Masonry structures primarily rely on their walls as the principal load-bearing components. The walls are brittle materials such as natural stone, sandstone and brick. The walls of masonry structures have lack of the deformation capacity and to resist the tensile stresses caused by earthquake forces, settlement of foundation, and so on. To avoid loss in bearing capacity or to have more strength against lateral loads, during the production or after some precautions can be taken. The aim of this study is to investigate the behavior of strengthened aerated concrete walls by clamps. Six samples were tested under diagonal compression. All tested samples were knitted with mortar advised by the aerated concerete producer. The left five samples were knitted using different orientation of clamps and anchors made out of Ø12 deformed bars and welded plates. According to the experimental test results, it was observed that the interconnection of aerated concrete blocks with different combinations had increased stiffness, energy consumption capacity, and load bearing capacity of the walls. In addition to the brittle behavior of the reference specimen, the strengthened wall specimens have exhibited more ductile behavior.

The behavior of partially carbon fiber‐reinforced polymer (CFRP)‐wrapped square columns under axial compression load has been investigated in this study. In order to understand the partially wrapped specimen behavior thoroughly, non‐wrapped and fully CFRP‐wrapped reference specimens were added to the study. At this scope, axial compression tests of a total of 14 RC columns, 12 of which were partially wrapped, were carried out. The main parameters of the study were CFRP strip width, strip spacing, and partial wrapping location. The test results show that the confinement effect generally increases as the CFRP strip width increases, the strip spacing decreases, and the CFRP strips are located between two stirrups. The key parameter for stress–strain responses of partially CFRP confined square columns is the actual confinement ratio ( f _l / f _co ). In addition, the peak stress of confined concrete and the ultimate compressive strain were predicted by different models. The predictions show good agreement with the test results.

The use of steel fibers in a certain ratio in the concrete mixture can provide more energy dissipation to transitioning the concrete from a brittle material to a ductile material. The effects of steel fibers on the interlocking force behavior between concrete and reinforcement, as well as on concrete compressive strength, were investigated experimentally in this study. Two different water/cement ratios were prepared in the concrete mixtures for the creation of concrete samples. In the preparation of concrete, the volume of steel fibers was treated as 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, and 1.00. To evaluate the effects of steel fibers on the interlocking force between reinforcement and concrete, ribbed steel reinforcement bars were embedded by fastening the samples vertically at interlocking lengths of 5cm, 10cm, and 15cm during casting. Pull-out tests and concrete compression tests were performed on the concrete samples that had been cured for 28days. As a result of the increase in steel fiber volumetric ratios from 0.25 to 1.00, the compressive strength increased and it was found out that the steel fibers contribute negatively to the increase in compressive strength. Nevertheless, the tensile strength increases in parallel with the increase in interlocking length between concrete and reinforcement, but the tensile strength of the steel fiber samples is generally lower than that of nonfibrous samples. The principal findings of this study demonstrate that the steel fibers have a beneficial effect on flexural behavior, cracking performance, and postcracking residual stresses.

Concrete casting of interconnected structural elements such as columns and beams should be made in one piece during the construction stage of reinforced concrete structures. However, cold joints occur when concrete casting is incomplete due to variety reasons. Cold joint is a manufacturing defect that causes adherence weakness at the concrete interface as a result of casting concrete at different times. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of different angled cold joints in the shear zone on the behaviour and load carrying capacity of 4 point loaded beams under bending. For this aim, seven 1/2 scaled RC beam specimens having dimensions 150x300x3000 mm with different cold joint angles and with and without additional reinforcement at cold joints were tested. Load-Displacement curves, Yield Load, Maximum Load, Maximum Displacement, Ductility, Stiffness and Energy Dissipation Capacities of the specimens were compared.

Masonry structures is one of the most preferred structure types throughout history. The advantageous of these structures can be categorized as longevity, affordability and easy access to materials. Due to a lack of information and constructive errors, masonry structures suffer major damage under effect of earthquakes. While the vertical load carrying capacity of a masonry structure is excellent, its performance under horizontal loads is very poor. The brittle behavior of masonry structures, in particular, causes the structure to suffer significant damage or collapse completely during an earthquake. Türkiye is situated over a major earthquake zone. Throughout history, there has been numerous major earthquakes. These earthquakes have demolished the masonry structures resulted in significant life and economic losses. Therefore, in recent days, the examination of the seismic resilience performance of masonry structures as well as the required strengthening have become a pivotal issue. Thus, the aim of this study is to analyze the seismic performance of historical Obruk Inn subjected to different earthquake effects via finite elements method (FEM). To do this, the plans obtained from on-site inspections for historical Obruk Inn to create structural FEM model and its performance was evaluated under the influence of various earthquake excitations. As a result of the analyses, it was determined that the historical Obruk Inn structure should have immediate be strengthened against a possible earthquake.