Strengthening of Reinforced Concrete Beams Subjected to Concentrated Loads

Renovation, restoration, remodeling, refurbishment, and retrofitting of build-ings often imply modifying the behavior of the structural system. Modification sometimes includes applying forces (i.e., concentrated loads) to beams that before were subjected to distributed loads only. For a reinforced concrete structure, the new condition causes a beam to bear a concentrated load with the crack pattern that was produced by the distributed loads that acted in the past. If the concentrated load is applied at or near the beam’s midspan, the new shear demand reaches the maximum around the midspan. But around the midspan, the cracks are vertical or quasi-vertical, and no inclined bar is present. So, the actual shear capacity around the midspan not only is low, but also can be substantially lower than the new demand. In order to bring the beam capacity up to the demand, fiber-reinforced-polymer composites can be used. This paper presents a design method to increase the concentrated load-carrying capacity of reinforced concrete beams whose load distribution has to be changed from distributed to concentrated, and an analytical model to pre-dict the concentrated load-carrying capacity of a beam in the strengthened state.

A comparative analysis of resistance models for austenitic stainless steel girders subjected to concentrated loads

The increasing use of stainless steel in construction has led to the need of developing resistance models for structural elements made of this material. Unlike carbon steels, stainless steel alloys exhibit stress-strain curves with a pronounced strain hardening capacity and reasonable ductility that should be considered in the design. This difference in behavior makes the formulations used for carbon steel conservative when designing with stainless steel. Therefore, this paper presents a comparative analysis of resistance models for slender austenitic stainless-steel beams subject to concentrated loads. First, the failure mechanisms of stainless-steel beams are presented using a nonlinear finite element model. From this validated numerical model, a database obtained from a parametric analysis that covers a wide range of geometries is presented. Subsequently, this database is used to perform a comparison between various resistance models available in the literature. These models correspond to both international design codes and models obtained through machine learning. Finally, the numerical results show considerable improvement in the predicted ultimate resistances for slender stainless steel plate girders subjected to patch loading.

On the kinematics of a concave sidecut line deformed on a flat surface

The present paper investigates the static equilibrium of a thin elastic structure with concave sidecut pressed against a flat rigid surface, as an idealization of a ski or snowboard undergoing the conditions of a carved turn. An analytical model is derived to represent the contact behaviour and provide an explanation for concentrated loads occurring at the sidecut extremities. The deformations are prescribed assuming tied contact along the sidecut line and neglecting torsional deformations. The loading conditions leading to this ideal deformed state are then sought, in order to better understand the mechanics of the turn. The results are illustrated with different sidecut geometries and compared with finite element computations for validation purposes. Depending on the function describing the sidecut line, concentrated force and moment are found to take place at the sidecut extremities.

THE BEHAVIOR OF THE SOIL UNDER FOUNDATION OF OFFSHORE GRAVITY STRUCTURES SUBJECTED TO DIFFERENT COMBINATION OF LOADS

This study aims at analyzing the behavioral rules of the soil under the bottom of the offshore gravity structures when it had been subjected to the combination of load types; in which the problem of determining the deformation of the ground in semi-infinite space is determined by the view of deformed solid mechanics and elastic theory. The ground plane displacement of the soil is simulated by the computer when the structural system is subjected to concentrated loads and the distribution load is consist of the eccentricity due to wave load and other horizontal loads.

Design and Development of a Novel Fixturing Solution for Handling Complex Shaped Components

Fixturing is one of the key subprocesses used in many industries such as aerospace, automobile and marine engineering. Most existing fixturing systems use pin-type end effectors which apply concentrated loads (See Fig. 1. (Left)) on objects resulting in geometrical distortions [1]. Granular jamming is a novel fixturing technique used in the field of soft robotics [3]. We propose the use of granular jamming for developing a fixturing system which minimizes the structural deformation and surface damage prevalent in pin type fixturing.

Comparative Study of Structural Behavior for Asymmetrical Castellated (Concavely - Curved Soffit) Steel Beams with Different Strengthening Techniques

The Asymmetrical Castellated concavely – curved soffit Steel Beams with RPC and Lacing Reinforcement improves compactness and local buckling (web and flange local buckling), vertical shear strength at gross section (web crippling and web yielding at the fillet), and net section ( net vertical shear strength proportioned between the top and bottom tees relative to their areas (Yielding)), horizontal shear strength in web post (Yielding), web post-buckling strength, overall beam flexure strength, tee Vierendeel bending moment and lateral-torsional buckling, as a result of steel section encasement. This study presents two concentrated loads test results for seven specimens Asymmetrical Castellated concavely – curved soffit Steel Beams section encasement by Reactive powder concrete (RPC) with laced reinforcement. The encasement of the Asymmetrical Castellated concavely – curved soffit Steel Beams consists of, flanges unstiffened element height was filled with RPC for each side, and laced reinforced which are used inclined continuous reinforcement of two layers on each side of the Asymmetrical Castellated concavely – curved soffit Steel Beams web. The inclination angle of lacing reinforcement concerning the longitudinal axis is 45. Seven specimens with seven different configurations will be prepared and tested under two concentrated loads at the mid-third of the beam span. The tested specimen's properties are: unconfined Asymmetrical Castellated Steel Beams (Reference1), second model; Asymmetrical Castellated concavely – curved soffit Steel Beams (web and flange) confined with (RPC) only, third model; Asymmetrical Castellated concavely – curved soffit Steel Beams (web and flange) confined with (RPC) and laced reinforcement, fourth model; is same as the third model but it has one web opening with increase the depth of web post by 10 %, 20%, and 30 % as a gap between top and bottom parts of Asymmetrical Castellated concavely – curved soffit Steel Beams respectively. The results that have been obtained from the experimental part and the numerical analysis results by ABAQUS demonstrated that the increase of the gap leads to an increase in the load against the deflection curve. Sample CB8 with 122 mm gap has gained the highest load against deflection when compared with either reference sample without gap and other samples with 65 mm and 105 mm gap for concavely–curved soffit Steel Beams.

A Comparison Study between Asymmetrical Castellated Steel Beams Encased by Reactive Powder Concrete with Laced Reinforcement

The main objectives of this study are to study the enhancement of the load-carrying capacity of Asymmetrical castellated beams with encasement the beams by Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) and lacing reinforcement, the effect of the gap between top and bottom parts of Asymmetrical castellated steel beam at web post, and serviceability of the confined Asymmetrical castellated steel. This study presents two concentrated loads test results for four specimens Asymmetrical castellated beams section encasement by Reactive powder concrete (RPC) with laced reinforcement. The encasement of the Asymmetrical castellated steel beam consists of, flanges unstiffened element height was filled with RPC for each side and laced reinforced which are used inclined continuous reinforcement of two layers on each side of the Asymmetrical castellated steel beam web. The inclination angle of lacing reinforcement concerning the longitudinal axis is 45. Four specimens with four different configurations will be prepared and tested under two concentrated loads at the mid-third of the beam span. The tested specimen's properties are the First model; unconfined, Asymmetrical castellated steel beam (Reference), while the second, third, and fourth models consist of Asymmetrical Castellated steel beam (web and flange) confined with (RPC) with 19.1, 38.2, and 57.3 mm gap, respectively, between the two beams sections (the upper and lower one). The results of the experimental tests show that the use of RPC enhanced the properties of the castellated beams in all selected conditions despite creating a gap between the castellated beams.