties were used in the transverse direction. The effect of eccentric impact loads on the horizontal and vertical displacement for this column was studied. &
... 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 MoreThis paper demonstrates an experimental and numerical study aimed at comparing the influence of openings of different configurations on the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete gable roof beams. The experimental program consisted of testing six simply supported gable beams subjected to mid-point concentrated load. The variable which has been investigated in this work was opening's configuration (quadrilateral or circular) with the same upper and lower chords depth. The results indicate improvement in the beams’ flexural behavior when circular openings were used compared with that of quadrilateral openings, represented by an increase in ultimate load capacity and a decrease in deflection at the service limit. Also, there was an
... Show MoreThe main objective of this study is to examine the impact of moisture concrete of clayey soil on the concrete slabs placed directly over it. This experimental study presents the mechanical properties of the concrete slab when placed on different clayey soil moisture content ranging from 0% to the optimum moisture content of 35%. The tests were performed on soil concrete specimens of 25*30*50 mm exposed to sprayed water curing conditions for 28 days. Tests of compressive strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity, crack depth and crack width were investigated through this paper. An ejection relationship between compressive strength of concrete and water content in the soil was observed, with a 26% increase with water increasing from 0% to 35%. T
... Show MoreThe adopted accelerated curing methods in the experimental work are 55ºC and 82ºC according to British standard methods. The concrete mix with the characteristics compressive strength of 35MPa is design according to the ACI 211.1, the mix proportion is (1:2.65:3.82) for cement, fine and coarse aggregate, respectively. The concrete reinforced with different volume fraction (0.25, 0.5 and 0.75)% of glass, carbon and polypropylene fibers. The experimental results showed that the accelerated curing method using 82ºC gives a compressive strength higher than 55ºC method for all concrete mixes. In addition, the fiber reinforced concrete with 0.75% gives the maximum compressive strength, flexural and splitting tensile strength for all types of
... Show MoreHand-lay up method was used to prepare the samples made of epoxy (EP) as a matrix reinforced with chopped carbon fibers (CCF). The fatigue behavior of epoxy resin /chopped carbon fiber composites was studied with different weight percentage of chopped carbon fibers (2.5%,5%,7.5%,10%,12.5%). The fatigue test was carried out under alternate bending method, which was made by applying sinusoidal wave with constant displacement (15mm), stress ratio R=-1,and loading frequency 10Hz, which is believed to give a negligible temperature rise during the test. The results of the maximum stress, fatigue strength, fatigue limit and fatigue life of the tested composites are calculated from stress(S)-number of cycles(N) (S-N) curves.
It was shown that
This paper presents experimentally a new configuration of shear connector for Steel-Concrete-Steel (SCS) sandwich beams that is derived from truss configuration. It consists of vertical and inclined shear connectors welded together and to cover steel plates infilled with concrete. Nine simply supported SCS beams were tested until the failure under a concentrated central load (three- point bending). The beams were similar in length (1100mm), width (100mm), and the top plate thickness (4mm). The test parameters were; beam thickness (150, 200, 250, and 300mm), the bottom plate thickness (4, and 6mm), the diameter of the shear connectors (10, 12, and 16mm), and the connector spacing (100, 200, and 250mm). The test results sh
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