Seismic behavior and modeling of high-strength composite concrete-filled steel tube (CFT) beam–columns

The behavior of square concrete-filled steel tube (CFT) beam–columns made from high-strength materials was investigated experimentally. The effects of the width-to-thickness ratio, yield stress of the steel tube and the axial load level on the stiffness, strength and ductility of high-strength CFT beam–columns were studied. Sixteen three-quarter scale CFT specimens, which included eight monotonic beam–column specimens and eight cyclic beam–column specimens, were tested. The experimental results indicate that cyclic loading does not have a significant influence on the stiffness or strength of CFT beam–columns. However, it causes a more rapid decrease of the post-peak moment resistance. The moment capacity of high-strength CFT beam–columns can be predicted with reasonable accuracy using the American Concrete Institute (ACI) code provisions for composite columns.Fiber-based models were developed for the CFT beam–column specimens. The uniaxial stress–strain curves for the fibers were derived from three-dimensional nonlinear finite element analyses of the CFTs. The results from the fiber analyses of the monotonic and cyclic beam–column specimens compare favorably with the experimental results.     

Structural fire performance of earthquake-resistant composite steel–concrete frames

Seismic and fire design of a building structure may be two very demanding tasks, especially if included in a performance based design philosophy. For the time being, the necessary harmonization on the regulations concerning these two design fields is almost missing, thus preventing the effective possibility of an integrated design. Besides, while many countries have already moved towards the use of performance-based codes for seismic design, the application of such methodologies for the fire design of structures is still limited in scope. Within this framework, the development of suitable procedures introducing structural fire performance issues for a comprehensive design methodology is needed.In this paper, a numerical investigation for the assessment of the structural fire performance of earthquake resistant composite steel–concrete frames is presented. With reference to a case study defined in the framework of a European Research Project, a great effort was devoted to the identification of the key structural parameters allowing for a possible correlation between the predictable performances under seismic and fire loadings, when these two are considered as independent actions.At the conceptual design level, the most suitable structural solution with respect to both design actions was chosen, including composite beams and circular steel concrete-filled columns. The frame was designed in order to resist severe seismic action according to the ductile design approach provided by Eurocode 8; the parameters affecting members’ sizing were outlined in this phase. Afterwards, the seismic performance of the designed frame was investigated by means of non-linear static analyses; once the seismic performance objectives were met, in order to evaluate the structural fire performance of the whole frame a set of criteria was defined. To this purpose, thermo-mechanical analyses under different boundary conditions were developed and in order to identify the possible mechanisms leading to structural failure, the state of stress at the critical cross-sections at different times of fire exposure was investigated. Another point of main concern was represented by the assessment of the influence of different restraining conditions on the achieved fire resistance rating and kind of structural failure.Moreover, the proposed methodology allowed making an estimate of the amount of axial restraint provided to the heated beams by the surrounding structure; in this view, the importance of choosing column elements in function of their flexural stiffness was revealed, in order to correlate it with the predictable performances under both seismic and fire loadings.     

Tests on cyclic performance of FRP–concrete–steel double-skin tubular columns

Eight FRP–concrete–steel double-skin tubular columns were tested under constant axial load and cyclically increasing flexural loading. The main parameters in the tests are axial load level and number of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) layers. The influence of those parameters on the strength, ductility, stiffness, and energy dissipation was investigated. It was found that, in general, FRP–concrete–steel double-skin tubular columns exhibit high levels of energy dissipation prior to the rupture of the longitudinal FRP, but experience a sudden drop in the lateral load capacity after that. The ductility of the specimens can be improved to some extent due to the existence of the axial compressive load in current tests.     

Behavior and strength of steel reinforced concrete beam–column joints with single-side force inputs

Five large-scale beam–column subassemblies were fabricated and tested under cyclic loading to investigate the behavior of SRC Type I exterior and Type II corner beam–column joints. In addition, the applicability of strength superposition method on joint shear strength was assessed. It was found that: (1) the strength superposition method was able to estimate the SRC beam–column joint shear strength with reasonable accuracy; (2) the anchorage position of beam longitudinal bars has an obvious influence on the joint shear strength and crack pattern; (3) increased depth of cross-sectional steel leads to a higher shear strength for the beam–column joint; and (4) a combination of corner stirrups and shaped steel cross-sections was able to provide sufficient lateral support to longitudinal steel bars and adequate confinement to the concrete in the joint to replace the need for closed hoops.     

Seismic retrofitting of damaged exterior beam–column joints using fibre reinforced plastic composite–steel plate combined technique

A conventional gravity load design philosophy for reinforced concrete (RC) structures has been slowly replaced by seismic design since the 1970s. But, till recently, capacity design and ductile detailing were not strictly implemented in practice in many developing countries which are prone to seismic hazard. In the present study, performance of exterior beam–column joints designed based on ductile and non-ductile philosophy has been studied under cyclic load. It is found that although the incorporation of ductile detailing has considerably improved the seismic behaviour of the structural component, it could not assure the damage propagation in a safe zone. Moreover, in both specimens, the main damage has been concentrated in the joint zone irrespective of ductile detailing. Further, the damaged specimens were adequately repaired and suitably retrofitted using fibre reinforced plastic and steel plate and tested again under the same cyclic load. The retrofitted ‘NonDuctile’ specimen, as proposed in this study, could not only be able to regain its original performance (in terms of strength deterioration, stiffness degradation, energy dissipation), but has also shown improved performance in comparison to the original ones which is ideally desirable as well. Further, the retrofitted ‘Ductile’ specimen has shown a promising aspect of the proposed retrofitting strategy for seismically damaged components.     

Numerical modelling of steel beam-columns in case of fire—comparisons with Eurocode 3

This paper presents a numerical study of the behaviour of steel I-beams subjected to fire and a combination of axial force and bending moments. A geometrical and material non-linear finite element program, specially established in Liege for the analysis of structures submitted to fire, has been used to determine the resistance of a beam-column at elevated temperature, using the material properties of Eurocode 3, part 1–2. The numerical results have been compared with those obtained with the Eurocode 3, part 1–2 (1995) and the new version of the same Eurocode (2002).The results have confirmed that the new proposal for Eurocode 3 (2002) is more conservative than the ENV-EC3 (1995) approach.     

Strength deterioration of reinforced concrete beam–column joints subjected to cyclic loading

This paper proposes a method to predict the ductile capacity of reinforced concrete beam–column joints failing in shear after the development of plastic hinges at both ends of the adjacent beams. After the plastic hinges occur at both ends of the beams, the longitudinal axial strain at the center of the beam section in the plastic hinge region is expected to increase abruptly because the neutral axis continues to move toward the extreme compressive fiber and the residual strains of the longitudinal bars continue to increase with each cycle of additional inelastic loading cycles. An increase in the axial strain of the beam section after flexural yielding contributes to a widening of the cracks in the beam–column joints, thus leading to a reduction in the shear strength of the beam–column joints. The proposed method includes the effect of longitudinal axial strain of a beam in the plastic hinge region of the beam on the joint longitudinal strain and the strength deterioration of the joint. In order to verify the shear strength and the corresponding deformability of the proposed method, test results of RC beam–column assembly were compared. Comparisons between the observed and calculated shear strengths and their corresponding deformability of the tested assemblies showed reasonable agreement.     

A beam finite element including shear lag effect for the time-dependent analysis of steel–concrete composite decks

The paper presents a beam finite element for the long-term analysis of steel–concrete composite decks taking into account the shear lag in the slab and the partial shear interaction at the slab–girder interface. Using the displacement approach, beam kinematics is developed from the Newmark model for composite beams with partial shear connection; warping of the slab cross section is caught with the product of an established function which describes the warping shape, and an intensity function that measures the warping magnitude along the beam axis. Time-dependent behaviour is considered through an integral-type viscoelastic creep law for the concrete. The numerical solution is obtained by means of the finite element method and a step-by-step procedure for evolution in time. A refined, locking free, 13-dof beam finite element is derived considering second and third order hermitian polynomials in order to ensure consistent interpolation of the displacements. The convergence test results and comparisons with the experimental results of composite beams subjected to sustained loads demonstrate the precision of the proposed method. Further applications to realistic cases show the accuracy of the proposed element and its ability to describe the elastic and the time-dependent behaviour of bridge composite decks.     

Thermoelastic flexural–torsional buckling of steel arches

This paper presents the lateral buckling behaviour of steel arch members with a doubly symmetric I-shape cross-section subjected to a linear gradient temperature field over the cross-section. The steel arch is subjected to an in-plane linear temperature gradient field whilst it experiences expansion along its length due to the in-plane temperature gradient producing an in-plane curvature. As the steel arch continues to be subjected to increasing temperature differential and increasing average temperature, the bending moments and axial compressive forces in the steel arch increase and upon reaching a critical value, the steel arch bifurcates from its primary equilibrium position and fails in lateral–torsional buckling mode. A novel non-discretisation mechanical-based methodology developed recently is used to model the behaviour of the steel arch prior to buckling, whilst the classical buckling theory is used to determine the critical temperature which causes flexural–torsional buckling. The proposed methodology allows for the critical temperature gradient and critical average temperature to be ascertained using an iterative method. Using a comprehensive parametric study, the variations of the thermal gradient and the critical average temperature to various parameters are then investigated. The model proposed here provides a closed-form solution for which it forms a platform which can be used for structural steel arch design and evaluation in the development of codified approaches to fire design on a performance based design.     

Numerical parametric investigation of infiltration in one-dimensional sand–geotextile columns

Geotextiles are routinely used in separation and filtration applications. Design of these systems is currently based on saturated properties of the geotextiles and the surrounding soils. However, in the field, soil and geotextile can be in an unsaturated state for much of their design life during which they are essentially hydraulically non-conductive. Periodic wetting and drying cycles can result in rapid and large changes in hydraulic performance of soil–geotextile systems. The writers have reported the results from physical water infiltration tests on sand columns with and without a geotextile inclusion. The geotextile inclusions were installed in new and modified states to simulate the influence of clogging due to fines and to broaden the range of hydraulic properties of the geotextiles in the physical tests. This paper reports the results of numerical simulations that were undertaken to reproduce the physical tests and strategies adopted to adjust soil and geotextile properties from independent laboratory tests to improve the agreement between numerical and physical test results. For example the paper shows that the hydraulic conductivity function of the geotextile must be reduced by up to two orders of magnitude to give acceptable agreement. The lower hydraulic conductivity is believed to be due to soil intrusion that is not captured in conventional laboratory permeability tests. The calibrated numerical model is used to investigate the influence of geotextile and soil hydraulic conductivity and thickness as well as height of ponded water at the surface on wetting front advance below the geotextile and potential ponding of water above the geotextile due to a capillary break mechanism. A simple analytical model is also developed that predicts the maximum ponding height of water above the geotextile based on two-layer saturated media and 1-D steady state flow assumptions. The analytical model is used to generate a design chart to select geotextiles to minimize potential ponding of water above the geotextile. Ponding can lead to lateral flow of water along the geotextile in reinforced wall, slope, embankment and road base applications.     

Non-linear analysis to predict the moment–curvature response of CFRP-strengthened steel CHS tubular beams

External bonding of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites has emerged as a popular technique for strengthening steel structures in recent years. In this study, the non-linear behaviour of circular hollow steel beams bonded with thin carbon FRP sheets was investigated theoretically by including the effect of the amount of CFRP reinforcement, fibre configuration, fibre and adhesive volume fractions and material non-linearity. This paper presents a cross-sectional analysis for the moment–curvature response of CFRP-reinforced steel tubular beams. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the strengthening effect of fibre composites, and are shown to be in reasonable agreement with previous experimental data.     

Identification of the thermal properties of concrete for the temperature calculation of concrete slabs and columns subjected to a standard fire—Methodology and proposal for simplified formulations

The fire resistance of concrete members is controlled by the temperature distribution of the considered cross section. The thermal analysis can be performed with the advanced temperature dependent physical properties provided by EN 1992-1-2. But the recalculation of laboratory tests on columns from TU Braunschweig shows, that there are deviations between the calculated and measured temperatures. Therefore it can be assumed, that the mathematical formulation of these thermal properties could be improved. A sensitivity analysis is performed to identify the governing parameters of the temperature calculation and a nonlinear optimization method is used to enhance the formulation of the thermal properties. The proposed simplified properties are partly validated by the recalculation of measured temperatures of concrete columns. These first results show, that the scatter of the differences from the calculated to the measured temperatures can be reduced by the proposed simple model for the thermal analysis of concrete.     

Chloride ion diffusivity of fly ash and silica fume concretes exposed to freeze–thaw cycles

This research focuses on investigating the durability of concretes containing fly ash and silica fume exposed to combined mode of deterioration. For this purpose, the chloride ion diffusivity of concrete was evaluated before and after 300 freeze–thaw (F–T) cycles. It was found that the coefficient of chloride ion diffusivity (CCID) increased as water to cementitious material ratio (w/cm) and air content increased. Test results clearly showed that CCID for all concretes increased after F–T cycles. In addition, concrete incorporating silica fume showed the lowest CCID and highest durability factor (DF), regardless of curing regime, air content, and w/cm. However, fly ash concrete showed good resistance to chloride ion diffusivity before and after F–T cycles when low w/cm as well as a proper curing and air content were provided.     

Lightweight steel–concrete–steel sandwich system with J-hook connectors

This paper investigates a new concept for designing composite structures comprising a lightweight concrete core sandwiched in between two steel plates which are interconnected by J-hook connectors. Specifically, lightweight concrete (density less than 1450 kg/m³) and novel J-hook connectors have been developed for this purpose. The hook connectors are capable of resisting tension and shear, and their uses are not restricted by the core thickness. Push-out tests confirms that the shear transfer capability of J-hook connector is superior to the conventional headed stud connector in achieving composite action between steel plate and concrete core. Twelve sandwich beam specimens have been tested to evaluate the flexural and shear performance subjected to static point load. Parameters investigated include degree of partial composite, concrete with and without fibres and concrete strength. Using Eurocodes as a basis of design, theoretical model is developed to predict the flexural and shear capacity considering partial composite and enable construction of sandwich structures with J-hook connectors. Compared with test results, the predicted capacity is generally conservative if brittle failure of connectors can be avoided. Test evidence also shows that inclusion of 1% volume fraction of fibres in the concrete core significantly increases the beam flexural capacity as well as its post-peak ductility.     

Impact tests on steel–concrete–steel sandwich beams with lightweight concrete core

This paper studies the impact performance of Steel–Concrete–Steel (SCS) sandwich beams consisting of a lightweight concrete core sandwiched between two face plates that are connected by J-hook connectors. Impact tests were carried out by dropping free weights on to sandwich beams to investigate their structural response against impact loads. Test results revealed that the proposed J-hook connectors provide an effective means to interlock the top and bottom steel face plates, preventing them from separation during impact. The use of fibres in concrete core and J-hook connectors for composite action enhances the overall structural integrity of the sandwich beams when compared with those without such enhancement. An elastic–plastic analysis method is developed to predict the force-indentation relationship of sandwich sections subjected to local impact. Dynamic analysis based on the local force-indentation relationship is carried out to predict the impact force and global response behavior of the sandwich beams. The predicted results are compared with those obtained from the tests to validate their accuracy so that they can be used to evaluate the performance of sandwich beams under low velocity hard impact.     

Response of stress indicators and growth parameters of Tibouchina pulchra Cogn. exposed to air and soil pollution near the industrial complex of Cubatão, Brazil

The present study was performed in the vicinity of the industrial complex of Cubat?o, S?o Paulo, Brazil, in order to evaluate the response of 'manaca da serra' Tibouchina pulchra Cogn. (Melastomataceae), a common species of secondary Atlantic Rain Forest vegetation, to the impact of complex air pollution. Emphasis was given to changes of biochemical parameters such as ascorbic acid concentration, peroxidase activity, contents of water-soluble thiols, pH of leaf extract and buffering capacity. These plant factors are often used as early indicators of air pollution stress. Field experiments included sampling of leaves from mature trees in areas with different air pollution load (passive monitoring), exposure of saplings cultivated in uniform soil at these areas (active monitoring) and a study on the combined effects of contaminated soil and air pollution. In general, metabolic response of saplings was more accentuated than that of mature trees. Leaf extract pH and buffering capacity showed no or only small alterations in plants exposed to industrial emissions. In contrast, air pollution resulted in a distinct decrease in ascorbic acid contents and an increase in peroxidase activity and thiol concentrations in leaves. Cultivation of saplings in soil types from contaminated regions frequently caused the same modifications or enhanced the effects produced by air pollution. Growth analysis of exposed saplings demonstrated that a change of the relationship between above-ground and below-ground plant parts was the most obvious effect of air pollution and soil contamination. The experiments showed that even T. pulchra, a species considered resistant to air pollution, suffers metabolic disturbances by the present ambient air and soil quality. Although biochemical and physiological alterations were not related to a certain air pollution type, they could be used to estimate the overall pollution load and to map zones with different air quality.     

Recent advances in fire–structure analysis

One of the recommendations of the National Construction Safety Team (NCST) for the Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster [NIST NCSTAR 1 Final report on the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers. NCST for the Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, September 2005] is to enhance the capability of available computational software to predict the effects of fires in buildings, for use in the design of fire protection systems and the analysis of building response to fires. Following this recommendation, this paper presents two new interfaces in fire–thermal–structural analysis. The first interface uses adiabatic surface temperatures to provide an efficient way of transferring thermal results from a fire simulation to a thermal analysis. It assigns these temperatures to surface elements of structural members based on proximity and directionality. The second interface allows the transfer of temperature results from a thermal analysis modeled with solid elements to a structural analysis modeled with beams and shells. The interface also allows the reverse, namely the geometric updating of the thermal model with deflections and strains obtained from the structural analysis. This last step is particularly useful in intense fires of long duration, where significant deflections and strains could cause damage to insulation and displace the structure to a different thermal regime. The procedures can be used for a variety of fire simulation, thermal, and structural analysis software.     

Local buckling of welded steel I-beams considering flange–web interaction

This paper presents an analytical study to investigate the effect of flange–web interaction on local buckling of welded steel I-sections subjected to bending. An inelastic local buckling stability model is presented that accounts for all the geometric and material variables of the problem. The deformation theory of plasticity was used to describe the behavior of steel beyond the elastic limit. The model results were verified through comparison with finite element model results and published experimental ones. A parametric study was conducted to investigate the effect of flange–web interaction on the width to thickness limits. Using the parametric study results, new width to thickness limits were proposed in which all the parameters of the section are reflected.     

Consolidation of a composite foundation with soil–cement columns and prefabricated vertical drains

A new ground improvement method is proposed for embankment foundation on soft soils, involving the use of both soil–cement columns and prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) to improve the shear strength and accelerate the pre-consolidation process. An analytical solution was derived for calculating the consolidation process of this composite foundation under time-dependent loading by considering the PVDs as cylindrical drain wells. The equivalent coefficient of permeability was acquired by matching the average degree of consolidation of a unit cell model. The analytical expression of consolidation was established according to the axi-symmetric analytical model, and its theoretical solution under time-dependent loading was achieved through the variable separation method. The analytical solution under ramp loading was verified by comparing the calculated results with the three-dimensional finite-element analysis. The influence of replacement ratio of the soil–cement column, column-soil modulus ratio, improvement depth and column-soil permeability ratio were explored. Field experiments on the Huai-Yan Highway indicated the calculated settlements agreed well with the field measurements.