Studying the Failure Behavior of Cement-fiber-treated Sand under Triaxial Direct Tension Tests

The main goal of this research is to study the failure behavior of cement-fiber-treated sand under triaxial direct tension condition tests. Thus, a new loading system and triaxial cell was designed and built for tensile loading. Samples were prepared with content cement of 3 and 5% (dry wt.) of the sand, while two types of polypropylene fibers 0.024 m in length and 23 μm and 300 μm thick were added at 0.0% and 0.5% (dry wt.) of the sand and cement mixture. After a seven-day curing period, the samples were loaded under triaxial direct tension tests under confining pressures of 100, 200, and 300 kpa in drained conditions. Stress-strain behavior, changes in volume and energy absorbed by cement-fiber reinforced sand were measured and compared with the results of other studies. Adding fibers resulted in reduced peak deviatoric stress and increased residual deviatoric stresses of the cement-fiber reinforced sand, with changes from brittle to ductile behavior. The initial stiffness and stiffness at 50% maximum tensile stress of the samples is decreased with the addition of fibers and with an increase in fiber diameter, the reduction rate of this stiffness is more evident. The absorbed energy for fibers with a thickness of 23 μm is less than fibers with a thickness of 300 μm. The effect of adding fibers to strength parameters showed that the cohesion intercept decreases, while the internal friction angle increases.

Mechanical Property of Beam-to-Column Connection of Steel Structures With All-Steel Buckling-Restrained Braces

To avoid brittle fracture and plastic yielding of steel beam-to-column connections under earthquakes, a new beam-to-column connection of steel structures with all-steel buckling restrained braces (BRBs) is proposed. The all-steel BRB is connected to the steel beam and column members through pins to form a new connection system. Taking the T-shaped beam-to-column connection steel structure as the research object, two structural types with an all-steel BRB installed on one side (S-type) and two sides (D-type) are considered. Theoretical equations of the connection system’s initial stiffness and yield load are derived through the mechanical models. The yield load, main strain distribution, energy dissipation, and stiffness of the connection system are investigated through quasi-static tests to verify the connection system’s seismic performance. The tests revealed that the proposed new connection system is capable of achieving a stable hysteresis behavior. At the end of loading, the beam and column members are not damaged, and the plastic deformation is concentrated in the plastic energy dissipating replaceable BRB, and the beam and column basically remain elastic. The proposed equations approximately estimated the load response of the proposed connection system. The results show that the damage mode of this new connection system under seismic loading is BRB yielding, with an elastic response from the beam-column members.

The effect of different levels of pre-damage loading on the strength and structural behavior of CFRP strengthened R.C. beams: Experimental and analytical investigation

In order to investigate the effect of pre-loading damage on the structural performance of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) strengthened Reinforced Concrete (R.C.) beams, experimental and Finite Element Modelling (FEM) investigation was carried out on six R.C. beams. Five of the R.C. beams were damaged up to different levels of strain in the main steel bars before Flexure CFRP strengthening. One of the R.C. beams loaded up to failure and was kept as a control beam for comparison. The experimental results showed that the failure mode of the CFRP strengthened specimen was controlled by CFRP debonding followed by concrete crushing; however, the control beam failed in concrete crushing after yielding the steel bars, which is a ductile failure. The CFRP sheet increases the strength and initial stiffness of the R.C. beams and reduces ductility and toughness. Also, CFRP application increases the first crack and yielding steel bars load by 87.4% and 34.4%, respectively. Furthermore, the pre-damage level does not influence the strength and ductility of the strengthened R.C. beams except for the highest damage levels, which experienced a slight decrease in load capacity and ductility. However, the initial stiffness decreases with increasing pre-damage levels by 40%. Design guideline ACI 440.2R (2004) predicts the ultimate load capacity marvelously for externally bonded Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) beams compared to the experimental maximum load capacity. The excellent agreement between experimental and FEM results indicates that the constitutive models used for concrete and reinforcement and the cohesive interface model can well capture fracture behavior. However, The FEM analysis predicts the beam to be slightly stiffer and more robust, probably because of the assumed perfect bond between concrete and reinforcement. The developed FEM can be used for further parametric study.

Effects of decay on the shear properties of nailed joints parallel and perpendicular to the grain

Information on the properties of nailed joints with decayed member is necessary to evaluate the remaining structural properties of timber constructions. In this study, loading tests were conducted on nailed joints parallel and perpendicular to the grain with decayed members, and the relationship between the decrease in shear properties and the loading direction to the grain was investigated. After the loading tests, the extent of decay of the specimens was evaluated by the penetration depth of Pilodyn and the decay depth, and these were compared with the shear properties of the nailed joints. The nailed joints with decay had a low load at the initial deformation, regardless of the loading direction to the grain. The initial stiffness, yield resistance, and maximum resistance of the nailed joints parallel to the grain were negatively correlated with the Pilodyn penetration depth, and those of the nailed joints perpendicular to the grain showed no significant correlation with the Pilodyn penetration depth at the 5% level. The initial stiffness, yield resistance, and maximum resistance of the nailed joints parallel to the grain tended to decrease with increasing decay depth, and those of the nailed joints perpendicular to the grain did not exhibit this tendency. The shear properties of the nailed joints significantly decreased at small decay depths.

Theoretical and experimental evaluation of timber-framed partitions under lateral drift

This paper identifies the inherent strengths/weaknesses of rigid timber-framed partitions and quantifies the onset drifts for different damage thresholds under bi-directional seismic actions. It reports construction and quasi-static lateral cyclic testing of a multi-winged timber-framed partition wall specimen with details typical of New Zealand construction practice. Furthermore, the cyclic performance of the tested rigid timber-framed partition wall is also compared with that of similar partition walls incorporating ‘partly-sliding’ connectiondetails, and ‘seismic gaps’, previously tested under the same test setup. Based on the experimentally recorded cyclic performance measures, theoretical equations proposed/derived in the literature to predict the ultimate strength, initial stiffness, and drift capacity of different damage states are scrutinized, and some equations are updated in order to alleviate identified possible shortcomings. These theoretical estimates are then validated with the experimental results. It is found that the equations can reasonably predict the initial stiffness and ultimate shear strength of the partitions, as well as the onset-driftscorresponding to the screw damage and diagonal buckling failure mode of the plasterboard. The predicted bi-linear curve is also found to approximate the backbone curve of the tested partition wall sensibly.

EXPERIMENTAL BEHAVIOR AND DESIGN OF RECTANGULAR CONCRETE-FILLED TUBULAR BUCKLING-RESTRAINED BRACES

This paper proposes a new design method for concrete-filled tubular buckling-restrained braces (CFT-BRBs) by incorporating the confinement effect on pre-buckling rigidity. A series of experiments are performed to investigate the effects of concrete strength and sectional dimension on the initial stiffness, ultimate strength, and energy dissipation behaviors. Experimental results indicate that the confined concrete plays an important role in the energy dissipating capacity of CFT-BRBs. On the other hand, the sectional dimensions of the steel tube and core are influential factors governing the ultimate failure modes of CFT-BRBs. The findings in study provide technical supports to optimize the design methods for ductile seismic performance of CFT-BRBs in low-rise and high-rise steel buildings.

The oscillation resistance ratio (ORR) for understanding inelastic response

Single-storey systems with different hysteretic characteristic are subjected to impulse-type short duration and long duration earthquake records to investigate the effects of hysteretic behaviour and ground motion characteristics on the seismic response. EPP, bilinear, Takeda, SINA, and flag-shaped hysteretic models loops are considered and an energy approach is taken to explain the inelastic behaviour. The first part of the work is based on analyses of the single-storey systems without any torsion, however; torsional irregularity is considered in the later analyses. It is shown that structures with the same backbone curve, but different hysteretic characteristics, tend to experience the same maximum response under short duration earthquake records, where there is one major displacement excursion. The likelihood of further displacement in the reverse (i.e. negative) direction is characterized using energy methods and free vibration analyses along with a new proposed “oscillation resistance ratio (ORR)” are employed to improve the understanding of the seismic response. Hysteretic models with low ORR, such as SINA and flag-shaped, are shown to have a greater likelihood of higher absolute displacement response in the negative direction compared with those with fatter hysteretic loops. The understanding of the response in terms of energy reconciles some differences in the ability of initial stiffness versus secant stiffness based methods to predict peak displacement demands with account for different ground motion characteristics. The same peak displacements in the primary direction was also observed for structures with stiffness/strength eccentricities under an impulse-type earthquake record. However, during unloading, the elastic energy stored in the out-of-plane elements is released causing greater displacement on the weak side in the reverse direction.

Behavior of Non-Shear-Strengthened UHPC Beams under Flexural Loading: Influence of Reinforcement Percentage

In the present work, the structural responses of 12 UHPC beams to four-point loading conditions were experimentally and analytically studied. The inclusion of a fibrous system in the UHPC material increased its compressive and flexural strengths by 31.5% and 237.8%, respectively. Improved safety could be obtained by optimizing the tensile reinforcement ratio (ρ) for a UHPC beam. The slope of the moment–curvature before and after steel yielding was almost typical for all beams due to the inclusion of a hybrid fibrous system in the UHPC. Moreover, we concluded that as ρ increases, the deflection ductility exponentially increases. The cracking response of the UHPC beams demonstrated that increasing ρ notably decreases the crack opening width of the UHPC beams at the same service loading. The cracking pattern the beams showed that increasing the bar reinforcement percentages notably enhanced their initial stiffness and deformability. Moreover, the flexural cracks were the main cause of failure for all beams; however, flexure shear cracks were observed in moderately reinforced beams. The prediction efficiency of the proposed analytical model was established by performing a comparative study on the experimental and analytical ultimate moment capacity of the UHPC beams. For all beams, the percentage of the mean calculated moment capacity to the experimentally observed capacity approached 100%.