Long-term bond performance of GFRP bars in concrete under temperature ranging from 20 °C to 80 °C

Eighty pull-out specimens were used to study the effect of temperature ranging from 20 °C to 80 °C in dry environment on bond properties between Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) bars and concrete. The pullout-test specimens were subjected during 4 and 8 months to high temperatures up to 80 °C and then compared to untreated specimens (20 °C). Experimental results showed no significant reduction on bond strength for temperatures up to 60 °C. However, a maximum of 14% reduction of the bond strength was observed for 80 °C temperature after 8 months of thermal loading. For treated specimens, the coefficient β in the CMR model, which predicts the bond–stress–displacement behavior, seems to be dependant with the temperature.     

Mechanical properties of normal and high strength concretes subjected to high temperatures and using image analysis to detect bond deteriorations

The effect of high temperatures, up to 250 °C, on mechanical properties of normal and high strength concretes with and without silica fume was investigated, and image analysis was performed on split concrete surfaces to see the change in bond strength between aggregate and mortar. Specimens were heated up to elevated temperatures (50, 100, 150, 200, 250 °C) without loading and then the residual compressive and splitting tensile strength, as well as the static modulus of elasticity of the specimens were determined. For normal strength concrete residual mechanical properties started to decrease at 100 °C, while using silica fume reduced the losses at high temperatures. In terms of percent residual properties, high strength concrete specimens performed better than normal strength concrete specimens for all heating cycles. Image analysis studies on the split surfaces have been utilized to investigate the effect of high temperatures on the bond strength between aggregate and mortar. Image analysis results showed that reduced water–cement ratio and the use of silica fume improved the bond strength at room temperature, and created more stable bonding at elevated temperatures up to 250 °C.     

Shear strength of RC beams subjected to cyclic thermal loading

The experiments were performed for assessing the influence of cyclic thermal loading on the shear strength of reinforced concrete (RC) beam specimens. One hundred eleven RC beams of 100 × 150 × 1200 mm size reinforced in tension zone with two bars of 8, 10 and 12 mm diameters were tested under four point loading. The beams were subjected to a number of thermal cycles varying from 7 to 28 cycles with peak temperature taken as 100, 200 and 300 °C. The effects of thermal cycles on the crack pattern, failure mechanism, first crack load and the shear strength of beams have been discussed. The shear strength of the beams has been found to increase by up to 10% at lower temperature cycles of 100 and 200 °C but reduces by up to 14% at higher temperature (300 °C) depending on the severity of thermal loading. The results of study emphasize the need for developing appropriate guidelines for the design of RC structural elements used in comparatively high temperature environment with cyclic thermal loading conditions.     

Experimental behaviour of RACFST stub columns after exposed to high temperatures

The experimental studies on the behaviour of recycled aggregate concrete-filled steel tube (RACFST) stub columns after exposed to high temperatures are reported in this paper. Forty specimens, including 32 RACFST stub columns and 8 normal concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) stub columns as reference, were tested, and the failure pattern, load versus strain relation and ultimate strength of the specimens were presented and analysed. Five types of concrete were produced: one reference concrete with natural aggregates, two concrete mixes with recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) replacement ratios of 50% and 100%, and two concrete mixes with recycled fine aggregate (RFA) replacement ratios of 50% and 100%. The specimens were exposed to 300 °C, 600 °C and 800 °C for 3 h. The test results showed that, due to the existence of the recycled aggregates, the post-fire performance of RACFST stub columns was lower than the corresponding normal CFST specimens under the same maximum temperature suffered, and the RACFST specimens with RCA had a better behaviour than those with RFA under the same recycled aggregate replacement ratio.     

Concrete cover effect on reinforced concrete bars exposed to high temperatures

The mechanical properties of structural reinforcement steel have been investigated after the exposure to high temperatures. Plain steel, reinforcing steel bars embedded into mortar and plain mortar specimens were prepared and exposed to 20, 100, 200, 300, 500, 800 and 950 °C temperature for 3 h individually. The S420 deformed steel bars with diameters of ∅10, ∅16 and ∅20 were used. The mortar was prepared with CEM I 42.5 N cement and fly ash. The tension tests on reinforcements taken from cooled specimens were performed, and the variations in yield strength, ultimate strength and in resilience of three different dimensioned reinforcements were determined. A cover of 25 mm provides protection against high temperatures up to 400 °C. The high temperature exposed plain steel and the steel with 25-mm cover has the same characteristics when the reinforcing steel is exposed to a temperature 250 °C above the exposure temperature of plain steel.     

Creep of concrete masonry walls strengthened with FRP composites

The objective of the research was to examine the creep behavior of masonry walls strengthened with FRP composites compared to that of conventional reinforcement. Eight full-scale (40 in wide by 96 in tall [1.02 m × 2.44 m]) unreinforced concrete masonry walls were constructed for testing long-term deflections out-of-plane. The walls were strengthened with externally bonded CFRP or GFRP composites. Two additional walls were constructed with mild steel reinforcement grouted in the center cell of the specimens. Long-term deflections due to creep in FRP reinforced walls were shown to be ≈22–56% higher than those of steel reinforced walls.     

On residual strength of high-performance concrete with and without polypropylene fibres at elevated temperatures

Cubes of 100×100×100 mm³ and cylinders of 100×100×515 mm³ were designed and fabricated with C50, C80 and C100 high-performance concrete (HPC) mixed with and without polypropylene (PP) fibres, respectively. These specimens were heated in an electric furnace, approximately following the curve of ISO-834, with a series of target temperatures ranging from 20 to 900 °C. No explosive spalling was observed during the fire test on HPC specimens with PP fibres, whereas some spalling occurred for HPC specimens without PP fibres. The relationship between the mass loss and the exposure temperature was investigated. In addition, the heated and cooled cubes and prisms were tested under monotonic compressive loading and four-point bending loading, respectively. The degradation of both the residual compressive strength and the residual flexural strength was analyzed. Furthermore, the effects of PP fibres on the residual mechanical strength of HPC specimens at elevated temperatures were also investigated. Finally, a fire-resistance design curve relating the residual compressive strength to temperature, as well as a design curve relating the residual flexural strength to temperature, were proposed based on the statistical analysis of the test data.     

Effects of elevated water temperatures on interfacial delaminations,failure modes and shear strength in externally-bonded CFRP-concrete beams using infrared thermography,gray-scale images and direct shear test

This paper reports the results of a durability study of the effects of exposing externally-bonded CFRP-concrete beams to three elevated water temperatures (25 °C, 40 °C and 60 °C). The effects of the heated water environments on the adhesive bonding layer between the CFRP and concrete beams were evaluated by quantifying: (1) the changes of delaminations within the adhesive bonding layer, (2) the changes in resistance to direct shear force and (3) the changes of failure mode distribution. Before the exposure, the condition of the adhesive bonding layer was inspected by infrared thermography (IRT). After exposure, the deterioration of the same bonding layer and failure mode distributions were measured by analyzing the visual photos on the failed CFRP strips. The failure modes were found to be affected largely by the combined effect of elevated temperature and moisture ingress, in which three types were identified: failure at concrete beams, at adhesive bonding layer and interface between CFRP strip and concrete. With these methods, results of 54 specimens show that the adhesive bonding layers of all the specimens had gradually deteriorated in the 40 °C and 60 °C water baths. This deterioration was due to the weakening of the adhesive bonding layers when the glass transition temperature (T_g) or the heat distortion temperature (HDT) was approached or even exceeded, and gradual development of delaminations at adhesive bonding layer.     

Creep effect on the behavior of concrete beams reinforced with GFRP bars subjected to different environments

The effect of different environmental conditions on the creep behavior of concrete beams reinforced with glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars under sustained loads is investigated. This is achieved through testing concrete beams reinforced with GFRP bars and subjected to a stress level of about 20–25% of the ultimate stress of the GFRP bars. Reference beams were loaded in the temperature-controlled laboratory (24 ± 3 °C). Other test beams were either completely or partially immersed in different environments (tap-water and sea-water) at elevated temperature (40 ± 2 °C) to accelerate the reaction. During the exposure period, which lasted for ten months, strains in concrete and GFRP bars as well as the midspan deflections were recorded for all considered environmental conditions. The results show that the creep effect due to sustained loads was significant for all environments considered in the study and the highest effect was on beams subjected to wet/dry cycles of sea-water at 40 ± 2 °C.     

Strengths and flexural strain of CRC specimens at low temperature

Crumb rubber concrete (CRC) is made by adding rubber crumbs into conventional concrete. This study undertakes an experimental study on the cubic compressive strength, axial compressive strength, flexural strength and splitting tensile strength of CRC specimens at both ambient temperature 20 °C and low temperature ?25 °C. The flexural stress–strain responses were also recorded. The averaged size of rubber crumbs used in the study is about 1.5 mm. Four levels of rubber contents are investigated, which are 0%, 5%, 10% and 15% by volume, respectively. The mix design aimed at 40 MPa of compressive strength and 100 mm of slump for all the CRC specimens. The results show that CRC increases its magnitude in strengths when temperature decreases, which is similar to the case of conventional concrete, but still exhibits ductility in low temperature. The conclusion from this study is that CRC may be more beneficial in its application in low temperature environments than in ambient temperature environments.     

Repair of heat-damaged reinforced concrete slabs using fibrous composite materials

Sixteen under-reinforced high strength concrete one-way slabs were cast, heated at 600 °C for 2 h, repaired, and then tested under four-point loading to investigate the coupling effect of water recuring and repairing with advance composite materials on increasing the flexural capacity of heat-damaged slabs. The composites used included high strength fiber reinforced concrete layers; and carbon and glass fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP and GFRP) sheets. Upon heating then cooling, the reinforced concrete (RC) slabs experienced extensive map cracking, and upward cambering without spalling. Recuring the heat-damaged slabs for 28 days allowed recovering the original stiffness without achieving the original load carrying capacity. Other slabs, recured then repaired with steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) layers, regained from 79% to 84% of the original load capacity with a corresponding increase in stiffness from 382% to 503%, whereas those recured then repaired with CFRP and GFRP sheets, regained up to 158% and 125% of the original load capacity with a corresponding increase in stiffness of up to 319% and 197%, respectively. Control, heat-damaged, and water recured slabs showed a typical flexural failure mode with very fine and well distributed hairline cracks, propagated from the repair layers to concrete compression zone. RC slabs repaired with SFRC layers failed in flexural through a single crack, propagated throughout the compression zone, whereas those repaired with CFRP and GFRP experience yielding failure of steel prior to the composites failure.     

The effect of cement dosage on mechanical properties of concrete exposed to high temperatures

Although concrete is a non-combustible material, it is found that when exposed to high temperatures, such as fire, the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of concrete can drastically change. Thus, it becomes important to assess the relative properties of concrete under high temperatures in order to evaluate and predict the post-fire response of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings and structures. This paper assesses the effects of elevated temperatures and cement dosages on the mechanical properties of concrete. Two concrete mix designs were considered in this research in an attempt to study the effects of cement dosage (250 and 350 kg/m³) on the post-fire response of concrete. Once cast, the test samples were first exposed to elevated temperatures ranging from 100 to 800 °C, and then allowed to cool down slowly to ambient room temperature of 20 °C before being tested to failure. Several tests were then carried out to determine the mechanical properties of the cooled concrete specimens. The test results indicated that at temperature above 400 °C, concrete undergoes significant strength loss when compared to the strength of non-heated concrete. In addition this strength reduction was found to be unaffected by the cement dosages. The experimental results were also compared with current European standard (BS EN 1992-1-2:2004 standard) strength equations and American Concrete Institute standard (ACI 216.1).     

Beam test on bond behavior between high-grade rebar and high-strength concrete after elevated temperatures

In this paper, post-heating bond behavior between high-grade rebar and C80 high-strength concrete (hereafter, HSC) is studied. The high-grade rebar is HRBF500 fine grained steel with a yield strength of 500 MPa and the concrete grade C80 denotes compressive strength not lower than 80 MPa. First, the residual mechanical behavior of both high-grade rebar and HSC were tested after fire exposure. Second, the beam bond test was carried out to study the bond behavior between high-grade rebar and HSC after exposed heating at 200 °C, 400 °C, 500 °C and 600 °C, respectively. During the bond test, the influence of temperature, bond length, and some construction measurements on the bond–slip behavior were compared and evaluated. The investigation demonstrates that (1) the bond strength between high-grade rebar and HSC decreases while the peak slip increases with the elevated temperature, especially when the temperature exceeds 400 °C and (2) the confinement effect of steel wire mesh can help to improve rebar׳s bond behavior. Third, the bond–slip model between high-grade rebar and HSC for post-heating is proposed.     

Permeability of high-performance concrete subjected to elevated temperature (600 °C)

Permeability is one of the most important parameters to quantify the durability of high-performance concrete. Permeability is closely related with the spalling phenomenon in concrete at elevated temperature. This parameter is commonly measured on non-thermally damaged specimens. This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation carried out to study the effect of elevated temperature on the permeability of high-performance concrete. For this purpose, three types of concrete mixtures were prepared: (i) control high-performance concrete; (ii) high-performance concrete incorporating polypropylene fibres; and (iii) high-performance concrete made with lightweight aggregates. A heating–cooling cycle was applied on 160 × 320 mm, 110 × 220 mm, and 150 × 300 mm cylindrical specimens. The maximum test temperature was kept as either 200 or 600 °C. After the thermal treatment, 65 mm thick slices were cut from each cylinder and dried prior to being subjected to permeability test. Results of thermal gradients in the concrete specimens during the heating–cooling cycles, compressive strength, and splitting tensile strength of concrete mixtures are also presented here. A relationship between the thermal damage indicators and permeability is presented.     

Modeling mechanical performance of lightweight concrete containing silica fume exposed to high temperature using genetic programming

In this study, the mechanical performance of lightweight concrete exposed to high temperature has been modeled using genetic programming. The mixes incorporating 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% silica fumes were prepared. Two different cement contents (400 and 500 kg/m³) were used in this study. After being heated to temperatures of 20 °C, 200 °C, 400 °C and 800 °C, respectively, the compressive and splitting tensile strength of lightweight concrete was tested. Empirical genetic programming based equations for compressive and splitting tensile strength were obtained in terms of temperature (T), cement content (C), silica fume content (SF), pumice aggregate content (A), water/cement ratio (W/C) and super plasticizer content (SP). Proposed genetic programming based equations are observed to be quite accurate as compared to experimental results.     

Performance of thermally damaged fibre reinforced concretes

Mechanical characteristics of Fibre Reinforced High Performance Concrete (FR-HPC) subjected to high temperatures were experimentally investigated in this paper. Three different concretes were prepared: a normal strength concrete (NSC) and two High Performance Concretes (HPC1 and HPC2). Fibre reinforced concretes were produced by addition of steel or polypropylene fibres in the above mixtures at dosages of 40 kg/m³ and 5 kg/m³, respectively. A total of nine concrete mixtures were produced and fibres were added in six of them. At the age of 120 days specimens were heated to maximum temperatures of 100, 300, 500 and 700 °C. Specimens were then allowed to cool in the furnace and tested for compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, modulus of elasticity and ultrasonic pulse velocity. Reference tests were also performed at air temperature (20 °C). Residual strength of NSC and HPC1 was reduced almost linearly up to 700 °C and 500 °C, respectively whereas the residual strength of HPC2 was sharply reduced up to 300 °C. Explosive spalling was observed on both HPC. Addition of steel fibres increased the residual strength up to 300 °C, but spalling still occurred in HPC1 and HPC2. Such an explosive behavior was not observed when polypropylene fibres were added in the mixtures; however, in this case the residual mechanical characteristics of all concretes were significantly reduced.     

Experimental study on CFST members strengthened by CFRP composites under compression

The concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) members become very popular in the construction industry and, at the same time, aging of structures and member deterioration are often reported. The actions like implementation of new materials and strengthening techniques become essential to combat this problem. This research work aimed to investigate the structural improvements of CFST sections with normal strength concrete externally bonded with fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites. For this study, compact mild steel tubes were used with the main variable being FRP characteristics. Carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) fabrics were used as horizontal strips (lateral ties) with several other parameters such as the number of layers, width and spacing of strips. Among thirty specimens, twenty seven were externally bonded with 50 mm width of CFRP strips with a spacing of 20 mm, 30 mm and 40 mm and the remaining three specimens were unbonded. Experiments were undertaken until column failure to fully understand the influence of FRP characteristics on the compressive behaviour of square CFST sections including their failure modes, axial stress–strain behaviour, and load carrying capapcity. From the test results, it was found that the external bonding of CFRP strips provides external confinement pressure effectively and delays the local buckling of steel tube and also improves the load carrying capacity further. Finally, an analytical model was proposed herein for predicting the axial load carrying capacity of strengthened CFST sections under compression.     

Preliminary experimental investigation of the fatigue bond behavior of CFRP confined RC beams

This paper presents the results of the first phase of a study on the effect of the confinement provided by transverse carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets on the fatigue bond strength of steel reinforcing bars in concrete beams. Reinforced concrete bond-beams 150 × 250 × 2000 mm were tested. The variables examined were the area of the CFRP sheets (none or one U-wrap CFRP sheet), the reinforcing bar diameter (20 or 25 mm) and the load range applied to the specimens. The results showed that increasing the bar diameter increased the fatigue bond strength for the unwrapped beams. The CFRP sheets increased the bond strength of the bond-beams with 20 mm bars. However, for the beams with 25 mm steel bars the failure mode changed from a bond splitting failure for the unwrapped beams to a diagonal shear failure for the CFRP wrapped beams, and there was little increase in fatigue strength. Finally, the bond failure mechanism for repeated loading is described.     

Influence of soaking and polymerization conditions on the properties of polymer concrete

An experimental investigation was conducted to study the effect of soaking time and polymerization temperature on the mechanical and physical properties of polymer-impregnated concrete. Soaking time was controlled in 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 and 24 h, polymerization temperature was set at 70, 80 and 90 °C for 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 12 and 24 h in impregnation process, respectively. Cylindrical concrete specimens with water/cement ratios of 0.45 and 0.65 were impregnated with methyl methacrylate (MMA) and benzoyl peroxide (BPO) mixtures. The polymer loading increases as immersion time increases until 12 h. Based on compressive strength and surface absorption, optimum polymerization temperature is 70 °C for Mix A (high cement content) and 80 °C for Mix B (low cement content). Polymer impregnation not only increases concrete strength and resistivity but also greatly decreases surface absorption comparing with normal concrete. SEM and MIP observations indicate that the micro-pores and meso-pores of PIC specimens are filled with PMMA and the total pore volume and maximum pore size are reduced significantly.     

Temperature effects on mechanical behaviour of engineered stones

In this research, three types of artificial or engineered stones were compared against two types of natural stones (a limestone and a granite) in what concerns to temperature, thermal ageing and thermal shock effects on flexural strength and Young’s modulus. Temperatures of the thermal treatments, in the range from 20 to 200 °C, were intentionally chosen to simulate some practical applications of this kind of materials, for example, when they are used as kitchen tops. The results reveal the different characteristics of the materials. When tested at temperatures up to 100 °C, engineered stones show much higher values of flexural strength compared to the natural stones; and when tested at ambient temperature after being submitted to rapid cooling (thermal shock) from 200 °C down to 20 °C, engineered stones continue to show higher values of flexural strength compared to the natural stones. For the temperature range from 20 to 200 °C, thermal shock and thermal ageing effects on Young’s modulus are not very pronounced. Young’s modulus (E) of each of the materials was determined at ambient temperature, and the engineered stones keep almost the same value of E after thermal ageing or thermal shock up to 160 °C.