Tensile strength is one of the important mechanical properties of concrete, but it is difficult to measure accurately due to the brittle nature of concrete in tension. The three widely used test methods for measuring the tensile strength of concrete each have their shortcomings: the direct tension test equipment is not easy to set up, particularly for alignment, and there are no standard test specifications; the tensile strengths obtained from the test method of splitting tensile strength (American Society for Testing and Materials, ASTM C496) and that of flexural strength of concrete (ASTM C78) are significantly different from the actual tensile strength owing to mechanisms of methodologies and test setup. The objective of this research is to develop a new concrete tensile strength test method that is easy to conduct and the result is close to the direct tension strength. By applying the strut-and-tie concept and modifying the experimental design of the ASTM C78, a new concrete tensile strength test method is proposed. The test results show that the concrete tensile strength obtained by this proposed method is close to the value obtained from the direct tension test for concrete with compressive strengths from 25 to 55 MPa. It shows that this innovative test method, which is precise and easy to conduct, can be an effective alternative for tensile strength of concrete.

A contact mechanics model, based on the Hertzian elastic contact theory and cementation coating development at particulate scale, was established to predict the time-dependent small-strain stiffness of Class C fly ash–stabilized soils during curing. The cementation coating development model was developed at particulate level based on the Arrhenius law to predict the contact radius growth. A hyperbolic time–temperature relationship was proposed to capture the temperature change of fly ash–stabilized soils and links the pozzolanic reaction rate with curing time. Model-predicted small-strain stiffness was evaluated through both published and experimental test results with good success. The micromechanics modeling indicated that the small-strain stiffness of fly ash–stabilized soil depends on the contact area between fly ash and soil particles and the soil particles’ shear modulus. Most of the small-strain stiffness of the stabilized soil was developed within the first 7 days of curing. In addition, ...

A concrete-filled steel tube (CFT) combines the advantages of concrete and steel in construction and structural applications. However, research on the time-dependent deformation of the CFT under long-term sustained loading are still limited, particularly for stress transfer between the steel tube and concrete due to creep. This study investigated the creep behavior of CFT over a long period of 400 days. The creep and shrinkage strain of CFT was significantly lower than those of concrete that was not confined within a steel tube. The vertical strains of the steel tube and concrete core were almost identical, and it was shown that they were well bonded and acted as a composite. The vertical stress of steel increased by 32.7%, whereas the vertical stress of concrete decreased by 15.8% at 375 days. The stress transfer is notable and cannot be neglected in CFT design. Moreover, the results of creep and shrinkage were compared to prediction values of the B4 model and B4-TW model to verify their validity.

Addition of steel fibers to high strength concrete (HSC) improves its post-peak behavior and energy absorbing capability, which can be described well in term of toughness. This paper attempts to obtain both analytically and experimentally the efficiency of steel fibers in HSC columns with hybrid confinement of transverse reinforcement and steel fibers. Toughness ratio (TR) to quantify the confinement efficiency of HSC columns with hybrid confinement is proposed through a regression analysis by involving sixty-nine TRs of HSC without steel fibers and twenty-seven TRs of HSC with hybrid of transverse reinforcement and steel fibers. The proposed TR equation was further verified by compression tests of seventeen HSC columns conducted in this study, where twelve specimens were reinforced by high strength rebars in longitudinal and transverse directions. The results show that the efficiency of steel fibers in concrete depends on transverse reinforcement spacing, where the steel fibers are more effective if the spacing transverse reinforcement becomes larger in the range of 0.25–1 effective depth of the section column. Furthermore, the axial load–strain curves were developed by employing finite element software (OpenSees) for simulating the response of the structural system. Comparisons between numerical and experimental axial load–strain curves were carried out.

Reinforced concrete special moment frames (RC SMF) have been widely used as part of seismic force-resisting systems. Design methodologies and systematic procedures of RC SMF are needed which require no or little iteration after initial design in order to meet the targeted design objectives. This paper presents the first time application of the Performance-Based Plastic Design (PBPD) approach to RC SMF. The PBPD method uses pre-selected target drift and yield mechanisms as key performance objectives. These two design parameters are directly related to the degree and distribution of structural damage, respectively. Four baseline RC SMF (4, 8, 12 and 20-story) as used in the FEMA P695 were selected for this study. Those frames were redesigned by the PBPD approach. The baseline code designed frames and the PBPD frames were subjected to extensive inelastic pushover and time-history analyses. The seismic responses of the study frames met the targeted performance criteria with considerable improvement over the corresponding baseline code designed frames.

Conducting research on steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) beams without stirrups, particularly the SFRC beams with high-strength concrete (HSC) and high-strength steel (HSS) reinforcing bars is essential due to the limitation of test results of high strength SFRC beams with high strength steel reinforcing bars. Eight shear strength prediction equations for analysis and design of the SFRC beam derived by different researchers are summarized. A database was constructed from 236 beams. Accordingly, the previous shear strength equations can be evaluated. Ten high-strength SFRC beams subjected to monotonic loading were prepared to verify the existing shear strength prediction equations. The equations for predicting shear strength of the SFRC beam are proposed on the basis of observations from the test results and evaluation results of the previous shear strength equations. The proposed shear strength equation possesses a reasonable result. For alternative analysis and design of the SFRC beams, ACI 318-19 shear strength equation is modified to consider steel fiber parameters.