Shear Behaviour of Ligthweight Sandwich Reinforced Concrete Slabs

A new lightweight sandwich reinforced concrete (LSRC) section has been developed using prefabricated autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) blocks as infill in the section where concrete is considered ineffective under bending. This paper presents an investigation into the strength and behaviour of LSRC slabs subjected to shear. Eight tests were conducted on four slabs, one solid and three different types of LSRC slabs. Based on the test results, all LSRC slabs exhibited similar behaviour to the equivalent solid slab and had varying shear capacities depending on the profile of AAC blocks infill. The obtained shear capacities were compared with the design values based on several major design codes and found to be within the safety predictions of the codes. ANSYS was employed to develop nonlinear finite element models of LSRC slabs. The numerical results agree well with the experimental one

Experimental behaviour of high-strength concrete deep beams with web openings

There has been increased practice of inclduing deep beams in the design of high-rise buildings, off-shore structures and foundations. There is an increasing need for an accurate design method for deep beams with openings as the code of standards are only intended for solid deep beams. This study investigates the applicability of current design methods for concrete deep beams with various web openings

Acta medica et biologica

A new layout optimization methodology is proposed for the cost optimization problem for reinforced concrete (RC) buildings. A new cost function is presented, as an alternative to traditional objective functions. The methodology and the new cost function have the potential of being easily employed in layout optimization of RC structures. Using the alternative cost function, an ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm is formulated to determine the optimal column layout for buildings in order to minimize the cost. An example is included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new methodology and excellent convergence of the ACO algorithm

Sustainability of using recycled plastic fiber in concrete

Globally 335 Mt of plastic is produced every year, out of which less than 9% is recycled. Majority of the plastic wastes are discarded into landfills causing serious environmental concerns. This paper presents environmental benefits of recycling industrial plastic wastes into macro plastic fibers for reinforcing concrete. Detail life cycle assessment (LCA) for the production of 100% recycled polypropylene (PP) fibers was conducted and compared with the environmental impacts of virgin PP fibers and steel reinforcing mesh (SRM). Concrete footpath of 100 m X 100 m area and 100 mm thickness was used as the functional unit for all three scenarios. Detailed LCA showed that production of recycled PP fiber consumed 28% and 78% less water and fossil fuel compared to virgin PP fiber, respectively. It also produces 50% less CO2 and PO4 equivalent. Compared to SRM, recycled PP fiber consumed 99% and 91% less water and fossil fuel, respectively. Moreover, it produced 93% less CO2 equivalent and 97% less PO4 equivalent

Development of ductility design guidelines for RC beams with FRP reinforcing bars

© 2001 Multi-Science Publishing As corrosion is a common problem in steel reinforced concrete (RC), fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) reinforcement, that is corrosion resistant, has gained the attention of structural engineers. When overloaded, structural components must behave in a ductile fashion to provide adequate warning of imminent failure but due to the brittle nature of FRP materials, it has been difficult to incorporate ductility into FRP RC beams. However, previous research has revealed that placing FRP reinforcement in both the compression and the tensile zones of a beam section can result in a ductile failure mechanism, as the compressive FRP affects the ductile plateau of the moment-curvature sectional response. This paper quantifies minimum ductility requirements for the redistribution of bending moment in continuous FRP RC beams. Validation of ductility models by experimental testing allowed for the development of design rules to ensure that a beam incorporating FRP reinforcement will behave in a ductile fashion. </jats:p