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During service period, due to the overload or other non-load factors, cracks of the pre-stressed concrete beam are seriously affecting the safety of the bridge structure. The purpose of this paper is to quickly realize the bearing capacity and the loss of the section stiffness through fracture characteristics and make correct judgments.

Through the flexural failure test of two test beams: collecting data of fracture characteristics and section stiffness loss value. According to the fracture characteristic data, the flexural stiffness of the section is obtained by the nonlinear calculation method, and the results are verified by test data. Data regression method is used to establish the section flexural stiffness loss ratio calculation formula, nominal tensile strain at the bottom edge of the cross-section used as a variable factor, and the accuracy of this formula is verified by comparing the flexural failure test results of pre-stressed hollow plates.

The loss of the flexural stiffness of section shows the decrease trend of first-fast-then-slow and the structural stiffness is sensitive to the initial cracking of beam. The calculation formula on the loss ratio of the flexural stiffness of section established with the nominal tensile stress at the bottom edge of beam as a variable is accurate and feasible, it realizes the possibility of assessing the stiffness loss of pre-stressed concrete structure by adopting the statistic parameters on crack characteristics.

A method for quickly determine the stiffness loss of structures by using fracture characteristics is established, and using this method, engineers can quickly determine whether a bridge is a dangerous bridge, without loading test. So, this method not only ensures the safety of human life, but also saves money.

The ultimate capacity and ductility behavior of a reinforced concrete (RC) beam generally depends on its constituent material properties. This study aims to use ANSYS to accentuate the nonlinear parametric finite element (FE) simulations of RC sections under monotonic loading.

The concrete matrix and steel reinforcement are the primary constituent materials of RC beams. The material properties such as tensile reinforcement area, tensile bars yield strength, concrete compressive strength and strain rate in tensile reinforcement at nominal strength have significantly influenced the ultimate response of RC beams. Therefore, these intensive parameters are considered in this study to ascertain their effect on the RC beam's ultimate behavior. The nonlinear response up to the ultimate load capacity and the crack evolutions of RC beams are predicted efficiently.

The parametric study reveals that increasing the tensile steel reinforcements (from Ast = 213–857 mm2) significantly improves the ultimate load capacity by 229% and yield deflections by 20%. However, it declines the ultimate deflection by 47% and ductility by 56% substantially. Varying the strain limit (?tn = 0.010–0.0015) of tensile reinforcement has proficiently increased the ultimate load-resisting capacity by 20%, whereas the ductility declined by 62%. When the concrete strength increases (from fck = 25–65 MPa), the cracking load increases profoundly by 51%, whereas the ultimate capacity has found an insignificant effect.

The load-deflection response plots extracted from the proposed numerical model exhibit satisfactory accuracy (less than 9% deviation) against the experimental curves available in the literature, which emphasizes the proficiency of the proposed FE model.

Mechanical reliability (variations in mechanical properties) of fused deposition modeled (FDMed) short-fiber-reinforced composites are unknown, which limits wider and safer use of these composites. Accordingly, this paper aims to investigate the mechanical reliability of FDMed model material short-carbon-fiber-reinforced acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (SCFR-ABS). A new vibration-assisted FDM (VA-FDM) process was used to reduce porosity.

Tensile tests were performed on FDMed SCFR-ABS produced with and without vibrations. Weibull analysis was performed to quantify the variation in fracture strength, tensile strength, strain at break and strain at tensile strength.

Introduction of vibrations to the extrusion head during FDM decreased the inter-bead porosity in SCFR-ABS and thus improved elastic modulus, toughness, fracture strength, tensile strength and strain at break. Weibull modulus of fracture strength increased from 25 to 57 with vibrations.

The reported Weibull analysis offers a practical design guideline to predict failure rates at specific service stresses.

A detailed Weibull analysis of the variations in the mechanical properties of FDMed SCFR-ABS was performed for the first time. A new vibration-assisted FDM process was reported to reduce inter-bead porosity in FDMed composites.

During service, cracks are caused in prestressed concrete beams owing to overload or other non-load factors. These cracks significantly affect the safety of bridge structures. The purpose of this paper is to carry out a non-linear iterative calculation for a section of a prestressed concrete beam and obtain the change in stiffness after the section cracks.

The existing stress of prestressed reinforcement was measured by performing a boring stress release test on two pieces of an in-service 16 m prestressed concrete hollow plate. Considering the non-linear effects of materials, the calculation model of the loss in the flexural stiffness of the prestressed concrete beam was established based on the existing prestress. The accuracy of the non-linear calculation method and the results obtained for the section were verified by conducting a bending destruction test on two pieces of the 16 m prestressed concrete hollow plate in the same batch and by utilising the measured strain and displacement data on the concrete at the top edge of the midspan section under all load levels.

The flexural stiffness of the section decreases rapidly at first and then gradually, and structural rigidity is sensitive to the initial cracking of the beam. The method for calculating the loss in the flexural stiffness of the section established with the existing stress of prestressed reinforcement as a parameter is accurate and feasible. It realizes the possibility of assessing the loss in the rigidity of a prestressed concrete structure by adopting the existing stress of prestressed reinforcement as a parameter.

A method for quickly determining the loss in the stiffness of structures using existing prestress is established. By employing this method, engineers can rapidly determine whether a bridge is dangerous or not without performing a loading test. Thus, this method not only ensures the safety of human life, but also reduces the cost of testing.

GREAT progress has been made in recent years in both fields of aircraft design and manufacture. No longer is the designer completely in the dark regarding the operational loads his aircraft will have to sustain, nor completely ignorant of the capabilities of its structure. Progress has brought knowledge of the sort of operational load likely to be encountered in both flight and landing operations as well as powerful methods of analysis of aircraft structures. Even that, however, is not enough, for without a thorough understanding of the possibilities and properties of the materials at the designer's command, he cannot hope to utilize such knowledge to the full.

A general first-invariant constitutive model has been derived in literature for incompressible, isotropic hyperelastic materials, known as Marlow model, which reproduces test data exactly without the need of curve-fitting procedures. This paper aims to describe how to extend Marlow’s constitutive model to the more general case of compressible hyperelastic materials.

The isotropic constitutive model is based on a strain energy function, whose isochoric part is solely dependent on the first modified strain invariant. Based on Marlow’s idea, a principle of energetically equivalent deformation states is derived for the compressible case, which is used to determine the underlying strain energy function directly from measured test data. No particular functional of the strain energy function is assumed. It is shown how to calibrate the volumetric and isochoric strain energy functions uniquely with uniaxial or biaxial test data only. The constitutive model is implemented into a finite element program to demonstrate its applicability.

The model is well suited for use in finite element analysis. Only one set of test data is required for calibration without any need for curve-fitting procedures. These test data are reproduced exactly, and the model prediction is reasonable for other deformation modes.

Marlow’s basic concept is extended to the compressible case and applied to both the volumetric and isochoric part of the compressible strain energy function. Moreover, a novel approach is described on how both compressive and tensile test data can be used simultaneously to calibrate the model.

With the fatigue ductility test the ductility of metallic foils and flexible metal foil/dielectric laminates can be determined. Ductility together with tensile strength allows prediction of the fatigue behaviour of flexible printed wiring (FPW) in both the low‐cycle/high‐strain (ductility dependent) and the high‐cycle/low‐strain (strength dependent) ranges. However, for laminates and FPW with Kapton as the dielectric the standard fatigue ductility test method does not produce the expected results and flex life predictions deviate from experimental results. The results of a study to determine the cause of this anomalous behaviour of Kapton FPW and to find correlative correction procedures are reported. Corrections to account for both the cyclic strain‐hardening of rolled annealed copper foil and the Kapton/adhesive/copper interactions for asymmetric single‐sided FPW are presented. With these corrections the ductility determination for copper foil laminated to a Kapton substrate using the fatigue ductility test produces good results, and the fatigue life of symmetric Kapton FPW can be predicted from the copper foil properties. The underlying mechanisms for the strong deviational flex behaviour of asymmetric single‐sided FPW could not be identified. The recommendation is made that for high‐cycle flex applications the FPW construction be precisely symmetrical. FPW made from copper‐clad Kapton with rolled annealed copper foil is the overwhelming choice and it is important that one has proper acceptance criteria at incoming inspection and that a valid prediction methodology for FPW flexural resistance and fatigue behaviour is available.

The paper reports experiments carried out on beams in pure bending. The material used was a cast magnesium alloy AZ855. The beam sections were rectangular, circular, I‐section, T‐scction and diamond. One series of tests was carried out up to 1 per cent fibre strain. A second series of tests was carried out up to fracture. Tension and compression tests were also made on the material. The experimental results show conclusively that the usual theory of plastic bending is correct and that the tension‐compression stress‐strain curve of the material may be used to determine the bending moment‐curvature relationships, etc., for a beam. Measurements of neutral axis shift also confirm the predictions of plastic bending theory.

The weld region obtained during friction stir welding (FSW) of metallic materials (including aluminum alloys) contains typically well-defined zones, each characterized by fairly unique microstructure and properties. The purpose of this paper is to carry out combined experimental and numerical investigations of the mechanical properties of materials residing in different weld zones of FSW joints of thick AA2139-T8 plates.

Within the experimental investigation, the following has been conducted: first, optical-microscopy characterization of the transverse sections of the FSW joints, in order to help identify and delineate weld zones; second, micro hardness field generation over the same transverse section in order to reconfirm the location and the extent of various weld zones; third, extraction of miniature tensile specimens from different weld zones and their experimental testing; and finally, extraction of a larger size tensile specimen spanning transversely the FSW weld and its testing. Within the computational investigation, an effort was made to: first, validate the mechanical properties obtained using the miniature tensile specimens; and second, demonstrate the need for the use of the miniature tensile specimens.

It is argued that the availability of weld-zone material mechanical properties is critical since: first, these properties are often inferior relative to their base-metal counterparts; second, the width of the weld in thick metallic-armor is often comparable to the armor thickness, and therefore may represent a significant portion of the armor exposed-surface area; and finally, modeling of the weld-material structural response under loading requires the availability of high-fidelity/validated material constitutive models, and the development of such models requires knowledge of the weld-material mechanical properties.

The importance of determining the mechanical properties of the material in different parts of the weld zone with sufficient accuracy is demonstrated.

When the reinforced concrete beams are reinforced by bonding steel plates to the bottom, excessive use of steel plates will make the reinforced concrete beams become super-reinforced beams, and there are security risks in the actual use of super-reinforced beams. In order to avoid the occurrence of this situation, the purpose of this paper is to study the calculation method of the maximum number of bonded steel plates to reinforce reinforced concrete beams.

First of all, when establishing the limit failure state of the reinforced member, this paper comprehensively considers the role of the tensile steel bar and steel plate and takes the load effect before reinforcement as the negative contribution of the maximum number of bonded steel plates that can be used for reinforcement. Through the definition of the equivalent tensile strength, equivalent elastic modulus and equivalent yield strain of the tensile steel bar and steel plate, a method to determine the relative limit compression zone height of the reinforced member is obtained. Second, based on the maximum ratio of (reinforcement + steel plate), the relative limit compression zone height and the equivalent tensile strength of the tensile steel bar and steel plate of the reinforced member, the calculation method of the maximum number of bonded steel plates is derived. Then, the static load test of the test beam is carried out and the corresponding numerical model is established, and the reliability of the numerical model is verified by comparison. Finally, the accuracy of the calculation method of the maximum number of bonded steel plates is proved by the numerical model.

The numerical simulation results show that when the steel plate width is 800 mm and the thickness is 1–4 mm, the reinforced concrete beam has a delayed yield platform when it reaches the limit state, and the failure mode conforms to the basic stress characteristics of the balanced-reinforced beam. When the steel plate thickness is 5–8 mm, the sudden failure occurs without obvious warning when the reinforced concrete beam reaches the limit state. The failure mode conforms to the basic mechanical characteristics of the super-reinforced beam failure, and the bending moment of the beam failure depends only on the compressive strength of the concrete. The results of the calculation and analysis show that the maximum number of bonded steel plates for reinforced concrete beams in this experiment is 3,487 mm². When the width of the steel plate is 800 mm, the maximum thickness of the steel plate can be 4.36 mm. That is, when the thickness of the steel plate, the reinforced concrete beam is still the balanced-reinforced beam. When the thickness of the steel plate, the reinforced concrete beam will become a super-reinforced beam after reinforcement. The calculation results are in good agreement with the numerical simulation results, which proves the accuracy of the calculation method.

This paper presents a method for calculating the maximum number of steel plates attached to the bottom of reinforced concrete beams. First, based on the experimental research, the failure mode of reinforced concrete beams with different number of steel plates is simulated by the numerical model, and then the result of the calculation method is compared with the result of the numerical simulation to ensure the accuracy of the calculation method of the maximum number of bonded steel plates. And the study does not require a large number of experimental samples, which has a certain economy. The research result can be used to control the number of steel plates in similar reinforcement designs.