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In this study composite and sandwich beams with homogeneous core and homogeneous or Functional Graded Materials (FGM) faces under three point bending have been confronted. The purpose of this paper is to study numerically sandwich beams with homogeneous core and homogeneous or FGM faces under three point bending and to compare the results for the stress and displacement fields with those resulted of coating – substrate and homogeneous beams. Considering a crack in the lower face sheet to study the influence of the material gradation on the stress intensity factors.

At first a static finite element analysis is performed throughout the composite and sandwich beams, which is taking into account the graded character or not of the faces. For this reason five plane models are considered in order to have a comparable study for the stress and displacement fields of composite beams, which are subjected to three point bending. Second a crack in the lower face is considered parallel to the axis of gradation. When subjected to three point bending, this crack will propagate slowly perpendicular to the lower face.

Computed distributions of the stress fields across the core material and near the interfaces are given for different materials gradation of the faces; and possible crack-initiation positions have been identified. Stress intensity factors are calculated using finite element method, and assuming linear fracture mechanics and plane strain conditions.

The originality of the proposed analysis is to investigate for the first time numerically the influence of the FGMs or homogeneous faces in the core material of sandwich beams under three point bending relative to the coating – substrate and to the homogeneous beams. Second to study the influence of a crack in the lower graded face sheet on the overall behavior of the composite beam and to investigate the influence of the material gradation on the values of stress intensity factors.

Use of fibre‐reinforced polymer (FRP) composite rods, in lieu of steel rebars, as the main flexural reinforcements in reinforced concrete (RC) beams have recently been suggested by many researchers. However, the development of FRP RC beam design is still stagnant in the construction industry and this may be attributed to a number of reasons such as the high cost of FRP rods compared to steel rebars and the reduced member ductility due to the brittleness of FRP rods. To resolve these problems, one of the possible methods is to adopt both FRP rods and steel rebars to internally reinforce the concrete members. The effectiveness of this new reinforcing system remains problematic and continued research in this area is needed. An experimental study on the load‐deflection behaviour of concrete beams internally reinforced with glass fibre‐reinforced polymer (GFRP) rods and steel rebars was therefore conducted and some important findings are summarized in this paper.

The purpose of this paper is to recover the deficiency of existing tie force (TF) methods by considering the decrease in section strength due to cracking and by selecting limit state of collapse according to section properties.

A substructure is selected by isolating the connected beams from the entire structure. For interior joints, the TFs in the orthogonal beams are obtained by catenary action. For corner joints, the TFs are assessed by beam action. For edge joints, however, the resistance is gained by greater of the resistance under catenary action for periphery beams and beam action for all the connecting beams in both directions. For catenary action, the TF capacities must satisfy Equation (20). On the other hand, for beam action, the TF must satisfy Equation (16), while R is calculated from Equation (17). In the case where the length of the connecting beams is similar, Equation (19) can be used.

Closed form solutions are available for TFs on both beam and catenary stages.

The proposed formulation makes designing more practical and convenient. However, the proposed formulation had good agreement with experimental results.

Fibre‐reinforced plastic (FRP) materials have been recognised as new innovative materials for concrete rehabilitation and retrofit. Since concrete is poor in tension, a beam without any form of reinforcement will fail when subjected to a relatively small tensile load. Therefore, the bonding of FRP plate to reinforced concrete (RC) structure is an effective solution to increase its overall strength. In such plated beams, tensile forces develop in the bonded plate and these have to be transferred to the original beam via interfacial shear and normal stresses. Consequently, the debonding of FRP plates bonded to reinforced concrete beams is believed to be initiated by the stress concentration in the adhesive layer. Accurate predictions of the interfacial stresses are prerequisite for designing against debonding failures. In the present analysis, a simple theoretical model to estimate shear and normal stresses is proposed, including the variation in FRP plate fibre orientation. The solution shows significant shear and normal stresses concentration at the plates end. A parametrical study is carried out to show the effects of some design variables, e.g., thickness of adhesive layer and FRP plate, and the distance from support to cut ‐ off end of bonded plates.

This purpose of this paper is to quantify the effect of local instability arising from high shear loading on response of steel girders subjected to fire conditions.

A three-dimensional nonlinear finite element model able to evaluate behavior of fire-exposed steel girders is developed. This model, is capable of predicting fire response of steel girders taking into consideration flexural, shear and deflection limit states.

Results obtained from numerical studies show that shear capacity can degrade at a higher pace than flexural capacity under certain loading scenarios, and hence, failure can result from shear effects prior to attaining failure in flexural mode.

The developed model is unique and provides valuable insight (and information) to the fire response of typical hot-rolled steel girder subjected to high shear loading.

This paper aims to study the effect of external glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) plates on the flexural and shear behaviour of structurally deficient reinforced concrete (RC) beams, a total of ten 180mm×250mm×2,500mm beams, including over‐designed, unplated under‐designed and plated under‐designed, were tested under four‐point bending condition. Experimental results indicate that the use of GFRP plates enhances the strength and deformation capacity of RC beams by altering their failure modes. Application of side plates on shear‐deficient RC beams appears to be more effective than using bottom plates on flexure‐deficient RC beams. However, without any improvement of concrete compressive capacity, additional shear capacities provided to the beams under the action of side plates increase the likelihood of beam failure by concrete crushing. Simultaneous use of bottom and side plates on flexural‐ and shear‐deficient RC beams may result in reduced deflection.

In this study, tests were conducted to investigate the effect of different concretes on the behaviour of reinforced concrete beams with central splices. Five beam specimens were prepared using different concrete mixes in their splice regions. Experimental results indicated that the bond failure of the spliced rebars governed the ultimate flexural behaviour of all specimens, except the one cast with steel fibres. A small increase in flexural strength was found for both the spliced beams cast with high‐strength concrete and steel fibres. Moreover, use of high‐strength concrete and steel fibrous concrete led to a remarkable improvement in the beam's displacement capacity. The effect of pulverised fuel ash on the splice performance was insignificant while the introduction of silica fume caused improvements in loading capacity and ductility.

This study aims to make an effort to develop a model to predict the residual flexural strength of reinforced concrete beams subjected to reinforcement corrosion.

For generating the required data to develop the model, a set of experimental variables was considered that included corrosion current density, corrosion duration, rebar diameter and thickness of concrete cover. A total of 28 sets of reinforced concrete beams of size 150 × 150 × 1,100 mm were cast, of which 4 sets of un-corroded beams were tested in four-point bend test as control beams and the remaining 24 sets of beams were subjected to accelerated rebar corrosion inducing different levels of corrosion current densities for different durations. Corroded beams were also tested in flexure, and test results of un-corroded and corroded beams were utilized to obtain an empirical model for estimating the residual flexural strength of beams for given corrosion current density, corrosion duration and diameter of the rebars.

Comparison of the residual flexural strengths measured experimentally for a set of corroded beams, reported in literature, with that predicted using the model proposed in this study indicates that the proposed model has a reasonably good accuracy.

The empirical model obtained under this work can be used as a simple tool to predict residual flexural strength of corroded beams using the input data that include rebar corrosion rate, corrosion duration after initiation and diameter of rebars.

Damage detection of frame structures is important for guaranteeing the safety of people’s lives and property. Sensitivity analysis is an effective method for damage identification. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a sensitivity analysis of beam–column joint rotation angles for frame structures with limited flexural stiffness beams.

First, based on the D-value method and the assumption of inflection points, statically indeterminate frames were transformed to statically determinate structures, and the expressions of beam–column joint rotation angles were derived. Next, the sensitivity coefficients of beam–column joint rotation angles were obtained by taking the derivative of the expressions of beam–column joint rotation angles with respect to the linear stiffness of column. Finally, the expressions of the sensitivity coefficients were verified by a numerical example.

The analytical solutions of the sensitivity coefficients are in good agreement with finite element results. The results show that the beam–column joint rotation angles of damaged column decrease and those of intact columns within the same story increase when damage occurs.

In this study, the sensitivity coefficients of beam–column joint rotation angles with respect to the linear stiffnesses of columns were derived for frame structures. Based on the result of the sensitivity analysis, the relationship between the changes of beam–column joint rotation angles and damaged columns is revealed. The findings provide an important base to further detect damage of frame structures.

The paper deals with the investigation of linear buckling and free vibration behavior of layered and multiphase magneto‐electro‐elastic (MEE) beam under thermal environment. The constitutive equations of magneto‐electro‐elastic materials are used to derive finite element equations involving the coupling between mechanical, electrical and magnetic fields. The finite element model has been verified with the commercial finite element package ANSYS. The influence of magneto electric coupling on critical buckling temperature is investigated between layered and multiphase magneto‐electro‐elastic beam. Furthermore, the influence of temperature rise on natural frequencies of magneto‐electro‐elastic beam with layered and different volume fraction is presented.