Abstract
This paper presents an actual microstructure-based numerical method to investigate the mechanical properties of concrete at mesoscopic level. Digital image processing technique is used to capture the concrete surface image and generate the actual 3-phase microstructure of the concrete, which consists of aggregate, matrix and interfacial transition zones. The microstructure so generated is then transformed into a mesh or grid for numerical analysis. A finite difference code FLAC2D is used for the numerical analysis to simulate the mechanical responses and failure patterns of the concrete. Several cases of concrete with different degrees of material heterogeneity and under different compression loading conditions have been analysed. From the numerical results, the effects of the internal material heterogeneities as well as the external confining stresses are studied. It is shown that the material heterogeneities arising from the presence of different phases and the existence of interfacial transition zones have great influence on the overall mechanical behaviour of concrete and that the numerically simulated behaviour of concrete with or without confining stresses applied agrees quite well with the general observations reported in the literature.
Key Words
digital image processing; interfacial transition zones; mesomechanics
Address
S. Chen, Z.Q. Yue and A.K.H. Kwan: Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China
Abstract
In the finite element analysis of reinforced concrete structures, discrete representation of the steelreinforcing bars is considered advantageous over smeared representation because of the more realistic modelling of their bond-slip behaviour. However, there is up to now limited research on how to simulate the dowel action of discrete reinforcing bars, which is an important component of shear transfer in cracked concrete structures. Herein, a numerical model for the dowel action of discrete reinforcing bars is developed. It features derivation of the dowel stiffness based on the beam-on-elastic-foundation theory and direct assemblage of the dowel stiffness matrix into the stiffness matrices of adjoining concrete elements. The dowel action model is incorporated in a nonlinear finite element program based on secant stiffness formulation and application to deep beams tested by others demonstrates that the incorporation of dowel action can improve the accuracy of the finite element analysis.
Key Words
cracking; dowel action; finite element analysis; reinforced concrete
Address
A.K.H. Kwan and P.L. Ng: Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China
Abstract
The responses of reinforced concrete slabs subject to an impact loading near the ultimate load range are explored. The analysis is carried out on a simply supported rectangular reinforced concrete slab using a nonlinear explicit dynamic procedure and considering three material models: Drucker-Prager, modified Drucker-Prager, and concrete damaged plasticity, available in the commercial finite element software, ABAQUS/Explicit. For comparison purposes, the impact force-time response, steel reinforcement failure, and concrete perforation pattern are verified against the existing experimental results. Also, the effectiveness of mesh density and damage wave propagation are studied independently. It is shown that the presently adopted finite element procedure is able to simulate and predict fairly accurate the behavior of reinforced concrete slab under impact load. More detailed investigations are however demanded for the justification of effects coming from an imperfect projectile orientation as well as the load and structural surface conditions, including the impulsive contacted state, which are inevitable in an actual impact environment.
Address
S.N. Mokhatar: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Johor, Malaysia
R. Abdullah: Department of Structure and Materials, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
A.B.H. Kueh: Construction Research Centre, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
Abstract
The curing temperature is known to influence the rate of mechanical properties development of early age concrete. In realistic sites the temperature of concrete is not isothermal 20 0C, so the paper measured adiabatic temperature increases of four different concretes to understand heat emission during hydration at early age. The temperature-matching curing schedule in accordance with adiabatic temperature increase is adopted to simulate the situation in real massive concrete. The specimens under temperature-matching curing are subjected to realistic temperature for first few days as well as adiabatic condition. The mechanical properties including compressive strength, splitting strength and modulus of elasticity of concretes cured under both temperature-matching curing and isothermal 20 0C curing are investigated. The results denote that comparing temperature-matching curing with isothermal 20 0C curing, the early age concretes mechanical properties are obviously improved, but the later mechanical properties of concretes with pure Portland and containing silica fume are decreased a little and still increased for concretes containing fly ash and slag. On this basement using an equivalent age approach evaluates mechanical properties of early age concrete in real structures, the model parameters are defined by the compressive strength test, and can predict the compressive strength, splitting strength and elasticity modulus through measuring or calculating by finite element method the concreted temperature at early age, and the method is valid, which is applied in a concrete wall for evaluation of crack risking.
Key Words
concrete; temperature-matching curing; equivalent age; mechanical properties; early age
Address
Jiachun Wang: Department of Civil Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen, 361024, China
Peiyu Yan: Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
Abstract
This paper examines the dynamic response of an arch dam subjected to blast loading. A damage model is developed for three dimensional analysis of arch dams. The modified Drucker-Prager criterion is adopted as the failure criteria of the damage evolution in concrete. Then, Xiluodu arch dam serves as an example to simulate the failure behaviors of structures with the proposed model. The results obtained using the proposed model can reveal the reliability degree of the safe operation level of the high arch dam system as well as the degree of potential failure, providing a reliable basis for risk assessment and risk control.
Key Words
damage; blast loading; response; risk control
Address
Xinhua Xue and Xingguo Yang: College of Water Resource and Hydropower, Sichuan University, Chengdu, P.R. China
Wohua Zhang: MOE Key Laboratory of Soft Soils and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, P.R. China
Abstract
In this study, dynamic characteristics such as natural frequencies, mode shapes and damping ratios of RC frame is determined for different construction stages using Operational Modal Analyses method under ambient vibration. Full scaled, one bay and one story RC frames are selected as an application for different construction stages such as plane, brick in-filled and brick in-filled with plaster. The RC frame is vibrated by natural excitations with small impact effects and the response signals are measured using sensitive accelerometers during ambient vibration tests. Measurement time-frequency span and effective mode number are determined by considering similar studies in literature. Sensitive seismic accelerometers are used to collect signals obtained from the experimental tests. To obtain experimental dynamic characteristics, output-only system identification technique is employed namely;Enhanced Frequency Domain Decomposition technique in the frequency domain. It is demonstrated that the ambient vibration measurements are enough to identify the most significant modes of RC frames.
Key Words
ambient vibration; dynamic characteristics; enhanced frequency domain decomposition; operational modal analysis; RC frames
Address
Mehmet Emin Arslan and Ahmet Durmuş: Department of Civil Engineering, Karadeniz Technical University, 61080, Trabzon, Turkey
Abstract
Corrosion of RC bridge decks eventually leads to delamination, severe cracking and spalling of the concrete cover. This is a prevalent deterioration mechanism and demands for the most costly repair interventions during the service life of bridges worldwide. On the other hand, decisions for repairs are usually made whenever the extent of a limit crack width, reported in routine visual inspections, exceeds an acceptable threshold level. In this paper, while random fields are applied to account for spatial variation of governing parameters of the corrosion process, an analytical model is used to simulate the corrosion induced crack width. However when dealing with random fields, the Monte Carlo simulation is apparently an inefficient and time consuming method, hence the utility of neural networks as a surrogate in simulation is investigated and found very promising. The proposed method can be regarded as an invaluable tool in decision making concerning maintenance of bridges.
Key Words
concrete; corrosion; random field; ANN; Monte carlo
Address
Afshin Firouzi: Construction Engineering and Management Group, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran
Alireza Rahai: Department of Civil Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
