This 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 experimental observations, when the girder specimen was cracked and the transverse steel reinforcement bars started straining, the CFRP strips started to work more effectively and contributed together with the transverse steel reinforcement to resist torsion load. Additionally, Finite Element (FE) simulations were developed using Abaqus to model the torsional behavior of the retrofitted girders, the results of which were validated with the experimental data. With the numerical model, the effect of concrete compressive strength, transverse reinforcement spacing, and CFRP strip spacing were examined. The effectiveness of the CFRP strips in enhancing the torsional strength of the girder was found to increase with increasing the spacing between the transverse reinforcement.
To investigate the flexural behavior of self-consolidating hybrid fiber-reinforced concrete beams containing voids experimentally, six RC beams were tested, one solid without fiber and the others containing hooked-steel and macro-polypropylene fibers with a volume fraction of 1 and 0.5%, respectively. One of the five fibrous beams was solid; two contain a series of recycled plastic balls of diameters 110 and 120 mm, and another two contain a single longitudinal circular void created by PVC pipes of diameters 90 and 110 mm. The flexural behavior of the beams was assessed depending on the load-deflection curve, load-strain curve, ductility, toughness, stiffness, and crack patterns. The experimental outcomes showed that all the tested
... Show MoreThis research is carried out to investigate the behavior of self-compacting concrete (SCC) two-way slabs with central square opening under uniformly distributed loads. The experimental part of this research is based on casting and testing six SCC simply supported square slabs having the same dimentions and reinforcement. One of these slabs was cast without opening as a control slab. While, the other five slabs having opening ratios (OR) of 2.78%, 6.25%, 11.11%, 17.36% and 25.00%. From the experimental results it is found that the maximum percentage decrease in cracking and ultimate uniform loads were 31.82% and 12.17% compared to control slab for opening ratios (OR
... Show MoreThis work concerns the thermal and sound insulation as well as the mechanical properties of polymer matrix composite reinforced with glass fibers. These fibers may have dangerous effect during handling, for example the glass fibers might cause some damage to the eyes, lungs and even skin. For this reason the present work, investigates the behavior of polymer composite reinforced with natural fibers (Plant fibers) as replacement to glass fibers. Unsaturated Polyester resin was used as matrix material reinforced with two types of fibers, one of them is artificial (Glass fibers) and the other type is natural (Jute, Fronds Palm and Reed Fibers) by hand lay-up technique. All fibers are untreated with any chemical solvent. The Percentage of mi
... Show MoreTest results of six half-scale reinforced concrete flat plates connections with an opening in the vicinity of the column are reported. The test specimens represent a portion of a slab bounded by the lines of contraflexure around the column. The tests were designed to study the effect of openings on the punching shear behavior of the slab-column connections. The test parameters were the location and the size of the openings. One specimen had no opening and the remaining five had various arrangements of openings around the column. All specimens were cast with normal density concrete of approximately 30 MPa compressive strength. The openings in the specimens were square, with the sides parallel to the sides of the column. Three sizes of ope
... Show MoreLacing reinforcement plays a critical role in the design and performance of reinforced concrete (RC) slabs by distributing the applied loads more evenly across the slab, ensuring that no specific area of the slab is overloaded. In this study, nine slabs, divided into three groups according to the investigated parameters, were meticulously designed and evaluated to study the interplay between the lacing reinforcement and other key parameters. Each slab was crafted for simple support and was subjected to both static and repeated two-point load tests. The lacing reinforcement had an angle of 45° with various tension and lacing steel. The repeated-tested specimens with lacing reinforcement experienced smaller ductility than those of s
... Show MoreLacing reinforcement plays a critical role in the design and performance of reinforced concrete (RC) slabs by distributing the applied loads more evenly across the slab, ensuring that no specific area of the slab is overloaded. In this study, nine slabs, divided into three groups according to the investigated parameters, were meticulously designed and evaluated to study the interplay between the lacing reinforcement and other key parameters. Each slab was crafted for simple support and was subjected to both static and repeated two-point load tests. The lacing reinforcement had an angle of 45° with various tension and lacing steel. The repeated-tested specimens with lacing reinforcement experienced smaller ductility than those of s
... Show MoreThe performance of composite prestressed concrete beam topped with reinforced concrete flange structures in fire depends upon several factors, including the change in properties of the two different materials due to fire exposure and temperature distribution within the composition of the composite members of the structure. The present experimental work included casting of 12 identical simply supported prestressed concrete beams grouped into 3 categories, depending on the strength of the top reinforced concrete deck slab (20, 30, and 40 MPa). They were connected together by using shear connector reinforcements. To simulate the real practical fire disasters, 3 composite prestressed concrete beams from each group were exposed to high t
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