Flexural Behaviour of Lightweight Foamed Concrete Beams Reinforced with GFRP Bars

Lightweight foamed concrete is a type of concrete characterized by light in self-weight, self-compaction, self-leveling, thermal isolation, and a high ratio of weight to strength. The advantages of GFRP bars include lightweight, high longitudinal tensile strength, non-conductivity, and resistance to corrosion. This study investigated the behavior of LWFC beams reinforced with GFRP bars under flexural loading. A total of four reinforced concrete beams were cast, where it consisted of two LWFC beams and two normal weight concrete beam which acted as control specimen. One of the lightweight foamed concrete beams and the normal concrete beams is reinforced with two GFRP bars and the other reinforced with two steel bars. All beams were designed with singly reinforced of two bars of diameter 12mm. The LWFC beams were with cement to sand ratio (1:1) and average dried density of 1800± kg/m^3. The main variables considered in this study was type of concrete and type of reinforcement. The flexural parameters investigated are ultimate load, crack width, ductility, deflection and stiffness. The lightweight foamed concrete beam reinforced with GFRP bars showed deflection and crack width greater than in beam reinforced with steel bars due to the low modulus of elasticity of GFRP bars

Improving Flexural Behavior of Textile Reinforced Concrete One Way Slab by Removing Weft Yarns with Different Percentages

Textile reinforced concrete that developed at recent years is composed of the continuous textile fabric incorporated into the cementitious matrix. The geometry of the textile reinforcements has a great influence on the TRC overall behavior since it affects the bond efficiency perfectly. The effect of weft yarns removing on the flexural behavior of (1500 × 500 × 50) mm one way slabs was investigated, eight layers of the carbon fabric were used with (50%, 67% and 75%) removing of weft yarns in addition to one specimen without removing. The four one- way slabs were casted by hand lay-up method, cured for (28) days and tested in flexure using four points method. The bending capacity and the bond efficiency factor were calculated according to the conditions of the equilibrium models by comparing with experimental results. The results revealed that with higher removing proportion there was a perfect improvement in the flexural capacity, higher first crack load, eminent post cracking stiffness, higher average concrete strain and lower ultimate mid span deflection and higher toughness and ductility. Furthermore, the results clarified that there is an optimum percent of weft yarns removing at which the damage occurrence around the weft yarns is significantly reduced, and this negative effect constriction overcome the positive anchoring effect

Improving the Mechanical Properties of Lightweight Foamed Concrete Using Silica Fume and Steel Fibers

Lightweight foamed concrete (LWFC) is characterized as a light in self-weight, self-compacting, self-levelling, and thermal and sound isolation. But it has low strength and low ductility which leads  that the application of  (LWFC)  in the building construction is limited. The flowability of the fresh mix of (LWFC) was evaluated by flow test. While the hardened properties of (LWFC) include, compressive6 strength, tensile6 splitting6 strength, flexural6 strength, and 6modulus of 6elasticity. This6 study6 focuses6 on the effect of the adding of silica fume and steel fibre on the mechanical properties of  (LWFC). Silica fume was added as (5%) and (10%) by the weight of cement  and steel fiber (0.2%) and (0.4%) of the total volume of the mix. The density of lightweight foamed concrete was 1800±50kg/ , and cement to sand ratio was (1:1) with water cement ratio (0.28). The results indicated that adding of silica fume6 and steel6 fiber6 have great effect on the mechanical properties and improve them. The addition (10%) of silica fume and (0.4%) by volume of steel fiber was the best ratio that improves the mechanical properties of the lightweight foamed concrete (LWFC). The pozzolanic index of the (5%) and (10%) silica fume was (21.9%) and (74.76%), respectively

Flexural behaviour of RC one-way slabs reinforced using PAN based carbon textile grid

Textile reinforced mortar (TRM) is mainly used for strengthening of existing structural members whereas, on the other hand Textile reinforced concrete (TRC) is a technology implied in construction of new members for enhancing the structural behaviour. Application of TRM on the tension zone of the reinforced concrete (RC) slabs to improve the flexural capacity has been investigated by many researchers in the past. However, the effectiveness of textile fabrics, used as internal reinforcement in the RC slab (TRC technology) needs to be studied. The paper, therefore, presents the experimental research conducted on three one-way RC slabs specimens reinforced using textile grid. An innovative Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) based carbon textile grid was used as internal reinforcement in combination with the steel bars. Two textile-reinforced RC slabs having one and two layers of textile grid (SRC + 1T and SRC + 2T respectively) and one reference slab (SRC) was fabricated to investigate the flexural behaviour under a four-point loading system. The internal textile reinforcement layer(s) was confirmed to be effective, particularly in terms of improving the cracking load, ductility, deformability and toughness. The material ductility of SRC + 1T and SRC + 2T slabs were increased by 41% and 44% compared to SRC slab. Also, the deformability ratio was found to be greater than 4, indicating a ductile failure of textile-reinforced slabs. Further, based on the load-deflection relation, moment-curvature curves were derived. Moreover, these curves were also developed using Eurocode two prediction model. The experimental and the predicted moment-curvature curves showed good agreement

Modelling the strength of lightweight foamed concrete using support vector machine (SVM)

Strength of concrete is a primary criterion in selecting this material for a particular application. This construction material gains strength over a long period of time after pouring. Characteristic strength of normal concrete that considered in structural design is defined as the compressive strength of a sample that has been aged for 28 days. Rapid and reliable prediction for the strength of concrete would be economically and practically of great significance. Therefore; the prediction of concrete strength has been an active area of research and a considerable number of studies have been carried out. In this study, two techniques were used to propose a model which is capable of predicting the compressive strength with acceptable accuracy, these were the revolutionary support vector machine (SVM) and the multivariable non-linear regression. Support vector machine model was proposed and developed for the prediction of concrete compressive strength at early age. The variables used in the prediction models were from the knowledge of the mix proportion elements and 7-day compressive strength. The models provide good estimation of compressive strength and yielded good correlations with the data used in this study relative to nonlinear multivariable regression. Moreover, the SVM model proved to be significant tool in prediction compressive strength of lightweight foamed concrete with minimal mean square errors and standard deviation

Hybrid Effect of Steel Bars and PAN Textile Reinforcement on Ductility of One-Way Slab Subjected to Bending

Textile reinforced concrete (TRC) has gained attention from the construction industry due to several characteristics such as its lightweight, high tensile strength, design flexibility, corrosion resistance and remarkably long service life. Some structural applications that utilize TRC components include precast panels, structural repairs, waterproofing elements and façades. TRC is produced by incorporating textile fabrics into thin cementitious concrete panels. However, in order to use this strengthening method in construction practice, a design model is required. Investigating the combined effect of conventional steel and textile reinforcement on the ductility behavior of composite TRC/RC one-way slab is vitally important. Therefore, the current study describes the proper methods of calculating the ductility of the composite concrete reinforced by a direct combination of conventional steel and textile reinforcement. Four methods are presented to calculate the ductility of the three considered one-way slab specimens. The three slabs having dimensions 1500 mm × 500 mm × 50 mm were reinforced by steel bars (SRC), by steel with one layer of carbon fabric (SRC + 1T), and by steel with two layers of carbon fabric (SRC + 2T). The three slab specimens were cast by the hand lay-up method, removed from the molds, cured, and then tested in flexure after 28 days using the four-point bending method. The obtained results and calculations revealed the non-reasonability of using the conventional method based on yielding of steel reinforcement as the only criterion in the ductility determination. The results also confirmed the suitability of using the energy-based method over other discussed methods in the calculation of the ductility for the hybrid reinforced members

SARS-CoV-2 vaccination modelling for safe surgery to save lives: data from an international prospective cohort study

Background: Preoperative SARS-CoV-2 vaccination could support safer elective surgery. Vaccine numbers are limited so this study aimed to inform their prioritization by modelling. Methods: The primary outcome was the number needed to vaccinate (NNV) to prevent one COVID-19-related death in 1 year. NNVs were based on postoperative SARS-CoV-2 rates and mortality in an international cohort study (surgical patients), and community SARS-CoV-2 incidence and case fatality data (general population). NNV estimates were stratified by age (18-49, 50-69, 70 or more years) and type of surgery. Best- and worst-case scenarios were used to describe uncertainty. Results: NNVs were more favourable in surgical patients than the general population. The most favourable NNVs were in patients aged 70 years or more needing cancer surgery (351; best case 196, worst case 816) or non-cancer surgery (733; best case 407, worst case 1664). Both exceeded the NNV in the general population (1840; best case 1196, worst case 3066). NNVs for surgical patients remained favourable at a range of SARS-CoV-2 incidence rates in sensitivity analysis modelling. Globally, prioritizing preoperative vaccination of patients needing elective surgery ahead of the general population could prevent an additional 58 687 (best case 115 007, worst case 20 177) COVID-19-related deaths in 1 year. Conclusion: As global roll out of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination proceeds, patients needing elective surgery should be prioritized ahead of the general population