From Materials To Structure. Innovation

Editors:
Bijan Samali, Mario M. Atard & Chongmin Song

Editors
Samali
Atard
Song
From Materials to Structures:
Advancement through Innovation
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From Materials to Structures: Advancement through Innovation is a
collection of peer-reviewed papers presented at the 22nd Australasian
Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials (ACMSM22)
held in Sydney Australia, from 11-14 December 2012 by academics,
researchers and practising engineers mainly from Australasia and the
Asia-Pacifc region. The topics under discussion include:
Biomechanics
Composite structures and materials
Computational mechanics
Concrete, masonry, steel and timber structures
Earthquake engineering and structural dynamics
Fire engineering
Geomechanics
Foundation engineering
Innovative and smart structures
Pavement engineering
Rehabilitation of structures
Rock engineering
Site investigation
Soil improvement and reinforcement
Structural health monitoring
Structural optimisation
Sustainable materials
From Materials to Structures: Advancement through Innovation will be
a valuable reference for academics, researchers and practising engineers
working in structural and material engineering and mechanics.
an informa business
FROM MATERIALS TO STRUCTURES: ADVANCEMENT THROUGH INNOVATION
This page intentionally left blank This page intentionally left blank
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 22
ND
AUSTRALASIAN CONFERENCE ON THE MECHANICS OF
STRUCTURES AND MATERIALS, ACMSM 22, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1114 DECEMBER 2012
Editors
Bijan Samali
University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Mario M. Attard
University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Chongmin Song
CRC Press/Balkema is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2013 Taylor & Francis Group, London, UK
Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India
Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication or the information contained herein may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written prior
permission from the publishers.
Although all care is taken to ensure integrity and the quality of this publication and the
information herein, no responsibility is assumed by the publishers nor the author for any
damage to the property or persons as a result of operation or use of this publication
and/or the information contained herein.
Published by: CRC Press/Balkema
P.O. Box 11320, 2301 EH, Leiden, The Netherlands
e-mail: Pub.NL@taylorandfrancis.com
www.crcpress.com www.taylorandfrancis.com
ISBN: 978-0-415-63318-5 (hardback +USB)
ISBN: 978-0-203-52001-7 (eBook)
From Materials to Structures: Advancement through Innovation Samali, Attard & Song (Eds)
2013 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-63318-5
Table of contents
Preface XV
Scientific committee XVII
Keynote papers
Analysis of dynamic penetration of soils 3
J.P. Carter & M. Nazem
Strategies for structural health monitoring of bridges: Japans experience and practice 15
Y. Fujino & D. Siringoringo
Recycled and renewable materials as resources for electric arc furnace steelmaking 21
M. Zaharia, N.F. Yunos &V. Sahajwalla
Terror, security, and money: The risks, benefits, and costs of critical infrastructure protection 29
M.G. Stewart & J. Mueller
Composite structures & materials
Concrete filled fabricated VHS tube to mild steel plate triangular stub columns under axial
compression load 43
F. Alatshan, F.R. Mashiri & B. Uy
Multi-objective design optimisation of GFRP sandwich beams 49
Z.K. Awad, T. Aravinthan, Y. Zhuge & F. Gonzalez
Effect of construction sequence in the axial shortening behaviour of composite columns 55
N. Baidya, L. Zhang, P. Mendis & S. Fragomeni
Structural evaluation of concrete expanded polystyrene sandwich panels for slab applications 61
R.M. Bajracharya, W.P. Lokuge, W. Karunasena, K.T. Lau &A.S. Mosallam
Long-term deformation of composite concrete slabs under sustained loading 67
A. Gholamhoseini, R.I. Gilbert, M.A. Bradford & Z.T. Chang
Residual strength of timber-concrete composite beams after long-term test 73
M. Hailu, C. Gerber, R. Shrestha & K. Crews
Effect of boundary conditions on the creep response of sandwich beams with a viscoelastic soft core 79
E. Hamed & M. Ramezani
A review of FRP composite truss systems and its connections 85
R.M. Hizam, A.C. Manalo &W. Karunasena
Post-critical behaviour of sandwich cylindrical shells with variable thickness 91
P. Jasion & K. Magnucki
Analytical solution of multi-layer composite beam including interlayer slip and uplift 95
A. Krofli c, M. Saje & I. Planinc
Time dependent behaviour of two-layer composite beams 101
Effect of ply configuration on hollow square reinforced concrete columns confined with
Carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) 107
T.D. Le, M.T. Lester & M.N.S. Hadi
V
Electroelastic analysis of interface cracks and corners in piezoelectric composites using
scaled boundary finite element method 113
C. Li, H. Man, C. Song &W. Gao
Long-term in-plane analysis of concrete-filled steel tubular arches under a central concentrated load 119
K. Luo, Y.L. Pi, M.A. Bradford &W. Gao
A comparison of various plate theories for functionally graded material sandwich plates 127
S. Natarajan & M. Ganapathi
Crack propagation modeling in functionally graded materials using polygon elements modeled
by the scaled boundary finite element method 133
E.T. Ooi, S. Guo & C. Song
Effect of eccentric load on retrofitted reinforced concrete columns confined with FRP 139
T.M. Pham, X. Lei & M.N.S. Hadi
Application of externally post-tensioned FRP bars for strengthening reinforced concrete members 145
A. Rajabi, H.R. Valipour, B. Samali & S. Foster
Evaluation of effective width of GFRP-steel composite beams for structural construction 149
S. Satasivam, Y. Bai & X.L. Zhao
Behaviour of composite steel-concrete beams under elevated temperatures 155
K. Wilkins, O. Mirza & B. Uy
Experimental trends of FRP-to-concrete joints anchored with FRP anchors 161
H.W. Zhang & S.T. Smith
Multi-scale nonlinear elastic analysis of thin-walled members including local effects 169
R.E. Erkmen
Thin plate bending analysis using the generalized RKP-FSM 175
M. Khezri, Z. Vrcelj & M.A. Bradford
On volume change dependency of the soil water characteristic curve in numerical
modeling of unsaturated soils 183
A. Khoshghalb & N. Khalili
Improved nonlinear analysis methods for determining the initial shape of cable-supported bridges 189
M.Y. Kim, D.J. Min & M.M. Attard
Efficient bending analysis for piezoelectric plates using scaled boundary finite-element method 195
H. Man, C. Song, W. Gao & F. Tin-Loi
Evaluation of stress intensity factors on cracked functionally graded materials using polygons
modelled by the scaled boundary finite element method 201
E.T. Ooi, I. Chiong & C. Song
In-plane stability of variable cross-section columns with shear deformations 207
L. Su & M.M. Attard
Limit analysis in the presence of plasticity and contact 213
S. Tangaramvong, F. Tin-Loi & C.M. Song
Application of explicit finite element analysis in solving practical structural engineering problems 219
T. Watts, K. Kayvani &A. Kucyper
Fluid flow through single fracture using Lattice Boltzmann Method 225
P. Yin & G. Zhao
Concrete structures
The behaviour of fibre reinforced continuous concrete slabs under load an experimental study 233
F.M. Abas, R.I. Gilbert, S.J. Foster & M.A. Bradford
VI
Application of flexible faade systems in reducing the lateral displacement of concrete
frames subjected to seismic loads 241
P. Abtahi, B. Samali, M. Zobec &T. Ngo
Investigation of ground flint glass as a supplementary cementitious material in autoclaved
lime-silica binders 247
K. Angus, P.S. Thomas, K. Vessalas &A.S. Ray
Finite element model calibration of an instrumented RC building based on seismic excitation
including non-structural components and soil-structure-interaction 251
F. Butt & P. Omenzetter
Modelling of reinforced concrete beam response to repeated loading including steel-concrete
interface damage 257
A. Castel, R.I. Gilbert, S.J. Foster & G. Ranzi
Shear strengthening of RC beam with external FRP bonding: A state-of-the-art review 263
R. Choudhury, T.G. Suntharavadivel, P. Keleher &A. Patil
Evaluation of longitudinal bond shear stress and bond-slip relationship in composite concrete slabs
using partial shear connection method 269
Evaluation of mechanical properties of carpet fibre reinforced concrete 275
N. Ghosni, B. Samali & K. Vessalas
Bond failure in grouted post-tensioned slab tendons with little or no initial prestress 281
R.I. Gilbert
Effect of supporting conditions on the long-term load capacity of high strength concrete panels 287
Y. Huang & E. Hamed
A mathematical model for complete stress-strain curve prediction of permeable concrete 293
M.K. Hussin, Y. Zhuge, F. Bullen &W.P. Lokuge
Effects of temperature, relative humidity and outdoor environment on FRP-concrete bond 299
M.I. Kabir, R. Shrestha & B. Samali
A preliminary investigation of the strength and ductility of lapped splices of reinforcing bars in tension 305
A.E. Kilpatrick & R.I. Gilbert
Feasibility study of autonomous deformation control of PC viaducts 313
M. Kunieda, N. Chijiwa, K. Ohara & K. Maekawa
Anchorage of deformed reinforcing bars in tension: An outlook for advanced formulation
of a bond-slip constitutive law 319
M.H. Mazumder, R.I. Gilbert & Z.T. Chang
Structural performance of 45 year old corroded prestressed concrete beams 325
T.M. Pape & R.E. Melchers
Fatigue behaviour of reinforced concrete beams with addition of steel fibres 333
A. Parvez & S.J. Foster
An experimental study on the shrinkage and ultimate behaviour of post-tensioned composite slabs 339
G. Ranzi, A. Ostinelli & B. Uy
Instantaneous and long-term behaviour of cracked reinforced concrete slabs prepared with
different curing conditions 345
M.M. Rahman, A. Ostinelli, G. Ranzi & R.I. Gilbert
Effect of reinforcement confinement on concrete cover cracking in reinforced concrete structures 351
H.B. Sabtu & M.G. Stewart
Lateral strain of confined concrete incorporating size effect 357
A.K. Samani & M.M. Attard
Combining high-strength self-compacting and normal-strength concretes in reinforced
concrete frame structures 363
M. Soleymani Ashtiani, R.P. Dhakal &A.N. Scott
VII
Investigating the arching action in reinforced concrete beams 369
N.F. Vesali, H. Valipour, B. Samali & S.J. Foster
FEM modelling and analysis of reinforced concrete section with lightweight blocks infill 375
A.S. Wahyuni, V. Vimonsatit & H. Nikraz
Effective stiffness of reinforced concrete section with lightweight blocks infill 381
A.S. Wahyuni, V. Vimonsatit & H. Nikraz
Dynamic analysis of structures
Assessment of key response quantities for design of a cable-stayed bridge subjected to
sudden loss of cable(s) 387
Y. Aoki, B. Samali, A. Saleh & H. Valipour
Ambient vibration tests and analysis of a multiple-span elevated bridge 393
X. Chen, P. Omenzetter & S. Beskhyroun
A novel piezoelectric wafer-stack vibration energy harvester 399
X.Z. Jiang, Y.C. Li & J.C. Li
Optimization-based interval dynamic response analysis of a bridge under a moving vehicle
with uncertain properties 405
N. Liu, W. Gao, C.M. Song & N. Zhang
Automatic dynamic crack propagation modeling using polygon scaled boundary finite elements 411
E.T. Ooi, M. Shi, C. Song, F. Tin-Loi & Z.J. Yang
Dynamic analysis for plate structures by the scaled boundary finite-element method 417
T. Xiang, H. Man, C. Song &W. Gao
Earthquake & wind engineering
A newly developed analytical model of transient downburst wind loads 425
E. Abdelaal, X. Ma & J.E. Mills
Dynamic behaviour of flexible facade systems in tall buildings subjected to wind loads 431
A. Azad, B. Samali, T. Ngo & C. Nguyen
Seismic risk analysis based on historical events reported in Sri Lanka 437
P. Gamage & S. Venkatesan
Influence of infilled masonry wall on vibration properties and dynamic responses of
building structures to earthquake ground excitations 443
H. Hao
Behavior of reinforced concrete rectangular aboveground tanks subjected to near-source
seismic excitations 449
M. Hosseini & Sh. Abizadeh
A comparative study on the seismic performance of moment resisting frame steel buildings,
designed by IBC and Eurocode, based on nonlinear time history analyses 455
M. Hosseini & F. Sheikhlou
Optimal story-wise distribution of viscous dampers in a five-story building 461
B. Kashani Madani & M. Hosseini
Effects of vertical seismic loadings on safety evaluation for earth dams 469
H.J. Li & Z.W. Yan
Smart structures embedded with MR dampers using non-affine Fuzzy Control 475
Z. Movassaghi, B. Samali & Q.P. Ha
Seismic performance improvement of stone masonry buildings in mud mortar 479
R. Pun, B. Samali & H. Valipour
Quasi-static testing protocol for simulating earthquake conditions in regions of low-moderate seismicity 485
R. Shahi, N. Lam, E. Gad & J. Wilson
VIII
Dynamic analysis of structures with interval parameters under random process earthquake excitations 491
C.W. Yang, C. Wang, W. Gao & C.M. Song
Fibre composites
Assessment of wollastonite microfibre on drying shrinkage behaviour of cement-based composites 499
N.L. Galea, P. Hamedanimojarrad, K. Vessalas & P.S. Thomas
Experimental study on the bondline behavior between concrete and FRP materials 505
S.A. Hadigheh, R.J. Gravina, S. Setunge & S.J. Kim
An experimental investigation of a thermal break composite faade mullion section 513
S. Huang, J. Li, B. Samali & M. Zobec
Mechanical properties of bamboo fiber-polyester composites 519
A.C. Manalo, W. Karunasena & K.T. Lau
Influence of hooked-end steel fibers on absorbed energy of slurry-infiltrated fiber concrete
in flexural test 525
Y. Shafaei & O. Eren
Properties and behaviour of gomuti fibre composites under tensile and compressive load 531
A. Ticoalu, T. Aravinthan & F. Cardona
Formula for SIF of cracked steel plates strengthened with CFRP plate 537
Q.Q. Yu, X.L. Zhao, T. Chen, Z.G. Xiao & X.L. Gu
Fire engineering
Influence of in-situ pore pressures and temperatures on spalling of reinforced concrete walls
subjected to hydrocarbon fire 543
M. Guerrieri & S. Fragomeni
Thermal performance of non-load bearing LSF walls using numerical studies 549
P. Keerthan & M. Mahendran
Prediction of shear failure of hollowcore slabs exposed to fire 555
J.K. Min, R.P. Dhakal, A.K. Abu, P.J. Moss &A.H. Buchanan
A review on fire protection for phase change materials in building applications 561
Q. Nguyen, T. Ngo & P. Mendis
Self-strengthening of structural steel members using shape memory alloys in fire 567
H. Sadiq, M.B. Wong, X.L. Zhao & R. Al-Mahaidi
Foundation and pavement engineering
Review of residential footing design on expansive soil in Australia 575
A.M.A.N. Karunarathne, E.F. Gad, S. Sivanerupan & J.L. Wilson
Analysis of pile group behaviour due to excavation induced ground movements 581
R. Nishanthan, D.S. Liyanapathirana & C.J. Leo
Inelastic lateral seismic response of building frames under influence of bedrock depth variations
incorporating soil-structure interaction 587
H.R. Tabatabaiefar, B. Fatahi & B. Samali
Numerical and experimental investigations of stress wave propagation in utility poles under
soil influence 593
N. Yan, J. Li, U. Dackermann & B. Samali
Geomechanics
Comparison of existing design methods for geosynthetic reinforced pile-supported embankments:
Three-dimensional numerical modelling 601
P. Ariyarathne, D.S. Liyanapathirana & C.J. Leo
IX
Efficient modeling of wave propagation in unbounded domains using the scaled boundary
finite element method 607
X. Chen, C. Birk & C. Song
Experimental investigation of desiccation of clayey soils 613
Y. Gui, G. Zhao & N. Khalili
A geotechnical site investigation by surface waves 619
P. Harutoonian, C.J. Leo, D.S. Liyanapathirana & K. Tokeshi
A constitutive permeability evolution model for fractured porous media 625
J. Ma, N. Khalili & G. Zhao
Comparisons of seismic rock slope stability assessments between the Hoek-Brown and
Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria 629
Z.G. Qian, A.J. Li, V. Kong &A.V. Lyamin
Permeability of the fractured rockmass A review 635
K.K. Singh, D.N. Singh & P.G. Ranjith
Horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio inversion using Monte Carlo approach and enhanced by
Rayleigh wave dispersion curve 641
K. Tokeshi, P. Harutoonian, C.J. Leo, D.S. Liyanapathirana & R. Golaszewski
An investigation of arching mechanism of geosynthetic reinforced column supported embankments 647
N.N.S. Yapage, D.S. Liyanapathirana, C.J. Leo, H.G. Poulos & R.B. Kelly
Mechanics of materials
Synergistic energy absorption in the in-plane static compression response of filled honeycombs 655
R.J. DMello &A.M. Waas
Stress analysis of cemented wellbores in geosequestration of carbon dioxide 661
M.G. Haider, J. Sanjayan & P.G. Ranjith
Metal surface profile and residual stress: Persuasion of adhesion 667
M.S. Islam, L. Tong & P.J. Falzon
Strength of glass under concentrated force 673
H. Jiang, N.T.K. Lam, L. Zhang & E.F. Gad
Orthotropic Simo and Pister hyperelasticity 679
D.C. Kellermann & M.M. Attard
Pressure correction in water-bag testings to investigate post cracked behaviour of laminated glass 685
R. Lumantarna, C. Nguyen, M. Zobec &T. Ngo
Biomechanical environment of early stage of bone healing under biological internal fixation 691
S. Miramini, L. Zhang, P. Mendis & M. Richardson
Material structural design with isotropy constraint 697
A. Radman, X. Huang &Y.M. Xie
Experimental study on mixed-mode fracture between concrete and rock 703
H. Zhong, T. Ding & G. Lin
In-plane buckling analysis of funicular arches with pinned supports 709
J. Zhu & M.M. Attard
New design and construction technologies
Structural performance under lateral loads of innovative prefabricated modular structures 717
T. Gunawardena, T. Ngo, P. Mendis, L. Aye & J. Alfano
Displacement based design method for outrigger braced tall buildings 723
N. Herath, P. Mendis, T. Ngo & N. Haritos
Innovative materials for next generation faade systems 729
Q. Nguyen, P. Mendis, T. Ngo, P. Tran & C. Nguyen
X
Review of diaphragm actions in domestic structures 735
I. Saifullah, E.F. Gad, J.L. Wilson, N.T.K. Lam & K. Watson
Study of blockage effect on scouring pattern downstream of a box culvert 741
S. Sorourian, A. Keshavarzi, B. Samali & J. Ball
Shock and impact loading
Fundamentals of impact actions demonstrated by miniature experimentations 747
M. Ali, J. Sun, N. Lam, L. Zhang & E. Gad
Numerical simulation of impact pile driving and its effect on far field 751
S.D. Ekanayake, D.S. Liyanapathirana & C.J. Leo
Effects of energy level and impact repetitions on the impact fatigue behaviour and post-impact
flexural properties of square FRP pultruded tubes 757
E.J. Guades, T. Aravinthan, A.C. Manalo & M.M. Islam
A novel adaptive base isolator utilising magnetorheological elastomer 763
Y.C. Li, J.C. Li & B. Samali
Numerical modelling of composite textile subjected to impact loading 769
P. Tran, T. Ngo, E.C. Yang, P. Mendis &W. Humphries
Bio-inspired composite structure subjected to underwater impulsive loading 775
P. Tran, T. Ngo & P. Mendis
Numerical simulation of concrete spalling under impact 781
C. Wu & L. Shen
Simulation of pressure impulse diagrams for foam protected RC members 787
C. Wu & H. Sheikh
Impact analyses simplified by the two-degrees-of-freedom models 793
Y. Yang, N. Lam, L. Zhang & E. Gad
Steel and aluminium structures
Testing of steel-CFRP adhesive joints under freeze-thaw cycling 801
A. Agarwal, S. Foster, E. Hamed & Z. Vrcelj
A new kinetic model for steel specific heat during phase transformation 807
H. Fang, M.B. Wong &Y. Bai
Finite element modeling of a beam-column connection in industrial storage racking structures 813
A. Firouzianhaji, A. Saleh & B. Samali
Shear tests of lipped channel beams with stiffened web openings 819
The use of neural networks for identification of parameters of semi-rigid connections 825
A. Kozowski & L. Ziemia nski
Finite element modeling of existing cable net structures 829
G.J. Lume
Theoretical research on cold-formed channel sections under bending 835
S. Maduliat, P. Mendis, T.D. Ngo & M.R. Bambach
Analysis of a railway turnout system with a spot replacement sleeper 841
A.C. Manalo, T. Aravinthan &W. Karunasena
Stability reinforcement of steel plates by heat-induced stress deformation fields 847
N. Schillo, D. Schaefer & M. Feldmann
Numerical study of block shear strength of coped beams bolted with angles/tee-section 853
K.S. Seak, A.C.C. Lam & M.C.H. Yam
XI
Re-evaluation of shear strength of high strength bolts in AS 4100 859
R.H.R. Tide
A comparative study on the performance of the damage detection methods in the frequency domain 867
M.M. Alamdari, J. Li & B. Samali
A FRF-based damage detection method utilising wavelet decomposition 873
M.M. Alamdari, J. Li & B. Samali
Adaptive multiple forgetting factor recursive least square (AMFF-RLS) for real-time
structural identification 879
M. Askari, J. Li & B. Samali
Integrated bridge deterioration modeling for concrete elements incorporating Elman Neural Network 885
G.P. Bu, J.H. Lee, H. Guan &Y.C. Loo
Transmissibility function analysis for boundary damage identification of a two-storey framed
structure using artificial neural networks 891
U. Dackermann, J. Li & B. Samali
Numerical computation of dispersion relations in three-dimensional waveguides 897
H. Gravenkamp, J. Prager, H. Man, C. Birk & C. Song
Long-term monitoring of vibration properties of structures with different materials and
boundary conditions 903
H. Hao
Deterioration prediction of concrete bridges with artificial neural network (ANN) derived
from discrete condition data 909
M.S. Hasan, S. Setunge & D.W. Law
Structural damage detection using the Wiener filter 915
M. Jayawardhana, X. Zhu & R. Liyanapathirana
Evaluation of thermal gradients and their effects in a bridge box girder using monitoring data 921
P. Omenzetter, P. Chua, A. Issa & B. Sanders
Numerical modelling of Lamb waves in cracked plates using the scaled boundary finite element method 927
A.A. Saputra, C. Birk, C. Song & H. Gravenkamp
Mechanical properties of epoxy grouts for structural repair 933
M. Shamsuddoha, M.M. Islam, T. Aravinthan, A.C. Manalo & K.T. Lau
Damage detection in a timber bridge model 939
D. Tran, S. Venkatesan & S. Fragomeni
Structural optimisation and reliability
Reliability analysis of steel pipeline welds subjected to long-term seawater exposure 947
I.A. Chaves & R.E. Melchers
Statistical safety factor calibration of short concrete-filled steel tubular columns 953
W.H. Kang, B. Uy, Z. Tao & S. Hicks
Model updating of a full-scale bridge structure using particle swarm optimization 959
F. Shabbir & P. Omenzetter
Spatial reliability analysis of reinforced concrete columns subject to explosive blast loads 965
Y. Shi & M.G. Stewart
Uncertainty in long-term analysis of concrete-filled steel tubular columns under sustained loading 971
X. Shi, W. Gao, Y.L. Pi & M.A. Bradford
Topology optimization under displacement and softening constraints 977
S. Tangaramvong, F. Tin-Loi &Y.M. Xie
XII
Damage severity estimation using Parallel Genetic Algorithm and power spectral density 983
M. Varmazyar, N. Haritos & M. Kirley
Modal analysis of structures with mixed random and fuzzy parameters 991
C. Wang, J.W. Feng, W. Gao & C.M. Song
Uncertain limit analysis of structures with interval parameters 997
D. Wu, W. Gao, F. Tin-Loi & S. Tangaramvong
Sustainability of structures and materials
A novel acid resistant green mortar for high corrosive environments 1005
G. Adam, S. Salek, B. Samali, P. Battista & M. McKinnon
Environmental impact assessment of post tensioned and reinforced concrete slab construction 1009
D. Miller, J.H. Doh, H. Guan, M. Mulvey, S. Fragomeni, T. McCarthy &T. Peters
Deterioration of concrete structures in Australia under a changing climate 1015
L. Peng & M.G. Stewart
High-strength self-compacting concrete for sustainable construction 1021
R. Sri Ravindrarajah
Advancement in construction: Application of Rapid Quality Identification Technique
in stone for risk mitigation and sustainability 1027
D. Sarma & M.D. Sarma
Damage potential to residential structures due to ground movement 1033
D. Wagle, E.F. Gad, S. Sivanerupan & J.L. Wilson
An overview of sustainable concrete made with scrap rubber 1039
O. Youssf & M.A. ElGawady
Timber engineering
Steel-timber hybrid structures Design performance and dynamic behaviour 1047
C. Dickof, S.F. Stiemer & S. Tesfamariam
Review on long-term behaviour of timber-concrete composite floors 1053
N. Khorsandnia, H.R. Valipour, R. Shrestha, C. Gerber & K. Crews
The predictive model for strength of inclined screws as shear connection in timber-concrete
composite floor 1059
F. Moshiri, C. Gerber, H.R. Valipour, R. Shrestha & K.I. Crews
Dynamic performance of timber flooring systems 1065
R. Rijal, B. Samali, R. Shrestha, G. Gerber & K. Crews
Stressed cross-laminated-timber for bridge applications 1071
L. Shearman, C. Gerber & K. Crews
Behaviour of stress wave propagation in utility timber pole 1077
M. Subhani, J. Li & B. Samali
Ultimate performance of timber connection with normal screws 1083
Z. Zabihi, R. Shrethta, B. Samali & K. Crews
Concrete/material technology
Characterisation of cement mortar containing oil-contaminated aggregates 1091
M.H. Almabrok, R.G. McLaughlan & K. Vessalas
An experimental investigation into the tensile strength of steel fibre reinforced concrete 1097
A. Amin, S.J. Foster, D. Boillet &A. Muttoni
Comparison of the analytical models to determine modulus of rupture of self-compacting
concrete and conventional concrete 1105
F. Aslani & S. Nejadi
XIII
Effects of fly ash on compressive strength of structural concrete 1113
R.J. Case, K. Duan &T.G. Suntharavadivel
Brown coal fly ash geopolymer mortar 1119
R. Dirgantara, D.W. Law, T.K. Molyneaux & D. Kong
Evaluation of fresh properties effect on the compressive strength of polypropylene fibre
reinforced polymer modified concrete 1123
N. Ghosni, K. Vessalas & B. Samali
Engineered cementitious composites incorporating recycled concrete fines 1129
J. Li, P. Surya & E.H. Yang
Effect of different concentrations of lime water on mechanical properties of high volume
fly ash concrete 1135
X.H. Ling, S. Setunge & I. Patnaikuni
Recycled aggregate concrete prepared with water-washed aggregates An investigative study 1143
C.Y. Lo, S.H. Chowdhury & J.H. Doh
Mechanical properties of polymer concrete with different types of resin 1147
W.P. Lokuge &T. Aravinthan
Investigation on the mathematical models of chloride diffusion coefficient in concrete exposed to
marine environment 1153
F. Nabavi, S. Nejadi & B. Samali
Investigation of flint glass for partial replacement of fine aggregate in fly ash cement-based mortars 1159
A. Ngadimin, K. Vessalas, P. Thomas & P. Hamedanimojarrad
Effect of polyvinyl alcohol fibre and fly ash on flexural tensile properties of concrete 1165
A. Noushini, K. Vessalas, N. Ghosni & B. Samali
Investigation into cavitation as a cause of rate-dependent fatigue loss in submerged concrete members 1171
M. Sagan, C. Fujiyama & K. Maekawa
Mechanical properties of fibre reinforced reactive powder concrete after exposure to high temperatures 1177
S. Sanchayan, N. Gowripalan & S.J. Foster
Assessment of bottom ash use as fine aggregate replacement in concrete 1183
R. Satsangi, K. Vessalas & S. Russell
Assessment of compressive strength of elastomeric modified concrete incorporating waste tyre rubber 1187
N. Sharifi, K. Vessalas & B. Samali
Acids attack on silica fume high-strength concrete 1193
Drying shrinkage of concrete made from recycled concrete aggregate 1199
B.A. Whiting, T.J. McCarthy & E. Lume
Author index 1205
XIV
Preface
The organisers of the 22nd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials (ACMSM22)
extend a warm welcome to all participants whose presence and contributions will no doubt be a key factor for
the success of this conference. This conference is hosted jointly by the Centre for Built Infrastructure Research
at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the Centre for Infrastructure Engineering & Safety at the
University of NewSouthWales (UNSW). The theme for the 2012ACMSMconference is Materials to Structures:
Advancement through Innovation. The first Australasian conference on mechanics of structures and materials
began at the University of NewSouth Wales in 1967 as an initiative of the late Prof F.S. Shaw. Subsequently, these
conferences have been held biennially as a forum for exchanging the latest research in the field of mechanics of
structures and materials by researchers in the Australasian region and beyond. The last conference, ACMSM21,
was held at Victoria University in Melbourne in December 2010.
Over the forty five year span and twenty one conventions of the ACMSM conferences, there has been con-
tinuous research growth in the understanding of infrastructure and the emergence of new and green materials
has added more impetus and relevance to these conferences. The ACMSM has become a biennial forum for
academics, researchers and practising structural and construction engineers, as well as materials scientists in the
region, fostering the exchange of ideas and detailing the research challenges in infrastructure development in
our region.
The peer reviewed papers contained in these proceedings were accepted for presentation at ACMSM22, held at
theAerial Function Centre, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia from1114 December 2012. The almost
200 papers were authored by academics, researchers and practising engineers from many countries around the
world and cover a broad range of structural engineering and materials research under the following topics:
Biomechanics Pavement engineering
Composite structures and materials Rehabilitation of structures
Computational mechanics Rock engineering
Concrete, masonry, steel and timber structures Site investigation
Earthquake engineering and structural dynamics Soil improvement and reinforcement
Fire engineering Structural health monitoring
Foundation engineering Structural optimisation
Geomechanics Sustainable materials
The abstracts submitted were initially reviewed by the organising committee and authors of those abstracts that
fell within the scope of the conference were asked to submit full papers for peer review. All the papers included
in these proceedings were subjected to rigorous review by the experts in relevant fields. This peer review process
resulted in many papers being improved and some papers being rejected. The editors would like to acknowledge
the contributions made to the conference by the Scientific Committee who undertook the task of reviewing all
the submitted papers.
The editors would also like to thank all the keynote speakers, authors, participants and members of the local
organising committee especially Dr. David Kellermann, Dr. Michael Man and Dr. Ean Tat Ooi, for their effort
and support for this conference.
On behalf of the ACMSM22 Organising Committee, we welcome you to exciting Sydney and hope that you
find the conference inspiring and enjoyable.
Bijan Samali
Mario Attard
Chongmin Song
September 2012
XV
Scientific committee
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Abhi Ray, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Adrian Russell, University of New South Wales, Australia
Alfonso Nappi, University of Trieste, Italy
Ali Saleh, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Andrew Deeks, Durham University, UK
Arman Khoshghalb, University of New South Wales, Australia
Behzad Fatahi, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Bijan Samali, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Brian Uy, University of Western Sydney, Australia
Carolin Birk, University of New South Wales, Australia
Chongmin Song, University of New South Wales, Australia
Dak Baweija, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
David A. Nethercot, Imperial College, UK
David Thambiratnam, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Ehab Hamed, University of New South Wales, Australia
Francis Tin-Loi, University of New South Wales, Australia
Gianluca Ranzi, University of Sydney, Australia
Giles W. Hunt, Univeristy of Bath, UK
Hadi Khabbaz, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Hamid Valipour, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Hao Zhang, University of Sydney, Australia
Hong Guang, Griffith University, Griffith, Australia
Hossein Taiebat, University of New South Wales, Australia
Ichiro Ario, Hiroshima University, Japan
Jan G.M. van Mier, Institut fr Baustoffe (IfB), Zurich, Switzerland
Jay Sanjayan, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn VIC, Australia
Jianchun Li, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
John Carter, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia
John Wilson, Swinburne University of Technology, Swinburne, Australia
Karu Karunasena, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia
Keith Crews, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Kenny Kwok, University of Western Sydney, Australia
Kim Rasmussen, University of Sydney, Australia
Kirk Vessalas, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Koichi Maekawa, University of Tokyo, Japan
Luming Shen, University of Sydney, Australia
Mario M. Attard, University of New South Wales, Australia
Mark A. Bradford, University of New South Wales, Australia
Mark Stewart, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia
Michael Yu Wang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong
Moon-Young Kim, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, South Korea
Muhammad Hadi, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
Nasser Khalili, University of New South Wales, Australia
Priyan Mendis, Melbourne University, Melbourne, Australia
Hong Hao, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Rajesh Dhakal, University of Canterbury, Canterbury, New Zealand
Raymond Ian Gilbert, University of New South Wales, Australia
Rob Melchers, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia
Sritawat Kitipornchai, City University of Hong Kong, HK
Sam Fragomeni, University of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
XVII
Shami Nejadi, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
SL Chan, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, HK
Sri Ravindrarajah, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Srikanth Venkatesan, University of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Stephen J. Foster, University of New South Wales, Australia
Sujeeva Setunge, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Thiru Aravinthan, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia
Tommy Chan, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Veena Sahajwalla, University of New South Wales, Australia
Wei Gao, University of New South Wales, Australia
Wilfried Becker, TU Darmstadt, Germany
Yew-Chaye Loo, Griffith University, Griffith, Australia
Yi-Min Xie, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Yozo Fujino, University of Tokyo, Japan
Zhao Xiao, Monash University, Clayton, Australia
Zhenjun Yang, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
Zhong Tao, University of Western Sydney, Australia
Zora Vrcelj, University of New South Wales, Australia
LOCAL ORGANISING COMMITTEE
Bijan Samali, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia (chair)
Mario Attard, University of New South Wales, Australia (co-chair)
Chongmin Song, University of New South Wales, Australia (co-chair)
Ean Tat Ooi, University of New South Wales, Australia
Michael (Hou) Man, University of New South Wales, Australia
David Kellermann, University of New South Wales, Australia
XVIII
Keynote papers
Analysisof dynamicpenetrationof soils
J.P. Carter & M. Nazem
Centre for Geotechnical and Material Modelling, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: The finite element analysis of dynamic penetration of soil deposits, by either free falling or
propelledobjects,isoneof themostsophisticatedandchallengingproblemsingeomechanics.Arobustnumerical
method is described here for dealing with such complex and difficult problems. The approach is based on
theArbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian(ALE) methodof analysis, whosemainfeatures andchallenges arebriefly
described. TheALE methodis thenemployedto performaparametric study of avariety of penetrometers in
layersof inhomogeneousclaydeformingunder undrainedconditions. Theeffectof themechanical propertiesof
theclaysoil onthepenetrationcharacteristicsisdiscussed.
1 INTRODUCTION
Penetrometers are widely used to investigate the
mechanical properties of soils and to embed objects
in soil deposits, especially anchors and other items
intheseafloor. Freefallingpenetrometershavebeen
employed to provide information on the strength of
seabedsediments. Suchtestscanbeenvisagedasthe
dynamic equivalent of a static cone penetration test
(CPT). Theycanprovideuseful datasuchasthetotal
depth and time of penetration and the deceleration
characteristicsof thefallingpenetrometer. Potentially,
thesedatacanthenbeusedtodeducestrengthparam-
etersfor thesoil insitu. Other typesof projectilesare
also usedto embedanchors andother objects deeply
intheseafloor. Largescaleanchorsof thistypehave
beenemployedfor shipmooringsandthemooringof
floating(offshore) petroleumproductionfacilities.
To date, dynamic penetrometers have been used
for offshoreoil andgasindustry applicationssuchas
determiningsoil strengthsforpipelinefeasibilitystud-
ies and anchoring systems, in military applications
for naval minecountermeasures and terminal ballis-
tic studies, in extra-terrestrial exploration, and they
have also been proposed and investigated for deep
sea nuclear waste disposal (Chow 2011). The spec-
ifications of a dynamic penetrometer, including its
shape, geometry, mass, andinitial velocity, normally
dependonitsapplication. Forinstance, torpedoesused
to anchor flexiblerisers aretypically 1215mlong,
weigh 240950kN in air, and are 7621077mmin
diameter (Medeiros 2002), while the STING pen-
etrometer, developed by Canadas DefenceResearch
Establishment Atlantic, to investigate the upper sea
bedconsists of a1mlong19mmdiameter steel rod
withanenlargedtipat itsbasewithdiametersof 25
70mm(Mulhearn2002). Numerical andexperimental
studieshaveshownthatthepenetrationcharacteristics
of thesepenetrometersdependontheir geometryand
impact energy as well as the mechanical properties
of thesoil layer, particularlyitsundrainedproperties.
Scott(1970),Dayal andAllen(1973),True(1975),and
Beard(1977) areamongthepioneers who presented
theearliest applicationsof freefallingpenetrometers
inprovidinginformationontheupper fewmetres of
seabed sediments. At thetimeof thesestudies pow-
erful numerical methods werenot availableto solve
thecorrespondingtheoretical problemandresearchers
hadtorelyonempirical correctionfactorstointerpret
test data. Scott (1970) alsodemonstratedthat techno-
logical limitationspreventedreliabledatafrombeing
obtained. Over thelast decade, improvementsinsen-
sor technology have led to renewed interest in the
dynamic penetration resistance of soil with several
newpenetrometer systems beingdevelopedto inves-
tigatesoil strength and bearing capacity. Oneof the
factorspreventingthewidespreaduseof thistechnol-
ogyistheuncertaintyinthemethodof interpretation.
For example, experimental studies (Mulhearn, 2002,
Abelev et al., 2009) with penetrometers of different
diameters have indicated limitations of the widely
used empirical methods of interpretation developed
by True(1975), and havedemonstrated theneed for
a better understanding of the factors affecting the
dynamicsoil resistance.
Foravarietyof reasons, thenumerical simulationof
thistypeof penetrationproblemisprobablyoneof the
mostsophisticated, difficultandchallengingproblems
intheoretical geomechanics. Fromthepoint of view
of thematerial, theanalyst must consider therelative
incompressibility of thesoil during theshort testing
timesrequiredfor full penetrationandthelikelyinho-
mogeneity andratedependenceof thesoil deposited
ontheseabed.Thisrequiresarobuststress-integration
algorithmtoaccuratelyevaluatethestressesforagiven
strain field. Inertiaeffects may also beimportant in
3
caseswherethepenetrationoccursrapidly. Moreover,
the penetration of objects into layers of soil usually
involves severe mesh distortion caused by the large
deformations. Moreimportantly, theboundarycondi-
tions of the problemdo not remain constant during
the analysis since the contact surface between the
penetrometer andthesoil changes continuously dur-
ingpenetration. Finally, anadvancedtime-integration
scheme must be employed to accurately predict the
highlynonlinear responseof thesoil.
This paper describes a robust numerical method
for dealing with such complex and difficult prob-
lems.ThefavouredapproachisbasedontheArbitrary
Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method of analysis,
whose main features and challenges are described
brieflyinthepaper. Applicationof thismethodtothe
simulationof thedynamicpenetrationof instruments
intoundrainedlayersof non-uniformsoil isdiscussed,
andcomparisons withexperimental observations are
made.
2 ARBITRARY LAGRANGIAN-EULERIAN
METHOD
2.1 Background
The Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method,
being well established in fluid mechanics and solid
mechanics, hasbeenshowntoberobust andefficient
in solving awiderangeof static as well as dynamic
geotechnical problems involvinglargedeformations.
Nazemet al. (2006) presentedarobustmeshoptimisa-
tionprocedureusedwiththeoperator-split technique
for solving large deformation problems in geome-
chanics. This techniquerefines ameshby relocating
thenodal points on all material boundaries followed
by a static analysis. Later, Nazemet al. (2008) pre-
sented anALE formulation for solving elastoplastic
consolidationproblemsinvolvinglargedeformations.
Theseauthorscomparedtheperformanceof theALE
method with the Updated Lagrangian (UL) method
andshowedtheefficiencyandrobustnessof theALE
method by solving some classical problems such as
the consolidation of footings and cavity expansion.
Shenget al. (2009) addressedasuccessful application
of theALE method, incorporated with an automatic
loadsteppingschemeandasmoothcontact discreti-
sation technique, in solving geotechnical problems
involvingchangingboundaryconditions, suchaspen-
etration problems including the installation of piles.
The application of theALE method in the dynamic
analysisof geotechnical problemswasalsoaddressed
byNazemet al. (2009a).
2.2 Operator-split technique
The Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method
has been developed to eliminatethemesh distortion
that usually occurs in theUpdated Lagrangian (UL)
methodbyseparatingthematerial andmeshdisplace-
ments.InaUL formulation,all variablesarecalculated
at theendof thelast equilibriumconfiguration. This
assumption necessitates updating the spatial coordi-
natesof all material pointsaccordingtotheincremen-
tal displacementsat theendof eachtimestep. While
capableof solvingsomeproblemswithrelativelylarge
deformations, the UL method often fails to succeed
due to the occurrence of excessive mesh distortion
and the entanglement of elements. Mesh distortion
usuallystartswithelementstwistingor otherwisedis-
tortingout of their favourableshapes. For instance, in
adomainconsistingof triangularelementsitisusually
preferredthat all trianglesremainroughly equilateral
duringtheanalysis. However, material displacements,
especially in regions with higher deformation gra-
dients, will gradually cause distortion of elements,
decreasing theaccuracy of theanalysis or even ulti-
mately resulting in anegativeJ acobian. Oneway to
overcome this shortcoming of the UL method is to
separatethematerial andmeshdisplacements, leading
tothedevelopment of theALE method.
TheequilibriumequationintheALEmethodcanbe
writtenintwo different forms. It is possibleto write
the governing global systemof equations in terms
of two sets of unknown mesh andmaterial displace-
ments, leadingtotheso-calledcoupledALE method.
A supplementarysetof equationsintermsof themate-
rial and mesh displacements needs to beestablished
through a mesh motion scheme and the two sets of
unknown displacements are then solved simultane-
ously. Alternatively, inthedecoupledALE methodor
theoperator-split technique, theanalysis can beper-
formedintwo separatesteps: aUL stepfollowedby
anEulerianstep. IntheUL step, thegoverningequa-
tionsareonlysolvedfor thematerial displacementsin
order to fulfil therequirements for equilibrium. This
stepusually resultsinadistortedmesh. Inthesubse-
quent Eulerianstep, themaingoal istominimisethe
mesh distortion by refining the mesh. Mesh refine-
mentcanbeachievedbygeneratinganewmeshforthe
entiredomainor by movingcurrent nodal pointsinto
newpositions. Regardlessof whichstrategyisadopted
for meshrefinement, thetopologyof thedomain, i.e.,
the number of nodes, number of elements, and the
connectivity of elements shouldnot bechanged. The
Eulerian step is particularly important if significant
meshdistortionoccursduringtheUL step.
After meshrefinement, all statevariables at nodal
pointsaswell asatGausspointsmustbemappedfrom
thedistortedmeshto thenewmesh. This remapping
is usually performedusingafirst order expansionof
Taylorsseriesas
where
f
r
and
f denotethetimederivativesof anarbi-
traryfunctionf withrespect tothemeshandmaterial
coordinates respectively, v
i
is the material velocity,
andv
r
i
represents themeshvelocity. Other important
aspectsof theALE methodarediscussedasfollows.
4
Figure1. Node-to-segment contact discretisation.
2.3 Updated Lagrangian formulation
Duringeachincrementof theoperator splittechnique,
theanalysisstartswithaUL procedureat timet. The
main goal of the UL step is to find the incremental
displacements, velocitiesandaccelerationswhichwill
satisfytheequilibriumattimet +t.Thematrixform
of equilibriumisusuallyderivedfromtheprincipleof
virtual work. Theweak formof this principlestates
that for any virtual displacement u, equilibriumis
achievedprovided
where k is the total number of bodies in contact,
denotestheCauchystresstensor, isthevariationof
strainduetovirtual displacement, u, u and u represent
material displacements, velocities and accelerations,
respectively, andc arethematerial densityanddamp-
ing, b isthebodyforce, q isthesurfaceloadactingon
areaS of volumeV, g
N
andg
T
arethevirtual normal
andtangential gapdisplacements, t
N
andt
T
denotethe
normal andtangential forcesatthecontactsurfaceS
c
.
Thesolutionof equation(2) requiresthediscretisation
of thedomainas well as thecontact surfaces. Inthis
studyweadopt theso-callednode-to-segment contact
discretisationasshowninFigure1, inwhichanodeon
theslavesurfacemaycomeintocontact withanarbi-
trarysegment of themaster contact surface. Withthis
assumptionthelast two terms inequation(2), repre-
sentingthevirtual work duetonormal andtangential
contact forces, canbewritteninthefollowingform
in which n
c
is the total number of slave nodes, and
F
c
N
and F
c
T
represent thenodal forces of thecontact
element.
Theequationof motionfor asolidcanbeobtained
by linearisation of the principle of virtual displace-
ment and is written in the following matrix form
(e.g., Wriggers2006)
whereM and C represent respectively themass and
dampingmatrices, R is thestress divergenceterm, u
denotesthedisplacement vector, andF
ext
isthetime-
dependent external force vector. Note that the right
superscript denotes thetimewhen thequantities are
measuredandasuperimposeddot representsthetime
derivativeof avariable.Thesolutionof themomentum
equationrequiresastep-by-stepintegrationschemein
the time domain. Explicit and implicit methods are
availableforthispurpose. Inexplicitmethodsthesolu-
tionattimet +t dependsonlyuponknownvariables
attimet.Thesemethods, suchasthecentral difference
method, donot requireafactorizationof theeffective
stiffnessmatrix andareeasy toimplement. However,
explicit methodsareconditionallystable, i.e., thesize
of thetimesteps must besmaller than somecritical
timestep. Implicitmethods, ontheother hand, require
thesolutionof anonlinear equationat eachtimestep
andhavetobecombinedwithanother proceduresuch
astheNewton-Raphsonmethod. Themainadvantage
of implicit methods is that they can be formulated
to be unconditionally stable, allowing the analyst
to use a bigger time step than used in the explicit
methods.
In this study we adopt the implicit generalised-
method presented by Chung and Hulbert (1993)
to integrate the momentumequation over the time
domain. Thismethodhasbeenshowntobeveryeffi-
cient in solving dynamic problems in geomechanics
(e.g.,Kontoeet al. 2008andNazemet al. 2009a).Inthe
generalised- method, twointegrationparameters,
f
and
m
, areintroducedintothemomentumequationto
computetheinertiaforcesat timet +(1
m
)t and
theinternal anddampingforcesattimet +(1
f
)t,
respectively. The accelerations and velocities are
approximatedbyNewmarkequationsaccordingto
where and aretheNewmarkintegrationparameters
andt representsthetimestep.
Byintroducingatangential stiffnessmatrix
5
wecanusetheNewton-Raphsonmethodtosolvethe
momentumequationinthefollowingformfor theith
iteration
and whereF
int
, theinternal forcevector, is obtained
accordingtotheCauchystresstensor, , andthenodal
forcesat contact surfacesareobtainedfrom
Notethatthetangential stiffnessmatrixinequation(7)
includesthecontributionof thematerial stiffness, K
ep
,
thestiffnessduetogeometrical nonlinearity, K
nl
, and
thestiffnessduetonormal andtangential contact, K
Ns
andK
Ts
, i.e.,
In the problems studied here the penetrometer is
idealised as a rigid body, i.e., its size and shape
remainunchangedduringpenetration. Toachievethis
condition all nodal points on the penetrometer are
prescribed to undergo equal vertical displacements
whilehorizontal displacement isprohibited.
2.4 Definition of contact
To describethecontact at theinterfacebetween two
bodies, constitutive equations must be provided for
boththetangential andnormal directions.Amongsev-
eral strategies availableincontact mechanics weuse
the penalty method to formulate these constitutive
relations. Thenormal contact in thepenalty method
isdescribedby
where
N
isapenaltyparameterforthenormal contact.
Ingeneral, theresponseinthetangential direction
is capturedby theso-calledstick andslipactions. In
the former, no tangential relative movement occurs
betweenthebodieswhilst thelatter representsarela-
tivedisplacementof bodiesinthetangential direction.
This assumption facilitates splitting the relative tan-
gential velocity between the bodies, g
T
, into a stick
part g
st
T
and a slip g
sl
T
part, as in the following rate
form
Thestick part canbeusedtoobtainthetangential
component of tractionby
where
T
is a penalty parameter for tangential con-
tact. Note that the assumption in (12) is analogous
to the theory of plasticity in which the incremental
strains aredivided into an elastic and aplastic part.
Followingthisanalogy,wemustprovideaslipcriterion
function. Thiscanbeachievedbywritingtheclassical
Coulombfrictioncriterioninthefollowingform
where isthefrictioncoefficient.
For thenumerical examplesconsideredlater inthis
paper, theinterfacebetweenthepenetrometer andthe
soil isassumed, for simplicity, tobeperfectlysmooth.
This situation corresponds to thespecial casewhere
=0.
2.5 Material behaviour
Theundrainedbehaviour of thesoil tobepenetratedis
representedbyanelastoplasticTrescamaterial model
with an associated flowrule. In alargedeformation
analysis, thestress-strainrelationsmustbeframeinde-
pendent. Thisrequirement, knownastheprincipleof
objectivity, canbesatisfiedby introducinganobjec-
tivestress rate, suchas theJ aumannstress rate
J
,
intothestress-strainrelationsas
where C
ep
represents the elastoplastic constitutive
matrixand isthestrainvector. Amongseveral avail-
ableoptions to integrateequation(15), Nazemet al.
(2009b) showed that it is slightly more efficient to
applyrigidbodycorrectionsduringintegrationof the
constitutiveequations. Thisstrategyisadoptedinthis
study.
Itisnotedthattheundrainedshearstrengthof cohe-
sive soils often increases with the rate of straining.
This phenomenon, termedthestrainrateeffect, usu-
ally introduces uncertainties in predicting the shear
strengthof soilsindynamicpenetrationtests. Graham
et al. (1983) proposed a simple equation which
prescribes approximately 520% increase in shear
strength for each order of magnitudeincreasein the
6
rateof shearstrain.Thiseffectcanbeexpressedbythe
followingwidelyusedequation
wheres
u
is theundrained shear strength of theclay,
s
u,ref
isareferenceundrainedshear strengthmeasured
at areferencestrainrateof
ref
, denotes theshear
strain rate and is the rate of increase of strength
per log cycleof time. Typically
ref
=0.01 per hour
for clays (Einav andRandolph2006), andthis value
was adopted in thecurrent study. For simplicity, the
shear strength of a material can be assumed to be
constant while integrating the constitutive equations
during an individual time-step of a nonlinear finite
element analysis. However, theshear strengthparam-
eters must beupdated according to theknown shear
strainratesat theendof eachincrement. Notethat
appearinginequation(16) shouldbeevaluatedusing
a frame-independent quantity such as themaximum
plasticshear strain.
In conepenetration tests it is found that thepen-
etration resistance in clays increases as the rate of
penetration (v) or the diameter of the penetrometer
decreases. Instatic tests this is mainly dueto partial
consolidation occurring in advance of the cone tip,
which in turn increases theeffectivestresses around
the cone followed by an increase of the sleeve fric-
tion.Usuallyanormalisedvelocity,V,isusedtoassess
thisdegreeof consolidationaccordingto
where c
v
represents the coefficient of consolidation
of the soil (e.g., Lehane et al. 2009). Values of the
normalised velocity between 10 (OLoughlin et al.
2004) and 100 (Brown and Hyde, 2008) have been
recommended to ensure that the soil behaviour is
undrained. Intheproblems studiedherethevalueof
normalised velocity is generally above 10,000 due
to thefast penetration of theobject (seeSection 4),
and the relatively short penetration time (0.10.9s).
Therefore,weassumeundrainedconditionsthroughout
the penetration, and thus neglect the shear strength
increaseduetopartial consolidation.
2.6 Mesh refinement
IntheALE operator split techniquethematerial dis-
placements are obtained at the end of the UL step
andwill normallyresultinadistortedmesh. Refining
themeshat thebeginningof eachEuler stepis very
importantsinceadistortedmeshcanleadtoinaccurate
results. Mostmeshrefinementtechniquesarebasedon
special mesh-generationalgorithms, whichmust con-
sidervariousparameterssuchasthedimensionsof the
problem, thetypeof elementstobegeneratedandthe
regularityof thedomain. Developingsuchalgorithms
foranyarbitrarydomainisusuallydifficultandcostly.
Moreover, these algorithms do not necessarily pre-
servethenumberof nodesandthenumberof elements
inameshandtheymaycausesignificantchangesinthe
topology.A robustmethodfor meshrefinementbased
ontheuseof asimpleelastic analysis was presented
by Nazemet al. (2006). Themethodhasbeenimple-
mentedfor two-dimensional planestrainproblemsas
well as axi-symmetric problems. To obtain themesh
displacements, wefirstre-discretiseall theboundaries
of theproblem, whichincludetheboundariesof each
discretebody, thematerial interfacesandtheloading
boundaries, resultinginprescribedvaluesof themesh
displacementsforthenodesontheseboundaries. Each
boundary nodeis then relocated along theboundary
as necessary. With theknown total displacements of
thesenodes on theboundaries, an elastic analysis is
then performed using the prescribed boundary dis-
placements to obtain themesh displacements for all
theinternal nodesandhencetheoptimal newmesh.An
importantadvantageof thismeshoptimisationmethod
isitsindependenceof element topology andproblem
dimensions. The method does not require any mesh
generationalgorithm, doesnotchangethetopologyof
theproblem, andhencecanbeeasilyimplementedin
existing finiteelement codes. This method is poten-
tially a good candidate for three-dimensional mesh
optimisation.
Therelocationof nodesalongtheboundariesplays
akeyroleinthemeshrefinementschemeproposedby
Nazemet al. (2006). Thisrelocationdemandsaneffi-
cient mathematical representation of the boundaries
whichstronglydependsonthephysical problembeing
simulated. Nazemet al. (2008) proposedanefficient
methodfornodal relocationbasedonaquadraticspline
technique.Thismethodwassuccessfullyemployedfor
solvingmany geotechnical problems suchas consol-
idationandbearingcapacity of soilsunder afooting.
However, it is not suitablefor simulatingboundaries
inaFFP problemdueto thelinear shapeof thepen-
etratingobject, whichconsequentlyintroducesabrupt
changesintheslopeof thestraight linesdefiningthe
boundary. Instead, weintroduceasimpler, but more
efficient, algorithm for nodal relocation along the
boundaryof thesoil incontact withthepenetrometer,
whichisbasedontheassumptionof linear boundary
segments. Thisprocedureisdepictedschematicallyin
Figure2.Theboundarybetweenthesoil andthepene-
tratingobjectatthebeginningof atimestep(Figure2a)
may becomedistortedafter theUL step, asshownin
Figure2b.Suchcumulativedistortion,if notprevented,
canpotentiallycausesignificantdistortionof elements
inthat regionultimatelyindicatedbyanegativeJ aco-
bian. Thus, nodal relocation on theboundary can be
performedasshowninFigure2c. Notethat thenodes
onacurvedboundaryareonlypermittedtomoveinthe
tangential direction of theboundary, i.e., thenormal
component of theconvectivevelocity onaboundary
iszero, but not necessarilythetangential component.
However, on amulti-linear boundary thenodes may
beallowedtomovealongalinedefiningalinear seg-
ment.Thenodal relocationonlinearsegmentsisshown
7
Figure2. Nodal relocationontheboundary.
Figure3. Linear nodal relocation.
schematicallyinFigure3, wherenodei mustbemoved
intoanewposition, i
, alongline1or line2suchthat
l =l
i
. Notethat l
i
represents a normalised length of
thesegment andcanbecalculatedat thebeginningof
atimestep beforethemesh is distorted. TheCarte-
siancoordinatesof thenewlocationcanbecalculated
explicitly. Forbrevity, thefull mathematical detailsare
not providedherebut theprocedurefor relocatingall
nodes alongaboundary is describedinNazemet al.
(2012).
2.7 Energy absorbing boundaries
One of the well-known issues in computational
dynamic analysis of soil-structure-interaction (SSI)
problems is how to simulate an infinite medium.
Employing the finite element method, for instance,
withboundariesthatarenotinfinitelydistant,onemust
guarantee that the outgoing waves fromthe source
(usuallyastructure) donotreflectbackfromthefinite
boundaries toward the source, since in reality these
wavesshouldpropagatetoinfinityanddissipateatafar
distancefromthesource. If itisallowedtooccur, such
reflection will most probably affect the accuracy of
thenumerical results.Toassurenowavesarereflected
back fromtruncated computational boundaries, it is
commontouseartificial boundarieswhichabsorbthe
energyof incomingwaves.
A simple, but efficient, boundary was developed
by Lysmer and Kuhlemeyer (1969) which is known
as the standard viscous boundary in the litera-
ture. Thestandard viscous boundary is probably the
most popular artificial boundarysinceit possessesan
acceptabledissipationcharacteristic at alowcompu-
tational cost. Kellezi (1998) suggests that absorbing
boundariesmustnotbelocatedcloserthan(1.21.5)
s
(where
s
is thelengthof theshear waves) fromthe
excitation source. A recent study by Kontoe (2006)
showedthat thestandardviscousboundaryiscapable
of absorbing dilatational waves (P-waves) as well as
shear waves (S-waves) intheanalysis of planestrain
andaxisymmetricproblems. Whenrequired, thistype
of boundary was usedintheproblems solvedinthis
study.
3 PENETRATIONINTONON-UNIFORM SOIL
Inpreviousstudies(e.g., Nazemet al. 2012), wecon-
sideredasmoothfree-fallingobjectpenetratingintoa
uniformsoil layer, inwhichthematerial propertiesdo
notchangeinanydirection. However, inmanynatural
settings theshear strengthof soils actually increases
withdepth.Thisvariationcanbeexpressedbyalinear
equationas
where s
u,ref
(y) represents the reference undrained
shear strength of soil at depth y, k
s
indicates the
increaseinshear strengthper unit depth, ands
u,ref
(0)
is the reference shear strength of soil at the ground
surface.
The effect of the shear strength increase parame-
ter k
s
, on soil penetration was studied by analyzing
50differentproblemswithparameterssummarizedin
Table 1. Note that in all cases the ratio between the
shear modulusof thesoil, G, anditsundrainedshear
strength, s
u,ref
, is assumedto be67at all integration
points, and the rate parameter, , is 0.2. Depending
on the site, the rate of strength increase with depth
k
s
, usuallyvariesbetween13kPa/m. Adoptingthese
typical values for afree-falling penetrometer (FFP),
theeffect of k
s
onpenetrationcharacteristicswill not
besignificant, mainlyduetothesmall diameter (size)
of thepenetratingobject. Alternatively, anormalized
parameter, k
s
d/s
u,ref
(0), isadoptedinthisstudy, which
quantifies thesignificancetherateof shear strength
increaseonthepenetration.
Thefiniteelement meshandboundary conditions
of this axi-symmetric problemaredepictedin4. The
finite element mesh includes 10,252 nodal points
8
Figure4. Finiteelement meshof freefallingpenetrometer.
Table1. Parameter valuesadoptedinSection3.
Unit Values
d m 0.04, 0.06,0.08, 0.1
m kg 0.5, 1.0
v
o
m/sec 5, 10
s
u,ref
(0) kPa 1.0
G/s
u,ref
67
L 0.2
k
s
d/s
u,ref
(0) 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0
and 4,988 6-node triangular elements each contain-
ing 6 integration points. For simplicity, the material
dampingandfrictionbetweenthesoil andpenetrom-
eter areassumed to bezero. Notethat theright and
Figure 5. Initial impact velocity of the penetrometer,
normalised by 0.25d
3
s
u,ref
(0), versus the total depth of
penetration, normalizedbyd.
bottomboundariesareabletodissipatetheenergy of
oncomingwaves.
In a previous study, Nazemet al. (2012) showed
that anappropriatestrategy for studyingthedynamic
penetration problem is to plot the initial impact
velocity of thepenetrometer, 0.5mv
2
0
, normalised by
0.25d
3
s
u,ref
(0), versus the total depth of penetra-
tion, normalized by d. Adopting this strategy, the
normalisedimpactenergyof thepenetrometer isplot-
ted versus the normalised depth of penetration in
Figure5. AccordingtoFigure5, thedepthof penetra-
tionof penetrometerswithanidentical impact energy
decreases as the normalised parameter k
s
d/s
u,ref
(0)
increases. Figure 5 also shows that there is a linear
relationbetweenthenormaliseddepthof penetration
andthenormalisedimpactenergy,buttheslopeof such
linesdependsonthevalueof k
s
d/s
u,ref
(0).Thisdepen-
dency, for the specimens analysed in this example,
canbeeliminatedbyplottingtheinitial impactenergy,
normalisedby0.25d
3
s
u,ref
(d), versusthenormalised
depthof penetration, asrepresentedinFigure6. Note
that s
u,ref
(d) indicates thereferenceshear strengthof
thesoil at depthd. Similar independencies for other
material properties and penetrometer parameters are
yet tobeinvestigated.
Tostudythedecelerationcharacteristicsof thepen-
etrometer, its variationof velocity versus penetration
isplottedinFigure7for specimenswherem=0.5kg,
d =0.04m, v
0
=10m/sec, and k
s
d/s
u,ref
(0)=0.0,
0.25, 0.5, and 1.0. The plots in Figure 7 indicate
that thevelocity of theobject reduces approximately
quadratically as it decelerates and penetrates further
into thenon-uniform. Notethat thequadratic reduc-
tionof velocitywithpenetrationhasalsobeenreported
inexperimental studies as well as numerical analysis
resultsof penetrationintoauniformclaylayer(Nazem
et al. 2012). It isalsonotablethat for all casesstudied
herethetotal timeof penetrationislessthan0.3sec.
9
Figure 6. Initial impact velocity of the penetrometer,
normalised by 0.25d
3
s
u,ref
(d), versus the total depth of
penetration, normalizedbyd.
Figure 7. The velocity of the penetrometer versus the
penetrationindiameter.
4 TORPEDOANCHORS
An interesting application of dynamic penetration
problems is the numerical analysis of installation
of torpedo anchors, which have proved to be effi-
cient for deep-water anchoring systems due to their
easy and economic installation. Torpedo anchors
are usually 1015m long, 0.751.2m in diameter,
andmay weighbetween2501,000kN (Randolph&
Gourvenec2011).Assumingthattheinstallationphase
is relatively fast, we consider only undrained soil
behaviour here. For simplicity, material dampingand
thefrictionbetweenthesoil andanchor areignored.
The impact velocity of the anchor is assumed to be
Table 2. Values of parameters used in torpedo anchor
analysis.
Parameter Unit Values
d m 1.0
m kg 1,000
v
o
m/sec 5, 10
s
u,ref
(0) kPa 1.0
G/s
u,ref
67
0.25, 0.5
k
s
d/s
u,ref
(0) 0, 1.0, 2.5
Table3. Summaryof numerical resultsfortorpedoanchors.
k
s
m v
0
p t
p
No (kPa/m) (kg) (m/sec) (m) (sec)
1 0 0.25 2,000 5 5.34 1.85
2 0 0.25 2,000 10 14.34 2.89
3 1 0.25 2,000 5 1.96 0.53
4 1 0.25 2,000 10 3.19 0.50
5 1 0.25 5,000 5 4.15 0.93
6 1 0.25 5,000 10 6.07 0.83
7 1 0.25 10,000 5 7.67 1.43
8 1 0.25 10,000 10 10.24 1.26
9 2.5 0.25 2,000 5 1.49 0.38
10 2.5 0.25 2,000 10 2.31 0.35
11 2.5 0.25 5,000 5 2.69 0.63
12 2.5 0.25 5,000 10 3.87 0.54
13 2.5 0.25 10,000 5 4.24 0.88
14 2.5 0.25 10,000 10 5.87 0.77
15 0 0.5 2,000 5 2.21 0.71
16 0 0.5 2,000 10 6.93 1.41
17 1 0.5 2,000 10 2.46 0.39
18 1 0.5 5,000 5 3.01 0.74
19 1 0.5 5,000 10 4.71 0.66
20 1 0.5 10,000 5 5.56 1.16
21 1 0.5 10,000 10 7.93 1.03
22 2.5 0.5 2,000 5 1.22 0.31
23 2.5 0.5 2,000 10 1.85 0.28
24 2.5 0.5 5,000 5 2.06 0.50
25 2.5 0.5 5,000 10 3.11 0.44
26 2.5 0.5 10,000 5 3.23 0.72
27 2.5 0.5 10,000 10 4.66 0.62
less thanits terminal velocity inafluid, i.e., thetor-
pedomayaccelerateafterimpactingthesoil duetothe
gravitational force.
Toinvestigatethesoil behaviour, 27specimensare
analysed with theproperties summarised inTable2.
Thefiniteelement meshandtheboundaryconditions
are as those used in the previous example, and are
showninFigure4.
The numerical results for all specimens, in terms
of thetotal depthof penetration, p, andthetotal time
of penetration, t
p
, aresummarisedinTable3. Accord-
ingtoTable3thetotal penetrationtimeof atorpedo
anchor is comparatively higher than the penetration
timeof aminiatureFFP. Inaddition, thestrengthrate
andshear strengthincreasewithdepthparameters,
10
Figure8. Thevelocityof torpedoanchor versustime.
Figure9. Thevelocity of torpedo anchor versus thepene-
trationnormalisedbydiameter.
andk
s
, significantlyinfluencethetotal depthandtime
of penetration.
To study the penetration properties of a torpedo
anchor inmoredetail, thevelocityvariationsof Spec-
imens 17 and 23 are plotted versus time as well as
thenormalisedpenetrationinFigures8and9, respec-
tively. For thesetwo specimens all input parameters,
exceptk
s
, areidentical.AccordingtoTable3, thevalue
of k
s
inSpecimens 17and23are1.0and2.5kPa/m,
respectively. Figures8and9indicatethat thetorpedo
accelerates at the early stages of penetration. This
behaviour was observed in all specimens, indicating
that, unlike miniature FFPs, the acceleration of the
torpedochangesapproximatelylinearlywithtime.
To study the soil behaviour due to torpedo pene-
tration weconsider two different cases wherek
s
=0
(uniformsoil)andk
s
>0(non-uniform).Forauniform
soil, Nazemet al. (2012) showed that the dynamic
Figure10. Normaliseddynamicsoil resistanceversusnor-
malisedpenetrationof torpedointoauniformsoil layer.
soil resistance due to penetration of a FFP can be
estimatedaccordingto:
where
Usingthevalues inTable3, thedynamic penetra-
tionfactors, N
dp
, forspecimens2and16areestimated
as 31.75 and 53.01, respectively. On theother hand,
thedynamicsoil resistanceversusthenormalisedpen-
etrationpredictedby numerical analysis is plottedin
Figure10forthesamespecimens.AccordingtoFigure
10, thepredictednormaliseddynamicsoil resistanceis
ingoodagreement withthevaluepredictedbyEqua-
tion (19) for Specimen 2, and is slightly lower than
53.01for Specimen16. Thissuggeststhat thevalida-
tion of Equations (19) and (20) for torpedo anchors
penetrationintoanuniformsoil layer requiresfurther
investigation.
Unlikeuniformsoils, thedynamic resistanceof a
non-uniformlayer of soil is not likely to converge
to a constant value as the normalised penetration,
p/d, approaches infinity. For Specimens 8 and 14,
where k
s
is respectively 1.0 and 2.5kPa/m, the nor-
maliseddynamic soil resistanceis plottedversus the
normalised penetration of the torpedo in Figure 11.
It is evident that the soil resistance due to penetra-
tionincreasesapproximatelylinearlywithpenetration.
This observation also indicates that the force acting
on the anchor due to soil resistance changes with
11
Figure11. Normaliseddynamicsoil resistanceversusnor-
malised penetration of torpedo into a non-uniform soil
layer.
time as the object penetrates into soil, and hence
the deceleration of torpedo is not constant during
penetration.
Torepresenttheefficiencyof thenumerical method
in handling the mesh distortion, the finite element
meshat theendof analysisof Specimen8isdepicted
inFigure12.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The finite element solution of problems involving
dynamic penetration of soil deposits, by either free
falling or propelled objects, has been studied. A
robust numerical method was described for dealing
withsuchcomplexanddifficult numerical problems.
The approach was based on the Arbitrary
Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method of analysis and
it allowed for features such as large deformations,
rate dependent non-linear soil behaviour and mov-
ingboundaries andcontacts that areinherent insuch
problems.
TheALE methodwasemployedtoperformapara-
metric study of a variety of penetrometers in layers
of inhomogeneous clay deforming under undrained
conditions. The effect of the mechanical properties
of theclay soil onthepenetrationcharacteristics has
beendiscussed.Forsmallerpenetrometersitwasfound
that thedecelerationafter impact wasalmost constant
over most of thepenetration. Higher initial energies
produced deeper penetrations, as expected. Simple
closed-formexpressions werefittedtoasub-class of
theresultsdescribed.
For much larger objects penetrating typical soft
seabeddeposits, suchastorpedoanchorswithamass
ontheorder of 1tonne, it wasnoticeablethat thetor-
pedo continued to accelerateunder gravity just after
impact duringinitial penetration, but ultimatelycame
to rest under deceleration that was not constant, but
positiondependent.
Figure 12. Deformed mesh at the end of analysis,
Specimen8.
Overall, the efficiency and dependability of the
proposedcomputationmethodhasbeendemonstrated
by analysing one of the most complicated, geo-
metrically and materially non-linear, rate dependent
problems conceivable, at least within the realm of
geotechnical engineering.
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13
Strategiesfor structural healthmonitoringof bridges:
J apansexperienceandpractice
YozoFujino& DionysiusSiringoringo
The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
ABSTRACT: Theneedsforstructural healthmonitoringinJ apanoriginallycomefromitsgeographical condi-
tionssuchassevereenvironmentfor deteriorationandfrequentnatural disasters. Monitoringof theenvironment
andloadingconditionswithrespecttonatural hazardsandsevereenvironmental conditionshavebeenconducted
for several decades. Inthelastdecade, bridgemonitoringhasextendeditsfunctionasaninstrumentfor efficient
stockmanagement. Accumulationof bridgestockbuiltwithinthesameperiodaroundthreetofour decadesago
meansthatmanybridgesinJ apanareexpectedtohaveseriousdeteriorationproblemsinthenextfewdecades. In
thispaper, wedescribetheneedsfor bridgestructural healthmonitoringinJ apanandtheconceptof monitoring
asanessential part of riskreduction. Thepaper outlinesstrategiesimplementedfor bridgemonitoringinJ apan,
whichcategorizedintothreemaingroupsaccordingtothepurposeof monitoring: natural hazardandenviron-
mentcondition, effectivestockmanagement, andfailureprevention. Intheend, thepaper describesexamplesof
implementationof thestrategiesandthelessonslearnedpast frommonitoringexperiences.
1 INTRODUCTION
Reliability anddurability of civil infrastructureis an
importantfactorforsustainableeconomicgrowth,pro-
ductivity, andwell-beingof anation. Factors suchas
constructiondefects, structural deterioration, material
degradation and aging, harsh environmental condi-
tions, changing and increasing loading, as well as
extreme events such as natural disasters may con-
tribute to the failure of infrastructure systems to
various degrees, from non-optimal performance to
a total breakdown. Realising the importance of a
sustainable and reliable infrastructure system amid
the constant threat of natural disasters and struc-
tural degradation, developmentandimplementationof
civil infrastructuremaintenanceandmonitoringpro-
grams has attractedtheinterest of many researchers,
universitiesandindustriesinJ apan.
Thispaperdescribestheneedforbridgemonitoring
andthestrategiescurrentlybeingimplementedtomeet
thesedemands. It also provides examples of current
practicesandresearchactivitiesinbridgemonitoring
inJ apan.
2 BACKGROUNDOF BRIDGE MONITORING
INJAPAN
Development of bridgemonitoringinJ apanhasbeen
highlyinfluencedbygeographical andsocioeconomi-
cal conditionsinJ apan. Geographically, J apanisprone
tonatural disasterssuchasearthquakesandtyphoons
and severe environmental conditions such as strong
windsandhighhumidity. Natural disastersaremajor
concernfor civil engineeringconstructionandmain-
tenance. At the same time, evaluation of structural
performance and/or damage of existing bridges are
becomingmoreandmoreimportant for rational and
efficient stockmanagement.
2.1 Natural disaster and environmental conditions
J apanMinistry of Land, InfrastructureandTransport
(MLIT) haveidentifiedseveral factorsthat arethreat-
ening thesustainability of infrastructure, and on the
topof thelist is natural disaster. From1970to2004,
thetotal infrastructurelossduetonatural disasterswas
approximatelyUS$165billion, or 15%of theworlds
total infrastructurelossescausedbynatural disasters.
In1995, theKobeearthquakealonekilledmorethan
6000peopleandheavilydamagedmajorinfrastructure
systems. Thefinancial loss was estimated at around
US$131.5 billion. The earthquake caused extensive
damage to highway bridges in the national highway
andlocal expresswaysnetworks. Bridgecollapsesand
near-collapsewereobservedat ninesites, whileother
extensivedamageoccurredinatleast16sites. Todeal
withasimilar scaleof earthquakes inthefuture, the
bridge seismic design code was later revised. Con-
structionof newbridgesaresubjectedtothenewcode,
whileexistingbridgesareundergoingaseismicassess-
mentandretrofitprogrammetomeettherequirements
of the new code. The first phase of the programme
focused mainly on retrofits of ordinary bridges with
emphasis on bridge piers and girder restrainers. In
the second phase, many large bridges are currently
15
beingretrofitted.Fujinoetal.[1],forinstance,outlines
theretrofit plan/designof threelargecable-supported
bridgesinTokyo.
Anothergeographical aspectthatinfluencesJ apans
infrastructure, and bridges in particular, is thecoun-
trys topography. As an archipelago country, J apan
consists of mountainous islands with thepopulation
mainly concentrated near the seashore. Therefore,
transportationinfrastructuresincludingmanybridges
arebuilt near thecoastline, andsomecrossthechan-
nels, such as theworlds longest bridge, theAkashi-
Kaikyo Bridge. Dueto this condition, somebridges
are situated in areas of severe environmental condi-
tion and subjected to deterioration caused by high
chlorideintrusionandhumidity. Consequently, main-
tenanceandmonitoringsystemsmust beemployedto
control theenvironmental effectsandtopreventfurther
deterioration.
On average, J apan spends around US$2.5 to 3.5
billionannually for researchactivities relatedto dis-
aster mitigations. This includes developing compre-
hensive hazard monitoring systems nationwide. For
seismic hazard monitoring, the nationwide system
(K-Net)[2] that constitutes anetwork of 1034 wide-
band seismographs installed on the ground surface
was developed. To monitor atmospheric related haz-
ards, a high-resolution surface monitoring system
(AMeDAS) involving wind, temperature and other
meteorological data was developed by the J apan
Meteorological Agency(J MA).
2.2 Bridge stock management: condition and
challenge
The peak of J apans infrastructure development
occurred between 1955 and 1975. During this time,
rapid economy growth accelerated public spending
on infrastructure, and as aresult, J apans infrastruc-
turestockshaveincreasedsignificantly. Infrastructure
problems have compounded ever since, for several
reasons such as failure to recognise the importance
of maintenance, underinvestmentinmaintenance, and
lackof goodmanagement system.
Therushtoexpandinfrastructureduringtherapid
economic growth has led to cost cutting that some-
timescreateproblemsinstructural durability. Bridges
provideanexcellent exampleof theproblem. Deteri-
orationisanissuefor manyhighwaybridgesinJ apan,
which were mainly built around the 1970s. Aware-
ness of thecurrent conditionof bridges has emerged
recently, triggered by thediscovery of steel member
fracturesintheKisogawaOhashi Bridge, MiePrefec-
ture, in J une2007 and in theHonjo Ohashi Bridge,
AkitaPrefecture, inAugust 2007. Thecollapseof the
I-35W interstatebridgeinMinnesota, UnitedStates,
whichfollowedlater inAugust 2007, has only inten-
sifiedtheconcern, basedonthesimilarity of thetwo
bridges in J apan with the one that collapsed. Many
believethesetwoincidentsarethetipof theicebergof
theproblem. Figure1showsthecomparisonof bridge
constructionbetweenJ apanandtheU.S. [3]. Itcanbe
Figure 1. Comparison of period of bridge construction
betweenJ apanandtheUnitedStates.
seen that on average, J apanese bridges are 10 years
younger, but theconstructionperiodismoreconcen-
trated.Itisanticipatedthatolderbridgeswill constitute
half of all roadbridgesbytheyear 2020.
Thisconcentrationmay inducesimultaneousdete-
riorationof largeportionsof thestockthatwouldlead
toahighsocial cost. Addingtotheproblemof ageing
bridges is thedrastic increasein traffic density. The
daily traffic volumeonmajor highways canreachas
highas15,000vehiclesper lane, of whichtheratioof
heavytrucksisalsohigh, insomecases30%[3]. The
highintensity andfrequency of loadinggeneratedby
this hightraffic volumegenerates many problems in
bridges. Themost typical problemis fatiguedamage
inconcreteslabsandsteel weldedgirders.
3 CONCEPT OF MONITORINGFOR RISK
REDUCTION
Theconcept of bridgemonitoringor structural health
monitoringingeneral canbeviewedasanintegrated
strategy for risk reduction. In this context, risk is
defined as a function of two quantities: hazard and
structurevulnerability, intheformof:
Hazard, defined as the probability of occurrence of
unexpected events that may endanger the structure,
is spatially and temporally dependent. Conventional
practice assumes that the structural vulnerability is
time-invariant, andafunctionof thestructural config-
urationsuchas systemredundancy, ductility, materi-
als, andqualityof construction, all of whicharedeter-
mined at theconstruction phase. In reality, however,
structural vulnerability is also temporally dependent
in that it may differ with time due to deterioration,
aging or changing environmental and loading con-
ditions. The equation above implies that the risk of
structural failuredependsonboththehazardquantity
andvulnerabilityof thestructure.
Inorder toevaluatetheimpactof natural hazardsat
onelocation, astatistically developed hazard map is
utilised; such a map is the seismic hazard map that
describes the seismic intensity of a particular area
16
usingtheprobability of exceedance. Themethodolo-
gies for performing hazard analysis and monitoring
have been are well established. On the other hand,
approaches to quantify atime-variant structural vul-
nerability are still under research and development.
An empirical fragility curve is developed utilizing
observeddamagedatacausedby anatural hazardon
atypical structure. Empirical fragility curveissome-
timesinadequateduetoitsbasisonlimitedeventsand
observed damages. Therefore, the analytical-based
fragilitycurveisdevelopedfor amoregeneral useof
vulnerabilityestimation. Thisapproachalsohassome
significant limitations. Since the curve is computed
based on a normal distribution assumption, one can
neverbecertainabouttheexactpositionof thestudied
structureinthegivendistribution.
To minimiseuncertainties, acomprehensiveanal-
ysis using numerical simulation or experiment is
needed. Thetwoapproaches, however, haveequal dif-
ficulties. Thenumerical simulationapproachrequires
information about the actual structural properties,
while the experimental approach is even more dif-
ficult considering the inertia and the large scale of
thestructure. To this end, field monitoring becomes
theonly feasibleoption. Usingmonitoringtheactual
structuresconditioncanbeassessedandthereforeits
vulnerabilitycanbequantified.
3.1 Rationality of monitoring investment: Japans
railway experience
A recent study [3] shows that investment inmonitor-
ingfor disaster preventionhasincreasedthesafetyof
infrastructuresystems. Fig. 2(a), for instance, shows
that the increasing amount of investment made by
J apan Railway (J R) has improved the performance
of the railway systemsignificantly and reduced the
number of trainaccidents. Fig. 2(b) shows thecross-
correlationbetweentheamount of investment andthe
number of accidents. Thenegativecorrelationinthis
figure indicates that the number of accidents may
not decline unless accident prevention investments
are made. The rather flat correlation suggests that
theeffects of disaster prevention investments do not
immediately materialise. Ontheother hand, theben-
efitsof disaster preventioninvestment inengineering
plants becomevisiblemoreimmediately, but do not
last for as long. This shows that negative impacts
may not comeimmediately even if wedo not invest
inany disaster preventionmeasures. However, inthe
long run, wemay suffer fromgreater consequences.
Theseresultsemphasizetheslowimpactof investment
in disaster prevention for infrastructure and the
long-termmanagement strategyit requires.
4 THE NEEDANDUSE OF ADVANCED
SENSORTECHNOLOGIESFOR
MONITORING
In recent years, innovations haveled to thedevelop-
ment of high-tech-based systems that are based on
Figure2. (a) Comparisonbetweennumberof accidentsand
theamount of disaster preventioninvestment madebyJ apan
Railway(J R). (b) Cross-correlationbetweeninvestment and
number of accidents.
the principle of sensing the structural condition or
loading, transferringthemeasuredquantitiesthrough
communication systems to support knowledgeable
decision-making. Withsuchadvancedsystems, large
amountsof infrastructurecanbemanagedmoreeffec-
tivelyandpotential lossesorfailurescanbeminimised.
Theuseof advancedsensor technologiesfor monitor-
ing is avery important issuefor J apan. Considering
theincreasingageof thepopulationandthedeclinein
birthrate, it isexpectedthat J apanwill faceaserious
labour shortageinthenear future. This problemwill
alsoaffectthestrategyforinfrastructuremanagement.
Inthefuture, programmesthat dependextensivelyon
workforceshouldbeavoided, andinsteadbeshiftedto
thosethat arebasedonmoreadvancedtechnologies.
Twofronts of researchinmonitoringarecurrently
active, namely sensing technologies, and structural
diagnostic/prognostic techniques. The former typi-
callydealswithsensor typesandsystems, dataacqui-
sition, dataprocessing, communication, management
and storage. The latter deals with data analysis and
interpretation, systemidentification, local andglobal
diagnostics, defect/damage detection and remaining
lifeprediction, all of whicharerepresentedbyperfor-
manceindicators.
Sensor technology paradigm has moved from
portable-linked systems to wireless-embedded ones,
frommacrotomicroinsize(forinstancemicroelectro-
mechanical systems (MEMS)), fromad-hoc tosmart
and self-sufficient in power consumption. Many
research efforts in developing wireless sensing plat-
forms for structural health monitoring have been
reported. Intheauthors opinion, regardlessof thetype
17
of sensor andtechnology, twoaspectsneedtobecon-
sidered when choosing sensors for monitoring civil
infrastructure:
1. Thesizeof monitoredobject andthescalabilityof
sensor. Selection of sensor is determined by the
sizeof themonitored object. When it comes to a
large-scaleobject suchas theglobal scale, global
sensors linked to satellite in the global position-
ingsystem(GPS) areused. Ontheother hand, for
the micro scale object, the sophisticated nano or
microsensorsaremoresuitable.Thecivil structures
can be considered between these two extremes,
hencethemesoscale. Theyhavemanycomponents
with many variations so that in order to moni-
tor the local as well as global condition, the use
of a sophisticated micro-sensing system can be
prohibitively expensive. To monitor a large civil
infrastructureeffectively, aset of densearray sen-
sorsisneeded. Suchadensearraymustbedesigned
tobescalable,whichmeansthatthequalityof infor-
mation conveyed and thesystemperformancedo
not degradesubstantiallyasthenumber of compo-
nentsincreasesandtheuniquenessof information
about eachstructuresystemshouldberetained.
2. Durability. Civil infrastructuresaredesignedtolast
for a long time, typically over 50 years. During
the service life, hazardous events may not occur
veryfrequently, butthemonitoringsystemmustbe
alwaysupandrunning. Thisindicatestheneedfor
not onlyreliablebut alsodurablesensors.
On the structural diagnostic/prognostic front, the
methodologies can be categorised according to the
scope and type of analysis. The scope of analysis
consists of: (i) microscopic monitoring, wheredam-
age detection and localisation are the main interest;
and(ii) macroscopicmonitoring, whereholisticstruc-
tural integrityanditscomparisonarethefocus. While
microscopic monitoring is the conventional main-
streamof structural healthmonitoringandadvancing
steadily, macroscopic monitoringhasrecently started
attracting interest especially fromthepractical point
of viewof connectinghealthmonitoringandexisting
inspectionmethodologies.
5 STRATEGIESANDEXAMPLESOF BRIDGE
MONITORINGIMPLEMENTATIONINJAPAN
Historically, J apanese bridge monitoring put more
emphasis on environmental measurement for verifi-
cationof designassumptions. For thispurpose, bridge
instrumentationsaremainlyfocusedonenvironmental
and load effects on structures. They were not origi-
nallyaimedat detectingdamageor structural defects.
As bridge deterioration has become an imminent
threat, monitoring strategies have moved, however,
fromobservingtheloadandenvironmental conditions
tokeepingthebridgestockinagoodconditionbypre-
ventingextremefailure. Thissectiondescribesstrate-
gies andexamples of bridgemonitoringthat involve
authors and their associates. There are three main
Figure3. Yokohama-BayBridgeanditsseismicmonitoring
system.
objectivesof bridgemonitoringdescribedherein: (1)
monitoringagainst environment andnatural disaster-
related effects, (2) monitoring for efficient bridge
stock management, and (3) monitoring for failure
preventionduringoperation.
6 MONITORINGAGAINST ENVIRONMENT
ANDNATURAL DISASTER-RELATED
EFFECTS
6.1 Bridge seismic monitoring
Monitoring for seismic response has been widely
employed especially for structures with special fea-
tures such as long span bridges, bridges with new
technologysuchasbase-isolatedbridges.Threeinstru-
mented long-span bridges in theTokyo areabecome
subject of therecent study [4]. Thethreebridges are
permanently instrumented with accelerometers and
seismic records analysed regularly to monitor their
condition. The first bridge studied is theYokohama
BayBridge, locatedat theentranceof Yokohamahar-
bor (Fig. 3). Itisadouble-deck, steel-trussbox, cable-
stayed bridgewith acentral span of 460 metres and
twosidespansof 200metreseach. Eighty-fivesensors
measuringaccelerationanddisplacementareinstalled
at 36locations throughout thebridge. Denseseismic
measurement systems installed on these bridges are
veryuseful tocapturethereal behaviour of thebridge
during various levels of earthquake. The study [4]
showsthatbyemployingasystemidentificationtech-
nique, thedynamiccharacteristicsof thebridgecanbe
evaluated.
18
Observation of seismic response recorded on
YokohamaBay Bridgerevealedtwotypesof thefirst
longitudinal mode, with main differences in therel-
ativemodal displacement between theend-piers and
girder [5]. Thetwo types of longitudinal modeindi-
catedavariationfromtheexpectedperformance. The
firstmodethatexhibitedlargerelativemodal displace-
mentsrevealedcharacteristicsandfrequencythat was
very close to that of the analytically obtained first
longitudinal mode. Thelargerelativemodal displace-
ments suggestedthat ahingemechanismmight have
had occurred. The second mode, exhibited smaller
relativemodal displacements between end-piers and
girder indicating that the LBCs had yet to function
resulting in stiffer connections and higher natural
frequency. These results indicate that performances
of LBCs depend on the amplitude of earthquake
excitation.
If LBCsdonotfunctionproperlyduringlargeearth-
quake excessive moment at the bottomof end-pier,
connectionfailureattheLBCsandupliftdeformation
at thegirder may occur. To prevent theseconditions,
seismicretrofit of thebridgehasbeenconductedand
afail-safescenariois providedby connectinggirder-
endsandthefootingusingprestressedcablestoprevent
uplift.Althoughthestudywasfocusedoncomparison
between design and analysis, the result implies that
amalfunction or unintended-function of thebearing
couldbedetectedbythemonitoringsystem.
6.2 Bridge environment monitoring:
Wind monitoring
Monitoringfor wind-inducedvibrationhasalsobeen
widely employed especially for long-span bridges in
J apan. Portableaswell aspermanent sensor networks
areutilisedtomeasurethewindconditionanddynamic
responseof thebridge. Such ameasurement system
wasemployedatHakuchoBridge. Thebridge(Fig. 4)
isasuspensionone, locatedat theentranceof Muro-
ranGulf inHokkaidoPrefecture, inthenorthernpart
of J apan. It is situated in a windy area, so that the
windloadandstructural behaviourundervariouswind
conditionsareof mainconcern. Usingadensearrayof
accelerometers, wind-inducedambient vibrationwas
measuredfor afewdaysunder variouslevelsof wind
speed[6,7].
Observation from full-scale measurement shows
thesimilarity of theaerodynamic damping effect on
vertical modesisobservedinbothwindtunnel exper-
iments and the identification results. In the work
by Nagayama et al. [6], the effects of aerodynamic
force and friction force were verified by employing
aninverseidentificationtechnique. It was foundthat
the contribution of aerodynamic force was smaller
thantheeffect of frictionforcefromthebearing. The
aerodynamic forcecontributionisintheorder of 1%
comparedwiththecontributionof thefrictionforce.
Theseresultsareconsistentwiththeexpectedincrease
inequivalent stiffnessanddecreaseindampingwhen
theamplitudelevel is small enough to suppress any
relativemovementatthebearingorextensiondevices.
Figure4. HakuchoSuspensionBridgeandits windmoni-
toringsystem.
7 MONITORINGFOR EFFICIENT STOCK
MANAGEMENT
Performance evaluation of a bridge is essential to
assess functionality, predict thedeteriorationandthe
possible failure mode, update the performance pre-
diction, and determine the future inspection and
retrofitting plan. For these purposes, new monitor-
ing systems using advanced sensor technologies are
expectedtoimprovetheconventional inspectionpro-
cedures. Inthissection, monitoringtoenhanceroutine
inspection by vehicle and train intelligent system
(VIMSandTIMS) isdescribed.
Demands on public transportation infrastructure,
andlevelsof service,increaseaspeopleexpectahigher
standard of living and public service. To meet these
demands maintenance of the transportation infras-
tructurefor railways andhighways is vital. However,
as mentioned above, not all infrastructure authori-
ties or operators havesufficient operational budgets.
Duetobudgetconstraints, local railwayoperators, for
instance, cannot implement asophisticatedandcostly
maintenancestrategysuchastheoneemployedforthe
bullettrainrailway. Instead, theyemployasystemthat
reliesonamanual trackprofiler, whoseaccuracyand
efficiencyislimited. A simple, lowmaintenancecost
effectivemonitoringsystemwithsufficientaccuracyis
thereforerequired.Tofill theneed, thetrainintelligent
monitoringsystem(TIMS) wasdeveloped[8].
Thesystemconsistsof: (1) atri-axial accelerometer
mountedonthefloor of atrainscar tomeasuretrain
acceleration, (2) a global positioning system(GPS)
sensor to locate train position and, (3) a portable
computer to record position and response data. The
objective of TIMS is to improve the current routine
inspection systemin terms of detecting the railway
tracks irregularity by using thevibration technique.
Thesystemis installed on atrain and responses are
recorded and analysed regularly. By looking at the
root-mean-square of the acceleration responses, one
can evaluate the determined by GPS. With repeti-
tive measurements, similar response characteristics
areexpected. Thedistinctchangeof theresponsemay
19
then be attributed to the change in railway surface.
Using this monitoring system, repair and deteriora-
tion of track beds can betracked down. Thesystem
wasappliedtoalocal railwayinChibaprefectureand
measurements at different timeinstances werecom-
pared. Promising preliminary results were obtained.
Furtherdevelopmentof thissystemisstill underongo-
ingresearchandmoreimprovementsareexpected. A
similar monitoringsystemwas developedto monitor
highway pavement andexpansionjoints. Thevehicle
intelligent monitoringsystem(VIMS) [9] utilisesthe
dynamicresponseof acar tocapturetheconditionof
the road pavement surface as well as the expansion
joints. Thesystemisproposedasanalternativetothe
conventional roadprofiler system, whoseoperational
cost isrelativelyhigh.
8 MONITORINGFOR FAILURE PREVENTION
Monitoring can also be used to prevent structural
failure. For this purpose, possible failure locations
andcircumstancesunder whichthefailuremayoccur
shouldbeidentifiedapriori. Whenthefailuremode
of interest is identified or specified, a monitoring
systemis implemented by selecting the appropriate
sensor. Someof thefailuremodes arelocalised, and
so arethelocations of thesensors. Several suchsys-
tems aredevelopedandimplementedto improvethe
safetyof railwayoperation.Anexampleof monitoring
toprevent bridgefailureduetounseatingis installed
onoverpass bridges abovehighways wherethecolli-
sion risk is considered high. When unseating of the
bridgegirder occurs, thesensor breaks and an elec-
trical signal transmitted to the highway operator to
suspendoperations. Another exampleof this typeof
monitoring is scour-induced collapse detection such
as inclinometers installed at bridges to detect scour
induced collapse of bridge piers [10]. This system
worksinsuchawaythat whentheinclinationreaches
themaintenancelimits of track irregularity, analarm
is sent to the operator, so that further checks and
countermeasurescanbetaken.
9 CONCLUSIONS
Theconcept of bridgemonitoringasanessential part
of riskreductionisdescribedinthispaper.Toimprove
bridgesafety, several monitoringtechnologiesfor risk
and vulnerability are implemented. In this concept,
structural healthmonitoringserves as atool for vul-
nerability monitoring. Inthepast fewyears, wehave
seen many bridges where inspection and/or moni-
toringsystems haveimplemented. Unfortunately, we
havealsoseenstructural failureevenwhenamonitor-
ingor inspectionschemehadbeenimplemented. The
recently collapsed I-35W Mississippi River Bridge,
for instance, wasunder periodic inspection, whileno
permanent monitoring systemwas installed. Conse-
quently, many arestill sceptical about theusefulness
of monitoring. The investment in bridge monitoring
should therefore be justified with useful results. It
is realised that structural evaluation of a bridge is
a complex process consisting of a series of inte-
gratedsystems, components, andprocedures.Anideal
bridge monitoring systemrequires the development
of integrated administrative and proven engineering
solutions that aretechnically reliableandfinancially
feasible. It is a responsibility of bridge engineers,
researchers and educators to convince society that
bridge monitoring is not only fashionable but also
vital for bridges, andthat all bridgestakeholdersgain
benefit frommonitoring.
REFERENCES
[1] Fujino, Y., et al., (2008). Seismic retrofit design of
long-span bridges on metropolitan expressways in
Tokyo. Transportation Research Record (TRR): J. of
TransportationResearchBoard, 11-S, 335342.
[2] Kinoshita, S., (1998). Kyoshin-net (K-NET). Seismo-
logical ResearchLetters, 69, 309332.
[3] Fujino, Y. and Abe, M., (2007). Characterization of
risk hazard and vulnerability in natural disasters.
Proc. of the10thinternational conferenceonapplica-
tions of statistics andprobability incivil engineering
[CD-ROM], 31J uly3August, Tokyo, J apan.
[4] Siringoringo, D.M. and Fujino, Y., (2008). System
identification applied to long-span cable-supported
bridgesusingseismicrecords.EarthquakeEngineering
andStructural Dynamics, 37(3), 361386.
[5] Siringoringo, D.M. and Fujino, Y., (2006). Observed
dynamic performance of theYokohama Bay Bridge
from system identification using seismic records.
Structural Control and Health Monitoring, 13 (1),
226244.
[6] Nagayama, T., et al., (2005). Structural identification
of anonproportionally damped systemand its appli-
cationtoafull-scalesuspensionbridge. J. Struc. Eng.
ASCE, 131, 15361545.
[7] Siringoringo, D.M. and Fujino, Y., (2008). System
identification of suspension bridge from ambient
vibration response. Engineering Structures, 30 (2),
462477.
[8] Ishii, H., et al., (2006). The study of Train Intelli-
gentMonitoringSystemusingaccelerationof ordinary
trains. Proc. of the1stAsia-Pacificworkshoponstruc-
tural health monitoring [CD-ROM], 46 December,
Yokohama, J apan.
[9] Fujino, Y., et al., (2005). Development of Vehicle
Intelligent Monitoring System(VIMS). Proc of the
SPIE international symposiaon smart structures and
materials/NDE. Vol. 5765, 7 March, San Diego CA.
BellinghamWA: SPIE, 142147.
[10] Kobayashi, N., Kitsunai, S., and Shimamura, M.,
(2002). Scour monitoring of railway bridgepiers via
inclination detection. Proc. of 1st international con-
ference on scour of foundations, 1720 November,
College Station, TX, Texas Transportation Institute
PublicationDept, 910917.
20
Recycledandrenewablematerialsasresourcesfor electricarc
furnacesteelmaking
M. Zaharia
OneSteel, Rooty Hill, Sydney, Australia
N.F.Yunos
School of Materials Engineering, University of Malaysia Perlis, Jejawi, Perlis, Malaysia
VeenaSahajwalla
Centre for Sustainable Materials Research &Technology (SMaRT@UNSW) University of New South Wales,
Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: The steel industry consumes a large amount of energy GHG emissions
[1]
. Rubber tires and
agricultural wastes have the potential to be used in industries seeking alternative fuel and sustainable raw
materialssources. Previousstudiesfocusedonrecyclingthesematerialsasfuel resources, i.e. rubber incement
industry
[2],[3]
andagricultural materialsfor power production
[4]
. Thepresent paper focusesoninvestigationsof
carbon/slagreactions, namely slagfoamingusingrubber andpalmshell wastes as sustainablecarbonsources
throughquantitativeestimationof theslagvolume. Animprovedvolumeratio for therubber blendcompared
to cokewas seen. Foaming was also improved when palmshell char was used as carbon material. Industrial
implementations at OneSteel showed reductions in electrical energy and carbon consumption. These results
indicatethat partial replacement of cokewithrubber andpalmshell is efficient dueto improvedinteractions
withEAF slag.
1 INTRODUCTION
The iron and steel industry uses different carbon
materials, with coal and coke among the conven-
tional feed. However, due to global environmental
concernsover fossil fuel usage, sustainableresources
have grown in importance as partial alternatives to
fossil resourcesandqualitycoals. Inthisdirectiondif-
ferent wastematerialscouldreplacetheconventional
materials, includingmaterials containingcarbonand
metal oxides.
Meanwhile,expansionintheuseof polymericmate-
rialsoverthelast3decadeshasalsobeenaccompanied
byincreasingproblemsovertheirdisposal attheendof
their lifecycle
[2]
. Theutilityandrelativelyshortlifes-
panof plastics andrubbers haveproducedamassive
waste problem. Conventional recycling technologies
are unable to deal with the high volume of organic
wastes produced worldwide. Moreover, agricultural
wastematerialsderivedfrompalmshellsarearenew-
able waste source that may be regarded as partial
alternativestofossil resources.
As the chemical components available in these
wastematerialsarecarbonandhydrogen, theseclearly
havethepotential tobeacheapandreadily available
auxiliary source of carbon, to partially replace con-
ventional carbonmaterialsandreducegreenhousegas
emissions, respectivelyinironandsteelmaking.
Thereareafewreports on theutilization of plas-
ticsasrawmaterialsincompositeironmakingpellets.
Matsuda, Iwaseet al.
[5],[6]
confirmedthepotential fea-
sibility onthereductionof ironoxidewithwastePE
plastics and wood as thegasification of thesewaste
materials revealed highly reducing gaseous species
i.e. CO and H
2
. They considered mixtures of waste
PE/wood and Fe
2
O
3
at various C/O molar ratios
rapidly heated to temperatures between 1673 and
2073K. Themetal yield showed amaximumat C/O
ratio1forPE-hematitemixturewhilethemaximum
C/Oratiofor woodmixtureswasseentobe0.75.
Studieson,theutilizationof wasteplasticsinacom-
mercial blast furnace and the raceway hot model at
NKK CorporationhavebeenreportedbyAsanuma
[7]
.
The combustion and gasification efficiency of the
injected polymer particles were found to vary with
particle size. On the whole, the combustion perfor-
mancewas reportedto behigher whenplastics were
involved. The combustibility of PE was studied by
Kimet al.
[8]
withvariousexperimental variablesina
simulatedblast furnacemodel. Theenergyefficiency
was found to increase with blast furnace tempera-
ture, oxygenenrichmentandsmallerparticlesize.The
simultaneous combustion of PE with coal was stud-
iedbyGuptaet al.
[9]
provingnot toposeanyadverse
effects on the combustion efficiency for pulverized
coal injectionapplications.
21
Theuseof plastics as apartial fuel substitutefor
coke or coal in coke ovens and in the blast furnace
is being practiced in J apan, where the technology
of plastic injection was designed through a unique
integratingsystem
[10]
. Limitedstudies havereported
the use of polymeric materials in EAF steelmaking
andtheyshowedimprovementsincombustionperfor-
mances and better carbon/slag interactions with the
additionof plasticsandrubber.
Rubber tyres areused in EAF plants operated by
NSCHirohataIronworksasasubstitutefor partof the
coal and iron scraps
[11]
. Thesteel cords availablein
thetyresaremeltedandrecycledintosteel, whilethe
carbon in rubber is utilized as a component of melt
pigiron. TheEuropeanplants, particularly LME site
inTrith-Sain4t-Leger, France
[12]
usesendof lifetyres
intheir EAF reactorsby chargingtheminthemolten
steel bathfromthetopof thefurnace. Asaresult, the
off-gas (CO andH
2
) levels wereseento increaseby
1020%whilethetemperaturewas increasedwithin
510minutesafter tyresadditioninthefurnace.
Inthisdirection, intheSMaRT Centreresearchon
useof agricultural andwastepolymericmaterialssuch
as rubber tyres has been extensively carried out to
developenvironmentallyfriendlyrecyclingprocesses
for EAF steelmaking.
A scientific approach considered injection of
blends of conventional coke and plastics/rubber to
induce slag foaming in EAF steelmaking. A num-
ber of experimental investigations on carbon/slag
interactionsusinghigh-densitypolyethylene(HDPE),
Polyethylene therephtalate (PET) and rubber tyres
as carbon source and an EAF slag were conducted
at SMaRT Centre laboratories
[13],[14],[15],[16],[17],[18]
.
Dankwah et al.
[19]
targeted the reduction of FeO
in EAF steelmaking slags using blends of coke,
high density polyethylene (HDPE) and rubber tyres
as reductants and proposed that the hydrogen and
fixed carbon contents of a carbonaceous material
are important for improved rates in reduction and
carburisation. A more recent study
[20]
on the reduc-
tion behavior of composite pellets comprising of
iron oxide, synthetic graphite and waste blast fur-
nace slag were investigated s carried out to estab-
lishfeasibility of physical property control of pellets
by selecting optimumslag compositions of binding
materials. Additional studiesoncarbondissolutionat
nanostructurelevelsconsideredend-of-life melamine-
formaldehyde(MF)productsasvalue-addedadvanced
carbon resource in steelmaking process for energy
savings
[21]
.
The results were subsequently confirmed, as of
2006inindustrial furnaces by implementingthelab-
oratory findings at OneSteel EAFs at Sydney Steel
Mill, New SouthWales, and Laverton Steel Mill, in
Melbourne, Victoria. OneSteel has been using this
technology as standard practice for over four years
at SSM andLSM and40,000heats, consumingover
one million recycled tyres
[22],[23]
. This technology,
referred to as, Polymer Injection Technology (PIT),
wasconsequentlypatented,andintroducedtothirdpar-
ties andis currently inuseat UMC Metal, Thailand,
where it was commissioned in May 2011
[23]
. In all
three cases, benefits derived from the implemen-
tation of this technology translated into cost and
productivitybenefits, includingthereductionof foam-
ing agent injectant, the increase of average active
power, the reduction of power on time, and yield
improvements.
Renewable materials have drawn attention in the
iron and steelmaking sector since they are carbon
neutral as opposed to fossil fuels. The use of wood
char in ironmaking has been extensively reviewed
by Gupta
[24]
, Burgess
[25]
and DellAmico et al.
[26]
.
Charcoal has been used as areducing agent in blast
furnacesfor anumber of years
[27],[28]
Babichet al.
[29]
foundthat thecombustionefficiency of all thetested
charcoals is better or comparable to conventional
coals. However, most of the previous studies con-
sidered agricultural materials as reducing agent in
the blast furnace, while fewer investigations were
consideredfor applicationsinsteelmaking.
Agricultural waste materials derived from palm
shells are among the main renewable waste source
in Malaysia and their number was seen to increase
steadilyinthelast fewyears
[30]
. Thepalmshell char-
coal wasseentopossessotheradvantageouscharacter-
istics; e.g. lowsulphur andnitrogencontent, resulting
in low SOx/NOx emission; the alkaline ash present
inthepalmshell wasteis knownto capturesomeof
the SO
2
produced during combustion. Besides that,
the palmshell waste is a true renewable fuel, so it
does not contributetotheincreaseintheglobal CO
2
concentration.
Thecurrent paper detailsonresearchperformedat
SMaRT Centre regarding novel recycling of wastes
derived frompolymer and agricultural practices as
inject carbonresourcesinEAF steelmakingindustry.
It involves a quantitative estimation of the changes
occurringinslagvolumeas afunctionof time; mea-
surementsof gasgeneration(CO, CO
2
) asaresult of
hightemperaturecarbon/slagreactions.
2 EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
2.1 Material characteristics
Metallurgical cokeis widely used by steelmakers as
theprimarycarbonresourceinEAF steelmaking. The
properties of coke, suchas fixedcarboncontent, ash
level and composition play an important role in its
interactions withmoltenslag. Rubber is apolymeric
material withinherent highvolatilecontent aswell as
mediumamountof carbon(seeTable1). Palmshell isa
renewablematerial withhighamountof volatiles, low
amountof ashwhichconsistsmainlyof ironoxideand
lowamountsof sulphurandphosphorus. Itcanbeseen
fromtable1that thelevel of oxygenavailableincoke
is closeto thelevel of oxygenpresent inpalmshell.
Whileoxygenincokeispresent duetotheincreased
ashcontent(18.3%), wheresilicaisthedominantinor-
ganic constituent (seeTable 2), the oxygen in palm
shell isavailableduetoitscelluloseandhemicellulose
22
Table1. Proximateandultimateanalyses of metallurgical
cokeandpalmshell char samples.
ProximateAnalysis, db(%)
VM Total C Ash Moisture
Met. Coke 3 85.1 18.3 1.3
PalmShell 33.6 76.5 5.6 4.2
Rubber 63.2 83.8 5.7 0.9
UltimateAnalysis, db(%)
FixedC H
2
O S
Met. Coke 78.7 0 15.7 0.32
PalmShell 56.5 5.73 17.5 0.05
Rubber 30.2 7.6 2
Table2. AshAnalysis of thecarbonaceous materials used
inthisstudy(wt %).
Components Met. coke Rubber Palmshell
SiO
2
50.7 13.7 51.6
Fe
2
O
3
4.8 6.5 21.7
Al
2
O
3
36 0.97 6.8
TiO
2
1.4 0.07 0.27
P
2
O
5
1.6 1.3 1.88
Mn
3
O
4
0.3 0.04 0.38
CaO 3.3 8.5 2.41
MgO 0.94 1.44 2.18
Na
2
O 0.39 nd 5.6
K
2
O 0.53 1.24 5.6
SO
3
0.39 13.2 1.68
V
2
O
5
0.04 nd
ZnO 51.2 nd
content. Thepresenceof oxygen in palmshells may
influenceCO formationat hightemperatures, which
accordingtopreviousstudies
[31]
areevolvedfromaryl
ether linkages(R-O-R).
Rubber was blendedwith cokein various propor-
tions. MC waschosenasthebasematerial becauseit
is thetypical carboninjectant usedat OneSteel EAF,
Sydney Steel Mill, Australia. Rubber was cryogeni-
cally ground to reach a particle size similar to that
of coke. Palmshells were collected fromMalaysia
andvolatilematter wasremovedbyheatingit inoxy-
genfreeatmosphere. Therubber blends werefurther
crushed in a jaw crusher and a vibrating grinder to
increasetheuniformityinparticlesizedistribution.
The carbonaceous substrates were prepared by
grinding and sieving the carbon based materials to
particlesizes <60m, andfurther compactingthem
at4.0MPainasteel dieusingahydraulicpress.The
substratehadadiameter of 20mmandathicknessof
34mm.
The slag used was provided by Onesteel and its
compositionisdetailedinTable3below.
Table3. OneSteel slagcomposition.
Slagcomposition
Na
2
O 0.39
MgO 9.4
Al
2
O
3
8.4
SiO
2
13
P
2
O
5
1.6
CaO 29.6
TiO
2
1.4
MnO 5.7
Fe
2
O
3
34.8
B3 1.38
The substrate was placed on an alumina holder
of the sessile-drop experimental assembly, and the
carbon/slagreactionswererecordedbyachargecou-
pleddevice(CCD) equippedwithavideocamera
[32]
.
2.2 Carbon-slag reactions in EAF steelmaking
Theexperimental procedurefor carbonslagreactions
involved a few stages (1) reactions in a custom-
madehorizontal furnacehavingthecapabilitytoreach
1550
C, (2)visual observationusingacharge-coupled
device(CCD) camera, and(3) off-gasanalysis.
TheEAF-richslagwasplacedonthetopof thesub-
strateandfurtherplacedonanaluminagraphiteholder
of thesessile-dropexperimental assembly. This tech-
niquewas shown hat it can beused to continuously
monitor the changes in droplet volume (a measure
of gas entrapment and therefore slag foaming) as a
functionof time
[33]
.Aschematicdiagramof theexper-
imental set-upisshowninpreviouspublications
[1416]
.
The melting of slag marked the beginning of the
reactions.A charge-coupleddevice(CCD) camerafit-
tedwithanIRISlenswasusedtocapturethelivein-situ
phenomena in the furnace and a digital video disc
recorder (DVD) connected to the television allowed
recording of the entire experiment as a function of
time. Dynamic changes in volume were determined
fromthecapturedimageswiththehelpof computer-
ized dataprocessing software. As an approximation,
theslagdroplet onthesubstratewasassumedtohave
atruncatedspherical shape. Minor deviations froma
spherical shapecausedby continuousor suddenevo-
lutionof gases wereneglected(estimatederror 5%
volume). The sessile drop slag foaming software
[33]
generatesvolumeratioV
t
/V
0
asafunctionof time,
whereV
t
andV
0
represent thevolumeat timet, and
thevolumeof theslagattheinitial stage, respectively.
3 EAF STEELMAKINGPROCESSANDTHE
IMPORTANCE OF SLAGFOAMING
PRACTICES
EAFs utilizescrapsteel as primary rawmaterial. An
electric arc is passedbetweenthreeelectrodes to the
23
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the EAF steelmaking
process
[24]
.
scrap, providing heat for melting. As the top layers
of scrap melts, the electrodes can penetrate further
into thebath allowing thelower levels to bemelted.
Dolomite, magnesiteandlime, areaddedto thebath
for initial hearthprotectionandas flux for capturing
sulfur, phosphorusandother non-metallicinclusions.
At the end of the process, the molten material tem-
peraturesareinexcessof 1600
C. Natural gas/oxygen
burners areutilizedtopreheat thescrapchargedinto
theEAF insubsequent batches. Oxygenisblowninto
thesteel toremoveunwantedelements, andlower the
level of silicon and carbon. Oxygen and carbon are
alsoinjectedintotheslaglayer of theEAF toimprove
the thermal efficiency of the process by creating a
foamingslag.
Carbonandferroalloysareaddedwhenthemetal is
tappedfromtheEAF intoaladle, toamendtheprop-
erties of thesteel andproducedifferent steel grades.
Typical alloys are ferromanganese and ferrosilicon.
TheLadleMetallurgy Furnace(LMF) isusedtotrim
thetemperatureandrefinethechemistry of thesteel
by addingfurther alloys if required. Thesteel is then
cast intobillets at theContinuous Caster, andis then
readyfor downstreamprocessing.
Once initiated in the EAF, foaming slag reduces
heatlossfromthemoltenmetal inthebathinaddition
to shrouding the arc and thereby ensuring efficient
transfer of electrical energy to the molten metal. It
also prevents damage of the furnace walls by the
electricarc.
Carbonconsumptioninelectricsteelmakingandits
interactionswithmoltenslagandmetal aretherefore
thekey factors of foaming slag generation. Conven-
tional injectantstoinduceslagfoamingincludecoke,
anthraciteandcoal.Intheslagfoamingpractice,super-
sonic oxygen is injectedat theEAF into liquidsteel
to formFeO slag. Inadditionto that, solidcarbonis
injectedintotheslagphasetoreduceFeOdissolvedin
theslag.
Thechemical reactionthat takesplacebetweenthe
solidcarbonandironoxideintheslagisthefollowing:
Thereductionof FeOintheslaglayergeneratesCO
gas, whichpartiallyevolvesintoCO
2
duetotheexcess
oxygen, leadingtoslagfoaming. Oxygeninjectedinto
theliquidsteel oxidizesthesolutecarboninthemelt
and this reaction also generates CO and CO
2
gases
intoslagphase. Slagfoamingisalsoinfluencedbythe
meltcarboncontent, becausetheFeOinslagcanreact
withsolutecarboninthemeltatthesteel/slaginterface
andundergoreduction.
As thepresenceof rubbers and palmshells intro-
duces a more complex material, with a different
structurefromthat foundintheconventional materi-
als, thereactionsoccurringattheslagcarboninterface
are expected to be affected by the presence of an
increasedlevel of hydrocarbons. Thesehydrocarbons
could further decompose into carbon and hydrogen.
Subsequently, the chemical reactions occurring in
the slag involves the reduction of the iron oxide by
hydrogen.
Thus, thereduction of FeO by carbon and hydro-
gen leads to the formation of CO, CO
2
and H
2
O.
Thesegasescanlater befoundat theslag/metal inter-
faceallowing theentyrebath to becomefoamy. The
volumefluctuationswill dependontheamountof gas
evolved, thesizeof gas bubble, andthephysical and
chemical propertiesof theslag
Foamingslagfloatsontopof moltensteel,shielding
theelectric arc and enabling thesteel bath tempera-
turetoberaisedmorerapidly, resultinginsubstantial
energy savings. A sustained level of slag foaming is
essential for efficient EAF operation. Slag foaming
behaviour improves depending on theability of slag
toholdoff gases(COandCO
2
) producedduringhigh
temperature reactions. Slag viscosity, density, sur-
facetensionandbasicity; dependonslagcomposition
and temperature. These physicochemical properties
directlyaffect thefoamabilityof theslag.
4 LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS
4.1 Characterization of materials
The structural characterization of the samples was
doneusingX- Raydiffractiontechnique.Theobserved
diffraction patterns revealed the metallurgical coke
withitsturbostaticstructure. Rubber hasaverydisor-
deredstructurewhichcanbeclearly observedinthe
humpdevelopedinFigure2c.
The palmshell has also an amorphous structure
withthedistinctivehumpseeninFigure2b.Thestruc-
tural disorder was seen to lead to higher reactivitys
of agricultural wasteinthelatestagesof combustion
sincemoreedgecarbon(whichis morereactive) are
available.
Thechemical composition of thesamples used in
thepresent study (seeTable1 and 2) showtheclear
difference between coke and the two materials, i.e.
rubber andpalmshell. Rubber andpalmshell havean
increasedamount of volatilescomparedtocoke. The
presenceof volatiles is expectedto leadto increased
gasformation.Moreover,Fe
2
O
3
isoneof thedominant
components in the palmshell ash. Previous studies
haveshown that ash impurities such as Fe
2
O
3
allow
24
Figure 2. X-Ray diffraction patterns of a) coke, b) palm
shell andc) rubber tyre.
Figure3. Snapshotsof slagdropletsincontact with100%
MC, Rubber Blend, andPalmchar at 1550
C as afunction
of time
[34],[35]
.
theCO reactions to continue, enhancing thereactiv-
ity of COgas
[33]
. Thus, apart fromtheir highamount
of volatiles, the presence of rubber and palmshell
are expected to improve the foaming behaviour due
totheir ashcomponents.
4.2 Recycling wastes as a resource for EAF
steelmaking slag carbon reactions
In previous studies it was observed that carbon/slag
interactionsimprovedwhenHDPE/cokewasused, as
compared to coke alone. Higher levels of CO and
CO
2
emissions were associated the formation of an
improvedslagfoamingvolume.
Toqualitativelydemonstratethebehaviorof theslag
volumeat steelmakingtemperatures, afewrepresen-
tativedynamic wetting images of theslag droplet in
contact with metallurgical coke and its blends with
rubber andpalmshell char areshowninFigure3.
Whenrubber replacedpartof thecokeanincreased
slag volumewas seen with reaction time. Moreover,
with increased reaction time, thevolumeof theslag
in contact with rubber/coke blend was improved as
opposed to coke alone. The renewable palm shell
showedanincreasedslagvolumecomparedtocoke.
Figure 4. V
t
/V
0
plot for coke only and two different
rubber/cokeratioblends
[35],[36]
.
The changes in slag volumes, attributed to for-
mation, entrapment and releaseof gases, V
t
/V
0
was
calculated and plotted as a function of time. The
volume ratio, V
t
/V
0
, of the EAF slag reacting with
metallurgical cokerecordsaninitial valueof 1.0; with
time it decreased without any wide fluctuations to
0.5. This indicates a lower extent of gas entrapment
by the slag. For the rubber blend, the slag volume
ratiosshowedsignificantlydifferenttrendswithmuch
higher levels of droplet volumes inthefirst 150sec-
onds of reaction (Figure4a). Thepalmchar showed
fluctuations, withthedropcontinuously growingand
dropping, however maintaininganincreasedvolume.
This indicates that thedecreasein slag volumetook
much longer when Rubber and palmshells replaced
the metallurgical coke usage suggesting significant
levels of gas entrapped and subsequently released
duringcarbon/slaginteractions.
As carbon is continuously injected into the slag
bathof theelectricarcfurnacewherethetemperature
exceeds1500
C, theinitial gasphasereactionsoccur
veryfastandthegasesevolvedatthesehightempera-
tureareexpectedtoparticipateinthesubsequent slag
reactions.
Theblendsappearedtohavecontributedtomoregas
evolved, which was subsequently entrapped into the
slagphase. Previouspublicationsdetail ontheratesof
gasgenerationwhenrubber replacedpart of thecoke.
At temperature above 900
C hydrogen was seen

to bepresent which was attributed to theinteraction
of celluloseand lignin during pyrolysis. Palmshells
containhighlignin(53.4%) andcellulose(29.7%) 39
andtheir interactionat hightemperatureis knownto
releaseaconsiderableamountof gases. Moreover, the
inorganicmatter couldalsoinfluencetheformationof
25
gasattemperature800
C.Thepalmshellsareexpected
toimprovethecarbon/ slagreactionsduetotheavail-
abilityof gasessuchasCH
4+
, H
2+
, COandCO
2
and
other hydrocarbonsbeyond450
C.
Whenrubber was used, it was foundby Dankwah
et al.
[19]
that the gases evolved were mostly CO,
CO
2
withconsiderableamount of CH
4
andH
2
. Thus,
therubbers/palmshell kinetic advantagemight come
fromits richer hydrogen content, in comparison to
metallurgical coke, because the reduction reaction
(FeO+H
2
(g)=Fe+H
2
O(g)) ismuchfaster thanthe
reductionof FeOwithC.
5 INDUSTRIAL IMPLEMENTATIONSAND
ASSOCIATEDBENEFITSAT ONESTEEL
Industrial trialsconductedatSydneySteel Mill (SSM)
in2006andattheLavertonSteel Mill (LSM). Rubber
injection technology has been implemented and is a
standardpracticeat bothOneSteel plants. Thetechni-
cal dataof thetwoOneSteel EAFsarepresentedina
previouspublication
[23],[24]
.
A summary of the data for the trial heats clearly
showsthattherubberblendperformsbetterthancoke.
Thereductionof quantity of injectant constitutes the
greatest changeinpercentage. This result, combined
with the raw material cost differential, lead to great
conversioncostsavings. Other benefitswererecorded
atOneSteel intermsof decreasedelectrodeconsump-
tion, lime consumption and improved yield through
thereductionof FeOlevelsintheslagby1.4%
[23],[24]
.
In addition to cost reductions and increased EAF
productivitythroughreducedpower ontimerecorded
at OneSteel, the polymer injection technology also
provided the opportunity to reduce carbon footprint
through lowered CO
2
emissions as a result of the
potential to decrease electricity consumption gener-
atedbycoal-firedpower stations. Moregenerally, the
reduction in carbon per tone of steel produced par-
tiallymitigatesagainstpotential costof carbontrading
schemes.Thetechnologyalsoprovidestheopportunity
todifferentiatethesteel producedonitsenvironmental
benefits (greener steel). Another benefit is repre-
sentedby thefact that thepriceandsupply of rubber
is not tiedtotraditional volatilesteelmakingdemand
andsupply dynamics but is morestablewithlimited
endmarkets.
OneSteel hasconductedspecificcampaignsatSSM
to check Sulfur pickup in the steel when inject-
ing a rubber/coke blend and a comparison between
the conventional inject coke and rubber/coke blend
is provided in Table 5. No statistical difference in
steel sulfur levelswasobservedwheninjectingrubber
crumbsatOneSteel.Asmentionedabove(Table5), the
sulfur contentintyrerubber isabout1%, andhowever
noreversionintosteel occursasall reactionstakeplace
intheslaglayer.
To understand the mechanism of FeO reduction
in slag over timewhen using cokeand rubber blend
a number of slag analyses have been conducted.
Table4. Summaryof benefitsat SSM andLSM EAFs
[24]
.
BenefitArea SSM LSM
Cost of RawMaterial Codevs.
Rubber ($USDCost perTonne)
15% 28%
ReductioninElectrical Consumption
(kWhper BilletTonne)
2.8% 2.4%
ReductioninInject Carbon
(kgper heat)
12.0% 16.2%
IncreaseinProductivity(Tonnes
per Minuteof Power OnTime)
3.0% 1.9%
ReductioninInject Oxygen
(NM
3
per BilletTonne)
2.3% 1.9%
ReductioninNatural Gas
(NM
3
per BilletTonne)
1.9%
OxygentoInject CarbonRatio 3.4% 2.8%
Table5. Annual sulphur averageinsteel at SSM
[24]
.
Year 100%CokeInjected Rubber/CokeInjected
2007 0.213%S 0.0219%S
2008 0.0226%S 0.0224%S
Figure5. Slagprofilingof twoUMC heatsat 35%rubber/
65%cokeand100%coke
[24]
.
Higher FeOreductionratewasobservedwhenrubber
replacedpartiallytheconventional coke(Figure5).
6 CONCLUSIONS
This articledescribes experimental investigations on
slag foaming characteristics of coke/polymer mix-
tures (tyrerubber in particular) and coke-palmshell
conductedat UNSWlaboratories.
The chemistry of the carbon based material was
seento play animportant roleinthestructureof the
residual particle, influencing the release of gaseous
emissions and thus the subsequent reactions with
theslag.
Significant carbon/slag interactions occurred
when coke/rubber blends and the renewable palm
shells were used, with associated iron oxide reduc-
tions withintheslagphaseassociatedwithincreased
gasgeneration, entrapment andsubsequent release.
26
This study has shown that blends of rubber with
metallurgical cokeandpalmcharcouldbeusedtopar-
tially replacesomeof theconventional metallurgical
coke used in EAF steelmaking for its injecting car-
bonrequirements. Thelaboratory work wasreflected
in theindustrial implementations at OneSteel where
improvements in the slag foaming behaviour and
furnaceefficiencywereseen.
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27
Terror, security, and money: The risks, benefits, and costs of
critical infrastructure protection
M.G. Stewart
Centre for Infrastructure Performance and Reliability, The University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
J. Mueller
Mershon Center for International Security Studies, Ohio State University, United States
ABSTRACT: Government spending on homeland is projected to reach $300 billion by 2016. The cumulative
increase inexpenditures onUSdomestic homelandsecurityover the decade since 9/11exceeds one trilliondollars.
How much of this expenditure is necessary? and how much has been effective? The use of risk-based decision
theory to determine acceptability of risk is crucial to prioritise protective measures for critical infrastructure.
Structural reliability and probabilistic methods are used to assess risk reduction due to protective measures,
particularly since loading and response of structures to explosive blast loading is subject to uncertainty and
variability. The paper will describe a cost-benefit analysis that considers threat likelihood, cost of security and
protective measures, risk reduction and expected losses to compare costs and benefits to decide which protective
measures are cost-effective, and those which are not. We find that the protection of standard office-type buildings
or bridges would be cost-effective only if the likelihood of a sizable terrorist attack on the building is a many
times greater than it is at present. Secondary barriers to the cockpit on airliners is cost-effective, though the
provision for air marshals is not.
1 INTRODUCTION
Terrorist attacks in the past 20 years have targeted
civilian and military infrastructure, particularly build-
ings, bridges, and aviation infrastructure including
Manchester and London city centres (1992, 1993
and 1996), Pentagon and World Trade Center (2001),
night clubs and restaurants in Bali (2002, 2005),
Marriott Hotel in Jakarta (2003), Australian Embassy
in Indonesia (2004), and near misses with air-
craft suicide bombing attempts. The preferred method
of attack is Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs),
against buildings and transport infrastructure. Secur-
ing airports and aircraft has also been a high priority
of governments world-wide after the 9/11 attacks.
Threat scenarios, system response, effectiveness of
counter-terrorism (CT) measures and expected dam-
age are uncertain and variable. These uncertainties will
affect damage risk predictions and the utility of sub-
sequent decisions. Characterising these uncertainties
using stochastic methods is a logical step, which will
lead to estimates of system reliability and risk.
Only few probabilistic and reliability analyses have
been carried out for infrastructure systems subject to
explosive blast loading (e.g. Low and Hao 2001, Hao
et al. 2010). To compare costs and benefits requires
the quantification of threat probability, risk reduction,
losses, and security costs (e.g. Stewart et al. 2006,
Stewart and Netherton 2008, Netherton and Stewart
2009, Dillon et al. 2009, Cox 2009, Stewart and
Mueller 2008a, 2008b, 2011a,b,Willis and LaTourette
2008, Stewart 2008, 2010a,b, 2011). Much of this
work can be categorised as probabilistic terrorism
risk assessment.
The cumulative increase in expenditures on U.S.
domestic homeland security over the decade since
9/11 exceeds one trillion dollars (Mueller and Stewart
2011a,b). Up to 45% of this expenditure is devoted
to protecting critical infrastructure and key resources.
Yet there is little evidence that such expenditures have
been efficient. Asignificant challenge is balancing the
costs and benefits of counter-terrorism measures
when the threat scenarios are highly transient and
there is considerable risk averseness by decision-
makers (Mueller 2006).
It was understandable, in the years immediately fol-
lowing the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 that
there was a tendency to spend in haste on homeland
security. Yet little scientific rigour has been applied
to assess the effectiveness of this expenditure. There
is a need to examine homeland security expenditures
in a careful and systematic way, applying the kind of
system and reliability modelling approaches that are
routinely applied to other hazards. This type of rigour,
where securityandpublic policydecisions are assessed
on technical, social and economic considerations of
risk acceptability, is needed to ensure that public funds
are expended on measures that maximise public safety.
29
Terrorism may be viewed as a new hazard,
that although different in nature from other hazards,
requires systems and reliability approaches similar to
those adopted to other hazards to assess risk and safety.
The paper will review recent research conducted at
The University of Newcastle, including:
1. Stochastic modelling of blast loads
2. Stochastic modelling of structural response
3. Systems and reliability analysis
4. Risk-based decision theory
This is a multi-faceted approach to probabilistic
terrorism risk assessment that deals with existing and
new (hardened) infrastructure. A capability to predict
the likelihood and extent of damage and casualty levels
has many potential uses; including:
1. infrastructure and security policy, as a decision
support tool to mitigate damage
2. contingency planning and emergency response
simulations
3. collateral damage estimation (CDE) for military
planners
4. forensics to back-calculate charge weights.
Areviewof probabilistic risk assessments are given
for specific example applications: (i) predicting vari-
ability of blast loads, (ii) reinforced concrete structural
systems, (iii) buildings and bridges subject to a ter-
rorist Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device
(VBIED), and (iv) aviation security measures. Where
possible, we use actual or representative threat, con-
sequence and cost data. However, some hypothetical
data is used (particularly when dealing with terrorist
threats in Section 5) as the intention of the examples
is to show the methodology of various risk acceptance
criteria and not to make any definitive conclusions.
For additional and wider-ranging assessments of
the issues raised and the approaches used, see John
Mueller and Mark G. Stewart, Terror, Security, and
Money: Balancing the Risks, Benefits, and Costs of
Homeland Security, Oxford University Press, 2011.
2 RISK-BASED DECISION SUPPORT
FRAMEWORK
An appropriate decision analysis compares the
marginal costs of CT protective measures with the
marginal benefits in terms of fatalities and damages
averted. The decision problem is to maximise the net
benefit (equal to benefits cost) or net present value:
where E(C
B
) is the expected benefit from the secu-
rity measure not directly related to mitigating terrorist
threats (e.g. increased consumer confidence, reduction
in crime), Pr(T) is the annual threat or attack probabil-
ity per item of infrastructure i.e. the likelihood a ter-
rorist attackwill take place if the securitymeasure were
not in place, Pr(H|T) is the conditional probability of
a hazard (successful initiation/detonation of an IED,
or other initiating event leading to damage and loss of
life) given occurrence of the threat, Pr(L|H) is the con-
ditional probability of a loss given occurrence of the
hazard, L is the loss or consequence, the reduction in
risk (R) is the degree to which the security measure
foils, deters, disrupts, or protects against a terrorist
attack, and C
security
is the extra cost of CT protective
measures including opportunity costs. The summa-
tion signs in Eqn. (1) refer to the number of possible
threat scenarios, hazard levels and losses. A protective
measure is viewed as cost-effective or efficient if the
net benefit exceeds zero. Equation (1) can be gener-
alised for any time period, discounting of future costs
and more detailed time-dependent cost and damage
consequences.
Terrorismis a frighteningthreat that affects our will-
ingness to accept risk, a willingness that is influenced
by psychological, social, cultural, and institutional
processes. Moreover, events involving high conse-
quences can cause losses to an individual that they
cannot bear, such as bankruptcy or the loss of life.
On the other hand, governments, large corporations,
and other self-insured institutions can absorb such
losses more readily and so governments and their
regulatory agencies normally exhibit risk-neutral atti-
tudes in their decision-making (e.g. Sunstein 2002,
Ellingwood 2006). This is confirmed by the U.S.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) which
requires cost-benefit analyses to use expected values
(an unbiased estimate), and where possible, to use
probability distributions of benefits, costs, and net
benefits (OMB1992). However, Eqn. (1) can be gener-
alised for expected utility incorporating risk aversion
(e.g. Stewart et al. 2011a).
For many engineering systems the hazard (or threat)
rate is known or predicted a priori, but for terror-
ism the threat may arise from an intelligent adversary
who will adapt to changing circumstances to max-
imise likelihood of success. Yet many terrorists are
neither intelligent nor particularly adaptive as one
might expect. For example, Kenney (2010) finds that
Islamist militants in Spain and the UK are opera-
tionally unsophisticated, short on know-how, prone
to make mistakes, poor at planning, and limited in
their capacity to learn. Other studies document the
difficulties of network coordination that continually
threaten operational unity, trust, cohesion, and the
ability to act collectively (e.g. Brooks 2011). It is
true, of course, that some terrorist attacks are care-
fully planned. However, many terrorist target selection
effectively becomes something like a random process
(Mueller and Stewart 2011a). In most cases, target
selection may not have been random in their minds
but would essentially be so in the minds of people
trying to anticipate their next move.
Equation (1) can be simplified by assuming that
Pr(H|T) =Pr(L|H) =1, and so a break-even analysis
to calculate howmany attacks would have to take place
to justify the expenditure gives
30
In this approach the threat probability is the output
of the cost-benefit analysis and it is the prerogative of
the decision-maker, based on expert advice about the
anticipated threat probability, to decide whether or not
a security measure is cost-effective.
The challenging aspect of risk-based decision the-
ory is predicting values of Pr(H|T), Pr(L|H) and R.
This information may be inferred from expert opin-
ions, scenario analysis, and statistical analysis of prior
performance data, as well as system and reliability
modelling. Since there is uncertainty associated with
such predictions, the use of probability distributions is
recommended if appropriate data is available.
We recognise that Eqn. (1) is a simplification, how-
ever, it is a useful starting point for further discussion
and perhaps for more detailed and complex analy-
sis of how to manage the often conflicting societal
preferences associated with assessments of risk, cost,
and benefits. Clearly, risk and cost-benefit consid-
erations should not be the sole criterion for public
decision making. Nonetheless, they provide important
insights into how security measures may (or may not)
perform, their effect on risk reduction, and their cost-
effectiveness. They can reveal wasteful expenditures
and allow limited funds to be directed to where the
most benefit can be attained. More important, if risk
and cost-benefit advice is to be ignored, the onus is on
public officials to explain why this is so, and the trade-
offs and cuts to other programs that will inevitably
ensue.
3 3 PROBABILISTIC BLAST LOAD
MODELLING
The variability in blast loading can be traced to:
(a) Parameter uncertainty,
(b) Inherent variability natural, intrinsic, irreducible
uncertainty of a situation, and
(c) Model error measure of accuracy of predictive
model.
In all cases the variabilities can be represented
as one or more random variables described by
their mean, COV (coefficient of variation) and
probability distribution function. The probabilistic
blast load model considers parameter uncertainties for
(Netherton and Stewart 2010):
(a) User factor for mass of explosive (W
user
)
(b) Net equivalent quantity (NEQ) of an explosive in
terms of a mass of TNT (W
NEQ
)
(c) The range (R) and Angle of Incidence (AOI)
(d) Air temperature (T
a
) and pressure (P
a
)
Probabilistic models for model error and inherent
variability were obtained from field data of repeat-
able tests. The polynomial curves from the explosive
blast loadingmodel proposedbyKingeryandBulmash
(1984) have been incorporated into widely used and
well respected blast load design models, such as
ConWep, TM5-1300 (1990) and LS-DYNA. Given
Table 1. Statistical parameters for blast loading model
(Netherton and Stewart 2010).
Parameter mean COV Distribution
Energetic Output:
User factor 1.00 0.102 Normal
NEQ factor Mode =0.82 0.359 Triangular
Detonation Location:
VBIED Location x =0 =3.06 m Normal
y =R =1.53 m Normal
z =0 =0 m
Air Temperature 21.9
C 0.356 Normal
Ambient Air Pressure 1015.0 hPa 0.014 Uniform
Model Error:
Reflected 1.032 0.069 Normal
pressure (P
r
)
Reflected impulse (I
r
):
0.59 m/kg
1/3
0.991 0.178 Normal
Z<6.0 m/kg
1/3
0.0236Z
6.0 m/kg
1/3
0.991 0.036 Normal
Z<40.0 m/kg
1/3
Positive phase duration (t
d
):
0.59 m/kg
1/3
0.43 + C
0
+C
1
Z+ Normal
Z<6.0 m/kg
1/3
0.596 log
10
Z C
2
Z
2
+C
3
Z
3
6.0 m/kg
1/3
0.43 + 0.046
Z<9.0 m/kg
1/3
0.596 log
10
Z
9.0 m/kg
1/3
1.00 0.046 Normal
Z<40.0 m/kg
1/3
Note: C
0
=0.6267, C
1
=0.3510, C
2
=0.0713, C
3
=
0.0048, Z is scaled distance (m/kg
1/3
).
such wide acceptance, the polynomials of Kingery
and Bulmash (1984) are used for predicting blast load
values. The time-pressure history is idealised by an
equivalent triangular pressure pulse.
The variability of blast load will be influenced by
the type of explosive used, its manufacture, its place-
ment, etc. One explosive of significant interest to
counter-terrorism personnel is home-made Ammo-
nium Nitrate Fuel Oil (ANFO) delivered by a VBIED.
The statistical parameters describing the variability
of input parameters and model error (accuracy) are
given in Table 1, for a VBIED that uses ANFO as the
explosive.
For more details of the probabilistic blast load
model see Netherton and Stewart (2010), which also
includes parameters for weapon delivery of a 500 lb
Mark-82 GP bomb using advanced guidance control.
It is assumed herein that the IED detonates when
required, however, the reliability of IEDs is not 100%,
but much lower depending on IED complexity and
organisational ability (Grant and Stewart 2011).
The blast scenario considered herein is a small
van-sizedVBIEDcomprising 116 kg of home-made
ANFO. The explosive for this scenario detonates on
or very near to the ground. It is thus considered a
hemispherical charge detonating against a reflecting
surface. The blast load is from a single uninterrupted
emanation of the shock-wave and that reflections from
other structures or surfaces are not considered. The
probability distribution of peak reflected pressure (P
r
),
31
Figure 1. Probability distributions of blast load parameters
and comparison withTM5-1300 design values (adapted from
Netherton and Stewart 2010).
impulse (I
r
), and the time of a blast-waves first positive
phase duration (t
d
) are the outcomes of the probabilis-
tic analysis see Figure 1 for W=116 kg ANFO and
stand-off R=50 m.
Figure 1 also shows the TM5-1300 (or ConWep)
design values that includes a safety factor where
explosive mass (W) is increased by 20%. It is observed
that the variability of blast load parameters is con-
siderable, with COVs of 0.15 to over 1.0. These are
significant variabilities, and roughly equivalent to the
observed variability for earthquake loadings. It is
observed that the probability that the explosive load
exceeds the TM5-1300 design value is 28%, 4% and
19% for P
r
, I
r
and t
d
, respectively. More research is
needed that calculates the probability of exceedance
for a wider range of blast scenarios before any defini-
tive conclusions can be made about the conservatism
(or not) of ConWep, TM5-1300 and other design tools
for explosive blast loading.
Explosive field trials are currently underway at
RAAF Williamtown where trials are repeated to better
Figure 2. Variability of recorded incident pressures from
four sensors located at same distance from charge.
capture model error, instrument error, and inher-
ent variability for a range of scaled distances. For
example, Figure 2 shows variability from 4 sensors
located at exactly the same scaled distance around a
spherical-shaped charge.
4 PROBABILISTIC MODELLING OF
STRUCTURAL RESPONSE
The probability of the hazard for infrastructure condi-
tional on the occurrence of a specific threat is
where G(X) is the limit state function (of structural
response) and X is the vector of all relevant variables.
G(X) =0 defines the boundary between the unsafe
and safe domains. The limit state functions can be
expressed in terms of structural damage, safety haz-
ards and casualties (Stewart and Melchers 1997). As
a structure ages the effect of deterioration may lead to
higher values of Pr(H|T).
Computer software Blast-RF (Blast Risk for
Facades) that calculates Pr(H|T) for damage, safety
level and casualties for glazing systems is currently
under development and intended as freeware in the
near future. Details are available elsewhere (Stewart
and Netherton 2008, Netherton and Stewart 2009).
The discussion to follow will focus instead on the
structural capacity and reliability of RC columns sub-
ject to explosive blast loading. The RC column is
representative of a ground floor central column of a
two storey RC frame building (Shi et al. 2008). The
RC column is H=4.6 m high and is of rectangular
cross-section (see Figure 3). The finite element model
used herein is identical to that developed by Shi et al.
(2008) using explicit FEM software LS-DYNA.
The damage index is defined as (Shi et al. 2008):
where P
residual
is the residual axial load-carryingcapac-
ity of the damaged column, and P
design
is the maximum
32
Figure 3. Location of RC column.
Table 2. Statistical parameters for RC column (adapted
from Stewart et al. 2011b).
Parameter mean COV Distribution
Cover 33.8 mm =24.9 mm Normal
a
Yield 1.145F
y
0.05 Normal
b
strength
Concrete F
c
+7.5 MPa =6 MPa Lognormal
compressive
strength
Note:
a
truncated at stirrup diameter,
b
truncated at zero.
axial load-carrying capacity of the undamaged col-
umn. Shi et al. (2008) define four damage limit states
based on the damage index D:
1. D=00.2 low damage
2. D=0.20.5 medium damage
3. D=0.50.8 high damage
4. D=0.81.0 collapse
Monte-Carlo simulation (MCS) is used for reliabil-
ity estimation of the RC column. The blast scenario
considered is a W=100 kg ANFO VBIED detonated
from R=2.5 m to R=20 m from the front face of the
RC column. The probabilistic load model described in
Section 3 is used herein, where statistical parameters
are given by Table 2. Due to the high computa-
tional demand associated with LS-DYNA, N=100
simulation runs were used.
Results show that the COV of load-carry capac-
ity of the undamaged (P
design
) and damaged (P
residual
)
columns when R=10 m are 0.13 and 0.32, respec-
tively. Clearly, there is increased variability for a
damaged structural element. Blast Reliability Curves
(BRCs) are shown in Figure 4.
The 90%confidence bounds are also shown more
simulation runs would reduce the 90% confidence
intervals, but those shown in Figure 4 are sufficient
to infer the BRCs. As expected, the probability of col-
lapse reduces as stand-off (R) increases, and when R
exceeds 15 m the probability of collapse is negligible.
On the other hand, even though the risk of collapse
is less than 10% when R=10 m, there still remains
Figure 4. Blast Reliability Curves (BRC).
Figure 5. Risk reduction for collapse of RC column when
range exceeds 2.5 m.
a very high likelihood of low or medium damage.
The BRCs provide a useful metric for assessing safety
and damage risks. For more details see Stewart et al.
(2011b).
For decision purposes, of interest is the reduction in
risk (R) arising from a CT protective measure. Such
information is readily inferred from BRCs or other
information about probability of failure or Pr(H|T)
as used in risk equations in Section 2. Risk reduction
may be defined in various ways dependent on whether
risk reduction is taken as an absolute reduction, or a
relative reduction the choice is dependent on the risk
model formulation. In this case, if risk reduction is
a relative term, then Figure 5 shows the percentage
risk reduction as a function of range compared to a
range of 2.5 m. Hence, if range can be increased from
2.5 m to 10 m by means of bollards, perimeter wall, or
other security measures, then existing risk is reduced
by 91.7%. Increasing the range to 15 m would reduce
that risk by another 6.6%. The information contained
in Figures 4 and 5 is essential in a quantified risk
assessment as it shows in a quantitative (and objec-
tive) manner the benefits of different protective or blast
mitigation scenarios, in this case, the effect of range.
To be sure, similar plots could be derived for different
section sizes, charge weights, damage modes, etc.
33
5 COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF
INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION
To illustrate the benefits of probabilistic terrorism
risk assessment buildings and bridges subject to a
terrorist Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device
(VBIED) are considered, as is aviation security.
5.1 Buildings
A typical multi-storey building for which occupancy
and loss data are available is an academic build-
ing located at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School
in Monterey, California (Lakamp and McCarthy
2003). In this case, measures to protect the build-
ing from VBIED and other explosive blast loads
include strengthening perimeter columns and walls,
blast-resistant glazing and other improvements to
structurally harden the building.
Damage and loss parameters are considered as ran-
dom variables that explicitly consider aleatory and
epistemic uncertainties. Three threat scenarios are
assumed as i =1: low, i =2: medium and i =3: high
terrorist threats, and two types of loss attributes j =1:
direct physical damage and j =2: fatalities. The net
benefit from Eqn. (1) is re-written for this example:
where p
attack
is the annual attack probability,
Pr(T
i
|attack) is the relative threat probability given an
attack, L
1
is the cost of direct physical damage (build-
ing replacement, damage to contents), L
2
is loss due to
fatalities of building occupants, and R
i
is the reduc-
tion in risk due to CT protective measures for the ith
threat. We assume that C
B
=0 and Pr(H
i
|T
i
) =1.
A low threat may be a VBIED with low explo-
sive weight or large stand-off, whereas medium or
high threats would involve, for example, larger VBIED
explosive weights and reduced stand-off. It is assumed
that Pr(T
i
|attack) reduces as the threat level increases
due to reduced likelihood of conducting such an attack
undetected as the size of vehicle increases or as
the vehicle moves closer to the target building, see
Table 3. Stewart (2011) has shown that the probability
of building occupant fatality given a terrorist attack
Pr(L
2
|H
i
) varies from 0.0003 to 0.45.
Although a small VBIED can cause low casualties,
the effect on physical damages can be much higher as
although aVBIEDmay not totally destroy a building, it
will often need to be demolished and replaced, hence
the probability of physical damage is high even for
a medium threat. As there is uncertainty about these
threat and loss probabilities then they are treated as
random variables and Table 3 shows their assumed
statistical parameters and probability distributions.
Significant strengthening of a building is likely
to reduce damage and fatality levels to near zero
for low threat events, however, even a significantly
Table 3. Probabilistic models for hypothetical threats and
losses (Stewart 2010b).
Probability of Probability
Relative Physical damage of fatalities
threat Pr(L
1
|H
i
) Pr(L
2
|H
i
)
probability
Threat Pr(T
i
|attack) mean COV Mean COV
i =1 Low 0.6 0.25 0.1 0.1 0.25
i =2 Medium 0.3 0.80 0.1 0.25 0.25
i =3 High 0.1 1.0 0.5 0.25
Note: Probability distributions (lognormal) are censored at
0.0 and 1.0.
Table 4. Probabilistic models for hypothetical risk reduc-
tion (Stewart 2010b).
Risk reduction R
i
Threat mean COV Distribution
i =1 Low 90% 0.064 Uniform [80100]
i =2 Medium 65% 0.089 Uniform [5575]
i =3 High 50% 0.115 Uniform [4060]
strengthened structure can experience damage and
casualties if the threat is high. It follows that risk
reduction will reduce, perhaps marginally, as the size
of the threat increases. Risk reductions are also mod-
elled as a randomvariables, see Table 4, where the risk
reduction is accurate to 10%.
The cost of physical damage is approximately
L
1
=$35 million. There is more certainty about dam-
age losses so L
1
is modelled as a normal distribution
with mean =$35 million and COV=0.05. The aca-
demic building has a peak usage comprising 319
building occupants. To maximise the impact of a
terrorist attack, building occupancy is modelled as
a normal distribution with mean =250 people and
COV=0.17 so that there is a 10% probability than
occupancy will exceed 319 occupants. The value of
a single life (VSL) is $6.5 million (Robinson et al.
2010), hence, mean L
2
=$1.6 billion.
Stewart (2011) found that the minimum cost
of protective measures needed for substantial risk
reduction for an existing building is at least 10% of
building costs. If the budget time period for providing
protective measures is five years, then if the 10%
increase in costs is annualised over five years with
a discount rate of 3% then this is a present value
cost of C
security
$450,000 pa.
The net benefit is calculated from Eqn. (5) using
Monte-Carlo simulation analysis for a range of attack
probabilities. Figures 6 and 7 shows probability dis-
tribution of net benefit, and the mean and lower and
upper bounds (5th and 95th percentiles) of net ben-
efit for various attack probabilities. It is clear that if
p
attack
=10
2
/building/year then there is near 100%
confidence that the net benefit is positive. On the other
34
Figure 6. Histograms of annual net benefit (E
b
) for institu-
tional building.
Figure 7. Annual net benefit (E
b
) for institutional building.
hand, if p
attack
=10
4
/building/year then there is near
100% certainty that protective measures are not cost-
effective. If p
attack
=10
3
/building/year then Figure
6 shows a high likelihood that protective measures
are not cost-effective. The threshold threat probability
is 5.6 10
4
/building/year so if an attack probabil-
ity exceeds this threshold (or break-even) value then
the protective measure is likely to be cost-effective.
Note that Ellingwood (2006) suggests that the mini-
mum attack probability be at least 10
4
/building/year
for high density occupancies, key governmental and
international institutions, monumental or iconic build-
ings with a specific threat. It should be noted that
although the probability of a terrorist attack may be
high, the probability that any particular item of infras-
tructure will be attacked is very low. If the annual
attack probability is 10
4
per building per year then the
protective costs outweigh the benefits (E
b
<0) and so
protective measures would not be cost-effective. See
Stewart (2010a) for further details and analysis.
5.2 Highway bridges
There are 600,000 highway bridges in the United
States. However, a bridge is very difficult to damage
severely because its concrete and steel construction
makes it something of a hardened structure from the
outset. Buildings are far more vulnerable. The Global
Figure 8. Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device
(VBIED) damage to bridge in Iraq (2009).
Terrorism Database shows that of the 14 bridges
attacked by insurgents in the war zones of Iraq and
Afghanistan between 1998 and 2007, the total number
of fatalities was relatively few at 59, and no more than
10 perished in any single attack.
Yet even a more massive Vehicle Borne Improvised
Explosive Device (VBIED) may fail to totally collapse
a bridge, or even cause too much disruption. Figure 8
shows damage caused by a large VBIED, reputedly up
to 5 tons, detonated on a highway bridge near Ramadi,
Iraq, on October 17, 2009, show collapse of only one
lane of one span, and the bridge seems to have been
quicklyreopened. Inaddition, there were nocasualties.
An explosive blast will not blow up a bridge, but
will more likely damage and weaken supporting ele-
ments, causing only partial collapse. Even if a bridge
collapses, however, not all vehicle occupants on it
will be killed. For example, the collapse of the I35W
bridge in Minneapolis in 2007 killed 13 people, but
111 vehicles were on the bridge at the time of collapse.
A bridge collapse over the Arkansas River in 2002
killed 14 people when 11 vehicles that were on the
bridge plunged into the river.
Because highway bridges have a large variety of
spans, widths, geometry, etc., it is difficult to gener-
alize about damage costs. We set replacement costs
for a typical interstate highway bridge at $20 million.
In addition to the economic cost of traffic diver-
sion, there are other social and economic costs to a
community. We will assume this causes a loss of $100
million, and we assume that the expected number of
fatalities is twenty, at a cost of $130 million based on
VSL of $6.5 million. The total losses for a damaged
bridge including both the loss of life and economic
considerations is L=$250 million.
We will conservatively assume that substantial mit-
igation of blast effects can be achieved at a cost of
20 percent of a bridges replacement value. If the
bridge replacement value is $20 million, the cost of
strengthening it is then $4 million. Annualized over
a remaining service life of five to 20 years at a
3% discount rate, a middle value for strengthening
resulting in a security cost of C
security
=$500,000 per
year.
35
Table 5. The probability of an otherwise successful terrorist
attack, in percentage per year, required for protective security
expenditures to be cost-effective (p
attack-min
), assuming the
expenditures reduce the risk of an attack by 95 percent.
Cost of Losses from a successful terrorist attack (L)
security
measures $100 $250 $1 $2 $10 $100
(per year) million million billion billion billion billion
$100,000 0.1 0.04 0.011 0.005 0.001 0.0001
$250,000 0.3 0.11 0.026 0.013 0.003 0.0003
$500,000 0.6 0.21 0.053 0.026 0.005 0.0005
$1 million 1.1 0.42 0.105 0.053 0.011 0.0011
$5 million 5.3 2.10 0.526 0.26 0.053 0.0053
$10 million 10.5 4.20 1.05 0.53 0.11 0.0110
$100 million 105.3 42.1 10.5 5.26 1.05 0.1060
Note: Probability of 100 percent denotes one attack per year.
As for the reduction in risk element in that equation,
we will generously assume that protective measures
reduce the risk by R=95 percent. This is substan-
tial and biased in favour of showing that security
measures are cost-effective. Table 5 shows the annual
attack probabilities (p
attack-min
) required at a minimum
for security expenditures on protecting a bridge to
be cost-effective. This break-even analysis shows that
protective measures that cost $500,000 per year and
that successfully protect against an attack that would
otherwise inflict $250 million in damage would be
cost-effective only if the probability of a successful
terrorist attack without them exceeds 0.21% or one in
480 per bridge per year.
If there were one attack on a highway bridge every
year in the United States, the attack probability would
be only 1 in 600,000 per bridge per year because there
are 600,000 bridges in the country. This probability is
nowhere near the 1 in 480 likelihood of a successful
attack required for bridge protective measures to be
cost-effective.
If there is a specific threat such that the likelihood
of attack massively increases, or if a bridge is deemed
an iconic structure such that its perceived value is
massively inflated, bridge protective measures may
begin to become cost-effective. Thus, San Franciscos
Golden Gate Bridge or New Yorks Brooklyn Bridge
might be a more tempting target for terrorists than a
more typical highway bridge.
Concerns about this led a blue ribbon panel on
bridge and tunnel security to inform the Federal High-
way Administration in 2003 that there are approx-
imately 1,000 [bridges] where substantial casualties,
economic disruption, and other societal ramifications
would result from isolated attacks, and that, the loss
of a critical bridge or tunnel could exceed $10 billion.
(FHWA 2003). This is certainly alarming stuff, and an
accompanying cost analysis of protective measures for
four large U.S. bridges concludes that the cost to pro-
tect these bridges ranges from$20.6 to $157.4 million.
If the average cost of $95.6 million is annualized over
a 25-year period, it comes to $5.5 million per year.
We can evaluate the panels conclusion by referring
again to Table 5. Applying the panels expected losses
of $10 billion with protective costs rounded down to $5
million per year, the attack probability would need to
exceed0.05%, or 1in2,000, per bridge per year. Taking
the panels estimate of 1,000 critical U.S. bridges, this
would mean that terrorists would otherwise be able to
successfully conduct a (truly) massive attack on one
of these bridges at least once every two years for these
protective costs to be cost-effective. The evidence to
date suggests that such a high attack probability is not
being observed. See Mueller and Stewart (2011a) for
further details.
5.3 Aviation security
Security measures that help reduce the likelihood
of a direct replication of 9/11 is an important issue
for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
and international regulators. The reliability and cost-
effectiveness of the following aviation security mea-
sures are considered: Installed Physical Secondary
Barriers (IPSB) to restrict access to the hardened cock-
pit door during door transitions, and the Federal Air
Marshal Service (FAMS).
We are concerned with the costs and benefits of
measures that seek to prevent duplications of 9/11
in which commercial passenger airlines are comman-
deered, kept under control for some time, and then
crashed into specific targets. We will focus on steps
linked to aviation security and the security measures
in place to foil, deter or disrupt these three steps:
1. success in boarding aircraft undetected: intelli-
gence, international partnerships, Customs and
Border Protection, joint terrorism task force,
passenger pre-screening, behavioural detection
officers, travel document checker, checkpoint/
transportation security officers (TSO), transporta-
tion security inspectors, crew vetting, and random
employee screening.
2. success in hijacking an aircraft trained flight
crew, passenger resistance, air marshals, and
on-board law enforcement officers
3. success in entering cockpit, commandeering the
aircraft, and crashing it into a designated target
armedFederal Flight DeckOfficers (FFDOs), hard-
ened cockpit door, and IPSB
We begin assessing risk reduction by developing
a simple systems model of existing aviation security
measures, see Figure 9. Figure 2 shows a reliability
block diagram used to represent the system of foil-
ing, deterring or disrupting a terrorist hijacking on a
commercial airplane. If a terrorist attack is foiled by
any one of these layers of security, then this is viewed
as a series system. Note that we include a new layer
of security Installed Physical Secondary Barriers
(IPSB). We do not include all layers of TSA security
such as checked baggage or canines, only those likely
to stop a 9/11 type attack.
36
Figure 9. Reliability block diagram for aviation security
measures.
The present paper defines failure as the inabil-
ity of terrorists to commandeer (hijack) an aircraft.
Assuming a series system where each event proba-
bility is independent, the probability that a terrorist
hijacking plot will be foiled, disrupted or deterred is
Pr(hijacking foiled)
The assumption of statistical independence may not
always hold for Eqn. (6), however, it provides a start-
ing point for this type of risk analysis and to flesh
out some of the issues, including data requirements
becoming more challenging as the systems model
increases in detail and complexity.
5.3.1 Installed Physical Secondary Barriers (IPSB)
A secondary barrier to the cockpit could further
enhance security this is a lightweight device that
is easy to deploy and stow, installed between the
passenger cabin and the cockpit door that blocks
access to the flight deck whenever the reinforced door
is opened in flight see Figure 10.
The barrier is normally stowed when the cockpit
door is closed and locked. However, on many flights
Figure 10. Fully deployed installed physical secondary
barrier.
the flight deck door cannot remain closed for the entire
duration of the flight, as access is required for rest
periods, toilet breaks, and meals. During the time of
opening and closing (door transition), the protective
benefits of a hardened cockpit door to protect the flight
deck area is reduced at least against highly skilled
and light-footed hijackers.
The cost of an IPSB for a single aircraft is approx-
imately $30,000 in 2011 dollars. Since there are
approximately 6,000 commercial aircraft in the U.S.,
this equates to $200 million. If this cost is annualised
over 20 year design life of an aircraft with a 3%
discount rate, this equates to a present value cost of
$13.5 million per year.
5.3.2 Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS)
There are now some 2,500 to 4,000 air marshals in
the U.S. The FY2011 budget for the Federal Air Mar-
shal Service is $950 million. In addition, airlines are
expected to provide free seats to air marshals, and these
are generally in first class to allow observation of the
cockpit door. A best estimate of the annual cost to
government and airlines for the Federal Air Marshal
Service, then, is $1.2 billion.
Air marshals ride on no more than 10 percent of
flights in the United States, and some estimates are
even lower. These are often high-risk flights, based on
intelligence reports. Air marshals have made no arrests
that has been related to terrorism. The presence of air
marshals is likely to have a deterrent effect, but this is
ameliorated by the low percentage of flights that they
can cover. If a door-transition attack (by highly trained
and armed attackers) can take place in seconds, it is
not at all clear that air marshals could act fast enough
to waylay the attempt.
5.3.3 Risk reduction and cost-effectiveness
The risk reduction (R) is the additional risk reduction
achieved by the presence of IPSB and FAMS when
37
compared to the overall risk reductions achieved by
the presence, absence and/or effectiveness of all other
security measures. We assume:
The probability that a terrorist is detected by any
one of the 11 TSA layers of pre-boarding security
is a very low 10%. This is quite conservative. For
example, the layer checkpoint/security layerwhich
involved passenger and carry-on items screening
by metal detectors, X-ray machines and/or full-
body scanners will have high probability of deter-
ring terrorists or detecting weapons. The extra and
more vigilant intelligence, immigration and pass-
port control, airport screening, etc. implemented
since 9/11 should result in an increased likelihood
of detection and apprehension of terrorists.
Passengers have a very low chance (5%) of foil-
ing a terrorist attempting to hijack and commandeer
an aircraft. However, it could well be argued that
the largest deterrent to an attempted hijacking is
crew and passenger resistance particularly when
their ability to contact the outside is considered.
Thus, one could readily justify (far) more than a
5% chance that passengers would foil or deter an
attempted hijacking.
Flight crew have a low 10% chance of foiling a
terrorist attempting to hijack and commandeer an
aircraft. There are standard operating procedures
in place to minimise the vulnerability of the flight
deck during door transitions, but the flight deck
is vulnerable to flight deck intrusions during door
transition due to lack of training and to the very
short reaction times needed to defeat an attacker.
On-board law enforcement officer has a negligible
1%chance of foiling a terrorist attempting to hijack
an aircraft.
Hardened cockpit door is effective (75%) in pre-
venting entry to the cockpit. We do not select 100%
in recognition that the flight deck may be vulnerable
during door transitions.
Armed pilots in the cockpit (Federal Flight Deck
Officers FFDOs) have 25% probability of foiling
terrorists.
The probability of a hijacking being foiled, deterred
or disrupted without IPSBs or FAMS is calculated
from Eqn. (6) as 95.0%. This likelihood of foiling a
hijackingwill be higher, andsopotential for riskreduc-
tion for additional security measures is decreased, if
any of the 11 layers of pre-boarding security have
detection rates higher than 10%. Hence, an estimate
that in total all security measures besides IPSB and
FAMS reduce the risk of a successful hijacking by
95% is probably quite low.
IPSB only (no FAMS)
If anIPSBis installed(but noFAMS), andif we assume
it is equally effective as hardened cockpit doors at
preventing a hijacking at 75%, the probability a hijack-
ing will be foiled, deterred or disrupted with all the
security measures in place except for FAMS increases
to Pr(hijacking foiled) =98.7%. The additional risk
reduction in this case by IPSB is R=98.7
95.0 =3.7%.
By way of comparison, if FAMS is added to IPSB,
then risk reduction increases negligibly by 0.2% to
3.9%. Hence, at a cost of $1.2 billion FAMS will
reduce risk by a meagre 0.2%. This observation alone
provides strong evidence that the FAMS is not cost-
effective. In this case, the expenditure of an additional
$1.2 billion per year on FAMS to reduce risk by only
0.2% would seem to be a poor tradeoff.
An expected value cost-benefit analysis is one that
uses mean values. In this case, the issue under con-
sideration is: What does the yearly probability of
an otherwise successful L=$50 billion attack where
hijackers commandeer an airliner and crash it into a
building have to be to justify spending $13.5 million
per year to reduce the total risk of this possibility
by 5.1%? The minimum attack probability for IPSB
to be cost-effective is thus calculated from Eqn. (2)
as 0.8% per year. Thus, a mean rate of attack of
less than one attack every one hundred years would
fail an expected value cost-benefit analysis. This is a
relatively low threshold attack probability, which sug-
gests that the IPSB is an effective and cost-efficient
security measure.
FAMS only (no IPSB)
If air marshals are on a flight, we expect them to be
near 100% effective in foiling a hijacking. This is con-
ditional on air marshals being on the aircraft, however,
whereas the probability of air marshals being on the
hijacked flight is only near 10%. Hence: Pr(foiled by
FAMS) =0.1 100%=10%. It follows that the prob-
abilityof a hijackingbeingfoiled, deterredor disrupted
with all the security measures in place except for IPSB
increases to Pr(hijacking foiled) =95.5%. The addi-
tional risk reduction caused by FAMS is R=95.5
95.0 =0.5%.
If the FAMS reduces the risk by 0.5% at a cost of
$1.2 billion per year, the yearly probability of an oth-
erwise successful $50 billion attack where hijackers
commandeer an airliner and crash it into a building
has to exceed 480% per year for the FAMS to pass a
cost-benefit assessment. Thus, a mean rate of attack of
less than five attacks per year would fail an expected
value cost-benefit analysis. Such a high attack proba-
bility is not being observed, which strongly suggests
that the FAMS fails a cost-benefit assessment. More-
over, FAMS has the lowest risk reduction at highest
cost. For more details, including assessment of the
FFDO program and a new policy scenario where
FFDObudget is doubled and FAMS budget is reduced
by 75%, see Stewart and Mueller (2011b).
6 ASSESSING CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
There is no doubt that a terrorist attack on many infras-
tructure elements could cause considerable damage
and significant loss of life. However, while such targets
38
as buildings, bridges, highways, pipelines, mass tran-
sit, water supplies, and communications may be essen-
tial to the economy and well-being of society, damage
to one or even several of these, with few exceptions,
will not be critical to the economy, or to the state.
In part, this is because infrastructure designers and
operators place much effort on systems modelling to
ensure that a failure of one node will not keep the
network from operating, even if at reduced efficiency.
This is done routinely: for example, it is necessary
to close many bridges from time to time for main-
tenance or repair, and therefore traffic is redirected
so that the network is not interrupted. Other failures
routinely planned for include traffic accidents, severe
weather, earthquakes, and equipment malfunctions. In
other words, as a matter of course, infrastructure is
designed with built-in redundancies and backup sys-
tems to ensure resilience in the event of anticipated or
unexpected hazards.
There is also a displacement effect, a transfer of
risk. Terrorists can choose, and change, their targets,
depending on local and immediate circumstances. If
the protection of one target merely causes the terror-
ist to seek out another from among the near-infinite
set at hand, it is not clear how society has gained by
expending effort and treasure to protect the first.
Our cost-benefit assessment suggests, then, that
many individual items of infrastructure, including
bridges and buildings, require no protective measures
unless, perhaps, there is a very specific threat to them.
Relying on standard evaluative measures accepted
for decades by analysts, governments, regulators, and
risk managers, efforts to protect people and structures
from the effects of a terrorist attack are unlikely in
general to be cost-effective because of the multiplic-
ity of targets, the ability of terrorists to shift targets as
needed, the capacity in many cases to quickly rebuild,
the exceedingly low likelihood of an attack on a spe-
cific target, the limited capability of most terrorist
groups, and the difficulty of predicting which targets
are most appealing to them. If the terrorists goal is
to kill people, lucrative targets are essentially every-
where. If their goal is to destroy property, protection
measures may be able to deter, inconvenience, or com-
plicate, but only to the point where the terrorists seek
something comparable among a vast or even effec-
tively infinite array of potential unprotected targets.
Finally, we are not arguing that much of home-
land security spending is wasteful because we believe
there will be no more terrorist attacks. Like crime and
vandalism, terrorism will always be a feature of life,
and a condition of zero vulnerability is impossible to
achieve. However, future attacks might not be as devas-
tating as 9/11, as evidenced by the attacks on Western
targets in the ten years since 9/11 that, although tragic,
each have claimed victims numbering in the tens to a
few hundred. The frequency and severity of terrorist
attacks are low, which makes the benefits of enhanced
counterterrorism expenditures challenging to justify
by any rational and accepted standard of cost-benefit
analysis.
7 CONCLUSIONS
The paper reviews probabilistic risk assessments for
(i) predicting variability of blast loads on infras-
tructure, (ii) reinforced concrete structural systems,
(iii) buildings and bridges subject to a VBIED, and
(iv) aviation security. It was found that terrorist attack
probabilities have to be very high for security and
protective measures to be cost-effective.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The support of the Australian Research Council is
gratefully acknowledged. The assistance of Michael
Netherton and Yufeng Shi in preparation of Figures
1, 2 and 4 is greatly appreciated. Professor Mueller
appreciates the financial support of a Distinguished
Scholar Award at Ohio State University.
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40
Composite structures & materials
Concrete filled fabricated VHS tube to mild steel plate triangular stub
columns under axial compression load
F. Alatshan & F.R. Mashiri
School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, University of Western Sydney (UWS), Sydney, Australia
B. Uy
Institute for Infrastructure Engineering, University of Western Sydney (UWS), Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the section capacity of a series of concrete filled fabricated VHS tube-
plate triangular sections under axial compression. The behavior of empty fabricated sections made up of mild
steel plates with tubes at the corners was investigated in previous studies which have proven the effectiveness
of the use of the empty fabricated VHS-plate section columns. In this paper concrete-filled fabricated triangular
columns made up of VHS tubes at the vertices that are welded to mild steel plates are tested. Concrete-filling
results in reduction in cross sections of the columns thereby reducing construction costs and contributing to
sustainability. The VHS tubes used in this investigation have a nominal yield stress of 1350 MPa, nominal
ultimate strength of 1500 MPa, 38.1 mm outer diameter and 1.6 wall thicknesses. Steel plates of grade 250 with
a 3 mm wall thickness were used as facet plates. Experimental tests were conducted to determine the load-
deformation curves and understand the behavior of the concrete filled VHS fabricated triangular sections. In
addition, the paper assesses four international specifications used to design concrete filled steel columns, and
compares their prediction to experimental results. The specimenscarrying capacities were also determined using
the Australian standards taking into account the effective section area.
1 INTRODUCTION
As modern buildings are getting taller, it is neces-
sary to keep pace with this development through
innovative methods that carry larger gravity, wind
and earthquakes loads. The composite column is one
of the systems that has been increasingly used in
advanced and high-rise construction. It is a compres-
sion member that is composed of two or more different
materials which perform jointly as one new stronger
element. One type of the composite columns is the
concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) columns which will
be explored in this paper.
In general, CFST columns provide many benefits
compared to empty steel hollow section and ordinary
reinforced concrete columns. The concrete infill pro-
vides an inner support to the steel tube. This support
prevents or delays buckling which is usually the main
reason for the failure of steel hollow sections (Zhao
et al. 2005). Additionally, the confinement of concrete
by the steel tube increases the resistance to axial loads
of the concrete (Zhao et al. 2010). Concrete-filled
steel column technology also increases fire resistance
of structural members (Kodur 1999). These types of
columns do not need formwork thereby reducing the
cost of materials and labor force needed to erect and
dismantle the formwork. The rapid development in
the field of new construction materials means that
research is required to demonstrate that these mate-
rials can work as required. One of the materials that
could assist significantly in the development of the
construction industry is the use of very high strength
(VHS) steel tubes. Zhao (2000) investigated the sec-
tion capacity of VHS circular tubes under compression
using full section tensile tests. VHS tubes were found
to have the following mechanical properties; a mod-
ulus of elasticity of about 200,000 MPa, an average
tensile yield stress of around 1350 MPa and an ulti-
mate tensile strength of about 1500 MPa. At present,
the Australian Standards do not cover the use of steels
of yield strength greater than 450MPa (SAI 2004).
Other properties of the VHS tubes were tested by a
number of previous studies on ductility, buckling and
in terms of strength under compression and bending
moment. Furthermore, the welded properties of the
VHSsteel tube were examined by Jiao and Zhao (2001;
2002 a,b; 2003; 2004 a,b,c).
The suggestion of using empty fabricated sections
made up of a steel plate with tubes at the corners was
originally developed by Aoki and Ji (2000) to increase
the capacity of the columns. They used tubes and plates
with same yield stress (235 MPa) to form empty fab-
ricated triangular section stub columns. Zhao et al.
(2004) repeated the same methodology using VHS
steel tubes at the corners of the section. The tests were
conducted on empty fabricated square and triangular
43
stub sections (FSTS) utilizingVHS circular steel tubes
with two nominal diameter-to-thickness ratios of 15.9
and 23.8. The study used steel plates with five nomi-
nal width-to-thickness ratios ranging from 40 to 133.
The imperfections of the specimens were measured at
different positions along the central line of every steel
plate.
As the previous research has focused on the empty
fabricated VHS tube to plate stub columns, in this
paper, concrete-filled fabricated VHS tube-plate sec-
tion stub columns are investigated. These types of
columns combine the advantages of VHS tubes and
that of CFST systems.
2 EXPERIMENTAL TESTING
2.1 Stub column specimens
The stub columns are triangular and consist of three
VHS steel tubes at the corners welded to steel plates.
Figure 1 defines the geometric dimensions (D, t, B, T
and L) of the specimens listed in Table 1. For each test
specimen size, two specimens, Aand Bwere tested for
reliability as shown in Figure 3 and Table 1.
2.2 Material properties
Very high strength (VHS) steel tubes of 38.1 mm
diameter and 1.6 mm thickness were used in all the
specimens. Tensile coupon test according to the Aus-
tralian Standard AS 1391 (SAL 2007) were carried
out in order to determine the actual stress-strain
characteristics of the tubes. A total of four coupons
were tested. Test results indicate that the tubes yield
stress is 1392 MPa, the ultimate tensile strength is
Figure 1. Concrete-filled VHS-tube plate fabricated trian-
gular stub column.
Table 1. Geometric properties of the specimens.
No.
sp. D t B T L A
tube
A
plate
A
c
I
tube
I
plate
I
c
Specimens * (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm
2
) (mm
2
) (mm
2
) (mm
4
) (mm
4
) (mm
4
)
T-V1NP1A/B 2 38.1 1.6 90 3 300 550.6 810 4424 1597164 828105 3356046
T-V1NP2A/B 2 38.1 1.6 120 3 400 550.6 1080 6737 2384796 1774216 8608345
T-V1NP3A/B 2 38.1 1.6 150 3 500 550.6 1350 9249 3337551 3257868 18322379
*Number of specimens
1515 MPa, and Youngs Modulus is 215601 MPa. The
VHS tubes yield stress, ultimate tensile strength and
Youngs Modulus are 3%, 1% and 7% higher than the
nominal values respectively. Figure 2 shows the stress-
strain relationship for VHS steel Tubes utilized in this
investigation.
Normal strength plates (mild steel) of nominal
grade 250 and nominal thickness 3 mm were used
in the manufacture of the specimens. For the mild
steel plates, the yield stress is 286 MPa, the ulti-
mate tensile strength is 359 MPa, and Youngs Mod-
ulus is 209702 MPa. Figure 2 shows the stress-strain
relationshipfor mild steel plates used in the specimens.
In order to determine the compressive capacity of
the concrete used in the specimens, concrete cylinders
(100 mm200 mm) were prepared. The slump was
around 85 mm. After 28 days the cylinders gave an
average concrete compressive strength of 38 MPa.
Figure 2. Stress-strain curve of VHS steel tube.
Figure 3. Load-axial shortening curves.
44
2.3 Test setup
Six (6) fabricated triangular concrete-filled VHS
tube-plate stub columns were investigated in this
study. A 3000 kN compression capacity machine
(INSTROM 8506) was used to conduct the tests. The
tests were carried out after a curing period 28 days.
Linear Potentiometers were used to determine the ver-
tical displacement. Figure 4 shows the setup of the test
and the location of the displacement potentiometers.
3 TEST RESULTS
3.1 Failure mode
Figure 5 shows the specimen failure mode. Buckling
of the plates occurred generally at either the top or the
bottom of nearly all specimens. A combination of top
and middle or middle and bottom plate buckling was
observed in other cases. Elephant foot type buckling
was observed in the tubes at the interface between the
tubes and end plates. The failure mechanism of VHS
tube away from the end plate was a combination of
inward and outward buckling. In addition, as shown
in Figure 5, splitting in the tubes was also observed in
some specimens.
3.2 Carrying capacity and axial displacement
The stub columns strength and the axial shorten-
ing were measured. Table 3 shows the measured
Figure 4. Typical specimen setup.
Figure 5. Splitting in the VHS tubes.
compression carrying capacities (N
u-Test
) of the spec-
imens. The value (N
u-Test
) in Table 3 is a mean value
of the capacity from two identical test for the same
specimen size.
The axial load-displacement curves are shown in
Figure 3. Figure 3 illustrates the difference in the load
resistances between the specimens T-V1NP1A and
T-V1NP1B after reaching the peak load. This is
mainly due to the tearing observed in the VHS tubes
as shown in Figure 5.
4 PREDICTION USING INTERNATIONAL
STANDARDS
Different standards have different specifications to
determine the ultimate axial strengths of the concrete-
filled tubular columns. Eurocode 4 (EC4 2004),
Australian Standards AS5100.6 (SAL 2004) and
British standards (BS5400-2005) were used to esti-
mate the ultimate axial strengths of the concrete-filled
fabricated VHS-Plate stub columns that were tested in
this project.
The recommendations for rectangular hollow sec-
tion concrete-filled composite members under axial
compression were used to determine the section
capacity of the fabricated triangular concrete filled
steel columns as there are no specifications for the
compression capacity of triangular hollow section
concrete-filled columns.
4.1 Section capacity
The measured material properties from the steel
coupon tests and the concrete cylinder compressive
strength tests were used to obtain the ultimate strength.
The Australian Bridge Design Standard for Steel
and Composite Construction AS 5100.6 (SAL 2004)
uses Equation 1 to determine the section capacity for
rectangular composite columns (N
uAS
), where, A
S
is
the cross-section area of the steel section, f
y
the steel
yield strength, A
c
is the cross-section area of the con-
crete infill and f

c
is the concrete cylinder strength
after 28 days. To match the shape of the specimens in
this study, Equation 1 has been modified to Equation
2, where, A
tube
and A
plate
are the cross-section area of
VHS steel tubes and the steel plates respectively. f
y-tube
and f
y-plate
are the yield strength of the of VHS steel
tubes and the steel plates respectively.
Eurocode 4 (Eurocode 4-2004) uses the same formula
as that used by the Australian Standard AS5100.6 to
determine the sectioncarryingcapacityfor rectangular
composite columns (Equation 1).
TheAmericanConcrete Institute Standard(ACI318-
2002) recommends Equation 3 for rectangular
45
Table 2. Comparison between the standards section capacities and test results.
N
u-Test
N
u-AS
N
u-ACI
N
u-BS
N
u-DBJ
Specimens (KN) (KN) (KN) (KN) (KN) N
u-Test
/N
u-AS
N
u-Test
/N
u-ACI
N
u-Test
/N
u-BS
N
u-Test
/N
u-DBJ
T-V1NP1 1074 1129 1097 1194 1207 0.951 0.979 0.900 0.890
T-V1NP2 1242 1341 1290 1443 1382 0.926 0.962 0.861 0.898
T-V1NP3 1480 1582 1509 1730 1598 0.936 0.981 0.856 0.926
Mean: 0.938 0.974 0.872 0.905
COV: 0.013 0.011 0.028 0.021
composite columns and it has been modified to Equa-
tion 4 to match the specimens in this study.
The British standard (BS5400-2005) uses Equation 5
to obtain the compressive section capacity for rectan-
gular composite column (N
u-BS
). This equation was
modified to Equation 6 to match the specimens in
this study, where f
cu
is the characteristic compressive
strength of the concrete cubes and determined from
BS EN 206-1:2000 Table 7.
The Chinese standard (DBJ 13-51: 2003) recom-
mends Equation 7 to compute the compressive section
capacity for concrete-filled RHS (N
u-DBJ
).
where, A
sc
=A
s
+A
c
and f
ck
is the concrete charac-
teristic strength and taken as 30.83 MPa (from GB
50010-2010 Table 4.1.3-1). is the design constrain-
ing factor and is given as:
4.1.1 Local and overall buckling
To ensure that all specimens can be classified as
short (stub) columns, the interaction between local
and overall buckling has been checked using the
Australian standards AS 5100.6 (SAL 2004). The
section capacity with the consideration of slender-
ness (N
uc-AS
) has been determined using Equation 9.
Where,
c
is the member slenderness reduction fac-
tor which is given in AS5100.6 2004 section 10.6.3.4.
The modified slenderness
n
calculated as:
n
=90.
r
,
where
r
is the relative slenderness (
r
=
(N
uAS
/
N
cr
)), N
cr
is the elastic critical load (N
cr
=(
2
(EI)
e
)/
L
2
e
), L
e
is the member effective length and (EI)
e
is the
effective elastic flexural stiffness (Equation 10).
where, E
tube
, E
plate
and E
c
are the modulus of elastic-
ity for VHS steel tubes, the steel plates and the filling
concrete respectively. I
tube
, I
plate
and I
c
are the second
moment of area for the VHS steel tubes, the steel
plates and the concrete infill respectively. and
c
are the capacity reduction factors of the steel and con-
crete respectively. and
c
were taken as 0.9 and 0.6
according to the standards for composite compression
members.
In this paper E
c
was taken using as: E
c
=0.5
0.043
1.5
(f
c
). In which: is concrete den-
sity which was defined in this paper as 2400 kg/m
3
(AS5100 Part 5).
For all specimens, the bucklingreductionfactor (
c
)
value is very close to 1, which means that slenderness
effect has minor effect on section capacity.
4.1.2 VHS Tube heat affected zone
The effect of the welding procedure on the yield stress
ofVHStube was consideredinthe determinationof the
section capacity using the international standards. The
heat-affected zone area (A
HAZ
) was calculated using
Equation 11 which is suggested by Ling et al. (2002),
and was determined as 47.3 mm
2
for each VHS tube.
The yield stress of VHS tubes in this area was taken to
be 0.5f
yt
=696 MPa.
where d is the tube diameter, t is the tube thickness,
T is the plate thickness and s is the weld leg length
which was taken as 3 mm in this study.
4.1.3 Comparison between the standards
The concrete filled fabricatedVHS-plate stub columns
carrying capacities obtained from the experimental
tests and the international standards are shown for
comparison in Table 2 and Figure 6. Generally, the
standards gave a higher prediction of section capac-
ity compared to the experimental results. The ultimate
strength obtained using the American Concrete Insti-
tute Standard (ACI318-2002) is the most accurate.
The mean value N
u-test
/N
u-ACI
ratio is 0.974 with
corresponding coefficient of variance (COV) 0.011.
46
Figure 6. Comparison of test results and standard predic-
tions.
Table 3. Comparison considering effective area.
N
u-test
N
u-test
b
e
N
u-ET
N
u-ETP
Specimens (mm) (KN) (KN) N
u-ET
N
u-ETP
T-V1NP1 78.9 934 866 1.149 1.240
T-V1NP2 102.0 1138 1012 1.091 1.227
T-V1NP3 123.2 1371 1160 1.080 1.276
Mean: 1.107 1.248
Cov: 0.033 0.020
4.2 Section capacity considering effective area
The section capacity was re-computed taking into
account the effective diameter of VHS steel tubes (d
e
)
and the effective width of the steel plates (b
e
).
4.2.1 Considering of the effective diameter of VHS
steel tube
The Australian Bridge Design Standard for composite
compression members AS 5100.6 (SAL 2004) does
not recommend any reduction of the steel members
width or diameter due to bulking. Therefore, in this
section, only the effective diameter (d
e
) of the VHS
steel tube, as a hollow section will be considered.
Using Equation 12, which from the Australian Stan-
dard for Steel Structures AS 4100 1998 Clause 6.2.4
(SAA 1998), d
e
of the VHS steel tubes was computed
as 30 mm.
where: d
0
is the diameter of VHS tubes,
e
is
the element slenderness for circular hollow sections
(d
o
/t f
y
/250),
ey
is the yield slenderness which was
taken 82 as recommended in AS 4100 (SAA 1998).
Table 3 shows the comparison between the section
carrying capacities determined from the experimen-
tal tests and from the Australian Standards (AS5100)
considering effective diameter of VHS steel tube.
The heat affected zone was also taken into con-
sideration. By considering the effective diameter of
VHS steel tubes, the section capacities determined
from the Australian standards (N
u-AS
), become less
than the experimental capacities. The mean value of
N
u-TEST
/N
u-ET
is 1.107.
4.2.2 Considering both the effective diameter of the
VHS steel tube and the effective plate width.
In this section the effective widths of the steel plate
and the effective diameter of VHS steel tubes were
taken into consideration. The effective widths (b
e
)
were computed using the following formulas which
are proposed by Liang and Uy (2000) to incorporate
the effective width of a steel plate in concrete-filled
box columns.
where:
cr
is the critical elastic buckling stress (Bulson
1970).
In which: k is the elastic buckling coefficient and
taken as 9.81 as suggested by Liang and Uy (2000).
v is Poissons ratiothat takenas 0.3. The effective diam-
eter (d
e
) of the VHS steel tubes was obtained using
Equation 12.
Table 3 shows the calculated effective widths of
the steel plates. Table 3 also shows a comparison
between the section carrying capacities determined
from the experimental tests, with the ultimate carry-
ing capacities considering only the effective diameter
of VHS steel tube (N
u-ET
) and with the ultimate carry-
ing capacities considering both the effective diameter
of VHS steel tube the effective width of steel plates
(N
u-ETP
). The heat affected zone was also taken into
consideration.
By considering the effective diameter of VHS steel
tubes and the steel plates, the section capacities deter-
mined from the Australian standards becomes less
than the experimental capacities. This results in a
conservative estimate of the section capacities.
The international specifications do not currently
cover the triangular concrete-filled sections. It should
also be noted that the specifications do not cover
the very high strength (VHS) steel. For example,
Australian Standards limit the value of yield stress
(f
y
) of steel members not to exceed 450 MPa prior
to 2012 and not to exceed 690 MPa after the 2012
amendment (SAA1998). Further studies are required
in concrete filled triangular and other non-standard
shape columns.
47
5 CONCLUSION
The behavior of (6) six concrete filled fabricated
VHS-plate stub columns under axial compression load
was investigated. The stub columns are triangular and
consists of three VHS steel tubes at the corners and
welded to steel plates.
The load carrying capacity of the specimens was
determined using four international standards, the
Australian StandardAS5100.6 (SAL 2004), the Amer-
ican Concrete Institute Standard (ACI318-2002), the
British Standard (BS5400-2005) and the Chinese stan-
dard (DBJ 13-51: 2003). The heat affected zone
was taken into consideration. The standards give a
higher prediction of section capacity compared to the
experimental results.
The effective areas of the VHS steel tubes and the
steel plates were also taken into account to deter-
mine the section capacities of the specimens using
the Australian standards for the VHS steel tube and
the Liang and Uy (2000) equation for the steel plates.
The section carrying capacities become less than the
experimental results which can be considered to be a
conservative estimate for design.
There are limitations in that the international speci-
fications do not cover the triangular sections columns
and the use of VHS steel.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This project is sponsored by the University of West-
ern Sydney Research Grant Scheme (RGS) and an
Australian Research Council Discovery Grant. The
authors wish to thank the technical support of Mr
Robert Marshall, Mr Murray Bolden and Mr Mitch
Quirk.
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48
Multi-objective design optimisation of GFRP sandwich beams
Z.K. Awad, T. Aravinthan &Y. Zhuge
Centre of Excellence in Engineered Fibre Composites (CEEFC), University of Southern Queensland (USQ),
Toowoomba, Australia
F. Gonzalez
Faculty of Built Environment & Engineering, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia
ABSTRACT: Anovel Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) sandwich panel was developed by anAustralian
manufacturer for civil engineering applications. This research is motivated by the new applications of GFRP
sandwich structures in civil engineering such as slab, beam, girder and sleeper. An optimisation methodology is
developed in this work to enhance the design of GFRP sandwich beams. The design of single and glue laminated
GFRP sandwich beam were conducted by using numerical optimisation. The numerical multi-objective optimi-
sation considered a design two objectives simultaneously. These objectives are cost and mass. The numerical
optimisation uses the Adaptive Range Multi-objective Genetic Algorithm (ARMOGA) and Finite Element (FE)
method. Trade-offs between objectives was found during the optimisation process. Multi-objective optimisation
shows a core to skin mass ratio equal to 3.68 for the single sandwich beam cross section optimisation and it
showed that the optimum core to skin thickness ratio is 11.0.
1 INTRODUCTION
The use of sandwich panel has become a popular
choice in the construction of structural elements due
to it robust characteristics and strength. Some core
materials such as balsa wood and light weight foam
core are soft, and it may be crushed under compres-
sion load. Others such as honeycomb and trussed-core
structure have a high compressive strength but low
capacity to hold mechanical connections. The flex-
ural strength of the sandwich panel depends on the
composite action between the skin and the core. The
separation desistance between them is one of the most
significant parameters. One of the disadvantages of
fibre composite structure is a high initial fabrication
cost. Developing an optimum design method of FRP
composite structure is very important to avoid material
overrun. Moreover, any form of FRP structure must
be optimized in order to minimise the material cost
(Hollaway and Head, 2001).
Multi-objective optimisation techniques have been
applied to the design of the fibre composite sand-
wich panel by number of researchers (Ashby, 2000)
Theulen and Peijs (1991) for example, presented an
optimisation of strength and stiffness of a sandwich
panel. Their research concluded that the maximum
bending stiffness occurred at a core to skins mass
ratio equal to 2. Walker & Smith (2003) presented a
multi-objective design optimisation of fibre compos-
ite structure coupling using FE and genetic algorithms
(GA). They found that the mass and deflection as
a multi-objective could be optimized by the GA to
suit the design engineers requirements. Hudson et al.
(2010) presented an optimisation of fibre composite
sandwich panels using a multi-objective ant colony
optimisation method. The procedure was applied to
the design of rail vehicle floor panel. The variables
considered included: facing thickness, core thickness,
core material, facing material and span.
Recently, researchers have developed an innova-
tive and sustainable GFRP sandwich panel for civil
engineering applications (Van-Erp, 2010). The new
GFRP sandwich panels have an acceptable structural
behaviour due to their ability to carry a high flex-
ural load and light weight (Van-Erp, 2010). Awad
et al. (2012a) studied behaviour of the single and
glue laminated GFRP sandwich beams made from
a novel panel. It was concluded the shear span to
depth ratio is a major factor to control the beam
behaviour. In addition, three different failure mode
were noticed; core crushing, core shear, and top skin
compression failure. The mechanical properties of the
new GFRP sandwich panel are described in Table 1.
This panel has been converted into different forms to
construct slabs, bridge decks, railway sleepers, and
bridge girders (Awad et al., 2012c). Awad et al. (2012b)
developed a non linear Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
model for the simulation of the GFRP sandwich panel
using CRUSABLE FOAMmodel for the core part and
Hashin model for the GFRP skin part.
Current research focuses on the design of single and
glue laminated sandwich beams under multi-objective
49
Table 1. Properties of GFRP sandwich panel.
Property GFRP Skin Phenolic core
Density (kg/m
3
) 1425 950
Modulus of elasticity (MPa) 11750 1350
Compressive strength (MPa) 194.77 24.50
Tensile strength (MPa) 239.70 8.50
Shear strength (MPa) 22.82 8.80
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of beams supporting slab.
optimisation. Different beamspan lengths and loading
of the beam were considered in the design.
2 PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
Slab is supported by grid of beam. The applied load
on the beam is a combination of slab external load,
and its self-weight. Beamload depends on the spacing
between beams as shown in Figure 1. This beam can
be designed as a single sandwich beam. In addition,
the same beam can be made of few sandwich layers
glued together when there is no available single sand-
wich beamwith a big cross section. The glue laminated
can be made from few sandwich layers glued together
to satisfy the required design. In the present case, the
internal beam was selected for design optimisation as
shown in Figure 1, and the beam is assumed to be sim-
ply supported at both ends as shown in Figure 2. Slab
dead load is equal to the combination of self weight,
finishing (0.42 kN/m
2
) and partitioning (0.96 kN/m
2
).
Slab live load is equal to 5 kN/m
2
(Australia, 2002).
The beam loading is calculated and shown in Table 2.
For the design purposes the beam length is assumed to
vary between 12004800 mm. The sandwich element
is made of top skin, bottom skin, and core material.
The top and bottom skins are made up of two layers of
0
/90
fibre glass plies. In the design the 0
and 90
plies have the same thickness as shown in Figure 2. The

0
-ply carries the major forces and the 90
-ply carries
the secondary forces. The multi-objective optimisation
problem is formulated as follows:
Objective 1: Mass minimisation
Objective 2: Cost minimisation
where M is mass, C is cost, is density, L is span
length and b is the beam width.
Figure 2. Schematic diagram of single sandwich beam.
Table 2. Beam loading values.
Slab span (mm) Beam load (kN/m)
450 3
600 4
800 5.4
1000 6.8
1200 8.2
1500 10.4
2000 14.2
2400 17.4
The constraints of the beam design are shown
below:
where S.F is the safety factor. F
t
f
and F
c
f
are the
fibre tensile and compression failure indices respec-
tively.
core
and are the core compression and
shear stresses respectively. Subscript ult refers to the
ultimate strength.
3 SINGLE LAYER SANDWICH BEAM
Optimum design of a GFRP sandwich beam is
important to avoid material waste and to obtain an eco-
nomic product (Simoes and Negro, 2005). A number
of studies have discussed the two objectives optimi-
sation of an individual sandwich panel to optimise
the cost or mass, and strength (Meidell, 2009, Murthy
et al., 2006, Swanson and Kim, 2002). Optimisation
of the bending stiffness has been studied with either
the minimum mass or minimum cost to find the best
50
Figure 3. Scatter chart of mass and cost of the sandwich
beams (load =8.2 kN/m).
values for the core and skin thicknesses for a specific
bending stiffness (Froud, 1980, Gibson, 1984).
This work optimises the design of a GFRPsandwich
simply supported beam with two objectives. The main
objectives are to minimise the cost and mass of the
beam. The design methodology will explore the effect
of the thicknesses of the sandwich beam components
at service load and the optimum core to skin ratio for
the sandwich in terms of cost and mass ratios. The
depth to width ratio of the beam is assumed equal to
2.5. The span of the beam is varied between 1200 mm
and 4800 mm.
The search for the optimum design was conducted
for different sandwich beam spans; 1200, 2400, 3600,
and 4800 mm. The applied service load is calculated
based on the slab span length as shown in Table 2.
The allowable deflection at service load is equal to
span/400. The required mass and cost of the beam are
calculated according to the equations 12. The cost
and mass ratios of the core to skin are presented. A
sample of scatter chart of the multi-objective design
of the single sandwich beam is presented in Figures 3.
These results for the load of 8.2 kN/m. It can be seen
that increasing the mass has a direct effect on increas-
ing the cost and mass of the GFRP sandwich beams.
Table 3 shows the design results of the loads 3.0,
8.2 and 17.4 kN/m. All results of the core and skin
thicknesses are shown in Figure 4.
Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) was used
in the optimisation. The MCDM chooses one reason-
able design point fromamong a set of available ones in
the Pareto-frontier. The Pareto-frontier set is the most
eligible set of design points to represent the optimum
design as shown in Figure 3. The design points for
the 4 different span lengths were selected using the
MCDM, and the results of the optimisation are shown
inFigure 4. Eachpoint has beenselectedfroma Pareto-
frontier for the specific span. The figure shows that
there is a direct relation between the core thickness
and skin thicknesses with the span of the beam.
For each span there is an optimum core and skin
thicknesses. The cost and mass ratios were calculated
for the core and skin as shown in Table 3. It can be
seen that the average core to skin cost ratio is 1.1, and
the average core to skin mass ratio is 3.68. The beam
Table 3. GFRP sandwich beam cross section optimisation
results.
Thickness (mm) Core/skin ratio
Span
mm Core skin Thickness Mass Cost
Load =3.0 kN/m
1200 107.4 9.77 10.99 3.66 1.10
2400 147.2 13.38 11.00 3.67 1.10
3600 204.7 18.6 11.01 3.67 1.10
4800 253 23 11.00 3.67 1.10
Load =8.2 kN/m
1200 129.7 11.7 11.09 3.70 1.11
2400 193.8 17.6 11.01 3.67 1.10
3400 263.4 23.8 11.07 3.69 1.11
4800 317.9 28.8 11.04 3.68 1.10
Load =17.4 kN/m
1200 154.8 14 11.06 3.69 1.11
2400 238.6 21.6 11.05 3.68 1.10
3400 319.8 29 11.03 3.68 1.10
4800 385 35 11.00 3.67 1.10
Figure 4. Optimum core and skin thicknesses.
design with different loads showed same behaviour
regarding to the core to skin ratio and the overall beam
depth. The overall beam depth with respect to the span
length and the applied load is shown in Figure 5.
4 GLUE LAMINATED SANDWICH BEAM
DESIGN
Design a glue-laminated beam is needed when there
is a limited facility to fabricate a single sandwich with
a big cross section. The multi-objective optimisation
51
Figure 5. Optimum single sandwich beam depth.
was used to design the glue laminated GFRP sand-
wich beam with different loads and span lengths as
shown in Table 2. The allowable mid-span deflection
for the beamis assumed equal to span/400. The core to
skin thickness ratio found for a single sandwich beam
of 11.0 was used. The single sandwich beam optimum
core to skin ratio was developed in the previous section
3. The glue-laminated GFRP sandwich beam design
considers the variables of, total beam depth, beam
width, span, applied load, and number of sandwich
layers. Cost and mass of the beam were considered as
design objectives. The ARMOGA method was used
to find the optimum solution. Four beam span lengths
have been designed covering 1200, 2400, 3600, and
4800 mm.
The results of the single sandwich beam depth opti-
misation are shown in Figure 5. The beam depth to
width constraints were added to the design, and were
assumedequal to2.5. The optimisationselects the min-
imum allowable width due to the low influence of the
stress constraints. The total beamdepth has an approx-
imately linear relationship with the applied load as
shown in Figure 2.
The optimisation was extended to the design of
glue-laminated GFRP sandwich beams under differ-
ent span lengths and loads. The glue-laminated GFRP
sandwich beam design starts from two layers up to 10-
layers. The design optimisation for the glue-laminated
beam showed that the optimum depth of this beam
is larger than the optimum depth of the single sand-
wich beam. A sample of the glue-laminated results is
shown in Figure 6, for the two layered beam design.
The results of the glue-laminated beam depth indicate
that the beam has the same load-depth behaviour as
the single sandwich beam. In addition, the behaviour
seems to be approximately linear with respect to the
applied load.
The behaviour of the glue-laminated beam con-
straints is shown in Figure 7. It can be seen that
the stress constraints have a small effect compare to
the deflection constraints. The stress constraints are
limited by less than 30% of its strength. Therefore,
the design seems to be controlled by the mid-span
deflection. Investigation of the glue-laminated sand-
wich depth results shows that the number of sand-
wich layers affects the beam depth, especially when
the number of layers is less than 6. Generally, the
Figure 6. Optimum depth of two sandwich layers GFRP
sandwich beam.
Figure 7. Design constraints of the glue laminated GFRP
sandwich beam (4800 mm, 6-layers).
Figure 8. Effect of the number of sandwich layers on the
optimum beam depth (4800 mm span, and 17.5 kN/m load).
glue-laminated beamhas a higher depth than the single
sandwich beam. The beam depth was normalized with
the single sandwich beam depth, and it is based on the
number of sandwich layers as shown in Figure 8. The
difference in total depth of the glue laminated sand-
wich beambecomes small for cross sections with more
than six layers. The glue-laminated beamhas a normal-
ized depth 2030% higher than the single sandwich
beam. Optimisation was stopped for up to 10 layers
because the depth variation becomes small after that
number of layers. Asample of the glue laminated beam
cross section design with different layers is shown in
Figure 9. It shows the differences between different
cross sections design with respect to the sandwich lay-
ers number. Finally, the single sandwich beam is more
economic and lighter than the glue-laminated GFRP
sandwich beam, because the former has a lower cross
section than the latter.
52
Figure 9. Optimum designs for the beam with 4800 mm
span, and 17.5 kN/m applied load.
Figure 10. Stress distribution in the one and two layers
beam.
Figure 11. Stress distribution in the 4-layers glue laminated
beams.
Sandwich beams with the different number of layers
have been analysed using the FE, and the normalized
stress is shown in Figures 1011. The stress distribu-
tion is approximately same for one and two sandwich
layers as shown in Figure 10. The effect of neutral
GFRP skins in the even sandwich layers is small on
the flexural strength. Increasing the number of sand-
wich layers has an impact on the stress distribution
of the beam cross section. The glue laminated sand-
wich beam has a more homogeneous cross section
stresses than the single sandwich beam as shown in
Figure 11. Moreover, the glue-laminated beam has an
intermediate GFRP reinforcement through the beam
cross section.
In the design of beams, the applied external load
and beam span can be converted into a moment. The
applied moment represents the normalized value or
Figure 12. GFRP sandwich beam depth with applied
moment.
the combination of the span and the load. All design
optimisation findings are graphed against the applied
moment as shown in Figure 12. The figure shows that
the optimum beam depth has a non-linear behaviour
with the applied moment. Furthermore, the glue lam-
inated sandwich beams have a higher depth than the
single sandwich beam. Trend lines are drawn for the
single and two layers glue laminated GFRP sandwich
beams as shown in Figure 12.
However, producing a single sandwich beam with
a big cross section might be limited due to factory
capacity. Therefore, the glue-laminated GFRP sand-
wich beam may be an option to fabricate a beam
with a cross section greater than a single sandwich
layer beam. The number of sandwich layers depends
on the thickness of the single sandwich panel used to
fabricate the glue-laminated beam.
The design optimisation shows the relation between
the beam depth and the applied moment as shown
in Figure 12. It shows that the relation between the
total depth and the moment is non-linear. The single
sandwich beam has less depth than the glue laminated
beam. In addition, it can be seen that for the same
moment there are two beam depth values for different
spans. This is due to the effect of design constraints.
The design is controlled by the mid span deflection
which affects the beam stiffness (EI) and for different
spans the beam has different allowable deflections. In
comparison, the moment is related to the strength of
the beam.
The required glue-laminated beam depth can be
found based on the applied moment. Then, the single
sandwich layer can be found by the number of sand-
wich layers. In addition, the core and skin thicknesses
for the single sandwich layer can be found by using
the optimum core to skin thickness ratio of 11.0.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This research presents the results of multi-objective
design of GFRP sandwich beams by using numeri-
cal optimisation. Multi-objective optimisation of the
53
beam design showed a core to skin mass ratio equal to
3.68 for the single sandwich beam cross section opti-
misation. In addition, it showed that the optimum core
to skin thickness ratio is equal to 11.0. The optimum
design indicates that both skin and core thicknesses
increase with the increasing of beam span length.
The depthof the glue laminatedbeamincreases with
the applied load. The single sandwich beam requires
less depth than the glue-laminated beamwith the same
span and load. However, the effect of the number of
sandwich layers on the beam depth becomes very low
when the beam has more than 6-layers. A sample was
given for the slab-beam model, and the results empha-
sise that more investigation is required on the design
of slab-beam model. Finally, the multi-objective opti-
misation results can be used for design purposes of
the GFRP sandwich beams in the specified loads and
spans.
REFERENCES
Ashby, M. 2000. Multi-objective optimization in material
design and selection. Acta materialia 48: 359370.
Australia, S. 2002. Structural Design Actions. AS/NZS
1170.1:2002. Australian/New Zealand Standard.
Awad, Z.K., Aravinthan, T. & Manalo, A. 2012a. Geome-
try effect on the behaviour of single and glue-laminated
glass fibre reinforced polymer composite sandwich
beams loaded in four-point bending. Materials & Design
39: 93103.
Awad, Z.K., Aravinthan, T. & Zhuge, Y. 2012b. Experimental
and numerical analysis of an innovative GFRP sandwich
floor panel under point load. Engineering Structures 41:
126135.
Awad, Z.K., Aravinthan, T., Zhuge, Y. & Gonzalez, F. 2012c.
A review of optimization techniques used in the design of
fibre composite structures for civil engineering applica-
tions. Materials & Design 33: 534544.
Froud, G. 1980. Your sandwich order, sir (mechanical prop-
erties in bending of sandwich structures). Composites 11:
133138.
Gibson, L. 1984. Optimization of stiffness in sandwich
beams with rigid foam cores. Materials Science and
Engineering 67: 125135.
Hollaway, L.C. & Head, P.R. 2001. Advanced polymer
composites and polymers in the civil infrastructure.
Netherlands: Elsevier Science.
Hudson, C.W., Carruthers, J.J. & Robinson, A.M. 2010.
Multiple objective optimisation of composite sand-
wich structures for rail vehicle floor panels. Composite
Structures 92: 20772082.
Meidell, A. 2009. Minimum weight design of sandwich
beams with honeycomb core of arbitrary density. Com-
posites Part B: Engineering, 40, 284291.
Murthy, O., Munirudrappa, N., Srikanth, L. & Rao, R. 2006.
Strength and stiffness optimization studies on honeycomb
core sandwich panels. Journal of Reinforced Plastics and
Composites 25: 663.
Simoes, L.M.C. & Negro, J.H.O. 2005. Reliability-based
optimum design of glulam cable-stayed footbridges.
Journal of Bridge Engineering 10: 3944.
Swanson, S.R. & Kim, J. 2002. Optimization of sand-
wich beams for concentrated loads. Journal of Sandwich
Structures and Materials 4: 273293.
Theulen, J. & Peijs, A. 1991. Optimization of the bend-
ing stiffness and strength of composite sandwich panels.
Composite Structures 17: 8792.
Van-Erp, G. 2010. Commercialisation of fibre composites
in Australias civil engineering market. 21st Australasian
Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materi-
als: Incorporating Sustainable Practice in Mechanics of
Structures and Materials (ACMSM21): Melbourne.
Walker, M. & Smith, R.E. 2003. A technique for the multi-
objective optimisation of laminated composite structures
using genetic algorithms and finite element analysis.
54
Effect of construction sequence in the axial shortening behaviour
of composite columns
N. Baidya, L. Zhang & P. Mendis
University of Melbourne, Australia
S. Fragomeni
Victoria University, Australia
ABSTRACT: In recent decades, the trend of constructing tall buildings using composite columns (concrete-
filled circular steel tubes) incorporating high strength concrete is increasing. With this increasing trend, the need
to accurately calculate the axial shortening behaviour of these vertical elements (composite columns, cores and
walls) in high-rise buildings is becoming more and more critical. Thus, the focus of this paper is to develop a
time-history based analytical procedure for evaluating the axial shortening in composite columns of high rise
buildings. The procedure will incorporate the influence of construction sequence using Critical Path Method,
the load time-history and stiffness changes in relation to time dependent properties of elastic modulus, creep
and shrinkage in composite columns. An example of the procedure using a four story building depicting typical
stage by stage erection of members is presented.
1 INTRODUCTION
Composite columns (concrete-filled circular steel
tubes) can allow direct architectural expression while
concurrently providing a simple, economical and eas-
ily built design. Furthermore, it provides favourable
composite properties of steel and concrete. Compos-
ite columns have been used in the construction of many
tall buildings in Australia, including Casselden Place,
Melbourne (Wong, 1990). Major landmark projects in
the USA, suchas theTwoUnionSquare inSeattle, have
used high-strength concrete in composite columns
(Kowalczyk et al., 1993).
In tall buildings, peripheral columns are more heav-
ily stressed compared to the internal core, columns and
wall elements. As a result, peripheral columns tend to
deform vertically at higher rates than the internal ver-
tical elements. This can lead to axial and differential
deformations, and these deformations enlarge with the
increase of height. Such deformations in tall buildings
with composite columns occur due to elastic short-
ening, temperature, and time-dependent deformations
caused by creep and shrinkage.
Axial shortening can potentially cause problems to
other infrastructure of buildings including ventilation,
water and sewerage pipes, and heating systems, along
with potential structural problems to facades, beams
and slabs joining the columns. Amajor consequence of
significant differential shortening of vertical elements
(cores, columns and walls) of a building is tilting of
the connecting slab, which in turn rotates and distorts
non-structural components such as partitions. Thus,
the shortening behaviour of composite columns has
been studied by many researchers (Fintel et al., 1987;
Nakai et al., 1991; Terry et al., 1994; Uy and Das,
1997; Zhong and Goode, 2001).
It is essential that the problem of axial and dif-
ferential shortening of vertical elements should be
considered when building layout is designed to min-
imize the effect of this problem. For this, reliable
methods are needed to accurately quantify the values
of axial shortening. By judicially selecting appropriate
construction sequences, column sizes, reinforcement
percentages and concrete strengths, the problems of
axial and differential shortening can be minimised.
The idealization of a building structure representing
the complete sequential construction cycle, including
the differential loading rates between adjacent struc-
tural elements, is essential. This enables an accurate
definition of the loading history of each adjacent ele-
ment to be employed in the prediction of differential
behavior. Thus, the final outcomes of a cumulative
(axial) and differential shortening analysis of the
columns depend mainly on two criteria: idealization
of the building with its idealized construction cycle
and analytical modeling of column containing the
concrete and steel properties.
The main objective of this research is to develop a
load time-history based analytical procedure. The pro-
cedure captures the impact of construction sequence
combined with the time varying values of elastic
modulus, creep and shrinkage models of concrete.
55
2 ANALYTICAL STUDY OF AXIAL
SHORTENING
The analytical equations used to calculate axial short-
ening for circular steel and concrete (inside circular
steel) of composite column is divided into two sub-
sections: one section discusses the axial shortening
in circular steel and other discusses the shortening in
concrete.
2.1 Axial shortening in steel
The axial shortening of circular steel at any level in a
building can be calculated by the summation equation
given as follows:
where E =elastic modulus of steel; n = total number
of floors; L
k
=the story height at each level; A
k
=the
column area at each level; NS =the number of stories;
i =a particular floor level; and P
i
= the load at each
level.
The full formulations of Equation (1) are given by
Bungale, (1998).
2.2 Axial shortening in concrete
To calculate axial shortening in concrete of a compos-
ite column, the required mathematical expressions for
the cumulative elastic, shrinkage, and creep shorten-
ing of all segments of a column up to level N (also
termed as solution-floor level) are presented (Fintel
et al., 1987). In this analysis, the method presented
in the Portland Cement Association report is adapted.
Expressions are given for the vertical displacements of
one support (column) of the slab at level N. There are
two types of column shortening taking place: i) up to
the time the slab is installed (pre-installation shorten-
ings up to casting of solution floor level), and ii) after
the slab is installed (post-installation shortenings
subsequent to casting of solution floor level).
Elastic shortening, which is caused due to initial
loads up to casting of solution-floor level, is calculated
by using the following equation:
where j =a particular column; i =a particular floor
level or load increment; P =applied load; h =floor
height; A
t
=time dependent transformed area of
column cross section; and E
ct
=time-dependent
modulus of elasticity of concrete.
Similarly, the elastic shortening for the subsequent
to casting of solution floor level is given by:
Figure 1. Plan (four story building).
Now, the shrinkage shortening up to casting of
solution-floor level is calculatedbyusingthe following
expression:
Similarly, subsequent to casting of solution-floor
level is given by
Creep shortening up to casting of solution-floor
level is calculated by using the following equation:
Similarly, subsequent to casting of solution-floor
level is given by:
The full formulations of each component in Equa-
tions (2 to7) are given by Fintel et al., 1987.
3 CONSTRUCTION PROCESS
In this process, a hypothetical four story composite
structure with interior reinforced concrete wall (core)
and exterior composite columns is considered and
shown in Figure 1. The composite structure supports
a slab system of structural steel beams, metal decks,
and a concrete topping.
Composite columns are constructed by erecting two
story height hollow steel columns (erection columns)
and after some time pumping concrete inside. Apply-
ingcritical pathmethod(precedence method), a typical
construction process for four story building using
composite columns is illustrated in Figures 2a and 2b.
Utilizing a turnbuckle arrangement (leveling screws)
56
Figure 2a. Two story height composite column.
Figure 2b. Construction process for four story building.
for plumbing and temporary support of the tube, the
steel tube is erected in two levels lifts. Tube pieces are
much lighter than full steel column; a two level steel
tube weighs just over two tonnes, little more than a
floor beam.
During the construction process, following work
has been performed: i) erection of two floor height
steel tube for 1st and2ndfloor (duration4days) ii) con-
nection of steel beams (between steel tube and core)
in 1st and 2nd floor (1 day for 1st floor and another
1 day for 2nd floor), iii) formwork (metal decks includ-
ing studs and reinforcements) in 1st and 2nd floor
(altogether duration 3 days), iv) pouring concrete in
slabs in 1st and 2nd floor (1 day), v) curing concrete
in slabs in 1st and 2nd floor (3 days), and vi) pumping
concrete in two floor height steel tube (1st and 2nd
floor in 1 day) . Thus two floor construction processes
from steel tube erection to pumping of concrete inside
steel tube is completed in 14 working days and the
process is shown schematically in Figure 2a.
In all these activities, the metal decks and concrete
floors can be supported on the bare steel tube. The
placement of concrete into the tubes by pumping is
a vital part of the constructability of concrete filled
tubes. Concrete is pumped into and up the empty tube
through a pump line connected to the bottom of the
tube. No vibration of concrete is required. With the
use of a special concrete mix, preparation of the inter-
face between pours is not required. At one time, up to
four levels of column had been filled with concrete in
Casselden Place.
For construction of a four storey composite column,
after fixing all steel beams between steel tube and core
in first and second floor, two floor height steel tube is
erected for 3rd and 4th story (duration 4 days). All
remaining works such as, fixing steel beams (between
steel tube and core), form work for slab, pouring, cur-
ing and pumping concrete in 3rd and 4th floor are
repeated with same time period as in the construction
process for 1st and 2nd story. This process is illustrated
in Figure 2b.
To construct multi story buildings, the process is
repeated up to the desired floor level by erecting two
floor height steel tubes and repeating same process as
shown in Figure 2a.
Steel tube erection must be done only after finishing
all steel beams connections in the lower two floors
(between steel tube and core as shown in Figure 2b).
In case story of a building is an odd number, the last
story will be only one story height steel tube and the
construction process will be only for one floor (similar
to Figure 2a but without second floor).
Although, two floor height steel tube for 1st and 2nd
floor is cast by pumping concrete at once from bot-
tomon 14th day, for the purpose of column shortening
calculation, roughly it can be assumed that dead
loads in steel and concrete on 1st and 2nd floors are
applied on 7th and 14th day.
57
Figure 3. Staged construction of four story building.
Similarly, as the erection of steel tube for 3rd and
4th floor starts after six days and two floor height
steel tube for 3rd and 4th floor is cast by pumping
concrete on 20th day, roughly it can also be assumed
that dead loads in steel and concrete on 3rd and 4th
floors are applied on 17th and 20th day.
4 CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCE
An idealised construction sequence is defined as rep-
resentative of the usual cycle generally employed on
tall buildings, which characterises the specific load
history for each vertical element. Using construction
sequence for composite columns as shown in Figure
2b, a four story building is considered to depict stage
by stage erection of a composite structure and is shown
schematically in Figure 3. The age of the building is
defined as Ta, where Ta is measured from the time
when construction work in core C
11
is started.
Stage 1a and 1b: In stage 1a (Ta = 8 Day), con-
struction of core C
11
is started by pouring concrete and
finished in 8 days. After that in Stage 1b (Ta =16 Day),
construction of core C
12
is started and also finished in
8 days. During this period, ages of C
12
and C
11
are 8
and 16 days.
Stage 2a: In stage 2a (Ta =26 Day), after 22 days
from starting of construction of core C
11
, two floored
steel tube (for 1st and 2nd floor) C
21
is erected and
within this period core C
13
is poured. Erection of steel
tube C
21
is finished in four days. This marks the end
of the first construction cycle, which is Ta day after
starting of construction of core C
11
.
Stage 2b: In stage 2b (Ta =32 Day), after fixing
steel beams in 1st and 2nd floor, two floored steel tube
(for 3rd and 4th floor) C
22
is erected and concrete
work in core C
14
is continued. A pattern is devel-
oped similar to stage 2a. Erection of steel tube C
22
is
finished in four days and during this time form works
for concrete slabs in first and second floor are finished.
Similarly, this marks the endof the secondconstruction
cycle, which is Ta days after starting of construction
of core C
11
.
Stage 3a: In stage 3a (Ta =36 Day), concrete work
in both first and second floor is finished on 10th day
and pumping of concrete inside two floored steel tube
C
21
is finished on 14th day. Form works for slabs are
continued in third and fourth floor and construction of
core C
14
is finished on 12th day.
Stage 3b (Ta =42 Day), shows the final construc-
tion sequence for four story building. Construction is
continued up to roof level by repeating again all above
mentioned sequences. Concrete work in slab in both
thirdandfourthfloor is finishedon10thdayandpump-
ing of concrete inside two floored steel tube C
22
is
finished on 14th day. In service load is applied in both
first and second floor on 2nd day. Also, in service load
in both third and fourth floor is applied after 14 day
from casting of concrete in third and fourth floor (not
shown in Figure 3).
5 AXIAL SHORTENING OF COMPOSITE
COLUMN
A hypothetical four story composite structure con-
sisting of core and composite columns, as shown in
Figures 1 (plan) and 3 (staged construction), is used to
illustrate methodology described above. Story height
of this building is 3.75 mand area of the composite col-
umn is 0.20 m
2
. The composite columns and the core
are constructed with 60 and 50 MPa concrete, while
the slabs are constructed using 40 MPa concrete. The
steel content (circular steel 10 mm thick and outside
diameter 500 mm) of the composite column is consid-
ered as 9 percent in relation to the cross-sectional area
of the concrete and it (circular steel) serves as rein-
forcement for concrete in the composite column. For
axial shortening calculation of composite column, it is
estimated that on four story building, in total 378 kN
construction load (dead load) in circular steel and 980
kN construction load and 280 kN in-service load (live
load) are applied in concrete. It is also considered that
i) the construction loads in circular steel and concrete
are applied on 7, 14, 17 and 20 days (according to the
construction sequence), and ii) in-service loads in con-
crete are applied in 14 days from casting of concrete
in slab (in all floors). The loading days of construc-
tion load, according to the construction sequence are
shown in Table 1.
The combination of time varying elastic modu-
lus of concrete and construction sequence is used to
58
Table 1. Composite column shortening.
Circular steel shortening Concrete shortening Total
Loading days Load Shortening
for dead Load Creep and (Steel and
Floor load Dead Elastic Dead Live Elastic shrinkage Total concrete)
levels Day kN mm kN kN mm mm mm mm
1 7 10 0.01 245 70 0.31 0.76 1.07 1.08
2 14 194 0.25 490 140 1.11 1.46 2.57 2.82
3 17 350 0.67 735 210 1.73 2.11 3.84 4.51
4 20 378 1.14 980 280 2.20 2.73 4.93 6.07
formulate the real staged constructional procedure.
The elastic shortening of circular steel prior to encas-
ing with concrete become part of the axial shortening
of composite column. Creep, shrinkage and elastic
models of concrete as specified in Australian Stan-
dard AS 3600 (2009) are incorporated into the above
staged construction procedure. Using this procedure,
axial shortening of composite column is calculated for
3650 days (10 years) after concrete in the column was
pumped.
The component of shortening due to elastic stresses
for the circular steel (composite column) for 1 to 4
floors is calculated by using Equation 1. Also, the
components of shortening (up to slab installation and
subsequent to slab installation) due to elastic, shrink-
age and creep for concrete (composite column) are
calculated by using Equations 2 to 7. By adding: i)
elastic shortening of circular steel (1.14 mm), ii) elas-
tic shortening of concrete (2.20 mm) and iii) creep
and shrinkage shortening of concrete (2.73 mm), total
shortening of composite column is calculated as
6.07 mm. Final results from 1 to 4 floors are shown
in Table 1.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The construction of composite columns requires a well
planned, proper construction sequence. The procedure
keeps track of the construction cycle and as well as the
loading history of each of the composite columns and
core elements of the building.
For computational andpredictionefficiencyof axial
shortening of composite columns, a reliable computer
model is required. Furthermore, the idealised con-
struction sequence and methodology presented in this
paper can be executed into computer algorithms for
the software.
REFERENCES
Australian Standard AS 3600 2009. Concrete Struc-
tures, Standards Australia Committee BD-002, Sydney,
Australia, p. 213.
Bungale, S. T. 1998. Steel, Concrete, and Composite Design
of Tall Buildings, McGraw-Hill, NewYork.
Fintel, M., Ghosh, S. K., & Iyengar, H. 1986. Column Short-
ening in Tall Structures Prediction and Compensation,
Publication EB108.01D, Portland Cement Association,
Skokie, Illinois.
Kowalczyk, R. M., Sim, R. & Kilmister, M. B. 1993. Struc-
tural Systems for Tall Buildings, Council onTall Buildings
and Urban Habitat, McGraw-Hill, NewYork.
Nakai, H., Kurita, A., & Ichinose, L. H. 1991. An exper-
imental study on creep of concrete filled steel pipes,
Proceedings of the 3rd International conference on
Steel Concrete Composite Structures, Fukuoka, Japan,
September: 5560.
Terrey, P. J., Bradford, M. A., &Gilbert, R. I. 1994. Creep and
Shrinkage in Concrete filled Steel tubes. Tubular Struc-
tures VI, Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium
onTubular Structures. Rotterdam, Netherlands: Balkema,
293298.
Uy, B. & Das, S. 1997. Time Effects in Concrete-filled Steel
Box Columns in Tall Buildings, Structural design of Tall
Buildings, 6:122.
Wong, J. S. C. 1990. Concrete- Filled Steel Tube Columns:
A Case Study on Casselden Place, Melbourne, Building
Research Project (Masters), Department of Architecture
and Building, University of Melbourne, Australia.
Zhong, S. T. & Goode, C. D. 2001. Composite construction
for columns in high-rise buildings in China, Proceed-
ings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Structures &
Buildings 146, China, November, 4:333340.
59
Structural evaluation of concrete expanded polystyrene sandwich panels
for slab applications
R.M. Bajracharya, W.P. Lokuge, W. Karunasena & K.T. Lau
Centre of Excellence in Engineered Fibre Composites, Faculty of Engineering and Surveying,
University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
A.S. Mosallam
Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, University of California, Irvine, California, USA
ABSTRACT: Sandwich panels are being extensively and increasingly used in building construction because
they are light in weight, energy efficient, aesthetically attractive and can be easily handled and erected. This
paper presents a structural evaluation of Concrete-Expanded Polystyrene (CEPS) sandwich panels for slab
applications using finite element modeling approach. CEPS panels are made of expanded polystyrene foam
sandwiched between concrete skins. The use of foam in the middle of sandwich panel reduces the weight of
the structure and also acts as insulation against thermal, acoustics and vibration. Applying reinforced concrete
skin to both sides of panel takes the advantages of the sandwich concept where the reinforced concrete skins
take compressive and tensile loads resulting in higher stiffness and strength and the core transfers shear loads
between the faces. This research uses structural software Strand7, which is based on finite element method, to
predict the load deformation behaviour of the CEPS sandwich slab panels. Non linear static analysis was used in
the numerical investigations. Predicted results were compared with the existing experimental results to validate
the numerical approach used.
1 INTRODUCTION
Sandwich panels have been used as structural building
components in various industrial and office buildings
in many countries. Their uses have now been extended
to residential building construction due to their abil-
ity to improve the structural and thermal perfor-
mance of the houses. Sandwich panel construction in
Australia has been limited to cold-storage buildings
due tothe lack of designmethods and data. However, in
recent times, the sandwich panels are extensively used
in buildings, particularly as roof and wall cladding
systems.
Due to considerable structural importance, a large
number of publications dealing with structural sand-
wich panels are in existence. Rizzo & Fazio (1983)
used two dimensional analysis of sandwich panel, hav-
ing aluminum facings and styrofoam core, found that
their analytical results will generally exceed the actual
values by 15% for sandwich wall and slab panels.
Sokolinsky et al. (2003) demonstrated four-point load-
ing tests carried out on sandwich beam specimens
with aluminum facesheets and a PVC foam core. The
authors foundthat the classical sandwichtheoryunder-
estimates the vertical displacements of the sandwich
beam specimens by more than 20%. These evidences
indicate that more research work needs to be done for
understanding the behaviour of sandwich panel.
Newmaterials and newcombinations of old materi-
als are constantly being proposed and used in sandwich
panels. They have many engineering applications from
wall, slab to beam. Karam & Gibson (1994) eval-
uated the wood-cement and natural-fibre-cement to
be used as a sandwich-panel facing by performing
three-point bending test. Pokharel (2003) studied the
behaviour and design of sandwich panels made up
of steel as a skins and polystyrene foam as a core.
The author further mentioned that the structural sand-
wich panels generally used in Australia comprise of
polystyrene foam core and thinner (0.42 mm) and
high strength (minimum yield stress of 550 MPa and
reduced ductility) steel faces bonded together using
separate adhesives.
Schenker et al. (2005) studied the behaviour of
aluminium foam protected reinforced concrete struc-
tures under impact. Vaidya et al. (2010) demonstrated
the panels consisting face sheets of E-glass fibers
impregnatedwithpolypropylene matrix, while the core
consists of expanded polystyrene foam developed for
the exterior walls of a modularized structure. Manalo
(2011) investigated the concept of glue-laminated
composite sandwich beams made up of glass fibre
composite skins and modified phenolic core material
for railway turnout sleepers.
In this paper, a numerical approach based on
finite element method was used to predict the load
61
Figure 1. Schematic Cross sectionof CEPSsandwichpanel.
Table 1. Details of testing specimens.
Thickness Thickness Total
Length Breadth of core of skin Thickness
(mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)
3098.8 1219.2 127 44.45 215.9
deformation behaviour of the concrete expanded
polystyrene (CEPS) sandwich slab. The CEPS sand-
wich panels are made of a foam core with robotically
welded steel mesh on each side and three dimensional
truss system steel welded through the center foam
and concrete skins. The expanded polystyrene (EPS)
core provides excellent insulation against heat, sound
and vibration. Besides these, EPS core also has con-
struction viability as it provides a support mechanism
for steel wire mesh for construction. Hence, concrete
expanded polystyrene (CEPS) sandwich panels rep-
resent an excellent example of the optimum use of
dissimilar materials.
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
2.1 Test specimen
CEPS sandwich panels reported in this research were
tested in University of California, Irvine (UCI). The
testing specimens included three separate CEPS sand-
wich panels. The diameter of the steel bar was 3 mm
with the grid size of 50.8 50.8 mm. The first panel
was tested without any bottom longitudinal reinforce-
ment bars. The cross section of the first panel is shown
in Figure 1.The second and the third panels were tested
with the addition of longitudinal reinforcement bars of
9.53 mm and 12.7 mm respectively.
The details of the specimen are listed in Table 1.
Table 2 shows the compressive strength tests per-
formed on the concrete poured on the panel for all the
cases. The specimens were randomly taken in order
to generalize the strength of the concrete. They were
each 152.4 mm diameter by 304.8 mm high cylinders.
2.2 Test set-up and procedure
The slab was casted using a prefabricated steel-foam
sandwich panel and a concrete mix that was created on
Table 2. Compressive Strength of Concrete.
Case Strength (MPa)
1. Without Reinforcement bars 19
2. With Reo bars of 9.53 mm 10
3. With Reo bars of 12.7 mm 10
Figure 2. Loading Setup.
site using a mixer and pump in order to facilitate the
pouring process. The panel was placed horizontally in
a mould made of wooden formwork that was manu-
factured at UCI. The slab was tested 14 days after the
initial pouring for flexure using the 4 point loading sys-
tem. The slab was placed horizontally on 2 steel beams
at the ends that portrayed a hinged support at each
end. A 22 kN actuator placed vertically above the slab
provided the load which was transferred using 2 steel
cylinders connected to the actuator each 457.2 mm
away from the centerline of the slab as shown in
Figure 2. Both of these cylinders were rested on rub-
ber pads along the whole width of the slab to prevent
the immediate crushing of the slab at the line of con-
tact. The deflection at the mid-span of the slab was
measured with the help of spring pot placed beneath
the centre line of the slab connected to the strong
lab floor.
3 EVALUATION OF FAILURE LOAD
Theoretical predictions of the failure load of the sand-
wich panels under flexural loads using the mechanical
properties of the reinforced concrete composite skin
was conducted. Since, expanded polystyrene has a
very low modulus of elasticity; it is assumed that it
does not provide any strength in the structure. For the
simplified analysis, thus the foam is neglected. Also
it is assumed that concrete does not take any tensile
forces. In that case, CEPS can be analysed as a simple
reinforced concrete beam.
AS3600-2009 takes the ultimate concrete strain
of 0.003 which is conservative but yet reasonable.
Further, the maximum allowable concrete stress of
0.85 f
c
is compatible with the ultimate strain. By
considering the equilibrium of horizontal forces,
62
Table 3. Comparison of ultimate load between
experimental and simplified method.
Ultimate load
Experimental Simplified
Setup Method
Case (kN) (kN)
1. Without Reinforcement bars 40 27.729
2. With Reo bars of 9.53 mm 65 55.545
3. With Reo bars of 12.7 mm 88 77.668
where C
c
=Compressive force in concrete; C
s
=
Compressive force in steel and T =Tensile force in
steel.
With the forces calculated, M
u
is obtained by
where =Compressive stress block factor taken as
c =the effective cover of the reinforcing steel.
The maximum bending moment is given by
where P =Ultimate load and L
1
=1092.2 mm as
shown in Figure 2.
Equating equation (1) and (4), the ultimate load
from the simplified method was calculated which is
shown in Table 3. It indicates that a simplified analy-
sis is much more conservative. In all the three cases,
the value of ultimate load fromsimplified method lags
the experimental failure load by approximately 10 kN.
4 FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING
Numerical simulations were carried out to investigate
the behaviour of CEPS sandwich panels. Finite Ele-
ment Method was used for this purpose. Finally the
numerical results are compared with the experimental
results for the flexural behaviour of CEPS sandwich
slabs.
4.1.1 Concrete
Concrete behaves differently under compression and
tension. In compression, the behaviour of the con-
crete is taken as per Table 4 and, in tension, a linear
elastic behaviour is assumed up to the strength of con-
crete in tension as per Table 5. The progressive loss of
rigidity after cracking is quantified indirectly through
an adaptation of the tension behaviour introducing a
Table 4. Values of the stress-strain curve for concrete in
compression based on Collins & Mitchell (1994).
Paramater Compression
Peak stress f
c
Peak strain
co
=0.0015 +f
c/70000
Ultimate stress f
c1
=12 MPa
Ultimate strain
c1
=0.0036
Failure strain
sp
=0.012 0.0001 f
c
Table 5. Values of the stress-strain curve for concrete in
tension based on Rots et al. (1985).
Paramater Tension
Peak stress f
t
=0.625
f

c
Peak strain
ct
=0.1
co
Ultimate stress f
t1
=f
t
/3
Ultimate strain
t1
=2
u
/9
Failure strain
u
=18 G
f
/(5f th)
where G
f
=fracture energy =h
c
area under stress-strain
softening diagram and h
c
=crack band width.
downward branch. This stress strain curve is based on
the characteristic strength of the concrete.
Rashid et al. (2002) found that Poissons ratio
of concrete changes from 0.15 to 0.25. Initial Pois-
sons ratio is defined by Candappa (2000) as 0.15.
AS3600-2009 recommends the Poissons ratio as 0.2
for concrete.
The values of E
c
defined in some standard are given
below:
Australian Standard AS 3600-2009:
where =density of concrete and f
cm
= mean value of
the compressive strength of concrete.
where f

c
=compressive strength.
The concrete element must be capable of mod-
eling structural behaviour both in compression and
tension. The stress-strain curve for concrete used in
this research is shown in Figure 3.
4.1.2 Expanded Polystyrene (EPS)
Due to the unavailability of the accurate data for the
density of EPS used in the experiment, an average
value of 19 kg/m
3
was chosen for the analysis. Hor-
vath (1995) has suggested the following empirical
equations for estimating the modulus of elasticity and
Poissons ratio of EPS.
63
Figure 3. Stress-Strain of concrete for f
c
=19 MPa.
Table 6. Material Properties.
Modulus of
Density Elasticity Poissons
Material (kg/m
3
) (MPa) Ratio
Concrete, f
c
=19MPa 2400 22000 0.2
Concrete, f
c
=10 MPa 2400 16000 0.2
Steel 7850 200 10
3
0.25
Foam 19 5.55 0.1088
where E
ti
=modulus of elasticity; =Poissons Ratio
and
eps
=EPS density.
Since, EPS core has a very low modulus of elastic-
ity, it was noted that the stress strain curve for EPScore
does not make any difference on the model results as
the value is very low compared to concrete and steel.
Hence, EPS is considered as a linear material to reduce
the complexity of the model.
4.1.3 Steel
Lloyd & Rangan (1995) assumed an idealised elasto-
plastic stress-strain relationship for steel as follows:
The modulus of elasticity taken as per AS3600-2009
is 200 10
3
MPa for both tension and compression.
The material properties for each of the structural
elements was based on the previous research con-
ducted. These were then applied to each of the respec-
tive materials comprising the finite element models.
Each of the material properties are shown below in
Table 6.
4.2 Model development
The simulations of the 4-point static bending test of
the CEPS slab panels have been carried out using
Strand7 finite element program. Concrete, expanded
polystyrene foamand reinforcing steel are represented
by separate material models which are combined
Figure 4. Quarter model of the CEPS slab panels.
together with a model of the interaction between con-
crete, foam and steel to describe the behaviour of
the sandwich material. The concrete skin and core
materials were modelled as 8-noded solid brick ele-
ments. The brick elements had aspect ratios from 1:1
to 1:1.3. The finite element model was carried out
simulating the specimen and the loading set-up in
the actual experimental conditions to have a reliable
result. Due to symmetry, only one-fourth of the sand-
wich slab was modelled to reduce computational time.
Figure 4 shows the numerical model used to simulate
the 4-point static bending tests of CEPS slab panels.
Non-linear analysis was conducted considering the
combined effect of the non-linear behaviour of the
concrete skin. The concrete and expanded polystyrene
was modelled as an isotropic material. In this analysis,
the Max Stress Criterion is introduced to model con-
crete as it can exhibit different behaviour under tension
and compression. In compression, the behaviour of the
concrete is taken as per Table 4 and, in tension, a linear
elastic behaviour is assumed up to the failure strength
of concrete in tension. For computational convenience,
the steel was modelled as one dimensional cutoff bar
elements. In addition, the skin was assumed to be per-
fectly bonded to the core, eliminating the delamination
failure mode.
4.3 Finite element results
The typical deflection of the slab is shown in Figure 5.
The panel was modeled to a quarter scale and the force
applied was a quarter of the total force applied during
testing.
The maximum deflection occurred at the mid-span
of the beam, which is to be expected in the four point
bending test simulation. This is shown in Figure 6 by
the dark blue area. The pink area represents the rising
of the ends of the beam, as the load is applied in the
specimens. It was observed that due to the presence of
the side concrete, there is less deflection in the side of
the slab than in the centre part.
The stress distribution in CEPS panels for Case 1 is
shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6 shows the stress throughout the CEPS
panel as the load is applied. The pink area at the bottom
of the slab indicates the tensile stresses in concrete.
The dark blue and green area represents the concrete
in compression.
64
Figure 5. Deflection of CEPS panel.
Figure 6. Stress Distribution in CEPS panels.
Figure 7. Comparison of Load Vs Displacement curve for
no longitudinal reinforcement.
4.4 Comparison of results
A comparison of typical load versus displacement
curves for all the three cases from FEA and experi-
ments are showninFigure 7to9. All these comparisons
confirm that the finite element model can be satisfac-
torily used to analyse the load-displacement behaviour
of CEPS panel used in the experiments.
4.5 Discussion
The purpose of the comparison of the experimen-
tal testing and finite element analysis results was to
longitudinal reinforcement of 9.53 mm diameter.
longitudinal reinforcement of 12.7 mm diameter.
prove the excellent behaviour of the specimens dur-
ing loading. The load deformation behaviour has been
predicted very accurately by beam and brick finite
element models.
Overall, the comparisons have been very promising,
with the validity of the numerical model proven with
comparison to the experimental results. Therefore the
proposed model can be used to predict the strength and
serviceability requirements for slab panels so that they
can be used safely in slab applications.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The overall results were promising with respect to
the behaviour of CEPS panels when used in a slab
application. Finite element model results were in good
agreement with experimental results, thus validating
the prediction model.
As one of the solutions to the global environmental
issue, CEPS panels can be considered as an alternate
structural material to be used in structural slabs. With
the use of CEPS, it not only reduces the self weight
of the structure but also provides excellent insulation
65
against sound, thermal heat and vibration. Structurally,
it is important to ensure that these materials will pro-
vide the qualities of structural slabs that are required.
These qualities included strength and deflection of
the slab which should be within tolerable limits. This
composite sandwich panel provides a promising solu-
tion for the building industry as it is light, possesses
adequate strength, is relatively low cost in terms of
materials and transportation and is a greener product
as less concrete material is utilized.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are very grateful to 3D Enbuil Advanced
Building Systems Company, USA for providing the
CEPS sandwich panels to be tested in the experimental
component of the project at University of California,
Irvine.
REFERENCES
ACI Committee 318 2005. Building Code Requirements for
Structural Concrete (318-05) and Commentary, American
Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, Mich.
Candappa, D 2000, The constitutive behaviour of high
strength concrete under lateral confinement, PhDThesis,
Monash University, Australia.
Collins, MP & Mitchell, D 1994. Prestressed concrete
structures, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Horvath, JS 1995. Geofoam Geosynthetic, NewYork, USA.
Karam, GN & Gibson, LJ 1994. Evaluation of Commercial
Wood-Cement Composites for Sandwich-Panel Facing,
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, 6(1): 10016.
Lloyd, NA & Rangan, BV 1995. High strength concrete
columns under eccentric compression, Technical Report
No. 1/95, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western
Australia.
Manalo, AC 2011. Behaviour of fibre composite sand-
wich structures: a case study on railway sleeper appli-
cation, PhD thesis, University of Southern Queensland,
Toowoomba.
Pokharel, N 2003. Behaviour and Design of Sandwich Pan-
els Subject to Local Buckling and Flexural Wrinkling
Effects, PhDthesis, QueenslandUniversityofTechnology,
Brisbane.
Rashid, MA, Mansur, MA & Paramasivam, P 2002. Corre-
lations between mechanical properties of high-strength
concrete, Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, 14
(3): 230238.
Rizzo, S & Fazio, P 1983. Sandwich-Panel Assemblies:
Analytical Model, Journal of Structural Engineering, 109
(11): 271532.
Rots, JG, Nauta, P, Kusters, GMA & Blaauwendraad, J
1985. Smeared Crack approach and fracture localization
in concrete, Heron, 30 (1): 148.
Schenker, A, Anteby, I, Nizri, E, Ostraich, B, Kivity, Y,
Sadot, O, Haham, O, Michaelis, R, Gal, E & Ben-Dor,
G 2005. Foam-Protected Reinforced Concrete Struc-
tures under Impact: Experimental and Numerical Studies,
Journal of Structural Engineering, 131(8): 123342.
Sokolinsky, VS, Shen, H, Vaikhanski, L & Nutt, SR 2003.
Experimental and analytical study of nonlinear bend-
ing response of sandwich beams, Composite Structures,
60(2): 21929.
Standards Australia 2009. Concrete structures, AS 3600-
2009, Standards Australia, Sydney, viewed 30 July 2011,
<http://www.saiglobal.com/online/autologin.asp>.
Vaidya, A, Uddin, N & Vaidya, U 2010. Structural Charac-
terization of Composite Structural Insulated Panels for
Exterior Wall Applications, Journal of Composites for
Construction, 14 (4): 4649.
66
Long-term deformation of composite concrete slabs under sustained loading
Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Relatively little research has been undertaken on the time-dependent in-service behaviour of
composite concrete slabs with profiled steel decking as permanent formwork and little guidance is available
to practising engineers for predicting long-term deflection. The drying shrinkage profile through the thickness
of a slab is known to be greatly affected by the impermeable steel deck at the slab soffit, but this has not yet
been quantified satisfactorily. This paper presents the results of long-term laboratory tests on composite slabs
subjected to both drying shrinkage and sustained loads.
1 INTRODUCTION
Composite one-way concrete floor slabs with profiled
steel decking as permanent formwork are commonly
used in the construction of floors in buildings (Fig. 1).
The steel decking supports the wet concrete of a cast
in-situ reinforced or post-tensioned concrete slab and,
after the concrete sets, acts as external reinforcement.
Embossments onthe profiledsheetingprovide the nec-
essary shear connection to ensure composite action
between the concrete and the steel deck (Fig. 1b).
Figure 1. Profiled steel decks for composite slabs (Fielders
Aust).
Despite their common usage, relatively little
research has been reported on the in-service behaviour
of such slabs and little design guidance is avail-
able to practising engineers. In particular, the drying
shrinkage profile through the slab thickness (which
is greatly affected by the impermeable steel deck)
and the restraint to shrinkage provided by the deck has
only recently been quantified (Gilbert et al., 2012).
As a consequence, the techniques used to predict
deflection and the on-set of cracking in conventionally
reinforced concrete slabs are often applied inappro-
priately. Although techniques are available for the
time-dependent analysis of composited slabs (Gilbert
and Ranzi, 2011), due to lack of guidance in codes of
practice, structural designers often specify the decking
as sacrificial formwork, in lieu of expensive timber
formwork and falsework, and ignore the structural
benefits afforded by the composite action. This pro-
vides a conservative estimate of strength, but may well
result in a significant under-estimation of deflection
because of the shrinkage gradient and the restraint
provided by the deck.
In this paper, the results of an experimental study
of the long-term deflection of composite concrete
slabs under sustained loads are presented. Deflections
caused by creep of the concrete and the effects of
drying shrinkage are reported and discussed.
2.1 Overview
The experimental program involved the testing of
ten large scale simple-span composite one-way slabs
under different sustained, uniformly distributed ser-
vice load histories for periods of up to 240 days.
Two different decking profiles supplied by Fielders
67
Australia (2009) were considered (KF40 and KF70 as
shown in Fig. 1b).
The creep coefficient and drying shrinkage strain of
the concrete were measured on companion specimens
cast with the slabs and cured similarly. Additionally,
the compressive strength and the elastic modulus of
concrete at the age of first loading and at the end of
the sustained load period were measured on standard
100 mm diameter cylinders; while the concrete flexu-
ral tensile strength (modulus of rupture) was measured
on 100 mm by 100 mm by 500 mm concrete prisms.
The elastic modulus E
s
and the yield stress f
y
of the
were also measured on coupons cut from the decking.
Crack locations and crack widths were recorded
throughout the long-term test, together with the time-
dependent change in concrete and steel strains, mid-
span deflection and the end slip between the steel
decking and the concrete.
The objectives of the experimental program were
to obtain benchmark, laboratory-controlled data on
the long-term structural response of composite slabs
under different sustained service loads, in particular
the time-varying deflection, and to analyse the effect
of creep and shrinkage on the long-term behaviour
of composite slabs. The laboratory data will be used
to validate analytical models for the prediction of
time-dependent behaviour (Gilbert and Ranzi, 2010
and Gilbert et al., 2012) and to assist in the devel-
opment of design-oriented procedures to assess the
serviceability of composite slabs.
2.2 Test specimens
Each slab was 3300 mm long, with a cross-section
150 mm deep and 1200 mm wide and contained no
reinforcement (other than the external steel decking).
Eachslabwas testedas a single simply-supportedspan.
The centre to centre distance between the two end
supports (one hinge and one roller) was 3100 mm.
Five identical slabs with KF70 decking were poured
at the same time from the same batch of concrete. An
additional five identical slabs with KF40 decking were
poured at a different time from a different batch of
concrete (but to the same specification and from the
same ready-mixed concrete supplier). For both types
of steel decking, the thickness of the decking steel
was t
s
=0.75 mm.
The cross-section of each of the five slabs with
KF70 decking is shown in Fig. 2a.
The composite slabs were cast with the profiled
sheeting at the slab soffit continuously supported on
the laboratory floor and with timber side forms. Apho-
tograph of the KF70 slabs immediately after finishing
the wet concrete is shown in Fig. 2b. Each slab was
covered with wet hessian and plastic sheets within
four hours of casting and kept moist for six days to
delay the commencement of drying. At age 7 days
the side forms were removed and the slabs were lifted
onto the supports. Subsequently the slabs were sub-
jected to different levels of sustained loading by means
of different sized concrete blocks. A photograph of
the five KF70 slabs showing the different loading
Figure 2. Cross-section and view of KF70 slabs.
arrangements and the slab designations are shown in
Fig. 2c.
The first digit in the designation of each slab is
the specimen number (1 to 10) and the following
two letters indicate the nature of the test, with LT for
long-term. The next two numbers indicate the type
of decking (with 70 and 40 for KF70 and KF40,
respectively). The final digit indicates the approxi-
mate value of the maximum superimposed sustained
loading in kPa.
The section properties of the steel decking profiles
are provided in Table 1 and the self-weight and cross-
sectional properties of the composite slabs are given
in Table 2.
2.3 Instrumentation
The mid-span deflection of each slab was measured
throughout the sustained load period with dial gauges
at the soffit of the specimen. Dial gauges were also
used to measure the slip between concrete and steel
68
Table 1. Properties of deck profiles.
Deck Deck Section Centroid
Profile thickness Area Height Mass I
xx
Type t
s
(mm) A
s
(mm
2
/m) y
sh
(mm) (kg/m
2
) (mm
4
/m)
KF-70 0.75 1100 27.7 8.97 584000
KF-40 0.75 1040 15.0 8.67 269000
Table 2. Properties of composite slabs.
Gross Cracked
Slab Specimen Section Section
Deck Self-Weight (I
xx
)
gross
(I
xx
)
cr
Profile (kN/m)/(kPa) (mm
4
) (mm
4
)
KF-70 3.60/3.00 278 10
6
102 10
6
KF-40 3.89/3.24 310 10
6
111 10
6
Figure 3. Cross-section showing position of strain gauges
in 2LT-70-3 and 5LT-70-8.
deck at the ends of the slab at both roller and hinge
supports in all slabs.
At mid-span of each slab, the concrete strains were
measured using 60 mm long strain gauges on the top
and bottomsurface. The strain gauges were glued onto
the concrete surface and steel sheeting after remov-
ing the wet hessian at age 6 days. For slabs 2LT-70-3,
5LT-70-8, 7LT-40-3 and 9LT-40-6 internal embedded
wire strain gauges were used to measure the concrete
strains at different depths through the thickness of the
slab, with locations shown in Fig. 3.
The location, height and width of cracking was
measured and recorded throughout the test. Of partic-
ular interest was the time-dependent development of
cracking and the increase in crack widths with time.
Crack widths were measured using a microscope with
a magnification factor of 40.
2.4 Loading procedure
Each of the KF70 slabs was placed onto the supports
at age 7 days and until age 63 days, each slab carried
just its own self-weight (i.e. 3.0 kPa).
At age 64 days, with the exception of 1LT-70-0, each
slab was subjected to superimposed sustained loads
in the form of concrete blocks. The block layouts are
illustrated in Fig. 4 (and are also shown in Fig. 2c).
Slab 1LT-70-0 carried only its self-weight for the
full duration on the 242 day test. Slabs 2LT-70-3 and
3LT-70-3 were identical, carrying a constant superim-
posed sustained load of 3.4 kPa from age 64 days to
Figure 4. Sustained load configuration for KF-70 slabs.
242 days (i.e. a total sustained load of 6.4 kPa). Slab
4LT-70-6 carried a constant superimposed sustained
load of 6.0 kPa from age 64 days to 242 days (i.e.
a total sustained load of 9.0 kPa). Slab 5LT-70-8 car-
ried a constant superimposed sustained load of 6.1 kPa
from age 64 days to 196 days (i.e. a total sustained
load of 9.1 kPa) and from age 196 days to 242 days
the superimposed sustained load was 7.9 kPa (i.e. a
total sustained load of 10.9 kPa).
Each of the KF40 slabs was placed onto the supports
at age 7 days and until age 28 days, each slab carried
just its own self-weight (i.e. 3.2 kPa). At age 28 days
(after 21 days drying), with the exception of 6LT-40-
0, each slab was subjected to superimposed sustained
loads with the block layouts similar to that used for the
KF70 slabs and shown in Fig.4.
Slab 6LT-40-0 carried only its self-weight for the
full duration of the 205 day test. Slabs 7LT-40-3 and
8LT-40-3 were identical, carrying a constant superim-
posed sustained load of 3.4 kPa from age 28 days to
205 days (i.e. a total sustained load of 6.6 kPa). Slabs
9LT-40-6 and 10LT-40-6 were identical and carried
a constant superimposed sustained load of 6.4 kPa
from age 28 days to 205 days (i.e. a total sustained
load of 9.6 kPa).
3 TEST RESULTS
The measured compressive strength, modulus of elas-
ticity and flexural tensile strength are presented in
Table 3.
69
Table 3. Concrete properties.
Slab
type f

c
(MPa) E
c
(MPa) f
ct.f
(MPa)
KF-70 63 days 28.0 63 days 30725 63 days 3.50
240 days 29.8 240 days 31650 240 days 4.54
KF-40 21 days 35.5 21 days 28200 21 days 3.80
Figure 5. Creep coefficient and shrinkage vs time curves
for concrete in the KF-70 slabs.
The measured creep coefficient versus time curve
for concrete cylinders cast with the KF70 slabs and
first loaded at age 63 days is shown in Fig. 5a. The
creep coefficient at the end of test was
cc
=1.62.
For the KF40 slabs, the creep coefficient at age 205
days for the concrete first loaded at age 21 days was
cc
=1.43.
The development of drying shrinkage strain for the
concrete in the KF70 slabs is shown in Fig. 5b. The
curve represents the average of the measuredshrinkage
on two shrinkage prisms (75 75 275 mm) fromthe
day after removing the wet hessian until the end of
the test. The average measured shrinkage strain at the
end of test was
sh
=512 . Similarly, for the KF40
slabs, the average measured shrinkage strain at the end
of tests was
sh
=615 .
The average of the measured values of yield stress
and elastic modulus taken from three test samples of
the KF70 decking were f
y
=544 (MPa) and E
s
=212
(GPa), respectively. Similarly, from three test sam-
ples of the KF40 decking, average values are f
y
=475
(MPa) and E
s
=193 (GPa), respectively.
3.2 Mid-span deflection
The variations of mid-span deflection with time for the
KF70 and KF40 slabs are shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7,
respectively. Key deflection values are summarized
in Table 4. These deflections include the deflection
caused by shrinkage, the creep induced deflection
Figure 6. Mid-span deflection vs. time for KF-70 slabs.
Figure 7. Mid-span deflection vs. time for KF-40 slabs.
Table 4. Mid-span deflections.
Time-dependent deflection (mm)
57 days of 190 days of 240 days of
drying drying drying
Slab Before After Before After Before After
1LT-70-0 2.92 2.92 4.24 4.24 4.04 4.04
2LT-70-3 3.54 4.29 6.74 6.74 6.72 6.01
3LT-70-3 2.97 3.63 5.80 5.80 5.84 5.16
4LT-70-6 2.18 3.38 6.37 6.37 6.40 5.31
5LT-70-8 2.94 4.23 6.56 6.96 7.23 5.78
21 days of
drying
28 days 56 days 112 days 198 days
Before After of drying of drying of drying of drying
6LT-40-0 2.83 2.83 3.15 3.87 4.60 4.95
7LT-40-3 3.33 4.14 4.72 5.68 6.65 7.15
8LT-40-3 2.72 4.12 4.70 5.38 6.08 6.50
9LT-40-6 2.95 4.35 4.60 5.90 6.60 6.85
10LT-40-6 3.30 5.10 5.52 6.72 8.02 8.10
due to the sustained load (including self-weight), the
short-term deflection caused by the superimposed
loads (blocks) and the deflection caused by the loss of
stiffness resulting from time-dependent cracking (if
any). It does not include the initial deflection of the
70
Figure 8. Strains profiles at mid-span (2LT-70-3 &
5LT-70-8).
Table 5. Curvature at Mid-span deflection at key times.
Curvature (10
6
mm
1
)
57 days of 190 days of 240 days of
drying drying drying
Slab Before After Before After Before After
1LT-70-0 1.94 1.94 3.29 3.29 2.92 2.92
2LT-70-3 1.80 2.42 3.83 3.83 3.51 2.98
3LT-70-3 1.89 2.51 3.79 3.79 3.52 2.97
4LT-70-6 1.41 2.85 3.99 3.99 3.83 2.77
5LT-70-8 2.07 2.99 4.55 5.66 5.88 4.42
uncracked slab at age 7 days due to self-weight (which
has been calculated to be about 0.5 mm for both the
KF70 and KF40 slabs).
3.3 Time-dependent strains
The measured strain variations with time through the
thickness of slabs 2LT-70-3 and 5LT-70-8 at mid-span
are shown in Fig. 8 and the measured curvatures () at
mid-span at selected times for each of the KF70 slabs
are given in Table 5.
The measured curvature versus time graphs for
the KF 40 slabs are given in Fig. 9 and the measured
strain variations with time through the thickness of
slabs 7LT-40-3 and 9LT-40-6 at mid-span are shown
in Fig. 10.
3.4 Cracking
Because of the steel decking at the slab soffit, it
was difficult to inspect for flexural cracking in these
simply-supported slabs. None of the slabs exhib-
ited any signs of cracking at first loading. However,
time-dependent cracking was observed in all of the
KF40 slabs, but these cracks remained fine and well
controlled for the duration of the test and remained less
than 0.15 mm in width throughout. The final locations
of cracks in each of the KF40 slabs are shown in
Fig. 10.
Figure 9. Mid-span curvature vs time for KF40 slabs.
Figure 10. Strains profiles at mid-span (7LT-40-3 &
9LT-40-6).
No cracking was observed in any of the KF70 slabs
at any stage of loading, except for slab 5LT-70-8 where
three cracks were detected in the positions shown in
Fig. 11 at age 210 days (14 days after the second layer
of blocks was placed on the slab and the superimposed
load increase to 7.9 kPa.
4 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
Shrinkage clearly has a dominant effect on the final
deflection of these composite slabs. With a sustained
load of 3.24 kPa (self-weight), the final deflection of
6LT-40-0 was 4.95 mm. When the sustained load was
increased by a factor of about 3 to 9.6 kPa, the slabs
suffered additional cracking and yet the final deflec-
tion only increased by a factor of about 1.4 to 6.85 mm
(9LT-40-6) and by a factor of about 1.6 to 8.10 mm
(10T-40-6). A similarly dominant effect of shrinkage
over load was observed in the KF70 slabs.
Prior to the application of any load other than self-
weight, the slabs deflected significantly, primarily due
to the shrinkage induced curvature. For the five KF70
slabs, after 57 days of drying (when
sh
=400 ),
the deflection varied from 2.18 mm (for 4LT-70-6) to
3.54 mm (for 2LT-70-3). Although this was mainly
due to early shrinkage, it included the creep deflec-
tion resulting from self-weight (estimated at about
71
Figure 11. Observed crack locations in the KF40 slabs.
Figure 12. Observed crack locations in 5LT-70-8.
0.4 mm). For the five KF40 slabs, after 21 days of dry-
ing (when
sh
= 390 ), the deflection varied from
2.72 mm (for 8LT-40-3) to 3.33 mm (for 7LT-40-3).
The difference in the extent of time-dependent
cracking between the KF70 slabs and the KF40 slabs
was somewhat unexpected. The tensile force that
developed with time on the concrete, due to the
restraint provided by the KF40 decking to drying
shrinkage, was significantly more eccentric to the cen-
troid of the concrete than that provided by the KF70
decking. This may have contributed to the observed
differences in crack patterns.
5 CONCLUDING REMARKS
The results of an experimental study of the long-term
deflection of composite concrete slabs under sustained
loads have been presented. Deformation caused by
applied load, creep of the concrete and the effects of
drying shrinkage have been reported and discussed
for ten simply-supported slabs, with either KF70 or
KF40 steel decking (Fielders, 2009), subjected to
different loading histories.
The curvature induced by the shrinkage gradient
resulting from both non-uniform drying and restraint
by the steel decking was quantified in a recent paper
by the authors (Gilbert et al., 2012). The slab deflec-
tions measured in this study have confirmed the dom-
inant effect of drying shrinkage over load for normal
levels of sustained loads.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The work has been undertaken with the financial
support of the Australian Research Council through
Linkage Project LP0991495, decking manufacturer
Fielders Australia PL and Prestressed Concrete
Design Consultants(PCDC). This support is
gratefully acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Gilbert, R.I., Bradford, M.A., Gholamhoseini, A. & Chang,
Z-T. (2012). Effects of Shrinkage on the Long-term
Stresses and Deformations of Composite Concrete Slabs.
Engineering Structures, Vol. 40, July, pp 919.
Gilbert, R.I. & Ranzi G. (2011). Time-dependent Behaviour
of Concrete Structures. Spon Press, London.
Fielders Australia PL (2008). Specifying Fielders. KingFlor
Composite Steel Formwork System. Design Manual.
72
Residual strength of timber-concrete composite beams after long-term test
M. Hailu, C. Gerber, R. Shrestha & K. Crews
University of Technology Sydney, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: This paper presents a comprehensive serviceability investigation that commenced at the Univer-
sity of Technology, Sydney, in August 2010. The tests have been conducted on two 5.8 m span timber concrete
composite beams (referred to as TCC beams here onwards) with two different connector types: Type 17 screws
and four notches with coach screws. The materials used are laminated veneer lumber (LVL) for the beams and
32-MPa concrete for the flanges.
Three serviceability tests were conducted on the beams, two short-term (quasi-static loading) and one long-
term (sustained loading) tests. The short-term tests were completed before the start and after the end of the
long-term test. Both short-term tests aim to identify the initial and residual stiffness respectively. The ultimate
strength of the specimens was also investigated in the course of the last test.
During the long-term test (duration of approximately 500 days), the specimens were under a sustained load
(1.7 kPa) whilst the environmental conditions were cyclically alternated between normal and very humid con-
ditions a typical cycle duration was six to eight weeks. The temperature remained quasi constant (22
C). The
mid-span deflection, LVL-beam EMC and relative humidity of the air were continuously monitored during the
test. This test aim to quantify the creep effect of the TCC beams.
The paper starts with a brief literature review, continues with a presentation of the laboratory investigations
and then presents a thorough discussion and analysis of the long-term and short-term investigations.
1 INTRODUCTION
Timber-concrete composite (TCC) floor system is a
construction technique whereby the concrete is placed
on top of the timber and connected with shear con-
nectors. The timber member works essentially in
tension and bending and the concrete member is in
compression.
Some of the benefits of TCC systems are:
TCC structures are lighter in weight and therefore
the overall weight of the superstructure will be lower
than that for concrete structures. This will lead to
reduced foundation sizes.
TCC system provides good acoustic performance.
TCC floors have higher load bearing capacity than
traditional timber floors provided a good shear con-
nection between timber and concrete is achieved.
TCC floors systems have improved fire perfor-
mance as compared to timber only systems.
The stiffness and strength of TCC systems depends
on the contribution of the three components parts,
timber, concrete and connectors. However, the perfor-
mance of the TCCsystems largely depends on the type
of the connection system, Dias (2005). Use of stiff and
rigid connection can achieve a suitable strength and
stiffness; however, in reality the connection is semi-
rigid which has unique behavior under application of
load in varying environmental conditions.
This paper presents the outcomes of experimental
tests performed on two TCC beams with two differ-
ent shear connectors. The beams were tested under
serviceability loads at both the start and end of the
long-term test. A test to failure was also performed.
The long-termtest under long-termserviceability load
lasted 500 days. Bending tests were also performed
on LVL specimens cut from the LVL joist in order
to determine the residual stiffness and strength after
months of creep effects. Some recommendations for
the design of timber-concrete composite beams are
given at the end of this paper.
2 COMPOSITE BEAM PROPERTIES
2.1 Test specimen
Four TCC beams with identical geometry (Figure 1),
each with a span of six meters were constructed in the
civil engineering structures laboratory at University of
Technology Sydney. Initially a serviceability test was
done on the beams and 200 days after concrete pouring
on August 2010, the beams were subjected to a long-
term test for approximately 500 days. Two of the four
beams were unloaded and tested for serviceability and
ultimate failure.
Each specimen consists of three components,
namely, the concrete topping, LVL joist and shear
connectors.
73
Figure 1. Cross section of TCC beams (typical) (measured
in mm).
Table 1. Concrete compressive strength (Pham, 2010).
Concrete strength
Days (MPa)
28 39.54
56 44.32
91 50.33
Table 2. Stiffness of the timber (LVL) (Pham, 2010).
Stiffness (kN/m)
Specimen Before carving After carving
B_NS 242
B_4N 256
Table 3. Apparent Modulus of Elasticity of timber (LVL)
(Pham, 2010).
E
f
(MPa)
Specimen before carving after carving
B_NS 13408 12402
B_4N 14200 13153
The top slab is made of a normal weight con-
crete with a characteristic comprehensive strength of
32 MPa the test results for the concrete compres-
sive strength are summarized in Table 1. A standard
reinforcing mesh of 7 mm diameter normal strength
reinforcement bars at 200 mm spacing was provided
in the concrete slab to prevent shrinkage cracks.
The joists are made of 250 48 mm LVL, the mean
modulus of elasticity of the LVL was 13.2 GPa and
the characteristic bending strength was 48 MPa. The
material property values of LVL are supplied by the
manufacturer (Carter Holt Harvey).
A short term static test was done to determine the
modulus of elasticity of the LVL according toAS/NZS
4357:2:2006 and the results are given in Table 2 and
Table 3.
2.2 Connectors
Two different types of shear connector configura-
tions were used in the beams. Normal (Type 17)
Table 4. Type of connector and slip modulus .
Slip modulus Characteristic strength
Type of K
sls
Q
k
connector N/mm kN
B_NS 45,000 10.9
B_4N 95,400 59.5
K
sls
=slip modulus at serviceability limit state
Figure 2. Geometry of shear connector triangular notch
with coach screw.
wood screws at 500 mm spacing were used as shear
connector in the first beam (B-NS). For beam B-4N,
four triangular notch with minimum600 mmand max-
imum 1700 mm spacing between notches were used.
The slip modulus for each type of connector obtained
from the push out test on specimens (AS1649-2001)
with similar shear connectors are also summarised in
Table 4. The geometry of the triangular notch used is
shown in Figure 2.
2.3 Specimen conditioning
After 200 days of the concrete pouring, theTCCbeams
were subjected to long-term test. During the test, the
mid-span deflection, moisture content of the timber
beams and relative humidity of the air are continu-
ously monitored. The beams were loaded with equally
spaced lead bars which were arranged such that the
bars apply a uniformly distributed load of 1.05kN/m
(or 1.7 kPa). The load level is such that no plastic-
ity in any material was expected to occur immediately
after the loads have been applied. The quasi-permanent
loads applied on each beam is about 28% and 18% of
their ultimate load, respectively for B_NS and B_4N
as shown in Table 5. Immediately after the applica-
tion of the load, the instantaneous mid-span deflection
recorded was 8.24 mm and 4.67 mm for beams B_NS
and B_4N, respectively. Beam with the normal screw
deflected approximately twice the beam with notch
connection.
The specimens were exposed to extreme mois-
ture conditions for 500 days and the maximum creep
deflections reached by the beams were 70 mm for
B_NS and 50 mm for B_4N and this resulted in a
relative creep of 8 and 6, respectively. The fog-room
variation in air humidity and the equivalent moisture
content (EMC) of the LVL is shown in Figure 3.
74
Table 5. Midspan moment due to quasi-permanent loads on
TCC beams.
P
q
P
tot
BM
Pq
BM
Ptot
Specimen kN kN kN-m kN-m %
B_NS 6.3 22.8 6.1 22.0 27.6
B_4N 6.3 34.3 6.1 33.2 18.4
P
q
=equivalent total load as quasi-permanent load
P
tot
=total failure load
BM=Midspan bending moment
Figure 3. Variation of air humidity and timber moisture
content where the beams conditioned.
3 TEST DESCRIPTION
3.1 Four-point bending test
After the beams were conditioned for 500 days, they
were subjected to a four point bending test. The test
procedure followed was according to AS/NZS 4063.
Each beam was loaded and unloaded three times and
finally loaded to failure. During this test the following
measurements were taken;
mid-span deflection
deflection at third point beneath the two load points,
relative slip between concrete flange and timber
web over the supports
mid-span timber strains at the bottom, at 20 mm
from bottom fiber, at middle and 24 mm from
bottom fiber using strain gauges;
mid-span concrete strains at the upper and lower
fibers
The test set up and instrumentation used are shown
in Figures 4 and 5.
4 TEST RESULTS
4.1 Serviceability test
A four point bending test was conducted on the beams
to determine their stiffness, the apparent bending stiff-
ness EI
f
, and the true EI (shear corrected) are given
in Table 6 below, the values are calculated according
Figure 4. Strain gauge positions for final short term test.
Figure 5. Test set up and defection reading instrumentation
for final short term test.
Table 6. TCCbeams bendingstiffness before long-termtest.
Stiffness EI
f
EI EI
Specimen kN/m Nmm

2
Nmm
2
Nmm
2
B_NS 802 2.78E12 3.54E12 4.0E12
B_4N 1177 4.08E12 3.76E12 4.43E12
Table 7. TCC beams bending stiffness after long-term test.
Stiffness EI
f
EI EI
Specimen kN/m Nmm

2
Nmm
2
Nmm
2
B_NS 377 1.31E12 0.86E12
B_4N 941 3.26E12 3.26E12
to formulas given in Table X2.1 in ASTM D198-
09.While the theoretical EI values of the TCC beams
were obtained using gamma method which uses the
effective bending stiffness proposed in Annex B of
Euro code 5. This method uses the mean values of
material stiffness and slip modulus of connections.
The creep coefficients for the beams were obtained
from the experimental results (conditioning of the
specimens), however, there is no long-term exper-
imental investigation done on creep coefficient of
connection and hence the theoretical values of EI after
conditioning of the specimens are not given inTable 7.
The strain distribution across the beam was moni-
tored using nine strain gauges placed at the mid-span
as shown in Figure 4. The strain distribution at two load
levels during the tests before and after the long-term
test is given in Figures 6 and 7, respectively. It can be
seen fromthe graphs that both the concrete and timber
are under compression stress in their upper fibers and
tensile stress in their lower fiber; hence the beams have
a flexible connection. The graphs also illustrate that the
strain increased significantly for the same load level
before and after the long-term test on timber while
75
Figure 6. Strain distributions along the section for B_NS.
very little increase in strain in concrete can be seen.
This indicates that the loss of stiffness and strength is
more to do with the timber and the connection rather
that the concrete.
4.2 Ultimate test
The two beams subjected to creep tests were subse-
quently loaded to failure using four-point bending test.
Both the beams failed due to failure of timber in ten-
sion i.e. the flexural tension limit being exceeded at
the bottomportion of the beam(LVL). Such failure has
also been reported in the tests done by van der Linden
(1999). Figure 8illustrates loadversus midspandeflec-
tion plot for both the beams and the ultimate stiffness
of the beams are given in Table 8.
4.3 Composite efficiency
The interconnection of timber beam web member
with an upper concrete flange produces a degree of
composite action. Two extreme limits of composite
actions can be identified (i) a lower limit, termed as
no composite action and (ii) an upper limit, termed
as fully composite action with complete shear force
transfer between the two layers, no interlayer slip and a
small deflection. The flexural behavior of a real com-
posite system is usually intermediate between these
two limits, and termed as partial composite action
Figure 7. Strain distributions along the section for B_4N.
Table 8. Ultimate stiffness TCC beams.
Failure Midspan
load deflection Stiffness
Specimen kN mm kN/m
B_NS 22.8 98.7 231
B_4N 34.2 47.8 706
Yeoh (2011), where the amount of interlayer slip and
deflection in the composite beam are significantly
affected by the strength and stiffness of the interlayer
connection system. The percentage efficiency of the
composite beams can be quantified using equation 1
(Pault and Gutkowski 1977).
=
(D
n
D
i
)
(D
n
D
c
)
100 (1)
where =composite efficiency; D
C
is the theoretical
fully composite deflection (calculated by the trans-
formed section method; upper limit), D
n
is the theo-
retical fully non-composite deflection (calculated as a
two layered without shear transfer; lower limit), and D
i
is the measured deflection for incomplete composite
action of the beam.
The initial composite efficiency of the beams
obtained from the serviceability tests done before the
long-term test is shown in Figures 9 and 10. Beam
with normal screw as a connector achieved 50% while
76
Figure 8. Total load (2P) versus midspan deflection at
ultimate stress for B_NS and B_4N.
Table 9. Composite efficiency TCC beams.
Specimen Composite efficiency (%)
Before LT
B_NS 51
B_4N 80
Figure 9. Total load (2P) versus mid-span deflection before
and after long-term test and composite efficiency for B_NS.
beam with a four notch as a connector has achieved
a composite efficiency of 80%. The material proper-
ties, the modulus of elasticity of timber and concrete
were taken from those tests results conducted before
the long-term test.
5 DISCUSSIONS
5.1 Residual stiffness and strength
The test results show that the TCC beams experienced
some loss of stiffness as a result of the long-term test.
Figure 10. Total load (2P) versus mid-span deflection and
composite efficiency for B_4N.
Table 10. Percentage loss in bending stiffness in TCC
beams.
EI
f
(Nmm
2
)
Specimen Before LT After LT %
B_NS 2.78E12 1.31E12 52.9
B_4N 4.08E12 3.26E12 20.0
LT=Long-term test (conditioning)
Table 11. LVL, Stiffness, apparent E
f
and true E after long-
term test.
Stiffness E
f
E
Specimen (kN/m) (MPa) (MPa)
LVL_B_NS 520 13125 13686
LVL_B_4N 473 12158 12854
Table 12. Percentage loss in apparent MoE in LVL.
E
f
(MPa)
Specimen Before LT After LT %
LVL_B_NS 12402 13125
LVL_B_4N 13153 12158 7.5
LT=Long-term test
Beam B_NS exhibited a 60% lower stiffness whilst
beam B_4N lost 23% of stiffness (Table 10). However
the loss in stiffness of the LVLbeams based on material
tests (Table 11 and 12) on the LVL only is much less
(7.5%) compared to the overall stiffness loss observed
in the TCC beams.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The four-point bending test conducted on two TCC
beams before and after an extended exposure to an
77
environment equivalent to Service Class 3, as per Euro
code 5, provided valuable information to understand
the behavioural response of TCCto serviceability. Sig-
nificant deflections were observed in the specimens
during the long-term tests, some of which was not
recovered after removal of the load.
Loss of stiffness and strength was also observed. As
a consequence of the long-term testing, both beams
experienced some reduction in their bending stiffness
to a magnitude of up to 52.9%. This loss is related to
losses in stiffness and strength in the concrete, timber
and/or connector.
The bending test conducted on the LVLcut fromthe
beams indicateda loss instiffness of only7.5%. Hence,
the loss in strength and stiffness observed in the TCC
beams is also governed by loss of stiffness and strength
in the connectors and to some extent in the concrete.
The loss in stiffness for connection is arguably demon-
strated by the loss of composite action observed for
both the beams. On the other hand, the strain value
takenonthe concrete member (Figures 6&7) indicates
that the concrete has not been significantly affected.
The literature lacks information about experimen-
tal investigation about possible loss of stiffness and
strength of concrete materials and connections. This
makes it difficult to reach a clear conclusion.
Future work will address issues such understanding
the long-term behaviour of concrete and their effect
on TCC responses. An experimental investigation on
effect of creep loading on slip modulus of normal
screw is also recommended. Further work includes
modelling the long-term behaviour and establishing
a reliable design procedure.
REFERENCES
Dias, A.M.P.G. 2005. Mechanical behavior of timber-
concrete joints. PhD Thesis, University of Coimbra,
Portugal.
Pham, V.L. and Gerber, C.2010. Testing analyses and dis-
cussion for TCC beams. Final report, University of
Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Yeoh, D. Fragiacomo, M. Deam, B. 2011. Experimental
behaviors of LVL-concrete composite floors at strength
limit state., Engineering Structures: 33, 26972707.
Van der Linden, M. 1999. Timber-concrete composite floor
systems.Technische Universiteit Delft.
Pault, J. and Gutkowski, R. 1977. Composite action in
Glulam Timber bridge system, Structural report No.17B,
Civil Engineering Department,
American Society for Testing and Materials Standard Test
Methods of Static Tests of Lumber in Structural sizes
(ASTM D: 198-09).
CEN Comite Europeen de Normalisation (2004) Euro code
5 Design of timber structures part 1-1: General rules and
rules for buildings. Brussels, Belgium.
Fragiacomo, M, Gutkowski, M., Balogh, J. & Fast RS, 2007.
Long term behavior of wood concrete composite deck
systems with shear key connection detail Struct Eng.
133(9):13071315
Etournaud, P. 2000. Laboratory tests of composite wood-
concrete beam and floor specimens.
Ceccotti, A., Fragiacomo, M. and Giordano, S. 2006. Long
term and collapse tests on a timber concrete composite
beam with glued in connection. Materials and Structures:
40(1):1525.
Fragiacomo, M., Amadio, C. and Macorini, L. 2007. Short-
and Long term performance of the Tecnaria stud con-
nector for timber concrete composite beams. Materials
and Structures: RILEM 40(10): 13.
Ceccotti, A 1995. Timber concrete composite structure,
Timber Engineering, step 2, 1st edn. (Centrum Hout, The
Netherlands) E13/1E13/12.
78
Effect of boundary conditions on the creep response of sandwich beams
with a viscoelastic soft core
Ehab Hamed & Maziar Ramezani
ABSTRACT: Polymer foam cored sandwich beams are widely used in load-bearing components due to their
high strength to weight ratio. To improve the reliability in using sandwich beams, it is essential to understand their
long-term creep response in terms of variation of stresses and deformations with time under sustained loading.
This paper presents a theoretical modeling of the creep response of sandwich beams made with a viscoelastic core
and composite or metallic laminates. The model takes into account the effects of different boundary conditions
and the viscoelasticity of the core material. A parametric study is carried out to examine the capability of the
model and to investigate the effect of different boundary conditions on the creep behavior of sandwich beams.
The results show the concentrations of shear and transverse normal stresses near the edges and their variation in
time, and more importantly, show that the boundary conditions play very important role in the creep response
of sandwich beams. The variations of deflection, internal forces, and stresses with time reveal different trends
that strongly depend on the boundary conditions of the beam.
1 INTRODUCTION
Sandwich beams made of thin and stiff skins, con-
nected by a thick and soft core are widely used in
load-bearing components in space crafts, aircraft, and
naval structures because they can provide high strength
and stiffness without significantly adding weight and
cost. More recently, lightweight sandwich panels are
being used in civil engineering applications as walls,
curved roofs, bridge decks and others. In such applica-
tions, the long-term creep response is very important
and it can influence the failure mode and the residual
strength of sandwich panels. This paper focuses on the
creep response of sandwich beams as in many appli-
cations the core can be made from polymer foam that
creeps under room temperature.
Among the physical aspects that make the creep
analysis of viscoelastic sandwich beams a challeng-
ing task are the deformability of the core in shear and
though its thickness especially in soft cores, which
result in stress concentrations mainly near edges or
concentrated loads. These stresses play a critical role
in the response of the sandwich structure, and, in many
cases, govern its failure mechanism by debonding or
delaminations. The viscoelasticity of the core material
may modify the distributions and the magnitudes of
these stresses, as well as those of the deflections and
stress resultants (Kim et al. 2011). In addition, many
of the face sheets that are used in sandwich beams
are made of fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) laminates,
which may also exhibit some level of viscoelastic
behaviour provided by the matrix, the fibres, or both.
To account for these aspects, a detailed step-by-step
time analysis along with a layered modeling of the
structure are needed.
Limited work has been done to understand the creep
performance of sandwich beams. Davies (2001) high-
lighted the importance of considering the creep in
lightweight sandwich construction, and presented sim-
plified models for their creep analysis, which are based
on the straightforward effective modulus approach that
models the creep of initial loading but does not take
intoaccount the creepeffects of the stress variationhis-
tory. Huang and Gibson (1990) combined a model for
foam creep with the standard analysis of beam deflec-
tion to develop an expression for the creep of a sand-
wich beamwith a polymer foamcore. The results were
compared with data from a series of tests on sandwich
beams with aluminum faces and rigid polyurethane
foamcores. Shenoi et al. (1997) proposed a theoretical
model to identify the long-term effects such as steady
state creep, cyclic creep, and creepfatigue interaction
for a typical sandwich structure incorporating FRP
faces and a PVC (polyvinyl chloride) foam core. For
the creep modeling, a Burger model and a power law
model were investigated and compared with experi-
mental results. Chen et al. (2002) numerically inves-
tigated the creep response of metallic foam sandwich
beams made with steel faces in 3-point bending. The
power creep constitutive law was implemented within
the commercial finite element code ABAQUS. Kesler
et al. (2003) measured the steady state creep deflection
rates of sandwich beams with metallic foam cores and
compared the results with analytical predictions.
79
Figure 1. Geometry, loads, sign conventions, and stress
resultants: (a) geometry and loads; (b) deformations and
coordinate system; (c) stresses and stress resultant.
Due to the use of simplified equivalent beam mod-
els, the results of the above papers do not shed light
on the interfacial stresses distribution and their con-
centration near the edges and irregular points. In this
paper, a theoretical model for the viscoelastic creep
analysis of sandwich beams made of visocelastic core
is presented. The analytical model accounts for the
variation of stresses in time through an incremental
step-by-step analysis, and accounts for the deformabil-
ity of the core layer in shear and through its thickness.
The theoretical approach combines the concepts of the
linear Boltzmans principle of superposition (see Find-
ley et al., 1976) with the concepts of the high-order
sandwich theory (Frostig et al., 1992) as shown in
the subsequent. The incremental governing differen-
tial equations and the boundary conditions are derived
through the variational principle of virtual work.
2 MATHEMATICAL FORMULATION
The mathematical model follows the model devel-
oped in Hamed and Bradford (2010) for the creep
analysis of reinforcedconcrete beams that are strength-
ened with composite materials, which were modeled
using the high order sandwich theory. An application
of the model into sandwich beams was first imple-
mented in Hamed (2010), but without investigating
and highlighting the effect of the boundary conditions.
The sign conventions for the coordinates, displace-
ments, loads, stresses, and stress resultants appear in
Fig. 1. The composite face sheets are modelled using
the lamination theory with first order shear deforma-
tions, and the core is modelled as two dimensional
viscoelastic continuum with shear and vertical nor-
mal rigidities, while its in-plane longitudinal rigidity
is neglected with respect to that of the faces. The
assembly of the structural components into the whole
structure is achieved through equilibrium, compatibil-
ity and continuity requirements. For each component,
it is assumed that the stress and deformation fields
are uniform through the width, while the time of con-
cern t is subdivided into n
t
discrete time intervals with
t
r
=t
r
t
r1
(r =1, ..., n
t
).
Boltzmanns principle of superposition is adopted
for describing the time-dependent stress-strain rela-
tions of the materials. It is given by the following
history integral-type:
where R
c
n
(t, t
) and R
c
s
(t, t
) are the normal and shear

relaxation functions or relaxation moduli of the core
material, which represent the stress at time t caused
by a unit constant strain imposed at time t
;
c
zz
and
c
zz
are the normal stress and strain of the core;
c
xz
and
c
xz
are the shear stresses and shear strains. How-
ever, because this creep law requires the storage of
the complete strain histories, a differential-type form
of Boltzmanns principle is adopted here (see Bazant
and Wu, 1974), along with its incremental form where
the time of concern t is subdivided into n
t
discrete
times with t
r
=t
r
t
r1
(r =1, ..., n
t
). For this, the
relaxation functions are expanded into Dirichlet series,
and the differential-type constitutive relations lead to
a generalized Maxwell model, as follows:
where E
c
and G
c
are the moduli of the th Hookean

spring in the Maxwell chain for the modeling in the
normal and shear directions of the core, respectively,
m
cn
and m
cs
are the number of units in each direction,
T
cn
and T
cs
are the relaxation times of the th unit

in each direction, and E
c
and G
c
are the moduli of

the m
cn
+1 and m
cs
+1 springs that are not coupled
to any dashpot. The incremental constitutive relations
are based on a trapezoidal numerical integration and
take the following form:
where
80
where the time of concern t is subdivided into n
t
dis-
crete times with t
r
=t
r
t
r1
(r =1, ..., n
t
). After the
solution at time t
r
is achieved, the stresses at each unit
are determined as follows:
For brevity, only the final incremental governing equa-
tions are presented here and the reader is referred
to Hamed (2010) and Hamed and Bradford (2010)
for the full derivation of the model. In addition, the
formulation focuses on unidirectional and single-ply
laminates. The incremental governing equations are
derived using the equilibrium equations, the constitu-
tive relations, the stress and deformation fields of the
core, and the compatibility condition of the longitu-
dinal deformations at the lower core interface. They
are stated in terms of the unknown deformations and
rotations, (w
t
, w
b
, u
ot
, u
ob
,
t
,
b
), and the unknown
shear stress
c
(x, z) =
c
), assuming elastic face sheets
as follows:
where
c
is the shear stress in the core; b is the width
of the sandwich beam; q
z
, n
x
, m
y
are distributed ver-
tical loads, distributed axial loads, and distributed
bending moments; w
i
, u
oi
,
i
(i =t, b) are vertical
deflections, in-plane deformations, and rotation of the
cross-sections of the upper and lower skins, respec-
tively; ()
,x
denotes differentiation with respect to x;
h
i
(i =t, b, c) is the thickness of the upper and the
lower face sheets and the core, respectively;
c
,
c
are
the incremental normal creep strain and incremental
engineering shear creep strain in the core;
i
(i =t, b)
is the shear correction factor; E
i
, G
i
, A
i
, I
i
(i =t, b)
are the elastic modulus, the shear modulus, the cross-
section area and the geometrical moment of inertia of
the upper and lower sheets, respectively; and E
c
, G
c
are the pseudo normal and shear moduli of the core.
Note that the order of the incremental governing
equations is 14 which requires 7 boundary conditions
at each end. The boundary conditions for the skins
(i =t, b) and the core are as follows:
noindent where N
i
xx
and M
i
xx
(i =t, b) are the resul-
tant axial forces and bending moments in the skins,
respectively; N
k
, P
k
, M
k
are the external concen-
trated longitudinal and vertical loads and the moments,
respectively, that are applied to the upper and lower
skins at the edges (i.e., x =0, L); u
oi
, w
i
,

i
are pre-
scribed deformations and rotations at the boundaries;
=1 for x =L; =1 for x =0; =1 for the top
skin; =0 for the bottom skin; and w
c
is a prescribed
deformation field through the height of the core.
3 NUMERICAL STUDY
The geometry, elastic material properties, and loading
of the investigatedsandwichbeamappear inFig. 2. The
properties of the polyurethane foamcore followHuang
and Gibson (1991) for a foamdensity of 32 kg/m
3
. The
face sheets are unidirectional FRP laminates that are
based on carbon fibres (CFRP) with elastic modulus
of 160 GPa and a shear modulus of 8 GPa. Four cases
with different boundary conditions are studied here as
shown in Figure 2. In all cases, the beam is loaded
with a distributed pressure of 0.5 N/mm applied at the
upper skin.
The deflection of the upper face sheet under instan-
taneous loading (i.e. t =0) is shown in Figure 3 for the
different boundary conditions. The upper and lower
skins show almost the same trend and hence only the
upper deflection is shown in Figure 3. As expected,
the deflection in case 3 where only the lower skin is
supported is the maximumone. The instantaneous dis-
tribution of the axial force at the upper sheet is also
81
Figure 2. Geometry, material properties, and loading.
Figure 3. Deflection of the upper sheet through the length
of the beam under instantaneous loading.
described in Figure 4 for the four cases. It shows that
the maximum values occur in cases 3 and 4 where the
deflections are maximum.
The behavior of soft core, that is transversely flexi-
ble, is usually associated with a concentration of shear
and transverse normal (peeling) stresses between the
skins and the core. These stresses may lead to pre-
mature failure at load levels much lower than the
predicted failure load determined using classical sand-
wich theories. The high-order effects induced in the
structure are especially pronounced at the edges and
Figure 4. Axial force at the upper sheet under instantaneous
loading.
Figure 5. Shear stress in the core under instantaneous
loading.
are always associated with stress concentrations at lev-
els that may exceed the allowable stresses of the core
material and may initiate debonding and delamination
failures (Frostig, 1997). These effects are investigated
in Figures 5 and 6, which show the distributions of the
shear stress and the vertical normal stress at the upper
interface of the core that develop under instantaneous
loading. The distributions reveal the shear and trans-
verse normal stress concentrations near the edges and
the variation of the stresses for different cases. Here, it
can be seen that the maximumshear stress at the edges
of the beamdevelops in case 4. Apart fromthe vicinity
of the edges, the normal stresses at the upper interface
are nearly the same for the four cases. However, the
results in the support vicinity are quite different and
the maximumedge normal stress occurs in case 3, pri-
marily because the upper skin and the core are not
supported.
The time variations of the peak deflection, axial
force, bending moment, and interfacial tresses at the
core appear in Figures 711. The results are normal-
ized with respect to the instantaneous response. The
results show an increase with time in the vertical
deflection that is associated with a decrease in the axial
force at the upper face sheet. The deflection after 60
days is almost double the instantaneous deflection in
82
Figure 6. Vertical normal stress at the core and the upper
skin interface under instantaneous loading.
Figure 7. Normalized peak vertical deflection of the upper
face sheet.
Figure 8. Normalized axial force at the upper face sheet.
cases 3 and 4, while it is about 40% greater than the
instantaneous one in cases 1 and 2.
It can be seen fromFigure 8 that in cases 3 and 4, the
decrease in the axial force is much smaller compared
to cases 1 and 2. The peak axial force decreases by only
15%of the instantaneous value for cases 3 and 4, while
the decrease for case 1withthe clampedboundarycon-
ditions is about 40%. The decrease in the axial force
is owned to the fact that the viscoelastic core tends to
Figure 9. Normalized shear stress at the core.
Figure 10. Normalized bending moment at the upper face
sheet.
Figure 11. Normalized vertical normal stress at the core and
the upper skin interface at the left edge.
release the shear stresses at the interfaces as shown in
Figure 9. Thus, the sandwich beam gradually loses its
ability to resist loads through composite action of the
face sheets and the core which leads to an increase in
the local bending moments at the face sheets. As can
be seen in Figure 10, the bending moment in the upper
face sheet for cases 3 and 4 increases significantly,
which may lead to local bending failure.
83
The time variation of the vertical normal stresses at
the edges is different fromthe shear stress and it shows
an increase with time in cases 2 and 3 (see Figure
11). This is mainly due to the redistribution of stresses
and an increase in the shear gradients at the edges.
This observation indicates that the use of viscoelastic
cores may not necessarily decrease the vulnerability
to debonding failures as these depend not only on the
shear stresses but also on the vertical normal stresses
as well.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The analysis that has been presented in this paper
investigates the influence of boundary conditions on
the creep response of sandwich beams with a soft
core. Four boundary conditions have been considered.
It has been shown that the variation in time of the
deflection, internal forces, and stresses exhibit dif-
ferent trends, and hence, a detailed creep analysis
is required to describe the creep response of sand-
wich beams. Depending on the boundary conditions,
the deflection after 60 days in the specific example
demonstrated here is about 40%100% greater than
the instantaneous one. The peak axial force decreases
by only 15%40% for different boundary conditions.
Thus, the magnification/relaxation of the deforma-
tions and stresses strongly depend on the boundary
conditions, and therefore, a careful attention should be
drawn when approximate beam analysis and effective
modulus approaches are used for the creep analysis of
sandwich beams.
REFERENCES
Bazant, Z.P., Wu, S.T. (1974) Rate-Type creep law of aging
concrete based on maxwell chain. Materials and Struc-
tures, 7 (1), 4560.
Chen, C., Fleck, N.A., Ashby, M.F. (2002) Creep response
of sandwich beams with a metallic foam core. Advanced
Engineering Materials, 4 (10), 777780.
Davies, J.M. (2001) Lightweight Sandwich Construction,
Blackwell Science, Oxford.
Findley, W.N., Lai, J.S., Onran, K. (1976) Creep and
Relaxation of Nonlinear Viscoelastic Materials (with an
Introduction to Linear Viscoelasticity). North-Holland
Publishing Company, Amsterdam.
Frostig, Y., Baruch, M., Vilanay, O., Sheinman, I. (1992)
High-order theory for sandwich beambehavior with trans-
versely flexible core. Journal of Engineering Mechanics,
118 (5), 10261043.
Frostig, Y. (1997) Hygothermal (environmental) effects in
high-order bendingof sandwichbeams witha flexible core
and a discontinuous skin. Composite Structures 37 (2),
205221.
Hamed, E. (2010) Creep response of sandwich beams
with a viscoelastic core and composite laminates. 14th
European conference on composite materials, Paper ID:
645-ECCM14, 710 June 2010, Budapest, Hungary.
Hamed, E., Bradford, M.A. (2010) Creep in concrete beams
strengthened with composite materials. European Journal
of Mechanics, A/Solids 29 (5), 951965.
Huang, J.S., Gibson, L.J. (1990) Creep of sandwich beams
with polymer foam cores. Journal of Materials in Civil
Engineering, 2 (2), 171182.
Huang, J.S., Gibson, L.J. (1991) Creep of polymer foams.
Journal of Materials Science, 26 (3), 637647.
Kesler, O., Crews, L.K., Gibson, L.J. (2003) Creep of sand-
wich beams with metallic foam cores. Materials Science
and Engineering, A341 (12), 264272.
Kim, J.S., Arronche, L., Farrugia, A., Muliana, A., La
Saponara, V. (2011) Multi-scale modeling of time-
dependent response of smart sandwich constructions.
Composite Structures 93 (9), 21962207.
Shenoi, R.A., Allen, H.G., Clark, S.D. (1997) Cyclic creep
and creep fatigue interaction in sandwich beam. Journal
of Strain Analysis for Engineering Design 32 (1), 118.
84
A review of FRP composite truss systems and its connections
R.M. Hizam, A.C. Manalo & W. Karunasena
University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia
ABSTRACT: This paper presents an overviewof the recent developments and initiatives on FRP trusses, which
has been evolving and has become a viable construction system in civil infrastructure. The paper also discusses
the different jointing systems used to assemble FRP components with the aim of determining the appropriate
and reliable jointing connections for fibre composites trusses. The different parameters that affect the integrity
of connections such as loading condition, material preparation (stacking sequence, volume fraction, etc.), joint
configuration, joint geometry, and fastening method will be evaluated. It is anticipated that by addressing these
connection issues, it will minimise some ambiguities and provide an understanding to designers and engineers
on the potential of fibre composites trusses and advance its application in civil engineering infrastructures.
1 INTRODUCTION
Trusses are structural frames formed fromone or more
triangles. Each straight slender member of a truss,
which theoretically carries only axial tension or axial
compression, is connected at the joints. The joints are
assumed to be frictionless hinges or pins that allow
the ends of the members to rotate slightly thus, cre-
ating a stable shape or configuration. Trusses offer
many advantages over solid web members especially
on material and weight ratio which made trusses one of
the prominent structural forms in the 19th century. It
can also provide stiffness to a structure, support heavy
loads over long spans and fast installation. Trusses are
commonly used for bridges, towers, roofing in houses
and have been acknowledged as one of the important
types of loadbearingcomponent incivil infrastructure.
An example of a truss system is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Steel trusses in communication tower.
The introduction of fibre reinforced polymers
(FRP) or also known as advanced polymer compos-
ites in civil and structural field in the late 1970s had
been a turning point in the application of compos-
ite trusses in adverse environments and conditions
(Hollaway 2010). FRP is a composite material which
is formed by the combination of two or more dis-
tinct materials, more specifically fibres and its binding
matrix. This combination produces a material with
enhanced properties and attractive attributes for appli-
cation in civil structures. The fibres provide most
of the stiffness and strength, and the matrix binds
the fibres together, transfers load between fibres and
between the composite and the external loads and
supports. FRP exhibits high resistance to aggressive
environment which contributes to lower life cycle cost,
produce more lightweight structure and quick instal-
lation time (Keller 2001). However, the high initial
cost and lack of engineering standards in designing
FRP have become a challenge for this material to
achieve more widespread acceptance against conven-
tional materials. Engineers must rely on other sources
of information and employ more rigorous design pro-
grams, usually involving testing, to ensure all design
parameters and technical concerns are in satisfactory
level (Vikrant 2002).
FRP pultruded members shown in Figure 2, pro-
duced mainly from glass fibre reinforced polyesters,
are becoming a popular choice among other composite
fabrication processes (molding or filament winding)
for girder elements (David 1986). By continuous man-
ufacturing process namely pultrusion, the pultruded
members can have uniformity of cross-sections similar
to steel and the fibers are oriented predominantly uni-
axially (Keller 2001). In recent years, pultruded FRP
members have been used as structural members in roof
85
Figure 2. Various shapes and dimensions of Strongwell FRP
Pultruded.
Figure 3. Snap joint concept by Goldsworthy &Hiel (1998).
and bridge trusses. These truss systems are suitable
components to be constructed using FRP as the low
material usage in their production may address the cost
disparities between traditional and fibre composite
structures.
2 RECENT FRP TRUSS SYSTEM
One of the remarkable developments in the jointing
systemof FRP truss were produced by Goldsworthy &
Hiel (1998) when they introduced the award winning
snap joint concept for overhead transmission lines
(Fig. 3). While the joint design is quite simple, it is
capable to distribute stresses over a wide area and had
been successfully implemented in the construction of
threeTransmissionTower Structures near LosAngeles,
USA. It has since, attracted the attention of other
researchers to involve in the study and investigation
on FRP truss system followed by the introduction of
the Monocoque Fibre Composite (MFC) truss con-
cept (Humpherys et al. 1999). They used double skins
concept whereby the skins are separated by a core
material. However, the MFC truss concept was not
reliable in lapping joints and improvement had been
made by introducing the concept of strength and fill
layers. Bradford et al. (2001) had contributed their
masterpiece for emergency shelters and bridge decks
by developing a modular composite truss panel con-
cept. The modular panel was optimized by integrating
Figure 4. The all FRP composite Pontresina bridge (Keller
et al. 2007).
the connection within the panel. Investigation on FRP
truss continues when (Keller et al. 2007), carried out
long term performance study of a Glass FRP truss
bridge built in1997. The all-FRPcomposite Pontresina
pedestrian bridge (Fig. 4) which main truss girders
were connected by mechanically fastened and adhe-
sive bonded had been tested under temperature 20
C
to 25
C and structural safety, serviceability and dura-

bility were assessed after eight (8) years in service. In
2005, it was found that the bridge stiffness remains
unchanged and the durability was mainly affected by
inappropriate construction detailing.
Further concern on feasibility of repairing fibre
damages on FRP members was highlighted by the
authors (Keller et al. 2007). Investigation of a FRP
truss in a military modular shelter system was car-
ried out by Omar et al. (2007) at the University of
Southern Queensland in Toowoomba. The deploy-
able shelter concept required light-weight components
to facilitate deployment and assembly without using
heavy equipment. The main frames were constructed
from modular fibre composite panels to fulfill the
lightweight requirement and stressed in position by
prestressing cables. One of the further research work
suggested by the authors is to explore innovative joint
systems due to the changing nature of the structure
which affects its capacity and behaviour.
Experimental tests on Glass FRP (GFRP) truss
modules for dismountable bridge were investigated by
(Pfeil et al. 2009). The authors adopted a bearing con-
nection instead of bolting or adhesive bonded. This
concept required the pre-stressing steel tendons to be
inserted into tubular fibre sections to prevent tension
forces during bridge service life. In order to achieve a
higher failure load, the target of failure mechanismwas
designed to occur at the central region where fibers are
continuous. Thus, the reinforcement using hand lay-up
technique at tubular end section of the truss mem-
bers had successfully increased 69% of compressive
strength.
The above mentioned studies showed that fibre
composites truss has the high potential to revolu-
tionize the construction industry especially where the
lightweight, high-strength structures with high dura-
bility is needed. However, it was also evident that the
86
Table 1. Common failures mode in FRP bolting joint.
Failures modes Description
Net-Tension Failure occurs for small coupon widths
Develop for large widths if laminates
deficient in longitudinal reinforcement
(Vangrimde & Boukhili 2003)
Bearing Develop predominantly for combinations
of large widths, large end distance and
near quasi-isotropic lay-ups (Vangrimde &
Boukhili 2003)
Failure leads to an elongation of the hole
(Camanho & Matthews 1996)
Shear-out Failure occurs for coupon with small end
distance.
Deficient in off-axis reinforcement leads
the failure to occur in large end distance
Cleavage Failure occurs for coupon with inadequate
end distance (Camanho & Matthews 1996)
Develop for laminates that have low
off-axis reinforcement content
structural integrity of a FRP trusses largely depends
on the joining system used to connect the individual
components of a truss system. Thus, a reliable joint-
ing system should be determined in order to use fibre
composite trusses in practical applications.
3 JOINTING SYSTEM FOR FRP TRUSSES
A number of researches have been carried out on
FRP laminates focusing on the connections, which
is an integral part of any truss system. Mechanically
fastened joint (bolting) and adhesive bonded are the
two common types of jointing systems that have been
extensively used in structural joints. This area contin-
ues to draw attention of researchers due to the many
possibilities of failure modes, the complexity of stress
relieving mechanism and the complex nature of the
stress fields in the vicinity of the joint (Khashaba et al.
2006). The following paragraph discusses the advan-
tages and disadvantages of commonly used jointing
system for fibre composites.
3.1 Mechanically fastened joint
Connection is very important to ensure that the FRP
can perform within its full potential. Bolting connec-
tion is a common jointing system and it is preferable
due to low cost and ease of use. This type of con-
nection is relatively easy to assemble and is capable of
transferring the high loads. However for FRP material,
poor qualityof drillingtechniques andaccuracyof hole
size will affect the joint strength (Persson et al. 1997).
A number of researchers have identified the four (4)
common failures mode related with bolted connec-
tion in FRP materials. These are net-tension; bearing,
shear-out, and cleavage (refer Table 1 and Figure 5).
Figure 5. Failures mechanism of FRP mechanical
connector.
Figure 6. Example of open and closed section.
Bearing failure which is known as a process of
compressive damage accumulation is the most desired
form of failure. Bearing is the limiting factor for
strength of a FRP connection (Xiao &Ishikawa 2005).
The bearing strength in carbon fibre reinforced poly-
mer (CFRP) increased when plies of 45
until
approximately 75% of the total laminate thickness are
added to a 0
or 90
plies (Camanho & Matthews

1996).
Stacking sequence is found to have influenced on
joint strength as the bearing strength increased when
90
layer was placed at the surface. It was concluded

that the laminates produced lower bearing strengths
when less homogeneous stacking sequence is pre-
sented (Camanho & Matthews 1996). The effects of
tension direction relative to pultrusion direction on
single-bolt tension joint tests were investigated by
Turvey (1998). He observed that cracks propagated
across the plate width once the off-axis angle exceeds
30
. The load capacity of the joint increases as the

off-axis angle decreases and both end distance ratio
and width ratio increases (Turvey 1998). For the fabri-
cated glass fibre reinforced epoxy (GFRE) laminates,
the maximum bearing strength can be achieved with
bolted joint with 18 mm washer size and 15 Nm tight-
ening torque as it provides optimumlateral constrained
area and contact pressure (Khashaba et al. 2006). Fur-
ther research on column to beam connection using
pultruded GFRP of open (I-Beam) and closed (rect-
angular shapes) sections (Fig. 6) were experimentally
investigated.
Closed section (rectangular shapes) are generally
better than open section (I-shapes) for any material
87
Figure 7. Typical FRP bonded joints failure.
because of improved local flange buckling character-
istics, improved torsional rigidity, and improved weak
axis strength and stiffness.
The experimental results clearly showed that the
standard box sections produced 14% increase in joint
stiffness of entire frame compare to that of standard
I-Beam. It is noteworthy that ultimate strength of
the closed section was about 280% of the strength
of the open section (Smith et al. 1998). It was sug-
gested that closed section should be considered for
temporary bridges as inappropriate selection of open
section composite had caused undesirable local effects
and damages (Keller et al. 2007). One of the inter-
esting findings from finite element analysis done by
(Turvey &Wang 2008) had highlighted the uncertainty
onthe validityof the simplifiedmethodfor joint design
given in the EUROCOMP. They found that friction
between the bolt shank and the hole and the small
hole clearance are the principal factors of increasing
tension and caused significant changes in the stress
distributions at critical locations. In multi-bolts FRP
connection, the finite element analysis verified the
uneven distribution of shear forces among the bolts
when compared to steel connections of similar geom-
etry (Nahla et al. 1996). Recent findings show that
the distribution coefficient of shear forces are equal
to 36% for the external rows and to 28% for central
row (Ascione 2010). Structural performance of GFRP
pultruded bolted connection had been tested under
adverse environmental condition of ambient tempera-
ture, 60
C and 80
C. The specimens were also tested

under moisture effect into two water immersion peri-
ods of 6.5 weeks and 13 weeks. It was concluded
that, the period of immersion in water has caused
lesser reduction in the load capacity of pultruded
GFRP single bolt joints compared to temperature
effect (Turvey & Wang 2007).
3.2 Adhesive bonded joint
Bonded connection can provide excellent sealing
effect and there is no stress concentration presence
due to the bolt holes. On the other hand, this type of
connection requires curing time for bonding process
and has high material cost. The failure mode of adhe-
sive bonded FRP connection (Fig. 7) always occurs
in the adherends and never in the adhesives or in the
interface (Keller & Herbert 2004). Under quasi-static
axial tensile loading, the adhesively double bonded
stepped joint exhibited fibre tear-off failure mode
which occurred in a brittle and sudden mechanism.
Unstable crack propagation occurred at crack
lengths smaller than 20% of the overlap length
(Zhang &Keller 2008). There is only a small influence
of adhesive layer thickness on the stress distribution
while joint efficiency is constant with increasing over-
lap length (Keller & Valle 2005). Other researchers
(Lee et al. 2009) conducted an experimental investi-
gation to characterize the joint strengths, peel stresses
and failure modes in adhesively bonded double-strap
and supported single-lap GFRP joints. The bonded
joint strength was almost autonomous and increased
with overlap length (50%increase of joint strength was
observedwithoverlaplengthof 100 mmincomparison
with 50 mm length). An approximate adhesive layer
thickness between 0.2 mm and 0.5 mm maximizes
the joint strength of GFRP double-strap. Manalo &
Mutsuyoshi (2012) studied the behaviour of hybrid
FRPgirder with joints at midspan connected with bolts
alone and combination of bolts and epoxy adhesives.
They found out that the beam connected using bolts
and epoxy exhibited the same strength and stiffness
as the beam without joints while using bolts alone
resulted to a beam with only 65% of the stiffness of
those without joints. Furthermore, the use ofV-notched
splice plates and adhesive bonded were investigated
as one of the alternative ways to join the hybrid FRP
(HFRP) beam (Hai & Mutsuyoshi 2012).
The rough surface of V-notched splice plates
had contributed to excellent bonding strength. They
observed that V-notched splice plates and adhesive
bonded had improved the joint stiffness. In 2008, a
comparison study between plasticized adhesives and
brittle adhesives was conducted (de Castro & Keller
2008). They observed that the joint strength of duc-
tile joints with plasticized adhesive increases almost
proportionally with increasing overlap length.
Another recent research that is interesting to high-
light was the introductionof adherendcoatingwithlow
viscosity epoxy resin which produced high adhesion
outer adherend. This method led to 39% significant
strength improvement (Hashim 2009). On fatigue per-
formance test, FRP bonded connection did not fail
after 10 million fatigue cycles. Furthermore, increased
of stress ratio, has significantly increased the fatigue
crack growth (FCG) and the fatigue threshold curve
(Shahverdi et al. 2011).
4 DISCUSSION
Connection is the vital component in order to build or
construct a reliable andstrongFRPtruss system. While
the literature suggests that the combination of mechan-
ical and adhesives joints show promising results for
connecting FRP members, bolted connection alone is
still widely used for joining structural members in
civil infrastructure due to their ease of installation
and maintenance, and capability of transferring the
high loads. However, many researchers have focused
on investigating the application of bolted connections
using thin composite laminates. For civil applications
where thicker members are generally used, only a
number of researches have been conducted so far.
Because of this, substantial additional research and
88
development work in the area of bolted connections
for pultruded FRP profiles and whole composite truss
systemis requiredbefore this canbecome andeffective
and accepted method of joining FRP truss members.
The behaviour of FRP composite sections and
connection has been studied in some detail, but the sys-
tems behaviour of FRP composite trusses has received
limited interest from researchers around the world. In
a truss system, the behaviour of each FRP compos-
ite member is affected by its interaction to the other
members which contributes to the overall performance
of a structural assembly under service loads. In addi-
tion to that, one area of interest to be explored is the
influence of eccentricity at the vicinity of jointing area.
The effect of connection eccentricity on FRP members
must be considered in order to develop efficient joint-
ing system. Analytical and experimental investigation
to determine the structural behaviour of composite
truss systems made from pultruded FRP sections and
the behaviour of its joints/connections should be con-
ducted in order to have a detailed understanding on
how the loads are resisted, transferred, and distributed
to each component and to design them safely and eco-
nomically. When this is achieved, it is anticipated that
this effort will lead in the wider use and acceptance of
pultruded FRP composites in a truss system.
5 CONCLUSIONS
FRP composites have becoming an alternative choice
for the development of structural truss system. It takes
advantage of the unidirectional properties of fibre
composites as truss members are subjected only to
axial forces and effectively utilise its material strength.
The lightweight of FRP trusses also offer shorter
construction time and the high durability of compos-
ite materials resulted in a reduced maintenance cost.
The major drawback to utilise FRP composites in a
truss structure is the reliability of its joints. Many
researchers have carried out the investigation of bolt-
ing and bonded connection of FRP laminates, both
experimentally and numerically in order to determine
an effective connection method for composite mate-
rials. Fundamental investigation should therefore be
conducted in order to gain a detailed understanding
on the behaviour of pultruded FRP members with
bolted joints and on the whole FRP truss system
under extreme service loads and various environmen-
tal exposures in order to extend its application in civil
engineering.
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Material: Testing and Design(3rd Conference), ASTM
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Camanho, P.P.,Matthews, F.L. 1997. Stress analysis and
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FPR: a review. Composites Part A 28A, 529547.
David, H., Morton-Jones & John W. Ellis. 1986. Polymer
Products Design, Materials and Processing, London, New
York, Chapman and Hall
David Johnson, Todd Johnson, Weight and Strength Advan-
tages From Pultruded Fiber Architecture; Ebert Compos-
ites Corporation
David, J., Merkes. (1999). Investigation of a Connection Sys-
tem for a Pultruded GFRP Highway Guardrail System,
University of Wisconsin-Madison
de Castro, J., & Keller, T. 2008. Ductile double-lap joints
from brittle GFRP laminates and ductile adhesives, Part I:
Experimental investigation. Composites Part B: Engineer-
ing, 39(2), 271281.
Goldsworthy, W.B., & Hiel, C. 1998. Composite structures.
SAMPE Journal, 34, 2430.
Hai, N. D., & Mutsuyoshi, H. 2012. Structural behavior of
double-lap joints of steel splice plates bolted/bonded to
pultruded hybrid CFRP/GFRP laminates. Construction
and Building Materials, 30, 347359.
Hashim, S. A. 2009. Strength of resin-coated-adhesive-
bonded double lap-shear pultrusion joints at ambient
temperature. International Journal of Adhesion and
Adhesives, 29(3), 294301.
Hollaway, L. C. 2010. A review of the present and future
utilisation of FRP composites in the civil infrastruc-
ture with reference to their important in-service prop-
erties. Construction and Building Materials, 24(12),
24192445.
Humphreys, M. F., Erp, G. V., & Tranberg, C. H. 1999.
The structural behavior of monocoque FRP truss joints.
Advanced Composite Letters, 8(4), 173180.
Keller, T. 2001. Recent all-composite and hybrid fibre-
reinforced polymer bridges and buildings. Progress in
Structural Engineering and Materials, 3(2), 132140.
Keller, T., Bai, Y., & Valle, T. 2007. Long-Term Perfor-
mance of a Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Truss Bridge.
Journal of Composites for Construction, 11(1).
Keller, T., & Valle, T. 2005. Adhesively bonded lap joints
from pultruded GFRP profiles. Part I: stressstrain anal-
ysis and failure modes. Composites Part B: Engineering,
36(4), 331340.
Khashaba, U. A., Sallam, H. E. M., Al-Shorbagy, A. E., &
Seif, M. A. 2006. Effect of washer size and tightening
torque on the performance of bolted joints in composite
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Lee, H. K., Pyo, S. H., &Kim, B. R. 2009. On joint strengths,
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reinforced composite beams with mechanical joints.
Journal of Composite Materials, 0(0) 114.
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Finite element analysis of bolted connections for PFRP
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Omar, T., Van Erp, G., Aravinthan, T., and Key, P.W. 2007.
Innovative all composite multi pultrusion truss system
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Experimental tests on GFRP truss modules for dismount-
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Shahverdi, M., Vassilopoulos, A. P., & Keller, T. 2011.
Experimental investigation of R-ratio effects on fatigue
crack growth of adhesively-bonded pultruded GFRP DCB
joints under CA loading. Composites Part A: Applied
Science and Manufacturing.
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Experimental Study of the Behaviour of Connections for
Pultruded GFRP-I Beams and Rectangular Tubes. Uni-
versity of Wisconsin at Madison, Madison WI 53706,
USA.
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in pultruded GRP single-bolt tension joints and their
implications for joint design. Computers & Structures,
86(9), 10141021.
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Composite Science and Technology, 58, 13431351.
Turvey, G.J. 1998. Single-Bolt Tension Joint Tests on Pul-
truded GRP plate Effects of tension direction relative to
pultrusion direction. Engineering Department, Lancaster
University, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YR, UK.
Turvey, G.J., & Wang, P. 2007. Failure of pultruded GRP
single-bolt tension joints under hotwet conditions.
Composite Structures, 77(4), 514520.
Vangrimde, B., & Boukhili, R. 2003. Descriptive relation-
ships between bearing response and macroscopic damage
in GRP bolted joints. Composites Part B: Engineering,
34(7), 593605.
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near contact boundaries in a composite bolted joint.
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Xiao, Y., & Ishikawa, T. 2005. Bearing strength and failure
behavior of bolted composite joints (part I: Experimen-
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65(78), 10221031.
Zhang, Y., & Keller, T. 2008. Progressive failure process of
adhesively bonded joints composed of pultruded GFRP.
Composites Science and Technology, 68(2), 461470.
90
Post-critical behaviour of sandwich cylindrical shells with
variable thickness
P. Jasion & K. Magnucki
Institute of Applied Mechanics, Poznan University of Technology Poznan, Poland
ABSTRACT: In the work the post-critical analysis of sandwich cylindrical shells with variable thickness is
presented. The shells consist of two faces of a constant thickness the outer face is a cylindrical shell, the inner
one is a shell of revolution with positive or negative Gaussian curvature. As a result the thickness of the core varies
along the length of the shell. The shell is loaded with uniform external pressure. The axial force coming from
the closures of the shell is included. The results of the analyses are presented in the form of equilibrium paths
showing the post-critical behaviour. Additionally the dependency between the bucking load and the curvature of
the inner face is shown. The obtained results point out the possibility of stabilisation of an equilibrium path for a
sandwich cylindrical shell by introducing meridional curvature to the inner face. At the same time the buckling
load can be increased.
1 INTRODUCTION
The theoretical analysis of the behaviour of the struc-
tures in the post-critical region is an important and
difficult task. A correct prediction of that behaviour
may give some important indications to the designer
and consequently may prevent from catastrophic fail-
ure of the structure. But unfortunately the behaviour of
the structure after the critical load is exceeded depends
strongly on many practical aspects like the symmetry
of loading and support, accuracy of the manufac-
turing, etc. Essential information as to the buckling
and post-buckling analysis of shell structures may be
found in (Bushnell 1981) or (Hutchinson and Koiter
1970).
Typical post-buckling behaviour of a shell struc-
ture has an unstable character. However there are some
ways to stabilise that behaviour. One of them is to
modify the geometry of the structure what was pre-
sented by (Jasion 2009) for cylindrical shells with
meridional curvature. Other way is to introduce some
initial force, usually a tension, and that was described
by (Kru zelecki and Trybua 2010).
In the present paper the possibility of stabilisation
of the post-critical behaviour of sandwich cylindri-
cal shells with variable thickness is analysed. The
influence of the geometry of the shell on the buck-
ling load is also discussed. The presented structures
combine the advantages of shells with meridional cur-
vature, presented e.g. by (Bachut and Wang 2001),
and sandwich structures, described by (Vinson 2001).
All analyses were performed with the use of ANSYS
code. The indications as to the computational models
of sandwich structures can be found in (Noor et al.
1996).
2 MODEL OF THE SHELL
The analysed shell consist of two homogeneous
anisotropic faces of constant thickness t
f
. The outer
face is a cylindrical shell and the inner one is a shell
of revolution with positive or negative Gaussian cur-
vature. This curvature is obtained by introducing the
radius R
s
in the meridional direction. Then the core
which is also homogeneous and isotropic has the
variable thickness described by two parameters: the
thickness in the mid-length of the shell t
c0
and thick-
ness at the edge of the shell t
c1
. A half of the shell with
positive K >0 and negative K <0 Gaussian curvature
described by the parameters defined above is shown in
Fig. 1. The analyses will be made for families of shells.
In each family the dimensions of the outer layer, that
is the radius R
c
and the length L, are constant. Conse-
quently the capacity of the layer will be constant and
given by expression V
c
=R
2
c
L. The meridional radius
of the inner face R
s
will be changed to obtain shells of
different geometries. The radius R
s
is given as follows:
where
0
is an angle parameter. To assure the compa-
rability of the results within the family the capacity of
the inner face V
s
as well as the capacity of the core
V
core
=V
c
V
s
will be also constant. The capacity V
s
can be written as follows:
91
Figure 1. Geometry of a sandwich shell with negative (a)
and positive (b) Gaussian curvature.
The parameter e
0
is the distance between the
axis of revolution and the centre of the merid-
ional radius of curvature R
s
and has the fol-
lowing form: e
0
=t
f
+t
c0
+R
s
R
c
for K >0 and
e
0
=R
s
+R
c
(t
f
+t
c0
) for K <0.
All analyses were performedwiththe use ofANSYS
code. Due to symmetry of the problem a quarter of
the shell were modelled with proper boundary condi-
tions in the symmetry planes. The core was modelled
with the use of solid elements. For both faces the shell
elements were used. Number of finite elements were
established on the basis of the mesh convergence study.
The mid-surface of the face was offset from the core
about t
f
/2 and the boding conditions were applied
between all three layers. All edges of the faces were
supported in the way that translations along normal
and tangent axis were blocked. The model was loaded
with the uniform external pressure and with the axial
force coming fromthe pressure acting on the shell clo-
sures. The boundary conditions and the FE model of
the shell are shown in Fig. 2. As a reference point the
cylindrical shell was taken described by the following
parameters: R
c
=500 mm, L =1000, 1500, 3000 mm,
t
f
=1 mm, t
c0
=t
c1
=18 mm. The material proper-
ties were E
f
=2 10
5
MPa,
f
=0.3 for the faces and
E
c
=1, 3, 10 MPa,
c
=0.3 for the core.
3 RESULTS OF THE ANALYSES
As a first step of the investigation the linear buckling
analysis has been performed for shells of the length of
L =1500 mm. The goal was to determine the critical
loads and buckling shapes. Moreover the influence of
the meridional curvature of the inner face and the core
Figure 2. Boundary conditions and FEmodel of a sandwich
shell.
stiffness on the value of critical load was investigated.
The plot showing the results obtained for three differ-
ent values of E
c
is given in Fig. 3. Additionally the
buckling mode for two selected shells are shown. The
circles mark the shells for which the equilibrium path
was stable.
On the vertical axis the critical loads normalised by
the critical load corresponding to the cylindrical shell
are shown. The lower horizontal axis shows Gaussian
curvature. Additionally the second horizontal axis was
introduced to show the variation of the core thickness
inthe mid-lengthof the shell. For the shells withinfam-
ily characterised by E
c
=10 MPa introducing positive
Gaussian curvature results in decrease of the critical
load the bigger the curvature the smaller critical load.
When the negative curvature is introduced the value
of the critical load increases with the increase of the
curvature. Higher buckling load corresponds to higher
thickness in the mid-length of the shell.
When the case of E
c
=1 MPa is considered the
effect is opposite: namely, higher values of buckling
load are obtained for shells with positive Gaussian cur-
vature. However an attention should be payed to the
values of the buckling load when the negative curva-
ture increases. Although initially these values decrease
but after reaching some minimum value the buck-
ling load starts to grow up. Here, differently than for
E
c
=10 MPa the thickness of the shell in the mid-
length do not influence the value of the critical load
the curvature of the inner face seems to be the main
factor responsible for the buckling resistance. This
behaviour is similar to the one described by (Jasion
2006) for single layered shells with negative Gaussian
curvature.
92
Figure 3. Results of the buckling analysis.
Table 1. Dimensions of selected shells.
L =1000 mm
t
c0
[mm] 21 23 25
0
[rad] 0.071823 0.119512 0.167052
R
s
[mm] 13926 8372 5993
t
c1
[mm] 12.0 8.1 4.1
L =1500 mm
t
c0
[mm] 21 24 26
0
[rad] 0.047882 0.095529 0.127168
R
s
[mm] 31330 15708 11803
t
c1
[mm] 12.0 6.1 2.1
L =3000 mm
t
c0
[mm] 18.5 22 26
0
[rad] 0.003998 0.031894 0.063580
R
s
[mm] 750376 94066 47193
t
c1
[mm] 17.0 10.0 2.2
Taking into account the above results further inves-
tigations will be performed for three families of shells
of different lengths and E
c
=1 MPa. Since stable equi-
librium paths were found only for shells with negative
Gaussian curvature such shells will be considered.
Dimensions of selected shells are given in Table 1.
The results of buckling analysis are presented in
Fig. 4. On the vertical axis the value of the critical
pressure normalised by the critical pressure obtained
for the cylindrical shell is given. On the horizontal
axis the thickness of the shell in the mid-length is
shown. Additionally the number of circumferential
waves are presented (n) describing the buckling shape.
For all shells considered the number of longitudinal
half-waves equals 1. The equilibrium paths of shells
Figure 4. Results of the buckling analysis.
marked with circles are shown in Fig. 5. Here, the ver-
tical axis shows the load normalised by the value of
the critical load obtained in the linear buckling anal-
ysis. On the horizontal axis the maximum deflection
of the point localised in the mid-length of the shell
is shown. The deflection is divided by the thickness
of the face to obtain the dimensionless parameter. For
shell with L =3000 mmno stable paths were observed.
For shorter shells, L =1500 and 1000 mm, the initially
unstable paths corresponding to lower values of t
c0
start to become stable when t
c0
grows. Equilibrium
paths for selected shells are shown in Fig. 5.
93
Figure 5. Equilibrium paths.
4 CONCLUSIONS
In the paper the sandwich cylindrical shell with vari-
able thickness is described. The possibility of stabilisa-
tion of the post-buckling behaviour of such structures
is investigated. The influence of the meridional cur-
vature of the inner face on the buckling load is also
presented.
The results obtained from the linear buckling anal-
ysis show that for shells with E
c
>10 MPa the main
factor which decides about the buckling resistance is
the thickness of the shell in its mid-length that is in the
region where the buckles appear. That means that the
highest value of buckling load is obtained for shell in
which the inner face has the biggest negative Gaussian
curvature. If the Youngs modulus of the core has a
very low value (e.g. E
c
=1 MPa) the core plays a neg-
ligible role in load-carrying capacity. In such a case
the curvature of the inner face is a key factor which
decides about the buckling resistance the bigger pos-
itive Gaussian curvature the higher buckling load. For
the same reason the introduction of negative Gaussian
curvature decreases the critical load. However, as it
was shown by (Singh et al. 2009) and (Jasion 2009)
the equilibrium paths for shells with negative curva-
ture may have a stable character. The results presented
in this paper showthat it is also possible to stabilise the
post-buckling behaviour of a three layered cylindrical
shell with variable thickness. Moreover, as can by seen
in Fig. 5, for some shells not only the stabilisation of
the post-buckling path is possible but at the same time
the buckling load can be increased when to compare
to the reference cylindrical shell.
REFERENCES
Bachut, J. and P. Wang (2001). Buckling of barrelled shells
subjected to external hydrostatic pressure. JPVT, Trans
ASME 123, 232239.
Bushnell, D. (1981). Buckling of shells pitfall for design-
ers. AIAA journal 19(9), 11831226. Hutchinson, J. and
W. Koiter (1970). Postbuckling theory. Applied Mechanics
Review 23(12), 13531366.
Jasion, P. (2009). Stability analysis of shells of revolution
under pressure conditions. Thin-Walled Structures 47,
311317.
Kru zelecki, J. and J. Trybua (2010). Optimal axial tension
and internal pressure stabilizing postbuckling path for
cylindrical shells under torsion. Journal of Theoretical
and Applied Mechanics 48(3), 645658.
Noor, A., W. Burton, and C. Bert (1996). Computational
models for sandwich panels and shells. Appl Mech Rev
49(3), 155199.
Singh, S., B. P. Patel, and Y. Nath (2009). Postbuckling of
angle-ply laminated cylindrical shells with meridional
curvature. Thin-Walled Structures 47(3), 359364.
Vinson, J. (2001). Sandwich structures. Appl Mech Rev 54(3),
201214.
94
Analytical solution of multi-layer composite beam including interlayer
slip and uplift
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, Ljubljana, Slovenia
ABSTRACT: A new mathematical model and its analytical solution for the stress-strain analysis of plane
multi-layer elastic beams considering interlayer slip and uplift at each contact interface is presented. Reissners
linearized planar beam theory in which transverse shear effect is taken into account is considered for each beam
layer. An analytical solution is obtained for the linearized system of equations a non-homogenous system of
first order differential equations with constant coefficients. The convergence study and the comparisons of the
present results with analytical and numerical results from literature and numerical results of a three-dimensional
finite element model proved the model is efficient, accurate, reliable and can serve as a very accurate benchmark
for much more complex numerical models.
1 INTRODUCTION
Layered structures belong to a group of innovative
structural elements, usually classified as composite
structures. The optimization of building processes
and new concepts of structural design have resulted
recently in a vast increase of usage of composite struc-
tures. An advantage of composite structures is also
the possibility of connecting several different kinds
of material together to highly optimize the behav-
ior of a new structure. Multi-layer composite beams
made out of several components from equal or differ-
ent material have become one of the leading fields of
development in many industrial branches, especially
automotive, aeroplane, spatial industry, as well as in
civil engineering.
The research on the multi-layer composite beam
models considering both slips and uplifts at the beam
layers contact has been scarce. Recently, (Schnabl et al.
2006) and (Ranzi 2006) presented analytical solutions
of the stress-strain state of three-layer elastic com-
posite beams where only slips occur at the contact of
layers. A new mathematical model for the analysis of
geometrical non-linearity on the behaviour of multi-
layer composite beams was presented by (Krawczyk
et al. 2007). There exists a very interesting contribu-
tion by (Volokh & Needleman 2002) about buckling
capacity of sandwich beams (three-layer beams).
Their numerical model is based on the elastic Reissner
model of a planar beam and non-linear behaviour of
the connection at the contact which is capable of both
sliding and debonding. They found out that buckling
capacity heavily depends on the flexibility of the con-
tact. Avery interesting analytical and numerical model
for the analysis of multi-layer beams has also been pre-
sented by (Sousa Jr. & da Silva 2010). Furthermore,
(Ranzi 2008) developed an analytical model for ana-
lyzing the behaviour of multi-layer beams, based on
the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory.
A new general mathematical model and its ana-
lytical solution for the analysis of multi-layer planar
composite beams is presented. Reissners linearized
planar beam theory in which transverse shear effect
is taken into account is considered for each beam
layer. The number of layers is theoretically unlimited.
Layers of the composite beam can slip with respect
to each other. Furthermore, they can also uplift at
the contacts. The results are compared to analytical
and numerical solutions from literature and also to
the three-dimensional finite-element model provided
by the Lusas commercial software. The comparisons
prove a high accuracy of the present 1D model.
2 LINEARIZED EQUATIONS OF
MULTI-LAYER BEAM
Let us consider straight N-layer composite beam with
initial length L of each layer (Fig. 1). Cross-sections of
each layer i (i =1, 2, . . . , N) remain unchanged along
the reference line. The area of cross-sectioni is denoted
A
i
. We assume a planar deformation of a the beam in
a (X, Z)-plane of a fixed spatial Cartesian coordi-
nate system (X, Y, Z) and the base vectors E
X
, E
Y
,
E
Z
=E
X
E
Y
. The reference axes of each layer i coin-
cide with layers cross-section centroid. Each layer is
parametrized by its own material coordinate x
i
which
is parallel to the spatial coordinate axis X in the unde-
formedconfigurationandeachlayer particle is defined
by material coordinates x
i
, y
i
, z
i
. Fig. 1 shows unde-
formed and deformed configurations of the beam. The
95
Figure 1. Multi-layer composite beam.
unknown quantities in the Fig. 1 represent: u
i
(x
i
) ref-
erence axis displacement vector of layer i, R
i
(x
i
, z
i
)
position vector of an arbitrary particle of layer i and
i
(x
i
, z
i
) the local position vector of an arbitrary par-
ticle relative to the centroid. There is also a flexible
connection at the contact of layers which allows for
slip and uplift.
The basic set of equations for a geometrically and
materiallynon-linear beammodel consist of Reissners
exact kinematic, equilibrium and constitutive equa-
tions (Reissner 1972) for each beam layer, supple-
mented with constraining equations at the contacts of
each layer. It was presented in (Krofli c et al. 2011)
for a two-layer beam and later on generalized for a
multi-layer beam in (Krofli c 2012). In order to obtain
an analytical solution of the linear system of equa-
tions, we need to consistently linearize the above set
of equations around an undeformed configuration as
in (Schnabl et al. 2006).
Therefore we here firstly present a new linearized
system of equations of multi-layer composite beam
considering slip and uplift at the layer contact, which
read:
kinematic equations (i =1, 2, . . . , N)
equilibrium equations (i =1, 2, . . . , N)
constitutive equations (i =1, 2, . . . , N)
constraining equations (k =1, 2, . . . , N 1)
In the above equations, i denotes the layer under
consideration, and k the considered contact between
the two layers. Constants K
k
and C
k
in Eqs. (12) and
(13) denote the longitudinal and transverse stiffnesses
of the contact k, respectively.
In what follows we only explain the linearization
of the constraining equations. They have been derived
according to the mean contact surface assumption
introduced in (Krofli c et al. 2011). The normal (tan-
gential) vectors of mean contact surface are derived
as a linear combination of normal (tangential) vectors
of the contact point on the surfaces of the neighbouring
layers. The resulting linearized constraining equations
(10)(13) are expressed in directions of the global
coordinate axes. It is generally possible to consider a
coupled model of the contact constitutive equations, in
which case the contact traction components are depen-
dent on both
k
and d
k
. We here consider only the
uncoupled constraining constitutive model which is
a reasonable assumption in a structural engineering
applications (Adekola 1968), (Gara et al. 2006).
Kinematic, equilibrium and constitutive equations
of N-layer composite beam consists of 6N ordinary
differential equations of the first order and 3N alge-
braic equations. Hence, a general solution of the
present systemof equations depends on 6N integration
constants which are to be determined from the bound-
ary conditions. These consist of kinematic (essential)
and static (natural) boundary conditions. Generally
speaking, each layer of the composite beam has its
own boundary conditions (i =1, 2, . . . , N):
x
i
=0 :
96
x
i
=L :
where u
i
m
(m=1, 2, . . . , 6) presents the given bound-
ary displacements and S
i
m
(m=1, 2, . . . , 6) the given
boundary forces at x
i
=0 and x
i
=L of layer i.
The above presented linearized equations of multi-
layer planar composite beams (1)(13) represent the
set of combined algebraic and linear differential equa-
tions with constant coefficients. These equations are
solved in two steps. The first step consists of insert-
ing the constitutive equations (7)(9) into equilibrium
equations (1)(6) to obtain the system of 6N linear
inhomogeneous first-order differential equations with
constant coefficients for 6N unknown functions of
x, namely, u
i
, w
i
,
i
,
i
,
i
,
i
along with the initial
conditions, which can be written shortly as
where ()
denotes the derivative of a quantity with

respect to x.
Vector y in (20) is the vector of unknown functions
of x, g is the load vector, B is the matrix of constant
coefficients, and y
0
is the vector of boundary param-
eters which must be determined from the boundary
conditions of the considered multi-layer composite
beam. The solution of such a system with constant
coefficients consists of two homogeneous and partic-
ular parts (Goldberg & Schwartz 1972) and can be
written in the form
where the exponential functions in (21) are conve-
niently approximated with the Maclaurin series as:
N
terms
denotes the chosen number of terms.
Note that when the composite beam is subjected
solely to the point loading, only a homogeneous part
of the equation exists (g =0). The exact solution of
the homogeneous system of equations (1)(13) then
simplifies further.
3 NUMERICAL EXAMPLES
3.1 Comparison with results from literature
The first numerical example presents a comparison
of the present results with the analytical and numer-
ical results of the multi-layer beam theory by (Sousa
Jr. & da Silva 2010) in which slips are only consid-
ered. Results for two different cases are compared:
(a) three-layer and (b) four-layer beam. There is only
Figure 2. Cross-section of composite beams: (a) three-layer,
(b) four-layer.
Figure 3. Comparison of slips at the contact of three-layer
beam.
a bottom beam layer supported (clamped-clamped) in
both cases. The lengths of the beams equal L =400 cm.
Both composite beams are subjected to uniform load
q =0.1 kN/cm acting on the upper layer in the direc-
tion of global axis Z. The cross-sections of the layers
and the beams are presented in Fig. 2(a) and 2(b).
Three-layer composite beam
The three-layer beam is composed from a con-
crete core bonded with two metal plates: one at the
bottom and the other at the top side (Fig. 2(a)).
We considered the following material characteristics:
elastic moduli of concrete E
2
=3450 kN/cm
2
and
steel E
1,3
=20000 kN/cm
2
; Poissons ratio of concrete
2
=0.2 and
1,3
=0.3 of steel; shear modulus of bot-
tom contact K
1
=0.5 kN/cm
2
, while the top contact is
assumed more rigid, K
2
=4 kN/cm
2
. There is a rigid
transverse connection considered on contacts.
Fig. 3 presents comparison of slips at the contacts of
a three-layer beam. As it can be seen from the graph,
there is a very good agreement of present analytical
results with numerical results of (Sousa Jr. & da Silva
2010).
Elastic moduli of the layers of the four-layer
composite beam equal E
14
=5000 kN/cm
2
. Con-
tact shear moduli of the three contacts equal
K
13
=0.5 kN/cm
2
. A rigid transverse connection is
97
Figure 4. Comparison of slips at the contact of four-layer
beam.
Figure 5. Two-layer composite beam.
considered. The shear moduli of material are taken
as G
14
=100000 kN/cm
2
in our calculations, which
essentially corresponds to the shear stiff model of the
beam.
Four-layer composite beam
Fig. 4 presents the comparison of slips at the
contacts of the four-layer composite beam. Results
are compared with the Euler-Bernoulli theory-based
analytical solution and the numerical solution of the
model which considers only slips at the contact.
These solutions were presented by (Sousa Jr. &
da Silva 2010). As observed from Fig. 4, the results
compare very well.
3.2 Comparison with numerical results of
commercial software LUSAS
Next we compare the results of the present analyt-
ical solution with the numerical results of a three-
dimensional model. LUSAS finite element analysis
software was employed for this purpose applying
three-dimensional hexahedral linear finite elements
(HX8M) for modeling layers, and surface joint ele-
ments with no rotational stiffness (JNT4). If not speci-
fied otherwise, each beam layer was meshed regularly
with 4x4x160 finite elements (N
FE
=28800).
Two-layer composite beam
First we examine a two-layer beam with the cross-
section presented in Fig. 5. Only the bottom layer
is supported (clamped-clamped), E
1,2
=5000 kN/cm
2
,
G
1,2
=E
1,2
/2 =2500 kN/cm
2
, K
1
=0.5 kN/cm
2
and
there is a rigid transverse connection between the
layers. As seen from Fig. 6 and 7, results for the
vertical deflection of the bottom layer as well as for
Figure 6. Two-layer beam: comparison of analytical and
numerical bottom layer vertical displacements.
Figure 7. Two-layer beam: Comparison of analytical and
numerical slips at each contact.
the slips agree perfectly. In particular the differ-
ence between the analytical and numerical maximum
vertical deflection is only 0.63%.
Four-layer composite beam
Next we show the results of a four-layer composite
beam with the same geometry and material character-
istics as in Sec. 3.1, only that shear moduli of layers
are changed to G
14
=E
14
/2 =2500 kN/cm
2
.
First we study the convergence of the present model
for different number of series terms (N
terms
) and make
comparisons with numerical results of Lusas for a dif-
ferent number of finite elements (N
FE
). As it can be
seen from the Table 1, the results converge well both
in the present analytic solution and in the numerical
solution obtained by Lusas.
Fig. 8 presents the comparison of the bottom layer
deflection. We can observe an excellent agreement
between the results as the maximum vertical deflec-
tion differs by only 0.66%. In Fig. 9, we compare
slips between the layers. Again, an excellent agree-
ment is noticed between the analytical and numerical
results (Fig. 9). Finally, if we decrease the stiff-
ness in vertical direction of all contacts to the value
C
k
=1 kN/cm
2
, some debonding will occur. Fig. 10
98
Table 1. Convergence of analytical and numerical results
for vertical deflection of a bottom layer at the middle of
beam span w
1,L/2
.
N
terms
w
anal.
1,L/2
[cm] N
FE
w
Lusas
1,L/2
[cm]
10 161.588 40 1.40831
15 31.5849 80 1.71646
20 0.388088 160 1.93841
25 1.29258 1280 2.11427
30 2.22844 10240 2.20092
35 2.2285 28800 2.21420
40 2.2285 51200 2.21463
Figure 8. Four-layer beam: comparison of analytical and
numerical bottom layer deflections.
numerical slips at each contact.
presents the regions of uplift at each contact. Again,
an excelent agreement with Lusas is noticed.
4 CONCLUSIONS
A new shear-deformable mathematical model with its
linearized governing equations and their analytical
solution for the analysis of multi-layer composite
beams considering slip and uplift at the contact of
layers was presented. The solution of the presented
numerical uplifts at each contact for reduced value of vertical
contact stiffness (C
k
=1 kN/cm
2
).
linearized inhomogeneous system of the first-order
differential equations with constant coefficients can
be efficiently analytically solved. Several numerical
examples were carried out and the results compared
to different analytical and numerical solutions from
literature including the ones obtained by the three-
dimensional model of Lusas. Numerical analyses have
well indicated that the present 1D formulation:
is simple conceptually and effective computation-
ally,
gives the results which agree well with the analytical
and numerical solutions from literature, and
can serve as a very accurate benchmark for much
more complex numerical models.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The work of Ale Krofli c was supported by the
Slovenian Research Agency through grant 1000-07-
310191. The support is gratefully acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Adekola, A. O. (1968). Partial interaction between elastically
connected elements of a composite beam. Int. J. Solids
Struct. 4(11), 11251135.
Gara, F., G. Ranzi & G. Leoni (2006). Displacement based
formulations for composite beams with longitudinal slip
and vertical uplift. Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng. 65(8),
11971220.
Goldberg, J. L. & A. J. Schwartz (1972). System of ordinary
differential equations: An Introduction. NewYork: Harper
& Row Publishes.
Krawczyk, P., F. Frey &A. P. Zieli nski (2007). Large deflec-
tions of laminated beams with interlayer slips. part 1:
model development. Eng. Comput. 24(1), 1732.
Krofli c, A. (2012). Non-linear analysis of multilayer com-
posite structures. Ph. D. Thesis, University of Ljubljana,
Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering.
Krofli c, A., M. Saje & I. Planinc (2011). Nonlinear analysis
of two-layer beams with interlayer slip and uplift. Comput.
Struct. 89(2324), 24142424.
99
Ranzi, G. (2006). Short- andlong- termanalyses of composite
beams with partial interaction stiffened by a longitudinal
plate. Steel Comp. Struct. 6(3), 237255.
Ranzi, G. (2008). Locking problems in the partial interaction
analysis of multi-layered composite beams. Eng. Struct.
30(10), 29002911.
Reissner, E. (1972). On one-dimensional finitestrain beam
theory: the plane problem. J. Appl. Math. Phys. 23,
795804.
Schnabl, S., I. Planinc, M. Saje, B.

Cas & G. Turk (2006). An
analytical model of layered continuous beams with partial
interaction. Struct. Eng. Mech. 22(3), 263278.
Sousa Jr., J. B. M. & A. R. da Silva (2010). Analytical and
numerical analysis of multilayered beams with interlayer
slip. Eng. Struct. 32(6), 16711680.
Volokh, K. Y. & A. Needleman (2002). Buckling of sand-
wich beams with compliant interfaces. Comput. Struct. 80
(1415), 13291335.
100
Timedependent behaviour of two-layer compositebeams
A. Krofli c, M. Saje& I. Planinc
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, Ljubljana, Slovenia
ABSTRACT: Thereisanewgeometricallynon-linear mathematical model anditsnumerical solutionfor the
time-dependentanalysisof two-layercompositebeamsconsideringslipandupliftatthebeamcontactintroduced.
A recent numerical model derived by the authors is upgraded to account for concrete creep and shrinkage.
Numerical examplesof aconcretebeamstrengthenedwiththeFRPstripandatwo-layersteel-concretecomposite
beamreveal that theresultsof thepresent numerical model areaccurate.
1 INTRODUCTION
Thereexist anumber of experimental, analytical and
numerical reports on rheological properties of con-
crete. That is why theprocess of concreteshrinkage
andcreepisrelatively well understood. Furthermore,
thereexistanumberof modelswhichdescribethetwo
phenomena(J irsek&Baant2001) sufficientlywell.
Bycontrast, their effect onthebehaviour of two-layer
compositebeamsisstill apopular subjectof research.
Dezi &Tarantino(Dezi &Tarantino1993)wereamong
thefirst toanalyzenumerically theeffect of concrete
shrinkageandcreeponthebehaviourof steel-concrete
compositebeamswithaflexibleinterfaceconnection
inthelongitudinal direction. TheyadoptedtheBaant
(Baant1972) andDilger(Dilger1982) shrinkageand
creeprheological models. Recentnumerical modelsof
thetwo-layer steel-concretecompositebeamsconsid-
eringslipandconcreterheology havebeenpresented
by Ranzi & Bradford (Ranzi & Bradford 2008) and
J urkiewiez and co-workers (J urkiewiez et al. 2005).
Theexperimental results accountingfor therheolog-
ical phenomena in the two-layer composite beams
havebeenpresentedonlyrecently(Bradford&Gilbert
1991b).
This paper upgrades already presented static geo-
metrically non-linear numerical model by authors
(Krofli c et al. 2011). Themain scopeof thepresent
paper is to calculate the time-dependent stress-
strain state of a geometrically non-linear two-layer
composite beam subjected to rheological phenom-
ena, shrinkage and creep. The step-by-step analysis
is employed with an incremental-iterative Newton-
Raphsonmethodperformedat eachtimestep.
2 BASIC EQUATIONS
An initially straight two-layer composite beamwith
initial lengthL of eachlayer isconsidered. Thereisa
slip and also an uplift possibleat thecontact of lay-
ers. The basic set of equations of the kinematically
and materially non-linear model for the analysis of
two-layer compositebeamsconsideringslipanduplift
at the contact of layers subject to an instant static
loading has already been presented in (Krofli c et al.
2011) in a full detail. Only the final set of beam
equations (Reissner 1972) of each shear-stiff layer i
(i =top/bottomlayer) ispresentedhere:
where, inthefirst, thekinematic set of Eqs. (1)(3),
i
denotes extensional strains,
i
pseudo-curvatures,
i
rotations of the reference axes of layers, and u
i
,
w
i
aretheaxial andtransversecomponentsof thedis-
placementvectors.Theprimerepresentsthederivative
with respect to reference axis x, and upper index i
thebottom/toplayer. Theequilibriumequations(Eqs.
(4)(6)) relate the generalized equilibrium internal
forces R
i
X
, R
i
Z
and M
i
in the layers with the exter-
nal distributed line loads and momenta q
i
X
, q
i
Z
, m
i
Y
and components of contact traction vectors p
i
X
, p
i
Z
101
Figure1. Geometrical andequilibriumquantitiesof contact
betweenlayersi andi +1andgeometrical meaningof mean
contact surface. PointsT
i
andT
i+1
coincideinundeformed
configuration.
(Fig. 1). Thelast set of equations(Eqs. (7)(8)) relate
theequilibriuminternal forcesN
i
, M
i
totheconstitu-
tiveinternal forcesN
i
c
, M
i
c
, where
i

D
i
denotesthe
stressasafunctionof theextensional strainD
i
inthe
fibrez
i
of layer i (D
i
=
i
+z
i
).
Thereisalinearmodel of concretecreepconsidered
(Ghali & Favre 1994) where it is supposed that the
total extensional strain of an arbitrary material fibre
of concreteisasumof aninstantaneouselasticdefor-
mationandtime-dependent deformationsof concrete
creepandshrinkage. Theextensional straininamate-
rial fibreof layeri isassumedtobedefined, inthecase
of atimevaryingnormal stress, withtheexpression:
where i denotes the bottom or the top layer,
i
(t
0
)=const. thenormal stressinthefibreof layeri at
initial timet
0
, E
i
(t
0
) elasticmodulusof concreteat t
0
,
D
i
sh
(t, t
0
) theshrinkageconcretestrain in timeinter-
val [t
0
, t], and
i
(t, t
0
) is the non-dimensional creep
concretecoefficient.
Therearenewconstrainingequations betweenthe
layers introducedwhicharederivedusingthenotion
of theso-calledmeancontactsurface, definedbythe
normal andtangential vectorse
n
ande
t
atthepointof
contact (Fig. 1). Mean slip
andmean uplift d
,
when referred to themean contact surfacebase, are
definedas
wherew
i
n
, w
(i+1)
n
, u
i
t
andu
(i+1)
t
denotethenormal
and the tangential components of the displacement
vectorsU
i
(x
i
, z
i
) andU
i+1
(x
i+1
, z
i+1
) at thecontact of
layersi andi +1referredtothenewmeanvectorbase.
Contactlawequationsrelatethecomponentsof contact
forces(p
i
of layer i andp
i+1
of layer i +1) inthetan-
gential (p
t
) andnormal (p
n
) directionswithslip(
)
anduplift (d
) at themeancontact surface. Although

the mixed-mode type of delamination is often con-
sidered in modelling the contact, it is sufficient, in
structural engineering applications, to consider only
anuncoupleddelamination. Therefore, aseparatelin-
earandtimeindependentcontactlawineachdirection
isassumed:
Thenon-linear systemof equationsalongwiththe
appropriate boundary conditions cannot be solved
analytically. It must be solved approximately with
numerical methods.Thepresentedsystemof equations
has been solved by the new strain-based finite ele-
ment method, wheretheonly interpolatedunknowns
are strains in each layer. The axial strain and the
pseudo-curvature(and also its variations) havebeen
interpolatedbytheLagrangianpolynomials.Theinter-
polation points along thefiniteelement aretaken to
beequidistant. Anarbitrary polynomial order canbe
choseninthecomputer programme.
Thestep-by-step methodof Ghali &Favre(Ghali &
Favre1994) is usedwhichallows us to calculatethe
time-dependent stress-strain state in the composite
beam at discrete time increments. Yet, the method
needstobemodifiedinawaythat thegoverningsys-
temof discreteequations canbesolvedwiththeuse
of aniterativeNewton-Raphsonmethodat eachtime
step.
3.1 Simply supported FRP reinforced concrete
beam
In the first example, present numerical results of a
two-layer geometricallynon-linear elasticsimplysup-
portedbeamarecomparedwithresults of Hamed&
Bradford (Hamed & Bradford 2010). The concrete
layer is in both cases subjected only to creep. Fig. 2
presents the load and geometry of the considered
two-layer beam.
Itispresumedthatatwentyyear oldconcretebeam
has been reinforced with a FRP strip and addition-
ally loadedwithq =20kN/m14daysafter installing
the FRP strip. Elastic modulus of concrete equals
E
c
=3100kN/cm
2
and Poissons ratio is
c
=0.17.
Thetime-dependent relaxation modulus of concrete,
R(t), is presentedby thegraphinFig. 3(R(0)=E
c
).
Thecreepcoefficient, (t), isobtainedfromaknown
relaxationmodulusfunctionR(t) (Hamed&Bradford
102
Figure2. Geometry, material propertiesandload.
Figure3. Normalizedcreeprelaxationmodulus.
2010). As further seen fromFig. 3, theFRP strip is
madeof material insensitivetocreep.
Thecreepevaluationof concretewasperformedby
theACI Committee209code(Committee-2091982)
with: =0.6, c =10days, (, 7)=2.35.
The rheological behaviour of contact is not
considered in the present analysis, which some-
what contradicts the results of Hamed & Bradford
(Hamed & Bradford 2010). For that reason we
prescribe a linear contact constitutive law with tan-
gential stiffness K
=4000kN/cm
2
andnormal stiff-
ness C
=1000kN/cm
2
. This results in arather stiff
contact. There is a geometrically non-linear theory
model consideredinwhichtheeffect of shear defor-
mationsisneglected.
Firsttheresultsof thevariationof theaxial forcein
theFRP strip, R
FRP
X
(Fig. 4) andthevertical displace-
mentof theconcretelayer, w
c
(Fig. 5), alongthebeam
length at theinitial timeof loading (t =0) arecom-
pared. Thereyoumay noticeavery goodagreement
of theresults inbothpresentedcases. Additionly, we
compare the contact tangential stresses (
adh.
) at the
edgeof theFRPstrip(Fig. 6) andthetworesultsagain
agreeverywell. Itcanbeconcludedthatthevaluesof
thecontact stiffnesseswerechosenproperly.
Next the time variations are compared. The time
evolutionof thenormalisedmaximumaxial forcein
Figure4. Axial forceinFRP strip(R
FRP
X
) at t =0.
Figure 5. Vertical displacement of concrete layer (w
c
) at
t =0.
Figure6. Tangential contact stressat theedgeof FRP strip
at t =0.
theFRPstripiscomparedinFig.7.AsseenfromFig.7,
theresultsagaincomparewell withinengineeringlim-
its. Thereis also thetimeevolutionof themaximum
vertical displacement of the concrete layer (Fig. 8)
and themaximumtangential stress at thecontact of
layers (Fig. 9) compared. The results are very close
to thoseof Hamed & Bradford (Hamed & Bradford
2010). Furthermore they confirm that rheological
contact properties do not affect thebehaviour of the
FRP reinforcedcompositebeamessentially.
103
Figure 7. Normalized creep response of maximumaxial
forceinFRP strip.
Figure8. Normalizedcreepresponseof maximumvertical
deflectionof concretelayer.
Figure9. Normalizedcreepresponseof peak shear stress
at adhesivelayer.
3.2 Simply supported steel-concrete composite
beam
The results of the present model are here compared
to the experimental results of Bradford & Gilbert
(Bradford & Gilbert 1991a), (Bradford & Gilbert
1991b) andtothenumerical resultsof J urkiewiezand
co-workers (J urkiewiez et al. 2005). Geometry and
loadingarepresentedonFig. 10.Therearefourdiffer-
entcasesconsidered(B1B4) whichdiffer bytheload
Figure10. Geometryandloadof thetestedbeam.
Table 1. Tangential stiffness K
of contact and superim-

posedloadq onthebeam.
Nosilec B1 B2 B3 B4
K
[kN/cm
2
] 42 42 14 14
q [kN/m] 7.52 0 7.52 0
amount and thetypeof shear connections. Only the
differences in datavalues of K
and q arepresented
inTable1. Thereisaself-loadof thebeamconsidered
in all analyses, while the linear contact constitutive
lawinthetangential directionemploys different val-
uesof K
, aspresentedinTable1. A rigidtransverse
connection with stiffness C
=1000kN/cm
2
is con-
sidered in all cases; the linear elastic material with
E
s
=20000kN/cm
2
is used for steel. A linear vis-
coelasticmaterial lawof concreteisemployed. There
is a CEB-FIB (CEB-FIB 1990) function of creep
adopted with f
ck
=31.1MPa, s =0.25, RH =50%,
h
0
=6.975cm, t
0
=10days.
Shrinkage takes place only after 10 days. The
shrinkage function is evaluated from the exper-
imental measurements on cylindrical specimens
(Bradford& Gilbert 1992). Thereis also someaddi-
tional reinforcement consideredintheconcretelayer
(A
top
=1.413cm
2
) (Fig. 10). Thegeometrically non-
linear model yet with the shear deformations being
neglectedisemployedinthenumerical calculations.
Figs. 11and12present timeevolutionof themid-
span vertical displacement for all considered exper-
imental cases, B1B4. Experimental and numerical
results are very similar. Note that the differences
betweenthetwonumerical resultsareduetodifferent
numerical formulationsanddifferenttimefunctionsof
creepandshrinkageused.
The time evolution of extensional strains over
the cross-section at the midspan for specimens B1
(Fig. 13) andB4(Fig. 14) isalsocompared. Resultsat
twodifferent times, theinitial t
0
andthefinal t
fin.
, are
shown. This timeonly minor differences arenoticed
between thepresent numerical and theexperimental
104
Figure11. Mid-spandeflectionw (experimentB1andB2).
Figure12. Mid-spandeflectionw (experimentB3andB4).
Figure 13. Longitudinal strain D
i
at the mid-span of a
steel-concretebeam(specimenB1).
resultsof J urkiewiezandco-workers(J urkiewiezetal.
2005) canbeobserved.
Althoughthereisarigidtransversecontactassumed
in thepresent numerical examples, it is found inter-
esting to analyse the propagation of uplifts over the
beamlengthfordifferentmagnitudesof thetransverse
contact stiffness (Fig. 15) at time t =250days. The
timepropagationof upliftsinthecaseof asmall trans-
versecontactstiffnessC
=1kN/cm
2
(Fig. 16) isalso
presented. The substantial reduction of uplifts with
Figure 14. Longitudinal strain D
i
at the mid-span of a
steel-concretebeam(specimenB4).
Figure15. Uplift d
at t =250daysfor different valuesof

transversenormal stiffnessesC
.
Figure16. Uplift d
timepropagationalongthecontact of
abeam.
timeat theedges of thebeam, andthegrowthof the
uplifts withtimeat themiddleof thebeamspancan
beobserved.
4 CONCLUSIONS
This paper has introduced a new mathematical
model andits numerical solutionformulationfor the
geometrically non-linear time-dependent analysis of
105
two-layer compositebeamsconsideringslipanduplift
at the beamcontact. The distinctive novelty of pre-
sentedmodel ispossibilityof time-dependentanalysis
of geometricallynon-linear beammodelsconsidering
bothslipandupliftatthecontactof layers. Numerical
exampleshaveindicatedthatthepresentmodel issuit-
ablefordealingwiththetime-dependentbehaviourof a
concretebeamstrengthenedwithaFRPstrip, because
it reproduces well both experimental and numerical
results of atwo-layer steel-concretecompositebeam
subjectedtorheological phenomena. Finally, thepara-
metric analysis revealed that shrinkageand creep of
concretecauses thesubstantial redistributionof con-
tact uplifts after a sufficient increase of time has
passed.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The work of Ale Krofli c was supported by the
Slovenian ResearchAgency through grant 1000-07-
310191. Thesupport isgratefullyacknowledged.
REFERENCES
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composite beams at service loads. Kensington, N.S.W.:
Universityof NewSouthWales.
Bradford, M. A. & R. I. Gilbert (1991b). Timedependent
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Bradford,M.A.&R.I.Gilbert(1992).Compositebeamswith
partial interactionunder sustainedloads. ASCE J. Struct.
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CEB-FIB (1990). Ceb-fib model code (mc-90). Technical
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Committee-209, A. (1982). Prediction of creep, shrinkage,
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Dezi, L. &A. M. Tarantino(1993). Creepincompositecon-
tinuousbeams. ii: Parametricstudy. J. Struct. Eng. 119(7),
21122113.
Dilger, W. H. (1982). Method of structural creep analysis.
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106
Effect of ply configuration on hollow square reinforced concrete columns
confined with Carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP)
T.D. Le, M.T. Lester & M.N.S. Hadi
School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
ABSTRACT: This paper presents results of testing twelve hollow square reinforced concrete specimens
wrapped with Carbon fibre reinforced polymer CFRP. The effect of ply configuration on the behaviour of
the specimens is investigated. All specimens were 800 mm high and had the dimensions of 200 mm200 mm
in cross-section and a hollow core of 80 mm80 mm. The specimens were divided into four groups with three
specimens each. The specimens in the first group without bonding CFRP served as references. While the remain-
ing three groups of specimens were externally wrapped with CFRP in three different ply configurations of hoop,
vertical and 45
angle with reference to the circumferential direction, respectively. The specimens in each group
were tested as columns under three eccentricities (0, 25, and 50 mm). Experimental results show that all types
of wrap configuration increased the strength of reinforced concrete columns. The columns wrapped exclusively
with hoop configuration proved to show the greatest ductility properties.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Hollow columns
In practice, structural concrete columns are always
subjected to axial compression as well as bending
moment caused by inevitable eccentricity. When a col-
umn is under eccentric loads, there will be one side in
compression and the other in tension. This means the
material on the outside is under the most loads, while
the material at the centre of the cross-section is hardly
loaded at all. That is why using hollow columns is rea-
sonable to have an efficient use of material meanwhile
not lose a lot of its strength.
1.2 FRP in strengthening columns
FRP has been verified by many studies to be effective
in strengthening concrete columns by improving sig-
nificantly the performance of the columns for both
strength and ductility. Most of these studies were
based on solid, circular cross-section, plain concrete
columns and tested under concentric axial loading,
in which FRP is wrapped transversely, with respect
to columns axial axis. By this way, FRP provided
considerable confinement pressure to the concrete
core under compressive loads resulting in increasing
the compressive strength and deformation capacity of
the columns. When columns are subjected to eccen-
tric loads, both axial action and bending action are
induced. The increase in eccentricity causes the maxi-
mum load capacity of the columns to decrease. Li and
Hadi (2003), Hadi (2006a), Hadi (2006b) conducted
experiments on circular concrete columns under
variable eccentricities. The results from these stud-
ies show that external confinement with FRP can
improve the performance of the columns under eccen-
tric loading. However, the strength is only enhanced
to some extent with the application of an eccentric
load. Meanwhile, the gain in ductility is much more
distinctive. In fact, under eccentric compressive load-
ing, a column is bent, that produces an additional
bending moment termed secondary moment to the
column. The increase in applied load results in an
increase in lateral deflection, and the total eccentric-
ity of the applied load is thereby increased. This in
turn increases the internal moment in the column and
causes a reduction in compressive strength. In addi-
tion, FRP confinement leads to greater slenderness in
the column as has been demonstrated by Ranger and
Bisby (2007), Fitzwilliamand Bisby (2010), this again
leads to column can achieve more lateral bending. To
resist such bending moment that come from eccen-
tricity, vertical wrapped FRP layers are provided and
the outcomes are shown to be very good from some
experimental results. Hadi (2007) continued testing
on cylindrical concrete columns externally confined
with FRP but vertical FRP wraps were added. The
author concluded that the presence of vertical CFRP
straps improved significantly the performance of the
columns for both strength and ductility under eccentric
loading. Hadi and Widiarsa (2012) conducted testing
on solid, square, reinforced concrete columns, and they
got the same results. In fact, the benefit of longitudinal
wraps is more obvious with the increase in eccen-
tricity. Tan (2002) also confirmed that increasing the
amount of longitudinal fibre sheets leads to enhance-
ment in strength and ductility of the solid, square,
107
concentric loading columns. However, this would be
possible only if they are adequately restrained from
outward buckling by transverse fibre sheets.
Wrapping FRP in an angle other than hoop and ver-
tical directions is also studied by several researchers.
Rochette and Labossiere (2000) used fibres oriented at
15
/0
to wrap square concrete columns. Mirmiran

and Shahawy (1997) employed 15
fibres from the

hoop direction in their concrete-filled FRP tubes. In
the study by Pessiki et al. (2001), fibres oriented at
0
/45
were used to wrap both small- and large

scale square and circular concrete columns. However,
there is no careful exams on the performance of these
specimens compared to others in both of strength
and ductility aspects. Li et al. (2006) conducted an
intensive experiment to study the effect of fibre ori-
entation on the structural behaviour of FRP wrapped
concrete cylinders. In their study, variety of fibre ori-
entations and two different thicknesses were used to
wrap concrete cylinders with a diameter of 152.4 mm
and a height of 304.8 mm. It is found that the strength,
ductility, and failure mode of CRP wrapped concrete
cylinders depend on the fibre orientation and wall
thickness. Fibres oriented at a certain angle in between
the hoop direction and axial direction may result in
strengthlower thanfibres alongthe hoopor axial direc-
tion. However, only a slight increase in axial strain
was gained for the 45
wrapped specimens. The rea-

son is insufficient FRP that was provided by authors.
Sadeghian et al. (2010) also investigated the effect of
fibre orientation on concrete cylinders (a diameter of
150 mmby 300 mmin height) under uniaxial compres-
sive loading. Again, longitudinal fibres have no signif-
icant effect on strength and ductility of columns under
concentric loading. Meanwhile, the pure angle orien-
tations have a significant influence on enhancement of
ductility and energy dissipation of columns.
2.1 Specimens preparation
In order to investigate the effect of ply configura-
tion on the behaviour of hollow RC columns confined
with FRP, a total of twelve specimens were designed
and tested. All the specimens were made of rein-
forced concrete with the same amount of internal
steel reinforcement and were designed according to
the requirements of the Australian Standards (AS
3600-2009). The specimens had square section with
the dimensions of 200 by 200 mm in cross-section,
800 mm in height, and had a hole of 80 80 mm
inside. All corners of the columns were rounded by
a radius of 32 mm to protect FRP wraps apart from
premature failure due to the concentrated stress at the
corners of non-circular section columns. Two types of
steel reinforcement were used. N12 deformed bars of
12 mm diameter (500 MPa nominal tensile strength)
was for longitudinal reinforcement. R6 plain bars
of 6 mm diameter was for transverse reinforcement
placed at 100 mm spacing. The specimen dimensions
Figure 1. Details of dimensions and reinforcement.
were chosen based on the testing machine capacity that
was used in this experiment. As such, the specimens
were considered to be short columns. The wall thick-
ness of 60 mm was designed to ensure a clear concrete
cover of 20 mmwas maintained at both outer and inner
faces of the column as specified in AS 3600-2009.
With the wall width-to-thickness ratio of 1.33, which
is less than 15, the failure mode of the compression
flange will be controlled by crushing of the concrete
instead of local buckling (Taylor et al. (1995)). The
size effect, however, is not considered in this study.
Details of dimensions and reinforcement of the
specimens are given in Figure 1.
Awooden formwork consists of twelve square holes
was used to cast the test specimens. To create the inside
hole, twelve 80 mmby 80 mmwooden boxes were also
made and centred inside of each mould. Four foam
arches with 32 mm radius were placed at four cor-
ners of each hole to make the round corners of the
specimens. The 40 MPa nominal compressive strength
concrete that was used in this experiment was supplied
by a local supplier in one batch of concrete. Before
pouring concrete, a slump test was conducted to make
sure the workability of the concrete during pouring
concrete process. A slump of 130 mm was achieved
from the test. The concrete was then placed into the
formwork by three stages. In each stage, vibration
of specimens was carried out using two vibrators to
ensure the compaction of concrete. Casting cylinders
for concrete properties testing was also implemented.
After casting, the specimens were cured in their
forms in moisture conditions. Wet Hessian rugs were
placed on the top of all the specimens and were watered
twice a day to keep the moisture in. The formwork was
then removed after 14 days.
2.2 Wrapping and curing FRP
Before FRP wrapping, surface preparation was carried
out carefully. The surface of the concrete was found to
108
be intact after the removal of the formwork therefore
there was no need to repair or patch, except the sur-
face at corners because of using foam. These positions
were then grinded using a grinder and a steel brush to
make them flat.
The twelve specimens were then sub-divided into
four groups with three specimens each to prepare to
wrap with FRP. The specimens in the first group (RC
Group) without any FRP wraps served as reference
specimens. The specimens in the second group (HF
Group) were all laterally wrapped with three layers of
CFRP with respect to specimen axial axis. The spec-
imens in the third group (VHF Group) were firstly
vertically wrapped with one layer of CFRP along the
specimen axial axis, and then horizontally wrapped
with two layers of CFRP. All the specimens in the last
group (AHF Group) were firstly wrapped with two
layers of CFRP oriented at 45
with respect to spec-

imen axial axis, and then horizontally wrapped with
one layer of CFRP.
Unidirectional fibre sheets of CFRP (CARBON-
UNI340GM-75MM) were used in this experiment
programme towrapspecimens usingwet layupsystem.
The nominal width and thickness of the CFRP sheet
are 75 mm and 0.45 mm, respectively. The ultimate
tensile strength and ultimate strain were determined
from the FRP coupons tests shown in Table 1. The
adhesive was mixed from epoxy resin and slow
hardener at a 5:1 ratio as recommended by the manu-
facturer.
The wrapping procedure was done as follows. The
surface of the specimens was coated with a thin layer
of epoxy resin first, and then the first layer of CRRP
was applied with an expected orientation. The first
layer of FRP was then coated with epoxy again before
the application of the second layer of FRP. The pro-
cess was repeated until designed number of layers. An
overlap of 100 mmwas made in the last revolution and
was applied only for the layers in the hoop direction.
An extra two lateral FRP layers and 75 mm length ver-
tical FRP layers were applied to the ends of all tested
column specimens. The additional layers were placed
in order to protect the two ends against premature fail-
ure due to the high partial pressures experienced under
compressive loading. The layers also protect the ends
fromearly cracking on the tensile sides of the columns
due to eccentric loads. All specimens were then left for
at least 14 days for FRP curing.
2.3 Preliminary testing
Preliminary testing included testing concrete cylin-
ders, reinforcing bars and CFRP. Testing of con-
crete was conducted following AS 1012.8 (2000) and
AS 1012.9 (1999) on cylinders with dimensions of
100 mm in diameter and 200 mm in height. The aver-
age day 28 compressive strength of concrete was 38.2
MPa. The tensile testing method according toAS 1391
(2007) was used to determine the properties of rein-
forcing steel. The average tensile strength of the N12
bars was 587 MPa, and that for R6 bars was 538
MPa. Tensile testing was carried out on CFRP coupons
Table 1. FRP coupon test results.
Coupons Type 1 Type 2 Type 3
Configuration 3H 2H+1V 1H+2A
Maximum load (N) 38370 30858 15554
Maximum deflection (mm) 2.40 2.56 2.14
Width (mm) 25 25 25
Length (mm) 250 250 250
Maximum tensile force 1534.82 1234.33 622.16
per unit width (N/mm)
Maximum strain 0.0174 0.0185 0.0155
Table 2. Configuration of specimens.
Configuration Eccentricity
Specimen* CFRP (layers) mm
RC-0 None 0
RC-25 None 25
RC-50 None 50
HF-0 3 horizontal layers 0
VHF-0 1 vertical and 2 hoop 0
AHF-0 2 angle (45
) and 1 hoop 0
AHF-25 2 angle (45
) and 1 hoop 25
AHF-50 2 angle (45
) and 1 hoop 50
*All specimens have dimensions of 200 200 mm in cross-
section and 800 mm in height, and were internally reinforced
with steel reinforcing.
according to ASTM standard D7565/D7565M-2010.
All FRP coupons consist of three layers of FRP repre-
senting for three types of wrapping FRP on specimens
in each group. The summary of testing the FRP
coupons is shown in Table 1.
2.4 Test setup
From each group, the three specimens were tested as
columns at eccentricities of 0, 25 mm and 50 mm.
These specimens were denoted by the name of the
group accompanied with the notation 0, 25 and 50 at
the end. For example, specimen RC-0, RC-25, RC-50
mean that these specimens are in Group RC(reference
columns) and were tested under eccentric of 0, 25,
and 50 mm, respectively. The test matrix is given in
Table 2.
2.5 Testing procedure
Square, steel loading end caps were used in testing
all specimens. High strength plaster was placed in the
caps and left to set for at least 45 mins before testing.
Bottom load caps were centred using a rig holding
the column in place. A forklift was used to place the
specimen in Denison 500 tonne testing machine. Top
load caps were placed as the column was lifted into
place.
109
Table 3. Summary of testing results.
Deflection at Increase
maximum load in strength
Maximum compare to
load Axial Lateral reference
Column kN mm mm %
RC-0 1341 3.32 N/A
HF-0 1485 21.99 N/A 10.8
VHF-0 1525 4.03 N/A 13.7
AHF-0 1417 3.81 N/A 5.7
RC-25 998 2.99 1.71
HF-25 1245 3.75 1.48 24.7
VHF-25 1189 3.80 1.57 19.1
AHF-25 1083 3.73 2.29 8.5
RC-50 755 3.06 2.20
HF-50 825 3.67 2.56 9.4
VHF-50 889 4.13 3.23 17.8
AHF-50 862 3.78 2.50 14.2
To measure lateral displacement of the columns, a
laser LVDT was placed horizontally at the front of
the protective Perspex shield with a small cutout hole
for the laser. Testing commenced under displacement
controlled condition. All tests were conducted at a rate
of 0.3 mm/min.
3 RESULTS AND DICUSSIONS
Table 3 shows the results of testing all columns. It
can be seen that similar to solid reinforced concrete
column, CFRP external confinement can increase the
strength and ductility of the RC hollow columns. The
gain in strength is significant for HF columns under
concentric loading and small eccentricity (25 mm).
However, when the eccentricity is large (50 mm) the
gain in strength is more considerable in the VHF and
AHF columns. Meanwhile the gain in strength in the
HF columns reduces. Also, wrapping columns with
three layers of CFRP in the hoop direction allows
columns to undergo a much larger axial deflection
than unwrapped columns and the two other wrapping
methods.
3.1 Behaviour of unwrapped columns
Unconfined columns showed the highest load carrying
capacity when tested under concentric loading. When
eccentricities were introduced, the maximumload car-
rying capacity decreased significantly. These columns
did not suffer any large strain after reaching the peak
load. In fact, they failed in a brittle manner charactered
by the peeling off of concrete and the outward buckling
of steel bars in the compression side for all columns.
Horizontal cracks were also found in the tension sides
of columns under eccentric testing.
3.2 Behaviour of columns wrapped with three hoop
layers of CFRP
Wrapping columns with three layers in the hoop ori-
entation is the most efficient method of increasing
Figure 2. Load-axial deflection curves for concentrically
loaded columns
Figure 3. Load-deflection curves for 25 mm eccentrically
loaded columns. Note: HF-25 (1) and HF-25 (2) refer to 1st
and 2nd loading periods of column HF-25 due to an accident.
strength and ductility of columns for both concentric
and eccentric loading. HF-0 column showed 10.8%
increase in strength compared to reference RC-0 in
concentric testing. HF-25 and HF-50 achieved 24.7%
and 9.4% increases, respectively. Column HF-0 was
expected to gain the highest applied load of the four
columns tested concentrically, however a premature
failure was observed. After examining the tested HF-0
column carefully, it was found that the concrete had
spalled at a corner at the surface of the top end where
the longitudinal steel bar was outcrop. The concrete
cover on top of that longitudinal steel bar was just
4 mm instead of the required 20 mm. This caused high
concentrated stress, leading to damage the top end of
the column at this corner.
In terms of ductility, from the Figures 24, it can be
seen clearly that hoop layers can substantially extend
axial displacement as well as lateral displacement of
the columns under concentric and eccentric loading.
Table 4 shows the ductility for all columns. Hoop ori-
entation wrapping allows HF-0 columns to achieve
axial deflection 4.7 times larger than the reference, and
around 2.4 times compared to VHF-0 and AHF-0 in
the case of concentric loading. Under eccentric loading
these comparisons are even larger. HF-50 showed duc-
tility 7.4 times larger than RC-50 and about 3.4 times
larger when compared to VHF-50 and AHF-50. The
110
Figure 4. Load-deflection curves for 50 mm eccentrically
loaded columns.
Table 4. Calculation of ductility.
Axial deflection (mm)
Relative
at yield at 85% ductility
load P
max
Ductility compare to
Column
y

85%Pmax

85%Pmax
/y reference
RC-0 2.80 3.58 1.3 1.0
HF-0 3.83 22.98 6.0 4.7
VHF-0 2.92 8.05 2.8 2.2
AHF-0 2.75 6.76 2.5 1.9
RC-25 2.62 3.15 1.2 1.0
HF-25 N/A N/A N/A N/A
VHF-25 2.92 6.07 2.1 1.7
AHF-25 3.05 5.87 1.9 1.6
RC-50 2.59 3.38 1.3 1.0
HF-50 2.78 26.89 9.7 7.4
VHF-50 2.78 8.52 3.1 2.3
AHF-50 2.94 7.89 2.7 2.1
ductility of HF-25 column is not applied herein due
to an accident that occurred with the machine as test-
ing commenced. The applied load suddenly increased
with a very high speed rate and in about 16 seconds,
1250 kN was applied before the test was stopped. The
load data recorded from the computer showed that the
applied load reached the peak value and then started
decreasing. It was decidedtostart testingof the column
again, but some cracks were already found on FRPlay-
ers. The maximum load the column achieved was only
about 80% of the previous value recorded during the
accident. The axial and lateral displacements however,
were still very large as shown in Figure 3. Therefore,
CFRP layer in hoop direction is efficient in delaying
the premature failure of columns due the spalling of
concrete and buckling of steel bars at yield load.
It is worthy to note that when eccentricity is large,
the gain in strength of HF columns decreases, whereas
the gain in ductility increases. This result is due to
FRP in this wrapping scheme only working in the hoop
direction and there is no effect in preventing the loss
of strength due to bending moment.
HF columns fail in a sudden, dangerous manner.
When the applied load increased to large enough
values, small crack sounds were heard. After the peak
load, the load carrying capacity of the columns slightly
reduced while the deflection significantly increased.
This allows HF columns to achieve large ductility.
When the deflection is large enough, the crack sounds
increased and the FRP ruptured with a loud explosive
noise as it reached its ultimate strain. The failure posi-
tion of FRP layers of the HF-0 and HF-50 columns
was determined to be about 160 mm200 mm from
the top end and that for the HF-25 column was near
mid-height of the column. All of these FRP layers
ruptured at a corner of the column due to the concen-
trated stress at corners of non-circular cross-section
columns.
3.3 Behaviour of columns with the presence of a
vertical layer and 45
layer wraps
The behaviour of VHF and AHF columns are quite
similar in both concentric and eccentric loading, espe-
cially with regards to ductility. Both these wrapping
schemes improve slightly the ductility of the columns.
The combination of two 45
oriented CFRP lay-

ers and one hoop CFRP layer in AHF columns were
expected to show the largest ductility compared to
the other schemes, but their gain in ductility is only
around 1.6 to 2.1 times larger than the references.
These results are similar to those of Sadeghian et al.
(2010) were conducted on solid plain concrete cylin-
ders. The combination of transverse and angle oriented
layers is not useful on enhancement of ductility and
energyabsorption. Meanwhile, Sadeghianet al. (2010)
confirmed the significant increase in ductility for
cylinders wrapped with pure 45
orientations.
In the aspect of strength, as expected, the gain in
strength of these columns increases when the eccen-
tricity increases due to the contribution of vertical and
angle wraps. When columns were tested concentri-
cally, there was no contribution of vertical and angle
layers resulting in only a slight increase in the strength
which in fact comes from the hoop layers (Table 3).
At an eccentricity of 50 mm, the contribution of verti-
cal and angle layers become more clear. The increase
in strength of VHF-50 and AHF-50 are even greater
than that in HF-50 (i.e. 9.4% for HF-50, 17.8% and
14.2% for VHF-50 and AHF-50, respectively). The
presence of vertical and angle CFRP orientation is
clearly efficient in resisting bending moments due to
eccentricities which result in premature failure of RC
columns.
Similar to HF columns, the failure in VHF and
AHF columns occur in a sudden and explosive man-
ner. When the applied load is large enough, small
crack sounds are heard. A bulging deformation on the
outer hoop FRP layer in the compression side is also
observed. After the peak load, the load carrying capac-
ity of VHF and AHF columns reduced significantly.
The rupture of the outer hoop layers caused a loud
explosive noise and the load dropped.
All the VHF columns fail at a position approxi-
mately 130 mm from the top end. With the exception
111
of columnVHF-0, the rupture of FRP inVHF columns
(VHF-25 and VHF-50) occurred in the middle, on the
side of the column, not at the corner. When examining
inside the hole of these columns, it is found that the
concrete at the inner corners break in a way that tends
to make the cross-section of the hole at failure position
circular. This leads concrete at middle of compression
side to expand outward causing the breaks of FRP near
the middle side of the column.
For AHF columns, the rupture of FRP started from
the corner and further developed into an approximate
45
downward angle in the compression side of the

column.
4 CONCLUSION
In order to investigate the effect of fibre orienta-
tion on hollow square reinforced concrete columns
confined with Carbon fibre-reinforced polymer, three
varying orientations of fibre wrapping were made and
tested on twelve specimens under both concentric and
eccentric conditions. From the testing results, several
conclusions can be made:
The fibre in hoop orientation can significantly
increase strength and ductility of hollow square rein-
forced concrete columns. Compared to VHF and
AHF columns, HF columns allow larger deformation
before failure.
When columns were tested under eccentric load-
ing, the contribution of vertical and 45
angle layers
are much more evident than in tests conducted under
concentric loads.
The combination of two 45
oriented CFRP layers

and one hoop layer was expected to have the largest
ductility. However, it did not show any significant
increase in deflections of the columns under both con-
centric and eccentric testing. In fact, the behaviour of
this wrapping scheme is nearly similar to the speci-
mens with vertical wraps. The presence of one outer
hoop layer is supposed prevented the deflection of the
45
layers. When the applied load is large enough,

due to only a single layer of hoop direction, the hoop
layer sooner reaches its ultimate strain. The rupture of
the one hoop layer results in the premature failure in
the 45
layers.
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of Fiber Orientation on Compressive Behavior of CFRP-
confined Concrete Columns. Journal of Reinforced
Plastics and Composites 29(9): 1335.
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lar reinforced concrete columns using fiber-reinforced
polymer. Composites in Construction 6(3): 175183.
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of thin-walled concrete box piers.ACI Structural Journal
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112
Electroelastic analysis of interface cracks and corners in piezoelectric
composites using scaled boundary finite element method
Chao Li, Hou Man, Chongmin Song & Wei Gao
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: This paper presents a technique to analyze two-dimensional interface cracks and corners inside
piezoelectric composites. The proposed technique is based on the so-called scaled boundary finite element
method, which only requires discretization on the boundary with line elements. The displacement and electric
potential, stress and electric displacement at any point in the domain can be analytically obtained. The stress
and electric displacement intensity factors K
I
, K
II
and K
IV
are evaluated directly from the scaled boundary
finite element solutions of the singular stress and electric displacement fields. Meanwhile, the orders of stress
and electric displacement singularity are also investigated. Numerical study is conducted in this paper to verify
the accuracy and highlight the simplicity and efficiency of the proposed technique. The present results show
excellent agreement with those in the literature.
Keywords: Interface cracks and corners; Piezoelectric composites; Scaled boundary finite element method;
Orders of singularity; Stress and electric displacement intensity factors
1 INTRODUCTION
Due to the intrinsic coupling behaviour, piezoelectric
materials are widely used as sensors and actuators
in automotive components, aerospace panels as well
as civil engineering structures. In those applications,
piezoelectric sensors and actuators are embedded in or
bonded to a host material. Interface cracks and inter-
face debonding are likely to be induced because of
the high stress concentrations caused by the mismatch
of mechanical and electrical properties between dif-
ferent layers. The increasing use of these materials in
modern intelligent material systems emphasizes the
importance of the fracture analysis of piezoelectric
materials.
The cracks inside homogeneous piezoelectric mate-
rials have been investigated in great depth (Pak 1992;
Bchet et al. 2009). For piezoelectric composites, a
significant amount of studies by using analytical tech-
nique have been carried out on the stress and electric
displacement singularity of piezoelectric bimaterials
(Chen 2006; Xu and Rajapakse 2000). Meanwhile,
numerical methods such as finite element method and
boundary element method have been developed to
solve the stress and electric displacement singularity
and evaluate the stress and electric displacement inten-
sity factors (Chen and Ping 2007; Zhu et al. 2009;
Wnsche et al. 2011). However, in order to apply
the finite element method to obtain stress and elec-
tric displacement fields at the crack tips, very fine
meshes around the crack tips are required. Although
only the boundary and the crack faces are discretized,
the boundary element method requires the deriva-
tion of fundamental solutions which could be very
complicated.
The scaled boundary finite element method is
emerging as a promising technique for fracture anal-
ysis (Song and Wolf 1997). In this method, only
the boundary needs to be discretized with elements
and the computational effort is reduced. Standard
finite element interpolation is employed on the bound-
ary. In contrast to the boundary element method,
the scaled boundary finite element method does not
require any fundamental solution. Moreover, singu-
lar stress fields at cracks and bimaterial interfaces are
expressed semi-analytically. No asymptotic solution
is required. The stress intensity factors can be evalu-
ated directly from their definition (Song et al. 2010).
Mayland and Becker (2009) extended this method
to analyze the orders of stress singularity for piezo-
electric materials.
This paper presents a technique to analyze frac-
ture problems of piezoelectric composites based on
the scaled boundary finite element method. The scaled
boundary finite element equations for piezoelectric
materials are firstly derived. By further extending
the definition in Song et al. (2010), the stress and
electric displacement intensity factors of piezoelectric
composites are evaluated. The proposed technique is
also applied to investigate the effect of notch angles
on the stress and electric displacement singularity of
piezoelectric composites.
113
2 SCALED BOUNDARY FINITE ELEMENT
METHOD FOR PIEZOELECTRIC
MATERIALS
The standard linear piezoelectric constitutive equa-
tions in stress-charge form are given as
in which {} denotes the stress vector, {D} the elec-
tric displacement vector, {} the strain vector, {E}
the electric field vector, [c] the elastic constants,
[e] the piezoelectric constants, [] the permittivity.
Equation (1) for plain strain conditions is given as
with material constant matrix
where { } =

xx
,
yy
,
xy
, E
x
, E
y
T
and { } =
[
xx
,
yy
,
xy
, D
x
, D
y
]
T
. Based on the linear kinematic
equations as well as the relation of the electric fields
and the electric potential, { } is given as
with linear differential operator
where u
x
and u
y
are the displacement components,
the electric potential.
The elastostatic and electrostatic equilibrium equa-
tions in the domain without considering body forces
and body electric charges are
As shown in Figure 1, in this method, only the
boundary S is discretized. Ascaling centre fromwhere
the whole boundary is visibile is chosen. The origin of
the coordinates are placed at the scaling centre. The
nodal coordinates on boundary S
e
are denoted as {x}
and {y}. The coordinates of a point inside the domain
x, y
is obtained as
Figure 1. Scaled boundary coordinates: scaling center O,
radial coordinate and local coordinate .
The linear differential operator [L] in Equation (5)
is transformed to the coordinates , as
with
and the Jacobian matrix on the boundary ( =1)
The displacements and electric potential { u(, )}
are obtained by interpolating { u()} with the shape
functions
Substituting Equations (8) and (11) into Equation (4)
leads to
with
114
The scaled boundary finite element equation in
displacement and electric potential is derived by fol-
lowing the procedure in (Deeks and Wolf 2002) based
on the virtual work principle
where

E
0
,

E
1
and

E
2
are coefficient matrices

(Song and Wolf 1997).
The internal nodal forces and electric displacements
on a surface with a constant are equal to
A matrix function solution technique (Song 2004)
is adopted to solve the scaled boundary finite element
equation in displacement and electric potential. Equa-
tions (14) and (15) are firstly transformed to a system
of first-order ordinary differential equations
with the coefficient matrix
Block diagonal Schur decomposition is applied to
decompose [Z] such that
The matrix [S] is in real Schur form. The matrix [S]
is sorted in ascending order in terms of the real parts
of their eigenvalues. [S] and [] are partitioned into
2N 1 and 2N block matrices respectively
The solution of displacement and electric potential
function { u()} is given as
When the real parts of the eigenvalues of a diagonal
block [S
i
] are in (1, 0), singularity occurs. Introduc-
ing the polar coordinates r and , the singular stress
and electric displacement fields are
where [
(s)
L
()] are the singular stress and electric
displacement modes at the characteristic length L
The stress and electric displacement intensity fac-
tors {K()} =[K
I
(), K
II
(), K
IV
()]
T
at angle are
defined by the singular stresses and electric displace-
ment {
(s)
(r, )} =[
(s)
,
(s)
r
, D
(s)
]
T
where the matrix of the order of singularity

S
(s)
is
defined as
From Equations (21) and (23), the stress and electric
displacement intensity factors are given by
The first example is the interface corner in dis-
similar piezoelectric materials. The second example
demonstrates the interface crack between piezoelec-
tric material and an elastic insulator or conductor. For
this problem, we consider the elastic material with
relatively small permittivity for insulator or relatively
large permittivity for conductor. And this is controlled
by multiplying a factor P to the permittivity. The
material properties are given below:
PZT-4
1
:
PZT-4
2
:
PZT-5H:
Epoxy:
115
Figure 2. An interface corner between piezoelectric bima-
terials under a uniform tension and electric displacement
load.
Nikel:
in which the elastic constants c
ij
are in 10
10
Nm
2
,
the piezoelectric constants e
ij
in Cm
2
, and the per-
mittivity
ij
in 10
10
Fm
1
. Plain strain condition
is considered and impermeable electric crack face
boundary conditions are assumed in all examples.
3.1 Interface corner between dissimilar
piezoelectric materials
Dissimilar piezoelectric materials PZT-5H/PZT-4
1
are
used in this example. Material 1 is PZT-5H. The geo-
metric configuration is shown in Figure 2(a). The
dimensions are b = handa = 0.4b. The openingangle
of interface corner varies from0
to 40
to observe the
influence of interface on the fracture behavior of cor-
ner. The plate is subjected to a uniform tension
0
and
a uniform electric displacement D
0
=e
1
33
0
/c
1
33
. The
scaled boundary finite element mesh is shown in Fig-
ure 2(b). The scaling center is selected at the notch
tip, which is indicated by the marker . The bound-
ary is discretized by 7-node line elements. Note that
the notch faces are not discretized. The characteristic
length in Equation (21) is chosen as L =2a. The corre-
spondingdisplacement andelectric potential boundary
conditions are u
x
=u
y
= =0 at point B and u
x
=0 at
point C. The stress and electric displacement boundary
conditions are
y
=
0
, D
y
=D
0
,
When opening angle =0
, the interface corner

becomes an interface crack. The orders of singularity
have been investigated for the interface crack prob-
lem (Ou and Wu 2003). The analytical solutions are
= 0.5 0.0442, 0.5. A convergence study for
increasing the element order is performed. The orders
of singularity, i.e. the eigenvalues of the matrix of the
Table 1. Convergence of orders of singularity of PZT-
5H/PZT-4
1
bimaterials with =0
Element 5-Node 7-Node 9-Node 11-Node
1
0.5441 0.5442 0.5442 0.5442
2
0.5000 0.5000 0.5000 0.5000
3
0.4558 0.4558 0.4558 0.4558
Table 2. Convergence of normalized intensity factors of
PZT-5H/PZT-4
1
bimaterials with =0
.
Element 5-Node 7-Node 9-Node 11-Node
K
I
2.1118 2.1172 2.1172 2.1172
K
II
0.0601 0.0611 0.0611 0.0611
K
IV
2.4211 2.4227 2.4227 2.4228
Figure 3. Order of singularity of PZT-5H/PZT-4
1
versus
angle .
order of singularity [
S
(s)
] are shown in Table 1. The
stress and electric displacement intensity factors of
the crack tip (i.e. =0 in Figure 2(a)) are evaluated.
The numerical results of normalized stress and elec-
tric displacement intensityfactors (K
I
=K
I
/(
0
a),
K
II
=K
II
/(
0
a) and K
IV
=K
IV
/(e
1
33
a/c
1
33
))
are listed inTable 2. It is shown that the results obtained
from the 7-node element mesh generally converge to
the first 4 significant digits. Therefore, the 7-node
element is used in the subsequent analysis.
The singular stress and electric displacement fields
are investigated for various angle . The orders of sin-
gularity are plotted in Figure 3 for varied angle .
Their magnitudes decrease as increases. The stress
and electric displacement intensity factors are plot-
ted in Figure 4. It can be observed that both stress
and electric displacement intensity factors increase as
increases. Both the orders of singularity and the
intensity factors vary smoothly.
116
Figure 4. Normalized stress and electric displacement
intensity factors of PZT-5H/PZT-4
1
versus angle under
tension and electric displacement load.
Table 3. Orders of stress and electric singularity versus
scaling factor P for an interface crack between PZT-4
2
and
epoxy.
P
1 0.5 0.0610i, 0.5
10
1
0.5 0.0624i, 0.5
10
2
0.5 0.0626i, 0.5
10
3
0.5 0.0626i, 0.5
10
4
0.5 0.0626i, 0.5
3.2 Interface crack between piezoelectric material
and elastic material
In this example, the material above the interface is
selected to be a piezoelectric ceramic PZT-4
2
, while
the one belowthe interface is elastic insulator epoxy or
conductor nickel. The same geometric configuration
and mesh, shown in Figure 2, are used. The boundary
and loading conditions also remain the same as the
previous example.
The orders of singularity for the interface crack
between PZT-4
2
and epoxy have been investigated
in Ou and Chen (2004). The analytical solutions are
=0.5 0.0626i, 0.5. The present results of orders of
singularity and the normalized stress and electric dis-
placement intensity factors are listed in Table 3 and
Table 4 versus the factor P for the interface crack
between PZT-4
2
and epoxy. The results of orders of
singularity convergence to analytical solutions as P
decreases. Table 5 and Table 6 show the results of
orders of singularity and stress and electric displace-
ments intensity factors for the interface crack between
PZT-4
2
and nickel. The present results converge when
P approaches to infinite.
The stress and electric displacements in front of
crack tip of PZT-4
2
and epoxy are calculated by using
proposed technique. The finite element method is used
to verify the accuracy of the scaled boundary finite
element results. A convergence study on the finite ele-
ment results with increasing mesh density around the
Table 4. Stress and electric intensity factors versus scaling
factor P for an interface crack between PZT-4
2
and epoxy.
P K
I
K
II
K
IV
1 2.0933 0.4002 1.5184
10
1
2.0936 0.3978 1.1402
10
2
2.0937 0.3975 1.0771
10
3
2.0937 0.3974 1.0771
10
4
2.0937 0.3974 1.0765
Table 5. Orders of stress and electric singularity versus
scaling factor P for an interface crack between PZT-4
2
and
nickel.
P
1 0.5524, 0.5, 0.4475
10
1
0.6017, 0.5, 0.3982
10
2
0.6103, 0.5, 0.3896
10
3
0.6113, 0.5, 0.3887
10
4
0.6113, 0.5, 0.3886
Table 6. Stress and electric intensity factors versus scaling
factor P for an interface crack between PZT-4
2
and nickel.
P K
I
K
II
K
IV
1 2.1223 0.2189 1.5344
10
1
2.1143 0.1440 2.1735
10
2
2.1122 0.1244 2.3518
10
3
2.1120 0.1221 2.3728
10
4
2.1114 0.1218 2.3726
Figure 5. Normalized stress and electric displacement
versus normalized position in log-log scale.
crack tip is performed. Figure 5 shows the stress
y y
normalized with
a
=
0
and the electric displacement
D
y
normalized with D
a
=e
33
0
/c
33
at the extension
of crack face against the normalized position in log-
log scale. The scaled boundary finite element results
(SBFEM) agree well with finite element results (FEM)
outside the first few layers of finite elements around
the crack tip.
117
4 CONCLUSIONS
This paper has presented a technique to solve fracture
problems of piezoelectric composites by extending the
scaled boundary finite element method. The stress
and electric displacement singularity as well as stress
and electric displacement intensity factors have been
evaluated from the scaled boundary finite element
solutions. The results of the first numerical exam-
ple show notch angles have significant effect on the
stress and electric displacement singularity. The sec-
ond example demonstrates the interface crack between
piezoelectric material and elastic material. The good
results highlight the simplicity of the proposed tech-
nique in analyzing both piezoelectric-elastic insulator
and piezoelectric-elastic conductor configurations.
REFERENCES
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the X-FEMto the fracture of piezoelectric materials. Inter-
national Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering
77(11), 15351565.
Chen, C. (2006). On the singularities of the thermo-
electroelastic fields near the apex of a piezoelectric
bonded wedge. International Journal of Solids and
Structures 43(5), 957981.
Chen, M. and X. Ping (2007). Anovel hybrid element analysis
for piezoelectric-parent material wedges. Computational
Mechanics 40(1), 1324.
Deeks, A. and J. Wolf (2002). Avirtual work derivation of the
scaled boundary finite-element method for elastostatics.
Computational Mechanics 28(6), 489504.
Mayland, W. and W. Becker (2009). Scaled boundary finite
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Ou, Z. andY. Chen (2004). Interface crack problem in elastic
dielectric/piezoelectric bimaterials. International Journal
of Fracture 130(1), 427454.
Ou, Z. and X. Wu (2003). On the crack-tip stress singularity
of interfacial cracks in transversely isotropic piezoelectric
bimaterials. International Journal Journal of Solids and
Structures 40(26), 74997511.
Pak, Y. (1992). Linear electro-elastic fracture mechanics of
piezoelectric materials. International Journal of Fracture
54(1), 79100.
Song, C. (2004). A matrix function solution for the scaled
boundary finite-element equation in statics. Computer
Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering 193(23
26), 23252356.
Song, C., F. Tin-Loi, and W. Gao (2010). A definition and
evaluation procedure of generalized stress intensity fac-
tors at cracks and multi-material wedges. Engineering
Fracture Mechanics 77(12), 23162336.
Song, C. and J.Wolf (1997). The scaled boundary
finite-element methodalias consistent infinitesimal
finite-element cell methodfor elastodynamics. Com-
puter Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering
147(34), 329355.
Wnsche, M., C. Zhang, J. Sladek, and V. Sladek (2011).
Analysis of interface cracks in layered piezoelectric
composites by a SGBEM. PAMM 11(1), 185186.
Xu, X. and R. Rajapakse (2000). On singularities in com-
posite piezoelectric wedges and junctions. International
Journal of Solids and Structures 37(23), 32533275.
Zhu, B., Y. Shi, T. Qin, M. Sukop, S. Yu, and Y. Li (2009).
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118
Long-termin-planeanalysisof concrete-filledsteel tubular arches
under acentral concentratedload
K. Luo,Y.L. Pi, M.A. Bradford&W. Gao
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales Sydney, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: Thispaper presentsatheoretical analysisfor thelong-termin-planebehavio ur of aCFST arch
duetocreepandshrinkageof itsconcretecoresubjecttoasustainedcentral concentratedload.Thealgebraically
tractableage-adjustedeffectivemodulusmethodisusedtomodel thecreepbehaviourof theconcretecore, based
onwhichthedifferential equationsof equilibriumfor thetime-dependent analysisof CFST archesarederived
andanalytical solutions for thelong-termdisplacements andstresses of CFST arches areobtained. Theradial
andaxial displacementsof theCFST archincreasesubstantiallywithtime, whichmayaffect theserviceability
of theCFST arch. It isalsodemonstratedthat thetime-dependent changeof theequilibriumconfigurationof a
CFST archmayleadtosubstantial stressredistributionsbetweensteel tubeandconcretecore, whichmayaffect
thelocal strengthreserveof theCFST arches.
1 INTRODUCTION
Concrete-filledsteel tubular(CFST)archesarewidely
usedinengineeringstructures especially for bridges.
The CFST section (Fig. 1) consists of well-bonded
steel tubeandconcretecore. Theinevitablecreepand
shrinkageof theconcretecore(Gilbert, 1988; Bazant
and Cedolin, 2003) may have significant long-term
effectsonthein-planestructural behaviour of aCFST
arch. Due to creep and shronkage of the concrete
core, theradial andaxial displacements of theCFST
arch under sustained loading may increase substan-
tially with time, which may affect the serviceability
of theCFST arch. Consequently, theequilibriumcon-
figuration of theCFST arch may lead to substantial
stressredistributionsbetweensteel tubeandconcrete
core, whichmayaffectthelocal strengthreserveof the
CFST arches.
The long-term structural behaviour of CFST
columns under sustainedaxial compressionhas been
investigatedbyanumber of researchers(WuandQu,
1991; Zhong, 1994;Terreyetal., 1994; Uy, 2001; Han
et al., 2004). It has been found that because egress
of moistureof concretecoreispreventedby thesteel
tube, thevaluesof thefinal creepcoefficientandfinal
shrinkagestrainaresmaller thanthoseof normal con-
crete. The linear and nonlinear analysis for in-plane
Figure1. Concretefilledsteel tubular arch.
long-termbehaviourof archesunderasustainedradial
uniformloadwerestudied(Pi andBradford, 2010; Pi
et al., 2011). It is knownthat different loadingcases
havesignificantly different effects on theshort-term
behaviour of arches (Bradford et al., 2002; Pi et al.,
2002). Itisanticipatedthatdifferentsustainedloading
casesmay alsohavesignificantly different effectson
thelong-termbehaviourof arches.Thepurposeof this
paper, therefore, is to investigatethetime-dependent
in-planebehaviour of CFST archesduetotheshrink-
ageandcreepof theconcretecoreunder asustained
central concentratedload,andtoderiveanalytical solu-
tions for thelong-termdeformations and stresses of
CFST arches.
Among anumber of methods for modeling creep
andshrinkageof concrete(Gilbert, 1988), thetheage-
adjustedeffectivemodulus methodrecommendedby
ACI Committee-209 and Australia design code for
concrete structures AS3600 appears to be efficient
and accurate in predicting the long-term structural
behaviour of concrete structures and it can conve-
niently be incorporated into the structural analysis
(Gilbert, 1988; BazantandCedolin, 2003;Wangetal.,
2005; Bazant, 1972). Algebraic formulasusedinthis
method have been tested to be effective in model-
ingcreepandshrinkageof concretecore. Hence, the
age-adjustedeffectivemodulusmethodisusedinthis
paper.
2 CREEP OF CONCRETE CORE
Based on ACI Committee-209 and the Australian
designcodefor concretestructuresAS3600, thetotal
strain (t, t
0
) of the instantaneous and creep strains,
119
andthestrainincrement resultedby restrainedcreep
canbeexpressedas
in which the time t is in days,
0
is the stress at
timet =t
0
correspondingtotheinstantaneous strain,
(t, t
0
) is the gradual change of stress after time
t =t
0
, E
c
is Youngs modulus of concrete, E
ec
(t, t
0
)
and E
ec
(t, t
0
) are the effective modulus of concrete
includingcreepeffectsandtheage-adjustedeffective
modulusof concreterespectivelyandaregivenby
and
inwhich(t, t
0
) isthecreepcoefficient and(t, t
0
) is
theaging coefficient and they aregiven by (Gilbert,
1988; Branson, 1977)
and
respectively, where
u
is the final creep coefficient
(the value of (t, t
0
) when t ) and given by
u
=1.25t
0.118
0

,7
, and
with
and
Because egress of moisture of concrete core is pre-
vented by the steel tube, the values of the creep
coefficient of
,7
shouldbetakenfor themoist cur-
ingconditionof theconcreteor canbeobtainedfrom
shrinkageandcreeptest of CFST members.
3 TIME-DEPENDENT BEHAVIOUR
3.1 Time-dependent differential equation of
equilibrium
The long-term linear analysis of CFST arches is
derivedconciselyasfollowsandthebasicassumptions
adoptedforthelinearanalysisinthisinvestigationare:
(1) deformationsof CFST archareelasticandsatisfy
theEuler-Bernoulli hypothesis, i.e. thecross-section
remainsplaneandperpendicular tothearchaxisdur-
ingits deformation; (2) thearches areassumedtobe
slender, i.e. the dimensions of the cross-section are
muchsmaller thanthelengthandradius of thearch;
and(3) thesteel tubecomponentisfullybondedtothe
concretecorecomponent.
The axes describing the deformations of a CFST
archaredefinedasinFigure1. Theaxisos coincides
withthecentroidal axisof thearchwhilethedirection
of theaxisoy istowardtothearchcentre, butchanges
aroundthearch. Intheaxesoys, thelinear strainof an
arbitrarypointof thecross-sectionof aCFST archcan
beexpressedas
where the dimensionless displacements v and w are
defined by v =v/R and w = w/R, v and w are the
radial andaxial displacementsinthedirectionsof the
axes oy and os, respectively (Fig. 1), R is theradius
of the initial curvature of the arch, ( )
d( )/d,
( )
d
2
( )/d
2
, istheangular coordinate(Fig. 1),
and y is the coordinate of the point in the principal
axisoy.
Accordingtothefirstassumption, thestrainsinthe
steel tubeandconcretecoresatisfytheEuler-Bernoulli
hypothesis. Becausetheconcretecoreis assumed to
be fully bonded with the steel tube, their mechani-
cal membranestrains areequal toeachother andthe
mechanical strainsattheinterfaceareidentical. How-
ever,becauseof differentYoungsmoduli andtheeffect
of creepandshrinkageof theconcretecore, thestress
s
in thesteel tubeand thestress
c
in theconcrete
core are different with each other. The stress in the
steel tubecanbewrittenas
whereE
s
isYoungsmodulusof steel,whilethestressin
theconcretecorecanbeobtainedbasedonthemodel
proposed by ACI Committee-209 and theAustralian
designcodefor concretestructuresAS3600as
wheretheage-adjustedeffectivemodulusof concrete
E
ec
isgivenby(Gilbert, 1988; Bazant, 1972)
and
sh
istheshrinkagestrainof theconcreteandcan
beexpressed by ACI Committee-209 andAustralian
designcodefor concretestructuresAS3600as
120
inwhicht is thetimeindays, d =35days for moist
curingcanbeusedfortheconcretecoreof CFSTmem-
bersbecausetheegressof themoistureintheconcrete
coreispreventedbythesteel tube, and
sh
isthefinal
shrinkagestrain(thevalueof
sh
whent ).
Although experimental studies of the shrinkage
strain
sh
and creep coefficient (t, t
0
) of CFST
columns have been reported by several researchers
(Zhong, 1994; Terrey et al., 1994; Uy, 2001; Han
et al., 2004) and the empirical values for the final
shrinkagestrain
sh
andthefinal creepcoefficient(u)
of CFST columnswereproposed, thefinal shrinkage
strain
sh
andfinal creepcoefficient(u) fortheCFST
membercannotbeuseddirectlyforthelong-termanal-
ysis of CFST members. Instead, they canbederived
fromthe creep and shrinkage test results of CFST
columns. Fromthe creep and shrinkage test results
of (Uy, 2001), theshrinkagestrainandcreepcoeffi-
cientattimet =140dayscanbederived. Basedonthe
deriveddata, theempirical valueof thefinal shrinkage
strain
sh
=34010
6
(thevaluewhent ) and
the final creep coefficient (u)=2.29 (accordingly,
,7
=2.5) areusedfor thisinvestigation.
Thedifferential equationsforthelong-termanalysis
of aCFSTarchcanbeobtainedbyusingavirtual work
method. When thevirtual work principleis used for
thelong-termequilibriumof theCFST arch under a
central concentratedload, it canbestatedasrequiring
that thefunctional
holds for all arbitrary variations of the admissible
deformations v and w, whereV
s
andV
c
indicatethe
volumeof thesteel tubeandconcretecorerespectively,
( ) denotes the Lagrange operator of simultaneous
variations, and Dirac() is the Dirac delta function
definedby
By substituting Equations 911, the statement of
theprincipleof virtual workgivenbyEquation14can
bewrittenas
wheretheaxial compressiveforceN isgivenby
andthebendingmoment M isgivenby
whereA
c
andA
s
, andI
c
andI
s
, aretheareaandsecond
moment of area of the concrete core and steel tube
respectively.
IntegratingEquation16bypartsleadstothediffer-
ential equationsof equilibriumfor theanalysisof the
long-termbehaviour of CFST archesas
intheradial direction, and
intheaxial direction; andleadstothestaticboundary
conditionfor pin-endedarchesas
where the time-dependent radius of gyration of the
effectivecross-sectionr
e
aboutitsmajorprincipal axis
isdefinedby
Thekinematicboundaryconditionsare
for pin-endedarches, and
for fixedarches.
3.2 Long-term displacement
The long-termradial and axial displacements v and
w canthenbeobtainedby solvingEquations 19and
20simultaneouslyandusingtheboundaryconditions
givenbyEquations21, 23and24as
with
121
and
with
wherethecoefficientsD
1
, D
2
, D
3
andD
4
aregivenby
with
withthetime-dependent parameter
P
givenby
andthestepfunctionH() isdefinedas
for pin-endedarches, and
with
and
with
wherethecoefficientsD
1
, D
2
, D
3
andD
4
aregivenby
with
withthetime-dependent parameter
F
givenby
for fixedarches.
Typical variations of thedimensionless long-term
central radial displacement v
c,t
/v
c,15
with time t are
shown in Figures 2 and 3, whereasustained central
concentratedloadQ=1.810
2
kNisappliedattime
t
0
=15daysafter concretecasting, andv
c,t
isthecen-
tral radial displacementattimet andv
c,15
isthecentral
radial displacement at the first loading time t
0
=15
days. The material properties were assumed as: the
elasticmoduli of steel andconcreteE
s
=200Gpaand
E
c
=30Gpa, fromthetest result (Uy, 2001), thefinal
shrinkage strain
sh
=34010
6
, and
,7
=2.5,
d =35 days; and the geometries of the arches were
assumedas: thespanof thearchL =15m, andtherise-
to-spanratiof /L =1/6. Thecross-sectionof thesteel
tube is assumed to be circular with the outer radius
r
0
=250mm and the inner radius r
i
=240, 235 or
225mm. Accordingly, thewall-thicknessandthearea
ratioof thesteel tubetotheconcretecorearet
w
=10,
20, 25mmandA
s
/A
c
=0.0851, 0.1317, 0.2346.These
122
Figure 2. Variations of dimensionless central radial dis-
placement of pin-endedCFST archeswithtime.
Figure 3. Variations of dimensionless central radial dis-
placement of fixedCFST archeswithtime.
geometricandmaterial propertiesareusedthroughout
thissection.
It canbeseenfromFigures2and3that under the
sustainedcentral concentratedloadQ, thecombined
effectsof theshrinkageandcreepof theconcretecore
increasetheradial displacementv
c,t
substantiallyinthe
long-term. Theincreaseof thecentral radial displace-
mentof theCFST archwithasmaller ratioof thesteel
tube to the concrete core (A
s
/A
c
=0.0851) is larger
than those of CFST arches with a larger area ratio
(A
s
/A
c
=0.1317 and 0.2346). The long-termradial
displacementof theCFSTarcheswithA
s
/A
c
=0.0851
increases by about 55% for pin-ended and about
58% for fixed CFST arches at 400 days after
first loading, respectively. Theseexcessivelong-term
deformations may affect the serviceability of the
CFST arches.
3.3 Long-term stresses in steel tube
and concrete core
Thelong-termstresses
s
in thesteel tubeand
c
in
theconcretecorecanbeobtainedby substitutingthe
analytical solutionsfor thelong-termdisplacements v
and w givenby Equations 25, 26, 33and34into the
stressesexpressiongivenbyEquations10and11as
and
for pin-endedCFST arches; and
and
for fixedCFST arches.
Typical variations of thelong-termstresses
s
and
c
at thetopandbottomfibres of thesteel tubeand
concretecoreat thearchcrownwithtimet areshown
in Figures 4 and 5 for pin-ended CFST arches and
123
Figure 4. Stresses at top fibres of pin-ended CFST arch
crown.
Figure5. Stressesatbottomfibresof pin-endedCFST arch
crown.
Figure6. Stressesat topfibresof fixedCFST archcrown.
in Figures 6 and 7 for fixed CFST arches, respec-
tively. It canbeseenthat theinteractionbetweenthe
shrinkageandcreepof theconcreteandtherestrain-
ingactionof thesteel producessignificantchangesof
stresses in the steel tube and concrete core. At first
loadingatt
0
=15days, boththeconcretecoreandthe
Figure 7. Stresses at bottomfibres of fixed CFST arch
crown.
steel tubeareincompression(stresses
s
inthesteel
tubeand
c
in theconcretecorearenegative). After
t =400 days under the sustained load, the compres-
sive stresses
s
at the top and bottomfibres of the
steel tubes increasesubstantially whilethecompres-
sivestresses
c
attopandbottomfibresof theconcrete
coredecreaseandevenchangefromcompressive(neg-
ative) totensile(positive) (Figs47). Thechangesof
stresses in thesteel tubeand concretecoreof CFST
archeswithA
s
/A
c
=0.0851arequitelargeandaffect
thelocal strengthreserveof theCFST arches.
4 CONCLUSION
Theoretical analysesfor thelong-termin-planestruc-
tural behaviour of CFST circular arches under asus-
tainedcentral concentratedloadhavebeenconducted
inthispaper. It wasshownthat thecreepandshrink-
age of the concrete core have significant effects on
thelong-termin-planestructural behaviour of CFST
arches. Thelong-termradial and axial displacement
increase with time substantially. The increase of a
CFST archwithalowarearatioof thesteel tubetothe
concretecoremayaffecttheserviceabilityof theCFST
arch. Thelong-termcompressivestresses inthesteel
tubeincreasewithtimewhilethestressesinthecon-
cretecoredecreasesgradually andevenchangefrom
compressive to tensile in the long term. This may
affect thelocal strength reserveof theconcretecore
althoughthelong-termtensilestressesintheconcrete
arelower than thetensilestrength of theconcretein
manycases.
REFERENCES
Bazant, Z. P. (1972). Prediction of concrete creep effects
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Bazant, Z. P. andCedolin, L. (2003). Stabilityof Structures.
Dover Publications, pages105109.
124
Bradford, M. A., Uy, B., andPi, Y.-L. (2002). In-planeelas-
tic stability of arches under acentral concentrated load.
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Branson, D. E. (1977). Deformationof ConcreteStructures.
Gilbert, R. I. (1988). Time Effects in Concrete Structures.
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Pi,Y.-L. andBradford, M. A. (2010). In-planethermoelastic
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Pi, Y.-L., Bradford, M. A., andQu, W.-L. (2011). Long-term
nonlinear behaviour and buckling of shallow concrete-
filledsteel tubular arches. International Journal of Non-
linear Mechanics, 46:11551166.
Pi,Y.-L.,Bradford,M.A.,andUy,B.(2002).In-planestability
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Terrey, P. J., Bradford, M. A., and Gilbert, R. I. (1994).
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125
A comparison of various plate theories for functionally graded material
sandwich plates
S. Natarajan
School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
M. Ganapathi
Head, Stress & DTA, Mahindra Satyam Computers Services Ltd., Bangalore, India
ABSTRACT: In this paper, the bending behaviour of sandwich functionally graded material (FGM) plates
are investigated using QUAD-8 shear flexible element developed based on higher order structural theory and
other plate theories. The higher order theory accounts for the realistic variation of the displacements through
the thickness. The governing equations obtained here are solved for static analysis considering two types of
sandwich FGM plates, viz., homogeneous face sheets with FGM core and FGM face sheets with homogeneous
hard core. The in-plane and rotary inertia terms are considered for vibration studies. The accuracy of the present
formulation is tested considering the problems for which three-dimensional elasticity solutions are available.
A detailed numerical study is carried out based on various higher-order models to examine the influence of
the gradient index and the plate aspect ratio on the global/local response of different sandwich FGM plates.
Keywords: functionally graded, higher-order theory, thermal loading, mechanical loading, shear flexible
element
1 INTRODUCTION
Among the various structural constructions, the sand-
wich types of structures are commonly used in the
aerospace vehicles, because of its outstanding bend-
ing rigidity, low specific weight, excellent vibration
characteristics and good fatigue properties. Lami-
nated composite types of constructions are, in general,
adopted in sandwich structures. However, due to the
sudden change in the material properties from one
layer to another, the variation of the interfacial stress
distribution is significant at the facesheet-core inter-
face. Furthermore, the response of such laminated
composites depend on the bonding characteristics. In
contrast, the functionally graded material (FGM) [1]
sandwichcanalleviate the large variationinthe interfa-
cial stress distribution, because of the gradual variation
of the material properties at the facesheet-core inter-
face. FGMs are characterized by the smooth and con-
tinuous in the properties from one surface to another.
The most commonly used FGM sandwich construc-
tions are: the FGM facesheet with homogeneous core
and the homogeneous facesheet with FGM core.
It can be seen from the literature that the introduc-
tion of FGMs has attracted researchers to investigate
the structural behaviour of such structures [2, 3, 4, 5].
Analytical solutions are proposed based on sinusoidal
shear deformation theory [6, 7]. and three dimensional
elasticity [8]. It is observed from these studies that
first- order, third-order, and sinusoidal shear defor-
mation theories have been extensively used for the
analysis of sandwich FGMplates. However to authors
knowledge, the theories accounting the variation of
in-plane displacement through the thickness, and the
possible discontinuity in slope at the interface, and the
thickness stretch affecting transverse deflection is not
exploited while investigating the structural behaviour
of FGM sandwich structures. A Layer wise theory is
the possible candidature for this purpose, but it may be
computationally expensive as the number of unknowns
to be solved increases with the increase in the number
of mathematical or physical layers. Ali et al. [9], and
Ganapathi and Makhecha [10] have employed a new
higher-order plate theorybasedonglobal approach, for
multi-layered laminated composites by incorporating
the realistic through the thickness approximations of
the in-plane and transverse displacements by adding a
zig-zag functions and higher-order terms, respectively.
This formulation has proved to give very accurate
results for the composite laminates. Such model for
the current problems is now explored as a candidature
while comparing with the three-dimensional model.
In this paper, a C
o
8-noded quadrilateral plate
element based on various higher order theories is
employed to study the influence of various parameters,
viz., gradient index, core thickness and the plate aspect
ratio on the global response of FGM sandwich plates.
The efficacy of the present formulation, for the static
127
Figure 1. Co-ordinate system of rectangular FGM plate.
x, y along the in-plane directions and z along the thickness
direction.
analyses subjected to the thermal/mechanical loads
and the free vibration analysis is illustrated through the
numerical studies. The paper is organized as follows.
The next section will give an introduction to the FGM
and a brief overviewof the higher order theory. Section
3 describes the 8-noded quadrilateral plate element
used in the current study. Section 4 present numeri-
cal results for the static deflection of sandwich FGM
plates, followed by concluding remarks in Section 5.
2 THEORETICAL FORMULATION
2.1 Functionally graded material plate
Consider a rectangular FGM plate with co-ordinates
x, y along the in-plane directions and z along the thick-
ness direction as shown in the Figure 1. The material
is assumed to be graded only in the thickness direction
according to a power-law distribution.
Estimation of mechanical properties
The effective material properties for each layer, viz.,
Youngs modulus, Poissons ratio and the mass den-
sity is estimated by the following power-law function:
P(z) =P
m
V
m
+P
c
V
c
. Here, V
i
(i =c, m) is the volume
fraction of the phase material. The subscripts c and m
refer to the ceramic and the metal phases, respectively.
The volume fractions of the ceramic and the metal
phases are related by V
c
+V
m
=1, and V
c
is expressed
as: V
c
(z) =

(2z +h)/2h
n
, n 0, where n is the vol-
ume fraction exponent, also referred to as the gradient
index in the literature. In this study, the following two
types of power-law FGMs are considered.
Type A FGM face sheet and homogeneous hard
core
In this case, the volume fraction of the FGMs is
assumed to follow
where V
i
(i =1, 2, 3) is the volume fraction of layer i
and n is the gradient index. The core is considered as
a fully ceramic material. The top and bottom surfaces
of the plate are metal-rich.
Type B Homogeneous face sheet and FGM core
In this case, the volume fraction of the FGMs is
assumed to follow
The core is considered as a functionally graded
material. The top surface of the plate is metal rich and
the bottom surface of the plate is ceramic rich.
2.2 Plate formulation
The sandwich FGM plate is assumed to be made up
of three discrete layers. The material properties for
kth layer is governed by Equation (1) or Equation (2).
The in-plane displacements u
k
and v
k
, and the trans-
verse displacement w
k
for the kth layer, are assumed
as [9, 11]:
The terms with even powers of z in the in-plane
displacements and odd powers of z occuring in the
expansion for w
k
correspond to the stretching prob-
lem. However, the terms with odd powers of z in the
in-plane displacements andthe evenones inthe expres-
sion for w
k
represent the flexure problem. u
o
, v
o
and
w
o
are the displacements of a generic point on the
reference surface;
x
and
y
are the rotations of the
normal to the reference surface about the y and x axes,
respectively; w
1
,
x
,
y
, ,
x
and
y
are the higher-
order terms in the Taylors series expansions, defined
at the reference surface.
x
and
y
are generalized
variables associated with the zigzag function, S
k
. The
zigzag function, S
k
, as given in [12, 10, 13], is defined
by, S
k
=2( 1)
k
z
k
/h
k
, where z
k
is the local transverse
coordinate with the origin at the center of the kth layer
and h
k
is the corresponding layer thickness. The strains
in terms of mid-plane deformation, rotations of normal
and higher order terms associated with displacements
are:
The vector
bm
includes the bending and membrane
terms of the strain components and vector
s
contains
the transverse shear strain terms. These strain vectors
are defined as:
128
where
and,
The subscript comma denotes partial derivatives
with respect to the spatial coordinate succeeding it.
The constitutive relations for an arbitrary layer k can
be expressed as:
where Q
k
is the stiffness coefficient matrix defined
as: Q
k
11
=Q
k
22
=E(z)/(1
2
); Q
k
12
=E(z)/(1
2
);
Q
k
16
= Q
k
26
=0; Q
k
44
=Q
k
55
=Q
k
66
=E(z)/2(1 +),
where the modulus of elasticity E(z) and Poissons
ratio . The governing equations of motion are
obtained by applying Lagrangian equations of motion
given by
where
i
is the vector of degrees of freedom and T
is the kinetic energy of the plate given by:
where
k
is the mass density of the kth layer, h
k
and
h
k+1
are the z coordinates corresponding to the bottom
and top surfaces of the kth layer. The strain energy
function U is given by
where q is the distributed force acting on the top sur-
face of the plate. Substituting Equations (11) and (10)
in Equation (9), one obtains the following governing
equations for static deflection of plate.
Static deflection
where K is the stiffness matrix and f is the external
force vector.
3 ELEMENT DESCRIPTION
In this paper, C
o
continuous, eight-noded serendip-
ity quadrilateral shear flexible plate element is used.
The finite element represented as per the kine-
matics based on Equation is referred to as Q8-
HSDT13 with cubic variation. Three more alternate
discrete models are proposed to study the influence
of higher-order terms in the displacement functions,
whose displacement fields are deduced from the
original element by deleting the appropriate degrees
of freedom. These alternate models, and the corre-
sponding degrees of freedom are: (a) HSDT13: u
o
,
v
o
, w
o
,
x
,
y
, w
1
,
x
,
y
, ,
x
,
y
,
x
,
y
; (b) HSDT11:
u
o
, v
o
, w
o
,
x
,
y
, w
1
,
x
,
y
, ,
x
,
y
; (c) HSDT9: u
o
,
v
o
, w
o
,
x
,
y
,
x
,
y
,
x
,
y
and (d) FSDT: u
o
, v
o
, w
o
,
x
,
y
.
4 NUMERICAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In this section, we present the static response
of sandwich FGM plates using the eight-noded
shear flexible quadrilateral element. The effect of
plate aspect ratio and gradient index are stud-
ied. In this study, only simply supported bound-
ary conditions are considered and are as follows:
u
o
=w
o
=
x
=w
1
==
x
=
x
=
x
=0, on y =0,
bv
o
=w
o
=
y
=w
1
==
y
=
y
=
y
=0, onx =0,
a, where a and b refer to the length and width of the
plate, respectively. The FGM plate considered here
consists of Alumina and Aluminum. The mass den-
sity and Youngs modulus E are:
c
=3800 kg/m
3
,
E
c
=380 GPa for Alumina and
m
=2707 kg/m
3
,
E
m
=70 GPa for Aluminum. Poissons ratio is
assumed to be constant and taken as 0.3 for the
current study. Here, the modified shear correc-
tion factor obtained based on energy equivalence
principle [14, 15] is used for the FSDT model.
4.1 Static analysis
The static analysis is conducted for Type A
FGM sandwich plate. The following two types
of loading are considered: (a) Mechanical load-
ing: q =q
o
sin (x/a) sin (y/b); (b) Thermal load-
ing: T =T
o
(2z/h) sin (x/a) sin (y/b), where q
o
and T
o
are the amplitudes of mechanical and
thermal loads, respectively. The physical quan-
tities are nondimensionalized by relations: (a)
129
Figure 2. Displacements and stresses through the thick-
ness for the square plates with simply supported edges for
1-2-1 Type A FGM plate with gradient index, n =1, a/h =5,
subjected to a uniformly distributed mechanical loading.
Figure 3. Displacements and stresses through the thick-
ness for the square plates with simply supported edges for
1-2-1 Type A FGM plate with gradient index, n =1, a/h =5,
subjected to a thermal loading.
130
(u, v) =100E
o
/q
o
hS
3
(u, v); (b) w=100E
o
/q
o
hS
4
(w);
(c) (
xx
,
yy
,
xy
) =(
xx
,
yy
,
xy
)/q
o
S
2
and (d) (
xz
,
yz
) =(
xz
,
yz
)/q
o
S for the applied mechanical load
andby: (a) ( u, v) =1/h
m
T
o
S(u, v); (b) w=1/h
m
T
o
S
2
(w); (c) (
xx
,
yy
,
xy
) =(
xx
,
yy
,
xy
)/E
m
m
T
o
and (d)
(
xz
,
yz
) =(
xz
,
yz
)/E
m
m
T
o
for the applied thermal
load, where the reference value is taken as E
o
=1 GPa,
S =a/h and E
m
,
m
are the Youngs modulus and the
co-efficient of thermal expansion corresponding to the
metallic phase.
Based on a progressive mesh-refinement, an 8 8
mesh is found to be adequate to model the full FGM
plate for the present analysis. For sake of brevity,
the details are not presented here. Through the thick-
ness variation of displacements and stresses for 1-2-1
Type A FGM sandwich plate is shown in Figures 2
3 for different models proposed in this study for
mechanical and thermal load cases, respectively. For
mechanical loading case, the higher-order (HSDT13
and HSDT11) and lower-order models (HSDT9 and
FSDT5) yield almost similar results. The main differ-
ence among the higher-order elements is in account-
ing for the slope discontinuity in the in-plane dis-
placements through the thickness, whereas, it is the
inclusion of variation up to cubic in the in-plane dis-
placements among lower-order elements. Since the
material properties are smoothly varying through the
thickness in FGM plates, there is no variation in
the evaluated results seen among the higher-order
and lower-order models. However, the performance
of these types of elements are significantly different
for thermal case (see Figure 3), in particular, stress
variation and this can be attributed to the variation of
the coefficient of thermal expansion in the thickness
direction. This effect is captured due to the presence
of linear/quadratic terms in lateral deflection.
5 CONCLUSION
FGM sandwich plate bending analyses are car-
ried out based on various higher-order models to
examine the influence of the gradient index and
the plate aspect ratio on the global/local response
of different sandwich FGM plates. Different plate
models are employed in predicting the physical
behaviour and their through thickness variations in
the plate. The accuracy and the effectiveness of
the higher-order models (HSDT13 and HSDT11)
over the lower-order theories have been demon-
strated considering problems for which analytical/
numerical results are available in the literature. It may
be concluded that the HSDT13 model predict accurate
results for any type of sandwich construction whereas
other type of models depend on the type of sandwich
plate and loading situations.
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inated plates, according to murakamis zig-zag the-
ory, Composite Structures 93 (2011) 16131620.
[14] M. Singh, T. Prakash, M. Ganapathi, Fnite element
analysis of functionally graded plates under trans-
verse load, Finite Elemetns in Analysis and Design
47 (2011) 453460.
[15] S. Natarajan, P. Baiz, M. Ganapathi, P. Kerfriden,
S. Bordas, Linear free flexural vibration of
cracked functionally graded plates in ther-
mal environment, Computers and Structuresdoi:
10.1016/j.compstruc.2011.04.002.
131
Crackpropagationmodelinginfunctionallygradedmaterialsusingpolygon
elementsmodeledbythescaledboundaryfiniteelement method
E.T. Ooi, S. Guo& C. Song
School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Functionally gradedmaterials(FGMs) aremulti-phasedcompositesthat arespecifically engi-
neered so that their material properties vary continuously in apredetermined direction. Theheterogeneity in
FGMsresultsinsuperior fractureresistance, makingthemsuitablefor useasmedical implantsandcomponents
innuclear, aerospaceandelectro-mechanical industries.Thedegreetowhichthefractureresistanceof FGMscan
beimprovedisusually not knowna priori. Understandingtheir fracturebehaviour providesinsightstodesign
better FGMsandenablesquantitativeassessment of thestructural integrity inmanufacturedFGM products. A
novel methodologyisdevelopedinthisstudytomodel crack propagationinFGMs. It useshighorder polygon
elements that aremodelledby thescaledboundary finiteelement method. Thedisplacement andstress fields
ineachpolygonareexpressedusingscaledboundaryshapefunctionsandcorrespondingnodal displacements.
Material heterogeneity is modelled by locally fitting a polynomial curve in terms of scaled boundary finite
element coordinates over each polygon. Thedeveloped method is very efficient in modelling singular stress
fields in thevicinity of cracks. Stress intensity factors areevaluated directly fromthesingular modes in the
scaledboundaryfiniteelementsolutionstodeterminethecrackpropagationdirection.A simplelocal remeshing
algorithmfor polygons is developedto accommodatecrack propagation. Fractureanalyses of FGMs arecon-
ductedonthreenumerical examplestovalidatethemethodology anddemonstrateitssalient features. Fracture
parameterse.g. stressintensityfactors, critical failureloadandcrackpropagationpathsof FGM specimenscan
beobtainedfromtheseanalyses.
1 INTRODUCTION
Functionally graded materials (FGMs) are multi-
phasedcompositesthat arespecificallyengineeredso
that itsmaterial propertiesgraduallyvaryinadesired
direction. Thematerial gradient improvesthefracture
resistance, electro- and thermo-mechanical behavior
of FGMs, increasingitsuseinmodernkeyindustries.
Therepercussionsof increasedcomplexityinaFGMs
material definition result in more complex fracture
behavior. Consequently, moreadvancedanalytical and
numerical proceduresarerequiredtostudythesubject
of fracture in FGMs. A better understanding of the
fractureprocessinFGMswill providemoreinsightto
design better FGMs and enables quantitativeassess-
ment of thestructural integrityinmanufacturedFGM
products.
Thepredominant numerical method for structural
analyses is the finite element method (FEM). An
isoparametricgradedFEM formulationwasproposed
by Kim& Paulino (2002a) to model the structural
response of FGMs. The same authors further devel-
oped the method together with interaction integrals
for fracture analyses in FGMs e.g. Kim& Paulino
(2002b), Kim& Paulino (2004). While their results
wereconvincing, stress singularities emanatingfrom
thecracks cannot bemodeledaccurately unless very
dense meshes are used to discretize the area in the
vicinityof thecracktip.
The scaled boundary finite element method
(SBFEM) was developed by Song and Wolf (1999)
andisvery efficient for problemsinvolvingsingular-
itiesandunboundedmedia. Stresssingularitiesat the
cracktipscanbeaccuratelymodeledwithsignificantly
coarsermeshescomparedwiththeFEM; aswasshown
in various studies e.g. Yang (2006), and Song et al.
(2006). Thisledtoother advantageswhenSBFEM is
applied to model crack propagation e.g. significant
reduction in number of degrees-of-freedom(DOF),
simplerremeshingproceduresandmoreaccuratemesh
mappingof statevariables.
In its current form, however, the SBFEM formu-
lation has limited application to only homogeneous
linear elastic materials and simple types of FGM
(Bazyar andSong, 2006). Thisstudypresentsanovel
SBFEM formulation to model crack propagation in
heterogeneous materials such as that in FGMs. Ooi
et al. (2012a) recently developed a polygon based
implementationof theSBFEM (P-SBFEM) inwhich
the SBFEM formulation is embodied in arbitrary
n-sided polygon meshes, treating each polygon as a
SBFEM subdomain. This approach is more general
133
Figure1. A polygonscaledboundaryfiniteelement.
andcapableof dealingwithcomplexcracktrajectories
andgeometries, whilestill retainingtheadvantagesof
SBFEM. Inthis study, this novel formulationwill be
implementedwiththeP-SBFEMtomodel crackprop-
agationinFGMswithintheframeworkof linearelastic
fracturemechanics.
2 POLYGONSCALEDBOUNDARY FINITE
ELEMENT METHODFOR FUNCTIONALLY
GRADEDMATERIALS
2.1 Governing equations
IntheP-SBFEM, eachpolygonistreatedasaSBFEM
subdomain. There are no restrictions to the number
of sides a polygon can have. The scaling center of
eachpolygonis locatedat their respectivegeometric
centers. A local radial-circumferential-likecoordinate
system(, ) is attached to each scaling center (see
Figure1). istheradial coordinateandtakesavalue
of zeroat thescalingcenter andunity at thepolygon
boundary. isthelocal circumferential coordinateand
hasarangeof 1 1oneachelementonthepoly-
gonboundary.Ineachpolygon,thedisplacementfield,
u(, ) canbewrittenas
where u
0
is the vector of nodal displacements and
N() istheone-dimensional shapefunctionof theline
elements along the polygon boundary. Higher order
elementscanbeincorporatedby increasingthenum-
berof nodesalongeachpolygonedge.N()istheshape
functionintheradial direction
whereS
n
and
u
solutionsof theSBFEM equationin
displacement (Ooi et al. 2012c).
Thegoverningequationsof equilibriumfor elasto-
statics in each polygon can bederived starting from
theprincipleof virtual work.
Substitutingthestrain, (, ) fieldwith
where
() isthestrainmode
and B
1
() and B
2
() are strain displacement matri-
ces(Song&Wolf 1999) togetherwiththestress-strain
relation, (, )= D(, ) where D is the material
constitutivematrixintoEquation4leadsto
In FGMs, the elastic material constitutive matrix
is a function of space, D=D(x, y)=D(, ), where,
followingOoi et al 2012c,
Thecoefficientmatrices, D
(k)
inEquation8aredeter-
mined by performing a least squares fit over the
polygon, using the Gaussian/Gauss-Lobatto integra-
tion points as fitting points. As a result of this, the
number of polygons used has to be sufficient to
accuratelyrepresent thematerial gradient.
Using theSBFEM transformation of coordinates,
substitutingEquation8intoEquation7leadsto
where
InEquation9, thetermontheright-hand-sideof isthe
equivalent nodal forces onthepolygon. Thetermon
theleft-hand-sideisthepolygonstiffnessmatrix.
For each termk, Equation 10 can benumerically
integratedusingstandardintegrationprocedures e.g.
GaussorGauss-Lobattointegration.Theleft-handside
of Equation9hastobeintegratedanalyticallyforeach
k term. Denoting
and using the properties of matrix power functions,
X
(k)
canbeshowntobethesolutionof theLyapunov
equation
134
Figure2. A crackmodeledbySBFEM.
Thestiffnessmatrixof eachpolygonisthen
andEquation9simplyreducesto
whereF
p
is thenodal polygonloadvector. Equation
14 can be assembled polygon-by-polygon following
similar procedures as intheFEM, formingasystem
of simultaneouslinear equationsthat aretobesolved
for thenodal displacementsinthepolygonmesh.
2.2 Computation of stress intensity factors for
functionally graded materials
J in&Noda(1994) hadshowedthat inFGMs, thesin-
gularityandangular distributionof near tipstressand
displacement fields arethesameas that in homoge-
neousmaterials.Thissingularitynaturallyresultsfrom
the SBFEM solution. Therefore, the stress intensity
factors(SIFs) inFGMscanbedirectlyextractedfrom
thedisplacementorstressfieldsof apolygonmodeling
thecrack(Figure2).
TheSIFscanbecomputeddirectlyas
where,
v
tip
and G
tip
arethePoissons ratio and shear modu-
lus at thecrack tip, respectively. Thedisplacements,
u(r, )= [u
(r, )u
r
(r, )]
T
areobtainedfrom
whereT isthestandardtransformationmatrixandS
(s)
n
containsonlyeigenvaluesbetween1and0and
(s)
u
arethecorrespondingeigenvalues.
Thecrack propagationdirectionispredictedusing
the maximum circumferential stress criterion. The
angle
C
that maximizes
is thecrack propagation direction. During each load
step, theappliedloadisscaledsothatthecrackpropa-
gationcriterionissatisfied. A scalingfactor, canbe
computedfromK(
C
) as
where K
IC
is the materials fracture toughness. The
appliedexternal load, F andcorrespondingdisplace-
mentsU arethenscaledby
3 CRACK PROPAGATIONMODELLING
3.1 Automatic remeshing procedure
Afterthecrackpropagationanglehasbeendetermined,
anautomatic local remeshingprocedurewas usedto
propagate the crack. This algorithmis linked to the
commercial finite element package, ABAQUS. This
flexible procedure can be applied to any arbitrary
polygon mesh. This simple procedure is outlined in
Ooi et al. (2012b) and makes only minimal changes
toasmall patchof polygonsadjacent tothecracktip.
4.1 Crack propagation in an edge crack FGM plate
The rectangular plate with an edge crack shown in
Figure3aisconsidered. TheFGM constituentsof the
plateareepoxyandglasswithvolumefractionof 50%.
Table1depictsthevariationinthematerial properties
(Youngs modulus, E, Poissons ratio, v and fracture
toughness, K
IC
) in the graded region. The thickness
of the plate is 6 mm. Plane stress conditions were
assumed.
The plate is discretized using a polygon mesh
(Figure 3b) consisting of 211 polygons and 546
nodes. A crack propagationsimulationis carriedout
assumingacrackpropagationlength, a =1mm.
Figures4and5comparethepredictedcrack paths
andloadingresponseof theP-SBFEM withtheFEM
simulations of Kim& Paulino (2004). Both results
agreevery well with each other. Figure6 shows the
polygonmeshattheendof thesimulation. Inthefinal
mesh,thenumberof polygonsandnodeshadincreased
to266and696,respectively.Itisnotedthattheincrease
inthenumber of degrees-of-freedomisstill insignif-
icant comparedtotheincreaseof degreesof freedom
reportedintheFEM simulationsbyKimandPaulino
(2004).
135
Figure 3. Glass-epoxy FGM plate subjected to uniform
tension: a. Geometry (all dimensions in mm); b. polygon
mesh.
Table1. Variation of material properties, E, v and K
IC
of
glass-epoxyFGM.
E (MPa) v K
IC
(MPa.m
1/2
)
0.00 3000 0.35 1.2
0.17 3300 0.34 2.1
0.33 5300 0.33 2.7
0.58 7300 0.31 2.7
0.83 8300 0.30 2.6
1.00 8600 0.29 2.6
Figure 4. Comparison of predicted crack paths for
glass-epoxyFGM plateproblem.
4.2 Crack propagation in a FGM beam subjected to
four-point bending
ThenotchedFGMbeamsubjectedtofour-pointbend-
ingconditionsshowninFigure7aisconsidered. The
beamcontainssolidA-glassspheresof meandiameter
42mdispersed within an epoxy matrix. Thethick-
ness of thebeamis 6mm. Thevariation of material
properties of thebeaminthegradedsectionfollows
Figure5. Predictedstructural responseof glass-epoxyFGM
platesubjectedtouniformtension.
Figure6. Final meshof glass-epoxy FGM platesubjected
touniformtension.
Figure 7. Notched glass-epoxy FGM beamsubjected to
four-point bending; a. Geometry (all dimensions in mm),
b. Polygonmesh.
theconstants listedinTable1. Thepolygonmeshof
thebeamis showninFigure7b. It has 335polygons
and 777 nodes. Compared to the graded region, the
meshes at the beams extremes are coarser because
of theabsenceof material gradients. Thesimulation
was performed with a crack propagation length of
a =1mm.
Figure 8 compares the predicted crack paths
of the P-SBFEM with the experimental results of
Rousseau&Tippur (2000). Thecrackinitiationangle
andcrack patternswereingoodagreement witheach
136
Figure 8. Comparison of predicted crack paths for FGM
beamsubjectedtofour-point bending.
Figure9. Final meshof FGM beamsubjectedtofour point
bending.
Table 2. Comparison of P
cr
(N), K
I
(MPa.m
1/2
), K
II
(MPa.m
1/2
) and at theinitial timestep.
P
cr
K
I
K
II

FEM 253.3 2.122 0.129 3.484
Present 247.0 2.145 0.110 2.934
other. Thecrack propagationpathisalmost astraight
linewithaninclinationangle
0
=6.82
.
Thefinal polygonmeshshowninFigure9has374
polygon and912nodes. As with theprevious exam-
ple, theincreaseinthenumber of degrees-of-freedom
observedthroughout thesimulationwassignificantly
less than that required by FEM (Kim & Paulino
(2004)).
Table2comparesthepredictedinitial critical load,
P
cr
and phase angle, = tan
1
(K
II
/K
I
) of the P-
SBFEM and Kim& Paulinos (2004) FEM simula-
tions. There is also a good agreement between both
numerical simulations.
4.3 Crack propagation in a FGM beam with holes
The cracked FGM beam with holes subjected to
three-point bending shown in Figure 10a is con-
sidered. The beam consists of a graded region,
177.8mmx 76.2mm, in which the Youngs
Figure10. FGM beamwithholes subjectedto threepoint
bending; a. Geometry, b. Polygonmesh.
Figure 11. Comparison of predicted SIF histories for
crackedFGM beamwithholes.
modulus, E, Poissonsratio, v andfracturetoughness,
K
IC
varyaccordingto
In the ungraded region, the material properties are
E =1.0, v =0.3andK
IC
=1.0totheleftof thegraded
regionandE =3.0, v =0.25andK
IC
=1.5totheright
of the graded region. Figure 10b shows the poly-
gonmeshwith572polygons and1272nodes that is
usedtodiscretizethebeam. AswithKim& Paulino,
2004, crack propagation was simulated with acrack
propagationlengthof a =7.62mm.
Figures 11 and 12a compares the P-SBFEM pre-
dicted SIF history and crack paths with the FEM
137
Figure12. a. Comparisonof predictedcrackpathsforFGM
beamwithholes, b. Close-upof final polygonmesh.
simulationsof Kim&Paulino,2004.Figure12bshows
aclose-upviewof thefinal polygonmesh. Thepre-
dicted SIF history agreed very well with the FEM
simulations. It is interesting to note that the FEM
simulations were performed with a mesh with 4980
DOF whilst theP-SBFEM requiresonly2544.
5 CONCLUSIONS
A novel SBFEM formulationhas beendevelopedfor
crackpropagationsimulationinFGMs. Thisformula-
tionisembodiedinarbitraryn-sidedpolygons,treating
eachpolygonas aSBFEM subdomain. Material het-
erogeneityismodeledbylocallyfittingapolynomial
curveintermsof scaledboundaryfiniteelementcoor-
dinates over each polygon. This formulation is also
capable of analytically modeling stress singularities
emanating fromthecrack tip in FGMs. SIFs can be
directly extracted using their definition fromthe P-
SBFEM solutionstodeterminethecrackpropagation
direction. Crack propagation is treated using a sim-
pleautomaticlocal remeshingalgorithmthatislinked
to ABAQUS and is applicable to any geometry and
crack configuration. Thisnovel methodwassuccess-
fullyvalidatedusingtwobenchmarkexamples. Itwas
foundthat thepresent methodoffer someadvantages
over the FEM in terms of accuracy, efficiency and
easeof implementationwhenitisusedtomodel crack
propagationinFGMs.
REFERENCES
Bazyar, M.H. & Song, C. 2006. Time-harmonic response
of non-homogeneous anisotropic unbounded domains
using the scaled boundary finite-element method,
Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, 35:
357383.
J in, Z.H & Noda, N. 1994. Crack-tip singular fields in
nonhomogeneous materials. ASME Journal of Applied
Mechanics, 61: 738740.
Kim, J.H&Paulino, G.H. 2002a. Isoparametricgradedfinite
elements for nonhomogeneous isotropic andorthotropic
materials. Journal of Applied Mechanics, 69: 502514.
Kim, J.H & Paulino, G. H. 2002b. Finiteelement evaluation
of mixed mode stress intensity factors in functionally
graded materials. International Journal for Numerical
Methods in Engineering, 53, 19031935.
Kim, J.H, & Paulino, G.H. 2004. Simulationof crackpropa-
gationinfunctionallygradedmaterialsundermixed-mode
and non-proportional loading. International Journal of
Mechanics and Materials in Design, 1: 6394.
Ooi, E.T, Song, C, Tin-Loi, F &Yang, Z.J. 2012a. Polygon
scaled boundary finite elements for crack propagation
modeling. International Journal for Numerical Methods
in Engineering, 91: 319342.
Ooi, E.T, Shi, M, Song, C, Tin-Loi, F, & Yang, Z.J. 2012b.
Automatic dynamic crack propagation modeling using
polygon scaled boundary finite elements. 22nd Aus-
tralasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and
Materials, Sydney, Australia.
Ooi, E.T, Chiong, I, & Song, C. 2012c. Evaluationof stress
intensityfactorsoncrackedfunctionallygradedmaterials
using polygons modelled by the scaled boundary finite
element method. 22ndAustralasian Conference on the
Mechanics of Structures and Materials, Sydney, Australia.
Rosseau, C.E &Tippur, H.V. 2000. Compositionally graded
materialswithcracksnormal totheelasticgradient. Acta
Materialia, 48, 40214033.
Song, C & Wolf, J.P. 1999. The scaled boundary finite-
element method-alias consistent infinitesimal finiteele-
mentcell methodfor elastodynamics. Computer Methods
in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 180: 117135.
Song, C, Tin-Loi, F & Gao, W. 2010. A definitionandeval-
uationprocedureof generalizedstressintensityfactorsat
cracks andmulti material wedges. Engineering Fracture
Mechanics, 77: 23162336.
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17111731.
138
Effect of eccentricloadonretrofittedreinforcedconcrete
columnsconfinedwithFRP
T.M. Pham, X. Lei & M.N.S. Hadi
School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: Different behaviour of diversesections of confinedReinforcedConcrete(RC) columns under
eccentricloadisinvestigatedinthisstudy.Threetypesof sectionsareconsidered, whichincludesquarecolumns,
squarewithroundedcornersandmodifiedcircular columns. Twelvereinforcedsquareconcretecolumnswere
madefromnormal strengthconcreteandsubdividedintofourgroups.ThefirstthreecolumnsweretheReference
Groupandhadnomodification.Thenextthreecolumnsweremodifiedwithroundcornersandwrappedwiththree
layersof CarbonFibreReinforcedPolymer (CFRP), another threewerebondedwithfour piecesof segmental
circular concretecoversandwrappedwiththreelayersof CFRP, andthelast threewerebondedwithconcrete
covers and confined with steel straps. All columns weretested under concentric loading, 15mmand 25mm
eccentricloading. Resultsfromthestudyshowthat all confinement methodsincreasecapacityandductilityof
columns, inwhichsegmental circularconcretecoversconsiderablyreducethestressconcentrationonthecorners
andincreasetheefficiencyof theconfinement. Effect of eccentricloadonthespecimenswrappedwithFRP is
significantlyhigher thantheReferenceGroup.
1 INTRODUCTION
Most of the existing columns are square or rectan-
gular incrosssection. Early researchstudiesindicate
thatFRP-confinedsquareorrectangularcolumnswith
sharp corners provide little enhancement on their
load-carrying capacity (Wu & Zhou 2010). Some
investigations on FRP strengthened reinforced con-
crete(RC) columns under concentric load(Kumutha
et al. 2007; Ilki et al. 2008) have been reported.
Furthermore, RC columns under eccentric loadwere
tested to study the combination of compression and
bending behaviour (Li & Hadi 2003; Hadi & Li
2004; Hadi 2006a; Hadi 2006b; Hadi 2007a; Hadi
2007b). Thesestudies concludedthat theuseof FRP
increasesthecapacityof columns. Followingthesame
direction, this study focuses onretrofittingstructural
membersby comparingthreedifferent approachesof
strengthening.
There are cases where structures need to be
retrofitted, forexample, changeof theuseof thestruc-
tures, changeof designcodes or constructionerrors.
As most structures are built using normal strength
concrete, the experiments of this study use normal
strengthconcrete. Thisstudyinvestigatesatechnique
of changing thecross section of a RC column from
a square to a circle. After changing the cross sec-
tionfromasquaretoacircle, twowrappingmaterials
wereinvestigated: CFRP andsteel straps. Behaviour
of columns of different cross sections is investigated
aswell.
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMME
Theexperimental programmewas carried out at the
HighBayCivil EngineeringLaboratoryattheUniver-
sityof Wollongong.All materialswerepurchasedfrom
local suppliersandthenpreparedinthelaboratory.
2.1 Design of experiments
A total of twelvesquarereinforcedconcretecolumns
were cast. The dimensions of the columns were
150mmby 150mmin cross-section and 800 mmin
height.
Thecolumnswerecategorisedintofour groupsand
each group consisted of three specimens simulating
a specific technique of strengthening. Group N was
usedas areferencegroupwith no external strength-
eningandno modification. GroupRF columns were
cast toleave20mmroundcornersthenwrappedwith
threelayersof CFRP. GroupCFandCSsimulateanew
typeof strengtheningmethod. All columnsinGroups
CF and Group CS were bonded with four pieces of
circular segmentswhichweremadefromconcreteof
thesamestrength as column concreteto modify the
shapeof cross-section fromsquareto circular using
epoxyresin. Thisprocessiscalledherecircularisation
of cross-section. After thecircularisation, columnsin
GroupCFwerewrappedwiththreelayersof CFRPand
columns in GroupCS werebondedwith steel straps
at30mmspacing.Therequiredsteel strapsandCFRP
wereestimated based onACI 440.2R-02 (2002) and
139
Table1. Test matrix.
Internal External
Specimen Modification Reinforcement Reinforcement Eccentricity
N-0 None 4N12 None 0
N-15 R6@120 15
N-25 25
RF-0 20mm 4N12 Threelayers 0
RF-15 Round R6@120 of CFRP 15
RF-25 Corners 25
CF-0 Concrete 4N12 Threelayers 0
CF-15 Covers R6@120 of CFRP 15
CF-25 25
CS-0 Concrete 4N12 Steel 0
CS-15 Covers R6@120 Straps 15
CS-25 25
Figure1. Crosssectionviewof specimens(all unitsinmm).
ACI 440.2R-08(2008), respectively. Fromeachgroup,
onecolumnwasconcentricallyloaded, whilethesec-
ondandthethirdcolumnsweresubjectedtoeccentric
loadingof 15mmand25mmeccentricity,respectively.
Table1depictstheconfigurationof theexperimentand
Figure1showsthecrosssectionviewof thespecimens.
Thenotationof thespecimensconsistsof twoparts:
thefirst part isN-, RF-, CF- andCS-statingthename
of the group to which the specimens belong (Nor-
mal, RoundcornerswithFRP, Circular withFRP and
Circular withSteel straps). Thesecondpart indicates
the loading condition. For instant, 0 means concen-
tric load, 15 and 25 mean loading at 15 and 25mm
eccentricity, respectively.
2.2 Design of columns
Normal strengthconcretewasusedwithnominal com-
pressive strength of 32MPa. 20mmconcrete cover
was maintained. The reinforcement was designed in
accordancewithAS3600(2009) simulatingcolumns
with which structures need to be strengthened.
Figure2. Formworks: (a) Columns(b) Concretecovers.
Figure3. (a) Concretecovers(b) Specimensbonded.
Thereinforcement wasidentical for all columnsinall
groups. Four N12 bars (12mmdeformed bars with
500MPanominal tensilestrength) werethelongitudi-
nal reinforcement andR6bars(6mmplainbarswith
250MPanominal tensilestrength) wereprovided as
transversereinforcement with120mmspacing.
2.3 Casting of columns
Theconcreteusedintheexperimentswasready-mixed
concrete purchased from a local supplier, and was
poured into two formworks when arrived. The first
onewasmadefor thecolumnsandthesecondfor the
circularsegments.All formworksweremadefromply-
woodandwerescrewedtogetherwithtimber.Specially
shapedfoamwas gluedto theformworks inorder to
generateroundcornersfor GroupRF andalsothecir-
cular segments for GroupCF andCS. Thedetails of
theformworksaregiveninFigure2.
2.4 Bonding of concrete covers
Theconcretecoversusedfor GroupsCF andCSwere
removedfromtheformworkafter28days.Thefoamon
theconcretecoverswasfirstlyremovedandthesurface
of thecovers was groundusinganelectric grinder to
ensuresmoothcontact whenbondingwithFRP. After
theconcretecoversandthesurfaceof original columns
werecleaned, thecoverswerebondedtothecolumns
usingepoxy resinwhichwas mixedwith15%thick-
ener (seeFigure3). Thecolumnswerethenleft todry
for 14daysasspecifiedbythesuppliers.
2.5 External reinforcement of columns
BeforewrappingwithFRP, thesurfaceof thecolumns
was cleaned by water and left to dry. The adhesive
140
wasamixtureof epoxyresinandhardener at5:1ratio.
Before the first layer of CFRP was attached, adhe-
sivewas spread onto thesurfaceof thecolumn, and
then CFRP was attached onto the surface. After the
first ring, adhesivewasspreadontothesurfaceof the
first layer of CFRP andthesecondlayer wasbonded.
Thesameprocedurewasfolloweduntil threelayersof
CFRP werebondedcontinuously onthesurface. The
main fibreorientation was perpendicular to thelon-
gitudinal axis of thecolumn. For each ring, 100mm
overlapwasmaintained. All theFRP confinedspeci-
menswerecuredinroomtemperatureatthelaboratory
for sevendays.
2.6 Preliminary tests
The average compressive strength of concrete at 28
days was 27MPa. Properties of CFRP were deter-
minedbyFRP coupontestswhichwereconductedin
accordancewithASTMD7565(2010).Threecoupons
weremadewithawidthof 25mm. Eachcouponwas
madeof threeindividual layers of CFRP andbonded
with epoxy resin. The coupons were capped at both
endsandagaugelengthof aleast 150mmwasmain-
tained. Theactual widthandthicknessweremeasured
before the tensile tests and the ultimate tensile load
anddisplacement wererecordedduringthetests. The
average width of the tests coupon was 28mm, and
the average maximum tensile force per unit width
was 1972N/mm. Thestrainat theaveragemaximum
tensile force and the average elastic modulus were
0.024mm/mmand82kN/mm, respectively.
Coupon tests for reinforcing steels and steel
straps werealso conducted. Threespecimens of N12
deformed bars and R6 plain bars with 250mm in
lengthwerepreparedandtestedaccordingtoAS1391
(2007).Threecouponsof steel strapswhichwereused
in confining columns in Group CS were prepared
and tested according to ASTM D3953 (2007). The
ultimatetensilestrength for N12deformed bars was
568MPa, for R6 plain bars, 477MPa and for steel
straps, 598MPa.
2.7 Column testing
All columns weretested using the5000kN Denison
compression testing machine. The eccentricity was
achievedbyaspecial loadingheadwithgaugeslocated
15and25mmoff centre.Theloadingheadwaspaired
with a steel plate with overhang edge, as shown in
Figure4.
Thecolumnswerecappedwithhighstrengthplaster
atbothendstoensurefull contactbetweentheloading
head and thecolumn beforeputting thecolumns on
thetestingmachine. Calibrationwasthencarriedout
toensurethatthecolumnswereplacedatthecentreof
thetestingmachine.
In order to measure the lateral displacement for
theeccentrically loaded columns, alaser LVDT was
used and connected to the data-logger as well (see
Figure4a). Thelaser LVDT wasset at themid-height
Figure4. (a) Loading system(b) Loading head and over-
hangedges(c) Loadinghead.
Figure5. Load displacement diagram(GroupN).
of the column. All the tests were displacement con-
trolled. For compressiontests, theloadingratewasset
at 0.5mm/min.
3 RESULTSANDDISCUSSION
All specimens were tested to failure. The results of
everygrouparepresentedtostudydifferentbehaviour
of specimensunder different loadingschemes.
3.1 Behaviour of group N
Specimens N-0, N-15 and N-25 failed by concrete
spalling on the surface and buckling of the longitu-
dinal reinforcement while Specimen N-F failed by
de-bondingof concreteandlongitudinal steels at the
ends. Thesametrendof theaxial load displacement
diagramof threecolumns inGroupN was observed.
Thevalueof axial loadof thespecimensinthisgroup
increasestothepeak load, andthendecreasesrapidly
until failure(seeFigure5).
141
Figure6. Load displacement diagram(GroupRF).
3.2 Behaviour of group RF
SpecimenRF-0failedby concretecrushingandFRP
ruptured. Specimen RF-15 failed by concretecrush-
ing in the compressive region while cracking of the
specimeninthetensionregionwasobservedbetween
two rings of CFRP at themid-height. SpecimenRF-
25failedby thesamebehaviour as SpecimenRF-15
excepttheruptureof thelongitudinal steelsintheten-
sionregionledtocompletecollapseof thespecimen.
However, noCFRPrupturewasrecordedinbothcases
above, whichindicatesthatthespecimensdidnotfully
utilisetheFRP confinement.
Theaxial load of Specimen RF-0 kept increasing
to 1542kN, after which a loud cracking sound can
beheard when onering of CFRP ruptured, then the
loadimmediately droppedto1194kN. Subsequently,
a small part of a CFRP ring ruptured which led to
slowdecreaseof compressiveload. Theaxial loadof
SpecimensRF-15andRF-25increaseslinearlytothe
peak load and then decreases until failure while the
axial loadof SpecimenRF-0increasestotheyieldload
andkeeps risingto thepeak loadwithanother slope
of theaxial load displacement curve(seeFigure6).
3.3 Behaviour of group CF
Thecolumns of Group CF failed by ruptureof FRP
at mid-height and concrete crushed in the compres-
siveregion(seeFigure7a). For SpecimensCF-15and
CF-25, crackswereobservedinthetensionregionat
theearlystage.
All specimens reached the peak load and then
decreased significantly due to rupture of FRP rings
whichcreatedaloudsound. TakeSpecimenCF-25as
atypical example: thespecimenreachedapeak load
of 1124kN, thenasmall crackingsoundwasheardand
theappliedloaddecreasedto1082kN. Consequently,
somecontinuously small cracking sound and aloud
sound wererecorded at which timetheapplied load
of thespecimendroppedto386kN (64%). Thesame
trend of axial load displacement diagram was
observed with Group RF, in which theaxial load of
Specimens CF-15 and CF-25 increases linearly to
the peak load and then decreases until failure while
theaxial loadof SpecimenCF-0increasessharply to
Figure7. Failuremodesof ColumnsCF-0andCS-15.
Figure8. Load displacement diagram(GroupCF).
theyield load and keeps increasing to thepeak load
with another slope of the axial load displacement
diagram(seeFigure8).
3.4 Behaviour of group CS
Thespecimensof GroupCSfailedbyruptureof steel
strapsat mid-height andconcretecrushedinthecom-
pressiveregion(seeFigure7b). Theaxial loadof all
specimens of this groupincreases thepeak loadand
thendecreasessignificantlytofailure.Theaxial load
displacement diagrams of columns of this group are
plottedinFigure9.
3.5 Increase of column capacity
Table2showsthecapacityof all columnstestedinthis
study.Theexperimental resultsdepictthatthecapacity
of thecolumnsof GroupCFisthehighest, followedby
thecolumns of Groups RF andCS, respectively. For
columnswrappedwithCFRP, theincreaseof columns
142
Figure9. Load displacement diagram(GroupCS).
Table2. Summaryof columncapacity.
Maximumaxial Normalised
Column load(kN) maxload*
N0 724 1
N15 579 1
N25 427 1
RF0 1562 2.16
RF15 686 1.18
RF25 562 1.32
CF0 2907 4.02
CF15 1490 2.57
CF25 1171 2.74
CS0 1116 1.54
CS15 917 1.58
CS25 766 1.79
Themaximumaxial loadof eachcolumniscomparedtothe

correspondingspecimensinGroupN.
Figure10. Axial stress straindiagram.
capacity under concentric load is 50% higher than
thoseunder eccentricload.
Thenominal averageaxial stressof thespecimens
under concentric loadwas calculatedby dividingthe
axial loadby thecrosssectionareaof thespecimens.
Theaxial stress straincurvesarepresentedinFig. 10.
Theslopeof thepost-peakcurveof SpecimenCF-0is
higher than that of Specimen RF-0. Thus, it can be
seenthat themost effectiveconfinement occurredin
SpecimenCF-0, followedbySpecimenRF-0.
Figure11. Ultimateaxial load eccentricitydiagram.
3.6 Effect of eccentricity
Inordertoinvestigatetheeffectof theeccentricity, the
ultimateaxial load eccentricitydiagramispresented
inFigure11. Theshapes of GroupN andGroupCS
arecomparable, whicharelinear. Inaddition, thesim-
ilar curvesof thisdiagramcanbeseeninGroupsRF
andCF, whichis quadratic. Figure10shows that the
capacityof columnsinGroupsRFandCFdropsfaster
than Groups N and CS when eccentricity is applied.
Thecapacityof SpecimensRF-25andCF-25equal to
about37%of SpecimensRF-0andCF-0, respectively,
whilethecorrespondingnumber of GroupsNandCS
is65%approximately.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Fromtheexperimental testing, thefollowingconclu-
sionscanbedrawn.
Bonding segmental circular concrete covers to
changethesectionof columnsfromsquaretocircular,
thenwrappingwithFRP outperformsthecapacity of
thecolumnsretrofittedusingthetwoothertechniques.
Effectof eccentricityonFRPconfinedRCcolumns
issignificantlyhigher thanunconfinedRC columns.
CFRP is recommended for columns subjected to
concentricloadaswell aseccentricload.
REFERENCES
ACI 440.2R-02(2002), Guidefor theDesignandConstruc-
tionof ExternallyBondedFRPSystemsforStrengthening
ConcreteStructures, AmericanConcreteInstitute.
ACI 440.2R-08(2008), Guidefor theDesignandConstruc-
tionof ExternallyBondedFRPSystemsforStrengthening
ConcreteStructures, AmericanConcreteInstitute.
AS 1391. (2007). Metallic MaterialsTensile Testing at
Ambient Temperature. Australian Standard 1391:2007.
SAI Global database.
AS 3600. (2009). Concrete Structures. Australian Standard
3600:2009. SAI Global database.
ASTM D3953. (2007). Standard Speci?cation for Strap-
ping, Flat Steel and Seals. ASTM D3953:2007. ASTM
Database.
143
ASTM D7565. (2010). Standardtest methodsfor determin-
ingtensileproperties of fibrereinforcedpolymer matrix
compositesusedforstrengtheningcivil structures.ASTM
D7565:2010. ASTM Database.
Hadi, M.N.S. (2006a). Behaviour of FRP wrapped nor-
mal strengthconcretecolumnsunder eccentric loading.
Hadi, M.N.S. (2006b). Comparativestudy of eccentrically
loaded FRP wrapped columns. Composite Structures
74(2): 127135.
Hadi, M.N.S. (2007a). Behaviour of FRP strengthened
concretecolumnsunder eccentriccompressionloading.
Hadi, M.N.S. (2007b). The behaviour of FRP wrapped
HSCcolumnsunderdifferenteccentricloads.Composite
Structures 78(4): 560566.
Hadi, M.N.S. andLi, J. (2004). External reinforcement of
high strength concrete columns. Composite Structures
65(34): 279287.
Ilki,A., Peker, O., Karamuk, E., Demir, C. andKumbasar, N.
(2008). FRPretrofitof lowandmediumstrengthcircular
andrectangular reinforcedconcretecolumns.Journal of
Materials in Civil Engineering 20(2): 169188.
Kumutha, R., Vaidyanathan, R. and Palanichamy, M.S.
(2007). Behaviour of reinforced concrete rectangular
columnsstrengthenedusingGFRP. Cement & Concrete
Composites 29(8): 609615.
Li, J. and Hadi, M.N.S. (2003). Behaviour of externally
confinedhigh-strengthconcretecolumnsunder eccentric
loading. Composite Structures 62(2): 145153.
Wu, Y.F. and Zhou, Y.W. (2010). Unified Strength Model
BasedonHoek-BrownFailureCriterionfor Circular and
SquareConcreteColumnsConfinedbyFRP. Journal of
144
Applicationof externallypost-tensionedFRP barsfor strengthening
reinforcedconcretemembers
A. Rajabi, H.R. Valipour & B. Samali
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
S. Foster
ABSTRACT: Thevolumeandweightof heavyvehiclesusingnational roadnetworkshasbeenincreasingover
thelastfewdecades.Atthesametime, morethanhalf of thebridgesaroundtheworldareoverfortyyearsoldand
deteriorationof theexistingbridgesduetoincreasingtrafficloads, adverseenvironmental conditions, fatigueand
structural agingis becomingamajor problem. Consequently, restoringandincreasingthecapacity of bridges
and extending their serviceable life by using cost-effective strengthening techniques which ensure minimal
trafficdisruption, will beof vital importancefor protectingthetransportsystem. External post-tensioningisone
of thebest methods for rehabilitationof thereinforcedconcretemembers owingto speedof constructionand
minimal disruptiontotrafficload. However, lessattentionhasbeenpaidtoapplicationof external post-tensioning
for strengthening reinforced concretebridgepier. Accordingly, in this paper theapplication of external post-
tensioningfor strengtheningreinforcedconcretemembersisexplored. Inparticular, adetailednonlinear finite
element model isdevelopedandthefeasibilityof usingpost-tensionedFRP barsfor strengtheningareinforced
concretebeamisassessed. Toevaluatetheefficiency of thissystem, theresultsarecomparedtoanother finite
element model, simulatingRC beamsstrengthenedwithexternally bondedFRP sheets. Theflexural andshear
strengthenhancementachievedbythesesystemsof external post-tensioningiscalculated.Forthecaseconsidered
inthis paper, applicationof external post-tensioningcanincreasetheultimateloadingcapacity of member by
60%dependingonmagnitudeof post-tensioningforces.
1 INTRODUCTION
Duetoincreaseinserviceloadsandstructural aging,
available reinforced concrete (RC) structures are in
needof strengtheningagainst over-loadinganddete-
rioration. In most cases it is neither practical nor
economical toblock thetraffic andreplacethestruc-
tural componentsor alternatively buildanewbridge.
Accordingly, the best method is to rehabilitate the
existingstructure. External post-tensioningas oneof
thebestmethodsinrehabilitationof RCmembershas
beenon-demandrecently. However, onlyfewnumeri-
cal, experimental andanalytical modellinghavebeen
conductedto appraiseultimateshear/bendingcapac-
ities as well as short/long term deflection of RC
structuresstrengthenedbyexternal post-tensioning.
Initially the researches focused on using external
steel plates bonded to the RC members for fortify-
ing themand this method of strengthening has been
used since mid-sixties (Allen et al., 1993). Since
then many researches have been conducted to eval-
uate the behaviour of externally strengthened RC
members and in most of the considered cases a
good extent of increasein ultimateloading capacity
was achieved. Because of the steel corrosion under
severeenvironmental conditions, however, application
of bondedsteel platesfor strengtheningRC members
is not common anymore. Composite materials such
as fibrereinforcedpolymers (FRP) havemuchmore
strengthperunitareacomparedtosteel andothertypi-
cal constructionmaterials, thereforelessFRPmaterial
isrequiredtoretrofitRCstructurescomparingtosteel
plates. Besides, composite materials are corrosion-
resistantwhichmakesthemmoreappealingcompared
withsteel andother corrosionpronematerials.
In ageneral classification, external strengthening
systems can be classified to: 1) externally bonded
systems, 2) mechanically-anchored systems and 3)
combinationof systems1and2. Further, thestrength-
ening techniques can be categorized as passive or
active methods (Faria et al., 2011). In passive tech-
niques, the strengthening systemis only mobilised
whennewdeformationsappear. BondedFRPandsteel
sheets areof this type. Activetechniques reducethe
existingdeformations, crackingandstressescausedby
loadingassoonastheyareappliedwithinthestructure.
Thisrecenttechniqueincludesmechanically-anchored
aswell asexternallypost-tensionedsystems.
Over the last two decades numerous researches
havebeenconductedto assess theexternally bonded
systems applied for strengthening RC members.
Mosallam and Mosalam (2003) studied loading
145
Figure1. Geometryandloadingsetupof BeamB-II-1testedbyAl-Zaidet al. (2012).
capacityenhancementachievedbyutilizingFRPcom-
positelaminates bonded to two-way slabs. Oh et al.
(2003) observed an increased load-carrying capac-
ity and flexural stiffness and reduced crack width
in their experimental results on bridge deck panels
strengthened with bonded CFRP sheets. Ehsani and
Saadatmanesh (1990) achieved significant strength
enhancementusingGFRPplatesbondedtothetension
sideof thebeams.Inanotherstudy,Takedaetal.(1996)
successfullyimprovedflexural behaviourof RCbeams
bybondingCFRP sheetsontothesoffit of thebeams.
Inmostof theconductedexperimentsonRCmem-
bersstrengthenedwithbondedmaterials, sometypeof
partial and/or completedebondingof compositestrips
hasbeenobservedandreported. Sincedebondingisa
brittlemodeof failurewithnowarning(whichshould
be avoided), application of mechanically-anchored
strengthening systems has been recently proposed.
Fariaet al. (2011) gainedgoodductility andstrength
enhancementinflatslabsbyapplyingpost-tensioning
systems in conjunction with bonded anchorages. El
Maaddawy and Soudki (2008) successfully utilised
mechanically-anchored system in order to upgrade
flexural deficiency of RC slabs intheir experiments.
Asfor beam-strengthening, El-Ariss(2004) proposed
an efficient application of external post-tensioning
tendonstoimprovetheflexural capacityof RCbeams.
In this study nonlinear finite element model of a
sampleRCbeamstrengthenedwithexternallybonded
FRP sheet andexternally post-tensionedFRP rods is
developedandanalysedto evaluatetheefficiency of
twodifferent systemsfor strengtheningRCmembers.
The beamconsidered in this study is sample B-II-1
testedbyAl-Zaidet al. (2012) withthegeometryand
loading details shown in Fig. 1. The sample tested
by Al-Zaid et al. (2012) was strengthened by FRP
sheetsbondedtothesoffit asshowninFig. 1. Inthis
paper,however,bothbondedFRPsheetsandexternally
post-tensioned FRP rods areemployed to strengthen
the beam and analysed numerically. Details of the
finiteelement model and numerical studies arepro-
videdinthefollowingsection.
Table1. Material propertiesof beamB-II-1.
Steel Properties A
s
(mm
2
) 804
A
s
(mm
2
) 452
f
y
(MPa) 568
E
s
(GPa) 200
d
s
(mm) 214
ConcreteProperties b(mm) 500
h(mm) 250
f
c
(MPa) 30
FRP properties E
f
(GPa) 165
fu
0.017
w
f
(mm) 480
t
f
(mm) 1.4
No. of lyrs 1
2 FLEXURAL STRENGTHENINGOF RC
BEAM USINGBONDEDFRP SHEET PLATE
The beam considered in this study, is a simply-
supportedbeamstrengthenedagainst flexural failure
by bonding one layer of fibre reinforced polymer
(FRP) sheetstothesoffit of thebeam(Al-Zaidet al.,
2012). The adopted geometry and test set-up is the
same as sample B-II-1, the externally strengthened
beam with bonded FRP sheets, which have been
previously tested by Al-Zaid et al. (2012). Material
propertiesaswell asthegeometrical propertiesof RC
sectionandFRP sheetsaregiveninTable1.
Theloadversusmid-spandeflectionresponseof the
strengthenedbeamandthecontrol beamobtainedfrom
thetest andtheFE model resultsareshowninFig. 2
andit is observablethat theload-deflectionresponse
captured by FE model correlates very well with the
experimental results. Further, the ultimate loading
capacity of the B-II-1 specimen captured by the FE
model is250KNwhichisveryclosetotheexperimen-
tal result of 244KNreportedbyAl-Zaidet al. (2012).
IntheFEmodel ameshsizeof 10mmwaschosenand
concretewasmodelledusingSBETA material model
which is an orthotropic damagemodel implemented
inATENA software. Comparingtheload- deflection
146
of thecontrol beamwiththestrengthenedbeam, it is
observablethat applicationof bondedFRP sheetscan
enhancetheloadingcapacityof thebeamupto300%
whichisverysignificant.
Basedonwhat hasbeenreportedbyAl-Zaidet al.
(2012) thestrengthenedbeamfailedduetodebonding
initiatedinthevicinityof themid-spanandpropagated
towardstheendsof theplates. Fig. 3showsthecrack-
ingpatternsandfailuremodesof twotestedbeamsin
Al-Zaidet al. (2012) studies. As theloadappliedon
thebeamisgraduallyincreased, vertical cracksdueto
flexurestarttoreveal atthemid-spanof thebeam. FRP
bondedsheetpersistsexpansionof theflexural cracks
widthbyimposingatensileforcethroughthebonding
Figure2. Loadvs. mid-spandeflectionfor Beam-II-1and
control beaminexperimental andFE tests.
Figure3. Crackpropagationanddebondinginexperimental test.
Figure4. CrackpatterncapturedbyFE model (half of thebeam).
Figure5. CrackpropagationinFE text (half of thebeam).
glue. As theapplied external load is going up these
microcrackscombinewitheachother andcreatenew
wider cracks. Thisprocesscontinuesuptotheextent
that thebond cant hold theconnection between the
FRP sheet and thebeam. This phenomenon triggers
the debonding starting at mid-span and propagating
towards theend of thebeam. When FRP sheets sets
apart fromthe soffit of the beam, a dramatic drop
in flexural capacity of the beamtakes place which
accompanieswithabrittlefailurewithout anynotice.
Duetosymmetricnatureof loadingandconfigura-
tionof thebeam, onlyonehalf of thebeaminATENA
2Denvironmentwasmodelled.Thecrackpatterncap-
turedby theFE model for half of thebeamis shown
inFig. 4.
3 FLEXURAL STRENGTHENINGOF RC
BEAM USINGEXTERNALLY
POST-TENSIONEDFRP RODS
Inthissection,thesamesimply-supportedbeamwhich
was used in previous example is now strengthened
with externally post-tensioned FRP rods. The post-
tensioningbarspre-stressedupto17%of theirultimate
loadingcapacityandthenanchoredat theendsof the
beams. Material propertiesof RC beamandFRP bar
areexactly asgiveninTable1. Thediameter of post-
tensioningbarsconsideredinthisexampleis10mm.
The geometry and configuration of RC beam and
post-tensioningsystemareoutlinedinFig. 5.
147
Thissystemof strengtheningminimizesthecracks
widthintensilezonebyapplyingacompressiveforce
alongthebeamlength.TheRCbeamloadedgradually
upto thefailurepoint. Consideringthesymmetry of
testingset-upandloadingpattern, onlyonehalf of the
beamwasmodelledinATENA 2D. TheRCbeamwas
meshed using quadrilateral elements with maximum
sizeof 10mm.
Fig.6depictstheloadversusmid-spandeflectionof
thebeamstrengthened by externally post- tensioned
bar.
The externally post-tensioned beamfailed at the
load level of 140KN corresponding to a mid-span
deflectionof 105mm. Thebeamfaileddueto exten-
sionof crackwidthat itsmid-spanwhichisaflexural
mode of failure. Considering the failure load of the
control beamwhichwas88KN, thissystemof exter-
nal reinforcing improved the ultimate load capacity
by60%.
Fig. 7showsthecrackpatternof theexternallypost-
tensionedbeamcapturedbyFE model.
As it is shown in Fig. 7 local cracking due to
stressconcentrationontheleftsideof thebeamwhere
the pre-stressed tendon is attached to the RC beam
occurs. Thisphenomenondecreasestheefficiency of
thissystemtosomeextent.
4 CONCLUSION
The comparisons between the experimental results
and numerical predictions clearly demonstrate the
Figure6. Load vs. mid-span deflection of Post-tensioned
beam.
Figure7. Crackpatternintheexternallypost-tensionedbeam(half of thebeam).
capability of FE model to reproduce the load-
deflectionresponse, crack pattern, failuremodel and
capture the ultimate loading capacity of the beams
strengthened with FRP material. It was shown that
bondedFRP sheet andexternallypost-tensionedFRP
bars can significantly increase the ultimate loading
capacity and stiffness of RC beams. The FE model
showedthattheultimateloadingcapacityof thebeam
improvedby60%usingexternal post-tensioningFRP
rods with a total area of 157mm
2
. Further, for the
caseconsideredinthis paper, it was shownthat fail-
ure of RC beams reinforced by bonded FRP sheets
was associatedwithdebondingof FRP sheets which
is abrittlemodewhereas thefailuremodeof exter-
nally post-tensioned beamwas a reasonably ductile
mode, which was associated with flexural failureof
thebeam.
REFERENCES
Al-Zaid, R. Z., Al-Negheimish, A. I., Al-Saawani, M. A.
& El-Sayed, A. K. 2012. Analytical study onRC beams
strengthenedforflexurewithexternallybondedFRPrein-
forcement. CompositesPartB: Engineering, 43, 129141.
Allen, R., Edwards, S. & Shaw, J. 1993. The Repair of
ConcreteStructures. 2ndEdn, BlackieAcademic & Pro-
fessional.
Ehsani, M. R. & Saadatmanesh, H. 1990. Fiber compos-
ite plates for strengthening bridge beams. Composite
Structures, 15, 343355.
El-Ariss, B. 2004. Stiffness of reinforced concrete beams
with external tendons. Engineering Structures, 26,
20472051.
El Maaddawy, T. & Soudki, K. 2008. Strengthening of
reinforced concrete slabs with mechanically-anchored
unbondedFRP system. ConstructionandBuildingMate-
rials, 22, 444455.
Faria, D. M.V., Lcio,V. J. G. &Ramos,A. P. 2011. Strength-
eningof flat slabswithpost-tensioningusinganchorages
bybonding. EngineeringStructures, 33, 20252043.
Mosallam, A. S. & Mosalam, K. M. 2003. Strength-
ening of two-way concrete slabs with FRP compos-
ite laminates. Construction and Building Materials, 17,
4354.
Oh,H.,Sim,J.&Meyer,C.2003.Experimental assessmentof
bridgedeckpanelsstrengthenedwithcarbonfiber sheets.
CompositesPart B: Engineering, 34, 527538.
Takeda, K., Mitsui, Y., Murakami, K., Sakai, H. & Naka-
mura, M. 1996. Flexural behaviour of reinforcedconcrete
beams strengthened with carbon fibre sheets. Compos-
ites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 27,
981987.
148
Evaluationof effectivewidthof GFRP-steel compositebeams
for structural construction
S. Satasivam,Y. Bai & X.L. Zhao
Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Clayton Australia
ABSTRACT: Glassfibrereinforcedpolymer compositeshavegreat potentialsfor structural designandcon-
struction. One successful application is the FRP-steel composite beamsystemconsisting of a GFRP deck
adhesivelybondedontopof asteel girder. ByreplacingexistingconcreteslabswithGFRPsavingsinweightcan
beachieved, accompaniedwithhighstrengthinbothtensionandcompressionandbetter corrosionresistance.
However, becauseof distinctions in mechanical properties of concreteand GFRP, theeffectivewidth of the
resultingcompositebeammay bedifferent. Thispaper investigatestheeffectivewidthof GFRP deck systems
adhesively bondedtosteel girders usingfiniteelement andanalytical approaches. Themodellingresults were
first validatedthroughpreviousexperimental resultsandaparametric study wasthenconductedtoclarify the
effectsof typical geometricparameters, majormechanical propertiesandthedegreeof compositeaction. Results
showedthat thespanlengthandflangewidthof thecompositebeamsarethemajor factorsthat influenceeffec-
tivewidth. Furthermore, theadhesivelayer was revealedto haveless of aninfluenceontheeffectivewidthif
full compositeactionis provided. Existingempirical models for steel andconcretecompositebeams may be
usedtoanalyseGFRP-steel beamsbecausesimilar normal straindistributionsareseeninbothGFRP-steel and
concrete-steel systems.
1 INTRODUCTION
Normal stresses withinthedeck near theweb-flange
junction are higher than the parts of the flange that
areadistanceaway fromtheweb. This non-uniform
stressdistribution, whicharisesduetoshear strains, is
knownasshear lag. Thisresultsininaccuratedeflec-
tion and stress calculations if simplebeamtheory is
used. Hencetheconcept of aneffectiveflangewidth
is proposed with an assumption that normal stresses
areuniformly distributed within theeffectivewidth.
The width at which a constant stress is equal to the
maximumvalue
max
of theactual stress distribution
x
is known as the effective width b
e
, as shown in
Figure1. It canbeexpressedmathematicallyas
whereb istheactual slabwidth.Thisdefinitioncanbe
alteredtoformanexpressioninvolvingstrain, shown
inequation(2) (Nieet al. 2008)
where
x
istheaxial straindistributionand
max
isthe
maximumstrain at y =0. Furthermore, theeffective
widthcanbecalculatedbyemployingashearlagfactor
asshowninequation(3).
By combining equations (2) and (3), the shear lag
factor canbeexpressedasequation(4).
Extensive research has been conducted on steel-
concretecompositesections, whereit hasbeenfound
thatvariousparametershaveaninfluenceontheeffec-
tivewidth. Suchparametersincludethelengthof the
span and the girder spacing, which were shown by
CheungandChan(1978) tobemajorfactorsinfluenc-
ingeffectivewidth.A parametricstudybyCastroet al.
(2007) showedthattheloadingandsupportconditions
haveaneffect. Comparisonsbetweenapointloadand
auniformlydistributedloaddemonstratedthatapoint
loadwill provideagreater variationinthestressdis-
tributionacrossthemidspanof theslab. Furthermore,
Amadio and Fragiacomo (2002) and Amadio et al.
(2004) determined that the effective width becomes
larger asthecompositesectionmovesfromelastic to
plastic behaviour. Asthebeamreachesaplastic state
thenormal stressesbecomemoreuniform,aresultalso
observed by Nieet al. (2008). Finally, thedeforma-
bility of theconnections is animportant factor, as is
149
Figure1. Axial normal stress distribution
x
andeffective
widthb
e
.
theeffect of saggingor hoggingbendingmoments, in
thedeterminationof theeffectivewidth(Amadioand
Fragiacomo2002).
Fibre-reinforced polymers (FRP) cellular decks
have been suggested as the top flange instead of
concrete slabs. Such composite beam systems are
increasingly beingusedinbridgeconstruction. They
havesufficientstrengthandstiffness, arelight-weight,
resistanttocorrosion, allowforrapidandeasyinstalla-
tionandhaveahighstiffnesstoweightratio. Inbridge
design, the FRP deck is connected via shear studs
and/or adhesive to a supporting steel girder. Whilst
extensiveresearchhasbeenconductedonthestrength
andstiffnessof FRP-steel beams(J ohnsonet al. 1990;
Bakis et al. 2002; Turner et al. 2004; Coogler et al.
2005), oneaspect that requiresfurther researchisthe
effectiveflangewidth.
Different fromtraditional concreteandsteel com-
positebeams, aFRP deck andsteel girder composite
beamis characterized by its orthotropic FRP deck
as thebeamflange. Becauseof this, existing design
codes may not be applicable for FRP-steel compos-
ite beams. Tenchev (1996) performed a parametric
study on orthotropic beamflanges and plates, from
which empirical equations for effective width were
developed. However, these can only be used for a
limited number of loading and support conditions.
Furthermore, only a two-dimensional finite element
analysiswasconductedduetolimitedcomputercapac-
ity. Recently Zouet al. (2011) developedashear-lag
model basedonpreviouswork by SalimandDavalos
(2005)tocalculatetheeffectivewidthof anorthotropic
FRP bridge deck. A reduction factor was included
to takeinto account thedegreeof compositeaction.
However, thismodel wasonlyverifiedagainst aFRP
bridgedeckwithahoneycombstructureconnectedto
supportinggirdersviashear studs.
The mechanical performance of FRP deck and
steel girder composite beams was investigated by
KellerandGrtler(2005a; 2005b; 2006b; 2006a).Two
GFRP bridgedeck systemswereexamined ASSET
Figure 2. Cross section and geometric parameters of a)
ASSET deck(FiberlineComposites, 1995) andb) DuraSpan
deck(MMC 2002).
(manufacturedbyFiberline, Denmark) andDuraSpan
(manufacturedbyMartinMariettaComposites, USA)
decksadhesivelybondedtosteel girders. Bothtypesof
decksaremadeviathepultrusionprocessfromE-glass
fibresandanisopthalicpolyesterresin.Resultsshowed
that the effective width increased as load increased
fromtheserviceabilitylimitstate(SLS)totheultimate
limit state (ULS). In addition, full composite action
wasprovidedbytheadhesiveforbothbridgedecksys-
tems.Full compositeactionwasalsoachievedbetween
the top and bottomfacesheets of theASSET deck.
However, only partial compositeactionwasprovided
betweenthefacesheetsof theDuraSpandeck.Thecor-
relationbetweencompositeactionandeffectivewidth,
andeffectsof variousgeometric parameterswerenot
clarified, andhencefurther researchisrequired.
Thispaperwill investigatetheeffectiveflangewidth
of cellular FRP bridge decks adhesively bonded to
steel girders. UsingANSYS finiteelement software,
parametricstudieswill beperformedonbothASSET
and DuraSpan bridgedecks. Thegeometric parame-
ters of thedeck andthemechanical properties of the
shearconnectionwill bealteredtodeterminetheeffect
theyhaveontheeffectivewidth.Analytical methodsof
straindistributionandeffectivewidthbasedonsteel-
concretecompositeswill beappliedandcomparedto
theresultsfromtheparametricstudy.
2 FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
2.1 Experimental reference
Keller and Grtler investigated effective width and
compositeactionforFRPbridgedecksystems(2005a;
2005b). Intheseexperiments, ASSET andDuraSpan
bridgedecks wereused, thecross-sections of which
aregiveninFigure2.Thewidthandlengthwere1.5m
and7.5mrespectivelyfor bothbeams. Thesteel gird-
ers hadaheight of 500mmandthetopflanges were
22010mm, thebottomflanges were25015mm
andthewebswere47510mm.
The DuraSpan deck displayed linear elastic
behaviouruptoaloadof 140kNperloadingjack, with
failureoccurringinaductilemannerat405kN(Keller
and Grtler 2005a). At the SLS, which occurred at
80kN, thestrains werenot linear through thecross-
section, withstrainsintheupperfaceof thedeckbeing
90%that of thelower face. At theULSthiswasmore
150
pronouncedasthestrainsintheupper facewere60
70% that of the lower face. This arose even though
theadhesiveprovidedfull loadtransmissionbetween
thegirder andthedeck.Therefore, theDuraSpandeck
only showedpartial compositeaction. Thereasonfor
thiswasthatthewebsof thedeckwerenotrigidenough
inshear, andhencetheupper facewas only partially
connectedtotherest of thedeck-girder system.
AccordingtoKellerandGrtler(2005b)theSLSfor
theASSET deckwasobservedataloadof 90kN, cor-
respondingtoadeflectionof span/600. Failureof the
beamoccurredat373kN. Inaddition, almostfull com-
positeactionwasobservedbetweenthetopandbottom
facesheetsof thedeck.TheASSETdeckdisplayedlin-
earelasticbehaviouruptofailure, whichoccurredina
brittlemanner. Atserviceabilityloadsthestrainswere
almostlinearthroughthecross-section, andhencethis
deck provided almost full compositeaction. Finally,
for bothtypesof decks, theeffectivewidthdecreased
astheloadingincreased.
2.2 Finite element modelling
The FRP deck and steel girders were modelled by
ANSYSfiniteelementsoftwareusingSHELL181ele-
ments.The10mm-thickisotropicadhesive, whichhad
anelasticmodulusof 3800MPaandaPoissonsratioof
0.3, wasmodelledusingSOLID45elements. Degrees
of freedomof thetopadhesiveelementswerecoupled
tothesteel andthoseof thebottomoneswerecoupled
toFRPelementstoprovidecompositeactionbetween
thesteel girder andtheFRP deck. Material properties
for all components weregiveninGrtler (2004). All
beamsweresimplysupportedandloadedinfour-point
bending, with each load P applied at a3mdistance
awayfromeachsupport.
2.3 Comparison of results
The load displacement curves comparing the finite
element model to the experimental results for both
theASSET and DuraSpan decks are shown in Fig-
ure3. Thestraindistributions ontheupper facesheet
and along the width at midspan of both theASSET
andDuraSpandecksat bothSLSandULSareshown
in Figure 4. The finite element models for both the
ASSET and DuraSpan decks show good agreement
withtheexperimental results.
3 PARAMETRICANALYSIS
3.1 Effects of width-to-span ratio
A parametric analysis was performed on both the
ASSET andDuraSpandeck-steel section. Thelength
of theASSETdeck-steel girderwasmodelledat7.5m,
10mand15 m. Thewidthof thedeck was alteredso
that the b/L ratios for each span length were equal
to 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1 to account for both one-
way and two-way actions of the deck. The two-way
Figure3. Load-displacement behaviour of DuraSpandeck
andASSET deck(shownwithFEA model).
Figure4. Straindistributionsof upperfacesheetsof ASSET
andDuraSpandecksalongwidthat midspan.
action is applicablefor building design, theanalysis
of whichwill provideinsight intothepossibleusesof
GFRPdecksasfloorslabs.A spanlengthof 7.5mwas
modelledfortheDuraSpandeck. Beamswithagreater
spanlengthwerenot analysedbecausecomputational
timemaybeconsiderableandsimilarconclusionsmay
befound. Similar to theASSET deck, b/L ratios of
0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1 were investigated by chang-
ingthewidthof thedecks. Thebeamswereloadedin
four-point bending. Eachpoint loadP wasappliedat
adistanceof 0.4L fromthesupports, whichfollows
that usedbyKeller andGrtler (2005a; 2005b).
As the experimental data for Keller and Grtler
(2005b) showed, theadhesiveprovided full compos-
ite action. Therefore the mechanical properties of
theadhesivewerenot alteredwhen investigatingthe
effectsof width-to-spanratio.Furthermore,asboththe
ASSET andDuraSpandecks comeinpredetermined
thicknesses this was not altered in the parametric
analysis.
The axial strain distribution on the top facesheet
at midspan for theASSET and DuraSpan decks are
shown in Figure5. Theresults indicatethat theb/L
151
Figure 5. Axial strain distribution at midspan of top
facesheetof a)ASSET deck(L =7.5m) at90kNand373kN
andb) DuraSpandeck(L =7.5m) at 80kNand405kN.
ratiogreatlyinfluencesshear lag, withshear lagbeing
more pronounced in sections with a larger width;
a feature also observed in steel-concrete composite
beams(Castroet al. 2007).
3.2 Effects of loading level
Figure5(a) shows theaxial strain distribution along
thetopfacesheet of theASSET deckwhenP is90kN
or 373kN. The strain distributions at these smaller
loads are more uniformthan the strain distributions
at a higher load, indicating that the effective width
decreaseswithanincreaseinloadlevel.Thisresultwas
observedby Keller andGrtler (2005b) inwhichthe
effectivewidthat failurewassmaller thanthat at ser-
viceability. However, thisconclusionmaybenotvalid
forsteel-concretebeams, whereithasbeenshownthat
theeffectivewidth increases to thefull width at the
ultimatelimit state(Amadioet al. 2004; Castroet al.
2007). In further reference to Figure 5a), it can be
seenthatwhilsttheloadinglevel doesinfluenceshear
lag, theeffect of b/L ratiooneffectivewidthismore
prominent.
Figure5(b) showstheaxial straindistributionalong
thetopfacesheetof theDuraSpandeckwhenPis80kN
or 405kN. Whenb/L =0.2, thestraindistributionis
moreuniformat 80kNthanat 405kN, indicatingthat
Figure6. Straindistributionof topfacesheetofASSETdeck
at midspanwithadhesiveof varyingshear modulus.
shearlagislessprominentatlowerloads.Thisfitswith
theexperimental work by Keller andGrtler (2005a)
where, for abeamof length7.5mandb/L =0.2, the
effectivewidthat failure(405kN) is less thanthat at
serviceability (80kN). However, accordingtotheFE
resultstheeffectivewidthat 80kN islower thanthat
at 405kNwhenb/L increases. Thismaybeduetothe
partial compositeactionseenintheDuraSpandeck.
3.3 Effects of composite action between steel and
FRP deck
Theeffect of compositeactionbetweenthesteel and
theFRP deck was investigated by altering theshear
stiffness of the adhesive. The shear modulus of the
adhesive was reduced to 60% (877MPa) and 20%
(292MPa) of theoriginal shearmodulusof 1462MPa.
Shear moduli smaller than20%werenot investigated
asthiswouldnot beausual case.
The strain distribution of theASSET decks with
adhesivesof differentshearmoduli areshowninFigure
6. The strain distribution is more uniformfor adhe-
siveconnectionswithalowershearmodulus.However,
thereis still very littledifferencein thestrain distri-
butionof thetopfacesheet andintheeffectivewidth.
This result is due to the fact that the connection is
continuous throughout thedeck-steel interfacerather
thanspacedshear studs, andhencetheeffect of shear
modulus of the adhesive is not significant with this
respect. Aneffect may beseenif theadhesivethick-
ness was greater than the 10mmthickness that was
modelled. However, larger thicknesses would easily
result in apoor bonding quality dueto air gaps and
further reducethebondstrength, hencethiscondition
wasnot analysed.
3.4 Effects of composite action between top and
bottom flanges of FRP deck
The DuraSpan deck shows partial composite action
between the top and bottomfacesheets and due to
thisthestraindistributionfollowsadifferent shapeto
that seen in theASSET deck. The composite action
152
between the facesheet arises due to the shear stiff-
nessof thedeckcore. TheDuraSpandeckhasalower
in-planeshear modulustotheASSET deck, asdeter-
minedexperimentally by Keller andGrtler (2006b).
Therefore, theload transfer between thebottomand
top facesheets is not as completeas that seen in the
ASSET deck. Figures 8(a) and 8(b) show the effec-
tivewidthdeterminedviafiniteelement analysis for
theASSET andDuraSpandecksrespectively. Regard-
lessof thedegreeof compositeactionbetweenthetop
and bottomfacesheets, both deck types still show a
decreaseineffectivewidthwhenb/L increases.
4 MODELLING
Anempirical methodhasbeendevelopedbyNieet al.
(2008). Theaxial strain
x
of theupper facepanel of
theFRP deckcanbecharacterizedwithequation(5).
where y is the distance along the y-axis and C is a
parameter withintheequation. (0) is theequivalent
to
max
. If y =b/2, then
Therefore,
Bycombiningequations(4) and(5) andsolvinggives
asolutiontotheshear lagfactor
Theempirical solution may beutilized to provide
thestrain distribution for theASSET and DuraSpan
decks. This can be used for both one-way and two
slabs at theSLS andULS. Figure7shows thestrain
distribution fromequation (5) determined fromFE
results. Using this equation requires strain values at
y =0andy =b/2, andthesecanonlybeobtainedfrom
either experimental or finite element results. There-
fore, usingasimilar methodtothat employedby Nie
et al. (2008), empirical formulasforparameterC have
beenformed. TheC valuesfromtheFEA resultshave
beencalculatedusingequation(7). Thesevalueswere
plottedagainstb/L andparaboliccurveswerefittedto
theseresults.Twoseparateempirical equationsmustbe
createdbecausetheASSETdeckdisplaysfull compos-
iteactionbetweenitsfacesheetswhilst theDuraSpan
deckonlyshowspartial compositeaction. Theempir-
ical solution of C for the ASSET deck is given in
equation(9) andthesolutionfor theDuraSpandeck
Figure7. Empirical straindistributionforAssetandDuraS-
pandecksof L =7.5mandb/L =0.2at ULS.
is given in equation (10). Theseequations allow for
thecalculationof C for agivenb/L ratio, allowingfor
its direct usein plotting thestrain distribution given
inequation(5).Theseequationsareapplicabletotwo-
point loads, however noeffectsfromloadlevelswere
considered.
The effective widths calculated by the empirical
methodareshowninFigure8. Theempirical method
shows good agreement with the FEA results. This
methoddoes not consider theeffects of loadlevel or
theshear modulusof theadhesivesincetheb/L ratio
wasconsideredtohavethemost significant effect on
shear lag. Theresultssuggest that thestraindistribu-
tionfor FRP decksfollowsasimilar shapetothat for
steel-concretebeams as shown by Nieet al. (2008),
both of which can be characterized by equation (5)
(c.f. Figure7).
However, it should be noted that the parameters
in the empirical equations were determined through
a fitting of existing FE results and specifically for
these FRP decks and loading conditions and when
theconnectionbetweenthesteel andFRPcomponents
providesfull compositeaction.
5 CONCLUSION
AparametricstudywasperformedonFRPdecksadhe-
sively bondedto steel girders. Geometric parameters
of theFRP deck andthemechanical propertiesof the
shear connection werealteredin order to investigate
theaxial straindistributionsandshear lageffects. The
widthtolengthratiowasfoundtobeamajor determi-
nant of shear lag, whereanincreaseintheb/L ratio
resultedinadecreaseintheeffectivewidth. However,
153
Figure8. a) Effectivewidthsof Assetdecksandb) effective
widthsof DuraSpandecks.
theeffectsof loadinglevel andtheshearstiffnessof the
adhesiveconnectionwerenot as significant as those
inducedbythewidthtolengthratio.
Empirical methods were used to characterize the
effective width of FRP-steel composite sections.
Whilst this was successful in calculating the effec-
tive width of FRP-steel beans, this method is only
applicableto thetwo deck types investigated in this
paper.
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154
Behaviour of compositesteel-concretebeamsunder elevated
temperatures
K. Wilkins, O. Mirza& B. Uy
University of Western Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: Thispaper considersthebehaviour of headedstudshear connectorsoncompositesteel-concrete
beamsfor bothsolidandprofiledsteel sheetingslabsunder elevatedtemperatures. Boththeexperimental study
andfiniteelementmodellingarepresented. Sixteenpushtestswereundertaken.Thematerial propertieschanged
accordingtotherateof heatingwhensubjectedtotheelevatedtemperatures. Thecapabilityof thespecimensto
withstandloadsduringfirewasillustratedby progressively loadingthepushtestsuptotheultimateload. The
headedstudshearconnectorstrengthunderfirewasconcludedbythefiniteelementanalysistobeverysensitive.
Theinvestigationof theshear resistanceof theheadedstudshear connectorsasafunctionof temperaturewas
allowedbytheexperimental studies.
1 INTRODUCTION
Multi-storeycompositesteel-concretebuildingdesigns
for fire resistance have conventionally been deter-
minedfor theassumptionthat total or partial collapse
of the building will occur when subjected to fully
developedfire. It isimportant tounderstandthereac-
tion of headed stud shear connectors for composite
steel-concrete buildings when subjected to fire. The
headedstudshearconnectorsareconsideredindirectly
exposed to fire according to Mirza and Uy (2009),
opposing to thesteel and concretecomponents. The
elevatedtemperaturesinducesignificantvertical uplift
forces to theheadedstudshear connectors, andthus
impose complex stress and axial tension (Ranzi &
Bradford2007). Themechanical propertiesandstruc-
tural resistance of the directly exposed components
decreaseas temperatures increase, depending on the
rateof heating.
Compositesteel-concretebeamsareconstructedof
astructural steel beamand concreteslab, connected
at theinterfaceby headedstudshear connectors. The
combiningof steel andconcreteas awholemember
is effective, dueto thesteel tensilestrength comple-
mentingtheconcretecompressivestrength(Oehlers&
Bradford1999).Theheadedstudshear connectorsare
used to reduce the longitudinal interfacial slip and
vertical separationof thecompositecomponents. The
strength and stiffness of theshear connectors define
theconnectionof thecomponents.
Profiledsteel sheetingincompositesteel-concrete
beamsiscommonlyusedinsteel-framedconstruction.
Profiledsteel sheetingprovidespermanent formwork
andtensilereinforcement to theconcretecomponent
(Krezo2010). Profiledbeamsaredesignedtothesame
standard as solid members; except for the capacity
calculation of the headed stud shear connections
applied(Nieet al. 2005).
This paper intends to increase the awareness of
theconceptsdefiningcompositesteel-concretestruc-
tural design for fire exposure. This is important to
enhancemethodsregardingevacuatingoccupants,pre-
ventingfirespreadandminimizinglifeandmonetary
loss of composite steel-concrete structures (Wang
2005). The structural steel beam, steel reinforcing
bars and shear connector interactions with the con-
creteslabdeterminethebehaviourof theconcreteslab
under fire.
Considerableinvestigationhasbeenundertakento
research the behaviour of composite steel-concrete
structureswhenexposedtofire, however experimen-
tal study validated by numerical modelling has been
limited. Hence this paper will conduct a numeri-
cal analysis to validate and compare results of the
previously conducted experimental push test study
undertakenby Krezo (2010). Thenumerical analysis
will beconductedviafiniteelement softwareknown
asABAQUS. Solidslabandprofiledslabdesignare
considered.Thebehaviourof compositesteel-concrete
beamsunder elevatedtemperatureswill beillustrated.
2 EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION
FOR PUSHTESTS
As themost common method, push tests areusedto
determinetheload-slipcharacteristics of mechanical
shearconnectors. Sixteenpushtestswereinvestigated:
eightsolidslabsandeightprofiledslabs.Thepushtests
varied by temperature exposure, including ambient
temperature, 200
C, 400
C and 600
C. All experi-
mental testswereconductedaccordingtoEurocode4,
155
Figure1. Solidslabpushtest specimen.
British Standards Institution (2005). The push test
specimensconsistof astructural steel beamconnected
to two concreteslabs viaheaded stud shear connec-
tors, locatedattheinterfaceof thecomponents. Dueto
thefurnacelimitations, modificationstothestandard
dimensionsweremade, asillustratedinFigures1and
2.ThepushtestparametersaredetailedinTable1.The
rateof temperatureselevatedisaccordingtostandard
ISO834curve, ISO834(1999).
Thestress-straincharacteristicsof amaterial aregener-
allydefinedbyconstitutivelaws. Theconstitutivelaw
defined mechanical behaviour determines the accu-
racy of theanalysis. Thestress-strainrelationshipsof
theconcrete, structural steel, steel reinforcementbars,
profiledsteel sheetingandshear connector materials
represent thematerial constitutivelaws. Themechan-
ical behaviour at ambient and elevated temperatures
is considered in this paper. The specific heat, ther-
mal expansion, andthermal conductivityarethemain
Figure2. Profiledslabpushtest specimen.
Table1. Pushtest parameters.
Slabtype Steel reinforcement Temperature
Solid N12@180topandbottom Ambient
N12@180topandbottom 200
C
C
C
Profiled N12@180toponly Ambient
N12@180toponly 200
C
N12@180toponly 400
C
N12@180toponly 600
C
propertiesusedtoaccuratelycalculatethetemperature
distributionfor acompositecross-section. Themate-
rial propertiesusedforthefiniteelementmodel inthis
studyaredetailedaccordingtoMirzaandUy(2009).
3.2 Finite element type and mesh
Inorder to achieveanaccurateresult fromthefinite
element analysis, three dimensional solid elements
wereusedtomodel thepushtest specimens. A three-
dimensional eightnodeelement(C3D8R) wasusedto
model boththeconcreteslabandthestructural steel
beam,asitisasolidelementwithimprovedrateof con-
vergence. For theshear connectors, three-dimensional
thirty-nodequadratic brick elements(C3D20R) were
used, asit isasecondorder element consistingof 20
nodes, providinghigher accuracy when comparedto
156
Figure3. Finiteelement meshandboundary conditionsof
solidslabmodel.
Figure4. Finiteelement meshandboundary conditionsof
profiledslabmodel.
firstorderelements.Additionally,moreeffectivestress
concentrationsandmodelledgeometricfeatureswere
applied.
The profiled steel sheeting was modelled using
four-nodedoublycurvedthinshell element (S4R).
TheS4R element has six degrees of freedomper
node. Accurate solutions and quadratic deformation
over four nodal co-ordinates, membrane action and
plainstrainbehaviour werealsoprovidedby theS4R
element.
For thesteel reinforcement, two-nodelinear three
dimensional truss elements (T3D2) wereadopted, in
ABAQUS to provideaxial directionequationoption.
The slip between the reinforcing bar and concrete
component wasconsideredinsignificant.
Thefiniteelementmeshesusedtorepresenthalf of
thestud of thepush test specimens areillustrated in
Figures3and4. Aseachspecimenwassymmetrical,
only half was simulatedto reducethecomputational
time and cost. Fine mesh was used to surround the
shear connectors, with coarse mesh surrounding all
other components. Thegeneratedmeshwasdesigned
to giveoptimal accuracy. Accuracy was also ensured
byasensitivityanalysisconducted.
Figure5. Force-sliprelationshipfor solidslabat different
temperatures.
3.3 Boundary condition and loading application
As showninFigures 3and4, thenodes of surface1
for concrete, shear connectors, structural steel beam,
steel reinforcement bars, and profiled steel sheeting
arerestrictedfrommovinginthex-direction.All nodes
of surface2arerestrictedtomoveinthey-direction.
All nodes of surface 3 are restricted to move in the
z-direction.
A uniformly distributed load was applied to the
centreof thewebfor theloadapplication. To ensure
unloading was captured during the nonlinear analy-
sis, and to predict nonlinear collapseof aspecimen,
themodifiedRIKS methodwasemployed. Themod-
ified RIKS method is commonly used to predict the
unstableand nonlinear collapseof astructure. More
importantly, this methodcanobtainaseries of itera-
tions for each increment for thenonlinear behaviour
of structures. Theloadmagnitudewasusedtosimul-
taneouslysolvetheloadsanddisplacements. Theload
valueafter eachincrementisautomaticallycomputed.
Either themaximumloador displacement valuewill
offer thefinal result.
4.1 Solid slab
Thefailuremodefor all solidslabtestsrangingfrom
ambient temperatureto 400
C was mainly governed

bystudfracture. Shearingof theconnectorsoccurred
near theweld collar, as expected. However concrete
failureoccurredfor temperaturerangesabove400
C.
Figure5illustratestheload-sliprelationshipfor solid
slabs under elevatedtemperatures. Theambient tem-
peraturesolid slab push tests wereloaded according
to Eurocode 4, British Standards Institution (2005).
Loading occurred at 40% of the ultimate load for
25cycles, andthenloadedto failure. Initial signs of
failure at ambient temperature occurred at 108kN.
Small separationbetweentheconcreteslabandsteel
beamwas observed. Studfailureoccurredat 128kN
asillustratedinFigure6.
For the200
C, 400
C and600
C solidspecimens,
heatingtothedesiredtemperatureoccurred, followed
157
Figure6. Studfractureat 128kNat ambient temperature.
Figure7. Studfractureat 110kNfor 200
C.
byinstantaneousloadingtoultimatefailure. Theulti-
mateloadachievedinthesolidslabat 200
C, 400
C
and 600
C was 110kN, 100kN and 62kN, respec-

tively. Studfailureof thesolidslabat 200
Cisshown
inFigure7. Bothstudfractureandconcretecracking
occurredinthesolidslabat both400
Cand600
Cas
showninFigures8and9respectively.
The load-slip behaviour of the headed stud shear
connectorsdeterminedbythefiniteelementmodelling
and experimental push tests were compared, as in
Figure5. Furthermore, theexperimental investigation
was shown to be in good agreement with the finite
element model. Thetemperatureincreasesresultedin
decreasedultimateloadcapacities.
4.2 Profiled slab
Concrete failure occurred before the headed stud
shear connectors failed for all theprofiled push test
specimens. Figure10illustratestheload-sliprelation-
ship for profiled slab under elevated temperatures.
Initial signsof failureatambienttemperatureoccurred
at 46kN. Small separationbetweentheconcreteslab
Figure8. Studfractureat 100kNfor 400
C.
Figure9. Concretecrackingat 62kNfor 600
C.
Figure10. Force-slip relationship for profiled slab at dif-
ferent temperature.
andprofiledsteel sheetingwasobserved. Studfailure
occurredat 88kNasillustratedinFigure11.
Theultimateload achieved in theprofiled slab at
200
C, 400
Cand600
Cwas83kN, 55kNand50kN,
respectively. Final observed failure of the 200
C,
400
Cand600
Cwasconcretecrackingandspalling,
asillustratedinFigures1214.
158
Figure11. Concretefailureat ultimateload.
C.
Goodagreementwasagainfoundbetweenthefinite
element modelling and experimental study results
for the profiled slabs. Stress distributions proved
increased temperatures to decreasetheultimateload
achieved.
4.3 Ultimate shear capacity according to time
The relationship of the ultimate load to the varying
temperatureat the4mmslipis determined. Theele-
vatingtemperatures significantly reducetheultimate
shear loads, as illustrated in Figure 15. Equations 1
and2determinetherelationshipfor solidandprofiled
slabsrespectivelyasfollows:
C
C.
Figure15. Ultimateshear capacity according to tempera-
tureat 4mmslip.
where P is the ultimate shear load, P
u
is the ulti-
mate shear load at ambient temperature, and T is
temperature.
The ultimate load of the solid slab is generally
higher whencomparedto theprofiledslab. Theulti-
mate load reductions of the solid slab and profiled
slabswere41%and64%respectively.Thisisresultant
of thesolidslabbeinginclinedto headedstudshear
159
failure, whilst theprofiledslabisinclinedtoconcrete
crackingandcrushingfailure. Theheadedstudshear
connectors areconsideredindirectly exposedto fire,
whereastheconcreteisconsidereddirectlyexposed.
5 CONCLUSION
Key issuesfor pushtestsof compositesteel-concrete
beams were considered in this paper. An accurate
finiteelementmodel hasbeendevelopedtoinvestigate
thebehaviour of shear connectionincompositesteel-
concrete beams for both solid and profiled slabs at
elevatedtemperatures.Comparisonsof theexperimen-
tal pushteststothefiniteelementmodellingprovethe
results to beingoodagreement. Accurateprediction
of all failuremodes occurred, witha10%maximum
discrepancyobserved.
Thepredominantmodesof failurefor thesolidand
profiledslabswereheadedstudshearfractureandcon-
cretecrackingfailure, respectively. Thefailuremode
for theprofiledslabsremainedconstant, whereasthe
failure mode for the solid slabs varied from shear
connector failuretoconcretefailureabove400
C.
Ingeneral, thesolidslabswereobservedtoachieve
higherultimateloadsthantheprofiledslabs.Thesolid
slabs also achieved higher stiffness dueto theshear
studfailure.Howevertheprofiledslabachievedhigher
ductility, duetotheprofiledsheeting.
Comparison of temperature parameters showed
ambient temperature for both slabs to have higher
ductilityandstiffnessthan200
C, 400
C and600
C.
For structural efficiency purposes, it should be
noted that at 4mmslip, the solid slab and profiled
slabreductionswere41%and64%, respectively.
To validate the above results, further experimen-
tal research is considered necessary. This should be
conducted to further enhance the understanding of
compositesteel-concretestructurefireresistance.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the University of
WesternSydneyEarlyCareer Researcher SeedGrants
Scheme(20731.87032) for providingfundingfor this
project and also providing a conducive environment
for theauthorstopreparethispaper.
REFERENCES
BritishStandardsInstitutionEC42005, Eurocode 4 1994-1-
1:2005, CEN, Dublin.
ISO834 1999, Fire Resistance Tests, Element of Building
Construction.
Krezo, S 2010, Behaviour of Headed Stud Shear Con-
nectors in Composite Steel-concrete Beams at Elevated
Temperatures, Universityof WesternSydney.
Mirza, O & Uy, B 2009, Behaviour of headed stud shear
connectorsforcompositesteel-concretebeamsatelevated
temperatures, Journal of Constructional Steel Research
65(3):66274.
Nie, J, Cai, CS & Wang, T 2005, StiffnessandCapacity of
Steel-concreteCompositeBeamswithProfiledSheeting,
Engineering Structures 27: 107485.
Oehlers, DJ & Bradford, MA 1999, Elementary Behaviour
of Composite Steel and Concrete Structural Members,
Butterworth-Heinemann, viewed 2April 2011, via Sci-
enceDirect <http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.uws.
edu.au/science/book/9780750632690>.
Ranzi, G&Bradford, MA2007, Compositebeamswithboth
longitudinal and transverse partial interaction subjected
toelevatedtemperatures, Engineering Structures 29(10):
273750.
Wang, YC 2005, Performanceof steelconcretecomposite
structuresinfire, Progress in Structural Engineering and
Materials 7(2): 86102.
160
Experimental trendsof FRP-to-concretejointsanchored
withFRP anchors
H.W. Zhang& S.T. Smith
Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, P.R. China
ABSTRACT: Thestrengthandductilityof fibre-reinforcedpolymer(FRP)-to-concretebondscanbeenhanced
withtheadditionof anchoragedevices. Thisisduetotheabilityof suchanchoragetoreducetheadverseeffects
of prematuredebondingfailure. Researchontheeffectivenessof anchoragedevicesis, however, limited.A large
experimental investigationisthereforeunderwayat theUniversityof HongKong(HKU) whichisinvestigating
the influence of anchors made fromFRP (i.e. FRP anchors) upon FRP-strengthened concrete members. In
particular, FRP-to-concretejointsinsingle-lapshear testarrangementshavebeenextensivelytested. Thispaper
presents asummary of selectedexperimental trends observedinover 100joint tests whichhaveconsidereda
widerangeof geometricpropertiesconsideredtobeimportantinFRPanchoredstrengtheningsystems. Basedon
thereportedexperimental trends, optimal anchor placementsinRC beamsstrengthenedinflexurewithtension
faceplatesandinshear withU-jacketsarefinallyproposed.
1 INTRODUCTION
Theapplicationof externallybondedfibre-reinforced
polymer (FRP) compositestostrengthenandrepair of
reinforcedconcrete(RC) membershasreceivedcon-
siderableresearchattentiontodate(e.g. Hollawayand
Teng2008). Thepropensity of theFRP to debondat
strainswell belowthestraincapacity of thematerial,
however, severely limitstheeffectivenessof theFRP.
Theinstallationof anchoragedevicescanenhancethe
capacityof theFRP-to-concretebondandhenceresult
inamoreeffectiveuseof theFRP. Anchors canalso
introduceductilityintothestrengthenedsystem. Sev-
eral different anchors havebeen investigated to date
andacomprehensivereviewisprovidedinKalfatetal.
(2012). Currentdesignguidelinesrelatedtothedesign
of FRPstrengtheningforRCmembersgenerallydonot
account for thebeneficial effect of anchoragethough
inany great detail (e.g. ACI 440.22008). Inorder to
better understandtheeffect of anchoragedevices, an
experimental investigationhasbeenundertakenat the
University of HongKong(HKU) under thedirection
of thesecondauthor. Theanchorageof choiceis the
socalledFRP anchor andresearchdealingwithsuch
ananchoragedeviceforms thesubject matter of this
paper.
FRP anchors (also known as spike anchors but
herein referred to as anchors) aremadefromrolled
fibresheetsor bundledfibrestrands. A typical hand-
madeFRPanchorusingtheformertechniqueisshown
inFigure1a. Figure1bshows aninstalledFRP plate
(hereinplate) andFRPanchorsystem.Thisfigurealso
showsthevariouscomponentsof theanchor. Anchors
madewith fans oriented in two directions arecalled
Figure1. FRP anchor.
bow-tie anchors while anchors made with a single
fan(typically orientedinthedirectionof plateforce)
arereferredtoassinglefananchors. Reviewsof FRP
anchorsareprovidedinSmith(2009, 2010) andKalfat
et al. (2012).
A convenient means with which to quantify the
influenceof FRP anchors onFRP-to-concretebonds
is by testing FRP-to-concrete joints anchored with
FRP anchors. A single-lapshear test arrangement has
been used extensively at HKU to date (e.g. Zhang
et al. 2012; Zhang and Smith 2012a, 2012b) and a
descriptionof thetest arrangement isprovidedinthe
followingsection. To investigatetheeffectiveness of
FRPanchorsinstructural members, FRPanchorshave
been installed in FRP-strengthened RC slabs (e.g.
Smith et al. 2011) as well as other structural mem-
bers to date (e.g. Antoniades and Salonikios 2007).
A reviewof theapplicationof FRP anchors to FRP-
strengthenedstructural membersisprovidedinKalfat
et al. (2012).
This paper presents a summary of selected key
experimental trendsobservedinFRP-to-concretejoint
161
Figure 2. FRP-to-concrete joint anchored with an FRP
anchor.
testswhichhavebeenconductedatHKU. Thekeytest
parametersreportedhereinare(i) positionof anchor,
(ii) lengthof plate, (iii) angleof anchor insertion, (iv)
orientationof anchor fans, and(v) number of anchors.
Based on thereported experimental trends, efficient
and ideal anchor placement arrangements are pro-
posed for RC beams strengthened in flexure with a
tensionfaceplateandalsoRC beamsstrengthenedin
shear withFRP U-jackets.
2 FRP-TO-CONCRETE J OINT TESTSAT HKU
Thesingle-lapshear test configurationshowninFig-
ure2has beenusedextensively at HKU (e.g. Zhang
etal. 2012; ZhangandSmith2012a, 2012b).Thenom-
inal geometric propertiesof theconcrete, anchor and
plate components are given while Figure 3 shows a
typical test inprogress. Thetestedconcretecompres-
sivecubestrengthrangedfrom47MPato55MPaand
all theconcretewasmatureatthetimeof jointtesting.
The concrete, which was ready-mixed and provided
commercially, contained astandard mix design with
amaximumaggregatesizeof 20mm. Theplatewas
madeinawetlay-upmanner fromcarbonfibresheets
andtheanchorsweremadefromrolledsheetsof car-
bonfibre. Theplateandanchor for aparticular joint
specimenweremadefromthesameroll of carbonfibre
sheet. Inaddition, tworollsof thesametypeof carbon
fibresheet wereusedfor theentiretest program. The
testedproperties of thetwo rolls, however, only var-
ied slightly for strength (3065MPa, 2978MPa) and
elastic modulus (224GPa, 227GPa) but moreso for
elongation (15,040, 13,413). As the FRP did
not generally fail by rupture, thedifferences inelon-
gationcapacity betweentherolls arenot significant.
Inaddition, thestrengthof theconcreteof eachjoint
test as well as the roll of carbon fibre sheet used is
not specifiedin this paper as thedifferences in con-
cretestrengthsandFRP propertiesaredeemedtonot
noticeably affect theexperimental trends. Thereader
is directed to original sources as identified through-
out thepaper, whereappropriate, for amoredetailed
treatment of thetest joints.
Thejoint arrangement showninFigure2produces
an effective bond length of about 110mmas deter-
minedfromChenandTengs(2001) theory.Thelength
of plateinFigure2issufficientlylongenoughinorder
todevelopthebondstrengthof thejoint. Inaddition,
thedefault positionof theanchor of 75mmfromthe
Figure3. Typical FRP-to-concretejoint test set-up.
Figure4. Generic load-slipresponseof aFRP-to-concrete
joint withsinglefanandbow-tieanchors.
loadedendof thejoint restswithintheeffectivebond
lengthregion.
A convenient and informative means with which
torepresent thebehaviour of thetest joints is viathe
responseof theloadappliedtotheplateversustheslip
at theloadedplateend. A generic load-slipresponse
of an FRP-to-concrete joint anchored with either a
single-fan anchor or a bow-tie anchor is given in
Figure4.Thisresponsehasbeendeterminedfromover
100joint testsat HKU.
The following is a simplified description of each
of thekeystages(A-C) of theload(P) versusslip()
responsesprovidedinFigure4for unanchoredaswell
asanchoredjoints.
Stage A: Uponapplicationof loadtotheplate, the
relationship between load and slip is approximately
linear. Upon the formation of a debonding crack
betweentheplateandconcretesubstrateat theloaded
end of the joint for both unanchored and anchored
joints, theslopeof theload-slipresponsereduces.The
loadandslipat debondingarereferredto as P
db
and
db
, respectively. For an unanchored joint, the slope
of theload-sliprelationshipthenbecomes horizontal
(asshownbythedashedlineinFigure4). Thelength
of thebonded platewill determinethelength of the
162
dashedline. Inthecaseof anchoredjoints, thecoordi-
natesP
max,1
and
max,1
refer tocompletedebondingof
theFRP plate.
Stage B: Uponcompletedebondingof theplatefor
anchoredjoints, theloaddrops to P
max,2
. This repre-
sents the post peak reserve of strength of the joint
whichisprovidedbyfrictional resistancebetweenthe
debondedplateandtheadjacent roughenedconcrete
substrate. If theanchor is intact after completeplate
debonding, theanchor canthenclampthedebonded
plate onto the concrete in order for frictional resis-
tance to be achieved. In single fan anchored joints,
the anchor fails (typically in the bend region of the
anchor) once
max,2
is reached and all load carrying
capabilityof thejoint islost.
Stage C: Inthecaseof bow-tieanchors, at
max,2
one
sideof theanchortypicallyrupturesinthebendregion.
Thisisthesideof theanchor nearer totheloadedend
of thejoint. A reducedpost-peak reserveof strength
then occurs and this strength is maintained until the
remainingfibresof theanchor inthebendregionrup-
ture. At this stage, all loadcarryingcapability of the
joint isthenlost.
Thefollowing section contains asummary of the
experimental trendsobservedfor thekeyvariablesof
(i) position of anchor, (ii) length of plate, (iii) angle
of anchor insertion, (iv) orientation of anchor fans,
and(v) number of anchors. TheloadP
max,1
isgivenin
eachcaseasthisloadisusuallythepeakloadcarrying
capacityof thejoint.
3 EXPERIMENTAL TRENDS
For each of the following cases, a schematic rep-
resentation of the joint with the key variable under
consideration is firstly given. All other dimensions
of the test joints are as provided in Figure 2. Test
results arethen reported. In this case, each reported
data point is an average of P
max,1
fromat least two
identical joint specimensbasedontheparticular geo-
metric configuration under investigation. All P
max,1
results arenormalisedwithrespect to thestrengthof
anunanchoredcontrol joint(P
CN
) of thesameor sim-
ilar concretestrength. Inthecontext of Figure4, the
control joint capacityP
CN
isequal toP
db
.
3.1 Anchor position
The anchor position variable L
anc
, as shown in
Figure5, is variedfrom75mmto 225mmin50mm
increments. Figure6showstheresultinginfluenceof
anchor positionupontheloadcarryingcapacityof the
joint. It is clear that as the anchor is moved further
awayfromtheloadedendof thejoint, thejointstrength
decreases.Theanchorismoreeffectivewhenitiscon-
tainedwithintheeffectivebondlengthregionasthisis
theregionof higher interfacial stresses.Analternative
explanationtothetrendshowninFigure6isthatasthe
lengthof platebetweentheanchor andfreeunloaded
end of theplateis reduced, thestrength of thejoint
Figure5. J oint schematic: Influenceof anchor position.
Figure6. Anchored joint strength enhancement over con-
trol: Influenceof anchor position(P
CN
=15.88kN).
Figure7. J oint schematic: Influenceof platelength.
strengthdecreases.Whenthislengthreducesbelowthe
effectivebondlength, theeffectivenessof theanchoris
reduced.WhenL
anc
=225mm,thestrengthof thejoint
isapproximatelyequal tothecontrol jointstrengthand
hencetheeffectivenessof theanchor isminimal.
3.2 Plate length
Theinfluenceof thelengthof platebetweentheanchor
and the free end of the plate is investigated in this
section.ThelengthL
frp
, asshowninFigure7, isvaried
from100mmto 350mmin 25mmincrements. The
distancebetweentheanchorandthefreeendtherefore
ranges from25mmto 275mm. In some cases, this
lengthissmaller thantheeffectivebondlength.
Figure 8 shows that as the length of plate is
increased, thestrengthof thejoint isincreased. Once
aplatelengthof 275mmisreachedthough, thejoint
strengthbecomesquiteconsistent. Thisindicatesthat
an effective length of sorts is reached. Regression
modelsreveal thatonaveragethecapacityof thejoint
canbeatleastdoubledprovidedalongenoughlength
of plateisutilised.
3.3 Anchor dowel angle
InrelationtoFigure9, theangleof theanchordowel is
increasedfrom45to158degreesin27.5degreeincre-
mentsinthissection. Anglessmaller than45degrees
andlargerthan158degreesarenotphysicallyrealistic
163
Figure8. Anchored joint strength enhancement over con-
trol: Influenceof platelength(P
CN
=15.88kN).
Figure9. J ointschematic: Influenceof anchordowel angle.
Figure 10. Anchored joint strength enhancement over
control: Influence of anchor dowel angle (P
CN
=15.53,
15.88kN).
inlight of thelargesurfaceareaof theholeduetothe
extremeskewof theanchor dowel.
Figure10revealsthat astheangleisincreased, the
strengthof thejointisincreased.A roughlylinearrela-
tionshipis observedandalinear regressionmodel is
provided. Deviationof thejoint strengthfromthelin-
ear trend may be due to several reasons, namely (i)
variationof concreteandfibresheet material proper-
ties, and (ii) experimental variation associated with
testing concrete and FRP-to-concrete bonded inter-
faces. Oncetheangleis increasedabove90degrees,
the joint behaves in a brittle manner. In such brittle
cases the anchor ruptures near simultaneously with
platedebondingat P
max,1
. A muchmorecomprehen-
siveaccount of theinfluenceof anchor dowel angleis
providedinZhangandSmith(2012a).
3.4 Anchor fan direction
Theeffect of varyingtheconfigurationof theanchor
fan is shown in Figures 11 and 12. It is evident
that asinglefan anchor with thefan oriented in the
Figure 11. J oint schematic: Influence of anchor fan
geometry.
Figure12. Anchoredjoint strengthenhancement over con-
trol: Influenceof anchor fandirection(P
CN
=15.88kN).
Figure13. J ointschematic: Influenceof numberof anchors.
directionof loadisjustaseffectiveasabow-tieanchor.
Itshouldalsobenotedthoughthatthebow-tieanchor
fans were made fromtwice the amount of fibre as
the single fan anchors. In the former case, half the
fibres in the bend region were directed to each fan
in thebend region. A much moredetailed treatment
of theinfluenceof anchor fan geometry, in addition
to theresults presentedinFigure12, areprovidedin
ZhangandSmith(2012a).
3.5 Multiple anchors
The influence of multiple anchors is shown in
Figures 13and14. Theconventionusedfor thehori-
zontal axis of Figure14 represents thedistances x
1
,
x
2
and x
3
. For instance, 75-75-N represents a two
anchoredjoint inwhichx
1
=75mm, x
2
=75mmand
thethirdanchor isomitted(denotedasN).
Figure14revealsthat asasecondanchor isadded,
thestrengthof thejoint issubstantially increased. As
the distance between the two anchors is increased
though, the joint strength decreases. A third anchor
increasesthestrengthof thejointagain.Asthedistance
between thetwo anchors closer to theloadedendof
thejointisincreasedthedistancebetweenthefreeend
of theplateandtheadjacent anchor isreduced. Such
adecreasereducestheeffectivenessof theanchors. In
addition, it isinterestingtonotethat jointswithlarge
164
Figure14. Anchoredjoint strengthenhancement over con-
trol: Influenceof number of anchors(P
CN
=15.53kN).
anc
angles, as shown in Figure10, givecomparable
increases in joint strength as the multiple anchored
jointsshowninFigure14.
Amorecomprehensivetreatmentof multi-anchored
jointsisprovidedinZhangandSmith(2012b).
ZhangandSmith(2012b)foundthefollowingequa-
tion, basedontheadditionof singleanchoredjoints,
toreasonably accurately predict thestrengthof joints
anchoredwithmultipleanchors.Thereaderisdirected
to Zhang and Smith (2012b) for comparison of the
equationswithtest data.
In equations 1 and 2, P
u
is thestrength of an unan-
choredjoint, P
u,maj
isthestrengthof ajoint anchored
with multipleanchors, and
maj
is thesummation of
singleanchorcontributions.L
eff
andL
end
aretheeffec-
tive bond length and distance fromanchor to plate
free end, respectively, while n refers to the number
of anchors. FactorsA and B can beobtained froma
regressionanalysisandvaluesareprovidedinZhang
andSmith(2012b).
4 DETAILING
Based on the results presented in Section 3, opti-
mal andideal detailingarrangementsof FRP anchors
appliedtoRCbeamsstrengthenedinflexureandshear
areshowninFigures15and16, respectively. Flexural
andshearstrengtheningrepresentstwocommonforms
of strengthening.
For the case of flexural strengthening shown in
Figure15, theFRP plateisappliedtothetensionface
of thebeam(astobeexpected). Singlefananchorsare
appliedinwhichthefanisorientedinthedirectionof
theplateforceandtheanchordowelsaredirectedatan
anglegreaterthan90degreestotheplateforce.Anchor
dowelsangledlessthan90degreeswill resultinalower
strengthbut probablygreater member ductility.
For the case of shear strengthening as shown in
Figure 16, the anchors applied to the plate above
Figure15. Flexural strengtheningandFRP anchors.
Figure16. Shear strengtheningandFRP anchors.
the critical diagonal crack are the most effective in
delaying the propagation of the debonding cracks
whichoriginateattheintersectionof theFRPU-jacket
strengtheningandthediagonal shear crack.Thedirec-
tionof thefanaswell astheangleof insertionof the
anchor dowel is decideduponbasedonthedirection
of plateforce.
5 CONCLUSIONS
A largeexperimental investigationhasbeenconducted
at HKU concerningtheinfluenceof FRP anchors on
FRP-to-concretebonds. Inthispaper, selectedexper-
imental trends of FRP-to-concrete joints anchored
with FRP anchors are provided. The influence of
anchor positionandplatelength, inadditiontoangle
of anchor insertion, anchor fangeometryandnumber
of anchorsareall consideredtobeof importance. Ideal
FRPanchorplacementstrategiesarethenproposedfor
flexural- andshear-strengthenedRC beams, basedon
thefindingsof thejoint tests.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Theresearchreportedinthispaperhasbeensupported
bygrant HKU 715907E of theGeneral researchfund.
Financial assistanceprovidedbytheResearchGrants
Council of HongKongisgreatlyappreciated.
REFERENCES
ACI 440.2R-08. Guide for the Design and Construction
of Externally Bonded FRP Systems for Strengthening
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Concrete Structures. AmericanConcreteInstitute(ACI),
FarmingtonHills, USA.
Antoniades, K.K. & Salonikios, T.N. 2007. Evaluation of
hysteretic response and strength of repaired R/C walls
strengthened with FRPs. Engineering Structures 29(9):
21582171.
Chen, J.F. & Teng, J.G. 2001. Anchorage strength models
for FRP and steel plates bonded to concrete. Journal of
Structural Engineering, ASCE 127(7): 784791.
Hollaway, L.C. &Teng, J.G. 2008. Strengthening and Reha-
bilitation of Civil Infrastructure using Fibre-Reinforced
Polymer (FRP) Composites. WoodheadPublishingLim-
ited, UK.
Kalfat, R., Al-Mahaidi, R. & Smith, S.T. 2012. Anchor-
age devices used to improve the performance of
concrete structures retrofitted with FRP compos-
ites. Journal of Composites for Construction, ASCE.
doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CC.1943-5614.0000276.
Smith, S.T. 2009. FRP anchors: recent advancesinresearch
and understanding. Proceedings, Second Asia-Pacific
Conference on FRP in Structures, APFIS 2009, Seoul,
Korea, 911December 2011, pp. 3544.
Smith, S.T. 2010. Strengthening of concrete, metallic and
timber construction materials with FRP composites.
Proceedings, Fifth International Conference on FRP
Composites in Civil Engineering, CICE 2010, Beijing,
China, pp. 1319.
Smith, S.T., Hu, H.W., Kim, S.J. & Seracino, R. 2011.
FRP-strengthenedRC slabsanchoredwithFRP anchors.
Zhang, H.W. & Smith, S.T. 2012a. Influenceof FRP anchor
fan configuration and dowel angle on anchoring FRP
plates. Composites Part B: Engineering 43: 35163527.
Zhang, H.W. & Smith, S.T. 2012b. FRP-to-concrete joint
assemblagesanchoredwithmultipleFRP anchors. Com-
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Zhang, H.W., Smith, S.T. & Kim, S.J. 2012. Optimisationof
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166
Multi-scalenonlinear elasticanalysisof thin-walledmembers
includinglocal effects
R.E. Erkmen
Centre for Built-Infrastructure Research, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Thin-walled members that have one dimension relatively large in comparison to the cross-
sectional dimensions are usually modelled by using beam-column type finite element formulations. Beam-
column elements however, arebased on theassumption of rigid cross-section, thus they cannot consider the
cross-sectional deformationssuchaslocal bucklingandonlyallowsconsiderationsof thebeamaxisbehaviour
such as flexural or lateral-torsional buckling. Shell-type finite elements can be used to model the structure
in order to consider theselocal deformation effects. Based on theBridging multi-scaleapproach, this study
proposes anumerical techniquethat is ableto split theglobal analysis, which is performed by using simple
beam-typeelements, fromthelocal analysis which is based on moresophisticated shell-typeelements. As a
result, theproposedmulti-scalemethodallowstheusageof shell elementsinalocal regiontoincorporatethe
local deformation effects on theoverall behaviour of thin-walledmembers without necessitatingashell-type
model for thewholemember.
1 INTRODUCTION
Research on computational mechanics has been
increasingly focusingonadaptivenumerical analysis
strategies such as meshfreemethods e.g. Belytschko
et al. (1996), Generalized-FEM e.g. Stroubouliset al.
(2001) and Multi-scale methods Liu et al. (2000),
which allow improvements in the accuracy of the
numerical results by refining the model only where
required without changing the global model of the
whole structure. Common to these next generation
numerical methodsisthat, thepartitionof unity con-
cept is exploitedtoallowoverlappingdecomposition
of theanalysisdomainsothatalocal enrichmentcanbe
incorporatedseamlessly. Invarious types of problem
whichnaturallygiverisetomultiplescalesinthedefor-
mationfields, suchascrackpropagationandlocalized
damage problems, e.g. Haidar et al. (2003), multi-
scalenumerical analysis techniques wereeffectively
used. In particular the Bridging multiscale method,
originally developed by Liu et al. (1997) to enrich
thenodal values of theFEM solution with meshfree
solution, provides a basis to couple problems based
on different physical assumptions, e.g. to incorpo-
ratenanomechanics andatomistic behaviour into the
local model (Wagner andLiu2003) andstrainlocal-
ization problems considering micropolar continuum
model with different levels of resolution (Kadowaki
andLiu2004). Theappealingfeatureof theBridging
multiscalemethodis that it cansplit theglobal anal-
ysis, whichisbasedonsimplifiedassumptions, from
thelocal analysis which requires moresophisticated
modellingapproaches.
In thin-walled beambehaviour, the interaction of
local buckling with the global buckling modes can
also give rise to multiple scales in the deformation
fields e.g., Bradford and Hancock (1984). In order
to capture local buckling behaviour, shell-type ele-
ments have been utilised in the past (Fafard et al.
1987). Recently, Erkmen(2012) developedanumer-
ical technique that incorporates the effects of local
deformations in theoverall behaviour of thin-walled
structural membersbasedontheBridgingmulti-scale
approach. This approach allows employment of two
kinematic models in the numerical analysis. While
simplebeam-typeelements areusedfor theanalysis
of theoverall structure, moresophisticatedshell-type
elementsareemployedforthelocal fine-scaleanalysis
inarelativelynarrowspanof themember. Inthecur-
rentstudy, resultsof Erkmen(2012) arediscussedand
theefficiency of theproposedapproachisshownvia
comparisons with full shell- and beam-typemodels.
Theanalysis is limited to elastic behaviour however,
theeffects of geometrical nonlinearity dueto second
order strainsareconsidered.
2 BEAM-TYPEANALYSIS
2.1 Kinematic assumptions
In order to simplify the analysis where applicable
within theanalysis domain, a thin walled beamfor-
mulation is used, which is based on the three clas-
sical kinematic assumptions of thethin-walledbeam
theory of Vlasov (1961). Theseare: (a) eachsegment
169
of thecross-sectionbehavesasaKirchhoff plateplusa
membranewithoutshear deformations; (b) contour of
thecross-sectiondoesnotdeforminitsplane; (c) nor-
mal stresseswithinthecross-sectional planearezero.
Theseassumptions imply that thenonzero strains in
the thin-walled beamstrain vector, i.e. are due to
theaxial strains inducedby membraneaction, bend-
ing and torsional actions and shear strains induced
by torsion only. A finiteelement formulation can be
developed by using linear interpolation for theaxial
displacement field and cubic interpolations for the
transversedisplacement andtheangleof twist field.
Displacement of a point on the cross-section u can
be written in terms of the vector of nodal displace-
ments d as u =Nd, where details can be found in
Erkmen(2012).
2.2 Variational formulation and linearization
Theequilibriumequationsforlinearstaticanalysiscan
beobtainedinthevariational formas
inwhichA is thecross-sectional area, L is thebeam
spanandf is theexternal loadvector. InEq. (1), the
stress expression can be obtained directly fromthe
strainsusingthelinear stress-strainrelationshipfor an
isotropicmaterial, i.e. =E, inwhich
Eisthematrix
of material propertiesfor thebeamelement. Thefirst
variationof thestrainvector for thebeamelementcan
bewrittenas
whereexplicit expressions of S and B can befound
inErkmen(2012). Theincremental equilibriumequa-
tions canbeobtainedby subtractingthevirtual work
expressionsattwoneighbouringequilibriumstatesand
thenlinearisingtheresultbyomittingthesecond- and
higher-order terms, i.e.
where K is the stiffness matrix of the global beam
model.
3 SHELL-TYPEANALYSIS
3.1 Kinematic assumptions
Inthisstudy, wewouldliketoemployKirchhoff plate
theory for the plate component of the shell element
inlinewiththefirstpostulateof thebeamformulation.
In order to conveniently assemblenon-coplanar ele-
mentstoformthin-walledmembersandfoldedplates,
we would like to employ a four-node, six-degree-
of-free-per-node shell element. Therefore, Discrete
Kirchhoff Quadrilateral of Batoz and Tahar (1982)
is selected for the plate component. For the mem-
branecomponent of theshell-typeelement, thefinite
element of Ibrahimbegovic et al. (1990) employing
drillingdegreesof freedomisadopted. Strainsof the
shell-typeelementcanbeexpressedintermsof thein-
planedeflectionsanddrillingrotationof themembrane
component and out of plane deflection and bending
rotations of the beam. Standard linear interpolation
functionfor theout of planedeflectionis employed.
Thefour nodemembraneelement uses Allman-type
interpolationfunctionsfor thein-planedisplacements
andstandardbilinearinterpolationfortheindependent
drillingrotation.
3.2 Variational formulation and linearization
For theshell analysis, theequilibriumequations can
beobtainedinthevariational formas
inwhich representsthevector of straincomponents
andexplicitexpressionof thestrainvector of theshell
elementisgiveninAppendixB.Itshouldbenotedthat,
thesecondorder straincomponent is consistent with
thethin-walledbeamformulationadoptedinSection
2, whichassumesthatthesecondorder axial displace-
ment derivatives, lateral strainsandshear strainsfor a
thin-walledbeamarenegligiblysmall.Thestressfield
canbeobtainedusingthelinear elasticrelationship,
i.e. =

E , inwhich
E isthematrixof material prop-

erties for the shell element. In the last termof Eq.
(4),
f is theexternal load vector and

d is thevector
of nodal displacements. Forathin-walledbeammodel
composedof shell elements, local shell displacement
directions do not necessarily match with the global
displacement directions; therefore transformation of
eachdegreeof freedomtoacommonglobal systemis
performedprior toassemblage.
The first variation of the strain field of the shell
element usedinEq. (4) canbeexpressedas
where
B,

S and
d areexplicitly givenfor anelement

inErkmen(2012). Theincremental equilibriumequa-
tions for the shell formulation can be obtained by
subtractingthefirst variationof themodifiedpoten-
tial energyinEq. (4) at twoneighbouringequilibrium
statesandthenlinearizingtheresultsby omittingthe
second- andhigher-order terms, i.e.
where

K is the stiffness matrix of the shell
model.
170
4 MULTI-SCALEANALYSISPROCEDURE
4.1 Multi-scale domain decomposition
Proposedmulti-scaleanalysis is performedonly ina
critical part of theanalysisdomain. Inthemulti-scale
analysis domain, thebeamandshell models overlap.
Beammodel is used for thewholeanalysis domain.
We decompose the shell nodal displacement vector
intoacoarse-scalecomponent andadifferenceterm,
by using adecomposition matrix N that projects the
beamsolutionontothenodal pointsof theshell model
(Erkmen2012)
inwhichthefirsttermontheright-handsiderepresents
thevariationof thecoarse-scalesolutionandthesec-
ondtermrepresentsthedifferencefromthefine-scale
solution.
4.2 Coupled coarse- and fine-scale equations
Basedontheabovedecompositionof theshell solu-
tion, the first variation of the shell strains can be
decomposedas
and
By using N, weimposethebeamkinematics on the
shell model by constraining the nodes of the shell
model, which defines a unique coarse-scale decom-
positionof theshell solution. Inthiscase, asthebeam
kinematics is imposed, the variation of the coarse
scale strain component of the shell solution, i.e.
is equal to that of the beam, i.e.

S
BN=SB. In Eq.
(9),
is due to the difference between the varia-

tions of the fine and coarse-scale strain fields. The
strainfield canalso bedecomposedinto two com-
ponents, i.e. = +
. Herein, thecoarse-scalestrain
field issuchthat itsvariationisasinEqs. (8). Thus,
it is equal to the strain field of the beamsolution.
Stressfieldisalsodecomposedintotwocomponents
i.e. = +
and considering linear elastic consti-

tutive relations, the stress field components can be
obtainedfromtheassociatedstrainfields, i.e. =

E
and =E. By substitutingaboveequationsintoEq.
(4), theweak formof theshell equilibriumequations
canbedecomposedas
and
ByconsideringaloadcasewhereN
T
f =f, thefirsttwo
terms in Eq. (10) can bereplaced with thoseof Eq.
(1). What separates thebeamequations giveninEq.
(1) fromEq. (10) isthelastterm, inwhichF isacom-
plementaryforcevector duetofine- andcoarse-scale
differencesinthestressfield, whichcanbeexplicitly
writtenas
4.3 Linearization of equilibrium equations
Linearizationof Eq. (10) produces;
where K is the beamstiffness matrix (see Erkmen
2012). On the other hand, linearization of Eq. (11)
produces;
Sinced
inEq. (14) isarbitrary, bothEq. (6) andEq.

(14) admit thesamesolution, whichisthesolutionof
theshell model ontheentireanalysis domain. How-
ever, wherethebeamsolutionisaccurateenough, the
shell model solutionisavoidedfor economy.
4.4 Portioning of the linearized fine-scale
equations
FromEq. (14), by decomposing the shell displace-
ment vector intoboundary andinternal displacement
vectors, oneobtains
In obtaining the local shell solution, we impose the
displacements of the beamsolution as the interface
boundary conditions of theshell model, i.e.

d
@i&j
is
specified. Subscript i&j indicates both ends of the
shell model. In

d
@i&j
, Poisson ratio effects over the
cross-sectional contour areconsidered. Thestiffness
matrix

K of theshell model is partitioned such that
specifiedboundarydisplacementsaremultipliedwith
sub-matrix

K
T
b
. In Eq. (15),
f
s
is thevector of vari-
ations in specified external loads that falls into the
multi-scaleanalysis domain and
f
@i&j
is thevector
of variationsintractionforcesattheboundariesof the
multi-scaleanalysisdomain. Specifieddisplacements
andloadsinEq. (15) areplacedintheboxsymbol ().
171
Figure1. Dimensions, loadingandB.C.sof thecolumn.
4.5 Solution procedure
Firstly, the global problemis solved for the coarse-
scale displacements d while keeping the fine-scale
solutionof thelocal shell model fixed.Then, giventhe
global resultsimposedonthelocal model astheinter-
faceboundaryconditions, thelocal problemissolved
for thefine-scalevalues
d, whilekeepingthebound-
ary conditions andtheglobal displacements d fixed.
Inorder toterminatetheloadingstep, weusedouble
criteriaas suggestedinQianet al. (2004) withinthe
framework of Bridging multiscalemethod. Thefirst
criterion is due to geometric nonlinearity and con-
firmsthat thenonlinear global equilibriumcondition
issatisfiedat theendof iterations. Additional second
criterionis requiredto confirmthat thedifferencein
thestressvectorsof thelocal shell model andthebeam
model iseliminatedthroughthecomplementaryforce
inEq. (12), sothat thelocal andglobal solutions are
synchronized.
5 APPLICATIONS
5.1 Flexural buckling of a C-shape column
A C-shapecantilever columnof L =5000mmheight
is analysed. All degrees of freedomare fixed at the
root of thecantilever and torsion is prevented along
the column. Modulus of elasticity and the Poissons
ratiousedintheanalysisareE =20010
3
MPA and
=0.3, respectively. Dimensions of the column are
asshowninFigure1. For thebeam-typeanalysisfour
equal-spanelementsareused. Ontheother hand, shell
elementdimensionsare250mm250mminall cases
includingfull shell-typeandmulti-scaleanalysis.
Firstly, loadversustiphorizontal deflectionandtip
rotation curves are plotted under the applied com-
pressiveloads only (i.e., P
A
=200kN and P
S
=0 in
Figure1), asshowninFigures2and3. Thelinesthat
aretangent tothenonlinear curvesareobtainedfrom
thelinear staticanalysis. Bucklingloadsbasedonthe
linearized buckling analysis corresponding to beam-
type, constraint-shell-type and full-shell-type analy-
sis are P
A
=439kN, P
A
=440kN and P
A
=447kN,
respectively. Agreement of the beam solution with
Figure 2. Tip horizontal deflection based on different
models.
Figure3. Tiprotationbasedondifferent models.
thefull-shell-typesolutions in all cases can beveri-
fied. Secondly, inadditiontotheappliedcompressive
loads, aload couplein oppositedirection is applied
attipof theflangesatz =1250mm(i.e., P
A
=200kN
andP
S
=150kN), inordertocausedistortional defor-
mations onthecross-section. Loadversus deflection
curves are also shown in Figures 2 and 3. When
local deformationsareintroducedthedistortionof the
cross-section causes asoftening effect and increases
theoverall deflections of thefull shell-typesolution,
whichcannot becapturedusingarigidcross-section
assumption.However,multi-scalesolutionisveryeffi-
cient in capturing the same behaviour as the full
shell-typeanalysis. In themulti-scaleanalysis, over-
lappingregionwasfirstconsideredbetweenz =0and
z =1500mmbyusing64elementandthenconsid-
ered between z =0 and z =2000mmby using 84
elements. Multi-scaleanalysis usinga64element
isanimprovedsolutioncomparisontofull beam-type
analysis however at least 84 elements are needed
tohaveanagreement withthefull shell typesolution
where the error is within 1% in both tip horizontal
displacement andtiprotationvalues.
5.2 Torsional buckling of an I-column
In order to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed
multi-scaletechniquein torsional behaviour of thin-
walledbeams, acantilever steel columnof 8800mm
172
height withadoublesymmetricI-shapecross-section
is analysed and bending is prevented along the col-
umn. Material properties aresameas intheprevious
exampleanddimensionsof thecolumnareasshown
inFigure4. Eight equal-spanbeam-typeelementsare
usedfortheanalysesandshell elementdimensionsare
200mm200mminall cases.
Similartothepreviousexample,firstlytheloadver-
sustiprotationrelationshipsareobtainedwithout any
loads causing local deformation (i.e., P
A
=5000kN,
P
B
=250kN and P
S
=0 in Figure 4). It should be
noted that in addition to the compressive load of
P
A
=5000kN, P
B
=250kN load in thecolumn axis
directionareappliedat thetips of theflanges, which
introduces bimoment and thus slight twist fromthe
initiallystraightpositiontoinitiatebucklingdeforma-
tions. Bucklingloadsbasedonthelinearizedbuckling
analysiscorrespondingtobeam-type,constraint-shell-
type and full-shell-type analysis are P
A
=7628kN,
P
A
=7515kNandP
A
=7481kN, respectively. InFig-
ure 5, the results based on the linear static and
nonlinear analyses are shown based on full beam-
and shell typeanalyses. Again solutions agreewhen
therearent any loads causinglocal deformation, i.e.
P
S
=0.WhenP
S
=10kNloadisappliedtocauselocal
deformationsasshowninFig. 4, theresultsbasedon
beam-typeanalysisarenotaffected, however basedon
thefull shell-typeanalysisthetiprotationincreaseas
shown in Figure5. In this case, multi-scalesolution
isveryefficient incapturingthebehaviour of thefull
shell-typeanalysis. For themulti-scaleanalysis, over-
lappingregionwasfirstconsideredbetweenz =0and
z =1200mmbyusing66elementsandthenconsid-
eredbetweenz =0andz =2000mmbyusing106
elements. AscanbeverifiedfromFigure5, thediffer-
encebetweenthe106element multi-scalesolution
andthefull shell-typesolutionislessthan1%.
5.3 Lateral buckling of a simply-supported I-beam
For the lateral buckling analysis, a 8.8mm simply
supported beamwas considered. Thecross-sectional
dimensions are as shown in Figure 6. The mate-
rial properties aresameas intheprevious examples.
Eight equal-span beam-type elements are used for
the analyses and the shell element dimensions are
200mm200mminall cases. Thebeamissubjected
touniformbendingmomenttostimulatelateral buck-
ling, whichisacombinationof flexural andtorsional
behaviour.
Figure5. Tipangleof twist basedondifferent models.
Figure7. Mid-spanvertical deflection.
AsshowninFigure7, for bothlinear andnonlinear
analyses without local deformation effects, all solu-
tionsareinverygoodagreement(i.e., M
B
=765kNm,
P
B
=0.85kN and P
S
=0kN in Fig. 6). In order
to stimulate local deformations, a force couple of
P
S
=17kN was also applied at thetips of right top-
andbottomflangesinoppositedirectionsasshownin
Figure6. Inthiscase, thehorizontal deflectionsat the
mid-span increasesignificantly as can beseen from
theresults of thefull shell-typeanalysis inFigure8.
For multi-scaleanalysis, overlappingregionwasfirst
consideredbetweenz =4200mmandz =4800mmby
using26elements andthenbetweenz =3200and
z =5600mmbyusing126elements.Thedifference
betweenthe126element multi-scalesolutionand
thefull shell-typesolutionisagainlessthan1%.
173
Figure8. Mid-spanhorizontal deflection.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Bridgingmulti-scaleapproachallowsincorporationof
thelocal deformationeffectsontheoverall behaviour
of thethin-walledmemberbyusingashell model only
withintheregionof local deformations. Thin-walled
column and beambuckling cases wereanalysed and
theresults of themulti-scaleanalysis procedurepro-
posed herein were compared with those of the full
shell- andbeam-typeanalyses. Inall cases discussed
herein, byadjustingthespanof thelocal shell model,
theerror in themulti-scaleanalyses results compar-
ison to thoseof thefull-shell typeanalysis could be
kept within1%.
REFERENCES
Batoz,J -L.&Tahar,M.B.(1982).Evaluationof anewquadri-
lateral thinplatebendingelement. International Journal
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Belytschko, T., Korungauz, Y., Organ, D., Fleming, M. &
Krysl,P.1996.Meshlessmethods:Anoverviewandrecent
developments. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics
and Engineering; 139:347.
Bradford, M.A. & Hancock, G. 1984. Elastic interactionof
local and lateral buckling in beams. Thin-walled Struc-
tures; 2:125.
Fafard,F.,Beaulieu,D.&Dhatt,G.1987.Arational model for
distortional bucklingof taperedmembers. Computers &
Structures; 25:183190.
Erkmen, R.E. 2012. Bridging multi-scaleapproach to con-
sider the effects of local deformations in the analy-
sis of Thin-walled members. accepted for publication
inComputational Mechanics; (16thof September 2012).
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scaleapproach.International Journal for Numerical and
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robustquadrilateral membranefiniteelementwithdrilling
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Multi-scalemethods. International Journal for Numerical
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Liu, W.K., Uras, R.A. & Chen, Y. 1997. Enrichment of
the finite element method with the reproducing kernel
particle method. Journal of Applied Mechanics, ASME;
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Qian, D., Wagner, G.J. & Liu, W.K. 2004. A Multi-scale
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174
ThinplatebendinganalysisusingthegeneralizedRKP-FSM
M. Khezri, Z. Vrcelj & M.A. Bradford
University of New South Wales, Australia
ABSTRACT: Thispaperpresentsanewfinitestripmethod(FSM) whichisdevelopedutilizingthegeneralized
reproducingkernel particlemethodfor thebucklingandfreevibrationanalysisof thinplates. Intheproposed
methodthegeneralizedReproducingKernel ParticleMethod(RKPM) 1-D shapefunctions replacethespline
functionsof theconventional splinefinitestripmethod(SFSM) inthelongitudinal directionof thestrips, while
thetransversecubicfunctionsof theconventional formulationareretained. Theintroductionof thegeneralized
RKPMintheFSMisspecificallybeneficial forsolvingboundaryvalueproblemsinwhichanumberof essential
boundary conditions canincludethederivatives of thefieldfunctions, i.e. thebendinganalysis of thinplates.
Thus, theformulationforthegeneralizedRKP-FSMisderivedfortheanalysisof thinplates, andthenitsaccuracy
andconvergenceareexaminedthroughaseriesof numerical studies. Also, it isillustratedthat sincethemethod
allowsfor arbitraryplacement of knots, it significantlyimprovestheefficiencyandflexibilityof theFSM.
1 INTRODUCTION
The finite element method (FEM), since its intro-
duction in the middle of the last century, has dom-
inated engineering computations. However, like any
other method, the FEM has its own limitations and
drawbacks (Khezri et al. 2009). The treatment and
rectification of thesedrawbacks havebeen themain
motivation for paying increasingly more attention
to different numerical methods which address these
issues, the main two of which are meshless meth-
ods andfinitestripmethods. TheFSM is anattempt
to reducethecomputational cost of theconventional
FEM, whilegenerally inthemeshless methods elim-
inationof mesh-dependencyissought. A methodthat
cansuccessfully combinetheaforementionedadvan-
tages seems to hold some promise. In the present
study, thesameconcepthasbeendevelopedbyenrich-
ing theFSM adopting thegeneralized RKPM as the
approximation function along the strips. To grasp
the employed concept and gain a deeper insight of
themethodology abrief reviewof therecent related
developments andtheadvancements intheFSM and
theRKPMseemstobecrucial.Tothisend, thefollow-
ingisdevotedtoreviewthebackgroundof SFSMand
RKPM.
Thewell-establishedSFSM as anextensionof the
semi-analytical finite strip method (Cheung 1976)
is a very useful and efficient method for analyz-
ing thebehavior of thin plates (Cheung et al. 1982).
Sincethen, thetechniquehasbeenadvancedbymany
researchers.Azhari etal. (2000) augmentedtheSFSM
by incorporating theLegendrepolynomials as nodal
less degrees of freedomin the transverse direction.
In 2003, Liew et al. developed a new FSM utiliz-
ingtheRKPM methodastheapproximationfunction
in thetransversedirection. Their method is thefirst
hybrid method obtained by combining the conven-
tional RKPM andtheFSM.
Thebeginningof RKPM datesbackto1995, when
Liuetal. employedacorrectionfunctionintherepro-
duction formula of smooth particle hydrodynamic
method (SPH) (Lucy 1977) and obtained better and
morestableresults in thevicinity of theboundaries.
Theirproposedmethod, whichiscalledtheRKPMhas
adrawback indealingwiththeproblemsthat involve
derivativesof thefieldfunctionastheessential bound-
ary conditions (EBCs). When Shodja & Hashemian
(2007) were studying beam-column problems, they
foundit cumbersometo enforcetheEBCs involving
theslopeof thedeflection. Toovercomethisobstacle,
they proposedanewreproductionformulaby incor-
poratingthederivativeof thefunctionandnamedthe
evolved method theGradient RKPM (Hashemian &
Shodja 2008). Their method was further developed
and generalized by Behzadan et al. (2011) in a way
that any order of derivatives of the function could
beincorporatedinformulation. Thelatest mentioned
method is called the generalized RKPM and in this
study, theone-dimensional formulationof it hasbeen
used as the approximation tool in the longitudinal
direction.
Theoutlineof this paper is as follows, inthenext
section, thenewgeneralizedRKP-FSM is presented.
Thethinplatebendinganalysisandtheassumeddis-
placementfunctioninthecontextof thenewproposed
FSM (RKP-FSM) areillustratedinsection3. Section
4isdevotedtobriefly describingtheappliedmethod
175
for theenforcement of theessential boundary condi-
tionswhileinsection5aseriesof numerical examples
have been examined to illustrate the efficacy of the
new proposed RKP-FSM. Section 7 concludes the
paper.
2 GENERELIZEDRKP-FSM
In the variations of the FSM, the basic idea is to
approximatethefieldvariablebymultiplyingtwosep-
arate directional approximations (Liew et al. 2003).
Accordinglyintheusual SFSM, thefieldvariablesare
constructedbymultiplicationof twoseparateapproxi-
mation: spline function in the longitudinal direction
and cubic polynomials in the transverse direction
(Vrcelj & Bradford2010). Herein, thesameconcept
for obtaining the function approximation is applied,
butinthelongitudinal directionof theplatethegener-
alizedRKPM approximationhasbeenappliedsimply
byreplacingtheconventional splinefunctions. Using
theaforementionedschemeof approximation, agiven
functionu(x, y) inatwodimensional domain, with
theboundary, canbestatedas
where(x, y) is theapproximated longitudinal func-
tion viathegeneralized RKPM, and g(y) represents
the approximated function using cubic polynomi-
als shape functions in the transverse direction. The
new proposed method can be considered a hybrid
method which amalgamates the positive features of
bothmeshfreeandFSMs.
2.1 Generalized RKPM approximation in the
longitudinal direction
InthegeneralizedRKPM, f (x)intermsof thefunction
anditsderivativesisdefinedas(Behzadanetal. 2011;
Liuet al. 1995)
wheref
R
(x) is thereproducedfunction, is theker-
nel function, |.| is theabsolutevaluefor thedistance
between x and , and k is the highest order of the
considered derivative which is incorporated in the
reproductionformula.Inequation2,a()isthedilation
parameter, andf
,k
() isdefinedas
Also,
Figure 1. Generalized RKPM shape functions associated
withfunction
[0]
I
(x).
Figure 2. Generalized RKPM shape functions associated
withfunction
[1]
I
(x).
are correction functions which are derived by dif-
ferentiating the reference correction function C(x;
x).
Forthesakeof numerical computations, theintegral
in equation 2 should be discretized. Employing the
trapezoidal rule, equation2takesthefollowingform,
where
[]
I
is theth shapefunction associated with
theI thparticle(Behzadanet al. 2011),
In thepresent study, dueto thenatureof thethin
platebendingproblemsonlythefirst derivativeof the
functionisincludedintheapproximationfunctionby
settingk =1.Accordingly, twosetsof shapefunctions
will be obtained. Figure 1 and 2 present schematic
viewsof theseshapefunctionsinanarbitrarydomain
withuniformdistributionof 11particles.
2.2 Cubic polynomial interpolation in transverse
direction
The same as the conventional SFSM, cubic polyno-
mials shapefunctionwill beusedfor thepurposeof
176
Figure 3. General discretization schemes: (a) for SFSM
(b) for RKP-FSM.
interpolationinthetransversedirection. Theseshape
functionare(Vrcelj & Bradford2008)
inwhichb isthewidthof thestrip.
3 DISPLACEMENT FUNCTIONANDTHIN
PLATE BENDING
Consider athinrectangular plateof LengthL, width
W, andthicknesst. Thisgeneral structuremember is
discretized in the transverse direction using n nodal
lines, andinthelongitudinal directioneachnodal line
isfurther segmentedusingm sections. Intheconven-
tional SFSM,twoadditional sectionknotsareplacedat
bothendsof stripsinordertofullydefinetheB
3
-spline
functionsalongthelengthof thestrip(Lau&Hancock
1996). InthepresentedRKP-FSM, sinceacomplete
set of shapefunctionshasbeenusedinthelongitudi-
nal direction, theadditional sectionknotsarenolonger
required. Infact, eliminationof theseadditional sec-
tion knots is one of the features of the RKP-FSM.
Appropriatemodeling of theboundary conditions in
theconventional SFSMrequirescumbersomeamend-
ment of outer splines, which is avoided in the new
proposed method. General schematic discretization
patterns for SFSM and the RKP-FSM are shown in
Figure3.
Based on theconvergencecriteria, aminimumof
twodegreesof freedomper nodal lineisnecessaryso
that minimumcompatibility conditions couldbemet
for thedeflectionw andtherotation
y
(Fan1982). As
wasmentionedpreviously, intheproposedRKP-FSM
notonlythefieldvariablesareincludedintheapprox-
imation, but alsotheir first derivativeswithrespect to
thelongitudinal axisx. Thismeansthat inadditionto
thedeflectionw andtherotation
y
, their first deriva-
tiveswithrespecttothex axis(w)
,x
and(
y
)
,x
arealso
incorporatedasnodal values. Itisobviousthat(w)
,x
is
therotationinthex directionandcanbepresentedby
x
. Hence, the displacement function for RKP-FSM
canbeexpressedas
where
[0]
and
[1]
aretherowvectorsof thefirstandsecond
typeshapefunctionsof thegeneralizedRKPM, which
canbedeterminedusingequation6.
Nowthat thedisplacement function for theRKP-
FSM has been illustrated, the method can be pro-
gressed for undertaking a thin plate analysis. The
derivation of the stiffness matrix and force vec-
tor utilizing theRKP-FSM displacement function is
presentedbrieflyinthefollowing.
Usingequation8, thestateof straininarectangular
plateinbendingisdescribedas
Byadoptinglinear elasticity, thestrain-stressrelation-
shipfor athinorthotropicplatecanbestatedas
in which the constitutive matrix D elements are
definedas
177
Thetotal potential energy of theplateconsists of
theelastic energy andthepotential energy duetothe
appliedloads.Thegeneral formof thepotential energy
equationcabbewrittenas
Byminimizingthepotential energy,
where K and F are the stiffness matrix of the strip
andthecorrespondingloadvector of thestriprespec-
tively. Thesetwo matrices can bestated by utilizing
equation11as
4 ENFORCEMENT OF THE ESSENTIAL
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
For theRKP-FSM, theenforcement of boundarycon-
ditions is a bit complex. This complexity is due to
the lack of the Kronecker delta property for mesh-
freeshapefunctions, i.e. N
I
(x
J
)=
IJ
(Wagner & Liu
2000). As aresult, several varieties of methods have
been proposed in an attempt to enforce the essen-
tial boundary conditions as accurately as possible.
Amongst these, the most commonly adopted meth-
ods aretheLagrangemultipliers method, thepenalty
method, and collocation method (Chen et al. 1996;
Chen&Wang2000; Wagner & Liu2000).
Collocationmethodsfor enforcement of theessen-
tial boundary conditions are a series of methods
in which the boundary conditions are enforced
exactlyasprescribedatconsideredparticlesor nodes.
Wagner&Liu(2000)proposedacorrectedcollocation
method for enforcing the essential boundary condi-
tions in kernel-based meshfreemethods, such as the
conventional RKPM.Althoughtheir methodwaseffi-
cientinthecontextof theRKPM,itcouldntbeapplied
in thegeneralizedRKPM sinceit was not suitedfor
the enforcement of derivative-type boundary condi-
tions. Inresponse, Behzadanet al. (2011) developed
thecorrectedcollocationmethodfurther,andproposed
thegeneralizedcollocationmethod, whichwasasuit-
able tool for enforcement of any kind of boundary
conditions in the context of the generalized RKPM.
Herein, since the generalized RKPM has been used
astheapproximationtool inthelongitudinal direction
of thestrips, thesamegeneralizedcollocationmethod
isapplicable. Thismethodwasdescribedindetail by
Behzadanetal. (2011), andforbrevityisnotpresented
here.
5 NUMERICAL RESULTS
A number of problemsaresolvedthentodemonstrate
theefficiency, versatility, robustness andaccuracy of
theproposedmethodologies.Theseproblemsconsider
rectangularplateshavinglengthdimensionsa andb in
thex andy directionsrespectively, withtheCartesian
coordinateoriginatthecenter of theplate. Toclassify
theplatebending problems according to thesupport
conditiononeachedge, anotationhas beenadopted
such that, for example, the nomenclature C-S-F-S
indicatearectangularplatewhoseedgesx =a/2and
x =+a/2 are simply supported, and edges y =b/2
andy =+b/2areclampedandfreerespectively.
5.1 Square plates subjected to uniform load using
non-uniform meshes
Aswasstatedpreviously, oneof theattractivefeatures
of thenew method is that it allows for thearbitrary
placementof nodesinthelongitudinal direction,which
enriches the method with a versatile and powerful
capabilityfor thesolutionof problemswithsteepgra-
dients,intermediatesupports,andthelike.Thisfeature
allows for the local refinement of the mesh in the
vicinityof theareasinwhichadenser meshconfigu-
rationisrequiredfor obtainingmoreaccurateresults.
To this end, this exampleis designedto examinethe
performanceof thegeneralizedRKP-FSM insolving
thin-platebending problems using unequally spaced
meshes.A similarexample, withadifferentconfigura-
tionanddiscretizationscheme,wasusedbyGutkowski
et al. (1991) for the evaluation of the SFSM with
unequallyspacedsplines.
Threesymmetricconfigurationsof thesupportcon-
ditions for a square plate subjected to uniformload
areassumed as S-S-S-S, F-S-F-S, C-S-C-S. Analy-
sis for each casewereperformed using 68, 812,
1218, and1624meshpatterns, inwhichthefirst
numberindicatesthenumberof stripsusedintheanal-
ysisandthesecondnumberisthenumberof segments
in the longitudinal direction. In order to verify the
accuracy and convergence of the proposed method
using non-uniformmeshes, two distinct mesh cate-
goriesareadopted. Inthefirst, whichwill bereferred
to as anequally-spacedmesh, thestrips andsections
are placed uniformly while in the second category,
whichwill bereferredtoasanunequally-spacedmesh,
therefinement patterns havebeenadoptedto ensure
the construction of a finer mesh in the center area
of theplates. Thesediscretizationconfigurations are
showninFigure4.Theresultsobtainedfor thedimen-
sionless central moment in thex direction M
x
using
a non-uniformmesh are tabulated for each case in
Tables 1to 3, andarecomparedwithequally spaced
meshes.
5.2 Analysis of rectangular plate simply supported
on all edges subjected to a patch load
Athinrectangularplateistakentobesimplysupported
onall edges andsupportingaconstant patchloadof
178
Figure4. Unequallyspacedmeshes.
Table1. Central moment for S-S-S-S plateunder uniform
load.
C
1
%of error
Strips
Segments Eq. Uneq. Eq. Uneq.
68 0.04831 0.04805 0.860 0.319
812 0.04811 0.04800 0.441 0.212
1218 0.04798 0.04793 0.169 0.073
1624 0.04794 0.04791 0.089 0.032
* Classical solution: 0.04789; Center moment: C
1
q L
2
Table2. Central moment for F-S-F-S plateunder uniform
load.
C
2
%of error
Strips
68 0.124898 0.123620 1.913 0.870
812 0.123866 0.123164 1.071 0.498
1218 0.123130 0.122960 0.470 0.332
1624 0.122875 0.122698 0.262 0.118
2
q L
2
intensity q, as showninFigure5. A similar example
hasbeenusedbyBurgess&Mahajerin(1985)toverify
anumerical methodfor laterallyloadedthinplates. A
classical solutionfor this problemby infinitedouble
trigonometricserieswasgivenbySzilard(2004), and
byVentsel & Krauthammer (2001).
This exampleexamines theeffect of local refine-
ment of thenodesinthelongitudinal directionof the
nodal lines in the vicinity of interest in influencing
Table3. Central moment for C-S-C-S plateunder uniform
load.
C
3
%of error
Strips
68 0.024113 0.024259 1.159 0.559
812 0.024253 0.024341 0.585 0.224
1218 0.024325 0.024373 0.290 0.091
1624 0.024350 0.024380 0.185 0.065
3
q L
2
Figure5. Rectangular simply supportedplatesubjectedto
apatchload.
Figure6. Meshes:(a)uniform;(b)refinedusingextraknots.
effectssuchaspatchloads. Tothisend, auniformdis-
cretizationschemesisadoptedusing510stripsand
segments. Inorder tostudy theeffectsof refinement,
arefinedmeshisgeneratedwithonlyaminor change
by adding extraknots on each nodal linein thearea
that issupportingtheassumedpatchload. Thesedis-
cretizationpatternsaredepictedinFigure6. Toverify
theimprovements intheresults obtainedfor thever-
tical displacement of theplate, 12nodessurrounding
the patch load are chosen and the numerical results
obtainedusingRKP-FSMarecomparedwiththeexact
solutions.
For comparison, the results for the deflection are
evaluatedintherepresentingnodesusingtheproposed
numerical techniqueandaretabulatedinTables4and5
179
Table4. Deflectionanderrorpercentageforuniformmesh.
%of error
(x,y) Classical Sol. Uni. Mesh
510
10
2
(0.6, 0.8) 0.057257146 0.057255519 0.2841
(0.6, 1.0) 0.072535371 0.072542944 1.0440
(0.6, 1.2) 0.079044095 0.079045379 0.1625
(0.6, 1.4) 0.074873440 0.074871583 0.2480
(0.6, 1.6) 0.059265549 0.059267207 0.2797
(0.6, 1.8) 0.032682654 0.032679332 1.0164
(0.8, 0.8) 0.038405346 0.038403852 0.3890
(0.8, 1.0) 0.049451483 0.049459019 1.5241
(0.8, 1.2) 0.054185671 0.054186857 0.2190
(0.8, 1.4) 0.051564159 0.051562214 0.3771
(0.8, 1.6) 0.041065512 0.041067080 0.3818
(0.8, 1.8) 0.022684357 0.022681059 1.4537
Table5. Deflectionanderror percentagefor refinedmesh.
%of error
(x,y) Classical Sol. Ref. Mesh
510
10
2
(0.6, 0.8) 0.057257146 0.057257305 0.0277
(0.6, 1.0) 0.072535371 0.072535450 0.0108
(0.6, 1.2) 0.079044095 0.079044052 0.0054
(0.6, 1.4) 0.074873440 0.074873455 0.0019
(0.6, 1.6) 0.059265549 0.059265551 0.0003
(0.6, 1.8) 0.032682654 0.032682666 0.0038
(0.8, 0.8) 0.038405346 0.038405519 0.0450
(0.8, 1.0) 0.049451483 0.049451552 0.0141
(0.8, 1.2) 0.054185671 0.054185626 0.0083
(0.8, 1.4) 0.051564159 0.051564187 0.0056
(0.8, 1.6) 0.041065512 0.041065506 0.0016
(0.8, 1.8) 0.022684357 0.022684373 0.0069
fortheuniformandrefinedmeshes, andarecompared
withtheexact values.
It can be concluded from the results presented
that theerrors obtained for therepresentativepoints
in theboundary of theplatehavebeen dramatically
decreasedutilizingarefinementpatterninthevicinity
of thepatchload.
6 CONCLUDINGREMARKS
This paper has proposed a novel, accurate and ver-
satilemeshfree-based FSM in which thecapabilities
of thegeneralizedRKPM havebeenincorporatedin
theFSM. Theproposedmethodhasthenbeenutilized
for thebendinganalysisof thinplatesandtherobust-
ness, accuracyandconvergencerateof themethodhas
beendemonstratedusingaseries of standardnumer-
ical examples. The method presented has consider-
ableadvantages over theconventional SFSM. Direct
inclusionof additional DOFs facilitates themethods
applicationinproblemswithcomplex boundary con-
ditions, andinthisapproachboundaryconditionscan
beenforced in algorithmic manner and theneed for
cumbersome procedure of the amendment of spline
functionsinthelongitudinal directionsiseliminated.
Moreover, sinceacompleteset of generalizedRKPM
shapefunctions areused, theparticles configuration
inthelongitudinal directionhas moreflexibility and
unliketheconventional SFSM, particlescanbespaced
unequallyinanydesiredpatterns. Thisfeatureallows
for therefinement of theparticleconfigurationinthe
vicinityof areas, whichhavesteepgradientsor influ-
encinglocal effects. Furthermore, theRKP-FSM still
retains most of the advantages of the conventional
SFSM, suchassimplicityandefficiency.
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181
Onvolumechangedependencyof thesoil water characteristiccurve
innumerical modelingof unsaturatedsoils
A. Khoshghalb& N. Khalili
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Australia
ABSTRACT: A methodtoaccount for thevolumechangedependency of thesoil water characteristic curve
(SWCC) inafully couplednumerical modelingof athreephasemediais proposed. Applicationof themodel
is demonstratedthroughcomparisonbetweennumerical predictions andexperimental dataobtainedfromthe
literature. Goodagreement isobtainedhighlightingtheability of theproposedmodel incapturingthevolume
changedependencyof theSWCC.
1 INTRODUCTION
Numerical modeling of the behavior of unsaturated
soils is a subject of great interest in geotechnical
engineering practice. Indeed, the description of the
hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils in a
multiphase setting, and the correct identification of
themodel parametershasbeenakeyareaof research
inmoderngeomechanics.
Several attempts havebeen madein theliterature
to model the behavior of unsaturated soils. Among
the notable contributions have included the work of
Vaunat et al. [1], Khalili et al. [2], Loret andKhalili
[3], Wheeler et al. [4], Gallipoli et al. [5], andKhalili
etal.[6].Thesoil watercharacteristiccurve(SWCC)is
indispensablepart of all thesetheoretical frameworks
andthereforeitscorrect representationiscrucial for a
successful applicationof themodel to soil engineer-
ing problems. In reality, the SWCC is a function of
thevolumechangeof thesoil; however, this volume
changedependencyof theSWCChasbeenoverlooked
inmanyof thepreviousstudiesleadingtoinaccuracies
inmodel predictions.
The main objective of this paper is to address
the volume change dependency of the SWCC in a
three-phase coupled numerical modeling of unsatu-
ratedsoils.Thetheoretical frameworkadoptedisbased
on theeffectivestress approach proposed by Khalili
et al. [6]. Thetheoretical presentationisanextension
of the work of Masin [7] to include both branches
of main wetting and main drying as well as transi-
tionfromwettingtodryingandviceversa. Simulation
resultsarepresenteddemonstratingtheapplicationof
themodel toatest casefromtheliterature.
2 SOIL WATER CHARACTERISTIC CURVE
The soil water characteristic curve is commonly
described as a plot of either the water content, or
the degree of saturation against the logarithm of
matric suction. Due to hydraulic hysteresis, the soil
water characteristic curvetypically has two different
branches: onecorrespondingtowettingandtheother
to thedryingprocess. Soil water characteristic curve
isanimportantaspectinthemechanicsof unsaturated
soils, whichisusedtodeterminethevolumetricdefor-
mation of thewater phasewith respect to changein
matricsuction.
Numerous mathematical relationships have been
proposedintheliteraturefor therepresentationof the
183
Figure 1. Soil water characteristic curve, including
hydraulichysteresis.
SWCC. ExhaustivereviewscanbefoundinFredlund
andXing[8],LeongandRahardjo[9],Sillersetal.[10]
andLuandLikos [11]. Inthis study, themodel pro-
posedbyBrooksandCorey[12], extendedtoinclude
hydraulichysteresiseffects[6],isadoptedaspresented
inequation(1), where
p
istheporesizedistribution
indexor theslopeof theSWCC, with
p
=
pd
for the
main drying path and
p
=
pw
for themain wetting
path. s
ae
istheair entryvalue, s
ex
istheair expulsion
value, and istheslopeof thetransitionpathbetween
themain drying and wetting paths in aln S
eff
ln s
plane(SWCC). s
rd
and s
rw
arethepoints of suction
reversal on themain dryingandmain wettingpaths,
respectively. S
eff
=(S
r
S
res
)/(1S
res
) is the effec-
tive degree of saturation where S
r
is the degree of
saturationandS
res
istheresidual degreeof saturation.
A schematic representationof themodel is shownin
Figure1.
The model adopted for the incremental effective
stressparameter, =(s)/(s), isbasedonthecon-
tributionsof Khalili andKhabbaz[13] andKhalili and
Zargarbashi [14], withthetotal formof theeffective
stressparameter, , definedinequation(2), inwhich
isthematerial parameter, withthebest fit valueof
0.55, , istheslopeof thetransitionpathbetweenthe
Figure2. Evaluationof effectivestressparameterincluding
hydraulichysteresis.
maindryingandwettingpaths inalnln s plane,
and s
rd
and s
rw
arethepoints of suction reversal on
themaindryingandmainwettingpaths, respectively
(Figure2).
3 CAPTURINGTHEVOLUME CHANGE
DEOPENDENCY OF THE SWCC
To capturethedependency of SWCC, andhences
ae
,
s
ex
,
p
and tovolumechange, wefirst notethat [6]
where n is porosity and
v
is the rate of volumetric
strain. Expressingthevariationof thedegreeof satu-
rationwith,
v
for themaindryingandwettingpaths,
wehave
Also, from(1-1), weobtain
184
and
Now, substituting(3) and(5) into(4), andimposing
theconditionatthetransitionfromsaturationtounsat-
uration[7], i.e. s =s
e
, S
r
=1, =1and=1, we
obtain
whichdescribestheevolutionof s
e
withthevolumetric
strain of the soil;
p
.tr.
represents the value of
p
at
s =s
e
. At thispoint, it isimportant tonotethat while
Equation(6)isderivedatthetransitionfromsaturation
tounsaturation, itisgeneral innatureastheshiftinthe
soil water characteristiccurve(i.e. duetoachangein
thesoil volume) mustbeindependentof thesaturation
stateat whichthevolumetricstrainisimposed.
Furthermore, substituting from (6) into (4) and
makinguseof (5), wehave
whichcapturesthevariationof
p
withrespect to
v
.
It isnotedthat Equation(7) isindeterminateat s =s
e
,
however simplemathematicsshowsthat it hasalimit
ass approachestos
e
.Thislimitisusedinupdatingthe
valueof
p
tr
inthenumerical integrationof Equations
(6) and(7).
Similarly, toevaluate/
v
, for thetransitionpath
betweendryingandwetting, wewrite
and
in which S
r
o
is thedegreeof saturation correspond-
ing to the reference suction s
o
on the transition
path between drying and wetting. Straight forward
algebraicmanipulationsof (8) and(9) thenyield
inwhichS
r
, , and aredeterminedat thesuction
valueof interest and
isthechangeinthelocal slope
of thetransition curvebetween themain drying and
wettingpathsat thesuctionvalueof interest.
Finally, satisfyingtheconstraint that thetransition
pathfromdryingtowettinginbothln S
eff
ln s and
lnln s planesmust coincidetothesamevaluesof
suctionreversals; i.es
rw
ands
rd
, wehave[15]
which at any suction value of interest relates as a
functionof andother soil parameters.
Figure 3. SWCC for drying-wetting cycle test on white
clay(Fleureauet al. 1993).
4 APPLICATION
To demonstratetheapplication of thepresented for-
mulation, it has been implemented in a meshfree
algorithm for the fully coupled analysis of flow
and deformation in unsaturated poro-elastic media.
Experimental results reportedby Fleureauet al. [16]
arethensimulated.
Fleureau et al. [16] conducted laboratory experi-
mentstoinvestigatetheresponseof unsaturatedclayey
soilssubjectedtodrying-wettingpathsat constant net
stress. Thetest soils weresaturated in an oedometer
andthensubjectedtoincreasingvaluesof suctiontoa
specifiedvaluefollowedbyadecreaseinsuctiontoits
initial value. Poreairpressurewaskeptatatmospheric
pressureandsuctionwas controlledby adjustingthe
porewater pressure.
The material parameters used in the simulations
werecalibrated fromtheexperimental datareported
by Fleureau et al. [16]. The air entry and air expul-
sion values of s
ae
=1600kpa and s
ex
=1000kpa,
and
pd
=
pw
=0.55wereobtainedfromtheSWCC
(Figure 3). The initial void ratio of the sample was
e =1.96andtheinitial preconsolidationstress of the
fully saturated sample was
c
=10kpa (Figure 4).
Material parametersdefiningtheisotropicvirgincom-
pressionandunloading-reloadinglinesof thesaturated
statewere =0.191and =0.029.
At the stress point of interest, the modulus of
elasticity was obtained using the definition of bulk
modulusandtheslopeof thecompressionline; i.e.
for virginloadingand for unloading-loading. Other
model parameters usedintheanalysis were: =0.3,
=0.05and=0.55leadingto =0.05usingEqua-
tion(11). Dueto symmetry, only half of thedomain
was numerically represented. Free boundary condi-
tionswereassumedalongthesidewallsof thesample
toallowseparationof thesamplefromtheoedometer
ringduringtheprocessof drying[17].
185
Figure 4. Void ratio versus suction drying and wetting
pathsonthewhiteclay(Fleureauet al. 1993).
Numerical simulations,alongwiththeexperimental
dataintermsof changesinspecificvolume( =1+e)
andspecificwatervolume(
w
=1+eS
r
)withsuction,
areshowninFigure5.
As canbeseen, for theportionof thedryingpath
below the air entry value, the soil behavior is satu-
rated, andthechangeinwater volumeisequal tothe
total volumechangeof thesample. Oncetheair entry
suctionisreached, thesoil responsehardensmarkedly
and the volume change of the soil occurs along the
reloading path. The volume change behavior during
thefirst stageof thewettingpathistheexact reverse
of thebehavior intheunsaturatedrangefor thedrying
path. A reduction in the suction leads to a decrease
in the effective stress, and hence swelling along the
unloading path. This is not thecasefor thespecific
water volume, sinceduringdryingthepathfollowed
isalongthemaindryingpathwhilethewettingfollows
first thetransitionpathbetweenthemaindryingand
wettingandthenthemainwettingpath. Thisleadsto
significantdeviationsof specificwatervolumechange
fromthespecificvolumechange. Oncetheair expul-
sionsuctionisreachedthesoil becomessaturatedand
once again equal volume changes of water and the
soil skeleton areobserved. In general, thereexists a
good match between the model simulations and the
experimental data.
5 CONCLUSIONS
A method is presented for taking thedependency of
the soil water characteristic curve (SWCC) to vol-
umechangeintoaccount throughanextensionof the
work of Masin [7] to includeboth branches of main
wetting and main drying as well as transition from
wettingto dryingandviceversa. Inthis method, the
SWCC is continuously updatedfor volumetric strain
variations of the soil. Application of the method is
demonstrated through simulating experimental data
Figure5. Specific volumeand(b): specific water volume
changes of the sample, comparisons between numerical
resultsandexperimental resultsof Fleureauet al. (1993).
fromtheliterature. Goodagreementisobtainedshow-
ingthatthemodel proposediscapableof capturingthe
volumechangedependencyof theSWCC throughout
theanalysis.
REFERENCES
[1] Vaunat, J., et al., Stress point algorithm for an
elastoplastic model in unsaturated soils. Inter-
national J ournal of Plastici-ty, 2000. 16(2):
p. 121141.
[2] Khalili, N., M.H. Khabbaz, and S. Valliap-
pan, Effective stress based numerical model for
hydro-mechanical analy-sis inunsaturatedporous
media. Computational Mechanics, 2000. 26(2):
p. 174184.
186
[3] Loret, B. and N. Khalili, An effective stress
elastic-plasticmodel forunsaturatedporousmedia.
Mechanicsof Materials, 2002. 34(2): p. 97116.
[4] Wheeler, S.J., R. S. Sharmaand M.S.R. Buisson,
Coupling of hydraulic hysteresis and stress-strain
behaviour in unsaturated soils. Geotechnique,
2003. 53: p. 4154.
[5] Gallipoli, D.,A. Gens, R. SharmaandJ.Vaunat,An
elasto-plastic model for unsaturated soil incorpo-
ratingtheeffectsof suctionanddegreeof saturation
onmechanical behaviour. Geotechnique, 2003. 53:
p. 123135.
[6] Khalili, N., M.A. HabteandS. Zargarbashi,A fully
coupled flow deformation model for cyclic anal-
ysis of unsaturated soils including hydraulic and
mechanical hysteresis. Computers and Geotech-
nics, 2008. 35(6): p. 872889.
[7] Man,D.,Predictingthedependencyof adegreeof
saturationonvoidratioandsuctionusingeffective
stressprinciplefor unsaturatedsoils. International
J ournal for Numerical andAnalytical Methods in
Geomechanics, 2010. 34(1): p. 7390.
[8] Fredlund, D.G. andA. Xing, Equationsfor thesoil-
water characteristic curve. Canadiangeotechnical
journal, 1994. 31: p. 521532.
[9] Leong, E.C. andH. Rahardjo, Reviewof soil-water
characteristiccurveequations. J ournal of Geotech-
nical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 1997.
123: p. 11061117.
[10] Sillers, W.S., D. G. Fredlund and N. Zakerzadeh,
Mathematical attributes of some soilwater
characteristic curve models. Geotechnical and
Geological Engineering, 2001. 19(3): p. 243283.
[11] Lu, N. andW.J. Likos, UnsaturatedSoil Mechanics.
2004: J ohnWiley& Sons.
[12] Brooks, R.H. and A.T. Corey, Hydraulic proper-
ties of porous media, in Hydrology Paper No.
3. 1964, Civil EngineeringDepartment, Colorado
StateUniversity, Fort Collins, CO.
[13] Khalili, N. andM.H. Khabbaz, A uniquerelation-
shipforforthedeterminationof theshearstrength
of unsaturated soils. Geotechnique, 1998. 48(5):
p. 681687.
[14] Khalili, N. and S. Zargarbashi, Influence of
hydraulic hysteresis on effectivestress in unsatu-
ratedsoils. Geotechnique, 2010. 60: p. 729734.
[15] Khoshghalb,A. andN. Khalili,A meshfreemethod
for fully coupled analysis of flow and deforma-
tion in unsaturated porous media. International
J ournal for Numerical andAnalytical Methods in
Geomechanics, 2012.
[16] Fleureau,J.M.,S.Kheirber-Saoud,R.Soemitroand
S.Taibi, Behaviorof clayeysoilsondrying-wetting
paths. Canadian geotechnical journal, 1993. 30:
p. 287296.
[17] Khalili, N., F. Geiser and G.E. Blight, Effec-
tivestress in unsaturated soils: Review with new
evidence. International J ournal of Geomechanics,
2004. 4(2): p. 115126.
187
Improvednonlinear analysismethodsfor determiningtheinitial shape
of cable-supportedbridges
Moon-YoungKim& Dong-J uMin
Sungkyunkwan University, Cheoncheon-Dong, Suwon, S. Korea
MarioM. Attard
ABSTRACT: Theinitial forcemethodcanremovetheaxial deformationstoconformtothetargetconfiguration
but it becomes acrucial point to accurately evaluateunstrained lengths of cablemembers. In this study, two
improvednonlinear analysismethodsareproposedtobeabletoeliminatethoseaxial deformationsaswell asto
preservemeritsof theTCUDmethod.Forthispurpose,newalgorithmsovercomingshortcomingsof twomethods
arepresentedbasedon an elastic catenary cableelement for modelinghangers andmain cables. In addition,
a nonlinear space frame element for the girder and main tower members are developed using accumulation
method. Finally theaccuracy andeffectiveness of theproposedanalysis algorithms aredemonstratedthrough
thenumerical applicationfor a3dimensional cablebridge.
1 INTRODUCTION
Any uniqueconfigurationof acablestructurecannot
bedefined in thestress-freestateof cablemembers
sincetheflexural andtorsional stiffness of acableis
assumedtobenegligibleandthelateral stiffnessof a
cableisdevelopedonlyfromappliedtensions. There-
fore, an initial equilibrium state which is satisfied
betweendeadloadsandinternal forcesshouldbefound
prior to the structural analysis of cable-supported
structuressubjectedtoexternal loadings.
Theinitial equilibriumstateisnot onlythestarting
point of static/dynamic analyses for additional load
combinations or construction step analysis but also
providesvaluableinformationonmember fabrication
or geometry control duringerection. Therefore, min-
imizingthedeadloaddeformations is desirableafter
the nonlinear initial shape analysis so that the final
structureconforms to thedesigned target configura-
tion. In this paper, two improved nonlinear analysis
methods that can prevent the axial deformations of
girders and pylons of cablebridges under dead load
as well as minimizebending moments areproposed
based on this research background. Themain issues
andcontributionscanbesummarizedasfollows:
1) An elastic catenary cableelement is presented to
model cables by including the unstrained length
as an additional variable. In addition, thetangen-
tial stiffness matrix for a space frame element is
formulatedtomodel thegirdersandmaintowers.
2) After the previous initial force method is shortly
reviewed, animprovedinitial forcemethodwiththe
successivesubstitutionof axial forcesispresented
for finding an optimized target configuration of
suspensionbridgesunder thedeadload.
3) FurthermoreanimprovedTCUD withthesucces-
sive substitution of axial forces is developed to
control horizontal displacements of main cables
of suspension bridges as well as lateral and axial
deformationsof themaintowersandgirders.
4) Finally theaccuracy andeffectiveness of thepro-
posedinitial shapeanalysisalgorithmsaredemon-
strated through the numerical application for a 3
dimensional self-anchoredsuspensionbridge.
2 NONLINEAR FINITE ELEMENTSFOR
INITIAL SHAPINGANALYSIS
In this section, two nonlinear finite elements are
developedtopresent theimprovednonlinear analysis
methods.
2.1 An elastic catenary cable element considering
unstrained length as the unknown
Firstly Irvine(1981) presentedthemathematical for-
mulationandtheexactsolutionof theelasticcatenary
cable equation under its self-weight and its two-
dimensional finiteelementformulationwasdeveloped
by J ayarama and Knudson (1981). Here the gen-
eralized formulation is presented by including the
unstrainedlengthastheunknown.
189
Figure1. Nodal forcesof anelasticcatenarycableelement.
Consideracableelementsuspendedbetweenpoints
P (0, 0, 0) and Q(L
x
, L
y
, L
z
) as shown in Figure 1.
The relative distances between the two nodes along
the global x, y, z axis, denoted by L
x
, L
y
, and L
z
,
respectively inFigure1, canbeexpressedas afunc-
tionof thenodal forcesF
p
1
, F
p
2
, F
p
3
andanunstrained
lengthL
o
;
Forgivenvaluesof L
x
, L
y
, L
z
,theNewton-Raphson
iterationmethodmaybeutilizedtodetermineF
p
1
, F
p
2
,
F
p
3
and L
o
fromthenonlinear simultaneous Eq. (1).
Partial differentiationof bothsidesof Eq. (1) canyield
the incremental relationships between the relative
displacementsandnodal forcesas:
Byinversingtheflexibilitymatrixf
ij
, theincremen-
tal relationshipsareobtainedasfollows:
Combining the relative displacements in Eq. (3)
withEq. (2) and(4) leadstothefollowingincremental
equationof theelasticcatenarycableelement.
where
and
Figure2. Nodal displacementsof aspaceframeelement.
Whenconstructingthetangential stiffnessmatrixof
thetotal structure, thelast terminEq. (4) vanishesin
theinitial forcemethod with successivesubstitution
becausetheunstrained length of each cableremains
unchangedduringtheiterationloopbut Eq. (5a) are
fullyusedincaseof theTCUDmethod. Andthestate
determination problemfor theelastic catenary cable
elementshouldbeiterativelysolvedusingEq. (1) irre-
spective of the initial force method and the TCUD
method.
2.2 A nonlinear space frame element based on
semi-tangential rotation and moment
A displacement-based frame element based on the
co-rotational formulation is shortly presented in this
sub-section. Arbitrarily large rigid motions but the
small deformationsalongtheelement areassumedin
thisnonlinear formulation.
Figure 2 shows nodal displacements of a frame
element with respect to the co-rotational coordinate
system. Considering the work of Kimet al. (2001),
the elastic strain energy and the potential energy
dueto initial forces for aframeelement arederived,
respectively, as
whereEA, EI
2
, EI
3
, GJ =axial, flexural, andtorsional
rigidities, respectively.
Now by interpolating the axial displacement and
twistingangleasalinearfunctionandlateral displace-
mentsascubicHermitianpolynomials, theincremen-
tal equilibriumequationof aspaceframeelementcan
bederivedasfollows:
Hereincrementsof rigidbodymodesarecalculated
fromtheincremental nodal displacement as:
190
Andthesixpuredeformationcomponentsconsist-
ingof theaxial deformationandrelativeflexural and
torsional rotationsareevaluatedas:
To calculate incremental member forces, the fol-
lowing kinematic relationship can be obtained by
consideringtheinverseof Eq. (8)(11).
Considering Eq. (12), the following equilibrium
condition can be obtained from Contragredience
principle.
Finallythetransformedequilibriumequationis
3 ANIMPROVEDINITIAL FORCE METHOD
FOR CABLE BRIDGES
The improved initial force is presented by consider-
ingthesuccessivesubstitutionof initial axial forcesto
eliminateundesirableaxial deformations of both the
tower andthestiffeninggirder.
3.1 The first stage: determining a profile of main
cable and unstrained lengths of cable members
for the cable-only system
Not only the desirable initial shape of suspension
bridgesunder deadloaddeterminedbyinitial shaping
analysis shouldmakelittledifferencewiththetarget
profilebutalsotheresultingbendingmomentsshould
be minimized in the stiffening girder and the tower.
To accomplishthis purpose, theinitial configuration
shouldsatisfythefollowingconditions:
1) Thedeadloadiscarriedbythemaincablethrough
hangerswithout causinganyflexural stressexcept
for thelocal stressinthestiffeninggirder.
2) Thehorizontal tensionof themaincableunderdead
loadisconstant alongthebridgeaxis.
3) Thehorizontal andvertical displacementsarezero
at thetop of towers and especially in caseof the
self-anchored suspension bridge, the horizontal
displacement arezeroat theendsof thegirder.
4) Thehangersareinclinedonlyinthecrosssectional
planeof thesuspensionbridge
Figure3. Freebodydiagramof aninclinedparaboliccable
member under theself-weight.
In addition to these constraints, the following
assumptionsareintroduced:
1) Thevertical sagof maincableinthecenter spanis
predeterminedasadesignvalue.
2) Cablemembers between nodes of themain cable
connected by hangers and inclined hangers are
regardedasparaboliccables asseeninFigure3.
Withrelationtotheaboveassumption2), Figure3
showsthefreebodydiagramof aninclinedparabolic
cablememberundertheself-weightwheredenotesthe
nominal tensionof cablemembersandtensionsinthe
tangential direction at theright and left end, respec-
tively, andvertical reactioncomponents at bothends
areassumedtobe.Actuallythisassumptionaboutver-
tical reactions is not strictly true for inclined cable
members but cable tensions commonly induced in
suspension bridges are so large that errors due to
assumption2) arenegligible.
On theother hand, constraint condition 1) means
thatthevertical displacementshouldbealmostzeroat
theanchor point of hangers so that bendingmoment
duetodeadloadisminimizedinthestiffeninggirder.
Inother words, bendingmoment diagrams alongthe
girder should be the same as that of the continu-
ousbeamwithvirtual internal supportsat thehanger
points.
Thehorizontal tensioncomponentof themaincable
and unstrained lengths of all cable members can be
determinedbasedontheseconstraint conditions and
assumptions, theinitial profileof thecable-only sys-
tem. Finally theunstrained length of cablemembers
canbedeterminedfromtheir nominal tensionsusing
Eq. (15).
wherew andl =theself-weightperunitlengthandthe
chordlengthof eachcablemember, respectively.
Ontheother hand, theinitial shapeandunstrained
lengths of thecablesystemcan beaccurately evalu-
ated by the improved TCUD method (I.TCUD) but
the solution by I.TCUD cannot be directly applied
191
to theforward or backward construction stageanal-
ysis of suspensionbridges becausevirtual geometric
boundary conditions areintroduced. This means that
not only thesolutionbasedonEq. (15) but also that
byI.TCUDcanbeusedastheinputvaluesfor nonlin-
ear FE analysisinthesecondstageof theinitial force
method.
3.2 The second stage: nonlinear FE analysis with
successive substitution of axial forces for the
total bridge system
If theunstrainedlengthsof themaincableandhanger
cablesareoncecalculatedfromthefirst stage, all the
remainingelements arethenactivatedfor theshape-
findinganalysis of thetotal bridgesystem. Nominal
tensions and the corresponding unstrained lengths
evaluatedinthefirststagecanbehereregardedasthe
optimizedsolutionforinitial shapingof thecable-only
system. However when the solution is incorporated
inanalysis model of thetotal bridgesystem, asmall
deviation fromthe target position of the tower and
stiffeninggirderareunavoidableduetoaxial deforma-
tions of frameelements in self-anchored suspension
bridges.
Topreventtheseaxial deformationsowingtoinitial
axial forcesof eachframemember, geometricallynon-
linear iterativeanalysisof thebridgesystemunder the
deadloadisperformedinthesecondstage. Theaxial
forcesof frameelementsconvergedinnonlinearanaly-
sisaresuccessivelysubstitutedasinitial forcesandthe
iterativenonlinear analysisisrepeateduntil axial dis-
placementsof thetower andthegirder arecompletely
removedcomparedtothetarget configuration.
Afterthestructural model forthetotal bridgesystem
is constructed by using thespaceframeelement for
towersandgirdersandtheelasticcatenaryelementfor
main cable and hangers, the geometric and material
dataareinputted. Particularly initial configurationof
maincableandunstrainedlengthsshouldbecarefully
givenfromtheresultsconvergedinthefirststageorin
theimprovedTCUD method. NowNewton-Raphson
iterationmethodinthefirst substitutionloop(k=1)
of theinitial forcemethodisappliedunder deadload
asfollows:
Initial condition:
Consideringtheresult bygeometricallynon-linear
analysisof equation(16), itisclearthataxial displace-
ments on thepylon and horizontal displacements on
stiffeningdeckaregeneratedduetohugetensionof the
cablemembers. However, thosedeformations should
beessentiallyeliminatedwhencomparedtothetarget
configurationappropriatetothedesignpurpose.Toget
ridof thosedeformations,therearetwonestediteration
loopsinI.IFM. OneisNewton-Raphsoniterationloop
corresponding to a typical nonlinear analysis under
dead load and the other is a successive substitution
loopof member forces toremoveaxial deformations
of towers andgirders withrespect toatarget profile.
Inthisstudy, itisemphasizedthatonlyaxial forcesof
eachframeelement aresuccessively substitutedwith
keepingunstrainedlengthsconstantbecausetheinitial
shapeof main cableand unstrained lengths of cable
elements obtained in thefirst stagearejudged to be
thedesirablesolution.Theresultingsecondandhigher
substitution loops (k=2, 3, ) of the initial force
methodareexpressedasEq. (17).
Initial condition:
In I.IFM, the nodal displacement and member
forces convergedin theprevious substitution loopis
resettobezeroexceptforaxial forcesof theframeele-
mentandtheinitial shapeof maincableandunstrained
lengths obtained in the first stage are reconsidered
whenthenextsubstitutionloopisinitiated.Resultantly
axial deformationsintowersandgirdersalmostvanish
asthesubstitutionloopisincreased.
I.IFM1 and I.IFM2 denote the successive substi-
tution method of axial forces based on unstrained
lengths determined in the first stage and the initial
force method based on unstrained lengths of cable
elementsdeterminedfromI.TCUD, respectively.
4 ANIMPROVEDTCUDMETHOD
FOR CABLE BRIDGE
In this section, theTCUD method by Kimand Lee
(2001) arebriefly reviewedandtheimprovedTCUD
method(I.TCUD) isthenpresentedbyconsideringthe
successivesubstitutionschemeof initial axial forces
toeliminateundesirableaxial deformations.
If theiterativetechniqueof theinitial forcemethod
is combined with the TCUD approach, the axial
deformation existing in TCUD method can also be
controlled. To achieve this goal, theTCUD iterative
192
algorithmwhichcorrespondstothefirst stepk=1is
firstlyconsideredasfollows;
Initial condition:
whereW=the dead load vector; F
(i)
c
and F
(i)
f
=the
equivalent internal force vectors due to cable ten-
sions and frame member forces, respectively. Par-
ticularly
1
F
(0)
c
denotes the internal force due to the
initial cable tensions when the initial configuration
of the main cable is approximately assumed to be
parabolic. After thesimultaneous equation (18) hav-
ingthenon-symmetric stiffness matrix is solved, the
nodal displacement andtheunstrainedlengthvectors
areupdatedasseeninEqs. (18) andtheinternal force
vector canbeevaluatedfromthestatedetermination
procedure.
IntheimproveTCUD method, if theconvergence
condition is satisfied, the iteration loop in the first
stepisterminated. Theiterationprocessinthesecond
stepistheninitiatedwiththeinitial nodal coordinates
anddeadloadsafter nodal displacementsandmember
forcesareresetaszerosexceptfor onlyaxial forcesof
eachframemember convergedinthepreviousstep. If
converged, theiterationinthenext stepis iteratively
restartedwithonly axial member forces intheprevi-
ousstep. Ordinarilytheaxial displacementsof towers
andgirdersareeliminatedatthefourthor fifthstepin
caseof self-anchoredsuspensionbridges. Thetypical
iterationprocedureinthek-thstepcanbeexpressedas
Initial condition:
where
k1
F
f
=the internal force vector due to only
axial forces of framemembers convergedinthepre-
viousiterationstep. Becausetheother variablessuch
as nodal displacements, member forces, andreaction
forces become zero in the first iteration process of
the k-th step, the internal force
k 1
F
f
can be taken
intoaccountaspre-stressedaxial forcesof eachframe
element.
Figure4. Profileof IncheonBridgemodel.
Table1. Material propertiesof IncheonBridgemodel.
Structural
member E (Gpa) A (m
2
) Iy(m
4
) Iz (m
4
) J (m
4
)
Deck1 200 1.8324 2.524 199.949 6.9724
Deck2 200 2.1203 3.1608 208.296 8.6544
Tower 1 37.5 21.5 120.135 62.7917 118.212
Tower 2 37.5 17.625 107.189 55.3997 106.163
Tower 3 37.5 29.51 167.401 183.25 243.784
Tower 4 37.5 24.125 141.712 102.46 169.551
Cable1 195 0.01089
Cable2 195 0.0102
Cable3 195 0.00812
Cable4 195 0.00581
Cable5 195 0.0042
Cable6 195 0.01158
Cross 37.5 15.89 72.92 75.91 108.1
Beam
Todemonstrateanefficiencyandeffectivenessof the
proposed method, the initial shaping analysis of a
cable-stayed bridge is performed by using I.IFM1,
I.IFM2andI.TCUD, respectively.
5.1 Incheon Bridge cable supported bridge
Incheon Bridge connects Incheon International Air-
port and Songdo International city in Incheon-si in
Korea, and it is the biggest cable-stayed bridge in
Korea. Figure4showsthestructural model of Incheon
Bridge, and it is fivespans cable-stayed bridgewith
80+260+800+260+80mspans, andtower made
by concrete is an inverse Y shape with 238.5m
height. Streamlined steel box girder is suspended
by 208 cables with doublecableplanes. Thewidths
betweenthepointswherecableandgirderintersectare
33.568m. Table1summarizesthematerial andcross-
sectional propertiesof IncheonBridgemodel. Inthis
model, theuniformlydistributedweight of 300KN/m
between6.7836.782mand1443.2181473.22mis
appliedasacounterweight, andtheintermediatepiers
areaddedineachsidespans so that four stay-cables
connected with intermediate and end piers become
back-staycables.
Figure 5, 6 and Figure 7 shows cable ten-
sions, bending moments of thegirder and thetower
from numerical results using I.IFM and I.TCUD,
respectively.
FromFigure5, itisnotedthattheresultsbyI.TCUD
and I.IFM2 are very similar but show a little dif-
ferencewith thoseby I.IFM1 in thesidespan. Also
193
Figure5. CableTensionsof IncheonBridgemodel (KN).
Figure 6. Moment of Girder in Incheon Bridge model
(KN-m).
Figure 7. Moment of tower in Incheon Bridge model
(KN-m).
Figure6dictatesthatbendingmomentsof thetowerby
I.TCUD andI.IFM2produceminor differences rela-
tively.FinallyitisobservedinFigure7thatmomentsof
thetower byI.TCUDandI.IFM2arenearlyidentical.
Particularlybasedontheproposedimprovedmeth-
ods, Table 2 shows the horizontal and vertical dis-
placementcomponentsatthetower andthehorizontal
displacement at the end of deck, respectively. It is
clearly observed that solutions by 3 improved meth-
odscorrespondingtok =5well conformtothetarget
configurationbutresultscorrespondingtok =1show
somedeviationduetoaxial deformationsof towersand
girders. Furthermorethesedifferencesareexpectedto
enlargeasthespanlengthismuchincreased.
Table2. Calculated horizontal and vertical displacements
(cm) of topof tower andtheendof deck.
I.TCUD I.IFM(1) I.IFM(2)
Index k =5 k =1 k =5 k =1 k =5 k =1
Horizontal 0 0 0.3 27.6 0.2 27.9
displacement
of topof tower
Vertical 0 3.6 0.1 3.4 0.1 3.5
displacement
of topof tower
Horizontal 0 30.6 0.1 27.3 0.2 28.0
displacement
of endof deck
6 CONCLUSIONS
The numerical example for a 3 dimensional cable-
stayedbridgeispresentedtodemonstratetheaccuracy
andeffectivenessof theproposedanalysisalgorithms.
Fromthenumerical study, thefollowingconclusions
canbedrawnas:
1) A 3dimensional elasticcatenarycableelement for
modelingstay-cables andanonlinear spaceframe
element for modeling the girders and main tow-
ers can be successfully applied to initial shaping
analysisof 3dimensional stay-cablebridges.
2) Itisshownthatnumerical resultsbyI.IFM1,I.IFM2
andI.TCUD, that arethreeinitial shapinganalysis
methods, areinremarkablygoodagreement.
3) Consequently three improved schemes, I.IFM1,
I.IFM2 and I.TCUD, proposed by this study are
ableto providean optimized initial configuration
of suspension bridges under the dead load well
conforming to a target configuration as well as
minimizing bending moments of the girder and
vanishingbendingmomentsof thetower.
REFERENCES
Irvine, H. 1981. Cable Structures, Cambridge (MA), MIT
Press.
J ayaraman, H. andKnudson, W. 1981. A curvedelementfor
the analysis of cable structures. Comput Struct, 14(3),
pp. 325333.
Kim, H.-K., Lee, M.-J., and Chang, S.-P. 2002. Nonlin-
ear shape-findinganalysisof aself-anchoredsuspension
bridge. EngStruct , 24(12), pp. 15471559.
Kim, M.-Y., Chang, S.-P. andKim, S.-B. 2001. Spatial post-
buckling analysis of non-symmetric thin-walled frames.
II: geometrically nonlinear FE procedures. J. of Eng.
Mech., 127(8), pp. 779790.
Kim, H.-K andKim, M.-Y. 2012. Efficientcombinationof a
TCUDmethodandaninitial forcemethodfordetermining
initial shapesof cable-supportedbridges. Int. J. of Steel
Structures, tobeaccepted.
Kim, K.-S. andLee, H.-S. 2001. Analysisof target config-
urations under dead loads for cable-supported bridges.
Comput Struct ,79, pp. 26812692.
WangP. H., LinH. T., andTang, T. Y. 2002. Study onnon-
linearanalysisof ahighlyredundantcable-stayedbridge.
Comput Struct , 80, pp. 165182.
194
Efficient bendinganalysisfor piezoelectricplatesusingscaled
boundaryfinite-element method
HouMan, ChongminSong, Wei Gao& FrancisTin-Loi
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: Thispaperpresentsanaccurateandefficientnumerical techniquetoanalysepiezoelectricplates.
Itisbuiltuponthescaledboundaryfinite-elementmethod.Theproposedtechniqueisdevelopedsolelyfrom3D
theorywithoutintroducinganykinematicandelectrostaticassumptions.Thein-planedimensionsaredividedinto
2Dfiniteelements.Thesolutionsinthetransversedirectionof thepiezoelectricplatesareexpressedanalytically
withamatrix exponential function. Thenumerical shear lockingissuedoes not arise. Thematrix exponential
isapproximatedbyaPadexpansionfor higher computational efficiency. The3D-consistent natureallowsthe
proposedtechniquetodescribethethrough-thicknessbehaviourof piezoelectricplatesaccurately.Twonumerical
examplesarepresentedtohighlight theperformanceof theproposedtechnique.
Keywords: scaledboundaryfinite-elementmethod; piezoelectriccomposites; platebending; spectral elements;
smart structures
1 INTRODUCTION
The widely application of piezoelectric materials in
sensingdevicesandactuatorsinsmart structuresand
otherengineeringstructuresisduetotheiruniqueelec-
tromechanical coupling characteristics. Their advan-
tages of high displacement resolution, fast response,
substantial durability and wide frequency band fur-
ther increasetheir usagesbroadly(LinandGiurgiutiu
2011).Thecouplingnatureandthepopularintegration
into composite structures, however, inevitably scale
up the difficulty in numerical analysis for designs
andstructural responses whencomparingto conven-
tional isotropicmetallicmaterials(ManandFurukawa
2011). Their increasing usage in smart structures
and structural health monitoring, both continuously
ensure the safety of a structure, has emphasised the
significance in reliably predicting the responses of
piezoelectriccompositematerialsintheirdesignstage.
Analytical approachesareavailabletoanalysecer-
taintypesof piezoelectriccompositestructures(Kant
andShiyekar 2008; Li etal. 2011), albeittheyarelim-
itedtospecificgeometriesand/or loadingconditions.
Thisalsoimpliestheirdeficiencyfortheanalysisof the
modernengineeringdesigns that requirehighdegree
of flexibility. The numerical analysis of piezoelec-
tric compositestructures, including theoptimisation
of the design (Kgl and Silva 2005), is generally
conducted using the finite element analysis (FEA).
Sincethepiezoelectric compositematerials arecom-
monlydesignedinplate-forminthosestructures, FEA
is often conducted with plate/shell elements. Those
elements are typically developed from plate/shell
theories, which start with simplekinematic assump-
tions, andhavebeenimplementedintoour day-to-day
commercial finite element packages. However, the
shear locking phenomenon and the linear assump-
tionof thethrough-thickness behaviour arethemain
drawbacksof most of theplateelementsandrequires
additional techniquestocopewith(Kgl andBucalem
2005; CarreraandNali 2009). Alternativelyapproach
istoperform3DFEA (Braess2008). Althoughshear
locking is avoided, the computational expenses are
muchmorecostlythanthoseanalyseswithplate/shell
elements. It isinevitablytohaveasignificant amount
of solid elements to satisfy the large aspect ratio
structures(thin-walledstructures).
The authors have recently developed a unified
method to solve plate bending problems directly
fromthethree-dimensional theory (Manet al. 2012).
The in-plane dimensions of a plate are divided into
2D finite elements. The solution in the transverse
(through-thickness) directionof theplateisexpressed
analyticallyasanexponential matrixfunction.The3D-
consistentnatureallowsthetechniquetobeapplicable
for boththinandthickplateswithout introducingany
adhocfactors, suchastheshear correctionfactor.
Inthis paper, atechniqueis proposedto solvethe
bending problems of piezoelectric plates. The tech-
nique is based on the aforementioned method with
improved efficiency. The matrix exponential in the
transversesolutionisapproximatedbyaPadexpan-
sionof order (2, 2) insteadof beingcomputedexplic-
itly. Owingtotheanalytical expressionof thesolution
in the transverse direction, numerical shear locking
issuedoesnot arise. Furthermore, thisalsofacilitates
195
the proposed technique to accurately describe the
higher order transversebehaviour of thepiezoelectric
plates(DOttavioandPolit 2009).
Thepaper isorganisedasfollows. Thenext section
presents the scaled boundary finite-element method
for piezoelectric plates. A solutiontechniquetailored
for piezoelectric plates is given in Section 3. It is
followed by numerical examples in Section 4 and a
conclusioninSection5.
2 SCALEDBOUNDARY FINITE-ELEMENT
METHODFOR PIEZOELECTRIC PLATES
This section formulates the scaled boundary finite-
element methodfor piezoelectricplates. Onlythekey
equations related to the development are listed. The
detailedderivationbasedonavirtual work approach
for linear isotropic materialsisreferredtoManet al.
(2012).
A piezoelectricsquareplateof constant thicknesst
isshowninFigure1.Thez coordinateof theCartesian
coordinatesystemischosenalongthetransversedirec-
tionof theplate, andthex, y coordinatesareparallel
to the mid-plane of the plate. As the plate is han-
dledas a3D problem, thedisplacement components
andelectricpotential alongx-, y- andz-directionsare
denotedas{ u} ={ u(x, y, z)} with{ u} =[u
z
, u
x
, u
y
, ]
T
tofacilitatethefollowingformulations.Thestrainsand
electricfields{ } ={ (x, y, z)} areexpressedas
where[L] isthedifferential operator. Thestressesand
electric displacements { } ={ (x, y, z)} followfrom
Hookeslaw
withtheconstitutivematrix[H] givenas
inwhichC istheelasticconstants, e isthepiezoelec-
tric constants and is thepermittivity. Theequation
of equilibriumwith vanishing body force and body
chargeiswrittenas
and the bottom and top surfaces of the plate may
be subjected to surface traction and electric charge.
Various supporting conditions can beapplied on the
sidesof theplate.
Thein-planedimensionsof theplatearediscretised
into2Delements. Thegeometryof anelement isrep-
resentedbyinterpolatingitsnodal coordinates{x} and
Figure1. Scaledboundarycoordinateswithscalingcentre
at infinity(alsoa3rdorder spectral element).
{y} usingtheshapefunctions formulatedinthelocal
coordinates and:
The 3D geometry is obtained by translating the
2D mesh along the z-direction. This corresponds to
placing the scaling centre of the scaled boundary
finite-element method at infinity (Wolf and Song
1996).
Thegoverningdifferential equations(Equations(1)
to(4)) areformulatedinthescaledboundary coordi-
nates z, and. Only thecoordinatetransformation
betweenthex, y coordinates andthe, coordinates
arerequired. BasedonEquation(5), thetransforma-
tionof thedifferential operatorsareexpressedas
where[J] is theJ acobianmatrix. SubstitutingEqua-
tion(6) intothedifferential operator [L] yeilds
with[b
i
](i =1, 2, 3)givenanalogouslyasthoseinMan
et al. (2012).
After expressing the governing differential equa-
tions in thescaled boundary coordinates, thevirtual
workprincipleisappliedinthediscretisedplane. The
internal nodal forces andelectric charges onthesur-
faces areobtainedby integratingthesurfacetraction
andelectricchargesover elements:
Satisfyingthevirtual workequationbrings
andonthetopandbottomsurfaces,
[E
0
], [E
1
] and [E
2
] in Equations (8) and (9) arethe
scaled boundary finite-element coefficient matrices
196
andareobtainedbyassemblingtheelementcoefficient
matrices (Man et al. 2012). { u(z)} is thedistribution
of thedisplacements and electric potential along the
transversedirection. {
F(z
1
)} and{
F(z
2
)} of Equation
(10) canbeidentifiedasthenodal forcesandelectric
chargesequivalent tothesurfacetractionandelectric
chargeat thebottom(z =z
1
) andtop(z =z
2
) surfaces
respectively.
CombiningEquations(8) and(9) yieldsthescaled
boundary finite-element equation in displacement and
electric potential for piezoelectricplates:
3 A SOLUTIONTECHNIQUETAILORED
FOR PIEZOELECTRIC PLATES
Thissectionpresentsasolutiontechniquetailoredfor
piezoelectric plates. In order to describeaquadratic
distribution of the solution in transverse direction,
threesolutionpointsarerequired.Thisisdonebyfirst
treating theplateas astack-up of two layers to con-
struct a3D consistent stiffness matrix. Thequadratic
distribution is subsequently expressed with the dis-
placements andelectric potential solutions at thetop
andbottomsurfaces, andat themidplane.
3.1 Construction of the stiffness matrix
Equation(11) withn unknowndisplacementfunctions
{u(z)} areequivalent toEquations(8) and(9) with2n
unknowns. Byintroducingthevariable
Equations(8) and(9) areexpressedas
where [Z] is a coefficient matrix expressed with
[E
0
], [E
1
] and[E
2
]. Thegeneral solutionisgivenas
where e
[Z]z
is a matrix exponential and {c} are the
integrationconstants.
When substituting the boundary condition with
z =0at themidplane, Equation(14) becomes
withthesubscriptM denotingthemidplane. Similarly,
by substitutingthetopandbottomsurfaceboundary
conditionwithz =
t
2
andz =
t
2
respectively aswell
asusingEquation(15), wehave
Figure2. Divideasquarepiezoelectricplateintotwolayers.
Varioustechniquestoevaluatethematrixexponential
e
[Z]
t
2
exist. Padexpansionisappliedinthisresearch
work asit convergesmorerapidly andvery oftenhas
a much larger range of convergence than the corre-
sponding power series expansion does. The matrix
exponential becomes
where[P] and[Q] are2ndorder polynomialsof [Z]
t
2
andhavetheformof
The chosen order is investigated in the numerical
examplesandaccurateresultsarealwaysobtained.The
coefficientsaresolvedasin(SongandBazyar 2008).
The construction of the stiffness matrix starts by
treating the whole plate as a stack-up of two lay-
ers as shown in Figure2. When considering thetop
layer(0z
t
2
), thesubstitutionof Equation(17)into
Equation(16) yields
WhenfurtherapplyingtheconditiongiveninEquation
(10) as well as grouping{ u} andtheappliedloads to
the left and right hand sides respectively, the above
equationbecomes
with
Forahomogeneouspiezoelectricplate, thestiffness
matrixof thetoplayeristhesameastheoneof thebot-
tomlayer(
t
2
z 0).Thisimpliesthe3Dconsistent
global matrixequationcanbeformulatedas
197
Table1. Material propertiesof PZT-4
1
(planestrain).
Elastic Piezoelectric Permittivity
constants[10
9
Pa] constants[Cm
2
] [10
9
Fm
1
]
c
11
139 e
31
5.2
11
6.45
c
13
74.3 e
33
15.1
33
5.62
c
33
115 e
15
12.7
c
44
25.6
with
3.2 Quadratic distribution of transverse solutions
Alongthetransversedirection, thedistributionof the
displacementsandelectricpotential areassumedtobe
aquadraticfunction
where {a
i
} (i =0, 1, 2) are the coefficients of the
function.Thechosenformforthedistributionisaimed
for ahomogeneous piezoelectric platewithpolariza-
tionintransversedirection(DOttavioandPolit2009).
The coefficients are solved with the 3D-consistent
solutions obtainedfromEquation(22). Whensubsti-
tuting z =
t
2
(the bottomsurface), z =0 (the mid-
plane) and z =
t
2
(thetop surface) into thequadratic
function, thecoefficientsaresolvedtobe
Thesubstitutionof thisset of coefficientsintoEqua-
tion (24) gives thedistribution of thedisplacements
andelectricpotential of thepiezoelectricplate.
Thissectionpresentstwonumerical examplestoval-
idate the proposed technique as well as to highlight
its performance with a plate having infinite width.
Planestrainconditionisappliedandtheproblemsare
reduced to 2D problems (Kant and Shiyekar 2008).
Theresults of theproposed techniquearecompared
withanalytical solutions.Theexamplesareconducted
with a consistent set of units and with the mate-
rial properties given in Table 1. In this section the
FEA results are generated froma commercial FEA
Figure 3. Simply-supported piezoelectric plate under a
uniformlydistributedpressure.
Figure4. Normalisedelectric potential at themidplaneof
thesimplysupportedplate(t/L =0.01).
packageANSYSV13.0with2Dfirst-order quadri-
lateral elements (PLANE13). Note that there is no
beamelement availabe in ANSYS for piezoelectric
materialstobeusedintheseexamples.
The transverse deflection (w) and the electric
potential () arenormalisedby
p isauniformlydistributedpressureinthefirstexam-
pleandaconcentratedforceinthesecondexample.
4.1 Simply-supported piezoelectric plate
Inthefirst example, asimply-supportedpiezoelectric
plateunder auniformly distributed load is analysed.
Theplateis with infinitewidth (along y-coordinate)
andfinitelength(alongx-coordinate). Figure3shows
the problem configuration with both ends along x
under simplysupportedcondition. Theboundarycon-
ditionsfor thedisplacement andelectricpotential are
u =0, w=0, =0at x =
L
2
, z =0andw=0, =0
at x =
L
2
, z =0. Theuniformly distributedpressurep
is appliedat thetopsurface. Thethickness-to-length
ratiot/L isequal to0.01.
Figure4showstheelectricpotential alongtheplate
whenusingasingle6thorder spectral element (with
7 nodes). Shown on thesamefigures aretheresults
obtainedfromtheanalytical solutionsgivenin(Zhang
andShi 2003) andtheconvergedresultsof FEA with
ameshof 800(L)8(t) uniformsquareelements.
198
Figure5. Transversedistribution of thesimply supported
plate(t/L =0.01) at x =0.
Table 2. Deflection and electric potential of the simply
supportedpiezoelectricplate(t/L =0.01) at (0, 0).
w
SBFEM (4thorder) 0.1804 0.0306

FEA 0.1804 0.0312
Analytical (ZhangandShi 2003) 0.1804 0.0306
Thetransversedistributionof thesolutions witha
6thorder elementareshowninFigure5. Thedistribu-
tion is obtained by Equation (24) with thesolutions
of the top, bottomsurfaces and the midplane. The
results show that the proposed technique is able to
accurately capture the non-linear through-thickness
distribution. Choosing a 6th order element for this
problemis mainly to showclearer distributionalong
the plate. Table 2 shows the midplane results at the
middleof theplateusingasingle4thorder element.
Itcanbeeseenthattheresultsalreadyagreewell with
theanalytical solutionevenwitha4thorder element.
Table3. Deflectionandelectricpotential of thepiezoelec-
triccantilever plate(t/L =0.001) at (
L
2
, 0).
w
SBFEM (4thorder) 1.445 0.1226

FEA 1.444 0.1232
Analytical (Shi andChen2004) 1.443 0.1224
4.2 Piezoelectric cantilever plate
The second example is to apply to proposed tech-
niquetoanalyseapiezoelectriccantilever plateunder
a concentrated force at the free end. Similar to the
previousexample, theplateiswithinfinitewidthand
finite length (L). The boundary conditions, given in
(Shi andChen2004), for thedisplacement andelec-
tric potential are u =0, w=0, =0 and
w
x
=0 at
x =0, z =0. For the sake of simplification, the last
condition is substituted with u =0 at x =0. Based
on theprinciple of Saint-Venant, such asubstitution
would not significantly affect the global results as
t/L =0.001.Anequivalenttractiontotheconcentrated
forcep is applied to thefreeend (x = L), such that
t
2
t
2

xz
dz =p.
Table2showsthemidplaneresultsatthemiddleof
theplateusingasingle4thorderelement. Goodagree-
ment with the analytical solutions is obtained. The
FEA resultsarebasedonameshwith8000(L)8(t)
uniformsquare elements. Figure 6 shows the trans-
versesolutiondistributionatthemiddleof theplate. It
canbeseenthattheproposedtechniqueisabletoaccu-
rately capture the through-thickness behaviour with
onlyminimal discrepancy.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper has presented atechniqueto solvebend-
ingproblemsfor piezoelectricplates.Thetechniqueis
builtupona3Dconsistentplateformulationdeveloped
bytheauthors(Manet al. 2012). Thetransversesolu-
tions are expressed analytically with an exponential
matrixfunction.Padexpansionisappliedinthispaper
to approximate the matrix exponential and resulting
higher computational efficiency.
Twonumerical examplesareshowntovalidatethe
proposedtechnique. Theresultsareverifiedwithana-
lytical solutions. Bothexamples haveshownthat the
proposed techniqueis ableto achievehigh accuracy
when using only one high order spectral element.
No numerical lockingphenomenonis observed. The
present results also show that the high order distri-
bution in transversedirection is captured accurately.
Theproposedtechniquecananalysethick piezoelec-
tric plates by treating the same plate as a stack-up
of multiplelayers. Thiswill maketheproposedtech-
niquebeabletodescribehigher order behaviour, such
asthedistributionof electric potential inshear mode
piezoelectricsensors(DOttavioandPolit 2009).
199
Figure 6. Transverse distribution of the cantilever plate
(t/L =0.001) at x =0(middleof theplate).
REFERENCES
Braess, D. (2008). Efficient 3D-finiteelement formulation
for thin mechanical and piezoelectric structures. Inter-
73(2), 147161.
Carrera, E. and P. Nali (2009). Mixed piezoelectric plate
elementswithdirect evaluationof transverseelectricdis-
placement. International Journal for Numerical Methods
in Engineering 80(4), 403424.
DOttavio, M. and O. Polit (2009). Sensitivity Analy-
sis of Thickness Assumptions for Piezoelectric Plate
Models. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and
Structures 20(15), 18151834.
Kant,T.andS.Shiyekar(2008).Cylindrical bendingof piezo-
electric laminates with ahigher order shear and normal
deformationtheory. Computers & Structures 86(1516),
15941603.
Kgl, M. andM. Bucalem(2005). A familyof piezoelectric
MITCplateelements.Computers &Structures 83(1516),
12771297.
Kgl, M. andE. C. N. Silva(2005). Topology optimization
of smartstructures: designof piezoelectricplateandshell
actuators.Smart Materials andStructures 14(2),387399.
Li, X. Y., J. Wu, H. J. Ding, and W. Q. Chen (2011). 3D
analytical solutionfor afunctionally gradedtransversely
isotropic piezoelectric circular plate under tension and
bending.International Journal of EngineeringScience 49,
664676.
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transduction analysis of piezoelectric wafer-active sen-
sors for structural health monitoring. Structural Health
Monitoring, DOI:10.1177/1475921711409481.
Man, H. andT. Furukawa(2011). Neural networkconstitutive
modelling for non-linear characterization of anisotropic
materials. International Journal for Numerical Methods
in Engineering 85(8), 939957.
Man, H., C. Song, W. Gao, and F. Tin-Loi (2012). A
unified 3D-based technique for plate bending analysis
using scaled boundary finite-element method. Interna-
tional Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering,
DOI:10.1002/nme.4280.
Shi, Z. F. andY. Chen (2004). Functionally graded piezo-
electric cantilever beamunder load. Archive of Applied
Mechanics 74(3-4), 237247.
Song, C. and M. H. Bazyar (2008). Development of a
fundamental-solution-less boundary element methodfor
exterior wave problems. Communications in Numerical
Methods in Engineering 24(4), 257279.
Wolf, J. P. andC. Song(1996). Finite-element modelling of
unbounded media. Chichester: Wiley& Sons.
Zhang, L. N. and Z. F. Shi (2003). Analytical solution of
a simply supported piezoelectric beam subjected to a
uniformly distributedloading. Applied Mathematics and
Mechanics 24(10), 12151223.
200
Evaluationof stressintensityfactorsoncrackedfunctionallygraded
materialsusingpolygonsmodelledbythescaledboundary
finiteelement method
E.T. Ooi, I. Chiong& C. Song
ABSTRACT: Functionallygradedmaterialsarearelativelynewclassof compositematerialswhereitsmaterial
properties are defined by a continuous function on the spatial coordinates. Its use in engineering practice
is increasingly popular dueto its superior mechanical and thermo-mechanical properties. Understanding the
behaviour of cracksinfunctionallygradedmaterialsisimportant intheassessment of their structural integrity.
This study develops a novel approach using polygon elements, which are modelled by the scaled boundary
finiteelement method, toanalysethefracturebehaviour infunctionallygradedmaterials. Thescaledboundary
finiteelement equationsarereformulatedintermsof nodal shapefunctions. Eachpolygonisthentreatedusing
standardfiniteelementprocedures.Thenon-uniformmaterial propertiesarelocallyrepresentedbyapolynomial
fit intheelement formulation. This formulationstill inherits all theadvantages of thescaledboundary finite
element method. Orders of singularities andhence, stress intensity factors canbecomputedaccurately using
only singular modesinthescaledboundary finiteelement solutionwithout nodal enrichment functions. Mesh
refinement at thecracktipissignificantlylesscomparedtothat requiredinstandardfiniteelement methodand
isonlynecessarytomodel thegradedmaterial propertiesthroughout thecomputational domain. Theefficiency
of themethodinevaluatingstressintensityfactorsaredemonstratedusingafewnumerical examples.
1 INTRODUCTION
Functionallygradedmaterials(FGMs) areanewclass
of customizablematerialsarisingfromadvancements
in materials science and technology. The develop-
ment of thesematerials, wherethevolumefractions
of their constituents aretailoredin apre-determined
profile, increases their heat, oxidization and frac-
ture resistances. This allows engineers to optimize
the performance of FGM components under critical
and extreme conditions for safety-critical structures
in key modern industries, such as micro-electronics,
aerospaceandnuclear energy.
Evaluation of stress intensity factors (SIFs) is
important to determinate the damage tolerance and
assess thestructural integrity of cracked FGM com-
ponents. SIF computationinhomogeneous materials
iswell establishedinthetheoryof fracturemechanics.
InFGMs, itwasfoundthatalthoughtheinversesquare
root singularitynear cracktipsarethesameasthat in
homogeneousmaterials, thepresenceof material gra-
dientsinFGMssignificantlyaffecttheSIFs(Delale&
Erdogan (1983), Eischen (1986), Erdogan (1995),
Gu& Asario (1997), Li, Zou& Duan(1999). While
theanalytical solutions formulated in theaforemen-
tioned studies provideuseful insights to thefracture
behaviour of FGMs, their availability is limitedcon-
sideringtheinfinitepossibilitiesof material gradients,
loading conditions and geometries in FGM compo-
nents. Consequently, numerical methods are more
commonlyusedtoevaluateSIFsinFGMs.
Thefiniteelementmethod(FEM) isbyfarthemost
prevalentnumerical methodfor fractureanalyses.The
conventional methodusedto evaluateSIFs inFGMs
involvestheusequarter-point isoparametricelements
together with domain integrals (Gu, Dao & Asario
(1999), Marur & Tippur (2000)). Recently, Kim&
Paulino (2002a) developed an isoparametric graded
FEM formulation for structural analyses in FGMs.
Thismethodwasfurther developedwithdomaininte-
gralstoevaluateSIFsandT-stressesincrackedFGM
structures (Kim& Paulino (2002b), Paulino & Kim
(2004)). Although evaluation of SIFs was plausible,
theFEM methodologies aforementioned suffer from
lack of accuracy unless avery densemeshis usedto
discretisetheareainthevicinityof thecracktip.
Researchisstill ongoingtoimprovetheFEM or to
devisesuperior methodologies to simulatestress sin-
gularitiesinFGMs. Theseincludetheextendedfinite
element method (XFEM) (Dolbow & Gosz (2002))
andmeshlessmethods(Rao&Rahman(2002)). Both
methodologiesenrichthenodesinthevicinityof crack
tipswithsingular functionssothat thesingular stress
fields emanating from crack tips can be modelled
moreaccurately. This increases theaccuracy of both
methodologies. However, like the FEM, specifically
201
formulateddomainintegralsarerequiredtocompute
theSIFsinFGMs.
The scaled boundary finite element method
(SBFEM), developedby SongandWolf (1999) is an
efficient alternative for solving problems involving
singularities and unbounded media. Stress singulari-
tiesemanatingfromcrackscanbeaccuratelymodelled
bytheSBFEMwithsignificantlycoarsermeshescom-
paredtotheFEMwithoutanyenrichmentfunctionsor
domainintegrals; aswasshowninvariousstudiese.g.
Yang(2006) andSonget al. (2006).
Initscurrentform, thecurrentSBFEMformulation
has limited application to only homogeneous linear
elasticmaterialsandsimpleFGMs(Bazyar andSong,
2006). This study presents anovel SBFEM formula-
tionfor evaluationof structural responsesandSIFsin
heterogeneousmaterialssuchasthatinFGMs.A poly-
gonbasedimplementationof theSBFEM(P-SBFEM)
in which the SBFEM formulation is embodied in
arbitrary n-sided polygon meshes has recently been
developedbyOoi etal. (2012). Bytreatingeachpoly-
gon as aSBFEM subdomain, this approach is more
general andiscapableof dealingwithcomplexgeome-
tries, whilestill retainingtheadvantagesof SBFEMin
terms of accurately modelling stress singularities at
cracks. This novel formulation will be implemented
withtheP-SBFEM.
2 METHODOLOGY
2.1 Scaled boundary finite element shape functions
Any arbitrary n-sided polygon can be treated as a
subdomainintheSBFEM. Thegeometryof thepoly-
gon has only to satisfy the scaling requirement; i.e.
thewholeboundary is directly visiblefromthescal-
ing centre. This family of polygons include regular,
and many irregular and convex polygons, though in
thisstudythepolygonmeshsolelyconsistsof convex
polygons. A so-calledscalingcentreO isselectedin
thepolygon, usuallyat itsgeometriccentre.
Oneachpolygonedge,theboundarydirectlyvisible
to thescalingcentreis discretisedinto isoparametric
line elements, which can be of any arbitrary order.
Higher order elements canbeeasily incorporatedby
increasing thenumber of nodes along each polygon
edge. The radial direction from the scaling centre
to the boundary is described by the dimensionless
radial coordinate, where =0at thescalingcentre
and =1at theboundary. A schematic of aSBFEM
polygonisshowninFigure1.
Thedisplacementsanypointinapolygon, u(, ) is
where N() is the one-dimensional shape function
matrix of the line elements along each polygons
boundary and u() is the displacement field in the
radial direction. u() is obtained fromthe SBFEM
equation in displacement, which describes the equi-
libriumintheradial direction.
Figure1. Scaledboundaryfiniteelement polygon.
E
i
, i =0, 1and2arecoefficient matrices that relate
thegeometry thestrains, displacements andmaterial
propertiesineachpolygon(Songet al. 2010).
Equation2isahomogenoussecondorder differen-
tial equationwithn unknowndisplacement functions
u(), where n is the number of degrees-of-freedom
(DOF) inthepolygon. Introducingthevariable
andtheHamiltonianmatrix
Equation 2 can be transformed into a first order
ordinarydifferential equationwith2n unknowns
Theformal solutionof x() iswrittenas
where S and are the eigenvalue matrix in Schur
formand corresponding eigenvectors resulting from
the Schur decomposition of Z (Song 2004). For a
bounded domain, only the set of negative eigenval-
uesinS andtheir correspondingeigenvectorsleadto
finite displacements at the scaling center. Denoting
theseasS
n
and
u
, thegeneral solutionsfor displace-
mentsu()iswrittenfortheboundeddomain0 1
as
Equation7canbewritteninterms of shapefunc-
tions and nodal displacements, u
0
by replacing the
constantsc with
202
Figure 2. Shape function of an (a) uncracked and (b)
crackedsubdomain.
notingthat at theboundary, theshapefunctiontakes
avalueof unityat thenodes =1and =1andat
=1,
S
n
=I. Equation7thenbecomes
where

N() is theshapefunction in theradial direc-
tion. Figures 2a and 2b show typical plots of

N()
for a normal and a cracked polygon, respectively.
These shape functions forma partition of unity and
satisfy both compatibility andcompleteness require-
ments (Chiong& Song, 2010). They aresmoothand
continuous over theun-crackedpolygondomainand
arediscontinuousover thecracksurfaces.
WhenacrackismodelledbytheSBFEM, someof
theeigenvalues in S
n
will bebetween 1S
nii
0
andtheshapefunctionclosetothecracktipfollowsa
r distributionas is showninFigure2b. Thesquare

root singularity of stresses at the crack tip naturally
results fromthefirst derivativeof

N() with respect
to . Therefore, stress singularities can be captured
accuratelywithout anyenrichment functionsor dense
meshesat thecracktip.
Substituting Equation 7 into Equation 1, the dis-
placement of any point in the domain can now be
describedas
Thestrain, (, ) andstress, (, ) fieldsare
where
() isthestrainmode
andB
1
() andB
2
() arestraindisplacement matrices
(Song&Wolf 1999) andDisthematerial constitutive
matrix. In FGMs, D is a function of space. In this
study, it isapproximatedby apolynomial functionof
theform
Using theSBFEM transformation of coordinates,
D(x, y) canbewrittenintermsof (, ) as
The coefficient matrices, D
(k)
in Equation 15 are
determined froma least squares fit over each poly-
gon, using the Gaussian/Gauss-Lobatto integration
points as fittingpoints. Theorder of thepolynomial,
k andthenumber of polygons inthemeshbothplay
a role in modelling the material gradient in FGMs.
Thenumberof polygonsandk shouldbelargeenough
to accurately represent the material gradient. In our
experience, k =2isusuallyadequatefor areasonably
sizedmesh.
The governing equations of equilibriumfor elasto-
statics in each polygon can bederived starting from
theprincipleof virtual work.
Substituting Equations (10)(12) for u, and
, respectively into Equation (16) and simplifying
leadsto
203
where
Thetermontheright-hand-sideof Equation17is
theequivalent nodal forcesonthepolygon. Theterm
on the left-hand-side of Equation 17 is the polygon
stiffnessmatrix.
For each termk, Equation 18 can benumerically
integratedusingstandardintegrationprocedures e.g.
GaussorGauss-Lobattointegration.Theleft-handside
of Equation 17 has to be integrated analytically for
eachk term. Denoting
and using the properties of matrix power functions,
X
(k)
canbeshowntobethesolutionof theLyapunov
equation
Thestiffnessmatrixof eachpolygonisthen
andEquation17simplyreducesto
whereF
p
is thenodal polygonloadvector. Equation
22 can be assembled polygon-by-polygon following
similar procedures as intheFEM, formingasystem
of simultaneouslinear equationsthat aretobesolved
for thenodal displacementsinthepolygonmesh.
2.3 Computation of stress intensity factors for
functionally graded materials
It has been shown in various studies e.g (Delale &
Erdogan(1983))thatthesingularityandangulardistri-
butionof neartipstressanddisplacementfieldsarethe
sameasthatinhomogeneousmaterials.Thissingular-
itynaturallyresultsfromtheSBFEMshapefunctions.
SIFsinFGMscanbedirectly extractedfromthedis-
placement or stress fields of the polygon modelling
thecrack(Figure3).
If the displacements are used, the SIFs can be
computeddirectlyas
where,
Figure3. Scaledboundaryfiniteelementcrackedpolygon.
v
tip
and G
tip
arethePoissons ratio and shear modu-
lus at thecrack tip, respectively. Thedisplacements,
u(r, )=[u
(r, ) u
r
(r, )]
T
areobtainedfrom
whereT is the standard transformation matrix, S
(s)
n
contains only the negative eigenvalues between 1
and0and
(s)
u
aretheir correspondingeigenvectors.
If the stresses are used, the generalised SIFs,
K()=[K
I
() K
II
()]
T
, at any angle canbeconve-
nientlycomputedfromtheir definitionsas
where
(s)
L
(()) is the strain mode at characteristic
length, L
containingonlythestrainmodescorrespondingtothe
andr components(Figure3), D
tip
isthematerial
constitutivematrixevaluatedat thecracktip.
The capabilities of the present method are demon-
stratedusingsomenumerical examples.
3.1 Edge crack FGM plate subjected to
shear loading
A FGM plate with an edge crack, fixed at the bot-
tomand subjected to a shear loading,
0
at the top
edgeshown in Figure4ais considered. Thegeome-
try of theplateis 2h/W =16/7, and a/W =0.5. The
Youngs modulus of the plate varies in the x direc-
tion according to E(x)=C
1
e
C
2
x
; whereC
1
=E
1
and
C
2
= ln(E
2
/E
1
)/W.ThePoissonsratiov =0.3andis
constant throughout theplate. Planestrainconditions
204
Figure4. (a) Edgecracked plateunder shear loading; (b)
P-SBFEM mesh.
Table 1. Comparison of normalised results for edge-
crackedplatesubject to shear tractionusingP-SBFEM and
quadraticandcubicapproximationof thematerial definition.
P-SBFEM P-SBFEM
Dolbowet al. Quadratic Cubic
(2002) Approximation Approximation
E
2
/E
1
K
I
K
II
K
I
K
II
K
I
K
II
0.5 1.110 1.093 1.116 1.099 1.115 1.097
0.556 1.092 1.078 1.099 1.085 1.096 1.082
0.667 1.061 1.052 1.067 1.057 1.066 1.056
0.833 1.016 1.014 1.030 1.026 1.029 1.025
1 0.996 0.997 1.001 1.001 1.000 1.000
1.25 0.962 0.967 0.967 0.970 0.966 0.969
2 0.893 0.905 0.898 0.908 0.896 0.907
2.5 0.862 0.877 0.866 0.879 0.865 0.878
5 0.772 0.791 0.775 0.792 0.791 0.791
10 0.689 0.708 0.693 0.708 0.692 0.707
Figure5. (a) Platewithangledcentrecrack; (b) P-SBFEM
mesh.
were assumed. The plate was discretised with 787
polygonsand1696nodesasshowninFigure4b.
Table 1 and Figure 5 compare the SIFs for vari-
ousmaterial gradients(normalisedbythehomogenous
result) computed by the P-SBFEM with the XFEM
results of Dolbow & Gosz (2002). The P-SBFEM
Figure6. NormalizedStressIntensityFactor K
I
for angled
centrecracksubjectedtofar-fieldstressfor variousmaterial
gradients.
Figure7. NormalizedStressIntensityFactor K
II
for angled
centrecracksubjectedtofar-fieldstressfor variousmaterial
gradients.
results wereobtainedby locally fittingquadratic and
cubicpolynomialsineachpolygontocapturethemate-
rial gradient.Theresultscomparewell witheachother,
and as expected, the higher order approximation of
thematerial definition, themoreaccuratetheresults.
Thedifferencebetween theresults was less than 1%
except for thecasewhereE
2
/E
1
=0.833. Notably, in
thepresentresults,forthehomogenouscaseE
2
/E
1
=1,
thenormalisedSIF isclosetotheexpectedvalueof 1.
ItisalsonotedthattheXFEMrequiredamuchdenser
mesh(4608quadrilateral elements)comparedwiththe
P-SBFEM.
3.2 Functionally graded square plate with angled
centre crack subjected to uniform tension
A squareplatewithaninclinedcrack at angle, sub-
jected to uniformtension, shown in Figure6(a) is
considered. Thedimensions of theplateareW =20,
and a =1. TheYoungs modulus of the plate varies
accordingtotherelationshipE(x)=E
0
e
x
,E
0
=1.The
constant, isvariedbetween0and0.5toinvestigate
their effect on theSIFs. ThePoissons ratio, v =0.3.
Planestrainconditionswereassumed.
The polygon mesh of the plate is shown in Fig-
ure6b. It has316polygonsand828nodes. Figures7
205
and8comparesthenormalisedSIFs, K/
a, com-
putedfromtheP-SBFEM withthat fromtheXFEM
for 0
180
. A polynomial of cubic order was

usedtofit thematerial gradient ineachpolygon.
As is evident fromboth figures, there is a good
agreementbetweenthemethodologiescompared. Itis
interestingtonotethat, theXFEMcomputationswere
performedwithasignificantlydensermeshconsisting
of 3600elements.
4 CONCLUSIONS
A novel polygonbasedSBFEM formulationhasbeen
developed to evaluate SIFs for stationary cracks in
two-dimensional FGMs of arbitrary geometry. Arbi-
trary n-sided polygons are used for the discretisa-
tion, treatingeachpolygonas aSBFEM subdomain.
Material properties defined by smooth functions of
spatial coordinatesandarelocally representedby fit-
tingapolynomial curvefittingwithineachpolygon.
Theaccuracy of evaluated SIFs can beimproved by
increasing thediscretisation or order of polynomial.
This formulation retains all theattractivefeatures of
SBFEM. Stresssingularitiesarenaturallyrepresented
inthesemi-analytical solutionsof SBFEM. Thisleads
toaccuratecomputationof SIFsdirectlyfromthesolu-
tions of stresses or displacements, without the need
for any mesh enrichment or special techniques as
is demonstrated in thenumerical benchmarks. Mesh
refinement is required but is only necessary to cap-
turethevariationinmaterial properties. Whilethisis
necessary, compared with the FEM and XFEM, the
meshesrequiredbyP-SBFEM werestill significantly
coarser for thesameproblem.
REFERENCES
Bazyar, M.H. andSong, C. 2006.Time-harmonicresponseof
non-homogeneousanisotropicunboundeddomainsusing
thescaled boundary finite-element method, Earthquake
Engineering and Structural Dynamics, 35: 357383.
Chiong, I., Song, C.: Development of polygon elements
based on the scaled boundary finite element method.
IOP Conf. on Series: Materials Science and Engineering
(WCCM/APCOM), Sydney, Australia, J uly2010, vol. 10,
no. 1, p. 2226
DelaleF, Erdogan F. Thecrack problemfor anonhomoge-
neous plane. Journal of Applied MechanicsTransactions
of the Asme. 1983;50(3):609614.
Dolbow J E, Gosz M. On the computation of mixed-mode
stress intensity factors in functionally graded mate-
rials. International Journal of Solids and Structures.
2002;39(9):25572574.
EischenJ. Fractureof nonhomogeneous materials. Interna-
tional Journal of Fracture. 1987;22.
ErdoganF. Fracturemechanicsof functionallygradedmate-
rials. Composites Engineering. 1995;5(7):753770.
Gu P, Asario RJ. Cracks in functionally graded mate-
rials. International Journal of Solids and Structures.
1997;34(I).
GuP, Dao M, Asario RJ. A simplifiedmethodfor calculat-
ing the crack-tip field of functionally graded materials
usingthedomainintegral. Journal of Applied Mechanics.
1999;66:101108.
Li C, ZouZ, DuanZ. Stressintensityfactorsfor functionally
gradedsolidcylinders. Engineering Fracture Mechanics.
1999;63(6):735749.
Kim, J.H&Paulino, G.H. 2002a. Isoparametricgradedfinite
elements for nonhomogeneous isotropic andorthotropic
materials. Journal of Applied Mechanics, 69: 502514.
Kim, J.H & Paulino, G.H. 2002b. Finiteelement evaluation
of mixed mode stress intensity factors in functionally
graded materials. International Journal for Numerical
Methods in Engineering, 53, 19031935.
Marur P. Numerical analysis of crack-tipfields infunction-
ally graded materials with acrack normal to theelastic
gradient. International Journal of Solids and Structures.
2000;37:53535370.
Ooi, E.T, Song, C, Tin-Loi, F & Yang, Z.J. 2012. Polygon
in Engineering, DOI: 10.1002/nme.4284.
PaulinoG.H&KimJ.H.A newapproachtocomputeT-stress
in functionally graded materials by means of the inter-
actionintegral method. Engineering Fracture Mechanics.
2004;71(1314):19071950.
RaoBN, RahmanS. Mesh-freeanalysisof cracksinisotropic
functionally graded materials. Engineering Fracture
Mechanics. 2003;70(1):127.
Song C. A matrix function solution for the scaled bound-
aryfinite-elementequationinstatics. Computer Methods
in Applied Mechanics and Engineering. 2004;193(23
26):23252356.
Mechanics, 77: 23162336.
Yang, Z.J. 2006. Fully automatic modeling of mixed-mode
crack propagation using scaled boundary finiteelement
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1731.
206
In-planestabilityof variablecross-sectioncolumnswithshear deformations
LijuanSu& MarioM. Attard
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: Afiniteelasticityanalysisispresentedinthispaperforvariablecross-sectioncolumnstakinginto
account theeffectsof shear deformationsbasedontheTimoshenkobeamhypothesis. A consistent hyperelastic
constitutivemodel isadoptedtodefinetheconstitutivelawsforstressesandfinitestrains.Thegeneral equilibrium
equationsaredevelopedfor variablecross-sectioncolumnsconsideringtheshear deformationsinadditiontothe
bendingdeformations.Thebucklingequationsarederivedfortaperedcantilevercolumnssubjecttocompressive
loads.TheGalerkinmethodisemployedtoobtainthecritical bucklingloadsfromthederiveddifferential buckling
equations. Theparametricstudiesonthenormalizedbucklingloadsshowthat theeffectsof shear deformations
aresignificant for taperedcolumns withlowslenderness as well as taperedcolumns withweak shear rigidity.
Thedevelopedformulationisvalidatedthroughcomparisonswiththepublishedresults.
1 INTRODUCTION
The application of tapered columns has increased
in the engineering construction industry due to the
unique advantage of the combination of the three
ideals of structural arts efficiency, economy and
aesthetics(Billington(1985)). Columnswithvariable
cross-sections arecommon in all kinds of engineer-
ing applications. The stability problems of elastic
non-uniform structural members have been exten-
sively studied during the past several decades (see
Coskun & Atay (2009), Serna et al. (2011), Dinnik
(1929), Eisenberger (1991), Li (2001)).
In this paper, a consistent hyperelastic constitu-
tiverelationshipfor physical Lagrangianstressesand
strains is formulated for variable cross-section col-
umnstabilityproblemunder finitestrains. Theeffects
of shear deformations areconsidered in thestability
analysis adopting theTimoshenko beamhypothesis.
By applyingthevirtual work andvariationprinciple,
thegeneralizedequilibriumequationsarederivedfor
columns with variable cross-sections. The differen-
tial buckling equations are developed to investigate
taperedcantilevercolumnsundercompressiveconcen-
tratedloadandaresolvedfor thebucklingloadsinthe
numerical analysis for various taper ratio cases. By
comparison, theobtainedcurvesof behavioursof nor-
malizedbucklingloadsagainstslendernessareshowed
tobeingoodagreement withtheresultspresentedin
theexistingliterature(Timoshenko& Gere(1961)).
2 KINEMATICS
Consider a structural member with variable cross-
sections. Thematerial lines followthepatternof the
Figure1. Material lines.
continuumboundariesasdepictedinFigure1. Inthe
initial configurationthepositionvector P of anarbi-
trarypoint onageneral material lineandtheposition
vector of point P
o
onthereferenceaxis withrespect
to the rectangular Cartesian coordinate system are
givenby:
i
1
andi
2
denotetheunit basevectorsalignedwiththe
x-axisandy-axisrespectively. x
o
andy
o
aretheCarte-
sian coordinates of the reference axis. A general
curvilinear coordinatereferencesystemisintroduced
where the profile coordinate s defines the material
line, andasecondcoordinatet isperpendicular tothe
tangential length of the reference axis. The position
vector of point P onageneral material lineusingthe
curvilinear coordinatet is:
here
o
is the angle between the tangential line of
theprofilereferenceaxisat point P
o
andthepositive
207
direction of the x-axis. The covariant tangent base
vectorscanbederivedusingequation(2), hence:
Thecovariant tangent basevector at thereference
axis(t = 0) is:
Usingequations (5) and(4), thecovariant tangent
basevector inequation(3) canberewrittenas:
Thecontravariant basevectorscanbederivedfrom
equations(3) and(4) as:
Thedisplacement vector u isgivenby:
where isthebendingrotationtakenasafunctionof
theprofilecoordinates only. u
o
andv arethedisplace-
mentcomponentsof thereferenceaxisinthetangential
directionandinthet directionrespectively.
Thecovariant tangent basevectorsinthedeformed
stateare:
Theindices i and j in equation (9) takeon values
of s or t.
j
i
isthekronecker delta. g
j
arethecovariant
tangent basevectorsintheinitial stateandu
j
|
i
repre-
sentthecovariantderivatives.TheEinsteinsummation
conventionisadopted.
TheChristoffel symbols calculated fromthebase
vectorsinequations(3) and(4) aregivenby:
Substituting equations (8) and (10) into equation
(9), thecovarianttangentbasevectorsinthedeformed
statearethen:
where
At thereferenceaxis(t = 0), wehave:
where
o
is theshear angle,
so
is thestretch of the
referenceaxis. Rearrangingequation(14) gives:
where
so
and
t
arethenormal component andtan-
gential shear component of the stretch of reference
axis.
The deformation gradient tensor is defined as
F= g
i
g
i
and can bedecomposed into two tensors
208
F=RF
, where R is a rotation tensor and F* is a

rotateddeformationtensor. Hence:
The Green deformation tensor C can now be
expressedinterms of therotateddeformationtensor
F*, suchthat:
TheJ acobianJ obtainedfromequation(18) is:
3 HYPERELASTIC CONSTITUTIVE
RELATIONS
A physical Lagrangian stress tensor is defined and
established by applying vector transformation to the
second Piola Kirchhoff stress tensor II components
usingequation(18), suchthat:
whereS
nn
isthenormal stresscomponent whileS
nt
is
thetangential shear stresscomponent.
The strain energy density function U for a
compressible isotropic neo-Hookean material (see
Attard& Hunt (2004)) isgivenby:
wheretr signifiesthetraceof atensor, G istheshear
modulus, is the Lam constant, E is the elastic
modulus and is the Poissons ratio. A constitu-
tiverelationshipfor thesecondPiolaKirchhoff stress
tensor II anditsconjugateGreensstaintensor C for
ahyperelasticmaterial isgivenby(seeAttard&Hunt
(2004)):
wherep
h
represents ahydrostatic stress. Fromequa-
tions(19) and(23) theconstitutiverelationshipfor the
physical LagrangianstressS canbeobtainedas:
Theconstitutiverelationsforthephysical Lagrangian
stress components in terms of the deformations are
obtainedas:
Thereferenceaxisissuchselectedthat thefollow-
inggeometricpropertyissatisfied:
Thecross-sectional areaandthesecondmomentof
areaaredefinedby:
Integratingthestressesoverthecross-sectional area
yieldstheinternal actions:
4 VIRTUAL WORK
Writingthevirtual work equationW intermsof the
physical Lagrangianstresstensor, wehave:
withV beingthevolumeintheundeformedstate, the
symbol denoteskinematicallyadmissiblevariations,
W
E
is thevariationof theexternal virtual work and
theintegral representstheinternal virtual work.
209
Figure2. (a) A taperedcantilever columnunder compres-
sion (b) Rectangular section tapered in width (c) I-section
taperedinwebdepth.
Incorporating the physical Lagrangian stress ten-
sor and integrating over thecross-sectional area, the
virtual workequationisreducedto:
whereL isthelengthof thecolumnalongthelongitu-
dinal referenceaxis.
From equation (32), the following equilibrium
equationscanbeobtained:
Vectors p and m are the distributed force and
moment loadintensities:
5 IN-PLANE BUCKLINGOF TAPERED
CANTILEVER COLUMNS
5.1 Kinematics
We consider a perfectly straight doubly symmetric
cantilever columnincompressionwithvariablecross
sections. The x-axis coincides with the longitudinal
referenceaxis andmeasures fromthefixedbaseend
of the column (x =0). The concentrated axial force
initially acted on thetop end of thecolumn (x =L).
ThegeometriccharacteristicsareillustratedinFigure2
whereinthecaseof theI-section, theflanges areof
constantthicknesst
f
andof constantwidthb
f
, theweb
hastheuniformthicknesst
w
buttapersindepth; while
inthecaseof therectangular crosssection, thethick-
ness t remains identical whilethewidthtapers along
thecolumn.
In the numerical analysis of tapered can-
tilever columns, three elastic-to-shear rigidity ratios
Figure3. Rotatedaxesdirectionsat agenericpoint.
EA/GA
s
=3, 25 and 100 are employed to represent
theextremes of cross-sectional geometric properties.
Thetaper ratioof thecolumnisdefinedbyI
1
/I
2
.
The second moment of area of an arbitrary sec-
tion mn of the tapered cantilever column can be
expressedas:
where c is a constant associated with the second
momentof areaI
1
atthetopendof thetaperedcolumn.
n takesonthevalueof 2.
Fromequation(35), theflexural rigidityof anarbi-
trary section of thetapered column can thereforebe
writtenas:
5.2 Cross-section actions
Consider arotationangle about z-axis as shownin
Figure3. Therotation tensor denoted by thesymbol
R
anditsinverseR
1
areintheforms:
Applyingtherotation tothex andy axesgives:
Nowapplyingthebendingrotation to thecross-
sectionactionsasdepictedinFigure4, it gives:
Equation(39) canbewrittenas:
whereP
x
andP
y
aretheinternal forceresultantsinthe
x-directionandthey-directionrespectively.
210
Figure4. Two-dimensional columncross-sectionactions.
5.3 Buckling equations
Thevariationprincipleisappliedtoformulatetheelas-
ticity problemof tapered cantilever columns under
compressive load N(x). Before the buckling takes
place, theinitial valuesare:
where(.)
o
denotestheinitial values.
Thedifferential bucklingequations of equilibrium
arederivedas:
5.4 Solution tactics
TheGalerkinmethodissuitabletosolvethedifferen-
tial buckling equations. Theassumed approximation
deflectionfunctionsatisfies theboundary conditions
asdepictedinFigure5.
Theapproximationdeflectionfunctionforthebuck-
ledconfigurationisassumedas:
It can be verified that the assumed deflection
functionsatisfiestherequiredboundaryconditions.
According to the Galerkin method, the integral
expressionshouldbesatisfied, suchthat:
where R(x) is a residual in domain (0, L) resulting
fromsubstitutingtheapproximatedeflectionfunction
intothegoverningdifferential equation(42), that is:
Figure5. Boundaryconditions.
whereW
i
istheweight function:
Substitutingequations (46) and(47) into equation
(45), wehave:
Equation(48) representthesimultaneousalgebraic
equationsthat result inageneralizedeigenproblemto
besolved.
6 NUMERICAL EXAMPLE
Consider a tapered cantilever column of span L
(L =10000mm) subjectedto aconservativeconcen-
tratedaxial loadasillustratedinFigure2(a). Tentaper
ratiocases, I
1
/I
2
thattakeonthevaluesfrom0.1to1.0
incrementedbyastepof 0.1, areanalyzedrespectively.
Since no distributed loads are acted along the
column, p
n
=p
t
=m
t
=0inequations (33), theequi-
libriumequationsarewrittenintheforms:
Thegoverning differential buckling equations are
therefore:
6.1 Normalized buckling loads
Thebucklingequations (50) aresolvedto obtainthe
bucklingloads,thebehavioursof thenormalizedbuck-
ling loads versus column slenderness for each taper
ratiocasearesimilar andareingoodagreement with
those presented by Timoshenko & Gere (1961) as
illustratedinFigure6.
211
Figure6. Normalizedbucklingloadsversusslenderness.
Figure7. Percentagedifferencebetweenbucklingloads.
6.2 Percentage difference of buckling loads
Figure 7 show the percentage difference between
the obtained normalized buckling loads and those
proposedbyTimoshenko&Gere(1961). Fortheother
taper ratiocases, thecurvesareanalogous.
7 CONCLUSION
A consistent hyperelastic constitutiverelationshipfor
physical Lagrangianstressesisformulatedforvariable
cross-section column buckling problemunder finite
strains. The effects of shear deformations are taken
intoaccountinthestabilityanalysisforvariablecross-
section columns based onTimoshenko beamtheory.
Applyingthevirtual work andthevariationprinciple,
thegeneralizedequilibriumequationsarederivedfor
columnbucklingproblemwithvariablecross-sections,
thebucklingequationsarealsodevelopedfor tapered
cantilevercolumns. Non-dimensional numerical para-
metric studies are performed to exhibit the in-plane
buckling behaviours of tapered cantilever columns
subjectedtocompressiveconcentratedaxial forcefor
taper ratiocasesrangingfrom0.1to1.0withanincre-
mental stepsizeof 0.1. Distributionof taperedcolumn
flexural rigidity is expressed as a power function of
the x-coordinate. The representative elastic-to-shear
rigidity ratiosequal to3, 25and100areadoptedand
areinvestigated respectively. Thebehaviours of nor-
malizedbucklingloadsagreewell withtheresultsin
theclassical literature(Timoshenko & Gere(1961)).
Bycomparisonwiththeresearchresultspresentedby
Timoshenko&Gere(1961), itsindicatedthatthefac-
torsof sheardeformationsareverysignificantforshort
columnsaswell asthosewithweakshear rigidity.
REFERENCES
Attard, M. M., andHunt, G. W., 2004. Hyperelastic Consti-
tutiveModelingunder FiniteStrain. International J ournal
of SolidsandStructures41, 53275350.
Billington, D. P., 1985. TheTower andtheBridge theNew
Artof Structural Engineering. PrincetonUniversityPress,
Princeton, NewJ ersey.
Coskun, S. B., and Atay, M. T., 2009. Determination of
Critical BucklingLoadfor Elastic Columns of Constant
and Variable Cross-Sections Using Variational Iteration
Method. Computers&MathematicswithApplications58,
22602266.
Dinnik, A., 1929. Design of Columns of Varying Cross-
Section. Trans. ASME 51, 105114.
Eisenberger, M., 1991. BucklingLoads for VariableCross-
Section Members with Variable Axial Forces. Interna-
tional J ournal of SolidsandStructures27, 135143.
Li,Q.S.,2001.ExactSolutionsforBucklingof Non-Uniform
Columns under Axial Concentrated and Distributed
Loading. European J ournal of Mechanics a-Solids 20,
485500.
Serna, M., Ibanez, J., and Lopez, A., 2011. Elastic Flex-
ural Buckling of Non-UniformMembers: Closed-Form
Expression and Equivalent Load Approach. J ournal of
Constructional Steel Research.
Timoshenko, S. P., andGere, J. M., 1961. Theory of Elastic
Stability. McGraw-Hill International, London.
212
Limit analysisinthepresenceof plasticityandcontact
S. Tangaramvong
School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
F. Tin-Loi & C.M. Song
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Thispaper presentsamathematical programmingbasedapproachfor thelimitanalysisof struc-
turesinvolvingelastoplasticity andcontact conditions. Thecontact model isoneof unilateral (nonassociative)
Coulombfriction. Themainfeatureof theproposedschemeisasingle-stepcomputationof themaximumload
suchthatplasticityandcontactconditionsaresimultaneouslysatisfied. Theformulationiscastasachallenging
nonconvexandnonsmoothoptimizationproblem,knownasamathematical programwithequilibriumconstraints
(MPEC). Theequilibriumconstraints arein fact complementarity conditions used to describeboth plasticity
and contact laws. A penalty based nonlinear programming (NLP) algorithmis proposed to solvetheMPEC.
Applicationisillustratedbyanexamplediscretizedwithlocking-freemixedfiniteelements.
1 INTRODUCTION
Mathematical programmingcanprovideaformalism
forthetheoretical studyandcomputational implemen-
tationof variousengineeringmechanicsapplications.
Animportant mathematical structurethat pervades
in a wide range of engineering problems is that of
complementarity. Mathematically, it represents the
perpendicularity of two sign-constrained vectors.
Mechanically, itcanelegantlyrepresentsuchphenom-
enaasplasticity, contact conditions, etc.
Anexampleof theapplicationof mathematical pro-
grammingisgiveninthispaper.Wecarryoutthedirect
limit load evaluation of an elastoplastic structure in
frictional contact.The main feature of the proposed
schemeisthat wedetermineinasinglestepthemax-
imumload capacity of thestructuresuch theplastic
constitutivelaws, thefrictional contact conditions at
some interfaces and any imposed displacement lim-
itsaresimultaneouslysatisfied.Thecontactmodel we
adopt is that of nonassociative Coulomb friction, in
that slidingis not accompaniedby dilation. Thegov-
erning formulation takes the formof a challenging
instanceof anonconvexandnonsmoothoptimization
problemknownasamathematical programwithequi-
libriumconstraints (MPEC). We propose a penalty-
based nonlinear programming (NLP) algorithm to
solve the MPEC. Finally, we provide an example to
illustrateapplicationof themethod.
2 CONTACT CONDITIONS
A suitably discretized finite element (FE) model
of an elastoplastic structure for which contact-like
Figure1. Genericcontactmodel (a) contactinterfacek and
(b) frictionlaw.
conditionsareenforcedatsomepredefinedinterfaces
is considered. At a generic contact interface k
c
withinclination, asinFigure1a, theresultantforces,
composingof anormal forcer
k
n
andatangential force
r
k
t
, are transmitted between a pair of contact points
associated with thetwo bodies I and II, wherer
k
n
is
positiveincompression.
Thecontact conditions at any unilateral frictional
contact interface k are defined in Figure 1b as a
holonomic(path-independent) nonassociative( =)
Coulomb( =0) frictional law, where and denote
the friction and dilatancy angles, respectively. The
mathematical relationsdescribingthecontactrequire-
mentsat interfacek canthenbewrittenas
213
whereN
k
n
=[sin sin], N
k
t
=[cos cos],
V
k
n
=[00], V
k
t
=[1 1],
kT
=[
+k
k
]; u
k
, C
k
n
and
C
k
t
aretheassociatednodal displacement vector and
thecorrespondinginterfacecompatibility matricesin
normal andtangential directions, respectively.
Clearly,Equation1,inasimilarfashiontoyieldcon-
ditionsinplasticity(Maier 1970), requiresthatsliding
canonlyoccur if limitingfrictionhasbeenreached. In
addition, Equation2definesthenonpenetration(Sig-
norini)condition, suchthatthecontactsurfacescannot
penetrate rigid obstacles. Finally, compatibility in a
tangential directionissatisfiedinEquation3.
3 MIXED-FE MODEL
The FE model adopted is one constructed using
intrinsic variables inPragers sense(Maier 1970). In
essence, the scalar product of the generalized stress
Q
i
and strain q
i
vectors represents virtual work for
the element i concerned. The material behavior is
thendirectlyreflectedbytheelemental behavior, and
rigid body motions are excluded. The constitutive
model describing the material is assumed to follow
aholonomic(path-independent) behavior, anassump-
tionthatissufficientlyaccuratefor themonotonically
appliedloadregime.
Our element isbasedonthe4-nodebilinear mixed
FE of Capsoni & Corradi (1997a,b). This element is
constructed using mixed variational principles, and
to prevent locking it uses four kinematic and two
static fields that are modeled independently. It also
providescoarsemeshaccuracy, agoodstressredistri-
bution capability during plastic spreading, and weak
distortionsensitivity.
Its implementation is briefly described in thefol-
lowing.
For ageneric element i, thestress field expresses
thein-planestresses
iT
(x)=[
x
,
y
,
xy
] asfunctions
of thegeneralizedstressesQ
iT
= [Q
T
0
Q
T
1
] by
wheres
i
(x)=
1
[I
3
s
1
(x)], x =(, ) containsthestan-
dardnatural coordinates, I
3
isa33identitymatrix,
s
1
(x) astress matrix, and an element area. Terms
Q
0
and Q
1
define constant and higher-order stress
modes, respectively, suchthatthegeneralizedstresses
Q
i
precludeoverall rigidbodymotions.
Thegeneralizedstrainsq
i
(andthegeneralizedplas-
ticstrainsp
i
) conjugatewithQ
i
consistof constantq
i
0
(and p
i
0
) and higher-order q
i
1
(and p
i
1
) strain modes.
Locking is ruled out by appropriately selecting the
plastic strain field so that theincompressibility con-
ditionisenforcedsolelyfor theconstant plasticstrain
mode. Hence, thespecific in-planestrains
iT
(x) =
[
x
,
y
,
xy
] arewrittenasfunctionsof p
i
by
whereh
i
3
(x)=[I
3
h
1
(x) + h
2
(x)R], h
1
(x), h
2
(x) and
R definethestrain, enhancedstrainandlinear trans-
formationmatrices,respectively.Detaileddescriptions
of keyquantitiessuchass
1
(x), h
1
(x), h
3
(x) andR are
giveninCapsoni & Corradi (1997a,b).
In terms of well-known FE notation and descrip-
tion [see e.g. Maier (1970), Tangaramvong et al.
(2012)], the governing holonomic elastoplastic rela-
tionsforelementi (anditsassociatedpotential contact
interfacek) arewrittenasfollows:
Within the assumed small deformation regime, lin-
ear equilibrium between external forces f
i
+f
i
d
,
resultant interface forces r
k
n
and r
k
t
, and member
generalized stresses Q
i
is given in Equation 6.
Theunconstrained nodal forces f
i
+f
i
d
arewritten,
as usual, interms of theloadmultiplier , thegiven
basic nodal forces f
i
and the fixed nodal forces f
i
d
.
Compatibility betweenthegeneralizedstrains q
i
and
thenodal displacementsu
i
isdescribedinEquation7,
through a constant compatibility matrix C
i
. Again
expressionsfor thelinear compatibilitymatrixC
i
are
detailedinCapsoni & Corradi (1997a,b).
Equations 810 embody the constitutive rela-
tionsthat governtheholonomicelastoplasticmaterial
behavior. More explicitly, Equation 8 reflects linear
elasticity through an elastic stiffness matrix E
i
. The
associativeflowrulegiveninEquation9indicatesthat
generalized plastic strains p
i
are functions of plas-
tic multipliers
i
and obey the normality condition
(i.e. p
i
isnormal totheyieldsurface). Theholonomic
behavior is enforced by complementarity conditions
in Equation 10 involving two sign-constrained vari-
ables, namely yieldfunctions w
i
0 and
i
0. The
functionsw
i
(Q
i
, p
i
, r
i
) arehomogeneousof orderone,
andcanhencebedescribedasfunctionsof Q
i
, p
i
and
thecurrentyieldlimitsr
i
.Thecomplementaritycondi-
tions, namelyw
iT
i
=0, physicallyallowreversibility
of p
i
, and necessarily ensure that plastic activation
occurs only when the stress point is actually on the
yieldlocus.
For eachelementi, thespecificplasticitymodel we
adopt at the22Gausspointsistheplanestrainvon
Mises yield criterion. Thegoverning yield functions
w
i
(Q
i
, p
i
, r
i
) inEquation10arethen
214
where
and t is the thickness (assumed to be of unit
value); J is the determinant of the J acobian matrix.
A row matrix L(x)=[L
1
(x) L
2
(x) L
3
(x) L
4
(x)]
collects L
g
(x)=0.25(1+3
g
)(1+3
g
) for all
g {1, . . . , 4}, where
g
,
g
aretheGauss quadrature
point coordinates (1/
3). Thenormality condition

inEquation9for anelement i canbethuswrittenas
The holonomic state problem is formulated by
simply collecting and assembling four basic ingre-
dients, namely statics in Equation 6, kinematics in
Equation 7, material laws in Equations 810 and
contactconditionsinEquations13for theentiredis-
cretestructural system(for all elementsi {1, . . . , n}
andcontactsk {1, . . . , c}) intoconcatenatedvectors
andblock-diagonal matrices.Theresultingholonomic
formulationfor thestructureisthenasfollows:
TheproblemgiveninEquation13isamixedcomple-
mentarityproblemor MCP(Dirkse&Ferris1995).At
variancewithtraditional iterativeschemes innonlin-
ear plasticity, weprocess theMCP directly usingthe
state-of-the-artGAMS/PATHcomplementaritysolver
(Dirkse & Ferris 1995) within the GAMS (Gen-
eral Algebraic Modeling System) modeling environ-
ment for solving mathematical programming prob-
lems(Brookeet al. 1998).
Thefull spectrumof holonomicstructural responses
can be mapped out through a series of MCP solves
correspondingtovariousprescribedloads.
4 LIMIT ANALYSISASANMPEC
Wenowconsider theextendedlimitanalysisproblem.
Wepropose,inthespiritof traditional limitanalysis,
tocomputeinasinglestepthemaximumloadcapacity
of theelastoplastic structuresuchthat bothunilateral
frictional contactconditionsandanyimposedservice-
ability criteria, such as displacement limitations at
somespecifiedlocations, aresatisfied.
Theproblemleadstothefollowingnonconvexand
nonsmoothoptimizationproblem, for whichwemax-
imize the load factor (treated now as a variable)
subject to theconstraints underpinningthecomplete
holonomicformulationgivenbytheMCP 13:
TheoptimizationproblemdefinedinEquation14
is anMPEC and, as is well-known(Luoet al. 1996),
can bevery difficult to solve. Thepresenceof com-
plementarity (or equilibrium) constraints imparts a
disjunctivenaturetotheMPEC.This, coupledwiththe
fact that itsfeasibleregionmaynot beconvexor even
connected (Luo et al. 1996), continue to hinder the
developmentof solutionalgorithmsthatcanguarantee
asolution. However, wehavehadconsiderablesuccess
in solving MPECs that arise in various engineering
mechanics applications [see e.g. Tangaramvong &
Tin-Loi (2011), Tangaramvong et al. (2011, 2012)].
Onesuchapproachisoutlinedinthenext section.
5 PENALTY NLP-BASEDALGORITHM
Thegeneric ideaweuseis to suitably treat thecom-
plementarityconditionsbysomeparameterizedrefor-
mation such that, as apositivescalar is increased
(or decreased), the original complementarity condi-
tions are increasingly enforced and satisfied. The
reformulated MPEC is thus processed as a series
of NLP subproblems with the aim of achieving
complementarity.
Themainattractionof theproposedmethodisthat
eachreformulatedsubproblemisastandardNLPprob-
lemthat can besolved by any general purposeNLP
solver, suchasGAMS/CONOPT solver (Drud1994).
215
Various reformulations, categorized by the way
the complementarity is treated, have been devel-
oped. Theparticular oneweuseinvolvespenalization
(Tangaramvonget al. 2012).
Let us denote the complementarity condition as
a 0, b 0 and ab =0. Penalization transfers all
complementarity terms to theobjectivefunctionand
penalizes themas ab. The penalty parameter
is increased at each successiveNLP iterateuntil the
predefinedcomplementaritytoleranceonthecomple-
mentaritytermhasbeenreached.
ThepenaltysubproblemassociatedwithMPEC 14
isthengivenasfollows:
A negativepenalty, (w
T
+
T
c
+
T
n
r
n
), isused
becauseof themaximizationrequirement.
The penalty algorithmiteratively solves the NLP
subproblem given by Equation 15 for successively
higher valuesof until apreset toleranceoncomple-
mentarity(e.g. w
T
+
T
c
+
T
n
r
n
10
6
) hasbeen
reached.
6 ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE
Weconsider thetwoplanestrainrectangular blocksI
andII (Figure2), supportedbyasmoothvertical wall
and the ground; v defines the horizontal displace-
ment at theright edgeof thetopsurfaceof block II.
Thisstructurewasoriginallyinvestigatedfortheinflu-
encesof unilateral frictional contactbehaviorof purely
elasticblocks(Dong1999).
Wecarriedouttwosetsof analysiscases, eachcon-
sideringthreefrictioncoefficientsof tan = 0.25, 0.5
and0.1, asfollows: (a) purelyelastic, and(b) elastic-
perfectlyplasticvonMisesmaterial withayieldstress
of
0
=25kNmm
2
.
Theappliedloadconfigurationsincludeaconstant
uniformlydistributedvertical forceof 19.62kNmm
1
atanupper surfaceGF of blockI andahorizontal uni-
formvariableload of 9.81kNmm
1
monotonically
prescribed at surface BC of block II. For the elas-
tic range, anisotropic elastic material withanelastic
modulus of E =206kNmm
2
andaPoisson ratio of
v =0.3wasemployed.
Our discrete FE model consists of 94 elements,
235degrees of freedom, 470generalizedstresses (or
strains), 376plastic yieldfunctions, 9contact points
and18contact conditions.
Figure2. Twoblocksinfrictional contact(a) geometryand
loading, (b) mixedFE model.
Figure 3. Stepwise holonomic v responses of elastic
blocks.
The numerical results for each of the analysis
cases(a) and(b) aresummarizedinthefollowing.
Case (a): purely elastic. The results of stepwise
holonomic analyseswithanincremental loadingstep
of 0.1 are displayed in Figure 3 as v responses.
They agreewiththereportedresultsof Dong(1999).
The initial responses are linear (elastic) and subse-
quently deviatefromlinearity as thetranslations are
progressivelyactivatedatthecontactpointsalongDE,
until themaximumloadcapacitiesof =0.667, 1.333
and2.667werereachedfor tan =0.25, 0.5and1.0,
respectively.
Under the imposed displacement constraint of
v 25mm, the proposed limit analysis, formulated
as the MPEC (14), successfully computed the limit
216
Figure 4. Stepwise holonomic v responses of elasto-
plasticblocks.
Figure 5. Plastic activations at limit load of elastoplastic
blocks (a) tan =0.25, (b) tan =0.5 and (c) tan =1.0,
where denotesplasticzone.
load results of
lim
=0.667, 1.044 and 1.073 for
tan =0.25, 0.5 and 1.0, respectively. The comput-
ing times for the three frictional values were only
about 1s each. Theaccuracy of theMPEC results is
clearlyvalidatedbytheassociatedstepwiseholonomic
responses, as shown in Figure 3, where the MPEC
resultsareplottedasopendots. Itshouldbenotedthat
forthetwohigherfrictionvaluesof tan =0.5and1.0,
theinclusionof thisdisplacement constraint degrades
themaximumloadcapacityof thestructureconcerned,
whilst this does not influence the limit load for the
lowfriction(tan =0.25) caseasthemaximumload
wasreachedbeforetheestablishment of theimposed
displacement limit.
Case(b): elastoplastic.Theresultingv stepwise
holonomic responses, carriedout withfinitesteps of
0.1, are plotted in Figure 4. The influence of mate-
rial nonlinearity is apparent for the higher friction
values of tan =0.5 and 1.0. In particular, plastic
failureoccurredbeforefailureby slidingat theinter-
face, whenthelimitloadsof =1.028and1.038were
approachedfor tan =0.5and1.0, respectively. For
tan =0.25, ontheother hand, collapsewasstill gov-
erned(asfor thecaseof pureelasticity) byslidingso
that thelimit loadremainedat =0.667.
For thedisplacement constraint of v 25mm, the
proposed single-step MPEC approach successfully
computedthemaximumloadsof
lim
=0.667, 0.862
and 0.881 corresponding to the three friction coef-
ficients of tan =0.25, 0.5 and 1.0, respectively.
The computing times were only 8s, 5s and 4s for
tan =0.25, 0.5and1.0, respectively. Asbefore, the
obtained results are plotted as open dots on their
associated stepwise holonomic curves in Figure 4.
Locationsatwhichplasticityhasdevelopedatthelimit
loadaredisplayedinFigure5.
7 CONCLUSIONS
A methodfor thedirect maximumloadevaluationof
structuressubjectedsimultaneouslytoplasticity, con-
tact andserviceabilityconditionshasbeenpresented.
Theproposedapproachpreserves thedistinctiveand
appealingfeatureof classical limit analysis inthat it
computes withinasinglestepanupper boundto the
maximumloadof thestructure. Thecontact behavior
weadopt isthat of unilateral nonassociativeCoulomb
friction.
The governing formulation takes the form of
an optimization problemknown as an MPEC. The
presence of the disjunctive (i.e. or) equilibrium
constraints(ormorepreciselycomplementaritycondi-
tions) leads tononconvexity andnonsmoothness, the
consequences of which are expected to show up as
a severe numerical instability. However, the penalty
NLP-basedalgorithmusedappearstobearobust and
efficient solutionschemefor thisclassof problems.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research was supported by the Australian
ResearchCouncil.
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formulation and assessment of the overall behaviour.
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ing 141: 6779.
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Capsoni, A. & Corradi, L. 1997b. A mixed finite element
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application to the 4-node bilinear element. Computer
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Drud, A. S. 1994. CONOPT-alarge-scaleGRGcode. ORSA
Journal on Computing 6: 207216.
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cal Programs with Equilibrium Constraints. Cambridge:
CambridgeUniversityPress.
Maier, G. 1970.Amatrixstructural theoryof piecewiselinear
elastoplasticity withinteractingyieldplanes. Meccanica
5: 5466.
Tangaramvong, S. & Tin-Loi, F. 2011. Collapse load eval-
uation of structures with frictional contact supports
under combined stresses. Computers & Structures 89:
10501058.
Tangaramvong, S., Tin-Loi, F. & Senjuntichai, T. 2011. An
MPEC approach for the critical post-collapse behavior
of rigid-plasticstructures. International Journal of Solids
and Structures 48: 27322742.
Tangaramvong, S., Tin-Loi, F. & Song, C. 2012. A direct
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218
Applicationof explicit finiteelement analysisinsolvingpractical
structural engineeringproblems
T. Watts, K. Kayvani &A. Kucyper
Aurecon, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Thispaper presentsseveral recentprojectsundertakenbyAureconwhereadvancedexplicitnon-
linear finiteelement analysismethodologieshavebeenusedtoassesstheperformanceof arangeof structural
systems. Traditional applicationsof explicit finiteelement analysisincludehighlydynamicandnonlinear sim-
ulations althoughthereareincreasinginstances wherethefeatures andattributes of explicit FEA areapplied
insolvingpractical structural engineeringproblems. Fromthepoint of viewof anengineeringpractitioner, this
paper focusesontheadvantages, disadvantagesandchallengesassociatedwithapplyingtheseanalytical tools
toachievereliableandcost-effectivesolutions.
1 INTRODUCTION
Thetools of advancedfiniteelement analysis (FEA)
havereachedaconsiderabledegreeof maturityandits
usehasbecomewell-establishedinengineeringprac-
tice. Whenusinggeneral purposesoftwarepackagesa
verylargenumber of different problemsmaybetack-
led. Thecapabilities and applications of commercial
finiteelementpackagesalsocontinuetogrowrapidly.
Explicit FEA is not a method that has been tra-
ditionally widely used in the construction industry
however thereareincreasinginstanceswherethepar-
ticularattributesandcapabilitiesof thismethodmaybe
consideredtoassistinsolvingproblemsinthefieldof
structural engineeringpractice. Thegrowingfieldsof
performance-baseddesignandanalysisof dispropor-
tionatecollapse, for example, areareaswhereexplicit
FEA isanticipatedtohaveincreasingapplicationsinto
thefuture.
This paper will begin with a brief outline on the
backgroundandproceduresof explicitFEA. Thiswill
be followed by a summary of the advantages and
disadvantages of explicit methods and the resulting
implicationsfor their applicationtovariousstructural
problems. Several examples will begiven highlight-
ingsomekeyaspectsof recentapplicationsof explicit
FEA inengineeringpracticeonprojectscarriedoutat
Aurecontoaddvaluetoprojects.
2 EXPLICIT FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
2.1 Background
Finite element analysis is employed widely in the
fieldof structural engineeringdesignandanalysis. In
the majority cases, this is done using implicit FEA
methods implemented in commercial packages and
typicallyincludeslinearandnon-linearstaticanalysis,
modal analysis, responsespectrumanalysis, harmonic
responseanalysisandtransient dynamicanalysis.
Explicit FEA canalsobeusedas aneffectivetool
for solving a wide variety of nonlinear solids and
structural mechanicsproblems. Thenameexplicit as
opposedtoimplicit refersthekeydifferencebetween
the two approaches in undertaking numerical inte-
grationwithintheprocedures. Explicit methodswere
originally developed to tackle high-speed dynamic
events that are extremely difficult and numerically
expensive to analyse using implicit methods. With
proper considerations given explicit FEA can also
be used for quasi-static problems that experience
convergencedifficulties inimplicit analysis methods
(Behbahanifardet al., 2004).
2.2 Formulation of the explicit finite element
method
Thegoverning equilibriumequations of a body in a
dynamic statecanbeobtainedusingtheprincipleof
virtual work. According to this principle, a body is
in astateof static or dynamic equilibriumwhen the
total internal virtual workisequal tothetotal external
virtual work when the body is subjected to a vir-
tual displacement. Byneglectingtheeffect of viscous
dampingthedynamic forcebalance, inmatrix form,
canbeobtainedas:
whereM istheconsistent massmatrix, x isthenodal
accelerationvector, andf
(ext)
andf
(int)
areexternal and
internal forcevectors, respectively. If alumpedmass
219
matrix is used in lieu of a consistent mass matrix,
Equation 1 can be decoupled and the dynamic bal-
anceequationcanbewrittenseparatelyfor eachnode.
This is animportant stepintheexplicit FEA formu-
lationsincethisallowsthetimeintegrationprocedure
tobecarriedout effectively usingtheexplicit central
differencemethod.
When applying the explicit central difference
method, equilibriumof the systemis considered at
timet in order to calculatethekinematic conditions
at thenext timeincrement t+t. Sincetheexplicit
methodusesalumpedmassmatrix, thesolutionof the
accelerationis trivial becauseno simultaneous equa-
tionsneedtobesolved. Theaccelerationof anynode
isdeterminedcompletelybyitsnodal massandthenet
forceactingonthenode(Behbahanifardet al., 2004).
Computational costsarevery inexpensivebecause
calculationsarecarriedoutattheelementlevel which
avoidstheneedfor theuseof aglobal stiffnessmatrix
(Miller et al., 2007). Usingcentral differencemethod
theaccelerationsareintegratedover timetoobtainthe
changeinvelocity, assumingaconstant acceleration.
Thechangeinvelocity is addedto thevelocity from
themiddleof thepreviousincrementtodeterminethe
velocityat themiddleof thecurrent timeincrement.
The velocities are then integrated over time and
added to the displacements at the beginning of the
increment to determinethedisplacements at theend
of theincrement asfollows:
Theprocessisthenrepeatedatthenexttimestep.By
satisfyingdynamicequilibriumatthebeginningof the
increment, thevelocitiesandthenodal displacements
areobtainedatthemiddleandtheendof theincrement,
respectively.
Thecentral differencemethodusedinexplicitFEA
isaconditionally stablealgorithm. Asaresult, it isa
requirementthatthemaximumtimeincrementmustbe
lessthanastabilitylimit (basedonwavepropagation
across an element) in order to keep theerrors in the
solutionbounded. Normally theseareintheorder of
microsecondfor most analyses.
The implicit FEA methods, which find more
widespreaduseintheanalysis of structures, arealso
applied to static and dynamic problems. By way of
a comparison, implicit methods require solution of
a set of nonlinear algebraic equations at each time
stepincludingtheassemblyof global stiffnessmatrix
followedbymatrixdecompositioninthesolutionpro-
cess. In nonlinear and dynamic analyses, iterations
arealso requiredto beperformedfor eachtimestep
in order to control theerror and prevent divergence.
Eachtimestepis unconditionally stableandthesize
of the time step is limited by convergence/accuracy
considerations.
2.3 Advantages and disadvantages of explicit FEA
Whenmorethanoneoptionisavailabletobeapplied
to aspecific problem, it is important to consider the
most appropriate approach. Selection of the wrong
simulation tool can lead to an incorrect solution, a
lengthycalculationprocedureorasolutionthatmisses
essential aspects of the problem. The problemmust
be thoroughly defined and consideration should be
giventothesortsof difficultiesthat mayariseduring
theanalysis. Thisisof particular importanceinengi-
neeringpracticeconsideringproject timeandbudget
constraints.
A disadvantage of explicit FEA is its inability to
handletruestaticproblems. Byapplyingloadsgradu-
allyit ispossibletosimulateastaticloadbyapplying
loadsquasi-staticallyhowevercareisneededtoensure
that no dynamic effects areinadvertently introduced
into the problem. Monitoring the level of kinetic
energyintheanalysisandensuringthisremainsbelow
5%of thetotal energy is generally considered to be
an accepted criteria for ensuring unwanted dynamic
effectsarenotpresent. Ingeneral, quasi-staticmodels
using explicit FEA will usually only be practical to
runwithdurations uptoseveral seconds. Artificially
increasingdampingisanother strategytoapplyloads
quasi-statically.
Conditional stability can be considered to be
another disadvantage of explicit FEA. The required
limit of maximumtimestepresultsinproblemswith
averysmall timestepwhich, dependingontheprob-
lem, canbeseveral ordersof magnitudesmaller than
thosetypical inimplicit analysis. Themaximumtime
stepisstronglyinfluencedbytheelement size. While
tools exist for minimisingtheeffect of asmall num-
ber of verysmall elements(massscaling), poor mesh
definitionoftenleadstoincreasesruntimes.
Whileexplicit analysisrequiresmuchshorter time
steps, theexplicit procedurerequiresnoconvergence
iterationsandnotangent stiffnessmatrix. Asaresult,
its computational cost for each time increment is
muchless.Theunconditionallystableimplicitmethod
will encounter difficulties under highly dynamic or
nonlinear conditions. To achieveconvergence, apro-
gressive reduction to the solution time step is often
required. Thecomputational cost inthetangent stiff-
nessmatrix ishencedramatically increasedandeven
then convergence is far fromguaranteed. Moreover,
local instabilities can cause force equilibriumto be
difficult toachieve.
Ingeneral, explicit methods tendto becomemore
efficient under conditions of high geometric and/or
material nonlinearity, mediumto highimpact speeds
orproblemsfeaturingalargenumberof contactingsur-
faces(includingself-contact). Fortheexplicitmethod,
theCPUcostisapproximatelyproportional tothesize
220
Figure1. Analysisof glazingpanel under blast load.
of the finite element model and does not change as
dramatically as theimplicit methodwiththelevel of
nonlinearityof thephysical problem(Sunetal., 2000).
3 RECENT APPLICATIONSINENGINEERING
PRACTICE
3.1 Glazing panels subjected to blast loading
Blast protectionsystemsareincreasinglybecominga
requirement on critical buildings and infrastructure.
Blast resistant glazingisanexampleof suchsystems.
Whendesigningblastresistantglazingsystems, arisk
assessment is first undertaken to estimate the likely
blast pressure-time function that the glazing system
may be subjected to. While pretested standard sys-
temscanbeanappropriatedesignsolutionincertain
cases, theycanoftennotbedirectlyappliedtothelarge
number of potential variables intheframingsystem,
connectiondetails, glazinggeometryandblastcharac-
teristics. Insuchcasesabespokesolutionwouldoften
berequired. Explicit FEA becomesavaluabletool in
thisinstanceandhasbeenappliedinanumberof recent
projects.
Typical finite element models comprise the steel
or aluminiumsupport frame, theglass/polycarbonate
glazing panel and the positioning elements includ-
ingspacersandsilicon. All componentsaremodelled
usingbrick elements. Quarter symmetry models can
beusedas showninFigure1. Appropriatenonlinear
material properties obtainedfromliteratureandtests
areassignedtotheelementsandinterfaces. For these
types of analyses, pretested standard cases can also
be used in the evaluation and benchmarking of the
analysistechniquesandtheconstitutivemodels.
Thereareseveral features of theseanalyses which
necessitate the use of explicit FEA. Perhaps most
importantly, theproblemishighlydynamic. Therapid
riseandthenfall of theblast pressureis intheorder
of milliseconds and the response of this structure
under thesehighly dynamic loadswouldbevery dif-
ficult (and probably impossible at least in practical
terms) tosimulateusingimplicitanalysis. Under high
strainratesmostmaterialsexhibitsignificantlydiffer-
ent behavior towhenloadsareappliedstatically. The
ability to simulate this behaviour is critical in these
types of analyses. LS-DYNA, which is a reputable
explicit tool, has theability to efficiently handlethe
effectof highstrainratesintoanumber of constitutive
models.
Theresponseof theglazing panels is highly non-
linear due to glass cracking and large deformation
of the polycarbonate interlayers and framing silicon
under theblast loads. Thislevel of largedeformation
ismorereadilytoleratedbyexplicitthanimplicitmeth-
ods. Elementerosion(aprocessbywhichelementsare
removedfromthemodel whenaspecifiedthreshold
is reached) canalsobeincludedtoprevent failureof
themodel duetohighlydistortedelementsandhence
allowthesolutiontoproceed.
As mentioned above, explicit FEA becomes time
consumingwithextendedruntimes. Intheanalysisof
glazingpanels, primary responseoccursvery rapidly
(within a fraction of a second) and within approx-
imately 2 seconds all significant oscillations have
ceased. Blastanalysisof glazingsystemsiswell suited
toexplicit FEA andwithmodernhighpowereddesk-
top PCs these models can typically be analysed in
approximately3hours. Thisdurationisacceptablefor
practical applicationsindesign. Inadditiontoaccept-
ableruntimes, thegeometryof theglazingpanelsare
relativelysimpletocreateandmodifyandtheanalysis
results are also relatively easy to interpret since the
glazingsystemcanoftenbeassessedusingasimple
pass/fail criteria(pass represents theintegrity of the
systemis maintainedunder theblast load). This also
assists in thepractical and cost-effectiveapplication
of thesetechniquesoncertainprojects.
3.2 Vehicle barrier impact
Vehicle barriers are structural systems which often
need to consider the effect of impact loads. These
can be accidental, for example traffic accidents, or
intentional impact loads suchas terrorist attacks. By
realistically modeling the barrier and the impacting
vehicle, a number of possible failure modes can be
considered including material failure of the barrier,
overturning of the barrier or passing of the vehicle
over thebarrier. Thisisvaluableinformationthatmay
beusedbythedesignerisassessingabarriersystem.In
manycasesstandardandtestedsystemsmaybeused,
however explicit FEA isavaluabletool for analyzing
caseswherenon-standarddesignsareneeded.
221
Figure2. Analysisof vehiclebarrier impact.
Impact problems are highly complex and there
areanumber of reasons why explicit FEA tools are
needed for these analyses. Firstly the problems are
again highly dynamic and nonlinear. A high degree
of deformationispresentintheimpactingbodies.The
deformation in theimpacting bodies is important in
modelingtheenergy dissipationanddeterminingthe
realistic kinetic energy impartedonthebarrier struc-
ture. Conservativemethodswhichdonot account for
theaboveresultinexcessiveimpactforcesonthebar-
rierstructure,andhenceanoverlyconservativedesign.
To get arealistic estimateof thedynamic forces and
achieveaneconomical designsolution, itisimportant
torealisticallysimulatetheimpactingbodies. Inmost
cases thebarriers aremadewithreinforcedconcrete
which is modelled with brick finite elements. Rein-
forcingsteel is modelledusingbeamelements anda
special featurewithinLS-DYNA allowsthereinforce-
ment to beconveniently placedarbitrarily withinthe
concretemeshof brickelements.
Fortheconcretecomponents, anumberof constitu-
tivemodelsareavailable. Several of thesealsocontain
functionswhichmodel strainrateeffects. Our experi-
enceonpreviousprojectshasshownthattheinclusion
of strain rate effects on concrete has a major effect
on theresults and cannot beignored in theseanaly-
ses. Strain rateeffects arealso included on thesteel
reinforcingbars.
Theabilityof explicitFEA tohandlecomplexcon-
tactisalsoimportantintheseanalyses.A largenumber
of contact surfaces are present and self-contact is
present on thevehicles. Implicit analysis techniques
wouldbevery unlikely tobeabletohandlethislevel
of complexityinthecontact surfaces.
Vehiclemodelscanbeobtainedfromsourcessuch
as US Department of Transport. Such models have
usuallybeenvalidatedforuseinvehiclebarrierimpact
applications. Themodels includekey components of
thevehiclewhichaffect its stiffness andthemass of
significantcomponents(suchasthedrivetrain) atreal-
isticpositions.Validationof thebarriersystemismore
difficultastheavailableexperimental material thatcan
beusedtodrawrealisticcomparisonsisquitelimited.
Thedurationof impactanalysesaresimilartothose
inblast analysisandasaresult, theruntimeonthese
modelsisalsoacceptablefor useinadesignpractice
environment. Mostmodelshaveruntimesintheorder
of several hours. Ideally, model runtimesareasshort
as possible to allow greater model check and sensi-
tivity cases to berun. Theruntimes of suchmodels,
whengeneratedwithappropriatetechniques, typically
allow investigations into a number of what if sce-
narios to achieveamoreeconomical design such as
barrier thickness, height or reinforcement quantities.
Modificationscanalsobemadetothevehiclemodels
toinvestigatetheeffectsof increasedvehiclemassor
strengtheningtovehiclecomponentssuchasbumper
bars. Overall, explicitFEAallowsvehicleimpactanal-
ysis tobecarriedout reasonably efficiently andwith
asignificantly morerealistic simulationof theevent
comparedwithother analysistypes.
3.3 Design analysis of a large reinforced concrete
transfer wall
Thestrutandtiemethodisthemostcommonlymethod
appliedinthedesignof non-flexural members. Appli-
cations include corbels, transfer walls and header
beams amongst others. Thestrut and tiemethod has
theadvantageof being quick and straightforward to
implement. A disadvantageof themethodis that the
methodprovidesonlythecapacityof anelement with
no information regarding thedistribution of internal
load effects and load-deflection responses as cracks
develop (which can also be displayed). The latter is
useful informationfor thedesigner asit indicatesthe
likelymodeof failureandthelevel of ductilityinthe
element.
Explicit FEA has beenappliedinthedesignanal-
ysisof alargetransfer wall featuringpost-tensioning
andasignificantnumberof penetrations.Thestructure
was originally designed using strut and tie analysis.
Consideringthescaleof thisimportant structural ele-
ment it was decidedto consider anadditional means
foranalysingtheproposeddesigntogainanextralevel
of confidenceinitsultimatecapacity andinvestigate
expectedfailuremodebeyondtheultimateload.
A 3Dfiniteelement model wascreatedusingbrick
and beamelements to model the concrete and steel
reinforcement respectively. While quite different to
thepreviousexamplesof blast andimpact, thisstatic
problemwaseffectivelysolvedusinganexplicitfinite
element analysis tool (LS-DYNA). The main rea-
son for selection of an explicit method herewas the
numerical stability of theconcretematerial model in
simulatingnonlinear load-deflectionresponse.
Irrespectiveof implicit or explicit natureof solu-
tiontechnique, careneedstobetakenwhenapplying
nonlinear FEA to analysis of non-flexural or shear
dominated concrete structures. In particular, consti-
tutive material model appropriate to the problemat
handshouldbechosenwithappropriateinput param-
etersusedfor theconstitutivemodel asthemodel can
beverysensitivetotheseparameters. For thistransfer
wall problemtheconstitutivemodel wasselectedand
its input parameters wereinvestigated using arange
of test models to calibratetheset of parameters that
222
Figure3. Designanalysisof aconcretetransfer wall.
were required to reproduce the known behaviour of
smaller scale experiments. For example, the reduc-
tion in compressive strength due to the presence of
transverse strains is usually an important parameter
to consider and thereduction can bequiteseverein
thepresenceof largetransversestrains. Thetransfer
wall model wasrunquasi-statically.Accordinglyloads
wereappliedslowly(overaperiodof about5seconds)
toavoiddynamiceffects. Runtimewasapproximately
2hours.
Whiletherearechallengesassociatedwithitsappli-
cation, applying explicit FEA in the design analy-
sis of non-flexural zones in this large and complex
structure added value to the project. By analysing
the structure designed by the strut and tie method,
additional confidence was gained in regards to the
ultimatestrength. ExplicitFEA alsoallowedtheload-
deflection response of the structure to be estimated
andcrackingprocess tobedisplayed. This capability
enhancedour intuitiveunderstandingof theproblem.
3.4 Strength analysis of a kinked cable
Largecableswereimplementedaspart of astructural
system. During erection, kinking damage was inad-
vertently sustained on one of the cables. The cable
wasabletobere-straightenedhowever it needstobe
determinedwhether anypermanentdamagemayhave
beensustainedbythecable.Itwasproposedtorecreate
thedamageonatestpieceandsubsequentlycarryout
testingtoseeif any lossof capacity wasnotedinthe
testpiecehowever itwasadvisedbythemanufacturer
that a testing rig was not available to accommodate
therequiredsizeof cable. As aresult, it was decided
toinvestigatetheproblemusingexplicit FEA.
Inorder tocreatearealisticmodel of acable, each
strandwasrequiredtobemodelledandwoundtocre-
atethecablegeometry.All 656strandsweremodelled
usingbrickelementswithfourelementsoverthecross
sectionof eachstrand. Resultsof physical testsfor the
individual wire strands were used and implemented
in the model using an isotropic hardening plasticity
model. Contactinterfacesarelocatedalongthelength
of each strand and as a result, there is a very large
numberof contactingbodies.Thiswasakeyreasonfor
selectingexplicitFEA sincethemethodisabletohan-
dleacomplexcontact without theconvergenceissues
Figure4. Analysisof cablestrengthfollowingdamage.
often experiencedwith implicit FEA. It is anticipate
major convergence issues would have been present
usingimplicit methodsandasolutionwouldnot have
beenreachedinareasonableperiodof time.
Sincetheintentionwas simulateatensiletest, the
load applied to the model would be increased until
failure. The explicit method also has the advantage
of being ableto moreefficiently handlelargedefor-
mations andremoval/erosionof elements tosimulate
completestrandrupturebeyondalimitingcriterion.
Similar to the transfer wall analysis, the loading
in the cable analysis needed to be applied quasi-
statically and loads were applied slowly enough to
avoidunwanteddynamiceffectsandexcessivekinetic
energy althoughquickly enoughso that theruntime
was not excessive. Thefirst step in theanalysis was
toapplyloadstosimulatethedamageimpartedonthe
cable. Thenext stepwastosimulatethestraightening
operationthatwasappliedtotheactual cabletoremove
thekink. At thecompletionof thesetwo steps, there
wasasmall amountof permanentdeformationpresent
inthecable. Inthefinal step, increasingtensionwas
appliedtothecableuntil breakingloadwasreached.
Thefindings fromtheanalysis showedthat under
the kinking and subsequent re-straightening of the
cable, there was no significant loss of strength
compared with the breaking load advised by the
manufacturer.
223
This case highlights a specialised application of
advanced analysis wherethespecial capabilities and
attributesof explicit FEA resultedinagoodoutcome
for resolvinganunexpectedproblemduringacritical
periodof erection.
4 FUTURE WORK
Since explicit methods have the capability so sim-
ulate behviour well into the nonlinear regime, the
movetowardsperformance-baseddesignandconsid-
erationof disproportionatecollapseisalsoanticipated
toleadtoadditional applicationsforexplicitanalysisin
structural engineering. Theability todemonstratethe
behavior of structures whenpushedto highlevels of
overloador thedegradationof stiffnessunder acyclic
loadareexampleswheretheabilitytotreathighahigh
degreeof structural nonlinearity becomesapowerful
advantage. Development of procedures andcapabili-
tiestoappropriatelyandcost-effectivelyapplyexplicit
finite element analysis in the field of performance-
baseddesignisplannedfor futureworkatAureconto
addvaluetoprojects.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Thefocus of this paper has beento highlight anum-
ber of instanceswhereexplicit FEA hasbeenapplied
effectivelytoaddvaluetoprojectsinthefieldof struc-
tural engineering.Itcanbeseenthatthereareanumber
of practical applicationstoproblemsthat either could
not beundertaken using implicit FEA or wheresig-
nificant benefits can be gained using explicit FEA.
In additional to the more traditional applications of
blast andimpact, explicit FEA hasstrongcapabilities
in quasi-static problems. It is expected that into the
futuretherewill continuetobeincreasingapplications
for explicitanalysisinstructural engineeringpractice.
REFERENCES
BehbahanifardM R, GrondinGY, Elwi A E, 2004, Analysis
of Steel PlateShear WallsUsingExplicit FiniteElement
Method, 13thWorldConferenceonEarthquakeEngineer-
ing, Vancouver B.C. Canada, August 16 2004, Paper
number 2420.
Miller K, J oldes G, Lance D, Wittek A, Total Lagrangian
explicit dynamics finite element algorithm for computing
soft tissue deformation, Commun. Numer. Meth. Engng
2007; 23:121134.
SunJ S, LeeKH, LeeHP, Comparisonof ImplicitandExplicit
Finiteelementmethodsfor dynamicproblems, J ournal of
MaterialsProcessingTechnology105(2000) 110118.
224
FluidflowthroughsinglefractureusingLatticeBoltzmannMethod
PeijieYin& GaofengZhao
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Fluid flowin fractures has been thesubject of great interest in theapplication of radioactive
disposal site, oil/gasextractionandwater resources. Substantial progresshasbeenmadetostudytheroughness
effect onfluidflowthroughsinglefracturefrombothexperimental andtheoretical point of view. However, the
roughness is difficult to definein practiceand thetheoretical solution of thefluid flow is usually impracti-
cal becauseof thecomplex geometry. TheJ oint Roughness Coefficient proposed by Barton is introduced to
represent theroughsurfaceinthispaper. Meanwhile, theLatticeBoltzmannMethodpresentingtheadvantage
over traditional methodsisappliedtoinvestigatetheroughnesseffect. Numerical simulationsof fluidflowina
geometryof avarietyof apertureandJ RC isconducted. Anequationisproposedbasedonthenumerical result
whichpresentsadvantageof easyobtainedparametersandaccuratefluidflowdescriptions.
1 INTRODUCTION
Rock fractures havereceivedconsiderableattentions
duetoitsimportanceinfluenceonthestrength, defor-
mationandconductivityof rock massesandinturnit
will criticallyaffect thestabilityof engineeringstruc-
turesbuilt in/onrock. Thedevelopment of modelsfor
rockfracturesandtheir effectsontherockmasseshas
beenthedistinctivefeatureof rockmechanicsandrock
engineering. Mechanical properties of rock fractures
have been studied by many researchers (Goodman
1968, Iwai 1976, Bandis et al. 1983). Thenatureof
fracture surfaces and their influence on rock mass
behavior is theother important issuewhichhas been
atopicof increasingresearchactivityinthepastthree
decades. Numerous investigations havebeendoneto
describetheflowthroughasinglefractureor fracture
network(Lomize1951, Louis1969,Witherspoonetal.
1980, Longet al. 1985, Brown1987, Rivard& Delay
2004). However, sofar, therestill doesnot existinga
singlemodel whichcanexactlydescribethefluidflow
behavior inrock massesduetothecomplextopology
of thefracturenetworkandprofilesof rockfractures.
Inpractice, profilesof rock fracturesarealwaysin
theformof irregular curvysurfaces. Characterization
of this surfaceis akey research topic for rock engi-
neering. Accordingly, many studies have been done
to obtain thecharacterization of fractures (Barton &
Choubey1977, Dawers&Anders1995, Clark& Cox
1996). Inrockengineering, asimplifieddescriptionof
fractureroughnessbasedonempirical measurementof
theJ ointRoughnessCoefficient(J RC) wasdeveloped
by Barton & Choubey (1977). Recently, themodern
measurementtechnologyandfractal theoryisadopted
to character theroughness parameter of fracturesur-
faces (Feder 1988, Xie et al. 1998). For example,
Feder (1988) described the roughness at the surface
by using the fractal geometry concept which shows
theefficiency. Xieet al. (1998) developedtheProtec-
tiveCovering Method (PCM) to measurethefractal
dimension of a fracture surface directly. The actual
fractal dimensionof afracturesurfacecanbeobtained
fromcalculationof theentireareaof thefractureunder
different scales.
Largenumbersof experimentshavealsobeendone
to study the effect of roughness on fluid flow in
fractures. Thefirst comprehensiveexperimental work
on fluid flow in rough fracture go back to Lomize
(1951) who investigated theeffects of roughness by
changing the fracture walls from smooth to rough
and with different fracture shapes considered. Later
on, Louis (1969) performed experiments similar to
Lomizewhich obtainedessentially thesameconclu-
sions. Randomorartificial roughnessparameterswere
introducedby Gilley & Finkner (1991) toinvestigate
the effect of roughness on fluid flow. Accordingly,
comprehensive works have been done to study the
effectof fractureroughnessonfluidflowfromtheoret-
ical pointof view(Tsang&Witherspoon1981, Brown
1987, Zimmerman& Bodvarsson1996, Nicholl et al.
1999). TheNavier-Stokes equations areproposed to
present thefluidflowin any flowdomain wherethe
cubic lawcanbeobtainedby simplifyingthegeome-
try andflowproperty. However, it is still difficult to
solvethefluidflowprobleminreal fractureduetothe
difficultyincharacterizingthefracturesurfacesandin
solvingthenon-linear equations.
Possibly themost powerful way of modelingfluid
flow in rough facture is to using numerical tech-
niques. Large numbers of numerical methods based
onDiscretizedPartial Differential Equationsarepro-
posedtosimulatefluidflowsuchasFiniteDifferences
225
Method (FDM), FiniteVolume Method (FVM) and
FiniteElementMethod(FEM).However,mostof these
traditional methods present the drawback like long
computation times, poor convergenceand numerical
instabilities (Succi et al. 1995, Wolf-Gladrow2000).
Recently,theLatticeBoltzmannMethod(LBM)devel-
oped in thepast two decades is regarded as another
computational method to represent the fluid flow
which has the advantage on handing fluid flow in
complexgeometries. Inthispaper, fluidflowthrough
singlefractureisstudiedusingtheLBM.
Arising fromthe accurate representation of frac-
tureroughness andaccuratesimulationof fluidflow
through rough fractures, the paper is to study by
using the Barton profiles and this study, the litera-
ture review on fluid flow through single fracture is
presentedfirstly. TheLatticeBoltzmannmethodand
thecharacterizationof roughsurfacegeometryadopt-
ing Barton profile and boundary treatment are then
reviewedanddiscussed. Twodimensional fluidflows
inJ RC characterizedfracturesaresimulatedbyusing
Lattice Boltzmann Method. The simulation results
are analyzed and arrive at an equation that relates
the permeability to a small number of geometrical
parameters.
2 FLUIDFLOWSTHROUGHFRACTURES
Theearlyworkonfluidflowinsinglefracturewascon-
ducted experimentally by Lomize (1951) and Louis
(1968). Thecubic lawfor laminar flowthroughfrac-
tures has been established over a wide range of
apertures. Continuing laboratory studies wereinves-
tigated and validate of cubic law is discussed by
manyotherresearchers(Iwai 1976,Witherspoon1980,
Tsang1984,Brown1987,Bartonetal.1997).Thefluid
flowthroughjoint rock mass is characterizedby sur-
faceroughnessandvariableaperturesoriginatingfrom
themechanical behavior of rockmass.
Thelaboratory experiments areusually timecon-
suming and difficult to be implemented in the
hydraulic systemat micro-level scales. Alternatively,
thetheoretical studiesonfluidflowbetweenroughsur-
facesaredeveloped. Theflowof asingle-phasefluid
throughrockfracturesisdiscussedwithinthecontext
of fluidmechanics by numbers of investigators. Pos-
siblythemost accuratedescriptionof fluidflowisthe
continuumequationsandNavier-Stokesequations.
where =fluid density;

F =body force vector (per
unit mass); P =pressure; =fluid viscosity; and
u =velocityvector.
Theoretically, thesolutionof N-S equations under
complexfracturegeometryisnotcomputationallyfea-
sibleandis impractical. Originatingfromthepartial
differential equation of fluid flows, it is practical to
arrive at the solution of N-S equations by way of
numerical methods. Withtheappearanceof powerful
and fast computers, thecomputation fluid dynamics
(CFD) methodsaredevelopedtosolvethedifferential
equations. Thetraditional computation fluid dynam-
ics (CFD) methods essentially take the momentum
andmassbalanceequations, alongwithother models
describingtheflowbehavior, andsolvethemto give
informationsuchasvelocityandtemperatureprofiles.
However, mostof thetraditional CFDmethodspresent
the same disadvantages in efficiency and accuracy.
Alternatively, theLatticeBoltzmann Method (LBM)
developedinthepast 20yearshastheadvantageover
traditional methods in describing the fluid flow in
complexgeometryandpresentsitsownfeaturetosim-
ulatethemicroscopicinteractioninthefutureof micro
scalefluidics.
3 LATTICE BOLTZMANNMETHOD
LatticeBoltzmann method is abottom-up method
for simulation of fluid flow which is quite distinc-
tivefrommolecular dynamics(MD) ontheonehand
andtop-downmethodsbasedonthediscretizationof
partial differential equationsontheother hand(Wolf-
Gladrow 2000). Originating fromthekinetic theory,
theLBM has theappealingfeatures of programming
simplicity, intrinsic parallelism, and straightforward
resolution of complex solid boundaries and multiple
fluidspecies.
Thefundamental ideaof LBM is to construct the
kineticmodel withtheessential physicsof microscopic
processes incorporatedso that themacroscopic aver-
agedpropertiescanbederiveddirectly.Thedifficulties
tosolvethecomplicatedBoltzmannequationandtrace
thepathof particlesinmoleculardynamicssimulation
weresimplifiedbysolvingthekineticequations.
The spirit of LBM is the evolution equation
expressedas:
wheref
i
( x, t)=particledistributionfunctionat given
site x and timet;
i
(f
i
( x, t)=collision operator; and
e
i
=discretevelocities.
Twosub-stepsareincludedintheLatticeBoltzmann
Equation, whichrefertothepropagationandcollision.
Propagation means particle moves to the nearest or
neighbornodeinthedirectionof itsvelocity. Collision
means particles arriveat anodeinteract and change
their velocity directionaccordingto scatteringrules.
Meanwhile, special treatment is requiredat thesolid
fluidinterfaceduetotheunknownparticledistribution
inthesolidphase.
Thedensityandmomentumdensityaredefinedby
thedistributionfunction
226
Theconservation of total mass and total momen-
tumissatisfiedbythefollowingconstraintsof ateach
lattice:
Thecollisionoperator
i
(f
i
( x, t) haslotsof forms.
One particular version is to make use of relaxation
timetowardsthelocal equilibriumusingasingletime
relaxation, knownastheBGK (Bhatnagar etal. 1954)
collision operator. The lattice BGK model receives
greatattentionfor itsmoreefficientcomputationsand
allowsflexibilityof thetransport coefficients.
where =relaxationtime; andf
eq
i
is theequilibrium
distributionfunctiondependsonlyonthemacroscopic
variables and u.
Therefore,
With x =t = and apply a Chapman-Enskog
expansion,themacroscopicequationcanbederivedby
thelatticeBGK equation. Theyaregivenbytheconti-
nuityequationandthemomentumequationwhichhas
thesecondorder accuracyinspaceandtime(Qian&
Orszag1993).
Inthepast two decades, comprehensiveinvestiga-
tions have been done to improve the accuracy and
efficiencyof LBMinthetreatmentof boundarycondi-
tions(Latt et al. 2008) andinterfacial physicsamong
multi-phases (Swift et al. 1996, Sukop et al. 2008).
Applications of LBM inthesimulationof singleand
multiphaseflowinporousmediumwereinvestigated
by numerous researchers (Hill et al. 2001, Panet al.
2004, Ghassemi et al. 2011) whichhaverevealedthe
advantageof LBM over other methods insimulating
fluidflowsthroughmediaof complexgeometry.
4 NUMERICAL SIMULATIONOF FLUID
FLOWTROUGHROUGHFRACTURES
Originatingfromthedifficult tocharacter therough-
ness parameter, Barton et al. (1977) introduced the
jointroughnesscoefficient(J RC)tostudythemechan-
ical behaviorsandtheconductivityproblemsinjointed
rock mass(Bartonet al. 1997). Theproposedparam-
eter has the advantage of easy obtained in practice
Figure1. Bartonprofiles(Bartonet al. 1977).
Figure 2. Velocity profile of theoretical result and LBM
simulationresult withJ RC=0(RelativeError=3.2E-05).
and is widely used to characterize the geometry of
jointedrock mass. Therefore, theBartonprofiles are
adoptedtorepresenttheroughsurfaceof thefractures
(Figure1).
Numerical simulation of two dimensional fluid
flows through rough fracture is conducted by using
Lattice Boltzmann method and Barton profiles. A
constantpressuregradientisappliedinthesinglefrac-
tureandthecompletebounce-back schemeisusedto
present the no-slip boundary condition at the rough
walls. Numerical simulations areperformedinorder
toreveal therelationshipbetweenthepermeabilityand
fracturegeometry.
The numerical results shows that, the parabolic
velocity profilecanbeobtainedinthesimulationof
fluidflowthroughparallel plates (J RC=0) whichis
consistentwithanalytical results(Figure2).Thecubic
lawisrealizedbyavarietyof apertures.
Thepermeability valuesobtainedfromthenumer-
ical simulations are normalized by the values at
227
Figure 3. Numerical results of roughness effect on fluid
flowfor different aperturesandJ RC byusingLBM.
J RC=0sothat theeffect of roughnessonfluidflow
can be obtained (Figure 3). It is clear that the fluid
flowsdeviatefromcubiclawduetoroughnesseffect.
Basedonnumerical results, anequationisproposedto
represent thecorrectionfactor of cubiclawwhichhas
thefollowingform.
wheref =correctionfactor of thepermeabilitycorre-
spondingcubiclawandh =physical aperture
Theproposedequationhasthefeatureof fewparam-
eters and easy obtained fromgeo-technical surveys,
whichissuperior totheempirical equationincharac-
terizingtheroughnesseffect onfluidflows. Thespe-
cific formof theproposedequation andverification
workarenowunder investigation.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Thepermeabilityof ajointedrockmassisaverycom-
plex parameter to determine due to the difficulty in
expressingthefracturegeometry inhydraulic terms.
Thecubiclawproposedinlastcenturywaswidelyused
inpracticefor itssimplicity. However, thelimitations
of cubiclawwerestudiedexperimentallyandtheoreti-
cally.Extensiveinvestigationswereconductedtostudy
theeffectof roughnessonfluidflowinfractures. Even
withsoinspiringprogressonthedeterminationof frac-
ture permeability, a practicable equation to describe
theroughnesseffect onfluidflowisstill unknown.
Originating fromthe limitation of previous stud-
ies, theaimof present work istofindapractical and
accurateway to quantify theinfluenceof roughness
onfracturepermeability. Thenumerical simulationis
first addressed by introducing the LBM and Barton
J oint Roughness Coefficient (J RC) simultaneously.
Theproposedmethodhastheadvantageinbothprac-
tically characterizing the roughness geometry and
accuratelydescribingthefluidflowbehaviors.
TheLBM presentstheaccuracyindescribingfluid
flowsthroughparallel platesby comparingthesimu-
lationresult withtheoretical solutions. Thecubic law
canbeobtainedat J RC=0withvaryingapertures. An
equation of simple formis proposed to investigate
the roughness effect on fluid flow in single fracture
whichpresentsthepotential inapplicationfor itseasy
obtainedparameters.
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jointsintheoryandpractice. RockMechanics10: 154
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Goodman, R.E.,Taylor, R.L. &Brekke,T. 1968.A model for
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a single fracture. Ph.D. dissertation, University of
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229
Concrete structures
Thebehaviour of fibrereinforcedcontinuousconcreteslabs
under load anexperimental study
F.M. Abas, R.I. Gilbert, S.J. Foster & M.A. Bradford
ABSTRACT: Anexperimental studyisdescribedof thebehaviour of short-termstaticloadtestsontwo-span
composite slabs fabricated with deep trapezoidal decks and steel fibre reinforced concrete. The aimwas to
studytheeffectsof varyingthesteel fibredosageonthecrackingbehaviour at thenegativemoment region, on
theredistributionof moments, ontheendslipbetweenthedeckingandtheconcrete, andontheloadcarrying
capacityof theslabs. Intotal, 8two-spancompositeslabspecimensweretested. Inadditiontothesteel decking,
oneof thespecimenscontainednoreinforcingsteel andnosteel fibres, four of thespecimenswerereinforced
only withsteel fibresintheconcrete(withnominal fibrecontentsof either 20, 30and40kg/m
3
). Intheother
threespecimens, weldedwire-meshwasincludedover theinterior support, onewithplainconcreteandtwowith
steel fibresintheconcrete. ComparedtotheplainconcretecompositeslabandtheslabcontainingSL62welded
wiremesh, theslabscontainingsteel fibresinexcessof 20kg/m
3
providedsignificant improvementsintheslip
loadandthepeak load. Inaddition, at serviceloadlevelsthefibresprovidedcrack control that wasof similar
effectivenesstothat providedbytheSL62mesh.
1 INTRODUCTION
Compositeslabswithdeeptrapezoidal steel decksare
widelyusedintodaysconstructionindustryandarea
very efficient formof construction. Inadditiontoits
roleaspermanentformworkfortheslab, thesteel deck
actsasthebottom,tensilereinforcementinthepositive
moment regionof theslab. Thestrengthof asimply-
supported composite steel-concrete slab depends on
thelongitudinal shear capacity betweenthedeck and
the concrete slab and this controls the effectiveness
of the steel deck as positive moment reinforcement
(OehlersandBradford, 1995; Petkeviciuset al. 2010;
Roberts-Wollmanetal, 2004). Conventional reinforc-
ingbarsor weldedwiremeshmaybeincludedfor the
control of crackingduetorestrainedshrinkageor for
fire-resistancepurposes.
In the case of continuous composite slabs, rein-
forcing bars or welded wire mesh are usually used
to increase the strength of the section in the nega-
tivemoment regionover theinterior supports andto
control flexural cracking on the top surface of the
slab.Constructionwouldbesimplified,andpotentially
becomemoreeconomical, if thelabour intensivetask
of reinforcement fixing and control of cover could
be eliminated fromthe construction, and if a viable
alternative means of crack control was available for
continuous composite slabs. While the deep trape-
zoidal deckingaloneprovidessomenegativemoment
resistance at an interior support after cracking, the
absenceof anytopsteel resultsinasuddenredistribu-
tionof momentsat first crackingand, soonafter, one
or morewideunserviceablecracksover eachinterior
support develop.
Theuseof steel-fibresinconcreteasanalternative
(or supplement) toconventional reinforcementisnow
amaturetechnology after almost 40years of experi-
enceandextensiveresearch. Therangeof application
of steel fibrereinforcedconcrete(SFRC) is expand-
ing. Theinclusionof steel fibresinconcretehasbeen
shown to improve the post-cracking behaviour of a
reinforcedconcretemember, intermsof crackcontrol,
ductility, shear strengthandfireresistance.
Combining composite steel-concrete slabs and
steel-fibresisaviableconstructionstrategy, withpar-
ticularadvantagesforcontinuousslabs.Hitherto,there
has been surprisingly littleresearch reported on this
topicintheopenliterature. Ibrahimetal. (1994) tested
specimenswithdifferent deckprofilesandreinforced
withwire-meshandvariousquantitiesof steel-fibres,
rangingfrom0.2%to0.34%fibresbyvolume. Similar
testswerealsoconductedinGermanybyAckermann
et al. (2008, 2009) and in the USA by Roberts-
Wollmanetal. (2004).Thecommonobjectiveof these
studies was to find the suitability of steel fibres as
a replacement to wire-mesh in composite slab con-
struction. However, no conclusive design solutions
pertainingtothisapplicationwereproposed.
This paper forms part of an on-going research
project investigating the strength and serviceability
233
Figure1. Dimensionsandgeometryof thetwo-spanslabs.
of SFRC compositeslabswithdeeptrapezoidal steel
decks. Specifically, it describes anexperimental pro-
gramto quantify the strength and serviceability of
continuous SFRC composite slabs with deep trape-
zoidal decking by varying thedosageof steel fibres
with and without the inclusion of wire-mesh in the
negativemoment region of theslabs. Theeffects on
deflectionandcrack widthsat serviceloadsarestud-
iedandthebond-slipmechanismthatcontrolstheload
carryingcapacityof theslabisalsoconsidered.
2 TEST SET-UPANDTEST SPECIMENS
2.1 Overview
Two-spancontinuouscompositeslabsfabricatedusing
deep-trapezoidal steel sheeting (W-deck) and SFRC
were cast and loaded to failure in order to investi-
gate the behaviour and characteristics of composite
slabscontainingsteel fibreswithandwithoutconven-
tional reinforcement in thenegativebending region.
The slab specimens were constructed froma ready-
mix concrete containing various dosages of steel
fibres ranging from0kg/m
3
to 40kg/m
3
by volume
of high strength steel, end hooked fibres (either
60mmlongDramixRC80/60BNfibresor35mmlong
RC65/35BNfibres).
Intotal, eightprismaticSFRCcompositeslabswith
deeptrapezoidal deckingwerecastandmoistcuredfor
aperiodof 14days.Inadditiontothesteel decking,one
of thespecimenscontainednoreinforcingsteel andno
steel fibres, andfourof thespecimenswerereinforced
only with steel-fibres in the concrete (with nominal
fibrecontents of either 20, 30 and 40kg/m
3
). In the
otherthreespecimensweldedwire-meshwasincluded
over theinterior support, onewithplainconcreteand
twowithsteel fibresintheconcrete.
Each specimen was 7.0m long, with two equal
spans of 3.4m and an overall depth D given in
Table1. Theconcreteproperties, includingcompres-
sive strength, tensile strength, modulus of elasticity
and fracture energy, were measured on companion
specimens for every slab tested. An elevation and
cross-sectionof atypical slabisshowninFigure1.
All slabs specimens weretestedto failureusinga
deformation-controlled actuator applying load at the
thirdpointsof eachspanthroughsteel spreaderbeams.
Table1. Detailsof test specimens.
Slab Nominal Measured
depth Fibre fibre fibre Mesh/
D length volume volume A
s
/A
c
SlabID (mm) (mm) (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
) (%)
S1-0-00 142
S2-0-62 152 SL62/0.15%
S3-20L-00 145 60 20 18.8
S4-30L-00 142 60 30 27.9
S5-30L-52 142 60 30 30.6 SL52/0.10%
S6-30L-82 145 60 30 27.9 SL82/0.27%
S7-40L-00 152 60 40 38.3
S8-40S-00 146 35 40 40.2
Concrete properties, including compressive
strength, tensile strength, stress-strain curve, modu-
lus of ruptureandfractureenergy weremeasuredon
companion cylinders and prisms for every batch of
concrete.
For eachspecimen, thedeflectionof eachspan, the
crackwidthsovertheinteriorsupportandslipbetween
thedeckingandtheconcreteat bothends of theslab
were recorded electronically at each load increment
from zero up to the failure of the specimen. Also
recorded continuously throughout the tests were the
appliedloadsandthereactionsat eachsupport.
Themajor objectives of theexperimental program
weretogainanunderstandingof theinfluenceof var-
ious steel fibre dosages on the extent and width of
cracksattheintermediatesupportregions; thedeflec-
tion and degree of moment redistribution at service
loads; the load-carrying capacity; and the end slip
betweenthedeckingandtheSFRC uptoandbeyond
thepeakload.Anotherobjectivewastoinvestigatethe
effectsof combiningsteel fibresandwiremeshinthe
negativemomentregiononcracking,aswell asonload
carryingcapacityof theslabs.
2.2 Test specimens
Table1providesdetailsof eachtest specimen. Inthe
specimen identifier, the first term is the specimen
number (S1 to S8), the second termrepresents the
nominal steel fibre dosage in kg/m
3
and fibre type
(L for 60mmlong fibres, S for 35mmshort fibres)
andthethirdtermrepresentsthetypeof weldedwire
mesh, includingwiresizeandspacing(e.g. 62ismesh
with6mmdiameter wiresat 200mmcentres).
Thesteel sheetingusedforeachcompositeslabwas
thedeeptrapezoidal steel deck (W-deck). Thecross-
sectional dimensionsof thedeckusedineverytestslab
areshowninFigure2andsectionpropertiesaregiven
inTable2.
Prior toconcreting, headedshear studswerefixed
at the intermediate support of each slab by welding
directlytoa6mmthicksteel plateunderneaththedeck,
asshowninthesectioninFigure1.Thesteel platewas
used to replicatethetop flangeof asecondary steel
beaminterior support for a typical composite floor
234
Figure 2. Cross-section of W-deck trapezoidal steel
decking.
Table2. Sectionpropertiesof deeptrapezoidal steel deck.
Nominal
Deck Moment of yield
thickness, Area inertiaI
xx
stress,
t
p
A
deck
Weight Width (mm
4
/m) f
y
(mm) (mm
2
/m) (kg/m) (mm) 10
6
(N/mm
2
)
1.00 1414 8.14 700 119.9 550
Table3. Nominal propertiesof steel fibres.
Mean
Fibre Fibre tensile Elastic
Steel dia. length strength modulus
fibre (mm) (mm) (MPa) (GPa)
RC80/60BN(L) 0.75 60 1225 200
RC65/35BN(S) 0.55 35 1345 200
slabs. Theshear studswereincludedinthetest speci-
mensbecausetheyareusuallypresent inpracticeand
mayact ascrackinitiators.
Twotypesof Dramixsteel-fibreswereused:
1. 60mmlonghookedendfibres(RC80/60BN) and
2. 35mmhooked-endsteel fibre(RC65/35BN).
Thepropertiesof bothtypesof steel fibresaregiven
inTable3. Thesteel fibresweremixedtotherequired
dosagesinthebackof theconcretetruckon-sitewithin
the laboratory. The quantities of the measured steel
fibres added to the concrete for each test specimen
werecalculatedandtheexactdosagedeterminedafter
mixingusingstandardwash-out tests.
2.3 Instrumentation
The instrumentation used in the experimentation
included: (1) laser transducers, eachwithanaccuracy
of 0.01mm,tomeasurethedeflectionof theslabsatthe
mid-point of eachspan; (2) loadcellstomeasurethe
actuator loadsandthereactions(withtwoloadcellsat
eachsupport); (3) LVDTstomeasuretheslipbetween
thesteel deckandtheconcreteateachendof theslab;
(4) surfacemountedstraingaugesandDemecgauges
wereusedtomeasureconcretestrainatthetopsurface
Figure3. Test set-upandloadingarrangements.
of theslabsover theinterior support; and(5) ahand-
heldmicroscopewasusedtomeasurethecrackwidths
overtheinteriorsupportinthenegativemomentregion
whenthetest waspausedafter every5kNloadincre-
ment. A Demec gaugewas also usedto measurethe
crackwidths.
2.4 Loading procedure
Figure3showsthespreaderbeamarrangements. Load
wasappliedatthethird-spanpointsinbothspans.The
initial load, comprisingtheself-weightof theslab, the
weight of the spreader beams and the weight of all
packingusedineachtest, wasmeasuredat thebegin-
ningof thetest as thesumof thereactions measured
bytheloadcellsat eachsupport.
Thetest procedurefor all test specimenswasiden-
tical. Deformationwasappliedslowlythroughout the
test in order to monitor thecompleteload response,
includinginthepost-peak unloadingrange. Therate
of deformation of the actuator ram was initially
0.3mm/minuptothepeakloadand, subsequently, ata
rateof 0.5mm/mininorder toacceleratethedeforma-
tioninthepost-peakrange.Failurewasdeemedtohave
occurredwhenoneof thespanshaddeflectedexces-
sivelyandtheloadhaddroppedsignificantly(bymore
than 30%) below its peak value. Data was recorded
electronicallycontinuouslythroughoutthetest. Load-
ingwaspausedafter every 5kN increment toinspect
fornewcrackingandtomeasureexistingcrackwidths
andlocations.
3 TEST RESULTS
Standard cylinders (150mm diameter) and prisms
(150mm150mm600mm) were used to deter-
mine the compressive strength, flexural tensile
strength, direct tensile strength, modulus of elastic-
ity and the fracture energy of the test specimens. A
summaryof theresultsisgiveninTable4.
3.2 Load-deflection behaviour
All slabs tested exhibited similar load-deflection
behaviour. Values of load and deflection at themid-
point of the span that failed are given inTable 5 at
235
critical load levels. In Figure 4, the load-deflection
curve of the plain concrete composite slab (S1-0-
00) is compared to that of the slab containing only
SL62mesh(S2-0-62). InFigure5theload-deflection
response of S1-0-00 is compared to that of the slab
containing20kg/m
3
of 60mmlongend-hookedfibres
(S3-20-00). InFigures4and5, theloadP istheload
appliedbytheactuator.
At first loading, the load increased linearly with
deflectionuntil thefirst crackoccurredat thetopsur-
faceof theslabover theinterior support.Atthispoint,
thesuddenreductionof stiffnessresultedinadropin
theappliedloadandachangeintheslopeof theload
deflectioncurve(PointA oneachof thecurvesinFig-
ures 4 and 5). Themagnitudeof thedrop in load at
first cracking depended on theamount of reinforce-
ment or fibresinthenegativemoment regionover the
interiorsupport.Theplainconcreteslab(S1-0-00)suf-
feredasignificant dropinload(fromP =24.7kN to
P =16.0kN), whilefor bothS2-0-62andS3-20L-00
thedropinloadwasmuchsmaller.
Asthetestcontinued,theloadincreasedatareduced
stiffness towards point B on the curves in Figures
4 and 5. At this stage, flexural cracks developed in
the positive moment regions in both spans, but due
Table 4. Concrete and SFRC properties at the time of
testing.
Direct Flexural
Compress. Elastic tensile tensile Fracture
strength modulus strength strength energy
SlabID (MPa) (MPa) (MPa) (MPa) (N/m)
S1-0-00 49.1 30,100 3.65 4.44 129
S2-0-62 46.3 29,100 4.52 4.59 189
S3-20L-00 43.5 27,500 3.55 3.90 3,470
S4-30L-00 45.5 27,400 4.75 5.05 7,410
S5-30L-52 45.0 30,400 3.33 5.06 4,260
S6-30L-82 45.5 27,400 4.75 5.05 7,410
S7-40L-00 42.8 33,100 2.73 4.62 5,520
S8-40S-00 57.8 31,700 3.93 5.15 3,250
Table5. Keyvaluesof appliedloadandmid-spandeflection.
At slipbetween
At first cracking deckingandconcrete
J ust before J ust after J ust before J ust after At PeakLoad
Slab P P P P P
specimen (kN) (mm) (kN) (mm) (kN) (mm) (kN) (mm) (kN) (mm)
S1-0-00 24.7 1.2 16.0 2.1 41.0 7.5 27.8 10.8 61.8 49.5
S2-0-62 14.0 0.7 11.8 1.0 55.5 7.7 44.0 10.5 70.0 36.2
S3-20L-00 22.0 1.6 20.0 2.1 65.0 12.8 51.8 15.6 82.8 49.0
S4-30L-00 18.8 1.4 17.3 1.6 61.8 13.1 51.8 16.0 92.8 56.0
S5-30L-52 30.5 2.2 29.0 2.2 66.8 9.7 54.8 12.8 88.8 52.0
S6-30L-82 15.0 0.8 14.3 0.8 79.3 10.7 67.5 13.7 98.5 38.1
S7-40L-00 15.0 1.2 14.3 1.4 57.3 9.7 47.8 11.7 82.8 43.0
S8-40S-00 17.0 1.1 17.0 1.2 82.0 14.2 67.5 18.0 95.8 45.0
to the restraint provided by the decking, these bot-
tomcracksremainedfineandthelossof stiffnesswas
relatively small (as is evidencedby thealmost linear
load-deflectionresponseof all slabs frompoint A to
pointBonthecurvesinFigures4and5).Theslopeof
Figure4. Load-deflectioncurvesfor S1-0-00andS2-0-62.
Figure 5. Load-deflection curves for S1-0-00 and
S3-20L-00.
236
thecurvefromA to B for theslab containing mesh
(S2-0-62) is significantly higher than that for slab
S1-0-00 and also for the slab containing fibres
(S3-20L-00).
At point B on each curvein Figures 4 and 5, slip
occursbetweentheconcreteandthedeckandtheload
suddenlydrops. FromFigure4, theloadat whichslip
occurs is increasedby thepresenceof themeshover
theinterior support, butthereisnosignificantchange
inthedeflectionat whichslipfirst takesplace. How-
ever, fromFigure5, theinclusionof just 20kg/m
3
of
fibres led to a larger increase in load and a signifi-
cant increaseinthedeflectionat whichslipfirst takes
place. Thepeak loadissignificantly increasedby the
inclusionof bothmeshandfibres, buttheinclusionof
20kg/m
3
of 60mmfibres led to alarger increasein
peak loadthanthat providedby theSL62mesh. Sig-
nificantly, theinclusionof low-ductility weldedwire
mesh reduced the deflection at which the peak load
occurred(comparedtotheslabwithoutmesh)andalso
reducedthepost-peak deformability. By contrast, the
inclusionof fibresnotonlyincreasedthepeakloadbut
alsoincreasedthedeformabilityof theslab.
Theload-deflectionresponsesof theslabscontain-
ing various quantities of 60mmend-hooked fibres
(withoutweldedwiremesh) arecomparedinFigure6.
Theslabswith30and40kg/m
3
of fibresbehavedsimi-
larlytothatof theslabcontaining20kg/m
3
. Relatively
little appears to be gained in terms of both strength
anddeformability by increasingthedosageof fibres
above20kg/m
3
. All slabscontainingfibresexhibited
very significant increases inbothsliploadandpeak
load compared to the slab without fibres (S1-0-00),
andall exhibitedsignificantlymoredeformability.
The effect on the load-deflection response of
increasingtheamount of weldedwirereinforcement
over theinterior support for thethreeslabs contain-
ing 30kg/m
3
of 60mm fibres is shown in Figure
7. Whilst the mesh significantly increases the post-
crackingstiffnessof theslabprior toslip, itdoeslittle
to improvethestrength of theslab (i.e. increasethe
peak load). Increasing the amount of low-ductility
reinforcement over the interior support appears to
decrease the deformability of the slab, and hence
reducesitsductility.
Figure6. Load-deflectionfor slabswith60mmfibres.
Acomparisonbetweentheload-deflectionresponses
of S7-40L-00andS8-40S-00isshowninFigure8.
3.3 Maximum crack width over interior support
Figure9comparestopsurfacecrack widthswithand
without mesh and fibres. Without mesh (or fibres),
the initial crack width was unacceptably large and
the crack opened widely as deformation increased.
Withmesh(S1-0-62), themaximumcrack widthwas
muchsmaller, but thecrack widthbecameexcessive
(exceeding about 0.3mm) at about 50% of the slip
Figure7. Load-deflectionfor SFRCslabswithandwithout
mesh.
Figure 8. Load-deflection for slabs with long and short
fibres.
Figure 9. Maximum crack width vs applied load (S1,
S2, S3).
237
Figure10. Maximumcrack widthvsappliedload(S1, S3,
S4, S7).
Figure 11. Maximum crack width vs applied load (S4,
S5, S6).
load. A fibre content of 20kg/m
3
(S3-20L-00) pro-
vided a similar degree of crack control to the mesh
at service load levels, with acceptably small crack
widths.
A comparisonof themaximumcrack widths over
the interior support for the specimens with various
quantitiesof 60mmend-hookedsteel fibres(without
any welded wire mesh) is shown in Figure 10. The
addition of steel fibres reduced themaximumcrack
widthsignificantlyat typical serviceloads. However,
itappearsthattheadditionof 20kg/m
3
issufficientto
improvecrackcontrol andlittlebenefitisgainedfrom
higherdosesof fibres.Aswasthecasefortheslabwith
mesh (S2-0-62), themaximumcrack for each of the
slabs containingfibres becameexcessive(>0.3mm)
at about 50%of theslipload.
the interior support for the specimens with vari-
ous quantities of welded-wire fabric and containing
30kg/m
3
of 60mmend-hookedsteel fibres is shown
in Figure11. When fibres arecombined with mesh,
even for very small quantities of reinforcing mesh
(for SL52meshA
s
/A
c
isonly0.00105), themaximum
crackwidthovertheinteriorsupportremainslessthan
0.3mm; well beyondnormal serviceloadlevels.
the interior support for S7-40L-00 and S8-40S-00
shows no significant difference in the effectiveness
Table6. Equivalent uniformlydistributedimposedloads.
Applied Equiv. Applied Equiv. Equiv.
loadat Initial UDL at loadat UDL at UDL
first crack first w
max
= w
max
= at slip
crack width cracking 0.3mm 0.3mm load
SlabID (kN) (mm) (kPa) (kN) (kPa) (kPa)
S1-0-00 33.2 0.62 7.59 11.3
S2-0-62 20.1 0.16 4.59 30.1 6.87 14.1
S3-20L-00 28.1 0.06 6.41 29.1 6.64 16.2
S4-30L-00 23.6 0.18 5.39 30.3 6.92 15.3
S5-30L-52 37.4 0.22 8.53 44.9 10.2 16.8
S6-30L-82 18.9 0.06 4.31 53.9 12.3 19.0
S7-40L-00 22.2 0.12 5.08 28.2 6.45 14.7
S8-40S-00 23.1 0.16 5.29 25.1 5.75 20.1
of thedifferent types of fibres for controllingcracks
at theintermediatesupport.
Theappliedloadat first crackingover theinterior
support andthecorrespondingmaximumcrackwidth
for eachslabareshowninTable6, together withthe
equivalentuniformlydistributedliveload.Theapplied
loadistheactuatorloadplustheweightof thespreader
beamandloadingplates. AlsoshowninTable6isthe
appliedloadwhenthemaximumcrackwidthreached
0.3mmandtheequivalent uniformly distributedlive
loads at this point andat thepeak load. For all slabs
containingfibresand/or mesh, crackswerecontrolled
at floor liveloadlevelstypical of thosefoundinmost
buildingstructures.
4 CONCLUDINGREMARKS
Short-termstatic load tests on two-span composite
slabs with deep trapezoidal steel decking have been
described and theresults havebeen presented. Both
conventionally reinforced concrete and fibre rein-
forcedconcretecompositeslabshavebeenconsidered.
All slabscontainingsteel fibreshadahigher slipload
andahigher peak loadthantheplainconcretespeci-
men. Inaddition, thedeflectionsatboththepeakload
andthesliploadweregreater for theslabscontaining
fibres.
Thecurrent practiceof providingSL62meshover
the negative moment region provided crack control
(crack widths<0.3mm) upto about 50%of theslip
load. Thesamewastruefor theslabscontainingonly
fibres. However, at loadsabove50%of theslipload,
themeshwasmoreeffectiveatlimitingthemaximum
crackwidth.
Theinclusionof inexcessof 20kg/m
3
of steel fibres
(as an alternative to the use of SL62 mesh over the
interior supports) is aneffectivemeasureto increase
both the slip load and the peak load of continuous
compositeslabs. Undertypical serviceloads, cracking
over theinterior support will becontrolled for most
applications.
238
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
support of theAustralian Research Council through
BluescopeLysaghtPL andfibremanufacturerBOSFA
PL. Thissupport isgratefullyacknowledged.
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Capacity of Composite Steel-Concrete Slabs with Steel
Fiber Reinforced Concrete. Modern Building Material,
StructuresandTechniques.
OehlersD.J. andBradfordM.A. (1995). CompositeSteel and
ConcreteStructural members Fundamental Behaviour.
Pergamon. Oxford. 549p.
Roberts-Wollmann C. L., Guirola M. & Easterling W. S.
(2004). Strength and Performance of Fiber-Reinforced
Concrete Composite Slabs. J ournal of Structural Engi-
neering, 130(3), 520528.
239
Applicationof flexiblefaadesystemsinreducingthelateral displacement
of concreteframessubjectedtoseismicloads
P. Abtahi & B. Samali
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, University of Technology Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
M. Zobec
Permasteelisa Pty Limited, Sydney, Australia
T. Ngo
Department of Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
ABSTRACT: Faadesystems, asanintegral part of multi-storeybuildings, andasnon-structural systemsare
susceptibletopotential failurewhensubjectedtosevereenvironmental forcessuchasearthquakes,if notdesigned
properly. Inthis paper analternativemethodusingmovablefaadesystems as anenergy absorbingdeviceis
proposedin order to decreasetheamount of energy impartedto themain structureduringseismic activities.
Analytical investigation concerning inter-storey drift limits of main structures and seismic drift assessment
methodsof glazedfaadeswill beconducted. SAP2000programisusedfor thenumerical analyses. A seriesof
inelastictimehistoryanalysesarecarriedouttodeterminethebehaviour andresponseof theproposedsystemin
atypical concreteframestructureunder twoearthquakerecords. Applicationof flexibleconnectionsinfaade
systemscan, if properlydesigned, reducetheinelasticdeformationof thestructural modelsincomparisontothe
casewithout flexibleconnections.
1 INTRODUCTION
In the case of seismic activities, low rise and mid-
rise buildings may be susceptible to excessive inter
storey deformationsandnoticeableaccelerationsand
such problems usually require external damper sys-
tem or a special ductile design as a remedy. The
loss of valuable and prime space coupled with ini-
tial cost of installinglargesizeddamper systems has
been accepted by building owners with unwilling-
ness and any viable alternative systemto dissipate
earthquake excited excitations will be welcomed by
buildingowners.
Additionally, duringrecenttimessignificantefforts
have been focused on safety of non-structural ele-
ments, especially faade systems due to the cost of
installation and repair during seismic activities and
potential for posing severe safety risks to people.
Moreover, due to the significant usage of glass in
buildings inrecent decades, increasingemphasis has
been placed on protecting them during earthquake
events. Buildingframessufferlargeinterstoreydefor-
mations during an earthquake, causing damage to
thebuilding faadesystems. Current trend in build-
ingfaadeandthevulnerability of faadesystemsto
extremeloadshaveledtoincreaseddemandsfor safer
and more economical structural faade and pushed
engineerstodevelopnewfacadetechnologies(Saelens
et al., 2003, Hareer, 2007).
However, thereareonlylimitedstudiesonbuilding
faade behaviour during seismic events. It is antic-
ipated that amovablefaadeskin, as part of amulti
skinsystem, attachedtopassiveorsemi-activedevices
which is in turn attached to a fixed frame is pre-
sentedinthispaperasanoteworthysolutiontoseismic
energy dissipation. Movablefaadesystems havethe
potential toreducebuildinglateral displacementsand
accelerationsaswell asbaseshear forces.
The analysis of glazing and facade systems is
a relatively new field of research. In recent years,
the architectural interest toward highly transparent
all-glass buildings presents a unique challenge and
opportunitytoadvancethemarket throughemerging,
smart, dynamic windows. Inparticular, for commer-
cial andretail buildingdesign, wherewidetransparent
surfaces are used, the request for high performance
components boosted the faade market and pushed
it towards technologically improved products, often
without actual performances evaluations that could
justifythehighprices(Thambiratnam, 2010).
2 METHODOLOGY
Performancedataanddesigntoolsfor movablefaade
systemsarenot yet publiclyavailable, makingit chal-
lengingtoevaluatethepotential performanceof them
andtodevelopaneffectivemovablefaadedesignfor
241
a specific building. Moreover, while there are some
recent research efforts on seismic performance of
facadesystems, torelyonfaadesystemsasareplace-
menttoother energyabsorbingsystemssuchastuned
massdampers, israrely referredto. Becauseof thisa
substantial number of analytical andnumerical stud-
iesrelatedtosimulatedseismicperformanceof facade
systemsareperformedusingSAP2000nonlinear pro-
gramandthefindingsarepresentedinthispaper.This
phaseof theresearchis aimedat proof of concept
followed by more extensive Finite Element analysis
followingthisphase. Theadoptedseismicevaluations
assessthebehaviourandperformanceof thesesystems
duringearthquakeepisodes. Whilemuchresearchhas
beenconductedontheenvironmental andenergyeffi-
ciency aspects of the facade systems, little research
has been devoted to the seismic performance of the
facade systems. In building structures especially at
their upper levels excessivemovements and acceler-
ation can lead to serious content damage, especially
electrical equipment (Sivanerupanet al., 2008).
This paper evaluates a multi-storey building
dynamic motion control using movable facade sys-
tems by using some energy dissipating mechanisms
betweenthemainstructureandthefaadeouter skin.
Glazingconnections to themain structureshouldbe
designedto minimizethestructural movement when
floor slabsmoveback andforthduetoseismic activ-
ities and cause faade systemto also move in turn.
This paper refers to a set of analytical modeling in
relationtoa10-storeyconcretestructural model with
a movable faade system. Performance of proposed
faade systems is then evaluated via the analysis
results. It shouldbenotedthat by implementingsuch
control strategiesseismicefficiencyandperformance
of facadesystems is significantly improved(Saelens
et al., 2005). Thedesign concept requires theplace-
ment of flexibleconnectors between thefacadeskin
andthebuildingsmainstructuresothat thetransmis-
sibilityof theseismicloadscanbediminishedthrough
theprocess. Consequently, thefacadeskinisallowed
to vibrate considerably in the direction perpendicu-
lar tothebuildingfaadeplanes, but thevibrationof
theprimary structure, enclosedby thefaadeskinis
decreasedremarkably.
Dynamic motion control for tall buildings is
achievedthroughthismechanism(Moon, 2009). Pre-
liminary results of an analytical study on effects of
earthquakeloading on facadesystems arepresented
inthispaper. Theimportant parameterssuchasmass
of the faade systems, number and location of pro-
poseddampers andfrequency ratio havebeenvaried
systematically. Thevalidity of theproposedmovable
systemhasbeencheckedby resultsfromastructural
model without any faade and a conventional fixed
faadesystem(Thambiratnam, 2010).
3 SYSTEM MODELLING
Inorder toevaluatetheseismicbehaviour of thepro-
posedsystem,themainstructureandthefacadesystem
Figure 1. Simplified model of the primary structure and
faadesystemconnectedbymovablebrackets.
Table1. Strengthof Faadesystemmaterial.
Faadesections Modulusof elasticity
Glaze 62.76
Mullions 68.64
aresimplified and modeled as atwo degreeof free-
domsystemshown in Figure1. Thesystemconsists
of aprimarymass(m), of themainbuildingstructure,
and the secondary mass (md), corresponding to the
facadesystem. Theconcept of thesimplifiedsystem
model is inessencesimilar totheconcept of atuned
massdamper (TMD) modelinginstructures. Thetwo
massesareattachedbyalow-axial-stiffnessspring(k
d
)
andadamper system(c
d
) (Moon, 2009).
Connection properties concerning stiffness and
damping have been modeled and varied to achieve
theappropriateresponse. For achieving optimal per-
formanceof theproposedsystemtheconnectionfre-
quencyshouldbedesignedashalf of theprimarymass
frequency. Dynamicforceisappliedtothemainmass
andthroughtheconnectionsbetweentheprimarymass
andthesecondarymassistransferredtofaadeframes.
InTable1moduli of elasticityof faadematerialsused
in SAP2000 is shown. For energy absorption at the
connections, VE dampersarefoundtobeappropriate.
It is demonstratedthat with theusemovablecon-
nectorfaadeskinscanreducelateral deformationand
mitigateseismiceffectstothemainstructure. Itshould
bementionedthat intheproposedsystem, if thecon-
nectionbetweenthetwomassesistunedtomakethe
frequencyof bothmassessimilar, thesecondarymass
will workasaforceamplifier insteadof areducer for
themainmass(Moon, 2009).
4 STRUCTURAL MODEL ANDEARTHQUAKE
RECORDS
Toshowthefeasibilityof theconcept, SAP2000struc-
tural analysispackageisusedtomodel a3D, 10storey
242
Figure2. Schematicplanof thestructural model.
Figure3. Schematicviewof primarystructural model with
detailsof bracketsandconnections.
multi bay frame structure with and without moving
faadesystems. Structural planof model isshownin
Figure2.
Length of each bay is 6.0 meters in each direc-
tion and theheight of first floor is considered to be
6.0 meter and the other stories are 4.0 meters, with
the overall height of the structure of 42.0 meters.
Schematicsideviewsof thebuilding, withandwithout
thefaadesystem, areshowninFigure3andFigure4.
As Figure 3 illustrates the distance between the
facadepanel andprimarystructureisconsideredtobe
200mmto provideenoughspacefor dampers instal-
lation. Concretematerial propertieswhichareusedin
SAP2000 modelling arepresented inTable2. These
valueswereobtainedfromcommonmaterialsproper-
ties used by Australian construction companies. The
Figure4. Detail of faadeconnectiontoprimary structure
andmodellingassumptioninSAP2000.
Table2. Strengthof structural material.
Structural sections Strengthof material (Mpa)
ConcreteBeams 45
ConcreteColumns 70
ConcreteSlabs 40
Figure5. 1940El-Centroearthquakeexcitationrecord.
gapbetweenfaadepanelsineachfloor isassumedas
apinnedjoint showninFigure4. Thegapis located
900mmabovethefloor slablevel at eachfloor.
Detailsof faadeconnection, attachedtothemain
structure, are illustrated in Figure 5. As shown the
faade panels are attached to the primary building
by somebrackets. Thesebrackets areassumed to be
flexibleinorder toabsorbmaximumexternal energy
induced by the earthquake and are considered as a
damper element inSAP2000modelling.
AsshowninTable3thebareframehasafrequency
slightlylessthanfaadesystemwithmovablefaade.
Theouter skinmassisassumedtobe2.5%of thepri-
mary structuremass. Theprimary structuredamping
ratio is assumedto be1%, whichis withintherange
of statistically reasonablevalues based on measured
natural dampingratiosfor mid-risebuilding.
Variouscombinationsof faadesystemsintermsof
faadepanel heights, damper locationsandnumber of
dampers and also stiffness and damping of brackets
243
Table3. Structural properties.
Period Frequency Weight
(Sec) (Hz) (kN)
BareFrame 0.78 1.27 28000
FaadeSystem 0.97 1.55 70
Figure6. 1994Northridgeearthquakeexcitationrecord.
areanalyzedandsomeof theresultsareshowninthe
followingFigures.
The loading chosen are two typical earthquake
recordssuggestedbytheInternational Associationfor
Structural Control and Monitoring and include one
far field and one near field earthquake. It should
benoted that theseearthquakerecords arethe1940
El-Centro (far field) and the 1994 Northridge (near
field) earthquakes.
In this research, the effects of implementing maxi-
mumnumber of VE dampers whichcanbeinstalled
in a 10 storey structure systemis evaluated. These
dampersareinstalledbetweenthemainstructureand
glazing systemon two faces of the building, along
thesamedirectionastheearthquakeexcitation. Time
history responses of top floor displacement of the
structure without faade frames, with fixed faade
systemand the structure with movable faade sys-
tems under the1940El-Centro and1994Northridge
earthquake excitations obtained from analytical
models using computer program SAP2000 are
illustratedinFigures8and9respectively.
Moreover, it can be seen in Figures 8 and 9
and Table 4 that the VE damper connections have
achievedadequatereductions inlateral displacement
for both earthquake excitations with the reductions
being slightly higher for the Northridge earthquake
with28percentreductioncomparedtoEl-Centrowith
25percent reduction.
It is observed fromthese figures that the faade
systemeven a fixed one, can somewhat reduce the
top displacement of structural models during most
part of thetimehistory analysis for El-Centro exci-
tation. But thefixedfaadesystemslightly increases
theresponseof themainstructureduringmostpartsof
Figure 7. Time history analysis of structural models in
different under El-Centroearthquake.
Figure 8. Time history analysis of structural model in
different under Northridgeearthquake.
Table4. Maximumtopdisplacement results.
MaximumDisplacement (mm)
With With
Earthquake Without fixed movable
records facade facade facade %Reduction
El-Centro 315 297 235 25
Northridge 493 526 356 28
theNorthridgeearthquake.Accordingtotheseresults,
it is shown that with the use of movable faade the
overall lateral displacement of theprimary structure,
subjected to seismic loads, is decreased. The seis-
mic response of the building faade system, under
Northridgeearthquakeis higher in values compared
to El-Centro results. However with considering the
structural faadesystemwithVEdamperconnections,
better results with higher response reduction is also
achievedunder Northridgeearthquake.
6 SUMMARY ANDCONCLUSIONS
Despitethecommonbelief amongthestructural engi-
neers, whoconsider faadesystemsasnon-structural
elementwithnoeffectsonitsseismicperformance, we
canseefromtheresponsetimehistory figuresthat it
actuallycanreducestheoverall lateral displacementof
themainstructure, butinsomeinstancesof timeitmay
244
also increasetheresponse. As mentionedpreviously,
it is not possible to carry out suitable experimental
tests on multi-storey structures under seismic condi-
tionsduetovariousconstrains.Therefore, theprimary
aimof thispieceof researchistovalidatetheconcept
of movablefaadestoworkasanenergydissipaterbase
ontheanalytical results. Withthisstudy, thepotential
to reducethelateral displacement and baseshear of
seismically excited mid-rise structures with the use
of movablefaadesystems is confirmed. Ingeneral,
installationof VE dampingdevicesbetweentheglaz-
ingandthemainstructureisbeneficial. Additionally
thenumber andlocationof dampersisverycrucial in
seismicresponsereduction.
7 FUTURE WORK
Toshowthefull feasibilityof theconcept, FiniteEle-
ment softwarewill beusedtomodel atypical faade
unit withmovingouter skin. Theanalysis will deter-
minethesensitivityof parameterssuchasfaadepanel
height, damper locationsandnumber of dampersand
the damper damping as well as supporting bracket
systemsinachievinganoptimal system. Theloading
chosenwill beagainthesamefour typical earthquake
records suggested by the International Association
for Structural Control andMonitoringwhichincludes
bothfarfieldandnearfieldearthquakes.Theoutcome
of theFE analysiswill becritical inthedesignof the
prototypesystemforsubsequentshaking-tabletesting.
Additionally, toprovethefeasibility andeffective-
ness of the new faade system, prototype testing is
required. In thefollowing phaseof theprogramand
basedtheresultsof previousworks, theindustrypart-
ner of theproject(PermasteelisaGroup) will fabricate
and deliver at least one faade units with specially
designatedpassiveor semi-activedamper systemsfor
testingonUTSshakingtable.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Theauthors wish to acknowledgethefinancial sup-
portof thePermasteelisaPtyLimitedgroupandARC,
throughgrant LP110100429inthispaper.
REFERENCES
Hareer, R. W. 2007. Seismic response of building facade
withenergyabsorbingconnections. Doctorof Philosophy,
QueenslandUniversityof Technology.
Moon, K. S. 2009. Tall BuildingMotionUsingDoubleSkin
Facades. J ournal of Architectural Enginnering, 15, 8490.
Saelens, D., Blocken, B., Roles, S. & Hens, H. 2005.
Optimization of the Energy Performance of Multiple-
Skin Facades. Ninth International IBPSA Conference.
Montral, Canada: Buildingsimulation.
Saelens, D., Roles, S. & Hens, H. 2003. On the influence
of theinlet temperaturein multi-skin facademodelling.
Optimizationof theEnergyPerformanceof Multiple-Skin
Facades. Netherlands.
Sivanerupan, S., Wilson, J., Gad, E. & Ntk, L. 2008. Drift
Performanceof FacadeSystems.AEES.Ballarat,Victoria,
Ausrtalia.
Thambiratn, D. Year. Seismic mitigation of building struc-
tural systemsusingpassivedampers. In, 2010. Earthquake
Engineering Research Institute& CanadianAssociation
for EarthquakeEngineering, 110.
245
Investigationof groundflint glassasasupplementarycementitious
material inautoclavedlime-silicabinders
K. Angus, P.S. Thomas, K. Vessalas&A.S. Ray
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: A potential applicationfor theuseof cullet glass is as asupplementary cementitious material
(SCM). Cullet is agroundsoda-lime-silicaglass wastethat has thepotential to react withcalciumhydroxide
(CH) producedasasecondaryproductfromthehydrationof Portlandcement(PC) informingprincipal calcium-
silicate-hydrate(C-S-H) strengtheningphases. Additionally, therelativelyhighsodiumcontent of theglasshas
thepotential toactasprecursorfortheactivationof aluminosilicatessuchasflyash(FA).Thispaperinvestigates
this potential by usingthesewastes inautoclavedhydratedlimeCH-silicasystems. Compressivestrengths of
autoclavedcompactedcylinders wereevaluatedandtheresults demonstratethat theadditionof groundglass
provideshigher strength, whenusedasapartial silicasubstitute, andaidsintheactivationof FA.
1 INTRODUCTION
AnnuallyinNSW,morethan40000tonnesof collected
wastecontainer glass(cullet), isdestinedfor disposal
in landfill (Stevens 2011). Generation of waste is a
significant issue for Australias growing cities, par-
ticularly inNSW whereSydneys landfill capacity is
predictedtobereachedin2016(Pickin2009). Conse-
quently, thecost of dumpingwasteinlandfill sitesis
escalatingtherebyinstigatingindustrytoidentifynew
andcreativeapplicationsfor theuseof cullet waste.
Cullet is, however, difficult torecycleasthemeth-
ods of collecting glass wasteresults in non-uniform
breakage and mixing of different coloured glasses
whichintroducestraceelemental contamination, thus,
leadingtoareductioninaesthetic, optical andphysi-
cal propertiesof newly manufacturedglassproducts.
Culletisessentiallysoda-limeglass, whichisanamor-
phous silicate with a typical composition of 75%
silica, 15% soda, 10% lime and 1% alumina, and,
therefore, has thepotential for useas supplementary
cementitiousmaterial (SCM)incement-basedmortars
(Scharz&Neithalath2007; Shaoetal. 1999; Topcu&
Canbaz 2003).
Although waste glass contains a high proportion
of alkali, alkali-silica reaction (ASR) expansion has
not beenreportedtobesignificant (Chenet al. 2006;
Shayan& Xu2004). Thepresenceof alkali, however,
releasedduringthepozzolanic reactionwithcalcium
hydroxide(CH) releasedduringthehydrationof Port-
land cement (PC), has thepotential to activateother
SCMs, particularly fly ash (FA) wherethereactivity
of the SCM may be inhibited by the stableAl-O-Si
linkagespresent (Panagiotopoulou, et al. 2007).
Inorder toinvestigatethepotential of groundglass
cullet as a SCM and the potential for the use of
the ground glass cullet as an activator for FA, this
paper investigates amodel systemof thereaction of
hydratedlimewithSCMsinordertoreplicatethepoz-
zolanic reaction in controlled conditions (Kalousek
1954; Taylor 1997). Furthermore, thereactionwill be
acceleratedunder hydrothermal conditionsatelevated
temperaturein asaturated steamenvironment to aid
therapiddevelopment of strengtheningphasesaiding
theevaluationof theSCM systemsinvestigated.
2 EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
EraringFA (ERFA) wasobtainedfromBoral Cement
Pty Ltd, Hi-Pozz FA (HPFA) obtained fromSI Pow-
ders Pty Ltd and Unimin 200G ground silica flour
(S) and hydrated lime (CH), sourced fromAttunga,
NSW weresuppliedby Sibelco Pty. Ltd. Theground
flint glass cullet (GG) usedfor this study was milled
using a ring grinder to reduce particle size. Table 1
showsthecompositional analysisdeterminedbyXRF.
AverageparticlesizewasdeterminedusingaMalvern
Mastersizer 2000andarelistedinTable2.
In order to rapidly investigate the potential of
groundglassasaSCM hydrothermal (autoclave) cur-
ingwasemployed. Additionallyinorder toisolatethe
effectof SCMontheproperties, compactedspecimens
containing only the reactants investigated were pre-
pared. Threecompactedcylinders (1939.5mm) of
hydratedlime-SCM systems (0.75:1ratio) werepre-
pared in a die according to the batch compositions
listedinTable3andpressedat40bar (4MPa) usinga
hydraulichandpress. ThemixturescontainingSCMs
werepreparedbypartiallysubstitutingthesilica200G
with 40%SCM by weight. 6%water by weight was
addedafter mixingthedryCH, SandSCM powders.
247
Table1. Compositional AnalysisusingXRF (%).
CH S ERFA HPFA GG
Oxide (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
SiO
2
1.2 98.9 65.13 63.59 74.0
Al
2
O
3
0.5 0.6 23.75 24.96 1.3
Fe
2
O
3
0.2 0.1 3.38 4.68 0.04
CaO 70.2 0.1 1.92 1.24 10.5
MgO 0.7 0.49 0.77 0.2
Na
2
O 0.48 0.10 13
K
2
O 1.46 1.33 0.3
TiO
2
0.06 0.92 1.22 0.01
MnO 0.07 0.06
P
2
O
5
0.25 0.23
SO
3
0.07 0.12 0.2
LOI 24.3 1.65 1.24
Table2. Averageparticlesizeof theSCMs.
S ERFA HPFA GG
31m 32m 13m 50m
Table3. Weightsfor MixCompositions(g).
Batch CH S FA GG H
2
O
Control 8.79 11.71 1.23
HPFA 8.79 7.026 4.684 1.23
GG 8.79 7.026 4.684 1.23
HPFA-GG 8.79 7.026 2.342 2.342 1.23
ERFA 8.79 7.026 4.684 1.23
ERFA-GG 8.79 7.026 2.342 2.342 1.23
For themixtures containingbothFA andGG, blends
werepreparedusinga50:50mixof FA andGG. After
autoclavingfor 4hoursat180
C, usingavapour pres-
sureof 1MPa, thesamples werethenleft for 12hto
cool toroomtemperature(24
C). Sampleswerethen
storedinair at50%RHandroomtemperature(24
C)
to allowany surfacewater to evaporatebeforecom-
pressivestrengthmeasurementswerecarriedoutusing
aShimadzuDSS-25T Universal TestingMachine.
3 RESULTS
Compressive strength of the compact cylinders are
listedinTable4andplottedinFigure1. Partial substi-
tutionof SwiththeGGproducedasignificantincrease
inthecompressivestrength(30.2%)demonstratingthe
pozzolanic potential of GG. Theincorporationof FA
inthesystemresultedinreducedstrength; unexpect-
edly, theHPFA demonstratedareductioninstrengthof
39%whiletheERFA producedareductioninstrength
of 33%. Thereductioninstrengthonadditionof FA is
likelytheresultof thereducedavailabilityof silicafor
theCH-S reaction. HPFA, was however, expected to
givegreater strengththantheERFA duetoitssmaller
particlesize.
Figure1. Compressivestrengthscomparedfor theseriesof
SCM systemstested.
Addition of 50:50 FA-GG blends as 40% substi-
tutions for FA resultedinanincreaseinthestrength
of thecompacts of 32%relativeto FA only withthe
ERFA-GG compacts having strength similar to that
of thecontrol CH-Scompacts. Thisnotedincreasein
strengthmaybeattributedtoeithertheactivationof the
FA bytheGGor simplythattheGGevenat20%sub-
stitutioncontributedsignificantlytothedevelopment
of strengthening phases. Identification of thesource
of thenotedincreaseinstrengthwill bethefocus of
further work incorporatingmicrostructural andphase
analysisof thedevelopedstrengtheningphases.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Autoclaving hydrated-lime silica cementitious sys-
tems is arapidmethodof evaluatingthepotential of
SCMs. Inthisstudy, thepotential of GGwasinvesti-
gatedas bothaSCM andapotential activator of FA.
Theincorporationof GGinhydratedlime-silicacom-
pacts produced asignificant increasein thestrength
demonstrating the potential of utilising waste con-
tainerglassasaSCM.Theimprovementinthestrength
of FA systems withtheincorporationof GG suggest
FA activationasapotential originof strengthdevelop-
ment; however, furtherworkisrequiredtoevaluatethe
originof thestrengthdevelopment inthesesystems.
REFERENCES
Chen C.H., Huang R., Wu J.K. & Yang C.C. (2006) Waste
E-glass particles usedincementitious mixtures. Cement
and Concrete Research 36(2006), 449456.
248
Kalousek, G. L. (1954). StudiesontheCementitiousPhases
of AutoclavedConcreteProductsmadeof Different Raw
Materiala.Journal of theAmerican Concrete Institute 25:
365378.
Panagiotopoulou, C., E. Kontori, et al. (2007). Dissolution
of aluminosilicate minerals and by-products in alkaline
media. Journal of Materials Science 42(9): 29672973.
Pickin J. (2009). Australia Landfill Capacity into the
Future. Melbourne, Australia: Department of Environ-
ment, Water, HeritageandtheArts.
Scharz N. & Neithalath N. (2007). Influence of a Fine
Glass Powder onCement Hydration: Comparisonto Fly
AshandModellingtheDegreeof Hydration. Cement &
Concrete Research (38): 429436.
ShaoY., LefortT., MorasS. & Rodriguez D. (1999). Studies
onConcretecontainingGroundWasteGlass. Cement &
ShayanA. & XuA. (2004). Value-addedutilisationof waste
glass in concrete. Cement and Concrete Research 34:
8189.
Stevens, K. (2011). Use Less, Recycle More. DECCW.
Sydney, Officeof Environment & Heritage.
Taylor, H. F. W. (1997). Cement Chemistry. London, Thomas
Telford.
Topcu, I. B. &CanbazM. (2003). Propertiesof Concretecon-
tainingWasteGlass. Cement & Concrete Research (34):
267274.
249
Finiteelement model calibrationof aninstrumentedRC buildingbasedon
seismicexcitationincludingnon-structural componentsand
soil-structure-interaction
F. Butt & P. Omenzetter
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
ABSTRACT: Thispaper presentssystemidentification, finiteelement model (FEM) development andmodel
updatingbasedonrecordedseismicresponsesfor areinforcedconcretebuilding.Themodal dynamicproperties
of thebuildingwereidentifiedusingstate-of-the-art N4SID systemidentificationtechnique. To ascertainthe
effect and contribution of structural and non-structural components (NSCs) and soil-structure-interaction, a
three dimensional FEM of the building was developed in stages. To further improve the correlation of the
developedFEMandthemeasuredresponses, asensitivity-basedmodel updatingtechniquewasemployedtaking
intoaccount concretestiffness, soil flexibilityandcladdingasupdatingparameters. It wasconcludedfromthe
investigationthat theparticipationof soil andNSCsissignificant towardstheseismicresponseof thebuilding
andtheseshouldbeconsideredinmodelstosimulatethereal behavior.
1 INTRODUCTION
Thecharacterizationandpredictionof theresponseof
civil structuresunder extremeloadingeventssuchas
earthquakesisachallengingproblemthat hasgained
increasing attention in recent years. The challenges
associatedwiththecivil structuressuchasbuildings,
bridges and dams include modeling their compli-
catedinteractionwiththesurroundingground, varying
environmental and loading conditions, and complex
material and structural behavior which preclude the
studyof acompletesysteminalaboratorysetting. An
approachtotackletheseissuesistousetherecorded
responses frominstrumented structures and extract
thedynamic characteristics such as natural frequen-
cies, dampingratiosandmodeshapesusingaprocess
known as systemidentification (Hart & Yao 1976,
Saito&Yokota1996).Thein-situmeasuredresponses
include all the real physical properties of the struc-
tureandcanbeuseful for structural healthmonitoring
andmodel updatingstudies(Brownjohn& Xia2000;
Farrar et al. 2000). The core of such studies is to
developamathematical model whichcanreplicatethe
true characteristics of the full-scale structures. This
representative mathematical model is developed by
an iterative process, called model updating, which
involves systematic comparison of the in-situ mea-
suredvalueswiththedynamicpropertiesobtainedvia
finiteelement model (FEM), and then improvement
of theFEM basedonthemeasuredvalues. Theerrors
inFEM ariseduetotheassumptionsmadeinmodel-
ingelements, material andgeometrical propertiesand
boundaryconditions.
An important aspect in modeling civil engineer-
ing structures is soil-structure-interaction (SSI). SSI
involvestransfer of vibratoryenergyfromtheground
to the structure and back. Mathematically it affects
the solution of the governing equations of motion
(Trifunac & Todorovska1999). Dueto theflexibility
of soil, thenatural periodcanbelongerthantheperiod
of the fixed base building. Therefore, to represent
thetruein-situconditions, SSI shouldbeincludedin
FEMs. Another important factor of structural model-
ingistheconsiderationof non-structural components
(NSCs) such as cladding and partition walls. It is
common practice to ignore NSCs in design but it
has been revealed that their effect towards dynamic
responsecanbesignificant (Suet al. 2005). Theade-
quate representation of NSCs is therefore necessary
tounderstandtheir contributiontowardsthedynamic
response.
This study comprises threeparts. In thefirst part
thefrequencies, dampingratiosandmodeshapesof an
instrumentedRCbuildingareextractedusingstate-of-
the-art N4SID systemidentificationtechniquebased
onarecordedseismic event. For natural input modal
analysis, thistechniqueisconsideredtobeoneof the
mostpowerful classesof theknownsystemidentifica-
tiontechniquesinthetimedomain(VanOverschee&
De Moor 1994). The second part consists of devel-
oping FEMs of the building in stages to highlight
the importance and contribution of different struc-
tural andnon-structural components onthedynamic
behavior of the building. Moreover, the effect of
modelingsoil flexibility is also investigated. Finally,
in the third part the developed FEM is compared
251
Figure1. A typical floor planof thebuilding.
and calibrated to the measured responses to repli-
catethetruebehavior of thebuilding in theconsid-
eredseismic event. Sensitivity-basedmodel updating
technique is used for the calibration of the FEM;
cladding and soil are also included in the updating.
Thisstudyhighlightstheimportanceof modelingthe
soil and NSCs in FEM to simulatethereal behavior
of structures and is expected to further the under-
standing of dynamic behavior of buildings during
earthquakes.
2 DESCRIPTIONOF THE BUILDINGAND
INSTRUMENTATION
The building under study is situated at Lower Hutt,
approximately 20kmNorth-East of Wellington, New
Zealand. It isathreestorey reinforcedconcrete(RC)
structurewith abasement, 44mlong, 12.19mwide
and13.4mhigh(measuredfromthebaselevel). The
structural systemconsistsof 12beam-columnframes
anda2.541.95mRCshearcorewiththewall thick-
ness of 229mm, which houses an elevator. Theplan
of the building is rectangular but additional beams
along the longitudinal direction inside the perime-
ter beams and the shear core make it unsymmetri-
cal in terms of stiffness distribution (Figure 1). The
exterior beams are762356mmexcept at theroof
level where these are 1067356mm. All the inte-
rior beams and all the columns are 610610mm.
Floors are 127mm thick reinforced concrete slabs
except a small portion of the ground floor near the
stairs where it is 203mmthick. The roof comprises
corrugatedsteel sheets over timber planks supported
by steel trusses. The columns are supported on pad
typefootingsof basedimensions2.292.29mat the
perimeter and2.742.74minsidetheperimeter and
610356mmtiebeams areprovided to join all the
footingstogether.
The building is instrumented with five tri-axial
accelerometer sensors. Two accelerometers arefixed
at thebaselevel, oneunderneaththefirst floor slab,
andtwoattheroof level asshowninFigure2.Thereis
alsoafreefieldtri-axial accelerometer mountedatthe
groundsurfaceandlocated39.4mfromthesouthend
of thebuilding.All thedataisstoredtoacentral record-
ingunit andisavailableonline(www.geonet.org.nz).
Figures1and2alsoshowthecommonglobal axesx
andyusedfor identifyingdirectionsinthesubsequent
discussions.
Figure2. Threedimensional sketchof thebuildingshowing
sensor arrayandsensor axes.
3 SYSTEM IDENTIFICATIONUNDER
SEISMIC EXCITATION
In this section, the methodology of the N4SID sys-
temidentification technique, the evaluation of SSI
effectsusingthistechniqueandextractionof frequen-
cies, correspondingdampingratiosandmodeshapes
will bediscussed.
3.1 N4SID system identification technique
Thissectionprovidesabrief explanationof theN4SID
system identification technique. Full details of the
techniquecanbefoundinVanOverschee& DeMoor
(1996).Aftersamplingof acontinuoustimestatespace
model, the discrete time state space model can be
writtenas:
whereA, B, C andD arethediscretetimestate, input,
output andcontrol matrices, respectively, whereasx
k
and y
k
are the state and output vectors respectively
and u
k
is the excitation vector. Vectors w
k
and v
k
aretheprocess andmeasurement noise, respectively,
that are always present in real-life applications. The
N4SIDtechniquederivesstate-spacemodelsforlinear
systemsbyapplyingthewell-conditionedoperations,
likeSVD, totheblockHankel datamatrices. Theana-
lyst, however, hastodetermineaproper systemorder.
Theapproach based on observing trends of theesti-
matedmodal parametersintheco-calledstabilization
chartsisoftenused: arangeof systemordersistried
andmodal parameterswhichrepeatthemselvesacross
thatrangeareacceptedascorrectresults. Stabilitytol-
erances are chosen based on the relative change in
themodal properties, i.e. modal frequencies, damping
ratiosandmodeshapes, of agivenmodeasthesystem
order increases.
3.2 Evaluation of SSI effects
For evaluationof SSI effectsusingsystemidentifica-
tion procedures, Stewart & Fenves (1998) proposed
252
thefollowingapproach. Consider structureshownin
Figure3. Theheighth isthevertical distancefromthe
basetotheroof (oranothermeasurementpointlocated
onthebuilding). Thesymbols denotingtranslational
displacementsareasfollows: u
g
isthefreefieldtrans-
lational displacement, u
f
thefoundationtranslational
displacement withrespect tothefreefield, andu the
roof translational displacement with respect to the
foundation. Foundation rocking angle is denoted by
, and its contribution to the roof translational dis-
placement ish. TheLaplacedomaincounterpartsof
these quantities will be denoted as
g
,
f
, and

,
respectively.
Stewart&Fenves(1998) consideredthreedifferent
modelsandassociatedtransfer functions(H
1
, H
2
and
H
3
) asfollows:
Flexiblebasemodel
where input is the free field displacement
u
g
and output is the total roof displacement
u
g
+u
f
+u +h.
Pseudoflexiblebasemodel
where input is the total foundation translational
displacement u
g
+u
f
and output is the total roof
displacement u
g
+u
f
+u +h.
Fixedbasemodel
where input is the total foundation displacement
including rocking u
g
+u
f
+h and output is the
total roof displacement u
g
+u
f
+u +h.
In this study, we have considered only the flex-
ible base model to ascertain the dynamic behavior
(frequencies, damping ratios and mode shapes) of
thebuildingincludingSSI. Stewart & Fenves (1998)
demonstratedthat thepolesof theflexiblebasetrans-
fer functionH
1
givenatural frequenciesanddamping
ratios of theentiredynamical systemcomprisingthe
structure, foundationandsoil. For thebuildingunder
study, sensor 10(thefreefieldsensor) wasconsidered
astheinput andsensors3, 4, 5, 6and7astheoutputs
for theflexiblebasecase.
3.3 Identification of modal dynamic properties
Theabovemethodologyisappliedtoarecordedseis-
mic event in order to extract frequencies, damping
ratiosandmodeshapesof theinstrumentedbuilding.
Theearthquakewas recordedonOctober 10th, 2009
and had epicenter 20kmNorth-West of Wellington,
Richter magnitudeof 4.8, peakgroundaccelerationat
thefree-fieldandbuildingbaseof 0.014gand0.009g,
Figure3. Inputs and outputs for evaluating SSI effects in
systemidentificationof buildings(Stewart & Fenves1998).
Figure4. Planar viewsof thefirst threemodeshapes.
respectively, and peak response acceleration at the
roof of 0.0412g. Theidentifiedfirstthreefrequencies
are3.04Hz, 3.21Hz and3.48Hz, whereas thecorre-
sponding damping ratios are 4.7%, 4.6% and 3.6%
respectively.
The first three mode shapes of the building are
showninFigure4inplanarview. (Notethatbecauseof
alimitednumber of measurement pointsthesegraphs
assumethefloors wererigiddiaphragms asuitable
assumptionforRCfloors.)Theshapeof thefirstmode
showsit tobeatranslational modealongX-direction
with sometorsion. Thesecond modeis translational
dominant alongY-directioncoupledwithtorsion, and
the third one is nearly purely torsional. Structural
irregularities, such as those due to the internal lon-
gitudinal beamsbeingnot inthemiddleandtheshear
corepresent near theNorthendof thebuilding, cre-
ateunsymmetrical distributionof stiffnesswhichhas
causedthemodestobecoupledtranslational-torsional.
Another plausiblesourceof modeshapecouplingcan
be varying soil stiffness under different foundations
andarounddifferent partsof thebuilding.
4 DEVELOPMENT OF FINITE ELEMENT
MODEL
To evaluatetheeffect and contribution of structural,
non-structural components and SSI, a three dimen-
sional FEM was developed in stages using available
253
Figure5. Threedimensional FEM of thebuilding.
structural drawings and additional at-site measure-
ments.ABAQUS(ABAQUS2011) softwarewasused
for modeling. Thebeamsandcolumnsweremodeled
as two node beam B31 elements, and slabs, stairs
and shear coreas four nodeshell S4 elements. Lin-
ear elastic material properties were considered for
theanalysis. Initially thebasewas assumed as fixed
andbeamto columnconnections werealso assumed
as fixed (moment resisting frame assumption). The
density and modulus of elasticity of reinforced con-
cretefor all theelementswastakenas2400kg/m
3
and
30GParespectively. Thesteel densityandmodulusof
elasticityfor roof elementsweretakenas7800kg/m
3
and200GPa, respectively. Thesteel trussespresent at
theroof level weremodeledasequivalent steel beams
usingbeamB31elements. Themasses of thetimber
purlins, planksandcorrugatedsteel roofingwerecal-
culatedandlumpedat theequivalent steel beams. All
thedeadandsuperimposedloadswereappliedasarea
loadsorlineloadsattheirrespectivepositions.Figure5
shows the three dimensional FEM having structural
elementsandNSCs(cladding, partitionwalls) andsoil
flexibilitymodeledinit aswill beexplainedshortly.
Thefollowingstagesof FEMdevelopmenttoascer-
tain the influence of different structural elements,
NSCsandSSI wereconsidered:
(a) barefixedbaseframewithmassesof slabs, dead
andliveloadslumpedat nodes;
(b) fixedbaseframewithslabsandstairsmodeledand
deadandliveloadsapplied;
(c) asinstage(b) withshear core(lift shaft) added;
(d) as in stage (c) with NSCs (partition walls and
cladding) modeled;
(e) as in stage (d) with soil underneath foundation
modeled; and
(f) as in stage (e) with soil around the building
modeled.
SSI at the base is idealized as six DOFs springs
modeling three translations and three rotations. The
soil surroundingthebuildingismodeledasspringsat
midheight of thebasement columns. For thecolumn
springs along the longitudinal and lateral directions
onetranslation DOF only i.e. stiffness and damping
coefficients along X and Y direction, respectively,
weretakenintoaccount, whilefor thecorner column
springs bothX andY translationstiffness anddamp-
ing coefficients were considered. Base and column
springs aremodeledas SPRING1elements. Theval-
uesof springstiffnessanddampingcoefficientswere
calculated using theprocedureexplained in Gazetas
(1991). Soil present at thesiteisclassifiedaccording
to the New Zealand Standard 1170 (Standards New
Zealand2004) asclassD(deepor softsoil).Theshear
wavevelocitywastakenas160m/sbasedontheinves-
tigationfor thesitesubsoil classification(Boonet al.
2011) andcorrespondinglydynamicshear modulusas
47GPaconsideringthetypical valuesof soil classD.
Sincethestructureunderstudyisanofficebuilding,
therearealargenumberof partitionwallspresent.The
stiffnessvaluesof gypsumwall partitionsweretaken
fromKanvinde&Deierlein(2006) as2800kN/m.The
partitionsweremodeledastwonodesSPRING2ele-
ments whicharediagonal elements intheFEM. The
massduetopartitionwalls,falseceilings,attachments,
furniture and live loads were collectively applied at
the floor slabs as area mass of 450kg/m
2
. External
claddinginthebuildingismadeupof fiberglasspan-
els with insulating material on the inner side. The
densityandmodulusof elasticityvaluesof fiberglass
were taken as 1750kg/m
3
and 10GPa, respectively,
fromGaylord (1974) and their mass was calculated
manually (100kg/m) and applied at the perimeter
beams.
The results of FEM modal analysis at different
stages(a)(f) arepresentedinTable1andcomparedto
experimental results. Animportant observationfrom
the analysis is that the values of frequencies of the
bare frame, stage (a), are significantly lower com-
pared to the experimental and also lower compared
to thesubsequent stagemodels. Stage(b) adds slabs
tothebareframeincreasingthestiffnessandimprov-
ingslightlythedifferencescomparedtothemeasured
values. Stage(c) includesshear corewhichincreased
thefirst, secondandthirdfrequenciesby7%, 23%and
17%respectivelyfromthepreviousstage. Bymodel-
ingNSCsinstage(d), aconsiderableincreasecanbe
observed in thefrequencies fromtheprevious stage
(c). In stage(e), thefixed basewas replaced by soil
springs which caused aconsiderabledecrease, 13%,
26%and 13%for the first, second and third modal
frequencies, respectively, fromthepreviousstage(d).
Thefinal stage(f) includes modelingof thesoil sur-
roundingthebuildinginwhichcaseall thefrequencies
againincreased. At thisfinal stage, all thedifferences
comparedtothemeasuredvaluesareunder 7%.These
differenceswill befurther reducedbytuningthefinal
stage FEM using sensitivity-based model updating
techniqueandthisisexplainedinthenext section.
5 FEM CALIBRATIONUSING
SENSITIVITY-BASEDMODEL UPDATING
Model updating is concerned with calibration of an
FEM of astructuresuchthat it canbetter predict the
measuredresponsesof that structure. Thesensitivity-
basedmodel updatingproceduregenerallycomprises
of three aspects: (i) selection of responses as refer-
encedata, (ii) selectionof parameters to update, and
254
Table1. Comparisonof resultsof different stagesof FEM modal analysiswithmeasuredvalues.
Frequencies(Hz)
Mode Stage(a) Stage(b) Stage(c) Stage(d) Stage(e) Stage(f) Measuredvalue
1 2.12 2.20 2.43 2.98 2.58 2.90 3.04
(30.3%) (27.6%) (20.1%) (2%) (15.1%) (4.6%)
2 2.45 2.50 3.24 3.96 3.11 3.43 3.21
(23.7%) (22.1%) 1% 23.4% (3.1%) 6.9%
3 2.30 2.41 3.00 3.67 3.19 3.65 3.48
(34%) (30.8%) (13.8%) 5.5% (8.3%) 4.9%
Note: Thevaluesinparenthesisshowthepercentagedifferencebetweentheparticular FEM stageandmeasuredvalues.
Table2. Natural frequenciesandMACsof initial andupdatedFEM andtheir measuredvalues.
FEM
Initial Updated Measured Diff. b/winitial Diff. b/wupdated
freq. freq. values FEM andmeasured FEM andmeasured Initial Updated
Mode (Hz) (Hz) Freq. (Hz) freq. (%) freq. (%) MAC (%) MAC (%)
1 2.91 3.02 3.04 4.34 0.56 78 80
2 3.43 3.20 3.21 6.71 0.29 92 96
3 3.71 3.51 3.48 6.65 0.73 63 78
Initial e
f
=5.9%; Updatede
f
=0.5%; Initial e
MAC
=22.3%; Updatede
MAC
=15.3%
(iii) an iterative model tuning. In sensitivity-based
updating, corrections/modificationsareappliedtothe
local physical parameters (geometric, material and
boundaryandconnectivityconditions) of theFEM to
modify it with respect to the reference (experimen-
tal) datasuchasmodal frequenciesandmodeshapes.
For parameter modification in FEM, theexperimen-
tal responses areexpressedas functions of analytical
responses (fromFEM), structural parameters and a
sensitivity matrix. Usingthefirst order Taylor series
this can be expressed as (Friswell & Mottershead
1996):
whereR
e
andR
a
arethevectorsof experimental and
analytical response values, respectively, whereas P
u
andP
o
arevectorsof updatedandcurrentparameters,
respectively, andS isthesensitivitymatrix.
Forperformingmodel updatingtotheinstrumented
building,theABAQUSFEMdevelopedintheprevious
section was exported to FEMtools (2008) software.
Notethereareslight, lessthan1.7%, differencesinthe
frequenciesbetweenFEMtoolsandABAQUSmodels
as canbeseeninTables 1and2. Table2shows that
thedifferencebetween theinitial FEM in FEMtools
andmeasuredfrequencies areunder 7%for all three
modes. The correlation of mode shapes expressed
by modal assurancecriterion(MAC) values(Friswell
& Mottershead 1996) is very good for the second
mode, whilefor thefirst andthirdmodes MAC val-
uesaresatisfactory. Twotypesof errors, namelymean
absoluterelativefrequency error, e
f
, andmeanMAC
error, e
MAC
, are considered for model updating and
aregivenby:
Heren isthetotal number of responsefrequencies
or modeshapesconsidered, C
ri
istherelativeweight-
ing on theresponse, f
i
and f
i
is thefrequency and
frequencyerror, respectively.
The response/target parameters include the three
measured frequencies and MAC values. Sensitivity
analysiswasperformedtoascertainthemost suitable
parametersforupdatingtheFEM,alsokeepinginmind
theuncertaintyof theselectedparameter values. This
isalsorequiredtoproduceagenuineimprovement in
theFEM.Threeparameters, namely(i) stiffnessof soil
springsfor columns, perimeter andinner foundations,
(ii) modulusof elasticityof all concretemembers, and
(iii) modulusof elasticityof claddingwereselected.
Table2showsthefrequencyandMACerrorsbefore
and after updating. All the FEM frequencies are in
good agreement with the measured values with the
largest error not exceeding 0.8%. The MAC values
have also improved slightly for the first and second
modes and areequal to or above80%, whilefor the
255
thirdmodeshapeit hasimprovedconsiderably but is
still below80%.Thefrequencyerror, e
f
, hasimproved
from5.9%to0.53%, whiletheMAC error, e
MAC
, has
improvedfrom22.3%to15.3%.Themaximumchange
intheselectedupdatingparameterwasforthecladding
stiffness which decreased by 28% fromthe initially
assumedvalue. Thisillustratesthat claddingstiffness
was overestimatedintheinitial model. For themod-
ulus of elasticity of reinforced concretetheincrease
is by 20%. The values for the modulus of elasticity
for reinforced concrete members and cladding were
takenfromliteratureandmightnotrepresenttheactual
values. Also, thosematerial parametersareknownto
exhibitlargevariability, thereforelargechangescanbe
expected. However, thechangeinthesoil springsstiff-
nessafterupdatingisonly4%whichisnotsignificant.
Thechanges in theupdating parameters represented
theglobal changes of stiffness leading to theglobal
changesof dynamicpropertiesof thestructure.
6 CONCLUSIONS
This study comprises system identification of an
instrumented RC building, FEM development for
ascertainingthesignificanceandcontributionof struc-
tural andnon-structural componentsandSSI towards
dynamicresponseof thebuilding, andfinallycalibra-
tionof theFEMtoarecordedseismicresponse. Itwas
concluded that NSCs and SSI should beincluded in
FEMs to represent truein-situconditions. To further
improvethecorrelationof thedevelopedFEMandthe
measuredresponse, sensitivity-basedmodel updating
techniquewasapplied. After updating, thefrequency
match was found to be very good, and mode shape
correlationwasgoodfor thefirst andsecondmodes,
whereasfor thethirdmodeit wasreasonable.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Theauthors wouldliketoacknowledgeGeoNet staff
for facilitating this research. Particular thanks go to
Dr J imCousins, Dr S.R. Umaand Dr Ken Gledhill.
Thefirst author wouldalsoliketothank Higher Edu-
cation Commission (HEC) Pakistan for funding his
PhDstudy.
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Friswell, M. I. & Mottershead, J. E. 1996. Finite element
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256
Modellingof reinforcedconcretebeamresponsetorepeatedloading
includingsteel-concreteinterfacedamage
A. Castel, R.I. Gilbert & S.J. Foster
The University of New South Wales, Australia
G. Ranzi
Centre for Advanced Structural Engineering, The University of Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: In reinforced concreteconstruction, deflection control is an important performancecriterion
for bothserviceability andsustainability. TheFinite-Element modellingproposedinthispaper isdedicatedto
thecalculationof beamdeflectionafter crackingunder repeatedloading. Firstly, theglobal bendingstiffness
of crackedstructural membersunder liveloadingiscalculatedincludingtheeffect of steel-concreteinterfacial
damage(i.e.cover-controlledcracking).Secondly,ascrackingleadstoirreversibleinelasticeffects,thepermanent
deflectionafterthebeamisunloadedisalsoassessed.Theeffectof cover-controlledcrackingistakenintoaccount
byimplementingadamagevariableinthemodel of thesteel-concretebond.
1 INTRODUCTION
Inreinforcedconcreteconstruction, deflectioncontrol
is an important performance criterion in the assess-
ment of serviceability and sustainability. Excessive
concretecrackingresultingfromappliedserviceloads
or restraint toshrinkageandtemperaturedeformation
is one of the most common causes of damage and
resultsinhighannual costtotheconstructionindustry.
All current standards imposelimits onthedeflection
of flexural membersandlimitsonthewidthandextent
of cracking.
Under normal serviceconditions, reinforced con-
cretebeamsandslabsarealwayscrackedbecausethe
tensile strength of the concrete is low. After crack-
ing, the tensile concrete located between the cracks
carries significant tensilestress andtheactual mem-
ber responseis considerably stiffer thantheresponse
calculated considering only the bare steel bars and
ignoringthecrackedtensileconcrete.Thus,tosimulate
thein-servicebehaviour of reinforcedconcreterealis-
tically, tensionstiffeningmustbeaccuratelymodelled.
A research program funded by the Australian
Research Council is in progress at the Centre for
Infrastructure Engineering and Safety (CIES) at the
University of New South Wales. The aim of the
researchistoassessthestiffnessof crackedreinforced
concretebeams andslabs under bothshort andlong-
termserviceloading.Asthisresearchprogramstarted
recently, only short termexperiments arereportedin
this paper. A finiteelement analysis (labelled MFE,
Macro-Finite Element) of the short termin-service
behaviour is proposed. Theoriginality of theMFE is
inthemodellingof thebeamresponseunder repeated
loading. Firstly, theglobal bendingstiffnessof cracked
structural members under live loading is calculated
includingtheeffect of steel-concreteinterfacial dam-
age. Secondly, ascrackingleadstoirreversibleinelas-
ticeffects, thepermanentdeflectionof thebeamsafter
unloadingisalsoassessed.
Six identical reinforced concrete beams were cast,
cured and tested. The measured mechanical proper-
tiesof theconcreteare: 46MPacompressivestrength,
33GPaelastic modulusand3.5MPatensilestrength.
Thereinforcement lay-out of thebeams is shown in
Figure 1. The main steel bars in each specimen are
Figure 1. Lay-out of the reinforcement (stirrups spacing:
200mm).
257
Figure2. Loadingconfiguration.
standard Australian 16mmdiameter deformed bars
(N16s).Thecharacteristicyieldstressof thesteel bars
(theelasticlimit) is500MPa.
All beams weretestedin4point bending(Fig. 2),
both for the long term tests (four specimens) and
the short term tests (two specimens, B1 and B2).
For the short term test specimens, two maximum
applied moments were defined: M
a1
(=1.2M
cr
) and
M
a2
(=1.5M
cr
), where M
cr
is the cracking moment.
At 28 days after casting, the beams were loaded up
to either M
a1
(for beamB1) or M
a2
(for beamB2)
and then unloaded. This loading cycle was repeated
10 times to assess theglobal stiffness after cracking
andthepermanentresidual deflectionafterunloading.
The applied load and the mid-span deflection were
measured throughout each loading cycle. After cast-
inganduntil theshorttermloadtestscommenced, the
specimensB1andB2werestoredinahighmoisture
environmenttoreducethedryingshrinkagetoasclose
tozeroaspossible.
For long termexperiments (not presented in this
paper but currently underway), all specimens were
initially cracked under a short-termsustained peak
moment of either M
a1
or M
a2
andthensubjectedtoa
sustainedloadequal tothemaximumshorttermvalue
for aperiodof at least 6months. Thedevelopment of
crackinganddeflectionarebeingmonitoredovertime
inorder to assess thetime-dependent effects of con-
cretecreepandshrinkage. After thesustainedloading
period has ended, thespecimen will besubjected to
cycles of unloading/reloading in order to assess the
time-dependent changeintheinstantaneousresponse
toliveload.
Finite element (FE) analyses of the short-termtest
specimens have been performed using two different
models: an existing 2D nonlinear FE analysis using
the FE code ATENA and a proposed Macro Finite
Elementanalysis(MFE).The2Dnonlinear analysisis
usedtocalculatethebeamsresponseundermonotonic
increasingloading(theenvelopcurve). Thebehaviour
of concreteincompressionfollowsanonlinear model
(CEB-FIP, 1993) uptothecompressivestrength, while
the descending branch is linear down to a residual
strengthvaluebeyondtheultimatestrain.Theconcrete
intensionislinear-elasticuptothetensilestrength,fol-
lowedby alinear softeningbranch. A smearedcrack
Figure 3. Non-linear distributions of steel and concrete
strainsbetweencracks.
approach is used (Cervenka, 1985). Theconstitutive
model for thesteel reinforcement is linear-elastic up
to the yield point, followed by a linear hardening
behaviour.
The MFE approach is dedicated to assess the
responsetoloadingcycles.TheMFEisafiniteelement
with 4 degrees of freedom(i.e. transverse displace-
ment and rotation at each end), termed the BEAM
element.
For bendingproblems, thepropertiesof thehomo-
geneous MFEs aretheaveragemoment of inertiaI
a
,
the total concrete cross-section A
c
and the concrete
instantaneous elastic modulus E
c
. Thestandardstiff-
nessmatrixrelatedtotheflexural degreesof freedom,
inthelinear range, withoutconsideringtheshear con-
tributionisusedfortheMFEs(Bartoz&Dhatt, 1990).
A linear FE analysis can be performed in this case
becausetheMFEmodel isdedicatedtotheassessment
of thein-serviceresponse.
Themaindifficulty incalculatingreinforcedcon-
crete deflection is to assess the average moment of
inertiaof thecrackedbeamaccuratelyasthesteel and
concrete strain distributions between the cracks are
complex. Inarecentpaper (Castel &Franois, 2011),
assuming a linear distribution of the bond stress at
the steel-concrete interface, an analytical modelling
of steel strain
s
(x), concretestrain
tc
(x) andneutral
axisdistributionbetweentwoconsecutivecrackswas
proposedat thestabilizedcrackingstageasshownin
Figure3,wherethenon-lineardistributionsof steel and
concretestrainsbetweencracksisshown. Inthisfig-
ure, L
t
is thetransfer length(half thecrack spacing),
x is thedistancefromthecrack, and
snc
and
tc,max
are the steel and concrete strains on an uncracked
cross-section.
Inthis paper, adamagevariableD
c
(0 D
c
1)
is introducedintothemodellingof bondat thesteel-
concreteinterfaceasfollows:
If D
c
=0, thebond between steel and concreteis
perfectandsteel andconcretestrainsonanuncracked
cross-sectionareequal. If D
c
=1, theconcretestrainis
258
Figure4. Crackedbeamsubdividedintofour MFEs.
equal tozeroandthetensionstiffeningeffectistotally
lost. This damagevariableis introducedinthemod-
ellingof thesteel-concretebondinorder totakeinto
accounttheeffectof cover-controlledcracking(Wu&
Gilbert, 2009) ontheglobal stiffness.
For anyappliedmoment, thestrain
snc
canbecal-
culatedusingthebeamcross-sectional parametersand
thestraininthesteel at thecracklocation,
s
, isgiven
byEq. (2) (Castel & Franois, 2011):
where
e
istheratiobetweentheinstantaneouselastic
modulusof thesteel E
s,
andthatof theconcreteE
c
, z
c
andz
nc
arethelever armsof theinternal forcesonthe
crackedanduncrackedcross-sections, respectively, A
s
is the steel cross-section and A
ct.ef
is the effective
areaof theactivetensileconcreteonthecross-section
(Castel et al., 2006).
Theaveragemomentof inertiaof thehomogeneous
MFE, I
a
, isthendeducedbyhomogenizationbetween
twoconsecutivecracks:
wherey
0c
andy
0a
arethedepthtotheneutral axisloca-
tiononthecrackedcross-sectionandtheaveragedepth
of theneutral axis respectively; I
c
is themoment of
inertiaof thecrackedcross-sectionandC
H
isahomog-
enization coefficient equal to 0.656 at thestabilized
crackingstage. All detailsregardingthederivationof
Eq. (3) areavailableinCastel et al. (2012).
Theoverall stiffnessof areinforcedconcretemem-
beriscalculatedbyassemblingtheMFEsaspresented
in Figure 4 for the case of four-point loading. The
cracked span of thebeamis conditioned by theval-
ues of the cracking moment M
cr
and the maximum
valueof theappliedmomentM
a
atthecritical section.
Inthecrackedspan, itisnotnecessarytoworryabout
theexactlocationof theflexural cracksasI
a
formula-
tiondoesnot dependontheflexural crack spacingor
locations (Castel et al., 2012). In theuncracked part
of thespan, wheretheappliedmomentislessthanthe
crackingmoment M
cr
(near thesupport inFig. 4), the
moment of inertia I
0
, calculated before cracking, is
usedtocharacterisetheMFEs. Thestiffnessmatrixof
eachmacro-elementisassembledintheusual manner
by addition of the stiffness coefficients correspond-
ingtothefreedomsat eachnode. Theresultinglinear
systemof equationsisthensolvedtocalculatethedis-
placement at each node of the mesh caused by the
external loadingimposedonthebeam.Theglobal stiff-
nessisdeducedfromboththebendingmomentandthe
deflectionvaluescalculatedat thecritical section.
4 STEEL-CONCRETE INTERFACE DAMAGE
MODELLING
At thestabilizedcrackingstage, it isassumedthat the
tensileconcretebetweentheprimary cracks remains
elastic (under loading cycles) and the steel-concrete
interface is not yet damaged. Interfacial damage
between primary cracks occurs when the maximum
applied moment M
a
reaches acritical valuelabelled
M
ccc
(i.e. moment leadingto cover-controlledcrack-
ing). A criterion for cover-control cracks initiation
based on a peak value of steel stress calculated at
thecracklocationwasproposedbyCastel &Franois
(2011):
wheref
tc
isthetensilestrengthof concreteand
s,ccc
is
thesteel stressat crack locationleadingtointerfacial
damage.Thecritical momentisthendeterminedfrom:
whereI
c
isthemomentof inertiaof thecrackedcross-
section.
Inapreviousapproach(Castel & Franois, 2011),
the effect of cover-controlled cracking on bond-slip
relationship versus loading was modelled using a
scalardamageparameterlabelled
2
.Alinearvariation
of
2
versus the steel stress at the cracked cross-
section
s
was adopted between theundamaged and
totally damagedsituations. Thesamedamageevolu-
tion is adopted in this paper and adapted to thenew
formulationusingthedamagevariableD
c
where:
Castel & Franois(2011) arbitrarilyfixedthesteel
stressatcracklocationleadingtocover-control crack-
ingtoaconstantvalueof 250MPa. SimilarlytoCastel
259
Figure 5. Average moment of inertia I
a
versus the steel
stress
s
.
Figure6. Prediction by ATENA under monotonic load to
first yield.
and Franois (2011), total debonding is assumed to
occur when
s
=500MPa.
Figure5showstheevolutionof theaveragemoment
of inertiaversus thesteel stress
s
. InEq. (3), alin-
ear evolution of thedepth of theneutral axis on the
uncracked cross-section y
0nc
versus D
c
is adopted.
Consequently, for D
c
=1, y
0nc
isequal toy
0c
andthen
theaveragemoment of inertiaI
a
isequal tothevalue
at thecrackedcross-sectionI
c
.
5 RESULTS
Test results obtained fromthe two short-termbeam
specimens are compared to the results predicted by
thefiniteelement models. Theshort termmaximum
applied moment is equal to M
a1
(=1.2M
cr
) for the
beamB1 and M
a2
(=1.5M
cr
) for beamB2. Figure6
shows the load versus deflection response predicted
bytheATENA FE codefor monotonicallyincreasing
loaduptothesteel yieldingload. Alsoshownarethe
measuredloadversusdeflectionresponseforeachtest
beam. The predicted response is in good agreement
withthetest results.
Figure 6 shows that M
a1
and M
a2
correspond to
about 35% and 50%, respectively, of the moment
required to yield thetensilesteel and thesemoment
levels areconsistent withusual in-serviceconditions
of reinforcedconcretestructures.Thestiffnessof beam
B2duringtheloadingcyclesissignificantlylessthan
that observedfor beamB1dueto thehigher applied
bendingmoment.
Figure7. MeasuredversusMFE predictionfor B1after the
loadingcycles(M
ccc
=72kNm,
s,ccc
=200MPa).
Figure8. MFE model andcrackedspanfor beamB1.
Figure9. MeasuredversusMFE predictionfor B2after the
loadingcycles(M
ccc
=72kNm,
s,ccc
=200MPa).
Figure7shows thecomparisonbetweenthebeam
B1responseandpredictionusingtheMFEmodel after
the loading cycles. This curve is deduced fromthe
global stiffnesscalculatedusingtheMFEmodel atthe
maximumdeflection(d
max
) calculatedusingATENA
for themaximummoment M
a1
.
Figure8 shows themesh for theMFE model and
thelengthof crackedspanforbeamB1. Forthisbeam,
M
ccc
is not exceeded and, thus, no cover-controlled
crackingistakenintoaccount inthecalculation. Very
good agreement between the experiments and the
model isobtainedwithregardtobothresidual stiffness
andpermanent deflectionassessment.
Figure9showsthesamecomparisonsfor beamB2
andFigure10showsthemeshof theMFE model and
thelengthof crackedspanforbeamB2. Forthisbeam,
M
ccc
isexceeded.Twocalculationsareperformed:with
260
Figure10. MFE model andcrackedspanfor beamB1.
or without taking into account the cover-controlled
crackingdamage. Theresultsshowthat, without tak-
ingintoaccount any interfacial damage, thestiffness
calculatedis significantly greater than that observed
in the experiments, even though the length of the
crackedspanis longer thanfor thecaseof beamB1
(Fig. 10). Propagationof cracks outsidetheconstant
bendingmoment zonedoesnot explainthereduction
instiffnessobservedfor B2comparedtoB1.
ThedamagevariableD
c
is equal to about 0.2 for
beamB2atthemaximumloadingvalue.Theinclusion
of interfacial damageeffectsgivesabetter prediction
of the stiffness, even if it is still somewhat overes-
timated. In this first approach, the evolution of D
c
versus
s
isconsideredlinear. Butmoreinvestigations
are required in order to provide a more appropriate
damagepropagationfunctionandenhancethemodel
predictions.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The Macro-Finite-Element (MFE) modelling pro-
posed in this paper is suitable for the calculation
of the load-deflection behaviour of reinforced con-
cretebeamsunder loading/unloadingcycles. Boththe
permanent deflection after unloading resulting from
concretecrackingandtheshort termelastic response
of thepreviously cracked reinforced concretebeams
duringreloadingarecalculated.
Theeffectof cover-controlledcrackingistakeninto
accountbyimplementingadamagevariabletoreduce
thebondatthesteel-concreteinterface.A criterionfor
theinitiationof cover-control cracksbasedonapeak
value of steel stress calculated at the crack location
isproposed.A linear evolutionof thedamagevariable
versusloading, leadingtothelossof bendingstiffness,
isalsoproposed. Theresultsof theMFE model have
beensuccessfullycomparedtoexperiments.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research was supported under the Australian
Research Councils Discovery Projects funding
scheme (project number DP110103028). The exper-
imental workwascarriedintheStructuresLaboratory
of theSchool of Civil andEnvironmental Engineering
at theUniversityof NewSouthWales. Theassistance
of thelaboratorystaff isalsoacknowledged.
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Castel, A., Vidal, T. & Franois, R. 2006. Effectivetension
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261
Shear strengtheningof RC beamwithexternal FRP bonding:
A state-of-the-art review
R. Choudhury, T.G. Suntharavadivel, P. Keleher &A. Patil
School of Engineering & Built Environment, Central Queensland University, Mackay, Australia
ABSTRACT: Developedprimarilyfor theaerospaceanddefenceindustries, FibreReinforcedPolymer (FRP)
hasbecomeadominantconstructionmaterial over thelastfewdecades. FRPcontainsimmensepotential for use
incivil infrastructure, bothfor therehabilitationof existingstructuresandfor theconstructionof newfacilities.
A significant amount of research has been carried out worldwide on FRP, which has established FRP as a
technically andeconomically viablealternativeto other conventional materials andstrengtheningtechniques.
Manyexistingreinforcedconcretebeams(RC) needshear strengtheningduetovariousreasonssuchasincrease
inserviceload, structural aging, faultyconstructionsandmistakeindesigncalculations. Previousstudieshave
provedthat applicationof external FRP is capableof increasingtheshear capacity of strengthenedRC beams
withexistingshear cracks. Eventhough, anumber of studieshavebeencarriedoutontheshear strengtheningof
RCbeamswithFRP, theshear behaviour of strengthenedbeamsisnotyetfullyunderstood. Thispaper provides
acomprehensivereviewontheshear strengtheningof intact andshear damagedRC beamwithexternal FRP
bonding.
1 INTRODUCTION
Structural retrofittingisveryimportantasmanyof the
existingstructuresworldwidearefacingagingandthe
increasing demand for higher load carrying capaci-
ties. Rehabilitationisalsoneededwhenstructuresare
subjected to natural calamities such as earthquakes,
flooding or cyclones. Researchers all over theworld
havebeentryingfor thelast fewdecadestoestablish
FRP as asubstitutefor thetraditional steel platefor
strengtheningexistingstructureswhichhasanumber
of limitationsincludingitsheavyweightandsuscepti-
bilitytoenvironmental degradations(Hadi 2003).The
benefits of FRP application include the favourable
weight-to-strength ratio, non-corrosive characteris-
tics, prompt execution on site, and reduced long
termmaintenancecosts(Kimet al. 2008). Long-term
cost effectiveness of FRP composites andincreasing
demandfor strengtheningwork aroundtheworldhas
madeexternal bondingor wrappingof FRP compos-
ites apopular methodfor strengtheningof structures
inrecent years (Tenget al. 2003). Theapplicationof
externally bondedFRP sheetsisthemost vastly used
rehabilitationmethodwhereunidirectional or bidirec-
tional FRPsheetsarebondedtothestructureusingan
adhesiveto improvetheloadcarryingcapacity (ACI
Committee4402007; Wight et al. 2001).
This paper presents a review of the current state
of the art of shear strengthening by external FRP
bonding for RC beams both in damaged and intact
condition.
2 STRENGTHENINGOF INTACT RC BEAMS
Shear failure of the beams generally a brittle fail-
ure, whereasflexural failureisgenerallyexhibitedby
ductile failure. Because of this phenomenon, struc-
tural membersaregenerallydesignedtofail inflexure
rather than shear. Many studies have been reported
onflexural strengtheningof concretebeamswithFRP
whereas shear strengtheningof beams withFRP has
received less attention (Carolin & Tljsten 2005a;
Khalifa et al. 1998; Khalifa & Nanni 2000; Kim
et al. 2008; Mosallam& Banerjee2007; Triantafillou
1998). Previousstudieshaveproventhat theexternal
FRPstrengtheningtechniquecanshiftthefailuremode
of RC beamsfrombrittleshear failuretoamoreduc-
tile and predictive failure mode (Carolin & Tljsten
2005b; Collins& Roper 1990). Followingisthebrief
review of some of the research studies on the shear
strengthening of intact/undamaged RC beams using
externallybondedFRP.
In 1998, Khalifa et al. (1998) proposed a design
algorithmtocalculatethecontributionof CFRPtothe
shearcapacityof RCbeams.Theproposedmethodwas
based on the stress level that causes tensile fracture
of theFRP sheet andthebondingbetweentheCFRP
sheetsandtheconcrete.Theproposedmethodwasver-
ifiedwithexistingexperimental data. Thetwodesign
procedures, proposedbyACI andMaedaetal. (1997),
werecombinedandresultedinasimplemethodof cal-
culatingthecontributionof externally bondedCFRP
sheet totheshear capacityof aRC beam.
263
Triantafillou&Antonopoulos(2000) modifiedthe
designmodel earlier proposedbyTriantafillou(1998)
topredicttheFRPcontributiontotheshearcapacityof
theRCbeams.Thekeyelementof themodel isthecal-
culationof theeffectiveFRPstrainusingexperimental
data. Theeffectivestraindecreasewiththeincrement
of FRP axial rigidity divided by the concrete shear
strength. It was also demonstrated that thecontribu-
tion of FRP to shear capacity is typically controlled
by either the maximumeffective strain or debond-
ing. The effective strains predicted by the proposed
model werefoundtobeinbetter agreementwithmost
of the test results than some of the existing models
such as Khalifa et al. (1998) and J apan Concrete
Institute(J CI).
Khalifa&Nanni (2000) presentedtheshear perfor-
manceof RCT-beamshearstrengthenedwithdifferent
configurationof externally bondedCFRP sheets. Six
full-scale simply supported beams were tested with
differentparameterssuchaswrappingschemes, CFRP
amounts, fibredirections and CFRP end anchorage.
Thetestresultsshowedanincreaseinshearstrengthof
35145%indicatingthat theexternallybondedCFRP
reinforcementcanbeusedtoenhancetheshearcapac-
ityof thebeams. Thestudyfurther refinedthedesign
model previously proposed by Khalifaet al. (1998).
Comparison was madebetween thecalculated shear
strengthusingtheproposeddesignapproachandthe
test results, indicatinganacceptableandconservative
resultsproducedbythedesignapproach.
Adhikary&Mutsuyoshi (2004) carriedouttestson
eight rectangular beams strengthened for shear with
continuous unidirectional carbon fibre sheets (CFS)
tostudytheeffect of thestrengtheningtechnique. All
beams were subjected to four points loading. This
study concludedthat theexternally bondedCFS can
effectively increase the shear capacity of RC beam
andtheincreaseinshear capacity hasdirect relation-
ship with the depth and the number of sheets. Out
f thedifferent wrapping schemes used to strengthen
thebeams, vertical U-wrapping/U-jacketing was the
most effective technique, which increased the shear
capacityby119%.
Sundarraja& Rajamohan(2009) studiedtheshear
strengthening of shear deficient RC beams with
bi-directional glassfibrereinforcedpolymer (GFRP)
strips externally bondedto thebeams web. Two sets
of four beams, with thesameinternal reinforcement
as the control beams, were retrofitted by inclined
side GFRP strips and inclined GFRP U-strips. The
beamsweretestedunder four pointloadinganditwas
foundthattheGFRPstrengthenedbeamsshowedbet-
ter load-deflectionbehaviour thenthecontrol beams
andalsoU-stripsstrengthenedbeamsperformedbetter
thanthosestrengthenedwithinclinedsidestrips. The
experimental resultsshowsubstantial increaseinshear
capacity (morethan50%) inthebeams strengthened
byGFRP.
Bousselham&Chaallal (2009) proposedequations
based on thestatic theoremof thetheory of plastic-
ity topredict thelimitingmaximumshear strengthto
avoidfailureof FRP shear strengthenedRCbeamsby
web crushing. It was noted that the proposed equa-
tions had a good agreement with the available test
results. However, itwasalsonotedthatpredictedshear
strengthbyACI guidelines(ACI Committee4402002)
isveryconservative. Therefore, anewupper limitwas
alsoproposedtopreventprematurecrushingof webin
RC beamsstrengthenedinshear withFRP. Thestudy
alsoproposedanamendmenttotheCanadianStandard
S6-06(CanadianStandardsAssociation2006).
Kimet al. (2008) modifiedtheplastic model pro-
posed by Nielsen & Braestrup (1975) and the truss
model byThurlimann(1979) topredict shear strength
of RCbeamsstrengthenedwithFRP. Elevenrectangu-
lar RC beamswerestrengthenedinshear withCFRP
andCFSandtestedwithfour pointmonotonousload-
inguntil failure. Thestudy showedthat thepredicted
results using theproposed model well matches with
theexperimental results regarding load capacity and
failuremode, andalsowiththeexistingexperimental
data.Accordingtothestudytheauthorssuggestedthat
this model is moreeffectivethanboththetraditional
theoryandtheFiniteElementAnalysis(FEA) topre-
dict thestrengtheningamount neededtoimprovethe
loadcarryingcapacityof beams.
Chen & Teng (2003b) developed a new design
model for shear capacity of shear strengthened RC
beamswithFRPwhichfailsbyFRPdebonding. Their
proposedmodel includerational bondstrengthmodel
between FRP and concrete. The authors pointed the
debondingwasthemainfactor for thefailureinFRP
strengthened beams, which does not provide much
ductility. Theproposedshear strengthmodel consid-
ered a general shear strengthening scheme by FRP
strips evenly bonded on both side of the beams.
Thebondstrengthmodel previously providedby the
authors (Chen& Teng, 2001) was usedto derivethe
maximumstressintheFRPandthestressdistribution
factor along the critical shear cracks, which in turn
is usedto evaluatetheFRP contributionto theshear
capacityof thestrengthenedbeams. Itshowedthatthe
proposedshear strengtheningmodel isingoodagree-
mentwithexperimental datafor bothsidebondedand
U-jacketedbeams.
Chenetal. (2010) presentedashear strengthmodel
inclosed-formexpressions, whichisamodifiedform
of the model previously proposed by Chen & Teng
(2003a). A computational model was then described
whichconfinethedebondingprocess moreprecisely
than the closed-formtheoretical model. Predictions
fromtheoriginal model of Chenetal. (2003a) andthe
modified theoretical model are then compared with
resultsfromthecomputational model. Thenumerical
comparison showed that Chen et al.s (2003a) orig-
inal model provides closer predictions for the shear
resistance contribution by FRP side strips while the
modified theoretical model produces slightly more
accuratepredictionsfor FRP U-jackets.
Zhichao & Hsu (2005) tested eleven beams with
shear deficiencyandstrengthenedwithdifferent type
andconfigurationof externallybondedCFRPinorder
264
to study theshear behaviour andfailuremode. They
proposedananalysisanddesignmethodfor theshear
strengtheningwithexternallyappliedCFRP basedon
traditional truss analogy. The beamspecimens were
strengthenedwithcontinuoussheetandstripsof CFRP
bondedonthesideof thebeams at different orienta-
tionswithout any endanchorage. Threepoint or four
point concentrated loading were applied depending
on thespan length of thestrengthened specimens in
one single cycle. Fromthe test results it was con-
cludedthatexternallybondedCFRP cansignificantly
increasetheserviceability, ductilityandultimateshear
strengthof concretebeams. CFRP stripsprovedtobe
more efficient than CFRP sheet. The test also con-
cludedthat thediagonal sidestripsaremoreefficient
inincreasingultimateshear strengthandinarresting
shear cracks than the vertical side strips. Compari-
sonbetweenthetest resultsandthemodel prediction
showedthat theproposeddesignmodel is capableof
providingacceptableshear strengthprediction.
Chaallal, Nollet & Perraton (1998) provided a
comprehensivedesignapproachfor RC beams shear
strengthened with externally bonded FRP plates.
Design equations arepresented to calculaterequired
cross-sectional area of FRP plates or strips used in
different orientationstoincreasetheshear strengthof
the beams. The presented equations were applicable
tofour different shear strengtheningpatternsnamely,
inclined strips, vertical strips, lateral wings, U sheet
jackets. If the beams satisfied some set post failure
criteria, thedesignequationscanbeusedtodetermine
therequired FRP cross-sectional areato achievethe
targetedincreaseinshear forcecapacity.
Tenget al. (2009) studiedtheshear mechanismof
RC beamsshear reinforcedwithunidirectional CFRP
stripsfully wrappedaroundthebeams. Thestrength-
eningsystems consist of FRP full wraps (BDF), and
FRP full wraps, purposely left unbonded to theside
of thebeams. Thesimply supportedbeamspecimens
strengthenedwiththesamewidth, thicknessandspac-
ing of CFRP strips, were tested under three point
loading. All the beams failed in shear, and five out
of six strengthened beams shear failed by FRP rup-
ture. Eachstrengthenedbeamsshowedanincreasein
shear capacity, but ductility was decreasedgenerally.
Testresultsindicatedthattheinternal steel stirrupsare
fullyusedattheshearfailureof beamsbyFRPrupture.
Theresultsalsosuggestedthat theconcretecontribu-
tiontotheshear capacitymaybeadverselyaffectedat
hightensilestraininFRP wraps.
Mofidi & Chaallal (2011) have studied the cur-
rent code provisions and design guidelines of shear
strengthening of RC beams with FRP, and reviewed
themagainst thefindings of different research stud-
ies, including recent studies. The study leads to the
proposal of a new design model which includes
the influences of different important parameters
ontheshear contributionof FRP. Theproposedequa-
tions wereverifiedagainst test dataof 75RC beams
shear strengthened with U-jacket and side-bonded
FRP which exclusively failed in FRP debonding.
Theauthors reviewed thelatest version of themajor
designguidelinessuchasCAN/CSA-S8062002, fib-
TG9.32001, ACI 440.2R 2008, CAN/CSA-S62006,
CNR-DT2002004, CIDAR2006.Theyidentifiedthat
therearestill manyimportant parameterswhichhave
notyetbeenincorporatedbytheguidelines.Thestudy
proved that the influence of the conventional trans-
versesteel reinforcement onthecontributionof FRP
toshearresistanceissignificant, andfoundnoneof the
studiedmodelsandguidelinesexplicitlyconsidersthis
parameter intheFRP shear contributioncalculation.
Theauthorsalsoproposedanewmodel topredictshear
capacity of FRP strengthened RC beams by defin-
inganewFRP effectivewidth. Fromthecomparison
betweentheresults fromeachmodel andtheexperi-
ment result theproposedmodel to bebetter thanthe
other availabledesignguidelines.
3 STRENGTHENINGOF DAMAGEDRC
BEAMS
To make it more practical and to fully understand
thebehaviour of strengthenedbeams, theexperiments
shouldbedoneunder serviceabilityloadingcondition
i.e. pre-crackedor damagedcondition(Alzoubi & Li
2007). Unlike flexural crack, shear crack behaviour
ismuchcomplexand, therefore, onlyfewresearchers
has attempted to investigate the behaviour of shear
crack and its effect on the capacity of RC beams
particularly when it was strengthened by external
post-tensioning (Aravinthan et al. 2007). The exist-
ingresearchrelatingtoshear strengtheningwithFRP
hasonly alimitedset of experimental studiescarried
out with pre-cracked members. Some of the previ-
ousresearchershaveindicatedthatexternal FRPshear
strengtheningiscapableof enhancingtheshearcapac-
ityof pre-crackedbeamsinshear (Al-Sulaimani et al.
1994;Hadi 2003;J ayaprakashetal.2008;Mosallam&
Banerjee 2007). Review of research studies on the
shearstrengtheningof damagedRCbeamsbyexternal
FRP bondingisbrieflydiscussedbelow.
J ayaprakash et al. (2008) tested rectangular pre-
crackedanduncrackedRC beams strengthenedwith
externally bonded U strips and inclined L strips
of Bi-Directional Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer
(CFRP) Composites. The beams were tested under
concentrated symmetrical loading until failure and
it was found that the application of bi-directional
CFRP stripsincreasestheshear capacityof beamsby
11%to 139%. Thebeams failed either in flexureor
shear with FRP rupturewithout any debonding. The
increasedshear capacityof theexternal bondedCFRP
rectangular beams showed reasonable conformity
with the theoretical results obtained following ACI
guidelines.
Mosallam& Banerjee(2007) investigatedthetest
results of repaired (pre-cracked) and retrofitted RC
beamsshearstrengthenedwithCarbonFRPandGlass
FRP. Continuous U shaped FRP sheets and verti-
cal stripes on both sides were bonded with epoxy
265
on the shear zone. Four point monotonous loading
was applied until failure. The test results indicated
appreciableincreaseandenhancementinbothultimate
strengthandtoughnessof strengthenedbeams. It was
alsonotedinthestudythat most of theexistingmod-
elsdidnot consider theshear span-to-depthratioand
theypredictedcloseor higher shear strengthcapacity
of thetestedbeams.
Hadi (2003) studied sixteen beam specimens
retrofittedusingdifferentamountof GFRPandCFRP,
whichwerepreviouslytestedandfailedinshearunder
four point static loading. The results confirm that
thestrengtheningtechniques usingFRP sheets could
significantly increasetheshear capacity andtheeffi-
ciency varies depending on thetested variables. The
retrofitted beams using GFRP wrapping achieved a
shear capacity enhancement up to 17% before fail-
inginshear. Incomparison, thebeamswrappedwith
CFRP failedinbendingwhichisamuchmoreductile
failure mode. The results confirmed that, under the
same amount and configuration, the CFRP material
outperforms theGFRP material in terms of external
shear strengthening.
Al-Sulaimani etal. (1994) studiedstrengtheningof
shear deficient RC beams withexistingshear cracks
bytheGFRP platebonding. Sixteenbeamspecimens
wereloadedtofirst shear crack andthenrepairedby
three types GFRP repair schemes-strips, wings and
U-jacketing. It was found that all the three repair
schemesresultedinincreasedshear capacityandstiff-
ness. The increase in shear capacity was almost the
samefor repairing thebeams with strips and wings,
but wasnot enoughtocausethebeamstofail inflex-
ure. On the contrary, the shear enhancement gained
byU-jacketingwassufficienttoshiftthefailuremode
fromshear failuretomoredesirableflexural failure.
Obaidat et al. (2011) presented the results of an
experimental study to investigate the behaviour of
structurally damagedfull-scaleRC beams retrofitted
with CFRP laminates either in shear or flexure.
Twelve rectangular beams were tested under four
point monotonous loadingintwogroups. Thebeams
werepreloadeduntil shear cracks appearedandthen
retrofittedwithCFRP beforebeingloadedtofailure.
Fromthe experimental study it was noted that the
shear retrofitting with the externally bonded CFRP
plates increased the load bearing capacity by about
23%anditalsoincreasedstiffness.Thecrackwidthfor
theretrofittedbeams was decreasedcomparedto the
control beams. Theresultsalsoshowedthat themain
failuremodewas platedebondingwhichreduces the
efficiencyof retrofitting.
Carolin & Tljsten (2005b) testedrectangular RC
beams shear strengthened with CFRP to investigate
theeffect of different parametersontheshear capac-
ityof thestrengthenedbeamssuchasfibrethickness,
fibredirectionandstrengtheningconfigurations.From
theexperimentsit wasconcludedthat theCFRP plate
bonding is an effective method for increasing shear
capacity of beams and it can the change the failure
mode fromshear to flexural. The study proved that
damaged or pre-cracked beams can be repaired not
onlytotheir original loadbearingcapacitybutevento
ahigher capacitythanprevious.
4 CONCLUDINGREMARKS
Fromthestudythefollowingconcludingremarkscan
bemadeaboutthecurrentstateof theresearchonexter-
nal FRP bondingtechniquefor shear strengtheningof
RC beams.
External FRPbondingcansignificantlyincreasethe
shear capacity of existing beams, either intact or
damaged.
Different strengtheningschemeswereinvestigated.
Ingeneral all of themeffectivelyincreasedtheshear
capacity. However, U-wrappingwasfoundasmore
efficient thansidebonding.
Theeffect of different parameterssuchasfibreori-
entation, depthof FRP, number of FRP layers, end
anchorage, stirrupsandlongitudinal reinforcement
ontheshearcapacityof thestrengthenedbeamswas
also investigated. It was found that shear capac-
ity of FRP strengthened beams was significantly
influencedbytheseparameters.
Noneof thecurrent models canaccurately predict
theFRP contribution to theshear capacity, taking
intoaccount all theinfluencingparameters.
It is also notedthat thereareonly fewstudies dis-
cussedtheinfluenceof existingshearcracksinFRP
strengthenedbeams, whilethereisstrongevidence
thattheexistingshear crackcansignificantlyaffect
thecapacityof thebeamsstrengthenedbyFRP.
TheAuthorsbelievethatfurtherinvestigationabout
the influence of existing shear cracks on the shear
capacity of FRP strengthened RC beams will help
to accurately designtherehabilitationprocess of the
aged/damagedreinforcedconcretestructures.
ABBREVIATIONS
CFRP CarbonFibreReinforcedPolymer
CFS CarbonFibreSheet
FRP FibreReinforcedPolymer
GFRP GlassFibreReinforcedPolymer
RC ReinforcedConcrete
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ening for increased shear bearing capacity. Journal of
Chaallal, O., Nollet, M.-J. & Perraton, D. 1998. Strengthen-
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for frp and steel plates bonded to concrete. Journal of
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Chen, J.F. & Teng, J.G. 2003a. Shear capacity of FRP-
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267
Evaluationof longitudinal bondshear stressandbond-sliprelationship
incompositeconcreteslabsusingpartial shear connectionmethod
A. Gholamhoseini, R.I. Gilbert, M.A. Bradford& Z.T. Chang
ABSTRACT: Compositeone-way concretefloor slabs with profiled steel decking as permanent formwork
arecommonly usedintheconstructionof floors inbuildings. Longitudinal bondfailurebetweentheconcrete
and the steel deck is the most common type of failure at the ultimate load stage. Design codes require the
experimental evaluationof thelongitudinal bondcapacity of eachtypeof steel deckingusingfull scaletests.
Thispaper presentstheresultsof loadteststofailureof slabswithfour typesof profilesteel decking. Full-scale,
simply-supportedslabspecimensweretestedinfour-point bendingwithshear spansof either span/4or span/6.
Thebond-sliprelationshipof eachslabwasdeterminedandthevaluesof maximumshear bondstresscalculated
fromthetestsusingdifferent methodsaredescribedandcompared.
1 INTRODUCTION
Composite slabs consisting of cold-formed profiled
steel sheets and structural concrete are increasingly
usedinsteel framedbuildingsworldwide. Inthissys-
tem, the steel sheets are normally continuous over
two-spanlengthsandduringconstructiontheconcrete
is poured to forma continuous one-way composite
slab.
Thesteel sheet has two main roles in this typeof
floor system; firstlyit servesaspermanent formwork
supportingthewet concreteduringconstruction. Sec-
ondly, it acts as external reinforcement for the slab,
carryingthetensioninducedbybending.If thestrength
provided by thesteel sheeting is not adequate, addi-
tional reinforcement may beincludedintheconcrete
slab, asshowninFigure1.
Thecompositeaction between thesteel sheet and
the hardened concrete is dependent on the trans-
mission of horizontal shear stresses acting on the
interfacebetweentheconcreteslabandthesteel sheet-
ing(OehlersandBradford, 1995, J ohnson, 2004).This
composite action is necessary for the steel sheet to
performits roleas thetension reinforcement for the
Figure1. Elementsof acompositeslabandnotation.
system. Composite action is achieved, not only by
chemical bondingbetweenthesheetandtheconcrete,
butalsobymechanical interlockbetweentheconcrete
andembossmentsontheprofiledsteel sheeting. Resis-
tanceagainstvertical separationisalsoachievedbythe
embossmentsandbyadoptingasuitableshapefor the
deckingprofile.
2 BOND-SLIP RELATIONSHIP
A compositeslabmust bedesignedto carry thefac-
toreddesignloads at theultimatelimit state. Fig. 2a
shows an elevation and a cross-section of a typical
compositeslabspecimeninfour pointbending. There
arethreelikelyfailuremodes:
(i) failure in flexure at the peak moment region
(i.e. at sectionb b);
(ii) longitudinal bond-shear failureat sectionc c;
(iii) vertical shearsfailureat sectiona a.
Fig. 2bgraphs therelationshipbetweenthenomi-
nal shear stress(V
t
/b.d
p
) andtheinvertedslenderness
of theslab(A
p
/b.L
s
), whereV
t
isthemaximumshear
forcein thespecimen, A
p
is thecross-sectional area
of thesteel decking, d
p
is theeffectivedepth of the
slabandL
s
is theshear span. Eachof theabovefail-
uremodesoccursondifferentpartsonthegraph, with
flexural failurecontrolling when L
s
is large, vertical
shear failurewhenL
s
issmall andbond-shear failure
forintermediatevaluesof L
s
.Asshownlater, theterms
of (A
p
/b.L
s
) and (V
t
/b.d
p
) arealso used in Eurocode
4 (Ref. 1) for evaluating of longitudinal shear bond
capacity.
Longitudinal shear bond failurein theshear span
(L
s
) isthemost commontypeof failurefor relatively
269
Figure2. Shearstressvsinvertedslendernessinacomposite
slabinfour-point bending showingthreedifferent failure
modes.
short-spanslabsat theultimatelimit state. Loadtests
carriedout onfull scalecompositeslabs haveshown
that significant slip between the steel decking and
theconcreteoccurs at relatively highloadlevels and
both stiffness and strength are significantly reduced
(OehlersandBradford, 1995, AttardandPoh, 1993).
Eurocode4givestwomethodstoevaluatethelongi-
tudinal shearbondcapacityof acompositeslab,known
asthem-kandpartial shear connectionmethods.
Inbothmethods,theshearbondcapacityisassessed
by using full scale laboratory tests to measure slab
performance. Full scaleslab specimens arerequired
becausetheshear bondcapacity is dependent onthe
geometryandflexibilityof theparticular typeof steel
sheeting, includingthesizeandspacingof theemboss-
ment onthesheeting, aswell asontheslendernessof
theslab(i.e. thespan-to-depthratio).
Them-k method to evaluatethedesign resistance
againstlongitudinal shear ismainlybasedonthework
of Porter andEkberg(1975, 1976). After muchexper-
imentation, they proposed the following shear bond
design equation for oneway slabs with cold formed
steel decking:
whereV
u
is theultimatetransverseshear-bondresis-
tance (in N); s is the spacing of shear transferring
devices (mm); b is thewidth of slab (mm); f

c
is the
compressivestrengthof concrete(MPa); andm andk
areempirical valuestobedeterminedfromtests.
Inthem-k method, it must beshownthat themaxi-
mumdesignvertical shear V
Ed
inslabdoesnotexceed
thedesignshear resistanceV
l,Rd
calculatedas:
inwhich
Vs
isthepartial safetyfactorfortheultimate
limit statewithrecommendedvalue
Vs
=1.25.
Inthepartial shear connectionmethod, theflexural
capacity of thecompositeslabis calculatedby using
simpleplastic analysisof thesectionandby employ-
ing a rectangular stress blocks for the concrete and
Figure 3. Degree of shear connection determined from
M
test
.
profiledsteel sheetingas showninFig. 3(Eurocode
4andJ ohnson, 2004). Accordingto Eurocode4this
methodmayonlybeusedwhenthelongitudinal shear
behaviour has been shown in tests to beductile. By
definition, the longitudinal shear behaviour may be
considered to beductileif, in a shear-bond test, the
failureloadexceeds theloadcausingarecordedend
slipof 0.1mmbymorethan10%.
Asaresultof ashear-bondtest,thebendingmoment
at mid-spanof aslabis M
test
andthedegreeof shear
connection,
test
, is defined as:
test
=N
c
/N
cf
, where
N
c
isthecompressionforceintheconcreteandN
cf
is
thecompressionforceintheconcreteatfull shearcon-
nection.Atthefull shearconnectionstage, theflexural
resistanceof thesection is M
p.Rm
. As shown in Fig.
3, thestress in steel decking and in theconcreteare
takenastheyieldstrengthof theprofiledsteel sheet-
ingf
yp
and0.85f
cm
wheref
cm
isthemeanvalueof the
measuredcylinder compressivestrengthof concrete,
respectively.
According to Eurocode4, themean valuefor the
ultimateshear stress
u1
canbecalculatedas:
If theextralongitudinal shearstressproducedbythe
supportreactionisconsidered, thevalueof
u2
maybe
calculatedas:
where isthefrictioncoefficient (normally takenas
=0.5) andR is thesupport reactionunder theulti-
matetestload. Thisisdonefor arangeof shear spans,
andthelowest valuefoundisadoptedasthebasisfor
design(J ohnson, 2004).
Inorder tocarryout numerical modellingbythe
finiteelement method(FEM), thebond-sliprelation-
shipbetweenthedeckingandtheconcreteisnecessary.
Theaveragebond-sliprelationshipiscalculatedusing
the Force EquilibriumMethod. This method was
initially used by An (1993) to calculatetherelation-
shipbetweenlongitudinal shear forceandend-slipfor
blockbendingtests. Fig. 4showsafreebodydiagram
of theshear spanof theslabat failure, andthestrain
variationandinternal forcedistributionat thecritical
section. After slipoccurs, thesteel deck takespart of
270
Figure4. Freebody diagram, strainvariationandinternal
forces.
Figure5. Deflectionandradiusof curvatureof deck.
the load by bending about its own axis (M
r
). From
Fig. 5theresistingmoment of steel deck M
r
, canbe
calculatedas:
If self-weight of concreteisneglected, thelongitu-
dinal shear forceF canbewrittenas:
where z is the moment lever arm,
1
and
2
are the
deflectionmeasuredunder eachappliedloadsP/2, E
s
andI
s
arethemodulusof elasticityandmomentof iner-
tiaof steel deckingrespectively. Thevalueof moment
leverarm, z, dependsonthelocationof theneutral axis
of thecompositesection. Withthemeasuredstrainin
thesteel (
s
) andstrainintheconcrete(
c
) andtheslip
strain(
sl
) obtainedfromthetest, it canbewritten:
where t is the overall thickness of the slab and y
sh
is theheight to thecentroidof thesteel profilemea-
suredfor thebottomfaceof theslab. Thelongitudinal
shearstressdistributionisassumedtobeuniforminthe
shearspanandthus, theshear-bondstressiscalculated
Figure6. Dimensions(inmm) of eachsteel deckprofile.
usingthehorizontal contactareaof thesteel sheetand
concretewithintheshear span. That is:
Similarly, if theextralongitudinal shear stresspro-
ducedbythesupport reactionisconsidered, thevalue
of
ave
canbewrittenas:
The maximumshear stress value obtained in this
methodcanbeusedinother analytical methods, such
asthePartial Shear Connectionmethodforslabdesign
(Eurocode4).
This paper presents the results of full scale four
point bending tests carried out on eight slabs with
four types of steel profiles (two slabs for each pro-
file) andwithtwo different shear spans (L/4& L/6).
Thevalueof ultimateshear-bondstress for eachtest
iscalculatedusingboththePartial Shear Connection
MethodandtheForceEquilibriumMethodandthe
values arecompared. Thebond-sliprelationships for
eachslab, themeasuredvaluesof mid-spandeflection,
endslip, andsteel andconcretestrainsatmid-spanare
alsopresentedanddiscussed.
Four differentandcommonlyuseddeckprofilesman-
ufacturedby FieldersAustraliaPty Ltd. (2009) were
studied; twore-entrantprofiles(RF55, KF57) andtwo
trapezoidal (or wave-form) profiles (KF40, KF70).
The shape and dimensions of each of these profiles
areshowninFig. 6.Thethicknessof thesteel sheeting
271
Table1. Sectionpropertiesof steel profiles.
Deck Height to
profile Sectionarea centroid,
type A
p
(mm
2
/m) y
sh
(mm) I
xx
(mm
4
/m)
KF-57 1195 14.1 503000
RF-55 1238 15.4 323646
KF-70 1100 27.7 584000
KF-40 1000 14.0 301285
Table2. Slabdimensionsandmaterial properties.
Dimensions Shear
(b L t) L d
p
span f
cm
f
sy
Slab (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (MPa) (MPa)
KF57-4 1200*3650*150 3400 135.9 L/4 31.8 536
KF57-6 1200*3650*150 3400 135.9 L/6 31.8 536
RF55-4 1200*3650*150 3400 134.6 L/4 31.8 534
RF55-6 1200*3650*150 3400 134.6 L/6 31.8 534
KF70-4 1200*3300*150 3100 122.3 L/4 28.0 544
KF70-6 1200*3300*150 3100 122.3 L/6 28.0 544
KF40-4 1000*3400*150 3100 136.0 L/4 35.7 475
KF40-6 1000*3400*150 3100 136.0 L/6 35.7 475
for all profileswast
s
=0.75mm. Table1providesthe
sectionpropertiesof eachprofile.
Theeight compositeslabs (twowitheachdecking
profile) were cast with the profiled sheets as per-
manent formwork and the concrete was then cured
for 7 days under wet hessian. Thesteel decking was
continuously supported on the laboratory floor dur-
ingcasting. No reinforcingsteel was includedinthe
slabs. Dimensions and measured material properties
of eachslabaregiveninTable2. Themeancompres-
sivestrengthof theconcreteat 28days for eachslab
type(f
cm
) wasdeterminedfromsixstandardcylinder
tests.Thelastdigitinthedesignationof eachslabrep-
resents theshear spanadoptedduringthetest of that
slab, namely4for L
s
=L/4and6for L
s
=L/6.
Eachslabwassimply-supportedwitharoller sup-
port at one end and a pin support at the other and
testedinfour point bending. Thedeflections at mid-
spanandunder thetwoappliedloads weremeasured
usingLVDTs, togetherwiththeslipbetweenthedeck-
ingandtheconcreteat eachendof thespecimen. The
loadwasappliedinadisplacement control manner at
arateof 0.3mm/min.ThetestsetupforRF55-6before
commencement of thetest isshowninFig. 7.
4 DISCUSSIONOF RESULTS
Themid-span moment vs mid-span deflection curve
for eachslabisshowninFig. 8. All slabsbehavedin
asimilar manner. First slipbetweenthedeckingand
the concrete occurred after a significant percentage
of the ultimate load was applied and eventually all
slabsfailedduetoalossof bondstressattheinterface
between steel sheeting and theconcretein theshear
Figure7. SlabRF55-6just beforetesting.
Figure8. Mid-spanmoment vsmid-spandeflection.
span. Evenunder highlevelsof appliedloadandafter
largedeformation, therewaslittlevertical separation
betweenthesteel sheetingandconcrete. Atloadswell
belowtheloadat whichinterfaceslipoccurs ineach
slabs, flexural cracksformedintheconstant moment
regionbetweentheappliedloads. Crackingwasasso-
ciatedwithsignificantlocal increasesinthesteel stress
andinthetopfibrecompressivestressintheconcrete
andasignificant increaseindeflection.
Abrupt increases in mid-span deflection and end
slipwereobservedafter thelossof compositeaction.
After the peak load had been reached, wide cracks
below the applied line loads eventually lengthened
towards the top surface of the slabs and excessive
endslipoccurred. Thecrackingpatternfor all slabsis
showninFig. 9. Without exception, thewidest crack
occurredinthevicinityof oneof theappliedloads.
The measured peak load capacity, P
max
, the load
causinganendslipof 0.1mm, P
(0.1mm),
andthepeak
moment M
max
at mid-span(causedbyP
max
) aresum-
marized inTable3. Themid-span deflection at peak
load varied from(L/45) for KF70-4 to (L/106) for
KF40-6.Thedifferencebetweenpeakloaddeflections
ineachdeckprofilewithshearspansof (L/4)and(L/6)
wasnegligible.
Thepost-crackingbendingmoment capacityof all
slabs was significant .Thelowest valueof M
max
/M
cr
as 2.1 was for RF55-4 and RF55-6 and the highest
valueof 3.6for KF70-4respectively. Despitehaving
thehigheststeel percentageof =0.92%, RF55-4and
272
Figure9. Final crackingpatterns.
Table3. Summaryof test results.
P
(0.1mm)
P
max
M
cr
M
max

max
s
max
Slab (kN) (kN) (kN m) (kN m) (mm) (mm)
KF57-4 75.6 77.3 12.7 32.8 46.9 8.2
KF57-6 92.1 128.3 12.7 36.4 46.8 11.8
RF55-4 34.6 55.8 11.4 23.7 53.6 9.7
RF55-6 73.3 85.4 11.4 24.2 53.9 8.2
KF70-4 31.4 70.0 7.6 27.1 83.2 13.2
KF70-6 52.9 97.1 7.6 25.1 87.3 18.9
KF40-4 61.5 62.0 9.9 24.0 45.0 11.5
KF40-6 82.0 101.7 9.9 26.3 39.4 12.2
max
: peakloaddeflection; s
max
: slipat peakload.
RF55-6carriedthelowest ultimatebendingmoment
atmid-span, duetothefactthatthisprofiledeveloped
thelowest longitudinal shear-bondstressat failure, as
showninFig. 10anddiscussedsubsequently.
At failure, significant endslipwas observedinall
slabs, asindicatedinTable3, withamaximumvalueof
18.9mminKF70-6. Graphsof endslips (mm) versus
appliedloadP areshowninFig. 11.
Thetensilestrainsinsteel sheetingatmid-spanver-
sus applied load for each slab areshown in Fig. 12.
The respective minimum and maximum values of
steel strainat failureare
s
=922() for KF57-4and
s
=1722() for KF70-6(i.e. only 34%and63%of
theyieldstrainof thedeck, respectively. Clearly, the
loss of longitudinal shear bondinall slabs prevented
thesteel inthedeckfromyieldingandthefull plastic
flexural capacitycouldnot bereached.
Figure10. Shear bondstressvsslip.
Figure11. Appliedloadvsslip.
Figure12. Strainat bottomof steel deckingat mid-span.
Fig. 13shows slabKF70-4after reachingits peak
load and Fig. 14 shows the large slip that occurred
between the deck and the concrete at the supports
duringthetest of KF70-4(s
max
=13.2mm).
5 BOND-SLIP EVALUATION
Numerical calculations are carried out to determine
thevalueof ultimateshear stress (
u1
) andwithcon-
sideration of theeffect of support reactions (
u2
) by
using Eqs. 3 and 4 and themethod discussed previ-
ouslyinSection2.TheresultsareshowninTable4.The
273
Figure13. Final deflectedshapeof ST-KF70-4.
Figure14. Final endslipof ST-KF70-4.
Table4. Shear bondstressvalues.
V
u
N
cf

u1

u2

u3
Slab (kN) (kN) (MPa) (MPa) (MPa)
KF57-4 44.7 0.275
KF57-6 0.41 70.3 269.5 0.390 0.339 0.355
RF55-4 0.21 33.8 143.0 0.147 0.130 0.173
RF55-6 0.22 48.6 149.8 0.217 0.182 0.240
KF70-4 0.26 39.7 157.3 0.180 0.157 0.169
KF70-6 0.22 53.2 133.1 0.216 0.173 0.232
KF40-4 36.0 0.185
KF40-6 0.31 55.9 170.5 0.256 0.214 0.287
self-weightof eachslabisincludedinthecalculation.
Thebond-sliprelationshipfor eachslabisdetermined
usingtheForceEquilibriumMethod andplottedin
Fig. 10. Themaximumvalueof theshear stressatany
point (
u3
) for eachslabisincludedinTable4.
Sincethelongitudinal shearfailuremodeinKF57-4
andKF40-4wasbrittle, partial shearconnectionisnot
employedfor theseslabsandonly thevaluesof (
u3
)
are shown in Table 4. In the other slabs, where the
values of
u1
,
u2
and
u3
arepresented, avery good
agreement can be seen between the values obtained
fromtwothedifferent methods.
6 CONCLUDINGREMARKS
Theresultsof short termloadteststofailureof eight
compositeslabsconstructedusingfour differenttypes
of profiledsteel deckingarepresentedanddiscussed.
Theslabsweretestedinfour-pointbendingwithshear
spansof either L/4or L/6. Thebond-sliprelationship
of each slab is presented, together with a compari-
son of themaximumvalues of thebond-shear stress
calculatedusingtwodifferent methods.
Significant post-crackingbendingmoment capac-
ity in all slabs was achieved, but for all slabs the
maximumflexural capacitywasnot developeddueto
longitudinal shear-bondfailure.
Re-entrantdeckprofiletypeKF57showedthehigh-
estvaluesof ultimatebond-shearstress(
u
)anddegree
of shearconnection(), whiletheotherre-entrantdeck
profiletypeRF55 had thelowest longitudinal bond-
shear stress capacity, together with thelowest maxi-
mumbendingmoment(M
max
)andthelowestdegreeof
shear connectiondespitehavingthehighest steel per-
centage. Theultimatebond-shear stress(
u
) for each
typeof slabtestedat shear spanof (L/6) was greater
thanthat obtainedwhentheshear spanwas(L/4).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
support of theAustralian Research Council through
FieldersAustraliaPL andPrestressedConcreteDesign
Consultants (PCDC). This support is gratefully
acknowledged.
REFERENCES
ENV 1994-1-2, Eurocode4: Designof CompositeSteel and
Concrete Structures, Part 1.1 General rules, European
Committeefor Standardization(ECS), Brussels, 1994.
Abdullah, R. &Easterling, W. S. (2009). Newevaluationand
modelingprocedurefor horizontal shear bondincompos-
iteslabs. J ournal of Constructional Steel Research, 65(4):
891899.
An, L. (1993). LoadBearingCapacityandBehavior of Com-
positeSlabswithProfiledSteel Sheet. PhDDissertation,
ChalmersUniversityof Technology, Sweden.
Stark, J. (1978). Designof CompositeFloors withProfiled
Steel Sheet. Proc. 4th Intl. Specialty Conf. on Cold-
Formed Steel Structures, Univ of Missouri-Rolla, Mo.,
893992.
Oehlers, D. J. and Bradford, M.A. (1995). Composite
Steel and Concrete Structural Members Fundamental
Behaviour. Pergamon, Oxford, UK, 1995.
J ohnson, R.P. (2004). Composite Structures of Steel and
Concrete. 3rdEd., Oxford, Blackwell ScientificPubs.
Attard, M. and Poh, W. (1993). Calculating the Load-
Deflection Behavior of Simply-Supported Composite
Slabs withInterfaceSlip. J ournal of EngineeringStruc-
tures, 15(5): 359367.
Porter, M. and Ekberg, C. (1975). Design Recommenda-
tions for Steel Deck Floor Slabs. Proc. 3rdInternational
Specialty Conferenceon Cold-Formed Steel Structures,
Universityof Missouri-Rolla, pp. 761791.
Porter, M. andEkberg, C. (1976). DesignRecommendations
forSteel DeckFloorSlabs.ASCEJ ournal of theStructural
Division, V102: 21212136.
FieldersAustraliaPty Ltd. FieldersKingFlor DesignMan-
ual 2ndEdition, 2008.
274
Evaluationof mechanical propertiesof carpet fibrereinforcedconcrete
N. Ghosni, B. Samali & K. Vessalas
ABSTRACT: Incorporatingsuitablematerial inconcretetoimproveitsperformanceisanimportant consid-
erationintheconstructionindustry. Usingshort fibresasanadditivetoimproveitsmechanical propertieshas
been of great attention. Different types of fibres can beused as intrinsic reinforcement to enhanceconcrete
performance. Someof thefibresusedinconcretearerecycledwastematerialssuchascarpet fibres. Thispaper
aimstoinvestigatethestaticpropertiesof fibrereinforcedconcrete(FRC) utilisingshortcarpetfibresshredded
andpreparedfromthecarpet industry waste. Thereafter, theeconomic considerations regardinguseof carpet
fibresinconcretearediscussed. Therehavenot beenanycomprehensivestudiesontheeffectivenessof carpet
fibres in concrete, whereas thereis amorecomprehensiveliteratureavailablefor other types of fibres such
as steel fibres. The effect of adding recycled carpet fibres on the strength development of FRC have been
studiedandtheresults arecomparedtocontrol concrete. Freshproperties i.e. slump, air content andwet den-
sity and hardened properties i.e. compressivestrength and modulus of ruptureafter 7 and 28 days of ageing
arereported.
1 INTRODUCTION
Carpets are reported to be one of the major waste
materials intheworld, approximatedabout 2million
tonnes in US in 1996 which is equivalent to 2%by
volumeof all solidwaste(Vilkner etal., 2004). Using
fibres in concrete can be a positive contribution to
landfill challengesandenvironmental problems. This
approachcanbebeneficial duetothefactthatconcrete
isalargeindustry. Inthisproject30%of cementisalso
replacedbyFlyash(FA) totargetamoreenvironmen-
tally friendly concrete. To date, therehavebeen few
studiesonthemechanical propertiesanddurabilityof
concreteusingcarpet fibres.
Generally, carpetconsistsof differentlayersnamely
apolypropylene(PP) meshandnylonor PP asyarns.
In order to attach different parts of carpet together,
usuallylatexisusedasfiller. Inthisprojecttheshred-
ded carpet fibre is the type containing PP as yarns.
ThereareresearchworksalsoavailableonaddingPP
fibres aloneor latex to concretein order to improve
themechanical propertiesaswell asother characteris-
ticssuchasshrinkageandductility. Latexisgenerally
addedas liquidor powder. Althoughthelatex incar-
pet issolidifiedbeforehandbut it maystill havesome
effects on the performance of mixture. By adding
carpet fibres into concrete, these two materials are
addedindirectlywhicharelikelytohelpwithimprov-
ing the mechanical properties of concrete. One of
themajor issues associatedwithuseof carpet fibres
in concrete is the dust and impurities present while
carpet isbeingshreddedandconvertedtofibressuit-
able for construction industry. This may introduce
someuncertaintyinresultswhichhasbeenaddressed
(Meyer et al., 2002).
There have been investigations on using carpet
fibre for concrete and soil reinforcement. Several
researchershaveinvestigatedmechanical propertiesof
carpetfibrereinforcedconcrete. Differentamountsof
fibre have been added to concrete in order to eval-
uate concrete performance. Up to 4% of fibre has
been generally used, most of the studies concluded
thataddingcarpetfibretoconcretehelpswithimprov-
ingtoughness(Wuet al., 1996, Naamanet al., 1996).
One of the most important characteristics of con-
crete is the compressive strength. In the science of
fibrereinforcedconcrete, generally theaimis not to
improve the compressive strength but to help with
othermechanical properties,shrinkageorductilityand
dampingandat thesametimemaintainthecompres-
sive strength of FRC. It has been shown that using
fibres can improvethetensilebehaviour of concrete
(Polket al., 1994).
Backgroundreviewof thefreshpropertiesshowthat
at a constant water/cement ratio of 0.34, by adding
carpetfibrestothemix, workabilitydecreases(Meyer
et al., 2002). Inastudy, two types of carpet fibre(3
to 25mmand 1225mmlong) have been added to
concreteasintrinsicreinforcement (Polk et al., 1994)
by 1%and2%volumefraction. 28dayscompressive
strengthshowedtobelowerthanthatof plainconcrete
butFRCshadgoodpostpeakbehaviour comparingto
thecontrol. With regards to theflexural strength, no
significantdifferencewasobservedandresultsshowed
approximatelysameresultstotheconventional mix. In
this research, it has been considered that a building
275
with 11,150m
2
of area has been constructed using
carpet fibrereinforcedconcrete.
2 RESEARCHSIGNIFICANCE
Environmentalists are always looking for ways to
reducetheamount of landfill andhelpwithrecycling
of wastematerials. Carpets areamong thematerials
which its post-consumer waste is disposed of world
widely. Fromamong different approaches to reduce
thelandfill andits relatedcosts, is utilisationof car-
pet waste in construction industry. This is achieved
by shredding carpet into short fibres to beadded to
concretemix. This approachnot only helps theenvi-
ronment, but canalsoimprovepropertiesof concrete
matrix. As explainedin theprevious section, studies
show that by adding carpet fibreto concretemix, it
is possibleto improvethebehaviour of thestructure
under loadingconditionsandduringitsservicelife.
Ontheother hand, engineersandscientistsarecon-
stantlylookingforwaystoimproveconcretebehaviour
especially in flexure and tension. It has been for
decades that different types of fibres are added to
concrete to improve its mechanical properties. Car-
pet fibres are one of the candidates which can help
with improving theperformanceof concretematrix.
Thisisduetothefactthatcarpetfibresgenerallycon-
tainmaterialssuchasPolypropylene, nylonandlatex
which are known to improve concrete performance
(Mindess andVondran, 1988, Bei-Xing et al., 2004,
Mindess, 2007a).Theaimof thisprojectistostudythe
mechanical performanceof concretereinforcedwith
microcarpetfibres.Freshandhardenedpropertieswill
be investigated to find how fibres contribute to the
performanceof themix.
Performanceof carpet FRC incorporating1%byvol-
umefractioniscomparedtotheperformanceof plain
concrete. In order to evaluate the mechanical prop-
erties, cylinders and small rectangular prisms are
mouldedandcuredtoassessthecompressivestrength,
indirect tensilestrength and modulus of rupturefol-
lowingtherelevant Standards. It isworthmentioning
that results presented in this research paper are the
averagedvaluesandarerepresentativeof compiledtest
results.
3.1 Materials
Therawmaterialsusedtopreparetheconcretemixare
explained in this section. Two types of cementitious
materials areused in this project. Shrinkagelimited
Portland cement (PC) with a typical fineness index
from310 to 370m
2
/kg is used by 70%and Fly ash
(FA) class F by 30%. Replacement of PC with FA
is to produce a more environmentally friendly con-
crete. Inaddition, Coarseandfineaggregates, water,
Table1. Mixdesignandproportions.
Components PL1 PL2 CF
PC (kg/m
3
) 430 301 301
FA (kg/m
3
) 129 129
Fineaggregate(kg/m
3
) 635 635 635
10mmcoarseaggregate(kg/m
3
) 390 390 390
20mmcoarseaggregate(kg/m
3
) 700 700 700
Fibre(V
f
) % 1
Water (kg/m
3
) 150.5 150.5 150.5
2mmcarpetfibresandhighrangewaterreduceragent
(HWR) to control the workability of the mix were
used. Water/cement ratioof themixwasfixedat 0.35
and a target slump of 8020 to follow the indus-
trial needsof theconcreteproductionwasconsidered.
Aggregategrading observed theAustralian Standard
requirements. Theproportionof thematerialsusedin
themixisdetailedinTable1.
Water usedfor concretemix was thedrinkingtap
water conditionedto (232
C). Knowingthewater
absorption of the aggregates, moisture content has
beenmeasuredonthemixingdays to adjust themix
water content.
3.2 Mix components
A typical 80litreconcretemixerwitharevolvingdrum
wasusedtomixtheconcretecomponents. Mixingre-
dientamountshavebeenadjustedtofitthedrummixer
used. Inordertobeabletofixandadjustfibrecontent,
theexactvolumedensityof thefibreswereneeded.To
confirmthevolumedensity of thefibresusedinthis
project, thisvaluehasbeenmeasuredusingexactlabo-
ratoryfacilitiesandscales. Fixedamountsof fibresin
high, mediumandlowvolumes havebeenmeasured
threetimes each to confirmthevalues. Thevolume
density of the carpet fibre used in this project was
measured to be 1020g/lit. Therefore, the amount of
fibreto beadded to concretewould be815g for 80
litremix. All other mix proportionswerepreparedto
make12cylindrical (100mmby200mm) and9rect-
angular prisms to beusedinthis project. Therest of
themixconcretewassparedtofulfil therequirements
of another study.
3.3 Mixing procedure
Formtheliterature, it hasbeendeterminedthat when
fibres are added to the concrete mix, a proper mix-
ing sequencemust beadopted to help uniformfibre
dispersion. Although fibres are randomly dispersed,
they should be present in all parts of the mix by a
ratherequal percentage.Therearedifferentprocedures
availabletoprepareandmixFRCs(Mindess, 2007b).
To respect the mixing sequence used in AS 1012.2
is adoptedandmodifiedto meet therequirements of
FRC. A standardprocedureis suggested: mixingfor
276
2 minutes, resting for 2 minutes, mixing for 2 min-
utes then stopping and measuring the slump within
3minutes. Inorder to ensureof thefibredispersion,
themixingtimewasincreasedto3minutesreplacing
each 2 minute mixing periods. For the conventional
concrete, theoriginal mixingprocedurewas usedby
initial additionof theaggregatesandmixingthereafter
water andcementitiousmaterialswereaddedtogether
with any other additives. For the FRC, fibres were
firstlymixedwiththefineaggregatesandafter wards
thecoarseaggregatesweremixedwiththefineaggre-
gatesandfibres. Later, cement, flyashandwater were
introduced.
Asmentionedbefore, HWRwasusedinthisproject
to fix the workability of the mix, enhancing the
water/cementratio.Afteraddingall theingredientsand
mixingfor theappropriateduration, slumpwasmea-
sured. If slump was deemed desirable, placing will
start after mass per unit volume and air content is
measured. A vibrating table was used to vibrate the
concrete moulds for a proper compaction. Prepared
moulded concrete is then levelled and surfaced and
remainedinthemouldfor 24hoursand48hoursfor
cylindrical andrectangular samples, respectively. For
each test at different ages a minimumof 3 samples
werepreparedandtested. After demoulding, samples
werekept inlimesaturatedwater tank maintainedin
laboratorycontrolledtemperature.
TestswereconductedaccordingtorelevantAustralian
standards. WhereAS does not support FRC testings,
Americanstandardsweresubstituted. Slump, air con-
tent and mass per unit volume were measured to
assess the fresh properties of concrete according to
AS 1012.3.1, AS 1012.4.2andAS 1012.5. Hardened
concrete behaviour was measured using Australian
andAmericanstandardsnamely; uniaxial compressive
test, indirecttensile(Brazil) testandFlexural bending
test(AS1012.9,AS1012.10,AS1012.8.2andASTM
C 1609)
Compressive strength test was carried out after 7
and 28 days using a universal testing machine and
flexural strength testing (4-point load test), after 28
daysof ageing, for computingthemodulusof rupture
(MOR). ForMORtest, auniversal testingmachinehas
been used to test 100100350mmprisms under
flexural load. LVDTs havebeen used to monitor the
deflectionof thesamplesunder loadingcondition.
4.1 Fresh properties
As mentioned in section 3.3, slump, mass per unit
volume and air content were tested to evaluate the
freshproperties of concrete, theresults of whichare
presentedinTable2.
Results show that by replacing 30% of PC with
FA workability of themix increases as less HWR is
Table2. Freshproperties.
Slump HWR AC Volumedensity
MixID W/C (mm) (ml) (%) (kg/m
3
)
PL1 0.35 8020 105 0.8 2510
PL2 0.35 8020 80 1 2450
CF 0.35 8020 93 1.2 2432
neededtoget tothedesiredslump. However byintro-
ducingcarpet fibresintothemix, workabilityslightly
decreases. Although fibre percentage is rather high,
less HWR than expected was required, which might
be due to the short length of fibres not preventing
the mix to flow. Introducing fibres to the mix also
increasestheamount of air entrappedinthemixture.
Air bubbles areto beintroduced as aresult of fibre
Interfacial Transition Zone (ITZ) with paste. With
regardstovolumedensity, yetagainpresenceof fibres
decreasedthemass per unit volumeof themix. This
is owing to the lighter nature of fibres compared to
concretemix.
4.2 Hardened properties
Hardened properties of Carpet FRC are shown in
Table3. By replacing30%of PC withFA, early age
compressivestrengthdecreasesbutduetothenatureof
Flyashinconcrete, inlaterages, theultimatecompres-
sivestrength will beimproved. Addingcarpet fibres
to themix design, in7days, compressivestrengthis
slightlylowerthanthecontrol concretebutasconcrete
agesthestrengthdifferencedecreaseswherein28days
almostequal strengthvaluesareobserved.Asthetrend
shows, in later ages, thecompressivestrength of the
fibre reinforced concrete might reach higher values
thanthecontrol mix.
Comparing the results of indirect tensile tests,
adding FA does not affect thestrength in both early
andlater ages, whereas addingcarpet fibres increase
indirecttensiletestresultsby20%. Thishasalsobeen
investigated and concluded by other researchers as
well (Wang, 1999). Regarding flexural strength, an
increasingtrendisalsoobserved.
ComparingtheFRC tocontrol concrete, infly ash
concrete, theflexural strength has decreased both in
7and28days, however, whenfibresareaddedtothe
mix, flexural strengthincreasedby7%.
Inorder tocomprehensivelyevaluatethebehaviour
of carpet fibres in concretemix, toughness has also
beencalculated.Thisvalueisimportantasconcretehas
lowtoughness valueandenergy absorptioncapacity.
By improving toughness of concretewecan achieve
higher performance, especially in case of dynamic
loading on structures. Adding short fibres at 0.5 to
2% by volume of mix, is stated to effectively help
withimprovingtoughness of concrete(Wang, 2006).
It has beenconcludedthat fibres couldhelpimprov-
ingtheflexural strengthandtensilestrengthof FRC.
The bridging effect of the fibres can prevent crack
277
Table3. Hardenedconcreteproperties.
7daysCompressive 28daysCompressive 7daysIndirect 28daysIndirect 14daysFlexural 28daysFlexural
MixID strength(MPa) strength(MPa) tensile(MPa) tensile(MPa) strength(MPa) strength(MPa)
PL1 61.0 73.0 3.9 4.5 5.1 6.9
PL2 46.0 57.5 3.9 4.6 4.5 5.8
CF 42.5 56.0 4.7 5.5 4.9 6.2
propagationandopeningsresultinginamoreductile
behaviour.
Investigations on carpet fibrereinforced concrete
toughness evaluation, mainly involved using ASTM
C1018-97 which has now been withdrawn. In Aus-
tralian standards thereis no codedefined for tough-
nessevaluationof fibrereinforcedconcrete, therefore
ASTM C 1609was adoptedtoevaluatetoughness of
carpet FRC in this research. According to the men-
tionedstandard, theareaunder thefull loaddeflection
curve up to L/150 of the span length is considered
thetoughness(presentedinJ oules). Asthemaximum
deflectionforthecontrol concreteandfibrereinforced
concrete in this research do not reach L/150 which
equals to 2mm, in order to be able to give an indi-
cationof howmuchfibrehashelpedwiththeenergy
absorption, toughnesswill becalculatedusingthepick
strengthanddeflection. Theareaunder thecurveup
totheultimatestrengthafter 28daysisconsideredas
toughnesspresentedinJ ules.Toughnessvalues(T) are
measuredasbelow.
As stated before, at 28 days the flexural strength
hasincreasedbyabout7%whereasfromaboveresults
theenergy absorptionat thepeak loadhas increased
by 35%whichis about 5times more. It canbecon-
cludedthatalthoughaddingfibrecanslightlyhelpwith
improvingtheultimatestrength, itcanhighlyimprove
energyabsorptionof concrete.
5 ECONOMICAL CONSIDERATION
Wasteisgenerally definedasany material that isnot
of useanymoreand should bediscarded. Thewaste
yearlyproducedhasaconsiderablenegativeeffect on
theenvironment andgovernmentsandauthoritiesare
concernedabout managingthepost-consumer issues.
Waste disposal is harmful not only for the environ-
mentbutalsoforhumanhealth. Oneof theapproaches
to discard waste products is landfill which is the
main wastedisposal method inAustralia (Caulfield,
2009). Carpet isconsideredamongtheindustrial tex-
tile waste produced fromcommercial and industrial
applications.
5.1 Landfill and carpet waste
Landfill costsnot onlyincludethespacewherewaste
materials are dumped but also some other relevant
costs as well. Thesecosts canbecategorisedas: site
establishment anddevelopment, landfill, replacement
and other expenses such as management planning,
rehabilitation and maintenance (Hyder-Consulting,
2006). Fromareport of theDepartment of theEnvi-
ronment, Water, HeritageandtheArts (BDA-Group,
2009), averagecostsfor amediumurbanlandfill can
betakenas$61.5per tonnesof waste, injust oneyear
intheUSA.
FromareportreleasedbyCarpetAmericaRecovery
Report(CARE, 2011) about2milliontonnesof carpet
has been discarded in 2011. Fromthis amount only
7%isdivertedfromlandfill andabout5%isreusedor
recycled. Therefore, approximately88%of thecarpet
wastestill requires landfill whichis about 1,760,000
tonnes. Relating to theaveragelandfill costs, atotal
of $108millionshouldbespentfor thepost-consumer
landfill of carpet waste.
5.2 Carpet fibre in concrete
Inthisresearchithasbeenshownthatbyadding1%by
volumeof carpetfibreintoconcrete, notonlyconcrete
strengthcanbeenhanced, but alsoitsenergy absorp-
tioncapacitycanincrease. Consequently, wastecarpet
cansafelybeaddedtoconcreteasintrinsicreinforce-
ments. Theonly concernmight betheshreddingand
preparationcost. Accordingtocommercial investiga-
tions, thetotal cost may vary from$5$10per tonne
(these costs are gathered formdifferent Australiana
andnon-Australiancompanies).
A 60 storey building is taken as an e example to
calculatethecostsandbenefitsof addingcarpetfibres
intoconcrete. Thisbuildingisa240mtall reinforced
concretewitharectangularfloorplanwithdimensions
of 24mby72m. Theweight of thereferencebuilding
is calculatedat about 54,600tonnes whichequals to
21,840m
3
of volume. Theamountof fibreusedis1%
per cubic metre, which equals to 10.2kg; therefore,
theamount of fibretaken fromlandfill and put into
theexamplebuildingwill be223tonnes.
Thismuchfibrecanhelpsavingof $12millioncon-
sideringfibrepreparationcostsat anaverageof $7.5.
Accordingly, if eachyearconcretestructurestrytoadd
carpet fibres into their mixes, landfill challengefor
thecarpet wastematerial canbesolved.
278
Generally, it is concluded that by adding 1% by
volumefractionof carpet fibres tothemix, mechan-
ical properties canbeenhancedandimprovedwhich
makes carpet fibres alegitimatepick to beadded to
concrete:
1. Addingcarpet fibres into themix, slightly affects
the fresh properties of concrete. Workability
decreasestosomeextentandair contentsomewhat
increases.Volumedensityof themixalsodecreases
byintroducingfibrestothemix.
2. Compressivestrengthof concretedecreasesimper-
ceptibly andinlater ages it is almost equal to the
referenceconcrete.
3. Indirect tensile and flexural strength of FRC has
contributedtothestrengthof thecontrol mix.
4. Results indicatethat presenceof 1%carpet fibre
in the mix design highly improves the energy
absorptioncapacityof concrete.
5. Usingcarpet fibreinconcretemix not only helps
withimprovingsomeof themechanical properties
but also cannoticeably resolvetheenvironmental
issuesandlandfill challenges.
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(2004) Themechanical propertiesof polypropylenefibre
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Wang, Y. (1999) Utilizationof recycledcarpet wastefibers
for reinforcement of concreteandsoil. Polymer-Plastics
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Wang,Y. (2006) Utilizationof RecycledCarpetWasteFibres
for Reinforcement of Concrete and Soil. Recycling of
Textiles. Cambridge, UK, WoodheadPublishingLtd.
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279
Bondfailureingroutedpost-tensionedslabtendons
withlittleor noinitial prestress
R.I. Gilbert
Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: After groutingtheductsinalargebandbeamandone-wayslabpost-tensionedfloor system(in
excessof 1.5squarekilometersinplan), doubtsaroseconcerningthelevel of initial prestressandthestrength
andserviceability of theslabs was questioned. To assess thestrengthof theslabs, it was assumed, as aworst
casescenario, that somespans may havebeenconstructedwithzero initial prestress. Loadtests onprototype
specimens, withsimilar dimensions andreinforcement quantities as thefloor slabs, wereperformedto assess
thestressdevelopment ininitiallyunstressed, but fullygrouted, tendons. Unexpectedbondfailuresoccurredat
thejunctionsof slabandbandbeamwheretheabruptchangeinsectiondepthcausedasuddenchangeintendon
stress. Themaximumstressthat wasdevelopedintheinitially unstressedtendonsat theselocationswasabout
60%of thestrengthof thetendons.
1 INTRODUCTION
Problems were encountered recently with the post-
tensioning installation in the floor slabs of a large
shopping mall constructed in the Middle East. The
floors consistedof over 1.5millionsquaremetres of
continuous, post-tensioned, one-way slabs supported
ontransverselyspanningbandbeams.
Soon after construction, doubts arose concerning
thelevel of prestress intheslabs andquestions were
askedconcerningthestrengthandserviceabilityof the
slabsinregionswherethelevel of initial prestressmay
havebeenlessthanthat specified. For thepurposeof
assessingthestrengthof theslabs, it wasassumed, as
aworst casescenario, that somespansmayhavebeen
constructedwithzeroprestressinthetendons.
Two series of load tests were carried out on site.
Eight full-scaleconcreteslabspecimens (2.0mwide
and 6.0m long) reinforced with a combination of
conventional deformed reinforcing bar and grouted
strands were tested. The specimen dimensions, con-
crete properties, reinforcement types, reinforcement
quantities and locations, duct type, tendon type and
tendon profile were similar to (or where possible,
identical to) theas-built floor slabs.
In each specimen, the tendons consisted of two
post-tensioningducts, each containingfour 12.7mm
diameter strands. The ducts were fully grouted 28
days prior to testing. The initial prestressing force
in each strand was zero, i.e. the bonded strand was
initially unstressedandthus actedas non-prestressed
reinforcement throughout thetest.
Eachspecimenwas subjectedto increasingdefor-
mationtofailureandtheload-deflectionresponsewas
measured electronically from first loading through
to thepeak load and then beyond into thepost-peak
unloadingregion. Slipof thestrandat theendof each
specimen was also measured. Tests were also con-
ductedoncompanionspecimenstodeterminerelevant
material properties.
Thepurposeof thetests was to assess thetensile
stress that develops in the initially unstressed post-
tensioningstrandat thecritical sectionat peak loads.
Asthestrandswereinitiallyunstressed, thestressthat
developed in the strand under increasing load was
entirelyduetobondviatheconcrete-duct, duct-grout
andgrout-strandinterfaces.
2 BACKGROUND
Themaximumstress that canbedevelopedinapre-
stressingstrandgroutedinsideapost-tensioningduct
inasituationwheretheinitial prestressingforceiszero
depends on: (i) thedevelopment length availablefor
thestrandat thesectionunder consideration; (ii) the
qualityof bondbetweenthestrandandthegrout; (iii)
the slip that might take place between the duct and
either thegroutinsidetheductor theconcreteoutside
theduct; and(iv) thedeformationthat developsat the
level of thestrandduetotheimposedactions. Item(iv)
canbedeterminedfromfirstprinciplesbasedonstrain
compatibilityandtherequirementsof equilibrium.
AS3600-2009specifiesthattheminimumdevelop-
ment lengthfor untensioned12.7mmdiameter strand
is
d
=150d
b
=1900mm.
ACI 318-08specifiesinClause12.9that themini-
mumembedmentlengthrequiredtodevelopastressof
f
ps
oneachsideof thecritical sectioninapretensioned
membersmaybetakenas
281
wheref
se
=theeffectiveprestressinstrand(inMPa);
f
ps
=is the stress in the strand when the nominal
strengthis reached(MPa); andd
b
=thenominal dia.
of the strand. In the case of strand with zero initial
prestress(f
se
=0), thefirst terminEq. (1) disappears
andthedevelopmentlengthistheflexural bondlength
givenby
d
=(f
ps
/7)d
b
.
Clearly, Eq. (1) was never intended to beapplied
to asituationwheretheeffectiveprestress is zero. It
does not account for many of the factors that affect
thedevelopment length, includingtheconcretequal-
ity, thecover, thespacingbetweenwiresandconcrete
confinement and so on. Little guidance is available
for estimatingor checkingthedevelopment lengthof
astrand in agrouted duct. For unstressed, deformed
wireinnormal weight concrete, ACI318-08suggests
inClause12.2.2that thedevelopment lengthmay be
takenas
For 12.7mm diameter wire with f
y
=1800MPa
in concrete with f

c
=60MPa, although not strictly
applicable, Eq. (2) gives
d
=2100mm.
If the specified tensile yield strength f
py
is to be
developed in an initially untensioned strand at any
cross-section,theimposedactionsmustcauseachange
instraininthesteel sufficient togeneratef
py
andthe
steel strand must be anchored on either side of the
cross-sectionbyalengthinexcessof thedevelopment
length.
Embedmentlengthof thestrandsintheactual floor
slabsintheMiddleEast shoppingmall oneither side
of the critical positive moment region at mid-span
andthecritical negativemoment regionsat theinter-
nal supports were in excess of the requirements of
AS3600-2009andACI-318. However, becauseof the
uncertainnatureof thebondconditionsintheductsin
theseslabs, itwasdecidedtoexplorethisaspectmore
thoroughlybytesting.
3 TESTINGPROGRAM
3.1 Series 1
Inthefirst test series, threeone-way slabspecimens
(S1toS3) wereconstructedandtested.Thespecimens
containedthesamenon-prestressedreinforcementand
thesameprestressingsteel andductingaswasusedin
theas-built floors and thesameconcretewas speci-
fied. The grout materials and mix proportions were
also similar to that usedintheslabs intheshopping
mall. Eachspecimenwassubjectedtothesamecuring
regimeaswasappliedtotheactual floorsandall were
testedonthesameday 28daysafter groutingof the
ducts.
SpecimensS1andS2weretestedinpositivebend-
ingover asimply-supportedspanof 5.6m, as shown
inFig. 1a. Thespecimenswereprismaticandof rect-
angular section. S1 was 2000mmwideand 250mm
deep(thesamethicknessasatypical exterior spanof
theactual slabsintheshoppingmall). Itcontainedthe
samereinforcement as theactual slabs andasimilar
prestressingstrandlayout. SpecimenS2was2000mm
wide, 200mmthick and it was the same thickness
andcontainedthesamereinforcement andprestress-
ingstrandlayout as thepositivemoment regionof a
typical interior span. Each specimen contained two
fully-groutedducts, withfour 12.7mmdiameter pre-
stressing strands in each duct all with zero initial
prestress. Anelevationandcross-sectionat mid-span
of slabs S1 and S2 and theloading arrangement are
showninFig. 1.
Totestbehaviorof theslabsinthenegativemoment
regionsover thebandbeams, anadditional specimen
S3wastestedinSeries1. SpecimenS3was6mlong
2000mmwideand with a depth of 200mmat each
endof thespecimenand450mminthecentral 2.1m
of thespecimen. S3containedthesamereinforcement
andprestressingstrandlayoutasthenegativemoment
regionof atypical interior supportregionof theshop-
pingmall slabs.Detailsof specimenS3andtheloading
arrangement areshowninFig. 2. Thespecimencon-
tained two grouted ducts, with each duct containing
four 12.7mmdiameter strands. Thelevel of prestress
inall strandswaszero.
3.2 Series 2
A local bondfailureoccurredinSpecimenS3at the
junction of theslab and theband beamwherethere
isanabrupt changeinthesectiondepthandasudden
changeinthetendonstress.Atthecritical sectionA-A
Figure 1. Elevation and cross-section of test specimen
S1& S2.
282
inFig. 2a, slipoccurslocallybetweenthestrandsand
thegroutandstraininthetendonislessthanthestrain
intheadjacent concrete.
As a consequence of this observation, a second
series of tests on specimens similar to S3 was con-
ducted in order to provide confidence in the level
of stress that may reasonably beassumedto develop
in the strand at the critical negative moment region
adjacent totheband. Fiveadditional specimens were
constructed, threewithidentical dimensionsandrein-
forcement to S3 (see Fig. 2) and two with identical
dimensions to S3, but with heavier amounts of con-
ventional reinforcement. Theseadditional specimens
werelabeledS3A, S3B, S3C, S4A andS4B.Theload-
ingarrangement for eachspecimenwas as shownin
Fig. 2.
The conventional reinforcement details for all
specimens(Series1& 2) aregiveninTable1.
3.3 Test set-up and loading frame
Thespecimensweretestedon-siteinaspecially con-
structed testing frame (shown in Fig. 3). The load
wasappliedbyanhydraulicjackof capacity1000kN
Figure2. Elevationandcross-sectionof test specimenS3.
Table1. Conventional reinforcement details.
Topreinforcement Bottomreinforcement
Specimen Longitudinal Transverse Longitudinal Transverse
S1 6mmsquaremesh(200mmctrs) 25mmcover 13 T1225mmcover T10@150mm
37mmcover
S2 6mmsquaremesh(200mmctrs) 25mmcover 11 T1025mmcover T10@200mm
35mmcover
S3(S3A, S3B, S3C) 11 T10+6mm T10@200+6mmmesh 11 T1025mmcover T10@200mm
mesh50mmcover 60mmcover 35mmcover
S4A (S4B) 20 T12+6mm T12@150+6mmmesh 11 T1025mmcover T10@150mm
mesh50mmcover 62mmcover 35mmcover
Notes: T10(T12) aredeformedbarsof 10mm(12mm) diam.
anddistributedto thespecimenusinganappropriate
spreaderbeamarrangement.Theloadswereappliedto
thetopsurfaceof eachspecimenateachloadingpoint
asalineloadacrossthefull 2mwidthof eachspeci-
men. Eachtestspecimenandeachspreader beamwas
simply-supported, withrotationpermittedatbothends
andlongitudinal (horizontal) movement permittedat
oneendonly.
Frame deformations were monitored throughout
thetest toensuremovementswerenot excessive.
4 TEST RESULTS
4.1 Measurements recorded
Initially each specimen was subjected to a small
appliedloadandthenunloaded, toensurethatall mea-
surement transducers and gauges wereworking, and
toensurefull contactatall loadingandsupportpoints.
Eachtest specimenwas thensubjectedto increasing
loadtofailure.Therateof deformationappliedtoeach
specimen was controlled so that an accurate picture
of the load-displacement relationship was obtained
fromfirst loadingtothepeak loadandbeyond. After
thepeak load was reached, each specimen was then
unloaded.
The load applied by the hydraulic jack was mea-
suredusinganaccurately calibratedloadcell andthe
deflection of each specimen (relativeto thereaction
Figure3. SpecimenS2under loadintestingframe.
283
slab) wascontinuouslyrecordedatsixlocationsalong
thespanusinglinear variabledisplacement transduc-
ers (LVDTs). Theslipof thetendons at thefreeends
of each specimen (relativeto theconcreteend face)
was also measured using LVDTs. The deflection of
thecross-heador reactionbeamatthetopof theload-
ingframeat thepoint wherethehydraulicjack reacts
against the cross-head were recorded for each test
and proved to beinsignificant. Thereaction slab on
which the loading frame was mounted can be seen
inFig. 3.
As the load on each specimen was gradually
increased, the position of each crack was recorded.
Fromtimetotime, eachtestwaspausedandtheheight
of each crack was recorded, together with the crack
widthat thesoffit of eachspecimen.
For each slab specimen, companion specimens in
the form of standard 150mm cubes and 150mm
diameter concrete cylinders were constructed and
appropriatelycuredinaccordancewithASTMC31M-
98 and ASTM C 192M-98, as appropriate. At the
time of testing each slab specimen, the companion
specimensweretestedtodeterminetheconcretecom-
pressive strength and the concrete elastic modulus
in accordancewithASTM C 39M-99 andASTM C
469-94.
Testswerealsoconductedonsamplesof theconven-
tional reinforcingbarsandthestrandtomeasureelas-
tic modulus, yield stress (0.2%proof stress), tensile
strength, strainat peakstressandfracturestrain.
4.2 Method of evaluating test results
Eachspecimenwas lightly reinforcedandthetensile
reinforcement yielded well before peak load. From
themeasuredpeak loadandtheknownstrengthsand
stiffness characteristics of theconcreteandthesteel,
thestress in thestrand at thecritical section at peak
loads (just prior to failure) was readily determined
usingonlytheprinciplesof mechanicsandsatisfying
equilibriumandcompatibility.
If thecalculated stress in thestrand exceeded the
0.2%proof stress, thefull designstrengthof thespec-
imenwasdeemedtohavebeenreachedandthestrand
haddevelopedits full strengthviabondbetweenthe
strandandthegrout insidetheduct. If slipoccurred
between the strand and the surrounding concrete,
the full strength of the strand may not have been
developed.
4.3 Specimen S1
Atthetimeof testing,themeasuredmaterial properties
obtainedfromthecompanionspecimenswere:
Meanconcretecompressivestrength, f
cm
=60MPa;
Elasticmodulusof concrete, E
c
=30GPa;
Yieldstressof theconventional steel, f
sy
=575MPa;
Elasticmodulusof conventional steel, E
s
=200GPa;
Ultimatetensilestrengthof strand, f
pu
=2060MPa;
Elasticmodulusof strand, E
p
=198GPa;
Figure 4. Measured vs calculated moment-deflection
curves(S1).
Themeasured mid-span moment versus mid-span
andquarter-spandeflectioncurvesareshowninFig. 4.
Thepeak moment was 456kNm(whichincludedthe
moment caused by the slabs self-weight) when the
mid-span deflection was 128.5mm. No draw-in of
thetendonsat theendsof thespecimenwasrecorded
at anystageduringthetest.
Fromanultimatestrengthanalysis usingthemea-
sured material properties and the requirements of
strain compatibility and equilibrium, the calculated
ultimatemoment at mid-span was 437kNm(c.f. the
measuredmaximumvalueof 456kNm). Perfect bond
was assumed between thestrands and thesurround-
ingconcrete(i.e. it wasassumedthat noslipoccurred
on the strand-grout, grout-duct and duct-concrete
interfaces).
At the calculated ultimate moment, the tendon
stress was
pu
=1820MPa and, with the strain in
the conventional tensile reinforcement well past the
measuredyieldstrain,
st
=f
sy
=575MPa.
Themid-spanmomentvsdeflectioncurvewasalso
calculatedusingE
c
= 30000MPaandthemeanflexu-
ral tensilestrengthof f
ctm
=5.8MPaandisalsoshown
inFig. 4.Yieldingof thereinforcementtookplaceata
moment of 239kNm, whenthetendonstresswasjust
487MPa.Thepostcrackingshort-termdeflectionwas
calculatedaccordingtoEurocode2. Thisapproachis
far moreaccuratefor non-prestressed slabs than the
approachinACI318-08(Refs. 3, 5and6).
4.4 Specimen S2
Thematerial properties for S2 areidentical to those
reported earlier for S1. The measured mid-span
moment vs mid-span deflection curve is shown in
Fig. 5, together with the calculated response (again
according to Eurocode 2). The maximummeasured
mid-span moment was 330kNmat a deflection of
182mm. Nodraw-inof thetendonsat theendsof the
specimenwasrecordedat anystageof thetest.
284
Figure 5. Measured vs calculated moment-deflection
curves(S2).
Figure 6. Measured moment-deflection curve for S3
(Sect. AA).
Usingthemeasuredmaterial propertiesandenforc-
ing strain compatibility and equilibrium, the calcu-
latedultimatemomentatmid-spanwas298kNm(c.f.
the measured 330kNm) and the stresses in the ten-
dons and reinforcement were
pu
=2050MPa and
st
=f
sy
=575MPa. Yielding of the reinforcement
tookplaceatamomentof 131kNmwhenthestressin
thetendonswasjust 484MPa.
Clearly, the measure peak load exceeded the
calculatedvalueandthestrandmust havedeveloped
itsfull tensilestrength.
4.5 Specimen S3
S3 was tested in an inverted position to that shown
in Fig. 2, with self-weight contributing to the peak
moment at the critical section (A-A in Fig. 2). The
measuredmoment versus deflectioncurves for S4at
sectionA-A isshowninFig. 6. Failureoccurredatsec-
tionA-A at thejunctionof the200mmthickslaband
the450mmdeepinterior band. Themomentatfailure
at sectionA-A was 195kNmwhen thedeflection at
thispoint reached80mm.
No slipwas recordedat theends of thespecimen
duringloading.IncontrasttoSpecimensS1andS2,the
Figure7. Measuredmoment-deflectioncurvefor S3, S3A,
S3B andS3C at SectionAA.
strands didnot developtheir full strengthduringthe
loadtests, withthetendonstressatpeakloadreaching
just
pu
=950MPaat SectionA-A.
4.6 Specimens S3A, S3B and S3C
Atthetimeof testing,themeasuredmaterial properties
obtainedfromthecompanionspecimenswere:
f
cm
=53.3MPa; E
c
=46.9GPa; f
sy
=575MPa; E
s
=
200GPa; f
pu
=2060MPa; andE
p
=198GPa.
As for S3, eachspecimenfailedat sectionA-A at
thejunctionof the200mmthickslabandthe450mm
deep interior band. For S3A, M
max
at section A-A
was 219kNmwhen the deflection =83mm. For
S3B, M
max
was 207kNmat =78mmdeflection.
For S3C, M
max
=197kNmat =54mm.
The measured moment vs deflection curves for
S3A, S3B, S3C and S3 at sectionA-A areshown in
Fig. 7. Noslipwasrecordedattheendsof either spec-
imenduringloading. As for S3, thetendons inS3A,
S3B and S3C did not develop their full strength at
SectionA-A, with
pu
=1150MPa(S3A), 1050MPa
(S3B) and960MPa(S3C).
4.7 Specimens S4A and S4B
Atthetimeof testing, f
cm
=59.6MPa; E
c
=47.5GPa;
f
sy
=575MPa; E
s
=200GPa; f
pu
=2060MPa; E
p
=
198GPa.
AsforS3,S3A,S3BandS3C,S4AandS4Bfailedat
thejunctionof the200mmthickslabandthe450mm
deep interior band. For S4A, M
max
=328kNm
when =77mm. For S4B, M
max
=312kNmwhen
=64.5mm. The measured moment vs deflection
curvesfor S4A andS4B at sectionA-A areshownin
Fig. 8. Alsoshownonthesecurvesarethecalculated
tendonstresses at thepeak load, i.e.
pu
=1330MPa
(S4A), 1170MPa(S4B). Noslipwas recordedat the
endsof either specimenat anystageduringloading.
285
Figure 8. Measured moment-deflection curve for S4A
andS4B.
Table2. Strandstressesat SectionAA inFigure2.
Stressintendonat peakloadat
SectionA-A
pu
(MPa) Mean Standard

pu
deviation
S3 S3A S3B S3C S4A S4B (MPa) s (MPa)
950 1150 1050 960 1330 1170 1102 145
Forthesimply-supportedsupportedspecimensS1and
S2 of uniformthickness, no slip occurred between
thestrandsandthesurroundingconcreteat any stage
of loading and the full strength of the tendons was
developed through bond over a development length
of 2600mm from the end of the specimen to the
maximummoment.
For specimensS3, S3A, S3B, S3C4, S4A andS4B,
local bond failure occurred at the junction of the
slabandthebandbeamwherethesuddenchangein
the section depth resulted in a rapid change in the
tendonstressandhighlocal bondstresses. Thedevel-
opment length of the strand from the end of each
specimen to the point of maximummoment was in
excess of 2100mmand, according to AS3600-2009
and ACI318-08, this should have been sufficient to
developayieldstressof about 1800MPa. At thecrit-
ical section, slipoccurredlocallybetweenthestrands
andthegrout andthestraininthesteel waslessthan
thestrainintheadjacentconcrete. Inall of thesespec-
imens, thevalueof
pu
at thepeak loadwasbetween
46% and 65% of the ultimate strength of the steel
tendon.
To provide confidence in the level of stress that
may beassumedto developinthestrandinnegative
momentregionadjacenttotheband,asimplestatistical
analysiswasundertakenontheresultsof thesixrele-
vantspecimens.TheresultsaresummarizedinTable2.
If thesampleisassumedtobenormallydistributed,
thelower characteristic valueof thetendon stress at
theultimateloadis
pu.0.05
=860MPa.
It was suggested, therefore, that the ultimate
strengthof thenegativemoment regionintheslabsat
theedgeof theband beam(wherethesection depth
suddenly increases and the tendons are located in
the top of the slab) may be calculated based on the
requirements of equilibriumandstraincompatibility,
assumingslipdoes occur betweenthestrandandthe
concrete and the maximum tendon stress does not
exceed860MPa.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Eight full-scale concrete slab specimens reinforced
with a combination of conventional deformed rein-
forcing bar and grouted strands (with zero initial
prestress) were tested to assess the stress that could
developintheslabtendonsinthepositiveandnegative
momentregionsof aone-wayslabsupportedonband-
beams. Ineachspecimen, thestrandwasfull-anchored
inaccordancewithAS3600-2009andACI318.08.
For theprismatic specimensof constant depth, the
strandat thecritical sectiondevelopedits full design
strength, with thestress reaching thespecified yield
stressof thestrandasthepeak loadwasapproached.
For thenon-prismaticspecimens, alocal bondfailure
occurred where the slab depth suddenly changed at
theslabandband-beamconnectionandthemaximum
stressthat couldbedevelopedinthestrandwaslittle
morethan50%of itsdesignyieldstrength.
In such situations, where the initial prestressing
forceinthetendonissmall,theassumptionthatthefull
strengthof thetendoncanbeachievedat theultimate
limit statemaynot bereasonable.
REFERENCES
[1] ACI 318M-08. 2008. Building code requirements for
structural concrete and commentary. American Con-
creteInstitute. Detroit.
[2] AS3600-2009. Australian standard for concrete struc-
tures. StandardsAustralia. Sydney.
[3] Bischoff, P.H. (2005). Reevaluation of deflection pre-
diction for concrete beams reinforced with steel and
FRPbars. Journal of Structural Engineering, American
Societyof Civil Engineers(ASCE), 131(5): 752767.
[4] Eurocode 2. 1992. Design of concrete structures Part
1-1: General rules for buildings. DD ENV 1992-1-1.
EuropeanCommitteeforStandardisation(CEN)(1992).
Brussels. L
[5] Gilbert, R.I. 2006. Reevaluationof deflectionpredic-
tion for Concrete Beams Reinforced with Steel and
Fiber Reinforced Polymer Bars, Discussion, Journal
of Structural Engineering, American Society of Civil
Engineers(ASCE), 132(8): 13281330.
[6] Gilbert, R.I. 2007. TensionStiffeninginLightly Rein-
forcedConcreteSlabs. Journal of Structural Engineer-
ing, AmericanSocietyof Civil Engineers(ASCE). 133
(6): 899903.
286
Effect of supportingconditionsonthelong-termloadcapacity
of highstrengthconcretepanels
Y. Huang& E. Hamed
The University of New South Wales, UNSW Sydney, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: Thispaperanalyticallyinvestigatesthecreepbucklingresponseof high-strengthconcretepanels
withfocusontheeffectof supportingconditions. A nonlinear theoretical model thatisbasedonthesolutionsof
equilibriumequationsisdeveloped.Thenonlinearviscoelasticconstitutiverelationof thehigh-strengthconcrete
material in tension is incorporated in themodel through an incremental exponential algorithm. A numerical
study is presented, which quantifies thenonlinear structural responsewith time, andreveals theinfluenceof
different typesof boundaryconditions.
1 INTRODUCTION
The use of high strength concrete (HSC) in various
constructionapplicationshasbeenwidelyacceptedin
thepastfewdecadesduetothepronouncedadvantages
of the material properties compared to conventional
normal strengthconcrete(NSC), suchas its superior
strengthandstiffness,durability,reliability,andlighter
weight construction. In particular, theapplication of
HSCinwall panelshasattractedappreciableattention
(Gupta& Rangan1998).
Vertical high-strengthconcretewall panelsaresub-
jectedtocompressionforcesingeneral,whichincrease
theirsusceptibilitytobucklingfailuresbecauseof their
highslendernessratiocomparedtoNSC panels. This
becomesevenmorecritical wheninitial imperfection
existsor whentheaxial loadisaneccentric one. The
bucklingfailureof HSC panels is suddenandexplo-
siveandis characterizedby crushingandspallingof
the concrete and/or yielding of the steel reinforce-
ment. However, inmost cases, aconsiderableportion
of thetotal load can beclassified as sustained com-
pression load. When this load is combined with the
normal constructioninaccuracies andloadeccentric-
ities that cannot be prevented especially in concrete
construction, the wall undergoes increasing out-of-
planedeflectionwithtimeduetocreep(Tatsa1989).
Thismayconsequentlyleadtolossof stability, aphe-
nomenonusuallyreferredtoascreepbuckling(Hoff
1958, Bockhold& Petryna2008, Hamedet al. 2010).
Alternatively, thecreepdeformations may not neces-
sarily lead to buckling failurebut they may increase
theinternal stressesanddecreasetheresidual strength
of thewall whenadditional loadsaretobeapplied.The
dependenceof thecreepstrainsonthelevel of stresses
that mayvarywithtime, their interactionwithshrink-
ageandthermal strains, andthenonlineargeometrical
and material response, make accurate prediction of
thecreepbehavior of HSC panels achallengingand
difficult task.
Many effortsweredevotedtostudy theshort-term
bucklingbehaviour of concretepanels. However, very
little research appears to have been reported on the
creepbucklingof concretepanelsingeneral andHSC
panels in particular (Tatsa 1989, Gupta & Rangan
1998). Oneof thecritical aspects in thecreepbuck-
lingbehaviour anddesignof HSC panels is thetype
and the stiffness of the structural supporting condi-
tions. This paper aims to investigate the effect of
boundary conditions of thepanel on its creep buck-
lingbehaviour. For that, anonlinear theoretical model
that uses variational principles, equilibriumrequire-
ments and the time-dependent constitutive relations
of the HSC material is developed and presented.
Themodel accountsfor thetime-dependent cracking,
tension-stiffening, creep, shrinkageandthegeometric
nonlinearity.
2 MATHEMATICAL FORMULATION
Thevariational principleof virtual workisusedforthe
formulationof theincremental equilibriumequations
alongwiththeboundary conditionsfollowingHuang
et al. (2011). The sign conventions for the coordi-
nates, loads, anddisplacementsareshowninFigure1.
The time of concern t is subdivided into n
t
discrete
timestepswitht
r
=t
r
t
r1
(r =1, 2, . . . n
t
),andthe
incremental kinematicrelationsread:
287
Figure 1. Panel geometry, loads, coordinates and
displacement.
whereu
0
andw arethelongitudinal displacement and
out-of-plane deflection, and ( ),
x
denotes a deriva-
tive with respect to x. The incremental equilibrium
incremental equationsare:
where N
xx
and M
xx
are the axial force and bend-
ing moment, respectively, q
z
and n
x
are external
distributedloads.
The general boundary conditions at x =0 (i =0)
andx =H (i =H) aregivenby
where u
0
, w and
are external deformations.

=1for x =0and =1for x =H.
A differential-typeformof Boltzmanns principle
of superposition(Baant &Wu1974) isadoptedhere
for modelingthematerial creepresponse. Theconsti-
tutiverelationisderivedinanincremental formusing
thegeneralizedMaxwell model, asshowninFigure2.
For this, the relaxation function is expanded into a
Dirichlet series, asfollows:
Figure2. Maxwell chain.
whereR(t, t
,
xx
) istherelaxationfunction,
R(t, t
,
xx
)
istheapproximatedrelaxationfunction,t
isthetimeat
loading, E
isthemodulusof thethHookeanspring
intheMaxwell chain, misthenumber of units,
is
therelaxationtime,andE
isthemodulusof them+1
springthat isnot coupledtoanydashpot (Fig. 2). The
moduli of thesprings aredeterminedusingtheleast
squares method to fit test data or a known expres-
sion of R(t, t
,
xx
), assuming
u
=
/E
is the
viscosity of thethdashpot). Notethat theconstants
of theMaxwell model dependonthestrainlevel and
introducetheeffect of cracking into themodel. The
incremental constitutiverelationisasfollows:
where
c
is the quasi-inelastic incremental strain;
v
xx
is the viscoelastic strain, which equals addition
of theinstantaneousstrainandthecreepstrain;
sh
xx
is
theshrinkagestrain. Therelaxationfunctionof aging
concretetakesthefollowingapproximatedexpression
(Baant & Kim1979):
where =(t t
)/2,
0
0.008, J(t,t
,
xx
) is the
compliance function of concrete, and (t, t
) is the
creepcoefficient. Thecreepcoefficientandshrinkage
strainareevaluatedbasedonAS3600(2009):
288
Figure3. Panelsinvestigatedinnumerical study.
where
cc,b
is thebasic creep coefficient and k
2
, k
3
,
k
4
, and k
5
are factors that depend on the age and
strength of the concrete, geometry of the structure,
timeof loading, andtheenvironmental conditions.
cse
xx
and
csd
xx
arethechemical anddryingshrinkagestrains,
respectively. Theagingeffectsisincorporatedintothe
model followingCEB-FIP(1990).Agingisintroduced
throughanagingfunctionv(t) whichismultipliedby
theMaxwell springconstants(Carol & Baant 1993,
Hamed2012). Forbrevity, thegoverningequationsare
not presentedhere.
3 NUMERICAL STUDY
The HSC panel investigated here is 5.0m high by
1.5mwideand150mmthick. Threesupportingcon-
ditions are studied here, as shown in Figure 3. The
compressivestrength,tensilestrengthandelasticmod-
ulusof theconcretearef

c
=80MPa, f
t
=5.4MPaand
E
c
=39.6GPa, respectively. The number of units in
theMaxwell model is5inthisexample. Thepanel is
loadedat theageof 28daysbyeccentriccompressive
sustained loads at both ends. Thetotal vertical rein-
forcement ratio (
v
) is taken as 0.0015and thesteel
elasticmodulusisE
s
=200GPa.
Figure4 shows theout-of-planedeflection of the
panel versustimefor thethreedifferentcaseswiththe
sameloadlevel (N
0
=2320kN) whichcorrespondsto
35% of the elastic Euler buckling load of the panel
withCaseI boundary conditions (P
cr_I
). Themagni-
tudeof eccentricityise
T
=7.5mm.Ascanbeseen, the
out-of-planedeflectionincreaseswithtimeasaresult
of creep. ForCasesI andII, theout-of-planedeflection
tendstoincreasestoinfinityat certaintime(thecriti-
cal time), wherethepanel losesitsstabilitybycreep
buckling. Ontheother hand, for CasesIII, thelong-
termout-of-planedeflectionbecomesalmostconstant,
Figure4. Variationof maximumout-of-planedeflectionof
examinedpanelswithtime.
indicatingastablebehavior of thepanel. Itcanalsobe
observedthatCaseI hasthesmallestcritical time,indi-
catingit is most vulnerabletocreepbucklingamong
thethreecases. Thesustainedloadsinall threecases
donotcauseanycrackingof concreteatinitial loading
stage. However, withtime, flexural cracksdevelopin
CaseI andCaseII closeto mid-height. For thelevel
of load investigated here, no cracking was observed
in thethird casethroughout theduration of loading,
becauseit ismuchstiffer thantheother twocases.
Thedistributionof thebendingmomentthroughthe
height of thepanel at four different timesisshownin
Figure5for thethreeboundary conditions. It canbe
seenthat as expected, thebendingmoments increase
withtimefor all thecases becauseof concretecreep
andsecond-order effects. Yet, it canalsobeseenthat
themagnificationof thebendingmomentwithtimeis
thelargest inCaseI.
Theminimumbucklingloadfoundoutinthenumer-
ical studyfor thethreecasesare0.25P
cr_I
, 0.32P
cr_II
,
and 0.3P
cr_III
, respectively (P
cr_II
and P
cr_III
arethe
elastic Euler bucklingloadfor Cases II andIII). The
variations of maximumout-of-plane deflections for
thesecases with timearepresented in Figure6. The
relationsbetweentheEulerloadsforthethreecasesare
P
cr_I
=P
cr_II
=0.49P
cr_III
. Itcanbeseenthatthemin-
imumlong-termbucklingloadsof thethreepanelsdo
notobeythesamerelationsasinelasticscenariosdue
tocreepandthegeometricandmaterial nonlinearities.
Inaddition, theminimumcreepbucklingloadsfor
thethreecasesdiffer fromtheir correspondingresults
calculated by using the simplified Effective Modu-
lusMethod(EMM). Inthelatter, N
min
0
=
2
EI
eff
/H
2
(N
min
0
is the minimum creep buckling load and
E =E
c
/[1+(t, t
)]) which yields 42%of their cor-

responding elastic buckling load. This implies that
simplifiedmethodscannot bedirectlyusedtopredict
thecreepbucklingbehavior of HSC panel asthey do
notconsiderthematerial andgeometricnonlinearities,
and their interaction with the boundary conditions.
289
Figure 5. Variation of bending moment distribution with
timefor thethreeboundaryconditionsunder N
0
=0.35P
cr_I
(a) Case, I (b) Case, II (c) CaseIII.
A more comprehensive model such as the one pre-
sented in this paper is recommended to be used for
predictingthecreepbucklingloadsof HSC panels.
4 CONCLUSIONS
A nonlinear theoretical model has been presented in
this paper which is capable of describing the time-
dependent behavior of one-way HSC panels. The
Figure 6. Variation of maximum out-of-plane deflection
withtimeunder minimumcreepbucklingloadlevels.
model accounts for geometric nonlinearity, concrete
creep, shrinkage, aging, crackingandtensionstiffen-
ing. Themodel can quantitatively describethelong-
termbehavior of HSC panels withvarious boundary
conditions. Theresults reveal that theminimumload
level that causescreepbucklingvarieswithrespect to
theboundary conditions inamanner that is not con-
sistent withthevariationof theEuler bucklingload.
Hence, whenuncertaintyregardingtheactual bound-
ary conditionsexists, whichisnormally thecase, the
designmustaccountfor aresponseenvelopeobtained
using different supporting conditions, rather than be
limitedtoasinglecharacteristicone.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The work reported in this paper was supported by
the Australian Research Council (ARC) through a
DiscoveryProject.
REFERENCES
AS3600, 2009. Concrete structures. NorthSydney: Stadards
Associationof Australia.
Baant, Z. P. & Wu, S. T. 1974. Rate-type creep law of
aging concrete based on maxwell chain. Materiaux et
constructions. 7(1): 4560.
Baant, Z. P. & Kim, S. S. 1979. Approximate relaxation
functionfor concrete. Journal of structural engineering.
105(12): 16951705.
Bockhold, J. &Petryna,Y. S. 2008. Creepinfluenceonbuck-
lingresistanceof reinforcedconcreteshells. Computers &
structures. 86(78): 702713.
Carol, I. & Baant, Z. P. 1993. Viscoelsticity with aging
causedbysolidificationof nonagingconstituent. Journal
of engineering mechanics. 119(11): 22522269
CEB-FIP, 1990. Model code. Switzerland: Comite Euro-
International duBetonStadards.
Gupta, A. & Rangan, B. V. 1998. High-strength concrete
(HSC) structural walls. ACI structural journal. 95(2):
194205.
290
Hamed, E., Bradford, M. A. & Gilbert, R. I. 2010. Nonlin-
ear long-termbehaviour of spherical shallowthin-walled
concrete shells of revolution. International journal of
solids and structures. 47(2): 20415.
Hamed, E. 2012. Nonlinear creep response of reinforced
concretebeams. Journal of mechanics of materials and
structures. Inpress.
Hoff, N. J. 1958. A survey of the theories of creep buck-
ling. Proceedings of 3rd US National Congress of Applied
Mechanics. NewYork: AmericanSociety of Mechanical
Engineers
Huang, Y., Hamed, E. & Foster, S.J. 2011. Creepbuc kling
analysisof high-strengthconcretepanels. InKhrapko, M.
and Wallevik, O. (ed.), Proceedings of the 9th Inter-
national Symposium on High Performance Concrete.
Rotorua, NewZealand, 2011.
Tatsa, E. Z. 1989. Load carrying of eccentrically loaded
reinforced concrete panels under sustained load. ACI
structural journal. 86(2): 150155.
291
A mathematical model for complete stress-strain curve prediction
of permeable concrete
M.K. Hussin, Y. Zhuge, F. Bullen & W.P. Lokuge
Faculty of Engineering and Surveying, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia
ABSTRACT: An empirical equation to represent the complete stress-strain behaviour for unconfined perme-
able concrete with compressive strength ranging between 1035 MPa and porosity ranging between 2515%,
made with different combinations of aggregate size and sand ratios is proposed in this paper. Aseries of compres-
sion tests were conducted on 100 200 mm cylindrical samples using a modified testing method to determine
the complete stress-strain behaviour of permeable concrete. Various existing models for low strength concrete
and normal strength concrete were used and compared with the experimental data. Various parameters were
studied and their relationships were experimentally determined. The only parameters need to run the model is
the ultimate compressive strength and the density. The proposed empirical stress-strain equations were compared
with actual cylinder tests results under axial compression, and demonstrated that the present model gives a good
representation of the mean behaviour of the actual stress-strain response.
1 INTRODUCTION
There has been an increasing use of permeable con-
crete in the civil engineering and building construction
industries in recent years (Offenberg 2008). However
its use is currently limited to low trafficked areas such
as pavements in car parks and footpaths, largely due
to its low strength and stiffness. It is timely to investi-
gate the stress-strain behaviour of permeable concrete
to help enable its wider use in more structural applica-
tions. An understanding of the complete stress-strain
curve of permeable concrete is essential for rational
design, as structural designers are unable to take full
advantage of the material withinsufficient information
about this behaviour.
A number of researchers (Attard & Setunge 1996,
Carreira &Chu 1985, Kent &Park 1971, Kumar 2004,
Lokuge et al. 2004, Lokuge et al. 2005, Popovics
1973, Sargin et al. 1971, Tasnimi 2004, etc.) have
studied the stress-strain behaviours of unconfined and
confined conventional concretes under uni-axial com-
pressive loading. Complete stress-strain relationships
were developed in some of these studies on the basis
of easily measured conventional concrete material
parameters such as peak stress f

c
, the corresponding
strain
o
and the initial modulus of elasticity E
o
.
The information about the stress-strain behaviour
of the permeable concrete is still limited (Hussin et al.
2012) and the only research paper that reported this
behaviour was based on experiments conducted by
Deo & Neithalath (2010). These authors found that
the stress-strain behaviour of the permeable concrete
is approximately similar to that of the conventional
concrete. It is reported that there were many mate-
rial parameters such as aggregate size, porosity ratio,
and the pore structural features, as well as the test
method that influenced stress-strain behaviour. Deo &
Neithalath (2010) proposed a mathematical stress-
strain model for the permeable concrete that was
related to the pore structure. Deo & Neithalath (2010)
employed the model proposed by Carreira & Chu
(1985) for the conventional concrete with some mod-
ifications. The proposed empirical model was found
to agree satisfactorily with their own test results but
it required extensive computations to determine the
essential parameters and cannot be used to repre-
sent the stress-strain behaviour of a different strength
of permeable concrete that is prepared under differ-
ent conditions. However, the ascending branch of the
stress-strain curve is wellrepresented by the model;
and most discrepancies between the actual and the
predicted curve were observed in the descending
branch.
2 PROPOSED STRESS-STRAIN
RELASHIONSHIP
In an effort to construct a simple mathematical model
that can represent the stress-strain curve of perme-
able concrete with different compressive strengths and
porosity ratios, it was found that the model developed
by Carreira & Chu (1985) and later modified by dif-
ferent authors such as Tasnimi (2004) is suitable for
293
adopting in the stress-strain relationship of permeable
concrete. The advantages of this model are:
It performs well for the low strength and normal
strength concrete, which are both in the same range
as the permeable concretes compressive strength.
It is simple and has the same general equation
for use in both the ascending and the descending
branch.
Its parameters are easy to find fromthe experimen-
tal data.
Equation 1 illustrates the general equation for the
stress-strain behaviour as proposed by Carreira &Chu
(1985).
where: f
c
=concrete stress; f

c
=maximum stress;
=material parameter; =concrete strain;
o
=
corresponding strain at maximum stress; and E
o
=
initial tangent modulus of elasticity.
Twenty six specimens with different compressive
strength and porosity ratios were tested. Strain gauging
and the platen-to-platen methods were used to find the
stress-strain relationship. Before testing, the cylinders
were capped with a sulphur compound on both ends to
produce a smooth surface to ensure uniform transfer
of load. Two diametrically opposite 60 mm long strain
gauges, were attached to each specimen in its mid-
dle third position. A prepared specimen ready to be
tested is shown in Figure 1. The signals from the two
strain gauges were averaged for a more accurate result.
The results from the strain gauges were used to find
the ascending branch of the stress-strain curve until the
peak stress; the strain gauge would not give reliable
results after that due to the development of vertical
cracks in the surface of the specimens. The residual
parts of the curve were determined using the platen-
to-platen method. An Avery 500 kN testing machine
was employed for this purpose and the experimental
set-up is shown in Figure 2.
The strain rates of the test specimens were kept
constant to 10 s per second in order to obtain the
stress-strain curves. During the experiment, the axial
compression load and the vertical deformation of the
test specimens were automatically collected by the
attached computer. Preliminary low level loading was
carried out at least three times primarily for the seating
of the gauges and for investigating and correcting any
unusual behaviour of the strain gauge according to AS
1012.17 (1997).
Figure 1. Permeable concrete sample with strain gauges.
Figure 2. Experimental set-up.
4 PREDICTION OF THE MODEL
PARAMETERS
4.1 Estimating strain at peak stress (
o
)
One of the most important parameters affecting the
ascending and descending portions of the concrete
stress-strain curve is the corresponding strain at peak
stress. Table 1 provides the values of the corresponding
strain at peak stress, the initial modulus of elasticity
and the density from our testing results. As simi-
lar tests were conducted by Goede (2009), his results
were also included.
The maximum and minimum values of
o
for the
permeable concrete specimens in this research varied
from 0.0009 to 0.00189, the corresponding compres-
sive strength varied from 9 MPa to 38 MPa and the
porosity varied from 25% to 15% respectively. The
tests results indicated that, on average, the peak strain
increased as compressive strength increased and the
porosity ratio decreased.
Several authors reported a linear relationship
between the peak compressive stress and the corre-
sponding axial strain (Almusallam & Alsayed 1995,
Carreira & Chu 1985), while Tasnimi (2004) reported
294
Table 1. Experimental results.
Sample f

c

o
E
it
No MPa % kg/m
3
GPa
1 9.89 0.001146 1976.7 7.8
2 10.62 0.001002 1991.8 15
3 12 0.0013 2050 13
4 12.3 0.0011 2095 9
5 12.77 0.00091 1984.95 7.6
6 12.86 0.001059 1965.9 9.7
7 14.28 0.001 2068.2 12
8 15.69 0.001 2046 12
9 16.15 0.001333 1981.3 11.7
10 17 0.0014 2070 15
11 17.1 0.0009 2068 19.55
12 17.7 0.00127 2220 19
13 20 0.0012 2080 17.25
14 20 0.00116 2211 18.6
15 23 0.0011 2255 26.6
16 24 0.001575 2220 15.6
17 25.6 0.0014 2235 22
18 25.7 0.0016 2208 18.4
19 26.5 0.00115 2298 19.5
20 27.5 0.0015 2210 17.88
21 28 0.0014 2267 13.6
22 30 0.0012 2285 26.6
23 31 0.0014 2300 27
24 36.6 0.00189 2321 25.4
25 38 0.0015 2315 28
26 38 0.00152 2323 30
27* 11.35 1861.4 12.99
28* 9.25 1834.1 12.86
29* 11.45 1880.6 15.19
30* 11.52 1854.9 13.44
31* 9.67 1837.3 12.06
32* 11.34 1875.7 12.57
33* 9.81 1838.9 9.81
34* 11.14 1856.5 14.99
35* 10.69 1893.4 12.99
36* 9.95 1843.1 12.1
*Tests results adopted from Goede (2009).
a polynomial function. These relationships are shown
in Equation 3, 4 and 5 respectively.
The experimental and estimated
o
that were found
according to these equations were plotted against the
compressive strength for comparison and are shown in
Figure 3.
From Figure 3, a linear relationship was found
between the compressive strength and the correspond-
ing strain based on the permeable concrete experi-
mental data. It is also clear that Eq. 4 developed by
Carreira & Chu (1985) gives a more accurate estima-
tion for
o
when compared with other equations. In the
current research, a linear relationship similar to Eq. 4
Figure 3. Experimental and estimated
o
versus f

c
.
Figure 4. The ratio of the
ocal
to
oexp
versus. f

c
.
has been proposed as shown in Equation 6. To confirm
the reliability of the proposed relationship, the ratio
of the estimated strain (
ocal
) divided by the experi-
mental strain (
oexp
) at peak stress was plotted against
the compressive strength (f

c
) as shown in Figure 4. It
can be observed from Figure 4 that the proposed lin-
ear relationship gives a better estimation for
o
when
compared with other equations. Thus it is proposed
that Eq. 6 could be used to find the corresponding
strain at peak stress for permeable concrete.
4.2 Estimated the modulus of elasticity (E
o
)
Twenty six cylinders with different compressive
strengths ( f

c
) and porosity ratios (P) were tested using
the strain gauge method in this research program.
Results from Goede (2009) using the compressometer
method were also adopted to determine the E
o
. The
compressometer has been used for evaluating defor-
mation and strain characteristics of concrete cylinders
while undergoing compression testing. Either a dial
gauge or a digital indicator could be attached to col-
lect the deformation/strain inforamtion of the testing
sample. The testing results are shown in Table 1.
Various theoretical equations that can be used to
determine the modulus of elastrcity of any type of con-
crete including permeable concrete were presented as
follows.
The Australia Standard AS-3600 (2009) specified
Equation 7 for estimating the E
o
of the plain concrete
295
as a function of its unit weight () and the compres-
sive strength. Equation 7 for normal concrete (when
f

c
40 MPa) is based on the extensive work of Pauw
(1960) (Attard & Setunge 1996).
Similarly, the Architectural Institute of Japan AIJ
(1985) has specified the following Euation 8.
Tasnimi (2004) specified Equations 9 and 10 for
determining the E
o
for low strength concrete and
normal strength concrete, respectively.
Ghafoori & Dutta (1995) derived Equation 11 to
find the E
o
of the permeable concrete as a function of
the unit weight and the compressive strength.
In all these equations, E
o
=initial tangent modulus
of elasticity; =the concrete density; f

c
=maximum
compressive stress.
In order to find the most suitable equation for
predicting E
o
of permeable concrete, the values of
the initial tangent modulus of elasticity, which were
obtained experimentally using the strain gauges, were
combined with the results obtained by Goede (2009)
using the compressometer, are plotted in Figure 5. A
comparison was then made between the experimen-
tal and the calculated E
o
according to the equations
proposed by Ghafoori & Dutta (1995) (Eq. 11), AS-
3600 (Eq. 7) and AIJ (Eq. 8), against the (
1.5
f
0.5
c
)
to highlight the excellent agreement of the these
equations with the experimintial data.
It can be observed fromFigure 5 that all of the equa-
tions proposed by various researchers, gave a close
approximation of the experimental data. The conclu-
sion can thus be drawn from this that the modulus
of elasticity of the permeable concrete is similar to
that of the low strength concrete and normal strength
concrete. The equation proposed by Ghafoori & Dutta
(1995) will thus be used to determine the E
o
of the
permeable concrete in the proposed model.
4.3 The effect of the porosity (P) on the
stress-strain curve
As expected the strain-stress curves for the perme-
able concrete are similar in shape to those of the
Figure 5. The relationship of experimental and calculated
E
o
versus
1.5
f
0.5
c
.
Figure 6. Effect of porosity on the stress-strain curve of the
permeable concrete specimen.
conventional concrete as shown in Figure 6. It can be
observed that the stress-strain behaviours of perme-
able concrete for different aggregate sizes and sand
ratios follow similar trends. The porosity ratio showed
a direct effect on the shape and descending branch
of the stress-strain curve of the permeable concrete.
With the reduction of the porosity ratio, the compres-
sive strength, corresponding strain and modulus of
elasticity increased. Moreover, the descending branch
showed more ductile behaviour and gradual cracks
with increasing porosity ratio. As a result, the origi-
nal equation proposed by Carreira & Chu (1985) (Eq.
1 and 2) needs to be modified to be used for permeable
concrete with different porosity ratios. Therefore the
descending branch of the model will be multiplied by a
correction factor which is directly related to the poros-
ity ratio. The proposed new equation thus suggested
for the stress-strain curve of the permeable concrete is
shown in Equation 12.
Figure 7 shows the relationship between n and the
porosity ratio (P) and presented in Equation 13. Fur-
thermore, the experimental results from this research
and from Goede (2009) showed that there is a direct
296
Figure 7. Relationship between the porosity and the mate-
rial parameter (n).
Figure 8. Relationship between the porosity and the com-
pressive strength.
relationship between the porosity and the compressive
strength as shown in Figure 8 and presented in
Equation 14.
where n =material parameter related to the porosity
ratio. =material parameter as shown in Eq. 2.
It will thus be a simple matter to calculate the
porosity even if it is not tested in the laboratory.
4.4 Examination of the proposed mode
In order to verify the newempirical stress-strain model
for unconfined permeable concrete under uni-axial
compression strength, the stress-strain curve that was
Figure 9. Comparison of proposed model against the
experimental data.
generated using the empirical model (Eq. 12) was
compared withthe experimental data over a wide range
of strengths and porosities. Figure 9 (AD) shows the
proposed model in relation to the experimental data.
It can be observed from Figure 9 that the pro-
posed model is in good agreement with the exper-
imental results for permeable concrete with varying
compressive strength and porosities.
297
5 CONCLUSIONS
The major conclusions that can be drawn from this
research are outlined in point form below:
The stress-strain curve for permeable concrete
follows similar trends for that of conventional
concrete curve.
The strain corresponding to the peak stress of per-
meable concrete increases with an increase in peak
compressive strength. This follows the same trend
for conventional concrete.
Existing equations used to predict the initial
modulus of elasticity of low strength concrete and
normal strength concrete can also be used for
permeable concrete.
The proposed numerical model is able to gen-
erate complete-stress-strain curve for unconfined
permeable concrete under uni-axial compression.
This is applicable to permeable concretes hav-
ing different porosity ratios and compressive
strengths.
The stress-strain relationships are controlled by
a few controlling parameters and the empirical
expressions for these parameters based on f

c
and
are derived so that these relationships can be
used in the absence of accurate experimental
results.
The model was validated against the experimental
data and gave good predictions for both the ascend-
ing and the descending branches; it also demon-
strates that it is capable of generating the complete
stress-strain curve for permeable concrete with
different porosity ratios.
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Attard, M&Setunge, S 1996, ACI Materials Journal, vol. 93,
no. 5, pp. 43241.
Carreira, DJ &Chu, KH1985, Stress-Strain Relationship for
plain concrete in compression, Journal of the American
Concrete Institute, vol. 82, no. 6, pp. 797804.
Deo, O & Neithalath, N 2010, Compressive behaviour of
pervious concrete and a quantification of the influence of
random pore structure features, Materiales Science and
Engineering A, vol. 528, no. 1, pp. 40212.
Goede, WG 2009, Pervious concrete: Investigation into
Structural Performance and Evaluation of theApplicatica-
bility of Existing Thickness Design Methods, MA thesis,
Washington State University.
Hussin, M, Zhuge, Y, Bullen, F & lokuge, W 2012, Inves-
tigation of Some Fundamental Properties of Perme-
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Kent, DC & Park, R 1971, Flexural members with confined
concrete, Journal of the Structural Division, vol. 97, no. 7,
pp. 196990.
Kumar, P 2004, A compact analytical material model for
unconfined concrete under uni-axial compression, Mate-
rials and Structures, vol. 37, no. 9, pp. 58590.
Lokuge, WP, Sanjayan, JG & Setunge, S 2004, Constitutive
model for confined high strength concrete subjected to
cyclic loading, Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering,
vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 297305.
Lokuge, WP, Sanjayan, JG & Setunge, S 2005, Stress
Strain Model for Laterally Confined Concrete, Journal of
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Offenberg, M 2008, Is Pervious Concrete Ready for Struc-
tural Applications? Structure magazine, p. 48.
Popovics, S 1973, A numerical approach to the complete
stress-strain curve of concrete, Cement and Concrete
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Pauw, A 1960, Static Modulus of Elasticity of Concrete
as Affected by Density, American Concrete Institute,
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Tasnimi, AA 2004, Mathematical model for complete
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high-strength concretes, Magazine of Concrete Research,
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298
Effectsof temperature, relativehumidityandoutdoor environment
onFRP-concretebond
M.I. Kabir, R. Shrestha& B. Samali
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology
Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: This paper presents theresults of an experimental study undertaken to investigatetheeffects
of temperature, relative humidity and exposure to outdoor environment on externally bonded FRP-concrete
connectionperformance.Twotypesof FRP, namely, carbonandglass, wereexternallybondedtoconcreteprisms
of 300mmlength, 200mmwidthand150mmheightwithtwopartepoxyimpregnationresinandthespecimens
wereexposedtothreedifferent environmental conditionsfor extendeddurations. Thebondstrengthsof control
(unexposed) andexposedspecimens wereinvestigatedby single-lap-joint shear test (pull-out test). Results of
exposedspecimenswerecomparedtothoseof control specimensintermsof bondstrengths, strainprofilesand
failuremodes. Based on theresults to date, themost significant degradation of bond strength was observed
in specimens exposed to outdoor environment. Distinct changein behaviour of FRP-concretebond has been
observedfromstrainprofiles plottedat different levels of appliedloads after beingexposedto threedifferent
environmental conditions.
1 INTRODUCTION
Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites have
becomeapopular choicefor strengtheningandrepair-
ing of reinforced concrete structures lately due to
its advantageous properties such as high strength
to weight ratio, high corrosion resistance and easy
application process. However, one major limitation
of FRP-strengthenedconcretestructuresispremature
failure by debonding of FRP from concrete which
limitstheeffectivenessof FRP.Thislimitationnecessi-
tatesstudiesontheeffectsof environmental conditions
on FRP-concrete bond behaviour. Although exten-
sive research has been conducted on strengthening
of RC structures with FRP, research on long term
performance of FRP-concrete bond is very limited.
Someresearchdealtwithdurabilityof concretebeams
strengthened with FRP and showed the decrease in
ultimate beamstrength after various environmental
exposures, whereas, other researchshowedthedegra-
dation of bond strength between FRP and concrete
under aggressive environment. Chajes et al. (1995),
Toutanji & Gmez (1997), Myers et al. (2001) and
Li et al. (2002) studiedthelongtermperformanceof
FRPstrengthenedconcretebeamssubjectedtovarious
environmental conditionssuchasfreeze-thawcycles,
wet-drycycles, combinedenvironmental cycles, boil-
ingwater andUV radiationto investigatethedegra-
dation of ultimate strength and stiffness of beams.
Homam et al. (2001), Dai et al. (2010), Benzarti
et al. (2011) andYun&Wu(2011) investigatedFRP-
concretebonddegradationunder freeze-thawcycles,
temperaturecycles, alkali solutions, moistureingres-
sion, hydrothermal ageing with the help of various
test setups such as pull-off, bend tests, single-lap-
joint shear tests, etc. Also, Tuakta & Bykztrk
(2011) studiedtheeffectof moistureonFRP-concrete
bondsystembytri-layerfracturemechanics.Theyused
peel andshear fracturetestsfor their study. Fromthe
research stated above it can be understood that it is
verydifficulttocomparethefindingsof theseresearch
studies as a variety of test conditions were applied.
Moreover, accordingtoBenzarti et al. (2011), single-
lap-joint shear test (pull-out test) is more sensitive
to environmental conditions as it showed change of
strengthaswell aschangeof failuremodesandshould
be used for adhesive bonded joint. Therefore, more
researchneedstobecarriedout withsimilar test set-
up to create a large database of FRP-concrete bond
behaviour under variousenvironmental conditions.
Thepurposeof thisresearchistoinvestigateeffects
of temperature, relativehumidityandoutdoorenviron-
ment separately on FRP-concrete bond using single
lap-jointshear test(pull-outtest) uptotwoyears. This
paper only presents results of thefirst six months of
thisongoingexperimental study.
2.1 Fabrication of pull-out specimens
One hundred and fourteen concrete prisms with
dimensions of 300mm200mm150mm were
299
Figure1. (a) Planand(b) elevationof pull-out specimens.
fabricated fromtwo batches of ready mix concrete.
This paper only presents the experimental study of
62specimens. After concreteprisms hadbeencured,
concrete surfaces were prepared by exposing the
aggregates with the help of a needle-gun followed
by blowing off dust particles with an air gun. Two
pliesof 150mmlongand40mmwideFRPstripwere
externally bondedwithtwo part epoxy impregnation
resin to theconcreteprismas shown in Figure1. A
50mmgap between concrete edge and free edge of
FRP was provided to avoid local failure in concrete
edge. Also, FRP strip was extended to 200mmout-
side the concrete prism in order to be gripped by
jaws of testing machine. Two types of FRP, namely,
CFRP and GFRP fabric, were applied and 57 con-
creteprismswereusedtofabricatepull-outspecimens
for each type of FRP. Figure 1 shows geometric
properties of pull-out specimens. Concretecylinders
with diameters of 100mm and 150mm were cast
to determine compressive strengths and modulus of
elasticityof unexposedandexposedcylindersaccord-
ingtoAustralianStandard(AS 1012.9-1999andAS
1012.17-1997).
Readymixconcreteof characteristicstrength32MPa
and slump 80 20 mmwas used to cast concrete
prisms in two batches. The First batch was used to
fabricate CFRP bonded pull-out specimens whereas
secondbatchwasusedfor GFRP bondedspecimens.
Table 1 provides mechanical properties of concrete.
Table1. Mechanical propertiesof concrete.
Compressivestrengthat 28days
Concrete (MPa)
Batch1 36.6
Batch2 42
Table2. Propertiesof FRPs.
Thickness Tensile Tensilemodulus
Typeof per ply strength* of elasticity*
FRP (mm) (MPa) (GPa)
CFRP 0.117 2758.4 221.9
GFRP 0.299 827.8 71.5
*Determinedbytensiletestingof FRP couponsaccordingto
ASTM D3039/ASTM D3039M 08.
Table3. Propertiesof epoxyresinasspecifiedbysupplier.
Tensile Heat
Tensile modulusof Coefficient distortion
strength elasticity of thermal temperature
after 7 after 7 expansion after 7
daysof daysof between daysof
Typeof curingat curingat 10
C to curingat
epoxy +23
C +23
C +40
C +23
C
resin (MPa) (GPa) (/
C) (
C)
Sikadur 30 4.5 4.510
5
+47
330
FRPs used in this research were MBrace CF 120
(CFRP) and MBrace EG & ARG 90/10B (GFRP).
Sikadur 330 2 part, thixotropic epoxy impregna-
tionresinwasappliedasmatrix andadhesiveandno
primer wasusedasSikadur 330canperformthefunc-
tionof bothprimer andadhesive. Propertiesof FRPs
and epoxy resin are documented in Tables 2 and 3,
respectively.
2.3 Environmental conditions
Tenspecimenswereusedascontrol specimens(5for
eachFRP type) andthey werenamedasC Control-1
to 5 and G Control-1 to 5; where C refers to Car-
bon and G refers to Glass and numbers from1 to
5 refer to the specimen number. Control specimens
werecuredunder normal labconditionsbeforebeing
testedunder pull-out load. Theremainingspecimens
weresubjectedtothreetypesof exposureconditions
(i) temperature (ii) humidity and (iii) outdoor envi-
ronment. Twelve specimens (6 specimens for each
FRPtype) weresubjectedtocyclictemperaturewhich
consists of 5 hours at constant 40
C followed by 7
hoursat gradual decreaseintemperatureto30
C and
300
Table4. Number of pull-out specimens.
Number of specimens
Exposure
Exposurecondition CFRP GFRP period
Control 5 5
Humiditycycles* 5 5 1month
Environment 5 5 2months
Temperaturecycles** 3 3 5weeks
Humiditycycles 5 5 6months
Environment 5 5 6months
Temperaturecycles 3 3 3months
Total number of 31 31
specimens
*1weekwet, 1weekdry.
**5hours at constant 40
C, 7hours at gradual decreaseto

30
C.
two cycles per day was maintained. Cyclic tempera-
turespecimens wereexposedto 70cycles (35days),
referredtoasCT2andGT2series, and180cycles(90
days), referredtoasCT3andGT3. Whereas, humid-
ity cycles consist of 1 week wetting followed by 1
weekdryingandat least 95%RHwasmaintainedfor
wetting. Wet environment was created by a humidi-
fier in asmall closed chamber. Humidity specimens
were subjected to wet-dry cycles for 1 month (CH1
andGH1series) and6months(CH2andGH2series).
Also, a number of specimens were directly exposed
to outdoor environment for 2months (CE1andGE1
series) and6months (CE2andGE2series). Inorder
tocharacterizethepropertiesof concrete, anumber of
cylinderswereexposedtothesameconditionsaswith
pull-out specimens. The nomenclature of the tested
specimen havebeen chosen such that thefirst letter
representsthetypeof FRP, i.e., eitherCarbonorGlass,
the second letter represents the exposure condition
(T-temperature, H-humidity and E-outdoor environ-
ment), thefirst number refers to theexposureperiod
and the last number represents the serial number of
specimen.Table4representsthenumberof specimens
exposedtoeachcondition.
2.4 Test performed
Pull-out tests (single-lap-joint shear test) were per-
formedwithaloadingrateof 2mm/minof cross-head
travel movementof theuniversal testingmachinewith
a500kN capacity. Specimens wereplacedvertically
ontopof aplateandasteel platewas placedontop
of thespecimenandconnectedtoabottomplatewith
twoboltstorestrainthespecimen(Fig. 2).ThreeStrain
gauges (SG1, SG2andSG3) weregluedtoFRP sur-
facetoobtainstrainvaluesat different levelsof loads
(Fig. 1a). Compressivestrengthof concreteontheday
of thetest wereidentifiedusingcompressivestrength
testson100mmdiameterconcretecylinderssubjected
tosameconditionastheFRP-concretebondspecimen
asperAS1012.9(1999).
Figure2. Pull-out test setup.
Table5. Averagepull-out strengthsof control andexposed
specimens.
Averagepull-out
strengths(MPa)
Exposure
Exposurecondition CFRP GFRP period
Control 1298.7 528.9
Humiditycycles 1282.2 526 1month
Environment 1178.2 484.9 2months
Temperaturecycles 1360.9 543.8 5weeks
Humiditycycles 1450.3 495.1 6months
Environment 1101.5 479.6 6months
Temperaturecycles 1290.1 548.4 3months
3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
3.1 Pull-out strengths
Loaddataobtainedfromdatalogger wereanalysedto
calculatepull-outstrengths. Thelongitudinal stressof
FRPcorrespondingtomaximumloadhasbeenconsid-
eredas pull-out strengthor bondstrengthwhichwas
calculatedfromthefollowingformula:
where
db
=pull-outstrengthinMPa; P
u
=maximum
load in Newtons; b
p
=FRP plate width in mm; and
t
f
=thicknessof FRP plateinmm.
Average pull-out strengths of CFRP and GFRP
bonded control and exposed specimens have been
presented in Table 5. Average bond strengths of
CFRP and GFRP control specimens were 1298.7
MPaand528.9MParespectively. Theexposedspec-
imens exhibitedchangeof averagepull-out strengths
after certain durations. And two graphs in Figure 3
clarify changes of bondstrengths withtimeof expo-
sure to 3 conditions for CFRP and GFRP. All bond
strengths havebeenexpressedas percentageof pull-
out strengths of control specimens for both FRPs.
CFRP temperaturespecimens showed4.8%increase
in pull-out strength after 5 weeks (70 cycles) com-
paredtocontrol pull-outspecimens, whereas, strength
gainwas2.8%for GFRP bondedspecimens. After 90
301
Figure 3. Normalised pull-out strengths against days of
exposureof (a) CFRP and(b) GFRP bondedspecimens.
days (180 cycles) CFRP pull-out strength decreased
to99.3%of control whereas, GFRP strengthreached
to103.7%of control value. CFRPspecimensbehaved
completely opposite to GFRP specimens when sub-
jected to relative humidity cycles. Although, CFRP
specimens exhibited strength loss of 1.3% after 28
days, strength reached to 111.7% of control value
after 182days. But GFRP specimens showedcontin-
uousdecreaseinpull-out strengthandreached99.5%
and 93.6% of control values after 28 and 182 days
respectively.BothCFRPandGFRPspecimensshowed
degradationof bondstrengthwhensubjectedto out-
door environment. CFRP specimens were found to
bethemost degraded in terms of strength. Strength
reductions for CFRP specimens comparedto control
valueswerearound9.3%and15.2%after 60daysand
180days, respectively, whereas, GFRPshowedaround
8.3%and9.3%strengthreductions.
3.2 Concrete compressive strengths
Normalised compressive strengths of exposed con-
cretecylindersintermsof percentageof control com-
pressivestrengthsareplottedagainstdaysof exposure
inFigure4forbatch1andbatch2.Changesof concrete
strengthswerefoundtobealmostsamefor bothof the
batches. Batch 1 cylinders, exposed to temperature,
showedaninitial increaseof 16.3%strengthafter 35
daysanddecreasedto105.1%of control strengthafter
90days.Thetrendwassameforbatch2.Onlyhumidity
specimens of batch1behavedslightly different from
batch2specimens.Afterincreaseinstrengthof 13.8%
Figure 4. Normalised concrete compressive strengths
against daysof exposureof (a) batch1and(b) batch2.
Figure5. Failuremodesof control (a) CFRPand(b) GFRP
specimens.
at28days, strengthbecamealmostconstant. Butbatch
2showedcontinuousincreaseincompressivestrength
whensubjectedtohumiditycycles. Trendsof batch1
andbatch2underoutdoorenvironmental exposureare
quitesimilar. Batch 1 exhibited 38.8%strength gain
after 180days, whereas, batch2showed34.8%gain.
3.3 Failure modes
Most of CFRP and GFRP control pull-out speci-
mens had a typical failure mode in concrete layer
with concrete mass attached to debonded FRP strip
(Fig. 5). CFRP specimensexposedtohumidity cycle
for 1month(CH1series) showedfailureinconcrete
layer but threeof thespecimens hadrelatively small
mass of concreteonFRP comparedto control speci-
mens(Fig. 6a). However, failuremodeof GH1series
was identical to the control specimens. CH2 series
(exposed to 6 months) showed almost same failure
modes as control specimens except two specimens
302
Figure6. Failuremodesof (a) CH1and(b) GH2series.
Figure7. Failuremodesof (a) CE2and(b) GE2series.
showedrelatively thinner concretelayer onFRP. But
most of GH2 specimens exhibited relatively thinner
layer of concreteondebondedFRP stripcomparedto
thecontrol specimens(Fig.6b).BothCFRPandGFRP
specimenssubjectedtotemperaturecycles(70and180
cycles) did not show any distinct change of failure
modesfromcontrol specimensandconsequently, the
changeof pull-out strengths of this series, specially,
for CFRP specimens, relates to the change of con-
cretecompressivestrengths(Figs. 34). Onlyoutdoor
environment series, CE1, CE2, GE1andGE2series,
exhibiteddistinct changeof failuremodesfromtheir
control series. Almost no concrete was attached on
debondedFRP for environment series, whichclearly
correlates to the strength degradation observed in
Figure3.
3.4 Strain profiles
Strain profiles along the length of the bonded FRP
stripswereobtainedbyplottingthestrainreadingson
theFRPstripsatdifferentloadlevels. Figures8, 9and
10showstrainprofilesfor oneof thecontrol, humid-
itycycleandoutdoorenvironmentexposedspecimens
withCFRP andGFRP, respectively.
A lowstrainreadinginFRP intheseplotsindicate
good bond between FRP and concrete allowing for
full transfer of shear forcebetweenFRPandconcrete.
A highstrainreadingindicates loss of bondbetween
FRP andconcrete.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The main aim of this paper was to document and
reportthefindingstodateof anongoingexperimental
researchontheeffectsof temperature, relativehumid-
ity andoutdoor environment onFRP concretebond
usingcarbonandglassFRP withthehelpof pull-out
Figure8. Strainprofilesof (a) CFRPand(b) GFRPcontrol
specimens.
Figure9. Strainprofilesof (a) CH2and(b) GH2series.
tests. Thefindingsof thisresearchcanbehighlighted
asfollows:
1. The most degradation in terms of strength and
change of failure modes occurred in CFRP and
GFRP bonded specimens subjected to outdoor
environment. Specially, CFRPspecimensafter 180
daysexhibitedthehigheststrengthreductionwhich
wasaround15.3%comparedtocontrol specimens.
303
Figure10. Strainprofilesof (a) CE2and(b) GE2series.
Also, changes of failure modes fromlarge con-
cretemassonFRP torelativelysmall or almost no
concreteonFRP was observedinbothCFRP and
GFRP bondedenvironment series
2. Relativehumidity cycles helped to improvebond
strengthof CFRPspecimens, whereas, itdecreased
the strength of GFRP-concrete bond. So, GFRP-
concretebondwas foundto beadversely affected
byrelativehumiditycycles
3. Temperaturecycles werefoundtohaveless effect
onFRP-concretebond. However, after 180cycles,
CFRP bond strength showed a decreasing trend
although it was close to its control value. GFRP
specimensstill showedahigher strengththancon-
trol specimens even after 180 cycles. Also, no
change of failure modes and strain profiles was
observedintemperatureseriesfor bothFRPs. And
strength change of FRP-concrete bond for this
series, specially, forCFRPwerequitesimilartothe
trendof compressivestrengthchangeof concrete.
Fromtheabovefindings, it canbeconcludedthat
further study for longer period is needed for proper
understandingof bondbehaviourunderdifferentenvi-
ronmental conditions. Also, material characterisation
of FRP itself and epoxy resin can be conducted for
betterunderstandingof FRP-concretebondbehaviour.
As debonding is a prematurefailuremodeand con-
sideredindesignof FRP-strengthenedstructures, this
studywill helpindeterminingbondstrengthreduction
factor indesignapplications.
REFERENCES
AS1012.9(1999), Methodof testingconcrete, Determina-
tionof thecompressivestrengthof concretespecimens,
Australian Standard, Sydney, Australia.
AS1012.17(1997), Methodof testingconcrete, Determina-
tionof thestaticchordmodulusof elasticityandPoissons
ratio of concrete specimens, Australian Standard,
Sydney, Australia.
Benzarti, K., Chataigner, S., Quiertant, M., Marty, C. &
Aubagnac, C. 2011, Acceleratedageingbehaviour of the
adhesive bond between concrete specimens and CFRP
overlays, Construction and Building Materials, vol. 25,
no. 2, pp. 523538.
Chajes, M.J., Thomson, T.A. & Farschman, C.A. 1995,
Durability of concretebeamsexternally reinforcedwith
compositefabrics, Construction and Building Materials,
vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 141148.
D3039/D3039M (2008) Standard test method for ten-
sileproperties of polymer matrix compositematerials,
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM),
Pennsylvania, USA.
Dai, J.G.,Yokota, H., Iwanami, M. & Kato, E. 2010, Exper-
imental Investigationof theInfluenceof Moistureonthe
BondBehaviorof FRPtoConcreteInterfaces, Journal of
Composites for Construction, vol. 14, p. 834.
Homam, S., Sheikh, S. & Mukherjee, P. 2001, Durability
of fibre reinforced polymers (FRP) wraps and external
FRPconcretebond, pp. 1820.
Li, G., Pang, S., Helms, J., Mukai, D., Ibekwe, S. &Alaywan,
W. 2002, Stiffnessdegradationof FRP strengthenedRC
beams subjected to hygrothermal and aging attacks,
Journal of Composite Materials, vol. 36, no. 7, p. 795.
Myers, J., Murthy, S. & Micelli, F. 2001, Effect of com-
binedenvironmental cyclesonthebondof FRP sheetsto
concrete.
Toutanji, H.A. &Gmez,W. 1997, Durabilitycharacteristics
of concretebeamsexternallybondedwithFRPcomposite
sheets, Cement and Concrete Composites, vol. 19, no. 4,
pp. 351358.
Tuakta, C. & Bykztrk, O. 2011, Deterioration of
FRP/concretebondsystemunder variablemoisturecon-
ditions quantified by fracture mechanics, Composites
Part B: Engineering, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 145154.
Yun,Y.&Wu,Y.-F.2011,Durabilityof CFRP-concretejoints
under freeze-thaw cycling, Cold Regions Science and
Technology, vol. 65, no. 3, pp. 401412.
304
A preliminaryinvestigationof thestrengthandductilityof lappedsplices
of reinforcingbarsintension
A.E. Kilpatrick
Honorary Associate, La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia
R.I. Gilbert
Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: This paper reports on several series of tests that examine the efficacy of theAS 3600-2009
provisionsforlappedsplicesof deformedbarsintensionfromtheperspectivesof adequatestrengthandductility.
Over50specimenscontainingbothcontactandnon-contactlappedspliceshavebeentestedatLaTrobeUniversity
andat theUniversityof NewSouthWales. TheaimistoassessthecurrentAustralianproceduresfor anchoring
reinforcement inconcretestructuresandtoexaminethereliabilityandconsistencyof thefactorsof safety. It is
concludedthattheprovisionsof AS3600-2009areadequatefor small diameter barsinslabsbutmaynotprovide
anadequatefactor of safetyfor largediameter barsinbeams.
1 INTRODUCTION
This paper reports on an experimental programthat
is currently underway at both La Trobe University
(Refs. 25) and theUniversity of New SouthWales
(Refs. 68) in order to examine the strength and
behaviour of lappedsplicesof reinforcingbarsinten-
sion and to assess theefficacy of theAS 3600-2009
provisions for lapped splices, fromthe perspectives
of adequatestrengthandductility. Thedifferences in
behaviour of contact and non-contact lapped splices
areexaminedandtheimpact of cyclicloadingonthe
anchoragerequirementsof reinforcingbarsisalsocon-
sidered. Thelong-termaimis to developprocedures
for anchoring reinforcement in concrete structures
that providereliableand consistent factors of safety
and that allow structures to be ductile and robust
throughout their design life, without an increase in
riskof prematurecollapsethroughbondandanchorage
failure.
When designing reinforced concrete for strength,
ductility and robustness, it is essential that the ten-
silereinforcement at thecritical sectioncannot only
developitsyieldstress, f
sy
, but that it cansustainthat
level of stress as deformation increases. If theyield
stress is to be reached and maintained, a minimum
lengthof reinforcingbar (thedevelopment length) is
requiredoneither sideof thecritical section(or point
of peak stress). Codesof practicespecifyaminimum
development lengthover whichastraight bar must be
embeddedintheconcreteinorder todevelopitsyield
stress.
Atalappedsplice, twoparallel barsaredeveloping
stressincloseproximitywiththebondstressesoneach
bar developinginoppositedirections. Theanchorage
of each bar is adversely affected by the presence of
the other bar and, as a consequence, the minimum
specifiedlengthof thelappedspliceisusuallysignif-
icantlylarger thanthedevelopment lengthof asingle
bar. Existing approaches for calculating the lapped
splicelengthof reinforcementareempirical, basedon
statistical analysis of test data. The test data is usu-
ally obtainedfromstatic loadtests onlaboratory test
specimens.
Inthederivationof expressionsforthelappedsplice
length, anaverageultimatebondstress f
ub
is usually
assumed at the interface between the concrete and
thereinforcingbar, eventhoughextremevariationsin
local bondstressesexistalongthedevelopmentlength,
particularlyinthevicinityof flexural cracks.
The average ultimate bond stress is affected by
numerous factors including: type of reinforcing bar
(ribbed or deformed); condition of thesteel surface;
degreeof compactionof theconcretesurroundingthe
bar; concretestrength; amount andspacingof lateral
reinforcement; magnitudeof pressurenormal to bar;
concretecoveranddistancetonextparallel bar; nature
of theappliedloading(staticor dynamic); andlength
of theanchorage.
Theeffectsof thelasttwoof thesepoints(natureof
loadingandanchoragelength) areyettobeadequately
quantified. Astheanchoragelengthincreases, sotoo
does thenumber of cracks crossingthedevelopment
lengthandvalueof f
ub
decreases.
305
2 LAPPEDSPLICE LENGTH AS3600-2009[1]
In Clause 13.1.2.1, AS3600-2009 defines the basic
development lengthof adeformedbar intensionas
where k
1
=1.3 for a horizontal bar with more than
300mm of concrete cast below the bar, otherwise
k
1
=1.0; k
2
=(132d
b
)/100; k
3
=1.00.15(c
d
d
b
)/d
b
(but 0.7k
3
1.0); d
b
is thebar diameter; c
d
is the
smaller of theclear cover tothenearest concretesur-
face(c orc
1
inFigure1) orhalf theclearspacingtothe
next parallel bar (a/2inFigure1); f
sy
=yieldstrength
of thebar (MPa); andf

c
= characteristiccompressive
strengthof concrete(MPa).
According to AS3600-2009, the development
length of a deformed bar in tension (L
sy.t
) shall be
taken as either the basic development length (L
sy.tb
)
or, where the beneficial effects of confinement by
transverse reinforcement or transverse pressure are
available, arefineddevelopment length(k
4
k
5
L
sy.tb
),
wherek
4
dependsonthemagnitudeandpositionof any
transversereinforcement andk
5
dependsonthelevel
of transversepressure. Bothk
4
andk
5
arespecifiedin
Clause13.1.2.3of AS3600-2009.
InAS3600, thelengthof alappedspliceintension
is, ingeneral, requiredtobeat least 25%greater than
thedevelopment lengthof thebar, i.e. L
sy.t.lap
=1.25
L
sy.t
, but for non-contact spices inisolatedmembers
(such as that tested here) thelap length must not be
less than 1.25 L
sy.t
or L
sy.t
+1.5s
b
, whichever is the
larger. Thesymbol s
b
istheclear distancebetweenthe
barsbeingspliced.
3.1 La Trobe University tests
A total of 32 slab specimens were constructed and
tested at LaTrobe University (LTU) (Ref. 25). All
specimensweresimply-supportedone-wayslabssub-
jectedtothirdpointloadingasshowninFigure1. The
tensilereinforcement inthirtyof theslabshadlapped
splices inthemiddlethirdregionwherethemoment
wasessentiallyconstant.Theremainingtwospecimens
hadbars that werecontinuous throughout. Details of
the specimens with the lapped splices are shown in
Figure1.
Thespliced bars wereeither in direct contact and
lightlytiedtogether withtiewire, or wereseparatedas
faraspossibletoformanon-contactsplice,asshownin
Figure1. Thetensilereinforcement ineachspecimen
consistedof either twoN10or twoN12bars. All bars
werecoggedattheirendstoensurefull anchorage.The
cross-sectional dimensions of all specimens testedat
LaTrobewere100mmdeepby420mmwideandthe
side cover to the bars was c
1
=50mm. Details and
dimensionsof eachtestspecimenaregiveninTable1.
Figure1. Detailsof slabstestedat LaTrobe.
Table 1. Details and dimensions of tests at La Trobe
University.
Splice d A
st
f
cm
d
b
Lap a s
b
c
Slab type* (mm) (mm
2
) (MPa) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)
MC1 C 86 226 54.9 12 184 284 0 12
MNC1 NC 86 226 56.7 12 186 194 91 12
MC2 C 86 226 57.1 12 132 284 0 12
MNC2 NC 86 226 55.3 12 133 194 91 12
MC3 C 61 226 53.8 12 127 284 0 36
MNC3 NC 62 226 53.0 12 128 194 91 36
MC4 C 62 226 56.6 12 89 284 0 36
MNC4 NC 61 226 54.1 12 87 194 91 36
HC1 C 85 226 59.1 12 165 284 0 12
HNC1 NC 85 226 62.5 12 165 194 91 12
HC2 C 85 226 63.9 12 118 284 0 12
HNC2 NC 83 226 63.2 12 115 194 91 12
HC3 C 64 226 54.6 12 116 284 36
HNC3 NC 61 226 54.6 12 117 194 91 36
HN4 C 61 226 60.2 12 81 284 36
HNC4 NC 62 226 55.5 12 80 194 91 36
M30 C 75 157 32.0 10 82 290 0 20
M45 C 75 157 32.0 10 122 290 0 20
M60 C 75 157 32.8 10 160 290 0 20
M100A C 75 157 36.2 10 261 290 0 21
M100B C 75 157 36.9 10 263 290 0 22
M150A C 75 157 34.3 10 397 290 0 22
M150B C 75 157 34.0 10 395 290 0 22
MC 75 157 33.9 10 Continuousbars
H30 C 74 226 82.3 12 67 284 0 20
H45 C 74 226 74.1 12 104 284 0 20
H60 C 74 226 78.2 12 138 284 0 20
H100A C 74 226 70.3 12 222 284 0 20
H100B C 74 226 70.3 12 226 284 0 20
H150A C 74 226 71.1 12 328 284 0 20
H150B C 74 226 72.7 12 337 284 0 20
HC 74 226 81.4 12 Continuousbars
*C=contact splice; NC=non-contact splice.
All slabs weretestedinacalibratedAvery univer-
sal testingmachine. Thespecimensweresubjectedto
controlled deformation which was applied at a rate
of about 2mm per minute measured at the centre
of the slab. This continued until catastrophic cracks
306
Figure2. Detailsof atypical slabtestedatUNSW(4bars).
developedaroundtheendsof andalongthebarsatthe
splice, andwithincreasingdeformationtheslabbegan
tounload.
3.2 University of New South Wales tests
3.2.1 Lapped splice slab specimens
A total of 18slab specimens weretested at theUni-
versity of NewSouthWales(UNSW) (Ref. 69). All
specimens were simply-supported and subjected to
thirdpoint loadingas showninFigure2. Thetensile
reinforcement in all of the slabs had lapped splices
in the middle third region where the moment was
essentiallyconstant. Detailsof thespecimenswiththe
lappedsplicesareshowninFigure2.
Thespliced bars wereeither in direct contact and
lightly tied together with tiewire, or wereseparated
by 28mmto formanon-contact splice, as shown in
Figure2. Thetensilereinforcement ineachspecimen
consistedof either threeor four N12or N16bars. The
cross-sectional dimensions of all slabs were150mm
deepby850mmwide. Detailsanddimensionsof each
test specimenaregiveninTable2.
All specimens were loaded slowly to failure in a
deformationcontrolledtestingframe, withfailureini-
tiated in all specimens by splitting cracks and bond
failureat thelappedsplice.
Toexaminetheeffectsonbondstrengthof repeated
serviceloads, twoof thespecimens (SL-4andSL-7)
weresubjected to 50,000 cycles of serviceloads (at
2Hz) before being loaded to failure. A further two
specimens weresubjected to sustained serviceloads
anddryingshrinkagefor aperiodof 10monthsprior
toloadingtofailure.
3.2.2 Lapped splice beam specimens
An additional 6 beam specimens were tested at
UNSW. The lapped splice beam specimens were
Table2. Detailsanddimensionsof slabtestsat UNSW.
Splice d A
st
d
b
f
cm
Lap c
1
a c
Slab type
1
(mm) (mm
2
) (mm) (MPa) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)
SS-1 C 119 452 12 31.8 150 125 180 25
SS-2 C 119 452 12 34.3 220 125 180 25
SS-3 C 119 339 12 34.3 150 125 276 25
SS-4 C 119 339 12 34.8 220 125 276 25
SS-5 C 117 804 16 34.8 200 125 173 25
SS-6 C 117 804 16 35.2 280 125 173 25
SS-7 C 117 603 16 35.2 200 125 268 25
SS-8 C 117 603 16 35.6 280 125 268 25
SS-9 C 104 452 12 35.6 150 125 180 40
SS-10 C 104 339 12 36.9 220 125 276 40
SL-1 C 119 452 12 38.0 120 120 188 25
SL-2 C 119 452 12 38.0 180 120 188 25
SL-3 C 119 452 12 38.0 240 120 188 25
SL-4
2
C 119 452 12 38.0 180 120 188 25
SL-5
3
C 119 452 12 38.0 180 120 188 25
SL-6 NC 119 452 12 38.0 180 120 188 25
SL-7
2
NC 119 452 12 38.0 180 120 188 25
SL-8
3
NC 119 452 12 38.0 180 120 188 25
1
C=contact splice(s
b
=0); NC =non-contact splice(s
b
=28mm).
2
SL-4andSL-7weresubjectedto50000cyclesof serviceloadbefore
testingtofailure.
3
SL-5 and SL-8 were subjected to sustained service loads and
shrinkagefor 10monthsbeforetestingtofailure.
Table 3. Details and dimensions of the beam tests
at UNSW.
d A
st
d
b
(A
tr
/s) f
cm
Lap c
1
a c
Slab (mm) (mm
2
) (mm) (mm) (MPa) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)
BL-1 265 628 20 0 43.0 300 35 120 25
BL-2 265 628 20 0 43.0 400 35 120 25
BL-3 265 628 20 0 43.0 300 35 120 25
BL-4 265 628 20 1.57 43.0 300 35 120 25
BL-5 265 628 20 1.57 43.0 300 35 120 25
BL-6 265 628 20 1.05 43.0 300 35 120 25
1
BL-3, BL-5 and BL-6 were subjected to 50000 cycles of
serviceloadbeforetestingtofailure.
simply-supportedoveraspanof 2100mm,withrectan-
gular cross-sections250mmwideand300mmdeep.
As for theslab specimens, they weretested in four-
point bending with the two applied loads each at
700mmfromthe adjacent support. Each specimen
contained two N20 tensile bars (d
b
=20mm) at an
effectivedepthof 265mm, witheachbar lapspliced
in themid-span (constant moment) region, similarly
totheslabspecimens. All lappedspliceswerecontact
splices. Thevariables consideredwerethelaplength
and the amount of transverse reinforcement located
withinthelappedsplice(A
tr
/s), whereA
tr
is thearea
of the two vertical legs of the stirrup and s is the
stirrup spacing. Thespecimens with transversesteel
contained10mmdiameterstirrupsateither150mmor
100mmcentres.
307
Table4. Resultsof testsat LaTrobeUniversity.
AS3600-2009
Lap I
cr
Factor
A
st
L
lap
M
max
E
c
(10
6

st
L
lap
/ L
st.lap
of
Slab (mm
2
) (mm) (kNm) (MPa) mm
4
) (MPa) L
sy.t.lap
(mm) safety
MC1 226 184 7.55 33900 6.93 422 0.65 356 1.93
MNC1 226 186 6.85 34200 6.88 383 0.60 347 1.87
MC2 226 132 6.05 34300 6.86 338 0.47 279 2.12
MNC2 226 133 5.40 33900 6.93 302 0.43 276 2.08
MC3 226 127 5.08 33700 3.28 406 0.63 242 1.91
MNC3 226 128 4.51 33500 3.42 354 0.52 257 2.01
MC4 226 89 3.97 34200 3.36 312 0.46 181 2.04
MNC4 226 87 3.75 33700 3.28 300 0.37 216 2.48
HC1 226 165 6.93 34600 6.64 392 0.60 318 1.93
HNC1 226 165 6.31 35200 6.55 356 0.56 312 1.89
HC2 226 118 5.77 35500 6.50 326 0.45 255 2.16
HNC2 226 115 4.41 35300 6.20 255 0.40 223 1.94
HC3 226 116 4.98 33800 3.64 378 0.58 224 1.93
HNC3 226 117 4.41 33800 3.28 352 0.48 253 2.16
HN4 226 81 4.33 34800 3.20 345 0.43 195 2.40
HNC4 226 80 4.08 34000 3.38 320 0.34 229 2.86
M30 157 82 3.03 27700 4.50 279 0.29 215 2.62
M45 157 122 4.35 27700 4.50 401 0.44 309 2.53
M60 157 160 5.00 28000 4.46 460 0.58 350 2.19
H30 226 67 4.10 38400 4.51 267 0.32 165 2.47
H45 226 104 6.03 37200 4.63 392 0.47 256 2.47
H60 226 138 6.40 37800 4.57 416 0.65 265 1.92
Mean 2.22
Standarddeviation 0.30
Coefficient of variation(%) 13.5
Three of the beam specimens (BL-3, BL-5 and
BL-6) weresubjectedto50,000cyclesof serviceloads
beforebeingtestedtofailure.
4 TEST RESULTS
4.1 Preliminary remarks
Thetest results and associated analyses aregiven in
Table4, 5and6. Themeasuredmoment at thesplice
locationatfailure(M
max
) isrecordedinthefourthcol-
umn of each tablefor thosespecimens that suffered
bond failure at the splice. The steel stress at failure
(
st
), shownintheseventhcolumnof eachtable, iscal-
culatedfromthemaximummoment usingacracked
section analysis and assuming a linear stress-strain
relationshipfor theconcreteincompression. Thelap
length required to develop themeasured peak stress
atthelap(accordingtoAS3600-2009) isL
st.lap
=1.25
L
sy.t

st
/f
sy
andthisisshowninthesecondlastcolumn
of eachtable. Thefactor of safety(FoS) istheratioof
L
st.lap
divided by theactual lap length (shown in the
final column).Theratioof theactual laplengthL
lap
to
thelaplengthspecifiedinAS3600-2009todevelopthe
yieldstress(L
sy.t.lap)
isalsopresented. Sincethebond
strengthof concreteisrelatedtoitstensilestrength, the
capacityreductionfactor associatedwiththestrength
of thelapistakenasthat for concreteintension, viz.,
=0.6.
A minimumtargetfactor of safetyof 1/ =1/0.6=
1.67 is considered appropriate and consistent with
therequirementsof AS3600-2009.
4.2 La Trobe University tests
For theLTU tests, theconcretemodulus E
c
was cal-
culatedusingtheformulaspecifiedinAS3600-2009
andatypical density of concreteof 2350kg/m
3
. The
measured yield stresses of thebars used in thetests
were605MPafor theN10bars and560MPafor the
N12bars. TheresultsareshowninTable4.
Theloadversusdeflectioncurvesof theslabsthat
contained continuous reinforcing bars are compared
with those of the slabs with lapped contact splices
in Figures 3 and 4. Splice lengths are shown as a
percentageof L
sy.t.lap
.
Inall four tests, theslabs with100%laps didnot
achievethesamestrengthastheslabsreinforcedwith
308
Table5. Resultsof slabtestsat UNSW.
AS3600-2009
Lap I
cr
Factor
A
st
L
lap
M
max
E
c
(10
6

st
L
lap
/ L
st.lap
of
Slab (mm
2
4
) (MPa) L
sy.t.lap
(mm) safety
SS-1 452 150 19.2 26000 35.0 387 0.48 359 2.39
SS-2 452 220 26.5 28400 32.5 532 0.73 475 2.16
SS-3 339 150 15.3 28400 25.4 406 0.50 363 2.42
SS-4 339 220 19.1 28700 25.2 506 0.74 449 2.04
SS-5 804 200 25.6 28700 49.7 301 0.44 402 2.01
SS-6 804 280 30.1 29100 49.2 353 0.63 470 1.68
SS-7 603 200 17.0 29100 39.0 263 0.45 350 1.75
SS-8 603 280 24.2 29500 38.6 374 0.63 495 1.77
SS-9 452 150 18.0 29500 23.5 415 0.66 282 1.88
SS-10 339 220 17.8 30700 17.8 541 0.98 362 1.64
SL-1 452 120 17.4 30500 30.6 348 0.42 296 2.47
SL-2 452 180 24.4 30500 30.6 489 0.63 415 2.30
SL-3 452 240 28.1 30500 30.6 563 0.84 478 1.99
SL-4
2
452 180 26.0 30500 30.6 521 0.63 442 2.46
SL-5
3
452 180 26.3 30500 30.6 527 0.63 447 2.48
SL-6 452 180 23.7 30500 30.6 475 0.58 403 2.24
SL-7
2
452 180 24.2 30500 30.6 485 0.58 411 2.29
SL-8
3
452 180 30.1 30500 30.6 603 0.58 512 2.84
Mean 2.16
2
50000cyclesof serviceloadbeforetestingtofailure.
3
sustainedserviceloadsandshrinkagebeforetestingtofailure.
Table6. Resultsof beamtestsat UNSW.
AS3600-2009
Lap I
cr
Factor
A
st
L
lap
M
max
E
c
(10
6

st
L
lap
/ L
st.lap
of
Slab (mm
2
4
) (MPa) L
sy.t.lap
(mm) safety
BL-1 628 300 33.9 32000 176.8 226 0.57 369 1.23
BL-2 628 400 46.6 32000 176.8 310 0.76 508 1.27
BL-3 628 300 35.0 32000 176.8 233 0.57 381 1.27
BL-4 628 300 40.7 32000 176.8 271 0.57 388 1.29
BL-5 628 300 42.8 32000 176.8 285 0.57 408 1.36
BL-6 628 300 37.0 32000 176.8 246 0.57 373 1.24
Mean 1.28
continuous bars, but the slabs with 150% laps did
achieve the same strength. For the mediumstrength
concrete, theslabs with the150%laps provided the
sameductilityastheslabsreinforcedwiththecontin-
uousbars. However, forthehighstrengthconcrete, the
slabswiththe150%lapsdidnotprovidethesameduc-
tilityastheslabsreinforcedwiththecontinuousbars.
Thesefindingssuggest that thefactor of safetyof 1/
isnecessaryand, at 1.67, isadequate.
4.3 University of New South Wales tests
For the UNSW tests, the concrete modulus E
c
was
measuredfor eachspecimen. For theslabspecimens
designated SS, themeasured yield stress of theN12
and N16 bars were 581MPa and 575MPa, respec-
tively. For theslabsdesignatedSL, themeasuredyield
stressof theN12barswas561MPa.Forthebeamspec-
imens designatedBL, themeasuredyieldstresses of
309
Figure3. Ductility of slabs as afunction of splicelength
(mediumstrengthconcretespecimens M).
Figure4. Ductility of slabs as afunction of splicelength
(highstrengthconcretespecimens H).
theN20bars was 534MPa. Theresults areshownin
Tables5and6.
5.1 Factors of safety Effect of bar diameter
The effect of bar diameter is illustrated in Figure 5
where the FoS for all the contact lapped splices are
plottedagainstbardiameter.Whilethefactorsof safety
associatedwiththeAS3600-2009provisions aresat-
isfactory for the smaller diameter bars in the slab
specimens (1016mm), in both the UNSW and La
Trobetests, thevalues for theUNSW beamtests are
unsatisfactorily low. Theeffect of bar diameter inthe
specified lap length in AS3600-2009 appears to be
rather poorlycalibrated.
5.2 Factors of safety Contact versus non-contact
Figures 6and7showthelaplengthversus factor of
safety for both the contact and non-contact lapped
splices of theN12 bars in theLaTrobeand UNSW
tests, respectively.
Figure5. Effect of bar diameter onFoSinAS3600-2009.
Figure6. FoSfor splicesof N12bars LaTrobe.
Figure7. FoSfor splicesof N12bars UNSW.
It is noted that for the contact splices the lap
length specified by AS3600-2009 is 1.25L
sy.t
, while
for thenon-contact splicesthespecifiedlaplengthis
L
sy.t
+1.5s
b
for theLaTrobetestswheres
b
wasrela-
tively large, and1.25L
sy.t
for theUNSW tests where
s
b
wasrelativelysmall.
There appears to be no significant difference
betweenthefactorsof safetyfor thecontact andnon-
contact splices. However, thegraphshowninFigure
8 suggests that the highly eccentric non-contact La
Trobesplices areabout 10%weaker thanthecontact
splices. This is not true of the non-contact UNSW
splices where s
b
was relatively small and where no
significant differenceswereobserved.
310
Figure 8. Strength of contact vs non-contact splices La
Trobe.
Figure9. Decreaseinf
ub
withincreasinglaplength.
5.3 Factors of safety Effect of lap length
Figure 9 shows the average ultimate bond stress f
ub
versus thelaplengthL
lap
for theN12contact lapped
splicesof theLaTrobeandtheUNSWslabtests.
There is a very significant decrease in f
ub
with
increasing anchorage length due to the increasing
number of primarycrackscrossingthelaplength.The
specifiedlaplengthsincodesof practicehavegener-
ally been based on test results fromspecimens with
relativelysmall lapsandthisisunconservative.
5.4 Effect of transverse reinforcement
Figure 10 illustrates the effect of transverse rein-
forcement (A
tr
/s) ontheaverageultimatebondstress.
Theincreaseinf
ub
dueto theinclusionof transverse
reinforcement is apparent and is consistent with the
AS3600-2009treatment of transversesteel.
5.5 Effect of cyclic and sustained loads
ComparingM
max
onidentical specimenssubjectedto
static, cyclicandsustainedloadingintheUNSWtests,
there appears to be no significant reduction in the
capacity of the lap splice due to cyclic or sustained
loading. Indeed, for SL-8 after 10 months of drying
underload,therewasasubstantial increaseinthefactor
of safety.Additional testingiscurrentlybeingplanned
tofurther examinethisaspect of theproject.
Figure10. Effect of transversereinforcement.
6 CONCLUDINGREMARKS
Thefactorsof safetyinrelationtothepredictedstress
developmentobtainedusingtheprocedureinAS3600-
2009 were unsatisfactorily low in all of the lapped
splicebeamspecimens (with N20 bars), but accept-
ableforall slabspecimenscontainingsmallerdiameter
bars. Theductility of slabs containinglappedsplices
needsfurther investigation.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Theexperimental workwasconductedwiththeassis-
tanceof students andtechnical staff at LaTrobeand
UNSWandtheir support isgratefullyacknowledged.
Theproject at UNSWhasthefinancial support of the
AustralianResearchCouncil andthis support is also
gratefullyacknowledged.
REFERENCES
[1] AS3600-2009. Australian standard for concrete struc-
tures. StandardsAustralia. Sydney.
[2] Haw. T. andLeskovecC., Steel TensileSplicesinHigh
Strength Concrete, Investigation Project Report, Civil
Engineering, LaTrobeUniversity, November 2010.
[3] Mitchell. C. andSheppardN., Steel TensileSplices in
High Strength Concrete, Investigation Project Report,
Civil Engineering, La Trobe University, November
2010.
[4] BilstonB. andBurkeA., TheStrengthandDuctilityof
Steel TensileSplicesinHighStrengthConcrete, Inves-
tigation Project Report, Civil Engineering, La Trobe
University, November 2011.
[5] Duke C. and Trask L., The Strength and Ductility
of Steel Tensile Splices in Concrete, Investigation
ProjectReport, Civil Engineering, LaTrobeUniversity,
November 2011.
[6] Yeow, J.X. (2008).TheDevelopmentLengthandlapped
splice Length in Reinforced Concrete. Bachelor of
EngineeringHonoursThesis, Universityof NewSouth
Wales.
[7] Gilbert, R.I. (2008). Experimental Data Lapped
SpliceLengths for TensileReinforcing Bars in Slabs.
SubmissiontoBD-002., 14thAugust 2008.
[8] Gilbert, R.I., Chang, Z-T and Mazumder, M. (2011).
Anchorageof reinforcement inconcretestructuressub-
jected to cyclic loading. Paper 22-3, CONCRETE 11,
25th Biennial Conf. of Concrete Institute of Australia,
October, Perth.
311
Feasibility study of autonomous deformation control of PC viaducts
M. Kunieda, N. Chijiwa, K. Ohara & K. Maekawa
Department of civil engineering, The University of Tokyo, Japan
ABSTRACT: In view of the excessive deflections of some PC viaducts, this paper investigates a control
method to minimize the time-dependent deflection of bridge viaducts and propose a cross-section consisting of
two concrete mixtures having different moisture states, shrinkage, creep and stiffness. Based on this concept,
field and indoor experiments were conducted to measure the creep deflection of PC mockups under varying
ambient conditions, and the possibility of autonomous deformation control is discussed. Here, the applicability
of the multi-scale analysis (DuCOM-COM3) is examined as well. The experimental results indicate that non-
uniform profiles of moisture may create intrinsic curvature, which may bring about the trade-off of concrete
creep, and the varying ambient states may reduce the long-term excessive deflection.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Research background
Since the 1990s, the long-term monitoring of
Tsukiyono bridges deflection has been periodically
reported by Hata et al. (1993) and the imperfec-
tion of design methods based upon the conventional
linear creep law and shrinkage has been discussed
(Watanabe et al. 2008). Recently, excessive deflec-
tions of cantilever PC viaducts have been reported
worldwide by Bazant et al. (2011a, b) as well.
Maekawa et al. (2010) point out two main causes of
excessive deflection; one is the non-uniform thermo-
dynamic state of moisture inside micro-pores and
associated creep, and the other is the delayed aver-
age shrinkage of upper and lower flanges in time.
(Maekawa et al. 2010, Ohno et al. 2011).
The authors showed the simulated excessive deflec-
tion of several PC bridges by considering the non-
uniform profile of thermo-dynamic states over the
cross-sections and moisture dependent creep prop-
erties as shown in Figure 1. At 1250 days after the
Figure 1. Analytical result of Tsukiyono bridge.
concrete construction, the bridge was paved on the
upper flange. In the analysis, two extreme environ-
mental conditions are assumed for practice. One is
that the upper flange surface is exposed to the rela-
tive humidity (RH) of 99% due to the rainwater that
permeates through the pavement to the concrete sur-
face, and the other is that the upper flange surface is
kept perfectly dry by the ambient air. It seems that the
analytical result of the upper surface kept at RH 99%
shows fair agreement with the measured deflection. As
a matter of fact, the imperfect water-proof by the pave-
ment overlay has been reported at site. However, there
is no quantitative evidence for the moisture balance
of bridge flanges with the long-term climate condi-
tions. Furthermore, the multi-scale thermo-dynamic
modeling of structural concrete (Maekawa et al. 2008),
which may simulate this case, has been verified under
indoor states without rain precipitation or exposure to
sunlight.
1.2 Scope
This study aims to suggest a new method to con-
trol long-term deflections of PC viaducts without
external mechanical devices for controlling deflection
such as extra-prestressing, joint clamping or change
of supports, which have been applied for repair and
retrofitting (e.g. Burdet and Baudoux 1999). This
research proposes a new design method that controls
the deflection of the structural system autonomously
according to the varying climate conditions at each
constriction site.
The other purpose is to clarify the influence of rain-
fall on structural long-term deformation. The numeri-
cal simulation in past research suggests that its effect
is not negligible on the overall deformation, but it
has not been confirmed nor scientifically quantified.
313
Figure 2. The concept of autonomous control of deflections.
For rationalization of the structural design based
upon environmental factors, a way of specifying the
boundary conditions is necessary for the surfaces
which are exposed to the natural environment.
2 METHODOLOGY
In the present design codes across the world, the
only counteractions to bending moments caused by
gravity action are prestressing forces. But, the past
large deflections observed in practice indicate that
the prestressing forces may not sufficiently control
serviceability. The authors propose a new deflection
control concept referred to as autonomous which
utilizes annually varying environmental actions rep-
resented by relative humidity (RH), rainfall and the
solar intensity as counteractions to gravity forces
(Figure 2). One of the causes of excessive deflection is
the difference in averaged shrinkages between upper
and lower flanges.
In the autonomous control, the responses to the
environmental action of upper and lower flanges are
varied intentionally. The method allows the design-
ers to specify time-dependent deflection properties
against gravity forces. For this purpose, some practical
methods are thought to exist, for example, differen-
tiating thicknesses of flanges, water to cement ratio
(W/C), or quantities of steel and/or reinforcing bars
inside flanges. The possibility of this control concept
is discussed in the following sections.
For evaluating the impact of rainfall on struc-
tural deformation, the proof-of-concept specimens for
autonomous control are specifically designed. The
specimen is designed to deflect depending strongly
on the surrounding environmental conditions. Both
specimens are placed on a field; one with a roof, and
one without. As this is the only difference between the
two specimens, the difference in their deflections must
reflect the influence of the rain water.
3 SIMULATIONAND PRE-ANALYSIS
3.1 Outline of multi-scale integrated model
In the analytical simulation of this study, the DuCOM-
COM3 (Maekawa et al. 2008) system is used. This
Figure 3. Outline of the multi-scale integrated analytical
system, DuCOM-COM3.
is a multi-scale analysis code that links the thermo-
chemo-physics platforms DuCOM (Maekawa et al.
1999, 2008) and COM3 (Maekawa et al. 2003) as
shown in Figure 2. DuCOM is an integrated thermo-
hygro analysis code that includes cement hydration
in concrete mixture, micro-pore structure formation
and mass transport models for concrete ranging from
10
3
to10
9
meter scales of micro-voids, while COM3
is a 3D finite-element analysis platform for struc-
tural concrete with and without cracks. As a result,
DuCOM-COM3 is capable of predicting the change
in concrete material properties from casting to dis-
mantling of entire structures and taking this material
development into account for predicting the response
of structural concrete.
With this integration, the long-term structural
response under actual ambient conditions can be
predicted in a realistic manner. Figure 3 illustrates
the code linkage for computing the nonlinear, time-
dependent responses of reinforced concrete.
3.2 Pre-analyses before field experiments
Inorder toverifythe concept of autonomous deflection
control, the behavioral simulation of the box-sectional
PC beams having upper and lower flanges composed
of different W/C ratio-concretes is conducted. The
dimension of the target specimens is described in Fig-
ure 4. In the pre-analysis, three combinations of upper
and lower flanges W/C ratios are assumed. One is
the monolithic case (W/C is 62%), the second uses
different W/C ratios in the two flanges (upper: W/C
314
Figure 4. Shape and dimensions of the specimen.
Figure 5. Simulated deflection of the specimen whose
upper flange and bottom flange are composed of different
water to cement ratios.
55%, lower: 39%), the third uses further variation
between W/C ratios with high strength concrete which
tends towards self-desiccation (upper W/C 60%, bot-
tom 28%). The assumed environmental conditions are
kept at a constant temperature of 20
C, and a constant
RH of 60%. Specimens are exposed to the air after 14
days sealed curing, and a 250 kN prestressing force is
applied to the upper and lower flanges individually.
When the upper and lower flanges of the beam
are composed of the same concrete, the specimen
does not deflect upwards or downwards owing to the
symmetry of responses under the negligible gravity
effects. The PC beam with flanges of different com-
position cambers until 100 days and then begins to
deflect downwards. It is thought that the PCbeamwith
extremely different compositions begins to deflect
downwards sharply. If this analysis would assume a
cantilever beam instead of a simply-supported beam,
the tendency of upwards and downward deflection
would be reversed.
By considering this definition, Figure 5 indicates
that PC beams whose flanges have different com-
positions possess a characteristic of counteracting
long-term deflections from a long-range standpoint.
The deflections are generated based on the differ-
ence in volumetric change between upper and lowers
flanges caused mainly by drying inside micro-pores
and secondarily by creep under sustained stresses.
Figure 6 shows the computed volumetric change
of concrete using different W/C ratios, which causes
free-stress straining according to the moisture loss
from micro-pores of concrete. The PC beams which
are composed of different W/C ratios undergo differ-
ent time-dependent deflections. If these features are
Figure 6. Simulated total strains of the each flange.
Figure 7. Arrangement of reinforcement: The diameter of
deformed bars is 10mm. 17 shear reinforcement bars and 14
axial reinforcement bars are arranged.
Figure 8. Experimental setup: The machine (left side of the
specimen) is to control the temperature and humidity inside
the hollow core.
utilized to counteract the long-term deflections under
gravity, it may be possible to compensate deforma-
tions autonomously.
4 EXPERIMENT OF A PC BEAM UNDER
ROOM CONDITIONANDANALYSIS
The analytical result in Section 3 suggests the pos-
sibility of non-mechanical autonomous control by
using concrete with different compositions in upper
and lower flanges. The purpose of this section is
to verify the analytical results and confirm the con-
cept analytically, as well as to verify the applicability
of the coupled multi-scale modeling DuCOM-COM3
under variable environmental conditions. The detailed
dimensioning of the target PC beam is shown Figure
7 and Figure 8. The compositions of upper and lower
flanges are W/C =61.5% and 28%. The deflection
and axial strains of upper and lower flanges are mea-
sured. The deflection in this study is defined at the
mid-span of the specimen and proportional to the cur-
vature since the gravity effect is negligibly small. The
315
Figure 9. Temperature and relative humidity histograms,
outside an inside of the hollow core.
Figure 10. The computed and measured deflection.
specimen was cured for 24 days under sealed condi-
tions, and then exposed to the air in the laboratory.
The prestressing force was applied 56 days after cast-
ing. The temperature and the relative humidity of the
hollow core were controlled from 34 days after cast-
ing. The deformational behaviors of the specimens are
also computed by DuCOM-COM3 in accordance with
environmental conditions on site.
Figure 10 shows the time-dependent beam deflec-
tion after exposure to the air in the laboratory. It can
be seen that the different W/C ratios of the upper
and lower flanges may lead to the beam cambering
as discussed in section 3.
The deflection is rooted in different axial mean
strains of upper and lower flanges where the rate of
moisture loss and associated shrinkage are not the
same. Before operating the environment control inside
the hollow core, the specimen tended to warp. This
is because the autogenous shrinkage of the lower
flange (W/C =28%) is greater than the upper one
(W/C =61.5%) during early ages. If the period of cur-
ing were shorter than the case of this experiment, the
effect of autogenous shrinkage would become greater,
and the deflection of the specimen would camber
more than the observed. Hence, the period of curing
should be of great importance in practice.
Figure 9 and Figure 10 showthat the relative humid-
ity inside the hollow core has a strong influence on
the beam deflection. When the RH is restricted to low
levels using environmental conditioning, the PC beam
tends to bend downwards because the low RH accel-
erates the drying and the associated shrinkage of the
upper flange (W/C =61.5%).
After 90 days, the beam began to rapidly camber
once more. This is because the increasing humidity
caused the upper flange to expand and this compen-
sates for the drying shrinkage. This fact means that
adjusting environmental conditions of the hollow core
such as temperature and the relative humidity is also
an effective way to control deflections.
Figure 10 also shows that DuCOM-COM3 repro-
duces the tendency of the deflection of the beam
even under varying environmental conditions inside
the hollow core.
5 PC BEAMS UNDERAMBIENT CONDITIONS
5.1 Purpose of the outdoor experiment
From the experiment under the indoor conditions, the
possibility of controlling deflection autonomously is
verified. However, there might be potential environ-
mental factors which may have strong influence on
the deformational behaviors under ambient outdoor
conditions, such as rainfall, snow, wind and solar
radiation. The first purpose of this experiment is to
graspthe influence of meteorological effects of outside
conditions on the autonomous control of deflections.
The second purpose is verifying the assumption
made in the simulation for Tsukiyono bridge. The
influence of the rainfall on the relative humidity of
the upper flange is the core of this discussion.
5.2 Experimental result
Two specimens with the same properties as that used
in the indoor experiment are prepared. One of them
was set in the field with a roof and the other was set
in the field without a roof (see Figure 11). A PC beam
with a roof is not influenced by rainfall and sunlight,
whereas a PCbeamwithout a roof is. The difference in
their response reflects the influence of the rainfall and
sunlight. Two PC beams were exposed to the air after
two weeks sealed curing, and a 250 kN prestressing
force is applied to both upper and lower flanges 3 days
after curing. The information of the daily rainfall has
been acquired from the meteorological bureau.
To measure the relative humidity and temperature
inside the concrete specimens, small pipes were set
before casting and recorders were put in the pipes
after demolding (see Figure 12). Figure 13 shows that
deflections of the two PC beams drew apart as the
time passed and the PC beam without a roof does not
deflect even though the PC beam with a roof deflects.
The main cause of this difference is the rainfall and
316
Figure 11. Experimental conditions. The left side is the PC
beam with a roof and the right side is the PC beam without
a roof and receives the influence of rainfall, solar-radiation.
Figure 12. Left: small recorder of temperature and RH
Right: the way to measure the internal RH and temperature
of both flanges.
Figure 13. Comparison of deflections with rainfall
amounts.
snow in 2012. Rain caused a noticeable increase in the
difference indeflection, andsnowcausedan evenmore
substantial increase. This fact means that the rainfall
provided water to the upper surface of the structural
concrete, and prevented the upper flange from shrink-
ing. In the case of snow, it covered the surface and
supplied water for a longer period than rainfall. This is
why the difference in deflections became larger when
the snow was observed. Based on these results, the
rainfall and the snow have a influence on autonomous
responses of the member. It implies that rainfall and
snow are useful for autonomous control if designing
PCbridges which can utilize this impact appropriately.
Figure 14. Internal RH of both upper flanges (the PC beam
with a roof and the PC beam without a roof) and rainfall
amount.
Figure 15. Analysis about deflections of a PCbeamin rainy
condition and a PCbeamwhich dont take the rainy influence.
Figure 14 shows the change of RH in the upper
flanges. In case of the beam with a roof, the RH
decreases gradually. On the other hand, the RH of the
upper flange without a roof is kept at almost 100%,
because occasional rainfall provides the upper flange
with water. The impact of one incidence of rainfall
lasts for several days.
5.3 Analytical result of PC beams under rainfall
In order to understand kinematics of the two PCbeams
deeply, the simulation is conducted. In reproducing the
behavior of the beam with roof, constant environmen-
tal conditions (temperature: 20 degree of Celsius, RH:
60%) are assumed. In the analysis to reproduce the
beam without roof, the environmental condition from
exposure until the 64th day is as same as the beam
with roof. After the 64th day, which corresponds to
the first day of frequent rainfall, the upper surface is
kept under a temperature of 20
C, and a RH of 99%.
A 250 kN prestress force is applied to the upper and
lower flange of the beams at 14 days from casting.
The analytical result shows initially larger deflec-
tions than the experiment because the analysis
overestimates autogenous shrinkages of lower flange
composed of lowW/Cratio-concretes in the early age.
The analytical model, especially for early age, is under
improvement based on the behavior of micro pore
waters. Even in the current model, deflections after
64days can be accurately estimated because the predic-
tion accuracy about strains of lowW/Cratio-concretes
becomes higher as the hydration proceeds.
317
The deflection of the beam without a roof does not
change much even after raining. The analytical result
shows the same tendency. Even though it rains inter-
mittently, the effect on the concrete last for several
days after the rain, and its effect can be approximated
as RH 99%. In the analysis of the PC beam with roof
also reproduces the deflection change observed in the
experiment. The main driving force of the deflection
is the shrinkage of the upper flange.
In the analyses of Tsukiyono bridge viaduct
(Nakamura et al. 1982, Maekawa et al. 2011), the ana-
lytical result assuming the upper flange surface under
pavement is kept at RH 99% gives good agreement
with the measured deflection. The agreement between
experimental and analytical results in this section sup-
ports this analytical assumption. The rainwater may
penetrate the pavement through fine paths, and it keeps
the upper surface of the upper flange wet. This remark
shall be verified by some destructive testing in future.
6 CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents research into the autonomous con-
trol of PC bridges deflections based on the concept
of usingdifferent W/Cratio-concretes inone PCbridge
member.
1. PC bridge members whose upper and lower
flanges consist of different water-cement ratio con-
cretes have the possibility to control deflections
autonomously according to the climate variations.
2. Environmental control inside the hollowcore of PC
viaducts is a possible way to control deflections.
3. The environmental effects of rain and snowfall
may contribute favorably to the autonomous
deflections against the gravity action by different
W/C ratios in upper and lower flanges.
4. Rainfall provides the upper flanges of bridges with
water, and by considering this effect, DuCOM-
COM3 can be used for estimating long-termdeflec-
tions of structures more precisely.
REFERENCES
Bazant, Z.P. 2010a. Prediction of concrete creep and shrink-
age: past, present and future. Nuclear Engineering and
Design, 203, 2738.
Bazant, Z.P., Yu, Q., Li, G.H., Klein, G.J. and Kristek, V.
2010b. Excessive deflections of record span prestressed
box girder, Concrete International, ACI, 32(6).
Burdet O. and Baudoux M. 1999. Long-term deflection
monitoring of prestressed concrete bridges retrofitted by
external post-tensioning examples from Switzerland,
IABSE, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Hata Y., Oonishi N. and Watanabe Y. 1993. Creep behavior
of prestressed concrete bridge over ten years, Proc. of FIP
symposium, 305310.
Maekawa, K., Chijiwa, N. and Ishida, T. 2011. Long-termde-
formational simulationof PCbridges basedonthe thermo-
hygro model of micro-pores in cementitious composites.
Cement and Concrete Research, 41(12), 13101319.
Maekawa, K. Ishida, K. and Kishi, T. 2009. Multi-scale
Modeling of Structural Concrete, Taylor& Francis.
Maekawa, K. Chaube, T. and Kishi, T. 1999. Modeling of
Concrete Performance Hydration, Microstructure
Formation and Transport London, E&FN Spon.
Maekawa, K., Pimanmas A. and Okamura, H. 2003, Nonlin-
ear Mechanics of Reinforced Concrete, SPON Press.
Nakamura, K., Fukuyoshi, T. and Moriya, M. 1982. Con-
struction of the Tsukiyono Bridge by the P&Z Method,
Concrete Journal, JSCE, 20(1).
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An investigation into the long-termexcessive deflection of
PC viaducts by using 3D multi-scale integrated analysis,
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Practical prediction of creep, shrinkage and durability
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CRC Press, 529536.
318
Anchorage of deformed reinforcing bars in tension: An outlook for
advanced formulation of a bond-slip constitutive law
M.H. Mazumder, R.I. Gilbert & Z.T. Chang
ABSTRACT: The attainment of satisfactory performance in bond is particularly important for the anchorage of
reinforcing bars in tension. However, the available bond-slip constitutive laws that are typically implemented in
numerical finite element simulations are often less than satisfactory at modelling observed behaviour quan-
titatively. This paper describes an ongoing experimental research program in the Centre for Infrastructure
Engineering and Safety (CIES) at the University of New South Wales aimed at assessing the effects of dif-
ferent structural factors on the anchorage requirements of modern high strength steel reinforcing bars in tension,
including the cases of end development and lapped splices. Factors identified in previous experimental studies
that affect the bond strength, including the effect of concrete cover, bar spacing and bar diameter, are being
reassessed, and their effect on anchorage length for different loading conditions and structural geometries are
being examined. Based on the outcomes of this experimental research, a critical assessment is made of some
recently developed analytical and numerical models for bond stress and development length and suggestions for
improvement are also provided.
1 INTRODUCTION
An experimental study is underway at the University
of New South Wales to assess the impact of static,
cyclic and sustained loading on the anchorage require-
ments of modern high strength steel reinforcing bars
in tension, including the cases of end development
and lapped splices. The research is aimed at quantify-
ing the effects of the important parameters that affect
stress development in reinforcing bars. Factors iden-
tified in previous experimental studies that affect the
bond strength, including the concrete cover, bar spac-
ing and bar diameter, are being reassessed, and their
effect on anchorage length for different loading con-
ditions and structural geometries are being examined.
The ultimate objective of the project is to develop
procedures for anchoring reinforcement in concrete
structures that provide reliable and consistent fac-
tors of safety and that allow structures to be ductile
and robust throughout their design life, without an
increase in risk of premature collapse through bond
and anchorage failure.
This paper describes the first of the three stages of
the experimental research program aimed at assess-
ing the impact of static and cyclic loading on the
development length of Grade N Australian deformed
bars. Based on the results of the experimental pro-
gram, a critical assessment of some analytical and
numerical models for bond stress and develop-
ment length is made, together with suggestions for
improvement.
2 THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF BOND
STRESSES AND DEVELOPMENT LENGTH
2.1 General overview
When designing a reinforced concrete member for
strength, ductility and robustness, it is essential that the
tensile reinforcement at the critical sectioncannot only
develop its yield stress, f
sy
, but that it can sustain that
level of stress as deformation increases. If f
sy
is to be
reached and maintained at a particular cross-section, a
minimum length of reinforcing bar (the development
length) is required on either side of the critical section.
Codes of practice (such as AS3600, ACI318 and
Eurocode 2) specify a minimum development length,
L
sy.t
, over which a straight bar must be embedded in the
concrete in order to develop the yield stress. However,
the specified values for L
sy.t
in each of these Standards
differ widely (Gilbert 2007) and have been developed
independently as empirical fits to experimental data.
Within the development length of a deformed bar,
the deformations progressivelybear ontothe surround-
ing concrete and the bearing forces F are inclined
at an angle to the bar axis as shown in Figure
1a (Goto 1971). The perpendicular component of the
bearing forces exerts a radial force on the surround-
ing concrete. Tepfers (1973, 1979, 1982) described
the concrete in the vicinity around the bar as act-
ing like a thick walled pipe as shown in Figure 1b
and the radial forces exerted by the bar cause tensile
stresses,
r
that may lead to splitting cracks radiat-
ing from the bar if the tensile strength of the concrete
319
Figure 1. Splitting cracks around developing bars (Tepfers
1979).
is exceeded. Bond failure is typically initiated by the
splitting cracks within the development length of an
anchored bar (Figures 1c, 1d) or within the lap-length
at a lapped tension splice (Figure 1e). Transverse rein-
forcement across the splitting planes (A
tr
in Figures 1c,
1d&1e) delays the propagationof cracks andimproves
bond strength. Compressive pressure transverse to the
plane of splitting delays the onset of cracking thereby
improving bond strength.
For a reinforcing bar of diameter d
b
, the ultimate
bond force over the development length (d
b
L
sy.t
f
ub
)
must not be less than the maximum bar force
(f
sy
A
st
=f
sy
d
2
b
/4). Therefore,
Expressions for the development length in most
codes of practice are similar to Equation 1 with the
average ultimate bond stress f
ub
directly related to the
tensile strength of concrete and modified by coeffi-
cients of varying form and complexity to account for
the factors affecting bond strength.
2.2 Bond-slip models for analytical and numerical
modelling of RC structures
The bond stress that develops at the contact sur-
face between the reinforcing bar and concrete, f
b
, is
the component of the radial tensile stress,
r
in the
direction of the bar and may be expressed as
where k(=tan ) is the so called rib factor which rep-
resents the effects of the deformations on the surface
of the bar, i.e. mechanical interlocking (Goto 1971).
In the bond-slip model, f
b
is associated with the slip
at the bar-concrete interface and constitutive laws
for the bond-slip relationship are typically developed
from empirical expressions that best fit the relevant
In many of the analytical models, the angle is used
as the key parameter for describing the relationship
between
r
and the average ultimate bond stress at fail-
ure, f
ub
. These empirical models also have in common
the dimensionless parameter c/d
b
as the correlation
parameter to the normalized bond strength parameter,
f
ub
/(f

c
)
0.5
.
Ferguson&Briceno(1969) developedequations for
side split and face-and-side split bond failures assum-
ing that the radial and longitudinal components of
force between the bar and concrete are equal ( =45
).
One of the main limitations of their approach is that the
splitting was assumed to occur instantaneously along
the anchorage length. However, splitting is actually
progressive, starting at the critical end of the anchor-
age. The crude assumption of the value of also
disregards the observed uneven distribution of bond
stress along the anchorage length.
Ferguson & Krishnaswamy (1971) used a slightly
different approach and assumed that the splitting force
is related to bond force but may not be equal to it
(i.e. may be more or less than 45
). They took the

concrete tensile strength f

t
=0.531(f

c
)
0.5
(in MPa), a
value based on split cylinder tests.
By applying the thick cylinder theory, Tepfers
(1973, 1979, 1982) derived a relationship between
radial splittingforces at failure andf

t
. The radial stress,
r
was regarded as the pressure acting against the
thick walled cylinder while the inner diameter of the
cylinder was considered as the reinforcing bar diame-
ter. Tepfers (1979) assumed the thick wall of concrete
around the deformed bar in tension is cracked and the
maximum depth of internal crack, e, was shown to
be 0.486(c +d
b
/2). The outer zone of concrete around
the cylinder was assumed to be uncracked and fully
elastic with the bond force carried to it through the
cracked concrete. Tepfers showed the maximum ten-
sile stress due tothe bondactionwas (
r
)
max
=0.00689
f
ub
d
b
tan )/(c +d
b
/2). Bond failure is assumed to
occur as soon as the maximum tensile stress in the
concrete is equal to f

t
. That is:
Since f

t
can be written as k
1
(f

c
)
0.5
, then
The above mentioned empirical equations are in SI
units.
The main criticism of the Tepfers thick cylinder
theory is that concrete does not behave wholly elas-
tically in tension at failure. Hence, the application of
the thick cylinder theory may not be entirely valid. If
elastic behaviour is assumed the value of tan =0.77,
whereas for plastic behaviour tan =1.32.
In reality, the angle changes in magnitude as bond
failure develops due to progressive crushing of con-
crete in front of the bar deformation and this also
changes the mechanical wedging action between the
bar and concrete.
When modelling reinforced concrete structures
with the finite element method, the displacement field
at the bar-concrete interface is determined using math-
ematical expressions that describe the mechanical
relation between
r
and f
b
through the rib factor, k.
320
Figure 2. Typical bond-slip law of CEB-FIP model code
1990.
Figure 3. Bond failure by bar pull-out and splitting of
concrete.
Bond-slip constitutive laws, such as that shown in Fig-
ure 2, are typically implemented at the bar-concrete
interface. The rib factor, k is normally built into the
structural modelling software as a constant value.
Bond-slip relationships are, in general, developed
fromempirical fits to experimental data. The database,
used for this purpose, mostly contains results frombar
pull-out tests. At failure in a bar pull-out test, reinforc-
ing bars embeddedinthe concrete specimenare axially
loaded until bar pull-out bond failure occurs. The
concrete between the bar deformations often shears
and sliding (slip) occurs on the slip surface shown in
Figure 3a.
Constitutive laws developed as empirically fits to
the bar pull-out test results are based on the assump-
tion that bond stresses are dependent solely on the slip.
However, bond action causes not only bond stresses,
but also splitting stresses, as was shown by Tepfers
(1973, 1979, 1982). The splitting stresses also change
in magnitude and direction due to progressive crushing
of concrete in front of the lugs of reinforcement. As
the deposition of crushed concrete in front of the lugs
changes the angle of inclination of the sliding surface
(Figure 3b), the slip values also change in relation to
the variable splitting stresses. According to Lutz and
Gergely (1967), concrete crushing in front of the ribs
results in a new sliding surface and hence causes a
change in the angle of inclination of the bar forces
to the concrete (Figure 3b). The new sliding surfaces
progressively cause larger splitting forces and hence
smaller bond strengths failure shown in Figure 3a is
relatively rare. In most cases, bond failures with face
splitting or face-and-side splitting of the concrete cov-
ers around the reinforcement are more usual. It follows
Figure 4. Dimensions and loading arrangements of devel-
opment length specimens.
that bond-slip constitutive laws should include the
effects of splitting stresses into the basic formulation.
The splitting stresses associated with splitting
cracks in the concrete reduce the bond capacity. Yield-
ing of reinforcement also reduces the bond capacity
but not to the same extent as the advent of splitting
cracks. Lundgren and Gilltoft (2000) pointed out the
difference between these effects and hence developed
a bond-slip model.
This paper is aimed at evaluating the bond capacity
of deformed reinforcing bars in tension where the bond
failures are associated simultaneously with both bar
pull-out and splitting of the cover concrete.
3 THE EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
3.1 Test specimens and loading regime
Both development length specimens and lapped splice
specimens were tested. The development length spec-
imens were 2000 mm long, 600 mm wide and 200 mm
deep. Details are provided in Figure 4. With supports
1200 mm apart, these statically determinate members
were cantilevered at one end by an amount of 700 mm
(see Figure 4a). The line load P was applied 600 mm
past Support 1. Each specimen contains four reinforce-
ment bars in the top of the specimen, the outer two
bars being terminated with a 180
cog immediately
past Support 1. For the two centrally placed bars that
321
carry bending in the cantilever, the bond between the
concrete and the bars was eliminated from the point l
d
past Support 1 through to the far end of the specimen
by encasing each bar in a plastic sleeve.
For convenience during testing, the specimen is
inverted so the anchored bars are located in the bottom
of the specimen (see Figure 4c). A total of eighteen
development length specimens were tested in Test
Series 1. Fourteen specimens were tested under short-
term static loading and the remaining four specimens
were tested under monotonically increasing load after
a period of cyclic loading.
The static loading involved monotonically increas-
ing the applied load on the specimen by controlling the
rate of deformation at a suitably slow rate until fail-
ure occurred in the specimen, either by bond failure
or yielding of the reinforcement. The cyclic loading
involved repeatedly loading and unloading the speci-
men from10%to about 50%of its static strength. Each
cyclic loading specimen was subjected to in excess of
50,000 cycles of loading at a rate of 1.0 hertz.
The deflection of the specimen at the point of load
application, together with the slip at the end of the
debondedbars, was measuredthroughout the test using
LVDTs. Also measured throughout the test were the
location of the primary cracks and crack widths. The
variables considered were the bar diameter d
b
=12
or 16 mm; the anchorage length l
d
=5d
b
, 10d
b
, 15d
b
or 20d
b
; and the concrete cover to the anchored bars
c =25 or 40 mm.
Strain gauges were used to monitor steel strains in
the developingbar at the critical cross-sectionandmid-
way along the length l
d
, as shown in Figure 4b.
When interpreting the results of the static load tests,
cracked section analysis can be readily undertaken to
determine the stresses that develop in the developing
bars at the critical cross-section (at Support 1) at all
levels of appliedloadinguptoandincludinganchorage
failure.
3.2 Test results of development length specimens
The maximum load P
max
applied to each specimen
during the test is given in Table 1, together with the
maximum stress in the monitored bars at the critical
section and the average ultimate bond stress f
ub
over
the anchorage length l
d
. Table 2 shows the material
properties measured at the time of testing.
When considering the minimum development
lengths specified in codes of practice, it is generally
agreed that a factor of safety in the range of 1.5 to 2.5
is reasonable and appropriate. For the static load tests,
the factor of safety obtained from AS3600-2009 are
generally in that range (except for DL-11 and DL-12
marginally under and DL-6 somewhat higher). With
the exception of DL-4, the cyclic load tests are below
the acceptable range. Specimen DL-14 with an anchor-
age length of just 60 mm (l
d
=5d
b
) suffered bond
failure immediately at first cracking. Of the cyclic
load tests, specimens DL-4, DL-13 and DL-17 were
all subjected to in excess of 50,000 cycles of load,
before being loaded monotonically to failure. Each
Table 1. Test results for development length specimens.
At section at
support 1 under
P
max
AS3600-2009
Specimen Factor
no. & load l
d
P
max

st
f
ub
f
ub
of
type c/d
b
(mm) (kN) (MPa) (MPa) (MPa) safety
DL-1 (S) 1.56 160 30.5 308 7.69 3.93 1.96
DL-2 (S) 1.56 240 40.5 403 6.72 3.93 1.71
DL-3 (S) 1.56 320 48.3 478 5.97 3.93 1.52
DL-4 (C) 1.56 240 44.9 445 7.41 3.93 1.89
DL-5 (S) 1.56 240 42.8 425 7.09 3.93 1.80
DL-6 (S) 2.08 120 27.2 477 11.92 4.45 2.68
DL-7 (S) 2.08 180 32.5 565 9.41 4.45 2.12
DL-8 (S) 2.08 240 30.8 537 6.72 4.45 1.51
DL-9 (C) 2.08 180 20.7 369 6.16 4.45 1.38
DL-10 (S) 2.50 160 25.9 292 7.31 4.55 1.61
DL-11 (S) 2.50 240 34.8 387 6.44 4.55 1.42
DL-12 (S) 2.50 320 43.8 482 6.02 4.55 1.32
DL-13 (C) 2.50 240 31.9 356 5.93 4.55 1.30
DL-14 (S) 3.33 60 15.2
DL-15 (S) 3.33 120 21.4 422 10.54 5.21 2.03
DL-16 (S) 3.33 180 26.3 510 8.50 5.21 1.63
DL-17 (C) 3.33 180 21.8 429 7.15 5.21 1.37
DL-18 (S) 1.25 180 23.3 390 6.50 3.79 1.72
*Static load test (S), cyclic load test (C).
Table 2. Material properties of development length
specimens.
f
c
f
ct,f
E
c
f
sy
f
su
Specimen no. (MPa) (MPa) (MPa) (MPa) (MPa)
DL-1 to 5 38.5 3.75 34700 546 731
DL-6 to 9 38.5 3.75 34700 561 721
DL-10 to 13 36.9 3.60 29300 546 731
DL- 14 to 18 36.9 3.60 29300 561 721
cyclic load specimen was cycled between 10% and
50% of the peak static load determined from the iden-
tical static load specimens DL-2, DL-11 and DL-16,
respectively. Specimen DL-9 suffered a sudden bond
failure after 25,080 cycles of load.
The average ultimate bond stress f
ub
required by
AS3600-2009 to develop the failure stress
st
is also
shown in Table 1, together with the factor of safety
associated with the code approach (taken as the ratio
of the measured f
ub
to that specified by the Standard).
Figure 5 illustrates selected data from Table 1 from
which the effects of concrete cover and reinforcing
bar diameter on the actual ultimate bond stress (f
ub
)
can be analyzed.
The followings summarize the main experimental
observations:
The effect of concrete cover on the development
length is perhaps not as significant as is indicated
in the current code approaches, with statistically lit-
tle difference in steel stress at failure between the
specimens with 25 mm and 40 mm cover.
322
Figure 5. Average ultimate bond stress f
ub
for different bar
diameter and covers of the development length specimens.
The effect of the dimensionless parameter, c/d
b
on the average ultimate bond stress f
ub
is signif-
icant for the smaller diameter bars (12 mm) with
the shorter anchorage lengths while for the larger
diameter bars (16 mm) the effect is insignificant.
The average bond stress at failure f
ub
decreases as
the anchorage length l
d
increases. The measured
value of f
ub
seems to be affected by the spacing and
position of the primary cracks within the anchorage
length.
The values of f
ub
for 16 mm bars are significantly
smaller than that for 12 mm bars, but the differ-
ence decreases for higher values of l
d
. The relatively
lower factors of safety for higher diameter bars is
because more cracks form within the longer length
l
d
and at each crack the local bond stress drops to
zero, thereby reducing the average ultimate bond
stress.
The effect of cyclic loading on f
ub
is not clear.
While the values of f
ub
for specimens DL-13 and
DL-17 were less than the values for their static load
counterparts, the value for DL-4 was not.
3.3 Further discussion of results
The angle of inclinationof the bearingforces withinthe
anchorage length () determined at the ultimate state
of bond failure is indicative of the extent of plastic
deformation that occurs at that state. Figure 6 is a plot
of the normalized bond strength (f
ub
/(f

c
)
0.5
) against the
dimensionless parameter c/d
b
for the test specimens
together with points obtained fromTepfers analytical
solution using Equation 4.
The wide deviations of the experimental results
from Tepfers assumed linear behaviour, particularly
at higher values of bond stress, indicates that Tepfers
assumption of fully elastic behaviour of the concrete
zone outside the assumed thick cylinder zone is not
entirely valid.
An optimization algorithm was implemented in
order to minimize the difference between the exper-
imental results of f
ub(exp)
and the calculated values
(f
ub(cal)
) so as to optimize the angle (or tan ).
The optimized tan indicate the extent of plastic
deformation that occurred in the concrete outside the
Figure 6. Comparison between experimental results and
Tepfers (1979) analytical solution.
Figure 7. Optimized solutions for tan vs. c/d
b
for different
development length specimens.
assumed thick cylinder zone for different c/d
b
ratios
and different anchorage lengths, l
d
.
Figure 7 shows that for different values of c/d
b
there
is a wide range of values of the angle (or tan).
Further research is required to develop meaningful
relationships between the angle (tan ) and the
parameters (c/d
b
), the anchorage length l
d
and the bar
diameter. The relationships developed from the exper-
imental results could be effectively used for realistic
prediction of the angle or the rib factor (k) and hence
assist in developing more accurate formulations of
bond and anchorage length to be used for practical
purposes.
Figure 8 shows the f
ub
values against the end slip of
anchored bar (per 100 mmof l
d
) which has been calcu-
lated from the total end slip values averaged between
two identical bars with the same development length.
The analysis shown in the figure is indicative that the
average slip within the anchorage zone is higher for
the smaller diameters bars and for relatively shorter
anchorage lengths.
Figure 9 shows that the reduction in average ulti-
mate stress, f
ub
might be correlated with the increase
in the number of primary cracks due to the increase
in l
d
. The above mentioned experimental results sug-
gest that different bond-slip constitutive laws can be
developed for variable anchorage lengths and rein-
forcing bars an indicative plot of which is depicted
in Figure 10.
323
Figure 8. f
ub
vs. end slip/100 mmof l
d
(for static load tests).
Figure 9. No. of primary cracks/100 mm of l
d
(for static
load tests).
Figure 10. Indicative bond-slip laws for different bar diam-
eter and anchorage lengths.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The development length and the lapped splice length
of deformed reinforcing bars in tension are typically
calculated according to the procedures specified in the
relevant local code of practice. According to the results
presented in the paper, the effect of concrete cover on
the development length is perhaps not as significant as
is indicatedinthe code approaches. The reinforcingbar
diameter, on the other hand, seems to strongly affect
the average ultimate bond stress mobilized along the
development length. Smaller diameter bars are asso-
ciated with higher average slip within the anchorage
zone compared to larger diameter bars.
The bonds stress is also greatly affected by the
anchorage length of the specimen. Shorter anchorage
lengths develop higher average ultimate bond stress
because fewer primary cracks cross the anchorage
region.
In addition, different structural factors, includ-
ing the normalized parameter (c/d
b
), significantly
affected the bearing angle and hence the extent of
plastic behaviour of the concrete in the tensile zone
around the anchored bar. This phenomenon needs to
be explored further in order to develop reliable bond-
slip relationships and to recalibrate the bond models
used in commercial software packages and for the
development of reliable code procedures for bond and
anchorage of deformed reinforcing bars in tension.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
support of the Australian Research Council through
an ARC Discovery grant to the second author. This
support is gratefully acknowledged.
REFERENCES
ACI Committee 318: 2008. Building Code Requirements
for Structural Concrete (ACI318M-08) and Commentary.
Farmington Hills Michigan: American Concrete Institute.
AS 3600:2009. Australian Standard for Concrete Structures
(AS3600-2009). Sydney: Standards Australia.
CEB-FIP: 1990. Model Code 1990: Final Draft in Bulletin
n. 213/214. Lausanne: Committee Euro-International du
Beton.
Eurocode 2, EN 1992-1-1:2004. Design of concrete struc-
tures Part 1-1: General rules and rules for buildings.
Brussels: European Committee for Standardisation.
Ferguson P.M. &Krishnaswamy C.N. 1971. Research Report
113-3. Center for Highway Research: University of Texas
at Austin.
Ferguson, P.M. & Briceno, E.A. 1969. Research Report 113-
2. Center for Highway Research: University of Texas at
Austin.
Gilbert, R.I. 2007. A review and the critical comparision of
the provisions for the anchorage of reinforcement in North
Amercian, European and Australian Standards. Concrete
in Australia 33(3): 3340.
Goto, Y. 1971. Cracks formed in concrete around deformed
tension bars. ACI Journal 68(4): 244251.
Lundgren, K. & Gylltoft, K. 2000. A model for the bond
between concrete and reinforcement. Magazine of Con-
crete Research 52(1): 5363.
Lutz, L.A. &Gergely, P. 1967. Mechanics of bond and slip of
deformed bars in concrete. ACI Journal 64(11): 711721.
Tepfers R. 1973. A theory of bond applied to overlapped
tensile reinforcement splices for deformed bars. Publi-
cation 73:2 of Division of Concrete Structures: Chalmers
University of Technology, Goteborg.
Tepfers, R. 1979. Cracking of concrete cover along
anchored deformed reinforcing bars. Magazine of Con-
crete Research 31(106) 312.
Tepfers, R. 1982. Lapped tensile reinforcement splices.
Journal of Structural Division, ASCE 108(1): 283301.
324
Structural performanceof 45year oldcorrodedprestressedconcretebeams
Torill M. Pape& R.E. Melchers
University of Newcastle
ABSTRACT: Theperformanceof older prestressedconcrete(PSC) bridges has gainedmoreprominencein
recent times, with theneed for moreaccuratecondition inspection techniques and structural assessments to
ensuresafeandeconomic management of thesestructures. Thelocationof astructureinanaggressivemarine
environment isanadditional consideration, particularlyascorrosionof theprestressingsteel isknowntocause
loss of wire ductility and thus influencing performance. Load tests conducted on 3 full-sized, 45-year-old
prestressedconcretebridgebeams of varyingconditionhas givenauniqueinsight into this area, withresults
reportedherein.All beamsfailedtoachievetheanticipatedultimateloadcapacitybasedoncurrentdesigntheory
andactual material properties. Thebeamfailuremodedependedonthedegreeof corrosionof theprestressing
wire. Thetensilefailureof theprestressingwiresfromall threeloadtestscommencedearlier thananticipated
andwasprogressive. Unusual corrosionobservationsarenoted. Possiblereasonsfor theobservedbehaviour and
thepractical implicationsarediscussed.
1 INTRODUCTION
Bridges compriseacritical link inany transport net-
worksystem. InAustralia, theroadnetworkcomprises
approximately 37,000 bridges, with 75% of these
structuresclassifiedaseitherreinforcedorprestressed
concrete (Austroads 2005). A third of these were
constructed between 1948 and 1976, reflecting the
post-WW2constructionboomandtheemergingcom-
mercial viability of prestressed concrete. The Sorell
Causeway bridge in southeast Tasmania was repre-
sentative of the beginning of this era in Australia,
andwasthefirst precast, post-tensionedbridgeof its
kind when built in 1957 (Coombs 1957). However,
the bridge was demolished 45 years later resulting
fromuncertainties surrounding the condition of the
post-tensioningtendonsduetocorrosion, despitesev-
eral detailedinvestigationsconductedwhilstthebridge
wasin-service(PapeandMelchers2011). Thisexam-
ple is indicative of the challenges faced by most
authoritiesinrelationtoageinginfrastructure.
Bridge failure usually incurs direct and indirect
costs far in excess of the cost of bridge repair or
replacement. Typically, the current structural ade-
quacy and the likely remaining safe life of existing
prestressedconcretebridgesareestimatedusingperi-
odic visual inspections coupledwitharatingsystem
(Cavell andWaldron2001). Insomecases loadtest-
ingmay beusedalso. Theseresultscanbecompared
with structural analyses using known, measured and
assumed loadings and material properties, consider-
ingtheusual structural failuremodesand, sometimes,
also fatigue and corrosion. Much research attention
isbeinggiventoimprovingtheseanalysistechniques
(Val and Chernin 2008). However, relatively little
attentionisbeinggiventotheeffectof deteriorationon
modes of failureandthemodellingof theassociated
mechanismsandrisks(TingandNowak1991).
Conventional design and analysis of prestressed
concrete beams assumes that the ultimate bending
capacity can be estimated using internal bending
equilibrium, with the force in the tendon at each
cross-section being equally distributed between the
wiresmakingupthetendon. Thisisassumedtooccur
through thewholeloading process including to ulti-
mateload (Abeles and Bardhan-Roy 1981). It relies
on the notion that sufficient deformation including
ductility can occur in the individual wires between
their reaching proof stress and ultimate stress. As
a result, there should be a gradual rather than sud-
den or brittle failure of the tendon and thus of the
overall prestressed concrete element. In this sense,
there is no difference between reinforced concrete
and prestressed concretebeamdesign in theestima-
tion of the ultimate bending strength (Gilbert and
Mickleborough 1990). In the case of older bridges
wherecorrosionof thesteel hasoccurred, thisassump-
tionmaynotbeappropriate. Itisknownthatlocalised
corrosion reduces the ductility of steel reinforce-
ment (Cairns et al. 2005), and can be expected to
occur also for prestressing wire. Only a small num-
ber of studies have investigated the effect of rein-
forcement or prestressing corrosion on bridge beam
behaviour andthesehavefocussedpredominantly on
theeffect on ultimatecapacity, estimated using ana-
lytical or laboratory studiesonhypothetical elements
(Coronelli et al. 2009) or actual prestressed bridges
(Woodward and Williams 1988). There appears to
havebeenno correlationof theseresults to previous
experience.
325
Figure1. Typical prestressedT-beamcross-section, show-
ing(left) dimensions and(right) reinforcing& prestressing
details.
Herein we report the results of load tests on
threeprestressedconcretebeams invariedcondition
recovered from a 45-year-old bridge in an aggres-
sivecool marineenvironment. All threebeamsfailed
to achievetheanticipateddesigncapacity (including
the beamsuperficially in very good condition). All
beams showed progressive early failure of the pre-
stressingwires. This contradicts conventional design
assumptions. It is consideredthat theseobservations
potentially have serious implications for the assess-
ment of the remaining life of existing prestressed
concretebridgeslocatedinmarineenvironments. The
following sections describe the experimental results
and the corrosion observations. This is followed by
a discussion of possible reasons for the observed
results.
2 BACKGROUND
Detailed background and design information have
beendescribedpreviously(PapeandMelchers2011),
however abrief summary follows. Thebridgebeams
consideredhereinwererecoveredfromthenowdemol-
ished 457mlong Sorell Causeway Bridge in 2002.
It was located approximately 20km from Hobart,
south-east Tasmania, and spanned across the Pitt
Water estuary, an aggressive marine environment
open to strong winds. The bridge was composed of
34 simply-supported 13mlong spans each consist-
ingof 14precast, post-tensionedT-beams connected
together transversely by post-tensioningthroughfive
equally spaceddiaphragms. Geometric andreinforc-
ing specifications for the beams are shown in Fig-
ure 1. Beamlayout and nomenclature are shown in
Figure2.
Thebeamsselectedfor investigationhad(i) littleor
nocrackingdamage, (ii) mediumdamageand(iii) the
most severedamagerepresentativeof all beamsfrom
thebridge. Insummary:
BeamA: Good condition. Minor spalls over shear
ligaturesonsouthernfaceof Bay5.
Figure2. Elevationof typical prestressedT-beamshowing
Bays16of thebeam, itsdiaphragms(i)(v) (throughwhich
transverse prestressing was applied), & the longitudinal
parabolictendonprofile.
Figure3. Layout of loadtest rig.
BeamB: Reasonable condition. Longitudinal crack
onbothfacesof Bays4and5. Minimal rust
staining, somespalling. Remainderof beam
ingoodcondition.
BeamC: Poor condition. Severe longitudinal crack
on both faces of Bays 4 and 5, maximum
width of 20mm. Minimal rust staining,
minor spalling. Remainder of beamingood
condition.
3 LOADTEST DETAILS
Details of theloadtest procedurearediscussedelse-
where(Papeand Melchers 2007). In summary, each
beam was incrementally loaded until collapse was
achieved, usingtwo250kN hydraulic jacksfor third-
point loading (see Figure 3) (American Society for
TestingandMaterials2002).Progressivedisplacement
and strain data was also recorded. Crack and defect
patterns for each beambeforeand after load testing
areshowninFigures4(a)6(a) andFigures4(b)6(b)
respectively.
The expected maximum loads to be applied to
the beams were based on estimates of the specified
concrete and prestressing steel strength (equivalent
to 34MPa and 1670MPa respectively), and mak-
ing an allowance of 25% losses due to shrinkage
and creep. Thus, the anticipated theoretical design
moment capacity for a beam in sound condition
andfreefromcorrosionwas 544kNm(equivalent to
125kN for eachpoint load), withthebeamfailingin
bending and in aductilemanner. Shear or acombi-
nation of shear and bending due to the application
of loads were not considered to be a critical failure
mechanism.
More detailed results have been discussed previ-
ously(PapeandMelchers2007). Theprincipal results
aresummarisedinTable1. Theload-deflectionplots
obtainedduringeachloadtest areshowninFigure7.
Notethat all threebeamsfailedtoachievetheantici-
patedloadcapacity, includingthebeamsuperficially
326
Figure4. Bays3and4(northernface) takenbeforeandafter loadtestingof BeamA.
Figure5. Bay5(southernface) beforeandafter loadtestingof BeamB.
in very good condition. Additionally, theoccurrence
of loudpopping soundsfromwithinthebeamsdur-
ing each load test was noted. These sound events
commenced at a load of approximately 50kN, con-
tinued occurring as the load increased, and were
foundtocorrespondtosmall but distinct peaksinthe
load-deflection plots (Figure7), followedby asmall
reductioninbeamstiffnessunder thesubsequent load
increment.Atthecompletionof eachtest, BeamA had
10suchsoundevents,BeamBhad17eventsandBeam
Chad33events. Theseeventswerelater confirmedto
bethefailureof prestressingwires.
327
Figure6. Bay5(southernface) beforeandafter loadtestingof BeamC.
Table 1. Summary of load test results for Beams A, B
andC.
BeamNo. BeamA BeamB BeamC
Ultimatepoint
load(kN)
112 77 57
Equivalent ultimate
moment (kNm)
483 333 243
Modeandtypeof
failure
Flexure
(Ductile)
Shear
(Brittle)
Shear
(Brittle)
Number of fractured
wires
10 17 33
Locationof failure
(Dia=diaphragm,
seeFigure2)
Dia(iii)
(midspan)
Dia(iv) Dia(iv)
Deflectionat ultimate
load(mm)
433 271 102
%of theoretical
designcapacity
89% 61% 45%
%of BeamA 100% 69% 51%
4 ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS
4.1 Prestressing wire condition
As conventional reinforcing was minimal for each
beam, the prestressing wires are considered herein.
Prestressing wires from Bay 5 of all beams were
Figure7. Moment-deflectionplotsfor BeamsA, B andC.
retrieved for further detailed investigation, as were
wiresfromthemidspanfailuresiteof BeamA.Table2
summarisestheconditionof thewiresfromeachten-
donat locationswherecorrosionwasthemost severe
(representing the worst case scenario) or at the site
of failure(asfor BeamA). BeamC hadsustainedthe
greatestarealossesandBeamAtheleast.Nocorrosion
wasrecordedforwiresretrievedfromthefailuresiteof
BeamA.Wherecorrosionwasobservedonwiresfrom
Bay5of BeamA, someareascoincidedwithinstance
of spalling, but morealarminglyothersdidnot.
WiresfailedmostlyinabrittlemannerforBeamsB
andC, withsomefailingwhilst still inservice. Wires
fromthefailuresiteinBeamA hadaductilefailure
328
Table 2. Average cross-sectional area of prestressing ten-
donat siteof worst corrosionor failure.
Areaof tendon
Beam Location Upper Lower Upper+Lower
A Midspan 100% 100% 100%
A Bay5 91% 85% 88%
B Dia(iv) 59% 27% 43%
C Dia(iv) 52% 20% 36%
Table3. Summaryof material propertiestest results.
Ultimate Tensile Strength of Prestressing Wire
Designspecification(MPa) 1670
Meanstrength(MPa) 1870
Maximumstrength(MPa) 1893
Minimumstrength(uncorrodedwire) (MPa) 1800
Minimumstrength(corrodedwire) (MPa) 1576
Standarddeviation(uncorrodedwire) (MPa) 29
5percentilestrength(uncorrodedwire) (MPa) 1805
Number of samples 22
Compressive Strength of Concrete
Designspecification(28day) (MPa) 34
Meanstrength(MPa) 61
Maximumstrength(MPa) 91
Minimumstrength(MPa) 29
Standarddeviation(MPa) 17
5percentilestrength(MPa) 34
Number of samples 11
mechanism. It is uncertain why corrosion was more
significant in wires fromthelower tendon. Theten-
dons closer proximity to the tidal zone or different
parabolictrajectorymayaffordsomeinsight. Bothpit-
tingandgeneral corrosionwereobservedto varying
degreesonthewires. Minimal ruststainingandcorro-
sionproduct travel werenotedinall cases, withrusts
predominantlyconfinedwithintheduct. Further steel
conditioninformationisdetailedelsewhere(Papeand
Melchers2009).
To confirm the material properties of the concrete
and the prestressing steel, randomly selected con-
cretecores and prestressing wires of varying condi-
tion were tested for compressive strength and ten-
sile strength respectively. Results from these tests
are shown in Table 3. Both the 5th percentile and
meanstrengths wereequal toor exceededthedesign
specifiedstrengths.
4.3 Unusual observations
During the course of retrieving the prestressing
steel, several unusual observationsweremade. These
includeddryandwetblackrusts, greenrusts, pitswith
Figure8. Examplesof unusual corrosionobservations.
metallic andsteppedbases, andtheevolutionof yel-
lowliquidfromsteel/concreteinterfaces. Examplesof
thesephenomenaareshowninFigure8.
Low volume black (Figure 8a) and green (Figure
8b) rusts were observed on corroded steel surfaces
immediatelyafter atmosphericexposure, quicklyoxi-
disingtoyellow, orange, black, or brownrusts. XRD
analysisof theseproducts(wherepossible) identified
magnetite, goethite, akaganeite, ironchloridehydrox-
ideand iron oxidechloride. Green rust (I) (chloride
based) was directly identified with the green rusts.
Underlying someareas of black rust, metallic pitted
surfaceswereobserved(Figure8c). Somepittedsur-
faces had a stepped appearance and were devoid of
rust products. Preliminary tests takenof somepitted
or rustedareasoccasionallyidentifiedthepresenceof
bacteria.
Small beadsof iridescentyellow/orangeliquidwere
observedtoweepfromsteel/concreteinterfacesfrom
recently cut surfaces exposed to atmosphere for 24
hours(Figure9). Theliquidwoulddrytoacrystalline
orange/brown crust with the appearance of bubbles.
Analysis viaXRD andSEM confirmedthepresence
of ferrous and ferric chlorides, with additional fea-
turesof akaganeiteandironchloridehydroxide. This
phenomenon has been well documented in thefield
329
Figure 9. Ferrous chloride weeping from concrete/
prestressingsteel interface.
of archaeology (Selwyn et al. 1999), but not, appar-
ently, inrelationtoreinforcedor prestressedconcrete
structures.
5 DISCUSSION
As Table 1 highlights, all beams failed to achieve
the anticipated ultimate design capacity. This is not
entirely unexpected for Beams B and C with aver-
ageprestressingtendoncross-sectional areaslossesof
57%and64%at thefailuresites. Similar differences
were found for the loss of performance and brittle
failuremechanismfor thesebeams(Malumbelaet al.
2010) (seeTable1). However, theperformanceof the
relativelygoodconditionBeamA contradictswhat is
normally expected for actual structures, particularly
asactual material properties(Table3) areusuallybet-
ter than thenominal design values and thus provide
improvedstrengthcharacteristics(StandardsAustralia
2004).
Several explanationsfor theaboveobservationare
now discussed. Firstly, the geometric configuration
of thetendons in responseto theapplied loads may
haveresultedinsomelosses. However losseslessthan
2%wouldbeanticipatedif this werethecase. Alter-
natively, time-dependent prestress losses may have
exceeded the 25%assumed in the estimation of the
designcapacity of thebeams, andcouldbetheorder
of 3040%(Buchner andLindsell 1987).
Corrosionof theprestressingwiresmay havecon-
tributedtothereductionincapacity, asseenforBeams
B and C. Corrosion was identified on prestressing
wiresfromBay5inBeamA, withcross-sectional area
lossesat theworst locationaveraging12%(seeTable
2). However thecorrosionwasnotlocatedatthepoint
of failure,andwiresatthemidspanfailurezonewerein
goodconditionwithnocorrosionevident. Therefore,
corrosioncannotultimatelybeconsideredresponsible
for thereductionincapacityfor BeamA.
The third possibility is that the beams failed in
progressive collapse. Such a failure mode would be
Figure10. Brittlefractureof prestressingwireat thelower
duct failurelocationinBeamC.
consistent withtheprematureandcontinuous failure
of the prestressing wires noted for all three beams
commencingat 50kN. Progressivecollapsehasbeen
proposed as a failure mechanismfor badly deterio-
ratedbeams(DarmawanandStewart2007) butitdoes
not appear to have been considered or detected for
prestressed beams without deterioration. For exam-
ple, design guides suggest that theultimatemoment
capacity of prestressedconcretebeams canbebased
on the entire area of the tensile prestressing steel
wires operatinginunisonandthat this remains valid
throughoutthedesignlifeof thestructure(Gilbertand
Mickleborough1990). Thisimpliesthat thewirescan
beexpectedtofail essentiallysimultaneouslyoncethe
ultimatecapacityisreached. However, thisclearlywas
not thecasefor BeamA. This clearly is acausefor
concern.
Other possiblereasonsfor theprogressivecollapse
of BeamA could be (i) stress corrosion cracking
(SCC) andhydrogenembrittlement (HE) or (ii) fret-
tingfatigue(FF).Stresscorrosioncrackingisaformof
corrosionrelevant tohigh-strengthsteelssuchaspre-
stressing wires (American Concrete Institute 2001).
Additionally, cold-drawn prestressing steel is more
susceptibleto hydrogen embrittlement as apotential
failure mechanism (Toribio and Lancha 1993) but
doubt remains whether it is significant withrealistic
concretepH values (Cherry and Price1980). Direct
evidence of SCC and HE is difficult to obtain and
inany casewas not sought for thebeams considered
herein. However, somedirect visual observationscan
beconsideredas consistent withSCC or HE, shown
inFigure10. Thefailuresurfaces of theprestressing
wires in BeamC show brittlefailureand also some
ductility. Closeexaminationshowed, however, thatone
wirehadfracturedalongthelengthof thewire(inset,
Figure10). This is very unusual for steel stressed in
tension but is similar to the usual failure mode for
steel subject to SCC or HE (Ramadan et al. 2008).
SCCor HE mayalsohavebeeninstigatedfrompossi-
blemicrobial activity(asevidencedbyblackandgreen
330
rusts,metallicpitting,andpositiveMICtests)(Biezma
2001; Chaves2005). Similar longitudinal crackswere
foundinwiresinBeamB. However, thewiresinBeam
A didnotshowlongitudinal crackingatthefailuresite.
Thephenomenonof frettingfatigue(FF) isseldom
describedinthePSC literature, but it does present a
risk to any post-tensionedstructurewithcurvedten-
donsorcrackingwhenundercyclicloading(American
ConcreteInstitute2001; Perrinetal. 2010). Debonded
wiresandvoidsinthegroutedtendonplaceastructure
atgreater riskof FF. Whilesmall voidswereobserved
in some of the prestressing ducts, thus allowing the
prestressingwires to slipagainst theunlinedduct or
against eachother, avisual examinationof thewires
retrieveddidnot reveal abrasionconsistent withFF.
The implication of the findings reported herein
shouldbeof considerableconcerntostructural engi-
neers. These findings show that older prestressed
concretebeams, withgenerallygoodconstructionand
of sound materials, showing no external evidence
of deterioration, may have some level of deteriora-
tion sufficient to cause progressive collapse under
load and also havea reduced ultimatecapacity. The
potentiallyseriousnatureof thistypeof failuremech-
anism make it imperative that further research be
undertaken to improve current understanding of the
modesandmechanismsof failure. Suchstudiescanbe
beneficial inthedevelopmentof moreaccurateassess-
ment techniques and predictive tools for life-cycle
engineering.
6 CONCLUSION
Thepresent investigationshowedthat theremaybe
significantlossof loadcapacityinprestressedcon-
cretebeamsasaresultof corrosionfromlong-term
exposuretomarineenvironments
Theloadtocommencementof progressivecollapse,
themaximumcapacity, andthedeformationcapac-
ity at ultimatecapacity wereall reduced, approxi-
mately linearly, as thedegreeof corrosion loss in
thetendonsincreased
Thetest resultsshowfor thebeamsreportedherein
shows that the possibility of progressive collapse
shouldbeconsideredfor older prestressedconcrete
beams
Thetest results showedthat thepredictedultimate
capacity of prestressed concrete beams based on
current design theory, actual material properties,
and free of cracking and corrosion damage may
overestimatetheactual capacityof thebeams
These findings are considered to have significant
implications for the assessment of the remaining
viability of existing prestressed concrete bridges
exposedtomarineenvironments
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work reported herein forms part of a Link-
age project supported financially by the Australian
Research Council. In addition, the Department of
Infrastructure, Energy&ResourcesTasmaniahaspro-
vided financial and in-kind support. TheSEM/XRD
analyseswereconductedby theEM/XRay unit at the
University of Newcastle. All sources are gratefully
acknowledged.
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332
Fatiguebehaviour of reinforcedconcretebeamswithaddition
of steel fibres
A. Parvez & S.J. Foster
The Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
ABSTRACT: Structures such as bridges, airport runways, marineinstallations and railway tracks areoften
subjectedtocyclic loads. Theseloadscanresult inasteady decreaseinthestiffnessof thestructureandcause
damageat amicro-mechanical level. This damagemay eventually lead to afatiguefailure. With theadvent
of steel fibrereinforcedconcrete(SFRC), thereexits thepossibility of enhancingfatigueperformanceat the
structural level, comparedto that of members constructedof conventional concrete. Experimental tests at the
materialslevel reportedinliteratureindicatethat steel fibresimprovetheresistancetocrack growth, decrease
thedeflectionsandincreasethefatiguelifeof plainconcreteunder cyclicloading. Theobjectiveof thisresearch
is to study theinfluenceof steel fibres onthefatiguebehaviour of reinforcedconcretebeams withaviewto
quantifyingthecontributionof fibresinincreasingfatiguelife.
1 INTRODUCTION
The design of durable concrete structures needs the
consideration of all possible deterioration mecha-
nisms. Cyclicloadingisoneof theseeffectsandcanbe
adeterminant for satisfactorystructural performance.
Bridgedeck slabs, bridgegirders, offshorestructures
and railway sleepers are often subjected to highly
repeatableloads wherefatiguecanbeaproblem. An
analysisof seventeencasesof existingstructuresbythe
CEB (1988) revealedthat fatiguewas acontributing
factor totheir structural unserviceability.
Sincetheturnof the20thcentury, awiderangeof
researchhasbeenconductedtounderstandthefatigue
process of reinforced concrete structural members,
including construction of early reinforced concrete
bridges. A significant review works on the fatigue
behaviour of reinforcedconcretebeamscanbefound
with state-of-the-art reports by ACI Committee 215
(1974), Tilly (1985), CEB (1988) and in Mallett
(1991).
At thebeginningof thelifeof astructural element,
the relationship between loading and stress under a
cyclic loading does not differ fromthat of statically
loadedmembers. However, duringaservicelifeof a
staticallyindeterminatestructure, stressescanchange
duetotime-dependentchangesinthepropertiesof the
materials and acontinuous redistribution of stresses
isdeveloped(Zanuyetal., 2009). Theprincipal struc-
tural effects due to fatigue can appear as excessive
cracking, excessive deformation and reduced struc-
tural stiffness. The progressive deformation is often
of greater importance than the fatigue life of the
structureitself. Therefore, fatigueof reinforcedcon-
creteis anincreasingly interestingsubject dueto the
factthatitisacontinuousandprogressivedegradation
process.
Developmentof afatigueresilientSFRCcouldcon-
tributeto thedevelopment and maintenanceof such
infrastructures subjected to fatigue loading. Experi-
mental testsatthematerialslevel reportedinliterature
indicate that steel fibres improve the resistance to
crack growth, decrease the deflections and increase
the fatigue life of plain concrete under cyclic load-
ing(Gopalaratnam&Shah1987, Ramakrishnan1989,
J ohnston& Zemp1991andLee& Barr 2004). With
suitable design guidelines SFRC can be applied in
structural membersalongwithconventional reinforce-
ment to enhance fatigue strength. In an early study,
Kormeling et al. (1980) showed that the addition of
fibres to conventionally reinforced concrete beams
havebeneficial effect onincreasedfatiguelife. How-
ever, detail investigation is required to understand
the performance and dynamic response of fibres in
reinforcedconcretebeamsunder cyclicloading.
Theobjectiveof thisresearchistostudythestruc-
tural response of reinforced concrete beams with
addition of steel fibres under cyclic load and quan-
tifyingtheperformancedifferencesfor varyingfibres
volumes. Threeseriesof singlespanbeamswerepre-
pared with one percent of Class N, 500MPa grade,
tensilereinforcement andwith0.0, 0.40and0.80per-
cent byvolumeof steel fibres. Thebeamsweretested
under aconstantamplitudecyclicloadingintherange
of 20 to 74 percent of the static failure load of the
non-fibrereinforced(control) beam.
333
Figure1. Specimendimensionandreinforcement details.
2 TEST PROGRAM
2.1 Specimen geometry
Eight reinforcedconcretebeams werepreparedwith
similar geometry having the dimensions of 100
2001600mm(Fig. 1).
Thetests weregrouped into four series; series A,
B, C andD withtwo tests for eachseries configura-
tion. SeriesA andBwereconventional beamswithout
fibres, Series C contained0.40%by volumeof steel
fibres and Series D contained 0.80% by volume of
steel fibres. The0.80%i.e. 60kgof fibres per cubic
meter of concreteis themaximumdosageas recom-
mended by manufacturer. All beams had the same
reinforcement ratioswithtwoN12andtwoN10bars
astensileandcompressivereinforcement,respectively.
Thereinforcement wasfromsamebatchof hot rolled
deformedbarwithnominal yieldstrengthof 500MPa.
Shear reinforcement wasprovidedby 6mmdiameter
roundbar.
Theconcretehadamean compressivestrength of
f
cm
=40MPa. The concrete making materials were:
Portland cement, 10mm graded basalt as coarse
aggregate and Sydney sand with particle size rang-
ing between 150mand 400mas fineaggregate.
The slump of the fresh concrete was 140mm. The
steel fibres wereDramix RC-65/35-BN, hook ended,
manufacturedbyBerkeart.
2.2 Testing equipment & instrumentation
Thespecimensweresuitablyinstrumentedtomeasure
thesteel strains, concretestrains, deflectionsandcrack
widths.
Thecyclicloadwasappliedthrough500kNcapac-
ity Instron loading actuator and the loads measured
usingaloadcell placedbetweentheactuator andthe
beam. Deflections weremeasuredusinglinear strain
Figure2. Experimental set upfor fatiguetest.
conversiontransducers(LSCTs) andsteel andstrains
weremeasuredusing5mmelectrical resistancestrain
gaugesattachedtotensilereinforcement prior tocast-
ing. For measuring of the concrete strains, 60mm
electronic strain gauges were fixed at the mid-span
onthetopandbottomfibresof thebeam.
At regular intervals, the tests were paused, at the
averageloadlevel, andsurfacestrainsweremeasured
using Demec gauges and crack widths were mea-
sured using an illuminated microscope having scale
divisionof 0.02mm. TheDemec gaugeswereplaced
along the length of the beam, at the level of tensile
reinforcement, andwerespacedat 200mmintervals.
All the specimens had a similar experimental set
up.Thebeamsweresimplysupportedovera1200mm
span with a constant moment zone of 400mmand
testedinfour-pointbending. Oneendof thespecimen
was pinnedsupportedandtheother endhadaroller
support.Thepinsandrollersweregreasedtominimize
frictionandtogivefreerotationandhorizontal trans-
lation, asrequired. Theset upfor fatiguetest isgiven
inFigure2.
Thebeamsof SeriesA weretestedunderstaticload-
ing to failure. Thebeams of series B, C and D were
testedunder cyclicloading. Basedontheaverageulti-
mateloadof 106kNobtainedfromthestaticloadtests
of SeriesA, theload rangefor cyclic test was set at
between22kNand78kN(20to74percentof ultimate
loadof thestatictest).
Inthefatiguetests,thecyclicloadwasappliedusing
a sinusoidal waveunder load control at a frequency
of 3Hz.
Prior to the application of the cyclic loading, the
beams were loaded monotonically up to the median
load, i.e. 50kN. The cyclic load was then applied.
TheInstronactuator wasprogrammedtopauseatcer-
tainintervalsduringthecyclicloadingtoenabledata
recordingandobservations. Local measurementswere
made after 10, 100, 1000, 10000, 20000 and 50000
cyclesandthenevery50000cyclesuntil failure.
Measurementswerealsomadeatthebeginningand
at theendof eachworkingday. At eachstop, theload
waslockedoff atthemedianload.Thencrackdevelop-
mentsweremarkedusingafelt tippen; crackswidths
334
Figure3. Fatiguefailuremodeof beamB1, C1andD1.
weremeasuredwithanoptical microscopeandDemec
strainsreadingsweretaken. Oncethiswascompleted,
thecyclicloadingwasresumedwiththedatalogging
set to recordthedeflection, concreteandsteel strain
gauges reading for 30 seconds at a rate of 200Hz.
Testingwasthencontinuedwithoutelectronicdatacol-
lectionuntil thenextmeasurementpointwasreached.
Testingwasundertakenapproximately7hoursperday
until failure.
3 RESULTS
3.1 Fatigue life and failure modes
Thesix beamsof SeriesB, C andDfailedby fatigue
fracture of the tensile reinforcement The beams of
series B failed with crushing of the concrete in the
compressivefibre, whereas, for thebeamsof seriesC
andDnocrushingof concretewasevidentafterfailure
(Fig. 3). This is dueto bridgingthecracks by fibres.
Therewasnogradual indicationof thefailure. Never-
theless, thefailurewas indicatedby suddenincrease
insteel strainanddeflectionsjustfewthousandcycles
beforethefailure.Thetotal numberof cyclestill failure
hasbeendefinedasfatiguelife. Thefatiguelivesand
thedeflectionsunderminimumandmaximumloadsat
95%of failurecyclesfor thesixbeamsarepresented
inTable1. Itisobservedthatthefatiguelifeincreases
with addition of steel fibres. TheSFRC beams with
0.40%by volumeof fibres demonstratedanaverage
increase in their fatigue life of 39% (318 thousand
cycles to failure), compared to that of thenon-fibre
reinforcedspecimens.
SpecimenC2appear tohavefailedat astatistically
higher level thanfor theother specimens. Comparing
specimenC1totheaverageof beamsB1andB2, the
increaseinthefatiguelifeis 16%. TheSFRC beams
Table1. Number of cyclestofailure.
*Deflection(mm)
Failurecycles
Specimen (10
3
) MinLoad MaxLoad
B1 211 2.12 4.95
B2 247 2.19 4.92
C1 267 1.68 4.00
C2 369 2.22 4.67
D1 311 2.03 4.27
D2 329 1.61 4.01
*Deflectionsat 95%of failurecycles(FromFig. 6& 7).
Figure4. Steel strains at themaximumload, measuredby
electrical straingauges.
with0.80%byvolumeof fibresdemonstratedanaver-
ageincreaseintheir fatiguelifeof 40%(320thousand
cycles to failure) compared to that of the non-fibre
reinforcedspecimens.
3.2 Strain in tensile reinforcement
Withtheexceptionsof specimensB1andD2, thedata
obtainedbyDemecgaugeswasfoundquiteclosetothe
dataacquiredfromtheelectrical straingaugesandthe
two straingauges ineachbeamprovidedfairly simi-
lardata, indicatingconsistencyindataacquisition. For
thesebeams,anaveragereadingof twoelectrical strain
gauges for each beamhas been taken for data plot-
ting. InbeamsB1andD2thestrainsmeasuredinthe
electrical gaugeswasquitedifferent andisattributed
to the location of the gauge relative to the nearest
crack. For these beams, the data fromthe electrical
straingaugethat was consistent theDemec readings
are considered. The strain gauges of beamB2 mal-
functionedafter 1000cycles, thusnodataisavailable
forthisbeam.Thestraininlongitudinal reinforcement
obtained fromstrain gauges for the maximumload
(78kN) arecomparedagainst thenumber of cyclesin
Figure4.
The Demec readings taken at the median load of
50kN, givetheaveragestraininthetensilereinforce-
ment the200mmgaugelength.
Theaverageof theDemecstrainsmeasuredwithin
theconstant moment region (i.e. at the0, +200 and
200mmpositions) iscomparedagainst thenumber
335
Figure5. Averagesurfacestrains in theconstant moment
regionmeasuredat themedianloadusingDemecgauges.
Figure6. Midspandeflectionat minimumload.
of cyclesinFigure5. AlsoplottedinFigure5arethe
strains measured fromtheelectrical gauges attached
to thetensilereinforcement and taken at themedian
load.Thestrainsobtainedbythesetwodifferentmeth-
ods arefairly close. As theresults areconsistent, we
only discuss the results obtained for the electrical
measurementsintheanalysis.
3.3 Deflections
Asthetest progressed, thedeflectionsincreasedwith
thenumber of cycles dueto an accumulation of the
fatiguedamage. Themid-spandeflectionsunder min-
imumandmaximumloadsof all beamsarecompared
against the number of cycles in Figures 6 and 7,
respectively. Also, almost 50% of the total increase
in deflection during the cyclic loading occurred in
the first 10,000 cycles. As the cycle continued the
stiffnessof thebeamsreducedgradually. At thesame
level of cyclesthedeflectionsof thebeamswithfibres
were less than that of control beam. It is seen that
the deflections were reduced with increasing fibre
volume.
3.4 Crack widths
Theaveragewidths(at themedianload) for all cracks
inconstant moment zoneareplottedagainst number
of fatiguecyclesinFigure8. Generally, crack widths
decreasewithincreasingfibredosage. ThebeamC1
(0.40%fibre) exhibitedtheaveragemaximumcrack
width up to 10,000 cycles which may bedueto the
Figure7. Mid-spandeflectionat themaximumload.
Figure 8. Average crack width (in the constant moment
region) versus number of cycles, measured at the median
load.
Figure9. Maximumcrack widthsversusnumber of cycles
at medianload.
applicationof initial static loadbeingapplied. How-
ever, it remainedalmost constant upto50,000cycles,
thengraduallyincreased. Theaveragewidthof cracks
for SpecimensD1andD2, with0.80%fibrevolume,
exhibitedabout one-half of theaveragecrack widths
of thecontrol beams.
Themaximumcrack widths of each beamversus
number of cycles areplottedinFigure9. Thecracks
with maximumwidths of beamB1, C2, D1 and D2
occurred within constant moment zone. The maxi-
mumcracksof beamB2andC1occuredjustoutsideof
constant moment zoneandappearedasflexural-shear
cracks. BeamB1 and B2 exhibited maximumcrack
widthsincomparisontobeamswithfibres. However,
336
Figure 10. Steel stresses versus number of cycles at the
maximumload.
themaximumcrackwidthatbeamC1waslittlehigher
than B1 due to rapid application of the initial static
load.
4 DISCUSSION
4.1 Analysis of stresses in tensile reinforcement
FromFigures4and5weobservethat under constant
loadrangethesteel strainsgraduallyincreasewiththe
number of cyclesinall thebeams. Duringthefatigue
process, a redistribution of stress occurred with the
centroidof thecompressionzonemovingdownwardin
thesectionandthelever armof thesectiondecreases.
Tomaintainthesectional equilibrium,thetensilestress
of the reinforcement must increase. This redistribu-
tionof compressivestressesreducesthelikelihoodof
fatiguefailureof concrete. Moreover, theoscillationof
thesteel stress betweenthemaximumandminimum
loadchangesduetotheprogressivestiffnesschange.
Thus, thetypical fatiguefractureof thereinforcement
thathasbeenreportedfor reinforcedconcretewithout
fibresisalsoobservedinthisstudy.
As expected, therewas areductioninstress inthe
reinforcingsteel intheSFRC beams of Series C and
D; thisisduetothefibrescarryingaproportionof the
sectional tensileforcewith this reduction dependent
onthefibrevolume.
Figure10showstheaveragestressesinthelongitu-
dinal reinforcement, taken at the maximumapplied
load, other than beam B2 (where the stain gauges
failed). Itisnotedthat, ingeneral, thestressesinbeam
CandDarelessthanbeamBandthestressesinbeam
Darelower thanthoseinC, indicatingthatanincreas-
ingportionof theloadiscarriedoutbythesteel fibres
withincreasingfibrevolume.
Whler (1871) establishedlongagothatthefatigue
strengthof metal depends onthestress rangei.e. the
algebraic difference between the maximumand the
minimumstresses. Thesusceptibility of areinforced
concrete beam to fatigue will vary throughout the
member as fatigueis dependent uponthestress level
of itscomponentsat eachsection, whicharetherein-
forcingsteel andconcrete. However, theperformance
of reinforced concrete depends upon the composite
interactionbetweenthesteel andtheconcrete.
Figure11. Steel stressrangeversusnumber of cycles.
The stress range versus number of cycles for the
beams is giveninFigure11. It is seenthat thestress
rangesfortheSFRCbeamsC2,D1andD2arelessthan
thatforthecontrol beamB1. However, thestressrange
inbeamC1washigherthanbeamB1, eventhoughthe
stressesunder minimumandmaximumloadinbeam
C1werelower thanthosefor beamB1. Thisisconsid-
eredtobeastatistical variat-ioninthedatacollected.
It can also benoted that thestress rangein D1 was
goingdownwithincreasingcycles. Thiswasbecause
duringprogressingcyclestherateof increaseinstress
underminimumloadwashigherthanundermaximum
loadandcanbeattributedtothesteel fibrescarrying
greaterproportionof theloadatthemaximumloading.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Thebehaviourof SFRCbeamswithconventional rein-
forcementsubjectedtofatigueloadinghasbeeninves-
tigated. The experimental results for SFRC beams
andtheconventional reinforcedconcretebeamswere
compared to study the influence of fibres on the
behaviour of structuresunder cyclicloads. Theresults
aresummarizedasfollows:
1. SFRCbeamswith0.40%and0.80%fibresdemon-
stratedanincreasedfatiguelifebyupto40%above
that of thenon-fibrereinforcedbeams;
2. The beneficial influence is more consistent with
higher dosage(0.80%) of fibres;
3. AlthoughbeamC2with0.40%of fibressustained
the greatest fatigue life, the reason for this is
attributed to thediscretedistribution and random
orientationof fibresandthehighlyscatterednature
of fatiguetest results.
Duringcyclicloading, crackwidthsanddeflections
increasedinthebeams as result of thedebondingof
thesteel, dynamic creep of concretein compression
andpullout behaviour of thefibres. TheSFRC beams
exhibitedreduceddeflectionsandsmallercrackwidths
duringover thewholeof fatiguelife.
Thesteel fibrescarryaportionof theloadsintensile
zone, thereby reducingtheaveragetensilestressesin
theconventional reinforcement under bothminimum
337
andmaximumloads. Thereductionof thesestresses
ishigher withhigher fibresdosages.
Under aconstant amplitudeloading, theconcrete
experiencedincreasingstrainsandgradually reduced
stiffness (softening). This contributedto theincreas-
ingdeflectionswithincreasingcyclenumbers. At the
same time a process of redistribution of stresses is
developed from the more heavily stressed extreme
compressivefibre, towards to lesser stressedregions
awayfromthisfibre.Tobalancethiseffect, thestresses
in the steel increase with the increasing cycle num-
bers, dueto themaintenanceof moment equilibrium
withareducinginternal momentleverarm.Substantial
reductionsof stressesinthesteel wereobservedinthe
SFRCbeams, contributingtotheobservedincreasein
fatiguelife.
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338
Anexperimental studyontheshrinkageandultimatebehaviour of
post-tensionedcompositeslabs
G. Ranzi &A. Ostinelli
The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
B. Uy
University of Western Sydney, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Post-tensioned composite steel-concrete slabs represent an economical formof construction
widely usedinAustraliafor flooringsystems. Inparticular, they consist of thin-walledprofiledsteel sheeting,
post-tensioningstrandsandconcrete.Theparticularityof thisstructural solutionreliesontheabilityof theprofiled
steel sheetingtoactaspermanentformworkand, oncetheconcretehashardened, asexternal reinforcement.This
paperpresentstheexperimental resultsof sixfull-scalepost-tensionedcompositeslabs, castonStramitCondeck
HP
steel deck.Thesamplesdifferedintheirthicknesses(180mmand225mm), total lengths(7.2mand8.65m),

thenumber of prestressingstrands, andcuringconditions. Time-dependent deformations arereportedfor the
firstfewmonthsafter pouringuptothetimeof their ultimatetests, whoseresultsarealsopresented. Concluding
remarksareprovidedat theendof thepaper.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Type area
Post-tensioned composite steel-concrete slabs are
widely used inAustralia for floor systems in build-
ingapplications. Theserepresent aneconomical form
of constructionwhichconsist of thin-walledprofiled
steel sheeting, post-tensioning strands and concrete
(Figure1). Whiletheuseof post-tensioned concrete
floor solutions has beenwidely adoptedover thelast
decades, theuseof steel deckingaspermanent form-
work for this typeof application has been proposed
only very recently as areplacement for conventional
plywoodformwork. Fromastructural viewpoint, once
theconcretehashardened, thecontributionof thepro-
filed sheeting as external reinforcement depends on
theinteractionbetweenthesteel deckandtheconcrete
and, assuch, thisformof constructionisclassifiedas
acompositesystem. Withtheuseof post-tensioning,
concrete cracking is significantly reduced, therefore
enhancing the flexural stiffness and strength when
comparedwithconventional compositeslabs.
No design models and guidelines are currently
availablefor thisformof constructionand, becauseof
this, engineers usually ignorethecontributionof the
profiled sheeting in their design. Alternatively, they
might account for its presence based on their own
engineeringjudgment.
Despite the wide use of post-tensioned compos-
ite slabs, only very limited research has been car-
ried out to date in this area. In 1990, Schravendeel
et al. (1990) pointed out the potential advantages
Figure1. Typical post-tensionedcompositeslab.
in adopting post-tensioned composite slab solutions
based on strength considerations. A few years later,
Koukkari (1999, 2001) investigatedthebehaviour of
unbondedpost-tensionedslabs(TEKES, 2001).
A compositeprestressedslabsystemwas recently
proposedintheUK usingtheTekdeksteel deckwhich,
unlike the case considered in this paper, was pre-
stressed prior to delivery to site (Miller and Bailey,
2007; Bailey et al., 2006) Three ultimate tests were
339
carried out by Patrick and Lloyde (2008) to com-
pare the structural response of a composite slab, a
post-tensioned solid slab and a post-tensioned com-
posite one prepared with KF57 steel deck produced
byFielders(Fielders site). Thesamplesweresimply-
supported with a total length of 5mand a distance
betweenrollersupportsof 4m.Theyreportedasignifi-
cantincreaseinstrengthof thepost-tensionedcompos-
iteslabwhencomparedtothecapacitiesexhibitedby
thecompositeandpost-tensionedsolidsamples, with
thelatterexhibitedprematurebondfailurebetweenthe
strandsandsurroundinggrout. For thepost-tensioned
compositesampletheyhighlightedthatthetestwaster-
minatedduetothefractureof thesteel deck at nearly
95%of theestimatedfull shear connectioncapacity,
calculated making useof anonlinear cross-sectional
analysis while ignoring slip effects. Fromthe paper
it appearedthat theprofiledsheetingwascontinuous
over itssupports, thereforeenablingthedevelopment
of bothmechanical andfrictional resistancebetween
steel deck and concrete (Patrick and Lloyde, 2008).
Very recently, a design module was included in the
popularcommercial designsoftwareRapt(Raptssite)
toenablethedesignof post-tensionedcompositeslabs
withFielderssteel deckprofiles(Fielderssite).Previ-
ousworkof theauthorsalreadyprovidedsomeinsight
into the structural response of post-tensioned com-
posite systems considering both time effects (Ranzi
etal., 2012)andultimatebehaviour(Ranzi etal., 2011,
2012). Designmodelswerepresentedforbothservice-
ability and ultimatelimit stateconditions, and these
werevalidated against experimental datareported in
(Ranzi et al., 2011, 2012). As service conditions,
thesestudies highlightedtheoccurrenceof ashrink-
agegradientincompositefloor systemscausedbythe
presence of the steel deck which prevents moisture
egressfromtheundersideof theslab, asalsoreported
in (Al-Deen et al., 2011; Ranzi et al. 2012; Gilbert
et al. 2011, 2012).
Inthis context, theauthors preparedsix full-scale
tests aimed at collecting, in one experimental pro-
gramme, valuable information for both service and
ultimate conditions. In particular, the influence of
different curingconditions andlevels of prestressing
ontheshrinkageresponsewereconsidered. Variables
consideredatultimateconditionsincludedtheamount
of prestressing as well as the continuity of the pro-
filedsheetingover theendsupports, wherethelatter
is particularly important to determine the ductility
of a post-tensioned composite slab considering the
brittlefailurereportedby Patrick andLloyde(2008).
It is expected that the new results provided in this
paperwill providefurtherinsightintothebehaviourof
post-tensionedcompositeslabsandwill serveasnew
experimental datafor thebenchmarkingof analytical
andnumerical models.
In the first part of the paper, the preparation of
thesamples is outlined followed by themain results
obtainedfromthelong-termandultimatetests.Finally,
concluding remarks are provided summarizing the
mainaspectsreportedinthepaper.
Figure 2. Condeck HP profile of the steel deck used for
specimensCK1-CK6.
Table1. Geometricpropertiesof Condeck HP profile(per
metrewidth).
Profiled Level of thecentroid
sheeting Cross-sectional of thesteel deckfrom
(thickness) area(mm
2
) itsbottomface(mm)
CondeckHP 1620 15.41
(1mm)
Table2. Summaryof test specimens.
Thickness Internal No. of
SampleID (mm) span(mm) strands
CK1 180 6000 3
CK2 180 6000 3
CK3 180 6000 3
CK4 180 6000 3
CK5 225 7450 4
CK6 225 7450 5
Note: All sampleshaveanominal widthof 900mm.
Figure3. Typical slabarrangement for samplesCK1-CK6.
2 PREPARATIONOF THE POST-TENSIONED
COMPOSITE SAMPLES
Aspartof thisstudysixpost-tensionedcompositesam-
pleswerepreparedusingStramit Condeck HP
steel
deck(Figure2), withitsgeometricpropertiesreported
inTable1(Stramit,2007).Thesamplesdifferedintheir
dimensions,numberof prestressingstrands,continuity
of thesteel deckandcuringconditions.
Four sampleshadanoverall lengthof 7.2mwitha
distancebetweenrollersupportsof 6mandslabthick-
ness of 180mm. Theremainingtwo specimens were
8.65mlongwithsupportspacingof 7.45mandthick-
nessof 225mm. Thesespecimenswerereferredtoas
CK1-CK6andtheir maincharacteristicsarespecified
inTable2basedontheslabarrangementillustratedin
Figure3.
Two overhangs 600mmlong were adopted at the
two slab ends to minimise the influence of the
340
Figure4. Detail adoptedinthepost-tensionedsamplesfor
theterminationof theprofiledsheeting.
prestressing anchorage along the internal simply-
supported span. Transverse N10 reinforcement was
placed at 300mm spacing at the top of the speci-
mens. In all samples, except CK3, the sheeting was
terminated100mmbeforetheroller supports, there-
fore providing no frictional resistance between the
deck andtheconcreteat thesupports. This detailing
reflectstherealisticsituationonsiteinwhichthedeck
might not haveareliablegrip or support at its ends
providedby thebandbeams, as outlinedgraphically
in Figure 4. In the case of CK3 the profiled sheet-
ingwas kept continuous for theentireslablengthto
evaluatepossibleductility issues that may arisefrom
theadditional frictional resistanceprovidedbytheend
supports, particularlyimportantconsideringthebrittle
failurereportedbyPatrickandLloyde(2008).
Theprestressingwasappliedbymeansof 12.7mm
diameter strands placed in a flat duct and tensioned
to85%of their capacity. 3strandswerespecifiedfor
samplesCK1-CK4, whileahigher level of prestress-
ingwasusedfor CK5andCK6with4and5strands,
respectively. Theprofileof theprestressingduct was
maintained straight (at theslab mid-height) over the
twooverhangsandwasvariedovertheinternal simply-
supported span, with a distance of 30mmspecified
between the soffit of the slab and the underside of
the duct at mid-span. One live end and one swaged
endwerespecifiedfortheprestressingoperations.The
adopteddetailingreflectedcommonindustrypractice.
Thefirst25%of thejackingforcewasappliedtheday
Figure 5. Long-term mid-span deflections measured for
samplesCK1-CK6.
Figure6. Moistureandhumidityreadingsmeasuredduring
thelong-termtest.
after the pour, with the remaining 75%of the force
tensionedat day6fromcasting.
All samples, exceptCK4, werewetcuredfor7days
after thepour. A curingcompoundwas appliedafter
castingtoCK4toevaluateitseffectsonthedevelop-
ment of shrinkageanditsinduceddeformations.
3 LONG-TERM EXPERIMENTS
After completion of the post-tensioning procedure,
all samples wereplacedin asimply-supportedstatic
configurationandsubjectedto their ownself-weight
and to shrinkage effects. Their deformations were
monitoredtill thedayof their ultimatetests.
Mid-span deflections measured over time for the
6 slabs are reported in Figure 5. These values rep-
resent long-termdeformations startedafter theslabs
becamesimply-supported.Thesawprofileof theread-
ings was caused by the daily temperature variations
observed because the measurements were recorded
continuouslywithadatalogger for theentireduration
of thelong-termtests. Thelarger fluctuationsof these
readings, particularly pronouncedbetween40and60
days, wereattributedtothechangeinweather condi-
tionsdepictedinFigures6and7, whichshowmoisture
andtemperaturemeasurementsrecordedoverthesame
period(every30minutes).
In reality, it is possible that there is a need to
removethecuringcompoundduringconstructionfor
the installation of different flooring coverings. For
341
Figure7. Moistureandhumidityreadingsmeasuredduring
thelong-termtest.
Figure8. Layout of theultimateexperiment for samples.
thispurpose, thecuringcompoundwasremovedfrom
sampleCK4at day49fromcasting.
Basedontheseresults, it isclear that thepresence
of thecuringcompoundhasasignificant andpositive
influenceontheshrinkagedeformations. Thiscanbe
observedcomparingthedeflectionsrecordedfor CK4
againstthoseof theother samples. Infact, deflections
forCK4areabout50%smallerthanthosemeasuredin
theother companionsamples CK1-CK3, whichpos-
sess samegeometric dimensions. This trendwas not
influencedbytheremoval of thecuringcompound(at
day 49 fromcasting). Further testing is required to
validatethedifferencesintheshrinkagedeformations
producedbydifferent curingconditions.
4 ULTIMATE EXPERIMENTS
UltimatetestswerecarriedoutforsamplesCK1, CK3,
CK5andCK6basedontheloadingarrangement out-
linedinFigure8. Theremainingsampleswerekeptto
monitor thedifferences produced by thepresenceof
thecuringcompoundonthelong-termdeformations.
Experimental moment-deflectioncurvesmeasured
duringthetestsarereportedinFigures912andtheir
results are summarised in Table 3. A design model
previously proposed by theauthors was used to pre-
dict theultimateresponse(Ranzi et al., 2011). Very
good agreement has been shown to exist between
the experimental measurements and calculated val-
ues as highlighted in Table 3. This model is based
onarigid-plastic approachwhosemainassumptions
relatedtothestrainandstressdistributionsaredetailed
graphicallyinFigure13.
A ductile behaviour was exhibited by all sam-
ples withconcretecrushingas thefailuremode. The
deformedshapesobservedduringthetestsaredepicted
in Figure 14 to highlight the level of deformations
Figure9. Moment mid-spandeflectionfor sampleCK1
(Moment includesalsoself-weight of theslab).
342
Table3. Summaryof test specimens.
M
u,EXP
M
u,CALC
SampleID (kNm) (kNm) M
u,EXP
/M
u,EXP
CK1 152.15 151.06 0.993
CK3 169.98 169.88 0.999
CK5 250.91 250.73 0.999
CK6 265.86 264.77 0.996
Note: Moment capacitiesaccount for theultimateloadmea-
suredduringtheexperiment andfor thesampleself-weight.
Figure13. Strainandstress distributionassumedto occur
at theultimatestate.
reachedduringloadingfor eachsample, asalsohigh-
lighted by thelargedeflections measured during the
tests(Figures912).
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents newexperimental results related
to the long-termand ultimate behaviour of 6 post-
tensionedcompositeslabs cast onCondeck HP steel
deck. Itisenvisagedthatthisdatawill beuseful togain
insight intotheresponseof thisformof construction
and for the benchmarking of analytical and numer-
ical models. The specimens differed in their thick-
nesses (180mm and 225mm), total lengths (7.2m
and 8.65m), amount of post-tensioning, and curing
conditions. Inparticular, differentnumber of 12.7mm
diameter prestressingstrands(varyingbetween3and
5) werespecifiedandtensionedto85%of theircapac-
ity.All sampleswerewetcuredfor7daysafterthepour
exceptonewhichwascoveredwithacuringcompound
after casting. After completionof thepost-tensioning
operations, the samples were placed in a statically
simply-supported configuration and were subjected
to the self-weight and to shrinkage effects. Long-
termmeasurements were recorded for the first few
months after pouringupto thetimeof their ultimate
tests. It was observed that the presence of the cur-
ingcompoundenhancedthetime-dependentresponse
leadingtosmaller shrinkagedeflections(intheorder
of 50%smaller) when compared to those measured
for thewet curedspecimens. Thesedifferences were
notaffectedafter theremoval of thecuringcompound
whichtookplaceat49daysfromcasting. Furthertest-
ingis requiredto better quantify theinfluenceof the
curingcompoundfor designpurposes.
Figure14. Overviewof theexperimental tests.
343
A ductile response was observed in all ultimate
experiments with concrete crushing as the failure
mode. A design model, based on a rigid-plastic
approachandpreviouslyproposedbytheauthors, was
used to predict theultimateresponseand very good
agreementwasobtainedbetweentheexperimental and
calculatedvalues. Oneof thepost-tensionedslabshad
the profiled sheeting continuous over the end sup-
portstoverifythepossibleinfluenceof theadditional
frictional resistancedevelopedat thesupport between
steel deckandconcreteontheductilityof theslab. No
maindifferenceswereobservedintherecordedmea-
surements for the geometric and material properties
consideredinthisstudy.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work in this article was supported under Aus-
tralian Research Councils LinkageProjects funding
scheme(project number LP0990190) andby Stramit
BuildingProductsandArupasPartner Organisations.
VSL supported and carried out all aspects related to
theprestressinginstallation, andtheir in-kindcontri-
butionis gratefully acknowledged. Theexperimental
work was carried in the J.W. Roderick Materials
and Structures Testing Laboratory of the School of
Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney. The
assistanceof thelaboratorystaff isalsoacknowledged.
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S. & Uy, B. 2011. Post-tensioned composite slabs: an
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Building a sustainable future, Perth (Australia) 1214
October 2011.
Ranzi, G., Ambrogi, L., Al-Deen, S. & Uy, B. 2012. Long-
term experiments of post-tensioned composite slabs,
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Schravendeel, P.L., De Sitter, W.R. & Klop, G.R. 1990.
Prestressedpost-tensionedcompositefloor slabs, IABSE
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344
Instantaneousandlong-termbehaviour of crackedreinforcedconcrete
slabspreparedwithdifferent curingconditions
M.M. Rahman, A. Ostinelli & G. Ranzi
The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
R.I. Gilbert
ABSTRACT: Thebehaviour atserviceconditionsof areinforcedconcretemember ishighlydependentonthe
deformational propertiesof thematerials, theextentof cracking, aswell asthecreepandshrinkagedeformations
of theconcrete. Thispaper presentsthepreliminary resultsof anexperimental study ontheinstantaneousand
long-termbehaviour of eightsimply-supportedreinforcedconcreteslabs.All samplesareidentical withtheonly
differences beingthecuringconditions andthetimeof applicationof theinstantaneous load(andconsequent
cracking). In particular, four samples werewet cured for seven days fromcasting and then permitted to dry
prior toloading, whilethetopsurfaceof theremainingsampleswascoveredwithawater basedacryliccuring
compoundonthedayof thepour. Instantaneoustestswereperformedoncompanionspecimens(onewet cured
andonecoveredwiththecuringcompound) at 7, 14and33daysfromcastingtoevaluatethecrackingmoment
andto induceawell establishedcrack pattern alongtheregion of maximummoment. Samples coveredwith
thecuringcompoundexhibitedahigher crackingmomentthanthecompanionwetcured, withthesedifferences
growingover timefrom1.9%at 7daysto12.4%and17.6%at 14and33days, respectively. Themainreason
for thisdifferencewasattributedtothedifferent dryingconditionsof thecompanionsamples, withthecuring
compoundactingasasealingmembraneover thetopof theslab. Thesedifferencesaffectedthedevelopment of
shrinkageandtheconsequent stressstate. Theinfluenceof theshrinkagedistributionwasalsoobservedduring
thelong-termtests, wherethespecimensweremaintainedinasimply-supportedconfigurationafter completion
of theinstantaneous tests andweresubjectedonly to their ownself-weight andto shrinkageeffects. Thewet
curedspecimensexhibitedlarger deflectionsthantheother samples. It isenvisagedthat thisexperimental data
representsvaluableinformationfor thecalibrationandvalidationof numerical anddesignmodels.
1 INTRODUCTION
Reinforced concrete slabs are widely used in the
construction industry for both building and bridge
applications. In thecaseof building floors, thegov-
erningdesigncriteriaareusuallyattributedtoservice
considerations. Previous work reported in thelitera-
ture highlighted the importance of considering time
effects for the predictions of the long-termdeflec-
tions of slabs, e.g. Illston& Stevens 1972, Beeby &
Scott 2002, Bischoff 2001, Nejadi & Gilbert 2004,
Espion 1988, Beeby & Scott 2005, Gilbert & Guo
2005, Nie& Cai 2000, Mu et al. 2008. In this con-
text, this study investigates theinfluenceof different
timesof loadinganddifferentcuringconditionsonthe
observedcrackingmoments andlong-termdeforma-
tions of reinforced concrete slabs. For this purpose,
eight full scale reinforced concrete slabs were pre-
pared: four werewet cured, with theremaining four
coveredwithacuringcompoundontheday of cast-
ing. Inthefirstpartof thepaper, thepreparationof the
samples is described, followed by the outline of the
preliminaryresultsof theexperimental studyfor both
instantaneous andlong-termtests. Considerations of
the influence of the curing compound on the devel-
opment of shrinkage are provided in relation to the
recorded cracking moments and observed long-term
deflections.
2 PREPARATIONOF REINFORCED
CONCRETE SPECIMENS
Eight identical reinforced concrete slabs were
prepared, with overall length=3.8m, thickness=
180mmandwidth=600mm.Thelongitudinal tensile
reinforcementineachslabconsistedof threeN12bars
with aclear cover of 25mm(as shown in Figure1).
For clarity, thesamplesaredenotedasSS1 SS8and
thecuringconditionsaregiveninTable1.
Four samples, i.e. SS1, SS3, SS5 and SS7, were
wet cured for 7 days immediately after casting and
thenpermittedtodry, whileawater basedacryliccur-
ing compound was applied to thetop surfaceof the
345
Figure1. Geometry andlayout of thecross-sectionfor all
specimens(all dimensionsinmm).
Table 1. Summary of labelling and curing conditions
adoptedfor all specimens.
SampleID Curingconditions
SS1 7dayswet curingandinair thereafter
SS2 Coveredwithacuringcompound
Table2. Measuredcompressiveandtensilestrengthsof the
concrete.
Daysfrom Compressive Tensile
concrete strength strength
casting (MPa) (MPa)
7 20.36 2.03
14 26.48 2.62
33 34.26 3.34
remaining slabs, i.e. SS2, SS4, SS6and SS8, on the
dayof casting.
3 MATERIAL PROPERTIESAND
ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS
Standardtestswerecarriedouttodeterminethemate-
rial properties of both the concrete and the steel
reinforcement ineachslab.
In particular, standard compressive strength tests
andindirect tensilestrengthtests wereperformedon
concretecylinders(withheightof 300mmanddiame-
terof 150mm).Averagestrengthsobservedduringthe
experimentsat 7, 14and33daysfromconcretecast-
ingarereportedinTable2. Thesetimescorrespondto
thetimeswhentheinstantaneoustestsdescribedinthe
followingsectionwerecarriedout.
Themeasuredyieldandtensileultimatestrengths
for the steel reinforcement were 590 MPa and 659
MPa, respectively.
Temperature and relative humidity were recorded
continuously during the experiments and their vari-
ations with time are plotted in Figures 2 and 3,
Figure 2. Temperature readings measured during the
long-termtests.
Figure 3. Relative humidity (%) measured during the
long-termtests.
respectively. Duringthisperiod, valuesforthetemper-
ature ranged between 14.9
C and 19.4
C, while the
relative humidity readings varied between 45.2% to
87.6%. Average values for temperature and relative
humiditywere16.9
C and67.7%, respectively.
4 INSTANTANEOUSEXPERIMENTS
Theeightsamplesweresubdividedinto4groups, each
includingonewet curedspecimen(wet curedupto7
daysandtheninair) andonecoveredwiththecuring
compound.Thesecompanionsamplesweretestedat7,
14and33daysfromcastingtodeterminethevariation
of thecracking moment over timeand howthis was
affectedby thedevelopment of shrinkageandby the
different curingconditions. Only preliminary results,
whichrelatetosamplesSS1-SS6, arepresented, with
specimensSS7andSS8still tobetestedatthetimeof
writing.
Thesamplesweretestedinasimply-supportedcon-
figuration with distance between roller supports of
3600mm, as depicted in Figure 4a. The loads were
applied at third points along the span by means of
transversespreader beams(seeFigure4b).
Deflection measurements were recorded using 3
LVDTs placedat quarter points and2PI transducers
(withgaugelengthof 200mm) installedat mid-span
onthetopandbottomfacesof theslabs(asillustrated
inFigure5).
346
Figure 4. Experimental arrangement for instantaneous
tests.
Figure5. Instrumentationlayout.
The load was applied monotonically until a well
established cracked pattern was developed between
thetwo lineloads. Theloadwas thencycled3times
betweenthemaximumappliedloadlevel reacheddur-
ing thefirst cracking process and theself-weight of
thespreader beamusedtoapplythetwolinesof load.
At thecompletionof thetests, thesampleswerekept
in a simply-supported configuration and their time-
dependentdeformationsweremonitoredover time, as
describedinthenext section.
Mid-span and quarter point deflection measure-
ments are illustrated in Figure 6 for the wet cured
specimensandinFigure7for thosecoveredwiththe
curingcompound. Duetospacelimitations, represen-
tativestrainmeasurementsaredepictedinFigure8for
samplesSS1andSS2only.
Inall tests, thefirstandthirdquarter pointreadings
wereveryclose, highlightingthesymmetricresponse
of theslabs, asexpected.
A summaryof thecrackingmomentsmeasuredfor
thesamples SS1-SS6 is provided inTable3. For all
companionsamplestestedat thesametime, thespec-
imens covered with the curing compound exhibited
a higher cracking moment M
cr
, with this difference
growingover time. Inparticular, thevaluefor M
cr
of
SS2was1.9%greater thantheonerecordedfor SS1.
This percentage increased to 12.4% and 17.6% for
specimens SS3-SS4 and SS5-SS6, respectively. The
Figure 6. Load-deflection curves recorded during the
instantaneoustestsforsamplesSS1,SS3andSS5(wetcured).
mainreasonfor thisdifferenceisattributedtothedif-
ferentdryingconditionsof thesamples,withthecuring
compoundactingasasealingmembraneover thetop
of theslab. This behaviour affectedthedevelopment
of theshrinkagedistributions throughtheslabthick-
nessesandtheconsequentstressstates.Thisbehaviour
isfurtherdiscussedinthenextsectionwhendescribing
thelong-termtests.
5 LONG-TERM EXPERIMENTS
After the completion of the instantaneous tests,
the samples were placed in a simply-supported
347
Figure 7. Load-deflection curves recorded during the
instantaneous tests for samples SS2, SS4 and SS6 (with
curingcompound).
Table3. Timefromconcretecasting of theinstantaneous
testsandmeasuredcrackingmoments.
Ageof first short Crackingmoment
SampleID termloading(days) (kNm)
SS1 7 10.2
SS2 10.4
SS3 14 10.5
SS4 11.8
SS5 33 10.2
SS6 12.0
Figure8. Load-straincurvesrecordedduringtheinstanta-
neoustestsfor samplesSS1andSS2.
configurationandmonitoredover timesubjectedonly
to their own self-weight and to shrinkageeffects. In
particular, the mid-span deflections were recorded
withaLVDT and, topandbottomstrainsof theslabs
atmid-spanweremeasuredusingDemectargets(with
a gauge length of 200mm). For completeness, the
deformationsof samplesSS7andSS8weremonitored
over timeeventhoughtheyhavenot yet beencracked
(astheir instantaneoustestsareyet tobeperformed).
These latter measurements started together with the
long-termreadingsof SS5andSS6.
Mid-spandeflections areplottedwithtimeinFig-
ure 9. For clarity, time zero is taken as the time of
casting. In all cases, the time-dependent deflections
exhibitedfor thewet curedspecimensSS1, SS3, SS5
werelarger thantheir companionones. For example,
thedeflectionsof SS2andSS4wereaboutonequarter
inmagnitudeof thosemeasuredfor their companion
SS1andSS3. Thesedifferenceswerealsoreflectedin
thestrainmeasurements takenat thetopandbottom
facesof theslab, whicharereportedinFigure10.
Thisbehaviour iscausedbythedifferent shrinkage
profilesthat developthroughthethicknessof theslab
duetothedifferentdryingconditionsproducedbythe
two curing methods. In fact, for thewet cured sam-
ples, whendryingcommences, shrinkageisthesame
at boththetopandbottomsurfaces andtherestraint
providedbythereinforcementatthebottomof theslab
348
Figure 9. Variation of the mid-span deflections recorded
duringthelong-termtests.
Figure10. Variation of thestrain measurements recorded
duringthelong-termtests.
produces a positivecurvaturewith thesamesign as
that causedbyself-weight (Gilbert andRanzi, 2011).
For thesampleswiththecuringcompoundappliedto
thetopsurface, thecuringcompoundreducesshrink-
ageof theconcreteat thetopsurface. Thetopof the
slabshrinks less thanthebottomof theslab, thereby
inducingacurvatureof oppositesigntothecurvature
producedbytheself-weight.
6 CONCLUSIONS
This paper presented the preliminary results of an
experimental study carried out on eight reinforced
concrete slabs aimed at the evaluation of the influ-
ences of concrete age and curing conditions on the
crackingmomentandlong-termdeformations.Forthis
purpose, bothinstantaneousandlong-termtestswere
performedonsimply-supportedslabspecimens.
All samples were identical with the only differ-
encesrelatedtothecuringconditionsandthetimeof
applicationof theinstantaneousload(andconsequent
cracking). Foursampleswerewetcuredforsevendays
fromcastingandthenpermittedtodrybeforetesting,
whilethetopsurfaceof theremainingslabswerecov-
eredwithawater basedacrylic curingcompoundon
theday of thepour. Theinstantaneoustestswerecar-
riedoutat7, 14and33daysfromcastingtodetermine
thecrackingmoment inthespecimens
349
Eachspecimencoveredwiththecuringcompound
exhibited a higher cracking moment than the corre-
spondingwet curedspecimen, withdifferencesvary-
ingfrom1.9%at7daysupto17.6%at33days.These
variationswereinducedbythedifferentshrinkagepro-
files developed through theslab thickness under the
two curing conditions. In fact, thecuring compound
actedasasealingmembraneover thetopof theslab,
thereforeleadingtoanon-uniformshrinkageprofile.
Theseconditions produceddifferent stress states and
consequent different valuesof crackingmoments.
Theinfluenceof theshrinkagedistributionwasalso
observed during thelong-termtests, when thespec-
imens were subjected to their own self-weight and
toshrinkage. After dryingcommences, thewet cured
specimensexhibitedlargerdeflectionsthanthosecov-
eredwiththecuringcompound.Itisenvisagedthatthis
experimental datarepresentsvaluableinformationfor
thecalibrationandvalidationof numerical anddesign
models.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work in this article was supported under Aus-
tralianResearchCouncilsDiscoveryProjectsfunding
scheme(project number DP110103028). Theexperi-
mental workwascarriedintheJ.W.RoderickMaterials
and Structures Testing Laboratory of the School of
Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney. The
assistanceof thelaboratorystaff isalsoacknowledged.
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ing 126(6): 708716.
350
Effect of reinforcement confinement on concrete cover cracking in
reinforced concrete structures
Hilyati B. Sabtu & Mark G. Stewart
Centre for Infrastructure Performance and Reliability, The University of Newcastle, Australia
ABSTRACT: Chloride penetration is the main cause of corrosion in reinforced concrete (RC) structures located
in marine environments. The deterioration could possibly cause severe cracking at concrete surfaces. This study
investigates the effect of reinforcement confinement (including transverse reinforcement) and spacing of rein-
forcing bars on concrete cover cracking using accelerated corrosion tests. These tests have become the most
satisfactory method used in the laboratory to accelerate and simulate the corrosion process. The accelerated
corrosion test adopts an electrochemical technique, which involves the application of alternating current. In
this study, corrosion was induced along the deformed bars by adding calcium chloride into a concrete mixture.
The experiment concentrated only on reinforcement confinement and spacing of reinforcing bars to measure
corrosion-induced crack width and rate of crack propagation. Results revealed that confinement and spacing of
reinforcing bars have a significant effect on the rate of crack propagation.
1 INTRODUCTION
Corrosion of steel in concrete is a worldwide issue
affecting the durability of RC structures, particularly
for RC structures located in marine environments.
Steel bars are naturally protected against corrosion by
passivation of steel surface due to the high alkalinity of
the concrete. The corrosion begins when a sufficient
amount of chlorides penetrate into a concrete cover
and destroy the inhibitive property by permeating the
passivating layer of steel surface and increase the risk
of corrosion. Once the corrosion propagates, the cor-
rosion products create an expansive pressure on the
surrounding concrete which causes concrete cover
cracking (Zhao et al. 2012).
Corrosion-induced cover cracking is an important
measure for evaluating the service life of RC struc-
tures. The deterioration due to chloride-induced cover
cracking leads to structural failure and reduces the ser-
vice life of RC structure (Zhong et al. 2010). For these
reasons chloride-induced cover cracking becomes a
significant concern to asset owners. Structures suf-
fering from chloride-induced cover cracking require
high frequency of site investigation, repair, mainte-
nance and rehabilitation work as it demands large
expenditure from asset owners.
The chloride-induced cover cracking process is best
described in three phases: (i) the corrosion initiation
phase is the time it takes for chloride ions to penetrate
the concrete cover and the time for chloride concen-
tration of the steel reinforcement to reach the chloride
threshold; (ii) the crack initiation phase is the time
it takes from corrosion initiation on reinforcing bars
surface to when visible crack width appears; (iii) and
the crack propagation phase is the time it takes from
when a visible crack appears to when the crack reaches
a limit crack width (Stewart & Mullard 2007).
Many empirical studies have been conducted to
investigate the crack initiation and propagation phases
(e.g., Andrade et al. 1993; Liu &Weyers 1998; Alonso
et al. 1998; Vu et al. 2005). During the crack ini-
tiation phase, the time to crack initiation is much
lower compared to the time to crack propagation.
Mullard &Stewart (2011) discovered that the accuracy
of a model for crack initiation will not significantly
affect the timing of corrosion damage for RC struc-
tures. Hence, understanding and modelling the crack
propagation phase is the main area of future study.
To date, there are limited numbers of studies in the
literature on crack propagation based on empirical
methods (Andrade et al. 1993, Liu & Weyers 1998,
Alonso et al. 1998, Vu et al. 2005, Mullard & Stewart
2011). These experiments have some limitations in
terms of parameters, lack of practicability and some
experiments were unrealistic due to idealised geome-
tries of specimens. Study done by Mullard & Stewart
(2011) found that the amount of concrete confine-
ment around corroding bars has an effect on the
rate of crack propagation. Therefore, more research
should be conducted to study crack propagation and
the effect of reinforcement confinement in order to
improve existingcrackpropagationmodels. This paper
describes the effect of reinforcement confinement (and
transverse reinforcement) and spacing of reinforc-
ing bars in the crack propagation phase on RC slab
specimens.
351
2 RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE
2.1 Empirical method on crack propagation
Numerous studies have been conducted using non-
destructive methods to study the corrosion process;
however it is impossible to accurately evaluate the cor-
rosion distribution along the reinforcing bars in-situ
with the concrete cover. Hence, some experimental
work based on accelerated corrosion tests or natural
corrosion processes have been carried out in order to
study the empirical link between the occurrence and
widths of cracks and the amount of corrosion (Zhang
et al. 2010).
The use of accelerated corrosion testing in the lab-
oratory has become the most common technique to
speed up the corrosion-induced damage in reinforced
concrete structures. Studies done by Val et al. (2009)
stated that the accelerated corrosion test provides data
on crack growth based on the amount of corrosion
(for example, Maruyama et al. 1989; Andrade et al.
1993; Cabrera 1996; Rodriguez et al. 1996; Alonso
et al. 1998; Mangat & Elgarf 1999; Vu et al. 2005). An
empirical study by Vidal et al. (2004) found formulas
relating the crack width with the amount of corrosion
(Val et al. 2009). Field studies suggested that the use of
empirical models to study the crack propagation phase
is computationally fast, relatively accurate prediction
for cracking times based on input parameters that are
readily available (Mullard & Stewart 2011).
2.2 Limit crack width
The maximum crack width is an indication of the end
of service life for RC structures. If cracks that appear
on the concrete surface are too wide, it will destroy
the aesthetics of structures and reduce the service-
ability of such structures. Several codes and standards
can be referred as a guideline to ensure that a cer-
tain crack width might not impair the appearance of a
structure and also do not reduce the serviceability or
durability performance of a structure (ACI Committee
224 2001, Norwegian standard NS 3474 E 1992 and
Canadian Offshore Code CSA-S474-04 2004). How-
ever, the guides recommend that the permissible crack
widths are due to the service loads.
For crack width due to chloride penetration, certain
limit crack widths have been proposed, for example,
Vu & Stewart (2005) and Mullard & Stewart (2011).
Research done by Mullard & Stewart (2011) stated
limit crack widths defined by other researchers for
different range of limit crack width for durability or
aesthetic limit states. For example, Andrade et al.
(1993) andACI Committee 224 (2001) proposed limit
crackwidthbetween0.15and0.4 mmwhile Sakai et al.
(1999) suggested 0.8 mm. The Public Works Depart-
ment (PWD) of Malaysia defines cracks below1.0 mm
as hairline cracks. If hairline cracks are found, then it
is necessary to record the condition for observation
purposes, and to monitor any changes in crack width.
However, the PWD of Malaysia (2006) recommends
that crack a width between 1.0 to 5.0 mm is severe
Figure 1. Effect of reinforcement confinement on crack
width.
cracking and it is necessary to implement repair and
maintenance work. This limit crack width will be used
as a guideline for future study.
2.3 Reinforcement confinement
Reinforcement confinement refers to the volume of
concrete surrounding the reinforcing bars that has an
effect on crack propagation. The occurrence of con-
finement effect on crack propagation was observed
when cracks over the bars located at the edges of the
RC surface may crack at a different rate to those in
internal locations (see Figure 4). Mullard & Stewart
(2011) found that the cracks over the reinforcing bars
located at the edge of specimen have a higher prop-
agation rate than the cracks over the reinforcing bars
located at the internal positions. The phenomenon is
due to the tensile stress developed from the corro-
sion products around the steel bar. The reinforcing
bars located at the edge have a less degree of con-
finement to resist the tensile stress therefore the
area which has less confinement will crack earlier.
The internal bars having a larger area of confine-
ment and spacing of reinforcing bars have greater
capacity to resist the tensile stress. Figure 1 shows a
schematic of the effect of reinforcement confinement
on crack width. Mullard & Stewart (2011) observed
the importance of reinforcement confinement in the
crack propagation model particularly for columns and
structural elements which have many edges. This phe-
nomenon is rarely mentioned in the literature, and
the Mullard & Stewart (2011) study was based on
experimental data for one-way RC slabs. Therefore,
this paper will provide more robust and realistic
results due to this structural behaviour by examin-
ing crack behaviour for two-way slabs (i.e. transverse
reinforcement).
2.4 Spacing of reinforcing bars
Typical spacing of reinforcing bars for bridges and
buildings is between 100 mm to 300 mm as the
352
decision of selecting the appropriate spacing of rein-
forcing bars is generally based on design experience,
engineering judgement and economic considerations.
As the edge bars and internal bars have different influ-
ences on crack propagation, spacing of reinforcing
bars is also believed to be a significant parameter
on the rate of crack propagation. Investigation on
the effect of spacing of reinforcing bars will con-
tribute to understanding and awareness for engineers
and designers in their decision making while select-
ing the right measurement for spacing of reinforcing
bars specifically to the RCstructures located in marine
environments. Therefore spacing of reinforcing bars is
another parameter to be investigated in this study.
3 ACCELERATED CORROSIONTEST
3.1 RC slab specimens
The aim of the accelerated corrosion test is to study
the corrosion induced cracking in reinforced con-
crete. The accelerated corrosion test was conducted
on two RC slabs made with concrete compressive
strength of 30 MPa, and each slab has equal size of
1300 mm1300 mm250 mmthick. The specimens
were moist-cured for 28 days to achieve the desired
compressive strength. The experimental parameters
for each specimen are shown in Table 1. The speci-
mens were made fromready mix concrete and Calcium
Chloride (CaCl
2
) by weight of cement was added to
the concrete mixture to simulate the corrosion pro-
cess along the length of the reinforcing bars. This test
investigates the effect of reinforcement confinement
and spacing of reinforcing bars on RC slabs speci-
mens. The specimens were designed based on an actual
bridge deck design (Tonias 1994) and the experimental
parameters were selected based on previous acceler-
ated corrosion tests (Vu et al. 2005; Mullard &Stewart
2011) including size, thickness, diameter bar, concrete
compressive strength and type of reinforcing bar. The
type of reinforcing bars used in each specimen was
deformed bars.
The RC slab specimens were designated as Speci-
mens AC1 and AC22. The AC1 specimen investigates
the effect of reinforcement confinement and spacing
of reinforcing bars for RC slabs containing rein-
forcing bars in one direction only (one-way). The
Table 1. Summary of experimental parameters.
Top Edge Concrete Bar
Cover Cover Compressive Diameter Slab
Specimen (mm) (mm) (MPa) (mm) type
AC1 25 75 30 16 One-way
AC22(T) 25 75 30 16 Two-way
AC22(B) 41 75 30 16 Two-way
T=Top bar & B=Bottom bar

AC22 specimen investigates the effect of reinforce-
ment confinement and spacing of reinforcing bars for
RC slabs containing reinforcing bars in two directions
(two-way). The arrangement for spacing of reinforcing
bars for each specimen can be found in Figure 2. The
AC1 specimen contained eight deformed bars while
AC22 specimen contained 16 deformed bars; with
eight deformed bars in each direction. AC1 and AC22
specimens have identical edge cover and spacing of
internal and external reinforcing bars.
3.2 Methodology
The accelerated corrosion test uses the application
of an impressed current where steel reinforcing bars
act as an anode and the stainless steel plate acts as
a cathode. Each specimen was immersed in a 5%
Sodium chloride (NaCl) solution. Each specimen has
identical height to be immersed in the NaCl solution,
which is approximately 25% of the overall height of
specimen. A stainless steel plate was submerged in
the sodium chloride (NaCl) solution. A current den-
sity of 500 A/cm
2
was selected as the corrosion rate.
The chosen magnitude of the current density allowed
the specimens to achieve the desired crack widths
within the specific time frame of 23 months. By
applying electrical current to reinforcing bars through
a current regulator, a constant value of currents has
been supplied to each reinforcing bar. Cracks were
observed through a microscope with a graduated scale
of 0.02 mm increments.
Figure 2. Arrangement for spacing of reinforcing bars.
353
4 RESULTS FROMACCELERATED
CORROSIONTEST
4.1 Crack observations during crack initiation
Each RC slab specimen was carefully inspected start-
ing from the first hour of the current being switched
on. The first visible crack appeared within less than
48 hours. Three readings were measured on each rein-
forcing bar and only the average value was recorded.
The cracks were found along the length of the rein-
forcing bars. The cracks begin to form at the edges
of each specimen and started to join together to form
a continuous longitudinal crack (see Figure 3 and 4).
During the crack initiation phase, reading were taken
in every 48 hours as the time to crack initiation was
observed to be very rapid. The crack width under crack
initiation phase was measured up to 0.05 mm.
4.2 Crack observations during crack propagation
In this study, cracks are defined as propagation cracks
when the measured cracks width are larger than 0.05
mm. The test was discontinued after 1650 hours or
approximately 70 days. Readings were taken in equal
intervals (every 96 hours). A large amount of data
was recorded and only relevant graphs are shown
herein. The results were presented in terms of mea-
sured crack width, duration of the test and all the
Figure 3. Set up of the accelerated corrosion test.
Figure 4. Cracking pattern for concrete cover cracking for
AC1 (one-way reinforcement).
test data was adjusted to a nominal corrosion cur-
rent density of 100 A/cm
2
. To provide a significant
comparison of AC1 and AC22 specimens, only data
for AC22 (T) are presented herein. Figures 4 and 5,
clearly shows the dissimilarity of cracking patterns
for concrete cover cracking on one-way and two-way
reinforcements.
4.3 Effect of reinforcement confinement and
spacing of reinforcing bars on rate of crack
propagation
Figures 6 and 7 shows that reinforcement confinement
has an important effect to the rate of crack propagation.
For specimen AC1, data shows that the cracks formed
along the edge bars were found to have a higher propa-
gation rate than those cracks formed along the internal
bars. The magnitudes of crack width over edge bars are
found to be 40% to 60% larger than the magnitude of
Figure 5. Cracking pattern for concrete cover cracking for
AC22 (two-way reinforcement).
Figure 6. Comparison of edge and internal bars for speci-
men AC1 (one-way slab).
354
Figure 7. Comparison of edge and internal bars for speci-
men AC22 (two-way slab).
Figure 8. Comparison of one-way and two-way slabs for
edge bars.
crack width over internal bars within the same time-
frame. For specimen AC22, data demonstrates similar
patterns as AC1; cracks over the edge bars have higher
propagation rate compares to the cracks over the inter-
nal bars. The magnitude of crack width over edge bars
is up to 11% larger than the magnitude of crack width
over internal bars when time is 2000 hours.
Spacing of reinforcing bars also has an effect on
the rate of crack propagation. The internal bars with
250 mm spacing have a higher propagation rate com-
pared to the internal bars with 100 mm spacing (see
Figure 6 and 7). For specimen AC1, the magnitude of
crack width over internal bars with 250 mm spacing
Figure 9. Comparison of one-way and two-way slabs for
internal bars.
is 33% larger than the magnitude of crack width over
internal bars with 100 mm spacing.
4.4 Effect of transverse reinforcement on rate of
crack propagation
Slabs with transverse reinforcement (AC22) have a
crack width over the edge bar reduced by 96% of the
crack width over the edge bar for specimen AC1 (see
Figure 8). The magnitude of crack width for AC22
specimen reduced by 90% compared to the magni-
tude of crack width for AC1 for internal bars (see
Figure 9). Results shows that AC22 (transverse rein-
forcement) specimen has large effect on the rate of
crack propagation.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper presented results obtained fromaccelerated
corrosion tests of two RC slab specimens. The results
demonstrated that reinforcement confinements and
spacing of reinforcing bars have a significant effect on
the rate of crack propagation. Reinforcing bars located
at the edge of specimens were observedtoreachcertain
crack width earlier than the reinforcing bars located
at the internal location. Clearly, the reinforcement
confinement reduces corrosion-induced cover crack-
ing by a significant extent. The results also indicated
that larger reinforcement spacing increased the rate of
crack propagation. Finally, two-way slab (i.e. trans-
verse reinforcement) appears to have significantly
reduced rates of crack propagation when compared
to one-way RC slab. Results from this study are used
to improve the existing crack propagation model. The
upcoming series of Accelerated corrosion test is cur-
rently underway and it was aimed to provide more
realistic crack propagation model.
355
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors acknowledged the advice from Dr Eric
Kniest and assistance provided by Goran Simundic,
Dr Shaun Manning, Ian Jeans, Laurie Walker, Ross
Gibson and Mick Goodwin. Support from the
Australian Research Council, the Ministry of Higher
Education of Malaysia, and the Universiti of Tun
Hussein Onn Malaysia are greatly appreciated.
REFERENCES
Andrade, C., C. Alonso & F.J. Molina. 1993. Cover Cracking
as a Function of Rebar Corrosion: Part 1-Experimental
Test. Materials and Structures 26: 453464.
Alonso, C., C. Andrade, J. Rodriguez & J. M. Diez. 1998.
Factors controlling cracking of concrete affected by
reinforcement corrosion. Materials and Structures 31:
435441.
ASTM G1-90. 1990. Standard Practise for Preparing Clean-
ing and Evaluating Corrosion Test Specimens. American
Society for Testing and Materials. PA, US.
ASTM G1-03. 2003. Standard Practise for Preparing, Clean-
ing and Evaluating Corrosion Test Specimens. American
Society for Testing and Materials. PA, US.
Broomfield, J. P. 2007. Corrosion of Steel in Concrete
Understanding, Investigation and Repair. Taylor &
Francis.
Ir Ku Mohd Sani Ku Mahmud. 2006. Hand Books for JKRs
Building Inspection.
Liu,Y. and R. Weyers. 1998. Modelling theTime to Corrosion
Cracking in Chloride Contaminated Reinforced Concrete
Structures. ACI Structural Journal 65(6): 675681.
Mullard, J. A., & Stewart, M. G. 2011. Corrosion-Induced
Cover Cracking: New Test Data and Predictive Models.
Specification for Concrete Patch Repair. 1991. Forensic Unit
Civil, Structure and Bridge engineering, Public Work of
Department, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Stewart, M. G., &Mullard, J. A. 2007. Spatial time-dependent
reliability analysis of corrosion damage and the timing
of first repair for RC structures. Engineering Structures
29(7): 14571464.
Tonias, D. E. 1994. Bridge Engineering. Design, Rehabilita-
tion, and Maintenance of Modern Highway Bridges.
Val, D. V., Chernin, L., & Stewart, M. G. 2009. Experimental
and Numerical Investigation of Corrosion-Induced Cover
Cracking in Reinforced Concrete Structures. Journal of
Vidal, T., Castel, A., & Francois, R., 2004. Analyzing
CrackWidth to Predict Corrosion in Reinforced Concrete.
Cement and Concrete Research 34(1): 165174.
Vu, K. A. T., &Stewart, M. G. 2005. Predicting the Likelihood
and Extent of Reinforced Concrete Corrosion-Induced
Craking. Journal of Structural Engineering 131(11):
16811689.
Vu, K., M. G. Stewart & J.A. Mullard. 2005. Corrosion-
Induced Cracking: Experimental Data and Predictive
Models. ACI Structural Journal 102(5): 719.
Zhang, R., Castel, A., & Franois, R. 2010. Concrete cover
cracking with reinforcement corrosion of RCbeamduring
chloride-inducedcorrosionprocess. Cement andConcrete
Research 40(3): 415425.
Zhao, Y., Yu, J., Hu, B., & Jin, W. 2012. Crack shape and
rust distribution in corrosion-induced cracking concrete.
Corrosion Science 55(0): 385393.
Zhong, J., Gardoni, P., & Rosowsky, D. 2010. Stiff ness
Degradation and Time to Cracking of Cover Concrete
in Reinforced Concrete Structures Subject to Corrosion.
Journal of Engineering Mechanics 136(2): 209219.
356
Lateral strainof confinedconcreteincorporatingsizeeffect
Ali KhajehSamani & MarioM. Attard
University of New South Wales
ABSTRACT: Thelateral andaxial strainrelationshipplaysanimportantpartinpredictingtheconfinementof
confinedcolumns. Measuringlateral strainsincompressiveexperimentsprovestobedifficult whichmeanfew
reliableresultsareavailable. A lateral strainversusaxial strainmodel isproposedbasedonthesuppositionthat
theconcretebehaveslinear elastically intheearly stagesof loading, nonlinear hardeninguptothepeak stress
after whichtheinelastic lateral strainvary linearly withtheinelastic axial strain. Thelateral to axial inelastic
strain ratio is shown to bea function of thelateral confinement level and related to thefailuremechanism.
Moreover, sizeeffect isalsodiscussedfromthelateral strainversusaxial strainperspective.
1 INTRODUCTION
Someof theavailabledesign formulas proposed for
predictingbehaviour of reinforcedconcretecolumns
assumed the confining reinforcement to be at yield
at the peak carrying load capacity of the column.
Thisassumptionfor reinforcedhighstrengthconcrete
columns are not correct all the times hence some
designformulasarenot validfor HSC columns. One
of theavailablealternativesisusinglateral expansion
of theconfinedcolumncoreandthenrelatesit tothe
stress in theties to predict thelevel of confinement
at thecore. To predict thelateral expansion, thelat-
eral strain can be predicted versus the axial strain.
Experimental dataonlateral strainfromuniaxial and
triaxiallyloadedconcretetestsarelimited.Someof the
major referencesareNewman(1979); J amet, Millard
et al. (1984); Hurlbut (1985); Smith, Willamet al.
(1989); Imran and Pantazopoulou (1996); Lee and
Willam(1997); Candappa, Sanjayanet al. (2001); Lu
andHsu(2007). Usinglateral straintopredictthecon-
finementlevel forcolumnsconfinedbyreinforcement
cagesispresentedinAhmadandShah(1982); Cusson
and Paultre (1995) and for FRP wraps in Lokuge,
Sanjayanet al. (2005); Talaat andMosalam(2007).
2 TESTINGMETHODS
Thelateral strainof concretecanbeusedtounderstand
concretebehaviorincompression.Theteststodosuch
astudyareconductedunder variousloadingregimes.
The loading conditions referred to here are mainly
uniaxial and triaxial tests carried out on cylindrical
specimens. Hoekcellsortriaxial cellsareusuallyused
to do triaxial testing. In Hoek cells, the a sitting or
locking axial load is applied first. Once the speci-
men is secured, thelateral confinement is increased
uptothedesiredlevel. Theaxial loadisapplied, once
the confinement pressure reaches the desired value.
Similarly triaxial cells also areused. Circumference
or normal straingaugescanbemountedonthespec-
imento measurethelateral strain. Straingauges can
showsomeinaccuracy becauseof theeffects of high
confining pressure inside the test cell and the loca-
tions werethestrain is measured. Thechangein the
volumeof theconfiningliquidisalsousedtomeasure
thevolumetric strain, whichcanthenbeusedtoesti-
mateanaveragelateral strain.Thelateral strainresults
areusuallypresentedaseither asetof axial stressver-
susaxial strainandaxial stressversuslateral strainor
volumetricstrainversusaxial straindiagrams.
3 PROPOSEDMODEL FOR
LATERAL STRAIN
3.1 lateral strain at peak axial stress
Many researchers proposedthat thepoint wherevol-
umeexpansionbeginsisinvicinity of thepeak axial
stresslevel onastressstraincurve. Imran(1994) stud-
ied the effect of various parameters on the concrete
behavior under compression. Figure1showstherela-
tionship between the axial compressive strain at the
peak stress
0
, andtheaxial compressivestrainat the
instant of zerovolumetricstrain. A similar figurewas
initiallypresentedbyImran(1994). Here, resultsfrom
the experimental studies of Newman (1979); J amet
et al. (1984); Smith (1987); Candappa et al. (2001)
havebeenaddedtoImransresults. Thediagonal line
inFigure1wouldcorrespondtoasituationwherethe
volumetric strain is zero at the instance of the peak
load. Imranet al. (1996) concludedthattheaxial com-
pressivestrainattheinstantof zerovolumetricstrainis
roughlyequal totheaxial compressivestrainatwhich
357
Figure1. Axial strainatzerovolumetricchangeversusaxial
strainat peakstress.
Figure2. Theplasticlateral strainminustheplasticlateral
strainat thepeak stressversustheplastic axial strainminus
theplasticaxial strainatthepeakstressfora40MPaconcrete
specimenstestedbyCandappaet al. (2001).
theconcretereachesitspeakcompressiveaxial stress.
Thevolumetricstrain
v
atthepeakaxial stresscanbe
writtenas
v
|
=
0
=
0
+2
0
=0where
0
is thelat-
eral strainat thepeak axial stress. Hencetheratioof
thelateral strain
0
totheaxial strainatthepeakstress
(
0
=
0
/
0
) canbetakenas:
3.2 Post peak plastic lateral strain
Onthestudyof lateral strainversusaxial strainVonk
(1992) noted that in the beginning of the loading
theaveragelateral deformation versus averageaxial
deformationcanbepresentedbyPoissonsratio. Once
macro cracks are formed, dilatant behaviour of the
samplestarts. After agradual change, amoreor less
constant dilatant behaviour wasobserved, whichindi-
catedthat theprocess of macro crack formation had
stopped and the final crack pattern had been devel-
oped. Similar observation is valid for many other
availabletest results. Therefore, thebehaviour of con-
creteafter thepeakstresscanbeestimatedbylooking
Figure3. Variationof parameter withconfinement.
at theplasticor inelasticdeformationsafter thepeak.
Figure2plotstheplasticlateral strainminustheplastic
lateral strainatthepeakstressagainsttheplasticaxial
strainminus theplastic axial strainat thepeak stress
basedonthetestresultsof Candappaet al
1
.Theresults
showanalmost linear relationship. For therelatively
lowlevelsof confinement associatedwiththeresults
inFigure2, ashearbandhasprobablyformedwiththe
deformations in theaxial and lateral directions con-
centratedonthedeformations withintheshear band.
Theslopes of thelinear trends in Figure2 areasso-
ciated with differing levels of confinement. As the
confinement level increases the lateral deformation
ratedecreases.Anequationforthisapproximatelinear
trendistherefore:
In which,
p
is the plastic axial strain and
p
is the
plastic lateral strain. The quantities
p
(at peak) and
p(at peak)
aretheaxial and lateral plastic strain at the
peakstresslevel, respectively.
A equation for theparameter in equation (2) is
proposedusingananalysisof experimental resultsby
Newman(1979); J ametet al. (1984);VanMier(1984);
Hurlbut(1985); Smith(1987); Smithet al. (1989); Lee
et al. (1997); Candappaet al. (2001); Luet al. (2007)
(seeFigures3and4).Theparameterisassumedinde-
pendent of axial strainandafunctionof thespecimen
aspect ratio, concrete strength and the confinement
ratio. Theproposedexpressioniswrittenbelow:
358
Figure4. Variationof parameter foruniaxial compression
withvaryingaspect ratio.
3.3 Lateral strain model
Based on the assumption that the concrete behaves
firstly linear elastic and then nonlinear hardening
up to thepeak stress and then volumetric expansion
starts with the plastic/inelastic lateral strain varying
linearlywiththeplasticinelasticaxial strain, amodel
for lateral strain versus axial strain is proposed. The
equationfor linear elasticstagesis:
For thenonlinear hardeningstage, thepredictionis
givenas:
Andfinallyfor thepost peakstageof loading:
In which, is theaxial strain and
is thelateral
strain,
e
istheelasticPoissonsratiowhichnormally
variesbetween0.15and0.25, f
pr
and
pr
aretheaxial
stress andstrainat theproportional limit inconcrete
(thisusuallyistakenat 45%of thepeakstress, f
0
); E
c
istheelasticmodulus.
0
istheaxial strainatthepeak
stress;
0
is theratio of thelateral strainto theaxial
strainat thepeak stress; is definedby equation(3)
andA
1
() isdefinedby:
Theparameter isgivenby:
where,h
r
isthereferencecylinderheightassumedtobe
200mmbasedonSamani andAttard(2012). h
d
isthe
damagezoneheight and
d
istheadditional inelastic
axial straininthedamagedzoneassociatedwithlongi-
tudinal tensilecrackinggiveninSamani et al. (2012)
by:
whereG
ft
isthetensilefractureenergy, r isaparameter
withthedimensionof lengthproportional totheaver-
agedistancebetweensuccessivelongitudinal cracks,
k isamaterial constantandf
residual
istheresidual axial
stresslevel. Thevalueof r wasestimatedbyMarkeset
andHillerborg(1995) tobeabout 1.25mm[0.05in.]
foramaximumaggregatesizeof 16mm[0.63in.]with
r increasingwithincreasingmaximumaggregatesize.
The value of k suggested by Markeset et al. (1995)
wasapproximately3for normal densityconcreteand
1for light weight aggregateconcrete. Anexpression
for thetensilefractureenergyasafunctionof theuni-
axial compressiveproposed by Van Mier (1996) can
beused.
4 COMPARINGMODEL WITH
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Figure5toFigure8showacomparisonof theproposed
model withtestresultspresentedinJ ametet al. (1984);
359
Figure5. Comparisonof thelateral strainversusaxial strain
for Candappaet al. (2001) test results (f
c
=100MPa) with
ProposedModel.
Figure6. Figure6Comparisonof thelateral strainversus
axial strain test results of Hurlbut (1985); Willam, Hurlbut
et al. (1986) withProposedModel.
for J amet et al. (1984) test resultswithProposedModel.
Hurlbut (1985); Smith et al. (1989); Imran et al.
(1996); Candappa et al. (2001). Generally the pro-
posedmodel makesvery goodpredictionsgivingthe
correct trendsandinmost casesreasonableestimates
of thelateral strain. Thesecomparisons demonstrate
the capability of the proposed model in modeling a
wide range of compressive strengths and confining
pressures.
for Smith(1987) test results(f
c
=34.5MPa) withProposed
Model.
for Leeet al. (1997) test resultswithProposedModel.
Figure 10. Comparison of the lateral strain versus axial
strainforVanMier (1984); vanMier (1986) test resultswith
ProposedModel.
Figure 9 and Figure 10 show comparisons of the
model with uniaxial compression tests having spec-
imens of different dimensional aspect ratios. Lee
et al. (1997) tested cylindrical specimens in uniax-
ial condition with different heights of 137.2, 91.44
and 45.72mmand a diameter of 76.2mm. Figure 9
shows thecomparisonwithLeeet al. (1997) results.
360
Althoughthematchisonlyfair, thenewmodel hasat
leastthecorrecttrendshowinglargerlateral strainsfor
thespecimens withsmallest height. vanMier (1986)
alsopresentedexperimental lateral strainversusaxial
strain results for prisms with a square cross-section
100100mmand heights of 50, 100 and 200mm,
under uniaxial compression. A comparison with van
Mier (1986) results is showninFigure10. vanMier
(1986) testedseveral specimensandpresentedarange
of results for each specimen height. Thereis awide
scatter inthetest results indicativeof thedominance
of tensilesplittingwithspecimenshavingaspectratios
less than2. Theproposedmodel gives quantitatively
goodresults.
5 CONCLUSION
A newmodel for thelateral strainversus axial strain
relationshiphasbeenproposedbasedontheassump-
tionthattheconcretebehaviourcouldbeclassifiedinto
threephases.Itwasassumedthattheconcreteresponds
toloadslinearlyelasticuptoaproportional limit and
thenitsresponsechangestoanonlinear hardeningup
tothepeak stress. Frompreviousstudies, thepoint at
whichthevolumetric strainbecomes zero was taken
to besameas thepeak stress point andthereforethe
lateral strainat thepeak axial stress was half of that
of theaxial strainat thepeak axial stress. Inthepost
peak phase, alinear relationship between theplastic
lateral strainandtheplasticaxial strainwasobserved.
Thetotal lateral strain was calculated by adding the
elasticandestimatedplasticcomponentsof thelateral
axial. Theparametersaffectingthislinear relationship
betweentheplasticlateral andaxial strainwasshown
to betheconfinement level andthespecimenaspect
ratio.
Toshowthemodelsaccuracy, theproposedmodel
predictionswerecomparedwithavastrangeof results
inwhichtheconcretestrengthsvariedfromlowtohigh
strength as well as varying confinement levels. The
model showedarealisticmatchanddisplayedsimilar
trendstothoseinthecomparisonexperimental results.
Themodel also comparedreasonably well for uniax-
ial specimens of different aspect ratios although the
experimental resultsshowedalargescatter becauseof
theeffectsof tensilesplitting.
REFERENCES
Ahmad, S. andS. Shah(1982). Stress-straincurvesof con-
crete confined by spiral reinforcement, ACI J ournal,
Vol 79(6), 484490.
Candappa, D., J. Sanjayan, et al. (2001). Completetriaxial
stress-straincurvesof high-strengthconcrete, J ournal of
MaterialsinCivil Engineering, Vol 13, 209.
Cusson, D. and P. Paultre (1995). Stress-strain model for
confined high-strength concrete, J ournal of Structural
Engineering, Vol 121, 468.
Hurlbut, B. (1985). Experimental andcomputational inves-
tigation of strain-softening in concrete, University of
Colorado.
Imran, I. (1994). Applications of non-associated plastic-
ity in modeling the mechanical response of concrete,
Universityof Toronto.
Imran, I. andS. Pantazopoulou(1996). Experimental study
of plain concrete under triaxial stress, ACI Materials
J ournal, Vol 93(6), 589601.
J amet, P., A. Millard, et al. (1984). Triaxial behaviour of
micro-concretecompletestress-straincurves for confin-
ing pressures ranging from 0 to 100 mpa, RILEM-
CEB International conferenceconcreteunder multiaxial
conditions, Vol 1, 133140.
Lee, Y. and K. Willam (1997). Mechanical properties
of concrete in uniaxial compression, ACI Materials
J ournal, Vol 94(6).
Lokuge, W., J. Sanjayan, et al. (2005). Stressstrainmodel
for laterally confined concrete, J ournal of Materials in
Civil Engineering, Vol 17, 607.
Lu, X. and C. Hsu (2007). Stress-strain relations of high-
strengthconcreteunder triaxial compression, J ournal of
MaterialsinCivil Engineering, Vol 19, 261.
Markeset, G. andA. Hillerborg (1995). Softening of con-
crete in compressionlocalization and size effects,
Cement andConcreteResearch, Vol 25(4), 702708.
Newman, J. (1979). Concreteunder complex stress. Devel-
opmentsinconcretetechnology-i. F. Lydon: 151219.
Samani, A. and M. Attard (2012). A stress-strain model
for uniaxial andconfinedconcreteunder compression,
EngineeringStructures, Vol 41, 335349.
Smith, S. (1987). On fundamental aspects of concrete
behavior, Universityof Colorado.
Smith, S., K.Willam, etal. (1989). Concreteoverthetopor,
istherelifeafterpeak?,ACI MaterialsJ ournal,Vol 86(5).
Talaat, M. and K. Mosalam(2007). Computational model-
ingof progressivecollapseinreinforcedconcreteframe
structures, Universityof California, Berkeley.
Van Mier, J. (1984). Strain-softening of concrete under
multiaxial loading conditions, Eindhoven University of
Technology, TheNetherlands: 349.
vanMier,J.(1986).Multiaxial strain-softeningof concrete,
MaterialsandStructures, Vol 19(3), 179190.
Van Mier, J. (1996). Fracture processes of concrete, CRC
PressBocaRaton, FL.
Vonk, R. (1992). Softening of concrete loaded in com-
pression, Eindhoven University of Technology, The
Netherlands.
Willam, K., B. Hurlbut, et al. (1986). Experimental and
constitutive aspects of concrete failure. Finite Element
Analysisof ReinforcedConcreteStructures,Tokyo,J apan.
361
Combininghigh-strengthself-compactingandnormal-strength
concretesinreinforcedconcreteframestructures
M. Soleymani Ashtiani, R.P. Dhakal &A.N. Scott
Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury,
Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
ABSTRACT: Beam-columnjoints(BCJ ) of reinforcedconcrete(RC) buildingframesplayanimportant role
under seismic excitations. AsBCJ sareoneof themost congestedareasinRC framedstructures, proper com-
pactionandplacementof concreteinsuchareasbecomessubstantiallychallenging.Inaddition,coderequirements
relatedtothebondbetweendeformedbarsandconcreteinsuchpartscanrender adesiredcolumnwidthunac-
ceptable. DespitecrowdedreinforcingbarsinsideBCJ s, self-compactingconcrete(SCC) canflowthroughevery
corner without any vibration, andif theSCC isof highstrengththentherequirement oncolumnwidthisalso
relaxedduetobetter bondproperties. Thereforeusinghigh-strengthself-compactingconcrete(HSSCC) inthe
joint areamay offer significant advantages. This paper focuses on implementing HSSCC in thejoint region
of normal-strength conventionally vibrated concrete (CVC) BCJ s and assessing its seismic behavior under
reversedcyclic loading. Twonormal-strength(40MPa) CVC BCJ saredesignedasper theNewZealandStan-
dardNZS3101:2006; out of whichonehasHSSCC (100MPa) initsjoint region. Theload, displacement/drift,
ductility, and joint shear deformations aremeasured during theexperiment. Thecracking pattern at different
loadlevelsandthemodeof failurearealsorecorded. Preparationandresultsof thisexperimental studyareused
inidentifyingtheprosandconsof usingHSSCC inthejoint regionsof normal strengthRC frames.
1 INTRODUCTION
Duetoitsspecial freshandmechanical properties,self-
compactingconcrete(SCC) hasbeenregardedasone
of themost important advances in concretetechnol-
ogyinthelast twodecades. SCC hasauniqueability
to flow into a uniformlevel under the influence of
gravity with the ability to compact by means of its
self-weight without anyexternal or internal vibration.
Based on its exceptional flowing properties, SCC is
abletobeimplementedincomplexformworksevenin
highly congestedreinforcedconcrete(RC) members.
Therefore, the interest in utilizing SCC in members
of concreteframedstructureshasincreasedmanifold
over therecent years.
Theintersectionof beams andcolumns represents
oneof themost congestedparts of RC framedstruc-
tures; especially in earthquake-prone regions due to
strictseismicdesignrequirements.Placingandconsol-
idatingconcreteinsuchareashasoftenimposeddif-
ficultieswhichresult inimperfect compactionand/or
segregationof concrete. Thisentailsother sideeffects
such as deteriorated bond properties which needs
wider columns(torestrict thebondstresstolessthan
the reduced bond strength) than otherwise required
byRC standards. Consideringtheadvantagesof SCC
(noisereduction, reducedlabourforce, highermaterial
quality andbetter surfacefinish) over conventionally
vibratedconcrete(CVC), if theseismic performance
isnotcompromised, thenSCCcanbepreferredahead
of normal concreteinbeam-columnjoints(BCJ ).
Literatureshows extensiveinvestigations onfresh
andmechanical properties(compressive, splittingten-
sile, and flexural strengths as well as modulus of
elasticity,shrinkageandbondstrength)of SCCinclud-
ing their comparison with that of CVC (Persson
2001, Domone2006, Soleymani Ashtiani et al. 2010,
Soleymani Ashtiani et al. 2011). In addition, some
researchers havealso lookedat thestructural perfor-
manceof RC members cast with SCC under mono-
tonic loads (Sonebi et al. 200, Hassan et al. 2008).
Nevertheless, to the best of the authors knowledge
only a few researchers havelooked into theseismic
behaviour of RC beam-columnjoints(BCJ ) cast with
SCC (Said& Nehdi 2007).
In the present study a normal-strength CVC mix
(40MPa) was utilized to fabricatean interior beam-
columnjointinwhichahigh-strengthself-compacting
concrete(HSSCC) mix(100MPa) wasusedtocastthe
joint area. Two other similar specimens, madesolely
of CVCandHSSCC, werealsotestedfor comparison
purposes.
363
2 EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS
2.1 Beam-column joints, test setup and loading
protocol
Inthepresent investigation, locally availablemateri-
alsinChristchurch, NewZealandwereusedinorderto
designdifferentconcretemixes; namelyaHSSCCand
anormal-strength CVC mix. Theproportions of the
constituentmaterialsforall mixesarelistedinTable1.
Physical propertiesof thecement, flyash, andaggre-
gatesaswell asthemixingmethodandprocedureare
describedelsewhere(Soleymani Ashtiani etal. 2010).
Threestandardbeam-columnjoints, namely BCJ 1
(HSSCC), BCJ 6(CVC) andBCJ 7(CVCwithHSSCC
in the joint area; called CVC-HSSCC from here
onwards), were designed following the current New
Zealand Standard (NZS3101 2006) requirements to
achieveastrong-column-weak-beamhierarchywhere
the final expected mode of failure was hinging of
the beam at the column face. Based on capacity
designprincipals,columnwasdesignedtoremainelas-
tic throughout the test; this was ensured by keeping
the ratio of the factored yield moment of the col-
umn(M
y
) totheover-strengthmoment of thebeam
(M
o,b
) well above1.0for all specimens. Ratiosof the
longitudinal reinforcement in the beamand column
were0.011and0.025, respectively; whichwerewithin
the limits specified by the New Zealand Standard
(NZS31012006).
Thelateral loadwasappliedtothetopof thecolumn
through a 400kN capacity hydraulic actuator (ram)
and measured using a load-cell. The ramwas sup-
portedonthewestbyastrongreactionframedesigned
totaketwicetheactuator maximumcapacity. Thedis-
placement wasfedtothehydraulicactuator througha
portablecomputer andassociatedcontroller. Thiswas
measuredwitharotary potentiometer (locatedat the
level of theactuator) whichwasconnectedtoaninde-
pendent frame to make sure that the possible slack
in the setup did not affect the loading history. The
Table1. Differentconcretemixproportionsandproperties.
BCJ 1 BCJ 6 BCJ 7
HSSCC CVC CVC/HSSCC
Coarseagg(kg/m
3
) 880 1045 1045/880
Fineagg(kg/m
3
) 870 930 930/870
Cement (kg/m
3
) 385 265 265/385
Flyash(kg/m
3
) 165 /165
Water (kg/m
3
) 165 158 158/165
SP (kg/m
3
) 3.58 0.79 0.79/3.58
w/b(designed) 0.3 0.6 0.6/0.3
w/b(actual) 0.28 0.61 0.6/0.3
Slump(mm) 600
80
180
/740
Comp. strength(MPa) 124.3 48.4 45.7/109.9

Tensilestrength(MPa) 7.0 4.7 4.8/7.4
Slump-flowdiameter wasmeasuredfor HSSCC.
Adjustments of Super-Plasticizer (SP) on siteresulted in

different slumpvalues.
designed axial load was applied through a 2500kN
capacityhydraulicjack andtransferredtothecolumn
throughthetopandbottomplatesandMacalloybars.
Thebottomof thecolumnandbeam-endswerefixed
to the strong floor using a pin and two roller sup-
ports, respectively. Thegeneratedloads at theendof
thebeamsweremeasuredusingtwoload-cells(Fig. 1).
Inorder tomeasurethelocal strains, straingauges
with3mmgaugelengthwereattachedtothetopand
bottomlongitudinal beambars as well as the shear
reinforcementinthejoint, beamandcolumn(onlythe
twostirrupsadjacent tothejoint werestraingauged).
All specimenswereinstrumentedwithlinear variable
displacementtransducers(LVDT)onthebeamplastic-
hingezone, beam-columninterfaceandthejointpanel
inorder tomeasuretheaveragestrains, beamflexural
andsheardeformations, plastic-hingezoneelongation
and joint shear deformations. In addition, thelateral
load, beam-endreactionsandcolumnaxial loadwere
measuredusingload-cellsat thelateral loadingpoint,
beamtips and apressuretransducer at thehydraulic
jack pipeline. It should be noted that as the column
was designedto remainelastic, monitoringits defor-
mations was not necessary. Recorded datawas used
tocalculatetheloadvs. displacement, ductility, stiff-
ness degradation, energy dissipation, deformationof
thecomponentsandthejoint, andcontributionof steel
andconcreteinthejoint shear stress.
A quasi-static displacement-controlled loading
regimewasadoptedfollowingtheACI guidelinesfor
moment resisting frames (ACI374.1-05 2005). The
positive and negative drift directions were chosen
basedonthesignconventionasshowninFigure1. Up
to the0.5%drift cycles, displacement increments of
0.5mmwereusedineachloadingstep; however1mm
incrementswereusedfor therest of thecycles. Each
displacement cyclewasrepeated3timesandstarting
afterthe0.5%driftcycles,asmall cycle(1/3amplitude
of theprecedingone) followedeachcycleset.
2.2 Testing procedure and experimental results
Theaxial loadwasmonitoredandmaintainedthrough-
out thetest (usingthepressuretransducer) suchthat
Figure1. Detailsof thetest setup.
364
Figure2. Reinforcement detailsandinstrumentations(all dimensionsareinmm).
the axial load ratio remained almost the same for
all specimens (0.07 for BCJ 1 and 0.08 for BCJ 6
and BCJ 7). A data logger and associated computer
were used to automatically collect the readings of
the rotary pot, load-cells, LVDTs and strain gauges
at each displacement increment throughout the test.
The test was paused at both positive and negative
peaksof the3rdcycleof eachdriftset. Ateachpause,
cracksweremarkedandlabelledwiththedrift, crack-
widths were measured (using a hand microscope of
0.01mm accuracy) and pictures were taken of the
overall specimenanddifferentdamagedparts. Inorder
tofollowthecrack patternsmoreefficiently, gridsof
size65mmand100mmweredrawnonthejoint and
beamsurfaces, respectively.
Figures 3ac shows the storey shear versus drift
response for the three specimens tested, where the
yieldandtest-endpoints(includingdisplacement,
drift , andstoreyshear) areannotatedbasedonthe
test observationsandthechangeinstiffness. Thehor-
izontal solid lines in the plots (just above the yield
points) indicate the predicted shear strength of the
specimenscalculatedaccordingtothefactorednomi-
nal momentcapacityof thebeam(M
n
). Basedonthe
ACI recommendations (ACI374.1-052005), thelim-
itingdrift valuefor theRC moment resistingframes
is3.5%. However, theadopteddisplacement protocol
and test setup in this study allowed for a maximum
driftof 4.5%whichwasappliedtoall specimens. Note
thatnoneof thespecimenshadfailedwhenthetestwas
terminatedat themaximumdrift of 4.5%.
Figure4showsthephysical conditionsof thejoints
indifferent specimensat +4.5%drift ratio. It isclear
fromthepicturesthat theBCJ 6(CVC) hadconsider-
ablymorecracksinthejoint areacomparedtothat of
BCJ 1andBCJ 7; however thefinal modeof failurein
all threespecimenswasthehingingof thebeam. Note
thatinBCJ 1, thebrokenconcretepieceswereforcibly
365
Figure3. Experimental loadvs. drift graphs.
Figure4. Picturesof BCJ sat drift ratio4.5%.
removed fromthe top and bottomof the specimen;
thats why BCJ 1 looks moredeteriorated than BCJ 6
andBCJ 7.
3 RESULTSANDDISCUSSIONS
Themeasureddrift values wereconvertedto equiva-
lentductility() definedastheratioof drift() atany
stageto thedrift at yield(
y
); this is illustratedona
secondary axis parallel to the drift axis in Figure 3.
Accordingtothehysteresisloops, for anidentical ulti-
matedriftof 4.5%, BCJ 1andBCJ 7correspondedtoa
higher ductilitythanBCJ 6.
Thehysteretic energy dissipatedby thespecimens
was used to calculate the equivalent viscous damp-
ing for all specimens (using Equations 1 to 3). This
calculation provides a better understanding of the
hysteresisandpinchingbehaviours.
In these equations,
eq
is the equivalent viscous
damping, E
D
is the dissipated energy per cycle
(N.mm), E
sto
is theequivalent elastic storedenergy
per cycle (N.mm), F
i
is the load at each step (N),
i
is the displacement at each step (mm), F
0
is
thepeak loadof eachcycle(N), and
0
isthepeak
displacement of eachcycle(mm).
The variation equivalent viscous damping with
respect to the applied drift for the three specimens
is compared in Figure 5. At a given drift ratio after
yielding, BCJ 6 showed a lower equivalent viscous
dampingcomparedtoBCJ 1andBCJ 7; thismeansthat
the amount of energy dissipated by the former was
smaller. This can also be inferred fromthe hystere-
sisloopsof thethreespecimens; specimenBCJ 6had
morepinching(resultinginnarrowerhysteresisloops)
thantheother twospecimens. Beforeyielding, BCJ 1
showedconsiderablyhigher dampingcomparedtothe
others; however theseinitially highvalues decreased
quitefast so that thedampingvalues becamealmost
thesamefor all specimensaroundtheyieldingpoint.
Notethat thecalculationof equivalent viscousdamp-
ingrequireddivisionbytheelasticstoredenergyE
sto
,
which was very small in the elastic response range;
hencethecalculatedpre-yielddampingvalues could
not berelieduponastheywereverysensitiveevento
small discrepanciesinestimatingE
sto
.
Thetotal joint shear forceV
jh
andthehorizontal
jointshearstressv
jh
ateachdriftpeakwerecalculated
using thegeometry of thetest setup and specimens.
The contribution of the joint shear reinforcement to
the total joint shear stress was calculated using the
results of thestraingauges installedonthejoint stir-
rups. According to the strain gauge readings, even
366
at the highest storey drift of 4.5%none of the joint
stirrups yielded. Therefore stresses were calculated
usingHookeslawandthecorrespondingforceswere
determinedbymultiplyingthestressesandtheareaof
stirrups. Shear stressof thejoint wasalsonormalized
withrespect to thesquareroot of concretecompres-
sivestrength
f

c
toprovideanunbiasedassessment
Figure5. Equivalent viscousdamping.
Figure6. Contributionof concreteandsteel injoint shear capacity.
Figure7. Relativecontributionof different componentstowardstheoverall drift.
of thesteel andconcretecontributionstothetotal joint
shearstress(Fig.6).Despitethejointshearstressbeing
similar in the three specimens, the concrete contri-
butionto joint shear was moreinBCJ 1comparedto
that inBCJ 6andBCJ 7. Themaximumlimit of joint
shear stress for all specimens, calculated as per the
AmericanandNewZealandstandards(ACI318M-08
2008, NZS3101 2006), arealso shown in thefigure
for comparison. As mentioned before, all specimens
weredesignedtotheNewZealandStandard(NZS3101
2006), therefore it was expected that the maximum
joint shear stresswouldnot exceedthelimits.
The overall deformation of a beam-column sub-
assemblycomprisesof beam, columnandjoint defor-
mations. It should be mentioned that the beamand
column shear deformations were considerably small
compared to theother components; hencethey were
neglected. Figure7showsthecontributionsof thedif-
ferentelements(beam, columnandjoint)totheoverall
displacement of eachspecimenat thepeak drifts. As
couldbeexpectedbasedonthedesignedfailuremode
(beamhinging), the beamcontributed considerably
moretowardstheoverall specimendrift thanthecol-
umn and joint did. The contributions of the column
and joint were almost identical in BCJ 1 and BCJ 7.
However thejoint shear deformationanditscontribu-
tion to the overall drift was clearly higher in BCJ 6
which had the least concrete compressive strength
(47.1MPa).
367
4 CONCLUSIONS
Based on theresults of this study following conclu-
sionsaredrawn:
The hysteresis loop of the CVC specimen had
noticeably more pinching compared to the other
specimens. Correspondingly, the energy dissipa-
tion and equivalent viscous damping wereless in
theCVCspecimencomparedtotheothertwospec-
imens. The CVC-HSSCC specimen had similar
pinchingastheHSSCC specimen.
Atagivendriftratio, significantlymorecrackshad
appeared in the joint area of the CVC specimen
comparedtotheother two.
BothHSSCCandCVC-HSSCCspecimensyielded
earlier thantheCVC specimen; therebyleadingto
ahigher ductilityat thesamedrift thanthenormal
strengthCVC specimen.
Except for slight variations, therelativecontribu-
tion of joint shear reinforcement and concrete in
thejoint shear stresswassimilar inall specimens.
Asexpected, themaximumshear stressinthejoint
remainedwithintheallowablestandardlimits.
It was observed that the beamdeformation con-
tributed the most (60% to 90%) towards the
specimen overall drift in all threespecimens; the
contributionof columnandjoint (3%to 20%and
5% to 25%, respectively) were relatively small.
In the CVC specimen the joint contribution was
clearly more than that of the HSSCC and CVC-
HSSCC specimens.
Noneof thekeyparametersrelatedtoseismicper-
formancewerecompromisedby usingHSSCC in
the joint. In fact, the HSSCC specimen showed
superior seismic performance compared to that
of the CVC ones. Hence, HSSCC may offer an
easieroptionforheavilycongestedareaslikebeam-
columnconnectionsinRC framedstructures.
REFERENCES
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ACI374.1-052005. Acceptancecriteriafor moment frames
based on structural testing and commentary. ACI Com-
mittee374.
Domone, P. L. 2006. Self-compacting concrete: An analy-
sis of 11 years of case studies. Cement and Concrete
Composites, 28, 197208.
Hassan, A. A. A., Hossain, K. M. A. & Lachemi, M. 2008.
Behavior of full-scaleself-consolidatingconcretebeams
inshear. Cement and Concrete Composites, 30, 58896.
NZS3101 2006. Concrete structures standard Parts 1 & 2:
The Desing of Concrete Structures and Commentary.
Wellington, NewZealand: StandardsNewZealand.
Persson, B. 2001.A comparisonbetweenmechanical proper-
ties of self-compacting concrete and the corresponding
properties of normal concrete. Cement and Concrete
Research, 31, 193198.
Said, A. & Nehdi, M. 2007. Behaviour of reinforced self-
consolidatingconcreteframes. Proceedings of the Insti-
tution of Civil Engineers: Structures and Buildings, 160,
95104.
Soleymani Ashtiani, M., Dhakal, R. P. & Scott, A. N. Aug
2011. Bondproperties of reinforcement inhigh-strength
self-compactingconcrete. Proceedingsof the9thSympo-
siumonHighPerformanceConcreteDesign, Verification
andUtilization, 2011Rotorua, NewZealand.
Soleymani Ashtiani, M., Scott, A. N. & Dhakal, R. P.
Dec 2010. Mechanical properties of high-strength self-
compactingconcrete.Proceedingsof the21stAustralasian
ConferenceontheMechanicsof StructuresandMaterials,
2010Melbourne, Australia. 827832.
Sonebi, M., Tamimi, A. K. & Bartos, P. J. M. 2003. Perfor-
manceandCrackingBehavior of ReinforcedBeamsCast
withSelf-ConsolidatingConcrete.ACI Materials Journal,
100, 492500.
368
Investigating the arching action in reinforced concrete beams
N.F. Vesali, H. Valipour & B. Samali
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Sydney, Australia
S.J. Foster
University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: A 1D frame element model was used to study the development of arching action in a reinforced
concrete member. The model is capable of capturing geometrical as well as material nonlinearity including
concrete cracking and crushing and reinforcement yielding. To preserve the objectivity of results associated
with softening of concrete, a non-local damage model is incorporated into the element formulation. The
element formulation is outlined and the developed model was verified by examples from the literature. Also, a
parametric study is undertaken on a generic beam to demonstrate effects of different parameters, particularly
the end rotational and translational stiffness and the concrete compressive strength on development of arching
action. The results obtained from the analytical tool are compared with the results of a simple plastic hinge
analysis and the enhancing effect of arching action is quantified accordingly.
Arching Action, Parametric Study, Geometrical and Material Non-linearity, Non-local Averaging Technique,
Concrete Softening, Force-based Formulation.
1 INTRODUCTION
Compressive membrane (arching) action is a primary
mechanism of load redistribution which increases
the resistance of reinforced concrete (RC) structures
against disproportionate collapse. This phenomenon
enhances the flexural capacity of RC beams and slabs
significantly as the result of development of com-
pressive axial force along the member length due to
propagation of crack in the tensile zone of the cross-
section. Capturing the ultimate load capacity of RC
beams and slabs is a challenging task, mainly because
of the complexity of the geometrical as well as the
material nonlinearity associated with large deflections
and cracking and crushing of concrete.
The arching action was first identified in early
20th century (Westergaard and Slater, 1921, Gvozdev,
1939), however, it was not investigated thoroughly
until 1950s when a significant enhancement of the ulti-
mate loading capacity compared with yield-line the-
ory was observed within RC slabs (Johansen, 1943),
(Ockleston, 1955, 1958). Later experimental studies
have revealed that the development of the arching
action mainly depends on the concrete compressive
strengthandcrushingstrain, reinforcement ratio, span-
to-depth ratio of the beam and the relative stiffness
of the supports (Park, 1964, Kennan, 1969, Brotchie
and Holley, 1971, Christiansen and Fredriksen, 1983,
Guice and Rhomberg, 1988, Beeby and Fathibitaraf,
2001, Taylor et al., 2001).
Development of arching action in floor slabs and
bridge decks has been subject of numerous studies,
however, less attention has been paid to arching action
in reinforced concrete framed structures. The available
experimental results showan enhancement in the flex-
ural capacity of the beams which is associated with
the formation of three plastic hinges (Lahlouh and
Waldron, 1992, Beeby and Fathibitaraf, 2001, Bazan,
2008). The observation of the frame behaviour at ulti-
mate condition shows that failure of the frame occurs
due toeither the ductile failure of the beamor the brittle
failure of the column depending on the end restraint
provided for the beams which is a function of col-
umn over beamstiffness ratio (Beeby and Fathibitaraf,
2001).
In addition to the experimental studies, several
attempts have been made to formulate the behaviour of
RC beams and slabs under large deflections including
the second order effects which are typically neglected
in ordinary elastic-perfect plastic analysis. In terms of
the solution approach, the developed simplified meth-
ods for large deformation analysis can be classified
into equilibrium-based and energy-based approaches
(McDowell et al., 1956, Wood, 1961, Park, 1964,
Sawzuck, 1965, Morley, 1967, Massonet, 1968, Hung
and Nawy, 1971). The simplified models are usu-
ally based on either rigid-perfectly plastic or elastic-
perfectly plastic behaviour for concrete which cannot
properly capture the behaviour of concrete as a quasi-
brittle material (McDowell et al., 1956, Christiansen,
369
1963, Park, 1964, Sawzuck, 1965, Brotchie and
Holley, 1971, Hung and Nawy, 1971, Janas, 1973,
Eyre, 1997, Beeby and Fathibitaraf, 2001). Further-
more, the support stiffness cannot be properly for-
mulated within the formwork of simplified methods
and also, apart from few models (Morley, 1967), the
simplified methods are unable to predict the entire
load-deflection response of the reinforced concrete
members.
Recently, numerical simulation, particularly finite
element (FE) modelling, has received a considerable
attention for capturing the behaviour and ultimate
loading capacity of RC structures subject to large
deflection. However, only a few of available FE mod-
els have been successful in capturing arching action
due to numerical complexity associated with geomet-
rical nonlinearity and cracking and crushing of the
concrete (Izzuddin and Elghazouli, 2004, Sasani and
Kropelnicki, 2008, Valipour and Foster, 2010). In par-
ticular, the spurious mesh sensitivity associated with
concrete softening under compression is a major issue
in the context of continuum-based FE models and
should be elaborately addressed. Furthermore, the cur-
rently developed continuum-based FEmodels are time
consuming and may not suit the cases involving con-
siderable number of simulations such as parametric
studies. On the other hand, the 1Dframe FE modelling
provides the sufficient accuracy and efficiency for
such studies (Izzuddin and Elghazouli, 2004, Valipour
and Foster, 2010).
In this paper, 1D frame element model capable of
considering the geometrical as well as material non-
linearity is employed to capture the load-deflection
response as well as the ultimate loading capacity of RC
members developing arching action. The numerical
sensitivity of the results associated with the concrete
softening is maintained by applying a non-local inte-
gral model to the formulation. The formulation is
outlined and the developed model and the analyti-
cal tool are verified using the test results taken from
the literature. Then the effects of end support stiffness
and concrete compressive strength on development of
arching action and its enhancing effects are investi-
gated through a parametric study. The results obtained
from the numerical analysis are compared with the
ultimate load capacity predicted from a simple plastic
hinge analysis in order to demonstrate the enhancing
effect of the arching action on the loading capacity of
flexural members.
2 FORMULATION OF THE
GENERIC MODEL
The strain-displacement compatibility equation for
the generic beam is derived from Navier- Bernoulli
hypothesis and applying principle of virtual work for
a simply supported configuration shown in Figure 1
where q
and d(x) are the generalised nodal dis-

placement and section strain vectors, respectively and
b
T
[x, w(x)] is the interpolating function matrix.
The equilibrium equation for the generic model,
using the small slope assumption is as below
where

Q denotes the nodal force vector,

D(x) and
(x) are the section force vector and the section

force vector due to the element load respectively, while
b[x, w(x), (x)] is a force interpolation matrix (see
Figure 2).
Combining the equations (1) and (2) with respect
to the total secant approach and decomposition of the
total strain and total displacement vectors to their elas-
tic and plastic components and also, incorporating
the nodal springs and the rigid body motion into the
formulation yields
where Kis the stiffness matrixfor the simplysupported
configuration including the nodal spring, Q and q
respectively, denote the nodal force and displacement
vectors in the system with rigid body mode. q
p,
q
pr
and q
are respectively the nodal generalised plastic

deformation vector excluding nodal springs, the gen-
eralised plastic deformation vector for nodal springs
Figure 1. Generic compound element (without rigid body
modes).
Figure 2. Equilibrium in the simply supported configura-
tion and free body diagram of Ax, after deformation (system
without rigid body modes).
370
and the nodal generalised deformation vector due to
member load. T and T
are the transformation matri-

ces which relate the force and the displacement vectors
of the systems with and without rigid body motion,
respectively. The equation (3) can be solved using a
direct iterative scheme (Valipour, 2009, Valipour and
Foster, 2010).
The CEB-FIP model was employed as the con-
stitutive law for concrete in compression for the
hardening part of the stress-strain curve followed by
a linear softening branch down to zero stress while
a linear elastic brittle failure model was adopted for
the tensile concrete (Fig. 3a). A bilinear stress-strain
relationship with linear unloading is used for rein-
forcing steel (Fig. 3b). In regard to the softening
branch of the stress-strain relationship and poten-
tial for lack of objectivity over softening regime, a
non-local damage model is implemented in the for-
mulation. In the adopted nonlocal model, the concrete
damage parameter, , is calculated from the non-
local average strain, and is denoted by ( ). The
interaction radius is taken as R=0.9375 h (Bazant
et al., 1987) which is consistent with the plastic hinge
length (Paulay and Priestley, 1992), the region of steel
yieldingandconcrete crushingwhichis of the lengthof
0.5 h to 2 h.
Figure 3. Outline of the adopted stress-strain relationship
for (a) concrete (b) steel bars.
3 VERIFICATION OF THE MODEL
To verify the accuracy of the developed generic model,
14 slab strips tested byTaylor et al. (2001) are selected
and analysed (Fig. 4). All samples have the identi-
cal cross-section width and height of 475 mm and
150 mm, respectively. Both ends of all samples at the
top and the bottomwere gripped by steel plate in order
to restrain the rotation of the supports leading to iden-
tical net span of 1425 mm (see Fig. 4). The supports
were not fixed in the horizontal direction, however
restrained by springs with defined stiffness (k
r
). The
reinforcement ratio for both top and bottom reinforc-
ing bars () is the same; however, the arrangement of
the bars is not identical (Table 1).
The compressive strength ( f

c
) varies among the
samples. The steel reinforcing bars were identi-
cal within all samples with high yield strength of
500 N/mm
2
and 12 mm diameter (Table 2).
The samples were subjected to point load at mid-
span except for S
12
which was loaded by concentrated
loads at 1/3rd of the span. All samples were anal-
ysed using a displacement-control formulation which
employs a composite Simpsons integration scheme
with 11 to 17 integration points along the element
length and 15 to 21 integration points through the sec-
tion depth. The number of the elements in the model
Figure 4. Test load arrangement for the slab strips (Taylor
et al., 2001).
Table 1. Geometrical properties and characteristic of tested
samples (Taylor et al., 2001)
Sample Arrangement Cover
k
r
No. % mm KN/mm/m
S
1
0.68 Top & Bottom 46 197
S
2
0.68 Top & Bottom 46 197
S
3
0.68 Top & Bottom 46 197
S
4
0.68 Top & Bottom 46 197
S
5
0.68 Top & Bottom 46 197
S
6
0.68 Bottom 46 0
S
7
0.68 Bottom 46 0
S
8
0.68 Bottom 46 197
S
9
0.68 Top & Bottom 46 410
S
11
0.68 Centre 75 410
S
12
0.68 Top & Bottom 46 410
S
13
0.68 Fibres only 410
S
14
0.68 Top & Bottom 46 410
S
15
0.68 Top & Bottom 46 410
Measured from the centre of the reinforcing bars.
No reinforcing bar and is reinforced by fibres.

371
was determined by the number of the external loads
and the section properties. In other words, the loads
were applied on nodes and there is no variation of
the section property within the elements. The strain
corresponding to the concrete compressive strength
(
c0
) was considered between 0.0020.003 while
the concrete ultimate strain (
u
) was taken between
0.0030.006 depending on concrete compressive
strength. A comparison between the test results and
the numerical simulations reveals an excellent agree-
ment (Table 3). The mean of the ratio between
FEM simulations and corresponding experimental
results, Mean =1.04 and its coefficient of variation
is COV=0.084.
Table 2. Adopted material properties of the samples (Tay-
lor et al., 2001)
Sample f

c
f
1
t
E
2
c
f
3
y
f
4
u
E
5
s
No. MPa MPa GPa MPa MPa GPa
S
1
25 1.6 25.0 500 600 200
S
2
33 1.9 28.6 500 600 200
S
3
52 2.4 35.9 500 600 200
S
4
66 2.7 40.5 500 600 200
S
5
81 3.0 45.0 500 600 200
S
6
28 1.7 26.4 500 600 200
S
7
73 2.8 42.7 500 600 200
S
8
80 3.0 44.7 500 600 200
S
9
71 2.8 42.3 500 600 200
S
11
77 2.9 44.0 500 600 200
S
12
81 3.0 44.9 500 600 200
S
13
84 3.0 45.8 500 600 200
S
14
32 1.9 28.1 500 600 200
S
15
49 2.3 34.9 500 600 200
1 The concrete tensile strength.
2 Secant modulus of elasticity of concrete.
3 Yield strength of reinforcing bars.
4 Ultimate strength of reinforcing bars.
5 Modulus of elasticity for reinforcing bars.
Table 3. Results for the tested and calculated ultimate
loading capacity of the samples (Taylor et al., 2001)
Sample P
Test
P
FEM
P
FEM
/P
Test
No. KN KN
S
1
135 142 1.06
S
2
145 159 1.09
S
3
175 190 1.08
S
4
187 206 1.10
S
5
192 228 1.19
S
6
46 46 1.00
S
7
50 50 1.00
S
8
183 180 0.98
S
9
252 241 0.96
S
11
223 267 1.20
S
12
500 499 1.00
S
13
225 233 1.03
S
14
195 172 0.88
S
15
211 207 0.98
4 PARAMETRIC STUDY
To demonstrate the effects of different parameters
on the arching action, a set of simulations was per-
formed on a reinforced concrete beam using the
developed 1D frame element model. The beam has
a rectangular cross section with equal width and
height of 450 mm (b =h =450 mm). The considered
beam length was taken L =4.5 m, which leads to the
span-to-depth ratio of L/h =10. The reinforcing steel
ratio was considered as one percent of the effective
area of the cross section ( =1%). The parameters
investigated in the study were both translational and
rotational (k
r
and k
) relative stiffness of the sup-

ports, and the average compressive strength of the
concrete.
The relative translational support stiffness (i.e.; the
ratio of the support stiffness, k
r
, to the beam axial
stiffness, k
s
) was selected from a very small mag-
nitude of 10
5
representing no lateral restraint to a
very large magnitude of 10
3
showing almost a fully-
fixed support. The rotational stiffness was investigated
within two different scenarios of the fully free rotation
(k
=0) and the fully fixed rotation (k
=). Four
different concrete grades corresponding with average
compressive strength of 32, 40, 50 and 60 MPa was
investigated in order to cover almost the whole range
of normal strength concrete.
The results of the simulations show that the ulti-
mate loading capacity of the beam enhances consid-
erably by taking the effect of the arching action into
account (Fig. 5). The loading capacity corresponding
to k
r
/k
s
=10
5
shows that literally no arching action
develops and the simple plastic hinge analysis can ade-
quately capture the loading capacity of the members
without k
r
/k
s
ratios less than 10
5
(see Fig. 5).
Also, for a fixed value of the compressive strength,
the arching action increases as the support stiff-
ness, k
r
/k
s
, goes up (see Fig. 5). The relationship
between loading capacity of the sample and compres-
sive strength of concrete for various k
r
/k
s
rations is
shown in Fig. 6. From Fig. 6 it is concluded that
Figure 5. Ultimate load capacity versus the support trans-
lational stiffness ratio.
372
Figure 6. Ultimate load capacity versus the compressive
strength of the concrete.
the enhancing effect of arching action has a linear
relationship with average compressive strength of con-
crete (see Fig. 6). Further, it is also observed that
the ultimate loading capacity does not change notice-
ably out of the range of 0.0110 for the translational
relative support stiffness.
5 CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSIONS
The formulation of a generic compound model based
on 1D frame element was developed and verified by
different experimental results. The results obtained
from the generic model shows good correlation with
the experimental results and more demanding FE
models, however, the 1D generic model is much less
time demanding in comparison to continuum-based
FE models.
From the parametric studies, it was concluded that
ignoring the effect of the arching action can signifi-
cantly underestimate the ultimate load capacity of the
reinforced concrete members with end translational
restraint.
From the numerical analysis results, it was observ-
able that the support stiffness plays a significant role
in development of the arching action. Increasing the
support stiffness can dramatically increase the ulti-
mate loading capacity and stiffness of the flexural RC
members due to the arching action effect. However,
it should be noted that the support translational stiff-
ness can affect the arching action when k
r
/k
s
is within
0.0110 range and the relative stiffness ratios out of
this range do not either affect the ultimate load capac-
ity due to arching action or can be treated as if the
support is rigid.
In addition, it was observed that the compressive
strength of the concrete is also effective on the arch-
ing action development. Increasing the compressive
strength leads to the increase in the arching action
and this increase is more evident for higher support
stiffness ratios.
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elements and structures following loss of load bearing ele-
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in Slabs, Cracking, Deflection, and Ultimate Load
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374
FEM modellingandanalysisof reinforcedconcretesection
withlightweight blocksinfill
AdeSri Wahyuni, VanissornVimonsatit & HamidNikraz
Department of Civil Engineering, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia
ABSTRACT: Inanattempt toreducetheself weight of reinforcedconcretestructures, anewdevelopment of
lightweight sandwichreinforcedconcrete(LSRC) sectionhas beenproposedas analternativeoptionto solid
section. LSRC sectionisareinforcedconcretesectionwhichcontainslightweight blocksasinfill material. An
experimental investigationintothestrengthof LSRCbeamshasshownpromisingresultsunder flexural tests.To
ensuretheserviceabilityof LSRCmembersunder serviceload, itisnecessarytoaccuratelypredictthecracking
anddeflectionof thissection.Thispaperwill focusonanalysingthebehaviourof thetestedbeamspecimensafter
crackingoccurs. ANSYS 12.1was employedto study thecrack propagationof LSRC beams under bending.
Thenumerical model shows thecrack in theareaof AAC blocks which associates with thebrittlefailureof
LSRC beams. Thecrack propagationof thebeams analysedbyANSYS agrees well withtheresults fromthe
experimental investigation.
Keywords: lightweight concrete; reinforcedconcrete; compositesection; sandwichsection; ANSYS
1 INTRODUCTION
A newly developed lightweight reinforced concrete
(LSRC) sectionhasbeenexperimentally investigated
(Vimonsatit et al. 2010). The section is made up of
a reinforced concrete with lightweight block infill.
LSRC section can beused either as beams or slabs.
Figure1showstheconstructionof LSRC beams. The
developedLSRC membersaresuitablefor largespan
constructionduetotheweightsavingbenefitsandease
of construction. This paper focuses on analysing the
behaviourof thetestedbeamspecimensaftercracking
occurs.
Finite element method (FEM) is a powerful tool
commonly used for analysing a broad range of
engineeringproblemsindifferentenvironments. FEM
Figure1. Constructionof LSRC beams.
is employedextensively intheanalysis of solids and
structures and of heat transfer and fluids. A nonlin-
ear FEM computer programANSYShasbeenwidely
usedforacademicresearchaswell forsolvingpractical
problems.
Buyukkaragoz(2010) usedANSYStostudyonthe
subject of strengtheningtheweaker part of thebeam
by bonding it with prefabricated reinforced concrete
plate. Single load was applied in the middle of the
beam. solid65andlink8wereemployedtomodel the
reinforcedconcretewithdiscretereinforcement, while
solid46wasusedformodelingtheepoxywhichisused
tobondtheprefabricatedplatetothebeam. Theresult
fromexperiment inthelaboratory is quitesimilar to
thefiniteelement finding.
BarbosaandRiberio(1998) usedANSYS tocom-
pare the nonlinear modeling of reinforced concrete
members with discrete and smeared reinforcement.
Twodifferentmodelingweremadeforthesamebeam.
Concretewasdefinedwithsolid65. Inthefirstmodel,
link8bar wasusedasdiscretereinforcement element.
In the second model, steel reinforcement was mod-
eledassmearedconcreteelement, definedaccording
to the volumetric proportions of steel and concrete.
Eachmodel wasanalyzedfourtimesaccordingtofour
differentmaterial models. Basedontheir analysis, the
resultsof theload-displacementcurveswereverysim-
ilar for bothdiscreteandsmearedreinforcement. The
differences exhibitedat theloadgreater thantheser-
viceloadwhentheeffectsof material modelingledto
375
thedifferenceinthenonlinear behavior andultimate
loadcapacity.
Ibrahim and Mubarak (2009) used ANSYS to
predict the ultimate load and maximum deflection
at mid-span of continuous concrete beams, which
werepre-stressedusingexternal tendons. Thismodel
accountsfor theinfluenceof thesecond-order effects
in externally pre-stressed members. The results pre-
dicted by the model were in good agreement with
experimental data.
PadmarajaiahandRamaswamy(2001) investigated
the prestressed concrete with fiber reinforcement.
They used COMBIN14 (spring) elements to model
theinterfacebehavior betweentheconcreteandrein-
forcement.Theyfoundthatthecrackpatternpredicted
byANSYSisincloseagreement withtheexperimen-
tal results. Dahmani et al (2010), foundthat discrete
reinforcement approach give better results than the
smearedone. Kachlakev et al., (2001) studiedbeams
externally strengthened with reinforced plastic car-
bonfiber (CFRC) withno stirrups beingusedinthe
experiment.
In the present study, ANSYS version 12.1 is
employedfor thenumerically modelingof theLSRC
beam because of its proven useful 3-D reinforced
concrete element provided in the element library.
In the following sections, beamdetails used in the
experiment will bebriefly described, followedby the
descriptionof thedevelopedfiniteelement modeling
of concreteandsteel reinforcement. Thecrack devel-
opment of beams will bepresented to comparewith
theexperimental results.
The concrete was modeled with solid65, which has
eight nodes with three degrees of freedomat each
node, i.e., translation in the nodal x, y, and z direc-
tions. Theelement is capableof plastic deformation,
crackinginthreeorthogonal directions, andcrushing.
A link8element was usedto model thesteel rein-
forcement. This element is also capable of plastic
deformation. Two nodes are required for this ele-
ment which has three degree of freedom, as in the
case of the concrete element. Discrete method was
appliedinthemodellingof thereinforcementandstir-
rups used in the tested specimen. The two elements
wereconnectingat theadjacent nodesof theconcrete
solidelement, suchthat thetwo materials sharedthe
samenodes. Bytakingadvantageof thesymmetryof
thebeamlayout, only half of thebeamin longitudi-
nal directionhas beenmodeledinthefiniteelement
analysis.
2.1 Concrete
For concrete, ANSYS requires an input data for
material properties, which areElastic modulus (E
c
),
ultimateuniaxial compressivestrength (f

c
), ultimate
uniaxial tensile strength (modulus of rupture, f
r
),
Poissonsratio(), shear transfer coefficient (
t
). The
modulus of elasticity of concrete was 32000 MPa
whichwasdeterminedinaccordancewithAS1012.17
(1997). Poissonsratiofor concretewasassumedtobe
0.2for all thebeams.
The shear transfer coefficient,
t
, represents the
conditions of thecrack face. Thevalueof
t
, ranges
from0to1with0representingasmoothcrack(com-
pletelossof shear transfer) and1representingarough
crack (i.e., no loss of shear transfer) as described in
ANSYS. Thevalueof
t
specifiedinthisstudyis0.4.
Thenumerical expressions by Desayi andKrisnan
(1964), Eqs. (1) and(2), wereusedalongwithEq. (3)
(GereandTimoshenko 1997) to construct themulti-
linear isotropicstress-straincurvefor concreteinthis
study.
where:
f =stressat anystrain
=strainat stressf
o
=strainat theultimatecompressivestrengthf

c
Theconcreteusedwas grade40, havingthecom-
pressivestrengthof 43.3MPaat28days. Thestrength
valueof AAC blocksusedinthemodel was3.5MPa.
The compressive stress at 0.3 of the compressive
strengthwasusedasthefirst point of themulti-linear
stress-straincurve.
Thecrushingcapabilityof theconcretewasturned
off to avoid any premature failure (Barbosa and
Riberio1998).
2.2 Steel reinforcement
All beamswereprovidedwithtopandbottomlongitu-
dinal bars, N20barswereusedasthebottomsteel in
all beams withtensilestrengthat yieldwas 560MPa
whiletheyieldstrengthof R-barswhichwasusedas
thetopbar andthestirrupwas300MPa.
Thesteel forthefiniteelementmodelswasassumed
tobeanelastic-perfectlyplasticmaterial andidentical
intensionandcompression. Poissonratio of 0.3was
usedfor thesteel. Elasticmodulus, E
s
=200,000MPa
3 LOADDEFLECTIONRELATION
OF BEAMSFAIL INFLEXURE
TheloaddeflectioncharacteristicsfromtheFiniteEle-
ment Analysis (SB1F, LB1F, LB2F) are plotted to
comparewiththeflexural test resultsinFigure2. All
376
Figure2. Load-deflectionrelationof beams.
results show similar trend of the linear and nonlin-
ear behaviour of the beam. In the linear range, the
load-deflectionrelationfromthefiniteelementanaly-
sisagreeswell withtheexperimental results.After the
first cracking, thefiniteelement still followthesame
stiffnessasintheexperimental one. However after the
secondcrackingoccursinthefiniteelement analysis
the loss of stiffness can be clearly seen until it fail
at sameloadastheexperimental one. Basedonthese
results, theconcretereplacement by AAC blocks, as
testedonLB1FandLB2F,hasvirtuallynoeffectonthe
flexural strengthof thesection, whichisasexpected.
4 CRACK PROPAGATIONOF SOLID
ANDLSRC BEAMS
Duringtheexperiment, Thespecimens was carefully
observed for crack and its propagation. Figures 3,
4, and 5 show the crack pattern obtained at failure
for beams SB1F, LB1F andLB2F. Theexperimental
results arecomparedwiththecrack patternobtained
Figure3. CrackpropagationSB1F.
fromANSYS. Inthisfigure, small dashlinesindicates
thecracklocationat thecertainloadlevel
4.1 Control beam (SB1F)
In the control beam which failed in flexure, the
crack startedtooccur underneaththeloadingpoint at
32.9kNloadlevel.Thisflexural crackexpandedasthe
loadlevel increased. Figure3showsthecrack propa-
gationuntil loadlevel 89.9kN. However, thecrushing
capability of ANSYS was turned off, so the crush-
ingrelatedcrack at thetopof thebeamcouldnot be
observed.
4.2 Beam with maximum amount of AAC blocks
(LB1F)
The crack pattern of the beam contains maximum
amount of AAC blocks is illustrated in Figure 4.
BeamLB1F has eight AAC blocks placedwithinthe
beamwhich was the maximumpossible amount of
blocks based on the gap size between each blocks
to ensure smooth concrete flow without any restric-
tion during pouring. The flexural cracks started to
377
Figure4. Crackpropagationof LB1F.
occur at 32.2kN. Figure 2 shows the crack pattern
up to 76.8kN load level. It is clear that theANSYS
model for LB1F shows more cracks compared to
theSB1S. Thecrack of AAC blocks is noticeablein
this model which related to the brittle failure in the
actual beam.
4.3 Beam with half amount of AAC blocks (LB2F)
Thisbeamcontainshalf amount of AAC blockscom-
paredtoLBF1. Inthiscase, theflexural crack started
to appear at the load level of 32.9kN. The increas-
ing load caused the crack propagation in the beam.
Figure5 shows thecrack pattern of this beamup to
78.6kN.
The first flexural crack occurs on the solid and
theLSRC beams werealmost at thesameloadlevel
Figure5. Crackpropagationof LB2F.
(32kN). This finding is just as expected. Beforethe
first crack, theLSRC beams behavethesameas the
solidone. Thecrackpatternsof thesethreebeamsare
almostsimilar. Theonlydifferentis, theLSRCbeams
have more cracks compared to the equivalent solid
beamduetothecrack whichalsoappear intheAAC
blocks. The noticeable cracks of theAAC blocks in
ANSYS model correlatedto thebrittlefailureinthe
LSRCbeams. Thecrushingrelatedcrackat thetopof
thebeamcouldnot beobservedbecausethecrushing
capabilityof ANSYSwasturnedoff.
5 CONCLUSION
Theexperimental resultsof theflexural andsheartests
of solid beams and the developed numerical model
of LSRC beams arepresented. Crack propagationof
378
thebeams areclosely monitoredandtheexperimen-
tal results are compared with the results fromFEM
analysis.
Based on the results, the crack propagation from
ANSYS model compares well with the results from
the experiment. ANSYS could predict the similar
behaviour of crack propagation in each beamspeci-
men. Thecrack inAAC block correlatedtothebrittle
failure of the sandwich beams. The benefit of this
investigation is that the developed FEM model can
beusedtoanalysesimilar beamsections withdiffer-
entstructural configurationsandloadingparametersto
gainmoreinsightsof thebehaviourof LSRCmembers.
REFERENCES
ANSYSTheory Reference, version12.1, SwansonAnalysis
System, availableat CurtinUniversity, 2010.
Bangash,M.Y.H.,Concrete and Concrete Structures: Numer-
ical Modeling andApplications, ElsevierSciencePublish-
ersLtd, London, 1989.
Barbosa, A.F., Ribeiro ,G.O., Analysis of Reinforced Con-
crete Structures Using ANSYS Nonlinear Concrete
Model, Computational Mechanics, pp. 17, 1998.
Bykkaragz, A., Finite Element Analysis of the Beam
Strengthened with Prefabricated Reinforced Concrete
Plate,Scientific Research and Essay,5(6),533544,2010.
Dahmani, L., Khennane, A., Kaci, S., Crack Identification
inReinforcedConcreteBeams UsingANSYS Software,
Strength of Material, 42( 2), 2010.
Desayi, P and Krishnan, S., Equation for the Stress-Strain
Curveof Concrete, Journal of American Concrete Insti-
tute, 61, 345350, 1964.
Gere, J.M. andTimoshenko, S.P., Mechanics of Materials,
PWSPublishingCompany, BostonMassachusetts, 1997
Ibrahim, AM., Mubarak, HM., Finite Element Modeling
of Continuous ReinforcedConcreteBeamwithExternal
Pre-stressed, European Journal of Scientific Research,
30(1), 177186, 2009.
Kachlakef, D., Miller, T, Yim, S., Chansawat, K., and
Potisuk, T., FE Modelingof ReinforcedConcreteStruc-
tures Strengthened with FRP Laminates, Final Report
SPR 316. OregonStateUniversity, 2001.
Padmarajaiah, S.K., Ramaswamy, A., A Finite Element
Assessment of Flexural Strengthof PrestressedConcrete
Beamwith Fiber Reinforcement, Cement and Concrete
Composites, 24, 229241, May2001.
Vimonsatit, V., Wahyuni, A.S., Mazlan, M.A., and Nikraz,
H., Useof Lightweight Concreteas Infill of Reinforced
ConcreteSections, Proceedings, ACMSM 21, December
710, 2010.
379
Effective stiffness of reinforced concrete section with
lightweight blocks infill
Ade Sri Wahyuni, Vanissorn Vimonsatit & Hamid Nikraz
Department of Civil Engineering, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia
ABSTRACT: An experimental program has been conducted to explore the potential use of the developed
Lightweight Sandwich Reinforced Concrete LSRC section as beam members. The AutoclavedAerated Concrete
(AAC) is used as infill in the LSRCsection. Based on the tested beams, the flexural and shear strengths of LSRC
beams are found to be comparable with the strengths of the solid beams having identical height. ANSYS 12.1
was employed to develop nonlinear finite element models of LSRC beams. The beams modelled with ANSYS
followed the same trend as the actual beam in the elastic range, however after the first cracking the loss of
stiffness inANSYS model caused greater deflection compared to the actual beam. It is obvious that after the first
crack the stiffness of sandwich section decrease because the lower elastic modulus of the combined materials.
Another investigation is made to compare the behaviour of an LSRC beam with a hollow beam subjected to
flexure failure. It is found that the stiffness decreases along with the decrease of the cross section of concrete.
The results of the deflections predicted by ANSYS are comparable with the deflection based on the stiffness
equation provided by Australian design code.
Keywords: lightweight concrete, stiffness, composite section, sandwich section, ANSYS
1 INTRODUCTION
Sandwich construction is used in applications where
weight is critical. With fillers, the moment of inertia
of a sandwich panel increases resulting in a high ratio
of bending stiffness to weight. The bending stiffness
of a sandwich beam depends on its flexural rigid-
ity and shear rigidity (Gibson 1984). Wittrict (1945)
and Ackers (1945) believed that there was an opti-
mum core density which minimized the weight for a
givenstrengthof beam. ResearchbyGibsonandAshby
(1982) shows that elastic moduli are linearly related to
density when the cell walls deform axially, and they
are related to density squared or cubed when the cell
walls bended. Furthermore, the stiffness and displace-
ment of reinforced concrete structures are influenced
bythe crackinitiationandpropagationof the structures
(Kara and Dundar, 2009).
This paper focuses on developing nonlinear finite
element model of LSRC beams with ANSYS to deter-
mine the loss of stiffness with the decrease of the cross
section of the concrete.
2 LSRC SECTION
The LSRC section is made up of reinforced concrete
filled with prefabricated AAC blocks in the region
where the concrete is considered ineffective under
bending. The LSRCmembers have weight saving ben-
efits and are easy to construct due to the lighter weight.
The construction method of LSRCmembers can either
fully precast, semi precast or cast in situ.
An experimental program has been conducted to
explore the feasibility of using LSRC as a beam mem-
ber. Three beams were prepared to investigate the
flexural of the LSRCi.e solid beam(SB1F), beamwith
eight AAC blocks infill (LB1F) and beam with four
AACblocks infill (LB2F). Based on the test result, the
flexural capacity was found to be almost identical to
the capacity of the equivalent solid beam (Vimonsatit
et al. 2012). Furthermore, four slabs were constructed,
one solid and three LSRC slabs. LSRC beams and
slabs during construction are as shown in Figures 1
Figure 1. Construction of LSRC beams.
381
Figure 2. Construction of LSRC slabs.
and 2, respectively. The results show that LSRC slabs
exhibit similar behavior to the equivalent solid slab
(Wahyuni et al. 2012).
The concrete was modeled with solid65, which has
eight nodes with three degrees of freedom at each
node, i.e., translation in the nodal x, y, and z direc-
tions. The element is capable of plastic deformation,
cracking in three orthogonal directions, and crushing.
A link8 element was used to model the steel rein-
forcement. This element is also capable of plastic
deformation. Two nodes are required for this element
which has three degree of freedom, as in the case of the
concrete element. Discrete method was applied in the
modelling of the reinforcement and stirrups used in
the tested specimen. The two elements were connect-
ing at the adjacent nodes of the concrete solid element,
such that the two materials shared the same nodes. By
taking advantage of the symmetry of the beam layout,
only half of the beamin longitudinal direction has been
modeled in the finite element analysis.
3.1 Concrete
For concrete, ANSYS requires an input data for
material properties, which are Elastic modulus (E
c
),
ultimate uniaxial compressive strength (f

c
), ultimate
uniaxial tensile strength (modulus of rupture, f
r
),
Poissons ratio (), shear transfer coefficient (
t
).
The modulus of elasticity of concrete was 32000 MPa
which was determined in accordance withAS 1012.17
(1997). Poissons ratio for concrete was assumed to be
0.2 for all the beams.
The shear transfer coefficient,
t
, represents the
conditions of the crack face. The value of
t
, ranges
from 0 to 1 with 0 representing a smooth crack (com-
plete loss of shear transfer) and 1 representing a rough
crack (i.e., no loss of shear transfer) as described in
ANSYS. The value of
t
specified in this study is 0.4.
The numerical expressions by Desayi and Krisnan
(1964), Eqs. (1) and (2), were used along with Eq. (3)
(Gere and Timoshenko 1997) to construct the multi-
linear isotropic stress-strain curve for concrete in this
study.
where:
f =stress at any strain
=strain at stress f
o
=strain at the ultimate compressive strength f

c
The concrete used was grade 40, having the com-
pressive strength of 43.3 MPa at 28 days. The strength
value of AAC blocks used in the model was 3.5 MPa.
The compressive stress at 0.3 of the compressive
strength was used as the first point of the multi-linear
stress-strain curve.
The crushing capability of the concrete was turned
off to avoid any premature failure (Barbosa and
Riberio 1998).
3.2 Steel reinforcement
All beams were provided with top and bottom longitu-
dinal bars, N20 bars were used as the bottom steel in
all beams with tensile strength at yield was 560 MPa
while the yield strength of R-bars which was used as
the top bar and the stirrup was 300 MPa. The steel
for the finite element models was assumed to be an
elastic-perfectly plastic material and identical in ten-
sion and compression. Poisson ratio of 0.3 was used
for the steel. Elastic modulus, E
s
=200,000 MPa.
4 THE STIFFNESS COMPARISON BETWEEN
SOLIDAND SANDWICH SECTION
It is obvious that after the first crack the stiffness of
sandwich section decrease because the lower EI of the
combine materials. An attempt was made to compare
between the sandwich sections with the hollowone, for
beam failed in flexure by modeling it with ANSYS. It
can be clearly seen that the stiffness decrease along
with the decrease of the cross section of concrete. The
graph for LSRC beam lay between the solid beam and
the hollow one. The lower modulus of elasticity of
AAC blocks influences the stiffness of the section.
5 CORRELATION OF LOAD-DEFORMATION
BEHAVIOUR WITH CODE PREDICTIONS
The four point test was adapted in this study. Figure 4
shows the span and load point arrangement of the
tested beams.
In order to predict the load-deformation behavior
for beam, the following deflection at midspan equation
was used:
382
Figure 3. Load versus deflection showing the stiffness of
beams.
Figure 4. Four-point test arrangement.
where
=Deflection at midspan (mm)
P =Load applied (N).
E
c
=Modulus of elasticity of concrete (MPa).
I
ef
=Effective second moment of area (mm
4
).
=Distance between the two supports (mm).
a =Distance between the load to the nearest support
(mm)
w=Uniformly distribution load.
From the code, the formula to determine I
ef
is given
as follows in clause 8.5.3.1:
where:
I
cr
=second moment of area of cracked reinforced
section
I =second moment of area of the cross-section
M
cr
=bendingmoment causingcrackingof the section
M
=the design bending moment

The second moment of area of cracked reinforced
section can be determined using the formula derived
from analysis by transformed section. The formula is
as follows:
where:
A
sc
=the cross-sectional area of compressive rein-
forcement.
Table 1. Calculated EI Values based on Test Results.
P
cr
P
u
EI
ef

actual
Beam (kN) (kN) (Nmm
2
) (mm) (mm)
SB1F 20.545 76.848 5.34E+12 15.410 15.449
LB1F 23.321 79.436 5.11E+12 16.900 17.603
d
sc
=the distance fromthe extreme compressive fibre
of the concrete to the centroid of the compres-
sive reinforcement.
d
st
=d
o
The moment in the midspan can be calculated by
The effective second moment of area (I
ef
) of a
reinforced concrete beam section after cracking has
occurred lies in the range of:
The sectional stiffness varies according to the follow-
ing condition:
If M <M
cr
, the stiffness is E
c
I
g
If M M
cr
, the stiffness is E
c
I
ef
Table 1 shows the EI
ef
values for the tested beams.
Equation (5) was used to determine the I
ef
. The M and
M
cr
are derived from equation (7) by referring to the
P
u
and P
cr
of the beam from the experimental investi-
gation. For solid beam, w (uniformly distributed load)
was calculated by multiplied the area of beam cross
section with density of concrete (2400 kg/m
3
). For
LSRC beam, the AAC cross section was multiplied by
theAACdensity (550 kgm
3
) and adds with the remain-
ing concrete multiplied by its density. The deflection
can be determined after knowing the value of EI
ef
.
Once the crack occurs in concrete, the EI
ef
in the
sandwich section will be influenced by the modu-
lus of elasticity of both concrete and AAC blocks.
In this study it is calculated based on the percentage
of concrete and AAC blocks volume available in the
sandwich section.
The difference of EI
ef
of the solid beam to LSRC
beams is about 4.5%. This hand calculation agrees
well with the experimental results.
Based on the assumption used to calculate the
stiffness, as described above, the predicted deflection
of LSRC beam is lower than the actual deflection
obtained from the test results. Further investigations
are required to investigate the effect of AAC blocks on
the stiffness of concrete section when used as infill
in the section. In the present work, the difference
between the predicted and the test results is small so
the assumption used is considered acceptable.
383
6 CONCLUSION
The calculation of the effective stiffness of LSRC sec-
tion is made fromthe load-deflection relationship from
the experimental results. The calculated stiffness is
then used to recompute the beam deflection which
compares well with the test results. Based on this study
the following conclusions are drawn:
1. The stiffness of the beams decrease along with
the decrease of the cross section of concrete due
to lightweight blocks infill. The difference of the
effective stiffness between the tested solid beam
and LSRC beam is below 5%.
2. The results of the deflections from the experimen-
tal investigation are comparable with the deflection
prediction based on stiffness equations provided by
Australian design code.
3. For a more conservative prediction of the deflec-
tion of LSRC beams, more works are required to
further modify the stiffness equation of a reinforced
concrete beams with AAC blocks infill.
REFERENCES
Ackers, P, 1945. The Efficiency of Sandwich Strut Utilizing
a Calcium Alginate Core. R&M 2015, UK Aeronautical
Research Council, Farnborough, Hants.
AS3600 Committee BD-002, 2009. Concrete Structures,
Standards Australia.
ANSYS Theory Reference, version 12.1, Swanson Analysis
System, available at Curtin University, 2010.
Barbosa, A.F., Ribeiro, G.O, 1998. Analysis of Reinforced
Concrete Structures Using ANSYS Nonlinear Concrete
Model, Computational Mechanics, pp.17,
Desayi, P and Krishnan, S, 1964. Equation for the Stress-
Strain Curve of Concrete, Journal of American Concrete
Institute, 61, 345350.
Gere, J.M. and Timoshenko, S.P. 1997. Mechanics of Mate-
rials, PWS Publishing Company, Boston Massachusetts.
Gibson L.J and Ashby, M.F, 1982. The Mechanics of Three-
Dimensional Cellular Materials. Proc. R. Soc. London,
Ser. A, 382, 4359
Gibson, L.J, 1984. Optimisation of Stiffness in Sandwich
beams with Rigid Foam Cores. Material Science and
Engineering, 67, 125135
Kara, Ilker Fatih and Dundar, Cengiz, 2009. Effect of Loading
Types and Reinforcement Ratio on an Effective Moment
of Inertia and Deflection of a Reinforced Concrete Beam.
Advances in Engineering Software (40) 836846.
Vimonsatit, V., Wahyuni, A.S., Nikraz, H 2012. The
Behaviour Of Lightweight Sandwich Reinforced Con-
crete Beams, Scientific Research and Essays (accepted
for publication)
Wahyuni, A.S., Vimonsatit, V, Nikraz, H 2012. Shear
Behaviour of Lightweight Sandwich Reinforced Concrete
Slabs, Advances in Structural Engineering (accepted for
publication)
Wittrick, W.H, 1945. A Theoretical Analysis of the Effi-
ciency of Sandwich Construction Under Compressive End
Load, R&M 2016, UK Aeronautical Research Council,
Farnborough, Hants.
384
Dynamic analysis of structures
Assessment of keyresponsequantitiesfor designof acable-stayedbridge
subjectedtosuddenlossof cable(s)
Y. Aoki, B. Samali, A. Saleh& H. Valipour
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Staysof cable-stayedbridgeshavepotential tolosetheir support instantlybyextremeloadings
such as earthquake, thunder strike, vehicle impact, wind and malicious attacks. The sudden loss of cable(s)
provides unpredictable stress redistribution on the deck and towers, as well as the large deflections of the
entirebridge. Thisphenomenonisthecauseof oneof themost critical situationsfor thecable-stayedbridges,
termedzipper-typecollapse (i.e. themechanismof theprogressivecollapsebytheredistributionof stresses).
Consideringsuchasuddenlossof cableinthedesignof acable-stayedbridgeisessential. Althoughcableloss
scenarios areassociatedwithmaterial as well as geometrical nonlinearities, indesignof cable-stayedbridges,
suchanextremeloadingscenarioisanalysedtypicallybyusinglinearelasticmodels. Inthispaper, alinearelastic
2D andafully nonlinear 3D finiteelement model of anidealisedsteel cable-stayedbridgearedevelopedand
analysedtodeterminetheeffect of suddenlossof cableontheprogressivecollapseof thebridgeat global and
local stresslevels. A parametricdynamicanalysisfor thebridgemodel withdifferentcablelossscenariosunder
symmetrical or unsymmetrical loadcasesisinvestigated. Thebridgemodel studiedinthispaper showedthatthe
2D model canadequately captureglobal behaviour of thebridge. The3D model showedthemost significant
stressconcentrationoccurringunder thesymmetrical casearelimitedtosmall areasandarenegligible.
1 INTRODUCTION
Stays of cable-stayed bridges are critical structural
elements whicharesubjectedto corrosion, abrasion,
wind, vehicleimpact andmaliciousactionsandthese
extremescenariosmayleadtoseveredamageandloss
of cable(s) (Walther 1999, kesson2008). Suchcable
loss scenarios wouldleadtohighimpulsivedynamic
loads in the structure that can potentially trigger a
zipper-typeprogressivecollapseof theentirebridge
(Starossek 2011). Accordingly, cable-stayed bridges
shouldbedesignedfor potential cableloss scenarios
asrecommendedbythePTI guidelines(2007).
Although cableloss analysis is normally doneby
a 2D model, due to bridge complexity, a 2D model
hassomelimitations, i.e. it canonly treat thebridges
as symmetrical about the axis of the bridge and
accordingly symmetrical cable loss which may not
berealistic. Inaddition, it cannot address stress con-
centrationat thecritical element (Zoli andWoodward
2005,Aoki etal. 2011).Therefore, someanalyseshave
beendoneusinga3Dmodel, includingfactorswhich
arenot possibletobeanalysedby2Dmodels.
Inthispaper,ahypothetical cablestayedbridgewith
asteel boxdeckisanalysedanddesignedaccordingto
Australian Standards AS5100 (2004a) requirements.
UsingANSYS package(2009), 2D and3D FE mod-
els of the bridge are developed and analysed under
gravityloadsandsubjecttodifferentcablelossscenar-
ios. UsingthedevelopedFE models, acomprehensive
parametricstudyiscarriedoutandtheeffectsof loca-
tion, numberandpatternof lostcablesonthepotential
collapseresponseof thebridgearestudied. Further-
more, the accuracy and performance of the 2D FE
modelsisverifiedthroughacomparativestudyof 2D
and fully nonlinear 3D FE models and the signifi-
cance of material and geometrical nonlinearities on
thepotential collapseresponseof theconsideredcable
stayedbridgeisinvestigatedaswell.
2 DESCRIPTIONOF MATERIALS,
GEOMETRY ANDLOADS
2.1 Geometry and material properties
of the bridge
Thedimensionsof thebridge,geometryof sectionsand
theconfigurationof cablesforthebridgeconsideredin
thispaper areshowninFigure1. Thisidealisedcable-
stayedbridgemodel hasatotal lengthof 1070mwith
a600mmid-spansupportedby atotal of 120cables
andtwoA-shapedtowers(seeFigure1b). Thebridge
hasamulti-cell steel girder whichis25.6mwidewith
eight traffic lanes (Figure1c). All cables, except the
first and thelast four back stays (i.e. cables no. 14
and 5760), areregularly spaced (20mapart) along
thedeck(Figure1a). Regardingthebackstaysno. 14
and 5760 (see Figure 1c), a 5mand 10mspacing
alongthedeckwerechosen,asshowninFigure1c.The
387
Figure1. Bridgeelevationandprincipal dimensions.
Table1. Material andgeometrical properties.
E A I
y
(GPa) (m
2
) (m
4
) (MPa)
Girder 200 1.64 1.28 450
Tower 200 4.75 45.7 450
Cable 15, 2635, 200 0.033 N/A 1,860
No. 5660
610,2125, 200 0.018 N/A 1,860
3640, 5155
1120, 4150 200 0.017 N/A 1,860
modulusof elasticity,E,andtheyieldstressof steel,
y
,
aswell asthegeometrical propertiesincludingsecond
moment of area, I , and cross sectional area , A, are
giveninTable1. Thematerial isassumedtobelinear
elastic for 2D model, while the 3D model has been
assignedamaterial non-linear curveof thesteel grade
C 450inAS4100(1998).
2.2 Modelling and analysis
For both static and dynamic analyses, effect of
large displacements and geometrical nonlinearities
are taken into account in both 2D and 3D FE mod-
els. Further, inthedynamic analysis, asinglecritical
dampingratioof =0.5%isadopted, whichiswithin
theacceptablerangefor steel structures (Cloughand
Penzien 1993). In the 3D FE model, deck and tow-
ers are modelled by shell elements, whereas the 2D
FE models aredeveloped using beamelements. The
cablesaremodelledbylink-elementswhicharetreated
astensiononlymemberswithlimitedtensilecapacity.
Table2. Weight of eachbridgecomponent.
3D(MN) 2D(MN) Difference
Deck 135.5 138.6 2%
Tower 122.2 118.6 3%
Cables 20.0 20.3 1%
Total 277.8 277.6 0%
Figure2. Vertical deflectionfor 2Dand3Dmodels.
2.3 Design loads
The design loads applied to this bridge were self-
weight (dead load) plus livetraffic load (S1600 sta-
tionarytrafficload) accordingtoAS5100.2(2004b).
Post-tensioning forces in the cables were adjusted
according to zero displacement method to achieve
thedesiredprofileforthebridgedeck(Yazdani-Paraei
etal.2012).Furthermore,themaximumstressinduced
inthedeckandtowersduetoserviceload(permanent
action+ S1600traffic load) plusthepost-tensioning
forces is always less than the allowable maximum
stress in the cables which is taken as to 0.45
y
in
accordance with the design requirements of J SCE
(2010).
2.4 Verification of 2D and 3D models
Thecompatibilitybetweenthetwo-dimensional model
andthethree-dimensional model wasverifiedbycom-
paring the total self-weight, cable initial forces and
global deflection. Table2shows thetotal self-weight
aswell astheweightof eachsectionunder thegravity.
Themaximumdifferencebetween2D and3D model
is only 3% for the towers, while the total weights
matchedeachother reallywell.
Vertical deflections for both models areshown in
Figure 2. It is observed that 2D and 3D FE models
showadifferenceof not morethan8%andthusthese
modelscanbeusedfor acomparativestudy.
3 CABLE LOSS
3.1 Cable removal method
In this paper, for dynamic analysis a consistent
mass matrix with proportional damping is adopted.
388
The Newmark constant acceleration method which
is unconditionally stableis used for timeintegration
(Paz2004).TheEKILL commandavailableinANSYS
(2009) is usedfor simulatingthecableloss scenario.
It isnoteworthythat EKILL commanddeactivatesthe
lost cableover an integration timestep, set equal to
0.1secinthisresearch. Thistimestepisshortenough
towarrant adynamicanalysisbasedonalternateload
path(ALP) (Ellingwoodet al. 2007).
3.2 Load combinations adopted for progressive
collapse assessment
The distributed component of the traffic load along
withdeadloadisappliedover theentirebridgelength.
For thecableloss scenarios, theadoptedloadfactors
areasrecommendedbyPTI (2007),
where, DC=deadloadof structural componentsand
non-structural attachments, DW=deadloadof wear-
ing surfaces and utilities, LL =full vehicular live
load placed in actual stripped lanes, IM=vehicular
dynamic load allowance taken equal to zero in this
paper andCLDF=cablelossdynamic forces. Inthis
research, thewearingsurfaceisa200mmthick layer
of asphalt concrete( =24.5kN/m
3
). Sincethecable
lossscenarioisaccuratelymodelled(byremovingthe
cables over a short period of time), the cable loss
dynamicforce(CLDF) isnot applied.
AccordingtoAS5100.2(2004), for loadingscenar-
iosinwhichmorethanonelaneissubjectedtotraffic
load, applied loading should be multiplied by the
accompanyinglanefactors (1.0for first lane, 0.8for
secondlane, and0.4for thirdandsubsequent lanes).
This bridge model has 8 lanes (Figure 1b), and two
typesof loadingpatterns(i.e. symmetric andunsym-
metric) for trafficloadsareconsidered(seeFigure3).
In3DFE modelstheunsymmetricloadcasesandthe
unsymmetriccablelossscenarioscanexcitetorsional
modes andgenerateadditional critical scenarios that
cannot beconsideredinthe2Dmodel.
3.3 Cable loss scenarios
Existingguidelinesfor progressivecollapsedesignof
cablestayedbridgesrequireonlyscenariosassociated
withlossof asinglecableisconsideredtobeadequate,
however, someresearchers proposethat scenarios in
whichmorethanonecableislostshouldalsobetaken
into account (Aoki et al. 2011, Wolff and Starossek
2010).Accordingly,inthisstudy,atotal of 18scenarios
areconsideredassummarizedinTable3.
Inthe2Dmodel, cableno. 1(connectedtothepin
support) andcableno. 30(thelongestcableconnected
tothemid-span)aresubjecttoloss.Thesescenariosare
referredto as scenario-S1(2D) andscenario-S2(2D),
respectively. Thecorrespondingsymmetriccableloss
scenarios within 3D FE models arescenario-S1(3D)
and S2(3D) in which a pair of cables (1a and 1b)
Figure3. Loadingpatternacrossthedeckandcorrespond-
ingaccompanyinglanefactors.
Table3. Cablelossscenarios.
Scenario Lost 2D/ Pattern
name cableno. 3D Cableloss Trafficload
S1(2D)-SL 1 2D Symmetric Symmetric
S2(2D)-SL 30
S1(3D)-SL 1a,1b 3D
S2(3D)-SL 30a, 30b
S1(3D)-UL 1a,1b Unsymmetric
S2(3D)-UL 30a, 30b
U1(3D)-SL 1a 3D Unsymmetric Symmetric
U2(3D)-SL 30a
U3(3D)-SL 1a, 2a
U4(3D)-SL 30a, 29a
U5(3D)-SL 30a, 31a
U6(3D)-SL 1a,2a,3a
U1(3D)-UL 1a Unsymmetric
U2(3D)-UL 30a
U3(3D)-UL 1a, 2a
U4(3D)-UL 30a, 29a
U5(3D)-UL 30a, 31a
U6(3D)-UL 1a, 2a, 3a
and (30a and 30b) are simultaneously removed (see
Figure1c for back stay numberings). Further, in 3D
models, fivedifferent unsymmetriccablelossscenar-
ios corresponding to the loss of a single cable and
a pair of cables on one side of the deck are inves-
tigated. These unsymmeric cable loss scenarios are
referredtoasscenario-U1(3D) (lossof cableno. 1a),
scenario-U2(3D) (loss of cable no. 30a), scenario-
U3(3D)(lossof cablesno.1aand2a),scenario-U4(3D)
(lossof cablesno. 29aand30a) andscenario-U5(3D)
(lossof cablesno. 30aand31a). Sincetheback stays
connectedtothesupportsarecloselyspaced, thepossi-
bilityof simultaneouslylosingcablesno. 1a, 2aand3a
isconsideredinscenario-U6(3D). Thescenarioscon-
sidered in conjunction with different traffic loading
patternsarelistedinTable3andtheSL andUL inthis
table stand for symmetric and unsymmetric loading
patterns, respectively.
389
4 PARAMETRIC STUDIESANDDISCUSSIONS
4.1 Symmetrical cable loss- comparison between
2D and 3D models
Analysis results for symmetric cable loss scenarios-
(S1) and (S2) obtained from2D and 3D FE models
arecomparedinthissection.
Time history of maximumdeflection (location at
x=476, y=1.78, z=0 for 3D) obtained from2D
and3DmodelsshowninFigure4arequiteconsistent
andthedifferenceis less than11%. Accordingly, the
bridgeconfigurationattheinstantof maximumdeflec-
tionobtainedfrom2D and3D models, areshownin
Figure5. It isobservedthat bothdeformedshapesare
consistent.
Figure4. Timehistoryof deflectionat x =476mobtained
from2Dand3Dmodels(scenario-S1-SL).
Figure5. Deformedshape(inm).
Table 4. Summary of maximum deflection, cable stress
level andstressinthedeckfor scenarioS1andS2.
Maximum
Scenario Deflection Cablestress Stress
name (m) (%) (MPa)
S1(2D)-SL 1.84 48 259.9
S2(2D)-SL 1.46 41 135.0
S1(3D)-SL 1.63 46 329.5
S2(3D)-SL 1.32 41 263.9
S1(3D)-UL 1.45 43 324.8
S2(3D)-UL 0.73 37 237.9
InTable4, themaximumvertical deflection, cable
stress andVonMises stress inthedeck for scenarios
S1andS2aresummarised. Comparisonbetween2D
and3Dmodel predictionsfor scenario-S1-SL andS2-
SL showsagoodcorrelationbetween2D and3D FE
results.
Further, themaximumdeflectionpredictedby the
2Dmodel (1.84mfor scenario-S1-SL and1.46mfor
scenario-S2-SL) isslightlygreater thanthe3Dmodel
predictions(1.63mforscenario-S1-SL and1.32mfor
scenario-S2-SL).AsshowninFigure5, the2Dand3D
deformedshapes areingoodagreement. Inaddition,
for 3Dmodels, comparisonbetweenSL andUL traf-
ficloadingpatternswithinscenario-S1andS2clearly
shows that theUL (unsymmetric traffic load) is less
critical thanSL (symmetrictrafficloading).
Inall cablesmaximumstresslevelsarebelow50%
of ultimatestrength(seeTable4). Moreover, thestress
levels predicted by 2D and 3D FE models are con-
sistent which differences less than 7%; whereby, the
3Dmodel showspredictionslessthanthoseof the2D
models.
Inthe3D model, themaximumstress occurredat
asection13maway fromthepinsupport (x compo-
nent stress) (seeFigure6b) and 14maway fromthe
pin-supportinVonMisesstress(Figure6c), whichcor-
relatedreasonably well withthemost critical section
withthemaximumbendingmomentobtainedfrom2D
model (Figure 6a). Although maximumnodal stress
valuesfrom3Dmodel isnormallyhigherthanthoseof
the2Dmodel (seeTable4) andaveragestressaround
the area where maximumstress occurred is smaller
thanthatof 2Dmodel. Moreover, consideringthesize
of theareaaffectedbystressconcentrationin3Dmod-
els is very small (Figures 6band6c), it is concluded
that thestressespredictedby 2Dand3Dmodelscor-
relatereasonably well as far as stress concentrations
arenot of concern.
4.2 Unsymmetrical cable loss 3D model
Analysisresultsfor unsymmetriccablelossscenarios-
U1toU6obtainedfrom3DFE modelsarecompared
and discussed in this section. Both symmetric and
unsymmetric traffic loading patterns are considered
inconjunctionwithscenarios-U1toU6.
The maximum deflection, cable stress level and
stress values in the deck for scenarios U1 to U6
are summarized in Table 5. Comparison between
scenarios-U1 to U6 shows that scenario-U6-SL and
scenario-U6-UL are the most critical ones. The
instantof themaximumdeflectionforscenario-U6-SL
(2.05m) andU6-UL (1.86m) areshowninFigure7a
and 7b, respectively. Although the torsion of bridge
deck in scenarios-U6-UL is more significant than
scenarios-U6-SL, theUL scenarioisstill lesscritical
thantheSL one.
According to the maximum stress levels in the
cables given inTable 5, it is observed that no cable
exceedsthestresslimit amongthedifferent scenarios
consideredinthisstudy.
390
Figure6. Maximumstressoccurringfor 2Dand3Dmodel
at time7.14sec.
Table 5. Summary of maximum deflection, cable stress
level andstressinthedeckfor scenariosU1toU6.
Scenario Deflection Cablestress Stress
name (m) (%) (Mpa)
U1(3D)-SL 1.07 40 312.3
U2(3D)-SL 0.99 39 251
U3(3D)-SL 1.54 46 393.6
U4(3D)-SL 1.48 41 283.3
U5(3D)-SL 1.44 41 267.7
U6(3D)-SL 2.05 54 450.2
U1(3D)-UL 0.96 36 288.6
U2(3D)-UL 0.47 34 223
U3(3D)-UL 1.39 43 370.1
U4(3D)-UL 0.93 36 249.2
U5(3D)-UL 0.9 36 237.5
U6(3D)-UL 1.87 50 446.3
Among different scenarios considered, the max-
imum stress values occurred within scenario-U6-
SL and scenario-U6-UL. The most critical case is
scenario-U6-SL, showing Von Mises stress levels
slightly above 450MPa which is the yield strength
of steel as seen in Figure 8. It is observed that the
stress concentration is only limited to a very small
zone and it cannot significantly affect the collapse
responseof theentirebridge. Further, theSL loading
patternismorecritical thanUL caseandaccordinglyin
Figure7. Maximumdeflectionwiththreecablelossesunder
symmetrical/unsymmetrical loadcases.
Figure8. VonMisesstressat 7.24secinscenarioU6-SL.
casessimilar tothebridgeconsideredinthisstudythe
unsymmetricloadingpatternincludingaccompanying
lanefactors aretypically less critical thansymmetric
loadingpatterns.
5 CONCLUSIONS
A comparativestudy of 2D and 3D FE models of a
hypothetical cable-stayed bridge was undertaken in
this study. Different cable loss scenarios with more
thanonelostcableatdifferentlocationswerestudied.
Furthermore, theeffect of symmetricandunsymmet-
rictrafficloadingpatternsontheprogressivecollapse
responseof thecablestayed bridgewas investigated
by afull 3D continuum-based finiteelement model.
Withregardtotheparametricstudyundertakeninthis
paper, thefollowingconclusionsaredrawn;
The unsymmetric traffic loading patterns with
accompanyinglanefactors(accordingtoAS5100)
are less critical than symmetric traffic loading
patternsadoptedinthisstudy.
391
For symmetric cableloss scenarios, the2D mod-
elstendstoproducelarger deformationandlarger
stress levels excluding zones of localised stress
concentration.
Amongdifferentcablelossscenariosconsideredin
this study, the scenarios corresponding with loss
of back stays arethemost critical ones. However,
for all of the cable loss scenarios considered in
thisstudy(uptothreecableslost), thestresslevels
in towers, deck and cables mostly remained well
belowtheyieldstrengthof steel. Thematerial non-
linearity accountedfor inthe3D model indicated
only localised areas in the deck where the yield
stress was exceededwhichareunlikely to leadto
thecollapseresponseof thebridge.
The2D FE models canadequately captureglobal
response of cable stayed bridges subject to cable
loss scenarios, and hencethemoreexpensive3D
analysesmaynot bejustifiable.
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kesson, B. B. 2008. Understanding Bridge Collapses.
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Ellingwood, B. R., R. Smilowitz, D. O. Dusenberry, D.
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Walther, R. 1999. Cable stayed bridges. London: Thomas
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(2012) Optimum design of cable-stayed bridges. Aus-
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392
Ambient vibrationtestsandanalysisof amultiple-spanelevatedbridge
X. Chen, P. Omenzetter & S. Beskhyroun
The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
ABSTRACT: Modal parameters (e.g., natural frequencies and modeshapes) describethedynamic charac-
teristics of bridgestructures and their experimental identification is an important part of bridgeassessment.
Moretraditional experimental methods requireartificial excitationby largeequipment, whichaffects thenor-
mal operationof thebridge. However, reliableestimates of modal parameters canbeextractedfromambient
vibrationcausedby wind, traffic, environmental loads, etc. Inthis paper, thedynamic behavior of a12span,
700mlong, curved, segmental, elevatedconcreteviaduct, recently constructedinAuckland, NewZealand, is
investigatedusingambient vibrationtests andnumerical modeling. Twelvevibrationmodes havebeenidenti-
fiedinthefrequency range010Hz usingtwocomplementary modal parameter identificationtechniques: the
peakpickingmethodandstochasticsubspaceidentification. Modal parametersestimatedfromambientresponse
havebeencomparedwiththoseobtainedfromathree-dimensional finiteelement model andgoodagreement
demonstrated.
1 INTRODUCTION
Because of the critical importance of bridges to
land transport networks and broader economy, the
assessment of existing bridges is gradually becom-
ingaglobal concern. Theassessment viatechniques
of structural dynamics assists in understanding the
responsesof theas-built structuresunder traffic, seis-
micandotherliveloads.Performanceof abridgeunder
dynamicliveloadsdependsuponitsdynamiccharac-
teristics (suchas natural frequencies, dampingratios
and mode shapes). Therefore, the measurement of
actual bridgedynamiccharacteristicsplaysanimpor-
tant part inbridgeassessment. Tothisend, oneof the
mostreliablewaysistoassesstheactual dynamicprop-
erties of these structures is by conducting full scale
dynamictests.
There are two basic types of methods that have
been used in bridge dynamic tests, namely, the
forcedvibrationtests andtheambient vibrationtests
(Farrar et al. 1999). Forced vibration tests require
artificial excitation by special equipment, which is
difficult and costly for largeand flexiblebridges, as
it requires very heavy equipment and involves sig-
nificant resources to providecontrolled excitation at
sufficiently high levels. This method is, therefore,
usually confined to small or medium-span bridges.
On the contrary, ambient vibration tests make use
of ambient environment effects such as wind, traf-
ficandother environmental loadsasexcitationforces
and no equipment is needed to excite the bridge.
For testing of large-scale bridges, ambient vibration
tests are a simpler, faster and cheaper and often
the only practical method for the determination of
dynamic characteristics. They usually provide reli-
ableandaccurateestimatesof natural frequenciesand
mode shapes, despite relatively small amplitudes of
response.
Ambient vibration tests have been successfully
appliedfor assessingthedynamicbehavior of anum-
ber of full-scalebridges. Gentile(2006) reviewedthe
state of the art of ambient vibration tests and their
application to bridges. This paper also points out
that experiencehasdemonstratedthat ambient vibra-
tiontests areespecially suitablefor flexiblesystems,
suchascable-stayedandsuspensionbridges.However,
someexperimental andanalytical studiesfor concrete
bridges canalso befoundintheliterature(Linet al.
2009, Carvajal et al. 2009, Liuet al. 2011, Hiatt et al.
2011).
Thispaper presentspreliminary resultsof arecent
experimental andnumerical researchonthedynamic
behaviorof anewlybuiltviaduct.Thedynamics-based
structural assessment includesambient vibrationtest-
ing, operational modal analysis and finite element
model (FEM) simulations. The bridge under study
is apost-tensioned, precast-concrete, segmental, hol-
low box girder structure that consists of 12 spans.
Ambient vibration tests were conducted on all the
spans of the viaduct using 56 wireless accelerom-
eters placed at selected locations inside the bridge
girder. A largenumber of vertical andtransversenor-
mal modes were identified in the frequency range
010Hz using two complementary modal parameter
identification techniques, namely, the rather simple
peak picking (PP) method in the frequency domain
393
andmoreadvancedstochasticsubspaceidentification
(SSI) method in the time-domain. The investigation
was also complementedby thedevelopment of a3D
FEM, based on design drawings of the bridge. The
results from the FEM were then compared to the
field test results in terms of frequencies and mode
shapes.
2 DESCRIPTIONOF THE BRIDGE
NewmarketViaduct,recentlyconstructedinAuckland,
isoneof themajor andmostimportantbridgeswithin
the New Zealand road network. Figure 1 shows an
aerial viewof thebridge. It isahorizontally andver-
tically curved, post-tensioned concrete bridge, com-
prising two parallel, twin bridges. The bridge was
built using thebalanced cantilever method and con-
tains atotal of 468precast box-girder segments. The
SouthboundBridgewasconstructedfirst andopened
to traffic at the end of 2010; this was followed by
theconstructionof theNorthboundBridgecompleted
in J anuary 2012. The Northbound and Southbound
Bridgesarejoinedtogether viaacast in-situconcrete
stitch. Now, bothbridges areopenedtotraffic. The
SouthboundBridge, whichisontheeastside, isunder
study in this paper. Thetotal length of thebridgeis
nearly 700m, with twelvedifferent spans ranging in
lengthfrom38.67mto62.65mandaveragelengthof
approximately60m.
3 FE MODELLING
A 3D FEM (Figure 2) was developed in SAP2000
using the design drawings. The superstructure was
represented using solid elements, piers and pier cap
were modeled using beamelements, and expansion
jointsandbearingsusinglinkelements. Fixedbound-
aryconditionswerespecifiedat thebaseof thepiers.
The material properties used for the analysis were
Figure1. Aerial viewof NewmarketViaduct (Transit New
Zealand2012).
those of 60MPa reinforced concrete with a modu-
lusof elasticity of 35,000MPaandamassdensity of
2,550kg/m
3
.
4 AMBIENT VIBRATIONTESTING
On November 2829, 2011 just prior to casting
the in-situ concrete stitch between two bridges,
a field dynamic testing of the Southbound Bridge
under operational conditions was carried out. The
accelerometers usedfor thetests were56USB wire-
lessaccelerometers(includingtwomodels:X6-1Aand
X6-2) developedby theGulf Coast DesignConcepts
(http://www.gcdataconcepts.com/products.html).The
X6-1A requiresasinglebatteryandX6-2containsan
internal hardwiredLithium-Polymerbatteryrecharge-
ableviaaUSB port. Bothmodels haveanumber of
attractivefeatures such as low cost, 3-axis measure-
ment, low noise, user selectable 2/6g range and
samplingrateof upto320Hz, 12-bitresolution, micro
SDmemorystorage, accuratetimestampeddatausing
real time clock with power back-up, easily readable
commaseparatedtext datafiles andUSB connectiv-
ity. Notethat theseaccelerometers do not havedata
transmissioncapability; theystorethedatatoamicro
SD cardandafter thetest it needs to bedownloaded
toacomputer. They arecost effectivefor conducting
periodicexperimental modal analysisbut power limi-
tationsmakesthemonlysuitedtoshort(several hours)
to mediumterm(several days) vibration monitoring
applications.
A total of 96locationsinsidethebridgegirder were
chosen. Themeasurementspointswereonbothsides
of thegirder andatanapproximatedistanceof span/8.
Theaccelerometerswerelightly gluedtotheinternal
surfaceof thebridgedeck usingbluetack (Figure3).
Fivetest setups wereconceivedto cover theplanned
Figure2. 3DFEM of NewmarketViaduct.
394
testing locations of the bridge. Four reference loca-
tions were selected in span 6 and span 7 and later
usedtostitchtheoverall modeshapesfromindividual
setups.
Setups 1 to 4 consisted of 46 roving accelerome-
tersandfour fixedreferenceaccelerometer andsetup
5 consisted of eight roving accelerometers and four
fixed reference accelerometers. The sampling fre-
quencywas160Hzandcorrespondingrecordingtimes
wereall approximately1hourforeachsetup.Thetests
didnot interferewiththenormal flowof traffic over
the bridge. At the completion of the measurements,
thedatawasdownloadedfromall themicroSDcards
includedinaccelerometerstoalaptopcomputer. The
rawmeasurement datafromthepoint near mid-span
Figure3. Locationof accelerometersinsidebridgegirder.
Figure4. Exampleof tri-axial accelerationtimehistories.
of span3inall threedirections is showninFigure4
asanexample.
5 MODAL IDENTIFICATION
Ambient vibration tests are not appropriate for fre-
quency responsefunction or impulseresponsefunc-
tion calculations because the input excitations are
not measured. Different methods have been used to
extract themodal parameters fromambient vibration
data(Renet al. 2004). ThesimplePP methodinfre-
quencydomainandmoreadvancedSSI methodintime
domainwereusedfor estimationof modal properties
usingoutput-onlydatainthisstudy. Thedataprocess-
ing and modal parameter identification werecarried
out using an in-house systemidentification toolbox
writteninMATLAB (Beskhyroun2011).
ThePPmethodisatraditional approachtoestimate
themodal parametersof astructure(Bendat&Piersol
1993). Theidentified natural frequencies aresimply
obtained fromthe observation of the peaks on the
graphof power spectral densities(PSDs).Anexample
of PSDs for all threedirections is shown in Figures
57.ThesePDSswereobtainedatthesamepointasthe
datashowninFigure4.
Figure5. PSDfor longitudinal direction.
Figure6. PSDfor transversedirection.
395
Figure7. PSDfor vertical direction.
Figure8. SSI stabilizationdiagramfor longitudinal data.
Figure9. SSI stabilizationdiagramfor transversedata.
TheSSI methodidentifies astochastic statespace
model from measurements (Van Overschee & De
Moor 1996). The state space model is a very gen-
eral model that isalsosuitablefor describingalinear
vibratingstructure. For eachexperimental setup, state
spacemodels withdifferent model orders areidenti-
fied and stabilization diagrams produced to discern
stable modes. Figures 810 show examples of the
stabilizationdiagrams.
Figure10. SSI stabilizationdiagramfor vertical data.
Table1. Identifiedandcalculatednatural frequencies.
Modenumber and
type PP/Hz SSI/Hz FEM/Hz
1st transversebending 2.188 2.127 2.110
1st vertical bending 2.266 2.156 2.147
2ndvertical bending 2.656 2.578 2.635
2ndtransversebending 2.734 2.845 2.674
3rdvertical bending NONE 2.897 2.885
4thvertical bending NONE 3.150 3.156
3rdtransversebending 3.359 3.491 3.321
6thvertical bending 3.828 3.800 3.879
4thtransversebending NONE 4.055 3.955
8thvertical bending 6.875 6.858 6.688
6 ANALYSISOF RESULTS
Several vibration modes were identified using the
output-only measurements in the frequency range
010Hz. Theresultsof ambient vibrationtestingand
FEManalysisarepresentedinTable1, wheretheiden-
tifiedtransverseandvertical modesarelisted. Itcanbe
seenthattheidentifiedfrequenciesagreewell between
thetwo systemidentificationmethods andalso with
the FEM results. Most of the important frequencies
of the bridge deck are below 10Hz with the lowest
frequency being between 2.1102.188Hz and corre-
spondingtodeck bendinginthetransversedirection.
It is also foundthat SSI outperformedthePP: many
closely spaced frequencies could not be identified
byPP.
Vibrationmodeshapesof thebridgedeckhavebeen
extracted using SSI. Figure 11 shows the identified
vertical and transverse mode shapes. The experi-
mental mode shapes correlate very well with FEM
results. Itisthusdemonstratedthattheambientvibra-
tionresponsemeasurementsaresufficient toidentify
themost significant modes of such alargeconcrete
bridge.
396
Figure11. Comparisonof experimental andcalculatedmodeshapes.
397
Figure11. Continued
7 CONCLUSIONS
Themain purposes of this paper was to validatethe
useof selectedsystemidentificationtechniquesbased
on low level environmental excitation to determine
modal dynamic parameters of structures. Within the
frequencyrange010Hz, eightvertical andfourtrans-
verse modes were successfully identified using the
classical PPandSSI methods.Althoughsomefrequen-
cieswerenot identifiedbyPP, agoodagreement was
foundbetweenthemodal estimatesobtainedfromthe
twodifferent methods.
Theexperimental investigationwascomplemented
by the development of a 3D FEM based on design
drawingof thebridge.TheFEMresultswerecompared
withthoseobtainedfromexperimental measurements
andshowedverygoodcorrelation.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Theauthorswouldliketoacknowledgethesupportand
assistance fromthe NGA Newmarket Project Engi-
neer, DavidLeitner andother staff for facilitatingthe
fieldtesting, aswell astheNZTA andNGA Newmar-
ket for providingtheopportunity toconduct research
on the Newmarket Viaduct. We would also like to
thank Peifen Chua for her assistance in conducting
theambient vibrationtests.
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quake Engineering: Building an Earthquake-Resilient
Society. Auckland, New Zealand, 1416 April, 2011,
paper no. 077.
Carvajal J. C., Ventura C. E. & Huffman S. 2009. Ambi-
ent vibration testing of multi-span bridges with integral
deck-abutments. Proc. of International Modal Analysis
Conference (IMAC-XXVII), Orlando, USA, February
912, 2009, 9pages.
Farrar, C. R., Duffey, T. A., Cornwell P. J. & Doebling,
S.W.1999.Excitationmethodsforbridgestructures.Proc.
of the 17th International Modal Analysis Conference,
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Gentile, C. 2006. Modal andstructural identificationof aRC
archbridge, Structural Engineering & Mechanics, 22(1),
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Hiatt, M., Mathiasson, A., Okwori, J., J in, S. S., Shang, S.,
Yun, G. J., Caicedo, J., Christenson, R., Yun, C. B. &
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boxgirder bridgeusingambient vibrationtest. Advanced
Materials Research, 168170, 22632270.
Liu,T.Y., Chiang,W.L., Chen, C.W., Hsu,W. K., Lu, L. C., &
Chu, T. J. 2011. Identificationandmonitoringof bridge
healthfromambient vibrationdata, Journal of Vibration
and Control, 17(4), 589603.
Lin, X., Zhang, L., Guo, Q. & Zhang, Y. 2006. Dynamic
finite element model updating of prestressed concrete
continuous box-girder bridge, Earthquake Engineering
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identification of civil engineering structures, Structural
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connection/, accessed10/06/2012.
VanOverscheeP&DeMoorB.1996.Subspace identification
for linear systems: theory, implementation and appli-
cations. Dordrecht, TheNetherlands: Kluwer Academic
Publishers.
398
A novel piezoelectric wafer-stack vibration energy harvester
X.Z. Jiang, Y.C. Li & J.C. Li
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology,
University of Technology Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Piezoelectric vibration-based energy harvesters are attractive as inexhaustible replacements for
batteries in low-power requirement wireless electronic devices and thus have received increasing research interest
in the last few years. This paper presents a novel piezoelectric harvester based on the wafer-stack configuration
to convert the external vibration into usable electrical energy for this purpose. Both analytical and experimental
investigations are undertaken at University of Technology Sydney. Firstly, an electromechanical model with a
rectified circuit, considering both the mechanical and electrical factors of the harvester, is built to characterise the
harvested electrical power across the external loadings. Exact closed-form expressions of the electromechanical
model have been given to analyse conditions for maximum harvested power. Finally, a shake table experimental
testing was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of the presented PZT wafer stack harvester under standard
sinusoidal loadings. Test results show that the harvester can generate a maximum 16 mW electrical power for
sinusoidal loading with 40 mm amplitude and 2 Hz frequency.
1 INTRODUCTION
Because of the advantages over existing wired method-
ologies, wireless systems have become ubiquitous
recently. Currently, most wireless electronics are
battery-powered and it is very costly for mainte-
nance because of the requirement for continuous
battery replacements. The task sometimes can become
extremely difficult, such as in case of structural health
monitoring applications, where there are hundreds and
thousands of sensors that are often installed during
construction stages. For these sensors, if it is not
impossible, for the least it is impractical to gain access,
remove protection and replace batteries. So its of great
necessity to seek alternative power sources for the
sensor network. Due to the low-power consumption
requirements of wireless systems, many researchers
have begun the research of harvesting ambient vibra-
tion energy to power the wireless sensors and have
obtained some promising results (Beeby et al. 2006,
Cook-Chennault et al. 2008).
Vibration-based electrical energy harvesting, first
proposed by Williams andYates (Williams et al. 1995)
in 1995, is a process of converting vibrational kinetic
energy into useful electrical energy. Several meth-
ods, such as electromagnetic induction, electrostatic
generation, and piezoelectric (PZT) generation, can
be utilised to harvest electrical energy from exter-
nal vibrations (Roundy et al. 2003). While each of
the aforementioned methods can generate a useful
amount of energy, PZT materials have received more
attentions especially in the recent years due to their
ability to directly convert applied strain energy into
usable electrical energy, as well as its large power
density, and ease of application (Harb 2011). Of the
published results that focus on the PZT method to
harvest electrical energy, most of them have focused
on harvesting energy using cantilever beams config-
uration operating in 31-mode (Johnson et al. 2006,
Erturk 2009). In the 31-mode, the force is applied in
the direction perpendicular to the poling direction of
the PZT material. While in the 33-mode, the force
is applied in the same direction as the poling direc-
tion. The 31-mode fits for cantilevered structure under
normal vibration conditions. However, in large force
vibration environment, such as in a heavy manufacture
equipment or in large operating machinery, the config-
uration in 33-mode for PZT material would be more
durable and suitable for energy conversion (Korla et al.
2011) because it can endure large stress than the beam
configuration. Furthermore, as Baker et al. (Baker
et al. 2005) have indicated, the 33-mode has a higher
coupling coefficient, k, than the 31-mode, which
means that more electrical power can be scavenged
by the 33-mode than the 31-model under the same
condition.
In this paper, a novel PZT harvester was developed
to scavenge energy from surrounding vibrations. The
piezoelectric material used in this novel harvester is
constructed in wafer-stack configuration that is robust
and fit for large force vibration. Platt et al (Platt et al.
2005) have shown that its feasible to use stack con-
figuration to increase the amount of harvested power,
and both the voltage output and the matching resistive
load are much more manageable in a PZT stack than
in a monolithic configuration.
399
The development of models for cantilevered
PZT harvester has attracted great attentions from
researchers. And there are already many models can
be used to evaluate the harvested power of can-
tilevered harvester. However, not much research has
been undertaken on the model development of the
wafer configuration harvester operating in 33-mode
for the large force vibration. Moreover, a PZT har-
vester systemshould contain both the mechanical part,
which generates electrical energy, and an electrical cir-
cuit, which converts and rectifies the harvested energy
in a form of an alternating voltage, into a constant
voltage. The efficiency of the energy harvester design
depends not only on the PZT harvester itself but also
on its integration with the electrical circuit. Therefore,
an electromechanical model is of great importance to
optimise the design as well as for understanding the
behavior of the PZT energy harvester.
In this paper, we firstly built an electromechan-
ical model with the rectified circuit of this novel
PZT wafer-stack harvester in order to investigate the
ability of harvesting electrical power and find the opti-
mal condition for maximising electrical power output.
Then, a series of tests were conducted to verify the
theoretical findings. Test results showed that the elec-
tromechanical model for the PZT wafer configuration
harvester is accurate and the harvester can generate
up to 16 mW DC electrical power during the standard
sinusoidal motion.
2 ELECTOMECHANICAL MODEL
2.1 Electrical characteristics under
applied force
The PZT vibration energy harvester proposed in this
paper works in large force vibration condition. The
wafer-stack configuration is chosen due to its durabil-
ity for large exciting force and its ability of generate
higher electrical power than single PZT wafer under
same vibration condition. PZT material is a inter-
mediumof mechanical energy to electrical energy and
can generate electrical energy on the pressure of a
force. In order to build an accurate model for PZT
harvester, its necessary to investigate the electrical
reaction of the PZT disc under external excitation.
Figure 1 shows the electrical characteristics of the
PZT wafer-stack. According to the IEEE Standard on
Piezoelectricity: under the external force, giving by the
strain S, stress T, electric field E, and electric displace-
ment D, the constitutive relations of the PZT energy
harvesting device are typically defined by:
where the e is the piezoelectric coefficient, c
E
is the
elastic stiffness constant under a constant electric field,
and
S
is the dielectric constant under constant strain.
Note that the subscripts of the state variables showthat
Figure 1. Electrical reaction of PZT wafer-stack under
force.
all constitutive qualities are generated and applied on
the thickness direction of the piezoelectric material.
For the configuration as shown in Figure 1, the
constitutive equations of the PZT wafer-stack can be
written as:
where x
p
is the displacement of the PZT wafer-stack;
V
p
is the output voltage of PZT wafer-stack; Q is
the electric charge; A is the cross-section area of the
piezoelectric disc stack, andhis the lengthof the piezo-
electric disc. To simplify the analysis, we assume the
length of the stack is equal to the entire thickness
of all the piezoelectric wafers (h =nt) with identi-
cal dimension, where n and t are the number and
thickness of a single piezoelectric wafer, respectively.
According to the relationship in Equation 1, we can
obtain:
It can be found from equation 3 that the V
p
is gen-
erated by the F
p
. The force applied to the piezoelectric
disc without any electrical input can produce defor-
mation x
p
, the relationship of which is regarded as
the elastic coefficient k
p
of the mechanical charac-
teristic. Piezoelectricity also possesses an electrical
property between the voltage and the electric charge,
which can be modeled as a capacitor C
p
. The elec-
tromechanical conversion coefficient N is defined as
the voltage-force and deformation-charge transferring
relation. Therefore, fromequation 3, the inter-medium
force, F
e
, which is used to generate electrical voltage,
can be written as:
400
Figure 2. Electromechanical model of the PZT wafer-stack
harvester.
Equation 4 gives an explicit relationship of vibration
force and output voltage, which will be used to build
the electromechanical model of the PZT harvester.
2.2 Electromechanical model
PZT harvester is a mechanical-and-electrical-system
which has the ability to convert vibration kinetic
energy into useful electrical energy, so the mathe-
matic model of the harvester should consider not only
mechanical but also electrical factors. In practice, itis
required to convert the alternating voltage output, har-
vested by the PZT harvester, into a constant voltage
using a rectifier bridge (AC-to-DC converter) and
a smoothing capacitor in order to reach a constant
level of voltage for a resistive load using the har-
vested electrical energy. Consider these elements and
the electrical characteristics of the PZT wafer-stack
under an applied force, the electromechanical model,
with a filtering capacitance, of the PZT wafer-stack
harvester is illustrated in Figure 2.
In the electromechanical model, as shown in Figure
2, m
p
represents the mass of PZT wafer-stack; x
p
is the
displacement PZT wafer-stack under the force excita-
tion; c
h
and k
h
are the damping and elastic coefficient
of the harvesting device, respectively; I
p
is the output
current of the PZT wafer-stack harvester; a resistor R
p
connected to the C
p
in parallel represents the electric
loss property of the piezoelectric material; C
r
is the
smoothing capacitor, and R
load
is used to represent the
resistance of the external load.
The electromechanical model of the PZT energy-
harvesting device in Figure 2 can be represented as:
where R is the equivalent resistance of two parallel
resistances: the piezoelectric leakage resistance R
p
and
the resistance of external load R
load
. In general, the
piezoelectric leakage resistance R
p
is much higher than
the load resistance, so that RR
load
. Transforming
Equation 5 into the frequency domain and dividing
the first equation by m
p
and the second equation by
C
p
, we obtain:
Here is the angular frequency of the vibration;
X
p
(), V
p
() and F() are the frequency counterparts
of x
p
, V
p
and F(t). And the natural frequency of
the PZT wafer-stack harvester,
n
, and the damping
factor
h
, are defined as:
Based on Equation 6 and Equation 7, we can obtain:
where and are dimensionless frequency and
dimensionless time constant, respectively, and can be
defined as:
The output voltage of the PZT wafer-stack, V
p
,
under the applied force can be obtained from Equa-
tion 8. It is an alternative voltage and cannot be used
directly by external electronics, so it needs to employ
rectified circuit to convert theACelectrical power into
DC electrical power.
With regard to the DC output voltage on R
load
, as
shown in Figure 2, if the time constant,
n
R
load
C
r
, is
larger compared to the vibration period, the voltage V
r
on the R
load
can be considered as a constant. On this
condition, the waveforms of V
r
, V
p
, x
p
and I
p
can be
shown in Figure 3.
As shown in Figure 3, when V
p
is lower than V
r
,
the rectifier is an open circuit and the I
p
and Q is null.
According to the Equation 3, the voltage V
p
and the
displacement x
p
vary proportionally. However, when
the V
p
reaches V
r
, the rectifier starts to work and
the V
p
is blocked at V
r
and I
p
is at maximum point.
At the same time, the I
p
begins to decrease from the
maximum-point to zero. This process can be regarded
as the power harvested from the vibration convert to
the C
r
, or the process of charging the C
r
. The rectifier
is cancelled again when the displacement x
p
start to
decrease.
401
Figure 3. Waveforms comparisononsinusoidal steadystate.
Considering the electric charge Q generated
between instant t
1
and t
2
, this charge is the integral over
the time of the current I
p
between t
1
and t
2
, and also
can be represented by the electric charge that has flown
throughthe loadR
load
duringthe same time because the
average current flowing through C
r
is null, as shown
in Equation 11:
where T is the time period of vibration input, and T =
1/f = 2/.
Basedon Equation3and Equation11, we canobtain
the rectified voltage V
r
as:
where x
pm
is the maximumdisplacement of PZTwafer-
stack under the external force. To obtain the x
pm
, we
considered the energy equilibrium of the PZT device
between t
1
and t
2
. The provided energy is equal to the
sumof the mechanical losses and the energy harvested
on the load because there is no variation of the poten-
tial elastic energy between instant t
1
and t
2
, and the
kinetic energy is null at those instants, so:
To simplify the Equation 13, assuming that the force
only applies on PZT wafer-stack, the Equation 13 can
be rewritten as:
Assuming that the displacement x
p
remains sinu-
soidal, x
pm
can be expressed as a function of the force
amplitude F
e
:
Combining the Equation 12 and Equation 15, we can
obtain the rectified voltage V
r
as:
Then the harvested DC electrical power can be
expressed as:
From the Equation 17, it can be seen that the elec-
trical power, harvested by PZT wafer-stack harvester,
can be expressed as a function of the external load
R
load
, the force amplitude F
m
and the parameters of the
electromechanical model. There is an optimal resis-
tance condition, on which the DC electrical power
harvested by PZT wafer-stack harvester reaches max-
imum value. The optimal resistance and maximum
harvested electrical power can be written as:
Equation 18 shows that the maximum harvested elec-
trical power is proportional to the square of the applied
force and inverse proportional to the capacitance of the
PZT wafer-stack. And the optimal external resistance
condition for the maximum power is not a constant
value and will change with the piezoelectric material
property and the external vibration condition.
3 EXPERIMENTAL TESTING
A prototype of the PZT wafer-stack harvester was
designed and fabricated to examine and verify the the-
oretical findings. The test setup was shown in Figure 4.
The PZT wafer-stack harvester was installed in a host-
structure. One side of the host-structure is fixed on
the ground and another side is connected to the shaker
table. During the test, the shake table loaded the outer-
spring 50 mmas pre-compression, and then performed
different sine movements. Outer-spring, as shown in
Figure 4, was used to transfer the vibration force and
compress the PZT wafer-stack harvester. The stiffness
of outer-spring is 34 N/mm. Data acquisition system
was used to record the output voltage signal of the PZT
wafer-stack harvester.
Figure 5 shows the force applied on the PZT
wafer-stack harvester when the shake table performs
20 mm/2 Hz sinusoidal movement. Figure 6 shows the
relationship between the output DC voltage and the
external resistance under the applied force shown in
402
Figure 4. PZT wafer-stack harvester experimental setup.
Figure 5. 20 mm/2 Hz vibration force.
Figure 6. Harvested DC voltage vs. resistance.
Figure 5. From Figure 6, it can be seen that the out-
put DC voltage, within a certain range of external
resistance, increases with the value of external resis-
tor, and trends to constant after the external resistance
exceeding a certain value.
Figure 7 shows the relationship between the har-
vested DC electrical power and the external resis-
tance under applied force shown by Figure 5. It
can be observed that there is an optimal resistance,
with which the PZT harvester generates maximum
Figure 7. Harvested DC power vs. resistance.
Figure 8. Harvested DC power comparison under different
amplitudes.
electrical power, about 3.2 mW. This agrees with the
theoretical findings.
In order to investigate the output electrical power
under different vibration conditions, we increased the
amplitude of the sinusoidal movement of the shake
table, and found that the output electrical power
increased with the amplitude of the vibration. Fig-
ure 8 shows the output DC electrical power under
the vibrations with different vibration amplitudes, i.e.
20 mm, 30 mm and 40 mm, and same vibration fre-
quency, 2 Hz. It can be seen that the output power
increase, from 3.2 mW to 16 mW, when the vibration
amplitudes increase from 20 mm to 40 mm. Figure 8
indicates that the output electrical power is propor-
tional to the applied force, and this is in accordance
with previous theoretical analysis results.
Also, Figure 8 shows that the optimal resistances
for different vibration amplitudes are the same, about
1000 k. This indicates that the optimal resistance has
nothingtodowiththe amplitude of appliedforce, andit
only changes with the piezoelectric inner capacitance
and the external vibration frequency.
403
4 CONCLUSIONS
Vibration-based piezoelectric energy harvesters,
regarded as a promising alternative power for wire-
less systems, are expected to operate under a wide
range of vibration environments. This paper investi-
gates energy harvesting of such systems for large force
vibration conditions. The electromechanical model of
a PZT wafer-stack harvester has been developed and
examined in this paper. The developed electromechan-
ical model considers both the mechanical parts of the
harvester and the electrical circuit for external load. It
was shown that there is an optimal external resistance
for harvesting electrical power and the optimal resis-
tance changes with the property of the piezoelectric
material and the vibration input condition. A series of
test were undertaken to investigate the capability of the
designed PZT wafer-stack harvester. The test results
show that the PZT wafer-stack harvester can generate
up to 16 mW DC electrical power under large force
vibration with normal frequency (2400 N amplitude
and 2 Hz frequency) and it is sufficient for powering
most normal wireless sensors.
REFERENCES
Baker, J. 2005. Alternative geometries for increasing power
density in vibration energy scavenging for wireless sensor
networks. Proc. 3rd Int. Energy Conversion Engineering
Conf., San Francisco, CA, Aug., 2005: 95970.
Beeby, S. P. et al. 2006. Energy harvesting vibration sources
for Microsystems applications. Meas. Sci. Technol. 17:
R175R195.
Cook-Chennault, K. A. et al. 2008. Powering MEMS portable
devicesa review of non-regenerative and regenerative
power supply systems with special emphasis on piezo-
electric energy harvesting systems. Smart Mater. Struct.
17: 043001 (33pp).
Erturk, A. 2009. Electromechanical modelling of PZTenergy
harvesters. Dissertation of Ph. D, Dept. of Engineer-
ing Mechanics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University.
Harb, A. 2011. Energy harvesting: State-of-the-art. Renew-
able Energy 36: 26412654.
Johnson, TJ. 2006. Energyharvestingfrommechanical vibra-
tion using PZT cantilever beams. Proc. Smart Structures
and Materials Conf.; Proc. SPIE, 2006: 6169-61690D.
Korla, S et al. 2011. Design and testing of an efficient and
compact PZT energy harvester. Microelectronics Journal,
42: 265270.
Platt, S. R. et al. 2005a. On low-frequency electric power
generation with PZT ceramics. IEEE/ASME Trans.
Mechatronics 10: 24052.
Roundy, S. et al. 2003. A study of low level vibrations
as a power source for wireless sensor nodes. Computer
Communications 26: 11311141.
Williams, C. B. & Yates, R. B. 1995. Analysis of a micro-
electric generator for Microsystems. The 8th International
Conference on Solid-State Sensors and Actuators, and
Eurosensors IX. Stockholm, Swden, 2529 June: 369372.
404
Optimization-basedinterval dynamicresponseanalysisof abridge
under amovingvehiclewithuncertainproperties
N. Liu, W. Gao& C.M. Song
N. Zhang
School of Electrical, Mechanical and Mechatronic Systems, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: Interval dynamicresponseanalysisof vehicle-bridgeinteractionsystemwithuncertainparam-
eters is studiedinthis paper. By introducingtheinterval algorithmintothedynamic analysis of vehicle-bride
interactionsystem, theexpressions of themidpoint value, interval width, lower andupper bounds of interval
bridgedynamic responsearedeveloped. A heuristic optimizationmethod, anovel particleswarmoptimization
methodwithlow-discrepancysequenceinitializedparticlesandhigh-ordernonlineartime-varyinginertiaweight
andconstantaccelerationcoefficients(LHNPSO), isthendevelopedtofindtheboundsof bridgedisplacement.
Examplesareusedtoillustratetheeffectivenessof thepresentedmethodsandMonte-Carlosimulationsareimple-
mentedtovalidatethecomputational results.Theeffectsof individual systemparametersonbridgeresponseare
alsoinvestigated.
1 INTRODUCTION
Thedynamicbehavior of abridgesubjecttotheeffect
of moving vehicles has been widely investigated in
recent decades. In conventional dynamic analysis of
avehicle-bridgeinteractionsystem, thevehiclesand
bridgesparametersaretreatedasdeterministic(Yang
andLin2005, J uandLin2007). Althoughsomevari-
ations around those base line parameters are taken
intoaccount, thedesignanalysesareperformedusing
deterministicmodel of whichsomeparametersarevar-
ied with pre-specified values for a set of combined
analyses. However, generallyspeaking, vehiclesmov-
ingonabridgehavenondeterministic characteristics
becausetheparameters of different kinds of vehicles
aredifferent. For instance, parametersof abridge, i.e.
mass, Youngs modulus and moment of inertial, are
usuallyhavinguncertaintyresultingfromconstruction
and manufacturing or dueto aging, and their values
are not equal to the nominal values given in design
(WuandLaw2011).
A discipline, calledinterval analysis(Qiu,Yangand
Elishakoff 2008, Gao, Song, andTin-Loi 2010), has
beendevelopedfor structural analysesandfor applied
mechanics problems toaccount for theuncertainties.
Ininterval analysis, theuncertaininput variables are
defined in closed bounded intervals. Thebounds on
system response are sought through various inter-
val analytical andnumerical approaches. It shouldbe
notedthat, for complexsystems, it isverydifficult to
useinterval methodstodeterminethetight boundsof
systemresponseduetotheir inherent drawbacks.
Actually, in interval analysis, lower and upper
bounds are the minimumand maximumof system
outputsrespectively. Then, interval analysisproblems
can be converted to optimization problems. In the
recent twodecades, abio-inspiredoptimizationalgo-
rithmcalled particle swarmoptimization (PSO) has
been proposed and developed to solve optimization
problemsandfindtheglobal optimum(Kennedyand
Eberhart 1995). Although PSO has attracted com-
prehensive attention and has been applied in many
areas, very little research has been conducted for
solvingstructural optimizationproblems(Plevrisand
Papadrakakis2011).
In this paper, the dynamic response of a bridge
under a moving vehiclewith uncertain but bounded
system parameters is studied. The vehicle is rep-
resented by a half-car model and the bridge is
modeled as an Euler-Bernoulli beam. The vehicles
and bridges parameters are considered as inter-
val variables. Thecomputational expressions for the
midpoint, interval width, lower and upper bounds
of the vertical responses of the bridge are devel-
oped by using the modal superposition method and
interval operations. Meanwhile, an improved PSO
algorithm called LHNPSO is developed to deter-
mine the lower and upper bounds of bridge dis-
placement response. The LHNPSO algorithm, with
low-discrepancy sequence initialized particles and
high-order nonlinear time-varyinginertiaweight and
constant acceleration coefficients, can converge fast
and generate accurate solutions. Through the com-
parisons between the results computed by interval
405
analysis method and LHNPSO, the effectiveness of
themis demonstrated. Monte-Carlo simulations are
also implementedto validatethepresentedmethods.
In addition, the effects of the vehicles and bridges
parametersonbridgesresponseareinvestigated.
2 INTERVAL ANALYSISMETHOD
Let I (R), I (R
n
) and I (R
nn
) denote the sets of all
closed real interval numbers, n dimensional real
interval vectors and n n real interval matrices,
respectively. Ris the set of all real numbers. x
I
=
[x, x]={l, x l x|x, x R} is an interval variable
of I (R). x and x are the lower and upper bounds
of x
I
, respectively. Interval variable x
I
can also be
expressedas
where x
c
, x, x
I
and x
F
represent the midpoint
value, maximum width (interval width), uncertain
interval and interval change ratio of the interval
variablex
I
.
The general form of equation of vehicle-bridge
interaction systemwith interval variables, based on
thefirst-orderTaylor seriesexpansion, canbetakenas
Thelower andupper boundscanbecalculatedby
3 VEHICLE-BRIDGE
INTERACTIONMODEL
Inthevehicle-bridgeinteractionsystem, thebridgeis
modeledasasimplysupportedbeamandthevehicleis
representedbyahalf-car model asshowninFigure1.
Here, m
v
, m
1
andm
2
denotethesprungmassandsus-
pension masses respectively; the suspension system
is represented by two linear springs of stiffness k
s1
,
k
s2
and two linear dampers with damping rates C
s1
,
C
s2
; thetires arealso modeledby two linear springs
of stiffnessk
t1
, k
t2
andtwolinear damperswithdamp-
ingratesC
t1
, C
t2
; , E, I andL arethemassper unit
length, elasticmodulus, moment of inertiaandlength
of thebeamrespectively.
Figure1. Vehiclemovingonasimplysupportedbridge.
Theequationof motiongoverningthetransverseor
vertical vibrationof thebridgeandmovingvehiclecan
bewrittenas
where W(x, t) and x
v
(t) are respectively the vertical
displacement of the bridge and vehicle, f (t) is the
contact force, (x vt) is the Dirac delta function
evaluated at thecontact point at position x =vt, and
v isthespeedof themovingvehicle.
Using the modal superposition method, the solu-
tion to Eq. (6) can be expressed as in terms of the
modeshapes
j
(x) andassociatedmodal coordinates
x
bj
(t)
For simply supported beam, themodeshapes of the
bridgearegivenby
After mathematical calculation (Liu, Gao, Song and
Zhang 2011), associated modal coordinates can be
obtainedas
wherea
1
+a
2
=1.
406
Then, thevertical displacementof thebridgecanbe
expressedas
Inthis paper, thecontributionof tires stiffness to
bridgevertical displacement responseis omitteddue
totheassumptionthatthebridgemassismuchgreater
thanthatof thevehicle(YangandLin2005).Actually,
itisnotdifficulttoincludethevehiclesstiffnessinthe
bridgeresponseusingtheDuhamel integral solution.
4 INTERVAL DYNAMIC RESPONSESOF
THE BRIDGE USINGTHE INTERVAL
ANALYSISMETHOD
Vehiclesandbridgesparameters, m
1
, m
2
, m
v
, , E and
I , areconsideredasinterval variables. Bymeansof the
interval operations, theinterval dynamic responseof
structureswithuncertain-but-boundedparameterscan
bedeterminedby usingtheinterval analysismethod.
Themidpoint valueandinterval widthof theinterval
bridgeresponsecanbecomputedby
where symbol
()
and
()
denote the mean value
and standard deviation of the random variable ()
respectively. TheitemsS
1
, S
2
andS
3
aregivenby
The lower and upper bounds of the interval bridge
responsecanbecalculatedby
5 OPTIMIZATIONMETHOD
5.1 Particle swarm optimization algorithms
Particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is a
simple and robust strategy based on the social and
407
cooperative behavior shown by various species like
flock of bird, school of fish and so on. Theconcept
of PSO was proposed by Kennedy and Eberhart in
1995. It hasbecomeoneof themost promisingtech-
niques for solving global optimization problems. In
therecentyears, PSOhasbeensuccessfullyappliedin
manyareas.
Mathematically, thePSOalgorithmisdescribedby
thefollowingexpressions
where V
j,k
represents the previous velocity of parti-
clej at thekth iteration, which serves as a memory
of theprevious flight velocity anddirection. is the
weighting factor employed to control the impact of
previous velocity on thecurrent velocity. C
1
and C
2
areaccelerationcoefficientsindicatingtheweighting
of the stochastic acceleration terms Position W
g,k
is
theglobal best oneinthegroupof all particleswhile
W
j,k
is arecordof thebest solution of particlej over
thepast iterations. W
j,k
represents thepositionof the
jthparticleat thekthiteration.
5.2 LHPSO
Althoughnumerous variants of PSOalgorithms have
been developed and applied in many research areas,
solving optimization problems with high accuracy
and rapid convergence speed is still an important
task. A novel PSO method, called low-discrepancy
sequenceinitializedparticleswarmoptimizationalgo-
rithmwith high-order nonlinear time-varying inertia
weight (LHNPSO), hasbeenproposedbytheauthors
recently. IntheLHNPSO, particles areinitializedby
using low-discrepancy sequences rather than pseudo
randomnumberswhicharewidelyusedinother PSO
algorithms. The LHNPSO uses the constant accel-
eration coefficients C
1
=C
2
=2 and the nonlinearly
decreasing inertial weight is varied according to the
followingformulation
It has been verified that the easily implemented
LHNPSOcanconvergefaster andgiveamuchmore
accurate final solution for a set of benchmark opti-
mization problems, in comparison with theclassical
andother improvedPSOalgorithms.
In this paper, LHNPSO is also adopted to deter-
minethechangerangeof bridgeresponse.Theinterval
bridgeresponseW(x, t) isusedasthefitnessfunction
andthelowerandupperboundsof thisfitnessfunction
arerespectivelythemaximumandminimumvaluesof
theobjectivefunction
Table1. Dataof thevehicle-bridgesystemmodal.
Dataof thebridge Dataof thevehicle
L =40m M
1
=1000kg M
2
=1500kg
E=33GN/m M
v
=17800kg I
v
=150000kgm
2
I =0.15m
4
K
s1
=2.510
6
N/m K
s2
=4.210
6
N/m
P=7800kg/m K
t1
=5.210
6
N/m K
t2
=7.210
6
N/m
a
1
=0.52 A
2
=0.48
C
s1
=9000N/m C
s2
=9600N/m
C
t1
=920N/m C
t2
=960N/m
S=4.27 m
Figure2. Displacement of bridgesmid-span.
6 NUMERICAL EXAMPLE
Thevehicles andbridges parameters areconsidered
as interval variables, and their nominal values (mid-
points) takeninthenumerical simulationareshownin
Table2. Themovingvelocityof vehicleisv =10m/s.
6.1 Interval analysis method
Toinvestigatetheinfluencesof systemparameterson
thebridgeresponse,thedispersal degree(DD)orinter-
val changeratio(ICR) of themchangesfrom0to0.1.
Themidpoint valueand interval width of thebridge
displacementresponseatitsmid-spanaregiveninFig-
ures 2and3, respectively. Figure3(a) shows that the
changesof vehiclesmassesm
1
m
2
, andm
v
producethe
effectsontheinterval widthof thebridgeresponseas
expectedfromEq. (11).Theeffectscausedbysuspen-
sionmassesm
1
andm
2
aresmaller thanthatproduced
bythesprungmassm
v
astheirinterval widthissmaller
whentheinterval changeratiosof thesethreemasses
aresame.Figure3(b)showsthatbridgesYoungsmod-
ulus andmoment of inertiaproducethesameeffects
onthebridgeresponsetoo, whichisgreater thanthat
causedby thedensity. FromFigures 3(a) and3(b), it
canbeeasilyobservedthatthebridgeresponseismore
sensitivetothechangeof itsownparameters,andwhen
thedispersal degreeof systemparameters increases,
theinterval widthalsoincreasessimultaneously.
To verify the results obtained by the presented
method, Monte-Carlo simulation method is adopted.
408
Figure3. Interval widthof bridgesdisplacement.
Figure4. VerificationbyMonte-CarlosimulationMethod.
Figure4 shows that theresults which arecalculated
byusingtheinterval analysismethodagreeverywell
with those are obtained by using MCSM; however,
IAM requiresmuchlesscomputational efforts.
6.2 LHNPSO
In this section, LHNPSO algorithmis used to solve
theproblem.Theparticlesizeis50.Whentheiteration
times are200, thelower andupper bounds of bridge
displacement at mid-spanfoundby theLHNPSOare
listedinTable3.
Toillustratetheeffectivenessof LHNPSO,thelower
and upper bounds of bridge displacement at mid-
span versus theiteration times aregiven in Figure5
Figure 5. Interval bridge displacement at mid-span
(m
1F
= m
2F
= m
vF
=
F
= E
F
= I
F
= 0.1).
while all system parameters are treated as interval
variables.
To further evaluatetheperformances of IAM and
LHNPSO, theboundsof bridgedisplacement at mid-
span aregiven in Figure6 when theinterval change
ratios of all system parameters are changing. The
relativeerrorsarelistedinTable3.
From Figure 6, it can be easily seen that the
changeranges of bridgeresponsecomputedby IAM
are smaller than those determined by LHNPSO. As
the first order Taylor expansion is used in IAM to
calculatetheinterval width, IAM cannot giveacon-
servativeresult. However, IAMrequiresonlyonetime
calculationtoget theresult.
FromTable3, italsocanbeeasilyobtainedthatthe
resultsobtainedbythetwomethodsagreewell asthe
relativeerrorsarenot big. Therelativeerror becomes
bigger and bigger along with theincreaseof change
rangesof systemparameters.Whentheinterval change
ratiois0.1, thebiggest relativeerror is4.7947%.
In summary, when the change ranges of system
parameters become bigger, the differences between
theresultsobtainedbythetwomethodsbecomemore
obvious. LHNPSO can give more accurate results
but requires more computational effort. For impor-
tant structures, it is better touseLHNPSOtopredict
thechangerangesof structural response. IAM isalso
availableformanystructuresasitismuchtime-saving
and its accuracy is acceptable especially when the
intervalsof systeminputsarenot toobig.
409
Table2. Comparisonbounds of thebridges displacement betweenLHNPSO andIAM (All parameters areconsideredas
interval variables)
Upper bounds Lower bounds
IAM Related Related
(All) IAM LHNPSO error IAM LHNPSO error
0.01 6.19247E-03 6.21901E-03 0.4286% 5.88353E-03 5.84539E-03 0.6483%
0.02 6.34693E-03 6.42562E-03 1.2398% 5.72907E-03 5.66405E-03 1.1349%
0.04 6.65587E-03 6.80579E-03 2.2524% 5.42013E-03 5.26994E-03 2.7709%
0.05 6.81033E-03 7.02066E-03 3.0884% 5.26567E-03 5.08843E-03 3.3660%
0.08 7.27373E-03 7.56612E-03 4.0197% 4.80227E-03 4.61136E-03 3.9755%
0.1 7.58266E-03 7.94623E-03 4.7947% 4.49334E-03 4.29587E-03 4.3948%
Figure6. Lower and upper bounds obtained by IAM and
LHNPSO.
7 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, dynamic response of vehicle-bridge
interactionsystemwithboundedparametersisinves-
tigated by using the interval analysis method and
LHNPSO. Theexpressions for calculating thelower
andupperboundsof bridgeresponsehavebeenderived
byusingtheinterval analysismethod. Usingthesefor-
mulations, theintervalscanbeveryeasilyobtainedby
one time calculation. LHNPSO requires more com-
putational effort but it convergent very quickly. The
resultsobtainedbythesetwomethodsareinverygood
agreement with those determined by Monte-Carlo
simulation method. The relative errors of IAM and
LHNPSO arequitesmall whenthechangeranges of
systemparametersarenotbig. Inthefuture, thefinite
element model will beemployedtodescribevehicle-
bridge interaction systems. The IAM and LHNPSO
will be further developed to investigate the non-
deterministic dynamic behaviors of a bridge under
movingvehicles.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work reported in this paper was supported by
theAustralian Research Council through Discovery
Projects.
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Yang, Y. B. & Lin, C. W. 2005. Vehicle-bridge interaction
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Wu, S.Q. & Law, S.S. 2011. Dynamic analysis of bridge
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410
Automaticdynamiccrackpropagationmodelingusingpolygon
scaledboundaryfiniteelements
E.T. Ooi, M. Shi*, C. Song& F. Tin-Loi
State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Z.J.Yang
School of Mechanical, Aerospace & Civil Engineering, the University of Manchester,
Manchester, United Kingdom
ABSTRACT: Thisstudydevelopsasimpleandefficient methodologyfor automaticdynamiccrackpropaga-
tionmodelinginstructures. It uses highorder, arbitrary n-sidedpolygonelements that areconstructedwithin
thescaled boundary finiteelement framework. Each polygon is treated as ascaled boundary finiteelement
subdomain and their governing equations of equilibriumareassembled using standard finiteelement proce-
dures. Polygonmeshes areautomatically generatedfromaDelaunay triangulatedmesh. This methodinherits
all thepositivecharacteristicsof thescaledboundaryfiniteelement method. Ordersof singularitiesof anykind
canbeaccurately representedinaunifiedmanner by generalizedstress intensity factors toevaluatethecrack
propagationcriterionwithout densemeshesaroundthecracktip, special purposeelementsor nodal enrichment
functions. Crackpropagationisefficientlymodeledusingasimple, yetflexibleautomaticlocal remeshingalgo-
rithmthat islinkedtothepre-processingmoduleof acommercial finiteelement packageandcanbeappliedto
anypolygonmesh. Remeshinginvolvesonlypolygonsaroundthecrackandonlyminimallychangestheglobal
meshstructure. Applicationof themethodologytomodel dynamiccrackpropagationproblemsisdemonstrated
bytwonumerical examples. Itisfoundthatthepredicteddynamicfractureparameterse.g. dynamicstressinten-
sityfactor histories, crack velocityhistories, crack lengthhistoriesandcrack pathsshowgoodagreement with
experiment observationsandnumerical simulationsreportedintheliterature.
1 INTRODUCTION
Thescaledboundaryfiniteelementmethod(SBFEM)
is a semi-analytical method that was developed by
Song and Wolf (1999). It is very efficient in mod-
eling problems with stress singularities i.e. cracks,
notchesor material interfaces. Ordersof singularities
of anykindareanalyticallyandaccuratelyrepresented
in the SBFEM solutions (Song et al. 2010). Frac-
turesimulations canbeconductedwithsignificantly
reduced number of degrees-of-freedom(DOF) com-
pared with the finite element method (FEM). This
leadstoasimpleremeshingprocedureandmoreaccu-
rate mesh mapping in crack propagation modeling
(Yang, 2006).
The SBFEM methodologies aforementioned dis-
cretized the computational domain into few large
subdomains.Thisprocedureisveryefficientfor prob-
lems involving single or multiple crack propagation
problemswithfewcracksthat arefar awayfromeach
other. For multipleclosepropagating cracks or time
dependentcrackpropagationproblems, theremeshing
processbecomescumbersomebecauseitisdifficultto
satisfythevisibilitycriterionrequiredbytheSBFEM
subdomains.
Todeal withsuchproblems, Ooi etal. (2012) devel-
oped a generalized implementation of the SBFEM
in the formof arbitrary n-sided polygons (polygon-
SBFEM (P-SBFEM) in this study) for elasto-static
crack propagation problems. In this approach, the
SBFEM isformulatedonarbitrary n-sidedpolygons.
This methodology retains all the positive character-
istics of the SBFEM while at the same time, pro-
vides flexibility inrepresentingevolvingcrack faces
when cracks propagate. Multiple crack propagation
of various complex geometries and crack paths was
successfully modeled by P-SBFEM. This study fur-
ther developstheP-SBFEM tomodel dynamic crack
propagationproblems.
2 POLYGONMESHGENERATION
AnypolygonmeshcanbegeneratedfromaDelaunay
triangulatedmesh. Anexampleisdemonstratedusing
thetriangularmeshshowninFigure1a.Thegeometric
centersof all triangular elementsinthecomputational
domain, and all mid-points of edges of triangular
elementsonitsboundary, arefirstdetermined. Fora
nodein, apolygoncanbeconstructedbyconnecting
411
Figure 1. Polygon mesh generation: a. triangular mesh;
b. polygongenerationin andon; c. polygonmeshwith
backgroundtriangular mesh; d. final polygonmesh.
all thegeometric centers of triangular elements con-
taining the node. For a node on , a polygon can
beconstructed by connecting all thegeometric cen-
ters and triangular edge mid-points surrounding the
node. TheseareshowninFigure1b. Repeatingthese
procedures for all the nodes in leads to a poly-
gonmeshsuperimposedonthetriangularmeshshown
in Figure1c. When thebackground triangular mesh
is removed, a polygon mesh shown in Figure 1d is
obtained.
3 POLYGONSCALEDBOUNDARY FINITE
ELEMENT METHOD
IntheP-SBFEM, eachpolygonistreatedasaSBFEM
subdomain. There are no restrictions to the number
of sides a polygon can have. The scaling center of
eachpolygonis locatedat their geometric centers. A
local coordinatesystem(, ) isattachedtoeachscal-
ing center (see Figure 2). is the radial coordinate.
It is zero at thescaling center and unity at thepoly-
gonboundary. isthelocal circumferential coordinate
andhasarangeof 1 1oneachelement onthe
polygonboundary.
Thedisplacement field, u(, ) ineachpolygonis
whereN isthenumberof DOFinapolygon. u()isthe
displacementintheradial direction. Itssolutioncanbe
Figure 2. Scaled boundary coordinates for a typical
polygon.
derivedfromtheGalerkinweightedresidual method
(Song&Wolf, 1999), resultingin
whereZ isaHamiltonianmatrix andE
i
, i =0, 1and
2arecoefficient matricesthat relatethegeometrythe
strains, displacementsandmaterial propertiesineach
polygon(Songet al. 2010).
Z canbedecoupledintopairsof eigenvalues
i
and
i
using the block-diagonal Schur decomposition
into
whereisatransformationmatrixandS istheeigen-
valuematrixinreal Schurform.Foraboundeddomain,
only the negative eigenvalues in S and correspond-
ing eigenvectors lead to finite displacements at the
scaling center. Denoting these modal displacements
and modal forces as
(u)
and
(q)
, respectively, the
stiffnessmatrixinapolygonis
Thedisplacement solutionis
SubstitutingEquation(7) intoEquation(1) yields
412
c areintegrationconstantsthat canbeextractedfrom
thenodal displacement, u
0
as
Thevelocity andaccelerationfields arethefirst and
secondtimederivativesof Equation(8)
c and c arecomputedfromEquation(9)byreplacingu
0
with u
0
for thevelocitiesand u
0
for theaccelerations.
Thestrainfieldinapolygonis
whereB
1
() andB
2
() arestraindisplacement matri-
ces (Song& Wolf 1999) and
() is astrainmode.
Thestressisrelatedtothestrainby(, )=D(, )
whereD isthematerial constitutivematrix.
Forelasto-dynamicanalysisinthetimedomain, the
consistent mass matrix, M
P
can be computed from
thelowfrequencyexpansionof thedynamicstiffness
matrix(Wolf, 2003). Itisthesolutionof theLyapunov
equation
whereI isanidentitymatrixand
is the material density and |J| is the determinant
of the J acobian matrix (Wolf, 2003). K
P
, M
P
, and
theload vector, p formasystemof linear equations
describingtheequilibriumof apolygon.
Equation15canbeassembledfor eachpolygonasin
theFEM, leadingto
where M, K, P, U and

U are the assembled mass
matrix, stiffness matrix, external load vector, global
displacement vector and global acceleration vector,
respectively. Equation 16 can be solved using stan-
dard timeintegration algorithms e.g. Newmark time
integration(Newmark, 1969).
3.2 Computation of generalized dynamic stress
intensity factors
For a dynamically propagating crack, the dynamic
stressintensityfactors(SIFs) canbedecomposedinto
aproduct of thecrack velocityfunction, k
i
(c) andthe
equilibriumSIFs, K
eq
i
, i =I and II (Freund, 1998).
Figure3. Coordinatesysteminacrackpolygon.
The generalized dynamic SIFs can be written in a
similar formas
where K
i
() is the generalized dynamic SIFs and
K
eq
i
() is thegeneralized equilibriumSIFs. k
i
(c) are
functionsof theshearwavespeed, c
s
, dilatational wave
speed, c
d
andRayleighwavespeed, c
R
A crack is modeled using a polygon shown in
Figure3. K
eq
i
() iscomputedaccordingtoSonget al.
(2010) as
where
(s)
( r, ) and
(s)
r
( r, ) arethecircumferential
andshear stressesfromonly thesingular eigenvalues
in S
(s)
i.e. eigenvalues between 1 and 0 and their
correspondingeigenvectorsin
(s)
.
Thesuperscript (s) implies that thecorresponding
quantitiesarecomputedusingonlysingular eigenval-
ues inS
(n)
.
(s)
L
is thestress modeat acharacteristic
lengthL insidethepolygonandiscomputedas
(s)
(()) contains only the and r components

of strain. This can be obtained by applying a linear
transformationto
() inEquation12.
413
4 CRACK PROPAGATIONMODELLING
4.1 Crack propagation criterion
Thecrackpropagationdirection,
C
canbedetermined
fromthegeneralizeddynamicSIFs.Ateachtimestep,
C
isassumedtobetheanglethatmaximizes
(s)
( r, )
inEquation20.
4.2 Automatic remeshing procedure
TheremeshingprocedureproposedbyOoi etal.(2012)
was very efficient for elasto-static crack propagation
problems. Its generalization to elasto-dynamic crack
propagationwherethecrackpropagationlength,varies
withthecrack velocity, however, canbechallenging.
A moregeneral algorithmisdevelopedinthisstudyto
deal withcomplexcrackpropagationpathsthatdepend
onthecrackvelocity.
TheremeshingprocedureisoutlinedinFigure4for
onecrack propagationstep. Thelocationof thecrack
tipinthenewpolygonmeshisfirst determined(Fig-
ure4a). Next, thetriangleelement inthebackground
mesh containing the new crack tip is located. The
patch of triangles that areconnected to this element
are detected (Figure 4b) and removed. A Delaunay
triangulation is then constructed on theempty patch
(Figure4c).A local polygonmeshof thenewlyformed
Figure4. Local remeshingwithpolygons: a. polygonmesh
with background triangular mesh showing crack tip mesh
and location of new crack tip; b. element patch for local
remeshing; c. local remeshing with triangles and d. new
polygonmesh.
triangular meshcanthenbegenerated, leadingtothe
polygonmeshshowninFigure4d.
Thisremeshingalgorithmislinkedtoacommercial
finiteelementpackage.Itisflexibleandcanbeapplied
toanyarbitrarypolygonmesh.
4.3 Mesh mapping
After remeshing, meshmappingisnecessarytotrans-
fer u(, ), u(, ) and u(, ) fromthe old mesh to
thenew mesh to beused as initial conditions in the
following time step. u(, ), u(, ) and u(, ) are
computed directly fromEquations 8, 10 and 11. For
apoint locatedat Cartesiancoordinates(x
0
, y
0
) inthe
newmeshafterremeshing, thepolygonintheoldmesh
withinwhichthepoint(x
0
, y
0
) islocatedisfirstfound.
ThesearethentransformedintoSBFEM coordinates
(
0
,
0
)intheoldpolygonusingscaledboundarytrans-
formationequations (Song& Wolf, 1999). Thefield
variable in the new mesh can be interpolated using
Equations 8, 10and11by replacing and with
0
and
0
.
5.1 Impact on a notched three-point-bending beam
A notched Polymethlyl methacrylate(PMMA) beam
showninFigure5isconsidered. Thematerial proper-
ties of PMMA are: Youngs modulus, E =2940MPa,
Poissons ratio, v =0.3, density, =1190kgm
3
and
Rayleigh wave speed, c
R
=1064m/s, shear wave
speed, c
s
=941m/s and dilatational wave speed,
c
d
=1710m/s.
Figure 6 shows the polygon mesh of the beam.
It has 317 polygons and 777 nodes. Dynamic frac-
ture simulation of mixed-phase type-A according to
Nishiokaetal.(2001)wasperformed.Thecrackveloc-
ity obtainedfromexperimental measurements drives
thecrackwhilethecomputeddynamicSIFswereused
topredictthecrackpropagationdirection. A timestep
of t =0.004mswasused.
Figure7showsthatthepredicteddynamicSIF his-
tories fromthe P-SBFEM compared very well with
Figure5. Impact onanotchedPMMA beam.
Figure6. Polygonmeshof impactednotchPMMA beam.
414
Figure7. DynamicSIF historiesof notchedPMMA beam.
Figure 8. a. Comparison of predicted crack paths in
impacted PMMA notched beam subjected to three-point
bending; andb. closeupof final polygonmeshatt =0.21ms.
theexperimental measurementsandFEMsimulations
of Nishioka et al. (2001). Figure 8a shows that the
crack path predicted fromP-SBFEM compares very
well with the FEM predictions of Nishioka et al.
(2001). Figure8bshows acloseupof thecrack path
on the polygon mesh at the end of the simulation
(t =0.21ms).
5.2 Mixed-mode crack propagation of an impacted
PMMA specimen with a hole
ThePMMA specimenwithaholeshowninFigure9
andsubjectedtoimpact loadsat bothendsisconsid-
ered. Experimentsonsimilarspecimenswerereported
by Grgorieet al. (2007). Thematerial properties of
the specimen are: Youngs modulus, E =3300MPa,
Poissonsratio,v =0.42,massdensity, =1180kg/m
3
.
Planestrainconditionswereassumed.
Time dependent loads were applied on both ends
of the specimen according to Fedelinski (2011).
A mixed-phasetypeA simulationdefinedbyNishioka
et al. (2001) was performed. The crack is station-
ary between t =0ms till t =0.2ms. It then prop-
agates at c =210m/s. The crack arrests between
0.27mst0.32ms and then propagates again
at c =160m/s until t =0.5ms. A time-step of
t =0.005mswasusedinthesimulation. Twopoly-
gon meshes were used to investigate the sensitivity
Figure9. PMMA specimenwithaholesubjectedtoimpact
loadat bothends.
Figure 10. Initial polygon meshes of PMMA specimen
subjectedtoimpact load: a. coarsemeshandb. finemesh.
of thesolutions tomeshdensity. Thecoarseandfine
polygonmeshesusedareshowninFigure10.
Figures11and12comparethepredicteddynamic
SIF histories and crack paths of theP-SBFEM with
the results fromthe BEM simulation of Fedelinski
(2011), respectively. It isevident frombothplotsthat
theresultsfrombothmethodologiesagreedreasonably
well witheachother.Theslightdifferenceobservedin
SIF histories may bedueto thedifferent methodolo-
giesemployed.Itisalsonotedthattheresultsfromboth
coarseandfinemeshesareverysimilar,indicatingthat
theresultsobjectivetothemeshsize. Figures13aand
13bshowthefinal polygonmeshes at theendof the
simulation.
6 CONCLUSIONS
A methodology to model dynamic crack propaga-
tionwithpolygonelements modeledby SBFEM has
been developed. A distinct feature of the method
is that stress singularities emanating from crack
tips are analytically represented in its solutions.
415
Figure 11. Predicted dynamic SIF histories of impacted
PMMA specimenwithahole.
Figure12. Comparisonof predictedcrackpathsinPMMA
specimensubjectedtoimpact load.
Figure13. Polygonmeshof PMMA specimensubjectedto
impact loadat t =0.5ms: a. coarsemeshandb. finemesh.
Therefore, dynamic SIFs can be directly computed
withsignificantly less DOF comparedwiththeFEM
without any enrichment functions or special treat-
ment. This, together withtheuseof arbitrary n-sided
polygons, allows flexibility not only in meshing but
also in remeshing and mesh mapping. The simple
and yet flexible local remeshing algorithm devel-
oped in this study is capable of remeshing complex
crack patternsinwhichtheir crack propagationpaths
depend on the instantaneous crack velocity and can
belinkedto thepreprocessor moduleof commercial
FEM codes. The efficiency of P-SBFEM in model-
ingdynamiccrackpropagationproblemswasverified
withtwo benchmark examples. Althoughthenumer-
ical examples presented here involve only problems
with a pre-existing crack, crack initiation problems
canalsobemodelede.g. (Ooi et al., 2012a). Thepro-
posed method requires slightly more computational
timethantheFEM toformulatethestiffnessmatrices
of each polygon becauseit requires aSchur decom-
positionof aHamiltonianmatrix, Z. However, given
thesignificant reductioninnumber of DOF andsim-
pleremeshingprocedure, thecomputational timemay
be comparable to that of FEM. An objective com-
parison of both methodologies is difficult to realise.
Inits current form, theSBFEM cannot model mate-
rial nonlinearity. An alternativeSBFEM formulation
isnecessaryfor thispurpose.
REFERENCES
Fedelinski, P. 2011. Computer modelingof dynamicfracture
experiments. Key Engineering Materials, 454: 113125.
Freund,L.B.1998.Dynamic Fracture Mechanics.Cambridge
UniversityPress, Berlin.
Grgorie, D, Maigre, H, Rthor, J, Combescure, A. 2007.
Dynamiccrackpropagationunder mixed-modeloading
comparison between experiments and X-FEM simula-
tions. International Journal of Solids and Structures, 44:
65176534.
Newmark, N.M. 1959. A method of computation for
structural dynamics. ASCE Journal of the Engineering
Mechanics Division, 85: 6794.
Nishioka, T, Tokudome& H, Kinoshita, M. 2001. Dynamic
fracture-path prediction in impact fracture phenomena
using moving finite element method based on Delau-
nay automatic meshgeneration. International Journal of
Solids and Structures, 38: 52735301.
Ooi, E.T, Song, C, Tin-Loi, F & Yang, Z.J. 2012. Polygon
in Engineering, 91: 319342.
Ooi, E.T, Yang Z.J, Guo, Z.Y. 2012a. Dynamic cohesive
crack propagation modeling using the scaled boundary
finiteelementmethod. Fatigue &Fracture of Engineering
Materials & Structures, 35: 786800.
Wolf, J.P. 2003. The scaled boundary finite element method.
J ohnWiley& Sons, West Sussex, England.
Mechanics, 77: 23162336.
Yang, Z.J. 2006. Fully automatic modeling of mixed-mode
crack propagation using scaled boundary finiteelement
method. Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 73: 1711
1731.
416
Dynamicanalysisfor platestructuresbythescaledboundary
finite-element method
T. Xiang, H. Man, C. Song&W. Gao
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: Thispaperpresentsthepreliminaryoutcomeof ourresearchondevelopinganefficienttechnique
for dynamicanalysisof plateandshell structures. Thestaticstiffnessmatrixisconstructedfrom3Dgoverning
equations by usingthescaledboundary finite-element method. Thein-planedimensions of theplates aredis-
cretisedwithhigh-order spectral elementsandnodesarelocatedat Gauss-Lobatto-Legendrequadraturepoints.
Thisnot onlyallowstheproposedtechniquetoaccuratelyhandleplateswithcurvedboundary, but alsoleadsto
adiagonal massmatrix. Thederivedstiffnessandmassmatricesareconsistentwiththoseinconventional FEM.
Standardsolutionprocedures inconventional FEM areappliedto performmodal andtransient analyses. Two
numerical exampleswithdifferent geometriesandboundary conditionsarepresentedtovalidatetheproposed
technique.A parametricstudyisalsoconductedtoinvestigatetheeffectsof theselectedtimestep, elementmesh
andloadingcases onthetransient responseanalysis. Theresults obtainedfromtheproposedtechniqueshow
highaccuracyandconvergencerate. Furthermore, thecomparisonwithFEM alsohighlightsthat theproposed
techniqueisabletoachievesuperior computational efficiencyindynamicanalysisof platestructures.
Keywords: Modal analysis, transient response analysis, scaled boundary finite-element method, spectral
element, platestructures
1 INTRODUCTION
Platesandshellsareoneof themostfundamental com-
ponents in civil engineering, mostly used in bridge
decks, slabfloorsandflatroofs. Inthoseapplications,
thestructuresareoftensubjectedtomovableloadings
and wind impacts, occasionally subjected to earth-
quakes. Thedynamicanalysisof suchstructuresplays
animportant roleinorder toassuretheir safety inall
thosecivil applications.
Analytical approach was first used to analysethe
plate structures (Young 1950). A great amount of
researchusinganalytical approacheshasbeencarried
out over past decadestostudythedynamicbehaviour
of plate/shell structures. However, this approach is
always limited to simple geometries and boundary
conditions(Reddy2006) andthisleadstothedevelop-
ment of numerical techniques suchas finite-element
methodfor practical analysisof plate/shell structures.
A vast amount of reviews on plate vibration is pro-
vided by Leissa (1987) and Liew (1995). Mohamad
etal. (2010) andYangetal. (2000) haveconductedsur-
veys andprovideddetails onthedevelopment of the
finite-element methodsfor modal andtransient anal-
ysis of shells. In theliterature, theReissner-Mindlin
assumptions have been widely used in the develop-
mentof plate/shell elements(Naginoetal. 2008). The
accuracy of thenatural frequency obtained by those
elements is improvedby takingaccount of theshear
deformation and rotatory inertiaeffects for both the
stiffnessandmassmatrices. However, it isfoundthat
therearepotential defects such as theshear locking
or membrane locking phenomena in the Reissner-
Mindlin plate/shell elements. Those phenomena are
dueto theover-stiff behaviour of theplates/shells as
theshearormembranecomponentdominatesthestiff-
ness matrix when the plate/shell structures become
increasinglythin(Zienkiewicz andCheung1967).
Anearly remedy of thelockingphenomenais the
so-calledreducedintegration(Hugheset al. 1977), in
whichalower order quadraturewasusedinthetrans-
verseshear energy term. However, theelementswith
thereducedintegrationcouldsuffer fromarankdefi-
cientstiffnessmatrixforsomeboundaryconditions.To
overcomethis problem, additional stabilisationtech-
niques are applied (Belytschko et al. 1989). On the
other hand, anumber of elementsaredevelopedbased
onthestrainor stressmethod(LeeandHan2001; Lee
2004)andthoseelementsshowtheabilitytoovercome
theshear andmembranelocking.
Recently, aunifiedtechniquetosolveplatebending
problems by scaled boundary finite-element method
wasproposedbytheauthorsinManetal. (2012).This
techniqueshows highperformanceinanalysingboth
thick and thin plates with various geometries with-
out showinganyshear lockingphenomena. Themain
417
goal of thisworkistoextendthedevelopedtechnique
for thedynamic analysis of platestructures. Thein-
plane dimensions of the plates are discretised with
high-order spectral elementsandnodesarelocatedat
Gauss-Lobatto-Legendrequadraturepoints. This not
onlyallowstheproposedtechniquetoaccuratelyhan-
dleplates with curved boundary, but also leads to a
diagonal mass matrix for linear isotropic materials.
Thecomparison with FEM is presented to highlight
thattheproposedtechniqueisabletoachievesuperior
computational efficiency.
This paper is outlined as follows. Firstly, thefun-
damental equations of the scaled boundary finite-
element methodfor platebendingaresummarisedin
section2. Thederivationof themassmatrix for plate
structuresispresentedinsection3. Subsequently, two
numerical examplesaregiventoshowtheperformance
of the proposed technique. Finally, the paper closes
withsomeconcludingremarks.
2 SUMMARY OF SCALEDBOUNDARY
FINITE-ELEMENT METHODFOR PLATE
BENDING
Thescaledboundary finite-element methodfor plate
bendingproblemissummarizedinthissection. Only
thekeyequationsarelistedhere. Thedetailedderiva-
tionisgivenbyManet al. (2012). Unliketheconven-
tional scaledboundarytransformation, wherethescal-
ingcentreis insidetheproblemdomainfor bounded
medium, thescalingcentreisconsideredtobeplaced
atinfinitive. Figure1showsasquareplateof constant
thicknesst. Thescalingdirectionisusedtorepresent
thethicknessdirectionof theplateandthepathsinthe
scaling direction fromthebottomsurfaceto thetop
surfaceof theplateareassumedtobeparallel toeach
other.
Thegeometryof anelementisobtainedbyinterpo-
latingthenodal coordinates{x} and{y} usingtheshape
function[N(, )] formulatedinthelocal coordinate
and:
Alongthescalingdirection, thedisplacement vari-
ations are expressed analytically by function {u(z)}.
Figure1. Threedimensional scaled boundary coordinates
withscalingcentreat infinitive.
Byapplyingtheprincipleof virtual work, theinternal
nodal forcefor platestructuresisderivedas
Satisfyingthevirtual workequationalsobrings
where[E
0
], [E
1
], [E
2
] arethescaledboundaryfinite-
element coefficient matrices.
CombiningEquations(3)and(4), thescaledbound-
ary finite-element equationindisplacement for plate
structuresisexpressedas
In order to simplify the nomenclature, the same
symbolsof thedisplacementfunctionsandcoefficient
matricesareusedfor theassembledequationsandfor
theelement equations.
Thehomogeneous second-order differential equa-
tion given by Equation (5) with n unknown
displacement functions {u(z)} are equivalent to the
first-order ordinary differential Equation (3) and
(4) with 2n unknowns. By introducing the variable
{X(z)} =
{u(z)}
{q(z)}
, the general scaled boundary

finite-element solutionisgivenas:
where{c} aretheintegrationconstantsand[Z] isthe
coefficient matrix
To eliminatetheintegration constants, theboundary
conditionsonbottom(z
1
=0) andtop(z
2
=t) surface
areapplied, wheret isthethicknessof theplate. Pad
expansionisappliedtoevaluatethematrixexponential
e
[Z]t
suchthat
where[P] and[Q] areexpressedas
Theforce-displacementrelationshipcanbeobtainedas
418
with[S] istheglobal stiffnessmatrix
where[P
ij
] and[Q
ij
] aresubmatrices of [P] and[Q].
The3Ddegrees-of-freedom(DOFs) inEquation(11)
aretransformedtothoseintypical plateanalysiswith
transformationmatrix
By applyingthecorrespondingtransformationto the
forcevector as well as with Equations (9) and (10),
Equation(11) finallybecomes
wherethestaticstiffnessmatrix[K] isexpressedas
with
Thisgivesthestiffnessmatrixforplateanalysiswith
therotationsaboutthein-planeaxes(
x
and
y
)andthe
out-of-planedeflection(w) astheindependent DOFs.
3 DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF PLATES
According to thesemi-discreteapproach, thematrix
differential equationof motionwithout dampingcan
bewrittenas
where [K] is the global stiffness matrix and [M] is
theglobal mass matrix. {u} represents thedegree-of-
freedom[
x
,
y
, w]
T
at eachnodal pointsfor theplate
structures.
ApplyingLegendre-Gauss-Lobatointegrationleads
toadiagonal massmatrix. A typical 33sub-matrix
of [M]
ij
relatedtotheithandjthnodesisexpressedas
where is the density and [H] is a transforma-
tionmatrix toconsistently transformthemassmatrix
related to 3D DOFs to the mass matrix related to
{
x
}, {
y
}, {w}.
For a2Delement, theshapefunctionsareobtained
bytheproductof the1Dshapefunctionalong and
directions:
The Gauss-Lobatto-Legendre shape functions are
Lagrange polynomials and the shape functions are
equal toeither 1or 0at eachnode, sothat
wherem is thelocal nodenumber, p is theorder of
element and denotestheKronecker delta. Whenthe
Gauss-Lobatto-Legendre quadrature is used for the
numerical integration, theintegrationpointscoincide
withthenodes. Theweightsat thepoint m are
By usingtheaboveshapefunctionandtheGauss-
Lobatto-Legendre weights factor, Equation (19) is
expressedas
wheren
d
isthetotal numberof nodesof the2Delement
and[M]
ij
isnon-zeroonlywheni =j =k, thisresults
inadiagonal massmatrix:
Theaccuracyandefficiencyof theproposedtechnique
areexaminedbyusingtwonumerical examples. Ana-
lytical solutionsandfinite-element resultsareusedin
this section for comparison. The convergence com-
parison is based on the total number of nodes in
themesh. To fully assess theaccuracy of thepresent
technique, the selected meshes are fine enough to
be used to calculate the natural frequencies of the
modes shown in theexamples below. Poissons ratio
=0.3, Youngs modulus E =2.110
11
N/m
2
are
usedinall theexamplesbelow.Thenatural frequencies
areobtained fromeigendecomposition of thematrix
differential equationasshowninEquation(18) when
thereis no external load. Assumingasolutionof the
419
Figure2. Circular platewithorder 6elements.
form{u} ={V}e
it
andsubstituting{u} intothematrix
differential equationyields
Theeigenproblemcan bepresented in a standard
formwithadiagonal massmatrix[M]
whereA isasymmetricmatrixgivenby
Asthemassmatrix[M] isdiagonal, thesparsepattern
of [K] doesnot change.
4.1 Circular plates
The first numerical example is a circular plate with
radius R. Theplateis under clamped boundary con-
dition. All the three degree of freedoms along the
thicknessof theedgearesettobezero. Figure2shows
ascaledboundary finite-element circular platemesh
usingorder 6elementswith457nodes. Thefourteen
lowest natural frequencies are calculated using the
mesh shown in Figure 2 with aspect ratio
2R
t
=10
2
.
Theanalytical solutionsof thenatural frequenciesfor
the clamped thin circular plate are given by Leissa
(1969). Figure 3 shows the error of the natural fre-
quencies obtained fromthe proposed technique and
other recent developedelementsincludingCS-DSG3
(Nguyen-Thoi et al. 2012), ANS4 (Lee 2004) and
ANS9(LeeandHan2001) withsimilar total number
of nodes.Theresultsshowthattheproposedtechnique
is able to achieve higher accuracy and the average
error is0.09%.
In order to show the performance of high-order
spectral elements, three plate meshes with element
order 4, 6 and 8 are employed in this study. The
Figure 3. Comparison of fourteen normalized lowest
natural frequenciesof aclampedcircular plate.
Figure 4. Error for the first 50 natural frequencies for
clampedcircular plate(7009nodes).
first 50natural frequenciesarecalculatedbythepro-
posed technique. Thetotal numbers of nodes for all
thethreemeshesare7009. Theaspectratio
R
t
=10
4
is
consideredto highlight that the proposed technique
is free of shear locking. Figure 4 shows the results
of natural frequencies. In general, the results agree
well withtheanalytical solutionfor all thethreeplate
meshes. Meanwhile, it canbeobservedthat theerror
increases for higher natural frequencies. The figure
also shows that for thesametotal number of nodes,
higher order spectral elementsyieldimprovedresults
over lower order elements, especiallyfor thehighnat-
ural frequencies. Neverthelss, themaximumerror for
themeshwithelementorder 8islessthan0.007%and
for themeshwithelement order 4isbelow0.04%.
4.2 Square plates
In the second numerical example, an isotropic thin
squareplatewith simply supported boundary condi-
tion is modeled. Figure5 shows asquareplatewith
length(L) andameshwithorder 4elements. Similar
420
Figure5. Squareplatemeshwithorder 4elements.
Figure 6. Error for the first 50 natural frequencies for a
simplysupportedsquareplate(2401nodes).
tothefirstexample, threesquareplatemesheswiththe
sametotal number of nodes arechosenhereto show
theaccuracy of thefirst 50 natural frequencies. The
plateis with aspect ratio
L
t
=10
4
. Theresults calcu-
latedbytheproposedtechniquearecomparedwiththe
analytical solution(Leissa1969) givenby
withthebendingstiffness
Figure6showsthatthenatural frequenciesobtained
bytheproposedtechniqueagreewell withtheanalyt-
ical solutions. Similar to thecircular plate, with the
samenumber of nodes, higher order spectral element
has better performance, especially for the high nat-
ural frequencies. In order to highlight theefficiency
Figure 7. Convergence rate of the normerror for simply
supportedsquareplate.
Figure8. Computational timeof thenormerror for simply
supportedsquareplate.
and accuracy of the proposed technique, the natu-
ral frequenciescalculatedby FEM for thesameplate
areemployedfor comparison. Thenormerror of the
first 50natural frequenciesiscalculatedfor thethree
chosenelement orderswithhrefinement toconduct
convergence study. Figure 7 shows the relationship
betweenthenormerrorandthetotal numberof nodes.
It canbeseenthat theproposedtechniqueconverged
rapidly, especially withhighorder spectral elements.
Theefficiency of theproposedtechniqueisshownin
Figure8.Thecomputational timeof theproposedtech-
nique is measured starting fromthe construction of
thecoefficientmatricestill thenatural frequenciesare
computed. Theproposedtechniqueisimplementedin
MATLAB andtheFEM resultsareobtainedbyusing
thecommercial packageANSYSV13. It canbeseen
fromFigure 8 that the proposed technique requires
lesscomputational effort toachievethesamelevel of
accuracy.
The transient response is evaluated by integrat-
ing Equation (18) directly in the time domain. The
421
Figure 9. Vertical displacements of simply supported
squareplateat centrepoint for t
2
=0.025
2
25
.
mesh used for the proposed technique is chosen to
be a 6 by 6 order 8 elements. In this example, a
uniform pressure p(t) is applied at the plate sur-
face. The pressure varies as a triangular impulse in
the time domain. It reaches its peak value when p
at time t =

25
, reduces to 0 at t =
2
25
and stays
at 0 afterward.
25
represents the 25th natural fre-
quency.Thetimeintegrationiscarriedoutbyusingthe
Newmarks method with =0.5 and =0.25. The
timestepisselectedast =0.025
2
25
. Thevertical
displacement responsesat thecentrepoint areplotted
inFigure9. Theresults fromtheproposedtechnique
arecomparedwithfinite-elementresultswiththesame
time step. It can be seen that the vertical displace-
ment responses at the centre point agree well with
finite-element solutions.
5 CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a technique to conduct
dynamic analysis of platestructures usingthescaled
boundary finite-element method. Theproposedtech-
nique can be used to analyse plate structures with
curved boundary accurately as shown in the first
example. The results of both examples show that
theproposed techniquecan achievehigher accuracy
withless computational effort whencomparingwith
FEM. Theresultsalsoshowthat higher order spectral
elementshavebetter overall performance.
REFERENCES
Belytschko, T., B. Wong, andH. Stolarski (1989). Assumed
strain stabilisation procedurefor the9-nodeLagrangian
shell element. International Journal for Numerical
Methods in Engineering 28(2), 385414.
Hughes, T., L. R. Taylor, and W. Kanokukulchai (1977).
A simple and efficient finite element for plate bend-
ing. International Journal for Numerical Methods in
Engineering 11(10), 15291543.
Lee, S. (2004). Freevibrationanalysis of plates by usinga
four-nodefiniteelementformulatedwithassumednatural
transverse shear strain. Journal of Sound and Vibration
278(3), 657684.
Lee, S. andS. Han(2001). Freevibrationanalysis of plates
andshellswithanine-nodeassumednatural degenerated
shell element. Journal of Sound and Vibration 241(2),
605633.
Leissa, A. (1969). Vibrations of Plates. Washington, DC.:
NASA SP-160.
Leissa, A. (1987). Recent research in plate vibrations
classical theory: 19811985 classical theory. Shock
Vibration Digest 13(17), 1118.
Liew, K. (1995). Researchonthickplatevibratin: aliterature
survey. Journal of Sound andVibration 180(45), 163176.
Man, H., C. Song, W. Gao, and F. Tin-Loi (2012). A
unified 3D-based technique for plate bending analysis
using scaled boundary finite-element method. Interna-
tional Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering,
DOI:10.1002/nme.4280.
Mohamad, S., W. S. Rani, and W. Wang (2010). Recent
research advances in the dynamic behavior of shell:
20002009. Compoise Structures 93(1), 1431.
Nagino, H., T. Mikami, and T. Mizusawa (2008). Three-
dimensional free vibration analysis of isotropic rectan-
gular plates using theB-splineRitz method. Numerical
Methods and Software for DynamicAnalysis of Plates and
Shells 317(1), 329353.
Nguyen-Thoi, T., P. Phung-Van, H. Nguyen-Xuan, and
C. Thai-Hoang (2012). A cell-based smoothed discrete
shear gapmethodusingtriangular elementsfor staticand
freevibrationanalysesof Reissner-Mindlinplates. Inter-
74, DOI:10.1002/nme.4289.
Reddy, J. (2006). Theory and Analysis of Elastic Plates and
Shells. BocaRaton: CRC Press.
Yang, H., S. Saigal, A. Masud, andR. Kapania(2000). A sur-
veyof recent shell finiteelements. International Journal
for Numerical Methods in Engineering 47, 101127.
Young, D. (1950). Vibration of rectangular plates by the
Ritz method. ASME Applied Mechaniics Reviews 17(3),
448453.
Zienkiewicz, O. C. and Y. K. Cheung (1967). The Finite
Element Method in Structural and Continuum Mechan-
ics: Numerical Solution of Problems in Structural and
Continuum Mechanics. London: McGraw-Hill.
422
Earthquake & wind engineering
A newlydevelopedanalytical model of transient downburst windloads
E. Abdelaal, X. Ma& J.E. Mills
School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA, Australia
ABSTRACT: As themaincauseof many past failures, downburst windevents havebeenprovento beone
of themost serious threats tolongspanstructural systems suchas transmissionlinesystems. Whilst thereare
many experimental and numerical studies for simulating these types of loads, there is a need for analytical
andempirical modelstofacilitatetheapplicationof theseloadstostructural systems. Inaddition, theprevious
analytical modelshavesomeinconsistencieswhencomparedwithrecordedfielddataandexperimental results.
Inthispaper, ananalytical model hasbeenestablishedtomatchrecent dataupdates. Thevertical andhorizontal
profilesof downburstwindspeedhavebeenadjusted,andthedownburstintensityandtheparentstormtranslation
speedhavebeenimproved.Thusafull scaletransientdownburstmodel inthefour dimensions(x,y,z,t) withhigh
accuracyispresented. Finally, anexampleispresentedtoshowtheapplicationandaccuracyof thenewmodel.
1 INTRODUCTION
Wind loads represent theprevalent critical loads for
light structural systemssuchastransmissionlinesys-
tems. Considering the synoptic wind loads alone is
not acceptablewhenmorethan90%of transmission
towers failures in Australia are due to severe thun-
derstorms such as downburst events (Li 2000). In
addition, reportsof extremewindspeedsinAustralia
havehighlighted theimportanceof downburst loads
in that they are the extreme wind at 10m height
(Holmes2002).Althoughthereareseveral experimen-
tal and numerical models for simulating downburst
windsthereisstill aneedfordevelopinganalytical and
empirical modelstosimplifytheanalysesof structural
systemsunder thesetypesof loads.
Oseguera&Bowles(1988)introducedthefirstana-
lytical model for simulating downburst wind speed.
They developed a pair of shaping functions which
wereabletodepictvelocityprofilesmatchingTerminal
AreaSimulationSystems(TASS) (Proctor 1987) and
employed the mass continuity equation for deriving
thecorrespondingpair of equations to determinethe
downburst velocityfield. Vicroy(1991) enhancedthe
previousmodel byimprovingtheradial shapingfunc-
tion of horizontal wind velocity and then improved
the vertical shaping function for vertical profile of
horizontal windvelocity(Vicroy1992).
Holmes&Oliver (2000) movedawayfromthepre-
vious analytical model and developed an empirical
model fordescribingthehorizontal distributionof hor-
izontal windspeed. Theyinsertedtheeffect of parent
stormtranslationspeedandtheconcept of downburst
decay.Woodetal.(2001)presentedanempirical model
for thevertical distributionof horizontal windspeed.
Theabovetwo empirical models matchtheavailable
field and numerical data, but they arelimited to the
horizontal windspeed.
Chay et al. (2006a) applied the modifications of
Holmes & Oliver (2000) to the previous analytical
models of Oseguera & Bowles (1988) and Vicroy
(1992) andimprovedthefunctionof downburstdecay.
They suggested that the radius of maximum wind
speedshouldbeafunctionof timeandthat theheight
corresponding to maximumwind speed should bea
function of distance from downburst centre. How-
ever, they did not improve the shaping functions of
thevelocityprofileswhichareessential inthedesign
of thelongspanstructures. Chay et al. (2006b) then
developedtheshapingfunctionof thehorizontal speed
profilesbyreplacingtheradial shapingfunctionsof the
horizontal wind speed in theearlier model by Wood
et al.s (2001) function, but they didnot consider the
mass continuity equationwhichcontrols therelation
betweenthevertical andthehorizontal windspeeds.
Inthispaper, anewpairof shapingfunctionswhich
fit the profiles of horizontal downburst wind speed
andmatchtheavailablefieldandnumerical datahas
beendeveloped. Thenthemasscontinuityequationis
usedforderivingthecorrespondingvertical downburst
windprofiles. Finally, themodificationsof Holmes&
Oliver (2000) and Chay et al. (2006a) have been
improvedandinsertedintothemodel.
2 PREVIOUSANALYTICAL MODEL
Oseguera& Bowles (1988) andVicroy (1991) estab-
lished an analytical model for simulating downburst
windloads by solvingthemass continuity equations
withassumingapair of shapingfunctionswhichwere
abletosimulatevelocityprofilesmatchingTASS.
425
The mass continuity equation for axisymmetric
steadystateflowincylindrical coordinatesis:
Thisequationcanbesolvedbythefollowingform:
Providedthat
wheref (r) andp(z) aretheradial andvertical shaping
functionsof thehorizontal windspeeds, respectively,
g(r)
2
andq(z) aretheradial andvertical shapingfunc-
tions of thevertical windspeeds, respectively, is a
scalingfactor.
The selected shaping functions for Vicroy (1991)
andVicroy(1992) modelswere:
Theresultant equationsof thehorizontal andverti-
cal windspeedmay beobtainedby combiningthese
shapingfunctionsasshowninequations(10) and(11).
3 MODIFIEDMODEL
3.1 Model development
There is a remarkable difference between the redial
andvertical shapingfunctionsintheexistinganalyti-
cal modelsandtherecordedfieldandnumerical data
mainly at lowaltitude. As animprovement, to match
Figure1. Comparisonof normalisedhorizontal windpro-
filesalongtheradial.
theavailabledataof thehorizontal and vertical pro-
filesof horizontal downburstwindspeed, newshaping
functions p(z) andf (r) withhigher accuracy may be
definedas:
where, , and aretheshapingfunctionparame-
tersfor radial profileof thehorizontal windspeed. c
1
andc
2
aretheshapingfunctionparametersforvertical
profileof thehorizontal windspeed.
Figure 1 shows the shape of the profile of the
newfunctionf (r) andshapesof thepreviousanalyti-
cal modelsof Oseguera& Bowles(1988) andVicroy
(1991) andtheempirical model of Holmes & Oliver
(2000). The new shaping function compares well
withthemeandataof radar observationbyHjelmfelt
(1988).
Figure2showstheshapeof thenewfunctionp(z)
and the shapes of the previous analytical models of
Oseguera & Bowles (1988) and Vicroy (1992). The
present shaping function agrees well with Woods
model (2001), thenumerical resultsof Kim&Hangan
(2007) andMcConvilleet al. (2009).
Theradial andvertical shapingfunctionsof thever-
tical wind profiles g(r
2
) and q(z) havebeen derived
fromequations4and5, respectivelyas:
Figure 3 shows the characteristic shape of the
new function g(r
2
). The presented analytical model
426
Figure2. Comparisonof thevertical profilesof normalised
horizontal winds.
Figure3. Comparisonof normalisedvertical windprofiles
alongtheradial.
Figure 4. Comparison of vertical profiles of normalised
vertical winds.
matches TASS. The characteristic shape of the new
functionq(z) isshowninFigure4.
Thedevelopedequationsforthehorizontal andver-
tical windspeedcanbeobtainedthroughcombining
thedevelopedshapingfunctionsbyusingequations(2)
and(3):
By taking the derivatives of equations 16 and 17
withrespect tor andz andsubstitutinginequation1,
thenewmodel satisfiesthecontinuityequation.
3.2 Model characteristics
The radial shaping function of the horizontal wind
velocity has been established with keeping theloca-
tionof maximumhorizontal speedat r
m
, wherer
m
is
the radius at the location of the maximumhorizon-
tal velocity. Thevalues of theparameters , , and
which realizethehorizontal location of maximum
horizontal velocity at r
m
and theshaping profileare
0.85, 2.0, 0.6and1.05, respectively. Thevalueof r
m
canbeassumedasaratioof R, whereR istheradius
of thedownburst shaft. Hjelmfelt (1988) determined
fromtherecordedfielddatathat themaximumradial
velocityoccursat distance1.5R to2.0R fromthecen-
tre line of divergence. Chay et al. (2006a) reported
fromexperimental andnumerical simulationthat, the
maximumoutflow speed occurs at distance 2.0R to
2.5R.
Thevertical shapingfunctionof thehorizontal wind
velocityhasbeenestablishedbymaintainingtheheight
of maximumhorizontal speedat z
m
, wherez
m
is the
elevationat thelocationof thepeak horizontal wind
speed. The corresponding values of the parameters
c
1
and c
2
and have been calculated to be 0.133 and
1.1534, respectively. Thevalueof z
m
canbeassumed
according to thenumerical and field data. Hjelmfelt
(1988) statedthatthemaximumradial velocityisnear
thegroundandtypically at height from50to 100m.
Hanganet al. (2003) computedthemaximumveloc-
ity at height=0.04R to 0.06R. Mason et al. (2009)
statedfromnumerical simulationof downburst wind
loads that themaximumvelocity occurs at elevation
z
m
=0.022R andthis ratio decreases withincreasing
downburst diameter.
Thecharacteristic height z
inFigure2is defined
as thealtitudeat which themagnitudeof horizontal
speedishalf of themaximumspeed. Thevalueof z
hasbeenpresentedbydifferentresearchers.TASSdata
statedthat themaximumhorizontal velocityoccursat
height0.22z
, meaningthatz
=z
m
/0.22. Oseguera&
Bowles (1988) and Vicroy (1991) kept the same
definition but later Vicroy (1992) changed z
m
to be
0.15z
. Woodet al. (2001) statedthat z

m
=0.17z
.
427
Figure5. Normalisedradial velocityversustime.
3.3 Downburst intensity factor
Therecordedfielddatarevealsthevariationof down-
burststrengthwithtime. Downburststrengthincreases
fromthefirstobserveddivergencetomaximuminten-
sity,thenafterthatitquicklydecays.Figure5showsthe
changeof downburst intensity with time. Holmes &
Oliver (2000) introduced the concept of downburst
decay to their empirical model through multiplying
theradial velocitybyanintensitydecayfunction. Chay
(2006a) developedthedecayfunctionthroughconsid-
ering5minutesfor linear intensificationperiod, then
an exponential decay. However, Wilson et al. (1984)
statedfromrecordedfielddatathat, morethan90%of
downbursts reach their intensification period within
10min. Thecurrent work has improvedtheintensity
decayfunctiontobeconsistentwiththerecordedfield
data of Wilson et al. (1984) and Hjelmfelt (1988).
Therevisedintensitydecayfunctionhasthefollowing
form:
wheret isthetimeinminutesfromthestartof theevent
andnineandfifteenminutesarechosenfor theinten-
sificationandthedecaytimeperiods, respectively.The
present intensity functionismoreconsistent withthe
average profile of Hjelmfelt (1988) observations as
showninFigure5.
3.4 Storm translation speed
Thestormtranslation speed increases thedownburst
velocityinthefrontof thestormandreducesthedown-
burst speed in the rear. This stormspeed can be up
to 1/3of thespeedof thedownburst (Holmes 1999).
Vicroy (1991) noted that the microburst translation
speed reached 15m/s fromNorthern Illinois Mete-
orological Research on Downbursts Data recorded
on 29 May 1987. Holmes (2001) concluded that the
forward velocity of the moving stormis a signifi-
cant component, andmust beaddedtothedownburst
event.
Holmes & Oliver (2000) addedthestormtransla-
tion speed to their empirical model. Themodel was
establishedfor thehorizontal speedat afixedheight
(10m). The storm translation speed (the boundary
layer wind speed) is known by their profile which
changes with height. One of the simplest equations
that represents theprofileis thepower lawequation
(19) (Holmes 2001). This equation relates thestorm
translationspeedat anyheight tothat at 10mheight.
WhereU
10
isthemeanwindspeedat the10mheight
and isdependent ontheterrainroughness.
3.5 Final model
Basedonthemodificationsuggestedabove, thenew
analytical model will takethefollowingform.
Thewindspeednowisafunctionof thehorizontal
coordinate x and y instead of r due to the vec-
tor summation of thetranslation speed U
trans
. Using
this model, themaximumhorizontal velocity can be
expressedasequation(22) andthemaximumvertical
velocityat r =0andz =z
h
givenbyequation(23).
The scaling factor can be determined fromeither
equation(22) or equation(23) as:
428
4 CASE STUDY
Two cases arepresentedto showtheapplication and
accuracyof thenewmodel.Theresultfromthepresent
model, is also compared with Chay et al.s (2006a)
result.
Inthefirstcase, thedistributionof horizontal wind
speed on a vertical object with height of 90m at
location of 2000mfromthe centre of the stormis
investigated. Basicparametersare: r
m
=2000m, z
m
=
40m, u
max
=60m/s, U
10
=13m/s, terrainroughness
=0.13andintensityfactor =1.0.
Thevertical distributionof horizontal windonthe
objectisshownin(Figure7a). Itisclear thatthereisa
significant differencebetweenthepresent model and
theprevious models at heights less thanz
m
. This dif-
ferenceisexpectedbecausethepreviousmodelshave
been established on thebasis of theold models that
wereforthepurposeof aeronautical safetywherewind
speedsat lowlevelswerenot of primaryimportance.
In thesecond case, along horizontal object simi-
lar toatransmissionlinesystemwithspanof 4000m
at elevationof 30mis consideredwiththedistances
Figure6. Horizontal projection of thedownburst and the
object.
Figure 7. Comparison of recent analytical model and the
present model: (a) Vertical distribution of horizontal wind
speed on an object located at 2000mfromthe centre of
thestorm; and(b) Horizontal distributionof horizontal wind
speedonanobject locatedasshowninFigure6.
from the centre of storm and the object as shown
in (Figure 6). The distribution of horizontal wind is
shownin(Figure7b). Itisclear thatthepresentmodel
is more accurate than the previous model and the
profile of the present model matches the profile
of thefielddatain(Figure1).
5 CONCLUSIONS
Analytical simulations for downburst wind loads are
importanttofacilitatetheapplicationof thesetypesof
loads to structural systems. Previous analytical mod-
els did not depict the actual profile of vertical and
horizontal windspeed. Inthispaper, anewanalytical
model has beendeveloped, whichis ableto simulate
the actual profile of downburst wind loads. Several
developmentshavebeenpresented:
A newpair of shapingfunctions whichareableto
simulatethehorizontal andvertical profilesof hori-
zontal windspeedandmatchtheavailablefieldand
numerical datahavebeendeveloped.
The horizontal and vertical profiles of the verti-
cal wind speed have been derived by using mass
continuityequation.
Downburst intensity factor has been developed to
matchtherecordedfielddata.
The parent storm speed has been improved to
becomeafunctionof height.
REFERENCES
Chay, MT., Albermani, F. & Wilson, R. 2006a. Numeri-
cal and analytical simulation of downburst wind loads.
Engineering Structures. 28(2): 240254.
Chay, MT., Albermani, F. & Hawes, H. 2006b. Wind loads
ontransmissionlinestructures insimulateddownbursts.
First World Congress on Asset Management, Gold Coast,
Australia.
Hangan, H., Roberts, D., Xu, Z., & Kim, J. 2003. Down-
burstsimulation, Experimental andnumerical challenges.
Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on
Wind Engineering, Lubbock, Texas, Electronic Version,
Lubbock, TX.
Hjelmfelt, MR. 1988. StructureandLifeCycleof Microburst
Outflows Observed in Colorado. Journal of Applied
Meteorology, 27(8): 900927.
Holmes, J D. 1999. Modellingof extremethunderstormwinds
for windloadingof structures andrisk assessment. Pro-
ceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Wind
Engineering.Vol.2,Balkema,Rotterdam,pp.14091416.
Holmes, J D. 2001. Wind Loading of Structures, SponPress,
London.
Holmes J D. 2002. A Re-analysis of RecordExtremeWind
Speeds in Region A. Australian Journal of Structures
Engineering. 4(1): 2940.
Holmes, J D. & Oliver, SE. 2000. An empirical model of a
downburst. Engineering Structures. 22(9): 11671172.
Kim, J. & Hangan, H. 2007. Numerical simulations of
impinging jets with application to downbursts. Journal
of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics. 95(4):
279298.
429
Li, CQ. 2000. A stochastic model of severethunderstorms
for transmission line design. Probabilistic Engineering
Mechanics. 15(4): 359364.
McConville, AC., Sterling, M. &Baker, CJ. 2009. Thephys-
ical simulation of thunderstorm downbursts using an
impingingjet. Wind and Structures. 12(2):133149.
Mason, MS., Wood, GS. & Fletcher, DF. 2009. Numer-
ical simulation of downburst winds. Journal of Wind
Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics. 97(1112):
523539.
Oseguera, R.M. and Bowles, R.L. 1988, A simple, ana-
lytic3-dimensional downburst model basedonboundary
layer stagnation flow. NASA Technical Memorandum,
p-100632.
Proctor, F. H. 1987. TheTerminal AreaSimulationSystem.
Volume I: Theoretical Formulation. NASA CR-4046,April
1987.
Proctor, F. H. 1987. TheTerminal AreaSimulationSystem.
Volume II:Verification Cases. NASACR-4046,April 1987.
Vicroy, D. 1991. A simple, analytical, axisymmetric
microburst model for down- draft estimation. NASA
Technical Memorandum, 104053.
Vicroy, D. 1992.Assessmentof microburstmodelsfor down-
draft estimation. Journal of Aircraft 29(6): 10431048.
Wilson,J W.,Roberts,RD.,Kessinger,C.&McCarthyJ.1984.
Microburstwindstructureandevaluationof dopplerradar
for airport windshear detection. Journal of Climate and
Applied Meteorology. 23(6): 898915.
Wood, GS., Kwok, KCS., Motteram, NA. & Fletcher, DF.
2001. Physical andnumerical modellingof thunderstorm
downbursts. Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial
Aerodynamics. 89(6): 535552.
NOMENCLATURE
R radiusof downburst
r(z) radial (vertical) coordinate
t timeinminutes
U
trans
stormtranslationspeed
U
10
meanwindspeedat the10mheight
w
0
vertical speedat thecentreof
downburst
w
0m
vertical speedat thecentreof
downburst at altitudeof maximum
horizontal speed
w(u) vertical (horizontal) speedinradial
coordinate
W(U) vertical (horizontal) speedin(x,y,z)
coordinate
w
max
(u
max
) magnitudeof maximumvertical
(horizontal) speed
zx
m
(r
m
) Height (radial distance) at which
themaximumhorizontal wind
speedoccurs
z
h
depthof outflow(m)
z
altitudeat whichthemagnitudeof
horizontal speedishalf the
maximumspeed
dependent ontheterrainroughness
, , , , c
1
, c
2
model parameters
scalingfactor
intensityfactor
430
Dynamicbehaviour of flexiblefacadesystemsintall buildings
subjectedtowindloads
A. Azad& B. Samali
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia
T. Ngo& C. Nguyen
Department of Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
ABSTRACT: In recent years many new devices, as energy absorber systems, have been introduced in tall
building. But most of themhavesomedisadvantagessuchascomplexityof designandlargespacesneededfor
their installation. Faadesystems, as anintegral part of high-risebuildings, andas non-structural systems are
susceptibleto potential failurewhen subjected to wind, if not designed properly. In this paper an alternative
method using multi-skin faadesystems as an energy absorbing deviceis proposed in order to decreasethe
amount of energyimpartedtothemainstructureduringhighspeedwindsandcyclones. A seriesof elasticand
inelastictimehistoryanalysesusingSAP2000havebeencarriedouttoassessthestructural dynamicresponseof
aproposed45storeybuildingwithreinforcedconcreteframestructureunder asimulatedharmonicwindload,
whichderivedfromthreesecondgusts accordingtoprovisions of Australianwindcode(AS/NZ 1170.2). The
preliminary resultsindicatethat it ispossibletomakeuseof thedoubleskinfaadesystemintall buildingsto
work asadamper device, if theconnectionsareproperlydesigned, tominimisethewindinducedvibrationsof
theprimarystructureaswell asreducinginter storeydrift.
1 INTRODUCTION
Duringrecent times, asignificant amount of interest
hasbeenfocusedonsafetyof non-structural elements,
especiallyfaadesystemsduetothecostof implemen-
tationandrepair duringwindactivities. However, due
tothesignificant usageof glassinbuildingsinrecent
decades, increasingemphasishasbeenplacedonpro-
tecting themduring harsh wind activities. Structural
trend towards building faade and the vulnerability
of faadesystems haveledto increaseddemands for
safer andmoreeconomical structural faadeandhave
pushedengineerstodevelopnewfacadetechnologies.
However, there are still limited studies on building
faade behaviour during severe wind activities. So,
movablefaadeskinattachedtopassiveorsemi-active
devices, which arein turn attached to afixed frame
arepresentedasbeingnoteworthysolutionachievethe
requirementsof modernarchitecture. Movablefaade
systems havethepotential to reducebuilding lateral
displacement. Due to increasing demand for safety
issuesinhigh-risestructures,theanalysisanddesignof
structures ableto resist extremeenvironmental loads
havebecomemoreand moreimportant sinceacou-
pleof decadesago.Theanalysisof glazingandfacade
systemsisarelativelynewfieldof research. Inrecent
years, the architectural interest toward highly trans-
parent all-glass buildings creates auniquechallenge
andopportunitytoadvanceemerging, smart, dynamic
windows. In particular, for commercial and retail
buildingdesign, wherewidetransparent surfaces are
used, the request for high performance components
boosted the faade market towards technologically
improvedproducts, oftenwithoutactual performances
thatcouldjustifythehighprices. Environmental loads
especially randomwinds such as tornadoes, down-
burstsandmesovortexescancausehumandiscomfort,
motion sickness and sometimes endanger safety and
integrity of high-risestructures. Generally, engineers
designreinforcedconcreteandsteel framestructures
to perform well when subjected to storms. More-
over, manyarchitects-andtheirclients-preferhigh-rise
buildings with all-glass faade. But non-structural
components of all building types, especially facades
systems, cantypicallyfail arebedestroyedveryeasily
becauseof insufficient connectionstrength. Damages
fromstorms have varied fromsuperficial to whole
destruction. The results of other studies show that
dynamic motionof tall buildings canbereduced, for
example, bymorethan50%(Moon, 2005).
2 METHODOLOGY
Performancedataanddesigntoolsof movablefaade
systems are not yet publicly available, making it
431
challenging to evaluatethepotential performanceof
them and to develop an effective movable faade
design for a specific building. Moreover, there are
somerecent research works on seismic performance
of facadesystems, workingasareplacement of other
energyabsorbingsystemssuchastunedmassdampers,
andnumberof analytical andnumerical studiesrelated
to thesimulated seismic performanceof facadesys-
tems havebeenperformedusingSAP2000nonlinear
program.Theadoptedseismicevaluationsassessedthe
behaviour and performance of these systems during
earthquakeactivities. Whilemuchresearchhas been
conducted on environmental and energy efficiency
aspects of thefacadesystem, littleresearchhas been
devoted to the wind performance of the facade sys-
tems. Inhigh-risebuildings, especially at their upper
levels, excessivemovement andaccelerationcanlead
toserioushumandiscomfortissues. Thispaper evalu-
ateshigh-risebuildingdynamicmotioncontrol using
movablefacadesystems by usingsomeenergy dissi-
patingmechanismsbetweenthemainstructureandthe
faadeskin. Glazingconnectionstothemainstructure
shouldbedesignedto minimizethestructural move-
mentwhenfloor slabsmoveduetowindactivitiesand
causefaadesystemtoshift.
This paper refers to aset of analytical modellings
madefor a45-storey concretestructural model with
movable faade system. Performance of proposed
faadesystemswill beevaluatedwithanalysisresults.
It should benoted that by implementing thecontrol
strategies, windefficiencyandperformanceof facade
systemissignificantlyimproved. Thedesignconcept
is to put links betweenthefacadeskinandthemain
structurewithlowaxial stiffnesssothat thetransmis-
sibility of thewindforcecanbediminishedthrough
them. Consequently, thefacadeskinvibrates consid-
erably in thedirection perpendicular to thebuilding
faadeplanes, whilethevibrationof theprimarystruc-
ture, whichisenclosedbythefaadeskinandcontains
occupantswithinit, isdecreasedremarkably. Dynamic
motioncontrol for tall buildings is achievedthrough
thismechanism(Moon, 2005).
Whereassufficient informationconcerningenergy
usage, visuals attraction, smoke propagation and
security issueof faadesystems areavailable, safety
issues of faadesystems has beengivenonly limited
considerations. This paper will present theresults of
ananalytical studyoneffect of windforcesonfacade
systems. Theimportant parameters, such as mass of
thefaadesystem, placementof proposedVEdampers
andfrequencyratiohavebeenvariedsystematicallyas
part of aparametricstudy.
3 MODELINGOF STRUCTURE
3.1 Primary structure
A rectangular 45Storeyconcreteframewith6baysin
X directionand4baysinY directionhasbeeninvesti-
gatedinthisstudy.Thelateral strengthof thisstructure
isobtainsbyframeandboxshapeconcreteshearwalls.
Figure1. Schematicplanviewof Structure.
Figure2. Schematicelevationviewof Structure.
Table1. Strengthof structural materials
Structural Sections Strengthof material
ConcreteBeams 45MPa
ConcreteColumns 70MPa
ConcreteSlabs 40MPa
ConcreteShear Walls 70MPa
Schematic views of the building plan and elevation
is showninFigures 1and2. Theloadingchosenis a
simulatedharmonicwindloadwiththreesecondgusts
andderivedaccordingtoprovisionsofAustralianwind
code(AS/NZ1170.2).
Table1 presents thestrength of materials used in
SAP2000. These values are obtained fromcommon
material propertiesusedbytheconstructionindustry.
3.2 Faade system
In order to evaluate the characteristics of the pro-
posedsystemclearly, themainstructureandthefacade
systemaresimplifiedandmodeledasatwodegreesof
432
Figure3. Schematicviewof moveableFaadeSystem.
Figure4. Mathematical model of Faade.
freedomsystemasshowninFigure3.Thesystemcon-
sistsof theprimarymass(m),whichcorrespondstothe
mainbuildingstructure, andthesecondarymass(m
d
),
whichcorresponds tothefacadesystem. Thesimpli-
fied systemmodel is in a sense similar to a model
generallyusedforatall buildingstructurewithatuned
mass damper (TMD) (Hartog 1956; Connor 2003).
But some fundamental differences do exist between
TMD andfaadesystemwhichis basedonthewind
actiontowardthewholesystem. Winds forces act on
thewholestructureequippedwithTMDbutinamov-
ablefaadesystemwindareappliedtothefaadeand
thenpartof theloadisimpactedtothewholestructure.
Connection properties concerning stiffness and
energyabsorptioncapacityhadbeenmodeledandvar-
iedtoachieveoptimal response. Forachievingoptimal
performance of the proposed systemthe connection
frequency should be half of the primary mass fre-
quency (Hartog1956; Connor 2003). Dynamic force
isappliedtothesecondarymassandthroughthecon-
nectionsbetweentheprimarymassandthesecondary
mass transfers to structure. It is demonstrated that
movablefaadeskinsareabletoreducelateral defor-
mationandmitigatewindeffectstothemainstructure.
It shouldbementionedthat intheproposedsystem, if
the connection between the two masses is tuned to
makethefrequency of both masses similar, thesec-
ondarymasswill workasaforceamplifier insteadof
areducer for themain mass. As shown in Figure4,
twoadjacent panelshaveagaparound900mmabove
slabandat theslabthelevel they areattachedto the
slabbybrackets.Tomodel thefaadesystembasedon
Table2. Modulusof elasticityfor faadeelements.
FaadeSections Modulusof Elasticity
Glaze 64,000MPa
Mullions 70,000MPa
Table3. Detail of theStructural response.
Period Frequency Weight
Structures (Sec) (Hz) (kN)
BareFrame 3.09 0.323 544,002
MovableFaadeSystem 3.30 0.302 20,991
reality, mathematical modelsareassumedasshownin
Figure4. Inamovablefaadeassumingadamper in
connectorsbetweenslabandmullionsisrealistic.
Table 2 describes the modulus of elasticity of
materialsusedinSAP2000inafaadesystem. These
valuesareobtainedfromcommonmaterial properties
whichusedbyconstructionindustry.
4 SENSITIVITY ANALYSES
Inthisstudymanysensitivityanalysesareperformed
asproof of general conceptof research. Four different
casesbasedonthefreelengthof faadeand2casesfor
differentarrangementof dampersareconsidered. The
analysis considereda3D bareframeresponseof the
structure(most models includeonly bareframeand
omit non-structural elements), responseof thestruc-
tureequippedwithfixedfaade, andresponseof the
structureequippedwithmovablefaade. Asshownin
Table3thebareframehasaslightlyhigher rangefre-
quencythanthemovablefaade.Theouterskinmassis
assumedtobe4%of theprimarystructuremass. The
structuredamping ratio is assumed to be1%, which
is within the range of statistically reasonable values
based on measured intrinsic damping ratios for tall
buildings(SmithandWillford2007).
Figure 5 created to show the schematic view of
systemelevationwithmovablefaade.
Figure6showsthecomparisonbetweenresponseof
thestructurewithlinks inevery 4thstorey (it means
thatfaadesystemisattachedtothemullionsbylinks
at every 4th storey and other stories areattached by
dashpots), bareframeandstructurewithfixedfacade.
As showninFigure6, themovablefaadesystem
could decrease the top displacment of the structure
by 40%dueto asimulatedharmonic windloadwith
threesecondgusts. Thestructural oscillationsremain
constant after 10seconds.
Sensitivity analyses on different heights between
links are done and the response of the structure
which has links in every 3rd storey is shown in
Figure 7. As shown the response between structure
with fixed faade and movable faade system is
decreasedby30%.
433
Figure5. Mathematical model of Movablefaadesystem.
Figure6. Comparingtheresponseof thestructurewithlinks
at every4thstorey.
Figure7. Comparingtheresponseof thestructureslinksat
every3rdstorey.
The response of the structure which has links in
every 2nd storey is shown in Figure8. Themovable
faadesystemcoulddecreasethetopdisplacment of
thestructureby20%duetosimulatedharmonicwind
loadwiththreesecondgusts.
For thestructurewhich has dampers in every 4th
storey, thesystemcoulddecreasethetopdisplacment
of the structure by only 10% based on a simulated
harmonicwindloadwiththreesecondgusts. Figure9
showsthat.
Based on previous analyses and decreasing the
numberof dampersinthesystem,thenewarrangement
Figure 8. Comparing the response of the structures with
linksat every2ndstorey.
Figure 9. Comparing the response of the structures with
dampersat every4thstorey.
Figure 10. Schematic plan view of new arrangement of
faadesystem.
Figure11. Comparingtheresponseof thestructures with
newarrangementsonevery3rdstorey.
of dampersinplanisassumed. Besidesusingdampers
in all connections, using links in 2 exterior sides
coulddecreasethenumber of dampers withminimal
impactonfaademovement. Thenewarrangementof
dampersisshowninFigure10.
AsshowninFigure11, intheinitial partof applying
thewind force, faadesystemresponds likeastruc-
turewithfixedfaadeandbycontinuingtheforce, the
systemcould damp the incoming energy, therefore,
decreasingtheaveragedisplacement.
434
Figure12. Comparingtheresponseof thestructures with
bothnewandolddampersarrangement onevery3rdstorey.
Tohaveclear viewof thedifferences betweentwo
arrangementsandcomparingtheresponseof thestruc-
tures, Figure12 is created. Based on theresults, the
response of the structure with new arrangement is
in thebetween thetwo other responses and it could
control thetopdisplacement by1000mm.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Faade is normally designed to protect the internal
of the building fromexternal environmental effects.
It is also structurally designed to transfer the wind
forces on building surfaces to theprimary structure.
Fromthestudypresentedinthispaper, another poten-
tial function of doubleskin faades in tall buildings
as a wind-induced motion control devices has been
identified. For that purpose, theconnectors between
thefacadeskinandstructureweremodelledwithvery
lowaxial stiffnesstominimizethetransmissibilityof
theexternal dynamic loadsfromtheouter skintothe
primary structure, along with a substantial damping
ratiotoreducefaademovements. It is expectedthat
this preliminary analysis will befurther verifiedand
anewfunctionof faadesystemwill besuccessfully
designed to improve the serviceability of tall build-
ingsbyreducingwindinducedbuildingmotions, inter
storeydriftsandlower windinducedaccelerations.
REFERENCES
Connor, J.J. 2003. Introductiontostructural motioncontrol,
Prentice-Hall, NewYork.
Hartog, D. 1956. Mechanical vibrations, 4th Ed. McGraw-
Hill, NewYork.
Moon, K. 2005. Dynamic interrelationship between tech-
nology and architecture in tall buildings. Ph.D. disser-
tation, Dept. of Architecture, Massachusetts Instituteof
Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
Smith, R.J. & Willford, M.R. 2007. The damped outrigger
conceptfortall buildings. StructureDes.Tall Spec. Build.
16(4): 501517.
435
Seismicriskanalysisbasedonhistorical eventsreportedinSri Lanka
P. Gamage& S. Venkatesan
Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia
ABSTRACT: Seismicityof twomaincitiesinSri Lankahasbeenassessedbasedonhistorical events. Reported
ModifiedMercalli Intensity(MMI) dataof selectedhistorical eventsarecomparedwithgroundmotionparam-
eters modeledbasedonthestochastic approachwithestimatedseismological parameters. Siteamplifications
dueto subsoil modifications areestimatedperformingequivalent linear analysis methodusingSHAKE2000.
MMI datahavebeenconvertedtopeakgroundvelocitiesbyavailablewell establishedrelationshipsandagood
consistencyhasbeennotedbetweenmodeledandreportedvalues. Thisfacilitatestodevelopadesignresponse
spectrumfor Colombo, thecapital of thecountry, basedonmaximumcredibleearthquake.
1 INTRODUCTION
Sri Lankahas longbeenrecognizedas aseismically
inactive or aseismic region located well away from
majorplate-tectonicboundaries. Hence, adirectstrike
of astrong earthquakehas been considered to beof
alittleor null possibility except as amegaTsunami
suchhappenedin2004. Nevertheless, aconsiderable
numberof small tomediummagnitudeintra-plateseis-
miceventshasbeenrecordedinandespeciallyaround
Sri Lanka. Out of these, most of thenear-fieldearth-
quakes occurred within the continental crust of the
country, are generally said to be limited to micro-
events(Moment magnitude, M
w
3.0) whichmaybe
caused due to local tectonic activities of lineaments
and faults, reservoir induced seismic activities and
activeeventsduetohumanactivities. However, histor-
ical sourcesduringpre-instrumental eraindicatesome
clear evidenceof alocally inducedseismicity of rea-
sonablelevel that has not beenproperly evaluatedso
far.Assessingtheseismicitybyincludingtheseevents
of thepre-instrumental periodwouldenhancethepre-
cision of the overall hazardous nature for the given
particular siteof thecountry. In this paper, attempts
havebeenmadeinquantifyingthelevel of seismicity
for twomaincitiesinSri LankanamelyColombo-the
capital of thecountry andTrincomalee-thecommer-
cial capital of the Eastern coast, based on historical
data. ThestochasticapproachalongwiththeSeismo-
logical Model (SM) has been applied to reproduce
the events for estimated and approximated seismo-
logical parameters. Thecomparison with actual data
hasbeenundertakenbasedongroundmotionparam-
eters in terms of Peak Ground Velocity (PGV) that
areobtainedby convertingModifiedMercalli Inten-
sity (MMI) data of historical events. As long as the
methodologyisbasedonadeterministicapproach,any
effectsuchascatalogueincompletenessforaparticular
timeperiodwouldnot arise, andhenceinturnwould
result in rather accurateresults than that of aproba-
bilisticapproach. Modeledgroundmotionparameters
for rocks have further been escalated according to
theSiteAmplification(SA) factor determinedby the
1-dimensional equivalentlinearanalysismethodbased
on typical borehole data. Finally, a comparison has
beenmadewithrespecttothecodespecifiedResponse
Spectra(RS) developedinAS 1170.4andIBC 2006.
DesignRSfor Colombobasedonmodeledeventshas
alsobeenproposedfor futureseismicdesignpurpose.
2 SEISMICITY BASEDONHISTORICAL
EVENTS
A few authors have reported couple of local seis-
mic events, with magnitude varying in the range
fromsmall microtremortostrongmagnitude,occurred
in the country (Abayakoon, 1996; Fernando and
Kulasinghe,1986).Acompilationof all events(includ-
ingmicrotremors) andonlynotablelargerevents(with
M
w
3.0) areshowninFigure1andTable1, respec-
tively. Historical evidences reveal about one of the
most disastrous earthquakes ever occurredintheSri
Lankanhistory, whichwashappenedon14thof April
1615 in Colombo with estimated magnitude of the
order of about 6.4 M
w
. The total damage incurred
dueto theevent includes 200 houses and over 2000
fatalities. Other structural collapses including apor-
tion of themasonry city wall and atotal collapseof
astonebridge, wouldrank theintensity of theevent
morethanVIII or probablyIX inMMI scale. Further
evidences show that emissions of Sulphurous fumes
fromfissuresopenedupongroundsurfaceduringthe
ruptureprocess.Thoughthisisstrangeinrespecttothe
current tectonic settingof Sri Lankawhereno active
437
Figure 1. Local seismicity and the general geology of
Sri Lanka.
volcanismcanbefound, itmaybeassociatedwithsub-
marineslumpsof theoceaniccrust locatedinGulf of
Mannar whicharesaidto beof volcanic (Vestal and
Lowrie, 1982). Sourcesindicateatotal of 10number
of small tomoderateearthquakes, magnituderanging
from3.0to6.4M
w
, has beenhit about 20kmwithin
theperipheryof Colombo, inwhich, 9wereoccurred
duringlast200years.Manyof eruptionsarepossibleto
linkwithlocal lineamentsandfracturesof thebedrock
lyingunder Colomboarea. Thereby, therisk of being
direct strikingof amoderateearthquakeat Colombo
isemphasizedforwhichtheattentionshouldbedrawn
carefully in estimating the hazardous nature around
theareaby identifying surrounding possibleseismic
sources. Ontheother hand, thevulnerabilityfor apar-
ticular event wouldbethehighest inColombo, since
it holds thelargest population density with themost
congestedcityarrangement inSri Lanka.
Intheeasterncoastal lineTrincomaleehasexperi-
encedalargeearthquake(5.9M
w
) in1882whichhad
theepicentreatlessthan15kmnorth-westwardsfrom
Trincomalee. Thereportedintensity of theevent was
VIII inMMI scale. Theprobablereasonof theevent
hadnot beendiscovered, thoughit may beattributed
totheactionof alocal fault.
FernandoandKulasinghe(1986), basedonaseis-
mic study, conclude the apparent seismicity in Sri
Lankahasconcentratedmainlyinthecentral Highland
and Upland areas associating with mega lineaments
and escarpments, particularly along the N-S trend-
ing Mahaweli lineament and E-W oriented Haputale
escarpment (Figure 1). Vitanage (1995) points out
occurrenceof local earthquakeswithintheislandmay
Table1. Historical earthquakesandreportedMMI data.
Location Magnitude
Date Lat. (
N) Lon. (
E) M
s
M
w
MMI
1615.04.14 6.88 79.86 6.4 8or 9
1814.06.14 7.72 81.70

1823.02.09 7.00 80.00 5.7 5.7
C
7
1823.03.09 7.00 80.00 5.0 5.2
C
6
1823.11.26 7.00 80.00 4.3
1843.06.19 6.90 79.90 3.0 3.9
C
5
1848.03.
6.92 79.87

1857.08.16 7.00 80.00 3.7 4.3
C
5
1866.12.19 7.00 80.00 3.7 4.3
C
6
1871.09.01 6.92 79.87 3.7
1871.12.01 7.40 81.00 3.7
1882.01.
8.60 81.20 5.9 8

1891.04.07 7.40 81.00 3.7
1891.04.18 7.40 81.00

1900.09.09 6.92 79.87 3.7
1938.09.10 7.50 79.00 5.6 5.6
C
5
1998.10.03 7.58 80.82

2004.12.19 7.10 80.00

Either dateor magnitudeisnot exactlyknown

C
ConvertedmagnitudefromNuttlies(1983) equation
beassociatedwithsuddenreactivationof lineaments
due to release of accumulated stresses during local
movementof theSri Lankanmini-plateabout1-2mm
annuallySSE directionawayfromIndiawhichsubse-
quently resultedthemaximumuplift inparallel with
Highland-Vijayan boundary. The above studies pro-
vide a key witness about the important relationship
betweentheidentifiedseismicityandthelocal tectonic
setupparticularlyof thehighlandarea.
Past evidencesandstudiesenabletoformulatetwo
critical seismiczoneswithinthecountry: areaaround
thecapital ColomboandMahawelli shearzone, which
undergoes lateral strike-slipmovement inN-S direc-
tion, locatedclosedtoMahiyangana. Here, theformer
wouldposemoreadversehazardous natureowingto
itsuncertaingeological settingandcomparablyhigher
rate of recurrence with respect to the latter. Apart
fromthesetwozones,Haputaleescarpmentareawhich
showsascatter of microseismiceventsorientedalong
E-W direction at Highland-Vijayan boundary would
also need the attention. Though the area governs a
minimal risk onstrikingalargeearthquake, it would
posture threats of secondary effects such as land-
slides dueto microseismic activities associated with
lineaments.
3 MODELLINGOF HISTORICAL EVENTS
3.1 Application of the stochastic method and the
Seismological Model (SM)
The Seismological Model (SM) was initially devel-
opedinUSA andsubsequentlyfurther improveddur-
ing last few decades (Boore, 1983). The model has
438
unique characteristics to parameterize seismic wave
modifications happeningas attenuationandamplifi-
cationduringtravel throughtherock medium. Mod-
ificationsareascertainedat twodistinctivestages(at
the deeper crust and at the upper crust) in order to
maintainthefinal accuracy. Inthemodel, Fourier dis-
placement amplitudespectrumA
x
(f ) of seismicshear
wavesreachingrockoutcrop, isexpressedasaproduct
of factorsrepresentingsourcepropertiesof theorigin
and modifications (attenuations and amplifications)
happeningduringtransmissionthroughtherock(Lam
et al., 2000):
where S(f )=source factor; G=geometric attenu-
ation factor; An(f )=anelastic whole path attenua-
tionfactor; Va(f )=uppercrustal amplificationfactor;
P(f )=upper crustal attenuation factor Lam et al.
(2000) have reviewed the model characteristics and
combined it with the stochastic process to simulate
seismogramstofitwiththefrequencycontentsdefined
by the SM (a detailed description of the process is
giveninLamet al. (2000)).
3.2 Seismological parameters for the Sri Lankan
region
Seismological parameters for theSri Lankan region,
basedonavailabledata, aredeterminedbytheauthors
inapreviousstudy(Gamageet al., 2011). Hence, the
validity of parameters are considered remain same
as the earlier study, except the major change in G
dueto thevariancein crustal thickness between the
oceaniccrustlocatedsouthtoSri Lanka(about10km
in thickness) and continental crust lying underneath
thecountry(about32km), consideredinpreviousand
currentstudy, respectively.Therebyarelativelyhigher
geometricdampingisexpectedduringwavepropaga-
tioninthisstudy. Further,Atkinsonstwo-corner point
source approximation developed for typical Eastern
NorthAmericas(ENAs) intra-plateevents, isusedto
model S(f ).
AnelasticattenuationAn(f )orseismicabsorptionis
modeledwithENA values, Q
0
=680andn =0.36, as
inthepreviousstudy. Thevaluesarechosenbasedon
Sri Lankas regional rock stratigraphy inwhichmore
than90%of thecrustal rocklayer consistswithCrys-
tallinerocks of Precambrianage(seeFigure1) with
agespanningsincefrommorethan1000Ma(Kroner
and Brown, 2005). However, theeffects of anelastic
attenuation on seismic wave modification for near-
fieldlocal events(R<70km) areminimal andhence
any uncertainty of attenuationassociatedwiththeQ
0
valuecanbeof negligibleimpact.
The upper crustal modifications taken place in
terms of attenuation and amplification, at the upper
34kmof therock,playavital roleinfinal wavemodi-
ficationbeforereachingtherockoutcrop. Shearwaves
undergolargeamplificationsduringtravel at shallow
rock depths due to rapid decline of velocity under
Figure 2. Crustal rock stratigraphy of Sri Lanka
(CRUST2.0).
relatively poor physical characteristics (i.e. hardness,
rigidity, cavitycontent) of themedium.Theamountof
amplitudeincreaseis quantifiedby theupper crustal
amplificationfactor, Va(f ) of theEq. (1). Booreand
J oyner (1997) have suggested a methodology called
the quarter wave length approximation method to
determineupper crustal amplificationsbasedonwave
travel timesaveragedover quarter wavelengthsat the
upper crust, given the Shear WaveVelocity (SWV)
profile of the region is available. The SWV profile
of thesubject regionismodelledby usingpower law
relationships developed by Chandler et al. (2005).
The bedrock stratigraphic data as inferred using the
CRUST2.0 model, shown in Figure 2, provides evi-
denceaboutgeologicallyweatheredsedimentaryrocks
(0.5km thickness) over the course of history. This
is further confirmed with abundance of crystalline
rock outcroppingsexposedat surface, foundinmany
locationsof thecountry.
One of reference SWVs i.e. the velocity at 8km
depth is taken as 3.5km/s in accordance with the
information of CRUST2.0. The shallow reference
SWV near rock outcrops is taken as 2.5km/s as
mentioned by J ayawardena(2001). Thevalueshows
consistency with shallow reference SWVs of other
Precambrian regions found in the world such as
Western Australia, Canadian Shield, etc (Chandler,
2006). ModelledSWV profilefor Sri Lankanregion
isshowninFigure3alongwiththetypical SWV pro-
fileof hardrocksinENA.TheKappa(K) value, which
parameterized upper crustal attenuation, is found to
be (using the equation proposed by Chandler et al.
(2006)) about0.007sfortheregion.A relativelylower
Kappavalueagainimpliesaboutarigiduppercrustfor
theregionwhichis havingenhancedwavepropagat-
ingfeatures. Basedontheforegoingdescription, the
degreeof seismic wavemodificationwithrespect to
theunderlyingrock stratigraphic natureof thecoun-
try, can be inferred. As it shows in the Figure 4, a
littlemodifications(attenuationandamplification)are
expectedduringwavepropagationowingtocompara-
bly higher quality of basement rocks inPracambrian
age. A valueof around1.1at 1Hz frequencyisgiven
as the maximumoverall upper crustal modification
(Figure4).
439
Figure3. TheSWV profilefor Sri Lankaincomparisonto
GHR (BooreandJ oyner, 1997) condition.
Figure4. Upper crustal modificationof seismicwaves.
Seismograms withdifferent phaseangles aresim-
ulated for each historical event by using software
GENQKE(Lam, 1999) andcorrespondingRSinclud-
ing ensemble averaged ones are derived using
ETAMAC (Lam, 1999).
Subsoil effects and subsequent SAs during wave
travel through the soil medium rested directly on
thebedrock aredeterminedby analyzingtypical soil
columns using the equivalent linear method as for-
mulated in SHAKE2000. Soil column properties to
representsubsoil conditionsarederivedusinggeotech-
nical investigationscarriedoutbasedonboreholedata
by local consultancy firms. Dynamic soil properties
of identified typical soil types are obtained using
relationships foundin literature(Refer SHAKE2000
manual).
4 CONVERSIONBETWEENMMI ANDPGV
Eventsoccurredprior to1950sduringthecolonial era
havebeenreportedby Portuguese, DutchandBritish
who successively ruled Sri Lankasince1615. Many
Table2. RelationshipsbetweenMMI andPGV (incm/s).
Relationship Eq.no.
MMI =1.32log(PGV)+4.37for log(PGV)0.48 (2)
MMI =3.03log(PGV)+3.54for log(PGV)0.48
MMI =Eq.(2)+0.470.19M +0.26logD (3)
MMI =3.373log(PGV)+3.311 (4)
(2) & (3) ProposedbyAtkinsonandKaka(2007)
(4) ProposedbyYaghmaei-Sabeghet al. (2011)
events occurred beforetheinstrumental period were
classified, fortheengineeringpurposes, inaccordance
withtheincurreddamageduetotheevent. Later, MMI
values have been assigned based on the amount of
total damage occurred as estimated fromhistorical
sources. Since MMI is a measure of the severity of
anearthquakefor agivenlocation, itrelateswithboth
earthquake properties (magnitude, distance) as well
as preparedness of thelocation(or city) to facesuch
anevent. Hence, MMI valueaccounts any effect due
to citys adherence to technology and code of prac-
tices that arebeing followed to copewith theevent.
Therefore, assessinghistorical events withMMI val-
ues will not befair to bealways dealt with different
timeperiods, astechnologyischangingwithtime. On
theother hand, PGV isadirectmeasureof theground
motionandisnotrelatedwiththelevelof infrastruc-
tureof thelocation. However, anumber of empirical
relationshipshavebeendevelopedtoconvert MMI to
PGVvaluesbasedonregressionanalysisof actual data
reported around theworld and asufficient accuracy
has shownduringtheconversioninbetween. Table2
summariesrelationshipsthat areusedinthisstudy.
InEquation(3), M andD areMoment magnitude
and hypocentral distance(in km), respectively. Both
Equations (2) and (3) are developed based on the
sameset of datacollatedfromaround50earthquakes
occurredinCentral UnitedStatesandCaliforniawith
magnitude ranging from 2.57.1 M
w
. Though, the
Equation (2) has not been adjusted to account any
dependencyduetovariationof magnitudeandepicen-
tral distance, Equation(3) hasbeenrefinedtoinclude
both effects so that theapplicability of theEquation
(3) can be considered to be more generic. Equation
(4) has beendevelopedinIranusing10earthquakes
occurredintheIranianplateauinwhichout of 9are
greater than6.0M
w
.
Reported MMI values shown inTable 1 are con-
verted to PGVs using above equations to compare
with simulated events done by using the stochastic
methodasdiscussedintheprevioussection.
Table3showsconvertedandmodeledPGVs(incm/s)
for historical events whicharehavingreportedMMI
values. Modeled PGVs for rock and soil sites are
440
Table 3. Converted and modeled PGVs for historical
events.
Convert. PGV
a
Mod. PGV
a
Mag.
Date M
w
D
a
MMI (2) (3) (4) Rock Soil
1615.04.14 6.4 10 9 63 92 49 58 80
1823.02.09 5.7
C
20 7 14 17 12 15 30
1823.03.09 5.2
C
20 6 6 7 6 10 15
1843.06.19 3.9
C
10 5 3 3 3 4 8
1857.08.16 4.3
C
20 5 3 3 3 3 8
1866.12.19 4.3
C
20 6 6 7 6 3 8
1882.01.* 5.9 15 8 30 39 25 27 58
1938.09.10 5.6
C
115 5 3 3 3 3 9
Dateisnot exactlyknown
a
D& PGV valuesareinkm& cm/s, respectively
C
ConvertedmagnitudefromNuttlies(1983) equation
shownseparately. Modeledvaluesfor rocksitesmain-
tain a reasonable conformity with converted PGVs,
especially inthecasefor convertedPGVs by Eq. (2)
proposed by Atkinson & Kaka (2007). For smaller
intensities all theequations seemto predict uniform
values. Eq. (3) proposedbyAtkinsonandKaka(2007)
overestimates modeledvalues at rock sites for larger
intensities caused by strong events (for 6.4 and 5.9
events). This may beattributeddueto theequations
sensibility over capturing higher intensities to pre-
dict PGVs. Furthermore, averaged local site effects
over theentireregion, consideredduringderivationof
theequations, will causesomeinherent discrepancies
between values. On theother hand, sincetheserela-
tionships aredevelopedbasedonregressionfittings,
large scatters of predicting results should be antici-
pated. Hence, itmaybeprobabletocomparemodeled
valueswithstandarddeviationsof theserelationships
(Figure5).
Figure 5 indicates that modeled PGV values at
rock sites aresatisfactorily within thestandarderror
margins of predictive relationships mentioned in
Table2. However modeledvaluesat typical soil sites
exceed standard error margins of Equations (2) and
(4), but still within closed to the upper bound for
Equation(3).
Uncertainty canbeassociatedwithany stepof the
process. This includes uncertainty either in the pre-
dictiverelationshipwithrespect tothesubject region
(as discussedbefore) and/or inreportedMMI values
as well. Since MMI values are based on the dam-
ageincurred, it wouldessentiallyrelatewiththelevel
of technology used in the given era, averaged site
conditions, accuracy of the estimated damage, etc.
Hence, thescatteringmaybelinkedwithanyof these
uncertainties. However, despite the minor scatters,
predictiverelationships arereliableto predict PGVs
for historical eventswithinthegivenerror marginsto
matchwithmodeledeventsonrocksites.
ModeledPseudoSpectral Accelerations(PSAs) of
three of the strongest events (6.4, 5.7 and 5.2 M
w
)
on rock sites for Colombo along with code speci-
fied spectra in similar site conditions are produced
Figure5. Comparisonof modeledandconvertedPGVs.
inFigure6. It canbeseenboth5.7and5.2M
w
events
show a reasonable conformity with the spectra pro-
duced by AS1170.4 and IBC 2006 for 0.4g ground
motions on typical rock sites. However the 6.4 M
w
event is a disastrous one, as its maximumspectral
amplitudereaches 50m/s
2
(5g) at near 0.1s. This is
ratheranunusual valueintheengineeringseismology,
though the expectancy of such a strong event can-
not be always omitted like such happened in recent
ChristchurchearthquakeinNewZealand. Thedesign
ResponseSpectrum(RS)forColombo, tobecomplied
441
Figure6. Modeled Pseudo Spectral Accelerations (PSAs)
of selectedeventstocomparewithcurrent standards.
withISC 2006, hasbeenthereforedevelopedconsid-
ering 6.4 M
w
as theMaximumCredibleEarthquake
(MCE).
6 CONCLUSION
Historically reported MMI data would play a criti-
cal role in assessing seismic hazard for a particular
placewhichhasnoabundanceof recentrecordsavail-
able. Mostof suchplaceslocatedinstablecontinental
regions canbeseismically evaluatedwithreasonable
accuracy for events occurred in thepre-instrumental
era based on ground motion parameters converted
fromMMI data. Verificationof converteddatacanbe
donewithmodeledgroundmotionsgiventhatreliable
seismological parameters for thesubject regionarea
prelude.
Ground motion modeling for Colombo and
Trincomaleehasbeenperformedbasedonthestochas-
tic method with applying estimated seismological
parameters. Underlying rock stratigraphy of the
Precambrian age results a little upper crustal wave
modification in terms of attenuation and amplifica-
tion. Despite minor scatters, two cities pose a good
agreementbetweenmodeledPGVsandrecordedMMI
data.A designRSforColombo, whichposesthehigh-
est seismicity hasbeenproposedbasedon6.4M
w
as
theMCE.
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Journal of the Geological Society of Sri Lanka 6: 6572.
AS 1170.4. 2007. Structural design actions Part 4: Earth-
quake actions inAustralia. StandardsAustralia:Australia.
Atkinson, G.M. & Kaka, S.I. 2007. Relationships between
Felt Intensity and Instrumental Ground Motion in the
Central United States and California. Bulletin of the
Seismological Society of America 97(2): 497510.
Boore, D.M. 1983. Stochastic simulationof high-frequency
ground motions based on seismological model of the
radiatedspectra. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of
America 73(6): 18651894.
Boore, D.M. & J oyner, W.B. 1997. Site amplifications for
genericrocksites. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of
America 87(2): 327341.
Chandler, A.M., Lam, N.T.K. & Tsang, H.H. 2005. Shear
wavevelocity modellingincrustal rock for seismic haz-
ardanalysis. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering
25(2): 167185.
Chandler, A.M., Lam, N.T.K. & Tsang, H.H. 2006. Near-
surface attenuation modelling based on rock shear-
wave velocity profile. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake
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Gamage, P.,Venkatesan, S. &Dissanayake, R. 2011. Seismic
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tolong-distantearthquakes. InR. Dissanayakeetal. (eds),
International Conference on Structural Engineering,
Construction and Management ICSECM 2011, Kandy,
1517 December 2011: Sri Lanka.
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Crustal Model CRUST2.0. University of California.
http://mahi.ucsd.edu/Gabi/rem.dir/crust/crust2.html.
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Code, Chicago: International CodeCouncil, Inc.
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Institution of Engineers XXXIV(2): 720.
Kroner, A. & Brown, L. 2005. Structure, Composition and
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TerrainsfromDeepSeismicProfilingandOther eophysi-
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Lam, N.T.K. 1999. Program GENQKE users manual,
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442
Influence of infilled masonry wall on vibration properties and dynamic
responses of building structures to earthquake ground excitations
H. Hao
School of Civil and Resource Engineering, the University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
ABSTRACT: In analysis and design of structures to earthquake ground excitations, often only mass of the
infilled masonry walls are considered. Their stiffness and strength are neglected or only approximately considered
by using equivalent brace elements. A number of empirical relations proposed by different researchers are
available in the literature to derive the equivalent brace elements of infilled masonry walls. These empirical
relations differ from each other. In this study, both experimental tests and numerical simulations are carried out
to investigate the influence of infilled masonry wall on vibration properties and dynamic response and damage
of RC frame structures to earthquake ground motions. The experimental test results will be used to calibrate the
numerical models of RC frames with or without masonry infill. The calibrated numerical models are then used
to perform a series of simulations of RC frames without or with masonry infill. The results are compared with
those derived using equivalent brace members. The empirical formula of defining the equivalent brace members
that leads to the best predictions of RC frame structures with masonry infill to earthquake ground excitations is
identified.
1 INSTRUCTIONS
It is commonly agreed that a masonry infill will con-
tribute significant in-plane stiffness, strength, overall
ductility and energy dissipation capacity to a rein-
forced concrete frame structure (Murty & Jain 2000).
Studies have been done since 1960s to investigate the
infill wall influence on seismic responses of framed
structures and to develop reliable methodologies in the
analysis and design. Murty and Jain (2000) concluded
that the average initial stiffness of infilled RC frame is
4.3 times higher than that of bare frame when unrein-
forced infill wall is considered while it is about 4 times
higher when the wall is reinforced, and the strength of
infilled frame is about 50%to 70%higher than the bare
frame. Sevil and Baran (2010) performed experimen-
tal studyof full andpartial infill wall withhollowbrick,
and infill wall with opening, and concluded that infill
wall affects frame stiffness, strength and ductility. In
general, infill wall is considered beneficial in improv-
ing the frame resistance to earthquake loading. Fardis
and Panagiotakos (1997) concluded that infill wall
enhances the energy dissipation capacity of a frame
structure and contributes to overall seismic response.
Vahidi and Malekabadi (2009) found that the building
frames with infill masonry wall are better than bare
frames during seismic events because of its lateral load
carrying capacity. The experimental study done by
Al-Chaar et al. (2002) showed that the peak and resid-
ual strength of the infilled frame is significantly better
than the bare frames. However, on the other side, other
studies found some adversary effects of infill walls.
For example, infill wall mayresult inshort-columnand
generate torsional responses. Although infilled wall
greatly reduces the lateral displacement while con-
tributing significantly to strength and stiffness of the
whole building frame, but at the same time the infilled
wall could undergo shear failure by sliding at the bed
joints. It was pointed out that the strut action of infill
leads to high axial forces in columns, which may result
in failure of infill frames earlier than the bare frames.
Because the infill wall interactionwiththe frame struc-
ture is very complex, detail analysis is needed to decide
its positive or negative impacts to the building frame.
Shing and Merahbi (2002) pointed out that the infill
wall interaction with the bounding frame will have to
be considered in the analysis. Similar recommenda-
tions are also given by other researchers (Dolsek &
Fajfar 2008, Vahidi & Malekabadi 2009).
Different simplified approaches have been pro-
posed by different researchers to model masonry infill
in frame structure response analysis. Simplifying the
infill wall as diagonal strut is the most popularly
approach. Many researchers proposed their equiva-
lent strut model (Haque & Amanat 2008, Dolsek &
Fajfar 2008, Stavridis & Shing 2009, Arulselvan et al.
2007, Sobaih &Abdin 1988, Madan et al. 1997). Other
researchers, however, based on their work and con-
cluded that the single strut model cannot accurately
predict the bending moments and shear force acting
on the frames (Reflak and Faijfar 1991, Mehrabi et al.
1994, Saneinejad and Hobbs 1995, Buonopane and
White 1999, Al-Chaar 2002, andAl-Chaar et al. 2003a,
2003b). All these conclusions and simplified brace
443
models were developed by researchers based on their
own studies and observations. No systematic study of
the applicability and errors that would be introduced
in the structural response analysis by using these strut
models has been reported. In concurrent design and
practice, the infilled masonry wall is either completely
neglected, or only its mass is included but the stiffness
and strength neglected, or considered by using one of
the simplified brace models. Detailed considerations
of the masonry wall in RC frame structures in analysis
and design of structures to earthquake ground motions
is very rare.
This paper reports experimental and numerical
results to study the influence of masonry infill on RC
frame responses to earthquake ground motions. Scaled
models of RC frame without or with masonry infill
were constructed and tested to failure on a shaker table.
The influence of masonry infill on vibration properties
and strength of the frame are studied fromthe vibration
test data. Then a numerical model is developed using
computer code DRAIN-2DX (Prakash et al. 1993) to
simulate the responses of the RC frame with masonry
infill. The infilled masonry wall is modeled as a panel
element, or brace element according to simplified strut
models suggested by various researchers. The dynamic
responses of the frame structure with different infill
wall models are calculated and compared. The differ-
ences indynamic responses obtainedbyusingdifferent
strut models are quantified. The strut model that gives
the closest estimations of the masonry wall infilled
frame responses is identified.
2 SCALED MODEL TEST
Dynamic testing of full size buildings is often unprac-
tical as it can become very expensive and is often
very difficult to reach the ultimate behavior of the
structure (CEB 1996). Properly scaled models are
therefore often used to reproduce the prototype struc-
ture response and damage. In order to have a good
replica of the prototype structure, detailed similitude
rules need to be followed. In this study, 1/5 scaled
model of a single-storey RC frame was designed and
constructed according to the similitude rule speci-
fied in CEB (1996). Owing to page limit, the detailed
information of the prototype and scaled model, micro
concrete mix, reinforcement and pull-out strength of
the reinforcement bar is not given here. Figure 1 shows
the dimension of the scaled model with masonry infill.
Figure 2 shows the constructed model on shaker table
ready for being tested in the Structures Lab in UWA.
It should be noted that the masonry wall of the scaled
model does not fully fill the RC frame. There is a gap
of about 5 cmbetween the top of the wall and the beam
In shaker table tests, simulated ground motions
compatible to the design spectrum for shallow soil
site given in Australian Earthquake Loading code AS
1170.4:2007(StandardAssociationofAustralia 2007),
normalized to different PGA values and duration 20
Figure 1. Scaled model.
Figure 2. Frame model with masonry infill on shaker table.
Figure 3. Simulated ground motion time history and its
response spectrum and the design spectrum.
sec were used as input. The tests started froma ground
motion with PGA=0.045 g, or half of the design PGA
value for Perth based on a 500 year return period.
The ground motion PGA increases progressively as
0.045 gxN in each test, where N is the test number,
until failure.
Figure 3 shows the simulated ground motion time
history, and the comparison of the design spectrum
normalized to 0.09 g and the response spectrum of the
simulated time history. It should be noted that the time
history was also properly scaled in shake table tests.
444
Vibration tests were performed before the shaker
table tests to identify the vibration properties of the
RC frame without or with masonry infill, and after
each shaker table test to determine the progress reduc-
tion of vibration frequencies with damage. Table 1
and Table 2 list the vibration frequencies and damping
ratios of the first two modes of the frame without and
with masonry infill, respectively obtained after each
test. As shown, the masonry infill increased the first
modal frequency from 20.01 Hz to about 9 times to
185.92 Hz, implying an 81 times increase in the equiv-
alent first modal stiffness. This significant change in
the vibration frequency greatly alters the RC frame
response characteristics, and influences its responses
to ground excitations. Comparing the two tables also
indicates that the frame without masonry infill failed
at test step 5 with a PGA of 0.225 g, while the frame
Table 1. Vibration frequency and damping ratio of RC
frame without infilled wall.
PGA Mode 1 Damp Mode 2 Damp
Test (g) (Hz) % (Hz) %
0 20.01 1.744 77.30 5.763
1 0.045 20.01 1.744 77.30 5.763
2 0.09 14.58 2.087 73.14 4.081
3 0.135 7.76 10.182 67.24 3.973
4 0.18 6.07 6.496 34.10 4.834
5 0.225 5.95 6.154 23.93 5.693
Table 2. Vibration frequency and damping ratio of RC
frame with masonry wall.
PGA Mode 1 Damp Mode 2 Damp
Test (g) (Hz) % (Hz) %
0 185.92 3.237 231.47 0.536
1 0.045 185.92 3.237 231.47 0.536
2 0.09 176.58 2.446 229.74 1.738
3 0.135 168.30 4.848 227.27 5.036
4 0.18 166.78 2.659 222.39 0.33
5 0.225 165.75 0.292 223.74 0.37
6 0.27 164.96 1.599 212.19 1.679
7 0.315 162.31 2.48 210.03 1.766
8 0.36 161.10 1.932 200.34 1.426
9 0.405 159.46 2.634 200.97 1.588
10 0.45 156.07 2.042 196.75 0.868
11 0.495 119.58 0.537 172.18 1.723
12 0.54 105.62 2.197 167.33 1.708
Figure 4. Failure modes of the two models.
with masonry infill failed at test step 12 with a PGA
of 0.54 g, indicating the masonry infill significantly
increases the structural capacity to resist earthquake
ground motions.
Figure 4 shows the failure modes of the two
models after the final test step. As shown, in the
both models, damage occurred at the supports and
beam-column joints, with the larger damage at the
beam-column joints because of the relatively less con-
nections betweenthe beamandcolumnreinforcements
and the short column effect in the masonry infilled
frame. When constructing the model, the column rein-
forcements were extended all the way to the base of the
footing, ensuring great continuities of the reinforce-
ment at the base. Therefore the base of the two models
experienced relatively less damage.
3 NUMERICAL CALCULATIONS
Computer programDRAIN-2DX(Prakash et al. 1993)
is used to calculate the responses of RCframes with or
without masonry infill. ARC frame model considered
is shown in Figure 5. It is a single-storey RC frame of
span length 6 mand height 3.5 mwith infilled masonry
wall of 100 mm thickness. The RC column size is
(400 400) mmand RCbeamis (300 450) mmsup-
porting a 120 mm thick RC slab with 25 mm floor
finish. The Youngs modulus of concrete, Ec is taken
as 30 GPa while the homogenizedYoungs modulus of
brick masonry (Em) is taken as 3.67 GPa and shear
modulus (Gm) is 1.86 GPa (Wei & Hao 2009). The
concrete compressive strength is 40MPa while the
reinforcing steel yield strength is 500 MPa.
To evaluate the accuracy of the different strut mod-
els in simulating the infilled masonry wall, the exam-
ple RC frame is modeled in this study. The masonry
wall is modeled with a panel element first (bench mark
model) and then by strut model as brace elements.
Because of the page limit only the results of masonry
wall without opening are presented here. In total 7 dif-
ferent strut models proposed by different researchers
are considered in this study. Model 1 to Model 5 have
two struts; one each along the diagonal length of the
frame. Model 6 has three struts along only one diag-
onal length while Model 7 has six struts; three each
Figure 5. Example RC frame model with masonry.
445
Figure 6. Strut model.
along the diagonal length of the frame. The stiffness
of the strut is calculated by
where A is the cross sectional area of the strut, d is
the length of the strut, is the angle of inclination
the strut with respect to the horizontal axis. Con-
sidering the infill wall as clay with face shell and
mortar classification of M3 with bed joint thickness
of 7.5 mm, fromAS3700-2001 (Standard Association
of Australia 2001), the yield stress in tension of the
strut is Syt =0.2 MPa and the yield stress or buckling
stress in compression is Syc =11.39 MPa. In numeri-
cal simulation, it is assumed that the infill wall fails by
yielding in compression without buckling. The seven
models are briefly introduced below.
Model 1 was proposed by Holmes (1961) as shown
inFigure 6. It consists of twodiagonal struts. The width
of the strut is calculated by
Model 2 considered was proposed by Mainstone
(1971). The strut width is calculated by
where t and h are the thickness and height of the
infilled wall, H is the height of the frame measured
from center to center of beams as shown in Figure 6,
and I
c
is the cross sectional moment of inertia of the
column.
Model 3 was proposed by Paulay and Priestley
(1992). It is very similar to model 1 and the only
difference is that the strut width is calculated by
Model 4 proposed by Liauw and Kwan (1984) is
similar to model 2. The strut width is calculated by
in which is the same as that defined in Eq. (3).
Figure 7. Model with 3 diagonal brace members.
Table 3. Fundamental vibration frequencies (Hz).
F B 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4.2 23.4 17.9 10.9 15.6 15.4 27.9 12.3 17.9
-F bare frame; B bench mark model

Model 5 by Smith and Carter (1969) calculates the
strut width by
where l is the span length of the masonry wall as
defined in Figure 6.
Model 6 by Jain et al. (2008) has three struts along
one diagonal direction of the frame as shown in Fig-
ure 7. The width of the central strut w
c
, the width and
offset distance of the two off diagonal struts w
o
and a
are defined as
Model 7 is the same as Model 6, except that it has
6 diagonal brace members, three on each side.
Responses of the bench mark model and the 7 strut
models to the simulated earthquake ground motions
are calculated. For comparison purpose, the frame
model without considering the masonry infill is also
calculated. Table 3 lists the fundamental vibration fre-
quencies of the different models. As shown model 5
gives the most accurate approximation of the funda-
mental vibration frequency, with a 19.2% overestima-
tion, while model 1 and model 7 underestimates the
vibration frequency by 23.5%.
Figure 8 shows displacement time hsitories of the
four models at the floor level subjected to the same
ground motions compatible to the Australian design
spectrum normalized to 0.5 g. As shown neglecting
the infill masonry wall results in very different struc-
tural response predictions. It greatly overestimates the
storey drift. Clear plastic drifts are observed in frame
446
Figure 8. Typical displacement response time histories at
floor level: a) frame; b) Bench mark; c) model 1 and d)
model 2.
Table 4. Peak storey displacement response (mm).
F B 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
41.5 0.57 1.04 3.88 1.53 1.76 0.37 14.7 1.04
Table 5. Peak shear force in column (kN).
F B 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
30.5 3.4 6.2 23.2 9.1 10.5 2.2 101.1 53.1
model. Plastic displacements also occur in other mod-
els, but not veryprominent. The response frommodel 1
remains almost elastic because of the relatively large
strut members. Table 4 compares the peak displace-
ment response at the floor level obtained from the
different models.
Table 4 compares the peak storey displacement
responses obtained with different models. As shown,
model 5 is the only model that underestimates the
stroey dirft. All the other models overestimate the
storey drift as compared to the bench mark model.
Model 1 gives the closest estimation, with an overes-
timation by 82.4%. Whereas the frame model without
considering the infilled masonry wall yields unacct-
pably high storey dirft prediction.
Table 6. Peak Bending moment in colum (kNm).
F B 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
106.7 9.6 21.7 81.1 32.0 36.8 7.6 102.2 41.5
Table 5 compares the peak shear forces in RC
column obtained from different models. The peak col-
umn bending moments are compared in Table 6. As
shown, the frame model without considering the infill
masonry wall yields about 9 times and 11 times overti-
mation of the column shear force and bending moment
as compared to those obtained by the model with the
infilled wall, indicating the significant contributions
of the masonry infill to the frame capacity in resist-
ing the seismic ground motions. Compared to the
experimental observations that the masonry infilled
frame failed at PGA=0.54 g, 2.4 times larger than
the PGA that caused bare frame to fail, the numeri-
cal results showed a significantly more contributions
of the masonry infill to the frame capacity in resist-
ing the seismic ground excitaitons. One of the reasons
for this discrepancy is beucase in experimental test,
the masonry wall does not fully fill up the RC frame
as shown in Figures 2 and 4, which resulted in short-
column effect and caused shear failure as shown in
Figure 4, while innumerical model, fullyinfilledframe
is assumed. These results demonatrate the significant
contributions of the masonry infill in RC frame to its
capacity in resisting seismic ground motions.
Among 7 strut models, model 5 gives most accurate
estimations of the RCcolumn shear force and bending
moment, but it is the only model that underestimates
the RC frame responses. Other 6 models overesti-
mate the column shear force and bending moment, and
among them, model 1 gives the closest estimations as
compared to the bench mark model.
4 OBSERVATIONS AND DISCUSSIONS
In recent earthquakes, such as the Christchurch earth-
quake in New Zealand and Wenchun earthquake in
China, besides intensive and wide spread structural
damages, many structures survived the earthquake
ground excitations substantially higher than the design
ground motion level. Most post-earthquake studies
concentrate on investigating the cause of structural
damage, this study tries to explain why many struc-
tures survived the ground shakings significantly larger
than the structures designed to resist. As demonstrated
in this study, one of the reasons is the contributions of
the non-structural members to the structural capacity
to resist earthquake loadings. In design and analy-
sis, non-structural members such as infilled walls and
staircases are usually neglected, or only their mass are
included in the analysis. This may lead to significant
underestimation of the structural capacities.
447
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents experimental and numerical
results of the influence of infilled masonry wall in
RC frame structures on structural vibration frequen-
cies, stiffness and strength in resisting earthquake
ground motions. It is found that masonry infill signif-
icantly increases the structural stiffness and strength.
Neglecting masonry infill in analysis and design may
lead to substantial underestimation of the structural
capacity in resisting earthquake ground motions.
The study also compared the various strut mod-
els proposed by different researchers to represent
masonry infill. It is found that the model by Smith and
Carter (1969) gives the closest estimation of structural
responses, but is the only model that underestimates
the structural responses. Other six models consid-
ered in the study overestimate the structural responses.
The classical model by Holmes (1961) yields the best
predictions of structural responses.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author acknowledge Angus Jeffrey, Daniel
Thompson, and Tshering Gyeltshen, for building the
scaled models and performing shaker table tests
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448
Behavior of reinforced concrete rectangular aboveground tanks
subjected to near-source seismic excitations
M. Hosseini
Civil Engineering Department, Graduate School, South Tehran Branch of the Islamic Azad University (IAU),
Tehran, Iran
Sh. Abizadeh
Graduate Student, Young Researchers Club, South Tehran Branch of the IAU, Tehran, Iran
ABSTRACT: In this study, at first an aboveground rectangular reinforced concrete tank with common dimen-
sions and tapered walls was designed based on the ACI 350 code. Then, by performing several cases of time
history analyses, using a finite element analysis program, in which the flexibility of the tank walls, water-tank
interaction and sloshing were taken into consideration, the hydro-dynamic pressure on the tank walls, the base
shear force in various directions, and the maximum water level increase due to sloshing phenomenon were
studied. The PGA value of the main components of all used earthquakes were adjusted to 0.400 g, however
those of the vertical components were varying from 0.135 g to 0.59 g. Results show that in case of near-source
earthquakes the amount of hydro-dynamic pressure on the tank wall increases, while no major difference is
observed in base shear and water level increase, due to increase in the PGA of vertical ground motion.
1 INTRODUCTION
Aboveground fluid storage tanks are used in many
industries, such as oil and petrochemical, water and
wastewater, and power production industries. In water
supply system, tanks, particularly large rectangular
ones, are among the key structures. Since past earth-
quakes have shown the relatively high seismic vul-
nerability of rectangular tanks, knowing their seismic
behavior, as much realistically as possible, is of great
importance. In general, investigations on the seismic
response of liquid storage tanks have been conducted
over the past 30 years. Housner (1957, 1963) proposed
an approximate analytical method in which hydro-
dynamic pressure induced by seismic excitations is
separated into impulsive and convective components
using lumped mass approximation for rigid cylindrical
and rectangular tanks. Several studies have been per-
formed so far on the seismic behavior of rectangular
tanks among them some recent ones have dealt with
the effect of vertical excitations, which, if extensive, is
one of the specifications of the near-fault earthquake
ground motion. Haroun and Tayel (1984) used the
finite element method (FEM) for analyzing dynamic
response of liquid tanks subjected to vertical seismic
ground motions. Veletsos and Tang (1986) analyzed
the liquid storage tanks with both rigid and flexible
walls subjected to vertical ground motion. Study of
nonlinear vibrations in an elastic structure subjected
to vertical excitation and coupled with liquid sloshing
in a rectangular tank (Ikeda 1997) seems to be one of
the first studies in this regard, however, in that study
just sinusoidal excitation has been considered.
In recent decade some studies have been performed
on the effect of vertical ground motions on rectangu-
lar tanks, among them studying the effect of vertical
acceleration on response of concrete rectangular liquid
storage tanks (Kianoush and Chen 2006) can be men-
tioned. In that study the combination of added mass
and sequential method has been proposed in which the
flexibility of the tank wall is considered in the dynamic
analysis. The time history response of the tank wall
associated with the hydrodynamic pressure distribu-
tion has been presented. Results show that the time
history responses of liquid storage tanks by consider-
ing the flexibility of the tank wall in the calculation
of hydrodynamic pressures are different from those
obtained using the rigid wall assumption. It has been
claimed that the horizontal response of the tank under
the assumed rigid wall boundary condition is more
significant than that when wall flexibility is consid-
ered. It has been concluded that the response of the
tank wall due to vertical ground acceleration should
be considered in the design. More recently, the effect
of wall flexibility on dynamic response of concrete
rectangular liquid storage tanks under horizontal and
vertical ground motions has been also studied (Ghaem
maghami and Kianoush 2010).
It is seen that although the effect of vertical earth-
quake excitations has been studied in detail, all of the
specifications of near-source excitations, includingthe
long period pulse, on the aboveground tanks have not
449
been studied thoroughly. In the present study, at first
an aboveground rectangular reinforced concrete tank
with common dimensions and tapered walls has been
designed based on the ACI 350 code. Then, by using
several three-component far- as well as near-source
earthquake accelerograms, the seismic behavior of the
tank has been studied by time history analyses (THA),
using a powerful finite element analysis (FE) analysis
program. The flexibility of the tank walls, water-tank
interaction and sloshing have been taken into consid-
eration in THA. Details of modeling of the tank, its
verification, and the analyses and their results are pre-
sented and discussed in the following sections of the
paper.
2 INTRODUCINGTHE STUDIEDTANK,
ITS MODELINGANDVERIFICATION
The geometrical features of the tank, considered in this
study are given in Table 1.
The material of the tank was assumed to have mod-
ulus of elasticity of 22.69 GPa and specific mass of
2400 kg/m
3
. The liquidwas assumedtobe incompress-
ible with bulk modulus of 2.1E6 kPa and specific mass
of 1000 kg/m
3
. In the FE analysis program, used in the
study, the tank-liquid interaction is taken into account
by Lagrangian- Lagrangian approach, and the degrees
of freedomof the adjacent solid and fluid elements are
constrainedtoeachother inthe directionperpendicular
to the interface surface.
Table 1. The geometrical features of the tank considered in
this study.
Feature Size (m)
Tank height 5
Liquid height 4
Tank length 18
Tank width 14
Upper wall thickness 0.2
Lower wall thickness 0.4
Figure 1. FE model of tank in full state.
Asample of the FEmodels of the tank-water system
is shown in Figure 1.
For verification of the FEmodeling the results of an
experimental study, conducted in the Hydraulic Insti-
tute of Stuttgart University (Goodarzi et al 2009), have
been used. Their test scaled tank is rectangular with
100 96 40 cm in height, length and width, respec-
tively, and water depth of 62.4 cm, and the tank was
mounted on a 100 200 cm shaking table. For verifi-
cation the response of the test tank to sinusoidal base
excitation was compared with those obtained by the FE
analysis. Different meshing sizes and element dimen-
sion ratios were used in FE modeling and analyses of
the tank to achieve a satisfactory level of precision in
calculation of the natural periods of the tank-water
system. The characteristics of the FE meshing and
its specifications in modal and harmonic analyses are
given in Table 2.
It can be seen in Table 2 that 12 types of mesh-
ing with various size of 6-side 8-node elements form
coarse to fine were used in the tank FE modeling.
In this way different height/length ratios were created
for the elements, varying between 0.5 and 2.2. Vari-
ous number of fluid elements were used as well, from
as little as 20 to as large as 15200 to find the most
appropriate number for achieving the satisfactory pre-
cision. The base excitation was applied by the natural
frequencies of the sloshing modes, which are given by:
in which n is the mode number, g is the acceleration
of gravity, L is the tank length, and h is the water
depth in the tank. Figure 2 shows the results for two
cases of meshing types 5, 7 and 8, given in Table 1, in
comparison with the experimental results.
By using Equation (1) the natural frequencies of the
first three modes of sloshing in the tank are obtained,
respectively, 0.886, 1.562, and 2.017 Hz and the max-
imum sloshing wave high is obtained, 62.3 mm for
experimental scaled tank. It can be seen in Table 1
and Figure 2 that meshing type in which the height to
length ratio (R) of the elements greater than 1.0, such
as meshing type 5, does not give acceptable results and
the meshing types by larger size are not able to cal-
culate the higher modes. Furthermore, meshing types
7 and 8 in which the R value is equal to, or smaller
than 1.0, give satisfactory results. The best estimation
of analytical and experimental results are obtained by
using the meshing type 12 in which the R value equals
1.0, however, using meshing type with larger size and
Rvalue smaller than 1.0, such as element type 8, gives
acceptable results, while is less time consuming.
3 TIME HISTORYANALYSES OF THE TANK
For THA of the tanks model a set of three-component
accelerograms were selected from both far- and near-
source earthquakes, which included TCU-122 and
TCU-129 records of Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake of
450
Table 2. Characteristics and FE analysis meshing specifications in modal and harmonic analyses of the scaled experimen-
tal tank.
Element Size (cm) FEM Modes (Hz)
Type of No of Fluid MSWH
meshing Height Length Width R
Elements Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 (mm)

1 31.2 19.2 20 1.6 20 0.832 1.089 37.7
2 20.8 19.2 20 1.0 30 0.859 1.306 48.3
3 15.6 19.2 20 0.8 40 0.871 1.447 56.8
4 10.4 19.2 20 0.5 60 0.879 1.613 64.3
5 20.8 9.6 10 2.2 120 0.849 1.23 1.317 46.2
6 15.6 9.6 10 1.6 160 0.860 1.34 1.503 51.7
7 10.4 9.6 10 1.0 240 0.868 1.452 1.750 58.3
8 7.8 9.6 10 0.8 320 0.871 1.502 1.900 60.3
9 5.2 9.6 10 0.5 480 0.873 1.543 2.049 63.7
10 7.8 4.8 5 1.6 1280 0.868 1.456 1.791 60.3
11 5.2 4.8 5 1.0 1920 0.870 1.503 1.907 60.9
12 2.5 2.5 2.5 1.0 15200 0.870 1.515 1.951 62.4
R is the ratio of elements height to element length

Figure 2. Comparing the experimental response with those of FE analysis by using three meshing types 5, 7 and 8 of Table 1
1999, and H-EDArecord of Imperial Valley, California
earthquake of 1979. Figures 3 to 8 showthe main hori-
zontal and vertical components of these three selected
earthquakes, in which it can be seen that the they have
quite different characteristics, from frequency content
as well as duration points of view, and the their vertical
peak ground acceleration (PGA) values are varying
from low to relatively high, to make it possible to
investigate the effect of large vertical PGA values, as
a feature of near-source earthquakes.
The PGA values of the main components of all of
the used earthquakes were scaled to 0.40 g, however
the PGA values of the vertical components of them
were varying from 0.135 g to 0.59 g.
THAwere conducted for each of the selected earth-
quakes once by using only the two horizontal com-
ponents of the accelerograms, considering the main
component to act at along the length of the tank, and
Figure 3. The main horizontal acceleration record of
TCU-122 Component of Chi-Chi earthquake.
once by using all three components, to find out the
effect of vertical component of earthquake. Response
values considered for the investigation included the
water surface fluctuation maximum due to sloshing
451
Figure 4. The vertical acceleration record of TCU-122
component of Chi-Chi earthquake.
Figure 5. The main horizontal acceleration time history of
TCU-129 component of Chi-Chi earthquake.
Figure 6. The vertical acceleration record of TCU-129
component of Chi-Chi earthquake.
Figure 7. The main horizontal acceleration record of
H-EDA component of Imperial Valley earthquake.
and the maximum water level increase, the hydrody-
namic pressure on the tank walls, and the base shear
force in various directions. Figures 9 to 11 show the
water level fluctuations time history due to slosh-
ing, for all three employed earthquakes in both states
of applying only the two horizontal components and
applying all three components.
Figures 12 to 14 show the variation of maximum
hydrodynamic pressure at the height of the tank wall
Figure 8. The vertical acceleration record of H-EDA com-
ponent of Imperial Valley earthquake.
Figure 9. Water level fluctuations time history due to slosh-
ing, for TUC-122 component of Chi-Chi earthquake in both
2- and 3-component excitations.
Figure 10. Water level fluctuations time history due to
sloshing, for TUC-129 component of Chi-Chi earthquake in
both 2- and 3-component excitations.
Figure 11. Water level fluctuations time history due to
sloshing, for H-EDA component of Imperial Valley earth-
quake in both 2- and 3-component excitations.
again for the two states of applying only the two hori-
zontal components and applying all three components,
and finally in table 3 the maximum total base shear
values of the tank in both cases of exclusion and inclu-
sion of vertical earthquake excitation are presented in
Table 3 for comparison.
452
Figure 12. Maximum hydrodynamic pressure at the height
of the tank wall for TUC-122 component of Chi-Chi earth-
of the tank wall for TUC-129 component of Chi-Chi earth-
of the tank wall for H-EDA component of Imperial Valley
earthquake in both 2- and 3-component excitations.
More detailed results of the aforementioned
response values of the tank-water system can not be
presented here because of the lack of space, and can
be found in the main report of the study (Abizadeh
2012). Looking at Figures 9 to 11, one can realize that
the presence of vertical ground motion in combina-
tion with horizontal motion and its intensity do not
have any significant effect on the sloshing behavior
of the impounded water in the tank. However, Figures
Table 3. Maximum base shear values of the tank in both
cases of exclusion and inclusion of vertical earthquake
excitation.
Maximum shear force (kN)
Without Without
inclusion inclusion
of vertical of vertical
Earthquake Record excitation excitation
TCU-122 Chi-Chi 2686 2698
TCU-129 Chi-Chi 2706 2700
H-EDA Imperial Valley 2604 2591
12 to 14 show that the vertical earthquake acceler-
ation does have remarkable effect on the maximum
hydrodynamic pressure on the tank wall.
Comparing Figures 12, 13 and 14, one can real-
ize that this effect is different from one earthquake to
another. Figure 14 shows that the amount of increase
in the maximum hydrodynamic pressure on the wall
tank can be even more than 100%, particularly in the
lower parts of the wall. This increase not only results in
more shear force and resulting stresses in the tank wall,
but also leads to remarkable increase in the amount of
resulting moments at the wall body, particularly, its
base, which in turn can lead to bending stress values,
higher than those considered in the tank design.
Finally, it can be seen in Table 3 that there are
just little differences in the maximum shear force val-
ues of the tank in two cases of 2- and 3-component
excitations. This means that, as expected, the vertical
earthquake acceleration does not any significant effect
on the shear force values.
It is worth mentioning that the presence of ver-
tical ground motion in combination with horizontal
motion increases the hydrodynamic pressure on the
tank wall in two opposite direction, and therefore,
does not affect the total shear force of the tank, how-
ever, for each individual wall the increase in the
hydrodynamic pressure leads to larger shear force
values.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the numerical results of this study the
following conclusions can be made:
The verification process show that using elements
whose heights are more than their horizontal dimen-
sions does not lead to reliable results. The results of
this process also showthat the agreement of the val-
ues of natural frequencies of the tank-water system
alone is not enough for verification, and the agree-
ment of response time history is necessary for this
purpose.
The presence of vertical earthquake ground motion
in combination with horizontal ground motion and
its intensity do not have any significant effect on
the sloshing behavior of the impounded water in
453
the tank. However, the vertical earthquake acceler-
ation can have remarkable effects on the maximum
hydrodynamic pressure, and its distribution on the
tank walls.
The effect of vertical acceleration and its intensity
on the hydrodynamic pressure is different from one
earthquake to another, and the amount of increase
in its maximum value can be even more than 100%,
particularly in the lower parts of the walls.
The increase in hydrodynamic pressure on the tank
walls not only results in more shear force and
resulting stresses in the tank wall, but also leads
to remarkable increase in the amount of resulting
moments at the wall body, particularly, its base and
lower parts, which in turn can lead to bending stress
values, higher than those considered in the initial
design of the tank.
There are little differences in the maximum values
of the shear forces of the tank in two cases of 2-
and 3-component excitations. This means that, as
expected, the vertical earthquake acceleration does
not any significant effect on the shear total force
values. This is because the forces resulting from the
increased hydrodynamic pressures on the opposite
walls of the tank are almost equal and nullify each
other.
Finally, it should be noted that in this study only
one tank was considered, and therefore the effects of
tanks dimensions, and their ratio can not be seen in the
results of this study. Also, the possibility of impact of
the impounded water to the tanks roof due to intensive
sloshing was not considered. These issues need more
researches.
REFERENCES
Abizadeh, Sh. 2012. A Study on the Effect of Near-Source
Earthquakes on Aboveground Liquid Storage Tanks by
Time History Analysis, M.Sc. Thesis under supervision
of Professor Mahmood Hosseini, submitted to Hydraulic
Structure Group, Civil Eng. Dept., Graduate School of
the South Tehran Branch of the Islamic University (IAU),
Tehran, Iran.
ACI. 350.3-06. 2006, Seismic design of liquid-containing
concrete structures (ACI350.3-06) and commentary
(350.3R-06), American Concrete Institute (ACI) Commit-
tee 350, Environmental Engineering Concrete Structures,
Farmington Hills, (MI).
Ghaemmaghami, A.R. and Kianoush, M.R. 2010. Effect
of Wall Flexibility on Dynamic Response of Concrete
Rectangular Liquid Storage Tanks under Horizontal
and Vertical Ground Motions, Journal of Structural
Engineering (ASCE) 136 (4): 441451.
Goudarzi, M.A., Sabbagh-Yazdi, S.R. and Marx, W. 2010.
SeismicAnalysis of Hydrodynamic Sloshing Force on Sto
rage Tank Roofs, Earthquake Spectra, 26 (1): 131152.
Housner, G. W., 1957, Dynamic Pressures on Accelerated
Fluid Containers, Bulletin of the Seismological Society
of America, Vol. 47, No. 1, pp. 1535
Housner, G.W. 1963, The dynamic behavior of water tanks,
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of American,
53(2):3817.
Haroun, M.A & Tayel, M.A. 1984. Dynamic behavior of
cylindrical liquid storage tanks under vertical earthquake
excitation. Proceedingof 8thworldconference earthquake
engineering, pp. 421428
Ikeda, T. 1997 (September). Nonlinear vibrations in an elastic
structure subjected to vertical excitation and coupled with
liquid sloshing in a rectangular tank, Proceedings of the
ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference, VIB-
4096, pp. 112, Sacramento, California, USA.
Kianoush, M.R. andChen, J.Z. 2006(April). Effect of vertical
acceleration on response of concrete rectangular liquid
storage tanks, Engineering Structures, 28 (5): 704715.
Veletsos, A.S. & Tang, Y. 1986. Dynamics of vertically
excited liquid storage tanks. ASCE J. Struct. Eng: 112(6):
122846.
454
A comparative study on the seismic performance of moment resisting
frame steel buildings, designed by IBC and Eurocode,
based on nonlinear time history analyses
M. Hosseini
Structural Engineering Research Center, International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (IIEES),
Tehran, Iran
F. Sheikhlou
Earthquake Engineering Graduate Program, Engineering School, Science and Research Brach, Islamic Azad
University (IAU), Tehran, Iran
ABSTRACT: In this study, the adequacy of design provisions of IBC-2006 and Eurocode-8 was investigated
in case of Moment Resisting Frame (MRF) regular steel buildings. First, a set of nearly square-plan buildings,
having3to13stories, were designed, once base onIBC-2006, andonce basedonEurocode-8. Then, byusingsome
appropriate accelerograms nonlinear time history analyses were conducted and the maximum Demand/Capacity
Ratios (DCRs) were obtained. Results showthat both codes lead to lower DCRs in columns than beams, however,
in some cases IBC give higher DCRs for beams than columns. In case of IBC almost all maximum DCRs are
far below 1.0, while is case of Eurocode-8 for some beams they reaches 1.0, and even exceed it. On this basis it
can be said that in case of MRF steel buildings IBC-2006 provisions lead to over-designed buildings, while the
Eurocode-8 is more economical, and in some cases, unreliable.
1 INTRODUCTION
All seismic design codes claim, either explicitly or
implicitly, that designing the buildings based on their
provisions gives the buildings a Performance Level
(PL) of at least Life Safety (LS), and at the same
time the design in economical. However, it has been
observed in some cases of seismic evaluation of newly
designed buildings that following the code provisions
does no guarantee achieving the LS PL for the build-
ing. Some researches have reported such cases with
regard to steel moment frames buildings, among them,
performance analysis of a damaged 11 story building
during Northridge earthquake of 1994 (Naeim 1996)
seems to be one of the first. In that study, based on
three-dimensional, static and dynamic, linear and non-
linear analysis it has been claimed that the observed
damage has been much more extensive than that pre-
dictedbyanalyses. Another pioneer studyinthis regard
has been on seismic performance and design of bolted
steel moment-resisting frames (Astaneh-Asl 1999).
In another study on assessing seismic performance
of composite and steel moment framed buildings
(Mehanny and Deierlein 2000) it has been reported
that both the steel and composite frames consis-
tently exceed the life safety and near collapse per-
formance levels implied by current building codes.
In a more recent study entitled simulated perfor-
mance of steel moment-resisting frame buildings in
the 2003 Tokachi-Oki earthquake (Heaton et al. 2006)
they have claimed that in a few instances flexible steel
moment-resisting frame buildings designed according
to the US 1994 UBC, particularly the 20-story build-
ing with brittle welds, experienced dangerously large
deformations.
In this study, the adequacy of design provisions
of IBC-2006 and Eurocode-8, as two very commonly
used codes for seismic design of buildings, has been
investigated in case of moment resisting frames (MRF)
steel buildings, from both reliability of achieving the
claimed PL, and the economy of design points of view.
For this purpose a set of MRF regular steel buildings
with square plan have been considered designed based
on the two aforementioned codes, and then a set of
3-component earthquake accelerograms, compatible
with the assumed soil type, selected and normalized
to the PGA value of 0.35 g, have been employed
for nonlinear time history analyses (NLTHA) of all
designed buildings, by using Perform-3D computer
program (Version 4.0.3). The maximum values of
Demand/Capacity Ratios (DCRs) in all columns and
beams have been obtained from the NLTHA for com-
parison. Details of the study are given in the following
sections.
455
2 INTRODUCINGTHE STUDIED BUILDINGS
To investigate the adequacy of the provisions of the two
considered codes in design of MRF steel building, a
set of regular buildings with 4- by 5-bay with nearly
square-plan of 400 m
2
area, and 3, 5, 7, 10, and 13
stories, were considered, whose plan specifications is
shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Plan of the considered buildings.
Table 1. Parameters of seismic loading in IBC 2006.
Seismic
Site design
Ss S1 R I Class
0
Cd catagury
1.65 0.75 4.5 1 C 3 4 1.3 D
Table 2. Parameters of seismic loading in Eurocode 8.
Spectrum Ground
a
g
type type R
0.35 Type 1 B 0.2 4 1
Figure 2. Average DCR values for the buildings columns.
All of the considered buildings were designed once
base on IBC-2006, and once based on Eurocode-
8, by using the standard steel profiles, and in their
design it was tried to get the DCRs as much closer
as possible to 1.0. The modulus of elasticity and the
yield stress of the used steel material were considered,
respectively, 2.04E6 and 2400 kgf/cm
2
. The interac-
tion of infill masonry and frames was not considered
inthe analysis anddesignof the buildings, however, the
P-delta effect was taken into account. The soil type was
assumed to be of class C in case of IBC and of the
Ground Type B in case of Eurocode, with shear wave
velocity between 375750 m/s. Tables 1 and 2 give
the seismic loading specifications used in the design,
based on the two codes, which have been selected in
such a way that result in the same level of seismic
input.
More details with regard to the design inputs and
process for the considered buildings can not be given
here because of lack of space, and can be found in the
main report of the study (Sheikhlou 2012). As sam-
ples of the design results Figures 2 and 3 show the
average DCR values for columns and beams in all of
the designed buildings in case of the two used codes.
It can be seen in Figures 2 and 3 that the average
DCR values are generally above 0.6, which means a
relatively good design formthe economy point of view.
However, it can be seen that in some cases, such as the
7-story buildings, particularly their columns the IBC
code provision has been such that the average DCR
values are well below the corresponding values of the
Eurocode. This means that not only the amount of
over-strength in the buildings with different number
of stories is not the same, but also it varies from code
to code, and this difference can be as large as 25%.
3 NONLINEAR TIME HISTORYANALYSES
In the next step of the study a set of 3-component earth-
quake accelerograms, compatible with the assumed
soil type, was selected from the PEER site, so that
the PGA value of the main horizontal components be
around 0.35 g as shown in Table 2.
It is seen in Table 3 that the amount of vertical PGA
of all selected records is relatively small, which is in
Figure 3. Average DCR values for the buildings beams.
456
Table 3. The 3-component records used in the study.
PGA
Time
Rec. Id. Rec. Name EW NS V step Duration
P0034 Parkfield 0.357 0.272 0.136 0.01 30
P0056 Sanfernando 0.324 0.268 0.171 0.01 30
P0078 Sanfernando 0.366 0.283 0.167 0.01 30
P0714 Whittier 0.261 0.374 0.098 0.005 30
Narrows
P0764 Loma Prieta 0.325 0.357 0.191 0.005 30
P1025 Northridge 0.364 0.266 0.199 0.02 30
P1458 Chi-Chi 0.333 0.248 0.191 0.005 45
Figure 4. MaximumDCRvalues for the buildingscolumns
obtained from NLTHA.
Figure 5. Maximum DCR values for the buildings beams
obtained from NLTHA.
accordance with the far-field earthquakes, which is
an explicit or implicit assumption in most of seis-
mic design codes. Nonlinear time history analyses
(NLTHA) were conducted for all the designed build-
ings, by using Perform-3Dcomputer program(Version
4.0.3), and the maximumDCRvalues, for LS PL, in all
columns and beams were obtained from the NLTHA,
as shown in Figures 4 and 5.
It is seen in Figures 4 and 5 that maximum DCR
values generally increase in both columns and beams,
with increase in the number of the stories of the build-
ing, and their range of variation is between 1.0 to 2.2 in
3-story buildings and 2.7 to 3.3 in 13-story buildings.
It can also be seen in Figure 5 that the largest differ-
ence between the two used codes relates to beamof the
3-story buildings. Obviously, DCR values larger than
Figure 6. Maximum DCR values in columns and beams of
buildings designed by IBC, obtained from NLTHA.
Figure 7. Maximum DCR values for in columns and beams
of buildings designed by Eurocode, obtained from NLTHA.
1.0 means that the building has not met the require-
ments of the considered PL, and as it is seen, this has
happened almost in case of all studied buildings.
To see if the situation has been different in columns
in comparison with beams, and also to find out the
difference between the two employed codes, the max-
imum DCR values have been shown once more, in
Figures 6 and 7, separately for columns and beams
once for the case of IBC and once more for case of
Eurocode.
Looking at Figures 6 and 7, one can realize that
the amount of unacceptable damage is generally more
in beams than columns, and that the damage level in
buildings designed by Eurocode is mostly more than
that in buildings designed by IBC.
Another important fact, which should be taken into
consideration, is the distribution of damaged mem-
bers in the buildings frames in different cases of
NLTHA by using the seven selected set of accelero-
grams. Figures 8 to 12 show the average percentage of
the columns with excessive DCRs in various stories
of the buildings, having 3, 5, 7, 10 and 13 stories
(there are 32 columns and 52 beams in each floor).
It is seen in Figures 8 to 12 that columns with
excessive DCR are mostly located in lower and upper
stories rather the middle ones, and that with increase
of the number of stories damages are mostly seen
in the upper stories of the buildings. These figures
also show that the maximum percentage of columns
with excessive DCR in case of buildings designed
based on IBC is around 24%, which relates to the
13th story of the 13-story building, and in case of
457
Figure 8. The average percentage of columns with DCR>1
in various stories of the 3-story buildings, designed by IBC
and EUROCODE, obtained from NLTHA.
Figure 11. The average percentage of columns with
DCR>1 in various stories of the 10-story buildings,
designed by IBC and EUROCODE, obtained from NLTHA.
Figure 12. The average percentage of columns with
DCR>1 in various stories of the 13-story buildings,
designed by IBC and EUROCODE, obtained from NLTHA.
Figure 13. The average percentage of beams with DCR>1
buildings designed based on Eurocode is more than
28%, which corresponds to the 12th story of the
13-story building. This shows that design reliability
of buildings designed based on Eurocode 8 is a less
than those designed based on IBC 2006, particularly
in case of relatively tall buildings.
Figure 8 shows that there is no column with exces-
sive DCR in 3-story building designed based on IBC.
Furthermore, comparing Figures 9 and 10 with Fig-
ures 11 and 12, it is observable that in relatively short
buildings the concentration of columns with excessive
DCR is in lower stories, while in relatively tall build-
ings it is in upper stories. It should be pointed out that
even a lowpercentage of columns with excessive DCR
in the lower stories decrease the design reliability to
a great extent. From this point of view the provisions
of both codes, particularly Eurocode 8 seems to need
revision. Figures 13 to 17 showthe average percentage
of the beams with extensive DCR in various stories of
the buildings, having 3, 5, 7, 10 and 13 stories.
It can be seen in Figures 13 to 17 that a number of
beams in all stories of all buildings, except in a few
upper stories, donot meet the criteria of LSPL, andthat
the percent of damaged beams increases with increase
of the number of stories of the buildings. These fig-
ures also show that the design reliability level in case
of Eurocode 8 is less than IBC 2006, particularly
for relatively tall buildings. The maximum percent-
age of beams with excessive DCR is around 8% in
case of IBC, and more than 8.5% in case of Eurocode.
458
Figure 18. The average of maximum drift values, obtained
by NLTHA for 3-story building in comparison with those
obtained by IBC.
obtained by IBC.
obtained by IBC.
Comparing Figures 13 to 17 with Figures 8 to 12, one
can realize that, in general, although damage in beams
is more wide-spread that the columns the design reli-
ability level for columns is less than beams. On this
basis, and regarding that, in design, the drifts have been
controlled by columns, it seems that the design philos-
ophy of strong column weak beam is not actually
achievable in all cases by any of the considered codes.
As another set of analyses results, in Figures 18 to
22 the average of maximum drift values of buildings
withdifferent numbers of stories, obtainedbyNLTHA,
using the 3-component accelerograms of the selected
earthquakes, which all have PGAvalues around 0.35 g,
have been compared with those obtained by IBC.
459
obtained by IBC.
obtained by IBC.
It can be seen in Figures 18 to 22 that although
IBC leads to conservative story shears values for rel-
atively short buildings, it results into underestimated
story shear values for relatively tall buildings.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the numerical results of NLTHA of this
study it can be concluded that:
Several cases of DCR larger than 1.0 is observed
in buildings designed based on IBC 2006 and
Eurocode 8, which means that the designed building
do not meet the requirements of the LS PL.
Maximum DCR values generally increase in both
columns and beams, with increase in the number of
the stories of the building.
The range of variation of maximumDCRs is around
1.5 in relatively short buildings, and around 3.0 in
relatively tall buildings.
The amount of unacceptable damage is generally
more in beams than columns.
The damage level in buildings designed by
Eurocode 8 is mostly more than that in buildings
designed by IBC 2006.
Columns with excessive DCR are mostly located in
lower and upper stories rather the middle ones.
The maximum percentage of columns with exces-
sive DCR in case of buildings designed based on
IBC is around 20%, which relates to relatively tall
buildings, and in case of buildings designed based
on Eurocode is around 30%, which again corre-
sponds to upper stories of relatively tall buildings.
In relatively short buildings the concentration of
columns with excessive DCR is in lower stories,
while in taller buildings it is in upper stories.
The damage level in buildings designed by
Eurocode is mostly more than that in buildings
designed by IBC. In other words, the design reli-
ability of buildings designed based on Eurocode is
a less than those designed based on IBC, particularly
in case of relatively tall buildings.
The maximum percentage of beams with excessive
DCRis case of both considered codes is around 8%.
In general, damage in beams are more wide-spread
that columns, however, the design reliability level
for some columns is less than beams in case of both
considered codes. On this basis, it seems that the
design philosophy of strong columnweak beam
is not actually achievable, is all case, by any of the
considered codes.
Regarding that even a low percentage of columns
with excessive DCRin the lower stories of the build-
ing decrease the design reliability to a great extent,
it can be claimed that the provisions of both codes,
particularly Eurocode need revision.
Finally, it should be noted that this study was con-
centrated only on the MRF buildings. To make more
general conclusions about the adequacy of codes
provisions in case of other types of building systems,
more research is necessary.
REFERENCES
Astaneh-Asl, A. 1999. Seismic Performance and Design
of Bolted Steel Moment-Resisting Frames, Engineering
Journal, Vol. 36, No. 3, pp. 105120.
Heaton, Th., Yang, J. and Hall, J. 2006. Simulated Perfor-
mance of Steel Moment-Resisting Frame Buildings in
the 2003 Tokachi-oki Earthquake, Bull. Earthq. Res. Inst.
Univ. Tokyo, Vol. 81, pp. 325329.
Mehanny, Sameh S.F. and Deierlein, Gregory G. 2000.
Assessing Seismic Performance of Composite (RCS) and
Steel Moment Framed Buildings, Proc. of the 12th World
Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Paper 0746,
New Zealand, 2000.
Naeim, F. 1996. Performance Analysis of a Damaged 11
Story Steel Moment Frame Building during the 1994
Northridge Earthquake, Proc. of the 11th World Confer-
ence on Earthquake Engineering, Paper 1428, Mexico,
1996.
Sheikhlou, F. 2012. A Comparative Study on the Seismic
Performance of Moment Resisting Frame Steel Build-
ings, Designed by Recent Codes, Based on Nonlinear
Time HistoryAnalyses, M. Sc. Thesis under supervisionof
Prof. Mahmood Hosseini, submitted to Earthquake Eng.
Graduate Program, Eng. School, Science and Research
Brach of the Islamic Azad University (IAU), Tehran, Iran.
460
Optimal story-wise distribution of viscous dampers in a five-story building
B. Kashani Madani
Ph.D. Student of Earthquake Engineering, Science and Research Branch of the Islamic Azad University (IAU),
Tehran, Iran
M. Hosseini
Associate Professor, Structural Eng. Research Center, International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and
Seismology (IIEES), Tehran, Iran
ABSTRACT: Concurrent with revision of design codes this issue has been a concern in the designers mind
that buildings, designed according to the old revisions of codes would not fulfill the needs of the new revisions.
Therefore, in building industries improving the structural performance level to cope with the requirements of
the revised codes is essential to avoid structural failure during earthquakes. In this paper, an investigation was
conducted on seismic performance of a five-storey structure, initially designed according to the second edition
of the Iranian seismic loading code and then modified to fulfil the requirements of the third edition of the
same code by adding various configurations of viscous dampers to limit its drifts values. Based on the numerical
results, it is confirmed that installation of the supplemental viscous dampers between two stories with the highest
relative velocities leads to the largest amount of reduction in the stories drifts values.
1 INTRODUCTION
One helpful way to control the response of those kinds
of structures which lack the efficiency for lateral loads
is equipping them with supplemental dampers. The
purpose of this paper is to find the optimum storey-
wise distribution of supplemental viscous dampers in
a 5-storey building. The lateral resisting system in
both X and Y direction of the structure is a moment
resisting frame intermediate ductility level, which has
been designed according to the old version of the
seismic loading code of Iran. Supplemental dampers,
used in this model, are viscous dampers, and are sup-
posed to have linear Force-Velocity relationship. In
order to be able to generalize the results to real cases,
the columns and beams sections and the dampers
have been selected in the practical rages. To find the
optimal distribution of dampers along the buildings
height some earthquake records with different dom-
inant frequencies have been selected, and a series of
time history analysis has been performed on the struc-
ture with different storey-wise distribution of viscous
dampers.
2 THE STRUCTURAL MODEL
The structure under the study, which is a two-
dimensional five-storey moment resisting frame with
an intermediate ductility level, has been designed
according to the former seismic loading code of Iran
(2nd revision). This structure has been designed so that
it has an optimal member sections to provide sufficient
stiffness for maximum drift demand of the mentioned
code. It is worth mentioning that this specific structure
would not be stiff enough to fulfill the drift demand of
the current seismic loading code of Iran (3rd revision)
subjected to each of the five selected quakes.
3 DAMPER MODEL
The viscous dampers with a linear force-velocity rela-
tion have been used in this study. In each case it has
been tried to have an almost equal condition for the
total price of all of the used dampers of the model.
Regarding this goal the price of each damper of the
model with less number of dampers is more than the
one with the more dampers. In other words, damping
coefficient of each damper of the model with fewer
numbers of dampers is more than the model with more
dampers. Furthermore, to use just one type of damper
in each case, it was decided to have equal damping
coefficient in all the dampers in each model, keeping
constant the summation of the damping coefficients
(For example damping coefficient of the damper of
the model with two dampers is the half of the damping
coefficient of the system with one damper). Table 1
presents the used damping coefficients, limited to a
value of 4450 kN.sec/m to be in the practical range.
4 EARTHQUAKE RECORDS
Five near-field earthquake records with almost equal
magnitude and PGA, but with different frequency
content, have been selected as given in Table 2.
461
5 CALCULATED PARAMETERS
Drift, Relative velocity, Period and Damping ratio of
each mode of structure are the four parameters that
have been calculated for the study in each model,
among which the maximum drift of structure has been
selected as seismic response improvement factor. For
this purpose, in each case the total drift excess of the
structure (in comparison with the demand drift of the
3rd edition of the seismic loading code of Iran) has
been computed and the amount of its reduction has
been considered as the improvement factor. In other
words, the ideal situation is the case in which equip-
ping the structure with supplemental dampers leads to
zero excess drift, which can be considered as a 100%
improvement. The cases in which in some stories the
maximum calculated drift value becomes less than the
code drift demand while computing the total excess
drift of the structure these quantities have been set to
zero (instead of a negative value).
Table 1. Damping coefficient of the dampers in different
models.
Supplemental Total
Damping Damping
of each storey of Model
Number of equipped storey (kN.sec/m) (kN.sec/m)
Model with 1 equipped storey 4450 4450
Table 2. Specifications of the selected records for the study.
Distance Duration PGA Predominant
Name (km) (sec) Magnitude Component (g) Period (sec)
Chalfant Valley 18.7 39.99 6 y 0.4 0.74
Coalinga 10.5 21.60 5.7 x 0.323 0.26
Kobe 11.1 40.99 6.9 y 0.503 0.44
San Fernando 20.3 36.59 6.6 x 0.366 0.16
Tabas 23.88 7.4 x 0.404 0.38
Table 3. The maximum drift values of the structure with no damper (cm).
The used earthquake
Story Coalinga Chalfant Valley Kobe San Fernando Tabas
5 3.42 8.53 4.95 2.67 4.81
4 3.18 7.88 3.6 2.16 3.26
3 1.71 5.56 1.95 1.46 2.38
2 1.68 4.52 1.97 1.46 1.96
1 1.25 3.71 1.75 1.37 1.94
Total Excess Drift 4.39 23.2 7.22 2.16 7.36
6 THE ANALYSIS RESULTS
In Table 3 one can observe the maximum drift of
each story of the unequipped structure subjected to
the five earthquake records. The calculated responses
have been divided into five group; the first group is the
results of placing the damper in one storey of the struc-
ture, the second is the results of placing the damper in
two stories, the third set is the results of placing the
damper in three stories, the fourth one is the results of
placing the damper in four stories and the last group
is the results of placing the damper in all storey of
the structure. It has been attempted to find out the
optimal placement of dampers and the optimal damp-
ing coefficient by comparing the results of the five
aforementioned groups as follow.
6.1 First group: The structure equipped
by a damper in one storey
Inthis groupthe dampingcoefficient of the damper has
been supposed to be 4450 kN.sec/mand in lieu of each
damper replacement in different stories and for each
of the five quake records, the improvement parameter
has been calculated and is illustrated in Figure 1.
Considering Figure 1, one may recognize that
except the Chalfant Valley quake, in the rest of the
quakes the improvement factor becomes maximal
whenthe damper is placedinthe fifthfloor, andregard-
ing the Chalfant Valley earthquake it is maximal if the
damper is placed in the fourth floor. To justify this
result it is useful to have a look at the floors relative
velocities of the unequipped structure under different
quakes as illustrated in Table 4.
Except the case of Chalfant Valley quake, it could
be observed that in the other cases the maximum
462
Figure 1. Improvement percentage of excess drift in lieu of locating one supplement damper (SD) at different stories for the
five used earthquakes.
Figure 2. Improvement percentage of excess drift in lieu of locating two supplement dampers (SD) at different stories for
the five used earthquakes.
relative velocity occurs in the fifth floor, but about
that exception, the maximum relative velocity occurs
in the fourth floor. On this basis, it can be reasonable to
say that in a structure which has been equipped with
damper in only one story, placing the damper in the
story with the largest relative velocity has the highest
effect on all of the storeys drift reduction.
6.2 The second group: The structure equipped by
dampers in two stories
Considering Figure 2, it can be recognized that, for
all records the improvement factor becomes maximal
when the two dampers are placed in the two top floors.
Looking at Table 4 it can be seen that the two top stories
have the highest relative velocities. Based on this, it
can be said that in a structure which has been equipped
with damper in two stories, placing the damper in the
two stories with the largest relative velocity has the
highest effect on all of the storeys drift reduction.
6.3 The third group: The structure equipped by
dampers in three stories
Repeating the mentioned trend for the state with three
equipped stories, similar results have been obtained,
despite this fact, in this case the drift progress factor
for the situation in which the supplemental dampers
463
are located in the 3rd, the 4th and the 5th stories is very
close to the situation in which the dampers are placed
in the 2nd, the 4th and the 5th stories. This could be
justified in the way that the relative velocities of the
Table 4. The floors relative velocities of unequipped struc-
ture subjected to different quakes (m/sec).
The used earthquake
Chalfant San
Story Coalinga Valley Kobe Fernando Tabas
5 0.6407 0.7241 0.6633 0.3627 0.6050
4 0.4172 0.7722 0.4229 0.2709 0.3384
3 0.2299 0.5481 0.1892 0.2473 0.2012
2 0.2348 0.3916 0.1787 0.2139 0.2263
1 0.2200 0.3625 0.1729 0.1588 0.2003
Figure 3. Improvement percentage of excess drift in lieu of locating three supplement dampers (SD) at different stories for
Figure 4. Improvement percentage of excess drift in lieu of locating four supplement dampers (SD) at different stories for
2nd and the 3rd stories are very close to each other.
In this group the damping coefficient of the damper
is supposed to be 1483 kN.sec/m. The improvement
parameter in the two best distributions of the three
dampers is calculated and illustrated in Figure 3.
6.4 The 4th and the 5th groups: The structure
equipped by dampers in four and five stories
The results of the improvement percentage in best dis-
tributions for the state with four and five equipped
stories are presented in Figures 4 and 5 respectively.
For Figure 4 the coefficient damping of each damper
is supposed to be 1113 (KN.sec/m) and for figure 5 it
is considered as 890 (KN.sec/m).
Before gettingintothe conclusion, it shouldbe men-
tioned that the choice of the damper based on the
damping coefficient is not quite reasonable, since the
464
Figure 5. Improvement percentage of excess drift in lieu of locating five supplement dampers (SD) at different stories for
Figure 6. Improvement percentage of excess drift in lieu of different number of equipped stories.
Table 5. Maximum velocities and damping forces of each kind of dampers.
Total Damping Relative Velocity of Damping Force of Number of Dampers Damper Force
Coefficient of Story Story (m/sec) Story (Tonf) in each Story (Tonf)
4450 0.4512 205 4 51
2225 0.4952 112 4 28
1483 0.5113 77 4 19
1113 0.5096 58 4 15
890 0.4867 44 4 11
companies which produce dampers sort their prod-
ucts based on the maximum tolerable force of the
damper. As it was not possible to estimate the max-
imum force of each damper before computing the
relative velocities, in the final stage by calculating the
maximum developed force in the dampers, the result
could be modified. For the five different dampers dis-
cussed before, the maximum relative velocity of the
corresponding stories and the maximum force of each
damper are presented in Table 5.
Number of the dampers in each storey has been
assumed to be four, based on the limitation expressed
465
Table 6. Maximum velocities and damping forces of each kind of dampers after recalculations.
Total Damping Relative Velocity of Damping Force of Number of Dampers Damper Force
Coefficient of Storey Storey (m/sec) Storey (Ton) in each Storey (Ton)
4450 0.4512 205 4 51
2020 0.4952 102 4 26
1250 0.5113 65 4 16
940 0.5096 49 4 12
820 0.4867 41 4 10
Figure 7. Improvement percentage of excess drift in lieu of different number of equipped stories after modification of damping
coefficients.
in FEMA-274 code. It can be observed that the max-
imum damping force of the damper is restricted to 51
tons, that is a reasonable value for such a structure.
Regarding the basic idea of this study (equality of the
total cost of the dampers in various configurations)
and also regarding the fact that the dampers are cate-
gorized by their maximumtolerable force, the dampers
of each configuration have been chosen in such a way
that the total maximum damping force of each case
would be almost equal, This was achieved by a series
of response recalculations. In this respect, the results
shown inTable 5 change to the modified results shown
in Table 6, and the results of response recalculations
are as shown in Figure 7.
Referring to the figure 7, it can be expressed as a
general conclusion that in a five-story building placing
the supplemental viscous dampers in the two stories
with the highest relative velocity leads to the largest
amount of story drifts reduction.
7 CONCLUSION
Based on the numerical results presented in the paper it
can be concluded that for a five-story regular building
of the conventional type:
1. Equipping the building with supplemental viscous
dampers, causes at least 16%decrease in maximum
drift of all stories.
2. Optimum storey-wise distribution of the dampers
in the building leads to 17% improvement in drift
reduction (in comparison to the weakest distribu-
tion).
3. The best location for installing the viscous dampers
is the story with the highest relative velocity in the
unequipped structure.
Equipping more than one storey with supple-
mental viscous dampers causes more decrease in
drifts,however, as a general conclusionplacingthe sup-
plemental viscous dampers in the two stories with the
highest relative velocities (which are usually the two
top stories) leads to the largest amount of stories drifts
reduction.
REFERENCES
Kim, J. Choi, H. and Min, K. W. 2003. Performance-Base
Design of Added Viscous Dampers Using Capacity Spec-
trum Method, Journal of Earthquake Engineering, 7(1),
124.
466
Sing, M. P. and Moresch, L. M. 2002. Optimal Placement
of dampers for Passive Response Control, Earthquake
Engineering & Structural Dynamics, 31(4), 955976.
Takewaki, I. 2000. Optimal Damper Placement for Critical
Excitation, Probabilistic Engineering Mechanics, 15(4),
317325.
Soong, T. T. and Dargush, G. F. 1997. Passive Energy Dissi-
pation Systems in Structural Engineering, John Wiley &
Sons, Inc., NewYork.
Chopra, A. K. 1995. Dynamics of Structures: Theory and
Applications to Earthquake Engineering, Prentice Hall,
Inc., Englewood Cli_s, New Jersey.
FEMA-274. 1997. Federal Emergency Management Agency,
NEHRP Guidelines for the Seismic Rehabilitation of
Buildings, Washington, D.C.
FEMA-274. 1997. Federal Emergency Management Agency,
NEHRP Commentary on the Guidelines for the seismic
rehabilitation of buildings, Washington, D.C.
Taylor, D. P. 1995. Constantinou MC. Testing procedures for
high-output fluid viscous dampers used in building and
bridge structures to dissipate seismic energy, Shock Vib,
2(5), 37381.
Gluck, N. Reinborn, A. M. Gluck, J. and Levy. R. 1996.
Design of supplemental dampers for control of structures,
Journal of Structural Engineering, 122(12), 13949.
467
Effects of vertical seismic loadings on safety evaluation for earth dams
H.J. Li & Z.W. Yan
Department of Geotechnical Engineering, China Institute of Water Resources and
Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
ABSTRACT: The performances of earth dams under strong seismic loadings can be evaluated by the Newmark
sliding method in way of induced sliding displacements, which are key parameters in the recent performance
design approaches. Conventional methods of determining the critical acceleration are based on pseudo-static
stability analyses employing either a horizontal earthquake loading or a combination of horizontal earthquake
loading and vertical earthquake loading which has a fixed proportion to the former and assumes to be static forces
act upwards or downwards. Besides, the effects of magnification and unhomogeneity of vertical acceleration in
elastic sliding body are neglected. An improved Newmark sliding method which can effectively take time-history
vertical acceleration into consideration, is proposed. It is shown that time-history vertical seismic loadings has
significant effect on induced sliding displacement for high core rock-fill dams subjected to strong earthquake.
The traditional approaches tend to provide unsafe evaluation of sliding displacement for high rock-fill dams.
1 INTRODUCTION
The seismic design of geotechnical structures, such as
rock-fill dams, requires an assessment of the induced
sliding displacement. The calculated induced sliding
displacement is a useful design parameter, because
it indicates the potential damage to an earth struc-
ture for the earthquake loading. A rigid sliding block
procedure was proposed by Newmark in 1965, which
is still the basis of most numerical techniques used
to calculate earthquake-induced sliding displacements
in practice. Newmark (1965) realized that accelera-
tions generated by earthquake shaking could impart
a destabilizing force sufficient to reduce temporarily
the factor of safety of an earth slope below 1, leading
to several sliding episodes and the accumulation of
sliding displacement. The Newmark procedure mod-
els the sliding mass as a rigid block and utilizes two
parameters: the acceleration time history of the input
motion and the yield acceleration. Sliding begins when
k
y
g is exceeded and continues until the velocity of
the sliding block and foundation again coincide. The
relative velocity between the rigid block and its foun-
dation is integrated to calculate the relative sliding
displacement.
Nevertheless, in the initial approach of Newmark
sliding analysis, there are two major limitations restrict
its application in evaluation of seismic performances
for important and complex geotechnical structures.
One major limitation is that the sliding mass is
assumed as a rigid block. The effects of elastic
response of rock-fill materials and magnification of
input motion are neglected. Thus, the initial New-
mark approach was later modified by Makdisi & Seed
(1978). In this modified approach, the deformable
response of the earth structure is first accounted for
by dynamic response analysis, and the resulting time
history acceleration is then used in a rigid sliding block
analysis instead of the input motion of the rigid foun-
dation. Another major limitation is that the effects
of vertical earthquake loadings are overlooked in the
determination of critical acceleration and dynamic
response. Possible effects of vertical earthquake load-
ings on the stability of earth structures have not been
discussed widely although it had attracted great atten-
tion as early as in the 1920s following devastating
Kanto Earthquake in Japan. Mononobe (1924) showed
that a combination of horizontal and vertical accelera-
tions led to severe damage of earth retaining structures.
Seed &Whitman (1970) showed in a parametric study
that the effects of vertical accelerationare insignificant
for retaining walls since most earthquakes recorded
a vertical acceleration considerably smaller than the
horizontal component. Ling et al. (1997) and Huang
et al. (1997), however, studied the effect of vertical
acceleration on the critical acceleration and sliding
displacement, where the vertical inertial forces were
assumed to act permanently upwards or downwards
separately as a fixed ratio of peak of horizontal inertial
force. Simonelli &Stefano (2001) offered a Newmark-
derived model for general slopes, which accounted for
horizontal and vertical input motions at the same time.
The results showed that the effects of vertical acceler-
ation on sliding displacement were negligible fromthe
engineering point of view.
Nonetheless, during the 1994 Northridge earth-
quake, the 1995 Kobe earthquake and the 1999 Chi-
Chi earthquake, field observations on vertical ground
469
motions showed quite different features from those of
the horizontal motions. For example, the records at the
reclaimed Port Island in Kobe showed that the ratio
of peak vertical to peak horizontal acceleration was
as large as 1.5 to 2. This value substantially exceed
1/2 or 2/3, a value commonly used in engineering
practice. On the other hand, the field observations
showed that vertical input motion was significantly
magnified at the crest of earth structure. Thus, ver-
tical acceleration has also been an issue of debate
following recent Earthquakes, but its possible effects
are yet to be investigated. The sliding block theory
should be examined further from the following per-
spectives: recent applications to high rock-fill dams
subjected to strong ground motion and inclusion of
vertical acceleration. Firstly, the characteristics of seis-
mic response of high rock-fill dams are significantly
different from that of low earth structures; secondly,
the effects of magnification and inhomogeneous dis-
tribution of vertical acceleration within the potential
sliding body on the critical acceleration and sliding
displacement are neglected. Consequently, a refined
mechanismof determination of critical acceleration by
means of time history vertical acceleration of poten-
tial sliding body is formulated and adopted in this
study.
2 ANALYTICAL PROCEDURES
2.1 Determination of critical acceleration
The critical acceleration is usually determined by
means of pseudo-static limit equilibrium method such
as Bishop, Spencer and Morgenstern method and so
on. The critical acceleration, which is defined as the
maximum horizontal acceleration that puts the soil
mass at a limit state where the factor of safety against
sliding equal to unity, is as a key parameter in New-
mark sliding block method. The initial determination
of critical acceleration includes the following limita-
tions: 1) vertical inertial forces can be neglected; 2)
the effect of elastic dynamic response of sliding body
is not considered properly; 3) the critical acceleration
is constant only depends on geometry, geotechnical
properties and hydro-geologic conditions etc. How-
ever, some field observations in recent earthquake
events showed that the vertical acceleration exerted
significant effects on the damage of earth structure
and the effect of magnification of vertical accelera-
tion is obvious. In addition, more and more numerical
analysis and model tests revealed that the vertical iner-
tial force of each slice of sliding body acts alternately
upwards and downwards and has an inhomogeneous
distribution among the slices. That is, the vertical
accelerations (a
vi
) of slices are different from each
other, as shown in Figure 1.
Thus, in the model developed herein, the seis-
mic critical acceleration of a potential sliding body
depends not only on its static condition but also on
its time history seismic condition. The process of
determination of critical acceleration is as follows.
Figure 1. Distribution of vertical acceleration among slices.
Figure 2. Vector diagram of forces for the slice.
The Bishop circular method is employed in this study
With respect to Figure 2, the original formulation
by Bishop (1955) can be rewritten by taking into con-
sideration the horizontal and vertical induced inertial
forces, as
470
The horizontal and time history vertical inertial
forces of each slice are represented by:
By assuming the inertial forces act at the centroid
of each slice. The maximumof horizontal acceleration
coefficient and time history rotational critical accel-
eration factor, which drive the sliding body to limit
state (Fs =1.0), can be determined by the following
equations.
2.2 Earthquake induced sliding displacement
According to the rigid sliding block model proposed
by Newmark (1965), possible separate displacements
of the most likely sliding soil mass during a spec-
ified earthquake motion can be evaluated based on
the dynamic response and critical acceleration. In the
present investigation, the circular sliding mechanism
is used. Firstly, the time history of average horizontal
acceleration is rearranged in terms of average angu-
lar acceleration in a manner similar to the critical
acceleration of soil mass; secondly, the time history
sliding circular acceleration is gotten by comparing
the time history average angular acceleration with the
time history angular critical acceleration as shown in
Equation (7); finally, the increment of sliding angular
displacement will be obtained by double integrating
Equation (8).
Although limit equilibriumanalysis assumes simul-
taneous mobilization of shear stress along the failure
surface, it is important to note that, the failing soil
mass is a deformable body rather than a rigid body.
Therefore, the number of slices of the block system
representing the soil mass will have a significant effect
on the distribution of vertical inertial force among the
sliding body and on the result of the methodology as
well. It is a matter of course that more slices lead to
more accurate solution. However, this would increase
the complexity of the program and make the solution
process more time-consuming. So a proper number of
slices are required in application is investigated in the
following sections.
In order to clearly investigate the influence of
time history vertical accelerations, and comparisons
about critical accelerations and sliding displacements
between the modified method and traditional method
which assumes the ratio of the peak of vertical accel-
eration and horizontal acceleration is 2/3 and acts
upwards or downwards respectively, are presented in
the seismic design of one practical high rock-fill dam.
3 APPLICATIONS AND RESULTS
For relatively low earth structures (less than 100 m),
critical acceleration and permanent displacements
might not be influenced much by the time history ver-
tical acceleration. For high earth structures, however,
the magnification of vertical acceleration appears to
affect the results of critical accelerationandslidingdis-
placement. As a verifying, a central clay core rock-fill
damnamed Nuozhadu Dam, which is going to be con-
structed in southwestern China, is investigated here.
The height of dam is 260.5 m. The physical properties
of main rock-fill can be found in literature. The poten-
tial sliding faces in upstream and downstream slopes
can be obtained by combining the Bishop pseudo-
static method with Ant colony algorithm complex
optimized method, as shown in Figure 3. According
to in-situ investigation, the selected ground motion
is plotted in Fig 4. Its amplitude in both horizon-
tal and vertical direction is 0.283 g for the purpose
of investigating the effect of vertical acceleration on
the sliding displacement and verifying phenomenon in
recent field observations.
The evaluation of effects of the time history ver-
tical accelerations has been conducted, adopting the
modified model previously described, and assuming
as input motion the accelerometric recordings relative
to the earthquakes illustrated in Figure 4.
In the dynamic analyses of high rock-fill dam, the
effects of scaling of horizontal and vertical accelera-
tion are taken into account. The time-history critical
accelerations and sliding displacements for two typi-
cal potential failure surfaces, which locate at upstream
and downstream respectively as shown in Figure 3,
Figure 3. Sketch of potential sliding face and dam.
471
Figure 4. Time history input motion in the two directions.
Figure 5. Comparisons of critical angular accelerations.
have been presented in Figures 5 and 6 for three cases,
including under time-history vertical inertial loading,
under eternal upward vertical inertial loading assum-
ing the ratio of peak of vertical acceleration and peak
of horizontal acceleration is fixed to 2/3(a
v
/a
h
=2/3)
and under eternal downward inertial loading assuming
a
v
/a
h
=2/3.
As shown in Figures 5(a) and (b), the time-history
of angular critical accelerations representative of dot
line obtained from the traditional method remain con-
stant during the earthquake. In correspondence to
Figure 6. Comparisons of time-history sliding displace-
ments.
the vertical inertial loading being introduced positive
(downwards) or negative (upwards), the lower limit
and upper limit of critical acceleration are defined
respectively. The solid lines symbol the time his-
tory critical accelerations obtained by the modified
method. There are many spikes throughout duration of
excitation where the lower limit critical acceleration
is exceeded by the time-history critical acceleration.
The trend is not obvious at the beginning and the
ending of input motion as the vertical inertial load-
ing can be negligible. The lowest angular critical
accelerations of two failure surface are 0.001 rad s
2
and0.0037 rad s
2
andbothoccur at 7.4seconds as the
response of high rock-fill dam is up to the maximum.
Owe to above reasons, the sliding displacements
of two failure surfaces, which are obtained from the
modified method, are biggest among the three cases,
as shown in Figures 6(a) and (b). From the engineer-
ing point of view, the evaluating results obtained by
traditional methods tend to be unsafe no matter what
assuming the vertical inertial loading is positive or
negative. It can be seen that the time-history vertical
acceleration exert a significant effect on the time-
history critical acceleration and sliding displacement
in the safety evaluation of high rock-fill dams.
472
Table 1. Critical accelerations and sliding displacements of
blocks with changing the number of slices.
AU1 AD1

ymin
10
3
S
ymin
10
3
S
rad rad.s
2
cm rad.s
2
cm
0.1 0.905 187.2 1.781 182.8
0.05 0.925 177.1 1.957 155.6
0.02 0.944 171.6 3.033 64.5
0.01 0.951 168.2 3.529 48.6
0.008 0.967 167.5 3.651 45.1
0.006 0.986 166.7 3.667 46.2
0.005 0.987 166.5 3.669 46.8
0.002 0.987 166.2 3.668 46.8
A further analysis has been carried out, in order to
investigate the influence of the number of slices on
the accuracy of proposed approach. It is important to
note that, the failing soil mass is a deformable body
rather thana rigidbody. Therefore, the number of slices
of the block system representing the soil mass will
have a significant effect on the distribution of vertical
acceleration within the body and on the result of the
methodology as well. The present work in this section
aims to investigate this effect and to give the informa-
tion of proper slices number. The number of slices is
decided by the increment of radian in Bishop circular
method. The increment of radian is in the range of val-
ues from 0.1 to 0.005. The lowest critical acceleration
and sliding displacement during the input motion cor-
responding to every case are obtained and shown in
Table 1. It can be seen from the table that, the critical
accelerations and sliding displacement of soil blocks
for short failure face (AD1) change remarkably when
the increment radian is from 0.1 to 0.02, change grad-
ually when increment radian is from0.01 to 0.006, and
change slightly when the increment radian is 0.002 or
0.005. It is possible to conclude that, the increment
radian must be at least 0.01 specially to short circular
failure surface, and to a certain extent, 0.005 is the
increment radian able to give an appropriate solution
for different failure surface.
4 CONCLUSIONS
In the present paper, a refined analytical method for
the safe evaluation of high rock-fill dams during earth-
quake is proposed. The vertical earthquake loading,
which is typically ignored or considered improperly in
current seismic design of high rock-fill dam, is reason-
ably incorporated into the modified Newmark sliding
method. The formulations of the critical acceleration
and sliding displacement for dynamic cases are estab-
lished. In this proposed approach, the time-history
vertical acceleration, which governs the distribution
of vertical inertial force within the rigid-plastic body
as failure occurs, is discovered and applied in the
Newmark sliding method for the first time. Com-
bining with elastic response of high rock-fill dam,
the motions of sliding bodies are analyzed. A sig-
nificant difference between this proposed approach
and the traditional approach is in the determination
of the time-history angular critical acceleration and
induced sliding displacement. In particular, the slid-
ing displacement obtained by the proposed method
tends to be greater than that obtained by the traditional
method after the critical state is reached or sliding fail-
ure occurs. It is verified that the traditional approach
can be unsafe in seismic design of high rock-fill dams.
5 SYMBOLS
C,
Cohesion and Friction angle

W, u Slice weight; Pore pressure
Q Horizontal inertial force of slice
G Vertical inertial force of slice,
positive symbols downward;
negative symbols upward
The angle that the tangential line through
the mid point with the horizontal
R
d
, R, R
g
Vertical distance of slice centroid from
the center of the slip circle, the slip
radius and the
distance of centroid of the sliding body
from the center of slip circle
C
z
Reduction factor in horizontal inertial
force
a The distribution coefficient of inertial
force at slice centroid
F
s
, K
max
Factor of safety and Coefficient of the
maximum horizontal inertial force
y
g
, y
c
Vertical coordinate of sliding body
centroid and Center of the slip circle
a
v
Time-history vertical acceleration of
slice centroid
l, S The length of slice and Sliding
displacement
Increment of radian
ave
,
ymin
, Average angular sliding acceleration,
y
,

(t) The minimum angular critical
acceleration
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The financial support by the Foundation of the State
Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineer-
ing (LP1016), special scientific research foundation of
China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower
Research (Yanji 1211) and the National Nature Sci-
ence Foundation of China (51009021) are gratefully
acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Bishop, A.W. 1955. The use of the slip circle in the stability
analysis of slopes, Geotechnique, 5, 717.
473
Huang, J.L., Wang, W.Z. and Xue, H.J. 1997. Dynamic
analysis of seismic stability of slopes, Earthquake Engi-
neering and Engineering Vibration, 17(4), 113122
(in Chinese).
Jinman K, Nicholas S.M. 2004. Direct estimation of
yield acceleration in slope stability analyses, Journal of
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5(34).
474
Smart structures embedded with MR dampers
using non-affine Fuzzy Control
Z. Movassaghi, B. Samali & Q.P. Ha
ABSTRACT: A five-storey building model is equipped with a pair of MR (magneto-rheological) dampers
installed at the last floor. This smart structure is imposed to scaled earthquake records (in this case, El-Centro
earthquake). Actuators are installed on the fourth storey where a Fuzzy Logic Controller is used to deal with
the non-affine nonlinear dynamics encountered. The aim of this work is to mitigate the structures vibration due
to external excitations via the Fuzzy Logic Controller and the MR damper installed. In the end, the controlled
case (structure equipped with MR dampers and Fuzzy Logic Controller) is compared with the uncontrolled
case. Simulation results show considerable reductions of the seismic vibration of the structure while the damper
current applied is within its working range.
1 INTRODUCTION
The increasing complexity of high-rise buildings,
cable-stayed long-span bridges, deep-sea offshore
structures or suspension systems that are integrated
with actuation, sensing, computation resources and
information networks demand effective tools for con-
trol andhealthmonitoring. Towards the achievement of
high performance smart structures, semi-active vibra-
tion control in complex civil structures has been very
promising, particularly in the mitigation of external
excitations and dynamic loadings owing to its advan-
tages of low cost, robustness and reliability against
various loading sources and integration of actua-
tors, sensors, computing and signal processing units.
Control performance and energy efficiency can be
improvedvia direct input control of smart devices from
the dissipation point of view by using parameterized
relationships describing the damper dynamics with
respect to the applied electrical signal and integrate
their models into structural dynamics [7,10,12,15,19].
This paper is concerned with a laboratory set-up of
a five-storey steel structure integrated with a pair of
magneto-rheological (MR) dampers, in a differential
configuration, installed in between the fourth and fifth
floor. The building structural model is subject to scaled
earthquake records via the UTS shake table facility
[16]. The static hysteresis model is adopted for the MR
damper, in which nonlinear functions are used to rep-
resent hysteresis in the damper characteristics. Here
the current-controlled problem of the smart structure
system is formulated in non-affine state space equa-
tions. Fuzzy Logic Control is proposed to deal with
nonlinearity of the control dynamics and non-affinity
in the control input, assuming the availability of the
displacement and velocity information of the fourth
and fifth floor. To illustrate the effectiveness of the
proposed control scheme, simulation results are pre-
sented together with discussions on its evaluation and
further remarks on the implementation aspect.
2 STRUCTURAL MODEL
The five-storey benchmark model, 3.6 m tall, steel
frame designed and manufactured at the University of
Technology Sydney is used for this study as shown in
Figure 1. The model has a footprint of 1.5 m1.0 m.
It consists of two bays in one direction and a single
bay in the other. The beams making up the bulk of
Figure 1. Five-storey benchmark steel frame.
475
each floor are 75 75 4 mmsquare hollowsteel sec-
tions. The model lateral stiffness is provided by six
high strength 24 mm24 mm square steel sections.
The model is designed to have the first floor heights
of 0.7 m. Taking advantage of the fact that masses are
effectively lumped at the first floor levels, simplifies
the analyses and hence the frame is represented by a
five lumped mass dynamic system, yielding a 5 5
diagonal mass matrix for both orthogonal directions.
The analysis, however, is a 2D analysis focusing on
the motion of the frame along its longer two bay direc-
tions. The total mass of the model is 1636.5 kg, the
five natural frequencies of the model are 2.95, 9.02,
15.68, 21.26 and 25.23 Hz, respectively, and the cor-
responding damping ratios are 0.4%, 0.69%, 0.63%,
0.2%and 0.14%of critical damping, respectively [16].
Magneto Rheological fluids are used here. These mag-
netic fluids are used in magnetic dampers installed in
the structure, since it has the capability of adjusting its
viscosity to absorb the seismic shakes of earthquake or
dampen the vibrations caused by wind that can pull a
bridge apart. Therefore a pair of Magneto Rheological
(MR) dampers is installed in between the 4th and 5th
storey. The MR damper has a maximum current of 2A
applied to the magnetizing coil in the damper hous-
ing to directly control the MR particle suspension and
hence the liquid viscosity to yield the damping force.
3 PROBLEM FORMULATION
The structures equation of motion is:
In which [m] is the mass matrix, which is an n by
n matrix, n being the number of storey of the struc-
ture and [k] and [c] are the stiffness and damping
matrices, having the same dimension as m. In this
case, n is 5 since the structure is a five storey struc-
ture and the floors and connections are assumed to be
rigid. [m]{ x
g
} is the external excitation which is the
El-Centro earthquake (M
w
=7.1), normalized to 2 g
as the Peak GroundAcceleration (PGA). This quake is
provided by the strong motion data base in University
of Berkeley at California [13].
[F
U
] is the control forces produced by the con-
trollers situated on the structure and [F
MR
] is the
damper forces produced since there is a pair of Mag-
neto rheological (MR) dampers installed in between
the fourth and fifth storey of the structure with the
control current vector i =[i
1
. . .i
k
i
n
]
T
whose entries
are constrained between zero and the maximal val-
ues. By defining the system state y =[x
T
x
T
]
T
R
2n
,
the state space equation for the smart structure can be
written as [6]
In which
where A is the system matrix, B is the gain matrix and
Eis the disturbance (earthquake excitations and uncer-
tainties) of approximate dimensions with notations
given in [8].
With differential dampers installed on the kth floor,
the motion equation for this floor is as below:
where x
k
and x
k
are respectively the storey velocity
and acceleration, i
k
is the current supplied to the pair
of dampers, and where [9]
Nowin my case, the pair of MRdampers is installed in
between the 4th and 5th floor. The m, c and k matrices
are all 5 by 5 matrices since the structure is a five
storey structure.
Due to the direct control being proposed by Ha et al.
[7] and the nonlinear system encountered because of
the MR dampers, non-affine state space equations are
encountered:
476
This poses a challenge as compared to affine state
equations of the form below:
Therefore to deal with these equations, we propose
to use non-affine Fuzzy Logic Control, motivated by
the work [9].
4 CONTROLLER DESIGN
In the framework of structural control, the main advan-
tages of the Fuzzy Logic Control over conventional
techniques are: (1) it is one of fewmathematical model
free approaches to system identification and control
which makes the system easier to design than devel-
opinganaccurate mathematical model of the structural
system needed for control system design. This can be
done by using the human experience and expertise to
implement the Fuzzy Logic Controller, (2) it tolerates
the uncertainties of the input data from the wind or
earthquake excitations and structural vibration sensors
and as a consequence, the resulting Fuzzy Logic Con-
troller possesses an inherent robustness, (3) the Fuzzy
Logic Controller has the ability to handle the nonlinear
behavior of the structure caused by large displace-
ments or material nonlinearity and damage, (4) Fuzzy
Logic Controller can be made adaptive by modify-
ing its rules or membership functions and employ
learning techniques. Fuzzy Logic Controller has been
investigated for the active control of civil engineering
structures [1,2,5,18] and the current study builds on
previous work in this area.
The Fuzzy Logic Controller takes the relative dis-
placement of the 4th and 5th storey and the relative
velocity of the same storey as its inputs since the MR
damper is situated in between the 4th and 5th storey.
The output of this controller is the current which has
to be supplied to the MRdamper so as to get the forces
provided to the structure. Five triangular membership
functions are defined for the displacement input (XNB,
XNS, XZ, XPS and XPB). X representing the displace-
ment, N the negative, Z the zero, P the positive, S the
small and Bis the big linguistic. Three triangular mem-
bership functions are defined for the velocity input
(VN, VZ and VP) with V representing the velocity, N
the negative and P is the positive linguistic. Output is
the current with five triangular membership functions
(IZ, IPS, IPM, IPB, and IPBB) with I representing the
current, S the small, M the medium, B the big, BB the
very big, Z the zero, N the negative and P is the pos-
itive linguistic. In Figure 2, the surface viewer shows
how the 15 rules have been defined.
Figure 2. Surface Viewer for the Fuzzy Logic Controller.
Figure 3. Current of the MR damper (A).
Figure 4. Displacement of the 1st storey, controlled vs.
uncontrolled (m).
5 SIMULATION RESULTS
The simulation is performed in SIMULINK, MAT-
LAB, R2012a. First the earthquake (in this case, El
Centro quake normalized to 2 g) is imposed to the
structure, after the quake the structure is still vibration
(the free vibration period) until it comes to a complete
stop. Figure 3 shows the current of the MR damper.
Figure 4 and Figure 5 show the controlled versus the
uncontrolled case (displacement and acceleration) for
the 1st and 5th storey.
As seen in the above figures, the displacement of the
1st and 5th storey and the acceleration of the last storey
are reduced considerably due to the MR damper and
the Fuzzy Logic Controller installed. In further works,
to have more considerable vibration suppression, the
477
Figure 5. Displacement of the 5th storey, controlled vs.
uncontrolled (m).
Figure 6. Acceleration of the 5th storey, controlled vs.
uncontrolled (m/s
2
).
Fuzzy Logic Controller is made adaptive, since the
main goal in vibration suppression is having zeroed or
near zeroed displacements due to the most destructive
earthquakes induced to the structure. Most adaptive
Fuzzy Controller schemes employ Fuzzy Logic sys-
tems with fixed structures. In which, a designer must
specify the number of membership functions and the
rule base by trial and error. In many cases, this task is
not trivial as exact mathematical models of plants are
generally not known. Thus, it is often known that the
Fuzzy Inference System used is unnecessarily large or
too small to adequately represent the plant. In a future
work, self-structuring adaptive Fuzzy Logic Systems
will be used to overcome this drawback [12].
6 CONCLUSION
This paper has presented feasible results on the idea of
direct control of magnetization current of MRdampers
in smart structures to suppress quake-induced vibra-
tions. Fuzzy Logic Control is issued to deal with
the nonlinear, non affine dynamics of the structure.
On-going work is aimed to improve the results to
enhance the versatility of the proposed approach for a
variety of earthquake records in regular and irregular
structures.
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478
Seismic performance improvement of stone masonry
buildings in mud mortar
R. Pun, B. Samali & H. Valipour
University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: In this paper, a new reinforcement method suitable for stone masonry houses built with mud
mortar is presented. The effectiveness of such reinforcement system has been observed by bending strength test
of rubble wall specimens prepared in the laboratory. Flexural strength test results with this intervention have
shown that the wall can have large deformation without significant loss of strength. Such property is highly
desired in buildings for resisting seismic loads. With due consideration to applicability and affordability of
potential users, this technique seems as one of the best options for improving the seismic performance of the
type of buildings under consideration.
1 INTRODUCTION
Stone masonry in mud mortar is still being widely
used in several regions around the world, particularly
in the rural hilly areas. The primary application of
such construction practice is in residential houses.
In the mountainous areas, stones are generally avail-
able in handy sizes scattered either along the terrain
(Fig. 1) or alongthe river banks. Buildinga house using
natural stones with mud mortar is one of the most eco-
nomic options. Moreover, such houses are relatively
suitable for extreme hot and cold weather. Therefore,
these types of constructions have been well adopted
throughout the centuries.
Ironically, stone houses are also popular in seis-
mically active regions. Because of fragile nature
of mud mortar, such buildings are vulnerable in
Figure 1. Natural stones scattered along the terrain.
seismic events. A large number of lives were lost
due to the collapse of traditionally constructed
stone masonry dwellings during severe earthquakes
(Bayraktar, Nart &Ali 2007). After an earthquake dis-
aster, there has been some tendency to move away from
using traditional materials, but adopting costly modern
materials is not possible all the time. This implies that
stone buildings with mud mortar are unavoidable for
few more decades. Hence, incorporating some inter-
ventions on existing methods of construction is the
only sustainable option for seismic safety of the people
residing in such houses.
Traditional stone masonry houses are often built
by house owners themselves, occasionally with some
support from local builders without any formal train-
ing (Bothara & Brzev 2011). In absence of proper
understanding and supervision, there is high risk of
undesirable alteration of a new method during appli-
cation in the field (Pun, Samali &Shreshta 2010). This
insinuates that any improvement techniques should be
simple so that it can be effectively implemented in
practice. Addressing all these issues, a new reinforce-
ment method suitable for stone masonry in mud mortar
is proposed. Also, considering ease in implementation
of this methodinreal practice, connectiondetails of the
reinforcements are developed adopting the techniques
being applied in other areas. Rubble wall specimens
with mud mortar were prepared with or without incor-
porating the new intervention in the laboratory and
tested under static lateral out of plane bending in verti-
cal span. The details of the bending test of unreinforced
walls are covered in another paper (Pun, Samali &
Valipour 2012). This paper gives the detailed expla-
nation on improved performance of reinforced stone
masonry specimens with due consideration to seismic
loading.
479
Figure 2. A typical stone masonry house.
2 SIGNIFICANCE OF OUT OF PLANE
BENDING STRENGTH FOR TRADITIONAL
STONE MASONRY BUILDING
In general, a traditional stone house consists of
detached, single to double storey rubble masonry with
a flexible timber floor covered with mud and pitched or
flat roof (Fig. 2). The wall system ranges from partly
dressed to fully dressed stones masonry laid in mud
mortar. Because of ease of construction and economic
reasons, partly dressed rubble masonry is most com-
monly used. From aesthetic point of view, undressed
or partly dressed walls are usually covered with mud
plaster.
Various failure mechanisms of stone masonry have
been observed in the past earthquakes. The most
common failure patterns are de-lamination, corner
separation, in plane shear failure, and out of plane
bending failure (Bothara & Hiylmaz 2008). Walls
with mud mortar are relatively weaker as compared
to walls with stiff mortar such as cement sand mortar.
Stone houses with such fragile walls and flexible floor
or roof system are heavily deficient for in-plane shear
strength. In such cases, the out-of-plane strength of the
walls is critical to earthquake performance (Spence &
Coburn 1992).
3 SEISMIC IMPROVEMENT TECHNIQUES
Stone masonry building is the least considered area
of research so far. Therefore, only few techniques
for improving seismic performance of such buildings
are available in literature. These improvement systems
can broadly be divided into two categories: reinforce-
ment schemes for new construction and strengthening
methods for existing buildings.
3.1 Reinforcing new stone masonry construction
The primary focus in this scheme is providing a box
type effect to the orthogonal walls of a building.
Figure 3. Dislodging of rubbles from timber bands due to
earthquake shaking.
For this purpose, a couple of systems are available,
such as, providing a reinforced band throughout all
the wall sections at lintel level and roof level, and
also providing vertical bars surrounded by a cement
mortar core at corners and jambs (IAEE 1986). These
provisions ensure that all walls are working together
which helps to prevent the most common failure mech-
anisms of stone masonry during an earthquake. Some
problems with this system emerge with application in
remote areas. In the absence of quality supervision, the
use of reinforced concrete band may not be properly
prepared and cured.
Similar types of provisions are also proposed using
timber or bamboo reinforcement in the above men-
tioned guidelines. Spence & Coburn (1992) found
much higher static lateral load at failure of a random-
rubble masonry wall in mud mortar with timber bands
as compared to unreinforced wall due to the tensile
strength of the timber reinforcement. Even with tim-
ber reinforcement band, it is still likely to experience
disintegration of the rubbles from the wall during vig-
orously shaking in earthquakes (Fig. 3). Instead of
reinforced concrete or timber bands, use of a layer of
galvanized steel wire-mesh was proposed and applied
in the field by Nienhuys (1999). However, this system
is not so effective for rubble masonry with mud mortar.
3.2 Retrofitting existing buildings
Research activities on strengthening techniques for
existing stone masonry buildings are relatively more
as compared to reinforcing techniques for new stone
masonry buildings. This is mainly due to repairing and
retrofitting program of existing monumental build-
ings either by the governments or nongovernmental
organizations. These techniques can be categorized
into grouting, jacketing with reinforced micro con-
crete or fiber reinforced plaster and post tensioning.
480
Nevertheless, most of these techniques are not cost
effective for the stone masonryhouse withmudmortar.
One of the low cost options, such as polypropy-
lene (PP) band technique seems a probable method
which was developed specially for retrofitting tra-
ditional masonry houses including stone masonry
(Mayorca & Meguro 2004). One major drawback of
this system is having difficulty when drilling holes in
regular intervals through the walls of multilayer tradi-
tional stone masonry. Also the connection between the
meshes needs considerable overlapping. In addition,
such mesh cannot be fitted tightly with the existing
wall system. As a consequence, it becomes highly flex-
ible and allows large deformation of the wall when
subjected to earthquake loads.
4 PROPOSED REINFORCEMENT SYSTEM
Providing a box effect in a building is effective so long
as the wall does not lose its integrity due to localized
failure. In case of rubble masonry built with mud mor-
tar, there is a high chance of loosening rubbles out
of walls even with a small shaking during earthquake
(Bothara & Hiylmaz 2008). Therefore, providing a
sort of confinement is necessary for improving seismic
performance of rubble masonry. On the other hand,
developing a simple and effective system is another
important aspect to be considered for implementation.
This is because of owner driven nature of mode of
construction of rubble masonry houses.
The proposed reinforcement system consists of
wrapping around the wall with a galvanized steel wire
(GSW) mesh. In this system, a strip of prefabricated
steel wire mesh of width slightly wider than the thick-
ness of wall is laid at the foundation level covering
the whole length of the foundation. The extra width of
the mesh is for allowing connection with other mesh
strips. Then, a wall is built over that layer. A strip of
wire mesh across the wall cross-section is inserted in
regular intervals along the height of the wall. Once the
wall is complete, required pieces of wire mesh are cut
from the roll of wire mesh. Then, each piece of mesh
is joined with the foundation mesh as well as to each
other byreverse twistingthe side of the mesh. Adopting
reverse twisting technique for mesh to mesh connec-
tion has made this reinforcement technique easy for
field implementation. Ease in connection is one of the
advantages of GSW mesh over other types of mesh
such as PPband mesh as discussed above in section 3.2
and geo grid mesh proposed for adobe construction
by Blondet, Vargas & Rubinos (2009). Also, join-
ing by reverse twisting process helps to increase the
tightness between wire mesh and the wall. As a conse-
quence, it limits the deflection of the reinforced wall
up to a certain limit, maintaining overall performance
of the building. The layers of the net at the opposite
sides of the wall are interconnected by using the pair
of connecting wires of the mesh inserted during the
construction of the wall.
5 PROPERTIES OF CONSTITUENT
MATERIALS
Sandstone was chosen as masonry units for the spec-
imens because it is one of the most commonly used
materials for masonry construction. Stone pieces of
various sizes and shapes were randomly chosen. These
pieces were broken using hand tools such as hammer
and brick bolster to bring themin to roughly flat shapes
and handy sizes. These types of stone pieces are rel-
atively stable and require less effort as compared to
fully dressed stone. The average compressive strength
of these stones was 38 MPa.
The mud mortar soil was composed of about 66%
sand, 20% silt and 14% clay which are within recom-
mended values for mud mortar for adobe construction
(Walker & Standards Australia HB 195 2002). The
same proportions were adopted for preparing mortar
for stone wall specimens. The compressive strength
and flexural strength of mortar used for building the
specimen were 1.56 MPa and 470 kPa respectively.
6 SPECIMEN PREPARATION
The dimensions of reinforced walls were chosen
as 500 mm350 mm1400 mm, similar to unrein-
forced wall specimen (Pun, Samali &Valipour 2012).
A platform was prepared using a plank of structural
plywood of size 700 mm450 mm17 mm, stiff-
ened with machine graded pine (MGP10) of size
95 mm45 mm at the base. Randomly chosen sand-
stone rubbles were cut along one side using a diamond
saw for making a smooth surface wall. Corner stones
were cut at right angles along two adjacent edges. The
rest of the surfaces of the rubbles were left undisturbed
so that structurally they could represent natural rubble.
The reason for making the wall smooth along outer sur-
face was for providing a smooth line along the supports
and loading arm.
Mud mortar was prepared using potable water with
about 23% moisture content. The platform was lev-
eled, a piece of builders plastic sheet was placed
over the platform and a strip of galvanized steel wire
mesh (hexagonal opening size of 50 mm, wire diam-
eter 1 mm) of width slightly larger than the thickness
of the wall was laid on the platform. A wall specimen
was built over the platform using stones laid in mud
mortar with thicknesses of 2030 mm. While laying
the stones, the smooth surface was maintained along
the face of the wall. Asimilar strip of mesh was placed
at the interval of 350 mm along the height of the spec-
imen. After completion, wall specimens were left for
curing in air for over four weeks in the laboratory envi-
ronment. In the mean time, GSW mesh reinforcement
was applied to the wall after two weeks of curing in
order to allow initial shrinkage to take place. A strip
of mesh was cut for each side of wall and connected
to adjacent strips and base strip using reverse twisting
technique (Fig. 4). The wire meshes at opposite sides
of wall were fixed to the wall using the twin wires of
481
Figure 4. Connecting strips at the base with reverse twisting
technique.
Figure 5. Reinforced wall specimens.
the strip inserted in during the construction of the wall.
The completed wall specimens are shown in Figure 5.
Due to some constraints, two specimens were prepared
at a time, and altogether three reinforced specimens
were prepared.
7 TESTING OF WALL SPECIMEN
The reinforcedwall specimens were testedinfour point
bending test in the vertical span (Fig. 6). A purpose
made loading system was prepared for this testing
(Fig. 7). Two load skates were placed belowthe bottom
of the specimens platform to provide a rolling base.
At each of the supports and loading arms, a 50 mm
diameter steel rod of length 600 mm was provided.
The load was measured using two load cells, each of
10 kN capacity. The distance of lower support from
the bottom edge of the specimen was kept at 50 mm.
The spacing between inner load bearings was set at
500 mm. The loading arm was located at a distance of
375 mm from the nearest support. A strip of Ethylene-
vinyl acetate rubber sheet of thickness 12 mm and
Figure 6. Schematic diagram of flexural test set up.
Figure 7. Wall specimen under testing.
width 50 mm was inserted between wall and the bear-
ing at the support as well as at loading arm to ensure
the proper contact with the wall. Apiece of equal angle
of size 40 mm and thickness 3 mm was attached to the
side of the wall near both ends of each support using
epoxy for measuring the deflection of the rubber at the
support.
The loadingwas appliedat a rate of 0.03 N/mm
2
/min
(BS EN 1052-2:1999). Deflections were measured at
the supports and mid span of the wall using LVDTs.
Since the LVDTs were placed symmetrically at the
supports and also the mid span deflection was mea-
sured at the centre of the wall, the average of all four
support deflections was equal to the contribution of the
rubber deflection at the mid span. The net deflection at
the mid span of the wall was obtained by subtracting
the component of the rubber deflection. The load at
the initiation of the crack was taken for calculating the
bending stress using the formula:
where, F
i,max
=maximum load applied to an individ-
ual masonry specimen, h
2
=spacing of inner bearings,
482
Figure 8. Flexural strength of walls (URW=Unreinforced
Wall, RW=Reinforced Wall).
Figure 9. Load at yielding and at ultimate stage.
h
1
=spacing of the outer bearings, b =breadth of a
masonry specimen, t =thickness of masonry.
8 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The flexural strengths of reinforced wall specimens
for bending in vertical span are comparatively shown
with unreinforced wall specimens in Figure 8. This
shows that the contribution of the GSWreinforcement
to the bending strength of the wall is insignificant.
This is because the externally applied reinforcement
comes into action only when there is a considerable
wall deformation. Because of fragile nature of stone
masonry in mud mortar, wall gets easily cracked after
a small deformation. Therefore, the significance of
GSWmesh comes in to action after initiation of cracks
in the wall. Slight improvement in the bending strength
of the reinforced wall is attributed to the initial con-
finement imparted by the mesh tightness attached to
the wall.
The effect of GSW mesh reinforcement upon the
strength of wall can be observed while comparing
ultimate loads (Fig. 9) sustained by the specimen. In
this graph, yield load is the load taken just before the
initiation of the crack in the wall whereas the ulti-
mate load is the maximum load taken by the wall.
In this case, authors prefer to use the term ultimate
load instead of ultimate strength in order to emphasize
that this is a different case from the most commonly
used term ultimate strength of other materials. After
cracking, the flexural strength of the wall reduces to
Figure 10. A typical load deflection curves of flexural test
of walls.
almost zero but the wall can continuously carry fur-
ther lateral loads. This is due to inherent advantage of
large thickness of the stone wall. The graph shows that
there is a significant improvement in the ultimate load
carrying capacity of the wall with GSW mesh rein-
forcement. As the width of crack starts increasing, the
reinforcement prevents it from widening further with
the support from relatively high compressive strength
of stone wall. During this process, the wall can have
large deflections with sustained loads as shown in load
deflection curve (Fig. 10). Similar type of hehaviour
with large displacement but with very mild initial
slope was observed by Spence & Coburn (1992) for
stone wall with mud mortar reinforced with timber
reinforcement.
The load deformation curve clearly indicates that,
the stiffness of the wall is not improved by the GSW
reinforcement. However, post cracking behaviour of
the reinforced wall is considerably improved. This sys-
tem of reinforcement has performed in accordance
with the requirement of the reinforcement technique
envisaged by the authors during testing on unrein-
forced walls (Pun, Samali &Valipour 2012). Based on
their observations, authors concluded that for making
stone houses earthquake resistant, it will be enough to
develop a reinforcement system which will maintain
the integrity of the wall after initiating the crack during
the reversible shaking under the earthquake.
Moreover, the load deflection curve has shown that
post cracking stiffness of the reinforced wall is slightly
improved but still well below the stiffness before the
crack. As a consequence, the wall seems to be flex-
ible enough to attract less seismic input depending
upon its vibration period. In addition, the load carry-
ing capacity of the wall increases with the increment in
deflection of the wall. Both these characteristics of the
reinforced wall are helpful in improving the seismic
performance.
Besides these, the mesh wrapping will prevent dis-
integration of the wall due to de-lamination. Also,
the mesh will limit the corner separation as well as
in-plane shear failure. The overall integrity of the wall
will be maintained through caging effect.
483
9 CONCLUSIONS
Developing an effective and applicable seismic
improvement technique for stone masonryhouses built
with mud mortar is still highly demanded in earth-
quake prone hilly regions. Improving out of plane
bending strength of such type of masonry is one of
the major steps towards solving this challenge.
The behaviour of reinforced stone wall specimens
with GSW mesh, while exposed to static lateral load
and bending in the vertical span has been observed.
With this system of reinforcement, the post crack-
ing performance of the wall can be significantly
improved. This is the most advantageous property
of the reinforced wall for resisting earthquake loads.
The capability of maintaining higher strength with
increased deflection makes this reinforcement tech-
nique promising for application in seismic resistant
constructions. Increased flexibility with limited defor-
mation, reduced seismic response, and maintained
overall integrity are key features of this improve-
ment method. In addition, GSW mesh reinforcement
prevents most of the failure mechanisms in stone
masonry.
The construction procedures of GSW mesh rein-
forcement are simple so that users can learn and
use it easily. A simple connection method applied
between meshes provides not only an easy means
for construction but also a tightly fitting capability
of the reinforcement to the wall. As a consequence,
the overall seismic performance of the building can
be substantially improved with this user friendly rein-
forcement system. Thus, it has shown a great potential
for practical implementation and building safer stone
houses in seismically active areas, especially in hilly
regions where natural stones are abundantly available.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are thankful to UTSStructures Laboratory
staffs for their kind cooperation during experimen-
tal works, and also to Mr. S. Kandel for providing
photographs used in Figures 1 and 2.
REFERENCES
Bayraktar, A., Nart, C. & Ali, Y. 2007, Performance of
Masonry Stone Buildings during the March 25 and 28,
2004 Askale (Erzurum) Earthquakes in Turkey, Journal
of Performance of Constructed Facilities, vol. 21, no. 6,
pp. 432440.
Blondet, M., Vargas, J. & Rubios, . 2009, Construction
of safe and healthy adobe houses after the Pisco 2007
earthquake in Peru, 11th International Conference on
Non-conventional Materials andTechnologies (NOCMAT
2009), Bath, UK.
Bothara, J. & Brzev, S. 2011, ATutorial: Improving the Seis-
mic Performance of Stone Masonry Buildings, Earthquake
Engineering Research Institute, retrieved on 21 May 2012
<www.world-housing.net/tutorials>.
Bothara, J.K. & Hiylmaz, K.M.O. 2008, General obser-
vations of buildings behaviour during the 8th October
2005 Pakistan earthquake, Bulletin of the New Zealand
Society for Earthquake Engineering Inc, vol. 41, no. 4,
pp. 209233.
British Standards Institution BS EN 1052-2:1999, Methods
of test for masonry determination of flexural strength,
Part 2: Determination of flexural strength, London, p. 11.
International Association for Earthquake Engineering
(IAEE) 1986, Guidelines for Earthquake Resistant Non-
Engineered Construction.
Mayorca, P. & Meguro, K. 2004, Proposal of an effi-
cient technique for retrofitting unreinforced masonry
dwellings, Thirteenth World Conference on Earthquake
Engineering, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Nienhuys, S. 1999, The development of the wire-mesh knot-
ting equipment, in Aga Khan Planning and Building
Services Pakistan (ed.) Gilgit, Pakistan.
Pun, R., Samali, B. & Shreshta, B. 2010, Major factors in
reinforcing stone masonry for sustainable construction
practice, 21st Australasian Conference on the Mechan-
ics of Structurers and Materials, Melbourne, Australia,
pp. 547552.
Pun, R., Samali, B. & Valipour, H. 2012, Flexural strength
of stone wall in mud mortar, Australasian Structural
Engineering Conference 2012, Perth, Australia.
Spence, R. & Coburn, A. 1992, Strengthening buildings of
stone masonry to resist earthquakes, Meccanica, vol. 27,
no. 3, pp. 213221.
Walker, P. & Standards Australia HB 195 2002, The Aus-
tralian Earth Building Handbook, Standards Australia
International Ltd.
484
Quasi-statictestingprotocol for simulatingearthquakeconditions
inregionsof low-moderateseismicity
R. Shahi & N. Lam
The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
E. Gad& J. Wilson
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
ABSTRACT: This study presents amethodology for developing aquasi-static cyclic displacement loading
protocol for experimental bracing evaluation of cold-formed steel stud shear walls. Theprotocol is based on
conditionsof low-moderategroundshakingconsistent withthelevel of seismichazardstipulatedfor Australia
for thenotional returnperiodof 500years. Thesameprotocol canbeappliedinother regionsof similar seismic
conditions. Numerousresponsetimehistoriesincludingbothlinear andnonlinear analyseshavebeengenerated
forselectedearthquakescenariosandsiteclasses.Rain-flowcyclecountingmethodhasbeenusedfordetermining
thenumber of cycles at various ranges of normalizeddisplacement amplitude. Seismic design parameters of
testedshear wall panelsareevaluatedusingtheEquivalent EnergyElastic-Plastic.
1 INTRODUCTION
Cold-formedstructural steel hasbeenwidely usedin
domestic low-rise buildings in industrialized coun-
tries. Shear walls providing lateral support of build-
ings aretypically built of cold-formedsteel studs. In
Australiaandmostregionsaroundtheworld, thereare
nocodifiedmethodsfor evaluatingthebracingcapac-
ityof wallsmadeof cold-formedsteel. Thebehaviour
of cold-formedsteel constructionunder cyclic strain
reversals inanearthquakeis too complex to analyze
andisbest evaluatedbyphysical experimentation.
Loadingprotocolsemployedforcyclictestingmust
be representative of conditions in projected critical
earthquakescenariosthatareconsistentwiththelevel
of ground shaking which the design is based upon.
Figure1showssomeof thewell knownloadingproto-
cols recommendedintheliteraturewhicharealmost
similar (energydissipatingdemandsarenotmuchdif-
ferent) except SPD protocol. However, eachof these
loading protocols incorporated with different forms
of deformationcontrol parameters suchas yielddis-
placement in ATC-24 protocol; FME (First Major
Event whichindicates thefirst significant limit state
tooccur) inSPD protocol, yieldvaluesor inter-story
driftangleinMultiplesteptest; andrelativeamplitude
a
i
/
m
(ratio of the amplitude at each step of cycle
to thetargeted maximumdeformation amplitude) in
FEMA 461. Moreover, all of theseloadingprotocols
weredevelopedbasedonconditionsof intenseground
shaking in regions of high seismicity. Hence, it is
uncertainif thecitedprotocolsaresuitablefor evalu-
atingstructuresinregionsof low-moderateseismicity
likeAustralia.
This paper presents the development of a model
loadingprotocol thathasbeenderivedfromearthquake
scenarios (combination of magnitude, distance and
sub-soil conditions) whichfeature: (i) frequencycon-
tentsthatwouldbecritical tothedesignof shear walls
built of cold-formedsteel studsand(ii) conditionsof
moderategroundshakingthat isassumedfor regions
away fromtectonic plate boundaries, likeAustralia.
Thesameprotocol shall beusedforlightframedtimber
wallsduetosimilar pinchedhysteresisbehaviour.
2 SIMULATEDACCELEROGRAMS
Due to paucity of strong motion earthquakes in an
intra-plate region like Australia, artificial accelero-
gramshavebeengeneratedusingprogramGENQKE
that was developed at The University of Melbourne
(Lam1999, Lamet al. 2000). Stochastic simulations
have been carried out for different earthquake sce-
narios defined by the magnitude-epicentral distance
(M-R) combinations. Earthquake scenarios which
contribute to seismic hazard factor (k
P
Z) between
0.05gand0.11g(forpopularcitiesofAustraliasuchas
Adelaide,Newcastle,MelbourneSydney,etc.),andfor
areturnperiodof 500years areconsidered. Seismic
hazard factors for these earthquake scenarios could
also beidentifiedby back calculations usingground
motionpredictiverelationshipsof Gaull et al. (1990).
The demonstrated consistency between the two sets
of values (shown explicitly in the correlation plot
of Fig. 2) serves to verify the use of the artificial
accelerogramsforrepresentingtheseismicdemandon
structures.
485
Figure1. Typical loadingprotocolsfor seismictesting.
Artificial accelerograms simulated fromthe seis-
mological model arebasedonrock conditions. These
simulationshavebeenextendedtocoverforconditions
onsoil usingprogramSHAKE (Idriss & Sun1992).
Figure 2. k
P
Z values fromsimulated accelerograms and
Gaullsmodel.
Figure3. Responsedisplacementspectrasimulatedonrock
andsoil sites(M=6.5& R=50km).
Table1. Simulatedk
P
Zfor variousM-R combinations.
Distance\Magnitude M5.5 M6 M6.5 M7
15km 0.11
20km 0.08
30km 0.05 0.10
50km 0.05 0.09
70km 0.04 0.08 0.11
100km 0.05 0.08
150km 0.05
Boreholerecordswereanalysedtoestimateshearwave
velocity profiles in thesubsoil layers using relation-
shipsrecommendedbyLam&Wilson(1999).A large
numberof shearwavevelocityprofileshavebeenanal-
ysedandsortedinaccordancewiththeirestimatedsite
natural periodswhichareconsistent withsiteclassC
andDasperAS1170.4(2007). Siteresponsedisplace-
mentspectracalculatedfromaccelerogramssimulated
onthegroundsurfaceareshowninFigure3.
Soil amplificationfactors areshownto bedepen-
dent on thesitenatural period as thereis atrend of
increaseinvalueof thesiteamplificationfactor with
increasingsitenatural period(sitefactors inorder of
2.0, 2.5, 3.5 and 4.0 for site natural period of 0.20,
0.34, 0.68 and 0.89 sec respectively). Importantly,
more onerous displacement demand in the natural
486
Figure4. Elasticresponsedisplacementforvariousselected
earthquakescenarioswithdifferent sub-soil conditions.
period range of 0.1 sec to 0.4 sec (Initial period of
cold-formed steel buildings with oneor two storeys
rangesfrom0.1sec to0.2sec andcanbelengthened
as a result of stiffness degradation to about 2 times
its initial natural period value) in severe earthquake
conditions. Thus, responseof thestructurewithinthe
natural period rangeof 0.10.4 sec is of interests in
thisstudy) isobtainedforsiteclassCthansiteclassD.
Table2. Critical combinationsof earthquakescenarios.
Specific
T
n
in Earthquake Number of
Case sec SiteClass(C) Scenario Accelerograms
1 0.2 T
s
=0.20sec M5.5R15 6
2 0.2 T
s
=0.20sec M6.0R30 6
3 0.2 T
s
=0.20sec M6.5R50 6
4 0.3 T
s
=0.20sec M5.5R15 6
5 0.3 T
s
=0.20sec M6.0R30 6
6 0.3 T
s
=0.20sec M6.5R50 6
7 0.3 T
s
=0.34sec M5.5R15 6
8 0.3 T
s
=0.34sec M6.0R30 6
9 0.3 T
s
=0.34sec M6.5R50 6
10 0.4 T
s
=0.34sec M5.5R15 6
11 0.4 T
s
=0.34sec M6.0R30 6
12 0.4 T
s
=0.34sec M6.5R50 6
ItisrevealedinFigure3(representingearthquakesce-
nariosof M=6.5&R=50km) thatthedisplacement
demandonstructuresinthisnatural periodrangeisless
than10mmforsiteclassDwhereasitisintheorderof
15mmto25mmforsiteclassC. However, moreoner-
ous displacement demandinthehigher periodrange
(i.e. >0.4 sec) is estimated on siteclass D than site
classC.
Analyses for thedisplacement demand havebeen
conducted for shear wave velocity profiles for
every probable earthquake scenarios identified in
Table 1. It was found that the earthquake scenarios:
(i) M=5.5 & R=15km, (ii) M=6.0 & R=30km
and(iii) M=6.5& R=50kmwouldgeneratehigher
seismic demand on structures with natural period of
upto0.4sec thanother earthquakescenariosconsid-
eredinthestudy. Displacement demandonsiteclass
C (Figs 4a, b) is shown to bemuch higher than that
onsiteClassD (Figs4c, d). Critical combinationsof
earthquakescenariosandshear wavevelocityprofiles
(identified by sitenatural period, T
s
) that havebeen
identifiedbytheparametricstudyarelistedinTable2.
Earthquakescenario of M=7.0 & R=70kmis not
listedbecausesuchlongdistancescenariowouldonly
beoneroustothemoreflexiblestructureswithnatural
periodhigher than0.4sec. Displacement demandon
very stiff structures(withanatural periodof 0.1sec)
isalsoconsideredtobenotcritical inviewof thevery
low(<5mm) displacement demand.
3 CRITICAL SCENARIOSANDLOADING
PROTOCOL RECOMMENDATION
Artificial accelerograms simulated for the critical
combinationsof earthquakescenariosandshear wave
velocityprofiles(Table2) weresubjectedtotimehis-
tory analyses for simulating the response behaviour
of SDOF systems for 5% damping using standard
methods presented in Chopra (2007). A SDOF sys-
temwasdevelopedbyusingalateral stiffnessper unit
length(k) of 0.5to3kN/mm/mfor coldformedsteel
studshear wall (Gadet al., 1999) whereasparameter
misworkedout toobtainthedesiredrangeof natural
487
period. Computer programRuoumoko2D(Carr 2003)
was usedto operatenon-linear time-history analyses
based on the hysteresis model shown in Figure 5.
Strength degradation of the systemwas defined as
afunction of theductility value(). Degrading lin-
earlyfromfull strengthwasassumedtocommenceat
Figure5. MehranKeshavarianhysteresis(Carr 2003).
Figure6. Normalizedresponsedisplacement historyof SDOF system(for Case8of Table2).
ductility valueof 4 to residual strength (30%of full
strength) at ductilityvalueof 6. Stiffnessdegradation
of thesystemwas controlled by theunloading stiff-
nessparameter whichwasset at 0.2intheanalyses.
Thenormalizedresponsedisplacement timehistories
asobtainedfromtheanalysesforoneof theconsidered
earthquakescenarios(Case8inTable2) areshownin
Figures6a6f.
Rain-flowcyclecountingmethodwasusedtodeter-
mine the number of cycles for various levels of
normalizedamplitudeof displacement.Figure7shows
the number of cycles for various ranges of normal-
ized amplitude (normalized by maximumamplitude
in the response history) for all the considered cases
(i.e. cases 112of Table2). Therecommendedload-
ingprotocol derivedfromtheobservation(Fig. 7b) is
shown inTable3 and Figure8. It is noticed that the
recommendedloadingprotocol lookssimilar (energy
dissipating demands are not much different) to the
variousloadingprotocols(asshowninFig. 1) except
SPDprotocol whichconsistsof largenumber of high
488
amplitudecycles. However, thereis aslight decrease
inthetotal number of displacement cyclesintherec-
ommended loading protocol compared to the cited
loadingprotocols. Thisisduetothefact that therec-
ommendedloadingprotocol wasdevelopedbasedon
lowtomoderateseismicitywhereastheother loading
protocolsshowninFigure1weredevelopedbasedon
stronger groundmotionrecords.
The recommended loading protocol (shown in
Table 3 and Fig. 8) uses the displacement control
parameter (
M
) whichreferstothedisplacementcor-
respondingto90%of thepeakstrengthatthedeclining
portionof themonotonicloaddeflectioncurve. Thus,
themonotonic test is requiredto beperformedprior
tocyclictestfor determiningthecontrol displacement
parameter(
M
)asitisdifficulttopredicttheyieldand
ultimatelimit states in light framed walls (including
coldformedsteel studshear walls) duetohighdegree
Figure 7. Average cycle counts for different levels of
normalizedamplitude(for all CaseslistedinTable2).
Table3. Recommendedloadingprotocol.
Noof Cycles DisplacementAmplitude
Phase Obs.* Rec.** Obs.* Rec.**
1 9.4 4 0.10.3of
M
25%of
M
2 4.5 4 0.30.5of
M
50%of
M
3 3.3 3 0.50.8of
M
75%of
M
4 2.4 3 0.81.0of
M
100%of
M
5 to 3 Increasefurther
failure byincrements
of 25%of
M
*Observed
**Recommended
of nonlinearity. Resultsfrommonotonictestshall also
beusedfor windevaluations.
4 DETERMINATIONOF DESIGN
PARAMETERS
Thepurposeof this sectionis toprovideaschematic
illustrationonhowvalues of designparameters such
as yieldstrength(S
Y
), displacement at ultimatelimit
state(
u
), initial stiffness(K
0
) canbeidentifiedfrom
the stabilized backbone curve that has been derived
fromaquasi-staticcyclictest. Knowledgeof thevalue
of theseparametersenablesthevalueof thedisplace-
ment ductility ratio() andstrengthreductionfactor
(R
) to befound. Therearedifferent methodologies

for establishingthetheoretical yieldpoint andoneof
themisgivenby Kawai et al. (1997). Model usedby
Kawai et al. (showninFig. 9)wasbasedontheEquiva-
lentEnergyElastic-Plastic(EEEP). IntheKawai et al.
model,driftangle(lateral displacement/heightof spec-
imen) was used for determining the initial stiffness
slopeinsteadof usingstrengthasinthecasesof ECCS
recommendations (1985), Park (1989) and theAISI
Standard(2007).Theinitial stiffness(K
0
) isthesecant
stiffnessobtainedbyjoiningtheorigintothedriftangle
correspondingtoadriftratioof 1/400(
400
).Theyield
lineisselectedinsuchawaythatthedissipatedenergy
bythewall specimenduringmonotonicor cyclicload
Figure8. Recommendedcyclictest protocol.
Figure9. Equivalent Energy Elastic Plastic (EEEP) model
(Kawai et al. 1997).
489
isequivalent totheenergyrepresentedbythebilinear
systemasillustratedby thehatchedareaof Figure9.
Theultimatelimitstate(
U
) isdefinedattheintersec-
tionpointof yieldlimitlinewiththedecliningportion
of theload-displacement curve.
Equatingtheareasundertheresponsecurveandthe
EEEPcurve, theyieldstrength(S
Y
)canbedetermined
byequation1:
where A=area under the response curve between
zero and
U
; K
0
=initial stiffness=S
400
/
400
;
U
=displacement at ultimate limit state; S
400
=
strength at drift angle corresponding to 1/400; and
400
=displacement at drift angle corresponding to
1/400.
Yielddisplacement(
Y
), ductility() andductility
reductionfactor (R
) canbefoundusingequations2,
3and4respectively:
5 CONCLUSIONS
Themainconclusionsobtainedfromthisstudyareas
follows:
1. Artificial accelerogramshavebeengeneratedusing
programGENQKE and responsespectraarepro-
ducedwhichisfoundtobeconsistent withpredic-
tionsbyGaullsmodel.
2. ProgramSHAKEhasbeenusedinordertoaccount
fordifferentsub-soil conditions.Responseof short-
periodstructurewithnatural periodrangingfrom
0.1secto0.4seconsiteclassCisfoundtobemore
onerousthanonsiteclassD.
3. Specific earthquakescenarios; suchasM=5.5&
R=15km, M=6.0& R=30kmandM=6.5&
R=50km,thataffectstructureinthenatural period
rangeof 0.1secto0.4sechavebeenidentified.
4. Numerous responsetimehistories havebeengen-
erated for the specific earthquake scenarios and
for site class C. Number of cycles is counted
between various ranges of normalized amplitude
usingrain-flowcountingmethod.
5. Therecommendedloadingprotocol lookssimilarto
thevariousexistingloadingprotocolswithslightly
lesser number of displacement cyclescomparedto
theexistingloadingprotocols
6. Performance parameters of shear wall panels
such as stiffness, yield strength and ductility can
be determined using standard Equivalent Energy
Elastic-Plastic(EEEP) model.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ThisresearchissupportedbytheAustralianResearch
Council, ARC Linkage grant LP110100430. The
authors gratefully acknowledge the financial and
technical support of the collaborating organization,
NASH, and in particular its Executive Director
Mr. KenWatson.
REFERENCES
AmericanIronandSteel Institute,AISI S213-072007. North
AmericanStandardfor cold-formedsteel framing-lateral
design.
AS1170.4 2007. Australian/New Zealand Standard for
structural design actions, Part 4: Earthquake actions in
Australia.
ATC-241992.Guidelinesforcyclicseismictestingof compo-
nentsof steel structuresforbuildings.ReportNo.ATC-24,
TechnologyCouncil, RedwoodCity, CA.
Carr, A. J. 2003. Ruaumoko 2D-Inelastic dynamic anal-
ysis. Department of Civil Engineering, University of
Canterbury, Christchurch.
Chopra, A. K. 2007. Dynamics of Structures (3rd Edi-
tion): Theory andapplicationtoearthquakeengineering.
PrenticeHall Inc, NewJ ersey.
European Convention for Construction Steelwork, ECCS
1985. Recommendedtestingprocedurefor assessingthe
behaviour of structural steel elementsunder cyclicloads.
FEMA 2007. Interimprotocolsfor determiningseismicper-
formance characteristics of structural and nonstructural
componentsthroughlaboratorytesting. FEMA 461draft
document, Federal EmergencyManagementAgency.
Gad, E.F., Duffield, C.F., Hutchinson, G.L., Mansell, D.S. &
Stark, G. 1999. Lateral performance of cold-formed
steel-frameddomesticstructures. Engineering Structures
21(1): 8395.
Gaull, B. A., Michael-Leiba M. O. & Rynn J.M.W. 1990.
ProbabilisticearthquakeriskmapsofAustralia.Australian
Journal of Earth Sciences 37(2): 169187.
Idriss, I. M. &Sun, J.I. 1992. Manual for SHAKE-91. Spon-
soredby National Instituteof StandardsandTechnology,
Maryland,USAandDepartmentof Civil &Environmental
Engineering, Universityof California, Davis, USA.
Kawai Y., Kanno. R. & HanyaK. 1997. Cyclic shear resis-
tanceof light-gaugesteel framedwalls. ASCE Structures
Congress, Poland, USA: 433437.
Krawinkler, H. 1996. Cyclic loading histories for seismic
experimentation on structural components. Earthquake
Spectra 12(1): 112.
Lam, N. T. K. 1999. Program GENQKE user manual.
Civil & Environmental Engineering, The University of
Melbourne, Australia.
Lam, N. T. K. & Wilson, J.L. 1999. Estimation of the site
natural periodfromaboreholerecord.Australian Journal
of Structural Engineering 1(3): 179199.
Lam, N.T.K., Wilson, J.L. & Hutchinson, G.L. 2000. Gen-
erationof syntheticearthquakeaccelerogramsusingseis-
mological modeling. Journal of Earthquake Engineering
4(3): 321354.
Park, R. 1989. Evaluationof ductilityof structuresandstruc-
tural assemblages fromlaboratory testing. Bulletin NZ
National Society Earthquake Engineering22(3):155166.
Porter, M. L. 1987. Sequential PhasedDisplacement (SPD)
procedure for TCCMAR testing. In 3rd Meeting of the
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490
Dynamic analysis of structures with interval parameters under random
process earthquake excitations
C.W. Yang, C. Wang, W. Gao & C.M. Song
ABSTRACT: Seismic random vibration of structures has been investigated extensively. The majority of mod-
elling on seismic random response analysis of structures belongs to deterministic models. However, in reality,
uncertainties, resulting from physical and geometric imperfections, manufacture errors and model inaccuracies,
must be accounted for in structural analysis and design. This paper addresses the dynamic characteristic and
seismic randomvibration analysis of structures with interval uncertainties. The mathematical models for finding
the minimumand maximumvalues of structural natural frequencies and mean square value of randomresponses
are developed. Alow-discrepancy sequence initialized particle swarmoptimisation method with high-order non-
linear time-varying inertia weight (LHNPSO) is employed to solve the optimization problems. Sharp bounds of
structural natural frequencies and the mean square value of random response are then determined. The effec-
tiveness of the proposed method is illustrated through an example. Monte Carlo simulation method and interval
factor method are also implemented to verify the accuracy of the results.
1 INTRODUCTION
Analysis of structural dynamic characteristics and
response plays a very important role in structural
analysis and design. In engineering applications, most
engineering analysis and design problems involve
uncertainties. In contrast to deterministic analysis,
uncertainties of structural parameters and applied
loads are considered in non-deterministic analy-
sis. Uncertainties can come from inaccurate mea-
surements, manufacturing errors, material defects,
changes of the environment (Der Kiureghian 1989)
and various kinds of random excitations and so on.
These uncertainties may lead to great impacts on struc-
tural natural frequencies, mode shapes and responses.
Simply ignoring these intrinsic unpredictable natures
may cause excessive approximations and the calcu-
lated results could be far from the actual results.
Therefore, it is crucial to consider these unpredictable
natures in engineering applications.
Due to the nature of these uncertainties, there are
three main approaches to handle them in engineer-
ing analysis and design (Li and Liao 2001). If the
probabilistic density function and joint probability dis-
tribution function of variables can be provided by
sufficient experimental data or statistical information,
probabilistic approaches are the first choice. If the
structural parameters and excitations are described
in linguistic or imprecise terms, then the structural
response can be predicted by using fuzzy theory (Qiu
andWang 2009). At last, interval methods only require
the lower and upper bounds of structural parameters,
which is extremely valuable when the information on
uncertain parameters is limited.
During last few decades, probabilistic and non-
probabilistic approaches have been applied to predict
dynamic characteristics and responses of structures
with uncertainties in structural parameters and inputs.
Probabilistic approaches are widely used to solve
uncertain problems. Lots of works have been done
by many researchers (Su-Huan, Zhong-Sheng et al.
1992; Au 2005; Gao 2007; Gao andTin-Loi 2008). The
sufficient and correct statistical information of input
random variables is crucial for probabilistic analysis.
There is a risk that even small errors in probabilistic
data may cause large errors in calculated probabilities
of failure. Moreover, the probability density function
is difficult to be selected analytically, as the sources of
the uncertainty are often ambiguous (Qiu and Wang
2005). On the other hand, in engineering practice, it
is common that information about probabilistic dis-
tributions is limited. Consequently, interval methods
are becoming increasingly popular to analyse systems
with uncertain parameters. Monte Carlo simulation
method (MCSM) has been used to solve interval prob-
lems. It is known that this method needs a large amount
of computational effort to get convergent and accu-
rate results. For large-scale structures, it cannot always
match its ambitions. The interval factor method (IFM)
is more suitable for the interval structural dynamic
analysis if the uncertainty of the same kind of struc-
tural parameter overall elements is the same, but it
cannot be used to analyse the dynamic response of
nonlinear structures with uncertainty (Gao, Zhang
491
et al. 2008). The computational time of the vertex solu-
tion theorem increases dramatically with degrees of
uncertainty involved, especially when it combines with
finite element analysis (Qiu and Wang 2009). Interval
perturbation method requires less computational work
but only provides approximate results due to the unpre-
dictable effects of neglecting the higher-order terms
(Moens and Vandepitte 2005).
Recently, optimization methods have been adopted
to find the exact change ranges of systemoutputs as the
minimum and maximum values are the lower bound
and upper bound respectively in interval analysis. By
means of an evolutionary strategy, a modified method
is developed to calculate the two bounds of eigen-
values for standard and generalized interval matrices
(Yuan, He et al. 2008). The particle swarm optimi-
sation (PSO) algorithm is robust to solve nonlinear
and/or non-convex optimisation problems with con-
tinuous or discontinuous search regions. PSO has also
been used for handling structural optimisation prob-
lems (Plevris and Papadrakakis 2011). A novel PSO
algorithm, low-discrepancy sequence initialized PSO
method with high-order nonlinear time-varying iner-
tia weight (LHNPSO), has been recently developed
by the authors. LHNPSO has fast convergence speed
and is able to provide very accurate results, which
has been verified by a set of well-known benchmark
optimisation problems.
In this paper, LHNPSO algorithm is adopted to
solve interval dynamic problems of engineering struc-
tures. Structural parameters are considered as interval
parameters. Excitations are random process earth-
quake motions. The dynamic characteristics and seis-
mic random responses of structures with interval
parameters are investigated. The results calculated by
LHNPSO are verified by the MCSM and the IFM.
2 INTERVAL DYNAMICANALYSIS OF
STRUCTURES USING LHNPSO METHOD
2.1 Interval dynamic analysis of structures
The general equation of motion of dynamic analysis
of engineering structures, in which parameters of all
the members are deterministic, can be expressed as:
where [M], [C] and [K] are the mass, damping and
stiffness matrices respectively; {u(t)}, { u(t)} and { u(t)}
are displacement, velocity and acceleration vectors
respectively. In this study, seismic random vibration is
under consideration. {F(t)} is a stationary randomload
vector with the power spectral density matrix denoted
as {S
f
()}.
If there are m elements and n degrees of free-
dom in a truss structure, in global coordinates, the
mass and stiffness matrices of this structure can be
formulated as:
where [M
e
] and[K
e
] are the mass andstiffness matrices
of the e-th element respectively. [T
e
] is the trans-
formation matrix that translates the local coordinate
of the e-th element to system global coordinates.
[G] is a 6 6 matrix with G(1, 1) =G(4, 4) =1,
G(1, 4) =G(4, 1) = 1 and other elements equal to
zero. [I ] is a 6 6 identity matrix. It can be seen that
the stiffness and mass matrices are dependent on ele-
ments cross-sectional area A
e
, Youngs modulus E
e
and density
e
.
Using the Rayleighs quotient, the i-th natural
frequency
i
can be calculated by:
where {
i
} is the corresponding normalised eigenvec-
tor of the i-th natural frequency. It has the following
orthogonal properties from the modal analysis theory:
The displacement can be formulated in terms of
the decoupling transformation and convolution inte-
gral when the structure is at rest initially (Gao and
Kessissoglou 2007):
[h(t)] is the impulse response function matrix of the
structure.
After calculating the correlation function matrix
and performing Fourier transformation, the power
spectral density matrix of displacement [S
u
(t, )] can
be expressed as:
where [H()] is the frequency response function
matrix of the structure and [H
()] is its complex

conjugate matrix. [H()] can be expressed as:
492
i
represents the damping ratio of the structure. Inte-
grating [S
u
(t, )] within the frequency domain yields
the mean square value matrix of the structure displace-
ment [
2
u
(t)]:
Then, the root mean square value of dynamic
response of the i-th degree of freedom in frequency
domain becomes:
In this study, Youngs modulus, cross-sectional
area and density are defined on the closed intervals.
The mass, damping and stiffness matrices become
interval matrices [M]
I
=[M, M], [C]
I
=[C, C] and
[K]
I
=[K, K], respectively. The structural response
{
u(t)
}
I
=[
u(t)
,
u(t)
] is an interval variable too. Here,
the symbol with under bar represents the its lower
bound of while upper bar indicates the upper bound.
2.2 PSO & LHNPSO
Similar as other evolutionary algorithms, particle
swarm optimization algorithm was initially proposed
to mimic the concept of a social behaviour, such as
flocks of birds and schools of fish. Very soon, this
technique was developed as a very powerful optimi-
sation tool and has been successfully applied in both
continuous and discrete fields (Kennedy and Eberhart
1995). The optimisation is started by randomly ini-
tializing a population of particles in the search space.
The algorithm searches the optimal target by moving
the positions of particles within the search domain.
Each particle has the ability to memorize the current
velocity, for example, the i-th particle at the k-th iter-
ation v
i
(k), and the position at the k-th iteration. The
personal best position visited by this particle is repre-
sented by x
Pb
i
and the global best location found by the
whole population until the current iteration is x
Gb
. The
velocity and position of the each particle are updated
by iteration according to the following formulations:
where is the inertia weight controlling the influ-
ence of the previous velocity on the current one. c
1
is called the cognitive parameter and c
2
is called the
social parameter. These two parameters are used to
adjust the contribution of the personal best solution
and swarm global best solution. r
1
and r
2
are two ran-
dom numbers uniformly distributed from 0 to 1. They
ensure the stochastic search of particles in the defined
space. The symbol in the above velocity equation
represents Hadamard product. In the classical PSO, ,
c
1
and c
2
are all treated as constants.
The classical PSO has shown many important
advantages such as accurate convergence in some par-
ticular problems. However, it has also been found that
it has a tendency to get stuck in local optimum point,
long-time consumptionanddifficultytoimprove accu-
racy by fine tuning. A large number of variations
of PSO algorithms have been proposed to improve
the accuracy and efficiency. The LHNPSO is one of
them and proposed recently. It has low-discrepancy
sequence initialized particles and high-order (1/
2
)
nonlinear time-varying inertia weight and constant
acceleration coefficients. Low-discrepancy sequence
initialized particles can fill the search domain effi-
ciently. As known, a large value of inertia weight
implies large changes in velocity per iteration that
means exploration of new search areas in pursuit of
a better solution. By the same token, a small value
of inertia weight means less variation in velocity
to provide slow updating velocity for fine tuning a
local search. Coincidently, high-order (1/
2
) nonlin-
ear inertia weight can afford this demand. Moreover,
when a proper order of the nonlinear function for iner-
tia weight is determined, the contributions made by the
time-varying cognitive and social parameters can be
ignored. Therefore, the two acceleration coefficients
can be treated as constants. In the LHNPSO, the for-
mulations of velocity and position renovation are as
the same as PSO, and c
1
and c
2
are selected as con-
stants that equal to 2.0 for easy implementation. Inertia
weight is varied according to the following equation:
where k
max
is the maximum number of allowable iter-
ation.
max
and
min
are the maximum and minimum
values of the inertia weight, respectively. Usually the
value of the inertia weight varies between 0.4 and
0.9. The performance of LHNPSO algorithm has been
tested by a set of well-known benchmark test functions
and the conclusions show it carries the features of fast
convergence and rigorous accuracy.
2.3 Problem formulation
The two extreme bounds of natural frequencies can
be determined by solving the following optimisation
problems:
Similarly, the optimal model for computing the two
extreme bounds of displacement response can be
493
expressed as:
In this study, LHNPSO is adopted to solve above
optimisation problems.
3 NUMERICAL EXAMPLE
For the purpose of illustrating the effectiveness of
the proposed method, a two-dimensional truss with 8
nodes, 15 elements and 12 degrees of freedom shown
in Fig. 1 is taken as an example. The midpoint values of
cross-sectional area, Youngs modulus and density are
A
c
=1, E
c
=1 and
c
=1 for all the elements, respec-
tively. The dimensions and boundary conditions of the
truss are indicted in Fig. 1.
For the stochastic excitation, random ground level
accelerations are consideredtoact onthe structure. The
model of Kanai-Tajimi is used to describe the seismic
excitation. F(t) is a Gauss stochastic process with a
mean value of zero, and its self-power spectral density
function can be expressed as (Gao and Kessissoglou
2007):
where
g
=16.5 rad/s,
g
=0.7, S
0
=15.6 cm
2
/s
3
.
g
and
g
are the natural frequency and the critical damp-
ing ratio of the soil layer. S
0
is the ordinate of the power
spectral density of the bedrock acceleration.
In order to demonstrate the performance of the pre-
sented method, three cases, with different intervals,
Figure 1. A 15 elements two-dimensional truss.
are calculated. The intervals of cross-sectional area,
Youngs modulus and density can be expressed as:
is calleda variable factor. InCase I, =0.05. Case II:
=0.10. Case III: =0.15. L is constant and equals
to 1.
For demonstration purpose, the first three natu-
ral frequencies are calculated. The LHNPSO uses 20
particles in this example. The convergence history dia-
grams are given in Figs. 24. It is easy to conclude that
Figure 2. Convergence diagramof the 1st natural frequency
for three cases by using LHNPSO algorithm.
Figure 3. Convergence diagram of the 2nd natural fre-
quency for three cases by using LHNPSO algorithm.
Figure 4. Convergence diagramof the 3rd natural frequency
for three cases by using LHNPSO algorithm.
494
Figure 5. Convergence diagram of horizontal displacement
response of target point for three cases by using LHNPSO
algorithm.
Table 1. Case I: the bounds of natural frequencies computed
by the LHNPSO, the MCSM and the IFM.
Deterministic LHNPSO MCSM IFM
1
0.0918 0.1004 0.0976 96.5397
1
0.0918 0.0839 0.0857 87.3455
2
0.3341 0.3641 0.3542 351.2186
2
0.3341 0.3064 0.3145 317.7692
3
0.3719 0.4024 0.3928 391.0299
3
0.3719 0.3433 0.3514 353.7889
Table 2. Case II: the bounds of natural frequencies com-
puted by the LHNPSO, the MCSM and the IFM.
1
0.0918 0.1098 0.1056 101.5192
1
0.0918 0.0766 0.0808 83.0612
2
0.3341 0.3966 0.3743 369.3344
2
0.3341 0.2807 0.2952 302.1827
3
0.3719 0.4350 0.4106 411.1991
3
0.3719 0.3163 0.3304 336.4356
LHPSOalgorithmcan converge quickly even for Case
III with large interval ranges of structural parameters.
All the results are completely converged before 1000
iterations.
The horizontal responses of target point shown in
Fig. 1 are also computed. The convergence diagram is
presented in Fig. 5. Again, the structural displacement
responses by using LHNPSOconverge fast for all three
cases.
Furthermore, the results obtained by the proposed
algorithm are checked by the MCSM and the IFM.
In Tables 13, the intervals obtained by the LHNPSO
with 1000 iterations contain those intervals obtained
by10000the MCSMandthe IFM, that is, the LHNPSO
generate conservative results. Similarly, Table 4 shows
that the upper boundobtainedbythe LHNPSOis larger
than those by the MCSM. Moreover, the LHNPSO is
very time-saving. Overall, the LHNPSOis much more
efficient and accurate than the MCSM and the IFM.
Table 3. Case III: the bounds of natural frequencies com-
puted by the LHNPSO, the MCSM and the IFM.
1
0.0918 0.1201 0.1106 106.8102
1
0.0918 0.0698 0.0744 78.9467
2
0.3341 0.4322 0.3871 388.5833
2
0.3341 0.2567 0.2791 287.2137
3
0.3719 0.4670 0.4338 432.6299
3
0.3719 0.2907 0.3156 319.7699
Table 4. The upper bound of target point displacement
response computed by the LHNPSO and the MCSM.
u(t)
Deterministic 0.1794
Case I LHNPSO 0.4746
MSCM 0.4419
Case II LHNPSO 0.5982
MCSM 0.5042
Case III LHNPSO 0.7486
MCSM 0.5759
4 CONCLUSIONS
This paper introduced particle swarm optimisation
algorithm into interval dynamic analysis of struc-
tures with uncertainties. A low-discrepancy sequence
initialized particle swarm optimisation method with
high-order nonlinear time-varying inertia weight and
constant acceleration coefficients was used to find
the exact bounds of natural frequencies and seis-
mic random responses of engineering structure with
uncertain-but-bounded parameters. In comparison
with the MCSM and the IFM, the presented method is
able to provide more accurate results. In the future, the
LHNPSO will be further developed to analyse more
complex engineering structures.
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496
Fibre composites
Assessment of wollastonite microfibre on drying shrinkage behaviour
of cement-based composites
N.L. Galea, P. Hamedanimojarrad, K. Vessalas & P.S. Thomas
ABSTRACT: To date there has been limited research carried out on the effect of wollastonite as a microfibre
addition to concrete or mortar and its effect on drying shrinkage behaviour. This investigation assesses the
effect of wollastonite on drying shrinkage behaviour and compressive strength development of cement-based
mortars. Mortar was selected for this study as a behavioural model since it is more sensitive to shrinkage strain
than cement-based composites containing coarse-sized aggregate (concrete). Specimens were prepared with the
addition of wollastonite at 2%, 4% and 6% by mass of cement. Key indicators of performance evaluated were
change in length relative to control mortar exposed to the same storage conditions, as well as change in mass and
compressive strength assessment at ages of 7 and 28 days. Results demonstrate that drying shrinkage decreases
with the addition of wollastonite, while compressive strength increases with increasing age.
Keywords: mortar, wollastonite, drying shrinkage, microfibre, concrete, durability
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Drying shrinkage
Drying shrinkage is defined as the deformation expe-
rienced in the formof strain due to the cyclic exchange
of moisture present in hardened concrete with its
surrounding environment (Neville & Brooks 2010,
Kovler & Zhutovsky 2006).
The extent of drying shrinkage encountered may
significantly affect the durability of concrete by induc-
ing tensile cracking. One effective way of reducing the
propagation of tensile cracks induced from shrinkage
involves the use of intrinsic reinforcing additives such
as fibres, which have the ability to bridge micro-
cracks and in turn mitigate and arrest crack propaga-
tion (Akkaya, Shah &Ankenman 2001). In particular,
decreasing fibre spacing by using shorter fibres
(such as micro-fibres) to achieve improved dispersion
throughout the concrete matrix further improves the
effectiveness of bridging (Akkaya et al 2001).
The aim of this investigation is to quantify and
verify the effect of wollastonite on the shrinkage
behaviour of mortar, as well as observe its effect on
other properties including flow, change in mass and
compressive strength development up to 28 days age.
Possible reasoning behind the observed behaviours
will also be discussed.
1.2 Study on wollastonite microfibre
Wollastonite, a calcium monosilicate mineral
(CaSiO
3
), is currently being studied as a short-length
microfibre in the role of a reinforcing additive in
cement-based composites. As a short-length microfi-
bre with high elastic modulus of 200 GPa (Mathur,
Misra, Goel 2007), wollastonite may provide the added
ability to reduce shrinkage strain, as the presence
of stiff fibres reduces overall drying shrinkage of a
cement composite (Li, Lara & Bolander 2006).
Mortar was chosen for the study as it is more
sensitive to shrinkage strain than concrete (Mehta &
Monteiro 2006), and to eliminate the effect of coarse
aggregate behaviour on shrinkage strain. Shrinkage at
7, 14, 21 and 28 days was recorded, as well as compres-
sive strength and change in mass at these ages. Flow
was also measured at the completion of the mixing
process.
1.3 Implications
The results imply potential benefits of incorporating
wollastonite in cement-based composites such as con-
crete, which is the most commonly used construction
material in the world (Cement Concrete &Aggregates
Australia, 2010). Reduced drying shrinkage strain,
improved concrete durability, and improved compres-
sive strength due to the addition of wollastonite may
allow designers to adopt reduced concrete covers and
reduced slab thicknesses (Mathur et al 2007).
2 BACKGROUND
2.1 Wollastonite properties
Wollastonite is a naturally occurring material that is
easily available, acicular (needle-shaped) and inert
(Mathur et al 2007). Its micro-fibres have a high elastic
499
Table 1. Physical properties of ordinary Portland cement
(OPC) and wollastonite (Ransinchung, Kumar & Kumar
2009).
Bulk density Mean
(g/cm
3
) Fineness grain
Specific passing size
Material Dense Loose gravity 45 um (um)
OPC 1.56 1.16 3.15 89.00 18.0
Wol. 1.02 0.70 2.90 96.80 4.0
Table 2. Chemical composition of wollastonite (examined
with XRF).
Constituent % Constituent %
SiO
2
49.8 MgO 0.16
CaO 46.5 K
2
O 0.085
LOI 2.58 MnO 0.084
Al
2
O
3
0.48 P
2
O
5
0.054
e
2
O
3
0.34 TiO
2
0.03
modulus of 200 GPa and are also very fine in size and
less expensive than steel or carbon micro-fibres. Fibre
dimensions are typically in the range of 0.40.6 mm
in length and 25150 m in diameter (Mathur et al
2007).
Some typical properties compared to ordinary Port-
land cement are shown in Table 1 (Ransinchung,
Kumar & Kumar 2009). This data suggests that the
particles are much finer than cement (approximately
4.5 times smaller in grain size). The specific gravity
of the wollastonite lies in between that of typical con-
crete aggregate specific gravity (approximately 2.60)
and Portland cement specific gravity (approximately
3.15).
The wollastonite used for this study was grade B
supplied by Namaqua Wollastonite (South Africa),
with composition as shown in Table 2.
2.2 Behaviour
To date, there appears to be a limited number of pub-
lications available on the effect of wollastonite on
the shrinkage behaviour of mortars. However, there
is evidence of industry application of wollastonite in
mortar and other construction materials, with some
common acceptance that it provides improved strength
and dimensional stability as well as improved durabil-
ity (Canadian Wollastonite 2008 and NYCO Minerals
2012).
One available publication (Mathur et al 2007) inves-
tigates the influence of wollastonite on the mechani-
cal properties of concrete. This past study observed
significant improvements in compressive and flex-
ural strengths at 28 and 56 days by incorporating
10% wollastonite as partial replacement of sand
and/or total cementitious material content in concrete
mixes. The authors also reported a reduction in water
absorption, drying shrinkage and abrasion loss, and
enhanced durability in freeze-thawand sulphate attack
conditions.
Other published studies have investigated the
effects of wollastonite on non-cement-based materi-
als such as Asar et al (2010), which evaluated the
effect of wollastonite on firing shrinkage in porcelain
ceramics. It was found that an increase in wollastonite
addition up to 5% of total porcelain specimen mass
resulted in a notable decrease in linear firing shrinkage
(approximately 20% reduction).
The study by Asar et al 2010 reports that wol-
lastonite is commonly used in ceramics such as
wall tiles and sanitaryware, to provide lower shrink-
age, improved strength, lower dimensional volumetric
change and reduced firing time. It is also noted to be of
relatively low cost, non-carcinogenic and easy to han-
dle and transport. Wollastonite forms in needle-like
shaped crystals, which suggests its ability to bridge
microcracks (Asar et al 2010). The authors also noted
the small particle size of wollastonite, which allows
it to mix homogenously with porcelain powder. These
reported properties and behaviours are in agreement
with those reported by Mathur et al (2007).
3.1 Raw materials and mix design
All mortar batches prepared in this study consisted
of fixed quantities of cement, sand, water, and high-
range water-reducing admixture (HWR), plus a varied
quantity of wollastonite, as listed in Table 3. For the
purposes of this study, wollastonite was simply added
rather than used for partial replacement of sand or
cement; this avoids introducing any newvariables such
as quantity of cementitious material added.
The quantity of wollastonite added is denoted as a
percentage of the cement mass, e.g. W2.0 indicates
addition of 2.0% wollastonite by cement mass, while
C denotes control mix (i.e., no wollastonite).
Mix-design proportions were based onAS2350.12-
2006 (Standards Australia 2006a), with the addition
of HWR, which was required to control flow due to
the use of locally available sand in place of standard
Ottawa reference sand. Polycarboxylic-ether poly-
mer based HWR Glenium, in compliance with AS
1478.1-2000 requirements (Standards Australia 2000)
and supplied from BASF Construction Chemicals Pty
Ltd, was used to obtain an acceptable mix flow. An
acceptable flowrange of 65 15%was adopted, based
on preliminary studies that indicated this to be the
most suitable and reproducible consistency for proper
consolidation of mortar.
General purpose (GP) cement from Cement
Australia was used, with the chemical composition
shown in Table 4. Calga (double washed) sand sup-
plied from Rocla Quarries was air dried then sieved to
remove all particles larger than 2.36 mm in size, and
used as fine aggregate (coarse aggregate was excluded
500
Table 3. Mix design proportions.
Constituent C W2.0 W4.0 W6.0
Cement (g) 450 450 450 450
Sand (g) 1350 1350 1350 1350
Water (g) 224.7 224.7 224.7 224.7
HWR (mL) 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4
Wollastonite (g) 0.0 9.0 18.0 27.0
Supplementary shrinkage mixes:
Constituent W0.2 W0.4 W0.6
Cement (g) 450 450 450
Sand (g) 1350 1350 1350
Water (g) 224.7 224.7 224.7
HWR (mL) 0.4 0.4 0.4
Wollastonite (g) 0.9 1.8 2.7
Table 4. Chemical composition of GP cement.
Constituent % Constituent %
CaO 63.98 SO
3
2.65
SiO
2
20.34 MgO 1.48
Al
2
O
3
4.15 K
2
O 0.77
Fe
2
O
3
3.03 TiO
2
0.28
LOI 2.91 Na
2
O 0.08
to reduce the effects of aggregate on dimensional
stability of the cement-based composite) in mortars.
3.2 Laboratory conditions
All mixing and testing was conducted under labo-
ratory conditions generally in accordance with AS
2350.12-2006 (Standards Australia 2006a). During
each mixing period, a control mix was prepared as
a reference to compare to the wollastonite-containing
mortars prepared during the same mixing period.
3.3 Mix preparation
Mortar was mixed based on the method specified
in AS 2350.12-2006 (Standards Australia 2006a).
Wollastonite was added to cement powder and man-
ually agitated in a sealed bag to form a homogeneous
distribution. This dry mix was then added to the water
containing HWR.
At completion of the mixing process, mix flow was
measured in accordance with AS 2701:2001 (Stan-
dards Australia 2001). This was to verify that the
resultant mortar flow changes due to the addition of
wollastonite were within an acceptable range.
3.4 Moulding and testing of specimens
For each mix of 2%, 4% or 6% wollastonite addi-
tion, 3 drying shrinkage test specimens were moulded
in accordance with AS 2350.13-2006 (Standards
Australia 2006b) and 3 compressive test specimens
were moulded in accordance with AS/NZS 2350.11-
2006 (Standards Australia & Standards New Zealand
2006). To supplement drying shrinkage results with
larger additions of wollastonite, drying shrinkage test
specimens were also prepared containing smaller addi-
tions of 0.2%, 0.4% or 0.6% wollastonite. The mortar
was compacted and finished, and placed in a moist
(>95% RH) curing environment for 24 h.
At 24 h, specimens were demoulded, weighed, and
an initial length recorded for shrinkage specimens.
Compressive specimens were placed in lime-saturated
water (3 g/L in accordance with ASTM C511 09
(ASTM International 2009)). Shrinkage specimens
were placed in a controlled humidity chamber at
23
C and 30+/5% RH. Note that the selected

relative humidity was modified from the standard
50+/5% (Standards Australia 2006b) to ensure con-
sistent shrinkage behaviour, as past studies have sug-
gested different drying shrinkage mechanisms may
be in effect above and below 50% RH (Kovler &
Zhutovsky 2006). 30% RH is also expected to give
a larger magnitude of drying shrinkage strain by
providing a more severe drying condition.
The length of shrinkage specimens for each set of
mixes was measured at 7 days (d), 14 d, 21 d and 28 d
fromcement-to-water contact time usinga lengthcom-
parator (0.001 mm accuracy) and compared to their
initial length measured at 24 h, in accordance with AS
2350.13-2006 (Standards Australia 2006b). Compres-
sive strength test specimens were removed from lime-
saturated water at 7 or 28 d age and dimensions were
measured, before testing using an Avery 7112CCG
1800 kN hydraulic universal testing machine with an
applied loading rate of 2.4 kN/s in accordance with
AS/NZS 2350.11:2006 (Standards Australia & Stan-
dards New Zealand 2006), and the maximum load
recorded. Averages from each representative set of 3
specimens were calculated.
4.1 Fresh properties: flow
Flow of the fresh mortar mixes, measured in accor-
dance with AS 2701:2001 (Standards Australia 2001),
is shown in Figure 1. A progressive decrease in aver-
age flow of between 3.5% and 7.5% was observed for
mixes containing increasing wollastonite, compared to
the control mix. This could be attributed to the small
particle size of wollastonite fibres and the resultant
large surface area.
4.2 Hardened properties: drying shrinkage
Change in length for each mortar set was measured and
shrinkage strain calculated relative to the specimens
initial length measured at 24 h (at demoulding). It is
evident, in Figure 2, that mixes containing 2%, 4% or
6% wollastonite all exhibited slightly less shrinkage
501
Figure 1. Flow of mortar mixes containing 0.0%, 2.0%,
4.0% or 6.0% wollastonite and fixed HWR addition.
Figure 2. Shrinkage strain of mortars containing 0.0%,
2.0%, 4.0% or 6.0% wollastonite, at 7-, 14-, 21- and 28-days.
strain than the control at 7 d, 14 d, 21 d and 28 d
(approximately 2.53.5% less than control, consistent
across all ages). The 28 d drying shrinkage also sug-
gests a gradual decrease, where, as the quantity of
wollastonite added to mixes increased, more shrink-
age reduction occurred (this will be further verified
by ongoing measurement of the mortars to later ages
as an extension of this study).
The observed reduction in drying shrinkage could
possibly be attributed to the high modulus of elastic-
ity of wollastonite micro-fibres, which would suggest
their ability to resist shrinkage strain while intrinsic to
the cement matrix. The observed results are supported
by modelling undertaken by Li et al (2006), which con-
cluded that stiff fibres present in the matrix were able
to reduce drying shrinkage of cement composites. It
was noted that the magnitude of shrinkage reduction
was relatively small for the low volume percentage
of fibres assessed (Li et al 2006), as observed in this
current study.
This resistance to shrinkage strain experienced may
be similar to the mechanism of other discrete fibres
such as those made from glass and steel as described
Figure 3. Shrinkage strain of mortars containing 0.0%,
0.2%, 0.4% or 0.6% wollastonite, at 7-, 14-, 21- and 28-days.
by Swamy & Stavrides (1979). In this previous study,
fibres were shown to provide a small restraint to free
shrinkage, which in turn reduces drying shrinkage by
up to 20%. Delays in initial crack formation, preven-
tion of sudden failure, enabling of multiple cracking
and substantial reduction in crack widths were also
noted by these authors. Li et al (2006) also state that
individual fibres restrict concrete shrinkage, causing
tension in the matrix and compression in the included
fibres, similar to the effect of aggregates with higher
elastic modulus. The observed shrinkage reduction, in
conjunction with the high modulus of elasticity of wol-
lastonite, suggests its ability to support the matrix in
this way and reduce shrinkage strain.
In addition, Gu et al (1993) suggest that the bonding
of fibres into the cement matrix is likely to be phys-
ical and mechanical, rather than chemical, due to the
fibres being relatively inert. This further supports the
proposed intrinsic reinforcement mechanism. It is also
possible that the fibres provide stronger bonding by
their potential interlocking structure with the cement
paste at the interfacial transition zone. This hypothesis
can be assessed in part by examining the compressive
strength of mortar sets with increasing wollastonite
addition.
Supplementary drying shrinkage experimentation
undertaken (Figure 3) for smaller additions of wol-
lastonite showed that W0.2, W0.4 and W0.6 mortars
(one tenth of the aforementioned wollastonite addi-
tions) also exhibited a reduction in drying shrinkage
(approximately 4%) compared to control mortar. This
suggests the ability of wollastonite to provide shrink-
age reduction and intrinsic reinforcement even at very
low concentrations.
4.3 Hardened properties: change in mass
As illustrated in Figure 4, mortars containing wollas-
tonite displayed no marked difference in loss of mass
compared to the control mortar. This suggests that,
unlike the behaviour of some other shrinkage reducing
additives (Saliba, Roziere, Grondin & Loukili 2011),
502
Figure 4. Mass loss of specimens containing 0.0, 2.0, 4.0
or 6.0% wollastonite, at 7-, 14-, 21- and 28-days.
Figure 5. Compressive strengthof mortars containing0.0%,
2.0%, 4.0% or 6.0% wollastonite, at 7 and 28 d.
the mechanism of shrinkage reduction induced by
wollastonite is unrelated to the retention of moisture.
Rather, it is likely that wollastonite acts as in intrinsic
reinforcing fibre, improving dimensional stability by
resisting strain.
The masses recorded were also very similar for con-
trol and wollastonite-containing mortars (within 1%
range, with no obvious trend), suggesting no signifi-
cant difference in the particle arrangement density of
the mixes containing wollastonite to that of the control.
4.4 Hardened properties: compressive strength
Mortar sets containing wollastonite (W2.0, W4.0 and
W6.0 at 7 d; W2.0 and W6.0 at 28 d) also exhibited
higher compressive strength than the control (approx-
imately 38%, Fig. 5), with the exception of W4.0 at
28 days (approximately equal to control). The high-
est compressive strength was obtained with W2.0,
suggesting that this smaller addition may be opti-
mumin providing the greatest increase in compressive
strength.
The increased compressive strength observed for
wollastonite-containing specimens at 7 d and 28 d may
also be attributed to the micro-crack bridging effect
(Akkaya et al 2001). If reinforcing fibres are evenly
dispersed, the bridging fibres have the ability to trans-
fer load in the matrix, such that multiple micro-cracks
occur instead of coalescing and propagating through
fibre-free areas (Akkaya et al 2001). In the current
study, wollastonite has been observed to be a very fine,
dense powder that is easily distributed in cement pow-
der. The increased strength observed is possibly due
to wollastonite micro-fibres being evenly dispersed in
the cement matrix.
Gu et al (1993) attributed significant improvement
of flexural strength observed in Portland cement paste
systems to wollastonite fibres relatively high elastic
modulus, as well as multiple cracking due to pull-out
of fibres in the cement matrix. This reasoning could
similarly be applied to explain the general increase in
compressive strength observed in the current study.
While there is limited information published
regarding the effect of varying quantities of wollas-
tonite in cement-based composites, Asar et al (2010)
demonstrated an optimumincrease in flexural strength
with a small addition of wollastonite (2% of total
specimen mass) to dental ceramics, then reducing flex-
ural strengthfor subsequent increasedadditions (35%
of total porcelain specimen mass; however, all mean
flexural strength values for wollastonite-containing
mixes were higher than that of control mixes). The
authors attributed this reported change to an increased
number of pores observed under a scanning electron
microscope for higher addition of wollastonite.
Wollastonite micro-fibres promote capillary pore
discontinuity, which may reduce permeability and
limit access to cement grains by water, resulting
in limited hydration and increased total number of
pores (Mathur et al 2007). In addition, due to wol-
lastonite fibres being chemically inert with regards
to the cement matrix, they do not appear to con-
tribute to cement hydration (Gu et al 1993). This
inertness could suggest that a reduction in compressive
strength with increasing wollastonite additions may be
due to a reduction in the ratio of cementitious mate-
rial used. It is possible that a similar phenomenon is
being observed in this current study. Mortar porosity
may be further investigated using a scanning electron
microscope as an extension upon this current study.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Mortar incorporating the addition of wollastonite at
2.0, 4.0 and 6.0% by mass of cement demonstrates a
decrease in drying shrinkage strain of approximately
2.53.5%when compared to control mortar exposed to
the same conditions. This was evident at all tested ages
(7, 14, 21 and 28 days). In addition, mortar incorporat-
ingsmaller additions of wollastonite at 0.2%, 0.4%and
0.6% also demonstrates a decrease in drying shrink-
age strain, of approximately 4% when compared to
control.
Wollastonite addition is also found to decrease fresh
mortar flow by 3.57.5%, and increase compressive
503
strength at 7 and 28 days by 38%. These results are
in general agreement with those reported in the litera-
ture assessing wollastonite behaviour in cement-based
composites or ceramics.
Results support the use of wollastonite as a benefi-
cial additive in cement-based composites such as con-
crete, in improving strength and reducing shrinkage
strain.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Prof. Abhi S. Ray,
Prof. Georgius Adam, MsYouliya Gorgees, Mr Magdi
Almabrock, Mr Rami Haddad and Mr David Hooper
from the University of Technology, Sydney for their
technical support and contribution provided.
The authors would also like to thank Namaqua
Wollastonite Pty Ltd, South Africa, for supply of the
wollastonite.
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Dispersion on Multiple Cracking of Cement Composites,
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Asar, N.V., Korkmaz, T. & Gul, E.B. 2010, The effect of
wollastonite incorporation on the linear firing shrinkage
and flexural strength of dental aluminous core ceram-
ics: A preliminary study, Materials and Design, vol. 31,
pp. 254045
ASTM International 2009, ASTM C511 09 Standard
Specification for Mixing Rooms, Moist Cabinets, Moist
Rooms, and Water Storage Tanks Used in the Testing of
Hydraulic Cements and Concretes, ASTM International
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tonite, Canadian Wollastonite: The St Lawrence Project,
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lastonite on mechanical properties of concrete, Journal
of Scientific & Industrial Research, vol. 66, pp. 102934
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ture, Properties, and Materials, 3rd edn, McGraw-Hill
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2nd edn, p. 235, Pearson Education Ltd
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for Strength and Durability, NYCO Minerals, <http://
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additive-filler-applications.pdf>
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ence of shrinkage-reducing admixtures on plastic and
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StandardsAustralia 2000, AS1478.1:2000 Chemical admix-
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12: Preparation of a standard mortar and moulding of
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504
Experimental study on the bondline behavior between concrete
and FRP materials
S.A. Hadigheh, R.J. Gravina & S. Setunge
Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Vic, Australia
S.J. Kim
Senior Structural Engineer, ICC Co., Perth, WA, Australia
ABSTRACT: This paper aims to investigate the debonding mechanism of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP)
materials externally applied to the concrete substrate. An experimental program has been performed on the
unidirectional carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates adhered to the concrete prisms in order to
address some of the factors expected to affect the interfacial bond behaviour using single lap shear test. Although
many researchers have investigated the bondline behaviour between FRP and concrete using single lap shear
test set-up, the dependency of bond on the initial unbonded zone has not been studied. In this study, several
experiments have been conducted to monitor the effects of the unbonded zone on the single lap shear test results.
The results of maximum load versus slip and also shear stress distribution along FRP for each group of samples
obtained by means of pre-installed strain gauges on the FRP are presented.
1 INTRODUCTION
Several bond tests have been proposed by researchers
to investigate the bond-slip behaviour of FRP plates
attached to concrete members. Experimental and
numerical studies have shown that different test set-
ups canleadtodifferent results for bond-slipbehaviour
(Chen and Teng 2001). Up to date, far end supported
double shear test (FES) and near end supported sin-
gle shear test (NES), or briefly single lap shear test,
are the most accredited bond tests. Oehlers (Oehlers
2006) proposed that in order to study the intermediate
crack induced debonding in the beams, the appropri-
ate method is single lap shear test. Yao et al. (Yao,
Teng et al. 2005) acclaimed that the best and the most
promising pull test which in the most of standards as
been considered is NES shear pull test. They studied
the effects of different factors on the single lap shear
test results, suchas; bondlength, the widthratioof FRP
to concrete prism, the length of concrete free edge (h
c
)
and the offset in the load position (). The load posi-
tion was imposed to the experiments to simulate the
relative vertical displacement between two sides of the
crack.
Yao et al. (Yao, Teng et al. 2005) predicted ultimate
load using Chen and Tengs model (Chen and Teng
2001) and applied load at increments of 5% the ulti-
mate load to the specimens. They mentioned that Chen
and Tengs model can be used for both wet lay-up and
prefabricated FRP when failure occurs in concrete or
adhesive.
Lu et al. (Lu, Ye et al. 2005) suggested that the
evaluation of maximum delamination force or applied
force-plate displacement curve is not sufficient to
define a shear stress-slip interface law between FRP
plate and concrete as substrate and it requires to
measure strains or displacements along the FRP plate.
Mazzotti et al. (Mazzotti, Savoia et al. 2008) have
conducted some experiments on the concrete prisms
to find out the bond-slip relation between FRP plate
and concrete. They believed that concrete prismduring
ordinary pull-out tests, named classical pull-out test,
experienced very tensile stresses at the front side of
specimens which can produce some errors in the test-
ing program. Therefore, delamination of FRP is brittle
and propagation of delamination along the bonded
length with decreasing of applied load can not be
detected. Based on classical pull-out test, it is not obvi-
ous that the decrease in load is caused by delamination
of FRP or splitting of concrete. Thus, they attached
FRP plate far from the edge of concrete prism on the
specimen. To validate their testing method, they tested
eight concrete specimens with different bonded length
and width. The average shear stresses between two
subsequence strain gauges were obtained and corre-
sponding shear slips were calculated. The results of
experiments indicated that the proposed test is appro-
priate for calibration of a shear stress-slip interface law
and can predict failure due to debonding.
Mazzotti et al. (Mazzotti, Savoia et al. 2008) also
believed that classical test method is suitable to study
FRP bonding near to cracks such as transverse cracks
505
due to flexure in beams and can give better cracking
pattern. According to Oehlers (Oehlers 2006), it can
be discussed that why classical method shows good
results in flexural strengthening of beams. In addi-
tion, they came to the conclusion that the length of
plate should not be much smaller than concrete prism
width since the assumption of plane deformation, nec-
essary for the formulation will not be valid. According
to their results, fracture energies for plates with differ-
ent widths are quite similar. Therefore, fracture energy
does not affect the interface law. Also, it was shown
that delamination force per unit width, fracture energy
and peak shear stress are dependent to the width of
FRP plate and concrete specimen.
Chajes et al. (Chajes, Finch Jr et al. 1996) conducted
some experiments on concrete prisms bonded by FRP
strips. They studied the effects of different adhesives,
surface preparation and concrete strength on the bond-
slip relation. Considering the average shear stress is
equal to failure load/bond area it was shown that duc-
tile adhesives do not lead to effective bond. In addition,
they found that the specimen with good surface prepa-
ration in which aggregates were slightly visible, has
the highest capacity of bond-shear stresses. There-
fore, they proposed that the concrete surface have to
be mechanically abraded or sand blasted and then a
primer applied on it.
In the majority of researches, such as, De Lorenzis
(De Lorenzis, Miller et al. 2001), researchers have
used indirect methods to estimate the slip between
FRP and concrete. Zhao et al. (Zhao, Dong et al.
2007) used a new method to measure the small slip
(less than 60 m). They used longgauges fiber optic
sensors (FOSs) to monitor bond and peeling failure
in FRP. Some sensors adhered to FRP during epoxy
resin application on the surface of concrete. Similar to
the result of previous investigations (Mazzotti, Savoia
et al. 2008), they observed that the specimens failed
through shearing of a concrete wedge at the protrud-
ing end of FRP-concrete interface. Their experiments
showed that the interface stiffness of load-deformation
curve with strain gauges are lower than one obtained
from FOS system due to cracking in the concrete and
redistribution of strains. They mentioned that in flex-
ure, the long gauge distributed sensors are able to
predict the debonding and peeling of the FRP fabrics
from substrate but the applicability of this system is
limited under increasing loads in which the failure is
rather quick.
Chajes et al. (Chajes, Finch Jr et al. 1996) showed
that by increasing the concrete strength, the bond
strength of FRP plate to concrete increases. The effects
of adhesive thickness on the bond behavior was inves-
tigated by Swamy et al. (Swamy, Jones et al. 1986).
They showed that thickness of adhesive does not affect
the bond behaviour.
To date, the effects of initial unbounded zone on
the bondline behaviour has not been investigated in
literatures. Thus, several series of tests have been con-
ducted to address the influences of different factors on
the bond by monitoring applied load-slip and shear
Table 1. Detail of samples in all series of the experiment.
BL UL W(frp)
Sample mm mm mm
TP1, 2 and 3 150 25 25
P1.1, 2 and 3 150 0 50
P2.1, 2 and 3 150 25 50
P3.1, 2 and 3 150 50 50
P4.1, 2, 3 and 4 100 25 50
P5.1, 2, 3 and 4 150 25 50
P6.1, 2 and 3 200 25 50
Figure 1. Samples geometry in single lap shear tests.
stress-slip distribution between FRP adhesively
bonded to concrete and substrate.
2.1 Experimental series
Since several parameters affect the bondline behaviour
between FRP and concrete, the whole experimental
program was divided into three distinguished series;
1, 2 and 3. In the first series of tests (see Table 1) FRP
plates with 25 mmin width were attached on three con-
crete blocks in order to evaluate the effects of changes
in FRP to concrete width ratio on the bond response.
The effects of initial unbonded zone length was investi-
gated in the second series of the tests by considering 0,
25 and 50 mm unbonded length for 9 samples. Finally,
the effective bond length of FRP systemand its effects
on the bond behaviour was examined through the third
series by performing tests on 10 specimens. In addi-
tion, the surface preparation was varied in all series
and is detailed in section 2.4.
2.2 Geometry of samples
Figure 1 andTable 1 demonstrate the details of samples
related to each series. Concrete blocks were 150 mm
in length, 150 mm in width and 300 mm in height. To
validate the results, 3 concrete specimens were made
for each combination within each series which totally
23 samples were made.
2.3 Properties of concrete and FRP
Concrete blocks were cast into wooden moulds and
cured under plastic bags for 28 days. Then, compres-
sion test was done on the cylinders at the day of
506
Table 2. Concrete compressive strength and bondline
thickness of samples.
Compressive Ave. Bondline
strength f

cm
Thickness, t (frp)
Sample MPa mm
TP1, 2 and 3 48.9 4.25
P1.1, 2 and 3 37.3 6.38
P2.1, 2 and 3 37.3 6.64
P3.1, 2 and 3 6.21
P4.1, 2, 3 and 4 27.6 4.22
P5.1, 2, 3 and 4 27.6 4.46
P6.1, 2 and 3 27.6 4.71
Table 3. Details of surface preparation on samples in SLS
tests.
Sample Surface preparation Type
TP1, 2 and 3 N.A.
P1.3, P2.2, P4.4, P5.1 and P5.4 SP-1
P1.1 and 2 SP-2
P2.1 and 3
P3.1, 2 and 3
P4.1, 2 and 3
P5.2 and 3
P6.1, 2 and 3
performing single lap shear (SLS) tests. The compres-
sive strength of specimens is presented in Table 2.
Carbon FRP pultruded plates used in the tests were
Kor-CLS 0814 with the average thickness of 1.45 mm
and modulus of elasticity, E
frp
=159 GPa, and tensile
strength, f
frp
=2847 MPa. The pultruded plates were
bonded to the centre of concrete surface after surface
preparation by means of a two-part epoxy adhesive
(Kor-CPA) at a ratio of 2/1 (Base/Hardener). Based on
information provided by manufacturer, the modulus
of elasticity, compression strength and shear strength
of adhesive are about 12.8 GPa, 90 MPa and 10 MPa,
respectively.
2.4 Concrete surface preparation
The concrete surface preparation has been found to be
an influencing factor on the bondline behaviour. In the
series of experiments the various methods were used
to address this effect. For P1.3, P2.2, P4.4, P5.1 and
P5.4 samples, surface preparation was done majority
with diamond grinding cup wheel plus few round of
abrasive belt number P36-X (named SP-1) while for
other samples the majorityof the preparationwas made
with abrasive belt number P36-X(named SP-2). How-
ever, for both techniques, the top layer of mortar was
removed from the surface until the aggregates were
exposed. Table 3 identifies the surface preparation
used for all of samples.
Figure 2. Test set-up and instrumentation of single lap shear
tests.
2.5 Test set-up and instrumentation
Single lap shear tests were performed on the speci-
mens to study the bond between concrete and FRP.
Two LVDTs were utilized to measure the slip between
FRP and the substrate (Figure 2). The first LVDT was
mounted on the concrete block using a specific holder
whichwas made tofixthe LVDTtothe concrete. Based
on that, every reading of the first LVDT is the actual
slip between FRP and concrete during loading. The
second LVDTwas placed at the back of concrete block
for measuringthe displacement of the whole specimen.
Tensile load was applied to the sample by means of an
actuator in the load rate of 0.2 mm/min and interfa-
cial strains were also monitored using strain gauges
with 10 mm length attached on the FRP while the data
was gathering with a data taker separately. Load was
applied to the specimens in two steps, initial loading
until about 8 kNwhich followed by unloading and then
loading until failure.
3 SINGLE LAP SHEAR TEST RESULTS
3.1 Load-slip relationship and failure patterns
3.1.1 First series
For the first series of the tests with bonded width of
25 mm, the applied load-slip curves are shown in Fig-
ure 3. It should be noted that the discontinuity in tests
results was omitted. The initial slope for TP1 and 2 is
quite similar, gentle slope until 5 kNfollowed by steep
slope until failure, while for TP3 the load-slip curve is
consistent with higher gradient and reaches the max-
imum load and then decreases and follows a plateau
until failure. The difference in initial slopes for sam-
ples can be related to surface preparation which will
be discussed more in the following sections.
3.1.2 Second series
To investigate the effects of initial unbounded length
on the bond behaviour between FRP and substrate,
three unbounded length, 0, 25 and 50 mm, were
507
Figure 3. Load vs slip curves for 1st series of tests (TP
specimens).
considered in the loaded end of the samples by putting
release films between adhesive and concrete while the
plate was bonded to the substrate.
For samples with no initial unbounded length, like
previous researches (Seracino 2001; Yao, Teng et al.
2005), a triangular section was splitted from the front
side of the concrete. However, for the rest of spec-
imens, the failure was just happened a inside a thin
layer of concrete under the bonded area.
Further it can be seen with specimen P1.3, the sur-
face preparation with diamond grinding cup wheel
greatlyaffectedthe slipdeformationalthoughthe same
load strength was achieved.
3.1.3 Third series
The effective bond length was studied through the third
series of the tests considering three different bonded
lengths, 100, 150 and 200 mm for the FRP. During the
experiments, samples P6.1 and P6.2 were failed and
their results are not presented here. The maximumload
increases when the bonded length increases. Load-slip
results of the samples with SF-2 show that the effec-
tive bond length is between 100150 mm while for the
samples with SP-1, it can be more than 150 mm. It
implies the dependency of effective bond length on
the method of surface preparation.
Table 4 represents the results of SLS tests for all
three series where the slip corresponding to the maxi-
mumtransmissible loadis presentedinthe last column.
Considering the all results, the slip corresponding to
the maximum load lays between 0.213 and 0.6 mm
with the median of 0.31 mm.
3.2 Strain profile of samples
The straingauges were attachedonthe pultrudedplates
to monitor the interfacial stresses. The strain profile of
samples, regarding different ratio of maximum load,
with no initial unbonded length (P1.3) and 25 mm UL
(P2.3) are shown in Figures 6 and 7. As it is reasonable,
the maximum strain happens at the loaded end and
reduces toward the free end of the bonded length.
Figure 4. Load-slip curves: Series 2 of experiments.
4 DISCUSSION
The main parameters varied in this series of experi-
ments were FRP width (W
frp
), initial unbonded length
(UL), Bonded length (BL) and surface preparation.
508
Figure 5. Load-slip curves: Series 3 of experiments.
The influence of variation on FRP width is analysed
by comparing results of samplesTP1and2 withP2.1to
3 which showed increase in FRP width leads to higher
transmissible load, more than double.
Table 4. SLS test results of all experimental series.
Slip
Max. Ult. Corresponding Failure
Load Load to Max. Load
kN kN mm Pattern
TP1 19.44 19.40 0.942 CD
TP2 19.12 19.12 0.443 CD/AD
TP3 14.47 11.33 0.230 AD/PF
P1.1 29.59 29.59 0.245 CD/NEF/AD
P1.2 29.32 28.57 0.345 CD/NEF
P1.3 26.26 26.26 0.653 CD/NEF
P2.1 35.90 35.90 0.181 CD/AD
P2.2 32.08 32.00 0.745 CD/NEF
P2.3 34.55 34.55 0.308 CD/AD
P3.1 31.01 31.01 0.179 CD/AD
P3.2 33.61 32.87 0.291 CD/AD
P3.3 33.25 32.96 0.382 CD/AD
P4.1 22.48 21.73 0.349 CD
P4.2 29.43 29.06 0.189 CD/NEF
P4.3 29.09 29.09 0.259 CD/AD
P4.4 21.17 21.17 0.310 CD/NEF
P5.1 41.75 41.73 0.726 CD/NEF
P5.2 33.24 33.13 0.666 CD/NEF
P5.3 23.97 4.63 0.143 CD
P5.4 31.38 31.38 0.547 CD/NEF
P6.1
P6.2
P6.3 31.84 28.13 0.196 CD/NEF
CD: concrete debonding, AD: adhesive detachment, PF: plate
failure, NEF: near end failure
Figure 6. Strain distribution of P1.3.
Figure 8 compares the single lap shear test results
for the samples with 0, 25 and 50 mminitial unbonded
length. Higher maximum load was achieved using
longer UL. However this increase is not noticeable
between 25 and 50 mm unbonded length. Considering
the failure pattern of samples, it will be suggested to
leave at least 40 mmunbonded length at the loaded end
in order to avoid stress concentration in the front side
of concrete prism and allow FRP to distribute loads
through the entire length.
509
Figure 7. Strain distribution of P2.3.
Figure 8. Comparison between specimens with 0, 25 and
50 mm initial unbonded length.
Figure 9. The effects of bond length.
Effects of bond length are studied in Figure 9.
The results show that the effective bond length (EBL)
should be between 100 to 150 mm since no increase
was observed in the maximum applied load when the
length changed from100 to 200 mm. This concept also
can be drawn from the strain profile of P2.3 sample.
During the final steps of loading, the strain profile
plateaus where the loads were transferred to the nearest
location through the bonded length.
It was shown that the surface preparation has great
influence on the load-slip curve in the SLS tests. The
ultimate slip is higher in the samples with SP-1 com-
pared to those with SP-2 while the maximum load is
quite similar for both techniques. However, the sam-
ples prepared by SP-1 have linear behavior until failure
when others slip hardening after maximum load was
reached.
5 CONCLUSION
Interfacial behaviour was investigated by doing sin-
gle lap shear tests on the pultruded plates bonded
to the concrete. The experiments were divided into
three major series in which different factors affect-
ing the bond were considered. Results showed that
changes in surface preparation of concrete prior to
FRP attachment leads to different load-slip trends dur-
ing SLS tests. As far as the top aggregates are exposed,
the maximum load does not change dramatically with
surface preparation changes, however the initial stiff-
ness of the load slip curve is softer with grinding as
opposed to sand blasting method. In addition, three
initial unbonded lengths were considered in the loaded
end during the second series of tests. Comparing the
maximumload and failure patters, it was proposed that
an initial unbonded zone with 40 mm length can sig-
nificantly contribute to the stress distribution through
bondline. In the third series of experiments, the effec-
tive bond length of FRP plates was investigated. It was
shown that for the samples with SF-2, the effective
bond length is between 100 to 150 mm.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Authors would like to thank Industrial Composite Con-
tractors Co. (ICC) for supplying the materials and
technical supports and Melbourne Testing Services
Co. for experimental collaboration. Also, authors are
grateful for the financial supports provided by RMIT
University.
REFERENCES
Chajes, M. J., W. W. Finch Jr, et al. (1996). Bond and force
transfer of composite material plates bonded to concrete.
Chen, J. F. and J. G. Teng (2001). Anchorage strength models
for FRP and steel plates bonded to concrete. Journal of
De Lorenzis, L., B. Miller, et al. (2001). Bond of FRP
laminates to concrete. ACI Materials Journal 98(3):
256264.
Lu, X. Z., L. P. Ye, et al. (2005). Meso-scale finite ele-
ment model for FRP sheets/plates bonded to concrete.
Mazzotti, C., M. Savoia, et al. (2008). An experimental
study on delamination of FRP plates bonded to concrete.
Construction and Building Materials 22: 14091421.
510
Oehlers, D. J. (2006). FRP plates adhesively bonded to rein-
forced concrete beams: Generic debonding mechanisms.
Advances in Structural Engineering 9(6): 737750.
Seracino, R. (2001). Axial intermediate crack debonding of
plates glued o concrete surfaces. FRP Composites in Civil
Engineering. J.-G. Teng. 1: 365372.
Swamy, R. N., R. Jones, et al. (1986). Shear Adhesion
Properties of Epoxy Resin Adhesives. Proceedings of an
International Symposium on Adhesion between Polymers
and Concrete.
Yao, J., J. G. Teng, et al. (2005). Experimental study on
FRP-to-concrete bonded joints. Composites: Part B 36:
99113
Zhao, M., Y. Dong, et al. (2007). Monitoring of Bond in FRP
Retrofitted Concrete Structures. Journal of Intelligent
Material Systems and Structures 18: 853860.
511
An experimental investigation of a thermal break composite
faade mullion section
S. Huang, J. Li & B. Samali
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, University of Technology, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
M. Zobec
Permasteelisa Group, Chipping Norton, New South Wales, Australia
ABSTRACT: This paper presents the experimental investigation into the behaviour of a typical thermal break
composite faade mullion section under quasi-static loadings at various temperatures. Transverse tensile tests
and shear tests were carried out according to the requirements of EN14024. Standard specimens specified
by this standard were tested to determine characteristic shear strength and transverse tensile strength, as well
as the elasticity constant. Tests were carried out at room temperature (23
C), low temperature (20
C) and
high temperature (80
C). Test results of shear strength and transverse tensile strength at various temperatures
were presented in the graphs. These graphs showed both shear and tensile strength decreased with increased
temperature under quasi-static loadings, as well as connectivity constant.
1 INTRODUCTION
Prior to the middle of the nineteenth century, build-
ings were constructed with the exterior walls of the
building (bearing walls, typically masonry) support-
ing the load of the entire structure, Vigener (2011). The
development and widespread use of structural steel
and later reinforced concrete allowed relatively small
size columns to support large loads and the exterior
walls of buildings were no longer required for struc-
tural support. This development led to a large increase
in use of glass as an exterior faade and birth of the
modern day curtain wall.
Now, the most commonly used curtain wall
mullions are comprised of aluminium extrusions and
thermal breaks. Thermal breaks are barriers between
exterior and interior aluminium extrusions to obtain
energy efficiency, Cooke (2007). Unfortunately, to
date only limited research on the behaviour of these
composite faade profiles has been carried out.
Strength and connectivity data of the thermal break
section is difficult to investigate. Since there is limited
data available, composite action between aluminium
and polyamide has usually been neglected in the
design. Designers often take into account the main
aluminium portion of the thermal break section only.
This results in overdesign under quasi-static loadings
and under-design under high strain rate loadings. It
is, therefore, necessary to study the behaviour of the
composite profiles to provide support for the industry.
This paper presents a comprehensive experimen-
tal investigation on a typical faade mullion section
provided by Permasteelisa Group, who is a worldwide
leading faade contractor. A series of experiments
were designed to investigate behaviour of typical
faade mullion section under quasi-static loadings at
varied temperatures. Results of quasi-static tensile and
shear test including tensile and shear strength of the
section are compared to gain insight into the relation-
ship between section capacity and temperature.
2 DETAILS OF TEST SPECIMEN
The test specimen, namely, the thermal break profile,
comprises top aluminium portion, middle polyamide
and bottom aluminium portion. Top and bottom
aluminium portions are made of aluminium alloy
6063-T5. The middle polyamide portion is made of
25% glass fibre reinforced polyamide PA66. The
section details are shown in Figure 1 below.
3 SHEAR CAPACITYTESTS AT VARIOUS
TEMPERATURES
As this typical faade mullion section is a com-
posite section made of aluminium and glass fibre
reinforced polyamide, it is important to understand
the shear capacity which relies on the connection
between aluminium and polyamide. Although there is
hardly any detailed studies about thermal break faade
sections, European Standard EN14024:2004 Standard
(2004) was published to specify the requirements for
assessment of the strength of metal profiles with ther-
mal barriers. All shear tests were designed to follow
the requirements of EN14024 and detect the char-
acteristic transverse shear strength of this composite
513
Figure 1. Section details.
profile at three different temperature environments,
(20 2)
C, (+23 2)
C and (80 3)
C.
All shear tests were performed on Shimadzu testing
machine, model REH 50/50 tonne. The loading rate
was 3 mm/min, which was in the range of 1 mm/min
to 5 mm/min as specified by EN14024. The standard
specimen length is 100 mm with tolerance of 1 mm.
Reduced length specimen is permitted by the stan-
dard provided that the cutting is done carefully to
avoid shock to the connection between aluminiumand
polyamide.
3.1 Tests at room temperature
Test jig was made according to Figure 5 of
EN14204:2004 as shown in Figure 2 below. To mea-
sure the deformation, a Linear Variable Differential
Transformer (LVDT) was placed under the aluminium
portion of the section as per standard instruction.
Tests were carried out at room temperature at the
loading rate of 3 mm/min. Deformation of the sec-
tion was recorded by the data taker with corresponding
loading. When the deformation reached approximately
2 mm, polyamide slipped away from the connection
Figure 2. Shear test setup at room temperature.
Figure 3. Failure mode slip of polyamide in shear test.
and the maximum load was achieved. Failure mode is
shown in Figure 3.
3.2 Tests at high and low temperature
To be able to test specimens at 20
C and 80
C, a
temperature chamber was used to create testing envi-
ronment at a designated temperature. Similar testing
jigs used at the room temperature tests were installed
in the chamber. As the chamber can work as a fur-
nace, pre-heated specimens were tested at 80
C after
the chamber was heated to 80
C. During the low tem-

perature tests, liquid nitrogen in the Dewar was used
to provide low temperature testing condition. Plastic
tube connecting nitrogen gas cylinder and the temper-
ature chamber, was placed in the Dewar to cool the
gas. Cold nitrogen gas was blown into the chamber to
provide a low temperature of 20
C (2
C) in the
chamber and to maintain the temperature at this level
during testing.
Test specimens and the same jig used in high tem-
perature tests were placed in a freezer overnight at
20
C and transported to the lab in a foam box

packed with ice to keep them cool. A thermocouple
was attachedonthe specimenduringtestingtoconfirm
the temperature.
514
Figure 4. Test setup at high/low temperature.
Figure 5. Failure mode polyamide slipped away.
The loading rate of these tests was controlled at
3 mm/min which is the same as that of room tempera-
ture tests. All specimens were tested to their maximum
loads. Since the LVDT is designed to work only at
room temperature, using LVDT to measure the defor-
mation from the specimens directly during the testing
becomes rather difficult. Alternatively, the crosshead
displacement was measured by a LVDT attached to it,
which can provide a reasonable correlation with the
desired displacement measurement directly obtained
from the specimen. The assumption and correlation
were verified by a series of tests conducted prior to
the high/low temperature tests. Detailed test setup and
failure modes are shown in Figure 4 and 5.
3.3 Test results and discussion
All test results were processed according to the stan-
dards requirements and evaluation method. Elasticity
constant is defined in evaluation section as an indicator
for the connection between aluminium and polyamide
which was described in Feldmeier (1987) in details.
Sandwich theory, Allen (1969), Thomsen (2005), is
behind the formula of Annex C of EN14024.
Characteristic tensile and shear strengths were cal-
culated at designated temperatures. Elasticity con-
stant c was calculated by analysing the crosshead
displacement.
Maximum shear loads varied from 3.72 kN to
4.62 kN at room temperature while they ranged from
2.91 kN to 3.43 kN at 80
C and from 4.46 kN to

5.91 kN at 20
C. Characteristic shear strength at

80
C is 28.74 N/mm, which is approximately 25.6%

lower than at room temperature of 38.62 N/mm.
Figure 6. Characteristic shear strength vs temperature.
Figure 7. Elasticity constant vs temperature.
However, the characteristic shear strength at 20
C
is about 6% higher than room temperature at
41.03 N/mm. Relationship graph between shear
strength and test temperature is shown in Figure 6.
Although EN14024 provides a formula to calculate
elasticity constant c, it only requires the determi-
nation of c at the onset of deformation. In order
to take into account the behaviour of the connection
between aluminium and polyamide, linear regression
was applied to find slope of the load vs displacement
graph at the onset of deformation for determination of
the elasticity constant c.
Due to the limitation of instruments, LVDT can
only be used for tests at room temperature. How-
ever, the elasticity constant c was calculated by using
the measurement of crosshead movement, which has
been proven to be consistent with the deformation
of the specimen although the values have an offset
from the measurement directly under the specimen.
Thus, these measurements provided valuable compar-
ison of the connectivity of the specimen under various
temperatures. The relationship between the connec-
tivity constant c and test temperature is shown in
Figure 7.
From the above graphs, it was observed that there
is a decrease in shear strength and elasticity constant
c following the increase of the temperature, which
indicates this composite profile is weakened with the
temperature increase.
515
4 TENSILE CAPACITYTESTS AT VARIED
TEMPERATURES
Tests were designed to determine the characteristic
transverse tensile strength of the composite profile
according to EN14024:2004 similar to shear tests.
Ten test specimens were required by the standard at
intended temperatures. The standard length of speci-
mens was 100 mmaccording to the standard. However,
the length of specimen could be reduced to a minimum
of 18 mmif the cutting is done carefully to avoid shock
to the connection between aluminium and polyamide.
All tests were performed by Shimadzu testing
machine, model REH 50/50 tonne. The loading rate
was controlled in the range of 1 mm/min to 5 mm/min
according to EN14024:2004.
4.1 Tests at room temperature
Tensile testing jig was made according to EN14024:
2004 Figure 4 for room temperature tests. Speci-
men was fixed at top and bottom centreline of the
specimen so that it could be loaded symmetrically.
Testing speed was set at 4 mm/min, and the maxi-
mum load was 20 kN. Tests were continued until the
connection between polyamide and aluminium failed,
i.e. polyamide was pulled away from aluminium, or
polyamide was torn apart.
Cross head displacement was recorded by a LVDT
attached to the testing platform with corresponding
loadings simultaneously recorded by a data taker. The
recorded displacement and loading data were output
in the spreadsheet format and used in the analysis.
Detailed test setup and failure modes are shown in
Figures 8 and 9.
4.2 Tests at high and low temperature
In order to test specimens at 20
C and 80
C, a
temperature chamber was used to keep testing environ-
ment at the designated temperatures. Similar testing
jigs used at the room temperature tests were installed
inside the chamber. As the chamber can work as a
furnace, pre-heated specimens were tested at 80
C.
During the low temperature tests, the nitrogen gas
cooled by liquid nitrogen in the Dewar was pumped
into the testing chamber to provide desired low tem-
perature (20
C (2
C)) for the testing.

Figure 8. Tensile test setup at room temperature.
Before low temperature tests, specimens and the
testing jig were placed in a freezer overnight at 20
C
and transported to the lab in a foam box packed with
ice to keep themcool. Athermocouple was attached on
the specimen during testing to measure temperature.
Low temperature test setup is shown In Figure 10.
Failure modes of the low temperature tests are sim-
ilar to the room temperature tests polyamide pulled
away from the connection or torn apart.
4.3 Test results and discussion
Evaluation methodology provided by EN14024: 2004
was adopted to work out characteristic tensile strength
at varied temperatures. Maximum tensile loads of
tested thermal break profile varied from 10.25 kN to
11.35 kN at room temperature. However, the range of
the maximumloadingreduces from7.91 kNto9.26 kN
at elevated temperature (80
C) and increases from

11.49 kN to 12.54 kN at low temperature (20
C).
Characteristic tensile strength at 80
C is 77.61 N/mm,
which is about 24.6% lower than at room temperature
Figure 9. Failure modes.
Figure 10. Test setup at high/low temperature.
516
Figure 11. Characteristic tensile strength vs temperature.
(102.88 N/mm). Onthe contrary, the characteristic ten-
sile strength at 20
Cis about 8%higher than at room

temperature. Graph of tensile strength vs temperature
is plotted below in Figure 11.
The above graph shows that characteristic tensile
strength increases while the temperature decreases.
5 CONCLUSION
This paper presents an experimental study of typi-
cal thermal break faade mullion section. The shear
and tensile capacity under quasi-static loads at varied
temperatures were investigated experimentally. Exper-
iments were designed and conducted following the
methodology provided by EN14024:2004. The eval-
uation method provided by this standard is adopted to
calculate the characteristic strength and elasticity con-
stant. Results fromvaried temperature tests are plotted
together for easy comparison.
In conclusion, the tensile and shear capacity
together with the connectivity between aluminium
and polyamide material are affected by tempera-
ture. Higher temperatures weaken the section capacity
and composite connectivity while lower temperatures
increase section capacity, as well as the composite
connectivity.
REFERENCES
Allen, H. G. (1969). Analysis and design of structural
sandwich panels, Pergamon Press.
Cooke, T. (2007). The Effect of Thermal Breaks on Struc-
tural Performance The Journal of the society of Facade
Engineering.
Feldmeier, F. (1987). Statische Nachweise bei Metall-
Kunststoff-Verbundprofilen. Fenster und fassade.
Nik Vigener, P. M. A. B. (2011). Building Envelope Design
Guide Windows.
O.T. Thomsen, E. B., A. Lyckegaard (2005). Sandwich
Structures 7: Advancing with Sandwich structures and
Materials.
European Standard, EN14024 (2004). Metal profiles
with thermal barrier Mechanical performance
Requirements, proof and tests for assessment, European
commitee for standardization.
517
Mechanical properties of bamboo fiber-polyester composites
A.C. Manalo, W. Karunasena & K.T. Lau
Centre of Excellence in Engineered Fiber Composites, Faculty of Engineering and Surveying,
ABSTRACT: Experimental investigations were performedtocharacterize the mechanical properties of bamboo
fiber-polyester composites. The composite laminates were fabricated by infusing different forms of untreated
bamboo fibers (randomly oriented, bamboo textiles and bamboo foam cores) with polyester resin. The results
showed that the engineered bamboo fiber composites have strength and stiffness properties suitable for structural
applications. Among the tested composites, the laminates with randomly oriented bamboo fibers exhibited the
highest strength properties. Its strength in flexure, tension, compression, and shear are 58, 35, 48, and 32 MPa,
respectively and its Modulus of Elasticity (MOE) is 3.2 GPa. However, only the tensile strength and MOE
showed better properties to that of neat polyester resin which are 15% and 4% higher, respectively possibly
due to relatively poor load transfer between the fibers and the matrix. Importantly, the flexural strength of the
bamboo fiber-polyester composites is 200%and 30%higher than the standard particleboard and mediumdensity
fiberboard, respectively, used in the construction industry. It is expected that the results of this preliminary study
will provide information to support the development and application of this newgeneration composites in housing
and construction.
1 INTRODUCTION
Glass and carbon fibers have been used for several
years in many applications varying from aerospace
components to civil engineering infrastructures. How-
ever, the high production and material costs of these
synthetic fibers limit their wider use for the devel-
opment of fiber reinforced composite materials. Con-
sequently, there is an increasing interest in research
and development to utilize the less expensive natural
fibers as reinforcement in making composites. Nat-
ural fibers are gaining wide acceptance because of
their added advantages such as lightweight, renewa-
bility and biodegradability. In addition to this, studies
conducted by Joshi et al. (2004) reveal that natu-
ral fiber composites are environmentally superior to
glass fibers making them an emerging and realistic
alternative to synthetic fibers in some engineering
applications. It is anticipated therefore that the use
of sustainable natural resources in the development
of new generation composites will be a necessity and
will play a crucial role in the near future.
Bamboo is a widely available material in many parts
in the world and has been used extensively as a substi-
tute to wood in making furniture and low-cost housing.
It has been estimated that more than 2.5 billion peo-
ple depend on the use of bamboo (Hogart 2006). In
Australia, bamboo has been in small-scale cultivation
in several areas of Queensland for only more than 20
years (Zhu et al. 2009). The current market for bamboo
products is for shoots and culm production. However,
theAustralian market has long beenimportingbamboo
products such as flooring, laminates, composite board,
and chipboard for its housing and construction. Thus,
a study t that supports the development and adapta-
tion of cleaner, greener and more renewable materials
while providing the construction and building indus-
try with an alternative and environmentally sustainable
materials such as bamboo fibers is warranted.
Among the well-known natural fibers, bamboo
has one of the most favorable combinations of low-
density and high mechanical stiffness and strength
(Osorioet al. 2011). Nugroho&Ando(2001) indicated
that these properties of bamboo make it a promising
material for the manufacture of various engineered
composite products. Despite its high mechanical prop-
erties, biodegradability and low cost, bamboo is not
fully utilized in modern construction due to its cylin-
drical shape requiring special joints and connections.
Consequently, bamboo fibers are extracted and used
as reinforcement of polymer composites to practically
apply the benefit of bamboo in various engineering
systems.
It is technically difficult and expensive to extract
long and straight bamboo fibers (Rao & Rao 2007).
Only in recent years that the interest to study the
potential of bamboo fibers as reinforcing materials
for composites is increasing because of the limited
availability of fibers (Osorio et al. 2011). The high
mechanical properties, biodegradability and low cost
consideration make bamboo an attractive fiber for
reinforcement (Rao & Rao 2007). This project aims at
introducing bamboo fiber composites in theAustralian
housing and building industry through an evaluation
519
Figure 1. Different forms of bamboo fibers.
Table 1. Properties of polyester resin.
Property Value
Modulus of elasticity, GPa 3.1
Flexural strength, MPa 80.3
Tensile strength, MPa 30.9
Compressive strength, MPa 107.7
Shear strength, MPa 34.3
Shear modulus, GPa 1.1
and understanding of their basic mechanical charac-
teristics. Comparison of the mechanical properties
with the standard particleboard and medium density
fiberboard used in the construction industry was also
conducted.
2.1 Materials
Different forms of untreated bamboo fibers (textile,
foamcore and randomly oriented) as shown in Figure 1
were used in the preparation of composite laminates.
The bamboo fibers were provided by an industry
partner in Hongkong, China. The non-woven textile
consists of 50% short bamboo and 50% cotton fibers.
The foam core has a thickness of 20 mm which con-
sists of 50% short bamboo fibers and 50% polyester.
These materials are currently being used for ther-
mal and noise insulation, vibration filling for building
products or cavity filling for cars. The randomly ori-
ented fibers consist of rawbamboo fibers with lengths
ranging from 30 to 100 mm. According to the indus-
try partner, the raw bamboo fibers were obtained by
steam explosion process.
Polyester resin (AROPOL 1472/25P Infusion) was
used as the matrix component in the production of
composites with properties listed in Table 1. The
quantity of catalyst added to the resin for curing was
1% by volume of the polyester resin.
2.2 Specimen preparation
The composite laminates were prepared in 400 mm
400 mm dimensions. All the specimens were prepared
with a fiber volume fraction of approximately 50% by
weight. The composite laminates were produced using
Figure 2. The vacuum bagging process.
Table 2. Details of specimens for coupon tests.
Dimensions (mm)
Type of test Test standard thickness length width
Flexural ISO 14125:1998(E) actual 16t 15
Tensile ISO 527-1:1995 actual 300 25
Compressive ISO 14126:1999 actual 140 12.75
Shear ASTM D5379:1993 actual 76 20
the vacuum bagging process as shown in Figure 2. In
this process, a vacuum of 92 bars is applied to the
fibers through a vacuum bag which is properly sealed
along its perimeter. In the production of composites
with randomly oriented fibers, bamboo fibers were
randomly oriented and placed on the infusion table.
A transparent glass was applied on top to check if the
fibers are evenly distributed, to ensure a smooth sur-
face and to maintain the thickness of the specimen. The
samples were cured for 24 hours at room temperature
and then taken off the mould. The bamboo compos-
ite laminates were then pre-cured at 80
C for 5 hours
before cutting into required specimen dimensions.
The experimental investigation using coupon speci-
mens following the ISOandASTMtest standards were
performed to characterise the flexural, tensile, com-
pressive, and shear properties of the different bamboo
fiber composites laminates. Six replicates for each
specimen type were prepared and tested. The dimen-
sions of the specimen and the standards followed
for the different test of coupon specimens are listed
in Table 2. The average thicknesses, t of the bam-
boo composite laminates made from textile (BCT),
foam core (BCF) and randomly oriented fibers (BCR)
are 0.9, 7.9 and 4.8 mm, respectively.
Figure 3 shows the different test set-up for bamboo
fiber-polyester composites. The flexural behaviour of
the bamboo fiber composites was determined under
a three point static bending test shown in Figure 3a.
520
Figure 3. Test set-up for bamboo fiber-polyester
composites.
The tensile test was conducted using a 100 kN testing
machine with the load applied at a rate of 1.3 mm/min.
Laser displacement transducer was also used to mea-
sure the elongation of the specimen as shown in Figure
3b. For specimen BCT, glass fiber composite tabs were
glued at both ends of the tensile specimen to prevent
damage introduction at the grip. On the other hand,
the compressive test of specimen BCR was conducted
using the Wyoming Modified Celanese Compression
test fixture (Fig. 3c) while the compressive test of
specimen BCF was performed using a rectangular
specimen directly loaded under the testing machine.
The shear test was then conducted using a rectangu-
lar beam shape specimen with symmetrically located
V-notch at the centre as shown in Figure 3d.
The mechanical behaviour of bamboo fiber-polyester
composites in flexure, tension, compression, and shear
is presented in the following section.
Figure 4. Flexural stress-strain behavior of bamboo
composites.
3.1 Flexural behavior
Figure 4 shows the typical stress-strain curve for bam-
boo composites under bending. In this figure, BCF-F,
BCR-F and NR-F represent the bamboo composites
made from foam core, composites from randomly ori-
ented bamboo fibers and the neat polyester resin tested
in bending, respectively. It is observed that both the
flexural stress-strain curves of BCF-F and NR-F show
a linear increasing trend and suddenly drops due to
failure of specimen suggesting a brittle behavior. The
specimen BCF-F failed at a maximumstress of around
42 MPa and strain of 1.4% while the specimen NR-F
failed at a stress of 80 MPa and strain of 2.6%. On the
other hand, the specimen BCR-F shows a linear elastic
behavior up to stress of around 60 MPa and strain of
2% then becomes nonlinear before final failure. Inter-
estingly, Osorio et al. (2011) reported that the failure
strain of bamboo fiber composites in flexure is around
2%. This result shows that the bamboo fibres started
to break at this level of strain and progressively until
failure failure. As can also be seen fromthe figure, the
flexural stiffness of specimens BCF-F and BCR-F is
very similar to that of NR-F with the flexural strength
and strain lower than that of the NR-F. The strength of
specimens BCF-F and BCR-F is only 54% and 75%,
respectively compared to the neat resin. This shows
that the bamboo fibers do not act effectively as rein-
forcement to the polyester resin which results in the
flexural stiffness dominated by the matrix properties.
As expected, the results indicated that the composites
with a higher amount of bamboo fibers will exhibit
a higher flexural strength. It was discussed in Sec-
tion 2.1 that specimen BCF-F contains only 25% of
bamboo fibers while the specimen BCF-F contains
50% bamboo fibers.
One advantage of the addition of bamboo fibers is
the ductile failure behaviour of specimens BCF-F and
BCR-F compared to the brittle behavior of NR-F. In
contrary to neat polyester, the load drop does not prop-
agate until the total specimen failure. Figure 5 shows
the failure of specimens BCF-F and BCR-F. As can be
seen from the figure, both the specimens did not fail
521
Figure 5. Failure of bamboo composites under bending.
Figure 6. Tensile stress-strain behavior of bamboo
composites.
abruptly even after the maximum load. It is believed
that the crack growth at the tensile side of the specimen
is retarded by the fiber which prevents immediate fail-
ure as also observed in the stress-strain relationship in
Figure 4. The bamboo fibers immediately carried the
load once crack propagation is initiated in the speci-
men. Complete failure of the specimen occurred when
all the fibers along the cracks failed.
3.2 Tensile behavior
Figure 6 shows the typical stress-strain curve for bam-
boo composites under tensile load. In the graph, the
composites laminate from bamboo textile is desig-
nated as BCT-T. Under tensile loading, an almost
linear elastic behavior up to fracture of the fibers was
observed for all specimens. Based on the test results,
the specimen BCF-T, BCR-T, BCT-T, and NR-T failed
at an average tensile strength of 21.6, 35.3, 18.5, and
30.9 MPa, respectively. This shows that only the speci-
men BCR-Thas a higher tensile strength (14%higher)
than the neat polyester resin. Moreover, this specimen
also exhibited a slightly higher MOE (4%higher) than
the neat polyester.
Mylsamy & Rajendran (2011) indicated that the
tensile properties in a composite depend mainly on
the fiber orientation and adhesion between the fiber
and the matrix. Also, the fibers should be long along
the direction of the load to effectively utilize its high
tensile strength (Nugroho &Ando 2001). As the bam-
boo fibers are randomly oriented in the composite
laminates, it is believed that only the fibers which
Figure 7. Failure of bamboo composites in tension.
are oriented perpendicular to the load provided rein-
forcement to the composites. This is similar to the
observationof Wonget al. (2010) where theynotedthat
only the longitudinal fibers contributes in the energy
dissipation and in crack retardation in short bamboo
fiber reinforced polyester composites. In the same
study, the authors could only get a maximum of 25%
increase in the tensile strength of polyester composites
reinforced with 10 mm unidirectional bamboo fibers.
They mentioned that this minimal strength gain in
composites even by reinforcing with bamboo could be
due to the relatively short bamboo fibers. The marginal
strength gain for specimen BCR-T compared to the
NR-T can also be due to the gathering of the fibers
which made it difficult to wet themwith polyester resin
resulting in poor adhesion. The results also show that
the strain at failure is only around 1.1% which is low
compared to the tensile failure strain of bamboo fiber
which is normally in the range 1.4 to 1.7% as reported
by Rao & Rao (2007). However, it is interesting to
note that it is only the tensile properties that showed
an enhanced property among the investigated mechan-
ical properties. This is due to the nature of the bamboo
fibre itself where it exhibited the highest strength in
tension compared to other properties as suggested by
Nugroho &Ando (2001).
All specimens failed in the gauge length as shown
in Figure 7. For specimens BCF-T and BCR-T, a
clean fracture is observed. This result suggests that
the tensile behavior of these composites is governed
by the more brittle polyester resin. However, the spec-
imen BCR-T failed due to matrix cracking with some
fiber breakage showing that the fibers contributed to
some extent on the overall tensile strength. It was also
noticed that the fiber failed by tearing with some inter-
facial failure observed. There are also some traces of
polyester resin still adhere to the fiber. This type of
failure is an indication that the adhesion between the
fiber and the matrix was not lost and the failure pro-
cess was dominated by the matrix material properties.
In general, the lower tensile strength of this bamboo
composite than what is expected can be due to the
premature fracture occurring in the specimen due to
material defects andvoids as showninFigure 7b. These
voids caused a weakening of the bonding strength
between the fibers and the resin. Also, these defects
522
Figure 8. Compressive stress-strain behavior of bamboo
composites.
are due to the presence of waxy materials and impuri-
ties on the surface of the bamboo fibres as no treatment
was done before the production of the laminates.
3.3 Compressive behavior
Figure 8 shows the stress and strain relationship of
the bamboo composites under compression. In com-
pression, a nonlinear behavior was observed at higher
stress and strain especially for specimens BCF-C and
NR-C. Under compressive load, the specimens BCF-
C, BCR-C and NR-C failed at an average stress of
78.5, 48.9 and 107.7 MPa, respectively with the fail-
ure strain for specimens BCF-C and NR-C is more
than 10% while the specimen BCR-C failed at a strain
of only 2%.
In compression, a higher load is observed in all
composites specimens as well as the neat polyester
resin compared to other mechanical properties investi-
gated. This is expected as Sigley et al. (1991) indicated
that thermosetting polymers like polyester are usually
brittle in flexure, tension and shear but show consider-
able ductility in compression. In addition, Mylsamy &
Rajendran (2011) suggested that the most important
parameter controlling the compression properties of
fiber composites is the interfacial adhesion between
the fiber and matrix. Thus, higher compressive proper-
ties are expected for composites with lowfiber content
ratio as the resin can easily wet and impregnate the
fibers. In the study, the composites with 25% bam-
boo fibers (specimen BCF-C) exhibited a compressive
strength of 73%that of the neat resin while the strength
of specimen with 50%bamboo fibers (BCR-C) is only
45% of NR-C.
Figure 9 shows the failure behavior of bamboo
composites in compression. It can be seen in Figure
9b that the weak fiber-matrix interface resulted in the
shear crimping failure of specimen BCR-C leading to
a lower failure strength than NR-C. This type of failure
is due to the low fracture strain of bamboo fibers and
the poor adhesion between the matrix and the fibers.
In contrast, the better transfer of stress fromthe matrix
to the fibers in specimen BCF-Cresulted in this speci-
men behaving in compression similar to that of NR-C.
Figure 9. Failure of bamboo composites in compression.
Figure 10. Shear stress-strain behavior of bamboo
composites.
Although some level of wrinkling was observed as
shown in Figure 9a, the relatively lowamount of fibers
made the resin easily wet the fibers.
3.4 Shear behavior
Figure 10 shows the shear stress and strain behavior
of the bamboo fibre composites and the neat polyester
resin. As can be seen from the figure, the specimen
NR-S exhibited linear elastic behavior up to failure in
shear. Also, the shear stiffness of the neat polyester is
similar to that of specimens BCF-S and BCR-S. It is
obvious from the figure that the specimen NR-S has a
higher shear strength compared to specimens BCF-S
and BCR-S. The shear strength of NR-S is 34.3 MPa
while the specimens BCF-S and BCR-S are 32.8 and
25.9, respectively. On the other hand, both specimens
BCF-S and BCR-S showed some ductility before fail-
ure. These specimens failed at a shear strain higher
than 3% while the neat polyester resin failed at a shear
strain of only 2.2%.
The failure mechanism in shear of specimens
BCF-S and BCR-S is shown in Figure 11. As can be
seen from the figure, the failure of both specimens
is mainly due to shear failure originating from the
V-notch root. After the first initiation of failure, the
load gradually decreased. With the continuous appli-
cation of the load, the shear cracks propagated in two
opposite sides along the fiber direction. This crack
propagation can also be observed in Figure 10 by the
nonlinear portion of shear stress-strain curve. Visible
large cracks were observed between the two notches
523
Figure 11. Failure in shear of bamboo composites.
Table 3. Mechanical properties of composite panels.
Property BCF BCR BCT PB MDF
Youngs Modulus, GPa 3.2 3.2 1.7 2.8 1.8
Bending strength, MPa 42.6 58.8 18.0 55.0
Tensile strength, MPa 21.6 35.4 18.6
Compression, MPa 78.5 48.9
Shear strength, MPa 25.9 32.8
across the specimen width suggesting the complete
failure of the specimen.
4 COMPARISON WITH OTHER PANELS
The properties of bamboo fibre-polyester compos-
ites were compared to the typical property values
for standard particle board (PB) and medium den-
sity fiberboard (MDF) used in the Australian building
industry. The average value for the strength and elas-
tic properties of bamboo fibre composites determined
from the different mechanical tests are summarized
in Table 3. The typical property values for a 12 mm
thick particleboard and a 5 mm thick MDF as recom-
mended by the EngineeredWood ProductsAssociation
of Australasia are also listed in the table.
The comparison showed that the specimens BCF
and BCR have higher stiffness than PB and MDF.
However, only specimen BCR has flexural strength
better than a standard particleboard and MDF. The
strength of this composites is 200% and 30% higher
than the standard particleboard and MDF suggesting
that bamboo fiber-polyester composites with ran-
domly oriented fibers has high potential to be used
as a building material in the construction industry.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The mechanical properties of bamboo fiber with
polyester matrix were determined. Based on the
results, the following conclusions can be drawn:
The laminates with randomly oriented fibers exhib-
ited the highest strength and stiffness among the
investigated bamboo fibre-polyester composites.
The strength of bamboo composites in flexure,
tension, compression, and shear are 58, 35, 48, and
32 MPa, respectively and its MOE is 3.2 GPa.
Only the tensile strength and stiffness properties of
bamboo composites are better than neat resin, which
are 15% and 4 % higher, respectively.
The reinforcement of bamboo fibres in compos-
ites resulted in a ductile failure as the fibers are
preventing the immediate failure of the specimen.
The good mechanical properties of bamboo com-
posites in this study can certainly have an edge over
conventional panel products used in the housing
and construction industry.
REFERENCES
Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia. Facts
about particleboard and MDF. EPWAA, Australia.
Joshi, S.V., Drzal, L.T., Mohanty, A.K., and Arora, S. 2004.
Are natural fiber composites environmentally superior to
glass fiber reinforced composites? Composites Part A 35:
371376.
Hogart, N.J. 2006. Demography and management of top
end bamboo, bambusa arnhemica. McS thesis, Charles
Darwin University, Australia.
Mylsamy, K. & Rajendran, I. 2011. Influence of alkali treat-
ment and fiber length on mechanical properties of short
Agave fiber reinforced epoxy composites. Journal of
Materials Science 26(15): 39853990.
Nugroho, N. & Ando, N. 2001. Development of structural
composite products made from bamboo II: fundamental
properties of laminated bamboo lumber. Journal of Wood
Science 47: 237242.
Osorio, L., Trujillo, E., Van Vuure, A.W. & Verpoest, I.
2011. Morphological aspects and mechanical properties
of single bamboo fibers and flexural characterization of
bamboo/epoxycomposites. Journal of ReinforcedPlastics
and Composites 30(5): 396408.
Rao, K.M.M. & Rao, K.M. 2007. Extraction and tensile
properties of natural fibers: Vakka, date and bamboo.
Ratna Prasad, A.V. & Mohana Rao, K. 2011. Mechanical
properties of natural fiber reinforced polyester compos-
ites: Jowar, sisal and bamboo. Materials and Design 32:
46584663.
Sigley, R.H., Wronski, A.S. & Parry, T.V. 1991. Three-
parameter yield criterion for a brittle polyester resin.
Journal of Materials Science 26(15): 39853990.
Wong, K.J., Zahi, S., Low, K.O. & Lim, C.C. 2010. Frac-
ture characterization of short bamboo fiber reinforced
polyester composites. Materials and Design 31: 4147
4154.
Zhu, G.X., Ockerby, S., White, D.T. & Midmore, D.J.
2009. Identifying agricultural practices to sustain bamboo
production in Queensland, Australia. ACIAR Proceedings
129: 124130.
524
Influence of hooked-end steel fibers on absorbed energy
of slurry-infiltrated fiber concrete in flexural test
Yashar Shafaei & Ozgur Eren
Department of Civil Engineering, Eastern Mediterranean University,
Gazima gusa, Mersin, Turkey
ABSTRACT: Slurry-infiltrated fiber concrete (SIFCON) is a development in the field of steel fiber reinforced
composite material. SIFCON is a fabrication method in which steel fibers are preplaced in a form to a desired
capacity rather than being mixed and then cast or sprayed along with the concrete. In this study, fibers having
aspect ratio/length of 80/60, 80/50 and 30/65 will be used for approximate fiber amounts of 1%, 2%, 3% and
4% by volume of concrete. Fiber orientation can seriously affect the properties of SIFCON where one can
control the orientation easily. These properties are modulus of elasticity, absorbed energy, flexural strength,
stress-strain behaviour, compressive strength, impact energy and water permeability. Absorbed energy is studied
in comparison with conventional concrete in this paper. At end of this study, results are analyzed to end up with
the optimum orientation, length and fiber diameter (fiber type) and volume of fibers to obtain the best results to
reach admirable energy absorption capacity.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 General
Slurry-Infiltrated Fiber Concrete (SIFCON) is a devel-
opment in the field of steel fiber reinforced concrete.
SIFCON is a fabrication method in which steel fibers
are preplaced in a form to a desired capacity rather
than being mixed and then cast or sprayed along with
the concrete. The fibers can be sprinkled by hand or
automated by using fiber-dispending units for large
sections. (SIFCON) is a type of fiber reinforced con-
crete in which formwork moulds are filled to capacity
with randomly-oriented steel fibers, usually in the
loose condition, andthe resultingfiber networkis infil-
trated by cement based slurry. Infiltration is usually
accomplished by gravity flow aided by light vibration,
or by pressure grouting [1].
Current practical range of fiber volumes for
SIFCON is up to 30%. [2] [3] In this study Hooked
end fibers having length/aspect ratio of 80/60, 80/50
and 30/65 will be used for a SIFCON layer containing
1, 2, 3, and 4% of the volume of the total speci-
men. Specimens contained a SIFCON layer and plain
concrete layer. Finally results will be compared with
conventional concrete from the same matrix.
SIFCON has advantages in mechanical properties
compared to steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC).
Differences between SFRC and SIFCON can be sum-
marized as; higher volume fraction (V
f
) of fibers, and
absence of coarse aggregate in SIFCON [1]. Further-
more SIFCONhas got more cement and water content.
Since at fiber contents in excess of 2%by volume, steel
fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) becomes difficult to
mix and replace, SIFCON will be advantageous by
making it possible to use more fiber amounts.
Although SIFCON may seem to be expensive but
it would be cost effective if all structural elements
and extra dead load made by larger elements could
be considered. It is realized when SIFCON is viewed
as a total interrelated system. Application of SIFCON
is quite easy and cost effective, expert labour is not
needed and in fact it has been shown that placing
of the fibers and slurry can be automated in several
applications [2].
SIFCONcan be applied in several applications like;
earthquake resistant structures [4] to provide safe and
cost effective alternative due to reduced dead weight,
refractory applications [5], beam column junctions,
repair and retrofit of structure components [6], [7],
precast concrete products [6], [2], [5], [8], explosive-
resistant containers, security blast-resistance vaults,
bridge decks and pavement overlay [5], security appli-
cations [6].
1.2 Objective and scope
Objectives of this study is to demonstrate behaviour
of one class of concrete in flexural test by analyzing
absorbed energy results and make comparative inter-
pretations on the effect of parameters influencing this
study such as fiber geometry (length, diameter, aspect
ratio) and fiber amount.
525
Figure 1. Fibre types (as bundles and as separated) used in
this study.
Table 1. Specifications of steel fibers used in the experi-
mental work (As provided by the manufactures).
Fiber Aspect Tensile Fiber
brand Shape Length, Diameter, ratio, strength Volume
name l (mm) d (mm) l/d (MPa) (%)
RC80/ Hooked 60 0.75 80 1050 1, 2, 3, 4
60BN (Dramix)
RC80/ Hooked 50 0.62 80 1270 1, 2, 3, 4
50BN (Dramix)
ZP305 Hooked 30 0.55 65 1345 1, 2, 3, 4
(Dramix)
2 EXPERIMENTAL STUDY
2.1 Introduction
The experimental program involved conducting tests
on load-deflection behaviour under flexural strength
test for SIFCON and control mix. Each SIFCON sam-
ple was prepared by four different volume fractions
(1%, 2%, 3%, 4%) of hooked end steel fibers having
aspect ratio/length 80/60, 80/50 and 30/65. For all the
tests, control mixtures having no fibers were prepared
as well.
2.1.1 Steel fibers
Fibers used in SIFCON have to be in a loose state
(single or discrete) so the mixture can infiltrate the
fiber bed without clogging or honeycombing. There-
fore, glued fibers had to be dissolved in water and
separated from each other before placing them into
the moulds (Figure 1).
Table 1 shows the properties of steel fibers used for
this study [9]. The volume fractions of fibers (V
f
) are
calculated based on the density of steel fibers which
is taken as 7800 kg/m
3
[1].
2.2 Preparation and casting of specimens
2.2.1 SIFCON specimens
As mentioned previously in Chapter 1, the first step
in preparing SIFCON is done by placing the fibers
directly into the moulds, up to the calculated volume
Table 2. Fiber amounts used in this study.
Fiber amount (%) 0 1 2 3 4
(kg) per m
3
Control 29.6 44.4 74 103
Table 3. Proportions of mix used in terms of cement in this
study.
Mix Ingredients Cement Water Sand
Proportions 1:1 1:0.65 1:5.36
fraction [10] No vibration was imposed during fiber
placing for the specimens for V
f
of 1%to insure filling
the moulds without large voids, while a light vibra-
tion was applied in the case of V
f
of 2%, and the
vibration was relatively intense in the case of the max-
imum V
f
(3% and 4%) to ensure filling the mould
with the required amount of fibers. The vibration was
externally applied by using a vibrating table.
The weight of steel fibers calculated SIFCON is as
given in Table 2.
After placing steel fibers, the moulds were filled
with slurry or mortar matrix which has to be flow-
able enough to ensure complete infiltration through
the dense beds of fibers. Usually, vibration during
matrix placing was necessary to avoid honeycombing
or voids.
The mixing procedures for slurries (pastes) and
mortars were in accordance with the requirements of
ASTM C 305 [11].
2.2.2 Control mix
Matrix used for SIFCON and control mix was the
same. Same mortar mixture was used for SIFCON
and rest of the specimen. Mixing of control mix was
done in a sequence that allows sufficient time for thor-
ough mixing of all the constituents. The mixture was
prepared in about 5 minutes mixing time with a rotat-
ing planetary mixer of 150 kg capacity. The utilized
mixing procedures were as follows:
(a) Firstly aggregates and cement were mixed in the
mixer.
(b) Then amount of required water was added to the
mix.
Aggregate usedwas nominal maximumparticle size
of 5 mm.
Table 3 shows the proportions of mix which was
used for SIFCON and control mix.
2.2.3 Experimental tests
Results obtained fromcompressive strength of 28 days
curing of conventional matrix in accordance with BS
EN 12390-3, 2002 [12] demonstrated compressive
strength (
c
) of 52 N/mm
2
for concrete used in this
study.
526
Figure 2. Apartus of third point loading test.
Figure 3. Third point loading test on specimens.
2.2.4 Flexural strength test
For specimens of size 100 100 500 mm, flexural
test was conducted on SIFCON and control mortar.
Third point loading method of flexural strength test is
performed in order to determine the flexural strength
of specimens. The test method is in accordance with
ASTM C78 [13]. According to the method, a constant
deformation rate of 0.05 mm/min was subjected to a
third-point loading test [14]. The span length of the
beams tested was measured to be 39 cm. The mid-span
deflections of the test beam were measured by using
two LVDTs (one on each side), and the average of the
measurements represents the true net mid-span deflec-
tions. A yoke was used in the flexural strength test in
order to eliminate the extraneous settlements of the
supports so as to record only the net beam specimen
deflection. The arrangement of the flexural strength
test apparatus is as shown in Figure 2 [13], Figure 3.
Figure 4 shows representative sample of SIFCON and
control concrete after failure.
3 DISCUSSIONAND RESULTS
3.1 Load deformation (Absorbed energy)
Load deformation curves are as shown below. Curves
for three specimens of each test are shown in Figure 5
and Figure 6.
The result of load deformation test will be dis-
cussed based on absorbed energy results. Absorbed
energy was evaluated up to 1.2 mm deflection while
Figure 4. Sample of control concrete and SIFCON after
flexural test.
the test was continued more than this amount. Energy
absorbed by the specimen is represented by the
area under the complete load-deformation curve [15].
Three specimens were tested from every mix and an
average of the three absorbed energy is considered for
each specimen.
All specimens showed higher absorbed energy in
comparison with control.
3.2 Effect of fiber content on absorbed energy
a) As it was predicted fiber increases absorbed
energy. Similar behaviours were observed by other
researchers [10].
b) Exceptionally for SIFCON with fiber amount of
1%, absorbed energy in compare with 2% and 3%
is more than it can be expected. It can be due to
better concrete bonding and steel fibers and less
voids in mix having fiber content of 1% compared
to mix having fiber content of 2% and 3%.
c) Moreover it could be observed that SIFCON ZP30
has more energy absorption capacity than SIFCON
RC80/50 and SIFCON RC80/50. Also SIFCON
RC80/50 had more absorbed energy than SIF-
CON RC80/60. Changes in absorbed energy are
summarized in Table 5.
The reason may be simply explained as pores in the
matrix of ZP30 can be filled with smaller fibers quite
easier than fibers with higher length and diameter.
In flexural strength test, all specimens showed higher
absorbed energy in comparison with control concrete.
It can be observed that adding fiber to concrete has a
huge effect at starting point of 1%, while adding more
fibers till 4% it doesnt improve the absorbed energy
as it expected.
For fiber type RC8060BN, adding fibers to control
(which is considered to have 100% absorbed energy)
at 1%, 2%, 3% and 4%, increment of absorbed energy
was 203%, 183%, 212% and 246% respectively.
For fiber type RC8050BN, adding fibers to control
mix by 1%, 2%, 3%and 4%increased absorbed energy
by 276%, 238%, 258% and 322% respectively.
527
Figure 5. Load-deflection curve for control mix and
RC8060BN for 1%, 2%, 3%, and 4% fiber volume.
Figure 6. Load deflection curve for all fiber types and all
fiber amounts.
528
Table 4. Summary of calculated absorbed energy results.
Fibre Absorbed Energy (J)
Amount
(%) RC8060BN RC8050BN ZP305
4 1398 1831 2396
3 1207 1469 1956
2 1042 1354 1712
1 1152 1570 1839
No fiber 569 569 569
Figure 7. Absorbed Energy for different fiber amounts and
fiber types.
Table 5. Increases in absorbed energy for SIFCON.
Percent increases in absorbed
Fiber energy compared to control mix
Amount
(%) RC8060BN RC8050BN ZP305
4 246 322 421
3 212 258 344
2 183 238 301
1 203 276 323
No fiber 100 100 100
For fiber type ZP305, adding fibers to control mix
by 1%, 2%, 3% and 4% increased absorbed energy by
323%, 301%, 344% and 421% respectively.
3.3 Effect of fiber length on absorbed energy
The effect of length of fibers has respectively studied
on absorbed energy and based on the results, Figure 8
is created and it can be said that.
SIFCON ZP30 had shown relatively higher
absorbed energy among others in this study; it could
be due to better bonding that lower aspect ratio can
make mixes less porous made by application of ZP30
fibers in comparison with other two. Besides, SIFCON
ZP30 allows more compaction in mixes compared to
SIFCON8060 and SIFCON8050.
Figure 8. Absorbed energy vs. Length of fibers.
Figure 9. Effect of fiber tensile strength on absorbed energy
of SIFCON.
3.4 Effect of fibers tensile strength
on absorbed energy
The effect of tensile strength (which has been reported
by manufactures of fibers) has respectively studied
on absorbed energy, and based on results from Figure
9 it can be stated that.
The higher tensile strength the higher absorbed
energy. Since fiber didnt show any fail, or break, and
cut off during loading but they were just pulled out and
exposed from fiber-mix layer. So, the tensile strength
of fiber can increase the carried load if the bonding
made by hooked end fibers would be enough, hence
higher strength fibers can make stronger bond to cope
with stress.
3.5 Effect of fibers diameters
on absorbed energy
The effect of fibers diameter has respectively studied
on absorbed energy and based on results in Figure 10,
it can be concluded that:
a) The higher diameter of fibers in this study, the
lower absorbed energy. This may be due to higher
pores in the concrete. However for 1% fiber
amount, results were higher than expected.
b) Based on results obtained, Table 5 shows the per-
centage change of absorbed energy with respect to
fiber diameter.
529
Figure 10. Effect of fiber diameter on absorbed energy.
For fiber diameter of 0.75 mm, 0.62 mm and 0.55
for 1% fiber volume, the improvement of absorbed
energy is 203%, 276% and 323% respectively.
For fiber diameter of 0.75 mm, 0.62 mm and
0.55 mm for 2% fiber volume, the improvement
of absorbed energy is 183%, 238% and 301%
respectively.
For fiber diameter of 0.75 mm, 0.62 mm and
0.55 mm for 3% fiber volume the improvement
of absorbed energy is 212%, 258% and 344%
respectively.
For fiber diameter of 0.75 mm, 0.62 mm and 0.55
for 4% fiber volume the improvement of absorbed
energy is 246%, 322% and 421% respectively.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The following conclusions were drawn out based on
results obtained.
a) In flexural test for SIFCON, the higher the fiber
amount the higher the absorbed energy. Excep-
tionally for SIFCON with fiber amount of 1%,
absorbed energy in compared to 2% and 3% was
more than expectations. It can be due to better
concrete bonding and steel fibers and less voids
in mix having fiber content of 1% compared to
mix having fiber content of 2% and 3%.
b) Moreover it could be observed that SIFCON
ZP30 has more energy absorption capacity than
SIFCON RC80/50 and SIFCON RC80/50. Also
SIFCONRC80/50 had more absorbed energy than
SIFCON RC80/60.
c) SIFCONZP30 which has the least aspect ratio had
shown relatively higher absorbed energy among
others in this study.
d) The higher diameter of fibers in this study, the
lower absorbed energy.
REFERENCES
[1] ACI544.1R, State-of-the-Art Report on Fiber Rein-
forced Concrete, ACI, 2002.
[2] D. Lankard, Preparation, Applications: Slurry Infil-
trated Fiber Concrete (SIFCON), in Concrete Inter-
national, V.6, No.12, Dec. 1984.
[3] J. Homrich and A. Naaman, Stress-Strain Proper-
ties of SIFCON in compression, Detroit, American
Concrete Institute, 1987.
[4] B. Wood, Use of Slurry Infiltrated Fiber Concrete
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530
Properties and behaviour of gomuti fibre composites under tensile
and compressive load
A. Ticoalu, T. Aravinthan & F. Cardona
ABSTRACT: Gomuti fibre or sugar-palm fibre is a natural fibre that traditionally has been used as roofing
and insulation material. This paper presents an experimental investigation into the properties and behaviour of
gomuti fibre composites when subjected to axial tensile and compressive load. Composite panels prepared for this
study are the combinations of untreated unidirectional gomuti fibre with three different polymer thermoset resins
(epoxy, vinylester andpolyester). The panels are fabricatedmanuallybyhandlay-up. Results showthat the average
tensile strength of the composite specimens is between 3546 MPa and the average compressive strength between
82108 MPa. Specimens of gomuti/vinylester have the highest average tensile and compressive strength. Load
vs extension plots of tensile specimens of all three combinations display elastic region before sudden break after
peak load while compressive specimens of each combination exhibit different tendency after the elastic region
and peak load.
1 INTRODUCTION
Natural fibre composites are becoming an interesting
topic in various areas of engineering for many rea-
sons. Being natural resources, natural fibre can be
categorised as renewable material. Moreover, the use
of natural fibre offers a more environmental sustain-
able supply of material and promotes less synthetic
waste.
Current applications of natural fibre compos-
ites range from automotive applications (ODonnell,
2004), furniture and packaging industries to civil engi-
neering applications such as beams (Alms et al., 2009),
roof (Dweib et al., 2006) and pipe repair (Yu et al.,
2008). In civil engineering applications, natural fibre
composites may find its slots in the development and
production of non-structural elements or elements that
require lower to moderate strength such as roofing,
decking or slats, wall cladding and insulation panel.
The suitability of natural fibre composite in a cer-
tain engineering applications is essentially depends on
the characteristics and behavior of the composite itself.
To obtain the properties and understand the charac-
teristics and behaviour a material, mechanical tests
are required. Tensile and compressive tests are two of
the mechanical tests that can be performed to obtain
important basic mechanical properties of natural fibre
composites.
This paper aims to present the study on the tensile
and compressive behavior of untreated unidirectional
aligned gomuti fibre composites. Tensile and compres-
sive tests are performed to observe the response of the
composite specimens to axial loading.
2 REVIEW OF EXISTING STUDIES
Many types of natural fibre are readily available in
most countries around the world. Some of them have
been subjected to extensive studies as natural fibre
composites. Examples are jute, hemp, flax, sisal and
coir.
Table 1 shows the tensile properties of several natu-
ral fibre composite. Typically, composites with flax
fibre exhibit highest tensile strength among other
natural fibre composites, while coir composites offer
the lowest tensile strength. This characteristic is influ-
enced by the strength of the individual fibre itself.
Other factors that also contribute to the proper-
ties and characteristics of natural fibre composites are
fibre orientation or fibre form, fibre fraction, fibre
condition, treatment to the fibre, composite fabrica-
tion method and process, and the selection of matrix
to provide bonding to the fibre.
Gomuti fibre is a natural fibre obtained from
Arenga pinnata tree (Ticoalu et al., 2011). Other names
Table 1. Tensile properties of natural fibre composites.
Tensile
strength MoE
Material MPa GPa Ref.
Coir/epoxy 13.05 2.06 Biswas et al. 2011
Hemp/polyester 32.90 1.42 Rouison et al. 2006
Flax/polyester 61.00 6.30 Rodrguez et al. 2005
Sugar-palm/epoxy 42.85 3.33 Bachtiar et al. 2008
531
associated with gomuti fibre are sugar-palm fibre,
gomutu, ijuk, arenga fibre, etc. The fibre is used
traditionally in Indonesia as roofing material, rope,
insulation, water filters and brooms.
A number of studies have been conducted on
the mechanical properties of gomuti fibre (sugar-
palm fibre) and its composites. Bachtiar et al. (2010)
reported that the average single fibre tensile strength
of gomuti was 190.29 MPa and the modulus of elas-
ticity was 3.69 GPa. When epoxy resin was used,
the composite with 10% weight fraction of untreated
long random fibre reached 50.39 MPa of tensile
strength and 1.04 GPa of tensile modulus (Suriani
et al., 2007). With similar weight fraction, chopped
random fibre reached tensile strength of 33.76 MPa
and tensile modulus of 1.07 MPa, while woven fibre
reached 51.72 MPa and 1.01 of tensile strength and
modulus respectively (Suriani et al., 2007). Previous
study by the authors (Ticoalu et al., 2011) reported
that gomuti/polyester composites reached the tensile
strength of 15.40 MPa, 14.52 MPa, 24.49 MPa and
9.24 MPa for 10% fibre weight fraction of random
original oriented fibre, chopped fibre, unidirectional
fibre and woven fibre, respectively.
From the mentioned studies, it can be observed that
gomuti composite with long fibre offer higher strength
with the same 10% weight fraction. Contrast results
can be noted for woven fibre with epoxy and polyester.
The differences in the nature of weaving and resin type
were the possible factors to the contrasting results.
Furthermore, increasing the fibre weight fraction to
15% and 20% has resulted in lower tensile strengths
of gomuti fibre composite specimens (Suriani et al.,
2007).
While the existing studies have provided important
information on the variations of properties based on
the fibre form and fibre weight fractions, there are
limited publications on evaluating the properties and
behaviour of gomuti fibre composites with different
type of matrix and how it behave under compressive
load.
Common thermoset polymer resin matrices such as
epoxy, polyester and vinylester have different charac-
teristics and different price. Polyester (thermosetting
polyester) generally has lower price and faster cur-
ing compared to epoxy. However, it has lower tensile
strength and more brittle. Epoxy is more expensive
but it offers better bonding characteristic. Vinylester
is cured similar to polyester but generally has the
properties in between polyester and epoxy. Vinylester
is produced by the reaction of an epoxy with an
unsaturated acid (strm, 1997).
It is therefore important to evaluate the proper-
ties and behaviour of gomuti fibre composites when
combined with different matrices.
3 MATERIALS AND METHODS
Non-chemically treated gomuti fibres were obtained
fromMinahasa, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. The fibres
were rinsed with water, air-dried and brushed to obtain
Figure 1. Unidirectional aligned gomuti fibre.
Figure 2. Tensile test set-up.
unidirectional aligned fibres. Next, they are trimmed
to approximately 300400 mm long, as shown in Fig-
ure 1. Before fabrication, the fibres are washed with
hot water to remove dust and impurities, air-dried and
oven dried to remove moisture.
Three thermoset polymer resins were used to
develop the composite panels; that are polyester,
vinylester and epoxy. Resin variation is designed to
evaluate the difference in tensile and compression
properties. The panels are made with hand lay-up
method aiming to use as less resin as possible but with
good workability. Fibre fraction of approximately 20%
was achievable for all panels. Polyester and vinylester
resins were mixed with 1.5%catalyst while epoxy was
used with 4:1 ratio.
Tensile tests were conducted based on the Aus-
tralian Standard AS1145. Dimension of tensile
specimens was approximately t (thickness) 25 mm
(width) 250 mm (length). Loading rate for tensile
specimens was 2 mm/min. An extensometer was used
to obtain strain reading. When the strain reached 0.3%,
the extensometer was removed and the testing con-
tinued until the specimen failed. Figure 2 shows the
set-up for tensile test.
Compressive tests were carried out based onASTM
D695. Compressive specimens were of rectangular
prism shape with dimension of t (thickness) 2t
(width) 2t (height). The loading rate for compres-
sive specimens was 1.3 mm/min. Figure 3 shows the
set-up for compressive tests.
532
Figure 3. Compression test set-up.
Table 2. Tensile properties of gomuti fibre composites.
Tensile strength Modulus of elasticity
Specimen (MPa) (GPa)
Gomuti/E* 44.89 4.68
38.31 4.45
34.22 4.95
46.93 5.40
48.06 5.39
Average 42.48 (SD: 5.97) 4.97 (SD: 0.42)
Gomuti/VE* 47.08 4.18
47.30 4.96
51.31 4.32
41.44 4.05
43.77 4.08
Average 46.18 (SD: 3.76) 4.32 (SD: 0.37)
Gomuti/PE* 33.52 5.44
35.41 5.13
40.45 5.92
30.47 5.50
35.92 5.17
Average 35.15 (SD: 3.65) 5.43 (SD: 0.32)
*E: Epoxy, VE: vinylester, PE: polyester, SD: standard
deviation
Both tensile and compression tests were completed
using MTS 100 kN Insight machine at the Centre of
Excellence in Engineered Fibre Composites (CEEFC)
laboratory, University of Southern Queensland.
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1 Results of tensile test
The tensile testing machine provides the reading of
load and extension of the specimens, and the exten-
someter provides the reading of strain. Data of stress,
strain and modulus of elasticity are then generated
by the integrated software. Table 2 presents the ten-
sile strength and tensile modulus of gomuti fibre
composites specimens.
As observed from Table 2, combination of
gomuti/vinylester has obtained highest average ten-
sile strength of 46.18 MPa while combination of
Table 3. Tensile properties of typical thermoset resins.
Strength Modulus
Material (MPa) (GPa) Ref.
Epoxies 55130 2.74.1 Aranguren & Reboredo,
2007
Vinylester 72.17 2.74 current study
Polyester 55.20 3.40 Barbero, 1999
gomuti/polyester obtained highest modulus of elastic-
ity of 5.43 GPa in average.
Tensile test results show that when untreated unidi-
rectional aligned gomuti fibre is used in combination
with epoxy, the average tensile strength is 42.48 MPa.
When polyester is used, the average tensile strength
is 35.15 MPa, approximately 17%lower. Combination
of gomuti/vinylester reached higher tensile strength of
46.18 MPa, which can be attributed to better bonding
of fibre and matrix.
Compared to the typical tensile strength of neat
resins (as in Table 3), the strength of gomuti/epoxy
composites is approximately 3070% lower than neat
epoxy, the strength of gomuti/vinylester composites is
approximately 40%lower compared to neat vinylester,
and the strength of gomuti/polyester composites is
approximately 40% lower compared to neat polyester.
Results of tensile modulus, however, show dif-
ferent tendency, in which the moduli are slightly
higher (approximately 2045% higher) compared to
the modulus of neat resins.
Tensile test results suggest that the use of gomuti
fibre with epoxy, vinylester and polyester do not
increase the strength of the resin, however the fibre
contributes in increased value of tensile modulus.
The use of natural fibre as composite ingredients in
polymer thermoset resins may not necessarily increase
the tensile strength of the resin but it reduces the
amount of resin used with acceptable properties.
4.2 Results of compression test
Compression test results as presented in Table 4 show
that gomuti/vinylester combination has the highest
average value compared to the other two combina-
tions. In the case of compressive moduli, however,
gomuti/polyester has the highest value.
Overall, based on the compressive test results, com-
pressive strength of gomuti fibre composites with
thermoset resins (epoxy, vinylester and polyester), is
in the range of approximately 82108 MPa, while the
compressive modulus is in the range of 1.92.05 GPa.
Comparing the results of compressive test to the
typical properties of the neat resin (Table 5), it can be
observed that the compressive strengths of the com-
posites are lower than the neat resin (approximately
847% lower). Compressive moduli are also lower by
3040% than the compressive moduli of neat resins.
The results suggest that the inclusion of gomuti fibre
do not increase the compressive strength as well as the
compressive modulus of the resins.
533
Table 4. Compressive properties of gomuti fibre
composites.
Compressive Compressive
Specimen strength (MPa) modulus (GPa)
Gomuti/E* 86.23 1.99
86.57 1.97
79.14 1.65
78.42 1.72
79.56 1.99
Average 82.08 (SD: 4.02) 1.93 (SD: 0.18)
Gomuti/VE* 109.54 2.03
107.58 2.17
102.46 1.71
111.84 2.25
108.92 1.87
Average 108.07 (SD: 3.49) 2.01 (SD: 0.22)
Gomuti/PE* 95.24 2.05
108.21 2.06
107.89 1.75
108.67 2.23
100.34 2.14
Average 104.07 (SD: 6.02) 2.05 (SD: 0.18)
*E: Epoxy, VE: vinylester, PE: polyester, SD: standard
deviation
Table 5. Compressive properties of typical thermoset
resins.
Strength Modulus
Material (MPa) (GPa) Ref.
Epoxy 102.00 3.40 CEEFC internal report
Vinylester 117.10 Barbero, 1999
Polyester 195.00 2.90 CEEFC internal report
Figure 4. Load vs extension plots of tensile specimens.
Figure 5. Load vs extension plots of compressive specimens.
4.3 Behaviour of the composite specimens under
tensile load and compressive load
Test results show that compressive strength of gomuti
fibre composite specimens are approximately 23
times higher than the tensile strength, while the com-
pressive moduli are 23 times lower than the tensile
moduli.
Load vs extension plots of tensile and compressive
specimens are presented in Figure 4 and 5 respectively.
It can be observed that the results of the specimens in
every combination are reasonably close to each other,
which show uniformity of the specimens.
Figure 4 shows that under tensile load, all three
combinations exhibit sudden brittle failure after lin-
ear elastic region, with extensions up to approximately
35 mm. Under compressive load, however, the spec-
imens sustained increases in compressive extension
after linear elastic region and peak load (Figure 5).
Furthermore from Figure 5, the curves of
gomuti/epoxy specimens show increase in extension
after peak load with slightly lower but nearly constant
load. Gomuti/polyester specimens sustained higher
compressive load compared to gomuti/epoxy but
were broken soon after peak load without significant
increase in extension. Specimens of gomuti/vinylester
exhibit higher strength as well, with load vs exten-
sion plots similar to that of gomuti/polyester but with
larger extension from peak load to break. From curves
of compressive test results, it can be observed that
the characteristics of each resin are imparted to the
composites.
For tensile specimens, ruptures are noticed by
matrix cracking, fibre-matrix debonding then fibre
breakage. Failures of compressive specimens are gen-
erally combinations of matrix cracking, fibre-matrix
534
debonding and shear cracking without the specimens
being completely separated.
In general, tensile and compressive behaviour of
gomuti fibre composites are more influenced by the
behaviour of the type of matrix than of the behaviour
of the fibre.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Although the properties of natural fibre composites
are influenced by various aspects, it can be concluded
from this study that untreated unidirectional gomuti
fibre composites have an average tensile strength of
42.48 MPa when epoxy resin is used, 35.15 MPa when
polyester is used and 46.18 MPa when vinylester is
used. Average tensile moduli are 4.97 GPa, 5.43 GPa
and 4.32 GPa for specimens with epoxy, polyester
and vinylester respectively. Average compression
strength and modulus for gomuti/epoxy specimens are
82.08 MPa and 1.93 GPa, for gomuti/vinylester are
108.07 MPa and 2.01 GPa, and for gomuti/polyester
are 104.07 MPa and 2.05 GPa. In general, compres-
sion strength of the composite specimens are higher
compared to their tensile strength, however the com-
pressive moduli are lower.
Based on the result of tensile and compressive tests,
gomuti/vinylester composites is the best combina-
tion compared to gomuti/epoxy and gomuti/polyester
because the composites exhibit less brittle failure
and better bonding compared to the specimen with
polyester. Furthermore, the use of vinylester pro-
vides faster curing compared to epoxy, and better
workability compared to polyester.
A more thorough investigation which includes the
testing of the actually used resin is required to provide
better understanding of the behaviour of gomuti fibre
composites.
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535
Formula for SIF of cracked steel plates strengthened with CFRP plate
Q.Q. Yu
Department of Building Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Australia
X.L. Zhao
Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Australia
T. Chen
Z.G. Xiao
School of Applied Sciences and Engineering, Monash University, Churchill, Australia
X.L. Gu
ABSTRACT: Fatigue loading will lead to crack initiation and crack growth in steel structures where stress
concentration exists. Fatigue life of aged steel members can be extended significantly with carbon fiber reinforced
polymer (CFRP) repair. Stress intensity factor (SIF) is a key parameter to calculate the fatigue life and analyze
the progress of crack development. There is a lack of knowledge of SIF for cracked steel plate with different
degrees of damage strengthened with CFRP. This paper aims to fill this knowledge gap. The SIF formula
is developed based on the classical SIF solution and James-Anderson method by considering two correction
factors, representing the effect of load share effect in composite system and the effect of initial damage degree,
respectively. It is demonstrated that the SIF formula proposed in the paper is applicable to SIF estimation of
strengthened center cracked steel plate with different degrees of damage.
Keywords: Carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP), fatigue damage, stress intensity factor, steel plate
1 INTRODUCTION
Fatigue cracks usually initiate and grow in the stress
concentration area of steel structures. Fiber reinforced
polymer (FRP) has been widely used to strengthen
concrete structures and has a great potential to
strengthen steel structures (Teng, et al. 2002, Oehlers,
et al. 2004, Zhao, et al. 2007). Experimental study and
numerical analysis has been carried out to investigate
the improved fatigue performance of artificial cracked
steel plate with CFRP reinforcement (Colombi, et al.
2003, Tljsten, et al. 2009, Liu, et al. 2009). How-
ever, research on fatigue behaviour of steel members
strengthened at different stages of crack propagation
is limited. SIF is an essential parameter in linear elas-
tic fracture mechanics to calculate the fatigue life
and analyze the progress of crack propagation. For
CFRP strengthened specimens, due to unavailability
of closed-formsolutions, the SIF calculation is usually
carried out with analytical, numerical and experimen-
tal studies (Gu, et al. 2011, Shen, et al. 2011, Wu,
et al. 2012). Gu et al. (2011) investigated the mechan-
ical behavior of a single edge v-notch aluminum plate
repaired with composite patches through the finite ele-
ment method. Variables such as the adhesive epoxy
film, patch material, thickness and ply orientations
were studied. The results showed that the SIF value
of the notched plate was reduced by 1/61/20 and the
crack mouth opening displacement was reduced even
further by 8083%. The effect of shear strength and
thickness of the adhesive bond was found to be sig-
nificant, in comparison with other parameters. Shen
et al. (2011) proposed a SIF formula for the aluminum
centre crack tension (CCT) plates repaired with single-
sided composite patches using the James-Anderson
method. A linear function of crack width to plate with
ratio was introduced as a modifying factor. Fatigue life
prediction and finite element calculation were con-
ducted to validate the SIF formula. Wu et al. (2012)
presented a modified SIF formula for both single-side
CFRP-reinforced and double-side CFRP-reinforced
CCT steel plates based on classical solution of mode I
537
Figure 1. Specimen geometry (Unit: mm, not to scale).
Table 1. Mechanical properties of steel, CFRP plate and
epoxy resin adhesive.
Steel CFRP
plate plate Adhesive
Yield point (MPa) 279
Tensile strength (MPa) 406 3089 41.6
Elongation (%) 32.33 1.7 1.53
Elastic modulus (GPa) 182 191 3.32
SIF of CCT steel plate. The effects of the mechanical
properties of CFRP composites and the bond width
of the CFRP reinforcement were studied respectively
as two reduction factors. A parametric study was also
conducted to investigate the influence of mechanical
and geometric factors to SIF values.
In this study, a SIF formula of strengthened steel
plate with different initial degrees of damage is derived
using the JamesAnderson method (James, et al.
1969). This method is based on the fact that for a
given material and test conditions, the crack growth
rate at any instant must be associated with a unique
value of K. The SIF formula is proposed by intro-
ducing two correction factors, representing the effect
of load share effect in composite system and the effect
of initial damage degree, respectively. The predicted
results compares well with the experimental results.
This study extends the understanding of the influence
of CFRP repair application at different stages of crack
propagation on the SIF values at the crack tips.
2 PREVIOUS EXPERIMENTAL STUDY
Experimental study on steel plate with different
degrees of fatigue damage has been conducted (Yu,
et al. 2012). Specimens were steel plates having the
dimension of 500 mm long 100 mm wide 8 mm
thick with a 10 mm hole and two initial cracks of
0.2 mm wide in the center. There were three different
crack lengths in order to simulate the different degrees
of damage, i.e. 1 mm, 5 mm and 10 mm, respectively.
CFRPplates, 200 mm40 mmeach, were gluedusing
wet lay-up method to the both sides of specimen as
shown in Figure 1. The center notch was also filled
with 4 layers of CFRP plate. The mechanical proper-
ties of steel plate, CFRPplate and epoxy resin adhesive
are listed in Table 1. Totally six specimens were tested
under tension-tension repeated loading with the fre-
quency of 10 Hz and stress ratio of 0.1. Three were
Figure 2. Half crack lengths versus recorded number of
fatigue cycle.
strengthened specimens donated as CN-1-S, CN-5-S
and CN-10-S with initial crack length of 1 mm, 5 mm
and 10 mm, respectively, while the other three were
bare steel plates as control specimens donatedas CN-1,
CN-5 and CN-10 similarly. The stress range was kept
unchanged for all the specimens as 110 MPa in the
nominal section of the un-reinforced specimen. The
beach marking technique was adopted to trace crack
propagation during fatigue tests.
All the specimens failed at the middle of the steel
plates when the fatigue crack reached a certain length.
From the observation of fracture surfaces with beach
marks, it is found that early debonding of CFRP plate
happened on one side of specimen CN-5-S. With the
measured crack length from the beach marks, the rela-
tionship between half crack length and number of
cycles is shown in Figure 2.
3 FORMULA FOR SIF
According to the JamesAnderson method, the same
material constants C and min Paris Law(expressed by
Equation (1)) can be adopted for both un-strengthened
and strengthened specimens. C and m of conserva-
tive curve of JSSC code is selected (JSSC, 1995). The
SIF values of un-strengthened specimens (K
u
) are
calculated using Equation (2) (Albrecht, et al. 1977).
where F =F
E
F
S
F
W
F
G
, and F
E
, F
S
, F
W
and F
G
denote
the effect of elliptical crack fronts, free surface, finite
width and non-uniform opening stresses, respectively.
The correct factor F
W
for finite width is expressed by
Equation (3).
538
The SIF values of strengthened specimens (K
s
)
are obtained using the secant method recommended
in ASTM E647-11e1 (ASTM E64711e1, 2001).
Equation (4) describes an average crack growth rate
over the (a
i+1
a
i
) crack length increment, and there-
fore K corresponding to the average crack size
a =(a
i+1
+a
i
)/2 is expressed by Equation (5).
Regarding the ratio of K
s
to K
u
, it is considered
to be consisted of two correction factors, i.e. the effect
of load share in composite system the effect of initial
damage degree, respectively. They are discussed in the
following section.
4 THE EFFECT OF LOAD SHARE IN
COMPOSITE SYSTEMORMULA FOR SIF
The CFRP plate shares the loading transferred by the
adhesive, and thereafter it reduces the stress range
at the crack tip. Similar work has been carried
out in reference (Wu, et al. 2012). The load effect
of composite materials can be expressed as Equation
(6). Early debonding of CFRP plate on one side hap-
pened during the fatigue test for specimen CN-5-S
as mentioned before. Therefore, double-sided repair
model is adopted for specimens CN-1-S and specimen
CN-10-S while single-sided repair model is adopted
for specimen CN-5-S.
In the Equations above, E, b and t represent the
Youngs modulus, width and thickness of the plate;
the subscripts, s, f and a denote steel, CFRP plate
and adhesive layer, respectively.
5 THE EFFECT OF INITIAL DAMAGE DEGREE
In Figure 2, it is found that the slop change of the
curves of strengthened specimen is different which
indicates that application at diverse stages of fatigue
damage brings about diverse degrees of crack retarda-
tion effect. So, in addition to the effect of load share in
composite system, the SIF value is also dependent on
the initial damage degree. The effect of initial damage
degree can be calculated by Equation (7). A formula
expressed by Equation (8) is proposed to predict the
effect of initial damage degree.
Figure 3. Comparison between calculated and experimental
SIF values.
where, a
0
is the half of the initial crack length, a is half
of the crack length during the experiment and b is the
width of the tested specimen. With Equation (8), the
SIF value can be obtained by Equation (9) based on
the classic theoretical solution.
Hence, the SIF formula can be expressed by
Equation (10)
Where
a
0
is the crack length when the repair is applied.
The results agree well with the experimental results,
539
6 CONCLUSIONS
The stress intensity factors of cracked steel plates
strengthened with CFRP plates were discussed in this
paper. From the a-N curve obtained from experimen-
tal study, it was indicated that the SIF at the crack tip
of steel plate was influenced by both the composite
patch and the initial fatigue damage. By introduction
two correction factors, representing the effect of load
share effect in composite system and the effect of
initial damage degree, respectively, a SIF formula has
been proposed based on the classical theoretical SIF
solution using the James-Anderson method.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors acknowledge the supports of National
Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number
50808139), Shanghai Municipal Education Commis-
sion and Shanghai Education Development Founda-
tion (Chen Guang project, Grant Number 09CG16)
and Kwang-Hua Fund for College of Civil Engineer-
ing, Tongji University. The first author wishes to thank
the China Scholarship Council and Monash University
for sponsoring her research at Monash University.
REFERENCES
Teng, J.G., Chen, J.F., Smith, S.T. & Lam, L. 2002. FRP
strengthened RC structures. John Wiley & Sons.
Oehlers, D.J. & Seracino, R. 2004. Design of FRP and steel
plated RC structures: retrofitting of beams and slabs for
strength, stiffness and ductility. Elsevier.
Zhao, X.L. &Zhang, L. 2007. State-of-the-art reviewon FRP
strengthened steel structures. Engineering Structures 29:
18081823.
Colombi, P., Bassetti, A. & Nussbaumer, A. 2003. Analysis
of cracked steel members reinforced by pre-stress com-
posite patch. Fatigue Fracture of Engineering Materials
Tljsten, B., Hansen, C.S. &Schmidt, J.W. 2009. Strengthen-
ing of old metallic structures in fatigue with prestressed
and non-prestressed CFRP laminates. Construction and
Building Materials 23: 16651677.
Liu, H.B., Al-Mahaidi, R. & Zhao, X.L. 2009. Experimen-
tal study of fatigue crack growth behaviour in adhe-
sively reinforced steel structures. Composite Structures
90: 1220.
Gu, L., Kasavajhala, A.R.M. &Zhao, S. 2011. Finite element
analysis of cracks in aging aircraft structures with bonded
composite-patch repairs. Composites Part B: Engineering
42: 505510.
Shen, H. & Hou, C. 2011. SIFs of CCT plate repaired
with single-sided composite patch. Fatigue & Fracture
of Engineering Materials & Structures 34: 728733
Wu, C., Zhao, X.L., Al-Mahaidi, R. & Duan, W.H. 2012.
Mode I stress intensity factor of centre-cracked ten-
sile steel plates with CFRP reinforcement. International
journal of structural stability and dynamics (IJSSD).
(Accepted on 19 January 2012)
James, L. &Anderson, W. 1969. A simple experimental pro-
cedure for stress intensity factor calibration. Engineering
Fracture Mechanics 1: 565568.
Yu, Q.Q., Chen, T., Gu, X.L. &Zhao, X.L. 2012. Fatigue tests
on CFRP strengthened steel plates with different degrees
of damage. The 6th International Conference on FRP
Composites in Civil Engineering CICE 2012, Roma,
1315 June 2012.
Japanese Society of Steel Construction (JSSC). Fatigue
Design Recommendations for Steel Structures (English
version). JSSC Technical Rep. No. 32, Tokyo, 1995.
Albrecht, P. & Yamada, K. 1977. Rapid calculation of
stress intensity factors. Journal of the Structural Division
103(2): 377389.
ASTM E64711e1, Standard Test Method for Measurement
of Fatigue Crack Growth Rates. ASTM, 2001.
540
Fire engineering
Influence of in-situ pore pressures and temperatures on spalling
of reinforced concrete walls subjected to hydrocarbon fire
Maurice Guerrieri
CESARE, Victoria University, Werribee, Victoria, Australia
Sam Fragomeni
School of Engineering and Science, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia
ABSTRACT: Concrete spalling due to fire exposure results mainly fromtwo processes: a thermo-mechanical
process due to high thermal gradients, and a thermo-hydral process due to the build-up of pore water pressure.
This paper deals with the combination of both of these processes. Large scale reinforced concrete walls were
tested under hydrocarbon fire conditions to investigate concrete spalling. The test conditions included different
thicknesses, concrete strength, and specimen size. Two specimen sizes (1055 1055 mm) and (300 300 mm)
of three different thicknesses (50, 100, 200 mm) were investigated. In addition, two compressive strengths were
investigated, 25 and 80 MPa respectively. The walls were tested under self-weight and were instrumented with
in-situ thermocouples and pore pressure gauges to obtain experimental data on the pore pressure build-up and
thermal gradients within the concrete specimens. The degree of spalling was quantified as mass loss and was
illustrated by quantifying the concrete surface spalling damage by 2Dcontour surface plots. The results of the 12
specimens show that more slender specimens undergo flexural clacking on the non fire exposed surface which
reduces the build-up of pore water pressure and hence the tendency for spalling. Spalling was found to be more
predominate in smaller specimens which were of the highest compressive strength and of the largest thickness,
however, these specimens were also the ones which had lower levels of flexural cracking which may have reduced
the buildup of pore water pressure. This finding illustrates that spalling is inter-dependent on specimen geometry
which influences the degree of flexural cracking and the build-up of pore water pressure.
1 INTRODUCTION
Fire costs the Australian economy approximately
$12billion/year [1], yet the current fire buildingdesign
practice standards and guidelines are not compre-
hensive, and provide only simplified tables derived
from basic element testing. The performance of struc-
tures subjected to extreme fire conditions has received
worldwide attention recently. Examples include the
collapse of the World Trade Center in 2001 and sub-
sequent World Trade Center Building 8 and the recent
tunnel fires in Europe, namely the Channel Fire in
1999 and the St Gotthard Fire in 2001 [2]. These catas-
trophic failures of structures caused by extreme fire
conditions have demonstrated the need to carry out
comprehensive research on the performance of struc-
tures in fire in order to: a) to enhance the safety of
structural buildings under combined structural and fire
loading, andb) todevelopfire resilient, robust andeffi-
cient structures constructed with new, innovative, cost
effective and environmental friendly materials.
Concrete is the most widelyusedconstructionmate-
rial in the construction of buildings, nuclear reactors,
bridges, tunnels, offshore structures, pavements and
other structural applications. Over the past 100 years,
concrete engineering continues to diversify with appli-
cations becoming ever more sophisticated, new struc-
tural forms are conceived and the requisite theories are
formulated [3]. Concrete made with ordinary Portland
Cement (OPC) is generally considered to have good
fire resistance properties, especially compared to other
structural materials such as steel and timber. In addi-
tion, concrete is incombustible in fire, it does not emit
smoke and it provides a natural protection to the con-
crete reinforcement. However, concrete is susceptible
to a less known phenomenon termed spalling in fire.
Spallingof concrete infire is the dislodgement of small
pieces of concrete up to 50 mm(popping out) fromthe
surface of the concrete, often explosive in nature. If
the degree of spalling is significant, the load bearing
capacityof the concrete member canbe reduceddue to:
(1) reduction in its cross-sectional size, and (2) rapid
increase in temperatures of the reinforcement.
Spalling is extremely difficult to predict and ana-
lytically characterize. Often, explosive spalling has
occurred to only a few specimens from a larger group
of specimens that were subjected to identical testing
conditions [46]. This erratic behavior makes it diffi-
cult to justify results and establish the mechanisms of
spalling.
543
The problemof concrete spalling has received atten-
tion since the 1970s [3]. Hydrocarbon fires started by
hydrocarbon fuel (fuel tanker) accidents have caused
spalling in three major European tunnels: Channel
Tunnel in 1996, Mount Blanc Tunnel in 1999, and the
St. Gotthard Tunnel in 2002 [7].
Slender reinforced concrete walls have been used
widely in the form of tilt-up and precast walls due to
their low cost, ease of placement and architecturally
pleasing benefits [8]. In terms of fire design, AS3600
[9] specifies fire resistance levels (FRL in mins) in
which a structural concrete component has to per-
form regarding its structural adequacy, integrity and
insulation. These FRLs are based on tabulated values
for minimum dimensions and cover to reinforcement
depths which in essence are concerned with delaying
the temperature increase of the reinforcing or pre-
stressing steel (insulation criteria) in order to sustain
the load bearing capacity of the reinforcement (ade-
quacy criteria). In reality, whilst sufficient cover may
hinder the transfer of high temperatures to the rein-
forcement and provide higher fire resistance periods,
the issue of concrete spalling and the performance of
concrete at elevated temperatures are of much greater
significance.
The objective of this study is to identify the influ-
ence of in-situ pore pressures and temperatures on the
spalling potential of reinforced concrete walls exposed
to a hydrocarbon fire of different size specimens of
different thicknesses and compressive strengths. These
parameters of investigationhave beenextensivelycited
as the key factors controlling spalling of concrete
exposed to fire [10].
To the best of authors knowledge, the works of
Crozier & Sanjayan [8] and Guerrieri & Fragomeni
[11] are the only body of works of this kind. In their
experiments, they concluded that pore pressure build-
up and flexural cracking due to support conditions
plays a major rule in the spalling performance of
concrete walls exposed to fire.
Two compressive strengths are to be investigated
(25 and 80 MPa) respectively as high the tendency of
spalling is believe to increase as a function of increase
compressive strength [8]. The influence of specimen
size and thickness on the degree of spalling is also
investigated in this study.
2 EXPERIMENTS
2.1 Specimen details and material properties
Two compressive strengths were investigated, 25 and
80 MPa which had a had a water/binder ratio of 0.5 and
0.3 respectively. The binder used was ordinary Port-
land cement (OPC) which was produced in Australia.
The fine aggregate consisted of river sand, locally pro-
duced at Lynhurst with a specific gravity of 2.65,
24 hour water absorption of 0.5%, and a fineness
modulus of 2.19. The coarse aggregate consisted of
14 mm maximum size basalt with a specific gravity
Table 1. Specimen details.
Thickness Compressive
Number Specimen (mm) strength (MPa)
1 S50-25 50 25
2 S100-25 100 25
3 S200-25 200 25
4 S50-80 50 80
5 S100-80 100 80
6 S200-80 200 80
7 L50-25 50 25
8 L100-25 100 25
9 L200-25 200 25
10 L50-80 50 80
11 L100-80 100 80
12 L200-80 200 80
of 2.95 and 24 h water absorption of 1.2%. Specimens
were (1055 1055 mm) and (300 300 mm) respec-
tively of varying thicknesses (50, 100 and 200 mm).
Specimens were reinforced with ribbed-wire mesh
(100 100 mm spacings and 6 mm diameter), the
standard mesh reinforcement available in Australia.
All specimens had one layer of reinforcement placed at
approximately the mid-depth of the thickness. Table 1
represents the testing parameters where specimen
denoted 50-25 identifies a 50 mmthick specimen with
a 28 day compressive strength of 25 MPa. Specimens
marked S represent small scale (300 300 mm) speci-
mens whilst specimens marked L represent large scale
(1055 1055 mm) specimens.
The specimens were stripped at 24 hours and moist
cured in a fog room at 23
C and 100% RH for 28

days. The wall specimens were then removed from
the fog room and kept exposed to laboratory air at
room temperature (approximately 23
C and 50% RH)

until the test date (approximately two months where
the compressive strengths were of the order of 25 and
80 MPa respectively). The weight measurements indi-
cated that by the test date, the specimen weight losses
were stabilized indicating that the specimens were in
dry condition avoiding the possibility of any spalling
due to steam pressure build-up. The moisture content
of the specimens recorded as an average of 5 loca-
tions of the specimens illustrated an average moisture
content in the order of 3% for all specimens.
2.2 Spalling test setup
The spalling test was conducted in a gas firing fur-
nace as shown in Figure 1 that was programmed to
follow the hydrocarbon fire time temperature curve in
accordance with BS EN 1991-1-2 [12]. Figure 2 illus-
trates both the hydrocarbon fire curve and furnace time
temperature curve.
The specimens were tested in a vertical position
with fire exposed on one side. The specimens were
unloaded and were simply supported by self weight
and locked in with brackets to prevent them falling
outwards as is shown in Figure 3. This represents
544
Figure 1. Gas firing hydrocarbon furnace.
Figure 2. Time temperature hydrocarbon fire curve.
Figure 3. Setup of the large panels ready for fire exposure.
fire exposures commonly associated with tilt up wall
panels in building.
A total of six large panels and six small panels
were tested which was undertaken during two sepa-
rate fire tests. A special steel rig was built whereby
four large panels could be tested at once for test one
and the remaining large panels and all the small panels
were tested in test two. In order to ensure tempera-
ture equilibrium around all the panels during the fire
test, six furnace Type K thermocouples were used
to control the furnace temperatures. The average of
Figure 4. In-situ thermocouple and pore pressure gauge
locations for a 1055 1055 100 mm specimen.
these temperatures is shown as the furnace average in
Figure 2.
2.3 In-situ temperature profiles and
pore pressure measurement
The specimens were instrumented with Type K ther-
mocouples (which are operational up to 1100
C to
monitor the in-situ temperature profile and distribu-
tion. The thermocouples were located at two locations
of the large specimens (center and centroid of the top
quadrant) and only at the center for the small panels.
Pore pressure gages were also implemented inside the
specimens to monitor the build-up of pore pressures.
The gauges were cast in-situwiththe concrete andwere
locatedat the center of the specimens. The depths of the
in-situ thermocouples and pore pressure gauges were
at depths of 25 mm for the 50 mm thick specimens,
25, 50 and 75 mm for the 100 thick specimens and 25,
50, 75, 100 and 150 for the 200 mm specimens. The
experimental procedure describing this setup is well
documented in literature [10]. Figure 4 illustrates the
in-situ temperature and pore pressure monitoring of
a 1055 1055 100 mm specimen. Additional ther-
mocouples were also located on the outside surface of
the specimens.
3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND
DISCUSSION
Table 2 represents the % of spalling, slenderness
(length/thickness), maximum spalling depth, the type
of spalling, the maximum pore pressure recorded
and whether or not flexural cracking occurred on
the unexposed fire side. This table clearly shows
that there is a direct relationship between slender-
ness and % of spalling. Slenderness was defined as
the length/thickness ratio whilst the % spalling was
defined on the mass loss of the specimen during the
fire exposure. As the slenderness ratio increases, the
degree of spalling increases with both mass loss and
maximum spalling depth was reduced.
545
Table 2. Experimental data.
Pore
pressure
% Slender- Depth Spalling max Flexural
ID Spall ness (mm) type MPa cracking
S50-25 3.4 6 3.1 Surface 0.9 Minor
S100-25 6.7 3 4.2 Surface 0.9 No
S200-25 8.2 1.5 4.6 Surface 0.6 No
S50-80 3.6 6 3.3 Surface 0.8 Minor
S100-80 7.9 3 3.4 Surface 0.8 Very
minor
S200-80 11.4 1.5 6.4 Surface 0.8 No
L50-25 2.8 21.1 2.5 Surface 0.6 Major
L100-25 4.9 10.5 2.6 Surface 0.8 Minor
L200-25 5.1 5.27 3.2 Surface 0.8 Moderate
L50-80 3.2 21.1 7.4 Surface 1.1 Excessive
L100-80 9.4 10.5 140.5 Explosive 1.2 Moderate
L200-80 12.8 5.27 190.6 Explosive 1.2 Moderate
Figure 5. Moisture escaping from the surfaces.
Large scale specimens of increased slenderness
undergo higher degrees of flexural cracking on the
unexposed surface. As a result, a significant amount
of steam and water migrated out of the specimen on
the unexposed side during fire exposure, thus reducing
the buildup of pore pressure and therefore prevented
spalling. Figure 5 shows a photograph of moisture
escaping from the specimens whilst Figure 6 shows a
photograph taken through a viewing port of the fur-
nace during testing whereby concrete shrapnel can
Figure 6. Internal view of spallling in progress.
Figure 7. In-situ thermocouple profiles for a) centroid of
specimen L200-80, b) quadrant of specimen L200-80 and
c) centroid of specimen S200-80.
be seen on the furnace floor. This is in direct con-
trast to the large size specimens with largest thickness
and strength which underwent explosive spalling and
recorded larger in-situ pore pressures in the order of
1.2 MPa. This adds weight to the argument that the
explosive spalling occurred due to the build-up of
pore water pressure as supported by key researchers
[7, 1319]. Also the results indicate that high strength
concrete is more prone to spalling than low strength
concrete due to the lower permeability hindering the
escape of pore water pressure.
Other specimens had surface spalling occurring but
this can be attributed to the brittle failure of concrete
at high temperatures due to the decomposition of the
calciumsilicate hydrates [3]. This type of failure could
also be caused by the thermal-incompatibility between
the concrete paste and aggregate.
Figure 7 represents the in-situ thermocouple pro-
files at both the center and quadrant locations of
the specimen L200-80. In addition, in-situ temper-
atures of the specimen S200-80 were also plotted
for comparative reasons in relation to the effect of
specimen geometry on in-situ temperatures. The tem-
perature profiles show that concrete is a poor heat
conductor and hence there is a major delay in tem-
perature response as a function of increased specimen
depth. Furthermore, despite the specimen size or in
546
Figure 8. Spalling damage after fire test.
Figure 9. Concrete spalling damage of specimen L200-8
presented as a 2D contour surface plot. Measurements were
taken using photogrammetry.
plane location of measurement, all in-situ tempera-
tures were similar at the same depth size since in-situ
temperatures are completely dependent and governed
by material properties. Figures 8 and 9 illustrate the
spalling damage of the specimens after the fire test and
an example of a specimens spalling damage illustrated
via a contour plot respectively.
Phan [20] showed that explosive spalling occurred
at a time when the pore pressure build-up and rate of
temperature rise was at a maximum. However, flexural
cracking and the size effect discussed can potentially
mask the true reasoning why explosive spalling is
occurring. Whilst the consensus in the scientific com-
munity is leaning towards the theory that explosive
spalling is due to the combination of pore pressures
and differential thermal stresses [5, 14, 16, 2128], it
is the belief of the authors of this paper that speci-
men geometry and flexural cracking mechanisms are
the governing factors behind explosive spalling of con-
crete in fire. This area of investigation is recommended
to be studied via fracture mechanics. Due to the large
sample size, thermal shrinkage and drying shrinkage
do not influence the results.
4 CONCLUSIONS
This study investigated the influence of specimen size,
thickness and compressive strength of concrete in
regards to concrete spalling. The following conclu-
sions are drawn:
(1) The study found that regardless of the compres-
sive strength, there is a direct relationship between
slenderness and explosive spalling. Larger and
thinner specimens undergo flexural cracking
reducing the build-up of pore water pressure and
the tendency of spalling.
(2) Surface spalling can be attributed to the fact
that under high temperatures, concrete under-
goes chemical phase changes whereby concrete
compressive strength is loss due to the chemical
breakdown of the calcium silicate hydrates.
(3) Specimen geometry and flexural cracking is
related to fracture mechanics. The next phase of
concrete spalling investigations should be con-
centrated on the fundamental fracture mechanics
involved in concrete spalling.
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properties and mathematical models 1996, England:
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report of the state of-the-art, 1996, Building and Fire
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and Technology: Gaithersburg, Maryland.
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erties of HSC at elevated temperature. Journal of
Materials in Civil Engineering, 1998. 10(1): p. 5864.
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vated temperature exposure on heating character-
istics, spalling, and residual properties of high
performance concrete. Materials and Structures, 2001.
34(2): p. 8391.
[7] Khoury, G., et al., Modelling of heated concrete. Mag-
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der reinforced concrete walls in fire. ACI Structural
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strength concrete walls in fire, in Structures in Fire
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p. 3013011.
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548
Thermal performance of non-load bearing LSF walls
using numerical studies
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
ABSTRACT: Fire safety of light gauge cold-formed steel frame (LSF) wall systems is significant to the
building design. Gypsum plasterboard is widely used as a fire safety material in the building industry. It contains
gypsum (CaSO
4
2H
2
O), Calcium Carbonate (CaCO
3
) and most importantly free and chemically bound water
in its crystal structure. The dehydration of the gypsum and the decomposition of Calcium Carbonate absorb
heat, which gives the gypsum plasterboard fire resistant qualities. Recently a new composite panel system was
developed, where a thin insulation layer was used externally between two plasterboards to improve the fire
performance of LSF walls. In this research, finite element thermal models of both the traditional LSF wall
panels with cavity insulation and the new LSF composite wall panels were developed to simulate their thermal
behaviour under standard and realistic design fire conditions. Suitable thermal properties of gypsumplasterboard,
insulation materials and steel were used. The developed models were then validated by comparing their results
with fire test results. This paper presents the details of the developed finite element models of non-load bearing
LSF wall panels and the thermal analysis results. It has shown that finite element models can be used to simulate
the thermal behaviour of LSF walls with varying configurations of insulations and plasterboards. The results
show that the use of cavity insulation was detrimental to the fire rating of LSF walls while the use of external
insulation offered superior thermal protection. Effects of real fire conditions are also presented.
1 INTRODUCTION
Currently, LSF wall and floor systems are increasingly
used in low-rise and multi-storey buildings. Fire rating
of LSF wall and floor systems is provided simply by
adding more plasterboards. Figure 1 shows the use of
gypsum plasterboards in LSF wall systems. Currently
LSF wall and floor systems are made of cold-formed
thin-walled steel lipped channel sections and gypsum
plasterboards. Under fire conditions, these thin steel
stud and joist sections heat up quickly resulting in fast
reduction in their strength and stiffness. Therefore they
are commonly used in LSF wall and floor systems with
plasterboard linings used as fire protection (Figure 1).
Gypsum plasterboard protects steel studs and joists
during building fires by delaying the temperature rise.
Many researchers attempted to improve the fire rat-
ings of LSF wall systems by using different types of
insulations in the wall cavities. However, contradict-
ing results were obtained. Sultan(1995) performedfull
scale fire resistance tests of non-load bearing gypsum
board wall assemblies and found that whenrockwool
was used as cavity insulation the fire resistance rat-
ing increased by 54% over the non-insulated wall
assemblies while glass fibre did not affect the fire
performance. Kodur and Sultan (2001) found that the
insulation type, number of gypsum board layers and
stud-spacing have a significant influence on the fire
Figure 1. LSF wall system.
resistance of steel wall assemblies. They showed that
cavity insulation was detrimental to the fire rating.
Feng et al. (2003) found that the thermal performance
of cold-formed thin-walled steel channel wall panels
was not affected by the type of insulation and that the
thermal performance of wall panels improved with the
use of cavity insulation.
In summary, past research has provided contradict-
ing results about the benefits of cavity insulation to the
fire rating of LSF walls and further research is needed.
There is also a need to develop new wall systems with
increased fire rating. Hence Kolarkar and Mahendran
(2008) developed a newcomposite LSFwall panel sys-
temin which a thin insulation layer was used externally
549
Figure 2. Proposed thermal properties of plasterboard.
between plasterboards instead of the conventional cav-
ity insulation. Figure 1(b) shows the composite LSF
panel while Figure 2(a) shows the cavity insulated LSF
wall system.
Kolarkar and Mahendran (2008) found that com-
posite LSF wall panels provided a better quality
thermal envelope than the cavity insulated LSF wall
panels. They conducted a series of fire tests to inves-
tigate the thermal performance of non-load bearing
LSF wall panels made of the new composite panels
under standard fire conditions. However, numerical
studies on the thermal performance of these non-
load bearing LSF wall panels were not conducted.
Hence numerical analyses were performed to inves-
tigate the thermal performance of the new non-load
bearing LSF wall panels under standard and realistic
fire conditions. This paper presents the details of the
numerical study of the thermal performance of new
non-load bearing LSF wall panels under fire condi-
tions. It includes the details of finite element models
of non-load bearing LSF wall panels, the thermal anal-
ysis results under standard and real fire conditions, and
their comparisons with fire test results.
2 THERMAL PROPERTIES
In order to develop suitable finite element models
of Australian gypsum plasterboards, thermal proper-
ties of gypsum plasterboards were summarized based
on test results (Keerthan and Mahendran, 2010) and
past research (Thomas, 2010; Cooper, 1997). These
proposed thermal properties were used in the finite
element models (SAFIR) (Franssen et al., 2004). Fig-
ure 2(a) shows the proposed thermal conductivity of
gypsum plasterboard. In order to include the effect of
ablation, the thermal conductivity of plasterboard was
modified to 0.80W/m/K at 1200
C.
Past research showed some discrepancy in rela-
tion to the second dehydration reaction. However, it
is concluded that the first and second dehydrations
occur at 100 to 150
C and 150 to 200
C, respectively,
based on our experiments (Keerthan and Mahendran,
2010). Decomposition of CalciumCarbonate occurs at
670
C, which is similar to Wakili et al.s (2007) obser-

vation. These outcomes including the third peak to
simulate the effect of decomposition of Calcium Car-
bonate were used in the proposed specific heat versus
temperature curves. Figure 2(b) also shows the pro-
posed specific heat values as a function of temperature
and compares them with test and other researchers
specific heat values (Thomas, 2010; Cooper, 1997).
Further details of the proposed thermal properties of
plasterboards are given in Keerthan and Mahendran
(2010). The specific volumetric enthalpy of gypsum
plasterboard is given by the area under the specific heat
multiplied by the density versus temperature curve.
The proposed specific volumetric enthalpy values
were used as input to SAFIR in our thermal analyses.
Keerthan and Mahendran (2010) recommended
a convective coefficient (h) of 25W/m
2
/K for the
exposed side of plasterboard and 10W/m
2
/K for its
unexposed side. They recommended 0.9 as emissiv-
ity of plasterboard for both exposed and unexposed
surfaces. When the proposed thermal properties were
used in SAFIR, the time-temperature profiles agreed
well with Kolarkars (2010) fire test results.
The new composite LSF wall system was devel-
oped with glass fibre or rockwool or cellulose fibre
insulation sandwiched between the plasterboard lay-
ers. In order to develop suitable finite element models
of composite panels, thermal properties of insulation
were summarized based on our experimental results
and past research work (Thomas, 1997; Alfawakhiri,
2001). When the proposed thermal conductivity and
specific heat values of rockwool, glass fibre and
cellulose fibre were used as input to the numerical
models based on SAFIR, the time-temperature pro-
files agreed well with fire test results from Kolarkar
(2010). Further details of the proposed thermal prop-
erties of insulation materials and the specific heat test
procedures are reported in Keerthan and Mahendran
(2010).
The temperature increase of a steel member is a
function of its thermal conductivity and specific heat
of steel. The precision in the determination of thermal
properties of steel, such as specific heat and thermal
conductivity, has little influence on the thermal mod-
elling of LSF walls under fire conditions since steel
framing plays a minor role in the overall heat transfer
mechanism of the LSF wall assembly (Alfawakhiri,
2001). The properties of steel within the SAFIR code
are obtained from those given in Eurocodes (ECS,
1995).
550
Figure 3. Experimental set-up.
3 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES
In order to investigate the thermal performance of non-
load bearing LSF wall panels, nine fire tests of small
scale panels of dimensions 1280 mm1015 mm
were conducted by Kolarkar (2010). The wall
assemblies typically consisted of three commonly
used cold-formed steel lipped channel section studs
(90 40 15 mm) spaced at 500 mm. The studs were
fabricated from galvanized steel sheets (G500) hav-
ing a nominal base metal thickness of 1.15 mm and
a minimum yield strength of 500 MPa. Test speci-
mens were built by lining the test frames with one
or two layers of gypsum plasterboards manufactured
by Boral Plasterboard. The plasterboards used were
1280 mm1015 mm with a thickness of 16 mm and
a mass of 13 kg/m
2
. There were three groups of wall
specimens made of (1) no insulation (2) cavity insu-
lation and (3) external insulation (composite panels).
Three insulation materials, glass fibre, rockwool and
cellulose fibre were used. Further details of the test
specimens are provided in Kolarkar (2010).
Tests were conducted using the standard fire curve
in AS 1530.4. One face of the test specimens was
exposed to heat in a propane-fired vertical gas furnace.
Figure 3 shows the fire test set-up of non-load bearing
wall panels. Time-temperature profiles at various loca-
tions across the specimen thickness were measured
during the tests using thermocouples.
Test Specimen 3 (No cavity insulation), Test Spec-
imen 4 (Glass fibre cavity insulation), Test Specimen
5 (Rockwool cavity insulation) and Test Specimen 6
(Cellulose fibre cavity insulation) were subjected to
heat in the furnace for slightly more than three hours.
Kolarkar (2010) identified that Plasterboards 1 and 2
(fire side) in Specimen 3 were about to fall off whereas
they had partially fallen off in Specimens 4 to 6. The
studs of Specimen 3 were in good condition whereas
those in the cavity insulated specimens were severely
damaged, in particular, Specimen 6 using cellulose
fibre as cavity insulation (Figures 4b). The unexposed
surface of all the specimens showed no signs of dam-
age until the end. Figure 4 shows the failure modes of
LSF wall.
Figure 4. Failure modes of LSF walls (Kolarkar, 2010).
Table 1. Failure times of test specimens (Kolarkar, 2010).
Failure
Test Time Failure
No. Description (min) Type
1 Single 16 mm Plasterboard 89 Insulation
2 Single 16 mm Plasterboard 92 Insulation
with Vertical Joint
3 Two 16 mm Plasterboards 180 Pb2 Collapse
4 Two 16 mm Plasterboard 125 Stud Collapse
with Glass Fibre Cavity
Insulation
with Rockwool Cavity
Insulation
with Cellulose Fibre
Cavity Insulation
7 Two 16 mm Plasterboard 198 Pb2 Collapse
with Glass Fibre
External Insulation
with Rockwool
External Insulation
with Cellulose Fibre
External Insulation
The cold-formed steel frames were not twisted or
bent in Test Specimens 7 to 9. LSF walls with external
insulation provided a greater fire protection than those
with cavity insulation (Kolarkar, 2010).
Test specimens 3 to 9 were very stable with the
ambient side temperature well below the insulation
failure temperature of 165
Cthroughout the test i.e. no

insulation failure. Tests were discontinued after about
3 hours of exposure to the furnace heat. In some of
these tests, fire side plasterboards fell-off (Test Speci-
mens 3 and 7 to 9) with thermal bowing deformations
towards the furnace while in others the studs suddenly
deformed laterally away from the furnace due to the
softening and consequent local buckling of hot flanges
and associated breaking of plasterboards. Such events
can quickly lead to integrity failure or the collapse
of the wall with rapid rise in steel stud temperatures.
Therefore in these tests, the wall can be considered as
failed when the studs reverse their lateral deformation
or when the external plasterboards collapse, whichever
occurs first. Based on this assumption, Table 1 shows
the failure times. It indicates that the failure time of
Test Specimen 3 (non-insulated LSF wall) is 180 min-
utes while those of Test Specimens 4 to 6 (Cavity
551
insulted LSF wall) are 125, 145 and 145 minutes,
respectively. Hence the use of cavity insulation can
be considered detrimental to the fire rating of walls.
Table 1 also shows that the failure times of Test Speci-
mens 7 to 9 (External insulted LSF wall) are 198, 200
and 163 minutes, respectively. This shows the superior
thermal protection to studs through the use of exter-
nal insulation than in the case of cavity insulated and
non-insultedLSFwalls (125and180versus 200 mins).
4 NUMERICAL STUDIES
4.1 General
This section presents the details of the numerical stud-
ies into the thermal behaviour of the tested non-load
bearing LSF wall panels and their results. Recently
many numerical heat transfer models have been devel-
oped (SAFIR, 2004; Alfawakhiri, 2001). There are
also many general finite element packages that can be
used for thermal analyses. The finite element model
employed in this study to predict the thermal behaviour
of non-load bearing LSF wall panels was based on
SAFIR (2004). SAFIR is a special purpose finite ele-
ment program for the analysis of structures under
ambient and elevated temperature conditions. In this
research the GIDsoftware was used to create the input
file for the models as well as analysing the model
output results.
4.2 Thermal boundary conditions
and material properties
The heat flux at the boundary will be calculated from
the temperature of the fire curve T
g
and the tempera-
ture on the surface T
s
according to Equation (1).
where q is the total heat flux, is the relative
emissivity, is the StefanBoltzmann constant
(5.67E-08W/m
2
/K
4
), T
g
andT
s
are the gas and surface
temperatures, respectively. For fire exposure to the
standard cellulosic curve, T
g
=345 log(8t +1) +20.
Convective heat transfer coefficient (h) is approxi-
mately 25W/m
2
K on the fire exposed side, and it is
10W/m
2
K on the unexposed side. Emissivity of 0.9
was used for both exposed and unexposed surfaces.
Default thermal properties (specific heat and thermal
conductivity) for bothType XandType Cgypsumplas-
terboards within SAFIR are based on Coopers (1997)
research. However, the proposed thermal properties in
Section 2 were used in this research. In order to inves-
tigate the thermal performance of non-load bearing
LSF walls, finite element models of Kolarkars (2010)
test wall panels were developed. Figure 5 shows the
finite element models of Test Specimen 8. Here two
voids were created to transfer the heat through radia-
tion and convection. Elements surrounding an internal
void were assigned in the counter clockwise direction.
Figure 5. Finite element modelling of LSF wall panel
(Test 8).
The developed finite element models were validated
using the fire test results of non-load bearing LSF
walls (Kolarkar, 2010).
4.3 Validation of finite element models
of LSF walls
It is necessary to validate the developed finite element
models for the thermal analyses of non-load bear-
ing LSF walls. This was achieved by comparing the
time-temperature profiles with the corresponding fire
test results of non-load bearing LSF walls (Kolarkar,
2010). Figures 6 (a) to (c) and Figure 7 show the finite
element analysis (FEA) results in the form of temper-
ature versus time for selected non-load bearing LSF
wall specimens and compare themwith corresponding
test results (Kolarkar, 2010). The average temperature
profiles of the studs were considered in the compari-
son of test and FEAresults. These figures indicate that
the developed finite element models predict the time-
temperature profiles of non-load bearing LSF walls
with good accuracy. Comparisons were also made for
other LSF wall specimens and a similar level of agree-
ment between FEA and test results was obtained in all
the tests.
Finite element analyses clearly show that the tem-
perature gradients across the steel studs and associated
thermal bowing effects are larger when cavity insula-
tion is used in comparison to other cases (Figure 6(b)).
Hence it is considered that the use of cavity insulation
is detrimental to the fire rating of walls as also shown
by fire tests. Figure 6(c) shows that the new compos-
ite LSF wall panels using external insulation lead to
reduced temperatures in steel studs at any given time
and a more uniform temperature distribution across
their cross-sections, thus producing minimum early
lateral deformation (thermal bowing). For example,
the results show that in Specimen 4 with glass fibre
cavity insulation the hot (HF) and cold flange (CF)
temperatures are 570
C and 290
C after 120 min-

utes while in Specimen 7 with glass fibre external
insulation they are 360
C and 260
C (Figures 6(c)
and 6(b)). Hence it is clear that the use of external
insulation is able to provide much greater thermal pro-
tection to LSF steel studs than cavity insulation. All of
these findings thus confirm the observations made in
Kolarkars (2010) fire tests. It is noted that non-load
552
Figure 6. Time-temperature profiles of test specimens
(Steel stud).
Figure 7. Time-temperature profiles of Test Specimen 2
(Plasterboard).
bearing LSF walls exposed to fires are affected by pro-
cesses not described by heat transfer such as ablation
of plasterboard and insulation, migration of moisture
vapours and penetration of cool ambient air or hot
furnace gases into the cavity. These processes were
taken into account through the use of suitable thermal
conductivity values for plasterboard and insulations
(Section 2).
In summary, the comparisons between FEAand fire
test results have established the validity of the finite
element models in simulating the thermal behaviour
Figure 8. Time-temperature profile of test specimen 8 under
real fire curves.
of non-load bearing LSF walls and the accuracy of the
values used for relative emissivity, convective coeffi-
cient and other thermal properties. The results from
FEA also produced valuable time-temperature data
and an improved understanding of the thermal per-
formance of non-load bearing LSF wall panels using
cavity and external insulations.
5 REAL DESIGN FIRE CURVES
The standard time-temperature curve does not rep-
resent the modern accessories in typical residential
and commercial buildings that are made of thermo-
plastic materials. Therefore finite element analyses
were performed using the recently developed realis-
tic design fire curves (Ariyanayagm, 2010) based on
the parametric curves in Eurocode 1 Part 1-2 (ECS,
2002). They were conducted using the finite element
model described in Section 4 and the proposed thermal
properties in Section 2.
Two Eurocode parametric curves (EU1 and EU2)
were also considered. EU1 and EU2 curves represent
the opening factors of 0.02 (EU1) and 0.12 (EU2) as
they cover the entire range, and are conservative. Also
EU1 (0.02) and EU2 (0.12) would be the ideal time-
temperature curves for this investigation of non-load
bearing LSF wall panels for real building fires as they
include a rapid(EU2) anda prolonged(EU1) fire curve
falling between the two extremes. Figure 8 shows
these two Eurocode parametric curves developed for
dwellings based on a fuel load density of 1138 MJ/m
2
(ECS, 2002). Figures 8(a) and (b) show the finite ele-
ment analysis results in the formof temperature versus
time for a non-load bearing LSF wall panel (Speci-
men 8) under these two real design fire curves (ECS,
553
2002) and compare them with those under standard
fire. Figure 8(a) shows that the time-temperature pro-
files of non-load bearing LSF wall panels under the
real design fire curve EU1 are higher than those
under the standard fire curve while Figure 8(b) shows
that the time-temperature profiles for the real design
fire curve EU2 are lower than those under the stan-
dard fire curve. It is clear from Figure 8(a) that real
design fires such as EU1 can cause severe damage
to LSF wall panels than standard fires. However, real
design fires such as EU2 will not cause severe damage
to these wall panels than standard fires (Figure 8(b)).
6 CONCLUSIONS
This paper has presented the details of a numerical
study on the thermal performance of non-load bearing
LSF wall panels that included both the conventional
cavity insulated and the new composite panel walls.
It includes the details of the developed finite element
models of non-load bearing LSF wall panels, the ther-
mal analysis results from SAFIR under standard fire
conditions and their comparisons with fire test results
obtained by Kolarkar (2010). Agood comparison with
fire test results showed that accurate finite element
models can be developed and used to simulate the
thermal behaviour of non-load bearing LSF wall pan-
els with varying configurations of cavity and external
insulations and plasterboards. The results showed that
the use of cavity insulation was detrimental to the fire
rating of walls. It not only led to higher temperatures
in the steel studs, but also to larger temperature gradi-
ents across their depth and increased thermal bowing
effects. In contrast, the use of external insulation led
to lower temperatures and a more uniform tempera-
ture distribution in the steel stud cross-sections, thus
providing greater thermal protection to the walls. The
use of real design fire conditions based on Eurocode
parametric curves showed that some real building
fires can cause severe damage to LSF wall panels
than the standard fire specified in various fire codes
while other real building fires are not as severe as the
standard fire.
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Cooper, L.Y. 1997. The Thermal Response of Gypsum-
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554
Prediction of shear failure of hollowcore slabs exposed to fire
J.K. Min, R.P. Dhakal, A.K. Abu, P.J. Moss &A.H. Buchanan
Department of Civil & Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury,
Christchurch, New Zealand
ABSTRACT: The behaviour of hollowcore concrete units exposed to fire is very complicated due to their
unique cross-section and the presence of prestressing tendons. Unlike solid concrete elements, hollowcore units
show large compressive stresses in their flanges while tensile stresses develop in the web. The tensile stresses in
the web could exceed the tensile capacity of the concrete leading to premature shear failure of hollowcore units.
With reasonable accuracy, predictions of shear behaviour of hollowcore concrete slabs at ambient temperature
have been achieved, due to extensive research in this area. On the other hand, the shear performance of hollowcore
concrete slabs exposed to fire primarily relies on fire test results due to the lack of appropriate simplified methods.
This paper reviews the currently available formulations to estimate the shear capacity of hollowcore units in fire
and presents a comparison of these simplified methods with experimental results available in the literature.
1 INTRODUCTION
Precast hollowcore slabs have been widely used over
the last few decades due to several advantages such
as high quality control, low onsite labour costs, and
the reduction of self-weight without significant loss
of strength or stiffness compared with traditional cast-
in-situ reinforced concrete slabs. In addition, precast
prestressed hollowcore units can be used in floors with
large span-depth ratios, typically up to 45 in New
Zealand. For a standard hollowcore unit, the width
is 1200 mm and the depth ranges from 150 mm to
400 mm. Typically a 65 mm or 75 mm thick concrete
layer is also cast (in-situ) on top of precast hollow-
core slabs (commonly known as topping concrete)
in New Zealand. Normally, prestressing strands are
placed at the bottom of hollowcore units between the
voids; however, sections with top prestressing strands
are also sometimes used in Europe.
Over the past five decades, more than one hundred
hollowcore units have been tested under standard fire
in laboratory tests [Fellinger (2004), Elliott (2000),
Overbeek et al. (2010)]. The majority of tests were
designed primarily to check the fire resistance of
individual hollowcore units rather than the structural
behaviour of a system of hollowcore slabs. Most test
results have been briefly reported or not reported at
all, as most of them are confidential [Fellinger (2004),
Overbeek et al. (2010)].
The behaviour of hollowcore concrete units exposed
to fire is very complicated due to their unique
cross-section including voids. Unlike solid concrete
elements, hollowcore units show large compressive
stresses in the flanges while tensile stresses develop in
the web. The tensile stresses in the web could exceed
the tensile capacity of the concrete leading to pre-
mature shear failure of hollowcore units exposed to
fire, as observed in a standard fire test by Fellinger
(2004). Nevertheless, the present authors are not aware
of any code or standard which specifically addresses
shear failure of hollowcore elements in fire. This paper
reviews currently available formulations to estimate
the shear capacity resistance of hollowcore units in
fire and presents a comparison of these methods with
analytical predictions. It also presents a method to
check shear failure of hollowcore floors in fire which
can be applied outside of finite element analysis, and
identifies when any of these failures is likely to take
place.
2 THE NEED FORA SIMPLE CALCULATION
METHODTO PREDICT SHEAR CAPACITY
As fire tests are complex and extremely demanding in
terms of time and resources, finite element analyses
are commonly used to assess the fire performance of
hollowcore slabs. Due to the limitations of the consti-
tutive models and computational challenges, most fire
analysis programs are not equipped to include inelastic
shear deformations and capture shear failure. Previ-
ous analytical studies [Chang (2007)] have admitted
that despite reasonable prediction of the displace-
ment profile, shear failure of hollowcore specimens
observed in the tests could not be analytically captured,
thereby leading to significant overestimation of failure
time. Even if some advanced finite element programs
equippedwithadvancedconstitutive relationships may
be able to predict shear failures, they are difficult for
engineers to use in practice.
555
Hence, it is important to have a secondary check
(outside the analytical regime) if the analytically pre-
dicted response (mainly contributed by flexure) needs
to be modified based on other possible failure modes
not captured by the analysis. This study proposes a
methodology to check shear failures of hollowcore
floors in fire. As is well known, any failure mode
takes place when the capacity of the failure mode is
exceeded (or equalled) by the corresponding demand.
The proposed method involves estimating tempera-
ture dependent shear capacity (based on expressions
reported in literature) and comparing it with the shear
demand.
3 HAND CALCULATION METHODS
FOR THE SHEAR CAPACITY
AT ELEVATEDTEMPERATURE
Shear behaviour of hollowcore concrete slabs at ambi-
ent temperature has been extensively investigated, and
some equations which can predict shear strengths at
ambient temperature with reasonable accuracy are
available in literature. On the other hand, shear per-
formance of hollowcore concrete slabs exposed to fire
has to primarily rely on the fire test results due to the
lack of appropriate equations.
In fire, the strength and stiffness properties of con-
crete, reinforcement and prestressing steel deteriorate
with increasing temperature. As a result, the shear
capacity can also be expected to reduce over time as
the temperature increases.
Based on this concept, different equations have
been developed to calculate the shear capacity of
hollowcore slabs subjected to fire (i.e. elevated tem-
peratures) by modifying the standard code provi-
sions originally developed for determining the shear
capacity of concrete members at normal tempera-
ture. Two such equations are described below; details
of the notations can be found in the particular
references.
3.1 FIP approach [1988]
FIP [1988] provides an equation for predicting the
shear resistance of members without reinforcement,
such as hollowcore slabs, in the region cracked in
flexure at ambient temperature. The shear capacity
of the member V
uk
in the region which is cracked in
flexure can be calculated as:
Borgogno (1997) modified Equation 1 for high tem-
perature situations to give Equation 2. In Equation
1, the term 0.068
f
c
stands for the nominal shear
strength and the value is dependent on the strength
of the concrete. The transfer length, which is the
length required to develop the full prestress, increases
with the duration of fire, which also decreases the
decompression moment M
0
in the support areas. Since
flexural shear failure occurs only in the mid-span
region, the decompression moment M
0
is neglected.
Hence,
In Equation 2, f
py
(20
C) is the yield strength

of prestressing strands at ambient temperature and
f
py
(t) is defined as the reduced strength of the pre-
stressing strands at elevated temperatures. Therefore,
f
py
(t) can be calculated by using the reduction coeffi-
cients given in Table 3.3 of Eurocode 2 Part 1.2 EN
1992-1-2 (2004).
3.2 Eurocode 2 approach [2003]
Section 6.2 of EN 1992-1-1 (2003) gives a formula
for shear capacity of RC sections. For members not
requiring shear reinforcement, the design value for the
shear resistance, V
Rd,c
, is given by:
However, this formula is applicable only to sin-
gle span members without shear reinforcement in
the regions cracked by bending. Hollowcore elements
exposed to fire are subjected to vertical web cracking
over the full span of the slabs including the sup-
port region. For this reason, the shear flexure formula
has been chosen as the basic model rather than the
shear tension formula, which is only applicable for
uncracked sections. The formula has been adapted for
fire (i.e. elevated temperature) situation. The shear
flexure equation for the fire situation is given as
[Van Acker (2010)]
The validity has been demonstrated by a finite
element analysis; a very good agreement was found
between the analytical prediction and 9 test results
where shear failure occurred. Usingthe above equation
the shear capacity at any temperature can be esti-
mated if the geometrical and mechanical properties of
the material/member are known. Van Acker used this
method to determine the shear capacity values for hol-
lowcore units for different slab thicknesses and load
ratios as a function of the required fire resistance as
listed in Table 1.
For instance, for 200 mm hollowcore slabs, if the
applied shear force does not exceed 65% of the design
shear force at normal temperature, no shear failure
will happen within the first 60 minutes. However, the
60 minutes does not exclude the possibility of failure,
since flexural bending failure could still occur.
556
Table 1. Shear capacity of hollowcore slabs for different
fire ratings as a percentage of cold shear strength [Van Acker
(2010)]
Slab depth (mm)
160 200 240280 320 360400
FRR* 60 70 65 60 60 55
FRR 90 65 60 60 55 50
FRR 120 60 60 55 50 50
*FRR: fire resistance rating
**Note: the values of Table 1 are given for prestressed hol-
lowcore slabs with strands cut at the ends of the elements,
and a section of 1.88 cm
2
/mof longitudinal tie reinforcement
at the support
Figure 1. Cross section of hollowcore slabs analysed.
4 ANALYSIS OF SHEAR CAPACITY
AT ELEVATEDTEMPERATURES
4.1 Hollowcore slabs
In order to investigate the shear capacity predicted
by Equations 2 and 4, shear capacities of 200, 300,
and 400 deep hollowcore slabs (Figure 1) are calcu-
lated and compared. The design concrete compressive
strength for all hollowcore slabs is 45 MPa, and the
strength of the stress relieved 7-wire prestressing
strands is 1.87 GPa.
In the application of Equation 4, it is assumed that
prestressed hollowcore slabs have the strands cut at
the ends of the elements and a section of 1.88 cm
2
/m
of longitudinal tie reinforcement anchoring the units
at the support. The strength reduction factor is not
applied to this reinforcement as it is encased in con-
crete and located at the mid-depth of the hollowcore
Table 2. Temperature (
C) comparisons of hollowcore
slabs at 25.4 mm (=1 in.) height.
Time (minutes)
30 60 90 120
200 298 523 629 695
300 274 477 599 678
400 277 479 592 662
PCI document 301 460 560 626
Wickstrms formula 289 454 563 645
units. For the average strength of concrete (f
c,fi,m
), the
strength of concrete for the temperature at the mid
height of the web is used.
4.2 Heat transfer analysis of hollowcore slabs
The nonlinear finite element analysis program, SAFIR
(Franssen 2005, 2008), is used to perform the thermal
analyses for the cross sections of a prestressed hollow-
core unit in a Standard ISO 834 fire. In the thermal
analysis of the SAFIR program, triangular (3 nodes)
and quadrilateral (4 nodes) solid elements are used to
define the cross section of the structure. The heat trans-
fer analysis of a prestressed hollowcore slab, taking
into account cavities, is crucial because a hollowcore
slab has some voids and these voids play an important
role in temperature distribution. Therefore convection
at the boundaries and radiation in the internal cavities
of the cross-section are considered. The temperature
at 1 inch (25.4 mm) above the bottom of the 200, 300
and 400 mm thick slabs at different times are obtained
from SAFIR thermal analysis results, and compared
with the temperatures predicted by the PCI guideline
[Gustaferro et al (1989)] and Wickstrms formula
[Buchanan (2001)] in Table 2. As can be seen, the
SAFIRthermal analysis, Wickstrms formula, and the
PCI method result in similar temperatures. Although
the PCI method seems to give a reasonable predic-
tion of temperature distribution in hollowcore slabs,
it covers only a limited depth range, and cannot be
used to calculate the temperature at the middle of the
web. The mid-web temperature obtained from SAFIR
thermal analysis (Figure 2), therefore, is used for the
calculation of shear capacity using Equation 4.
4.3 Discussion
In terms of both Equations 2 and 4, the shear capacity
of the hollowcore slabs is calculated at different times
using the computed time-temperature relationships.
Figure 3 shows the comparisons of shear capacities
of the three different height hollowcore slabs as pre-
dicted by Equations 2 and 4. As can be seen in the
figure, in case of the 200 mm thick hollowcore slab
the shear force predicted by Equation 4 which is based
on Eurocode 2 is higher than Equation 2 which is based
on FIP for up to 70 minutes, but it then drops rapidly
557
Figure 2. Temperature development of prestressing strands
and the middle of the web.
withtime due tothe reductionof concrete strengthwith
increasing time. For the 300 mm and 400 mm hollow-
core slabs, the graphs show a similar pattern but the
crossover occurs at slightly different times.
Table 1 shows the allowable shear capacity for
required fire resistance for different hollowcore
depths. Shear capacities for 200, 300 and 400 mmhol-
lowcore slabs are calculated and the time at which the
shear capacity reduces to 65%, 60%&55%of the cold
shear strength (V) is determined in order to compare
Figure 3. Comparison of shear capacity for different
methods.
fire resistance ratings between Table 1 and hand cal-
culations. Using this approach, the shear failure time
of the 200 mm hollowcore slab is found to be about
87 minutes and 120 minutes with Equations 4 and 2,
respectively. On the other hand, shear failure times for
both 300 mm and 400 mm hollowcore slabs are closer
to 60 minutes.
If a 50 kN shear force was applied to each of the
200, 300, and 400 mm deep hollowcore slabs, Figure
3 shows that the 200 mm thick hollowcore slab would
558
have a 20 minutes fire resistance based on Equation 4,
whereas Equation 2 would predict that a shear force
of this magnitude exceeded the ambient strength of
the slab. For the 300 mm deep slab, Equations 2 and 4
both predict the same fire resistance of just under 80
minutes. In the case of the 400 mm deep hollowcore,
Equation 2 predicts a fire resistance time greater than
120 minutes, while Equation 4 predicts a shear failure
after only 110 minutes of fire exposure.
5 SHEAR FAILURE PREDICTION METHOD
AND EXAMPLE
As most finite element analysis programs used for
prediction of fire performance are not equipped with
reliable nonlinear shear models to predict shear defor-
mation, the predicted response is dominated by bend-
ing deformations and the analytically predicted fire
resistance commonly corresponds to flexural failure.
Using the expressions discussed above, a method is
developed in this study to formulate a method that
can supplement the finite element analysis results by
calculating the shear failure time outside an analy-
sis domain which helps in making a more inclusive
decision on the likely failure mode and failure time.
The steps of this method can be summarized as; (i)
Calculation of maximum shear demand (based on the
applied loads); (ii) Estimation of the temperature at
a representative point in the section at different times
during fire (this can be done by using the PCI method
or Wickstroms equation, or using the thermal profile
predicted by an analysis); (iii) Calculate the variation
of shear strength with time using Equations 2 and/or
4 (using the time-temperature relationship obtained in
the previous step); (iv) Comparing the constant shear
demand with the reducing shear capacity to obtain
the time at which shear failure is likely to occur (i.e.
when the capacity becomes less than the demand); (v)
Compare the shear failure time with the analytically
predicted flexural failure time and use the earlier of
the two as the final fire resistance.
The application of the method explained above is
explained for some example cases here. For this pur-
pose, 265 mm thick hollowcore slabs tested by Jensen
(2005) to check their suitability for 60 minutes expo-
sure to the standard fire without shear failure are used.
In the tests, the slabs were loaded to 65, 75 and 80%
of the ultimate design shear capacity in cold condi-
tions and were exposed to standard fire for up to 60
minutes followed by a 90 minutes cooling phase. The
hollowcore slabloadedto80%of ultimate designshear
capacity failed at around 45 minutes while the other
two other tests completed without any failure.
These hollowcore slabs were modelled using the
SAFIR program. Figure 4 compares the numerically
predicted mid-span deflections with the deflections
measured in the experiments for the different load lev-
els. Even though the numerical analyses match well
with the experimental results in terms of the maximum
vertical deflection, the shear failure prediction for the
Figure 4. Comparisons between experimental and numeri-
cal results.
Figure 5. Prediction of shear failure for the tests of Jensen
(2005) using Equation (4).
unit loaded to 80% of its cold capacity could not be
predicted since SAFIR cannot model shear behaviour.
Next, the aforementioned procedure for estimating
the shear failure time is applied based on the modified
Eurocode 2 equation (i.e. Equation 4). The required
variation of the average strength of concrete (f
c,fi,m
)
in Equation 4 was based on the temperature varia-
tion at the mid-height of the web. Figure 5 shows the
comparison between shear capacity and shear force
(i.e. demand). In this figure, the hollowcore slab with
80% of ultimate design shear capacity showed a shear
failure time of around 49 minutes (compared with 45
minutes in the test), while the hollowcore slab with
75%of ultimate design shear capacity failed at just less
than 60 minutes (note that it did not fail in shear within
the first 60 minutes in the test). On the other hand, the
hollowcore slab with 65% of ultimate design shear
capacity indicates close to 80 minutes shear resistance
(this is in line with the test result where the slab did
not fail in shear during the 60 minutes).
From Table 1, a 265 mm deep hollowcore slab
would have a 60 minutes fire resistance based on shear
providing the applied shear force is no greater than
60% of the shear capacity at ambient temperature. By
comparison with Jensens test results in Figure 4, the
559
values of Table 1 are more conservative and should
provide a safe limit onthe temperature dependent shear
capacity.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Deep hollowcore units, when exposed in fire, can fail
in shear and this should be taken into account in assess-
ing fire performance of hollowcore floors. However,
it is difficult to predict the shear capacity of hollow-
core units at elevated temperature. Simple equations
are preferred by structural engineers rather than hav-
ing to conduct time-consuming finite element analysis
for each trial design. A simple method is presented in
this paper to check if and when shear failure occurs
in hollowcore slabs. Simplified expressions from the
literature are used to calculate shear capacity of hol-
lowcore slabs at elevated temperature. Using these
expressions, the shear capacity can be calculated at
different stages during a fire (if the temperature-time
relationship is known/found/assumed), which can then
be compared to the imposed shear force to predict if,
and when, shear failure is likely to occur. The applica-
tions of these expressions are shown for 200, 300, and
400 mm thick hollowcore slabs.
REFERENCES
Borgogno, W. 1997. Tragverhalten von Slim Floor Decken
mit Betonhohlplatten bei Raumtemperatur und Brandein-
wirkungen, Ph. D. dissertation, Eidgenssische Technis-
che Hochschule Zrich, Switzerland, (in German).
BSI. 2004. Precast concrete products Hollow core slabs.
BS EN 1168, British Standards Institution, London, UK.
Buchanan, A.H. 2001. Structural Design for Fire Safety.
John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, UK.
Chang, J.J. 2007. Computer simulation of hollowcore con-
crete flooring systems exposed to fire. PhD Thesis,
University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
EC2, 2003. Eurocode 2: Design of Concrete Structures.
prEN 1992-1-1: General Rules and Rules for Buildings,
EC2, 2004. Eurocode 2: Design of Concrete Structures.
prEN 1992-1-2: General Rules, Structural Fire Design,
Elliott, K.S. 2000. Research and development in pre-
cast concrete framed structures, Progress in Structural
Engineering and Materials, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 405428.
Fellinger, J.H.H. 2004. Shear and Anchorage Behaviour
of Fire Exposed Hollow Core Slabs. Ph. D. disserta-
tion, Department of Civil Engineering, Delft University,
Netherlands.
FIP Recommendations, 1988. Precast Prestressed Hollow
Core Floors.
Franssen J.M. 2005. A Thermal/Structural Program Mod-
elling Structures under Fire, Engineering Journal,
A.I.S.C., 42(3): 143158.
Franssen, J.M. 2007. Users Manual for SAFIR 2007: A Com-
puter ProgramforAnalysis of Structures Subjected to Fire,
Lige: University of Lige, Belgium.
Gustaferro, A.H. & Martin, L.D. 1989. Design for Fire
Resistance of Precast Prestressed Concrete, 2nd Ed.,
Prestressed Concrete Institute, Illinois, USA.
Jensen, J.F, 2005. Hollowcore slabs andfire Documentation
on shear capacity, Danish Prefab Concrete Association,
Denmark.
Min, J-K. 2012. Numerical Prediction of Structural Fire
Performance for Precast Prestressed Concrete Floor Sys-
tems, PhDThesis, University of Canterbury, Christchurch,
New Zealand.
Overbeek, T.V., Breunese, A., Gijsbers, J., Both, J., Maljaars,
J., & Noordijk, L. 2010. New Regulations for Hollow
Core Slabs After Premature Partial Collapse, Proceed-
ings of the Sixth International Workshop Structures in
Fire SiF06, Michigan, USA.
SNZ, 2006. NZS 3101:Part 1:2006, The Design of Con-
crete Structures. Standards New Zealand, Wellington,
New Zealand.
Van Acker, A. 2010. Fire safety of prestressed hollowcore
floors, Concrete Plant International, vol. 2010, no. 1,
pp. 182196.
560
A review on fire protection for phase change materials in building
applications
Q. Nguyen, T. Ngo & P. Mendis
Department of Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
ABSTRACT: Phase change materials (PCMs), are well known as an important solution for optimizing the
energy consumption in modern buildings. PCMs of organic origin are more competitive in building applica-
tionsdue to their lightweight, heat storage ability and range of effective temperatures. However, they are sensitive
to fire, which correlates to the safety issue of the occupants and the building structure. A comprehensive review
of fire retardants to enhance the fire resistance of PCMs is lacking. Therefore, this paper presents an up-to-
date review on fire protection for PCM materials in building applications from fundamental to advanced flame
retardant systems. Gaps are also identified for future research.
1 INTRODUCTION
The electricity consumption in buildings accounted
for more than one third of the total energy consumed
in developed countries (Karaman et al., 2011). The
global scenario, that energy usage has the tendency of
exceeding the energy supply, requires an effective rem-
edy to minimize the energy consumption. Most of the
energy used in buildings relates to the thermal issue
of maintaining the indoor temperature in the human
comfort range from 18 to 22
C. The supplied energy

is consumed to subsidize the fluctuation of interior
temperature.
The exchange of thermal energy in a distinct roomis
illustrated in figure 1. Heat is transferred in three par-
ticular ways of conduction, convection and radiation.
Phase change materials integratedinthe buildingenve-
lope disrupt this conductive heat flowby capturing the
heat as its embodied energy. The principle of thermal
storage here is based on the fact that the change in the
state of the material requires the absorption or release
of energy and occurs at aparticular temperature (or
within a minor range of temperature). The appropri-
ate material should have the phase change temperature
close to the human comfort as well as a high enthalpy.
The higher its enthalpy is, the larger the amount of
energy it is capable of storing.
Phase change materials can be classified into two
main groups of inorganic and organic categories. The
selection of PCM relies technically on the purpose
of the application and working condition especially
the active temperature. Inorganic PCM possesses high
latent enthalpy, comparative thermal conductivity but
degradation and super-cooling after certain cycles
of melting/freezing, thus, the recent trend focuses
on organic PCMs. Organic PCM is then divided
into paraffin and non-paraffin types. Despite the
high latent heat of non-paraffin PCM, its undesirable
phase change temperature, which is around 5060
C
(Baetens et al., 2010), remains the major obstacle for
building applications. This issue can be addressed par-
tially by using eutectic mixture of non-paraffin organic
PCMs to lower the melting point, but paraffin still
dominates because of its stability and affordable cost.
In addition, it should be noted that PCM exists in
two states in working condition: solid and liquid. The
latter occurs whenever the embodied temperature of
PCM crosses the melting point and thousands of these
cycles happen in PCMs lifetime. Therefore, differ-
ent methods of containment, including encapsulation
and shape-stabilization, are applied. Regarding the
former, macro-encapsulation is replaced by microen-
capsulation of PCM by polymer capsules of micro
size. This polymer plays the role of a shellfor PCM
and prevents leakage. The effectiveness of microen-
capsulation expresses along with the reduction of the
size of the polymer particles. However, under cer-
tain size of these particles, super-cooling of PCM is
observed as the result of solidification lag (Kuznik
et al., 2011) and microencapsulation increases the
cost. On the other hand, shape-stabilization of PCM
is implemented by capturing PCM into a polymeric
matrix, which is also called supporting material. High-
density polyethylene (HDPE) is preferred to be the
supporting material because ofthe compatibility in
thermal properties to PCMs, similar skeleton with
paraffin and chemical inertia. Shape-stabilized PCM
is convenient to use because it can be granulated and
integrated into building envelopes.
However, shape-stabilized PCM is poor in thermal
conductivity and sensitive to the flame. As safety of the
occupants is the utmost concern, it is pointless to save
561
Figure 1. Heat exchange in a distinct room (Kuznik et al.,
2011).
energy and endanger the life of people in the incident
of fire. Therefore, this paperpresents a comprehensive
review of the available methods for improving the fire
resistance of building envelopes with PCMs.
2 FUNDAMENTALS OF FLAME
RETARDANTS FOR PCMS
The most important feature of PCMs is its thermal
properties. Thermal properties of PCMs are evalu-
ated by means of melting/freezing point, latent heat
or heat of fusion. PCMs in building applications are
distinguished from others by their melting/freezing
point. As mentioned previously, the purpose of PCMs
in buildings is to ensure minimal deviation of indoor
temperature from the range of human comfort. This is
the foremost criterion in selecting PCMs, as it is cru-
cial for the proper performance of PCMs. Therefore,
the addition of flame retardants has to ensure that this
specification is maintained. In addition, latent heat of
the new PCM hybrid should not contribute to a signif-
icant reduction of the latent heat. The value of latent
heat indicates directly the ability of storing heat energy
and the active portion of shape-stabilized PCMs is
often less than 80% of the total mass. It was demon-
stratedthat the maximum proportion of PCM in sup-
porting HDPE should not exceed 76% (Kaygusuz &
Sari, 2007)and the latent heat of the complex PCM is
oftenlower thanthe respective portionof original PCM
(table 1). This is explained by the blocking effect of
HDPE matrix on the free movement of paraffin parti-
cles in phase transition (Cai et al., 2008). Similar effect
occurs with flame-retardants, thus, smaller amount of
the flame-retardants that reduces the latent heat of
PCM hybrid and flame-retardants that contribute to
the increase in PCM hybrid latent heat are preferred.
Another criterion for suitability of flame retar-
dant is the compatibility to PCM. For effective fire
resistance, the flame retardant must be distributed
evenly in the volume of PCM; nevertheless, this
Table 1. The reduction effect of HDPE on the PCM hybrid
latent heat
Paraffin in Ratio of PCM hybrid
PCM hybrid latent heat to pure
References (with HDPE) paraffin latent heat
Cai et al. (2008) 60% 48%
Cai et al. (2009a) 60% 44%
Zhang et al. (2010a) 60% 48%
homogeneity should result in no chemical interac-
tion. The dispersion of the components in PCM con-
struction is tested visually after shaping and verified
through a microstructure test using scanning electron
microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy
(TEM) or X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD).
In order to evaluate the fire resistance of PCM
hybrids containing a flame retardant, the time to igni-
tion, heat release rate, mass loss, thermal stability and
smoke generation of the PCM composite are used
(Mouritz & Gibson, 2006). Each single item is impor-
tant as it is related to safety issues, but heat release
rate is given slightly more prominence than others.
The reason for this selection is based on the nature of
this parameter and the dependence of other param-
eters on it. The peak of heat release rate and total
heat release are calculated relating to this parameter.
The time to ignition of PCM hybrid is required to be
longer for better fire resistance as after the ignition,
PCM hybrid combusts with a large flame, releases the
heat, smoke and even enrich the fire spreading in the
surroundings. However, in some cases such as in intu-
mescent systems, the smaller time to ignition, which
means the ignition comes earlier, does not necessar-
ily mean lower fire resistance. Mass loss and smoke
generation are other remaining features; those four
parameters are evaluated from the Cone calorimeter
(ISO 5660.1). This method is preferred in evaluating
fire properties for PCM hybrid because the practical
results from Cone calorimeter are compatible with the
material behavior in large-scale fire tests (Zhang et al.,
2010a).
3 FLAME RETARDANTS FOR PCMS
Flame retardants (FRs) for polymeric materials were
classified into six categories which are mineral FRs,
halogenated FRs, phosphorus-based FRs, nitrogen-
based FRs, silicon-based FRs and nanometric-
particles (Laoutid et al., 2009). The group of silicon
based FRs for PCMs is not revealed as silica is classi-
fied as a subcategory of nanometric-particles as FRs
for PCMs. FR for PCMs is generally based on these
five groups excluding silicon-based FRs, however they
are often combined to take the advantage of each group
as well as to increase the effect of flame retardancy.
PCMs are polymeric materials, however, they are
special in their capacity to store heat energy. Their
562
performance in heat storage is influenced signifi-
cantly by the thermal conductivity, which is relatively
low in the case of shape-stabilized PCMs. Expanded
graphite is revealed to be an enhancing material for
shape-stabilizedPCMs. It was foundthat 9%expanded
graphite in PCM hybrid increases the heat perfor-
mance of PCM by 30% (Zhou & Zhao, 2011). In
addition, expanded graphite contributes to enhance
the flame retardancyof PCMs (Cai et al., 2008; Cai
et al., 2009a; Fang et al., 2010; Sittisart & Farid, 2011;
Zhang et al., 2010a; Zhang et al., 2010b). Therefore,
it is preferred to classify FRs for PCMs based on
the presence of expanded graphite. This section is
divided into two subsections: non-expanded graphite
FRs and expanded graphite containing FRs. Possible
combinations of different FRs are also presented.
3.1 Non-expanded graphite FRs for PCMs
Group 1 is characterized by the endothermic decom-
position of metallic hydroxides. Two common FRs
for PCMs of group 1 are aluminum hydroxide and
magnesium hydroxide. At relevant decomposing tem-
perature, these hydroxides absorb heat and release
water in the form of vapor, thus, they lower the tem-
perature of the PCMs, dilute combustible gas by vapor
and in case of aluminum hydroxide, and aninsulate
coating of alumina oxide is formed.
In arecent study (Sittisart & Farid, 2011), it
was found that for the shape-stabilized PCM
(RT21/HDPE), magnesium hydroxide and aluminum
hydroxide reduced the flammability of PCMwith 10%
of residue after mass-loss test compared to 0% of
residue of the original PCM. Magnesium hydroxide
is more effective than aluminum as at 220
C, magne-
siumhydroxide containing PCMshows 55%mass loss
while the respective figure for aluminum hydroxide
containing PCMis 67%. However, in comparison with
other FRs, these are less effective. It can be explained
that the decomposition temperature of paraffin RT21
starts at 100
C, which is lower than the dehydrating

temperature of these hydroxides. The flame retardancy
is achieved herein by reducing the amount of com-
bustible material (RT21) and increasing the viscosity
of the resulting materials.
CommonFRs for PCMs of group2are redphospho-
rus and ammonium polyphosphate (APP). Red phos-
phorus is used in combination with other types of FRs
for PCMs while APP is used solely or as a component
in PCM hybrid. APP has two forms with decompo-
sition temperature of 150
C and 300
C respectively
(Laoutid et al., 2009) and its principle for flame retar-
dancy is that it intensifies the char formation, releases
water vapor as diluting agent and coats the char to
obstruct the surface. It was proven (Cai et al., 2009a)
that 25% of APP in PCM hybrid of paraffin/HDPE
hadappropriate compatibility in microstructure, char
formation increased from 0.898% (without APP) to
22.19% (with APP) and the peak of heat release rate
reduced by 40% to 532.6 kW/m
2
. The new PCM
composite has adeviation in phase change tempera-
ture of 6% and 10% lower latent heat compared to
pure paraffin. However, APP only expresses its char-
acteristic flame retardancy when impregnated into
oxygen-containing polymer (Lewin & Weil, 2001).
Paraffin is not a polymer of that type, so in order
to enhance the effectiveness of APP, pentaerythri-
tol (PER) is used as a char-forming agent for APP
Sittisart & Farid, 2011).
The most common FRs for PCMs of group 3 are
melamine and its derivatives. The flame retardancy
effect of melamine is expressed by the gaseous ammo-
nia and condensates as the products of the heat decom-
position. Pure melamine contains approximately 67%
of nitrogen atoms (Laoutid et al., 2009) while for its
derivatives such as melamine cyanurate, over 98% of
weight is nitrogen. The higher content of nitrogenhelps
to improve the flame retardancy of the FRs. Melamine
cyanurate was added into paraffin/HDPE composite
and a reduction of peak heat release rate by 56% to
400 kW/m
2
, a deviation in phase change temperature
of less than 1% and a deviation in latent heat of 32%
were observed (Cai et al., 2006).
The fifth group of nanometric particles includes
montmorillonite and nano-silica. It was revealed (Fang
et al., 2010) that nano-silica can only perform best
flame retardancy with the presence of expanded
graphite and this is discussed further in the next
section. The principle of flame retardancy for montmo-
rillonite (nano layer of clay) is that with the increase
of temperature, decreasing viscosity of the compos-
ite enhances the formation of a nano layer over the
surface of the composite and leads to a rigid ceramic
char layer (figure 2). Ten percent montmorillonite in
the composite of n-hexadecane/HDPE-polyethylene-
co-vinylacetate is observed to increase the char residue
at 800
C from 1.33% to 15.26%, leads to a 40%

reduction in peak of heat release rate with 27%
lower in terms of latent heat.
Halogenated FRs are the derivatives of chlorine
or bromine compound and they are often used along
with antimony oxide. Chemical reactions between
the bromine/chlorine compound and antimony oxide
result in SbX
3
(Xstands for Cl
or Br
), which acts as
the flame snuffing agent and water vapor is released
simultaneously. 19% of 1,2-bis(pentabromophenyl)
ethan with 6% of antimony oxide are proven to
reduce the peak of heat release rate by 67% with
over 30% reduction in latent heat (Cai et al., 2006).
Better improvement is demonstrated with 25% chlori-
nated paraffin and 10% antimony oxide (Zhang et al.,
2010b). The reduction in peak of heat release rate is
55% with 1% latent heat lower than pure paraffin. A
possible explanation for this is the higher proportion of
chlorinated compound compared to brominated com-
pound and certain amount of paraffin in chlorinated
paraffin accumulating to the latent heat of the com-
posite. However, the burning product of the composite
including brominated and chlorinated compound and
heavy metal such as antimony are proven to be bio-
logically toxic to human (Camino & Lomakin, 2001;
563
Figure 2. Formation of nano layer of char during cone
calorimeter test.
Rowen, 2008), thus the application of halogenated FRs
is limited due to the concerns on the environmental and
health impact.
The combination of FRs within groups 1,2 and 5
forms thenon-intumescent system (the category with
vertical patterns in figure 3) and is the subject of
recent research (Cai et al., 2009b; Sittisart & Farid,
2011; Song et al., 2010). The incorporation of metal-
lic hydroxide and phosphorus compound takes the
full advantage of the metallic hydroxide endothermic
decomposition and phosphate FRs simultaneously. Cai
et al., (2009b) also stated that the microencapsulated
red phosphorus (group 2) subsidized the difference of
construction between inorganic hydroxide and poly-
mer skeleton of PCMs, thereby improving the com-
patibility of the hybrid. In addition, the addition of
montmorillonite (group 5) into metallic hydroxide,
red phosphorus and the combination of these two
was investigated. Montmorillonite is demonstrated to
enhance flame retardancy in conjunction with alu-
minum hydroxide, microencapsulated red phospho-
rus butnot with magnesium hydroxide (Cai et al.,
2009b; Sittisart & Farid, 2011). On the other hand,
an intumescent FR system is created when combin-
ing phosphorus-based FR and nitrogen-based FR with
or without other materials such as montmorillonite
and expanded graphite. Intumescent FR system is a
solution for a halogen-free requirement as no haz-
ardous air pollutants such as dioxin (in the case of
halogenated FR), and halogenated acid are formed;
hence it is relevant to contemporary regulations on
health and environment. Furthermore, this type of FR
system is more effective than metallic hydroxide and
halogenated FRs (Camino & Lomakin, 2001). Metal-
lic hydroxide is less active thus small amounts cannot
perform properly (Sittisart & Farid, 2011) whereas
large proportion changes the mechanical properties
of PCMs.
A non-graphite intumescent system consists of
three components: (1) catalyst, (2) blowing agent and
Figure 3. omparison of peak of heat release rate, latent heat
and % mass at 200
C.
(3) carbonizing agent (Laoutid et al., 2009). Cata-
lyst is a phosphorus-based compound and is often
ammonium polyphosphate (APP). Blowing agent is
a nitrogen-based compound and is often melamine
(MA). Carbonizing agent is usually pentaerythritol
(PER) or its derivatives. As mentioned previously,
PERis necessary when the substrate is paraffin. When
subjected to fire, APPdecomposes and produces phos-
phoric acid. The newly formed phosphoric acid is very
active and reacts with MA and PER. This reaction
yields water, carbon dioxide and ammonia which act
as flame snuffing gas. Simultaneously solid products
form the char layer and gaseous materials formation
expands the forming char. This char in turn insulates
PCMs from outer flame. To increase the stability of
the formed char layer, organophilic montmorillonite
can be added to the system. Another research (Cai
et al., 2007) investigated the flame retardancy effect
of a FR system consisting of melamine phosphate
and PER with/without organophilic montmorillonite.
Proportions of 60%wt of paraffin, 15%wt of HDPE,
10%wt of organophilic montmorillonite, 10%wt of
melamine phosphate (MPP) and 5% of PER were
found to be the optimized amounts. As can be seen
fromfigure 3, the complex systemof MPP/PER/OMT
increases both thermal storage and flame retardancy of
the paraffin/HDPE composite.
3.2 Expanded graphite containing FRs for PCMs
Graphite has been well known as a refractory material.
It is different to the rest of refractory materials owing
to its nature of heat exchange. Other refractory materi-
als, such as alumina-based refractory, magnesia-based
refractory, form a rigid insulate cover with the ther-
mal conductivity value of 23W/m K, whereas the
thermal conductivity of graphite is up to 300W/m K
(Albert, 2004). In the case of nano graphite, which is
also called graphene, the thermal conductivity reaches
approximately 5000W/m K (Balandin, 2011). Not
only in this field, the potential of graphene is mas-
sive and many applications are found. However the
cost of this superior material is presently extremely
high and therefore restricts the applications in con-
struction. On the other hand, expanded graphite is
564
Figure 4. Total heat release of composite according to cone
calorimeter test (Zhang et al., 2010a).
an excellent alternative as it enhances thermal perfor-
mance of PCM composite as well as makes expanded
graphite composite an affordable building material.
The effectiveness of expanded graphite in the compos-
ite is evaluated according to the thermal conductivity
and the flame retardancy;however, only the flame
retardancy of expanded graphite is considered herein.
In PCM composites, expanded graphite can be a
flame retardant solelyor usedinconjunctionwithother
flame retardant systems. It should be noted that in
order to maximize the effect of expanded graphite in
heat transient process, it should be added into the melt-
ing composite as an exfoliated member (Kang et al.,
2002).
Regarding the thermal energy storage capacity,
expanded graphite composite has a melting temper-
ature within the range of 3
C different from the

original melting point of pure PCM (t
0
). When com-
pared to the composite without expanded graphite,
the melting point approaches closer to t
0
. The latent
heat of expanded graphite composite also remains
approximately the same as or higher than that of
non-expanded graphite composite except halogenated
FR. However, this is not significant when the haz-
ard of this compound to the environment and humans
health is considered.
In addition, expanded graphite enhances the flame
retardancy of the composite. A reduction of over 50%
of the peak of heat release rate is witnessed in the com-
bination of expanded graphite and nitrogen-based FR
(Cai et al., 2009a). It wasalso revealed that this com-
bination was the best flame retardant PCMcomposite:
no composite dripping, large residue after ignition
test, 73% lower in peak of heat release rate, mod-
erate weight loss at 220
C and 20% of residue in

TGA test (Sittisart & Farid, 2011). However, in this
research, the amount of expanded graphite was 10%of
weight and a disintegration of the sample occurred due
to the loss in mechanical strength. Thisdemonstrated
the enhancement of expanded graphite in the com-
bination with intumescent FR system (Zhang et al.,
2010a). Expanded graphite has the synergistic effect
with intumescent FR to achieve the highest overall
flame retardancy with the smallest total heat release
(figure 4), the lowest peak of heat release rate and
the highest thermal conductivity. But the research by
Zhang et al. (2010a) was conducted with RT27, which
has a melting point of 51.22
C. More work is required

to extend this research.
4 CONCLUDING REMARKS
As described in the paper, different types of FRs are
available to enhance the flame retardancy of PCM
hybrid. Among those, expanded graphite is an excel-
lent option as with multi-effectson the PCM hybrid:
(1) supporting material for further homogeneity of
the composite, (2) enhancing heat transient and ther-
mal performance of the composite and (3) improving
the flame retardancy of the composite in combination
with IFR. However further research is necessary with
expanded graphite compositesincluding lower melting
point PCMs such as RT21. PCMs with lower melting
point are suitable toachieve human comfort tempera-
tures but they are more flammable. In addition, neither
numerical modeling of expanded graphite composite
nor experimental tests on fire behavior of the build-
ing envelopes (masonry walls or reinforced concrete)
coated with expanded graphite composite are available
yet. Standard fire tests for building materials spec-
ified in the Australian Standards are necessary for
engineers and the authorities to assess the feasibility
of this novel material.
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Albert, D. 2004. Carbonaceous Refractories Refractories
Handbook (pp. 201214): CRC Press.
Baetens, R., Jelle, B. P., & Gustavsen, A. 2010. Phase change
materials for building applications: A state-of-the-art
review. Energy and Buildings, 42(9), 13611368.
Balandin, A. A. 2011. Thermal properties of graphene and
nanostructured carbon materials. Nature Materials, 10(8),
569581.
Cai, Y., Hu, Y., Song, L., Kong, Q., Yang, R., Zhang, Y.,
Chen, Z., &Fan, W. 2007. Preparation and flammability of
high density polyethylene/paraffin/organophilic montmo-
rillonite hybrids as a form stable phase change material.
Energy Conversion and Management, 48(2), 462-469.
Cai, Y., Hu, Y., Song, L., Tang, Y., Yang, R., Zhang, Y.,
Chen, Z., & Fan, W. 2006. Flammability and ther-
mal properties of high density polyethylene/paraffin
hybrid as a form-stable phase change material. Journal of
Applied Polymer Science, 99(4), 13201327.
Cai, Y., Wei, Q., Huang, F., & Gao, W. 2008. Preparation and
properties studies of halogen-free flame retardant form-
stable phase change materials based on paraffin/high
density polyethylene composites. Applied Energy, 85(8),
765775.
Cai, Y., Wei, Q., Huang, F., Lin, S., Chen, F., &Gao, W. 2009a.
Thermal stability, latent heat and flame retardant proper-
ties of the thermal energy storage phase change materials
based on paraffin/high density polyethylene composites.
Renewable Energy, 34(10), 21172123.
Cai, Y. B., Wei, Q. F., Shao, D. F., Hu, Y., Song, L., & Gao,
W. D. 2009b. Magnesium hydroxide and microencapsu-
lated red phosphorus synergistic flame retardant form
stable phase change materials based on HDPE/EVA/OMT
nanocomposites/paraffin compounds. [Article]. Journal
of the Energy Institute, 82(1), 2836.
565
Camino, G., & Lomakin, S. 2001. Intumescent materials.
In A. R. Horrocks & D. Price (Eds.), Fire retardant
materials (pp. 318-337). Cambridge: Boca Raton, FL:
CRC Press.
Fang, G., Li, H., Chen, Z., & Liu, X. 2010. Preparation and
characterization of flame retardant n-hexadecane/silicon
dioxide composites as thermal energy storage materials.
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Kang, F., Zheng, Y.-P., Wang, H.-N., Nishi, Y., & Inagaki, M.
2002. Effect of preparation conditions on the characteris-
tics of exfoliated graphite. Carbon, 40(9), 15751581.
Karaman, S., Karaipekli, A., Sari, A., & Bier, A. 2011.
Polyethylene glycol (PEG)/diatomite composite as a novel
form-stable phase change material for thermal energy
storage. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 95(7),
16471653.
Kaygusuz, K., & Sari, A. 2007. High density polyethy-
lene/paraffin composites as form-stable phase change
material for thermal energy storage. Energy Sources,
Part A: Recovery, Utilization and Environmental Effects,
29(3), 261270.
Kuznik, F., David, D., Johannes, K., & Roux, J.-J. 2011.
Areviewon phase change materials integrated in building
walls. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 15(1),
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Laoutid, F., Bonnaud, L., Alexandre, M., Lopez-Cuesta,
J. M., &Dubois, P. 2009. Newprospects in flame retardant
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63(3), 100125.
Lewin, M., & Weil, E. D. 2001. Mechanisms and
modes of action in flame retardancy of polymers. In
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(pp. 3168). Cambridge: Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
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The influence of expanded graphite on thermal properties
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970977.
566
Self-strengthening of structural steel members using shape
memory alloys in fire
H. Sadiq, M.B. Wong & X.L. Zhao
Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
R. Al-Mahaidi
Department of Civil Engineering, Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia
ABSTRACT: A novel active self-strengthening approach for structural steel members in fire is investigated
experimentally. The proposed approach employs the shape memory effect phenomenon in NiTi shape memory
alloys. By exposing the composite steel-NiTi member to high temperatures, large recovery stresses are generated
from the shape memory alloy and counteract the actions produced from the applied loads. A series of high
temperature tests for steel and steel-NiTi composite beams were conducted to demonstrate the validity of the
approach proposed in this paper.
1 INTRODUCTION
Shape memory alloys (SMAs) have been used in
many engineering applications for years. Their unique
mechanical and thermal properties, namely the shape
memory effect and super-elasticity, enable widespread
adoption in industries including aerospace, medical
and bridge construction. However, the use of SMA
in building structures is still uncommon and many
applications to building structures are still at the
experimental stage.
The shape memory effect is the ability of the SMAs
to undergo large deformations and then return to its
original form upon heating above a specific transfor-
mation temperature. Super-elasticity is the recovery of
large strains during mechanical loading and unload-
ing under isothermal conditions. In addition, SMAs
are more resistant to corrosion than other common
construction materials such as steel and concrete.
One major development in the use of SMAs is
structural rehabilitation. The ability for this mate-
rial to regain its original shape when heated finds
its use in applications for shape restoration and self-
rehabilitation of structural members. The work by
Sakai, et al. (2003) and Mo, et al. (2004) demon-
strated the use of SMA wires to control cracks in
concrete members. Stress is recovered or generated in
anSMAalloywhenthe material, if heated, is either pre-
stressedor pre-strained. Inthe work of Maji andNegret
(1998) who used a small scale concrete beam model
to demonstrate that stress was generated and camber-
ing occurred when the small diameter SMA wire (less
than 1 mm in diameter) and strand (consisting of four
wires) were heated.
Li, et al. (2007) used SMA bundles to strengthen
a concrete beam for a bridge by heating the bundles
with electric current. The temperature generated by
the electric current was carefully matched with that
required for generating the targeted forces in the
SMA bundles to counteract the expected extra load
imposed by incoming trucks on the bridge. Their work
demonstrated that SMA alloy can be practically used
to control remotely the deflection imposed by the
incoming trucks.
The unique characteristics of the SMAs give great
potential for applications in civil engineering. More
specifically, at high temperatures, the stiffness of
SMAs may increase by 34 times and its strength by
36 times that at low temperatures (Yang et al., 2006).
This special feature of SMAs may lead to an innovative
design concept in which SMAs are used to strengthen
structural elements in fire.
This paper aims to demonstrate the potential of
using SMAs in strengthening structural steel elements
under fire condition. This was achieved by attach-
ing the NiTi shape memory alloy to simply supported
beams in the tension zone. The modified beams act
compositely under any type of loading action in an
active manner. The small scale composite beams pre-
sented in the paper are part of ongoing research to
investigate a large scale case study. They will provide
a platformto conduct numerical investigation then fol-
lowed by the large scale test after gaining knowledge
from the numerical investigation.
2 SPECIMENS PREPARATION
A commercial Ni 54.8% wt Ti balance % wt mate-
rial, in the form of wire, was provided with 0.95 mm
nominal diameter. Mild steel plates with dimensions
567
Figure 1. Specimen assembly for the high temperature test.
Figure 2. Steel-NiTi composite beams, insulation materials
applied only to NiTi wires.
of 700 50 5 mm were selected to act as simply-
supported beams under bending due to a point load
applied at mid-span. The span clearance, L, between
the supports was 500 mm. Four holes of 8 mm were
made at a distance L/4 away from each support to pro-
vide a good connection with the stainless steel joints
designed to attach the NiTi wires to the steel beams.
Figure 1 depicts the assembly of the NiTi wires and the
stainless steel joints with the mild steel beam. In this
case, the distance between the two joints was 250 mm,
i.e., the negative bending moment exerted from the
force due to the NiTi contraction acted on the middle
half of the steel beam only.
The stainless steel joints were machined from
Sandvik 253 MA raw material. According to the man-
ufacturer, the material has very good resistance to
thermal cyclic oxidation and good structural stabil-
ity at high temperatures. The joints were designed to
hold ten wires of NiTi in one horizontal plane eccen-
tric from the steel beam surface by 30 mm as shown
in Fig. 1. The joints were connected to the steel beam
using Grade 8.8 M8 bolts and nuts.
Prior to the attachment to the steel beam using
the stainless steel joints, the NiTi wires were loaded
and unloaded to provide (4 0.5)% residual strain.
This strain is fully recovered when the wire is heated
above the austenite finish temperature, A
f
. A max-
imum tensile force can be generated by preventing
the strain fromrecovering through the constraint of the
stainless steel joints. The pre-straining amount in the
wires should exceed a threshold value, 2.41%, to
Figure 3. Temperatures in steel and steel-NiTi composite
specimens.
568
Figure 4. Mid-span deflections of steel and steel-NiTi composite beams.
attain the maximum recovery stress generated by the
pre-strained wires (Sadiq et al., 2010).
The NiTi wires were also subjected to pre-stressing
force before gripping the wires to the steel beamusing
suspended weights, as shown in Fig. 1. Each wire was
subjected to about 15 MPa tension stress to prevent
the wire from slackening while attaching it to the steel
beam. Two Type K thermocouples were also welded to
the steel beam to record the beam temperature at the
mid-span point where the plastic hinge was generated
due to the increasing temperature during the test.
To maximise the strengthening duration during
heating, it is necessary to protect the NiTi wires
from the very high temperatures. To achieve the goal,
a cementitious-based insulation (Vermitex TH) from
LAF GROUP Company was used to protect the NiTi
wires from excessive heat. A galvanised netting wire,
15 15 0.5 mm, was used to reinforce the insula-
tion around the NiTi wires. It also provides adequate
integrity between the insulation material and the small
surface areas of NiTi wires, as shown in Fig. 2. Figure 2
also shows a timber mould used to shape the freshly
mixed Vermitex TH around the NiTi wires. The mould
provided 15 mm thick insulation material around the
NiTi wires. The surfaces of the NiTi wires and part
of the stainless steel joints were cleaned to achieve
good adhesion to the insulation prior to casting it in
the mould. Accordingtothe manufacturers guidelines,
the insulation material was mixed with water using a
mechanical mixer, and the mixing ratio was 5 to 2 by
569
volume. The insulation material was kept for 7 days
for curing prior to testing the composite specimens at
high temperatures.
Steel beams withandwithout NiTi wires were tested
at high temperatures under different loading levels.
The loading level was a percentage of the beams sec-
tioncapacityat roomtemperature. The specimens were
labelled using the following stipulation method: load-
ing level-bare steel beam-availability of NiTi wires-
type of insulation used to protect the NiTi wires. For
instance, the specimen label 0.32S-NiTi-Ver indi-
cates a loading level of 32% from the section capacity
of that of composite beam at ambient temperature
with NiTi wires attached to the bare steel beam and
Vermitex insulation applied to the NiTi wires.
Specimens 0.32S, 0.44S and 0.6S represent the
reference specimens at high temperatures; they were
tested for the purpose of comparison with the steel-
NiTi composite beams. The beams were considered to
have failed if the deflection rate transformed from the
slowto the fast deterioration stage. The point where the
transformation occurs is termed the point of imminent
failure (PIF).
3.1 Temperature
The measuredtemperatures inFig. 3represent the aver-
age temperatures of the furnace environment, the steel
beam and the attached NiTi wires. Three thermocou-
ples were placed inside the furnace to measure the
environment temperature; the steel temperature was
measured using two thermocouples connected at the
top and bottom of the steel beam and very close to the
middle point where the plastic hinge would develop.
Two thermocouples were attached to the NiTi wires,
one in the middle distance between the gripping joints
and the other at the end of the wire close to the gripping
joint.
The environment temperature was controllable and
replicable for the all specimens and it was not affected
by the specimens configuration, as demonstrated in
Fig. 1. The steel temperature was also fairly con-
sistent among all the tested specimens. As a result,
identical thermal responses were obtained from the
reference specimens, 0.32S, 0.44S and 0.6S as shown
in Fig. 3(a).
3.2 Mid-span deflection
The vertical deflections at mid-span of the steel and
steel-NiTi composite beams are shown in Fig. 4.
Deflections of steel beams for the three loading lev-
els, 0.32, 0.44 and 0.6, all show two distinctive stages:
slow downward deflection in the early stage of fire
exposure, then rapid deflection at the late stage of fire
exposure.
On the other hand, deflections of steel-NiTi com-
posite beams demonstrates an upward deflection
initially; it gradually increases for S-NiTi-Ver spec-
imens, in the early stage of fire exposure. A dramatic
Table 1. Fire resistance of the tested beams.
Fire Steel NiTi
endurance temp. temp.
Specimen label (min.) (
C) (
C)
0.32S 32 550 N.A.
0.44S 17 405 N.A.
0.6S 12 305 N.A.
0.32S-NiTi-Ver 41 508 211
0.44S-NiTi-Ver 38 470 299
0.6S-NiTi-Ver 38 454 260
downward deflection occurred at the late stage of the
fire exposure. The point of imminent failure (PIF)
marks the transition between these two deflection pat-
terns. Had the standard fire curve, which has a much
higher heating rate than the current one, been used
for these experiments, the rate of the deflection would
have exceeded the commonly established failure cri-
teria at about the same PIF. For all specimens, the test
was terminated when the downward deflection had
reached L/20, which was 25 mm.
For conventional simply-supported beammembers,
the deflectionproducedduringa fire incident is usually
downward; however, the unusual upward deflection
can be achieved in the case of reinforcing the beam
with NiTi wires acting in the tension zone. The upward
deflection increases gradually in Fig. 4(d), (e) and (f)
with a maximum attained upward deflection between
8 to 12 mm, depending on the loading level applied to
the specimen.
3.3 Fire endurance
The fire endurance or time of failure of the tested
beams was determined from the deflection-time pro-
files. The determination of the fire endurance was
based on the PIF indicated in Fig. 4. Table 1 shows the
fire endurance and the limiting temperatures of the
steel and NiTi wires, respectively. The limiting tem-
peratures for the NiTi and steel beams were measured
experimentally at the time of failure.
The fire endurance of the reference specimens,
0.32S, 0.44S and 0.6S, decreased as the loading level
increased; in contrast it was around a constant time for
the S-NiTi-Ver composite specimens. More details are
given in the next section.
4 DISCUSSION
In general, the fire resistance of structural mem-
bers decreases as the loading level increases. The
decrease in the fire resistance of composite steel-
concrete columns is quite sensitive to loading levels
below and up to 0.4 (Lu, 2010). This also applies
to the fire endurance of the steel beams shown in
Fig. 5(a). Moreover, the critical temperature at that
time decreases by 45% from 0.32 to 0.6 loading level.
570
Figure 5. Fire resistance of steel and steel-NiTi composite
beams at different loading levels.
In contrast, the fire endurance of steel-NiTi composite
beams with 15 mmVermitex insulation applied to only
NiTi wires is almost constant and is not affected by
the increase of the loading level. At 0.6 loading level,
300% improvement in the fire endurance is achieved
for the steel-NiTi composite beams incomparisonwith
the steel beams, as shown in Fig. 5(a). The demon-
stration of such a high percentage of improvement in
the fire endurance of the composite beams is quite
encouraging.
Moreover, a slight reduction in the critical temper-
ature of the steel is observed for the composite beams.
There is about a 10% reduction as the loading level
increases from0.32 to 0.6. This is attributed to the fact
that the fire endurance of the beams remains constant
with the increasing of the loading level. Obviously,
the applied load is initially carried solely by the NiTi
wires. The increasing load affects only the magnitude
of the maximum upward deflection exerted from the
contracted NiTi wires, as shown in Fig. 4. The time of
attainingthe maximumupwarddeflectionis controlled
by the efficiency of the insulation material covering
the NiTi wires. It can be concluded that protecting
the NiTi wires for a longer time is the major factor
to improve the fire resistance of steel-NiTi composite
beams regardless of the applied loading level.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the behaviour of the steel-NiTi compos-
ite beam at high temperatures has been investigated
experimentally. Based on the experimental study pre-
sented in this paper the following conclusions can be
drawn:
Protecting the vulnerable NiTi wires is essential
to delay the recovery stress action generated from
the heated NiTi wires to a higher temperature and
compensate for the deterioration in the strength of
the steel component in the composite beam. Vermi-
tex insulation performs ideally with the NiTi wires
and its performance is expected to be better if a
larger diameter NiTi wires is used. In this manner
the insulation thickness can also be reduced and
optimised.
The fire endurance of the steel-NiTi composite
beam is independent of the loading level and it is
controlled by the failure of the NiTi wires.
The steel-NiTi composite beams show a very slight
decrease of only 10% in the measured critical tem-
perature as the loading level is increased which
makes this kind of structural members superior to
non-composite steel beams, especially when the
loading level exceeds the 0.35 ratio.
REFERENCES
Li L., Li Q. & Zhang F. (2007). Behavior of smart concrete
beams with embedded shape memory alloy bundles. J.
Intell. Mat. Sys. Str., 18, 10031014.
Lu, H. 2010. Fire behaviour of self-consolidating concrete-
filled double skin steel tubular columns. PhD Thesis,
Monash University.
Maji, A. & Negret, I. 1998. Smart prestressing with shape-
memory alloy. Journal of Engineering Mechanics, 124,
11211128.
Mo, Y., Song, G. & Otero, K. 2004. Development and testing
of a proof-of-concept smart concrete structure. Proceed-
ings of Smart Structures Technologies and Earthquake
Engineering. Osaka, Japan.
Sadiq, H., Wong, M. B., Al-Mahaidi, R. &Zhao, X. 2010. The
effects of heat treatment on the recovery stresses of shape
memory alloys. Smart Materials and Structures, 19, 17.
Sakai, Y., Kitagawa, Y., Fukuta, T. & Iiba, M. 2003. Exper-
imental study on enhancement of self-restoration of
concrete beams using SMA wire. In: Proceeding of SPIE,
5057, 178186.
Yang, S. M., Roh, J. H., Han, J. H. &Lee, I. 2006. Experimen-
tal studies on active shape control of composite structures
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571
Foundation and pavement engineering
Reviewof residential footingdesignonexpansivesoil inAustralia
A.M.A.N. Karunarathne, E.F. Gad, S. Sivanerupan& J.L. Wilson
Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
ABSTRACT: Many of thenewhousingsubdivisions inVictoriaareonexpansivesoils withthemajority of
housesbuilt beingtimber-framedbrick-veneer withslabonground. Giventhesensitivity of expansivesoilsto
changeof groundmoisturecontent andthelight natureof thesedomestic structures, significant crackingand
damageto newly constructed houses has been reported following theend of thedrought and above-average
rainfall receivedinthelast coupleof years. Thispaper ispart of anongoingmajor researchproject whichaims
toimprovethedesignandperformanceof residential footingsystems. Thepaper presentsareviewof someof
therelateddesignassumptionsintheAustralianStandardAS2870for slabsandfootings.
1 INTRODUCTION
Expansive soils are widely distributed all over
Australia. It is estimated that 20%of theAustralian
surface soils are expansive (Richards et al., 1983).
Light structures on expansive soils may experience
problems due to settlements or heave as a result of
soil movements.
Research studies on expansive soils commenced
in early 1950s in Australia. Aitchison and Holmes
(1953) investigated soil suctions and ground move-
mentsandexaminedthecompatibilityof therelation-
shipbetweensoil moistureandmovementinclaysoils.
Hollandetal. (1975), Cameron(1977), Walsh(1978),
Mitchell (1979 and 1980), and Pitt (1982) investi-
gatedtheperformanceof footingsonexpansivesoils
andderivedrelevant designconcepts. Theseresearch
effortsledtotheestablishmentof astandardtodesign
residential footings inAustralia, AS2870 which was
first published in 1986. Two following editions of
AS2870havebeenpublishedin1996and2011which
refinedthedesignprocessasaresult of newresearch
andfieldinvestigations.
Thestandardprovidesasimplifiedapproachtocal-
culate the free surface movement in expansive soil.
When a slab is placed on expansive soil, the slab
becomes a moisture barrier and differential ground
movement occurs across the slab. The differential
movement alongtheslabiscalledmoundprofileand
themound profilecan bepredicted based on Walsh
(1978) methodor Mitchell (1979) method. A mound
profilewill havetwomainshapesof centreheaveand
edgeheaveintwodifferentmoistureconditionsunder
theslab. Centreheavewouldoccur infootingsbyhav-
inghighsoil moistureconditionunder theslabcentre
while edge heave would occur by having high soil
moistureconditionat theperimeter of theslab. Both
Walsh(1978)andMitchell (1979)methodsusethecal-
culatedfreesurfacemovement anddepthof moisture
changeas theonly parameters to predict themound
profiles. Basedonthemoundprofiles, thestiffnessof
theslabanddimensions (slabthickness, beamdepth
and reinforcement) can be calculated. These meth-
odsareusedfor threedecadesinAustraliaandbeing
improvedtimeto timeby assessingtheperformance
of footings.
AitchisonandRichards(1965) studiedtheeffectof
climateonsoil moisturecondition.Theyusedmeteoro-
logical datafrommorethan600stationsandproduced
aclimatebasedsoil moisturemapforAustralia.There
are many studies that followed the work done by
AitchisonandRechards, e.g. Mitchell (1984), Barnett
andKingsland(1999), Fityusetal. (1998), Fox(2000).
Thosestudiesconsideredtheeffectof climatewhichin
turnaffectsthemoistureconditionunder thefooting.
AS2870(1996) consideredtheclimateeffect through
theuseof theclimatemapprovidedbyAitchisonand
Richards(1965).
Inrecentmonths, therehavebeenseveral reportsin
the media (THE-AGE, 2011, ACA, 2012) regarding
footingmovementsassociatedwithedgeheave.
This paper reviews specific factors affecting the
footing design procedure described inAS2870 with
particular emphasisonclimateconditions.
2 FOOTINGDESIGNINACCORDANCE
WITHAS2870
AS2870 classifies the expansiveness of soil by the
characteristic surface movement (y
s
), which corre-
spondstogroundsettlementorheavewithinthedesign
life of the structure due to change in soil moisture
content. The design life of a structure is 50 years
575
for residential buildings. AS2870 specifies y
s
as a
functionof instability index (I
pt
), soil suctionchange
at ground surface(U) and design depth of suction
change(H
s
) asshowninEquation1. Expectedvertical
movement of asoil layer of thicknessh iscalculated
and thetotal surfacemovement is thesummation of
eachlayer movement uptoH
s
.
ThefootingdesignproceduredescribedinAS2870
isbasedonsiteclassification. AS2870(1996) classi-
fiesthesitesfromslightlyreactivetohighlyreactive.
Highly reactive sites are further divided into H1
and H2 inAS2870 (2011). Areas having more than
3mH
s
valuesarecategorisedasdeepseatedmoisture
variationsitesandfurtherclassifiedasS-D, M-D, H-D
andE-D.
AS2870(1996and2011) providessuitablefooting
types according to the site classification in deemed
to comply provisions. Furthermore, AS2870 allows
designing footings using engineering principles for
anysiteclassification.
3 FACTORSAFFECTINGY
S
Expansiveproperties of asoil arerepresentedby the
Instability Index, I
pt
. The I
pt
depends on the verti-
cal strain of soil per unit change in suction which
termedasshrinkageindex, I
ps
. Expectedswellingand
shrinkage of soil is estimated by shrink-swell index
test. WalshandCameron(1997) specify that shrink-
swell test described in AS1289 (1992) is the most
appropriatemethodtoobtainI
ps
withsignificantlower
coefficient of variation comparedto other tests such
as loaded shrinkage, coreshrinkageetc. Theshrink-
swell test consistsof axial swell strainobtainedfrom
onedimensional consolidationtestandaxial shrinkage
strain obtained froman unrestrained core shrinkage
test (AS1289, 1992). Thenthetotal vertical straincan
becalculatedbyaddingthesetwoquantities. AS1289
(1992) assumesthat duringtheonedimensional con-
solidationtest thesuppressedlateral expansionof the
sampleinsidetheringwouldbetransmittedintover-
tical direction. This fundamental differencebetween
free shrinkage and one dimensional swelling is cor-
rected by dividing the swell result by a factor of 2
before adding themtogether. Suction variation dur-
ingswellingandshrinkingistakenas1.8pF whichis
usedto calculatethestrainper unit suction. Detailed
description of the shrink-swell index estimation and
shortcomingsarecoveredinFityuset al. (2005).
I
pt
isderivedfromI
ps
byconsideringaspecificlat-
eral restraintfactor()dependingonthesitecondition.
The lateral restraint factor accounts for the cracked
andtheuncrackedzones upto H
s
. It is assumedthat
no soil movement occurs below10mdepthfromthe
groundsurfaceandhenceAS2870defines thefactor
at depth Z fromtheground surfaceusing Equa-
tion2for theuncrackedzone. Thefactor, istakenas
Figure 1. Theoretical suction profiles given in Mitchell
(1980).
1for thecrackedzoneto neglect theeffect of lateral
restraint.
Soil suction profile can be defined fromsuction
measurements at different depths duringwet anddry
periods.Theobservedwetanddrysuctionvaluesusu-
ally decreaserapidly withdepth(Fityuset al., 2004),
Fityusetal., 1998). Mitchell (1980) assumedatrum-
petshapedsuctionprofile(Figure1)toderiveconcept
of swellingof expansivesoil.Suctionprofileisapprox-
imated to a triangular shape in AS2870 (1996 and
2011) and recommends U values for certain loca-
tions inAustralia. However, higher U values have
been recorded in some continuous field monitoring
(Fityus et al., 1998, Fityus et al., 2004). Under esti-
mation of U would lead to underestimation of y
s
.
Vegetation which is adjacent to the structures may
affect thesuctionprofileandhenceincreases they
s
.
However, effect of vegetationis beyondthescopeof
thispaper.
Insoil physics, thesoil suctionisreferredtoasthe
potential energy stateof water inthesoil (J ury et al.,
1991). Therefore, thesoil suction and H
s
depend on
thesoil moisturecondition. H
s
variationcorrelatesto
theclimateconditioninAS2870. It specifies that H
s
maybeestimatedbasedoncalculationof theThornth-
waiteMoistureIndex(TMI) for atleast25yearsusing
therelationshipgiveninthestandard. A TMI mapfor
Victoriais providedinAS2870whichwas originally
producedbyAitchisonandRichards(1965).Theorig-
inal map was based on climatic datafor the20 year
periodof 19401960.
Theclimateof Victoriahas beenchanginginpar-
ticular withrespecttoprolongedseveredroughts. The
last drought was followed by a period with above
averagerainfall which madeasignificant changein
the weather pattern (BoM, 2012). The influence of
change in climate condition directly affects the soil
moisturecondition. Thereareseveral studies (Fityus
etal., 1998, Walshetal., 1998, BarnettandKingsland,
1999, Fox, 2000, McManus et al., 2004, Chan and
Mostyn, 2008) focusing on the effect of climate on
H
s
, whichproduceddifferent relationships of H
s
and
TMI. Thosestudieswerebasedonfieldinvestigations
576
Figure 2. Relationship between Hs and TMI (Mitchell,
2008).
of H
s
andTMI calculation. Mitchell (2008) provides
asummaryof thosestudies. Figure2showsagraphi-
cal representationof therelationshipbetweenH
s
and
TMI given in Mitchell (2008). Mitchell (2008) rec-
ommends a3.7m6.0mrangefor H
s
inaridclimate
(TMI <40) areasinsteadof theAS2870(1996) pro-
vision of 4.0 mdepth of H
s
for arid climates. The
Figure2indicates that theH
s
increases withincreas-
ing aridity of the climate. Therefore, it is advisable
to consider thecorresponding effect of H
s
on they
s
estimationin2011editionof AS2870.
4 THORNTHWAITE MOISTURE INDEX
C.W. Thornthwaite introduced a moisture index to
quantify theclimatevariations(Thornthwaite, 1948).
It consistsof twoindicestoaccount for aridity, I
a
and
humidity,I
h
.Theseindicesaredefinedbysoil moisture
deficit(D) andsurplusorrunoff (R) whicharerelated
toprecipitation(P)andevapotranspiration(PE).Equa-
tions3to5showthedefinitionof I
a
, I
h
andPE which
aregiveninThornthwaite(1948),
wheret ismeanmonthlytemperatureandI isannual
heat index which is taken as summation of monthly
heat indexvalues(i).
PE showninEquation5isgivenfor 30-daymonth
for alocation having 12 hour daylight. Therefore, it
needs to bemultipliedby two factors whichaccount
for daylight hours for thelocationfor agivenmonth
(f
1
) andnumber of daysper month(f
2
),
where d is the number of hours in a day between
sunriseandsunsetinamonthandN isthenumber of
daysforaparticularmonth.Valuesforf
1
aretabulated
inThornthwaite(1948) for different latitudes.
I
a
and I
h
are correlated with a water balance
approach for consecutiveperiods. Equation 10gives
theTMI formulaintroducedbyThornthwaite(1948).
The TMI calculation has some assumptions to
obtainpotential evapotranspiration, actual evapotran-
spiration, moisture surplus and deficit. The steps of
thecalculation procedurearedescribedbelow. More
detaileddescriptionis includedinChanandMostyn
(2008) and McKeen and J ohnson (1990). In 1955,
theTMI formulawas modifiedbyThornthwaiteand
Mather (Mather, 1974) by removing the factor of
0.6 fromthe aridity index. It was further modified
by Mather (1974) and produced a simplified equa-
tion. Equation11showstheMatherssimplifiedTMI
equationwhichavoids thecalculationof surplus and
deficit and requires only the precipitation (P) and
potential evapotranspiration(PE).
ThreecommonapproachesofTMI calculationwere
identified which are based on different assumptions
relatedtowaterbalancecalculation.Thornthwaiteand
Mather(1955) and.Mather(1978) assumedthatwater
removal fromthesoil becomes increasingly difficult
asthesoil becomesdrier (whenP PEbecomesnega-
tive) and soil moisture storage never becomes zero.
Accordingly, Thornthwaite and Mather (1955) pro-
ducedtablestocalculatethesoil moistureretention. In
thispaper thismethodisreferredtoasMethod1. An
alternativeapproachusedbyseveral other researchers
assume that when a soil becomes drier, the addi-
tional requirement for theevapotranspiration can be
extractedfromsoil moisturestorageuntil thesoil mois-
ture becomes zero (Fityus et al., 1998; Barnett and
Kingsland, 1999; Fox, 2000; McManus et al., 2004;
Chan and Mostyn, 2008; Lopes and Osman, 2010;
Mitchell 2008 & 2009). This method is referred to
asMethod2inthispaper. Finally, AustRoads(2004)
adoptedtheassumptionusedinMethod2butuseddif-
ferent definitionfor themoisturesurplus. AustRoads
(2004) definessurplusasbothsoil moisturerecharge
andexcessmoistureover themaximumstoragewhile
Methods1and2defineit asonlytheexcessmoisture
577
over themaximumstorage. TheAustRoadsmethodis
referredtoasMethod3.
Soil moisture storages need to be assumed in all
three methods. Fityus et al. (1998) investigated the
sensitivity of assumedsoil moistureusingtwodiffer-
ent methodsof TMI calculationcalledyear-by-year
analyses and average year analysis. The calcula-
tion procedure of TMI using year-by-year method
proceedsasfollows.
1. Monthly rainfall and temperature data are col-
lectedfromclimaterecordsfortherequired20year
period.
2. Mean monthly temperature, (t) is obtained by
calculating the average of mean minimum and
meanmaximumtemperaturesfor eachmonth.
3. Monthly potential evapotranspiration, (PE) is cal-
culatedusingEquation5.
4. (P
i
PE
i
) iscalculatedfor eachmonth, i.
5. Soil moisture storage (S) is calculated using
assumed initial moisture storage (S
0
) and maxi-
mumsoil moisture storage (S
max
). When (P-PE)
ispositiveandsoil moistureislessthanS
max
then
thepositivevalueis addedto theprevious month
soil moisture.
6. Changeinsoil moisture(S) is calculated. S is
equal to(S
i1
S
i
) for monthi.
7. Actual Evapotranspiration, (AE) is calculated.
When (P
i
+S) is greater than or equal to PE
i
,
thenAE
i
isequal toPE
i
. OtherwiseAE
i
isequal to
(P
i
+S).
8. MoisturesurplusorRunoff (R)iscalculated.When
P
i
isgreaterthanAE
i
, thenRisequal to(P
i
AE
i
).
OtherwiseR isequal tozero.
9. Moisturedeficit (D) is calculated and is equal to
(PE
i
AE
i
).
10. Annual PE, S and R values are taken as the
summationof monthlycalculations.
11. Annual I
h
, I
a
calculatedbasedonannual PE, Sand
R usingEquations3and4.
12. TMI iscalculatedusingEquation10for eachyear.
13. AverageTMI valueis takenfor theconsidered20
year period.
Ontheotherhand, thecalculationprocedureofTMI
usingaverageyear methodproceedsasfollows.
1. Monthlyrainfall andtemperaturedataarecollected
fromclimate records for the considered 20 year
period.
2. Rainfall and temperature data are averaged and
arrangedinto singleyear to represent the20year
data.
3. Calculate monthly PE, S, R for that single year.
(Using step 2 to 11 described in year-by-year
method)andthencalculateTMI forthatsingleyear.
Fityusetal.(1998)concludedthattheaverageyear
analysisismoresensitivetotheinitial andmaximum
soil moisturestoragevalues. AitchisonandRichards
(1965) assumed S
max
of 100mmto obtain theTMI
for more than 600 locations in Australia. Chan and
Mostyn(2008) concludedthat theS
0
depends onthe
climateandproposedtheuseof 0mmfor dry, 50mm
for temperateand100mmfor wet conditions.
Theeffect of climatevariationonH
s
hasbeencon-
sidered in several studies in different states (Smith,
1993; Fityusetal., 1998; BarnettandKingsland, 1999;
Fox, 2000; McManuset al., 2004; ChanandMostyn,
2008; Lopes and Osman, 2010). Fityus et al. (1998)
correlatedtheTMI andH
s
. They usedEquation4to
obtainTMI for38locationsandproposeddetailedTMI
mapfortheHunterValleyarea. McManusetal. (2004)
producedTMI mapsfor Queensland, SouthAustralia,
Western Australia, New South Wales and Victoria.
They createddifferent TMI maps for 19401960and
19601991periodstoillustratethechangesinclimate
zones. Their results highlightedthat thoseareas have
shownatrendof dryingsince1964. LopesandOsman
(2010) calculatedTMI for certainVictoriantownsfor
three different time periods 19481967, 19681987
and19882007.
Lopes andOsman(2010) usedevapotranspiration
datafromSILO(SILO, 2011). ItisbasedonMortons
(1983) model which uses different parameters to
obtainPEandAEsuchasincomingandoutgoingsolar
radiationdata, vapour transfer coefficient, meantem-
peratures, etc. Basedontheresults, LopesandOsman
(2010) concludedthatTMI valuesof thosetownshave
changedandAitchisonandRichards(1965)TMI map
is not validfor theclimateconditionintheperiodof
19882007. Furthermore, Lopes and Osman (2010)
proposedH
s
valuescorrespondingtotheTMI results
for19882007.TheyconcludedthatH
s
haveincreased
to 3.03.5mfor somelocations inVictoriawhichin
turnwouldresult inabout 2530%increaseiny
s
.
TheVictorianclimatemapinAS2870is identical
inthe1996and2011editions. Theclimatezones15
are the same for the Victorian cities in both maps.
However, thestandardchangedtheTMI rangeof each
zonefrom1996to2011. Thevaluesof eachzoneare
reducedto accommodatethetrendof dryingclimate
in Victoria. In addition, AS2870 (2011) introduced
anew climatezone(Zone6). In 1996, AS2870 rec-
ommended H
s
rangeof 1.5m2.3mfor Melbourne.
In 2011 edition, H
s
values areincreased slightly for
certain locations and for Melbourne it increased to
arangeof 1.8m2.3m.
For the study produced in this paper, variations
of climatecondition in certainVictorian towns have
been considered. Equation 10 which was used by
Aitchison and Richards (1965) was used to obtain
TMI values. ResultingTMI calculations showedthat
theassumedvaluefor S
0
hasnosignificant effect on
TMI when usingyear-by-year analysis for 20year
period.Therefore, S
0
andS
max
aretakenas100mmfor
all consideredlocations. TMI values werecalculated
for theperiodof 19401960tocheck thecompatibil-
ity of results withAS2870 (1996). NewTMI values
werecalculatedfor 19912011periodto includethe
effects of the recent prolonged drought in Victoria.
TMI valueswerecalculatedformorethan30locations
inVictoria. Methods1and2producedsimilar values
andarelower thanthevaluesproducedby Method3.
578
Table1. CalculatedTMI andAS2870specifiedvaluesfor selectedtownsinVictoria.
Timeperiod19401960 Timeperiod19912011
Calculated Calculated
Climate TMI valuesgiven TMI valuesgiven
Town Zone Average Stdv inAS2870(1996) Average Stdv inAS2870(2011)
Ballarat 2 37 19 10TMI <40 21 19 5TMI <10
BacchusMarsh 3 4 17 5TMI <10 15TMI <5
Bundoora 2 10TMI <40 11 19 5TMI <10
Echuca 4 15 16 25TMI <5 25TMI <15
East Sale 2 19 18 10TMI <40 1 16 5TMI <10
Essendon 3 10 15 5TMI <10 15TMI <5
Kyabram 4 25TMI <5 14 16 25TMI <15
Laverton 3 6 13 5TMI <10 8 15 15TMI <5
Lismore 2 22 16 10TMI <40 5TMI <10
Longerenong 4 14 14 25TMI <5 15 14 25TMI <15
Melbourne 2 18 14 10TMI <40 1 18 5TMI <10
Mildura 5 33 9 TMI <25 35 13 40TMI <25
However, values fromMethod3aremoreconsistent
withthevalues giveninAS2870(1996). HenceTMI
values obtainedfromMethod3arecomparedinthis
paper. Table1compares theTMI values obtainedby
Method3andgivenrangesinVictorianclimatezone
mapinAS2870(1996and2011).Table1includesonly
12locationsduetospacelimitation.
TheTMI values inTable 1 show that the climate
of selected Victorian cities has changed and those
citieshavelower TMI valuesthantheyhadin1960s.
Furthermore, Table1 shows that thecalculatedTMI
values for most of the selected locations for the
period of 19912011 are within the limits specified
inAS2870(2011).
Austroads (2004) predicted the expected changes
inAustralian climateto theyear 2100. It concluded
that most of Australiancitieswill havedryer climatic
conditionin2100thantheyhadin2000.Accordingto
theprediction, currentTMI valuesinmostofVictorian
citieswill bereducedby15in100years. Indeed, based
ontheresultspresentedinTable1,somelocationshave
seen a reduction in TMI value of 15 in the last 50
years. Therefore, giventhatTMI andsubsequentlyH
s
valuesarebasedonhistorical data, thereshouldbean
allowancefor potential changesduringthedesignlife
of thestructure. It isthereforeproposedtoadopt aH
s
valuefor designthatisbasedonaprobabilisticdesign
event rather thanusingasinglevaluewhichrepresent
current statusasopposedtofutureconditions.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Factors affecting the estimation of y
s
in AS2870
including climatechangearereviewed in this paper.
AS2870usesTMI toaccountfor theeffectsof climate
on footing design. TMI can becalculated using dif-
ferentapproacheswhicharebasedoncertainassump-
tions. Effects of the climate change since 1960 are
adoptedin 2011edition of AS2870in terms of TMI
and slightly increased theH
s
limits for certain loca-
tions. However, the increase introduced in AS2870
(2011) insomelocationsmaybeinsufficient tocover
theresultingeffects ony
s
duringthedesignlifeof a
structure.
Thisresearchiscontinuingwhichinthenear future
will cover extensivefield monitoring and modelling
to better estimatethedesign parameters to takeinto
account futuredesignevents.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research is funded by ARC linkage Project
LP100200306. The authors gratefully acknowledge
the financial and technical support provided by the
collaborating organizations, namely; Building Com-
mission (BC), Victorian Office of Housing (OoH),
Foundation and Footing Society of Victoria(FFSV),
Association of Consulting Structural Engineers
Victoria(ACSEV) and Housing Engineering Design
andResearchAssociation(HEDRA).
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580
Analysisof pilegroupbehaviour duetoexcavtioninduced
groundmovements
R. Nishanthan, D.S. Liyanapathirana& C.J. Leo
School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Thispaperpresentstheimpactof excavationinducedgroundmovementsonadjacentpilegroups.
Numerical simulationsareperformedonfree-headandcappedpileswithdifferentpileconfigurations.Thepiles,
pilecapandretainingwall areassumedto havelinear elastic behaviour. Constitutivebehaviour of thesoil is
modelledusingtheMohr Coulombmodel. Finiteelement methodwasusedtomodel aseriesof centrifugetests
reportedintheliterature. Thepredictedandmeasuredvaluesof deflectionandbendingmoment arecompared.
Theproblemwasmodelledinthreedimensionstosimulatethearchingandshieldingeffect of pileswithinthe
pilegroup. Theresponseof interior pilesandperipheral pilesarealsoinvestigated. It wasfoundthat presence
of front pilesreducethedetrimental effectsontherear pileswithinthegroup. Analysisshowstheprovisionof
pilegapsignificantlyreducesthedeflectionof pilegroupduetoloadtransfer totherear piles, whicharelocated
awayfromtheexcavationwall.
1 INTRODUCTION
Excavationadjacent to pilefoundations, for thecon-
struction of basement, mass rapid transit station and
other undergroundfacilitiesincongestedurbanareas,
areinevitable. Duringtheexcavation, duetothestress
release in the adjacent soil, the confine pressure
aroundthepilefoundationstendstoreducedrastically
andfinallyinduceadditional deflectionsandbending
momentsinpiles. Thesedetrimental effectsshouldbe
quantifiedatthedesignstage, inordertomakesurethe
stabilityof thestructureagainst grounddeformations
duetonearbyexcavations.
Somecasehistories (Finno et al. 1991, Gohet al.
2003) werereportedinthepast, wherethepilegroups
werelocatedadjacent todeepexcavations. Numerous
studies (bothnumerical andexperimental) havebeen
carried out in the last few decades to study on sin-
glepileresponseadjacent toexcavations. Theoretical
studieswerecarriedout(PoulosandChen1997;Zhang
et al. 2011) usingthefiniteelement method, bound-
ary element method and finitedifferencemethod to
find out the pile response due to influence factors
suchasdepthof excavation, supportsystem, soil prop-
erties, loading conditions, pile head conditions and
pileproperties. Similarfindingswereestablishedfrom
centrifugetestscarriedoutinsand(Leungetal. 2000)
andclayeysoils(Onget al. 2006a).
Only fewstudieshavebeencarriedout onthepile
groupresponseduetoexcavationinducedmovements.
Leunget al. (2003) investigatedthepilegroupbehav-
ior in sandy soil, during excavation induced ground
movementsusingcentrifugetests,wherefree-headand
capped-head pile groups made of two, four and six
pileswereconsidered. PoulosandChen(1997)studied
pile group response due to excavation induced lat-
eral movementsby introducingagroupfactor, which
dependsonthepilehorizontal spacing.
In this paper, finite element method was used to
study the pile group behavior during excavations.
Centrifuge tests reported in the Ong et al. (2006b)
weremodeledusingthreedimensional finiteelement
models. Thepredictedpileresponseiscomparedwith
measured response and the pile group behaviour is
discussedduringtheexcavation.
2 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
Thefiniteelement model usedinthisanalysisisveri-
fiedagainsttheCentrifugetestresultsreportedinOng
et al. (2006b) whichusedto investigatethebehavior
of apilegroupinclay, near toanunsupportedexcava-
tionbehindastablewall. Test wascarriedout at 50g
at theNational University of Singaporegeotechnical
centrifuge. Themodel container hasprototypedimen-
sions of 27m10m23.5m. TheKaolin clay was
filled up to a depth of 6.5mabove aToyoura sand
layer whichhas athickness of 6.0m. Figure1shows
thevariation of undrained shear strength of theclay
withdepth,obtainedusingT-barpenetrometertest.The
distribution shows that top 2.5msoil crust was over
consolidated and soil below that level was normally
consolidated.Thesoil regionthatneedstobeexcavated
wasreplacedbyLatexbagfilledwithZnCl
2
solution
whichhasaunitweightequivalenttotheclay. Pilesare
modelled using hollow square aluminumtubes with
outer prototype dimension of 630mmincluding an
581
Table1. Pileconfigurationsusedintheanalysis.
PileGroup Test PileHead
Configuration No Values Condition
T5 e=3m Freehead
T6 e=5m Freehead
T7 e=7m Freehead
T8 e=1m, s=2m Freehead
T9 e=1m, s=2m Cappedhead
epoxycoating, whichwasappliedtoavoidthedistur-
banceof thestraingaugesinstrumentedalongapile.
Thepileis12.5minlengthinprototypescaleandhasa
bendingrigidityof 2.210
5
kNm
2
(prototypescale).
Thewall ismadeof anAluminumplate, whichhasa
thicknessof 150mmandalengthof 8minprototype
scale. The wall has a prototype bending stiffness of
2.410
4
kNm
2
/m. Thepilecapwas modelledusing
analuminiumsheet. Herethe1.2mdeepexcavation
wascarriedout bydrainingtheZnCl
2
solutionat 50g
in six steps over 2 days (proto type scale). Table 1
shows the various centrifuge tests reported by Ong
et al. (2006b).
A total stress analysis was carried out assuming
undrained behaviour for the clay. The stress- strain
behavior of claywassimulatedusingMohr-Coulomb
criteria. Undrainedshear strengthof clay canbeesti-
matedusingthefollowingequation(Ongetal. 2006b),
where undrained shear strength values vary linearly
withdepth.
wherec
u
is undrained shear strength of theclay
vo
isvertical effectivestressandOCR isoverconsolida-
tionratioof theclay.TheYoungsmodulusof thekaolin
wascalculatedusingE
c
/c
u
=400.Thisisareasonable
valuefor clay under lateral loadingas mentionedby
Poulos and Davis (1980). Theinternal friction angle
and thePoissons ratio for theclay wereassumed as
zero and 0.49, respectively under undrained condi-
tions. Lateral earth pressure coefficient at rest, K
o
,
was taken as one. The unit weight of the soil is
16.5kN/m
3
, whichisgivenbyOngetal. (2006b).The
Toyurasandlayer belowclay wasmodelledusingthe
Figure1. Variationof Undrainedshear strengthwithdepth
(Onget al. 2006b).
Mohr-Coulombmodel with an internal fricton angle
of 40
andaYoungsmodulusof 6zMPa, wherezisthe

depthbelowsurface(Onget al. 2006). ThePoissons
ratio of thesand is assumed to be0.3. Thepileand
wall behaviour weremodelledassuminglinear elastic
behaviour.
The centrifuge tests for different pile configura-
tions were modelled using three-dimensional finite
element models according to the prototype scale.
ABAQUS/Standard finite element code was used to
investigate the problem. Pre-processing and post-
processing was carried out using ABAQUS/CAE.
Only half of the problemwas modelled due to the
symmetryof theloadingandgeometry.Thestructured
meshingtechniqueinABAQUSwasusedtomeshthe
wall, pile and the soil. Swept meshing was used to
model thesoil regionnear thepile.
Thebottomsoil nodeswererestrainedfrommove-
ment in all directions (u
x
=u
y
=u
z
=0). Since the
grease was applied along all four vertical sides of
thecontainer, nodes over thesesidefaces arefreeto
move in the vertical and horizontal directions along
thefacesof thecontainer andrestrainedindirections
perpendicular totheplanesof sidefaces.
A pinnedboundary conditionwas usedat thebot-
tomof the pile. Since solid elements were used for
thepile, restrainingthemovement inall directionsat
thepiletoewill createafixedboundaryconditionand
finally resultedahighbendingmoment at thetoeof
thepile. Toavoidthisproblem, onlythebottomcenter
nodeof thepilewas pinned. Coulombfictionmodel
was used to simulatethesoil-pileinteraction, which
is governedby africtioncoefficient. Hereavalueof
0.3 was selected as the friction coefficient. Results
obtainedwithdifferent frictioncoefficients allowing
slippageandseparationat thesoil-pileinterfaceshow
that the behaviour of the laterally loaded pile is not
muchaffectedby thefrictioncoefficient. Brownand
582
Figure2. (a) Piledeflectionand(b) Pilebendingmoment
forTest 10.
Shie (1990) also mentioned that when there is any
roomfor slippageandseparation, frictioncoefficient
atthepile-soil interfacedoesnothavemuchinfluence
onthepilebehaviour. Another advantageof allowing
slippageandseparationatthepile-soil interfaceisthat
it will avoidtheover estimationof thedeflectionand
bending moment along the pile. Piles, wall and soil
weremodelledusingtwenty-nodequadrilateral brick
elementswithreducedintegrationformulation.
3 RESULTSANDANALYSIS
Thedeflectionof piletowardstheexcavationisconsid-
eredaspositive. Thebendingmoment inducedalong
the pile is considered as positive, when the curva-
tureis formedtowards theexcavation. Thefollowing
notations arealso used: SP singlepile, FP front
pile, RP Rear pile, C calculated values and
M measuredvalue.
3.1 Pile group with two piles
Figure 2 shows the computed and measured pile
responsefor theTest 10 (T10 inTable1) at theend
of 1.2m depth of excavation, where the two free-
head piles are located 3mand 5maway fromthe
excavation. Sincethisisanunbracedexcavation, piles
Figure3. Comparisonof pileheaddeflection.
Figure4. Comparisonof maximumbendingmoment.
deformin cantilever shape. Deflection of front pile,
obtained fromthe finite element analysis is slightly
underpredictedwhilethedeflectionof rearpileisover
predicted.
This may bedueto theinhomogeneous soil shear
strength parameters in thelateral direction. As illus-
tratedinFigure1, different undrainedshear strength
profiles were obtained at distance of 1.5mand 3m
fromtheexcavationafterthecompletionof excavation.
Thepredictedbendingmoment profileiswell agreed
with the measured values. The maximum bending
momentoccursnearthemidspanof thepile.Themax-
imuminducedmomentintherearpileis15%lessthan
thatof asinglepileatthesamelocationasmentionedin
Figure4. This phenomenonreveals that thepresence
of front pile tends to shield the excavation induced
movement ontherear pileandoverall deflectionalso
got reduced dueto higher reinforcing effect of piles
withinthegroupwithincreasingnumberof piles. Here
only a2mcentreto centrespacinghas beenconsid-
ered. Theratioof pilespacingover pilediameter may
have a significant influence on the shielding effect.
Thisshouldbeinvestigatedindetail inthefuture.
The predicted and measured values of deflec-
tion and bending moment along the pile located at
adistance1mand3mfromtheexcavation(T8) are
showninfigure5.Theresponseof rearpileiswell pre-
dictedusingthenumerical analysiswhiletheresponse
of frontpileishighlyunderpredicted.Thisdiscrepancy
583
forTest 8.
is due to the pile location. The front pile is located
within the 1.5m zone, where the undrained shear
strength reduced drastically after the excavation. In
thiscase, thereisonly5%reductioninthemaximum
moment inducedintherear piledueto thepresence
of front pile located 1maway fromthe excavation.
Hence, wecanconcludethat shieldinghaslessinflu-
enceonlateral pileresponsewhenthefreeheadpiles
arecloser totheexcavation.
Figure6comparesthepredictedpileresponsewith
themeasuredvalues for theTest 11. Hereaconcrete
pilecapwithplanar dimensions of 3m1.25mand
1.55mis used. The predicted pile deflection values
areverymuchhigher thanthevaluesrecordedduring
thecentrifugetest. Similarpatternof bendingmoment
profilesareobtainedfromthenumerical analysisand
centrifuge test, except the maximumand minimum
values.
During the centrifuge test analysis, bending
momentvalueswereobtainedusingstraingaugesand
thedeflectioncurveswerededucedbyintegratingthe
bending moment profile twice. Significant negative
bendingmomentvalueswereobservedatthetipof the
front pileandtherear pileandthisvalueishigher in
therear pilewhencomparedtothefrontpile. Bending
forTest 11.
moment profileof thefront pileexperiencesadouble
curvature. Thepositiveandnegativebendingmoment
valuesarecomparableasshowninFigure6.
Duetorigidityof thepilecapandpinnedcondition
at thetoe, similar deflectionvalueswereobservedfor
front pileandrear pile. Thefront piletends to bulge
morecompared to therear one. Thereis about 40%
and20%reductioninthemaximumdefectionof the
front andrear piles, respectively, whenthereisapro-
vision of pile cap according to Figure 3. As shown
infigure4, whenthepilecapis provided, maximum
bending moment value in the front pile reduced by
18.5%whilethemaximumbendingmomentintherear
pileincreasedby9%. Thisphenomenonindicatesthat
theprovisionof pilecapisuseful tocontrol thelateral
movement aswell asmaximuminducedmoment.
3.2 Pile group with four piles
Figure7showsthemeasuredandpredictedresponseof
22freeheadpiles(T12) andthosearesimilar tothe
Test 10 results. The predicted location of maximum
bending moment slightly differs fromthe measured
one. Dueto thearchingeffect betweenthepiles ina
row,parallel tothewall,thepiledeflectionandbending
momentvaluesareslightlylesswhencomparedtoTest
584
Figure7. (a) Piledeflection and (b) bending moment for
Test 12.
Figure8. (a) Piledeflection and (b) bending moment for
Test 13.
10(T10), wheretwopilesarelocatedinalineperpen-
diculartothewall asshowninFigure4.Thisdifference
maybesignificant whentheratioof pilespacingover
pilediameter decreases.
Figure9. (a) Piledeflectionfor Test 14, (b) Piledeflection
forTest 14.
Thepredictedandmeasuredvalues of piledeflec-
tionandbendingmoment for Test 13arepresentedin
Figure8.Inthiscase22pilegroupwascappedusing
a3mwideconcretepilecap, which has athickness
of 1.55m. The front and rear piles are located 3m
and5mfromtheexcavation. Finiteelement analysis
highlyover predictsthepileresponsewhencompared
totheresultsobtainedfromthecentrifugetest. These
results aresimilar to thecasewith capped-head pile
group with two piles. Again a substantial negative
bendingmoment isdevelopedalongtheupper part of
thepile,whereasthepositivebendingmomentinduced
alongthelower part of thepileissmaller thanthat of
freeheadpilegroupwithfour piles. Provisionof pile
cap leads to a 15% reduction in maximumbending
moment inducedinfront pileandonly3%increment
inbendingmoment developedintherear pile.
3.3 Pile group with six piles
Twocappedheadpilegroupswithsixpileswereanal-
ysedas shownintheTable1. Thefirst caseinvolved
with a group of 32 piles (test 14) connected by
aconcretepilecap, which has planar dimensions of
5m3mand1.55mthickness. Theinduceddeflec-
tion and bending moment profiles at the end of the
excavationfor pileslocatedat3, 5, and7mareshown
inFigure9. Inthis casealso predictedpileresponse
585
valuesareverymuchhigherthanthemeasuredvalues.
It is worthy to notethat, inthefiniteelement analy-
sis, themaximumpositivemoment isinducedonthe
leadingpilerow, similar to other cases, whereas the
maximumnegativebendingmomentinducedalongthe
upper portionof therear pileandthis is onthecon-
trary to the results obtained for the free head piles,
wherethemaximumbendingmoment decreaseswith
thepiledistance. Theseresults indicatethat thepile
caphelps tomoderatethebendingmoments induced
inthepileswithinthepilegroupby transferringpart
of thebending moment to rear piles. Themaximum
deflectionof thepilecapis also less thanthat of the
singlepilelocatedat therear pilepositionof thepile
group.
4 CONCLUSION
Threedimensional numerical modellingisusedtosim-
ulate a series of centrifuge tests carried out at the
centrifugefacilityattheNational Universityof Singa-
poreinthisstudy. Theresultsobtainedfromthefinite
element analysis showed good agreement with cen-
trifugetest resultsfor thefree-headpiles. Inthecase
of cappedpiles,computedvaluesareverymuchhigher
thanthemeasuredvalues. Thepresenceof front piles
tends to reduce the excavation induced moments in
rear piles. Incappedheadpiles, themaximumlateral
movement is less than that of rear pile with a free-
head. Theprovisionof pilecaphelpstomoderatethe
excavationinducedlateral movementsandmaximum
bendingmomentsinpilegroups.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the finan-
cial assistance provided by theAustralian Research
Council for this research under the Discovery grant
DP1094309.
REFERENCES
ABAQUSInc. (2010), ABAQUSversion6.10usersmanual,
Providence, RhodeIsland, USA.
BrownD. A. & Shie. C. F. (1990), Threedimensional Fnite
element model of laterally loadedpiles, Computers and
Geotechnics, 10: 5979.
Finno, R. J., Lawrence, S. A. & Harahap, I. S. (1991).
Analysisof performanceof pilegroupsadjacent todeep
excavation. J ournal of Geotechnical and Geoenviron-
mental Engineering, 117(6): 93455.
Goh, A. T. C., Wong, K. S., Teh, C. I. & Wen, D. (2003),
Pile response adjacent to braced excavation. J our-
nal of Geotechnical andGeoenvironmental Engineering,
129(4): 383386.
Leung, C. F., Chow,Y. K. &Shen, R. F. (2000), Behaviourof
pilesubject toexcavation-inducedsoil movement, J our-
126(11): 947954.
Leung, C. F., Chow, Y. K. & Shen, R. F. (2003), Behaviour
of pilegroups subject to excavation-induced soil move-
ment, J ournal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental
Engineering, 129(1): 5865.
Ong, D. E. L., Leung, C. E. & Chow, Y. K. (2006a),
Pile behaviour due to excavation-induced soil move-
ment inclayI: Stablewall, J ournal of Geotechnical and
Geoenvironmental Engineering, 132(1): 3644.
Ong, D. E. L., Leung, C. E. & Chow, Y. K. (2006a), Pile
behaviour due to excavation-induced soil movement in
clay, Doctoral Thesis, National Universityof Singapore.
Poulos, H. G. & Chen, L. T. (1997), Pile response
dueto excavation-inducedlateral soil movement, J our-
123(2): 9499.
Zhang, R.,Zheng, J., Pu, H. & Zhang, L. (2011), Analysis
of excavation-induced responses of loaded pile foun-
dations considering unloading effect. Tunnelling and
UndergroundSpaceTechnology, 26(2): 320335.
586
Inelasticlateral seismicresponseof buildingframesunder influence
of bedrockdepthvariationsincorporatingsoil-structureinteraction
H.R. Tabatabaiefar, B. Fatahi & B. Samali
University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia
ABSTRACT: Inthisstudy, afifteenstoreymoment resistingbuildingframeisselectedinconjunctionwitha
softclayeysoil, representingsoil classE
e
, accordingtoAustralianStandards. Differentbedrockdepthsincluding
10m, 20m, and30mareemployedinthenumerical modellingusingfinitedifferencesoftwareFLAC 2D. The
above mentioned frame has been analysed under two different boundary conditions: (i) fixed-base (no soil-
structureinteraction), and(ii) flexible-base(consideringsoil-structureinteraction). Inelastic dynamic analyses
underinfluenceof differentearthquakerecordsforthreementionedbedrockdepthsareconducted, andtheresults
intermsof inelasticlateral deflectionsandinter-storeydriftsfor theabovementionedboundaryconditionsare
comparedanddiscussed.Theresultsindicatethatthebedrockdepthvariationsplayasignificantroleininelastic
lateral seismic responseof thebuildingframeunder theinfluenceof soil-structureinteraction. Asthebedrock
depthincreases, lateral deflectionsandinter-storey driftsof thestructuresincrease. Thementionedeffectscan
changetheperformancelevel of thestructuresfromlifesafetonear collapseor total collapse.
1 INTRODUCTION
As suggested by the name, soil-structure interaction
aims at assessing theresponseof astructureresting
onthegroundandsubjectedtoanystimulation, whilst
takingintoaccountcouplingwiththesupportmedium
andthesoil,whichhasitsowndeformabilitycharacter-
istics. Itdeterminestheactual loadingexperiencedby
thesoil-structuresystemresultingfromthefree-field
seismicgroundmotions. Theseismicexcitationexpe-
rienced by structures is afunction of theearthquake
characteristics, travel path effects, local site effects,
andsoil-structureinteraction(SSI) effects.
Theproblemof soilstructureinteraction (SSI) in
the seismic analysis and design of structures has
becomeincreasinglyimportant, asitmaybeinevitable
to build structures at locations with less favourable
geotechnical conditionsinseismicallyactiveregions.
For instance, the28December 1989Newcastleearth-
quake(Australia) killedandinjuredover 150people
andmanymid-risebuildings(approximately615sto-
ries) constructedonweaksoil wereseverelydamaged.
Theimportanceof soil-structureinteraction both for
static and dynamic loads has been well established
and the related literature covers at least 30 years of
computational and analytical approaches to solving
soilstructureinteractionproblems.Since1990s,great
effort has been made for substituting the classical
methods of design by the new ones based on the
concept of performance-based seismic design. Also,
thenecessity of estimatingthevulnerability of exist-
ingstructuresanddefiningreliablemethodsfor their
retrofithavegreatlyattractedtheattentionof engineer-
ingcommunity inmost seismic zonesthroughout the
world.
According to available literature, generally when
theshear wavevelocity of thesupportingsoil is less
than 600m/s, theeffects of soil-structureinteraction
on the seismic response of structural systems, par-
ticularly for moment resisting building frames, are
significant (e.g. Veletsos andMeek, 1974; Galal and
Naimi, 2008). Theseeffectscanbesummarisedas: (i)
increaseinthenatural periodanddampingof thesys-
tem, (ii) increase in the lateral displacements of the
structure, and (iii) changein thebaseshear depend-
ingonthefrequency content of theinput motionand
dynamiccharacteristicsof thesoil andthestructure.
Inthisstudy,afterabrief reviewof methodstosimu-
latesoil-structureinteraction, afifteenstoreymoment
resisting building frameresting on asoft clayey soil
is numerically simulated whileconsidering different
depthsfor thesub-soil.
2 INELASTIC SEISMICANALYSISOF
THE STRUCTURAL SYSTEM
Practicing civil engineers usually use inelastic anal-
ysis methods for the seismic evaluation and design
of existingandnewbuildings. Themainobjectiveof
inelastic seismic analysis is to make a more precise
prediction of the expected behaviour of the struc-
ture against future probable earthquakes. This has
becomesignificantlyimportantwiththeemergenceof
587
performance-basedengineering(PBE) asatechnique
for seismic evaluationanddesignusingperformance
level predictionfor safetyandrisk assessment (ATC-
40, 1996). Sincestructural damageimplies inelastic
behaviour, traditional designandanalysisprocedures
basedonlinear elastictechniquescanonlypredictthe
performancelevel implicitly.Bycontrast,theobjective
of inelasticseismicanalysismethodistoestimatethe
magnitude of inelastic deformations and distortions
directlyandaccurately(performancelevel).
Performancelevelsdescribethestateof structures
after being subjected to a certain hazard level and
are classified as: fully operational, operational, life
safe, near collapse, or collapse (Vision 2000, 1995;
FEMA 450, 2003). Overall lateral deflection, duc-
tility demand, and inter-storey drifts are the most
commonly useddamageparameters. Theabovemen-
tionedfivequalitativeperformancelevelsarerelatedto
thecorrespondingquantitativemaximuminter-storey
driftsof:<0.2%,<0.5%,<1.5%,<2.5%,and>2.5%,
respectively.
The generic process of inelastic analysis is simi-
lar toconventional elastic linear proceduresinwhich
engineersdevelopamodel of thebuildingorstructure,
whichisthensubjectedtoarepresentative, anticipated
seismic groundmotion. Theprimary differencewith
the linear elastic design procedure is that the struc-
tural elementsareallowedtodeformplasticallywhen
theplasticmoment isreachedintheelement.
In many instances, it is important to include the
structural andgeotechnical componentsof thefounda-
tioninthesimulation. Inelastic bendingis simulated
in structural elements by specifying a limiting plas-
ticmoment. If themember iscomposedof amaterial
that behaves in an elastic-perfectly plastic manner,
the plastic resisting moments M
p
for a rectangular
sectioncanbecomputedasfollows:
where, Z
p
istheplasticsectionmodulus, and
y
isthe
yieldstressof thestructural material.
It should be noted that the present formulation
assumes that structural elements behave elastically
until reachingthedefinedplasticmoment.Thesection
at which the plastic moment occurs can continue to
deform, without inducingadditional resistance, when
M
p
isreached.
3 CHARASTRISTICSOF THE EMPLOYED
MODELS
Inthisstudy, afifteenstoreyconcretemoment resist-
ingbuildingframerestingonashallowfoundation(4
meterswideand12meterslong)isselectedinconjunc-
tionwithasoftclayeysoil withtheshearwavevelocity
less that 600m/s representing class Ee, according to
classificationcriterialistedinSection4of AS1170.4
(Earthquake action in Australia). As this is a plane
strain problem, shallow foundation width has been
taken into account to calculatemoment of inertiaof
thefooting.
Table1. Earthquakegroundmotionsusedinthisstudy.
Earthquake Country Year PGA (g) Mw(R)
Northridge USA 1994 0.843 6.7
Kobe J apan 1995 0.833 6.8
El Centro USA 1940 0.349 6.9
Hachinohe J apan 1968 0.229 7.5
Table2. Characteristicsof theutilisedsoil inthisstudy.
Shear
wave Shear
velocity Modulus
Soil Type Vs Unified G
max
Poisson Plasticity
(AS1170) (m/s) classification (kPa) Ratio Index(PI)
E
e
150 CL 33,100 0.40 15
Thespecifiedcompressivestrengthof concrete, the
specified yield strength of steel rebar, and the con-
crete density are assumed to be, 32MPa, 400MPa,
and 23.5kN/m
3
, respectively. Structural sections are
designedaccordingtoAS3600-2009(AustralianStan-
dardforConcreteStructures) afterundertakinginelas-
ticdynamicanalysisunder influenceof four different
earthquake ground motions, as a fixed base model.
Thecharacteristicsof theearthquakegroundmotions
are summarised in Table 1. These earthquakes have
beenchosenbytheInternational AssociationforStruc-
tural Control and Health Monitoring for benchmark
seismic studies (KaramodinandKazemi, 2008). Per-
formancelevel of thestructural model isconsideredas
lifesafelevel inthis designindicatingthemaximum
inter-storeydriftsof themodel beinglessthan1.5%.
Characteristics of the utilised soils are shown in
Table 2. The subsoil properties have been extracted
from actual in-situ and laboratory tests (Rahvar,
2006). Therefore, these parameters have merit over
theassumedparameterswhichmaynotbecompletely
conforming to reality. It is assumed that watertable
is well below the ground surface. The shear wave
velocity, shown in Table 2, has been obtained from
down-holetest, whichisalowstrainin-situtest. This
test generatesacyclicshear strainof about 10
4
per-
cent where the resulting shear modulus is G
max
. In
the event of an earthquake, the cyclic shear strain
amplitude increases and the shear strain modulus
and damping ratio which both vary with the cyclic
shearstrainamplitude, changerelatively. Readytouse
chartsfor clayey soilsindicatingthevariationsof the
shear modulusratiowiththeshear straininnonlinear
dynamic analysis as well as material damping ratio
versuscyclic shear strainrecommendedby Sunet al.
(1998), havebeenadoptedinthisstudy.
4 SIMULATINGSOIL-STRUCTURE SYSTEM
Thegoverning equations of motion for thestructure
incorporating foundation interaction and themethod
of solving these equations are relatively complex.
588
Figure1. Componentsof theSoil-Structuremodel.
Therefore, direct method, the method in which the
entire soil-structure systemis modelled in a single
step is employed in this study. The use of direct
method requires a computer programthat can treat
the behaviour of both soil and structure with equal
rigor simultaneously(Kramer, 1996). Thus, finitedif-
ferencesoftware, FLAC 2DV6.0, isutilisedtomodel
the soil-structure systemand to solve the equations
for thecomplexgeometriesandboundaryconditions.
FLAC 2D (Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua)
is a two-dimensional explicit finite difference pro-
gramfor engineering mechanics computations. This
program can simulate behaviour of different types
of earthandbuildingstructures. Materials arerepre-
sented by elements which can be adjusted to fit the
geometryof themodel. Eachelementbehavesaccord-
ing to a prescribed constitutive model in response
to the applied forces or boundary restraints (Itasca
ConsultingGroup, 2008).
The soil-structure model comprises beam struc-
tural elements to model the structural components,
twodimensional plane-strainquadrilateral elementsto
model thesoil medium, andinterfaceelementstosim-
ulatefrictional contact betweenthesoil mediumand
thestructure. Rigidboundaryconditionisassignedto
thebedrockandlateral boundariesof thesoil medium
areassumedtobequiet (viscous) boundariestoavoid
reflectionof theoutwardpropagatingwavesbackinto
themodel. Quiet boundaries arecoupledto thefree-
fieldboundaries at thesides of themodel to account
for the free-field motion which would exist in the
absenceof thestructure. Differentcomponentsof soil
structuremodel areillustratedinFigure1.
5 DYNAMICANALYSISOF SOIL-STRUCTURE
INTERACTION
In this study, fully nonlinear time history dynamic
analysis method is adopted to simulate dynamic
soil-structure interaction using FLAC 2D (Version
6.0) to determine effects of bedrock variation on
inelastic seismic response of the selected concrete
Figure2. Fixed-basemodel.
Figure3. Flexible-basemodel.
moment resisting building framesubjected to earth-
quakeloading. Dynamicanalysisiscarriedout for 15
storey model in conjunction with a soft clayey soil
representingsoil classE
e
withgeotechnical character-
istics presentedinTable2for two different systems:
(i) fixed-basestructureontherigidground(Figure2),
and (ii) structure considering subsoil using direct
methodof SSI analysisastheflexiblebasemodel using
(Figure3).
Thefollowingaspectshavebeenconsideredinthe
dynamictimehistoryanalysisof thestudy:
Fully nonlinear behaviour of the subsoil includ-
ingmaterial nonlinearity(relationshipbetweensoil
stiffness and material damping ratio versus cyclic
shear strain);
Inelastic behaviour of the structural system and
geometric nonlinearity of thestructure(largedis-
placements); and
Cracked sections for the reinforced concrete sec-
tionsaccordingtoACI318.2002.
589
Figure4. Inelastic lateral deflections onsoil typeE
e
with
variablebedrock depths; (a) Northridgeearthquake(1994);
(b) Kobe earthquake (1995); (c) El-Centro earthquake
(1940); (d) Hachinoheearthquake(1968).
Thefour summarised earthquakeground motions
inTable1 areapplied to both systems in two differ-
ent ways. Inthecaseof modellingsoil andstructure
simultaneouslyusingdirectmethod(flexiblebase),the
earthquakerecordsareappliedtothecombinationof
soil andstructuredirectlyat thebedrock level, while
for modellingthestructureasthefixedbase(without
soil), theearthquakerecordsareappliedtothebaseof
thestructural model.
Most of themodernseismic codes(e.g. AS1170.4
andFEMA 450, 2003) evaluatelocal siteeffectsbased
onthepropertiesof thetop30metersof thesoil profile
as most amplificationoccurs withinthefirst 30mof
thesoil profile. Therefore, inthisstudy, themaximum
bedrock depthhasbeenassumedtobe30m. Inorder
to observetheeffects of bedrock depthvariations on
inelasticseismicresponseof thestructural model,fully
nonlineardynamicanalysisiscarriedoutforstructural
model restingonsoil classE
e
withbedrock depthsof
10, 20, and30meters.
Theresultsof thedynamicanalysesintermsof inelas-
tic lateral deflections (Figures 4ad) andinter-storey
drifts(Figures5ad) aredeterminedandcomparedfor
thefixed-baseandflexible-basecases restingonsoil
typeE
e
withbedrockdepthsof 10, 20, and30meters.
Inter-storey drifts showninFigure5adaredeter-
minedfromthecorrespondingvaluesof themaximum
lateral deflections (Figure 4ad) for each two adja-
cent stories using Equation 6.7 (1) of AS 1170.4
(EarthquakeactioninAustralia) asfollows:
where, d
i+1
is deflectionat (i +1) level, d
i
is deflec-
tionat (i) level, andh isthestoreyheight. Inpractical
designs, it isoftenassumedthat thestorey deflection
is equal to thehorizontal displacement of thenodes
onthelevel whichmaybeduetotranslation, rotation,
anddistortion.
Comparing the inelastic lateral deflections and
inter-storey drifts, it is observed that maximumlat-
eral deflectionsandinter-storeydriftsof flexiblebase
model incomparisonwithfixedbasemodel increase
substantially. As the bedrock depth increases, the
lateral deflections and consequently, corresponding
inter-storey drifts increaserelatively. Obviously, per-
formancelevel of thebuildingframechangesfromlife
safeto near collapse(Figure5ad) whenSSI is con-
sideredintheanalysis, whichisdangerousandsafety
threatening.
Itisnoticeablethatbyincreasingthebedrockdepth,
thenatural periodof thesubsoil increasesandconse-
quentlythedifferencebetweentheperiodof vibration
intwocases(i.e. structuresmodelledonflexiblesoils
andstructuresmodelledasfixedbase) increase. Thus,
the effects of dynamic soil-structure interaction for
deeper bedrock depths aremoreconsiderable. Inthe
case of deeper bedrock depth, natural period lies in
thelongperiodregionof theresponsespectrumcurve
due to the natural period lengthening for such sys-
tems. Consequently, thedisplacement responsetends
toincreaseandtheperformancelevel of thestructures
canchangefromlifesafelevel tomorecritical levels
suchasnear collapseor eventotal collapse.
590
Figure 5. Inelastic inter-storey drifts on soil type E
e
with variable bedrock depths; (a) Northridge earthquake
(1994); (b) Kobe earthquake (1995); (c) El-Centro earth-
quake(1940); (d) Hachinoheearthquake(1968).
7 CONCLUSIONS
Fromthe numerical investigation conducted in this
study on the 15 storey moment resisting building
frame resting on soil class E
e
, according to AS
1170.4, it isobservedthat inelasticlateral deflections
andcorrespondinginter-storey drifts of flexiblebase
model resting on soil class E
e
significantly increase
in comparison with fixed basemodel. In general, as
the bedrock depth increases, the lateral deflections
and consequently, corresponding inter-storey drifts
increase relatively. The amplification of the inelas-
tic lateral deflections and corresponding inter-storey
drifts of flexible base models resting on soil class
E
e
could changetheperformancelevel of thestruc-
tures fromlifesafeto near collapseor total collapse
whichisabsolutelydangerousandsafetythreatening.
Asaresult, soil-structureinteractionhasconsiderable
effects on theinelastic seismic responseof mid-rise
momentresistingbuildingframesrestingonsoftsoils.
It canbeconcludedthat theconventional inelastic
designproceduresexcludingSSI maynotbeadequate
toguaranteethestructural safetyof mid-risemoment
resistingbuildingframesrestingonsoft soil deposits.
It is highly recommended to practicing engineers
working in high earthquake risk zones, to consider
SSI influencesindynamic analysisanddesignof the
moment resistingframestoensurestructuresperform
safely.
REFERENCES
AS1170.4. (2007). Structural Design Actions Part 4:
Earthquake Actions in Australia, Australian Standards,
2007
AS3600. (2009). Concrete Structures. Standards Australia,
NSW, Australia.
ATC-40.(1996).SeismicEvaluationandRetrofitof Concrete
Buildings. AppliedTechnology Council, Seismic Safety
Commission, Stateof California.
FEMA 440. (2005). NEHRP RecommendedProvisions for
Improvementof NonlinearStaticSeismicAnalysisProce-
dures, ATC-55Project, EmergencyManagementAgency,
Washington, D.C.
Galal, K. andNaimi, M. (2008). Effect of conditionsonthe
Responseof ReinforcedConcreteTall StructurestoNear
Fault Earthquakes. Struct.Design tall Spec.build, 17:3,
541562.
Gazetas, G. andMylonakis, G. (1998). Seismicsoil-structure
interaction: newevidenceandemergingissues, Geotech.
EarthquakeEng. andSoil Dynamics, 10(2), 11191174.
Gemant, A., and J ackson, W. (1937). The Measurement
of Internal Friction in Some Solid Dielectric Materials,
The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical
Magazine& J ournal of Science, XXII, 960983.
ItascaConsultingGroup. (2008). FLAC2D: FastLagrangian
Analysis of Continua, version 6.0. Users manual,
Minneapolis.
Karamodin, A.K., and Kazemi, H.H. (2008). Semi-active
Control of Structures using Neuro-predictiveAlgorithm
for MR Dampers, Struct Control Health Moni, 17(3),
237253.
Kobayashi, H., Seo, K., and Midorikawa, S. (1986). Esti-
mated Strong Ground Motions in the Mexico City
Earthquake: The Mexico Earthquakes 1985, Factors
InvolvedandLessonsLearned,AmericanSocietyof Civil
Engineers, NewYork.
Kramer, S.L. (1996). Geotechnical Earthquake Engineer-
ing, Prentice Hall civil engineering and engineering
mechanicsseries.
NEHRP Recommended Provisions for Seismic Regulation
for New Buildings and Other Structures (FEMA 450),
591
Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington,
DC, Edition2003.
Rahvar. (2006). Geotechnical InvestigationsandFoundation
Design Report of Mahshahr Train Station, P. O. Rahvar
PtyLtd., IranRailwaysAuthority, Mahshahr, Iran, 142.
Seed, H.B., and Idriss, I.M. (1969). Influenceof Soil Con-
ditions on Ground Motion During Earthquakes, J. Soil
Mech. Found. Div. ASCE, 95(2), 99137.
Sun, J.I., Golesorkhi, R. and Seed, H.B. (1998).
DynamicModuli andDampingRatiosforCohesiveSoils,
EarthquakeEngineering Research Center, University of
California,Berkeley,ReportNo.UCB/EERC-88/15,p.42,
1988
Tabatabaiefar, H.R., Massumi, A. (2010). A Simplified
Method to DetermineSeismic Responses of Reinforced
Concrete Moment Resisting Building Frames under
Influence of SoilStructure Interaction, Soil Dynamics
and Earthquake Engineering, 30 (11), 12591267,
Elsevier Ltd.
Veletsos, A.S. andMeek, J. W. (1974). Dynamic Behaviour
of Building-Foundation system, Earthquake Eng. &
Structural Dyn3:2, 12138.
Vision2000Committee. (1995). PerformanceBasedSeismic
Engineeringof Buildings. Structural EngineersAssocia-
tionof California(SEAOC), Sacramento, CA.
Wolf, J.P. and Deeks, AJ. (2004). Foundation Vibration
Analysis: A Strength-of-Materials Approach, Elsevier,
Oxford, UK.
592
Numerical andexperimental investigationsof stresswavepropagation
inutilitypolesunder soil influence
N.Yan, J. Li, U. Dackermann& B. Samali
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Over the past decades, different types of non-destructive testing (NDT) methods have been
developedfor theconditionassessment of timber structures. Stress wavemethods, whicharebasedonstress
wavepropagationtheory, areconsideredto besimpleandcost-effectivetools for identifyingdamageas well
asembedment lengthof timber poles/piles. However, duetothelack of understandingonwavepropagationin
suchstructures, especiallyunder theinfluenceof surroundingssuchassoil, thesemethodsencounter difficulties
inproducingreliableresults. Inthispaper, aninvestigationwascarriedout onthewavepropagationbehaviour
inutilitytimber poleswithconsiderationof soil effects. Thecommercial finiteelement (FE) analysissoftware
ANSYS was used to simulatestress wavepropagation in atimber utility poleunder theinfluenceof soil. In
order toverify thenumerical findings, laboratory testingwasalsoconductedinconjuctionwiththenumerical
modelling.
1 BACKGROUND
Utility poles made of timber are traditionally used
all over the world as they are relatively low cost
andenvironmentallyfriendly. EspeciallyinAustralia,
utility timber poles represent a significant part of
thecountrysinfrastructurefor power distributionand
communicationnetworks. Therearenearly 7million
timber poles inthecurrent network inAustralia, and
amongthem, 5millionpoles areusedfor power and
communicationsupply(Nguyenetal.,2004).$40$50
millionarespent annually onmaintenanceandasset
management toprevent utility linesfromfailure. The
lack of reliable tools for assessing the condition of
in-situ poles has seriously jeopardized maintenance
and asset management. For example, in the Eastern
Statesof Australia, about300,000electricitypolesare
replacedevery year. However, upto80%of themare
still in avery good serviceablecondition, causing a
largewasteof natural resources andmoney (Nguyen
et al., 2004).
Toaddresstheneedsof theutility poleasset man-
agement industry, a cost-effective and reliable NDT
method needs to be developed that is able to iden-
tify and separate healthy from unhealthy poles. In
thelast 20years, various NDT techniques havebeen
developedtoevaluatequalityandconditionsof timber
structures. Among those methods/techniques, visual
inspectionandstress wavemethods remainthemost
widely used techniques in practice (Tanasoiu et al.,
2002). Visual inspection is undoubtedly one of the
oldest methods used in practice but suffers a major
drawback on reliability and accuracy of its results
sincethemethodreliesontheexperienceof theoper-
ator and accessibility of the structure. Stress wave
methods, on the other hand, can offer simple and
cost-effectivetoolsfor identifyingthein-servicecon-
dition as well as the embedment length of timber
poles/piles. However, due to lack of understanding
of stress wave propagation in pole structures, espe-
ciallywiththeeffect of soil embedment coupledwith
unknownpoleconditionsbelowgroundline(suchas
deterioration, moistureetc.), theresultsrelyheavilyon
experienceandinterpretationsfromindividual opera-
tors. Another issue influencing the testing accuracy
is related to complexity of the timber material with
anisotropy, non-homogeneity andmany uncertainties
onmaterial properties.Asamatterof fact, thematerial
properties of timber canbeaffectedheavily by envi-
ronmental factors such as temperature and moisture
changes. As aresult, current stress waveNDT meth-
ods often fail to produce reliable results, which are
vital for theutilitypolemanagement industry.
Inorder toaddressthispressingandcritical issue,
anindustrysupportedresearchprojectstartedin2011
that aims at developing accurate and reliable non-
destructiveassessmenttoolsfor timber polesbasedon
stresswavetechniques. Oneof themajor components
in this research is numerical investigations of stress
wavepropagationintimber polesconsideringeffects
of soil embedment andin-situtimber conditions. The
commercial finiteelement analysis softwareANSYS
isthemaintool usedinthisstudy. Thispaper presents
someinitial findings of theresearchwhichincludes:
i) development of aFE model for timber utility pole,
ii) developmentof contactelementstosimulateeffects
593
of surroundingsoil to thestress wavepropagationin
timberpole, iii) investigationof thebehaviourof stress
wavepropagationintimber poles, andiv) verification
of thenumerical resultswithexperimental results.
2 NDT FOR UTILITY TIMBER POLE
INTEGRITY ASSESSMENT
Stress wave methods including sonic and ultrasonic
techniquesarepopularNDTsusedinpractice.Among
variousstresswaveNDTs,surfacewaveNDTs,suchas
SonicEcho(SE), ImpulseResponse(IR) andBending
Wave method, are known to be simple and cost-
effectivebut unreliable. Inthis paper, astudy onthe
stresswavepropagationinaFEmodel of atimberpole
isextendedfor theapplicationof asurfacewaveNDT,
i.e. Sonic Echo, as verification of the FE model. A
correspondingexperimental testingis conductedand
resultsareusedfor FE model verification.
TheSE methodis oftenusedinpile/poleintegrity
testing by measuring the echoes (reflections) from
eitherpole/pilefoundationbottomsordefectsof longi-
tudinal (compressional)waves,whicharegeneratedby
animpacthammer.Thebasictheoryforthismethodis
that propagatingstresswavepatternsmaybechanged
after reflectingbackwhentheyencounter aboundary
of different medium(such as thebottomof a struc-
tureor defects/damage) according to theimpedance
of themedium. Thetesting is performed by impact-
ing the top of the pile/pole to generate longitudinal
waves, whichtravel downtothebottomof thepileor
pole. Thewavewill reflect back fromboundary of a
mediumwithdifferent impedanceincludingchanges
instiffness,cross-sectional areaanddensity.Forexam-
ple, acrack haslower impedanceincomparisonwith
thematerial of atimber pile, whilemuch stiffer soil
or bedrock layer has higher impedance(Larry et al.,
1998).Thereflectedlongitudinal waveismeasuredby
aseriesof sensors. Inthisresearch, theexperimental
testinginthelaboratorywasconductedona5mutil-
itytimber polewith270mmfor thetopdiameter and
300mmfor thebottomdiameter (seeFig. 1).Thepole
isembeddedinsoil by1mandeight PCB accelerom-
eterswithequal spacingarelocatedalongthesurface
of thepoleinlongitudinal direction. Animpact load
of 2.3kN isappliedonthetopcentreof thepolebya
modal impact hammer.
Theestimationof theembedment lengthof apole
by SE methoduses themeasuredecho timeinterval,
accordingtothefollowingformula:
whereL
t
isthelengthbetweenthelocationof thesen-
sor andthebottomof thepoleor locationof adefect;
V isthevelocityof thelongitudinal wave; T isthetime
differencebetweenthefirst arrival event andthefirst
reflectioneventrecordedbythesensor. isavelocity
adjustment factor andnormallyset to0.9.
Figure1. SonicEchotesting.
As the frequency domain counterpart of the SE
method, the IR method transfers the measured time
historydataintothefrequencydomainbyFastFourier
Transform (FFT). The length of the pole can be
estimatedby:
whereF is themeasuredfrequency interval between
twoconsecutiveresonantfrequencypeaksof thepole,
andit istheinverseof T.
However, thevelocityof thestresswaveisaffected
bythemoisturecontent inthewood. A typical timber
poleinservicecontainsadryzone(abovetheground),
asaturated zone(belowtheground), and atransient
zone(an increasing amount of moisture). Therefore,
theformulatoestimatethelengthusingmeasureddata
canbemodified(PandeyandAnthony, 2005):
whereL
d
isthelengthof poleinthedryzone, L
w
isthe
lengthof poleinthewet zone, V
d
isthewavevelocity
of dry wood, andV
w
is thewavevelocity of thewet
wood.
3 DEVELOPMENT OF A FINITE ELEMENT
MODEL FORTIMBER UTILITY POLES
Timber isacomplexnatural material withanisotropic
and inhomogeneous characteristics. Its properties
present a wide range of variability with time, load-
ing rate, temperature and moisture content (Tabiei
andWu, 2000). Themechanical behaviour of timber
594
Figure2. Stress-straincurveusedtosimulatethematerial
behaviour of timber (J unior andMolina, 2010).
Figure 3. Stress/strain relationship for Balau loaded in
compression up to a strain level of 1.0 (Ellis and Steiner,
2002).
is complicated and exhibits high nonlinearity. How-
ever, for applications involving small deformation,
for the purpose of numerical modelling, timber is
often simplified to be a linear-elastic and isotropic
material with mean material properties (Tabiei and
Wu, 2000). Under large deformation scenarios, this
simplification will not be valid and the model will
not be able to represent the real behaviour of tim-
ber (Li, 2007). For analysing thefailureand fatigue
behaviour of timber structures, such as timber com-
positebeams, it iswell recognisedthat it isnecessity
to model timber as anorthotropic material (Serrano,
2000) with elastic-plastic behaviour (bilinear curve)
based on Hills criterion (J unior and Molina, 2010)
(seeFig. 2).
In this research, thetest specimens arehardwood
timber poles made fromSpotted Gum. The density
ranges from 950kg/m
3
(dry wood) to 1150kg/m
3
(greenwood), andtheelasticmodulusisfrom18GPa
(greenwood) to23GPa(drywood) (Bootle, 1983).
A typical stress-strainbehaviour of hardwoodcan
beillustratedbyhardwoodspeciesnamedBalauwith
thedensityof 979kg/m
3
(seeFig. 3).
Itiswell knownthatatalowstrainlevel (for exam-
ple, less than0.03), thetimber exhibits linear elastic
behaviour (Ellis and Steiner, 2002). In this project,
by numerical analysis, it was shown that an impact
hammer induced stress and strain is below 0.001
throughtheentirepole. Therefore, it is reasonableto
uselinear elasticmodel tosimulatetimber materials.
Figure4. Threedimensional natureof timber fibre.
In theestablishment of theconstitutivemodel for
timber material, based on thecharacteristics of tim-
ber, several models havebeenusedby researchers to
simulatethebehaviour intimber poles:
1. idealised isotropic and homogeneous continuum
model; orthotropic and homogeneous continuum
model;
2. transversely isotropic (the identical properties in
tangential andradial directions) andhomogeneous
continuummodel (Murray, 2007).
Inthelinear-elastic region, theorthotropic elastic-
itymaterial constitutiveequationcanbeexpressedby
equation (4). In theequation, is elastic strain vec-
tor, is the shear strain vector, is stress vector,
E is theelastic modulus, G is theshear modulus and
isthePoisonsratio.ThesubscriptsL, RandT referto
thedirectionsalongthegrain(longitudinal direction),
acrossthegrain(radiusdirection),andtangential tothe
grain(tangential direction), respectively(seeFig. 4).
Thematrixof Eq. 4canbesimplifiedto:
where {} is the strain tensor, {} is the stress ten-
sor and[c]
orth
istheorthotropicelasticmatrix(66).
Asinorthotropicmaterial,
Hence, [c]
orth
canbewrittenasasymmetricmatrix,
andnineparameters areneededto definethetimber
material properties.
595
Inthispaper, asapreliminaryinvestigationof stress
wavebehaviourinatimberpole, timberismodelledas
linear elastic isotropic material. For thenext stageof
thisresearch, bothlinear elasticorthotropicandtrans-
verseisotropic models will beconsideredfor timber
constitutivemodelling.
4 DEVELOPMENT OF CONTACT ELEMENTS
Tomodel atimber utilitypoleinservice, soil embed-
ment needstobeproperlymodelled. Theselectionof
a suitable soil model is usually related to the type
of loading and the objectives of the investigation.
Dynamicloadtestingof pilesor polesisoftendivided
into two types: high strain dynamic load testing and
lowstraindynamic loadtesting. Highstraindynamic
load testing is typically used to evaluate the carry-
ingcapacityandintegrityof drivenpiles(Thasnanipan
et al., 2000). Lowstraindynamic loadtesting, onthe
other hand, is used to inspect integrity and embed-
ment length to assess the condition of piles (Kirsch
and Plabmann, 2002). In this research, low strain
integrity testing, namely SE testing, is conducted to
evaluatetheintegrityandembedmentlengthof utility
timber polesandthus, linear elasticbehaviour will be
consideredfor soil simulation.
To accurately and realistically model the interac-
tionbetweentimber utility poleandsurroundingsoil
for stress wavepropagation is achallenging task. In
this paper, two interaction simulation methods, i.e.
couplingmethodandcontactmethod, areinvestigated.
For applicationswithsmall deflectionsor rotations
andtwocomponentsbondedtogetherwithoutfriction,
the problemcan be simplified to a linear analysis,
where the coupling method can be used to simu-
late interfacial action between the pole and the soil
(ANSYS, 2011). Inthecouplingmethod, thepoleand
soil arefullyconnected, whichmeansat interfacethe
degreeof freedomof poleandsoil isexactlythesame
andbothact asawholeunit whenstresswavesmove
through.
Normally, thecontactmethodinANSYSisusedto
simulatehighlynonlinear andcomplicatedinterfacial
behaviour betweentwocomponents. Therearediffer-
ent typesof contact methodsavailableinANSYS. In
thispaper, thenodetonode contactmethodismore
suitable for capturing interfacial behaviour between
thepoleandsoil.
Nodetonodecontactmethodisoftenusedwhere
therelativeslidingbetweeninterfacial componentsis
small or the deformation is negligible, which is the
caseinthis project. Inthis research, aninvestigation
is conductedcomparingthecouplingmethodagainst
the contact method, with the node to node con-
tact methodbeingselectedtosimulatetheinteraction
betweensoil andtimber pole. Thecontact behaviour
is consideredas no separation andslidingis permit-
tedtosimulatethepotential situationinexperimental
testing. Intermsof thecomputationalgorithmsbased
on the understanding fromexperimental testing, the
Table1. Parametersfor modelling.
Density ElasticModulus Poisons
Material (kg/m
3
) (N/m
2
) Ratio
Timber Pole 950 2.3E10 0.3
Soil 1520 1.0E8 0.3
LagrangeMultiplier onnormal planeandpenalty on
tangent planeareconsidered, asthisalgorithmissuit-
able for a very small amount of slip for a sticking
contact condition. Sinceno referencewas found for
settingtheparameterstosimulateinteractionbetween
timberandsoil,all theparametersfordefiningthecon-
tact behaviour aretentativelyset upandaresubjected
tofurther studyat thenext stageof thisresearch.
5 INVESTIGATIONOF STRESSWAVE
PROPAGATIONBEHAVIOUR IN
TIMBER POLES
Inthispaper, thetimber material andsoil areconsid-
eredas isotropic andlinear elastic for FE modelling.
TheparametersusedarelistedinTable1.
The overall length of timber pole is 5mwith the
top diameter being 27cmand the bottomdiameter
being30cm. Thesurroundingsoil is1.2minlength,
1.2minwidthand3mindepth, whichisexactly the
sameas intheexperimental case. Thetimber poleis
embedded1mintothesoil. The3-Dmodel iscreated
withsolid185elementinANSYS. Bothcouplingand
contact methods areapplied to simulatetheinterac-
tion behaviour between thesoil and thetimber pole.
A hammer impact isimpartedat thecentreonthetop
of thepoleandtransientanalysisisconductedtoobtain
time history stress wave data. The hammer impact
induces stress waves propagating through the pole
fromthetop to thebottomand reflecting back. The
sensors (represented by nodes) capture the incident
wave (the first peak) as well as the reflected wave
(thesecondpeak).
5.1 Contact method
Figure5showsthenumerical resultsbasedoncontact
method, captured fromthesensors at different loca-
tions fromthe bottomof the pole. To get a clearer
picture of the first two peaks, Figure 6 provides a
zoomed-inview.
As theincident wavepropagates throughthepole,
each sensor captures thewavein sequencefromthe
topto thebottom. As aresult, thewavevelocity can
becalculatedbasedonthesensor locations andtime
delays. FromEq. (7), theaveragewavevelocity(group
velocity) canbeobtained, whichis4,872m/s.
596
Figure5. Numerical resultsusingthecontact method.
Figure6. Zoomed-inviewof thefirst twopeaks.
Figure 7. Numerical data from sensor at 1.6m (contact
method).
whereD is sensor locationandT thetimerecordof
thefirst peak. According to Eq. (1), theembedment
lengthof thepolecanalsobecalculated.
As an example, Figure 7 displays the numerical
results captured fromthe sensor at 1.6m. Here, the
firstpeakisreachedat0.735msandthereflectedpeak
isreachedat1.45ms. FromEq. (1), thelengthbetween
thesensorandbottomof thepoleisobtainedas1.57m,
whichgivesa2%error comparedtothetruelength.
5.2 Coupling method
Figure8 shows thenumerical results using thecou-
plingmethod. Again, stresswavesarecapturedbythe
sensorsat varioussensor locations(nodes).
Figure8. Numerical resultsusingthecouplingmethod.
Figure 9. Numerical data fromsensor at 1.6m(coupling
method).
Thesamecalculationyieldsavelocityof 5,200m/s,
which is much higher than the one obtained by the
contact method. The distance between the sensor at
1.6mandthebottomof thepolecanagainbecalcu-
latedbasedontheincidentwavepeakandthereflected
wavepeak.
UsingEq. (1), thedistancebetweenthesensor and
thebottompoleisobtainedas1.86m, whichpresents
a16.3%error inrelationtothetruelength.
6 VERIFIFACATIONOF THE NUMERICAL
RESULTSWITHEXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
To verify the numerical modelling, a comparison
betweenexperimental andnumerical resultswascon-
ducted. InFigures10and11, thethickcurvedisplays
filtered experimental data captured by the sensor at
1.6mandthethincurvedisplaysthenumerical results
at thesamelocation.
6.1 Verification of the model created using
the contact method
The time records of the first two peaks are critical
for the SE and other echo based NDTs in order to
estimate the underground embedment length of the
pole.Usingthetimerecordsof thefirsttwopeaksfrom
experimental results,thelengthbetweenthesensorand
thebottomof poleis 1.55m, whichis quitecloseto
597
Figure 10. Comparison of experimental and numerical
resultsusingthecontact method.
Figure 11. Comparison of experimental and numerical
resultsusingthecouplingmethod.
thetruelengthwitha3.1%error. FromFigure10, it
is observed that the locations of the first two peaks
for numerical andexperimental resultsarecorrelated.
However, other peaksandwavepatternsafter 2msare
not correlatedwell.
6.2 Verification of the model created using the
coupling method
FromFigure11, it isobservedthat usingthecoupling
method, the overall trend of the stress wave of the
numerical simulation matches well with the experi-
mental results. However, thetimerecordof thesecond
peak of thenumerical result does not matchwiththe
experimental results. As aresult, it produces alager
error intheestimationof theembedment length.
7 CONCLUSION
This paper presents an investigation on numerical
modellingof stress wavepropagationinutility poles
under soil influence.Twointerfacial methods, namely,
thecouplingmethodandthecontactmethod,werepro-
posedtosimulatetheinterfacial behaviour betweena
timber pole and its surrounding soil for stress wave
propagation. Experimental testingwasalsoconducted
to verify thenumerical findings. Theresults showed
that the coupling method can produce better over-
all wavepropagationpatternsinsimulatingthestress
wavebehaviour inthetimber pole. Ontheother hand,
the contact method can produce accurately the first
two peaks of the wave pattern, which is crucial in
determinationof theundergroundembedment length,
but experiences a problemin simulating the overall
behaviour of the stress wave. Further investigations
onthesetwo methods will becarriedout inthenext
stageof theproject.
REFERENCES
ANSYS, Inc. 2011. Users manual for ANSYS 13.0. Canons-
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Bootle, K. R. 1983. Wood in Australia, Australia,
McGraw-Hill AustraliaPtyLtd.
Ellis, S. & Steiner, P. 2002. The Behaviour of Five Wood
Species in Compression. International Association of
Wood Anatomists Journal, 23(2):201211.
J unior, C. C. & Molina, J. C. 2010. Numerical Modelling
StrategyforAnalysingtheBehaviourof ShearConnectors
inWood-ConcreteCompositeSystems.World Conference
on Timber Engineering. Italy.
Kirsch, F. & Plabmann, B. Dynamic Methods in PileTest-
ing: Developments in Measurement andAnalysis. Deep
Foundations 2002: AnInternational PerspectiveonThe-
ory, Design, Construction, and Performance:868882
Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Larry, M., Olson, D., J alinoos, F. &Aouad, M. F. 1998. Deter-
mination of Unknown Subsurface Bridge Foundation.
Federal LandsHighwayProgramAdministration.
Li, M. B. 2007. Thesis of Modelling and Simulation of Wood
Mechanical Properties Based on Finite Element Theory.
PhD, Northeast Forest Univeristy, China.
Murray, Y. D. 2007. Manual for LS-DYNA Wood Material
Model-143. U.S.: Research, Development, andTechnol-
ogyTurner-FairbankHighwayResearchCenter.
Nguyen, M., Foliente, G. & Wang, X. 2004. State of the
Practice and Challenges in Non-destructive Evaluation
of Utility Poles in Service. Key Engineering Materials-
Advances in non-destructive evaluation: 270273.
Pandey, A. K. & Anthony, R. W. 2005. Inspection and
monitoring techniques for bridges and civil structures.
England: TheInstituteof Materials, Minerals& Mining.
Serrano, E. 2000.Thesis of Adhesive Joints in Timber
Engineering-Modelling and Testing of Fracture Proper-
ties. PhD, LundUniversity, Sweden.
Tanasoiu,V.,Miclea,C.&Tanasoiu,C.2002.Non-destructive
TestingTechniquesandPiezoelectricUltra-SonicsTrans-
ducersforWoodandBuiltinWoodenStructures. Journal
of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials, 4.
Thasnanipan, N., Maung,A.W., Navaneethan,T. &Aye, Z. Z.
2000. Non-destructiveintegrity testingonpiles founded
inBangkoksubsoil. Application of Stress-Wave Theory to
Piles: 171177. Brazil: BalkemaRatterdam, Brazil.
Tabiei, A. & Wu, J. 2000. Three-dimensional nonlinear
orthotropic Finite element material model for wood.
Composite Structures, 50(2000), 143149.
598
Geomechanics
Comparisonof existingdesignmethodsfor geosyntheticreinforced
pile-supportedembankments: Three-dimensional numerical modelling
PriyanathAriyarathne, D.S. Liyanapathirana& C.J. Leo
School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Constructiononsoft foundationsoilscanbeachallengingtask for thegeotechnical engineers
dueto theundesirablecharacteristics of soft soil suchas highcompressibility, insufficient shear strengthand
low bearing capacity. Embankments constructed on such grounds will besubjected to considerableabsolute
or differential settlements. These settlements have to be limited to permissible values in order to maintain
thestability anddurability of thestructures concerned. Amongvarious groundimprovement methods usedto
overcomethesedifficulties, geosyntheticreinforcedpile-supported(GRPS) embankmentsareconsideredtobe
areliablesolution. Variousresearchershaveintroduceddifferent methodstodesignGRPSembankmentsusing
different load transfer mechanisms. This paper presents athree-dimensional numerical study using thefinite
elementmethodconductedonGRPSembankmentsinordertocomparesomecurrentlyavailabledesignmethods
withthreedimensional model results. Basedonthesemodel results, theinconsistencies incurrently available
designmethodsarediscussedindetail.
1 INTRODUCTION
Embankmentsarewidelyusedinconstructionprojects
inorder toelevatethegroundsurfacetotherequired
level. These are very common in infrastructure
development projects such as highway and railway
construction.
Due to the lack of suitable land for construction,
it isincreasingly becomingnecessary toconstruct on
lands which were previously considered unsuitable.
Designing structures such as embankments on soft
foundationsoils canraiseseveral concerns relatedto
timeconstraints, excessivetotal anddifferential settle-
mentsoveralongperiodof time,largelateral pressures
andslopestability. A variety of techniques areavail-
ableinorder toovercometheseissues whichinclude
preloadingorstagedconstruction, additionof vertical
drains, usinglightweightfill material for theembank-
ment fill, over excavation of soft soil and replacing
withasuitablefill material, reducingtheslopeof the
embankment andadditionof pilesupports (Mitchell,
1981; Magnan, 1994; Shenet al., 2005).
Most of theabovementionedmethodsarenot suit-
able for fast-track construction projects as they are
moretimeconsuming. However, theuseof pilesup-
portswithgeosyntheticreinforcementisconsideredto
beareliablesolutionfortheembankmentconstruction
onsoftfoundationsoilsasthestructurecanbebuiltin
asinglestagewithout prolongedwaitingperiodsand
withasignificantreductionintotal anddifferential set-
tlements. Geosynthetic reinforcement combinedwith
pilesupportsareusedinmanyinstancessuchasbridge
approach, storagetanksupports, forwideningexisting
roads, retainingwalls andembankments to createan
efficientloadtransfer platformasmentionedbymany
researchers (Han and Gabr 2002; Collin 2003; Qian
andLing2009).
Numerousstudies(bothnumerical andexperimen-
tal) havebeencarriedout inthelast fewdecades on
pile-supportedembankmentswithor withoutgeosyn-
thetic, to investigate their behaviour and the load
transfer mechanism. However, a precise mechanism
by which the load is transferred to the geosynthet-
ics remains poorly understood (Love and Milligan,
2003).
Although there are several design methods avail-
ableat present for thedesignof GRPSembankments,
(Terzaghi, 1943; Guido et al. 1987; Hewlett and
Randolph, 1988; Russell et al. 2003; Kempfert et al.
2004; BS 8006, 2010) still there is no universally
acceptedmethod.
Thispaper presentsathreedimensional numerical
study onaGRPS embankment problemwithvarying
pile spacing, pile diameter and embankment height.
Fully coupledmechanical andhydraulicmodellingis
carriedoutusingthefiniteelementmodellingsoftware
ABAQUS/Standard. Theresultsfromtheanalysisare
usedtodiscuss theloadtransfer mechanism. A com-
parisonof fivecurrently availabledesignmethods is
carriedoutwiththeresultsfromthethreedimensional
model andtheinconsistencies of thecurrent practice
arediscussed.
601
Figure1. Crosssectionof theembankment.
Figure2. Threedimensional model.
2 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
The embankment problemused for the analysis and
thethreedimensional model areshown in Figures 1
and2.Thisisthebaselinecaseusedfor theparametric
study. Theembankment hasaheight of 4.5m, acrest
widthof 24mandtheslopeis1:2(vertical:horizontal).
Thetopmostsoil layerisa1mthickcoarsegrainedfill
layerandbelowthatisa14mthicksoftclaylayer.The
soil layer belowthesoft clay layer isassumedtobea
firmbearinglayer. Theembankment is supportedon
pileswhichare15mlongand0.7mindiameterandthe
centretocentrepilespacingis3m. Thegroundwater
table(GWT) isatadepthof 1mbelowthegroundsur-
face. Thegeosyntheticlayer wassandwichedbetween
two0.25mthickgravel layerstoprevent damagedur-
ing construction. The embankment was constructed
over 55days andleft for consolidationfor 125days.
Therateof constructionwas not changedduringthe
parametricstudy.
Duetothesymmetryof theembankment,onlyahalf
of theembankmentismodelledconsideringa6mwide
sectionwithtwopilerows.Thehorizontal lengthof the
model istakentobe63m, whichisthreetimesthebase
length, inorder tominimisetheboundaryeffects. The
bottomboundary(z =0plane) wasfixedinall direc-
tions and the left hand side boundary (x =0 plane)
wasassignedwithasymmetrical boundarycondition.
Thefar end(x =63mplane) was fixedonly inthex
direction and thevertical planes (y =0 and y =6m)
werealso assigned with symmetrical boundary con-
ditions. Porewater wasonlyallowedtodrainthrough
the top surface of the soft clay layer. The embank-
ment fill andgravel layers wereassumedto befully
draineddueto thehighpermeability values of those
Table1. Material propertiesusedintheanalysis.
Material Parameters
Coarsegrainedfill E =7MPa, c
=15kPa,
=28
,
=0
, =0.3, =20kN/m
3
Soft clay =0.15, =0.03, M=0.95, e
1
=1.79,
=0.4, k =4.3210
4
m/day,
=17kN/m
3
Embankment fill E =20MPa, c
=10kPa,
=30
,
=0
, =0.3, =18.5kN/m
3
Gravel bed E =20MPa, c
=10kPa,
=40
,
=0
, =0.3, =18.5kN/m
3
Piles E =20GPa, =0.2
Geosynthetic J =Et =1180kN/m, =0.3,
t =10 mm
J Stiffness of the geosynthetic, t thickness of the
geosynthetic, unit weight of soil
materials. Thegeosyntheticlayer wasmodelledusing
eight-nodemembraneelementsandtheotherpartsare
modelled using twenty-node brick elements with or
without porepressuredegrees of freedomdepending
onthedrainagecondition.
2.1 Material model and parameters
Material parametersfoundinliteratureareusedinthe
numerical simulations as shown inTable1. Thesoft
claylayerwasmodelledusingtheModifiedCamClay
(MCC) model where istheslopeof thevirgincon-
solidationline; is theslopeof theswellingline; e
1
isthevoidratioat unit pressure; M istheslopeof the
critical statelineand isthePoissonsratio. A linear
elastic-perfectly plastic model with Mohr-Coulomb
failurecriterion was used to model theembankment
fill, coarsegrainedfill andthegravel beds.Theparam-
eters used for this model are effective cohesion, c
,
frictionangle,
, dilationangle, ,Youngsmodulus,
E and Poissons ratio, . Thegeosynthetic layer and
piles weremodelledas linear elastic materials. Inter-
facefrictionisconsideredbetweenthegravel bedand
thegeosynthetic layer assumingan interfacefriction
coefficient of 0.8.
2.2 Variables and their values used in the
parametric study
The variables used for the parametric study are pile
spacing, pilediameter andtheheight of theembank-
ment. Only one parameter was changed at a time
whilekeepingtheotherparametersatthebaselinecase
values. ThedetailsaresummarisedinTable2.
3 DESIGNTECHNIQUES
There are various design methods available for the
design of GRPS embankments. Not all these meth-
ods are initially developed for designing GRPS
embankments, but, they were later adopted for this
602
Table2. Valuesof thevaryingparamentes.
Parameter Values
Pilespacing(m) 2.0, 3.0, 4.0
Pilediameter (m) 0.5, 0.7, 0.9, 1.1
Embankment height (m) 2.5, 3.5, 4.5
process. This section presents a comparison of five
currently available design methods which are found
in literaturewith theresults obtained fromthethree
dimensional finiteelement model.
This comparison is carried out using the stress
reductionratio(S
3D
); aparameter introducedbyLow
et al. (1994) whichisdefinedastheratioof theaver-
agevertical stress P
r
carriedby thereinforcement to
theaveragevertical stressduetotheembankmentfill.
3.1 Method of Terzaghi (1943)
The arching theory developed by Terzaghi (1943)
based on his classic trap door experiment is used to
describetheloadtransfermechanisminpile-supported
embankmentsbymanyauthors. Russell andPierpoint
(1997) extended Terzaghis analysis and derived an
expression for the stress reduction ratio in GRPS
embankmentsby takingthethreedimensional nature
intoaccount. Thederivedexpressionisasfollows:
whereK isthecoefficient of earthpressureat rest. It
isrelatedtothefrictionangleof soil
by,
3.2 Method of Guido et al. (1987)
Thismethodisderivedfromplateloadingtestscarried
out by Guidoet al. (1987). For thethreedimensional
condition, this methodassumes that theloadspreads
throughthefill layeratanangleof 45
andthegeosyn-
theticreinforcement isrequiredtosupport theweight
of a soil pyramid which is not supported by piles.
Russell andPierpoint (1997) havederivedanexpres-
sion for thestress reduction ratio for this method as
shown in Equation 3. According to them, findings
fromthismethodareusedtodesigntheSecondSevern
Crossingembankment inUK.
3.3 Method of Hewlett and Randolph (1988)
Hewlett andRandolph(1988) carriedout model tests
on a granular embankment fill material overlying a
rectangular gridof pilecapstoinvestigatetheamount
of load transferred to the piles and the foundation
soil due to soil arching. They did not incorporate
geosyntheticreinforcement intheir model tests.
Twocritical locationswereidentifiedinthearches,
thecrownandthepilecap. Itwasfoundthatfor lower
embankmentheightsthecritical regionisatthecrown
andwhentheheightincreasesthecritical regiontrans-
ferstothepilecaps. Theydevelopedequationsfor the
efficacyandlater, usingtheabovementionedtwocrit-
ical conditions, Russell andPierpoint (1997) derived
two equations for thestress reductionratio as shown
below, assuming that thewholeembankment load is
carriedby thepilesandthereisnocontributionfrom
the underlying soft soil. The higher stress reduction
ratio calculatedfromEquations 5or 6is usedinthe
design.
Conditionsat thecrown
Conditionsat thepilecap
where, K
p
isthepassiveearthpressurecoefficientand
isthefrictionangleof soil.
3.4 Method of Kempfert et al. (2004)
Kempfert et al. (2004) methodisdevelopedusingthe
three dimensional well instrumented model tests in
a scaleof 1:3 carried out in order to investigatethe
bearing and deformation behavior of piled embank-
ment problems. Inthismethod, themagnitudeof load
onthesoft soil without inclusionof reinforcement is
calculated beforethetension in thereinforcement is
estimated to carry that load. This method allows the
support fromthe foundation soil to be included in
the design. The tension in the reinforcement is esti-
mated based on the theory of elastically embedded
membranes.
Thestressreductionratiofor thismethodisshown
inEquation8.
603
with,
and
where a is the pile cap diameter, K
p
is the passive
lateral earthpressure, h
g
isthearchingheight, q isthe
surcharge, H istheembankment height, istheunit
weight of embankment fill ands
d
isthediagonal pile
spacing.
3.5 Method of BS 8006(2010)
The method adopted in the British Standard
for strengthened/reinforced soils and other fills
(BS8006:2010) has been originally developed using
the simplified analysis methods developed by J ones
et al. (1990) basedontwo dimensional pipelinethe-
ory. The amount of load carried by the piles is
calculatedaccordingtotheMarstonsformulaforpos-
itively projecting subsurfaceconduits. In this design
code, two different arching conditions are selected.
First one is the partial arching condition where
0.7(s a)H 1.4(s a) andthesecondoneisthe
full arching condition where H >1.4(s a). Equa-
tions for thestress reductionratio canbederivedfor
both these conditions using the method adopted by
Russell andPierpoint (1997).
For partial arching
For full arching
where,
where, C
C
isthearchingcoefficientandP
C
isthever-
tical stress onpile. For theendbearingpiles usedin
thisembankment,
These equations were used to calculate the stress
reduction ratio for the embankment problems anal-
ysed. However, for someembankmentproblemsthese
equations yieldedstress reductionratios greater than
one, which is impossible. The main reason for this
is that the BS 8006 does not satisfy the vertical
equilibrium when calculating the line load on the
Figure3. Comparisonof designmethodswithpilespacing.
geosynthetic layers. J ones et al. madethis choiceto
guarantee sufficient safety so that the stress on the
geosynthetic is over predicted and the outcome is a
stronger design. But, thisgivesimpossibleresultsfor
someembankmentproblemsasobservedinthisstudy.
RecentlyVanEekelenet al. (2011) haveproposed
somemodificationstotheBritishcodeinordertoelim-
inatetheshortcomingswhencalculatingthelineload
onthegeosyntheticlayer.Thenewequationsproposed
satisfythevertical equilibriumforpartial archingcon-
dition but not for full arching condition. However,
they givemorerealistic values. Therefore, thestress
reductionratioiscalculatedusingthenewlyproposed
equationswhicharegivenbelow.
For partial arching,
For full arching,
Thestress reduction ratios arecalculated by each
method separately for all thevarying parameter val-
ues and compared against thestress reduction ratios
obtained by the numerical model. The variation of
S
3D
with pile spacing is shown in Figure 3. Out of
thefivedesignmethods, Guido et al. methodsignif-
icantly under predicts the stress reduction ratio. All
other methods over predict this except for the BS
8006method. This inconsistency in theBritish stan-
dard is dueto thechangeof arching condition from
full archingtopartial archingwhenthepilespacingis
increased.
Thecomparisonof designmethodsfor thedifferent
pilediametersconsideredisshowninFigure4, when
thepilespacingis3m.
The analysis was carried out for three different
embankment heights and the stress reduction ratio
comparisonisshowninFigure5.
604
Figure4. Comparisonof designmethodswithpilediameter.
Figure5. Comparisonof designmethodswiththeheightof
theembankment.
WhileGuidoetal. methodunder predictsthestress
reduction ratio, Hewlett and Randolph method and
Kempfert methodalwaysgivesimilar but higher val-
ues comparedtothefiniteelement results. Themain
reasonfor theover predictionisthatthesemethodsdo
nottakethesupportfromthesubsoil intoaccountthus
yieldingmoreconservativeresults.
3.6 Tension in the geosynthetic layer
Inorder tofindthetensiondevelopedinthegeosyn-
theticlayer, themethodadoptedintheBritishstandard
isused. Withtheuseof thismethod, Russell andPier-
point (1997) havederivedanequationwithrespect to
thestressreductionratiotocalculatethetension. The
Figure6. Reinforcementtensioncalculatedbydesignmeth-
odsandnumerical model for different pilespacingvalues.
odsandnumerical model for different embankment heights.
tensionforcepermeterrunbetweenpilecaps(T
rp
) can
befoundusingthefollowingequation.
where,
a
is theaxial strain in thereinforcement. A
strain of 5%is used in thecalculations without any
partial factors.
The variation of tension for the selected design
methodsandthetensioncalculatedfromthenumerical
analysisareshowninFigure6for different pilespac-
ingvalues. All thedesignmethodsexceptGuidoetal.
methodover predict thetension. But theuseof Guido
methodisnotsuitablesinceitsignificantlyunder pre-
dictsthestressreductionratio. Whenthepilespacing
isdecreasingall methodstendtogivesimilar results.
Figure 7 shows the comparison of tension calcu-
lated by the selected design methods and numerical
605
odsandnumerical model for different pilediameters.
results for different embankment heights. Similar to
the previous figure, all the design methods signif-
icantly over predict the tension in the geosynthetic
reinforcementlayerexceptGuidoetal.smethodwhich
givesalmost thesamestressreductionratiovaluefor
all threeheights.
Geosynthetic tension variation for different pile
diameters is shown in Figure8. Thepattern for this
figureisverymuchsimilar tothepreviousgraphs.All
thedesignmethodsexceptGuidomethodconsistently
over predict thetensioninthegeosynthetic. However,
thegeosynthetic tensionvalueisgettingcloser tothe
threedimensional model results withtheincreaseof
pilediameter.
4 CONCLUSION
Threedimensional numerical modellingiscarriedout
on a GRPS embankment in this study. The analysis
iscarriedout for several pilespacings, pilediameters
andembankmentheights.Thenumerical model results
are used to compare five existing design methods
for GRPS embankments. The stress reduction ratios
and geosynthetic tension obtained by thesemethods
are compared with three dimensional model results.
Accordingtotheresults, stressreductionratioisunder
predictedby theGuido et al.s methodandover pre-
dictedbytheother methods. Thereareveryhighover
predictions for thetension in thegeosynthetic layer.
It isclear that thecurrently availabledesignmethods
yield over conservative or inconsistent results. Fur-
thermore, themethodproposedbyGuidoet al. yields
significantly low values which are not suitable for
designcalculations.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial
support for this project provided by the Australian
ResearchCouncil andCoffey Geotechnics under the
Linkage grant, LP0990581, and the University of
Western Sydney for providing an International Post-
graduateResearchScholarshipfor thefirst author.
REFERENCES
BS80062010. Codeof PracticeforStrengthened/Reinforced
SoilsandOther Fills, BritishStandardInstitution.
Collin, J.G. 2003. NHI ground improvement manual
Technical summary #10: Column supported embank-
ments, National HighwayInstitute, Arlington, Va.
Guido, V.A, Kneuppel, J.D. & Sweeney, M.A. 1987. Plate
loadingtestsongeogridreinforcedearthslabs, Proceed-
ings of the Geosynthetics 87, NewOrleans, 216225.
Han, J. & Gabr, M.A. 2002. Numerical analysis of
geosynthetic-reinforced and pile-supported earth plat-
formsover soft soil, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoen-
vironmental Engineering, 128(1): 4453.
Hewlett, W.J. & Randolph, M.F. 1988. Analysis of piled
embankments, Ground Engineering 21(3): 1218.
J ones, C.J.F.P., Lawson, C.R. & Ayres, D.J. 1990. Geosyn-
thetic reinforced piled embankments. In: Hoedt, Den
(Ed.), Geosynthetics, Geomembranes and Related Prod-
ucts. Balkema, Rotterdam: 155160.
Kempfert, H.G., Gobel, C., Alexiew, D. & Heitz, C. 2004.
German recommendations for the reinforced embank-
mentsonpile-similarelements,Proc. Of the 3rd Eur. Conf.
On Geosynthetics, Munich, Germany, 279284.
Love, J. & Milligan, G. 2003. Design methods for basally
reinforcedpile-supportedembankmentsoversoftground.
Ground Engineering, 36, No. 3, pp.3943.
Low, B.K., Tang, S.K. & Choa, V. 1994. Arching in piled
embankments, Journal of Geotechnical Engineering 120
(11): 19171938.
Magnan, J.P. 1994. Methods to reduce the settlement of
embankmentsonsoftclay: areview. In:Vertical and Hor-
izontal Deformations of Foundations and Embankments.
ASCE Geotechnical Special Publication, 40: 7791.
Mitchell, J. K. 1981. Stateof theArt Soil Improvement.
Proceedings of the 10th ICSMFE.Stockholm,4:509565.
Qian, J. & Ling, J. 2009. 3D finite element analysis
of geosynthetic-reinforced pile-supported widening of
embankment over soft soil. Geotechnical Special Pub-
lication No. 191, GeoHunan International Conference
2009, ASCE, 124132.
Russell, D., Naughton, P.J. & Kempton, G.T. 2003. A new
designprocedurefor piledembankments, Proceedings of
the 56th Canadian Geotechnical Conference, Winnipeg.
Russell, D. & Pierpoint, N. 1997. An assessment of design
methods for piled embankments, Ground Engineering
30(10): 3944.
Shen, S.L., Chai, J.C., Hong, Z.S. &Cai, F.X. 2005.Analysis
of fieldperformanceof embankmentsonsoftclaydeposit
withandwithout PVD-improvement. Geosynthetics and
Geomembranes, 23(6): 463485.
Terzaghi, K. 1943. Theoretical soil Mechanics. NewYork,
Wiley.
Van Eekelen, S.J.M., Bezuijen, A. & Van Tol, A. F. 2011.
Analysisandmodificationof theBritishStandardBS8006
for the design of piled embankments. Geotextiles and
Geomembranes, 29, 345359.
606
Efficient modelingof wavepropagationinunboundeddomains
usingthescaledboundaryfiniteelement method
XiaojunChen, CarolinBirk& ChongminSong
ABSTRACT: Inthis paper wavepropagationinunboundedsoil is modelledusingascaledboundary finite
element method(SBFEM) inthetimedomain. TheSBFEM is originally formulatedinthefrequency domain
leadingtoagoverningequationintermsof theaccelerationdynamic-stiffnessmatrixasafunctionof excitation
frequency. This equation is transformed into a governing equation in terms of the acceleration unit-impulse
response matrix by means of inverse Fourier transformation. The original discretization scheme assumes a
piece-wiseconstantapproximationof theaccelerationunit-impulseresponsematrixwithineachtimestep, which
requires asmall maximumstepsizeto makethealgorithmstable. Recently, anewstrategy (Radmanovic and
Katz 2010) wasproposedtoovercomethisdrawback: Assumingtheaccelerationunit-impulseresponsematrix
tovarylinearlyineachtimestepandintroducinganadditional extrapolationparameter, thestabilityisimproved
such that thetime-step sizecan beincreased. In this paper, wefirst evaluatetheefficiency of theimproved
algorithmby studying theinfluenceof theextrapolation parameter and timestep sizeon thestability. Then,
theproblemisformulatedintermsof thedisplacement unit-impulseresponsematrix. Thisyieldstwoessential
improvements: (1) As a consequence of approximating the displacement unit-impulse response matrix by a
piece-wiselinear function; thesolutionof aLyapunovmatrixequationisavoided. (2) Theconvolutionintegral
present in thesoil-structureinteraction vector is truncated after afew timesteps. This leads to asignificant
reduction of computational effort. Derivations of thecorresponding efficient schemes will bepresented and
verifiedusingnumerical examples.
Keywords: dynamicsoil-structureinteraction, wavepropagation, time-domain, scaledboundaryfiniteelement
method, accelerationunit-impulseresponsematrix
1 INTRODUCTION
The numerical modelling of wave propagation in
unboundeddomains is requiredinanumber of engi-
neeringapplications, suchassoil-structureinteraction
analysis or dam-reservoir interaction analysis. Here,
the well-established finite element method cannot
be used straightforwardly, since outgoing waves are
reflected at the artificial boundaries of the finite
element mesh, such that special measures have to
be taken to prevent these reflections (Givoli, 1999),
(Tsynkov, 1998). A popular method for the anal-
ysis of dynamic problems in unbounded media is
theboundary element method, becausetheradiation
condition is fulfilled explicitly by the fundamental
solution (Beskos, 1987; 1997). The idea of extend-
ing the finite element mesh towards infinity has
driventhedevelopmentof infiniteelementtechniques
(Bettess, 1992). A recent technique, which is partic-
ularly suitable for modelling time-dependent prob-
lems in infinitemedia, is thescaled boundary finite
element method (Wolf & Song, 1997). This semi-
analytical technique is based on a combination of a
numerical solution in the circumferential directions
with an analytical solution in the direction of wave
propagation. Thus, radiation damping is modelled
accurately.
Inthispaper, soil-structureinteractionisaddressed.
The structure is modelled using standard finite ele-
mentswhiletheunboundedsoil ismodelledusingthe
scaledboundaryfiniteelementmethod(Figure1).The
connectionbetweenthetwosubstructuresisexpressed
using the interaction vector {r(t)} acting at the soil-
structure interface. In the time-domain, the corre-
spondingforce-displacementrelationshipisdescribed
bytheconvolutionintegral:
where [M
(t)] represents the acceleration unit-

impulse response matrix and {()} is the nodal
accelerationvector.
607
Figure1. Boundedandunboundeddomain.
The acceleration unit-impulse response matrix is
computed using the SBFEM. The governing scaled
boundaryfiniteelement equationisgivenas:
where [M
(t)] represents the acceleration unit-

impulse response matrix in transformed coordi-
nates, [e
1
], [e
2
] and [m
0
] are transformed SBFE
matrices obtained using eigenvalue decomposition
(Wolf & Song, 1997). Thenewintegrationschemeby
RadmannovicandKatz(2010)isbasedontheassump-
tionthattheaccelerationunit-impulseresponsematrix
changes linearly withineachtimestep. Moreover, an
extrapolationparameter isintroducedasfollows:
A detaileddescriptionof thealgorithmcanbefound
in(Radmanovic& Katz, 2010).
Theobjectiveof this paper is to first evaluatethe
new algorithmusing anumerical example, and then
to propose a similar algorithmfor the displacement
unit-impulseresponsematrix.
Thefurther outlineof this paper is as follows. In
Section2, a3D wavepropagationproblemisusedto
evaluatethenewalgorithmfor [M
(t)]. Thestability
andefficiencyof themethodareinvestigated. InSec-
tion 3, algorithms for thedisplacement unit-impulse
responsematrix andtheinterfaceforce-displacement
Figure2. (a) Spherical cavityembeddedinfull-spacewith
symmetricwaves. (b) Meshof anoctantof thecavitysurface.
relationship are developed, starting fromthe SBFE
equation for the dynamic stiffness in the frequency
domain. In Section 4, the same example as in Sec-
tion2isusedtoevaluatethenewscheme. Concluding
remarksarestatedinSection5.
2 ACCELERATIONUNIT-IMPULSE
RESPONSE
Asabenchmarkexample, aspherical cavityembedded
in full space subject to a uniformradial pressure is
considered(Figure2a). Theanalytical solutionfor the
acceleration unit-impulseresponsefunction is given
asfollows(Wolf & Song, 1997):
where m
(t) is the transformed acceleration unit-

impulse response coefficient, r
0
is the radius of the
cavity, v andc
p
arethePoissonsratioandwaveveloc-
ity, respectively. Thoughtheresultsarefor full space,
samenumerical model canalsobeappliedtohalf space
application.
2.1 Accuracy and stability
Duetosymmetry, onlyanoctant of thecavitysurface
is discretizedwiththree9-nodeisoparametric scaled
608
Figure 3. Comparison of the stability of the new and
the original schemes, and the effect of the extrapolation
parameter.
boundaryfiniteelements(Figure2b), yieldingatotal
of 49degreesof freedom.
Thetimestepis chosensuchthat inasubsequent
time-domainanalysisthewavewill onlypropagateto
theadjacent nodewithin onetimestep. Thus, along
thesurface:
Afterdeterminingtheunit-impulseresponsematrix
of order 4949, the uniformradial nodal acceler-
ations are enforced using the spatial motion pattern
{}. Theresultingaccelerationunit-impulseresponse
coefficient M
(t) is shown in Figure 3 for differ-

entextrapolationparameters.ThecoefficientM
(t)
calculated using the original approach based on a
piece-wise constant approximation is compared to
the values obtained using the new linear algorithm.
Here, theextrapolationparameter isinitiallychosen
as =1.2, and then increased gradually until stable
resultsareobtained.
As can be noted, the original scheme (const)
becomes unstablequickly, becauseit requires avery
small timestep, muchsmallerthant =0.4r
0
/c
p
.The
stability is clearly improved using the new scheme
(linear). Theextrapolation parameter , significantly
affectsthestabilityof thescheme. For =1.6, thereis
nomoreoscillationinthesolutionandthenumerical
andanalytical solutionsinFigure3coincide. Thesize
andmeshingof themodel will alsoaffecttheaccuracy
andstability, but it needs to befurther studiedinthe
future.
DifferentfromRadmanovicandKatzspaper,inthis
example,wecannotfindavaluefor tomaketheresult
unconditionallystable. Howtheextrapolationparame-
teraffectsthestabilityisproblem-dependent.Notethat
the acceleration unit-impulse response approaches a
linear function at large time. Thus, its second-order
derivative, the displacement unit impulse response,
convergestozero. Consequently, theconvolutioninte-
gral present in the force-displacement relationship
formulatedintermsof thedisplacement unit-impulse
response can be truncated when the displacement
Table1. CPU timerequiredfor thecomputationof u(t).
Constant Scheme Linear Scheme
Duration 10r
0
/c
p
20r
0
/c
p
10r
0
/c
p
20r
0
/c
p
CPUTime(ms) 3154 9586 212 317
unit impulse response becomes zero. The stability
of thecalculation of theunit-impulseresponseafter
thetruncationtimedoes not affect thecalculationof
thedisplacement. This is discussedinmoredetail in
Section3.
2.2 Efficiency
Next, a uniform rounded triangular unit pulse is
applied on the surface of the spherical cavity
(t
0
=8r
0
/c
p
):
Thedisplacement responseis computedusingthe
accelerationunit-impulseresponsecoefficientM
(t)
obtainedusingtheoriginal scheme(const) andasmall
time step t =0.1r
0
/c
p
first. After that, the new
scheme(linear) isusedattimestepsizet =0.4r
0
/c
p
and =1.6. The total CPU time required for the
computationof thedisplacement responseisgivenin
Table1.
Ascanbenoted, theoriginal scheme(const) isvery
timeconsuming, duetotworeasons: (1) averysmall
timestepsizeisrequired; (2) inboththecalculationof
M
(t) andtheforce-accelerationrelationshipthereis
aconvolutionintegral. Thecomputational effortasso-
ciatedwiththenumerical evaluationof aconvolution
integral isproportional to
2
.Columnstwoandthreeof
Table1illustratethat,theCPUtimeassociatedwiththe
original constant schemeincreases dramatically with
increasingtime. For thelinear scheme, amuchlarger
timestepsizeisused, andonlyafewvaluesfor M
(t)
needtobecalculated. Theimprovedefficiencyof the
newschemeis apparent incolumns four andfiveof
Table1.
3 ALGORITHM FOR DISPLACEMENT
UNIT-IMPULSE RESPONSE MATRIX
Inthis sectionanewnumerical schemefor thecom-
putation of the displacement unit-impulse response
matrix [S
(t)] is derived. The SBFE equation in

dynamic stiffness [S
()] in the frequency domain

(Wolf & Song, 1997) isgivenas:
609
Applyingeigenvaluedecomposition, Eq. (7) canbe
simplifiedas:
Eq. (8) is referred to as the transformed SBFE
equationindynamicstiffness.
The transformed dynamic stiffness [S
()] is
decomposedas:
Substituting Eq. (9) into Eq. (8) leads to a poly-
nomial in (i). Individual terms corresponding to
different powers of (i) must be equal to zero. The
termscorrespondingto(i)
2
, (i)
1
and(i)
0
areused
tocalculate[c
], [k
] and[a
1
] (Wolf &Song, 1997).
Setting the remaining terms equal to zero yields an
equationfor [s
r
()]:
ApplyingtheinverseFourier transformyields:
where [ s
r
(t)] is the first derivative of [s
r
(t)] with
respecttotime.[ s
r
(t)]canbedeterminedfromEq.(11)
usingatimediscretizationscheme.Theregularpartof
thedisplacementunit-impulseresponseisobtainedas
[s
r
(t)]=[a
1
]+[S
r
(t)] and the force-displacement
relationshipis:
where [S
r
(t)]=([]
1
)
T
[s
r
(t)][
1
] and [] is
the eigenvector of the eigenvalue decomposition
employedearlier.
3.1 Time discretization: first time step
Time discretization is applied to Eq. (11), which is
an equation for two sets of unknowns: [ s
r
(t)] and
[s
r
(t)]. The time is expressed as t =nt, and the
unknowns [s
r
(t)] and [ s
r
(t)] are evaluated at each
timestep: [s
i
]=[s
r
(t =it)] and [ s
i
]=[ s
r
(t =it)]
at (i =0, 1, 2, . . . , n), respectively.
Initially,[s]
0
=[s
r
(t =0)]=0.Theinitial derivative
[ s]
0
isdeterminedby:
where
Then, atthefirsttimestep, [s]
1
=t [ s]
0
and[ s]
1
isdeterminedbyaLyapunovmatrixequation:
withcoefficient matrix:
3.2 Time discretization: n-th time step
For timestept
n
=nt (n 2), the[s]
n
canbecalcu-
latedusingpreviousresultsfor [s]
n1
and[ s]
n1
as:
As before, [ s]
n
is determined solving aLyapunov
matrixequation:
withcoefficient matrix:
TheLyapunovmatrixequations(13), (15) and(18)
canbegeneralizedas:
wheret =t
i
=it(0i n).Asthecoefficientmatrix
[c
] isdiagonal (Wolf &Song, 1997), thesolutionfor

eachelement [ s]
kl
isequal to:
withtheKronecker delta
kl
.
610
3.3 Force-displacement relationship
As [s
r
(t)] will tend to zero, a truncation time T is
employedinthecalculationof theforce-displacement
relationship:
Attimestept
n
=nt, theconvolutioniscalculated
as:
Therefore, the integration scheme for evaluation
of the soil-structure interaction vector {r(t)} can be
derivedasfollows:
wherevector {q}
n
dependssolelyonthevaluesof the
timestepsbeforetimet
n
, andisgivenas:
After the truncation time, the displacement unit-
impulse response matrix is zero, which does not
contributetotheconvolutionintegral.OnlytheN steps
beforethetruncationtimeT (N =T/t) needto be
includedinEq. (25). For t
n
>T, {q}
n
isexpressedas
Thecomputational effort requiredtocalculate{q}
n
does not increase when time increases since N is
constant. Thus thetotal computational effort will be
proportional ton insteadof n
2
, whichlargelyreduces
thecomputational time.
4 NUMERIAL EXAMPLE FOR
DISPLACEMENT UNIT-IMPULSE
RESPONSE
The same benchmark example as in Section 2 is
used to verify the new algorithms for the displace-
ment unit-impulse response and force-displacement
Figure4. Displacement unit-impulseresponsecoefficient
of thespherical cavity.
Figure 5. Radial displacement response of the spherical
cavityduetouniformsurfacepressure.
relationship. The analytical solution for the trans-
formed displacement unit-impulse response coeffi-
cientisobtainedasthesecondderivativeof Eq.(4).The
samemeshasinSection2isused.Threedifferenttime
step sizes are considered with dimensionless time:
t =t c
p
/r
0
=0.1, 0.2 and 0.4. The resulting dis-
placement unit-impulseresponsecoefficient [S
r
(t)]
isplottedinFigure4.
All threenumerical results agreewith theanalyt-
ical solution, which converges to zero at t 6r
0
/c
p
.
Thiscorrespondstothepoint intimewhentheaccel-
eration unit-impulseresponsematrix becomes linear
inFigure3. Thus, thetruncationtimeT is chosenas
t =6r
0
/c
p
.
Thedisplacement of thesurfacedueto auniform
pressure varying according to Eq. (6) is computed
usingEqs. (24)(26) andchoosingthetimestepsize
t =0.4andplottedinFigure5, andit is compared
withanexact result from(Wolf & Song, 1997).
Thecorresponding CPU times obtained using the
traditional (constant) or newlinear schemesaregiven
inTable2. Thenew algorithmleads to asignificant
reductionof theCPU time. It isworthnotingthat for
611
Table2. CPU timerequiredfor computation.
Constant Scheme NewScheme
Duration 10r
0
/c
p
20r
0
/c
p
10r
0
/c
p
20r
0
/c
p
CPUTime(ms) 3154 9586 205 223
thenewalgorithmafter thetruncationtime, theCPU
timeincreasesonlymarginally.
5 CONCLUSIONS
A newalgorithmisdevelopedwhichwill beuseful for
thesolutionof dynamicsoil-structureinteractionprob-
lems in the time domain. The traditional SBFEM is
basedonapproximatingtheaccelerationunit-impulse
responsebyapiece-wiseconstantfunction.Twoessen-
tial improvements are proposed: (1) The displace-
ment unit-impulse response is calculated instead of
the acceleration unit-impulse response based on a
piece-wiselinear approximation. (2) Theconvolution
integral inthesoil-structureinteractionforcevector is
truncatedafter afewsteps. Thisleadstoasignificant
reduction of computational effort. Theaccuracy and
computational efficiency of the proposed algorithm
havebeenverifiedbyabenchmark example. A wider
range of applications of the new algorithmwill be
addressedinthenear future.
REFERENCES
Beskos, D. E. 1987. Boundaryelement methodsindynamic
analysis. Applied Mechanics Reviews, 40, 123.
Beskos, D. E. 1997. Boundaryelement methodsindynamic
analysis: Part II. Applied Mechanics Reviews, 50,
149197.
Bettess, P. 1992. Infinite Elements. Sunderland: Penshaw
Press.
Givoli, D. 1999. Exact representations on artificial inter-
faces andapplications inmechanics. Applied Mechanics
Reviews, 52(22), 333349.
Radmanovic, B., & Katz, K. 2010. A High Performance
Scaled Boundary Finite Element Method. IOP Conf.
Series: Materials Science and Engineering 10.
Tsynkov, S. V. 1998. Numerical solution of problems
on unbounded domains. A review. Applied Numerical
Mathematics, 27, 465532.
Wolf, J., & Song, C. 1997. Finite Element Modelling of
Unbounded Media. J ohnWiley& Sons.
612
Experimental investigationof desiccationof clayeysoils
Y. Gui, G. Zhao& N. Khalili
ABSTRACT: Environmentallycontrolleddesiccationtestsareperformedonclayeysoils: bentoniteandkaolin,
includingunconstrainedandconstraineddryingtests. Theevolutionof radial strain, moisturecontent withtime
andtherelationbetweenmoisturecontent andstrainareidentified. Geometricandstatisticparametersof linear
desiccationcracks and2D crack patterns areobtainedby imageprocessing. It was foundthat thedesiccation
speedof constraineddesiccationwas muchhigher thanthat of unconstraineddesiccationduetotheproduced
crack face. Also, fromlinear constraineddesiccationtest, it wasobviousthat thebentonitehashigher potential
tobecrackedduetodesiccation.
1 INTRODUCTION
Desiccation cracking is a common phenomenon in
clayey soilswhichisoneof themainconcernsinthe
designandconstructionof landfills, especiallyinarid
regions (Rayhani et al., 2008). Because it can con-
siderably increase the permeability of soil and pose
severedetrimental effects ontheperformanceof soil
constructions(e.g. Novak1999). Desiccationandsub-
sequent cracking are also developed in fine-grained
miningwastesor tailings(e.g. Rodriquezet al. 2007).
For these cases, the generation of cracks will even-
tually inducechanges in thepermeability and cause
environmental consequencesduetothepotential pol-
lutant generation on infiltration (e.g. heavy metal
pollution). Innuclear wastetreatment, cracksaredis-
aster andcanleadtoincreasingof permeabilityof the
buffers drastically, whichwill result incontaminated
leakage(Dixonetal. 2002). However, crackinginsoil
isnot alwaysnegative. For example, cracksinclayey
soilsaffecttheproductionof agricultureconsiderably.
It manifestsintwoaspects: ononehand, crackscon-
stitutethemacro-poresthat contributetothedrainage
of excesswater; andontheother hand, cracksconsti-
tutethepores that areessential for theflowof water
andair toplants. Nonetheless, theassessment of such
potential for damageis difficult as mechanisms and
principal variables in the process are poorly under-
stood in spiteof many years research (e.g. Corte&
Higashi 1960; Morris, et al., 1992; Konrad & Ayad,
1997, Peronet al., 2007).
A lot of research has been performed on dry-
ing tests of clayey soil, such as Corte & Higashi,
1960, Morris et al., 1992, Kodikara, et al., 2000and
Nahlawi &Kodikara, 2006. Commonlyusedcriterion
for desiccationcrackingisthat thetensilestressgen-
erated during drying exceeds the tensile strength of
thesoil (e.g. Konrad&Ayad, 1997). Inmost previous
works, desiccation shrinkage was treated as cooling
shrinkageof material whichcannot reflect theliquid-
solid dynamic interaction process of thedesiccation
cracking. Moreover, wheneffectivestressprincipleis
adoptedtoexplainthetensioncrackinginarestrained
shrinkageof ahorizontal layer,acompressiveeffective
stressinsteadof tensileonewill beobtained.Actually,
thehorizontal effectivestress will becompressiveat
anydepthof thewholelayer.Thisleadstosomecontra-
dictorywiththefact of thetensioncrackingobserved
inthepractice.
Inthiswork, theenvironmental-controlleddesicca-
tiontestsontwotypical typesof clays(purebentonite
and purekaolin) areconducted and analyzed. These
tests consider unconstrained and constrained desic-
cation both, which aredistinguished by theexternal
boundaryconditions. Inthispaper, unconstraineddes-
iccation is referred to when the external constraints
of drying shrinkage is minimized. When the desic-
cation samples are not free fromshrinkage due to
external constraintsfromthecontact withmould, the
desiccation is referred to as constrained desiccation.
In this paper, the evolution of radial strain (uncon-
straineddesiccation), andmoisturecontent withtime
as well as therelationbetweenmoisturecontent and
radial strain(unconstraineddesiccation)areidentified.
Meanwhile, theimageanalysis of constrained linear
desiccation and crack pattern tests areperformed to
identifysomegeometricandstatisticparameters.
2 DESICCATIONEXPERIMENT PROGRAM
Environmental conditions (e.g. temperature and rel-
ative humidity) have significant influence on des-
iccation performance of soil frommany researches
(e.g. Corte and Higashi, 1960; Tang, et al., 2008).
In this study, desiccation experiments of clays were
613
Figure 1. Record of temperature and relative humidity
duringthetests.
Figure 2. Presentation of unconstrained desiccation: (a)
start of thetest; (b) sampleat 22 hours; (c) end of thetest
at 75hours.
performed in an air-conditioned room. During the
tests, the room temperature and relative humidity
wererecordedby thermometer andhygrometer. Both
constrainedandunconstraineddesiccationtests were
performed in the same humidity and temperature
conditions whichareas showninFigure1. Thetem-
peraturewas constant at around22.5
C, andrelative
humiditywasabout 53%. Linear constraineddesicca-
tiontestsfor bentoniteandkaolinwereconducted. 2D
soil crack patterntests wereperformedonbentonite.
Meanwhile, to distinguish desiccation types, uncon-
strainedtest of bentonitewas carriedout inmoisture
tin (see Figure 2) which was lubricated by Vaseline
beforethetest tominimizeexternal constraints.
Thesoilsusedforthetestswerecommerciallyavail-
ablebentoniteandkaolin.Theirmainphysio-chemical
propertiesareasshowninTable1.Priortotesting,soils
werecarefully mixedandwettedwithdistilledwater
to moisturecontent around thecorresponding liquid
limit(364%for thebentoniteand47%for thekaolin).
Thenthesoilswereplacedinsealedplastic bagsand
curedfor 48hourstoget moistureequilibrium.
For constrained linear desiccation tests, the sam-
ples were put on notched timber base and had the
sizeof 60025mm. Thethickness of all linear des-
iccationtestswas10mm(seeFigure5). However, as
for 2D crack pattern tests, soil samples were tested
on either glass base or timber base. The size for
them are 25025010mm, 20020050mm,
and 40040050mm, respectively. The uncon-
strained test sampleis acylinder with dimension of
38.35mmforradiusand9.7mmforthickness. During
all thetests, crack propagationprocessaswell asthe
changeof thesamplemasswerecapturedregularlyby
afixedcamera.
Table 1. Physio-chemical properties of bentonite and
kaolin.
Bentonite Kaolin
Smectite* >74% Kaolinite* 6595%
Quartz/Cristobalite* <18% Crystalline 510%
Silica*
(Quartz)
Plagioclase <8% Other <25%
Feldspar/Kaolinite* minerals*
Liquidlimit 364% Liquidlimit 47%
*Mineral ingredientsdataisfromSafetyDataSheet(ACOHS
PtyLtd).
3 RESULT
3.1 Unconstrained desiccation
Thistest lastedfor 75hours. Sampleradial strainand
water content withrespect to timeandwater content
withradial strainareasshowninFigure3. Thetested
water content changewithtimeisasshowninFigure
3(b). It is obvious that thewater content curvewith
time has two sections: first section is fromstart to
timeat around51hours; secondoneistherest of the
curve. The two parts can be roughly represented by
two linear straight lines with two slopes. During the
first 51hours, thewater evaporationrateisrelatively
constant andsoasthesecondpart, whichagreeswith
thedesiccationtheoryproposedbyScherer, 1990.The
radial strain (compressive strain) increases with the
lossof water. It isabidedbyalinear increaseof strain
withlossof water.Therefore,asshowninFigure3(c),a
linear relationbetweenradial strainandwater content
changefor first sectioncanbeobtainedas
inwhich
r
andw areradial strainandwater content,
respectively. Inunconstraineddesiccation, threedirec-
tions of x, y, andz arefreeof external constraints as
showninFigure4(a).Inthispaper,duetotheshrinkage
inhorizontal andvertical directionsbeingfreeof con-
straint andthegravity invertical directionneglected,
it is assumed that threedirections strains aresame.
Thereforevolumetric strainof unconstrainedtest can
beapproximatedas
Ontheassumptionthatsoil particlescompressibil-
ity isnegligible, it issimply acquiredfor therelation
betweenvoidratioandvolumetricstrainas
wheree
0
ande areinitial voidratio andchangeof
void ratio respect with initial void ratio. e
0
=G
s
w
0
614
Figure 3. Unconstrained desiccation experiment of
bentonite.
Figure4. Roundsampleundergoesunconstraineddesicca-
tionwithout external constraints (a) andderivedrelationof
voidratioandwater content for bentonite(b).
withG
s
soil particlespecificgravityandw
0
issaturated
moisturecontent beforetest. For thebentoniteused,
G
s
=3.3. SubstitutingEquation(2) intoEquation(3),
it comestoEquation(4) correlatingvoidratiochange
withwater content.
For thesecondsection, theshrinkageis negligible
(seeFigure3(a)),therefore,thestrainandvoidratiohas
nomorechangeinsecondsection. BasedonEquation
(4)ande
0
=G
s
w
0
therelationcurvebetweenvoidratio
andwatercontentcanbeobtained(seeFigure4(b)) for
sectiononeas
Figure5. Theconstrained linear desiccation tests of ben-
tonite(a) andkaolin(b).
3.2 Constrained desiccation
3.2.1 Linear desiccation tests
Theprofilesof thetwosoilstestsareasshowninFig-
ure5. Dueto theconstraint induced by thenotched
base, the samples were cracked by its own shrink-
age.Accordingtothetraditional theoryof desiccation
cracks(e.g. Kodikara&Choi, 2006), cracksarealways
initiated in the middle of soil bars since the largest
tension is in themiddle. However, in thesetests, no
cracks wereinitiatedinthemiddleof samples tested
andinstead, thefirst cracks initiatedat theright side
of soil barsandthisresult agreeswiththetestsresult
of Peron, 2008. With further desiccation, more and
more parallel cracks were initiated and propagated.
For thenumber of cracks, thereare18andaverage6
cracks observed in bentoniteand kaolin linear tests,
respectively. For thewholetests, thewater evolution
withtimeisshowninFigure6. ComparingFigure3(b)
and Figure 6(a), it is obvious that the water evapo-
ration rateof constrained linear desiccation is much
higher than that of unconstrained desiccation dueto
theproduceof newevaporationsurface(cracks). For
bentonite, thewater content of first crack initiationis
338.82%, 380.39%and280.90%for sample1, 2and
3whosestartingmoisturecontent is359.7%, 397.8%
and313%, respectively. However, last cracksinitiated
atthewater contentof 265.67%and244.46%, respec-
tively, for sample1andsample2. Thesimilar lawis
abidedbythetestsresultof kaolin: highersamplesini-
tial water content, higher firstcrackingwater content.
Their relationcanbeformulatedas
where, w
fc
and w
I
are water content for first crack
initiation and sample initial water content. a and b
aresoil typerelied constants. For example, they are
0.0983and26.841for kaolinand1.175and85.954
for bentonite, respectively.
It was shown in experiments that crack normally
initiatedat onesideof soil bars (seeFigure5), after
thatcrackpropagatedtotheoppositeside.Thetimeof
propagationisreliedonsoil typeandwatercontent.For
bentonitetest, thecrack propagationtimeis between
60to130minutes. However, for kaolin, thepropaga-
tionprocessismuchquickeranditisabout10minutes
usedtopropagatefromonesidetotheoppositeside.
Withpropagation, crackopeningisincreasingaswell.
615
Figure6. Water content evolutionwithtimeinconstrained
linear desiccation: bentonite(a); kaolin(b).
Table2. Imageanalysisof linear desiccation(bentonite).
SampleID 1 2 3
Desiccationtime/min 1100 1050 450
Water content 2.255 2.497 2.875
Cracknumber 18 18 18
Clodnumber 11 18 6
Imagearea(10
3
) 438.240 417.105 484.440
Total clodarea(10
3
) 406.424 367.627 469.271
Clodrate 0.927 0.881 0.969
Total crackarea(10
3
) 31.816 49478 15050
Surfacecrackrate 0.073 0.119 0.031
Maxclodarea(10
3
) 45.154 45.674 112.290
Minclodarea(10
3
) 7.980 2.062 37.403
Aveclodarea(10
3
) 27.100 20.400 78.200
Maxcrackarea 2.864 4.025 2.061
Mincrackarea 54 860 71
Avecrackarea(10
3
) 1.767 2.750 0.836
Maxcracklength 148.13 154.006 158.168
Mincracklength 24.550 61.938 27.923
Avecracklength 125.460 130.925 92.847
Maxcrackwidth 32.696 68.736 27.647
Mincrackwidth 3.520 20.073 3.705
Avecrackwidth 20.848 36.4826 14.880
Maxshapefactor 0.338 0.472 0.342
Minshapefactor 0.122 0.125 0.147
Aveshapefactor 0.269 0.306 0.226
ProbabilityEntropy 0.270 0.520 0.320
*Max=Maximum; Min=Minimum; Ave=Average
At the end of desiccation test, the crack opening is
about2mmand3mmforbentoniteandkaolin,respec-
tively.Thecracksarefullydevelopedoneswhichfully
penetratedthroughthesoil samplestill thetimberbase.
Viaimageprocess, final resultsof bothlineardesic-
cationtestsarequantifiedasshowninTable2and3for
bentoniteandkaolin. Geometricdata(i.e. Imagearea,
clod area, crack area, clod area, crack length, crack
width) inthesetablesisinpixel. For bentoniteall the
testshavesamecracknumbers,however,withdecrease
of water content, surfacecrack rateincreases dueto
crackpropagationandopening(seeTable2).Thistrend
is also followed by kaolin tests (seeTable3). Shape
factors for thethreesamples of bentonitearesimilar
between 0.2260.306. Similar shapefactors (0.211
0.271) wereobtainedinkaolinsamples. Specifically,
bothprobability entropies of thetwo soils aresmall,
whichmeansall inducedcracksaregenerallydirected
alonghighlysimilar direction(i.e. parallel).
Table3. Imageanalysisof linear desiccation(kaolin)
SampleID 1 2 3
Desiccationtime/min 1200 1270 1240
Water content 0.115 0.109 0.097
Cracknumber 5 6 9
Clodnumber 6 7 8
Imagearea(10
3
) 486.540 442.556 444.030
Total clodarea(10
3
) 473.455 428.940 433.167
Clodrate 0.974 0.970 0.976
Total crackarea(10
3
) 13.085 14.181 10.863
Surfacecrackrate(10
3
) 0.026 0.030 0.024
Maxclodarea(10
3
) 121.373 102.551 132.704
Minclodarea(10
3
) 36.249 26.221 24.987
Aveclodarea(10
3
) 78.909 61.340 54.100
Maxcrackarea(10
3
) 4.799 4.147 2.290
Mincrackarea(10
3
) 1.484 0.721 0.334
Avecrackarea 2.617 2.360 1.207
Maxcracklength 175.070 148.882 155.798
Minimumcracklength 153.890 141.421 42.531
Averagecracklength 162.860 144.583 127.205
Maximumcrackwidth 44.802 43.941 27.274
Minimumcrackwidth 13.667 15.945 10.613
Averagecrackwidth 25.608 26.635 17.496
Maximumshapefactor 0.389 0.405 0.415
Minimumshapefactor 0.185 0.111 0.095
Averageshapefactor 0.271 0.266 0.211
3.2.2 Crack pattern test
Crack pattern tests were conducted on bentonite
with different sample sizes. The sizes of samples
were 20020050mm, 40040050 mm, and
25025010mm. As show in Figure 7(a, b, c) all
cracksintersectwitheachotherwithroughrightangle,
which can minimizethesystemenergy. In thecrack
patterntest, cracks still start fromoneboundary and
thenpropagate. Thecrack depthintimber mouldtest
isasdeepas30mm.
To do more quantified analysis of 2D crack pat-
terntests, thetestimagesareprocessedinMatlaband
changedtobinarizedpictures(Figure7(d, e, f)). Geo-
metric parameters aredepictedinpixel. Theanalysis
resultsarepresentedinTable4. Generally, thesurface
crack rate are similar for all the three pattern tests.
However, thetestwithsize20020050mmislower
thantheother twotests, whichis account for sample
lengthandthickness. For soil clodshapefactors, the
sample2test (0.938) ismuchhigher thanthoseof the
other two(0.611and0.561) andthisprovesthat clods
shapeinsample2test ismorelikecircle. Inthecom-
parisonof probabilityentropy, thefirstpatterntesthas
much higher value, standing for morechaotic direc-
tionsof clods.Forsamethicknesssamples(Figure7(b)
and(c)), probabilityentropyislower for bigger sized
sample (Comparing sample 2 and sample 3). Crack
fractal dimension is more affected by surface crack
ratio, highertheratiois, largerthefractal dimensionis.
616
Figure 7. Crack pattern tests for bentonite: (a)
glass mould (25025010mm); (b) timber mould
(20020050mm); (c) timber mould (400400
50mm) andtheir correspondingbinarizedimagesd, e, f.
Table4. Crackpatterntestimageanalysisresult(bentonite).
Samplesize 250250 200200 400400
(mm) 10 50 50
Clodnumbe 53 11 25
Imagearea(10
5
) 22.907 31.915 45.182
Total clodarea(10
5
) 19.708 28.725 38.872
Clodrate 0.860 0.9 0.860
Total crackarea(10
4
) 12.283 31.901 63.100
Surfacecrackrate 0.140 0.100 0.140
Maxclodarea(10
4
) 17.474 115.757 200.518
Minclodarea(10
3
) 11.594 100.950 130.045
Aveclodarea(10
3
) 37.184 191.500 184.850
Maxclodlength 760.090 1589.600 3152
Minclodlength 151.600 189 100.9
Aveclodlength 265.290 448.240 333.010
Maxclodwidth 406.32 998.740 2480
Minclodwidth 81.500 150.100 161.950
Aveclodwidth 160.646 227.394 239.984
Maxshapefactor 1.600 1.617 0.651
Minshapefactor 0.303 0.014 0.348
Aveshapefactor 0.611 0.938 0.561
Fractal dimension 1.994 1.894 1.959
4 CONCLUSION
A study of desiccationcrackinginclayey soilsbased
on experiment is comprehensively presented. Some
physical properties andcharacteristics duringdrying
areidentifiedandquantifiedfor bentoniteandkaolin
throughdesiccationtests results andimageprocess-
ing analysis. It is found that the desiccation rate of
constraineddesiccationwasmuchhigher thanthat of
unconstraineddesiccationdueto theproducedcrack
surface.Also, fromlinearconstraineddesiccationtest,
it isobviousthat thebentonitehashigher potential to
becracked dueto desiccation. Moreover, higher ini-
tial water content that the sample has, higher water
content at whichthefirst crackinitiates. Throughthis
research and proper futureresearch, a better way of
building clay liners could beobtained, which would
beasignificant improvement inthisarea.
REFERENCES
ANSYSInc.2009.ReleaseNotes.ANSYS12.0HelpSystem.
Corte, A., & Higashi, A. 1960. Experimental research on
desiccationcracks insoil. U.S. Army Snow, Ice and Per-
mafrost Research Establishment, Hanover, N.H. Research
report 66.
Dixon, D., Chandler, N., Graham, J., andGray, M. N. 2002.
Twolarge-scalesealingtestsconductedatAtomicEnergy
of Canadasundergroundresearchlaboratory:Thebuffer-
container experiment and theisothermal test. Canadian
Geotechnical Journal, 39: 503518.
Kodikara, J. K. & Choi, X. 2006. A simplified analytical
model fordesiccationcrackingof claylayersinlaboratory
tests. Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference
on Unsaturated Soils, n147, 25582569.
Kodikara, J. K., Barbour, S. L., & Fredlund, D. G. 2000.
Desiccationcrackinginsoil layer. Proceeding of theAsian
Conference in Unsaturated soils, UNSAT ASIA 2000.
Singapore, 693698.
Konrad, J.-M., & Ayad, R. 1997. Desiccation of a sen-
sitive clay: field experimental observations. Canadian
Geotechnical Journal, 34:929942.
MathWorks, Inc.2011Matlab2011bHelp.
Morris, P. H., Graham, J., & Williams, D. J. 1992. Crack-
ingindryingsoils. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 29:
263277.
Nahlawi, H., &Kodikara, J. K. 2006. Laboratoryexperiments
ondesiccationcrackingof thinsoil layers. Geotechnical
and Geological Engineering, 24(6): 16411664.
Novak, V. 1999. Soil-crack characteristics estimation
methods applied to heavy soils in the NOPEX area.
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 9899: 501507.
Peron, H., Hu, L.B., Laloui, L., & Hueckel, T. 2007, Numer-
ical andexperimental investigationof desiccationof soil.
3rd Asian Conference on Unsaturated Soils., Nanjing,
China.
Peron, H. 2008. Desiccation cracking of soils. PhD thesis,
EFPL, Switzerland.
Rayhani, M.H.T., Yanful, E.K., & Fakher, A. 2008. Phys-
ical modeling of desiccation cracking in plastic soils.
EngineeringGeology, 97(12): 2531.
Rodriquez, R., Snchez, M., Ledesma,A., &Lloret,A. 2007.
Experimental andnumerical analysis of desiccationof a
mining waste. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 44 (6):
644658.
Scherer, G.W. 1990. Theory of drying. Journal of American
Ceramic Society, 73(1):314.
Tang, C., Shi B., Liu, C., Zhao, L., and Wang, B. 2008.
Influencing factors of geometrical structure of surface
shrinkage cracks in clayey soils. Engineering Geology,
101(34): 204217.
617
A geotechnical siteinvestigationbysurfacewaves
P. Harutoonian, C.J. Leo& D.S. Liyanapathirana
School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW, Australia
K. Tokeshi
Institute for Infrastructure Engineering, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: Recent advances innon-invasivein situ surfacewavetechniques haveheightenedinterests in
applicationof thesetechniquesfornearsurfacegeotechnical siteinvestigations.Itisapparentthatthesetechniques
cannotoffer thesamelevel of accuracyasmechanical techniques, butdohowever, provideamoretimeandcost
effectiveapproach. A limitationof geophysical techniquesisthenecessity of providingaconstraint toprevent
themisinterpretationof measureddata. Hence, acombinationof bothmechanical (toconstrain) andgeophysical
techniques, benefitsfromtheadvantageswhilelimitingthedisadvantagesof both. However, inorder toreduce
thenecessityof mechanical testingtoprovideconstraininginformation, thepaper proposesanovel approachby
combiningthepassiveHorizontal toVertical Spectral Ratio(HVSR) techniqueandanarraybasedactivesurface
wavetechnique.Thisproposedtechniquereliesonthenotionof thephasevelocitydispersioncurve, arraybased
techniqueprovidingconstraininginformationtotheHVSR technique. Resultssofar suggest that thistwo-step
procedureof combiningthesesurfacewavetechniques (HVSRplus), allows for very reasonableestimationof
thenear surfaceshear wavevelocity(V
s
) profile, intheabsenceof constraininginformationfrommechanically
measureddata. Of course, caremustbetakenwhennotcalibratingor verifyingagainstreliablemechanical data.
Resultsproducedbythistechniquehavebeenverifiedagainst invasivemechanical (boreholes, SPT) data.
1 INTRODUCTION
Conventional in situ mechanical techniques(e.g. SPT,
CPT, DMT, densitytests, etc)arecommonlyappliedto
assessthegeotechnical characteristicsof asite. These
methodsareutilisedwithahighdegreeof confidence
to providereliableinformationabout thesubsurface.
Howeverduetotheinvasivenatureof thesetechniques,
the tested areas are localised, and as a consequence
problematic areas can often be missed. Moreover,
these techniques are quite expensive and time con-
suming, especially when applied to extensive and
deepsites.
Geophysical shear wavevelocity (V
s
) surveys are
receivingincreasingattention as acost effectiveand
timeefficient means for geotechnical sitecharacteri-
sation. Thesegeophysical techniques havebeenused
extensivelyinmanygeotechnical applicationstoeval-
uatethedynamic properties of thenear surface(e.g.
Lai & Rix 1998; Xiaet al. 1999; Harutoonian et al.
2012a; Harutoonianet al. 2012b).A numberof empir-
ical relationshipsbetweenV
s
andmechanical SPT(N),
CPT (q
c
), dry density (
d
) andbearingcapacity (q
a
)
values have been established (e.g. Wei et al. 1996;
Kimet al. 2001; Inazaki 2006; Tezcan et al. 2006;
Hasancebi &Ulusay2007; Karrayet al. 2011andref-
erences therein). Nonetheless, themainlimitationof
thesetechniquesisthattheycannotreplicatethesame
standardof reliabilitywhencomparedtoconventional
mechanical methods.
It is becomingincreasingly obvious that acombi-
nationof bothmechanical (toconstrain) andgeophys-
ical techniques, wouldmaximisetheadvantages and
limit thedisadvantages of bothforms of testing(e.g.
Harutoonianet al. 2012a; Harutoonianet al. 2012b).
There are several different options for employing
geophysical techniques, however the Horizontal to
Vertical Spectral Ratio(HVSR) technique(Nakamura
1989) stands out fromthe rest. This is because the
HVSR technique is a single station technique; it
requires no cablingandhas amuchlower settingup
timeandlogisticswhencomparedtoother geophysi-
cal techniques(whicharepredominantlyarraybased).
This techniquerelies on themeasurement of passive
ambient vibrations (microtremors) whichareubiqui-
tousintheEarthsurfaceandareattributedtothenatu-
ral atmosphericphenomena(e.g. oceancurrent, wind)
andcultural sources (e.g. anthropic activities suchas
traffic, construction and plant operations). However,
asmentionedabovetheHVSRtechniquestill relieson
constraininginformationfrommechanical techniques
to provide a sensible estimation of the V
s
profile,
mainlyduetothetheoretical inversionof HVSR data
not necessarilyprovidingauniquesolution.
This paper explores the cases when there is no
or very limited availability of mechanical datato be
619
fed to theHVSR technique. Hence, amodified ver-
sion of theMultichannel Analysis of SurfaceWaves
(MASW) technique has been utilised to provide the
HVSR techniqueconstraininginformationfor theV
s
profile estimation process, when mechanical data is
lacking. ThemodifiedMASWtechniquereliesonthe
MSOR(Multichannel SimulationwithOneReceiver)
concept (Rydenet al. 2004) whichis different to the
original MASW technique, (Park et al. 1999) which
isbasedontheOSSR(OneSourceSeveral Receivers)
concept. TheOSSR techniquereliesonactiveexcita-
tion sources (e.g. sledgehammer, accelerated weight
drop, etc) and an array of geophones connected by
unwieldycabling. TheMSOR techniquestill requires
activenoisesources(e.g. hand-heldhammer, Proctor
hammer, etc), however it requiresonlyasinglesensor
andatrigger (seesection3.1).
A novel approach, the HVSRplus technique is
proposed in this paper, to minimise the amount of
information(constraints) requiredfrommechanically
measureddataandintheabsenceof mechanical data.
This involves combining the passive HVSR and the
activeMSOR techniques in a two-step procedureto
obtaintheV
s
profile. Results so far suggest that this
two-stepprocedureof combiningthesesurfacewave
techniques (HVSRplus), allows for very reasonable
estimationof thenearsurfaceV
s
profile. Furthermore,
results produced by the HVSRplus technique have
beenverifiedbyinvasivemechanical (boreholes, SPT)
data.However,caremustbetakenwhennotcalibrating
or verifyingagainst reliablemechanical data.
2 SITE CONDITIONS
A recentpaperbyHarutoonianet al. (2012b)describes
thesiteconditionsof thetestedarea, andthereforewill
not be repeated here. Only a few salient features of
theinvestigatedareaarehighlighted. Thetestedarea
is locatedinthegrounds of thePenrith(Kingswood)
campus of theUniversity of WesternSydney (UWS)
and thegeology of thecampus siteis dominated by
Bringelly shale of the Wianamatta group. Available
boreholedatashows theupper surfaceof thesiteto
consist of 0.4to2.6mof highlyvariable(compaction
and plasticity) silty clay fill material, and the natu-
ral material of residual origin located beneath were
consideredtobeof mostly silty andsandy clays. The
deeper siltyclays, closetothebedrock wereassessed
to be of residual origin since some contained rem-
nants of theshalestructure. At depths ranging from
3.6to13.6matboreholetermination, verylowtolow
strengthweatheredshaleor bedrockisencountered.
3 HVSR
PLUS
TECHNIQUE
ThemethodologydrivingtheHVSRplustechniqueis
shown by a simplified flowchart in Figure 1. HVS-
Rplus relies ontheMSOR techniquetoprovidecon-
straininginformation, intheformof aninitial guess
Figure 1. Proposed methodology of the HVSRplus
technique.
of theV
s
profileto theforwardmodellingprocedure
of the HVSR technique. This initial guess will also
constraintherangesfor theinput parametersrequired
by the HVSR technique. Constraining information
suppliedbytheMSORtechniquetocalibratethetheo-
retical HVSRmodel, isvital inallowingtheutilisation
of HVSR techniquein areas without MSOR testing.
In this study, the calibration involves differentiating
betweenfeatures(peaksandtroughs) observedbythe
HVSRcurvestobeof eitherstratigraphicoranthropic
origin. Therearethreemainsteps showninthis flow
chart:
1) Estimation of the V
s
profile by the MSOR tech-
nique.
2) ProvidingtheV
s
profilein(1) to theHVSR tech-
niqueas aninitial guess (also to constrain) of the
V
s
profile.
3) Inferring the final V
s
profile by the HVSR
technique.
3.1 MSOR technique
Figures 2ac areincludedtohelpconvey thegeneral
concept of the MSOR technique and how it differs
fromtheformer OSSR techniques. Insteadof relying
on a 1D array of geophones and a single source at
the end of the array, the MSOR technique relies on
asensor, asinglegeophoneto act as thetrigger, and
multiplesourcesalonga1Darray. Figure2ashowsthe
eventual outcomeof theMSORtechnique,andFigures
2bandc showtheproceduresinvolvedwhenmoving
thesourceandgeophonelocationsalongthe1Darray.
IntheMSORtestemployedinthispaper, apseudo-
linear array of 14 single component (vertical) geo-
phones was set up at a spacing of 1m along the
North-Southaxisof anavailableborehole, attheUWS
site. A handheld hammer (a Proctor hammer could
beusedtoproduceidentical shots) wasusedtostrike
againstasolidsteel platewithapproximatelythesame
energy at eachlocation, at adistanceof 1mfromthe
geophonelocation.Thiswasenoughtogenerateacon-
trolledactivenoisesourceat eachlocation. Herethe
dataproducedfromeachsourcelocationwascaptured
byusingthesamethreecomponent sensor usedinthe
HVSR technique(seesection3.2), at asamplingrate
620
Figure 2. Example test layout for MSOR technique, also
takingadvantageof theHVSR techniques sensor.
of 512Hz.ThesoftwareGrillabyMicromedwasused
to createasynthetic multichannel fieldrecordingby
identifying the locations and the times of the shots
at each geophone location. Post processing of this
dataallowed producing themeasured phasevelocity
dispersioncurve.
Thetheoretical model developedbyHaskell (1953)
, wasusedtocalculatethetheoretical dispersioncurve
for each ground model (V
s
profile). A simple pro-
cessof trial-and-error wasusedtominimisethemisfit
betweentheoretical andmeasureddispersioncurves.
3.2 HVSR technique
ThepaperbyHarutoonianet al. (2012b) hasdiscussed
indetail theprocedures andassumptions madewhen
utilising the HVSR technique. Therefore, it will not
berepeatedhere, except tohighlight afewsignificant
points.Ahighlyportable,lightweightandbatteryoper-
atedthreecomponent(twohorizontal andonevertical)
sensor (Tromino
TM
fromMicromed) wasusedtocap-
turepassiveambientvibrationsintheground.Ambient
vibrations were measured for only 10 minutes at a
samplingrateof 128Hz, inorder toachieveadequate
statistical samplingintherange0.1to50Hz.Afterthe
post processing of rawmeasured data, themeasured
HVSR curvewas obtainedby dividingthegeometri-
callyaveragespectraof thehorizontal componentsby
thespectrumof thevertical component.
Estimation of the V
s
profile was made possible
by theoretically modelling a HVSR curve to fit the
measured HVSR curve, using a simple trial-and-
error approach. Thetheoretical model byLunedei and
Albarello (2009) was used in the current paper to
computethetheoretical HVSR curves.
4 RESULTSANDVERIFICATION
Following the methodology proposed above for the
HVSRplus technique, we start by obtaining a syn-
theticmultichannel fieldrecordingafteremployingthe
MSOR techniqueacross aknown boreholelocation.
Figure3. Examplesynthetic multichannel fieldrecording
bytheMSOR technique. Horizontal axisshowsthetime(s),
and thevertical axis shows theacquired datafromtheoff-
set (geophone) locations (i.e. B1B14 represents offsets of
114m).
Thesyntheticmultichannel fieldrecordingisshownin
Figure3below. Thesyntheticmultichannel recording
showedhere, lastsfor durationof 1second.
The above synthetic field recording is post pro-
cessedtoobtainameasuredphasevelocitydispersion
curve. Afterwards, a theoretical dispersion curve is
fitted by trial-and-error to obtain a reasonable fit
to themeasureddispersion curve. Oncesuccessfully
fitted, thetheoretical model used to createthetheo-
retical dispersion curve, provides an estimate of the
V
s
profile. Figure 4 shows both the measured and
theoretical dispersion curves. The measured disper-
sion curveis shown by thecolour (shaded) contour,
whilethetheoretical dispersioncurveisshownbythe
dashedline.
Using only the V
s
profile obtained by the above
MSOR technique as an initial guess for the HVSR
technique, we obtain the theoretical HVSR curve
showninFigure5below. ThemeasuredHVSR curve
isalsoshowninFigure5. Interestinglythefitbetween
measuredandtheoretical HVSR isnot toodissimilar.
Thefeatures(peaks)observedbythetheoretical HVSR
curve(usingtheMSOR techniques initial guess) are
621
Figure4. Measuredandtheoretical (dashedline) dispersion
curvesobtainedbytheMSOR technique.
Figure 5. Measured (solid) and theoretical (dashed line)
HVSR curves obtained by theHVSR technique. Thetheo-
retical HVSR curvewasproducedusingtheinitial guessV
s
profileprovidedbytheMSOR technique.
also seen on the measured HVSR curve. Two pre-
dominant peaksareobservedonthemeasuredHVSR
curve, atapproximately5Hzand16Hz. Twopredom-
inantpeaksarealsoobservedonthetheoretical HVSR
curve, at approximately5Hz and12.5Hz.
ThisshowsthattheMSORinitial V
s
profileguessis
quiteclosetothefinal HVSR V
s
profile. Finetuning
is required by the HVSR forward modelling proce-
duretofit boththefrequenciesandamplitudesof the
peaks observed on the measured HVSR curve. Fig-
ure6showsthetheoretical HVSRcurveobtainedafter
usingatrial-and-errorapproachtominimisethemisfit
between the theoretical HVSR curve and the mea-
suredHVSRcurve.ThemeasuredHVSRcurveisalso
showninFigure6below.
Figure6shows amuchbetter fit of measuredand
theoretical HVSR data. Boththefrequencies andthe
amplitudesof thetwopeaksobservedonthemeasured
HVSR curvearefittedafter finetuningtheHVSR V
s
profile.
Figure7shows theinferredV
s
profiles fromboth
the MSOR technique and HVSR technique. The V
s
profileinferredby theMSOR techniqueisshownby
thedashedline. This V
s
profilewas also usedas the
initial guessfor theHVSR technique.
TheV
s
profileinferredbytheHVSRtechniqueafter
finetuningtheinitial guessisshownbythesolidline.
Figure 6. Measured (solid) and theoretical (dashed line)
HVSR curves obtained by theHVSR technique. Thetheo-
retical HVSR curvewas produced after minimising thefit
betweenmeasuredandtheory.
Figure 7. Estimated V
s
profiles obtained by the MSOR
(usedfor theinitial guessfor theHVSR technique) (dashed)
andHVSR (solid) techniques.
Table1. Summaryof V
s
profilesfromboththeMSORand
HVSR techniques, andtheboreholeinformation.
Borehole MSOR HVSR
Depth Material Depth V
s
Depth V
s
(m) type (m) (m/s) (m) (m/s)
01.2 Fill 1.5 120 1.5 110
1.28.8 Silts, sands 2 210 2 240
andclays 5 295 5.3 280
0* Shale 0* 380 0* 360
*Denotesthebedrocklayer.
It isevident that thereisnot muchdifferencebetween
thetwoV
s
profiles.
Thegeological structureandthepropertiesdeduced
fromtheborehole, MSORV
s
profileandtheHVSRV
s
profilearesummarisedinTable1below. BothV
s
pro-
filesreasonablyrepresentthematerial typesobserved
bytheborehole. Contrastsbetweenmaterial types(e.g.
fill to natural material, natural material to shale) are
alsoidentifiedbybothV
s
profiles.
622
Figure8. Verificationof HVSRplustechniqueproducedV
s
profile, withboreholeandSPT data.
To more clearly verify the HVSRplus produced
results, Figure 8 shows a profile-to-profile compar-
isonbetweentheHVSRplusestimatedV
s
profileand
mechanical borehole and SPT data. Figure 8 shows
thesoil layeringdataextractedfromtheborelogand
theuncorrectedSPT-N valuesalignedagainsttheesti-
matedV
s
profile. Theboreholeisshowntothedepth
of terminationof theaugeringinshalebedrock. The
boreholedataclearlyidentifiesthreedistinct material
layers, theuppermost layer comprising fill material,
the middle layer consisting of silty clay/sandy clay
overlyingthethirdlayer whichisashalebedrock. The
inferredHVSRplusV
s
profileisshowntobeingood
agreementwiththerelativestratigraphiclayeringfrom
themechanical borehole. Furthermore, theinferredV
s
profile is in agreement with the uncorrected SPT-N
strengthparameter.
5 CONCLUSIONS
A novel two-stepprocedure, theHVSRplustechnique,
is proposed in this paper, incorporating the opera-
tionally fast and simple HVSR technique with the
MSOR techniquefor geotechnical siteinvestigation.
Thepaper highlightsthepotential of usingtheMSOR
technique to provide vital constraining information
to the HVSR technique, to minimise the amount of
information(constraints) requiredfrommechanically
measureddataorintheabsenceof mechanical data,for
theoretical model constraining purposes. Theresults
suggestedthat this two-stepprocedureof combining
these surface wave techniques (HVSRplus), allows
for very reasonable estimation of the near surface
V
s
profile. TheresultsfromtheHVSRplustechnique
were verified against independent mechanical bore-
holeandSPT datafromthetestedareainthePenrith
(Kingswood) campus at UWS. However, care must
always be taken when not calibrating or verifying
against reliablemechanical data.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Pavlick Harutoonianis supportedby ahigher degree
research PhD scholarship from the University of
Western Sydney. This study is partially funded
by the Australian Research Council, Penrith Lakes
Development CorporationandCoffeyGeotechnics.
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Xia, J., Miller, R.D. & Park, C.B. 1999, Estimation of
near-surfaceshear-wavevelocitybyinversionof Rayleigh
waves, Geophysics, vol. 64, no. 3, pp. 691700.
624
A constitutivepermeabilityevolutionmodel for fracturedporousmedia
J. Ma, N. Khalili & G. Zhao
Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety, School of civil and Environmental Engineering,
The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: To understand the effect of stress on rock permeability evolution plays a significant role in
modelingflowdeformationof fracturedporousmediaingeotechnical engineeringpractice. Other thanadopting
theconventional approach-effectiveporositybasedconstitutivemodels, aunifiedandmorerigorousconstitutive
model isproposedtocapturethemaincharacteristicsof permeabilityevolutionfor fracturedporousmedia. The
permeabilityevolutionmodel isestablishedbyintroducingapermeabilityresistanceparameter,whichgivesmore
rigorousconsiderationstotheeffectsof tortuosities, deformationbandsandconfiningpressures.Thehypothesis
of permeability resistanceparameter is based on theinterrelation between thestress-induced compaction or
dilatancyandtheevolutionof permeability. Itisprovedthat, accompaniedwiththestress-induceddeformation,
morebarriers andisolatedporespaceareformedto block thechannels for fluidflowinsidefracturedporous
media, andthus leadingto thedecreasingof permeability. Theproposedmodel is appliedto fracturedporous
sandstonesunder bothhydrostatic testsandtriaxial compressivetestswithawiderangeof confiningpressure
fromtheliterature. Thecharacteristicfeaturesof permeabilityevolutioninfracturedporousrocksarecaptured
appropriatelyinall casesconsidered. Theproposedmodel containsasmall number of parameters, whichcanbe
easilyobtainedfromisotropicandtriaxial compressiveexperiments.
1 INTRODUCTION
Modelingpermeability evolutionof fracturedporous
media is one of the key areas in geotechnical engi-
neering. Friedman(1977) claimedthat, thevolumeof
a given rock which consists of interconnected voids
is named as theeffectiveporosity. Under mechan-
ical or chemical conditions, only thevariationof the
effective porosity can alter the permeability of rock
(Zhu et al., 2007). However, the evolution of effec-
tiveporositycannotalwaysbeaddressedaccuratelyby
theexistingmodels. Eventhough, many models still
have been proposed to characterize the relationship
between permeability and porosity since the change
of permeability andporosity strongly coincides with
eachother(Schutjensetal., 2004, Huetal., 2010, Zhu
et al., 2007, Zhu& Wong, 1997, Zhanget al., 1994).
Despitethis, to predict thepermeability evolutionof
fractured porous media subject to different loading
conditions accurately, many theoretical models have
beenestablishedrecently. Theseproposedmodelsare
network model (Panet al., 2010, Zhu&Wong, 1999,
Bernabetal., 2010, Zhuetal., 1996), discretemodel
(Panet al., 2010, Cheng-Hawet al., 2007) andconsti-
tutivemodel (Pride&Berryman, 1998, Boutecaetal.,
2000, Morris et al., 2003, Crawford & Yale, 2002,
Rudnicki, 2001,Yale, 2002, Gessner, 2009). However,
most modelsareeither toosimpleor complicatedfor
engineeringapplications.
In this paper, a more rigorous permeability evo-
lution model is presented to capture the main
characteristicsof permeability variationfor fractured
porous media. For thesakeof simplicity, theempir-
ical approach for permeability-porosity is adopted.
A permeability resistanceparameter is introducedto
quantify theeffects of theconfiningpressure, defor-
mation bands and intrinsic porosity. Comparisons
between model prediction andexperimental dataare
made to demonstrate the validation of the proposed
model.
1.1 Notation and sign conventions
For thesakeof simplicity, compressionisassumedto
bepositiveandtensionfor negative. Triaxial notation
is applied in this model, themean effectivestress is
defined
where,
1
,
2
and
3
are three principle effective
stresses.
Theshear strainisdefinedas:
in which,
1
and
3
are the normal axial strain and
lateral strainintriaxial experiment.
625
2 PERMEABILITY EVOLUTIONMODEL
2.1 Permeability resistance concept
It is known that only the effective porosity (con-
nectedpores,fissures)couldprovidechannelsforfluid
flow. However, it is difficult to measuretheeffective
porosity in application. Generally, it is accepted that
confiningpressurelevel andthedevelopmentof defor-
mationbands affect thepermeability of rock sample
duringtheprocessof deformation. Inorder toaddress
the effects of these factors, a unified permeability
resistant parameter () is introduced to quantify the
effect of pores closure, tortuosities anddeformation
bandsonpermeability development. Specifically, the
closuresof opensandthedevelopmentof deformation
bandsmay formsomespecific permeability barriers,
whichwouldreducethepermeabilityinsidethesebar-
riers. The effects of these permeability barriers are
proportional tothevalueof thepermeabilityresistance
, whichisof theform
where, p
c
andp
c0
arethecurrent effectiveconfining
pressure and the effective confining pressure corre-
spondingtoinitial porosity,respectively. b isamaterial
constant,
q
istheaccumulationof shear strain, ands
is the shear strain sensitive parameter which can be
of aconstant for acertainmaterial. Inthis study, for
sandstoneb =2000ands =1.5.
2.2 Permeability evolution model
Basedontheexperimental investigationof Bereasand-
stoneunder bothhydrostaticandtriaxial compressive
tests(Zhu&Wong, 1997), takingintoaccounttheper-
meability resistance, which is mainly contributed by
theeffect of pores closure, tortuositiesanddeforma-
tionbands,wedevelopedamorerigorouspermeability
evolutionmodel. It iswrittenas
in which K is a scalar for isotropic condition and
tensorforanisotropiccases,K
0
istheinitial permeabil-
ity of rock samplecorrespondingtoporosity
0
, is
definedasthepermeabilityresistance,n andmaresen-
sitivitiesof permeability andpermeability resistance,
respectively. Thepermeabilityresistancesensitivityis
a material constant, depends on the rock type, can
be obtained fromthe experimental investigation. In
thisstudy, thepermeability sensitivity n is3, andthe
permeabilityresistancesensitivitym is1.2.
3 MODEL VALIDATION
To validate the model, the results predicted by the
model are compared with the experimental data for
Figure1. Permeability(m/s)-porosityrelationshipinhydro-
static tests for Bereasandstone: comparison of model pre-
diction(continuesolidlines) andexperimental data(discrete
symbols); experimental datais obtainedfromZhu& Wong
(1997).
Berea sandstone under both hydrostatic and triaxial
compressivetests (Zhu& Wong, 1997). Bereasand-
stonesamples werecored perpendicular to bedding,
andtheshapeof sandstonesamplesiscylindrical; the
dimension is 18.4mmfor diameter and 38.1mmfor
length. All rock samples are fully saturated, a fixed
porewater pressureof 10MPais applied, andacon-
stantstrainratewith55
5
/siscontrolled. Theaxial
permeability weremeasured, details of experimental
procedurecanbefoundinthework of Zhu& Wong
(1997). Themodel simulationresults arerepresented
bycontinuumlines, whereastheexperimental dataare
plottedbydiscretesymbols.
3.1 Hydrostatic compressive test
Figure 1 shows the model predictions and experi-
mental resultsfor Bereasandstonesunder hydrostatic
compressiontests. Theinitial porosities(under 3MPa
effectiveconfiningpressure) of Bereais21%.
As can be seen in Figure 1, the model predic-
tionsagreeverywell withexperimental results. Under
isotropic compressive loading, the existing fissures
andfracturestendtoclosureandthisprocessischar-
acterized by the reduction of porosity. As a result,
someequivalentchannelsmaypossiblybeblockedby
theseclosures.Correspondingly,thepermeabilitygoes
downsincetheporosityreducesandthepermeability
barriers increaseinsiderock samples. Therefore, the
effectof closureof poresonpermeabilityevolutionfor
Bereasandstoneiscapturedappropriately.
3.2 Triaxial compressive tests
Berea sandstone samples were tested under a wide
rangeof confiningpressure(seeFigure2),theeffective
compressivestressesarelowpressures(P
c
=5MPa),
mediumpressure (P
c
=40MPa) and high pressures
(P
c
=160MPa).
626
Figure2. Permeability(m/s)-porosityrelationshipintriax-
ial testsforBereasandstone: comparisonof model prediction
(continuesolid lines) and experimental data(discretesym-
bols): (a) P
c
=5MPa; (b) P
c
=40MPa; (c) P
c
=160MPa;
experimental dataisobtainedfromZhu&Wong(1997).
Figure 2 has shown that the correspondence per-
meability of rocks associated with the evolution of
porosity inthecasewheretherock sampleconfined
by low, mediumand high pressure, respective. It is
shownthat stress-inducedmechanical deformationis
featured by dilatancy under low confining pressure
and compaction under mediumand high confining
pressures, whereby thepermeability of all rock sam-
ples decreases. It is notedthat, themodel simulation
results match experimental data appropriately in all
casesconsidered. Specifically, theincreasingof shear
deformation, whichformsmorebarriersforfluidflow,
makes thepermeability decrease, no matter therock
samplegoesshear-enhancedcompactionor dilatancy.
4 CONCLUSION
A more rigorous constitutive model is proposed to
capture permeability evolution for fractured porous
media. In order to capture the effects of various
deformation processes on permeability evolution, a
permeability resistance parameter is introduced. In
particular, only 3parametersneedtobecalibratedin
this model, which is more convenient for practicing
engineers. Theproposed unified constitutiveperme-
abilityevolutionmodel isappliedtoBereasandstone
under bothhydrostaticandtriaxial compressivetests,
thepermeability evolutionis reasonably capturedfor
all casesconsidered.
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628
Comparisonsof seismicrockslopestabilityassessmentsbetween
theHoek-BrownandMohr-Coulombfailurecriteria
Z.G. Qian&A.J. Li
School of Engineering, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia
V. Kong
Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems and ARC CoE for Geotechnical Science and Engineering,
University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
A.V. Lyamin
Centre for Geotechnical & Materials Modelling and ARC CoE for Geotechnical Science and Engineering,
University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia
ABSTRACT: Current investigations haveshownthat earthquakes cantrigger significant damages of equip-
ment, infrastructureandenvironment. Thisisapersistent causeof economiclossfor anycountry, especiallyfor
thelossof life. Theconventional methodfor slopestabilitydesignistoutilizelimit equilibriummethod(LEM)
inconjunctionwiththepseudo-static(PS) approach. However, theLEM hasasignificant drawbackwhichisto
determinetheslipsurfacebeforefactorof safetycalculation.Thenumerical upperandlowerboundlimitanalysis
methodwasemployedinthispaper canavoidthislimitation. Inthisstudy, thehorizontal seismiccoefficientand
theslopefailuremechanismwereevaluatedusinglimit analysis andtheresults werealso comparedwiththe
finitedifferencemethod.
1 INTRODUCTION
Currently, most of geotechnical software is writ-
ten in terms of the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion.
As a consequence the stability of rock slopes is
regularly performed using Mohr-Coulomb cohesion
(c
) and friction (
). However, it was highlighted

by Li et al. (2008, 2009, 2012) that using equiva-
lent Mohr-Coulombparameters to replacetheHoek-
Brown strength parameters (Hoek et al. 2002) still
overestimatedthefactor of safety (F) for aslopesta-
bility assessment. This will also influencethesafety
assessmentsforcivil infrastructureslocatedonaslope.
Pseudo-static(PS) approachiscurrentlycommonly
used method to consider earthquake force for slope
designs. InthePS method, theearthquakeeffectsare
simplifiedashorizontal and/or vertical seismic coef-
ficients(k
h
andk
v
). Themagnitudeof thecoefficients
isexpressedintermsof apercentageof gravityaccel-
eration. It shouldbenotedthat, current designusing
PS analysis is often based on a horizontal seismic
coefficient (k
h
) only, asshowninFigure1.
Regarding the magnitude of the horizontal seis-
mic coefficient (k
h
), anumber of investigations have
recommendedthevaluesof k
h
against Richtersmag-
nitudeof theearthquake(Seed1979, Hynes-Griffin&
Franklin 1984). However, the level of k
h
is mainly
determined by regional data which will not be dis-
cussedinthispaper.
Figure1. Configurationfor pseudo-staticmethod.
Theaimof this paper is to comparetheresults of
seismicslopefailuremechanismpredictionsbetween
Mohr-CoulombandHoek-Brown(Hoek et al. 2002)
failurecriteria. Fortheinvestigationsof rockslopesta-
bilityinthispaper, thefiniteelement upper andlower
boundlimitanalysismethodsdevelopedbyLyamin&
Sloan (2002a, b) and Krabbenhoft et al. (2005) are
employed. Inaddition, theresultspresentedbyKoo&
Kong(2010)basedonfinitedifferencemethod(FDM)
areusedfor comparisonpurposes.
2 HOEK-BROWNFAILURE CRITERION
As discussed by Merifield et al. (2006), the Hoek-
Brownfailurecriterion(Hoeketal. 2002) isoneof the
fewnon-linear criteriausedbypractisingengineersto
estimaterockmassstrength. After Hoeket al. (2002),
629
theHoek-Brown failurecriterion is expressedas the
followingequations:
where
FromEquations 24, it canbeseenthat m
b
, s and
all dependontheGeological StrengthIndex (GSI).
Therangeof GSI is between 10 and 100 which was
introducedtoestimatetherock massstrengthfor dif-
ferent geological conditionsduetoBieniawskisrock
mass rating RMR system(Bieniawski 1976) and the
Q-system(Barton2002) werefoundtobeunsuitable
for poor rock masses.
ci
andm
i
represent theintact
uniaxial compressive strength and material constant
respectively.TheparameterDisafactorwhichdenotes
thedegreeof disturbancewhoserangeis between 0
and1.
InHoeketal.(2002),theequivalentMohr-Coulomb
strengthparameterscanbeobtainedfromthefollow-
ingequations.
where
3n
=
3max
/
ci
.
Forslopestabilityproblems,
3max
canbeestimated
byEquation7.
For the stress range,
t
(tensile strength)<
3
<
ci
/4, the compressive strength of the rock mass
cm
canbedeterminedas:
Li et al. (2008) indicatedthat thesafetyfactor was
significantly overestimatedwhenEquation7is used.
Figure2. Weatheringprofiles.
Table1. Material propertiesof CDG.
c
(kPa)
Soil 1 5.0 37
Soil 2 7.5 39
Therefore, it was modified for steep slopes (slope

angle 45
), shownasEquation9.
3.1 Comparisons with previous studies
A typical cut slope ( =45
) presented by Koo &

Kong (2010) is adopted herein. The rock slope has
beenconsideredwithtwodifferentweatheringprofiles
comprises completely decomposed granite (CDG)
underlainbymoderatelydecomposedgranite(MDG),
asshowninFigure2. Table1liststhestrengthparam-
eters of CDG which were suggested by Hong Kong
Geotechnical EngineeringOffice(1993). Innumerical
simulation, MDG canbeconsideredas arigidlayer.
Theunit weight for thisslopeis19kN/m
3
.
Table 2 shows the critical k
h
obtained fromlimit
equilibriummethod (LEM), numerical upper bound
(UB) andlower bound(LB) methods, respectively. It
isobviousthatthemagnitudesof thecritical k
h
aresim-
ilar. Thedifferencebetween UB andLB solutions is
lessthan10%.Anobservationof theslipsurfacesfrom
630
Table2. Critical k
h
obtainedfromvariousmethods.
LEM UB LB
Soil 1 0.11g 0.12g 0.11g
Soil 2 0.23g 0.23g 0.22g
Figure 3. Plastic zones from UB for deep weathering
profileandsoil 1.
UB andLEM revealedthat MDG does not influence
thefailuresurfacesignificantlyfor thesetwoassump-
tionsinFigure2. However, thedepthof plasticzoneis
influencedbyk
h
, asshowninFigure3wherethedepth
of failuresurfaceincreaseswithk
h
increasing. These
plasticzonescanbeseenastheslopefailuresurface.
Figure 4 showed the displacement contour pre-
sentedinthestudy of Koo& Kong(2010) wherethe
peakgroundvelocityof the475yearsreturnperiodin
HongKongwasadopted. It shouldbenotedthat, the
slipsurfaceinfinitedifferencemethodmustbedeter-
minedsubjectivelybyplasticzonesor displacements.
If relative displacements in Figure 4 greater than
10mmareconsideredasfailure, thefailurezonesfrom
theFDM arelarger thanthat fromtheUB solution.
By using the RocLab (Rocscience 2011), the
authorsconvertedthestrengthparametersof Soil 1and
Soil 2toHoek-Brownstrengthparametersfor a10m
heightslope. However, itisfoundtobeimpossibledue
tonoset of c
and
agrees withTable1reasonably.
Frankly speaking, the suggestion fromHong Kong
Geotechnical Engineering Office(1993) is still well
applicable. As pointed out by Marinos et al. (2005),
the rock must be assessed by soil strength parame-
tersif therockdiscontinuitiesandstructurehavebeen
lost. It impliedthat thecompletelydecomposedgran-
iteCDG can beseen as oneof theabovementioned
materials.
Figure 4. Relative horizontal and vertical displacements
for flat bedrock.
3.2 Comparisons of rock slope stability analyses
between Hoek-Brown and Mohr-Coulomb
yield criteria
Inordertomakecomparisonsof slopestabilityassess-
ments, anassumedcasestudypresentedbyLi (2009)
isemployedfor thispart of study. It isknownthat the
slopeangle =60
, slopeheightH =50m, theintact

uniaxial compressivestrength
ci
=10MPa, geologi-
cal strengthindexGSI =30, intactrockyieldparame-
term
i
=8, andunitweightof rockmass =23kN/m
3
.
This case will be examined using the Hoek-Brown
and equivalent Mohr-Coulomb strength parameters
respectively.
Table 3 shows the equivalent Mohr-Coulomb
parameters for this assumed case based on the sug-
gestionof Hoek et al. (2002) andmodificationof Li
etal. (2008) respectively. Inthispaper, thedisturbance
factor isassumedaseither 0or 0.7. Hoeketal. (2002)
highlightedthat, D=0.7issuggestedfor small scale
rock slopegood blasting. Moreover, it is also appli-
cableto very largeopen pit mines usingmechanical
excavation.
Without considering the seismic force (k
h
=0g)
androck massdisturbance(D=0), Figure5displays
631
Table3. Equivalent Hoek-Brownstrengthparameters.
c
(kPa)
D=0 156 31.3
(Hoeket al. 2002)

69.8 41.4
(Li et al. 2008)

D=0.7 90.0 20.9
(Hoeket al. 2002)

43.3 29.2
(Li et al. 2008)

Figure 5. Plastic zone from UB using various strength
parameterswhenk
h
=0andD=0areconsidered.
theplastic zones fromtheUB results basedon vari-
ous strengthparameters. Figure5ais theslipsurface
obtained by using Hoek-Brown strength parameters
directly. Figures 5b, c are failure surfaces obtained
from the equivalent Mohr-Coulomb parameters, as
seeninTable3.
Anobservationof Figure5indicatesthat, usingthe
equivalent c
and
suggestedby Hoek et al. (2002),

thefailurezoneislarger thanthatfromusingtherock
massstrengthparameters.Figure5alsoshowstherela-
tionbetweenthemaximumdistanceof theinfluence
zone behind the slope crest and the slope height. It
canbeseenthatthedifferenceinthisdistanceisabout
75%. Inaddition, Figures4a, careremarkablysimilar.
Thisdemonstratedthatthemodifiedc
and
proposed
by Li et al. (2008) work well for static slopestabil-
ity analyses. It should benoticed that, thepredicted
parameterswhenk
h
=0.11gandD=0areconsidered.
potential failurezones areimportant for determining
thelocationof theinfrastructureontheslopecrest.
Figure 6 shows plastic zones obtained using dif-
ferent equivalent Mohr-Coulomb parameters when
k
h
=0.11g, Hoek-Brownstrengthparametersareuti-
lized straightforwardly. By comparing Figures 5b, c
toFigures6a, brespectively, theobservedfailuresur-
faces are apparently different. The difference in the
maximumdistanceof theinfluencezonebehind the
slope crest can achieve by up to 100%. In addition,
thetrendagreeswiththepreviousdiscussionthat the
depthof plasticzonesincreaseswithincreasingmag-
nitudeof k
h
whenMohr-Coulombstrengthparameters
areused.Again, thechangesof predictedfailurezones
will influencethelocationsof infrastructures.
Inaddition, thedisturbedrockslopeisalsoinvesti-
gatedinthispaper wherethedisturbancefactor of 0.7
istakenintoaccount.Aboveassumedcaseisemployed
herein. All parameter aremaintainedthesameandthe
onlyexceptionistheassumptionof D=0.7.
Figure 7 shows the plastic zones obtained from
theHoek-BrownorequivalentMohr-Coulombparam-
eters. For Figure 7, both of k
h
=0g and D=0.7
aretaken into account. A comparison of failuresur-
faces between Figure 5a and Figure 7a reveals that
the influence of the disturbance factor on the fail-
ure mechanismis insignificant. It is due to the fact
that the slip surface is almost unchanged when D
is changed from0 to 0.7. However, thefailurezone
632
parameterswhenk
h
=0andD=0.7areconsidered.
wasfoundtoincreasewithincreasingD if equivalent
Mohr-Coulombparametersareused.
Similartrendisobservedthatusingtheequivalentc
and
suggestedbyHoeketal. (2002),thefailurezone
is larger thanthat fromusingtherock mass strength
parameters. Themaximumdistanceof theinfluence
zonebehindtheslopecrest isoverestimatedby upto
150%. Moreover, usingtheequivalent c
and
sug-
gestedby Li et al. (2008) also obtainalarger failure
zonewhichcanbeseenbycomparingFigure7awith
Figure7c.However,thecomparisonbetweenFigure7b
andFigure7cindicatesusingthesuggestionof Li etal.
(2008) still canobtainabetter agreement of theslip
surfacewiththatfromusingrockstrengthparameters.
Figure 8. Plastic zone fromUB using various strength
parameterswhenk
h
=0.11gandD=0.7areconsidered.
For disturbed rock slopeanalyses, theearthquake
forceis also taken into consideration. Theinfluence
of k
h
values onthepredictedfailurezonewas found
to be insignificant if Hoek-Brown strength parame-
ters are used. It is the same as the results of D=0.
The obtained plastic zones fromUB using different
equivalent Mohr-Coulomb parameters are shown in
Figure8 whereseismic forceis considered by using
k
h
=0.11g. Itwasshownagainthattherockslopefail-
urezones increasewithincreasingk
h
whenc
and
areadoptedinPSanalysis.
Moreover, a comparison between Figure 5c and
Figure 7c revealed that the suggestion of c
and
byLi etal. (2008) canobtainbetterfailuremechanism

forrockslopewithoutusingthePSapproach. Itshould
benotedthat themaximumdistanceof theinfluence
zonebehind theslopecrest is considerably overesti-
mated(200%). For thelanduseontheslopecrest, this
high estimation would havesignificant influenceon
engineeringjudgment andplanning.
4 CONCLUSION
This paper examined the predicted failure mecha-
nisms at static and pseudo-static states based on the
Hoek-Brownandequivalent Mohr-Coulombstrength
parameters. The quantitative discrepancies in rock
633
slopepotential failurezoneswerealsodiscussed.From
thepresentedresults, thefollowingconclusioncanbe
made:
1. For failuresurfaceprediction, usingtheequivalent
Mohr-Coulomb parameters suggested by Li et al.
(2008) canobtainbetter resultsthanthatsuggested
byHoeket al. (2002).
2. Thepredictedpotential failurezoneincreaseswith
increasingD or k
h
whenc
and
areadopted. The
maximumdistanceof theinfluencezonebehindthe
slopecrest canbeoverestimatedbyupto200%. It
issignificant andcannot beignored.
In general, an important construction recommen-
dationshouldbenot to buildwithinthefailurezone
near theslopecrest. It was shown in this study that
the failure zone is significantly influenced by the
inputstrengthparameters.Therefore,engineersshould
select theparameters appropriately and carefully for
slopestability analyses. Also, moredetailedanalyses
would be required to find the potential slip surface
inducedbyother loadings.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
cial support fromtheCentrefor OffshoreFoundation
Systems (COFS). Thework forms part of theactiv-
ities of COFS, currently supported as a node of the
AustralianResearchCouncil Centreof Excellencefor
Geotechnical ScienceandEngineering.
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in site characterisation and tunnel design. International
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Bieniaski, Z.T. 1976. Rock massclassificationinrock engi-
neering. Exploration for rock engineering, proceedings of
the symposium, CapeTown, Balkema.
Hoek, E., Carranza-Torres, C. & Corkum, B. 2002. Hoek-
BrownFailurecriterion-2002edition. Proceedings of the
NorthAmerican rock mechanics society meeting.Toronto.
HongKongGeotechnical EngineeringOffice. 1993. Geogu-
ide1, 2ndEdition, Civil EngineeringDepartment, Hong
KongGovernment.
Li, A.J. 2009. Two andthreedimensional stability analyses
for soil and rock slopes, PhD thesis, The university of
WesternAustralia, Perth, Australia.
Li, A.J., Cassidy, M.J., Wang, Y., Merifield, R.S. & Lyamin,
A.V. 2012. ParametricMonteCarlostudiesof rockslopes
based on the Hoek-Brown failure criterion. Computers
and Geotechnics 45: 1118.
Li, A.J., Lyamin, A.V. & Merifield, R.S. 2009. Seismicrock
slope stability charts based on limit analysis methods.
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Li,A.J., Merifield, R.S. &Lyamin,A.V. 2008. Stabilitycharts
for rock slopes based on the Hoek-Brown failure crite-
rion. International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining
Sciences 45(5): 689700.
Koo, R.C.H. & Kong, V. 2010. Dynamic analysis onslopes
inHongKong.TheHongKongInstitutionof Engineering
2009/2010Annual Report, FugroPrizeAward.
Marinos, V., Marinos, P. & Hoek, E. 2005 The geologi-
cal strengthindex: applicationandlimitation. Bulletin of
Engineering Geology and the Environment 64: 5565.
Merifield, R.S., Lyamin, A.V. & Sloan, S.W. 2006. Limit
analysis solutions for the bearing capacity of rock
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International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining
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Rocscience2011. RocLab. (www.rocscience.com).
Seed, H.B. 1979. Considerationsintheearthquake-resistant
design of earth and rockfill dams. Geotechnique 29(3):
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Hynes-Griffin, M.R. & Franklin, A.G. 1984 Rationalizing
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634
Permeabilityof thefracturedrockmass A review
K.K. Singh
Department of Civil Engineering, IITB-Monash Research Academy, IIT Bombay,
Powai, Mumbai, India
D.N. Singh
Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, India
P.G. Ranjith
Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
ABSTRACT: Permeabilityistheabilitytotransmitfluidthroughtheinterconnectedvoidsor fracturespresent
intherock. Rock canbebroadly classifiedinto intact rock (without any discontinuities) androckmass (with
discontinuities). In case of hard and crystalline rockmass, major flow occurs through the fractures only not
throughthematrixes.Anycivil andgeological engineeringactivitiesareassociatedwiththehardandcrystalline
rockmass andthereforeunderstandingof themechanics andtransport of fluids throughafracturedrockmass
becomesmandatory.Alsofortheexplorationof oil andnatural gas, disposalsof nuclearorradio-activewasteand
carbondioxidesequestrations,investigationsonpermeabilityof therockmassisessential.Earlierresearchershave
workedonthebehavior of fluidflowthroughtherockmassconsideringthegeometry of fractures(orientation,
length, density, andconnectivity), roughnessof thefractures; apertureof thefracturesandonthestatesof stresses
and found that dueto changein theseparameters, thefluid flow through therockmass affects significantly.
Inthepresent study, authorshavecompiledthearticlesor earlier researchdealingwiththepermeabilityof the
fractured rockmass and presented thecritical synthesis of theliteratureherein. Authors believethat this sort
of state-of-the-art woulddefinitely helptheresearchfraternity dealingwiththerock engineeringproblems, to
progressonestepahead.
1 INTRODUCTION
Permeability is the ability to transmit fluid through
the interconnected voids or fractures (joints, faults,
discontinuities, shear zones, beddingplanesandother
discontinuity/weak planes) present in the rock. Any
civil orgeological engineeringactivitiesareassociated
with hard or crystalline rocks and due to progres-
sion of such activities; initiation of fractures ensues
in the intact massive rocks, which alters the per-
meability of the mediumsignificantly. In such type
of rocks major flow takes place through the frac-
tures only not through the matrixes. This sort of
Fracture dominated flow where the fluid velocity
is quitehigh as compareto thematrix flow, plays a
significant rolein hydrocarbon exploration (Nelson,
1985; Gauthier et al., 2000; Li et al., 2009), extrac-
tion of geothermal energy (Grant et al., 1982), and
coal bedmethanegas(KaracanandOkandan, 2000),
for carbondioxide(CO
2
) sequestrationingeological
media (Indraratna et al., 1999; Piessens and Dusar,
2004) and for the safe disposal of nuclear or radio-
activewastes(Pruesset al., 1990; OlssonandBarton,
2001).
Several researchers have worked on the experi-
mental/empirical (Brace et al., 1968; J ones, 19753;
Brace, 1978; Walls, 1979; Walsh, 1981; Zimmerman
and Bodvarsson, 1995; Li et al., 1997), theoretical
(Berryman, 1992; InoueandSugita, 2003; Chenetal.,
2007), andnumerical (Gangi, 1978; Longetal., 1982;
BalbergandBinenbaum, 1983; Oda, 1985; Shimoand
Long, 1987; ZhangandSanderson, 1995; Zhangetal.,
1996) aspects of permeability of thefractured rocks
and observed that permeability of fractured rocks
dependsmostlyonthegeometryof thefractures(ori-
entation, length, density, andconnectivity), roughness
of thefractures; fractureaperture, porepressureand
onthestatesof stresses(Normal andconfiningstress)
actingon thefracturedsurfaces. However, still there
isaneedtoimproveandinvestigatefurther indetail,
thesimultaneous effect of various parameters onthe
permeabilityof fracturedrockmassandcomeupwith
somegeneralizedmodel, whichcansimulatethereal
fieldconditions.
In this paper, authors have consolidated a brief
review of the literatures that deals with the perme-
abilityof fracturedrockmassandpresentedthecritical
synthesisof theliterature.Authorsbelievethatthissort
635
of state-of-the-art woulddefinitely helptheresearch
fraternitydealingwiththerockengineeringproblems,
toprogressonestepahead.
2 PERMEABILITY OF THE FRACTURED
ROCK MASS A REVIEW
A brief review of the studies conducted by ear-
lier researchers, availableintheliterature, pertaining
to determination of permeability of fractured rock-
massconsideringempirical,theoretical,andnumerical
approachesispresentedbelow.
2.1 Empirical approach
Several empirical approachesfor determiningtheper-
meability of fractured rockmass have been adopted
by the earlier researchers and are mentioned in the
following.
Braceet al. (1968) havecarriedout investigations
to determine permeability of the granite under high
pressure. Tests have been conducted on samples of
granites under confining pressures ranging from25
to 400MPa, and pore pressure ranging from15 to
40MPa.Authorshaveconcludedthatthepermeability
of granite decreases with increasing effective con-
fining pressure (difference between the confining
pressureandtheporepressure). J ones(1975) hasmea-
sured permeability of a number of fracture systems
under hydrostatic stress condition, and has proposed
alinear relationshipbetweenthecuberoot of normal-
ized permeability (permeability at stress divided by
permeability at referencestressof 50psi) andthelog
of theconfiningpressure.
Somerton et al. (1975) have established the per-
meabilitybehavior andsonicvelocitiesof bituminous
coal fracturesystemsasafunctionof theappliedstress
to simulates the possible in-situ stress condition of
undergroundenvironment (upto adepthof 2000ft).
It has been observed that permeability varies over a
widerangefrom0.1to100milli-Darcy at thelowest
stressandexhibitsstrongstressdependenceexceptfor
occasional cases, wherethestress level or excessive
differencesinprincipal stressescausefurther fractur-
ingandtemporary increaseinflow. Witherspoonand
Gale (1977) have studied mechanical and hydraulic
propertiesof therocksfor inducedseismicity.
Prattetal. (1977) havedeterminedthepermeability
of a3mblockof granitecontainingajoint,byapplying
uniaxial stressnormal andparallel tothejoint. It has
beenobservedthatwhenuniaxial stressof 12MPapar-
allel withthejoint is applied, permeability increases
by twofolds, whilepermeability decreasestoitshalf
of initial value for uniaxial stress of 3MPa applied
normal tothejoint. Brace(1978) hasstudiedtheper-
meabilitychangesinageologicmaterial duetoapplied
stress. Asstressincreasesanincreaseinpermeability
of nearly threefoldingranite, 20%insandstone, and
ahundredfolddecreaseincompactedsand, has been
observed. It has also been noticed that permeability
of sand and sandstone did not follow the effective
stresslaw.
GowdandRummel (1980)havestudiedtheeffectof
confiningpressureonthefracturebehaviorof aporous
rockbyconductingtriaxial compressiontestsoncylin-
drical sample of sandstone 6cmlength and 3cmin
diameter.Axial compressivestress, 1, wasappliedby
aclosed-loopelectro-hydraulicservo-controlledload-
ingsystemusingaconstant displacement rateof the
axial loadingpiston (10mmper hr) andaxial strain,
1, wascalculated. Thenconstant confiningpressure,
3, was appliedto thespecimens by a2kbar capac-
ity triaxial fluidpressurevessel andradial expansion
(causedduetofracturedevelopmentoraxial compres-
sion) of therockspecimenwascalculatedandfinally,
total volumetric strain of the rock was determined.
Theobtainedresult indicates that macroscopic shear
faults developedinintact porous rock at lowconfin-
ingpressureduringpre-peakmicro-fracturingprocess
whereas, post peak dilationoccur at lowpressuredue
tofaultdilation.Athighpressuresmultipleshear frac-
turesdevelopwithprogressivelylessdilation. Transi-
tionfrombrittletoductiledeformationtakesplaceata
confiningpressureof 100MPaandalsoductileshear
occur without anydilation. Witherspoonet al. (1980)
have investigated the validity of cubic law for fluid
flow in a deformable rock fracture. Experiments of
fluidflowthroughartificial tensilefractures ingran-
ite, basalt andmarblefor aperturesdownto4mand
stresses upto20MPahavebeenconductedandtheir
results, for ajoint in marble, shows clear departures
fromastraight linerepresentingthecubiclaw.
Walsh (1981) has investigated the effect of both
the pore pressure and confining pressure on frac-
turepermeability andobservedthat thepermeability
of fracturesincreasesor decreases, respectively, with
increasingordecreasingeffectivepressure. Ravenand
Gale(1985)havestudiedthewaterflowinnatural rock
fracturesasafunctionof stressandsamplesize. Inthis
study thesteady-stateradial flows of water fromthe
central holeto thecircumferenceof cylindrical sam-
plesof graniterangingindiameterfrom0.1to0.294m
havebeenmeasuredasafunctionof stress.Also, joint
closure-stresscurveshavebeenmeasuredonsamples
of granite. Eachcylindrical samplecontainedadiffer-
entpartof thesamenatural jointorthogonal toitsaxis.
Before drilling, the joint was bolted together along
the axis of the core so as to obviate damage to the
jointsurfaces, andsoastopreservetheir relativeposi-
tions. It hasbeenfoundthat theclosure-stresscurves
arehighlynon-linearinnaturewithsignificantperma-
nent set andhysteresis, particularly onthefirst cycle
of loading, which is probably dueto disturbances to
thejoint surfaceduringhandling. For thelater cycles,
which probably reflect moreclosely thebehavior of
suchajoint initsinsitucondition, closureacrossthe
jointisgreaterforthelargersample. Correspondingly,
thespecificstiffnessislessfor thelarger samplethan
itisfor thesmaller sample. Alsothestiffnesssarenot
linearfunctionsof stressexceptforthesmallersample
andjointstiffnesstendstoasymptotetosomeconstant
636
value at the higher stresses. An asymptotic stiffness
implies that thegeometry of theasperities of contact
isnolonger changingwithincreasingstress, yet there
must still besubstantial void spaceto accommodate
thedeformationsfromwhichthefinitejoint stiffness
results. Thisphenomenonmayreflect thefact that the
distributionof asperityheightsisnot exponential but,
morerealistically, Gaussianor invertedchi-square. If
so, itimpliesthataratherlargefractionof all theasper-
itiesareincontactatthesevaluesof stress.Theirresults
showdeparturesfromthecubiclaw, i.e., atlargeaper-
tures, corresponding to low stresses, flow decreases
faster than the cube of the apertures for the ground
surfaces separated by particles of grit and at small
apertures, correspondingtohighstresses, thespecific
flowbecomesinsensitivetochangesinaperture.Their
actual flow measurements also suggest that, at the
higheststresses, theflowasymptotestosomeconstant
value,correspondingtotheaperture-independentflow.
Cook (1992) has consolidated results of selected
research and given personal perspective synthesizes
with some new material on mechanical, hydraulic,
seismic behavior and properties of single joints,
focuses on measurements and analyses of natural
joints. Zhu and Wong (1997) have studied the tran-
sitionfrombrittlefaultingtocataclastic flow, perme-
abilityevolutionandreportedthat thepermeabilityof
sandstonesthat weresubjectedtoconfiningpressures
ranging from13 to 550MPa and a porepressureof
10MPaconsistentlydecreasedwithdecreasingstrain.
Theseobservations wereindependent of whether the
sample showed strain softening or hardening and
whether it failed by shear localization or cataclastic
flow. Li etal. (1997) havestudiedtheeffectof confin-
ing pressure, porepressureand specimen dimension
on permeability, by conducting series of tests using
MTS 815 Electro-Hydraulic Servo-controlled Rock
Mechanics Testing SystemonYinzhuang sandstone,
based on an orthogonal experimental design and the
mathematical statistical analysis. Zisser and Nover
(2009) havestudiedtheanisotropyof permeability, at
effectivepressuresupto100MPa, andcomplexresis-
tivity, inthefrequencyrangeof 1kHzto1MHz, of low
permeablesandstonesamplesof diameter 30mmand
length 2035mmcollected froma depth of 3000m
of a gas reservoir located in the Northwest German
Basin. It has been observed that thepermeability of
the investigated fractured sandstones decreases con-
tinuously with increasing effective pressure (up to
100MPa) up to two orders of magnitude, while the
porosities noticed to be remain unchanged. Also it
has been noticed that the anisotropy of permeabil-
ity is a strong function of applied pressure and for
an applied pressure change of the preferred flow
paths occurred. Further, it has been observed that
theformation factor increases with increasingeffec-
tive pressure and the spectra of complex resistivity
also exhibit dependence on effective pressure. Also,
authorsattemptedtorelatepermeabilitywithelectrical
parameters measured corresponding to a particular
effectivestress.
2.2 Numerical approach
Gangi (1978) has studiedvariationof thewholeand
fractured porous rocks permeability with confining
pressure and derived phenomenological models to
determinethevariationinpermeability withthecon-
finingpressure, P, of wholeporousrocksandfractured
porousrock. Inthisstudy, comparisonof experimental
datawiththetheoretical curveshavebeenperformed,
whichshowsthat goodcorrelationexistsbetweenthe
two models andgivenreasonablevalues for thecon-
stantsk
0
, P
1
andm, where, P
1
istheeffectivemodulus
of theasperities (is of theorder of one-tenthto one-
hundredthof theasperitymaterial bulk modulus) and
mis a constant (0<m<1) which characterizes the
distributionfunctionof theasperitylengths.Longetal.
(1982) haveinvestigatedporousmediaequivalentsfor
networksof discontinuousfractures. Inthisstudy, two-
dimensional permeabilityof afracturesystemhasbeen
estimatedbasedondirectional flow-rates by numeri-
cal method. It has been reported that heterogeneity
of flowbehavior resultsfromfracturegeometryinthe
fracturedrockmasses. BalbergandBinenbaum(1983)
haveconductedacomputeraidedstudyof thepercola-
tionthresholdinatwo-dimensional anisotropicsystem
of conducting sticks and have used fracture length,
density and orientation to describe the anisotropy
of simulatedtwo-dimensional systems of conducting
sticks in a given direction. The results indicate that
heterogeneity of flowinfracturedrock massesisdue
to the fracture geometry. Oda (1985) has calculated
thecrack tensor andpermeability tensor of afracture
systemingivendirections. Inthismethod, theperme-
abilityof afracturesystemisdependentonthefracture
geometry, includinglength, densityandorientationof
fractures.
ShimoandLong(1987) havedonenumerical mod-
elingof transport parameters infracturenetworks. It
hasbeenfoundthatthepercolationthreshold(thecrit-
ical fracturedensity) of afracturesystemisimportant
tounderstandthehydraulicandmechanical behaviors
of the rock masses. Li et al. (1994) have investi-
gated thepermeability inYinzhuang sandstonewith
respect toacompletestressstrainpath. It wasfound
that permeability is afunctionof theaxial stress and
strain.Byemployingcurve-fittingtechniques,polyno-
mial permeability-strainequationshavebeenderived
that referencedifferent stressstrainregions, suchas,
theelastic, elasto-plastic, peakvalue, post-peakstrain
softeningandplasticflowregions.
Zhang and Sanderson (1995) have investigated
anisotropic features of geometry andpermeability in
fracturedrock masses. Basedonthefracturespacing
and its orientation in a given direction, a geometric
anisotropic factor, A
f
, for two-dimensional, natural
fracturesystemhasbeenproposed. Finally, thedirec-
tional flow-rates of a fractured system have been
calculated using a two-dimensional distinct element
code (UDEC). It has been reported that geometric
anisotropy of fracture systeminfluences the perco-
lation threshold (the critical fracture density) of a
637
fracture system and below this the permeability is
negligible. Zhang et al. (1996) have established an
approachto evaluatethe2-D permeability tensor for
naturally fracturedrock masses usingModifiedUni-
versal Distinct Element Code(UDEC). Theeffectsof
stress, both magnitude and direction, on the perme-
ability of naturally fractured rock masses havebeen
discussed, i.e. the variability of hydraulic fractures
apertures related to stress condition are taken into
account.Zhouetal.(2008)haveproposedananalytical
model toestimatetheflow-stresscoupledpermeability
tensor for fracturedrock mass basedonthesuperpo-
sitionprincipleof flowdissipationenergy. Themodel
reliesonthegeometrical characteristicsof rock frac-
turesandfracturenetwork, also, thepre-peakdilation
and contraction effect of the fractures under shear
loading, empiricallyconsidered.
2.3 Theoretical approach
InoueandSugita(2003) havestudiedthefourth- order
approximation of fluid flow through rough-walled
rockfracturebasedonReynoldslubricationequations.
In this study, a stochastic partial differential equa-
tion using perturbative expansion method has been
adoptedfor analyzingthefluidflowthrougharough
surfaceof singlerockfracture. Theresultswerecom-
pared with the numerical deterministic analysis for
randomly generated aperture distributions and indi-
cate that second-order approximation as shown by
ZimmermanandBodvarsson(1996)isvalidonlywhen
theaperturedistributionisnearlyisotropic. Chenetal.
(2007) have developed a methodology to quantify
the changes in hydraulic conductivity resulted from
engineering disturbance, material nonlinearity and
anisotropyinrockmasses.Authorshavedevelopedan
equivalent elastoperfectly plastic constitutivemodel
forthefracturedrockmass(bycuttingnsetsof planner
andparallel fracturesof constantapertureswithdiffer-
ent fracturegeometry) withnon-associatedflowrule
andmobilizeddilatancytodescribetheglobal nonlin-
ear responseof therockmass under complex loading
conditions.
3 CRITICAL SYNTHESIS
A comprehensive review of the literature presents
investigations on permeability of fractured rock tak-
ingintoaccount, theinfluenceof axial load, confining
pressure (Gangi, 1978; Gowd and Rummel, 1980;
Walsh, 1981) and pore pressure (Walsh, 1981; Li
et al., 1997; ZhuandWong, 1997). Manytheoretical,
numerical and experimental investigations indicate
thatpermeabilitydecreaseswithincreaseinconfining
pressure. Dataobtainedfromexperimental studieson
lowpermeability rocks wereanalyzedandcompiled,
asindicatedinFig. 1(Brace, 1968; Braceetal., 1978;
Kranz et al., 1979; Bernabe, 1988; Zisser andNover,
2009).Thefigureshowsvariationinpermeabilitywith
effectivepressure(confiningpressure fluidpressure)
Figure1. Variationinpermeability(milliDarcy) witheffec-
tivepressure(MPa).
Figure2. Closure/openingof cracks dueto applicationof
pressures.
of different rock types. It can be inferred fromthe
figure that permeability decreases with increase in
effectiveconfiningpressure.
This variation is mainly caused due to closure of
inter-connectedpores at highconfiningstresses. The
same phenomenon can also be observed in case of
jointedrocksbut changeinpermeabilityisquitesen-
sitivetochangeinstressascomparetotheintactrocks
(Brace,1977;Kranzetal.,1979).Thiscanbeattributed
totheclosureof opencracksandthereforeof thepre-
ferredflowpathsof thefluid(Gangi, 1978; J onesand
Owens, 1980). Incidentally, distribution and orienta-
tion of the fractures and other rock fabric elements
(like sedimentary layering, shear zones, lineation,
gneissosity etc.) also influencethepermeability, and
mechanical characteristics of rocks. In addition, the
stateof stress also influences thepermeability of the
fracturedrock mass significantly (Figure2). If stress
acts perpendicular to the fractures/joints then joints
closesupandhencereducesthepermeabilitysignifi-
cantly, whereas, if fluidpressurebecomeshigher than
thesurroundingstresses, jointsopensupandincreases
thepermeabilityof themedium.
Many progresses have been made in the past to
study the behavior of permeability as a function of
stress, over thepast threedecades; however, most of
thesemethodsarenoticedtobetediousandtimecon-
sumingor arefoundto exhibit logistical difficulties.
Also, several empirical approaches(Braceetal., 1968;
Somertonet al., 1975; J ones & Owens, 1980; Sheng
andZhou,1988)havebeendevelopedforinvestigating
thepermeabilityof fracturedrocks. However, most of
638
theseresearchers haveeither usednumerical simula-
tionorcomplicatedtestsetupstostudythebehaviorof
fluidflowthroughtherockmass, whichareeither test-
specific or rock specific andhencedo not yieldany
generalizedrelationship. Major problemwithexisting
methods is that they do not identify theinfluenceof
fracturenetworkwithinalargerockmass. Inaddition,
thecritical issueof scaleeffects, suchashowtorelate
properties measured in the laboratory to rock mass
properties at thefield scale, has not been rigorously
studied.
4 CONCLUSIONS
An investigation on permeability of fractured rock-
mass is important for any civil and geological engi-
neeringactivities. Several researchershaveworkedon
thebehavior of fluidflowthroughtherockmasscon-
sideringthegeometryof fractures(orientation, length,
density, andconnectivity), roughnessof thefractures;
apertureof thefractures andonthestates of stresses
andfoundthat duetochangeintheseparameters, the
fluidflowthroughtherockmassaffectssignificantly.
Most of these researchers have either used numeri-
cal simulationor complicatedtest setupstostudy the
behavior of fluid flowthrough therockmass. There-
fore, still there is a need to improve and investigate
further in detail, the simultaneous effect of various
parametersonthepermeabilityof fracturedrockmass
and come up with some generalized model, which
cansimulatethereal fieldconditions.
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640
Horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratioinversionusingMonteCarloapproach
andenhancedbyRayleighwavedispersioncurve
K. Tokeshi
P. Harutoonian, C.J. Leo& D.S. Liyanapathirana
School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW, Australia
R. Golaszewski
Penrith Lakes Development Corporation (PLDC), Castlereagh, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: Theinversion of Rayleigh dispersion curvehas been used to estimatetheV
s
ground profiles
(thickness of soil layers vs. shear wavevelocity, V
s
) of a site. TheseRayleigh dispersion curves areusually
retrievedusingseveral geophonesorsensorssetupinlineararrayforactivemethods(e.g., Multichannel Analysis
of SurfaceWaves-MASW), or linear array(RefractionMicrotremor-ReMi) and/or geometrical arrayfor passive
methods. Inrecentyears, theinversionof Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratio(HVSR) of passivemicrotremor
recordshasbecomepopular becauseonlyonestationconsistingof a3component sensor (onevertical andtwo
horizontal components)isneededtocarryoutthefieldmeasurements.Accordingtotheresultsreportedbyseveral
researchers, amoredetailedestimationof shallowlayersmightbeobtainedwhentheHVSRinversionisapplied.
However, supplementaryfieldsurveys, suchasConePenetrationTest(CPT), areneededtoobtainreliableHVSR
inversions, meaningthat thecharacterisationof surfacelayerswithout supplementarygeotechnical surveysare
estimatedwithsomeuncertaintiesandshouldbeavoided. Inthispaper, anattempt toestimatereliableoverall
V
s
groundmodels is carriedout fromtheHVSR inversionusingtheMonteCarlo approachandenhancedby
theRayleighwavedispersioncurve. As casestudy, adynamically compactedareaof thePenrithLakes siteis
assessedbytheproposedtechnique. Fromtheresultsobtainedatthissite, adetailedV
s
groundmodel resembling
CPT recordwasobtained.
1 INTRODUCTION
The dynamic compaction penetration technique
(DCPT)wasappliedonthesurfacelayerafterbackfill-
ingandlandscapingworksinareaNo. 7of thePenrith
Lakessite. Theworkispart of arehabilitationproject
to convert a quarry site of 1,935ha into a potential
urbanhousingandinfrastructural area(Fig. 1). As it
isknown, theassessment of thegroundimprovement
qualityaswell astheV
s
groundprofiles(thicknessof
soil layersvs. shear wavevelocity, V
s
), areimportant
informationfor geotechnical engineersandcivil engi-
neers ingeneral, for designingbuildingfoundations.
In particular, the V
s
ground profile is important for
assessingseismicsiteeffectsonbuildings(suchasthe
earthquake ground response analysis carried out by
thewell knowncomputer softwareSHAKE; Schnabel
et al., 1972).
Recent attempts to estimate the allowable bear-
ing capacity of the ground based on the V
s
have
been reported (e.g., Tezcan et al., 2006). The V
s
of
corresponding layers can be quantified fromdirect
techniquesusingboreholesmethods(PSwell logging,
cross-hole, down-hole, etc). All these methods are
reliable but expensive. Also, V
s
could be roughly
estimated from a significant number of empirical
correlationswiththenumberof blowsN fromthestan-
dardpenetrationtest(SPT) (e.g., Imai andYoshimura,
1975). However, thesecorrelationsreflect significant
differencesduetodifferentlocal geological conditions
of the sites. Another intrusive technique is the cone
penetration test (CPT) developed by Scala (1959).
Somenormalisedcorrelationsbetweentheconepen-
etration resistance, q
c
, measured by CPT and theV
s
havebeen reported by Robertson et al. (1992), Fear
andRobertson(1995), andKarrayet al. (2011).
In the last decade, as a less expensive and non-
intrusivealternative, theV
s
ground profilehas been
estimated using the joint inversion of experimental
Rayleigh-wavedispersionandtheHorizontal toVerti-
cal Spectral Ratio(HVSR) curvesfrompassiveand/or
active microtremor measurements gathered at the
groundsurface(e.g.,Arai andTokimatsu, 2005; Puglia
et al., 2011). According to the results reported by
Arai andTokimatsu(2005), moreconsistentV
s
ground
profiles with significant improvement in estimating
641
bedrockV
s
profileswereobtainedafter usingthejoint
inversionof Rayleighwavedispersioncurveandtheir
previous pioneer technique for calculating synthetic
HVSR (Arai andTokimatsu, 2004).
However, thecalculationof thedispersioncharac-
teristicsisrequiredtoobtainthewavelengthof surface
waves inherent to correspondingangular frequencies
toestimatethesource-freearearadiusr.Later,Lunedei
andAlbarello(2009) proposedamodifiedcalculation
of thesynthetic theoretical HVSR curveby changing
thesurfacewavephasevelocity, c, with theaverage
shearwavevelocity, V
s
, of shallowersoftlayersforthe
source-freearearadius, r, asshowninEquation(1).
where, istheangularfrequency.Theysuggestedthat
theestimationof theveryshallowV
s
layersispossible
whendataof highpredominant peak frequencies are
includedintheHVSR inversion.
Inthepresent paper, theV
s
groundprofileof one
compactedgroundsiteisassessedquantitativelyfrom
theinversionof experimental HVSR curvefrompas-
siveambientvibrations,andenhancedbyexperimental
Rayleigh dispersion curves obtained fromtwo tech-
niques: the Multichannel Analysis of Surface Wave
(MASW) test andtheonecalledinthispaper asSta-
tionaryReceivertest(SR),whichusesonlyonestation.
Available CPT data is used for assuming adequate
number of layers as well as the value of thickness
for eachlayer. TheHVSR inversionby MonteCarlo
approach is performed using the modified synthetic
HVSR algorithmof Lunedei andAlbarello(2009).
2 METHODOLOGY
The Monte Carlo approach for estimating the V
s
groundprofileisappliedinthepresent research. The
appropriatenumber of layersandtheir corresponding
fixedlayer thicknesses, H
i
, aredeterminedbasedon
CPT dataavailableforeachsite.TheV
s
-valueisdeter-
minedrandomly withincertainranges for eachlayer
alsobasedonCPT records.
Thevalues for Poissons ratio for surfacelayers
are determined randomly within certain ranges, and
used for calculating the value of the compression P
wavevelocity, V
p
, and thedensity, , using Eqs. (1)
and(2) inTokeshi et al. (2008).
The experimental HVSR curves are calculated
using the geometrical average of the two horizontal
Fourier amplitudespectradividedby thevertical one
of microtremor records.
2.1 Selecting potential ground models
In order to improve the efficiency of the inversion
process, the value of the synthetic HVSR predomi-
nant frequency, f
o
, for each potential ground model
is roughly calculated using theharmonic averageof
Equation(2).
wherei is theith-layer, H
i
is thethickness, V
si
is the
shearwavevelocity, andn isthetotal numberof layers
overlyingthehalf-space(bedrock).Thegroundmodels
withsyntheticHVSRpredominantfrequencieswithin
therange(1) f
pred
(1+) f
pred
(where f
pred
denotesthevalueof theexperimental HVSRfrequency
inHz, and is thehalf bandwidtheither sideof f
pred
whichenclosesthepredominantfrequencyf
o
of all the
acceptedgroundmodels) proceedtothenext step.
2.2 HVSR inversion enhanced by the multimodal
analysis of Rayleigh dispersion curves
Before the HVSR inversion, the misfit between the
experimental Rayleighdispersionandthetheoretical
Rayleighdispersioncurvesof potential groundmodels
iscalculatedaccordingtoEquation(3).
where, m is the number of assessed dispersion
frequencies, coj and ctj are experimental and the-
oretical Rayleigh phase velocities, respectively, for
jth-frequency. Thegroundmodels withmisfits lower
thanacertainvalueproceedtotheHVSR inversion.
ThesyntheticHVSRcurvesarecomputedusingthe
algorithmproposedbyLunedei andAlbarello(2009).
Themisfitbetweentheexperimental HVSRcurveand
thesyntheticonefor eachgroundmodel iscalculated
accordingtoEquation(4).
where, p is thenumber of assessedHVSR curvefre-
quencies, hvsro
j
andhvsrt
j
areexperimental andsyn-
theticHVSRamplitudes, respectively, forj-frequency.
Thegroundmodels withmisfits lower thanacertain
valueareconsideredaspossibleV
s
groundmodelsof
thesite. Finally, theaverageshear wavevelocities as
well asthecorrespondingstandarddeviationfor each
layer arecalculated.
3 PENRITHLAKESSITE
ThePenrithLakessiteisaquarry of quaternary allu-
vium, gravel, sand, silt and clay deposit located on
Castlereagh; aformer floodplainof theHawkesbury-
Nepean River at the bottomof the Blue Mountains
group and the north of Penrith, New South Wales
(Australia). To improve the bearing capacity of the
ground, the dynamic compaction penetration tech-
nique(DCPT)wasappliedinareaNo.7(Fig.1),which
9,500m
2
are filled with soil of varying thickness
between12.5mand13.5mabovethebedrock.
642
Figure 1. Aerial view of Area 7 in DCPT site at Penrith
Lakes.
3.1 Experimental Rayleigh wave dispersion from
active microtremor measurements
Two techniques were applied to obtain the exper-
imental Rayleigh wave dispersion curves close to
the control station where the respective CPT record
(Fig. 2) was available: theMultichannel Analysis of
SurfaceWaves (MASW) methodintroducedby Park
(1995) andtheStationaryReceiver method(SR) (e.g.,
Rydenet al., 2004).
Incaseof MASWtest, twentyoneelectromagnetic
geophones with aresonancefrequency of 1Hz were
set up in a linear array at the ground surface with
1mspacing.Thegeophoneswereconnectedtoacable
andthis inturnconnectedto alaptopequippedwith
theSoilSpyRosinadigital acquisitionsystemsoftware
fromMicromed. Fiveshots werecarried out at both
extremesof thearray,usingvertical impactsof asledge
hammer ononesmall circular metal plateset up2m
awayfromthefirst or thelast geophone.
The other technique, the SR method, consists of
onefixedstationandonemovinggeophone. Onesen-
sor(anultra-portableTROMINO
velocimetersensor
fromMicromed) was fixed at theground surfaceto
recordthe3-components (1vertical and2horizontal
components) at asamplingfrequency of 512Hz. The
sensor was connected to onegeophoneused hereas
atrigger activatedby hammer shotsmadeonasmall
circular metal plate distant 1mfromthe geophone.
Shots were carried out from3 to 18mdistant from
thefixedstation with 1mspacing. Datawerestored
in an internal memory card, and transferred later by
USB cable connection to the computer using Grilla
(softwarefromTROMINO
R
).
Theexperimental Rayleighdispersioncurveswere
obtained using the f -k beam-forming spectra with
Herrmanns code (1996). The average experimental
Rayleighwavedispersioncurves obtainedfromboth
methods (MASWandSR) areplottedinFigure3, in
which quiteconsistent dispersion characteristics can
beseen.
Figure2. CPT record.
Figure 3. Comparison between experimental Rayleigh
dispersioncurvesobtainedbyMASWandSR tests.
3.2 Experimental HVSR from passive microtremor
measurements
The above mentioned ultra-portable TROMINO
R
velocimeter sensor was set up at the ground sur-
face 1m away from CPT control station. The 3-
components(1vertical and2horizontal components)
of passivemicrotremorswererecordedfor 16minutes
with a sampling frequency of 512Hz. The exper-
imental HVSR curves were calculated by dividing
themicrotremor records into non-overlapping frame
windows of 20s, and smoothing them with a tri-
angular window. All data processing was performed
automaticallyusingGrillasoftware.
Figure4(a) showstheexperimental averageHVSR
curvewithitscorrespondingstandarddeviations(thin
solidanddashedlinesrespectively).Theexperimental
HVSR curveused in theinversion process is shown
with open circles. Figure 4(b) shows the 3 Fourier
amplitudespectracomponents.
The experimental HVSR predominant frequency
f
pred
and the secondary predominant frequency are
643
Figure 4. (a) Experimental HVSR curves and (b) experi-
mental Fourier amplitudespectraof the3-components.
Table1. Physical parametersusedforgeneratingtheground
models.
Shear way
velocity, Vs(m/s) Poissonsratio,
Thickness
Layer (m) Minimum Maximum Minimum Maximum
1 0.3 60 200 0.3 0.45
2 2.7 60 230
3 1.6 160 410
4 1 210 510
5 0.6 195 450
6 2.5 145 410
7 0.5 250 560
8 4.3 125 390 0.4 0.49
9 Infinity 400 700 0.47 0.49
4.19and14.5Hz, respectively. Thefirst predominant
frequency wouldbeproducedby astrongimpedance
contrast between thebedrock and adjacent sedimen-
tary layer, and the second predominant frequency
would be produced by another strong impedance
contrast betweensurfacelayers.
Additionally, small predominanttroughsaround8
9Hz and 20Hz would beproduced by theexistence
of at least two velocity inversion (low V
s
layer
underlyingahighV
s
layer).
Also, HVSRcurveshowsthat thereisasmall peak
between5and7Hz(dashedellipsesinFig. 4-a), which
wouldnotbecharacteristicof thegroundconditionbut
theresult of thepresenceof artifacts fromanthropic
noise (Harutoonian et al., 2012). This conjecture is
supportedbyhorizontal andvertical Fourieramplitude
spectra(Fig. 4-b), wherethesepeaksareinphasefor
bothhorizontal andvertical Fourieramplitudespectra;
acharacteristicwhichisnotattributabletotheground
condition.
4 ESTIMATIONOF THE GROUNDMODELS
FROM HVSR INVERSION
4.1 Selection of potential ground models
The Monte Carlo approach was applied using the
ranges displayed inTable1. As described in Section
2.1, availableCPT dataof thesite(Fig. 2) wasusedas
aroughreferencetodeterminetheappropriatenumber
of layersanditscorrespondingthicknesses.
TheV
s
valuesfor eachlayer wererandomlydeter-
minedusingtherangesshowninTable1. Thevalues
for Poissons ratio werealso randomly determined
within therange0.30.45 for theseven surfacelay-
ers, between0.40.49for layer closeandunder water
tablelevel, andbetween0.470.49forsaturatedlayers.
Accordingtoboreholedata, thewater tableisaround
10mdepth.
Thevalues for V
p
and density, , werecalculated
by Eqs. (1) and (2) inTokeshi et al. (2008), respec-
tively.All thegroundmodelswerefilteredusingthe
experimental HVSR predominant frequency f
pred
of
4.19Hz andahalf bandwidth of 0.2(accordingto
theselectioncriteriondetailedinSection2.1).
4.2 Comparison of theoretical and experimental
Rayleigh dispersion curves
As described in Section 2.2, the misfit between the
experimental RayleighdispersioncurveshowninFig.
3andthetheoretical Rayleighdispersioncurves(mul-
timodal analysis) of eachpotential groundmodel was
assessedusingEq. (3). Thegroundmodelswithmis-
fitslower than0.2, proceededtotheHVSR inversion
process.
4.3 Inversion of HVSR curve
Thepotential groundmodelsthat passedtheselection
criteriadescribedinSections 2.1and2.2, wereused
intheHVSR inversionprocess. Thesynthetic HVSR
curvefor eachpotential groundmodel wascalculated
using Lunedei andAlbarellos algorithm. The inver-
sionfinishedafter findingthefirst 30groundmodels
withmisfitslower than0.2(Eq. 4).
Figure5showstheaverageof the30groundmodels
inthicksolidline, their correspondingstandarddevia-
tionsinthinsolidlinesandtheinitial V
s
rangesshown
inTable1inthindashedlines. Theestimatedaverage
velocitygroundmodel inFig. 5resemblestotheCPT
recordinFig. 2. Needlesstosay that amoredetailed
velocity groundmodels canbeestimatedby increas-
ingthenumberof layers, butthiswill leadtoincreased
computingtime.
Figure6showsthecomparisonbetweentheexper-
imental Rayleigh dispersion curve (black dots) with
its corresponding 0.2 misfit ranges (hyphens) and
the 1st high theoretical Rayleigh mode of the 30
groundmodelsobtainedfromtheHVSR inversionat
this site. This confirms that high modes of Rayleigh
dispersion characteristics are usually obtained from
activemethods(suchasMASWor SR usedhere).
644
Figure 5. Estimated ground model after the HVSR
inversion.
Figure6. Comparisonbetweenexperimental Rayleighdis-
persioncurveand1sthightheoretical modesof the30ground
modelsobtainedfromHVSR inversion.
Figure7showsquitegoodagreement betweenthe
experimental HVSR curveusedfor theinversionand
thesyntheticHVSR curves.
5 DISCUSSIONS
Thetwopredominant peaksobservedinexperimental
HVSR curveswereconfirmedastheexistenceof two
strongimpedancecontrasts; onebetweenthebedrock
and the adjacent sedimentary layer and another one
between the second and third layers (around 3m
depth).
Also, theaveragegroundmodel estimatedfromthe
HVSRinversionshowstheexistenceof several veloc-
ityinversion(lowV
s
layersunderlyinghighV
s
layers).
Asitwaspreviouslyinferredfromexperimental HVSR
curve, the first velocity inversion inferred fromthe
trough around 89Hz is between 6 and 13mdepth,
andthesecondonerelatedtothetrougharound20Hz
isbetweenthegroundsurfaceandfirst 3mdepth.
Figure7. Comparisonbetweenexperimental HVSR curve
and synthetic ones of the30ground models obtained from
HVSR inversion.
Finally, the small peak between 5 and 7Hz (dis-
playedwithdashedellipsesinFig. 4) isnotresembled
bythesyntheticHVSR curvesof the30groundmod-
els obtainedfromHVSR inversion(Fig. 7), meaning
that this peak is not related to the ground condition
but relatedtothepresenceof artifactsfromanthropic
noise.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Fromtheaboveresults, thefollowingconclusionscan
begiven:
DetailedV
s
groundmodel wasobtainedfromexper-
imental HVSR inversion, using theavailableCPT
record as a rough reference for determining the
appropriatenumber of layersandthicknesses.
Useful information to roughly assess the ground
condition of the site was obtained from the
experimental HVSR curve. The presence of two
predominant peaks in the HVSR curve reflected
the existence of two strong impedance contrasts
betweenlayersand/or bedrockat thesite.
Thepresenceof atleasttwovelocityinversions(low
velocity layers underlying higher velocity layers)
wasestimatedafter observingHVSRtroughslower
thanunity.Thesewereconfirmedby theestimated
V
s
groundmodelsobtainedfrominversion.
The experimental Rayleigh dispersion curve
obtained fromMASW or SR tests was useful to
findfaster solutionsof theV
s
groundmodel of the
site.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study is partially funded by the Australian
ResearchCouncil (ARC), andCoffeyGeotechnics.
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646
An investigation of arching mechanism of geosynthetic reinforced column
supported embankments
N.N.S. Yapage, D.S. Liyanapathirana & C.J. Leo
School of Computing, Engineering & mathematics, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW, Australia
H.G. Poulos & R.B. Kelly
Coffey Geotechnics Pty Ltd, Lane Cove West, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: The load transfer mechanism of geosynthetic reinforced columns supported (GRCS) embank-
ments is based on soil arching within fill layers and membrane action of the geosynthetic layers. Several design
guidelines are available in the literature for these embankments based on the arching and membrane theories.
However the shape of the arch and its evolution are not consistent among these guidelines. Therefore, they yield
different results for the same embankment in predicting loads transferred to the Deep Cement Mixing (DCM)
columns, geosynthetic and soft foundation soil. This paper investigates in detail the shape of the arches formed
above the columns and their evolution during the process of embankment construction. A two-dimensional
numerical model is used for this investigation and the results show that they are semi-circular or catenary in
shape and the size changes during the loading process. Results of this study show that there are inconsistencies
in current design recommendations for arch formation and critical embankment height.
1 INTRODUCTION
Geosynthetic reinforced column supported (GRCS)
embankments are widely used to construct highway
embankments over soft ground. These foundation sys-
tems have the ability to improve the embankment
stability while reducing the differential settlement by
transferringmajor portionof the embankment andtraf-
fic load onto columns through stress redistribution.
Furthermore this method speeds up the construction
while providingprotectiontoadjacent facilities against
inducedsettlements due toexcessive soil consolidation
inherent for consolidation based methods.
A number of research studies have been carried
out using the centrifuge modelling to investigate the
behaviour of GRCSembankments (Inagaki et al. 2002,
Kitazume et al. 2000, Kitazume 2006, Navin 2005). It
has been found that a major portion of the embankment
load is transferred to the columns by arching which is
formed within the embankment fill material and the
remaining load is transferred to the soft foundation
soil and the geosynthetic layer by membrane action.
Design guidelines for calculating the vertical stress
applied on DCM columns and soft foundation soil,
and tension in the geosynthetic layer are available in
the literature based on the arching theory (Abusharar
et al. 2009, BS8006 2010, Guido et al.1987, Hewlett
and Randolph 1988, Kempfert et al. 2004, Low et al.
1994, Terzgahi 1943). Most of these guidelines have
not considered the contribution of the soft founda-
tion soil in the load transfer mechanism. The shape
of the arch and its evolution are not consistent in
these guidelines. These guidelines provide different
results for the same embankment in predicting the
loads transferred to DCM columns, geosynthetic and
soft foundation soil (Abusharar et al. 2009, Chen et al.
2008, Filz and Smith 2006, Hello and Villard 2009,
Russell and Pierpoint 1997, Stewart and Filz 2005).
Hence there is a need for further investigation of the
effect of soil arching on the load transfer mechanismof
the embankments. Furthermore, recommended guide-
lines for arching and critical embankment height are
not consistent in these design guidelines.
The aim of this paper is to investigate the evolu-
tion of arching within embankment fill layers with the
application of embankment loading using the finite
element method. Limitations in current design prac-
tice are identified and some future research directions
are proposed for the development of better design
guidelines for GRCS embankments.
2 NUMERICAL MODELLINGAND
ITS VALIDATION
Model calibration is carried out using a well
documented case study of a GRCS embankment
(Forsman et al. 1999). Detailed description of
Geometry, mechanical and hydraulic boundary condi-
tions, material model and model parameters used for
the two-dimensional finite element model are given in
Yapage et al. (2012). However summery of the material
647
Table 1. Material properties used in numerical model.
E C
Material (MPa) (kPa) (
) (kN/M
3
) (m/s) (
)
Soft clay (NC) 0.3 0.2 8 13 18 6.34 10
11

Silt 1.6 0.3 5 20 20 6.34 10
6

Embankment fill 40 0.3 5 38 20 6.34 10
6

Platform fill 20 0.3 5 32 20 6.34 10
6

DCM columns 30 0.3 90 30 20 9.92 10
10

Geosynthetic J =Et, J =1700 kN/m, ci =0.8, t =30 mm, tensile strength =200 kN/m
Note: E is tangential elastic modulus, is Poissons ratio, is the unit weight (saturated and unsaturated unit weight for soils
below and above the ground water table respectively), c
is the effective friction angle,
is the coefficient friction angle, k is

the coefficient of permeability,
is the effective dilation angle, J is the tensile stiffness of the geosynthetic reinforcement, t
is the thickness of the geosynthetic layer, c
i
is the interaction coefficient between geosynthetic and platform fills
Figure 1. Numerical model of the embankment.
Figure 2. Sequential construction of the embankment.
properties and the geometry of the numerical model
are given in the Table 1 and Figure 1.
This embankment consists of 0.6 m high platform
layer and 1.2 m high embankment fill layers. Figure 2
shows the construction sequence of the embankment
used for the analysis. It consists of three main stages
and they are simulated in 0.6 m thick platform layer
and four 0.3 m thick fill layers.
From the two-dimensional finite element model
results, computed settlements agree well with the field
measurements. Furthermore finite element model pre-
dicts the maximum tension developed in the geosyn-
thetic reinforcement along the transverse direction
of the embankment in agreement with field mea-
surements. This suggests that the actual load trans-
fer mechanism between geosynthetic reinforcement,
DCM columns and foundation soil in the three-
dimensional field situation is well captured by the
numerical model.
Since the finite element model yielded results in
agreement with the field measurements, this model
is considered for studying the load transfer mecha-
nism of the embankments based on soil arching. This
investigation is valid only when the DCMcolumns are
contiguous in the longitudinal direction, for which a
two-dimensional plane strain finite element model can
be used to replicate the field situation with sufficient
accuracy.
3 LOADTRANSFER MECHANISM BASED ON
SOIL ARCHING
3.1 Load transfer mechanism
Soil arching plays an important role in the load trans-
fer mechanismof GRCSembankments. Embankments
need to be sufficiently high for the development
of arching, which reduce the surface settlement and
ensure a smooth embankment surface. The stresses
developed within DCM columns increase with time
due to the development of arches above the columns.
This has been confirmed by field observations, cen-
trifuge model tests and numerical modelling (Chen
et al. 2008, Fang 2006, Huat and Ali 1993, Huat et al.
1994, Inagaki et al. 2002, van Eekelen et al. 2011).
DCM columns have higher stiffness with respect to
the surrounding soft foundation soil and hence a con-
siderable part of the embankment and traffic loads
are transferred to the columns. As a result, differential
settlements occur between stiff columns and surround-
ing soft soil. Consequently shear stresses are gener-
ated within the embankment fill, which redistributes
embankment vertical load from soft foundation soil
to columns by forming soil arches between adjacent
columns (Kempfert et al. 2004, Terzaghi 1943). Part
of the weight of the soil wedge below the soil arch is
transferred to the columns by the tension developed
648
Figure 3. Vertical stress distribution along the embankment when arches are formed (a) without geosynthetic (b) with
geosynthetic (after Potts 2007).
within the geosynthetic layer. This is called the mem-
brane action of the geosynthetic layer. Hence, the
load transfer mechanism is a combination of arching
within the embankment fill over the DCM columns
and membrane action of the geosynthetic layer.
3.2 Shape of the arch and its evolution based on
the current design methods
Design guidelines available for the DCM column
supported embankments are mostly based on the arch-
ing concept. However the shape of the arch and
its evolution are not consistent among these guide-
lines. Many design procedures assumed full arch-
ing after completion of the embankment construc-
tion up to a certain level and the arch development
before that level has not been discussed. Hewlett and
Randolph (1988), Low et al. (1994) and Abusharar
et al. (2009) assumed that arches are semicircular in
two-dimensional plane strain conditions and have a
uniform thickness equivalent to half of the column
width, without anyoverlapping. However theyhave not
investigated the evolution of the arch. BS8006 (2010)
also assumed semi-circular arches but introduced par-
tial and full arching concept which basically depends
on the embankment height and the clear spacing
between columns. According to BS8006 (2010), full
arching occurs when H <1.4(s a) and partial arch-
ing occurs when 0.7(s a) H 1.4(s a), where H
is the embankment height, s is the column spacing
and a is the column diameter. Since H changes with
the placement of each fill layer, there is a possibility
for a partial arch to convert to a full arch during the
embankment construction.
Collin et al. (2007) explained US state of practice
for designing GRCS embankments. In that, triangular
arches are assumed for two-dimensional plane strain
conditions with sides inclined at 45 degrees. Guido
et al. (1987) also assumed formation of triangular
arches with 45
internal angles with the horizon-

tal direction in two-dimensional plane strain condi-
tions and a similar pyramid for the three-dimensional
situation.
Rogbeck et al. (1998) described the fundamentals
for the Swedish design method and they also used
arches with triangular shape but with 30
angle at the
apex of the soil wedge in two-dimensional plane strain
conditions. These guidelines have not considered the
evolution of arching with embankment construction.
The German standard for the design of GRCSembank-
ments, EBGEO2004, is based on the method proposed
by Kempfert et al. (2004). In this method, average
vertical pressures acting on DCM columns and the
soft foundation soil are calculated by considering
hemispherical shaped domes spanning between pile
caps, similar to the arching proposed by Hewlett and
Randolph(1988). The maindifference inEBGEO2004
is that the arches consist of multi-shell domes. The
topmost shell takes the shape of a hemisphere if the
embankment height is greater than half of the col-
umn spacing. But when embankment height is lower
than half of the column spacing, the height of the
arch is equal to the height of the embankment, but
towards the column head level the radius of the shell
domes increase reducing the curvature. Kempfert et al.
(2004) have not discussed the evolution of arches from
partial to full arching. However the properties of fill
material and soft foundation soil have been taken into
account whenapplyingarchingtheorytodetermine the
distribution of the embankment load within the fill.
3.3 Vertical stress profile along the height
of the embankment
Figure 3 explains the assumed vertical stress (
v
)
profile in the fill along the vertical plane between
columns, which is initially proposed by Hewlett and
Randolph (1988). When stable arches are formed in
649
Figure 4. Vertical stress distribution of the embankment
along the center line between columns closer to the center
line of the embankment.
between columns, the soil above the crown remains
stable assuring smoothness of the crest of the embank-
ment. Vertical stress will become maximum at the
crown of the arch and minimum at the bottom surface
of the arch as shown in Figures 3(a) and (b). Therefore
vertical stress profile should linearly increase fromthe
crest of the embankment to the outer surface of the
arch with a gradient equivalent to the unit weight of
the fill material (). Then
v
decreases linearly within
the arch and reach
i
at the bottom most surface of the
arch. Below this point, vertical stress again increases
but with decreasing gradient due to the vertical com-
ponent of tension (T) from the membrane effect of
the geosynthetic layer. However, if there is no geosyn-
thetic layer underneath the soil arch, vertical stress
again increases with a gradient equivalent to . Thick-
ness (t) of the soil arch can be estimated by taking the
level difference between heights at which maximum
and minimum
v
occur.
3.4 Results and discussion
Figure 4 explains the vertical stress distribution (
v
)
after each construction stage in the numerical analy-
sis, along the vertical plane at the midpoint between
columns closer to the centerline of the embankment.
It is clear from this figure that all curves ini-
tially follow the same gradient which is similar to
the unit weight of the fill material (20 kN/m
3
). At a
certain depth,
v
starts to decrease indicating stress
distribution to the surrounding columns due to the
development of soil arching. After minimum stress is
achieved,
v
continues to increase beneath the arch
with decreasing gradient and this shape is compat-
ible with the expected distribution of
v
due to the
membrane action of the geosynthetic.
According to Figure 4, after placement of the 1.2 m
of fill, a full arch is formed within the embankment.
With further loading due to the increase in height of the
embankment as well as the traffic loading, the thick-
ness of the arch increases, while keeping the inner
radius of the arch constant. Due to the increase in dif-
ferential settlement with the increase in embankment
load, thickness of the arch increases but the initially
formed inner radius of the arch will not change with
Figure 5. Shape of the arch (a) after placing fourth fill layer
(b) after application of traffic load.
Figure 6. Shape of arches from horizontal stress distribu-
tion (a) after placing fourth fill layer (b) after application of
traffic load.
further loading. With consolidation,
v
at the inner
and outer boundary of the arch changes while keeping
the thickness of the arch constant. This is due to the
increase instiffness of the soft soil withthe progression
of consolidation.
In order to investigate the shape of the arch, mini-
mum and maximum
v
along different vertical planes
in between the columns closest to the centre line of the
embankment are plotted in Figure 5. It is clear that the
thickness of the arches increases towards the centre
where the crown is positioned. Therefore, they do not
have a uniformthickness along the arch and this nature
is similar to the theory proposed by Kempfert et al.
(2004). However, the right side of the arch is thicker
than the left side in Figure 5 due to the effect of higher
total settlement closer to the centre of embankment.
Figure 6 illustrates the horizontal stress distribu-
tion after placing the fourth fill layer and the traffic
load. This figure clearly shows that there are hori-
zontal stress contours within the embankment fill and
they take the catenary shape in between columns. In a
vertically loaded arch, the vertical stresses increase
650
Table 2. Existing recommendations for critical embankment and arch height.
Recommend embankment and arch
height of this column arrangement
Recommended critical Height of the
Literature height (H
crl
) arch (H
arch
) H
crl
H
arch
Demerdash (1996) 1.7 (s-a) 1.7 to 2 (s-a) 3.4 m 3.4 to 4 m
Rogbeck et al. (1998) (s-a) or 1 m 1.87 (s-a) 2 m 3.74 m
Hewlett and Randolph 2s 0.5 s 5.6 m 1.4 m
(1988)
Nordic Handbook (2002) 1.2 (s-a) 2.4 m
Collin (2004) (s-a) 0.5 s 2 m 1.4 m
Kempert et al. (2004) (s-a) 0.5 s 2 m 1.4 m
Naughton (2007) 0.5 e
0.5tan
(s-a) 0.5 e
0.5tan
(s-a) 3.42 m 3.42 m
Chen et al. (2008) 1.6 (s-a) 1.4 to 1.6 (s-a) 3.2 m 2.8 to 3.2 m
BS8006 (2010) 0.7 (s-a) 1.4 (s-a) 1.4 m 2.8 m
MacGuire (2011) 1.725 (s-a) +1.44 a 4.062 m
from the crest to the bottom of the arch cross section
but the horizontal stresses are the same throughout the
arch. Hence these catenary shaped contours can be
identified as arches. With further loading, thickness
of the arch increases as shown in Figure 6.
According to the limits given in BS8006 (2010) for
H/(s a), this geometry belongs to partial arching
category. However, Figure 6 clearly shows that full
arches are developed in the embankment fill. There-
fore BS8006 (2010) gives a conservative design for
geosynthetic but underestimates loads appliedtoDCM
columns.
Therefore further research is vital to identify the
parameters (such as properties of embankment fill
material, relative stiffness between columns and soft
foundationsoil, embankment height andclear spacing)
contributing to arch formation above the columns.
4 CRITICAL EMBANKMENT HEIGHT
Critical height is important to ensure the serviceability
performance of the embankment. When the embank-
ment height is relatively low compared to the clear
column spacing, differential settlement at the base
can propagate up to the crest of the embankment
and produce an uneven surface at the crest result-
ing poor pavement quality for the vehicles. McGuire
(2011) showed that the diameter (a) and the spacing of
columns (s) governthe critical height of embankments.
Also he stated that it is not considerably influenced by
the density of the embankment fill or the presence of
geosynthetic reinforcement.
McGuire (2011) defined the critical height as the
minimum height for a particular column diameter and
spacing at which there is no differential settlement at
the crest. Chen et al. (2008) used the concept of the
plane of equal settlement to define the critical embank-
ment height at which the full soil arch is formed.
Therefore the entire embankment and traffic load is
transferred to columns resulting in no differential set-
tlement at the crest. From all these, critical height can
be defined as the minimumembankment height where
full arch can develop.
Table 2 explains the equations defined in differ-
ent guidelines for critical embankment height and
full arching height. It clearly explains that differ-
ent guideline results in different values for critical
embankment and arching height for this embankment.
The embankment height of this case study is 1.8 mand
differential settlement could not be seen at the crest
in the finite element results. Furthermore full arching
height recorded in the finite element model is 1.38 m.
Hewlett and Randolph (1988), Kempert et al. (2004)
and Collin (2004) procedures approximately predict
the correct critical embankment and arching height.
It is clear that all design procedures has given fixed
critical height to clear spacing ratio and therefore it is
debatable about the applicability of single ratio for all
realistic column arrangement. Consequently further
research should be carried out to find the reliable equa-
tion and the range of value for critical embankment
height.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper investigated different analytical methods
available for the design of GRCS embankments based
on the arching theory and showed that these meth-
ods differ by the shape and the evolution of the arch
considered.
Only when the columns are contiguous, the two-
dimensional plane strain idealization of the three-
dimensional situation will represent the real field
condition well. Therefore when columns are contigu-
ous, numerical modellingresults showthat initiallyfull
soil arches are developed. Afterwards, the thickness
and outer curvature of these arches increase with the
increasing embankment loading as well as embank-
ment height. Furthermore it is found that critical
embankment and arching height defined in different
design procedures are not consistent and they yield
different values. Therefore the necessity of reliable
651
equation and the range of value for critical embank-
ment height to suit all realistic column arrangement
are pointed out. These results will be useful in devel-
oping reliable design procedures based on arching
mechanismin DCMcolumn supported embankments.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial
support for this research provided by the Australian
research council and Coffey Geotechnics Pty Ltd
under the Linkage project LP0990581.
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652
Mechanics of materials
Synergisticenergyabsorptioninthein-planestaticcompression
responseof filledhoneycombs
R.J. DMello&A.M. Waas
Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
ABSTRACT: This paper reports thein-planecompressiveresponseand energy absorption of honeycombs
whenfilledwithsoft elastomers. Thebasematerial inthisstudyisthecircular cell polycarbonatehoneycomb.
PDMSisasoftelastomerthatisusedasthefillermaterial. Filledhoneycombspecimenof size1111isstatically
loadedalongthein-planedirection. Duringtheinitial stagesof loading, thecellsovalizeandtheaccompanying
compressionresponseisnon-linearly elastic. Thefirst failureevent isobservedtobestrainlocalizationinthe
specimenthatistriggeredbylongitudinal crackingof thehoneycombwall andcell-to-cell separation.Withfurther
increaseincrushing, thelocalizationspreadstootherregionsinthespecimen; until thespecimencatastrophically
failswiththefinal failurepatternhavinganX shape afeaturereminiscent of shear bandfailure. Thefailure
modeinthefilledsampleisdifferentfromtherow-wisecollapsemodeseenintheunfilledexperiment.Thefilled
specimenexhibitssynergisticenergyabsorptionphenomenonunder in-planeloading i.e. theloadresponseof
filledspecimenis muchlarger thanthesumof theindividual responses of unfilledhoneycombandthefiller
material. Thiseffect isattributedtotheconstraineddeformationof thefiller material withineachof thecells.
Analysisof thecrushresponseisconductedusingthedigital imagecorrelation(DIC) techniquetomonitorstrain
anddisplacement fieldsinthesampleduringinitial stagesof crushingandinthevicinityof first failure.
1 INTRODUCTION
Man made honeycombs that are broadly classified
as cellular solids (Gibson& Ashby, 1988) haveseen
increasedapplicationsinaerospacestructures. Inpar-
ticular, they areusedinsandwichpanels dueto high
stiffness-to-weight ratio and high transverse shear
strength. Moreover, theyareusedasenergyabsorption
devices, for exampleascrashbarriersintheautomo-
tiveindustry owingtolargeenergy dissipatedduring
progressivelocalizedcollapse. Theprogressivelocal-
ized collapse occurs over a fairly constant state of
loadcalledreferredtoasaplateauload. Honeycomb
structurescomeinavariety of shapeshavingsquare,
hexagonal or circular micro-section. They also are
made up of a variety of lightweight materials such
as metals, papers andpolymers. Papka& Kyriakides
(1998) and Chung & Waas (1999) have studied the
staticin-planecrushresponseof circular cell polycar-
bonatehoneycomb. Moreover, Chung&Waas(2002a,
b) haveextendedtheir studiestothedynamicregime.
Recently, Chung & Waas (2008) have also modeled
thecircular honeycombasamicro-polar solid, which
is a higher order continuumtype of description of
thesestructures. Thefocusof thisstudyistheenergy
absorptionincircular cell polycarbonatehoneycomb
materials, with and without a soft filler material in
thecells.
A representativesketchof thecircular cell honey-
combpanel alongwiththein-planeloadingdirection
Figure 1. Sketch of a 1111 circular cell honeycomb
showingthein-planeloadingdirection.
isshowninFigure1. Therepeatingunitsinthesepan-
elsarethincylindrical shells, eachof whichiscalleda
cell. Individual circular cells arehexagonally packed
toformthehoneycombpanel. Thesizeof thehoney-
combisdesignatedusingtwonumbersasmn. Here,
m andn indicatethenumber of cells alongthex and
y directionsrespectively. Inthisstudy, honeycombof
size1111areconsidered.
655
Figure2. Loadvs. displacement curvefor PDMScylindri-
cal blockalongwithimagesduringcompression.
2 MATERIAL PROPERTIES
2.1 Polycarbonate honeycomb properties
The circular cell polycarbonate honeycomb panels
wereobtainedfromPlascoreInc., Zealand, MI, USA.
First, a cluster of 7 cells was removed from the
honeycomb panel and placed in a cylindrical mold.
Epoxy resin was poured in and the sample was
cured overnight. The top ends were polished with
emery papers of increasing grit sizes. The dimen-
sions of the honeycomb cell were obtained through
an optical study using a low magnification micro-
scope. The average measured dimensions are: cell
radius2.03mm,wall thickness0.063,andout-of-plane
length of 25.4mm. An isolated single cell was sub-
jectedtoanin-planecompressiontest(inthex-y plane)
usingatable-topuniaxial loadingmachine. Theelas-
ticmodulusof thepolycarbonatematerial wasbacked
outbymatchingtheloadvs. displacementcurvefrom
theexperiment and through afiniteelement simula-
tion(FE) inABAQUS/Standardthatusedvarioustrial
values. Theelastic modulus valuethus obtainedwas
2600200MPa. Here, thefirst number corresponds
tothemeanvalueandthesecondvalueisthestandard
deviationof 10samples.
2.2 PDMS filler properties
The filler material used in this study is the poly-
dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer (Dow Corning
Sylgard184). A sampleof PDMS was cast incylin-
drical moldof length25.4mmanddiameter 22.8mm.
ThepreparedPDMSspecimenwassubjectedtoauni-
axial compressiontest at crushrateof 0.033mm/sec
usinganINSTRONmachine.Thetopandbottomload-
ing surfaces werelubricated to reducetheeffects of
frictioninthespecimen. This test gives theinforma-
tionof theuniaxial compressiveresponseof thefiller
material tocharacterizethepolymerthroughanappro-
priatehyperelasticity model. Thesequenceof images
showingPDMS deformation alongwith theloadvs.
Figure3. Row-wisecollapse(right) modeinin-planecom-
pressionof unfilledhoneycomb(left).
Figure4. Load-displacement plot obtainedfromthestatic
in-plane compression of an 1111 unfilled honeycomb
specimen.
displacementplotisshowninFigure2.Toillustratethe
vastdifferenceinstiffnessof thefiller(PDMS)andthe
honeycombbasematerial (polycarbonate), theelastic
modulus of the PDMS in the small strain regime is
about 3MPaincontrast to that of thepolycarbonate,
whichhasanelasticmodulusof 2600MPa.
3 UNFILLEDHONEYCOMB CRUSHING
Webrieflydiscussthestaticcrushresponseof unfilled
1111 honeycomb specimens. The static in-plane
crushing of circular cell polycarbonate honeycomb
has beenstudiedextensively by Papka& Kyriakides
(1998) andChung&Waas(1999) viaexperimentsand
numerical simulations. The results fromthis experi-
ment, namely, themodeof failureandcrushloadwill
beusedfor comparisonpurposeswiththefilledcrush
response; andmostimportantlytoassessthepotential
benefits of filling these honeycomb with soft elas-
tomers with regard to energy absorption capability.
The1111 sizespecimens weresubjected to static
in-plane compression at a rate of 0.033mm/sec in
an INSTRON machine. During the initial stages of
compression, thecircular honeycomb cells began to
ovalizeandinthis region, theloadresponsewas lin-
ear.Theovalizationwasseenuniformlyinall thecells
in the sample. At a crush-distance of approximately
2.8mm(equivalent to amacroscopic strain valueof
0.07), localization in the formof row-collapse was
seen across two rows and the load vs. displacement
curveplateaued.Fromthenon,newrowsprogressively
collapsedat afairly constant level of loadcalledthe
656
Figure 5. Load vs. displacement plot of the compres-
sion responseof filled honeycomb. Also shown is theload
responseof aPDMSblockof identical size.
plateau load. The row-wise collapse of the unfilled
honeycombisshowninFigure3.Theplateauloadwas
foundtobeapproximately42N. A plotof theloadvs.
displacement curvealongwiththedeformedshapeis
showninFigure4.Notethatthislengthyplateauregion
whererow-wisecollapseoccursiswherelargeamount
of energy is absorbed; thus making these materials
attractivefor useinenergyabsorptiondevices. Using
thisunfilledspecimenasabenchmark, wenextinves-
tigateif fillingthesehoneycombswithsoftelastomers
increases theloadcarryingcapacity, andthereforeif
any benefit exists with regard to energy absorption
capability.
4 FILLEDHONEYCOMB CRUSHING
4.1 Introduction
Honeycomb specimens of size 1111 were filled
withthePDMSmixandtheair bubbleswereremoved
inavacuumchamber. Thesamplewas heatedfor 45
minutes at 100
C andleft to curefor 2days at room

temperature. Itwasobservedthatthereisnoadhesion
betweenthePDMSfiller andpolycarbonatecell walls
inthesespecimens. Next, thespecimenwassubjected
to inplanecompression(crushrateof 0.033mm/sec)
usinganINSTRONmachineandtheloadrecordedat
10Hzusinga1000lbf capacityloadcell. Theloadvs.
displacement plot isshowninFigure5.
4.2 Experiment: Pre-failure regime
Duringtheinitial stages of loading, cells ovalizeand
thedeformationis homogeneous across all thecells.
Notethat thiscell ovalizationissimilar tothat seenin
theunfilledexperiment.Theovalizationtakesplaceup
toacrushdistanceof approximately4.5mm, whichwe
shall refertoasthepre-failure regionbeforeanyfailure
hasinitiatedinthespecimen. Inthepre-failureregion,
the behavior of the specimen is non-linearly elastic
unlikethatobservedintheunfilledhoneycombwhere
theresponsewas linear; andthis non-linear response
is attributed to thenon-linear hardening behavior of
thefiller material. Observingtheimagesacquired, the
Figure6. Undeformed filled specimen (left). Imageprior
tofirst failureshowingfirst andsecondfailuresites(right).
PDMS filler isseentobulgeoutwardsalongtheout-
of-planedirectionowingtoincompressibilityproperty
of thepolymer andduetolack of axial constraintson
thehoneycombface.Theresistancetocollapsehasthe
effect of delayingthefirst failureinthefilledhoney-
combbyamechanismthat isfundamentallydifferent
fromrow-wisecollapse.
4.3 Experiment: Failure regime
Thefirst failuremodeis thewall-to-wall separation
andlongitudinal wall tearingnearthedoublewall con-
tactsite; andoccursatcrushdistanceof approximately
4.5mm. Here, atthelocalizationsite, cell pairsincon-
tactacrosstworowsrotatemomentarily. Thebehavior
of cell rowsinthevicinityof first failureisdiscussed
later using a digital image correlation study. At the
firstdamagesite, theloadvs. displacementplotshows
significant reduction in thestiffness. Across various
experimental trials, thefirst damagesitevariedfrom
sampletosamplebut ispredominantlyseennear cen-
ter rows of thespecimen. Withincreaseinthecrush
distance, thelocalizedcell-to-cell failureandlongitu-
dinal tearingspreads to several disconnectedregions
inthespecimen. Eachlocal failureischaracterizedby
aslight drop in theload and is seen in Figure5, for
displacementvaluesof 4.5mmandhigher. Duringthis
spreadof damageacrossthespecimen, thestiffnessis
nearlyconstant.Thefirstandsecondlocalizationsites
foraspecimenareshowninFigure6.Thereafter, these
localized failureregions spread across thespecimen
until aweak-plane(orientedat 60
withthehorizon-
tal) isformedthat isfavorabletofailureinshear. The
specimenfailscatastrophicallywithprominentfailure
planes forming an X shape. An image of the failed
specimenisshowninFigure7. Thecatastrophic fail-
ure was accompanied by a sharp drop in load at a
crushdistanceof 10.8mm(macroscopic strainvalue
of about 0.28). The test was terminated soon after.
Theindividual PDMSfillersrelaxtotheirundeformed
configuration.
4.4 Synergistic response of the filled specimen
Thefundamental differences inenergy dissipationin
thefilledandunfilledspecimens arenowdiscussed.
In the unfilled specimen, once localization due to
row-collapse has initiated, the energy dissipated is
independent of crush distance as collapse occurs at
somewhat constant plateauload. However, inthecase
657
Figure 7. Specimen unloaded immediately after catas-
trophicfailure. Noticetheshear-likefailuretotheleft.
of the filled sample, beyond the first failure point,
energy iseffectively storedinthefiller (stiffnessisa
positivequantity)eventhoughsomedissipationoccurs
during progressive damage in the cells. Therefore,
in the filled specimen, large amounts of energy is
stored first in two stages (a) fromstart to first fail-
ure (nonlinear stiffness region) and (b) first-failure
regimeto catastrophic regime(stiffness is constant).
A major portionof thestoredenergy is dissipatedat
onceduringcatastrophic failurethat is characterized
byasharpdropintheload.
Next, let uscomparetheloadresponseof theindi-
vidual components as afunctionof theend-crushing
distanceuptothecatastrophicfailure. Thesumof the
load carried by the filled specimen is much higher
thansumof theloadscarriedoutbytheunfilledhoney-
combspecimenandaPDMSblockof thesamevolume
as that of the filled specimen. This behavior points
towardsasynergistic effect intheloadcarryingcapa-
bilityinthefilledhoneycomb.Theloadattheonsetof
first failureis 1100N, roughly 26times higher when
comparedto unfilledfirst failureloadof 42N. Also,
theloadatwhichcatastrophicfailureoccursisapprox-
imately2600N, whichis62timeshigher thanplateau
load of asimilar 1111 sized unfilled honeycomb.
This observation strongly suggests that the confine-
ment of PDMS filler within theindividual cells and
theinability of thecells to collapsearemechanisms
responsiblefor theattainmentof veryhighloadlevels
inthefilledspecimen.
5 DIGITAL IMAGE CORRELATIONSTUDY
5.1 Introduction
Digital image correlation (DIC) technique was next
employedtostudy thestrainanddisplacement fields
inthedeformingfilledspecimen.Theimagesobtained
wereanalyzedusingcommerciallyavailableDICsoft-
wareARAMIS. First, thefront faceof afilled hon-
eycomb specimen was coated with a thin layer of
whitepaint. Next, auniformblackspecklepatternwas
Figure8. Displacement fieldalongthex-direction.
createdonthewhitecoloredbackgroundthatservedas
markersindisplacement andstrainfieldcalculations.
Thespeckledspecimenwasloadedquasi-staticallyin
compression using an INSTRON machine at crush
velocity of 0.033mm/sec. Images were taken at the
rateof 1 frameper second. Test data(load and end-
shortening information) was acquired at the rate of
10Hz.
Owing to largein-planedeformation, thereexists
de-correlation that deters a unified DIC analysis of
theentiredeformationsequence, i.e. frominitial unde-
formed (reference) state all the way to first failure.
Therefore, the DIC analysis was conducted in two
stages: (a)duringtheinitial stagesof deformationwith
theundeformedspeckledspecimenasbasereference
of strainmeasurement, (b) inthevicinityof first fail-
ure, the base reference here taken corresponding to
8 frames before the onset of failure failure. In this
study, thefocus is on thequalitativeaspect of strain
anddisplacementfieldstounderstandthedeformation
mechanismof synergistic loadresponseinthefilled
specimen.
5.2 Stage I: Initial stages of compression
The reference configuration for this stage is the
undeformedspecimenjust prior toloading. Theend-
shortening value at the end of this stage is 2mm
(macroscopic strain value of 0.05). As seen earlier,
the behavior of the honeycomb is largely that of
cell-ovalization. Thedeformation field
x
along the
x-directionisshowninFigure8. Here, for theregions
locatednear thecenter (alongthey-direction), the
x
valueisclosetozero. However, aswemoveawayfrom
thecenterof thespecimentotheouteredges, thisvalue
getslarger.Thecontoursof
x
bowinwardduetofric-
tional constraintsalongthex-directionat thetopand
bottomedgesandfreesurfaceattheleftandrightsides.
Thenormal strain field (
x
) along thex-direction
is shown in Figure 9. Within a cell, the strain field
isnon-uniform, withstrainconcentrationbeingdom-
inant near thecenter of thecell. Thenatureof strains
inthecenter of thecellsistensile, whereasthat at the
cell-cell contact site is compressive. This pattern is
658
Figure9. Normal strainfieldalongthex-direction.
Figure10. Normal strainfieldalongthey-direction
moreor lessuniformacrossthefaceof thespecimen
in all of the cells. The strain values near the center
of thespecimenarerelativelyhigher thanthoseat the
edges; thisisduetohigher degreeof lateral constraint
withinthecenter of thecells. Thenormal strain(
y
)
field along the y-direction (the loading direction) is
providedinFigure10.Thestrainmapshowsstraincon-
centrationnear thecenter of thecells; andonceagain,
this pattern is moreor less similar across thespeci-
men. However, thestrainsarepurely compressive. In
summary, theobservationsfrom
x
and
y
strainmaps
pointtoabiaxial state of compressionprovidedbythe
cell to thefiller material i.e. thefiller is undergoing
constraineddeformationandhence, is achief mech-
anismbywhichsynergisticloadresponseisachieved
inthefilledspecimen.
Next, weexaminetheshear strain
xy
map in the
pre-failureregimeasprovidedinFigure11. Theshear
strainfieldisnot pronouncedduringtheinitial stages
of compression, but increases with increasein oval-
izationof thecells. Unlikestrainconcentrationsseen
in
x
and
y
strainmaps, diagonal bandsaredeveloped
at 60
withhorizontal andpassingthroughthepoints
wheretwo cells areincontact. Onecanalso observe
somepocketsof highshearstrainsatthecornersof the
strainmap; thisisanedgeeffect owingtorotationsof
corner cellsat theloading/reactionplatens.
Figure 11. Shear strain field showing diagonal band
formation.
Figure12. Shearstrainfieldatfirstfailure.Thearrowsshow
senseof rotationof twoadjacent rowsnear thefailuresite.
5.3 Stage II: In the vicinity of first failure
Next, theDIC analysis was carried out in thevicin-
ity of the first failure. The reference state for strain
mapcalculationis 8frames beforefailure. Notethat
the specimen is loaded through a crush distance of
0.033mmbetweentwoframes. Theshear strainfield
attheonsetof failureisshowninFigure12.Thesense
of rotation is shown to thebottom-left in Figure12.
Adjacent rows located to the left and right sides of
the failure site have more or less similar magnitude
of shear strains. Thecells in thesetwo rows tend to
movesidewaystowardsthefreeedgeof thespecimen,
therebyrelievingthecompressivestressesinthesam-
ple. Thelocalizationalso alters theshear strainfield
acrosstheentirespecimenaswell. At thefirst failure
site, thereisde-correlationduetolargedisplacements
androtations. Wehavenotlookedatsubsequentlocal-
ized failure owing to cracking of the paint surface.
Further studyisneededtoovercomethisissue.
6 DISCUSSION& CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, results arereported on thequasi-static
inplane compression experiments on circular cell
honeycombsfilledwithPDMSelastomers. Synergis-
ticeffectswithrespect toloadcarryingcapacity(and
659
consequentlywithrespect toenergyabsorption) were
observedwhencomparedtotheresponseof thecon-
stituent unfilledhoneycombandthePDMS polymer
of similar dimensions. The chief reason responsible
for thisbehavior istheconstraineddeformationof the
filler that is confined by the circular cell; the con-
straints being present several-fold in the individual
cellsacrossthespecimen. At theonset of failure, the
failure mechanismin the filled specimen is cell-to-
cell separation and longitudinal cracking of the cell
wall. Withincreaseincrushdistancebeyondfirstfail-
ure, thedamagein thehoneycomb spreads until the
specimencatastrophicallyfailsinshear-likefailure. It
is this catastrophic failure where most of the strain
energystoredtothispoint isdissipated.
Futureworkwouldfocusonanalyzingthebehavior
of thefilledhoneycombusingfiniteelementsthatalso
account for damagemodelstopredict thecell-to-cell
separationandlongitudinal crackingof thecell walls.
REFERENCES
Gibson, L. J. andAshby, M. F. 1988, Cellularsolids: structure
andproperties. Oxford Pergamon Press.
Papka, S. and Kyriakides, S. 1998, In-plane crushing of a
polycarbonatehoneycomb, International Journal Solids
Structures, Vol. 35, Issue34.
Chung, J. and Waas, A. M. 1999, Compressive response
and failure of circular cell polycarbonate honeycombs
under inplane uniaxial stresses, Journal of Engineering
Materials and Technology, 121(4):494.
Chung, J. andWaas, A. M. 2002a, CompressiveResponseof
honeycombs under in-planeuniaxial static anddynamic
loading, Part 1: Experiments, AIAA Journal, Vol. 40,
Issue5, pp. 966973.
Chung, J. andWaas, A. M. 2002b, CompressiveResponseof
honeycombs under in-planeuniaxial static anddynamic
loading, Part 1: Simulations, AIAA Journal, Vol. 40,
Issue5, pp. 974980.
Chung, J. andWaas,A. M. 2008,Themicropolar elasticityof
circular cell honeycombs, Proc. Royal Society A, 465.
660
Stressanalysisof cementedwellboresingeosequestrationof carbondioxide
M.G. Haider & J. Sanjayan
Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences,
Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
P.G. Ranjith
Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
ABSTRACT: Integrity of wellbore annular cement is important for long-termgeological sequestration of
atmospheric CO
2
. Failurein cement sheath can initiateeven at early ageof wellboreoperation dueto stress
induceddamagestotheannular seal causedbyexcessivewellborepressureandtemperatureincrease/decrease.
A compositeaxi-symmetricmulticylinder wellboremodel ispresentedinthispaper toanalysethestressesthat
developinthecement sheathwithvariableloadingconditions. Failureanalysis is presentedfor threedistinct
modesof failureusingmodifiedMohr-Coulombfailurecriteriaandotheranalytical techniques.Itisdemonstrated
bytheanalysisthatstressesinthecementsheathcylindercanfluctuatewidelyfromcompressivetotensile.Failure
analysisalsoelucidatedthefact that out of threedistinct modesof failure, formationof radial crack isalmost
unavoidableduringcertainwellboreconditions.
1 INTRODUCTION
Incarboncaptureandstorage(CCS) operation, long
term integrity of geo-sequestration wellbores are
important for its successful implementation. Future
potential leakagesof CO
2
throughthesewellswill not
onlymaketheeffortstostoreawayCO
2
futilebutalso
triggerpotential harmtopotablewater, vegetationand
animal life, humanhealthandother resources (IPCC
2005).
Either drilled for planned oil/gas production or
meregeological storageof CO
2
, keyobjectiveof pri-
mary cementing for injection wellbore is to prevent
long-termformationfluidleakagestotheatmosphere.
Sealingbycementingcanfail duetostressesimposed
on the cement sheath by high temperature and high
pressure (HTHP) loading conditions induced by the
wellboreprocessessuchasfluidproduction/injection,
casingpressuretestingandperforationetc. (Zhang&
Bachu 2010). In recent times, failure in cement
seal is evaluated under threedistinct modes (Barlet-
Goudardet al. 2009): (1) Failurebytensilecracking
(radial) of the cement; (2) Cement shear failure by
plasticdeformation; and(3) Cementde-bondingfrom
thecasingor rock.
Thereareonlyfewstudiesoncementfailurerelating
to stateof stresses in thecement sheath correspond-
ingto different wellborescenarios (Barlet-Goudard
etal. 2009&Thiercelinetal. 1998).Thepresentwork
presentsananalytical model whichaccountsfor inter-
nal and external pressures. Results from analytical
models are verified by a numerical model devel-
opedinANSYS. Failurecriteriahavebeendiscussed.
Usingthermo-elasticity, effect of thermal stresseshas
beenincorporatedbothfor uniformandnon-uniform
temperatureincrease/decreasealongwellboreradius.
2 DEVELOPINGWELLBORE COMPOSITE
CYLINDER MODEL
2.1 Analytical model
Axi-symmetricmodel hasbeendevelopedbyconsider-
ingcasingasathincylinderandcementandcaprockas
thickcylinder.Therearetwocontactfaces.Bothcasing
andformationcylindersareincontactwiththecement
cylinderinthemiddlebyacontactarrangementateach
end(Figure1).Therefore,whencasingimpartpressure
tothecementthroughthecasing-endcontact(interface
betweencasingandcement), theinteractionis trans-
mittedthroughcement cylinder tothefar end, i.e., to
formation-endcontact (interfacebetweencement and
formation).Consequently,pressureisdevelopedatfor-
mationendcontact duetointernal pressureappliedat
theinner surfaceof casingregardless of theexternal
pressureat outer end. Thesamethinghappens when
thecontactpressureoriginationisconsideredonlydue
toformationpressure.
Pi =Wellbore internal pressure acting on casing
inner surface;
Pf =Wellbore formation pressure acting on outer
surfaceof formationcylinder;
PC1=Contact pressure at casing-cement
interface=PCI1+PCI2;
661
Figure1. Axi-symmetriccompositecylinder systems. (a) withwellboreinternal pressureandnoexternal pressure; (b) with
external formationpressureandnointernal pressureshowninparenthesis.
PC2=Contact pressure at formation-cement
interface=PCF1+PCF2;
PCI1=Contact pressure developed at near end
contact due to mere application of internal pressure
tothesystem;
PCF1=Contact pressure developed at far end
contact due to mere application of internal pressure
at casingendtothesystem;
PCI2=Contact pressure developed at near end
contact dueto mereapplication of external pressure
tothesystem;
PCF2=Contact pressure developed at far end
contact dueto mereapplication of external pressure
at far endtothesystem;
a=Casinginternal radius;
b=Casing external radius or cement internal
radius;
c=Cement external radius or formation internal
radius;
d=Formationexternal radius
,
r
,
z
=Stresses in the tangential, radial and
axial directionsrespectively;
,
r
,
z
=Strainsinthetangential, radial andaxial
directionsrespectively;
E
s
, E
c
, E
f
=Youngsmodulusof elasticityfor steel,
cement andformationrespectively;
s
,
c
,
f
=Poisson ratio for steel, cement and
formationrespectively;
s
,
c
,
f
=Coefficientof linearthermal expansion
for steel, cement andformationrespectively.
The analysis here is performed for each pressure
separately. First the internal pressure will be con-
sideredinthefollowinganalysis. Thencompatibility
equationswereobtainedfor external pressure.
Becausethewellboreis assumed completely ver-
tical, components of body forces in the radial and
tangential directionsareequal tozero. Radial andtan-
gential stressesinthecasingcylindercanbedescribed
bytherelationships:
Whenthermo-elasticityisconsideredwithuniform
riseof temperatureinthecompositecylinder system,
therelationshipbetweenstressesandstrainsandtem-
peraturearedescribedbythefollowingrelationships:
If plainstrainisassumed,
Substituting value of
z
in equation (1) we get
general equationfor strainintangential direction:
Byequatingtheradial displacementof steel casing
at theinterfaceof steel and cement based on casing
deformationandcement deformationwecanobtain:
662
Similarly, equating the radial displacement of
cement andformationinterfacebasedoncement and
formationdeformations, weobtain:
Solvingequations(4)and(5)valuesof PCI1andPCF1
canbedetermined.
Similarly, whenonlyapplicationof formationpres-
sureisconsideredtheanalysiswill beasbelow.
Byequatingtheradial displacementof steel casing
at theinterfaceof steel and cement based on casing
deformationandcement deformationwecanobtain:
Similarly, equatingtheradial displacement of cement
andformationinterfacebasedoncement andforma-
tiondeformations, weobtain:
Asbefore, PCI2andPCF2canbeevaluatedbysolving
equation(6) and(7). Now, PC1andPC2, thepressures
betweencasing/cementandcement/formationrespec-
tively, canbeobtainedby superpositionof pressures
at eachcontact obtainedabove.
Table1. Mechanical propertiesof wellborematerials.
Type E f
t
f
c
k c
Casing 200 0.27 759,000 13 15 500
Cement 5.57 .151 1.31 8.21 100 1 2100
Cement+SF 10 0.18 5 41 9.55 1.281
Shale 10 0.3 2 60 16 1 1000
2.1.1 Thermal stresses for non-uniform rise
in temperature
Radial variationof temperaturealongcement sheath
causes non-uniformtemperature rise in the cement
matrix.Theequationsforthermal stressesaretherefore
governedbythefollowingequations:
where
rt
,
t
,
zt
, arethermal stresses inradial, tan-
gential and axial directions respectively. T
0
is the
differencebetweenboundarytemperaturesforcement
cylinders. Equations (11) to (13) are needed to be
added with equation (8) to (10) respectively to get
thetotal stresses whenradial variationis considered.
However, when evaluating for contact pressure and
henceinterfacial deformation, bothuniformandradial
temperaturechangesshouldbeaccounted.
3 PARAMETERSFORANALYSIS
Thefollowingparameterswereusedwhicharebased
on realistic sizes: Internal and external diameters
respectivelyforcasingare108.40mmand122.25mm,
forcementsheathare122.25and155.58andformation
are155.58and254mm.
Properties of materials used are presented in
Table1, whereE isYoungsmodulusinGPa, isthe
Poissons ratio, f
t
is the ultimate tensile strength in
MPa, f
c
istheultimatecompressivestrengthinMPa,
is thecoefficient of thermal expansion in 10
6
/K,
andkisthethermal conductivityinW/mK andcisthe
specific heat inJ /kg/K. Theproperties arestatedfor
casingwhichisP110grade, cement isTypeGcement
andCement + SF isGcement with40%silicaflour.
663
Table2. Summaryof stressanalysisresults.
DevelopedStresses(MPa)
Tangential Stresses Radial Stresses
CasingEnd FormationEnd CasingEnd FormationEnd
G-cement G-cement G-cement G-cement
Loading with40% with40% with40% with40%
type G-cement silicaflour G-cement silicaflour G-cement silicaflour G-cement silicaflour
Loading1 22.6 32.6 40.2 49.3 113.9 119.5 96.3 102.7
Loading2 7.7 14.6 0.3 5.05 30.8 34.9 23.4 25.4
Loading3 3.6 5.1 6.9 8.2 20.3 21.4 17.1 18.3
Loading4 7.7 14.6 0.3 5.05 30.8 34.9 23.4 25.4
Positivesignindicatetensionandnegativesignindicatecompression.
Table3. Thermal analysisresultsfor uniformtemperature.
DevelopedStresses(MPa)
Uniform Tangential Stresses Radial Stresses Axial Stress
Temperature
Increase/ Casing Formation Casing Formation CasingEnd/
decrease End End End End FormationEnd
TemperatureIncrease
150
C 5.5 4.8 1.9 2.58 8.2

100
C 3.9 3.4 1.3 1.8 5.8

50
C 2.2 1.9 0.8 1.1 3.3

Temperaturedecrease
150
C 5.5 4.8 1.9 2.58 8.2

100
C 3.9 3.4 1.3 1.8 5.8

50
C 2.2 1.9 0.8 1.1 3.3
Positivesignindicatetensionandnegativesignindicatecompression.
3.1 Down hole temperatures and pressures
This study summarises several typical loading
(temperature and pressure) scenarios to analyse the
stressesinducedinthewellborematerials:
Loading 1: Well temperatureincreaseof 50
Cfrom
an initial temperature of 100
C and internal well-

bore pressure increase of 93.4MPa with external or
formationpressureof 93.8MPa
Loading 2: Well pressureincreaseof 93.4MPawith
external or formationpressureof 17MPawithout any
changeintemperature
Loading 3: Well temperatureincreaseof 40
C for
aninitial temperatureof 27
Candpressureincreaseof
16MPawithexternal orformationpressureof 17MPa
Loading 4: Well pressuredecreaseof 93.4MPawith
external or ionformat pressure decrease of 17MPa
without anychangeintemperature.
4 ANALYSISANDRESULTS
4.1 Stress analysis
Stressanalyseshavebeenperformedfor loadingcon-
ditions 1 to 4 and the summary is presented in
Table2.
4.2 Thermal analysis
4.2.1 Uniform temperature
Analysis has been performed to see the effect of
uniform temperature change without any pressure
increase. Resultsof uniformthermal analysishasbeen
presentedintable3.
4.2.2 Non-uniform temperature increase/decrease
Temperaturealong wellboredoes not riseuniformly.
Instead, radial variationsareobservedasafunctionof
time. In order to simulatetheeffect of non-uniform
temperatureriseor fall inannuluscement, radial vari-
ation of temperaturealong wellboreradius has been
calculated by using finite element software. Analy-
sis has beenperformedfor two contrastingscenarios
namely, wellbore temperature increase inside casing
to150
Cwithinitial uniformwellboretemperatureas
50
Candwellboretemperaturedecreaseinsidecasing
to 50
C froman initial uniformwellbore tempera-

ture of 150
C. All results for this analysis type is

summarisedandpresentedintable4.
4.3 Effect of cement type on stresses
Propertiesof cementingmaterialscanwidely becus-
tomized from a basic composition for adopting in
664
Table4. Summaryof Thermal AnalysisResultsfor Non-uniformTemperature.
Developedstresses(MPa)
Non-uniform Tangential Stresses Radial Stresses Axial Stress
Temperature
Increase/ Casing Formation Casing Formation Casing Formation
decrease End End End End End End
TemperatureIncrease
After 0.5hour 0.9 3.1 5.3 3.7 6.1 2.4
After 5hour 2.13 2.6 1.9 1.1 5.5 4.2
Temperaturedecrease
After 0.5hour 5.6 1.9 2.6 2.9 1.1 2.4
After 5hour 4.3 2.2 0.9 0.1 0.5 0.8
Figure2. Cement casingendradial andtangential stresses
for sixcement typesasprovidedinTable8usingloading2.
Table5. Youngsmodulusof elasticityandPoissonratiofor
sixtypesof cement (Ravi 2007).
Youngs
Cement Cement Poisson Modulus
Types Description Ratio (MPa)
Cement 1 ClassF flyash, lime
andbentonite
0.139 2262.07
Cement 2 Gcement, classF fly
ash, silicafumeand
bentonite
0.194 3200.00
Cement 3 Gcement 0.151 5572.41
Cement 4 Gcement withultra
fineparticleand
ceno-spheres
0.22 7379.31
Cement 5 G cement, fumed silica
andglassbeadof
specificgravity0.6
0.207 7724.14
Cement 6 Gcementandwaterwith
sodiumsilicate
0.084 2758620.69
different applications. Bearing in mind this issue,
analysishasbeenperformedfor 6cement types.
Figure2showsthevariationof radial andtangential
stresses for 6 different sets of cement properties as
providedinTable5.
4.4 Failure analysis
4.4.1 Failure by tensile cacking of the cement
The following are the four cases of failure for brit-
tlematerial asprovidedbymodifiedII-Mohr (Shigley
et al. 2004):
Case 1: Pure Tension
Case 2: Compression and Tension
Case 3: Pure Compression
Case 4: Compression and Tension
Figure 3 below depicts discrete points represent-
ing stress state for different loadings both at casing
and formation end in referenceto modified-II Mohr
biaxial failureboundary.
4.4.2 Cement de-bonding from the casing or rock
As it has already beenstated(Carter & Carter 1964)
that shear bond strength at casing-cement interface
is roughly 1MPa, so our stress analysis for loading4
demonstratesthat twocementsstudiedwill de-couple
from the casing surface due to tensile stresses in
theradial direction. Similarly, fromthermal analysis
results it also turns out that de-bondingis obvious at
665
Figure 3. Points representing maximum stress state for
different loadings and cement types both at casing and
formationendon2DmodifiedII Mohr stressspace.
casing end for 150
C and 100
C uniformtempera-
tureincreasebut at formationendit happens evenat
50
C increasein temperature(table3). On theother

hand,de-bondingisobservedafter0.5hourof wellbore
non-uniformtemperaturedecreaseof 100
C(table4).
5 CONCLUSIONS
1. Stresses induced dueto pressureand temperature
loading associated with CO
2
injection operation
(loading 3) do not exceed the cements limit-
ingstrengths(tensileandcompressive). Therefore,
wellborecementisnotvulnerabletostaticpressure
andtemperatureincreaseduringCO
2
sequestration
operation.
2. For the case where wellbore internal pressure is
muchhigherthantheexternal pressure, radial crack
formation is inevitable. However, a comparative
studyof differentcementsshowedthatcementwith
low stiffness results in less tensile stress in tan-
gential direction; henceless proneto radial crack
formation.
3. Failure by debonding can occur when cement
stressesalongradial andaxial directionsaretensile
andexceedsbondstrengthandresultsininterfacial
gap.Tensileradial stressesarefoundwhenwellbore
encounter depressurisation. Besides, when well-
boretemperatureincreasesuniformlyor decreases
non-uniformly radial stresses get tensile. Apart
from that, cement axial stresses are tensile for
uniform temperature increase or non-uniform
temperaturedecrease.
REFERENCES
IPCC. 2005. IPCC Special Report on Carbon Dioxide
CaptureandStorage, CambridgeUniversityPress, UK,
Zhang, M. &Bachu, S. 2010. Reviewof integrityof existing
wells inrelationtoCO2geological storage: What dowe
know?. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control
5(4): 826840.
Barlet-Goudard,V.,Rimmel,G.,Porcherie,O.,Quisel,N.&
Desroches, J. 2009. A solution against well cement
degradation under CO
2
geological storageenvironment.
International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 3(2):
206216.
Thiercelin, M. J., Dargaud, B., Baret, J.F. & Rodriguez,
W.J. 1998. Cement design based on cement mechanical
response. SPE Drilling & Completion 13(4): 266273.
Ravi, K. 2007.A comparativestudyof mechanical properties
of density-reducedcementcompositions. SPE Drilling &
Completion 22(2): 119126.
Shigley, J.E., Mischke, C.R. &BudynasR.G. 2004. Mechan-
ical Engineering Design. NewYork: McGrawHill.
Carter,L.G.&Carter.1964.Astudyof cement-pipebonding.
Journal of PetroleumTechnology 16(2): 157.
666
Metal surfaceprofileandresidual stress: Persuasionof adhesion
M.S. Islam
School of Aerospace Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Composite Structures (CRC-ACS), Fishermans Bend, Victoria, Australia
L. Tong
School of Aerospace Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
P.J. Falzon
Advanced Composite Structures Australia Pty Ltd, Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Composite Structures (CRC-ACS), Fishermans Bend, Victoria, Australia
ABSTRACT: Surface preparation of metals is one of the most vital elements used in adhering a polymer
material, suchasanadhesiveorcoatingcompound, toametal substrate. Suchaprocessiscritical forsteel infras-
tructureintheoil andgasindustry, suchascoatingsof steel pipelinesfor corrosionpreventionor rehabilitation
of steel structuresthroughtheapplicationof bondedrepairs. Consequently, considerableeffort isplacedonthe
techniques usedto preparethesurfaceof thesteel substrate. Inthis current study, arangeof techniques have
beeninvestigatedfor thepreparationof steel surfacesfor adhesion. Techniquesassessedincludedgrit blasting
and disk sanding using different grit sizes as well as various mechanical abrasion techniques such as needle
guns, flapwheels, stripwheelsandwirebrushes. Tocomparethedifferent methods, measurementsweretaken
of thepreparedsurfacesusingseveral methodswhichincluded: aneedlegaugetomeasurethesurfaceprofile; a
Krusscontact angleinstrument todeterminesurfaceenergyandWenzel roughnessfactor; X-raydiffractometry
tomeasureresidual stressesanddollypull-off testtomeasureadhesionstrength.A surfacepreparationtechnique
usinggarnetgritblastingwithagritsizeof 3060hasbeenfoundtobeoptimumasrevealedfromtheresultsof
surfaceprofile, surfaceenergies, Wenzel roughnessfactor, residual stressanddollypull-off strength.
1 INTRODUCTION
Metal surfacepreparationhas amarkedeffect onthe
strength and quality of the bonding to be obtained
between the metal substrate and polymeric materi-
als usedfor coatingor lining. Indeed, it is oneof the
most important stepsintheprocessof applyingpoly-
mer coatingsor liningsduringestablishingnewmetal
pipelinesor repairingexistingonesintheoil andgas
industry.Thepurposeof surfacetreatmentof metalsis
to(i) removemechanicallyweaksurfacelayersof oils,
corrosiondegradationandoxidationproducts(ii) gen-
erate or deposit a mechanically strong surface layer
(iii) preventorretardfurthercorrosionof thesubstrate
metal and(iv) bechemicallyunreactivewiththecured
polymer systemusedfor theformationof thecoating
or lining.
Various surface preparation methods have been
identified by International Standard (ISO 8504/1,
2:1992 and 8504/3: 1993 in Preparation of steel
substrates before application of paints and related
products) that includesabrasiveblast cleaning, hands
and power tool cleaning [13]. The particle size of
the abrasive is also an important factor in affect-
ing the rate and efficiency of cleaning. Generally,
fine grades are efficient in cleaning relatively new
steelwork andcoarsegrades areefficient incleaning
heavilycorrodedsurfaces[4].
Surfacepreparationcleans thesurfaceandcreates
the surface roughness/profile required for increased
metal polymer bonding by mechanical interlocking.
Dependingonthedegreeof cleanlinessof thesurface
and thesurfaceprofile, thesurfacefreeenergy also
changes. High surface free energy is favourable for
increased interfacial adhesion. In addition to clean-
ingandmakingthesurfacerough, surfacepreparation
bymechanical meansmayalsoinduceresidual stress.
Residual stressescanplayanimportantroleinincreas-
inganddecreasingthepossibility of surfacecoating
or liningfailure. For instance, enhancement intough-
nessfollowingpre-loadingarisesprincipally because
of thecreation of local crack tip compressiveresid-
ual stresses [5]. In contrast, a combination of high
tensileresidual stressesandoperatingstressescanpro-
motefailureby fracture[6]. Ingeneral, compressive
residual stressinthesurfaceof acomponent isbene-
ficial. It tendstoincreasefatiguestrengthandfatigue
life, slowcrackpropagation, andincreaseresistanceto
environmentallyassistedcrackingsuchasstresscorro-
sioncrackingandhydrogeninducedcracking. Tensile
residual stressinthesurfaceof thecomponent isgen-
erallyundesirableasit decreasesfatiguestrengthand
667
fatigue life, increases crack propagation and lowers
resistancetoenvironmentallyassistedcracking.All of
thesefactorsdiscussedabovecontributetotheperfor-
mance of the coating on metal substrate. Therefore,
the objective of the present work is to find out an
optimumsurfacepreparationtechniquethat canpro-
ducehighqualitycoatingforcorrosionpreventionand
rehabilitationof steel structures.
2 MATERIALSANDMETHODS
2.1 Materials
5mmthick mild carbon steel with acomposition of
0.22% C, 1.7% Mn, 0.55% Si, 0.03% S, 0.1%Al,
0.04%Ti and0.04%Pandayieldstrengthof 280MPa
andelongationof 2345%wasobtainedfromXLER-
PLATE (AS/NZS 3678-2505). Garnet grits of four
different grit sizeswereobtainedfromBurwell Tech-
nologies, Australia. All other tools for abrasionwere
collectedlocally. PipeAssure prepregwassupplied
by PETRONAS ResearchSdnBhdin300mmwidth
rolls.TheprepregreinforcementusedwasDuomat750
E-glass fabric, manufacturedby ColanFabrics. Duo-
mat 750 is madeup of a150g/m
2
layer of chopped
strand mat (CSM), attached to awoven roving com-
posed of 350g/m
2
glass in the warp direction and
280g/m
2
glass in the weft direction, via 5g/m
2
of
polyester stitching yarns. The content of the epoxy
resininthePipeAssureprepregwas 55%by weight.
Anepoxyresin(referredtoasPR25primer), andalso
suppliedbyPETRONASResearchSdnBhd, wasused
betweentheprepregandpreparedsteel surfaces ina
quantityof 1150g/m
2
.
2.2 Methods
2.2.1 Surface preparation
Elevendifferent surfacepreparationtechniques were
employed and asteel surfaceareaof approximately:
(i) 90mm100mmforsurfaceprofilemeasurement;
(ii) 25mm100mmforbothcontactangleandresid-
ual stressmeasurements; and(iii) 100mm250mm
for Dollypull-off tests, werepreparedfor eachof the
surfacepreparation techniques. Grit blasting using a
HafcoMetalmaster SB-420sandblastingcabinet and
fourdifferentsizedgarnetgrits(1640, 3060, 80and
120mesh) wascarriedoutusingapressureof 80psi, a
nozzleangleof approximately45
, andanozzlediam-
eter of 7mmpositionedapproximately 100mmfrom
thesurfaceunder preparation. Inthecaseof thewire
brush, stripwheel, flapwheel (with 60 grit size) and
disk sander (with36, 60and80grit size), thesewere
applied using an angle dye grinder at a pressure of
0.8MPaandarotationspeedof 4500rpmalongboth
parallel andtransversedirectionsfor approximately2
minutestoobtaincleananduniformsurfaceprofile.A
pneumatic needlegun(model AIRTEC G3081) with
aneedlesizeof 3mmwasalsoemployedonthesteel
platebothinparallel andtransversedirectionstoobtain
cleananduniformsurfaceprofile.Thesmoothsurface
waspreparedmanually using150, 320, 600, 800and
1200sizegrit paper.
2.2.2 Surface profile
Thesurfaceprofilewasmeasuredusingasurfacepro-
file measurement gauge. This instrument comprised
a needle gauge which measured the point deviation
of the surface relative to a precision flat. Multiple
measurements weretaken in agrid pattern, of regu-
lar 1010mmspacing, withtheaimof producinga
meansurfaceprofileandameasureof thedeviations.
Measurements werecarried out according toASTM
D4417-03[7].
2.2.3 Contact angle and surface energy
The sessile drop method was used to measure the
contact angle and subsequent surface energy. Con-
tact anglesof threedifferent liquids(deionizedwater,
methyl iodide and glycerol) were performed using
thedrop shapeanalysis softwareassociated with the
DSA-10 MK2 contact angle instrument (KRUSS,
Germany). The contact angle readings, which were
the advancing contact angle values, were repeated
threetimes across thesurfaceof eachspecimenwith
the average contact angle values for each specimen
reported. The surface free energies were calculated
using theAcid Basetheory. Contact anglemeasure-
ments using the sessile drop method were used to
evaluate the changes to the surfaces induced by the
different surfacepreparationtechniques.
2.2.4 Residual stress
AcopperX-raysourcethatgaveanapproximateanaly-
sisdepthof 20mcarbonsteel wasusedintheresidual
stressmeasurements.Theirradiatedareaonthesurface
was4mmindiameter. Thesin
2
techniquemeasured
the change in lattice spacing for various tilts, , of
the specimen with respect to the x-ray source and
detector. The crystal lattice plane of 211 steel peak
at approximately2 of 156.4degrees. Thespecimens
usedherewerenot subjectedtoanyappliedloaddur-
ingthex-raydiffractionmeasurements.Therefore, the
measurementof stressgivestheaverageof theresidual
macro stresses present in the surface of the speci-
men irradiated by theX-ray beam. Thedetector has
beencalibratedandeachchannel isequivalentto0.01
degrees. Theshift canbemeasuredandrelatedtothe
changeinstrainbythefollowingequation.
The value for cot is kept constant and is taken
from the value of when =0. This assumption
causeslittleerrorandisaccurateforsmall 2.Forthe
resultsobtainedhereistypicallylessthan0.5%of the
final calculatedstressvalue.Todeterminetheresidual
stress, thePoissonsRatioandYoungsModulusof the
steel were assumed to be 0.28 and 210GPa respec-
tively. An averageof fivereadings along theneutral
axisof eachof thespecimens(maintainingadistance
668
Figure 1. Dimensions and schematic view of adhesion
specimen(a)dollyattachedtopanel (b)fourdolliesoncontrol
andeachpreparedsurface.
of around 15mmfromonereading to thenext) was
taken. Inthiswork, anegativestressresult iscalleda
compressivestressandapositivestressresultiscalled
a tensile stress. Tilts in both the negative and posi-
tivetilt directions arerequired as shear stresses and
stronggradientswithdepthwill departfromthelinear
relationshipbetweenthestrainandsin
2
[8].
2.2.5 Dolly pull-off tests
Specimensproducedfor adhesiontestswereinaccor-
dance with ASTM D4541 02 [9]. The specimens
comprised a5mmlayer of A36 steel adherend with
a layer of PR25 primer, followed by a [0]
2
prepreg
laminatewithchoppedstrandedmat(CSM) incontact
withtheprimer, curedinanovenat55
Cfor twodays
under minimal consolidationpressure. A 20mmhole
sawwasusedtoremovecircular portionsof thecured
prepreg fromtheunderlying steel such that thesteel
remainedintact as showninFigure1. Dollies witha
diameter of 20mmwereaffixedtothecompositewith
Araldite 211, cured at roomtemperature and tested
usingadollypull-off tester.
Figure 2 shows the photograph of various surfaces
takendigitally without magnifier (middleof eachof
the photographs) and with an illuminated magnifier
(right handsideof eachof thephotographs) for sur-
facespreparedwith:A.Garnetgritblasting(1640grit
size); B. Wirebrush; C. Flap wheel; D. Strip wheel;
E. Pneumatic needlegun; andF. Disk sander (36grit
size). Lefthandsideof eachof thephotographsshows
therelevantsurfacepreparationgritandabrasivetools.
It canbeseenthat thesurfacepreparedwiththegrit
blastingtechniquefulfilledtherequirementsof surface
cleanliness bench mark of SA2.5 (near whitemetal)
andsurfacepreparedwithmechanical abrasionfulfil
the requirements of ST3 and No. 2 for NACE [10].
Thesurfaceprofilemeasuredfor eachof thesurface
preparation techniques is given inTable1. It can be
Figure 2. Photographs taken digitally without magnifier
(middle of each of the photographs) and with illuminated
magnifier (right handsideof eachof thephotographs) and
without magnifier (middleof each of thephotographs) for
surfacepreparedwithA. Garnetgritblasting(1640gritsize)
B. Wire brush C. Flap wheel D. Strip wheel E. Pneumatic
needle gun and F. Disk sander (36 grit size). Left hand
sideof each of thephotographs shows therelevant surface
preparationgrit andabrasivetools.
seenthat thehighest surfaceprofilewasobtainedfor
thesurfacepreparedwiththeneedlegun(56.9m)fol-
lowedbythegrit blastedsurface(intherangeof 16.5
to23.9m). Amongthedifferentgritsizes, gritblast-
ingwith1640meshhadthehighest surfaceprofile
of 23.9m. However, only needlegun was found to
producethesurfaceprofilewithintherangeof 37m
to137masspecifiedbyASTM D4417-03[7].
The surface energies and values of different sur-
facecomponentsobtainedforsteel substratesprepared
usingvarioussurfacepreparationtechniquesaresum-
marisedinTable1. Fromtheresults, itcanbeseenthat
thesurfaceenergywashigher (intherangeof 61.3to
64.8mJ /m
2
) forthesurfacepreparedbyblastingusing
garnet gritswhencomparedtoother surfaceprepara-
tiontechniqueswithexceptionsof wirebrushandstrip
669
Table1. Valuesof thesurfacecomponentsandcomparison
of surfaceprofile, surfaceenergy, Wenzel roughnessfactor,
residual stress and Dolly pull-off strength of the surfaces
preparedusingvarioussurfacepreparationtechniques.
wheel whichhadsimilar surfaceenergiesof 64.5and
61.4mJ /m
2
respectively. It canalso beseenfromthe
results that thesurfacepreparedwiththedisk sander
hadthelowest surfaceenergies (intherangeof 23.0
to52.3mJ /m
2
).
Generally, thecontact angles of liquiddroplets on
roughsurfaces aredifferent thanonsmoothsurfaces
of the same materials. The greater the deviation of
thecontact angleonthesmoothsurfacefrom90
, the
greateristheinfluenceof thesurfaceroughnesswhich
canbeexplainedbytheWenzelsequation[11,12].The
results obtainedinthis study areinagreement of the
Wenzelsequationasthecontact angleof thesmooth
surfacewassmaller than90
andthecontact angleof
all theprepared surfaces werelower than that of the
smooth surface, except for thedisk sander with grit
sizeof 80. However, thiswasexpectedasthesurface
profileof disksanderwasverylow(1.5) whichgaveit
anegativevalueof Wenzel roughnessfactor, r. Ther
of all thesamples(Table1) obtainedwasinagreement
with themeasured surfaceprofileFigure3(a). From
Figure3. Relationshipbetween(a) surfaceprofileandsur-
faceenergyalongwithsurfaceprofileandWenzel roughness
factor obtained from different surface preparation meth-
ods (b) surfaceenergy anddolly pull-off strengthof garnet
blastedsurfacewithvariousgrit size.
thefigureit canbeseenthat thesurfaceenergyandr
dependsonthesurfaceprofileuptoavalueof about
21mwhich can be expressed as a threshold limit,
abovewhichthereisnochangeinsurfaceenergyand
r withtheincreaseof surfaceprofile. Thus, theresults
obtained here is not in agreement with the require-
ments for surface profile as indicated by ASTM D
4417-03.
Theresidual stress obtainedfor thesamples of all
thesurfacepreparationtechniquesisgiveninTable1.
Fromthe results it can be seen that all the surface
preparationtechniquesproducedcompressiveresidual
stressexceptforthedisksandingtechniquewhichpro-
ducesatensileresidual stressforall gritsizes.Fromthe
resultsit canalsobeseenthat theresidual stressesof
the samples did not change with the surface profile
of thesamplesbut rather it changedwiththemethod
of preparation. However, withinthesamepreparation
method(suchasgarnetgritblastinganddisksanding)
thefiner grit sizewas found to havehigher residual
stress than the coarser grits. As expected, the resid-
ual stress of thecontrol was foundtohavevery little
compressive residual stress which is more likely to
haveintroducedduringmanufacturingprocess.Asdis-
cussedabove, compressiveresidual stressisdesirable
for longservicelifeof themetal substrate.
Delaminated samples obtained from dolly pull-
off tests of specimens prepared using various sur-
face preparation techniques are given in Figure 4,
670
Figure4. Delaminatedsamplesobtainedfromdollypull-off
testsof specimenspreparedusingvarioussurfacepreparation
techniques.
wherethreedifferentdelaminationmodesareevident:
(i) adhesive failure (failure at the coating substrate
interface); (ii) cohesive failure (failure at the coat-
ing); and(iii) mixedfailure(failurebothatthecoating
substrateinterfaceandcoatingitself). All of thesam-
ples preparedwithgarnet grit blastingwerefoundto
givecohesivefailureindicatinganinterfacestronger
than thebondingstrength of thecoatingitself. Most
of thespecimens prepared with other surfaceprepa-
ration techniques had mixed failure modes with a
lower pull-off strengthwhencomparedtothat for the
garnetgritblastedsamples, althoughsomeof thespec-
imenstrengthsdidexceedthelowest averagevalueof
grit blasted samples. It was also seen that thespeci-
mens (onefromeach of needlegun, flap wheel and
disk sander) gave a cohesive failure were far below
thelowest pull-off strengthof thegarnet grit blasted
samples.
The pull-off strengths obtained fromvarious sur-
facepreparationtechniquesaresummarisedinTable1.
Figure3(b) shows alinear relationship between sur-
faceenergy anddolly pull-off strengthof garnet grit
blasted samples. For the surface prepared with disk
sanders, thegrit size36appearedtohaveahighdolly
pull-off strength (9.6MPa) but grit sizes 60 and 80
werefound to havealmost similar strength (5.5 and
5.9MParespectively). For thedolliesthatfailedinter-
facially from the wire brush, needle gun and strip
wheel batchesof specimens,examinationof thedollies
(Figure4) revealedthepresenceof ablack coloured
metallicresidue.Itislikelythatthisresiduewaseroded
during the surface preparation and remained on the
cleaned surfaces, which hinders the resin to adhere
withthesteel substrate, resultinginweakenedinterfa-
cial bonding. Thehighest amount of metallic residue
was seen in the needle gun specimens, followed by
thewirebrush and strip wheel specimens. This may
havebeenthereasonof lowdollypull-off strengthfor
thesampleswiththesesurfacepreparationtechniques,
especiallyforthewirebrushspecimensalthoughitdid
haveahighsurfaceenergy.
Fromtheresultsanddiscussionsit canbesaidthat
the surface prepared using grit blasting of different
garnet sizes achieved surface profile results which
were close to the threshold limit while also having
higher surfaceenergies, residual stressanddollypull-
off strengths. Among the four garnet grit sizes, grit
sizeof 3060isfoundtohavethebestcombinationof
all thepropertiesdiscussed. Surfacepreparationusing
thestripwheel andwirebrushcanalsobeconsidered
tobepromisingtechniquestobeusedincoatingappli-
cations for corrosionprotectionandrehabilitationof
oil andgasmetal pipelines.
4 CONCLUSIONS
In this study, various surfacepreparation techniques
of grit blasting and mechanical abrasion have been
employed and a surface profile threshold limit has
beendeterminedfromthesubsequent surfaceenergy
and Wenzel roughness factor. Various properties
includingsurfaceenergy,residual stressanddollypull-
off strengthweremeasuredtodetermineanoptimum
surfacepreparationtechniquewhichcomprisedgarnet
grit blastingwithagrit sizeof 3060. Two mechani-
cal abrasiontechniques (stripwheel andwirebrush)
alsoappear tobepromisingalthoughfurther work is
required to see the in-field performance of the sur-
facepreparation method. This may includestudying
thefatigueproperty toseetheeffect of thecompres-
siveresidual stress onthecoatingandblister andlap
shear strengthteststolook at thefracturemechanism
of thecoatings.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work was undertaken as part of a CRC-ACS
research program, established and supported under
the Australian Governments Cooperative Research
CentresProgram.
REFERENCES
[1] ISO(1992). Preparationof Steel Substratesbefore
Application of Paints and Related Products. Sur-
facepreparationmethods general principles. ISO
8504/1.
671
facepreparationmethods abrasiveblastcleaning.
8504/2.
face preparation methods hand and power-tool
cleaning. 8504/3.
[4] Hudson, R. (2000). SurfacePreparationfor Coat-
ing. Middlesex, National Physical Laboratory: 1
15.
[5] Smith, D.J. and Garwood, S.J., Thesignificance
of prior overload on fractureresistance: acritical
review, Int. J. Pres. Ves. andPiping, 1990. 41(3):
p. 255296.
[6] Lei, Y., ODowd, N.P., and Webster, G.A., Frac-
ture mechanics analysis of a crack in a residual
stress field, Int. J ournal of Fracture, 2000. 106:
p. 195216.
[7] ASTM (2003). Standard Test Methods for Field
Measurement of SurfaceProfileof Blast Cleaned
Steel. D4417 03.
[8] Noyan, I.C. andCohen, J.B., Residual Stress: Mea-
surement by Diffraction and Interpretation 1987,
NewYork: Springer- Verlag.
[9] ASTM (2002), Standard Test Method for Pull-
Off Strengthof CoatingsUsingPortableAdhesion
Testers. D4541 02.
[10] Australian Standards (2005). Metal Finishing-
Preparation and Pretreatment of Surfaces. AS
1627.4.
[11] Wenzel, R.N., Resistance of Solid Surfaces to
Wetting by Water, Industrial and Engineering
Chemistry, 1936. 28(8): p. 988994.
[12] J ia, X., Wettability of Rough Polymer, Metal and
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22: p. 18931905.
672
Strengthof glassunder concentratedforce
H. J iang, N.T.K. Lam& L. Zhang
Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
E.F. Gad
Faculty of Engineering & Industrial Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology Hawthorn, Australia
ABSTRACT: A glasspanel struck by hailstonesor projectilesissubject toconcentratedforces. Thestrength
of theglasspanel inprobabilistictermsisnormallyobtainedbycalibratingthevaluesof theWeibull parameters
against experimental test data. This conventional approachof probabilistic modellingcanbeobscuredby the
paucity of representativedataandthedifficulty toperformanexhaustiveparameter study. Thispaper presents
resultsfromaseriesof point-loadtestsaimedtocharacterisetheperformanceof simply-supportedglasspanels
subjecttoquasi-staticandlow-rateconcentratedaction.TheresultswerefoundtoagreewiththeWeibull statistic
reasonablywell. Inorder tomakeanindependent evaluationof strengthparameterswithlimitedsamplesize, a
Monte Carlo simulationmethodbasedonestablishedprinciplesof fracturemechanicswasproposedandresults
fromnumerical simulationwerecomparedwithexperimental data.
Keywords: Glassstrength; stochasticsimulation; Weibull distribution
1 INTRODUCTION
Glasspanelsarewidely usedinbuildingsandinfras-
tructure,usuallyconstituteglazingsystemsinbuilding
envelopes or internal partitions. Despitethefact that
considerableamount of effort has been madein this
area, engineersareofteninanuncomfortablesituation
whendesigningglasselementsfor structural purpose
duetothestatistical natureof itsperformance.
The traditional approach to characterise the per-
formance of glass elements is to calibrate strength
parameters of the chosen distribution model against
experiment results. Weibull distribution is by far the
most commonlyusedstatistical model of thestrength
of glass (Beason and Morgan, 1984, Reid, 2006),
based on the assumption that failure of a single
critical flaw lead to the collapse of the entire sys-
tem. Recommended values of these parameters are
oftenprovidedbydesignprotocolsandtheir support-
ingdocuments (ASTM E1300-2009, AS1288-2006).
However, many researchers disagreeover taking the
surfaceflawparameter m andk asmaterial constants,
as theresults oftenfit poorly withexperimental data
(CalderoneandJ acob, 2001, Haldimann, 2007). Some
also believedthat thevalueof m is dependent onthe
stresshistory(Reid, 2006).Thevalidityof Weibull dis-
tribution was also challenged, and several proposals
havebeenmadeinanattempt toaddressthisproblem
(Kotrechko, 2003, Nurhuda, 2011). It is worth not-
ing that most previous studies and design standards
dealt withglasspanelssubject touniformdistributed
pressure, indicative of a wind loading scenario. As
a result, performance prediction of glass elements
under concentrated load is even more underdevel-
oped, and engineering practice has to rely on cruel
approximationsor empirical rules.
This paper reports the experimental results from
a series of tests carried out to study the strength of
glassplatesunder concentratedlateral load. Thecru-
cial failuremechanismhas beenidentifiedas tensile
failureduetoplatebending, usingbothstressanalysis
and high-speed photography. Theorigins of fracture
in individual plates were identified and the failure
stresseswerecalculatedaccordingly.A numerical sim-
ulation technique based on stochastic method was
proposed to supplement the experimental work and
help improving the quality of parametric study. The
fragility curve obtained fromtest results were com-
pared with results fromthe proposed Monte Carlo
simulation.
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
2.1 Specimens
Specimensusedinthisstudyweresoda-limeannealed
glassplatesavailablecommercially.Atotal of 40plates
size3003005mmhavebeentested.
Mechanical propertiesof theglassspecimensused
aretabulatedinTable1.
673
Table 1. Mechanical properties of the soda-lime glass
specimen.
Youngs Fracture
Density Poissons modulus toughness
Material (g/cm
3
) Ratio, E (GPa) (MPa
m)
Soda-limeglass 2.5 0.23 68.5 0.75
Figure 1. Point test appratus (upper), and schematics
(lower).
2.2 Test apparatus
The apparatus of the point load test is shown in
Fig. 1. Specimens were simply supported by a con-
tinuous rectangular steel ring. A steel indenter with
anexchangeable20mmdiameter spherical headwas
usedtoapplythepoint load.
A FastcamAPX RS high-speedcamerawasusedto
capturetheinitiationof individual fracturesandiden-
tify thelocationof their origins. Illuminationfor the
high-speed photography was provided by two 2kW
ARRILITE 2000 tungstenfloodlights.
Inthesecondpartof thisstudy,a15mmradiuspoly-
carbonatediskwasplacedbetweenthedomeindenter
and the specimen. It alters the stress field near the
point of contact by serving as a blunter. The results
werecomparedwiththosewithout cushionto evalu-
atethecontributionof contactstresssingularitytothe
failureof theentireplate.
2.3 Evaluation of fracture strength
The relationship between lateral load and principle
stresses was determined by performing a geometric
non-linear Finite Element (FE) analysis (Tsai et al.,
1976). This was donefor 25load steps up to 10kN,
and results were interpolated to give the (p, ) and
(t, ) curvesat everysurfacenode.
Thedeterminationof failurestressinglasselements
arefurther complicatedby thefact that fracturedoes
notnecessarilyinitiatesfromthelocationof maximum
principlestressduetothespatial variabilityof Griffith
flaw (Reid 2006). In this study, it was addressed by
employinghigh-speedcameratocapturetheinitiation
of failure and analyse it frame-by-frame to pinpoint
thelocationof individual fractures. Withthelocation
of failureknown, strengthwas thencalculatedusing
theestablished(p, ) relationship.
Griffithflawsonthetensilesurfaceof theplateare
exposedincomplex stresscondition. Astheeffect of
triaxial stressispoorlyunderstoodandverylittlestudy
has beendonepreviously, it was decidedto focus on
thebiaxial stressconditiononthesurface. Thebiaxial
strengthwasconvertedtoequivalentuniaxial strength
byintroducingthecorrectionfactor (Nurhudaet al.,
2010):
whereas and
e
arethenominal stressanduniaxial
equivalent stressrespectively. isthePossionsratio,
istheratiobetweenthetwoprinciplestressesand
isaconstant, heretakenas0.69(Nurhudaet al., 2010).
Finally, the uniaxial strength was converted to
3-secondsequivalentstrengthusingsimplifiedformu-
lationof Eq.(2) (Brown, 1974).
whereas
td
is the equivalent constant stress corre-
spondstothereferenceloaddurationtd, tf istheactual
durationof theloadtimehistory(t), n istheBrowns
integral whosevaluewastakenas16asreportedbythe
glass failure prediction model (Beason and Morgan,
1984).
3.1 Strength of specimens under point load
40specimensweredividedintotwogroups. Thefirst
group wereloaded by thespherical indenter whilea
hardcushionwasplacedbetweentheindenter andthe
specimens in the second group. Both were tested at
aloadingrateof 7N/s (correspondto approximately
0.001m/s). Thecumulativeprobabilitydistributionof
thefailureloadsfromthesetestswascalculatedusing
the empirical formula Eq. (3), whereas cpd
i
is the
cumulativeprobability distribution of theith ranked
dataandN isthesamplesize.
Fig. 2illustrates thecumulativeprobability distri-
butionof failureloads. Thespatial distributionof the
674
Figure 2. Cumulative probability distribution of failure
loads.
Figure3. Spatial distributionof thefractureorigins.
Figure4. Cumulativeprobabilitydistributionof equivalent
uniaxial strength.
originof failureswereshowninFig. 3. Subsequently,
the failure loads were used to calculate the 3-sec
equivalent uniaxial tensile strength
3sec
of individ-
ual specimen. Thecumulativeprobability of strength
wasplottedagainst
3sec
inFig. 4.
3.2 Distribution parameters of glass strength
Theglass failure prediction model (GFPM) givesthe
probability of failure in the condition of uniaxial
loadingandinvariant tensilestressby:
Fig. 4showsthequantileplot of thestrengthdata.
Thedistributionof strengthinbothgroupswerefound
Figure5. Distributionof strength: Group(i) without cush-
ion, Group(ii) withcushion, (iii) combined(i) and(ii).
to agreewith thetwo-parameter Weibull model rea-
sonably well. Furthermore, the disparity of strength
parameters m and k between the two groups was
insignificant, confirmingtheobservationfromhigh-
speed photography that thedominatefailuremecha-
nismweretensilefailureduetolateral deflection.
On the other hand, the fact that the value of m
determined in this study was significant lower than
the recommended value in some standards such as
ASTME1300(whereasm=7wasgivenasaconstant)
reaffirms previous findings that thevalueof Weibull
parametermisnotamaterial constant,butisdependent
on many other factors, such as size, degree of sea-
soningandstresshistory(Nurhuda, 2011, Kotrechko,
675
2003, Reid, 2007). Recognizingthedifficulty topre-
selectthevalueof m, somecodesencourageengineers
to performindependent double ring-on-ring test to
determinethevalueof mwheneverpossible(EN1288,
2005). While this solution offers a degree of reli-
ability, coaxial ring-on-ring test requires specialised
instrumentsandisunsuitablefor in-situinvestigation.
Furthermore, as the statistical nature of glass
strength requires acertain number of repetitivetests
to beperformedinevery circumstance, it effectively
rules out the use of testing for an exhaustive study
of multiply parameters, such as the scale parameter
k (which represents thesizeeffect) and thepower n
in the Browns integral. Therefore researchers often
study thestrengthparametersfromidealisedtest set-
up to removeas much uncertainties as possible, and
deals with only onephenomenon at atime(Munch-
Andersen et al, 2007). However, by characterising
behaviour of real elements fromidealisedconfigura-
tion, potential weaknesses of thetheoretical descrip-
tionwill haveasignificantimpactontheresults.Hence
different methodstointerpolatethetest resultsyields
verydifferent conclusions.
For example, whether
0
is taken as zero (which
distinct thetwo-parameter Weibull distribution from
thethree-parameter one) will changethevalueof m
andk considerably (J acobandMunz, 2007). Theuse
of three-parameter Weibull distribution in the Aus-
tralian standard, as oppose to standards frommost
other countries, yields generally higher characteris-
tic strength and sparks fierce debate in the industry
(J acob and Munz, 2007). In an attempt to address
theseproblems, thefollowingchapter discussesusing
anumerical simulationmodel forthestudyof strength
parameters.
3.3 Numerical model based on stochastic
simulation
ThewidelyusedGlass Failure Prediction Model pro-
videstheprobabilityof failureasrelatedtothestress
historyasfollowing(BeasonandMorgan, 1984):
where
td
(x, y, p, t
d
) is theequivalent constant stress
corresponds to the given reference load duration t
d
,
andcanbecalculatedbyEq. (2) if (x, y, p) isknown.
The c(x, y) provides the correction factor of biaxial
effect.
Insteadof doingnumerical integration, theideaof
this method is to divided the plate into many small
areasandtreat thestressfieldwithineachsubareaas
uniform(biaxial) tensile, andsimulatetheprobability
of failureof eachindividual subareasusingstochastic
method.
The following procedures are performed in the
proposednumerical simulationmethod:
i. Theplatewasdividedintos s sub-areas. Here
for demonstrationpurposesthevalues =20was
used.
Table 2. Weibull parameters m and k with goodness of
fit R
2
.
Group m k R
2
i 2.96 4.2110
4
m
2
kN
1
0.92
ii 2.72 4.1810
4
m
2
kN
1
0.97
iii 2.98 4.210
4
m
2
kN
1
0.96
ii. Stresswithineachsub-areawasapproximatedby
theactual maximumprinciplestressandassumed
tobeconstant throughout thesubarea.
iii. Therelation between maximumprinciplestress
andlateral load(p, )wasdeterminedbymeansof
ageometricnon-linearFEanalysis.Asthesecond
principlestresswasalsoavailablefromtheFEM,
thebiaxial stressratio canbecalculatedandthe
correcteduniaxial stresswasgivenbyEq. (1).
iv. Equivalent constant stresscorrespondstotd was
calculatedbyEq(2).Asafirstapproximation, the
valuereportedbyASTM E1300n =16wasused
andtd wastakenas3seconds. Herebyestablished
the(p,
e,3sec
) relationship.
v. Thetwostrengthparameters(m, k) wasassumed.
Asastartpoint, thevalueswereequalledtothose
obtainedfromearlier tests(Tab. 2).
vi. For conditionof uniaxial tensilestress, theprob-
ability of failure following theWeibulls model
is given by Eq (4), substitute with
e,3sec
and Eq.(4) gives theF(
e,3sec
). A randomnum-
ber x between 0 and 1 was generated and by
equalling F(
e,3sec
) to x, the strength of each
subareaf (
e,3sec
)wasdetermined.
vii. Theloadrequiredfor eachsubareatofail iscal-
culated by the f (
e,3sec
) and (p, ) relationship
fromstepiii.Thesubareawiththeminimumfail-
ureloadp was identifiedas thecritical oneand
thecorresponding failureload was taken as the
fractureloadof theentireplate.
viii. Stepvtovii wererepeatedfor N times. Thesim-
ulated failure loads were used to construct the
cumulated probability of failure using Eq. (3).
Bycalibratingsimulatedresultswithtest results,
the values of strength parameters can be deter-
mined. If the load duration effect is of interest
and the study aims to investigate the power of
Brownsintegral n, iterationhastostartfromstep
iv and each iteration haveadifferent (p,
e,3sec
)
relationship.
Fig. 6 shows the comparison between simulated
results andthetest results. A two-parameter Weibull
distributionmodel wasusedso
0
=0. n wastakenas
aconstant valueof 16. m andk wereset freeandcali-
bratedagainstexperimental data.Bestfitwasachieved
whenm=2.25andk =5.610
9
N
7
m
8
. Whilethe
scale parameter k here actually has different physi-
cal meaningfromthoseinTab. 2(duetothedifferent
effectiveareaA), thedisparity betweenthem (as per
Tab. 2) raisesthequestionof whether theselectionof
676
Figure6. MatchingsimulatedCPDcurvewithexperimental
data.
other parameters(
0
andn) andtreatingthemascon-
stant areappropriate. Thisactuallyillustrateshowthe
simulationmodel canbeusedinparametric study. If
arobust model canbebuilt, it wouldallowanalysing
multiplystrengthparametersusinganacceptablenum-
ber of tests. It couldalsohelpanalysingexperimental
data from literature even if access to raw data is
restrictedto thepublishinformation. Another advan-
tage of stochastic modelling is that the pre-selected
distributionmodel andtheformulationusedfor char-
acterisingloaddurationeffect canbechangedeasily.
For instance, the validity of alternative distribution
functionof strength(suchaslog-normal) canbetested
byreplacingthecorrespondequationsinstepvi.
The numerical simulation method discussed here
is still under development and the abovementioned
preliminarystudyservesasademonstrationof itsfea-
sibility. Several questionsremainedtobeansweredin
futurestudy. For example, theconvergenceof param-
etersagainstthenumberof subdivisions andthenum-
ber of repetitionN hastobeinvestigated. Inaddition,
the poor agreement between numerical and experi-
mental datanear thetailing(higher) endof thecurve
isdisturbingbecausefromadesignpoint of view, the
tailingpart of thefragilitycurve(correspondstohigh
confidencelevel) isof mostinterestandwouldhavea
profoundimpact onthecharacteristic strength. It has
alsobeenfoundthatthesimulationcanbeimprovedby
further removingempirical element: insteadof simu-
lating strength of a small sub-area, the attributes of
individual flaws can be similarly simulated by the
stochasticmethod, andthestrengthcalculatedaccord-
ingly. It has themerit of being entirely based on the
first principlesof fracturemechanics(Nurhudaet al.,
2010), but in themeantimeintroducing another two
parameters(flawdensity andmaximumflawlength
a) andis moredemandinginterms of computational
resources and modelling. It remains to be evaluated
whether thisapproachismoreproductive.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The results obtained fromtesting 40 annealed glass
specimens under concentrated lateral load were
presentedinthis paper. By comparingtwo groups of
specimens with and without cushioning, in conjunc-
tionwithhigh-speedphotographyitwasfoundthatthe
dominatefailuremodeof glassplatessubjecttoquasi-
static or low-ratepoint load remains thoseof tensile
failuredueto bending. This allows employing well-
known methodologies used in studying performance
underwind-loading,asthetwoloadingscenariosshare
thecommonfailuremechanism.
Interpretationof theresultswascarriedoutfollow-
ingprinciplesof theGlass Failure Prediction Model,
yet with adifferent treatment of thesizeeffect. The
agreement betweenexperimental dataandtheoretical
model wasfoundtobereasonablygood. Ontheother
hand, questionsremainthatif alternativemodel offers
better description of the strength distribution, and
whether Weibull statisticsisuniversallyapplicable.
Attempts have been made to characterise the
strength parameters fromlimited experimental data.
It was found that the value m=7 recommended by
theASTM standard is over conservative, and treat-
ing the shape parameter m as a material constant is
problematic and generally inefficient. However, the
more reliable approach of proof testing has its own
limitations and determining the scale factor (hence
characterisingsizeeffect) isparticularly difficult due
to the paucity of test data. In an attempt to address
this problem, a numerical model based on stochas-
tic simulation was proposed, and preliminary results
werepresentedto demonstrateits effectiveness. Fur-
therstudywill befocusedonimprovingtherobustness
of the model through more exhaustive convergence
andparametricstudy. It hasalsobeenplannedtocon-
duct moretests, especially on thestudy of load-rate
effect by runningrepetitivetests in different loading
rates.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Theauthor acknowledges theextensivesupport pro-
vided by the impact teamand laboratory staff from
the Swinburne University of Technology, headed by
Dr. Dong(Tracy) Ruan.
REFERENCES
AS 1288-2006. 2006. Glass in Buildings Selection and
Installation, StandardsAustralia, NSW.
ASTM E1300-09. 2009. Standard Practice for Determining
Load Resistance of Glass in Building, AmericanSociety
andTestingMaterials, Philadelphia, PA.
Beason, W, L., Morgan, J, R., 1984. Glass Failure Predic-
tion Model. Journal of Structural Engineering, 110(2),
197212.
Brown, W, G., 1974. A Practicable Formulation for the
Strength of Glass and Its Special Application to Large
Plates. Publication No. NRC 14372, National Research
Council of Canada, Ottawa, Canada.
Calderone, I, J., J acob, L., 2001.A NewDesignModel Based
onActual Behaviourof GlasspanelsSubjectedtoWind.In
Proceedings of Glass Processing Days,Tampere, Finland,
J un2001.
677
EN1288Part1-5:2005. Glass in Buildings-Determination of
the Bending Strength of Glass Panes-Part 5: Coaxial Dou-
ble Ring Test on Flat Specimens with Small Test Surface
Areas. DeutschesInstitut fr Normung, Berlin, Germany.
Haldimann, M., 2007. Designof GlassMembers: A Critical
Reviewof thePresent Knowledge. EU COST C13 Glass
and Interactive Building Envelopes, IOSPress.
J acob, L., Munz, N., A Critique of the Design Strength
of Glass in AS1288 and Determination of a Rationally
DeducedValue.Journal of theAustralian Ceramic Society.
43(2) 154158.
Kotrechko, S. A., 2003. A local approach to brittle frac-
ture analysis and its physical interpretation. Strength of
Materials, 35(4), 334345.
Munch-Anderson, J., Vestergaard, R, K., 2007. Proposal for
aCodeCalibrationProcedure. EU COST C13 Glass and
Interactive Building Envelopes, IOSPress.
Nurhuda, I., Lam, N.T.K., Gad, E.F., Calderone, I. J., 2010.
Estimation of strengths in large annealed glass panels,
the International Journal of Solids and Structures, 47,
25912599.
Nurhuda, I., 2011. Ultimate Behaviour of Annealed Glass
Panels Subject to Out-of-plane Static and Transient
Action. Ph.DThesis, theUniversityof Melbourne.
Reid, S, G., 2007, Effects of Spatial Variability of Glass
Strength in Ring-on-ring Tests. Civil Engineering and
Environmental Systems, 24(2), 139148.
Tsai, R, C., Stewart R, A., 1976. Stress Analysis of Large
Deflectionof GlassPlatesbytheFinite-ElementMethod.
Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 59(910),
445448.
678
OrthotropicSimoandPister hyperelasticity
D.C. Kellermann& M.M. Attard
The School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: Inthispaperwewill developthefirsthyperelasticstrainenergyfunctionfororthotropiccontinua
that isabletomapthesamelogical propertiesof advancedisotopichyperelasticconstitutivelaws. Inparticular,
we choose the model of Simo and Pister (1984) and physically replicate the model in orthotropy by use of
Intrinsic-FieldTensors. First, weshowthat themodel is actually an aliased formof astandard archetypefor
strainenergy. Next, weexpandthisintotheuncompressedformof quadruplecontractionsbetweenfourth-order
tensors, rather thanof scalar productsof scalar invariants. Inthefinal step, theLamparametersof Simoand
Pisters model arereplaced by aproposed orthotropic form scalars replaced by fourth-order tensors and
then interchange the classical strain tensors with advanced intrinsic-field tensors of the equivalent order of
strainmeasure. Theresultingmodel collapses back downtotheisotropic formby nothingmorethanequality
of parametersinall directions(isotropy). Weproposethat thenewmodel isnot anorthotropicequivalent, but
actuallytheparent formof themodel. Thisrepresentsthearchetypefor acomprehensivenewelasticitytheory
calledOrthotropic Continuum Mechanics.
1 INTRODUCTION
Hyperelastic materials are a class of solids that can
bemodelledascontinuawithrate-independent strain
energy defined purely as a function of deformation
and the material parameters. The Simo and Pister
model [1], likemosthyperelasticStrainEnergyFunc-
tions(SEFs), isrestrictedtoisotropicmaterials; oneof
its particular benefits is that puredistortional defor-
mation is independent of the volumetric modulus
for finite strain, and that the volumetric strain is a
logarithmic function of deformation. Fromamathe-
matical standpoint, the scalar strain energy function
is expressed as the product of scalar deformation
invariantsandscalar coefficients.
Inthispaperwepositthatthereisageneralisedform
of theSEF that alargeclassof hyperelasticfunctions
shouldbeabletobewrittenwithin, andthatthosethat
cannotcan either becloselyapproximatedbythegen-
eral formor donot satisfycertainexpectedboundary
conditionsof finitestrainhyperelasticity.Thisgeneral
formisanabstractiononelevel upof theclassical SEF
andismathematicallyencompassing; wecalledit the
GeneralisedStrainEnergy(GSE).
After first demonstratingthat thereisanexact rep-
resentationfortheSimoandPisterstrainenergywithin
theGSE, wefurtherrevisittheclassof orthotropicten-
sorsthat areasymmetricandof theformof Intrinsic-
Field Tensors (IFTs) [2]. We also propose a natural
separationof theextendedformof theHookeanmate-
rial tensor for stiffness, which is naturally extended
for IFTs such that it utilises all free terms within a
fourthorder tensor havingmajor symmetry. Theseare
theorthotropicLammaterial tensorsforstiffnessand
compliance.
Thesetoolsallowanewmodel fororthotropic Simo
and Pister hyperelasticity that we purport to be the
first of its kind and the only such model to inherit
and maintain so may logical properties of isotropic
hyperelasticity, structural tensors [3] andorthotropic
material models simultaneously. Since the proposed
model achievesthesefeaturesbyderivationandaspure
theoretical development, the properties are ensured.
Hencewedonot,inthisshortpaper,providenumerical
examplesor experimental correlations.
Thefollowingsectionbeginsbyanalysinganalter-
naterepresentationfor theSimoandPister model that
isconducivetoour subsequent transformations.
2 ISOTROPIC SIMOANDPISTER MODEL
2.1 Simo and Pister
Theisotropichyperelasticmodel of SimoandPister[1]
is desirabledueto various logical properties. Shown
asfollows,
where
679
thederivativeof thisgivestheKirchhoff stress:
ThestrainenergyfunctionW usestheLamparam-
eters and in a scalar product with invariant
components of the deformation/strain tensor. Here,
lnJ is thenatural logarithmof J, thedeterminant of
the stretch tensor U or similarly of the deformation
gradient F. Additionally, b =FF
T
istheleft Cauchy
Greentensor, notingthattrb isthetracefunctionof b,
whichisequal totrC, whereC=F
T
F.
Twoparticularlyvaluedpropertiesof theSimoand
Pister model are:
a) Thedeviatoric component of stressisonly afunc-
tionof
b) The strain energy goes to infinity as either the
volumegoestoinfinityor tozero(singularity)
Surprisingly few models meet criteria a) and b),
whichcaneasilybedemonstrated. First, thedeviatoric
part of thestressmeasureS is
SubstitutingEq. (2), thevolumetricpart becomes
and,wheree istheAlmansiEulerstrain,thedeviatoric
part inEq. (3) becomes
notingthatthisisindependentof theparameter . The
nextproperty, thatof infinitestrainenergyatzerovol-
ume, can simply be seen to follow the logarithmof
zero, ln0=.
Inthispaper,weshall proposeanorthotropicexpan-
sionof Simo andPisters model that preserves these
properties while also remaining a valid orthotropic
continuummodel that collapsesdowntotheisotropic
model by nothing more than material parameters
becomingisotropic.
2.2 Transformation into standard scalar form using
series strain
Inorder toelevatetheformof thestrainenergyfunc-
tioninEq. (1) weneedtofirst turnthestrainenergy
into astandardformthat is similar to theSt Venant
Kirchhoff model.
The first component of the function is simply
transformedthroughtheidentity
where E
0
is the logarithmic strain following the
Seth-Hill [4], [5] formof general strain:
Thiscanbeusedtodevelopandinterestingequalityto
replaceE
2
inEq. (1). Initiallywenote
which represents E
2
in terms of E
1
. This process is
repeatedtothelimit asn, yielding
Now, suppose we define a strain measure called
SeriesStrainE
, definedby
thenwenowhavetheidentity
Substitutionof Eq. (6) and(11) intoEq. (1) gives
whichisremarkablysimilartotheStVenantKirchhoff
(SVK) model:
This formprovides thebasis for representationby
thegeneralised strain energy function present in the
sectionthat follows.
680
3 GENERALISEDSTRAINENERGY (GSE)
3.1 GSE formulation
Givenafourthorder tensor possessingmajor symme-
tryB=B
T
, wenotetheidentity
where the operator is the tensor product used by
Itskov[6], (A B)
ijkl
=A
ij
B
kl
. UsingEq. (14), wecan
represent theclassical linear HookesLaw
For a general representation of themodel, weallow
any order n of strainas per theSethHill formulain
Eq. (7), andsodefineafourth-order tensor
This yields ageneral model than can encompass the
sumof any number of strain orders in consideration
of the repeated indices on one side of the equation
(Einsteinsummationconvention):
Thecapacity of this to represent various models will
become apparent in the coming sections. Further to
this,wecandefineafourth-orderStrain EnergyTensor
(SET), whichmaintainsidentitytothecomponentsof
strainenergy:
Thiscanbesimplyreducedbacktothescalar valueby
summationof all elementsof thetensor, as
Theformof Eq.(17)isnotlimitedtoatypical Hookean
stiffnesstensor asmentioned, thesummationindexn
referstotheorder identifier of thegeneral strain, but
it alsohasacorrespondingcomponent of C suchthat
whereintheisotropicformitissplitupintotwofourth-
order tensorsseparatingtheLamparameters, i.e.
where
Eq. (21) has thecapacity toencompass awiderange
of existingstrainenergyfunctionswithnoapproxima-
tion.Essentially,itisthetransformationof thefunction
of strain energy from the scalar product of scalar
parameters and invariants of strain into thequadru-
plecontractions of fourth-order material tensors and
fourth-order strains.
3.2 Simo and Pister in GSE form
With the development on the GSE in Eqs. (17) and
(21) we can now easily transformthe strain energy
functionof SimoandPister, representedinageneral
scalar forminEq. (12), simplybyspecifyingtheorder
of thestrains:
In the case of the series strain, the corresponding
fourth-order tensor isdefinedas
Eq. (23) is an exact representation of Simo and
Pistersisotropichyperelasticmodel, thoughit isnow
in a form that is conducive to the introduction of
directiondependence.
4 INTRINSIC-FIELDTENSORS: STRAIN
4.1 Deformation IFTs
Where earlier in this paper we referred to the clas-
sical stretchtensor U, wemust nowdifferentiatethe
stretchbasedonthematerial property-baseddomain.
We shall introduce E to represent the domain of
isotropic materials and the domain to represent
orthotropic materials. The property of symmetry is
herein only afforded to the stretch tensor existing
withinthedomainof isotropy, henceU
E
.
Thewell-knownpolar decompositionof thedefor-
mationgradient F into stretchandrotationR canbe
representedinisotropicparts
where the former equation indicates the multiplica-
tivedecomposition, andthelatter impliestheunitary
andorthogonal natureof R. Theseequationsareinde-
terminate they have infinite solutions and so in
mechanicsweimposeasymmetryconditionontothe
stretchtensor asfollows:
In thepresent method, werequireastretch whereby
theconditionof symmetry isremoved, whichit turns
out is only necessary for orthotropic andanisotropic
domains. Thus the stretch tensor U
is potentially
asymmetric. This has beenpublishedinthethesis by
Kellermann[2]. HenceEq. (25) remainssimilar
while the enforced symmetry is replaced by depen-
denceontheR
, theIFT rotationasafunctionof the

RodriguesRotationVector , hence
681
Wedo not go into detail of thephysical implications
of IFTs here, thoughit shouldbenotedthat Eq. (28)
issolvedsimplybyminimisationof thestrainenergy
function, the variables being the components of the
Rodriguesvector. Theresult isanasymmetricstretch
tensor suchthat U
ij
=U
ji
.
4.2 Generalised strain as and IFT
It followsfromtheSethHill straininEq. (7) andthe
redefinitionof stretchinEq. (28) thatwecandefinea
newIFT formof generalisedstrain:
Thismeasureisfor thedomainof orthotropiccon-
tinua, and is not limited to positive integers, indeed
negativevaluesyieldEulerianmeasures;and,fractions
tothelimit of zero(thelogarithmic strainas anIFT)
aresimilarlyuseful.
5 MATERIAL TENSORSFOR IFTS
5.1 Orthotropic Hookean tensors for IFTs
SinceIFT theorydifferentiatesbetweenin-planeshear
components[7], werequireadditional shear parame-
ters in the sense that xy and yx properties become
unique. This is quite a natural extension, as it sim-
ply means using the 99 stiffness matrix that
follows from a 3333 material tensor. The
most compact form of such properties uses indi-
cial notation, where the compliance material tensor
S in the orthotropic orientation denoted by
{M}
() is
expressedas
where
ij
is the Kronecker delta, E
i
are the com-
ponents of theYoungs Modulus vector and
ij
are
the components of the Poisson Ratio matrix (see
Reference[7]).
Representing the compliance tensor in flattened
matrixform[S], it thenisinvertedasshown
to yield theorthotropic Hookean material tensor
C
orth
for usewithIFTs.
5.2 Orthotropic Lam tensors for IFTs
Various previous efforts have proposed a set of
orthotropic Lamparameters, though nonemeet a
verysimplerequirement set out here:
a) ReducestothetwoisotropicLammaterial tensors
inEq. (22) whenpropertiesareisotropic
b) Addition of each yields the Hookean orthotropic
material tensor of Eqs. (30) and (31), ensuring
consistent tangent stiffness
The resulting proposed orthotropic Lam tensors
are
L
orth
and
G
orth
correspondingto and inisotropy.
Thesearegivenfor bothcomplianceandstiffness in
Box 1. Note that the notation for inversion is not a
directinversion;itsimplyrepresentscompliancerather
thanstiffness.
6 ORTHOTROPIC SIMOANDPISTER MODEL
6.1 Orthotropic Simo and Pister using GSE
HavingshowntheSimoandPister model intheform
of theGSEinEq. (23), havingpresentedtheequivalent
intrinsic-fieldtensors for thestrains inorthotropy in
Eq. (29)andhavinggiventheorthotropicequivalentof
thefourth-order LamtensorsinBox1weareableto
convert SimoandPister isotropic hyperelasticity into
afullylogically-complianthyperelasticmodel. Thisis
achievedthroughthetrivial stepof replacing
L
iso
with
L
orth
,
G
iso
with
G
orth
and
E
n
=f
E
n
with
E
n
=f
.
Theresultingformula, expressedentirelyasfourth-
order tensors, is
with themorefamiliar formas follows. Orthotropic
SimoandPister Hyperelasticity:
Inthenext sectionwewill completethedevelopment
of theequationbydemonstratingthatithasthecorrect
tangent stiffness.
6.2 Linearisation back to Hookes law
Finally wecandemonstratethat theproposedmodel
reduces back to orthotropic Hookes law for IFTs,
whichhasbeenshowntohaveidentical strainenergy
to classical orthotropic Hookes law. Physically, this
also shows that thetangent stiffness of theproposed
orthotropichyperelasticmodel isconsistentwithclas-
sical elasticity.Asdeformationgradientgetsveryclose
to theidentity tensor, all strainmeasures lineariseto
theinfinitesimal strainmeasureof Cauchy, thoughin
thecaseof IFTsit isasymmetric:
Thus equation (33) can be factored by the identical
linear strainmeasuresas
682
Box1. ProposedLam-equivalent split of theextendedorthotropiccomplianceandstiffnesstensorsfor IFTs.
683
and fromBox 1 we know that the two orthotropic
Lamtensor combinetogivetheextendedorthotropic
Hookeanmaterial tensor:
HenceEq. (35) returnstothefamiliar form
where

C
orth
istheclassical orthotropicHookeanmaterial
tensor for stiffness. Theproof of theequalitybetween
linesinEq. (37) istriviallyobtainedbyusingamixing
equationtogeneratetheclassical combined in-plane
shear moduli and then finding that the energies are
alwaysidentical since
Thusclassical tangentstiffnessisguaranteedinthe
proposedmodel, andfor that matter, any orthotropic
hyperelasticmodel of theformof Eq. (21).
7 CONCLUSION
Inthis paper anewclass of hyperelastic, orthotropic
strain energy functions is introduced by way of
demonstratingtheconversionof thewell-knownSimo
and Pister model. This is done by first elevating
the model from being isotropic & hyperelastic to
being orthotropic & hyperelastic, and then reduc-
ing the orthotropic & hyperelastic model to being
orthotropic &infinitesimal. Boththestartpoint(Simo
and Pisters model) and the end points (Hookean
infinitesimal orthotropy) arewidelyacceptedmodels,
and no approximations aremadefromthetransition
from one to the other. The resulting midpoint, the
hyperelastic,orthotropicSimoandPistermodel,main-
tains all thedesirablequalities of its isotropic coun-
terpart andof Hookeanorthotropy. Thisaloneshould
serveasacompellingargumentfortheintroductionof
intrinsic-fieldtensorsandthegreater proposedtheory
of Orthotropic Continuum Mechanics intothedomain
of contemporary continuummechanics at large. This
is by no means a specialised theory its ability to
encompassandadapt toawiderangeof applications
shouldbeevident throughthemathematicsalone.
REFERENCES
[1] J. C. Simo andK. S. Pister, Remarks onratecon-
stitutiveequationsfor finitedeformationproblems:
computational implications, Computer Methods in
Applied Mechanics and Engineering, vol. 46, no. 2,
pp. 201215, 1984.
[2] D. C. Kellermann, A theoryof Stronglyorthotropic
continuum mechanics, The University of New
SouthWales, 2008.
[3] S. Klinkel, C. Sansour, and W. Wagner, An
anisotropic fibre-matrix material model at finite
elastic-plastic strains, Computational Mechanics,
vol. 35, no. 6, pp. 409417, May2005.
[4] R. Hill, On constitutive inequalities for simple
materialsII,Journal of the Mechanics and Physics
of Solids, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 315322, Aug. 1968.
[5] B. R. Seth, Generalized strain measure with
applications to physical problems, Second-order
effects in elasticity, plasticity and fluid dynamics,
pp. 162172, 1964.
[6] M. Itskov andA. E. Ehret, A Universal Model for
theElastic, Inelastic andActiveBehaviour of Soft
Biological Tissues, GAMM-Mitteilungen, vol. 32,
no. 2, pp. 221236, 2009.
[7] D. C. Kellermann, T. Furukawa, and D. W. Kelly,
Strongly orthotropic continuum mechanics and
finiteelement treatment, International Journal for
Numerical Methods in Engineering, vol. 76, no. 12,
pp. 18401868, 2008.
684
Pressurecorrectioninwater-bagtestingstoinvestigatepost cracked
behaviour of laminatedglass
R. Lumantarna& C. Nguyen
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Melbourne, Australia
M. Zobec
Permasteelisa Group
T. Ngo
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Melbourne, Australia
ABSTRACT: This paper presents part of anexperimental programtoestablishanidealisedsingledegreeof
freedom(SDOF) model to simulatethedynamic post crack behaviour of alaminatedglass panel. Inorder to
obtainthepost-crackedparameter, awater-bagexperiment approachisutilisedasawaytoprovideacontrolled
pressureapplicationonalaminatedglass panel. Thehydrostatic pressureof water headwithinthewater-bag
loadingmembranewereobservedtohavenotableeffectsonthedeflectedshapeof thetest panels, andneedto
becorrected when estimating theshapefactor of thedeflected panel. Thewater-bag experimental setup will
bedescribedinthis paper. Thetypical results of theexperiments will bepresented, followedby theobserved
contributionof hydrostaticpressuretotheexperimental results. A simplenumerical model of alaminatedglass
membranewas developed to takeinto account thehydrostatic pressureeffect and to establish thecorrection
requiredtodecouplethehydrostaticpressureeffect fromtheexperimental results.
1 INTRODUCTION
A buildingsfaadesystemistheouterlayerof astruc-
turethat isdesignedtoprovideprotectiontobuilding
occupants and contents fromexternal hazards with
varyingintensity. Theseexternal hazardsmayinclude
windload, impact loadsfromvandalismattemptsand
blast pressuresthat maybeeither accidental or inten-
tional actsof terrorismwiththeaimof causingdamage
or penetrating the property. Under extreme external
hazards, instead of fulfilling its design purposeas a
protectiveelement, theglazingelement inabuilding
faadesturnsouttobetheweakestpartinthesystem.
Glazing element, when untreated, will break into
knife-shapedshards that couldbeadditional hazards
and amajor sourceof injuries in thecaseof ablast
event (Norvilleet al. 1999). Moreover, thefailureof
the glazing panel will lead to blast pressure ingress
intothestructurethatmaycauseadditional damageto
thebuilding, andblast pressurerelatedinjuries. This
highlightstheimportanceof understandingthevulner-
abilitiesof theglazingfaadeelementwhensubjected
toblast pressures.
Laminated glass, which consists of a Polyvinyl
Butyral (PVB) laminates bondedbetweentwo panes
of glasspanels, isincreasinglycommontobeusedas
asecurityglasssystem.ThePVBlaminateprovidesan
extralayer of protectionsinceitiscapableof retaining
glassfragmentsafterfirstcrackoccurs, whichleadsto
anincreaseinenergydissipationcapacityof thefacade
system. The additional energy dissipation capacity
and fragment retaining properties are attributes that
improve the blast resistance of a facade panel. The
membraneresistanceof crackedlaminatedglasspan-
els presents additional challenges for engineers to
achieveanefficientdesignof windowunits, whilstthe
post-crackedbehaviourandPVBrupture/failuremode
of laminatedglass panels has not beenclearly estab-
lished. Thishighlightstheimportanceof experiments
inacontrolledenvironment.
ASingleDegreeof Freedom(SDOF)idealisationof
theglazingpanel hasbeengenerallyutilisedtoestab-
lishthedynamicresponseof glasspanelssubjectedto
blast pressures (DOD 2008). In order to achievethe
idealisedmodel, critical parameters suchas thestiff-
nessandtheloadmasstransformationfactor (K
LM
) in
thepost-crackedphaseof thelaminatedglasscompo-
nent need to bedetermined. Although thelaminated
glass behaviour in the elastic phase can be estab-
lishedbasedonclassical theoryof plateandshell, the
post-crackshapefactor andthestiffnessparameter of
laminatedglasshavenot beenclearlydefined.
Previousexperimental workshavebeenconducted
toestimatethecontributionof thePVB membraneto
the stiffness of the systemin the context of SDOF
system(Morisonet al. 2007). Similarly, experimental
685
works to establishthelowstrainrateandhighstrain
rate engineering material properties for PVB mem-
brane has been carried out (Bennison et al. 2005,
Morisonet al. 2007).
Theexperimentpresentedinthispaperisanattempt
toestablishthepost crackedresistanceanddeflected
shapeof laminatedglassunitsunder out of planeuni-
formpressure, which would enableatransformation
of thelaminatedglass units into anidealisedsystem
for dynamicanalysis.
Generally, a pendulum impact approach and air
pressureapproach has been used as standard testing
methodstoestablishtheoutof planeresistanceof lam-
inatedglass(ASTM E330-022010, ASTM E2353-06
2006). A similar air pressureapproachutilisingavac-
uumchambertoapplyauniformsuctionhasalsobeen
successfully carried out by Behr et.al (1985), whilst
Ellis & Beak (1991) have adopted a water pressure
approachasamethodof loadapplication.
A water-bagtestingmethod, similar totheconcept
usedbyEllis& Beak(1991), isadoptedinthisexper-
iment as a mean to apply the out of plane uniform
pressures. A water mediumwas selected due to the
relatively higher bulk modulus as compared to the
bulk modulusof air medium(i.e. mediumwithlower
compressibility), which is ideal for a displacement
controlledexperiment. However, it wasobservedthat
duetothelevel of displacementachievedintheexper-
iment, theinfluenceof thehydrostaticpressureof the
water mediumbecomesignificant intheexperiment.
Thehydrostaticpressurealsoinducesnon-uniformity
inthepressureonthesurfaceof thespecimens.
Firstly, the water-bag experimental setup will be
describedinthis paper. Then, thecontributionof the
hydrostatic pressurewill beidentified in thetypical
resultsof theexperiments. Inanefforttodecouplethe
hydrostaticpressureof waterfromtherecordedresults,
asimplenumerical model of alaminatedglassmem-
branewasdevelopedtotakeintoaccounttheseeffects,
andthenbeusedtocalibratetheexperimental results.
2 BACKGROUND
A SDOF systemconsists of a spring and a lumped
mass. Thesystemrepresents adynamic behaviour of
a component, which movement can be expressed in
asinglevariable, at any given time. This variableis
oftenidentifiedasthecomponentsdeflectionat crit-
ical points, suchas, themid-spanof abeamor centre
of aplate.
Thetechniquetoidealiseacomponent toaSDOF
systemhas been well established (Biggs 1964). Two
critical parameters, such as the equivalent spring
stiffness of the system, and the equivalent mass of
thesystemneed to beestablished when idealising a
structural component into a SDOF system. A trans-
formation factor is introduced to transformthe real
systemto the idealised system, which is dependent
ontheassumeddeflectedshapeof thecomponent. In
ordertoensurethatdetailsonthedynamicresponseare
not lost intheidealisationprocess, it isimportant that
thesetransformationfactorsaredeterminedcorrectly.
Assumingadiscretemodel dividedintogridswhich
consistof nnodes, theeffectivetransformationfactors
canbeestimatedasfollows:
whereK
M
isthemasstransformationfactor, K
L
isthe
loadtransformationfactor, m ismassper unit areaof
thepanel, p isuniformpressureonthepanel, A isthe
surfaceareaof thepanel,and
i
representstheshapeof
thedeflectedpanel. Inathreedimensional system,
i
istheresultantshapefunctionatpointi in3orthogonal
directions.
whereR
c
is themaximumresultant displacement (at
centrepoint);andx
i
, y
i,
z
i
aredisplacementsatpointi in
threeorthogonal Cartesiandirections. Theequivalent
loadmassfactor K
LM
isthenequal to:
Theexperimental programdescribedinthispaperis
intendedtoestablishtwocomponentswhichdetermine
thedynamicresponseof alaminatedglasspanel when
it undergoes aPVB membranedominant responsein
thepost-crackrange.Theresponsestiffnessof thelam-
inatedglassunitswascapturedinordertoestablishthe
spring stiffness needed for theSDOF system, whilst
thedeflectedshapeof thepanel under uniformpres-
surewascapturedtodeterminethedeflectedshapeof
thesystem.
3.1 Set-up
The test-rig was designed and manufactured by the
authors with the support fromPermasteelisa Group
(PG). Theexperimental setupwas developedfollow-
ingtheschematics describedby Ellis & Beak (1991)
whohadcarriedoutasimilar experiment. Theexperi-
mentwasconductedatPGsfactoryinCampbellfield,
Melbourne. Figure1showstheschematicof theexper-
imental setup with three major components: a test-
frame, awatersupplysystem, andadatameasurement
system.
Thetestframeisaweldedsteel constructionwhich
consists of a steel frame base covered by steel flat
plates. The test frame is designed to withstand a
686
Figure1. Experimental setupschematic.
uniformpressure application of up to 100kPa. The
frame is capable of accommodating test specimens
with aspect ratios of 1, 1.5 and 2; with fixed width
of 1500mm. The dimensions were chosen to repre-
sent thetypical windowfaadesizes usedinmodern
high-riseconstruction.
Twotappedholesweredrilledonthetopplateof the
test-rig. Oneof thetappedholeswasusedtoprovidea
pressuretapfor thepressuretransducer, andtheother
holetoprovidetheconnectiontothewatersupplysys-
tem. Then, arubber membranewaslaidontopof the
flat-plate, betweenthesteel frameandtheglasspanel
specimen to forman impermeable layer. The lami-
natedglassspecimenwouldbemanufacturedwithits
ownunitizedaluminiumframe. Intheexperiment, the
specimen would be laid flat on top of the rubber
membraneandclamped-boltedtothetest frame.
Intheexperiment,thepressureapplicationwassim-
ulatedbyfillingthecavitybetweenthetopsteel plate
of thetest frameandtherubber membranewithpres-
surizedwater. A progressivecavitypumpwasusedto
control the rate of water volume entry into the cav-
ity and drain the water back to the water tank. An
additional pressurereleasevalvewasusedtodrainthe
water manuallyfromthetest-rigif necessary.
AsshowninFigure2, threeparametersweremea-
sured in the experiment. The water pressure in the
cavity is measured by a pressure transducer, which
was installed in one of the tapped holes on the flat
platetest bed. Thepeak displacement at thecentreof
thetest panel ismeasuredbyadraw-wirelinear posi-
tiontransducer. Finally, thepost-crackdeflectedshape
of the specimens is captured using photogrammetry
approach. However, the photogrammetry measure-
ment was not carried out for every test panel dueto
limitationonresources.
Thedeflectedshapeof thetestpanelswerecaptured
at42datapointslocatedwithinonequarterof thepanel
asshowninFigure3. It isassumedthat thedeflection
of thepanel is symmetrical, andhence, themeasure-
mentsononequarter of thepanel canbeusedtomap
thedeflectedshapeof theentirepanel.
Thecontinuousdatamappingusingthephotogram-
metry method was not feasible. Hence, in order to
capture the deflected shape, the progressive cavity
pumparestoppedsothat thethesurfacesof thepan-
elscouldbemappedat50mminterval from50mmto
400mm.
Figure2. Measurement system.
Figure3. Gridof measuredpointson1quarterof specimens
usingphotogrammetry.
3.2 Experimental results
Morethan 60 specimens of varying panel types and
layupsweretestedinthisexercise. Tobetter illustrate
therequiredcalibrationapproach, thetest resultspre-
sentedinthis paper arelimitedto thetest specimens
withcompletesetof photogrammetrydata.Theresults
presented in this section were obtained from fully
toughened glass panel with the size of 1500mmby
2250mm. Thethicknessof thepanel is9.52mmwith
thelayupof: 4mmthick toughenedglass+1.52mm
thick PVB interlayer+4mmthick toughened glass.
Thespecimensweredisplacedupto400mmrecorded
at thecentreof thepanels.
Thetypical load displacement resistancecurveof
the one of the test specimens is shown in Figure 4,
whereas therecorded panel surfacemappings at the
centre-lineof thelong-spanof thepanel is shownin
Figure5. It must benotedthat thedisplacement map-
pings measurement weretaken after theglass panes
havebeencracked.
The load displacement curve shown in Figure 4
indicates that the laminated glass panel has two
behavioural phasesintheexperiment. Thefirst phase
iswhentheglasspanesarenotcracked,wherethepanel
resistanceis governedby theflexural stiffness of the
687
Figure4. Typical load displacement curveof an 9.52mm
fullytoughenedlaminatedglasspanel.
Figure5. Mappeddeflectedshapeatypical test specimen
alongthecentre-lineof thelong-spanof thepanel.
glass panes andtheassociatedgeometric nonlineari-
ties of theuncrackedglass panes. Onceboththetop
andbottomglasspanesarecracked, thesecondphase
of theresistanceisobservedinthetestwhenthemem-
brane stiffness of the PVB governed the laminated
glasspanel resistance.
Significant drops of resistance and stiffness gra-
dient were observed in the transition zone between
phase1andphase2. However, thedropdidnot occur
instantly, as therewas aspikeintheresistancecurve
within the transition zone, which exhibits a similar
stiffness gradient to phase1. Thespikeinthetransi-
tionzonerepresentsthestiffnessof contributionof the
bottompane, whichindicatesthat thetopandbottom
glasspanesof thelaminatedglasspanelsdidnotfail at
thesametime.Thistraitisgenerallymorepronounced
inlaminatedannealedglassspecimens.
The recorded photogrammetry mappings indicate
that thedeflectedshapeof thelaminatedglassspeci-
mensfollowsthat of aflexiblemembrane. TheSDOF
transformation factor, K
LM
, can be obtained using
thedeflectedshapeintegrationapproachpresentedin
section 2. TheK
LM
factor variations with respect to
peakdeflectionfromthreespecimensarepresentedin
Figure6.
Figure6. Transformationfactor obtainedfromexperiment.
Figure7. Schematic of recordedpressureinthewater-bag
test.
4 HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE OF WATER
MEDIUM
Duetothehorizontal setupof thetest-rig, thepressure
transducer was installed at 170mmbelow the level
of thetest panel. Thesignificanceof thehydrostatic
pressurewasobservedwhentherecordedpressuresat
the beginning of the tests are always approximately
1.7kPa. This initial pressure reading is induced by
the residual water head within the connecting pipe
between the pressure transducer and the test frame.
The hydrostatic pressure is then increased by 1kPa
for every100mmpeakdisplacementof thetestpanel,
which is equivalent to 100mmincreasein thewater
headof thepressuretransducer.
The variation of the hydrostatic pressure with
respect towater level leadstoanon-uniformpressure
distribution on the glass panel. This factor was not
takenintoaccount intheexperimental studiescarried
outbyEllis&Beak(1991).Theschematicof pressure
distributionrecordedinthetest isshowninFigure7.
The pressure at any given node i on the panel is
giveninequations(6) and(7).
whereP
o
istheuniformpressurecomponent, P
reading
isthepressurereadingobtainedfromthetransducer,P
i
isthepressureatanynodal locationi, isthespecific
weight of water, H
c
is thewater headat centrepoint
andH
i
isthewater headat anynodal locationi.
688
Thepressureheadcorrectionis already takeninto
account intheresultsshowninsection3.2. However,
thedeflectedshapeis affectedby thenonuniformity
of thepressuredistribution dueto variation of grav-
ity pressureheadwithrespect to displacement/water
level. Hence, theK
LM
resultspresentedinsection3.2
are K
LM
values based on the non-uniformpressure
simulatedintheexperiment.
5 CALIBRATIONPROCEDURE USING
NUMERICAL APPROACH
Thenumerical simulationscarriedout inthisexercise
wereintendedtodecouplethenon-uniformityeffectof
thepressureonthedeflectedshapeof thespecimens.
Themodel usedinthisexerciseisaquartermodel with
two axes of symmetry, which is divided into several
loadsegmentsasshowninFigure8.Thepressuremag-
nitudeappliedat eachloadsegment canbecalibrated
to takeinto account thevaryinghydrostatic pressure
at thesegment correspondingtoitsdisplacement.
The numerical modelling exercise is unique due
to theinter-dependenceof thepressurecomponents,
whicharethebaselineuniformpressure(P
o
) andthe
hydrostatic pressurehead (H
i
). Thebaselineuni-
formpressure application would lead to a deflected
shape, whichmeansachangeinthehydrostaticpres-
sure. Similarly, the hydrostatic pressure would not
occur without an initial change in the deflection of
thepanel.Theseeventsoccurredsimultaneouslyinthe
experiments.
Theanalysis was carried out with iterativeproce-
dure. The analysis procedure is shown in Figure 9,
where i represents the ith number of iteration. The
analysisprocedureisstartedby applyinganarbitrary
uniformpressure, P
(0)
, onthetestpanel.Thedeformed
shapeobtainedfromtheuniformpressure, D
(0)
, isthen
usedtoupdatethepressureappliedateachsegmentof
the model corresponding to its displacement P
(0+1)
.
Theprocess is repeated until thedeformed shapeof
theithiterationconvergeswiththedeformedshapeof
the(i 1)thiteration. A convergencecriterionof 5%
discrepanciesindeflectionisusedintheanalysis.
The analysis for the glass fragments effect on load
mass transformationfactor was carriedout basedon
thelaminatedtoughenedglasswiththrough-thickness
layupof 4mmthick toughenedglass, 1.52mmthick
PVB interlayer and4mmthick toughenedglass. Two
parameters were calibrated in this numerical study:
thepost-crack resistanceof thePVB membraneand
theK
LM
values at varyingpeak central displacement
asdescribedinsection3.1.
Thepost-crack load-displacement curveobserved
intheexperimentandthemodel isshowninFigure10.
The results indicate that there is a good correlation
betweenexperimental andmodel results.
Figure8. Membranemodel withloadsegments.
Figure9. Flowchart of theiterativeprocedure.
Figure 10. Stiffened membrane pressure displacement
curve.
689
Figure11. Transformation factor K
LM
at varying level of
centredisplacement.
The post-crack transformation factors obtained
fromtheexperiment andthemodel areshowninFig-
ure 11. In order to relate the experimental results
to blast pressure conditions; a uniformly distributed
pressure was applied to the same membrane model.
TheK
LM
valuesof themembranemodel subjectedto
non-uniformpressurearecomparedagainst theK
LM
values of membrane subjected to uniformpressure
obtained fromthemodel. This comparison is shown
inFigure11.
The general agreement of K
LM
values between
the experiment and the numerical models when the
panel issubjectedtothenon-uniformpressureshows
that the numerical approach in this study success-
fullysimulatedtheloadingconditions.Thevariationof
K
LM
valuesobtainedfromthenumerical model when
subjectedtouniformpressuredemonstratesthesignif-
icantcontributionof thehydrostaticpressureobserved
inthewater-bagtest setup. Theresults indicates that
derivingthestiffnessandtransformationfactor (K
LM
)
without decouplingtheeffect of hydrostatic pressure
of water mediumwould lead to a dynamic system
which does not represent the actual response of the
panel against blast pressures.
7 CLOSINGREMARKS
Experimental approachwas carriedout to derivethe
resistance/stiffnessparameterandshapefactorparam-
eter to be used in an idealised systemto represent
the post-crack behaviour of laminated glass panel.
Hydrostatic pressure in this water-bag experiment
was observed to have a significant influence on the
results, which was exhibited by an increase in the
resistancepressurereadingandthenon-uniformityof
pressures on thetest specimens. Thenon-uniformity
factorof thepressureapplicationhaveacarry-oninflu-
enceontheshapefactor parameter, whichisintended
to derivetransformation factor for dynamic analysis
a cracked glass membrane subjected uniform/planar
blast pressure.
Inorder to correct thediscrepancies betweenuni-
formandnon-uniformshapefactor, anumerical anal-
ysis exercise was carried out to decouple the effect
of the hydrostatic pressure on the applied pressure
intheexperiment. Theresults presentedinsection6
highlights theimportanceof theanalysis sincewith-
out thedecouplingexercise, thetransformationfactor
obtained fromthetest would lead to adynamic sys-
temwhichwouldmiss-represent thebehaviour of the
laminatedglasspanel.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Theauthors would liketo acknowledgetheongoing
supportsfromPermasteelisaGroupontheresearch.
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690
Biomechanical environment of earlystageof bonehealingunder biological
internal fixation
S. Miramini, L. Zhang& P. Mendis
Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
M. Richardson
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
ABSTRACT: Underunusual loadsanddeformationsthatexceeditsstrength,bonemayfracture.However,once
theboneisweakenedbyosteoporosis, bonefractureispronetooccurevenafteronlyminimal trauma.A fractured
bonemustbeheldinpositionandsupporteduntil itisstrongenoughtowithstandexternal loading. Conventional
stableinternal fixationleadstobonedirect healingwithout fracturecallusdevelopment but it usually requires
ademandingdegreeof skill andexpertisetominimizeextendedtraumaticnecrosis, consequentlyreducingthe
riskof delayedhealingandinfection. Differentfromtraditional stableapproach, biological internal fixationwith
somedegreeof flexibilityencouragestheformationof calluswhilestill providesmechanical stabilisation. The
objectiveof this study is to develop acomputer-based fracturehealing planning tool that could simulatethe
fracturehealingprocessunder biological fixationtreatments.
1 INTRODUCTION
Followingabonefracture, twopossiblefractureheal-
ingscanoccurbasedonfracturegeometryandfixation
type(i.e. directhealingandindirecthealing) (Einhorn
1998). For small gap size with rigid fixation under
interfragmentary compression (i.e. interfragmentary
straintobelessthan2%), bonehealingoccursdirectly
betweenthebonefragmentswithout thedevelopment
of fracture callus. On the other hand, indirect heal-
ingwiththeformationof fracturecallusisachievable
under lessstablefixationwhichtoleratessomedegree
of interfragmentary movements. Indirect bone heal-
ing is comprised of four overlapping healing stages:
hematomaformation, callus formation, boneforma-
tion and remodelling (Einhorn 1998). After a bone
fracture, thebloodvesselsarerupturedandhematoma
forms at the fracture site. This hematoma generates
blood clot to prevent further bleeding. In the next
stage, clot is dissolved and granulation tissueforms
as theearly callus. Thegranulationtissueprovides a
suitableenvironment for cell proliferation, migration
and differentiation as well as tissue formation. The
tissueregenerationanddifferentiationwithinthefrac-
turecallusislargelycontrolledbythebiochemical and
biomechanical environment of callus cells. After the
fractureismorestabilizedbythecallus, thecallustis-
sue undergoes endochondral ossification and forms
wovenbone. Inthelaststage(remodeling), bonefinds
itsfinal shapeandstructure(Doblare2004).
Theselectionof fixationtypedependsonthetype
of fracture and other biological factors (Stephan M
Perren2002; Kimet al. 2010). For highenergy bone
fractureswhichresult inextensivedamageinfracture
site, external fixations areusually applied. However
for low energy damages and simpler fractures, it is
preferabletouseinternal fixationswhicharenormally
madeupof biocompatiblematerialssuchasstainless
steel ortitaniumalloys(Kimetal. 2010).Theobjective
of theconvectional internal fixationsistoprovidean
absolutestabilizationinthefracturesitewiththeaim
of preventing micromovements which could poten-
tially leadto implant looseninganddelayedhealing.
Although one of the major advantages of this fixa-
tionmethodistheearly restorationof bonefunction,
it might lead to stress shielding or bone resorption
(StephanM Perren2002). Byusingrigidinternal fix-
ations, thesignificant part of theexternal loading is
carried by the fixations, so bone could become less
dense and weaker as a result of removal of normal
stress fromthe bone. Stress shielding leads to dete-
riorationof bonequality andosteoporosisaroundthe
fracturesite, whichcouldresultintheimplantreplace-
ment dueto looseningof thefixation(Rabiei 2010).
Theosteoporoticpatientsaremorepronetobonestress
shielding. Inaddition, conventional rigidinternal fix-
ation requires precise reduction of bone fragments,
which normally requires a relatively extensive sur-
gical approach to the bone, and so results in bone
necrosis and infection (Stephan M Perren 2002). In
order to prevent bone stress shielding fromhappen-
ing, it wouldbebeneficial if thenormal stresscarried
by thefracturedbonecouldbeincreasedby applying
more flexible internal fixation through controlling
691
thefixationplateshapeandmaterial properties(Kim
et al. 2010). Althoughstainlesssteel andtitaniumare
twocommonlyusedimplantmaterialsnowadays, their
elasticmoduli (205GPaforstainlesssteel and105GPa
fortitanium) aremuchhigherthanthatof humanbone
(730GPa).Recentattemptshavebeenmadetodesign
biological flexiblefixations usingcompositepoly-
mers(Uhthoff 1980; Bougheraraetal. 2010; Kimetal.
2010; J H& SH2007; Fujihara2003; Veerabaguet al.
2003; Ganeshet al. 2005) andcompositemetal foam
with porous metallic structure (Rabiei 2010; Rabiei
2012). However, the actual scientific base of these
flexibleinternal fixationsisstill not fullyunderstood.
Thetheoretical understandingof theeffectsof flex-
ible internal fixations is of critical importance for
the successful healing outcomes. To date, numerous
studies havebeen developedto predict theinfluence
of mechanobiological factors infracturehealingout-
comes(SM Perren1979; P J Prendergast et al. 1997;
Claes et al. 1998; Carter et al. 1998; D Lacroix &
P J Prendergast 2002; Doblare2004; Gmez-Benito
et al. 2005; Epari et al. 2006; Isaksson, Donkelaar,
etal.2006;Isaksson,Wilson,etal.2006;Isakssonetal.
2008; Byrneetal. 2011).Thestudyof Perren(Stephan
M Perren 2002) showed that interfragmentary strain
(IFS), which takes into account the effect of frac-
turemechanicsandgeometry(IFS=interfragmentary
movement (IFM)/gap size), could potentially influ-
ence the healing process. A value of IFS ranging
from210% was seen to have beneficial effects on
theindirect healing process. Thus, for flexibleinter-
nal fixations, an adequateIFS is essential for tissue
differentiationwithinthefracturecallus.
Theoretical modeling of fracture callus is rather
challenging. For thepurposeof simplification, most
of thestudies treatedcallus tissueas ahomogeneous
elastic material (Carter et al. 1998; Claes & Heigele
1999; S M Perren 1979). However, callus tissue is
actually aporous elastic material comprisingof both
solid and fluid phases. Prendergast and colleagues
(PJ Prendergastetal. 1997)modeledcallusasabipha-
sicmaterial andpredictedtissuedifferentiationpattern
based on two biophysical stimuli: octahedral shear
strainof thesolidphase() andinterstitial fluidveloc-
ityrelativetosolid(). Octahedral shear straincanbe
calculatedby meansof principal strain(
1
,
2
,
3
) as
follow(Prez & P J Prendergast 2007):
According to their mechanoregulation theory, tissue
differentiation pattern during bone healing depends
on stimulus S =/a +/b, where a =0.0375 and
b=3m/s. High magnitudes of biophysical stimuli
(S>3) result informationof fibrous tissue, whereas
intermediatevalues(1<S<3) leadtocartilagetissue
formation. Bone formation occurs when the stim-
uli are small enough (0.01<S<1). However, very
small magnitudes (S1) could lead to boneresorp-
tion (Prez & P J Prendergast 2007). In this paper,
themechanical microenvironment of afractureunder
flexibleaswell asrigidinternal fixationwasanalyzed
andthefixationefficacy was evaluatedbasedonthe
mechanoregulation theory of Prendergast et al. (P J
Prendergast et al. 1997).
2 METHOD
Accordingtoporoelasticitytheory, thetotal stressten-
sor inside the callus can be decomposed into the
sumof theinterstitial fluidpressurep andelasticstress
e
resultingfromthedeformationof thesolidmatrix
(Soltz &Ateshian2000):
whereI isidentitytensor. It isassumedthat thetissue
isunderquasi-staticconditionandbodyforcesareneg-
ligible. Themomentumequationfor thetissueunder
suchconditionsisgivenby:
where . is divergence operator and is gradient
operator. Conservationof massof thesolidphaseand
fluidphaseinthecallusleadsto:
where v
s
is solid phase velocity and k is hydraulic
permeabilitytensor of thecallus.Thegoverningequa-
tions(3) and(4) describetheinterstitial fluidmotion
andsolidmatrixdeformationbehavior withinthesoft
tissue (e.g. cartilage) under different loading condi-
tions (Gardiner et al. 2007; Zhang et al. 2007). In
order to numerically analyze the mechanical envi-
ronment of the early callus under flexible fixation,
athree-dimensional poroelastic finiteelement model
of an adult human tibiawas developed using COM-
SOL MULTIPHYSICS software. The cortical bone
wasmodeledasacylinder with18mminternal diam-
eter and30mmexternal diameter. A 12mmfracture
gap was applied in the model and the fracture was
stabilizedusinganinternal implant withsimplerect-
angular cross section (Figure 1). The fracture callus
had 42mmmaximumdiameter and it was meshed
with 23750 tetrahedral elements. Figure2 illustrates
thefiniteelement model.
Figure1. Thedetailsof internal fixationsetup(mm).
692
The bone and callus were considered as poroe-
lastic material with fluid and solid phases. Two dif-
ferent materials wereused for modeling theimplant
to compare the effect of implant flexibility on indi-
rect bonehealing. Theflexibleimplant was modeled
asKevlar/BCP compositeswhichhavebiocompatible
propertiesandmodulusof elasticityclosetothatof the
bone(Kimet al. 2010). On theother hand, stainless
steel wasusedfor modelingtherigidimplant.
Table 1 and 2 show the material properties of
the finite element model. A 500N axial ramp load
over 0.5s, simulatingnormal loading, wasappliedon
topof theboneandthemechanical parameters were
calculatedat themaximumload.
We analyzed the microenvironment of the fracture
bycalculatingthreemainmechanical parameters, i.e.
octahedral shear strain, interstitial fluidpressureand
velocity, which were calculated for both rigid and
flexiblefixations.Amongthesethreeparameters,octa-
hedral shearstrainandfluidvelocityaretwoimportant
mechanical stimuli whichaffect tissuedifferentiation
during bone healing (P J Prendergast et al. 1997).
Theseparameterswereusedtocalculatethestimulus
index S in thecallus across theosteotomy gap (Fig-
ure3). Thefixationwas locatedat theleft handside
of thebonewhichledtorelativelylower magnitudeof
Sintheleft areaof thecallus. Theright andleft peak
valueswereproducedbetweenthecortical bonefrag-
ments which weredueto thehigher strain and fluid
velocity inthis area. As it is showninthefigure, the
valueof Sfor flexiblefixationwasmuchhigher than
Figure2. Finiteelementmodel of thefracturewithinternal
fixation.
Table1. Material propertiesof thefracture.
Youngs Poissons Permeability Fluidcompression Solidcompression
modulus(MPa) ratio Porosity (m
4
/Ns) modulus(MPa) modulus(MPa)
GranulationTissue 1
a
0.167
a
0.8
a
10
14a
2300
a
2300
a
Marrow 2
a
0.167
a
0.8
a
10
14a
2300
a
2300
a
Cortical Bone 15750
b
0.325
c
0.04
d
10
17e
2300
a
17660
a
a
(Isaksson, Wilson, et al. 2006);
b
(Smit et al. 2002);
c
(Cowin1999);
d
(Schaffler & Burr 1988);
e
(J ohnsonet al. 1982).
thatof therigidfixationwhichenhancedcallusforma-
tionandsecondary (indirect) bonehealingaccording
totheaforementionedthresholdsfor S.
Theinterstitial fluidpressuredistributioninthecal-
lus under flexiblefixation is shown in figure4. The
higher displacement under flexible fixation resulted
in higher magnitudes of fluid pressure compared to
therigid fixation case(Figure5). Someparts of the
callusnear thefixationexperiencednegativepressure
whichwas dueto tensilestraincausedby implant in
that area. Theporepressureis believed to influence
tissue differentiation during bone healing (Isaksson,
Wilson, et al. 2006).
The fracture healing under flexible fixations can
be simulated by applying the calculated parameters
(strainandfluidvelocity) totissuedifferentiationthe-
oryof Prendergast et al. (P J Prendergast et al. 1997).
The research work in this study has shown that the
bonehealing progress depends on alargevariety of
Table2. Material propertiesof theimplants
a
.
Poissons
Youngsmodulus(MPa) ratio
StainlessSteel 191 0.3
Kevlar/BCP E
1
=27.7, E
2
=27.7, 0.047
E
3
=4.5
a
(Kimet al. 2010).
Figure3. TissuedifferentiationstimulusSintheosteotomy
gapacross X axis. Thehigher magnitudes of S for fracture
under flexiblefixationleadtocallusformationandindirect
healing.
693
Figure4. Theinterstitial fluid pressuredistribution in the
osteotomygapfor flexiblefixation.
Figure5. Theinterstitial fluidpressureintheosteotomygap
acrossX axis.
factors such as fracture geometry, fixation material
anddimensionsaswell asbiological parameters. The
appropriate design and selection of the fracture fix-
ationcaninfluencethehealingprocess significantly.
Understandingthemechanobiologyof thehealingcan
beused to improvethedesign of biological fixation
for different typesof fractures.
ACKNOLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the University of
Melbournefor thesupport.
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695
Material structural designwithisotropyconstraint
A. Radman, X. Huang&Y.M. Xie
ABSTRACT: The objective of this study is to design periodic microstructures of materials using the bi-
directional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) technique integrated with constraint on material
constitutive tensor. Maximumbulk or shear modulus are selected as objectives of material design subject
to isotropy constraints whilevolumetric constraint is treated as an evolutionary parameter. Extraconstraints
are defined in the statement of optimization problemand the approach utilizes a gradient-based method to
imposeisotropy. Numerical examplesshowthecomputational efficiencyof theapproachandsomeinteresting
microstructuresarepresentedthat maximizethebulk or shear modulusof material. Inaddition, themethodis
flexibleinthesensethat it hasthecapabilitytoimposeother typesof constraint onmaterial elasticitytensor.
1 INTRODUCTION
Material design based on combination of structural
optimization techniques and homogenization theory
seeks for periodic microstructures with enhanced
properties. In these methods, by using a structural
optimizationtechnique, thetopologyof material peri-
odicmicrostructureischangedwiththegoal of overall
material properties to be improved; the technique
is known as inverse homogenization (Bendsoe &
Sigmund2003).
Since the pioneering works of (Sigmund 1994,
Sigmund 1995) on periodic truss-like microstruc-
tures, variousstructural optimizationtechniqueshave
been examined for computationally enhancement of
continuum-like microstructures of materials (Neves
et al. 2000, Zhou & Li 2008a, b, Zhou et al. 2010).
So far optimizationmethods of solidisotropic mate-
rial withpenalization(SIMP) andthelevel-setmethod
have been successfully extended into the design of
periodic microstructures of materials or composites
(Sigmund 1994, Sigmund 1995, Neves et al. 2000;
Challis et al. 2008, Zhou& Li 2008a, b, Zhouet al.
2010).
Among optimization algorithms, ESO (Xie &
Steven1993, Xie&Steven1997)wasoriginallydevel-
oped with theaimof gradually removing inefficient
material fromthefiniteelementmodel of thestructure
so the resulting topology evolves towards an opti-
mum. A later version of the ESO method, namely
thebidirectional evolutionary structural optimization
(BESO) (Querinet al. 1998; Yanget al. 1999) allows
removing elements fromthe least efficient regions,
andaddingelementsnext tomost efficient elements.
FurtherdevelopmentonBESOismadebyintroducing
thehard-kill BESO(Huang& Xie2007) andsoft-kill
BESO(Huang&Xie2009, Huang&Xie2010a).The
later alleviatedmost of theimperfectionsof previous
versions (Rozvany 2009, Huang & Xie 2010b) and
pavedtheway towardits wider rangeof engineering
applications.
One of the explored features of new BESO is its
capabilitytobeintegratedwithvolumetricandanaddi-
tional performanceconstraint. Inthemacrostructural
optimization with BESO, thestiffness maximization
topology optimization has been successfully com-
bined with volumetric constraint and an additional
displacementconstraint. Intheiriterativeapproach, by
implantationof agradient-basedtechniquethevaria-
tionof displacementisapproximatelypredictedforthe
nextiterationsatthecertainnodes; thestructureisthen
directed toward the optimization goal via introduc-
ingaLagrangianmultiplier toadjust therelationship
between objective and constraints. As the result the
method is capable of creating continuumstructures
with highest stiffness for a given volume while the
displacementsat thecertainnodesarekept belowthe
prescribedlimits(Huang& Xie2010c).
Inthispaper, theintentionistoextendtheapplica-
tionof BESOmethodintothedesigningof microstruc-
tureof cellular materialswithmaximumbulkor shear
modulus restricted by volumetric and an additional
constraint onisotropyof elasticitytensor.
Isotropicmaterials, inwhichthepropertiesof mate-
rialsareinvariant withrespect tomaterial orientation,
are the most common materials used in industry
(Barbero1999) andattractivefor engineeringapplica-
tions. For thepurposeof designingof materials with
either orthotropic, squaresymmetricor isotropicelas-
tic tensor, by SIMP method, (Sigmund & Torquato
1997, Sigmund 2000) devised a scheme to add the
error of deviation fromconstraint value to the cost
697
functionas apenalty function; it is reportedthat the
procedureneedsseveral thousandsof iterationstobe
converged(Sigmund&Torquato1997).
Usage of microstructural geometrical constraints
for imposing symmetry on material properties is
another approach for design of isotropic materials
(Neves et al. 2000, Torquato et al. 2002). Based on
Neumann principle (Love 1934, Sadd 2005) it is
knownthatinmaterialsmadeupof periodicbasecells,
geometrical symmetryof thebasecellsleadstoiden-
tical symmetry in constitutive response of material.
This futurecould beused as aconstraint in material
design. However, symmetry lines of themicrostruc-
ture are sufficient but not a necessary condition for
symmetryof material properties(Sigmund&Torquato
1997) andmay inhibit therealizationof many poten-
tial solutions. In other words, many microstructures
of isotropic periodic materials (including examples
of this paper) could befound that do not fulfill this
requirement. With using SIMP optimization method
(Neves et al. 2000) reported that isotropy with this
approachisverydifficult tobemet.
Wilkins et al. (2007) usedthelevel-set methodto
designthree-dimensional two-phaseisotropicmateri-
als withamaximizedlinear combinationof stiffness
and conductivity. Theobjectiveof their studies is to
minimize the distance between the material prop-
erties with theassumed nearest isotropic material.
Theisotropyconstrainthasthendefinedbymodifica-
tionsintoevolutionrateinHamilton-J acobi equation.
Themethod is capableof producing microstructures
of materials with known cross-property bounds
(Challiset al. 2008).
This paper attempts to integrate microstructural
design of materials with an additional constraint on
elasticity tensor usingBESO. Themainadvantageof
BESO is its versatility andsimplicity bothintheory,
andapplicationasapost processor toafiniteelement
softwareprogram. Moreover, theresultedmicrostruc-
tures of BESOaremadeupof solidandvoidphases
without grey areas, which make the manufacturing
easier.
Inthisstudy weassumethat themicrostructureof
cellular material is composed of periodic base cells
(PBC).ThePBCisthendiscretizedintofiniteelements
andwithiniterations of theprocess, homogenization
theoryisusedtocalculatetheeffectsof individual ele-
ments onvariationof objectiveandconstraints func-
tions (or sensitivity analysis). We use a Lagrangian
multiplier techniqueto makeabalancebetweensen-
sitivity numbers of objective function and isotropy
constraint whilevolumetricconstraint istreatedasan
evolutionary parameter. Adding or removing of ele-
mentsisperformedfollowingtherankingof elements
asper their modifiedsensitivitynumbers. Theproce-
durestartswithanearlyfull soliddesigndomainand
gradually removesandaddelementsuntil volumetric
constraint is met andthevariationof objectivefunc-
tion diminishes. To demonstratetheeffectiveness of
theproceduresome2Dand3Disotropicexamplesare
presented.
2 CONSTITUTIVE RELATIONS
Following,isabrief reviewonsomebasicrelationships
betweenelementsof elastictensor. Theintensionisto
derive appropriate relations for algorithmic applica-
tion. Theelastic matrix of a3D orthotropic material
couldbeexpressedas:
By considering the fact that in isotropic materi-
als, elementsof constitutivetensor shouldbeinvariant
under any transformation fromonecoordinates sys-
temto another, it canbeconcludedthat relations (2)
to (5) arenecessary and sufficient conditions for an
orthotropicmaterial tobeisotropic.
If conditions(24) hold, thenthematerial isknown
ascubic symmetric, inwhich, eachof thethreeprin-
cipal axes has fourfold symmetry. As indicated by
(Huang et al. 2011) cubic symmetry conditions of
relations(2) to(4) arealwaysmet whenBESOstarts
fromacubicsymmetricinitial guessdesignandtreats
all correspondingmatrixelementsequally. Inorder to
obtainanisotropicmaterial, condition(5) needstobe
introducedas anadditional constrain. By treatingall
elementsof elasticitymatrixequally, equation(5) can
berewrittenas(6) in3Dcases. Engagementof all ele-
ments of theconstitutivematrix retains symmetry in
numerical calculations.
Similar expression could be derived in 2D plane
stresscases:
3 TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATIONPROBLEM
STATEMENT ANDSENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
Material stiffnesscouldbeexpressedbyitsshear and
bulk moduli. In the BESO setting, the problemof
698
cellular material stiffnesstopologyoptimization, with
constraintsonisotropyandvolumeof material canbe
expressedasfollows:
In which, K and G stand for the bulk and shear
moduli respectively, C is theextraconstraint defined
in equations (6) or (7), V
i
symbolizes the volume
of an individual element and V* denotes prescribed
total microstructural solidvolume. Designvariablex
i
,
as per assumptions of soft-kill BESO (Huang& Xie
2010a) can take a binary value of either 1 for solid
elements, or asmall quantity (for instance0.001) for
voidelements.
The objective functions need to be expressed in
terms of invariants of elasticity. The appropriate
expressions for bulk andshear moduli areas follows
(Ting2000, Wilkins et al. 2007, Challis et al. 2008):
For bulk modulus equations (9) and(10) for 2D and
3Dcasesrespectively:
Andfor shear modulusequations(11) and(12) for
2Dand3Dcasesrespectively:
IntheBESOsetting, thevolumetricconstraint can
besatisfiedbyintroducingitasanevolutionaryparam-
eter. For satisfyingtheisotropy, followingthemethod
usedby(Huang&Xie2010c) weaddconstrainttothe
objectivefunction by using aLagrangian multiplier.
Themodifiedobjectivefunctioncanbeexpressedas:
wherethemultiplier, variesintherangeof [1,1].
The Lagrangian multiplier can be determined by
devising a scheme to satisfy both volumetric and
isotropyconstraintssimultaneously.Thedetail of such
aschemeisdiscussedlater.
In the context of soft-kill BESO (Huang & Xie
2009, Huang& Xie2010a) for twophasecontinuum,
the decision making over elements existence (being
solid) or absence(beingvery soft or nearly void), is
basedontheanalysesperformedontheeffectsof indi-
vidual elementsonthevariationof objectivefunction
(or sensitivity numbers). Theprocedurethenconsists
of elemental rankingbasedonthesesensitivity num-
bers followedby gradually switchingthemon or off
(turningtosolidor void).
Inthisstudy, thesensitivitynumbersarederivedby
usingthehomogenizationtheory(Bendse&Kikuchi
1988, Hassani & Hinton 1998a,b). When a cellular
material is composedof spatially periodic basecells
(PBC)andthedimensionsof thebasecell isverysmall
incomparisonwiththesizesof thestructural body, the
effective elasticity tensor of the macro-material can
befound in terms of thematerial distribution in the
domainof PBC, as:
where|Y| =thevolume(or areain2D) of theperiodic
basecell domain; definesthelinearlyindependent
unitstrainfields.Thestrainfields inducedbythetest
strainscanbefoundfromthefollowingequation:
where , is Y-periodic admissible displacement in
Sobolev space. Equation (14b) is the weak formof
thestandard elasticity equation applied to PBC with
periodicboundaryconditions.Thisequationisusually
solvedbyfiniteelementanalysisof PBCsubjecttothe
independent casesof unit strainfields.
Inordertoderivethesensitivitieswithrespecttothe
elasticity properties of themacro-material, thelocal
material of anelementwithinPBCcanbetreatedtobe
isotropicanditsYoungsmoduluscanbeinterpolated
asthefunctionof theelement densityas:
where E
1
denotes theYoungs modulus of solid ele-
ment, p is the penalty exponent and x
i
denotes the
relativedensityof theithelement.Thismaterial model
isoftencalledsolidisotropicmaterial withpenaliza-
tion(SIMP) model (Rozvanyetal. 1992, Bendse&
Sigmund2003). Thepenalty exponent (p>1) isarti-
ficially appliedtomakesurethat thesolutionindeed
convergestoasolid/voiddesign. Withthehelpof the
above material interpolation scheme, the sensitivity
of the homogenized elasticity tensor on the design
variable, canbederivedfromadjoinvariablemethod
(Hauget al. 1986) as:
in which |Y| is the elasticity tensor of the solid
phase. Usingequations (16), equations (912) could
699
bewrittenintermsof homogenizedconstitutiveelastic
matrix.Therefore, thesensitivitynumbersof elements
couldbecalculatedas:
4 DETERMINATIONOF THE LAGRANGIAN
MULTIPLIER
For the BESO method, as the design variables are
restrictedtobeeitherx
min
or1, theoptimalitycriterion
canbedescribedas that sensitivity numbers of solid
elementsarealwayshigherthanthoseof voidelements
(Huang&Xie2010a).Therefore, wedeviseanupdate
schemefor thedesignvariablebychangingfrom1to
x
min
for elementswiththelowest sensitivity numbers
andfromx
min
to1for elementswiththehighest sen-
sitivity numbers. In order to calculatethesensitivity
numbers, first wehaveto determinetheLagrangian
multiplier.
TheLagrangianmultiplier inequation(13) should
bedeterminedinsuchawaythatdirectstheconstraint
valueof C tozerointhesubsequent iteration. For this
purpose, ineachstageweusethefollowinggradient-
basedexpressiontoestimatethevalueof theconstraint
functionof thefollowingiteration:
inwhichthesuperscriptof k denotesthecurrentitera-
tionnumber. Thederivativeof C couldbedetermined
numerically. In an internal loop, the next iteration
valueof constraintisestimatedbysetting=0.After
ranking of elements as per their sensitivity numbers
(equation(17)), andfindingnewdesignvariables by
imposing volumetric restrictions, the C
k+1
is calcu-
latedbyequation(18). If thevalueof C
k+1
ispositive,
then we have to decrease the right hand summation
termof equation(18). This couldbedoneby gradu-
ally decreasing from0to 1. Thereasonfor such
reduction attributes to the fact that according to the
definedoptimalitycriteria, elementswithhigher sen-
sitivitynumbersshouldhavetheir x
i
increased; while
constraint requires that elements with higher x
i
, to
have their design variable decreased. The same rea-
soning applies when the C
k+1
has a negative value,
and in thesecases haveto gradually beincreased
from0to1.
Precise value of Lagrangian multiplier could be
foundusingthebisectionalgorithmandexploitingtwo
auxiliaryvariablesof
up
and
low
inaninternal loop.
For instance at the beginning of internal loops with
=0,if thevalueof C
k+1
ispositivethentheboundary
valuesareset
low
=1,
up
=0andnewLagrangian
valueiscalculatedbysetting=(
low
+
up
)/2.Then
newsensitivitynumbersarecalculatedasperequation
(17) anddesignvariablesareset byexertingvolumet-
ric restrictions. Updatedvalueof C
k+1
isdetermined
usingequation(18) andcomparedwith0. If C
k+1
>0
then we replace
up
with current and update the
Lagrangianvalueby setting=(
low
+
up
)/2; oth-
erwise, if C
k+1
<0 then the
low
is replaced with
current and the Lagrangian multiplier is updated
withthesameformula. Theprocedurestopswhenthe
differencebetweenboundary variables (
low
,
up
) is
sufficiently small. More information in this respect
couldbefoundin(Huang& Xie2010a,c).
5 NUMERICAL ISSUES
To eliminate the numerical instabilities of mesh-
dependency and checkerboard patterns in topology
optimization, weemployafilteringschemebyaverag-
ingtheelemental sensitivity numbers withits neigh-
boring elements (Huang & Xie2007, Huang & Xie
2010a). Thefilteringis madeby usingthefollowing
weightingequation:
inwhichN isthetotal number of elementsindesign
domainand
1
istherighthandtermof equation(17).
Theweight factor of w isdefinedas:
inwhichr
ij
denotesthedistancebetweenelementi and
elementj centers.Thefilter radiusof r
min
isameasure
for identificationtheneighboringelementsthat affect
thesensitivityof element i.
To have a better accuracy in controlling the
constraint the second termof equation (17), which
embodiestheconstraintvariation, couldbefreedfrom
averaging. In addition, to improve the convergence
of the solution, before the last elemental ranking,
anaveragingwithhistorical informationof elemental
sensitivitynumbersaremade(Huang& Xie2007).
6 EXAMPLES
6.1 Base cell for isotropic material with maximum
bulk modulus
Figure(1a) is anexampleof amicrostructurethat is
designedbytheexplainedmethodtomaximizethecel-
lular material bulk modulus withisotropy constraint.
Thebasecell isdividedinto160160, 4-nodequadri-
lateral elements. TheYoungs modulus andPoissons
ratioof thesolidphaseisselectedasE =1and =0.3.
TheYoungs modulus of thesoft phaseis calculated
with penalty exponent of 3usingequation (15). The
evolutionrateissetequal to0.004,filterradiusisequal
700
Figure1. Exampleof microstructureof isotropic material
withmaximumbulkmodulus(a) singlePBC, (b) 33array
of PBC in(a), (c) material elasticmatrix.
to 8(elements areassumedto haveunit dimensions)
andthetargetarea(volume) of solidphaseislimitedto
40%of designdomainarea. Tointrigueinhomogene-
ity at thebeginningof theprocedure, 4central and4
corner elements of thebasecell areassigned as soft
material.
For cubic symmetric materials(alsoapplicablefor
2D squaresymmetric materials) Zener (Zener 1948)
hasproposedanindexfor measurement of anisotropy
(inthehonorof himisalsoknownasZeneranisotropy
ratio). This index is frequently used in literature
(Ledbetter & Migliori 2006, Wang et al. 2011).
In terms of three coefficients of cubic symmetric
material constitutivematrixit isdefinedas:
A comparison with equation (5) indicates that for
isotropicmaterial, thisindexshouldbeclosetounity.
The Zener anisotropy ratio for the material of this
exampleisequal toA=1.00.
6.2 Base cell for isotropic material with maximum
shear modulus
In In this example, the objective is to design cellu-
larmaterialswithmaximumshearmodulusandwitha
solidvolumethatislimitedto25%of total volume.The
PBC is discretized into 120120 four-nodequadri-
lateral elements. TheevolutionrateisER=0.005and
filter radiusr
min
=5. Asbefore, theYoungsmodulus
and Poissons ratio of the solid phase is selected as
E =1and =0.3. BESOstartsfromtheinitial design
full of solidelementsexcept for four voidelementsat
thecentre.
Twomicrostructureswithandwithout theisotropy
constraint arepresentedinFig. 2. Thecorresponding
33 unit cells and elasticity matrix are also given.
For theisotropic designtheZener anisotropy ratio is
verycloseto1, but, thedesignedmaterial without the
Figure2. Exampleof microstructureof material withmax-
imumshear moduluswithandwithout isotropyconstraint.
isotropy constraint results in A=35.3. Total number
of iterationsfor isotropicexampleis217.
It is also noted that although theobjectiveof this
exampleistomaximizetheshearmodulusof material,
theattainedbulkmodulusof isotropicdesignis0.0703
which is very closeto Hashin-Shtrikman (Hashin &
Shtrikman1963) bulkmodulusupperbound(0.0746).
7 CONCLUSION
This paper proposes a new approach for designing
isotropiccellular materialswithmaximumbulkmod-
ulus or maximum shear modulus using the BESO
topology optimization method. The isotropy of the
materials is consideredas anadditional constraint to
theoptimization problem. Themodified objectiveis
constructed by introducing a Lagrange multiplier to
implement the isotropy constraint. With the estab-
lishedelemental sensitivitynumbers, theperiodicbase
cell gradually evolves to an isotropic microstructure
with the specified material properties. Effectiveness
of theproposedprocedurehas beendemonstratedby
topologyoptimizationof microstructuresof isotropic
cellular materials with maximum bulk modulus or
maximumshear modulus. Themainadvantageof the
BESOmethod, incomparisonwithother optimization
techniques, isitshighcomputational efficiencyaswell
asversatilitybothintheoryandapplication.
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702
Experimental studyonmixed-modefracturebetweenconcreteandrock
H. Zhong, T. Ding& G. Lin
Faculty of Infrastructure Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
ABSTRACT: Manyconcreteinfrastructuresarebuiltonrockfoundations, sotheinterfacial crackingbehavior
between concreteand rock is very important for thestability analysis of structures. Yet this issueis seldom
addressedinliteratures, whichgenerallyusetheoryof linear fracturemechanicstoanalyzeinterfacial cracking
problems. Actually, theindex of thesingularity itemof interfacial crackingiscomplex, insteadof theconstant
0.5for homogeneousmaterials. Inaddition, thestressintensityfactorsK
1
andK
2
arecoupled, withnodefinite
correspondencetotensionor shear. Sotheoryof linear fracturemechanicsisnolonger validfor suchproblems.
Energy releaserateof interfacial material is not amaterial constant, instead it is related to themodemix
angle=atan(K
2
/K
1
). In thepresented paper, for thepurposeof studying theinterfacial cracking behavior
of concrete/rock, four-point-shear-beamtest is employed. Thespecimens aredesignedtobecomposedof two
components, i.e., partlyof concreteandtheother part rock inthelongitudinal direction. Prefabricatedcrack is
introducedononesideof theinterfaceanditsdesignedtopropagatealongtheinterface. Theoverall lengthof
beamsisconstant, yet thelengthof eachcomponent isvaried, sothelocationof prefabricatedcrack isvaried,
andthisresultsindifferent angle at thetipof thecrack.
As havebeenexpected, most failuretakeplaceontheinterface, but insomecases thecrack kinks into the
rockpart andfailureat thesupport isalsoobserved. Basedontheresultscorrespondingtointerfacial cracking,
its shown that with the increasing of angle , implying longer concrete span and bigger shear component,
(1) themaximumloaddecreasesgradually; (2) CMODdecreaselinearly; (3) CMSDincreasesat first andthen
decreases; (4) energyreleaseratedecreases.
Keywords: Interfacial cracking, concrete, rock, energyreleaserate, four-point-shear-beamtest
1 INTRODUCTION
For concrete dams based on rock foundation, the
interface between dam and foundation is a poten-
tial position for occurrenceof cracks. It is theusual
case that the damheel performs its functions with
the existence of cracks. Possible propagation of the
cracksleadstoweakeningof shearstrengthof thedam,
damagetogroutingcurtainanddrainagesystem, then
conduitsfor water toseepthroughcanbeformedand
uplift pressurecanbeexerted. Especially for caseof
earthquakeexcitation, considerabletensilestressmay
result inrapidpropagationof cracksandthreatenthe
safety of dam. Therefore, the fracture between con-
cretedamandrock foundationmerits in-depthstudy
inorder toguaranteethesafetyof dam.
For a crack initiates fromthe damheel, therere
twopossiblepropagationdirections, i.e., it mayprop-
agatealongtheconcrete-rockinterface, or itmaykink
into either thedambody or thefoundation. Its quite
common in safety evaluation of dams to assume an
interfacial cracking direction, however, its demon-
strated that a crack inclining into the foundation is
more dangerous. So its necessary to determine the
propagation scenario for crack initiating at the dam
heel sothat reliablesafety evaluationof thedamcan
beexpected. Whenusingfracturemechanics for this
problem,thestressfieldatthecracktipisinvolvedwith
multi singularityandoscillation, andthemodeI stress
intensityfactor andmodeII stressintensityfactor are
coupled, so the theory for homogeneous material in
fracturemechanicsisnot suitableanymore.
As a promising alternative, interfacial fracture
mechanicshasgainedpopularityduetotheever esca-
lating use of adhesive joints, composite laminates,
multilayered electronic devices, etc. In the field of
civil engineering, interfacial fracture mechanics is
employedmainlywhenarepair material isappliedto
aninfrastructuresystemafterrehabilitation. Besides, a
fewliteraturesonconcrete/concreteinterfaceandcon-
crete/rockinterfacecanbefound
[1][2]
.Asfar asexper-
imental studyonconcrete-rockinterfaceisconcerned,
Slowik et al designedrock/concretebimaterial speci-
mens subjectedto complex stress fieldandobtained
the crack trajectory, recorded the load-displacement
curves
[3]
. Huang et al performed thefractureexper-
iments of composite beamspecimens composed of
concrete and rock with a self-made loading instru-
ment, and obtained the critical fracture curves and
energy releaserateof theinterfacebetweenconcrete
703
androck, andthenconstructedthefracturecriteriafor
concrete-rockinterface
[4][5]
.
Inthepresentedpaper,inordertostudythecracking
behavior of concrete/rock interface, four-point-shear-
beamtest for composite materials is employed. The
spanof thespecimensiskeptconstant,whilethelength
of eachcomponent(concreteorrock)isvariedtoresult
indifferent modemix anglesat thetipof theprefab-
ricatedcracks. Maximumload, displacement of crack
mouth, failuremodeaswell asenergyreleaserateare
obtainedandanalyzed.
2 EXPERIMENT
2.1 Experimental scheme
The energy release rate G for interfaces is not a
material constant, instead its related to the mode
mixangle=atan(K
2
/K
1
), whichcanbeformulated
as G=(). K
1
and K
2
are stress intensity coeffi-
cients, therere coupled and have no straightforward
correspondenceto normal stress or shear stress. For
certain cases or under certain superstitions they can
be reduced to the stress intensity factors in fracture
mechanicsfor homogeneousmaterials
[6]
.
For thepurposeof studyingtheinterfacial cracking
behavior of concreteandrock, four-point-shear-beam
test isemployed. Prefabricatedcrack isintroducedat
onesideof thebeam. Thedetailsof thegeometryare
showninFig. 1andTable1. As canbeseen, part of
thespecimeniscomposedof concreteandtheremain-
derisrock.Thespanof concretereferstothelengthof
concreteinthelongitudinal direction, i.e., thedistance
betweenthecrack andtheright endof concrete; and
thespanof rocksimilarlyreferstothelengthof rock.
According to the cracking trajectory of four-point-
shear-beamof homogeneousmaterials, aswell asthe
fact that thestrengthandenergy releaserateof rock
are higher than those of concrete, the cracking path
canbeexpectedtobealongtheinterface. Byvarying
thespanscorrespondingtoconcreteandrock respec-
tively, themodemixangle canbeadjusted. Foreach
caseinthetable, four identical specimens havebeen
cast. By usingthequarter-point crack tipelementsin
FEM analysis, thestressintensitycoefficientsK
1
and
K
2
canbecomputed, withthemodemixangle vary-
ing between 3
to 79
, ranging correspondingly to
quasi purebendingtoquasi pureshear. Preciselypure
bendingisnotavailablesincethemismatchinmaterial
properties between concreteand rock always causes
shear part ontheinterface.
2.2 Specimens
Thespecimenconsistsof twopartswiththefirstmade
of concrete and the remainder made of rock. The
overall length of the specimen is 500mm. The rock
portion is incised first and concrete is cast over it
withtheright-side(seeFig. 1) of thespecimenbeing
upward. Fortheconcreteportion, themixproportionis
Figure1. Detailsof theexperimental setup.
Table1. Detailsof beams(tobecontinued).
LDB a0 C L1 C1
NO. mm
1 500100100 40 40 200 0
2 5
3 10
4 15
5 20
6 25
7 30
8 35
9 40
Table1. Detailsof beams(continued).
Spanof concrete Spanof rock
NO. mm K2/K1

1 250 250 0.05 3
2 255 245 0.10 6
3 260 240 0.27 15
4 265 235 0.44 24
5 270 230 0.72 36
6 275 225 1.03 46
7 280 220 1.46 56
8 285 215 2.65 69
9 290 210 4.93 79
1.00:0.50:1.13:2.28 (cement: water: fineaggregates:
coarseaggregates). 10cmconcretecubes arecast in
order todeterminetheuniaxial compressivestrengths
of the mix used and the 28-day strength measured
is 22.6MPa, which is consistent with conventional
damconcrete used in practice. The elastic modulus
of concrete is 27.85Gpa and the Poissons ratio is
0.178. Thecompressivestrength, elasticmodulusand
Poissons ratio of rock is 175Mpa, 29.47Gpa and
0.323respectively.
Itmaybementionedherethatthefracturebehavior
is influencedby theroughness of theinterface. Con-
sideringthefact that thedam-foundationinterfaceis
treatedtoincreaseitsroughness, soherebeforecasting
theconcreteportion, theinterfacehasbeenroughened.
704
But still whilehandlingthespecimens, special careis
takentoprevent fallingpossibledamage.
2.3 Testing of specimen
A closedloopservo-controlledtestingmachinehaving
acapacityof 100kNisusedfor thetests. A calibrated
50kN load cell is used for measuring the load. The
load-point displacement is measured using a LVDT.
Thecrackmouthopeningdisplacement (CMOD) and
thecrack mouth sliding displacement (CMSD) have
been measured using a clip gage. For stable crack
growth, the testing has been done under deforma-
tion control. The displacement of loading point has
been taken as the control parameters and increased
monotonicallythroughout thetest.
3 RESULTS
Through theexperiment setup, all thespecimens are
expected to crack right on theinterfaces. This is the
casefor most of thespecimens, but still for therest
thecracks kink intotherock spanandalsofailureof
supports arealso observed. Sincethis paper focuses
on interfacial cracking, the results presented below
only refer tothat relatedtospecimenscrackedonthe
interface, withthedamagemodeasanexception.
The results on critical vertical load, crack mouth
openingdisplacement (CMOD) & crack mouthslid-
ing displacement (CMSD), damage pattern as well
as energy release rate are presented, specially ana-
lyzed with regard to the mode mix angle. Its to be
noted that the cracks propagate quickly after peak
loadarereachedanddescendingsectionof theload-
displacement curves arenot well recorded, which is
alsotheusual casefor conventional four-point-shear-
beamtests.
3.1 Critical load
Withthechangeinlengthratiobetweenconcretespan
and rock span, indicating change in the mode mix
angle , the critical load for interfacial cracking is
observed to vary with certain tendency (Fig. 2). To
bespecific, for longer concretespanandaccordingly
shorter rock span, implyinglarger , thecritical load
P
tmax
is observedto berelatively small, andthetime
consumedfor thewholeloadingprocessisshortsince
displacementcontrol forloadinghasbeenused. When
becomessmaller, thecritical loadisincreased, and
the loading process costs more time. Correspond-
ingly, for larger , thecritical loadis observedto be
decreasing.
For four-point-shear-beam tests, the increase in
shear component can promotecracking of thespec-
imens. In the tests, for larger length ratio between
concretespanandrockspan, indicatingleftwardof the
prefabricatednotchinFig. 1, thereexists moreshear
stress at the tip of the notch, the beamfails at rela-
tively lowcritical load. Sothecritical loadsobtained
Figure2. Critical load(R=0.70).
Figure3. CMOD(R=0.94).
decreasewiththeincreaseof concretespan. Inaddi-
tion to that, since the strength of concrete is lower
that of rock, with theincreaseof concretespan, the
rock spanis decreased, causingdecreaseintheover-
all strengthof thecompositespecimen, whichfinally
failsat relativelylowcritical load.
3.2 CMOD&CMSD
Sincetheinterfacial crackinginthetestsisalwaysmix-
mode, thedisplacement at thecrack mouth includes
both CMOD and CMSD. When the length of con-
cretespanincreases, modemixanglealsoincreases,
CMODisobservedtodecreaseandalinear fittingis
employed.CMSDincreasesatfirstandthendecreases.
Thevariationof CMODandCMSDareshowninFig.3
and4respectively.
3.3 Damage pattern
The damage pattern of four-point-shear-beam tests
for homogeneousmaterialsisdependent onspecimen
geometry, loadingpositionandloadingprocedure. A
summary of the damage patterns of the presented
experiment islistedinTable2. A, B, C andDimplies
705
Figure4. CMSD(R=0.78).
Figure5. Interfacial cracking.
thefour specimensfor eachvalueof .Thecracksare
designedtopropagatetowardtherockspan, andsince
thestrengthandtoughnessof rockismuchhigherthan
thoseof concrete,thecrackswouldpropagatealongthe
interface. As expected, most specimens aredamaged
duetointerfacial cracking, asshowninFig. 5.
Inadditiontointerfacial crackingasexpected, few
other crackingpatternshavealsobeenobserved. This
generallyhappensforthecaseof shorterconcretespan,
which results in smaller mode mix angle and the
crackkinksintotherockspan(Fig. 6(a)). Thecritical
loadgetsveryhighinthiscase.
Inafewothercases, crushingof concreteatthesup-
portalsohappens, sothefinal failurearecausedbythe
Figure6. Other crackingpatterns.
Table2. List of crackingpatterns.
NO SpecimenA SpecimenB SpecimenC SpecimenD
1 R I R I
2 IS I I R
3 I I R I
4 RS RS I I
5 I R I IS
6 I I I I
7 I I I I
8 I I I I
9 I I I I
*IInterfacial cracking; RRockcracking, ISInterfacial
cracking& crushingof concreteat thesupport; RSRock
cracking& crushingof concreteat thesupport.
combinedeffect of interfacial cracking/rock cracking
andconcretecrushingnear thesupport (Fig. 6(a)(b)).
3.4 Energy release rate
Theenergyreleaserateof interfacial crackingiscom-
puted based on the critical load. So the variation of
energy releaseratewithmodemix angle issimilar
tothatof critical load.AscanbeseeninFig. 7, withthe
706
Figure7. Energyreleaserate(R=0.89).
increaseof angle, theenergyreleaseratedecreases
consistently.
4 CONCLUSION
Theinterfacial crackingproperties between concrete
androck arestudiedbasedonfour-point-shear-beam
tests. Influenceof modemixisinvestigatedbyvarying
thelengthof eachspan. Itisfoundthatthisexperimen-
tal formis efficient for studyinginterfacial cracking
by allowing for variation almost frompure bending
to pure shearing, but the descending section of the
load-displacement curveisdifferent tocapture.
With theincreaseof modemix angle, which is
achievedbyincreasingtheconcretespananddecreas-
ing the rock span, the following observations have
been made. Thecritical load for interfacial cracking
decreases partly dueto increasein shear component
andpartlyduetodecreaseintheoverall bearingcapac-
ity of the composite beam. CMOD is observed to
be decrease linearly. CMSD increases at first and
thendecreases. Inmostcasesinterfacial crackingtook
placeasexpected,butwhenthegetsmaller,thecrack
maykinkintotherock. Andcrushingof concretenear
thesupporthasalsobeenobserved.Energyreleaserate
for interfacial crackingdecreaseswhenthemodemix
angleincreases.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Financial support fromtheNational ScienceFounda-
tionof China(51009019) isgreatlyappreciated.
REFERENCES
[1] Santosh G. Shah, J.M. Chandra Kishen. Frac-
ture behavior of concrete-concrete interface using
acoustic emission technique. Engineering Fracture
Mechanics77(2010), 908924.
[2] Santosh G. Shah, J.M. ChandraKishen. Nonlinear
fractureproperties of concrete-concreteinterfaces.
Mechanicsof Materials42(2010), 916931.
[3] Volker Slowik, J.M. Chandra Kishen, Victor E.
Saouma, Mixedmodefractureof cementitous bio-
material interfaces; Part I: experimental results.
Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 60(1): 8394,
1998.
[4] Z. Li, S. M. Huang, Z. J ian, Studyonthecurveof I-
II mixed-modefracturebetweenconcreteandrock.
[J ]. Engineering Mechanics Supplement (1997),
553557(inChinese)
[5] Z. Li, H. B. Zhang, Z. J ian, S. M. Huang, X. C. Zhao,
Study on the fracture of interface crack between
rock andmotar. [J ]. J ournal of DalianUniversityof
Technology8(1997), 5760(inChinese)
[6] J. Q. Xu, The interface mechanics. Science Press
(2006).
707
In-planebucklinganalysisof funicular archeswithpinnedsupports
J. Zhu& M.M. Attard
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales Sydney, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: Bucklingbehaviourof funiculararchesisinvestigatedanalyticallyandnumericallyinthispaper.
Afinitestrainformulationwithsheardeformationsisdevelopedinadditiontothebendingandaxial deformations.
Timoshenkobeamhypothesisisadoptedfor incorporatingshear. Theconstitutiverelationsfor stressandfinite
strainarebasedonahyperelasticconstitutivemodel.Virtual workandequilibriumequationsarederived. Closed
formbuckling solutions arederived for thefunicular arches under hydrostatic pressure. Theeffects of axial
deformation prior to buckling and shear deformations are included. Two typical kinds of funicular arches,
parabolicandcatenaryarches, arestudiedbasedonthederivedformulations. Thesolutionsarecomparedwith
Dinniksnumerical solutionsandANSYSresults. Theeffectsof shear deformationarealsoevaluated.
1 INTRODUCTION
For acurvedmember, if thereisnoshear andnobend-
ingmomentsalongthewholelengthof thearch, that
curved member is called a momentless or funicular
arch. Inthefunicular arch, theonlyloadthat existsis
theaxial force. Therefore, oneof themostnoteworthy
advantages of that kindof archis that it canprevent
thefailureduetotensionandshear deformation. Soa
multitudeof materialsthatcansufferfromagreatdeal
of compressiveloadbut cannot affordtoo muchten-
silestressor shear forcecanbeusedonthefunicular
archesandachievetheir full potential.
Early in 1960s, Timoshenko & Gere (1963) pro-
vided numerical buckling solutions based on the
investigation of Dinnik (1955) for two typical kinds
of funicular arches parabolic and catenary arches
respectively. Tadjbakhsh (1980) derived the govern-
ingequationsof afunicular curveandconsideredthe
funicular archproblemunder gravitational typeloads.
Healsostudiedtheoptimumdesignof funiculararches
of variablecross sections. Rozvany & Wang (1983),
Vanderplaats & Han (1990) and Wang et al (2002)
studiedtheoptional shapesof funicular archesunder
vertical loads. For somespecial cases and shapes of
funicular arches, thebucklingsolutionhasbeenstud-
ied (Cai & Feng (2010) and Bradford et al (2007)).
However, sofar therehasnot beenawidely accepted
analytical solutionfor all kindsof funicular arches.
This paper aims to formulatetheanalytical model
includingsheareffectsforthein-planeelasticstability
of funicular archeswithpinnedsupports. Besides, the
bucklingbehaviour of parabolic andcatenary arches
with pinned supports under hydrostatic pressure is
studied analytically and numerically. The obtained
solutionsarecomparedwiththeresultsintheliterature
andANSYSresults.
2 DISPLACEMENT MODEL FOR CURVED
MEMBERS
2.1 Strains
Consider a curved beam with a prismatic cross-
section. Thedistancealongthereferenceaxisdefines
thecoordinates. Anaxis perpendicular to thelength
coordinatelinedefinesasecondcoordinatet.Theposi-
tion vector s of a point on the material lines of the
curvedbeambeforedeformationcanbedescribedby:
where x and y are the coordinates of the reference
axis withrespect to arectangular coordinatesystem.
Theangle
o
is theanglemadeby thetangent to the
referenceaxiswiththepositivedirectionof thexaxis.
The symbols e
1
and e
2
denote unit base vectors
associatedwitheachof thetwoaxesof aplanar rect-
angular referenceframe. Unlikeastraight beameach
of the material lines along the beams length are of
differentlength.Themetrictensor componentsfor the
undeformedshapearetherefore:
Boththecovariantandcontravariantsetof basevec-
torsareorthogonal.TheTimoshenkoBeamhypothesis
for beambendingwithshear isadoptedhere.Anypla-
nar cross-sectionperpendicular totheinitial reference
axiswill remainplanar but isnot perpendicular tothe
709
referenceaxis as thebeamdeforms under load. The
cross-sectionsperpendicular tothereferenceaxisare
assumedtoundergonostrainwithinthecross-section
plane.Therotationanglebetweenthetangentbasevec-
tor g
s
inthedeformedstateandtheinitial tangentbase
vector g
s
intheundeformedstateisdenotedby +
o
whichconsistsof abendingcomponent andashear
component
o
.
Two displacements are required to describe the
deformation. The covariant components are denoted
byu
t
andu
s
. Thedisplacement component u
t
isinthe
directionof t whilethedisplacement component u
s
is
tangential to the reference axis fibers of the curved
beam. v(s) isthedisplacementof thereferenceaxisin
thet directionandu
o
(s) isthetangential displacement
of thereferenceaxis. Theangle(s) istherotationof
thecross-section. Thecovariantandcontravariantdis-
placementcomponentsu
t
andu
t
areequal becausethe
covariant andcontravariant basevectorsarethesame.
Thedisplacement vector istherefore:
Thecovariant tangent basevectorsinthedeformed
statecanbedetermined:
where
The unit normal to the cross-sectional plane is
denoted by n and can be determined fromEqn (5),
that is:
Using Eqns (4) & (5), the relative stretch in the
tangential directionof thereferenceaxisistherefore:
Figure1. DeformedArchElement.
Figure1showsadifferential segment of therefer-
enceaxisof lengthds whichundergoesdeformationso
thatpointA movestoA
andpointBmovestoB
.Also
displayedis theorientationanddefinitionof thedis-
placementderivatives u
o,s
& v
,s
whicharetakeninthe
tangential andradial directions, respectively, defined
atA. FromEqns(4) wecanobtainatthereferenceaxis
(t =0):
Equation (10) can beused to establish thecurvature
d
ds
that is:
EmployingEqns(4), (5) &(7), thephysical normal
andshear componentsof thelongitudinal stretchcan
bederivedandthenexpandingthemto secondorder
givesfor thenormal andshear strains:
2.2 Stresses
Althoughthedeformationis linear, therelativeelon-
gationsarehyperbolic becausethefibersthroughthe
depthof thearchcross-sectionhavedifferent lengths.
The constitutive laws for the physical Lagrangian
stresses normal S
ss
and tangential S
st
to the beam
cross-section, respectively, aregivenby:
710
where

E =2G +, =
2G
(12)
is theLamconstant
and isthePoissonsratio.Thesestressesareinagree-
ment with Reissners proposal for beamactions (see
Reissner (1972), Attard(2003)). Thematerial param-
eter governing the normal stress is not the elastic
modulusE aswouldbeexpectedfor auniaxial stress
state.Thisisbecausetheassumedtwodimensional dis-
placements restrain the dilation of the cross-section
shape which is associated with lateral stresses not
presentunderauniaxial stressstate(seeAttard(2003),
AttardandHunt (2008)). A further approximationin
beamtheory is to replace

E by E. The constitutive
relationshipsfortheinternal actionscanthenbedeter-
mined by defining the internal actions as the stress
resultantsover thecross-sectionthus:
2.3 Stress resultants
Theinternal actions on thecross-sectional planeare
definedby:
whereN istheaxial forcedefinedperpendiculartothe
cross-sectional plane, Q is theshear forcealong the
cross-sectional planeand M is thebending moment
definedby thestresses normal to thecross-sectional
plane.
Then, theinternal actionsarethefollowing:
IntheabovewehavereplacedG
A byG
A
s
where
A
s
istheshear area.
Thephysical stresses can berewritten in terms of
theinternal actions, hence:
3 VIRTUAL WORK
Thevirtual work W intermsof thephysical stresses
isgivenby:
withV beingthevolumeintheundeformedstate, S the
surfacewheretheexternallyappliedconservativetrac-
tionvector p acts, kinematicallyadmissiblevariations
denotedbythesymbol anddisplacement vector u.
Hereweconsider conservativedistributedloadsp
s
andp
t
inthetangential andradial directions, respec-
tively, appliedat thelevel of thereferenceaxis. Note
p
s
andp
t
havebeendefinedhereasphysical quantities
for convenience. Theloadingvector isthengivenby:
SubstitutingEqns(16), (18) & (20) into(19), inte-
grating over the cross-section gives the following
equilibriumequations:
4 FUNICULAR SHAPESANDASSOCIATED
LOADING
4.1 Equilibrium
A funicular shape is one where the loading pro-
duces for the linear solution, zero shear and bend-
ing moments everywhere within a beam. Here we
derivethegoverningequationsthatdefinedafunicular
shapeanditsassociatedloading. Consider aprismatic
curvedbeamunderapplieddistributedloadsp
s
andp
t
.
The linearized equilibrium equations derived from
Eqns(21) to(23) are:
Taking the shear and bending moments as zero
reducesEqns(24) to:
4.2 Parabolic arch
Consider now the case of uniformly applied gravity
loadsuchthat thedistributedloadingisdefinedby:
711
where q is a distributed gravity load per arc length.
SubstitutingEqns(26) into(25) gives:
Solving these equilibriumequations for the axial
forceandtheshapefunctiony(x), resultsin:
where

C
1
&

C
2
areconstants. Therefore
Theconstant

C
1
hasunitsof inverseforce. For any
loadingq, Eqns(29)determinestheshapeof thefunic-
ularcurveandtheaxial force. Inthecaseof aparabolic
archdefinedby:
whereh istheapexheight andL isthespanandwith
boundary conditions (x =0, y =h),

x =
L
2
, y =0
&
x =0,
dy
dx
=0
. The loading that induces only pure

compressionisauniformlydistributedgravityload q
per unit horizontal runsuchthat qdx =qds. For the
parabolicarchunder thisfunicular loading, wehave:
4.3 Catenary arch
A prismatic catenary under a uniformly distributed
load along the axis of the arch is a well-known
funicular curve. Theshapefor thistypeof archis:
Thesameboundaryconditionsasfor theparabolic
arch are used. The parameter a is a constant which
canbedeterminedfor aparticular archspanandapex
height.Theaxial forceandmaximumaxial forceatthe
baseof thearchx =
L
2
wouldthenbe:
5 BUCKLINGOF FUNICULARARCHESWITH
PINNEDSUPPORTS
Consider a prismatic funicular arch under a conser-
vative applied distributed loading which induces an
initial axial load N
o
. As discussed above, the pre-
buckling deformations produceno bending or shear.
To ascertain thebucklingload, weapply small kine-
maticallyadmissiblevariationsdenotedbythesymbol
of thedisplacement field. Wefurther assumehere
thatthepre-bucklingdeformationsarenotsignificant.
Takingvariationsof theequilibriumequations(21) to
(23) andincorporatingEqns(24) gives:
For astaticallydeterminateproblemunder conser-
vativeloads, suchasfor asimply supportedarch, the
variationsof theinternal forcesinthexandydirections
arebothzeroandwecanderive:
If weassumeN
o
tobeconstant (independent of s)
and equal to themaximumaxial forceN
max
in the
arch, thenthesolutiontothesecondorder differential
equationEqn(39) issimply:
whereC
3
andC
4
areconstants. Thususingtheconsti-
tutiveequations, gives:
For an arch with pinned supports at the ends
s =0& s
, thebendingmomentsarezeroat eachend
andtherefore:
712
Theparameters
isthelengthof thearch.Theeigen-
mode for the bending and shear angles are cosine
functions, thus:
CombiningEqns(37), (6), (10), (43) andthecondi-
tionsv(
o
)=v(
o
)=u(
o
)=u(
o
)=0,gives
thefollowingequation:
Thefunctionintheintegral mustbeanoddfunction
and thereforetheinteger n must bean even integer.
Thus, rewritingEqn(42) wehave:
Thecritical bucklingloadisthenthesolutiontothe
followingquadratic:
The solution to the quadratic equation above for
bucklingload, whichincorporatestheaxial deforma-
tion prior to buckling and shear deformation during
buckling, isthen:
To obtainmoreaccurateestimates of thebuckling
loadwetransformEqn(39) makinguseof Eqn(29)
N
o
=
ds
dx
1
C
1
andchangingtheindependent variableto
x, therefore:
TheGalerkinmethodappliedtotheaboveequation
canbeemployedtofindestimatesof thebucklingload.
Theapproximationfor theeigenmodefor thebending
angleis chosen for pinned supports and to meet the
requirementsof Eqns(43) and(45) as:
Thetermsa
1
anda
2
areundeterminedparameters.
6.1 Buckling load
The normalized buckling load for the parabolic and
catenary arches according to Eqns (31), (32) and
(47) is shown in Figure 2. Considering the variable
axial loadandusingGalerkinmethod, thenumerical
solutions for theparabolic and catenary arches with
pinned supports are also obtained as shown in Fig-
ure2. Comparingtheresultsunder different ratiosof
h/L, it is found that the highest critical load occurs
around0.3for bothfunicular archeswithhingedsup-
ports. Therefore, the parabolic and catenary arches
withtheratioof h/L around0.3aremuchmoreappro-
priatewhen designing thestructures as thearch can
affordahigher load. Inaddition, theanalytical solu-
tionislower thanthenumerical solutionby Galerkin
method. It is becausetheanalytical results arebased
on themaximumaxial loadwhich makes theresults
conservative. Besides, comparingthesolutionsof the
parabolic andcatenary arch, it is shownthat thecrit-
ical load for the parabolic arches is a bit higher
thantheloadfor thecatenary arches under thesame
condition.
Sofarfewpeoplehavestudiedfuniculararchesand
therehasnotbeenawidelyacceptedandaccuratesolu-
tion for the funicular arches. Most of the solutions
for thefunicular archesarenumerical results. Oneof
themost classicnumerical solutionsfor theparabolic
andcatenaryarchesisdeterminedbyDinnik(1955) as
describedbyTimoshenko& Gere(1963). Hisresults
arealsoplottedinFigure2.
ANSYS is also employed to investigatethebuck-
ling of theparabolic and catenary arches. Thebeam
element BEAM 188 is used. The rectangular cross-
section is used and the length and width are both
1mm. ThespanL is 100mm. Thenthesolutions for
theparabolicandcatenaryarcheswithdifferentratios
of theheight tospanareobtainedandcomparedwith
theresultsaboveinFigure2.Accordingtothecompa-
rationbetweendifferent solutions, it isfoundthat the
numerical solutions by Galerkin method agree with
ANSYSresultsmuchbetter, especiallyinthesignifi-
cant region0.2to0.4. Theanalytical solutionismore
conservativebecauseitisbasedonthemaximumaxial
loadinthearch.
Figure 2. Normalized buckling load: (a) parabola;
(b) catenary.
713
Figure 3. Normalized buckling load: (a) parabola;
(b) catenary.
Figure4. Differencebetweenbucklingloads.
6.2 Shear effects
Theshear deformationinbucklinghasbeenasubject
of debate. In solutions for the funicular arches with
hingedsupports, theshear deformationisconsidered.
Toinvestigatetheinfluenceof theshear deformation,
thefiniteelementpackageANSYSisemployedagain.
BEAM 188isusedtoanalyzethebucklingbehaviour
of theparabolic andcatenary arches. Theelement is
based on Timoshenko beamtheory which includes
shear-deformationeffects.Thecross-sectionisI shape
instead of the rectangle to consider the influence of
theshear deformation. 100 elements areused to get
accurate results. The ratio of h to l is set as 0.8 to
both of the arches. Figure 3 illustrates the solutions
basedonEqn(47) andANSYS results as afunction
of thearchslendernessfor threeaxial toshear rigidity
ratios
EA
GA
s
=3, 25and100. Figure4showsthediffer-
ence between the solutions based on Eqn (47) with
shear deformationandtheclassical solutionswithout
consideringshear deformation.
Allen (1970) studied the shear deformation on
sandwich panels and provided a slenderness limit
for thebeamtheory, whichisgivenas:
Theslendernessbelowthelimit wouldnot besuit-
able. The slenderness limits for the parabolic and
catenaryarchesareplottedinFigure3.
As we can see fromthe figures above, the nor-
malizedbucklingloadby classical solutions without
shear deformationislarger thanthesolutionsconsid-
ering the shear deformation. The difference of both
solutionsincreaseswiththeaxial toshear rigidityand
decreaseswiththeriseof theslenderness. Inaddition,
thebuckling capacity increases with decreaseof the
axial toshear rigidity. Besides, nominalizedbuckling
loaddropswiththeincreaseof theslenderness.
7 CONCLUSION
Theoretical analyses for the buckling behaviour of
funicular arches with pinned supports under hydro-
staticpressurehavebeenconductedinthispaper. The
analytical solutionhas beenderivedfor thebuckling
of funicular arches. The buckling of parabolic and
catenaryarchesisinvestigatedanalyticallyandnumer-
ically based on thederived formulations. It is found
that theparabolic and catenary arches with theratio
of h/L around0.3aremuchmoreappropriateas the
highest critical loadoccursat theratioaround0.3for
botharches. Comparingdifferentsolutions, itisshown
thatthenumerical solutionsbyGalerkinmethodagree
withANSYSresultsmuchbetter, especiallyinthesig-
nificant regionfrom0.2to0.4. Thederivedanalytical
solutionismoreconservativethanothersbecauseitis
basedonthemaximumaxial loadinthearch.Theshear
deformationisalsostudiedinthearch. Thebuckling
capacity increaseswithdecreaseof theaxial toshear
rigidity. Thedifferenceof solutionsincreaseswiththe
axial to shear rigidity and decreases with theriseof
theslenderness.
REFERENCES
Allen, H.G. 1970. Analysis of sandwichpanels: thesignifi-
canceof shear deformation. Composites 1(4): 215220.
Attard, M.M. & Hunt, G.W. 2008. Column Buckling with
Shear Deformations A HyperelasticFormulation. Inter-
national Journal of Solids and Structures 45(1415):
43224339.
Attard, M.M. 2003. FiniteStrain-BeamTheory. International
Journal of Solids and Structures 40(17): 45634584.
Bradford, M.A. et al. 2007. In-plane stability of parabolic
archeswithhorizontal springsupports. I: Theory. Journal
of Structural Engineering 133(8): 11301137.
Cai, J. &Feng, J. 2010. Bucklingof parabolicshallowarches
when support stiffens under compression. Mechanics
Research Communications 37(5): 467471.
Dinnik, A.N. 1955. Buckling and Torsion. Moscow.
Reissner, E. 1972. OnOne-Dimensional Finite-StrainBeam
Theory: thePlaneProblem. Journal of Applied Mathemat-
ics and Physics 23: 795804.
Rozvany, G.I.N. & Wang, C.M. 1983. On plane Prager-
structures-I. International Journal of Mechanical Sci-
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Timoshenko, S.P. & Gere, J.M. 1961. Theory of Elastic
Stability. New York: McGraw-Hill International Book
Company.
Vanderplaats, G.N. &Han, S. H. 1990.Archshapeoptimiza-
tion using forceapproximation methods. Structural and
Multidisciplinary Optimization 2(4): 193201.
Wang, C.M. & Wang, C.Y. 2002. Funicular shapes for sub-
mergedarches. Journal of Structural Engineering 128(2):
266270.
714
New design and construction technologies
Structural performanceunder lateral loadsof innovativeprefabricated
modular structures
TharakaGunawardena, TuanNgo, PriyanMendis& LuAye
Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Australia
J oseAlfano
Fender Katsalidis Architects, Australia
ABSTRACT: Speedof constructionandcost effectivenessarecritical criteriawhichthemodernconstruction
industrypaysasignificantamountof attentionon. InnovativePrefabricatedModular Structuresareincreasingly
provingto beaprospectivestrategy that canbeusedto achievethesegoals. However, thereis anabsenceof
detailedengineeringresearchor casestudies dealingwiththestructural performanceof this technology. This
paper givesabrief overviewof prefabricatedmodular structuresandtheloadtransfer mechanismsandaimsto
elaborateontheperformanceof thestructures, built usingthistechnology, whensubjectedtolateral loadssuch
aswindandearthquakeloads.
A case study is presented in the paper for a multi-storey apartment building which is constructed using
prefabricated modules. Thestructural systemincluding thestructural members of themodular units and the
main super structure is modelled and the performance is checked under lateral loads (wind and earthquake
loads). The structural analysis is carried out using 3D finite element analysis techniques with the aid of a
computer model.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Prefabricated modular structures have progressed a
great amount sinceearly 20thcentury tomodernfull
scale multi-storey constructions. Due to fast deliv-
ery and convenience on site this technology has a
great potential inchangingconventional construction
methodsat arapidrate.
Prefabricated building modules (such as apart-
ments, officespacesetc.)canbefullyconstructedwith
architectural finishesandservicesinsideaqualitycon-
trolledfactoryenvironment, readytobeassembledon
siteto formaloadbearingstructure. Most manufac-
turerswill nowadayscater for anyarchitectural design
of the spatial arrangement by designing innovative
modular unitsaccordingly.
The technology also contributes immensely in
reducingconstructionwasteandimpact ontheenvi-
ronment, thusenhancingsustainabilityimplicationsof
moderndayconstructions. Prefabricationof buildings
hasproventoreduceconstructionwastebyupto52%
(J aillon et al., 2009) mainly through means of min-
imisedoff-cuts(Osmani etal., 2006). Thisinturnwill
result insignificantlyimprovedenergy, cost andtime
efficiencyof construction.
Inorder toreducelifecycleenvironmental impacts
of buildings, their servicelifeshouldbeextendedas
muchaspossible(LuAyeet al., 2007). Thedurability
of thestructureplays animportant roleinextending
itsservicelife. For example, thestructureof commer-
cial buildingsinAustraliaistypicallydesignedtolast
50years(100yearsinsomecases); however theaver-
ageservicelifeof buildingsintheMelbourneCBDis
closer to25years.Thisfigureisbasedontheobserva-
tionthatmostmajorrefurbishmentsordeconstructions
of office buildings in Melbourne happen within the
first20to30yearsof thebuildingslife.Thelifecycle
environmental impactscanbesignificantlycutdownif
thestructural components of abuildingaredesigned
to be durable and reusable. Innovative prefabricated
modular structurescouldplay amajor roleinachiev-
ingthisthroughimprovedstructural connectionsthat
ensureeasydisassemblingthusefficient reusability.
Themodularsystemshavealreadybeenusedonlow
rise structures around the world. The research aims
to eventually develop the technology to be used on
mediumand high rise structures as a time and cost
effectiveas well as asustainablesolution. Themain
focus will be on investigating the behaviour of the
systemagainst lateral loads such as wind and earth-
quakeloads whichwill governtheperformanceof a
tall structure. This paper gives aninitial overviewof
howthesystemmayperformunderlateral loads,which
will assistinfuturestudiesintomoredetailedaspects,
asmentionedinsection3(Discussionof Resultsand
ConcludingRemarks). Thisiscarriedoutwiththeaid
of acasestudyasdescribedinsection2(CaseStudy).
717
1.2 Features of the system
As modern architecture comes with innovative
designs, thesystemwill not rely on afixed module.
A building designer is free to lay out a building in
theconventional manner to suit aclients desireand
therequirements of themarket. Thebuildingis then
adjustedanddividedinto units that areinwidthand
lengthsuitablefor transportationandliftingintoposi-
tion by crane on site. The features of such building
units(modules) areasfollows:
Theunitscanincorporateall componentsof abuild-
ing including stairs, lift shafts, facades, corridors
andservices
The units are constructed in a quality controlled
production facility. A units length, width and
height canvaryfromproject toproject
Figure1. The10storeybuildingusedfor thecasestudy.
Figure2. Architectural layout of atypical floor (FKA, 2009).
Thereisminimal workonsitetocompletethebuild-
ingsasthefaadeandinteriorsthemselvesformpart
of units
Modules can easily be removed from the main
structurefor futurereuseor relocation.
2 CASE STUDY
2.1 Methodology
A multi-storey apartment building which is con-
structed in Melbourne using prefabricated modular
structuresasamainstructural component(Figures1&
2) is taken as the case study to evaluate the perfor-
manceof thesystemunder lateral loads.
The structure has a cast-in-situ reinforced con-
cretegroundfloor, first floor slab, foundationandlift
core. Theprefabricatedmodulesarestackedontopof
thereinforcedconcretestructure. A planviewof the
stackedunits inatypical floor is showninFigure3.
Columns and beams that make up the load trans-
ferring systemare part of the prefabricated module
(Figures4& 5).
ThestructureismodelledinETABSasa3Dfinite
element model (Figures 6& 7). Inaneffort toarrive
at an initial understanding on the general behaviour
of thesystem, differentsystemsaremodelledasgiven
below:
Model A Structureismodelledsothatall elements
areconnectedwitharigiddiaphragmrepresenting
rigidconnectionsbetweenmembers
Model B Structure is modelled so that all ele-
ments areconnected with asemi-rigid diaphragm
representing more flexible connections between
members
718
Model C Structureismodelledassumingthepre-
fabricatedmodulesasnotparticipatinginthelateral
load resisting system. The structure is modelled
withoutarigidor semi-rigiddiaphragmconnecting
theelements.
2.2 Structural analysis
All threemodelsareanalysedagainst earthquakeand
windloadsinthefollowingmanner:
Staticanddynamicearthquakeanalysiscarriedout
accordingtoAS1170.4: 2007
Static wind analysis carried out according to AS
1170.2: 2011
2.2.1 Earthquake analysis
Theearthquakeanalysis is carried out as adynamic
response spectrumanalysis as well as a static anal-
ysis according to AS 1170.4: 2007 considering the
followingparameters:
SiteSubSoil Class=C
K
p
=1.0
HazardFactor (Z)=0.08
Structural performancefactor (S)=0.77
Structural DuctilityFactor ()=2
Eccentricity(all diaphragm)=0.1
Dampingratio=0.03
SeismicMass=
(G
i
+0.3Q
i
)
The response spectrum in X direction is named
SpecX andthat inY directionisnamedSpecY and
each response spectrumcase imparts a 30% action
onthesecondarydirection. Thestaticearthquakeload
case in X direction is named EQX and that in Y
directionisnamedEQY.
2.2.2 Wind analysis
Windanalysisiscarriedoutasastaticanalysisfollow-
ingAS1170.2: 2011, withthefollowingassumptions:
TerrainCategory=4
Dampingration=0.03
PositiveX-directionistakenastheNorth.
Figure3. Structural layout of theprefabricatedmodulesonplanfor atypical floor (FKA, 2009).
Figure4. Planviewfromthetop(left) andbottom(right)
of atypical modular unit (FKA, 2009).
Figure 5. A 3D view of a typical prefabricated module
(FKA, 2009).
719
Figure6. 3Dmodel developedinETABS.
Figure7. Diaphragmextent of atypical floor (Note: The
diaphragmis used as a Rigid diaphragmand a Semi-rigid
Diaphragmfor ModelsA andB respectively).
2.3 Results
2.3.1 Earthquake analysis results
Resultsfromtheresponsespectrumanalysisfor base
shear and storey drifts arelisted as follows for each
model.
2.3.2 Wind analysis results
Results fromthe static wind analysis for base shear
andstoreydriftsareasfollowsfor eachmodel.
3 DISCUSSIONOF RESULTSAND
CONCLUDINGREMARKS
Ingeneral, ascanbeexpectedfromalow-mediumrise
structuresuchastheoneconsidered, staticearthquake
loads govern the global behaviour of the structure
under lateral loads.
The lack of a rigid diaphragmin Models B and
C makethemmuch moreflexiblethan ausual rigid
frame. As aresult, Models B and C with semi-rigid
diaphragmsandnodiaphragmsemployedrespectively,
attract much less baseshears compared to Model A
whichhasrigiddiaphragms.Thiseffectisshowninall
consideredlateral forcescenarioshere.
Table1. Resultsfromresponsespectrumearthquakeanal-
ysis BaseShear.
SpecX Base SpecY Base
shear(kN) Shear(kN)
Model V
x
V
y
V
x
V
y
Model A 1091 861 720 963
Model B 350 147 152 143
Model C 254 113 96 114
Table 2. Results fromstatic earthquake analysis Base
Shear.
EQX Base EQY Base
shear(kN) Shear(kN)
Model V
x
V
y
V
x
V
y
Model A 1880 281 35 1208
Model B 1453 58 2 1377
Model C 1402 84 118 1786
The drifts resulting against static wind and static
earthquakecasesforModel Barefairlyhighandabove
1.5%as specifiedinAS 1170.4: 2007, possibly as a
result of changing rigidity between the diaphragms
employedbetweenthein-situconcretefloor at Level
1andthesemi-rigiddiaphragmsthat areemployedat
thefloorsaboveit.
However, Model C with no diaphragms acting on
thefloorswithmodular units, showfairlyhighstorey
driftsfor staticwindanddynamicearthquakeforces.
Takingthebaseshearandstoreydriftresultsingen-
eral intoconsideration, it canbeseenthat theresults
are fairly close for Models B and C. This gives an
indication that thestructuredoes behavein aregion
in-betweenwherethefloorscanbeconsideredassemi-
rigid diaphragms and where the floors do not show
diaphragmbehaviour.
Theseresultswill beimportanttocarrytheresearch
forward with theintention of developing thesystem
to beusedfor high-risebuildings. Takingtheresults
obtainedhereasastartingplatformthefollowingareas
will be studied in detail in the future stages of the
researchwiththeuseof moreadvancedanalysistools:
An in-depth analysis into the flexible or rigid
behaviour of connections
Further detailed analysis of rigid or semi-rigid
diaphragmbehaviour of floors
Sufficiency of connections currently used against
theshear forces resultingfromtheearthquakeand
windanalyses
Performanceof thesystemagainstblastandimpact
loads
Innovative methods to improve the lateral load
resisting system to be employed on high-rise
structures
720
Table3. Resultsfromresponsespectrumearthquakeanalysis StoreyDrifts Model A, B andC.
SpecX Drifts SpecY Drifts
Drift X DriftY Drift X DriftY
Model
Level A (%) B (%) C (%) A (%) B (%) C (%) A (%) B (%) C (%) A (%) B (%) C (%)
Roof 0.14 0.24 0.34 0.22 0.41 0.30 0.22 0.11 0.13 0.33 0.52 0.36
Storey8 0.14 0.15 0.12 0.28 0.24 0.15 0.22 0.09 0.05 0.44 0.49 0.33
Storey7 0.16 0.22 0.17 0.32 0.38 0.23 0.24 0.14 0.08 0.47 0.73 0.50
Storey6 0.18 0.29 0.21 0.36 0.47 0.28 0.25 0.18 0.10 0.48 0.77 0.53
Storey5 0.19 0.34 0.25 0.37 0.53 0.31 0.26 0.22 0.12 0.49 0.76 0.49
Storey4 0.19 0.37 0.27 0.35 0.52 0.30 0.26 0.25 0.12 0.49 0.76 0.44
Storey3 0.18 0.39 0.28 0.32 0.51 0.28 0.24 0.27 0.13 0.46 0.83 0.46
Storey2 0.13 0.49 0.39 0.23 0.42 0.23 0.18 0.23 0.14 0.34 0.72 0.40
Storey1 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Table4. Resultsfromstaticearthquakeanalysis StoreyDrifts Model A, B andC.
EQX Drifts EQY Drifts
Model
Roof 0.35 0.49 0.78 0.36 0.14 0.42 0.12 0.14 0.09 0.34 0.80 2.29
Storey8 0.36 0.48 0.51 0.52 0.12 0.16 0.13 0.05 0.10 0.42 1.02 1.41
Storey7 0.42 0.66 0.76 0.63 0.14 0.29 0.16 0.10 0.16 0.47 1.30 1.87
Storey6 0.46 0.86 0.99 0.72 0.18 0.41 0.18 0.13 0.20 0.52 1.54 2.46
Storey5 0.49 1.03 1.19 0.80 0.22 0.50 0.20 0.16 0.24 0.53 1.75 2.92
Storey4 0.48 1.13 1.31 0.79 0.22 0.51 0.20 0.18 0.26 0.51 1.70 2.93
Storey3 0.43 1.20 1.39 0.72 0.21 0.50 0.17 0.19 0.26 0.43 1.59 2.85
Storey2 0.30 1.58 1.61 0.49 0.15 0.42 0.11 0.17 0.22 0.28 1.07 2.33
Storey1 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Table5. Resultsfromstaticwindanalysis BaseShear.
WindX (kN) WindY (kN)
Model V
x
V
y
V
x
V
y
Model A 480 70 228 1058
Model B 290 29 50 824
Model C 260 20 67 586
Table6. Resultsfromstaticwindanalysis StoreyDrifts Model A, B andC.
WindX Drifts WindY Drifts
Model
Roof 0.03 0.03 0.06 0.04 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.02 0.03 0.12 0.02 0.69
Storey8 0.04 0.92 0.04 0.05 0.03 0.02 0.06 0.02 0.02 0.16 0.02 0.40
Storey7 0.04 1.06 0.07 0.07 0.06 0.03 0.07 0.02 0.03 0.19 0.02 0.56
Storey6 0.05 1.26 0.09 0.08 0.08 0.04 0.09 0.03 0.03 0.22 0.03 0.79
Storey5 0.05 1.56 0.12 0.09 0.10 0.05 0.11 0.04 0.04 0.25 0.04 1.02
Storey4 0.05 1.81 0.14 0.09 0.12 0.05 0.11 0.04 0.04 0.26 0.04 1.14
Storey3 0.05 2.17 0.15 0.09 0.15 0.05 0.11 0.04 0.04 0.25 0.04 1.25
Storey2 0.04 6.15 0.15 0.06 0.21 0.04 0.08 0.04 0.04 0.18 0.04 1.00
Storey1 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
721
Materials fromdifferent reinforcedconcrete, steel
andtimber gradestovariouscompositesthatcanbe
usedfor theconstructionof prefabricatedmodules.
REFERENCES
AS 1170.2: 2007: Structural Design Actions. Part 2: Wind
Actions, StandardsAustralia, NewSouthWales.
AS 1170.4: 2007: Structural Design Actions. Part 4: Earth-
quake Actions in Australia, Standards Australia, New
SouthWales.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2003) National Accounts
2000-01, Cat. No. 5206.0,AustralianBureauof Statistics,
Canberra.
CIRIA (1999) Standardisation and Pre-assembly Adding
Value to Construction Projects, Report 176, CIRIA,
London, UK.
Crowther, P. (1999) Design for Disassembly to Recover
EmbodiedEnergy, Proceedings of the16thInternational
Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture,
Melbourne, September.
Faniran, O.O. and Caban, G. (1998) Minimising Waste on
Construction Project Sites, Engineering, Construction
and Architectural Management, 5(2), 182188.
FKA (2009) Architectural Plans of Russell PlaceDevelop-
ment, Fender KatsalidisArchitects.
Graham, P. and Smithers, G. (1996) Construction Waste
Minimisation for Australian Residential Development,
Asia Pacific Journal of Building and Construction Man-
agement, 2(1), 1419.
J aillon, L., Poon, C.S. and Chiang, Y.H. (2009) Quantify-
ing the Waste Reduction Potential of Using Prefabri-
cation in Building Construction in Hong Kong, Waste
Management, 29(1), 309320.
Lu Aye, Mirza, M.A. and Robinson, J.R.W. (2007) Life
CycleGreenhouseGas Emissions of BuildingandCon-
struction: anIndicator for Sustainability, Proceedings of
theMDCMS 1 VietnamFirst International Conference
on Modern Design, Construction and Maintenance of
Structures, 1011December 2007, Hanoi. pp. S1S6.
Osmani, M., Glass, J. and Price, A. (2006) Architect and
Contractor Attitudes to Waste Minimisation, Waste and
Resource Management, 2(1), 6572.
Tatum, C.B., Vanegas, J.A. and Williams, J.M. (1986)
Constructability Improvement Using Prefabrication,
Pre-assembly and Modularisation, Technical Report 297,
ConstructionIndustryInstitute, Stanford, USA.
722
Displacement baseddesignmethodfor outrigger bracedtall buildings
N. Herath, P. Mendis, T. Ngo& N. Haritos
University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
ABSTRACT: Performance-baseddesignhasbecomeanessential designmethodintheearthquakeengineering
communityfor thedesignof structures, includingtall buildings. Althoughtherearemanymethodsavailablefor
theseismicanalysisof buildings, thereisacommonacceptancewithinthecommunitythattheexistingmethods
arenot verysuitablefor theanalysisof verytall buildings, sincemost of thesemethodswerederivedbasedon
low- tomedium-risebuildings.
A systematic approachispresentedfor thecalculationof designdisplacement profilebasedonthemoment
profiles of theoutrigger braced tall buildings and asimpleand versatileassessment method for theanalysis
of suchbuildingswaspresented. A comprehensiveset of recommendationsfor theseismicdesignof outrigger
bracedtall buildingshavebeendevelopedbasedonthedirect displacement-basedmethod, andtheinfluenceof
higher modeeffectshavebeenincludedintherecommendedguidelines.
1 INTRODUCTIONTODISPLACEMENT
BASEDDESIGN
1.1 Introduction
Thedesignprocedureknownas direct displacement-
based design (DDBD) has been developed over the
pastfewyears(Paulay&Restrepo1998, Paulay2000)
to mitigate the deficiencies in current force-based
designtechniques(Priestley1993).Theconceptinthis
methodis thecharacterisationof thestructureinto a
single-degree-of-freedom(SDOF) systemrepresent-
ing theperformanceat peak displacement response,
rather than by its initial elastic characteristics. This
approachisbasedonthesubstitutestructureapproach
(Gulkan& Sozen1974, Shibata& Sozen1976).
In direct displacement based design, thestructure
is characterised by secant stiffness K
e
at maximum
displacement
d
(Priestleyet al. 2007). Basicfunda-
mentalsinthismethodareapplicabletoall structural
typesandbilinear envelopewhereinitial elastic stiff-
nessK
i
isfollowedby apost-yieldstiffnessof rK
i
of
thelateral forcedisplacement responseof thesingle
degreeof freedomrepresentation.
TheeffectiveperiodT
e
at maximumdisplacement
responsemeasured at theeffectiveheight H
e
can be
readfromaset of displacement spectrafor different
levelsof damping. However, thedesigndisplacement
atmaximumresponseandthecorrespondingdamping
estimatedfromtheexpectedductilitydemandhastobe
estimated. TheeffectivestiffnessK
e
of theequivalent
SDOFsystematmaximumdisplacementcanbefound
byEquation1, asfollows:
where m
e
is the effective mass of the structure par-
ticipatinginthefundamental modeof vibration. The
designlateral force, whichisalsothedesignbaseshear
force, isasfollows:
Thedesign concept is thus very simple. However
complexityexist, whenthecharacteristicsof thesub-
stitutestructureisdetermined. Careful consideration
isnecessaryforthedistributionof thebaseshearforce
todifferent masslocations.
Thecharacteristic designdisplacement of thesub-
stitute structure depends on the limit state displace-
ment or drift of themost critical member of thereal
structureandanassumeddisplacement shapefor the
structure. This displacement shapeis that whichcor-
respondstotheinelasticfirst modeat thedesignlevel
of seismic excitation. Thus, thechanges to theelas-
tic first modeshaperesulting fromlocal changes to
member stiffnesscausedby inelasticactioninplastic
hinges aretakeninto account at thebeginningof the
design. Representingthedisplacementbytheinelastic
rather than theelastic first modeshapeis consistent
withcharacterisingthestructurebyitssecantstiffness
tomaximumresponse. Infact, theinelastic andelas-
ticfirst modeshapesareoftenverysimilar (Priestley
et al. 2007).
Thedesigndisplacement(generaliseddisplacement
coordinate) shapeisgivenby:
wherem
i
and
i
arethemassanddisplacementof the
n significant masslocations, respectively.
723
Theinfluenceof higher modesonthedisplacement
anddriftenvelopeisgenerallysmall forlow-risebuild-
ings and need not be considered. However, for tall
buildings, drift shouldbereducedandthedrift ampli-
ficationfactor isintroducedtotakeaccount of higher
modeeffects.
Inadditiontothestoreyheight, theeffectiveheight
is a function of the displaced shape of the masses
at maximum response. The effective height of the
substitutestructureisexpressedas:
After establishing theeffectiveheight of thesub-
stitute structure at maximumresponse, the effective
period T
e
at maximum displacement response can
be read fromdisplacement spectra for correspond-
ing damping estimated fromthe expected ductility
demands and theeffectivestiffness of thesubstitute
structureiscomputedusingEquation(1).
Considering the mass participation in the funda-
mental mode of vibration, the effective mass of the
substitutestructureisgivenby:
where
d
is thedesigndisplacement givenby Equa-
tion(3).
ThedesignbaseshearisobtainedfromEquation(2)
In determining the substitute structure character-
istics, some complexities are arisen especially in
the determination of the design displacement and
design displacement spectrafor thesubstitutestruc-
ture. Development of design displacement spectra
for different levels of viscous damping is available
(Bommer & Elnashai 1999, Sullivan 2007). After
obtaining the base shear as per Equation (2), the
forcesaredistributedalongtheheight of thebuilding
appropriately.
Considerationisalsonecessaryfor thedistribution
of thedesignbaseshearforcethroughoutthestructure.
Atpeakresponse, thebaseshear isdistributedasaset
of lateral forces proportional to thedisplacements of
thediscretised masses (Priestley 2003) or heights of
themassesfromthebaselevel (Priestleyet al. 2007).
2 PROPOSEDMETHODOLOGY
2.1 Preliminary design choices
Inorder todevelopasufficientlyaccurateSDOF rep-
resentationof theoutrigger bracedbuilding, strength
proportionsareassignedat thevery first stageof the
designprocedure.Thisinvolvessettingtheproportions
of baseshear resistedby thecorewall andtheexter-
nal columns. In order to obtain theinflection height
of thebuilding, themoment profilehas to beestab-
lishedbasedonthestrengthproportions. However in
this methodology, proportionof thebaseshear to be
carriedoutbytheframesincludingtheoutriggerswalls
areselectedarbitrarilyassuggested(Paulay2002).
2.2 Vertical distribution of outrigger beam strength
Inorder todevelopasufficientlyaccurateSDOF rep-
resentationof theoutrigger bracedbuilding, strength
proportions should be assigned at the very start of
the design procedure. This involves setting the pro-
portionof baseshear or overturningresistanceoffered
by the frames and walls, in addition to the relative
strength distribution of yielding elements within the
frames
Thechoiceof selectingthevertical distributionof
theoutrigger beamisavailabletothedesigner. How-
ever, thebest vertical distribution of outrigger beam
strength is assumed to be the same in both the out-
rigger locations, whileother connecting beams have
verysmall strengthcomparedtotheoutrigger beams;
andall thesebeamshavethesamestrengthdistribution
alongtheheight of thebuilding.
The designer is free to select any appropriate
strengthdistribution. Thestoreyshear abovethebase
of thewallscannotbeobtaineddirectlyfromthedesign
base shear since the walls remain elastic above the
groundstoreyandtheupper storeyshearswill depend
on the proportion of shear carried by the external
columns. As such, wall shears are obtained as the
difference between the total shear and the external
columnshear, asshowninEquation6.
where V
b
is the total base shear, V
i,wall
is the wall
shear at level i, V
i,total
isthetotal shear at level i, and
V
i,extcolumn
istheexternal columnshear at level i.
Other important design quantities that should be
attained fromthe strength distribution are the pro-
portionsof overturningmomentsresistedby thecore
wall and the external columns. After obtaining the
forcesandmomentdistributionsalongtheheightof the
building, the moment profiles are obtained in order
to obtain the displacement profiles of the outrigger
bracescorewall systems.
2.3 Moment profile for outrigger braced tall
buildings
The overturning moments for outrigger braced tall
buildingsaredifferenttotheuniformstrengthassigned
to aframe-wall system, as theoverturning moments
resistedbytheoutrigger consist of asubstantial com-
ponent compared to the overall moment in the wall
or the core. This is clearly shown in Figure 1. The
restraining moments in the outrigger beams have to
becomputed first in order to calculatethemoments
of thecorewall. Estimationof momentsrestrainedby
outriggers for the calculated distribution of loads is
attainedusingthesimplemethodof analysis(Smith&
Coull 1991) consideringthecompatibilitymethod, in
whichtherotations of thecoreat theoutrigger level
arematched with therotations of thecorresponding
outriggers.
724
Figure1. Moment diagraminoutrigger bracedbuildings.
Fromthemoment areamethod, thecorerotations
at 1and2arerespectively:
and
whereM
i
is themoment in thecorewall dueto the
lateral loadat level i, consideringavertical cantilever
corewall without outrigger beams.
Therotations at level 1and2canbeobtainedand
equatingtherotationsof thecoreandoutrigger levels,
followingmatrixcanbeobtainedfor moreor lessthan
twooutriggers.
where
2.4 Curvature profile
Asthewallstendtocontrol theresponseof thestruc-
ture, thewall yieldcurvatureanddisplacementatyield
areimportant for thedevelopment of thedesigndis-
placement profile. The frame yield displacement or
drift is also important to the design process as it is
usedto provideanindicationof theenergy absorbed
throughhystereticresponseof theframe.
Further, estimation of effective damping through
determinationof yielddisplacementsof thewall ele-
mentsisanimportant stepinthedevelopment of this
methodology. Fromthemethodologygivenabove, the
moment profile along the height of the wall can be
found, and the yield displacement of the wall ele-
mentisapproximatedthroughthesecondmomentarea
method. Giventhatthemomentisrelatedtothecurva-
tureandstiffness of asectionthroughtheexpression
=M/EI, it can beargued that for constant EI, the
bendingmoment is proportional to curvature. There-
fore, forsimplicity, aspreadsheetwasdevelopedasthe
fundamental aimof thisstudy is, todevelopasimple
but effectivemethodologyfor outrigger bracedbuild-
ings. Inaddition, asthemoment profileisnon-linear
andthebuildingheightisveryhigh, theuseof spread-
sheets madeit easy to expeditethecalculations with
reasonable accuracy. However a non linear moment
profile is obtained considering only the first mode
development of plasticmechanismdoesnot allowfor
thetensionshifteffect(Paulay&Priestley1992).This
effect canbeaccountedfor throughatranspositionof
thenonlinear bendingmomentdiagramuptheheight
of thestructure.
Highermodeeffectsincreaseuncertaintyintheesti-
mation of yield displacements and moments, dueto
higher modeeffectsaffectingthecurvatureprofileat
yield. Further, theextenttowhichawallselasticstiff-
nessreducesduringseismic responsedependsonthe
reinforcement ratio, axial load, andthedistributionof
forcesthatdevelopedintheearthquake(Sullivanetal.
2006). Therefore, theassumptionof constant second
moment of inertiaalongtheheight isarguable, asthe
crackedsecondmomentof inertiauptheheightof the
buildingisnot clear. Inthiscasestudy, crackedstiff-
ness uptheheight of thestructurehas beentakenas
aconstant, equal tothecrackedstiffnessthat existsat
thebase.
2.5 Yield displacement profile
Animportant stepinthismethodologyisthedetermi-
nation of yield displacement of theoutrigger braced
buildings.Asthewall yieldcurvatureprofilealongthe
height of thebuildingisobtainedasexplainedabove,
theyielddisplacementof thebuildingcanbecomputed
usingthesecondmoment areamethodassumingthe
structure as a vertical cantilever. As the base of the
structureis fixed, thedisplacement at any point rela-
tivetothebaseisobtainedusingthesecondmoment
areatheorem. Thecomputationiscomplexif thehand
calculations are performed; therefore a simple and
accuratespreadsheet whichwasdescribedabovewas
modifiedfor thecalculationof theyielddisplacement
for thebuilding.
2.6 Design displacement
Thecharacteristic designdisplacement of thesubsti-
tutestructuredependsonthelimit statedisplacement
ordriftof themostcritical memberof thereal structure
andanassumeddisplacement shapefor thestructure.
Thisdisplacement shapeisthat whichcorrespondsto
theinelastic first modeat thedesignlevel of seismic
excitation. Thus, thechangestotheelasticfirst mode
shaperesultingfromlocal changestomemberstiffness
725
causedby inelastic actioninplastic hinges aretaken
intoaccountatthebeginningof thedesign. Represent-
ing thedisplacement by theinelastic rather than the
elastic first modeshapeis consistent withcharacter-
isingthestructurebyitssecant stiffnesstomaximum
response. Infact, theinelastic andelastic first mode
shapesareoftenverysimilar (Priestleyet al. 2007).
Thedesigndisplacement(generaliseddisplacement
coordinate) shapeisgivenby:
wherem
i
and
i
arethemassanddisplacementof the
n significant masslocations, respectively.
The influence of higher modes on the displace-
mentanddriftenvelopeisgenerallysmall for low-rise
buildings and need not be considered. However, for
tall buildings, drift should be reduced and the drift
amplification factor is introduced to takeaccount of
higher modeeffects.
Itisreasonabletoassumethatthestrainlimitsof the
framewill notbecritical indeterminingthedesigndis-
placement profile. Hence, designdisplacements will
either belimitedby material strains inthewall plas-
tichingesor (morecommonly) bydriftlimitations.As
withthecoupledwalls, driftwill beamaximumatthe
contraflexureheight, H
CF
(Priestleyet al. 2007).
2.7 Allowance for higher mode effects
Intall buildings,highermoderesponsesaresignificant
for storey drifts andthesebuildings aresignificantly
affectedbythetransitorymoderesponses. Therefore,
thedrift associatedwiththebuildingcanbeexpected
wherethedriftisextensivelydifferentalongtheheight.
Themost important parametersinthehigher mode
responseinoutrigger bracedbuildings arethebuild-
ingheight andthestiffnessof theoutrigger beams, as
theseparameters haveagreat effect ontheperiodof
thebuilding. Inoutriggercorewall buildings, external
columns and outriggers experience a greater overall
reductioninstiffnessastheyenter theinelasticrange,
whereasthewall yieldsonlyatthebase.Therefore, the
reductionof thestiffnessduetoyieldingcorresponds
to anincreaseinperiod. Dueto theperiodlengthen-
ingintheinelasticbehaviour, significanthigher mode
displacementsareinducedaslongperiodsof vibration
correlatetolargemodal displacements.
Therefore, to account for thehigher modecontri-
bution for drift in tall buildings, the design storey
drift isset lower thanthespecifieddrift limit for non-
structural damage(2.5%) (Sullivan et al. 2006). The
equationfor outrigger buildingswasderivedbasedon
equationinSullivanet al. (2006) andthereductionis
giveninEquation13, asfollows:
where N is the number of storeys, is the over-
turning moment resistance of the systemincluding
outriggers, andisthetotal overturningmoment resis-
tanceof thesystemwithout outriggers consideringa
general frame-wall structure. These terms are based
on thecalculations as per theestimation of moment
profilefor thecorewall.
Thehigher modedisplacements shouldbedepen-
dent on theperiodof vibration of thehigher modes.
Theperiod of thestructureis dependent on its stiff-
ness, whichinthepost-crackingstateof areinforced
concretestructureisdependent onitsstrength. There-
fore, theeffect of theoutrigger beams onthesystem
strength should be included, as these beams tend to
yield, whichinturncreatehighermodedisplacements.
Theformof Equation13also acknowledges thefact
thatitrepresentsanynumber of outrigger beamssince
themomentatanylevel isreducedduetotheoutrigger
beams.
2.8 Base shear
After obtaining thecharacteristics of theSDOF sys-
tem, adisplacement spectrumat thesystemdamping
level is developed. The design displacement is then
usedinthespectrumandtherequiredeffectiveperiod
is obtained for the equivalent SDOF system. This
effectiveperiod is used to obtain therequired effec-
tive stiffness and then it is multiplied by the design
displacement toobtainthebaseshear.
The stiffness of the structure changes from the
elastic to the inelastic range during fully dynamic
response. It was proposed that the characteristics of
thetransitory inelastic modes in reinforced concrete
frame-wall structures could be approximated by an
eigenvalueanalysis of astructurewith tangent stiff-
ness at all plastic hinge locations. Selecting higher
modecharacteristicsthatarereliablewiththehypothe-
sisof thefirstmodecausesthedevelopmentof aplastic
mechanism(Sullivanet al. 2006).
The structural model is simplified by placing the
post-yield tangent stiffness at all plastic hinge loca-
tions.Theidealisedstructureisreduceddowntoasin-
gle vertical element with lateral degrees-of-freedom
equal tothenumberof storeys.Thesevertical elements
possessthemoment of inertiaequal tothesumof the
moment of the inertia of the vertical elements, and
mass equal to the floor masses at each level. Detail
description of calculating higher mode components
canbefoundin(Herath2011).
3 CASE STUDY
Proposed direct displacement based procedure is a
simplemethodfor determiningtherequiredstrength
of plastic hinges to satisfy a specified performance
limitstate, definedbystrainor driftlimits. Inorder to
assesstheperformanceof theproposedmethodology,
acasestudyoutrigger bracedstructurewasexamined.
Thecasestudy structureis a300mtall outrigger
bracedbuildinghavingtwo outrigger levels andout-
riggersare7mdeepeach.Thebuildingisa3636m
726
Table1. Detailsof thetime-historyrecords.
Earthquake Earthquake Scale
Ref. name magnitude PGA factor
R1 Chi Chi 7.63 0.278 1
R2 Tabas 7.40 0.852 1
R3 Dunzce 7.14 0.535 1
R4 Kocaeli 7.40 0.312 1
R5 Gazli 7.30 0.608 1
R6 Imperial Valley 6.9 0.5 1
R7 LomaPrieta 7.10 0.371 1
Figure 2. Acceleration response spectrumfor earthquake
timehistoriesR1toR7.
inplanandtheoutriggersarelocatedat94mand203m
abovegroundlevel.Thebuildingisservedforresiden-
tial purposeandit has3.5mfloor-to-floor height. All
elements areassumed to beof gradeof 80MPaand
5%damping is assumed. Thedesign was performed
usinganearthquakeresponsespectrumconstructedin
accordancewiththeEC8for aPGA of 0.4g.
Generallytherearetwoalternativemethodsdefined
incodes for theselectionof thenumber of accelero-
gramstobeusedindesignvalidation(Priestley et al.
2007). Thefirst involves using threespectrumcom-
patiblerecords, with design responsebeing taken as
the maximumfromthe three records, for the given
responseparameter. Thesecond uses a minimumof
sevenspectrumcompatiblerecords, withtheaverage
valuebeingadoptedfor theresponseparameter con-
sidered. Inselectingtherecords, existingreal records
can beused to match with thedesign spectrumover
thefull rangeof. Thereforefor this study, sevenreal
accelerograms whicharecompatiblewiththedesign
spectrumover thefull rangeof periodswereselected.
Seven time-history records were selected for the
non linear time history analysis and the details are
giveninTable1.
Thedesignprocedureassumesthat theloaddistri-
bution, theinflectionheightandthewall basemoment
canbeobtained. Anapproximatetriangular distribu-
tion of loads was formed with respect to the storey
number.
Figure3. Bendingmomentandshearforceanddistribution
comparisonincorewall for theproposedmethodology.
3.1 Application of proposed methodology
Thebendingmomentenvelopesfor all theearthquake
records obtained fromthe time-history analyses are
shown in Figure 3. It is clear that, in general, the
methodisappropriatetoillustratethemoment distri-
bution in thecoreusing SRSS combination method.
Inthisapproach, only thefirst four modeswerecon-
sideredandtherefore, discrepanciesmay arisedueto
other higher modeimpacts ontheforceandmoment
distribution. Asseen, theapproachgivesslightlycon-
servativeresults, that theycanbeusedinpreliminary
design.
Similarlydisplacementprofilesandshearforcedis-
tribution in core wall and columns were compared
with the non linear time history results and more
informationcanbefoundinHerath(2011).
4 SUMMARY
A displacement-based design methodology has been
presentedandthetrial applicationof thismethodfor a
casestudy buildingrevealsthat themethodperforms
reasonablywell foroutriggerbracedtall buildings.The
method is successful in providing the displacement
at the effective height in order to obtain the target
displacement. Therefore, it is identified that thedis-
placementsarecontrolledbythecorewall,andthewall
727
remains elastic throughout theheight of thebuilding
at theupper levels.
A systematic approach is presented for thecalcu-
lation of design displacement profile based on the
moment profiles of the outrigger braced tall build-
ings.Thedisplacementprofiledependsonthestrength
proportionsof thewall, external columns, andtheout-
rigger beams. In addition, the number of outriggers
hasagreat influence, asthemoment profilechanges
withtheincreasingnumber of outriggers.
Asthestrengthof theoutriggershasagreaterimpact
onthedisplacementprofile, strengthproportionsinall
theelementsshouldbecarefullyselected. Inaddition,
thelocationof theoutrigger influencestheinflection
height. However, identificationof theoptimumloca-
tionsfor outriggersfor earthquakeloadsisbeyondthe
scope of this thesis; therefore, outriggers have been
placedintheoptimumlocationsasper theguidelines
for windloads.
After obtainingthehigher modeperiodsinthenon-
linear range, theresponsesfor thehigher modesinthe
core wall are obtained by assigning the appropriate
responsefromtheresponsespectrumconsidered, and
theforcesaredistributeddependingonthemodeshape
acquiredfromtheeigenvalueanalysis. Theresponses
arecombinedwithexistingcombinationrules.
REFERENCES
Bommer, J. J. & Elnashai, A. S. 1999, Displacement spectra
for seismic design, Journal of Earthquake Engineering
3(1), 132.
Gulkan, P., Sozen, M. 1974, Inelasticresponseof reinforced
concretestructures to earthquakemotions. ACI Journal,
71, 604610.
Herath, N. 2011, Behaviourof outriggerbracedtall buildings
subjectedtoearthquakeloads. PhD thesis, University of
Melbourne, Melbourne.
Paulay, T., Restrepo, J I. 1998 Displacement and duc-
tility compatibility in buildings with mixed structural
systems.J. Structural Engineering Society. NZ, 11, 712.
Paulay, T. 2000A simpledisplacement compatibility-based
seismic design strategy for reinforced concrete build-
ings. Proceedings 12th World Conference on Earthquake
Engineering. Auckland, NewZealand.
Paulay, T. 2002 A Displacement-Focused Seismic Design
of Mixed Building Systems. Earthquake Spectra, 18,
689718.
Paulay, T. & Priestley, M. J. N. 1992Seismic design of rein-
forced concrete and masonry buildings, NewYork, J ohn
Wileyandsons, Inc.
Priestley, M. J. N. 1993 Myths and fallacies in earth-
quakeengineeringConflictsbetweendesignandreality.
NZ National Society for Earthquake Engineering, New
Zealand, 26, 329341.
Priestley, M. J. N., Calvi, G. M. & Kowalsky, M. J. 2007
Displacement based seismic design of structures, Pavia,
Italy, IUSSPress.
Shibata,A.&Sozen,M.1976,Substitutestructuremethodfor
seismicdesigninreinforcedconcrete, Journal Structural
Division, ASCE 102(12), 35483566.
Smith, B. S. & Coull, A. 1991, Tall building structures:
Analysis and Design, NewYork, J ohn Wiley and Sons,
INC.
Sullivan,T. J. 2007, Displacementconsiderationsfortheseis-
mic Designof tall RC frame-wall buildings. 8th Pacific
Conference of Earthquake Engineering Singapore.
Sullivan,T.J.,Priestley,M.J.N.&Calvi,G.M.2006,Seismic
designof frame-wall structure. ROSEResearch Report No
2006/02. Pavia.
Sullivan, T. J., Priestley, M. J. N. & Calvi, G. M. 2008, Esti-
matingtheHigher-ModeResponseof DuctileStructures.
J ournal of Earthquake Engineering, 12, 456.
728
Innovativematerialsfor next generationfaadesystems
Q. Nguyen, P. Mendis, T. Ngo, P. Tran& C. Nguyen
Department of Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
ABSTRACT: Composites possess the advantages of the high strength and stiffness with their low density
andhighlyflexibletailoring, thus, their potential inreplacingconventional materialsinfaadesystemssuchas
aluminiumandsteel, becomesattractive. Theonly issuethat deterstheapplicationof FRPCsinfacadesystem
liesontheir fireperformance. Thispaper presentsthepotential useof FRPCsinmodernfaadesystemswith
special focusontheir fireperformance. A casestudy relatingtothefireperformanceof glassfibrereinforced
polymersisalsopresented.Thiscasestudyisbasedonthenumerical model establishedforglassfibrereinforced
polyester, vinyl ester, epoxyandphenol without flameretardants.
1 INTRODUCTION
Fibre reinforced polymer composites (FRPCs) were
firstdiscoveredinthe1940sfollowingtherapiddevel-
opment of thepetrochemical manufacturingindustry.
Thecombinationof thetwo components inthecom-
posites, i.e. thereinforcingphaseandthecontinuous
phase, offers superior properties in comparison with
individual members. The continuous phase or the
matrixisinchargeof keepingthefibersintheirproper
position, protecting the fibre from environmental
impact,transferringloadstofibersaswell asproviding
additional strength, whereas fibres assuremostly the
strength and stiffness of the composite. Composites
possesstheadvantagesof thehighstrengthandstiff-
nesswiththeirlowdensityandhighlyflexibleshaping,
thus, their potential inreplacingconventional materi-
als incivil applications suchas aluminiumandsteel,
becomesattractive(Netravali andChabba, 2003). The
flexibility in the shape and the weight reduction of
FRPC products can meet the demand of architects
andengineersdesigningcomplexstructureswhilethey
still satisfy themechanical properties and durability
requirements. Carbonfibrereinforcedpolymer com-
posites contribute to a 5070% weight reduction as
an alternative to conventional metal-based materials
(Duflouet al., 2012).
However, earlyapplicationsof FRPCswererelated
to mostly high performance products used in the
aerospace industry, the military force and automo-
bileproducts, owingtothehighcostof manufacturing
FRPCs. Theuseof FRPCs was extended to awider
range through many R&D projects conducted since
early 1990s. Themarket sharedistributionof FRPCs
for constructions also rose to more than 25% and
became the second largest field of FRPCs applica-
tion (Figure 1). FRPCs are used in constructions as
structural shapes, internal or external reinforcements
Figure1. Marketsharedistributionsof FRPs(Duflouetal.,
2012, AnandjiwalaandBlouw, 2007).
for concretestructures. Besidethestrengtheningand
rehabilitationeffect of FRPCs onconcretestructures
(Uomoto et al., 2002, Bank et al., 2003, Hollaway,
2003, Mufti, 2003), FRPCsasstructural shapeseven
outperformconventional constructionmaterials such
as concrete and steel. Concrete and steel bridges
require5%of initial materialstobealternatedafter 50
years, whereasnomaintenanceisrequiredfor bridges
made of glass fibre reinforced polymers (GFRPs)
(Duflouet al., 2012).
Forthesereasons,thepotential of FRPCsasaninno-
vativematerial in modern faadesystems has raised
significantlyinrecentyears. Comparedtoother appli-
cationsinconstruction, FRPCsarehighlycompetitive
729
Figure2. CityMuseumwithFRPCsfaade, Netherlands.
infaadesystemsbecauseof thelightweight, theflexi-
bilityandcosteffectivenessinmanufacturingprocess,
whicharetheadvantagesof FRPCs. FRPCsmakethe
design of complex faadesystems with lowembod-
ied energy feasible (as illustrated in figure 2); thus,
it captures theattentionof worldwidefaadedesign-
ers. Nevertheless, therearemanytypesof FRPCsand
their properties vary in a wide range. As a result,
the selection of the appropriate type of FRPC as a
faade member becomes difficult. In addition, the
main drawback of FRPCs is their relatively lowfire
resistance, which is still unknown if used in faade
systems. This paper, therefore, explores thepotential
applicationof FRPCsinmodernfaadesystemswith
special focusontheir fireperformance. A casestudy
of thefireperformanceof glassfibrereinforcedpoly-
mersisalsopresented. Thiscasestudyisbasedonthe
numerical model establishedforglassfibrereinforced
polyester, vinyl ester, epoxy and phenol composites
without flameretardants.
2 FRPC FOR FAADE SYSTEMS
The advantages and potentials of FRPCs in modern
faadesystemscomparedtoconventional metal-based
materials suchas aluminiumandsteel becomeclear,
nevertheless, asmentionedpreviously, therearemany
typesof FRPCswiththepropertiesof eachtypevary-
inginawiderange. Further understandings oneach
typearenecessary for structural engineersandarchi-
tects in order to choose the appropriate material for
their design to meet different requirements. FRPCs
composeof twomaincomponents: thematrixandthe
fibrereinforcement. Theproperties of theend prod-
uctsdependonthecharacteristicsof eachcomponent
and themethod to combinethem. Consequently, the
classificationandcritical evaluationsarebasedonthe
components of FRPCs. Figure 3 gives an outline of
thepotential typesof FRPCsfor faadeapplications.
Themostimportantparameter for selectingFRPCs
is the limiting matrix glass transition temperature
T
g
and the maximum serving temperature of the
compositeasgiveninequation1(Campbell, 2010).
However, resinswithhigherT
g
possesshigher brit-
tleness, andrequirehigher curingtemperature, longer
Figure3. Potential FRPC typesfor faadeapplications.
curing time, and consequently lead to higher cost.
Moistureabsorption, firerating, possibilityof micro-
crackingattheconjunctionsurfacebetweenfibersand
thematrix, aswell asenvironmental impactneedtobe
takenintoconsideration.
Table 1 provides a comparison of the properties
of polyester, epoxy and phenol. They are all ther-
moset resins. Polypropylene, athermal plastic resin,
is disregarded in this paper. Polypropylene has the
embodiedcharacteristicsof thermoplastics, whichisa
poorsolvent-resistance. Phenol isproventobethebest
amongthethreetypesasithasexcellentfire, chemical
performanceandgoodstructural behavior. Thetransi-
tiontemperatureisalsoappropriate. Neverthelessthe
fabricationof phenol iscomparatively complex, con-
sequently, itisespeciallyusedasaresinorinadvanced
performanceconstructionsother thanfaadesystems.
Epoxy also possesses better properties in terms of
structural, chemical, fire performance and moisture
resistance in comparison with polyester. Polyester,
however, ismoreeco-friendlythanepoxy. Theimpact
on the environment of the material is considered
throughthreeparameters: cumulativeenergydemand,
greenhousegasemissionsandeco-points. Cumulative
energydemandindicatesthefossil fuel consumption,
which plays an important roleon theenvironmental
impact. Greenhouse gas emissions reflect the influ-
enceon theissueof climatechange, and eco-points
show the aggregate environmental impact, which is
evaluated according to ReCiPe impact assessment
method(Duflouetal., 2012). Besidestheenvironmen-
tal impact, polyester is sometimes more convenient
thanepoxyintermsof fabrication. Sincethegel time
730
Table 1. Comparison of resins (Campbell, 2010, Duflou
et al., 2012).
Properties Polyester Epoxy Phenol
Curingmethod Addition- Addition- Condensation
curing curing reaction
system system
Structural Fair Good Goodbut
performance brittle
Corrosionand Poor Good Excellent
chemical
resistance
Moisture Poor Fair to Excellent
absorption Good
T
g
(
C) 71 93177 71121+ with

post cure
Fire, smoke n/a Requires Excellent
andtoxicity additives
Cumulative 62.878 76137 n/a
energydemand
(MJ /kg)
Greenhousegas 2.3 4.78.1 n/a
emissions
(kgof CO
2
e/kg)
Eco-points 644 734 n/a
(mPt/kg)
Figure4. Moistureabsorptioninfluenceonmatrixstrength
property(Campbell, 2010).
of polyester isnormally longer thanepoxy andit can
bewell controlledbytheadditionof anadditive, called
inhibitor, itismoreflexibletotailorpolyestercompos-
itescomparedtoquickhardeningepoxy. Furthermore,
thecuringprocessof epoxyisrequiredtobeconducted
at elevatedtemperatures.
Mostthermosetresinsabsorbthemoisturefromthe
surroundings and deteriorate against the time expo-
suretotheweather (figure4), but thisissueistackled
by using a gel coat over the surface of thermoset
composite. The gel coat also provides smooth and
homogeneousappearancefor thecomposite. Theonly
issuethat deters theapplication of FRPCs in facade
systemsliesontheir fireperformance.
3 A CASE STUDY ONFIRE PERFORMANCE
OF GLASSFIBRE REINFORCEDPOLYMER
COMPOSITES(GFRP)
Thefireperformanceof FRPCisinvestigatedthrough
the single burning item test (SBI) according to
EN13823:2010.Thisstandardisapartof theEurocode
for fireratingsof buildingproducts. Thespecimenis
testedverticallyandapropanegasburnerispositioned
at the corner of two perpendicular wall specimens.
OutputparametersfromSBI testaretotal heatrelease
fromthespecimeninthefirst600sexposedtothemain
burner THR
600s
, maximumquotient of heat release
ratefromthespecimenandthetimeof itsexposureto
themainburner whenthethresholdof THR=0.2MJ
isexceeded, FIGRA
0.2MJ
, andtotal smokeproduction
rateof thespecimenSPR(t).
EN13501 (EN13501-1, 2007, EN13501-2, 2007)
alsoclassifiesthematerialsthatcanbeusedinbuilding
construction. According to this Eurocode, materials
inbuildingsmust meet therequirementsof classB
s2 d0category. ClassB isachievedwhennolateral
flamespreadtotheedgeof thespecimen, andthefire
growthrateindexFIGRA at total heat releasethresh-
oldof 0.2MJ isnot morethan120W/s, andthetotal
heat release(after thetest durationof 600s fromthe
300th second) does not exceed 7.5MJ. The require-
mentsforclasss2aresmokegrowthratenotmorethan
180m
2
/s
2
, andtotal smokeproductionwithin600snot
morethan200m
2
. Noburningdroplets areobserved
in600sdurationof theSBI test for classd0.
This case study is carried out to investigate the
total heat releaseandfiregrowthrateof GFRP. Glass
fibreswithlowcost, highstrengthandchemical resis-
tancearechosenasitiscompatibleforfaadesystems.
Polyester, vinyl ester, epoxyandphenol basedGFRPs
arequantifiedandcompared.
Thisnumerical studyrelatestocomputational fluid
dynamicsanalysis(CFD) usingFiredynamicsimula-
tor (FDS) in accordance with Smokeview. FDS and
Smokeviewaresoftwares developedby theNational
Instituteof StandardsandTechnology(NIST),inUSA.
Inthis research, themost recent versions, FDS 5.5.3
and Smokeview 5.6, areused to investigatethepro-
ductionof hot gasfrompyrolysisprocessof FRPC as
well asthespreadof theflameinSBI test. Smokeview
program, inturn, visualisesthecomputational results
fromFDS.
Simulationtimeisselectedas900sandtheignition
timeis set to beat the300th second. Thecomputa-
tional meshsizeis set tobeequal ineachcoordinate
axis x, y and z. The grid cells are cubic boxes of
404040mm.
Thegeometryof thesimulationincludesatestroom
of 33mareaand2.4mheight. Thespecimenhasa
longwingandashort wing, bothof whichare1.5m
highand200mmthick.Thelengthof eachwingis1m
and0.5mrespectively. Thespecimenisplacedinthe
test roomso that each wing is parallel to and 0.7m
awayfromthewalls. Theburner ispositionedright at
thecorner of thespecimen. Theburner frameismade
731
Table2. Propertiesof commercial propane(Klein, 1997).
Properties Value
Heat of combustion(kJ /kg) 46360
Chemical formula
C 3
H 8
of steel and the burning plane is 80mmaway from
theground. Thewings aredesigned as multi layer
panelswith12mmof calciumsilicateand200mmof
compositematerial.
Theburner isusingcommercial propanegasasthe
fuel. Theparametersfor propaneburner aredescribed
intable2. OtherrequiredparametersareSOOT_YIED
andIDEAL. SOOT_YIELDisthevaluethatindicates
thefractionof fuel convertedintosmokeparticulate,
whichis strongly relatedto thesmokeproductionof
theliquidfuel infire. Forpropane, thedefaultvalueof
SOOT_YIELDis0.01. IDEAL isalogical inputof the
fuel which shows thecompletion of fuel burning. It
isassumedinthissimulationthat all propaneisburnt
completelyandIDEAL isset tobeFALSE.
AccordingtotheEN 13823:2010, theheat release
fromtheburner is30kW, whichiscorrespondent toa
heatreleaserateperunitareaHRRPUAof 960kW/m
2
.
ThematerialsinFDSsimulationarestainlesssteel
as the burner profile, gypsumboard as the walls of
thetest room, thematrixof thecomposite, glassfiber
as the reinforcement of the composite and calcium
silicateasthebackingboard.
All the materials are heat exchangers except the
polymer. Calciumsilicate and the polymers are the
materialsthathaveexothermal pyrolysisreactionwhen
subjectedtofire. Pyrolysismodel of solidsubjectsis
calculatedaccordingtoequation2:
wherer isthereactionrate
isthedensity
0
istheinitial density
A isthepre-exponential factor
E istheactivationenergy
R istheStefan Boltzmannconstant
T isthetemperatureof thematerial
nisthereactionorder
A andE arecalculatedbyFDSor asprescribedby
users. Inthismodel, thepre-exponential factor A and
theactivationenergy of thecalciumsilicate(backing
board) aredeterminedfromthermal differential anal-
ysis(TGA) (AnderssonandPersson, 2001, Svensson,
2004, Hjohlmanet al., 2011). ThevaluesA andE of
thepolymersarecalculatedbyFDSbasedontheref-
erencetemperatureof massloss(equation34). This
referencetemperatureof masslossisdeterminedfrom
TGA, which is the temperature at which 5% of the
Table3. FDSMaterial ParametersUsedfor Polyester.
Parameter Unit Value
Conductivity W/m.K 0.32
Specificheat kJ /kg.K 2.03
(Hjohlmanet al., 2011)
Density kg/m
3
1070
Heat of combustion kJ /kg 2.73E+06
(Zhanget al., 2011)
Referencetemperature

C 274
of 5%massloss
(Tanget al., 2011)
Heat of reaction kJ /kg 1.55E+04
(Hjohlmanet al., 2011)
Emissivity 0.9
Nu_fuel* kg/kg 0.88
* theproportionof thematerial thatturnsintofuel gasduring
thepyrolysis
weight of thesampleis lost. It should also benoted
that theevaporation of water fromthesampleis not
consideredasapart of this5%massloss.
whereT
p
isthereferencetemperature
r
p
/Y
0
isthereferencerate, for asinglecomponent, the
reference rate is equal to the reaction rate at the
referencetemperature
T is theheating rate, which is therateof increasing
temperatureintheTGA test. Thedefault valuefor
theheatingrateinTGA test is5K/min.
Two important characteristic parameters of the
pyrolysismaterialsaretheheatof reactionandheatof
combustion. Theunits of both parameters arekJ /kg.
The heat of reaction is the heat that the material
requires to react as asolid fuel. In other words, this
valueexpresses theexternal energy suppliedto each
kilogramof the material to let it burn. The heat of
reaction of a solid material is equal to the differ-
ence between the enthalpy of its solid and gas state
(Hjohlmanetal., 2011). Ontheother hand, theheatof
combustionistheheatthateachkilogramof themate-
rial releasesintheburningreaction. Thisparameter is
important inFDS becauseit helps to calculateaccu-
rately theamount of heat release. Inthis model, heat
releasesourceisfromtheburner andthegasreaction
of unsaturatedpolyester andcalciumsilicate.
Input datafor theunsaturatedpolyester isgivenin
table 3 while table 4 shows the input parameters of
thecalciumsilicateof thebacking board (Hjohlman
et al., 2011). Thesearethepropertiesof calciumsili-
catewhichmeetstherequirementsof EN13823:2010
(EN13823, 2010). Thespecificheat andconductivity
of calciumsilicate vary with the temperature and is
732
Table4. FDS Material Parameters Usedfor CalciumSili-
catebackingboards(Hjohlmanet al., 2011).
Parameter Unit Value
Conductivity W/m.K 0.164 20
C
0.186 75
C
0.191 105
C
0.184 149
C
Specificheat kJ /kg.K 1.66 20
C
2.07 75
C
2.25 105
C
2.74 149
C
Density kg/m
3
640
Heat of kJ /kg 13300
combustion
A (Andersson s
1
2380000
andPersson,
2001, Svensson,
2004)
E (Andersson kJ /mol 105000
andPersson,
2001, Svensson,
2004)
Heat of reaction kJ /kg 500
Emissivity 0.9
Nu_fuel kg/kg 0.71
Nu_water kg/kg 0.07
Densityof char kg/m
3
129
Specificheat of kJ /kg.K 2.5
char (Hietaniemi
et al., 2004)
Conductivityof W/m.K 0.2
char (Hietaniemi
et al., 2004)
Nu_char kg/kg 0.22
Emissivityfor char 0.9
Thickness m 0.012
introducedintoFDSintheformof aRAMPfunction.
Theresultsareshowninfigure5andtable5.
The results show that phenol-based composite is
the only material that passes the requirements of
THR
600s
andFIGRA forclassB(EN13501:2007).The
THR
600s
of all theinvestigatedmaterialsarewell under
the threshold of 7.5MJ. However, polyester-based,
vinyl ester-based and epoxy-based FRPCs exceed
the threshold criteria of FIGRA, which is 120W/s.
Polyester-based composite has the highest FIGRA,
which is nearly 3 times higher than that of epoxy-
based composite. Although theTHR
600s
of the four
typesarealmost around4.7MJ, thewidevariationin
FIGRA shows the difference in the development of
theflameacrossthesamples. ThehighFIGRA index
of polyester-basedprovesthat theflameisspreadthe
fastest among the four types. Low FIGRA index of
phenol-basedis thekey property that helps this type
of FRPC passtheEurocode.
On the other hand, FIGRA of vinyl ester-based
composite and epoxy-based composite are slightly
higher thanthethresholdof classB. Vinyl ester-based
composite has a FIGRA value 12.5% higher than
120MJ and that of epoxy-based composite is 1.8%
Table5. FDSsimulationresults.
THR
600s
FIGRA
Composites (MJ ) (W/s) Eurocode
Polyester-based 4.69 410.99 Failed
composite
Vinyl ester- 4.70 135.65 Failed
basedcomposite
Epoxy-based 4.71 122.12 Failed
composite
Phenol-based 4.68 84.43 Passed
composite
Figure5. FDSmodel of singleburningitemtest.
higher. It is suggested that the increase of the pro-
portionof fibrereinforcement canreducethisfigure.
Thisnumerical analysisincludesthecompositeinclud-
ing 30%wt. of glass fibre reinforcement. The use
of higher percentage of fibre reinforcement can be
investigatedfurther.
The FIGRA of polyester-based composites far
exceedstherequirementaccordingtoEN13501:2007.
Further increase in the proportion of glass fibre
reinforcement cannot providesufficient reduction of
FIGRA. Therefore, flame retardants for polyester-
based composite are more essential compared to
others.
4 CONCLUSIONS
FRPCsareinnovativecandidatestobeusedinmodern
faadesystemsbecausetheycanofferexcellentperfor-
manceandcosteffectivenessinaestheticandcomplex
733
designs. Potential FRPCtypesfor faadeapplications
areconsideredinthispaper.Themajorissueof FRPCs
infaadesystemsistheirpoorfireperformance,which
is evaluatedaccordingtotheEurocode. A casestudy
iscarriedouttoinvestigatethefireperformanceof the
materialsinsingleburningitemtests, whichisafull-
scalefiretest. Onlyphenol-basedcompositescanpass
theclassificationfor classB, whichistherequirement
for thematerials to beusedinbuildingapplications.
However, phenol-basedcompositesaredifficult tobe
tailored owing to their complex curing process. In
order toapplypolyester-basedandepoxy-basedcom-
posites, further studiesapproachingtheimprovement
of their fireperformancearenecessary. Theincrease
inglassfibrereinforcementportionandtheutilization
of flameretardantsaresuggestedfor epoxy-basedand
polyester-basedcomposite, respectively. Thiswork is
continuingatUniversityof Melbourne. Further inves-
tigation on more details will be presented at the
conference.
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Bank, L. C., Gentry, T. R., Thompson, B. P. & Russell, J. S.
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734
Reviewof diaphragmactionsindomesticstructures
I. Saifullah, E.F Gad& J.L. Wilson
Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia
N.T.K. Lam
Department of Infrastructure, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
K. Watson
National Association of Steel-framed Housing (NASH), Hartwell, Australia
ABSTRACT: InAustralia, domesticstructuresrefer tooneandtwostoreylight-framedsinglefamilyhouses.
In light framed structures, roof and ceiling diaphragms aretypically assumed to servestructural purposein
transmittinglateral forces(e.g. windandearthquake)tothebracingwalls. Inthiscontext, thestructural behaviour
of adiaphragmisdirectlyrelatedtoitsrelativein-planestiffnesstothelateral stiffnessof thebracingwalls. In
recentyears, ininternational codesof practicedesignerscanadopteitheraflexibleorrigiddiaphragmassumption
indistributingthelateral loadstothebracingwalls. InAustraliandesignstandards, thereisnospecificreference
totherigidityof theceilingor roof diaphragms. However, thecombinedroof andceilingdiaphragmsareoften
consideredrigidwithincertainspansof thediaphragm.Thispaper ispartof anongoingstudyintothebehaviour
of typical diaphragms insteel framedhouses. Thepaper summarises thefactors whichaffect thestrengthand
stiffnessof diaphragms. Simplifiedmodelsbasedonanalytical andempirical formulationsarepresented.
Keywords: Domesticstructures, light framedstructures, flexibleandrigiddiaphragms, lateral bracing
1 INTRODUCTION
InAustralia, domesticstructuresrefer tooneandtwo
storey light-framedsinglefamily houses. Theoverall
responseof adomesticstructureduetolateral loading
maybegreatlyinfluencedbybothstructural andnon-
structural components. The ceiling and the roof can
beconsideredashorizontal diaphragmsindistributing
lateral loads(e.g. windandearthquake) tothebracing
walls.
Stiffness characteristics are important for correct
estimation of behaviour of structures under lateral
loading. Knowledgeof suchceilingorroof diaphragm
stiffness is important for proper distribution of the
lateral load to the shear walls. In recent years, the
International BuildingCode(IBC) (2006) hasallowed
designerstoadopteither aflexibleor rigiddiaphragm
assumptiondependingontherelativestiffness of the
diaphragmtothewalls. InAustraliandesignstandards,
there is no reference to the rigidity of the ceiling
or roof diaphragms. Experimental results fromfull
scale testing of a steel-framed house conducted by
the Cyclone Testing Station indicated that the ceil-
ing diaphragm may be considered rigid (Reardon,
1990). Phillipset al. (1993) statedthat present design
procedures for light-framehousing typically assume
that the horizontal roof and floor diaphragms are
flexible. But no recognitionis givento theinfluence
onthedistributionof forces of theactual stiffness of
the horizontal diaphragms or the interaction occur-
ring with the other elements of the building. This
over-simplificationof thestructural behaviourof light-
frame housing may result in inefficient designs or
potential failures (Phillips et al. 1993). The design
couldbeapproachedbycheckingthedrift capacityof
thebracingwallsbasedonpre-definedupperdriftlim-
its of the diaphragm. Therefore, rational assessment
of thestiffnessof horizontal diaphragms(ceilingand
roof) is necessary to correctly designthelateral load
resistingelements.
This paper is part of an ongoing study into the
behaviour of typical diaphragms in steel framed
houses.Thepapersummarisesthefactorswhichaffect
thestrength and stiffness of diaphragms. Simplified
models based on analytical and empirical formula-
tionsarealsodiscussed. Thisresearchisnecessitated
by changes in both the construction materials and
constructiontrendsasoutlinedbelow:
(i) Cold formed steel is now higher in strength
(G550) allowing the production of thinner sec-
tions(downto0.42mmBMT).
(ii) The average size of houses increased by
approximately one-third fromabout 180m
2
to
240m
2
(Australian Bureau of Statistics-ABS,
2008a).
735
Figure1. Flexiblediaphragmdetermination(2007Florida
BuildingCodeCommentary).
(iii) Typical floor layouts havedeviatedconsiderably
fromhouseswhichwerebuiltfewdecadesearlier.
Most modernhomes havelargeopenplanareas
withextensiveopenings.
(iv) Themechanical propertiesof plasterboard, which
is often relied upon as part of the ceiling
diaphragm, havealsochangedover time.
2 BEHAVIOUR OF DIPAHRAGM
A diaphragmcan be defined as a structural system
(usuallyhorizontal) that actstotransmit lateral forces
tothevertical lateral resistingsystem. Insinglestorey
steel frameddomesticstructures, therecouldbeupto
twodiaphragms.Thefirstcouldbetheroof diaphragm
if itismetal clad(e.g. withcolorbond) andthesecond
is theceilingdiaphragmif it is madeof plasterboard
liningwithpositivefixingtotheroof trusses.
Diaphragms are classified as rigid, flexible,
andsemi-rigidbasedontherelativerigiditybetween
thediaphragmand bracing walls. According to IBC
(2006), a diaphragmis considered rigid when the
lateral deformationof thediaphragmislessthantwo
timestheaveragestorey drift. Thediaphragmiscon-
sideredflexibleif thediaphragmdeflectionisgreater
than two times the average story drift as shown in
figure1.
For rigiddiaphragms, thehorizontal forcesaredis-
tributed to the vertical lateral resisting elements in
proportiontotherelativestiffness of theshear walls.
Ontheother hand, flexiblediaphragmsdistributethe
loadsevenlytoeachof thewallsonthebasisof tribu-
taryareas. Thesetwocasesareillustratedinfigure2.
If thereis irregular stiffness, distributionat any level
withinthestructure, torsional forces developedneed
tobealsoconsidered.
Barton (1997) stated that therigid roof/soft walls
model isthelessconservativeof thetwowithrespect
to strength limit states of the structure, since it has
thepotential for producinghigher loads inthestiffer
walls for a given total load applied to the structure;
andthesoftroof/rigidwallsmodel islessconservative
withrespect to serviceability limit states sinceit has
thepotential for producing higher deflections in the
moreflexiblewallsforagiventotal loadappliedtothe
Figure 2. Schematic representation of rigid and flexible
diaphragm.
structure. Breyer et al. (2007) consideredtimber roof
diaphragms as a flexible diaphragm, while Paevere
etal. (2003) statedthattheroof andceilingdiaphragm
behavedasarigiddiaphragm. Reardon(1990) testeda
cold-formedsteel framedhouseunder simulatedwind
loads. They concluded that both roofing and ceiling
wereactingasstiff diaphragms.
Itshouldbenotedthattherelativestiffnessbetween
the diaphragmand walls is unlikely to remain con-
stant under loading. Aslateral loadsareimposed, the
initial stiffnessof walls(includingcontributionsfrom
non-structural walls) could be quite high and then
the diaphragmcould be considered flexible. As the
lateral loadsincrease(particularlybeyondserviceabil-
ity), thewallswouldsofter andthediaphragmmaybe
consideredrigidincomparisontothewalls.
2.1 Experimental studies
Several experimental studiesof diaphragmshavebeen
conductedintheUnitedStates, Australia, andJ apan.
Turnbull etal. (1982) foundthatthescrewedsteel ceil-
ingis2.4timesstiffer thantheplywoodceiling. They
alsorecommendedthatwhereastifferdiaphragmceil-
ingisrequired,thescrewedsteel ceiling(withinitssafe
limit of resistance) will providethegreatest stiffness.
InAustralia, Boughton& Reardon(1982) concluded
that approximately 60% of the lateral load is trans-
mitted to theshear walls through theroof sheathing
andceilingsystems andtheremainder is transmitted
directly totheinternal shear walls or was resistedby
thewindwardwall.
Kunnathetal. (1994) providedsomerecommenda-
tions for strengtheningthegypsumroof diaphragms:
(i) diaphragmspansmay bereducedby addingverti-
callyorientedlateral loadresistingelementsconsisting
of shear walls or steel bracings; (ii) the ends of the
gypsumdiaphragm(wheretheshear stresses arethe
highest) arestrengthened by theaddition of another
layer of gypsumand mesh reinforcement; and (iii)
placehorizontal bracingsbelowandintheplaneof the
diaphragmas asubstituteshear-resisting element so
thatthebracingcanbestiff enoughtocontrol gypsum
drift towithinprescribedstrainlevels.
Reardon (1987) concluded that a ceiling can
act as a very efficient diaphragm in distributing
horizontal wind forces; and light metal tiles can
736
provide some bracing diaphragm action. Boughton
(1984) concluded that roof and ceiling diaphragms
functionedashighlyeffectivediaphragmstotransmit
lateral forces to thetopof vertical bracingelements.
Yasumuraet al. (1988) indicatedthat theshear defor-
mationsof thehorizontal diaphragmsaresmall enough
toconsider thediaphragmstoberigid.
Huang et al. (2009) showed that the material
defectsor improper constructionpracticesarethekey
factorstoinducetheroof tiles failure. Thisstudyalso
pointedout that staggeredsettingof tiles wouldhelp
developaninterlockingmechanismbetweenthetiles
andincreasetheir resistancetotyphoon.
2.2 Finite element modelling
Analytical modelling is important to extend theuse-
fulness of limitedfull scaleexperimental results and
topredict thestructural behaviour of thewholebuild-
ingunder real conditions. Tremblay&Stiemer (1996)
investigated that the in-plane flexibility of roof and
floordiaphragmsinfluencessignificantlythedynamic
response of building structures to seismic ground
motions.Schmidt&Moody(1989)developedasimple
3-Dmodel usingrigidceilingdiaphragmsandnonlin-
ear shear walls topredict thebehavior of light-frame
buildings under lateral load. The model was com-
paredwiththeresultsof Tuomi &McCutcheon(1974)
andBoughton& Reardon(1984) andfoundto bein
reasonableagreement.
Theload-displacementresultsobtainedfromFalk&
Itani (1989) showedthatthestiffnessof thediaphragm
increases as a result of increasing the nail modu-
lus. They also concluded that nail spacing had a
greater effect ondiaphragmstiffnessthannail modu-
lus; inaddition, stiffnessismoreaffectedbyperimeter
nail spacing than field nail spacing. Itani & Cheung
(1984) developed a finite element model to predict
thestatic load-deflection behavior of sheathed wood
diaphragms under racking loads and found that the
propertiesof nailedjointsarethecontrollingfactor of
theperformanceof sheatheddiaphragms.
Atrek & Nilson (1980) studied cold-formed steel
shear diaphragms. They concludedthat theaccuracy
of nonlinear analysis for corrugated diaphragms can
beincreased by using different shear moduli for the
endandcentral regions.
2.3 Factors affecting stiffness and strength of
diaphragm
Asfoundthroughpreviousexperimental andanalytical
studies, therearemany factors whichaffect thestiff-
ness and strength of diaphragms. Thesefactors have
beencollectedandstructuredaspresentedinfigures3
and4. Keyfactorsarealsodiscussedbelow.
2.3.1 Sheathing/cladding
2.3.1.1 Geometry
Miller&Pekoz(1994) reportedthatathickercladding
material wouldincreasethefailureloadper fastener.
Figure3. Factorsaffectingstrengthandstiffnessof ceiling
diaphragms.
Figure 4. Factors affecting strength and stiffness of roof
diaphragms.
A thicker claddinghas higher resistanceleadingto a
stifferdiaphragm(Stewartetal. 1988).Yu(2000) indi-
catedthatspecimenswiththicker gagesheathinghave
more strength and stiffness. Mastrogiuseppea et al.
(2008) performedaparametricstudywithafiniteele-
ment model andshowedthat thebaresteel diaphragm
stiffness increases as the thickness of the steel roof
deck panels is increasedas well as closer connection
spacingisused.
Wolfe (1982) concluded that there is an average
increase in ultimate strength of 50% and average
increaseinstiffnessof 43%whenpanelswereoriented
horizontally rather than vertically. Atherton (1981)
foundthat staggeredpanel patterns areto beslightly
stiffer than stacked patterns. The additional contact
in the staggered panel increases the stiffness of a
horizontal diaphragm(ATC, 1980). Boot (2005) also
reportedthat theconstructiontechniqueswhichserve
to better interlock sheathing panels into onelarge
sheathing system against horizontal shear, resulted
in theincreaseof stiffness of diaphragm. Falk et al.
1987) found that plywood-sheathed diaphragms are
consistently stiffer than gypsum board-sheathed
diaphragm.
Yu(2000) concludedthatwidersheetsaregenerally
stronger andstiffer becausetherearefewer sidelaps.
737
2.3.1.2 Mechanical properties
Themodulusof rigidityof thesheathingpanel hasalso
an influence on the stiffness of the diaphragm. The
stiffnessincreaseswiththeincreaseof themodulusof
rigidityof thesheathingmaterial.
2.3.1.3 Connection between sheathing and
supporting members
The capacity of ceilings and roofs to transmit hori-
zontal forces is highly dependent on the details of
attachment of the sheathing material to the main
structural frame of the roof. The interactions of the
sheathing, frame or joist members, and the fasten-
ers affect the stiffness of the diaphragm(Falk et al.
1984). Walker et al. (1982) foundthat if other things
arekept thesame; thesysteminwhichthecladdingis
directlyattachedtotheceilingjoistshaveabetterstruc-
tural performance than those which utilize battens.
Hausmann&Esmay(1975) foundthattheorientation
of screwsthroughthevalleysof ametal claddingpro-
filecontributemuchmorestiffnessof thediaphragm
rather thanscrewsthroughtheribs.
The shear strength and stiffness of diaphragms
is greatly influenced by the type of fasteners (for
instance; nails, screws), arrangement of thefasteners,
spacingof thefasteners; anddiameterof thefasteners.
End fasteners are considered more critical than the
field fasteners for theevaluation of thestrength and
stiffnessof thediaphragm. Anderson(1990) reported
that nails performless effectively than screws when
theworking stress is exceeded. Walker et al. (1982)
reportedthattheinfluenceof theadhesiveissmall due
totheadhesivejointfailsatarelativelylowload(dueto
theweaknessof thepapersurfaceof theplasterboard).
Nailsareverycommonwithtimberframeswhereas
screws are primarily used with cold formed steel
frames. Whiteet al. (1977) observedthat bydoubling
thenumberof screwsintheflatsalongtheendpurlins,
the panel strength and stiffness can be increased by
70%and30%respectively.Boot(2005)concludedthat
theshear strengthcanbeincreasedby increasingthe
number of fastenersor addinganother layer of sheath-
ing in areas of high shear. Tarpy (1984) conducted
static tests on gypsumwallboard clad cold-formed
steel frames with different screw spacing and con-
cludedthattheultimateshearstrengthcanbeincreased
about 78%, by changing the spacing of the fasten-
ers alongtheperimeter from300mmto 150mmon
centers.
Niu(1996)concludedthattimberframediaphragms
fastenedwithNo.10(38.1mmlong) wood-grip, self-
drilling screws increased the strength of diaphragm
by 2.5 times compared to the strength of a similar
diaphragmpanel fastenedwith25.4-mmlongscrews
but withno obvious differenceinstiffness. Atherton
(1981) concludedthat thereisnosignificant increase
in stiffness or ultimate load resulted fromincreas-
ing nail size from8d to 10d. However, the strength
andstiffnessincreaseswithincreasingpanel thickness
from7/16
(11mm) to5/8
(16mm) or increasingthe
number of nails.
2.3.2 Aspect ratio
Tarabia & Itani (1997) conducted a dynamic analy-
sis whichindicatedthat therigidity of thehorizontal
diaphragmisinverselyproportional toitsaspectratio.
They also foundthat partitionwalls canresist asub-
stantial portion of the seismic forces depending on
their stiffness and the aspect ratio of the horizontal
diaphragm.
Gebremedhin, (2007) reportedthatdiaphragmpan-
els are strongest at resisting forces in their longest
direction; and in a building of short length (length-
to-width ratio 3:1) with no supporting cross walls,
thehorizontal windforcesaremostlydistributedtothe
endwalls by theroof diaphragm. Ontheother hand,
whenabuildingislong(length-to-widthratio3:1),
theroof andceilingdiaphragms needthecross walls
toeffectivelydistributethein-planeloads.
2.3.3 Ceiling cornice
Theceilingcornicehasalsocontributioninloadtrans-
fer andpanel stiffnessasitbindsthewall andtheceil-
ingcladdingtogether. Reardon(1990) recommended
that whileassumingtherigidroof diaphragmaction,
theabilityof cornicestotransfer shear loadsfromthe
ceilingdiaphragmtothewall systemsbecomescrucial.
Hefoundthatwhencomparingwithaceilingonly, the
addition of the cornice reduced the lateral displace-
mentstoabout onetenthof their previousvalues; and
theceilingandcorniceareabletoprovideaverystiff
path for load transfer. The ceiling cornice also pre-
ventsout-of-planebucklingof wall plasterboard, when
awall withset cornersisracked.
2.3.4 Framing members
Members such as roof and ceiling battens have an
important roleinprovidinglateral restraint to rafters
or thetop and bottomchords of roof trusses. White
et al. (1977) concluded that diaphragmstrength and
stiffness arenot affected by thetruss spacing within
typical construction ranges if the batten details are
not changed. They also concluded that if intermedi-
atestitch connectors areused, strength and stiffness
arenot affectedby thebattenspacing(withintypical
ranges).
Anderson(1987) reportedthat panelswithbattens
showedareductionof thestiffnessof thepanel.Healso
observedthat whenbattensareplacedonedgerather
thanflatthereisathreefoldreductioninthestiffnessof
thediaphragm. Boot (2005) observedthat spacingof
battenshaslittleimpact onstrengthor stiffnessof the
diaphragms; andthepresenceof effectivechordmem-
berscausesasignificant increaseinflexural stiffness.
Walkeretal. (1982) reportedthattheultimatestrength
andstiffness of thediaphragmis increasedueto the
connectionsystembetweenthebattensandtheceiling
joists.
2.3.5 Bracing
Roof andceilingbracingmay beinfluencetherigid-
ity of diaphragms even though no deflection checks
are carried out by the designer. Roofs are normally
738
bracedwithcrossbracingwhicharenecessaryduring
construction even if metal cladding is used. Ceiling
bracing is often not required if plasterboard is used
andiseffectivelyfixedtothebottomchordof theroof
trussesdirectlyor viabattens.
Thebracingrequirementsarehighly dependent on
theloading(e.g. cyclonicor non-cyclonicconditions)
androof geometry(e.g. gableorhip). Currentpractice
indesigningtheceilingandroof bracingisfocusedon
strengthonly.
3 ANALYTICAL METHOD
A diaphragmcanberepresentedbyadeepbeamwith
thesheathingcorrespondstotheweb, andthechords
correspond to the flanges. Using this analogy, IBC
(2006) provides a well-recognized analytical model
for predicting the deflection of a diaphragmunder
in-planeloading. This model has beendevelopedfor
timber construction; however it can be adapted to
steel constructionprovidedthat relevant input param-
eters are used. This model is a component model
andincludesthedeflectioncontributionsfromvarious
elementsaspresentedbyequation1.
The first term is deflection due to bending of the
diaphragm; thesecondtermisdeflectionduetoshear;
thethirdtermisdeflectionduetonail slipandthelastis
duetospliceslipalongthechords. Breyeretal. (2007)
and J udd (2005) presented graphical illustrations of
thesedeformationcomponents.
Where, =deflection of diaphragm (mm);
v=maximum shear due to design loads in direc-
tion under consideration (N/mm); L =Diaphragm
length(mm); E=Elasticmodulusof chords(N/mm
2
);
A=Areaof chordcrosssection(mm
2
);b=diaphragm
depth (mm); G=modulus of rigidity of the panel
sheathing (N/mm
2
); t=thickness of the panel
sheathing (mm); e
n
=fasteners deformation (mm);
c
X=sumof individual chord-spliceslipvaluesof
thediaphragmeach multiplied by its distanceto the
nearest support (mm)
The fastener deformation (e
n
) can be determined
fromtheframing-to-sheathingconnectiontest.
As part of this ongoing research, this model will
be adopted to be used for Australian construction
practices.
4 SUMMARY ANDRESEARCHNEEDS
As part of this research it is proposed to utilizethis
model asthebasisfor determiningthedeflectionand
hencethestiffness of typical steel framedroofs used
inAustralia. In order to adopt this model and verify
theresultsof thenewmodel for steel construction, the
authors are intending to performa large number of
connectiontests as well as experiments onfull scale
portionsof typical roof andceilingdiaphragms.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper has highlighted some limitations in the
design of residential structures in relation to distri-
bution of lateral loads fromthe roof to the bracing
walls. Whilethecurrent practiceinAustraliais sim-
ple and only requires that total sumof wall racking
capacitiestoequal or exceedthetotal lateral load, this
isonlyapplicableif thespacingbetweenbracingwalls
is withincertainlimits (e.g. AS 1684). Incontempo-
rary andarchitecturally designedhouses, thespacing
betweenbracingwallsmayexceedthenominal limits
withnofurther guidancegiventothedesignengineer.
International studies such as the IBC provides
more refined procedures for distribution of lateral
loadsbasedontherelativerigidityof theroof/ceiling
diaphragmstobracingwalls.
The paper has presented a review of the factors
whichaffect thestiffnessandstrengthof diaphragms.
Key studies relevant toAustralianconstructionprac-
ticeshavebeenbrieflyreviewed.
Inconclusion,thereisanimmediateneedtodevelop
morerational designproceduresforlateral distribution
of lateral loadswhichtakeintoaccountbothgeometric
optionsinlayoutsandalsodifferentmaterial properties
for theroof andceilingstructures. Testingiscurrently
under waytodevelopbasicbehaviour of steel framed
ceilingdiaphragmswithplasterboardlining.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Theresearchacknowledgesthefinancial support pro-
vided by the Australian Research Council Linkage
GrantLP110100430. Thefinancial andtechnical sup-
port provided by NASH members is also gratefully
acknowledged.
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740
Studyof blockageeffect onscouringpatterndownstreamof aboxculvert
S. Sorourian, A. Keshavarzi, B. Samali & J. Ball
ABSTRACT: This experimental study is concerning with thescouring at theoutlet of a box culverts. The
blockage of culverts has considered as an important factor on the scouring pattern at the outlet of the box
culverts. To investigate the effect of blockage on scouring pattern at the downstreamof box culvert, some
experimental testswerecarriedout inalaboratory flumelocatedintheHydraulic Laboratory of University of
TechnologySydney(UTS). Theexperimental testswerecarriedoninbothblockedandnon-blockedconditions
andconsequentiallytheeffectof blockageondepthof scour holeisinvestigated. Itwasfoundthatfor flowwith
Froudenumber of 0.09 thereis a15%increasein thedepth of scour holefor abox culvert with 40 precent
blockage. Furthermore, thescour depthinblockedconditionwiththeFroudenumber of 0.12was22%deeper
thanboxculvert withnon-blockedcondition.
1 INTRODUCTION
Culvertisashortconduitthatusuallycarriesstormwa-
terrunoff underaroadway, railwayoranembankment.
The primary purpose of a culvert is to carry storm
runoff water.Culvertsareoccasionallydesignedtoful-
fil special functionsinadditiontotheir primaryfunc-
tionasdrainagestructures.Culvertscanbedesignedto
operateunderlowheadsandminimumenergylossesin
roadway crossings. Often, culvertsmust bemodified
inorder tofulfil asecondaryfunction.
Themostcommonshapesforculvertsarebox(rect-
angular), circular, elliptical, pipe-arch, andarch. The
shapeselection is based on thecost of construction,
the feasibility of implementation, the limitation on
upstreamwater surface elevation, roadway embank-
ment height, and hydraulic performance (Norman
et al., 2001).
There are large numbers of bridges and culverts
in urban and countryside inAustralia. In a research
in1997inNewSouthWales, six types of Hydraulic
structures weredetectedas: bridges, causeways, cul-
verts, floodgatesandweirsinanareawhichwasabout
16.7%of theNewSouthWales(WilliamsandWatford,
1997). Over 5,300 structures were inspected for the
aboveresearchpurposes; about 3,000and1,900were
culvertsandbridges, respectively. It meansthat more
than92%of thesixdifferent typesof structuresiden-
tifiedwereculvertsandbridges. Additionally, for the
Sydneyregion, 792bridgesandbridgesizedculverts
projectswerereportedinTransportRoadandMaritime
Serviceswebsite(2012).
Statisticsshowtheimportanceof culvert structure
in terms of their number and its functional aspects.
In terms of functional aspects, blockage of culverts
andbridgesduringfloodsisthemost important issue
for theRoadsandMaritimeService(RMS) andlocal
councils and creates the risk of damage to private
propertiesandpublicassets.
Another important factor for design of culverts
and bridges is the frequency of rainfall and runoff
inAustralia. This makes it vital for drainagesystem
tofunctionproperlyincritical circumstances. InAus-
traliatwoexamplesof floodsinthepast tenyearsare
asfollows:
In August 1998 a severe storm in the city of
Wollongongcausedextensiveflooding.Lotsof proper-
tiesweredamagedwithlossof lifeandserviceswere
interrupted. Inspection of the flooded waterways in
thefollowing days showed that themost waterways,
culvertsandbridgeswereblockedbydebrisanddam-
ageshappenedduetoblockageof culvertsandbridges.
Because of this blockage, flood levels increased
upstreamof railwaysandroadsandmadetheflowto
bedivertedoutof thenormal streamintooverlandflow
paths, increasingtheextentof flooddamage(Rigbyet
al., 2002). Damageswereestimatedaround70million
dollarsincludingbothpublicandprivateproperties.
In J anuary 2011, Brisbane experienced a signif-
icant river flood event of a scale not seen since
1974andover 200,000peoplewereaffected. Approx-
imately 3,570 business premises were inundated,
and commercial losses of approximately 4 billion
dollars were reported across the mining, agricul-
ture and tourism sectors. Over 19,000 kilometres
of roads were damaged, around 28 per cent of the
Queenslandrailwaysnetworkwasdamagedandthree
major ports significantly impacted. Duringtheflood
most of theculvertsandbridgeswereblockeddueto
debris. Anestimated28,000homeswouldneedtobe
rebuilt, whilevastnumbersof dwellingsrequireexten-
sive repairs. According to the Insurance Council of
741
Australia, almost 56,200 claims were received by
insurers, with an insured cost of 2.55 billion dollars
(vandenHonert andMcAneney, 2011).
2 PREVIOUSWORKS
Manystudieshavebeendoneonhydraulicsof culverts
andbridges.Thereisagreatdeal of literatureavailable
withrespect toculvertsandscouringdownstreamthe
culverts, however thereis still alack of information
onblockageaspect. Abt et al. (1986) studiedculverts
slope effects on outlet scour. Abida and Townsend
(1991) developed an equation for local scour down-
streamof box-culverts relating Froude number and
sediment size. Abt et al. (1996) estimatedthedimen-
sion of outlet scour in relation to culvert discharge,
hydraulicradius, timeandmaterial gradation. Liriano
et al. (2002) studied scour at culverts influenced by
turbulent flow. Hotchkisset al. (2006) studiedenergy
dissipationculverts by forcedhydraulic jumpinside.
Chen et al. (2009) tested the effectiveness of sev-
eral energy dissipation structures for reducing scour
downstreamof boxculverts.
Therearesomestudies regardingblockage. As an
example Rigby et al. (2002) worked on blockage
of bridges and culverts, mostly based on a flood in
Wollongong city in 1998. They collected data on
blockageof culvertsanddiscussedcausesandeffects
of culvert blockage. Barthelmess and Rigby (2011)
estimated culvert and bridge blockage based on
debris availability, mobility and transportability fac-
tors. Rigby and Barthelmess (2011) explored cul-
vert blockagemechanisms andtheir impact onflood
behaviour. They noticed oneof theconsequences of
blockage considered as the flow diversions caused
by blockage of culvert. Even small blockages cre-
ated diversions that would not usually occur and
considerablychangefloodbehaviour.
Although the few latter studies were very impor-
tant intermsof culvertsblockagestatisticsandflood
behaviour itself, there is still a gap in engineering
designinthisfield. Onwhat exactly happenstoflow
after culvert isblocked, separatelyinatotal blockage
andalso inapartial blockageandwhat wouldbeits
effectsonscouringattheoutletof culvertisof interest
toengineers.
Some general problems are noticed in the litera-
turewhichhappens to culverts suchas blockageand
scouring. They may interrupt culverts function and
may leadtoother seriousproblemslikeculvertsover
turning and collapsing. The other probability is that
culvert blockageleadstoovertoppingtheculvert and
can lead to outlet scouring and embankment failure.
However, thereisnodocumentedstudysofar onthis
phenomenon.
3 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
Experiments were done in the scour testing facility
depictedinFigure1. Water wassuppliedtothestatic
Figure1. Testingfacilityat UTSHydraulicLaboratory.
Figure 2. Culvert model (a) Plan (b) Profile (units are
inmm).
tankfromthelaboratorysupply. Thewater introduced
totheflumethroughavalvewhichcontrolsthewater
flowrate, andthenitrunsthroughthebox-culvertthat
issettledinthesandbasin. At theendof theflumea
sluicegateisinstalledtothedownstreamwater depth
andvelocity.
The flume in UTS Hydraulic Laboratory is a 19
metre long concrete flume. The width of the flume
is 600mmas well as its height. Inthemiddleof the
flumethereis aspaceprovidedfor sandbasinwhich
is150mmdeeper thanculvertsbedlevel. Thelength
of thissandbasinis4metre.
Theculvertmodel hasa1:10scaleratio. Theopen-
ing of culvert is 200200mm and the length of
culverts barrel is 900mm. Therearetransitions with
30
flareat theinlet andoutlet of theculvert. These

transitionswouldprevent theunwantedscour holes.
The culvert model is shown in Figure 2. To pre-
ventpipingphenomenon, theoutletculvertswall was
gluedto theflumes bed. As well, to seal themodel,
bothculvert sidesandalsothetransitionsgluedtothe
flumeswalls.
Prior to each test the sand was levelled with the
culvert inlet andoutlet inthesandbasin. For thefirst
stageof this experimental test, whichis discussedin
thispaperonlyonetypeof sandisused. d
50
andd
m
for
this sand is 0.85 and 0.90 respectively. Theduration
of eachexperimental test wasbetween5to7hoursto
742
Table1. Experimental testsclassification.
Flow
Blockage Rate Froude h
d
Test Sand Degree (lit/s) Number
(mm)
S1B01* Sand1 0% 14.61 0.09 200
S1B02 d
50
= 0% 15 0.13 160
S1B03 0.85mm 0% 18.68 0.14 170
S1B401* 40% 14.67 0.09 200
S1B402 40% 14.61 0.12 170
S1B403* 40% 15.12 0.62 60
S1B404** 40% 15.45
S1B405 40% 19.8 0.11 210
S1B406* 40% 20.65 0.20 150
S1B407* 40% 25 0.59 80
*Without transition
**Resultswerenot valid
ensurethatanequilibriumscourconditionhadbeen
reached.
Experimental test wereconducted in blocked and
non-blocked conditions. To make the blockage a
20080mmplatewasinstalledat theopeningof the
culvert tomakea40%degreeof blockage. Thebarrel
had30mmfreespacefromthebottomof theculvert,to
makethesituationsimilar towhatitnaturallyhappens
bydebrisinfloodconditions.
The experimental tests carried out with different
flowrateswhichweremoreappropriatefor theflume
and culvert capacity. Approximately 15, 20 and 25
lit/sflowratewereusedinexperimental tests. Table1
indicates thetests classifications basedon degreeof
blockage, flowrateandFroudenumber. h
d
isthedepth
of water downstreamtheculvert.
Figure 3 shows the development of scour hole for
two experimental tests, S1B01as anon-blockedand
S1B401 as a blocked condition. Contour plots were
madeforall othertestsandwereusedtodeterminethe
scourdepth, lengthandwidth.Thecontourplotslocate
thescourholeinsandbasinandshowthemoundloca-
tionineachtest. Positivedepths indicatetheerosion
andnegativedepthsshowwhereaggradationoccurs.
A comparisonbetweenthesetwoconditionsshows
that thescour holeinblockedconditiongenerallyhas
morevolumethan non-blocked condition. Figure3a
illustratesthatthescourwidthforthenon-blockedcon-
ditionis400mmwhilethescourwidthfortheblocked
conditionis500mmasshowninFigure3b. Whichis
25%increaseinscour width.
Table2 depicts theresults of 4 individual experi-
mental tests intwo sets. TheFroudenumber andthe
relativescour depthareshownintable2. Eachset of
thesetestshasthesameflowcharacteristics, butintwo
different conditions, blockedandnon-blocked.
d
s
/Histherelativescourdepth,whered
s
isthedepth
of scour holeandHistheheight of culvertsopening.
Figure3. Contour results: (a) Non-blocked(b) Blocked.
Table2. Relativescour depthfor blockedandnon-blocked
conditions.
Froude Blockage
Test Number Degree d
s
/H
S1B01 0.09 0% 0.34
S1B401 0.09 40% 0.39
S1B02 0.13 0% 0.30
S1B402 0.12 40% 0.36
As it is derivedfromthetable, for flowwithFroude
number of 0.09thereis a15%increasein thedepth
of scour hole. It isalsoshownthat thescour depthin
blockedconditionwiththeFroudenumber of 0.12is
22%deeper thanitsnon-blockedcondition.
Figure 4 shows the relative scour depth versus
Froudenumber for all experimental tests. Itisnoticed
that thed
s
/H inblockedandnon- blockedconditions
increasesasFroudenumber raises.
Figure 4 also demonstrates the general trend of
scour depth for different Froude numbers. It is also
concluded that the general trend for depth of scour
hole in blocked condition is higher that the non-
blocked!one.
5 CONCLUSION
This laboratory study investigated thescouring phe-
nomenon in sand beds at the outlet of box culverts,
whentheculvertsareblockedbydebris.Thefollowing
aremainconclusionsof thestudy.
Culvertsblockagecausesadeeperscourholeatthe
culverts outlet. For Froude numbers of 0.09 to 0.13
743
Figure4. Relativescour depthversusFroudenumber.
scour depthincreases15to22per cent. It isalsocon-
cluded that thescour holegrowths when theFroude
number rises.
For futureworkvariedsandsandgravelsaregoing
tobeusedasthebedmaterial forthisexperimental test
andtheeffect of blockagewouldbestudied.
REFERENCES
Abida, H. &Townsend, R. (1991) Local Scour Downstream
of BoxCulvertOutlets. Journal of irrigation and drainage
engineering, 117, 425.
Abt, S. R., Ruff, J. F. & Doehring, F. K. (1986) Culvert
Slope Effects On Outlet Scour. Journal of Hydraulic
Engineering, 111.
Abt, S. R., Thompson, P. L. & Lewis, T. M. (1996) Enhance-
ment of theCulvert Outlet Scour Estimation Equations.
Transportation Reaserch Record, 178185.
Barthelmess, A. J. & Rigby, E. (2011) EstimationCulvert &
Bridges A SimplifiedProcedure.
Chen, W.,Admiraal, D., Hotchkiss, R. &Donahoo, K. (2009)
Laboratory Measurements of Scour Downstreamof Box
Culverts.
Hotchkiss, R., Larson, E. A. &Admiraal, D. (2006) Energy
DissipationinCulvertsbyForcedHydraulicJ umpWithin
aBarrel.TransportationResearchRecord, 1904,124132.
Liriano, S. L., Day, R. A. & White, W. R. (2002) Scour
at Culvert Outlets as InfluencedByTheTurbulent Flow
Structure. Journal of Hydraulic Research, 40.
Norman, J. M., Houghtalen, R. J. & J ohnson, W. J. (2001)
Hydraulic Designof Highway Culverts, SecondEdition.
Seconded.
Rigby, E. H. & Barthelmess, A. J. (2011) Culvert Blockage
Mechanisms andTheir Impact OnFloodBehaviour-Are
All BlockagesCreatedEqual?
Rigby, E. H., Boyd, M. J., Roso, S., Silveri, P. & Davis, A.
(2002) Causes and Effects of Culvert Blockage during
Large Storms. 9th International Conference on Urban
Drainage. Oregon, USA.
Tansport Road and Maritime services (2012) About Road
Projects in Sydney Region. Sydney Region .viewed 6
J anuary 2012, <http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/roadprojects/
projects/sydney_region/index.html>
Van Den Honert, R. C. & Mcaneney, J. (2011) The 2011
Brisbane Floods: Causes, Impacts and Implications.
Water, 3, 11491173.
Williams, R. & Watford, F. (1997) Identification of struc-
turesrestrictingtidal flowinNewSouthWales,Australia.
Wetlands Ecology and Management, 5, 8797.
744
Shock and impact loading
Fundamentalsof impact actionsdemonstratedbyminiature
experimentations
MuneebAli, J ingSun, NelsonLam& Lihai Zhang
Department of Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne, Australia
EmadGad
School of Engineering and Industrial Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Vic, Australia
ABSTRACT: Thispaperdescribestheuseof miniaturephysical experimentationstodemonstratephenomenaof
cushionprotectionandmassprotectioninthemitigationof impactactionsbystrikingmildsteel beamspecimens
at their mid-spanpositionbyafallenobject. Thesemitigationphenomenahavebeenquantifiedsystematically
bycomparisonsbetweenresultsfromexperiments, LSDynaandhandcalculationmethod(basedonprinciples
of equal momentumandequal energy assumingelasto-plastic responsebehaviour). Goodagreement between
the predicted and observed displacement values have been found across all the experiments. The presented
calculationmethodisthereforewell supported. Meanwhile, limitationswiththeuseof theconventional quasi-
static approachintheanalysis of impact actions arehighlighted. Significantly, therevealedphenomenahave
important implications in the design and infrastructure protection of structural elements that are potentially
exposedtoimpact hazards.
1 INTRODUCTION
Generally, structural elements are considered to be
subject to either static or gradual loading. Structures
arealsosubjecttosuddenloads, i.e. impactandshock
loads. Impact loading is coined due to interaction
between two objects amongst which one object car-
riescruisingor incipient velocityimmediatelybefore
impact and is known as impactor. Whiletheother
object is subject to suchimpact loadingdueto colli-
sionof impactor withit is knownas target. Target
respondstosuchloadingbyundergoingeither elastic
(recoverable) or elasto-plastic (permanent) deforma-
tion. Oneapproach for estimatingresponseof target
duetoimpact loadisstatic approachinwhichequiv-
alent quasistatic force is obtained by multiplication
of staticliveloadby impact loadfactor under certain
conditions (Blodgett, 1966). This approach provides
identical estimates for either lightweight or conven-
tional material (as size of mass of target has no
influenceinresponsewhileusingthisstaticapproach).
Another contemporarycodeof practiceisbasedon
theassumptionthatkineticenergyof impactoristrans-
ferred to the target without any energy loss (energy
carried away by impactor after rebounce or energy
dissipation during thecontact of impact action such
as local indentation or sound and heat generation).
(Szuladzinski, 2010), expressedasEq. (1).
wherem isthemassof theimpactor, V
0
isincipi-
ent velocityof theimpactor just beforeimpact, K is
structural stiffness of target and is themaximum
deflectiondemandof target.
Thisapproachbasedonenergy principleresultsin
overconservativeestimationaszeroenergydissipation
israrelytrueinreality. Inaddition, similar asthefore-
goingstatic approach, themass of thetarget has not
been taken into account. Recent research (Ali, Lam,
Zhang, & Gad, 2011; Yang, Lam, & Zhang) conveys
anideathatsizeof massof thetargetplaysanimportant
roleinreducingthedisplacementdemandof thetarget
subjecttoimpactactions. Whenthemassof thetarget
isincreasedsignificantlytohavenon-trivial reduction
indeflectiondemandthensuchphenomenonisknown
as mass protection. One approach to increase the
mass of target is to usemoredensematerial. Second
approach is based on using heavy interfacebetween
impactor andtarget. Inorder toprovidemassprotec-
tiontothetarget, impact interfaceneedstohavehard
surface such that it may not absorb part of energy
transmitted by the impactor. In some cases impact
interface (such as aluminum foam or sand etc.) is
very soft, having tendency to absorb some part of
the kinetic energy transmitted to the target by the
impactorandhence,causingdelayintransferof energy
to the target. In such situation the impact interface
providescushioningeffectstoreducethedeflection
demand.
Theenergy dissipationcanbemodelledby highly
dynamic simulation software (such as LS Dyna)
747
but it is not straightforward to execute. There is
a great deal of uncertainties surrounding program
input parameters. Toidentifytheaccuracyof theout-
put results, experimentation normally needs to be
performed (Wei & Hao, 2009). Further, LS-Dyna
programrequires distinct training as there is much
demand of knowledge in the use of program such
as mesh size, parametric sensitivity testing to obtain
realistic, accurateandvalidresults.
The objective of this paper is to introduce sim-
plealgebraic expressions based on combining equal
momentumprinciple with equal energy principle in
order that thedissipationof energy onimpact canbe
takeninto account. Thereareimportant assumptions
being made in this proposed calculation method. It
is assumed in these expressions that momentumis
transferred instantaneously fromimpactor to target
(mightnotrepresentreality) andmaterial behaviour is
assumedtobeidealizedbi-linear elasto-plastic. It has
beenshownintheexperiment work presentedinthe
paper that theseexpressions can producereasonably
accurateestimatesunder certainconditions.
In this paper, the details of the miniature exper-
imentation, LS Dyna analysis and simplified hand
calculationmethodwill bepresentedinsection2, sec-
tion 3 and section 4 respectively. Then, comparison
between experiment observations, LS Dyna predic-
tionsandestimatesfromhandcalculationmethodwill
bemadeinsection5. Finally, discussionandconclu-
sionfortheresultshavebeenprovidedinsection5and
section6, respectively.
2 MINIATURE EXPERIMENTATION
Inthisstudy, anexperimentationprogramwascarried
outbytheauthorsinorder toobtainmaximumdeflec-
tion demand for target subjected to impact actions.
Aimof obtaining theseexperimental observations is
tovalidatesimplifiedhandcalculationmethodbeing
presented in this paper (section 4). The experimen-
tation employed miniaturebeamspecimens madeof
mildsteel (MS). Detailsof experimentationsetupare
showninTable1.
Thetime-dependent displacement (over afraction
of a second) and maximumdeflection of thebeams
wererecordedbyahighspeeddataacquisitionsystem.
Tominimizethere-bounceof theimpactor, apieceof
soft clothwas put betweenimpactor andimpact sur-
face, andso theimpact is inelastic. Inorder to trace
thepermanent elasto-plasticdeformations(for identi-
ficationof yieldingof beamspecimen), readingswere
takenbeforeandaftertheimpactloadingeachtime. In
Table2thereadingsshownwithboldfaceandasterisk
(*) signrepresentthedisplacementvalueswhichinsti-
gatedthat beamspecimenbeingyielded(responseof
target to theimpact actionis inelasto-plastic range).
Fromtheexperimental observation it is evident that
the displacement demands of the target are reduced
bymassprotectionandcushioningeffect(EI property
beingsame).
Table1. Impact scenarios.
ScenarioNo. Descriptionof impact scenarios
1
2
3
Note:
1. Scenario1hasnointerface(Control Experiment)
2. Scenario2hastwoadditional MSsteel plates(eachweigh-
ingfour kilogramswithdimensionas300.0mmby17.0mm
by100.0mm) for massprotection
3. Scenario3hassandcushion(onekilogram) andtwoaddi-
tional steel plates (each steel plate weighing 3.5 kgs with
dimensionsas300.0mmby15.0mmby100.0mm) for mass
protection.
Table2. Experimental observations.
Displacement demand(mm)
DropHeight Scenario1 Scenario2 Scenario3
600mm 8.5 6.5 5.5
1200mm 16.0* 10.0 8.5
Note:
1. Values listed with asterisk (*) sign corresponds to post
yielddeflectionof target.
3 FINITE ELEMENT MODELING
Advanced finite element package LS Dyna was
employed to provide numerical predictions for dis-
placement demandsfor target. Thetarget beamspeci-
mens, steel plate(s) andimpactor weremodelledwith
solid elements and some20,000 element weremod-
elled. Strainrateeffect wasnegligiblesoresultswith
ModifiedJ ohnsonCook material model weresimilar
withidealizedbi-linear model.
4 SIMPLIFIED(HANDCALCULATION)
METHOD
A theoretical analysis for atarget structuresubjected
toimpact loadingis characterisedas impact between
748
Figure 1. Finite element model: (a) scenario 1 (control
experimentation), (b) scenario2and(c) scenario3.
Figure2. Idealisedlumpedmassmodel.
two lumpedmasses (Chopra, 2007): non-deformable
impactor (impacting object or projectile) with mass
mimpactingonthelumpedmodel of thetargetM
(M=m) asshowninFigure2.
Impact problem can be solved through employ-
ing the combination of equal energy principle with
equal momentumprincipleuponassumptionof free
objects colliding in space or on a frictionless sur-
face. Given that hard impact condition is originally
assumed, kinetic energy and momentumtransferred
fromtheimpactor to thetarget instantaneously. It is
also assumed that the impactor gets stuck with tar-
get after collisionandbothobjectsstart movingwith
commonvelocity. Thus, Eq. (2) isadmonishedtoesti-
matepurelyelasticresponsebehaviour of targetunder
impact action(Ali et al., 2011; Yanget al.).
Figure3. Experimentobservationsandpredicteddeflection
demand.
where is themass reductionfactor whichindicates
how much percentage of the deflection is reduced
based on consideration of mass ratio of target to
the impactor, and taking into account the con-
dition of re-bounce of impactor (i.e. perfect or no
re-bounce). For the purpose of providing simplified
estimation method for predicting promising max-
imum deflection estimation of beam an idealized
bi-linear elasto-plastic lumped spring-mass system
is adopted, Eq. (6) is assimilated. Where (i) incip-
ient yield moment, M
y
(f
y
Z
e
), (ii) incipient yielding
force, F
y
((4M
y
/L)n) and(iii) incipientyielddis-
placement,
y
((F
y
L
3
)/48nEI) need to be defined.
Estimationsfollowedfor that of material at thecondi-
tionof full yieldaredepictedas(iv) full yieldmoment,
M
y
(f
u
S
xx
), (v) full yieldforce, F
y
(F
y
M
y
/M
y
) and
(vi) full yield displacement,
y
(
y
F
y
/F
y
), where
f
y
isyieldstress, f
u
istensilestrength.
The maximum deflection for target for elastic and
elasto-plastic behaviour can beestimated by Eq. (2)
andEq. (6), respectively, inreasonableagreementwith
experimental observationsandLSDynaanalysis.
Table3predictsthatthemaximumdeflectionvalues
recordedfor impact scenario2werereducedbysome
25%45%fromthecontrol experiment (scenario1to
2).Incomparisonwithcontrol experimentfurther5%
10%reductioninthedisplacementdemandvaluewas
attributeddueto cushioningphenomenonofferedby
sandmedium.
749
Table 3. Recorded maximumdeflection values for target
structure.
Drop Drop
height of height of
Scenario Descriptionof interface 600mm 1200mm
1 Barebeamwithout 8.5mm 16.0mm
dummymassor (1.0) (1.0)
interface(control
experiment)
2 Steel platesweighing 6.5mm 9.0mm
eight kilogramusedas (0.75) (0.55)
additional dummymass
for massprotection
3 Sandasinterface, sand 5.5mm 8.5mm
weighingonekilogram (0.65) (0.50)
andsteel plates
weighingsevenkilogram
usedasadditional dummy
massfor cushioning
effect andmass
protectionrespectively
Note:
1. Valueslistedhavebeenroundedoff tothenearest mm.
2.Valuesin( ) havebeennormalizedw.r.t. observationsfrom
control experimentation.
Table 4. Significance of hand calculation method due to
trivial calculationtimeexpenditure.
LSDyna HandCalculation
Error Computation Error Computation
Scenario (%) time(hours) (%) time(minutes)
1 +15 5 +27 2
2 +5 8 +30 2
3 +23 24
Table4enlightensthatbothLSDynaandhandcal-
culation predictions are conservative for scenario 1.
However, LSDynapredictsunderestimatedvaluesfor
scenario 2indicatingthat it takes into account effect
of sizeof mass of target slightly higher than reality.
Table 4 draws focus on significance of use of hand
calculation method (validated in this paper) for use
aspreliminarystudyof structural elementssubject to
impact actions. It showsthat handcalculationmethod
is very useful tool as calculationtimefor problemis
trivial ascomparedwithLSDynaanalysis.
In literature (Hao & Tarasav, 2008; Wei & Hao,
2009; Zhou & Hao, 2008), Hong Hao defines strain
rateeffectatmaterial level involvingmaterial strength
enhancementwhichmayinfluencedeflectiondemand
of target. Inthereportedexperiment; strainrateof the
target was observed for each impact scenario which
wasfoundtobeinsignificant. Proposedhandcalcula-
tionmethodislimitedtoscenariosbasedoncollision
between two objects and FEM can be employed for
complex cases but requires significant computation
time.
6 CONCLUSION
Conclusionsareasfollow:
a) Hand calculation model developed in this study
could potentially describe the elasto-plastic
response behaviour of target subject to impact
action. The hand calculations are in reasonable
agreement with experiment observations and LS
Dynapredictions,withsignificantreductionintime
neededfor computation.
b) Mass protection could significantly reduce dis-
placement demandsof target.
c) Cushioning effect offered by the impact inter-
face could further reduce displacement demands
of target.
REFERENCES
Ali, M., Lam, N., Zhang, L., & Gad, E. (2011). Impact resis-
tantbehaviourof lightweightstructural elements. Interna-
tional Journal of Aerospace and Lightweight Structures,
1(2), 179201.
Blodgett, O. W. (1966). Design of welded structures Section
2.8 J amesF. LincolnArcWeldingFoundation.
Chopra, A. K. (2007). Dynamics of structures: theory and
applications to earthquake engineering. New J ersey:
PrenticeHall.
Hao, H., & Tarasav, B. G. (2008). Experimental study of
dynamic material properties of clay brick and mortar
at different strain rates. Australian Journal of Structural
Engineering, 8(2), 117131.
Szuladzinski, G. (2010). Formulas for mechanical and struc-
tural shock and impact: Taylor andFrancis.
Wei, X., & Hao, H. (2009). Numerical derivationof homog-
enizeddynamic masonry material properties with strain
rateeffects. International Journal of Impact Engineering,
36(3), 522536.
Yang,Y., Lam, N.T. K., &Zhang, L. Evaluationof simplified
methodsfor estimatingbeamresponsestoimpact. Inter-
national Journal of Structural Stability and Dynamics
[Paper in Press].
Zhou, X., & Hao, H. (2008). Modelling of compressive
behaviour of concrete-like materials at high strain rate.
International Journal of Solids and Structures, 45(1),
46484661.
750
Numerical simulationof impact piledrivinganditseffect onfar field
S.D. Ekanayake, D.S. Liyanapathirana& C.J. Leo
School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, Australia
ABSTRACT: Increaseinconstructionactivitiesduetorapidpopulationgrowthinrecent yearshasconsumed
most of theurbanlands, makingthelandsuitablefor constructionascarceresourceinurbanareas. This has
resulted in uitilising thesmaller land plots availableadjacent to existing buildings by constructing high-rise
buildings. Constructionof suchstructures involves significant groundvibrations dueto pileinstallation. One
methodof piledrivingisimpactpiledriving. Thisstudyinvestigatestheeffectof impactpiledrivingonfar field
of adrivenpile. Theimpact piledrivingissimulatedusingaset of axisymmetricmodelsinABAQUS/Explicit.
Wavetransmittingboundarieswereusedtotruncatetheaxisymmetricmodelsbeyondtheregionof interest. The
selectedmodellingtechniqueisfirstverifiedusingfielddataavailableintheliterature. Simulationswerecarried
out at twodifferent levelsof penetrations. Four different impact forcesareselectedtoinvestigatetheinfluence
of amplitudeandtherisetimeof theimpact forceontheintensityof peak particlevelocity(PPV) distributions
awayfromthedrivenpile.
Resultsshowthat anincreaseinrisetimeandtheamplitudeof theimpact forceincreasetheintensityof impact
piledrivingonthefar field.
1 INTRODUCTION
Suitable land for construction has become a scarce
resource in urban areas in recent years due to the
increasinginfrastructuredemandfromrapidpopula-
tiongrowthandindustrial activities. Thedemandfor
infrastructureisnowcateredbyconstructinghigh-rise
buildings in the smaller land plots available next to
existingbuildings. Pilefoundations areoftenusedin
suchconstructionactivities, transferringlargedesign
loads fromsuperstructures of high-rise buildings to
stronger soil layersdeepbelowthegroundsurface.
Pilefoundationscanbecategorisedintotwotypes:
drivenpiles anddrilledpiles, dependingonthecon-
structionmethod. Drivenpilesareprefabricatedpiles
which are smaller in diameter when compared to
drilled piles. Thesearedriven to theground using a
pile driver. Drilled piles are cast in-situ by drilling
thegroundandhaverelativelylargediameters. Three
widely used techniques to install driven piles are
impact pile driving, vibratory pile driving and pile
jacking. The present study focuses on impact pile
driving.
Impact pile driving involves dropping a mass,
which is called a ram, froma given height giving
thepileenergy tobedrivenintothesoil, evenindif-
ficult soil conditions (Woods, 1997). This generates
ground vibrations as shear and dilation waves prop-
agating outwards fromthe driven pile in cylindrical
and spherical wavefronts respectively. Theintensity
of these vibrations attenuates with increasing dis-
tance fromthe driven pile. There are two types of
vibrationattenuations: geometric dampingandmate-
rial damping(Dym, 1976). Expansionof wavefronts
withincreasingdistancefromthepileresults ingeo-
metric dampingwherevarious physical properties of
thesoil resultinmaterial damping. Intensityof ground
vibrationpropagationcanbediscussedusingpeakpar-
ticlevelocity (PPV) of themedium. Athanasopoulos
and Pelekis (2000) mentioned that thestrains gener-
ated in thesoil by propagation of ground vibrations
areproportional totheparticlevelocityof themedium.
Therearedifferent approachestodeterminethepeak
particlevelocity, suchasthepeakvalueof velocityout
of velocities measuredinthreemutually perpendicu-
lardirections, thepeakvalueof thevelocityinvertical
direction, thesquarerootof thesumof squares(SRSS)
of peak values of velocity in each direction and the
peak valueof truevector sum(TVS) of velocities in
three directions. However, TVS is recognised as the
most appropriateparameter todiscusstheintensityof
groundvibrations.
Different design codes and standards have pub-
lisheddifferent vibrationcriteriatoprevent structural
damage and to preserve human comfort. American
Association of State Highways and Transportation
Officials (AASHTO) 1990, Eurocode- 3 (EN 1993)
and Swiss Standards SN 640 312 provide limiting
values for PPV to prevent structural damage from
continuous vibrations. Limiting values for PPVs to
prevent structural damage based on transient vibra-
tions can be found in British Standards, BS7385,
Australian Standards, AS 2187.2, and German Stan-
dard,DIN4150.Alsothesestandardsprovidevibration
751
Figure1. Tipof thepileembeddedinsoil.
criteriatopreservehumancomfort, basedontransient
vibrations.
2 NUMERICAL MODEL
ABAQUS/Explicitfiniteelementsoftware(ABAQUS,
2010) was usedto createthedynamic finiteelement
model used for the analysis of impact pile driving.
Consideringthesoil aroundthedrivenpilewashomo-
geneous with no other structurepresent, an axisym-
metricfiniteelementmodel wasdevelopedtosimulate
impact piledriving. A novel techniquepresented by
Henke& Grabe(2006) was adopted in this study as
thistechniqueenablesthefiniteelementmodel tosim-
ulatepenetrationof thepilefewdiameters belowthe
groundsurface,avoidingmeshdistortionscommonfor
deeppenetrationproblems.
In the finite element model, a dummy tube of
1.0mmradius is placedalongtheaxis of symmetry.
The driven pile, which was in frictionless contact
withthetube, wasembeddedinthesoil at thebegin-
ningof theanalysisasshowninFigure1. Thishelped
avoidingexcessivemeshdistortions near thepiletip
whenthepilewas jackedinto thesoil. Boththepile
andthetubeweremodelledasanalytical rigidsurfaces.
Eachsurfacewasassignedareferencepointinorderto
applytheloadsandtherelevant boundaryconditions.
Initially, thetubewasinfrictionlesscontact withsoil.
As thepilepenetratedthesoil, it separatedsoil from
thetubebyslidingoverthetubeandgeneratedpile-soil
contact.
2.1 Model verification
Theaxisymmetricmodel derivedtosimulatepiledriv-
ingwasverifiedusingfielddataavailableinliterature
forpilejackingduetotheavailabilityof soil properties
forthesite.Cookeetal.(1979)publishedgroundheave
dataforasetof fieldtestsconductedinNorthLondon.
Thesoil typewasidentifiedasLondonclaywhichhad
adensityof 1947kg/m
3
, aYoungsmodulusof 50MPa
andanundrainedshear strengthvaryingfrom35kPa
atthegroundsurfaceto78kPaat4.6mbelowthesur-
facelevel. Poissonsratioof theclay wasassumedto
Figure2. Tipof thepileembeddedinsoil.
be0.49inthecurrent study. Threeclosed-endedhol-
low steel piles of diameter (D) 0.168mwerejacked
intothegroundtoadepthof 4.6mfromthesurface.
Cooke et al. (1979) recorded the ground heave data
about0.5mbelowthesurfacelevel inradial directions
upto3mawayfromthepiles. Thefrictioncoefficient
be-tweenthepileandthesoil wasassumedtobe0.2.
Thesoil behavior wasmodelledaccordingtothevon
Misesyieldcriterion.
Thefiniteelementmodel usedtosimulatepilejack-
ingisshowninFigure2.Thesoil domainwasextended
about 30D in both radial and vertical directions and
consistedof four-noderectangular axisymmetric ele-
ments withreducedintegration(CAX4R). Thefinite
element meshfor soil domainvariedfromfiner ele-
ments with minimumdimension of 0.05mtowards
the driven pile to coarser elements with maximum
dimension of 0.2mtowards the boundary. Arbitrary
LagrangianEulerian(ALE) adaptivemeshtechnique
was assignedto thesoil domainnear thedrivenpile,
which extended about one diameter in radial direc-
tion fromthe center of the pile. TheALE adaptive
meshingtechniquechangesthetopologyof thefinite
element mesh, irrespectiveof thematerial movement.
However, ABAQUS/Explicit facilitates tracking the
material movementsbydefiningtracerparticles.Thus,
a set of tracer particles were defined to track the
vertical ground movements about 0.5m below the
752
Figure3. Ground heaveat 0.5mbelow thesurfacelevel,
after thepileisjacked4.6mtotheground.
surface level. The vertical boundary away fromthe
pile was laterally restrained and the bottombound-
ary was restrained in all directions. The movement
of therigid tubewas restrained in all directions and
thepilemovement wasrestrainedinlateral direction.
Another displacement controlledboundary condition
wasappliedat thepileheadtojackthepile4.6minto
thesoil belowthesurfacelevel.Thegroundheavedata
wereextractedat theendof thepilejacking.
Figure3comparesthefiniteelement predictionof
ground heave at 0.5 mbelow the surface level with
thefielddatafromCookeet al. (1979) for thefirst of
threepilesjackedintotheground.Themaximumheave
predictedby thefiniteelement model is 8.5mmand
themaximumheavemeasuredinthefieldis10.1mm.
Thediscrepancy of thepredictionmay haveoccurred
duetothenumerical techniqueused. Infield, thepile
is driven fromthe ground surface and when the tip
ispenetratedtheground, thedisplacedvolumeof soil
createsaheavearoundthepile.Theheavegeneratedby
thisdisplacedvolumeof soil, asillustratedinFigure4,
wasnotconsideredinthefiniteelementmodel created
for pilejacking, asillustratedinFigure1. Inaddition
tothat, thesoil propertiesatthesitemaynotbehomo-
geneous and may vary fromtheproperties extracted
fromthelaboratoryexperimentsgivenbyCook et al.
(1979), whichwereusedinthefiniteelementanalysis.
Thus, theagreementbetweenfiniteelementprediction
andthefielddatacanbeconsideredreasonable.
Hence, it was concludedthat theadoptednumeri-
cal techniquehas theability to simulatepiledriving
up to fewdiameters belowthesurfacelevel without
generatinglargemeshdistortions.Therefore, thesame
techniqueisadoptedinsimulatingimpactpiledriving,
whichisdiscussedinthefollowingsection.
2.2 Selection of proper boundary conditions
When analysing impact pile driving, it is necessary
to pay attention to the wave propagation in the soil
medium. Reflection of ground waves back to the
Figure4. Expectedsurfaceheavegenerationaroundapile
drivenfromthesurface.
domain of interest during the analysis significantly
affectstheaccuracyof theresults.Thiscanbeavoided
usingasufficiently largedomain, providingalonger
distance for waves to travel before reflecting back
to the region of interest and thus giving sufficient
timetoextractresults. However, thismethodincreases
the computational cost of the analysis significantly.
Hence, the soil domain should be truncated beyond
the region of interest and wave transmitting bound-
aries shouldbeappliedtoabsorbthewaves reaching
theboundary.
Thefiniteelementmodel discussedinprevioussec-
tionwasusedtocomparedifferent wavetransmitting
boundaryconditions.Theinfiniteelementavailablein
ABAQUS/Explicitwascomparedwiththewavetrans-
mittingboundariesproposedbyDeeksandRandolph
(1994) foraxisymmetricshearanddilationwaveprop-
agation. Du and Zhao (2010) also proposed another
wave transmitting boundary for axisymmetric shear
and dilation wave propagation. However, they were
notconsideredinthisstudyasABAQUS/Explicitdoes
notsupportthenegativemasselementsinDuandZhao
(2010) boundaries.
A singlehammer blowwasappliedat thepilehead
using the reference point assigned to the rigid pile.
Vertical movementsof thegroundsurfacefordifferent
boundary conditions arecompared at theend of the
analysis, asillustratedinFigure5.
A small differencebetweenthesurfacesettlements
for different boundary conditionswasobservedaway
fromthe driven pile. The infinite element produced
arigidbody movement of thesoil domainat theend
of theanalysis. Thus, for addedaccuracy, Deeks and
Randolph(1994) boundarieswereselectedtotruncate
thefiniteelementmeshwhenanalysingtheimpactpile
driving.
2.3 Impact pile driving
The axisymmetric finite element model verified in
previoussectionwasusedtosimulateimpactpiledriv-
ing. Thesoil propertiesextractedat alargescalepilot
pile test project site in Taiwan (Hwang et al. 2001)
were used in the current study. The soil had a den-
sity of 1947kg/
3
, aYoungs modulus of 20MPa, a
Poissonsratioof 0.4andanundrainedshear strength
of 25kN/m
2
. The soil behaviour was modelled as
753
Figure5. Surfacedeformationattheendof thepiledriving
for different typesof non-reflectingboundaryconditions.
Figure6. Hammer forcefor asingleblow.
an elastic-perfectly plastic material with von Mises
yield criterion. The soil domain was assumed to be
homogeneous.
The driven pile was assumed to have a diame-
ter of 0.5m, a length of 5m, aYoungs modulus of
3010
9
Nm
2
, adensity of 2400kgm
3
andaPois-
sons ratioof 0.15. Figure6shows thehammer force
curvesusedfor theanalysisfor asinglehammer blow
withtwoamplitudesandtwodifferentrisetimes. Rise
timeisdefinedasthetimerequiredfortheimpactforce
to reachthepeak amplitude. Theanalyses werecon-
ductedwhenthedrivenpilewasnear thesurfaceand
about3.5mbelowthesurfacetodeterminetheeffects
of therisetimeandtheamplitudeof thedrivingforce.
Thesoil domainwasextended40Dinradial direction
and20Dinvertical direction. Thefrictioncoefficient
betweenthepileandthesoil was assumedto be0.2.
Durationfor eachanalysiswas0.5seconds. Thattime
periodsuccessfully simulatedasingleblowfor each
impact force.
Figure 7. Variation of PPV through the soil mediumfor
hammer forcecurveF1(piletipnear thesurface).
Figure8. Variationof PPV alongthesurfacefor different
impact forces(piletipisnear thesurface).
3 RESULTS
Figure7illustratesvariationof PPVsthroughthesoil
mediumfor hammer force curve F1 when the pile
is driven near the surface. PPVs are plotted against
r/D, where r is the radial distance fromthe driven
pile. According to this figure, the highest PPVs are
observed closer to thepilewall at thesurfacelevel.
Therefore, when describing theeffect of impact pile
driving, PPV variation along the surface was com-
pared, when the pile was driving near the ground
surface.
PPVsalongthegroundsurfacefor differentimpact
forces are shown in Figure 8. Figure 9 shows the
variationof particlevelocity throughthemediumfor
hammer forcecurveF1, whenthepileisdriven3.5m
belowthesurfacelevel. Inthiscase, thehighest PPV
variationwasobservedat thepiletiplevel. Therefore,
whendescribingtheeffectof impactpiledrivingwhen
thepileis3.5mbelowthesurfacelevel,PPVvariations
754
Figure 9. Variation of PPV through the soil mediumfor
hammer forcecurveF1(piletipis4mbelowthesurface).
Figure10. Variationof PPV alongpiletiplevel fordifferent
hammer configurations(piletipis4mbelowthesurface).
4mbelowthesurfacewereconsidered, as illustrated
inFigure10.
AccordingtoFigure8, it isclear that therisetime
and theamplitudeof theimpact forcedo not havea
significanteffectonthePPV variation, awayfromthe
drivingpile. However, whenthepileisdrivingbelow
thesurface(Figure10), anincreaseintherisetimeof
theimpact forcefor agivenhammer forceandampli-
tudeof theimpact forceincreasetheintensityof PPV
away fromthe driving pile, increasing the effect of
impact piledrivingonthefar field.
4 CONCLUSION
Theeffect of impact piledrivingonfar fieldisinves-
tigated using an axisymmetric finite element model
developed using ABAQUS/Explicit. A novel tech-
nique, which has theability to simulatepiledriving
fewdiameters belowthesurfacelevel, is adopted in
simulating the impact pile driving and it is verified
usingfielddataavailablefor pilejacking. Themodel
is then used to carry out aparametric study varying
therisetimeandamplitudeof theimpact force. It can
beconcludedthat theeffect of impact piledrivingon
far fieldis intensifiedby theincreaseinrisetimeof
thedrivingforceandtheamplitude, whenthepileis
driving fewmeters belowtheground surface. When
thedrivingiscarriedout closer tothegroundsurface
influenceof thesetwoparametersarelesssignificant.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
cial assistance provided by theAustralian Research
Council for this research under Discovery grant
DP1094309.
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ABAQUS Inc. 2010. ABAQUS version6.10users manual,
Providence, RhodeIsland, USA.
American Association of State Highway and Transporta-
tionOfficials (AASHTO) 1990. Standardrecommended
practicefor evaluationof transportationrelatedearthborn
vibrations. Washington, DC.
Athanasopoulos, G.A. andPelekisP.C. 2000, Groundvibra-
tions from sheet pile driving in urban environment:
measurements,analysisandeffectsonbuildingsandoccu-
pants, Soil Dynamics andEarthquakeEngineering, vol.
19, pp. 371387.
British Standards Institution, (BS7385), Measurement of
VibrationinBuildings, London, England.
Cooke, R.W., Price, G. and Tarr, K. 1979. J acked piles in
LondonClay: astudyof loadtransferandsettlementunder
workingconditions, Geotechnique2: 113147.
Deeks, A. J. andRandolph, M. F. 1994, Axisymmetrictime-
domaintransmittingboundaries, J ournal of Engineering
Mechanics, vol. 120, pp. 2542.
Du, X. andZhao, M. 2010, A local time-domaintransmitting
boundaryforsimulatingcylindrical elasticwavepropaga-
tion in infinite media, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake
Engineering, vol. 30, pp. 937946.
Dym, C.L. 1976, Attenuationof GroundVibration, Sound
andVibration, vol. 10, pp. 3234.
Europeancommitteefor Standardisation(EN). 1993. Design
of steel structures, Part 5: Piling.
German Institute for Standardization (DIN 4150), Struc-
tural vibration Effectsof vibrationonstructures, Berlin,
Germany.
Henke, S. & Grabe, J. 2006. Simulationof piledrivingby3-
dimensional finiteelement analysis, 17thEuropeanYong
Geotechnical Engineering Conference, Zagreb Croatia:
215333.
StandardsAustralia(AS2187.2-2006): Explosives Storage
andUse Useof Explosives, Sydney, Australia.
Swiss Association of Standardization (SN 640 312). 1978.
Effectsof vibrationsof construction. Zurich, Switzerland.
Woods, R.D. 1997. Dynamic effects of pile installations
on adjacent structures, NCHRP Synthesis 253, Trans-
portation Research Board (National Research Council),
Washington, D.C.
755
Effectsof energylevel andimpact repetitionsontheimpact fatigue
behaviour andpost-impact flexural propertiesof squareFRP pultrudedtubes
E.J. Guades, T. Aravinthan, A.C. Manalo& M.M. Islam
Centre of Excellence in Engineered Fibre Composites (CEEFC), Faculty of Engineering and Surveying,
University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
ABSTRACT: This paper presents an experimental investigation on the effects of impact energy level and
impactrepetitionsontheimpactfatiguebehaviour andpost-impactflexural propertiesof squareFRPcomposite
tubes. Impacttestingwasdonebyaxiallyimpactinga100mmsquarepultrudedtubewithanenergylevel ranging
from158to742J usingadrop-weight impact apparatus. Couponswerethentakenfromtheimpactedtubesand
testedstaticallyunder three-pointbendingtodeterminetheir post-impactflexural properties.Theresultsshowed
that theeffectsof energylevel andimpact repetitionsaresignificant ontherateof energyabsorptionbehaviour
of theFRP tubesbeforeitscollapse. Their effects, however, arenegligiblewhenthetuberuptures. It wasalso
foundthat thepost-impact flexural propertiesof theimpactedtubesarereducedat higher impact energiesand
moreimpact repetitions. Themaximumreductionof thestrengthandmodulusare10and3.7%, respectively.
1 INTRODUCTION
The high corrosion-resistant characteristic and its
emergence as a structural component made fibre
reinforced polymer (FRP) composite tubes suitable
alternativefor pilingapplicationinharshmarineenvi-
ronment(Guadesetal., 2012). Drivingthem, however,
needs careful considerationdueto their inherent low
modulus. The thin-walled section of the tube gen-
erally ruptures under high driving impact stress. In
addition, theFRPpilesgenerallysupportdesignloads
including lateral forces tending thecompositemate-
rials to bend or deflect. As a result, the integrity of
theFRPpilesduringdrivingandthepost-impactflex-
ural performances of the fibre composite materials
are in question. There is a need therefore to have a
clear understandingontheeffectof impactdamageto
thementioned performances to ensurethestructural
integrityof FRP piles.
Research on the impact fatigue and post-impact
flexural behavioursof FRP materialshasbeenexten-
sive; however, theyarelimitedoncompositelaminates
or tubes whicharetransversely impacted. Foundand
Howard(1995) performedimpactfatiguetestsoncar-
bon FRP laminates using impact energies between
0.54and0.93J. Theyreportedthattheimpactdamage
causedbyenergiesof 0.54and0.73J didnot produce
changes in the peak impact force. However, a sec-
ondimpact at 0.93J producedasignificant reduction
in the peak force and an increase in impact dura-
tion. SugunandRao(2004) investigatedtheeffectsof
impact energieswithseriesof impactsonthefatigue
behaviour of composite laminates. Their results
suggested that the total energy increases whilst the
peak loaddecreasesuptotheperforationof thelam-
inates. Roy et al. (2001) characterised thebehaviour
of highandmediumstrengthcarbonfibre-vinyl ester
composite tubes under repeated transverse impact.
Their micro-structural analysis showed debonding,
fibrebreakageandpull-out at thetensilezoneof the
impactedlaminate.
Impact damagehas an adverseeffect on theflex-
ural capacity of thecompositelaminates as revealed
insomestudies. ZhangandRichardson(2007) eval-
uated the effect of impact-induced damage on the
post-impact flexural properties of a pultruded glass
FRP compositelaminate. They reportedthat impact-
induceddamagereducedtheflexural strengthby30%.
Belingardi et al. (2009) conducted a flexural test
on a100mmsquarecompositelaminates repeatedly
impactedbyvariousenergylevels.Theresultindicated
asignificant drop of post-impact flexural properties
when perforation is approached. The experimental
work conductedbySantiusteet al. (2010) focusedon
the after-impact flexural behaviour of a 3mmthick
glass/polyester laminate. They found that the post-
impactflexural strengthof thespecimenislowerwhen
thedamagereachedtheedgesof thebeam.
Literaturerevealedthat impact energy andimpact
repetitions significantly affect the strength degrada-
tion response of the composite laminates or tubes
undertransverseimpact.Itwouldbeco-equallyimpor-
tanttoknowwhetherthesefactorsinfluencethefatigue
and post-impact flexural responses of thecomposite
tubeswhentheyareaxiallyimpacted.
This work experimentally investigated the impact
fatiguebehaviour andpost-impact flexural properties
of squareFRP pultrudedtubes axially impacted. The
757
effectsof impactenergylevel andthenumberof impact
repetitionsonthementionedbehaviour andproperties
arediscussed. Repeatedimpacttestingwasconducted
usingdrop-weight impact equipment whilst theflex-
ural test on coupons taken fromthe impacted tubes
wascarriedoninanMTStestingmachine. Theinfor-
mation provided in this paper is useful in assessing
thestructural integrity of FRP piles and is expected
tocontributeinformulatingguidelinesindrivingthis
typeof piles.
2 EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
2.1 Materials
This study used the E-glass/vinyl ester composite
tube supplied by Wagners Composite Fibre Tech-
nology (WCFT), Australia. The100mmsquarepul-
truded tube with wall thickness of 5.25mm has a
glass content of 77% by weight. The tube was laid
in[0
0
/+45
0
/0
0
/45
0
/0
0
/45
0
/0
0
/+45
0
/0
0
] sequence,
wherethe0
0
directioncoincideswiththelongitudinal
axisof thetube.
2.2 Repeated impact tests
Twosetsof impact testswhereundertakentoaddress
thetwo objectives of this paper (i.e., impact fatigue
behaviour(firstset) andthepost-impactflexural prop-
erties(secondset)). Thereasonof usingtheseriesof
sets is statedin Section 2.3. For thefirst set, impact
testing was performed using a drop-weight impact
apparatus shown in Figure1a. Theimpact mass and
drop height have the option to be varied that can
provide impact energy up to 742 J. Two replicates
withlengthof 375mmfor eachincident energy were
subjectedtoamaximumof 130impactsor uptocol-
lapse/failureof thetubes. Thetest matrixof theentire
impact testing is presented in Table 1. An approxi-
mately 6.25mmhole was drilled on the mid-height
of the tube to attach one PCB shock accelerome-
ter. The data were recorded using LMS SCADAS
Mobile acquisition machine. Numerical integration
was employed on the acceleration-time curves to
determinetheenergyvalues.
2.3 Post-impact flexural test
The test set-up and procedure in the second set of
impact test areidentical tothat inthefirst set except
thatthespecimensarenotinstrumented.Thisarrange-
ment enables to get rid of thedrilled hole(first set)
whichmight affect theuniformityof thecrosssection
of thecoupons usedinflexural test. Thepost-impact
flexural properties testing of composite tubes were
carried on the coupons taken fromthe second set.
Figure1billustratesthecuttingplanof flexural spec-
imens. Thecoupons that wereused in thetests only
includeportions whicharefreefromvisibledamage
andwereconsideredfeasiblefortesting.A total of four
Figure 1. Experimental tests. a) Impact testing set-up,
b) cuttingplanof flexural test specimens, c) flexural testing
set-up.
Table1. Impact test matrix.
Drop Noof impacts
Incident Impact height
energy(J ) mass(kg) (m) 1st set 2ndset
741.64 25.20 3 10
a
634.51 21.56 3 45
a
10
b
, 30
a
476.77 16.20 3 130
a
10
b
, 40
a
, 80
a
423.01 21.56 2 130
a

317.84 16.20 2 130
b
80
b
211.50 21.56 1 130
b

158.92 16.20 1 130
b
80
b
a
Collapsed/failedtubes.
b
Non-collapsedtubes. SeeFigure2.
specimensweretakenfromeachimpactedtubes. Five
couponswerealsocut fromtheun-impactedtubeand
testedtoserveasthebaselinevalue.The15150mm
specimenwastestedunder three-point static bending
usingthestandardproceduredefinedinENISO14125
(1998). The test was performed in the MTS Insight
Electro-mechanical testingmachineusinga3mm/min
loading rate. Figure1c shows thetest set-up for the
flexural test.
3.1 Impact fatigue behaviour
Themodeof damage, energy history curves, andthe
energyabsorptionevolutionof theimpactedFRPtubes
arepresentedinthefollowingsub-sections.
3.1.1 Mode of damage
Figure2presentstheconditionsof thecompositetubes
after impact fatiguetest. Thetubes subjectedtoinci-
dent energiesof at least 423J collapsedor failedafter
130impacts(Figure2a). Itwasobservedthatthehead
of the tube is the most severely damaged part. The
damage was manifested by the formation of matrix
758
Figure 2. Condition of the tube after impact test.
a) Collapsed/failedtubes, (b) non-collapsedtubes.
cracks, vertical splitsalongthefour corners, andglass
fibreruptures. However, noindicationof visibledam-
agewas noticedonthecompositetubes subjectedto
impact energyof 318J or lessevenafter 130impacts
(Figure2b).
3.1.2 Energy history curves
Thetypical energyhistorycurvesduringimpacttestof
theFRP compositematerials areshowninFigure3a
(Sevkatetal., 2010andSugunandRao, 2004). Figure
3aindicatestwodistinct shapesthat relatetothecon-
tactbetweentheimpactor andthecompositematerial.
Theseshapesarehighly dependent ontheabsorption
responseof theimpactedmaterial. Reboundcasehap-
penedif theabsorbedenergyisrelativelysmall leading
to the bouncing of the impactor. Penetration case
occurrs if all impact energy is completely absorbed
bythecompositematerial.
Theenergy-timecurves of theimpactedtubes are
showninFigures3bandc. Notethattheimpactenergy
values in the curve were obtained by double inte-
grating(usingtrapezoidal rule) theacceleration-time
responserecordedbytheaccelerometerduringthetest.
For collapsedtubes(Figure3b), reboundandpenetra-
tion cases were observed during the test. Figure 3b
illustratesthat whileinitial impacts(i.e., 1st and40th
impacts) producedthereboundcase, thelater impacts
(90th and 130th) created the penetration case. This
indicates that thetubeonly suffers minimal damage
duringthefirst fewimpactsenablingthemtodevelop
rebound energy. However when the damage propa-
gates, the rebound energy was almost insignificant
leadingtotheabsorptionof theentireimpact energy.
On the other hand, the energy histories of the non-
collapsedtubes(Figure3c) showedonlyreboundcase
regardlessof thenumber of impactrepetitions. Thisis
becausethedamageintroducedtothetubesupto130th
impact was not sufficient to eliminate the rebound
energy.
Figure 3. Energy history curves. a) Definition of energy
terms, b) collapsedtube, c) non-collapsedtube.
3.1.3 Energy absorption evolution
Figure4shows theabsorbedenergy E
abs
normalised
by theimpact energy E
im
plottedinincreasingnum-
ber of impacts of the impacted tubes. The value of
the normalised energy for each impact in Figure 4
wasobtainedbasedfromitscorrespondingenergyhis-
tory curve(e.g., Figures3band3c). Fromtheenergy
historycurve, theabsorbedandimpact(or total) ener-
giesweredeterminedbymakinguseof Figure3a.The
energyevolutioncurvessuggestedthattheabsorption
rate is higher for tubes impacted by higher incident
energies.Tubesunderhigherimpactenergiesrelatively
absorbedenergyveryquicklyduetotheir fastdamage
accumulation.
It canbeobservedfromFigure4athat thetrendof
theenergyabsorptionresponseof theimpactedtubes
is similar regardless of themagnitudeof theapplied
impactenergy.Theirresponseapproximatesatwo-line
curvewherebyinitiallytheabsorbedenergyincreases
withnumber of impactsindicatingthat reboundingof
theimpactor isstill imminent. Apparently, therateof
759
Figure 4. Normalised absorbed energy vs. number of
impactscurves. a) Collapsedtubes, b) non-collapsedtubes.
theenergyabsorptioninthefirstlineislargelydepen-
dent on thepoint wherecollapseor failureinitiated.
Aftertheoccurrenceof rupture, theabsorbedenergyis
nearlysimilarall throughoutthetest. Itisinterestingto
notethatthenumber of impactsdoesnotsignificantly
changetheabsorbedenergyvalueinthepost-collapse
region. However, itwasobservedthattheaccumulated
physical damage on the tube in the formof matrix
cracks, delamination, fibresplittingandfibreruptures
substantiallyincreased.
Figure4bshowsthat theabsorbedenergyfor non-
collapsedtubesstill amplifiesupto130thimpact.Note
thatthesecondlineobservedintheenergyabsorption
responseof thecollapsedtubesisstill notnoticeablein
Figure4bsincethetubeshavenot reachedtheir point
of collapse.
3.2 Post-impact flexural properties
3.2.1 Summary of coupon flexural test results
Table2summarises theresults of theflexural test of
FRP coupons fromthe impacted tubes. The values
reflectedinthetablesarethemeanvalueof thetested
coupons. Thestrengthandmodulus values shownin
Table 2 are determined based fromthe calculations
specified in thecorresponding testing standard. The
maximumstandarddeviationof thetestresultsis5.5%.
3.2.2 Effects of impact energy level
Therelationshipof post-impactflexural propertiesand
impactenergyof thetubessubjectedto10, 30, 40, and
80impactsisshowninFigure5. Thefigureindicates
that the impact event results in post-impact flexural
Table2. Summaryof couponflexural test results.
Strength Modulus
Incident Number of
Energy(J ) impacts (MPa) %Dif. (GPa) %Dif.
741.64 10 899.55 9.5
d
37.99 1.4
d
634.51 10 941.06 5.4
d
37.81 1.9
d
634.51 30 900.17 9.5
d
39.05 1.3
d
476.77 10 944.79 5.0
d
37.63 2.4
d
476.77 40 918.33 7.7
d
37.13 3.7
d
476.77 80 895.01 10.0
d
38.46 0.2
d
317.84 80 941.30 5.3
d
37.94 1.6
d
158.92 80 955.40 3.9
d
37.44 2.9
d
0
c
0
c
994.44 38.54
c
Un-impacted/baselinetube.
d
Fromthebaselinetube.
Figure5. Post-impactflexural propertiesandimpactenergy
relationship. a) Strength, b) modulus.
properties reduction to varying degrees. The maxi-
mumdegradation of thestrength and modulus is 10
and3.7%, respectively.
The curves presented in Figure 5a illustrate that
thestrengthof thetubesafter 10, 40, and80impacts
under 476.77J are significantly reduced. Moreover,
agap of thestrength curves can benoticed between
10 and 30 impacts at 634.51J. Note that the two
datapointsbetween476.77and634.51J at 40and30
impacts, respectively, areconnectedby straight lines
since no test were run at the intermediate energies.
It is worth-noting that the decrease from10 to 40
impacts at 476.77J is relatively lower to that from
10to30impactsat 634.51J. Thisshowsthat therate
of reduction between increasing number of impacts
becomes rapid when impact energy increases. This
760
Figure 6. Post-impact flexural properties and number of
impactsrelationships. a) Strength, b) modulus.
findingcanbeconfirmedbycomparingthecurvesof
10 and 80 impacts whereby the separation between
them becomes noticeable as the impact energy in-
creases. Their relativedifferenceincreasedfrom0to
approximately4.1%at 476.77J.
Figure5bdemonstratesthatthemodulusisslightly
reducedwithincreasingimpact energiescomparedto
itsstrength.Thefigurealsoindicatethatthemodulusis
lesssensitiveontheinteractioneffectof impactenergy
andnumber of impacts (i.e., increaseof energy with
increasingnumber of impacts).
Ingeneral, bothstrengthandmodulusarereduced
inadegreedependingonthelevel of impact energy
appliedonthecompositetubes.Thehigher theimpact
energy, the higher the damage it will induce on
the tubes. Consequently, a higher degree of dam-
age provides a greater loss of flexural strength and
modulus.
3.2.3 Effects of impact repetitions
Figure 6 shows the relationships of the post-impact
flexural properties and number of impacts at vari-
ous energy levels. It can be observed from Figure
6athat thestrength of theimpacted tubes decreases
with increasing number of impacts. The reduction,
however, depends on the magnitude of the applied
impact energy. For instance, it needsonly 10impacts
toreducetheflexural strengthby 10%whenthetube
isimpactedby741.64J. Likewise, subjectingthetube
by158.92J with80impact repetitionsyieldeda3.7%
lossof itsflexural strength. It isapparent that impact
repetitions at aspecific level of energy enhancedthe
Figure7. Comparisonof thepost-impact flexural strength
andmodulus.
damagesustainedbytheFRPmaterial, thus, reducing
itsstrength.
The curves shown in Figure 6a suggest that the
effect of impact repetitions onthestrengthreduction
of impactedtubesvariesinverselywithimpactenergy.
This result is interesting since one can prioritise in
choosingbetweenthetwofactorsismoreimportantfor
designpurposes. Thestrengthreductioninspecimen
subjectedto741.64J at 10impact repetitionsiscom-
parablyhigherthanthespecimenimpactedby158.92J
at 80impacts. By carefully analysingthis relation, it
followsthat thestrengthof impactedtubesisreduced
byincreasingthelevel of impactenergybutnosignif-
icant reductionfromincreasingthenumber of impact
repetitions. Thisindicatesthat withthesamenumber
of impacts, thehigher energy levels induceagreater
lossinstrengthsthanlighter impacts. Thisresult was
alsoreportedbyWyrickandAdams(1998). Unlikethe
post-impact flexural strength, themodulus is slightly
degradedwhenit is subjectedto ahigher number of
impacts(Figure6b). ItcanbeobservedfromFigure6b
that impact repetitions did not significantly alter the
valueof modulusregardlessof theenergylevels.
3.2.4 Comparison of post-impact strength and
modulus
Figure 7 shows the comparison of normalised post-
impact flexural strengthandmodulusof theimpacted
tubes. Inthefigure, thenormalisedstrengthandmod-
ulusvalues(post-impact strengthor modulusdivided
by correspondingbaselinevalues) isplottedinterms
of incident energy. It isapparent that thereductionin
post-impactflexural modulusisminimal withincreas-
ingimpact energies. However, thestrengthreduction
is significant with increasing impact energy. The
impactedtuberetained96%of theirun-impactedmod-
ulusvalue, indicatingthat themodulusisnot particu-
larlysensitivetothepresenceof damage. Incontrast,
thestrengthismoreseverelyaffectedbyimpact dam-
age which leads to higher reduction. The impacted
tuberetainedonly 90%of its flexural strengthwhen
it is impacted by 741.64J. This higher sensitivity is
explainedbyZhangandRichardson(2007) wherethe
damageinduced by theimpact events is localised in
most cases and thereforeit has less effect on global
propertiessuchasmodulus.
761
4 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, drop-weight impact tests were carried
out on a square FRP tube over a range of incident
energiestocharacterisetheirimpactfatiguebehaviour.
Thepost-impact flexural propertiesof couponstaken
fromtheimpactedtubeswerethendeterminedunder
athree-point static bending. Basedontheresults, the
followingaretheconclusionsobtained:
Theeffectsof impactenergylevel andimpactrepeti-
tionsaresignificantontherateof energyabsorption
behaviour in the pre-collapse region of the FRP
tubes. Their effects, however, arenegligiblewhen
thetubesstartedtorupture.
Higherimpactenergiesandmoreimpactrepetitions
reduced thepost-impact flexural properties of the
impactedtubes.
Theflexural strengthandmodulusof theimpacted
tubeisreducedbyasmuchas10and3.7%, respec-
tively, when axially impacted up to collapse or
failure.
Thepost-impact flexural strengthismoresensitive
tothepresenceof localisedimpact damagethanits
correspondingmodulus.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
TheauthorswouldliketothankWagnersComposites
FibreTechnology(WCFT),Toowoomba,Australia, for
providing thetest samples. Acknowledgment is also
given to Mr. Wayne Crowell for his assistance in
conductingthetest.
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762
A novel adaptive base isolator utilising magnetorheological elastomer
Y.C. Li, J.C. Li & B. Samali
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Base isolation is the most popular seismic protection technique for civil structures. However,
research has revealed that the traditional base isolation system is vulnerable to two kinds of earthquakes, i.e. the
near-fault and far-fault earthquakes, due to its passive nature. Agreat deal of effort has been dedicated to improve
the performance of traditional base isolation systems for these two types of earthquakes. Controllable supple-
mentary and energy-dissipation members, such as magnetorheological damper, friction damper or hydraulic
fluid damper, have been proposed to reduce seismic responses of the building structures. However, with the
introduction of additional control devices, the system complexity increases resulting difficulty in the system
implementation and control system design. It would be ideal if a certain level of adaptability could be introduced
into base isolation systems while maintaining the traditional outfit. This paper addresses the challenge facing the
current base isolation practices and proposes a novel adaptive base isolator as a solution to the problem. A smart
rubber, namely, magnetorheological elastomer (MRE), is utilised in this research for its magnetic field-sensitive
material property as the main element in the novel device. The tradition base isolator design for a large-scale
structure with laminated steel and MRE layers is adopted. To verify and characterise the performance of the
MRE base isolator, experimental testing was conducted on UTS shake table facility. Experimental results show
that after being energised with magnetic field, the maximum force and the stiffness of the novel device can
increase by up to approximately 45%and 37%, respectively. With the field-dependent stiffness and damping, the
proposed adaptive base isolator is very promising in meeting the challenges associated with the base isolation
systems encountered in practice.
1 INTRODUCTION
Base isolation, also known as seismic base isolation
or base isolation system, is one of the most popular
means of protecting structures against earthquakes.
It is a technique that mitigates the effects of earth-
quakes by essentially isolating the structure and its
contents from potentially dangerous ground motions,
especially in the frequency range where the build-
ing is most affected (Naeim and Kelly, 1999). For
the last few decades, the concept of seismic isolation
has become a practical reality with the development
of multilayer elastomeric seismic isolators, which are
made by vulcanising bonding of sheets of rubber to
thin steel reinforcing plates. Seismic isolators are very
stiff in the vertical direction and can carry the verti-
cal load of the building but very flexible horizontally,
thereby enabling the building to be isolated from the
lateral ground motions caused by strong earthquakes.
However, current isolation systems have two dis-
tinct shortcomings: 1) they are vulnerable to strong
impulsive ground motions generated at near-source
locations, such as the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan
and 1994 Northbridge earthquake in California, USA
(Yang and Agrawal, 2002). During extreme earth-
quakes, the lateral deformation of the passive isolators
will likely exceed the deformation limit and hence fail
to protect the building structure. 2) the effectiveness
of currently used base isolators is generally depen-
dent on the characteristics of the earthquake including
the intensity of the ground motion and its frequency
content. An isolation system, which is quite effec-
tive against one earthquake, is likely to be ineffective
during another earthquake. The dependence of base
isolatorsperformances and effectiveness on the nature
of earthquake is of major concern to engineers as no
one can predict the characteristic of a future event.
The reason for lack of adaptability of the current
base isolation systems lies in the passive nature of
seismic isolators/bearings as they work in either a
strain-sensitive or displacement-sensitive manner. To
overcome the shortcomings of the passive seismic
isolators, many researchers have considered the addi-
tion of controllable supplementary energy-dissipation
members to reduce the seismic responses of the
building structures. Yang et al. (1991) presented a
hybrid control system in which a passive or active
mass damper, connected with base isolation system,
is used to alleviate the deformation of seismic iso-
lators. Although numerical results showed that the
proposed system worked effectively, the hybrid sys-
tem is less practical since it is difficult to implement
763
mass dampers, either passive or active, on the seismic
isolators. Destructive potential of near-source earth-
quakes to flexible structures still remains a challenge
and thus has received considerable attention within the
earthquake engineering community. Another effort to
augment the adaptability of base isolation systems is
to combine passive isolators with semi-active or active
actuators to develop hybrid base isolation systems.
Ramallo et al. (2002) proposed a smart base isola-
tion system, composed of conventional low-damping
elastomeric isolators and smart controllable dampers,
such as MR dampers, to protect structures against
extreme earthquakes. Wongprasert and Symans (2005)
experimentally evaluated a smart base isolation system
consisting of spherical sliding bearings and variable
fluid dampers for a multi-storey building frame. In the
above-mentioned research, the proposed base isolation
systems proved to be more effective than the tradi-
tional passive ones. However, those systems, termed
hybrid systems, are either a combination of passive
bearings/isolators (such as low-damping bearings or
spherical sliding bearings) and semi-active actuators
(MR dampers or piezoelectric friction dampers) or
a mixture of passive bearings/isolators and active
actuating systems. The separated passive and semi-
active/active actuators increase the complexity of the
base isolation system, leading to many problems, such
as instability, reliability, and the increasing difficulty
in system installation. Moreover, the need for large
power in active hybrid base isolation systems restricts
their implementations in large-scale structures.
The advent of a kind of smart material, magnetorhe-
ological elastomer (MR elastomer, or MRE), offers
a way forward to develop more effective and effi-
cient semi-active base isolators than traditional passive
ones, and will further lead to the development of
intelligent self-adaptive base isolation systems. MR
elastomer is a new generation of MR materials whose
stiffness and damping can be changed by magnetic
field in real-time. In the absence of magnetic field,
MRE is similar to that of a soft rubber. While under
magnetic field, MRE turns to be very stiff. The maxi-
mum relative change of the modulus of the MRE can
be from about 50% (stiffer rubber carrier) to beyond
300%(soft rubber carrier, such as silicone gel) (Davis,
1999). Damping ratio of the MRE can differ from
10% to 32% depending on the types of rubber matrix
and volume percentage of iron particles, and is more
affected by the magnetic field when the MRE is driven
at a lower frequency (Chen et al., 2008). Other merits
of MREs are their low power requirements and rapid
response to the magnetic field. Normally, magnetic
coils will be utilised to supply the currents for the ener-
gisation and control of the MREs. The power supply
needed by the magnetic coil is only 2040 volts which
can be easily achieved by normal batteries and accu-
mulators. MREs also have rapid response to magnetic
fields and the time of response is less than 10 ms (Li
et al., 2006.).
Although the research and developments in MRE
material have been emerging in recent years, research
on MRE applications can rarely be found. Majority of
research on newMREdevices are reported in mechan-
ical engineering. Ginder et al. (2001) piloted a pioneer
theoretical work that utilised MREs as variable-spring-
rate elements to develop an adaptive tuned vibration
absorber. Deng and Gong (2008) developed an adap-
tive tuned vibration absorber. Experimental results
indicated that its natural frequency can be tuned from
27.5 Hz to 40 Hz. In civil engineering, however, the
idea of using MRE as the fundamental material to
develop adaptive MRE seismic isolators is quite new
and novel. Hwang et al. (2006) carried out a concep-
tual study on the application of MREs to base isolation
system for building structures. Usman et. al (2009)
numerically evaluated the dynamic performance of
a smart base isolation system employing MR elas-
tomer, and the results showed that the proposed system
outperforms the conventional system in reducing the
responses of the structures during seismic excitations.
Despite the two publications addressing the poten-
tial of MRE based base isolation system, the critical
question on how to incorporate MREs into the base
isolation system is yet to be addressed.
This paper aims to design and develop an adap-
tive base isolator using the new smart material, MR
elastomer, for its controllable material properties,
including shear modulus and damping. A novel MRE
base isolator with similar laminated structure of pas-
sive rubber base isolator will be prototyped with the
aim to comply with the requirement in the base isola-
tion practice. Experiments are designed and conducted
to examine the adaptive performance of the MRE base
isolator.
2 MR ELASTOMERANDTHE ADAPTIVE
BASE ISOLATOR
2.1 MR elastomer
The property of MR elastomer used in this design is
shown in Figure 1, as the strain-stress curve in shear
under various magnetic field strength. This MRE is
a soft rubber-like material with 100% shear modulus
change under the magnetic fieldof 0.7Tesla, compared
with that in absence of magnetic field. For 10% shear
strain, the shear moduli are 0.1 MPa and 0.2 MPa with
magnetic field of 0 Tesla and 0.7 Tesla, respectively.
When the magnetic field is relatively weak, as from0T
to 0.2T, the increase of the shear modulus, indicated
by the slope of the strain-stress curve, is considerably
small. However, for the magnetic field between 0.3Tto
0.5T, there is a significant increase of the shear modu-
lus. Beyond this field induction intensity, the increase
again turns to be very small. This indicates that MR
elastomer is less effective in the small magnetic field,
and the performance will become saturated after a
certain level of magnetic field. Therefore, the best per-
formance is achieved when the MR elastomer is under
the application of magnetic field between 0.2Tto 0.5T.
764
Figure 1. Shear strain and shear stress curve of the MR
elastomer.
Figure 2. Schematic of the MR elastomer base isolator.
2.2 MR elastomer base isolator
The configuration of the novel MRE base isolator, as
shown in Figure 2, adopts a similar laminated design
as traditional laminated rubber bearings. It consists
of a laminated structure with multilayer thin MRE
sheets bonded onto multilayer thin steel plates. The
inner steel plates provide the vertical load carrying
capacity and stiffness, and prevent lateral bulging of
the rubber. Horizontal flexibility is provided by the
shearing deformability of MRE sheets, which can be
varied instantly under applied magnetic field. In this
prototype device design, there are 46 layers of the steel
sheet with thickness of 1 mm and 47 layers of MRE
sheets with thickness of 2 mm. The diameter of the
MRE and steel sheets is 140 mm.
As an innovative design of the prototype, an elec-
tromagnetic coil is placed outside of the laminated
elastomer structure. A cylindrical non-magnetic sup-
port, firmly attached outside of the coil, is made of
epoxy material. The total winding number of the coil
is 3100 turns. The diameter of the coil wire is 1.2 mm
and the total length of the wire is 2100 m. The wire
is made of copper and the resistance of the coil is
32.3 . The space between the laminated MR elas-
tomer structure and the coil enables the isolator to
have a free lateral motion at a maximum deformation
of 26 mm, equivalent to the maximum allowable shear
strain of 27.7%.
Figure 3. Configuration of the shake table testing on MR
elastomer base isolator.
Figure 4. Photo of the shake table testing.
To further enhance the magnetic field, a cylindri-
cal steel yoke is adhered outside the coil to form an
enclosed circuit for the magnetic field. To enable the
lateral motion of the device, there is a small gap, 5 mm,
between the top plate and the steel yoke.
3 EXPERIENTAL TESTING
In the experimental set-up shown in Figures 3 and
4, a shake table is used to provide various horizon-
tal motions to the isolator either in a quasi-static mode
or in a dynamic mode. The MR elastomer base iso-
lator is mounted on the shake table and its base will
move along with the shake table motion. Load cell is
installed to connect the MRE base isolator to a fixed
reaction rig outside the table to measure the lateral load
applied to the isolators.
During testing, the top plate of the MRE base iso-
lator and the load cell remain still thus eliminating the
undesired forces that may be induced by the motion of
top plate. A DC power supply with capacity of 200V
and 8Aprovides DCcurrent to the magnetic coil. Dur-
ing dynamic testing a series of harmonic waveforms
at frequencies of 0.5 Hz, 1.0 Hz and 3.0 Hz, are pro-
duced by the shake table to evaluate the behaviour
of the MR elastomer base isolator. The amplitudes
of the input motions from the shake table were 5 mm
and 10 mm. During the tests, the MR elastomer base
765
Figure 5. Force-displacement loops of the MRE base isola-
tor at amplitude of 5 mm and frequency of 0.5 Hz.
tor at amplitude of 10 mm and frequency of 1.0 Hz.
isolator is energised with various currents at 0.0A,
3.0A and 5.0A, respectively.
4 TEST RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Figure 5 shows the force-displacement loops of
the MRE base isolator when the amplitude of the
sinusoidal motion of the shake table is 5 mm and
the frequency is 0.5 Hz. Figure 6 shows the force-
displacement loops of the MRE base isolator when the
amplitude of the sinusoidal motion of the shake table
is 10 mm and the frequency is 1.0 Hz. There is clear
increase in force for each case when we increase the
applied currents from 0A to 5A. The maximum force
increase happens when the amplitude of the sinusoidal
motion of the shake table is 5 mm and the frequency
is 0.5 Hz. The maximum force generated from MRE
base isolator increases from102N(off-state, I =0.0A)
to 148N (I =5.0A), equivalent to more than 45%
increase. For all cases, the force increase varies from
33% to 45%. Figures 7 and 8 present the comparison
of the force-displacement curves for a fixed applied
current with varying amplitudes of motion.
tor at frequency of 1.0 Hz and amplitudes of 5 mmand 10 mm
with applied current of 3A.
tor at frequency of 1.0 Hz and amplitudes of 5 mmand 10 mm
with applied current of 3A.
Accordingly, the effective stiffness of the MREbase
isolator also exhibits significant increase, as shown in
Tables 1 and 2. For a given frequency at the constant
amplitude of 5mm, the stiffness increases vary from
34% to 37%. While for the amplitude of 10mm, the
stiffness increases are from about 30% to 37%.
Tables 3 and 4 provide the damping coefficients
calculated from the force-displacement loops as an
indication of the energy dissipation ability of the MRE
base isolator. It is interesting to observe that, for two
different loading amplitudes with same loading fre-
quency and same input current, the effective damping
coefficients, remain nearly the same. The values of
damping coefficient for low loading frequency are
higher than that under higher loading frequency.
To sum up, based on the previous discussion, it can
be further concluded that the MRelastomer base isola-
tor, exhibiting visco-elastic behaviour, can be used as
a controllable stiffness device, with stiffness increase
of up to 30% to 38% for various loading conditions.
The damping in the MR elastomer device is relatively
766
Table 1. Effective stiffness [kN/m] of the MREbase isolator
under various loading conditions (5 mm amplitude).
Applied current A
Increase
Frequency Hz 0.0 3.0 5.0 %
0.5 19.73 22.24 27.13 37.49
1.0 20.91 23.61 28.59 36.72
3.0 24.22 27.38 32.51 34.27
Table 2. Effective stiffness [kN/m] of the MREbase isolator
under various loading conditions (10 mm amplitude).
Applied current A
Increase
Frequency Hz 0.0 3.0 5.0 %
0.5 18.58 21.62 25.59 37.75
1.0 19.53 22.77 26.92 37.83
3.0 23.42 26.03 30.40 29.80
Table 3. Damping coefficient [kN.s/m] of the MR elas-
tomer base isolator under various loading conditions (5 mm
amplitude).
Applied current A
Frequency Hz 0.0 3.0 5.0
0.5 0.98 1.23 1.55
1.0 0.56 0.69 0.87
3.0 0.24 0.29 0.37
Table 4. Damping coefficient [kN.s/m] of the MR elas-
tomer base isolator under various loading conditions (10 mm
amplitude).
Applied current A
Frequency Hz 0.0 3.0 5.0
0.5 1.07 1.25 1.55
1.0 0.63 0.68 0.86
3.0 0.24 0.29 0.36
lowwithout magnetic field but increases with applica-
tion of magnetic field. For example damping ratio can
change from 0.24 kN.m/s (no field, at the loading fre-
quency of 3.0 Hz) to 1.55 kN.m/s (5.0A current input,
at the loading frequency is 0.5 Hz).
Capable of instantly changing its shear stiffness and
damping property by energising the magnetic field,
this MR elastomer base isolator is able to introduce
a considerable adaptability into the base isolator and
thus can overcome the shortcomings associated with
traditional passive base isolators.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a novel adaptive base isolator was
successfully designed and prototyped utilising MR
elastomer. The proposed MR elastomer base isolator
contains a unique structure of multi-layer laminated
steel and MR elastomer sheets to suit civil engineer-
ing applications. After the introduction into the device
structure and experimental set-up, the behaviour of
the MR elastomer base isolator was experimentally
tested and results were analysed. The increases on
force, effective stiffness and equivalent damping were
obtained through the experimental data. It is shown
that the force increase of the MRE base isolator is up
to 45% and the stiffness increase of the MRE base
isolator is up to 38%. Possessing controllable stiffness
and damping, this device has great potential to develop
into a smart base isolation system and overcome the
current challenges facing the base isolation practice.
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Chen, L., Gong, X. L. and Li, W. H. 2008. Damping of mag-
netorheological elastomers. Chinese Journal of Chemical
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Davis, L. C. 1999. Model of magnetorheological Elastomers.
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767
Numerical modelling of composite textile subjected to impact loading
P. Tran, T. Ngo, E.C. Yang & P. Mendis
W. Humphries
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia
ABSTRACT: Composite textiles composed of materials such as Kevlar, Dyneema, Zylon are extensively used
in many force/impact protection applications such as body armour, automobile and aeroplane engine fragment
resistant containment. Significant effort has been devoted for ballistic testing of composite fabrics made from
various manufacturing process selections and designs. Performing comprehensive ballistic and impact tests for
the composite textile are, therefore, very time consuming and costly task. Numerical models are presented in
this research providing predictive capability for manufacturer and designer to minimize the field testing as well
as shedding a light into the failure mechanism of composite fabric subjected to ballistic impact. 3D composite
fabric architectures such as plain, basket weave and knitted fabric are generated for finite element analysis.
Numerical investigation is conducted on these fabric structures of the same mass per unit area subjected to
projectile impacts. Performances of the textiles are evaluated based on the resultant force of the projectile as well
as various energy components. The effect of yarn-yarn and yarn-projectile friction properties on the ballistic
performance of textiles is also presented.
1 INTRODUCTION
The impact resistance of high-strength fibres makes
them the desirable materials for military and civil
protective applications such as armour cloths, hel-
met and plate for soldiers and law enforcement offi-
cers. Many other applications include protective layers
for aeroplane turbine against fragments during the
service, composite materials for marine structures
hulls against under water blast impulse and mili-
tary vehicles operating in the landmine-risked areas
etc. Various types of fibres widely use for ballis-
tic impact resistance include aramids such as Kevlar
(DuPont), Twaron (Teijin); PBO fibers such as Zylon
(Toyobo); ultraheavy molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) such as Spectra (Allied Signal). These
fibers characterized by their stiffness and strength to
weight ratios are woven together into a fabric providing
a strength and toughness substantially exceeds those of
individual strands. This impact resistance of fabrics are
attributed to various factors including weaving archi-
tecture, yarn crimp, and several mechanism of energy
absorption of the fabric [1-2].
The 2D and 3D fabrics that comprise of the high
strength continuous fibres are common composite
structures used in the protective applications espe-
cially soft armours. Various studies have been per-
formed to compare the impact resistance performance
between the 2D and 3D fabrics [2]. The 3D struc-
tures of the textile which are fabricated by connecting
several 2Dfabric layers either by interlacing themwith
z-tows yarns undulated in the out of plain direction or
by stitching these 2D layers at certain crossovers. It
has been shown that the 3D fabrics have a few distinct
benefits over the 2D ones in the impact performance.
This is attributed to the fact that the 3D fabric warp
and weft tows do not have any crimp unlike the 2D
fabric warp and weft yarns. This property of crimp
level is argued to be detrimental to the impact resis-
tance in several aspects including: longer time for
yarns to decrimp before they develop tension through
elongation, lower areal density and greater weaving
damages. The third characteristic contributes to the
higher strength retention of warp and weft yarns in
the 3D structures without tow crimp compared with
the stacked 2D layers of crimped warp and weft tows
comprised of the same material. The 2Dfabrics such as
plain weave, however, possess several distinct advan-
tages designed for personal protective soft armour.
Due to the crimp and spaces between the warp and
weft tows in the 2Dfabric structures, during the impact
event, before the locking of warps and weft yarns at the
crossover points, the fabric are flexible and shearable,
which critical for the fabric to adjust around the human
body or protected objects boundary so that the cloth-
ing can be worn comfortably. On the other aspect, the
shearing activities of yarns during the impact make
use of friction between yarns considerably, which is
a very important energy dissipation mechanism [1].
The Z-tow plays significant role in the 3D textile
769
by preventing the warp and weft yarns from being
pushed away as the projectile penetrating through the
fabrics. Other 3D architecture of the fabric based on
stitching several layers of woven 2D textile to provide
similar impact resistance. It has been, however, pointed
out that these stitching yarns are not vital to this 3D
architecture due to fact that in the 2D fabric, the warp
and weft tows are already woven to each other.
There are several experimental andnumerical works
developed to study the influence of the architectural
effects of the 3D composite textile on the ballistic
performance. There is, however, limited study on the
impact resistance of the various 2D fabrics as funda-
mental parts of the composite textile. Frommechanical
point of view, when subjected to the impact, the yarn
experiences instantaneous increase in stress of which
the magnitude is correlated to the impact velocity.
There are two scenarios: If the stress level is below
the critical value (yarn strength), the stress concen-
tration is not enough to rupture the fabric and leads
to the stress wave propagation to the other parts of
the fabric. It is, therefore, important for the fibres to
possess high tensile strength and large failure strain
to absorb considerable amount of energy. In the other
case, if the impact velocity is high enough, the fabrics,
in most of the cases, are perforated during the initial
stress rise. This is a result of limited stress relaxation
due to the propagation of transverse deflection from
the impact centre. It is clearly important for material to
have high wave velocity, which is proportional to elas-
tic modulus and inverse proportional to the density of
the yarn [2]. Most of the studies, however, indicated
the lack of properly measured high-rate properties and
consider the static ones instead. It has been also noted
that although the tensile strength, modulus and failure
strain of yarn play a large role in ballistic performance,
each property individually does not control it.
It has been pointed out that the besides the impor-
tance of high strength, high modulus properties of
the individual fibres/yarns, the combination of these
strands into a fabric geometry also contribute signif-
icantly to the overall impact response. For ballistic
application, the weave patterns typically are plain and
basket weaves. The density of the weave determined
from the width and pitch of the warp and weft yarns
indicate the coverage factor of the fabric. Several
researches have shown that the coverage factors of
fabrics ranging from 0.6 to 0.9 are needed for bal-
listic proposes while those are less than 0.6 or higher
than 0.95, the fabrics are too loose or degraded dur-
ing weaving process, respectively [1]. There is also a
report on the optimum twist angle of yarn at which
fibre exhibit their maximum tensile strength. Another
fabric structural property that has been noted to affect
the ballistic performance is crimp, which is the undu-
lation of the yarns due to their interlacing in the woven
structure.
As mentioned earlier, friction also play important
role, both directly and indirectly, on the ballistic resis-
tance capability of the armour textiles. In principle,
friction is one of the ways for the fabrics/textiles to
dissipate impact energy. Fibre pull-out at the impact
point is an example of a fracture event influenced
by friction between fibre and matrix. By restricting
the ability of the yarn to move laterally out of the
path of projectile during the impact (by introducing
small amount of resin), one can increase the energy
absorption of the fabric. In other aspect, increasing
the friction between the projectile and the fabric and
yarns will prevent the mobility of yarns and requires
the projectile to engage and break more yarns thus
dissipate more impact energy.
In this work, three common 2D composite tex-
tiles: plain weave, basket weave and knitted fabric are
modelled and finite element analysis is performed to
investigate their impact resistance against projectile
penetration. The plainweave andbasket weave are gen-
erally utilized for woven ballistic fabrics. On the other
aspect, of the two weave structures, the plain weave is
believed to give the higher strength but lower air per-
meability. The air permeability advantage of 2/2 basket
over the other weave types recently is reported in liter-
ature. Moreover the textile structure of basket weave
gives it more shearing than other weave types during
the impact, allowing some yarn slippage and hence
energy dissipation through friction as mentioned ear-
lier. The knitted fabric, which is considered in study,
is especially desirable when next to skin tight fitting
garments with good drape properties are required.
In the next Section, we will focus on reviewing
some efforts in modelling composite textiles followed
by the numerical approach of this current work. In
Section 3, simulation results of the three fabric struc-
tures mentioned above, subjected to projectile impact,
are reported and compared. Parametric study is also
performed and discussed to reveal the importance of
the friction on the ballistic performance.
2 NUMERICAL MODEL
2.1 Review on numerical modelling of textile
Modelling the impact response of fabrics woven or
knitted from continuous filament yarns is quite chal-
lenging due to the complicated multi-scale structures
and material relations fromfabric to yarn and filament.
Some analytical, numerical and hybrid approaches
have been explored in literature focusing on each of
the scale. Single scale numerical techniques including
modelling the entire fabric as homogenized mem-
branes, or simulating explicitly the yarn level archi-
tecture, or capturing the finest scale at the filament
level.
The homogenized membranes approach [34] is
simple enough to overcome the computational effi-
ciency issue to capture the mechanical response of
multi-layer fabrics with realistic dimensions. The
method is, however, unable to studied many impor-
tant and complex physical interactions between yarns
and filaments, which are critical to quantify ballistic
performance of composite fabrics. Moreover, it is also
770
not possible to model accurately the deformation and
failure of individual yarn within the impact region.
Due the nature of impact and ballistic event, the fail-
ures are usually localized in a narrowimpact area. It is,
therefore, very important to capture the various failure
and deformation modes that governs the outcome of
the impact event.
An alternative approach is to model the yarn using
woven shell elements of constant thicknesses [56].
This approach again helps to reduce computational
intensity and is quite effective to model the mechan-
ical response of woven fabric in regions far from
the impact location. In these regions, yarn elements
are essentially experience in-plane tension rather than
transverse loading and therefore shell elements are
suitable for that purpose. It is the fact that shell ele-
ment is not efficient in handling the thickness changes
across yarn cross section, which leads to the error esti-
mation of contact forces between yarns and therefore
the frictional sliding interactions. Furthermore, the use
of shell element could also result in the error of wave
speed calculation, which is very critical factor for the
fabric to dissipate the imparted kinetic energy.
Textiles are comprised of many filaments, arranged
in bundles, called a yarn. Yarns are organized in
tows. The tows are assembled into fabric in spe-
cific patterns through weaving or braiding processes.
Composite textile performance is, therefore, closely
related to the manufacturing process and its resulting
fabric architecture. However, many important details
related to fabric micro-structure and filament-level
physics, such as yarn denier, end count, towstructures,
filament spatial paths, and fibre-to-fibre interaction
were not accurately modelled in previous numerical
techniques. To capture the failure mechanism of the
fabric at the micro-scale, a single yarn composed
of fibre filaments, is modelled as a bundle of pin-
connected digital-rod-element chains [79]. As the
element length approaches zero, the chain becomes
fully flexible, imitating the physicality of yarns. Con-
tacts between yarns are modelled by contact elements.
The computational cost associated with this method is
very intensive and the method is suitable with simple
and well-defined problems.
The limitations of these above methods are com-
promised by using 3D solid element to discretize the
yarns. Hexagonal eight-node brick element with three
degree of freedom at each node could be used to
effectively capture various physical process associated
with the impact event including: yarn bending, un-
crimping, eroding as well as contact and frictional slid-
ing. Moreover, with the 3D element, the anisotropic
mechanical properties of yarn can be modelled and
studied conveniently.
2.2 Finite element model
Finite element models for three textile structures
including plain weave, 2/2 basket weave and single
Jersey knitted fabric, are presented in Fig. 1. The
Figure 1. Textile model of (a) plain weave, (b) basket weave
and (c) knitted fabric.
Figure 2. Cross section views of three fabrics. Geometries
of yarns and fabrics are defined by yarn thickness or diameter,
yarn width and span. Geometrical parameters are given by the
manufacturer.
three fabrics have approximate in-plane dimensions
of 50 100 mm. The finite element meshes are gen-
erated from unit cells, which are shown on the right
hand side of each corresponding fabric. All the fabrics
are of the same materials, Dyneema, with density of
980 kg/m
3
. To ensure the three fabrics has the similar
mass/unit area, which is about 1.59 kg/m
2
in the plain
weave, the volume densityof yarns inbasket weave and
knitted fabric are slightly modified to 1170 kg/m
3
and
1070 kg/m
3
, respectively. The boundary conditions are
setup as follow: the short edges of the fabrics are fixed
in all directions, while the long edges are supported to
move freely in the out-of-plain direction.
Cross sections of the three fabrics are illustrated
in Fig. 2. Due to manufacturing processes or yarn
arrangement in the fabrics, yarns cross section could
vary from circular to elliptical or ribbon like. In this
study the cross sections of yarn in plain weave and bas-
ket weave are elliptical (Fig. 2a, b) while that of knitted
fabric is circular (Fig. 2c). Fundamental geometrical
771
Figure 3. Local coordinate system determination for mod-
elling anisotropic properties of yarn. Right hand side picture
is the spherical projectile.
parameters defining plain and basket weave architec-
tures are yarns thickness t, width wand span s. For the
Dyneema fabric provided by the manufacturer in this
study w, t and s are approximate 2.9, 1.2 and 3.9 mm
for the plain weave, respectively. These parameters are
set to 2.9, 1.2 and 9.5 mmfor the basket weave. Knitted
fabric is characterized by the diameter of the yarn and
the span, which are approximately 2.0 and 10.0 mm,
respectively. It should be noted that the cross sectional
dimensions of yarns in the weave and knitted struc-
tures are chosen so that they have the similar section
area of about 3.14 mm
2
. Hexagonal solid elements,
of which size is approximately 0.4 mm are chosen to
discretize the three fabrics. Segment contact interac-
tions between yarns and between yarn and spherical
projectile (Fig. 3) are setup separately to account for
same material contact and contact of different mate-
rial.Yarn-yarnandyarn-projectile frictions are defined
as part of contact setup. The friction coefficients are
calculated by:
where FD is the dynamic coefficient of friction, FS is
static coefficient of friction, DC is exponential decay
coefficient and V
rel
is relative velocity of the surface.
In this study FD, DC and V
rel
are set to be zeros.
c
is then equals to FS, which is set to equal to 0.23
and 0.18 for yarn-projectile and yarn-yarn frictions,
respectively. Rigorous experimental estimation of fric-
tion coefficients is an ongoing research effort and will
be addressed in the future work.
One of the important tasks in simulating the fabric is
to accurately model the orthotropic material response
of yarns. Figure 3 illustrates the procedure to generate
FE mesh for later definition of the anisotropy of yarns
mechanical properties. Node numbering for element is
very critical to establish the local coordinate system.
For representative element as shown in Fig. 3, the bot-
tom face based on nodes 1 to 4 and the corresponding
top face based on nodes 5 to 8 are the most perpendic-
ular to the yarn axis. Local axis x
is coincided with
Figure 4. Side view of projectiles penetrating fabrics:
(a) plain weave, (b) basket weave and (c) knitted fabric at
0.4 ms.
vector based on node 1 and 2 while local axis z
is
the cross-product of x
and vector based on node 1

and 4. Finally local axis y
is determined as the cross-

product of z
and x
. Spherical projectile made of steel

has a diameter of 20 mm. Material properties of the
projectile is as follow: Elastic modulus of 200 GPa,
density of 7.85E-3 g/mm
3
and Poissons ratio of 0.3.
The orthotropic material properties of the fabric yarns
are assigned as follow: Longitudinal modulus (E
11
)
of 116 GPa, transverse modulus (E
22
, E
33
) equal to
10 GPa. Shear modulus (G
12
,G
23
, G
31
) are set to equal
to 10 GPa (about one tenth of longitudinal modulus).
Ultimate strain for yarn breaking is 0.03.
3 NUMERICAL RESULTS AND
DISCUSSIONS
Three fabrics are subjected to the impact of the projec-
tile flying with initial velocity of 60 m/s. The spherical
projectile is set up to hit the fabrics at the centers.
Impact resistance of the textiles is assessed through
resultant velocity of the sphere and evolutions of var-
ious energy components. Finite element analysis is a
performed using LS-Dyna 971 R6.0.
3.1 Numerical results
Figures 4 and 5 show the side and bottom view of the
three fabrics penetrated by the projectile at time of
0.4 ms. As it is illustrated in these figures, while the
sphere has broken through all the fabrics, the failure
of the knitted textile is the most severe. The projectile
has broken both warp and weft yarns in the cases of
plain weave and basket weaves while the knitted fabric
is torn only in the horizontal direction. The observed
failure patterns clearly suggest the importance of the
fabric architecture and yarn arrangement in ballistic
performance of textile. In the weave structures, yarns
in all directions around the impact centres involve in
preventing the penetration, while it is not the case for
knitted fabric.
772
Figure 5. Bottom view of projectiles penetrating fabrics:
(a) plain weave, (b) basket weave and (c) knitted fabric at
0.4 ms.
The impact resistance performances of three fab-
rics are further illustrated in Fig. 6 showing resultant
velocity history of the projectile (Fig. 6b) in which
the plain weave shows the best performance by reduc-
ing the projectile velocity to about 10 m/s at the end
of the simulation compared to approximate 30 m/s of
the basket weave and knitted fabric. Figure 6b, on the
other hand, shows the evolutions of kinetic energy (K)
and strain energy (U) associated with each fabric indi-
cating how much kinetic energy from the sphere is
imparted into the fabric. The plain weave has clearly
shown the ability to trap more impact energy while the
strain energy level is quite similar for three cases. Fig-
ure 6c plots evolutions of frictional dissipated energy
showing distinct difference between knitted fabric and
woven structures. The friction energy dissipated by
the knitted fabric is noticeably less than those of
woven fabric revealing another reason for the poor
performance of the knitted structure.
Figure 7 displays details energy evolution histories
of the projectile and fabrics or three textile architec-
tures. It is visibly shown in this figure how impact
energy transform into various energy components
associated with the fabrics.
The kinetic energy of the impact sphere is decreas-
ing with the increasing in kinetic and frictional energy
of the fabrics. It is also very interesting to notice
the joint between three curves in the basket weave
and knitted fabric cases (indicated by the arrows).
While both kinetic and frictional energy components
Figure 6. Comparison of ballistic performance of three fab-
ric architectures in terms of (a) projectile resultant velocity,
(b) kinetic and strain energy of fabrics and (c) total dissipated
energy by frictional sliding.
Figure 7. Evolutions of various energy components includ-
ing kinetic, strain and total frictional energy of the fabric, and
kinetic energy of the projectile for (a) plain weave, (b) basket
weave (c) knitted fabric.
of the fabrics increase during the impact event, they
are closely related. Increase in fabrics motion induces
more frictional sliding and in turn, the friction helps
to reduce fabric motion. Before the arrow point, the
kinetic energy exceeds friction energy and becomes
less prevailing when approaching the arrow point. As
the friction energy becomes dominant, the projec-
tile resultant velocity is asymptotically reaching the
plateau value.
3.2 Friction effect
As illustrated in the previous sections, friction clearly
has certain effect on the ballistic performance of the
fabric. The amount of energy dissipated through fric-
tional sliding of yarns could be attributed to the size
of contact zone, which is directly related to yarn count
per unit area, and frictional coefficient. It has been
shown in the previous section, the yarn arraignment
(known as sett) contributes to the frictional energy.
To examine the importance of frictional coefficient,
773
Figure 8. Frictional sliding effects on impact resistance of
(a) plainweave, (b) basket weave and(c) knittedfabric. Resul-
tant velocities and total frictional energy for the baseline
and the increased friction cases are compared to reveal the
importance of friction.
we increase the friction coefficient FS by a factor of
two and compare the resultant velocities and total fric-
tional energy with those of the baseline cases as shown
in Fig. 8.
The FS factor is set to 0.36 for yarn-yarn friction
and 0.48 for yarn-projectile interaction. It is very inter-
esting to see that the change in friction coefficient
does not affect the resultant velocity of the projec-
tile for the basket weave and knitted fabric cases
even though there is some slightly change in total
frictional energy. For the plain weave fabric, slight
change in total frictional energy is clearly noticed with
the distinct decrease in resultant velocity. Comparison
between three cases indicates that the role of friction is
closely related to the yarn arrangement in which tight
sett is much more sensitive to the change in friction
compared to lose sett.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The paper presents numerical study on the ballistic
performance of three fabric architectures: plain weave,
basket weave and knitted textile. Impact resistance of
the fabrics is evaluated through comparison of resul-
tant velocity of the projectile and evolution of various
energy components. The study has revealed the impor-
tance of yarn arrangement to the ballistic performance
of the fabrics. Of the three investigated fabrics, the
knitted one has the worst performance and the smallest
total frictional energy. Parametric study is also con-
ducted to study the effect of frictional coefficient on
the impact resistance of the fabrics confirming the
importance of yarn arrangement.
REFERENCES
Cheeseman, B.A., Bogetti, T.A., 2003. Ballistic impact into
fabric and compliant composite laminates. Composite
Structures 61, 161173.
Tabiei, A., Nilakantan, G., 2008. Ballistic impact of dry
woven fabric composites: a review. Applied Mechanics
Reviews 61, 1080110813.
Grujicic, M., Bell, W.C., He, T., Cheeseman, B.A., 2008b.
Development and verification of a meso-scale based
dynamic material model for plain-woven single-ply bal-
listic fabric. Journal of Material Science 43, 63016323.
Grujicic, M., Bell, W.C., Arakere, G., He, T., Cheeseman,
B.A., 2009. A meso-scale unitcell based material model
for the single-ply flexible-fabric armor. Materials and
Design 30, 36903704.
Barauskas, R., Abraitiene, A., 2007. Computational analysis
of impact of a bullet against the multilayer fabrics in LS-
DYNA. International Journal of Impact Engineering 34,
12861305.
Blankenhorn, G., Schweizerhof, K., Finckh, H., 2003.
Improved numerical investigations of a projectile impact
on a textile structure. In: Proceedings of the 4th European
LS-DYNA Users Conference, Ulm, Germany.
Wang YQ, Sun XK. Digital element simulation of textile
processes. Compos Sci Technol 2001;63:3119.
Wang Y, Sun X. Digital element simulation of textile pro-
cesses. Journal of Composites Science and Technology
2001;63:3119.
Zhou G, Sun X, Wang Y. Multi-chain digital analysis in
textile mechanics. Journal of Composites Science and
Technology 2003;64:2394.
774
Bio-inspired composite structure subjected to underwater impulsive loading
P. Tran, T. Ngo & P. Mendis
ABSTRACT: Designing light-weight high-performance materials which can sustain high impulsive loadings
is of great interest to marine applications. In this study, a finite element fluid-structure interaction model is
developed to understand the deformation and failure mechanisms of a composite panel made of fiber (E-glass
fiber) and matrix (vinylester resin). Damage and degradation in individual unidirectional composite laminas
are simulated by using Hashins composite damage model. The delamination between laminas is modelled by a
bilinear cohesive model. In designing tough, strong new materials from relatively weak components, mimicking
structures from nature can be a highly fruitful strategy, as illustrated by nacre from red abalone shells. One of
nacres most impressive features is its ability to laterally spread damage and dissipate energy over millimetre
length scales at crack tips and other defects. In this work, the composite panel is redesigned to mimic nacres
micro-structure. The bio-inspired composite panel is subjected to similar underwater impulsive loading and its
performance in terms of damage and deflection is compared with those of original composite structure.
1 INTRODUCTION
Designing and manufacturing light-weight yet high-
performance materials attracts a lot attention recently
due to the fast-growing military and civil applications.
Glass reinforced plastic (GRP) composite materials
are of current interest in naval hull construction [1],
because they exhibit low weight and low magnetic
signature. These are advantages of particular interest
to naval engineers, who are interested in design-
ing fast and stealth marine structures. Two different
architectures are generally used to build composite
hulls: single-skin design and sandwich construction,
where a crushable core is encased between fiber-
reinforced face skins. Both architectures involve the
use of frames, stiffeners and bulkheads that provide
the overall structural stiffness, and support the GRP
composite hull. In these architectures, the connec-
tion between the composite panel and the bulkhead
does not seem to be a weak point when subjected
to blast loading. Indeed, no localized shear or tear-
ing was observed in full scale blast experiments [2].
These experiments have showed that deformation and
damage are distributed on the composite panel itself,
in which inter-laminar delamination occurs.
Numerous experimental studies of marine compos-
ite subjected to impulsive loadings are reported in
Porfiri and Gupta [3]. These studies present the per-
formance of different composite panels and the most
significant damage modes involved in blast or bal-
listic resistance of sandwich structures, whose local
degradation can greatly affect the overall structural
performance [4]. Localized damage is also not rep-
resentative of the structural effects observed in larger
scale blast studies, where clamping tearing is not the
most significant mechanism responsible for structural
failure, and deformation and damage are spread over
a large section of the hull.
While significant efforts have been devoted to
improving the impact resistance of composites by
either enhancing the energy dissipation or preventing
fragmentation penetration, combining both capabil-
ities into a single composite structure efficiently is
still a huge challenge. Other factors including cost,
weight, thermal-mechanical reliability and flexibility
also need to be considered as design criteria, which
make the problem even more complicated. One of
the ways to overcome such challenges is to learn
from nature. Natural materials can exhibit remarkable
combinations of stiffness, low weight, strength and
toughness, which in many cases outperformmanmade
materials. Nacre (Fig. 1) from seashells is a perfect
example of a biological material mostly made of weak
components (a fragile bio-ceramic), but exhibits sur-
prisingly high levels of strength and toughness. It has
been pointed out in many studies that such biological
materials are highly organized from molecular level
to nano- and macro-scale in a hierarchical manner
yielding superior mechanical performance from rel-
atively mundane constituents. Nacre, for example, is
a ceramic laminated composite comprised of highly
structured polygonal shaped aragonite platelet layers
with thickness of about 0.5 m separated by 30 nm-
thin layers of softer organic biopolymer [5]. This par-
ticular micro-structure is quite similar to the brick and
mortar arrangement. The organic interface between
platelet layers with nanoscale roughness are bio-
chemically, structurally and mechanically compatible
775
Figure 1. Hierarchical micro-structure of nacre: (a) inner
view of nacres shell, (b) cross section of red abalone shell,
(c) SEMmicrograph of fracture plane, (d,e) SEMmicrograph
showing platelets waviness of nacre shell [5].
providing the overall structural integrity with combi-
nation of strength and flexibility (Fig. 1) [5]. Many
studies [58] have proposed the various nanoscale
toughening mechanism of nacre to account for the
improved toughness through the control of platelets
interfaces including: biopolymer stretching, arago-
nites asperities and bridges induced contacts and
interlocking, platelets waviness induced shear resis-
tance.
Considerable efforts from scientific community
have been devoted to understanding, designing and
development of biomimetic materials. Special interest
is focused on providing simple guidelines to design
high performance composite structures. The objective
of this research is to develop a numerical model to
investigate the performance and failure mechanism of
bio-inspired composite structure, which incorporates
similar hierarchical architectures of nacre, subjected to
underwater impulsive loading. This research presents
a finite element model to simulate the fluid structure
interaction(FSI) andthe correspondingfailure of com-
posite panels during the impact event. Performance of
a baseline composite panel andthe bio-inspiredone are
compared in terms of total deformation and composite
damages.
Composite panels, subjected to blast or impulsive
loading, typically present not only extensive inter-
laminar fracture (delamination) but also matrix micro-
cracking and ultimate fibre fracture at severe impact.
Regarding the prediction of structural behaviour and
failure of composite panels subjected to impulsive
loadings, limited work was reported in the literature
[912]. A research initiative called world-wide failure
exercise attempted to rank and classify the numer-
ous models available in the literature based on their
performance to predict failure under various load-
ing conditions [1314]. In this work, micro-structural
damage mechanisms developed in the frame work of
Hashins damage mechanics [15] is employed to model
the composite failures.
Figure 2. Schematic of composite panel: (a) panel is bonded
to a fixed steel ring, (b) optical photograph of the solid
panel cross section highlighting different fabrics, (c) opti-
cal microscopy image of an E-glass/vinylester fabric used in
the composite panel.
In this research, we present FSI numerical model
with commercial finite element code ABAQUS/
Explicit v6.9 which can handle the fluid-structure
interactions from low to high impulses. This model
will allow us to investigate the performance of bio-
inspired composite structures subjected to underwater
impulse loading.
2 FINITE ELEMENT MODEL
2.1 Description of composite panel
Composite solid, considered in this study, is com-
prised of quasi-isotropic Devold DBLT850-E10 glass-
fiber (0/45/90/45) non-crimp fabric infiltrated by
vinylester Reichhold DION9500. Each composite fab-
ric is composed of four laminas comprised of unidi-
rectional E-glass fibres and assembled following the
sequence: 0
/45
/90
/45
. The fibre diameter, lam-

ina and fabric thicknesses are 15, 150 and 600 m,
respectively. Figure 2 describes the composite mono-
lithic panel geometries tested under the FSI simula-
tion. Optical photography of the cross-section is shown
in Fig. 2b and an optical micrograph of an infiltrated
fabric is shown in Fig. 2c.
Composite panel consists of four composite fabrics
infiltrated by the resin (0/45/90/45)
4
. The composite
fabrics are bonded to gather with 0.1 m-thin adhesive
layers made of vinylester. The total thickness of the
panel is about 2.3 mm.
2.2 Numerical model description
Schematic of scaled underwater impact experiment is
shown in Fig. 3. During the underwater blast load-
ing event, the impulsive load is characterized by an
exponential decay pressure history, which is defined
by two parameters: the peak pressure p
o
and the decay
time t
o
(Fig. 3b). Figure 3c illustrate the setup for FSI
experiment, where the water is contained in a steel
tube sealed at one end by a steel water piston and the
other end by composite sample. In this FSI setup, the
steel ring is used to clamp the composite panel. The
exponentially decaying pressure history is produced
by impacting the water piston with the steel flyer plate
776
Figure 3. (a) Schematic of underwater explosion and (b)
pressure profile history. (c) Schematic of underwater blast
impact simulation.
at impact velocity of 300 m/s. After the impact, pres-
sure waves propagate through the water column and
reach the composite panel. The circular portion of the
composite panel in contact with the water, which has
diameter of 44 mm, is subjected to impulsive loading.
2.3 Bio-inspired composite model
Figure 4a has presented the cross section of the com-
posite panel, which has four layer of fabrics bonded
together by three adhesive layers. As mentioned in
the Introduction section, the excellent performance
of nacre is partly related to platelet waviness and
interlocking. In this work, to mimic the dovetail micro-
structure of nacre tablets, we present a modification
to composite laminate geometry, which account for a
change in the waviness of the contact surfaces. This
unique arrangement of nacres tablets has been argued
to have substantial influence on dissipating impact
energy by enhancing the kinematics for tile inter-
locking especially when subjected to compression. In
contrast to the actual biological structures, the tablet
geometry in this work is limited to square tiles. The
thickness of each baseline laminate is about 0.6 mm.
The thickness of the biomimic composite laminate is
varied by shifting the nodal coordinates in the through-
thickness direction about 0.1 mm as shown in Fig. 4c.
Here, the platelet thickness is 0.5 mm in the middle
and increases linearly toward the edge at about 0.7 mm.
This bio-inspired architecture is designed ensuring the
preservation of mass between baseline and modified
composites.
2.4 Fluid-structure interaction model
Three approaches have been widely used to simulate
the fluid-structure interaction in air/water blast prob-
lems. The first approach is to simulate both the fluid
media and solid structure with Lagrangian mesh (L-L
model). The fluid behaviour can be described with a
Mie-Grneisen equation of state (EOS) with a linear
Figure 4. (a) Schematic cross section of (a) baseline com-
posite panel and (b) bio-inspired composite panel with
waviness. Representative elements of bio-inspired compos-
ite panel with dovetail shape (c). Blue solid lines indicated
adhesive layers and dashed line illustrate the original shape
of composite element.
Hugoniot relation. Adaptive remeshing technique is
required to prevent the large distortion of fluid mesh
during wave propagation and interactions with solid
structures. Recently, coupled Eulerian and Lagrangian
technique (CEL or E-L model) has been introduced to
simulate the problems involving complex interactions
between fluid and solid structures. The fluid behaviour
is described with the same equation of state as in the
L-L model, however using Eulerian mesh in the fluid
domain helps preventing the element distortion prob-
lems in a FSI test. However, capturing the migration of
the fluid requires extending the Eulerian mesh beyond
original the fluid domain, which usually results in dif-
ficulties in achieving a fine Eulerian mesh density. On
the other hand, the contact between Eulerian surface
and Lagrangian surface artificially becomes too stiff
when the coarse Eulerian mesh is used. Thus, in this
study, a third approach, called acoustic and Lagrangian
technique (A-L model), is employed.
The governing equation for acoustic medium is
obtained fromABAQUSs user manual as:
where p is the excess pressure in the fluid (referring
to the static pressure), u
f
and u
f
are the fluid particle
velocity and acceleration,
f
is the fluid density and
is the volumetric drag coefficient (force per unit
volume per velocity). With an assumption of inviscid,
linear and compressible fluid, the constitutive law for
acoustic medium is given as
where K
f
is the bulk modulus of fluid. The density
and bulk modulus of water, are
f
=985.27 kg/m
3
and K
f
=2.19 GPa, respectively. The momentum loss
in acoustic medium is characterized by introducing
the volumetric drag coefficient , which is approxi-
mated by
777
where is the bulk viscosity, is the shear viscos-
ity, and is the exciting frequency. The interaction
between the fluid and solid domains are realized by
tying the solid structure surfaces (set as master sur-
faces) with the acoustic medium surfaces (set as slave
surfaces).
2.5 Composite damage model
The composite laminas are modelled with eight-node
quadrilateral in-plane continuum shell elements with
an average mesh size of 0.6 1.0 1.0 mm
3
. A lin-
ear orthotropic elastic constitutive law is assigned on
each of the four plies in individual laminas. Damage
initiation and material failure of each unidirectional
composite ply are investigated with Hashins model
[15], which incorporates four material damage mecha-
nisms including fibre damage in tension, fibre damage
in compression, matrix damage in tension and matrix
damage in compression. Given x-axis the fibre (lon-
gitudinal) direction and y-axis the matrix (transver-
sal) direction, the numerical formulas to determine
damage initiation in all four modes are:
Fibre tension (
11
0):
in which determines the contribution of the shear
stress to the fibre tensile damage initiation, which in
this study is set to =1.
Fibre compression (
11
0):
Matrix tension (
22
0):
Matrix Compression (
22
0):
In Eq. (4)(7), X
T
and X
C
are the tensile and compres-
sive strengths of unidirectional composite in the fibre
direction, Y
T
and Y
C
are the tensile and compressive
strengths in the matrix direction, S
L
and S
T
are the lon-
gitudinal and transverse shear strengths. In addition,

11
,
22
, and
12
are the components of the effective
Table 1. Properties of E-glass/Vinylester composite [11].
Material Material
Properties Values Properties Values
Density, 1850 kg/m
3
X
T
1.2 GPa
E
11
39 GPa X
C
620 MPa
E
22
11.5 GPa Y
T
50 MPa
G
12
3.5 GPa Y
C
128 MPa
G
13
3 GPa S
L
89 MPa
G
23
3 GPa S
T
60 MPa
Poissons 0.28 G
C
ft
=G
C
fc
35 10
3
N/m
ratio,
G
C
mt
=G
C
mc
210
3
N/m
stress tensor, =M, in which is the nominal stress
tensor and M is the damage operator given by:
where d
f
, d
m
, d
s
are the damage variables in fibre,
matrix and shear mode:
Material properties of E-glass/Vinylester compos-
ite are given in table 1.
Delamination is an important failure mode in lam-
inated composite materials when subjected to trans-
verse loads. The debondingbehaviour of the composite
laminates can be simulated by the Cohesive Zone
Model (CZM), which is based on the concepts first
discussed by Barenblatt [16].
This research employed a rate-independent bilinear
cohesive model illustrated in Fig. 5b for mode I failure
process. The cohesive elements with finite thickness
connect two volumetric elements as shown in 5a with
traction-separation laws which relate the cohesive and
the displacement jump.
In the current model, the interfacial strength
is set to
ref
max
=80 MPa, and the reference frac-
ture toughnesss in mode I and II are both set to
G
ref
Ic
=G
ref
IIc
=1 10
3
Jm
2
.
It is very important to acknowledge that when
subjected to high strain rate loading, the compos-
ite material and adhesive layer could exhibit rate-
dependent mechanical response and the associated
778
Figure 5. (a) 3D Eight-node cohesive element; (b)
Rate-independent bilinear cohesive model.
Figure 6. Stress distributions on air-side and water-side of
regular and bio-inspired composite panels.
failures, which are not accounted in this work. This
matter will be a subject for the future extension of this
study.
3 NUMERICAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
FSI simulation is carried out by impacting the flyer
plate on the water piston at 300 m/s. The duration of
the numerical simulation is about 0.16 ms. The per-
formance of the baseline and bio-inspired composite
panels are compared in terms of deformation history
and total damage. One of the objectives of this work is
to investigate the ability of designed bio-inspired com-
posite model to distribute the impact energy over the
contact area. Figure 6 has illustrated the distribution
of stress on the air and water sides of both composite
panels at the end of the simulation.
As clearly shown in this figure, due to the waviness
of the composite laminates, stress is spreaded all over
the bio-inspired composite panel compared to local-
ized stress concentration at the edge of the baseline
one. The stress distribution pattern is evidently aligned
with the wavy pattern of the designed composite indi-
cating the sliding-induced contact of the laminates.
Furthermore, severe stress concentration developed in
the water side of the baseline composite panel is not
seen in the bio-inspired one.
Figure 7 has shown the side view deformation of
composite panels revealing extensive edge delami-
nation of composite laminates. Displacements and
Figure 7. Deformations of composite panels (side view) and
evolution history of water-side central points deflection and
velocity.
velocity histories of the central points on the air sides
of the composite panels are also presented in Fig. 7. It
is interesting to note that there are no significant dif-
ferences between baseline and bio-inspired composite
models in terms of central deflection. This could be
explained by the fact that the waviness of the modi-
fied composite laminate is effective in preventing the
laminate sliding while mass is a dominant factor in the
out of plain deformation.
Total composite damage is effectively illustrated by
the shear damage parameters as described in Eq. 9.
Shear damage patterns for composite panels are pre-
sented in Fig. 8 illustrating again the distribution of
damages in the bio-inspired composite panel to avoid
the severe edge failures. One of the important failure
mechanisms of composite is the interlaminate delam-
ination. This failure mode occurs as the composite
laminates debonded fromeach other during the impact
event affecting the overall structural integrity of the
composite panels. The adhesive layers in composite
materials play a similar role as the organic biopolymer
layers in nacre. In this work, we employ the rate-
independent bilinear cohesive model to simulate the
interface of the composite. Figure 9 has shown the
cross sections of three adhesive layers of both com-
posite models. Snapshots of these adhesive layers are
taken at three different time 0.05, 0.07 and 0.09 ms.
The continuous segments of the interface represent the
intact adhesive layers.
As failure occurs, the damaged segments are
removed from the picture leaving blank segments. At
0.05 ms, interfaces of both composite models remain
intact as there is no failure occurs. At 0.07 ms, inter-
face delaminations happen in both cases and develop
further at time equals to 0.09 ms. As clearly shown in
Fig. 9, the interface debonding is much more severe
in the baseline case compared to the bio-inspired one.
The second and third layers in the baseline composite
are almost removed due to the failure while the second
layer in bio-inspired composite remains undamaged.
The waviness of the interface and the dovetail
design of the composite structure evidently help to
elevate the damages to the interface.
779
Figure 8. Shear damage onair-side andwater-side of regular
and bio-inspired composite panels.
Figure 9. Interfacial delamination evolution of (a) baseline
and (b) bio-inspired composite panels.
4 CONCLUSIONS
In this study, we have developed a fluid-structure
interaction numerical model using coupled acoustic-
solid technique capable of describing the interaction
between water and composite panels. The numeri-
cal mode is employed to study the performance of
composite panel subjected to underwater impulsive
loading. The bio-inspired design of composite panel
is proposed to improve the energy mitigation capa-
bility of the composite structure. The comparison
between performances of two composite materials in
terms of deformation, composite damage and inter-
facial delamination are conducted highlighting the
advantages of bio-inspired composite structures.
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[2] Hall, D.J., 1989. Examination of the effects of
underwater blasts on sandwich composite struc-
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on impulsive loading of marine composites. In:
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and Sandwich Structures. pp. 169194.
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780
Numerical simulation of concrete spalling under impact
Chongda Wu & Luming Shen
School of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: A rate-dependent damage model, which was originally developed for rock, is modified to model
concrete spalling under impact. In the modified model, the damage of concrete is represented by a degraded
dynamic elastic stiffness tensor. The two model parameters can be easily calibrated by two data points from
concrete spalling test usig Hopkinson bar. To verify the model, a finite element simulation of concrete spalling
under impact is performed. To account for the facts that the compressive strength of concrete is much higher
than the tensile strength, and the applied compressive stress is well below the compressive strength of concrete,
the proposed rate-dependent damage model is only applied to concrete under tension. The simulated fracture
locations, spalling strength and the number of fragments of the specimen match well with the available experi-
mental data, indicating that the proposed model is capable of describing the spalling behaviour of concrete under
impact.
1 INTRODUCTION
Concrete is found in a wide range of structural applica-
tions ranging from portal frame structures, protective
walls, bunkers to nuclear power stations etc. These
applications of concrete may be subjected to high
strain rate loads in certain circumstances such as
industrial accidents, missile impact and terrorist bomb
attacks. Hence understanding the response of concrete
at high strain rates is essential to predict the failure
of concrete structures under extreme loading condi-
tions. Due to the brittle nature of concrete, dynamic
experiment of concrete is one of the most difficult
experiments to perform especially spalling experi-
ment. Nowadays, with the ever increasing computing
power and advancing material models, computational
simulations are becoming more and more cost effec-
tive since experiments are time-consuming and expen-
sive. In this paper, an existing rate-dependent damage
model, which was original developed for rock, will
be modified to model concrete spalling at high strain
rates.
In the last decades, a number of constitutive mod-
els had been developed to predict the actual responses
of concrete, i.e. fracture energy, ultimate strength
and missile penetration depth etc. These wide ranges
of models can be classified into three categories in
terms of modelling scale, namely microscopic model
(Mazars 1986), mesoscopic model (Snozzi et al. 2011,
Haubler-Combe & Kitzig 2009, Hao et al. 2011) and
macroscopic model (Leppanen 2006, Lu & Xu 2004,
Zhou et al. 2008, Govindjee et al. 1995, Holmquist &
Johnson 1993, Malvar et al. 1997). Modelling concrete
at microscale and mesoscale taking the heterogeneity
of the concrete composition into consideration may be
advantageous in depicting detailed mechanical pro-
cesses and damage processes of the material because
concrete is a heterogeneous material by nature. How-
ever, the vast computational demand associated with
a microscale and mesoscale model could become an
obstacle in solving practical problems. Unlike micro-
scopic and mesoscopic models distinguishing the con-
crete constituents in different orders of resolutions,
macroscopic models assume a homogeneous material.
With this assumption it allows the classical continuum
mechanics method to work and makes macroscopic
models more suitable for large scale simulations such
as an entire building structure. Therefore, macroscopic
approach will be used in the present study. In other
words, it is assumedthat the concrete is a homogeneous
continuum with pre-existing microcracks.
Many dynamic concrete models share basic fea-
tures of brittle material such as strength enhancement
due to strain rates and strain hardening (Leppanen
2006, Govindjee et al. 1995, Holmquist & Johnson
1993, Malvar et al. 1997, Taylor et al. 1986, Riedel
et al. 1999, Gebbeken & Ruppert 2000). Strength
enhancement of concrete, which has been observed in
high strain rate experiments, is formulated differently
in these concrete models. For the strength enhance-
ment feature due to strain rates, some concrete models
(Holmquist & Johnson 1993, Riedel et al. 1999,
Gebbeken & Ruppert 2000) consider the expansion of
the failure surfaces in terms of strain rates while other
models (i.e. Govindjee et al. 1995) consider the change
of viscosity of the concrete material. Although exper-
iments have revealed that the rate-sensitivity in tensile
and compressive regions is different, no differentia-
tion is made in many concrete models for simplicity
(Govindjee et al. 1995, Holmquist & Johnson 1993,
781
Taylor et al. 1986, Riedel et al. 1999, Gebbeken &
Ruppert 2000). On the other hand, a number of exper-
imental results have revealed that the dynamicYoungs
modulus of concrete increases with strain rates (Grote
et al. 2001, Tedesco &Ross 1998, Schuler et al. 2006).
However, there is no appropriate theory to explain this
phenomenon and the relationship between theYoungs
modulus and strain rates is yet to be developed (Lu &
Xu 2004).
For the convenience of calibration of model param-
eters and numerical implementation, the TCKdamage
model (Taylor et al. 1986) is found advantageous.
In the TCK model (Taylor et al. 1986), only two
model parameters, which have physical meanings, are
required to calibrate based on minimal experimen-
tal results. On the other hand, some concrete models
(Leppanen 2006, Govindjee et al. 1995, Holmquist &
Johnson 1993, Malvar et al. 1997, Riedel et al. 1999,
Gebbeken & Ruppert 2000) require more than eight
model parameters that are difficult to calibrate. With
appropriate application, i.e. tensile fracture, the sim-
ulation results of the TCK model demonstrated good
agreement with the experimental results. In the present
study, the TCK model (Taylor et al. 1986) is modi-
fied and implemented into LS-DYNAs user-defined
material model. The spalling experiment conducted
by Schuler et al. (2006) is simulated. The simulated
fracture locations, spalling strength and the number
of fragments of the specimen match well with the
available experimental data.
2 CONSTITUTIVE MODEL
The TCK model (Taylor et al. 1986), which was
initially developed to model rock under blast, pre-
sumed the material is a homogeneous continuum with
pre-existing randomly distributed microcracks. The
microcracks accumulate upon tensile loading and con-
tribute to the degradation of the material stiffness. As
a result the strain softening behaviour of the mate-
rial is simulated. The TCK model (Taylor et al. 1986)
combined the dynamic fragmentation model (Grady &
Kipp 1980) and the idea of an equivalent bulk modulus
with cracks (Budiansky & OConnell 1976) as shown
in Equation 18.
where K and v are the undamaged bulk modulus and
the Poissons ratio respectively, K and v denote the
damaged bulk modulus and the Poissons ratio respec-
tively. C
d
is the crack density parameter which is
governed by the original and damaged Poissons ratios:
Asimplified expression of the crack density param-
eter was suggested by Taylor et al. (1980) as:
Grady & Kipp (1980) applied the Weibull distribu-
tion theory to determine the number of flaws per unit
volume (N) that are active at a given pressure level P
as follow:
where k and m are two material constants which can
be determined from experimental data.
Grady (1983) suggested that the nominal frag-
ment diameter for dynamic fragmentation in a brittle
material is:
where K
IC
is the fracture toughness, is the mass
density, C
0
is the uniaxial wave speed and

max
is
the maximum volumetric strain rate experienced by
the material at fracture. The crack density parameter
can also be represented in terms of the crack diameter
assuming the fragments are spherical, such as:
where is an unknown proportionality constant which
can be combined with the constant k.
Combining Equation 46 the crack density param-
eter C
d
becomes:
Equation 3 and Equation 7 are two independent
equation of the crack density parameter. Equation 7
can be used to solve the crack density parameter with
known pressure and strain rate history. On the other
hand Equation 3 can be solved for the current damaged
Poissons ratio, . The damage variable is defined as
follows:
It is noted in Equation 3 that there is a critical value
of the crack density parameter (9/16). It means if the
microcracks accumulate up to more than one half of
the material volume, the material will be considered
total failure which cannot withstand any loads.
782
Figure 1. Strain rate sensitivity of Youngs modulus with no
damage.
3 MODEL MODIFICATION
In the original TCK model (Taylor et al. 1986), the
rate sensitivity of the Youngs modulus is neglected
and the quasi-static Youngs modulus is used through-
out the model. However, experimental results have
revealed that the dynamicYoungs modulus of concrete
increases withstrainrates (Grote et al. 2001, Tedesco&
Ross 1998, Schuler et al. 2006). Recently, Lu & Xu
(2004) in their study suggested a complex expression
for the approximation of the dynamicYoungs modulus
based on the available experimental data (Grote et al.
2001, Tedesco & Ross 1998) as follows:
where a and b are two constants. If damage of the
material is included, it becomes:
where D is the damage variable which is governed by
strains beyond the critical strain and volume.
However, it is found that the formula proposed by
Lu & Xu (2004) tends to underestimate the dynamic
Youngs modulus at moderate strain rates. Therefore, in
the present study, a different relationship is proposed
such that the dynamic increase factor of Youngs mod-
ulus is assumed to vary exponentially with strain rates
as shown in Figure 1. The proposed relationship may
be considered an alternative way to approximate the
dynamic modulus of the material if no experimental
data are available.
According to available experimental data (Grote
et al. 2001, Tedesco &Ross 1998, Schuler et al. 2006),
the dynamic modulus is approximated as:
where E is the undamaged elastic Youngs modulus
and a and b are constants which can be derived from
Figure 2. The schematic view of the spall experiment
(Schuler et al. 2006).
experimental data. In this occasion, a and b are
found to be 1.01 and 0.0006 respectively. Consider-
ing the degradation in the modulus during loading, the
dynamic Youngs modulus can be further derived as:
where D is the damage variable which has defined
previously.
The proposed expression of the dynamic Youngs
modulus is compared with the one developed by Lu &
Xu (2004) based on the same experimental data. As
shown in Figure 1, the formula proposed by Lu & Xu
(2004) tends to underestimate the dynamic Youngs
modulus at moderate strain rates. In addition, the
dynamic Youngs modulus proposed by Lu & Xu
(2004) is less than the static Youngs modulus for a
certain range of strain rates. This is contradicting to
observations in many past experiments (Grote et al.
2001, Tedesco & Ross 1998, Schuler et al. 2006).
The predicted values of the two proposed models are
similar at high strain rates.
4 SIMULATION OF CONCRETE SPALLING
4.1 Model description
Schuler et al. (2006) investigated the spalling exper-
iments for the measurement of the tensile strength
and fracture energy of concrete at high strain rates. A
modified Hopkinson bar device with an acceleration
gauge attached to the free end of the specimen was
developed in their study. The same experimental lay-
outs were simulated using the explicit finite element
software, LS-DYNA. An illustration of the spall exper-
iment is shown in Figure 19. The spalling experiment
(Schuler et al. 2006) consists of a 60 mm projectile, a
5500 mm long incident bar and a 250 mm long spec-
imen. The diameters of the incident bar are 74.2 mm
and the impact velocities of the projectile are recorded
as 4.1 m/s, 7.6 m/s and 11.1 m/s in their experiment.
The projectile and the incident bar are modelled as
isotropic elastic material. To account for the facts that
the compressive strength of concrete is much higher
than the tensile strength, and the applied compressive
stress is well below the compressive strength of con-
crete, an elastic model will be used in the compressive
regime of concrete, and the proposed rate-dependent
damage model will be adopted for concrete under
tensile loading. In addition, the minimum time step
applied in the simulation is 10
7
s and the gravitational
force is neglected. No constraints are applied on the
nodes of the specimens and the incident bar, meaning
783
Table 1. Material parameters for proposed concrete model.
Parameters Values
(kg/m
3
) 2359
E (GPa) 35
v 0.2
k 3.83 10
22
m 5.167
K
IC
(MPa/m
0.5
) 2.0
Figure 3. The damage contour of the specimen in the simu-
lation (bottom) and the fractured specimen in the experiment
(top) (Schuler et al. 2006), Impact velocity =11.1 m/s.
that all nodes have both translational and rotational
degrees of freedom. The impact velocity of the projec-
tile in the simulation is achieved by applying a time-
dependent velocity boundary condition on the nodes of
the projectile. The contact conditions of the projectile-
incident bar interface and the incident bar-specimen
interface are assumed in perfect condition, meaning
that no friction and energy loss during collision. The
initial distance between the projectile and the incident
bar is 0.1 mm in order to reduce the contact time.
The model parameters, k and m, are calibrated based
on the experimental data from the study of Schuler
et al. (2006) as shown in Table 1.
4.2 Simulation results
Based on the parameters shown in the Table 1, a
number of simulations are performed. The fracture
locations and the fracture strengths of the specimens
are compared with the experimental results (Schuler
et al. 2006).
Figures 35 demonstrate the simulated fracture
locations for the spalling tests. From the damage con-
tour of the specimen in the case with an impact velocity
of 11.1 ms
1
, two fracture planes can be clearly identi-
fied as can be seen in Figure 3. The first fracture plane
located at 70 mmfromthe free end and the second one
located at 120 mm from the free end whereas in the
experiment the first fracture plane and second fracture
plane located at 76 mm and 114 mm from the free end
respectively. The difference of the fracture locations
betweenthe simulationandexperiment is less than8%.
The simulated fracture locations of the other cases also
match well with the experimental results. It can be con-
cluded that the proposed concrete model is capable of
predicting the fracture locations for concrete spalling.
Table 2. Simulation results vs. Experimental results
(Schuler et al 2006).
Impact 11.1 7.6 4.1
velocity
(ms
1
) Exp. Sim. Exp. Sim. Exp. Sim.
Spall 18 22.8 16.2 18.4 12.9 14.9
Strength 0.9 2.0 1.0
(MPa)
Strain 79.5 58.57 59.1 50 33 22.5
rate (s
1
)
Fracture 76 70 79 70 103 90
location
1
(mm)
Fracture 114 120 110 110 N/A N/A
location
2
(mm)
* Distance to the free end in mm.
The spall strengths of the specimens are also com-
pared. The spall strength in the simulation is defined
as the maximum tensile stress in the stress history
curve at the fracture location. The fracture location
is defined as the first cross section that has more than
90% of damage. In addition, the strain rate at fracture
is recorded as the corresponding strain rate when the
maximumtensile stress occurs at the fracture location.
Simulations results are summarized in Table 2.
As can be seen in Table 2, in the cases with an
impact velocity of 11.1 m/s, 7.6 m/s and 4.1 m/s, the
784
spall strength of the concrete specimens are found
22.8 MPa, 18.4 MPa and 14.9 MPa respectively and
the corresponding strain rates are 58.57 s
1
, 50 s
1
and
22.5 s
1
respectively. It is noted that simulation results
are in reasonable good agreement with the experimen-
tal results. The difference of the spall strength and
strain rates are within approximately 20% and the
difference of the fracture locations are within 10%
compared to the experimental results (Schuler et al.
2006). It is noted that the proposed concrete model
tends to slightly overestimate the spall strength and
slightly underestimate the strain rates, but still they
are in a reasonable margin.
In summary the simulated fracture locations,
spalling strength and the number of fragments of the
specimen match well with the available experimental
data, which demonstrates that the proposed model is
capable of describing the spalling behaviour of con-
crete under impact. In particular, the prediction of
fracture locations is in good accuracy, the deviation of
which is within 10%. On the other hand, the prediction
of the spall strength and strain rates is in reasonable
agreement. The differences between the experimental
results are within 20%.
5 CONCLUSION
In this study, a rate-dependent concrete damage model
is developed based on an existing damage model for
rock. The proposed model is capable of predicting
the spalling strength, fracture locations and num-
ber of fragments from spalling experiments. Special
attention has been paid to strain rate dependency of
the material. The proposed concrete model has been
successfully implemented in the commercial finite
element code, LS-DYNA, as a user-defined subrou-
tine. The proposed concrete model has been verified
by the spalling experiment conducted by Schuler
et al. (2006). Excellent agreement is obtained between
the predicted and experimental spalling strength and
fracture locations of the specimen. Inparticular the dif-
ference of the spall strength and strain rates are within
20% and the difference of the fracture locations are
within 10%. Therefore it can be concluded that the
proposed rate dependent concrete model is capable of
describing the spalling behaviour of concrete under
impact.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
All the numerical simulations were carried out on
the supercomputers in NCI National Facilities in
Canberra, Australia.
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785
Simulation of pressure impulse diagrams for foam protected RC members
C. Wu & H. Sheikh
School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, The University of Adelaide, Australia
ABSTRACT: Protection of critical infrastructure against bomb attacks due to the rising threat of terrorism
requires more attention. An effective solution to mitigate blast effects on infrastructure is to protect them with
foammaterial cladding. In this paper a load cladding structure interaction model based on finite element approx-
imations developed in a previous study is used to simulate the response of foam protected RC members under
blast loads. In the load cladding structure interaction model, the foamcladding layer over the member is modelled
as inelastic springs with nonlinear stiffness and a series of springs are connected at each node of the RC member
while the RC beam is modelled as small regions referred to as hinges together with large non-hinge regions.
Using the coupled load cladding structure interaction model, parametric studies are conducted to generate pres-
sure impulse diagrams for slabs cladded with aluminium foam with various thickness and density. From the
pressure impulse diagrams, it can be concluded that aluminium foam is effective in mitigating blast effects on
RC members. The derived pressure impulse diagram can be used in preliminary design calculations to ensure a
structure is adequately protected using aluminium foam.
1 INTRODUCTION
With the rising threat of terrorism, terrorist attacks on
infrastructure throughout the world have been receiv-
ing great concerns in recent years. Newly developed
mobile and lightweight materials such as metallic
foams with excellent plastic energy absorbing charac-
teristics, which have widely been used in the automo-
tive, transport, ships and military industries, are very
attractive for use as sacrificial claddings in applica-
tions for protection against terrorism. Thus the use of
protective layer such as metallic foams on high risk
infrastructure needs tobe takenintoaccount inanalysis
and design.
A pressure impulse (P-I) diagram is a representa-
tion of iso-damage curves corresponding to various
failure criteria for particular structural components
against impacts and it has become a preliminary design
tool by building designers to assess the response of
structural members to a specified load. The diagram
indicates the combinations of peak reflected pressure
and impulse (as froma blast) that will cause the failure
or a specific level of damage of a structure or structural
member. Krauthammer et al. (2007), for example, used
a SDOF model to undertake a dimensional analysis
of P-I curves for elastic structural members sub-
jected to different pulse loads. Based on the equivalent
single degree of freedom(SDOF) approach, Ma andYe
(2007) alsodevelopedP-I diagrams for anelastic struc-
ture in which different combinations of the pressure
and the impulse of the external load on the curve will
cause the same deflection to the cladding-protected
elastic structural member. However little research has
been conducted on developing P-I diagram for foam
protected RC members against blasts.
In this paper, a coupled load cladding structure
interaction model developed in a previous study (Zhu
et al. 2009) is used to analyse the dynamic response of
an aluminiumfoamprotected reinforced concrete slab
against blast loading. In the model, the foam cladding
layer over the RC slab is modelled as a lumped mass
spring system which considered deformation of the
foam layer in the loading direction. The hinge regions
of the beam are simulated with interface elements
having rotational stiffness which is obtained from a
moment rotation model. The foam is modelled by
an array of lumped masses over each beam element
node connected by a number of inelastic extensional
springs in the loading direction. The validated FEM
based model is used to derive P-I diagrams for foam
protected RC members against blasts.
2 COUPLED FINITE ELEMENT MODEL
2.1 Equation of motions
In the coupled load cladding structure interaction
model, a RC member, as shown in Figure 1, is dis-
cretised into a number of beam elements based on
an isoparametric formulation (Bathe 1996). The mate-
rial nonlinearity in the nonhinge region of the beam
is incorporated through the deformation dependent
(nonlinear) flexural rigidities of the beam elements
obtained from a nonlinear moment curvature relation-
ship of the member. The hinge region of the beam is
787
Figure 1. Cladding structure interaction model.
modelled as an interface element where the rotational
stiffness of this element is obtained from a non-linear
moment rotation relationship (Haskett et al. 2009).
The load in the form of the reflected blast pressure
at the external surface of the foam layer is distributed
at the different nodes of the spring elements at that
surface following the load lumping scheme, which is
used to form the load vector {F} of the structure. The
equation of motion of the structural system can be
obtained with the quantities mentioned above, which
may be expressed as
where {} and

are the displacement and acceler-

ation vectors respectively of the structure.
2.2 Beam element
To achieve a high accuracy while maintaining an
appropriate level of calculation efficiency, a three-
node isoperimetric beam element having quadratic
shape functions is adopted. Timoshenkos beam the-
ory is implemented for the proposed element. Tim-
oshenkos beam theory considers both shear and
bending deformation. Hence, these effects can be
incorporated into a three node isoparametric beamele-
ment as shown in Figure 2 to implement the finite
element formulation. According to the isoparametric
formulation (Bathe 1996), the actual beamgeometry is
mapped in to a regular domain ranging from 1 to +1
(Figure 2). The coordinates between these two systems
are correlated as
where the three quadratic interpolation function are as
follows in Figure 2.
The independent displacement components at any
point within an element (i.e. field variables) are w
and in the present case and these field variables
can be interpolated in terms of their nodal displace-
ments. According to Timoshenkos beam theory, the
constitutive equations for moment and shear force may
be derived. With these basic quantities, the stiffness
Figure 2. Basic beam elements.
matrix [K] and mass matrix [M] of an element can
be derived following the steps used in finite element
technique (Bathe 1996). The stiffness matrix can be
expressed as
where, [B] is the strain displacement matrix,
[D] =elasticity matrix, [J] is Jacobin matrix. The mass
matrix is:
where [N] is the shape function matrix, and the matrix
[R
m
] is
In order to model the hinge rotation at the mid-span
section, an interface element as shown in Figure 3
is used between two adjacent beam elements at that
region where the stiffness matrix of the interface
element is taken as:
where k
s
is the translational stiffness corresponding to
shear having a high value at any stage and k
b
is the
rotational stiffness corresponding to bending which
is obtained from the nonlinear moment rotation rela-
tionship after the start of non-linearity while a high
stiffness value is used at the initial stage. The interface
element does not have any mass contribution since
it does not have any geometric length. The interface
element is also applicable for simulating the hinge
rotations at the supports.
2.3 Moment rotation model for RC slabs
In the finite element model, both the beam elements
and the plastic hinge elements contain non-linear
rigidities. These non-linear rigidities are important in
accurately calculating the plastic deformation of the
structure. These are derived from moment-curvature,
788
Figure 3. Plastic hinge element; w is the transverse dis-
placement and is the rotation.
Figure 4. Finite element model of foam and structure
interaction.
and moment-rotation curves which are derived from
the model of Haskett et al. (2009). Using the curves
derived from the rigid body rotation analysis, the flex-
ural rigidity for the beam elements and the rotational
stiffness of the plastic hinge spring are determined.
The flexural rigidity for the beam elements is calcu-
lated by K
v
=EI =M/ where the curvature of this
beam elements is determined by
The rotational stiffness of the spring for the plastic
hinge is calculated by adopted similar method as the
flexure rigidity and it is: K
=M/ where: the rotation

can be calculated by: = |
1

2
| in which
1
,
2
are the rotations at the node 1 and node 2 of the spring
element, respectively.
2.4 Foam model
The foam cladding is modelled with a system which
consists of a number of lumped mass and spring ele-
ments as shown in Figure 4. A portion of the foam
material above a node of any beam element is allo-
cated with that node and this portion of material having
a length of l
e
(Figure 4) is subdivided further along the
thickness direction and the mass of these small units is
lumped at a number of nodes vertically arranged above
that node of the beamelement. These verticallystacked
nodes are connected by extensional spring elements as
shown in Figure 4. This provides a better representa-
tion of the progressive densification of foamlayers due
to the one dimensional wave propagation in the thick-
ness direction, which is expected to be predominant in
the present case.
The stiffness of such a spring element representing
a foam unit may be expressed as
Table 1. Blast program plan.
Event Thickness of Charge Weight Standoff
No. Foam (mm) (kg) Distance (m)
1 NA 7.5 1.5
2 75 7.5 1.5
3 75 7.5 1.25
4 75 7.5 1.0
where E
f
is the modulus of foam, B is the width of the
structure, l
e
is half of the beam length and h
f
is the
thickness of a foam unit/element. The value of E
f
is
displacement dependent and it is taken from the non-
linear stress-strain relationship of the foam. The mass
contribution of the foam units is taken into account
through the mass matrix of the spring elements.
The blast load acting in the form of the reflected
pressure at the external surface of the foamlayer is dis-
tributed at the different nodes of the spring elements
at that surface (Figure 4) following the load lumping
scheme, which is used to form the load vector {F}
of the structure (Eq. 1). The stiffness and mass matri-
ces of the different elements are assembled together to
form the stiffness matrix [K] and mass matrix [M] of
the structure (Eq. 1). Finally the system of nonlinear
dynamic equations (1) is solved by the Newmark beta
time integration technique (Bathe 1996).
3 SIMULATED RESULTS
3.1 P-I diagrams for foam protected RC slabs
The coupled cladding structure interaction model
based on finite element approximations is validated
with the actual test results obtained from a blast test-
ing programconducted in 2009 (Table 1). The RCslab
used for this testing had a length of 2000 mm, width
of 400 mm and thickness of 100 mm. The meshed
steel bars used were spaced at 326 mm centres to cen-
tre in the major bending plane and 89.5 mm in the
minor plane, corresponding to a reinforcement ratio of
1.4%. The concrete compressive strength was 32 MPa
with Youngs Modulus of 26 GPa. The 75 mm thick
aluminum foam with plateau stress of 5.4 MPa, densi-
fication strain of 0.53, and elastic modulus of 203 MPa
were used in the blast testing.
The above validated model is then used to con-
duct the parametric studie to derive pressure impulse
(P-I) diagrams for the tested RC slab. P-I diagrams
are generated by having a certain reflected pressure
as a starting point. This point is given as input by
the user and could be altered easily at each time.
The FEM model is then used to predict the struc-
tural response using a small positive pressure duration
(t
d
) which is increased incrementally until a failure
criterion reached. This is graphically represented in
Figure 5. The failure criterion is chosen to be the
flexural failure when generating those P-I diagrams
789
Figure 5. Maximum reflected pressure with increasing t
d
starting from a small value.
Figure 6. Procedure used in generating P-I diagrams.
as suggested by Dragos et al. (2011). Moreover the
spatial variation of the load along the beam is not con-
sidered when producing P-I diagrams and thus loading
is assumed as uniformly distributed.
Once the failure is reached (first point of the P-I
diagram), the FEMmodel decreasedthe reflectedpres-
sure and repeated the abovementioned process get the
next point of the P-I diagram. The process is continued
with further reduction of the reflected pressure incre-
mentally so as to get the required number of points
for producing the P-I diagram (also an user input).
This procedure is similar to that used by Dragos et al.
(2011) to generate P-I diagrams, however the only dif-
ference was the starting point being the impulse (i.e.
working fromright to left when reduction in t
d
) instead
of the reflected pressure. Figure 6 shows a graphical
representation of the procedure used to generate P-I
diagrams.
Figure 7 shows a comparison of P-I diagrams for
the 2009 experimental slabs with and without foam
cladding. The observed behaviour of the slabs during
the 2009 blast experiment was within the elastic region
for Event 1, Event 2 and Event 3 as suggested by Zhu
et al. (2009), i.e. the slabs did not undergo any plastic
deformation. In addition, it was suggested that the slab
entered into the plastic region and the plastic hinge was
formed for Event 4, however this slab did not fail com-
pletely. Based on the experimental observation, Event
4 should lie just before the pressure impulse curve with
a failure criterion according to the plastic hinge fail-
ure. This result can be seen in Figure 7 (Event 4 is just
Figure 7. P-I diagrams for 2009 slab without and with
75 mmAF protection.
Figure 8. PI diagrams for RCslab with various thickness of
aluminium foam protection.
before the curve for the slab with 75 mm aluminium
foam).
3.2 Effect of foam thickness and plateau stresses
In order to investigate the blast mitigation effects of the
aluminiumfoam, a comparison of PI diagrams is made
for the 2009 non-protected slab with protected slab
having 75 mm, 100 mm and 200 mm thick foam using
the 75 mm foam properties. The results are shown in
Figure 8. As can be observed, the mitigating effects
of the aluminium foam with different thickness on the
protected RCslabs are obvious. hen modelling the alu-
minium foam protected slab, the curve is found to be
less smooth. This is simply the numerical noise which
is involved due to the increased number of parameters
used. Moreover the procedure is quite complex since
determination of the reflected pressure to start with is
crucial. At very high pressures, the aluminium foam
is disintegrated in practice and it is also suggested by
the results of the LS-DYNA simulations. When disin-
tegration occurs, the load acts directly on the RC slab
and the aluminium foam has no effect, thus theoret-
ically it should not modify the P-I curve of the slab
in any way. This is not the case with the FEM model.
Thus the disintegration of the aluminium foam is not
790
Table 2. Comparison of Impulse asymptotes between pro-
tected and non protected RC beam.
Impulse
Asymptote Impulse
Set Up (Pa.s) Increase
2009 RC beam 1975.8 0.00%
With 75 mmAF 2145.6 8.60%
With 100 mmAF 2176.8 10.2%
With 200 AF 2283.9 15.6%
accounted for in the FEM model as it only assumed
full densification of the foam and no further damage
to the foam. In such situation the simulated results
are not reasonable which resulted in major unrealistic
effects on the P-I curve. Hence, this explains the rea-
son for the thorough trial and error process to choose
the starting point.
The P-I curves of aluminium foam protected slabs
as shown in Figure 8 are undergone some processing in
order to smooth the curves so that the two asymptotes
are shownmore clearly. Anaveragingtechnique is used
during the process. In some instances (specifically for
the 75 mmaluminiumfoamcase), the initial curve was
quite smooth and a minor noise removal is undertaken.
Figure 8 shows an increase in the impulse (vertical)
asymptote and hence at larger pressures, the slab failed
at larger impulses when protected with aluminium
foam. This demonstrates aluminium foam to be effec-
tive in this particular region of the curve. This region
corresponds to more impulse events when compared
to the horizontal part of the curve as it corresponds to
events with larger reflected pressures and smaller pos-
itive pressure durations. The improvement made by the
aluminium foam in the impulse region is not a major
and the percentage increase in the impulse asymptote
is tabulated in Table 2. This minor improvement could
be due to the poor choice of the RC slab properties,
specifically the choice of the slab depth being 100 mm
and the span being 2 m. Moreover the choice of the
aluminium foam (AF) could also be critical since the
100 mm and 200 mm thick foams based on the 75 mm
AF properties gave much more protection.
Figure 8 also shows that no improvement is made
by the foam for the quasi static cases, i.e. no improve-
ment of the pressure (horizontal) asymptote is found.
This is expected for this region of the curve as small
reflected pressures with longer durations correspond
to static scenarios, the aluminium foam is completely
densitified and thus translates the load to the RC slab
without making any changes on it.
In the dynamic zones, all the cases considered with
aluminium foam protection has given worse results
when compared to non protected slab as shown in
Figure 8. In this zone, the curves for all aluminium
foam scenarios lie slightly under the non protected
RC slab. This negative effect could be due to the
addition of foam causing resonance to occur. Alu-
minium foam typically reduces the reflected pressure
applied on the member while increasing the positive
time duration, thus keeping the impulse constant. This
shift in the positive time duration can change the fre-
quency of oscillation of the structure and may possibly
make it correspond to the structures natural frequency.
This can cause resonance and hence a negative effect
can occur. Moreover increased numerical noise in the
dynamic zone could also be a factor that causes this
negative effect.
When comparing all the foams, it was found that the
75 mm aluminium foam resulted in the positive effect
in protecting the 100 mm deep RC slab above impulse
scenarios as can be seen from Table 2. This effect has
a minor improvement of 8.6% from the non protected
member. This result could be very different when
applying the foam on different slabs. The 200 mm
aluminium foam gave a significant improvement of
15.6% in the impulse asymptote when compared to
the effect of the 75 mm foam being only 8.6%.
In order to explore the blast mitigation effect of alu-
minium foam further, P-I curves are generated for the
2009 RC slab with aluminium foam protection tak-
ing variation of parameters in comparison to the real
experimentally measured parameters obtained from
the quasi static tests (Zhu et al. 2009). The idealised
stress-strain curves for the aluminium foam is based
on three basic parameters and these are: yield strain
(
y
), densification strain (
d
) and plateau stress (
p
).
It is considered worthwhile to focus on the 75 mm
aluminium foam with changing its plateau stress but
without varyingits yieldanddensificationstrains. This
could be a reasonable thing to do as it suggests an
increase in the overall stress of the foamwithout major
increase in its ductility.
Variation of the density of the aluminium foam
is also considered worthwhile for investigation since
density is closely related to plateau stress. The param-
eters are varied individually as well as simultaneously
and the P-I curves obtained with these are shown in
Figure 9.
Figure 9 clearly shows a more significant increase
in protection when the aluminiumfoams plateau stress
is increased. Simulations are done for the 75 mm alu-
minium foam with just increasing the thickness first.
The thickness was then kept at 75 mm and the plateau
stress and the density are varied (doubled each time)
individually. The thickness, density and plateau stress
are then varied simultaneously and the P-I curves are
compared to those of the 75 mm aluminium foam
protected slab and the non protected slab in Figure 9.
As discussed earlier, the improvements made by
the various scenarios of aluminium foam protection
are only evident in the impulse region of the curve.
The static region has undergone very minor changes
as mentioned earlier. Most of the curves lied slightly
under the non protected RCbeamcurve in the dynamic
zone. The possible cause of this negative effect has
been explained previously. The only two curves that
lied above the non protected RC slab curve in the
dynamic zone are the ones that correspond to the
most increase in protection in the impulse region.
791
Figure 9. Comparison of PI curves for the 2009 protected
RC beam with varied aluminium foam properties.
Table 3. Comparison of P-I curves.
Impulse
Asymptote Percentage
Set Up (Pa.s) Increase
2009 RC beam 1975.8 0.00%
with 75 mmAF 2145.6 8.60%
Plateau Stress =10.0 MPa, 2518.7 27.50%
Density =900 Kg/m
3
,
thickness =150 mm
Density =900 Kg/m
3
thickness =75 mm
Density =1800 Kg/m
3
,
thickness =150 mm
Those two P-I curves correspond to the protection
from aluminium foam with varying density, plateau
stress as well as thickness simultaneously. The percent-
age increases in the impulse asymptote for the various
scenarios considered are shown in Table 3.
The tabulated results show a significant increase
of 27.5% in protection under impulse loading
when the aluminium foams plateau stress was dou-
bled. This is obtained by increasing its density
to 900 Kg/m
3
(from 422 Kg/m
3
), plateau stress to
10.0 MPa (from 5.368 MPa) and thickness to 150 mm
(from 75 mm). Moreover a significant increase of
49.4% in mitigation capacity is evident when the
plateau stress is 20.0 MPa, density is 1800 kg/m
3
and
thickness is 150 mm. If the thickness is kept as 75 mm,
an increase in the density and the plateau stress by
a factor of approximately 2 results in a significant
increase of 17% as shown in Table 3. The significance
of the simulations with the variation of parameters is
investigated to identify the crucial parameters that can
have the major effect on the blast mitigation capac-
ity of aluminium foam. Hence, it can be useful for
future research when considering manufacturing of
newer types of aluminium foams.
4 CONCLUSION
Pressure impulse diagrams for aluminium foam pro-
tected members are generated. It is found that alu-
miniumfoamresulted in a maximumof 8.6%increase
in the impulse asymptote in the impulse region when
the 75 mm foam protected slab is only considered
(Zhu et al. 2009). When plateau stress parameters are
varied with thickness, it is found that doubling the
density, the plateau stress and the thickness simul-
taneously resulted in a 27.5% increase in dynamic
blast mitigationcapacityandquadruplingthese param-
eters resulted in a significant increase of 49.4%. It
is recommended to the future researchers for fur-
ther investigation of the effects of these parameters
when considering manufacturing of newer types of
aluminium foams.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The studies were part of a final year research project
by Badr W, Guo X, Lu, J and Muneretto L in 2011,
which was part of an ARC linkage project LP0883451
supported by DSTO and VSL.
REFERENCES
Bathe, KJ. 1995. Finite Element Procedures, Prentice-Hall,
(1995). Cambridge CB1 6AH, England 2003.
Dragos, J., Wu, C., Haskett, M., Oehlers, D.J. 2011
(accepted). Derivation of normalized pressure impulse
curves for flexural ultra high performance concrete slabs,
Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE.
Haskett, M, Oehlers, DJ, Mohamed, Ali MS, Wu, C. 2009.
Rigid body rotation mechanism for reinforced concrete
beam hinges, Engineering Structures, 31, 10321041.
Ma, GW, Ye, ZQ. 2007. Analysis of foam claddings for blast
alleviation, International Journal of Impact Engineering,
Vol. 34, 6070.
Krauthammer, T., Astarlioglu, S., Blasko, J., Soh, T.B., Ng,
P.H. 2007. Pressureimpulse diagrams for the behaviour
assessment of structural components, International Jour-
nal of Impact Engineering, 35 (2008) 771783.
Zhu, C., Lin, Z.T.L., Chia, Y.F., Chong, K. P. 2009. Protection
of Reinforced Concrete Structures against Blast Load-
ing, Final Year Research Project Report, School of Civil,
Environmental and Mining Engineering, The University
of Adelaide, Australia.
792
Impact analysessimplifiedbythetwo-degrees-of-freedommodels
Y.Yang, N. Lam& L. Zhang
E. Gad
School of Engineering and Industrial Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Vic, Australia
ABSTRACT: Impact actions cannot be pre-defined for it can be sensitive to the interaction between the
impactor andtarget. Thus, analysis of theimpact actionof asolidobject is muchmorechallengingthanthe
analysis of gravitational, wind or blast actions. Both theimpactor and target would need to bemeshed into
finite element models which are then executed by sophisticated analytical software such as LS-DYNA. This
typeof simulationistime-consumingandlabour intensivetooperate. Thispaper presentsthemuchsimplified
two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) lumped mass modelling approach for expediting the analysis which can be
implementedonagenericcomputational tool suchasEXCEL or MATLAB. The2DOF modellingapproachis
illustratedhereinusingimpactactionsonbeams, platesandshellsasexamplesfordemonstration.Thecredibility
of thepresentedcomputational methodologyisdemonstratedbyconsistent agreement betweenresultsobtained
fromdifferent tiersof computational methods.
1 INTRODUCTION
Inthedesignof manydifferenttypesof structuresand
structural components including vehicular barriers,
cranes, columnsinsupportof abuildinginatrafficked
area, floor and roof structures that arevulnerableto
impactbyfallenobjects, impactactionswouldneedto
beconsidered. Over thepast decades, therearecon-
siderableamount of studies onmodellingtheimpact
dynamicbehaviour of structuresandlocal indentation
aroundthecontact area(Abrate, 2001, Corbett et al.,
1996, Greszckzuk, 1982, J ohnson, 1985, Rossikhin
and Shitikova, 2007). Well known modelling tech-
niques for simplifying a structure with distributed
masses such as a beam, column, plate or shell into
anequivalentgeneralizedlumpedmasssingle-degree-
of-freedom (SDOF) system can be found in many
dynamic textbooks (e.g. CloughandPenzien, 1993).
This method has been used extensively as a first-
orderstructuredesignmethodforblastactions(Li and
Meng, 2002,Yanget al., 2012a). Themajor challenge
of usingthismethodologyinanalysingimpactactions
is that the forcing function cannot be readily pre-
defined. Hence, specializedfiniteelement packages,
suchasLS-DYNA areoftenemployedtosimulatecol-
lision between two objects and dynamic responseof
structuressubjecttoflyingobjectsimpact. Oneshould
notethatfiniteelementmodellingexercisecanbevery
time-consuming and labour intensive to undertake.
Simulation involving non-linear material behaviour
or failure mechanism requires significant calibra-
tion (Giglio et al., 2012). Furthermore, numerical
instabilities associatedwithfiniteelement model are
oftenencounteredif meshingor parameter valuesare
not specified properly (Morris andVignjevic, 1997,
Zukas and Scheffler, 2000). Alternatively, physical
experiments arecarriedout tostudy impact dynamic
responseof structures. However, physical experiments
cannot fulfil therequirement of parametric study for
impactactionsowingtothecostof conductingphysical
tests.
This article presents a two-degree-of-freedom
(2DOF) systemmodel which simulates lowvelocity
impact on structures by a flying object, yet retains
thesimplicity of impact actionmodellingwhichcan
beimplementedonagenericcomputational tool such
as EXCEL or MATLAB. Examples of using 2DOF
onestimatingdynamic responseof structuresinclud-
ing beams, plates and shells subject to low velocity
impact areillustratedherein. Results so obtainedare
comparedwiththosefromvalidatedLS-DYNA mod-
els in order to show the credibility of the presented
computational methodology.
2 2DOF SYSTEM MODEL
Ina2DOF systemmodel as illustratedinFig. 1, the
impactingprojectileandthetargetstructurearerepre-
sentedby lumpedmasses, m
1
andm
2
, respectively. A
linear elasticfrontal spring(i.e. K
1
) isusedtoconnect
theimpactingobjectwithtargetstructuretomodel the
deformationof theprojectileandindentationintothe
surfaceof thetarget object. A secondspring(i.e. K
2
)
793
Figure1. A 2DOF lumpedmassmodel.
at therear isusedtorepresent thestructural systemin
support of thetarget. Giventhat linear elastic behav-
ior is assumed of the connected springs, the impact
problemcould be solved by elastic modal analysis
andmodal superpositionprinciples.Thedisplacement
calulcation of the 2DOF systemmodel is given by
Eq. (1)
whereh
j
(t )I /
j
e
j
(t )
sin(
j
(t )) is the
impulseresponsefunction, and
isthemodal velocityduringthetimeof contact;
where
i,j
isthemodeshapevector, isthetimedelay,
[M] isthemassmatrix, and{r}={1, 0}
T
, x
1
(t) isthe
impact displacement and x
2
(t) is thetarget structure
displacement over time, respectively.
Thecontactforcetimehistorybetweentheimpactor
andtarget structureis, therefore, givenby
Because of the simplicity of modal analyses, the
modellingtechniquecouldsimply implementedona
generic computational tool suchas EXCEL or MAT-
LAB as illustrated in Lamet al. (2010, 2011). Like
manual calcualtionmethods, everycompuational step
istransparent totheuser.
2.1 2DOF system model parameters estimation
Thefrontal stiffnessK
1
canbedeterminedbyapproax-
imating thenon-linear force-indentation relationship
basedonHertzscontact lawasgivenbyEq. (3).
where
Figure2. Frontal springstiffnessestimation.
E
1
and
1
aretheYoungsmodulusandthePoisson
ratioof theimpactingobject; E
2
and
2
aretheYoungs
modulusandthePoissonratioof thetarget material.
andR
1
is radius of spherical impactingobject; R
2
is
radius of curvature of the target surface which is in
contact withtheobject.
Bydrawingastraight-linebasedonthecriterionof
equal absorbedenergyuptothemaximumindentation
limit (
max
) asillustratedinFig. 2, theareabelowthe
non-linearforce-indentationcurveismadeequal tothe
areabelowthestraight-line. Thus, thevalueof K
1
is
amplitudedependent.
Them
2
andK
2
areknownasgeneralizedproperties
of astructure. Theseparameter valuesareessentially
dependent onthedeflectedshapecausedby external
loads. The parameter values of m
2
and K
2
could be
foundinYanget al. (2012b, 2012c) forbeamandplate
structures.
3 FINITE ELEMENT MODELLINGBY
LS-DYNA
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) provides potential
alternative to physical experiments, owning to its
abilities of modeling irregular geometries, complex
boundary conditions andloadings, andmaterial non-
linearities (Zhang et al., 2001). The use of FEA in
thisstudyistosupportthecredibilityof thepresented
computational methodology.Oneshouldacknowledge
thatFEA mustbeevaluatedthroughmodel validation.
Thus, classical solutiontotheproblemsof impact on
beam, plateandshell wereanalyzedbyfiniteelement
packageLS-DYNA. Theimpact problemsdescription
couldbefoundinGoldsmith(2001), WuandChang
(1989), WangandYew(1990) andKoller andBusen-
hart (1986) for beam, squareplate, circular plateand
shell respectively.
In the FEA by LS-DYNA, Constant stress eight-
nodedsolidelementswereusedtorepresentthetarget
beam, whereas ten-nodedtetrahedronsolidelements
794
Figure3. Comparison of displacement timehistories cal-
culatedby LS-DYNA andfromGoldsmith(2001) for beam
structure.
Figure4a. Comparisonof displacement timehistoriescal-
culated by LS-DYNA and fromWu and Chang (1989) for
squareplatestructure.
wereusedtomodel theimpactor.A user-friendly, auto-
matic surface-to-surfacecontact algorithmwas used
to simulate the dynamic contact mechanismof the
impactor and the target beam. Other specifications
for LS-DYNA simulationsareavailableinYanget al.
(2012b, 2012c). Thecomparisons of thetarget struc-
turecentral displacement timehistoriescalculatedby
LS-DYNA and fromliterature for beam, plates and
shell areshown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 respectively. The
remarkableagreementbetweenthesimultedresultsby
LS-DYNA and those fromopen literature indicates
that LS-DYNA programis relatively reliablefor low
velocityelasticimpact problems.
4 COMPARATIVEANALYSISOF 2DOF
SYSTEM MODEL ANDLS-DYNA
4.1 Case studies of impact on beam structures
Giventhat this paper is concernedwithalowveloc-
ityimpactonelasticdeformingtarget, theperiodratio
Figure4b. Comparisonof displacement timehistoriescal-
culated by LS-DYNA and fromWang andYew (1990) for
circular platestructure.
Figure5. Comparison of displacement timehistories cal-
culatedbyLS-DYNA andfromKoller andBusenhart(1986)
for shell structure.
(T
m
/T
M
)asshowninEq. (4)whichwasintitiallyintro-
ducedinLamet al. (2010) iscalledupintherestof the
paper tocharacterizethenatureof theimpact action.
whereT
m
isthenatural periodof theimpactingobject
andcanbeestimatedusing
whereas T
M
is the effective natural period of the
rectangular plateandit canbeestimatedusing
795
Figure6. Thedeflectionprofilesof beamsubjectedtolow
velocityimpact; extract fromYanget al. (2012b).
A small valueof T
m
/T
M
whichindicatesavery rigid
impactorisconsideredashardimpact.Thelowerthe
valueof theT
m
/T
M
, thehigher thefrequencycontents
of theimpactinducedexcitation, resultinganomalous
deflection behavior because of higher mode attribu-
tions as shown in Fig. 6a. On the other hand, the
deflectionprofilesgeneratedbyasoft impact asso-
ciatedwithlargeT
m
/T
M
valuesweredominatedbythe
fundamental modeof response, andthedeflectionpro-
files arecomparableto quasi-static conditions (refer
Fig. 6b).
Sensitivity analyses including both hard and soft
impact scenarioswereundertakentostudytheeffects
of the stiffness of the frontal spring have upon the
resultingdisplacement demandbehaviour onthetar-
get. Theexamples shown in this study is basedon a
striker weighing22.25kgimpactingonasimplysup-
ported target beamwith generalized mass value of
89kgat aspeedof 9m/s. Thevalueof frontal spring
wasadjustedinordertoincreasetheT
m
/T
M
valuefrom
0.05 to 2.0 in numerous increments, whereas other
parameter values werekept thesamefor eachexam-
plelistedinFig. 7. ResultsobtainedfromLS-DYNA
werealso plottedinthesamefigurefor comparison.
Inthesituationof avery rigidimpactor that features
avery lowT
m
/T
M
value(e.g. T
m
/T
M
=0.05). 2DOF
systemmodel estimatedthemaximumdeflectionthat
was 16%higher thanthat fromFEA, whereas 2DOF
underestimatedthedisplacementdemandinwhichthe
impactor is relationship soft (i.e. T
m
/T
M
is large).
Thesediscrepancies between thetwo methods could
beexplainedby referenceto theinfluenceof higher-
modephenomenoninconditions of hardimpact and
geometrical non-linearity phenomenon in conditions
of soft impact.
To account for the geometrical non-linearity in
2DOF analyses, thevalueof frontal spring needs to
be adjusted. This is due to the limitation of Hertzs
contact law which is intended for modelling small
deformationsonly, whilstgeometrical non-linearityis
Figure7. Maximumdisplacementdemandcalculatedfrom
2DOF andLS-DYNA; extract fromYanget al. (2012b).
generallyassociatedwithlargedeformation. Anerror
indicator asgivenbyEq. (5) wasproposed
The radius of contact (a) is defined by Hertzs
contact law(J ohnson, 1985).
The valusefor thethreecaseswhichhavecorre-
spndingT
m
/T
M
valuesof 0.5, 1.5, 2are0.19, 0.98and
1.5respectively. Clearly, thesizeof theerror is very
sensitivetoboththevalueof T
m
/T
M
andtheradiusof
contact a. It was shownby theauthors that giventhe
valueislessthan0.4andhighmodeattributionsare
not significant, thediscrepanciesbetween2DOF sys-
temmodel estimations andLS-DYNA results areall
within5%forthebeamstructureswhichwereanalyzed
intheir studies(Yanget al. 2012b). Thetime-histories
of thetarget central displacement for T
m
/T
M
valueof
0.5correspondedtoa valueof 0.19areplottedinFig-
ure8(a).Theresultobtainedfrom2DOFsystemmodel
isconsideraly goodascomparedtothat generatedby
LS-DYNA. However, for the cases with values of
0.98and1.5(correspondedtoT
m
/T
M
=1.5and2), the
frontal springstiffnesswill needbeadjustedinorder
totakeintoaccountthegeometrical non-linearity.The
modifiedvalueof frontal spring(K
1
) couldbesimply
calculatedby multiplyingtheoringinal K
1
asderived
by Hertzs contact law by a factor N as given by
Eq. (6).
Figure8(b) shows thedisplacement time-histories
comparisonbewteen2DOF analyses basedonmodi-
fiedfrontal stiffness(i.e. K
1
) andLS-DYNA program.
Again, theresultsgeneratedbythesetwomethodolo-
giesareinboardagreement.
4.2 Case studies of impact on plate structures
The use of 2DOF systemmodel on approximating
the central displacement demand of plate structures
796
Figure8a. Displacement timehistories comparison based
on2DOF andLS-DYNA for beamexample(m
1
=22.25kg,
m
2
=89kg, K
2
=10.6kN/mm, V=9m/s, =0.19); extract
fromYanget al. (2012b).
Figure8b. Timehistoriesbasedontheuseof modifiedstiff-
ness value of K
1
and fromLS-DYNA for beamexample
(m
1
=22.25kg, m
2
=89kg, K
2
=10.6kN/mm, V=9m/s,
=0.98forT
m
/T
M
=1.5and =1.5forT
m
/T
M
=2);extract
fromYanget al. (2012b).
subject to low velocity impact was also investigated
by theauthors (Yanget al., 2012c). Results obtained
from2DOF were compared and evaluated by those
fromLS-DYNA in asimilar manner as described in
section4.1.
Consider asimplysupportedsquareplateweighing
39.3kg(i.e. thegeneralizedmass) that wasstruck by
aspherical ball of mass9.8kg. Theimpactingveloc-
ity was 4.5m/s which is equivalent to adrop height
of 1mtall. Dueto natureof theimpact is relatively
soft for the case studies of plate structures, the val-
ues of are 0.55 and 0.83 for T
m
/T
M
values equal
to 1.5 and 2 respectively. The frontal spring values
require modification in the 2DOF analyses because
of largedeformationencounteredinthesesoft impact
scenarios (i.e. T
m
/T
M
=1.5and2). Theplatecentral
displacementtime-historiescalculatedby2DOFagree
remarkablywell withthosegeneratedbyLS-DYNA.
4.3 Case studies of impact on shell structures
Next exampleswill belowvelocity impact onelastic
shallowdome(i.e. shell structures).Theshallowdome
Figure9. Timehistoriesbasedontheuseof modifiedstiff-
ness value of K
1
and fromLS-DYNA for plate example
(m
1
=9.8kg, m
2
=39.3kg, K
2
=26.6kN/mm, V=4.5m/s,
=0.55 for T
m
/T
M
=1.5 and =0.83 for T
m
/T
M
=2);
extract fromYanget al. (2012c).
Figure10. Angleof rise.
has abaseradius of 0.5mandthickness of 0.025m.
The angle of rise defined as the angle between the
tangent lineto thedomeandthebase(refer Fig. 10)
hasavalueof 5degrees. Thegeneralizedmassm
2
of
theshallowis about 20kg, whiletheimpactor has a
massof 11.8kg. Theimpactingvelocityis4.5m/s.
The first impact case with T
m
/T
M
value of 1.5
onlyresults valueof 0.32. Thus, time-historyof dis-
placement obtainedfrom2DOF systemmodel agree
consideraly well with that generated by LS-DYNA
programwithoutanymodificationonthecontactstiff-
nessK
1
asshowninFig. 11a. However, astheT
m
/T
M
valueisincreasedto2, theerror parameter hasbeen
increasedto0.49. Similartobeamandplatestructures,
avalueof that is greater than0.4indicates signifi-
cant geometrical non-lineariy encountered. Thus, the
frontal springvaluerequiresadjustment sothat more
realistic result can be obtained from2DOF system
model (refer Fig. 11b).
5 CONCLUSION
Inthisstudy, 2DOF systemmodel wasintroducedand
evaluatedby LS-DYNA programthrough aseries of
casestudiesof lowvelocityimpact ondifferent types
of structures includingbeams, plates andshells. The
period ratio T
m
/T
M
is used to distinguish thecondi-
tionsof hardandsoft impact. Withconditionsof hard
797
Figure11a. Displacement timehistoriescomparisonbased
on 2DOF and LS-DYNA for shallow dome (m
1
=11.8kg,
m
2
=20kg, K
2
=83.3kN/mm, V=4.5m/s, =0.32).
Figure 11b. Time histories based on the use of modi-
fied stiffness valueof K
1
and fromLS-DYNA for shallow
domeexample(m
1
=11.8kg,m
2
=20kg,K
2
=83.3kN/mm,
V=4.5m/s, =0.49).
impactwhenT
m
/T
M
isrelativelysmall,lowerdisplace-
ment demand is predicted by LS-DYNA because of
higher modesphenomenon.
Results obtained from2DOF systemmodel and
from LS-DYNA are in broad agreement provided
bothhigher modesphenomenonandgeometrical non-
linearityarenot significant.
Intheconditionsof soft impact inwhichtheerror
parameter exceeds 0.4, thevalueof thefrontal stiff-
ness (K
1
) as derived from Hertz contact law will
need to be modified in order to take into account
theeffectsof geometrical non-linearity. It wasshown
withcasestudiesthatdisplacementtime-historiesgen-
erated from2DOF systemmodel matched well with
LS-DYNA analysesfollowinganincreaseinthevalue
of K
1
by afactor of 1.5 for beamstructures, 1.3 for
platestructuresand1.3for shell structures. However,
theadjustment factors areonly suitedtocasestudies
consideredhereinandit isnot theintentiontogener-
alizethesefactorsfor all applicationssincethevalue
of K
1
tobeusedinpracticeshouldbedeterminedon
acase-by-casebasis, takingintoaccount thematerial
properties, conditionsof impact andamplitudeof the
indentation.
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ingof platesandshellsbyfree-flyingprojectiles: areview.
Int. J. Impact Engng, 18(2), 141230.
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WileyandSons.
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tional analysisfor impactactions. Proceeding of the 2011
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Lam, N. T. K., Tsang, H. H. &Gad, E. F. 2010. Simulationof
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483499
Li, Q. M. & Meng, H. 2002. Pressure-impulse diagram
for blast loads based on dimensional analysis and
single-degree-of freedommodel. Journal of Engineering
Mechanics, 128(1), 8792
Morris,A. J. &Vignjevic, R. 1997. Consistentfiniteelement
structural analysis anderror control. Computer Methods
in Applied Mechanics and Engineering. 140, 87108
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of thin bodies subjected to impact: waveapproach. The
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Mendis, P. 2012a. Estimation of dynamic response of
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using a simple unified approach. The IES Journal Part
A: Civil & Structural Engineering, 5(2), 117127.
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of simplified methods of estimating beamresponse to
impact. International Journal of Structural Stability and
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Yang, Y., Lam, N. T. K. & Zhang, L. 2012c. Estimation of
responseof platestructuresubject tolowvelocityimpact
by a solid object. International Journal of Structural
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Zhang, L., Yang, K. H. & King, A. I. 2001. Comparisonof
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798
Steel and aluminium structures
Testingof steel-CFRP adhesivejointsunder freeze-thawcycling
A. Agarwal
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW, Sydney, Australia
Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Composite Structures, Fishermans Bend, Victoria, Australia
S. Foster, E. Hamed& Z. Vrcelj
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Thelongtermdurabilityof FRP strengthenedsteel structuresunder freezethawcyclesisakey
parameter intheir designincoldenvironments; andunderstandingtheinfluenceof freeze-thawonthebehaviour
andfailuremodes of FRP strengthenedsteel structures is crucial for their safeuseandeffectivedesign. This
paper presentsanexperimental investigationintotheeffectsof freeze-thawexposureonthebondstrengthand
themodeof failureof steel-CFRP singlelapshear specimens. Thesinglelapshear specimens wereprepared
andexposedtovaryingnumber of freeze-thawcyclesandtheeffect of thisexposureontheperformanceof the
adhesivebondwasevaluated. Theresultsshowthat thebondstrengthdecreaseswithincreasingthenumber of
cyclesandalsothatthemodeof failurechangesdependingonthedegreeof exposure.Theresultsfurtherindicate
thattheinfluenceof peelingstressesareanimportantconsiderationininterpretingthebehaviour of single-shear
laptestsandthisrequiresfurther study.
1 INTRODUCTION
A numberof steel structuresinroadandrailwayinfras-
tructure, oil andgas pipelines etc, arecomingto the
endof theirdesignlifeandareinneedof retrofittingor
replacement; andmanyof thesearelocatedinregions
that regularlyexperiencefreeze-thawconditions. Due
to the high strength to weight ratio and the flexi-
bility, repairs using fibre reinforced plastics (FRPs)
haverecentlyreplacedmoreconventional methodsof
repairing and strengthening steel structures, such as
using steel sleeverepair (Hollaway et al,2002; Zhao
et al, 2007). Theuseof FRP for structural repairs or
strengtheninghasfoundwideapplicationsinconcrete
and FRP structures, but their use for repairing steel
structuresiscomparativelynew. Oneof themainfail-
uremodes that characterizeFRP strengthenedmem-
bersisthedebondingfailure,whichismainlygoverned
bytheweakadhesivelayerthatcanbesubjectedtoboth
shear andpeelingstresses(Porter 2002).
A significant amount of research has been con-
ducted on FRP-concrete and FRP-FRP bonded ele-
ments; thereis littleresearch, however, to character-
ize the bond behaviour in FRP-steel bonded joints.
Someresearch has been conducted on theimpact of
moisture content (McGeorge, 2005) and of elevated
temperature(Nguyenetal., 2011)onthebondstrength
of FRP-steel but theimpact of freeze-thawcyclehas
not yet beeninvestigated.
This paper presents an experimental investigation
intotheeffectsof freeze-thawcyclingexposureonthe
bondstrengthandmodeof failureof thesteel-CFRP
singlelap shear specimens using two different types
of adhesiveswithdifferent stiffness.
Unidirectional carbonfibrereinforcedplastic(CFRP),
epoxyadhesive, andsteel plateswereusedtoprepare
the single lap shear specimen. The CFRP laminate
is SikaCarbodur with anominal elastic modulus of
165GPa, andanominal tensilestrengthof 2800MPa
(basedonthemanufacturersspecifications).
Two types of two-part adhesives wereused in the
testprogram, Sikadur 30andSikadur 330. Thetensile
propertiesfor theadhesivewereobtainedfromtesting
of couponspecimenswiththetensilestrengthforeach
being22.1MPafor theSikadur 30and22.4MPafor
the Sikadur 330. Similarly, the elastic modulus was
measuredas7800MPafor Sikadur 30and3800MPa
for Sikadur 330.
Theelastic modulusof steel was207GPa, andthe
yield and the ultimate strength were 350MPa and
430MPa respectively as per manufacturers specifi-
cations.
2.2 Test specimens
A total number of 48 single-lap shear steel-CFRP
specimens wereprepared, 24for eachadhesivetype.
801
Figure1. LapShear Specimens.
Table1. Experimental Planandadhesivethickness.
Typeof No. of freeze Specimen Averageadhesive
Adhesive thawcycles No. thicknessmm
Sikadur 330 0(Control) 1to6 0.45
20 7to12 0.41
30 13to18 0.46
40 19to24 0.43
Sikadur 30 0(Control) 25to30 1.08
20 31to36 1.02
30 37to42 1.08
40 43to48 1.01
All specimenshadthegeometrical propertiesasshown
inFigure1.
The difference between the specimens is their
exposure to different number of freeze-thaw cycles
(Table1).TheCFRPlaminateis25mmwide, 160mm
longand1.4mmthick. Thesteel plateis25mmwide,
160mmlong and 3mmthick. Theoverlap length is
25mm. Thethicknessof theadhesivelayer for differ-
ent specimens is also showninTable1. To minimise
bendingnear thebondedregion, gripsof 50mmlong
and 25mm wide were adhered at the ends of the
steel andtheCFRP toaligntheloadlineclosetothe
mid-point of theadhesivebond(Smith, 2005).
2.3 Surface preparation
Thesurfacesof thesteel plateswerepreparedtoclean-
ingstandardSt2accordingtoISO8501-01(1988).The
surface was hand ground with P60 sandpaper until
the shiny surface of the steel was seen and all mill
scaleremoved.Thesurfacewasthencleanedwithace-
tonetoremoveall grease, oil, andrust. Thesurfaceof
theCFRPs was also lightly ground using P80 sand-
paper to improve their bonding quality. The surface
preparation procedure was applied consistently, and
rigorously, tominimisepotential variationsinthedata
obtainedthroughtheCFRP-adhesive-steel bond.
2.4 Preparation of Test Specimens
The steel-to-CFRP lap shear specimens were pre-
pared by cutting the CFRP into 160mm25mm
strips. Steel plateswereorderedpre-cut tosize. After
preparingthesurface, asdescribedinSection2.3, the
adhesive was mixed according to the product data
specifications and applied over the gripping area at
theendof bothsteel andCFRP.
Two 0.45mmthreads wereplacedonthegripping
areatoensurethat thespecifieduniformbondthick-
nesswasattained. Thegripswerethenplacedontheir
respectivesubstrate. Oncethegrips wereplacedinto
position, adhesivewasappliedover thebonded(over-
lap) area onto the steel. The bonded region of the
CFRPwasthenplacedoverthesteel withproperalign-
mentandweightwasplacedover thegripsattachedto
theCFRP. This ensuredauniformbondthickness in
the overlap region. Any squeezed out adhesive was
carefullyremovedfromthesides.
A shorttimeafterpreparingthespecimensandafter
initial set of theresins, thespecimenswereplacedin
acontrolledenvironment roomfor 14daysfor curing
at 25
C and50%relativehumidity.
2.5 Freeze-thaw cycling and mechanical loading
program
Aftercuring,thespecimenswereexposedto20,30and
40freeze-thawcycles as per Table1. Thespecimens
were first put in an immersion bath (100% relative
humiditychamber) at 38
C for 8hours(thawing) and

thenput inthefreezer at 18
C for 16hours (freez-

ing), for acycletimeof 24hours. Beforeplacingthe
specimens in the freezer, a clean cloth was used to
remove any water on the surface of the specimens.
Aftercompletionof freeze-thawcycles, thespecimens
weretestedintensiontofailureat adisplacement rate
of 1.27mm/min, as per ASTM D1002, in a 10kN
capacityInstrontensiontestingmachine(Figure2).
The control specimens were tested immediately
after the curing stage. For specimen number 4, five
straingaugesof 0.3mmgaugelengthwereplacedon
topof theCFRP, asshowninFigure3, tomeasurethe
strainoverthebondedregionof thespecimen.Thecen-
treof thefirst gaugewaslocated5mmfromthefront
edgeof thespecimen. Theextensionover thebonded
region was measured using an extensometer centred
over thelaplength, asshowninFigure1.
3.1 Bond strength
Thebond strength of thespecimens was determined
bydividingthefailureloadbythebondedareaof the
adhesive. Comparativeresultsfor bondshear strength
of control andfreeze-thawspecimenswithSikadur330
andSikadur 30adhesiveareshowninFigures4and5,
respectively.
For the Sikadur 330 specimens, the mean bond
strengthof thecontrol specimenswas12.2MPa. The
bondstrengthwasreducedby 22.1%after 20freeze-
thaw(F-T)cycles,by26.2%after30F-Tcycles,andby
27.5%after40F-Tcycles,asshowninFigure4.Forthe
Sikadur 30specimens, themeanbondstrengthof the
802
Figure2. Experimental test set-up.
Figure3. Straingaugesontopof bondedCFRP.
control specimens was 12.6MPa. Thebond strength
wasreducedby 11.6%after 20F-T cycles, by 11.9%
after 30F-T cycles, andby17.5%after 40F-T cycles
as shown in Figure 5. In both cases, it is seen that
thegreatest reduction in bondstrength occurs in the
first 20cycles. Theseobservationshighlight thecriti-
cal influenceof thefreeze-thawcyclesonthestrength
of FRP-steel lapjoints, whichshouldbeconsideredin
their design.
3.2 Failure mode of the specimens
Thestandardpracticefor classifyingadhesivefailures
in FRP bonded joints is that of ASTM D5573-9499
(2005).Adhesivefailureisdefinedasthefailureof the
adhesivebondwhentheseparationisat theadhesive-
adherendinterface; cohesivefailureisthefailurewhen
theseparationiswithintheadhesivelayer.
Figure4. BondStrengthvs No. of F-T cycles for Sikadur
330.
Figure5. BondStrengthvs No. of F-T cycles for Sikadur
30.
Four types of failuremodes wereobserved in the
tests:
a) Failurewithintheadhesivebond(cohesivefailure),
whichwaspredominantforcontrol specimenswith
Sikadur 330adhesive(Figure6a);
b) Completedebondingfromthesteel (adhesivefail-
ure), which was predominant for the freeze-thaw
specimenswithSikadur 330adhesive(Figure6b);
c) CompletedelaminationwithintheCFRPlaminate,
which was observed in control specimens with
Sikadur30adhesive. Inthesespecimens, somecar-
bonfiberseparatedfromtheresinmatrix(i.e. athin
layer of carbon fibers was attached to the intact
adhesivelayer after failure, Figure6c). This indi-
catesthatincaseof control specimenswithSikadur
30adhesive, theadhesive, FRP-adhesiveinterface,
and adhesive-steel interface were stronger than
theinterfaces betweenfibers andtheresinmatrix
withintheCFRP laminate; and
d) Partial delamination within theCFRP along with
failure within the adhesive, which was observed
in freeze-thaw specimens with Sikadur 30 adhe-
sive. In this case, delamination within the CFRP
803
Figure6. Different failuremodes, a) CohesiveFailure, b)
Adhesive Failure, c) Dalamination within CFRP, d) Mixed
modeFailure(left sidesteel, right sideFRP).
Figure7. Experimental strainvaluesatdifferentloadlevels.
wasexpectedbecausetestingof thecontrol speci-
mensrevealedthatfiber-matrixbondistheweakest
link. Failurewithin theadhesivemight bedueto
reduction in the adhesive strength as a result of
freeze-thawcycling.
All thefailuremodesareshowninFigure6.
3.3 Strain gauge readings
Themeasuredstraindata, takenatthreeloadlevels, for
thegauges placedonthetopof theCFRP areshown
inFigure7for thecontrol specimenwithSikadur 330
adhesive. It is seenthat thestrains increasefromthe
unloadededgetowards theloadededgeto adistance
of 15mmfromthe unloaded edge. From15mmto
20mmfromtheunloadededge, thestrainsdecreased
significantly.
Figure 8. Deformed shape of the bonded region from
ANSYS(displacement magnificationfactor 2).
Theboundaryconditionsdictatethatattheunloaded
edgeof theCFRP(x =0), thestrainequalszero.Atthe
end of the bonded region (x =25mm), if the strain
in the CFRP was to be uniformthrough its thick-
ness, thenthisstrain, for aloadP =7.18kN, wouldbe
P/(AE)=1240. Thestrainmeasuredatx =20mm,
however, was less than one-half of this valuedueto
thecombinedaxial forceandbendingmoment at the
CFRP. Thisbendingisduetotheeccentricitybetween
the centroidal axis of the CFRP and the axis of the
appliedload, andisaprerequisiteconditionfor single
shear laptests, irrespectiveof therelativestiffnesses
of theparentelements.Awayfromthedisturbedstress
fieldthat occursinthevicinity of x =25mm, strains
arelinear acrossthesectionwiththegaugedsidetop
surfaceof theCFRP beingthemorecompressive.
A linear elastic finiteelement model developedin
ANSYS is usedto explainthemeasuredstrains. The
steel-CFRP model was preparedusingtheproperties
of thematerialsusedinthetests. Theelasticmodulus
of thesteel was 207GPa, theelastic modulus of the
CFRPwas165GPaandof theadhesivewas3800MPa.
Planestresstriangularelementswereusedtomeshthe
model. The size of the elements was 0.375mmfor
thesteel, 0.175mmfor theCFRP, and0.063mmfor
theadhesive.Figure8showsthedeformedshapeof the
bondedregion(magnifiedbyafactor of 2) andFigure
9compares thenumerical results for theCFRP axial
topsurfacestrainswiththemeasuredtest values.
It canbeseenfromFigure9that thestrainprofile
obtained fromtheFE analysis is in good agreement
withthat obtainedfromthetest. InFigure10, strains
takenthroughtheCFRP sectionfromtheanalysisare
plottedat x =5, 15, 25and35mmfromtheunloaded
end. Theinfluenceof bendingstresses is clearly evi-
dent. At x =35mm, theaveragestrainonthesection
is1240, asexpected.
As the applied load is eccentric to the centroidal
axis of theCFRP (and also to that of thesteel), the
CFRP-adhesiveinterfaceisnotjustsubjectedtoshear
stresses but also to normal, or peeling, stresses. The
results for thenormal stresses at theCFRP-adhesive
interfaceobtained fromtheFE model areplotted in
Figure11; it is observedthat thenormal stresses are
significant, particularly inthevicinity of theends of
thebondedplates. It canbeconcludedthat thefailure
inthesinglelapshearspecimenisnotonlyduetoshear
stressbutalsoinfluencedbyhighpeelingstressesthat
occurclosetothebondededges. Itshouldbenotedthat
as the analysis undertaken is linear-elastic, the high
tensile peeling stress observed near x =25mmwill
804
Figure 9. Comparison of experimental strain values and
numerical strainvaluesfromANSYS.
Figure10. Normal strainprofiles for theCFRP sectionat
5, 15, 20, 25and35mmfromtheunloadedface. Height (h)
ismeasurefromadhesive-CFRPinterfacealongtheheightof
CFRP.
reducewhenthenon-linearityof theadhesivematerial
isconsidered.Theinfluenceof normal stressesnearthe
plateendsexplainthelower axial strainmeasurement
at x =20mm, asobservedinthetests.
These observations give raise to some important
questionswhenundertakinglap-sheartestingtodeter-
mineadhesiveperformance. For example: 1) canthe
interfaceshear distributionbereliably obtainedfrom
lapsheartestsand;2)if so,whatisthebesttypeof spec-
imentodetermineit?Thesequestionsarethesubject
of on-goingresearch.
4 CONCLUSIONS
This paper has presented an experimental study into
theeffectsof freeze-thawcyclingonthebondstrength
Figure11. Predictedpeelingstressfromlinear FE model.
and failure mode of steel-CFRP single lap shear
specimens. Thefollowingconclusionsaredrawn:
1) The bond shear strength of specimens with both
Sikadur 30andSikdaur 330adhesivearesensitive
tofreeze-thawcycling.
2) Thebondstrengthdecreaseswithincreasingnum-
ber of freeze-thawcycles.
3) For the Sikadur 330 adhesive, with exposure to
freeze-thawcycling, thefailuremodechangesfrom
cohesivefailuretopredominantlyadhesivefailure.
4) Incaseof theSikadur 30specimens, withfreeze-
thaw cycling, the failure mode changed from
complete delamination of carbon fibres to par-
tial delamination of carbon fibers together with
cohesivefailure.
5) Longitudinal surfacestrainsfortheCFRPobtained
fromFE modellingareingoodagreementwiththe
experimentallyobtaineddata.
6) There is a decrease in longitudinal surface strain
nearthebondededge, whichindicatesthatin-plane
bendingneeds to beconsideredintheanalysis of
theresults.
7) Furtheranalysisof theinfluenceof peelingstresses
on the data obtained from lap shear specimens
(bothforsingle-shearanddouble-shear) isrequired
to further understand thebehaviour and to estab-
lishthepureshear characteristicsat thesteel-FRP
bondedinterface.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work was undertaken within the Cooperative
ResearchCentrefor AdvancedCompositeStructures
(CRC-ACS) research program, established and sup-
portedundertheAustralianGovernmentsCooperative
ResearchCentresProgram.
805
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ASTM D1002-10, 2010. StandardTest MethodforApparent
Shear Strength of Single-Lap-J oint Adhesively Bonded
Metal Specimens by Tension Loading (Metal-to-Metal),
AmericanSocietyforTestingandMaterials.
ASTM D5573-99, 2005. Standard Practice for Classifying
FailureModes inFiber-Reinforced-Plastic (FRP) J oints,
AmericanSocietyforTestingandMaterials.
Hollaway LC, Cadei J. 2002. Progress in the technique
of upgradingmetallic structures withadvancedpolymer
composites. Prog Struct Eng Mater; 4(2): 13148.
ISO 8501-01:1988. Preparation of steel substrates before
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ment of surfacecleanliness.
McGeorge, D., 2005. OntheLongTermPropertiesof Steel-
CompositeInterfacesforMarineApplications. Composite
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Nguyen, T.C., Bai, Y., Zhao. X.L., Al-Mahaidi, R., 2011.
Mechanical characterization of steel/CFRP doublestrap
jointsat elevatedtemperatures. Composite Structures 93,
16041612.
Porter P.C. 2002. Composites? An effective Repair alter-
native. Corrosion 2002, Denver, Colorado, 711 April.
NACE International.
Smith, G., 2005. BondCharacteristicsandQualificationsof
Adhesivesfor MarineApplicationsandSteel PipeRepair.
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Zhao XL, Zhang L. 2007. State of the art review on
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18081823.
806
A newkineticmodel for steel specificheat duringphasetransformation
H. Fang, M.B. Wong&Y. Bai
Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Victoria, Australia
ABSTRACT: Steel specific heat capacity plays animportant roleindeterminingsteel temperaturedevelop-
ment for structurefiredesignandmetallurgy evaluation. However, specific heat varies withtemperaturewith
significant non-linearityinthephasetransformationstage. InEurocode, complexequationsgeneratedfromthe
curvefittingof experimentresultsareprovided.Theexperimental resultsusedbyEurocodewereobtainedunder
certainheatingrateconditions. Other forms of specific heat models arealso availablebut look very different
fromthatgivenintheEurocodeespeciallyover thephasetransformationrange. Thekineticsof solidstatephase
transformationhavebeenstudiedby Ozawa, Kissinger andCoats-Redfernwhosesolutions to thekinetic for-
mulationsweregeneratedgenerallybyapproximationmethodsusingexperimental dataunder different heating
rates. Inthispaper, anewmodel for solvingthekineticformulationswithexact solutionisproposed. Thenew
model canbeusedtoobtainparametersfor thermal kineticreactionsusingexperimental resultsfromonlyone
heating rate. Based on thesolution of this kinetic model, steel specific heat variation fromlowto very high
temperatureswasanalysed. Emphasiswasplacedonthesignificantchangeinspecificheatvaluesduringphase
transformation. Specific heat dataof 4130steel wereadoptedandanalysedby usingboththeCoats-Redfern
methodandthenewmodel, andkinetic parameters werecompared. Theanalysis showedthat thenewmodel
provides moreaccurateestimationof thermal kinetic process for steel. Inaddition, it was foundthat thepeak
valueof steel specific heat capacity duringphasetransformationincreasedwithdecreasingheatingrate. It is
concludedthat thespecificheat model basedontheEurocodeisnot unique.
1 INTRODUCTION
Steel is one of the most widely used construction
materials for loading-bearingapplications becauseit
exhibits themost desirablecombinations of mechan-
ical properties, process ability and cost. However,
the strength of steel subject to fire drops signifi-
cantly compared with that at roomtemperature. The
estimation of steel strength for steel member design
at elevated temperatures requires the estimation of
steel temperature variation in fire which, in turn,
requires steel specific heat capacity estimation. The
steel specific heat varies non-linearly with temper-
ature especially during phase transformation stage.
Complex equations generated fromthecurvefitting
of experimental resultsareprovidedindifferentdesign
codessuchasEurocode, Barthelemy, 1976andASCE
manual shown in Figure1. Theexperimental results
usedinthosedesigncodes wereobtainedunder cer-
tain heating rate conditions. However, the specific
heat estimatedby models fromdifferent designstan-
dardsvariesfromeachother especiallyover thephase
transformationrange.
Inthisstudy, anewapproachisadoptedtoevaluate
thesteel specific heat through kinetics. Thekinetics
of solidstatetransformationwerestudiedandusedto
analysethesteel specific heat variationduringsolid-
to-solid phase transformation based on the specific
heatexperimental dataof 4130steel inLi,1997.Coats-
Redfernapproximationmethodwasusedtocalculate
the kinetic parameters which were compared with a
new method developed in this study. Based on this
study using kinetic theory, heating rateeffect on the
steel specific heat variation in phase transformation
stagewasexamined.Theanalysisshowedthatthenew
model provides moreaccurateestimation of thermal
kineticprocessfor steel. Inaddition, it wasfoundthat
thepeak valueof steel specific heat capacity during
phasetransformationincreasedwithdecreasingheat-
ingrate. It is concludedthat thespecific heat model
basedontheEurocodeisnot unique.
2 KINETICANALYSISOF STEEL SPECIFIC
HEAT DURINGPHASETRANSFORMATION
2.1 Formulation of basic equations
Considering the phase transformation as a one-step
process fromthe pearlite or martensite to austenite
state, the following equation is obtained based on
Arrheniuslaw:
807
Figure 1. Temperature dependent specific heat develop-
ment.
where is theconversiondegreeof thephasetrans-
formation, A is thepre-exponential factor, E
A
is the
activation energy, R is the universal gas constant
(8.314J /mol*K), n is thereaction order (that can be
taken as 1 in thecaseof statechangein Bai, 2008),
T is thetemperatureand t is thetime. At aconstant
heatingrate, thefollowingequationisobtained:
where is0at thebeginningof phasetransformation
and1at thecompletionof phasetransformation.
Considering that steel specific heat during phase
transformation is dependent on the degree of trans-
formation, theapparent steel specific heat C
p
during
phase transformation can be estimated by equations
(Bai, 2007) below:
whereC
pw
isthecomponentassociatedwithtempera-
tureincreaseof steel, C
pa
isthecomponent relatedto
latent heat andh
f
isthelatent heat. Thevalueof C
pw
varieslinearlyfromT
o
toT
e
. SoC
pw
canbecalculated
by interpolation between C
p
at =0and =1over
the temperature range of phase transformation. The
schematic view of steel specific heat kinetic model
duringphasetransformationisshowninFigure2.
2.2 Estimation of kinetic parameters and specific
heat for steel phase transformation
2.2.1 Kinetic parameters estimation
The degree of phase transformation, , at different
heatingratescanbetakenasthefractionof thelatent
Figure 2. Specific heat during phase transformation (T
o
andT
e
are the starting and finishing temperature of phase
transformation).
heatconsumedattemperatureTduringphasetransfor-
mationprocess.The valueswerecalculatedbasedon
theexperimental resultsof 4130steel specificheat in
Li, 1997attheheatingrateof 20
C/min. Basedonthe
calculated,thekineticparametersof solidstatephase
transformation can bedetermined by Coats-Redfern
method in Coats, 1964 and Coats, 1965 for solving
kinetic theory fromexperimental data under single
heating rate, as demonstrated in the following. The
integrationof equation(1) leadsto
AsintroducedintheCoats-Redfernmethod(Coats,
1965), Eq. (5) canbesolvedusingTaylorsserieswith
nassumedtobe1:
Since ln(ART
2
/E
A
) (12RT/E
A
) is nearly con-
stant, thequantity ln(ln(1)/T
2
) is linear with
1/T andthecorrespondingplot shouldgiveastraight
linewithaslopeof E
A
/R.Asaresult, E
A
isobtained
tobe401.7kJ /mol. SubstitutingE
A
intoequation(6),
theaveragevalueof A over different valuescanbe
foundtobe4.0610
19
.Thevaluesof atdifferenttem-
peratures based on the estimated kinetic parameters
werecomputedandcomparedwiththeresults calcu-
lated from4130 steel specific heat data. Theresults
of fromboth experiments and theory (Eq. 2) are
presentedinFigure3.
2.2.2 Specific heat estimation
Oncethedegreeof transformation, , iscomputed, the
4130steel specific heat duringphasetransformation
canbecalculatedbasedonEqs. (3) and(4).Theresul-
tantspecificheatbasedonthekineticmodel aswell as
themeasuredvaluesareshowninFigure4. Thesteel
specific heat variationfromthekinetic model shows
reasonableagreement withexperimental results.
808
Figure3. Degreeof transformation() for 4130steel.
Figure4. Comparisonof specificheatobtainedfromkinetic
model andtest results.
2.2.3 Heating rate effects on specific heat during
phase transformation
BasedonEqs. (3), (4) and(6), it canbeseenthat spe-
cific heat capacity varies with heating rate. This is
themainreasonwhy designcodes stipulatedifferent
formulationfor steel specificheat valueswithsignif-
icant differenceover thephasetransformationrange.
Inthecurrent investigation, theeffect of heatingrate
onthespecificheatvariationduringphasetransforma-
tion was studied. Theheatingrates of 15
C/min and
2
C/minwereused. Theresults of steel specific heat

atdifferentheatingrates, includingthemeasuredsteel
specificheat withheatingrateof 20
C/min, aregiven
in Figure 5. It can be seen fromFigure 5 that steel
specificheat duringphasetransformationvarieswith
heating rateand thepeak specific heat valueduring
phasetransformationincreaseswiththedecrement of
heatingrate. Thispeakvaluealsooccursearlier asthe
heat ratedecreases. Therefore, thosecomplexmodels
in design standards without consideration of heating
Figure 5. Steel specific heat at heating rate of 2
C/min,
15
C/minand20
C/min.
Figure 6. Steel specific heat from 100
C to 1326
C at
heatingrateof 2
C/min, 15
C/minand20
C/min.
rateeffect arenot uniqueexpressionsof steel specific
heat.
For comparison, the specific heat from100
C to
1326
CwascalculatedbasedonEqs. (3) and(4). The

value is zero before the starting of phase trans-
formation while is 1 after the finishing of phase
transformation. Theresult shows inFigure6that the
steel specificheatvarieswithheatingrateonlyduring
phasetransformationstage.
809
Figure 7. Degree of transformation () for 4130 steel
obtainedfromnewmodel.
3 NEWMODEL FOR KINETIC PARAMETERS
ESTIMATION
TheCoats-Redfernmethodusedintheprevious sec-
tionisbasedonapproximationsolutiononlyandmay
not give accurate specific heat results which can be
reflectedbytheresultsof andspecificheat estima-
tionintheprevioussection.Therefore, aprecisemodel
for analysing kinetics of thermal reactions is nec-
essary to generate more accurate kinetic parameters
estimationsfor kineticstudy.
Bytakingthelogarithmof eachsideof Eq. (2), the
followingrelationshipcanbefound:
RearrangingEq. (7) gives
Sotheplot of theleft sideof Eq. (8) against 1/T
gives a linear line with the slope being E
A
/R. The
reaction order n can be estimated by trial and error
methodsoastoachievealinear relationshipbetween
ln
d/dT
(1)
n
and1/T. Thisprocesscanbeperformed
byusingsoftwaresuchasMatlaborExcel.Afternand
E
A
arefound, thevalueof A canbeobtained.
Basedontheexperimental datainLi, 1997, the
values fromthis new model are presented in Figure
7. Then, E
A
andA values are1.375, 443.9(KJ /mol)
and7.7810
21
respectively.Thespecificheatfor4130
steel wascalculatedbasedonthenewkinetic models
proposedaboveat heatingrateof 20
C/min. andthe
results areprovided in Figure8. FromFigure8, the
simulationof steel specificheatobtainedfromthenew
Figure8. Specificheatcapacitycomparisonamongmodels.
kinetic model is improvedover theoneestimatedby
usingCoats-Redfernmethodanddatafromonly one
heatingrateisrequired.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Thekineticsof solidtosolidphasetransformationare
studiedandusedtoanalysethesteel specificheatvari-
ationduringphasetransformation. Fromtheanalysis,
it is shown that the steel specific heat development
duringphasetransformationisnot uniquebut depen-
dentontheheatingrate.Thepeakof steel specificheat
reachingduringtransformationincreaseswithdecre-
ment of heating rate. Simplified models to be used
inreplacementof thosecomplexspecificheatmodels
in design codes were also investigated and justified
in a separate research work. Besides, a new kinetic
model isproposedtoprovideamoreaccurateestima-
tionof thermal kineticsforsteel specificheatanalysis.
Althoughthetemperaturerangestudiedhereisusually
beyondthatforstructural applications, theimplication
of thisnewmodel isthat it canbeappliedtosteel and
other metallic research. This usually involves chemi-
cal andphysical changesof solidssuchasthevariation
of emissivitywithtemperaturewhichoccurswithina
rangeexperiencedinpractical fireengineeringdesign.
REFERENCES
M. Li & J.A. Brooks, 1997. Thermo-physical propertymea-
surements in low alloy high strength carbon steels. Scr
Mater, Vol. 36, No. 12: 13531359
Y. Bai, T. Keller & T. Vallee, 2008. Modelling of stiffness
of FRP compositesunder elevatedandhightemperature.
CompSci &Tech, 68: 30993106
810
Y. Bai, T. Vallee & T. Keller, 2007. Modeling of thermo-
physical properties for FRP composites under elevated
andhightemperature. CompSci &Tech, 67: 30983109
A. W. Coats& J. P. Redfern, 1964. Kinetic parametersfrom
thermo-gravimetricdata. Nature, 201:6869
A. W. Coats& J. P. Redfern, 1965. Kinetic parametersfrom
thermo-gravimetricdata11. PolymLett, Vol 3: 917920
EN 1993-I-2, 2005. Eurocode3: Designof steel structures-
Part 1-2: General rules-structural fire design CEN,
Brussels.
T.T. Lie, 1992. Structure fire protection, ASCE manuals
and reports on engineering practice No. 78, ASCE:
Reston, VA.
B. Barthelemy(1976). Heatingcalculationof structural steel
members. J ournal of structural division- ASCE 102(8):
15491558.
811
Finiteelement modelingof abeam-columnconnection
inindustrial storagerackingstructures
A. Firouzianhaji, A. Saleh& B. Samali
ABSTRACT: Industrial storagerackingstructuresaretypically constructedusingcold-formedsteel sections
andcontainmoment resistingframesinwhichthecolumnshaveslotspunchedinat regular intervalstoenable
thebeamstobeclippedintopositionat any desiredhigh. Henceunlikeinconventional steel constructionthe
beamtocolumnconnectionsaretypicallynot boltedor weldedbut relyprimarilyonhooksandbearingcontact
betweencomponents toachievetheconnection. As aconsequence, suchconnections aresemi-rigidandwhen
loadedtofailuretheyexhibitnon-linearstiffnesscharacteristicsthatareattributedtobothgeometricandmaterial
non-linearity. Duetotheslendernessandflexibilityof industrial racks, it isimportant thereforetoconsider the
effect of connectionflexibilitywhenpreparingstructural modelsof suchrackingsystems.
A researchproject iscurrentlyunderwayat Universityof Technology, Sydneytoinvestigatethebehaviour of
suchconnectionsanditseffectonthedynamicresponseof industrial storagerackingsystems. Animportantpart
of thisresearch, whichisthefocusof thispaper, isdevisingsuitablefiniteelement modelsof theconnections
andverifyingtheir accuracyagainst experimental moment-rotationcurves. Byconsideringthereal conditions
that govern theconnection response, theFE models includedifferent features such as 3D geometric details,
non-linear material behavior, largedisplacementsandthephenomenaof contact non-linearity.
This paper presents finiteelement models of atypical beam-column connection usedin industrial storage
rackingstructuresandcomparestheir accuracyagainst experimental results. Thecomputational effort required
intheanalysisof differentmodelingoptionswill alsobecomparedandtheadequacyinincorporatingthemodel
inadynamic/Seismicfiniteelement analysiswill bediscussed.
1 INTRODUCTION
Racking systems are load bearing structures for the
storage and retrieval of goods in warehouses. The
goodstobestoredaregenerally onpalletsor inbox-
containers. Rackingisconstructedfromsteel compo-
nents including upright frames, beams and decking.
Special beamto column (upright) connections and
bracingsystemsareutilized, inordertoachieveathree
dimensional steel structure with aisles to enable
order pickers, industrial trucks or stacker cranes to
reachthestoragepositions(BSEN2009).
Industrial racksarenormallyframedstructuresfab-
ricatedfromcold-formedsectionsandrelativetotheir
self weight carry very high live loads compared to
other usual civil engineeringstructures. Dueto their
slendernesscontrollingswaydeformationisanimpor-
tant factor inthedesignof industrial racksandhence
special attention must be given to factors such as
upright slenderness, base plates connections and
beamtoupright connections. Duetotheir peculiar-
ities incomparisonwithconventional steel construc-
tion, special analysis anddesignrules areadoptedin
the racking industry (RMI 1997, BS EN 2009, AS
2012). Beamtoupright connectionsaretypically not
Figure1. A typical beamtoupright connection.
welded or bolted connections and can have a great
influenceontheperformanceof thesestructures. Few
hooks are the main parts that are expected to trans-
fer theloadsfrombeamstouprights. A typical beam
end connection is shown in Figure1. Theseconnec-
tions are categorized as semi-rigid connections and
813
hencethestiffnessandperformanceof rackingsystem
dependsupontheefficiencyof thebeamendconnec-
tors. Thebehavior of pallet rackstructuresunder load
is largely governedby sway sothat anunderstanding
of themoment-rotationcharacteristicsof thebeamto
upright connectionisimportant (Prabhaet al. 2009).
Comparedwithliteratureavailablefor theanalysis
and design of conventional steel construction, rela-
tively littlehas been published on different types of
beam end connectors used in the racking systems
and especially their performance under earthquake
actions. Bernuzzi & Castiglioni (2001) presented a
paper on experimental analysis aimed at investigat-
ingthebehavior of beamtouprightconnectionsunder
cyclicreversal loads. Theytriedtodevelopsimplified
rules for the design of steel storage pallet rack sys-
temsinseismiczones. Baldassino& Bernuzzi (2000)
presentedapaper whichconsistsof anumerical study
on the response of pallet racks commonly used in
Europe. The influence of beamto upright connec-
tionmodellingontheoverall frameresponsewasthen
investigatedby theauthors. Beamtoupright connec-
tion flexibility was also evaluated by Prabha et al.
(2009). They conducted experimental tests on com-
mercially available pallet rack connections and by
varyingthemost influencingparametersaparametric
studywasperformedfollowedbya3Dfiniteelement
analysisutilizingABAQUSsoftware.Anexperimental
andnumerical investigationwascarriedout ondeter-
minationof flexibility of beam-to-upright connectors
used in thin walled cold-formed steel pallet racking
systems, by Bajoria & Talikoti (2006). They aimed
to modify the conventional cantilever test method.
For this reason they used double cantilever method
and verified the results by conducting a full scale
frame test. A 3D non-linear finite element analysis
was then carried out usingANSYS software. A the-
oretical andexperimental investigationof pallet rack
structuresunder swaywascarriedout byAbdel-J aber
et al. (2005). A finiteelementAnalysisfollowedbya
full scaleexperimental studywascarriedouttoevalu-
ateglobal structural stabilityanddifferentcomponents
influenceonrackstructuresbehaviour byFreitasetal.
(2009). Sangle, Bajoria& Talicotti (2011) described
in a paper a three dimensional finite element mod-
ellingandelastic bucklinganalysis of single2D and
3D frame (with semi-rigid connection) of conven-
tional pallet racking system. Carlos Aguirre (2004)
presentedapaper inwhichthebehavior of rackstruc-
tures under static and dynamic loads is investigated.
The wide usage of rack structures in countries with
highearthquakerisk, likeNewZealand, andthelack
of adequate specifications and codes for their seis-
micdesignunderlinetheimportanceof muchneeded
research in this area. An experimental and numer-
ical research programis currently being conducted
at the University of Technology, Sydney to evaluate
thebehavior of suchnon-traditional structures under
monotonic as well as seismic actions. In this paper
Finite Element Analyses of a semi-rigid connection
areperformed and thesimulated responses obtained
fromdifferent FE modelsof thesameconnectionare
evaluatedandcomparedagainst experimentsresult.
2 EXPERIMENTAL MOMENT-ROTATION
CURVE OF CONNECTION
Toprovideabenchmarkfor thefiniteelementmodels
beingstudied, four beam-upright connections, of the
typeshown in Figure1, werestructurally tested and
their moment-rotation curves established. The beam
and upright sections depicted in Figure 8 were of
a standard 10550 box beam and a 90mm wide
upright, whichwereprovidedcourtesyof DexionAus-
tralia. The connection is created by the beambeing
weldedontoanL-shapedconnector platewithhooks
that wedge fit into the upright slots. The test setup
depicted in Figure2 was based of recommendations
of theBritish implementation of European Standard
BSEN15512(2009). Duringthetest, theuprightwas
fully fixed at both ends to the reaction frame while
thebeamwasloadedby avertical forceat adistance
of 0.4mfromthefaceof theupright. Theendof the
beamwas freeto movevertically but was restrained
toprevent twistingandsidewaymovement that would
otherwiseoccur duetothenon-symmetricconnection
geometry. Twoinclinometerswereusedtorecordand
establishtherotationbetweenthebeamandupright.
Theresultingmoment-rotationcurves canbeseenin
Figure3.
3 FINITE ELEMENT MODELS
Finite element analyses simulating the seismic
responseof structurescontaininggeometricandmate-
rial nonlinearitiesnecessitateaniterativesolutionand
canhencebetimeconsumingandrequiresubstantial
computerresources. Itisthereforeimportanttochoose
a finite element model which is both accurate and
computationally efficient. This paper presents finite
Figure2. Beamendconnector cantilever test setup.
814
element models; seeTable1, whichwerepreparedto
identify theeffects of different modelingparameters
on both thequality of results and thecorresponding
computational effortrequiredtoachievetheresults.A
typical FE model is showninFigure6. Theeffect of
elementtypes, model sizeandtheinclusionandsimu-
lationof contact non-linearity werecompared. Using
theABAQUS software (2011), all FE models were
threedimensional andaccountedforbothmaterial and
geometric non-linearity. The material law of beam,
uprightandconnectorplateweremodeledusingthetri-
linear stress-straindiagramof Figure4andthevalues
of Table2. Hexahedral solidelementswereusedinthe
FE modelsandmeshedwithuptofour solidelements
throughthemetal thicknesstobetter simulateflexural
behavior.
It isreportedinliteraturethat the8-nodebrickele-
ments, if adoptedinafineenoughmesh, providebetter
results for regions with high stress gradients than a
coarse20-nodedbrick elementsmesh(Khodaieet al.
2012).Theelementtypeusedinthemajorityof models
inthisstudy, wasthereforethe8-nodelinear brickele-
ment(C3D8R).Thetriangularshell element(S3R)was
alsousedintwoof themodels. As showninTable1,
differentmodel sizeswereconsideredinordertocom-
pareresultaccuracyandsolutiontime. Ascanbeseen
inFigures5, 6afinerFEmeshwasusedinareaswhere
ahighstressgradientwasexpectedsuchasaroundthe
hooks andtheweldlocationbetweenbeamandcon-
nector plate. In the FE model the upright was fully
Figure3. Experimental Moment-Rotationcurves.
Table1. Finiteelement models.
Degreesof Analysis Moment Error In Error In Contact
Element freedom timeCPU at 0.1rad Moment Initial type
Model type Elements Nodes per node (Sec.) (kNm) (%) Stiffness(%) adopted
Experiment 2.57
A C3D8R 5623 10581 3 538 3.08 16 38.6 Hard
B C3D8R 5536 10581 3 1015 2.88 10 8.8 Soft
C C3D8R 10539 19115 3 2190 2.54 2 27.8 Hard
D C3D8R 10536 19115 3 2314 2.46 4 5.1 Soft
H S3R 13767 9482 6 1499 2.91 11 23.8 Hard
I S3R 13767 9482 6 1525 2.77 7 15.7 Soft
fixedatbothendsinordertosimulatetheexperimental
setup. Special attentionwasgiventothemodellingof
thecontactareasthatrepresenttheinteractionbetween
the surfaces of hooks and column slots (Fig. 5). As
showninTable1, bothhardandsoftenedcontact was
usedtopreparedifferentFEmodels.Modelswithhard
contact prohibit material over-closurebut allowsepa-
rationof surfacesinthesurfacenormal direction. Soft
contact on the other hand enables a pressure over-
closure relationship on one or both surfaces to be
modelled. Suchsoft contact was usedto enableeffi-
cient simulation of the hooks creating a dent in the
upright slots as depictedinFigure9. Preliminary FE
models not presentedinthis paper indicatedthat the
bestresultswereobtainedfromFE modelswith3ele-
mentsthroughthethicknessof theconnectorplateand
4elementsthroughthethicknessof thehooks.
Figure4. Typical three-linear stressstraindiagram.
Table2. Material properties.
Component Beam Upright Connector
1
(%) 0.15 0.15 0.15
1
(MP) 350 350 350
2
(%) 3.15 3.15 3.15
2
(MP) 350 350 350
3
(%) 20 20 35
3
(MP) 500 480 440
815
Figure5. Connector platehooksandcontact areas.
Figure6. Typical finiteelement model.
Figure7. Model of deformedconnectionwithVon-Misses
stresscontours.
Thenon-linear solutionof theFE model inwhich
material, geometrical andcontact nonlinearitieswere
considered was obtained using a full Newton itera-
tive procedure. The load was applied and increased
incrementally andthemoment at thefaceof upright
Figure8. Crosssectionshapesof beamandupright.
Figure 9. Typical plastic deformation of connection after
test.
wascomputedusingaforcelever armof 400mm. At
eachconvergedstep, thecorrespondingrotationwas
establishedfromtherelativedisplacement of 2nodes
locatednear theconnector plateat thetopandbottom
of thebeam.
Theiterativesolutionwasterminatedinthefollow-
ingcases: (a) areasof excessiveyieldinginpartsof the
FEmodel wereobserved, typicallyneartheuppercon-
nectionhooksor; (b) thenumber of iterationsbecame
excessive; Eithercasestypicallyoccurredatloadsthat
coincidedwiththeexperimental failureloads.
4 COMPARISONOF EXPERIMENTAL
ANDFEA RESULTS
Moment-rotationcurvesobtainedfromeachof theFE
modelsarecomparedwiththeexperimental curvesin
Figures 1013. It canbeseenthat thenumerical and
experimental curvesaregenerally ingoodagreement
uptoapproximately80%of thefailuremoment.
A comparisonof initial stiffnessindicatesthatmod-
elsB andDdeliver thebest result withthedifference
beingrespectively8.8%and5.1%.
Inthisstudy, theweldgeometrybetweenthebeam
and connector plate was not modelled, which may
partlyexplainthedifferencesintheshapeof moment-
rotation curves in comparison with theexperimental
curvespresentedinFigure11. Localisedareasof stress
concentration that exceeded theultimatestress were
observed in the FE models at the interface between
816
Figure10. Test results against results of FE models A, B
withcoarsesolidelementmesh. Model A (Hard) &B(Soft).
Figure11. Test resultsagainst resultsof FE modelsC & D
withfinesolidelement mesh. Model C (Hard), D(Soft).
Figure12. Testresultsagainstresultsof FEmodelsH, I with
shell element mesh. Model H(Hard) & I (Soft).
beamandconnectorplate. Itishypothesisedthatredis-
tribution of these stresses and corresponding strains
wasassociatedwithachangeinrotational stiffnessin
comparisonwiththeexperiment.
By visual inspectionof theexperimental moment-
rotationcurves, therotationof 0.1radwaschosenas
abasis to comparethemoment values of FE models
near theultimateconnection moment (Table1). The
best resultswereobtainedfromthemodelswithsolid
elements. It can beseen that in models C and D the
differenceinultimatemomentwas2%and4%respec-
tively.Modelswithshell elementsdidnotperformwell
andshowedastiffeningof themoment-rotationcurve
after the experimental failure moment was reached.
Whilethesolutiontimeof modelsA andB werethe
lowest but errorswere16%and10%respectivelyand
hencetheaccuracywasnot satisfactory.
The deformed shape obtained fromFE model D
andthecorrespondingVon-Missesstresscontour plot
isshowninFigure7. Closeinspectionof theFEmodel
revealedthat yieldstresswasexceededat thecontact
between upper hooks and upright slots. This is con-
sistent withthedentingof upright slots andbending
of thehooks that wereobservedat theconclusionof
theexperiment (Figure9). Hooksarethereforeacrit-
ical component in transferring the load between the
beamandtheupright whereby hook failurecanlead
toconnectionfailure.
5 REMARKS
It isworthnotingthat thesolutiontimeof all models
inthisstudywasrelativelysmall andhenceit maybe
consideredunimportanttostudymodelswithdifferent
meshsizes. However indynamic(time-history) analy-
seswhenthesolutionmustberepeatedmanytimes,the
cumulativesolutiontimecanbecomesignificant.Such
dynamicanalysesarefor examplenecessarytosimu-
latetheresponseof structures under seismic actions.
Whenthestructurebeingconsideredcontainsseveral
connections,thesolutiontimebecomeslongerstill and
consequently the conflicting requirements of result
accuracy and small solution time must be balanced
whenchoosingtheFE model.
6 CONCLUSION
Theadequacy of six different FiniteElement models
of a typical beamend connection used in industrial
racking, whichwereanalysedusingtheAbaqus soft-
warewasinvestigatedbycomparingtheresultsagainst
experimental moment-rotationcurves.Thedifferences
betweenmodelsweremodel size(coarsevsfine), the
type of elements (solid vs shell) and the nature of
contact (hardvssoft). TheFE modelswhichincorpo-
ratedtheeffects of contact-, geometricandmaterial
non-linearity provided results that were generally in
goodagreement withtheexperiment especially upto
approximately 80% of ultimate moments when the
non-linear responsewasrelatively low. Closeinspec-
tion of the FE model reveled that yield stress was
exceeded at the contact between upper hooks and
upright slots. This was consistent with the denting
of upright slots and bending of the hooks that were
observedat theconclusionof theexperiment. Inthis
study, best results were obtained using the 8-noded
hexahedral elements compared with 3-noded shell
817
elements. Theuseof soft contact gavebetter results
comparedwithhardcontact. TheCPU solutiontime
of all modelswasrelativelylow.Thecoarsemeshwith
solidelements withapproximately half as many ele-
ments and nodes was solved in approximately half
the time and provided reasonable accuracy. Hence
thecoarser model would bemoreadvantageous in a
dynamicseismicanalysis.Thesignificanceof cumula-
tiveeffect of small errorsunder cyclicloading, which
hasnot beenstudiedinthispaper, will bethesubject
of futureinvestigation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge the contri-
bution by DexionAustraliain providing theracking
componentswhichwereusedtoconductthestructural
testspresentedinthispaper.
REFERENCES
ABAQUS 2011users manual, Hibbit Kalsson& Sorensen,
Inc.
Abdel-J aber, M. Beale, R.G. & Godley, M.H.R. 2005. A
theoretical and experimental investigation of pallet rack
structures under sway. Journal of Constructional Steel
Research 62: 6880
Aguirre, C. 2004. Seismicbehavior of rack structures. Jour-
nal of Constructional Research 61: 60762
AS 4084:2012Steel Storageracking, AustralianStandards,
2012.
Bajoria. K.M, &Talikoti R.S. 2006. Determinationof flexi-
bility of beam-to-columnconnectors usedinthinwalled
cold-formed steel pallet racking systems. Thin-Walled
structures 44: 372380
Baldassino, N. & Bernuzzi, C. 2000. Analysisandbehavior
of steel storage pallet racks. Thin-Walled structures 37:
277304
Bernuzzi,C.&Castiglioni.C.A.2001.Experimental analysis
onthecyclic behavior of beam-to-columnjoints insteel
storagepallet racks. Thin-Walled structures 39: 841859
BSEN15512:2009Steel staticstoragesystems Adjustable
pallet rackingsystems Principlesfor structural design
Freitas, A.M.S. Souza, F.T. & FreitasM.S.R. 2009. Analysis
and behavior of steel storagedrive-in rack. Thin-Walled
Khodaie, S. Mohamadi-Shooreh, M.R. & Mofid, M. 2012.
Parametric analyses on the initial stiffness of the SHS
columnbaseplateconnections usingFEM. Engineering
Prabha, P. Marimuthu, V. Saravanan, M. & J ayachandran,
A. S. 2009. Evaluation of connection flexibility in
cold formed steel racks. Journal of constructional steel
research 66: 863872
RMI. Specificationfor thedesign, testingandutilizationof
industrial steel storagerack. RackManufacturesInstitute.
2008
Sangle, K.K. Bajoria, K.M. & Talicotti, S.T. 2011.
Elastic stability analysis of cold-formed pallet rack
structures with semi-rigid connections. Journal of
Constructional Steel Research 71: 245262
818
Shear testsof lippedchannel beamswithstiffenedwebopenings
P. Keerthan& M. Mahendran
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
ABSTRACT: Cold-formedsteel lippedchannel beams(LCB) areusedextensivelyinresidential, industrial and
commercial buildingsasloadbearingstructural elements. Their shear strengthsareconsiderablyreducedwhen
webopeningsareincludedfor thepurposeof locatingbuildingservices. Past researchhasshownthat theshear
capacitiesof LCBswerereducedbyupto70%duetotheinclusionof thesewebopenings. Hencethereisaneed
toimprovetheshear capacitiesof LCBswithwebopenings. A cost effectivewayof eliminatingthedetrimental
effects of largewebopenings is to attachsuitablestiffeners aroundthewebopenings andrestoretheoriginal
shear strengthandstiffnessof theLCBs. Hencedetailedexperimental studieswereundertakentoinvestigatethe
shear behaviour andstrengthof LCBswithstiffenedwebopenings. Bothplateandstudstiffenerswithvarying
sizesandthicknesseswereattachedtothewebelementsof LCBsusingdifferentscrew-fasteningarrangements.
Simplysupportedtestspecimensof LCBswithaspectratiosof 1.0and1.5wereloadedatmid-spanuntil failure.
TestresultsshowedthattheplatestiffenersestablishedusingAISI recommendationsareinadequatetorestorethe
shear strengthsof LCBswithwebopenings. Hencenewstiffener arrangementshavebeenproposedfor LCBs
basedonexperimental results. Thispaper presentsthedetailsof thisexperimental studyontheshear strengthof
lippedchannel beamswithstiffenedwebopenings, andtheresults.
1 INTRODUCTION
Cold-formed steel sections are frequently used in
residential, industrial and commercial buildings as
roofing, floor and wall systems. The increasing use
of cold-formed steel sections has enhanced research
interest in the improving the design and efficiency
of cold-formed steel members. Among them, lipped
channel andZ-sectionsarecommonlyusedduetotheir
highstrength-to-weight ratio, economyof transporta-
tionandhandling, easeof fabrication, simpleerection
andinstallation. Figure1showstheuseof lippedchan-
nel beams (LCB) in floor systems with circular web
openings.
Currentlyindustryapplicationsinflooringsystems
includeopeningsinthewebof floorjoistsorbearersso
that buildingservices suchas electrical conduits and
plumbingfacilitiescanbelocatedwithinthem. With-
out webopeningsinbeams, buildingservicesneedto
belocatedunder thejoists leadingto increasedfloor
Figure1. LCBswithwebopenings.
heights. Threestandardopeningsizes of 60, 100and
125mmareused with thecurrently availableLCBs.
Shear force is carried by the web element of LCB.
Hencetheuseof webopeningsinLCBssignificantly
reduces their shear capacity dueto thereduced web
area. There are many variables that affect the shear
capacity of members containingwebopenings. They
includetheshape, positionandsizeof webopenings
and also the web slenderness. Hence Keerthan and
Mahendran(2012b,d)investigatedtheshearbehaviour
andstrengthof LCBswithcircularwebopeningsusing
experimental andnumerical studies.Newdesignequa-
tionsweredevelopedbythemfortheshearcapacityof
LCBswithwebopenings, whichincludedtheeffects
of enhanced buckling due to the rigid web-flange
juncture, andpost-bucklingstrengthinshear.
Sincethelossof shear capacityof LCBswasfound
to be as high as 70% (Keerthan and Mahendran,
2012b) whenthedepthof webopeningtoclear height
ratio (d
wh
/d
1
) is 0.7, there is a need to improve the
shear capacity of LCB withwebopenings. Thereare
several methods used to improve the shear capac-
ity of beams with web openings. Themost practical
method is to increase the web thickness. However,
thisisnot possiblewithcold-formedsteel sections. A
cost effectiveway to improvethedetrimental effects
of alargewebopeningis toattachsuitablestiffeners
around theweb openings. Current cold-formed steel
designstandards(AISI, 2007andSA, 2005) andother
steel framing standards (AISI, 2004) do not provide
adequateguidelines to facilitatethedesign and con-
structionof stiffeners for LCB floor joists withlarge
web openings. Keerthan and Mahendran (2012a,e)
819
investigatedtheshearbehaviourandstrengthof LiteS-
teel beams (OATM, 2008) with stiffened web open-
ings usingexperimental andnumerical studies while
Sivakumaran(2008) conductedanexperimental study
to develop astiffener systemfor cold-formed LCBs
with web openings. However, limited research has
beenundertakentoinvestigatetheshear behaviour of
LCBs withstiffenedwebopenings. Thereforeexper-
imental studies were conducted to develop the rec-
ommendedandeconomical stiffenerarrangementsfor
LCBswithwebopeningssubjectedtoshear.Thispaper
presentsthedetailsof aseriesof shear testsof LCBs
withstiffenedcircular webopenings, andtheresults.
New plate stiffener arrangements are proposed for
LCBs to restoretheoriginal shear capacity of LCBs
without webopenings.
2 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES
Anexperimental studywasconductedtoevaluatethe
shear strengthandbehaviour of LCBs withstiffened
web openings using aseries of primarily shear tests
of simply supported LCBs with stiffened web open-
ings subjected to a mid-span load (Figure 2). This
experimental study was aimedat developingtherec-
ommended web stiffening arrangements for LCBs
withcircular webopenings inshear. Key parameters
werechosen carefully in thedesign of test program.
In order to fully understand the shear performance
of LCB sections with stiffened web openings, sev-
eral important issueswereconsideredwhendeciding
theseparameterssuchastheratioof thedepthof web
openings to clear height of web (d
wh
/d
1
), types and
thicknesses of stiffeners, number of self-drillingTek
screwsandtheir arrangements.
Sivakumaran(2008) statedthat theLCB studand
platestiffenersestablishedasperAISI (2004) stiffen-
ingrequirementsarenot adequatetorestoretheshear
strengths of joist sections with web openings. The
bridgingchannel stiffener intheformof avirendeel
typereinforcement systemwasconsideredcapableof
restoringtheoriginal shear strengthof acold-formed
steel joist section. Since the 20141121.12
LCB section without web openings as used by him
failed by combined bending and shear at 12.43kN,
itstrueshear capacitywouldbehigher than12.43kN.
Thetrueshear capacityof 20141121.12LCB
was calculated as 18.07kN based on Keerthan and
Mahendran(2012c). Henceit appearsthat LCB stud,
plate and bridging channel stiffeners established as
per Sivakumaran (2008) and AISI (2004) stiffening
requirements are not adequate to restore the origi-
nal shear capacity of LCBs. Larger andthicker plate
and stud stiffeners may be needed for this purpose.
This experimental study therefore considered such
stiffeningarrangements.
2.1 Test specimens of LCBs
Inthis study two LCB sections, 250751.9LCB
and160651.9LCB, madeof twodifferent steel
Table1. Test specimendetails.
Yield Aspect
Test LCB stress ratio (d
wh
) d
1
d
wh
/d
1
no. sections f
y
(MPa) (a/d
1
) (mm) (mm) (mm)
1 25075151.9 515 1.5 0 250 0.00
2 25075151.9 515 1.5 60 250 0.24
3 25075151.9 515 1.5 100 250 0.40
4 25075151.9 515 1.5 125 250 0.50
5 25075151.9 515 1.5 60 250 0.24
6 25075151.9 515 1.5 100 250 0.40
7 25075151.9 515 1.5 100 250 0.40
8 25075151.9 515 1.5 100 250 0.40
9 25075151.9 515 1.5 125 250 0.50
10 25075151.9 515 1.5 125 250 0.50
11 25075151.9 271 1.0 0 250 0.00
12 25075151.9 271 1.0 100 250 0.40
13 25075151.9 271 1.0 125 250 0.50
14 25075151.9 271 1.0 100 250 0.40
15 25075151.9 271 1.0 125 250 0.50
16 16065151.9 515 1.0 0 160 0.00
17 16065151.9 515 1.0 100 160 0.63
grades (G250 and G450) were used. Three opening
sizesof 60, 100and125mmwerechosenbasedonthe
standardsizes as usedintheindustry. Plateandstud
stiffenersasrecommendedbyAISI (2004) wereused
withvaryingthicknesses andsizes andscrewfasten-
ing arrangements in ninetests. Eight tests werealso
conducted without stiffening theweb openings, giv-
ingatotal of 17tests. Detailsof thesetest specimens
are given in Table 1. In order to simulate a primar-
ily shear condition, relatively short test beams were
selectedbasedontwoaspectratios(shearspana/ clear
webheight d
1
) of 1.0and1.5.
All LCB specimensweretestedusingtheInstrontest-
ing machine. Two LCB sections were bolted back
to back usingthreeT-shapedstiffeners andwebside
plateslocatedattheendsupportsandtheloadingpoint
to eliminateany torsional loading of test beams and
possible web crippling of flanges and flange bear-
ingfailures. A 30mmgapwas includedbetweenthe
two LCB sections as shown in Figure2to allowthe
test beams to behaveindependently whileremaining
together toresist torsional effects. Figure2showsthe
experimental set-up used in theshear tests of LCBs
withstiffenedwebopenings.
The support systemwas designed to ensure that
thetest beamactedasasimply supportedbeamwith
pinned supports at each end. The measuring system
was set-upto recordtheappliedloadandassociated
test beamdeflections. Two laser displacement trans-
ducerswerelocatedonthetestbeamundertheloading
pointandwebpanel tomeasurethevertical andlateral
deflections, respectively(seeFigure2). At thestart of
testing, asmall loadwasappliedtoallowtheloading
andsupport systems tosettleevenly onthebearings.
820
Table2. Test results.
Test LCB Typeof Fastening Stiffener size Shear capacity Shear capacity
no. sections stiffener arrangement (mm) (kN) (%)
1 25075151.9 63.0 100.0
2 25075151.9 61.8 98.1
3 25075151.9 47.8 75.9
4 25075151.9 39.7 63.0
5 25075151.9 Plate Al (AISI) 1101101.9 65.6 104.1
6 25075151.9 Plate Al (AISI) 1501501.9 56.9 90.3
7 25075151.9 LCB A2(Optimum) 2502481.9 65.2 103.5
8 25075151.9 Plate A2(Optimum) 2002001.9 62.7 99.5
9 25075151.9 Plate A2(Optimum) 2252251.9 53.7 85.2
10 25075151.9 Platex2 A2(Optimum) 2252253.8 62.2 99.0
11 25075151.9 55.3 100.0
12 25075151.9 34.4 62.2
1? 25075151.9 28.1 50.8
14 25075151.9 Plate A2(Optimum) 2002001.9 50.6 91.5
15 25075151.9 Plate A2(Optimum) 2252251.9 44.2 80.0
16 16065151.9 73.8 100.0
17 16065151.9 Platex2 A2(Optimum) 1301303.8 45.3 61.4
Note: A1 Arrangement1, d
wh
=Depthof WebOpening, d
1
Clear Height of Web.
Figure2. Experimental set-up.
Thecross-headof thetestingmachinewas movedat
aconstant rateof 0.7mm/minuteuntil thetest beam
failedinshear.
2.3 Details of stiffening arrangements
This sectionpresents thedetails of thedifferent web
stiffening arrangements used in this experimental
study. Stiffeners were not used inTest Specimens 1
to 4 (aspect ratio=1.5). InTest Specimens 5 and 6,
thewebopenings werestiffenedwithplatestiffeners
based onAISIs (2004) minimumstiffening require-
ments. Thethickness of theplatestiffener was equal
tothethicknessof 250751.9LCB sectionwhile
the plate stiffener extended 25mm beyond all the
edgesof thewebopenings. Thisgavethedimensions
1101101.9mmand 1501501.9mmfor
theplatestiffenersof Test Specimens5and6, respec-
tively. Theplatestiffener was fastenedto thewebof
Figure3. Stiffener arrangement.
theLCBsectionwithNo.12Tekscrewsat25mmspac-
ingalongtheedgesof theplatestiffener withanedge
distance of 12.5mmas shown in Figure 3 (a). This
stiffener arrangement was defined as Arrangement
1 (AISI, 2004). InTest Specimen7, 2502481.9
LCB stud stiffeners were attached to LCB speci-
menwith100mmwebopenings. Thescrewfastening
arrangementinTestSpecimens7to10wasplacedwith
threescrewsoneachsideof theplatestiffener giving
atotal of 8screwsandimprovedwithfour additional
screws in thediagonal direction giving atotal of 12
screws(Arrangement 2) asshowninFigure3(b). The
additional screws along the diagonal direction were
locatedat 10mmfromtheedgeof thewebopenings.
Test Specimen 10 was used to investigatetheuseof
thicker3.8mm(two1.9mmplatestiffeners)andwider
(225mm) platestiffenerstorestoretheshear capacity
821
in thecaseof larger 125mmweb openings. Stiffen-
ers were not used in Test Specimens 11 to 13 and
16(Aspect ratio=1.0). InTest Specimens14, 15and
17, thewebopeningswerestiffenedwithplatestiffen-
ersbasedonArrangement 2(Recommendedstiffener
arrangement).
2.4 Test results
Thepurposeof conductingfull-scaleshear testsisto
experimentally establishtheshear capacities of LCB
sectionswithstiffenedwebopenings.Thesetestresults
areimportant as they provideapoint of comparison
with which to gauge the performance of the shear
designrulesaswell aspresentingsomedatawithwhich
toverify finiteelement modelsof LCB sectionswith
stiffened web openings. The shear force induced in
eachLCB sectionisequal totheappliedloaddivided
by4inthebacktobackLCBtestarrangement.Table2
showstheultimateshearcapacitiesof theLCBstested
inthisstudy.
Inordertoenhancetheshearcapacityof LCBswith
web openings, platestiffeners and LCB stud stiffen-
ers wereconsidered in this research (seeFigures 2).
Theplatestiffenersincreasedtheeffectivewebthick-
ness whilealso restrainingthefreeedges of theweb
openings. Hencetheuseof platestiffeners provided
anincreaseintheshear capacityof LCBsasshownin
Table2.All thetestspecimensfailedattheopenings.In
TestSpecimen6, platestiffener dimensionsandscrew
fastening arrangement were adopted based on AISI
(2004) (Arrangement 1). However, Test Specimen 6
only reached90%of theshear capacity of LCB sec-
tionwithoutwebopenings(56.9kNvs63kN). Hence
thistest showedthat theplatestiffenersestablishedas
perAISI (2004) recommendationsarenotadequateto
restoretheshear strengthsof LCB withwebopenings
whentheratioof depthof webopeningtoclear height
of web(d
wh
/d
1
) is0.40.
Inorder toinvestigatetheeffect of usingLCB stud
stiffeners on the shear capacity of LCBs with web
openings, Test7wasconducted. Table2showsthatby
usingLCBstudstiffenerswithimprovedArrangement
2it waspossibletoachieve100%of theshear capac-
ity of LCB without webopenings(65.2kN) inTest 7
with100mmwebopenings (d
wh
/d
1
=0.40). Theuse
of LCBstudstiffenersprovidedhighershearcapacities
thanplatestiffeners of thesamethickness. However,
theymaynotbeabletofullyrestoretheshear capacity
of LCBswithoutwebopeningswhenthedepthof web
opening to clear height ratio (d
wh
/d
1
) is greater than
0.40. Figures 4and5showthefailuremodes of test
specimens.
InTestSpecimens7to10, screwfasteningarrange-
ments wereadoptedbasedontheimprovedarrange-
ment(Arrangement2). InTest8, 2002001.9mm
plate stiffener (50mmon either side of the edge of
webopening)wereattachedtothe250751.9LCB
(aspect ratio=1.5, d
wh
=100mmand d
wh
/d
1
=0.4).
Table2showsthatthesinglerecommendedplatestiff-
ener wasabletorestorethefull shear capacityof LCB
Figure 4. Failure modes of test specimens (Aspect
ratio=1.5).
Figure 5. Failure mode of test specimens (Aspect
ratio=1.0).
section(62.7vs63kN)whenthedepthof webopening
toclear height ratio(d
wh
/d
1
) isequal to0.40.
Tests 9 and 10 were conducted to determine the
requiredwebthickness inthecaseof larger 125mm
web openings. They were conducted with 1.9mm
and 3.8 mm(two 1.9 mm) platestiffeners that were
225225mm wide and depth (50mm on either
side of the edge of web openings). Test Specimen
822
Figure 6. Applied load versus lateral deflection for
250751.9LCBsectionwith100mmwebopeningsand
2002001.9mmplatestiffeners(Test 8).
9 only reached 85% of the shear capacity of LCB
section without web openings (53.7kN vs 63kN).
However, Test Specimen 10 reached 99% of the
shear capacity of LCB sectionwithout webopenings
(62.2kN vs 63kN). Hence plate stiffeners screw-
fastenedusingArrangement2wereconsideredtohave
restored the full shear capacity in this case. Figure
6shows theappliedloadversus deflectioncurvefor
250751.9LCB with100mmwebopeningsand
2002001.9 mm plate stiffeners (Test 8). Fig-
ure6showsthepresenceof significant post-buckling
capacitybeyondelasticbuckling.
Test14and15investigatedtheeffectof lowergrade
steel (f
y
=271MPa) for single recommended plate
stiffenersfor250751.9LCBs.Thesesectionshad
anaspect ratioof 1.0andd
wh
/d
1
ratiosof 0.4and0.5
(d
wh
=100and125mm). Test Specimen 14reached
91.5%of theshear capacity of LCB section without
webopenings (50.6kN vs 55.3kN) whileTest Spec-
imen 15 reached 80%of theshear capacity of LCB
section without web openings (44.2kN vs 55.3kN).
WhencomparedwithTests8and9whichwereiden-
tical shear capacitiesrestoredinTests14and15were
lower. This reduction in restored shear capacity for
Tests14and15isaresult of theuseof reducedplate
stiffener sizesinthesetests. Theuseof aspect ratioof
1.0resultedinasmaller shear panel length(a), con-
sequentlyreducingthedistancebetweenthewebside
plates. Hencethewidthof platestiffenersusedinthese
testshadtobereduced.
Test 17wasconductedonthe160651.9LCB
with100mmwebopenings(d
wh
/d
1
=0.625).Thistest
investigatedtheeffectof adoublerecommendedplate
stiffener to restore the shear capacity of LCB. The
stiffener however hadbeenmodifiedtoasmaller size
(1301303.8mmplate) inordertofitbetweenthe
sideplatesof thetestingrig. Consequently, thedesign
rule of d
wh
+100mmcould not be followed, result-
ing in agreatly reduced area. This resulted in alow
capacityof 43kN beingachieved. Thiswas61.4%of
thefull shear capacityof 160651.9LCBwithout
webopenings(seeTable2).
Figure7showsthecomparisonof Tests6to8inthe
formof applied load versus lateral deflection curve.
It showsthat elasticbucklingloadof LCBswithstud
Figure7. Comparisonof loadvs. lateral displacement for
250751.9LCB Sectionwith100mmwebopeningsfor
threereinforcement arrangements(aspect ratio1.5).
stiffenerweresignificantlyhigherthanthatof theAISI
andrecommendedplatestiffeners. It canbeseenthat
anLCB studstiffener is themost effectivestiffening
arrangementforrestoringshearstrengthtoLCBswith
d
wh
/d
1
ratiosof 0.40or less.
Insummary, shear test resultsinTable2showthat
platestiffenerswithdimensionsequal towebopening
widthanddepthplus100mmthat arescrewfastened
usingArrangement2areneededtorestoretheoriginal
shear strength of 250751.9 LCBs. Their thick-
ness has to be a minimumof 1.9mm, 1.9mmand
3.8mmfor250751.9LCBswith60mm,100mm
and125mmwebopenings, respectively.
3 RECOMMENDEDPLATE STIFFENER
In this section recommended plate stiffener system
is developed for LCBs with web openings based on
test results. Although successful tests were only for
250751.9LCBs, it isconsideredthat test results
reportedinthispapercanbeusedtoproposeasuitable
stiffenersystemthatisapplicabletootherLCBs.Itwas
foundthatLCB studstiffener wasabletofullyrestore
the shear capacity of LCBs without web openings
when thedepth of web opening to clear height ratio
(d
wh
/d
1
)isequal orlessthan0.40.Theuseof platestiff-
eners allows thedesigners to useappropriatewidths
and thicknesses. Henceplatestiffeners areproposed
with thefollowing minimumdimensions. Thewidth
of therecommendedplatestiffener is d
wh
+100mm
whered
wh
isthedepthof webopeningwhileitsheight
islesser of clear webheight(d
1
) andd
wh
+100mm. It
isrecommendedthattheseplatestiffenersarefastened
to LCB webs using No.12Tek screws andArrange-
ment2.Thisrecommendedplatestiffenerarrangement
is an improvement of the recommendations of AISI
(2004) and Sivakumaran (2008). The plate stiffener
doesnothavetoextenduptothefull clear webheight.
Thisiswhytherequiredplatestiffener heightislesser
of (d
1
) and d
wh
+100. For example, in the case of
250751.9 LCB with 60mm web opening the
requiredplatestiffenersizeswill be160160mmand
not 160250mm.
823
It wasfoundthat therequiredplatestiffener thick-
nessdependsmainly ontheratioof thedepthof web
opening to the clear height of web ratio (d
wh
/d
1
).
Hencesuitablepredictiveequations for thethickness
of recommendedplatestiffeners(t
stiff
) wereproposed
based on d
wh
/d
1
(Eqns. (1) to (3)). Eqns. (1) to (3)
and associated d
wh
/d
1
ranges were developed based
onthetestresultsreportedhere. Sincethelevel of fix-
ity at theweb-flangejunctureof LCB isthesamefor
theavailableLCBs (23%fixity level) (Keerthanand
Mahendran, 2012c), Eqns. (1) to(3) areconsideredto
beapplicabletoall theLCB sections.
where, t
stiff
, w
stiff
, h
stiff
=Thickness, widthandheight
of platestiffeners
d
wh
=Depthof webopenings
d
1
=Clear height of LCB webelement.
Equations1to3providealowerboundtoplatestiff-
ener thickness(t
Stiff
) andthusensureasafedesignof
LCBswithstiffenedwebopenings.Inordertoimprove
theaccuracyof theproposedequationsfor LCBswith
stiffened web openings and confirmthe experimen-
tal findings, a detailed parametric study based on
non-linear finiteelementanalyseswill beundertaken.
Keerthan and Mahendran (2012c) proposed suitable
equations for the shear capacity of LCBs without
webopenings. Theseequationscanbeusedfor LCBs
withstiffenedwebopeningswhentheimproved, rec-
ommendedstiffener arrangement (Arrangement 2) is
used.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Thispaper haspresentedthedetailsof anexperimen-
tal study into theshear performanceand strength of
lipped channel beams with stiffened web openings.
Anexperimental study was conductedtodevelopthe
most suitablewebstiffeningarrangements for lipped
channel beamswithcircular webopeningsinshear.
Inorder toinvestigatetheeffectsof stiffener types
(plateandstudstiffeners) andsizes(thickness, width
andheight) andscrewfasteningarrangementsonthe
shear capacities of LCBs withwebopenings, 17pri-
marily shear testswereconductedusingathreepoint
loading arrangement. Experimental results showed
that theplatestiffeners basedonAISI (2004) recom-
mendations are not adequate to restore the original
shear strengthsof LCBswithwebopenings. Suitable
screw-fastenedstiffeningsystemsbasedonplatestiff-
enersweredevelopedtorestoretheshear capacity of
LCBswithwebopenings. It wasfoundthat thewidth
of therecommendedplatestiffener is d
wh
+100mm
whered
wh
isthewebopeningdepthwhileitsheightis
thelesser of clear webheight (d
1
) andd
wh
+100mm.
The required stiffener thickness was proposed as a
functionof thewebopeningdepthtoclear webheight
ratio (d
wh
/d
1
). Test results also providedtherequired
screw fastening arrangement for the recommended
platestiffeners (Arrangement 2). Detailednumerical
studiesarecurrentlyunderwaytovalidatethefindings
fromthis experimental study and to enhancefurther
the applications of the findings to other LCBs that
havenot beentested.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the Queensland
University of Technology for providing the neces-
sary facilities and support to conduct this research
project. They wouldalso liketo thank Mr LiamRea
andMrAndreDosSantosfortheirvaluableassistance
inperformingtheshear testsof stiffenedLCBs.
REFERENCES
AmericanIronandSteel Institute(AISI)2004. Supplementto
theStandardfor Cold-FormedSteel Framing Prescrip-
tive Method for One and Two Family Dwellings, 2001
Edition, AISI, Washington, DC, USA.
American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) 2007. North
American Specification for the Design of Cold-formed
Steel Structural Members, AISI, Washington, DC, USA.
Keerthan, P. and Mahendran, M. 2012a. Experimental
Studies of the Shear Behavior and Strength of Lite-
Steel Beams with Stiffened Web Openings, Research
Report, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane,
Australia.
Keerthan, P. andMahendran, M. 2012b. FiniteElementAnal-
yses of Lipped Chanel Beams with Web Openings in
Shear, Proc. of the 21st International Specialty Confer-
ence on Cold-formed Steel Structures, St. Louis, Missouri,
USA.
Keerthan, P. and Mahendran, M. 2012c. Shear Buckling
Characteristics of Cold-formed Steel Channel Beams,
International Journal of Steel Structures, Accepted.
Keerthan,P.andMahendran,M.2012d.ShearTestsof Lipped
Chanel Beams with Web Openings, 10th International
Conference onAdvances in Steel Concrete Composite and
Hybrid Structures, Singapore, pp. 171178.
Keerthan, P. andMahendran, M. 2012e. SuitableStiffening
Systems for LiteSteel Beams with Web Openings Sub-
jectedtoShear, Journal of Constructional Steel Research.
Accepted.
OneSteel AustralianTube Mills, (OATM) 2008. Design of
LiteSteel Beams, Brisbane, Australia.
Sivakumaran, K.S. 2008. Reinforcement Schemes for CFS
J oists HavingWeb Openings, Research Report, Depart-
mentof Civil Engineering, McMasterUniversity, Ontario,
Canada.
Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand (SA) 2005.
Australia/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS4600 Cold-
formedSteel Structures, Sydney, Australia.
824
Theuseof neural networksfor identificationof parameters
of semi-rigidconnections
Aleksander Kozowski & LeonardZiemia nski
Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rzeszow University of Technology, Poland
ABSTRACT: Current steel structures design codes, requires taking into account, during global analysis of
structure, actual propertiesof jointsandconnections. J ointmaincharacteristics, asM- curve, canbetakenfrom
experimental tests or analytical models. Code1993-1-8includes full designprocedures, basedoncomponent
method, allowing to asses design resistance and initial stiffness of the most often used steel joints, as end-
plateboltedconnections. Thismethod, despiteof many simplifyingassumptions, isstill burdensomeandtime
consuming. Inthepre-designphase, whendesigner isforcedtochangeinput datamany times, thereisaneed
to usedesign tools, to quick asses joint properties for global analysis of theframe. Oneof such approaches
is presented in thepaper, i.e. theapplication of Artificial Neural Network in determination of parameters of
semi-rigidconnections, suchas: ultimatemomentcapacity, momentcapacityinelasticrangeandinitial stiffness
of connection.
1 INTRODUCTION
Themodelingof thesteel beam-to-columnend-plate
connections(Fig. 1) requirestakingintoconsideration
many nonlinear parameters of the real construction
suchaslocal yielding,thepryingeffect,unilateral con-
tactetc.Thecompliancetotheseeffectsisachievedby
supplyingthemoment-rotationfunction(M-)of con-
nections(Brodka& Kozowski 1996). Thebest ways
to obtainthesejoint properties areexperimental test,
but they arevery expensive, timeconsumingandnot
applicatableineverydaydesign.
Basedonexperimentstheapproximationmodel of
eachjointcanbedetermined.TheEC3standard(1992)
suggests the M- approximation by simple bilinear
Figure 1. Material and geometric parameters of a
connection.
or tri-linear relations. Chen (1994) suggests athree-
parametermodel describedbytherelation(1). Inorder
to determinetherelation(1) parameters anadequate
approximation procedure has to applied. The most
commonlyusedoneistheleastsquaremethod(Brodka
& Kozowski 1996). Recently also artificial neural
networkshavebeenusedinthedeterminationof char-
acteristicsof flexibleconnections(mainlybilinearand
tri-linear) (Stavroulakis & Abdalla 1994, Abdalla &
Stavroulakis1995).
where: M in-planebendingmoment; rotational
deformation; S
j
initial stiffness; M
p
momentcapac-
ity in elastic range;
u
maximumrotational defor-
mation; s shape parameter; S
w
strain hardening
stiffness.
Thispaperpresentstheattempttodeterminetheele-
mentsof thethree-parameter model of thesemi-rigid
connection with thestress put on theanalysis of the
possibilityof determinationof connectionparameters
basedontheinputdatainformof thedesignvariables.
Four different typesof end-plateconnectionshave
beenconsidered:
extended end-plate connection with column
stiffeners ExCS,
extended end-plate connection without column
stiffeners Ex,
flushend-plateconnectionwithcolumnstiffeners
FlCS,
825
flush end-plate connection without column
stiffeners Fl.
Thegeometricandmaterial parametersof all semi-
rigid connections have been taken from Sericon,
SCDB andother databases.
2 ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS
Artificial Neural Networks(ANN) havefeaturesasso-
ciatedwiththeir biological origin, simulatebiological
neural systemsveryloosely.ANNscanbeusedforthe
mappingof inputtooutputdatawithoutknownapriori
arelationshipbetweenthosedataandcanbeapplied
inoptimumdesign, classificationandpredictionprob-
lems. ANNsadvantagesoffer, infact, complementary
possibilities to standard, von Neuman type comput-
ers. They aremassively parallel and can process not
onlycrisp, but alsonoisyandincompletedata. More-
over, canbeusedbothfor theapproximationandfor
classification purposes (Waszczyszyn & Ziemia nski
2001).Thankstotheirgeneralizationfeaturestheycan
be applied to the analysis of problems, which obey
certainruleslearnedbytheNNduringthetrainingpro-
cess. Suchfeatures enableus to applyANNs inboth
direct and inverse analysis. ANNs advantages offer,
infact, complementarypossibilitiestostandardcom-
putational methods, especially to theFiniteElement
Method(FEM).
Computersimulationsof artificial neural networks,
called for short neurocomputing, can be efficiently
used in the analysis of various problems of struc-
tural engineering. Thisconcernsespeciallyastandard
feed-forwardneural networkcalledinliteratureMulti-
Layer Perceptron or Back-Propagation Neural Net-
work(BPNN). BPNNisusedformappingof itsinputs
intooutputswithoutanapriori assumedformatof the
approximatedrelations. BPNNisafeed-forward, mul-
tilayer network of standardstructure, i.e. neuronsare
notconnectedinthelayerbuttheyjointhelayerneuron
withall theneuronsof previousandsubsequentlayers,
respectively. InFigure1athereisshownanexampleof
aBPNN, composedof aninput layer, twohiddenlay-
ersandanoutput layer. Theinput layer servesonlyto
introducesignals (values of input variables) and the
hidden and output layers are composed of neurons
(processing units) of the structure shown in Figure
1b. Network parameters are computed iteratively in
thetraining(learning) processof theso-calledsuper-
vised learning. This process is based on thetraining
set L of patterns, composedof knownpairsof inputs
andoutputs(targets), i.e. inputandoutputvectorsx
(p)
,
t
(p)
, respectively. After thetraining of thenetwork it
is testedonthetestingset T. Theoutput vectors y
(p)
,
computedby thenetwork, arecomparedwiththetar-
get vectorst
(p)
andthenascalar network error canbe
computed, forinstance: MSE themean-square-error.
Table1. Trainingandtestingpatterns.
Patterns
Boltedconnectiontype Training Testing
Extendedend-plateconnectionwith
columnstiffeners ExCS
29 3
Extendedend-plateconnection
without columnstiffeners Ex
35 4
Flushend-plateconnectionwith
columnstiffeners FlCS
19 3
Flushend-plateconnectionwithout
columnstiffeners Fl
31 3
Total 114 13
This ability of BPNNs opens thedoor for implicit
modellingof structural relations. Another possibility
isassociatedwithformulationof outputsasidentified
structural or material parameters, whatcorrespondsto
identificationof structural systems(inverseanalysis).
3 ASSUMPTIONSFORANNFORMULATION
The network input data are geometric and material
parameters of theconnection(hb, hc, bc, tfc, twc, A,
fy, tp, n, gt, pt, seeFigure1).Theoutputarethevalues
necessaryforthedescriptionof theconnectionmodel,
i.e. ultimatemoment capacity M
u
=M(
u
), moment
capacity in elastic range M
p
, and initial stiffness of
connectionS
j
.
Thetotal of 127patternsdescribingsingleconnec-
tionexperimentresultshavebeenknown.Thepatterns
have been randomly divided into the training and
testing groups. The numbers of training and testing
patternsforeachconnectiontypeareshowninTable1.
BasedonthepreviousauthorsexperiencestheBack
Propagation network, logistic activation function of
the sigmoidal type, the identity output function and
theResilientBackpropagationlearningalgorithmhave
been chosen for the application. Networks with one
hiddenlayer havebeenbuilt, inputsandoutputshave
beenscaledfrom0.1to0.9
4 INPUTSCONSOLIDATION
Each connection have been described by 11 design
variables. Paper (Ziemia nski etal. 1998) presentsnet-
workswithall thevariablesattheinput. Thenetworks
have11 ins, onehidden layer, and 3 or 5 outs. This
paperattemptstoestablishwhichof theinputvariables
are important for the connection parameters deter-
mination and which of them may be omitted. The
analyses indicatedthat then(number of rows of the
bolts)parametermaybeneglected.Anychangesof that
parameter within01limitshaveverylittleinfluence
on the network results. Experimental data analyses
indicatedthat thenparameter isnot definite; insome
826
Figure2. Results for all types of connection in the6-5-3
network.
casesitisthenumber of rowsof theboltsandinother
casesitisthenumberof boltsundertension. Infurther
calculationsthenparameter isleft out.
The next step is the reduction of the number of
parameters describingthebeamfromfiveto two. At
thebeginningthebeamhasbeendescribedbyfourlin-
ear dimensions(seeFig. 1) andthecrosssectionarea.
Bymeansof replacingthefourlineardimensionswith
onegeometric moment of thefirst rank (moment of
inertia) thenumber of inputs has beenreducedfrom
11to7.
In the next step two beamparameters moment
of inertiaand cross section area havebeen substi-
tuted with one parameter radius of inertia of the
beam. Duetotheabovethenumber of outs has been
decreased to 6 one parameter for the column, the
beam, thesteel, theend-plate, andtwofor boltsloca-
tion. The last step in the inputs consolidation is the
reductionof parametersof boltslocations. According
to performed calculation the parameter representing
thehorizontal boltsspacingintheconnectionmaybe
skipped. Finallythenumberof inputshasbeenlimited
to five: columnheight, radius of inertiaof thebeam
crosssection, steel yielding, end-platethickness, and
vertical boltsspacing.
5 NETWORKSWITHINFORMATIONON
CONNECTIONTYPE
The final step is an attempt to improve the network
precisionbyfeedingtheinputwithadditional informa-
tiononthetypeof thesemi-rigidconnection(ExCS,
Ex, FlCS, Fl). Firstcalculationshavenotimprovedthe
precisionbut thenumber of learningepochscouldbe
reduced from10000 to 1500. Two types of coding
of connectionshavebeentested. Singlevaluecoding
(eachvalueof 0.2, 0.4, 0.6and0.8representsadiffer-
ent connectiontype) provedtoproducebetter results.
Theother coding, usingtwodigits(respectively: 1and
1, 1and0, 0and1, 0and0), havesignificantlylimited
thenetwork ability to generalization. Fig. 2presents
theresultsfrom6-5-3network, wherethesixthinput
isinformationontheconnectiontype.
Table2showstheerrorsof all testednetworks. The
last one of the networks produces results of similar
qualityasother networksdespitethenumber of learn-
ing epochs reduced to 1500 versus 10000. The six
inputs of this network are: connectiontypeinforma-
tion, columnheight, radiusof inertiaof thebeamcross
section, steel yielding, end-platethicknessandvertical
bolts spacing. Theoutputs arethemodel parameters:
M
u
, M
p
andS
j
.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Thepaper haspresentedthepotential of applicationof
artificial neural networks in determination of model
parametersfor semi-rigidconnectionsbasedonmate-
rial and geometric data. Design variables carrying
827
Table2. Specificationof thesquaremeanerror (MSE) for
different networks.
Squaremeanerror 10
3
Network M
u
M
p
S
j
Total
10000learningepochs
11-10-3 learning 0.412 0.485 0.562 1.459
testing 2.920 3.575 1.153 7.647
7-14-3 learning 0.164 0.125 0.135 0.425
testing 2.539 1.585 2.083 6.207
7-5-3 learning 0.378 0.330 0.676 1.384
testing 0.325 0.588 0.283 1.196
7-3-3 learning 0.607 0.533 0.827 1.968
testing 1.312 1.694 0.347 3.353
6-5-3; I learning 0.598 0.528 0.681 1.807
w/op
t
testing 1.911 2.334 0.902 5.147
6-5-3; I learning 0.395 0.353 0.727 1.474
w/og
t
testing 0.514 0.625 0.352 1.492
6-5-3; i
2
learning 0.602 0.498 0.565 1.664
testing 0.954 1.205 0.577 2.736
5-5-3; i
2
learning 0.463 0.405 0.898 1.765
w/og
t
testing 0.292 0.334 1.193 1.819
1500learningepochs
6-5-3; i
2
learning 0.432 0.347 0.789 1.568
testing 0.466 0.415 0.595 1.476
Table3. Input typesummary.
11inputs 7inputs 6inputs 5inputs 6inputs
h
b
h
b
h
b
h
b
h
b
h
c
b
c
I
t
fc
i
2
i
2
i
2
t
wc
A A
f
y
f
y
f
y
f
y
f
y
t
p
t
p
t
p
t
p
t
p
n
g
t
g
t
g
t
p
t
p
t
p
t
p
t
p
t
connectiontype
most informationhavebeenselectedout of all eleven
available. Therest has beenomittedor consolidated.
Thisapproachreducedthenumber of inputsfrom11
to5(Tab. 3).
Networkswithsmallernumberof inputshavebetter
generalization ability which is proved by decreasing
testing error. Additional information on connection
typefedtothenetworkinput significantly(nearlyten
times) reducedthenumber of learningepochs.
REFERENCES
Abdalla,K.M.&Stavroulakis,G.E.1995.Abackpropagation
neural network model for semi-rigid steel connections,
Microcomputers in Civil Engineering, 10: 7787
Brodka, J. & Kozowski, A. 1996, Stiffness and carry-
ing capacity of semi-rigid connections, OW Rzeszow
Universityof Technology, Rzeszow-Bialystok(inpolish)
Chen, W.F. & Toma, S. 1994. Advanced analysis of steel
frames, CRC Press, Boca Raton-Ann Arbor-London-
Tokyo
Eurocode3, Designof steel structures, ENV 1993-1-1: 1992,
6.9, Beam-to-beamconnections, 189198
Stavroulakis, G.E. & Abdalla, K.M. 1994. A systematic
neural network classificator in mechanics. An applica-
tion in semi-rigid steel joints, International Journal for
Engineering and Design, 1: 279292
Waszczyszyn, Z. & Ziemia nski, L. 2001. Neural Networks
inMechanicsof StructuresandMaterialsNewResults
andProspects of Applications, Computers & Structures,
79: 22612276
Ziemia nski, L. Miller, B. Piatkowski, G. & Kozowski, A.
1998. The use of neural networks for identification of
parametersof semi-rigidconnections, InSemi-rigid con-
nections in steel structures; Proc. intern. symp., Rzeszow,
1998(inpolish).
828
Finiteelement modelingof existingcablenet structures
G.J. Lume
Hyder Consulting, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Cable net support structures present several difficulties in design and analysis due to their
complexities. Theanalysisof anexistingcablenetstructurefor thedesignof newstructural componentsreveals
evengreater challenges. TheShowgroundstadiumlocatedat Olympic Park, Sydney isa15year oldcablenet
supportedstadiumthathasrecentlybeenupgradedinordertoprovidetwonewsectionsof grandstandseating, the
southernhemispheresbiggest videoscoreboardandupdatedamenities. Duringthisupgrade, theendtie-down
cablesthat supportedtheexistingroof neededtoberemovedandrelocatedtopositionsonthenewstructure. It
wasrequiredtoanalyzetheexistingcablestructureusingadvancedfiniteelementmodelingtechniquesinorder
todeterminethecableforcesinvolvedinthemodificationandconstructionof theexpandedstadium.
This paper provides an insight into the development of the finite element model used for the analysis of
boththeexistingroof structureandthenewstadiumsectionsfor bothdesignandconstruction. It alsoexplores
the issues associated with the introduction of unknown load paths that occur in practice into finite element
modelsandtheneedfor accuracywhenmodelingthemfor anexistingstructurethat istobealteredfor further
construction.
Utilizing the developed finite element model to determine the cable forces of both the new and existing
structurethroughall stagesof construction, thetechniquesappliedinmodelingthestadiumwerevalidatedby
thestructuresresponsebeingwithin2%of theresultsextractedfromthefiniteelement package.
1 INTRODUCTION
Oneof themorecomplicatedchallengesfacingstruc-
tural engineers is to producecolumn freestructures,
whether itisasuspendedslab, roof or anyother struc-
tural element. Whenconsideringstructural roofs, one
method of achieving this design criterion is through
theuseof cablenetsupportstructures. Thispaper will
provideaninsight intothedesignof acablenet struc-
turewithspecial referencetosupportingstadiumroofs
andexplainhowfiniteelementanalysisisusedtoaccu-
ratelymodel astructural solution. It will alsoidentify
several key problems that must be considered when
using finiteelement modeling techniques to analyze
existing cable net structures where the model must
represent existingon-siteconditions.
As anexampleof acablenet supportedstructure,
the Showground Stadiumat Sydney Olympic Park
was modeled in the finite element software pack-
ageStrand7. Strand7 is asoftwarepackagethat was
used to analyze the existing stadium including the
constructionsequencefromitsoriginal on-sitecondi-
tionthroughtotheproposedfinal conditionfollowing
several structural modifications.
The Sydney Showground Stadium located at
Sydney Olympic park is a 15 year old stadiumthat
was to be redeveloped in 2011 to include two new
stadiumstandsat either endof theexistingstructure.
Theexistingroof consistsof sixmainsupportinglight
towerswithfivebaysof cablenet supportedroof that
extendinahorseshoeshapefor half of thestadium.
Theendtwomainsupportinglight towersareheldin
place by two tie-down cables that connect fromthe
topof thelighttower downintoatension-pilefounda-
tion. Theredevelopment of thestadiumsawtwonew
standslocateddirectlyover thesemaintie-downfoun-
dations forcing the cables of the existing roof to be
relocated and incorporated into the two new stands
(Refer Figure1).
2 ENGINEERINGPRINCIPLESOF CABLE
NET STRUCTURES
Whenconsideringany spanbetweentwosimplesup-
ports, using beamtheory it is common knowledge
that as a beam bends, the top flange will go into
compressionandthebottomflangewill moveintoten-
sion (Refer Figure2). As thespan between supports
increase so will the bending stresses, consequently
thesecondmoment of areawill alsohavetoincrease
to provideadequatebending capacity for this risein
stress. Thus a truss arrangement is ideal for longer
spansasthecompressionandtensionflangeshavethe
greatest distancebetweenthem, maximizingthelever
armbetweencompressionandtensionelementswhile
usingtheminimal amount of material.
829
Figure1. Existingshowgroundstadium(Left) andShowgroundredevelopment structure(Right).
Figure2. Beamtheory demonstrating asimply supported
beamwithcompressioninthetopflangeandtensioninthe
bottomflange[1].
Themainlimitationontheuseof cablesinanystruc-
tureisthat acablewill onlywork whenatensileload
isappliedtothemember. A cablecannot provideany
structural integrityorstiffnesswhenutilizedasacom-
pressiveelement. Cableelementsarecommonlyused
insuspendedstructures wherecables act as themain
supportingelement strungbetweentwosupportswith
vertical loadhungfromthecableplacingintotension.
As thecables arevery effectivein this arrangement,
thecablemembers canberelatively thinandconvey
theappearanceof averyslenderstructure.Whenusing
cablesincatenaryactioninstadiumroofs, itisadvan-
tageousthatthecableincorporateaturnbuckleintothe
systemtoallowfor pre-tensileloadstobeintroduced
andhenceincreasingtheoverall loadcarryingcapac-
ity of a member that might otherwise have been in
compression. Thepretensionthat isput intothecable
will increasethestiffnessof thecablesystemandthus
will alsodeliver improvedcontrol over thedeflections
of theroof whilsthavingtheabilitytomaintainhigher
loads.
Inthecaseof theShowgroundStadium, themain
roof issupportedbyacablenettrussstructural system
whichinturnissupportedby thesuspensionsystem.
However, the suspension systemis used to not only
providesupport totheroof trussbut alsotointroduce
atensileloadintothetrusscables.Thecablenetonthe
Showground Stadiumforms three main simply sup-
ported60metrelongtrusses spanningbetweeneach
lighttower withfour 23metrecantilever trussesspan-
ningintheperpendiculardirection. Whenconsidering
Figure 3. How the cable truss and catenary systemwork
together at theShowgroundStadium.
the three trusses that span between the light towers,
underdownwardloadingof theroof, thetensionflange
is the main roof level steel beams and the catenary
cables areused as thecompression flanges with cir-
cular hollow section tubes as the struts between the
twoflanges.Asatrussworksthesamewayasabeam,
applyingbeamtheoryitisre-iteratedthatthetopflange
of a simply supported beamor truss is in compres-
sion. Ascablesareunabletoprovidestiffnesswithout
atensileload, thestructureusesthepre-tensionfrom
thecatenaryactionof thecablestointroduceatensile
forceintothetopflangeof thetruss. Fromthispoint,
as longas thecompressivestress intheflangeof the
truss is smaller than thetensilestress caused by the
pre-stressfromthecatenaryaction, thecablewill not
buckleandthestructurewill besupported. Thisprin-
ciplecan bedescribed by using superposition of the
stressblocksof thetwosystemsasshowninFigure3.
3 DESIGNOF CABLE NET STRUCTURES
When designing a cable net structure, the system
maybesimplifiedintotwoorthogonal directionsand
designedseparatelybasedontheloadmovingintothe
cabletruss to determineboth design axial loads and
cablesizes. If bothdirections arecalculatedto carry
thetributaryareainthetwodirectionsindependently,
areasonableapproximationof thecablesizes canbe
determined(ReferFigure4). Forastructuresupported
830
Figure 4. Tributary design widths for a simplified
two-dimensional staticallydeterminant analysismodel.
Figure5. Two-dimensional model of themaintrussshowing
thetrussandsuspensioncatenarysystem.
on all four sides with each cabletruss being simply
supported, the structure can be designed separately
inthetwo directions but will yieldover conservative
member sizes. In the case of the Showground roof,
usingengineeringjudgmentindeterminingthestiffest
loadpath; thecablenetcanbebrokendownintothree
mainsimplysupportedtrussesandfoursecondarycan-
tilever trusses. Applyingstatics, anapproximationto
the design axial loads can be calculated. Whilst the
threemainsimply supportedtrusses canbedesigned
andmember sizes assignedquitesimply, theperpen-
dicular cantilever trusses can only be approximated
and requires a finite element package to solve for
detaileddesign.
Whenobtainingthedesignloadsforeitherthemain
trussor thesecondarytruss, simpletrussanalysiscan
beusedto approximatetheaxial designforce. If the
main truss is considered with the cable used as the
compressiveflange(Refer Figure5), thedesigncom-
pression load in the cable will give the minimum
pre-tension that needs to beinduced in thecatenary
systemof thestructurebytighteningtheturn-buckle.
Althoughthecablenet structurecanbesimplified
downtoatwo-dimensional problem, thismethodwill
resultinoverconservativedesignsandinaneconomic
environmentwhereengineersaretryingtolimitmate-
rials used in construction and create structures that
are as slender as possible, an improved method of
obtaining the design loads of a cable net structure
should be adopted. The use of finite element mod-
elingenablesengineerstocomprehensivelymodel the
structurewhiletakingintoconsiderationthecountless
redundant loadpaths relatedto acablenet structure.
Figure6. Three-dimensional FEA model usedfor dynamic
analysisanddesign.
Table 1. Comparative study between simplified statically
determinant analysis and thefiniteelement model analysis
andtheeffectsondesignof acabletrussstructure.
Methodof analysis
3DFinite
Structural Simplified element
element Calculatedvalue 2Danalysis analysis
Cable1 Tension 350kN 220kN
Designcablesize 20mm 18mm
The finite element analysis applies a dynamic stiff-
nessmatrixtoaccount for all of thevaryingmaterials
andgeometrical propertiesof thecableelements.This
methodinsolvingthestructureallows for non-linear
properties to beconsidered whilealso being ableto
solvefor thestatically indeterminatestructurebased
on stiffness (Refer Figure 6). The model can there-
forepredict thedesignstressesof theentirestructure
accurately, thereby producing themost efficient and
structurallysounddesign.
Table 1 shows the difference in axial loads and
design members of a main simply supported truss
[2] fromthe Showground Stadium(Refer Figure 5)
thatresultedfromboththesimplifiedtwodimensional
model andthethreedimensional finiteelementmodel.
If thedesigncablemembersaretakenfromTable1,
thesteel savedfromusingathree-dimensional analy-
sis comparedto thesimplifiedstatically determinant
analysis offers a saving of 50% in steel material
required.
Regardlessof what methodof analysisisused, the
structureinreality will beathree-dimensional cable
net structure with numerous redundant load paths.
To account for theredundancies inthecablenet and
831
theunpredictableload path that will betaken, when
designingthecables areductionfactor of 30to 50%
of the ultimate tensile axial load capacity must be
taken. Thisreductioninthecablesaxial tensilecapac-
ityallowsfor theloadpathtochangeandshift during
thelifeof thestructurewhilestill maintainingstruc-
tural adequacy.Takingareducedtensileaxial capacity
of thecablelowerstherisk associatedwithdesigning
for thewrongloadpath.
4 DESIGNANDFEA MODELINGOF
EXISTINGCABLE NET STRUCTURES
Whether thesimplifiedanalysisor thefiniteelement
analysis is usedto determinethedesignloads of the
structural system, thedesignof anewcablenet struc-
tureisrelativelystraightforward.Whenconsideringan
existingcablenet structurehowever, that needs tobe
analyzed for performanceor modification purposes,
theanalysisprocesstoobtainthedesignloadsbecomes
significantly more complicated as the current state
of thestructuremust first beaccurately determined.
The only method in determining this is through the
useof finiteelement modeling in order to takeinto
considerationall of theredundanciesof thestatically
indeterminatecablenet system.
Duringtheredevelopmentof theShowgroundroof,
the two main tie-down cables that run fromthe end
light towersdowntotension-pilefoundationsneeded
tobere-anchoredintothenewstandsoneachendof
the existing stadiumroof. To ensure that this could
be achieved without damaging the existing struc-
ture, a finite element model was created in Strand7
to simulate how the existing structure would per-
formduring theconstruction of thenewstands. The
simulation allowed for the prediction of stress and
deflection changes that would occur in each of the
structural membersof theexistingroof whentheend
tie-down cables were transferred over into the pro-
posed locations in the new stadium stands (Refer
Figure7).
Themainproblemwithmodelinganexistingstruc-
ture is simulating the on-site conditions precisely.
Haysler, (1998) the original designer of the Show-
ground Stadiumdocumented that the main end tie-
down cables were post-tensioned to an axial load
of 580kN per cable giving a deflection limit to the
stadiums roof edge of 200mmunder serviceability
conditions[3]. Howeverwhenconductinganindepen-
dent loadcheck on-site, it was foundthetensionhad
reduced by 50% over the 15 years of service. This
changeincabletensionsuggestedthat as acablenet
structureagesandundergoesrelaxation,theinitial load
paththat wasdesignedfor hadchangedandloadwas
being redistributed through other cables previously
consideredlesssignificant.
Tomodel anexistingcablenetstructure, construct-
ingthemodel itself isachievedusingtypical methods.
Theproblemarises whenthetensileloads ineachof
thecables in themodel need to represent accurately
Figure7. Existinglocationof thetwoendtie-downcables
andtheir proposedlocationinthenewstadium.
theon-siteconditions. Inmodelingacablenet struc-
ture, thisisthebiggestproblemfacingengineers. Due
tothecountless number of redundant loadpaths of a
cablenet structure, it isdifficult todeterminethetrue
loadpathsthatarebeingusedbythestructure.Henceto
giveconfidenceinthefiniteelementmodel,eachcable
on-site needs to be tested through non-destructive
meanstodeterminetheaxial loadtakenbythecables.
Havingobtainedthereal cabletensionsinthestruc-
turefortheshowground, thesevaluesaretobeentered
intothefiniteelementsoftwarepackage.A significant
problemwithfiniteelement packages is that they do
notallowforposttensionloadstobeassignedtostruc-
tural members and solved for, forcing the computer
toconvergeonacertainmember forces. However, all
finiteelementpackageslettheuserapplyapre-tension
valueonstructural members.Thisallowsfortheintro-
ductionof pre-tensileloads to bedistributedinto the
structure, thuseither increasingor decreasingtheload
incertaincables. Strand7allowstwomethodsof enter-
ingpre-tensionvaluesthroughtheuseof thecablefree
length andthepreload functions.
For any cableusedinafiniteelement analysisthe
cablefreelength shouldbeentered. Thecablefree
length isthelengthof thecableafter ithasbeenman-
ufacturedbutbeforeithasbeeninstalledon-sitewhere
the cable will undergo strain elongation. The main
problemincreatingafiniteelementmodel of anexist-
ing cablenet structureis that thecablefreelength
will unknown. Thecablefreelengthwill generallybe
within1to5%of thenodetonodelengthinthefinite
elementmodel beforeanydisplacementsoccur. How-
ever asseeninFigure8, avariationof 1%of thecable
freelengthcanresult inachangeof 12%of theinitial
stressinthecable.
To get around this problem, the cable-free length
isset tozero, meaningthenodetonodelengthisthe
actual length of thecablein themodel and thepre-
loadfunctionusedtogiveeachcableapre-tensileload
by introducing an initial cable strain. As the on-site
832
Figure8. Effectof cablefreelengthontheinitial axial force
of acable.
cabletensionsareknown, thecablespre-load canbe
alteredthoughaniterativeprocessuntil thecableten-
sion converges on theon-sitecondition. Conducting
thisiterativeprocessfor all of thecablesinthecable
net systemprovides simultaneous results in amodel
thataccuratelyrepresentsthemeasuredon-sitecondi-
tionsandcanbeusedfor either designor performance
checks.
5 VERIFICATIONOF THE FINITE ELEMENT
MODEL
Having established that the finite element model
demonstratedanaccuratesimulationof themeasured
on-siteat rest condition, theconstructionsequenceof
themodificationstotheexistingstructurewasentered
into thefiniteelement model. At each stageof con-
struction, itwasrequiredthatthemember stressesand
thestructural displacementsbechecked. Thestresses
inboththecablesandsteel sectionswerecheckedfor
adequatecapacitywhilealsoidentifyingmembersthat
hadastressvariationof morethen5%. Inadditionto
thechangeinstresses, thevariationindisplacementof
thelighttowersandtheroof edgewasalsohighlighted
if achangeof morethan50mmoccurred.
Strand7usedconstructionstaging tomodel each
stageof constructionof thenewstadiumstandsaswell
asthetensioningandde-tensioningprocessof theend
tie-downcables.Ateachstageof constructionall of the
beams anddisplacements werecheckedandverified
that theyconformedtothedesignlimitsset.
In order to establish if theon-siteconditions cor-
relatedwithfiniteelement model results, thetension
in the cables were measured using a hydraulic ram
arrangement (Refer Figure 9). The hydraulic rams
wereattached to themain structureat two locations
either sideof thecableandclampeddownonthemain
cable-structural connection. Theramsthenpulledthe
cable connection until the connecting pins in the
arrangement werevisuallyseentobefree. It wasthis
Figure9. Hydraulicrameither sideof thecablemeasuring
tensileloads.
tensile loading fromthe cables that was compared
against thefiniteelement model results.
Thesecondmethodof verificationof thefiniteele-
ment model that was used was through the results
of thecontinuous surveyingof thestructure. At each
stageof construction, thestadiumroof andlighttower
arrangement was surveyed using three-dimensional
GPSlocations.Thisallowedthecheckingof thestruc-
tural displacements against thefiniteelement model
at all timesduringthedifferent constructionstages.
Afterconstructionof thenewstadiumandthetrans-
ference of the end tie-down cables, cable tensions
weremeasuredas beingwithin1%of thecalculated
loadsfromthefiniteelement model andthedisplace-
ments all being within 5% of that derived fromthe
model. Theseresults strongly support that thefinite
element model assumptions and manipulations were
anaccuratepathwaytodeterminetheperformanceof
thestructure.
6 CONCLUSION
Thedesignof acablenet structurecanbevery sim-
ple in both its analysis and design if reduced down
toastatically determinateproblemandcalculatedby
hand. However if accuracy indesignis neededor an
analysisof anexistingcablenet structureisrequired,
considerablecaremust betakento ensurethat when
afiniteelement model is used, thecorrect inputs are
entered into themodel in order to replicateaccurate
cableloading. Throughtheuseof finiteelementmod-
elingof thecablenet structure, themost structurally
efficient design will beproduced. This is dueto the
accuratedesignloadsthatcanonlyresultfromthestat-
icallyindeterminateanalysis, whichinmostcaseswill
bemorereliablethanasimplifiedmethodof analysis.
This efficient solution results in smaller cablemem-
ber sizes, amoreslender structureandareductionin
material. It is thereforeconcludedthat for thedesign
andanalysisof acablenet structure, afiniteelement
833
packageshouldbeutilizedtoproducethemostoptimal
engineeringsolution.
A finiteelement softwarepackagesuchasStrand7
is well equipped to undertake a detailed analysis of
a cable net structure and has demonstrated that the
software package has the potential to replicate the
performance of an existing structure to within 5%,
thusgivingconfidencethat theanalysisof acablenet
structureinanFEA packagecanbeusedfor detailed
design.
Whendesigningcablenetstructures, cableultimate
tensile capacity must be reduced by 30 to 50% to
ensureallowanceis included for any changein load
pathoverthelifeof thestructureandtheunpredictabil-
ityinthestructural systemsconstruction. It hasbeen
provenattheSydneyShowgroundthatasthestructure
ages, theloadpathwill redistributeandchangeasthe
structurerelaxes. Thismust alwaysbetakenintocon-
siderationwhenconductingtheinitial designandany
designmodifications.
REFERENCES
[1] Gere,J.M.2002.Mechanicsof Materials,5thSI Edition.
NelsonThornesLtd. UnitedKingdom. Pg323325
[2] Hibbeler, R.C. 2006. Structural Analysis, 6thEditionin
SI units. PrenticeHall. Singapore. Pg179183
[3] Haysler, M.S. &Smith, E.T. 1998.TheShowRingRoof
ForTheNewSydneyShowgroundAtHomebush. Hyder
Consulting, 141 Walker Street, North Sydney, 2060,
Australia.
834
Theoretical researchoncold-formedchannel sectionsunder bending
S. Maduliat, P. Mendis&T.D. Ngo
Department of Infrastructural Engineering, The University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia
M.R. Bambach
IRMRC, Faculty of Science, University of New South Wales, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: Thefocusof thispaper isthedesigntreatment of cold-formedsectionsinNorthAmericanand
AustralianStandards; asusageof cold-formedsteel structuresareincreasingintheseregions. A comprehensive
literaturereviewthatrelatestotheexperimentsperformedinthisareaof research.Theliteratureprovidesvaluable
context to drawconclusions anddeterminetheneedfor this specific researchwhichareaddressedas follow:
Firstly, existingdesignstandards for cold-formedsteel do not includeany inelastic reservecapacity for cold-
formedchannel sectionswithedgestiffenerwhichisundulyconservative. Secondly, theplasticdesignmethodis
basedonstudiesfor hot-rolledsteel andconcludedthat theplasticmethodinexistingstandardscannot provide
anaccurateresult for cold-formedsteel. Therefore, inthispaper thebehaviour andstrengthof thecold-formed
channel sectionsinbendingissimulatedbyusingtheABAQUSprogram, andit wasshownthat thedeveloped
modelsareperfect for investigatingthebehaviour of thecold-formedplastic(compact) channel sections.
Keywords: Cold-formedsteel, Inelastic, plasticdesign, slendernesslimit, ABAQUSandhot-roll
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Section strength
Section strength is not only controlled by amaterial
yielding but also by local, distortional and lateral-
torsional buckling.
This study is concerned with thesection strength
of cold-formed channel sections in bending subject
tolocal anddistortional buckling. Cold-formedchan-
nel sections, as primary structures, are always fully
restrained to avoid lateral instability using wall and
roof framing.Therefore, thelateral-torsional buckling
isnot theconcernof thisstudy.
1.2 Local buckling
Since cold-formed sections are fabricated fromthin
plateelements, theyarepronetolocal buckling.
Thecritical valueof anelements theoretical local
bucklingstressfromAS/NZS4600(2005) is:
where, k isplatebucklingcoefficient that dependson
thelongitudinal edgesupportanddistributionof stress
across theplate. To avoidlocal bucklingprior to the
yielding failure, f
cr
should reach the yield stress of
F
y
. It is important to note that the elastic buckling
stressesfromtheequationsandnumerical simulations
aretheoretical.
1.3 Distortional buckling
Distortional bucklingis oneof threemodes of buck-
lingfor lippedchannelsincompressionandbending.
Schafer&Pekoz(1999)concludedthatthedistortional
mode is firstly more sensitive to imperfection com-
paredtothelocal modeandsecondly, thedistortional
buckling has less post buckling capacity compared
tothelocal buckling. Schafer andPekoz developeda
newhand-methodtocalculatecritical local anddistor-
tional theoretical buckling stress in which compared
well withtheexperimental results.
Lau & Hancock (1987) developed a simplified
expressionforpredictingtheoretical distortional buck-
ling stress of cold-formed channel sections in com-
pression. LauandHancockmethodhasbeenvalidated
by comparing with an accurate Finite Strip Method
(FSM) results.
Schafer et al. (2006) compared different methods
of calculatingdistortional bucklingtogether withthe
experimental data.A summaryof theirconclusionsare
that:
Hancocks method is conservative for calculating
the distortional buckling of sections with slender
webs;
Edgestiffener can increasedistortional stress in a
compressionflange; and
835
TheAustralian StandardAS/NZS4600 (2005) has
design formulas for theoretical distortional buckling
stressbasedonLau& Hancocks(1987) method.
Bambach et al. (1998) usedAS/NZS4600 (2005)
formulastocalculatethetheoretical distortional buck-
ling stress of sections with complex edgestiffeners.
Bambach et al. (1998) concluded that AS/NZS4600
(2005) has ahighdegreeof accuracy for calculating
theoretical distortional bucklingstress.
It is important to notethat theTHINWALL com-
puterprogrambasedonPapangelis&Hancock(1995)
research determines the theoretical local buckling
stressof asectionduetotheinteractioneffectbetween
elements.
1.4 Interaction effects between the elements
Inall designStandards suchasAS4100(1998), web
andflangeslendernesslimitsareassumedtobeinde-
pendent of the restraining element. However, using
FSM, Schafer & Pekoz (1999) illustrated that the
boundary condition has a great effect on the distor-
tional bucklingcoefficient.
Yiu&Pekoz(2000) comparedexperimental results
of different studies with the design recommenda-
tion for the capacity of plain channels based on
the Schafers numerical model. This work showed
consistencies between Schafers program, which is
basedoninteractionbetweenplateelements, andthe
2 COLD-FORMEDDESIGNRULES
In cold-formed sections; geometric shapes, thinner
plateelements and imperfections arecauses of local
bucklingfailureprior to yielding. Thesesections are
not-fully-effective. The design assumption in cold-
formed design rules is that the ultimate capacity
of not-fully-effectivesections should not exceed the
yield capacity. However, in someconditions, inelas-
tic reserve capacity, which is another design rule in
cold-formedstandards, allowsfully-effectivesections
ultimatecapacitytoexceedtheyieldcapacity.
2.1 Effective width method
The effective width method was first introduced by
VonKarmanetal. (1932). Theyassumedthatbuckled
portions of a plate do not carry any load. However,
unbuckledportionscancarry loadsof uptotheyield
point.
Zhou & Young (2005) have performed bending
tests on cold-formed stainless steel tubular sec-
tions. They concluded that the NorthAmerican and
Australiandesignrules areconservativefor calculat-
ing the cold-formed stainless steel tubular sections,
stiffenedelements, ultimatemoment capacity.
Unstiffened elements have a smaller theoretical
bucklingstressandultimatestrengthwhencompared
withthestiffenedelementsthat areof thesamemate-
rial and dimension. However, by adding an edge
stiffener tothefreeedgeof anunstiffenedelement, its
theoretical buckling stress and ultimate strength are
increased.
A compression element with an edge stiffener is
called a partially stiffened element. The buckling
behaviour of apartially stiffenedelement, depending
on the edge stiffeners size, varies between stiffened
andunstiffenedelements. Desmondet al. (1981) con-
ductedanalytical andexperimental studiesonpartially
stiffened elements. The outcome of Desmond et al.
(1981) research led to the design rules for calculat-
ingthebucklingcoefficientsof uniformlycompressed
partially stiffened elements in AS/NZS4600 (2005)
andNASPEC (2007).
Bambach (2009) modified the EWM for edge-
stiffened elements. Bambachs modification was
purely based on an empirical approach using finite
elementanalysis. FromBambach(2009) studiesitcan
beconcludedthat distortional bucklingfailureis not
clearly addressedinEWM. However, EUROCODE3
(2006) considersareductionfactor duetothedistor-
tional bucklingof theedgestiffener todeterminethe
effectivewidthof anelement withedgestiffener.
The EWM with distortional buckling check are
complicatedmethodsforcalculatingcold-formedsec-
tionsultimatemembercapacity.Tothisend, Schafer&
Pekoz (1998) have introduced a less complicated
methodtitledtheDirect StrengthMethod(DSM).
2.2 Direct strength method
Based on numerical methods such as Finite Strip
Method (FSM), DSM was originally presented by
Schafer & Pekoz(1998). Theseresearcherscompared
theDSM resultswiththetest resultsfor cold-formed
opensectionsthat wereunder uniaxial bending. They
concluded that DSM can be used to accurately pre-
dictthesectioncapacityforcold-formedopensections
under uniaxial bending.
Young&Yan(2004) performedcolumntestsonthe
cold-formed channel sections with a complex edge
stiffener. Young and Yan concluded that the DSM
resultscomparewell withthetest resultsfor sections
whichhaveslenderflanges. However, whencompared
tothetest results, theseresults wereconservativefor
thesectionswithlessslender flanges.
Yu&Schafer(2003)andYu&Schafer(2006)tested
theC andZ sections under bendingwithnorestraint
on the elements for local and distortional buckling
respectively. Thetest andtheDSM results werealso
compared. Yu and Schafer concluded that the DSM
(forlocal buckling)wasquiteconservativeforthenon-
slendermembers.Theyalsoconcludedthat, compared
totheother standardsfor distortional buckling, more
accurateresultscanbepredictedusingtheDSM.
Byreviewingthecomparison,itisevidentthatDSM
does not include any inelastic reserve capacity for
thecold-formed sections and assumes that themax-
imummoment capacity of the cold-formed sections
836
is theyield moment. However research by Maduliat
et al. (2012) shows that theultimatemoment capac-
ity of some cold-formed channel sections can reach
up to theplastic moment. Therefore, Maduliat et al.
(2012) revisedtheDSM whichisusinginAustralian
andNorthAmericanStandards.
3 HOT-ROLLEDDESIGNRULES
TheAustralianStandardAS4100(1998) classifiesthe
hot-rolledsectionsintodifferent classesaccordingto
theirslendernessratio. Itshouldbenotedthattheslen-
derness ratio, which is defined in the cold-formed
specifications, isnot similar towhat isdefinedinthe
hot-rolledspecifications.
3.1 Elastic limits for elements in compression and
bending
Platebucklingdependsonitsgeometry, material prop-
ertyandexternal restraint. AsnoticedinEquation(1),
critical theoretical bucklingstress of aplatedepends
on the width-to-thickness ratio (slenderness). Lay
(1965) hasdefinedthebiggest valuefor thewidthto
thickness ratio of 500/(F
0.5
y
) to avoidlocal buckling
inelasticrangefor compressionflangeof hot-rolledI
sections.
For a hot-rolled channel section, the flange can
represent asimplysupportedplateononeedge. Con-
sequently, thek valueisequal to0.425. FromEquation
(1) inwhichisadoptedfromAS/NZS4600(2005), the
widthto thickness ratio for unstiffenedandstiffened
flangesshouldbe:
Normally web of I or channel sections are sim-
ply supported elements on both longitudinal edges
by flanges. A web can represent an element, which
is inbendingandits stress gradient varies fromten-
sion to compression. For elastic buckling design of
aweb, using Equation (1) in which is adopted from
AS/NZS4600(2005), theslenderness limit for aweb
canbeasfollow:
In AS4100 (1998), the slenderness limits for an
unstiffenedflange, stiffenedflangeandwebhavebeen
decreased from17.5 to 15, 54 to 40 and 131 to 115
respectively. This is dueto theresidual stress, which
existsinasectionasaresult of weldinginhot-rolled
sectionsUeda&Tall (1967).
Maduliat et al. (2012a) indicatedthat theAS4100
(1998) slendernesslimitsforpartially-stiffenedflange
elementisnotaccuratecomparedwiththetestresults.
Thisisduetothefact that, existingslendernesslimits
arebasedonthestudiesfor hot-rolledsteel.
3.2 Plastic limits for compression elements
When designing hot-rolled sections in the plastic
range, the b/t ratio limit should be applied (Lay
(1965)). Thisistomakesurethatlocal bucklingisnot
occurringprior toformingaplastichinge. Lay(1965)
showedthatlocal bucklinginplasticrangedependson
theb/t ratio, moment gradient, strainhardeningand
yieldedregionlength. Lay determinedaplastic limit
for theb/t ratio for unstiffenedelements. For exam-
pleforA36steel, b/t 8.55andA441steel b/t 6.7.
Theyield stress for A36 andA441 are248 and 345
MPa respectively. Therefore, the b/t(F
y
/250)
0.5
for
A36andA441shouldbelessthan8.51and8.0respec-
tively.AS4100(1998) isusingLayslimitforplasticity
designof hot-rolledsections.
Intermsof thestiffenedelement, suchasaboxsec-
tion, Korol & andHudoba(1972) performedbending
tests onbox sections. Accordingto Korol & Hudoba
(1972) theslendernesslimit for theRectangular Hol-
lowSection(RHS) andSquareHollowSection(SHS)
flanges, witharotationcapacityof 4, is:
Hasan&Hancock(1988) testedeighteenRHSand
SHSgradeC350cold-formedsectionsinbending.The
result of theflangeslenderness limit for therotation
capacity of R=4was equal to 25. Zhao & Hancock
(1991) performedthesametest for gradeC450cold-
formedRHSandSHSsections.Theresultof theflange
slenderness limit for the same rotation capacity of
R=4was22.
Maduliat et al. (2012a), byperformingexperimen-
tal analysisoncold-formedchannel sections,indicated
that existing plastic slenderness limits in AS4100
(1998) which arebased on study on hot-rolled steel
or cold-formedclosesectionarenot accurate. There-
fore, they revised the existing plastic slenderness
limits.
4 PLASTIC DESIGN
The plastic design method allows larger application
of loads onsections duetospreadingtheyieldstress
over theentiresection. This methodcanincreasethe
capacityof achannel sectionbyupto2030%which
iscalculatedbytheelasticdesignmethod. Oneof the
early works on I sections was conducted by Maier-
Leibnitz whodeterminedthat thebeamcouldcarrya
load1.5timesgreater thantheyieldload(Baker et al.
(1956)).
837
Based onAS4100 (1998), plastic designs are not
applicablefor cold-formed section dueto thebrittle
failureassociated with high strength steel. However,
different experimental studies show plastic design
restrictionsarenot foundedinall cases.
Wilkinson & Hancock (1998) performed tests on
threepinbasedportal framesmanufacturedfromcold-
formed Rectangular Hollow Sections (150504
RHS) which did not satisfy the material ductility
requirement for plastic design method. They con-
cludedthatthefailurewasnotduetothelackof mate-
rial strain hardening capacity and a plastic collapse
mechanismwasdevelopedinthetestedstructures.
Baigent & Hancock (1981) tested seven portal
framesmanufacturedfromcold-formedchannelssec-
tionswithedgestiffener.Theirworkillustratedthatthe
ultimatecapacity of thecold-formedstructures were
25%to70%greater thanthefirst yieldcapacity. This
means the first plastic hinges have the capability to
rotatesufficiently to redistributetheplastic moment
throughthestructuretoformaplasticcollapsemech-
anism. However, thecold-formedchannel sectionsdo
not satisfy theplastic designrequirement inAS4100
(1998). This is due to cold-formed sections mainly
beingusedas asecondary structurelikeroof or wall
framings(purlinandgirt); andnotbeingusedasapri-
marystructures.Therefore,thereislimitedresearchon
theplasticdesignfor cold-formedsections; andcold-
formedopensectionscanonlybedesignedinstructure
assemblieselastically.
Baker et al. (1956) collected all available refer-
ences regarding the plastic design rules based on I
sectionstest results. From1940to1960LehighUni-
versityinUSA alsoinvestigatedtheplasticbehaviour
onhot-rolledsections. Itisevidentfrom1940onwards
that therehavebeennumerous studies ontheplastic
behaviourof hot-rolledI sections. Conversely, Schafer
(2006) has collected the experimental data for the
bendingcapacityof cold-formedsectionsfromdiffer-
entstudies. ItistobenotedthatShafersexperimental
dataaremostlyfor slender sectionsandthereisagap
of knowledgefor sections with theslenderness ratio
of lessthan0.6.
Maduliat et al. (2012) performedpurebendingtest
on cold-formed channel sections with the slender-
ness ratio of less than 1 and greater than 0.35. They
comparedthetestresultwiththeDSMresults(Fig. 1).
Figure1shows that theultimatemoment capacity
of cold-formedchannel sectionswiththeslenderness
ratio(distortional) of smallerthan0.8canexceedtheir
yield moment; and theultimatecapacity of sections
withtheslendernessratio(distortional)of smallerthan
0.6canevenreachtotheirplasticmoment.Thismeans
theplastichingecandevelopinsuchsections.
After development of the first plastic hinge, it is
essential to determine if the hinges have the capa-
bility to rotatesufficiently to redistributetheplastic
momentthroughthestructuretoformaplasticcollapse
mechanism. Therefore, theycouldbecomemoreeco-
nomical whenusedasaprimarystructureinbuilding
assemblies.
Figure1. Comparingtest datawithDSM for sectionswith
theslendernessratioof smaller than1.
Figure2. Comparingtest withthesimulationresult.
Maduliatetal. (2012a) tested42cold-formedchan-
nel sectionsunderbending.Amongthetestedsamples,
7 sections had the moment capacities beyond their
plastic capacities. However, only one section had a
rotationcapacityof greaterthan4; andhasbeenclassi-
fiedasaplastic(compact) section. Tofurther analyse
compact sections, the behaviour and strength of the
cold-formedchannel sectionsinbendingissimulated
byusingtheABAQUSprogram.
5 SIMULATIONRESULT FORTWOCOMPACT
SECTIONS
ToverifytheABAQUSmodel, themoment-curvature
graphs, basedontheABAQUS model, arecompared
with the test results in Maduliat (2011). The nor-
malisedmoment-curvaturegraphcomparedwiththe
testresultandtheFiniteElementMethod(FEM)result
of a tested section is shown in Figure 2. By using
hypothesis test technique, it is concludedthat gener-
ally theFEM graphs areingoodagreement withthe
test result.
To further analysecompact sections, two compact
sections(sectionsA andB) havebeendefined.Table1
showsaseriesof dimensions(b
1
, b
2
, b
3
, b
4
, t), aswell
as the yield stress (F
y
), slenderness ratio subject to
distortional buckling (
d
) and the ultimate moment
838
Table1. Dimensionsandultimatecapacitiesof sectionsA
andB basedonreviseddesign.
SectionA SectionB
b
1
60mm 50mm
b
2
33mm 30mm
b
3
20mm 15mm
b
4
0.0mm 0.0mm
t 5mm 5mm
F
y
541Mpa 541Mpa
d
0.4 0.35
M
AS4600
6.37kN-m 4.24kN-m
M
AS4100
6.98kN-m 4.69kN-m
M
DSM
6.37kN-m 4.24kN-m
M
FEM
9.58kN-m 6.68kN-m
Figure 3. Comparison between the normalised moment-
curvaturegraphsof thesections40, A andB.
capacities. The ultimate moment capacity of these
sectionsarecalculatedbasedonproposedNorthAmer-
icanandAustraliandesignmethodsinMaduliat et al.
(2012, 2012a). By comparing the FEM results for
thesetwosectionswiththedesignmethods, it canbe
concludedthat theproposeddesignmethods arestill
conservative.
The normalised moment-curvature graph of sec-
tionsA, B aswell asplasticsectioninMaduliat et al.
(2012a),section40,basedonFEMresultsareshownin
Figure3.TheFEMmodel resultsforsections40,Aand
Bshowthatbydecreasingthesectionslendernessratio
subject todistortional buckling, theultimatemoment
capacityandalsorotationcapacityof thesectionwill
increase.
6 CONCLUSIONS
By reviewing the range of literature on the study
of designingcold-formedchannel sectionswithedge
stiffener anumber of conclusionsareevident.
Firstly, theDSM andEWM, whicharethedesign
methods for cold-formed sections in different stan-
dards, donotincludeanyinelasticreservecapacityfor
cold-formedchannel sectionswithedgestiffener. The
assumption in theDSM and EWM is that themaxi-
mummoment capacity istheyieldmoment. Thereis
alackof experimental datafor fullyeffectivesections
since most studies concentrate on slender sections.
Secondly, theplasticdesignmethodisbasedonstudies
for hot-rolled steel and mainly applicable for hot-
rolledsectionsandconcludedthat theplastic method
inAS4100 (1998) cannot provide an accurate result
for cold-formedsteel. Whilesomeexperimental data
demonstrate the inelastic behaviour of cold-formed
channel sections, no studies were performed on the
rotationcapacity.Thisisthekeyfactorfordetermining
theslendernesslimitsintheplasticdesign.
In this research, it was found that the ultimate
moment capacity of somecold-formed channel sec-
tionswithedgestiffenercanexceeditsplasticmoment.
However, thebehaviour of thesesectionsasamember
of astructural assemblysuchasportal frameswasnot
investigated. Further study is required to determine
if a plastic collapse mechanismis formed in cold-
formed channel sections structures. Investigation of
theactual rotational capacitiesrequiredfor suchsec-
tionstoallowthedevelopment of plasticmechanisms
inportal frames.
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840
Analysisof arailwayturnout systemwithaspot replacement sleeper
A.C. Manalo, T. Aravinthan&W. Karunasena
Faculty of Engineering and Surveying, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia
ABSTRACT: Thebehaviour of arailway turnout systemwhen oneof thesleepers is replaced with afibre
compositessleeper isanalyzedtosimulatethespot replacement maintenancestrategy. Intheanalysis, therails
andthesleepersaremodeledasasimplifiedthreedimensional grillagebeamsystemwiththesleepersasbeams
onelasticfoundation. Themost critical sleepersintherailwayturnout systemwereassignedwithamodulusof
elasticity(MOE) of 4GPawhilekeepingtheelasticmodulusof theother sleepersthesame.Theanalysisshowed
that aspot replacement sleeper with alowMOE leads to alowering overall stiffness of therailway track. It
resultedinareductioninthebendingmoment andshear andanincreaseinthevertical deflectionof thesleeper
directly under therail seat load. Resultsalsoshowedthat aspot replacement sleeper material withanMOE of
4GPawill distributetheloadevenlyintheneighboringtimber sleepers.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 General
Hardwoodtimber hasbeenthepreferredmaterial for
railwaysleepers,andthemaintenanceworkonexisting
timbersleepertrackscontinuedtobeprovidedbyhard-
wood. WithinAustralia, thestateof Queenslandalone
has over 8million timber sleepers in service(Miller
2007). Most of theserailway sleepers aredeteriorat-
ingandbecominglesscapableof meetingperformance
requirements. Inorder tomaintainthetrackqualityto
aspecifiedservicelevel andensureasafetrackoper-
ation, damaged and deteriorated sleepers are being
replacedwithnewones.
Yun& Ferreira(2003) reportedthat theAustralian
railway industry spends approximately 2535 per-
cent of its annual budget on rail track maintenance.
According to Hagaman & McAlpine(1991), sleeper
replacement represents the most significant mainte-
nancecost for therailways, exclusiveof therail cost.
Thus, several railwayindustrieshaveadoptedthespot
replacement strategytolessenthecost of track main-
tenance. Thespot replacement strategy embraces the
componentreplacementof failingtimbersleeperswith
newsleeperstomaintaintherailwaytracks. A prereq-
uisiteof thismaintenancestrategyisthat replacement
sleepers shouldhaveproperties compatiblewiththat
of existingtimber sleepers.
Hardwoodtimber continuestobethemost widely
usedsleeper material inarailwayturnout (Zarembski
1993). Turnout is a part of the railway where track
crossesoneanother at anangletodivert atrainfrom
theoriginal track.Thespecial sleeperslaidonaturnout
arecalledturnout sleepers. Thesesleepershavevary-
inglengthsandfasteninglocations(AS1085.142003).
In a railway turnout, the sleepers are subjected to a
combined flexural and shear loads due to the force
caused by a crossing train. Because of the special
natureof turnoutsleepers,itsmanufacturingprocedure
isdifferentfromthatof mainlinesleeperswhichmakes
itsmaintenancemorecostly. A footprint of everysin-
glesleepertobereplacedneedstobepre-measuredon
thesiteandthenfabricatedatthefactorywithaccurate
bolt holes. Thus, analternativematerial withsimilar
usabilityanddesigncharacteristicstothatof hardwood
sleepersismoresuitable.
1.2 Spot replacement of timber sleeper
Theinterestinreplacingtimbersleepersintheexisting
railwaytrackwithother materialshasbeenstimulated
by theincreased scarcity of quality timber (Van Erp
et al. 2005). Currently, several railway infrastructure
industriesarereplacingonlythedeterioratedsleepers
intherailway track (spot replacement) to reducethe
cost of maintenance. Thismaintenancepracticeleads
toasituationwhereintheexistingtimbersleepertrack;
thereplacement sleeper will beof different material
andpossibly different performancecharacteristics in
service. In astudy conducted by Birks et al. (1989),
they found out that when steel sleepers are used to
replaceadeterioratedtimber sleeper, thesteel sleep-
erswastakingamuchreducedloadcomparedwiththe
adjacenttimber sleepers. Higher deflectionswerealso
recordedfor thesteel sleeper showingalower support
beingsuppliedtotherailwaytrackat thesteel sleeper
installations.Theysuggestedhowever, thatsimilarrail
seat loads and deflections can be achieved by steel
sleeper totheadjacenttimber sleepersthroughcareful
installationproceduresandbyproperlypackedballast.
In another study, Kohoutek (1991) found avariation
betweentheperformanceof concreteandtimbersleep-
ers. Heconcludedthat thisvariationiscausedby the
differentmaterialsof sleepersmixedinthetrack. Sim-
ilarly, thedifferingheight of thetimber sleeper tothat
841
of theconcreteresultedintheloadnot spreadevenly
amongthesleepers. Whenafibrecompositerailway
sleeperisusedasareplacementsleeper, itisimportant
that this sleeper closely matches thedimensions and
theoverall stiffnessof theexistingtimber sleepersto
minimizetheunevendistributionof forces.
Inthispaper, aninvestigationonthebehavior of a
railwayturnout systemwhenthemost critical sleeper
isreplacedwithalowMOEisinvestigated.Thisiscon-
ductedtosimulatethespot replacement maintenance
strategyandtodeterminethemaximumbending,shear
and deflection in the turnout sleepers. Similarly, a
comparison of the effectiveness of a fibre compos-
ites material between a steel and concrete for spot
replacement sleeper wasconducted.
2 FE MODEL FOR RAILWAY TURNOUT
2.1 Simplified grillage beam analogy
A railwayturnoutconsistsof anumber of sleepersand
rails actingtogether. In most studies reportedon the
behavior of sleepersinarailway track, thefiniteele-
ment analyses are implemented using only a single
sleeper (Kohoutek 1991, Shokreih & Rahmat 2007,
Ticoalu2008). However, thepresenceof at least two
sets of continuous rails which connects the sleepers
makes theinclusionof theentireturnout essential in
theanalysis. For this reason, thebehavior of turnout
sleepersshouldbedeterminedfor agroupof sleepers
insteadof asinglesleeper, as thecontributionof the
neighboringsleepersshouldbetakenintoaccountdue
tothejoiningeffectsof therails.
TheAS 1085.14 (2003) suggests that the turnout
sleeperscanbeanalyzedby amorecomplex grillage
model. However, therehasbeennoreportedstudyon
theuseof suchamodel toanalyzearailwayturnoutin
literature. Thecommonly availableliteratureongril-
lagesystemisintheanalysisof slabs, foundationsand
complex structures (Tanet al. 1998, Fujikubo2005).
Thesestudiesshowedthatthegrillagebeamsystemhas
beenusedtoanalyzecomplexstructuresbecauseof its
simplicitybutstill providingreasonableresults.Asim-
ilar model wasdevelopedinthisstudy usingStrand7
finite element software package (Strand7, 2005) to
investigate the effect of various parameters on the
behavior of railwayturnout sleepers.
2.2 Railway turnout geometry
A standard1in16right-handturnout geometryusing
60kg/mrail andanarrowgauge(1067mm) rail line
commonlyusedinQueensland, Australiaisanalyzed.
Sleeper dimensions were set at 230mm150mm
in consideration of the replacement of deteriorating
turnout timber sleepers. A combined vertical design
loadfactor, j (includingquasi-static anddynamic) as
largeas 2.5 is used as recommended by AS1085.14
(2003). Themaximumcontactpressureatthesleeper-
ballast interface for high-quality, abrasion resistant
ballast of 750kPa based fromAustralian Standards
Table1. Detailsof thecomponentsof thetrackstructure.
Component Description
Rail section 60kg/m
Rail gauge(G) 1067mm
Distancebetweenrail centres(g) 1137mm
Sleeper spacing 600mm
Dimensionof sleepers 230mm150mm
Axleload 25tons
Combinedvertical loadfactor (j) 1.5and2.5
Sleeper support modulus 20MPa
Allowableballast pressure 750kPa
Stiffnessof therails 200GPa
Figure1. Schematicdiagramof arailwayturnout sleeper.
Table2. MOE of sleepersinarailwayturnout system.
Setting MOE (GPa)
All FRP Sleepers 4, 10, 15, 20, 25
Spot replacement 0, 4
AS2758.7(1996)wasadopted.Table1detailsthecom-
ponentsof thetrack structureandFigure1showsthe
schematicdiagramfor aturnout sleeper.
Inthenumerical simulation, theeffectinthebehav-
ior of turnout timber sleepers whenthemost critical
sleeper isreplacedwithalower MOE isinvestigated.
Onlytheloadcasewherethewheel loadproducesthe
highestpositivebendingmoment, shearanddeflection
in theturnout sleepers was considered. In theprevi-
ous analysis by theauthors (Manalo et al. 2010), the
highest maximumbendingmoment andshear forces
are produced between the switch and the frog. This
correspondstosleeper 68and42, respectively. Inthe
spotreplacementanalysis, fourhigherMOEvaluesfor
existingtimber turnout sleepersintheAustralianrail-
waylineswiththesubgrademoduluskept constant at
20MPawereinvestigated. A summary of thedesign
parametersislistedinTable2. Inthetable, theAll FRP
sleepersrepresentstheFE model whereall thesleep-
ersintherailwayturnout systemhavethesameMOE
whilethespot replacement represents thesimulation
where only the most critical sleeper in the railway
turnout systemisreplacedwithalowMOE.
2.3 Finite element model of the railway turnout
A simplified three dimensional grillage model con-
sistingof longitudinal andtransversebeamelements
842
Figure2. Geometryof a1:16standardright-handrailwayturnout system.
Figure3. Grillagebeammodel for 1:16standardright-handrailwayturnout.
has been developed to analyze the behavior of rail-
way turnout structure. The model consists of the
rails, sleeper plates, sleepers, ballast, and subgrade.
Thefiniteelement (FE) model considers therails as
longbeamscontinuouslysupportedbyequallyspaced
sleepers. Themodel consists of atotal of 107sleep-
ers including10transitionsleepers beforetheswitch
andafter thelongest sleeper intheturnout as shown
in Figure 2. The transition sleepers are provided to
ensurethat thewheel load is sufficiently distributed
over several sleeperswhenthetrainentersandleaves
theturnout. Sadeghi (2001) suggestedthat theeffects
of wheel loadsarenegligibleforsleeperslocatedmore
than5mor 10sleepersawayfromtheloadpoints, i.e.
sleeper number 1 has almost zero bending moment,
shear and deflection when thewheel load is directly
over sleeper number 11. Thesleepersarelaidperpen-
dicular to thethrough tracks with increasing lengths
fromtheswitchuntil twostandardlengthsleeperscan
beplacedunder thethroughanddivergent tracks. The
overall length of the modeled track is 61.8mwith
sleeper lengthsvaryingfrom2.30mto4.1mandthe
sleeper endshavinglengthsof 0.58m.
Therailsandthesleepersaremodeledasagrillage
beamsystemwith the sleepers resting on an elastic
foundation. The effect of irregularities on the track
and wheels and the dynamic effects are assumed to
berepresentedby thedynamic loadfactor. A total of
1339 Beam2 elements and 1046 nodes wereused in
theturnout model. As theexact cross-section of the
60kg/mrail (AS 1085.12002) cannot bedefinedin
Strand7usingonly2Dbeamelement, anapproximate
steel I-sectionwithanalmost equivalent moment and
torsional inertiawasusedfortherail.Thesleeperswere
considered as isotropic beams with a homogenous
crosssection.
Thebeamelements wereused to connect therail
and the sleepers, which were placed at the level of
their respectivecentroids. Thesebeamelements rep-
resenting the rail pads are modeled with an axial
stiffnessof 310106N/mmincompressionwhichis
equivalent tothat of the19mmthick doubleshoulder
level baserolled-steel sleeper plateusedfor 146mm
rail base (AS1085.3, 2002) and a tension stiffness
of 130103N/mmwhich is equivalent to thestatic
vertical stiffness of timber screw spikes. Only the
equivalent static wheel load acting on the vertical
directionisconsideredwithnolateral andlongitudinal
loads.The3setsof wheel loadshowninFigure3were
applied directly to therails. In this figure, R
1
repre-
sentstherail seatloadatthemiddlewheel setwhileR
2
correspondstothefrontandtherear wheel sets. Inthe
calculationof rail seatload, acombinedvertical design
loadfactor of 2.5isappliedtorail seat load, R
1
while
avertical loadfactor of 1.5isappliedinthefront and
therear seat loads, R
2
. Thisloadingpatternsimulates
anaxleloadof 25tonesfor atypical heavy axleload
commoninmostAustralianrailwaylines.These3sets
of wheel loadaremovedthoughtheturnout tracksto
determinethelocationof themost critical sleepers.
The behaviour of the turnout sleepers when one of
the sleepers in a railway turnout is replaced with a
lowMOE ispresentedhere. Inthenumerical simula-
tionof thespotreplacementsleepers, themostcritical
sleepers, sleepers42and68wereassignedwithalow
MOE whilekeepingtheelastic modulus of theother
sleepersthesametodeterminethemaximumbending,
shear and deflection in the railway turnout sleepers.
843
Figure4. Maximumbendingmoment insleepers32to52.
In theanalysis of results, the10 sleepers beforeand
after sleepers42and68wereincluded.
3.1 Bending moments in sleepers
Thedistributionof maximumbendingmomentamong
thesleepersintherailwayturnout systemisshownin
Figure4. Inthisfigure,All_4,All_10,All_15,All_20,
andAll_25 represent therailway track supported by
turnout sleepers with the same value of MOE. On
theother hand, therailway track whenthemost crit-
ical sleeper is replaced by afibrecompositesleeper
with an MOE=4GPa is designated as 4_10, 4_15,
4_20, and 4_25. The railway turnout supported by
MOE=10GPawiththemostcritical sleeperreplaced
byaveryflexibleor adamagedsleeper (elasticmod-
ulusof only1MPa) isincludedfor comparisonandis
designatedas0_10.
As can be seen fromthe figure, the behavior of
turnout sleepers with the same MOE is almost the
same. Thisissimilar toresultsof theinvestigationby
Ticoalu(2008) whereinshefoundno significant dif-
ferenceinthemaximumbendingmoment, shear and
vertical deflectionfor turnout sleepers withMOE of
10GPaor higher andarerestingonasubgradeof 20
to 40MPa. However, it can be seen fromthe figure
thatreplacingsleepers42withanMOE=4GPahasa
largeinfluenceonthebehaviourof thegroupof turnout
sleepers. The results show that the sleeper directly
under the rail seat load R
1
has the highest bending
moment. In a railway turnout supported by sleep-
ers withthesameMOE (All_10, All_15, All_20and
All_25), themagnitudeof bendingmoment insleeper
42 is around 18kN-mwhile in its adjacent sleepers
is around 12kN-m. Similarly, the magnitude of the
bendingmomentinsleeper42forrailwayturnoutwith
MOEof 10to25GPaisonly20%highertothebending
moment experiencedinAll_4.
Replacingsleeper 42withanMOE=4GPaleads
toaloweringoverall stiffnessof therailwaytrackand
thereforeareductioninthebendingmoment startsto
occur inthesleeper just belowtheload. A reduction
inthemagnitudeof bendingmoment of almost 30%
was observed for sleeper 42 compared to a railway
turnout not mixedwithalower MOE eventhoughR
1
is directly over this particular sleeper. This reduction
inthebendingmoment insleeper 42is however dis-
tributed to the neighbouring sleepers as seen by the
increase in the bending moment of sleepers 41 and
43. For all the investigated MOE value, there is no
significant difference in the bending moment in the
spot replacement sleeper but theincreaseinthebend-
ing moment in the adjacent sleepers can go as high
as20%for higher MOE. Ontheaverage, thebending
moment in theadjacent sleepers is 22%higher than
that of sleeper 42. Thisresult showsthat afibrecom-
posites sleeper is moreeffectivethansteel for aspot
replacement sleeper. Birkset al. (1989) indicatedthat
a steel sleeper situated immediately below the load
sourcecarriesanalmost 38%lower bendingmoment
comparedtotheadjacent timber railwaysleepers.
Theincreaseinthebendingmomentintheadjacent
sleepersin4_10, 4_15, 4_20, and4_25issignificantly
lesscomparedtothatof theadjacentsleeperswhenthe
spot replacement sleeper hasavery lowelastic mod-
ulusvalue(MOE=1MPa). Similarly, theincreasein
thebendingmoment intheadjacent sleepersin0_10
comparedtotherailwayturnout not mixedwithalow
stiffness sleeper is around45%. This is almost simi-
lar to theobservations by Zhang et al. (2008) when
they examined the response of a railway track with
unsupportedsleepers. Intheirnumerical investigation,
they representedtheunsupportedsleeper withazero
value for MOE. Their results showed that the cal-
culatedbendingmoment intheneighboringsleepers
whenthetrainpasses over anunsupportedsleeper is
almost 40%higher comparedwithunder normal con-
dition. Furthermore, themaximumbending moment
in thesleepers 41 and 43 for 0_10 is slightly higher
thanthat of sleeper 42inanormal railwaytrack. This
shouldnot bethecaseespecially whenthesleeper is
designedbasedonthemaximumbendingmomentact-
ingonthesleepers for atrack withaconstant MOE.
This increased bending moment taken by the adja-
centsleepersmightresultinitsearlyin-servicefailure.
Interestingly, thebendingmoment experienceby the
spotreplacementsleeperisalmostsimilartothebend-
ingmoment inAll_4suggestingabetter distribution
844
Figure5. Maximumshear insleepers58to78.
Figure6. Maximumvertical deflectioninsleepers58to78.
of loadamongthesleepers. Thus, it canbesaidthat
thefibrecompositesleeperscanbeusednot only for
spot replacement but also inthetotal replacement of
sleepersinarailwayturnout.
3.2 Shear forces on sleepers
Figure5showsthattheshearforceinsleeper68isatits
highestvaluewhenR
1
isdirectlyover thissleeper. For
arailway turnout without aspot replacement sleeper,
themagnitudeof shearforceinsleeper68isat140kN,
which is almost 50% higher than that of the shear
force in the adjacent sleepers. Considering the load
isdirectlyover sleeper 68, theshear forceatthesleep-
ers 67 and 69 are almost same. When sleeper 68 is
replaced with an MOE=4GPa, the shear force in
sleeper 68 decreases to 95kN while in the adjacent
sleepers increases to 85kN. This represents an over
30%decreaseinshear forceinthespot replacement
sleeper but only a20%increaseinshear forceinthe
adjacent sleeperswiththeshear forceamongsleepers
67to69differ byonly10%. A slightincreaseinshear
forcewas also observedintheneighboringsleepers.
Intheevaluationof Kohoutek(1991) betweentheper-
formance of a railway track with mixed timber and
concrete sleepers, he found out that the distribution
is 30% to timber and 35% to the adjacent concrete
sleepers whentheloadis over thetimber sleeper but
over60%forconcretesleeperwhentheloadisdirectly
overtheconcretesleeper.Thisresultagainshowedthat
afibrecompositesleeper distributestheloadbetter to
theadjacent sleepersthanaconcretesleeper.
3.3 Vertical deflection of sleepers
The maximumvertical deflection in turnout sleeper
occurred under therail seat. In Figure6, theresults
showthat replacingsleeper 68withanMOE=4GPa
didnot significantly changethemaximumdeflection
intheturnout sleepers comparedto that of arailway
turnout with all the sleepers having the same elas-
tic modulus. Themagnitudeof vertical deflection in
sleeper 68is well under 6mmfor all theconsidered
MOE. Ontheother hand, replacingsleeper 68witha
verylowelasticmodulus(MOE=1MPa)wouldresult
to an almost 35% increase in the deflection of the
adjacent sleepers. Thisisalmost similar totheresults
obtainedby Lundqvist andDahlberg(2005) wherein
theyfoundoutthatthevertical displacementof sleep-
ers adjacent to an unsupported sleeper increase by
40%. Intheearlier studiesbyBirkset al. (1989), they
haveobserved adeflection of 9mmfor theinserted
steel sleeper comparedtoonly5mmfor timber when
notmixedwithasteel sleeper. Theseresultsshowthat
845
asleepermaterial withstiffnesscharacteristicssimilar
tothat of timber isamoreeffectivespot replacement
sleeper for timber sleepersinarailwayturnoutsystem
thanconcreteandsteel.
Thesleeperdeflectionundertherail isthemaincri-
terioninarailway track analysis (Zakeri & Sadeghi,
2007). For railway tracks inAustralia, themaximum
static deflection in a railway structure on ballasted
trackshouldbearound6.35mmtogiverequisitecom-
bination for flexibility and stiffness (J effs & Tew,
1991). Theresults indicatedthat anMOE=4GPais
neededfor aspot replacement sleeper for thetimber
sleeper railway turnout track to not exceedthemax-
imumallowablevertical deflection provided that the
subgrademodulusisatleast20MPaorasubgradeof at
leastgoodsubsoil (gravel).ThisMOEvalueforsleeper
also satisfies therecommended maximumallowable
contactpressurebetweenthesleeper andtheballastof
750kPa.
4 CONCLUSIONS
A grillage beammodel was used to investigate the
behaviour of a railway turnout system with a spot
replacement sleeper. Based on the results of the FE
simulation, thefollowingconclusionscanbedrawn:
Thegrillagebeamanalogyisreasonabletomodel a
railwayturnoutsystemastheyareproducingresults
comparabletothat of other researchers.
A spotreplacementsleeperwithalowerMOEleads
toaloweringoverall stiffnessof therailwaytrack.
Thebendingmoment andshear inthespot replace-
ment sleeper are 30% lower than sleepers in the
railwaytrackwithsameMOE.
A spot replacement sleeper with an MOE of
4GPa and support modulus of 20MPa satisfies
the requirement for maximum allowable vertical
deflectionof 6.35mm.
A fibre composites spot replacement sleeper is
moreeffectivethan steel and concretesleepers in
distributingloadtotheadjacent sleepers.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The technical assistance of Mr. Steve Douglas and
Dr. Nick Stevens in the design and analysis of
fibrecompositeturnout railway sleepersisgratefully
acknowledged.
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846
Stabilityreinforcement of steel platesbyheat-inducedstress
deformationfields
NicoleSchillo, DirkSchaefer & MarkusFeldmann
Institute of Steel Construction, RWTHAachen University, Aachen, Germany
ABSTRACT: Stability issuesaslocal andglobal bucklingareoftenlimitingtheuseof slender girders. They
areraisingtheneedforweldingintensiveapplicationof stiffeners. Inthisresearchworkanalternativetoenhance
thebearingcapacityof platesagainst bucklingbylocal heat treatment isinvestigatedontheexampleof welded
I-Profiles.
Theresidual stress distribution in webs of I-shaped cross-sections is known to bedisadvantageous for its
bucklingbehaviour, sincetheresidual compression stresses of thewebis superposedwith theexternal com-
pressingload.
With thehelp of flameinduced residual tension stresses thegirders might bereinforced. By application
of alineheatingprocesswithanacetyleneflameinlongitudinal directionof thespecimentensilestressesare
inducedintheheatedregionof theweb. Thestiffeningeffect of theflametreatment isinvestigatedinviewof
web buckling. First as areferencestub column tests without heat-treatment areperformed to investigatethe
resistanceagainst local buckling. Second, testsareperformedwithspecimenswiththesamegeometrybut with
inducedresidual stresses. Thebucklingloadsof thereferencetestsandheattreatedspecimensareanalysed. The
distributionandstressamplitudesof residual stressesareevaluatedwithanondestructivemethodof measuring
residual stressesinplates.
Theinvestigationsshowtheinfluenceandfeasibilityof heat-treatedreinforcement measuresonthebuckling
performance.
1 INTRODUCTION
Inrecent standards, e.g. (EC32010), theinfluencesof
geometricandstructural imperfectionsareconsidered
empiricallybyareductionfactor
0
for local buckling
and for global buckling with the reduction factor
(for equivalent beammethod as well as for thegen-
eral method(Wieschollek et al. 2012)). Tofigureout
the single influence of geometric and of structural
imperfection is rather difficult. Welding and form-
ing influence the residual stress distribution in the
platesfurther andinconsequenceaffect alsothelocal
bucklingbehaviour.
In thepresent paper thementioned influences are
investigated for welded I-Profiles. Thewelding pro-
cessproducestensionstressesintheareapronetothe
welds (theconnectionbetweenflanges andweb) and
compressiveresidual stresses intheinner part of the
web(seeFigure1) (Hnsch1984) (ECC 1976).
Figure1. Residual stressdistributionat weldedmember.
Inthispaper theexaminationof stub-columntests
onshort I-profilesareshowninorder todemonstrate
theeffectof heat-inducedstressesonthelocal stability
of theweb. Boththeprocedureof thetestsaswell as
their resultswill bepresented.
2 CONCEPTUAL MODEL
2.1 General
The specimens were chosen to be of slender nature
with a of 1.73. TheI-Profil was chosen to havea
better control of the heat-treatment: although a hol-
lowsectionwouldhavebeenmoreconvenient for the
stub-column test itself, theweb of theI-profil could
be heated fromboth sides instead of a single side
heating of the hollow section. By this way the out-
of-planedeformationsfromheatingcanbecontrolled
better.
Thecross-section of thewelded I-profil is shown
in Figure2 together with thedimensions of theend
plates. Insteadof weldedhead-platesateachspecimen
two removable end-plates (both 30mmthick) were
usedforall tests. Narrowquadraticsteel sectionswere
weldedontheplatessuchthat theI-Profil fit between
theseandwebandflangeswereconstrainedduringthe
tests.
Six tests wereconducted as stub-column tests, of
whichthreespecimenswereheat-treated.
847
Figure2. Cross-sectionof specimensandhead-plates.
Figure3. Arrangement of lineheats.
2.2 Fabrication and heating process
Thetest specimens havebeen fabricatedfromrolled
plates of 5mm(web) and 15mm(flange) thickness
consisting of steel grade S355J 2. The plates have
been joined by fillet welds with a weld throat of
3mm. Toreducetheresultingdistortionstheparame-
tersof theweldingprocesswereselectedsuchthatthe
energy input was set to lower values (MAG-process,
I =217A, U=31.3V, v=90cm/min). Additionally
the ends of the profiles were constrained during
the welding process and the welds were manufac-
turedalternatelystartingfromthemiddleof theweld
lengtheach.
Afterfabricationof theweldsthreeof thespecimens
weretreatedbyaheatingprocess. For thispurposean
acetyleneflameinformof lineheatswasused. Three
lineheatpatternswithalengthof 800mmwereapplied
inlongitudinal directionof thewebplatestartingat a
distanceof 100mmfromtheendof theprofile. The
first lineheat was locatedinthelongitudinal axis of
theprofile(HL1) whilethesecondandthirdlineheat
(HL2andHL3) wereexecutedontheoppositesideof
thewebwithatransversal offset of 125mmfromthe
first lineheat (seeFigure3).
Figure4. Heatingprocessof specimen.
Accordingtothesmall thicknessof thewebanoz-
zlesize5wasselectedandmountedintoatorchona
linearrunninggearwithaclearanceof 15mmbetween
the tip of the nozzle and the surface of the web.
The oxygen-acetylene ratio was selected to a slight
oxygen excess (1.2:1). During theprocess thegross
acetylene consumption of the nozzle was measured
to 9.0l/min. Using an efficiency of 44.7%(Rykalin
1957) and a lower heating value of 57.120J /l the
effectiveheat input results to 3830J /s (Schaefer and
Feldmann2011).
Theprocess itself is dividedinto two steps. Inthe
firststeptheflameisheldatthestartingpointtoheatup
totheaspiredtemperature. Duringthesecondstepthe
flameis movedwithaconstant velocity inthedirec-
tionof thelineheat without oscillationintransversal
direction(Figure4). Holdingtime(t
v
=4.0s)andtrav-
ellingspeedof thetorch(v
Fl
=5.5mm/s)wereselected
such that the maximumsurface temperature was in
the range of 650
C to 700
C to exclude any phase

transformationsof thematerial (Schaefer etal. 2012).
In a first test the specimen had shown large out-
of-planedeformations dueto theheatingprocess. To
reducetheseeffects, theprofilesnextspecimenswere
constrainedat theendsinthesamewayasduringthe
weldingprocesses.
2.3 Pre-imperfection and residual stress
measurements
Thefirststepwastomeasuretheimperfectionsof each
specimen.Therefore, fivedisplacementtransducersin
alinewerefixedtoaframeunderwitchthespecimens
could berolled in longitudinal direction. With these
measurementstheshapeof thewebcouldbeidentified.
Afterthattheresidual stressesweremeasuredbyanon-
destructiveultrasonicbasedmethod.Thismethodwas
usedtomeasuretheresidual stressesinthecenter sec-
tionof thespecimen. Bymeasurement of therunning
timesof longitudinal andtransversal ultrasonicwaves
at the same location the stress state of a plate com-
ponent canbequantified(Schneider 2000). Usingan
approachof continuummechanicstakingintoaccount
848
thechangeof theultrasonic velocity by thestresses
and assuming that the stresses perpendicular to the
platearezero (
z
=0) thestresses
x
and
y
can be
evaluatedbythefollowingequations:
whereH/K andF/K areparameters derivedfromthe
acousto-elasticmaterial constantsandv
T,i
arethemea-
sured velocities of the transversal ultrasonic waves
in longitudinal and transversal direction of the pro-
file. The resulting stresses are averaged values of
thestresses inthevolumetraversedby theultrasonic
waves(acylinder of 12mmdiameter andthicknessof
theplate). Therefore, ameasurement of stress gradi-
ents over thethickness is not possible. Furthermore,
a measurement of the running times directly at the
welded joints is dueto geometrical circumstances is
not applicable.
To measure the running times a ultrasonic thick-
ness gauge PANAMETRICS 25DL PLUS was used
in combination with aV109-RM contact transducer
for the longitudinal waves and a V154-RM contact
transducer for thetransversal waves.
In case of the heat-treated specimens, three heat
linesalongthelongitudinal axesof thetest-specimens
wereconducted. Here, theimperfectionsandresidual
stressesweremeasuredagaintocomprisetheinfluence
of theheat-treatment.
Thestubcolumnswerethenbuildinthehead-plates
onthespan. At thebottomtheend-platewasfixedto
thesupportingframe, whileatthetopaplateof 50mm
thickness and a spherical joint was put between the
specimenandthepiston.
2.4 Measurements during tests
Twowireropetransducersattheend-plateswerefitted
todeterminethevertical displacementandtwelvedis-
placement transducerswerespreadinan34matrix
atthewebtodeterminetheout-of-planedisplacement
of thewebandtheshapeof thebucklingmode. Addi-
tionallyforceanddisplacement of thethepistonwere
measured during the tests. The build-in specimen is
showninFigure5.
3 ANALYSIS
3.1 Measuring of pre-imperfections
The first measurements of pre-imperfections e
0
revealedmostly minor out-of-planeimperfections, in
general between1to+2mm. SpecimenSC3showed
larger values between 0 and 6mm(seeTable 1, e
1
).
Theimperfectionshapewasalsoevaluatedregarding
thehalf-wacesinlongitudinal andtransversedirection.
Asexample, aplot of SC2isshowninFigure6.
Figure5. Build-inspecimenwithtestingrig.
Table1. Measuredpre-imperfections.
Waves
e
0
Waves e
1
(longitudinal,
Specimen [mm] (longitudinal) [mm] transverse)
SC2 1.2 3 4 1, 0
SC3 6 1 70 1, 1
SC4 0.8 2
SC5 4 1 10 0, 3
SC7 1.5 3
SC8 2 2
3.2 Measuring of residual stresses
Themeasurement of theresidual stressesbytheultra-
sonicmethodhasbeenperformedatthecentersection
of theprofile. Therunning times for eight points at
each flangewith measuring distances of 25mmand
for nine points at the web with distances of 70mm
have been recorded (see Figure 7). In general, the
residual stressdistributioninaweldedprofilecanbe
849
Figure6. Pre-Imperfectionsof SC2.
Figure7. Locationsof residual stressmeasurement.
Table2. Residual stressesintheweb.
After welding[MPa] After heating[MPa]
Specimen mean max min mean max min
SC2 37 13 79 36 71 167
SC3 11 222 84 6 241 151
SC4 12 92 91
SC5 0.1 171 177 19 324 242
SC7 18 196 168
SC8 24 202 96
dividedintoseveral parts: thejointsgovernedbyten-
silestressesandtheouter partsof theflangesaswell
asthewebwhicharestressedbycompression. Dueto
the small thickness of the web plate (t=5mm), the
distributionof thelongitudinal stresses is influenced
bydeformationsoccurringduringthefabricationand
heating processes. For this reason theresidual stress
distributioninthespecimens arenot directly similar
(seeTable2). This will beexplainedexemplarily for
thespecimensSC2andSC3.
InFigure8theresidual stressdistributionintheweb
of stub column SC2 is shown. After the fabrication
processthewebof theprofileisstressedbycompres-
sion except for the region near the left joint where
tensile stresses occur. On the right side the expan-
sionof thetensilestressesintheweldedjointisnotas
Figure8. Residual stressdistributionof SC2.
Figure9. Residual stressdistributionof SC3.
largeas onthe, thereforenotensilestresses couldbe
measured. Thisasymmetrymaybycausedbythefab-
ricationprocesswherethejointshavebeenalternately
welded.
Theheating process influences theresidual stress
state only slightly as long as the head-plates are
mountedat theendof theprofiles. Byremoval of the
head-platesthestressstatechangesintotensioninthe
heatedregionsbutonlytoasmall extend(seeFigure8).
Figure9givesthedistributionof theresidual stress
inthewebof stubcolumnSC3. Heretheeffect of the
heatingisdifferent. Whileontheleft sidetheheating
processproduceshigher compressivestresses, onthe
right sidetheformer compression turns into tension
at thelocationsof theheat lines. Theinfluenceof the
thermal strainis her smaller thanexpected. A reason
850
Figure10. Load-displacement curves.
Table3. Bucklingandultimateloadof specimens.
Bucklingload Ultimateload
Specimen [kN] [kN]
SC2 464 788
SC3 276 732
SC4 322 616
SC5 457 702
SC7 489 623
SC8 654 657
for thisbehaviour maybethefactthatduringtheheat-
ingprocesseslargeout-of-planedisplacementsoccur
so that only afraction of thethermal strain is trans-
ferred into plastic compressivestrains and therefore
theinfluenceof theheating process on theresulting
stressdistributionissmaller or evenineffective.
3.3 Test results
The load-displacement curves for stub-column tests
are shown in 10. The distinctive points, buckling
load and ultimate load, respectively are summarised
inTable3. It can beseen that theheat-treated spec-
imens (SC2,3 and 5) have achieved lower buckling
loads thantheir correspondingstubcolumns without
heat-treatment (except SC4). The stiffness is for all
specimens similar till thebuckling load. WhileSC3
(heat-treated) and SC4 are sensitive for the occur-
ringbuckle, meaningthat theload-deformationcurve
develops a plateau until an increasing stiffness due
to stress redistribution can be achieved after a cer-
tain displacement. All other specimens show just a
slightdeclinebeforeloadcanbeaugmentedagainwith
thesameinclinationasbeforethebucklingoccurred.
Although the pre-imperfections of SC5 were higher
thanthoseof SC2, thebucklingloadof bothwasvery
similar. This could be due to the fact that the pre-
imperfectionshapeof SC5(after heat-treatment very
straight inlongitudinal directionand3half-waves in
Figure11. Out-of-planedisplacement SC2.
Figure12. Out-of-planedisplacement SC4.
transversedirection, whichcouldact ascorrugations)
wasmorefavourablethanthisof SC2(onehalf-wave
in longitudinal direction). The buckling load of the
untreatedspecimenswerewithsimilar (SC4, SC7) or
higher (SC8) thantheheat-treatedspecimens.
Besidethedistinctiveloadpoints theout-of-plane
displacement was measuredwith34displacement
transducers.TheresultsareshownexemplarilyforSC2
and SC4 in Figures 11 and 12. There, the buckling
shape at the level of the buckling load and the ulti-
mateloadareoverlaid. Itcanbeseenthattheresulting
buckling shape does not change between these two
loadstates.
In this paper the influence of a heat treatment pro-
cess on slender I-profiles has been investigated in
view of the stability performance. For this purpose
sixI-profileswerefabricatedfromplatematerial with
which stub-column tests were conducted. Three of
851
thesespecimensweretesteddirectlyafter thefabrica-
tionwhiletheotherspecimensweretreatedwithlongi-
tudinal lineheatstoinducetensilestressesintheweb.
Influencing parameters like the residual stress dis-
tributionandthegeometrical pre-imperfections were
measuredbothafter thefabricationandtheheat treat-
ment process to study possibleeffects ontheresults.
Duringthepathcontrolledstubcolumnteststheglobal
loadanddisplacement of thespecimens andtheout-
of-planedeformations of thewebwererecordedand
evaluatedinviewof theinfluenceof aheat treatment
processonthestabilitybehaviour.
The results of the tests may be summarised as
follows.
Duetotheheat-treatment of the3specimensSC2,
SC3andSC5itwaspossibletoinduceresidual tensile
stressesintheweb, eventhoughtheamount wasless
thanexpected. Nonetheless, it wasdifficult tocontrol
therisingimperfectionsduringtheprocess.Therefore,
for thesecond (SC5) and third specimen (SC2), the
webwas constrainedat its ends. Inconsequence, the
secondaryimperfectionswereconfinedtoaminimum
for SC2. This could not be achieved at SC5, which
could bedueto thealready high imperfections after
theweldingprocess.
Thecontrol of theimperfectionsmightbeimproved
inusingseveral heat pointsinsteadof heat lines.
When the web is displaced due to buckling the
stiff head-platecontributes moreloadto theflanges.
Anadjustedtest-setupor specimen, wherethewebis
longerthantheattachedflangesandthustheloadbear-
ingisensuredonlybythewebmighthelptoinvestigate
the buckle behaviour of the web alone. This would
amplifythepost-bucklingbehaviour.
In general, the test results show a large scatter
among the buckling loads as well as the ultimate
loads of the tested specimens. Comparing the load-
displacement curves and the investigated imperfec-
tionsshapesit canbeconcludedthat theinfluenceof
pre-imperfections is higher than theinfluenceof the
heat-treatment. Thus, anenhancementof thebuckling
loadcouldnot beachievedsofar.
REFERENCES
(1976). ECCS: Manual on Stability of Steel Structures. Euro-
pean Convention for Constructional Steel Structures
Committee.
(2010). DIN EN 1993: Design of steel structures Part 15:
Plated structural elements.
Hnsch, H. (1984). Schweieigenspannungen und Formaen-
derungen an stabartigen Bauteilen Berechnung und
Bewertung. VEBVerlagTechnik.
Rykalin, N. (1957). Berechnung der Waermevorgaenge beim
Schweien. VEBVerlagTechnik.
Schaefer, D. and M. Feldmann (2011). Improved flame
straighteningprocessesof structural componentsmadeof
normal andhigh-strengthsteels. InDillinger Colloquium
Constructional Steelwork, Dillinger Huette GTS.
Schaefer, D., V. Rinaldi, andet. al (2012). Optimizationand
improvement of the flame straightening process. Final
Report RFSR-CT-2007-00040.
Schneider,E.(2000).Untersuchung der materialspezifischen
Einfluesse und verfahrenstechnische Entwicklungen der
Ultraschallverfahren zur Spannungsanalyse an Bauteilen.
Fraunhofer IZFP.
Wieschollek, M., N. Schillo, M. Feldmann, andG. Sedlacek
(2012, J une). Lateral-torsional buckling checks of steel
framesusingsecond-order analysis. Steel Construction 5,
7186.
852
Numerical studyof blockshear strengthof copedbeamsbolted
withangles/tee-section
K.S. Seak&A.C.C. Lam
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Macau, Macau, China
M.C.H.Yam
Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
ABSTRACT: To analyse the complex block shear behaviour of coped beams with a bolted connection, a
numerical study of theblock shear strengthof copedbeams was carriedout. Inthis paper, thefiniteelement
analysis(FEA) wascarriedout andtheresultswerecomparedwiththeexperimental datainYamet al. (2011).
Sevenfull-scalecopedbeamtestresultswereemployedtoexaminetheeffectof differentconnectionspecimens,
includingdoubleclipangles,tee-sectionsandasingleangle.Inthemodels,theboltedconnectionsweresimulated
bylinearspringelementsandtheblockshearfailurewasrepresentedbyremovingelementsonthecorresponding
areasobservedinthetest. Highstressesaccumulatedbetweenthebottomboltholeandthebeamedgeandtension
fracturewasinducedattheultimateload. Thecriterionfor thetensionfracturewasdeterminedbythemaximum
principal stress at theedgeof thebottombolt hole, whichwas comparablewiththetruefracturestress of the
beamweb.
1 INTRODUCTION
Toconnect thesecondary I-beams tothemaingirder
at thesameelevation, thebeamflangesmust oftenbe
removed(coped)toprovideenoughclearanceforprac-
tical purpose.Thecopecanbelocatedatthetopflange,
the bottomflange, or both flanges of the secondary
beamend for different design. Thecoped beams are
connectedtothemainbeambyeitherboltedorwelded
end connections. Double clip angles are commonly
usedtoconnectthecopedbeamstothecolumnflange
ormainbeamweb.Bycontrast,one-sidedconnections,
such as tee-section or singleangle, can simplify the
procedureof fabricationanderectionwhencompared
withthedoubleclipangleconnections.
Block shear failureis morelikely to occur dueto
theremoval of thebeamflanges. Blocksheariscaused
by acombinationof bothtensileandshear failureso
thatablockof material istornout. A schematicof the
block shear failure of coped beamwith bolted con-
nection is shown in Figure 1. This failure in coped
beams was first observed by Birkemoe & Gilmor
(1978). In fact, the web block could be partially or
entirelytornout fromthebeamweb. Theblock shear
behaviour of coped beams had been studied byYura
et al. (1982), Ricles&Yura(1983), Aalberg&Larsen
(2000), Franchuk et al. (2002), Topkaya (2007) and
Yamet al. (2011).
Most of the previous studies focused on coped
beams with bolteddoubleclipangleconnections. In
ordertoinvestigatetheblockshearbehaviourof coped
beams with aone-sided connection, seven full-scale
Figure1. Blockshear failureof copedsteel I-beam.
testshadbeenperformed.Copedbeamspecimenswith
a single bolt line layout connected with double clip
angles, tee-section or single angle were tested. The
testresultscouldbefoundinYametal. (2011). Inthis
study, afiniteelementanalysis(FEA) of thetestspec-
imens was carried out to further examine the block
shear strengthof copedbeamwithaone-sideconnec-
tion based on the experimental results. The validity
of thefiniteelement (FE) modelswasestablishedby
comparing the numerical results of load deflection
curvesfromtheFEmodelswiththosecurvesobtained
fromthetests.
853
Figure2. Typical detailsof thecopedbeamspecimens.
Table 1. Measured dimensions of the coped beam
specimens.
Specimen e
h,b
e
s
e
d,b
s1 s2
no. Designation mm mm mm mm mm
01 A1-13a 28 50 28 75 75
02 T1-13a 28 50 28 74 75
03 A1-13b 50 50 27 75 75
04 T1-13b 50 51 28 75 75
05 T2-13a 27 50 28 75 75
06 T2-13b 51 51 28 75 75
07 A1-13a-S 28 50 29 75 75
2 FINITE ELEMENT MODEL
2.1 Test specimens
Thebeamsectionusedtofabricatethebeamspecimens
was UB40614056 with Grade S355 steel (BSI
2005). Thetopflangewascopedfor all thespecimens
with the same cope depth (d
c
=35mm). In general,
twotypesof bolt layout wereexamined: (1) threebolt
holesinoneboltlinewithanedgedistanceof 28mm,
and(2) threebolt holes inonebolt linewithanedge
distanceof 50mm. Thedetailsandthecorresponding
dimensionsof thetestbeamendsareshowninFigure2
andTable1.
The coped beamend was bolted to the flange of
thesupportingstubcolumnusingeither M22or M24
Grade12.9 bolts. Theconnection specimens, whose
detailswerepresentedinFigure3andTable2,included
twodoubleclipangles,fourtee-sectionsandonesingle
angle.Thefirstpartof thespecimendesignationrepre-
sentedthetypeof connectionspecimen,suchasdouble
clip angles A1(12012012) or atee-section
T1(7.9mm12mmplate) andT2(12mm20mm
plate). The latter part of the designation shows the
numberof boltline(firstnumber),numberof boltrows
(secondnumber) andtheedgedistance(afor 28mm
andbfor 50mm). Anadditional S wasaddedfor the
caseof asingleanglespecimen.
2.2 Boundary simulation
Thetestspecimensweremodelledandanalysedusing
thefiniteelement softwareABAQUS6.9(2009). The
Figure3. Typical detailsof theconnectionspecimens.
Table 2. Measured dimensions of the connection
specimens.
Specimen b d t
w
t
f
h t x
no. Designation mm mm mm mm mm mm mm
01 A1-13a / / / / 120 11.9 36
02 T1-13a 178 96 7.8 11.9 / / 34
03 A1-13b / / / / 120 11.9 36
04 T1-13b 178 118 7.8 11.9 / / 34
05 T2-13a 212 104 11.9 19.7 / / 51
06 T2-13b 212 125 11.9 19.7 / / 51
07 A1-13a-S / / / / 120 11.9 60
wholesteel beam, including thebeamweb, flanges,
and stiffeners, was simulated by three-dimensional
shell elements(S4R).Theconnectionspecimens, such
as angles and tee-sections, were modelled by solid
elements(C3D8R). Figure4showstheFE model for
specimenT1-13aasanexample. Asshowninthefig-
ure, theregions of theload and support on thesteel
beamwerethesameasthoseintheexperimental pro-
gram. Displacement was controlled at the nodes of
the loading region to simulate the loading process.
Sincelateral bracings wereprovidedinthetest, zero
lateral displacement (U3=0) at the corresponding
locations were applied in the model. The bolt holes
connectedtothecolumnwereconstrainedintheout-
of-plane direction (U3=0). Linear spring elements
(SPRING1) wereusedinthehorizontal andtheverti-
cal in-planedirection(U1, U2) tosimulatethebearing
effect of bolts betweentheconnectionspecimenand
theflangeof supportingstubcolumn.
Themesh around all thebolt holes, including the
holes on the beam and connection specimen, was
definedby 18elements alongeach sideandten ele-
ments in the radial direction as shown in Figure 5.
Figure6showsasummary of theelement typesused
in the model. The contacting surfaces between the
beamandtheconnectionspecimenweresimulatedby
the surface-to-surface contact element, with a small
slidingoptionandhardcontact property.
854
Figure 4. Typical finite element model of the whole test
beamandboundaryconditions.
Figure5. Details of themeshof thecopedbeamendand
bolt hole.
Figure6. Element typesusedinthefiniteelement model.
Figure7. Configurationof theSPRING2elementsbetween
thebolt holesof thebeamandconnectionspecimen.
Tosimulatethebearingandshear behaviour of the
bolts between thebeamand theconnection, another
linear spring elements (SPRING2) wereadopted. In
reality, astheloadwasappliedonthetopflangeof the
beam, the contact between the bolts and bolt holes
on the beamwould induce bearing at the top part
of thebolt holes. Sincethebeamend was bolted to
theconnection, thebottompart of thebolt holes on
theconnectionwouldbesubjectedto bearingforces.
Hence, thenodes at thetop of thebolt holes on the
beamwere linked to the nodes at the bottomof the
bolt holes ontheconnection. One-thirdof thenodes
ineachbolt holewereconfiguredwiththeSPRING2
elementsasshowninFigure7.
2.3 Material property
A non-linear material model was selected for the
numerical study to represent the material properties
of steel. Material stress versus strainproperties were
obtained fromthetension coupons test of thespeci-
mens. Sincetruestress (
true
) and trueplastic strain
(
p
true
) were required in the FE model, the nominal
stress(
nom
) andnominal strain(
nom
) evaluatedfrom
thetensioncoupontestswereconvertedtotruestress
andtrueplasticstrainbyEquations1and2.
whereE =Youngsmodulus.
Based on the research of Khoo et al. (2002), a
conservativepost-ultimatestiffness of 200 MPawas
assumed, andthetrueplasticstrainof thematerial was
extrapolatedlinearlyto1.0inthisstudy.A typical true
stressversustrueplasticstraincurveof thesteel beam
webisshowninFigure8.
3 RESULT ANDDISCUSSION
3.1 Load versus deflection curves
A summaryof theultimateload(P) obtainedfromthe
test (P
test
) and FEA (P
FEA
) is shown in Table 3. As
855
Figure8. Typical truestressversustrueplasticstraincurve.
Table3. Summaryof theultimateloadfromtestresultsand
finiteelement analysis.
Spring
P
test
P
FEA
P
test
/P
FEA
stiffness
Designation kN kN ratio N/mm
A1-13a 434.3 456.2 0.95 700
T1-13a 471.9 476.7 0.99 1000
A1-13b 553.4 559.4 0.99 1500
T1-13b 580.7 586.8 0.99 1500
T2-13a 509.5 523.9 0.97 700
T2-13b 675.7 691.1 0.98 1500
A1-13a-S 450.7 455.0 0.99 1000
an example, theload versus deflection curves of the
test andFEA of specimenT1-13aisshowninFigure
9. Suitablestiffnessof thespringelementswasdeter-
minedbybest fittingthenumerical resultsof theload
versus deflection curve to the experimental results.
Samestiffnessof springwasusedforall theSPRING1
and SPRING2 elements in onemodel. It was found
that using the spring stiffness ranged from 700 to
1500N/mmcouldprovidereasonablenumerical load
deflectioncurves,whichmatchedthetestresults.Inthe
experiment, fracture along the tension area between
thebottomboltholeandthebeamedgewasobservedat
theultimateload(Yametal. 2011). Theultimateload,
denoted as (a) in the figure, was identified because
of the tension fracture of the beamweb. The load
wasclearlydroppedinthetest loaddeflectioncurves
afterthetensionfracture.Tosimulatethefracturephe-
nomenon, whenthedeflectioninthemodel reacheda
displacementvaluethatshowedtensionfractureinthe
test, theelementsinthemodel alongthecorrespond-
ingfracturelocationwereremoved.Aftertheelements
alongthetensionareawereremoved, themodel was
allowedtoreachanewequilibriumstate. A loaddrop
could be observed in the numerical load deflection
curveand it was denoted as (b) in Figure9. Hence,
theultimateloadintheFEA couldbeobtainedandit
shouldapproximatetotheexperimental load.
Shear fracturecouldbeobservedinthetest byfur-
ther loading after the tension fracture. To simulate
the failure behaviour on the shear area, a procedure
suggested by Franchuk et al. (2002) was considered
and modified. Firstly, the nominal strain at fracture
(namedascritical nominal strain) wascalculatedfrom
thetensioncoupontest byEquation3below:
whereA
init
=initial cross-sectional areaof thecoupon;
and A
final
=final cross-sectional area of the coupon
after fracture.
Then, thecritical nominal strainwas convertedto
truestrain(namedascritical truestrain) by Equation
4below:
Whentheloadwasapplied, themaximumprincipal
strainof theelementattheedgeof theboltholealong
thetensionareawasmonitored. Whenthismaximum
principal strain reached thevalueof thecritical true
strain, themaximumandminimumprincipal strainsat
thatboltholeedge,
1
and
2
wererecordedfor calcu-
latingthemaximumshear strain,
max
, byEquation5
below:
Thismaximumshear strainvaluewasusedasacri-
terionfor theremoval of elements ontheshear area.
Thisshearareacorrespondedtotheshearfractureloca-
tionobservedinthetest. Whenfour or fiveadjacent
elements alongtheshear areareachedthemaximum
shear strainafter thetensionfracture, thoseelements
would beremoved and themodel was then allow to
settle to a new equilibrium. After that, the loading
increasedagainandtheelementsalongtheshear area
werere-examinedandremovedif necessary.Whenthe
load in the model dropped to a level showing shear
fracture in the test, denoted as (c) in Figure 9, the
analysiswasterminated.
Figure10showstheloadversusdeflectioncurveof
specimenT1-13b. Stage(a) inthefigurerepresentsthe
ultimateloadright beforethetensionfracture. When
comparingFigures9and10, theultimateloadandthe
corresponding deflection for specimenT1-13b were
largerthanthoseforT1-13a.Thisresultagreedwiththe
studyof Ricles&Yura(1983) whichstatedtheblock
shear capacityof copedbeamwasgenerallylarger for
specimens with a longer edge distance (e
h,b
). Simi-
larly, after theultimateloadwasreached, theelements
alongthetensionfracturelocationwereremovedand
theequilibriumstatewasdenotedas(b) inFigure10.
Theshear fracturewasmodelledusingthesametech-
nique for specimen T1-13a and the analysis finally
stoppedat stage(c).
Accordingtotheloaddeflectioncurves, theoccur-
rence of the tension fracture controlled the ultimate
loadandblockshear capacityof thesevenspecimens.
Therefore, tensionfactureintheFEmodelswasfirstly
856
Figure9. Loadversusdeflectioncurveof T1-13a.
Figure10. Loadversusdeflectioncurveof T1-13b.
identified based on the experimental results. At the
stageright beforethetensionfracture, themaximum
principal stress(
pr,max
) intheelement at thebottom
boltholeedgeonthetensionareawasmonitored.This
stressvaluewasthencomparedwiththetruefracture
stress (
f ,true
), whichwas calculatedfromtheresults
of coupontest byEquation6:
where
f
=static fracture stress in coupon test;
A
init
=initial cross-sectional areaof thecoupon; and
A
final
=final cross-sectional areaof thecouponafter
fracture.
ThetwostresseswerecomparedasshowninTable4.
Theratio of thetruefracturestress to themaximum
principal stress ranged from1.14 to 1.20 among the
sevenspecimens.
Table4. Comparisonof themaximumprincipal stressatthe
bottombolt holeedgeandthetruestressat fracture.
Max. principal Truefracture
f ,true
/
stress,
pr,max
stress,
f ,true

pr,max
Designation MPa MPa ratio
A1-13a 549 657 1.20
T1-13a 561 657 1.17
A1-13b 548 657 1.20
T1-13b 554 657 1.19
T2-13a 571 687 1.20
T2-13b 602 687 1.14
A1-13a-S 548 657 1.20
Figure 11. Stress contours of model T1-13a at different
stages.
Figure 12. Stress contours of model T1-13b at different
stages.
3.2 Deformation and stress profile
Thevon Mises stress contours of model T1-13aand
T1-13bareshowninFigures1112inwhichalighter
colour represented a higher stress level. The states
(a), (b) and(c) inthefigures correspondto theload
deflectioncurvesshowninFigures910. Higherstress
level wasfoundinthecopedregionalongthetension
and shear areas of theweb block. Significant yield-
inganddeformationareobservedbetweenthebottom
bolt hole and the beamedge at ultimate load. After
removingtheelements(tensionfracture), thestresses
857
Figure13. Lateral deformationof copedbeamwebof model
T1-13a(thescaleistentimeslarger in3-direction).
around thetension areadrop rapidly. As theloading
wasappliedcontinuously, thestressesaccumulatedon
theshearareaweregettinghigher.Thishighstresspro-
fileleadtotheshear failurewhichisconsistent tothe
shear fracturefailureobservedinthetests.
Itwasobservedthatspecimensconnectedbyaone-
sided connection twisted at the cope and deformed
laterally below the coped region (Yamet al. 2011).
Figure13shows thelateral displacement (U3) of the
model connectedwithatee-section. Sincethedefor-
mationisrelativelysmall, ascaleof tenin3-direction
wasappliedtothedeformedshapeinthefigure. Fur-
therparametricstudiescouldbeestablishedtoexamine
the twisting effect on the block shear behaviour of
copedbeamswithdifferent bolt layouts.
4 CONCLUSION
Sevencopedbeamspecimenswereanalysednumeri-
callytoinvestigatetheblockshear behaviour of coped
steel I-beams by finiteelement analysis (FEA) using
the software ABAQUS. Appropriate boundary con-
ditions, element types and material properties were
applied to establish the model. The FE results were
compared with thetest results and calibrated by the
correspondingloadversusdeflectioncurves.Thetest-
to-predicted ratio of the ultimate load among the
modelsrangedfrom0.94to0.99. Thefractureof the
webblockwassimulatedbyremovingtheelementson
thetensionandshearareasobservedinthetest.Tension
fracturealongthebottombolt rowgoverns theblock
shear capacityof copedbeams. Themaximumprinci-
pal stress at theedgeof thebottombolt holeagainst
thetruefracturestress of thebeamwebwas usedto
identifytheoccurrenceof tensionfracture. Moretests
andmodelsshouldbeperformedtostudythevalidity
of thisstresscriterion.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Theauthors would liketo thank theResearch Com-
mittee of the University of Macau in providing the
financial assistancetothisresearch.
REFERENCES
Aalberg, A. & Larsen, P.K. 2000. Strength and ductility of
boltedconnectionsinnormal andhighstrengthsteels. In
Proceedings of the seventh international symposium on
structural failure and plasticity. Melbourne, Australia.
Abaqus Analysis Users Manual, ABAQUS Standard, Version
6.9. 2009. DSSSimulia.
Birkemoe, P.C. & Gilmor, M.I. 1978. Behavior of bear-
ingcritical double-anglebeamconnections. Engineering
Journal, AISC 15(4):10915.
British Standards Institution (BSI). BS EN 1993-1-8:2005.
Eurocode3: Designof steel structures Part 1-8.
Franchuk, C.R., Driver, R.G. & Grondin, G.Y. 2002. Block
shearbehaviourof copedsteel beams.Structural engineer-
ingreport no. 244. Departmentof Civil andEnvironmental
Engineering. Edmonton, Canada: Universityof Alberta.
Khoo, H.A., Cheng, J.J.R. & Hrudey, T.M. 2002. Determine
steel properties for large strain froma standard tension
test. 2nd Material Speciality Conference of the Canadian
Society for Civil Engineering. Montral, Qubec, Canada.
Ricles, J.M. & Yura, J.A. 1983. Strength of double-row
bolted-webconnections. Journal of Structural Engineer-
ing, ASCE 109(ST12):12642.
Topkaya, C. 2007. Finite element modeling of block shear
failurein coped steel beams. Journal of Constructional
Steel Research 63(4): 54453.
Yam, M.C.H., Lam, A.C.C. & Seak, K.S. 2011. Block
shear strengthof copedbeamswithconnectioneccentric-
ity. 7th International Conference on Steel & Aluminium
Structures. Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia.
Yura, J.A., Birkemoe, P.C. & Ricles, J.M. 1982. Beamweb
shear connections: anexperimental study. Journal of the
Structural Division, ASCE 108(ST2):31125.
858
Re-evaluationof shear strengthof highstrengthboltsinAS4100
R.H.R. Tide
Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc., Northbrook, Illinois, USA
ABSTRACT: Theboltshear capacityfor longconnectionshasbeendeterminedfollowingtheLoadandResis-
tanceFactorDesign(LRFD)philosophy. Historical testdatawereobtainedtojustifytheadoptionof highstrength
bolts designatedbyASTM asA325(Gr 8.8) andA490(Gr 10.9). Fromthetest datatheReliability Index ()
weredeterminedbasedontheappropriateCapacity Factor () or Resistance. Theresearchtest datadoes not
support theEurocode3provision, whichisthebasisof theAS4100provision, that indicatesthat thebolt shear
strengthincreaseswithboltdiameter for anyonegradeof bolt. Thisinvestigationidentifiedaboltedconnection
conditionwhereinwithappropriateconnectionstrengthandquasi-stiffness therewouldbeno needto reduce
thebolt shear strengthwithconnectionlength. ThisconditionwasapproximatelyachievedwhenbothAS4100
checksfor yieldingonthegrosssectionandfractureonthenet sectionof theconnectionplatesweresatisfied.
1 INTRODUCTION
Theexact solutionfor theloaddistributioninalong
boltedconnectionwasdevelopedbyFisher(1965) and
resulted in n non-linear simultaneous equations for
n bolts in arow. Becausetheload-deformation rela-
tionships for the bolts and plates are required, it is
not a practical solution for design purposes. There-
fore, empirical solutions were developed for bolted
connections.
Theshear strengthof ahighstrengthbolt is given
by the following general equation. According to AS
4100Clause9.3.2, Standards(1998), theboltultimate
shear strength with threads excluded fromtheshear
plane(s)inLoadandResistanceFactorDesign(LRFD)
notationisV
f
V
f
and:
Andtheconnectionlengthreductionfactor:
where:
A
o
=nominal plainshankbolt area(mm
2
)
v
=shear/tensionstrengthratio
=0.62threadsexcludedfromshear plane
k
r
=connectionlengthreductionfactor
=0.80,capacityfactor (resistance)
l
j
=connectionlength(mm)
f
uf
=minimumtensilestrengthof bolt (N/mm
2
)
n
x
=number of shear planeswithout threads
interceptingtheshear plane
InNorthAmericathehighstrengthbolt shear design
valuesarebasedonanextensiveresearchprogramcon-
ducted by thesteel industry at theFritz Engineering
Laboratory, LehighUniversitybetweenthe1950sand
theearly1970s.Aswasthecustomatthetime, thehigh
strength bolts were fully pretensioned. Bolt threads
wereexcludedfromtheshearplane.Inaddition,anear-
lier researchinvestigationat theUniversityof Illinois
and University of California was reviewed concern-
ingrivetedconnectionsfortheSanFrancisco-Oakland
BayBridge. Therolesof the12basicvariablegroups
resultedinapproximately 45test variables whichare
describedandsummarizedintheGuide, Kulak(1987)
andwill notberepeatedinthispaper.All of thetestdata
is assembled and reported by Tide (2010). Because
of theincompletebackgroundinformationor applica-
bility, out of 119possibletests only 49ASTM A325
(Gr 8.8) and18ASTM A490(Gr 10.9) bolt tests are
applicable.
2 CONNECTIONTESTS
2.1 Bolt data
Fromthe identified 11 papers and reports, the pub-
lishedtest ultimateshear strengthof eachconnection
was reduced to an average ultimate shear strength,
P
Test
, of asingleconnector loadedontwoshear planes
(doubleshear). Thepredictedultimateshear strength
of the same connector was computed, Tide (2010),
usingthereportedappropriatesingleshear connector
test datatimestwo, P
Pred
, for eachlot of bolts.
The ratio P
Test
/P
Pred
was then computed to com-
paretheresults,leavingconnectionlengthasthesingle
independentvariable.All of thereconfiguredtestdata
is plotted in Figure 1. The solid lines represent the
currentAS4100, Standards(1998), criteriaincluding
thelengthreductionfactor. Thedottedlinerepresents
859
Figure1. Connectiontest resultswithcurrentAS4100andproposedcriteriasuperimposed.
thesamefunctionmultipliedbytheAS4100Capacity
Factor (), equal to 0.80, for bolt shear. Theplotted
data are in a non-dimensional form, eliminating the
independent variables of bolt diameter, material type
andconnectionconfiguration.
Thehistorical tests wereperformedonfully tight-
enedhighstrengthboltswithhardenedwashersusing
theturn-of-nutmethod.Ahighdegreeof slipresistance
(friction) wasachieved. For longconnectiontests, the
bolt pretension, andresultingslipresistance, didcon-
tribute to the connection capacity and the effect is
demonstrated by examining Figure 1. The eight test
datawithconnectionlengthgreater than880mmand
above a 0.90 P
Test
/P
Pred
level satisfied both connec-
tionrequirementsfor grossandnetarea, identifiedby
circles, indicatethattheshear strengthof all boltswas
achieved.Whenonlyoneorneitherof thearearequire-
mentswassatisfiedthetest resultsarerepresentedby
atriangleorasquare, respectively. Regardless, thetest
resultscanstill beusedfor snugtight boltedconnec-
tions because the frictional component is offset by
using a Capacity Factor (Resistance) () and other
modifyingfactor(s) tobedevelopedinthispaper. As
reportedintheliterature, Fisher (1968), theboltswere
ordered and supplied near the low end of the appli-
cableASTM standard. Incontrast, theindividual bolt
testdataindicatethattheboltsusedinthehistorictest
connectionswereabovethelowendof expectedtensile
strength.
A reviewof Figure1indicates that thetest results
fall intoseveral groupingsthatsuggestdifferentdesign
criteria for different connection lengths, as indi-
cated by the AS 4100 criteria. It appears there is
a band of data above the 0.90 P
Test
/P
Pred
level that
extends across the full connection length. There is
another groupof datathat slopesdownwardsbetween
approximately375mmandapproximately1,000mm.
After 1,000mm, theboundary lineis aminimumof
approximately 0.60P
Test
/P
Pred
. Obviously, therearea
fewtest datarandomly scatteredthroughout theplot.
ThemostsignificantissueidentifiedinFigure1occurs
when the length reduction factor (k
r
) is evaluated.
A reviewof theCommentary toAS 4100, Standards
(1998), indicatesthat thelengthreductionfactor was
adopted and modified by substituting a 20mmbolt
diameterintotheEurocode3, CEN(2003), connection
lengthcriteria.
2.2 Other connection tests and issues
Recently Moore(2010) reportedtheresults on1,533
highstrengthbolt tests. TheprogramincludedASTM
A325, A490, F1852 and F2280 bolts. Thelatter two
arenominallyreferredtoastensioncontrol boltsthat
arecomparabletoA325(Gr 8.8) andA490(Gr 10.9)
bolts, respectively. Theprogramreportedthreadsboth
included in and excluded fromtheshear plane. Ten-
siontestswereperformedtocalibratethevariouslots
of bolts. Compared to theearlier Lehigh tests, these
bolts weretested in thesnug tight condition and not
fully pretensioned with no significant difference in
results.
All of the tests, both historic and current, were
conducted on uniaxial loaded specimens and there-
forenoneof thesecondary effects of eccentricity or
load distribution due to connection geometry were
incorporatedinthebolt shear strength. For beamand
girderendconnectionstheparabolicsheardistribution
is replacedby anaverageshear distribution. Intruss
design, thepanel pointrelativedisplacementsaretyp-
ically ignored and themembers and connections are
designedasuniaxial pin-endedmembers.
860
Thetestdatathatisplottedabovethe0.90P
Test
/P
Pred
level with connection lengths greater than 880mm,
see Figure 1, indicate that under certain conditions
thereisnoreductioninconnectioncapacityregardless
of theconnectionlength. Theearlyresearchindicated
that A
n
/A
s
was anindicator of increasingconnection
capacity asA
n
/A
s
increased. A
n
isthenet areaof the
connection material andA
s
is thetotal shear areaof
theboltsintheconnection.
3 BOLT SHEAR DESIGNCRITERIA
The design of a bolted connection, of necessity,
must includetheproperties of theplates and shapes
that are being connected, Tide (2010). In AS 4100,
Clause7.2thecriteriafor fractureonthenet section
(N
t
=0.85k
t
A
n
f
u
), including the arbitrary 0.90 fac-
tor, results in the proposed minimumplate net area
expressedas:
Similarly, the plate yielding (gross area) (N
t
=
A
g
f
y
), limit condition is modified by increasing the
computed coefficient valuefrom0.50 to 0.52 which
resultsinthefollowinggrossareaequation:
where:
A
g
=grossareaof connectionmaterial (mm
2
)
A
n
=net areaof connectionmaterial (mm
2
)
A
s
=total bolt areainshear planes(mm
2
)
f
ub
, f
uf
=tensilestrengthof bolt (N/mm
2
)
f
u
, f
up
=nominal connectionmaterial tensile
strength(N/mm
2
)
f
y
, f
yp
=yieldstressof theconnectionmaterial
(N/mm
2
)
k
t
=thecorrectionfactorfordistributionof forces
determinedinaccordancewithClause7.3
Equations 3 and 4 provide an empirical method
of limiting the strain in plates of a bolted connec-
tion and are a straight-forward solution without the
needtosolvetheexact non-linear simultaneousequa-
tions. Another benefit isthat aconstant valueof 0.90
isassignedtothelengthreductionfactor, k
r
. Further-
more, thelengthreductionfactor, k
r
, canbeeliminated
completely,orsetequal to1.0,providedtheconnection
designer candemonstratethatthesecondorder effects
of beamendrotationor truss panel point differential
movement areof nosignificance.
4 RELIABILITY
4.1 Historic approach
With the bolt shear strength design criteria estab-
lished, it is now possible to evaluate the results in
termsof LRFD procedures. TheReliability Index, ,
isdetermined, Fisher (1978):
And the corresponding Capacity Factor (Resis-
tance) () is:
where:
Q=meanloadeffect
R=meanresistance
R
m
=meantest value
R
n
=proposeddesigncriteria,includingk
r
V
Q
, V
R
=coefficientsof variationfor Q and(R),
respectively
In Equation 5, is required to solve for . This
dilemmaisresolvedbyusing=0.80fromthecurrent
AS4100Standard.
The critical issues in bolt shear strength are the
importanceof connectionstrengthandquasi-stiffness
as theconnections becomelonger. Oncetheconnec-
tion strength and quasi-stiffness exceed a predeter-
mined amount, length is no longer a variable in the
performanceof aconnection. Therefore, thetest data
were examined for both cases; first by examining
thetotal applicabledatabaseof high strength bolts,
and then by examining the database above the 0.90
P
Test
/P
Pred
ratiolevel.
4.2 Evaluation of test data
The current AS 4100 design criteria were examined
for all theapplicablebolt test resultsfor nominal live
todeadloadratiosof 2to5.Theresultsfor and are
giveninTable1indicatingthat theReliability Index
() variesfrom4.7to2.6. A ReliabilityIndexvalueof
approximately 2.6is unacceptably lowfor aconnec-
tion. Thefewlongconnections satisfiedEquations 3
and4andtypicallyhaveacceptable values.
The significance of the low Reliability Index is
highlightedwhenthecorrespondingCapacityFactor/
Resistance() iscalculated.Althoughthestartingbolt
resistanceof 0.80was used, therecalculatedaverage
valueis0.802withsignificantvariation.Thisindicates
that theoverall design criteria for long connections,
althoughinconsistent, resultsinanacceptablevalue.
Figure1indicatesthatthetestresultsabovethe0.90
P
Test
/P
Pred
level andwithconnectionlength, l
j
equal to
or greater than880mmhave, essentially, no strength
reductionwithlength. This data, ninetests, has been
reviewed independent of the overall database and is
amplejustificationfor proposingarevisiontotheAS
4100 Standard design criteria. The current AS 4100
criteriaappeartocontradicthowhighstrengthboltsare
861
Table1. Reliabilityindex() andcapacityfactor () valuesfor existingas4100criteria.
Reliabilityindex() Capacityfactor ()*
P
Test
P
Pred Connection Live/deadloadratio Live/deadloadratio
length No. of Mean Std.
(mm) k
r
tests value Dev.** 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0
267 1.0 21 0.988 0.0293 3.7 3.5 3.4 3.3 0.816 0.825 0.830 0.833
533 0.942 9 0.893 0.0889 3.1 3.0 3.0 2.9 0.753 0.760 0.764 0.766
800 0.875 7 0.772 0.0804 2.8 2.7 2.6 2.6 0.716 0.721 0.724 0.726
1067 0.808 7 0.848 0.176 2.8 2.7 2.7 2.7 0.746 0.749 0.752 0.754
1327 0.750 5 0.817 0.164 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.8 0.764 0.768 0.772 0.774
1575 0.750 3 0.886 0.145 3.6 3.5 3.4 3.4 0.820 0.829 0.834 0.838
2133 0.750 2 0.974 0.086 4.7 4.5 4.3 4.3 0.939 0.954 0.963 0.969
* (average)=0.802.
**StandardDeviation.
Table2. Bolt diameter comparison.
Net area Grossarea
0.90A
s
f
uf
f
up
0.90A
s
f
uf
f
up
A
n
A
g
P
Test
P
Pred
mm
2
10
3

mm
2
10
3

mm
2
10
3

mm
2
10
3
Bolt* D** l
j
Test no. ASTM (mm) (mm) Ratio Ratio
16 A490 28.6 1067 1.049 15.3 12.9 1.19 18.5 14.3 1.29
19 A490 22.2 2134 1.035 21.7 15.5 1.40 24.3 17.2 1.41
6 A325 28.6 889 1.036 10.0 8.58 1.17 12.2 9.03 1.35
51 A490 22.2 1600 1.051 19.4 12.1 1.61 21.8 21.3 1.02
9 A490 22.2 1067 1.013 19.2 11.4 1.68 21.7 19.7 1.10
10 A325 22.2 1067 0.988 16.8 9.55 1.76 19.2 16.6 1.16
79 A325 22.2 1334 0.917 29.8 23.2 1.28 34.7 38.7 0.89
17 A490 22.2 1422 1.016 11.9 10.3 1.16 13.2 11.3 1.17
18 A490 22.2 2134 0.913 15.9 15.5 1.03 18.3 17.2 1.06
*A325boltsandA490boltsareequivalent toGr 8.8andGr 10.9, respectively.
**Bolt Diameter (D), 22.2mmand28.6mmare7/8in. and11/8in., respectively.
produced,whetherbychemical composition(alloying)
or byheat treating.
4.3 Influence of bolt diameter
A review of the test data does not support the con-
cept of increasedconnectionstrengthwithincreasing
bolt diameter, other than the effect of total shear
planearea. TheresultsaresummarizedinTable2for
22.2mmand 28.6mmbolts and connection lengths
of 889mmto 2134mm. The smaller diameter bolt
at 1600mm(Test No. 51) hadahigher strengthratio
thanthelarger diameter bolt(TestNo. 16) atashorter
connection length of 1067mm. Tests Nos. 6 and 19
reinforcethisbyindicatingthat it isnot dependent on
Gr 8.8or Gr 10.9bolts.Atshortconnectionlengthsof
267mmtheinterpretationof theresultsarethesame.
The variables that more significantly influence
strengtharetheratios of theactual connectiongross
andnet areasrelativetothelimit conditionsrequired
by applicable AS 4100 provisions. The previously
identified four connections in Table 2 (Nos 51, 16,
6and19) demonstratethat connectionstrengthisnot
influencedbybolt diameter, onlyasafunctionof bolt
shear areaor total number of bolts. Thisisreinforced
bytheadditional fivetests(Nos9, 10, 79, 17and18)
seen inTable2. Eight of theseninetests areidenti-
fiedasrounddotsinFigure1. Theninthtest (No. 79)
isidentifiedasatriangle(at1334mm). Essentially, as
longasthegrossandnetarearatioexceed(orcloseto)
unitythereisnoreductioninboltshearcapacityasthe
connection becomes longer regardless of bolt diam-
eter. This generally occurs whenever the connection
satisfiestheAS4100provisions.
4.4 Linear regression analysis
Another waytolookatthedataistocomparetheReli-
ability Index () andtheproposeddesigncriteriafor
thediscreetlengthsof 267mm, 880mm, 1413mmand
2540mm, asshowninTable3, abovethearbitrary0.90
P
Test
/P
Pred
level. Theresults at thediscreet length of
862
Table 3. Reliability index and capacity factor for
proposeddesigncriteria.
Connection Std.
length(mm) R
m
Dev.***
267* 1.009 0.0088 4.16 0.92
880** 1.020 0.0531 4.07 0.90
1413** 1.002 0.0531 3.99 0.89
2540** 0.964 0.0531 3.81 0.86
*Basedonninediscreet tests.
**Basedonregressionanalysis.
***StandardDeviation.
267mmareindependentof theregressionanalysisand
arefor nineother teststhat satisfy theAS 4100crite-
riafor grossandnetarea.A linear regressionequation
is developed using the nine test data for connection
lengthsfrom889mmto2134mm.
Thenon-dimensional equationis:
A mean value of 1.002 is obtained at 1413mm
having astandard deviation of 0.0531. Theseresults
shown in Table 3 indicate that there is no strength
reductionastheconnectionlengthincreases. Thisfur-
ther reinforces the statement made in the previous
sectionindicatingthattheconnectionstrengthisnota
functionof bolt diameter, but total bolt shear area.
TheReliabilityIndex() andCapacityFactor() in
Table3areobtainedbycomputingtheratioof thestan-
darddeviationto theregressiontest valueat discreet
connectionlengths,subsequentcalculationsfollowthe
sameproceduredemonstratedbyTide(2010).
5 SUMMARY ANDACKNOWLEDGEMENT
A reviewof thehistoric researchtest datawas made
to determine bolt shear strength in terms of LRFD
principles.A total of 119connectiontestswereidenti-
fied.Theuseful connector distributionwas; 49ASTM
A325 (GR 8.8) bolts and 18 A490 (Gr 10.9) bolts.
Therivet, Huckbolt, andshingleconnectiondatawas
removed fromthe date base. Because of the many
connection variables, the test data were reduced to
a non-dimensional formto limit the significance of
all the variables. As a result, the connection length
remainedasthedesiredandpredominateindependent
variable.
Thecurrent LRFD principles haveatarget Relia-
bility Index () of approximately 4 for connections
including slip critical connections and bolt bearing
connections. Because the bolt itself is a manufac-
tured product, there is some leeway as to what is
acceptable.
Thestudyindicatedthatundercircumstancesof suf-
ficient connectionstrength, as manifestedby thenet
area(A
n
), andinconjunctionwithsufficient connec-
tion quasi-stiffness, as manifested by theconnection
gross area(Ag) incomparisonto thetotal bolt shear
area (A
s
), there would be no need for a connec-
tionstrengthreductionlessthan0.90withincreasing
length. This condition exists when the inequalities
expressed in Equations 3 and 4 are satisfied. Equa-
tions3and4areessentiallymodifiedandre-arranged
versionsof thecurrentAS4100criteriafor grossand
net area requirements. Equation 4 indicates that the
connectionplatesremainessentiallyelasticasthebolt
ultimateshear strengthisreached.
Equations 3 and 4 criteria for long connections
when snug tight bolts areused, has not been experi-
mentallyconfirmed, however, thestrengthcomponent
attributedtothefrictionhasbeenoffsetbythe value
of 0.80, includingtheproposedlengthreductionfac-
tor of 0.90 and increasing thegross areacoefficient
requirement inEquation4from0.50to0.52. Further-
more, using a constant length reduction factor (k
r
)
equal to 0.90 minimizes the need to consider sec-
ond order effects for routine connections. The data
suggests that the0.90lengthreductionfactor canbe
eliminated if both Equations 3 and 4 are satisfied
and an analysis shows that second order effects are
negligible.
Thestatistical studywasbasedonASTMA325(Gr
8.8) andA490(Gr 10.9) bolts; however, whenthelim-
itedrivet andHuck bolt datawerecomparedwiththe
bolt results, noinconsistencieswerefound. Similarly,
the connection plate material varied fromrelatively
lowtensilestrengthASTM A7steel (452N/mm
2
) to
highstrengthA514steel (837N/mm
2
) withintermedi-
atestrengthA440andA572steel alsoused, againwith
noinconsistenciesandnoapparentstatistical bias.This
indicatesthattheprocedureisacceptableforall current
gradesof connectors, platesandshapes. Inconclusion,
theproposeddesigncriteriaessentially eliminatethe
needtoreducetheboltshearstrengthastheconnection
lengthincreases. Reliability Index () values near or
above4areachievedforthoselongboltedconnections
that satisfy theAS 4100 gross and net area criteria.
If the overall design, including the connections, has
negligible second order effects there is no need for
alengthreductionfactor whatsoever.
The author wishes to acknowledge several col-
leagues who assisted himin this bolted connection
study. T.V. Galamboswhoset uptheReliabilityIndex
procedure that was used to calibrate , and D.D.
Cramptonof WJ E whoperformedall thespreadsheet
iterationstolocatethepreferreddesigncriteria.
REFERENCES
CEN, 2003. Eurocode3: Designof Steel Struc-tures,Euro-
peanCommitteefor Standardization, Brussels, Belgium.
Fisher, J.W. & J.L. Rumpf, 1965. Analysis ofBolted Butt
J oints,J ournal of theStructural Division,ASCE,Vol. 91,
No. ST5.
Fisher, J.W. & G.L. Kulak, 1968. Tests of Bol-ed Butt
Splices, J ournal of the Structural Division, ASCE,
Vol. 94, ST1.
Fisher, J.W., T.V. Galambos, 1978. G.L. Kulak &
M.K. Ravindra, Load and Resistance Factor Design
863
Criteriafor Connectors, J ournal of Structural Division,
ASCE, Vol. 104, No. ST9.
Kulak, G.L., J.W. Fisher & J.H.A Struik, 1987. Guide
to Design Criteria for Bolted and Riveted J oints,
2nd edition, J ohn Wiley and Sons, New York,
NewYork.
Moore, A.M., G.A. Rassati & J.A. Swanson, 2010. An
Experimental Analysis of Strength and Ductility of
High-Strength Fasteners, Engineering J ournal, Vol. 47,
No. 3, 2010, American Institute of Steel Construction,
Inc., Chicago, Illinois.
Standards Australia, 1998. Steel Structures AS 4100,
Sydney, NSW.
Tide, R.H.R, 2010. Bolt Shear Design Consider-ations,
Engineering J ournal, Vol. 47, No. 1, American Institute
of Steel Construction, Inc., Chicago, Illinois.
864
A comparativestudyontheperformanceof thedamagedetectionmethods
inthefrequencydomain
M. Makki Alamdari, J. Li & B. Samali
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Duringlasttwodecades, avastnumber of damagedetectionmethodshavebeenproposedeither
in frequency or timedomain. Thesemethods normally havetheir own advantages and limitations or suitable
applications; thepurposeof thisstudyistoexaminetheperformanceof thesomepopularmethodsonlocalisation
apossibledamageonasamplestructure. All of thechosenmethods arebasedonthefrequency domaindata
and work based on proposing a damage sensitive indicator which contains spatial information. Mode shape
curvature, frequency responsefunctions curvature, modal strainenergy, flexibility matrix andspatial wavelet
transformwereamongstthosedamagedetectionmethodswerechosenfor thisstudy. Thecasestudyconsidersa
clamped-clampedbeamwhichwasmodelledbysolidelementsinorder todefineseveral damagestagesbased
on different crack depth. Damagewas simulated by reduction in elastic modulus of theelements in damage
zone. The transient response of the structure due to an external impact excitation was obtained by ANSYS
andthenpollutedbydifferentpercentagesof whitenoise. Thetime-domainresponsesatselectedevenly-spaced
locationswasthenprocessedbyMATLABtoachievetheFRFsandmodeshapesrespectivelybyapplyingFourier
transformandeigenvaluerealizationalgorithm(ERA). Basedontheobtainedresults, it wasfoundthat despite
someof thesemethodsweresuggestedbysomanyresearchers, theycompletelyfail inlocalisingdamageinthe
structureevenat highlevel of damageseverity.
Keywords: DamageLocalisation, FrequencyResponseFunction, ModeShape
1 INTRODUCTION
In recent years, engineering community has turned
its attention to monitor the integrity of critical civil
infrastructuresspecially theagedcivil infrastructures
inorder toensurepublicsafety; despiteof agreatdeal
of researchinthisfield, arobust andreliabledamage
detectionmethodthatcanbeappliedinlargescalecivil
structureunder real worldconditiontodetect, allocate
andevaluatedamagehas not yet beendemonstrated.
In this study the viability of five well-known meth-
ods inlocalisationof damageinpresenceof noiseis
examined.
1.1 Mode shape curvature
This method was originally developed by Pandey
(1991) and Ratcliffe (1997). They found that
Laplacianoperator onmodeshapes whichis usually
knownascurvature, providesuseful informationabout
thedamagelocation.
where
i,j
referstoithdegreeof freedominjthmode.
Thereforedamageindexcanbedefinedasequation(2)
and the damage location is correlated to maximum
element indamageindexvector.
Therearesomeproblemsapplyingthismethodfor
damagedetection; first, themodal dataof thehealthy
structureis not always available. Theincompleteness
of datarelatedtohigher modeswhicharemoresensi-
tivetopossibleabnormalitiesinthestructureisanother
concern with this method; furthermore, extracting
modal parameters fromthemeasuredtimeresponses
isanerror-proneprocesswhichleadstounreliableand
inaccurateresults.
1.2 FRF curvature
Frequency Response Functions are another popular
groupwidely usedfor damagedetectionpurposes in
classical methods as these data are less error-prone
compared with modal data; on the other hand there
is noneedfor any extensivedataprocessing/analysis
suchasmodal extraction.Theotheradvantageaccom-
panyingFRF-basedmethodliesinthefact that unlike
mode shapes they are more original data before
867
extraction which provides abundanceof information
inawider rangeof frequency. Sampaio et al. (1999)
for the first time showed that FRF curvature con-
tainsuseful informationfordetection, localisationand
quantification purposes. Thebasis of this method is
similar tomodeshapecurvaturewithadifferencethat
thenumber of datawhichis usedtodevelopdamage
indexismuchhigher.
where
i,j
denotedmeasuredfrequencyresponsefunc-
tion at ith degree of freedom due to excitation at
jth degreeof freedom. In this casedamageindex is
definedasbelow:
Availability of FRF data fromthe baseline struc-
tureisagainaproblemwiththismethod. Tosolvethis
problem, later onGappedSmoothingMethod(GSM)
wasproposedbyRatcliffeandBagaria(1998). Inthis
methodacubicpolynomial isfittocurvaturefunction
asfollows:
wherecoefficientsof p
0
top
3
for point i areobtained
based on calculated curvatures
i2
,
i1
,
i+1
,
i+2
from equation (3) and finally damage index is
definedas
Thereis oneproblemwiththis methodwhichlies
inthefact that this methodassumes thecurvatureof
the healthy structure is smooth which is not always
thecase.
1.3 Modal strain energy
Modal strain energy was another frequency domain-
basedmethodintroducedbyStubbset al. for damage
detection purposes (1992, 1995). As modal strain
energyisafunctionof thecurvatureof themodeshapes
so it often contains useful enhanced information for
damagelocalisationpurposes.
which u
ij
refers to the elastic energy in jth element
becauseof deformationof thestructureinitsithmode.
Hence, thedamageindexcanbedescribesas
1.4 Flexibility matrix
Flexibility matrix was another damage sensitive
parameter drawn wide attention and was first intro-
ducedby Pandey (1994). Themainadvantageof this
method lies in thefact that flexibility matrix can be
accurately estimated by only a few measured lower
frequency modes andthis fact overcomes theincom-
pleteness of the data measurement related to higher
modes. Flexibility matrix can be reconstructed by
measuredmodal dataasbelow:
Damageindex can bedescribed as thedifference
between the flexibility matrix in its baseline and
damagedstates.
For eachcolumnof thematrix , therownumber
correspondingtothemaximumelementinthatcolumn
describesthedamagespot.
1.5 Spatial wavelet transform
Wavelet transformduetoitsexceptional capabilityto
detecthiddenaspectsof asignal anditslocal variations
has receivedmuch attention in theresearch commu-
nity. Early investigations of wavelet transform for
damagedetectionpurposeswascarriedout bySurace
et al. (1994). They examinedthespatially distributed
vibrationresponseof acrackedbeambywavelettrans-
formand could detect the crack location. Later on,
Wang et al. demonstrated the feasibility of wavelet
transformin thelocalisation of cracks in atransver-
sallyvibratedbeamaswell asaplate(1999). Wavelet
analysisstartsbychoosingappropriatewaveletfamily
asabasisfunction(x) andthenwaveletsaregener-
ated fromthemother wavelet by translation (k) and
dilation (j). For the discrete case, the basis function
canberepresentedby
DiscreteWavelet Transform(DWT) of signal f (x)
canbeachievedby
whereC
j,k
comprisesthewaveletcoefficientsof func-
tionf (x) withrespect towavelet (x). By examining
thedistribution of thewavelet coefficients it will be
possibletodetect any suddenchangeduetopossible
structural abnormality. Inthispaper theperformance
of the wavelet decomposition method proposed by
Makki et al. (2012) is examined and the results are
compared with other methods. In this method, the
normalisedversionof FRFs curvatureis considered
868
Figure1. DamagecaseI, theratioof damagedepthtothe
beamheight, a/h =1/5.
as shape functions. First, the curvature profiles are
developedbasedonequation(3) as,
Andthen, they arenormalizedwithrespect to the
maximumvalueinthat profileasfollows,
where N refers to number of measured frequency
coordinates. Therefore the new shape functions for
eachfrequencycoordinatecanbedevelopedas:
Shape functions are decomposed by conducting
Haarwavelettodetectthelocationof possibledamage.
Oneof theadvantages of this methodlies inthefact
that thereis no need for datafromthehealthy state.
Ontheotherhand,asthefrequencydataarenormalized
theinfluenceof lowerfrequencypartof FRFsenhances
whichisconsideredamilestoneof thismethodasexci-
tationof higher frequenciesisnotpossibleinsomany
applications.
2 NUMERICAL SIMULATION
The numerical model is a two-fixed-end beam
withdimension10.10.1m
3
. TheFiniteElement
Model (FEM) was createdinANSYS by usingthree
dimensional 20-node solid elements (SOLID 186)
with quadratic displacement behaviour in order to
enhancetheaccuracy of theresponses. Damagewas
located in themiddleof thebeamand simulated by
reductionintheelementselasticmodulus.
Twodifferent damagecaseswereintroducedat the
bottomof the beambased on the ratio of the dam-
agedepthto thebeamheight, 1/5and5/5whichare
respectivelyshowninfigures1and2. Thestructureis
excitedattopsurfacebyanimpactloadingwithampli-
tude1000(N)andthelateral displacementalongupper
frontal edge of the beamwas extracted in selected
evenly-spacedlocationsduringonesecond. Byapply-
ingFourier transformonmeasuredresponsesaswell
asinputforcesignal, thefrequencyresponsefunctions
wereachieved. Figure4, comparestheFRFsinhealthy
anddamagestates.
Figure2. DamagecaseII, theratioof damagedepthtothe
beamheight, a/h =5/5.
Figure3. Comparisonbetweenreceptances inhealthy and
damagedstructures.
Figure4. Comparisonbetweenreceptances inhealthy and
damagedstructures(10%noise).
As depicted in figure 3, the difference between
FRFs is much considerable in higher frequencies
which demonstrates this idea that higher modes are
muchmoresensitivetopossibleabnormalitiesthrough
thestructure.
3 EIGENVALUE REALIZATIONALGORITHM
In order to extract modal parameters, Eigenvalue
RealizationAlgorithm(ERA) wasappliedtoidentify
natural frequenciesaswell asmodeshapes.
Thedynamic of aN-degreeof freedomsystemin
thestatespacecanberepresentedby:
wherevectors X, F andY arerespectively statevec-
tor, control forceinput vector andobservationvector.
869
AndmatricesA, B andC arerespectivelystatetransi-
tionmatrix, input locationmatrixandoutput location
matrix.
Inthestructural systemidentification, theobjective
istodeterminethestatetransitionmatrix, A according
to known observation and input vectors. ERA starts
with producing Impulse Response Functions (IRF)
with taking Inverse Fourier Transformof measured
FRFs.
The accuracy of the identified system is highly
dependent on the extracted impulse response data.
LetssaytheL measuredIRFsaregatheredatkthtime
stepinvector H(k) asfollows
Developing H at different time steps results in
Hankel matrixasbelow:
where and arearbitrary positiveintegers. Using
SingularValueDecomposition(SVD), wecanwrite:
Andfinallytransitionmatrixcanbeestimatedas
where matrices U, V and S have been truncated by
keeping only their first 2N columns. Having system
realization matrix A, provides identification of the
modal parametersbasedonthefollowingprocedure:
whereZ andarerespectivelyeigenvaluesandeigen-
vectorsof matrixA. Natural frequenciesw
r
andmode
shapes canbeobtainedvia:
Figure 5. Damage index, mode shapes curvature,
noise-free.
The first four flexural modes of the aforemen-
tioned structure in healthy and damage states are
determinedbyperformingERA procedure. Byexam-
iningthemodeshapes, asuddenchangeintheprofiles
at damagelocationcanbeseen.
At this moment all the required data for damage
detection purposes has been obtained based on the
measured responses. In thenext step, 10%normally
distributedband-limitedwhitenoisewasaddedtoorig-
inal timeresponses in order to pollutethedata. The
same post-processing and modal analysis procedure
werecarriedoutinpresenceof noiseandtheFRFsand
modal parameterswereextracted.TheFRFinthepres-
enceof noiseisshowninfigure5. Asillustrated, the
dataaresignificantly disturbedwithhighpercentage
of whitenoise.
4 DAMAGE DETECTION
The performance of five selected frequency-based
damagedetectionmethodsisexaminedinlocalisation
of damagethroughthestructure:
a. ModeShape-Curvature
b. FRF-Curvature
c. Modal StrainEnergy
d. FlexibilityMatrix
e. Spatial WaveletTransform
Theeffectiveness of thesemethods is explored in
twodifferentcases: small damageintensitywithdam-
agedepthtoheightratio1/5andhighlevel of damage
with damagedepth to height ratio 5/5. Furthermore,
therobustnessof themethodstothenoiseisexplored
in presenceof high level noise, of 10%. Theresults
in noise-free situation are shown in figures 5 to 9.
Based on results, it can be seen in noise-free situa-
tionall methodscanproperlydetecthighlevel damage
inthestructure. Boththeflexibility matrix andFRF-
curvature have difficulty to localise damage in the
small damagecase. As expected, strainenergy-based
method is better than mode shapes curvature-based
methodbutthedifferenceissmall asbotharerelatedto
secondderivativeof themodeshapes.Theresultsfrom
Haar waveletdecompositionlooksverypromising; as
870
Figure6. Damageindex, FRFscurvature, noise-free.
Figure7. Damageindex, modal strainenergy, noise-free.
Figure8. Damageindex, flexibilitymatrix, noise-free.
Figure9. Damageindex, HaarWavelet, level 10, noise-free.
this method relies on FRFs instead of modeshapes,
which allows it to avoid error-prone modal analysis
process. Inthesecondinvestigation, therobustnessof
the methods on damage localisation is examined in
presence of high level noise. The results have been
shown in figures 10 to 13. Fromthe results it can
beseenthat withnoiseexistencetheeffectiveness of
localisation of existing damage by each method has
beengreatlyjeopardisedevenforthedetectionof high
level damage.
Figure 10. Damage index, mode shapes curvature (10%
noise).
Figure11. Damageindex, modal strainenergy(10%noise).
Figure12. Damageindex, flexibilitymatrix(10%noise).
Figure 13. Damage index, Haar Wavelet, level 10 (10%
noise).
However, the only exception is the wavelet
decomposition-based method. Although it is also
greatly affected by high level noise, themethod can
still comfortably detect severedamageandhasarea-
sonable indication in detecting a small damage (see
figures12and13).
871
5 CONCLUSION
Thispaper examinedtheeffectivenessandrobustness
of five known frequency domain damage detection
methodswithandwithoutpresenceof noise. Basedon
results, itcanbeconcludedthatthewaveletdecompo-
sitionis astrongcandidateinlocalisationof damage
even at small severity levels. Unlike modal based
methods, that usedmodeshapesfor developingshape
functions, in this research FRF data was applied to
produce shape functions for wavelet decomposition.
Comparingwithmodeshapes,FRFsarelesserroneous
andalsocontainbroadbandfrequencydatawhichcan
beconsideredasabetter optionfor damagedetection
purposes.
REFERENCES
Makki Alamdari M., J ianchun Li, Bijan Samali, (2012),
A Novel FRF-Based Damage Detection Method Using
Wavelet Decomposition, 22ndAustralianConferenceon
theMechanicsof theStructuresandMaterial.
Pandey, A. K., Biswas, M., &Samman, M. M. (1991). Dam-
age detection fromchanges in curvature mode shapes.
J ournal of SoundandVibration, 145(2), 321332.
Pandey A.K., M. Biswas, Damage detection in structures
usingchangesinflexibility, J ournal of SoundandVibra-
tion169(1), (1994), 317.
Ratcliffe, C. P. (1997). Damagedetectionusingamodified
laplacianoperator onmodeshapedata. J ournal of Sound
andVibration, 204(3), 505517.
RatcliffeC.P., W.J. Bagaria, (1998). Vibrationtechniquefor
locating delamination in a composite beam, American
Instituteof Aeronautics andAstronautics J ournal 36(6),
10741077.
Sampaio, R. P. C., Maia, N. M. M., &Silva, J. M. M. (1999).
Damagedetectionusingthefrequency-response-function
curvaturemethod.journal of SoundandVibration,226(5),
10291042.
StubbsN., J.T. Kim, K. Topole, Anefficientandrobustalgo-
rithmfor damagelocalization in offshoreplatforms, in:
Proceedingsof theASCE10thStructuresCongress, 1992,
pp. 543546.
StubbsN., J.T. Kim, C.R. Farrar, Fieldverificationof anon-
destructive damage localization and severity estimation
algorithm,in:Proceedingsof the13thInternational Modal
AnalysisConference, 1995, pp. 210218.
Surace, C., Ruotolo, R., 1994, Crack detection of a beam
using the wavelet transform, In: Proceedings of the
12thInternational Modal AnalysisConference, Honolulu,
1994, 11411147.
Wang, Q., &Deng, X. (1999). Damagedetectionwithspatial
wavelets. International J ournal of Solids andStructures,
36(23), 34433468.
872
A FRF-baseddamagedetectionmethodutilisingwavelet decomposition
M. Makki Alamdari, J. Li & B. Samali
ABSTRACT: Damageinastructurecausesdeviationindynamicresponsesof thestructureeitherinfrequency
or timedomain in comparison with its healthy status. Thepurposeof this study is to present anewdamage
detection method in order to detect and localizethestructural damage. This novel algorithmis based on the
directly-measuredfrequency responsefunctions(FRFs). Theapproachiscomposedof threemajor steps: first,
developingthecurvatureof FRFswhichproducesspatiallydistributedshapefunctionsateachfrequencycoordi-
nate, secondly, normalizationof FRFs curvatureinorder toenhancetheinfluenceof thelower-frequency-band
data; finally decomposition of theobtained profiles (normalized version of FRFs curvature) by conducting
wavelet analysistodetect anypossiblestructural abnormalitythroughstructure. Thecombinationof thesethree
stepsleadstoarobustalgorithmindetectionandlocalisationof anydamageinthestructureevenatsmall levels
which other FRF-based methods wereunableto detect. Therearesomebenefits with thepresented method:
first, thismethoddoesnot needhigher-frequency-rangedatawhichishardtoobtaininmost civil applications;
second, thereis no needfor baselinedatafromtheintact structure; This is particularly attractivefor practical
applicationsasit opensanopportunity for onlinemonitoringof thestructural integrity without demandingfor
any previous datarecords of thestructure. Theperformanceof themethodis evaluatedonanumerical model
andtheeffect of different parameterssuchasthelocationof theexcitationpoint, thelevel andthelocationof
thedamagewas studied; theresults demonstratedthat themethodcanefficiently identify thelocationof the
damageinthestructureevenfor damageat small levels.
Keywords: Damage, FrequencyResponseFunction, Wavelet Decomposition
1 INTRODUCTION
Assumingthereisastructurewithasingleor multiple
damagestates, thelevel 2damagedetectionistoiden-
tify thedamagelocation. Basedontheobservations,
atdamagelocationthereisanabnormal changeinthe
way thestructurebehaves under acertainexcitation;
theextent of thisabnormality instructural behaviour
at damage location depends on several factors such
as the severity of the damage, the frequency band-
width of theexcitation and furthermorethelocation
and the level of the excitation. In all of the dam-
agelocalisationmethods, theaimistofindadamage
sensitiveindicator whichcontainsspatial information
(shapefunction) e.g. modeshapesor their derivatives,
flexibilitymatrix, etc. Several vibration-baseddamage
detectionmethodshavebeenproposedbyresearchers
duringlast two decades. Dueto vast number of pub-
lications in this field, the focus of this literature is
just on the most recognised methods. Mode shapes
wereamongst theearly-discoveredfeatures that con-
tain information about the damage location. Pandey
(1991) andRatcliffe(1997) foundthat Laplcianoper-
ator on mode shapes from the damaged structure
(whichismoreknownascurvature) withoutanyprior
knowledge of the baseline structure provides useful
informationabout thedamagelocation. Ratcliffealso
discoveredthatlower modeshapesarenotassensitive
asthehigher modestothepossiblestructural faultsin
thestructure. Itwasfoundwhendamageisnotsevere,
themethodmightfail toproperlylocalisethedamage.
The incompleteness of data related to higher modes
which are more sensitive to possible abnormalities
duetodamageinthestructureformsamajor obstacle
indamagedetectionusingthismethod; Furthermore,
modal data has an error-contaminated nature due to
modal extractionprocessing.
Frequency ResponseFunctions (FRFs) wereother
popular dynamic quantity widely used for damage
detectionasthesedataarelesserror pronecompared
withmodal data; Inadditionto obtainFRFs thereis
noneedfor any complicatedpost-processingsuchas
Experimental Modal Analysis etc. The other advan-
tageaccompanyingFRF-basedmethodliesinthefact
that FRFs aremoredirectly measureddatathat con-
tain abundance of information in a wider range of
frequency. Sampaio et al. (1999) showed that FRF
curvature contains useful information for detection,
localizationandquantificationpurposes.Theyinvesti-
gatedtheperformanceof FRF curvatureversusmode
shapes curvature on a Lumped-mass model with 10
DoF and concluded the performance of the former
873
method is much better in characterizing the dam-
agelocation. Their methodsuccessfullyidentifiedthe
locationof thedamageinI-40bridgeinUSA aswell.
Lateron, GappedSmoothingMethod(GSM) waspre-
sentedby RatcliffeandBagaria(1998). They applied
thismethodonmodeshapesobtainedsolelyfromdam-
aged compositebeamstructureand could locatethe
structural stiffnessreductionduetodelamination.The
sameconcept was thenconductedonmeasuredFRF
databy Ratcliffe(2000). This approachsignificantly
increased thesensitivity of themethod compared to
model-based counterpart which only uses aselected
part of frequency response function data. The per-
formance of GSM in presence of small defects and
significant noisehas not yet been shown. In contin-
uous of former methods, modal strain energy-based
methodwasintroducedby Stubbset al. (1992, 1995)
for damagedetectionpurposes. Cornwell etal. (1997)
extendedthismethodtoatwo-dimensional steel plate
and by comparison of modal strain energy before
andafter damageoccurrencecouldlocatethedamage
spot. Flexibilitymatrixwasanother damagesensitive
parameter drawnwideattentionfor structural damage
detectionandwasfirst introducedby Pandey (1994).
Themainadvantageof thismethodliesinthefactthat
flexibilitymatrixcanbeaccuratelyestimatedbyonly
afewmeasuredlower modesandthisfact overcomes
theincompletenessof thedatarelatedtohighermodes.
From discussion on literatures above, it can
be concluded that there are drawbacks on many
developed damage detection methods especially the
modal-based damage detection methods including
error-pronemodal extraction processing, theincom-
pletenessof themodal data,requirementonknowledge
of baseline state, i.e. the healthy state of the struc-
tureaswell asthedifficultiesonexcitationof higher
frequencyinformation.
In this study a novel damage detection method
has been proposed which works based on directly
measured FRFs without any need to baseline struc-
ture. Wavelet transformis utilised in the process to
detect small level damages(lessthan3%) insingleor
multiple states without any need to extract the high
frequencyrangedatainFRFs. Applicationof wavelet
theory for damage detection and Structural Health
Monitoring(SHM) purposeshasbecomeincreasingly
popular during last several years. The main feature
of thewavelet transformis its ability to characterise
local variations in a non-stationary signal (tempo-
ral or spatial) and reveals hidden aspects of thedata
that other signal analysistechniquefailstorecognise.
The significant strength of the wavelet-based meth-
odsover other time-frequencytransformse.g. Fourier
Transform(FT) isthat it makespossibletoconduct a
multi-resolutionanalysisof asignal. Moreover, itwill
be possible to performanalysis only on a localized
portionof alargesignal e.g. tozoominonadesired
interval of time or space rather than the whole sig-
nal. Furthermore, for aspatial signal, FT canprovide
informationabout thepresenceof possibleabnormal-
ities but not their locations, whereas WT not only
detects these perturbations but also localizes them.
Early investigationsof wavelet transformfor damage
detection purposes was carried out by Surace et al.
(1994). Theyexaminedthespatiallydistributedvibra-
tionresponseof acrackedbeambywavelettransform
and could detect thecrack location. Later on, Wang
et al. (1999) demonstrated the feasibility of wavelet
transformin thelocalization of cracks in atransver-
sallyvibratedbeamaswell asaplate. QuekSer-Tong
et al. (2001) examined thesensitivity of thewavelet
transform method to damage characteristics (crack
length, width, orientation) aswell asdifferent choices
of wavelets. They discovered the method can effi-
ciently detect cracks with length ration of 1/150. In
thisstudy1-Dwaveletdecompositionisusedinspace
domaintodecomposethespatiallydistributedFRFsto
asetof detailsandapproximations.Theresultsarethen
utilisedtolocalisethestructural irregularitiescaused
bydamageinsingleor multiplestates.
2 DAMAGE DETECTIONMETHODOLOGY
Thispaperdiscussesanovel FRF-baseddamagedetec-
tion method based on wavelet analysis of spatially
distributedstructural response. Themethod, referred
toaswaveletdecompositionof theFRFscurvature, is
developedtodetectthedamagelocationbyexamining
only theFRFs of thedamagedstructurewithout any
baselineinformationof thestructure. Thepremiseof
themethodisthat structural damagecausesperturba-
tioninstructural responseinthevicinity of thedam-
age.Theviabilityof themethodinlocalisationof small
level of damage(less than 3%) in singleor multiple
damage states is demonstrated by several numerical
examples. Thestructurechosenfor numerical analy-
sisincludesauniformcantilever beamwithsingleor
multipledamageswherethedamageisrepresentedby
YongModulusreductionindamagesite.Themainidea
underlyingtheproposedmethodcanbeschematically
explainedwithreferencetothesimplebeamstructure
with two fixed ends as shown in figure 1. Suppose
the structure is excited at an arbitrary point p and
the responses in terms of displacement or accelera-
tionarerecordedinm evenlyinstrumentedlocations.
Therefore
i,p
() denotes the frequency response
function at point i because of excitation at point p
wherei [1 : m]; for eachmeasuredfrequency,
j
,
j [1 : N]theprofileof theFRF,
p
(
j
), isdefinedas
Totally therewill beN profiles, whereN refersto
the number of measured frequencies, figure 1. The
curvatureof eachprofileat point i canbedeveloped
asfollows:
where h is the distance between measured points.
Thepurposeis to enhancetheinfluenceof thelower
874
Figure1. Schemeof atypical structurewithN FRFprofiles.
Figure2. Sharptransitioninthespatial functionof FRFs
curvatureat damagelocation.
frequency data which is much easier to be obtained
in real applications. Hence, aforementioned profiles
obtainedbyequation(2), arenormalisedwithrespect
to the maximumvalue of each curvature profile at
frequencycoordinate,
Afterperformingthismodification, thereforeanew
profile,
p
(
j
) canbeestablishedasashapefunction
for damagedetectionprocess.
Foranarbitraryfrequency,
j
, atypical
p
hasbeen
plottedfortwodifferentconfigurations: thefirstoneis
relevant totheundamagedstructurewhileinthesec-
ondoneareductionof stiffness has beenconsidered
tooccur at alimitedlengthof thestructure, figure2.
Thiscomparisonshowsthat damagecausesanabrupt
variationinthenormalizedcurvatureof theFRF pro-
file, concentratedintheportionof thestructurewhere
thestiffnessreductionhasoccurred.
Useful informationabout thedamagelocationcan
beextracted, if further manipulation is performed in
space domain by conducting wavelet transform. For
any arbitrary frequency, the shape signal,
p
, can
be examined for possible sudden changes in spatial
variation.
3 WAVELET TRANSFORMAND
RE-COMPOSITIONOF DYNAMIC
RESPONSE
This section presents abrief background on wavelet
transformutilizedinthiswork.
Wavelet analysis starts by choosing appropriate
wavelet family as abasis function (mother wavelet),
(x) (or (t)) and wavelets are generated fromthe
mother wavelet by translation and dilation (stretch
or compress). Mother wavelet can be continuous or
discrete; for a continuous case the basis function is
describedbytworeal-valuedparameters: a (a >0)and
b wherearerespectivelyscale(dilationparameter) and
space(translationparameter) asbelow
The dilation parameter indicates the width of the
wavelet window whereas the translation parameter
representsthelocationof themovingwaveletwindow.
For the discrete case, the basis function can be
representedby
j and k areinteger numbers whererespectively take
theroleof a andb inthecaseof continuouswavelet,
j isreferredtoasthelevel.
Theresolutionisdefinedas1/a inthecaseof con-
tinuouswaveletand2
j
inthecaseof discretewavelet;
as level or scaledecreases, ahigher resolution filter
can be achieved which results in the finer compo-
nents (high-frequency components) of thesignal can
bedetected. Thereforethewavelet transformresolu-
tionis highat lowscalevalues andlowat highscale
valueswhichiscalledmulti-resolutionpropertyof the
wavelet transform.
For a given signal, f (x), the Continuous Wavelet
Transform(CWT) correlatesit with
a,b
(x) asbelow
whereas the Discrete Wavelet Transform(DWT) of
signal f (x) canbeachievedby
C(a, b) andC
j,k
comprisesthewavelet coefficients
of signal f (x) with respect to wavelet (x) obtained
bycontinuousanddiscretewavelet transformrespec-
tively.
refers to complex conjugate of the basis

function. Wavelet coefficients reflects a measure of
thesimilarity between theanalysed signal, f (x), and
wavelet function, (x). Sharpdeviations inf (x) pro-
duce large wavelet coefficients at those locations
and this is precisely the basis of damage localiza-
tion method. Wavelet coefficients are then used to
reconstructtheoriginal signal f (x) conductinginverse
wavelet transform.
Inthis study DWT has beenconductedto analyse
thespatial dataof FRFs curvatureandconstruct the
wavelet map (coefficient) by employing Daubechies
waveletfamilyof order 3fromtheMATLABWavelet
875
Toolbox. DWT in practice is more efficient com-
pared with CWT as it is not necessary to use the
full range of continuum values of translations and
dilations to reconstruct thef (x) which is considered
abundant. Usinglevel-J DWT, splits theoriginal sig-
nal, f (x), intoasetof coefficientsD
j
andA
j
whereare
respectivelylevel-j detail coefficients(highfrequency
components) and level-j approximation coefficients
(low frequency components). Thus, theoriginal sig-
nal at level J can beexpressed as thesummation of
its approximationat level J plus thesumof all of its
detailsuptolevel J asfollows
Inthecurrent work, detail coefficientswhichcon-
tainuseful informationabout thelocationof possible
sharptransitionsinsignal areusedtolocalizethesin-
gle or multiple damage states. The level at which a
signal isdecomposed, cantbedeterminedbeforehand
andaproperselectiondependsonthenatureof thesig-
nal. Based onWang et al. (1999) observations, with
increasing the scale number the performance of the
methodsignificantly increases, asintheir study with
Haar waveletwithscale7or belowitisnotpossibleto
identifythedamagelocation.
The procedure for proposed damage detection
methodisasfollows:
1. Collectspatiallydistributeddataforeachfrequency
frommeasuredFRFsbasedonequation1.
2. For eachfrequency, formthecurvatureof thespa-
tial datawhichhas beenmadeat stage1andthen
normalisethemviaequations3and4.
3. Perform discrete wavelet transform on the data
whichhasbeencreatedatstage2, toobtaincoeffi-
cientsat level j, equation8.
4. Plot thecoefficients.
5. Examinethedistributionof thewaveletcoefficients
for any possible perturbation; a sudden change
in the distribution signifies a local abnormality
throughstructure.
4 NUMERICAL SIMULATION
As anumerical study, thefiniteelement model of a
cantilever Euler-Bernoulli beam(figure 1) was cre-
atedinMATLAB. Damagewasmodelledbyreduction
inElasticModulusof anyarbitraryelement alongthe
lengthof thestructure. Theratioof thedamagedele-
ment to thewholestructureis 1/40 and theelement
stiffnessreductionischosentobe2.5%. Thestructure
is excitedat any arbitrary point infrequency range0
to100Hz, andtheFRFsdataareobtainedby
Steps 1to 6arecarriedout employingMATLAB.
Figure3, showsthelocationof thedegreesof freedom
Figure3. Damagelocationat element 20, Thecomparison
between
indamagedandhealthystructure.
Figure4. Applicationof DWT Daubechieswavelet.
Figure5. Applicationof CWT Daubechieswavelet.
corresponding to thedamaged element (element 20)
andcompares
atfrequency20Hzindamagedand
healthy structure. As depicted, at damage location,
thereisasuddenchangeintheprofile.Tocharacterize
thelocationof thisdamage, threedifferentcaseswere
examined. First, DWT by Daubechies wavelet (3rd
order, j =10), second CWT by Daubechies wavelet
(3rd order, scale=10) and finally CWT by Haar
wavelet (scale=10). Theresultsareshowninfigures
4to8. Basedonfigures4and5, althoughbothDWT
and CWT Daubechies wavelets can detect the exact
locationof thedamage, it seemsDWTsperformance
is better as it produces muchdistinguishablewavelet
coefficients. Toexaminethispoint, theextentof dam-
age was reduced to 1% and again DWT and CWT
Daubechies wavelets with order 3and level 10were
compared. Theresult isshowninfigure6. Asshown
theDWT Daubechies proves to besuperior to CWT
Daubechiesinlocalizationof thedamage.
The effectiveness of Haar wavelet with level 10
was examined and the result is shown in figure 7.
Fromfigure7, it canbeseenalthoughthereisasmall
deviationinHaarwaveletcoefficientsatdamageloca-
tion, compared with DWT Daubechies wavelet, it is
876
Figure 6. Comparison of DWT and CWT Daubechies
wavelet (Damagelevel 1%).
Figure7. Applicationof CWT Haar wavelet.
Figure8. Thespectrumof DoF correspondingtothemax-
imumwavelet coefficients.
not appropriateenough in identification thedamage
location. Based on this study, DWT Daubechies is
appliedtolocalizethedamage. For eachfrequencyin
thespectrum, thedegreeof freedomrelatedtomaxi-
mumwaveletcoefficientsisrecordedandthenplotted
versusfrequency, figure8.
According to this figure in all frequencies even
at low range, themaximumwavelet coefficients are
related to degree of freedom40 which is located at
damaged element (element 20). Theviability of this
methodinlocalizationof structural faultsinthevicin-
ityof theboundariesaswell asinthemultiple-damage
stateswereexaminedbyseveral numerical examples.
Itwasfoundthatthemethodalsoisabletoeffectively
determinethelocationof damageinthoseconditions.
5 CONCLUDINGREMARKS
This research work has demonstrated the effective-
ness of wavelet transforms incharacterisationof any
possibledamageinthestructure.Themaininnovation
of this study starts at applyingnormalisedFRFs cur-
vatureasinitial pointtodevelopspatial functions. Use
of FRFsindamagedetectionprocedureshasbenefitof
lessprocessingerror andmorecompleteinformation
astheyaredirectlymeasureddatawithout extraction.
Ontheother hand, normalisationof FRFs curvature,
enhances their effectiveness even at low frequency
range particularly crucial for application of damage
detectioninfieldpractice.
REFERENCES
Pandey, A. K., Biswas, M., &Samman, M. M. (1991). Dam-
age detection fromchanges in curvature mode shapes.
J ournal of SoundandVibration, 145(2), 321332.
Ratcliffe, C. P. (1997). Damagedetectionusingamodified
laplacianoperator onmodeshapedata. J ournal of Sound
andVibration, 204(3), 505517.
Sampaio, R. P. C., Maia, N. M. M., &Silva, J. M. M. (1999).
Damagedetectionusingthefrequency-response-function
curvaturemethod.J ournal of SoundandVibration,226(5),
10291042.
C.P. Ratcliffe, W.J. Bagaria, (1998). Vibrationtechniquefor
locating delamination in a composite beam, American
Instituteof Aeronautics andAstronautics J ournal 36 (6)
10741077.
Ratcliffe, C. P. (2000). A frequency and curvature based
experimental method for locating damagein structures.
J ournal of VibrationandAcoustics, 122(3), 324329.
N. Stubbs, J.T. Kim, K. Topole, Anefficientandrobustalgo-
rithmfor damagelocalization in offshoreplatforms, in:
Proceedingsof theASCE10thStructuresCongress, 1992,
pp. 543546.
N. Stubbs, J.T. Kim, C.R. Farrar, Fieldverificationof anon-
destructive damage localization and severity estimation
algorithm,in:Proceedingsof the13thInternational Modal
AnalysisConference, 1995, pp. 210218.
Cornwell PJ, Dobeling SW, Farrar CR. Application of the
strainenergydamagedetectionmethodtoplate-likestruc-
tures. In: Proceedingsof theinternational model analysis
conferenceIMAC; 1997. p. 131218.
A.K. Pandey, M. Biswas, Damage detection in structures
usingchangesinflexibility, J ournal of SoundandVibra-
tion169(1)(1994)317.
Bayissa, W. L., Haritos, N., & Thelandersson, S. (2008).
Vibration-based structural damage identification using
wavelet transform. Mechanical Systems andSignal Pro-
cessing, 22(5), 11941215.
Huang, Y., Meyer, D., & Nemat-Nasser, S. (2009). Damage
detectionwithspatiallydistributed2Dcontinuouswavelet
transform. Mechanicsof Materials, 41(10), 10961107.
Surace, C., Ruotolo, R., 1994, Crack detection of a beam
using the wavelet transform, In: Proceedings of the
12thInternational Modal AnalysisConference, Honolulu,
1994, 11411147.
Wang, Q., &Deng, X. (1999). Damagedetectionwithspatial
wavelets. International J ournal of Solids andStructures,
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tivity analysis of crack detection in beams by wavelet
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43(12), 28992910.
877
Adaptivemultipleforgettingfactor recursiveleast square(AMFF-RLS) for
real-timestructural identification
M. Askari, J. Li & B. Samali
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney,
Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Systemidentificationreferstoanysystematicwayof derivingor improvingmodelsof systems
throughtheuseof experimental andfieldtestinginputoutputdata. Inthefieldof civil engineering, identification
of thestateof thestructureduring thedynamic loads, such as earthquake, to predict thecurrent stateof the
structureanddetectanydamageorhazard, whenitoccurs, hasposedagreatchallengetotheresearchcommunity.
Therefore, onlineandreal-timestructural parametersidentificationhasrecentlydrawnmoreattractions, although
fewresearchworkshavebeenreportedespeciallyfor caseswheremeasurement dataarecontaminatedbyhigh-
level noise. TheRecursiveLeast Squarewithsingleforgettingfactor has beenwidely usedinestimationand
trackingof time-varyingparametersinthefieldsof electrical andmechanical engineering. However, whenthere
aremultipleparameters that each(or some) varies withadifferent rate, this methodcannot performwell. On
the other hand, a priori information on the changing rate of the parameters might not be available, and the
forgettingfactorsmust beupdatedadaptively. Thispaper presentsanewadaptivetrackingtechnique, basedon
theRecursiveLeast Square(RLS) approachwithAdaptiveMultipleForgettingFactors(AMFF). Theproposed
method considers an adaptiverulefor each of theforgetting factors assigned to each of theparameters and
thus, enablessimultaneousestimationof thetime-varyingstiffnessanddampingof thestoreysof thestructure.
Numerical examples show that results of this RLS-based approach are accurate and robust, even when the
observeddataarecontaminatedwithdifferent typesandsignificantlevelsof noise.
1 INTRODUCTION
Our communities and infrastructures are vulnerable
and susceptible to natural or man-made hazards. It
has, therefore, been of great motivation and chal-
lenge for governments and the engineering commu-
nity, all over the world, to find a solution for the
protectionof civil infrastructureand, hence, thecom-
munity from hazards and disasters such as major
seismic events, strongwinds, aswell asageing, dete-
rioration, misuse and poor quality construction. In
the past few decades, much research works have
been reported on finding a realistic solution to this
problem which can be categorised into two main
areasasstructural control (SC), andstructural health
monitoring(SHM).
An important task of health monitoring for civil
infrastructures, is theidentification of current struc-
tural stateincludingdamage, whenit occurs. Whena
structureissubjectedtoanextremeloadsuchasearth-
quake or severe wind, the changes of the state may
berelatedtothelossof stiffness, damping, massand
other nonlinear parameters in astructure. Therefore,
prognosisof damagecanbeconsideredastheidenti-
ficationof suchchangesintermof relevant structural
parametersafter damageoccurs.
If suchidentificationiscarriedoutafter entiredata
setswerecollected, themethodiscalledoff-linewhich
is used when we are moreinterested in results ofthe
final stateof thestructural parameters at theend of
loading. Someof theoff-linestructural identification
methodscanbefoundintheliterature(Loh,etal.1996,
Luc, et al. 1999, Loh, et al. 2000). However, inmany
cases, theon-linetrackingof theparametersisessen-
tial sincethemeasureddatacontaindifferent damage
events which will effect on the structural model if
the off-line methods are used. In addition, in some
case, immediateidentificationof damage/weakening
inthestructureduringtheeventscanbetimelyinterms
of savinglives andpreventingworseningof damage.
Foron-linestructural damagedetectionmethods, time
domainanalysis, includingtherecursiveleast square
(RLS) basedapproaches, has beenusedsuccessfully
inthelast decades (Caravani 1977, Wu2007). How-
ever, whenapriori knowledgeonthechangingrateof
eachparameter isnot available, thesemethodscannot
performwell. Toovercomethisdrawback,Yanget al.,
proposedsomeadaptivealgorithmswhichareableto
trackanyabruptchangeintheparametersof structures
(Yang2004,2005).Althoughthemethodssuccessfully
applied on different type of structures with various
damagescenarios, theauthorsbelievethatthesemeth-
odsarecomputationallyinefficientandcannotbeused
inreal-timeapplicationssuchasintegrationof control
andSHM, wherereal-timeparameter identificationis
required.
879
Recently, anewRLS basedmethod, usingthefor-
getting factor, is introduced by Vahidi et al. (2005)
and applied in identification of vehicle mass and
roadgrade, whichdramaticallydecreasesthecompu-
tational effort. In this paper, we improve the afore-
mentionedalgorithmbydefininganadaptiverulefor
the forgetting factors and apply it to several struc-
tural identification examples, including both linear
andhighlynonlinear structures. Therobustnessof the
techniquewill beexaminedtothemeasurement noise
level.
2 RECURSIVE LEAST SQUARE WITH
ADAPTIVE MULTIPLE FORGETTING
FACTOR
Consider a dynamic system with additive noise
describedas:
wherey
k
, atagenerictimestepk, isthenoisymeasure-
ment vector, of order m, while
k
is theobservation
matrix of dimension mn, containing the available
values of thesystems responses obtainedfrommea-
surementsordataanalysis.Thevector
k
, isavectorof
nunknownsystemsparametersthat needtobeiden-
tified, andv
k
is thenoisecomponent. Inleast square
estimation, unknownparametersof alinear model are
choseninsuchawaythatthesumof thesquaresof the
error betweentheactual output andcomputedvalues
is aminimum. For thelinear systemshowninequa-
tion (1) this turns into finding the parameter(s) that
minimisesthefollowingobjectivefunction:
A recursiveleast-squaresolutionfor theestimated
parameter
k+1
isasfollows:
with I
n
being the identity matrix of order n and P
k
is called covariance matrix of order n n. Since,
there is no apriori information about the systems
unknownparameters, largeinitial valuesof thecovari-
ance matrix will be required for fast convergence.
In fact, large values of P
0
, will reflect in large val-
ues of L
1
which, in turn, will inducelargevalues of
1
, and improve the convergence rate of the iden-
tified parameters. As time progresses, the elements
of matrix P
k
, will beupdatedanddecreasedandthe
identifiedparameters do not fluctuateanymore. This
causesadeficiency whenanabrupt changeoccursin
someparameters andtherefore, aboost-upincovari-
ancematrixisneeded. Toovercomethisproblem, the
RLS algorithmis modifiedby includinganadaptive
forgettingfactor.
Intheleast squaremethod, forgettingfactor canbe
thought asgivingmoreweight torecent dataandless
weight to older ones. The objective function is then
modifiedasfollows:
whereiscalledforgettingfactorandisusuallyanum-
ber between0.5and1. Theupdatesfor theexpression
of P
k
andL
k
areasfollows:
Inequation(8), thecovariancematrixisdividedby
at eachupdate, whichslowsdownfadingout of the
covariancematrix, and, therefore, makesit capableof
keepingtrackof changesintheparameters.
TheRLS with singleforgetting factor (RLS-SFF)
has been widely used in identification and tracking
of time-varyingparameters invarious fields of engi-
neering. However, in many cases, the variation rate
of various parameters is different andRLS-SFF can-
not performwell. Therefore, it is desirableto assign
one forgetting factor to each of the parameters. A
solution to this problemis using a diagonal matrix
of forgetting factors and scaling down the covari-
ancematrix using theproposed matrix. Themethod
is called RLS with vector forgetting factor (Saelid
1983) whichintheupdateof covariancematrix is as
follows:
where
i
istheforgettingfactorreflectingthevariation
rateof theithparameter.Thismethodisveryeffective
intrackingthetime-varyingparameters. However, for
large number of unknown parameters, n, the identi-
fication becomes very slow since n n elements of
covariancematrixshouldbecalculatedateachupdate.
Recently, another RLSalgorithmwithmultiplefor-
getting factors (RLS-MFF) is introduced by Vahidi
et al. (2005), whicheffectively reduces thecomputa-
tional efforts.Inthisapproach,theobjectivefunctionis
definedbasedonthedecompositionof errorduetodif-
ferent parameters and, therefore, assigningasuitable
forgettingfactor toeach. Let thenumber of unknown
880
parameters be n. Then the objective function, is as
follows:
Theoptimal estimatesfor arethosethatminimise
theobjectivefunctionandareobtainedasfollows:
where
andsimilarly,
and
With some more mathematical manipulations,
equation(15) canbewrittenintheformof:
Ascanbefoundfromequations(1215), thecovari-
ancematrix isonly n 1whichcomparedtothesize
of covariancematrix inthevector typeRLS-FF, is n
timeslessand, therefore, makesthereal-timeidentifi-
cationof time-varyingparameterspossible. However,
theforgettingfactorsstill needtobeadjusted.
Tomaketheforgettingfactorsadaptive, someideas
andapproaches havebeenintroducedandappliedto
RLS-SFF (Lin 2001). Here we use an adaptive rule
defined by Lin and reformed for application in the
aforementioned RLS-MFF algorithm. The proposed
modified adaptive forgetting factor is expressed as
follows:
wheree
k
is theerror of identification at updatek.
is also a scalar which is usually thought as the ini-
tial error of the identification based on the initial
guess for the to-be-identified parameters. It should
be mentioned that, if a priori knowledge is avail-
ableonthevariationrateof aparameter, it shouldbe
applied before the algorithmstarts. For example, if
it is known that aparameter would not changewith
time, its corresponding forgetting factor should be
set to1.
To verify the effectiveness of the proposed real-
timeadaptiveidentificationalgorithm, differenttypes
of structures with different damage scenarios are
consideredheretobeidentified.
3.1 SDOF nonlinear hysteretic system
Considerasingledegreeof freedom(SDOF)nonlinear
hysteretic Bouc-Wensystemsubjectedto earthquake
acceleration x
g
.
TheBouc-Wenmodel thatwill beusedfor r( x, x) is
asfollow:
where, c is the damping, k is the stiffness, and
, and are hysteretic parameters. The follow-
ing parametric values are used for the simulation
study (Lin, 2001): m=125.53kg, c=0.31kNs/m,
k=24.2kN/m, =2, =1, =2 and x
g
is the
El-Centroearthquakewithascaledpeakgroundaccel-
erationof 0.15g(PGA=0.15g).Theunknownparam-
eters are taken as c, k, and . For the purpose of
examiningtheidentificationrobustnesstonoiselevel,
a white noise with 1% RMS is added to both the
simulatedresponseandtheearthquakegroundaccel-
eration. Theaccelerationsof thesystemaswell asthe
881
groundaccelerationaremeasuredbytheaccelerome-
terswhilesystemresponseof thevelocityisobtained
online, usingthenumerical integrator.
Fromequation(18),
whereindex k refers to timeat t
k
=kt. Basedona
third-order corrector method, r
k
canbeexpressedas:
If themeasuredvectorisdefinedasy
k
=
12
t
(r
k
r
k1
), then:
The unknown parameters are defined as a vector
of
k
=[c, k, , ]
T
andtheobservationmatrixisalso
k
=[
k,1
,
k,2
,
k,3
,
k,4
]
T
. It can be found that the
componentsof observationmatrixareasfollows:
Supposeadamageoccursatt=15s,wherestiffness
k, isabruptlyreducedfrom24.2to20kN/m. Withini-
tial guessesof
0
=[0.1, 10, 0, 0]
T
, andP
0
=10
8
I , the
identified structural parameters areshown in Fig. 1.
Here, weassumed, weknewthatdampingisnotgoing
to change and hence the corresponding forgetting
factor isset as1.
Another damage scenario is then defined as an
abrupt change in both damping and stiffness at
time t=15s, where k and c drop to 20kN/mand
0.15kNs/mfrom24.2kN/mand0.31kNs/m, respec-
tively. With the same initial guesses as the previous
case, theidentifiedparametersarepresentedinFig. 2.
Figure1. Identifiedresultsfor anSDOF system(case1).
Figure2. Identifiedresultsfor anSDOF system(case2).
Here, no a priori information is available on the
changingrateof theparameters.
3.2 2DOF linear structural system
Asanother applicationof theproposedidentification
algorithm, atwo-degreeof freedomstructural system
subjectedtoEl Centroexcitationwithintensityof 0.75
isconsidered.
In which m
1
=m
2
=10kg, c
1
=0.6kNs/m, c
2
=
0.5kNs/m, k
1
=12kN/m, and k
2
=10kN/m. The
acceleration response and the earthquake excitation
882
Figure3. Identifiedresultsfor a2DOF system(case1).
areassumedtobemeasurable. A noiselevel with5%
RMSwhitenoiseisalsoaddedtomeasuredresponses.
Asthefirstdamagecase, itisassumedthatthestiff-
ness of thesecondstorey changesto5at timet =5s.
Theinitial guessesaretakenasc
1,0
=c
2,0
=0.5kNs/m,
k
1
=k
2
=5kN/m. Here, itisknownthatthedampings
wouldnot changevery muchand, therefore, thefor-
getting factors for the damping of first and second
storeysareboundedto0.97
1
,
2
1. Trackingthe
structural parametersisshowninFig. 3.
As can be seen fromthe results, when a change
occurs insomeparameters, therewouldbeanunde-
sirablejumpintheinvariant parametersaswell. This
isbecauseof thefact that, their forgettingfactorsare
alsoaffectedbythetotal error of identification.
To show the effectiveness of the proposed algo-
rithm,asingleforgettingfactor-RLSwasalsodesigned
carefully andapplied with trial and error to track the
stiffnessof thesecondstoreyforthesamedamagesce-
nario. It wasfoundthat thetimeinvariant parameters
will overshoot a lot, at the time the damage occurs
(Figure4).Thesejumpsareminimizedintheproposed
algorithmof thispaper (Figure3).
Thetime-varyingforgettingfactor obtainedfor the
stiffness of the second storey is plotted in Fig.5. It
showsthat, wheneveranerrorisseenintheidentifica-
tion, i.e. at the beginning of identification or when
damage occurs, the forgetting factor value will be
decreasedtoamplifythecovariancematrix. However,
whentheidentifiedparameters areconvergingtothe
actual ones, theforgettingfactorsapproach1.
A morecomplicateddamagescenariowhichiscon-
sideredhereinordertotesttheproposedidentification
algorithmis that, adamageoccurs inthefirst storey
at timet=10swherethestiffnessdropsto10kN/m.
Another damagealsooccursinthesecondstoreyand
thestiffnessabruptlychangesto9kN/mat t=5sand
linearlyreducesto7kN/mandthendropsto6kN/mat
t=10s.TheidentificationresultsareplottedinFig. 6.
Figure4. Identifiedresultsfor a2DOF systemusingRLS
withsingleforgettingfactor of 0.95(case1).
Figure5. Theforgettingfactor obtainedfor thestiffnessof
thesecondstorey.
Figure6. Identifiedresultsfor a2DOF system(case2).
883
The results show that, although damping coeffi-
cientstogether withthestiffnessof thefirststoreyare
identified well, the proposed algorithmcannot fully
track thechangeof thestiffness of thesecondstorey
due to multi-stage damage. This might be because
of the fact that, the excitation along with structural
responsesbecomessmall astimeprogressesand,there-
fore,theidentificationerrorwill besmall whichcannot
makethecovarianceboostedup,andasaconsequence,
theconvergencebecomesveryslow.
4 CONCLUSION
A RLSbasedmethodwithadaptivemultipleforgetting
factor is applied to different structural identification
problems.Thecovariancematrixinthismethodhasthe
samesizeas theunknown parameters, which makes
theproposedalgorithmcompact andcapableof real-
timetrackingof theunknownsystemsparameters.An
adaptiveruleisalsointroducedfor eachof theforget-
tingfactorswhichhelptheidentification, trackingthe
time-varyingparameters.
Twodifferenttypesof structurewithdifferentdam-
agescenariosarethendesignedfor thecasestudies. It
isfoundfromtheresultsthat, theproposedalgorithm
can effectively identify the time-varying parameters
with highcomputational efficiency. However, when
damage occurs while the excitation is small, the
measurementsbecomevery small andthus, theiden-
tification error remains in a small value range, and
therefore, covariancecannot beamplified. This basi-
cally makes thealgorithmvery slow, which justifies
thecontinuationof thecurrent research.
Moreover, another challengeis that, theexpected
level of model errorsshouldbeestimatedreasonably
well inorder toselect agood inequation(17).
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Lin,J.-W.,Betti,R.,Smyth,A.W.andLongman,R.W.(2001),
On-lineidentification of non-linear hysteretic structural
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Loh, C.H, Lin, H.M, (1996) Applicationof on-lineandoff-
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Loh, C.H, Lin, H.M, Huang, C.C, (2000)Timedomainiden-
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Lus, H, Betti. R, Longman, R.W, (1999), Identification of
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884
Integratedbridgedeteriorationmodelingfor concreteelements
incorporatingElmanNeural Network
G.P. Bu, J.H. Lee& H. Guan
Griffith School of Engineering, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia
Y.C. Loo
Science, Environment, Engineering and Technology Group, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia
ABSTRACT: In order to minimise the shortcomings of insufficient inspection records, an integrated and
enhanced bridgedeterioration method using acombination of state-based and time-based probabilistic tech-
niqueshasrecentlybeendeveloped. Ithasdemonstratedanimprovedperformanceascomparedtothestandalone
probabilistictechniques. Neverthelesscertainshortcomingsstill remainintheintegratedmethodwhichnecessi-
tiesfurther improvement. Inthisstudy, thecorecomponentof thestate-basedmodelingisreplacedbyanElman
Neural Networks (ENN). TheintegratedmethodincorporatedwithENN is moreeffectiveinpredictinglong-
termbridgeperformanceascomparedtothetypical deterministicdeteriorationmodelingtechniques. Aspartof
acomprehensivecasestudyprogram, thispaper presentsthedeteriorationpredictionof 35bridgeelementswith
material typesof cast-in-situConcrete(C) andPrecastconcrete(P).Theseelementsareselectedfrom86bridges
(totaling1,855inspectionrecords). Theenhancedreliability of theproposedintegratedmethodincorporating
ENNisconfirmed.
1 INTRODUCTION
A Bridge Management Systems (BMSs), as a
computer-based Decision Support System(DSS), is
used to facilitatetheoptimumselection of themost
cost-effectiveMaintenance, RepairandRehabilitation
(MR&R) activitiesonbothprojectandnetworklevels.
Toachievethis, bridgedeteriorationmodelshavebeen
usedtopredictthefutureconditionof differentbridge
componentsinordertoidentifyfuturefundingrequire-
mentsfor thebridge. Thereliabledecision-makingof
BMSsdependshighlyontheaccuracyof thedeteriora-
tionmodel, whichpredictsthelong-termperformance
of bridgesbasedonhistorical bridgeconditionratings.
Theexisting bridgedeterioration models, such as
deterministic, probabilistic and Artificial Intelligent
(AI) models havebeendevelopedto achievereliable
long-termperformance predictions (Veshosky et al.
1994;J iang1990;Sobanjo1997).Amongstthesemod-
els, the probabilistic deterioration models are one
of the most prominent techniques, and have been
employedby many BMSs. Ingeneral, aprobabilistic
deterioration model can beclassified into two types
namely the state-based and time-based models. The
state-based models predict bridge condition ratings
using transition probabilities obtained fromthe dif-
ference between the two condition states at a given
discrete interval. Markov chain models are one of
themost common examples of thestate-based mod-
els(Morcous&Akhnoukh2006). Ontheother hand,
the time-based models employ a probability density
functionof time, referringtoasthestatedurationtime
required for abridgeelement to deterioratefroman
initial conditionstatetoitsnext lower state. Paramet-
ric, semi-parametricandnon-parametricmodelshave
been proposed to generate the probability distribu-
tionfunctionof transitiontime(Morcous&Akhnoukh
2006). Despitethefact that theprobabilistic models
havethecapabilitiestocapturetheuncertaintyandran-
domnessassociatedwithpredictedfutureconditions,
theystill exhibitsomecritical andcommonshortcom-
ings. For example, the state-based models are only
workablewhenthegivenconditiondatacontainssuf-
ficient inspection records with an ideal distribution
over timeand thetime-based models require, over a
long period, frequent inspection of condition ratings
which exhibit obvious transition changes in a given
set of conditiondata(Mauch& Madanat 2001). Asa
consequence, thereliabilityof theprobabilisticdeteri-
orationmodelsisbasedonalargenumberof historical
bridgeconditionratingstogetherwithwell-distributed
condition depreciation pattern over time. However,
routineinspectionrecordswhicharecompatiblewith
theBMSs areusually insufficient, thereby unableto
satisfy the basic requirements of using a standalone
probabilistic deterioration model (i.e. state-based or
time-basedmodel) inthecurrent BMSs.
In order to minimise the above-mentioned short-
comings, an integrated method incorporating both
the state- and time-based models has recently been
885
developed and has demonstrated an improved per-
formance as compared to the standalone techniques
(Buetal., unpubl). Neverthelesscertainshortcomings
still remainintheintegratedmethodwhichnecessities
further improvement. This is achieved by replacing
the core component of the state-based modeling by
anElmanNeural Networks (ENN) (Elman1990). In
thispaper, abenchmarkexamplerepresentingthecon-
cretematerial is selectedto demonstratethedetailed
predictionprocedures usingtheproposedmethod. In
additiontothis, aspartof acomprehensivecasestudy
program, thispaperalsopresentsthedeteriorationpre-
diction of 35bridgeelements with material types of
cast-in-situ Concrete (C) and Precast concrete (P).
These elements are selected from86 bridges (total-
ing1,855inspectionrecords).Theimportantof bridge
elementsaredefinedbasedonthesignificancerating
inmost standardinspectionmanual. Inorder to con-
firmtheenhancement of theproposedmodel, results
of long-termpredictionof all 35bridgeelements are
compared with thosedueto theconventional deteri-
oration method, i.e. 3rd-order polynomial regression
function.
2 METHODOLOGY
Themajor componentsof theintegratedmethodcon-
sist of categorisation, selection process, state-based
model andtime-basedmodel. Categorisationis used
toidentifycommondeteriorationpatternsbygrouping
similar elementstogether. Generally, abridgeelement
withoutmaintenanceshouldhaveitsdeteriorationpat-
tern or condition rating decreased in a non-linear
manner withanincreaseinbridgeage. Inthis study,
according to Queensland Department of Transport
andMainRoads (QTMR) bridgeinspectionstandard,
availableinspectionrecordscanbecategorisedbycon-
struction era, element type and material type. Upon
categorisation, thequantity-based inspection records
can beconverted into theOverall Condition Ratings
(OCRs) (Buetal. unpubl). Itshouldbenotedthatvar-
ious methods havebeenusedto calculatetheOCRs.
Basically, OCR is a combination of element quanti-
ties in each Condition State (CS) multiplied by the
correspondingweightingvalues(Buet al. 2011). The
weightingisvariedfordifferentbridgeagenciestosuit
their local andenvironmental circumstance. Theele-
mentOCRscalculatedintheproposedstudyissimilar
tothoseof Thompson& Shepard(2000) whichisone
of the well known methods (Thompson & Shepard
2000).
The purpose of the selection process is to deter-
minethemostsuitablepredictionapproachforagiven
inspectionrecords. Inthisstudy, theselectionprocess
is appliedto thegiven inspection records to identify
the status of the available inspection records and to
determinethemost suitableprediction approach. As
aconsequence, thestate-based model is used in this
studytopredict long-termperformanceof bridgeele-
ments. The first step in the state-based model is to
identifythedeteriorationpatternof thegivencondition
records. A 3rd-order polynomial regression function
isusuallyusedinthestate-basedmodel, however, itis
replaced, inthisstudy, by theElmanNeural Network
(ENN) in theintegrated method to minimisetypical
limitationsof regressionfunction. Oncethelong-term
performancecurveof a bridgeelement is generated
by the ENN, the Markov chain method is used to
generatethetransition probabilities of thecondition
changesfromoneconditionstate(CS) toanother dur-
ingonetransitionperiod(J iang1990).Theprobability
of transition over multiple discrete time intervals is
required to be calculated based on the performance
curve (J iang 1990). Other details about the Markov
chainmodel canbefoundelsewhere(Buetal. unpubl).
3 LONG-TERM PREDICTIONOF BRIDGE
DETERIORATION
3.1 Data collection
The available inspection records are obtained from
QTMR,Australia.Theyareclassifiedbylocation,con-
struction era groups (19812000), (19611980) and
(prior to1960), andfivematerial types cast-in-situ
Concrete(C), Precast concrete(P), Timber (T), Steel
(S) andOther (O). Duetothelargenumber of inspec-
tion record cases, only two material types including
cast-in-situConcrete(C) andPrecast concrete(P) are
consideredinthisstudy.Atotal of 35elementsfrom86
bridges (totaling1,855inspectionrecords) areavail-
ablefromaselectedregion. Theclassificationof the
three construction era groups applied to 35 element
typesshouldleadto105classifiedcasesforlong-term
performancepredictionusingtheproposedintegrated
method. However, dueto insufficient bridgeelement
networks, someelement typesareunabletobeclassi-
fiedintothreedifferentconstructioneras. Thisresults
inonly80classifiedcases. InSection3, atypical ele-
ment type(2C-Bridgebarriers) withconstructionera
group(19611980) isselectedfromthe80casesasa
benchmark exampleto demonstratethedetailedpre-
diction procedures using the proposed method. The
condition ratings of element type 2C (19611980)
areobtained from12bridges (totaling 28inspection
recordsfrombridgeage21to48).
3.2 Generating transition probabilities
AsmentionedinSection2, theselectionprocessiden-
tifies that the available inspection records are only
suitable for long-termperformance prediction using
thestate-basedmodel. TheMarkov chainmethod, as
atypical state-based model, requires firstly generat-
ingtherelationshipbetweenbridgeconditionratings
andbridgeagesusinga3rd-order polynomial regres-
sionfunction. Thepolynomial model is expressedas
follows:
886
Figure 1. Long-term performance of bridge element
2C-Bridgebarrierswithconstructionera(19611980).
where, A(t)=average condition rating of a bridge
at age t; t
i
=bridge age;
i
=error term; and
0
=recorded condition rating of a new bridge.
Equation (1) indicates that the condition rating of a
bridge, A(t), dependsonthebridgeage, t
i
.
Subsequently the probabilities of bridge element
deterioration can be estimated by the Markov pro-
cess. Generally, abridgeelementwithoutmaintenance
should have its condition rating decrease over time.
Figure1showsthegeneratedlong-termperformance
of element type 2C from all 12 bridges using the
3rd-order polynomial regression function. It is evi-
dentthatthepredictedperformancecurveisunrealistic
thereforecannotbeusedtogeneratereliabletransition
probabilities.
Inordertopredictareliablelong-termperformance
for all 12bridges, theElmanNeural Network (ENN)
is introduced in this study to replace the 3rd-order
polynomial regressionfunction. TheENNperformsa
non-linearanalysisusingtheavailableinspectiondata.
ThedeteriorationpatternproducedinFigure1isonly
slightlynon-linear duetothedistributionof thegiven
inspectiondata. A 22-year predictionof element type
2C (bridgeage4970) dueto theENN is also illus-
tratedinFigure1. It isobviousthat theENN predicts
morereasonablelong-termbridgeperformancethan
the3rd-order polynomial regressionfunction.
NotethattheENNpredictionisbasedontheavail-
able inspection records obtained from the network
level of bridge elements. Note also that this predic-
tionpresentsonlytheaverageconditionratingsof the
bridgeelementinthenetworklevel.Topredicttheper-
formanceof individual bridgeelements, theMarkov
chain method is employed to generatethetransition
probabilities. A comparisonof theaveragecondition
ratings dueto theENN and theestimated condition
ratings obtainedfromtheMarkov chainis presented
inFigure2.
Thegenerated transition probabilities of each age
group(fromage21to71at a5-year interval) for ele-
ment type2C arepresentedinTable1. Thevalues in
eachagegrouprepresent theprobabilityof thecondi-
tionratingsremainedinthesameconditionstate. For
Figure2. Comparison between theaveragecondition rat-
ingsfromtheENNandestimatedconditionratingsfromthe
Markovchainmethod.
Table1. Transitionprobability values (2C-Bridgebarriers
withconstructionera(19611980)).
Agegroup CS1 CS2 CS3 CS4
2126 0.906 1.000 1.000 1.000
2731 1.000 0.962 0.369 1.000
3236 0.976 0.966 0.295 1.000
3741 0.969 0.961 0.296 1.000
4246 0.967 0.966 0.388 1.000
4751 0.962 0.965 0.398 1.000
5256 0.961 0.965 0.417 1.000
5761 0.954 0.966 0.441 1.000
6266 0.952 0.966 0.470 1.000
6771 0.948 0.966 0.479 1.000
Table 2. Transition probability matrix for age group
(3236).
CS1 CS2 CS3 CS4
CS1 0.976 0.024 0 0
CS2 0 0.966 0.034 0
CS3 0 0 0.295 0.705
CS4 0 0 0 1.000
example, for agegroup(3236), theprobabilityof the
conditionratingsremaininginCS1is97.6%. Inother
words, thereis a2.4%chancefor thecondition rat-
ings to changeto CS2in thenext timeinterval. The
transitionprobability canalso bepresent inamatrix
form, as displayedinTable2for thesameagegroup
(3236).
3.3 Validation of transition probabilities
Theaccuracyof thetransitionprobabilitiesdependson
theclosenessof theaverageconditionratingsobtained
fromthe ENN and the estimated condition ratings
obtained fromthe Markov chain method. The Chi-
square(
2
) goodnessof fittestcanbeusedtovalidate
887
Figure 3. Long-term prediction of bridge element
(2C-bridge#XX6X5X).
the accuracy of the transition probabilities (J iang &
Sinha1989). Thecalculated
2
valuesfor bridgeele-
ment 2C is0.214, whichismuchsmaller than56.942
whichisobtainedfromChi-squarenormal distribution
tableatasignificancelevel =0.05.Thisimpliesthat
thegeneratedtransitionprobabilitiesareacceptablefor
long-termbridgeperformanceprediction.
3.4 Long-term prediction of bridge element 2C
Thelong-termbridgeelementpredictioncanbesimply
conducted upon validation of the transition proba-
bilities. Figure3 shows thelong-termprediction for
element type2C selectedfromoneof the12bridges,
i.e. bridge#XX6X5X. It presentsthefuturecondition
ratingsof thisbridgeelement intermsof theelement
quantitiesandOverall ConditionRatings(OCRs).The
prediction is based on thelast inspection records on
bridge#XX6X5X whichisasaninitial conditionstate
vector, by which the element condition ratings for
thefuture25years arepredicted. It is evident in the
figure that the predicted condition ratings gradually
decrease as the bridge age increases. This suggests
that the transition probabilities correctly reflect the
bridgedeteriorationpattern.
4 CASE STUDY
The benchmark example presented above demon-
strates that using the ENN can generate more reli-
abledeteriorationpatternthanatypical deterministic
method. Using the same procedure, more predic-
tions are conducted herein to confirmthe enhanced
reliabilityof theproposedintegratedmethod.
Amongst80classifiedcases, 59belongstocast-in-
situConcrete(C) and21belongs toPrecast concrete
(P). The prediction outcomes of Concrete (C) indi-
catesthattheproposedintegratedmethodcangenerate
reasonabledeteriorationpatternsupto83%(=49/59)
of thetotal 59cases. Whereasthetypical determinis-
tic methodonly generates upto 32%(=19/59). This
equivalentistoa51%(83%32%)enhancementof the
proposedmethodthanthetypical method. For Precast
concrete(P), suchanenhancement is 38%. Theout-
comesof thiscasestudy further demonstratethat the
proposedintegratedmethodwithENN isfar superior
and effectivethan thetypical deterioration model in
predictinglong-termperformanceof bridgeelements
withconcretematerial types.
5 CONCLUSION
Thisstudy demonstratestheadvancement of thepro-
posed integrated method incorporating the Elman
Neural Networks(ENN) inpredictingareliablelong-
termperformance of concrete bridge elements. The
advancementismainlyreflectedinthefollowingthree
aspects:(1)itcategorisesthebridgeelementsbybridge
location, construction era, element types and mate-
rial types, by which similar elements are grouped
together to identify common deterioration patterns;
(2) an automatic selection process embedded in the
integrated method provides flexibility of choosing
the most appropriate approach to predict long-term
performance; (3) the ENN is employed to replace
the typical deterministic method in the state-based
model. TheENN cangenerateareliablebridgedete-
rioration patterns for minimising the shortcomings
of typical regression functions. The prediction pro-
cessandadvantagesof usingtheproposedintegrated
methodincorporatingENN has beenillustratedby a
benchmarkexample.
Furthermore, throughcomparisonwiththetypical
deterministic method on the prediction outcomes of
80 classified cases of cast-in-situ Concrete (C) and
Precastconcrete(P) elements, theenhancementof the
proposedintegratedmethodisconfirmed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors acknowledge the financial support pro-
vided by the Australian Research Council through
anARC Linkage Project (LP0883807). The authors
also wishto thank theindustry partners: Queensland
Department of Transport and Main Roads and Gold
Coast City Council for their financial and in-kind
support.
REFERENCES
Bu, G. P., Lee, J. H., Guan, H., Blumenstein, M. & Loo,
Y. C. 2012. Development of an Integrated Method for
Probabilistic BridgeDeteriorationModelling. Submitted
to Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities.
Bu, G.P., Lee, J.H., Guan, H., Blumenstein, M. & Loo, Y.C.
2011. ImprovingReliability of Markovian-basedBridge
Deterioration Model Using Artificial Neural Network.
35th International Symposium on Bridge and Structural
Engineering (IABSE), London, UK, September 2023,
CD-ROM Proceeding.
Elman, J. L. 1990. Finding structure in time. Cognitive
science, Vol. 14, pp. 179211.
J iang,Y. &Sinha, K. C. 1989. BridgeServiceLifePrediction
Model UsingtheMarkovChain.Journal of Transportation
Research Board, pp. 2430.
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J iang, Y. 1990. The Development of Performance Pre-
diction and Optimization Models for Bridge Man-
agement Systems. PhD thesis, Purdue University,
Indiana, USA.
Mauch, M. & Madanat, S. M. 2001. Semiparametric Haz-
ard Rate Models of Reinforced Concrete Bridge Deck
Deterioration.Journal of Infrastructure Systems, Vol.7(2),
pp. 4957.
Morcous, G. &Akhnoukh, A. 2006. StochasticModellingof
InfrastructureDeterioration: AnApplicationtoConcrete
Bridge Decks. International Conference on Computing
and Decision Making in Civil and Building Engineering,
Montreal, Canada.
Sobanjo, J. 1997. A Neural NetworkApproachtoModeling
BridgeDeterioration. Proceeding of the 4th Congress on
Computing in Civil Engineering, ASCE, Philadelphia, PA,
J une, pp. 623626.
Thompson, P. D. & Shepard, R. W. 2000. AASHTO
Commonly-Recognized Bridge Elements-Successful
applications and lessons learned. Proc., National Work-
shop on National Commonly Recognized Measures for
Maintenance, Booz-Allen& Hamilton.
Veshosky, D., Beidleman, C. R., BuetonW. G. & Demir, M.
1994. Comparative Analysis of Bridge Superstructure
Deterioration. Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE,
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889
Transmissibilityfunctionanalysisfor boundarydamageidentification
of atwo-storeyframedstructureusingartificial neural networks
U. Dackermann, J. Li & B. Samali
University of Technology Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
ABSTRACT: This paper presents adamageidentificationtechniquethat uses output-only scalar transmissi-
bility measurements of astructureto identify boundary conditions. A damageindex is formulated based on
output-onlyaccelerationresponsemeasurementsfromambientfloor vibration.Thedamageindexisanalysedby
asystemof artificial neural networks(ANNs) topredictboundaryconditionchangesof thestructure. Usingthe
datacompressionandnoisefilteringcapabilitiesof principal componentanalysis(PCA), thesizeof thedamage
indexisreducedinorder toobtainsuitablepatternsforANNtraining. Totest theproposedmethod, it isapplied
to different models of anumerical two-storey framed structurewith varying boundary conditions. Boundary
damageissimulatedbychangingtheconditionof individual jointelementsof thestructurefromfixedtopinned.
Theresultsof theinvestigationshowthat theproposedmethodiseffectiveinidentifyingboundary damagein
structuresbasedonoutput-onlyresponsemeasurements.
1 INTRODUCTION
Large-scalecivil structures, suchasbridgesor multi-
storey buildings, continuously accumulate damage
duringtheir operational lifespans. Inorder toensure
safety and reliability of these structures and to pre-
vent catastrophic failures, early and reliabledamage
detection and health assessment is critically impor-
tant. Theconcept of structural healthmonitoringwas
adoptedinthe1960s andtypically implies local and
off-lineassessments, suchasvisual inspection, ultra-
sounds, eddy-current andX- andGamma-rays. These
techniques, however, mayinvolvehighcostsandinter-
mittent exploration. During the last two decades,
the focus of the investigations has been global and
on-line evaluation with non-destructive techniques
such as vibration analysis and imaging processing.
Oneof themainobjectives of usingsuchtechniques
is to reach less costs and continuous monitoring of
thestructures (Maiaet al. 2011). As such, vibration-
based techniques received much attention for its
effectivenessandpracticality. Typical vibration-based
parametersforstructural healthmonitoringarenatural
frequencies, modeshapes, frequency responsefunc-
tions(FRFs) andtime-historydata. Whilemostdevel-
oped vibration-based techniques require knowledge
of theexcitationforceduringmodal testing, ambient
vibrationbasedmethodscanoperatesolelyonoutput-
onlyresponsesignalsof thestructureandthusmaking
themveryattractiveforautomatedonlinehealthmoni-
toring. Here, thestructureistypicallyexcitednaturally
byambientloadingfromsourcessuchastraffic, wind,
or micro-earthquakes (Peeters, Maeck & De Roeck
2001). The advantage of using ambient sources is
that onceamonitoring systemis installed, it contin-
uously measures thestructural responseand records
datawithouttheneedfor interruptingoperationssuch
astrafficflow.A disadvantageof usingambientvibra-
tion excitation for structural health monitoring and
damagedetectionis, however, thattheexcitationforce
canusuallynot bemeasuredandthereforetraditional
methodsof identifyingthemodal characteristicsof a
structure, which requireknowledgeof theexcitation
force, cannot beapplied. Inrecent years, transmissi-
bilityfunctionanalysisattractedconsiderableinterest
duetoitseffectivenessindamagedetection, aswell as
thefact that theanalysis does not requireinput force
measurements. Different aspects of transmissibility
function analysis, such as the linearity of structures
(J ohnson et al. 2004), the nature of the input force
(Devriendt et al. 2009), andtheeffect of operational
andenvironmental variability (Kess&Adams2007),
havebeenexplored(Yi et al. 2010).
Thispaper exploresthefeasibility of usingnatural
ambient vibration loading, such as wind excitation,
for the detection of boundary damage in a multi-
storey buildingbasedonscalar transmissibility mea-
surements in conjunction with principal component
analysis (PCA) and artificial neural network (ANN)
techniques. In a previous study conducted by the
authors, anewdamagedetectionalgorithmbasedon
FRFs, PCA andANNs, wassuccessfully appliedtoa
numerical andexperimental two-storeyframedstruc-
tureunder forcedimpactexcitation. Fromthisinvesti-
gation, it wasfoundthat theproposeddamagedetec-
tionalgorithmwascapableof accurately andreliably
891
detectingdamageusingonlymeasuredfloor vibration
responses fromimpact loading (Dackermann, Li &
Samali 2010) and(Samali, Dackermann& Li 2012).
In this study, the method is now extended to ambi-
entvibrationexcitationtoallowfor continuousonline
health monitoring. Thefocus of this investigation is
touseoutput-onlyvibrationmeasurementsfromfloor
membersof astructuretodetect damage. Thereason
foronlyusingfloormeasurementsisthatinpractice, it
isusuallymoreconvenienttomeasurethefloor vibra-
tionresponsesof multi-storeystructurescomparedto
measuring wall vibrations, especially under ambient
excitation. To identify damage, it is proposed to use
damagepatterns embedded in scalar transmissibility
functionsobtainedbyrelatingvariousresponseoutput
measurementscapturedalongthefloormembersof the
structure.Toenhancedamagepatternsinthetransmis-
sibility functions, residual transmissibilities, which
aredifferences in transmissibility functions between
theundamagedstructureandthedamagedstructure,
arecalculated. Neural networksarethentrainedtocor-
relatethedamagepatternsintheresidual transmissibil-
ities tothedamagecharacteristics. Toobtainsuitable
inputdatafornetworktraining,theresidual transmissi-
bilitiesarecompressedtoafewprincipal components
adoptingPCA techniques. Besidesdatacompression,
PCA transformationhas further theadvantageof fil-
teringnoise. Themost dominant PCs arethenfedto
ANNs for damageidentification. Inorder to analyse
various correlations of transmissibility relationships
betweendifferentoutputmeasurementsobtainedfrom
different locations, ahierarchal systemof neural net-
workensemblesistrainedtoevaluatedamagepatterns
inPCA-compressedresidual transmissibilities.
Theproposedmethodisverifiedbynumerical mod-
elsof atwo-storey framedstructure. Varioustypesof
boundarydamagearesimulatedbychangingthecon-
ditionof individual jointelementsof thestructurefrom
fixedtopinned. Intotal, tendifferent typesof bound-
ary damage are investigated, i.e. four single and six
multiplejoint changes. To consider real lifeapplica-
tionsandtoinvestigatetherobustnessof themethodto
noise, theambient vibrationresponsesobtainedfrom
thenumerical model arepollutedwithvarious levels
of whiteGaussiannoise.
2 BACKGROUNDONTRANSMISSIBILITY
FUNCTIONANALYSIS
Thegoverningequationsof motionforann-degree-of-
freedom(n-DOF) finite-dimensional linear structure
aregivenby:
wherex(t) is then1 displacement response, M is
the nn mass matrix, C is the nn viscous damp-
ingmatrix, K isthennstiffnessmatrix, andf(t) is
then1external forcevector. If theexternal forceis
appliedto only thek-thDOF, thenf(t)={0
1
, 0
2
, . . . ,
f
k
(t), . . . , 0
n
}
T
hasonlyonenon-zeroentry.
After Fourier transformation, Eq. (1) isgiveninthe
frequencydomainby:
whereH() is thenn frequency responsefunction
(FRF) matrix. Assumingtheexternal forceisapplied
toonlythek-thDOF, theFouriertransformof theinput
forcevector f(t) isdefinedas:
The acceleration vector in the frequency domain
canbecalculatedfromEq. (2) as:
Thescalar transmissibilityfunctionT
ij
() between
the output DOF i and reference-output DOF j is
defined as the ratio between two frequency spectra
A
i
()andA
j
().Withh
i
()beingthei-throwof H(),
thescalar transmissibilityfunctionT
ij
() isgivenas:
By substituting Eq. (3) into Eq. (5) T
ij
() is
reducedto:
whereH
ik
() andH
jk
() areentriesof theFRF.
Thedamageindex definedinthis paper is termed
residual transmissibility function andis definedas
differences between scalar transmissibility functions
of the damaged structure and scalar transmissibility
functionsof theundamagedstructuregivenas:
where T
d
ij
() is the scalar transmissibility function
from the damaged structure and T
ud
ij
() the scalar
transmissibility function fromtheundamaged struc-
ture.
3 THETEST STRUCTURE
To validate the proposed damage identification
method,itwastestedonanumerical two-storeyframed
structure (the counterpart of an experimental struc-
ture, see(Dackermann, Li &Samali 2010)).Thefinite
element model wascreatedwithANSYSWorkbench
(ANSYS Inc 2007b) and consisted of two columns,
two cross-beams and four interchangeable joint ele-
ments(seeFigure1).Thetwocolumnswereconnected
to thegroundthroughafixedbaseconnection. They
hadacross-sectionof 65mm5.5mmandaheight
892
Figure1. Numerical two-storey framedstructure(a) front
view, (b) sideview, (c) joint element and(d) crossbeam.
of 1600mm. Thecrossbeams consistedof abox sec-
tionof 150mm50mmandwerelocatedat aheight
of 700mmand1400mmabovethebaseconnection,
respectively. Thestructurewasmodelledinsteel with
adensity of 7,850kg/m
3
, aPoissonsratioof 0.3and
amodulusof elasticityof 200,00010
6
N/m
2
.
To simulate boundary damage, the conditions of
thejoint elementsweremodified. Inpractice, bound-
arychangesaregenerallycausedbyenvironmental or
ageingdecaysuchascorrosionorlooseningof connec-
tionsandareacommonandseriousissueinagedcivil
engineeringstructure. Inthisnumerical study, bound-
arydamagewassimulatedbychangingtheconditions
of thefour joint elements(J 1toJ 4, seeFigure1) that
connect thecrossbeamswiththecolumnsfromfixed
to pinned joints. For the modelling of a fixed joint
element(undamagedboundarycondition), thecontact
regionbetweencrossbeamandjointelementwasmade
rigid. For the pinned connection (damaged bound-
ary condition), thehorizontal shaft of thecrossbeam
was deletedandreplacedby arevolutejoint connec-
tion. Therevolutejoint was constrainedinfivelocal
degreesof freedom(UX, UY, UZ, ROTX, ROTY) and
freeinROTZ, whichallows freerotationaroundthe
longitudinal axis of thedeleted horizontal shaft. For
the undamaged state of the structure, fixed connec-
tionsweremodelledfor all four joints(termedFFFF).
Four scenarios of single joint changes were studied
bychangingoneof thefour fixedjointswithapinned
jointatatime.Inaddition,sixmultiplejointalterations
withtwojointschangedeachfromfixedtopinnedwere
Table1. Boundarydamagescenarios.
J oint conditions
Boundary Boundary
case scenario J 1 J 2 J 3 J 4
1 PFFF P F F F
2 FPFF F P F F
3 FFPF F F P F
4 FFFP F F F P
5 PPFF P P F F
6 FFPP F F P P
7 FPFP F P F P
8 PFPF P F P F
9 FPPF F P P F
10 PFFP P F F P
Note: F indicatesafixedjoint andP apinnedjoint.
also investigated. All boundary changes arelisted in
Table1.
Toidentifythedynamicproperties, theundamaged
anddamagedmodelsweresubjectedtoambientvibra-
tionloadingusingtransientanalysisinANSYSClassic
(ANSYS Inc 2007a). To simulateambient vibration,
suchasexcitationcausedby windloading, arandom
loadF of Gaussiandistribution, withameanof 0and
a standard deviation of 1, was applied in horizontal
directionat theupper endof thepotentially damaged
columnindicatedwithanarrowinFigure1(a) atloca-
tion7.Theambientloadingwasappliedfor 16.385s
withintegrationtimestepsof 0.001s. For theduration
of theambient loading, thedisplacement timehistory
responsesof thestructurewererecordedat thecross-
beamsat measurement locations1 to6 (invertical
direction).
To simulate real testing conditions, the recorded
timehistory datawerepollutedwith whiteGaussian
noise to simulate measurement noise interferences
experiencedduringexperimental testing.Noiseof four
intensities (1%, 2%, 5% and 10% noise-to-signal-
ratio) wasaddedtotheinput impact forcesignal and
the response time histories using the awgn func-
tioninMatlab(TheMathWorks2009). For eachlevel
of noise, five sets of noise-contaminated data were
generatedtosimulatefiverepeatedtests.
4 DAMAGE IDENTIFICATIONPROCEDURE
4.1 Residual transmissibility functions
Forthederivationof theresidual transmissibilityfunc-
tions (to beused as damagefingerprints for bound-
ary damage identifications), first, different scalar
transmissibility functions T
ij
() of the undamaged
and all damaged models were determined by cross-
correlatingvariousfrequency-domainresponseoutput
measurementsof locations1 to6. Therefore, first,
the noise-contaminated acceleration response time
history data obtained fromlocations 1 to 6 were
893
Table2. Scalar transmissibilityfunctionsT
ij
().
Output frequencyspectraA
i
()
A
1
A
2
A
3
A
4
A
5
A
6
Reference-output frequencyspectraA
j
()
A
1
T
2-1
T
3-1
T
4-1
T
5-1
T
6-1
A
2
T
1-2
T
3-2
T
4-2
T
5-2
T
6-2
A
3
T
1-3
T
2-3
T
4-3
T
5-3
T
6-3
A
4
T
1-4
T
2-4
T
3-4
T
5-4
T
6-4
A
5
T
1-5
T
2-5
T
3-5
T
4-5
T
6-5
A
6
T
1-6
T
2-6
T
3-6
T
4-6
T
5-6

Figure2. ScalartransmissibilitiesT
2-3
()of variousbound-
arydamagecasesof 1%noisepollution.
transformed into the frequency domain by estimat-
ingthepower spectral density usingWelchsmethod.
InWelchs method, thetimehistory datais first split
intooverlappingsegmentsandmodifiedperiodograms
are computed. The resulting periodograms are then
averagedtoproducethepower spectral density A().
Second, to calculatethescalar transmissibility func-
tionsT
ij
()=A
i
()/A
j
(),thefrequencyspectraA()
of all measurement locations 1 to 6 were cross-
correlated with each other resulting in a total of 30
scalar transmissibilityfunctionsaccordingtoTable2.
Thecalculatedscalar transmissibilities captureafre-
quencyrangeof 0to500Hz with8,192spectral lines
for afrequencyresolutionof 0.061Hz per datapoint.
Forafrequencyrangefrom0to150Hz, thederived
scalar transmissibilities T
2-3
() of output measure-
mentsatlocation2 withreference-outputsof location
3 are depicted in Figure 2 for various boundary
damagecases. Fromthefigure, clear changes in the
scalar transmissibilitiesrelatedtothedifferentbound-
arydamageconditioncanbeobserved, i.e. changesin
amplitude, shapeandpositionof thefrequencypeaks.
Thesechanges inthetransmissibility functions form
thebasisof thedamageidentificationapproach.
Next, to enhancethedamagefingerprints embed-
dedinthetransmissibilities, residual transmissibility
functions weredetermined by calculating thediffer-
encesbetweenthescalar transmissibilityfunctionsof
theundamagedandthevariousdamagedmodelsof the
structurefollowingEq.7.Theseresidual transmissibil-
ityfunctionsformthedamageindexusedsubsequently
byANNsforpatternrecognitionandboundarydamage
identification.
4.2 Data compression with PCA
Using full-size residual transmissibility functions as
inputs for ANN training is not efficient and can
also lead to convergence problems due to the large
datasize.A full-sizeresidual transmissibilityfunction
generated fromambient vibration analysis contains
8,192spectral lines and covers afrequency rangeof
0 to 500Hz. This corresponds to 8,192 input nodes
in the neural network, which would cause severe
problemsintrainingconvergenceinadditiontocom-
putational inefficiency. Even areduced sizeresidual
FRF, whichcoversafrequencyrangefrom0to150Hz
still contains 2,458 spectral lines. Therefore, Princi-
pal Component Analysis (PCA) is proposed in this
study to reduce the size of the residual transmis-
sibility functions. PCA was developed by Pearson
(Pearson1901)andisoneof themostpowerful statisti-
cal multivariatedataanalysistechniquesfor achieving
dimensionality reduction. Besidesthebenefit of data
reduction, PCA isalsoapowerful tool fordisregarding
unwantedmeasurementnoise.Inthisinvestigation,the
MATLAB function princomp was used to reduce
the size of the residual transmissibility functions.
Therefore, for each of the 30 derived transmissibil-
ity correlations, thereducedresidual transmissibility
functionsResT
ij
() of all investigatedboundarydam-
agecasesandall noisepollutionlevelswerecombined
toform30differentPCA matrices. Whilethecolumns
of thematriceswereformedof the2,458spectral lines
of thereducedresidual transmissibilityfunctions, the
rows comprised 1000 captured samples (10 bound-
ary condition scenarios5 boundary damage data
sets5undamageddatasets4levelsof noisepol-
lution). After PCA transformation, the2,458spectral
linesof thereducedresidual transmissibilityfunctions
were projected onto their 2,458 PCs. To compress
the size of the PCA transformed reduced residual
transmissibilityfunctions, themostdominantPCsthat
contain sufficient enough information to allow the
identificationof damagehadtobedetermined.There-
fore, thePCs of higher power wereplottedingraphs
for visual evaluation. As example, Figure3 displays
the first 18 PCs of reduced residual transmissibility
functions of various boundary damage cases of 1%
noisepollution of dataderived fromtransmissibility
correlationT
2-3
(). For eachdepictedscenario, three
different datasetsaredisplayed, eachgeneratedfrom
different sets of noise pollution. Fromthe figure, it
can be seen that the first 10 PCs show clear distin-
guishablepatternsfor thedifferent boundary damage
cases. ThePC valuesof the11thcomponent onwards
are small, indicating their insignificant contribution
894
Figure 3. The first 18 PCs of reduced residual transmis-
sibility functions of various boundary damage cases for
transmissibilitycorrelationT
2-3
() of 1%noisepollution.
for theinvestigatedcases. Further, thethreedatasets
of each scenario group together, and thus they are
representedbythesame/similar PCs. Suchclustering
behaviour andthedistinct PCpatternsof thedifferent
boundary conditions are ideal conditions for neural
network based pattern recognition. Fromthesefind-
ingsit wasconcludedthat it wassufficient tousethe
first10PCsasinputparametersfor theANNtraining.
4.3 Artificial neural network design
To extract the damage patterns in the derived PCA
transformed reduced residual transmissibility func-
tions, anumberof multi-layerbackpropagationneural
networks were created. The design and operation of
all neural networks was performedwiththesoftware
Alyuda NeuroIntelligence version 2.2 fromAlyuda
ResearchInc(AlyudaResearchInc2006). Intotal 30
individual networks andonenetwork ensemble(fus-
ing the outcomes of the individual networks) were
designed. Theindividual networks weretrainedwith
thefirsttenPCsof thereducedresidual transmissibil-
ityfunctionsobtainedfromthe30differenttransmissi-
bilitycorrelations. Thenetworkensemblewastrained
withtheoutcomesof the30individual networks. The
resultsof theindividual networkswerethencompared
against theresults of theneural network ensembleto
demonstratetheadvantageof thenetwork ensemble.
Forthenetworkoutcomes, thenetworksweredesigned
tocategorisetheconditionsof thefour joint elements
aseither fixedor pinnedinawinner-takes-all fashion.
As such, thenetwork outputs comprised four output
nodes. As example, the desired network output for
boundaryconditionPFFFwas{1,0,0,0}.Toavoidover
fitting, theinputdatawereseparatedintotraining, val-
idationandtestingsets.Whilethenetworkwastrained
withthetrainingsamples, itsperformancewassuper-
visedutilisingthevalidationset toavoidover fitting.
Therefore, for eachof the30differenttransmissibility
correlations, the1000availablesamplesweredivided
into three sets of 600 samples for training, and 200
sampleseachfor validationandtesting.
Figure 4. Testing set outcomes (in MCCRE) of the 30
trainedindividual networks.
The testing set outcomes of the 30 individual neu-
ral networks are shown in Figure 4. The outcomes
are given in mean correct classification rate error
(MCCRE), whichisdefinedastheerror of thenum-
ber of correctly predicted boundary condition cases
normalisedbythetotal number of cases.
Fromthefigure,itcanbeobservedthatthenetworks
trainedwithdatafromtransmissibilitiesof reference-
outputs fromlocations 1, 3, 4 and 6 correctly
identify all boundary damagecases, whilesomenet-
worksof reference-outputsfromlocations2 and5
giveerror values of around50%. Thereasonfor this
phenomenon is that locations 2 and 5 arelocated
onthesymmetryaxisof thetwo-storeyframedstruc-
tureandarethereforelesssensitivetotransmissibility
function changes dueto symmetric boundary condi-
tionmodifications. Thefinal boundary identification
results of the network ensemble, that fuses the out-
comes of the 30 individual networks, give precise
boundarydamageclassificationswith0%MCCREfor
all investigatedboundaryscenariosandall noisepollu-
tionlevels.Theseoutcomesdemonstratedthatnetwork
traininginahierarchical network ensembleis highly
efficient infilteringpoor resultsfromunderperform-
ingnetworksandindeliveringresultsthat areat least
asgoodasthebest outcomesof anyof theindividual
networks. The outcomes further show that it is fea-
sible to identify boundary damage in a multi-storey
building/structurebasedonambient floor/cross-beam
measurements. This has great benefits for practical
applicationsasit isusuallyverychallengingtoinstall
measurement equipment at wall elements of multi-
storeybuildings, whilemeasurementsof ambientfloor
vibrationsareeasier toobtain.
6 CONCLUSIONS
This paper presented an output-only damage iden-
tification method that uses scalar transmissibility
895
functionsobtainedfromambient floor vibrationmea-
surements to identify boundary damage in a multi-
storey framed structure. In the proposed method,
embedded damagepatterns in scalar transmissibility
functions are extracted using a hierarchical system
of network ensembles to identify different boundary
conditionscenariosinanumerical two-storeyframed
structure. In the network ensemble, first, a number
of individual networks were trained with data sep-
arated by various transmissibility correlations and
then, the outcomes of the individual networks were
fused in the network ensemble to give final dam-
age predictions. PCA techniques were adopted to
extract damage features fromresidual transmissibil-
ity functions and to compress large-size FRF data
to make themsuitable for neural network training.
WhiteGaussian noiseof up to 10%noise-to-signal-
ratio was addedto dataof thenumerical structureto
simulatefield-testingconditions. Theresults showed
that the proposed method is capable of accurately
andreliablyidentifyingboundarydamageincomplex
multi-storey structures based on output-only ambi-
ent floor vibration measurements. Thefinal damage
identification outcomes obtained from the network
ensembles precisely estimated the boundary condi-
tionsof all investigateddamagecases. Thesepositive
outcomesdemonstratedtheefficiencyof theproposed
hierarchical network ensembleapproach. Further, the
presented study showed that the proposed damage
identification approach, which uses scalar transmis-
sibility function data from only vertical ambient
floorvibrationresponsemeasurementscombinedwith
PCA andANN techniques, has great potential to be
usedfor onlinestructural healthmonitoring.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Theauthorswishtothank theCentrefor Built Infras-
tructure Research (CBIR), Faculty of Engineering
and InformationTechnology, University of Technol-
ogySydney(UTS) for supportingthisproject.Alyuda
ResearchInc. is gratefully acknowledgedfor provid-
ing a free copy of their Alyuda NeuroIntelligence
software.
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896
Numerical computationof dispersionrelationsinthree-dimensional
waveguides
HaukeGravenkamp& J ensPrager
Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Berlin, Germany
HouMan, CarolinBirk& ChongminSong
University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: In this paper, anumerical approach to computethedispersion properties of guided waves in
three-dimensional waveguides is presented. Theformulationis basedontheScaledBoundary FiniteElement
Method. Thecross sectionof thewaveguideis discretizedusinghigher-order spectral elements. Thedirection
of propagationis describedanalytically. A Hamiltonianeigenvalueproblemis derivedfor thecomputationof
wavenumbersandmodeshapes. It isshownthat thegroupvelocitiesof thepropagatingmodescanbeobtained
directly astheeigenvaluederivatives. Resultsarepresentedfor acircular rod, wherethedispersioncurvescan
becomparedwithadifferent approach, andfor awaveguidewithmorecomplexcrosssection.
Keywords: guidedwaves;dispersion;scaledboundaryfiniteelementmethod;non-destructivetesting;structural
healthmonitoring
1 INTRODUCTION
Ultrasonic guidedwaves arewidely usedinmaterial
testingandstructural healthmonitoringapplications,
as well as material characterization. As they produce
stressesthroughoutthewholecrosssectionof awaveg-
uide, guided wave modes can be highly sensitive to
cracksor other defectsinthespecimen. Guidedwaves
caninmanycasespropagateovercomparablylongdis-
tances without significant attenuation, making them
particularlyinterestingfortheinspectionof longstruc-
tures, suchaspipes.Thenumberof propagatingmodes
that can be excited, increases with frequency. The
modesaregenerallystronglydispersive, i.e. theirwave
numbersaswell asthephaseandgroupvelocitiesvary
withfrequency. Consequently, for all practical appli-
cations of guided waves, the accurate calculation of
thedispersionpropertiesisessential.
For simple structures, such as homogeneous or
layered plates or pipes, dispersion curves can be
obtained using, for instance, the transfer matrix
method(Knopoff 1964; Lowe1995). For morecom-
plexgeometries,numerical approachesbasedonFinite
Elements are usually applied. The formulation pre-
sentedinthispaper isbasedontheScaledBoundary
Finite Element Method (SBFEM) (Song and Wolf
1997; Song and Bazyar 2008). The cross section of
the waveguide is discretized using higher-order ele-
ments, whilethedirectionof propagationisdescribed
analytically. It canhencebetreatedasaSBFEM for-
mulationwherethescalingcenter isplacedatinfinity.
It is shown that under these assumptions, the wave
numbers of themodes inthewaveguideareobtained
astheeigenvaluesof theZmatrix,whichiswell known
inotherapplicationsof theSBFEM. Makinguseof the
fact that Z is aHamiltonianmatrix, thegroupveloc-
ities of propagating modes can be computed as the
eigenvaluederivatives.
Usinghigher-orderelements,acrosssectionof arbi-
trary shape can be discretized very effectively. The
requirednumber of degreesof freedomcanbegreatly
reducedincomparisontotraditional linearorquadratic
elements. Inmost applications thewave-guideunder
consideration reveals one or more symmetry axes
whichcanbeutilizedtofurther reducecomputational
costs. Two numerical examples will be presented in
this paper, oneof thembeing compared with results
obtainedwiththetransfer matrixmethod.
2 SCALEDBOUNDARY FINITE ELEMENT
FORMULATION
A three-dimensional waveguide with arbitrary two-
dimensional cross section is addressed (Figure 1).
To obtain solutions for thewavenumbers and mode
shapes of the propagating modes, the governing
equations of general three-dimensional linear elasto-
dynamics haveto beapplied. In aCartesian coordi-
nate system, the strain-displacement relationship is
expressedas
897
Figure1. Local coordinatesystemintheScaledBoundary
FiniteElement Method.
with
Assuminglinearmaterial behaviour, thestresses can
bewrittenas
Disthe66elasticitymatrix. General anisotropycan
beappliedbymodifyingtheelasticitymatrix.
Thecrosssectionof agenerally three-dimensional
waveguideisdiscretizedusingtwo-dimensional Finite
Elements. To model the properties of propagating
modes, thewaveguidecanbeassumedto beof infi-
nite dimension in the x-direction. Consequently, the
samediscretizationandthesameshapefunctionsare
usedfor everyvalueof x. Thisisequivalenttoplacing
thescaling center at infinity in thegeneral formula-
tion of the SBFEM (Song and Bazyar 2008). Each
element isdefinedinthelocal coordinatesystem,
(cf. Figure1), consequently
withtheJ acobianmatrixJ.
Eachelementisdefinedbyafinitenumberof nodes.
The displacements at the nodes are collected in the
vectoru
n
. ShapefunctionsNareappliedtointerpolate
betweenthenodes:
Thestrain-displacementrelationshipcanbewritten
with
The virtual work principle can then be applied
(Gravenkamp, Song, andPrager 2012). TheSBFEM
equation is of the same form as for the two-
dimensional case:
WiththeSBFEM coefficient matrices:
Wepostulatethesolutionsfor thedisplacementsto
beof theform
with angular frequency and time t, i denotes the
imaginaryunit and
withthewavenumber k of amodeinthewaveguide.
Wecanderiveastandardeigenvalueproblem
whereq
n
denotethenodal forces
andZ isgivenby
SolvingEquation(14)foragivenfrequencyleads
tothewavenumbersk of thewavemodes, that canbe
excitedinthewaveguide. Theeigenvectorsdefinethe
898
modeshapes, i.e. theamplitudesof displacementsand
forcesof aparticular modeonthecrosssection.
If n is the number of nodes on the boundary,
the number of degrees of freedomis 3n and Z is a
6n 6n matrix. The 6n eigenvalues of Z are either
real or pairs of complex conjugates. If is aneigen-
value, is aneigenvalueas well. Purely imaginary
eigenvalues correspondtopropagatingmodes. These
modes travel without attenuation towards + and
, respectively.
Inmanypractical applicationsof guidedwaves, the
groupvelocitiesc
g
of thepropagatingwavemodes
are particularly of interest. In the proposed method,
the group velocities can be obtained directly as the
eigenvaluederivatives. Hence, they canbecomputed
accurately for a given frequency. The results do not
dependonthechosenfrequencyincrement.
Wearemakinguseof thefactthatZisaHamiltonian
matrix, i.e.
with
whereI
n
denotesthen n unitarymatrix. Let bean
eigenvalueof Z witheigenvector :
BecauseZ isaHamiltonian, isaneigenvalueas
well. Thecorrespondingeigenvector isdenotedby:
Pre-multiplying this equation with J
2n
and taking
thetransposeresultsin
whichisrewrittenusingEquation(19) as
Differentiating Equation (21) with respect to
leadsto
Pre-multiplyingwith
T
J
2n
andusingEquation(21)
weobtain
Thefirst termcanbesimplifiedas
ThesecondterminEquation(27) canbewritten
Substituting Equations (28) and (29) into (27)
resultsin
Equation(30) is validfor all eigenvalues of theZ
matrix. Thegroupvelocity ontheother handis only
well defined for propagating modes with real wave
number (purely imaginary eigenvalue
p
). For those
modes,if isaneigenvectorcorrespondingto
p
,then
the eigenvector corresponding to is its complex
conjugate:
andfor thegroupvelocityweobtain
where( )
denotestheconjugatetranspose.
3 DISCRETIZATION
To interpolate the geometry as well as the displace-
ments and stresses on each element, higher-order
spectral elements (Vu and Deeks 2006) are utilized,
as they haveshowntohighly improveefficiency and
accuracyinthecaseof platestructures(Gravenkamp,
Song, andPrager2012).A one-dimensional elementis
definedinthelocal coordinate (1< <1).Anele-
ment of order p contains p +1nodes, thecoordinate
of theithnodeis denotedas
i
. Two nodes areposi-
tionedat theextremitiesof theelement (
1
=1and
p+1
=1). Theother nodes aredefinedat theGauss-
Lobatto-Legendre points, which are the roots of the
Legendrepolynomial P
p
of order p:
Lagrangeinterpolationpolynomialscanbechosen
astheshapefunctionscorrespondingtoeachnode:
899
For a two-dimensional element, the shape func-
tion corresponding to theith nodecan bewritten as
aproduct of twoone-dimensional shapefunctions
wherel andm denotethelocal number of thenodein
and direction, respectively, andk isdefinedas
ToperformtheintegrationsinEquation(11)numer-
ically, the Gaussian-Lobatto-Legendre quadrature is
employed. Using this integration scheme, the inte-
gration points coincide with the element nodes. As
all shape functions equal zero at all but one node,
thisleadstomanyentriesof thecoefficient andmass
matrices to be zero. Particularly, the mass matrix
M
0
becomes diagonal and E
0
is diagonal in caseof
isotropic material behavior and block-diagonal oth-
erwise. Consequently, the inversion of E
0
becomes
trivial, whichmakesthechosentypeof elementspar-
ticularlyadvantageousfor thepresentedapplication.
Inmost practical applications, thegeometryof the
cross section will be symmetric with respect to one
or moresymmetryaxes. Inthosecases, thecomputa-
tional costcanbehighlydecreasedbyreducingthearea
to bediscretized. For example, to model thewaveg-
uide depicted in Figure 2(a), only a quarter of the
cross section has to be discretized as shown in Fig-
ure2(b).Thedisplacementfieldsof themodeswill be
either symmetricor antisymmetricwithrespect tothe
geometrical symmetry axes. Consequently, to obtain
the complete set of solutions, the eigenvalue prob-
lemhas to besolved threetimes with symmetric or
antisymmetricboundaryconditionsappliedalongthe
symmetryaxes.
4.1 Circular rod
Dispersion curves for a circular rod with a radius
of 1mmhave been computed, as the results can be
comparedwithother approaches. Figure3shows the
discretization, usingthreespectral elements of order
five.
Thematerial propertiesarechosentobe
Figure4showsthephasevelocitiesof thefirstprop-
agatingmodesintherod. Resultshavebeencompared
with thesoftwarePCdisp (Seco and J imnez 2012).
ThegroupvelocitiespresentedinFigure5havebeen
computeddirectly usingtheformulationpresentedin
section2. Theresults obtainedwithbothapproaches
areinexcellent agreement.
Figure2. Discretizationof atwo-dimensional crosssection
andreductionof themeshbyutilizingsymmetryaxes.
4.2 Square pipe
Asasecondexample, thewaveguideshowninFigure
2ismodelled. Thematerial parametersof copper are
chosen
The full width of the cross section is 20mm, the
diameter of thecircular cavityischosentobe10mm.
900
Figure 3. Quarter of the cross section of a circular rod,
discretizedusingthreeelementsof order five.
Figure 4. Phase velocities of the propagating modes in a
homogeneouscircularrod, obtainedwiththeSBFEM() and
comparedwiththesoftwarePCdisp ().
Figure5. Group velocities of thepropagating modes in a
homogeneouscircularrod, obtainedwiththeSBFEM() and
comparedwiththesoftwarePCdisp ().
Figure 6. Phase velocities of the propagating modes in a
squarepipe, obtainedwiththeSBFEM.
Figure7. Group velocities of thepropagating modes in a
squarepipe, obtainedwiththeSBFEM.
Again, onlyaquarterof thecrosssectionhastobedis-
cretized. Two elements of order fivehavebeen used
for the discretization. The phase and group veloci-
ties for thefirst modes areshowninFigure6and7,
respectively.
5 CONCLUSION
A numerical approachhasbeenpresentedfor thecal-
culationof dispersionpropertiesforthree-dimensional
elastic waveguides. Theformulation, which is based
ontheScaledBoundaryFiniteElementMethod, leads
to a Hamiltonian eigenvalue problemfor the calcu-
lation of wavenumbers and modeshapes. Thecross
sectionof thewaveguidecangenerallybeof arbitrary
shape, asit isdiscretizedintheFiniteElement sense.
General anisotropic material behaviour can bemod-
elledbyapplyingthecorrespondingelasticitymatrix.
Forthediscretizationof thecrosssection, higher-order
spectral elementshavebeenemployed, astheycanbe
usedveryeffectivelytodescribearbitrarygeometries.
901
Higher-order elements drastically reducethecompu-
tational cost in comparison to traditional linear or
quadratic elements. Thegroupvelocitiesof theprop-
agating modes in the waveguide can be computed
directlyastheeigenvaluederivatives.
REFERENCES
Gravenkamp, H., C. Song, andJ. Prager (2012). A numerical
approachfor thecomputationof dispersionrelations for
platestructuresusingtheScaledBoundaryFiniteElement
Method. Journal of Sound andVibration 331, 25432557.
Knopoff, L. (1964). A matrix method for elastic wave
problems. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of
America 54(1), 431438.
Lowe, M. (1995). Matrix techniques for modeling ultra-
sonicwavesinmultilayeredmedia. IEEETransactions on
Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control 42(4),
525542.
Seco, F. and A. J imnez (2012). Modelling the genera-
tion and propagation of ultrasonic signals in cylindrical
waveguides. InUltrasonic waves, Chapter 1, pp. 128.
Song, C. and M. H. Bazyar (2008). Development of a
fundamental-solution-less boundary element methodfor
exterior wave problems. Communications in Numerical
Methods in Engineering 24, 257279.
Song, C. and J. Wolf (1997). The scaled boundary finite-
element method alias consistent infinitesimal finite-
element cell method for elastodynamics. Computer
Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering 147,
329355.
Vu, T. H. and A. J. Deeks (2006). Use of higher-order
shape functions in the scaled boundary finite element
method. International Journal for Numerical Methods in
Engineering 65, 17141733.
902
Long-termmonitoringof vibrationpropertiesof structures
withdifferent materialsandboundaryconditions
H. Hao
School of Civil and Resource Engineering, the University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
ABSTRACT: Different methods have been developed for structural conditions monitoring. Among them,
vibration-basedmethodshavebeenreceivingalotof attentionsbecauseanychangeinstructural conditionswill
result in achangein structural vibration properties such as frequencies and modeshapes. Despiterelatively
straightforward theory that relates structural vibration properties to structural stiffness, not many successful
storiesof structural damageidentificationshavebeenreportedinpractice.Thisisbecauseof manyuncertainties
instructural modellingandnoisesinvibrationmeasurementsthat affect thereliabilityof vibration-basedmeth-
odsfor structural conditionmonitoring. Changingenvironmental conditionssuchastemperatureandhumidity
will causechangesinstructural vibrationproperties. Thesechangesmight bemoresignificant thanthechange
causedbyminorstructural damagethusresultinthevibration-basedmethodsbeingineffectiveinidentifyingthe
structural conditions. To overcometheseproblems, relations of changingenvironmental conditions andstruc-
tural vibrationpropertiesshouldbequantified. Thispaper reportsresultsfromintensivelaboratorytestsof the
influencesof changingambient environmental conditionsonvibrationpropertiesof structuresmadeof differ-
ent materials andhavingdifferent dimensions andboundary conditions. Ineachtest, theambient temperature
andhumidity wererecorded. Thechangesof vibrationpropertiesof thetestedstructureswithtemperatureand
humidity arepresentedanddiscussedinthis paper. Theresults canbeusedinstructural healthmonitoringto
eliminatetheinfluenceof changingenvironmental conditions.
1 INTRODUCTION
Intensiveresearchworkhasbeencarriedouttodevelop
methods for effectively monitoring structural condi-
tions andidentifyingdamage. Vibration-basedmeth-
odshavebeenreceivingalotof attentionsbecauseany
changeinstructural conditionswill result inachange
instructural vibrationcharacteristicssuchasfrequen-
ciesandmodeshapes.Althoughtherelationsbetween
thestructural conditions, inparticular structural stiff-
nesstoitsvibrationpropertiesareclear, unfortunately
notmanysuccessful storiesof structural damageiden-
tificationshavebeenreportedyet inpractice. Oneof
theprimary reasonsisbecauseof many uncertainties
involved in vibration measurements associated with
changingenvironmental conditionsandmeasurement
noises, which might causemoresignificant changes
in structural vibration characteristics than structural
damage. Thiswill resultineither falsedamageidenti-
ficationor thetruestructural damagenotidentifiable.
AspointedoutbySohnetal. (2004) thatvaryingtem-
perature, moisture, andloadingconditionsareknown
to affect the dynamic response of the structure, and
theycanoftenmasksubtler structural changescaused
bydamage. Similarly, it wasobservedthat changesin
modal propertiesduetoenvironmental conditionswill
greatly reduce the probability of successful damage
detection and location (Brownjohn 2007). To over-
comethisproblem, theinfluenceof theseuncertainties
shouldbequantified.
A number of studies have been reported in the
literature to quantify the changing temperature and
humidityonstructural vibrationcharacteristics. Based
onthefieldmonitoringof theAlamosaCanyonBridge
in a period of 24 hours and temperature range of
22
C, researchers fromLos Alamos National Labo-

ratoryfoundthat thefirst threenatural frequenciesof
thebridgevariedabout 4.7%, 6.6%and5.0%(Corn-
well et al. 1999, Sohn et al. 1999). Another study
devotedtomonitoringtheeffect of changingenviron-
mental conditions on structural vibration properties
was conducted by continuously monitoring the Z24
BridgeinSwitzerlandfor ayear (Peeters &DeRoeck
2001). It was found that thefirst four vibration fre-
quencies variedby 14%18%duringthe10months.
Itwasalsofoundthatthefrequenciesof all themodes
analysed, except thesecondmode, decreasedwiththe
temperature increase. The second mode frequency,
however, increased when thetemperaturewas above
0
C. Theyalsoreportedthat thevibrationfrequencies
increased significantly when temperature decreased
to 0
C and below, which might be due to stiffen-

ingfromthefrozenlayers. Similar observations, i.e.,
vibration frequencies decrease with the temperature
903
increase, havealsobeenreportedbasedonlaboratory
tests(Askegard&Mossing1998,Rohrmann&Rucker
1994,Ruckeretal.1995,Khahil etal.1998,Rohrmann
et al. 2000, Cawley 1997). Thesestudiesinvestigated
thevariationsof structural vibrationfrequencieswith
temperature, butdidnotmonitor thechangesinvibra-
tion mode shapes and damping ratios, and did not
monitor the influence of another important environ-
mental parameter,i.e.,humidity.Inamorerecentstudy
byXiaetal. (2006), acontinuousRCslabplacedout-
sidethelaboratoryexposedtoweather wasmonitored
for ayear. Thevibration frequency, modeshapeand
dampingratioof thefirst four modesasafunctionof
changingtemperatureandhumidity werereported. It
wasfoundthat thefrequencieshaveastrongnegative
correlation with temperatureand humidity, damping
ratios haveapositivecorrelation, but no clear corre-
lationof modeshapeswithtemperatureandhumidity
change can be observed. Based on a quantification
analysis, it wasconcludedthat variationof theelastic
modulus of thematerial with temperatureis thepri-
mary causeof thevariationof modal properties (Xia
et al. 2006).
None of the above studies conducted systematic
analyses to investigate the coupling effect of struc-
tural geometry and dimensions, structural materials
andboundaryconditionswithtemperaturevariationon
structural vibrationproperties.Itiswell knownthatthe
temperatureeffectonstructuresdependsonthestruc-
tural materials and boundary conditions, which will
have different influences on the structural vibration
properties. This paper reports results fromintensive
laboratorytestsof theinfluencesof changingtemper-
atures on vibration properties of structures made of
different materials and boundary conditions. Beams
of different boundaryconditionsanddifferent dimen-
sions made of 300 Grade Steel, PineTimber, High
Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and Reinforced Con-
creteweretestedperiodically for 8months toextract
their vibration properties. In each test, the ambient
temperatureandhumiditywererecorded. Thechange
in vibration properties of beams of different condi-
tionswithtemperatureandhumidity arepresentedin
this paper. Discussions ontheinfluenceof changing
environmental conditions on vibration properties of
structuresaremade. Theresultscanbeusedinstruc-
tural health monitoring to eliminatetheinfluenceof
changingenvironmental conditions.
2 TEST MODELSANDVIBRATIONTESTS
12beams werefabricatedandtestedinUWA Struc-
tural laboratory. Thesebeamsareseparatedintothree
groups. Group 1 consists of 4 steel beams with
dimensions of 50mm50mm1000mm, and the
boundary conditions of simply-supported, cantilever,
fixed-fixed and pinned-pinned. This group is used
to study the coupling effect of boundary conditions
withtemperatureandhumidityvariationsonvibration
properties. Group 2 consists of 5 simply supported
Figure1. Somebeamsreadyfor tests.
Figure2. Testingset-up.
beams of the same dimension as in group 1 made
of four materials: reinforced concrete, High Density
Polyethylene(HDPE), 300gradesteel andpinetimber.
Twopinetimber beamswereconstructedandtestedto
accountforvariabilityinstructural propertiessinceno
two pieces of timber is exactly thesame. This group
is testedtostudy thetemperatureeffects ondifferent
structural materialsandhenceonthestructural vibra-
tionproperties. Group3alsoconsistsof 5steel beams
of different dimensions: Beam1) 50mm50mm
1000mm(reference,WidthDepthLength);Beam
2) 50mm 50mm 2000mm(Doublethelength);
Beam3) 25mm25mm1000mm(Half thewidth
and depth); Beam4) 50mm 25mm 1000mm
(Half the depth); and Beam5) 25mm 50mm
1000mm(Half thewidth).Thisgroupisusedtostudy
the effect of temperature on structures of different
dimensions. Figure1 shows someof thebeams and
theroller andpinsupports.
Impacttestingwascarriedouttoextractbeamvibra-
tionproperties.ADytranInstrumentsimpulsehammer
wasusedtoexcitethebeam. FiveKistler accelerome-
terswereusedtorecordtheaccelerationresponseson
thebeam. Ambient temperatureandrelativehumidity
measurements were monitored with National Semi-
conductor sensors(LM35series). Figure2showsthe
photos of the equipment and sensor layouts. All the
sensors were connected to the signal conditioners/
amplifiers, whichwereconnectedtoa16-channel data
logger.
Vibration tests were carried out repeatedly from
March to October 2011. In each test, the ambient
temperature and humidity were recorded. To induce
moresignificant changes intemperatureandhumid-
ity, theroomthat housed thebeams wereheated up
with four heaters or cooled down by placing ices in
904
Figure3. Typical impact hammer test data.
it. Themodelsweresubject toacomprehensiverange
of environmental conditions with values of ambient
temperatureandrelativehumidityrangingfrom9.7
C
to 45
C and 7% to 94.625%, respectively. In each

test, four thousand data points were recorded with
a sampling frequency of 2000Hz. To minimize the
uncertaintiesduetonoiseinvibrationtests, siximpact
tests were performed for each value of temperature
and humidity. The average results fromthe 6 tests
wereusedintheanalyses. Figure3showsthetypical
recordedresponses.
Frequencyresponsefunction(FRF) of therecorded
dataateachsensor locationwascalculated. Theratio-
nal polynomial method was employed to extract the
modal parameters fromthe FRFs. An in-house pro-
gramwas used to extract the vibration frequencies,
modeshapesanddampingratios.
3 TEST RESULTS
3.1 Effect of boundary conditions
Figure 4 shows the variations of the fundamental
vibration frequencies of the beamwith four bound-
ary conditions with the temperature. As shown, the
fundamental vibration frequency of the four beams
decreases with temperature. The best fitted line is
also given in each figure. As can be noticed, the
fixed-fixed boundary condition corresponds to the
most significant decreaseinvibrationfrequencywith
temperature, withacoefficient of 0.2532, whereas
the cantilever beam experiences the least decrease
withthetemperature, withacoefficient of 0.0222.
Theseobservationsindicatethetemperatureeffect on
structural vibrationfrequenciesisstructural boundary
conditiondependent.
A fewstudieshavedetailedthecomplexitiesasso-
ciatedwithquantifyingtheeffects of temperatureon
themodal properties of structures. As stated by Xia
et al. (2006) that it is difficult because temperature
affectsbothmechanical andgeometricproperties, and
bothof themaffectthestructural vibrationproperties.
Themechanical propertyofYoungsmodulusiswidely
accepted to deteriorate with temperature, causing a
Figure 4. Variations of the fundamental vibration fre-
quency with temperature, a) cantilever; b) fixed-fixed; c)
pinned-pinned; d) simplysupported.
Figure5. Variationof thefundamental vibrationfrequency
withhumidity,a)cantilever;b)fixed-fixed;c)Pinned-pinned;
d) simplysupported.
subsequent reduction in modal frequency (Gorenc
et al. 2005). Moreover, for statistically determinant
structure, temperatureincrement results in an exten-
sion of structural dimension, which causes afurther
decrease in structural vibration frequency. For stati-
cally indeterminant structure, althoughits dimension
will notchangeowingtoboundaryrestraints, tempera-
tureincreasegeneratesthermal stressinthestructure.
The compressive thermal stress causes reduction in
structural vibrationfrequencyowingtothegeometric
stiffness associated with the compressive force. The
resultsobtainedinthisstudyindicatethattheeffectof
thecompressiveforcegeneratedbyrestrainedthermal
expansionismostsignificantinreducingthestructural
vibration frequencies. A 10
C variation in ambient
temperatureresultsinanaveragechangeof 2.5Hz in
thefundamental vibrationfrequencyof thefixed-fixed
beam, whileitonlycausesachangeof about0.2Hzof
thecantilever beam.
Figure5showsthevariationof fundamental vibra-
tion frequencies of the four beams with different
boundary conditions with respect to the humidity.
As shown, the fundamental vibration frequencies
in general increase with the humidity and the rate
of increment is boundary condition dependent. The
905
Figure6. Correlationof humiditywithtemperature.
fixed-fixedboundaryconditionsdisplaythestrongest
dependence on the humidity, with an average fre-
quencychangeof 0.74 Hzbyvaryingthehumidityby
10%, whereas10%humidity variationonly causesan
averagefrequencychangeof 0.078Hzof thecantilever
beam. The observation that the frequency increases
with humidity is oppositeto that observed in apre-
vious study of a concrete slab (Xia et al. 2006), in
whichit wasobservedthat frequency decreasedwith
thehumidity. Thereasonisthat theconcretematerial,
whichusually has about 10%porosity ratio, absorbs
moisture in environment with high humidity. This
increases themass of thestructurethereforeleads to
adecreaseinvibrationfrequency. For steel structure,
because steel is less porous, it absorbs significantly
less moisture. Thereforetheeffect of causing vibra-
tionfrequencydecrementinhumidenvironmentisless
prominent. For theconcretebeamtestedinthisstudy,
thevibrationfrequencyalsoincreasedwiththehumid-
ity because the beamtested in the present study is
rathersmall.Theobservedfrequencyincreasewiththe
humidityinthisstudyisbelievedrelatedtothetemper-
ature.AsshowninFigure6,thereisalinearcorrelation
betweenhumidityandtemperature. Increasehumidity
correspondstoadecreaseinambient temperature.
Becausetheinfluenceof ambient temperatureand
humidityonvibrationfrequenciesiscoupledanddif-
ficulttobeseparated, andalsobecausethehumidityis
linearlyrelatedtotemperature, it issuggestedthat the
ambient environmental conditions can bequantified
basedonambient temperatureonly.
Theextracted damping ratios showaslight incre-
ment withthetemperature, but withsignificant scat-
ters, indicating the difficulty in deriving a reliable
relationship between damping ratios and the ambi-
ent temperature. Owing to page limit, the extracted
dampingisnot presentedinthispaper.
In the study of the RC slab, it was reported that
thechangingenvironmental conditions has insignifi-
canteffectonvibrationmodeshapesalthoughitcauses
noticeablechanges invibrationfrequency (Xiaet al.
2006).Thisisbecausetheinfluenceof theenvironmen-
tal conditionsisalmost uniformthroughout theentire
structure.Thisobservationisconfirmedinthepresent
study. Figure7 shows theMAC values of themode
shapes obtained at different temperature. As shown,
most MAC valuesof thefour beamsarealmost equal
Figure7. MACvalueof vibrationmodeshapesat different
temperature.
Figure8. Variationof thefundamental vibrationfrequency
of simply supported beamwith temperature, a) RC beam;
b) HDPE beam; c) Timber beam.
to 1.0, indicating theenvironmental condition varia-
tionhasinsignificantinfluenceonstructural vibration
modeshapes.
3.2 Effect of different materials
Thissectionpresentstheresultsobtainedfromtested
simply supportedbeams madeof different materials.
Figure8showsthevariationsof thefundamental vibra-
tionfrequencies of theRC, HDPE andtimber beams
with temperature. The corresponding results for the
steel beamaregiveninFigure4d.
As shown, thetemperatureeffect onvibrationfre-
quenciesdependsonthestructural materials. Among
the four beams, concrete beamis most sensitive to
thetemperaturechangewithacoefficientof 0.6778,
while the steel beam is least sensitive to the tem-
perature change with a coefficient of 0.0473. The
temperatureeffect onvibrationfrequenciesof beams
is associated with two parameters, i.e., the thermal
expansioncoefficient
L
andtemperaturecoefficient
on elastic modulus
E
.
L
relates to the change in
906
Table1. Thermal expansionandtemperaturecoefficienton
elasticmodulus
Concrete Steel Timber HDPE
L
1210
6
12.210
6
5.010
6
95.510
6
E
4.510
3
3.610
4
7.010
3
1.510
3
Figure9. Variationsof thefundamental vibrationfrequen-
ciesof beamgroup3withtemperature, a)Beam2; b)Beam3;
c) Beam4; d) Beam5.
structural dimensions, i.e., lengthL, depthh andwidth
b of the beam.
E
quantifies the change of elastic
modulusof thematerial withtemperature. Becausethe
stiffness of asimply supported beamis proportional
toEI /L
3
=Ebh
3
/12L
3
, thechangeof thestiffnessof
the beamwith temperature can be derived. Table 1
lists the
L
and
E
of the four materials. Fromthe
table, the elastic modulus of timber is most sensi-
tivetotemperature, followedby concreteandHDPE.
Theelastic modulus of steel is least sensitivetotem-
peraturevariation. Ontheother hand, HDPE has the
largest thermal expansioncoefficient andtimber has
thesmallestthermal expansioncoefficient, whilecon-
crete and steel have comparable thermal expansion
coefficient. A combination of thermal expansion in
dimensionandreductioninelasticmodulusresultsin
the vibration frequency of RC beammost sensitive
totemperaturechange, followedby timber beamand
HDPEbeam.Thevibrationfrequencyof thesteel beam
isleast sensitivetotemperaturechange.
3.3 Effect of beam dimensions
Figure9showsthevariationsof thefundamental vibra-
tionfrequenciesof thebeamsof different dimensions
withrespecttotemperatureof thebeams2to5ingroup
3. Resultsof beam1arepresentedinFigure4d.
As shown in Figure 9, the temperature effect on
beam vibration frequencies depends on the beam
dimensions. This is understandable because temper-
aturevariations changethedimensionof thesimply-
supported beam, and theamount of changedepends
on the beamdimension, which therefore has differ-
entinfluencesonthebeamstiffness. Thefundamental
vibration frequencies in general decrease with the
temperature, except that of beam 3 increases with
thetemperature. Comparedtotheother beams, beam
3 has the smallest cross section (25mm25mm).
Increasingitsdimensionowingtotemperaturechange
Figure 10. Variations of a) second and b) third modal
frequencieswithtemperatureof theRC beam.
Figure 11. Variations of a) second and b) third modal
frequencieswithtemperatureof theHDPE beam.
might result inarelatively moresignificant increase
inmoment of inertiaI =bh
3
/12of thebeam, which
causes the increase in beamstiffness. However, the
exact reason why the vibration frequency increases
withthetemperatureof thisbeamisnot known. This
observation demonstrates that thetemperatureeffect
isbeamdimensiondependent.
3.4 Influences on high vibration modes
Invibrationtests, vibrationpropertiesof thefirstthree
modeswereobtained.Owingtothepagelimit,onlythe
firstmodeispresentedaboveindetail.Theinfluenceof
varyingenvironmental conditions onvibrationprop-
ertiesof thesecondandthirdmodeissimilar asonthe
firstmode. Figure10showsthevariationof thesecond
andthirdmodal frequencies of thesimply supported
RCbeamwithtemperature. Asshownboththemodal
frequenciesdecreasewiththetemperature, but at dif-
ferentrates.Vibrationfrequencyof mode2,whichisan
anti-symmetricmode,decreasestheslowestamongthe
threemodeswithacoefficient of 0.2261, whilethe
vibrationfrequenciesof thesymmetricfirst andthird
modes decreasefaster. This observation, however, is
not consistent. AsshowninFigure11, for theHDPE
907
beam, the vibration frequency of the second anti-
symmetricmodedecreasesthefastestamongthethree
modeswithacoefficientof 0.6212, whereasthefirst
symmetric modeas showninFigure8decreases the
slowestwithacoefficientof 0.1863.Theseobserva-
tionsindicatethat it isnot possibletodrawageneral
conclusionontheinfluencesof temperaturevariations
on vibration properties of different modes. Further
studyisdeemednecessary.
4 CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents vibration testing results of 12
beams of different dimensions, different boundary
conditionsandmadeof different materialsinaperiod
of 8months. Theinfluencesof changingenvironmen-
tal conditionsonbeamvibrationfrequencies, damping
ratiosandmodeshapesarequantifiedfromthetesting
data. It is found that vibration frequencies in gen-
eral decreasewiththetemperatureandincreasewith
humidity. Therateof vibrationfrequencychangewith
the temperature and humidity depends on the beam
material types, dimensions andboundary conditions.
Thechangeof dampingratioswiththeenvironmental
conditionsisratherrandomanddifficulttodrawadefi-
niteconclusion,whilethevibrationmodeshapesof the
beamareindependent of thechangingenvironmental
conditions. Thetestingresults presentedinthepaper
canbeusedasreferencesinstructural conditionmon-
itoring to eliminate the influences of environmental
conditionsonstructural vibrationproperties.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Theauthor wishestoacknowledgeUWA honorsyear
students Mark Nguyen, Daniel Coward and Scott
Porter for conducting the vibration tests. Financial
support fromCIEAM isalsoacknowledged.
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908
Deteriorationpredictionof concretebridgeswithartificial neural
network(ANN) derivedfromdiscreteconditiondata
M.S. Hasan, S. Setunge& D.W. Law
ABSTRACT: Atpresentdeteriorationcausedbyserviceconditionsanddeferredmaintenanceof oldbridgesare
diagnosedusingaconditionmonitoringsystemwhereaconditionratingisgiventoeachandeveryelementbased
onvisual inspection. Evaluatingtheseconditionstoarriveatameaningful decisioncriterionisachallengefaced
bymanyroadauthoritiesintheworld. Whilsttherehavebeenmanydifferentmethodsproposedinresearch, they
haventbeenwidelyacceptedbytheauthorities. Someof thesemethodsincludeMarkovprocess, Gammaprocess
anddeterministicmethodswhereaconditioncurveisderivedfromalargeamountof discreteconditiondata. In
thispaper, anattempthasbeenmadetousetheartificial neural networkstoforecastdeteriorationusingcondition
datafromlevel 2inspections. Backward-Propagation-Method(BPM) of artificial neural network (ANN) has
beenappliedtoforecastbridgedeterioration. Conditiondatahasbeenobtainedfromonelocal council inVictoria,
Australiatoderivethemodels.
1 INTRODUCTION
Bridge deterioration is a serious problemacross the
world. Not only the economic burden of providing
repairsandmaintenancebutalsotheissueof deciding
whentherepairsarenecessarytooccur addsanaddi-
tional level of complexity to theproblem. Moreover,
understanding the best time to intervene is another
complexity to this existingdecisionproblem. Repair
actions on bridges ould cause interruptions to ser-
vicecausingdelaysandcongestionwhichaddstothe
travel timeof theroad users. To address theseprob-
lemscost effectively, first, thefutureconditionof the
bridge must be predicted with a reasonable level of
certainty.Assessingfutureconditionproperlycanlead
toidentifyinganoptimumrepair strategy. Identifying
theoptimumrepairstrategyincludesdeterminingmost
appropriate repair techniques and when this repair
shouldoccur. However, when therearealargenum-
ber of bridges to be considered the complexity of
identifyingoptimumrepair strategies is significantly
increased. There are a large number of bridges in
Australiathatareinconditionsof seriousdeterioration
(Stewart 2001). People in decision making position
must decide, when and how to repair, rehabilitate
or replace these bridges in order to upgrade service
quality. Thesedecisions will changethecurrent per-
formanceof thesebridges, at thesametimealsocon-
siderably affect their performance and maintenance
decisionsinthefuture.
The two most popular BMS system available
commercially is Pontis and BRIDGIT which have
adoptedMarkov-chainmodelsfor maintenanceman-
agement (Morcous, Lounis et al. 2003). The funda-
mental assumptioninthismethodologyisthat bridge
inspections are accomplished at predetermined and
fixed-time intervals and they reveal the true condi-
tion state of the facility with perfection (Smilowitz
and Madanat 2000). However, according to Yang
et al. (2009) Markov-chain models used in this two
BMSs havelimitations whichaffect their acceptance
inpredictingconcretebridgedeterioration.
TherearesomedeterministicBMSmodelsavailable
which stipulate a deterministic relationship between
bridge performance and time (Ng 1996). However,
concrete bridge deterioration is stochastic in nature
likeall other natural phenomena. Deterministicmod-
els are unable to consider the fact that a bridge
performancecannot bepredictedwithcertainty.
Artificial intelligence(AI)modelsexploitcomputer
techniquesthataimtoautomateintelligentbehaviours.
AI techniquescompriseexpertsystems, artificial neu-
ral networks(ANN), geneticalgorithm(GA), andcase
basedreasoning(CBR) to optimisethepredictionof
future conditions. A detailed investigation has been
performed by Sobanjo (1997) where he attempts to
useANN to model theconcretebridgedeterioration.
In his study amultilayer ANN was utilised to relate
bridge age (in years) to the condition rating of the
bridgesuperstructure.ANNisbasedonasimplestruc-
turethat aims to represent thethought process inthe
humanbrain(Liu2001).
2 DETERIORATIONFORECASTING
METHODS
2.1 Markov method
The key assumption of Markov chain based main-
tenance and rehabilitation (M&R) is that element
909
deterioration is a Markov process. This assumption
assumesthattheelementdeteriorationhastheMarkov
property within it namely memoryless property and
time homogeneous property. The memoryless prop-
erty of Markov Decision Process (MDP) stipulates
that the present condition depends only on the pre-
viousconditionandnotontheentirepastwhichisnot
trueincaseof concretebridgedeterioration. Thetime
homogeneous property of Markov process assumes
that the rate of deterioration of the systemremains
constant throughout thetime. Again it is against the
natureof concretebridgedeteriorationbecauseof the
uncontrolled nature of the process. Sudden change
inthetrafficconditionornatural calamitiescanchange
thecourseof deteriorationprogression. To overcome
thetime-homogeneityrequirement, J iangetal. (1988)
developed separate transition matrices for each age
group.Thisway, thedeteriorationratesdependonboth
thecurrent states as well as theages of thebridges.
However, accordingto Ng(1996) this categorisation
couldreducethesamplesizewithineachgroupwhich
inturncouldreducetheprecisionof theestimators.
InMarkovprocesstransitionprobabilitiesarebeing
used to forecast theprobability of an element being
infutureconditionfrompresent conditioninasingle
inspectioninterval. Transitionprobabilitiesarerepre-
sentedbyamatrixof order n n calledthetransition
probabilitymatrix(P), wherenisthenumberof possi-
bleconditionstates. Eachelement (p
i,j
) inthismatrix
representstheprobabilitythattheconditionof abridge
component will changefromstate(i) tostate(j) dur-
ingacertaintimeinterval calledthetransitionperiod.
If theinitial condition vector P(0) that describes the
presentconditionof abridgecomponentisknown, the
futureconditionvectorP(t)atanynumberof transition
periods(t) canbeobtainedasfollows(Collins1975):
where
Markov transition probabilities can be estimated
usingseveral methodsamongwhichthemost popular
oneusingbridgeconditiondataistheregressionbased
method (Bulusu and Sinha 1997). Other methods
includetheuseof countdata, frequencyapproach, and
theuseof logit/probit techniques (Bulusu and Sinha
1997). The regression-based approach (J iang 1990)
is not suitable for modeling deterioration because it
suffersfromvariouslimitations(Madanat, Mishalani
etal. 1995). Moreover, thelatentnatureof bridgedete-
rioration is ignored in this approach. The examples
of models using count data include Poisson regres-
sion models and negative binomial models (Bulusu
andSinha1997). Thesemodelsexplicitly link deteri-
orationtoexplanatoryvariables. However, theordinal
nature of condition states data has not been consid-
ered for both these model. The issue of considering
ordinal natureof conditionstateshasbeencoveredby
modelsdevelopedusingthelogit/probittechniqueand
explicitly link deterioration to explanatory variables
(BulusuandSinha1997). However, all thesemodels
donotaddresstheissuesrelatedtothepanel natureof
bridgedata.
The simplest technique adopted to calculate the
probabilitytransitionmatrixfromconditiondataisthe
frequency method. Theprobability Pij of transition
in bridgeelement condition fromstatei to statej
canbeestimatedusingEquation-3(J iang, Saitoet al.
1988),
wheren
ij
isthenumberof transitionsfromstatei to
statej withinagiventimeperiodandn
i
isthetotal
number of elements in statei beforethetransition.
Wherethereisnotenoughdatapointstocompletethe
matrix, missingtransitionprobabilitiescanbederived
usingalinear relationshipasdescribedbelow(inthis
caseP
23
),
However, if the stochastic behaviour of a bridge
infrastructureisconsideredasavery important char-
acteristicof thesystem,theremaininglifeof aconcrete
bridgeisnonlinearinnature. Forexample, thedistance
betweenConditionState9andConditionState8isnot
thesameasthedistancebetweenConditionState8and
ConditionState7, andsoon.Thisproblemcauseshid-
denstatesof thesystemwhichcannotbedescribedby
adeterministic value. Therefore, Markov approaches
may not beapplicablebecausethey do not consider
theuncertainty embedded in anonlinear statespace
model. Table-1summarisesseveral aspectsof thedif-
ferent methods of calculating transition probability
matrix.
2.2 AI method
Stochastic nature of any real systemlike deteriora-
tionof concretebridges canbeconsideredas avery
important characteristic of the system. Due to this
problemhidden states of a nonlinear systemcannot
bedescribedby adeterministic value, rather needs a
probabilistic approach to describe. Therefore, all of
above-mentioned approaches may not yet be appli-
cable because they do not consider the uncertainty
embeddedinhiddenstates of anonlinear statespace
model.Artificial Intelligencemethodcanbedeployed
toovercomethisproblem(Winn2011).
Since the 1990s ANN has been applied as an
alternativetotraditional methodsincivil engineering
910
Table 1. Summary of different methods of calculating
transitionmatrixfor MarkovDecisionProcess.
Methods Properties Challenges References
Regression Canconsider Ignoresthe (Bulusu
Method different latent nature andSinha
parameters of deterioration 1997)
asafunction
of transition
probabilities
Frequency Simplest Condition (Ng1996)
Approach technique, stateof concrete
Linear in bridgearenot
nature linear innature
Useof Abletorelate Unableto (Bulusu
Count Data deterioration consider the andSinha
withits ordinal property 1997)
significant of concrete
parameters bridgecondition
data
Logit/Probit Capableof Donot consider (Bulusu
Technique relating thepanel andSinha
deterioration propertyof 1997)
withits condition
parameter monitoring
aswell as data
considers
theordinal
propertyof
thecondition
data
fields such as structural design, structural assess-
ment, structural control, trafficengineering, andhigh-
wayengineering. (Mukherjee, Deshpandeet al. 1996;
Kim, Yoonet al. 2000; Saito andFan2000). Several
researchershaveusedANN tomodel deteriorationof
concretebridges. Fiftyconcretebridgesuperstructure
inspectionrecordswereusedtomodel bridgedeterio-
rationby Sobanjo(1997) withonly theageof bridge
as an input. Similar work has been carried out by
Cattan et al. (1997) using neural network approach
topredicttheconditionratingof railwaybridgesinthe
Chicago metropolitan area. In their work, they have
usedtheoverall conditionof thebridgewhichisona
ratingscaleof 1to5astheoutput of theANNmodel,
andseveral physical characteristicsof thebridgeswere
consideredastheinputvector. Intheirresearch, Li and
Burgueno(2010) havecomparedseveral ANN meth-
odstocomeupwithabestmodel topredictthebridge
abutment condition ratings in thestateof Michigan.
TheANN model wasabletopredict thediscretecon-
ditionratingof bridgeabutmentbasedonphysical and
operational bridgeparameters.
Neural Networksprocessinformationusingasim-
plestructurewhichissimilar tothethoughtprocessin
thehumanbrain(Liu2001). A neuronisthemaincel-
lular unit of thenervoussysteminhumanbrain. Each
neuronreceives andcombines signal fromnumerous
other neurons and generates an output signals to the
axon to execute definite activities. This progression
instigatesthestudiesinNeuro-computing.
Thesimplifiedmodel of genetic neuronstructures
are referred as neural networks. The networks are
made up of extremely interconnected neural com-
puting components and act as enormously parallel
distributedprocessingstructure. Artificial neural net-
works arealso called connectionist systems, parallel
distributedsystemsor adaptivesystems, becausethey
arecomposed by aseries of interconnected process-
ingelementsthatoperateinparallel.AnANNconsists
of many simple linear or nonlinear processors (i.e.,
functions) connected in a parallel fashion. The neu-
ral networks components are capable to learn from
existing dataand gather knowledge. On thebasis of
this knowledge, neural network can perform com-
plexactivitiessuchasprediction, recognition, pattern
matching and so on. Neural networks architecture
has beenclassifiedinto various types basedontheir
learning mechanisms and other features. This study
employs Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) architecture
whichis widely usedinpredictionandclassification
tasksinengineeringpractice(Adeli 2001; Bie n2004).
MLP architecturewhichispart of aBPM canhandle
stochasticbehaviourof dataandcanpredictorclassify
themaccordingly. (Bie n2004).
MLP consists of multiplelayers namely, an input
andanoutputlayer accompaniedbyoneor moretran-
sitional layerscalledhiddenlayers.Thecomputational
unitsof thehiddenlayer areknownasthehiddenneu-
rons.Thehiddenlayerhelpsincarryingoutconvenient
transitional computations beforeguidingtheinput to
theoutputlayer.Theinputlayerneuronsareconnected
tothehiddenlayerneuronsthroughinput-hiddenlayer
weights. Again, thehiddenlayer neuronsarelinkedto
the output layer neurons through the corresponding
hidden-output layer weights. Figure1 shows graphi-
cally theconnectivity structureof amultilayer neural
networkwithasinglehiddenlayer.
Theinput-output mappingof amultilayer percep-
troncanbeformulatedbythefollowingequation:
HereN
1
, N
2
andN
3
represent nonlinear mapping
provided by input, hidden and output layer respec-
tively. Theactivity of neurons in thehidden layer is
determinedbytheactivitiesof theneuronsintheinput
layer and the connecting weight between input and
hiddenunits. Similarly, theactivityof theoutputunits
dependsontheactivitiesof theneuronsinthehidden
layer andtheconnectingweight betweenhiddenand
output layers.
3 DATA COLLECTION
Todevelopaneural networkconditionmonitoringdata
weresourced fromWhittleseacity council, Victoria.
Alongwiththeconditionmonitoringdatasomeother
bridge parameters such as age, length, construction
period, trafficcount, percentageof heavyvehiclewere
alsocollectedfromthesamecouncil. A sampleset of
911
Figure 1. Neural Network connectivity between different
layers.
level-2inspectiondatathat werecollectedisprovided
inTable-2for theeaseof understanding. Thedataset
collectedfromthecouncil wasorganisedaccordingto
thebridgeelements. Sincethenumber of datapoints
wereinadequatetoconducttheanalysisforbridgeele-
ments, thisinitial analysiswasconductedforcomplete
bridges. In order to consider relative importance of
bridgeelements,theweightingfactorsgiveninTable-3
wereadopted. Theweightingscaleregimewasestab-
lishedfromInternational InfrastructureManagement
Manual (2006).Therewere322numberof precastcon-
crete bridge element data for which MLP was used
to develop the neural network model. Five different
parameters were considered as the input vectors for
theneural network. Hence, thesizeof theinputmatrix
for theMLP network is5322. Asthereisfour dif-
ferentconditionsforlevel-2inspectiondatatheoutput
matrix size is 4322, where 322 is the number of
observations.
4 DATA ANALYSIS
The Matlab Neural Network Toolbox was used to
develop the MLP models. The models were devel-
opedtoperformfivedifferent tasks: groupedthedata
intothreedifferentsetsrandomly(training, testingand
validating), createaninitial neural network basedon
architecturespecifications, trainthenetwork, test the
network andfinallyvalidatethenetwork. Totrainthe
MLP network 70%of thetotal input datawereran-
domlyselectedwithout replacement. Fromrest of the
data15%wasreservedfornetworktestingandanother
15%for validation. Thenumber andsizeof thehid-
den layers was successively modified to identify the
best performingarchitecturefor thetask. Thehyper-
bolic tangent sigmoid function, specified as tansig
was selected as the activation function for the MLP
networks. At the end of training with 70% data the
performanceof thenetwork was measuredby exam-
ining the ability of the network to correctly predict
theoutputsfor theset of testingdata. Thetrainednet-
workisusedtopredict theconditionratingfor theset
of testingdata. Moreover, onethirdof theinspection
datawereusedtovalidatethenetwork.Validationdata
Table 2. Sample condition monitoring data sheet for dif-
ferent elementsof concretebridgessourcedfromWhittlesea
CityCouncil.
Dateof 1st
Condition2005
Element
Name Inspection 1 2 3 4 Age
DunnettsRoad 14/09/05 8P 100 0 0 0 6.8
DunnettsRoad 14/09/05 8P 100 0 0 0 6.8
CadesRoad 14/09/05 8P 100 0 0 0 6.8
CadesRoad 14/09/05 8P 100 0 0 0 6.8
ArthursCreek 11/09/05 8P 100 0 0 0 27
BoundaryRoad 11/09/05 8S 0 0 100 0 50
LehmannsRoad 31/08/05 8S 0 100 0 0 60
LehmannsRoad 31/08/05 2S 0 100 0 0 60
Table3. Weightingdetailsof different bridgeelements.
Element Weighting
Name Details Factor
8P Precast ConcreteDeck 5.3
8S Steel Deck 5.3
2P Precast ConcreteGirder 4.0
2S Steel Girder 4.0
24P Precast ConcreteAbutment 4.0
24S Steel Abutment 4.0
22P Precast ConcreteColumn 4.0
22S Steel Column 4.0
51P Precast ConcreteRailing 2.7
51S Steel Railings 2.7
arethedatawhichwerenot includedintrainingand
testingsession. Confusionmatriceswereusedtoeval-
uatetheperformanceof thetrainednetwork.Adetailed
discussiononconfusionmatricesandtheoutputof the
networkisprovidedindiscussionsection.
5 DISCUSSION
The performance of the MLP models was assessed
usingconfusionmatrices. Confusionmatricesarerep-
resentations of the prediction ability of the MLP
(Kohavi andProvost1998). Inconfusionmatricestar-
get outputs are compared with the rating predicted
by thenetwork. Confusion matrices weredeveloped
for training, testing, validation and overall datasets.
The confusion matrix developed using the training
data provides a measure of the prediction ability of
the network for the training data only. For the new
andunseendata, themodel effectivenesscanbedeter-
mined fromtheconfusion matrices developed using
thetestingdata.Thevalidationconfusionmatricesjust
verify that any increaseinaccuracy over thetraining
datasetactuallyyieldsanyincreaseinaccuracyover a
datasetthathasnotbeenshowntothenetworkbefore,
or at least thenetwork hasnt trained on it. Figure-2
showstheconfusionmatricesfor all four kindsof data
912
Table 4. Performance of MLP network for different
numbersof hiddenneuron.
Number of Number of Overall Performance
HiddenLayer HiddenNeurons inPrediction
1 20 94.4%
30 97.5%
50 97.5%
75 97.5%
100 96.9%
forbridgeratingdeveloped.Thecolumnsrepresentthe
truevalueof theinspection rating and therows rep-
resent thepredictedratingby thenetwork. TheMLP
networkwasdevelopedfordifferentnumberof hidden
neuronsinhiddenlayers.Table-4summarisestheover-
all performanceof thenetwork for different number
of hiddenneurons. It isfoundthat with30, 50and75
hiddenneuronsthenetworkgivesamaximumoverall
performanceof 97.5%topredict thebridgeratings.
To check theefficiency of thedeveloped network
a set of arbitrary data were tested to predict the
futurecondition of thebridges. Non-bridgeparame-
ters wereidentified for theupcoming year 2020 for
somebridgesandtestedwiththedevelopednetwork.
For thearbitrarydatatrafficcount wereconsideredto
haveagrowthrateof 1.8%asit isthegrowthrateof
Melbournetraffic(2012). Thenetwork isabletopre-
dict the conditions properly as the sumof all four
conditionspercentageare100. Out of 25test data23
predictions havethesummationof 100. However, all
thepredictedvalues fall under thecondition1which
means bridges are perfect in condition. The results
showthat network isunabletopredict thefuturecon-
dition perfectly as after 10 years the bridge is not
supposedtobeinperfect condition. Thisisduetothe
natureof training datathat network used to develop
theweightsandbias. Out of 322inspectionrecord44
inspectionrecordhaveconditionvalueinall four con-
ditions.Therestof theobservationsholdvaluesonlyin
condition1. Hence, networkisunabletorecognisethe
natureof deteriorationpatternfor non-bridgeparam-
eters. It is important that network is trained with all
thepossiblescenarioof thedeteriorationconditionin
order toachieveflawlessprediction.
6 CONCLUSION
Artificial neural network (ANN) has the ability to
relate input and output data for complex non-linear
processes. Duetothisabilityartificial neural network
modelswereselectedtodevelopdeteriorationpredic-
tion models for concrete bridges in this study. The
ANN models were developed to predict the bridge
level-2conditionratingfromphysical, geometric, and
design parameters of a bridge. The MLP network,
whichisasimpletypeofANNmodel,iscapableof pre-
dictingbridgeconditiondatawithanacceptablerange
Figure 2. Confusion matrices for 20 hidden neurons in
singlehiddenlayer MLP network.
913
of accuracy. Although the developed MLP model is
highly dependent onthedatacollected, it wasableto
predictconditiondatabetter thanadevelopedMarkov
model. However, thepredictedconditiondataby the
ANN models for multiplebridges should bestatisti-
callycombinedtocomeupwithageneralisednetwork
degradationcurves. This canbeachallengeof using
ANNfor networklevel modelling.
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914
Structural damagedetectionusingtheWiener filter
MadhukaJ ayawardhana, XinqunZhu& RanjithLiyanapathirana
University of Western Sydney, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Damagedetectionandlocalizationalgorithmsplayakeyroleinanystructural healthmonitoring
(SHM) systembecausetheidentificationof damageintheunderlyingstructureis themost important goal of
suchasystem. This paper presents anovel decentralizedstructural damagedetectionandlocalizationmethod
usingtheWiener filter. Identificationof damageiscarriedout ineachsensor independentlyandlocalizationis
carriedoutbypairingoff theresponsesof neighbouringsensors.Verificationof theaccuracyof thismethodwas
doneusingresponsedatafromaseriesof testscarriedout onareinforcedconcrete(RC) structure. Themethod
hasshownpromisingresultsinstructural damagedetectionandlocalization.
1 INTRODUCTION
Civil infrastructurescanposeathreattolivesandprop-
erties dueto thenumerous challenges facedby them
intheir lifetime. SHM has capturedmuchinterest of
researchersduetoitspromisingabilitytodetectdam-
ages to thestructure. Decentralized structural health
monitoring is inspired by theuseof wireless sensor
networks (WSN) in SHM systems and the develop-
ment of smart sensor nodes. In decentralized SHM
anddamagedetection, thesignal processinganddeci-
sionmakingauthorityof thecentral server ispartially
delegated to other sensors of the network, primarily
addressingthemost commonissueof limitedsensor
power inaWSN.
Damagedetectionandlocalizationalgorithmsplay
themost important roleinany SHM system, making
their accuracy, sensitivity, robustness and efficiency
crucial. A largebody of existing work on decentral-
izeddamagedetectionandlocalizationcanbefound
intheliterature, includingseveral decentralizedmeth-
odsMessina, etal. 2004; SohnandFarrar2001; Lynch
etal. 2004; Liuetal. 2009).Theseworksfollowdiffer-
ent criteriafor damagedetection, suchasthechanges
of thestructurein terms of modal parameters, time-
seriesmodels,correlationof data,waveletchangesand
flexibility, dueto structural damage. Theparameters
that capture the changes of structural properties are
calledDamagesensitivefeatures(DSF).
Thedamagelocation assurancecriterion (DLAC)
(Messinaetal. 1998) usesastructuresmodal frequen-
ciesasitsDSF,correlatingthemodal frequencychange
caused by possible structural damages between the
actual structural responsedataandthosesynthesized
froman analytical model of thestructureto achieve
its task. Several time-series methods are available
in theliteraturemostly based on theauto-regressive
(AR) model. AR (Fugate et al. 2001), AR-ARX
(Auto-regressive with exogenous input) (Sohn and
Farrar 2001; Lynch et al. 2004) and ARMA (Auto-
regressivemovingaverage) (Nairetal. 2006) methods
havebeenwidely investigated. Theseusethestatisti-
cal modelsfittedtothetimeseriesresponsesastheir
DSF, basedonthepremisethat thepredictionmodel
developedfromtheundamagedresponsetimeseries
datawill not beabletoreproducethenewdataseries
obtained from the unknown state of the structure.
Autocorrelationfunction Crosscorrelationfunction
method(ACF-CCF) usestheACFof sensorsresponse
and the CCF of sensor pair responses as DSF (Liu
et al. 2009). Thewavelet characteristics and wavelet
energyof thestructural responsesaretheDSF usedby
wavelet-based methods (Yun et al. 2011; Zhu et al.
2011). Cyber-physical co-design (Hackmann et al.
2010) usesastructuresflexibilityasitsDSF withthe
knowledgethat withdamage, thestructuresstiffness
decreases, changingitsflexibility.
Theexisting damagedetection algorithms exhibit
many shortcomings such as, low sensitivity and/or
accuracy, dependency on the structural model, high
complexity (timeconsumption) andlowenergy effi-
ciency. Our objective in this work is to develop a
better structural damagedetectionmethodintermsof
accuracy, efficiency, sensitivity and complexity. We
developamethodusingtheWiener filter inorder to
achieve this task. Wiener filter is customarily used
for filtering out the noise fromnoise-contaminated
signals. It is being widely used in imageprocessing
applicationstoreducetheeffectsof noiseblurringthe
images. Therehavebeen afewrecent developments
inusingWiener filtersinfault detectionapplications.
TheWiener filter hasbeenusedfor changedetection
in synthetic apertureradar images in order to detect
and locate land mines (Tates et al. 2007; Nasrabadi
2009). Inanentirely different researchapplication, a
Wiener filter-basedagent hasbeenusedtoeffectively
detectfaultsincomputernetworks(Al-Kasassbehand
Adda2009).
915
In this paper, we present a novel, decentralized
structural damagedetection and localization method
usingtheWiener filter. Theperformanceof thepro-
posedmethodis verifiedusingaset of experimental
data from an RC slab. Promising results for effi-
cientstructural damagedetectionisachievedusingthe
method, providingaccuratedamagelocalization. The
remainder of thispaper isorganizedasfollows; first,
wediscussbasictheoriesbehindtheWiener filter and
present our damagedetection method based on that.
Then the experimental set-up and the data that was
usedinthemethodverificationprocessarediscussed
briefly. Next wepresent our results fromthemethod
indamagedetectionandlocalizationbeforerounding
upwiththeconclusions.
2 DAMAGE DETECTIONMETHOD
InthissectionwedescribehowtheWiener filter can
beusedfor fault detectionandlocalization. Thenwe
introducethestructural damagedetection and local-
izationmethodthat weproposewheretheerror of the
Wiener filter if theDSF.
2.1 Wiener filter
Wiener filter isawell-knownlinear discretetimefil-
ter that compares a noisy signal to an estimation of
the desired noise-less signal in order to reduce the
effectof noiseintheformerassuminglinearstationary
signals. Consideringdiscretetimesignals, theNoise-
contaminatedsignal representedbyx(n) isfedintothe
Wiener filter of which, theimpulseresponseisgiven
by W(n), resulting in the noise reduced output sig-
nal y(n) which is targeted to bean estimation of the
desiredsignal d(n).Theperformanceof theWienerfil-
ter isevaluatedbyanalysingitserror e(n) whichisthe
differencebetween y(n) and thedesired signal d(n).
TheoptimumWiener filter designisaccomplishedby
minimizingthemean-squareerror(MSE)valueof e(n)
(Haykin 2002). In other words, theoptimumWiener
filter isthedesignwhoseoutput wouldcomeasclose
tothedesiredsignal aspossible.
Forafiniteimpulseresponse(FIR)systemof length
M, thefilter output andtheerror aregivenas:
wherew
i
(n) isthei(th) Wiener filter coefficient.
Wewill denotetheMSE as thecost functionJ of
thefilter, tobeminimizedfor theoptimumdesign.
arethecrosscorrelationbetweend(n)andx(n),andthe
autocorrelationof x(n)respectivelywithE[.]denoting
theexpectedvalue(Haykin2002).
Inorder tominimizethecost functionJ, weeval-
uate the derivative of J with respect to each of the
filter coefficients w
k
, (k =0, 1, . . . , M 1) of W(n),
andsimultaneouslyequatethemtozero.
resulting in a set of M linear equations with M
unknown filter coefficients w
k
. Representing this
systeminthematrixformweget:
where, W isthevector of optimumfilter coefficients
that canbecomputedusingR
xx
andR
dx
, theautocor-
relationmatrixof thenoisyinputsignal, andthecross
correlationmatrix betweenthedesiredandtheinput
signals, respectively.
If thefilter coefficients areknown, wecanobtain
theerror of theWiener filter throughthefilter output
computation. AnoptimumWiener filter designedfor
agivensignal canbepredictedtogiveasimilarerrorif
asecondsignal fromthesamesystemunder thesame
conditionswasfedintoit. However, if thesystemhas
undergoneanychangessuchasadamage, thenewsig-
nal obtainedfromthechangedsystemunder thesame
conditions will giveadifferent error. Inother words,
if theunderlyingsystemhaschanged, itsresponsefed
totheoptimumWiener filter will notgiveagoodesti-
mationof thedesiredsignal that isobtainedfromthe
un-changedreferencesystem, givingadifferent error
fromtheunchangedsystemsignal. Thisphenomenon
canbeusedinasensor network to detect andlocate
errorsintheunderlyingsystem. Inour damagedetec-
tionandlocalizationmethod, weusethisphenomenon
to detect damages in the underlying structure of an
SHM system.
2.2 Damage detection and localization using
Wiener filter
Based on the above principle, we use the MSE of
the optimumWiener filter as the DSF of our dam-
agedetectionandlocalizationmethod. Thismethodis
carriedout intwolevels. Thefirst level iscarriedout
locallyineachnodetodetecttheexistenceof damage
using the MSE of theWiener filter computed using
thesensors measured response. Thesecond level of
the method is carried out to locate the damage at a
sensor pair level, usingthecrosscorrelationfunction
(CCF) of theWiener filter MSE between these two
sensorsasapair. Thecomputationsof themethodare
performedintwostages; Offlinestage: settingupthe
referencedatabaseateachsensor beforethemethodis
916
Figure1. Experimental set-upandcrackpatterns.
appliedfor damagedetectionandlocalization. Online
stage: theonlinemonitoringstagewherethedamage
detection and localization of the structure is carried
out online.
2.2.1 Offline stage
Thestructural responsesarecollectedfromthehealthy
structure subjected to various environmental condi-
tions as X ={x
1
, x
2
, . . . , x
N
} whereN is thenumber
of tests conducted. Theseresponses arestandardized
tomakethemcomparablegivenby:
where
x
i
=meanand
x
i
=standarddeviationof the
ithsampleof referenceresponsewithi =1, 2, .., N.
Usingtwosetsof referenceresponses, theoptimum
Wiener filter coefficients are computed for the ref-
erence response based on Equation (4). These filter
coefficientsareusedtocomputethefilter output and
thentheMSE of theoptimumWiener filter which
isthedamagedetectionindex(DDI) of our method
basedonEquation(2);
wheretheWiener filter error e
i
(n) iscomputedusing
Equation(1). A thresholdvalueiscomputedfor each
sensor using the statistics of the above DDI values
as Thr =
DDI
+
DDI
, where and standfor the
meanandthestandarddeviationrespectivelyand =3
ischosencorrespondingtoaninterval of 99.7%con-
fidencein anormal distribution. ThereferenceDDI
valuesfor N samples, thethreshold, aswell astheref-
erencesignal X
1
will then bestored in thereference
databaseof eachsensor.
2.2.2 Online stage
Duringtheonlinestage, eachsensor collectsthecur-
rent structural responseanduseitsstandardisedform
as the filter input signal, while using the reference
signal X
1
storedinits ownreferencedatabaseas the
desiredsignal. Usingthisfilterresponse, thenewDDI
valuesarecomputedusingthesamemethoddescribed
intheofflinestage.ThenewDDI valuesarethencom-
paredagainst thereferenceDDI values storedin the
sensor databasefor damagedetection. If thenewDDI
values exceed thereferencethreshold for threecon-
secutivetest samples, weconsider that adamagehas
beendetected.Thethreeconsecutiveexceedingruleis
employedinorder toreducethefalsepositivedamage
indicationpossibilities,whichisacommonoccurrence
inthesesystems.
If damageis detectedby oneor bothsensors of a
sensor pair, theCCF of thenewDDI valuesarecom-
putedfor damagelocalization. This requires thenew
DDI valuestobecommunicatedbetweenthetwosen-
sorsof thepair. For thistask, wedesignateonesensor
of thepair tobeinchargeof thecomputationandpro-
gramtheother sensor to transmit its newDDI value
to the master sensor. After computing the CCF, the
master sensor will transmit its variance to the cen-
tral server for thefinal damagelocalizationdecision,
wherethebehaviour of thisvalueisobservedtolocate
thedamage. Wewill denotethis varianceof thesen-
sor pair-CCF of thenew DDI values as our damage
localization index (DLI). Neighbouring sensors will
bepairedtogether tolocatedamagebetweensensors.
Thisdecisionwill betakenmanually,duringtheoffline
stage of the method. Assigning of sensor-pair roles
as well as thepairinginformationwill becommuni-
catedtothesensorsbythecentral serveroncetheSHM
systemisfirstsetonline,alongwiththenecessarycon-
trol informationsuchassynchronizationinformation.
Thesensorswithinapairneedtobesynchronizedprior
totheCCFcomputationforaccuratedamagedetection
andlocalization.
Theproposedmethodusesdecentralizedprocessing
intheSHM network for damagedetectionandlocal-
ization. The damage decision is taken at individual
sensors independently, saving wireless transmission
energy. Localizing the damage using this method
requires the calculation of the DDI-CCF of sensor
pairs, which requires wireless transmission between
sensor pairs. Andthefinal DLI needstobetransmit-
ted to thecentral server as well. However, sincethe
amount of data that will be transmitted as DDI val-
ues betweenthesensors of apair arevery muchless
compared to the original signal, the communication
consumesmuchlessenergy.Also, thelocalizationpro-
cessiscarriedoutonlyif oneor bothsensorsof apair
detects damage successfully, thus limiting unneces-
sary energy consumption. The final communication
of theDLI tothecentral nodealsoconsumesverylow
energy as it is only asinglevalue. Thecomputation
process of both theWiener filter error and theCCF
are simple, requiring much less computation power
thansomeother widelyuseddamagedetectionmeth-
odssuchtheAR-ARX method(SohnandFarrar2001;
Lynchet al. 2004). Inaddition, theproposedmethod
doesnot relyontheunderlyingstructuremodel.
917
3 EXPERIMENTAL STUDY
Verification of the results of our proposed damage
detection and localization method was performed
usingasetof structural responsedataobtainedfroma
seriesof testsperformedonaRCslabbyZhuandHao
(ZhuandHao2009). Theexperimental procedureand
thenatureof responsedatawill bebriefly discussed
inthissectioninorder tobetter understandtheresults
obtainedfromthedamagedetectionmethod.
Theexperiment hasbeencarriedout onatwo-span
RCslabof dimensions6400mm800mm100mm.
It wassupportedby woodenplanksplacedover three
steel UB sectionsformingtwo3000mmlengthspans
with200mmoverhangat eachend(Figure1(a)). The
Youngsmodulusof theconcreteis3.310
10
Paand
thedensityis2450kg/m
3
. Eachspanwasloadedatthe
middlewithatwo-point loadasshowninFigure1(a).
Theloadingsystemwasalsoconnectedtotheslabsup-
portsinorder toreducetheeffectof thesystemonthe
supportsinFigure1(a).Crackdamageswerecreatedin
theslabbycontinuouslyloadingit withanincremen-
tal load in 13 loading levels whilemonitoring crack
locationsandlengths. Table1givesthestaticloadson
thetwospansrecordedusingtwoloadcells(Zhuand
Hao2009).
Whilecreatingcrackdamagesontheslabwithstatic
loading, a dynamic loading test has been conducted
usinga5.4kgimpact hammer inorder to recordthe
responsesof thestructure. Ninesensorswereinstalled
along the slab at evenly-distributed locations (Fig-
ure1(a))inordertocollectaccelerationmeasurements.
Table1. Loadingstagesanddamagescenarios.
Load
Loadingstage P1(kN) P2(kN) Damagescenario
1 0 0 Nodamage
2 3 0
3 6 0 Onedamagezone
4 12 0
5 18 0
6 18 3 Twodamagezones
7 18 6
8 18 12 Threedamagezones
9 18 18
10 25 25
11 32 25
12 35 35
13 38 38
Figure2. DamagedetectionusingDDI.
A dataacquisitionsystemhasbeenusedtoacquiresix
datasamplesateachloadingstageat500Hzsampling
rate. The experimental records of crack propagation
alongtheRCslabwithincreasingstaticloadlevelsare
illustratedinFigure1(b). Accordingto theseexperi-
mental records, three main areas of damage can be
identifiedintheslab. For explanationpurposes, these
damagedareaswill bereferredtoasDamageZones
throughout this paper. Theloading stages performed
on theslab areillustrated inTable1, along with the
damagescenarios.
The above experiment gives us only six samples of
impulse responses of the structure for each load-
ingstageat eachsensor. Sincestatistical analyses of
dataaremorereliablewhenthesamplesizeis larger
(Montgomery2009), weincreasedour samplesizeby
simulatingmoredatasamples by addingonepercent
whiteGaussiannoise, givenas; X
k
=X
k
+E
p
Noise
where,X
k
isthemeasureddatasampleof thekthsensor
andE
p
representsonepercentof thestandarddeviation
of thesignal.
Thedamagedetectionandlocalizationmethodwas
implemented in Matlab. At the first stage of the
method, thedamagedetectionprocessiscarriedoutat
individual sensors as explainedinSection2. For this
task, thereferenceresponseobtainedfromtherefer-
ence(undamaged) structureandthecurrent response
obtainedfromtheunknownstateof thestructureare
usedtocomputetheerrorof theoptimumWienerfilter,
withthereferenceresponsetakenasthedesiredsignal.
In the results verification process using the experi-
mental data, wetakethestructural responsesobtained
by theimpact tests at loading stage1, during which
thestructureisunder nostaticloads, asour reference
signalsthroughoutthisstudy. Inotherwords, thestruc-
tural responses at loading stage 1 are considered as
thedesired signal for theWiener filter computation.
Takingtheresponsesateachof theother stagesasour
currentsignal fromwhichwerequiretoassessthecon-
ditionof thestructure, wecomputetheWiener filter
error for eachsensor at respectiveloadingstages.
4.1 Damage detection
Figure 2(a) shows the DDI values of loading stage
2 compared with the reference DDI values and the
threshold(of loadingstage1).Thegraphillustratesthe
918
DDI plottedagainstthenumber of testsamples. Since
all thesensors showed similar characteristics in this
scenario, wehaveillustrated herethecomparison of
sensor1only. Fromthisgraphitisevidentthatthetwo
setsof DDI valueshavesimilar statistical characteris-
tics. ThenewDDI valuesdonot exceedthereference
thresholdatthreeconsecutivesamplesalthoughafew
randomoutliers arevisible. This result suggests that
the area around sensor 1 is not damaged at loading
stage 2. This situation is further analysed using the
mean DDIs of all thesensors shown in Figure2(b).
ThereferencemeanDDI withstandarddeviationerror
barsisplottednext totheloadingstage2counterpart
toanalysethesimilarity betweenthetwovalues. The
graph shows that theloading stage2 DDIs arevery
similar to thereferenceDDIs indicatingthat noneof
thesensorsaredamagedat thisstage. Thisdecisionis
affirmedbytheexperimental damagerecordsgivenin
Table1, whichstatesthat nodamagehasoccurredin
theslabat theloadingstage2.
Nextwewill lookatthedamagedetectionresultsof
differentdamagescenariosof thestructure.Figure2(c)
illustratesthedamagedetectionresultsof sensor 1for
several damagescenariosasindicated. Similar toFig-
ure 2(a), the DDI values for several loading stages
fromdifferentdamagescenariosareplottedagainstthe
numberof testsamples.Wehavechosenloadingstages
3and5toindicatethesmallestdamagescenarioof the
structure(DS1)andageneral instanceof one-damage-
zonescenario(DS2), respectively (Table1). Loading
stages6,8and13representthetwo-damage-zonessce-
nario (DS3), thethree-damage-zones scenario (DS4)
Figure 3. Damage analysis in each sensor for different
damagescenariosusingmeanDDI.
Figure4. Damagelocalizationinsensor pairsusingDLI.
andthebreakdownstate(DS5), respectively. Similar
totheNodamagescenarioshowninFigure2(a), all
sensorsshowedsimilar detectionresultsinthesedam-
agescenariosaswell, thusweillustratetheresultsof
sensor 1, without lossof generality. Furthermore, this
figureshowsthatthenewDDI valuesof all thedamage
scenariosarevastlydifferentfromthereferenceDDIs
giving clear damage indications for all the damage
scenarios. Sensor 1hasbeensensitivetothesmallest
damagein thestructure, which has occurred around
sensors 69 according to the experimental records
(Figure1(b)).
Figure3 provides further analysis on thedamage
detection results by thesensors in thegiven damage
scenarios.ThemeanDDIsof thesamedamagescenar-
ios analysed above, areplotted against thereference
counterpart with their standard deviation error bars
for comparison. Anarithmetic logscaleis employed
for this graph. Looking at the significant difference
between the new DDIs and the reference, a clear
damage detection decision can be made fromthese
results.
4.2 Damage localization
After successful damagedetection, thedamagelocal-
ization stage is carried out. As described in Sec-
tion 2, the variance of the CCF of DDIs between
pre-designated neighbouring sensor pairs is used to
localizethedamage. Sincethesensors areuniformly
linearlydistributedalongthestructure, wehavepaired
theneighbouringsensorswithsensor overlap. Inother
words, sensor 2 is paired with both sensor 1 and 3,
whichgivesanaggregateof eight sensor pairs.
Sincetheexperimental recordsindicatethreemain
damagezones as showninFigure1(b), inour local-
ization analysis we concisely present our results on
localizing these three zones. Figures 4(a), (b) and
(c) present the DLI values of DS2, DS3 and DS4,
respectively, representingtheone-damage-scenarioof
loadingstage5, thetwo-damage-scenario of loading
stage6andthethree-damage-scenarioof loadingstage
8, plottedagainst thesensor number. Wecanobserve
fromthesegraphsthatthepatternchangeof DLI with
thesensor-pair number clearly shows accuratedam-
agelocalizationcomparedtotheexperimental records
(Figure1(b)). For example, Figure4(a) localizes the
damageinsensor pairs6and7whichconsist of sen-
sors6to8whichagreeswiththeexperimental crack
recordsof theone-damage-zonescenario(Figure1(b),
919
1). SimilarlyFigures4(b) and4(c) localizedamageto
two and three damage zones, respectively, agreeing
withtheexperimental records.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper proposes a novel approach to decentral-
izedstructural damagedetectionusingWiener filter.
Theerror of theoptimumWiener filter isemployedas
theDSF inthisproposedmethodandnamedasDDI.
A Matlabprogramis usedto implement this method
andtheoutcomeisverifiedusingstructural response
dataobtainedfromaseries of tests carriedout onan
RC slab. Theresultsshowthat theproposedDDI has
beensuccessful indetectingdamagesinthetestedRC
slab. DamagelocalizationiscarriedoutusingDLI, the
varianceof thecrosscorrelatedDDIsbetweenneigh-
bouring sensor pairs. The results of the localization
processdemonstratedsuccessful damagelocalization
that agreedwiththeexperimental records. Decentral-
izedprocessingof thestructural responses makethis
method energy efficient. Due to its simplicity and
efficiency, this method could be a good alternate to
someexistingcomplex andtimeconsumingdamage
detectionmethods.
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920
Evaluationof thermal gradientsandtheir effectsinabridgebox
girder usingmonitoringdata
P. Omenzetter, P. Chua, A. Issa& B. Sanders
The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
ABSTRACT: Therecentconstructionof theNewmarketViaduct, amajor 12-span, 700mlong, post-tensioned
highwaybridge, createdanexcellentopportunitytoevaluatein-situperformanceof suchstructures. Tothatend,
astructural monitoring systemwas installed on thebridgeto measurestrains, deflections, accelerations and
temperatures. Thisstudyanalysesmorethanoneyearsworthof temperaturedata. Thefocusof themonitoring
dataanalysis is onfindingthemaximumpositiveandnegativetemperaturegradients that candevelopinthe
bridgeboxgirderandcomparingthosetodesigncodeguidelines.A numerical studyisalsoconductedtoexplore
theeffect of variousdesignandactual gradientsongirder bendingmoments.
1 NEWMARKET VIADUCT
WhentheoldNewmarketViaduct wasconstructedin
1966inNewZealand(NZ), itwasthefirstbridgeof its
sizeandtypeintheSouthernhemisphere. Itcomprised
two parallel, twinbridges that stoodupto 23mhigh
andextendednearly700m.Theviaductformedacrit-
ical part of theAucklands main highway network
in 2009 the average daily traffic was approximately
160,000vehicles(AucklandMotorways2012). How-
ever,shortlyaftertheopening,differential temperature
effects inthedouble-cell box girder inducedgaps in
thebottomslabat anumber of transversejoints and
cracking wereevident at other positions in thewebs
and transverse pier diaphragms (Billings & Tucker
2004). Over theyears, thebridgewasnot onlyincon-
stant battlewithtemperatureissues, but it also faced
problemswithcongestionduetoinsufficientspacefor
lanewidening, poorcrashbarriersandlowearthquake
resistance. Many attemptsat repair, maintenanceand
strengtheninghadbeencarriedout over 40years, but
asthebridgehadeventually reacheditsuseful life, it
wasdecidedtoreplaceit withanewstructure.
The replacement works started in J une 2009. In
thefirst stage, thenewSouthboundBridgewas con-
structed alongsidetheexisting old bridge, and, after
completion in September 2010, traffic was diverted
onto it to enable deconstruction of the old South-
boundBridge. Thiswasfollowedby theconstruction
of thenewNorthboundBridgethat openedto traffic
in J anuary 2012. At the time this paper was written
(J une2012), all traffic usedthenewviaduct andthe
old Northbound Bridgewas already partially decon-
structed. Figure1 shows images of theold and new
viaduct.
The replacement bridge is nearly 700mand has
12spans ranginginlengthfrom38.67mto 62.65m,
with the majority of spans being around 60mlong.
Figure1. Newmarket Viaduct: a) newbridgeduring con-
struction with theold onein thebackground, and b) com-
pletedbridge(oldNorthboundBridgestill visibleontheleft)
(AucklandMotorways2012).
The two parallel girders are supported on indepen-
dent pylons andarejoinedtogether viaacast in-situ
concretestitch. Thesingle-cell, post-tensioned box
girders were assembled from 468 precast concrete
921
Figure2. Schematic locationof sensors andmonitoringsysteminacross-section(squares denotestraingauges, anddots
tem-peraturesensors).
sections using the balanced cantilever construction
(Mathivat1983). Inthisbridgeerectiontechnique, the
constructionprocessdepartsfromapier, andconsists
of repetitivestepsduringwhichtwoprecast segments
of thebridgegirderareliftedtotheirintendedlocations
(inthis caseusingthebluegantry seeninFigure1),
whicharesymmetrical onbothsides of thepier, and
heldinplaceusingpost-tensioningtendons. Thepro-
cess is repeatedandnewsegments addeduntil at the
end of construction of the span the closure stitch is
cast in-situ and continuity tendons arestressed. The
girder changes then fromseparate cantilevers into a
continuousbeam.
2 PAPER OBJ ECTIVESANDOUTLINE
Theobjectiveof thispaper istoinvestigatetheeffects
of differential temperaturedistributions, or gradients,
in the bridge girder on bridge responses, such as
internal moments. To that end, a monitoring system
has been installed on the structure that measures,
amongst numerous other responses, temperaturedis-
tributions. Data collected by the systemis analysed
andtheanalysiscomplementedbyfiniteelement(FE)
simulations.
Theoutlineof thepaper is as follows. Thebridge
history and structural systemhas been described in
the introductory section. The next section provides
detailsof themonitoringsystem.Thisisfollowedbyan
overviewof theeffectsof differential temperatureon
bridgegirdersandhowthoseeffectsareaccountedfor
indesignstandards.Thetemperaturedatacollectedon
thebridgeis then analysed to determineactual tem-
perature distributions and compare themwith those
recommended in design codes. Finally, FE simula-
tions highlight the importance of taking the various
temperatureprofilesintoaccountwhiledesigningand
analysingthisandsimilarbridges.Asetof conclusions
wrapsupthereportedinvestigations.
3 MONITORINGSYSTEM
Thestructural monitoringsystemhasbeeninstalledin
two spans of theSouthboundBridge, namely Span8
and9. Thesystemcomprises20vibratingwirestrain
gauges(thatalsomeasuretemperature), 42embedded
temperaturesensors, four baselinesystemsmeasuring
deflections, andtwoexternal temperatureandhumid-
itysensors, oneinsideandanother outsidethegirder.
Datafromthesesensorsissampledat10minintervals
withtheintentiontomeasurestaticandslowly-varying
responses due to creep, shrinkage and temperature
variations. Communication with the data logger for
data download is via a wireless modemover a cel-
lular telephone network. Installation of six uniaxial
accelerometers is planned in near future to comple-
menttheaforementionedmeasurementswithdynamic
responsesduetotraffic inthevertical andhorizontal
directions.
Thelocationof sensorsinacross-sectionisshown
inFigure2(noteinthisschematic representationnot
all the temperature sensors are shown). Four strain
gauges areembedded in concretein each of thefol-
lowingfivecross-sections wheresaggingor hogging
momentshavethelargestvalues: inthemiddleof Span
8and9, closetotheir commonpier andat bothends
of thetwospans. Thestraingaugesarelocatedinthe
cornersof thecross-section. Eachof thefour baseline
systems (Stantonet al. 2003, Omenzetter & Ibrahim
2010) comprisesataut wirestrungbetweenpier seg-
ments inside the girder along its right or left hand
side, andadisplacement transducer (LVDT). Thedis-
placementtransducerisfixedtothegirderatmid-span
anditsother, moveableendtothewire. Asthegirder
deflects, the transducer moves along with it but the
wirestays in thesameposition providing abaseline
for deflectionmeasurements.
All 42temperaturesensorsarelocatedinthemiddle
of Span 9. As can be seen in Figure 2, the sensors
werespreadevenlyinbothwebsalongtheirheightand
alsoadditional sensorswereinstalledacrossthewebs
andinthetopandbottomslab. Thispaper isdevoted
to analyses of differential temperature effect on the
bridgegirder andusesdatacollectedbytheembedded
temperaturesensors. Thefocusisonthetemperatures
measuredinthewebs.
4 TEMPERATURE GRADIENT EFFECTSIN
BRIDGESANDTHEIR MODELING
Concreteexpandsandcontractswhensubject totem-
peratureincreaseanddecrease, respectively.Thisitself
givesrisetobridgedeformationsanddeflections. Fur-
thermore, if thermal deformationsarerestrained, asis
typically thecasein multiple-span bridges, cracking
may be induced to relieve internal stresses (Lars-
son& Karoumi 2011). Thermal loadingis important
as inextremecases temperature-inducedmoments at
922
Figure3. Temperature-inducedcross-sectionstrains.
critical sections, e.g. abutments of integral bridges,
may be of comparable magnitude to those induced
undergravity(Priestley1978).Theimportanceof good
thermal designhasbeenhighlightedfrequentlyduring
thelast 40yearsduetoidentificationof anumber of
structures suffering damage caused by thermal load
(Larsson & Karoumi 2011), among these the origi-
nal NewmarketViaductsufferingfromseverethermal
cracking (Priestley 1988). It is, therefore, important
that temperatureeffectscontinuetobeinvestigatedin
order that similar issues, in the Newmarket Viaduct
andother structures, canbeprevented.
Thermal gradientsimposedonaconcretestructures
cross section areresponsiblefor both instantaneous,
elasticeffectsandlong-termcreepbehavior (England
1980); this research is concerned with the former.
In simple terms, stresses under temperature loads
occur when thermal movement is restrained. In the
caseof statically determinatestructures, e.g. simply-
supportedgirders,lineartemperaturedistributionswill
not inducethermal stresses; however, theapplication
of non-linear thermal loads to a cross section will
give rise to internal forces, irrespective of support
conditions(EnglandandTsang1996, Priestley1978).
Applicationof temperatureloadt(y) (seeFigure3),
induces apattern of freestains through thedepth of
thesection, givenby
where is thecoefficient of thermal expansion, and
y isvertical coordinateoriginatingat thesectioncen-
troid.Theimplicationof theplanersectionassumption
is that while an imposed temperature load may be
non-linear innature, thefinal strainprofile(y) must
be linear. This is illustrated in Figure 3. To achieve
thisfinal straindistribution, self-equilibratingstresses
(y) arise, givenbythefollowingequation:
whereE isYoungsmodulus.
Furthermore, thermal gradients result in girder
deflections. For statically indeterminate structures,
thesedeflections areconstrainedgivingriseto addi-
tional stresses. This is illustrated in Figure 4 for a
continuousbridgegirder. Followingtheforcemethod
philosophy, fictitious hinges are introduced at the
intermediate supports, the beam is allowed to hog
(assumingtheuppersurfaceiswarmerthanthesoffit),
butredundantmomentsM arisethatpreventrotations
atthesupportsintheactual structure. Thesemoments
Figure4. Temperature-inducedinternal moments.
Figure5. Transit NZ BridgeManual temperaturegradient
(Transit NewZealand2003).
are redistributed in the entire beamand denoted as
M
. Theoverall stressinducedby thermal gradient is

therefore
whereI isthesectionssecondmoment of area.
4.1 Temperature gradients used in design standards
Temperatureeffectsonbridgesaretreateddifferently
indifferentdesigncodes.TheTransitNZBridgeMan-
ual (Transit New Zealand 2003) provides a single
differential temperatureprofileforall typesof sections
as dictated by a fifth-order polynomial distribution
proposedbyPriestley(1988) (seeFigure5). Onlypos-
itivegradientsareconsidered, i.e. whenthetopsurface
is warmer than the soffit, and there is no differen-
tiation for different regions of thecountry. Thepro-
posedgradient takes into account blacktopthickness
decreasing the concrete deck temperature with the
increaseinasphalt thickness.
By comparison, Australian Standard AS5100
Bridge Design (Standards Australia 2004) provides
region-specificmaximumandminimumtemperatures
andrequiresconsiderationof bothpositiveandnega-
tivetemperaturegradients,thelatterinducedasaresult
of re-radiationof heat fromthebridgedeck at night.
Additionally, AS5100provides anumber of different
temperaturecurveforms, dependingonsuperstructure
configuration,but,likeinNZ,theyarefifthorderpoly-
nomial for positivegradients. Negativegradients are
linear. Blacktopthicknessisnotaccountedfor, making
923
Figure6. AASHTOtemperaturegradient(AASHTO2007).
comparisons not straightforward, but maximumtem-
peratures wouldbeless thanNZs for typical asphalt
thicknesses.
Similarly toAS5100, theAmericanAssociationof
State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO)
specifications (AASHTO 2007) dividetheUSA into
four zonesandprovidedetailedspecificationsfor the
designof positiveandnegativetemperaturegradients.
TheAASHTOpositivetemperaturegradient isshown
inFigure6; thenegativegradient isobtainedbymul-
tiplyingthepositivegradient by afactor of 0.2for
concretedeckscoveredwithasphalt. For positivegra-
dients, thespecificationsdonot differentiatebetween
deck coveredor not coveredwithasphalt. Themaxi-
mumtemperaturesarecomparabletoNZsandhigher
thanAustralias.
Eurocode1initsUK implementationBSEN1991-
1-5:2003(BritishStandardsInstitution2004) approxi-
matespositivegradientsusingachainof straightlines
for the final shape resembling a higher order poly-
nomial. Negativegradients arealsoconsideredanda
linear shapeisassumed.
5 ANALYSISOF MONITORINGDATA
At thetimethetemperaturedataanalysisdescribedin
this sectionwereconductedtherewas approximately
9.5months worthof dataavailablebetweenOctober
2010andDecember 2011andsampledevery10mins
(duetoconstructionactivitiessomegapsindatacollec-
tionof thetotal durationof approximately4.5months
occurredduringthat period). Thefocus of theanaly-
sisisonfindingamongsttherecordeddatathelargest
positiveandnegativetemperaturegradients,extending
theresults to 50 years timehorizon and comparing
thosewiththedesignrecommendationsinTransit NZ
BridgeManual (Transit NewZealand2003).
StructuressuchastheNewmarketViaductarebuilt
in order to fulfill their intended functions for along
timeperiod, suchas50years. However, dataonstruc-
tural loadsandresponsesistypicallyavailableonlyfor
muchshorterperiods.Inthecaseof climaticdata,how-
ever, historical recordsof considerablylongerduration
maybeavailable. Inorder toextrapolatethetempera-
turegradientsobservedwithintheNewmarketViaduct
tothevalueslikelytobeexperiencedwithin50years,
thefollowingprocedurewasused(explainedindetail
for positivegradients):
1. Maximumdailygradientsinbothwebswerefound
amongst all the data recorded by the monitoring
system; corresponding individual sensor readings
aredenotedasT
gauge,i
, wherei isthesensornumber.
2. Correspondingmaximumdailytemperaturesmea-
suredbytheexternal temperaturesensorlocatedon
thebridge(Figure2), T
ext
, werealsoretrieved.
3. Linearregressionwasperformedtoobtainrelation-
ships betweeneachembeddedgaugeandexternal
sensor temperatures:
where
i
and
i
are regression coefficients. 20
data points were used at this step. The observed
correlations werehighgivinggenerally R
2
values
(Montgomeryet al. 2011) of morethan0.82.
4. Themaximumdaily temperatures for theexternal
sensor werein turn regressed on thecorrespond-
ingmaximumdaily temperaturesfromthenearest
weather stationlocatedat Albert Park (Agent No.
1427, Network No. A64871, Latitude 36.853
,
Longitude: 174.767
) (National Instituteof Water

andAtmosphericResearch2012), T
station
:
where and areregressioncoefficients. 54data
pointswereusedat thisstepandR
2
=0.47.
5. Theavailability of 50years worthof temperature
data from the weather station made it possible,
using Equation (4) & (5), to extend the maxi-
mumgradient measuredonthebridgetothat time
horizon.
A similar procedure, only using minimum daily
temperatures, wasusedfor negativegradients.
Figure7 shows thetemperaturedistributions cor-
responding to extremegradients in both webs. Both
theextrememeasuredgradientsandtheir expected50
years counterpartsareshown, thelatter obtainedwith
confidencecorrespondingtothreestandarddeviations
of regressionerrorsrespectively addedor subtracted.
Thelargestmeasuredpositivegradientoccurredinthe
Northfacingwebandwasequal to6.9
C.FortheSouth
facingwebthecorrespondingvaluewasslightlylower
and equal to 5.5
C. The expected 50 years positive

gradient values were 8.2
C and 6.7
C, respectively.
Figure7alsoshowstheTransitNZBridgeManual dis-
tributionforblacktopthicknessof 25mm.Thishasthe
maximumvalueashighas27
C. Themeasurements,
however, donotconfirmtheoccurrenceof suchstrong
924
Figure7. Measuredandextrapolatedtemperaturegradients
andTransit NZBridgeManual temperatureprofile.
positivegradients,evenaftertakingintoaccountthe50
years timehorizon. Themeasuredgradients arealso
muchlesssteepcomparedtowhatwouldbesuggested
by the fifth-order polynomial. Furthermore, there is
noevidenceof thesmall positivegradient inthesof-
fit present in theTransit NZ Bridge Manual bridge
recommendations.
It isalsoquitestrikingthat therecordedmaximum
magnitude of the negative gradients exceeds that of
thepositivegradients. Themaximumnegativegradi-
ent magnitudeof 10.2
CoccurredintheSouthfacing
web; adjustedfor the50years horizonit was10.5
C.
Again it is pertinent to remind that the Transit NZ
BridgeManual doesnotincluderecommendationsfor
thenegativegradients. On theother hand, themaxi-
mumnegativegradient in theNorth facing web was
only1.6
Cmeasuredand1.7
Cadjustedfor 50years.
TheSouthfacingwebisinfactfacingtheNorthbound
Bridge. It ishypothesizedthat night heat re-radiation
fromthe South facing web is therefore less intense
resulting in higher temperatures at its bottom and
hence larger gradients. Also, a pocket of warmair
trappedbetweenthetwobridgesmightbekeepingthe
temperature in lower parts of the South facing web
higher duringthenight.
6 NUMERICAL SIMULATIONSOF
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
ThissectiondescribestheapproachtoFEmodelingof
theeffectsof temperaturegradient loadsontheNew-
marketViaduct. Theobjectivewastodevelopamodel
whichwouldcloselycapturetheviaductinitstruecon-
figuration,incorporatingcenterlinecurvature,varying
super-elevation, pier heights, andbearingproperties.
TheFEmodel wascreatedusingdesigndrawingsusing
SAP2000. The completed model adopted the maxi-
mummeshspacingof 1.2m, andrequiredsolutionof
over 120,000equilibriumequations.
Themodel was subjectedto avariety of tempera-
tureloadsincludingthoseobtainedfromi)TransitNZ
Figure8. Bendingmomentsinducedbytemperaturegradi-
entsanddeadload.
BridgeManual (TransitNewZealand2003)withmax-
imumtemperature25
C(seeFigure5);AASHTOwith
T1=30
C (seeFigure6), anddatafromthemonitor-
ing system. Thelatter gradients represented alinear
positive gradient of 8.9
C over a depth of 900mm,

andlinear negativegradient of 10.2
C over theentire
section depth, respectively. (Notethegradients used
in the numerical simulations are (slightly) different
than those discussed in Section 5 this is because
thenumerical simulationshadbeenconductedbefore
theanalysisof monitoringdatawascompleted; exper-
imental gradients were also simplified to linear and
extrapolatedupand/or downtothedeckouter surface
levels.)
Figure8showsbendingmomentsgeneratedbythe
fouraforementionedtemperaturegradientloadsalong
the whole length of the bridge. To put these effects
into perspective the bridge was also analyzed under
its own gravity load. The moment profiles for the
temperatureload cases adhereclosely to thepattern
suggestedbyFigure4. Themomentsoccurringunder
theTransit NZ BridgeManual designgradient repre-
sent theworst caseintermsof saggingmoments, and
induce a sagging flexural demand of approximately
83% of that induced by dead load. The maximum
positiverecordedgradient is notably less severethan
the Transit NZ Bridge Manual profile, resulting in
momentsof only44%of thosepresentunderdeadload.
Interestingly, theAASHTO positivetemperaturedis-
tributionresultedinmoments of approximately 68%
of those generated by the Transit NZ Bridge Man-
ual gradient. Whilethemaximumtemperatureof the
AASHTOloadingis5
C greater, thepiecewiselinear
distributionusedbyAASHTOoccursover adepthof
only400mm, comparedto1200mmintheTransitNZ
BridgeManual gradient.Theaverageappliedtempera-
turethroughthetopportionof thestructureistherefore
less, requiringlower restraint momentstoequilibrate.
Thehogging moments induced by thenegativetem-
peraturegradient hadthelargest valuesof 23%of the
925
maximumhoggingmomentsproducedby thegravity
loads.
Thedifferentdirectionsof bendinginducedbypos-
itiveandnegativethermal loadsleadtotheir different
effectsontheoverall bendingmoment envelope. The
positivethermal gradients inducesagging moments,
andwhensuperimposedwithgravity loads, theseare
most severe at mid-span. Conversely, negative gra-
dients lead to hogging moments, corresponding to
tensileactionat bridgedeck level. Giventheratiosof
thosemomentscomparedtothoseproducedby grav-
ity, theynotinsignificant. However, monitoringresults
indicatethat thepositivedesigngradientsmight well
be excessive. On the other hand, it appears that the
negativegradients should beincluded in thecurrent
NZdesignpractice.
7 CONCLUSIONS
Ananalysis of temperaturedatacollectedby amon-
itoring systeminstalled on a major bridge has been
presented in this paper. The records available so far
comprise 9.5 months worth of data and enabled
reliable extraction of maximum positive and nega-
tivegradients experiencedby thebridge. Correlating
the measured bridge temperatures with 50 years of
weather stationsdataenabledmoreconservativeesti-
mations of thelikely temperatures to beexperienced
bythebridgeduringitslifecycle. Comparisonof the
recordeddatagenerallysuggeststhatpositivetemper-
ature gradients might be significantly overestimated
by theprovisionsof Transit NZBridgeManual when
appliedtothebridge. Ontheother hand, negativegra-
dients, which arenot included inTransit NZ Bridge
Manuals recommendations, exceedthepositivegra-
dients, andit issuggestedtheybeincorporatedinNZ
bridgedesignpractice.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ThanksgotoP. Lipscombe, D. Leitner andother staff
of NGA Newmarket for facilitatingthisresearch, and
toNewZealandTransportAgencyforallowingtheuse
of theNewmarketViaduct asacasestudy.
REFERENCES
AASHTO 2007. AASHTO LRFD bridge design specifica-
tions. Washington: AmericanAssociationof StateHigh-
wayandTransportationOfficials.
Auckland Motorways 2012. Newmarket Viaduct replace-
ment, http://www.aucklandmotorways.co.nz/southern/
newmarketviaduct.php, accessed30/05/2012.
Billings, I. & Tucker, S. 2004. Seismic assessment and
retrofit conceptsfor theNewmarketViaaduct. Proc. 13th
World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Vancuver,
Canada, 16August 2004, paper no. 2230.
British Standards Institution 2004. BS EN 1991-1-5:2003:
Eurocode 1: Actions on structures Part 15: General
actions Thermal actions. London: British Standards
Institution.
England, G.L. 1980. Creepandtemperatureeffects in con-
crete structures: reality and prediction. Applied Mathe-
matical Modelling, 4, 261267.
England, G.L. & Tsang, C.M. 1996. Thermally induced
problems in civil engineering structures. In: Richard,
B.H. (ed.) Thermal stresses, 4, 155275. Amsterdam:
North-Holland,
Larsson, O. & Karoumi, R. 2011. Modelling of climatic
thermal actions in hollow concrete box cross-sections.
Structural Engineering International 21, 7479.
Mathivat, J. 1983. The cantilever construction of prestressed
concrete bridges, NewYork: Wiley.
Montgomery, D. & Peck, E.A. &Vining, G. 2001. Introduc-
tion to linear regression analysis. NewYork: Wiley.
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
2012. National climate database, http://cliflo.niwa.co.nz/,
accesses31/05/2012.
Omenzetter P. & IbrahimN. 2010. Evaluationof creepand
shrinkage in a prestressed bridge using data fromlab-
oratory experiments and in-situ monitoring. Proc. 21st
Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures
and Materials, Melbourne, Australia, 710 December,
2010, 185190.
Pristley, M.J.N. 1978. Designof concretebridgesfor temper-
aturegradients. Journal Proceedings, 75, 209217.
Priestley, M.J.N. 1988. North Rangitikei Rail Bridge thermal
study. SanDiego: TheUniversityof California.
Standards Australia 2004. AS5100 Bridge design. Sydney:
StandardsAustralia.
Stanton, J.F., Eberhard, M.O. & Barr, P.J. 2003. A weighted-
stretched-wire systemfor monitoring deflections. Engi-
neering Structures 25: 347357.
Transit New Zealand 2003. Bridge Manual. Wellington:
Transit NewZealand.
926
Numerical modellingof Lambwavesincrackedplatesusing
thescaledboundaryfiniteelement method
A.A. Saputra, C. Birk& C. Song
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia
H. Gravenkamp
Federal Institute of Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Germany
ABSTRACT: Lambwavesimulationis conductedusingthescaledboundary finiteelement methodfor the
purposeof non-destructivetestingapplications.Thespatial Fouriertransformationisusedtoobtaintheamplitude
of eachLambwavemodepresent inthereflectedsignal. Correlationbetweendifferent crack geometryandthe
reflectedwaveshapefromthecrack is determined. Thescaledboundary finiteelement methodonly requires
discretizationof theboundaryof theproblemdomain.Thissemi-analytical methodisalsobeneficial inmodelling
singularity problems as no special treatment is requiredat thecrack tipwhichfurther simplifies themeshing
process. Higher-order elementsareeasilyincorporatedtoachievehigher accuracy. Thismethodalsoshowshigh
computational efficiencywhencomparedtoconventional finiteelementresultsof thesameaccuracy. Examples
areprovidedtoillustratethesesignificant advantagesof thescaledboundaryfiniteelement method.
Keywords: Lambwaves, scaledboundaryfiniteelement method, crackdetection, continuedfractions
1 INTRODUCTION
Cracking is a common occurrence in various struc-
tures, especially in ageing structures. Cracks often
formtheweakest regions inthestructurewhichover
time may propagate and lead to detrimental struc-
tural failure. Consequently, it is crucial to monitor
crack development over the life span of the struc-
ture(Giurgiutiu2005). However, cracksmayoccur in
regions inaccessible to visual inspection, for exam-
ple, beneath thesurfaceof structural members or in
pipelines buriedunderground. Thedetectionof these
invisiblecracksisimportant tostructural safetybut a
challengingtask.
At present, one of the most often used methods
for crack detection is ultrasonic testing. Here, an
ultrasonic transducer creates awavewhichis passed
throughthestructuretobeinvestigated.Thisapproach
allows thereflectedwavefromthedefect to bemea-
sured, thusindicatingthepresenceof cracks. Inaddi-
tion, thelocation of thecrack can bedetermined by
using thewavevelocity and thetimeit takes for the
reflectedwavetotravel tothesensor. Inconventional
ultrasonictesting,onlytheareabeloworadjacenttothe
transducerismonitored.Asthetransducerisrelatively
small, it will requireaconsiderableamount of timeto
monitor longandwidestructuressuchaspipes(Park
etal. 1996). Physical accesstothestructureisrequired
for thistest. Therefore, inspectionof structureswhich
arecoveredbyother objectsisproblematic. A formof
coatingor insulationof thestructuremay alsohinder
theeffectivenessof thetestespeciallyformaterial with
high attenuation ratio (Leong and Wei 2009). Next,
theultrasonic testingrequiresexpensiveandvariable
insertionor rotationfor devicemotionduringthetest.
Therefore,thedesignandprogramforsuchtechnology
will becomplicatedas it needs to cater for thecom-
plex movement throughout the inspection. It is thus
proposedtodevelopamorepractical methodtotackle
someof thesedisadvantages.
Alternativeultrasonic testing techniques based on
Lambwaves haverecently receivedincreasinginter-
est. Thetheory of Lambwaves was firstly described
by HoraceLamb (Lamb 1917). Lamb waves can be
excited at one point of a plate and travel a consid-
erable length in the structure. Lamb waves travel in
different modes which depend on thepressurewave
frequency and the thickness of the plate (Viktorov
1967).Thusatacrackedregion, wherethethicknessof
theplatechanges, combinationsof Lambwavemodes
will occur (Alleyne and Cawley 1992; Wang et al.
2010). This fact allows for some information about
the crack geometry to be inferred. As more Lamb
wavemodes areexcited, therewill bemoreinforma-
tion that can bederived, thus it might bepossibleto
accurately predict thepositionandorientationof the
cracks in thestructureinspected. As aresult, cracks
inawideregionawayfromtheexcitationpoint, even
927
if theyarenot accessibletovisual inspectionor tradi-
tional ultrasonicmethod, canbedetectedusingLamb
waves. Therefore, theuseof Lambwaves canpoten-
tiallybeacost-effectiveapproachfor non-destructive
tests. However, analytical approachestomodel Lamb
wave propagation are fairly complicated due to the
dispersive nature of the waves. Therefore, numeri-
cal modelling is necessary to tackle this issue. In
thispaper, thescaledboundaryfiniteelementmethod
(SBFEM) is utilized as it is highly advantageous in
modellingcrackedstructures.
2 SCALEDBOUNDARY FINITE ELEMENT
METHOD
Thescaledboundaryfiniteelementmethodcombines
some of the favourable properties of the finite ele-
mentmethod(FEM)andtheboundaryelementmethod
(BEM) (SongandWolf 1997). It is asemi-analytical
methodwhichexcelsinmodellingsingularities.
This paper deals with simulation in two-
dimensional problem domains. Therefore, only the
two-dimensional solutionisoutlined.
Theproblemdomainisdiscretizedintoafewsub-
domains. Insideeachsubdomain, ascalingcentre(O)
isintroducedandtheCartesiancoordinatesaretrans-
formed into the local radial () and circumferential
coordinates(). isdefinedas0at thescalingcentre
and1at theboundary, while rangesbetween1to
1fromoneendtoanother endof theelement.
Thescaledboundary coordinates of apoint inthe
domain( x, y) aredefinedbyinterpolatingnodal coor-
dinates {x}, {y} using shape functions [N()] and
scalingthegeometryof theboundaryusingafactor
Thedisplacements{u(, )} canbedescribedas
For linear elastic material behaviour, the stresses
{} =[
x

y

xy
]andthestrains{} =[
x

y

xy
]
arecalculatedfromthefollowingequations
where [D] is the elasticity matrix and [L] is the
differential operator,
Thedifferential equationof motioninthefrequency
domain without the presence of body loads can be
expressedas
For dynamiccases, thedynamicstiffnessmatrixof
theboundeddomain[S(, )] relatesthenodal forces
{R()} tothedisplacement {u()},
AfterapplyingGalerkinsweightedresidual method
to theequation of motion formulatedin local scaled
boundarycoordinates, theSBFE equationindynamic
stiffnesscanbeformulatedat theboundary( =1) as
(Songand1997)
wheres isthedimensionof theproblemmodelled.
Eq. (9) can be solved by expanding the dynamic
stiffness into a series of continued fractions (Song
2009),
InEq. (10), x =
2
andM
cf
is theorder of con-
tinued fraction. The components [K] and [M] are
the static stiffness and mass matrices respectively.
The coefficient matrices [S
(i)
0
], [S
(i)
1
](i =0, 1, 2, . . . ,
M
cf
) of the high-order terms can be calculated by
Schur decomposition.
Thecontinuedfractionexpansioninthefrequency-
domain corresponds to an equation of motion in the
time-domain, whichcanbeexpressedas
Thetermsaredefinedbelow,
where{R} denotestheexternal tractionsonthebound-
aryand{I } istheidentitymatrix. {u
(1)
} . . . {u
(M
cf
)
} are
internal variables. Equation(11) canbesolvedusing
standardtimeintegrationschemes.
928
3 MESHGENERATION
Inthesimulationof Lambwavepropagation, theplate
commonly has a largelength compared to its thick-
ness(largeaspect ratio). Theproblemisfirst divided
intosubdomains. TheSBFE meshof atypical subdo-
mainwithacrackisshowninFigure1.Themaximum
aspectratioof asubdomainislimitedto4toavoidvery
small anglesformedbytheradial linesandthebound-
ary (Fig. 1). It has beenshownthat eachwavelength
requires around threeto four terms in thecontinued
fractionexpansion(Song2009). InSBFEM, themesh-
ing of acracked region is fairly straightforward and
elegant.Thisisdonebysimplyleavingagapbetween2
elementsandplacingthescalingcentreatthecracktip.
Therefore, nospecial treatment isrequiredfor cracks
present inthedomain.
In each subdomain, at least six higher-order ele-
ments areusedto model theboundary. It is possible
toincreasetheorder of eachelement byplacingmore
nodesattheGauss-Lobattoquadraturepoints(Vuand
Deeks2006), whicharegovernedbytheequation
whereP
p
istheLegendrepolynomial of orderp. Shape
functions are then formulated using the Lagrange
interpolationpolynomials
IntheSBFEM calculationsperformed, elementscon-
tainingupto15nodeshavebeenused(corresponding
toelementsof order p =14). Bypositioningthenodes
at theGauss-Lobatto points, theintegration over the
boundary becomes relatively simple. The resulting
matrices[E
0
]and[M
0
]arediagonal forisotropicmate-
rialsandblock-diagonal foranisotropicmaterials.This
ensuresefficientcomputationsinprocessingthematri-
cesduringsolutionprocedures. Furthermore, thesta-
bilityof thenumerical procedureisimproved. Finally,
the global matrix is assembled fromall subdomain
matricesusingfiniteelement technology.
Figure 1. Typical scaled boundary finite element subdo-
maincontainingacrack.
4 NUMERICAL RESULTS
4.1 Comparison of accuracy and efficiency
Itiscrucial todeterminetheaccuracyandefficiencyof
thescaledboundaryfiniteelement method(SBFEM)
comparedto theconventional finiteelement method
(FEM).Forthispurpose,arepresentativepartof asteel
plate of 4mmin length and 2mmin thickness was
analysed. A crack with1mmdepthand210
9
mm
widthispositionedat thecentreof theupper surface.
TheFEM analysiswasconductedusingacommercial
softwareANSYS13.0andtheSBFEMwasperformed
usingin-housecodesinMatlabR2011bversion.
Inorder tomakeafair comparison, theFEM mesh
in particular should bedesigned to beefficient. The
crack tip, wherestress singularities occur, requires a
finer mesh to obtain accurate results for the analy-
sis. A coarser mesh can then be applied elsewhere.
Thiswasdoneinthisstudybyisolatingasquarearea
aroundthecrack tip. Theplateoutsidethat squareis
meshed uniformly with square elements which can
be easily extended whenever the need of modelling
alonger platearises. Insidethesquarearea, asmall
circlearoundthecracktipmeshedusingquarter-point
elementswereapplied(performedbyaKSCONcom-
mandinANSYS). Thetransitionregionbetweenthe
small circleandthesquareareaisgovernedbyaspac-
ing ratio which is determined to ensure the aspect
ratio between elements are acceptable. Each subse-
quent refinement stepfor thepurposeof convergence
study was performed by dividing each element into
four. Although theruleof refinement process seems
straightforward, theactual meshingiscumbersomeas
someof thetransitionelements needadjustment due
tolimitationinthenumber of divisionsallowedinthe
circle.Thisisdonetopreventinaccurateresultswhich
may result fromelements with narrowangle. A typ-
ical mesh for oneof thecases analysed is shown in
Figure2a. Themeshingprocedurearoundacrack tip
isdifficulttobeautomated.Thiswill beespeciallydis-
advantageousfor thepurposeof crackdetectionusing
Lambwaveswheremany trialsneedtobeperformed
for variouscracksizesandorientations.
On thecontrary, meshing in SBFEM is relatively
simpleas only discretization of theboundary of the
problemdomainisrequiredasshowninFigure2b. In
order to obtain a higher accuracy, theboundary can
befurther discretizedintomoreelements. For thepur-
pose of this example, in each refinement step each
elementisdividedintotwosmallerelements.Thenum-
berof nodesineachelementcaneasilybeincreasedto
incorporatehigherorderelementsshouldanevenmore
accurateresult bedesired. TheSBFEM is extremely
advantageous inrepresentingvaryingcrack location,
depthandorientations. Thepositionof thecrack can
easily be varied by moving the position of the gap.
Assuming the crack line is straight, the crack depth
andorientationcanalsobesimplyalteredbychanging
thescalingcentreposition.
The loading scenario used to excite a symmetric
LambwaveisaGaussiandistributedpulseappliedat
929
Figure 2. Representative plate mesh using (a) finite ele-
ment method(FEM) and(b) scaledboundaryfiniteelement
method(SBFEM).
theleftsideof theplate.Thistime-dependentpressure
distributionP(t) isdefinedas
whereafrequency f =0.6MHz, timemean=6s
and time standard deviation =2s were applied.
The dynamic analysis to calculate the displacement
of theplateintimedomainhas beenperformedwith
the standard Newmark time integration with New-
markparameters( =0.5)and(=0.25).Theanalysis
spans1000timestepswithatimeincrement of 35ns.
Inthisexample, thevertical displacement (u
y
) results
werecomputedfor pointA depictedinFigure2a. For
quantitativecomparisonof thetwomethods, thecon-
verged results froma mesh using 131648 quadratic
elements (396683 nodes) in FEM were chosen as
benchmark results. Thepercentagedeviationof each
trial was computed as theaveragepercentagediffer-
enceof theparticular trial fromthebenchmark result
for all thetimesteps computed. Values closeto zero
weredeemedirrelevant asthey may increasetheper-
centagedeviationsignificantlywithoutimprovingthe
reliabilityof theresults.
The average percentage deviation is plotted as a
functionof thenumber of degreesof freedom(DOF)
inFigure3a. Quadraticelementswereutilisedinboth
methods along with elements of order 4 and 9 for
SBFEM. In FEM, the number of degrees of free-
domissolelydependent onthenumber of nodesused
for the mesh. In contrast, the number of degrees of
freedom for SBFEM is affected by the number of
nodesontheboundary andby theorder of continued
Figure3. Average%deviationfromthebenchmark result
asafunctionof (a) thenumber of degreesof freedom(DOF)
and(b) thecomputational (CPU) time.
fraction expansion. The order of continued fraction
neededisdeterminedbythedegreeof accuracyneeded
to model the shortest wave length at the boundary.
Usingquadraticelements, thecoarsest trial usescon-
tinued fraction order of 1 while an order of 8 was
required for the finest discretization. For an accept-
ableaccuracy in therangeof 0.1%. . . 1%deviation
fromthebenchmarkresult, itcanbeseenthatSBFEM
isaround10timesmoreaccuratefor thesamenumber
of DOF if quadratic elements areused. As expected,
higher-orderelementsfurtherimprovetheaccuracyfor
similar numbersof DOF.
Figure3bshowsthepercentagedeviationasafunc-
tion of the computational (CPU) time required to
performthesolution. Computations wereperformed
usingaHP EliteBook 8560w(Intel corei7-2820QM
CPU @2.30GHz) with8GB RAM. Only oneof the
coreswasactivatedtoachieveconsistentresultwithout
parallel computing. For theFEM trials, theelapsed
timespent computingsolution providedbyANSYS
930
Figure4. (a) Vertical displacement ontheplatesurfaceat
t =31.5s and(b) spatial Fourier transformation.
statisticswasusedfor thecomparisonwhichexcludes
the pre-processing and post-processing time. It can
beeasily deducedthat theSBFEM trials weregener-
ally quicker to achieve a specific accuracy than the
FEM ones for this specific problem. Upon a more
detailedobservationof thetrials usingquadratic ele-
ments, it isnotedthat SBFEM isapproximately10to
20times moreefficient to obtainsimilar accuracy in
the0.1%. . . 1%deviationrangefromthebenchmark
result. Whenhigher-order elementsareused, thecom-
putational effortneededfor SBFEMcanbeaslittleas
100times less thanthetrial usingquadratic element
inFEM for comparableaccuracy.
4.2 Simulation of the whole plate
Inthisexample, studieswereconductedtodetermine
theeffect of two factors namely thecrack depthand
crack opening angle( in Figure1) on thereflected
signal producedfromthecrack. Theplatemodel has
alengthof 160mmandathickness of 2mm. Dueto
manydifferent trialsrequired, SBFEM isusedtoper-
formthe simulation. The plate was divided into 21
subdomainsandacrackisintroducedinthemiddleof
theplate(i.e.themiddleof 11thsubdomain).Thepulse
definedinEq.(17)isappliedattheleftsideof theplate.
Thissymmetricpulseisbelowthenascentfrequencyof
thefirst order modes, thereforeonly thefundamental
symmetricmode(S
0
) will beexcited. However, asthis
wave mode interacts with the anti-symmetric crack,
thefundamental anti-symmetric mode(A
0
) will also
be excited. Therefore, the reflected signal will con-
tain both theS
0
modeand A
0
mode. An observation
of thevertical displacementof theplatesurface(u
y
) at
apoint intimewasconducted(Fig. 4a). Thisspecific
pointintimeischosenbyusingthegroupvelocitiesof
eachwavemodeto ensurethereflectionat thecrack
is completedbut thereflectedsignal has not reached
the edge of the plate. The group velocities of each
Figure 5. The amplitude ratio (a) R
S
0
and (b) R
A
0
as a
functionof thedepthratioandcrackopeningangle.
modecanbeobtainedbasedonthedispersionrelations
(Gravenkampet al. 2012).
The maximumamplitude of each mode group is
then noted to be used as a distinguishing feature of
thereflectedsignal for eachcrack geometry andori-
entation scenario. Often, the two wave modes have
not beencompletely separatedcreatingchallenges in
readingtheseamplitudes. Thereforeaspatial Fourier
transformation is utilised to obtain thedisplacement
amplitudes as a function of the wave numbers con-
tained in the signal (Fig. 4b). The maximumampli-
tudes of the vertical displacement were observed at
k =0.741mm
1
and k =1.544mm
1
. This agrees
withthetheoretical wavenumbers calculatedfor the
centre frequency of the pulse (0.6MHz) which are
k
S
0
=0.727mm
1
and k
A
0
=1.559mm
1
. The max-
imumamplitudes of eachreflectedmode(A
S
0
,ref
and
A
R
0
,ref
) arethencomparedtothemaximumamplitude
of incident mode(A
inc
) by
Thedepthratioisdefinedtobethecrackdepthdivided
bytheplatethickness.Asaresult, thegraphsplottedin
931
Figure5relatingtheratiosof maximumamplitudesto
thevariousdepthratioandcrackopeningangleswere
obtained.
Figure 5a shows that the amount of the S
0
mode
reflectedincreases proportionally to thedepthof the
crack present in the plate while showing negligible
effect fromthe crack angle variations. This means
whenanunknowncrackisinvestigated,thecrackdepth
canbeapproximatedbymeasuringtheR
S
0
.
Next, Figure5bshowsthattheR
A
0
hasasinusoidal
distribution with respect to the crack depth and its
value is inversely proportional to the crack opening
angle. Consequently, this dataof different ratiocom-
binations canbeusedfor abasic approximationtool
indeterminingtheshapeof anunknowncrack tested
usingasimilarapproachastheexample.If ahigherfre-
quencyLambwaveisexcited, morewavemodeswill
beproduced which can potentially reveal even more
information.
5 CONCLUSION
This paper has shown the capability of the scaled
boundaryfiniteelementmethodtomodel Lambwave
propagationinacrackedplate. Thesignificantadvan-
tagesobtainedincludethesimplicityinmeshingpro-
cedureas no special treatment is neededat thecrack
tip and the low computational effort needed to pro-
duceaccurateresultsascomparedtotheconventional
finiteelementmethod.Thishighlightsthepotential of
conductingnumeroussimulationswhichareneededto
investigatereflectedsignal patternsfromvariouscrack
geometriesfor non-destructivetestingpurposes.
REFERENCES
Alleyne, D. N. andP. Cawley(1992).Theinteractionof Lamb
waves with defects. IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics,
Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control 39(3), 381397.
Giurgiutiu,V. (2005).TunedLambwaveexcitationanddetec-
tionwithpiezoelectricwafer activesensorsfor structural
healthmonitoring. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems
and Structures 16(4), 291305.
Gravenkamp, H., C. Song, andJ. Prager (2012). A numeri-
cal approachfor thecomputationof dispersionrelations
for platestructuresusingtheScaledBoundaryFiniteEle-
ment Method. Journal of Sound and Vibration 331(11),
25432557.
Lamb, H. (1917). On waves in an elastic plate. Proceed-
ings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and
Engineering Sciences 93(648), 114128.
Leong,W.Y. andL.Wei (2009). Structural healthmonitoring:
Subsurfaced efects detection. In Industrial Electronics,
2009. IECON 09. 35th Annual Conference of IEEE,
pp. 4326-4330.
Park, M. H., I. S. Kim, andY. K. Yoon (1996). Ultrasonic
inspectionof longsteel pipesusingLambwaves. NDT &
E International 29(1), 1320.
Song, C. (2009). The scaled boundary finite-element
methodinstructural dynamics. International Journal for
Numerical Methods in Engineering 77(8), 11391171.
Song, C. and J. P. Wolf (1997). The scaled boundary
finite-element methodalias consistent infinitesimal
finite-element cell methodfor elastodynamics. Com-
147(34), 329355.
Viktorov,I. A. (1967). Rayleigh and Lamb waves. NewYork:
PlenumPress.
Vu, T. H. and A. J. Deeks (2006). Use of higher-order
shape functions in the scaled boundary finite element
method. International Journal for Numerical Methods in
Engineering 65(10), 17141733.
Wang, S., S. Huang,W. Zhao, andX.Wang(2010).Approach
toLambwavelateral crack quantificationinelasticplate
basedonreflectionandtransmissioncoefficientssurfaces.
Research in Nondestructive Evaluation 21(4), 213223.
932
Mechanical propertiesof epoxygroutsfor structural repair
M. Shamsuddoha, M.M. Islam&T. Aravinthan
A.C. Manalo
Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Composite Structures (CRC-ACS), Victoria, Australia
K.T. Lau
ABSTRACT: Epoxygroutshavebeenwidelyusedforrepairingandrehabilitatingstructureandtransportation
pipelinesbecausetheyareresistant totypical aggressivesolutions. Inrecent years, groutsareusedasstructural
infill indefectivestructures. Theappropriatenessof usinggroutsishighlydependentontherequiredstrengthof
structuresinservicecondition.Thispaperexperimentallystudiesthemechanical propertiesof fourepoxygrouts
asinfill componentsforstructural repair. Compressive, tensile, shear, andflexural propertiesaredeterminedand
compared. Thecompressiveandtensilestrengthsof thegroutsarefoundtobewithintherangeof 60115MPa
and 1030MPa respectively, while their compressive modulus ranging from1.5 to 6.0GPa were measured.
The overall results suggest the suitability of these grouts for desired structural repair applications. Finally,
recommendations aremadeontherelevanceof usingthesegrouts basedontheir mechanical properties. The
outcomeobtainedfromthestudyisexpectedtoenhancetheapplicabilityof epoxygroutsasinfill instructural
repair andrehabilitation.
1 INTRODUCTION
Almost all constructions whereconcreteor steel are
usedarevulnerabletothedestructiveeffectsof chem-
ical andenvironmental attack, as well as mechanical
distortion due to static strains and impact loads. In
repairing these structures, grouts are applied to fill
cracks, voids and pores of the in situ materials and
seal cracks to restorestrength and displacement sta-
bility(Bras& Henriques, 2012; J avanmardi & Lger,
2005; Plecniketal., 1986). Usually, twotypesof grout
areusedinconstructionindustry: cement grout with
or without polymer modification and epoxy grout.
Epoxygroutsarerecommendedoverthecementgrouts
for applicationrequiringhighstrength, rapidsetting,
dynamic load bearing, critical alignment, handling
versatility and in aggressive chemical environment
(Kneuer & Meyers, 1991; Prolongo et al., 2006).
Epoxy resins are the oldest and most widely used
polymersinthecivil engineeringandindustrial fields.
They areusedas infill in-betweentwo layers requir-
ingstructural repair,rehabilitationandstabilizationfor
bothexistingandnewly constructedstructures. With
theimportantroleof epoxygroutsinstructural repair,
this study is conductedto investigatethemechanical
propertiesinthelaboratoryandevaluatetheirprospect
in real-life applications especially in the repair and
rehabilitationof defectedstructures.
2 TECHNICAL BACKGROUND
Epoxiesarethermosettingpolymers,thatis,oncepoly-
merized or cured; they cannot bereused by melting
andreprocessing. Chemically, all epoxyresinscontain
epoxy groups as the main components of reactivity,
with an average of two such groups per molecule,
available for reaction. They are converted into an
infusible three-dimensional network by polymeriza-
tionorcrosslinkingbymeansof strongcovalentbonds
supplied by the epoxy groups, and by the action of
crosslinkingor curingagents(Prolongoet al., 2006).
Conventionally, the epoxy resins used in the civil
engineering and industrial fields aretheproducts of
copolymerization of Bisphenol A and epichlorohy-
drin (Mendis, 1985). Structural grouts derived from
epoxy resins, hardeners and fillers serve as protec-
tivelayer andeffectiveloadtransfer medium. Most of
thethermosettingpolymersareaffectedwhenincon-
tact with water in their uncured phase. However, by
usingspecial curingagents andmethods, it is possi-
ble to produce systems which are insensitive to wet
933
conditionsandactuallycapableof curingunder water.
Thismakestheepoxy groutstohaveawiderangeof
applicationpossibilitythanthatof cementbased, lime
based and cement-clay grouts modified with acrylic
resinor methyl methacrylateester polymer.
In recent years, numerous repair approaches have
beenundertakenusingepoxy grouts invarious engi-
neering fields. The repair efficiency of a reinforced
concreteslab-columnconnectionagainstseismicload
was studiedwheretheepoxy-repairedelements were
abletosustainthegravityandcyclicloadsuptodrifts
equal to thoseimposed on theundamaged specimen
(Pan & Moehle, 1992). In structural repair of steel
pipelines, the combination of composite layer and
infill groutisproposedbynumerousresearchers. Soil
or rock mass withlowstrengthor highpermeability
was modified by water soluble polymers as addi-
tives incement grouts to improvethesoil properties
(Anagnostopoulos, 2005).Theapplicationof compos-
iteoverwrapwithepoxygroutonadamagedcircularor
rectangularstructureisoftenpracticedinrepairindus-
try(Ehsani, 2009). Thistypeof repair methodprevent
thedefect failurethrough load transfer and restraint
(Palmer-J ones & Paisley, 2000). In case of material
lossinsteel pipelineseither bycorrosionor gouging,
epoxy groutsareusedasinfill or cushiontoensurea
smoothbedfor thecompositelayer. Diglycidyl ether
of bisphenol-A(DGEBA)basedepoxidecuredwithan
alphaticaminehardenerandathixotropicfumedsilica
additive with design strength 33MPa and compres-
sivemodulus1.74GPawasusedtofill thedefectson
thesteel pipefor restoringitsundamageddimensions
(Duell et al., 2008). Theresultsof their studyshowed
that thefailurewasreachedfirst inthefibrecompos-
itewrapindicatingthesuccessof fillertotransferload
fromsteel tocomposites.
Themechanical properties of grout areoneof the
governing factors to determinetheapplicability and
Table1. Typical propertiesof epoxygrout (Mendis, 1985).
Compressive Tensile Bond
strength strength strength
Applications (MPa) (MPa) (MPa)
Bondingdissimilar 1055 735
materials
Concretecrackrepair 4197 1455 1435
Structural rehabilitation 8397 2848 2841
Foundationandheavy 97 1528
machineryapplications
Table2. Summaryof grout components.
Grouts Part-components Mixingratio Primaryconstituents
A Resinwithfinefiller: Hardener 3.4:1.0(byvolume) Bisphenol A epoxyresin, Inert filler, Benzyl alcohol
B Resinwithfinefiller: Hardener 3.4:1.0(byvolume) Bisphenol A andF epoxyresin, PortlandCement,
Inert filler, Benzyl alcohol
C Resinwithfinefiller: Hardener 4.0:1.0(byvolume) Bisphenol A epoxyresin, Inert filler, Benzyl alcohol
D Resin: Hardener: Coarsefiller 2.4:1.0:12.0(byweight) Epoxyresin, TrimethylhexamethyleneDiamine,
Cement, SilicaSand, Inert filler
repairperformanceof thestructure(Allan, 2000; Klc
et al., 2002; Koksal et al., 2005; Shannag, 2002;
Thandavamoorthyetal., 2001; Zhang&Benmokrane,
2002). Mendis (1985) suggested a range of proper-
tiesof epoxygroutsfor structural application. Table1
shows relevant mechanical properties suggested for
different range of repair and rehabilitation works.
Grouts aresusceptibleto compressive, tensile, shear
andflexural loadingoracombinationof theseloadings
basedontheir orientationsandapplicationsespecially
forepoxygroutsthatarebeingusedinsidenarrowcon-
finementsandinhighperformanceapplications. The
properties of grouts are also significant parameters
that arerequired in thenumerical simulation or the-
oretical predictionof thebehaviour of arepair system
for anoptimumdesign. Withtheadvancementof high
performancecomposites, newchallenges areemerg-
ingto findsuitableepoxy grouts that canbeusedin
combinationwiththesematerialstorehabilitatedam-
agedstructures. Itisessential thereforetocharacterize
the mechanical properties of available epoxy grouts
to beableto determinetheir efficiency in structural
applicationsinvolvingcompositematerials.
In this paper, the mechanical properties of four
commercially available epoxy grouts that have high
potential as infill components for structural repair
weredetermined. Thegrouts wereselectedbasedon
thepropertieslistedbythemanufacturerontheirtech-
nical datasheets. Thesegrouts werealso claimed to
have resistance against acids, bases and hydrocar-
bonbasedfluids thus advantageous for underground
andunderwatertransportationfacilities.Thecompres-
sive, tensile, shear, and flexural properties of these
groutsaredeterminedandtheir failurebehaviour are
observed to understand their behaviour in different
loadingconditions.
3.1 Sample preparation
Four epoxy grouts with different specified composi-
tions of neat resin, hardener and filler were mixed
usingelectric handdrill inplastic bucket. Thegrouts
were solvent free and ready to mix. The first three
groutshadtwoparts: highviscousresinwithfinefiller
and low viscous hardener. Whereas thefourth grout
hadthreeparts: viscousepoxyresin, lowviscoushard-
ener andpowderycoarsefiller. Summaryof theresin
partsandmixingratioaregiveninTable2.
934
Figure1. Mixingof grouts.
Mixingsequencesof thedifferentcomponentswere
followedwhileslowandcontinuous mixingwas car-
ried out. Themixing temperaturewas 23
C. Freshly
mixed grouts werepoured in thedesignated moulds
and cured for 7 days at 23
C. The moulds were

removedandsamplesfortestingwerecutandpolished
totherequireddimensions. Figure1showsmixingof
groutsusinghanddrill inplasticbuckets. Duetocom-
mercial confidentiality, thegrouts werepresented in
thispaper asGroutA, B, C andD. Here, groutsA, B
andCweretwo-partsystemandgroutDwasthree-part
system.
4.1 Measurements
All thecharacterizationtestswerecarriedout usinga
100-kN MTSmachinelocatedintheresearchfacility
of Centreof ExcellenceinEngineeredFibreCompos-
ites(CEEFC) of University of SouthernQueensland.
Compressive test was conducted on the five 25mm
diameterby25mmheightcylindrical samplesaccord-
ing to ASTM standard. The crosshead speed with a
loadingrateof 1.3mm/minwasemployed.Tensiletest
wascarriedoutonminimumof fivedogbonesamples
with 10mmby 10mmcross section. The crosshead
speedwithaloadingrateof 1mm/minwasusedinthe
tensionfixtureincombinationwithalaserextensome-
tertoretrievestraindata.V-notchedshearsampleswith
dimensionof 76mmlengthby20mmwidthby10mm
thick with anotched width of 12mmat themiddle.
FivesamplesweretestedusingWyomingsheartesting
fixturewith acrosshead speed of 1.3mm/min. Min-
imumfiveprismatic sampleswith250mmlengthby
25mmwidth by 25mmthick wereused to measure
flexural capacitywiththethreepoint bendingfixture.
The effective span length in-between the end sup-
portswas230mm.Thecrossheadspeedwithaloading
rate of 3.0mm/min was used while flexure testing.
Table3summarizes thedetails of tests conductedon
thepreparedsamples.
Inthis section, comparisonof mechanical properties
of thegroutsispresented.Table4summarizesthepeak
strengthsandmodulusof thegrouts.
Table3. Summaryof test details.
Tests Standards N Dimensions
Comp. ASTM C579 5 2525mmcylinder
Tensile ASTM D638 6 1010mmdogbone
Shear ASTM D5379 5 761210mmnotched
Flexure ASTM C580 6 2502525mmprismatic
Table4. Summaryof mechanical properties.
Grouts
Properties A B C D
Comp. Peakstrength(MPa) 67 74 114 88
Modulus(GPa) 1.70 3.44 5.03 5.97
Tensile Peakstrength(MPa) 11 24 32 21
Modulus(GPa) 3.25 3.63 4.90 14.76
Shear PeakStrength(MPa) 13 22 30 25
Flexural Peakstrength(MPa) 27 41 53 35
Modulus(GPa) 3.76 3.52 6.15 13.02
Figure 2. Typical stress-strain behaviour of compressive
samples.
5.1 Compressive properties
The compressive strength of the grouts ranges from
67to 114MPawiththecompressivemodulus calcu-
latedintheelasticzoneisfoundrangingfrom1.70to
5.97GPa. It canbeseenfromthetablethat thecom-
pressivestrengthof grout C isthehighest amongthe
investigated grouts with a value of 114MPa. How-
ever, despiteof havingstrengthof only88MPa, grout
D exhibitedthehighest modulusof 5.97GPa. It isto
benotedthatgroutDhadthecoarsefillerasdescribed
insection3.1.
Figure2showsthecomparisonof typical compres-
sivestress-strainbehaviourof theepoxygrouts. Inthis
figure, only the indicative sample fromeach set of
grout samples included. The stress-strain plots sug-
gested that all grouts exhibited linear elastic at the
initial loadapplication. For groutsA andB, thiselas-
tic behaviour was followed by plastic deformation.
935
Figure3. Failurebehavioursof compressivesamples.
Themaximumstresswasobservedatabout25%strain
forthesetwogrouts. GroutA andBexhibitedthepeak
strengthsat theplasticzonewhereasyieldstrengthof
grout C was themaximumstrength indicating grad-
ual declineof stressbeyondthemaximumstress. The
stress-strain behaviour of grout D was comparable
to grout C exhibiting stiffer initial part with maxi-
mumstress followedby moderately sharpdeclinein
the stress. Unlike grout A and B that went through
considerablebulgingunder compressionintheplastic
portion, grout C andDreachedmaximumstrengthin
thestrainrangeof 23%. Theundulationinthecurve
after thepeakstrengthobservedfor groutA, B andC.
Thisbehaviour isduetothemeetingof failurewedges
(cup-and-coneformed) dueto continued loading for
uptoaprolongedstrain.
Distinctive failure patterns were also observed in
thegrouts. Thetypical failurepatternsof thesamples
are shown in Figure 3. Grouts A, B and C showed
internal cup-and-conetypeof failureinsidetheouter
longitudinal cracks associatedwith bulgingafter the
yieldstress. Thebulgingwas morenotableingrouts
A and B than that of grout C. On the other hand,
grout C displayed combined brittle failure initiated
with split vertical crack without any radial swelling
prior toyieldstress. Interweavedfibrousmicrocracks
wereobservedingrout C andDprior toformationof
largecracks. Longitudinal surfacecracks wereiniti-
ated in grouts A and B just after the yield strength.
Thus, it issuitabletopresumetheyieldstrengthprior
toelasticzoneof groutsA andB asadesignparame-
ter inapplicationswhereanon-crackedgrout layer is
expected.
Figure4. Typical stress-strainbehaviourof tensilesamples.
Accordingto thesuggestedproperties by Mendis,
all the grouts have the potential to be used in con-
crete crack repair and grout D has the potential to
be used in structural rehabilitations. However, the
grout C can also be used in structural rehabilita-
tion wherehigher stiffness is desired with moderate
strength requirement. According to Thandavamoor-
thy, highperformancegroutwithcompressivestrength
85MPa is suitable to rehabilitate fatigue damaged
tubular joints. According to Shannag, cement grouts
possessingstrengthintherangeof 6070MPaissuit-
able for high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete
seismic repair. Thus, epoxy grouts within this range
shouldalsoservethepurposes.
5.2 Tensile properties
Fromthetest results, it can beseen that thehighest
tensilestrengthwasobtainedingrout C withavalue
of 32MPa. However, thehighest tensilemoduluswas
obtained for grout D which has atensilestrength of
21MPa. This is again attributed to the coarse filler
containedinthisgrout. Thisresultfurther impliesthat
the tensile stiffness of the grout matrix was effec-
tively improved by theincorporation of coarsefiller
materials.
The tensile failures of the grouts are comparable
to each other with a split failure perpendicular to
the length. No significant lateral dimension change
was observed prior to failure. The comparison of
typical stress-strainbehavioursof oneindicativesam-
ple fromeach type of grout is shown in Figure 4.
All grouts showedlinear elastic behaviour except for
Grout B which exhibits ductility before its failure.
Most notably, grout D failedat theleast strainwhich
isintheorder of about onetenthof grout C.
5.3 Shear properties
Theshear strengthsof thegroutswere13, 22, 30and
25MPaforgroutsA, B, CandDrespectively. Figure5
shows therelativecomparisonof loadandcrosshead
displacement of thegrout under shear loading. It can
beseenthatgroutCcarriedthehighestloadandgrout
Dshowedsteeper slopethanother grouts. Thefailure
936
Figure 5. Typical load-displacement behaviour of shear
samples.
Figure6. Typical failurebehaviour of shear sample.
occurred suddenly after thepeak load with no prior
warning.
Figure 6 shows typical cracks generated in shear
samplesfromfourgrouts.All thefailurepatternswere
composedof twodiagonal cracksandafailurewedge
in-betweenthecracks.Thedirectionof thecrackswas
withintherangeof 4560
. Theexpectedfailureline
wasvertical crackrunningfromtoptobottomnotches.
One crack runs from the top of the bottom notch
diagonally towards thetopplanesurfaceandsecond
onerunsalmost parallel frombottomof thetopnotch
towards the bottom plane surface forming a shear
wedge.
5.4 Flexural properties
Grout C has thehighest flexural strength at 53MPa
andgroutDexhibitedthehigheststiffness, 13.02GPa.
Figure7showstypical comparisonof load-deflection
behaviour of flexurespecimens.
All thegroutsshowedlinear elasticload-deflection
behaviourpriortofailure.Theflexural testshowedthat
therectangular specimens failed in abrittlemanner.
A typical comparison of the cracked specimens of
thegroutsisshowninFigure8.
Thecrack formation was almost vertical and per-
pendicular to length of the specimens of grout D.
However, thecrackshaddeviatedfromitstensionzone
alignment when it propagated towards compression
zone. It can becorrelated fromtheflexural strength
that the deviation of crack line and formation of
compressionwedgewasmoreevident withtheincre-
mentof loadcarryingcapacity. Clearlydefinedwedge
formedingrout C asshowninFigure8(c).
Figure7. Typical load-displacement behaviour of flexural
samples.
Figure8. Failurebehavioursof flexural samples.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Themechanical propertiesof fourcommerciallyavail-
able epoxy grouts were investigated. The ranges of
compressive, tensile, shearandflexural strengthswere
foundtobe67114MPa, 1132MPa, 1330MPaand
2753MParespectively. Theranges of compressive,
tensile and flexural modulus were 1.705.97MPa,
3.2514.76MPa and 3.7613.02MPa respectively.
Thefailurepatterns of thefinely filled grouts grad-
ually changed from plastic bulging towards elastic
failure in accordance of their strength and stiffness
order. Therangeof propertiesissuitablefor civil and
structural repair and rehabilitation works. However,
applicabilityof certaingroutisdependentonproperty
requirements in particular rehabilitation systemand
methodsadopted.
Despite of having moderate strength, the flexural
modulus of thecoarsefilledgrout was foundhigher
937
thanother groutsinall loadingconditions. Thus, sig-
nificant improvement onthestiffnesscanbeattained
whenepoxy resinis filledwithcoarsefiller. Further
study is required for the improvement of stiffness
propertiesaswell assatisfyingstrengthrequirements
by inclusionof coarser filler. Moreover, thebonding
properties should be investigated for further under-
standingof thepropertiesof thegroutsandfor deter-
miningtheir appropriateengineeringapplications.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Thisproject wasundertakenaspart of theCRC-ACS
research program, established and supported under
the Australian Governments Cooperative Research
Centres Program. Theauthors also acknowledgethe
supportandtechnical feedbackfromMr. DavidElder,
Dr. Paul Falzon and Mr. Bruce Cartwright of CRC-
ACS, Australiaduringthisstudy.
REFERENCES
Allan, M.L. 2000. Materialscharacterizationof superplasti-
cizedcementsandgrout.Cement and Concrete Research,
30(6), 937942.
Anagnostopoulos,C.A.2005.Laboratorystudyof aninjected
granular soil withpolymer grouts.Tunnelling and Under-
ground Space Technology, 20(6), 525533.
Bras, A. & Henriques, F.M.A. 2012. Natural hydraulic lime
based grouts Theselection of grout injection parame-
tersformasonryconsolidation.ConstructionandBuilding
Materials, 26(1), 135144.
Duell, J.M., Wilson, J.M. & Kessler, M.R. 2008. Analysis
of acarbon compositeoverwrap pipelinerepair system.
International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping, 85,
782788.
Ehsani, M. 2009. FRP super laminates present unparalleled
solutions to old problems. Reinforced Plastics, 53(6),
4045.
J avanmardi, F. & Lger, P. 2005. Groutingof cracksincon-
cretedams: numerical modellingandstructural behaviour.
Progress in Structural Engineering and Materials, 7(4),
161173.
Klc, A.,Yasar, E. &Celik, A.G. 2002. Effectof groutprop-
ertiesonthepull-out loadcapacity of fully groutedrock
bolt. Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology,
17(4), 355362.
Kneuer, R.L. & Meyers, M. 1991. Strengths and Limita-
tionsof Epoxy Grouts. in: Concrete International (ACI),
Vol. March1991. Detroit, pp. 5456.
Koksal, H.O., Karakoc, C. &Yildirim, H. 2005. Compression
Behavior andFailureMechanisms of ConcreteMasonry
Prisms. Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, 17(1),
107115.
Mendis, P. 1985. Commercial Applications and Property
RequirementsforEpoxiesinConstruction.In:ACI Special
Publication, Vol. 89, ACI, pp. 127140.
Palmer-J ones, R. & Paisley, D. 2000. Repairing Internal
Corrosion Defects in Pipelines A Case Study. In: 4th
International Pipeline Rehabilitation and Maintenance
Conference, PenspenIntegrity. Prague, pp. 125.
Pan, A.D. & Moehle, J.K.P. 1992. AnExperimental Studyof
Slab-ColumnConnections.ACI Structural Journal, 89(6),
626638.
Plecnik, J., Cousins, T. & OConner, E. 1986. Strengthening
of UnreinforcedMasonryBuildings. Journal of Structural
Engineering, 112(5), 10701087.
Prolongo, S.G., del Rosario, G. & Urea, A. 2006. Compar-
ativestudy ontheadhesiveproperties of different epoxy
resins. International Journal of Adhesion and Adhesives,
26(3), 125132.
Shannag, M.J. 2002. High-performancecementitiousgrouts
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Thandavamoorthy, T.S., Rao, A.G.M. & Santhakumar, A.R.
2001. Development of aFlyAshandEpoxyBasedHigh-
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ACI Special Publication, 199(SP199-14), 239258.
Zhang, B. & Benmokrane, B. 2002. Pullout BondProperties
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938
Damagedetectioninatimber bridgemodel
D. Tran, S. Venkatesan& S. Fragomeni
School of Engineering and Science, Victoria University, Australia
ABSTRACT: Thispaperinvestigatesdetectingstructural damagebyvibrationtestinginatimberbridgemodel
of 3m1m0.2msupportedonfour stiff columns. Impacthammer testswerecarriedouttoobtainfrequency
responsefunctions(FRFs)inundamagedanddamagedconditioninwhichoneplankof 90mmwidewasremoved.
TheFRFswereprocessedbytheDamageLocationVector (DLV) algorithmtodeterminethelocationandextent
of damage. TheDLV algorithmrequiresthedynamicstiffnessmatrixof thestructurewhichisdeduciblefroma
spatial model of thestructure. A simplefiniteelement model (FEM) usingBernoulli beammodel wasusedin
thispapertoobtainthedynamicstiffnessmatrixandimpactvibrationtestingwasusedtoobtaintheFRFscurves.
Thepositionandextent of damagewas correctly identifiedby DLV. A morecomplex FEM model employing
plateelementswill beinvestigated.
1 INTRODUCTION
Timber structuresposeachallengeinnon-destructive
structural damagedetection,Samali etal.(2011).Con-
ventional detection methods for metallic structures
suchasX-ray,magneticflux,cannotbeusedfortimber
structures. This paper reports on efforts to investi-
gate the use of vibration tests to detect structural
damagein timber structures. Vibration testing using
frequency response function (FRF) have been used
in damage detection by Haritos (1997), Maia et al.
(2003), Koumeshkyetal. (2008), Wordenetal. (2008)
andDackermannetal.(2009).Themethodof detection
employedistheDamageLocationVector(DLV)devel-
opedbyresearchersatVictoriaUniversity,Huynhetal.
(2005) using FRF obtained fromvibration hammer
impact tests. A brief review of the DLV method is
given.
2 THE DAMAGE LOCATIONVECTOR
METHODFOR STRUCTURAL DAMAGE
DETECTION
TheDamageLocationVector method(DLV) isbased
on equation of motion of a multi degree of free-
domsystem(MDOF) and the orthogonality of the
dynamic stiffness matrix and the receptance FRF
matrix. Briefly, let usconsider astructureasasystem
of multi-degreeof freedom(MDOF) withitsequation
of motionrepresentedby:
where{x}isthenodal displacementvector, {F}isthe
nodal forcevector, andthedot operator (.) represents
differentiatingwithrespect totime.
For astructurewithandwithout damage, of negli-
gibledamping, thespatial model of thestructureneeds
toconsist only of [K] and[M]. If dampingisconsid-
erable, [C] shouldbetakenintoaccount aswell asits
resultingnon-linearityeffect.Theassumptionof negli-
gibledampingisjustifiedforthecaseof homogeneous
metallicstructures, theequationof motioninthecase
of freevibrationthenbecomes:
ThesubscriptsUD, Dareusedtoindicatetheundam-
agedanddamagedstructurerespectively. Damagewill
beconsideredtoresultinareductioninstiffnessonly,
hence[M]
UD
=[M]
D
.
Let [Z()] bethedynamicstiffnessmatrix, [()]
bethereceptancefrequencyresponsefunction(RFRF)
matrixataparticular frequencyandthekthcolumn
of thismatrixbedenotedby{()}
k
, where: [Z()]
[[K]
2
[M]] and[()][[K]
2
[M]]
1
, thenit
followsfromtheorthogonalityof thedynamicstiffness
matrixwithrespect tothereceptancematrix:
where{}
k
isavector, theelementsof whicharezero
except thekthelement whichisequal to1.
The dynamic stiffness matrix before and after
damagecanberelatedasfollows:
939
where[Z()] represents thedifferenceindynamic
stiffnessmatrixbetweenthedamagedandundamaged
structure. Equation(3) canberewrittenas:
Defineadamagelocationvector (DLV) as:
and let {()}
k
({
D
()}
k
{
UD
()}
k
) be the
differenceof thekthcolumnvectors of theresponse
frequency function matrix of the damaged structure
andundamagedor virginstructure, thenEquation(5)
canberewrittenas:
ItcanbeseenfromEquation(5) thatthejthelementof
{d()} wouldbenonzeroif thejthrowof [Z()] is
nonzero, aconsequencecausedbystructural damage.
In another word, a non-zero element of DLV points
totheDOF associatedwithdamageandazerovalue
wouldrelatetonoassociateddamage. Thus theDLV
reflects thechangeintheresponsebrought about by
structural damage, italsopointstotheDOFsthathave
beenaffectedbythedamagehencethenamedamage
location vector. DLV canbeevaluatedat anyparticu-
lar frequency by Equation(6). Thisoffersachoiceto
examinedamageat different frequencies. For exam-
plebycarryingouttheevaluationof DLV overarange
of frequency, andplottingDLV inathree-dimensional
plot, inwhichthefirst axisrepresentsfrequency val-
ues corresponds to the frequency range over which
thedamagelocationalgorithmis appliedto, thesec-
ond axis is thenumbered DOFs of thestructureand
thethird axis represents theabsolutevalueof theof
elements of DLV, each corresponds to one DOF. It
should benoted that thereis an inherent problemin
vibrationtesting: incompletedatasetortheproblemof
incompatibilitybetweenthemeasurementgridandthe
structuremodel. For practical reasons almost always
only a column of measured FRF data are obtained
fromvibration test denoted as {
D
(]}
R
. Here R
stands for reduced since the measured FRF data in
thevector {
D
(]}
R
wouldcomefromalimitednum-
ber of DOFs whicharemerely asubset of theDOFs
usedbytheFEM model. Toovercomethisincompat-
ibility or incompletenessof data, somemathematical
techniquescanbeusedtoexpandtheDOFof theexper-
imental model toreconcilewiththeDOF of theFEM
model, for example Dynamic Expansion Method A
as briefly described here: first the full set of DOFs
ispartitionedintothemeasuredonesor master DOFs
andtheunmeasuredonesor slaveDOFs. Theunmea-
sured DOFs are mostly rotational DOFs but can be
linear DOFswhichmaynotbeconvenientlymeasured
duetosomereasons, for example, inaccessibility. The
structural stiffnessandmassmatrices[K] and[M] are
then partitioned accordingly to K
mm
, K
ms
, K
sm
, K
ss
andM
mm
, M
ms
, M
sm
, M
ss
, inasimilar fashionascar-
riedoutinGuyanreductiontechniqueof FEM, where
subscript mstands for master DOF and s for slave
DOF.Theunmeasuredsetof FRF isobtainedfromthe
measuredsetbyaformulasimilartoGuyansformula:
Thisset isthenadjoinedtothemeasuredset toobtain
acomparablecompleteset, hencethetermDynamic
Expansion. Thepartitioning of matrices areneeded
fordynamicexpansion, butontheotherhandtheloca-
tionof damagerequireseasyidentificationof elements
byrelatingDOFtoelements, thusthealgorithmisbest
implementedusingsomecomputingsoftware, suchas
MATLAB. It can be seen that DLV can be applied
toany structure, requiresonly thecurrent set of FRF
(damage state) of the structure. On the other hand
it needs the dynamic stiffness matrix which can be
easily derived froma spatial model of the structure
or a sufficient set of FRF, preferable of the undam-
agedstructure. Themethodhasbeenappliedtospace
beamand plate structures, it also minimizes effects
of measurement noiseandlack of measurementsat a
number of degreeof freedom.
3 VIBRATIONTESTINGTOOBTAINFRF
3.1 The structure
A timber bridge model of 3mlong, 1mwide con-
sists of two deep beams of rectangular cross-section
of dimensions of 198mm75mm, onwhichplanks
of 1000mm90mm35mmwerescrewedontothe
twobeams. Thebeamswereboltedtofour sturdylegs
whichrest onconcretefloor asshowninFigure1a.
Thetimberusedhasdensityof 480kg/mm
3
,average
Youngsmodulusof 28.9GPa.
3.2 Experimental set up
A uniformgridof 27nodeswiththreerowslengthwise
(namedA, B, C) of 9nodeseach(namedfrom1to9),
Figure1a. Timber bridgemodel of 3m1m0.2m.
940
Figure1b. Vibrationgridmodel onthebridgedeck.
Figure2a. Screen captureof AceSignal Analyzer during
experiment.
Figure2b. FRF curveat nodeB5.
waslaidoutonthebridgedeck,effectivelydividingthe
deckinto24cells, Figure1b.Theaxesof theCartesian
coordinatesystemare: xhorizontal andlengthwise, y
inlateral directionandalsohorizontal, z vertical.
Threesingleaxisinzdirectionaccelerometerswere
positionedat gridcoordinatesA5, B5andC5. Inthe
impulsehammer test, each grid nodewas hit by the
hammer; forceandaccelerationsignalswereacquired
using Data Physics Quattro and Ace Signal Anal-
yser. Timesignalsof forceexcitationandacceleration
responses as well as FRF weresavedwith1601data
pointsfor800Hzrange.Atypical captureof thescreen
inexperimentsisgiveninFigure2aandatypical FRF
curveisshowninFigure2b.
Inspection of Figure 2b indicates that prominent
natural frequencies are found in the 100130Hz
and 720730Hz ranges. Further the signals from
accelerometers at A5 and C5 aremuch smaller than
Figure3. Threedimensional FEM model.
Figure4a. Modeshape1S.
thoseat B5. Thisisexpectedasthelengthwisebeams
aremuchstiffer thanthedeckof thebridgemodel.
It canbeseenfromSection2that inimplementing
theDLV method, thestiffnessandmassmatrix, often
obtainedfromaFEM model, chosen to describethe
structureshouldcorrespondtotheexperimental FRF
and should besimpleto reducetheamount of com-
puting.Thechoicecanbeguidedbyinspectingresults
fromthemodal analysisof different FEM models.
A finiteelement analysiswascarriedout toobtain
thedynamic stiffness matrix Z usedinDLV method.
First, athreedimensional model of thebridgemodel
was created in ANSYS, a finite element software
usingthree-dimensional solidelement(8nodeswith6
DOF/node), showninFigure3. A modal analysiscar-
riedout to explorethenatural frequencies andmode
shapes of thebridgemodel. Somefirst threemodes
areshowninFigure4a, 4band4c, whereS refers to
thethree-dimensional solidFEM model.
Forthisthree-dimensional model, withinfrequency
range of 800Hz, 18 mode shapes were found. Not
all these were detected by the experimental set up
as the accelerometers were in z direction. Further-
moreathree-dimensional model wouldproducealarge
dynamic stiffness matrix whichwouldrequireexten-
sivecomputing.Asimpleronedimensional beamFEM
941
model wasusedtoportray thebehavior of thebridge
model, itemploysatwo-nodeBernoulli beamelement
whichhas6DOF per node. Withinthesamerangeof
800Hz, only5modeswerefound, all bendingmodes,
atypical oneMode5B (B stands for beammodel) is
showninFigure5whichcorrespondstoMode16Sof
thepreviousFEM model.
It was decided to usethesimpler FEM Bernoulli
beam model for the implementation of the DLV
method.
Figure4b. Modeshape2S.
Figure4c. Modeshape16S.
Figure5. Mode5B of theBernoulli beammodel.
4 IMPLEMENTATIONOF DLV
4.1 Generating the dynamic stiffness matrix Z:
The bridge was modeled by eight FEM Bernoulli
beamelement of length3/8m. Thedynamic stiffness
matrix Z as well as thepartitionedmatrices required
for dynamic expansion algorithmas given in Equa-
tion(7)wereobtainedbyFEMmodel,usingMATLAB
programming.
4.2 FRF of the undamaged and damaged structure
The FRF of the virgin undamaged structure was
obtained as outlined in Section 3.2. Then the FRF
acquisitionwascarriedoutfor thedamagedstructure,
thedamagewassimulatedbyremovingaplanknextto
node7. Notethat betweenconsecutivepairsof nodes
therewouldbefourplanks.Thedifferencebetweenthe
correspondingFRFscanbefound, atypical FRF dif-
ferencebetweendamagedandundamagedstructureis
showninFigure6.
It can be seen that the FRF difference is very
prominent inthenatural frequencyranges.
Inthisstudy, thestiffnessandmassmatrixobtained
fromFEM model was usedto calculatethedynamic
stiffness matrix, they werealso partitionedto imple-
mentthedynamicexpansion, Equation(7); theexper-
imental FRFsobtainedwerethenimportedintoMAT-
LAB to implement the DLV method. It should be
mentionedthatintheBernoulli beamelement, thetwo
degreesof freedomat eachnodearethelateral linear
displacementandrotation.Theformerischosenasthe
masterdegreeof freedom(MDOF)andthelatterasthe
slave degree of freedom. This choice conforms to
the experimental set up, in which only linear accel-
erations was measured; and is justified as rotational
DOFsarefar muchsmaller thanlinear DOFs.
Finallyathreedimensional plotisobtainedtoshow
thedamagelocationvectorversusfrequencyandDOF,
asshowninFigure7.
ItcanbeseenthatalthoughDLValgorithmisimple-
mentedover afrequencyrange, 0800Hzinthiscase,
and it covers all degrees of freedom, the magnitude
of DLV isprominentatafinitenumber of frequencies
andcertainlyonlyatDOFsrelatedtothedamageinthe
Figure 6. The difference in FRF with both accelerom-
eter and hammer positions at B5 between damaged and
undamagedstructure.
942
Figure7. Three-dimensional DamageLocationVectorPlot.
Figure8. DLV versusdegreeof freedom.
structure. A clearer viewcanbeobtainedby viewing
at right angletotheDOF axisasshownbyFigure8.
Figure8indicatesthatthedamageisrelatedtomas-
ter degreeof freedom7, correspondingtogridpoint7
inFigure1b, whereaplank wasremovedtosimulate
thedamagein thedamaged structure. Back calcula-
tionof thechangeinstiffnessof theassociateddamage
elementgavetheassociatedstructural damageas20%
of thestiffness matrix of theelement. This compares
favourablywiththesimulateddamageof removingone
plank out of four intheelement cell, Figure1c. The
magnitudeof DLV ismuchhigher for master DOF 7
comparedtothat for theslaveDOF inits neighbour-
hood(DOF 14and16), justifyingthechoiceof linear
displacements as MDOF for thebridgemodel inthe
dynamicexpansionof Equation(7).
5 CONCLUSION
Damagedetectioncanbeidentifiedinatimber struc-
tureusingFRF curvesobtainedfromvibrationtesting
andasimplefiniteelement model of thestructure. A
morecomplex FEM model using plateelement will
beinvestigatedtofindoutwhether themoreextensive
computinginvolvedwouldyieldmoreinformationon
thedamage.
REFERENCES
Dackermann, U., Li, J. and Samali, B. 2009. Structural
damage identification utilising PCA-compressed fre-
quencyresponsefunctionsandneural networkensembles,
in Futures in Mechanics of Structures and Materials,
Aravinthan, Karunasena&Wang(eds): 803809.
Haritos, N. 1997. Experimental Modal AnalysisTesting a
Powerful Tool for IdentifyingtheIn-serviceConditionof
BridgeStructures. Proc. 8th Intl. Conf. on Computational
Methods and Experimental Measurements (CMEM97),
Rhodes, May: 213222.
Huynh, D. He, J.and Tran, D. 2005. Damage Location
Vector: A non-destructive structural Damage Detection
Technique. Computers & Structures. Vol 83, Issues 28
30:22692512.
Kouchmeshky, B., Aquino, W. andBillek, A. E. 2008. Struc-
tural damage identification using co-evolution and fre-
quencyresponsefunctions. Structural Control and Health
Monitoring, 15:162182.
Maia, N.M.M, Silva, J.M.M. and Almas, E.A.M. 2003.
DamageDetectioninStructures: FrommodeshapetoFre-
quencyResponseFunctionMethods. Mechanical Systems
and Signal Processing, 17(3), 489498.
Samali, B, Li, J., Dackermann, U. & Choi, F. 2011. Vibra-
tion Based Damage Detection for Timber Structures in
Australia in Tommy H. T. and David. P. Thambiratnam
(Eds), Structural Health Monitoring in Australia, Nova
SciencePublishers, NewYork, USA, 81108.
Worden, K., Farrar, C. R., Haywood J. andTodd, M. 2008.
A review of non linear dynamics application to struc-
tural health monitoring. Structural Control and Health
Monitoring, 15:540567.
943
Structural optimisation and reliability
Reliabilityanalysisof steel pipelineweldssubjectedtolong-term
seawater exposure
I.A. Chaves& R.E. Melchers
ABSTRACT: Long-termpittingcorrosiondepth, onceinitiated, isof interestforpredictingremainingoffshore
pipelineandcontainmentinfrastructureservicelife. Failurecouldleadtosubstantial economicandenvironmen-
tal consequences. The present paper outlines a statistical extreme value analysis based on long termpitting
measurements, includingtheeffect of propagationof maximum observeddepth, basedonpreviouslyreported
fieldtrials usingcoupons, providingvariability of pit depthandits changingbehaviour withtime. Probabilis-
tic failureassessment includes parameters relatedto corrosion, pipelinedimensionandliquidflow, treatedas
randomvariables. Influenceof weldheat affectedzoneis consideredcritical intheanalysis. For typical case
example, effectof randomvariablevariabilitywasassessedbymeansof sensitivitystudy. Resultsshowlong-term
reliabilityestimate, includinghighinfluenceof pitdiameter followedbycorrosionparametersontheprobability
of failure.
1 INTRODUCTION
Increasingly thereis aneed for estimating thelikely
lifetime of already deteriorating infrastructure. To
do so rationally, both for sound economic decision-
making and for structural engineering assessment,
requiresknowledgeof or estimatesof therateof dete-
riorationwithtime. Sincethereis adegreeof uncer-
tainty associatedwithsuchestimatesandappropriate
frameworkfordecisionmakingisstructural reliability
theory (Melchers 1998, Stewart and Melchers 1997,
AngandTang2007). However, thebiggest challenge
remainingisthat themodelsfor deteriorationsuchas
for corrosionof metalscurrentlyavailableareof rela-
tivelypoorquality, althoughbettermodellinghasbeen
achievedinrecent years. Thisappliesbothtogeneral
corrosionasafunctionof timeandtopittingcorrosion
(Melchers2004, Melchers2005a).
Mattersof interest inpractical applicationsinclude
(i) interpretationof fieldobservationsandassessment
of thesignificanceof thecorrosioncurrentlyobserved,
(ii) estimation of expected future deterioration, and
(iii) assessment of areasonableor acceptabledegree
of corrosion.
Estimationof thesequantities usually requires the
predictionof likely futuretechnical scenarios, andin
most casesthisrequirestheuseof models, preferably
those that have a high degree of prediction capabil-
ity, transportabilityandaboveall reliability. Although
there has been much research in the applied corro-
sion literature to develop models for the prediction
of futurecorrosion, many of thesetraditional mod-
els (Evans1960, BenarieandLipfert 1986, Morcillo
et al. 1995) fail to capture, adequately, long-term
corrosion. Morerecent proposalsfor modellinglong-
term corrosion (Katano et al. 2003, Guedes et al.
2005, Almilla et al. 2009) also can be shown to
be not suited to prediction of longer-termcorrosion
(Melchers 2008). In contrast, a more general model
that has anumber of sequential phases in thecorro-
sion process has been proposed (Melchers 2003a,b)
includingfor pittingcorrosion(Melchers2005b).
In practice the most important aspect to corro-
sion often is the progression of corrosion with time
andtherateof structural deteriorationoncecorrosion
hasactuallycommenced.Theprobabilityof corrosion
occurring, amatter of considerableclassical interest
(e.g. Evans1960), isoftentakenasacertainty.
Thispaper isconcernedwithdescribingthedevel-
opmentof amodel for thepropagationof corrosionin
theweldzoneparticularlyfor steel pipesandtubulars
withparticular emphasisonmaximumpit depth. Ear-
lier work has beendescribedby theAuthors (Chaves
and Melchers 2010; Chaves and Melchers 2011a)
in which the variability of the maximumpit depth
and its changing behaviour with time of exposure
was described. The present paper reviews this work
andconsiders amorerefinedmodellingapproach. It
also considers aprobabilistic failureassessment that
includes parameters related to corrosion, to pipeline
dimension, toliquidflowsandtheir respectiverelated
uncertainty, all treated as probabilistic randomvari-
ables. Thecritical serviceability parameter is consid-
eredtobethelossof liquidthroughpitholes. Further,
to assess the effect of the level of variability of the
randomvariables on the failure probability, a sensi-
tivity study is also carried out for atypical example
problem.
947
2 MODELSFOR MAXIMUM PIT DEPTH
Typicallycorrosionduetopittinghasbeenconsidered
intermsof arate. Sincethisisnot knownwithpre-
cision it can be considered a randomvariable. This
has been the basis for a number of statistical anal-
yses by various investigators (Aziz 1956, Eldredge
1957, Finley1964, Sheikh1990) andimpliesthat it is
appropriatetouseprobabilisticratherthandeterminis-
ticapproachesforthestudyof pipelinelifeassessment.
For example, for steel pipelines anexponential leak-
growthmodel for thecumulativenumber of pipeline
leaksis:
where n
l
=cumulative number of pipeline leaks;
A=empirical parameter; m=empirical parameter;
t =time of exposure (Herman 1981, Hansen 1988).
Here the empirical parameter A may be evaluated
from:
where R=pitting rate; t
F
=time to first leak;
b
o
=original nominal wall thickness; C
A
=corrosion
allowance.Thetimetofirstleakcanbeevaluatedfrom:
whereR
e
=istheextremepittingrate.
Inearlier workR
e
wasestimatedtobebetweentwo
to five times larger than the average pitting rate R
(Herman1981, Ahammed& Melchers1994):
where m
f
=is the multiplying factor to account for
pittingcorrosion.
More recent research on modelling pitting cor-
rosion with extreme value theory has shown that a
multiplying factor to estimate maximum pit depth
from average corrosion loss using a multiplier is
not appropriate(Melchers 2005a). This also showed
the total population of pits is not homogeneous but
consists of pits in different stages of development,
describedasmeta-stable, stable andsuper-stable
pits (Melchers 2005c). A distinction between stages
of pit development is well known in thepitting cor-
rosionliteraturebut until recently suchheterogeneity
has not been exploited in the statistical analysis of
extreme pit depths. Another way of putting this is
that the total pit population consists of several sub-
populations,whereasinastatistical analysis,including
extremevalueanalysis, it is desirablefor thedatato
befrompopulations that arehomogeneous. This was
not considered in classical probabilistic approaches.
In these the data invariably was assumed homoge-
neous. Thepossibilityof inhomogeneitywasnoteven
considered.
Inthefollowinganalysisamorerealisticapproach
will beappliedandtheparameterm
f
isnotconsidered.
In Equation 1 the empirical parameter m can be
evaluatedfromthefollowingexpression:
It then follows fromEquations 15 that the total
number of leaks(n
l
) is:
Ingeneral thepittingrate(R) is not constant over
thewholeservicelifeof apipeline(Melchers 2004,
Melchers 2005c). Initially the rate is high but after
thisinitial periodthecorrosionproductsbegintobuild
up sufficiently to start to provide some degree of
impermeability to oxygendiffusion. Sincethis is the
governing, ratecontrollingprocess, therateof pitting
tends to decrease, initially rather gradually and may
even stabilize eventually. The reducing pitting rate
can bemodelled empirically by apower law (Evans
1960, Smialowska1986), but thishasbeenprovedto
beinaccuratewhen considering long termcorrosion
(Melchers2003a, Melchers2003b). Infact thelonger
termprogressionof bothcorrosionandpitdepthtends
tobealinear functiongivenby(Melchers2005a):
where R
0
=is a y-intercept constant at point of
intersection; r
1
=isaslopegradient constant.
A similar approachwasadoptedtorepresentlonger
termmaximumpit depths in weld zones, using as
dataforcalibrationtheempirical resultsobtainedfrom
fieldexposurecoupons (Chaves andMelchers 2010,
ChavesandMelchers2011a).
If expression (7) for R is now substituted into
Equation6, thetotal number of leaksbecomes:
Thisequationcanbeusedtoestimatethecumula-
tivenumber of leaks(n
l
) for anygivenservicelife(t)
if theother parametersof theequationareknown.
3 PIPELINE RELIABILITY
Consider now the simple case of fluid loss outward
throughpitsthat haveformedinthewall of apipeline
(Thecaseof fluidingresscanbeconsideredinapar-
allel manner). Evidently, afractionof thefluidthat is
carriedalongthepipewill belosttotheexternal envi-
ronment. Assume that the fluid being carried along
thepipeisincompressibleandthat theflowissteady
(these assumptions are not too unrealistic in most
casesof practical pipelineflows). Usingtheequation
of continuity, the total loss of fluid through all the
pit holesisgivenby:
948
where Q
h
=total discharge through all pit holes;
C
d
=coefficient of discharge; A
h
=cross-sectional
areaof apit hole; v
h
=mean velocity of fluid at the
pit hole. Also, A
h
is givenby A
h
=(d
2
h
)/4whered
h
isthediameter of apit hole.
FromBernoullistheorem, v
h
canbewrittenas:
whereg =gravitational acceleration; =unit weight
of fluid; P
p
=pressureinsidepipe; v
p
=meanveloc-
ity of fluidinsidepipe; Q
p
=dischargethroughpipe;
d
p
=diameter of pipe.
Nowsubstituting for n
l
, A
h
and v
h
in Equation 9,
thereresults:
To estimate the probability of failure it is nec-
essary to define the failure event being considered.
This requires the mathematical definition of the
so-calledfailurefunction or limitstatefunction. In
thepresentcase, letthefailurefunction(Z) bedefined
asthedifferencebetweentheallowablefluidlossand
theestimatedfluidlossthroughthepit holesobtained
fromEquation11, as:
where isacalibrationfactor and(Q
p
) istheaccept-
ablelimit of thefluidthat isconsideredtobeallowed
to belost through leakage. This failurefunction sat-
isfies theusual requirements of failurefunction, i.e.
Z(t)>0 indicates asaferegion, Z(t)=0 indicates a
failuresurfaceandZ(t)<0indicatesafailureregion.
The evaluation of Equation (12) with its com-
ponents as defined earlier is the subject of various
techniques in structural reliability theory (Melchers
1998). Forthepresentworktheso-calledFOSM(first-
order second moment) reliability method was used.
Therelevant algorithmcan beaccessed easily in the
literature.Thisalsoallowscalculationof thecontribu-
tionsof variousdesignvariablestothevarianceof the
failurefunction(i.e. thesensitivities).
4 PITTINGSTATISTICS
To performthe reliability analysis it is necessary to
consider thestatisticsof pittingandhowthischanges
withlonger durationsof exposure. Thepittingmodel
parameters R
0
and r
1
were obtained for the present
analysis fromtheanalysis of weldzonepits reported
previously (Chaves and Melchers 2011a). Specifi-
cally, R
0
and r
1
were obtained from the results of
theextremevalueanalysesusingGumbel probability
plots of observed experimental data for pit depth,
previouslyreported(ChavesandMelchers2011a).
Figure1. Absolutemeanandmaximumpit depthreadings
for eachzone(Chaves& Melchers2011a).
Figure 2. Gumbel probability plots 33 year exposure
observed maximumpit depth data for each zone with fit-
ted lines corresponding to Gumbel distribution (Chaves &
Melchers2011a).
The deepest pits were found at and near welds
(Chaves and Melchers 2011b). This has been asso-
ciated with factors such as surface finish, thermal
stresses(Eid1989) andwithvariationsingrainstruc-
turebetween theweld metal, heat affected zoneand
parent metal. For this reason, pitting in the welded
heat affectedzoneisconsideredcritical inthepresent
analysis.
Figure 1 shows typical progression of maximum
andmeanpitdepthsforeachof thethreeweldzonesas
afunctionof exposureperiod(to33years).Thisallows
thecorrosionratefactorsR
0
andr
1
tobeobtainedby
interpolation of the assumed linear pit depth devel-
opment. Following conventional practice, thescatter
inthelongterm33year exposuredatamay berepre-
sentedthroughanextremevaluedistributionsuchas
theconventional Gumbel extremevalueplotshownin
Figure2. This was obtained by conventional means,
wherebythecumulativeprobabilityassociatedwitha
givenpitdepthisestimatedusingrankorder statistics.
Thepit depthdatais thenplottedalongthehorizon-
tal axis of so-called Gumbel Probability paper. The
949
Table1. Basicdesignrandomvariables.
Symbol Unit Type Mean COV
Q
p
mm
3
/s Normal 9.7e
8
0.10
R
0
(HAZ) Normal 1.119 0.365
R
0
(WZ) Normal 0.817 0.358
R
0
(PMZ) Normal 0.555 0.294
r
1
(HAZ) Normal 0.078 0.288
r
1
(WZ) Normal 0.068 0.258
r
1
(PMZ) Normal 0.066 0.335
b
0
mm Normal 9.52 0.06
C
A
mm Lognormal 1.50 0.05
C
d
Lognormal 0.60 0.10
d
h
mm Normal 0.35 0.12
g mm
2
/s Normal 9800 0.01
N/mm
3
Lognormal 8.2e
6
0.05
P
p
N/mm
2
Lognormal 5.52 0.19
d
p
mm Normal 914 0.02
whereQ
p
=Dischargethroughpipe; R
0
=calibrationparam-
eter for pittingratefor heat affectedzone(HAZ), weldzone
(WZ) andparentmetal zone(PMZ); r
1
=multiplier parame-
terforpittingrateforeachzone; b
0
=nominal wall thickness;
C
A
=design corrosion allowance; C
d
=coefficient of dis-
chargeof pipe; d
h
=diameter of pithole; g =accelerationof
gravity; =unitweightof transportedliquid; P
p
= pressure
of liquidinsidepipe; d
p
=diameterof pipe; P
f
= probability
of failure.
associated rank order frequencies are plotted along
thevertical axis. OnthestandardGumbel paper this
axis is distorted such that the cumulative probabil-
ity plots as a straight line when it is represented by
the standardized variable W. The standardized vari-
ableW isdefined(Galambos1987) asW =(y u),
further defined through F
y
(y)=F
w
[(y u)] with
F
w
(w)=exp(e
w
) andf
y
(y)=f
w
[(y u)], where
u and , respectively, are the mode and slope
of the Gumbel distribution (i.e. the straight line on
Gumbel paper) andrelatedto themean
y
andstan-
dard deviation
y
through
y
=u +1.1396/ and
y
=0.40825/ . Measurement of slope gives
thevariabilityassociatedwitheachdatasetandhence,
uncertaintyrelatedtomodel parametersR
0
andr
1
.
5 EXAMPLEAPPLICATION
Consideracrudeoil carryinglowcarbonsteel pipeline
whichissubjectedtopittingattack. Theanalysishere
isrestrictedtoanunprotectedpipeline, without paint,
bituminouscoating, or cathodicprotection. Inprinci-
ple the analysis also applies to a protected pipeline
oncetheprotectivecoatinghasbeenbreacheddueto
mechanical damage or through ageing. Assume that
leakage through the pipe is the limit state consid-
ered undesirable and that a single wall perforation
constitutespipelinefailure. Let thisberepresentedby
acalibrationfactor =10e
5
.
Thedatasetrelevanttothisexampleandtherespec-
tivestatistical propertiesof thevariablesinthefailure
functionaregiveninTable1.Thedatasetincludestype
of distribution, meanvalueandcoefficientof variation
Table2. Reliabilityandsensitivityasafunctionof service
life, t (exposureperiodinyears).
Relativecontribution(%) or (
2
)
Symbol t =1 t =5 t =10 t =15 t =20
Q
p
25.01 9.93 3.55 1.54 0.46
R
0
2.04 30.86 49.50 49.10 41.45
r
1
0.01 2.36 15.11 33.73 50.62
b
0
0.07 2.06 2.17 1.17 0.70
C
A
0.00 0.04 0.04 0.02 0.01
C
d
14.54 8.66 3.62 1.62 0.77
d
h
44.48 37.86 22.57 11.29 5.25
g 0.04 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.00
0.87 0.52 0.22 0.10 0.05
P
p
12.95 7.71 3.22 1.44 0.69
d
p
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
P
f
0.00 2.08 74.04 98.61 99.97
(COV, ratioof standarddeviationtomean) of thebasic
designvariables. InTable1HAZmeansheataffected
zone,WZmeansweldzone andPMZmeansparent
metal zone, all referringtothewelds.
It should be noted that the main purpose of the
example is to illustrate the method; the numerical
values of the basic design variables have been cho-
senrather arbitrarily, but areconsideredtobenot too
unrealistic. Although all values are considered ran-
domvariables, not all of themhavethesamedegree
of uncertainty in their magnitude. For example the
piperadius andpipewall thickness havelittleinher-
ent associated uncertainty. What there is, in part, is
theresult of geometrical imperfection which results,
unintentionally, fromtheprocessof manufacture.
6 RESULTS
Table 2 shows the probabilities of failure (P
f
) as a
functionof theservicelifefor theexamplepipeline.
It also shows therelativecontributions (
2
) madeby
eachof therandomvariables.
The results show that the probability of failure
increases with increasing service life, as would be
expected. Thisisbecausethereisanincreaseinnum-
ber of leakstherebyincreasingthelikelihoodof more
fluid loss and hence violation of the specified limit
state failure condition. It is seen inTable 2 that the
probability of failureincreases considerably over the
periodof 5to10yearsof exposure.
Thedevelopment withincreasedexposuretimeof
the independent estimates of failure probability is
showinFigure3.
7 DISCUSSION
It is observed that the relative contribution of
somevariables(e.g.corrosionallowance,gravitational
acceleration, pipelinediameter, etc.) is very lowand
950
Figure3. Estimatedpipelineprobabilityof failureforgiven
example.
thiscontinuestobethecaseover thetotal servicelife.
Thisindicatesthat suchrandomvariablesdonot con-
tributemuch to theoverall failureprobability of the
pipeline. Thevariablepit holediameter was found
to have a significant influence on the overall relia-
bility estimates. However, its contributionwas found
todecreasegraduallywithincreasedservicelife. The
relativecontributionsof corrosionrateparameters(R
0
andr
1
) increasesignificantlywithincreasedexposure,
withr
1
havingamuchstronger contributionthanR
0
.
Theseobservations areconsistent withresults for all
threezones: heataffected, weldandparentmetal zone.
Boththeseobservationsconfirmtheexpectationthat
pitting corrosion parameters play an important role
in thereliability of pipelines with long termservice
lives. Althoughinthepresent analysis pit holediam-
eter andthepittingrateparametersarethethreemost
importantrandomvariablesfor reliabilityanalysis, no
general conclusionsarewarrantedat thistime.
Theexampleillustrates why good quality models
for corrosion behaviour are required for structural
engineering risk and reliability estimation. They are
essential for the prediction of how the risk of fail-
ure can develop with time. Optimal scheduling of
maintenanceactivitiesincreasinglyisseenasasound
approach, best achieved through methods based on
probabilisticrisk-baseddecision-makingof whichthe
theory of structural reliability is a crucial important
part (Stewart andMelchers1997).
Fundamentally theconcepts involved arenot new
but with the development of the powerful methods
for estimation of structural systemfailure probabil-
ity andthegradual acceptanceof Bayesianup-dating
techniques(Melchers1998), themeanstocarrythem
out in practice is now possible. This has created, in
turn, aneedfor appropriateandaccuratemodels for
structural deterioration. As has been demonstrated
already (Melchers 2004, Melchers 2005a) the more
refined, multi-phase model tends to produce much
morereliableestimationof pit depth.
Figure3showsthatthereisaconsiderableincrease
intheprobabilityof failureafterabout6yearsof expo-
surefor theHeatAffectedZone, 7yearsfor theWeld
Zone and about 9 years for the Parent Metal Zone.
For maintenancestrategies, thissuggeststhatpipeline
inspectionshouldbeincreasedataboutthistime. Such
inspection may reveal whether the expected loss of
wall thicknesshasactuallyoccurredandthisinforma-
tionmaythenbeusedtorefinetheestimatesof failure
probability for longer periods of use. Details of such
procedures arenot central to thediscussionhereand
areavailableintheliterature(Melchers1998).
Althoughtheabovediscussionis confinedlargely
to pitting corrosion as an independent deterioration
mechanism, in practicecorrosion is not an indepen-
dent issue for risk and remaining life assessments.
Corrosion interacts with applied stresses, fatigue,
mechanical damageand, most importantly, withpro-
tective systems such as cathodic protection, paint
coatingsandmanagement practices. Inpracticethese
interactionscannotbeignored, eventhoughtheactual
interactionsarenot inall casesfullyunderstood. Evi-
dently, these interactions for particular applications
alsoprovidearichfieldfor further researchinwhich
probabilisticmodelswill beimportant.
8 CONCLUSIONS
The present results show that pipeline failure prob-
ability increases with increased servicelifeand that
therateof changeof pipelinefailureprobability also
increaseswithincreaseinservicelife.
Thepittingcorrosionparameterssuchasthecorro-
sionrateparametersR
0
andr
1
canhaveasignificant
effect on the structural reliability and the estimate
probabilityof failure.
Someof theparameters haveaninitial significant
contribution to the pipeline failure but their effect
diminishesgraduallywithtime.
Forshortservicelifethefailureprobabilityestimate
isnotverysensitivetotheinputvariablevaluesbutthe
sensitivityincreaseswithincreasedservicelife.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors acknowledge the financial support pro-
videdbytheAustralianResearchCouncil.
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952
Statistical safetyfactor calibrationof short concrete-filledsteel
tubular columns
W.H. Kang, B. Uy& Z. Tao
S. Hicks
Heavy Engineering Research Association, Manukau, Auckland City, New Zealand
ABSTRACT: Inthispaper, thesafetyfactorsinAS5100(StandardsAustralia2004) for short concrete-filled
steel tubular (CFST) columns are calibrated based on the statistical method proposed by J ohnson & Huang
(1997). This methodis appliedto anextensivedatabasedevelopedbyTao et al. (2008) whichhas 929CFST
stubcolumntestresultscoveringawiderangeof inputparameters. A summaryof thecalibrationprocedureand
thecalibratedsafetyfactorsareprovided. Thereasonsfor thecalibrationresultsarediscussedtoprovideuseful
insight andsupportinginformationfor apossiblerevisionof AS5100.
1 INTRODUCTION
Concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) members have
recentlybeenappliedtovariousstructures, e.g., high-
rise buildings, bridges, and barriers, due to their
outstanding mechanical performance, such as high
axial loadcapacity, goodductilityperformance, large
energy absorption capacity, and low strength degra-
dation (Shams & Saadeghvaziri 1997, Chitawadagi
et al. 2010). In addition, many experimental stud-
ies haverecently been conducted on thebehavior of
CFST members. To providethemost optimised bal-
ancebetweenthecost andsafety of CFST members,
safetyfactorsinexistingdesigncodeprovisionsneed
to be regularly updated as more experimental data
becomeavailableandimprovedstatistical techniques
aredeveloped.
This paper aims to improvethepractical applica-
tionsof CFSTmembersbyacquiringcalibratedcapac-
ityreductionfactorsof thecapacitypredictionmodels
inAS 5100 (StandardsAustralia2004). Thecalibra-
tion is conducted based on an extensivedatabaseof
failuretestsof CFST membersdevelopedbyTaoetal.
(2008), which merged two available test databases
established by Goode (2006) and Wu (2006). The
databaseincludes six structural CFST member types
(circularandrectangularcolumns,beam-columns,and
beams) andatotal of 2,194testresultscoveringawide
rangeof input parameters. Inthis study, welimit our
attentiontocircularandrectangularstubcolumns, and
we use a total of 929 test results. The calibration is
performed using the statistical method proposed by
J ohnson&Huang(1997), whichwasoriginallydevel-
oped to calibrate partial safety factors of short and
slender concrete-encased composite columns under
combined axial compression and uni-axial bending.
Thismethodcancalibratemultiplepartial safety fac-
tors based on a limited number of test data. In this
study, twocapacityreductionfactorsforsteel andcon-
cretearecalibrated.Thecalibrationprocedureincludes
assumptions of parameter distributions, bias correc-
tions, and the determination of material and model
factors. The possible reasons for the results of the
calibration are discussed to provide useful insight
andsupportinginformationfor apossiblerevisionto
AS5100.
2 AS5100CODE PROVISIONS
FOR COLUMNS
In AS 5100 (Standards Australia 2004), the ulti-
mate section capacity (N
us
) of a rectangular CFST
stubcolumnunder axial compressioniscalculatedas
follows:
whereA
s
andA
c
=areasof thesteel andconcretesec-
tions, respectively; f
y
=thenominal yieldstrengthof
steel; f

c
=the characteristic compressive strength of
concrete; and and
c
=capacity reduction factors
for steel andconcrete, respectively, andthevaluesare
givenas0.9and0.6. Inthisequation, thecontribution
of thereinforcementisnotconsidered, becausenotest
datainthisstudycontainedsteel reinforcement.
For acircular CFST stubcolumn, Equation1can
alsobeused. However, if therelativeslenderness(
r
)
is not greater than 0.5, and theeccentricity of load-
ingunder thegreatest designbendingmoment is not
953
greater thand
o
/10whered
o
isthediameter of acircu-
larsection, theadditional increaseinconcretestrength
dueto theconfinement effect should beconsidered.
Theultimatesectioncapacity wheretheconfinement
effect isconsideredisasfollows:
where
1
and
2
=coefficientsfor reflectingthecon-
finement effect.
1
represents the concrete strength
increase, and
2
the steel strength reduction, due to
theconfinement effect. Thecalculationprocedurefor
these coefficients is given in Clause 10.6.2.2 of AS
5100. 6.
Inthispaper, weaimtocalibratethecapacityreduc-
tionfactors and
c
inEquations 1and2, basedon
theextensivedatabasedevelopedbyTaoet al. (2008)
introducedinthefollowingsection.
3 DATABASE FOR CFST STUB COLUMN
MEMBERS
Safety factors in theexisting design codeprovisions
may not provide the most optimal balance between
cost andsafety, if theyweredevelopedbasedonlyon
alimitednumber of test results. Inthis case, thefac-
torsneedtobeupdatedbasedonthelatest collection
of adatabasewithasufficient number of test results
coveringawiderangeof input parameter values. For
this purpose, we use the extensive database devel-
opedbyTaoet al. (2008) whichcoversthetest results
over the last few decades by merging two available
test databases established by Goode (2006) and Wu
(2006). Goodes database contains 1,792 test results
from92references, andWusdatabasecontains1,514
testresultsfrom104references.InTaoetal.sdatabase,
1,575testresultsfromGoodesdatabasewereincluded
(918 for circular members and 657 for rectangular
members), discardingirrelevantdatasets, and619test
resultsfromWusdatabasewereincludedthathadnot
beenincludedinGoodesdatabase.Atotal of 2,194test
results (1,232for circular members and962for rect-
angular members) from130 references areincluded
in Tao et al.s database. In this paper, we limit our
attentiontocircularandrectangularstubcolumnmem-
bers, anduseareduceddatabasewith929test results
(445 for rectangular members and 484 for circular
members). Here, astubcolumnis definedby ashort
column member with L
e
/d
o
4 (for circular mem-
bers) or L
e
/b 4 (for rectangular members), where
L
e
istheeffectivelengthof acolumn, d
o
isthediame-
ter of acircular section, andb isthesectionwidthof a
rectangularsection. Forastubcolumn, theslenderness
effect isnot considered.
In Tao et al.s database, some references do not
providethemean measured compressivestrength of
concrete(f
cm
) values but report compressivestrength
valuesof 150mmcubes(f
cu
) instead. Inthiscase, the
conversiontablegiveninYuetal. (2008) representing
Figure1. Distribution of parameter values for CFST stub
columnmembers.
approximaterelationshipof cylinderstrength(f
cm
) and
cubestrength(f
cu
) was usedto obtaintheequivalent
compressivestrength. Thistablewasdevelopedbased
on the Chen et al.s work (1996) which determined
theequivalent compressivestrength of high-strength
concrete.
Figure1showsanoverviewof thedistributionsof
thethreekey parameters inTao et al.s database: the
diameters(d
o
)orthelongersidelengths(B)of thesteel
tubes, themean measured yield strength of thesteel
(f
ym
), and the mean measured compressive strength
of the concrete (f
cm
). In this figure, the rectangular
andcircular columns parameter rangesareseparately
presentedinFigure1(a) and(b).
For rectangular members, most members have
longer sidelengths between 100 and 200mm, while
some members have values outside this range. The
mean measured yield strength of the steel (f
ym
)
is uniformly distributed between 192 and 400MPa
(N/mm
2
), while a few members yield strength is
835MPa(N/mm
2
). Themeanmeasuredcompressive
strength of the concrete (f
cm
) is almost uniformly
distributedbetween12and103MPa(N/mm
2
).
For circular members, a similar distribution is
observed. Most members have diameters between
100 and 200mm while a few members have up
to 1020mm diameters. The mean measured yield
strength of the steel (f
ym
) is uniformly distributed
between 186 and 400MPa (N/mm
2
), while a few
membershave853MPa(N/mm
2
) yieldstrength. The
meanmeasuredcompressivestrengthof theconcrete
(f
cm
) isuniformlydistributedbetween10and110MPa
(N/mm
2
).
Sincetheexperimentswereconductedfor research
purposes, some cases may not represent the realis-
tic conditions of existing structures. However, the
comprehensiveness of the database enables us to
cover awiderangeof parameter values. Thedatabase
lacks uniformity for some of the key parameters
because it was randomly collected from numerous
test results in theliterature. This should becarefully
considered when thesafety factor calibration results
areused.
954
4 SAFETY FACTOR CALIBRATIONMETHOD
In this paper, based on theextensivedatabaseintro-
ducedintheprevioussection, weadopt thestatistical
method proposed by J ohnson and Huang (1997) to
calibrate the partial safety factors in the resistance
functionsof CFST stubcolumnmembersinAS5100
(StandardsAustralia2004).Althoughthismethodwas
originally developed for calibration of partial safety
factors of short and slender concrete-encased com-
posite columns under combined axial compression
anduni-axial bending, thismethodcanbeextensively
appliedtocalibratepartial safetyfactorsof anyresis-
tance functions. In this section, a summary of the
methodisprovided.
4.1 Safety factor calibration method
Let g
R
(x) bearesistancefunctioninanexistingcode
provision, wherex is thevector of theinput parame-
ters. Inthis study, g
R
(x)=theresistancefunctions in
Equations1and2, andx ={f
y
, f

c
, d
o
, B, }wherethe
valuesof f
y
andf

c
aretakenasthoseof f
ym
andf
cm
.
Thefirststepforsafetyfactorcalibrationistomake
theresistancefunctionunbiased.All thesafetyfactors
insidethefunctionaretakenasunity, andtheintrinsic
bias is corrected using thefollowing bias correction
term:
whereN =thenumber of test resultsinthedatabase,
e.g., in this study, N =445 and 484 for rectan-
gular and circular CFST members, respectively;
r
ei
=experimental resistance observed fromthe i-th
test result; and r
ti
=theoretical resistance obtained
fromg
R
(x
i
), wherex
i
isasetof inputparametersused
in the i-th test. The intrinsic bias exists because the
resistance function was developed based on a small
database. By usingthis bias correctionterm, wecan
predict theunbiasedresistanceof g
R
(x) asfollows:
wherer =apredicted resistancefor agiven set of x
after biascorrection; and istheerror of theunbiased
resistancefunction. Theerror termfor eachtest result
i
isestimatedasfollows:
wherer
ei
=theexperimental resistanceobservedfrom
thei-thtest result; andr
ti
=thetheoretical resistance
obtainedfromg
R
(x
i
).
Thevarianceof r inEquation4isobtainedfromthe
twosources: (4) thevarianceof theerror term() and
(2) thevarianceof theresistancefunctiong
R
(x) from
theuncertaintiesintheinput parametersx. Assuming
Table1. Coefficient of variation(c.o.v.) of basicvariables.
Variables c.o.v. References
Yieldstrengthof steel (f
y
) 0.08 J ohnson& Huang(1994)
Compressivestrengthof 0.15 J ohnson& Huang(1994)
concrete(f

c
)
All linear dimensions(d
o
0.01 AS/NZS(2009)
andb) Tubethickness(t) 0.10 AS/NZS(2009)
that r in Equation 4 follows a lognormal distribu-
tion, the coefficient of variation of r in Equation 4
isestimatedas
where V
=the coefficient of variation of the error

term();andV
rt
=thecoefficientof variationof g
R
(x).
V
canbestatisticallyestimatedfrom
i
(i =1, . . . , N)
inEquation5, andV
rt
canbeestimatedfor eachtest
result using a Monte Carlo Simulation or the first-
order approximationof moments(Ang&Tang2007).
IncalculatingV
rt
, weassumethat themeanvaluesof
theinput parameters x areobservedineachtest, and
thecoefficientof variationof theinputparametersare
obtainedfromTable1.
Since we assumed that r in Equation 4 follows a
lognormal distribution, thestandarddeviationof lnr
iscalculatedasfollows:
Thisstandarddeviationisusedtocalculatethetar-
get design value of the resistance (r
d
), for a target
reliabilityindex asfollows:
where
andk
d
=thefractilefactor correspondingto at the
75%confidencelevel, determinedfor thenumber of
test dataN fromanon-central t-distribution. In this
study, k
d
=3.058 for rectangular members with 445
test resultsandk
d
=3.056for circular memberswith
484testresults. Notethatthetargetreliabilityindex
considerstheresistanceonly, andignorestheeffectof
actions.Inthiscase,Eurocodesuggeststhat isempir-
icallyestimatedas0.8
t
, where
t
=targetreliability
consideringbothresistanceandloadeffects.
4.2 Determination of partial safety factors
Inthis section, wecalculatethepartial safety factors
for the strength of steel (
A
) and concrete (
C
). We
955
assumethat thesefactors aredefinedby theproduct
of amaterial independent model factor (
md
), and a
material dependent factor
ma
for steel and
mc
for
concrete, respectively. Inother words,
A
=
md
ma
for steel and
C
=
md
mc
for concrete.
First, we calculate the material dependent factors
(
ma
and
mc
) fromtheratiobetweenthecharacteristic
strengthandthedesignstrengthof eachmaterial. For
example, thecharacteristicstrengthof structural steel
isdefinedby
where
andV
f
y
=0.08fromTable1. Thedesignstrengthof
steel for thetarget reliabilityindex isdefinedby
Then, the material dependent factor
ma
for steel
is obtainedfromtheratio of Equations 11and12as
follows:
Thecalculations inEquations 1013arerepeated
for concretetocalculatethematerial dependentfactor
mc
, by replacing V
f
y
by V
f
c
=0.015 as suggested in
Table1.
Next, wecalculatethematerial independent model
factor (
md
) for eachsampleasfollows:
wherer
d
=thetarget designvalueobtainedinEqua-
tion8; x
k
=thecharacteristicstrengthof materials(f
y
andf
c
);
m
=partial safetyfactors(
A
for steel and
C
for concrete); andx
r
=input parametersexcept x
k
. In
this equation, theonly unknowntermis thematerial
independentfactor
md
inside
m
.Thistermcaneasily
beobtainedfromany numerical solver. Inthis study,
thesequential quadraticprogramming(Biggs1975) is
used.
Thecapacity reduction factors and
c
in Equa-
tions1and2arethencalculatedas
where
A
and
C
=thepartial safety factors for steel
andconcrete, respectively.
Using themethod summarised in Section 4, wecal-
ibrate the capacity reduction factors ( and
c
) in
Equations3and4. For thecalibration, weneedtoset
thetarget reliability index requiredinEquations 9
and 13. Table 2 fromEN 1990 (2002) suggests the
minimumtarget reliability values according to three
reliability classes and two reference periods. In this
study, weconduct thecalibration basedon therelia-
bility class of RC 2 and a 50 year reference period,
where
t
=3.8.Asmentionedearlier, theprocedurein
Section4considersonlyresistance, ignoringtheload
effect, andthetarget reliability index is calculated
as0.8
t
=3.04assuggestedinEN1990.
Based on this target reliability index, the calcu-
lations in Equations 315 are conducted, and the
capacity reduction factors for steel and concrete for
rectangular andcircular stubcolumns arecalculated.
The results are reported in Table 3, along with the
resultsintheintermediatesteps.
Inthistable, thecalibratedcapacity reductionfac-
tors show closer values between steel and concrete
thanthesuggestedvaluesinAS5100, i.e., =0.9and
c
=0.6. Thecapacityreductionfactor of steel shows
areductionbut that of concreteshowsanincreasefor
bothrectangular andcircular members. Thepossible
reasonsfor thisdifferencearelistedasfollows:
(1) Theresults inthis paper areobtainedbasedonan
up-to-dateextensivedatabasewithalargenumber
of test results.
(2) The capacity reduction factors in AS 5100 were
originally suggested for separateuseof steel and
concrete. They do not fully reflect thesimultane-
ous behaviour of concrete and steel such as the
confinement effect of steel tubes.
(3) Inthisstudy, thefailuremodeduetolocal buckling
isnot considered, andthusthepredictedresistance
isoverestimated.Thismakesthecapacityreduction
Table2. Target reliability
t
basedonEN1990.
Minimum
t
at ultimatelimit states
Reliability 1-year reference 50-year reference
Class period period
RC3 5.2 4.3
RC2 4.7 3.8
RC1 4.2 3.3
Table 3. Results summary for target reliability index
=3.04.
Sectiontype

b V
r
Mean
A
mean
C
mean
c
Rectangular 1.06 0.15 1.17 1.32 0.85 0.75
Circular 1.03 0.16 1.23 1.44 0.81 0.70
956
Figure2. Calibratedcapacity reductionfactors( and
c
)
for arangeof reliabilityindexes.
factors of bothsteel andconcretemoreconserva-
tive. Inaddition, theeffectiveareaof eachsection
should be considered instead of the gross area
accordingtothecompactnessof thesection.
(4) Thereferenceperiodfor bridgemembersisusually
100years,but50yearsisusedinthisstudy.Alonger
periodwill increasethecapacityreductionfactors.
(5) Some of the coefficient of variation values in
Table 1 are probably too high. For example, the
coefficient of variation of tube thickness is esti-
mated as 0.1 based on the tolerance values sug-
gested in AS/NZS 1163:2009 (Standards Aus-
tralia/Standards New Zealand 2009), but it is
probablyhigher thanthetypical value.
In Figure 2, the calibrated results of the capacity
reductionfactorsinEquation15areplottedforarange
of target reliabilityvaluesbetween2.5and4.2. These
plots show that the capacity reduction factors vary
linearly according to the target reliability. As men-
tionedin(4), if weusealonger referenceperiod, e.g.,
100yearsfor bridgemembers, thecapacityreduction
factor reportedinTable3will increase.
Due to the reasons listed in (1)(5), we cannot
concludethatthecurrentAS5100codeshouldimme-
diately be updated based on the results in Table 3.
However, theinteraction between concreteand steel
should be carefully considered when the capacity
reduction factors are updated, as the values of the
capacityreductionfactorsareclosertoeachotherthan
thoseinAS 5100(StandardsAustralia2004) for the
overall range of reliability indices. In addition, the
resultssuggest that thecapacityreductionfactorsand
capacitypredictionmodelsinthecurrent designcode
needtobeimprovedbasedonanextensiveset of test
results.
6 CONCLUSIONSANDFURTHER
RESEARCH
This paper has attempted to improve the practical
applications of CFST members by calibrating the
capacityreductionfactorsinAS5100.Thecalibration
wasconductedbasedonthestatistical methoddevel-
opedbyJ ohnsonandHuang(1997) andtheextensive
databasedevelopedbyTaoet al. (2008). Inthisstudy,
we limited our attention to stub columns with rect-
angular and circular sections, and 929 test results
wereusedfor statistical calibrationof capacityreduc-
tionfactors. Capacityreductionfactor calibrationwas
introducedalongwithbias correction, calculationof
target design resistance, and determination of par-
tial capacityreductionfactors. Thecalibrationresults
showed moreinteraction between concreteand steel
thanthevaluesinAS5100(StandardsAustralia2004),
suggesting the improvement of the capacity reduc-
tion factors and thecapacity prediction models. The
possiblereasonsfor theseresultsandfurther research
needsfor better calibrationof capacityreductionfac-
tors are provided for more practical use of CFST
columns.
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Biggs, M. 1975. Constrained minimization using recur-
sivequadraticprogramming:somealternativesubproblem
formulations. LCW DixonandGP Szego, eds., Towards
global optimization: 341349.
Chen, Z., Zhu, J. &Wu, P. 1996. Highstrengthconcreteand
itsapplication, TsinghuaUniversityPress, Beiing, China
(inChinese).
Chitawadagi, M.V., Narasimhan, M.C. & Kulkarni, S.
2010. Axial capacity of rectangular concrete-filledsteel
tubecolumns-DOE approach. Construction and Building
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Eurocode4. 2004. Design of compositesteel and concrete
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Institution, London, UK.
Eurocode. 2002. Basisof structural design(EN1990).
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Goode,C.D.2006.Areviewandanalysisof overonethousand
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Implementationof Eurocodes. 2005. handbook2: reliability
backgrounds.
J ohnson, R. & Huang, D. 1994. Calibrationof safetyfactors
gammasub(M) forcompositesteel andconcretebeamsin
bending. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
Structures and Buildings 104(2): 193203.
J ohnson, R.P. & Huang, D. 1997. Statistical calibration of
safety factors for encased composite columns. In Com-
posite Construction in Steel and Concrete III: 380391,
ASCE, NewYork. ISBN: 380-7844-0256-7846.
Shams, M. & Saadeghvaziri, M.A. 1997. State of the art
of concrete-filled steel tubular columns. ACI Structural
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Standards Australia. 2004. AS5100.6-2004 Bridge design,
Part 6: Steel and composite construction. Sydney,
Australia.
Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand. 2009. Cold-
Formed Structural Steel Hollow Sections, AS/NZS
1163:2009. Sydney, Australia.
Uy, B., Tao, Z., Han, L.H. & He, S.H. 2008. Design of
concrete-filled steel tubular members according to the
Australian Standard AS 5100 model and calibration.
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Wu, F.Y. 2006. Compressivebehaviour of recycledconcrete-
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Thin-Walled Structures 46(4): 362370.
958
Model updatingof afull-scalebridgestructureusingparticle
swarmoptimization
F. Shabbir & P. Omenzetter
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
ABSTRACT: Duetomanyidealizedassumptionsinthedevelopmentof finiteelement(FE) models, theactual
behaviorof full scalestructuresoftendiffersfrommodel predictions. Inmodel updating, dynamiccharacteristics,
suchasnatural frequencies, modeshapesanddampingratios, arecorrelatedwiththeir FE model counterparts
tocalibratetheFE model. Inthispaper, particleswarmoptimization(PSO), anevolutionaryalgorithm, hasbeen
investigatedfor dynamic model updatingof full scalestructures. Thefull scalebridgeunder study is acable
stayedpedestrianfootbridge. Thebridgecomprisestwospanswithcompositesteel concretedeck andacentre
steel tower. Thebridgewasexcitedusingthreedynamicallysynchronizedshakersandadensearrayof sensors
wasemployedtomeasuretheresponse. It wasfoundfromtheupdatingresultsthat PSOissuccessful inmodel
updatingof thefull scalebridgegivingphysicallymeaningful results.
1 INTRODUCTION
A highly developed infrastructure is vital for eco-
nomicgrowthinthismodernage. Theactual behavior
of structures has often been shown to be much dif-
ferent fromthat considered in a specification-based
design approach (Aktan et al. 2007). In addition,
thedegradation and deterioration of civil infrastruc-
tureis unfortunately inevitabledueto many factors,
includingharshoperational conditions, physical aging
and natural as well as man-made hazards (Moon &
Aktan2006). Importantcomponentsof theinfrastruc-
ture should maintain their service life and be able
to perform well in typical operating conditions as
well as in extreme events. It is therefore important
to determine the structural characteristics of infras-
tructural components so as to correctly predict their
response(Beck&J ennings1980). Intherecentyears,
theinvestigation and characterization of constructed
civil engineeringfacilitieshasgainedmuchattention
(Catbas&Aktan2002, Grimmelsmanet al. 2007). A
relativelyhighcostassociatedwiththemaintenanceof
theexistinginfrastructureisaprimarymotivatingfac-
tor. Accurateassessment of theconditionof existing
infrastructure is therefore imperative to make opti-
mal decisionsfor asset management (Catbas&Aktan
2002, Grimmelsmanet al. 2007, Salawu& Williams
1995).
Forthedesignandanalysisof civil engineeringsys-
tems, thefiniteelement (FE) methodis widely used.
FE models of civil structures are usually based on
idealizeddrawings/designs andestimates of material
properties, structural geometryandboundaryandcon-
nectivity conditions, which may not truly reflect the
exact behavior of theas-built system. Fieldtests can
beperformed on thefull-scalestructures to validate
the FE models. The dynamic behavior of structures
under external excitationisof major interest tostruc-
tural engineers, astheexperimental responses(suchas
modal frequencies, damping and shapes) arerelated
to physical properties of the system(mass, stiffness
andenergydissipation). Significant differencesinthe
dynamic behavior of FE modelsandas-built systems
have been noted by various researchers (Brownjohn
et al. 2001, Friswell & Mottershead 1995, Schlune
et al. 2009) [10] and numerous studies focusing on
damage detection and estimation have been carried
outusingvibrationdata(Hester &Gonzlez2012, Hu
et al. 2001). Dynamic model updatingisaprocessof
refiningamathematical model of anactual structure
usingtest measurements.
Contemporary model updating methods use the
sensitivitymethod(SM) whichgivesasingleupdated
solution(Brownjohnetal. 2001) buthasatendencyto
convergetolocal minima(Deb1998).Althoughmodel
updatingusingSM-basedoptimizationhasbeenwell
documented, the application of global optimization
algorithms(GOAs) inthisfieldhavereceivedlimited
attention.
MostrecentstudieswhichreportGOA-basedmodel
updating are for damage detection of laboratory-
scaled structures. Genetic Algorithm(GA) was used
(Perera & Torres 2006) for assessment and damage
detectionof asimulatedbeamstructureandanexper-
imental beamstructure. Multiple damage scenarios
werestudied along with theeffect of different noise
levels onasimulatedbeamstructure. Later, GA was
applied to a laboratory beamstructure to verify its
effectiveness inthedamagedetectionandits assess-
ment. RaichandLiszkai (2007)presentedanadvanced
GA and applied it on simulated beam and frame
structures for improvingtheperformanceof damage
959
detection. In another study (Levin & Lieven 1998),
both SimulatedAnnealing(SA) andGA wereinves-
tigated to update a numerical model of a cantilever
beamandanexperimental wingplatestructure. Saada
et al. (2008) usedparticleswarmoptimization(PSO)
formodel updatingof abeamstructure.A hybridPSO-
Simplexmethodwasproposedformodel updatingof a
ten-bar trussandafree-freebeam(Begambre&Laier
2009). Thenewmethodproposedperformedwell for
model updating of the numerically simulated struc-
tures. However, it can benoticed that most research
effortsusingGOAshavebeenmadetowardsdamage
detection and assessment of simulated structures or
simplelaboratory scalestructures. Moreover, updat-
ingof full scalestructuresstill remainsachallenging
andrelativelyunexploredtopic. Inthispaper, PSOhas
been explored for dynamic FE model updating of a
full scaledynamicallytestedbridge.
Inthesectionstofollow, theoryrelatedtoPSOand
objectivefunctionsinmodel updatingisdetailed.Then
the description of full scale bridge and its dynamic
testingresultsarepresented. PSOwasthenappliedfor
model updatingof numerical model of thefull scale
bridgetomatchtheactual dynamictestingresultswith
FE model counterparts. Finally, the updated results
obtainedbyPSOarephysicallyjustified.
2 THEORY
2.1 Particle swarm optimization
PSO(Kennedy&Eberhart1995)isapopulation-based
stochastic optimization method that tries to improve
thesolutioniterativelywithrespecttoagivenmeasure
of quality. Theconcept of PSOwas developedbased
ontheswarmingbehavior of fish, beesandother ani-
mals. Thebasicideaisthatif oneof thememberssees
adesirablepathfor themost fertilefeedinglocations,
therestof theswarmshouldfollow.Eachparticleinthe
swarmshouldbeinfluencedby therest of theswarm
to increasethediversity but also beableto indepen-
dentlyexploreitsownvicinitytoacertainextent. PSO
movestheparticlesinthesearchspacebasedonsimple
mathematical formulae. Movement of theparticlesis
influencedbytheir respectivelocal best positionsand
alsobythebestpositionof thewholeswarm, resulting
inbetterandbettersolutionsasthealgorithmproceeds.
It is expected that this moves thewholeswarmto a
global optimal solution.
Two factors mainly contribute to swarm intelli-
gence: group knowledge and individual knowledge.
This is achieved by the particles that have a posi-
tion and velocity vector in multidimensional space,
whereeachpositioncoordinaterepresents aparame-
ter tobeoptimized. Theparticlescanhavecontinuous
or discretevalues. PSOcalculatesthefitnessof each
particlefromitsfitnessfunction.Theseparticlesflying
in n dimensional space have two reasoning capa-
bilities: the memory of their own best position in
consecutivegenerations calledpbest, andknowledge
of theswarmsbestpositionnormallycalledgbest. The
velocity of eachparticlev
i
at timet towardsitspbest
andgbest locationsisadjustedbytheformula
wherex
i
istheparticleposition, istheinertial weight,
c
1
and c
2
are the cognition and social component,
respectively, and rand
1
and rand
2
are randomnum-
bers between0and1. Inthis research, standardPSO
hasbeenusedwithnovariants(Kennedy & Eberhart
1995).
2.2 Objective functions in model updating
In this research, a combination of objective func-
tions relatedto natural frequencies andmodeshapes
has been used as an error function. The commonly
used approach is to comparethenatural frequencies
obtainedfromexperiment andFE model as
where representsthefrequency, andsubscriptsa and
e refer to analytical and experimental ith frequency,
respectively. Thiserror iscalculatedfor eachmodeof
interestandreflectstheglobal responseof astructure.
Modal assurance criterion (MAC) (Allemang &
Brown1982) isoftenusedforcomparingmodeshapes
duringmodel updatingprocess. TheMAC isgiven
bythefollowingformula:
wheretheapostrophecharacter denotestransposition.
Thesecondobjectivefunctionisrelatedtodifference
inmodeshapesandcanbedefinedintermsof MAC
(Mller & Friberg1998) as
Thecombinedobjectivefunctionisgivenas
where and areweightingfactors.
3 THE BRIDGE, ITSMODEL ANDDYNAMIC
TESTING
3.1 Bridge description
Thefull scalebridgeunder studyisa59,500mmlong
cable stayed footbridge with two symmetrical spans
separatedbyacentral A-shapedpylonoverafour-lane
960
motorway. The bridge shown in Figure 1 and basic
dimensionsareprovidedinFigure2. Thebridgedeck
isatrapezoidal steel girder withcast in-situconcrete
slabof thickness130mm.Thedeckiscontinuousover
theentirespanandissupportedbyatotal of sixpairs
of stay cables with approx. 8mcentreto centredis-
tances.Differentpost-tensionforceshavebeenapplied
toeachpair of cablesrangingfrom55kNto95kNas
showninFigure2. Thecables wereconnectedto the
top of the pylon, which is composed of two steel I-
sections joinedwith cross bracingthat also supports
thedeck.Thesizeof thepylonI-sectionis400WC328
(AS/NZS 1996) and thediameter of thecables used
is32mm. A closedrectangular pipehavingasection
of 2501509mmalso runs on both sides of the
bridgedeck and this encloses two 100mmducts for
service pipes with surrounding void spaces grouted
with cement. A railing, which has a total height of
1400mm, isprovidedonbothsidesof thebridge. The
panelsof railingsaredisconnectedfromeachother at
every8mcentretocentre. Thebridgeissupportedon
pivottypesteel bearingsatthecentral pylonandsliding
steel-concretebearings at theabutments. Thesliding
bearingsatthesupportwereprovidedtoaccommodate
creep, shrinkageandtemperaturedeformations, andto
allowthebridgetomovelongitudinallyintheeventof
astrongseismicexcitation.Thebridgeissupportedby
twoconcretepilesat eachabutment andtenconcrete
pilesatthecentral pylonthroughapilecapontheirtop.
3.2 Initial FE modeling
The main elements to be modeled in case of cable
stayedbridgesarethedeck, pylon, cablesandconnec-
tionsof cablesanddeck. A reasonablerepresentation
of bridgedeckfor boxgirder sectionscanbeachieved
by using beamelements with rigid links joining the
cableelementswithdeckelements(Changetal. 2001,
Ren & Peng 2005). In this research, the bridge was
modeledinSAP2000(SAP20002009). Themodulus
of elasticity of steel was takenas 2.00410
11
N/m
2
andof concreteit wastakenas2.8010
10
N/m
2
. The
deck andpylonweremodeledusingbeamtypeFEs.
Thebeamwasdiscretizedinto48elements, whereas
pylon was discretized into 40 elements. The cables
were modeled using catenary elements provided in
Figure1. Full scalecablestayedbridge.
SAP2000andwerediscretizedintofour elementsfor
eachcable. Thesenumbersof elementswereselected
asfurther discretizationdidnot appreciablyaffect the
natural frequencies and only resulted in an increase
inthecomputational cost. Aninitial non-linear static
analysis was performedto account for thegeometric
non-linearitycausedbythecablesagandthatwasfol-
lowedby alinear dynamic analysis to obtainnatural
frequencies and mode shapes. A linear analysis that
usesstiffnessfromtheendof nonlinear static analy-
sisfor cablestayedstructureshasbeendemonstrated
toprovideaccurateresults(Abdel-Ghaffar & Khalifa
1991).
3.3 Dynamic testing and system identification
Experimental work has been carried out using 15
uni-axial Honeywell QA 750accelerometerstomea-
surestructural response, 3uni-axial CrossbowMEMS
accelerometers to measure shaker input force and a
desktopcomputerfittedwithNI DAQ9203dataacqui-
sition card. Data was collected at a sampling rate
of 200Hz. ThreeAPS Electroseis Model 400 shak-
ers (APSDynamics 2012) wereusedinsynchronized
modeto impart acombinedexcitationforceof upto
1.2kNtothestructure.
Full scale tests can be conducted by output only
(nomeasuredforce) or input-output (measuredforce)
methods.Thecable-stayedbridgeunderstudyhasbeen
tested using both of thesemethods. Theoutput only
test wasconductedusingjumpingtoestablishtheini-
tial estimationof thenatural frequenciesof thebridge.
Twopeoplejumpedseveral timesonthebridgeinuni-
son to excite the structure and thereafter the bridge
was allowed to freely vibrate for two minutes. This
wasdonetoestablishtherangeof excitationfrequen-
ciesfor subsequent forcedvibrationtests. Theforced
vibrationtest wasthenconductedusingthreedynam-
ically synchronizedshakersandtheir input forcewas
measuredusingaccelerometersmountedonthearma-
ture. A sweepsineexcitationfrequency rangingfrom
1to15Hz withthetotal sweepdurationof 466.7sec-
onds was adopted to adequately excitethestructure.
Theshakers werelocatedaway fromthedeck center
linetoexciteboththevertical andtorsional modes.To
obtainthenatural frequenciesinthehorizontal direc-
tion, theshakersweretiltedat90degrees.Thelocation
of theaccelerometersandshakersisshowninFigure2.
Figure 2. Basic dimensions (in mm) of the bridge, cable
forces, andshaker andaccelerometer locations.
961
The core of most identification algorithms is
a least square solution which gives a relationship
betweentheinput andoutput of anunknownsystem.
The Numerical Algorithmfor Subspace State-Space
SystemIdentification (N4SID) (Overschee & Moor
1996), apowerful techniquefor modal identification
inthetimedomain, isusedforsystemidentificationin
thisstudy. Thedeterminationof theadequateorder of
thestatespacemodel isachallengingproblem. Theo-
retically, thesystemorder shouldbetwicethenumber
of thedegrees of freedomof interest. However, due
to measurement noise, a higher model order is nor-
mally selected to extract the modes of interest with
higher confidence. Themodel order selectedfor this
studyrangesfrom40to80for vertical andhorizontal
shaker configurations.Asaresult, thealgorithmiden-
tifies some spurious modes which do not represent
the actual structural modes. To overcome this prob-
lem, stability diagrams areemployed. As thesystem
order increases, thestructural modesidentifiedbythe
algorithmshould remain stable(Bodeux & Golinval
2001). Stabilitytoleranceswereselectedbasedonthe
experienceanddataquality.A toleranceof 1%for fre-
quency for two subsequent model orders andavalue
above0.9forMACwereselectedasthemodestability
criteriainthisstudy.
Table1summarizesthenatural frequenciesidenti-
fiedbytheN4SIDmethodalongwithdampingratios.
Table 2 shows the errors between experimental fre-
quenciesandthoseidentifiedbytheinitial FE model.
It has beenfoundthat thefrequencies obtainedfrom
theinitial FE model differ fromtheexperimental fre-
quenciesbyasmuchas8.6%. However, MAC values
aregreater than0.94showingthatthereisagoodcor-
relation between the observed and initial FE model
modeshapes.
3.4 Model updating
In model updating, dynamic measurements such as
natural frequencies and mode shapes are normally
correlated with their FE model counterparts to cali-
bratetheFEmodel.Thereisadegreeof uncertaintyin
theassessmentof theactual propertiesof thematerials
usedinthefull scalestructureaswell asthemostrealis-
ticrepresentationof theelementstiffnessintheinitial
FE model. Thechallengeof findingaset of suitable
Table1. Natural frequenciesidentifiedbyN4SID.
Mode Frequency Damping
No. ModeType (Hz) ratio(%)
1 1st vertical 1.64 0.22
2 2ndvertical 1.89 0.87
3 3rdvertical 3.69 0.52
4 1st horizontal 4.86 0.81
5 2ndhorizontal 5.33 0.61
6 4thvertical 6.31 0.49
7 5thvertical 7.42 0.96
8 1st torsional 8.32 1.43
parameters having physical justification necessitates
theuseof physically significant updatingparameters
andsuitableoptimizationtools.
Theselectionof parametersfor model updatingisa
crucial step. Onlythoseparametersshouldbeselected
to which theresponses aresensitiveand whoseval-
ues are uncertain in the initial model. In this study,
only afewparameters wereselectedbasedonasen-
sitivity analysis conductedto findout theinfluential
parameters. Possibleparametersfor thisstudyinclude
cabletensions, cablestiffness, stiffnessesof thedeck
andstiffnessesof thecentral pylonandboundarycon-
ditions. The final selected parameters based on the
sensitivityanalysisandengineeringinsightweredeck
flexural stiffnessfor vertical (K
y Deck
) andhorizontal
(K
x Deck
) bending, deck torsional stiffness (K
t Deck
),
pylonflexural stiffness inthetransversedirectionof
thedeck(K
x Pylon
), axial stiffnessof all cables(K
Cable
),
andcabletensionfor Cab-1(T
Cab-1
) (seeFigure2).
The experimental frequencies are generally iden-
tified with more confidence than the mode shapes.
Thereforeanappropriateweightingof theassociated
termsintheobjectivefunction(Equation(5))isrecom-
mended.Theweightingfactorscanbeidentifiedbased
ontherelativesignificanceof theresults. For example
if, for obtainedresults, thefrequenciesagreewell but
modeshapes show asignificant discrepancy, then it
canbesaidthatmoreweighthasbeengiventonatural
frequencies (J aishi & Ren2005). Inthis study, it has
beenfoundthat MAC valueshaveabetter agreement
withtheinitial FE model (all MACslarger than0.94)
thanthenatural frequencies. MACvaluesarealsoless
sensitivetotheselectedparameterssuggestingthatthe
initial model has agooddistributionof stiffness and
mass. Thereforeavalueof 5isusedastheweighting
factor and 1 is used for in Equation (5), so that
updatingfocusesonimprovingthefrequencymatch.
It is hard to estimate the variation bounds of the
parametersduringmodel updatingandthisisnormally
done using engineering judgment. Different bounds
havebeen used by researchers (J aishi & Ren 2005).
Fromthefrequency errors inTable2, it can becon-
cluded that the initial FE model overestimates the
stiffness, thereforethelower boundhasbeenselected
Table2. Errorsbetweeninitial FE model andexperimental
results.
Frequencies
Mode Initial FE Experiment Error
No. model (Hz) (Hz) (%) MAC
1 1.67 1.64 1.36 0.999
2 1.89 1.89 0.71 0.998
3 3.90 3.69 5.58 0.999
4 5.28 4.86 8.59 0.999
5 5.38 5.33 0.95 0.993
6 6.86 6.31 8.62 0.990
7 8.05 7.42 8.50 0.979
8 7.84 8.32 5.74 0.945
962
Table 3. Updating results: best solution and standard
deviation.
Ratioof updatedto Standard
Parameters initial stiffness deviation
K
y Deck
0.782 0.0005
K
x Deck
0.805 0.0002
K
x Pylon
1.168 0.0002
K
cable
0.949 0.0006
T
Cab-1
1.19 0.0052
K
t Deck
0.893 0.0041
K
y Deck
0.782 0.0005
Table4. UpdatedfrequenciesandMACs.
Frequencies
Mode Experiment UpdatedFE Error Updated
No. (Hz) model (Hz) (%) MAC
1 1.64 1.68 2.38 0.998
2 1.89 1.89 0.10 0.998
3 3.69 3.68 0.18 0.999
4 4.86 4.87 0.28 0.990
5 5.33 5.28 0.93 0.990
6 6.31 6.30 0.11 0.999
7 7.42 7.34 1.03 0.991
8 8.32 8.34 0.23 0.945
as 30%, andtheupper boundhas been selectedas
+20%for all theparameters.
Model updatingbyPSOwasattemptedbyusingthe
sixaforementionedparametersrelatedtothestiffness
of thebridge.Tenindependentrunswithdifferentper-
turbed initial parameter values were tested to check
the efficacy of the algorithm. The best solution, i.e.
theonegiving thesmallest objectivefunction value,
in the form of ratios of updated values to initial
valuesusingPSO, andstandarddeviationfor 10inde-
pendent runs are shown in Table 3. The updated
frequencies and their errors compared to theexperi-
mental results, andupdatedMAC valuesbetweenthe
experimental andmodel resultsareshowninTable4.
It has been found that PSO has given improved
results after model updating as compared to theini-
tial frequency estimates. Standard deviations for 10
runs (Table3) indicatehowfar theresults werefrom
theselectedbest solution. It canbeseenthat themax-
imumstandard deviation of the updated parameters
fromPSOis0.0052. DeviationsfromPSOshowthat
all thedetectedsolutionsarelocatedinthevicinityof
thesameminimum.Table4showsthefrequenciesand
theirerrorsfortheupdatedFEmodel andexperimental
results, whereitcanbenotedthatmaximumfrequency
differenceof 8.62%intheinitial FE model (Table2)
hasbeenreducedto2.38%intheupdatedmodel.MAC
valuesshowninTable4indicatethatMACshaveeither
beenimprovedor at least not degradedintheprocess.
Theupdatedparametersshouldbephysicallymean-
ingful;otherwiseitisdifficulttojustifytheresultswith
respecttotheactual structure.Thevertical stiffnessof
thebridgedeckhasdecreasedby21.8%, thehorizontal
stiffnessby19.5%andthetorsional stiffnessby10%
respectively.Thiscouldbemainlyattributedtothefact
thattheinitial model tookthecastin-situconcreteslab
as fully compositewiththesteel girder. Theupdated
results revealed that there is only partial composite
actionbetweentheslabandthesteel girder resulting
in lower stiffness of the whole deck. The consistent
decreaseinall theparametersrelatedtothedeckstiff-
nesssupportsthisconclusion.Thecableaxial stiffness
does not showany appreciablechange. Ontheother
hand, theincreaseincabletensionT
Cab-1
by 19%, on
theotherhand, showsthatthepost-tensionforceinthe
far most cablestaysaremorethanthedesignedvalue
of 55kN.
4 CONCLUSIONS
A systematic study of updating of a cable-stayed
pedestrian bridge model using PSO is presented in
thispaper. Followingaretheconclusionsdrawnfrom
thisstudy:
1. Fivevertical modes, twohorizontal modesandone
torsional modeof vibrationhavebeensuccessfully
identifiedfor thecable-stayedbridge.
2. PSO-based model updating has been successful
inreducingthefrequency differencesbetweenthe
initial FE model andexperimental results.
3. Fromstandard deviations of the results obtained,
it has been shown that PSO has converged to the
sameminimumin10independent runs.
4. Theresults indicatethat theslabis not fully com-
positewiththesteel girderandthetensionsinsome
cablesaremorethanassumedindesign.
5. Thefinal updated FE model of thebridgeis able
to produce good agreement with the experimen-
tal resultsstill preservingthephysical meaningof
updatedparameters.
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964
Spatial reliabilityanalysisof reinforcedconcretecolumnssubject to
explosiveblast loads
Y. Shi & M.G. Stewart
Centre for Infrastructure Performance and Reliability, The University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: Thispaper conductsaspatial reliabilityanalysistopredict thelikelihoodandextent of damage
for reinforcedconcretecolumns under explosiveblast loads. A reinforceconcrete(RC) columnis discretised
into a large number of smaller elements and randomfield methods are used to simulate the variability of
thecolumnproperties alongits height. This study also investigates theinfluenceof material anddimensional
stationaryandnon-stationaryrandomfieldstomodel spatial variability. Monte-Carlosimulationandnumerical
methodsareusedtoderiveblastreliabilitycurvesforRCcolumnssubjecttoexplosiveblastloadsforavarietyof
threat scenarios, withtheapplicationof ahigh-fidelityphysics-basedcomputer programLS-DYNA toprovide
numerical simulationsof thedynamicresponseandresidual axial load-carryingcapacityof RC columns.
1 INSTRUCTION
Since the September 11, 2001 attacks on theWorld
Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in
WashingtonDC, theconstructionindustryaroundthe
worldhasbeenchallengedtodesignandbuildcivil and
militarystructurescapableof withstandingexplosion
induced blast waveloads fromterrorist attacks. The
favouredmethodof attackistouseImprovisedExplo-
siveDevices(IEDs), seeFigure1. Understandingthe
structural dynamicresponseandestimatinginfrastruc-
turedamageduetoexplosiveblastloadingareof great
interest to governments and researchers (Mueller &
Stewart 2011).
It is recognised that thematerial and dimensional
properties of aconcretestructurewill not behomo-
geneous due to the spatial variability of workman-
ship, environmental andother factors. Inrecentyears,
Figure1. IEDDamagetoBuildinginMumbai (2008).
spatial variability analysis has been applied to pre-
dict corrosion damage in a probabilistic manner in
RC structures, suchas corrosioninitiationandcrack
propagation(Li etal. 2004, Stewart&Mullard2007).
However, recent research has undertaken reliability
analyses of structural elements subject to explosive
blast loading(Low& Hao 2001, Stewart et al. 2006,
Stewart & Netherton 2008, 2009, Al-Habahbeh &
Stewart2010). However, spatial variabilityisnotcon-
sidered in existing research. In the present paper, a
one-dimensional spatially variable reliability analy-
sisisdevelopedtopredict damageandcollapserisks
for RC columnsunder blast loading. Thismodel will
consider the spatial variability of concrete material
propertiesandconcretecover.
In this work, Monte Carlo Simulations (MCS)
and Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations are
conducted to estimatethereliability of RC columns
subject to explosiveblast loading. Theprediction of
damage is based on the axial load-carrying capac-
ity of structures with theapplication of thetransient
dynamicFEMsoftwareLS-DYNA.Theeffectof blast
loadvariabilityonstructural reliabilitiesisalsoinvesti-
gated.Theblastscenarioconsideredisa100kgANFO
VBIED(VehicleBorneImprovisedExplosiveDevice)
detonatedatvariousstand-off distancesfromatypical
RCcolumn. ThereliabilityanalysisallowsBlastReli-
abilityCurves(BRC) tobegenerated theserepresent
damageandcollapserisksasafunctionof stand-off.
2 STRUCTURE RELIABILITY
Inreliabilityanalysis, thestructural systemisconsid-
eredineitherof thetwostates, i.e., failureorsafestate.
965
Thesetwostatesaredefinedby alimit statefunction
g(X) as(Stewart & Melchers1997),
g(X)>0 safestate
g(X)0 failurestate
Whereg(X)=0isalimit statesurfaceseparatingthe
safeandunsafestates; andX istherandomvector of
uncertain variables in thesystem. Theprobability of
hazardHgivenathreatT canbycalculatedby
In which f
X
(x) is the joint probability density func-
tionof variablesinX, includingloadingandresistance
variables, inthesystem.
3 RANDOM FIELDANALYSIS
Reinforced concrete construction involves various
processesincludingconcretebatching, onsitedimen-
sional setout,reinforcementplacement,compactionof
theconcreteandcuring. Thenatureof theseprocesses
introduces thepotential for substantial variability of
concretequalityduetovariationsinworkpractices. In
order topredict moreaccuratelyareliabilityanalysis,
thespatial variabilityof concretestrengthandconcrete
cover areincorporated.
Themidpointmethodisusedherein, wheretheran-
domfieldwithinanelementisrepresentedbythevalue
atthecentroidof thatelementandthisvalueisassumed
to beconstant within theelement. Becausetherela-
tively small widthdimensioninaRC column, it can
beassumedthatanyspatial variabilityinthisdirection
will beignored.Therefore,aseriesof statisticallyinde-
pendent one-dimensionrandomfieldswill beusedto
represent the spatially variable properties along the
lengthof aRC column. Accordingly, eachof thefour
facesinarectangular columnwill beconsideredasta-
tisticallyindependentsurfacewithregardtothespatial
randomvariablefor cover.
In this analysis, each face of the RC column is
treatedasastatisticallyindependent randomfieldfor
concrete cover. The concrete compressive strength,
however, is assumed bethesameon all thefaces at
eachdiscretedistanceincrement inthelongdirection
of thecolumn and as such asingleone-dimensional
randomfieldisproposedtorepresentthecompressive
strengthof thecolumnover all faces.
3.1 Correlation function
The spatial correlation between elements in a ran-
domfieldcanbedescribedbythecorrelationfunction
whichdefines theexact patternof decay of thevari-
ance(Haldar andMahadevan 2000). Thecorrelation
function() definesthecorrelationbetweentwoele-
ments separatedby distance inarandomfield. For
elementsthatareclosetogether, thevalueof thecorre-
lationcoefficientapproachesunityandasthedistance
betweenelementsincreasethecorrelationcoefficient
approacheszeroor closetozero.
TheGaussiancorrelationfunctionhasbeenwidely
used in engineering applications, including spatial
modelling of RC structures, and as such it shall be
used herein to model the spatial correlation of ele-
mentswithinarandomfield. Thus, for randomfields
withonedimension, theGaussiancorrelationfunction
isdescribedas:
where
z
=z
i
z
j
isthedistancebetweenthecentroid
of elementi andj inthezdirection; d
Z
=
Z
/
where
isthescaleof fluctuation.
3.2 Scale of fluctuation
Thescaleof fluctuation, , defines thedistanceover
which correlation persists in arandomfield. Exper-
imental data from Petersons (1984) described the
concretecompressivestrengthalonga3mheight RC
columnevenlydividedinto9partsinthelongitudinal
directionof thecolumn. Thenthestrengthof thecore
cylinders drilled fromeach part of thecolumns was
investigated.Bycurvefittingmethods,strengthdataof
18columnsareusedtoobtainthatscaleof fluctuation
for concretecompressivestrength, whichrangesfrom
0.27mto 0.99mwithanaverageof 0.50m. Accord-
ingtoSudret et al. (2007), the for concretecover is
taken as 1.0m. Thevalueof thescaleof fluctuation
shouldalso bechoseninconjunctionwithanappro-
priaterandomfieldelementsizesothatmathematical
andcomputational difficultiesareavoided.
3.3 Stationary and non-stationary
random fields
If the mean and covariance are constant over the
entirerandomfield, thenitisconsideredastationary
or homogenous randomfield (Haldar & Mahadevan
2000).Conversely,if themeanvariesinspace,thenthis
isanon-stationaryrandomfield. Duetotheinfluence
of self-weight compaction, the concrete compres-
sive strength may vary with height in a RC column
(Wenzhonget al. 2001).
In this study, the concrete cover is modelled as
astationary randomfield, and concretecompressive
strengthasanon-stationaryrandomfield. For theran-
domfieldof concretecompressivestrength, alongthe
column height, the non-stationary mean is defined
by Figure 2 (Petersons 1964), where f
c
is the non-
stationary mean of the random field for concrete
compressivestrength, f
co
isthestochasticallymeanof
theconcretecompressivestrengthfor thecorrespond-
ingstationary randomfield, hereinf
co
is 1.02F
c
, and
z is thedistancefromthebottomof thecolumn. All
distributionsaretruncatedat zero.
966
Figure2. Variationof ConcreteCompressiveStrengthover
Height of theColumn.
Table1. Parametersfor RandomFields.
ConcreteCompressive
Parameter Cover Strength
RandomFieldStyle Stationary Non-stationary
CorrelationFunction Gaussian Gaussian
Scaleof Fluctuation 1.0m 0.5m
Element Size 0.2m 0.2m
3.4 Random field element size
Thesizeof thediscretisedelement isusually defined
based on practical and analytical considerations
(Sterritt et al. 2001). Theuseof afinemeshcansig-
nificantly increasethecomputational effort for little
improvement in accuracy. Further, the smaller ele-
ment sizecanmeanelements closeto eachother are
highly correlated, resultinginnumerical andcompu-
tational difficultiesintheorthogonalisationof covari-
ancematrix. Conversely, if theelementsizeistoolarge
thecorrelationbetweenelementsbecomesnegligible.
Sterrittetal. (2001) suggestedthattheelementsize
should bein therangeof 0.1 to 0.75m. Meanwhile,
the element size of randomfield should also be in
conjunctionwiththemeshsizeof LS-DYNA. There-
fore, an element sizeof 0.2mis chosen herein. The
parametersfortherandomfieldsareshowninTable1.
4 PROBABILISTIC BLAST LOADMODEL
It is observed fromfield testing that the blast load
experiencedbyatarget structure, for apparentlysimi-
lar circumstances, will not alwaysbethesame.
Thevariability of blast loadwill beinfluencedby
thetypeof explosiveused, itsmanufacture, itsplace-
ment, etc. The explosive of significant interest to
Figure 3. Probability Distributions of Peak Reflected
PressureandComparisonwithTM5-1300DesignValues, for
W=100kgANFOandR=5mandR=10m.
Figure 4. Probability Distributions of Time of Positive
Phase Duration and Comparison with TM5-1300 Design
Values, for W=100kgANFOandR=5mandR=10m.
counter-terrorismpersonnel ishome-madeAmmo-
niumNitrateFuel Oil (ANFO) deliveredbyaVBIED.
For moredetailsof theprobabilistic blast loadmodel
seeNethertonandStewart (2010).
Theexplosiveforeachscenariodetonatesonorvery
near totheground. Itisthusconsideredahemispheri-
cal chargedetonatingagainstareflectingsurface. The
probabilitydistributionof peakreflectedpressure(P
r
)
andthetimeof ablast-wavesfirstpositivephasedura-
tion(t
d
)aretheoutcomesof theprobabilisticanalysis
seeFigures3and4forW=100kgANFOandR=5m
andR=10m. Itisobservedthatthevariabilityof blast
loadparametersisconsiderable, withCOVsof 0.75
1.10 and 0.230.38 for peak reflected pressure and
timeof positivephaseduration, respectively.
5 PROBABILISTIC MODELLINGOF
STRUCTURAL RESPONSE
The RC column is representative of a ground floor
central columnof atwostoreyRCframebuilding(Shi
et al. 2008). TheRC columnisH=4.6mhighandis
of rectangular cross-section(seeFigure5).
967
Figure5. Cross-sectionof theColumn.
5.1 Finite element model
Thefiniteelementmodel usedhereinisidentical tothe
onedevelopedby Shi et al. (2008). Eight-nodesolid
hexahedronelements of 50mmareusedto represent
concrete,whilethesteel barsaremodelledexplicitlyby
50mm-longbeamelementsconnectedtotheconcrete
meshnodes. Therestraintatthetopendof thecolumn
providedbysecondaryfloor beamsandslabsismod-
elledasastiff block, whilethebottomendrestraint is
modelledas afixedsupport. Theouter vertical faces
of theheadandfootingareconstrainedagainst hori-
zontal motions, andthebottomfaceof thefootingis
constrainedagainst vertical motion(Wuet al. 2011).
Thebond-slipinteractiveeffect betweenlongitudinal
steel bars and surrounding concreteis considered in
this numerical simulation. For further details of the
finiteelement model, seeStewart et al. (2011).
The following computational steps are applied in
this numerical simulation. In the initial stage, a lin-
early increasing axial load is employed on the top
of this column prior to theblast loading to simulate
stress statepresent in thecolumn dueto thegravity
load of the supporting floor slab. In this study, the
axial force is 0.2F
c
A, where F
c
is the compressive
strengthof concrete, andA isthecross-sectional area
of the RC column. This stage takes 50 msec for an
explicit dynamic analysis requires that theaxial load
must beimposedgradually. Secondly, blast loadingis
employedonthefrontfaceof thiscolumn.Thesimula-
tionisstoppedwhenthevelocitiesof all nodesarelow
enough, for example, lower than0.1m/s. Clearly, it is
extremelytime-consumingtoobtaintheblastresponse
of this columninthedynamic analysis until thecol-
umnreachesanentirelystill position.Inthefinal stage,
a downward vertical displacement is slowly applied
at thetopof this columnto attaintheloaddefection
curveandaxial load-carryingcapacityof thepost-blast
Table2. Statistical Parametersfor RC Column.
Parameter Mean COV Distribution Source
Cover (mm) 33.8 0.12 Normal* Mirza& MacGregor (1979)
YieldStrength 1.15F
y
0.05 Normal** Wisniewski et al. (2012)
ConcreteCompressiveStrength 1.02F
c
0.12 Lognormal Wisniewski et al. (2012)
Note:
truncatedat stirrupdiameter (10mm),
truncatedat zero.
column(P
residual
), whichis usedto predict theextent
of damageasdiscussedinthefollowingsection.
SinceRC columnsaredesignedprincipallytosup-
port an axial load, then thedamagecriterion should
bebasedinaxial load-carryingcapacity. Thedamage
index(D) isdefinedas(Shi et al. 2008):
whereP
residual
istheresidual axial load-carryingcapac-
ityof thedamagedcolumn, andP
design
isthemaximum
axial load-carrying capacity of the undamaged col-
umn which are both obtained fromLS-DYNA. Shi
et al. (2008) define four damage limit states based
on the damage index D: D=00.2 (low damage),
D=0.20.5 (mediumdamage), D=0.50.8 (high
damage), D=0.81.0(collapse).
Monte-Carlosimulation(MCS) isusedfor reliabil-
ity estimation of theRC column. Theprobability of
damagestatesconditional onthreatT isthat:
where n[] is the number of realisations when D
matches the damage criterion and N is the number
of simulation runs. It follows frombinomial theory
(e.g., Melchers 1999) that the 90% confidence lim-
itsof resultsobtainedfromaMonteCarlosimulation
analysisis
5.2 Probabilistic variables
The statistical parameters for cover, concrete com-
pressivestrengthandyieldstrengthof reinforcement
aregiven inTable2. Thesestatistics arerepresenta-
tiveof RCstructuresconstructedintheUnitedStates,
Australia and Europe. The variability of cross-
sectional area of reinforcing bars and column
968
dimensionsaresmall (Nowak&Szerszen2003, Mirza
& MacGregor 1979) and so are assumed herein as
deterministic. Column height, stirrup spacing and
other randomvariablesareignoredfromtheanalysis.
Theyieldstrengthsfor longitudinal (main) reinforce-
ment and hoops/cross-ties are assumed statistically
independent.
6 RESULTS
Theblast scenario consideredis aW=100kgANFO
VBIED detonated fromR=2.5mto R=20mfrom
the front face of the RC column. The probabilis-
tic load model described in Section 4 is used. Due
to high computational demand associated with LS-
DYNA,N=100simulationrunswereusedtogenerate
distribution of residual axial load-carrying capacity
of thepost-blast columnandprobabilities of damage
andcollapse. Stochastic analyseswereconductedfor
Figure 6. Simulation Histograms for P
residual
of (a)
non-spatial model and(b) spatial model, for R=10m.
(i) resistance parameters without spatial variability
(Table2), and (ii) resistanceparameters with spatial
variability(Tables1and2).
Thesimulationhistogramof residual load-carrying
capacityof theblast-post RC columnswithandwith-
out spatial variability when R=10mare shown in
Figure6.Thenon-spatial model hasthesameconcrete
compressivestrengthandcover for theentireRC col-
umn. Whileinthespatial model, theconcretestrength
andcover varyalongthecolumnheight.
Sinceblastloadingisappliedonthefaceof theRC
column, damageandresidual load-carryingcapacity
of thecolumnaredependent ontheconcretestrength
of several critical elements. Hencespatial variability
averages at the concrete strength causing less vari-
ability than a non-spatial analysis. Figures 6(a) and
(b) shows that COV and mean decrease from0.32
and9250kN to0.26and9050kN, respectively, when
spatial variabilityisconsideredinestimatingP
residual
.
Figure 7. BRC for (a) non-spatial model and (b) spatial
model.
969
Blast Reliability Curves (BRCs) are shown in
Figure7.The90%confidenceboundsarealsoshown
more simulation runs would reduce the 90% con-
fidence intervals, but those shown in Figure 7 are
sufficient to infer theBRCs. As expected, theprob-
ability of collapsedecreaseasstand-off (R) increase,
andnomatter if thespatial variabilityisincorporated
or not, theprobability of collapseis negligiblewhen
R exceeds15m.
7 CONCLUSION
Thepaper hasdescribedtheprocessandmodelsused
for astochastic analysis of thedamageof reinforced
concretecolumns subject to explosiveblast loading.
It was found that in the spatial model the probabil-
ity of collapse is 10%lower when R=2.5m, while
the probability of low damage is 6% higher when
R=10m than those in non-spatial model. Clearly,
non-spatial modellingoverestimatestheprobabilityof
collapse. Incorporatingspatial variability will leadto
moreaccuratepredictionsof damageandsafetyrisks.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Theauthorswouldliketoacknowledgesupportforthis
researchprovidedbytheAustralianResearchCouncil.
Thefirst author alsoappreciatesthefinancial support
provided by theChinaScholarship Council andThe
Universityof Newcastle. Thesuggestionsabout FEM
providedbyXudongZhi isalsomuchappreciated.
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970
Uncertaintyinlong-termanalysisof concrete-filledsteel tubular
columnsunder sustainedloading
X. Shi, W. Gao,Y.L. Pi & M.A. Bradford
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales, UNSW Sydney, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: Thispaper presentsalong-termanalysisof concrete-filledsteel tubular (CFST) columnsunder
sustainedaxial compressionbyaccountingfor theuncertaintiesof creepandshrinkageof theconcretecore.The
intervalsof thefinal shrinkagestrainandfinal creepcoefficientof concretecorearederivedfromtestresults.An
interval analytical model basedonthealgebraicallytractableage-adjustedeffectivemodulusmethodisproposed
for theuncertainlong-termanalysisof CFST columnsunder sustainedloading. Comparisonwithexperimental
resultsshowsthattheproposedinterval analytical model performswell inpredictingupper andlower boundsof
thelong-termbehavior of CFST columns.
1 INTRODUCTION
Concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns have
been used in construction since the mid-1980s and
becomeincreasinglypopularinbothhigh-risebuilding
andbridgeapplications.
A CFST section consists of a steel tube and a
concrete core (Fig. 1). Creep and shrinkage of the
concretecoreoccur with an increaseof time, which
influencethelong-termbehaviour of CFST columns
significantly. Hence, it is important to correctly pre-
dict effects of creep and shrinkage of the concrete
core on the long-termbehaviour of CFST columns.
For this, experimental studieshavebeenperformedby
several researchers. Tan(1984) andQi (1986) carried
out 40tests oncircular concrete-filledsteel columns
andbeamcolumns subjectedto long-termsustained
loads. Terrey et al. (1994) conducted similar exper-
iments on circular CFST columns axially loaded at
an earlier ageof theconcretecore. Thefirst test on
squareCFSTcolumnswerecarriedoutbyMorinoetal.
Figure1. Cross-sectionsof CFST column.
(1996) and six concentrically loaded columns, two
eccentrically loadedcolumns andoneflexural mem-
ber weretested. Similar cross-sectionsweretestedby
Uy (2001) by applying axial loading to the CFST
columns at 14 and 28 days of age of the concrete
corerespectively. It wasfoundthat duetotheabsence
of moistureexchange, thecreepandshrinkageof the
concrete core are much less pronounced than those
observed in exposed concrete. Analytical studies of
predictingthelong-termbehaviour of CFST columns
havealso bereported. Ichinoseet al. (2001) utilized
theKelvin model to depict concretetime-dependent
behavior. SquareCFST columns subjected to higher
sustainedloadswereinvestigatedbyHanetal. (2004).
Terry et al. (1994), Uy (2001), Hanet al. (2004) pre-
dictedtheconcretetime-dependent behavior byusing
theage-adjustedeffectivemodulus (AAEM) method
proposedbyACI-209(ACI, 1992). Kwonetal. (2007)
reported some numerical investigation on the creep
behavior of CFST columnsbyusingmodel code1990
(CEB, 1993) to model the concrete time-dependent
response. Intheir study, material coefficientssuchas
creepcoefficient of theconcretecorewereidentified
fromaregressionanalysisontheexperimental results.
Cheng et al. (2005) introduced a three-dimensional
nonlinearlaminatedelementintothelong-termmodel-
ingandassumedthecreepbehaviortobedescribedby
theKelvinmodel. Wanget al. (2011) conductedeight
tests on slender rectangular section CFST columns
under eccentric compression, whichproducesbiaxial
bending.All of theseexperimental andanalysisinves-
tigationstreatcreepandshrinkageof theconcretecore
asdeterministicphenomena. However, it isnotedthat
thecreepcoefficient obtainedfromtestsvarysignifi-
cantlyfromoneexperiment toanother. Verydifferent
predictions of thetime-dependent behavior of CFST
columnshavebeenreportedindifferent studies. This
971
shows that the uncertainties of creep and shrinkage
of the concrete core exist. To predict the long-term
behaviour of CFST columnsreasonably, theseuncer-
taintieshavetobeconsidered. Uncertaintyanalysisof
engineeringstructures has beendevelopedinthelast
two decades (Rao and Berke 1997) and probabilis-
tic methodsareusually used. Other non-probabilistic
approachessuchasinterval arithmetic(Moore, 1966)
andfuzzysetstheory(Zadeh,1965)alsocouldbeused.
For thelong-termanalysis of CFST columns dueto
creepandshrinkageof theconcretecore, probabilis-
ticmethodsrequireuseful probabilitydistributionsof
thefinal creep coefficient and final shrinkagestrain
to be determined first. However, the available test
datafor creep and shrinkageof theconcretecoreof
CFST sections are quite limited and so it is impos-
sibletoderivecorrect probability distributionsof the
final creepcoefficientandfinal shrinkagestrainfrom
theselimiteddata. Inthispaper, therefore, uncertain-
ties aretreatedas interval values, i.e., thevalues are
knowntoliebetweentwovalues, but theexact values
areunknown, basedonwhichaninterval uncertainty
analysis can be performed to predict the upper and
lower bounds of the long-termbehaviour of CFST
columns.
For this, anage-adjustedeffectivemodulusmethod
(AEMM) (Baant, 1972) isusedtodescribethecreep
of the concrete core and a virtual work method is
used to establish the differential equation for the
long-term-analysis of CFST columns that are sub-
jectedtoasustainedaxial uniformcompression. The
interval analysis is then applied to the solutions for
thelong-termbehaviour of CFST columnscausedby
theintervals of variations of thecreepandshrinkage
of theconcretecoretodeterminetheupper andlower
boundsof thelong-termresponsesof CFST columns.
Finally, anextensiveparametricstudyiscarriedoutto
evaluatetheinfluenceof time, load level, steel ratio
for CFST columns.
2 DETERMINATIONOF INTERVALSFORTHE
FINAL SHRINKAGE STRAINANDCREEP
COEFFICIENT
Theempirical valueof final shrinkagestrain
shfinal
and
creepcoefficient
final
areproposedinseveral experi-
mental studies.Theresultof Hanetal. (2004), Morino
etal. (1996),Terreyetal. (1997), Uy(2001)whodeter-
mined thefinal shrinkagestrain for their studies are
43.5, 83.6, 50, 160respectively. Theresult of Morino
et al. (1996), Han et al. (2004), Terrey et al. (1997),
Uy (2001), who determined the final creep coeffi-
cientas0.5, 0.83, 1.0, 1.5respectively, whicharequite
different fromeachother. Toaccount for thesevaria-
tionsinthelong-termanalysisof CFST columns, the
interval of thefinal shrinkagestrainandcreepcoef-
ficient f their concretecorecan bederived fromthe
limited available test results as
shfinal
=[43.5, 340]
and
final
=[0.5, 1.7] respectively, whichareusedin
thisinvestigation.
3 LONGTERM BEHAVIOR OF CFST
COLUMNS
The long-term linear elastic analyses of concrete-
filled steel tubular (CFST) arch are based on two
assumptions.
(1) Deformations of the CFST arch are elastic and
satisfytheEulerBernoulli hypothesis
(2) Thesteel tubecomponent is fully bondedto the
concretecorecomponent.
Accordingtothesetwoassumptions, thelinear strain
of CFST columncanbeexpressedas
whereu isthevertical displacement.
TheAEMM method is used and so the stress in
concretecanbeexpressedas
where
sh
=theshrinkagestrainof concrete; E
ec
=the
age-adjustedeffectivemodulusof concrete.
sh
canbe
expressedas(ACI Committee2091982)
wheret =theloadingtime;
shfinal
=thefinal shrink-
agestrain of concrete. (thevaluewhen t ). E
ec
canbeexpressedas
where
0
=age at loading; (t,
0
)=aging coeffi-
cient; (t,
0
)=the creep coefficient, which can be
expressedas
where
final
=the final creep coefficient (the value
when t ). The aging coefficient (t,
0
) can be
expressedas
inwhich
with
972
and
Because the concrete core is assumed to be fully
bonded with the steel tube, the deformations of the
steel andconcretemustbecompatiblewitheachother,
and so their mechanical membranestrains areequal
to eachother andthemechanical strains at theinter-
facebetweenthesteel tubeandconcretecorearethe
same. Therefore, thestress
s
inthesteel tubecanbe
writtenas
whereE
s
=Youngsmodulusof steel.
Thedifferential equationsforthelong-termanalysis
of aCFSTcolumncanbeobtainedusingavirtual work
method. When thevirtual work principleis used for
thelong-termequilibriumof theCFST column, itcan
bestatedas
whereV
s
=volumeof thesteel tube; V
c
=volumeof
theconcretecore; ( ) denotestheLagrangeoperator
of simultaneousvariations. BysubstitutingEquations
(1), (2), (4), thestatement of theprincipleof virtual
workgivenbyEquation(12) canbewrittenas
IntegratingEquation(12) bypartsleadstothedif-
ferential equation of equilibrium for the long-term
behavior of CFST columnas
andleads to thestatic boundary condition for CFST
columnas
Theessential geometricboundaryconditionis
Thelong-termdisplacement of CFST columncanbe
obtainedfromEquations(14)(16) as
andthestrainof steel tubeandconcretecorecanbe
obtainedfromEquation(17) as
4 INTERVAL ARITHMATIC
LetI (R), I (R
n
)andI (R
nn
)denotethesetsof all closed
real interval numbers, n dimensional real interval vec-
torsandn n real interval matrices, respectively. R is
theset of all real numbers. x
I
= [x, x]={x l x |
x, x R} isaninterval variableof I (R). x andx arethe
lower and upper bounds of x
I
, respectively. Interval
variablex
I
canalsobeexpressedas
where x
c
=midpoint value; x =maximum width;
x
I
=uncertaininterval; x
F
=interval changeratio.
The core of interval arithmetic consists of the
followinggeneralizationof operations:
and
5 UNCERTAINLONG-TERMANALYSISOF
CFST COLUMNS
Nevilleet al. (1983) havereviewedthevarious types
of equations generally used to describe creep and
shrinkage, which are: thepower expression, thelog-
arrhythmicexpression, theexponential expressionand
the hyperbolic expression. The equation used in the
present paper isaninterval hyperbolic-power expres-
sionbasedupontheequationsuggestedbyACI Com-
mittee 209 (1992). The final creep coefficient
final
andthefinal shrinkagestrain
shfinal
canbedescribed
intermsof intervalsas
973
Therefore, thecreepcoefficientandfinal shrinkage
straincanbeexpressedas
Based on the interval arithmetic and the determin-
istic solutions, thelong-termdisplacement of CFST
columncanbeobtainedfromEquation(17) as
andthestrainof steel tubeandconcretecorecanbe
obtainedfromEquation(18) as
6 COMPARISONSWITHEXPERIMENTAL
RESULTS
Theinterval solutionfor thestrainof CFST columns
givenby Eq. (36) iscomparedwiththetest resultsof
Hanetal. (2004) inFigure2. Hanetal. (2004) carried
out long-termtestsonCFST squaresectioncolumns.
Thedimensionsof thesquaresectionare100mm, the
thicknessof thesquaresectionis2.93mm. Thelength
of theCFSTcolumnsisL =600mm.Youngsmodulus
of thesteel tubeE
s
=20210
3
MPaandYoungsmod-
ulus of theconcretecoreE
c
=29200MPa. Thefirst
loadingtimeis28daysafter concretecorecasting. A
central axial loadof 360kN wasappliedtotheCFST
columns. It can beseen that theinterval uncertainty
analysiscanprovidegoodupper andlower boundsfor
test results.
Figure2. Comparisonof creepandshrinkagestrains.
Figure3. Influenceof agingtime(
0
) onlong-termstrain.
7 PARAMETRIC STUDY
7.1 Aging Time (
0
) under Sustained loading
time (t)
Figure 3 shows the influence of the aging time (
0
)
onthelong-termstrain. It canbefoundthat thestrain
increases immediately after loadingandincreases as
thesustainedloadingtime(t) increase.
It also canbefoundthat thesefour curves ondif-
ferent agingtime(
0
) approacheachother diligently,
theytrendtocoincidewitheachother. Itindicatesthat
agingtime(
0
) hasnogreat effect onboundstrain.
Figure 4 shows the comparison with Han et al.
(2004) under differentagingtime(
0
). Itcanbefound
that the strain tends towards upper bound with the
increment of agingtime(
0
).
7.2 Long-term sustained load level (n)
The influence of long-termsustained load level (n)
on lower and upper bounds of the strain was found
inFigure5and6, respectively, wheren isdefinedas
follows:
where N
L
=long-termsustained load; N
u
=ultimate
strength of thecompositecolumns at theshort-term
974
Figure 4. Comparison with Han et al. (2004) at different
agingtime(
0
).
Figure 5. Influence of load level (n) on long-termstrain
(lower bound).
Figure 6. Influence of load level (n) on long-termstrain
(upper bound).
loadingcondition. It canbefoundthat theupper and
lower boundsof thestrainincreasewithanincreaseof
thelong-termsustainedloadlevel n.
7.3 Steel ratio(a)
Figure7and8describetheinfluenceof steel ratio a
onlowerboundandupperboundstrain.Thesteel ratio
a isdefinedas
Figure 7. Influence of steel ratio (a) on lower bound
long-termstrain.
Figure 8. Influence of steel ratio (a) on upper bound
long-termstrain.
where A
s
=the cross section area of steel tube;
A
c
=thesectional of concrete. It couldbefoundfrom
figure7and8that thecurverepresentingthehighest
steel ratio(a) showsthelowest strainwhilethecurve
representinglowest steel ratio(a) showstheopposite
result. It indicates that the bound strain increase as
steel ratio(a) decrease.
Sinceunderthesametotal crosssectionarea, larger
steel ratio (a) means smaller cross-section area of
the concrete core, there is lower contribution of
theconcretetothecompositecolumns. Inthiscase, the
influenceof long-termsustainedloadsonthecompos-
itecolumnswill belesssignificantthanthespecimens
withsmaller steel ratioasexpected.
8 CONCLUSION
This paper has studiedtheuncertainlong-termanal-
ysis of concrete-filled steel tubular columns under
sustained axial compression. An interval analyti-
cal model based on the algebraically tractable age-
adjusted effective modulus method is proposed to
describethetime-dependent behavior of concretein
CFST columns. Theinterval of thefinal creepcoef-
ficient and final shrinkagestrain werederived from
975
limitedtestresultsreportedbyotherresearchers.Com-
parisons with the experimental results reported by
other researchershaveshowngoodagreements.
Theinfluenceof theagingtime(
0
), thelevel of the
sustainedload(thelong-termsustainedloadlevel ratio
n), andthesteel ratio(a) onthelong-termstrainshas
beenanalyzed. Itwasfoundthatthefirstloadingtime
(
0
) has littleeffects on theupper and lower bounds
of thelong-termstrains. Theupper andlower bounds
of the long-termstrains increase as the level of the
sustainedloadincreasesand/or steel ratiodecreases.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ThisworkhasbeensupportedbyAustralianResearch
Council throughaDiscovery Project (DP 10097096)
awardedtothethirdauthor.
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976
Topologyoptimizationunder displacement andsofteningconstraints
S. Tangaramvong
F. Tin-Loi
Y.M. Xie
ABSTRACT: Thispaper proposesatwo-stepoptimizationalgorithmtocarry out simultaneously anoptimal
size and topology synthesis of truss-like 2D structures made of strain softening materials, which invariably
wouldcauseseverephysical instability. Satisfactionof serviceabilityconditionsisalsoensuredbytheinclusion
of appropriateconstraints.Theproposedtechniqueisbasedontheubiquitousgroundstructureconcept. Member
cross-sectional areas areusedas designvariables. Thegoverningformulationtakes theformof achallenging
nonconvexandnonsmoothoptimizationproblem,knownasamathematical programwithequilibriumconstraints
orMPEC.Theequilibriumconstraintsarethecomplementarityconditionsusedtodescribethesofteningmaterial
behavior. EachdesignstepinvolvesupdatingthegroundstructureandprocessingtheMPEC usinganonlinear
programmingbasedpenaltyalgorithm.
1 INTRODUCTION
Structural optimizationhasattracted, andcontinuesto
attract, theinterest of bothdesignersandresearchers.
Thisisduetoitsappeal inprovidingasafeandoptimal
(oftenoneof minimumcost)designforsomespecified
designcriteria. A particular branchof structural opti-
mization that is still vigorously researched is that of
topology(layout) optimization. Speciallychallenging
is theinclusion of nontraditional material properties
andvariousconstraints.
This paper describes thetopology optimizationof
structures made of strain softening materials, while
at thesametimesatisfying someserviceability lim-
itations. We adopt the well-known ground structure
technique in which an a priori selected dense truss-
typegrid is optimized such that its weight (volume)
isaminimum; cross-sectionareasareusedasdesign
variables.
The governing formulation takes the form of a
challenging nonconvex and nonsmooth optimization
probleminvolvingcomplementarity constraints. This
particular classof problemsisknownintheliterature
as a mathematical program with equilibrium con-
straints (MPEC). A two-step optimization algorithm
is proposed to circumvent thedifficulties associated
withsingularityof somegoverningmatricesandthus
nondifferentiabilityof themathematical system. Each
step is cast as an MPEC that is solved by a nonlin-
ear programming (NLP) based penalty algorithm. A
simple, practically motivated, exampleis providedto
illustratetheapproach.
2 GROUNDSTRUCTURE CONCEPT
We adopt the well-known and widely used ground
structure concept (Beckers & Fleury 1997). An ini-
tial layout of dense truss-type grid containing a
predefined set of connections between fixed nodal
points as potential structural members is generated.
Inorder toachievesufficient accuracywithout undue
computational cost, athird-order vicinity model has
been employed in this study. The ground structure
then consists of all possible members that connect
the nodes enclosed within the third-level domain.
For this model, the total number of members m
associated with this specific ground structure is
m=16n
x
n
y
27(n
x
+n
y
)+46. The main advantage
of selecting the third-order vicinity is that it offers
four times more possible directions than that of the
first-ordervicinity,whilstthetotal numberof elements
still remains proportional to the number of nodes
(Beckers & Fleury 1997). In addition, the adopted
ground structure concept has been reported to pro-
videoptimal designsnotonlyfor truss-typestructures
but alsofor continuumstructures, suchas perforated
platesinplanestress(Rozvany1998).
3 GENERIC MODEL
The ground structure effectively represents a dis-
cretization system which consists of an aggregate
of line finite elements. The truss members are
described in generalized variables in Pragers sense
977
(Maier 1970), such that the material behavior is
directlyreflectedbytheelemental behavior.
Eachgenericelementsi consistsof asinglegener-
alizedaxial forceQ
i
anditscorrespondinggeneralized
axial displacement q
i
(definedasthesumof thegen-
eralized elastic strain e
i
and the generalized plastic
strainp
i
).Theelastoplasticmaterial behaviorisappro-
priatelydescribedbyaholonomic(path-independent)
assumptionthatisacceptablesincemonotonicloading
onlyisapplied.
The basic formulations governing the complete
holonomic elastoplastic structural system, withinthe
assumedsmall displacement setting, areasfollows:
Equation 1 expresses linear equilibriumrelationship
betweenthegeneralizedstressesQ andtheexternally
appliedforcesf , wheref isagivenbasic systemof
nodal forces and a positive scalar load multiplier.
Compatibilitybetweenthegeneralizedstrainsq (con-
jugatewithQ) andthenodal displacementsu isgiven
in Equation 2, where C is a constant compatibility
matrix.
Thegoverningholonomicelastoplasticconstitutive
relations aredescribedby thethreeEquations 3to5.
Inparticular, elasticitybetweenQandthegeneralized
elasticstrainse (writtenbyq p) isdefinedinEqua-
tion3throughastandardsymmetricandpositivedef-
initeelasticstiffnessmatrixS. Thegeneralizedplastic
strains p areexpressedinEquation4as functions of
plasticmultipliersthroughanormalitymatrixN.The
computationally advantageous piecewiselinear yield
functionsw arestatedinEquation5intermsof Q,
and the yield limits r, where the softening material
is accommodated through the (nonsymmetric) soft-
ening matrix H. Clearly, when perfect plasticity is
assumed,H=0.Finally,therequiredholonomic(path-
independent) constitutivebehavior isdescribedusing
complementarity conditions (w
T
=0) between the
twosign-constrainedvectorsw 0 and 0, imply-
ing a componentwise relationship w
j
j
=0, w
j
0
and
j
0for all j. Physically, thisallowsplasticacti-
vationtooccur only whenthestress point is actually
ontheyieldsurfaceandthusimpliesreversal of plastic
strains.
The state problem can be constructed by sim-
ply collecting the three basic ingredients governing
theintrinsicholonomicelastoplasticbehavior, namely
statics in Equation 1, kinematics in Equation 2 and
constitutivelawsinEquations3to5.
Therefore, for apredefined load multiplier , the
stateproblemexpressedinmixedstaticandkinematic
variables(Q, U, ) is
Equation6isaninstanceof theclassof mathematical
programming problems, known as a mixed comple-
mentarity problemor MCP (Dirkse & Ferris 1995).
Thecompleteholonomic structural responses canbe
traced by solving a series of MCPs, each given by
Equation6associatedwiththepreselectedloadlevel
. This MCP can be processed directly using the
state-of-the-artcomplementaritysolver GAMS/PATH
(Dirkse& Ferris 1995), run fromwithin theGAMS
mathematical programming environment; GAMS is
anacronymfor General Algebraic ModelingSystem
(Brookeet al. 1998).
It is worthwhile to review some difficulties
expected when strain softening is involved [see e.g.
Corradi (1978), Tangaramvong&Tin-Loi (2007)].
First, through straightforward manipulations, we
reformulate the mixed static and kinematic MCP in
Equation6intothefollowingmorecompact comple-
mentarityproblem:
where
The MCP in Equation 7 is known as a linear com-
plementarity problem(LCP) (Cottleet al. 1992). The
matrix M definedinEquation7plays avital rolein
determininguniquenessandstabilitypropertiesof the
overall structural system(Tangaramvong & Tin-Loi
2007). Thus, positivedefiniteness of M (e.g. as in
thecaseof hardeningmaterials) indicates, inaddition
toexistenceanduniquenessof thesolution, stabilityof
thewholestructural system. Positivesemidefiniteness
of M (as in the case of perfect plasticity) implies
existencebut not necessarily uniqueness of thesolu-
tion with a neutral (not unstable) equilibriumstate.
However, for softeningmaterials, nondefiniteness of
Mmeansthatnoneof stability, uniquenessnor even
existenceof solutionisguaranteed.
4 OPTIMIZATION ANMPECAPPROACH
Wenowconsidertheoptimizationapproachtosimulta-
neouslyobtaintheoptimal layoutandminimumweight
(volume) design of structures that are subjected to
constraintsonstrainsofteningmaterialsandimposed
978
serviceability conditions (such as limited displace-
ments at some specific points). Within the adopted
third-order vicinity ground structure (Beckers &
Fleury 1997) environment, the associated problem
defines element cross-sectional areas as nondiscrete
(continuous) designvariables.
We collect in vector A all m member areas
A
1
, . . . , A
m
thataregrouped, asnecessary, intosimilar
sets of members. This collection is typically speci-
fied through thefollowing so-called technological
constraints:
whereTisaself-evidentmatrixrelatingtheareasA to
theindependent cross-sectional areas(positivedesign
variables)a.Clearly,whenall areasAareindependent,
T isanidentitymatrixandA = a. A unit vector for T
impliesA
1
=A
2
= . . . =A
m
=a.
Thetopologyoptimizationistheinversetothestate
problem, inthat it minimizesatotal volumeV of the
initial ground structure and at the same time satis-
fiestheconstraintsgoverningthecompleteholonomic
relationsgiveninEquation6. Obviously, thestiffness
matrix S, thesoftening matrix H and theyield limit
vector r arenowwritteninterms of theindependent
areasa usingEquation8.
Someadditional constraints suchas serviceability
criteriaandbounds oncross-sectional areasizes can
beeasilyimposed.
Thegoverningdesignproblemcanthenbewritten
as the following (nonconvex and nonsmooth) opti-
mizationprograminunknownvariables(a, Q, u, ):
serviceabilityconstraints,
wherevector l collects all m corresponding member
lengths; a
lo
anda
up
denotelowerandupperlimitsona,
respectively.TheproblemstatedinEquation9belongs
to thechallengingclass of nonstandardoptimization
programsknownasanMPEC (Luoet al. 1996).
To date, there are no known algorithms that can
guaranteethesolution of MPECs (Luo et al. 1996).
Threemainreasonsfor thisinclude:
(a) thepresenceof complementarityconstraintsthat
makestheMPEC disjunctive;
(b) the feasible region of the MPEC may not be
convex; and
(c) thefeasibledomainmay not evenbeconnected.
Any of thesethreedifficulties(or acombination
of them) isexpectedtoshowupasaseverecom-
putational burdenwhenprocessingtheMPEC.
Inadditiontotheaforementioneddifficulties, adirect
single-stepoptimizationprocessforsolvingtheMPEC
giveninEquation9islikelytofail duetothepresence
of possiblenumerical instabilitycausedbysingularity
of somekeymatricesleadingtonondifferentiabilityof
thewholemathematical system.Thisseverenumerical
instabilityoftenoccurswiththebasicgroundstructure
approach sinceduring theprocess of computing the
optimal designlayout alargenumber of membersare
givenzeroareas(hencedestroyingthedefinitenessof
thestiffnessmatrix).
5 MPEC SOLUTIONALGORITHM
Thissectionpresentsanefficient androbust two-step
optimization algorithmthat obviates the difficulties
associatedwithnondefinitenessof somekeymatrices
anddetrimental numerical effectsof softeningbehav-
iors. Eachof thetwostepsinfactinvolvessolvingthe
MPEC inEquation9.
ThefirststepsolvestheMPECfortheinitial ground
structurewithadditional constraintsonlower bounds
a
lo
(e.g. a
i
lo
=10
6
for all i). This by-passes the ill-
conditioningproblemof stiffness matrices causedby
zero area members. In the second-step, we gener-
ate a new ground structure based on the first-step
synthesis by simply discarding all members whose
cross-sectional areaswereattheirlowerlimits, namely
a
i
=a
i
lo
, in phase1. A reformed MPEC is solved to
furnishthefinal design.
Thesuccessof theproposedprocedurerestsonthe
ability to process theMPEC giveninEquation9. In
spiteof itsdifficulties, wehavehadconsiderablesuc-
cessinsolvingMPECsfor variouspractical engineer-
ingmechanicsapplications[seee.g.Tangaramvong&
Tin-Loi (2011), Tangaramvonget al. (2011)].
VariousMPECreformulationtechniqueshavebeen
developed. They are categorized by the way the
complementarity term is treated. One of the most
robust schemes is a penalty NLP-based algorithm,
in which we iteratively solve a series of reformu-
latedNLP subproblems until convergence. Themain
attractionof theproposedschemeisthateachsubprob-
lemis a standard NLP problemthat can be reliably
solved by any general purpose NLP code, such as
theGAMS/CONCOPT solver (Drud1994) available
withintheGAMSframework.
Thepenalty approach weusesimply transfers the
complementarity termto the objective function and
penalizesit, byadditionof thetermw
T
.Theneg-
ative sign follows the minimization requirement. At
eachNLPiterate, thepenaltyparameterisincreased
to successively help drivethecomplementarity term
tozero.
ThisNLP subproblemisthusasfollows:
serviceabilityconstraints,
979
It issolveduntil apreset toleranceoncomplemen-
tarity(e.g. w
T
10
6
) hasbeenreached.
Our two-step procedure is summarized in the
following.
Step (a): First-step optimization
Generatetheinitial groundstructure.
Set sufficiently small valuesof a
lo
, e.g. a
i
lo
=10
6
for all i.
Formulate the MPEC in Equation 9 and go to
Step(c).
Step (b): Second-step optimization
Generate the new ground structure by discarding
memberswitha
i
=a
i
lo
for all i.
Seta
lo
=0, andthenformtheMPECinEquation9.
GotoStep(c).
Step (c): Penalty algorithm
Set: initial (e.g. =1), maximum iterations
(miter), andw
T
=100.
For k =1tomiter
if w
T
10
6
, thenexit.
else, solveNLP inEquation10andincrease by
=10.
end.
Step (d): Termination
If thetwo Steps (a) and (b) havebeen completed,
terminate.
Else, returntoStep(b).
Weshouldalsonotethat:
(a) Itisimportantthatthepredefinedlower boundsa
lo
at Step(a) aresufficiently small anddonot influ-
ence the final design of the structure. Fromour
numerical experience, thevalueof a
i
lo
=10
6
is a
suitablespecification.
(b) We have implemented a computationally advan-
tageous warm-start strategy at the beginning of
Step(b), inthatthisemploysthesolutionssuccess-
fully obtained in Step (a) as initial estimates for
solvingtheMPEC inStep(b).
One of the examples we have solved is the simply
supporteddeepbeamwithalargewebopeningshown
inFigure1.
Thestructurewasdesignedtosupport asinglever-
tical point loadof 100kN with=1; v denotesthe
correspondingvertical displacement (m).
Weconsideredtwooptimal synthesiscases:
Casea: Elasticperfectlyplasticbeam.
Caseb: Elasticsofteningbeam, displacement limit of
0.01 v 0.01(m).
For thesofteningCaseb, weadoptedthepiecewise
linearyieldsurfacemodel inFigure2.Foreachgeneric
Figure1. Deepbeamwithlargewebopening.
member i, thekeyvector andmatrixquantitiesassoci-
atedwiththeplastic functions w
i
(A
i
, Q
i
,
i
) givenin
Equation(5) are:
whereh
1
, h
2
andh arerespectivelyonehardeningand
twosofteningparameters, andf
c1
, f
c2
andf
t
theasso-
ciated plastic limits, as clearly depicted in Figure2.
Yieldfunctions w
1
andw
2
describeatensilebilinear
softening model, whilst w
3
to w
5
describecompres-
sive hardening-bilinear softening behaviors, namely
w
3
involves onehardening, w
4
onesofteningandw
5
onezero-residual flat branch, respectively. Intheper-
fect plasticityCasea, onlythetwoyieldfunctionsw
1
andw
3
areretained, whilstall hardeningandsoftening
parametersvanish(h =h
1
=h
2
=0).
The material properties (kNm
2
unit) used
are: E =2800010
3
; for the perfectly plastic
Case a, f
t
=f
c1
=3210
3
; and for the softening
Caseb, f
t
=1610
3
, f
c1
=9.610
3
, f
c2
=3210
3
,
h
1
=1400010
3
, andh =h
2
=280010
3
.
Theinitial groundstructure(Figure3) consists of
n =62, m=530, t =530, d =121, andy =1060(for
the perfectly plastic Case a) or y =2650 (for the
softeningCaseb).
The two-step optimization algorithmsuccessfully
processedbothCasesaandb. Theoptimal topologies
are plotted in Figure 4 corresponding to the result-
ing design volumeof V =0.0323m
3
for Caseaand
V =0.0633m
3
for Caseb. TheassociatedCPU times
980
Figure2. Softeninglawfor genericmember i.
Figure 3. Initial ground structure; thick lines at bottom
cornersrepresent supports.
werelessthan1sfor thedesignCaseaandsome46s
for Caseb.
Theoptimal designlayouts (seeFigure4) of both
Cases a and b are identical, and agree well with
reportedstrut-and-tiedesigntopologies[seee.g.Liang
et al. (2000)].
Theinclinedcompressivestrutmember, established
in theright-hand sideof thebeam, cannot beestab-
lished between the loading and the left support due
to the web opening. Compressive struts are formed
aroundtheopening, andareconnectedby thetensile
ties above (top-right corner) and below (bottom-left
corner) the holes. The bottomtensile tie resists the
flexural behavior of thisbeam.
Thepresenceof simultaneousstrainsofteningand
limited displacement conditions in Case b does not
alter the optimal layout as compared with design
Case a, but rather requires some stronger strut and
tiemembers.
The corresponding v responses to these two
Cases a and b in Figure 5 obtained by the step-
wise holonomic analysis (Tangaramvong & Tin-Loi
Figure 4. Optimal topology design (a) Case a and (b)
Caseb; solidlinedenotes tensionmember anddashedline
compressionmember.
Figure5. Stepwiseholonomic v responsesfor Casesa
andb; thinsolidvertical linedenoteslimiteddisplacement.
2011) confirmsatisfactionof theessential criteriaon
strengthandserviceability.
7 CONCLUSIONS
A novel yet simpletwo-step optimization technique,
within a ground structure framework, has been pro-
posed for the optimal size and topology design
of softening structures under imposed serviceability
constraints.
The two-step scheme has been developed to
overcome problems associated with nondefiniteness
and nondifferentiability caused by singular stiffness
matrices.
981
Thegoverningformulationisaninstanceof achal-
lenging class of optimization problems known as an
MPEC. For this purpose, wehavesuccessfully used
anNLP-basedpenalty algorithmfor processingboth
designsteps.
Anumberof examples,oneof whichisgivenherein,
attest totherobustnessandefficiencyof our two-step
scheme.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research was supported by the Australian
ResearchCouncil.
REFERENCES
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Brooke, A., Kendrick, D., Meeraus, A. & Raman, R. 1998.
GAMS: A Users Guide. WashingtonDC: GAMS Devel-
opment Corporation.
Corradi,L.1978.Stabilityof discreteelasticplasticstructures
with associated flow laws. Solid Mechanics Archives 3:
201259.
Cottle, R. W., Pang, J. S. & Stone, R. E. 1992. The Linear
Complementarity Problem. San Diego CA: Academic
Press.
Dirkse, S. P. & Ferris, M. C. 1995. PATH solver: a non-
monotone stabilization scheme for mixed complemen-
tarity problems. Optimization Methods and Software 5:
123156.
Drud, A. S. 1994. CONOPT-alarge-scaleGRGcode. ORSA
Journal on Computing 6: 207216.
Liang, Q. Q., Xie, Y. M. & Steven, G. P. 2000. Topology
optimization of strut-and-tie models in reinforced con-
crete structures using an evolutionary procedure. ACI
Structural Journal 97: 322330.
Luo, Z. Q., Pang, J. S. & Ralph, D. 1996. Mathemati-
cal Programs with Equilibrium Constraints. Cambridge:
CambridgeUniversityPress.
Maier, G. 1970.Amatrixstructural theoryof piecewiselinear
5: 5466.
Rozvany, G. I. N. 1998. Exact analytical solutionsfor some
popular benchmark problems in topology optimization.
Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization 15: 4248.
Tangaramvong, S. & Tin-Loi, F. 2007. A complementar-
ity approach for elastoplastic analysis of strain soften-
ing frames under combined bending and axial force.
Tangaramvong, S. & Tin-Loi, F. 2011. Mathematical pro-
grammingapproachesfor thesafetyassessment of semi-
rigidelastoplasticframes. International Journal of Solids
Tangaramvong, S., Tin-Loi, F. & Senjuntichai, T. 2011. An
MPEC approach for the critical post-collapse behavior
of rigid-plasticstructures. International Journal of Solids
982
DamageseverityestimationusingParallel GeneticAlgorithmand
power spectral density
M. Varmazyar & N. Haritos
Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Australia
Michael Kirley
Department of Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne, Australia
ABSTRACT: Thispaper describesanewglobal damageidentificationframeworkfor thecontinuous/periodic
monitoring of civil structures. In order to estimate the severity of damage regions where the locations are
known, amodel-basedBayesianprobabilisticdamagedetectionapproachisproposed. Themethodisbasedon
responsepowerspectral densityof thestructure,whichenjoystheadvantageof broadbandfrequencyinformation.
This method can beimplemented on input-output as well as output-only damagedetection studies. Damage
identificationapproachesareusuallydealingwithmulti-dimensional searchspace. Inthistypeof searchspace,
conventional optimizationalgorithmscanbetrappedinlocal optimaandaresensitivetoexperimental noiseor
modellingerrors. OptimizationalgorithmssuchastheGeneticAlgorithm(GA) canpotentiallyexploreabroad
searchspacetofindtheglobal optimum.However,GAsareinherentlyslowwhenfacedwithverycomplicatedand
timeconsumingobjectivefunctions.Thus, parallel GAscanbeconsideredasauseful alternativeforovercoming
this problem. In this study, a parallel GA approach is implemented to detect structural damage. The results
obtainedindicatethattheparallel GeneticAlgorithm-baseddamageidentificationapproachisreliablefordamage
detection.
1 INTRODUCTION
Structural healthmonitoring, (SHM), istheprocessof
assemblinggeneral informationof thecurrent condi-
tionof astructurewhoseaimis to indicatetheexis-
tence, location, anddegreeof damageinthatstructure
if damageoccurs. Damagemight occur inastructure
after long-termdeteriorationunder serviceloadssuch
as fatigueandcorrosion or dueto extremeincidents
such as earthquakes and impact loads. Accordingly,
damage will affect the structural physical proper-
ties, namely stiffness, mass anddamping, whichwill
changestructural responsebehaviourandaltercurrent
and future performances. Thus, continuous/periodic
monitoring of civil structures is essential to ensure
their safety and acceptableperformanceduring their
lifespanandtoprevent acatastrophe.
Structural vibration response monitoring based
damageidentificationmethods havegainedsubstan-
tial attentioninrecent years, particularly duetotheir
potential applicationsintheareasof civil andmechan-
ical engineering. The theoretical basis for vibration
response measurement based damage identification
methods is that structural damagecauses changes in
structural dynamic properties, which in turn cause
changes in theglobal dynamic characteristics of the
structure(suchastheir associatednatural frequencies,
mode shapes, modal damping, frequency response
functions, etc.).Therefore, estimationof thevariations
in dynamic response characteristics provides useful
informationregardingexistence, locationandseverity
of structural damagewithouttheneedforpriorknowl-
edgeof anydamageconditionstates. However, earlier
research reports and simulation studies indicatesig-
nificant differences inthelevels of sensitivity of the
modal and frequency response parameters to differ-
ent types of damage such as local, global, crack or
fatiguedamage. Differentactivedamagemechanisms
tendto display different responsecharacteristics and
changesinthemodal andfrequencyresponseparame-
tersarefoundtoshowsubstantial variationsacrossthe
modesandacrossdamageconditionstates.Neitherfre-
quency(Salawu,1997)normodal responseparameters
areidentifiedasbeingconsistentinprovidingreliable
integrityassessmentof astructureunderinvestigation.
Power spectral density-based(PSD) damageiden-
tification (Bayissa and Haritos, 2007), can provide
useful informationregardingexistenceandlocationof
damage. Damage-sensitivevibrationresponseparam-
etersthatutilizethebroadbandfrequencyinformation
(asopposedtoresonancefrequency basedtraditional
counterparts) having strong physical relationships to
structural dynamic properties (Bayissa and Haritos,
2011) wereidentified using time-domain, frequency
domain,spectral-domainandwavelet-domainanalysis
methodsandimplementedinnonmodel baseddamage
identificationapproaches. Someother salientfeatures
of theseparameters are: sensitivity to bothlocal and
983
global damage; low sensitivity to noise and modal
truncation errors; identification of linear as well as
nonlinear damageconditions.
In order to estimate the severity of damage, a
model-based correlation study between a suitable
numerical model andexperimental datafromthestruc-
tureisrequired. Thus, for thehighest correlation, the
discrepancy between the two data series should be
minimized.
There are two general trends, often employed for
damagedetection.Thefirst,aone-stagedamagedetec-
tionapproach(Varmazyaretal., 2011), identifiesboth
thelocationandseverityof damagesimultaneously. In
contrast, in a two-stage damage detection approach,
thelocationandseverity of damageareidentifiedin
two separatesteps. Thefirst stageis usedto localize
damageusinganoptimal damage-sensitiveparameter.
Theinformationfromthefirststagecanthenbeimple-
mentedintodifferentalgorithms, suchastheBayesian
probabilisticmethod, toquantifydamageseverity.
Accordingly, takingregardof thesalientfeaturesof
thepowerspectral density, asolutionbasedonparallel
genetic algorithms(PGA) isintroducedtoevolvethe
optimal model parametersfor thecontinuous/periodic
monitoringof civil structures. Inorder toestimatethe
severity of damageregions, amodel-basedBayesian
probabilisticdamagedetectionapproachisproposed.
In this study, the second step of the two-stage
approachisconsideredinwhichthelocationsof dam-
agearealreadyidentifiedandafterwardtheproposed
methodcanbeusedfor damageseverityestimation.
2 DERIVATIONOF BAYESIAN
PROBABILISTIC FRAMEWORK FOR
STRUCTURAL DAMAGE IDENTIFICATION
This section describes thetheoretical background of
the Bayesian framework for damage identification
(Bayissa, 2007). Themeansquarevalue(MSV) of the
spectrumwhichhas beenpresentedas themost sen-
sitive parameter for damage detection (Bayissa and
Haritos, 2007), isdescribedastheoverall energycon-
tent of the signal that can be computed either from
continuousor discretedomainsignalsisidentifiedas
follows:
whereF[f
n
]istherespectiveFouriertransformof theN
pointsequencedataseries, S
yy
(f ) isthepower spectral
density. Inorder to employ theBayesianframework,
theanalytical model isparameterizedintermsof struc-
tural stiffnessK asanassembly of elementsstiffness
matrices assumingthat damageaffects only thestiff-
ness properties of thestructure. Theoverall stiffness
matrixK()intermsof N
numberof elementsisgiven
asfollows:
where K
i
is the stiffness matrix for the ith element
(or substructure) and
i
(0
i
1) is a set of non-
dimensional model parameters that represents the
contributionof theithelement stiffness totheglobal
stiffness matrix. Inthecasethat no stiffness loss has
occurred, thevalueof
i
is0andinsituationsof dam-
agefor elements or substructures, it wouldbedeter-
minedtobegreater than0. Therefore, thevalueof
i
isanindicator of thelocationaswell astheamountof
stiffnesslossif anydamagehastakenplace.Therefore,
inorder to employ Bayes theorem, all theuncertain
quantitieswererepresentedasprobabilitydistributions
andthenby creatingtheposterior conditional proba-
bilitiesforthedifferentvariablesof interest,inferences
canthenbedetermined. Accordingly, by multiplying
the prior distributions and likelihood functions, the
result of thestatistical inverseproblemisprovidedby
theposterior probabilitydistribution.
A joint posterior distribution for theset of model
parameters conditioned on the observations can be
obtained from Bayes theorem (Gilks et al., 1996)
whichcanbeusedasadamageindicatorandisdefined
asfollows(Bayissa, 2007andSohn& Law, 1997):
where D denotes vectors of measured data sets
from the undamaged and damaged structural con-
dition states, =[
1
, . . . ,
N
]
T
indicates the non-
dimensional model parametersincludedintheparam-
eter space, p(D, |M) isthejoint probabilitydistribu-
tion over all randomquantities; p(|M) is the prior
probability distribution function (PDF) of theinitial
model parameters for a structural model class M,
L(D|, M) is the likelihood density, also known as
the conditional probability of observing the data D,
p(|D, M) istheposterior densityor theupdatedPDF
of theunknownparameters after observingthedata;
p(D|M)isthenormalizingfactorfortheposteriorPDF.
Inthat situationinwhichthemainsources of uncer-
tainties are frommodelling error and measurement
noise, the measured response value D(s) after con-
sideringmeasurementnoise
N
(s), modelingerror
M
() andcomputedresponsevalueD (), isdefinedas
follows:
The normal distribution can be used for defining a
mathematical explanation for the numerical approx-
imation error and measurement noise, as follows
(Bayissa, 2007):
istheconditional expectation;
isthepositive
definitecovariancematrixof theapproximationerror
which can be determined using the inverse-gamma
prior distribution as:
I G (a, b), a and b are

parametersof theinverse-gammaprior distribution.
984
ForanindependentanddistributedzeromeanGaus-
siannoise, thelikelihoodprobabilityfunctionsfor the
responsemeasurementsisthediscrepancybetweenthe
theoretical parameters computed fromtheanalytical
model and those obtained frommeasured response
datawhichcanbedefinedasfollows:
Theconditional PDF of theresponseMSV param-
etersfor asingledataset canbeexpressedasfollows:
in which, L(
0
n
|, M) is theconditional PDF for the
MSV determinedfromtherthfrequency bandwidth,
0
r
(s) and
0
r
() indicate the vectors of the MSV
determinedfromthemeasuredandcomputedresponse
data, respectively. s indicates the observed data set
number, s =1, . . . , N
s
. r isthefrequency bandwidth
including the rth mode,
r
=1, . . . , N
r
.
m
is the
expected value of the modelling error; f
(.) is the
normalizingfactorfortheconditional PDFs, givenby:
is amatrix that transforms theMSVs computedat
full model degrees of freedomto the measurement
gridpoints. Theprior PDF is assumedonthemodel
parametersaswhitenoiseandthemodel parameters,
, can be described as uncorrelated Gaussian ran-
domvariables of equal covariance centered around
, N(,
). is the best initial estimate of

the model parameter distribution before any data
is obtained and
is the covariance of the prior

PDF, whichrepresents theinitial level of uncertainty
in the analytical model. Therefore, the prior PDF
on the model parameters can be described using a
multi-variatenormal, asfollows:
wherep(|M) isthepriorPDF; f
(.) isthenormalising
factor.
The joint posterior PDF of the model parameters
can be computed by substituting the likelihood and
prior PDFsgiveninEquation(7) and(9), respectively,
intoEquation(3), asfollows:
inwhich,
1
isthenormalizingfactor for theposterior
PDF of the model parameters. Finally, the posterior
PDF canbedescribedintheform:
where Q() is the objective (or cost-function) and
statesthefinal objectiveof theproblem.Theobjective
functionfor Equation(11) isdescribedas:
In order to determine the most probable values of
the model parameters, some kind of optimization
algorithmshould be employed. By maximizing the
posterior PDF, themaximuma posteriori estimateof
theparameter of interest canbecomputed, asfollows
(Bayissa, 2007):
inwhich,

i
is anoptimal model parameter that rep-
resentsall theinformationrequiredfor assessment of
structural damage.
3 GLOBAL OPTIMIZATIONUSINGTHE
GENETICALGORITHM METHOD
The Genetic Algorithm(GA) which was developed
by J ohn Holland (Goldberg, 1989) is a stochastic
optimization techniqueinspired by natural evolution
principlesthat canbeusedfor discreteaswell ascon-
tinuous optimization problems dealing with a large
number of variables(Haupt et al., 2004). Thismethod
createsnewpointsinthesearchspacebyimplementing
operatorsoncurrent pointsandcontinuously moving
toward moreoptimal regions in thesearch space. In
order to minimise the cost function, by exploring a
broad space of values, the fittest individuals which
havebeenappliedinto thecost functionareselected
(ChambersL. 2001, Reeveset al., 2003).
GA startswithagroupof chromosomesknownas
population andeverychromosome impliesthesolution
fortheoptimizationproblem.Thenumberof unknown
parameters in optimization problems are related to
thegenes whereevery gene is abasic component of
the chromosome, for instance, c
i
=[c
i1
, c
i2
, . . . , c
im
]
wherec
i1
is thefirst geneof thechromosomec
i
etc.
The initial values of the chromosomes are mostly
generatedrandomlyandthenfitness f (x) of eachchro-
mosomec inthepopulationset isevaluated. Inorder
tocreatethenextgeneration, theDarwinianprinciples
of reproduction are employed through the crossover
and mutation function. In the process of reproduc-
tion, the chromosomes with a better fitness have a
higher chancetosurviveandbeconsideredfor anew
offspringpopulation.
Crossover isanother operator of GA for therepro-
duction process in which different parts of the two
parents chromosomesinvolvedintheprocess,areran-
domlyselectedfromthecrossoverpointstocreatetwo
newoffspring. Inorder todistract thealgorithmfrom
convergingonapopularsolutionandincreasethefree-
domof the algorithmto search in a broad space of
985
solution, amutation operatorisemployedwherearan-
domgeneinachromosomeisreplacedbyonechosen
randomlyfromthesolutionspace.
Usingmultipleprocessorssimultaneouslycanpro-
viderunningmorecomplexproblemswithparticularly
less time consumption. Parallelising that is being
employedinthisstudy, canbeimplementedonaclus-
ter aswell asasimplecomputer withmultiplecores.
Thismethoddealswithaproblem, whichcanbebro-
kenintoanumber of partsthat canbeexecutedat the
sametime. Parallel computingis very easy andsim-
pleto implement on GA and this will decreasetime
consumptionof theprogramsignificantly.
4 STRUCTURAL DAMAGE SEVERITY
ESTIMATIONUSINGMODEL-BASED
STUDY
Inorder toinvestigatetherobustnessof theproposed
method, a simply supported concrete beamwith 24
elements was studied. Two different damage condi-
tionswereanalysed: damageintroducedintoasingle
location; anddamageintroducedinmultiplelocations.
Thelocationsof damagefor boththesingleandmul-
tiple damage condition are illustrated in Figure 1.
Theseverity of damageat agivenlocations was also
considered.
Inorder to developtheparameterisedFEM of the
beam, aMATLAB toolbox known as CALFEM has
been employed and meshed using two-dimensional
beamelements with24elements. Thematerial prop-
erties for theundamaged beamare: mass density of
2400kg/m
3
,Youngsmodulusof 30GPa,andPoissons
ratioof 0.25. Localizeddamagewassimulatedbyper-
cent reduction in theYoungs modulus of: 5%, 10%,
and 20%, at the damage locations of interest. The
locations of damage for both the single and multi-
ple damage condition are illustrated in Figure 1. A
broadbandimpacthammer excitationsimulatedusing
animpulsiveloadwithasingleintegrationtimestep,
hasbeenimplemented.
Aconstantmodal dampingratioof 0.01wasapplied
and the first 10 flexural modes determined from
boththeundamagedanddamagedstateswereimple-
mentedfor computationof theundamagedanddam-
agedresponseMSVsat eachnodal point subjectedto
stationary white noise. In order to simulate random
Figure1. FE model of thebeamwithdamagelocationsand
measurement gridpoints: (a) singledamagelocation(at ele-
ment 12); (b) multipledamagelocation(at element 5,11,16,
and21).
noisefor theresponsedata, different level of spatially
Gaussianrandomnoiseof 2, 5, 10%, withmeanzero,
varianceoneandstandarddeviationonewasaddedto
theresponsedata. Inthepresenceof noise, ensemble
averaging on 10 randomsamples was conducted on
thedatasets.
Thenumber of model degreesof freedomfor dam-
aged elements whereMSVs werecomputed was the
sameas thesimulatedmeasurement points. A single
frequency bandwidth, N
r
=1, that includedthefirst
10 flexural modes was used. is the positive definite
covariance matrix of the approximation error which
was considered as a constant value as all unknown
parameters are totally uncorrelated. Finally, the GA
optimization technique was employed to maximize
the a posteriori (objective function) which would
inversely predict the severity of damage that would
havebeeninducedforthedifferentdamageconditions.
Inorder tomaximizetheBayes theorem, different
values for theunknownparameters (percent stiffness
reduction) moving toward the optimal values were
generatedandevaluated.
In this study a real-coded parallel GA (PGA)
with a population size of 60 was considered with a
Figure2. Convergencecurvein thecaseof: top-mutation
operators, middle-crossover operators andbottom-selection
processes.
986
randomly selected initial population in the range of
0to 1for damageparameters. Figure2, plots results
whendifferentcombinationsof theGA operatorswere
employedandtheobjectivefunctionvalues averaged
after running20trials.
Thebest combinationof theGA operators, which
reached the best value of the objective function,
was selected to apply for different situations of the
structure.
Therefore, thetwo-pointcrossover operator wasset
tothecrossover functionwithacrossover fractionof
0.8 for thereproduction and thetournament method
waschosenfor thetypeof parents selectionfor creat-
ingthenextgeneration.Furthermore,adaptivefeasible
mutation was used for the mutation function and in
order to scaletherawfitness scores to values in the
Figure 3. Time improvement using different number of
processors.
Figure 4. Damage Severity Estimation using Bayesian
approach of MSV responsePSD and aPGA: top Single
damage, bottom Multipledamagefor noisefreeresponse
data.
range, the proportional fitness scaling function was
employed.
In order to investigate the speed-up effects when
multipleprocessorswhereused, arangeof simulations
werecarriedoutusingavaryingnumberof processors.
Figure3 plots thespeed-up (thepercentageof the
runningtime) whenthenumberof processorswasvar-
iedfrom1to12. Theplot isnon-linear inthenumber
of processors; however, as thenumber of processors
increases, therewasanimprovement inrunningtime.
Inthecaseof different situations, theoptimization
processadoptedfor estimatingthestructural damage
severity andtheresults obtainedaredemonstratedin
Figures411. Table1listsatypical number of gener-
ationsandrunningtimerequiredfor differentdamage
Figure5. Multiple(irregular) DamageSeverityEstimation
usingBayesianapproachof MSV responsePSDandaPGA
for noisefreeresponsedata.
approachof MSV responsePSD andaPGA with2%noise
fortheresponsedata: top Singledamage, bottom Multiple
damage.
987
with2%noisefor theresponsedata.
approachof MSV responsePSD andaPGA with5%noise
damage.
approachof MSV responsePSDandaPGA with10%noise
damage.
Figure11. Multiple(irregular)DamageSeverityEstimation
conditionsinthecaseof 10%noiseinthemeasurement
response.TheresultsarepresentedusingthePGAwith
12processors.
5 DISCUSSIONANDCONCLUDING
REMARKS
A Bayesianprobabilistic damageidentificationtech-
niqueusingpowerspectral densityof theresponseof a
beamstructureusingaParallel GeneticAlgorithmhas
been conducted in this study. Here, the second step
of the two-stage approach was considered in which
988
Table 1. Damage Severity Estimation results of averaged
over 5 runs by the PGA with 10% noise for the response
data.
Damaged Degreeof Generation Runtime
No. Element No. Damage(%) No. (Sec)
1 12 5 20
2 12 10 17
3 12 20 19
4 5, 11, 16, 21 5, 5, 5, 5 290 327
5 5, 11, 16, 21 10, 10, 10, 10 462 528
6 5, 11, 16, 21 20, 20, 20, 20 551 627
7 5, 11, 16 5, 10, 20 329 374
thelocationsof damagewereknown, andthemethods
was used for damage severity estimation. It can be
clearly seen fromthe results that the PGA method
is ableto accurately estimatetheseverity of damage
throughamodel-baseddamageidentificationprocess
even under complex damage scenarios such as high
level of noiseintheresponsemeasurement. However,
thelevel of accuracyisslightlyaffectedbythepresence
of highlevels of noise. Theresults also indicatethat
theMSVof thespectrumisquitesensitivetostructural
severity.
REFERENCES
Bayissa, W. L. 2007. Damage identification and condi-
tion assessment of civil engineering structures through
response measurements, Ph.D Thesis, Department of
Civil & Environmental Engineering, The University of
Bayissa, W. L. &Haritos, N. 2005. Structural damageidenti-
ficationusingspectral momentsof thevibrationresponse
signal, 1st International Conference on Structural
ConditionAssessment, Monitoring and Improvement, Dec
1214, Perth, W. Australia.
Bayissa, W. L. & Haritos, N. 2011. Comparative study of
broadband damage localization methods applied to test
data, Ocean Engineering, 38, 329340.
CALFEM Version 3.4 Users Manual, A Finite element
toolbox, Department of Structural Mechanics, LundUni-
versity, Sweden.
Chambers L. 2001. The Practical Handbook of Genetic
Algorithms, Applications, Chapman& Hall/CRC, US.
Gilks, W. R., Richardson, S. & Spiegelhalter, D. J. 1996.
MarkovChainMonteCarloinpractice, Chapman&Hall,
London, UK.
Goldberg, D. E. 1989. Genetic algorithms in search, opti-
misation, andmachinelearning, Reading, MA: Addison-
Wesley.
Haupt, R. L. & Haupt, S. E. 2004. Practical Genetic Algo-
rithms, J ohnWiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NewJ ersey,
US.
MATLAB2012. Users Manual Release 13,TheMathworks,
Inc., Natick, MA, USA.
Mattson, S.G. & Pandit, S.M. 2006. Statistical moments of
autoregressive model residuals for damage localisation,
Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 20, 627645.
Salawu, O.S. Detectionof structural damagethroughchanges
infrequency: areview. Engineering structures 19(1997)
718.
Reeves, C. R. & Rowe, J. E. 2003. Genetic Algorithms-
Principles and Perspectives, Kluwer Academic Publish-
ers, London, UK.
Sohn, H. & Law, K. H. 1997. Bayesian probabilistic dam-
age detection of a reinforced-concrete bridge column,
Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics, 29,
11311152.
Technical Committee on Optimal Structural Design. 1997.
Guide to Structural Optimisation, American society of
civil engineers(ASCE), NewYork, US.
Varmazyar, M. Haritos, N. and Gad, E. 2011. Genetic
Algorithm-based Approach for Bayesian Damage Iden-
tification Using Spectral Density Analysis in Beam-like
Structures, Australian Earthquake Engineering Society,
BarossaValley, SouthAustralia.
989
Modal analysisof structureswithmixedrandomandfuzzyparameters
C. Wang, J.W. Feng, W. Gao& C.M. Song
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: Inthispaper, natural frequency, modeshapeandfrequencyresponsefunctionof structureswith
mixedrandomandfuzzy parameters areinvestigatedinmodal analysis. Structural parameters withsufficient
statistical information aremodeled as randomvariables whiletheothers aremodeled as fuzzy sets. Through
-level strategy, afuzzysetcanbeconvertedintoaseriesof interval setsat-levelsandconsequentlythemixed
randomandfuzzy problemistransferredintotheformof mixedrandomandinterval problemwhichissolved
by applying perturbation method and randominterval moment method. Theexpressions for mean valueand
variance of natural frequency and mode shape are formulated and corresponding membership functions are
derivedfirst, andthenprobabilistic characteristics of receptancefrequency responsefunctionis computedby
usingfirstorder approximationmethod. A numerical exampleisgiventoillustrateapplicationsof thepresented
methodandresultsareverifiedbyMonteCarlosimulationmethod.
1 INTRODUCTION
Modal analysisplaysveryimportantrolesindetermin-
ing,improvingandoptimizingdynamiccharacteristics
of engineeringstructures. Itistheprocessof identify-
ingnatural modesof vibrationwhicharedescribedby
modal parametersintermsof natural frequency, mode
shapeandmodal dampingfactor(He&Fu,2001).Asa
result, responsesof dynamicsystemcanbeexpressed
as the linear combination of natural modes. Modal
analysisistraditionallycarriedoutbyusingdetermin-
isticapproacheswhichconsider structural parameters
andboundaryconditionsasconstants. Howeverdueto
inherent variability of material properties and struc-
tural geometry, imperfection of manufacturing and
constructionprocessesetc., structural parametersand
boundary conditions may vary considerably. These
uncertaintieshavegreatimpactsonstructural dynamic
characteristics and must be quantified properly in
modal analysis.
Probabilistic methods have been well developed
and are recognized as the most valuable strategies
to account for uncertainties when sufficient trust-
worthy statistical information is available(Moens &
Vandepitte, 2005). In these methods, uncertainties
aremodeledasrandomvariables/fields/processesand
featuresof uncertaintiesaredescribedbymeanvalue,
variance, probability density function etc. Modal
approaches using stochastic finite element method
have been widely applied in dynamic response pre-
diction (Nieuwenhof & Coyette, 2003) and struc-
tural modificationwithdynamicresponseconstraints
(Sharp& Brook, 1998) etc.
However whenstatistical informationis limited, a
probability distribution function cannot be justified
adequatelybyincompleteinformation. Applicationof
probabilistic methods will lead to subjective results
(Gersemet al., 2007). In this circumstance, Fuzzy
set theory (Zadeh, 1965) can be a good alternative
to quantify theseuncertainties by using membership
function to describe the degree of possibility with
whichuncertainquantity may takeontheassociated
value(Moller&Beer, 2008). Interval method(Moore,
1966)isanotheroptionwhichdescribesuncertainvari-
ablesby possiblevaluerangeboundsonly. In-level
strategy, interval analysisformsthecorestepof fuzzy
analysis (Moens & Vandepitte, 2005), which will be
illustratedinthefollowingsection.
In real engineering problems, a large number of
design variables exist simultaneously. Someof them
havesufficient statistical informationwhiletheother
maynot. Inthesecircumstances, different modelsare
requiredat thesametime. Somepioneeringresearch
hasbeencarriedoutonthesemixeduncertaintyprob-
lems (Moller et al., 2003; Gao et al., 2010) while
modal analysis of structure with mixed randomand
fuzzyparametershasnotbeenaddressed. Inthispaper,
natural frequency, mode shape and receptance Fre-
quency ResponseFunction (FRF) of structures with
mixedrandomandfuzzy parameters areinvestigated
inmodal analysis. Fuzzysetsareconvertedintointer-
val setsfirst byusing-level strategy, andthenmean
value and variance of natural frequency and mode
shapearederived by using perturbation method and
randominterval moment method(Gaoet al., 2010) at
eachlevel. Correspondingmembershipfunctions are
derivedat theend. Basedontheresultsof natural fre-
quency andmodeshape, probabilistic characteristics
of FRF areobtainedby usingfirst order approxima-
tionmethod(Benjamin&Cornell, 1970).A numerical
991
exampleis giventoillustrateapplications of thepre-
sentedmethodandresultsareverifiedbyMonteCarlo
simulationmethod.
2 FUZZY SET THEORY
FuzzysettheorywhichisintroducedbyZedehiscapa-
ble of quantifying incomplete information by using
membershipfunction
x
(x) whichdescribesthegrade
of membershiptothefuzzyset x for element x inthe
domainX.
x isdefinitelyamemberof theset x when
x
(x)=1,
while x is definitely not a member when
x
(x)=0.
For x with0<
x
(x) < 1,
x
(x) representsdegreeof
possibilitywithwhichtheuncertainquantitymaytake
ontheassociatedvalue(Gersemet al., 2007).
Toobtainmembershipfunctionsof systemoutputs,
-level strategyisused. Inthisapproach, membership
functions of inputs are subdivided into a number of
-levels andintersectionat k-th-level will result in
aninterval set
wherex
l
i,
k
andx
u
i,
k
arelower boundandupper bound
of the interval set by k-th -level cut respectively
(Figure1).
Consequently, afuzzy uncertainty problemiscon-
verted into aseries of interval uncertainty problems
at -levels. Membershipfunctionof j-thoutput Zj is
assembly of these interval outputs at corresponding
-levels. Similarly, amixedrandomandfuzzy prob-
lemcan beconverted into aseries of mixed random
and interval problems at -levels and solved by per-
turbationmethodandrandominterval momentmethod
(Gao et al., 2010). Randominterval moment method
isbrieflyintroducedinsection3.
Figure1. -level strategy.
3 RANDOM INTERVAL MOMENT METHOD
X(R) istheset of all real randomvariablesonaprob-
ability space. x
R
is arandomvariableof X(R). R
denotes the set of all real numbers. x
R
, (x
R
) and
Var(x
R
) are the mean value, standard deviation and
varianceof x
R
.
y
I
isaninterval variableof I (R) whichdenotesthe
set of all theclosedreal intervals.
where y, y, y
c
, y and y
I
are the lower bound,
upperbound, midpointvalueandmaximumwidthand
uncertaininterval of y
I
, respectively.
Randominterval variablez
RI
isdefinedasafunc-
tionof arandomvector

X
R
=(x
R
1
, x
R
2
, . . ., x
R
n
) andan
interval vector
Y
I
=(y
I
1
, y
I
2
, . . ., y
I
m
).Themeanvalueof
X
R
is

X
R
=( x
R
1
, x
R
2
, . . ., x
R
n
) andmidpoint valueof

Y
I
is
Y
c
= (y
c
1
, y
c
2
, . . ., y
c
m
). ApplyingTaylor expansionat
meanvalueof

X
R
andmidpointof

Y
I
,Z
RI
=f (
X
R
,
Y
I
)
canbeexpressedas
Ignoring remainder termR, mean valueand vari-
anceof z
RI
canbeobtainas
where Cov(x
R
i
, x
R
k
) denotes the covariance of ran-
dom variables x
R
i
and x
R
k
. R is reminder term.
Z
RI
=f (
X
R
,
Y
I
) issmoothandtwicedifferentiableto
randomvariablex
R
i
andinterval variabley
I
j
.
992
4 RANDOM INTERVAL NATURAL
FREQUENCY ANDMODE SHAPE
Natural frequency and mode shape of a dynamic
systemcan be determined by solving the following
eigenvalueproblem
where [K] and [M] are stiffness matrix and mass
matrix. and

are eigenvalue and mode shape
respectively. =
2
inwhich is natural frequency.
For thek-thnatural frequency
and mass-normalized mode shape has the following
important properties
4.1 Random interval stiffness and mass matrices
Let vector a
R
=(a
R
1
, a
R
2
, . . ., a
R
n
) represent all random
variables and
b
I
=(b
I
1
, b
I
2
, . . ., b
I
m
) represent all inter-
val variablesinadynamicsystemwhichhasS degree
of freedom. Thestiffnessmatrix[K] andmassmatrix
[M] are functions of a
R
and

b
I
. Expanding themat
meanvalueof a
R
andmidpoint of

b
I
by usingTaylor
expansion, the randominterval stiffness matrix and
massmatrixcanbeexpressedas
Ignoringremainder termR, randominterval stiffness
matrixcanberewrittenas
where
Similarly, random interval mass matrix can be
rewrittenas
where
4.2 Random interval natural frequency
Applying perturbation method, Equation (9) can be
expressedas
where
k
and
k
represent small changes ink-th
natural frequencyandcorrespondingmodeshapedue
to small perturbationinstiffness K andmass M,
and
FromEquation (17), ignoring higher order terms,
small change in k-th natural frequency can be
obtainedas
Therefore
Applyingrandominterval moment method, themean
valueof k-thrandominterval natural frequencybased
onfirst order perturbationcanbeobtainedas
where
993
Variance of k-th randominterval natural frequency
based on first order perturbation can also be
obtainedas
where
Due to existence of b
I
j
, mean value and vari-
anceof therandominterval natural frequencyarenot
deterministicvaluesbut intervals.
4.3 Random interval mode shape
FromEquation (17) and using
k
instead of
2
k
, the
following equation can be obtained by neglecting
higher order terms,
The change of k-th mode shape
k
can be
expanded as a linear combination of deterministic
modeshapes(Fox& Kapoor, 1968) as
Submitting Equation (28) to Equation (27), pre-
multiplyingthebothsidesby

c
T
k
, andusingorthogo-
nalitypropertiesgives
whenq = k,
whenq =k, using
T
k
[M]
k
=1andfirstorderpertur-
bation, wecanobtain
PremultiplyingEquation(28) by

c
T
k

M
c
gives
SubmittingEquation(32) anditstransposeintoEqua-
tion(31) thengives
Applying random interval moment method, the
meanvalueof k-thrandominterval modeshapebased
onfirst order perturbationcanbeobtainedas
where
Variance of k-th randominterval mode shape in
p-th degree of freedom(DOF) based on first order
perturbationcanalsobeobtainedas
where
Due to existence of b
I
j
, mean value and vari-
anceof therandominterval modeshapearealso not
deterministicvaluesbut intervals.
5 RANDOM INTERVAL FREQUENCY
RESPONSE FUNCETION
TheFrequencyResponseFunctionismainfunctionon
whichmodal analysiswill dependanditisinherentto
adynamicsystem(He& Fu, 2001). ReceptanceFRF
whichrepresentsratioof thedisplacementresponseat
-thDOFandforceinputat-thDOFinanundamped
multi DOF systemcanbeexpressedas
994
Meanvalueandvarianceof H
canbecomputedby
usingfirst order approximationmethod(Benjamin&
Cornell, 1970) as
Varianceof FRF canalsobeobtainedbyfirstorder
approximationas
where
TosolveEquation(42),

k
a
i
and
k
a
i
arerequired.
For convenience, theresultscomputedby Fox and
Kapoor (Fox & Kapoor, 1968) are introduced here
directly.
where
Consequently,
H
a
R
i
a
R
i
,
b
I
j
can be computed at
(
a
R
i
,
b
I
j
), andwhere
Duetoexistenceof b
I
j
,meanvalueandvarianceof
therandominterval FRF arenot deterministic values
but intervalsunder anyfrequencystimulation.
6 NUMERICAL EXAMPLE
A steel frame structure shown in Figure 2 is used
for illustrationof thepresentedmethod. Inthisstruc-
ture, elastic modulus and mass density of elements
aremodeledasfuzzysetswithtriangular membership
functions. E=[1.910
11
, 2.010
11
, 2.110
11
]Pa
and =[7400, 7800, 8200]kg/m
3
. Second moment
areaof crosssectionismodeledasarandomvariable
withnormal distribution, meanvalue8.3310
10
m
4
andstandarddeviation2.0810
11
m
4
. All elements
havethesamesquarecrosssectionandareaA=1cm
2
.
Consistent massisappliedinthisexample.
Byusing-level strategy, membershipfunctionsof
elastic modulus and mass density arecut at level 0,
0.25, 0.5, 0.75and1.0, andcorrespondinginterval set
isobtainedat eachlevel. Applyingpresentedmethod,
interval outputsof meanvalueandstandarddeviation
of natural frequencyandmodeshapeatcorresponding
-levelsarecomputed,andtheirmembershipfunctions
arederived.
Computational resultsof meanvalueandstandard
deviationof thefirst natural frequency areshownin
Table1and2, andresultsgeneratedby10
6
timesMCS
arealsolistedinthetablesfor comparison. Member-
shipfunctionsof meanvalueandstandarddeviationof
thefirstnatural frequencyandcorrespondingnormal-
izedmodeshapeat node10inx-directionareshown
inFigure3and4respectively. Themembershipfunc-
tions generatedby 10
6
times MCS arealso shownin
theseFigures.
Figure2. Steel framestructure(unit: mm).
Table1. Meanvalueof 1st natural frequencyat -levels.
Presentedmethod MCS
Lower Upper Lower Upper
-level bounds bounds bounds bounds
0.00 82.2445 91.0188 82.3412 91.1317
0.25 83.3413 89.9220 83.3910 89.9816
0.50 84.4381 88.8252 84.4513 88.8664
0.75 85.5349 87.7284 85.5292 87.7153
1.00 86.6317 86.6317 86.6234 86.6234
995
Table 2. Standard deviation of 1st natural frequency at
-levels.
Presentedmethod MCS
Lower Upper Lower Upper
-level bounds bounds bounds bounds
0.00 0.0723 0.0799 0.0720 0.0803
0.25 0.0733 0.0790 0.0728 0.0797
0.50 0.0742 0.0780 0.0737 0.0789
0.75 0.0752 0.0771 0.0741 0.0777
1.00 0.0761 0.0761 0.0761 0.0761
Figure3. Membership functions of mean valueand stan-
darddeviationof the1st natural frequency.
Figure4. Membership functions of mean valueand stan-
dard deviation of normalized mode shape at node 10 in
X-directioninthe1st mode.
Figure 5. FRF H
11
at level 0.25 obtained by presented
methodandMCS.
Bounds of mean value of FRF H
11
at level 0.25
areshowninFigure5withblackboldcurves. Results
generatedby10
4
MCSarealsoplottedingreenline.
The figures in Tables 1 and 2, and Figure 3 and
4 indicate that the results of mean value of natural
frequencyandmodeshapecomputedbythepresented
method arein very good agreement with theresults
generatedby 10
6
timesMCS, andresultsof standard
deviationcomputedbythepresentedmethodhaverel-
ativesmall errorswithrespecttotheresultsgenerated
byMCS.Figure5indicatesthatthepresentedapproach
is able to give approximate ranges of probabilistic
characteristicsof FRF incertain-level.
7 CONCLUSIONS
Inthispaper, natural frequency, modeshapeandFRF
of structureswithmixedrandomandfuzzyparameters
areinvestigatedinmodal analysis. Theapplicationof
thepresentedmethodisillustratedintheexampleand
theresultsareingoodagreementwiththeresultsgen-
eratedbyMCS. Thisapproachisdevelopedbasedon
the first order perturbation technique. Consequently
it has the same limitation and drawback as the first
order perturbationmethod. Higher order perturbation
methods can be employed to improve the accuracy
whilemorecomputational effort is required. Howto
improve the accuracy efficiently will be studied in
futureresearch.
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Benjamin, J.R. & Cornell, C.A. 1970. Probablility, statistics
and decision for civil engineers. McGraw-Hill.
Fox, R.L. &Kappor, M.P. 1968. Ratesof changeof eigenval-
uesandeigenvectors. AIAA 6:2426-2429.
Gao,W. Song, C.M. &Tin-Loi, F. 2010. Probabilisticinterval
analysisfor structureswithuncertainty. Structural Safety
32:191199.
Gersem, H. Moens, D. Desmet, W. & Vandepitte, D. 2007.
Interval and fuzzy dynamic analysis of finite element
modelswithsuperelements.Computers andStructures 85:
304319.
He, J.M. & Fu, Z.F. 2001. Modal analysis. ReedEducation
andProfessional PublishingLtd.
Moens, D. & Vandepitte, D. 2005. A survey of
non-probabilistic uncertainty treatment infiniteelement
analysis. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and
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uncertainty Capabilities of non-traditional models.
Computers and Structures 86: 10241041.
Moller, B. Graf, W. & Beer, M. 2003. Safety assessment of
structures inviewof fuzzy randomness. Computers and
Moore, R. 1966. Interval Analysis. PrenticeHall, Englewood
Cliffs.
Nieuwenhof, B.V. & Coyette, J.P. 2003, Modal approaches
forthestochasticfiniteelementanalysisof structureswith
material andgeometricuncertainties. Computer Methods
in Applied Mechanics and Engineering 192: 37053729.
Sharp, R.S. & Brooks, P.C. 1988. Sensitivitiesof frequency
response functions of linear dynamic systems to varia-
tions in design parameter values. Journal of Sound and
Vibration 126:167172.
Zadeh, L. 1965. Fuzzy sets. Information and Control 8(3):
338353.
996
Uncertainlimit analysisof structureswithinterval parameters
D. Wu, W. Gao& F. Tin-Loi
S. Tangaramvong
ABSTRACT: Thispaper extendsthescopeof classical limit analysistoaccommodatetwotypesof uncertain
butboundedparameters, namelyexternallyappliedforcesandplasticmaterial capacities.Theproposedapproach
takestheformof alinear programwithinterval coefficients. A geneticalgorithmisproposedtoobtainalower
boundtothecollapseloadof thestructure, and, asaby-product, itsassociatedcollapsemechanism.A numerical
exampleis provided to illustrateapplication of theproposed method. Theaccuracy of theobtained result is
validatedusingMonte-Carlosimulations.
1 INSTRUCTIONS
Classical limit analysis represents a simplified
approach that can directly and fruitfully assess the
maximumloadcapacityof ductilestructuresatplastic
collapse. Thetwo (upper andlower) boundtheorems
underpinning the traditional approach are subject to
somerather restrictiverequirements, such as perfect
plasticity, sufficient ductility, exact input parame-
ters, etc. However, in real world applications these
requirements are not necessarily satisfied. Uncer-
tain nature in systemparameters and input is often
encountered.
Probabilistic or stochastic analyses have been
extensivelyusedtotackletheeffectsof uncertainties.
However, theapplicability of suchmethods relies on
theavailabilityof informationontheuncertainparam-
etersasrandomvariableswithpredefinedprobabilistic
density and joint probabilistic distribution functions
[seee.g. Elishakoff (1983), Marti (1997), Gao et al.
(2010)]. Unfortunately, inanumber of instances, the
lack of high-quality data makes probabilistic uncer-
tainty tough to be precisely defined. Furthermore,
small deviations from the actual distributions may
bringwiththemsignificant errorsintheprobabilistic
results(Ben-Haim& Elishakoff, 1990).
So-calledintervalapproaches, ontheother hand,
require only the knowledge of deterministic upper
and lower bounds on the uncertain parameters. The
results obtained from interval analyses are usually
givenintheformof thetwobound(themostfavourable
and the least favourable) solutions. It has also been
widely claimed that an interval method provides a
good compromise between appropriate treatment of
uncertainties andlacks of competeprobabilistic data
(Ben-Tal & Nemirovski, 2001).
Inthispaper, weconsider limit analysisfor uncer-
tain but bounded (deterministic) loads and plastic
capacities. A geneticalgorithm(GA) approachispro-
posedto capturetheminimumboundto thecollapse
loads of rigid plastic structures through an interval
limit analysis formulation. The interval parameters
assumed are the externally applied loads and the
plastic material capacities, simultaneously. Without
unduelossof accuracy, piecewiselinearisationtothe
nonlinear yield surfaces is adopted. The governing
problemcanthenbestraightforwardly formulatedas
aninterval versionof theclassical static limit analy-
sisformulation, andtakestheformof thechallenging
mathematical programmingproblemknownasalinear
programwith interval coefficients (LPIC). Applica-
tion and accuracy of theproposed GA approach are
illustrated through an example, the results of which
areverifiedusingMonte-Carlosimulations.
2 DETERMINISTIC LIMIT ANALYSIS
A class of suitably discretized rigid perfectly plastic
finiteelement modelsthat canbeexpressedinintrin-
sicgeneralized(inPragerssense) variablesisadopted
(Maier 1970).Thescalar productof generalizedstress
Q
i
and plastic strain rate p
i
vectors represents the
virtual work in an element i concerned, such that
therigidbodymotionisexcluded.
Sincewecurrentlyfocusonlyonframes, thestruc-
tural model isconstructedusingaconventional lumped
plasticidealizationwithinalinefiniteelementframe-
work (Cocchetti & Maier 2003). Moreexplicitly, for
ageneric element i plasticity is enforcedat alimited
number of fixedcritical zones, namelyat thetwoend
997
nodal points, whilstaremainingpartof themember is
rigid. Themodel representsaninstanceof thegeneral
classof discreteformulationsconsistingof arigidsolid
with embedded interfaces of possible displacement
discontinuities.
The material behavior is directly reflected by the
element behavior. Thediscontinuity interfaces incor-
porate the local dissipative effects observed in the
failures of the material in a large scale problem,
without the need to explicitly describe small scales
(Armero& Ehrlich2006).
Theunconstrainedexternally appliednodal forces
F
i
()=f
i
+f
i
D
areexpressedasfunctionsof asingle
load(scalar) factor , agivenbasicnodal loadvector
f
i
andafixednodal loadvector f
i
D
.
A deterministiclowerboundapproachtoaclassical
limitanalysis(basedonsuchassumptionsasrigidper-
fect plasticity, sufficient ductility, small deformations
and non-uncertain input parameters) can bewritten,
instandarddescriptionandnotation(Maier 1970) as
follows:
Thewholestructural systemhasbeensuitablydis-
cretized into n elements, d degrees of freedom, m
natural generalized stresses (or strain rates) and y
plasticyieldfunctions.
The optimization problem given in Equation 1
maximizesthestaticallyadmissibleloadfactor sub-
ject to constraints expressing equilibriumand yield
conditions.
Equilibriumbetween applied forces f +f
D
d
andgeneralizedstressesQ
m
isdescribedthrough
alinear (constant) equilibriummatrixA
dm
. The
perfectlyplasticyieldfunctionsw
y
, whichenforce
theconditionthat theadmissiblestresses Q must lie
withinconvexyieldloci w0inQspace,areassumed
tobeanorder one, andthuscanbeexpressedas(typ-
ically nonlinear) functions of thestresses Q and the
yieldlimitsr
y
.
Inviewof itscomputational andtheoretical advan-
tages, weadopt thetraditional piecewiselinearisation
of nonlinear yieldsurfaces(Cocchetti &Maier 2003),
where any nonlinear plastic locus is replaced and
characterized by a number of (typically inscribed)
piecewiselinearhyperplanes.This, itismustbenoted,
permitsEquation1tobewrittenasthefollowingstan-
dardlinearprogramming(LP)problem,involvingonly
linear functions, invariables(, Q):
wherea normality matrix N
my
collects all unit
normal directionstoyieldhyperplanes.
Inthisstudy, thedeterministic limit analysisprob-
lem given in Equation 2 is processed using the
MATLAB/LINPROG solver. The associated kine-
matic variables and thus collapse mechanisms can
be obtained (fromduality considerations) fromthe
reportedLagrangemultipliersat optimality.
3 INTERVAL LIMIT ANALYSISASANLPIC
Inthissection, theinterval limit analysisispresented
to appropriately perform the safety assessment of
structuresunder uncertainbut boundedparameters.
Theproposedschemeextendsthescopeof classical
limit analysis to incorporate the two assumed inter-
val data(namely externally appliedloads andplastic
material capacities) representedas
Obviously, f
D
=f
D
, f
D
=f
D
andsoon.
Wethenattempt to computealower bound(mini-
mum) tothecollapseloadof thestructureconcerned.
Theassociated activeinterval condition and feasible
collapsemechanismcanalsobeobtained.
The interval limit analysis, founded on the deter-
ministic (static) limit analysis Equation 2, can be
straightforwardlywrittenas
Equation6canberewrittenasfollows
Equation 7 belongs to a special class of mathe-
matical programs, known as an LPIC (Chinneck &
Ramadan 2000), where both free variables Q and
the objective function are not subjected to interval
coefficients.
998
Thestudyof ageneral LPIChasattractedanumber
of recent research investigations due to its appeal-
ing alternative to incorporate non-probabilistic but
bounded uncertainties. It offers a viable and mean-
ingful solution to such applications as related to
operationsresearch(Zouet al. 2010) andengineering
mechanics(Kanno&Takewaki 2007).
However, solvingtheLPIC, suchastheonegivenin
Equation7, isnotasimpletasksinceithasacombina-
torial nature. Infact, ageneral LPIC, asiswell-known,
isanNP-hardproblem(Rohn1994).
Our aimistocapturetheminimumbound tothe
maximumload capacity of thestructure. This is can
explicitlyberepresentedbytheproblem
Clearly, theinterval parameters[r, r] inEquation7
havebeenreplacedbytheassociated(extreme) lower
boundvaluesr inEquation8, representingminimum
valuerangeinequalities(Chinneck&Ramadan2001).
The interval equalities in Equations 7 and 8 how-
everrequiremorecomplexreformulations. Inessence,
a series of combinatorial searches, each of which
involves a discrete setup of the interval parameters
associated with equality functions to their extreme
values, need to be explored (Chinneck & Ramadan
2001).
This further allows the reformulation of Equa-
tion 8 to the following (deterministic) mixed 01
programmingproblem:
where {
d
|
i
(0v 1) for i =1, . . . , d},
{
d
|
i
(0v1)fori =1, . . . , d},dia()anddia()
arethed d diagonal matrices containingdiagonal
entries of vectors and, respectively. Theproblem
statedinEquation9containsbothcontinuousand01
variables.
Findingtheglobally optimal solutions of thegen-
eral mixed 01 programming problems, such as the
onegiveninEquation9, isverychallenging. Most of
theexistingalgorithms, suchasbranch-and-boundand
branch-and-boundwithLP-relaxations, areonlyguar-
anteedtocapturesharpboundsolutionsof small-size
problems. Thus, suchthealgorithmsoftensuffer from
problems related to excessive computing resources
whencarryingouttheexpensiveenumerativesearches
whenpractical, large-sizeproblemsareinvolved.
Inthiswork, weuseaGA approach(Gomeset al.
2011) to furnish a close approximate, rather than a
guaranteed exact bound, solution that satisfies some
predefinedtolerancetothemixed01problemgiven
inEquation9.
4 SOLUTIONALGORITHM
GA is a population based stochastic search tech-
niquewhichsimulatesabiological processof natural
selection and re-production. Unlike most gradient-
based optimization methods, GA does not require
any functional derivativeinformation, andis suitable
for optimizationproblemsthat containdiscontinuous
or non-differentiable functions or discrete (integer)
variablesor evenacombinationof them.
Insteadof workingwithasinglesolutionlikemost
optimizers, GA produces a population of feasible
solutions for each generation. The computed results
dependonthestochasticcharacteristicsof GA. Forthe
interestedreader,amathematical proof forthesolution
convergenceto thebest results is availablein (Deng
et al. 2005).
GA has been widely applied for a large number
of applications involving engineering optimization,
structural reliability andmachinelearningareas [see
e.g. Denget al. (2005), Kameshki & Saka(2001)].
TheGAapproachessentiallygeneratesrandomlyan
initial populationwithspecificsize, whereeachmem-
ber of its population is known as achromosome. In
our problem, giveninEquation9, eachchromosome
representsabinarycodingof the01variables. From
thisinitial population, four operations(viz., selection,
crossover, mutation, andmigrating) areappliedtopro-
duce a new population for the next generation. The
process is repeated until preset termination criteria
havebeenreached.
For clarity, theoverall schemaof theproposedGA
approach, for solvingtheoptimizationproblemgiven
inEquation9, issummarisedinFigure1.
Thefour basicGA operationsarebrieflydescribed
inthefollowing.
(1) Theselection stepselects thestrongest chromo-
somes fromthe initial population for the sub-
sequent operation. Thechromosomesareranked
usingafitnessfunctionandonedegreeof elitism
that ensurestheentryof thefittest chromosomes
tothenextgeneration.Thisprovidestheabilityto
maintainthebestchromosomesfromeachgener-
ation. Onlytheselectedstrongchromosomesare
preparedfor crossover.
(2) Thecrossover stepgeneratesnewchromosomes,
so-called offsprings, with better fitness as
compared to their parents (i.e. the chromo-
somes before crossover). In particular, a two-
point crossover concept (Chen& Chen1997) is
employedcarrytheoperator over anentirefeasi-
bleset.Thus, everythingbetweentheselectedtwo
999
Figure1. GA implementationfor interval limit analysis.
pointsisswappedbetweentheparent organisms,
renderingtwochildorganisms.
(3) Themutation stepmodifieslocallyinabit-by-bit
fashion the offspring after crossover, to poten-
tially enhance the solution. In particular, one
parent producesoneoffspring. For eachchromo-
some, arandomcomponentisselected, andgiven
itsoppositeextremevalue, e.g. either from0to1
or from1to0.
(4) Themigrating stepnot onlymaintainsaconstant
population,butalsoavoidsprematuretermination
(at local optimal solutions) causedby early con-
vergence. After mutation, newchromosomesare
introducedtothepopulationthroughacombina-
tionwiththemutatedoffspring, whilst only half
of theinitial populationisselected.
Inour implementation, thepopulationsizeof 2000
isconstantlymaintained. Theadoptedprobabilitiesof
crossover and mutation are 1 and 0.5, respectively.
Moreover, we use a selection rate of 0.5, a migrat-
ing size of 1000 and a total number of generations
of 50. Our terminationcriterionis predefinedby the
maximumnumber of generations.
Our illustrative example is the 4-by-4 plane truss
whichwasoriginallyanalyzedbyKannoandTakewaki
Figure2. 4-by-4planetruss.
(2007) tofindtheworstcasesolution(ortheminimum
collapseload) in interval limit analysis. Theinterval
parametersaretheloadingmagnitudesanddirections.
OurproposedGA approachhasbeenusedtosearch
for theminimumcollapseloadcapacity of thestruc-
ture. Theaccuracyof thecomputedresult isvalidated
through the reference solution (Kanno & Takewaki
2007), andalso partially verifiedusingMonte-Carlo
simulatedruns.
The structural geometry is basically specified
through W =0.35mand H=0.5m. All nodes (a)
(e) arepinned-supports. A non-uncertainaxial plastic
capacity of 800kN was employed for all members,
wherebothpositiveandnegativeyieldpropertiesare
identical.
Ddeadloadsof 800kNwereverticallyappliedat
nodes (i)(k). Three variable loads of 52kN, 40kN
and28kN werehorizontally appliedat nodes (f), (g)
and (h), respectively. Thestructurewas subjected to
theinterval forcesof [40,40]kNonlyat thedegrees
of freedom, where there was no force applied (see
dottedsquares anddottedarrows inFigure2). These
interval forces werevaried independently within the
knowninterval magnitudes, leadingtoachangeinthe
directionof theresultingforceat eachnode.
Thediscretemodel consistsof 68bar elements, 40
degreesof freedomand136yieldfunctions.
Wefirstsolvedthedeterministiclimitanalysisprob-
lemgiven by the LP in Equation 2. The computed
collapseloadwas=14.3.
The mixed 0-1 problemgiven in Equation 9 was
solvedusingtheproposedGA approachwith100,000
iterations. Theminimumcollapseloadresultobtained
was =7.73, which agrees with the identical refer-
encevalueof =7.73(Kanno&Takewaki 2007).The
1000
Figure3. Critical interval loadingsetupandplasticactiva-
tion, wheredottedlinedenotesyieldedtensionmember and
thicksolidlineyieldedcompressionmember.
Figure4. Collapsemechanism.
associated(active) interval loadsetupisplottedinFig-
ure3, wheredottedlines denoteplastic activationin
tensionmembersandthicksolidlinesplasticactivation
incompressionmembers.Thecorrespondingcollapse
mechanism(solidlines) isdisplayedinFigure4.
Our Monte-Carlo simulated (100,000 iterations)
runs estimated the minimumcollapse load limit as
=8.72, whichis higher thantheresult foundusing
theGA approach.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Thesafety assessment of ductilestructures subjected
to uncertain but interval parameters has been pre-
sented. The specific interval parameters include the
applied loading applications and theplastic material
capacities. Theproposedmethodextendsthescopeof
classical limit analysis to meaningfully computethe
minimum(or critical) collapse load capacity of the
structureconcerned.
Thegoverningformulationtakestheformasachal-
lenge to solve (in view of its combinatorial nature)
LPIC. A GA approach is proposed to estimate the
minimumboundfor thecollapseloadof thestructure.
The results of the GA approach are promising.
Whilst thealgorithmis still processedinacombina-
torial searchfashion, theGA provedtoberobust and
fairlyefficientontheprobleminstancessolved. Itcan
also provide good estimates to the minimumbound
for interval limit analysis. It isclearly superior tothe
traditional andoftenusedMonteCarlosimulations.
A clear advantageof theGA approachisitsnatural
extensiontononlinearproblems, suchasthoseinvolv-
ingnonlinear yield. Futureworkwill becarriedinthis
direction, aswell asinfine-tuningtheapproachwith
aviewtosolvelargescaleproblems.
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Armero, F & Ehrlich, D 2006. Numerical modelingof soft-
eninghingesinthinEuler-Bernoulli beams. Computers &
Structures 84:64156.
Ben-Haim, Y & Elishakoff, I 1990. Convex Models of
Uncertainty in Applied Mechanics, Amsterdam: Elsevier
Science.
Ben-Tal, A & Nemirovski, A 2001. Lectures on Modern
Convex Optimization, MPS-SIAMSeries on Optimization,
Philadelphia: SIAM Publishers.
Chen,T-Y &Chen, C-J 1997. Improvementof simplegenetic
algorithminstructural design. International Journal for
Numerical Methods in Engineering 40:132334.
Chinneck, J W & Ramadan, K 2000. Linear programming
withinterval coefficients. The Journal of the Operational
Research Society 51:20920.
Cocchetti, G&Maier, G2003. Elastic-plasticandlimit-state
analyses of frames with softening plastic-hinge models
by mathematical programming. International Journal of
Solids and Structures 40:721944.
Deng, L & Ghosen, M & Shao, S 2005. Development of
a shredding genetic algorithmfor structural reliability.
Structural Safety 27:113131.
Elishakoff, I 1983. Probabilistic Methods in the Theory of
Structures, NewYork: Wiley.
Gao,W&Song,CM&Tin-Loi,F2010.Probabilisticinterval
analysisfor structureswithuncertainty. Structural Safety
2010; 32: 1919.
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Gomes, HM &Awruch, AM & Lopes, PAM 2011. Reliabil-
itybasedoptimizationof laminatedcompositestructures
using genetic algorithms and artifical neural networks.
Structural Safety 33:186195.
Kameshki, ES & Saka, MP 2001. Optimum design of
nonlinear steel frames with semi-rigid connections
using a genetic algorithm. Computers & Structures 79:
15931604.
Kanno,Y&Takewaki,I 2007.Worstcaseplasticlimitanalysis
of truss under uncertain loads via mixed 0-1 program-
ming.Journal of Mechanics of Materials and Structures 2:
24573.
Maier, G1970.A matrixstructural theoryof piecewiselinear
5:5466.
Marti, K 1997. Approximationandderivativesof probabili-
tiesof survival instructural analysisanddesign.Structural
and Multidisciplinary Optimization 13:23043.
Rohn, J 1994. Enclosingsolutionsof linearinterval equations
isNP-hard. Computing 53:3658.
Zou,R & Liu,Y & Guo, H 2010. REIP approach for
uncertainty baseddecisionmakingincivil engineering.
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1002
Sustainability of structures and materials
A novel acidresistant greenmortar for highcorrosiveenvironments
G. Adam, S. Salek& B. Samali
Center for Built Infrastructure Research, University of Technology, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
P. Battista& M. McKinnon
Parchem for Construction Supplies,Wyong, New South Wales, Australia
ABSTRACT: A newtypeof repair mortar (AegisG) basedonsustainabletechnology andindustrial cemen-
titious by-products with less than 10%OPC is developed. The new product consists of specified additives,
accelerators and reinforcing agents, specially developed for this technology. The new acid resistant mortar
showedhighrateof hardeningunder normal conditions: >20MPain7days, >40MPain28daysand>47MPa
in56daysfor all batchestestedduringthelast twoyears. Besideshightensileandflexural strengthandmod-
ulus of rupture, thenewproduct has excellent long termresistanceto corrosiveenvironments with very low
permeabilityandminimal changesinthemechanical properties. Thetestedsamplespreparedfromtheproduct
did not show any changes in their dimensions while60MPaOPC cubes eroded and/or vanished completely
whenimmersedin520%sulphuricacidfor 512weeks.Thenewproduct haslowshrinkagewithoutstanding
adhesionproperties to most constructionsurfaces. Thefailureoccurredwithinthesubstrateconcreteandnot
at theinterface. TheAegisG isdesignedtoprovidelongtermresistancetomost corrosiveenvironments. The
product isaversatilematerial that canbehand/trowel appliedaswell assprayappliedandcanbeusedfor long
termprotectioninanumber of different aggressiveenvironments whichinclude: (1) re-liningof sewer trunk
linesandmanholes, (2) useasacidresistant grout for back fill of liningsystems, (3) asacidresistant grout for
usewithimpressedcurrentcathodicprotection, (4) liningchannelsof drinkingwater whichrequireionleaching
resistant cement.
1 INTRODUCTION
Dealingwithcorrosiveenvironments insomeindus-
trial sectors such as petroleumindustries, sewer and
water desalination plants are inevitable. Acid, bases
andsaltascorrosivematerialscanbeformedasaresult
of some biological (1, 2) or some electrochemical
activities(3).
Ontheotherhand,Portlandbasedstructural mortars
andconcretesarenot resistant tosuchcorrosiveenvi-
ronments unless protected (4) through the chemical
reactionsthat takeplacebetweensomeof thecement
compositions, calciumhydroxide, sodiumandpotas-
siumhydroxides, aluminateswiththecorrosiveagents
suchasacids, bases, sulphate, carbondioxideandsil-
ica. Suchreactions leadto formationof expandable
and shrinkable materials such as, gypsum(calcium
sulphate), silica hydro gel (5) or carbonation within
the concrete structures promoting cracks leading to
loss of strength and deterioration of the mechanical
properties.
Developingcorrosionresistantcementingproducts
hasbeenoneof themost activeresearchfieldsinthe
constructionindustry, indicatedbythelargenumberof
patents, publications and conferenceactivities every
year (6). Thecurrent paper is relatedtodevelopment
of a new corrosive resistant cementing composition
basedoncementitiousindustrial by-productsandsome
additivesspeciallydevelopedfor thisapplication(7).
2.1 Mortar composition
AegisG(8)isanewproductdevelopedbyParchemfor
specifiedmortarapplications.Theproductisbasedon
some industrial cementitious by-products with OPC
constituent of 510%plus specifiedadditives, accel-
eratorsandreinforcingagents, speciallydevelopedfor
thistechnology. Theproduct iscurrentlyproducedon
semi industrial scalefor fieldtrials. Apart fromsome
chemical additives, Silicasand, fly ash, Aluminosili-
cate, SilicafumeandPortlandcement canbenamed
asthemaincomponentsof thisnewmortar.
Theaggregatetypeandtheoptimumcomposition
weredeterminedviaaseriesof experimentsduringthe
last threeyears.
Thecostof constituentmaterialsforAegisGiscom-
parabletoordinaryconcrete, however, asthisproduct
isaspecial productforspecial applications, itscurrent
retail priceisslightlyhigher thanthatof ordinarycon-
crete, however, itisexpectedthatthepricewill reduce
withincreasedproductionanddemand.
1005
Figure1. Effectof curingtimeonthecompressivestrength
of Aegis-Gfromtwodifferent batchescuredinwater.
Table 1. Effect of curing time and acid treatment on the
flexural strengthandtensilestrength.
AegisG AverageFlexural IndirectTensile
curingtime Strength Strength
Days MPa MPa
7 4.6 3.9
28 6.5 6.2
56 6.6 5.2
84days* 5.2 5.0
*56dayscuredthenImmersedinH
2
SO
4
for 28days
2.2 Preparation of the samples
Themortar was preparedby mixingAegis G powder
withwater at water topowder ratioof 0.157for three
minutes. Theproduct has aworkability of 1518cm
basedonAustralianstandardsAS1478.22005.
Practically after 30 to 45 minutes at 23C, the
product wascast intosteel mouldsaccordingtoAus-
tralian standards (AS): for cubes, 707070mm,
for cylinders, diameter=100mm, height=200mm,
forblocks,7575280mm,andforprismsbasedon
ASTMrequirements.Thesampleswereusedfor com-
pressive strength, indirect tensile strength, flexural
strength, anddryingshrinkagemeasurements, respec-
tively. Similar samples wereprepared fromstandard
60MPa OPC concrete for comparison. The moulds
werekept at controlledconditions: 23degrees C and
50%humidity.Thesampleswerede-mouldedafter24
hours, thencuredinwater at 23degrees C for apre-
determinedperiodof time. Thespecimensweretissue
dried and tested on SERCOMP 7/Controls Mechan-
ical testing instrument. Typical results are shown in
Figure1andTable1for reducedcrosssectionsdueto
immersioninacid.
2.3 Mortar trays
Mortar trays were cast fromAegis G in aluminium
trays 30307.5cm, de-moulded after 24 hours,
Figure2. Sampleof trays madeof Aegis G for acidresis-
tance evaluation. (a) Empty tray, (b) Tray filled with 20%
H
2
SO
4
(28d).
thencuredunder samecondition. Thetrayswereused
for acidresistancemeasurement. A typical sampleis
showninFigure2.
2.4 Adhesion strength
Theadhesion strength of thenew product was mea-
suredaccordingtoAustralianstandards.Theadhesion
strength found was 3.5MPa for the air dried sam-
ple, thefailureof adhesiontook placeat theconcrete
substrate.
2.5 Curing conditions
Several curingconditionswereinvestigated, curingin
aircontrolledconditions,incontactwithmoistsurface,
immersedinwater andlimebathair driedandcovered
withcuringagent.Amongthese, curinginair gavethe
lowest mechanical strength.
2.6 Acid resistance measurement
Sulphuric acid solutions were prepared in concen-
trations of: 5, 10, and 20% weight, then the OPC
andAegisGsampleswereimmersedinfour foldsof
their weights in sulphuric acid solutions, each set of
samples inaseparatecontainer. Thecontainers were
kepttightlyclosedinorder topreventanyevaporation
of acid. The acid was changed weekly to avoid any
changesinacidconcentration.Thesampleswereeval-
uated at predetermined intervals. Themeasurements
werecarriedoutat1, 3, 7, 28, 56, 84and91days. The
samples were taken out of the acid solution, rinsed
withwater, thentissuedriedandtested.
The weight of the samples and the dimensions
weremeasured. Thechangeinweight of thesamples
and their dimensions weretaken as measureof acid
resistanceof thesamples.
Themechanical propertiesof theacidtreatedsam-
ples were also measured. The results obtained are
showninTable2.
Thesamplesafterbeingtestedforcompression,ten-
sileandflexural moduluswerecuttotwopartsinorder
toevaluatethedepththat acidhaspenetratedintothe
samples.
The Aegis G trays were filled with 20% weight
acid solution for 28 days and kept in double bags
of polyethyleneto prevent evaporation. Comparative
1006
Table 2. Effect of Sulphuric acid solutions on the
compressivestrengthof atypical batchAegisGand60MPa
OPC.
Compressivestrength/MPa
Initial
compressive 28daysin
strengthMPa
56days H
2
SO
4
H
2
SO
4
H
2
SO
4
Sample cured 5% 10% 20%
STD 63 11.55 * *
(60MPa) OPC/
56dcured
AegisG/ 49.1 38.1 31.8 32.0
56dcured
AegisG/ 66.7 56.25 52.3 37.9
56dcured/HD
treated
*The cubes of the 60MPa/OPC eroded remarkably and
softened, thereforethecompressivetestswerenotsuccessful.
trays werealso preparedfromstandardOPC mortar,
curedat thesameconditionsandfilledwithacid. The
weight of trayswasmeasuredbeforefillingwithacid
andatdifferenttimeintervals: 1, 3, 7, and28days.The
60MPa/OPCmortartrayspenetratedtheacidafter16
hourswithremarkableerosion, accordinglynofurther
measurements were carried out on the OPC mortar
trays. ThemeasurementswerecontinuedontheAegis
Gsamples.Theacidpenetrationintothesampleswasa
maximumof 10mmindepthfor91daysof immersion
in20%sulphuricacid.
3.1 General characteristics
The mechanical properties for two typical batches
carried out at different time intervals are shown in
Figure1. Thecubes, cylindersandblocksusedinthe
mechanical testsshowedelasticbehaviour, thusmain-
tainingtheir physical structureandstrengthevenafter
thetestwascompleted, onlysmall crackscouldbarely
beobservedonthesamples.
The curing reactions of the cementitious active
ingredients were accelerated by using special type
of accelerators, thus thecompressivestrength of the
cubes treated with accelerating agent increased by
14.3%after onedayof treatment.
Themechanical propertiesof theAegisGsamples
improvedwithcuringtimeevenwithout accelerating.
Typical relationshipsareshowninFigure1andTable1.
The curing conditions have remarkable effect on
themechanical propertiesandadhesivestrengthof the
newproduct.Aircuringconditionswithoutapplication
of thecuringagent gavelowest mechanical properties
andcuringinwater gavehighest mechanical proper-
ties. Ontheotherhand, treatingthefullycuredsamples
for 56 days with HD curing hardener (8) increases
Figure3. CubesfromAegisGandStandard60MPa/OPC
immersed in 20% H
2
SO
4
for 49 days showing complete
deteriorationof the60MPa/OPC cube(right).
Figure4. (a) Sampleof cubesfromAegis-G(Upper cubes)
and60MPaOPC immersedIn20wt%sulphuricacidfor 28
days, (b) Sampleof cubes from60MPaconcrete(left) and
Aegis G (right) being immersed in 10%sulphuric acid for
49days.
thecompressivestrengthby 14.3%. It increasesfrom
46.5to66.7MPa.Theimprovementinthemechanical
propertiesasafunctionof ageingisduetothereactions
between the accelerating and the hardening agents
withthecementationscomponent, formingother cal-
ciumbindingagents. Thesereactions areresponsible
of sealingtheporousconstituentsleadingtoimprove-
mentinthewaterandacidpenetrationresistance, thus,
improving the corrosive resistance properties of the
newproduct.
3.2 Acid resistant properties
Theacid resistant comparativestudy of theAegis G
and 60MPa concrete indicates that theAegis G did
not show appreciable changes in their physical and
mechanical propertieswhenimmersedin5%sulphuric
acidsolutionsevenafter 91daysof immersion, while
the60MPastandardOPCconcreteerodedextensively,
softenedandvanishedcompletely. Typical photosfor
thesamples immersed in acid for different intervals
of timeareshowninFigures3and4. Themechanical
propertiesof the60MPaOPCconcretewerenotmea-
surableduetoerosion,dimensionirregularitychanges,
andsoftening.Thecompressedsamplesshowedelastic
behaviour, thusthecubes, cylindersandblocksdidnot
showanybrittlefracturebehaviour commonlyassoci-
atedwithOPC concrete. Ontheother hand, theacid
treated samples showed limited penetration depth of
theacidintothecubes. Figure5showsthecrosssec-
tionsof samplesimmersedin20%sulphuric acidfor
1007
Figure5. Thecross sectionof asampleimmersedin20%
sulphuricacidfor 56days.
Table3. Drying shrinkageand wetting expansion charac-
teristics of theAegis G air cured samples according toAS
standards.
Aegis-G/curing DryingShrinkage Wettingexpansion
time(day) (Microstrain) (Microstrain)
1 406 6
7 1048 64
14 1198 64
21 1196 64
28 1220 76
56 1300 108
56 days after being tested for compression strength.
Thecrosssectionedsamplesshowadistinguishedacid
resistant barrier. Finally, penetration of acid into the
samples did not affect significantly thestrength and
the physical structure or geometry and shape, even
whenimmersedfor 91daysin20%sulphuricacid.
TheAegis G showed acceptabledrying shrinkage
properties. Inaddition, nocrackswereobservedeven
withsamplesair curedatroomtemperature.Thepres-
enceof thenon-metallicreinforcingagentsreducesthe
shrinkage remarkably (9). The samples showed lim-
ited wetting expansion. Typical results for air cured
samplesareshowninTable3.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The Aegis G is a new corrosive resistant, sustain-
able and green mortar. The product is a versatile
material that canbeusedfor longtermprotectionin
a number of different aggressive environments such
as re-lining of sewer trunk lines and manholes, acid
resistantgroutforbackfill of liningsystems, groutfor
usewithimpressedcurrentcathodicprotectionandion
leachingresistant basedonitselasticandmechanical
properties.
This newmaterial does not only provideaproper
resistancetoacid, but alsoit hasalowshrinkageand
excellent compressive, flexural andtensilestrength.
Furthermore, as it is based on industrial cementi-
tious by products andcontains aminimal amount of
ordinary Portland cement, provides an environmen-
tallyfriendlymaterial whichisof concernparticularly
thesedays.
It has also beenplannedto evaluatethestructural
propertiesof thisnewmaterial infurther studies.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
TheauthorswouldliketothankParchemforconstruc-
tionsuppliesandforsupplying,materials,samplesand
for thepermissiontopublishpart of theresults.
REFERENCES
1. Allsopp, D., Seal, K.J., &Gaylarde, C.C. 2003. Intro-
duction to Biodeterioration. 2nd edn, Cambridge
UniversityPress.
2. Little B.J. & Lee, J.S. 2007. Microbiologically
influced corrosion. NewJ ersey. Hoboken: J ohnWiley
& Sons.
3. Eden, D.A. 2009. Method and apparatus for
electrochemical corrosion Monitoring. WO Patent
2009049125.
4. Topcu, I.B. & Boga, A.R. 2010. Effect of ground
Granulate Blast furnace Slag on Corrosion perfor-
manceof steel embeddedinconcrete, Materials and
Design 31(7), pp. 33583365
5. Barsoum, M. &Sakulich,A. 2008. PCT International
Patent application, WO2008048617.
6. Viswanathan, S. 2010. A review on Recent Patents
inCorrosionInhibitors. Recent patent on Corrosion
Science, 2, 612.
7. Adam, G, Battista, P & McKinnon, M., 2011. Patent
pending.
8. www.parchem.com.au, Technical, data sheets/
constructionproducts.
9. Hamedanianmojarad, P., Adam, G., Ray, A., Thomas,
P.,Vessalas, K. &Najadi, S. 2010. IncorporatingSus-
tainable in Mechanics of Structures and Materials,
ACMSM21.
1008
Environmental impact assessment of post tensionedandreinforced
concreteslabconstruction
D. Miller, J.H. Doh, H. Guan& M. Mulvey
Griffith School of Engineering, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia
S. Fragomeni
School of Engineering and Science, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia
T. McCarthy
Department of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Australia
T. Peters
ADG Consulting Engineers
ABSTRACT: InAustralia, approximately 30milliontonnesof finishedbuildingproductsareproducedeach
year, withover 56%of thisquantity, bymass, beingattributedtoconcreteandafurther 6%, steel, highlighting
theimportanceof maximisingdesignefficiencies. Thecementindustryhasbeenreportedresponsiblefor 5%of
global carbondioxideemissionswhiletheconstruction, operationandmaintenanceof buildingsareestimatedto
account for 50%of all energyusageandmorethan50%of all anthropogenicgreenhousegas(GHG) emissions
globally. Thisresearchdeterminessomeenvironmental advantagesachievablethroughapplicationof alternate
concreteslabconstructionmethodsfor atypical 10-storey officestructure. Structural analysisresultsindicate
a 36.9%reduction in concretevolumeand 43.4%reduction in steel mass in a post tensioned slab structure
in comparison with a conventional reinforced slab system. Similar results were observed when comparing
reductionsinembodiedenergyandglobal warmingpotential.Theseresultshighlighttheimprovementspossible
bytheincorporationof improvedsustainabledesignmethods.
1 INTRODUCTION
Thebuildingandconstructionsector is amajor con-
tributor to environmental degradation in Australia,
accounting for the largest share in natural resource
depletionandenergyusage. Studiescarriedoutbythe
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Devel-
opment (OECD) haverevealedthat theconstruction,
operationandmaintenanceof residential andcommer-
cial buildingsaccountfor30%of all energyusageand
morethan 30%of all anthropogenic greenhousegas
emissions inOECD countries (Yeo & Gabbai 2011).
For Australia in particular, residential and commer-
cial buildings account for 23%, or 130 megatonnes,
of Australias total greenhousegas emissions (World
GreenBuildingCouncil 2009).
WithAustraliaspopulationpredictedtoincreaseto
approximately35.5millionby2056, theenergyusage
andgreenhousegasemissionsgeneratedbythebuild-
ingandconstructionsector areexpectedtoskyrocket
(Australian Bureau of Statistics 2010). This growth
has already led to thebuilt environment being iden-
tifiedas thelargest singleanthropogenic contributor
to climatechange. As aresult, actions must betaken
tominimiseresourceusageandcurbgreenhousegas
emissionsproducedbythissector. Theprimaryfocus
of this study was concrete slab construction, partic-
ularly theefficiency in their useby theconstruction
industry. In2005, it was revealedthat steel andcon-
creteaccountedfor approximately 41%of theglobal
warming impacts caused by the building sector in
Australia(Walker-Morisonetal. 2007).Therefore, any
reductionintheusageof thesematerialsthroughenvi-
ronmentally sustainabledesign practices will leadto
massivereductionsinAustraliasGHGemissions.
EnvironmentallySustainableDesign(ESD)endeav-
orstousedesignprinciplesandstrategiestoreducethe
environmental impactscausedbytheconstructionand
operationof buildings(Palichet al. 2011). Inthecur-
rentbuildingdesignprocess, structural engineersplay
alimitedroleintheoverall sustainabilityof adesign,
withthearchitect andclient beingmostlyresponsible
for such decisions (Kestner 2007). However, struc-
tural engineers havetheability and responsibility to
incorporate ESD into current design methodologies
by aiming to improve the structural effectiveness of
a building. This is achieved through the improved
efficiency of a structural systemwhile maintaining
1009
Figure1. Methodologyfor Structural DesignandEnviron-
mental analysis.
equivalent structural performance. Providingtools to
beabletoachievethiswasoneof themajor intentions
of thisstudy.
Theamalgamationof sustainabledesignphilosophy
andquantificationtechniquesintothedesignof con-
cretestructuresisanemergingareaof researchinthe
engineering community. Particularly, few investiga-
tionshavebeenundertakentotryandimprovethesus-
tainability of individual structural elements (Kelly &
McCarthy 2008). Inresponseto this, theproject was
undertaken to investigate ways to help implement
sustainabledesign into mainstreamstructural design
practices.
The aimof this research is to utilise sustainable
designmethodologiestocomparecorrespondingenvi-
ronmental impactsof equivalentofficemid-risestruc-
turesintheSouthEast Queenslandregion, whenpost
tensioningandconventional reinforcingconstruction
methods are implemented. The results of this study
will facilitateimprovement of theenvironmental effi-
ciency of officebuildings, helpinginstigatetheneed
fornational designcodesandratingsystems, targeting
embodiedenergy. Usinganappropriatequantification
techniqueandarelativemeasure, includingembodied
energy and global warming potential, a comparison
betweendifferent designscanbemadewhichenables
theselectionof theoptimumdesignsolutionfor aslab
systeminatypical officestructure.
2 METHODOLOGY
To achievethis, a multi-stageresearch methodology
was formulated. This methodology, as showninFig-
ure1, indicates that theresearch can becategorised
into two major components, Structural Design and
Environmental Analysis.
TheStructural Designconsistedof several distinct
components: 1) DesignDefinitionstageinvolvedfor-
mulatingthedesignof thespecificbuildingtobeanal-
ysed and identified with any assumptions that were
necessary to undertaketheanalysis; 2) Manual Cal-
culations werethenundertakento provideadetailed
Table1. EmbodiedEnergy andCO
2
Equivalent valuesto
beutilisedintheEnvironmental ImpactAssessment.
Construction GWP (100year
Material EmbodiedEnergy CO
2
-e)
Concrete(32MPa) 4880.4MJ /m
3
292.824kg/m
3
Concrete(40MPa) 5670MJ /m
3
340.2kg/m
3
Concrete(50MPa) 7182MJ /m
3
430.92kg/m
3
Concrete(65MPa) 10348.8MJ /m
3
620.928kg/m
3
Steel Reinforcement 85.46GJ /tonne 5127.6kg/tonne
GalvanisedSteel 38GJ /tonne 2280kg/tonne
designof thestructural element (slab), that was used
for inputsintothetwodimensional computer analysis
program, RAPT; 3) The structural 2D designs were
finalisedusingtheresultsobtainedfromthecomputer
analysis that wereverified with themanual calcula-
tions to ensure accuracy, economics and suitability
of thedesign; 4) Thereinforcement requirements for
eachstructural element weresubsequentlydetailedin
accordance with Australian Standards (AS3600-09)
and guidelines that allowed a detailed bill of quan-
titiestobeformulated. Usingthebill of quantities, an
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was under-
takenusingdataobtainedfromtheextensiveliterature
review(Treloar et al. 2001, Lawson2000, Norgate&
Rankin2002, Ayeet al. 2011, Crawford2011), tocal-
culateanindicativevaluefortheenvironmental impact
of each structure in terms of embodied energy and
carbondioxideequivalentemissions(Global Warming
Potential, GWP) asshowninTable1. Whileitisnoted
thathighstrengthsteel tendonfibresundergodifferent
manufacturing procedures, there is significant limi-
tations in identifying suitably accuratevalues. There
wasnovaluesspecifiedfor embodiedenergyof steel
tendonsinthestudyundertakenbyCrawford(2011).
2.1 Design post tensioned and reinforced
concrete slab
Thetypical officestructureinvestigatedcomprisedof
a10story building. This was designedandanalysed
usingbothposttensionedandconventional reinforced
concreteslabs withtheconcretestrengthof 32MPa.
Theslabspanwasvariedtoevaluatefour columncen-
trespacingsof 6.67,8,10and13.33metres.Thislayout
resultedintheanalysisof thebuildingcontaining36
clear spansfor thetotal exterior buildingfootprint of
40.540.5metres. Typical flat plateslabconstruction
systemwasused,whichwassupportedonasquaregrid
of 500500mm
2
columns with 3.5mfloor to floor
heights.
To meet all relevant standards includingstructural
adequacy, durability, fireresistanceandacoustic per-
formance, a minimum slab depth of 200mm was
requiredalongwithaminimumclear cover of 29mm
to provide a minimum axis depth of 35mm when
N12 bars are utilised. For the post tensioned slabs,
thecodespecifiesanadditional 10mmconcretecover
1010
Table2. DeflectiontoSpanratios.
Conventional Reinforced
concrete PostTensioned
Long Long Long Long
Span Incremental term term Incremental Term Term
(m) (floor) (floor) (Roof) (floor) (floor) (Roof)
6.67 502 424 254 510 478 395
8 500 410 254 518 547 252
10 512 414 250 500 479 250
13.33 515 404 261 504 458 253
to tendons than that required for typical reinforce-
ment.Thisrequirementwasaccountedforbyallowing
30mmclear cover totheduct. Theadditional cover is
availablewithinthevoid, thereforethis designmeets
all relevant requirements.
2.2 Design for serviceability
Design for compliance with the serviceability limit
state includes requirements for both deflection and
crack control. Deflectioncontrol intheconventional
reinforcedslabwasachievedthroughcompliancewith
thedeemed-to-complyspanondepthratio, whichwas
appliedindeterminationof therequiredslabthickness.
Determinationof therequiredslabthickness is an
iterativeprocess, whichcontinues throughtheanaly-
sisandisaffectedbymanyfactors. Themostefficient
slabwill displayaminimumrequiredthicknesstocon-
trol deflectionandpunchingshear whilst maintaining
acceptablereinforcement requirements.
Typical floor and roof slabs for an office were
designed to provide comparable structural perfor-
mance indicated by long-termdeflection estimates,
whichwerelimitedtoamaximumof:
In addition to this, a minimum control over
incremental deflection for all floor slabs should be
satisfiedby
Applicationof theseminimumdeflectionlimitsusing
the deemed to comply span-to-depth ratio for rein-
forced concrete slabs, as detailed in Clause 9.3.4,
providesaninitial indicationof therequiredthickness
for thereinforcedconcreteslabs.
Thecode, ontheother hand, provides no methods
todeterminethethicknessof apost tensionedslab. In
large spans, it is more effective to use a span-depth
ratio to determine the slab thickness. While various
span-depth ratios aresuggested in anumber of pub-
lished literature, the most economical slab span to
depth ratio (L/D) for a post tensioned flat plate is
between37and40(CCAA, 2003). Therefore, aL/D
ratio of 38 was adopted to determine the prelimi-
nary thickness of the post-tensioned slabs analysed.
Inlargespans however, this deflectionhas beenlim-
itedtobelow50mm, whichisappropriateforpractical
officeapplicationsandfinishes(CCAA, 2003).
2.3 2D computer analysis and verification
TheRAPT implementstwodimensional framemeth-
ods to analyse design strips of a slab. Improved
accuracyinRAPT providesmoreefficientresultsthan
manual calculations, however advantages arelimited
bythetwodimensional approach. Selectiontodesign
inaccordancewithAS3600-2009ensurescompliance
withthestandardsthroughtheapplicationof relevant
formulasanddesignchecks.
To satisfy both Eqs. (1) and (2), the deflection
to span ratios wereobserved and presented inTable
2. As indicated in the incremental and long-term
deflection, thoseminimumdeflectionlimitswill result
in impractical deflections for some span lengths.
Thesedeflectiontospanratioshouldbeminimisedas
muchaspossible, aslargedeflectionscanbevisually
unacceptable.
Aslongasboththemanual andRAPT deflections
arelessthantheallowablelimits,thedesignisadequate
intermsof deflectioncontrol requirements.
Another serviceabilityrequirementinthedesignof
structural concrete elements is crack control. Crack
control requirementsforflexurevaryinreinforcedand
posttensionedapplicationsasstipulatedinClause9.4.
After satisfying all limit state and serviceabil-
ity requirements, the minimumrequired depths for
all slabs can be determined by an iterative process
resultinginthedepthspresentedinTable3.
2.4 Reinforcements detailing
Sufficientreinforcementmustbeprovidedinaslabto
satisfystrengthandserviceabilityrequirements. Rein-
forcement requirements were initially completed to
satisfy flexural strength requirements while remain-
inglimit stateconditionsanddetailingconsiderations
weresubsequentlycheckedtoensurecompliancewith
1011
Table3. Slabthickness.
Conventional Reinforced
concrete PostTensioned
Span(m) Floor (mm) Roof (mm) Floor (mm) Roof (mm)
6.67 335 235 250 200
8 415 300 270 210
10 555 400 360 290
13.33 830 635 520 400
AS3600. As such, thepunching shear reinforcement
requirements as stipulated in Clause 9.2; additional
reinforcement requirements for crack control; and
theminimumlengthsof theadditional reinforcement
governedbyClause9.1.3.4shouldbeverified.
Twodimensional RAPT modellingdeterminedthe
detailingof tendonprofilesandthemaximumspacing
betweentendonsinposttensionedslabs.Thesedetails
arenot discussedinAS3600-2009.
After optimising and verifying theslab design by
examiningbothRAPT andmanual calculationresults,
construction drawings wereproduced detailing rein-
forcement andtendonrequirements. Thisenabledthe
generation of a bill of quantities through which the
appropriateenvironmental performancecomparisons
couldbeconducted.
Material requirements as determinedfromthebill of
quantitieswereappliedfactorstoquantifytheenviron-
mental impactsof materialsineachfloorandroof slab.
Slab results were combined together with concrete
columns to formresults for wholebuilding material
requirements.
These material requirements, as determined from
the bill of quantities for alternate slab construction
techniques are presented below in Figures 2 and
3, respectively. Results indicate a significant reduc-
tioninmaterial requirementsbeingachievedthrough
the implementation of post-tensioned construction
methods.
Usingatypical concretestrengthof 32MPa, itwas
foundthatthereductionsinconcretevolume, through
theuseof post tensioning, increases with increasing
spanlength, rangingfromapproximately22.9%for a
6.67mspanandincreasingupto37.0%for a13.33m
span. This indicates that the use of post tensioning
in largespans is moreefficient in terms of material
reductions.
Similar reductions in steel material requirements
areevident withincreasedspanasshowninFigure3.
It is however, evident that the 6.67mspan achieves
thelargestmaterial reductionwhenthepost-tensioned
constructiontechniqueisused.Generally,itshowsthat
thespan length plays alargerolein this, being able
to reducethesteel mass by between21%and43.4%
when span length increases from8 to 13.33m. This
Figure 2. Concrete volumes of Reinforced and Post Ten-
sionedConcretebuildings.
Figure 3. Steel mass of Reinforced and Post Tensioned
Concretebuildings.
indicatesthattheusageof posttensioninginstructures
with large spans is very efficient in minimising the
material requirementsfor that particular structure. In
thecaseof the6.67mspan, it isapparent that avery
1012
Figure4. EmbodiedEnergyvalueof concreteforFloorslab.
largereductioninsteel massisobtainableduetodesign
reasons.
The6.67mspan was theonly span wheretensile
stresseswerebelow0.25
f

c
, resultinginavery eco-
nomical designfor thepost tensionedslabs. Thiswas
becausecrackcontrol intheformof unstressedbarsat
300mmspacingwerenotrequired, resultinginasmall
mass of steel beingrequiredfor theseslabs. Further,
temperature and shrinkage requirements were easily
satisfiedasnoadditional reinforcementwassuggested
tosatisfytherelevant designcodes.
Values for embodied energy and global warming
potential weredeterminedfor comparisonof theenvi-
ronmental performance of the two structures when
alternateconstructionmethodswereemployed.
Thecalculatedembodiedenergyresultingfromthe
concretevolumeandsteel mass requirements for the
individual floorandroof slabsaredisplayedinFigures
4to7respectively. Resultsindicatesimilar extensive
savingsareexperiencedinboththeembodiedenergy
of thefloor androof slabs. Theseresultsarepresented
for each of the four spans investigated for both the
conventionallyreinforcedandposttensionedfloorand
roof slabs.
Theenvironmental impactsof eachofficestructure
are displayed in Figures 4 to 8 below. Results indi-
catelargereductionsmaybeachievedintheembodied
energy of material requirementsinthefloor androof
slabs. The total environmental impacts in each slab
areindicated as individual contributions of thecon-
crete and steel components. Comparison of the unit
environmental impactsfor steel andconcretebymass,
indicate the embodied energy of steel is at least 25
timesthat of concrete.
Figure8displaystheenvironmental impactsresult-
ingfrommaterial requirementsintheofficestructure
employingpost tensionedslabconstructionas aper-
centageof impactsresultingfromtheofficestructure
employing conventional reinforced slab construction
methods. Results indicate that 28.8 to 40.9% sav-
ingintheglobal warmingpotential may beachieved
through the application of more efficient post ten-
sioned concrete building construction methods to
Figure5. EmbodiedEnergyvalueof concreteforRoof slab.
Figure6. EE valueof concretefor roof slab.
Figure7. EE valueof concretefor roof slab.
achievecomparablestructural requirements inatyp-
ical ten story officestructurefor construction in the
SouthEast QueenslandRegions.
Environmental impacts in both structures can be
seen to result mainly fromtheconcrete, which con-
tributes approximately 51%to 63%of theembodied
1013
Figure 8. Global Warming Potential of RC and PT
buildings.
energyand50%to62%of theglobal warmingpoten-
tial.Thisvariationoccursasaresultof thegreatercon-
tribution fromconcretein theoverall structuremass
(over 97%). Results indicateenvironmental efficien-
ciesareachievedthroughboththematerial reductions
of steel andconcrete.Overall,a28.8%to40.9%reduc-
tion in the global warming potential was observed
as well as a 23% to 37% reduction in construction
materials through the utilisation of post tensioned
constructionmethods.
4 CONCLUSION
Theresultsobtainedfromthisstudycanbedividedinto
twokeycomponentsasdeterminedfromthestructural
analysis and the subsequent environmental impact
assessment. The findings are divided into material
requirements of thestructures andtheenvironmental
impactsassociatedwiththesestructures.
Thefindings obtainedfromthestructural analysis
indicate a significant reduction in material require-
mentscanbeachievedthroughtheimplementationof
post tensioned construction methods for the typical
officebuildinginvestigated. Theuseof post tension-
ingisabletosignificantlyreducetheconcretevolume
and steel mass required for a structure, and further
result in significant overall building weight reduc-
tionsleadingtopotential foundationmaterial savings.
It was found that span length greatly influenced the
achievable reductions in material savings when post
tensioningisutilised.
Due to the carbon dioxide equivalent emissions
being directly proportional to the embodied energy,
the savings in embodied energy and global warm-
ing potential through theuseof post tensioning was
found to bealmost identical. It was evident that the
useof post tensioning in structures of spans smaller
than8metresispotentiallyunnecessaryfromanenvi-
ronmental standpoint as thereis very littleimproved
environmental performanceastheembodiedenergyof
thesestructuresareequal toor lessthantheembodied
energyof spans10mandlarger whenpost tensioning
isutilised.
The outcomes fromthese results provide confir-
mation that post tensioned construction can achieve
acapital embodiedenvironmental impact cost that is
lessthanthatof thefullyreinforcedoption. Theeffec-
tivenessof posttensioningisalsoseentoincreasewith
acorrespondingincreaseinspanlength.
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Standards Australia. 2009. Australian Standard 3600 Con-
creteStructures, SAI Global, Sydney
Treloar, G., Fay, R. Ilozor, B. &Love, P. 2001. Buildingmate-
rials selection. greenhouse strategies for built facilities,
Facilities(19), 139149.
Walker-Morison, A., Grant, T. & McAlister, S. 2007. The
environmental impactof buildingmaterials. Environment
Design Guide, Melbourne.
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shapingtheglobal shift to alowcarboneconomy. World
Green Building Council, Ontario.
Yeo,D.&Gabbai,R.D.2011.Sustainabledesignof reinforced
concrete structures through embodied energy optimiza-
tion, Energy and Buildings, (43), pp. 20282033.
1014
Deteriorationof concretestructuresinAustraliaunder achangingclimate
Lizhengli Peng& MarkG. Stewart
ABSTRACT: Concrete is the predominant construction type used in Australian critical infrastructure. Its
performance, therefore, is vital for theprovision of thenations essential services andthemaintenanceof its
economic activities. Thedeteriorationrateof suchstructures depends not only ontheconstructionprocesses
employedandthecompositionof thematerialsusedbutalsoontheenvironment.Achangingclimatemayalterthis
environment, especiallyinthelonger term, causinganaccelerationof deteriorationprocessesandconsequently
accelerationinthedeclineof thesafety, serviceabilityanddurabilityof concreteinfrastructure.Aninvestigation
of concrete carbonation-induced deterioration in theAustralian city of Sydney under a changing climate is
describedinthis paper. It is basedonMonte-Carlo simulationanalyses that involvethreeemissionscenarios,
i.e. A1B, A1FI and550ppmstabilization, representingmedium, highandpolicy-interventionGHG emission
scenarios. Theprobabilistic analysis includes theuncertainty of climatepredictions, deterioration processes,
material properties, dimensions, andpredictivemodels. Deteriorationof concretestructures is representedby
theprobabilityof reinforcement corrosioninitiationandcorrosioninduceddamage(severecover cracking) for
everycalendar year between2000and2100, andall of themaremoreor lessaffectedbythechangingclimate
depending on locations. The findings fromthe investigation provide a basis for the development of climate
adaptationmeasurestoclimateproof concretestructuresinAustralia.
1 INTRODUCTION
Concrete is the predominant construction type used
incritical infrastructureinmany countries. Thedete-
riorationrateof suchstructures depends not only on
theconstructionprocessesandthecompositionof the
materialsusedbut alsoontheenvironment. Increases
in atmospheric CO
2
concentrations, and changes in
temperatureandhumidity dueto achangingclimate
will, especially in the longer term, cause an accel-
eration of deterioration processes and consequently
accelerationinthedeclineof thesafety, serviceability
anddurabilityof concreteinfrastructure.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
fourth assessment report (IPCC 2007) indicated a
significantincreaseof CO
2
concentrationintheatmo-
spherefrom280ppmin1750to380ppmin2005with
anincreasingtrend.AndtheincreasedCO
2
levelsleads
to increased temperature. Subsequently, the rate of
infiltration of deleterious substances (material diffu-
sivity) andthecorrosionrateof steel will beincreased.
Forexample,corrosionrateswill increasebyupto15%
if temperatureincreasesby2
C (Stewart et al. 2011).

This paper presents the investigation of concrete
carbonation-induced deterioration in the Australian
city of Sydney under a changing climate. Improved
deterioration models are used that accurately pre-
dict carbonation depth when CO
2
levels, tempera-
tureandhumidity aretime-dependent variables. It is
basedonMonte-Carlosimulationanalysesthatinvolve
threeemissionscenarios, i.e. A1B, A1FI and550ppm
stabilization, representing medium, high and policy-
intervention GHG emission scenarios. The proba-
bilisticanalysesincludedthetime-dependentchanges
in atmospheric CO
2
concentration, temperature and
humidity, andtheuncertainty of climatepredictions,
deterioration processes, material properties, dimen-
sions,andpredictivemodels.Deteriorationof concrete
structures is represented by the probability of rein-
forcement corrosioninitiationandcorrosioninduced
damage (severe cover damage). This paper seeks to
provide insights into the likely impacts of climate
change on the durability and damage risks of con-
cretestructuresinAustralia, under arangeof climate
changescenarios, whichwill havesimilarimplications
forothercountries.Thefindingsfromtheinvestigation
provideabasis for thedevelopment of climateadap-
tationmeasuresthroughimproveddesignof concrete
structures.
2 PROBABILISTIC MODELLINGOF
CARBONATION-INDUCEDDAMAGE RISKS
2.1 Anthropogenic aspects of climate change
Futureclimateis projectedby definingcarbonemis-
sion scenarios in relation to changes in population,
economy, technology, energy, land use and agricul-
ture, representedby atotal of four scenario families,
1015
Figure 1. Predicted low, mid and high estimates of CO
2
concentrations.
i.e., A1, A2, B1andB2(IPCC 2000). Our investiga-
tionwill cover A1FI, A1B and550ppmstabilization
scenariosrepresentinghigh, mediumemissionscenar-
iosandpolicyinterventionscenarios, respectively. An
emission scenario based onYear 2000 CO
2
levels is
alsoconsideredtoprovideareferencefor other emis-
sion scenarios. Figure 1 describes the projection of
CO
2
concentrations from2000 based on the Model
for Assessment of Greenhouse-gas Induced Climate
Change, known as MAGICC (Wigley et al. 1996).
Their low and upper bounds are also described to
consider CO
2
projectionmodelingerrors.
Toprojectspatiallydependenttemperatureincreases
inthefutureunder different emissionscenarios, var-
ious climate models or Atmosphere-Ocean General
Circulation Models (AOGCMs) have been devel-
oped based on physical principles at the continen-
tal scale. A site-specific correction factor (k
mid
) is
applied to the mid global temperature increase data
for the IPCC emission scenarios (T
mid
) such that
T(t)=T
ref
+k
mid
T
mid
(t) whereT
mid
(t) is the median
global warming temperaturein relation to theemis-
sion scenarios and T
ref
is the reference temperature
at year 2000. For example, Figure 2 shows the pro-
jectedmediantemperaturesfor eachof thenineGCM
projections, for A1FI, A1B, 550ppmandYear 2000
emission scenarios for Sydney. Themid global tem-
perature T
mid
(t) is modeled as a normal distributed
randomvariablewherethestandarddeviation
T
(t) is
(high-low)/2.56. The coefficient of Variation (COV)
increases withtimefrom0.3for t=2000to amaxi-
mumvalueof approximately0.4to0.5forall emission
scenarios. Inall casestheprobabilitydistributionsare
censoredat zerotemperaturerise.
TherelativehumidityRH(t) istime-dependent and
equal to RH(t)=RH(2000)+RH
mid
T
mid
(t). RH(t)<
100%, and RH
mid
is the rate of change of rela-
tive humidity with the global warming temperature
obtainedfromGCMprojections,ortherelativehumid-
itychangeper degreeof global warming(seeFig3).
2.2 Time to corrosion initiation
Carbonation depth depends on many parameters:
concrete quality, concrete cover, relative humidity,
ambient carbon dioxide concentration and others.
Figure2. Projectedmediantemperaturesfor thelowestand
highest GCM predictions for theA1FI, A1B, 550ppmand
year 2000emissionscenariosfor Sydney.
Figure3. Projectedmedianrelativehumidityfor thelowest
and highest GCM predictions for theA1FI, A1B, 550ppm
andyear 2000emissionscenariosfor Sydney.
Theimpact of carbonationhasbeenstudiedby many
researchers and various mathematical models have
been developed with the purpose of predicting car-
bonationdepths(for reviewseee.g., DuraCrete1998,
Stewart et al. 2002).
If weconsider thecarbonationprocessasasteady
state modeled by Ficks First Law, the continuously
changetrendof CO
2
, temperatureandrelativehumid-
ity canbesimulatedby their integral over timethen.
Thecarbonationdepthis
where t is years starting from 2000, C
CO
2
is
mass concentration of ambient CO
2
(10
3
kg/m
3
)
with CO
2
(t) and COV equal to
CO
2
(t)/
CO
2
(t)
obtained from Figure 1 (using the conversion fac-
tor 1ppm=0.001910
3
kg/m
3
); D isCO
2
diffusion
coefficient in concrete; D
1
is CO
2
diffusion coeffi-
cient after oneyear; n
d
is theagefactor for theCO
2
diffusion coefficient; C
e
is cement content (kg/m
3
);
C
a
O is thecontent of C
a
O incement (0.65);
H
is a
1016
Table1. Meanparameter values(Yoonet al. 2007).
w/c D
1
10
4
cm
2
s
1
n
d
0.45 0.65 0.218
0.50 1.24 0.235
0.55 2.22 0.240
degreeof hydration; M
CaO
ismolar massof CaOand
equal to56g/mol, M
CO
2
is molar mass of CO
2
equal
to44g/mol. f
T
(t) andf
RH
(t) aretheeffectsof temper-
ature and relative humidity on diffusion coefficient,
andk
site
relatesglobal CO
2
concentrationtocitiesand
rural areas. The age factor for microclimatic condi-
tions (n
m
) associated with the frequency of wetting
anddryingcyclesisn
m
=0for shelteredoutdoor, and
n
m
=0.12for unshelteredoutdoor.
Themeanvaluesfor D
1
andn
d
aregiveninTable1,
andYoonetal. (2007) providedestimatesof maximum
(95th percentile) values for D
1
and n
d
. Thestandard
deviationfor D
1
is approximately 0.15, andCOV for
n
d
is approximately 0.12 for all w/c ratios. These
statistics represent model error (or accuracy). The
diffusioncoefficient D
1
is less than510
4
cm
2
s
1
and which is appropriate for good quality concrete
(Sanjuan & del Olmo 2001). These parameters are
basedonT=20
C andRH=65%.
The degree of hydration for Ordinary Portland
Cement (OPC) after morethan400daysisestimated
as(deLarrard1999):
A number of studieshaveshownelevatedCO
2
lev-
els in urban environments due to higher pollution,
exhaust fumes, etc. Stewart et al. (2002) recorded
CO
2
concentrationsof upto575ppminBrno(Czech
Republic), withCO
2
concentrationshigher near street
level. Georgeet al. (2007) foundthat CO
2
concentra-
tionsinanurbansite(Baltimore)wereonaverage16%
higher thanarural site, andincreasesof 2131%were
reportedintheliterature. Day et al. (2002) observed
anaverageenhancement over thecourseof thedayin
CO
2
concentrationnear anurbancentre(Phoenix) of
19 ppm. Moreover, theCO
2
concentration predicted
by the IPCC is the global mean value which is col-
lected at remote marine sea level locations, such as
MaunaLoainHawaii andWisconsininGreat Lakes
region. Inthat casetheCO
2
level inurban, suburban
and rural locations is usually higher than the global
meanvaluebecauseof theanthropogenic andnatural
sources. Therefore, anewfactor k
site
isintroducedas:
Recorded CO
2
measurements were obtained for
rural, suburbanandurbanlocationsinUS, UK, China,
Italy, Poland, J apan, andKuwaitandvaluesof k
site
cal-
culated for these three categories. Since the size of
Table2. Definitionof urbanareasfor k
site
.
Population(million)
0.51 12 25 510 >10
Distancefrom 2km 3km 5km 7km 10km
CBDor downtown
Table3. Statistical parametersfor k
site
.
Location SampleSize Mean COV
Rural 3 1.05 0.04
Suburban 5 1.07 0.06
Urban 8 1.14 0.08
every city is different, in order to makek
site
compa-
rable, thedefinitionsof rural, suburbanandurbanare
giveninTable2.Table2definesanurbanareabasedon
populationsizeanddistancefromthecentral business
district (CBD) or downtownarea. If thepopulationof
thecityislessthan0.5millionthenthecityisconsid-
eredas suburban. A rural areais definedas thearea
outsideof cities andtowns, wheretypically muchof
thelandisdevotedtoagriculture. Anareathat isnei-
ther rural nor urban is defined as suburban. Table3
showsthestatistical parametersfork
site
obtainedfrom
thesesites.Asexpected, k
site
increasesforurbanareas,
most likely dueto higher pollutionlevels andurban
domes.
Theyear 2000 emission scenario defines thebest
possibleCO
2
outcomewhichwouldincludeminimal
elevated CO
2
levels in urban environments. But the
global meanvaluesareobservedinremotelocations,
so for year 2000emission scenario thefactor k
site
is
appliedaswell.
A higher temperaturewill causeanincreaseindif-
fusion coefficient leading to increased carbonation
depths (e.g., Baccay et al. 2006). Theeffect of tem-
perature on diffusion coefficient is modeled using
the Arrhenius Law (e.g., Duracrete 2000a, Yoon et
al. 2007), wherethetime-dependent changeindiffu-
sion coefficient when compared to atemperatureof
20
C is:
whereT(t) is thetemperature(
C) at timet, E is the
activationenergyof thediffusionprocess(40kJ /mol
Kada-Benameur et al. 2000) and R is the gas con-
stant (8.31410
3
kJ /mol K). A 2
C increase will
increasethediffusioncoefficient by12%.
The fib Model Code for Service Life Design
(fib2006) recommendedamodel to takeaccount of
the influence of relative humidity on the diffusion
1017
Table4. Carbonation corrosion rates (i
corr20
) for various
exposures(Duracrete1998).
Standard
ExposureClass Mean Deviation Distribution
C1 Dry 0.0
a
0.0 Lognormal
C2 Wet rarely 0.345A/cm
2
0.259A/cm
2
Lognormal
dry(unsheltered)
C3 Moderate 0.172A/cm
2
0.086A/cm
2
Lognormal
humidity(sheltered)
C4 Cyclicwet dry 0.431A/cm
2
0.259A/cm
2
Lognormal
(unsheltered)
a
assumenegligible=0.1A/cm
2
.
coefficient. The reference climate is T=20
C and
RH=65%, andso
whereRH
ref
is thereferenceRH equal to 65%, f
e
is
a constant equal to 5.0, and g
e
is a constant equal
to 2.5. The RH factor f
RH
exceeds one when RH is
lessthan65%, andreducestozerowhenRH isequal
to 100%. Richardson(1988) reports that insufficient
water is availablefor carbonationtocommencefor a
relativehumidityof 25%andless; hence, alowerlimit
of RH=25%is set. Carbonationtends to behighest
for relativehumidity RH(t) of 50%to 70%(Russell
et al. 2001) whichisreflectedinEqn. (6).
2.3 Corrosion propagation
In the present study, corrosion rate is assumed log-
normally distributed with statistical parameters for
a temperature of 20
C given by Duracrete (1998),

seeTable4. Thesevalues takeinto account thecon-
cretegradessuggestedforthecorrespondingexposure
classes. Anincreaseintemperaturewill increasecor-
rosion rate, and the model described by Duracrete
(2000a, b) isused:
where i
corr20
is the corrosion rate at 20
C given in
Table4, andK =0.025if T(t)<20
C andK =0.073
if T(t)>20
C.Duracrete(2000a,b)notesthatEqn.(7)
isaclosecorrelationtoArrheniusequation, atleastfor
temperaturebelow20
C, but maybeconservativefor
T(t)>20
C.A 2
Ctemperatureincreasewill increase
thecorrosionrateby15%.
Thereislittledataontime-dependenteffectsoncor-
rosion ratefor carbonatedRC structures. Hence, the
present analysis assumes a time-invariant corrosion
ratefor carbonation.Thisislikelytobeaconservative
assumption as corrosion ratewill generally decrease
with time due to the buildup of rust products thus
impeding the corrosion process (e.g., Vu & Stewart
2000).
2.4 Time to crack initiation (T
1st
) and severe
cracking (T
sev
)
Thetimetocrackinginitiationissimulatedby theEl
Maaddawy and Soukis (2007) model. The time to
severe cracking referred to herein is the time when
concrete cover cracking reaches a limit crack width
of 1mm. MullardandStewart (2011) havemodelled
rateof crackpropagationwhichenablesthetimefor a
cracktodevelopfromcrackinitiationtoalimit crack
width(T
sev
). Their model hasbeenusedhere.
3 RESULTS
3.1 Durability design specifications in Australia
The durability design requirements specified in
AS3600 relateto minimumconcretecover, concrete
compressivestrength, andassumestandardformwork
andcompaction. Table5shows thedurability design
specificationsrelatedtofiveexposureclassifications
forcarbonation, aswell astheparametervaluesforthe
deteriorationmodels.
Theexposureclassificationsof most relevancefor
concrete infrastructure in Sydney are A2 (Western
Sydney, such as Penrith), B1 (near-coastal) and B2
(coastal excludingtidal andsplashzones).
Table6shows thestatistical parameters for corro-
sionparameters, material propertiesanddimensions
these are representative of concrete structures in
Australia. Unless noted otherwise, all results in the
followingsections refer to theaverageof nineGCM
temperaturesimulations. Reinforcement bar diameter
is 20mm, and k
site
is based on statistical parameters
for anurbanenvironment (seeTable3). Weassumea
shelteredexposure, andtheC3corrosionpropagation
model giveninTable4.
3.2 Case study for Sydney
Figure4 shows themean carbonation depth for four
emissionscenariosandexposureclassifications.Com-
paredwiththeprevious model (Stewart et al. 2011),
it turns out that the carbonation depth of the previ-
ous model is overestimated. This is becausethenew
model usesaslightlylowerk
site
valueandthenewk
RH
is mostly less than1.0. Hencethecarbonationdepth
of thenewmodel isabout2mmlessthantheprevious
model for theA1FI emissionscenarioandB1andB2
exposureclassificationin2100.
TheAustralianConcreteStructuresCode(AS3600
2009) specifies improved concrete compressive
strength and other enhanced durability design spec-
ifications, which will result in a reduced rate of
1018
Table 5. Australian durability design specifications (AS3600 2009) and deterioration
models, for carbonationinshelteredconditions.
Cover F
c
w/c
b
C
a
e
Exposure Class (mm) (MPa) ratio (kg/m
3
)
Membersinexterior environments:
Inland(>50kmfromcoast):
non-industrial andaridclimate A1 20 20 0.56 320
non-industrial andtemperateclimate A2 30 25 0.56 320
non-industrial andtropical climate B1 40 32 0.50 320
non-industrial andanyclimate B1 40 32 0.50 320
Near-coastal (150km), anyclimate B1 40 32 0.50 320
Coastal (upto1km, excluding B2 45 40 0.46 370
tidal andsplashzones), anyclimate
Surfacesof membersinwater:
intidal or splashzone C
c
50 50 0.40 420
a: basedonminimumcement content specifiedinAS 5100.5. b: basedonmaximumw/c
ratiospecifiedinAS 5100.5. c: inAS3600(2009), exposureC isdividedintoC1andC2,
but w/candC
e
for themarenot available, soC hereistakenfromAS3600(2001).
Table 6. Statistical parameters for corrosion parameters,
material propertiesanddimensions(Stewart et al. 2011).
Parameters Mean COV Distribution
f
c
(28) 1.03F
c
0.18 Normal
D
1
Table1 =0.15 Normal
n
d
Table1 0.12 Normal
ME(r
crack
) 1.04 0.09 Normal
Cover C
nom
+6mm =11.5mm Normal
k
site
1.14 0.08 Normal
f
t
0.53(f
c
)
0.5
0.13 Normal
E
c
4600(f
c
)
0.5
0.12 Normal
carbonation. This is evident inFigure4whereexpo-
sure classification C with w/c=0.40 concrete has
acarbonation depth significantly less than exposure
classificationA2withw/c=0.56.TheA1FI,A1Band
550ppmemissionscenarios haveasignificant effect
oncarbonationdepths, but thecarbonationdepthsfor
theseemissionscenariosvarybynomorethan5mmby
2100. For example, inFigure4, for exposureA2, the
A1FI emission scenario increases carbonation depth
by approximately 43%when compared to reference
year 2000CO
2
emissions, whereasthe550ppmemis-
sionscenarioby2100increasescarbonationdepthsby
only19%.
Theprobabilitiesof corrosioninitiationanddamage
areshowninFigures56for four emissionscenarios
andexposureclassifications. Thelikelihoodof corro-
sioninitiationislessthan0.03%, andlessthan0.004%
for corrosiondamage, for exposureclassificationsB2
and C. These probabilities are negligible irrespec-
tiveof theemissionscenario. Corrosioninitiationand
corrosiondamagerisksarehighest for exposureclas-
sifications A2 and B1, as these are exposures most
susceptible to carbonation. Of most interest in this
paper is theexposureclassificationsA2, B1 and B2
Figure4. Meancarbonationdepthsfor Sydney.
for Sydney. For exposureA2, thereis unlikely to be
any significant corrosiondamagefor thefirst 4050
years servicelife, but theprobabilities of corrosion
damageincreaseto0.8%(year 2000) to2.6%(A1FI)
by2100.Inpractical terms,thisisequivalenttoexpect-
ingthat0.8%to2.6%of everyconcretesurfacebythe
year 2100 will be damaged and in need of mainte-
nanceor repair. Theprobability of corrosiondamage
for theworst casescenario (A1FI) is up to 10 times
higher thanthat observedfor thereferencemitigation
scenarioforB1whichisthebest. FortheexposureB2,
theprobabilitiesfortheworstandbestare0.003%and
0.000%, respectively. However, forA1FI theprobabil-
ities of corrosion initiation at 2100 aresignificantly
higher at 9.8%, 0.5%and0.02%for A2, B1andB2,
respectively. This indicates that thehigher CO
2
con-
centration could lead to asignificant likelihood and
extent of corrosiondamagethat may needcostly and
disruptiverepairsduringtheservicelifeof manycon-
crete structures located in many temperate cities in
Australia.
1019
Figure5. Probabilityof corrosioninitiationfor Sydney.
Figure6. Probabilityof corrosiondamagefor Sydney.
4 CONCLUSIONS
This paper describes a probabilistic and reliability-
based approach that predicts the probability of cor-
rosion initiation and damage (severe cracking) for
concreteinfrastructuresubjected to carbonation cor-
rosion resulting fromelevated CO
2
levels, RH and
temperatures. Theprobabilistic analysis includedthe
uncertainty of CO
2
concentration, deterioration pro-
cesses, material properties, dimensions, andpredictive
models.Itwasfoundthatcarbonation-induceddamage
riskscanincreasebyover10timesby2100forSydney.
Theresults weremost sensitivetoincreases inatmo-
spheric CO
2
. Thesestructures may merit appropriate
andcost-effectiveadaptationmeasures.
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concentrations. Nature. 379: 2403.
Yoon, I.S., Copuroglu, O. and Park, K.B. 2007. Effect
of global climatic change on carbonation progress of
concrete. Atmospheric Environment. 41: 72747285.
1020
High-strengthself-compactingconcretefor sustainableconstruction
ABSTRACT: Concretefor sustainableinfrastructureconstructionof civil engineeringstructuresisrequiredto
useenvironmentally friendly concrete-makingmaterials andtominimizebothenergy andmanpower needs in
concreteplacing. Withtheintensionof improvingbothenvironmental andeconomical sustainability, thisstudy
on self-compacting concretewith ground granulated blast furnaceslag and recycled concreteaggregatewas
conducted. Thispaper reportstheresultsof anexperimental investigationintotheproductionandpropertiesof
high-strength self-compacting concretemixes with acombination of Portland cement and ultra-fineslag (up
to 50%of cement replacement) and with either natural or recycled concretecoarseaggregate. Thestrengths
development andchloridemigrationcoefficient wasevaluated. Theuseof ultra-fineslagwasfoundtoimprove
thestabilityof self-compactingconcreteindependentof thetypeof coarseaggregate.Theuseof recycledconcrete
decreasedthestrengthsandmodulusof elasticityandincreasedthechloridepermeabilityfor thehighstrength
self-compactingconcrete.
1 INTRODUCTION
Use of high strength concrete for the construction
of high-rise buildings and long-span reinforced and
pre-stressed concrete bridges is wide spread. Fea-
turesof high-strengthconcreteincludehighearly-age
and ultimate strengths, low chloride permeability,
henceimprovedresistancetoaggressiveenvironmen-
tal penetration. However, itisknowntobelessductile
comparedtomediumstrengthconcrete.
1.1 Sustainability of concrete
Generally, atypical high strength concretemix con-
sistsof thecement content about 550kg/m
3
. Withthe
useof superplasticizer, thewater contentcouldbesig-
nificantly reduced (up to 30%) to produceworkable
high-strengthconcreteandthisconsequently reduces
thecement content without affecting thestrength of
concrete. Inaddition, experiencehadshownthat sup-
plementary cementitious materials, such as, fly ash,
groundgranulatedblast furnaceslag(ggbfs) andsil-
ica fume, could be used as partial replacement to
cement without affecting the mechanical properties
of concrete. Anyreductionincement content reduces
theenvironmental impactof concrete, consideringthe
carbondioxideliberated(1tonnecarbondioxideper
tonne of cement produced) and energy requirement
associatewiththeproductionof Portlandcement.
Theenvironmental impact of concretecanbefur-
ther reducedif theaggregatesusedinconcretemixes
from construction and demolition waste instead of
virginnatural aggregates. This will helpto minimize
quarryingdemandfornatural aggregates.Therefore, a
concretemixconsistsof substantial amountof supple-
mentarycementitiousmaterials,aspartial replacement
tocement, andrecycledconcreteaggregateinsteadof
natural aggregate can be considered as concrete for
sustainableconstruction.
1.2 Effectiveness of supplementary cementitious
materials in concrete
Effectivenessof thesupplementarymaterialsisknown
to be a function of chemical composition, fineness,
particle size distribution, temperature and moisture
content of concrete. Silica fume due to its extreme
fineness(about16,000m
2
/kg) andhighreactivesilica
content(over95%) ishighlyeffectiveinimprovingthe
strengthandimpermeabilityof concretecomparedto
low fineness fly ash with the silica content around
50%. The pozzolanic reaction between reactive sil-
ica and calciumhydroxide in concrete (one of the
hydrationproductsof calciumsilicatesincement)pro-
ducesthepore-sizeandgrain-sizerefinementsinthe
hardenedbinder pastecomponent of concrete.
Inaddition, thefiller effect wasalsofoundtocon-
tributetheimprovedhardenedpropertiesof concrete.
Goldman and Bentur (1993) and Isaia et al. (2003)
showedthatthefiller effectof mineral admixturescan
be more important than the pozzolanic effect. With
theuseof finequartzpowder (diameter below10m)
in combination with cement and silica fume, Zadeh
et al. (2009) produced a self-compacting ultra-high
performanceconcretewith thecompressivestrength
of 155MPa.
1021
1.3 Fineness of fly ash on concrete properties
Sengal andAli Tasdimer (2009) showedthat increas-
ing fineness of Turkish fly ash from 222m
2
/kg to
604m
2
/kg by grinding had resulted in the increase
in the 7-day pozzolanic activity index from 7.9 to
14.2, respectively. When50%of cementwasreplaced
with fly ash or ggbfs, having a similar fineness
(about 600m
2
/kg), theperformanceof slag contain-
ing concrete was better than the concrete with fly
ash, indicatingsuperiority of theslagduetoitscom-
binedcementitiousandpozzolanicreactivity. Insome
cases, strengthof slagconcreteexceededthestrength
of the control concrete. Better particle packing and
thepozzolanic reaction may havecontributed to the
strength improvement. They suggested that by the
densification of the aggregate-cement paste transi-
tionzone, concretebecomesmorehomogeneousand
higher strengths can be obtained. This improvement
may be more effective at lower water/binder ratios,
which can contributeto a better performanceof the
pozzolan.
1.4 Fineness of slag on concrete properties
Nakamura et al. (1992) reported that the increased
fineness of slag from 453m
2
/kg to 1160m
2
/kg
resulted in improved strength development at 50%
cement replacement level at all ages. Apart from
enhancedstrengthincreaseover thecontrol concrete,
theconcretewith high fineness slagis less sensitive
tothewater tocementitiousmaterialsratio.Therewas
nosignificant differenceinstrengthfor concretewith
high fineness slag when the water to cementitious
materialsratiowasincreasedfrom0.30to0.40. How-
ever, theconcretewithoutslagsufferednoticeableloss
instrengthatall agesduetochangeinwatertocement
ratio, asexpected.
Dinakar (2010) compared the workability and
strengthof silicafumeconcretewiththeconcretewith
ultra-fineslagconcreteat15and30%cementreplace-
ment levels. The fineness of slag was 1200m
2
/kg
compared to 16,000m
2
/kg for the silica fume. The
strengthdevelopmentfor concretewithultra-fineslag
performedwashigher thanthat for theconcretewith
silicafumewiththesamecementreplacementlevel. In
addition, thetime-dependent slumpretentionfor slag
concretewasbetter thanthat for thesilicafumecon-
crete,partlyduethereduceddosageof superplasticizer
usedintheslagconcretemix.
1.5 Self-compacting concrete and sustainability
Theuseof self-compactingconcretefor infrastructure
construction, throughitscontributioninreducingthe
manpowerandenergyrequirements, contributestothe
achievement of economic sustainability of concrete
construction. When substantial amount of cement is
replaced with supplementary cementitious materials
in concretemixes, theenvironmental impact of con-
crete can be significantly reduced (Sriravindrarajah
Table1. Propertiesof coarseaggregate.
aggregate Recycledconcrete
Property Natural aggregate
Specificgravity 2.55 2.20(mean)
Water absorption(%) 1.23 6.33(mean)
Tenpercent (kN) 204 122
Impact Strength(%fines) 19.7 24.9
Table 2. Mix compositions (kg/m
3
) of self-compacting
concrete.
Grade35 Grade75
Materials NAC RAC NAC RAC
Cement 360 360 534 534
Ultra-fineslag 170 170 70 70
Fineaggregate 978 1020 977 1020
Coarseaggregate 742 673 742 673
(ssd)
Water 173 173 155 155
Superplasticizer 1.33 1.63 2.60 2.60
Water/Binder 0.48 0.48 0.29 0.29
Slagcontent (%) 32.1 32.1 9.94 9.94
(2010)). Reddi (2010) reported thesuccessful usage
of high strength (M80) self-compacting concretefor
columnsof PaliasRoyale, 320mtall residential build-
inginMumbai, Indiausingacombinationof cement,
flyashandsilicafumeor metakaolin.
1.6 Scope of the research
This paper reports theresults of aninvestigationinto
the production and properties of high-strength self-
compactingconcretehavingacombinationof cement
andultra-fineslag. Inordertoreducetheenvironmen-
tal impact of concreteinvestigationisextendedtothe
useof recycledconcreteaggregateasfull replacement
tonatural coarseaggregate.
2 EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS
2.1 Materials and mix compositions
General purposecement(TypeGP)andultra-highfine
groundgranulatedblast furnaceslag, havingthefine-
nessof 800m
2
/kg, wereusedasbindermaterialsinthe
concretemixes. Fineaggregatewas natural siliceous
sandwiththefinenessmodulusof 2.90. Coarseaggre-
gate used was either granite aggregate or recycled
concrete aggregate, obtained from the demolished
sewageconcreteplantinSingapore.Thegradingof the
coarseaggregatewassuchthat75%, and25%passing
on12.5mmand9.5mmstandardsieves. Table1sum-
marizesthepropertiesof natural andrecycledconcrete
aggregates.
1022
Table3. Propertiesof self-compactingconcrete.
Grade35 Grade75
Property NAC RAC NAC RAC
Slumpflow(mm) 625 650 675 670
T
500
(s) 4.2 4.5 8.7 9.0
V-funnel (s) 9.8 12.0 39.7 31.8
Density(kg/m
3
) 2415 2315 2445 2355
60dComp. 82.8 73.9 84.3 78.3
strength(MPa)
28dTensile 5.01 4.55 5.33 4.98
strength(MPa)
60dElastic 31.3 29.3 33.3 28.4
modulus(GPa)
60dChloride 3.7 5.02
migrationcoefficient
(10
12
m
2
/s)
Mix compositions for the two grades of self-
compactingconcrete(Grades35and75)wereobtained
using the mix design procedure proposed by Ghazi
and Rand (2010), without considering the cement
efficiencyfactorfortheultra-finegranulatedblastfur-
nace slag. Superplasticizer, containing polycarboxy-
late ether polymers with enhanced slump retention
capability, was used in the concrete mixes. Table 2
summarizesthecompositionsof four self-compacting
concretemixeswitheithernatural orrecycledconcrete
coarseaggregates. Concretemixeswithrecycledcon-
creteaggregaterequiredmoresandfor bothgradesof
concretecomparedtothosefor concretewithnatural
aggregate.
2.2 Mixing and testing of concrete
Freshconcretewasmixedinapan-typeof mixer. The
coarse aggregate were pre-saturated and batched at
thesaturatedsurfacedry(ssd) condition. Theamount
of superplasticizer neededfor eachconcretemix was
adjusted to obtain theslump flowwithin therecom-
mendedlimitsfor self-compactingconcretemixesby
theEuropeanGuidelinesforself-compactingconcrete
(2005). The fresh concrete samples were tested for
slump flow; time to reach 500mmflow (T
500
) and
V-funnel timeusingthestandardprocedures.
For each concrete mix, the following test speci-
mens were cast to determine of hardened concrete
properties: 12Nos. of 100mmcubesfor compressive
strengthat theagesof 3, 7, 28and60days; 3Nos. of
100mmdiameter by 200mmhigh cylinders for ten-
silestrengthat 28days; 1No. of 150mmdiameter by
300mmhigh cylinder for modulus of elasticity; and
2 Nos. of 100mmby 100mmby 500mprisms for
non-destructivepulsevelocityat variousages.
Thetest specimens werecast inthestandardsteel
moulds and demoulded after 24 hours. They were
curedinwater at theroomtemperatureof 28
C, until
testing.
Figure1. Compressivestrengthdevelopment withageasa
functionof slagcontent[NAC35(32.1%); NAC75(11.6%)].
100mmdiameters by 50mmthick concreteslices
obtained fromstandard concrete cylinders (100mm
diameter by 200mmhigh) were used to determine
the chloride migration coefficient using the Rapid
MigrationTest (NT BUILD492).
3.1 Filling ability of self-compacting concrete
Table3showsthepropertiesof self-compactingcon-
crete in both fresh and hardened states with either
natural or recycledconcretecoarseaggregates. Three
methods, namely slump flow, T
500
and V-funnel,
wereusedtoassess fillingability of self-compacting
concrete.
The results showed that the slump flow for all
four mixesarewithinthespecifiedslumpflowrange
specified by EFNARC, from 500mm to 700mm.
Grade 35 concrete mixes showed compliance with
EFNARC limits for T
500
(2 to 5s) and for V-Funnel
(6 to 12s). For Grade 75 concrete, although slump
flowshowedcomplianceforself-compactingconcrete,
T
500
andV-Funnel results failedto showcompliance
with EFNARC limits. However, all four mixes were
foundtobeself-compactingpropertyasevidentwhile
castingtheconcretespecimens.
Grade75concretewithrelativelyhighbinder con-
tent compared to Grade 35 concrete was found to
be more sticker, even though high dosage of super-
plasticizer dosage was used. Considering the slump
flow criteria, all four mixes are considered as self-
compactingconcreteandnocompactionwas usedin
thepreparationof test specimens.
3.2 Effect of ultra-fine slag on strength of concrete
Figure1showsthedevelopment of cubecompressive
strengthwithagefor self-compactingconcretemixes
(Grades35and75) withnatural coarseaggregatewith
varying slag content. The cement and slag contents
of 360kg/m
3
and170kg/m
3
, respectivelyfor NAC35
1023
Figure2. Compressivestrengthdevelopment withagefor
concreteasafunctionof slagfineness.
mix. The results showed that NAC35 mix produced
almostthesamecompressivestrengthatall agesfrom
3to60dayswhencomparedtocorrespondingstrength
resultsforNAC75mix, whichhadthecementandslag
contentsof 534kg/m
3
and70kg/m
3
.Theslagcontents
inNAC35andNAC75were32.1%and11.6%of the
total binder materials, respectively.
It is interestingto notethat eventhoughthewater
to binder ratio for the mix NAC35 mix was 0.48
compared to 0.29 for the NAC75 mix, the strength
development withagewas not significantly affected.
The ability of high fineness slag to produce high
strengthconcrete, evenathigherwatertocementratio,
wasreportedbyNakumaraet al. (1992).
Dinakar (2010) producedconcretewiththebinder
content of 620kg/m
3
with 30%cement replacement
withultra-fineslag(fineness of 1200m
2
/kg) andthe
water to binder ratio of 0.22. Figure2 compares the
strength development with agefor this concretemix
withtheNAC75withthebinder contentof 604kg/m
3
andthecement replacement of 11.6%withlessfiner
slag (870m
2
/kg). The differences in strength values
betweenthesetwomixesatall agesareduetothecom-
binedeffects onthedifferenceinthewater to binder
ratio and cement replacement levels. Figure 2 also
shows that the concrete with ultra-fine slag showed
continuous improvement in strength with age even
after 28 days possibly due to continuing pozzolanic
reactivityof theslagrelatedtoitshighfineness.
Dinakar (2010) reportedthatwhencementreplace-
ment level is increased from 15% to 30%, 90-day
compressive strength had increased from 117MPa
to 125MPa and tensile strength had increased from
8.77MPato 10.1MPa. Therefore, it can besaid that
high strength concrete strength of with substantial
amountof ultra-fineslagislesssensitivetothechanges
inthewater tobinder ratio.Thisisduetothepore-size
refinement resultingfromthepozzolanic reactionof
theslag.
Table4summarizes thetensilestrengthandmod-
ulus of elasticity and migration coefficient for all
four concretemixesat 28days. Theresultsshowthat
NAC35concretewith32.1%slagcontent performed
comparable to NAC 75 concrete, due to the contri-
bution of ultra-fineslag in improving thedensity of
concrete.
Table4. Tensilestrength, modulusof elasticityandchloride
migrationfor slagconcrete.
NAC NAC RAC RAC
Property 35 75 35 75
Comp. strength(MPa) 74.7 83.4 77.0 74.8
Tensilestrength(MPa) 5.01 5.33 4.55 4.98
Elasticmodulus(GPa) 31.3 33.3 29.3 28.4
Chloridemigration 3.78 5.02
coefficient (10
12
m
2
/s)
Figure3. 60-daycubecompressivestrengthfor natural and
recycledconcreteaggregateconcretes.
3.3 Sustainable high strength concrete
Withtheaimof decreasingtheenvironmental impact
of concretemix,uptonearly30%cementwasreplaced
with ultra-fine slag and recycled concrete coarse
aggregatewas used. Theresults showed that theuse
of recycled concrete coarse aggregate had reduced
the compressive strength, tensile strength, modulus
of elasticity and increased thechloridepermeability
coefficient.
Forthehighstrengthconcretewithlowcementcon-
tent (NAC35), the 60-day compressive strength was
73.4MPacomparedto 82.8MPafor thesimilar con-
crete with natural aggregate. However for concrete
with high cement content, 60-day strength dropped
from84.3MPa to 78.3MPa due the replacement of
natural aggregatewithrecycledconcretecoarseaggre-
gate. In addition, tensile strength and modulus of
elasticitywerealsoreducedasexpected.
As shown in Table 3, chloride migration coeffi-
cient for NAC75 was 3.7810
12
m
2
/s and when
recycled concrete was used to replace the natural
aggregate, themigrationcoefficient wasincreasedto
5.0210
12
m
2
/s.
The presence of weak porous attached mortar in
the recycled concrete aggregates is responsible for
these reductions in the mechanical properties. Due
tolower aggregatestiffnessfor therecycledconcrete
aggregate containing relatively soft attached mor-
tar to the natural aggregate, both drying shrinkage
and creep of high strength concrete with recycled
aggregate were increased, as reported by Domingo
1024
et al. (2010). Further research is needed to establish
the creep and shrinkage of recycled aggregate high
strengthself-compactingconcretewithultra-fineslag.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the results obtained with Grade 35 and
Grade75self-compactingconcrete, containingultra-
fineslagandeithernatural rerecycledconcretecoarse,
thefollowingconclusionscanbemade:
1. Self-compacting concrete with ultra-fine slag is
lesssensitivetothevariationinthewater tobinder
ratio.
2. High strength self-compacting concrete can be
produced having about 30% cement replacement
withultra-fineslag.
3. Use of recycled concrete coarse aggregate pro-
duced reduction in strengths and elastic modulus
andincreasedthechloridemigrationcoefficient.
4. With due consideration to the negative effects of
using recycled concreteaggregates, high strength
self-compactingrecycledconcretecanbeproduced
for sustainableconcreteconstruction.
REFERENCES
Dinakar, P. 2010. Effect of ultra-fine slag on the fresh
and hardened properties of ultra-high strength concrete,
Advances in Concrete:AnAsian Perspective,Eds.R.Gettu
et al., India, 527532.
Domingo, A., Lazaro, C., Gayarre, F. L., Serrano, M. A.
and Lopez-Colina, C. (2010) Long termdeformations
by creep and shrinkage in recycled aggregate concrete,
Materials and Structures 43:11471160.
Europeanproject group. 2005. Europeanguidelinesfor self-
compactingconcrete. 63p.
Ghazi, F. K. and Rand, S. A. J. 2010. New method for
proportioning self-consolidating concrete on compres-
sivestrengthrequirement, ACI Materials Journal 107:5,
490497.
Goldman, A., andBentur, A. 1993. Theinfluenceof micro-
filler on enhancement of concrete strength. Cement
Concrete Research 23(4): 962972.
Isaia, G. C., Gastaldini,A. L. G., andMoraes, R. 2003. Phys-
ical and pozzolanic action of mineral additions on the
mechanical strengthof highperformanceconcreteCement
Concrete Composites 25(1), 6976.
Nakamura, N., Saki, M., and Swamy, R.N. 1992. Effect of
slagfinenessonthedevelopmentonconcretestrengthand
microstructure, Proc. of the 4th Int. ACI/CANMET Conf.
on Fly Ash, Silica Fume, Slag, & Natural Pozzolans in
Concrete, Turkey, 1343136.
Reddi, S. A., Self compactingconcretefor thetallest build-
inginIndia,AdvancesinConcrete:AnAsianPerspective,
Eds. R. Gettuet al., India, 815-826.
Sengul, O. andAli Tasdemir, M. 2009. CompressiveStrength
and Rapid Chloride Permeability of Concretes with
GroundFlyAshandSlag. Journal of Materials in Civil
Engineering, 21:9
Sriravindrarajah, R. 2010Concretefor sustainableconstruc-
tion, Advances in Concrete: An Asian Perspective, Eds.
R. Gettuet al., India, 135153.
Zadeh, D. B., Bahari, A andTirandaz, F. (2009) Ultra-high
performanceconcreteExcellence in Concrete Construc-
tion through Innovation Limbachiya & Kew (eds),
London, 275278
1025
Advancement inconstruction: Applicationof RapidQualityIdentification
Technique instonefor riskmitigationandsustainability
DigantaSarma& MoumyD. Sarma
Gaborone, Republic of Botswana
ABSTRACT: Coarseaggregateisgenerallythemajorconstituentintermsof volumeandweight, andnaturally
it influences theperformanceof concreteconsiderably. Although in theavailableliteratures thereareindica-
tionsabout theeffectsof mineralogical compositionsof coarseaggregatesonstrengthof concrete, information
onfailuremechanismfor sucheffects areinadequate. Inthis paper, aRapidQuality IdentificationTechnique
(RQIT) for characterisingvariationof constituentdeleteriousmineralsandtheir influencesoncoarseaggregates
arepresentedintermsof AggregateDeteriorationFactor (ADF) designatedbyADF-templatesandADF-charts
developedforthepurpose. Supportedbypetrographicstudies, influencesof mineralogical compositionsonengi-
neeringproperties arepresentedfor decisively selectedcoarseaggregates. Further, influenceof mineralogical
compositions of coarse aggregates on the strength of concrete are experimentally perceived indicating criti-
cal aspects of thefailuremechanismfor common grades of concrete. Research areas for modellingconcrete
characteristicsthroughtheapplicationof RQIT havealsobeenidentified.
1 INTRODUCTION
With the prevailing trends of Public-Private-
Participation (PPP) through BOT, BOO, and BOOT
infrastructuredevelopment options, it is obvious that
therisk mitigation and sustainability in construction
contributeimmensely for thesuccess of thoseforms
of development options including other contempo-
raryforms. However, wherenatural materialsareused
for development construction and/or for asset main-
tenance, uncertainty is obvious and that results in
extra-cost in construction besides risk and uncertain
sustainability.
Inthispaper, apracticingapproachof risk Mitiga-
tionandsustainabilityinconstructionispresentedfor
heavyandimportant structuresusingaRapidQuality
IdentificationTechnique(RQIT) basedonaresearch
guidedbytheAuthor
1
. Predictionmodellinghasbeen
developedandpresentedfor sustainableconstruction
practice.
Where concrete is the major manmade materials,
its strength depends on the quantity and properties
of its ingredients, among which coarse aggregate is
commonly themajor constituent in terms of volume
and weight. Coarse aggregates may constitute up to
80percent of concretevolumeandhenceits charac-
teristicssignificantlyaffect theperformanceandcost
effectiveness of concrete[1a]. Quality coarseaggre-
gate is considered as one of the major contributing
factor towardsthequalityconcrete[2a].
Although, wide extent of quality control tests
including petrographic tests are specified for the
choiceof qualitycoarseaggregates, yetresultscannot
always provide confidence for bulk concrete pro-
duction. Moreover, effect of varying mineralogical
compositionsonqualityof coarseaggregatesvis--vis
concreteisanareanot yet exploredadequately.
2 BACKGROUND
Constituentmineralsof coarseaggregatesvarywithin
stockpile, withindifferent partsof quarryor amongst
someclosely located quarries as evident in different
partsof theworld. Prevailingsamplingtechniquesfor
design-stage-investigation and construction-quality-
control of aggregatesareinadequatetocater for vary-
ingmineralogical compositions andconsequences of
suchvariations onthequality of aggregates vis--vis
concreteareunknown. Informationisalsoinadequate
abouttheeffectof quantityandmannersof distribution
of theconstituent deleterious minerals onthequality
of aggregatesvis--vispropertiesof concrete.
Variationsof constituent mineralsmayfoundtobe
prominentinthecoarseaggregatesof twonearbyquar-
ries900mapart, asevidentinResearchArea-I (RA-I)
intheNortheastIndia(Earthquakedesignatedzone-V)
and elsewhere in Southern Africa. Previous geolog-
ical studies in RA-I indicated the quarry area as an
integral part of thePrecambrian basement of Assam
anddemonstratedsomesimilaritieswiththeShillong
Plateau as regards to dip, strike and other struc-
tural features. In both thequarries of RA-I, granitic
and schistosetypeof rocks werefound to bedevel-
oped[3] andgenerally of rock typeporphyritic gran-
ite (Katabari quarry) and hornblende-biotite schist
(Manparaquarry) respectively.
1027
Products of these quarries are being used widely
forconcretingworksandthereareevidencesof failure
of structures, constructedwiththecoarseaggregates
of thesequarries. Out of several reasons attributable
to such failures, variation of constituent-deleterious-
mineralswasconsideredasoneof thepossiblereasons
andaccordingly, asfirststep, aresearch[4] wasunder-
takenbyAuthor
1
aimingat correlativestudyamongst
geological, engineering, andconcreteproperties.
3 QUALITY CONTROL OF CONCRETE,
LIMITATIONS
3.1 General approach for quality control
Although for the hardened concrete, compressive
strength is themost common test for quality confir-
mation, fresh concrete is tested for workability and
placeability [1b], performances of whichdependon:
aggregate-geometry, properties of additives, mixed
proportions, and water-cement ratio. The quality of
coarseaggregates and other ingredient-materials for
concreting are ensured through routine tests on col-
lectedsamplesdesignatingthemrepresentative.
3.2 General limitations
Collectionof representativesamplesof coarseaggre-
gates for ascertaining typical properties is difficult
for varied characteristics of constituent minerals.
Notwithstandingthat thepropertiesof collectedsam-
plesof coarseaggregatesareadoptedwithoutadequate
interpretations at each or all stages namely: during
approval for openingaquarry, duringinvestigationsat
thedesignstageof projects, andduringconstruction
quality control andsurveillance. Further, assessment
of thecharacteristicof entirestockpilesbasedonsuch
samplesisdifficultsinceguidelinefor comprehensive
interpretationsisnot available.
3.3 General selection criteria for source
of coarse aggregates
It is recommended that the test samples for poten-
tial or underdevelopedquarriesshall bechosenunder
the direct supervision of geologist familiar with the
requirements of aggregates for concrete [2b]. How-
ever, observations at the quarry sites indicated con-
siderable variations in constituent minerals with the
progress of quarry besides encounter of different
types of rocks and effect of such variations in the
performanceof concreteremainsunknown.
4 INVESTIGATIONOF
COARSE-AGGREGATESFOR CONCRETE
Thegeneral approachof samplingfor quality control
of coarseaggregatesisat randomfromthestockpile.
For acceptanceof aggregates for usual concreterou-
tinetests arecommonly conducted, results of which
determinethechoiceof thestockpile.
4.1 Guidelines for selection of coarse
aggregates, limitations
IndianRoads Congress [7a] sets theroutinerequire-
mentsfor thecoarseaggregatefor structural concrete
for sustaining the strength and durability and for
minimisetheattack onsteel reinforcements. It isrec-
ommended, in general, to carryout at least one test
for eachspecifiedpropertyper 50m
3
of coarseaggre-
gates[7b]. For conformanceof propertiesof materials
anumber of tests arerecommendedineight parts of
IS:2386[2] andtheseare: aggregategeometry, index
andmechanical properties, alkali-aggregatereactivity,
soundness, deleteriousconstituents, andpetrographic
examinations. Asper BritishStandard[8] whenhigh-
strength-concreteisrequired, thesourcesaswell asthe
typesof aggregatemayneedcareful selectionbasedon
theresultsof trial mixes. It isalsospecified, whereit
is knownthat any property of any aggregateis likely
tohaveanunusual effect onstrengthetc., or durabil-
ityof concretemadewithit, theengineer shouldtake
accountof thesefactorsinthedesignandworkmanship
requirements.
IntheTechnical RecommendationsforHighwaysof
SouthAfrica, acceptanceof coarseaggregates arein
compliancewithallowablegrading, crushingstrength,
flakiness index, shape, water absorption, abrasion
resistance, andcontents of low-density materials and
other impurities [9a]. While describing the negative
impacts of deleterious minerals with particular ref-
erence to muscovites presence, a rule-of-thumb is
presented as follows: if mica can be recognised at
aglance, i.e., without searchingfor theplatelets, per-
hapswithahandlens, cautionisrequiredandremedial
measuresareadvisable [9b].
According to the author above recommendations
are inadequate for selection of coarse aggregates.
Moreover, prevailingqualitycontrol processesdonot
provide any quality-profile of coarse aggregates for
varied constituent minerals within themass of quar-
ried rock or with the progress of quarry. Fromthe
observedvariationsof coarseaggregates characteris-
ticsit iseither waydifficult tocomment onadequacy
or inadequacy of thetest frequency, specified in the
guidelines, unless some qualitative parameters are
availableensuringat least therelativecharacteristics
andquality-profile.
5 QUICK IDENTIFICATIONTECHNIQUE (QIT)
5.1 Developments
A typical rock-profile of the study sites is shown
in the Figure 1. This indicates potential variation of
coarse aggregates quality with progress of quarry
due to wide variation of constituent minerals in the
parent rock and naturally such variations influence
strengthof concrete. Inorder tocharacterisevariation
of constituent deleterious minerals andtheir impacts
oncoarseaggregatesvis--visconcrete,aRapidQual-
ityIdentificationTechnique(RQIT)
i
wasdeveloped
1028
Figure 1. Typical irregular matrix of rock mass. Con-
stituent ingredients vary fromQuartzo feldspathic (A) to
flakyminerals(B).
forqualitativediagnosisof randomlyorgraduallyvari-
able characteristics of coarse aggregates within the
stockpilesorwiththeprogressof quarry.TheRQITisa
diagnosticapproachtoderivedeteriorationpotential of
coarseaggregatesat anystage. Theoutcomeof RQIT
isAggregateDeteriorationFactor (ADF)
i
, valuesof
whichindicatequalitativecomparisonof coarseaggre-
gates. This qualitative-based method was developed
and used for construction of amulti-storey building
in northeast India and later on for quality surveil-
lanceof aproject of 40Kmroadworkwithassociated
structures in eastern India. i Author
1
s Intellectual
PropertyRight.
5.2 Sampling for RQIT
RQIT is basedontheprinciplethat thequantity and
themannersof distributionof constituent deleterious
mineralshavevaryinginfluencesontheperformance
of coarse aggregates. Thus, variation of mineralog-
ical constituents in context to matrix and veins are
responsiblefor textureandshapeof coarseaggregates
which arenoticeablethrough thechanges in appear-
ance. Accordingly, samples of coarseaggregates for
RQIT arecollectedfor determinationof ADF. Inthis
study coarse aggregates of similar appearance were
stackedseparatelyusingasecondarychuteat theend
of crusher-conveyor and sampled for determination
of ADF.
5.3 ADF methodology
Sampleof coarseaggregatesiscollectedbyaspecially
designed Split Spoon Sampler (SSS) that generally
retains 20mmnominal size allowing smaller aggre-
gates to pass through theperforations provided. The
SSS accommodates about 15to 20numbers of such
aggregates. InRQITrelativelysoftminerals(e.g. flaky
mineralslikebiotite, muscovite, etc) aredesignatedas
deleteriousandareconsideredresponsiblefor failure
of coarseaggregates. Existenceof suchsoft minerals
intheaggregatesisexaminedbyaRQIT-needle
i
of
specifichardness.
Oncedeleterious minerals areidentifiedtheir tex-
turepatternsarecomparedwithstandardtransparent-
templates (ADF templates
i
) in the chosen face of
coarse aggregates. The ADF-templates verify two
aspects, firstthethicknessandshapeof veinsandsec-
ondly thedistribution matrix and platelet size. Each
of total 20 templates in two sheets (vein and matrix
templates) designates aspecific valuewhich is then
assigned to the ADF-charts
i
to evaluate Aggre-
gateDeteriorationFactor. TheADF amongdifferent
samples may vary randomly from minimum 6 to
maximum100. It is considered that ADF below 6
may not have any significant effect. TheADF (f
ad
)
of sampled coarse aggregates is evaluated by the
equation:
where, nisthenumber of observationsundertaken, f
v
isthecomponent of ADF representingeffect of veins,
fmis the component of ADF representing effect of
matrix, and are two importance factors depend
on thepurposefor which coarseaggregates is used,
andf
a
is afactor depends ontherelativehardness of
deleteriousmineralsinrock-matrix.
Oncethevaluesof thefactors, andf
a
aregiven,
evaluationof ADF involvessimplecalculations. Gen-
erally about 20to 30minutes is requiredto evaluate
ADF of a sample including collection, observations
andevaluation.
Application of RQIT improves the reliability of
investigation, quality control, and surveillance and
founduseful forlargeandimportantconcretingworks.
Further, prediction of strength of concrete is possi-
ble through developing model with the variation of
ADF. Similarly, it is also possible to infer engineer-
ingpropertiesof coarseaggregateswiththevariation
of ADF.
5.4 ADF of the coarse aggregate stacks
In this study with the aggregates of porphyritic
granite (Ktb quarry) and hornblende-biotite schist
(Mnp quarry) RQIT was applied to the stacks of
coarseaggregatesseparatedtakingintoconsideration
their appearance. NaturallyADF of individual stocks
were different fromthe ADF of the bulk stockpile
after gettingintermingled. Nevertheless, for intended
prediction-model of thestrengthof concretewithvar-
ied ADF, a wider data range was attempted. In this
paper, stacks of highest ADF of respective quarry
materialswereselectedfor studyof theeffect of min-
eralogical composition of coarse aggregates on the
strengthof concretesupportedbypetrographicstudies,
engineeringproperties, andcompressivestrengths of
concretecubes. Thehighest ADF of theselectedlots
of porphyritic granite (Ktb quarry) and hornblende-
biotiteschist (Mnpquarry) werefoundto be62and
55respectively.
1029
6 PETROGRAPHIC STUDY
In order to knowthecharacteristics of thesoft min-
erals those have been designated as deleterious in
RQIT and characteristics of other constituent min-
erals of the coarse aggregates, petrographic study
under polarised microscope was carried out follow-
ing standard procedure of preparation of thin rock
section[10].
Thechief mineral constituents of therock of Ktb
quarry were feldspar, quartz, and biotite. Fromthe
mineralogical constituent and texture the rock was
reconfirmedasporphyriticgranite[4].
Thechief mineral constituents of therock of Mnp
quarrywerehornblende, biotite, feldspar, andquartz.
Fromthe mineralogical constituent and texture the
rockwasreconfirmedashornblende-biotiteschist[4].
6.1 Modal analysis
The modal analysis [11] of porphyritic granite indi-
catedaveragepercentagesof mineral contents,namely,
feldspar (microcline & plagioclase), quartz, biotite,
andaccessories minerals as 40.16, 26.87, 30.20, and
2.63respectively. Themodal analysis of hornblende-
biotiteschistindicatedaveragepercentagesof mineral
contents, namely, hornblende, biotite, feldspar (pla-
gioclase), quartz, and accessories minerals as 33.53,
19.40, 33.87, 11.40, and1.60respectively[4].
The average percentage contents of porphyritic
graniteintermsof flakyandnon-flaky/stableminerals
were 30.2 and 67.03 respectively. The average per-
centagecontentsof hornblende-biotiteschist interms
of non-flaky, stable, and flaky minerals were 78.80,
45.27, and 19.40 respectively. Schematic presenta-
tions of thevariation of different mineralogical con-
stituents of two quarries, ingeneral, arepresentedin
Figure2.
Figure 2. General variations of mineral constituents in
coarseaggregates.
7 ENGINEERINGPROPERTIESOF COARSE
AGGREGATES
Thestacksof coarseaggregatesof highestAggregate
DeteriorationFactor(ADF)of respectivequarrieswere
takenfor investigationof theeffect of theconstituent
mineralogical compositionsonengineeringproperties
of aggregates.
The strengths of coarse aggregates were assessed
bythecrushingstrengthtests[2c].TheaverageAggre-
gateCrushingStrengthValue(ACSV) for porphyritic
(Mnpquarry) werefoundtobe29.6and30.1respec-
tively. The strengths of coarse aggregates towards
suddenshocksandimpactwereassessedbytheaggre-
gateimpact tests[2d]. TheaverageAggregateImpact
Value(AIV) for porphyritic granite(Ktbquarry) and
hornblende-biotiteschist (Mnpquarry) werefoundto
be35.62and33.94respectively.
The index properties of coarse aggregates were
assessed by the specific gravity and water absorp-
tion tests [2e]. The average specific gravity (G
s
)
for porphyritic granite(Ktbquarry) andhornblende-
biotite schist (Mnp quarry) were found to be 2.72
and 2.90 respectively. Theaverageapparent specific
gravity (G
a
) for porphyritic granite(Ktbquarry) and
hornblende-biotite schist (Mnp quarry) were found
to be 2.76 and 2.92 respectively. The average water
absorptions (w) for porphyritic granite(Ktb quarry)
and hornblende-biotite schist (Mnp quarry) were
found to be 0.5 and 0.83% respectively. The flaki-
nessof coarseaggregateswasassessedby evaluating
thepercentageweight of flaky particles having least
dimensionlessthanthree-fifthof itsmeandimensions
[2
f
]. TheaverageFlakinessIndex(FI) for porphyritic
(Mnp quarry) were found to be 5.53 and 11.93%
respectively.
8 MINERALOGICAL COMPOSITIONS
EFFECT ONENGINEERINGPROPERTIES
Resultsof AIV hadpropensitytowardsthepercentage
of flakyminerals.AlthoughgaininAIVwereobserved
withthegaininpercentagesof flakymineralsor vice
versa, variationsof AIV werenotsosignificantunless
relativelywidevariationsof flakymineralsobserved.
This was particularly noticed for the samples of
higher f
v
values possibly dueto less damageto ran-
domly orientated coarseaggregates, veins at or near
perpendicular to thedirection of impact transferred.
However, for thesamplesof higher fmvaluescompa-
rablevariationsof AIV werenoticedwiththatof flaky
mineralspossiblyduetodamageof coarseaggregates
regardlessof their orientations.
Results of ACSV had propensity towards theper-
centageof stableminerals(quartzandfeldsparinclud-
ingmicroclineandplagioclase) rather thanflakymin-
erals. Thismaybeduetothefact thatACSV possibly
1030
dependsonthestructureof stablemineralsrather than
that of flaky minerals. Although, such propensities
wereobservedintermsof gaininACSV withdecrease
inpercentageof stableminerals or viceversa, varia-
tionsofACSV werenotsosignificantunlessrelatively
widevariationof stablemineralsobserved.
Resultsof FlakinessIndices(FI) hadhighpropen-
sitytowardsthepercentageof stablerather thanflaky
minerals, possibly due to more influence of the ori-
entationof stablemineralstowardsformationof flaky
particles. Such propensities were observed in terms
of gain in FI with decreasein thepercentageof sta-
bleminerals or viceversa. Considerablegains in FI
were noticed for the coarse aggregates of higher f
v
values.
Above discussions indicate that only AIV has
propensity towardsflaky minerals presenceandsen-
sitivity of propensity depends upon vein and matrix
factors, which can be evaluated through QIT. Since
flaky minerals contentscanbesimulatedintermsof
ADF, it ispossibletodevelop/monitor trendsbetween
AIVandADFatall thestagesof investigations, asboth
AIV andQIT caneasily beperformedat sitewithout
muchtimeandcost. Inthisstudy, propensityof ACSV
andFI towardsflaky minerals presencecouldnot be
identifiedandhencedevelopment of their trendwith
ADF couldnot bepresented.
9 TESTSONCONCRETE
In order to study theperformanceof usual concrete
thecubesof most commongradeswereprepared[12]
andtested[13]. Coarseaggregatesof porphyriticgran-
ite (Ktb quarry) and hornblende-biotite schist (Mnp
quarry) fromthestacks of highest AggregateDeteri-
orationFactors(ADF) of 62and55respectivelywere
usedfor thestudy.
9.1 Results and discussion
The7-day averagecompressivestrengthswerefound
tobe2.04and2.31N/mm
2
for volumetricmixes1:2:4
and1:1
1
/
2
:3respectivelyfor concretecubesconsisting
coarse aggregates of hornblende-biotite schist (Mnp
quarry). Ontheotherhand, 7-dayaveragecompressive
strengths werefoundto be2.31and2.13N/mm
2
for
respectivevolumetric mixes for concretecubes con-
sisting coarse aggregate of porphyritic granite (Ktb
quarry) [4].
Relatively less average compressive strengths of
thecubes werenoticedincomparisonto 7-day stan-
dardstrengthof usual concretefor similar volumetric
mixes. Further, rateof gainof compressivestrengths
with increased concretegradewereless then that of
typical-usual-concrete.Furthermore,decreaseincom-
pressive strengths with increased grade for concrete
of porphyritic graniteaggregates was an uncommon
trend. Cubesof failedconcretewerecloselyobserved
for theeffect of mineralogical compositions.
10 EFFECT OF MINERALOGICAL
COMPOSITIONSONCONCRETE
STRENGTH
Inusual concreteboththebulkhydratedcementpaste
and the transition zone represent the weakest links
in microstructure, developing rupture either within
the mortar or along the interface between the mor-
tar and coarse aggregates. However, if the concrete
contains weak coarse aggregates, some of the fail-
ureplanes propagatethroughtheaggregateparticles
[6b]. In this study failure planes were noticed pre-
dominantly through coarse aggregates of concrete,
despite weak interface and transition zone due to
higher water/cement ratioof 0.64and7-day concrete
strength under the circumstances that the mechani-
cal, geometricandindexpropertiesof aggregateswere
withinacceptablelimits.
Thedrop in compressivestrengths with increased
gradeof concreteconsistingcoarseaggregateof por-
phyritic granite (Ktb quarry) may be attributable to
failureof moreaggregatesthanthat of theother type
apparently due to relatively higher Aggregate Dete-
rioration Factor (ADF). It was also found that both
AIVandflakymineralscontentsof porphyriticgranite
werehigher thantheother.
Interpretationof engineeringproperties,mineralog-
ical compositionsandADF of thesecoarseaggregates
indicatedapossiblecritical limit of concretefor AIV
of 35%, flaky minerals content 25%, and ADF of
60, beyondwhichcompressivestrengthsmightreduce
with improved grades. The flaky minerals contents
can be simulated in terms of ADF, an outcome of
RQIT, whichtogether withAggregateImpactTestcan
easily be performed at site without much time and
cost.Therefore,itispossibletodevelop/monitortrends
among compressive strength of concrete, ADF and
AIV at all thestagesof investigations.
Withincreasingdemand, it istheconsideredopin-
ion of the author that investigation of coarse aggre-
gate adopting RQIT can improve reliability through
modelling concrete characteristics. In context to the
remarksof Neville[14] aboutuncertainfailurecriteria
of concrete, it may bepossibletosupplement advan-
tages of RQIT for theongoing developments on the
predictionof behaviour of concrete.
11 CONCLUSION
Following conclusions of the study on the effect of
mineralogical compositiononstrengthof concreteare
basedontheinvestigationof coarseaggregates from
twocommercial quarriesinnortheast India, generally
of rocktypeporphyriticgraniteandhornblende-biotite
schist:
1. Irregular matrices of constituent flaky, stable, and
non-flakymineralsremainindifferent proportions
invisuallydistinguishablerock-profiles.Moreover,
inseparatedstacksof coarseaggregates, basedon
visual similitude, thevariationsof major minerals
1031
rangebetween10to25%withhighcontentof flaky
mineralsuptoaverage30.2%.
2. Varied characteristics of constituent minerals in
coarseaggregates, despitefromthesamesources,
makescollectionof representativesamplesdifficult
for ascertainingtypical characteristicsparticularly
wheneffectsof suchvariationsonthepropertiesof
aggregates vis--vis concreteand quality-profiles
for suchvariationsareunknown.
3. Fieldapplicationsof RQIT indicatethat thevaria-
tions of deleterious minerals have varying influ-
ences on the performance of coarse aggregates
and such variations in context to matrix and vein
arefoundresponsiblefor virtually distinguishable
textureandshape.
4. RQIT isfoundsuitablefor qualitativediagnosisof
randomly variablecharacteristics of coarseaggre-
gates deriving deterioration potential in terms of
ADF, valuesof whichindicatequality-profile.
5. ADF of coarse aggregates can be presented as a
function of the effects of veins and matrices of
deleteriousminerals,importancefactorsdepending
ontheir use, relativehardness of deleterious min-
erals in rock-matrix, and number of observations
undertaken.
6. Practical applications of RQIT indicate its user-
friendliness, cost effectiveness, improvedreliabil-
ity of investigations, and possible inference of
engineeringpropertiesandpredictionmodellingof
concretestrength.
7. Although, ACSV and FI appear to have propen-
sity towards stable minerals presence, AIV has
propensity towards flaky minerals presence and
sensitivity of propensity depends upon vein and
matrix factors, which can be evaluated through
RQIT.
8. Failureplanesinconcreteappear toexist predom-
inantly through coarse aggregates, despite weak
interfaceandtransitionzone, anddecreaseincom-
pressive strengths with increased grade of con-
crete may be attributable to the relatively higher
ADF, AIV and flaky minerals contents in coarse
aggregates.
9. A comparisonamongengineeringproperties, min-
eralogical compositionandADF of coarseaggre-
gates indicate possible critical limits of concrete
for AIV of 35%, flakyminerals content 25%, and
ADF of 60, beyond which compressive strengths
mayreducewithimprovedgradeof concrete.
10. With increasing demand of high-strength and
high-performance concrete, emphasising durabil-
ity, investigationof coarseaggregatethroughRQIT
is found suitable for improvement of reliability
throughmodellingconcretecharacteristics.
REFERENCES
[1] Quiroga, P. N. and Fowler, D. W. The Effects of
Aggregates Characteristics onthePerformanceof
PortlandCement Concrete, Report NoICAR 104-
1F, International Center for Aggregate Research,
The University of Texas at Austin, August 2004,
(a- pp1, b- pp86).
[2] INDIAN STANDARD, IS: 2386, Methodof Tests
for Aggregatesfor concrete, 1963, (a- Part I pp3,
b- Part VIII pp11-12, c- Part IV pp4, d- Part IV
pp 10, e- Part III pp4, & f- Part I pp11).
[3] Deka, G. A geotechnical study of granitic rock
occurringinandaroundGuwahati of KamrupDis-
trict, Assam, withspecial referencetotheir utility
as road material, PhD thesis, Gauhati University,
1994.
[4] Das, N. A correlative study between engineering
andgeological properties of rock aggregates with
reference to cement concrete, Postgraduate Dis-
sertation on Engineering Geology under Gauhati
University, Cotton College, Guwahati-1, India,
1996.
[5] Atcin, P. C. High-performanceconcrete, E & EN
Spon, London1998, (a- pp201, b- pp85).
[6] Specifications for road and bridge works, Min-
istry of Road Transport and Highways, Fourth
edition, IndianRoadsCongress, NewDelhi, 2001,
(a- pp 367, b- pp206).
[7] BS 5400: Part 8: 1978, Recommendations for
materials and workmanship, concrete, reinforce-
ment and prestressing tendons, British Standard
Institution, pp-3.
[8] TRH 14: 1985, Guidelines for road construc-
tion materials, Technical Recommendations for
Highways, Departmentof Transport, SouthAfrica,
(a- pp 28, b- pp49).
[9] Hutchison, C. S. Laboratory handbook of pet-
rographic techniques, First edition, Wiley Inter-
sciencepublication, NewYork, 1974.
[10] J ohannsen, A. A descriptive petrography of the
igneousrocks, Vol: 1, Introduction, Textures, Clas-
sification and Glossary, University of Chicago
Press, Chicago, 1931, pp267
[11] INDIAN STANDARDIS: 1199, Methodsof sam-
plingandanalysisof concrete, 1959.
[12] INDIAN STANDARDIS: 516, Methodof test for
strengthof concrete, 1959
[13] Nevile,A M. Propertiesof Concrete,Thirdedition,
ELBS, London, 1983.
1032
Damagepotential toresidential structuresduetogroundmovement
D. Wagle, E.F. Gad, S. Sivanerupan& J.L. Wilson
Swinburne University of Technology, Victoria, Australia
ABSTRACT: A significant proportionof houses inAustraliais built onreactivesoils. InVictoria, themost
popularformof constructionisbrickveneerconstructiononwaffleslab. Inatypical footingdesign, itisexpected
that groundmovement associatedwithexpansivesoil will occur whichinturnwill causesomedistortiontothe
superstructure. Excessivegroundmovementsduetoseasonal changes, vegetationandpoor drainagecouldlead
tocrackinginthesuperstructurewhichoftenleadstoconflictsbetweenthehomeowners, buildersandengineers.
Withanincreasinglevel of expectationof homeowners, crackinganddistortionsarebecominglesstolerated.
This paper provides areview of therelationship between drift limits and cracking in plasterboard and brick
veneer. Inaddition, descriptionof anadvancedFE model for brickveneer wallsispresentedwhichwill beused
todevelopagenericrelationshipbetweendrift andcracksizefor suchwalls.
1 INTRODUCTION
A substantial proportionof housesbuiltinAustraliais
on reactive soils. The variation of moisture in such
soils, brings about change in volume thereby trig-
geringheavingandsubsidenceeffects. Theseground
movements lead to differential movements in the
superstructure and potential damage particularly to
non-structural componentsincludingplasterboardand
brick veneer. Indeed, in recent months it has been
reportedthathundredsof housesbuiltattheendof the
draughtperiodinVictoriaarenowexperiencingexces-
sivedamagewhichisaffectingmanydistressedhome
ownersandbuilders(THE-AGE 2011; ACA 2012).
Thispaperispartof aresearchprojectwhichaimsto
identifythefoundationdrift valueswhichcorrespond
tocrackingandtodeveloprelationshipsbetweendrift
and crack size(fragility curves). This paper reviews
previous researchonserviceability limits for plaster-
boardandbrickveneer. Further, FEmodelingstrategy
developedof arelatedresearchonbrickveneer isdis-
cussedandpreliminaryresultsarepresentedforawall
subject todifferential movement.
Theoutcomeof theresearchprojectwill leadtothe
developmentof aperformancebaseddesignapproach
of residential structurestomeetdifferentexpectations
of homeowners.
2 SERVICEABILITY ANDPERFORMANCE OF
NON-STRUCTURAL MATERIALS
Masonry veneer andplasterboards arethemost pop-
ular forms of exterior claddingandinterior liningin
residential buildings.Todate, therehasbeenverylittle
researchconductedontheserviceabilityperformance
of thesematerials.
Inperformancebaseddesignapproach, thestiffness
of thestructureisdeterminedsoastolimit thesizeof
thecracks. Inorder topreventcracking, demandmust
not exceedthecapacity of thematerial. Thecracking
capacity of a wall is defined by the strength of the
material, itsgeometryandtheboundaryconditions. It
should benoted that cracking of walls in residential
structurescanoccur for anumber of different reasons
includingthermal movement, occupancy loadingand
foundationmovement.
2.1 Plasterboard walls
Some relevant research works previously conducted
onplasterboardlinedwallsinAustraliawereaimedat
exploringthebracingcapacityof wallsunder racking
action(Liewetal. 2002) andblastvibrations(Corvetti
etal. 2006).TheworkbyLiewetal. (2002) andothers
concludedthat theplasterboardwalls thoughconsid-
eredasnon-structural elementsinresidential construc-
tion, haveasignificantcontributioninresistinglateral
loadsduetotheir highin-planestiffness.
Corvetti et al. (2006) testedplasterboardlinedtim-
ber frames with door openings under racking load
to simulate blast induced lateral vibrations. A typi-
cal wall is shown in Figure1. Thespecimens tested
includedplasterboardfixedtothetimber frameswith
nails and glue and nails only. As expected the plas-
terboard cracked at thecorners of thedoor opening.
Theresultingcracklengthversusrackingdisplacement
relationshipsareshowninFigure2. Itshouldbenoted
that for thesespecimens crackingdidnot commence
until thelateral displacementwasof theorderof 6mm
whichcorrespondstoalateral drift of H/400.
However, there has been very little research on
the performance of plasterboards under the action
1033
Figure1. Racking test on Plasterboards by Corvetti et al.
(2006).
Figure 2. Racking displacement versus crack length for
wallstestedbyCorvetti et al. (2006).
of differential ground movement. The serviceability
performanceof plasterboardsunder theactionof dif-
ferential ground movement is apart of this ongoing
research project. However, thefocus of this paper is
ontheperformanceof masonryveneer walls.
2.2 Masonry veneer walls
AS3700(2011) inClause2.5.2statesthatA masonry
member or structureshall bedesignedtoallowmove-
mentstobecontrolledorisolatedsothatdamagetothe
masonry, thebuildingandits components is avoided
and structural and other requirements aresatisfied.
The standard mentions Foundation movements as
oneof themovementstobeallowedfor inthedesign.
Further, it states that amasonry member or structure
needstobedesignedfor serviceabilitybycontrolling
or limitingdeflectionsandcracking; andbyproviding
robustness. A definitionof performancerequirement
of wallsispresentedinAS2870(2011),AppendixB.In
thisstandard, crack widthisusedasamajor criterion
for damage assessment. Crack widths are classified
intoDamagecategories asshowninTable1.
AS2870 (2011) specifies that, under normal cir-
cumstancesdamageshouldbelimitedtoCategory 0
or 1 andunder adverseandrareconditionsadamage
level of the order of Category 2 may be expected.
Damagelevel of Category 3 andaboveisclassified
as significant. The standard also specifies limits on
thevalueof maximumdifferential deflection for the
Table 1. Damage Categories in walls fromTable C1-AS
2870(2011).
Descriptionof typical Approximate
damageandrequired crackwidthlimit Damage
repair (mm) Category
Hairlinecracks <0.1 0 Negligible
Finecracksthat donot
needrepair
<1 1 Veryslight
Cracksnoticeablebut
easilyfilled
<5 2 Slight
Crackscanberepaired,
asmall amount of wall
mayneedreplacement
5mmto15mm
(or agroupof
cracks>3mm)
3 Moderate
Extensiverepair
needed. Doorsand
windowsdistort.
Wallslean/bulge.
15mmto25mm
(alsodependson
no. of cracks)
4 Severe
Table 2. Limits for differential deflection as per AS2870
(2011).
Maximum
differential
deflection, as Maximum
afunction differential
Typeof construction of span, mm deflection, mm
Cladframe L/300 40
Articulatedmasonry L/400 30
veneer
Masonryveneer L/600 20
Articulatedfull L/800 15
masonry
Full masonry L/2000 10
designof footings andrafts, specifically referringto
thetypeof construction in thesuperstructure(Refer
Table2). For amasonry veneer wall witharticulation
joints, themaximumdifferential deflectionislimited
to the lesser of 30mm and L/400, where L is the
effectivespanover whichthedeflectionoccurs.
Based on observations, agraphical representation
of therelationshipbetweenthemaximumcrackwidth
andthedeflectionratiofor brickveneer housesispro-
videdinHB28(WalshandCameron,1997)asshownin
Figure3.Asexpectedthereisahighdegreeof scatterin
theresults.Thisismostlikelytobeduetovariationsin:
(a) geometryof walls; (b) profileof differential move-
ment; and(c) veneer material properties, particularly
thebondbetweenbricksviathemortar.
3 PREVIOUSEXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
ONMASONRY WALLSSUBJ ECT TO
INPLANE MOVEMENT
ResearchwascarriedoutintheUniversityof Newcas-
tle by different researchers (Ali et al. 1986; Bryant
1993; Masia 2000; Dhanasekar et al. 2008) which
1034
Figure3. Relationshipbetweendeflectionratio andcrack
widthfor brickveneer houses(WalshandCameron1997).
aimedat understandingthestrengthpropertiesof the
material, soil-structureinteractionandfiniteelement
modellingstrategy for masonry veneer. Ali andPage
(1987) summarised the failure modes for masonry
under astateof planestressasfollows:
i. Bond failure at the interface between the bricks
andthemortar. Thisoftenoccurswhenthestress
normal totheinterfaceistensile.
ii. Fracture of either the brick or the mortar under
either biaxial tension-compression or biaxial
tension-tensionstate
iii. Crushingof thebrick or themortar under astate
of biaxial compression.
Bryant (1993) conductedlaboratory testsandana-
lytical modellingof masonrywallssubjectedtofooting
movement duetoexpansivesoil (Figure4). Thetests
includedthesimulationof theeffect of roof loadand
additional stories. Whiletheseconditionsarenot rep-
resentative for veneer construction as it is non-load
bearing, the test setup and simulation of founda-
tionmovement areof relevanceto this research. The
research findings pointed out that masonry cracking
duetofoundationmovementsshowatimedependency
effect andthat theextent of crackingis proportional
tothedeflectionof thefooting. It alsoconcludesthat
articulationjointsareimperativeinlongwallstocon-
trol theeffect of differential movement of thefooting.
This study also included analytical modelling of the
masonry wall which was used as part of a sensitiv-
ity study intodifferent parameters relatedtothewall
geometryandstructure.
ResearchconductedbyMasia(2000) followsfrom
the findings of Bryant and addressed the issue of
the action of ground movement with an integrated
approachinvolvingsoil structureinteraction. A prob-
abilisticmodel topredict crackingwasproduced. But
thecrackswerelocatedatpre-specifiedlocationsinthe
model whichlimitedthemodelscapabilitytoinitiate
andpropagatecracksautomatically.Thestudypointed
outthatthemodel,combinedwithacceptablelimitsfor
cracking, canbeusedasabasisforthedevelopmentof
rational criteriafor serviceability design of masonry
Figure 4. Laboratory tests set-up in the University of
NewcastlebyBryant (1993).
Figure5. Brick veneer laboratory testingat theUniversity
of Melbourne(Heathet al. 2008).
structures. Also, thestudy concludedthat theparam-
eters describing the soil properties are the major
factors influencingthebehaviour of thewall system.
However, the cracks analysed were pre-specified in
themodel beforetheapplicationof theload.
Similar studies have been carried out in the Uni-
versityof SouthAustraliabyZhugeet al. (2004). The
study was aimed at exploring the capability of Dis-
tinct Element Method for modeling cracking under
theactionof differential deflectionof thefooting.This
studycomparedtheanalytical model anditsresultsto
theexperimental results fromthetests carriedout in
theUniversityof NewcastlebyBryant (1993).
Heathet al. (2008) at theUniversityof Melbourne
carried out a research investigating performance of
brick veneer walls subject to in-planerackingwhich
wasappliedtosimulatetheeffect of vibrationdueto
blastloading. Thestudyinvolvedlaboratorytestingof
brick veneer walls under the action of racking load
andalsoanalytical modelingof themasonrywall.The
experimental setupisshowninFigure5.
1035
Figure6. Crackingpatternfor thebrick veneer wall tested
byHeathet al. (2008).
Figure7. Resultsfor thewall testedbyHeathet al. (2008)
showing the drift values at which cracks appeared and
classificationof damageinaccordancewithAS2870(2011).
The loading was carried out in three cycles until
failure occurred. The wall developed five cracks as
showninFigure6.
The results fromthe measurements taken during
thelaboratorytest arepresentedinFigure7. Theplot
categorisesthedamageincurredbythewall whensub-
jected to the racking load as per the classification
providedbyAS2870(2011) AppendixC.
4 A NEWGENERIC FE MODEL FOR
MASONRY VENEER
Heath(2012)developedanewgenericFEmodel using
ANSYS FE programfor brick veneer walls subject
to racking load. Themodel allows theinitiation and
progression of cracks without the specification of
predetermined paths. This model builds on work
donebyothersandallowsautomatedcreationof wide
variety of walls withdifferent properties. Themodel
was created by using macros which have special
featuresasfollows:
Failure criteria are based on the findings of Ali
andPage(1986) withfailuresurfaces interms of
normal, parallel andshear stresses(
n
,
p
and).
Figure8. FEanalytical resultsforwall testedbyHeathetal.
(2008).
Themodel utiliseselementdeathandbirthtodeac-
tivate or reactivate elements which simulate the
openingandclosingof cracks.
Intelligent meshingfeatureswithmeshrefinement
around windows, commencing at specified dis-
tancefromthecorners accordingtothebrick unit
dimensions and user defined orientation of the
outwardrefinement of themesh.
Application of racking displacement in the form
of predeterminedincrementsandcalculationof the
stresslevelsat eachincrement.
4.1 Validation of the FE model
Heath (2012) validated the FE model against the
experimental resultspresentedearlier for initiationof
cracks, their progressionandtheir sizeat all recorded
in-planedrifts. TheFE model was ableto reproduce
the experimental results. The focus of the research
presentedinthis paper is to adapt this FE model for
loadingduetovertical differential movement.
Prior to changing the model for the new loading
regime, a confirmatory study was performed by the
authorstoreproducetheexperimental resultsreported
earlier.TheFEmodel wasrecreatedforthewall having
thedimensionsasshowninFigure5usingANSYS13
(2012).
Themodel was subject to anincremental in-plane
rackingdisplacement of 0.25mmuptoatotal lateral
driftof 1/150appliedatthetoplefthandcorner of the
wall. ThedeformedshapefromtheFE model at this
driftlevel isshowninFigure8.A comparisonbetween
thedamagelevels recordedfromtheexperiment and
thoseobtained fromtheFE model as categorised by
AS2870(2011) isshownTable3.
Whiletherearesomedifferences between theFE
and experimental results, the two sets of data con-
vergeasthedriftvalueanddamagecategoryincrease.
Therational for this is that whencracks first initiate
theyareverydifficulttoseeinanexperimentandthey
needtoreachacertainsizebeforetheybecomevisible.
Thisisnot thecasewiththeFE model asthecracked
elements are killed and hence become immediately
noticeable. Inaddition, duringtesting, adisplacement
1036
Table3. Comparisonof damagecategoriesatdifferentdrift
valuesfrombothexperimental test andFE model.
DriftValues
Onset of Damagecategory FEA Experimental
1 1/4500 1/3500
2 1/900 1/600
3 1/190 1/150
increment isappliedandat theendof theincrement,
testingis pausedandcracks arethenmeasured. This
tends to underestimate the cracking drift unless the
loading increment is very small. Given this valida-
tionperformedbytheauthorsandthoseperformedby
Heath (2012) thereis sufficient confidencethat this
FE model isabletoproducereasonablepredictionsof
crackinitiationandpropagationforbrickveneerwalls.
Hence, thismodel isadaptedtopredictdamagedueto
differential movement as discussed in the following
section.
5 MODIFIEDFE MODEL FOR FOOTING
MOVEMENT
Thewall testedby Heath et al. (2008) andmodelled
abovewasusedtoexaminelikelydamageunderdiffer-
ential movement as opposedtorackingdisplacement
asdiscussedbelow.Themodeledwall isshowninFig-
ure9. Thematerial propertiesusedarethesameasfor
thosereported by Heath et al. (2008) with thebrick
unitsbeingstandardclaybricksandthemortar being
astandard1:1:6mix. Themajor modificationat this
stagebeingtheloadingregimeandtheboundarycon-
ditions, theloadingappliedwasasshowninFigure9
whichsimulatesalinear edgeheave.
It should be noted that the wall model was
restrained along the left side against horizontal
movementtosimulateanaxisof symmetry.Therefore,
thismodel isarepresentativeof half of a6000mmlong
wall.
5.1 FE results and discussion
Themodel wassubjectedtoadifferential vertical dis-
placement at theedgetotaling to 11mm(drift value
of 1/270). Thedeformedshapeof thewall model after
theapplicationof thetotal displacement is shownin
Figure10.
It is can be observed that the wall at the end of
theloadingdevelopsfour cracksinitiatingat thefour
cornersof thewindow. Theinitiationandprogression
of cracksaresimilar tothelaterally loadedwall. The
absolutemaximumcrackwidthscomparingall cracks
againstthecorrespondinginversedeflectionratiosare
presentedinFigure11.
FromFigure11itcanbeseenthatfor adifferential
movement of L/400 (which is the limit for articu-
latedveneer) thiswall wouldhaveamaximumcrack
Figure9. Geometryof thebrickveneerwall,loadingpattern
andboundaryconditionfor thewall model.
Figure10. FE results after applying11mmof differential
vertical displacement.
Figure11. Relationshipbetweenmaximumcrackwidthand
inverseof thedeflectionratio.
sizejust over 1mmin size. This is just on theonset
of category 2 damage in accordance with AS2870
(2011). Alternatively, if damagecategory 1 is not to
beexceeded, Figure11 suggests that thedifferential
movement shouldnot exceedL/500.
While the results fromone wall would be totally
insufficient to develop generic performance limits,
1037
theseresultsillustratethemethodology whichiscur-
rently being adopted to generate a large number of
fragility curves for veneer walls subject to vary-
ingseveritiesof differential movement. Thevariables
being considered as part of the ongoing research
includedifferentwall geometries, material properties,
profile of differential movement, influence of damp
proof course, andbothheaveandsettlement.
Theoutcomesfromthisresearchwill enabledesign-
erstoselectthenecessarystiffnessof footingsystems
withhigher degreeof confidencetomeetanyspecific
performancecriteria.
6 CONCLUDINGREMARKS
In this paper, previous research studies on plaster-
boardandmasonrywalls(includingmasonryveneer)
werereviewedandtheserviceabilityprovisionsof rel-
evant standards were discussed. In general, there is
verylimitedknowledgeonserviceabilityperformance
of residential non-structural walls whensubjectedto
differential movement associated with heave or set-
tlement of reactive soils. To address this, a research
project has commencedwhichaims toproducecom-
prehensivedataset of fragility curves for suchwalls
which relate size of cracks (damage) to differential
movement.Aspartof thisresearchagenericFEmodel
for brickveneer wallswill beusedtoconsider alarge
range of variables. This model has been described
in this paper and preliminary results reported which
demonstratetheusefulnessof thismodel.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research is funded by ARC Linkage Project
LP100200306. The authors gratefully acknowledge
the financial and technical support provided by the
collaboratingorganizations, namely, VictorianBuild-
ing Commission (BC), Victorian Office of Housing
(OoH), Foundation and Footing Society Victoria
(FFSV), Association of Consulting Structural Engi-
neers Victoria (ACSEV) and Housing Engineering
Design and Research Association (HEDRA). The
support by David Heath with ANSYS is gratefully
acknowledged.
REFERENCES
ACA (2012). A Current Affair Channel 9 [Online]. http://
aca.ninemsn.com.au/investigations/ 8424660/ homes-
cracking-under-pressure[Accessed01-03-2012]..
Ali, etal. (1986). A failurecriterionformortarjointsinbrick
worksubjectedtocombinedshear andtension.
Ali, et al. (1987). The Use of Substructuring and Mesh-
Refinement Techniques in the Nonlinear Analysis of
Brick Masonry. Conferenceon FiniteElement Methods
inEngineering. Melbourne.
ANSYS Inc. (2012). ANSYS 13, General Purpose Finite
ElementAnalysisSoftware. USA.
Bryant (1993). Serviceability of Masonry Walls Sub-
jectedtoFoundationMovements. Facultyof Engineering.
NSW, Australia, TheUniversity of Newcastle. Master of
Engineering.
Corvetti, etal. (2006). Responseof Light-FramedCladWalls
to Blast Vibrations. 19th Australasian Conference on
Mechanicsof StructuresandMaterials.
Dhanasekar, et al. (2008). Explicit FiniteElementAnalysis
of LightlyReinforcedMasonryShear Walls. Computers
andStructures86: 1526.
Heath, D.J., Gad, E.F., and Wilson, J.L., (2008), Damage
ThresholdsinUnreinforcedMasonry,AustralianJ ournal
of Structural Engineering, Vol. 8(2), pp. 114.
Heath (2012). Performance of Residential Structures Sub-
jected to Blast Vibrations and Environmental Loads.
Depart of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Melbourne, TheUniversityof Melbourne.
Liew, et al. (2002). The influence of plasterboard clad
walls on thestructural behaviour of low riseresidential
buildings. ElectronicJ ournal of Structural Engineering.
Masia(2000). ServiceabilityDesignfor MasonryStructures
Subjected to Foundation Movements. Newcastle, NSW,
Australia, TheUniversityof Newcastle.
StandardsAustralia(2004). HB 50-2004Glossaryof Build-
ing terms. Sydney Australia, National Committee on
RationalisedBuilding(NCRB),
StandardsAustralia(2011). AS 2870Residential Slabs and
Footings. Sydney.
Standards Australia(2011). AS3700-2011Australian Stan-
dard: MasonryStructures. Sydney, StandardsAustralia.
THE-AGE (2011). Owners findhomes arecrackingunder
pressure [Online] http://theage.domain.com.au/home-
owning-tips/owners-find-homes-are-cracking-under-
pressure-20111221-1p5or.html. [Accessed27-02-2012].
WalshandCameron(1997).HB28:TheDesignof Residential
SlabsandFootings, StandardsAustralia.
Zhuge, etal. (2004). ThePredictionof DamagetoMasonry
HousesCausedbyFoundationMovements.Advancesin
Structural Engineering7(1).
1038
Anoverviewof sustainableconcretemadewithscraprubber
O.Youssf & M.A. ElGawady
School of NBE, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
ABSTRACT: Rubberizedconcreteisaconventional concreteincludingscraptyrerubber asapartial substi-
tutionfor mineral aggregates. Usingrecycledtyrerubber inconcreteconstructionwill reducetheamount of
worn-out tyresthat arebeingdisposedof tolandfill sites. Thismanuscript discussesthecharacteristicsof fresh
andhardenedrubberizedconcrete. Inparticular, theeffectsof rubber content andsizeonconcreteunit weight,
slump, entrappedair, compressivestrength, splittingtensilestrength, modulusof rupture, modulusof elasticity,
ultimatestrain, andviscousdampingratioarediscussed.Thisreviewrevealedthatresearchersreplaceddifferent
ratios, rangedfrom5to100%, byvolumeof mineral fineaggregateand/ormineral courseaggregatewithrubber.
Suchreplacementresultedinastrengthlossesrangedfrom0.0to85%dependingonthesizeof rubber particles
andtherubber content. Usingchemical treatmentsfor rubber beforemixinginconcretesignificantly improve
theconcretemechanical characteristics. Finally, increasing therubber content resulted in moreductility and
viscous dampingratiocomparedtoconventional concrete. Rubberizedconcretewas abletoreachanultimate
strainandviscousdampingratio16and120%higher thanconventional concrete, respectively.
1 INTRODUCTION
Bigamountsof usedrubber tyresarecumulatedinthe
world each year. One billion tyres reach the end of
their useful lives every year and0.5billionmoreare
expectedtobediscardedinaregular basisbytheyear
2030[29].Thesescraptyresareamongthelargestand
most problematicsourcesof waste, duetotheir dura-
bilityandthelargevolumeof discardedtyreeveryyear.
Oneof themost popular methods of tyredisposal is
topiletheminlandfills. Duetolowdensityandpoor
degradation they cannot be buried in landfills [31].
Furthermore, tyresarenot desiredat landfills, dueto
their largevolumes, whichquicklyconsumevaluable
space. Tyrescantrapmethanegases, causingthemto
becomebuoyant, or bubbletothesurface. Thisbub-
blingeffectcandamagelandfill linersthathavebeen
installedtohelpkeeplandfill contaminantsfrompol-
lutinglocal surfaceandgroundwater that cancreate
agreat healthandsafetyrisk. Thesetyrescanalsobe
placed in a dump, or basically piled in a large hole
intheground. However thesedumpsserveasagreat
breedinggroundfor mosquitoes.Alsotyresmaycatch
firethatisnotoriouslydifficultandcostlytoextinguish
[22, 32].
The recycling of waste materials conserves valu-
able natural resources and reduces the amount of
rubber entering landfill [21]. The construction mar-
ket presents an alternative to use recycled materi-
als. One application that uses rubber is rubberized
concrete (Rc) [34]. In Rc, rubber partially replaces
mineral fineaggregate(MFA) and/or mineral coarse
aggregate(MCA).
Comparedtoconventional concrete, Rchashigher
ductility, durability, damping, impact resistance, and
toughness. However, Rc has smaller compressive
strength, tensile strength, and modulus of elastic-
ity. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art on the
characteristicof Rc.
2 CLASSIFICATIONOF SCRAP RUBBER
Researchers[14, 33] classifiedscraptyreaccordingto
its sizeinto threetypes: shreddedor chippedrubber,
crumbrubber,andgroundrubber.Shreddedorchipped
rubber used to replaceMCA. To produceshred rub-
ber, thetyresshreddedtolengthof 100to150mmand
widthof 100to230mm. If shreddingisfurthercontin-
ued, particlesof about 13to76mmindimensionsare
producedandarecalledshreddedparticles. Crumb
rubber is manufacturedby usingmills to changebig
rubbers into smaller particles havingdiameter inthe
rangeof 0.15to19mm. Crumbrubber usedtoreplace
MFA. Groundrubber hasparticlessizeintherangeof
0.075to0.475mmandit isusedtoreplacecement.
3 PROPERTIESOF RUBBERIZEDCONCRETE
This section discusses theeffects of replacing MCA
and/or MFA, by rubber, onconcreteproperties. Data
were collected fromabout 44 references to plot the
effectsof rubber content onconcretecharacteristics.
3.1 Unit weight
Duetothelowunitweightof rubber,Rchasunitweight
lower than conventional concrete. Replacing21%of
MFA byrubber fineaggregates(RFA), decreasedthe
unit weighbyapproximately26%[13, 19].
1039
Figure1. Effectsof usingrubber onconcreteslump.
3.2 Slump
The effect of rubber content on slump is shown in
figure1. Datainthis figurewerecollectedfromref-
erences[2, 5, 6, 14, 16, 20, 23, 43]. Asshowninthis
figure,thescatterintheresultsisverysignificantespe-
cially when the MFA were replaced by RFA. In the
caseof replacing MCA by rubber coarseaggregates
(RCA), theresultsaremoreconsistent andthefigure
showsthatbyincreasingtherubber contenttheslump
decreases. By replacingapproximately 50%of MCA
byRCA, theslumpvaluereachedapproximatelyzero
whichindicatingpoor workability.
3.3 Entrapped air in concrete
EntrappedairinRcisgenerallyhigherthanthatof con-
ventional concrete.Rchasaircontentof approximately
2.43.3%comparedto1%aircontentforconventional
concrete[27]. Increasing rubber content in concrete
increasesair entrapped. Replacementof MFA byRFA
resultedinaircontentlowerthanthosemeasuredwhen
replacingMCA byRCA andtotal aggregatesbyRCA
andRFA.
3.4 Compressive strength
Figures 2 and 3 show the relation between the rub-
bercontentandcompressivestrengthlossesat28days
and6months, respectively.Thedatashowninthisfig-
urewas collectedfromreferences [3, 10, 13, 14, 15,
17, 20, 26, 35, 39, 41]. As showninfigures, thereis
a strong correlation between increasing rubber con-
tentandthelossesinconcretecompressivestrengthat
28days. ReplacingMFA withRFA resultedinsmaller
losses in strength at 28 days, compared to replacing
MCA. However, at 6months, evolutioninstrengthof
conventional concrete is much higher than Rc. This
resultedinhigher strengthlossesat 6months.
The reduction in Rc strength is attributed to the
followingreasons. Rubberhasapproximatelypoisons
ratioashigherastwicethatof concrete. Similarly, rub-
ber hasYoungsmodulusaslowas1/3of that of con-
crete. Thesedifferencesresultedinsignificantlylarge
relative deformations between rubber and concrete
which leading to early cracking. In addition, rubber
particlesactasairvoidsforcrackinitiationfollowedby
Figure2. Effectsof usingrubber onconcretecompressive
strengthat 28days.
Figure3. Effectsof usingrubber onconcretecompressive
strengthat 6months.
crackpropagation, andthen, strengthreduction. More-
over, rubber hasspecific gravity lower thanconcrete.
Hence, due to Rc vibration during concrete mixing
andplacement, therubber migratestothetopsurface
of concrete resulting in non-homogeneous mix and
reduction in concretestrength [26]. Therefore, when
rubber havingsmall sizesusedinsmall proportions, it
fillsvoidsbetweenconcretesolidparticles.Thisfilling
mechanismreducedtheporosityof concretemixtures
which resulting in higher gain in strength. However,
if rubber is used in alargeproportion, thedeforma-
bilitymechanismismorepredominantthanthefilling
mechanism, resulting in higher stress concentrations
aroundtherubber particles.
3.5 Splitting tensile strength
Concretetensilestrengthdecreasesbyincreasingrub-
ber contentinconcretemix. ReplacingMCA, or MFA
by up to 45%, leads to about 70% tensile strength
losses as showninfigure4. Datainthis figurewere
collectedfromreferences [1, 10, 14, 15, 18, 23, 39].
As showninthefigure, thecurvecanbecategorized
intotwodifferent regions. Inthefirst regionwhichis
uptoarubber content of approximately20%, therate
of tensilestrengthlossesisquitehigh.
1040
Figure 4. Effects of using rubber on concrete tensile
strength.
Beyond that and up to rubber content of approxi-
mately45%, therateof tensilestrengthlossesissmall
comparedto first region. Finally, datafor thetensile
strengthof concretehavingrubbercontenthigherthan
45%is scarce and shows high scatter. More experi-
mental dataisrequiredfor thisrangeof replacement.
3.6 Modulus of rupture
Addingrubber toconcretereducemodulusof rupture
(f
r
). Thereductioninf
r
depends onrubber content as
well as the cement type used in the concrete mix.
Losses in f
r
at 5 and 10% rubber content were 0,
and 37%, respectively [14]. Mavroulidou et al. [23]
showed that using RFA gives f
r
higher than RCA
at 10% replacement. When Magnesium oxicholrid
cementwasusedinsteadof Portlandcement, and17%
of MCA wasreplacedbyRCA, thereductioninf
r
was
quitesmall [4].
3.7 Static and dynamic moduli of elasticity
Themodulus of elasticity follows thesametrend as
thecompressivestrengthduetothestrongcorrelation
between them. As shown in figure 5, by increasing
rubbercontentinconcretemix, thestaticmodulus(E
s
)
anddynamicmodulus(E
d
) decrease. Thedatashown
inthisfigurewerecollectedfromreferences[13, 14,
17, 35, 43]. Thefigureshowsthat thereductioninE
s
andE
d
reachesanupper boundof approximately30%
at arubber content equal toor greater than20%.
3.8 Toughness
Using rubber in concrete improves its toughness
compared with conventional concrete. Due to rub-
ber small stiffness, it increases deformability but
not strength. Shredded rubber enhances toughness
more than crumb one as it bridge cracks beyond
peak loads. Tantala et al. [36] showed that rubber
content upto 5%improves concretetoughness com-
pared to conventional concrete. However, increasing
rubber content beyondthat decreasedthegainincon-
cretetoughness. By increasing rubber content while
the ultimate strain increases, the ultimate strength
Figure5. Effects of using rubber on concretemodulus of
elasticity.
Figure 6. Effects of using rubber on concrete viscous
dampingratio.
decreases. Hence, theareaunder stress-strain curve,
which represent toughness, decreases [3, 10, 19, 35,
37, 38, 39].
3.9 Ultimate strain
Theultimatestrainat concreteruptureincreaseswith
increasingtherubber content. Replace15%of MFA
byRFA, resultedinanultimatestrain13%higherthan
thatmeasuredforconventional concrete. Doublingthe
rubber contentinconcretedidnotdoubletheincrease
intheultimatestrainandit reached16%higher than
that measuredfor conventional concrete[17, 23].
3.10 Viscous damping ratio
Figure 6 shows the relation between rubber content
and viscous damping ratio (). The data shown in
thisfigurewerecollectedfromreferences[3, 11, 43,
44].Asshowninthefigure, usingrubbersignificantly
increases comparedtoconventional concrete. Using
shreddedrubber resultedinhigher valuescompared
to using crumb rubber. With the increasing of rub-
ber contentupto30%, increases. Beyondthat, there
is no increase in and it reaches its upper bound
value.Atthiscontentof rubber,shreddedrubberhasan
1041
Figure 7. Microstructure of the concrete with rubber:
(a) Cement matrix with rubber particle; (b) Interface rub-
ber/concrete(SEM) [13].
increasein valuesdoublethatof crumbrubber.When
Rc is subject to dynamic loads, its responsedepends
onthemaximummagnitudeof theimposeddisplace-
ment andnumber of loadingcycles (n). The of Rc
increases with increasing of maximumimposed dis-
placementamplitude, anditdecreaseswithincreasing
of n up to 30 cycles, beyond that, it will beastable
value. Replacing20%of MFA byRFA increased of
concreteby about 70%. Doubledthis rubber amount
approximatelydoubled.
4 IMPROVEMENT OF RUBBERIZED
CONCRETE PERFORMACE
Themicrostructureof concretematrix is anessential
tool inunderstandingtheconcretecharacteristics. Fig-
ure7[13] showsthemicrostructureof Rc.Asshownin
thefigure, therubber haspoor adhesionwithcement
particles. Thepoor adhesionis attributedtotheexis-
tenceof zincstearatewhichpresentsintyreformula-
tionduringmanufacturing.Thiszincstearatemigrates
and diffuses to the rubber surface which creating a
soap layer that repels water. In addition, rubber has
lowhydraulic conductivity andsmoothsurface. Both
of themyieldpooradhesionaswell [3, 12, 14, 20, 40].
To improve Rc performance, researchers used
two different approaches. In the first approach, the
bondbetweenconcretecompositionsandrubber was
improvedusingdifferent chemical treatmentsof rub-
ber surface, before mixing with concrete. The most
commononeistheusingof NaOHsolutionasatreat-
ment. Thesecondapproachincludesusingpozzolanic
materialssuchassilicafume(SF) asapartial replace-
ment of cement. This increases theconcretestrength
andsubstitutesfor strengthlossduetorubber replace-
ment. Figure 8 shows the effect of using these
approachesontheconcretecompressivestrength.
Figure 8. Effect of using pre-treated rubber on concrete
compressivestrength.
Figure 9. SEM micrograph using back scattered electron
(BSE) of cement paste with rubber aggregate; (1) with-
out NaOH treatment, (2) with NaOH treatment. (a) rubber
particles, and(b) cement paste[31].
4.1 Treatment by solution of NaOH
Therubber particles arewashed by water to remove
any impurities and dusts; then, they submerged into
10% NaOH solution for about 20 to 30 minutes in
ceramic container. Finally, rubber washed again by
water until its PH becomes 7. The NaOH removes
thezinc stearatelayers fromrubber surface. Also, it
increases the hydraulic conductivity, rubber/cement
watertransferrate,andhydrationattheinterfacewhich
improvestherubber/cementadhesionasshowninfig-
ure9[2, 7, 8, 10, 24, 25, 28, 30, 31, 33, 42]. Treating
by NaOH retains the concrete strength reduction by
about 1637%[3, 27]. Also, using NaOH increases
theflexural strength, andmodulusof elasticity by 76
and5%, respectively[9].
1042
Figure10. Microstructureof theRcwithSF [13].
4.2 Using silica fume
SF canbeaddedtoRcmixasareplacementof cement
to increaseconcretestrength. SF fills micro voids in
concretemixandincreasesmixdensity.Also, SFhasa
goodadhesionwithrubber asshowninfigure10[13].
Adding SF as areplacement of 15%of cement with
replacing20%of MFAbyRFA,substitutesthestrength
reductionbyabout 44%[3]. Treatingrubber byusing
NaOH; and adding SF to cement mix, improved the
concretecompressivestrength, andmodulus of elas-
ticitybyabout79and65, respectively, comparedwith
conventional Rc [13]. Thecombinationof therubber
treatment by NaOH andtheadditionof SF improved
theadhesionandfill anyvoidbetweencementparticles
andrubber aggregates. Thiscontributestorecovering
thestrengthof Rcanddecreaseitspermeability.
5 SUMMARY ANDFINDINGS
Thismanuscriptreviewsresearchpublishedontheper-
formanceof rubberizedconcrete. Generally, replacing
mineral aggregates by rubber aggregates resultingin
asignificantdegradationintheconcretecompressive,
tensilestrengths, workability, andmodulusof elastic-
ity. However, increasingthevolumeof rubber content
resulted in more ductility, toughness, and viscous
dampingratiocomparedtoconventional concrete.The
followingconclusionsaredrawnfromtheobservations
madethroughout thisliterature.
Replacing MFA by RFA resulting in concrete
mechanical propertieshigher thanreplacingMCA
byRCA. Inaddition, replacingupto15%of MFA
by RFA has neither significant effect on strength
nor workability.
Therateof compressivestrengthlossesuptocon-
crete age of 28 days is approximately constant.
However, at later agesit exhibitsgreater losses.
Replacing Up to 10% of MFA or MCA by RFA
or RCA resulted in about 30% tensile strength
reductioncomparedtoconventional concrete.
Reduction in the static modulus of elasticity is
slightlyhigher thanthereductionof dynamicmod-
ulus for thesameRc. Themaximumreductionin
bothof themreachesabout 30%at rubber content
of 45%.
Shredded rubber is more effective than crumbed
rubber inincreasingviscousdampingratio.
Increasing the rubber content increases the vis-
cousdampingratiolinearlyupto30%replacement.
Beyond that theviscous damping ratio reached a
capvalueof approximately70%and130%higher
thanthoseof conventional concretefor crumband
shreddedrubber, respectively.
Replace fine aggregates, by 15%, improves the
ultimatestrain by 13%compared to conventional
concrete. Doublingof thisreplacement percentage
increasestheultimatestrainby16%onlycompared
toconventional concrete.
Treating rubber by NaOH before mixing in con-
creteimproves concretestrength. NaOH removes
thezinc stearatelayers fromthesurfaceof rubber
allowing for better adhesion between rubber and
cement particles.
Replace15%of concretecement by SF improves
Rccompressivestrengthbyabout 44%.
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1044
Timber engineering
Steel-timber hybridstructures Designperformance
anddynamicbehaviour
C. Dickof & S.F. Stiemer
Department of Civil Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
S. Tesfamariam
School of Engineering, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, Canada
ABSTRACT: NorthAmericanbuildingcodescurrentlyprovidestrict limitsonheight of woodstructures; for
example, inCanadawoodstructuresarelimitedto4or 5storeys. Thispaper examinesthepossibilityof usinga
steel-timber hybridsysteminmidrisebuildingsupto10storeys. Theusesteel-timber hybridsystemsallowsfor
thecombinationof highstrengthandductilityof steel withhighstiffnessandlight weight of timber. Themodel
examinedhereinisasteel moment framewithinfill crosslaminatedtimber (CLT) panels. A detailednon-linear
model of a2D wood-steel hybrid seismic forceresisting systemwas completed for 3, 6, and 9 storeys with
varyingsteel momentframedesignsandvaryingplacementof theinfill wall panels.Theconnectionbetweenthe
frameandpanelswasexaminedwithstaticanalysiscompletedtodeterminetheeffectof thetypeof confinement
provided by thesteel frameto thepanels. Further, a static pushover analysis was performed for thevarious
combinationsof framedesign, systemstoreys, andinfill placements. Theresultsareanalyzedfor apreliminary
estimateof ductility (Rd) and overstrength (Ro) as used in theNational Building Codeof Canada(NBCC).
Initial estimatesindicatepreliminary valuesfor steel frameswithinfill CLT panelsare2.0and1.9for Rdand
Rorespectively.Thisissimilar totheestimatesusedfor plainCLT constructioninCanada. Further, lowductility
framesbenefit most fromtheadditionof CLT infill wallsduetotheir lower initial ductility.
1 INTRODUCTION
Hybrid systems are commonly used throughout the
world, andarepresentinmanytypesof structureswith
many different types of material. A hybridsystemis
anysystemthatcombinestwoormorestructural mate-
rials. Steel-timber hybridization is the focus of this.
Steel is strong with significant post-yield deflection
capability, knownasductility; woodiscomparatively
muchweakerusuallyrequiringlargermembers,result-
ing in stiffer systems; wood does not produce post-
yielddeflection,especiallywhenloadedperpendicular
tothegrain. Thecharacteristicsof woodandsteel are
summarizedinTable1.
Several issues are immediately obvious with this
typeof seismicforceresistingsystem,thelargestbeing
theincompatibility associated with thedifferencein
Table1. Material Propertiesfor Steel andTimber.
Material Steel Timber
Density(kg/m
3
) 7800 400600
Mod. Elasticity(MPa) 200000 800011000
Strength(MPa) Comp 4001000 Parallel: 30; Perp.: 8
Tens 4001000 Parallel: 6; Perp.: 1
Yield 350 N/A
material properties; the incompatibility of steel and
timber mean theconnections arean important prob-
lem.Despitethis,thelight,cheap,andenvironmentally
friendlynatureof woodmakesitagoodmaterial topair
withstronger, moreductilesteel.
Current design philosophy, as detailed in the
National BuildingCodeof Canada2005(NRC, 2005),
isforcebaseddesign. Inotherwords, theforceexerted
onthebuildinggivenafullyelasticresponseforagiven
seismichazardindexiscalculated; theelasticforceis
thenreducedbytheductilityfactor, R
d
, andtheover-
strengthfactor, R
o
, todesignforceallowingforplastic
behaviour. TheNBCC 2005 provideR
d
and R
o
fac-
tors for many seismic-force-resistingsystem(SFRS)
types but currently provides no informationfor steel
andwoodhybridsystems. FEMA P695definesover-
strengthandductility. Overstrength(, R
o
) isdefined
as the ratio of the maximumbase shear resistance
(V
max
) andthedesignbaseshear (V) (FEMA, 2009):
Becauseweareinterestedintheinnateoverstrength
in the system, we will assume perfect design and
consider the design base shear as the base shear at
first yield.
1047
Ductility(, R
d
) isdefinedastheratiobetweenthe
ultimateroof drift (
u
) andtheyieldroof drift (
y
):
First we will review the type of hybrid vertical
seismic force resisting system to be explored, the
steel moment frame with wood infill shear walls.
An exampledesign will becompleted and analyzed.
Theproposedsystemisdescribed, alongwitheachof
its components; preliminary results for static NBCC
loadingandstaticpushover analysisconfirmthecon-
tribution to strength and stiffness, compared with
either material workingalone. This systemperforms
similarlytothecommonhybridseismicforceresisting
system: concretemoment frameswithmasonry infill
shear walls.
2 HYBRIDINFILL WALL SYSTEM
The most common types of hybrid infill wall sys-
tem are masonry infill walls in low ductility steel
or concrete moment frames. They effectively stiffen
andstrengthenthemomentframeconsiderably. Many
studies show the benefits: increased strength, stiff-
ness, energydissipation, andresistancetoincremental
collapse; converselytheductilityof thesystemissig-
nificantly reduced by their inclusion in thestructure
(Kodor et al., 1995).
Frequently, non-structural partitionwallsareadded
asinfill tomoment frames; thesewallscanhaveseri-
ous impact on the seismic response of the structure
duetothehighcomparativestiffnessof theinfill parti-
tionstothemomentframedespitebeingnon-structural
components.Yousuf andBagchis(2009) studyonthe
impact of non-structural infill partitionwallsonduc-
tilitytypeductile(D) steel moment framesfoundthat
theimpactof infill partitionwallsresultsindecreased
deflectionandductility inthestructure, andinsome
caseshinginginthecolumns.
This study will look at steel moment frames
designedwiththeadditionof timberinfill shearwalls.
Hybrid timber and steel infill wall systems has the
advantage of significantly less added weight to the
systemcomparedto amasonry infill wall, andusing
crossed laminated timber (CLT) shear walls we can
obtainastiffnessmuchgreat thanthat of typical OSB
innon-structural partitionwalls.
2.1 Steel frame
A simplifiedfloorplanandelevationareshowninFig-
ure1andFigure2. Theplanhas 43bays. The2D
frameelevationtakeninthehorizontal plandirection
will beusedasthebasesteel moment framefor anal-
ysis. Thedeadloads arebasedon concreteon metal
deck for thefloors for atotal deadloadof 4.05kPa,
and3.4kPadeadloadfor theroof.
Figure1. Test Buildingfloor plan.
Figure 2. Test Building Elevation for 2D analysis at 6
Storeys.
Thesteel framesat 3, 6and9storeysaredesigned
to meet an equivalent static load associated with a
combinedR
d
R
o
of 3.0basedontestingdoneat FPIn-
novations, R
d
of 2.0 and R
o
of 1.5 are conservative
estimates for CLT structures with nailed and screw
connections (Popovski and Karacabeyli, 2011). The
framesarealsodesignedtomeet therequirementsfor
aductile(typeD) ductility moment frameandalim-
itedductility (typeLD) as specifiedintheCSA S16
code(CSA-S16, 2009).
2.2 Crossed laminated timer walls
The infill panels in this study will be comprised
of Crossed laminated timber (CLT). CLT is layered
andgluedinalternatingdirectionstoapproximatean
orthotropicplate(Mohammad, 2010). Infill panelsare
modeled as 3ply, 92mmpanels to be placed within
the steel frame in three configurations as shown in
Figure3.
CLT wallscombinetwobehaviour types: overturn-
ing or rocking, and panel shear (Schneider, 2009);
deformationinthepanel provides minimal contribu-
tiontothehysteretic behaviour. TheCLT without the
contributionof theconnectionsisgenerallytreatedas
arigidbody, duetothecomparativestrengthbetween
thepanel andthebracket. Comparatively, whereinfill
1048
Figure3. Infill wall locationswithinmoment frame.
Table 2. CLT Elastic Material Properties Parallel to the
Grain(KLH, 2008).
ElasticModulus(E) 12000MPa
Shear Modulus(G) 250MPa
CompressiveStrength 24MPa
CrushingStrength 30MPa
Shear Strength 5.2MPa
Figure4. Bracket experimental force-displacement results
parallel and perpendicular to CLT wall edge (Schneider,
2009).
walls are used, the frame will not be comparatively
weaker than thepanel, so non-linear behaviour may
beexpectedasthepanel deformsandpossiblybegins
tofail incrushing.
The panels used in this study represent are 3 ply
94mm, panelswithacentral laminateof 34mm. Val-
uesfor thepropertiesof CLT panelsaredependenton
thetypeof timberusedandthenumberandorientation
of thelayers. UsingthevaluesdevelopedbyKLH, the
material propertiesinTable2.
2.3 Connections between frame and walls
Theconnectionbetweentheframeandtheshear wall
hastwoimportantfeatures:thebracketsconnectingthe
shear walls to theframe, andtheconfinement of the
wall fromtheframe. Testingwas completedat FPIn-
novations on nailed steel brackets in CLT walls; the
resultinghystereticenvelopeisshowninFigure4.
The brackets are placed at 800mmspacing simi-
lar tothetestingcompletedunder theCUREE testing
Figure5. Steel material moment curvaturerelationship.
protocols. In addition to thebehaviour of thebrack-
ets, theconfinement offered by theframeitself will
contributesignificantlytothesystem.
3 MODEL SETUPANDRESULTS
Thesystemwill bemodeledusingOPENSEES. The
framemembers aremodeled as non-linear displace-
mentbasedbeamcolumnswithelasticperfectlyplastic
material properties. Thematerial propertiesarebased
on the moment-curvature relationships given in the
ASCE41for steel moment frames.
Theactual panels weremodeledas quadelements
intended for shear only. They were modeled with a
non-linear elastic perfectly plastic material based on
vonmissesyieldcriteria.
The connections were modeled as links with
strength in strength and stiffness properties parallel
andperpendicular tothelinks. Thematerialsusedare
basedonthedisplacement shapeshowninFigure4.
Additionallyelasticperfectlyplasticbehaviour was
modeledincompressionaroundtheedgestomodel the
confinementof thesystem.Figure6showstheeffectof
confinementaswell aswhenagapisprovidedbetween
apanel andthesteel frame. Thegapcanbeprovided
toaccommodateconstructiontolerancesaswell asto
develophystereticbehaviourinthelinks.Whenthegap
closesthestiffnessof thesystemwill increaseuntil the
frameor panel yields.
It is also important to note that in the pushover
curve, after oncethegap has closed, thestrength of
thebracketsdoesnotcontributetotheultimatecapac-
ity of thesystem, thehysteretic behaviour inthelink
duringcyclicmayplayasignificant role. Theformof
thepushover curvesalsoshowsaninitial zoneof elas-
ticitywherethebracketiscontributingtothestiffness
of thesystemas awhole. Inthis zone, thedeflection
in the bracket and nails will dissipate energy in an
earthquake.
Fortheremainderof themodelingagapof 10mmis
usedtoallowbothrangesof behaviour inthesystem.
3.1 Static analysis results
Apushoveranalysisisperformedforeachductilityand
infill configuration. Thepushover analyses compare
1049
Figure6. Effect of confinement gaponaframewithinfill
panel.
theplainframetoincreasingbaysof infill shear walls.
ThecurvesinFigure6, Figure7, andFigure8respec-
tively, showincreasedstiffness andstrengthfor each
additional shearwall added.All storeylevelsshowthat
thestiffness and strength of thesystemonly creates
plasticityintheCLT panelswhen2or3baysarefilled
withCLT, for asinglebay, yieldinginthesteel frame
still governsthesystemsbehaviour.
The pushover curves also show that as walls are
addedtothesystem, theyieldingpatternchanges.The
steel frames show yielding in the columns prior to
yieldinginthebeams; columnyieldingisundesirable
behaviour, especially for frames designed to behave
as ductile (type D) moment frames. The change in
behaviour is less drastic for low ductility (type LD)
frames. Optimization of this type of systemmay be
neededtoappropriatelyoptimizethesystemtoprovide
hinginginthebeamsintheopenbays.
Because of the different levels of yielding, this
typeof systemcouldbewell suitedfor performance
baseddesigntomitigatedamage. Thebracketscould
bedesigned and placed in a way to absorb theonly
damageinalowintensityearthquake, withthepanels
andframeabsorbingfurtherenergyinhigherintensity
earthquake.
Thesystemswithhigher numbersof in-filledbays
seembettersuitedforhigherforces. Significantplastic
deformationinthepanels is notedbeforetheframes
begintoyieldinsomecases, for examplethe3storey
framewith2baysof infill wallsasshowninFigure10.
Thecouplingof thetwowallswiththebeambetween
maycontributetothispositivetypeof behaviour.
This systemis well suited to performance based
design; thereduceddeflectioninthesystemasaresult
of theinfill panelsminimizesdamagetonon-structural
components that might havebeendamagedinasim-
plesteel momentframe. If thesystemwereoptimized
to provideplastic deformation in thepanels prior to
anyplasticbehaviour intheframethepanelscouldbe
removedandreplacedafter mid-intensity earthquake
that wouldleavetheframeundamaged.
Figure7. Staticpushover for 3storeysystem.
Figure8. Staticpushover for 6storeysystem.
Figure9. Staticpushover for 9storeysystems.
Figure11showsthatthelocationsof highstressare
localizedatthecornersof thepanel duetostrutaction.
Thepanelsaremorelikelytocrushlocallythancrack
or bucklethroughout their crosssection.
Theductility andoverstrength factor, as shown in
Equations1and2arealsocomputed, andsummarized
inTable3.TypeDframesshowedatypical reductionin
ductility(Rd) rangingfrom42%to57%comparedto
1050
Figure 10. Frame and panel yield in static pushover of
3storeysystems.
Figure11. StressDistributioninCLT panel.
thedesignvalueof 5.0atall storeyheightsandall infill
orientations. Additionally, therewasnot alargevaria-
tioninthechangeinductilitywithregardstonumber
of filledbays; andinwiththebaywithonly1filledbay
typicallyshowingthehighest reductioninductility.
TypeLDframesconverselyshowedamuchsmaller
reductioninductility, insomecasesevenshowingduc-
tilityabovethatrequiredforalimitedductilitymoment
frame.ThevariationwasmuchlargerwiththetypeLD
steel frame: onecaseshowedareductionof 27%com-
paredtothedesignRdvalues, another caseshoweda
ductility45%abovethedesignlimitedductilityframe
Rdvalued; all theother casesshowedductilityvalues
ranging from6% to 25% above the design Rd val-
ues for typeLD frames. Inall theanalyzedsystems,
only3casesshowedductilitybelow2.0, andonlythe
9storeyframesshowedaductilityvalueshigher than
2.75; thedesignductility valuesfor plainCLT, Rdof
2.0, appears to beappropriatefor thehybrid system
aswell.
The analytical overstrength value is consistently
nearorhigherthantheplainsteel framesdesignvalues.
Additionally, as morewalls areaddedto thesystem,
the increase in the overstrength is large; with a bay
Table3. Ductility Results for steel frames withinfill CLT
walls.
Plain 1Bay 2Bays 3Bays
3 Storey Frame
D Model
T
7.21 2.21 2.71 2.85
1.60 1.46 1.93 2.07
NBCC R
d
5.0 2.0
R
o
1.5 1.5
LD Model
T
2.37 1.46 2.47 2.40
1.42 1.14 1.62 1.56
NBCC R
d
2.0 2.0
R
o
1.7 1.5
6 Storey Frame
D Model
T
6.92 2.28 2.75 2.14
1.74 1.78 2.43 2.48
NBCC R
d
5.0 2.0
R
o
1.5 1.5
LD Model
T
2.91 2.12 2.46 2.33
1.70 1.85 2.14 2.19
NBCC R
d
2.0 2.0
R
o
1.7 1.5
9 Storey Frame
D Model
T
4.81 2.33 2.90 2.78
2.21 2.48 2.91 2.87
NBCC R
d
5.0 2.0
R
o
1.5 1.5
LD Model
T
2.27 2.27 2.90 2.50
1.72 2.47 2.90 2.63
NBCC R
d
2.0 2.0
R
o
1.7 1.5
filled theoverstrength values varies fromadecrease
of 30%toanincreaseof 50%, comparativelyfor 2or
3 filled bays, theoverstrength valueranges froman
increase of 30%to nearly 100%. There is also very
littledifferencebetween2or 3filledbaysontheover-
strengthof thesystem. A larger valueof Romight be
appropriatefor thedesignof thistypeof hybridsteel
andwoodsystem.
4 CONCLUSION
Steel and Timber hybridization has many different
forms. Thestudywithinthispaper focusesonthepre-
liminary evaluation of one type of vertical seismic
forceresisting system, asteel framewith CLT infill
shear walls.
Preliminarystudyontheconfinement andspacing
betweenthepanel andtheframeshowedthattheaddi-
tionagapcanbeusedtoaccommodateperformance
baseddesignaswell aspotentially usedasanoppor-
tunity for energy dissipationduringseismic event as
rockinginthewallsoccurs.
Theinitial resultsfromthepushover analysisshow
anincreaseinstrengthandstiffnesswiththeaddition
of infill CLT shear walls. Theadditionof CLT infill
walls did causeadecreasein theductility of ductile
moment frames, withductilitysimilar toaCLT walls
1051
system, Rd of 2.0 no matter the design of the steel
frame. Theimplication of this is that theaddition of
CLT infill shear wallsisnot asuitablefor additionto
ductilemoment frames.
Further, the addition of infill walls seemed to
behavethebest withthe2baysfilledandoneempty.
Thisorientationallowsthewallsandframetobehavea
coupledwall system, encouragingyieldinginthecen-
tral beam. Further studywill allowfor optimizationof
thedesignof thecentral baybeams.
Additionally,theplasticitymodeledinthewallswas
showntooccur whenenoughwallswereplacedinthe
systemto raisetheshear occurring in thewalls sig-
nificantly. Experimental testing is required to more
accurately determinetheformthefailureintheCLT
wall will take, the material should be refined. Test-
ingshouldalso becompletedonthebrackets within
aninfill frame. Finally, to effectively implement any
hybrid steel and timber systems, significant addi-
tional research is required for the connections used
specificallytodissipateenergy.
Furtherresearchisrequiredtoeffectivelydetermine
appropriate seismic force reduction factors for this
typeof systemincludingafull incremental dynamic
analysis.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research was supported through funding to
the NSERC Strategic Network on Innovative Wood
Products and Building Systems (NEWBuildS) and
theSteel StructuresEducationFoundation(SSEF) of
Canada.
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[1] CSA-S16. (2009). Design of Steel Structures.
Ottawa: CanadianStandardsAssociation.
[2] Dujic, B., Strus, K., &Zarnic, R. (2010). Prediction
of DynamicResponseof a7StoreyMassiveCross-
lamWoodenBuildingTestedonaShakingTable.
World Conference on Timber Engineering.
[3] FEMA. (2009). P695 Quantification of Building
Seismic Performance Factors. AppliedTechnology
Council (ATC).
[4] Keenan. (1986). Limit States Design of Wood
Structures. Toronto, ON: Canada Morrison
HershfieldLtd.
[5] Khorasani. (2010). Feasibility Study of Hybrid
Wood Steel Structures. University of British
Columbia: Thesis(MASc).
[6] KLH. (2008). Panel Characteristics.
[7] Kodor, V., Erki, M., & Quenneville, J. (1995).
Seismic DesignandAnalysis of Masonry Infilled
Frames. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering
Vol. 22 Issue 3, 576587.
[8] Koshihara, M., &Isoda, H. (2005). A studyof five
storiedtimber basedhybridbuildingfor practical
use (Part 13). Summary of Technical Papers of
Annual Meeting Architectural Institute of Japan,
(pp. 201206).
[9] Krisciunas, R. (1996). Ontarios experience with
Composite Wood/Steel Bridges. National Con-
ference on Wood Tansportation Structures. US
Department of Agriculture, Forest Sevice, Forest,
ProductsLab.
[10] Mohammad, M. (2010). Cross LaminatedTimber
(CLT)ComingSoontoNorthAmerica.WoodWorks
Wood Design Workshop. WoodProductsCouncil.
[11] Moore, M. (2000). Scotia Place 12 Story
Apartment BuildingA Case Study of High_reise
CosntrutionUsingWoodandSteel. New Zealand
Timber Design Journal, Vol.10 Issue 1 , 512.
[12] Popovski, M., & Karacabeyli, E. (2011). Seismic
Performanceof CLT Structures. FPInnovations.
[13] Schneider, J. (2009). Connections in Cross-
Laminated-Timber Shear Walls Considering the
Behaviour under Monotonic and Cyclic Lateral
Loading. Universityof Stutgart: Thesis(M.A.Sc).
[14] Stiemer, S., Tesfamariam, S., Karacabeyli, E., &
Propovski, M. (2012). Developmentof Steel-Wood
Hybrid Systems for Buildings under Dynamic
Loads.STESSA2012, Behaviour of Steel Structures
in Seismic Areas. Santiago, Chile.
[15] Xiong, H., & J ia, G. (2008). ResearchonSeismic
Behaviour of Wood-Concrete Hybrid Structure.
10th World Conference on Timber Engineering.
[16] Yousuf, M., & Bagchi, A. (2009). Seismic Design
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Engineering, Vol. 36, Issue 2, 280294.
1052
Reviewonlong-termbehaviour of timber-concretecompositefloors
N. Khorsandnia, H.R. Valipour, R. Shrestha, C. Gerber & K. Crews
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: Timber-concretecomposite(TCC) beams aremadeuptwo materials, i.e. woodandconcrete,
which exhibit different behaviours under long-termloading. Thetime-dependent behaviour of TCC beamis
not only affectedby thelong-termloadbut also drivenby thevariationof theenvironmental conditions such
as temperatureand relativehumidity. In particular, themaximumdeflection under serviceloads may govern
thedesignrequirement for mediumtolongspanTCC beamssubjectedtoheavyenvironmental conditions. For
such structures, application of simplified methods adopted by different codes may lead to significant errors.
Henceinvestigatingthelong-termbehaviour of TCC beams subject to variableenvironmental conditionis of
greatimportancefor designersandresearchers. Inthispaper theresearchundertakenonlong-termbehaviour of
TCC floorsiscritically reviewedandtherecent findingsarehighlighted. Themost important referencesinthe
literaturewereselectedtoprovidemoredepthintothetime-dependent performanceof TCC structure.
1 INTRODUCTION
Many timber girder-concretedeck bridges werebuilt
about6575yearsago.Thenafterabouta30-yeartime,
therewas an increasein thetrend of using compos-
ite material systems and therefore, the development
of timber-concretecomposite(TCC) beamshasbeen
increasinginbuildingandbridgestructures. TheTCC
beamrepresentsaconstructiontechniquewidelyused
in building newstructures or upgrading thestrength
andstiffnessof existingstructures.Thistechniquecon-
sists of connecting an existing or new timber beam
withaconcreteslabcast abovethetimber deckingby
meansof aconnectionsystem.
Having a composite section with concrete flange
andtimber webcombines thebest properties of both
materials to beexploitedandconsequently is agood
motivation for using them. Also, timber is a renew-
ableresourcebasedmaterial whichreducestheenergy
of material productionandcarbondioxideemissions
comparedwithsteel andconcrete. Theadvantagesof
these composite systems compared to floors made
solely from timber are great; with an increase of
loading capacity which reduces thedeflection under
imposedloads, goodacousticperformance, higherfire
resistanceandlesssusceptibletovibrations.
Recently, extensiveresearchhasbeendevelopedto
investigatedifferentbehavioursof TCCbeamsandthe
significance of this composite structure was proven
through them(Ceccotti & Covan 1990; Fragiacomo
et al. 2007a). The research can mainly be divided
into experimental and analytical investigations. The
experimental programsusually includesometestson
small andfull scalespecimenstocapturethestructural
behaviour under theappliedforce, andtheanalytical
studiesinvolvenumerical or finiteelement modelling
to predict the relevant behaviour in an efficient and
accuratemethod.
TCCstructuresincludethreedifferentcomponents,
i.e. timber, concrete and connection, which resist
not only the same forces, but also show different
behaviours during their life-time. The concrete slab
usually resists compression, whilethetimber usually
resiststensioninducedbybending, andtheconnection
systemmostly providesamechanismfor shear trans-
fer. This mechanismresists slip between timber and
concreteinTCC structures.
2 BEHAVIOURANDPERFORMANCE
OF TCC FLOORS
Accordingtodesigncodes,TCCstructureshavetosat-
isfy ultimateandserviceability limit states(ULS and
SLS) design requirements (CEN 2008) under short-
and long-termbehaviour. In ULS theultimatestress
under imposed loads and the maximumcapacity of
the section govern the design, whereas in SLS the
maximumdeflection can be the major criterion and
governs the design. In many cases, the maximum
deflectionlimitgovernsthedesign; however, themax-
imumstresses in timber are between 80%and 90%
of thedesignstrength. Basedontheabovementioned
behaviours, the adequacy of TCC floors have to be
investigatedatleastintwostages: (1) thetimeof load-
ing (short-term); and (2) theend of theservicelife,
usually50years(long-term).
Theshort-termbehaviour of aTCC beamisgener-
allywell predictedbyanalytical formulationsderived
fromthesolutionof governingdifferential equations.
1053
These methods treat timber, concrete and the con-
nection behaviours as linear-elastic, assume equal
curvatures for structural elements, and neglect shear
deformations.
The long-termbehaviour of these composite sys-
tems is more complicated because the long-term
behavioursof timber, concreteandconnectionwhich
areaffectedby creepandshrinkage/swelling, aredif-
ferent. Themaximumdeflectionunder serviceability
limit state(SLS) loadsisthemost influential parame-
ter ontheperformanceof mediumtolongspanTCC
beams subjected to severe environmental conditions
(Fragiacomo & Schnzlin 2010). Hence investigat-
ingthebehaviour of suchstructures under long-term
loadingisimportant.
2.1 Long-term behaviour of TCC components
The time-dependent behaviour of TCC beamis not
onlyaffectedbythelong-termloadbut alsodrivenby
thevariationof theenvironmental conditionssuchas
temperatureandrelativehumidity.Therearealsosome
simplifiedapproachesindimensioningcodestocheck
the long-termbehaviour of TCC structures but they
mayleadtosignificanterrorsespeciallyfor long-span
beams under variableclimates (Amadio et al. 2000).
All the materials employed in TCCs, i.e. concrete,
timber and connection system, display significant
time-dependencywhichchangesbothstrainandstress
distribution. Thesetemporal effectsdependuponsev-
eral factors such as stress level, moisture content,
temperatureandrelativehumidityof theenvironment.
Furthermore, thebehavioursof TCC componentsare
complicated and strongly non-linear under thecom-
bined effect of thermo-hydromechanical cycles and
therefore, thermal andmoisturevariations shouldbe
accounted for in the design of long-termcomposite
beams, especiallywhenamoreaccurateestimationof
deflection is needed. SinceaTCC beamis an inde-
terminatesystem, stress redistributions can occur in
concrete, timber andconnection(Mueller et al. 2008;
Yeoh et al. 2010) due to different time-dependent
propertiesof thematerialswhichmakethestructural
problemdifferent thanapurecreepproblem.
Thedurabilityandbehaviour of timber inthelong-
term can be influenced by the viscoelastic creep,
mechano-sorptiveeffect(i.e. theincrementof delayed
strainduetochangesof moisturecontent), shrinkage/
swellingandthevariationof Youngsmodulusdueto
moisturecontent changes. Whenthestresses areless
than35%of theshort-termstrengthandtheenviron-
ment conditionis stable, timber canberegardedas a
linear-viscoelasticmaterial,whereasinavariableenvi-
ronment,theviscoelasticbehaviourof timberbecomes
non-linear. Relativehumiditychangescausemoisture
contentchangeswhichcanaffecttimberbehaviourand
leadto fairly largedeformations in timber elements.
Creepinchangingmoistureconditions is larger than
creepinconstant wet conditions, whichisalsolarger
thancreepinconstantdryconditions. Sothelong-term
behaviour of timber isacomplexfunctionof boththe
ambient conditionsandtheinherent propertiesof the
structure, i.e. woodspecies, dimensions, coating, etc.
Thelong-termbehaviourof concreteisalsoaffected
by different phenomenasuchascreep, shrinkageand
thermal expansion and they all have to be taken
into account. Moreover, the long-term mechanical
behaviour of connecting system (creep of connec-
tion) has a great influence on TCC efficiency. The
slip modulus and the strength of a mechanical con-
nector do not demonstrateits creep behaviour while
this phenomenondepends mainly ontheshear trans-
fermechanismwhichaffectslocal stressdistributionin
timber andconcrete. Connectionsystemsshowanon-
linear behaviour evenfor small shear forces; therefore
it isnecessary totakeaccount of thisnon-linearity to
evaluatetheloadingcapacityandlong-termbehaviour
of thestructurecorrectly.
Accordingly, muchof therecent researchhasbeen
undertakenonthelong-termbehaviourofTCCbeams.
The research can be mainly categorized as studies
based on codes and standard provisions, analyti-
cal investigations and experimental works which are
reviewedinthefollowingsections.
3 CODESANDSTANDARDPROVISIONS
The long-term behaviour of TCC floors are evalu-
ated in different codes and standards based on the
creep behaviour of timber, concreteand connection.
Amongst them Eurocode (CEN 2008) is the most
complete for TCC sections. Several recent studies
havebeen conducted based on Eurocodeprovisions,
someof whicharereviewedinhere.
Thelong-termdeflectionof aTCC beambasedon
Eurocode 5 provision, which recommend to double
thecreepcoefficientfortheconnection, wasevaluated
by Kavaliauskas et al. (2005). TheEurocodemethod
only gives initial and final deformation, while the
experimental results indicatethat thepredicted final
deformationisoftenexceededwithinthefirstyear for
mediumandlongspanfloors. Thisresearchproposed
calculatingthecreepof concreteandtimberseparately,
withconcretecreepdeformationcalculatedbasedon
Eurocode2provisionsandthetimber creepdeforma-
tioncalculatedusinganexponential lawbasedonthe
work of Fragiacomo& Ceccotti (2004). Resultsfrom
the proposed method showed that the initial deflec-
tionpredictionwastwicethat predictedby Eurocode
5andreachedalmost its final valueover aperiodof
60days. Themost changesinstressesanddeflections
occurred during the first 180 days and the calcu-
latedfinal deflectionwas 1.5times that predictedby
Eurocode5.
Schnzlin & Fragiacomo (2007) introduced two
rigorous approaches for evaluatinglong-termdeflec-
tions. Oneapproachusedmaterial creepcoefficients
toevaluatetheeffect of inelastic strainssuchascon-
creteshrinkage. Another approachusedtheeffective
creep coefficients of the different materials instead
of the pure material creep coefficients to calculate
1054
thedifferenceof creepratesover time. Alsoconcrete
shrinkageandclimatic strains weretransformedinto
an equivalent uniformly distributed load to facilitate
usingEurocode5formulasfor compositebeamswith
flexibleconnections.
Schnzlin & Fragiacomo (2008) also introduced
a design method which is called effective creep
coefficientsbasedonthestressredistribution. More-
over, the method of determining the effective creep
coefficients and the necessity and accuracy of them
were reported. It was shown that the stress redis-
tribution affects the effective creep coefficient and
has a negligible influence on the behaviour of TCC
beams exposed to outdoor conditions with small
-coefficientsaccordingtotheEurocode5; however,
it can increase the deflection up to 30% for large
-coefficientsparticularlyinindoorconditions.More-
over, thebendingmomentof timber isalsoinfluenced
by thestress redistribution and it can lead to a30%
underestimationbyusingonlypurecreepcoefficients.
Finally, based on the parametric study, some simple
conservativeformulashavebeenproposedtocalculate
theincreaseindeflectionandtimber bendingmoment
duetothestressredistribution.
In another paper, Schnzlin (2008) compared the
creepcoefficients of different standards andfounda
quitevariability of possiblevalues. It was concluded
that thedifferences arenot only quantitativebut also
qualitative. Forexample, intheGermanstandard(DIN
1052) thestress level affects thecreep deformation,
whereasinEurocode5thecreepstrainisonlyaffected
bytheserviceclass.
4 ANALYTICAL ANDNUMERICAL STUDIES
The moisture content variations markedly affect the
mechano-sorptiveof timber andconnectionandcon-
sequentlythecreepof timber,concreteandconnection.
Thesephenomenainfluencethestressdistributionand
deflection of thecompositebeamand therefore, the
effects of the moisture content variation on the per-
formance of TCC structures should be modelled by
rigorousnumerical algorithmorfiniteelementmodel.
Accurate analysis of deformations in TCC beams
requires: (1) analysis of moisture changes at each
location of thebeamas aresult of relativehumidity
changes, (2) correct predictionof creepdevelopment
at each location as a function of moisture changes,
(3) consideration of the changing stress distribution
and displacement due to hygroexpansion and creep.
Having an exact analytical methods and simulations
can reduce the number of experimental tests which
havetobecarriedouttofindacorrectdesignforTCC
structures.
The developed analytical methods to date can be
basicallyclassifiedtoframeelementsandcontinuum-
based models. The continuum-based models offer a
good versatility without the need for push-out tests
inorder tocharacterizetheconnectionproperties, but
theyaretimeconsumingfromcomputational point of
viewandmay not beefficient for rigorouslong-term
analysisof TCC beams.
4.1 Frame FE models
A finitedifferencemethodweredevelopedinorder to
solvetheviscoelasticproblemforTCCswithrigidcon-
nections (Mungwa& Kenmou 1993). Later, another
FE model withdeformableshear connectorsanddis-
placementformulationwasdevelopedbyAmadioetal.
(1999) to study creep and shrinkage effects inTCC
beams. Thecapabilities of theproposed formulation
have been demonstrated within a simple numerical
example. A non-linear FE-programfor assessment of
thelong-termperformanceof timber beams in vari-
ablesurroundingconditionsisdescribedinHanhijarvi
(2000). Thecomputational results includelong-term
deflectionandtime-to-failurepredictions.Themethod
shows a good potential to predict the long-term
responseof timber withpromisingresults. Further, a
numerical procedurewasdevelopedbyAmadioet al.
(2000) to evaluate the long-termbehaviour of TCC
beamsunderasustainedloadandconsideringseasonal
average moisture and temperature variations with a
sinusoidal lawaswell asconnectiondeformability.
Recently, Fragiacomo has investigated the long-
term behaviour of TCC beams (Fragiacomo 2005,
2006; Fragiacomo& Ceccotti 2006). Inthesepapers,
deformabilityof theconnectionsystemaswell asrheo-
logical behavioursof concrete, timber andconnection
wereconsidered. Linear modelswereusedtoevaluate
different componentsof creepandtheeffect of mois-
turecontentonthecreepof timberandconnection.The
proposedfiniteelement isshowninFigure1whichis
constitutedbytwoparallel beams. Thecross-sections
of bothbeamswerediscretisedintofibresinorder to
takeaccountof differentpropertiesalongthedepthand
thewidth. Also theconnectionsystemwas modelled
bylinkingupper andlower beamsusingacontinuous
springsystemalongthebeamaxis.
Fragiacomo et al. (2007b) conducted another
numerical researchprogramtoanalysetheTCCbeams
with notched connection systemto extent theexper-
imental results of 133 days to theentireservicelife
of the structure. The proposed FE model underesti-
matedtheelastic deflectionof thenotchedbeam, but
the overall time-dependent behaviour was predicted
with reasonable accuracy. The results showed quite
large deflections (about one hundredth of the beam
length) over theentireservicelife; however thestress
Figure1. Thefiniteelement usedto model thecomposite
beam(Fragiacomo2005).
1055
variationwas not significant. Moreover, asimplified
approachdevelopedfor shoredcompositebeamswith
smeared connection has been extended to unshored
composite beams with notched connection for pre-
dicting the long-termbehaviour. The results of the
analytical formulas correlate very well with the test
results, especially thedeflections. Theproposedana-
lytical methodcanbeusedfor thedesignof notched
compositebeams.
4.2 Continuum-based FE models
A threedimensional model implementedinthefinite
element code ABAQUS is presented by Bou Sad,
J ullien&Ceccotti (2004)whichpredictsthebehaviour
of TCC floors exposed to environmental conditions.
ThecomparisonbetweenFE resultsandexperimental
measurements demonstrate the accuracy of the pro-
posed models and their efficiency for predicting the
behaviourof compositestructuresunderserviceloads.
To(2009) focusedondevelopinganadvancednumer-
ical model of the time-dependent behaviour of the
layeredwood-concretecompositewithnotchedshear
keys by using 3D finite element models. The mod-
elling includes the diffusion, heat transfer and the
mechanical response. Themain goal of theresearch
was to expand available constitutive laws of timber
andconcretefor 3D FEM models. Theresults of the
verification analysis had close correlation with the
observedtime-dependent behaviour of thetest speci-
menfor thefirst123daysof thetest. Fortino&Toratti
(2010) developedamoisture-stressanalysisbasedon
a3D FEM model by using theABAQUS code. The
wood was modelled as an orthotropic material and
viscoelasticandmechano-sorptivebehaviourforwood
wasconsideredtoo.Theaimof theresearchwastoesti-
matethelevelsof moistureinducedstressesintimber
connectionsandparticularlyindowel-typejointswith
computational method. Themethodwas usedfor the
moisture-stress analysis of a dowel-type joint under
natural relativehumidity.
5 EXPERIMENTAL WORKS
Further long-term tests are needed to validate the
design guidelines and calibrate the developed exist-
ing analytical and numerical models, although they
are expensive and time consuming. The tests can
bedivided to two main groups, i.e. connections and
beams, andmostof therecentonesarereviewedinthe
followingsubsections.
5.1 Connections
Fragiacomoetal.(2007a)performedsomeexperimen-
tal testsontheTecnaria shear studconnectionsys-
temforTCCbeams. Somespecimensconstructedand
weresubjectedtopush-outtestsinthelong-termunder
sustainedloadinconstant andvariableenvironmental
relativehumidity. Thespecimens included both nor-
mal weight and light weight concrete. Also, Mueller
etal.(2008)arrangedlong-termsheartestsaspush-out
testsattheBauhaus-Universityof Weimaronthreedif-
ferenttypesof connectors(i.e. groove, studconnector
andX-connector).Theinfluenceof variationsof mois-
tureandtemperatureonthestiffnessof theconnectors
underlong-termloadingwasinvestigated. Inaddition,
theoutcomesof long-termtestsunder sustainedload
on threeother types of connections (i.e. grooveand
notchwithcoachscrewandtoothmetal platewithper-
foratedholes)havebeenreportedbyYeohetal. (2010).
Thetestsweredoneover aperiodof almost 1.5years
in an unheated, poorly controlled indoor condition.
Keyparameterssuchasrelativehumidity,temperature,
moisturecontent and therelativeslip of theconnec-
tionsweremeasuredunderenvironmental conditionof
serviceclass3accordingtoEurocode5.
5.2 Beams
Differentexperimental programshavebeenconducted
on TCC beams to investigate the load-deflection
behaviour of thestructureover time. To evaluatethe
effect of changingenvironmental conditions, suchas
relative humidity and temperature, various ambient
conditions have been employed. The ambient con-
ditions can be generally categorized to controlled
indoor(Bonamini etal. 1990; Ceccotti &Covan1990;
Yeoh et al. 2010), uncontrolled indoor (Fragiacomo
et al. 2007b), shelteredoutdoor (BouSadet al. 2004;
Kenel & Meierhofer 1998; To2009) andunsheltered
outdoor (Capretti & Ceccotti 1996; Ceccotti et al.
2007; Schnzlin2008). Intermsof test duration, they
canbealsoclassifiedtolessthanoneyear (Bonamini
etal.1990;Fragiacomoetal.2007b;To2009),between
one to two years (Bou Sad et al. 2004; Yeoh et al.
2010) andaboutfiveyears(Capretti &Ceccotti 1996;
Ceccotti et al. 2007; Kenel & Meierhofer 1998).
Furthermore, different lengthandsectiondimensions
have been used in the TCC beams. With regard to
thebeamlength, they canbedividedinto short span
(less than 3m) (Bonamini et al. 1990; Ceccotti &
Covan1990; To2009), mediumspan(between3mto
6m) (Capretti & Ceccotti 1996; Ceccotti et al. 2007;
Fragiacomo et al. 2007b; Kenel & Meierhofer 1998)
and long span (more than 6m) (Bou Sad et al.
2004; Yeoh et al. 2010). In most of thetests, differ-
ent parameters suchas, mid-spandeflection, relative
slip between timber and concrete, moisture content,
relativehumidityandtemperaturehavebeenrecorded
over time.
6 RECENT RESEARCHOUTCOMES
Someof themajor outcomes of thereviewedpapers
canbesummarizedasfollows.
The variations of environmental conditions influ-
ence the behaviour of TCC beams, the elastic
1056
modulusof timber andthemechano-sorptivecreep
of bothtimberandconnectionsystem. Suchstresses
anddeflection, maybecomequitesignificant, espe-
cially for composite beams with stiff connec-
tions and medium to long span length (Amadio
et al. 2000; Ceccotti et al. 2007; Fragiacomo &
Ceccotti 2006; Fragiacomo & Schnzlin 2010;
Mueller et al. 2008).
The mechano-sorptive creep is not only affected
by the level of moisture content but also can be
influencedsignificantlybythenumber of changing
moisture cycles especially for longer span beams
(To2009; Yeohet al. 2010).
Themaximummoisturevariationtakesplaceonthe
surfaceexposedtotheenvironment, whilstthemin-
imumoccurs in the centre of the timber section.
Therefore, the width of the timber beamplays a
significant role on the amplitude of the moisture
content variation (Fragiacomo & Schnzlin 2010;
To2009). Further, usingtheaveragemoisturecon-
tent betweentheouter surfaceandthecentreof the
timber sectionandaconstant temperatureover the
crosssectionof timberandconcretecanbeadequate
fordesignpurposes(Fragiacomo&Ceccotti 2006).
Thedailyandweeklyvariationsof theenvironmen-
tal relative humidity history do not significantly
affect the trend in time of the average moisture
content andtherefore, consideringweeklyor larger
cycles in long-termbehaviour of timber beams is
adequate (Fragiacomo & Schnzlin 2010; Schn-
zlin2008). It wasalsoconcludedthat theinfluence
of initial moisture content on the time dependent
stiffnessof thebeamisminor (Schnzlin2008).
The time-dependent response of the tested speci-
mensissensitivetothechangeof temperatureand
theeffect of thermal exposureshould beincluded
inloadcombinations usedinany designcode(To
2009).
The concrete shrinkage, connection creep, mois-
turecontent and temperaturevariations should be
consideredinthelong-termanalysisanddesignof
compositebeams, especiallywhenamoreaccurate
evaluationof thedeflectionisrequired(Fragiacomo
2006; Fragiacomo&Schnzlin2010; Mueller etal.
2008).
The connection system shows mechano-sorptive
creep dueto thehygroscopic behaviour of timber
around theconnector. Theamount of deformation
is negligiblefor therelativehumidity cycles with
periods less than one week and maximumampli-
tudeof 40%(Fragiacomoet al. 2007a). Increasing
the stiffness of the connector would increase the
total stiffnessof thestructure, andconsequentlythe
deflectioncanbereduced(Muelleretal. 2008). Itis
alsoobservedthatthecreepof connectionisbigger
thancreepof timber (Capretti & Ceccotti 1996).
Thevariationof thestressesduringtheservicelifeis
notassignificantasfor thedeflection, i.e. thelong-
termbehaviour of TCCbeamsmostlyinfluencethe
serviceabilitylimitstate, rather thaninternal forces
(Fragiacomoet al. 2007b).
The use of light weight concrete instead of nor-
mal weightconcretedoesnotsignificantlyaffectthe
performanceof theTCCbeamsneither inthelong-
term, nor in the collapse tests (Fragiacomo et al.
2007a).
Anincreaseindeflectionwasmainlyobserveddur-
ingthefirsttwoyearsof thelong-termtest,whilethe
sliproseduringthewholetestingperiod(Ceccotti
et al. 2007)
A TCC beaminoutdoor conditionsshouldbeclas-
sified as service class 3 based on Eurocode 5
provisionsregardlessof themaximumvalueof the
timber moisturecontent (Ceccotti et al. 2007).
Theconstructiontype(shoredorunshored)doesnot
significantly affect the structural performance of
the composite system(Fragiacomo et al. 2007b),
but it caninfluencetheinitial deflection.
If thedeflectionisrequiredtobelimitedforservice-
ability performance, somemethods suchas, prop-
ping, pre-camberingthebeam, usinglowshrinkage
concreteandprecastingtheconcretetolet it shrink
beforeconstructionarerecommended(Fragiacomo
et al. 2007b; Yeohet al. 2010).
7 CONCLUSIONS
Thelong-termbehaviour of timber-concretecompos-
ite structures is mainly governed by the maximum
deflectionof thebeamunder serviceabilitylimit state
(SLS) loads becauseof timedependent behaviour of
TCC components (i.e. timber, concrete and connec-
tion) in variable ambient conditions. This effect can
be the most severe design parameter for mediumto
longspanTCCbeamssubjectedtoheavyenvironmen-
tal conditions. The behaviours of TCC components
arecomplicatedandstronglynon-linearunderthermo-
hydromechanical effects. Different experimental pro-
grams havebeenconductedtodatetoinvestigatethe
long-termbehaviour of TCC connectionsandbeams,
but they are expensive to run and time consuming.
Therefore, having an accurate analytical simulation
can reduce the number of experimental tests which
have to be carried out to find a correct design for
TCCstructures.Theeffectsof theenvironmental varia-
tionsontheperformanceof TCCstructuresshouldbe
modelled by rigorous numerical algorithmor finite
element model to save the cost and time associated
withtesting.
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deformable connections, paper presented to the 1st
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able climates, paper presented to the 8th WCTE 2004,
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Capretti, S. & Ceccotti, A. 1996, Service behaviour of
timber-concrete composite beams: A 5-year monitoring
and testing experience, paper presented to theInterna-
tional Wood Engineering Conference, NewOrleans, USA.
Ceccotti, A. & Covan, C. 1990, Behaviour of timber and
concrete composite load-bearing structures, paper pre-
sentedtotheThe 1990 IUFROS5.02Timber Engineering,
Saint J ohn, NewBrunswick, Canada.
Ceccotti, A., Fragiacomo, M. & Giordano, S. 2007, Long-
termand collapse tests on a timber-concrete composite
beamwith glued-in connection, Materials and Struc-
tures, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 1525.
CEN2008,Eurocode 5: Design of timber structures Part 1
1: General Common rules and rules for buildings.
EN 1995-1-1:2004+A1, BSI, European Committee for
Standardization, Brussels, Belgium.
Fortino, S. &Toratti,T. 2010, A three-dimensional moisture-
stress FEM analysis for timber structures, paper pre-
sentedtothe11th WCTE 2010, Rivadel Garda, Trentino,
Italy.
Fragiacomo, M. 2005, A finiteelementmodel for long-term
analysisof timber-concretecompositebeams, Structural
Engineering and Mechanics, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 17390.
Fragiacomo, M. 2006, Long-Term Behavior of Timber-
ConcreteCompositeBeams. II: Numerical Analysis and
Simplified Evaluation, Journal of Structural Engineer-
ing, vol. 132, no. 1, pp. 2333.
Fragiacomo, M., Amadio, C. & Macorini, L. 2007a, Short-
and long-termperformance of the Tecnaria stud con-
nector for timber-concretecompositebeams, Materials
and Structures, vol. 40, no. 10, pp. 101326.
Fragiacomo, M. &Ceccotti,A. 2004, A simplifiedapproach
for long-term evaluation of timber-concrete composite
beams, paper presented to the 8th WCTE 2004, Lahti,
Finland.
Fragiacomo, M. & Ceccotti, A. 2006, Long-TermBehavior
of Timber-Concrete Composite Beams. I: Finite Ele-
ment Modeling and Validation, Journal of Structural
Engineering, vol. 132, no. 1, pp. 1322.
Fragiacomo, M., Gutkowski, R.M., Balogh, J. & Fast, R.S.
2007b, Long-TermBehavior of Wood-Concrete Com-
posite Floor/Deck Systems with Shear Key Connection
Detail, Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 133, no. 9,
pp. 130715.
Fragiacomo, M. &Schnzlin, J. 2010, Theeffectof moisture
andtemperaturevariationsontimber-concretecomposite
beams, paper presentedtothe11thWCTE 2010, Rivadel
Garda, Trentino, Italy.
Hanhijrvi, A. 2000, Computational methodfor predicting
the long-term performance of timber beams in vari-
ableclimates, Materials and Structures, vol. 33, no. 2,
pp. 12734.
Kavaliauskas, S., Kvedaras, A.K. & Gurksnys, K. 2005,
Evaluationof long-termbehaviour of compositetimber-
concretestructures accordingto EC, Technological and
Economic Development of Economy, vol. 11, no. 4,
pp. 2926.
Kenel, A. & Meierhofer, U. 1998, Long-term performance
of timber-concrete composite structural elements, Report.
No. 115/39, EMPA, Dbendorf, Switzerland.
Mueller, J., Haedicke, W., Simon, A. & Rautenstrauch, K.
2008, Long-termperformanceof hybridtimberbridges
experimental and numerical investigations, paper pre-
sentedtothe10th WCTE 2008, Miyazak, JAPAN.
Mungwa, M. & Kenmou, D. 1993, Instantaneous and
time-dependent analysis of composite wood-concrete
cross-sections using Dischingers equations of state:
Part 1-Instantaneousanalysis, Materials and Structures,
vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 98102.
Schnzlin, J. 2008, Comparison of existing long term
deformations with models, paper presented to the
10th WCTE 2008, Miyazak, JAPAN.
Schnzlin, J. & Fragiacomo, M. 2007, Extension of EC5
Annex B formulas for the design of timber-concrete
composite structures, In: Meeting forty of theWorking
CommissionW18- Timber Structures, CIB, International
Council for ResearchandInnovation, Bled(Slovenia).
Schnzlin, J. &Fragiacomo, M. 2008, Modellinganddesign
of timber-concrete-compositestructuresinthelong-term,
paperpresentedtothe10thWCTE2008,Miyazak,JAPAN.
To, L.G. 2009, 3D finite element modelling of time-
dependent behavior of wood-concretecompositebeams,
Ph.D. thesis, Colorado State University, Fort Collins,
Colorado.
Yeoh, D., Fragiacomo, M. & Deam, B. 2010, Long-term
behaviour of LVL-concrete composite connections and
beams under sustained load, Materials and Structures,
unpublished.
1058
Thepredictivemodel for strengthof inclinedscrewsasshear connection
intimber-concretecompositefloor
F. Moshiri, C. Gerber, H.R. Valipour, R. Shrestha& K.I. Crews
Centre for built infrastructure, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Interest intimber-concretecomposite(TCC) floors has increasedover thelast 30years. TCC
technologyreliesontimberandconcretemembersactingcompositelytogether.Bothtimberandconcreteexhibita
quitebrittlebehaviour inbending/tensionandcompressionrespectivelywhilsttheshear connectionisidentified
as the only contributor of ductile behaviour. Therefore, the strength, stiffness and arrangement of the shear
connectionplay acrucial roleinthestructural designof TCC. Thereareonly fewinvestigations onanalytical
closed-formequation to predict thestiffness and strength of TCC joints as input values to design apartially
compositefloor. For example, J ohansens yield theory was adopted as European yield model in Eurocode5.
However, theequationsarelimitedtoverticallyinserteddowelsor screwsandEurocode5recommendsthat the
strengthandstiffnessof unconventional jointsshouldbedeterminedby push-out tests. Previousinvestigations
reportedthat theinclinedshear connector significantlyincreasetheinitial stiffnessandultimatestrengthof the
TCC jointsandconsequentlycompositefloor.
Thispaperpresentsamodel forthestrengthof TCCjointusingcrossed(45
) proprietaryscrews(SFSIntec).
TheJ ohansenyieldtheory is extendedto derivethestrenght model of TCC joint withcrossed(45
) screws
whichareloadedintensionandcompression. Themodel isanupper boundplasticcollapsemodel thatassumes
thebehaviour of timber andscrewperfectly plastic withundamagedconcrete. Thefailuremodes considers of
yieldof screw, intensionor shear, andsomecombinedmodesassumingscrewwithdrawal, lateral crushingof
thetimber andthedevelopment of plastichingesinthescrew. Theexperimental aspect of theresearchconsists
of push-out testsandaimstoverify thestrengthmodel of TCC jointswithinclinedscrews. Thefailuremodes
arealsoinvestigated. Themodel seemstobereasonably accurateinpredictingboththecharacteristic strength
andfailuremode. Thisresearchsuggeststhemodel tofacilitatethedesignof inclinedscrewshear connections
forTCC construction.
1 INTRODUCTION
Timberconcretecomposites(TCCs) arestructural ele-
mentsthatcomprisedof timber andconcreteelements
joinedtogetherbysomeformof shearconnector.They
aremostcommonlyusedasfloorsystems. Mechanical
fasteners are typically used and there are a num-
ber of different types of connectors available with
varying effectiveness, price and labour requirement
Fastenersincludenails, screws, spikes, shear keysand
proprietarydevices.Thedegreeof stiffnessof thecom-
positeisdependent onthestiffnessof theconnection
(Cloustonet al. 2005). Theconnector allowsfor com-
positeaction thatis, forthetimberandconcretetoact
togetherasoneentity, withthetimberactionintension
due to bending and concrete acting in compression
dueto bending (Branco et al. 2007). This is aligned
withthematerials natural properties andbehaviours
(Moshiri et al. 2012).
TCCsbenefit fromthecompositeaction, resulting
inasignificant improvement instrengthandstiffness
comparedtothetimber andconcreteactingindepen-
dently(Cloustonet al. 2005). Thelevel of thisbenefit
depends on the stiffness of the connector, and can
range fromno connection to rigid connection, with
the boundaries of structural efficiency determined
by these theoretical limits. The literature review of
existing theoretical model and experimental investi-
gation indicates that the inclination of the fasteners
resultsinhigher stiffnessandstrengthrather thanthe
perpendicular one.
Thefirstpartof thispaperstatesthekinematicplas-
tic collapse model adopted for inclined SFS screws
connections. Finally the experimental data gained
frompush-out test areusedto validatetheanalytical
model. Thepaper concludesthat thepredictedmodel
isinagoodagreement withtheexperimental results.
2 ANALYTICAL MODEL
The load carrying capacity model of inclined fas-
tener used in TCC joint is derived based on some
modification to the European Yield Model (EYM)
taking into account the withdrawal capacity of the
screwsasaresult of theanglebetweenthescrewaxis
1059
and the timber grain direction. The aforementioned
model is an upper bound collapse load that com-
plies with J ohansens yield theory which is adopted
for inclinedfasteners. Inorder toapplythekinematic
plasticmethodusingtheprincipleof virtual work, the
presumedshapeatcollapseispostulatedaspartof the
compatible displacement set whilst the external and
internal loadsareconsideredastheequilibriumset.
Thekinematicplasticmethodof TCCjointassumes
that the work done by external load is equal to the
energy absorbedby plastic deformationinthetimber
or/andanyplastichingesinthefastener
Theexternal workW
E
donebytheexternal forceis
themultiplication of collapseloadby corresponding
theslipat theinterfaceof theconcreteandtimber as
showninEquation1whilsttheinternal energyW
I
dis-
sipatedbyeachfailuremodesistheinternal workequal
totheinternal forcetimesthelocaliseddisplacement
associatedtoeachfailuremode(Symonet al. 2010).
Equatingtheexternal work andinternal dissipated
energy, anupper boundonthecollapseloadof each
supposedmechanismisobtained. Therefore, thelow-
est collapseloadandthecorrespondingfailuremode
governthebehaviour of thejoint.
Itisassumedthatthefastenerembeddedinconcrete
isstiff enoughtoremainundeformedandthefriction
betweenthetimber andconcreteis considerednegli-
gible. Thematerial properties of thescrewintimber
suchaswithdrawal, embedmentstrengthandultimate
tensilestressof screwarehowever requiredtopredict
theloadcarryingcapacityof joint.
2.1 Mode 1 the withdrawal failure of screw
Mode1 states thewithdrawal of thescrew fromthe
timber component without any sign of crushing in
the timber whilst Mode 2 indicates some horizontal
displacement of fastener followedby crushingof the
timber component (Figure1).
As discussed in Symon et al. (2010), in Mode 1,
thescrewiswithdrawnfromthetimber withoutdevel-
opingany crushingfailureto thetimber. Eurocode5
Figure1. Mode1 screwwithdrawnfromtimber.
puts forward Equation 3 to calculatethewithdrawal
strengthof ascrewperpendicular tothetimber grain.
Inaddition, Eurocode5proposesEquation4toobtain
thewithdrawal strengthof screwinsertedat anangle
tothegrain. Hence, axial withdrawal loadcapacityof
inclinedscrewis calculatedby introducingEquation
4into Equation5wheret is theembeddedlengthof
the screw in the timber or according to Eurocode 5
asexpressedinEquation6whereas, effectivelength,
l
ef
isequal tot d andd isthethreaddiameter. The
internal dissipatedenergyisderivedusingEquation7.
Equating the external work (Equation 1) and inter-
nal dissipated energy (Equation 7), theload-bearing
capacityinfailureMode1isobtainedasillustratedin
Equation9.
2.2 Mode 2 lateral displacement of screw
Mode2 indicates thehorizontal displacement of the
screw which crushes the timber without forming a
plastichinge(Figure2). Theloadcarryingcapacityin
failureMode2isgovernedbytheembeddingstrength
of the surrounding timber. Eurocode 5, section 8.3
proposes Equation 10 to calculate the characteristic
embedment strengths of nails and screws embedded
intimber andLVL withpredrilledholes.
Again, equating the external work (Equation 1)
andinternal dissipatedenergy(Equation11), theload
Figure2. Mode2 lateral displacement of screw.
1060
carrying capacity in failure Mode 2 is obtained as
proposedinEquation12.
where,
k
isthecharacteristictimber density, inkg/m
3
;
d isthescrewdiameter, inmm.
2.3 Mode 3 combination of wood bearing failure
and withdrawal of screw
Thereis another possiblefailuremodewhich corre-
sponds to theplastic yielding of thewood along the
fastener. Inthisfailuremode, theultimateloadcarry-
ingcapacityisobtainedbytheworkcalculationinthe
non-deformedstateof thescrewas acombinationof
thewithdrawal andembeddingstresses.
Kavaliauskas& Kvedaras(2010) statedthat dueto
thedifferent behaviour of embeddedandwithdrawal
timber under the screw at the failure of connection
thevalues of embeddingandwithdrawal stresses are
not of theultimatevalues. Therefore, ultimateload-
carryingcapacity isobtainedby thework calculation
of thenon-deformedstateof thescrewasacombina-
tionof withdrawal andembeddingstressesasproposed
inEquation13(Figure3).
Thevalues of embedding and withdrawal stresses
varywiththeinclinationangleof thescrewtothegrain
directionof thetimber.Atanangleof 90
, theembed-
ding stress is equal to theembedding stress parallel
to thegrain without any withdrawal stress, whilst at
an angleof 0
, theembedding stresses reaches zero

withthemaximumwithdrawal stress(Kavaliauskas&
Kvedaras2010).
2.4 Mode 4 single plastic hinge in screw
Consideringthedowel effectinModes4and5, Mode
4 represents a single plastic hinge at the timber-
concreteinterfacewhilst Mode5shows doubleplas-
tic hinges oneat timber-concreteinterfaceandone
Figure3. Mode3 combination of wood bearing failure
andwithdrawal of screw.
alongtheportionof thescrewembeddedinthetimber
(Figure4).
Eurocode5 section 8.3 puts forward Equation 14
tocalculatetheyieldmoment Myfor roundfasteners
producedfromwirewithaminimumtensilestrength
of 600N/mm
2
.
whereas,
d isthenail diameter, inmm;
f
u
isthetensilestrengthof thewire, inN/mm
2
.
Theappropriateembeddedlengthanddistribution
of the embedment stress along the screw results in
theformationof plastic hingeat thetimber-concrete
interface. This failurecoincides witharigidrotation
of the fastener about some point along the fastener
whichcrushes thetimber infront of thescrewabove
thepoint of rotationandbehindthescrewbelowthe
point of rotation (Kavaliauskas et al. 2007; Symon
et al. 2010).
Satisfyingtheequilibriumof themomentaboutthe
timber-concrete interface, the distance between the
rotationpoint andtheinterfaceof materials, x iscal-
culatedusingEquation15.Thelateral displacementof
thetipof thescrew
tip
isthenwrittenasthefunction
of lateral displacement andx asgiveninEquation16.
Theinternal energywhichdissipatedbytheembed-
ment inthetimber, withdrawal of screwandrotation
of theplastichingeisshowninEquation17.
The internal dissipated energy (Equation 17) is
equatedtotheexternal workdonebytheexternal force
Figure4. Mode4 singleplastichingeinscrew.
1061
Figure5. Mode5 doubleplastichingeinscrew.
(Equation 1). Then,
lat
is cancelled out and x,
tip
and
axial
aresubstitutedby theEquations 8, 1516
intotheEquation17. Hence, theloadcarryingcapac-
ityinfailureMode4iscalculatedasdemonstratedin
Equation18.
2.5 Mode 5 double plastic hinge in screw
Theembeddingstrengthof timber andbendingyield
moment of the fastener govern the load-carrying
capacityinModes4and5asthefastenerdisplaceslat-
erally andaxially dueto withdrawal andembedment
forces. In Mode 5, the point of rotation defines the
secondplastic hinge. Thedistancebetweentheplas-
tic hingesx isthuscalculatedinasimilar way tothat
explainedinMode4, usingEquation19.
The internal energy which is dissipated by the
embedment of timber, withdrawal of screwandrota-
tionof theplastichingeisshowninequation20.
The internal dissipated energy (Equation 20) is
equated to the external work done by the external
force (Equation 1). Then, as stated in Mode 4,
lat
is cancelled out and
axial
and x are substituted by
Equations 8 and 19 into Equation 20. Hence, the
loadcarryingcapacity is representedby Equation21
(Figure5).
2.6 Mode 6 tensile failure of screw
Inaddition, it ispresumedtwomoreshear andtensile
failure modes of screw can occur at the timber-
concreteinterface, depending on thetensilestrength
of fastener.Tensilefailureof thescrewiscalculatedby
Equation22astheaxial strengthof thejoint depends
ontensilecapacityof screw. Hence, theloadcarrying
Figure6. SFSIntecVB-48-7.5x165screw.
capacityof thejoint governedbythetensilefailureof
thefastener isobtainedwithEquation23.
2.7 Mode 7 shear failure of screw
The shear failure of the screw at timber-concrete
interfaceis identified to bethesecond failuremode
which involves only the fastener. Higher inclination
angles of screw to thegrain direction of thetimber,
, increases the cross-sectional area A
of the fas-
tener at thetimber-concreteinterfaceas proposed in
Equation24.
Assuming that theshear yield stress of thescrew
is 0.6f
u
, theload carrying capacity corresponding to
shear failureis calculated with Equation 25 (Symon
et al. 2010).
3 EXPERIMENTAL TEST
The experimental aspect of the research consists of
push-out tests of five TCC joint specimens using
crossed(45
) screws(SFSIntec), LaminatedVeneer
Lumber (LVL) andconventional concrete.
TheSFS screws introducedby Meierhofer (1992)
intheearly1990shavebeenrecognisedasoneof the
first specific shear connections for TCC Structures.
Thefastener consists of two parts withadiameter of
6mmasananchorintheconcreteandanotherthreaded
165mmlong with outer diameter of 7.5mmas the
anchorinthewoodasshowninFigure6(Lukaszewska
2009).
Typical geometry and details of TCCs specimens
aredepictedinFigure7.
Inthepush-out teststheloadwasappliedontothe
endof thetimber component whilst theconcreteslab,
fixedonthetableof thetestingrig, resistedtheload.
Thetest aimedto derivethestrengthandstiffness of
theconnection.A loadcell andLinearVariableDiffer-
ential Transducers (LVDT) were applied to measure
the load and relative displacement between the tim-
ber andconcrete(Figure8).Theload-slipdiagramsof
TCC jointsobtainedby pushout test aredisplayedin
Figure9.
1062
Figure 7. (a) cross-section and (b) plan view of speci-
men(mm).
Figure8. Set-upof aTest SpecimenintheTest Rig.
4 COMPARISONOF MODEL PREDICTION
ANDEXPERIMENTAL RESULT
Theequationsof theplasticcollapsemodel for seven
different failuremodesarepresentedinSection2.
Table1 summarises theconnection geometry and
material properties. A summary of thepush-out test
results and predictions of theplastic collapsemodel
for strengthof crossed(45
) SFSIntecVB-48-7.5x
165screwsinLVL isshowninTable1.
Theanalytical model predicts that thetensilefail-
ureof screwintension(Mode6, F
u
=29.7kN) should
govern the load carrying capacity of the joint. The
Figure9. Load-slipdiagramsof SFSVB-48-7.5x165screw.
Table1. Summaryof material propertiesof TCCjointwith
SFSscrew.
Material propertiesof TCC joint with
SFSscrew Value
embedment depthintimber, t (mm) 142
Shankdiameter of screw, d (mm) 4.6
characteristicdensityof LVL, k (kg/m
3
) 600
Measuredtensilestressof screw, f
u
(Mpa) 1265
yieldmoment of SFSscrew, M
y
(N mm) 20050
Calculatedembedment strength, f
h,0
(kN) 46.7
Calculatedwithdrawal strength, f
x,0
(kN) 52.9
experimental test quantifiedtheloadcarryingcapac-
ityof thejointat33.4kN(averagevalue, CoV=4%),
representingadifferenceof 12%tothepredictedvalue
(Table2).
As seen in push out test result (Figure 9), the
behaviour of theTCC joints was reasonably consis-
tent whereas, loadincreasedsteadily, slowingslightly
beforepeaking.After peaking, loadgraduallyreduced
toaround8090%F
max
, beforeasuddenandcomplete
failure(Moshiri et al. 2012).
Inall specimens, atensilefailureof thescrewwith
some shear contribution was observed. Open spec-
imens as shown in Figure 10 indicated necking of
the failed screws and the undamaged concrete. Fur-
thermore, the screws failed at their narrowest point,
located2030mmabovethethreadandembeddedin
theconcrete. Suchfailuremodeagrees withMode6
of kinematic plastic collapsemodel. This reinforced
thegoodagreement betweentheexperimental results
andtheprediction.
5 CONCLUSION
This paper presents amodel for thestrengthof TCC
joint using crossed (45
) proprietary screws (SFS

Intec).TheJ ohansenyieldtheoryisextendedtoderive
thestrengthmodel of TCC joint withcrossed(45
)
screwswhichareloadedintensionandcompression.
Themodel is anupper boundplastic collapsemodel
1063
Table2. Summaryof push-out test resultsandpredictionsfor crossed(45
) SFSIntecVB-48-7.5x165screwsinLVL.
Loadcapacity(kN) Fmax(kN) R1(kN) R2(kN) R3(kN) R4(kN) R5(kN) R6(kN) R7(kN)
Experimental result 33.4 33.4
Analytical model 29.7 122.8 43.2 98.5 69.2 64 29.7 35.6
Error 12%
Figure10. OpenedTCCspecimenconnectedbySFSscrew.
thatassumesthatthebehaviourof thetimberandscrew
is perfectly plastic andtheconcreteremains undam-
aged. Thefailuremodesconsidersof theyieldof the
screw in tension and/or shear, and a series of com-
binedfailuremodessuchasscrewwithdrawal, lateral
crushing of thetimber and thedevelopment of plas-
tic hinges in the screw. The experimental aspect of
theresearchconsistsof push-outtestsandverifiesthe
strengthmodel ofTCCjointswithinclinedscrews.The
failuremodesarealsoinvestigated. Themodel seems
toaccuratelyinpredict boththeultimatestrengthand
failuremode. Thisresearchsuggeststhemodel isreli-
ableandcanbeusedfor thedesignof TCCfloor with
inclinedSFSscrews.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Theauthorswishtoacknowledgethefinancial support
of Structural Timber InnovationCompany(STIC).
REFERENCES
Branco, J.M., Cruz, P.J.S. & Piazza, M. 2007, Experimen-
tal analysis of laterally loadednailedtimber-to-concrete
connections, Construction and Building Materials, vol.
23, no. 1, pp. 400410.
Clouston, P., Bathon, L.A. & Schreyer, A. 2005, Shear
and Bending Performance of a Novel WoodConcrete
Composite System, Journal of Structural Engineering,
vol. 131, no. 9, pp. 14041412.
Kavaliauskas, S. & Kvedaras, A. 2010, The Predictive
Model for Load-Carrying Capacity of Inclined Screws
as Connecting-Links in Timber-Concrete Composite
Beams, modern building materials,structures and tech-
niques, VilniusLithuania.
Kavaliauskas, S., Kvedaras, A. & Valiunas, B. 2007,
Mechanical behaviourof timber-to-concreteconnections
with inclined screws, Journal of Civil engineering and
Management, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 193199.
Lukaszewska, E. 2009, Development of Prefabricated
Timber-Concrete Composite Floors, Universitetstryck-
eriet, Lule, Lulea.
Meierhofer, U. 1992, a new efficient system for tim-
ber/concretecompositestructural elements.Test, research
anddevelopment, the IUFRO S5.02 Timber Engineering
Conference
Moshiri, F., Garven, C., Gerber, C., Valipour, H.R., Shrestha,
R. & Crews, K. 2012, An investigation on tcc systems
usinglight-weightconcrete, paper presentedtotheworld
conference on timber engineering (WCTE), NewZealand.
Symon, D., Persaud, R. & Stanislaus, H. 2010, Strengthof
inclinedscrewshear connectionsfor timber andconcrete
compositeconstruction,The Structural Engineer,vol.88,
no. 1, pp. 2532.
1064
Dynamicperformanceof timber flooringsystems
R. Rijal, B. Samali, R. Shrestha, G. Gerber & K. Crews
ABSTRACT: Thispaper presentsthemodal parametersof aLVL timber flooringsystemwithoverall dimen-
sions of 8.41.8macquired fromits finiteelement (FE) model. TheFE model of thefloor was created by
joiningthreeidentical modelsof atimber floor module(beam) sideby siderigidly. Theoverall lengthof each
floormodulewas8.4mandwidthof topflangewas0.6m.Theindividual modulesweretestedunderapplication
of impactloadusingmodal hammer under identical pin-roller boundaryconditions. ThecalibratedFE model of
themodulewasextendedtomodel theflooringsystem.Thebehaviourof thefloorisassessedbasedonthemodal
parameters. ResultsfromtheFE model will becorrelatedwithresultsfromexperimental teststobeconducted
innear futureonthefloor withthegivendimensionsat Universityof TechnologySydney.
1 INTRODUCTION
Inrecent times, theuseof engineeredwoodproducts
such as LVL and GLULAM in the floor construc-
tion has increased in Australia and New Zealand.
Assessment of dynamic characteristics of long span
and lightweight timber flooring systems, especially
natural frequency, is essential as they are suscepti-
ble to vibrations. Past research has concluded that
the assessment of the first natural frequency of the
flooringsystemsisessential toidentifytheir dynamic
performanceand occupant comfort. Thenatural fre-
quenciesbelow3Hzandintherangeof 58Hzshould
beavoidedto prevent walkingresonanceandhuman
discomfort, respectively(Hanes1970).
2 FE MODEL OF A TIMBER FLOOR MODULE
Threeidentical timber floor modules, namely U8-01,
U8-02andU8-03weretestedwiththesamepin-roller
boundary condition and free vibration was initiated
withtheuseof instrumentedhammer. Thespanof the
modulebetweenthesupports was 8m. Details about
theexperimental investigations canbefoundinRijal
(2012).
A 3-D linear FE model of thetested timber floor
module was developed to simulate its behaviour.
ANSYS(2011), whichisacommerciallyavailableFE
analysis package, was used to simulate the module.
Modal analysis was performed on the model under
pin-roller boundaryconditiontoobtainmodal param-
eters. Themodel is calibratedandvalidatedwiththe
static andimpact hammer test results. Thecalibrated
and validated model is used to create a 8.41.8m
floor.
2.1 Geometric properties of the model
Dimensions of theFE model was basedonthemea-
surementsof thetestedtimber floor modules(Zabihi
et al. 2012). The overall length of the modules was
8.4mandtheclearspanbetweenthesupportswas8m.
The cross-sectional dimensions of the modules are
showninFigure1. Twotypesof LVL suchashySPAN
Cross-bandedandhySPANPROJ ECTwereusedinthe
fabricationof themodules.ThehySPANCross-banded
LVL was usedfor topflangewhilewebs andbottom
flangesweremadefromhySPANPROJ ECT LVL.The
topflangewas600mmwideandhadadepthof 35mm
whilethebottomflangeshadawidthof 140mmand
adepthof 35mm. Thewebs were270mmdeepand
45mmthick.Thetopandbottomflangesof themodule
weregluedandscrewedtotheweb.Material properties
of theLVLsaredescribedinSection2.2.
The properties fromthe experimental tests are used
intheFE model. Threecomponents(topflange, webs
andbottomflanges) of thebeamhaddifferent mate-
rial propertiesasLVL typeof topflangewasdifferent
fromwebsandbottomflanges. LVL typeof websand
Figure1. Cross-sectional dimensionsof themodules(mm).
1065
Table1. Material propertiesof LVL componentsof timber
beam(Zabihi et al. 2012).
Component MoE Density Poissonsratio
Name E
x
(GPa) (kg/m
3
) (%)
Topflange 9.6 607
Webs 13.3 604 0.3
Bottomflanges 13.1 601
Figure 2. Geometric properties of SOLID45 (ANSYS
2011).
bottomflanges was thesame; nevertheless, their ori-
entationinthemodulewasdifferent.Theyweretested
in the flatwise and edgewise direction, which repli-
cate their orientation in the tested module (Zabihi
et al. 2012). The material properties were assumed
isotropic for individual components because it was
deemed sufficient to represent the flexural stiffness
in longitudinal direction along the span length as
this is themajor contribution to theoverall stiffness
of themodule. Theseproperties includemodulus of
elasticity (E
x
), density () and Poissons ratio () of
theLVL components. Thematerial propertiesusedin
the model are summarized in Table 1. The value of
Poissons ratio of the LVL timber components (pine
timber) was approximated using Wood Handbook
(General Technical Report FPF-GTR-1131999).
2.3 Element types
All LVL timber components (top flange, webs and
bottomflanges) weremodelled using SOLID45 ele-
ment. This is an eight-noded element used for 3-D
modellingof solidstructures andis capableof simu-
latingplasticdeformation, creep, largedeflectionand
strain(ANSYS2011).Thegeometricpropertiesof the
element areshowninFigure2. Theinterfacebetween
flanges andwebs was assumedtobefully composite
asnoslipwasobservedduringthefour point bending
tests under serviceability level loads. Bond between
flangesandwebswerenotexpectedtobebrokenwhen
tested under hammer impact load. To model a fully
compositesection, nodes at theinterfacebetweenall
componentswerecoupled.
2.4 Boundary conditions
Boundary conditions for the model were set as pin-
roller, whichis closetothereal boundary conditions
Figure3. Experimental setupof timberfloormodule(mm).
of the timber floor module as shown in Figure 3.
Translations in global X, Y andZ wererestrainedto
simulate the pin support while translation in global
X andY axis was restrainedfor roller support at the
otherend.Inthemodel,global Zaxiswaschosenalong
longitudinal directionof themodule.
2.5 Mesh size
A mesh sensitivity analysis was performed on the
model for both static (mid-span deflection) and free
vibration(fundamental frequency) analysestoobtain
anoptimummeshsize. Thesizeof theelements was
uniformandamaximumaspectratioof twowasmain-
tained. Thesizes of theelements in thelongitudinal
directionof themodulewerechosenas45mm, 25mm
and 10mmfor the sensitivity and the total number
of elementsinthemodulefor correspondingelement
sizes were 3,528, 27,720 and 335,160, respectively.
Thisanalysisshowedthat morethan27,720elements
givefairlyaccurateresults.
Based on this analysis, the sizes of elements
in the FE model of the module were cho-
sen as 252317.5mm, 252517.5mm and
252522.5mmfor bottomflanges, topflangeand
webs, respectively. Intotal, theFE model had40,992
elements.
2.6 Modal parameters of the beam
First threeflexural modeshapes of themodulewere
extractedfromtheFE model (FEM) asshowninFig-
ure4by solvingtheeigenvalueproblemusingmodal
analysis module in ANSYS. The natural frequency
of the modules fromFE model is presented along
withexperimental results (averageof threemodules)
inTable2.
3 CORRELATIONBETWEENFEAND
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTSFORTIMBER
FLOOR MODULE
3.1 Correlation
ThecorrelationbetweenFE andexperimental results
ispresentedinTable3.Thecorrelationshowedthatthe
natural frequencyerror(NFerror)valuesarehigherfor
1066
Figure4. Firstthreeflexural modeshapesof thetimberfloor
module.
Table 2. Natural frequency of the beam extracted from
FEM.
Natural frequency, f
n
Mode1 Mode2 Mode3
FE result 12.93 49.64 98.27
Experiment 13.14 44.08 78.89
higher modes dueto their sensitivity to local defects
and boundary conditions. The result fromFEM for
firstmodeisslightlylower thantestresultswhilethey
arehigherforhighermodes(2and3).Theerrorvalues
arebelow2%for firstmodewhileitisabout13%and
25%for secondandthirdmodes, respectively. TheFE
Table3. CorrelationbetweenFE andtestresultsfor natural
frequencies.
Flexural mode Mode1 Mode2 Mode3
FEM (Hz) 12.93 49.64 98.27
Experiment (Hz) 13.14 44.08 78.89
Absolutedifference(Hz) 0.21 5.56 19.38
NFerror (%) 1.63 12.62 24.57
Figure 5. NFerror values of the module for 5% and
10%of MoE (Ex).
model canbeusedto predict fundamental frequency
of themodulewithsufficient accuracy, nevertheless,
error for higher modesaresignificant. Material prop-
ertiesvariationisoneof themajor factorstoresult in
suchdiscrepancies. Henceasensitivityanalysisisper-
formedonmaterial propertiesof theLVL components
andresultsarediscussedin3.2.
3.2 Material sensitivity analysis
A sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluatethe
influence of material properties, especially modulus
of elasticity (MoE), on the natural frequency of the
floor modulesasmaterial testsconductedontheLVL
componentsshowedupto13%variationintheir MoE
values. In theanalysis, themean MoE values of the
components werevariedby 5%and10%andthe
natural frequenciesof themoduleswereextractedfor
thecorresponding MoE values. Correlation of these
frequencieswithtest resultsisshowninFigure5.
Variation of the mean MoE by 5% and 10%
changes NFerror values by 3%and 6%, respec-
tively.Hencevariationsinmaterial propertiesaloneare
1067
Figure6. Validationof FE model against statictest results.
unlikelytohaveresultedinsignificantover-estimation
of the natural frequencies for higher modes. The
boundary condition and shear connection systemat
websandflangesinterfaceof themodel aremorelikely
tohaveresultedinover-estimationof thefrequencyfor
highermodesasthesemodesarehighlysensitivetothe
stiffnessof theconnectionsystems.
3.3 Validation of FE model with static test results
To validatetheFE model of themodules, theresults
fromthemodel werecorrelatedwithstatictestresults.
Four point bendingtestswereconductedonthemod-
ules and the tests were replicated in the FE model.
In the FE model, different load values equal to the
experimental valuesatdifferentstagesof loadingwere
appliedat each1/3rdspanfromthesupports andthe
mid span deflection was found for the correspond-
ingloads. Thedetails of thestatic test results canbe
found in Zabihi et al. (2012). Thecorrelation analy-
sis of theFE andstatic test results of themodules is
shown in Figure 6. The correlation showed that the
deflectionerror values werebelow10%, whichwere
in the acceptable range. The predicted values from
theFE model wereslightly higher thanexperimental
values.
4 FE MODEL OF A TIMBER FLOOR
Toinvestigatedynamicperformanceof thefloor, aFE
model of 81.8mfloor is created. This floor was
modelled using calibrated FE model of the module
presentedinsections 2and3. FE model of thefloor
hadthreeidentical models of themodulejoinedside
bysideasshowninFigure7.
4.1 Mesh size
Based on mesh sensitivity analyses, the size of ele-
mentsinthismodel werechosenas252522.5mm
and252517.5mmfor websandflanges, respec-
tively. In total, theFE model had 122,976 elements.
Thefloor had coarser mesh compared to mesh used
in the timber floor module, nevertheless, the mesh
Figure7. FE model of thefloor.
sensitivity showedthat results for meshsizeof upto
252525 mmarefairly accurate. Themesh size
was optimized for the floor to minimize FE model
processingtimewithsufficient accuracy.
4.2 Interface between the timber floor modules
Theinterfacebetweenthetopflangesof thefloormod-
ules weremodelledas fully composite. Thenodes at
the interface were coupled in all three directions to
generatefullycompositeinterface.
4.3 Boundary conditions
Thefloorwasmodeledfortwodifferentboundarycon-
ditionstoinvestigatetheeffectof theendconditionsby
comparingthetwomodelsresults. Inthefirst bound-
arycondition, twoendsof thefloor inthelongitudinal
directionsweresupportedonapinandarollersupport,
whichis identical to theFE model for asinglefloor
module. In the second boundary condition, all four
sidesof thefloor weresupportedonapinsupport.
4.4 Modal parameters of the floors
Thefirst threeflexural modeshapesof thefloor with
pin-roller supportatthetwoendswereextractedfrom
the FE model as shown in Figure 8 and the natural
frequencyof thecorrespondingmodesispresentedin
Table4. Theresultsshowedthat thenatural frequency
of thefloor issimilar totheresultsof thesinglefloor
module. Fundamental frequencyof thefloorwasiden-
tical with the single modules frequency and higher
modeshadminor discrepancies.
Thesamemodel of thefloor wasanalyzedby pro-
vidingpinsupportalongfourbottomedgesof thefloor.
Natural frequency of the floor for the fundamental
mode was 48.85Hz, which was significantly higher
(almost four times) than the fundamental frequency
of the floor with pin-roller support at two opposite
ends. Thedeformed shapefor fundamental modeof
thefloor withpinsupport alongfour edges is shown
inFigure9. Inthefigure, vertical deflectioncontour
is shown in order to visualize the shape. Maximum
1068
Figure8. First threeflexural modeshapesof thefloor.
Table4. Natural frequencyof thefloor.
FE, f
n(FE)
(Hz)
Floor Mode1 Mode2 Mode3
81.8m 12.93 49.69 98.65
deflectioncontourplotistowardthecentreof thefloor
andminimumis towards edges, whichis also shown
inthescalewithredcolor. Thedeflections shownin
thescaleareinmeters.
Figure 9. Fundamental deformed shape of the floor
showing vertical deflection contour with pin support along
four edges.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Thefollowingconclusionscanbedrawnbasedonthe
results acquired fromFE models of thetimber floor
module and the floors with two different boundary
conditions.
Correlation between FE and experimental results
of thesinglemoduleshowedthat theNFerror values
arehigher for higher modes. TheNFerror valueswere
below2%forthefirstmodewhiletheywereabout13%
and25%for secondandthirdmodes, respectively.
Thenatural frequencyacquiredfromtheFE model
matches very well with the experimental results,
especially for thefirst mode. HencetheFE model
of themodulecanbeusedtopredictitsfirstnatural
frequency (fundamental frequency) withsufficient
accuracyasit isthemainconcernof thedesigner.
Significantover-predictionof thenatural frequency
of themodulefor higher modes is unlikely dueto
variationinthematerial propertiesalonesincefre-
quencies for thefirst modewerevery close. This
mayhaveresultedfromupliftingof themodulesat
thesupports during theexperimental work, whilst
the FE model was analyzed under pure pin-roller
boundary conditions whichpreventedbouncingat
supports. Furthermore, higher modesaremoresen-
sitivetolocal defectswithinthetimbermaterial and
at connections. Inthismodel, interfaceat websand
flangeswereassumedtobefullycomposite.
AnFEmodel of themodulewasvalidatedwithstatic
test results. ThecorrelationbetweenFE andexper-
imental mid span deflection caused by the same
magnitudeof loadat each1/3rdspanfromthesup-
portsshowedthedeflectionerror of below10%for
all beams, whichiswithinanacceptablerange.
Floors with pin-roller boundary conditions have
similar responsetothesinglemoduleif theconnec-
tionbetweentopflangesof theidentical modulesis
fullycomposite.
Fundamental frequencyof thefloor withapinsup-
port alongfour sides is significantly higher; about
1069
four timesthanfloor withpin-roller supportsattwo
oppositeends.
Designisconservativeintermsof dynamicservice-
ability designbecausesimply supportedboundary
conditions are considered in the design, whereas
in reality fixity of the floor supports fall in the
rangebetweenpinnedandfixed, resultinginhigher
fundamental frequency.
AnFE model canreplicatetheexperimental results
and thus this tool can be used to predict natural
frequency, especiallyfundamental frequencyof the
single module and floor systemto be used in the
dynamicserviceabilitydesign.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This project has been funded by Structural Timber
InnovationCompany(STIC).Thefinancial assistance
of theSTIC isgratefullyacknowledged.
REFERENCES
ANSYSInc2011, ANSYS, release12.1.
General Technical Report FPL-GTR-1131999, Woodhand-
book woodasanengineeringmaterial. Forest Products
Laboratory. United States Department of Agriculture,
MadisonMI US.
Hanes, R.M. 1970. Humansensitivity towhole-body vibra-
tioninurbantransportationsystems: aliteraturereview.
Applied physics laboratory.TheJ ohnHopkinsUniversity,
Silver Springs, MD.
Rijal, R. 2012. Dynamicperformanceof timber andtimber-
concrete composite flooring systems, PhD Thesis, Uni-
versityof TechnologySydney(UTS), NSW, Australia.
Zabihi, Z., Samali, B., Shrestha, R, Gerber, C. & Crews, K.
2012. Serviceability and ultimate performance of long
spantimber floor modules. 12thWorld conference on tim-
ber engineering: WCTE 2012. Auckland, NewZealand.
1070
Stressedcross-laminated-timber for bridgeapplications
L. Shearman, C. Gerber & K. Crews
University of Technology Sydney, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Anincreasingfocusonenvironmentallysuitableconstructionsolutions, EngineeredWoodProd-
ucts (EWPs) aregrowinginpopularity. This project aims is toinvestigateanEWP deckingsystemapplicable
for therefurbishment of existingbridgesandfor newstructures.
StressLaminatedTimber (SLT) systemshavebeenwidelyimplementedworldwideandprovideastructurally
sounddeckingsolutionfor bridges. Thistechnologyformsthebackgroundof thecurrent researchwherebythe
structural feasibility of stressingCrossLaminatedTimber (CLT) insubstitutiontosolidwoodboards with
LaminatedVeneer Lumber (LVL) websinT beamandcellular systemsisinvestigated. Thisresearchfocuseson
serviceability testingtoidentify thesystems behaviour under lineloadingtocharacterisethesystemstiffness
andpadloadingtounderstandtheloaddistributionabilityof thesystem.
Theprojectincludesareviewof SLTtechnologyanddiscussestheapplicationCLTinstressedbridgedecking.
Laboratorytestshavebeencompletedandanalysedcomprehensively.Thisanalysisincludesthesystemstiffness
andloaddistribution. Recommendationsfor systemimprovement andfurther researcharealsoput forward.
1 INTRODUCTION
Thispaper presentsStressedCrossLaminatedTimber
(SCLT), atechnologyamalgamationwithcellular and
T beamStressedLaminatedTimber (SLT) andCross
LaminatedTimber (CLT). SCLT consists of a regu-
lar cellular or T beamsectioncommonwithSLT, the
flanges of sections is CLT, replacingtheedgeorien-
tatedsawntimber associatedwithSLT. Thewebbing
of thesectionconsistsof LVL asstandardwithSLT.
The paper presents a preliminary research under-
taken to investigate the behavioural characteristics
under serviceability conditions, determinethestruc-
tural functionality of thetwo systems (cellular andT
beam) andidentifydirectionfor further research.
Thedecksaresubjectedtothreetests, afour point
bendingtestwithlineloadingatthirdspans,concentric
andeccentricpadloadingat mid-spans.
Thelimitationsof theprojectwereprimarilyincor-
relation with the availability of resources. There is
currently no commercial production of CLT inAus-
tralia.Thisresultedinunfavourabledepthtospanratio
andlimitedthenumber of test replicates.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Stress laminated timber
Stress laminated timber (SLT) consists of multiple
edge-orientedtimber boardsclampedat regular inter-
vals. The clamping or stressing provides sufficient
compressiontoallowtheindividual boardstobebound
byfrictional forces, thusthedeckactsasafullycom-
positeorthotropic plate. Thelaminatelayout andthe
intervals/frequency of thestressingelementsarecrit-
ical to the performance of SLT decks. These must
ensuretheindividual boardsmakingupthedeckwork
asasingleunit. Commerciallyavailabletimber grade,
length and section sizes should also be considered.
Detaileddirectivesfor their designaregivenbyRMS
(2012).
The transform section method is the preferred
methodfor analysisof compositeSLT, inaccordance
with the methods outlined in the Roads and Mar-
itimeServices (RMS 2012). Themethod consists of
transformingthethickness of thesectionto avirtual
thicknesstosimulateauniformmodulusof elasticity
(E) valuefor simplifiedcalculation.
2.2 Cross Laminated Timber
Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) is constructed by a
seriesof layersof boardsgluedtogetherontheirbroad
surface; eachlayer isplacedorthogonallytoitssubse-
quent layer. Thelayersformaplateor panel whichis
symmetrical withrespecttothecentral layer. Forshape
anddimensional stability of thepanel eachsymmet-
riclayersexhibit similar mechanical andhygroscopic
properties.Threepossibleanalyticmethodshavebeen
identified which take into account this reduction in
capacity of the perpendicular layers. The Gamma
Method, basedonthemechanicallyjointedbeamsthe-
ory, with the transverse layers acting purely as the
1071
Figure1. Straingaugelocationsforcellularspecimen(loca-
tions for T beamspecimenareidentical withthegauges at
locations24and6removedonthebottomflange).
fasteners between thelongitudinal elements. TheK-
Method, basedonthecompositetheory, whichapplies
amodificationfactor basedonloadingtypes. Finally
theShearAnalogyMethod, developedbyKreuzinger,
employstransformingthepanel intotwovirtual beams
representingbendingandshear stiffness.
TheGammamethodisthemostcommonlyadopted
methodforanalytical designinbothEuropeandNorth
America, themethodisoutlinedinEurocode5,Annex
B (British Standards 2004). The theory was devel-
oped by Mhler (1956) for analysis of composite
beamswithmechanical fasteners, that is, beamswith
interlayer slip.
To adapt the Gamma method to CLT, the
perpendicular-layers areassumed to bethefasteners
between the layers parallel layers. The slip modulus
equationinthecalculations arereplacedby anequa-
tionrepresentingrollingshearslipintheperpendicular
layers of thepanel (Gagnon& Popovski 2010; KLH
buildingbonds2008).
3 SPECIMENDESCRIPTIONS
Two testedspecimens wereconstructedandtestedin
thecivil engineeringstructures laboratory at Univer-
sityof Technology, Sydney.
Both specimens exhibited identical geometrical
foot print: span=3.5m, breadth=1245mm and
height=298mm. Both specimens consisted of four
LVL ribs(45298mm) at400mmspacingwithCLT
flanges (355mmwide and 99mmthick). The first
specimencorrespondedto athreecells cellular deck
(Figure1) whilst thesecond specimen corresponded
toaT-beamspecimen.
Thespecimenswerestressedat 500mminterval in
thespanning direction, and a250mmedgedistance
to thefirst stressingelements. Thestressingtendons
passthroughoversizeholeslocatedinthecentrelayer
(crosslayer) of theCLT flanges.
4 4TEST DESCRIPTIONS
4.1 Four-point bending test
CLT andLVL elements, with26mmperforationsfor
thestressingbars, weretestedpriortoconstructingthe
built-updecks.
Table1. Straingaugelocationsrelativetocentreof section.
Location Distancefromcentre
1 200mm
2 90mm
3 0mm
4 90mm
5 200mm
6 400mm
Thespecimens weresubjectedto four-point bend-
ingteststoinvestigatetheapparent andtruestiffness
andunderstandthecompositeaction. Tothisend, the
load,strain,anddeflectionsatthirdandmidspanswere
recordedduringtheloadingcycle. A cyclewas typi-
cally governed by the deflection, i.e. until a 10mm
deflectionat mid-spanwasachieved.
Theapparentstiffnessisobtainedbycorrelatingthe
loadtothemid-spandeflectionwhilstthetruestiffness
or shear corrected stiffness is derived with the load
and therelativedisplacement between mid-span and
third-spans.
4.2 Concentric pad load test
The concentric pad load test was conducted on the
cellular andT beamspecimensuntil 10mmdeflection
isachievedunder theloadingpoint at mid-span.
Thepad(200500mm) waspositionedinthecen-
treof thespecimen,theshortedgeof thepadorientated
parallel tothespanningdirection.
4.3 Eccentric pad load test
Theeccentricpadloadtest wasconductedonthecel-
lular andT beamspecimensuntil 10mmdeflectionis
achievedunder theloadingpoint at mid-span.
Thepadwaspositionedat mid-spanonanexternal
LVL beam. Thepaddimensionsandorientationbeing
identical tothat of theconcentricpadloadtest.
4.4 Instrumentation
Theloadwasmeasuredusing200kNcylindrical load
cells(LC), conditionedusingaPhilipsPR1613bridge
completionamplifier.Theseloadcellswereutilisedfor
themeasurement of boththetensioninthestressing
elementsandtheloadappliedduringthetest.
A seriesof LinearVariableDisplacementtransduc-
ers(LVDT),withalinearityof 0.1%full scaleorbetter,
wereplacedatmidspanandboththirdspansandaccu-
ratelyrecordeddisplacementthroughtheloadingcycle
(threeLVDTsper location).
Strain at mid-span was measured at thelocations
indicatedinFigure1andTable1using60mm, 120
foil strain gauges conditioned using UTSs built in
house bridgecompletionamplifiers.
Further detailsabout thetest set-upandprocedure
canbefoundinShearman(2012).
1072
Figure2. Straindistributionat maximumdeflection.
Figure 3. Linear interpolation of strain distribution vs.
sectional depthat internal webs.
5 LABORATORY INVESTIGATION
5.1 Cellular deck
5.1.1 Four-point bending test
The strain distribution indicates some minor stress
concentrationatmid-widthof thedeck(Figure2).This
stress concentration is however within the expected
variability for timber materials and the tolerance of
theinstrumentation. Furthermore, thestraindistribu-
tionof thelower flangeof theCLT elements mirrors
that observedintheupper flange.
Symmetry of the section implies that the neutral
axis should be located at half the depth of the sec-
tion (149mm). This assumption is confirmed by the
experiment results (Figure 3). The experiment indi-
catesasmall difference, theneutral axisbeinglocated
at144mm, i.e. slightlylowerthanhalf thedepthof the
section. Suchdifferenceiswithintheacceptablerange
for timber materials.
The cellular systemis arguably excessively stiff,
requiring large loads to reach the 10mmmid-span
deflection. Thisrelatestothelowspantodepthratio.
Figure 4 illustrates the systems load vs. deflection
slope. Theslopesareusedtoassessboththeeffective
andtruestiffness of thedeck. Theeffectivestiffness
isbasedonthemid-spanslopeandincludestheshear
effect. Thetruestiffness is calculated using theload
and the relative displacement between the mid and
third spans, i.e. removing the shear effect (no shear
ispresent betweentheloadingpoints).
There is a significant disagreement between the
empirically derivedstiffness of thedeck andthepre-
dicted one (assuming a full composite action and
utilising the transformed section method). Further
Figure4. Loadvs. deflectionof Cellular specimen.
Figure6. Mid-SpanDeflectionthroughloadingcycle.
attempts of numerically modelling thesystemfailed
todeliver acceptablepredictionsof thedeckstiffness.
It is anticipatedthat unknownbehavioural responses
of theCLT componentsactingintensionexplainsthe
poor outcomesof themodelling.
Theuncertainty of thebehavioural characteristics
of CLT isaresult of theproduct beingrelativelynew
nature. Thecross layers of CLT, under tension, offer
quasi nostrengthandmay only contributetospread-
ingtheload. Thisactionislikelytoresultinincreased
rolling shear. The current literature is lacking infor-
mation related to behavioural characteristics of CLT
intension.
5.1.2 Concentric pad load test
The strain distribution demonstrates that the occur-
rence of high strain in the direct proximity to the
loading point (Figure 5). The distribution of strain
across the lower flange depicts a good load transfer
betweenthecells.
The pad loading of the cellular systemdisplayed
linear-elastic deflection behaviour at mid-span (Fig-
ure6).Thedeflectionmeasurementsundertheexternal
1073
Figure8. Mid-span deflection profileat maximumtested
load(27kN).
Figure9. Mid-SpanDeflectionthroughloadingcycle.
LVL webs exhibit initial, non-linear and symmetri-
cal readingsuptoapproximately 15kN. Thismay be
attributedtosettlement of thesystem.
5.1.3 Eccentric pad load test
Thestraindistributionatmaximumdeflectionisshown
inFigure7.Thestraindecreaserelativetothedistance
of the loading point is further indicative of the sec-
tionshightransversal stiffness.Thus, thisobservation
confirmsthetwo-waynatureof SCLT cellular decks.
The linear deflection profile of the section indi-
cates a high transversal stiffness and rigidity of the
deck (Figure8). Possibleuplifts at thesupports may
haveoccurredbut nodataareavailabletoverify that
(pressureat thesupportswasnot monitored).
Thedeflectionthroughtheloadingcycle(Figure9),
displays linear behaviour after approximately 35%
of the tested load is applied. The symmetry of the
displacement indicates the linear deflection profile
observed in Figure 8 was maintained through the
loadingcycle.
Figure 11. Linear interpolation of strain distribution vs.
sectional depthat internal webs.
5.2 T beam deck
5.2.1 Four-point bending test
In Figure 10, the strain distribution depicts a simi-
lar stressconcentrationat mid-widthof thesystemto
that exhibitedinFigure5. Thestrainconcentrationis
also morepronounced than that observed in thecel-
lular deck. The absolute strain between the extreme
upper and lower fibres of theLVL beams is similar,
strongly indicatingthat bendingdistributionis linear
inthewebs.
The theoretical analysis indicated that the neutral
axis of thedeck is locatedat 211mmfromthelower
edge. Analysis of thelinear interpolation zero strain
betweentheupperandlowerextremefibresof theLVL
elements(Figure11) indicatestheaverageneutral axis
is located at 199mm. This difference(12mm/6%)
indicatesareasonableagreement.
Thepredictedsectional stiffnessof theT beamsys-
temwas strongly confirmed by the testing (99.6%
accuracy). Thelinear deflectionat mid-spanthrough
theloadingcycleisdepictedinFigure12.
The experimental results indicate, compared to
thesimpletransformedsectionprediction, whichthe
T-sectiondeck acts as afully compositesection. The
transformed-sectionmodel predictedthesystemstiff-
nesswithhighaccuracy.Theaccuracyof theprediction
provides confidencefor further predictivemodelling
with alternate systems. Furthermore, the test results
indicatethat theeffectivemodulusof elasticityof the
deckisequal to9615MPa.
5.2.2 Concentric pad load test
Thestrainobservedinthewebs(Figure13) indicates
that morestrainoccurredintheeasterlyinternal web.
1074
Figure12. Loadvs. deflectionof T beamspecimen.
Figure14. Mid-spandeflectionthroughloadingcycle.
Thestrainat theextremelower fibres of thewebs is
quasi equal andabout twicegreater thantheaverage
strainintheupper flange, thusthestrengthof thedeck
isgovernedbythelower fibresof thewebs.
The deflection during the loading cycle depicts
linear-elastic behaviour of the internal webs (Fig-
ure 14). The external webs display linearity after
5kN loading, thenon-linearitymaybeattributedto
apossibletorsional distortionpresentinthespecimen
and/or thegeometryof thespecimen.
5.2.3 Eccentric pad load test
Thestrain distribution in Figure15 illustrates asig-
nificant increase in total absolute strain of the LVL
webbing element closer to the loading point. This
higher level of strain indicates closer to the loading
point isconcurrent withexpectations.
Figure16. Mid-spandeflectionprofileat maximumtested
load(20kN).
Figure17. Mid-spandeflectionthroughloadingcycle.
The negative deflection (uplift) of the unloaded
edgeof thedeckdemonstratesasubstantial orthogonal
stiffness(Figure16). However, thenon-linear deflec-
tionprofileindicatesthesystemisnotastransversally
rigidasthecellular deck(Figure8).
The systemdisplays significantly less transversal
stiffness, indicatedby thedeflectionprofiledepicted
inFigure17, lackingtherestraintof thelower edgeof
thewebsof thecellular deck system. By comparison
of theunloadededgedeflection, approximately 50%
of the negative deflection is encountered. Although
theT-beamdeck indicates alesser stiffness than the
cellular deck, thetransversal stiffnessisstill regarded
to be high and the deck to work as an orthotropic
plate. This assumption primarily relies on the uplift
observedat theunloadededgeof thedecks. Arguably
1075
thetransversal stiffnessof thedeck isalsoinfluenced
bythecompressionof CLT elementsinthetransverse
directionduetopre-stress.
6 CONCLUSION
Timber solutions offer sustainable and environmen-
tal benefits. SCLT is a technology that favourably
associates two technologies to obtain an improved
long-term structural response. It uses engineered
wood products manufactured from plantation trees
and/or lowor reject gradetimbers. Furthermore, the
implementationof CLT for theflanges enhancedthe
long-termperformanceof thedecks.
The serviceability tests facilitated a better under-
standingof thestructural behaviours of SCLT decks.
IthasbeendemonstratedthatSCLT decksbehavelike
orthotropic plates thecellular deck exhibitsgreater
two-wayactionthantheT-beamdeck.
The laboratory investigation proved inconclusive
for the cellular system. There was a large disagree-
ment betweenthepredictedstiffness andtest results.
Ontheother hand, theT-beamdeck exhibitedagood
agreement between the predicted and experimental
values. Theseresults seemto indicatethat disagree-
ment observedwiththecellular deck arguablyrelates
to thelack of understandingof CLT workinginpure
tension.
Theconcentricandeccentricpadloadinginvestiga-
tionsprovidedaqualitativeindicationof thetransver-
sal deckstiffnessandloaddistributiontoadjacentdeck
segments.Itisunderstoodthatthepre-stressactionand
the sectional geometry governs the transversal stiff-
ness of the decks. Furthermore, the relatively short
spansandhighlongitudinal stiffnessof thedecksare
assumedtohaveaffectedthetwo-wayactionresponses
of thedecksaswell.
Thebehavioural characteristics of CLT intension,
experiencedat thebottomflangeof thecellular sys-
temneedstobeinvestigatedfurther toenableaccurate
predictive modelling. Further CLT investigation
shouldalsoincludetestingCLT panelswithalternate
timber speciesandadditional lay-upconfigurations.
Further investigationis recommendedto quantita-
tivelyassessthetransversal stiffnessof thedecks.This
investigationshouldfocusonidentifyingtheeffect of
prestress. Investigation into the optimisation of web
andstressingtendonspacingisalsorecommended.
Investigation of decks with depth to span ratios
higher than 20 is also recommended. Wider decks
shouldalsobeinvestigatedtoaccuratelydeterminethe
loaddistributionfactors.Thisinvestigationshouldalso
includeidentifyingtheoptimal webspacing.
Thedimensional stability andlongtermstructural
behaviour of SCLT decks must also be understood.
Tothisend, thelong-termresponsesof deckssection
should be completed to investigate the dimensional
changes and pre-stress variations in the stressing
elements.
Theimplementationof SCLTdecksisanticipatedto
exhibitmanyadvantagesovertraditional SLTsystems.
CLT offershighdimensional stabilityandisexpected
toresult inlower levelsof stressloss, duetothegrain
of thetransverselayersbeingparallel tothestressing
tendons.
REFERENCES
BritishStandards2004, Eurocode 5: Design of timber struc-
tures, Annex B, British Standards Institution, London,
UnitedKingdom.
Gagnon, S. & Popovski, M. 2010, Structual Design if
Cross-Laminted Timber elements, in, CLT Handbook,
FPInnovations, Pointe-ClaireCanada.
KLH building bonds 2008, Engineering Static Brochure,
vol.1, KLH Massivholz GmbH, Katsch an der Mur,
Austria.
Mhler, K. 1956, ber dasTragverhaltenvonBiegetrgern
und Druckstben mit zusammengesetzten Querschnit-
ten und nachgiebigen Verbindungsmittel, Technische
HochschuleKarlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany.
Roads & MaritimeServicesTransport NSW (RMS). 2012,
Guide for the design of stress laminated timber bridge
decks (draft), Roads&MaritimeServicesTransportNSW.
Shearman, L. 2012 Stressed Cross-Laminated-Timber for
BridgeApplications, Univeristy of Technology Sydney,
Sydney.
1076
Behaviour of stresswavepropagationinutilitytimber pole
M. Subhani, J. Li & B. Samali
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering,
ABSTRACT: Non-destructivetestinghasbeenusedfor manyyearstoevaluatethein situ conditionof timber
piles. Longitudinal impact isusually appliedonthetopof pilestoinducelongitudinal wavetodetect faultsin
pilesduetothefactthatthelongitudinal wavehaslessdispersivenatureatlowfrequency. Ontheotherhand, when
it comestoevaluationof polesin situ, it isdifferent aspolesarepartlyembeddedinsoil andit ismorepractical
toproducebendingwaves, asthetopof thepoleisnoteasilyaccessible. However, bendingwaveisknownfor its
highly dispersivenature; especially inthelowfrequency rangewhichisusually inducedinlowstrainintegrity
testing. Asbendingwavecanbeconsideredasahybridof longitudinal andshear waves, it will behelpful, if it
coulddetectthecomponentof thesetwowavesseparately.Todoso,componentsof displacementsoraccelerations
alongradial andlongitudinal directionsneedtobedetermined. ByapplyingFastFourierTransform(FFT) onthe
signals, thedominantfrequenciescanbeobtained. Ithasbeenfoundthat, thelongitudinal componentdecreases
alongradial directionwhichindicatesthepresenceof bendingwavecomponent andthisfindingallowstothe
applicationof ContinuousWaveletTransform(CWT) onthelongitudinal componentof wavesignalsinorder to
obtainphasevelocity. Phasevelocitiesat different frequenciesarethendeterminedtodrawthedispersivecurve
andcomparewithanalytical phasevelocitycurve. Thedispersioncurvematchedwell withtheanalytical curve.
1 INTRODUCTION
Low strain integrity testing for the in-situ condition
assessment of piles has been used in practice for
many years. Among of various techniques, surface
wavemethods, such as Sonic Echo (SE) or Impulse
Response (IR) methods are simple and popular. In
these methods, impact is imparted at the top of a
pileto generatelongitudinal wavetravellingthrough
the pile and then by measuring echo time, possible
faults or embedment lengthof thepilecanbeidenti-
fied. Longitudinal wave velocity is almost constant
at low frequency for large diameter piles and the
same is true for attenuation (Wang, 2004). So dis-
persionisnot aproblemfor longitudinal waveat low
strain integrity testingandonedimensional assump-
tion is valid. Based on this assumption, Sonic Echo
and ImpulseResponsemethod aredeveloped. In SE
method, velocityisconsideredasconstant andalmost
equal to bar wavevelocity. On theother hand, in IR
method,mobilitycurveisusuallyusedtodeterminethe
velocity, consideringthatthewaveispropagatingwith
constantfrequency. However, thissimplificationisno
longer validif thetopof thepileis not easily acces-
sibleandimpact hastobeproducedfromtheside. In
thiscase, bending/flexural waveisgeneratedwhichis
highlydispersiveinnature. Sothepropagationveloc-
itywill beafunctionof wavefrequency. Moreover, the
impact loadproduces abroadbandfrequency excita-
tion, andthenthepropagationvelocityof aparticular
frequency component (called phasevelocity) can be
different fromthepropagation velocity of thewhole
group (called group velocity). So it is important to
findthefrequencyatwhichthewholegroupof waveis
movingandIRmethodneedsmodification.SEmethod
is alsoaffectedby dispersionduetochangeof shape
withdistance. Figure1shows, howawaveinducedby
an impulse load change its shape due to dispersion.
Fromthe figure, it is clear that, reflected peaks are
not easy todeterminefor thedispersivewaveandSE
methodisnolonger valid.
Short Kernel Method (SKM) is used widely for
bendingwave.Chen&Kim(1996)usedSKMtoassess
Figure 1. (a) Waves at a given location x
0
in a beamfor
varyingtime& (b) at agiventimet
0
for varyingxresulting
fromaninitial impulse(After Graff, 1975).
1077
theconditionof timber pilesbythevariationof bend-
ingwavevelocityataparticularfrequency.Holt(1994)
usedSKM methodtodeterminetheoverall lengthof
thepole. Inthispaper ContinuousWaveletTransform
(CWT) hasbeenusedtodeterminethephasevelocity
of theflexural waveinpoles.
2 THEORY OF FLEXURAL WAVE
2.1 The governing equation
Thegoverningequationfor flexural wavepropagation
is derived for one dimensional wave equation in an
infinite medium. Bernoulli-Euler theory of beamis
considered, i.e. only pure bending is considered. So
if the material of the beamis considered as homo-
geneous, then the motion in the vertical direction
(ydirection) canbegivenby(Graff, 1975),
where, E =modulus of elasticity; I =moment of
inertia; =massdensity; A=crosssectional area.
If aharmonicwaveispropagating, thentheflexural
wavevelocity, c canbefoundby,
where, =angular frequency.
Fromthe equation it can be seen that, the wave
velocity will increasewith theincreaseof wavefre-
quency without converging to acertain valuedueto
neglectingtherotaryinertiaandsheareffect. Rayleigh
theory considered only the rotary inertia effect and
Timoshenkobeamtheoryconsideredbothrotaryiner-
tiaandshear effect inadditionto bending. Thecom-
parisonof thesethreetheoriesispresentedinFigure2.
Theaxesof thefigurearenon-dimensional wavenum-
ber( ) andnon-dimensional velocity( c) whichcanbe
definedas:
where, c
0
=bar velocity; =wavenumber; f =cyclic
frequency; r=radiusof thecylinder.
Figure2. Dispersionrelationfromdifferenttheories(After
Graff, 1975).
FromFigure 2, it is clear that, all three theories
yieldalmostsimilarresultsforlowwavenumberorlow
frequency andlowfrequencies aregenerally induced
inlowstrainintegrity testing. Sointhispaper, phase
velocityof numerical dataiscomparedwithBernoulli-
Euler theory.
2.2 Dispersion of flexural wave
Inthebendingtest broadbandexcitationfrequencyis
usually induced and thewavemoves as agroup. So
the velocity of an individual frequency component
(phasevelocity) andthevelocity of thewholegroup
(groupvelocity) aredifferent indispersivewave. The
equation of phase (V
ph
) and group (V
gr
) velocity is
definedas,
Experimentally it is not easy to find out the
wavenumber (Subhani, 2012) and moreover, only
groupvelocitycanbeobtainedfromtimedomaindata.
Phase velocity has to be calculated fromfrequency
domain (Lynch, 2007) or by SKM (Chen and Kim,
1996) or CWT. So, for lowfrequency band, equation
(3) shouldbealmost thesameasequation(9). Inthis
paper, phase velocity is determined fromnumerical
databyCWT andcomparedwithequation(3).
2.3 Effect of soil
Unlikepiles, polesarepartlyembeddedinthesoil and
mostpartof polesisaboveground.Thevelocityof the
waveis affectedslightly by thesurroundingmedium
(Lynch, 2007,Wang, 2004). Besidethevelocity, atten-
uation is another important parameter to consider if
1078
the structure is embedded in another medium and
equation(10) isonlyvalidfor lowattenuationsystem
(Pavlakovic and Lowe, 2003). The reason is, group
velocityshowsthepropagationof energyandfor high
attenuation system, group velocity cannot be deter-
minedfromequation(10). Inthiswork, attenuationis
consideredlow, becausesoil andtimber polearenot
rigidlybonded.
2.4 Reflection of flexural wave
Wavewill reflect fromthebottomof thetimber pole
and this reflection characteristic can be determined
analytically by considering a semi-infinite beam. It
isimportant tofindthephaseof thereflectedwaveto
determinethevelocity. Fornon-dispersivewaveorlow
frequencylongitudinal wave,thisphasechangemainly
depends on thecharacteristic impedance(product of
densityandvelocity)of themedium.Whenthecharac-
teristicimpedanceof thesecondmedium(inthiscase,
soil) ishigher thanthatof thefirst(timber), thenthere
will bea180
phasechangeinthevibration(Kolsky,
1963), but thephasewill remainthesameif thesoil
impedance is less than timber. However, for disper-
sivewave, it is not straight forward dueto thepulse
distortion as described in Figure 1. Thus, pulse dis-
tortion dueto dispersion and pulsedistortion dueto
boundary interactionbothoccur andno general con-
clusions canbemadeonreflectioncharacteristics of
theboundary. Graff (1975)consideredasteadytrainof
harmonicincident wavesinasemi-infinitebeamand
determined thefrequency dependent amplituderatio
of the reflected waves. For the finite end boundary
condition, Graff onlysolvedfor pinendandfreeend.
Foranembeddedtimberpole, itisrequiredtosolvethe
equationwithspringdashpot systemat thefiniteend.
Inthispaperratherthansolvingsuchequation,CWTis
appliedfor determinationof thefrequencydependent
amplituderatioof thereflectedwaves.
Lynch(2007) suggestedthat thereflectedpeakcan
be determined fromthe fact that, due to pulse dis-
tortion the amplitude of the consecutive peaks will
reduceuntil therewill beanincreaseinamplitudeof a
certainpeak. Thishigher amplitudepeakcorrespond-
ing to the previous peak is considered as reflection
or this peak is the beginning of the reflected wave
group. Healsodeterminedthefrequencyof theprop-
agating wave group by taking the reciprocal of the
time difference between the first two peaks. This is
valid, if thereis only onemodepresent inthesignal,
otherwise, the time difference between two consec-
utive peaks of the wave group will be different and
the group wave frequency will be different. In this
paper, firstly, dominatingfrequenciesaredetermined
fromFast Fourier Transform(FFT). Secondly, CWT
isappliedonthesignal andtimedomainplotisdrawn
for eachdominatingfrequency. Thenreflectionpeak
is determined by aforementioned method and phase
velocity is calculatedfor eachfrequency. At theend,
thephasevelocityiscomparedwithanalytical velocity
(equation3).
Figure 3. Various displacement components of flexural
waveat different locationof cylinder.
2.5 Components of flexural wave
Inacylindrical system, only threewavescanbegen-
erated; longitudinal, bendingandtorsional wave. Lon-
gitudinal andtorsional wavesaresymmetric, whereas
bending wave is anti-symmetric. So in the bending
wave the displacement at one position of the pole
is 180
out of phase with those at a position 180
around the circumference. But for symmetric wave,

displacementsareconstant withangle.
In longitudinal wave, only axial and radial com-
ponents of displacement are present and in bending
wave, angularcomponentisalsopresentinadditionto
theprevioustwo(Figure3). Incylindrical coordinate
system(r, , z), thesecomponentscanbeexpressedby
thefollowingequations(Kolsky, 1963),
where, U, V, W arefunctionsof r only.
Fromtheabovethreeequations, itcanbeseenthat,
if =0
, then equation (12) becomes zero, i.e. at

theimpact location( =0
), therewill benoangular
component of displacement. Again, if =90
, then
equation(11) and(13) arezero, i.e. inbendingwave,
axial andlongitudinal component of displacement is
zeroat aposition90
aroundthecircumferencefrom
theimpact location. Figure3alsoshowsthezeroand
non-zero values of different components at different
locationfor bendingwave.
3 NUMERICAL VERIFICATION
As a great deal of simplification has been made in
obtainingtheanalytical solution, theanalytical results
arebetter usedfor qualitativeanalysisandthenumer-
ical model ismoresuitablefor followingquantitative
investigations. In this paper, a 12m timber utility
pole(radius=130mm) is modelledbyANSYS. The
embedded length is 2m and transverse impact is
1079
Figure4. Radial component of displacement at thebottom
of thepoleandonthesurface.
Figure 5. Tangential component of displacement at the
bottomof thepoleandonthesurface.
imparted to producebending waves at a distanceof
1.5m from the ground level. All radial, longitudi-
nal andangular/tangential componentsaretakeninto
consideration. Contactelementisusedtosimulatethe
soil-timber interaction.
Morletwaveletisusedasmother waveletfor CWT.
3.1 Component of flexural wave
Toverifyequation(11)(13), anypointalongthepole
canbechosen. Figures46showtheradial, tangential
andlongitudinal components respectively, at thesur-
faceof thepoleat bottom. Figure4shows theradial
component of displacement at =0
, 90
and 180
.
Fromequation(11), itisclear that, cos0
, cos90
and
cos 180
give a value of 1, 0 and 1, respectively.

So, radial component is zero at =90
orientation
and =180
orientation shows a 180
out of phase
of displacement component compared to 0
. Simi-
larly, equation(12) is satisfiedby Figure5. It shows
that, zerotangential componentsareseenat =0
and
180
andnon-zerovaluetangential componentoccurs
at 90
. Figure6satisfies equation (13), even though

Figure6. Longitudinal component of displacement at the
bottomof thepoleandonthesurface.
Figure7. Radial component of displacement at 0
orienta-
tionalongtheradiusof thepole.
longitudinal component isseenat =90
orientation
but it isverysmall comparedto0
and180
.
Figures 7 and 8 show the variation of amplitude
alongtheradiusof thepoleat =0
. Figure7shows
thevariationof theradial component at r=32.5mm,
65mm, 97.5mmand 130mm(surface of the pole).
Fromthisfigure, it isclear that duetotheabsenceof
thetangential component, it is purely ashear move-
ment at =0
orientation. So radial component is

reflecting the shear movement of the wave and it
is the same along the radius of the pole. Figure 8
shows the longitudinal component of displacement
along the radius and the amplitude is decreasing as
it moves towards thecenter of thepolefromthesur-
face. This phenomenon proves thebending behavior
of the pole, because axial/longitudinal displacement
decreases fromthesurfaceand becomes zero at the
neutral axisfor thebendingaction.
Fromthe above discussion, sensor locations can
be suggested. Three tri-axial accelerometers can be
placedat =0
, 90
and180
orientation.
1080
Figure 8. Longitudinal component of displacement at 0
orientationalongtheradiusof thepole.
Figure9. Spectral andtemporal dataof hammer.
3.2 Determination of phase velocity
Inthis section, theverificationof equation3will be
shown. For practical consideration, alocation above
thesoil level ischosen(1mabovethesoil level or 3m
frombottomof thepole). Longitudinal component of
displacementat =0
orientationisselected, because
equation(3) is derivedfor themotioninthevertical
direction (y axis in Cartesian or z axis in cylin-
drical coordinate) for theload/forceinthetransverse
direction(x axisinCartesianorr axisincylindrical
coordinate).
Figure 9 shows the temporal and spectral data of
hammerwhichgeneratesstresswave. Fromthefigure,
it can be seen that, most of the energy imparted to
the pole is below 2000Hz. This observation is also
supported by stress wavemeasurement at 3mabove
thebottomof thepolewheredominant frequenciesin
thewavearealsobelow2000Hz (Figure10). All the
possibledominatefrequencycanbedeterminedfrom
theFigure10.
CWT is applied on the signal (Figure 11). In
CWT, the axes are transformed into scale and
Figure10. Spectral dataat3mfromthebottomof thepole.
Figure 11. Temporal data and its CWT at the sensor 3m
abovefromthebottomof thepole.
translation. Timecanbedeterminedfromtranslation
andfrequencycanbedeterminedfromscale(Subhani,
2012).
Fromthe CWT plot, all the dominating frequen-
cies are chosen in order to plot the time domain
signal for each frequency. Figures 12 and 13 show
the time domain plots at frequencies of 155Hz and
692Hz, respectively. These figures show that when
bendingwavetravels withthewavegroupat thefre-
quencyof 155Hzor692Hz, howthewavepatternwill
look like and fromthese figures the phase velocity
correspondingtothat frequencycanbedetermined.
Tofindoutthevelocity, determinationof thereflec-
tionisimportantanditisselectedbasedonthemethod
described in section 2.4 which is shown in the fig-
ures. Another important featureof Figures12and13
isthatthegroupbehavior becomesmoreprominentas
frequencyincreases.
After selecting the reflected peak, phase velocity
canbedeterminedeasilyfromthefollowingformula:
1081
Figure12. CWT coefficient plot at 155Hz.
Figure13. CWT coefficient plot at 692Hz.
where, L =distancebetweenthesensorandthebottom
of thepole; t =timedifferencebetweenfirst arrival
andreflection.
Figure14shows thephasevelocity of thewaveat
different frequencies. Analytical velocity, determined
fromequation(3), isalsoshowninthefigure. Numer-
ical datamatchwithanalytical ones withanerror of
022%. Thediscrepancymaybedueto:
Numerical modelling is for a finite length pole,
whereas, analytical model isforaninfinitemedium.
Rotary inertia and shear effects are neglected in
equation(3)
Equation (3) is derived for harmonic wave, but
numerical loadingisduetoimpact load.
4 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a possible arrangement of the sensor
setupisproposedbasedonthecomponentsof flexural
waveatdifferentlocationsof thetimber pole. Itisalso
Figure14. Comparisonof phasevelocityof thewave.
provedthat, purebendingassumptioncanbeaccept-
able if the wave frequencies induced by the impact
loading is in the low range. A numerical modelling
wasnecessarytoprovidequantitativeanalysisassim-
plifiedanalytical solutioncanonlyprovidequalitative
analysis. CWT plot can be used to determine wave
grouppatternandthereforepotentially determinethe
reflectedwaves. But it isalsoessential tofindout the
wavelengthcorrespondingtothefrequency,whichwill
provide an indication on possible detectable lengths
of damageor embedment for aparticular frequency.
Further researchwill becarriedout to determinethe
suitablefrequencyrangetobeinducedbythehammer
impact todetect variousdamages.
REFERENCES
Chen, S. & Kim, Y. R. (1996) Condition assessment of
installed timber piles by dispersive wave propagation.
Transportation Research Record: J ournal of the Trans-
portationResearchBoard, 1546, 112120.
Graff, K. F. (1975) Wave motion in elastic solids, Dover
Pubns.
Holt, J. D. (1994) Comparingthefourier phaseandshortker-
nel methodsforfindingoverall lengthsof installedtimber
piles. NorthCarolinaStateUniversity.
Kolsky, H. (1963) StressWavesinSolids. Dover.
Lynch, J. (2007) Experimental verificationof concretepiles
subjected to flexural guided waves. Ph. D. Dissertation,
NorthwesternUniversity, Evanston, IL.
Pavlakovic, B. &Lowe, M. (2003) Dispersesoftwaremanual
Version2.0.16B. Imperial College, London, UK.
Subhani, M., Li, J., Samali, B. (2012) Determination of
Embedment Depth of Timber Poles and Piles Using
Wavelet Transform. AdvancesinStructural Engineering,
15, 759770.
Wang, H. (2004) Theoretical evaluationof embeddedplate-
likeandsolidcylindrical concretestructureswithguided
waves. NorthwesternUniversity.
1082
Ultimateperformanceof timber connectionwithnormal screws
Z. Zabihi, R. Shrethta, B. Samali & K. Crews
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
and Information Technology, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: This paper presents theresults of experimental push-out tests ontwodifferent types of timber
compositeconnections using only normal screws as theshear connecter. Thepush out tests wereconducted
basedonEurocode5recommendationsandtheload-slipresponsesobtainedfromlabtestsareusedtodetermine
thestiffnessof theconnectionsat serviceability, ultimateandnear collapselevels, andtheperformanceof the
connectionsareassessedat ultimateload. Moreover, ananalytical model isderivedfor eachtypeof connection
basedontheexperimental resultsandusinganonlinear regression, whichcanbeimplementedintonon-linear
FE analysisof timber beamswithnormal screws.
1 INTRODUCTION
Although theuseof engineered wood products such
as LVL in the floor construction has increased in
Australia and New Zealand recently, several studies
have highlighted the notable lack of timber used in
non-residential buildings [1]. In this regard, exten-
sive laboratory tests have been conducted on long
span timber floor modules (6mand 8mclear span)
at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). In
thisexperimental investigation, thestaticanddynamic
behaviourof thesetimberfloormoduleswereassessed
under serviceability and ultimate load. The bond
betweenflangesandthewebsforall thesetimbermod-
uleswasprovidedbytheglueandscrews. Thescrews
usedwerenormal type17woodscrews, withatotal
lengthof 90mm, thethreadlengthof 45mmandwith
adiameter of 5mm. Their rolewassimplytoholdthe
webandtheflangesinplacewhilethegluesetsprop-
erly. However, theactual bondbetweentheflangesand
thewebsisprovidedbytheglue.
Although the glued and screwed bond performs
fully compositely under serviceability loads, at the
ultimate limit state, the performance of the timber
modulesdependsonthequalityof theinterfacesof the
section. If alackof adequateglueisidentifiedbetween
theflangesandwebs, thescrewsbear theshear force
at theinterfaceand hence, they play acritical struc-
tural roleattheultimateload.Therefore, thebehaviour
of thescrews when they areacting as theonly load
bearingpart of thebondisimportant.
In order to assess theperformanceof thebond at
theultimateload, timber connectionswerefabricated
according to the Australian Standard AS 1649 [2],
usingonly normal screwsastheshear connecter, and
theyweretestedunder pushout load.
2.1 Test specimens
Thepush out test for thetimber connection was fol-
lowedbytheexperimental investigationof 6mand8m
full scale LVL timber beams. A total number of six
serviceability(SLS) andthreedestructive(ULS) tests
wereconductedon6mand8mLVL timber modules
withthecrosssectional dimensionsshowninFigures1
and2.
As shown in theFigures 1 and 2, hySPAN cross-
bandedLVL andhySPANPROJ ECT wasusedfor top
Figure1. Dimensionsfor 6mSpantimber modules(mm).
Figure2. Dimensionsfor 8mSpantimber modules(mm).
1083
Figure3. Dimensionsof thetimber connections(mm).
flangeandbottomflanges, respectively.Thereforetwo
types of connections werebuilt to replicatethebond
of topandbottomflangeswiththewebs. Theconnec-
tionsweredesignedaccordingtoAustralianStandard
AS1649 [2] and Figure3 shows thedimensions and
the type of materials which were used for building
connectiontype1. As illustratedinFigure3, thetest
specimensare350mmlongandmadeof 90mmwide
and35mmdeepflanges. Thethicknessof thewebis
45mm, with the length of 90mm. The second type
(connectiontype2) isexactlysimilar tothefirst type
except thefact that thehySPAN PROJ ECT LVL was
usedasthematerial of theflangesinsteadof hySpan
CrossbandedLVL.
Figure 4 shows the dimensions of the normal
screws, type17woodscrews, usedinfabricatingthe
connectionwhichwereidentical totheoneusedinthe
floor modules.
A number of tests were conducted on two types
of LVL (hySPAN Cross-banded LVL and hySPAN
PROJ ECT LVL), to determinetheir material proper-
ties. Thematerial properties tests (including density,
Figure4. Dimensionsof thenormal screws(mm).
Table1. MOE of LVL.
MOE
Component Name (GPa) CoV
TopFlange(hySPANCross-banded 9.6 10.7%
LVL, Flat-Wisetests)
Webs(hySPANPROJ ECT LVL, 13.3 4.6%
Edge-Wisetests)
BottomFlanges(hySPANPROJ ECT, 13.1 12.3%
Flat-Wisetests)
bending strength, the apparent modulus of elastic-
ity (MoE), shear strength, tension and compression
strengthparallel tothegrain) wereconductedaccord-
ingtoAustralasianStandardAS/NZS4063.1:2010[3].
However, in this paper, only the values of MoE are
presented(Table1).
To confirmthe Modulus of Elasticity (MoE) of
theLVL, 15testswereconductedonhySPAN Cross-
bandedLVL inflat-wisefashionand15testswerecon-
ductedonhySPAN PROJ ECT LVL inbothflat-wise
andedge-wisedirections. Theresultsarepresentedin
Table1. AsshowninTable1, thecoefficient of varia-
tion(CoV) isupto12.3%whichconfirmsthevariable
natureof timber.
After each servicability and destructive test, the
MoistureContent(MC) of theLVL sampleswerealso
measuredaccordingtoAS/NZS1080.1[4].Theresults
show that the MC values of the connections were
around10%for all testswithnosignificantdifference
amongtheMC values.
2.3 Test set up and loading procedure
Figure5showsthetestsetupforthepushouttests.Two
LVDTswithtravellingrangeof 25mmareinstalledin
thefront andback of thespecimen(Figure5) tocap-
turetheslipbetweenflangesandtheweb.Theadopted
loadingprocedureisaccordingtotheEuropeanStan-
dardBSEN26891:1991[5].Theloadingprocedureis
showninFigure6.
As shown in Figure 6, a load was applied up to
almost 40%of theestimatedfailureload(F
est
) within
about two minutes and maintained at this level for
about 30seconds, andthenit reducedto 10%of the
F
est
andmaintainedat thislevel for about 30seconds.
Thereafter theloadwas increasedupto failurepoint
of thespecimenwiththesameloadingrateasthepre-
vioussteps. Thereasonfor theloadcycle(unloading
1084
Figure5. Pushout test set up.
Figure6. LoadingprocedurebasedonEuropeanStandard.
stage) istoeliminatetheinternal frictionat theinter-
facesandletthespecimentosettle.Thefinal load-slip
responseof thepush-outtestcanbeidealizedasshown
inFigure7.
Figure 7. Idealized load-slip curves based on European
Standard.
2.4 Characteristic behaviour of connections
Theperformanceof theconnections canbeassessed
byvariousfactorssuchasstrength, stiffnessandfail-
uremodein serviceability- and ultimatelimit states
(SLS & ULS). The strength of the connection is
defined as the maximum load captured during the
push-out test beforefailurehappens.
Moreover, theconnectionstiffnessor slipmodulus
(K
s
) is another featureof theconnection that can be
usedtocharacterisetheconnectionbehaviour inSLS
andULS. Theslipmodulusrepresentstheshear resis-
tanceof theconnector totherelativedisplacement of
theinterfaces. Accordingto BS EN 26891:1991[3],
theslipmodulusat different stagescanbecalculated
as Equations 1 to 4. Theinitial stiffness of thecon-
nection(K
i
) representsthefirst slopeof theload-slip
behaviour, however the slope of the load-slip curve
between10%and40%of thefailureload, or theslip
modulusK
s,0.4
, isusuallyusedtoidentifytheservice-
abilitystiffness.Furthermore,theslopeof theload-slip
curvebetween1060%and1080%of thepeak load
correspond to theultimate(K
s,0.6
) and near collapse
(K
s,0.8
) stiffnessof connection, respectively.
whereF
est
represents thepeak-load, v is therelative
slipandthesubscriptscomply withthemilestonesin
of thediagramshowninFigure7.
1085
Figure8. Responseof connectiontype1.
3.1 Strength and stiffness of the connections
The load-slip results for connection type 1 (with
hySPAN Cross-bandedasthematerial of theflanges)
and connection type 2 (with hySPAN PROJ ECT as
thematerial of theflanges) areshowninFigures8and
9, respectively. All the graphs are derived for a sin-
glescrewby halvingthevalues of thecapturedload
duringthepush-outtestandplottingitversustheslip.
As shown in thefigures, all specimens showed sim-
ilar bi-linear behaviour, that is, a linear response at
thebeginningwhichrepresentstheinitial stiffnessand
thenasomewhat non-linear behaviour after 0.4F
max
.
Experimental observationfor all thespecimens indi-
catesthefailureof thescrewattheinterfacesbetween
theflangesandtheweb, aswell ascrushingof theLVL
whichwascausedbybendingof thescrewinthetim-
ber. Since there is a sudden drop in the load at the
failurepoint, yieldingof thescrewsarealmost negli-
gibleandtheductilityof theconnectionisprovidedby
crushingof LVL aroundthescrew.Table2presentsthe
valuesof thestiffnessof theconnections.Asshownin
thetable, theaveragepeak-load for connection type
1 and 2 is around 8.5kN and also thereis not much
differencebetweenstiffnessof connectionstype1and
2. However, dueto variableproperties of timber (i.e.
largevalueof CoV for MOE of LVL asgiveninTable
1) thevaluesof stiffnessof bothconnectiontypeshave
alargevariationtoo (highvalueof CoV). For exam-
ple, while the average value of initial stiffness (K
i
)
for connection type1 is 2.12kN/mm, it has 32%of
variation, which indicates the variable behaviour of
timber.
3.2 Analytical model for shear-slip behaviour of the
connections
Ananalytical model for eachtypeof connection(i.e.
type 1 and 2) can be developed using the load-slip
responseof theconnections. Inthisregards, anonlin-
earregressionisappliedtoall thecurvesobtainedfrom
Figure9. Responseof connectiontype2.
Table2. Stiffnessof theconnections.
P
max
K
i
K
s,0.4
K
s,0.6
K
s,0.8
(kN) (kN/mm) (kN/mm) (kN/mm) (kN/mm)
TF
AVE 8.45 2.12 1.64 1.25 0.68
CoV 14% 32% 32% 39% 17%
BF
AVE 8.46 2.32 1.78 1.24 0.71
Cov 11% 17% 17% 21% 17%
Figure10. Responseof connectiontype1without theload
cycle(theunloadingstageeliminated).
thepush-out tests, andthebest mathematical expres-
sions of the load-slip behaviour of connections was
derived.
Figures 10 and 11 show the load-slip responses
obtainedfrompush-out tests wheretheloadcycleis
eliminatedfromall thecurves. Moreover, threeaddi-
tional sampleof eachconnectiontype(1and2) were
tested without theload cycle(i.e. theload was con-
stantly increaseduntil thefailurehappens) whichare
alsopresentedinFigures9and10(TF-11&12and14
andBF-8&9and10).Thegraphsshowthatthereisno
1086
Figure11. Responseof connectiontype2without theload
cycle(theunloadingstageeliminated).
significantdifferenceinload-slipresponseof thecon-
nectionsasaresultof twodifferentloadingprocedures
(withandwithout loadcycle).
According to Figures 10 and 11, the load-slip
responseof connectionscanbedividedintotwostages.
The first stage of the response starts with a sharp
increaseintheloadlevel whichrepresents theinitial
stiffness, K
0
, of theconnection. Thesecondstageof
behaviour is followed by strain-hardening part with
thestiffness, K
p
, which is associated with agradual
increaseintheloadlevel andalargeslip. After that,
thefailureoccursintheconnectionwithasuddendrop
intheloadwhichoccursimmediatelyafterthefracture
of thescrews.
Richard-Abbott model [6] with four unknown
parameterscanbeemployedtorepresentthebehaviour
of connections. TheRichard-Abbott model wasorig-
inally proposedfor semi-rigidsteel connections, and
for timber connections withnormal screws it canbe
expressedasEquation5:
where K
0
is the initial stiffness, K
p
is the strain-
hardeningstiffness, P
0
is areferenceshear forceand
n is aparameter associatedwiththesharpness of the
curve. Table3presentsthevaluesfor K
0
, K
P
, P
0
and
nfor connectiontype1and2. Valuesof R
2
represent
theaccuracyof theregressioncurve. If R
2
isequal to
1, all dataare100%correlated. Moreover, sincethe
behaviour of connectiontype1and2aresimilar (See
Figures10, 11and12) theconstantvalueswerecalcu-
latedconsideringall specimens, andFigure12shows
theload-slipresponseincludingall specimensaswell
astheregressioncurve(theboldthickcurve).
Therefore, withsubstitutingthevalues of K
0
, K
P
,
P
0
andninEquation5, themathematical expression
Table3. Constant valuesof theanalytical model.
K
0
K
P
P
0
n R
2
Type1 6.029 0.2418 4.367 1 0.98
Type2 5.482 0.1859 5.27 1 0.97
All of theSpecimens 5.647 0.2125 4.822 1 0.97
Figure12. Responseof connectionswithout theloadcycle
(theunloadingstageeliminated).
of thebehaviour of thetimber connectionwithnormal
screwswill beasfollows:
whereP andv represent theshear forceandtheslip,
respectively. Equation 6 can adequately express the
first and second stages of the behaviour for timber
connections with normal screws which can be eas-
ily incorporatedintononlinear FE analysesof timber
beamswithnormal screws.
4 CONCLUSION
Basedonthepush-out testsconductedontimber con-
nections, thefollowingconclusionscanbedrawn: the
maximumpeak-loadof connectionstype1and2were
near identical, andit showsthat failureof thescrews
governsthefailureof theconnectionandit isalmost
independent of thedifferent typeof LVL inthecon-
nections.Thevaluesof thestiffnessinconnectiontype
1and2arealsosimilar whichconfirmsagain, thatthe
behaviour of theconnectionwas almost independent
of the type of LVL used for flanges. However, due
tovariablepropertiesof timber, thevaluesof stiffness
fortimberconnectionhavealargevariationtoo. More-
over, timber connectionwithnormal screwsdisplayed
abrittlebehaviour with asudden drop at thefailure
1087
point. Finally, thebehaviourof timberconnectionwith
normal screwscanbeexpressedwithamathematical
equation(Equation6) whichcanbeincorporatedinto
nonlinear FE analysesof timber beams.
REFERENCES
[1] K. Bayne, S. Taylor. Attitudetotheuseof woodas
astructural material innon-residential applications:
opportunities for growth, Forest & Wood Products
Research& Development Corporation, 2006
[2] AS 1649-2001, Methods of test for mechanical
fasteners and connector- Basic working loads and
characteristicstrength
[3] AS/NZS4063.1:2010: Characterizationof structural
timber Test methods
[4] AS/NZS 1080.1: Timber-methods of test, Moisture
content, (1):40, 1997.
[5] BS EN2689:1991 Timber Structures-J oints made
with mechanical fasteners-general principle for
the determination of strength and deformation
characteristics.
[6] Chan, S.L. and P.P.T. Chui, Non-linear static
andcyclic analysis of steel frames withsemi regid
connection. First ed2000, Killington, oxford: Else-
vier. 336.
1088
Concrete/material technology
Characterisationof cement mortar containing
oil-contaminatedaggregates
M.H. Almabrok, R.G. McLaughlan& K. Vessalas
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology,
ABSTRACT: Oil spills, leakageandother releasesof productsfrompetroleumindustry areasourceof con-
taminationandarerecognisedasamajor environmental concern. Thecurrent treatment technologiesfor these
materialsareeither cost prohibitiveand/or thetreatedproductshavetobesent tolandfill without anypotential
end-use, therebyrenderingthesesolutionsunsustainable. Cement-basedstabilisation/solidificationisanemerg-
ingtechnology;howeverthereiscurrentlyquitelimitedknowledgeontheeffectof oil onthecementsolidification
processanditsconsequent effect ontheperformanceof freshandhardenedpropertiesof theresultant cemen-
titiousmix. Thepurposeof conductingthisstudyistodeterminetheappropriatenessof themortar for various
end-useswhenincorporatingmineral oil additionsupto10%of theaggregatemass. Increasedoil contentinthe
cement mortar wasfoundtoincreasesettingtimeanddecreaseair content. Thecompressivestrengthdecreased
by78%comparedtothecontrol at 28daysage. However, sincethecompressivestrengthcoveredawiderange
of values, variousfeasibleend-usescenariosfor oil contaminatedmortar exist.
1 INTRODUCTION
Significant quantities of wastes are produced annu-
ally aroundtheworldfromtheoil industry. Themost
commonhazardouspetroleumwastesareoilymateri-
als(e.g. oilydrillingfluids, crudeoil andrefineryoil)
whicharegeneratedfromcomplexprocessesconsist-
ingof several stagesof operationssuchasexploration,
production (upstreamoperations), refining and dis-
tribution (downstream) as shown in the simplified
schematicinFigure1.
Thesematerialsareenvironmental hazardsandusu-
ally disposed of in open pits. Recent environmental
legislations have imposed restrictions on release or
dischargeof thesetoxicmaterials(Aguwa2007).
Thefirst objectiveinthewastemanagement strat-
egyplanistominimisetheamountof wastegenerated
frompetroleumoperationsandtomaximiserecycling.
Figure1. Operationassociationwithoil industry.
However, there are wastes that will be unavoidable
and should be treated before any re-use for further
applicationor disposal. Oncetreated, thepathwayfor
end useor disposal will depend on theenvironmen-
tal requirements. Althoughthereareseveral treatment
andmanagementtechniquesfor oilywastes(e.g. ther-
mal methods, biological treatment, and subsurface
disposal), most of thesetechniqueshaveeither draw-
backs interms of financial cost or their effect onthe
environment. Furthermore, the final application for
treatedproductsismost oftennot intendedfor re-use
(Al-Ansary & Al-Tabba 2007). Cement-based
stabilization/solidification has emerged as a viable
alternative technology due to its improvement of
thephysical andmechanical properties of petroleum
wastes through bindingtheoily materials in astruc-
ture formed by cementing of pozzolanic materials
to produce chemically and physically stable and
mechanically handableproducts(Tuncan& Koyuncu
1997).
2 BACKGROUND
Stabilisation refers to a chemical technique used to
makeawastelessharmful tothesurroundingenviron-
ment by converting it into aless solubleformwhile
solidification refers to techniquethat transforms the
waste into a durable and stable form that is more
compatibleforstorage, landfill, orreuse(Wiles1987).
1091
Cement based solidification/stabilisation (S/S)
treatment generally can be done by the mixing of a
cementitious binder with the addition of water and
curing of the mix for several days. It is important
to assess performance of the S/S process to deter-
mine whether or not this process has successfully
containedthecontaminantswithinastablephaseand
without harmful effect on the surrounding environ-
ment andwherepossiblecontributeto acommercial
value(Meegodaet al. 2003).
One of the most important aspects of the perfor-
mance of monolithic S/S material is its ability to
withstandmechanical stress intheformof compres-
sive strength. Compressive strength is linked to the
progressof hydrationreactionsinthemortar,anddura-
bilityof themonolithicS/Smaterial. Itcanbeusedas
anindirectmethodtodeterminetheextenttowhichthe
wastehas beenchemically transformedintoamono-
lith. Thereisalsoalinkbetweencompressivestrength
and leach-ability due to air content and permeabil-
ity. Lower compressive strength will lead to greater
permeabilityandthereforegreater leachingpotential.
Higher air contentwill decreasecompressivestrength
and increase leaching (Hagaa et al. 2005; Saitoa &
Deguchib2000).
Thecompressivestrength that can beobtained in
a S/S material will determine its suitability for var-
ious end-uses. A minimumcompressive strength of
350Paisconsideredadequatefor bonding(Sharma&
Lewis1994).Therecommendedcompressivestrength
at 28 days for materials that is to be disposed of
in a landfill is 0.35MPa under provision listed in
the United State Environmental Protection Agency
(USEPA) guidelines and 1.0MPa in the France and
Netherlands(Spence& Shi 2005). However, ahigher
compressivestrength valueof 3.5MPa in a sanitary
landfill according to Wastewater Technology Centre
(WTC), Canada(Stegemann& Cote1996).
A minimumcompressive strength of 5.2MPa at
28dayscuringisdescribedbyInternational Masonry
Institutes, USA for masonrys mortar (Huston et al.
1997). Furthermore, for sub-baseandbasematerials,
under the UK department of transport, a minimum
7 days cube compressive strength ranging between
5and15MPaisrequired(DFID2000). Accordingto
Ontario provincial standards, aminimumof 30MPa
at 28 days curing is required for theconstruction of
sidewalks(OPSS2010).
Several studies haveattemptedtoreusepetroleum
wastes either as an addition to, or substitution for, a
rawmaterial that wasrequiredfor thefabricationof a
product or material; or asasupplement toanexisting
feedstock of waste material, that was already being
processed into a useful product. Results fromthese
studies demonstratedthat usingoil-basedmudwaste
upto30%(bymassof claymaterials) inthemanufac-
turingof redclaybuildingbrickseemstobeanattrac-
tiveoptionfor reusingdrill cuttings. Thecompressive
strengthof 16.2MPawasachievedwithfiringtemper-
atureat 900
C and is acceptableunder theEgyptian

code(El-Mahllawy&Osman2010).Chenetal.(2007)
investigated the recycling of drilling waste contain-
ing organic materials up to 2.30%(by waste mass).
The manufactured bricks had a 7 day compressive
strength of 27.5MPawhen thewastewas combined
with clay in the ratio of 1:6. As a partial substitu-
tioninconcrete, eventhoughthepercentageof drilling
wasteincreasedfrom10%to20%(bycement mass),
thecompressivestrength at 28 days was reported as
34.3MPa and 30.9MPa respectively. The final con-
clusionfromthispaststudyindicatedthattheobtained
values of compressive strength whether for bricks
and concrete met the CNS (Taiwan National Stan-
dard) specificationrequirements. Opeteet al. (2010)
createdconstructionblocksusingstabilizeddrill cut-
tingsincorporatingoilysyntheticmud(85mg/l) with
cementasbinder.Thecompressivestrengthat20days
for a reduction in cement ratio of 3:1 was 4.2MPa
which met prescribed the British requirements for
blocks. Smithetal. (1999) foundthatoil contaminated
drilling cuttings stabilised with 5%ordinary cement
and 3% Diogen Plus had a compressive strength of
1.5MPa at 28 days which can be used for non-
specification works such as pedestrian or vehicular
paths andcar parks. However, this material failedto
reach the requirement limit for motorway construc-
tion. Ezeldinetal. (1995) usedbenzene-contaminated
soils (upto 3%by soil weight) to replaceupto 80%
of fineaggregateinconcrete. Thefindings indicated
thatwhenusingwell-gradedsand,theconcretedemon-
strated acceptablelevels of performancein terms of
compressivestrengthat28days(39.3MPa); however,
when silty sand was used, the compressive strength
was only 19.8MPa. Pamukcu et al. (1990) stabi-
lized/solidifiedsoil incorporatingfuel oil at levelsof
5, 10 and 20%with 20%cement (The percentages,
both in the case of oil and cement, were based on
the dry weight of the soil) and found that the com-
pressivestrength of thefinal articles was 0.10, 0.04
and0.022MParespectively. Drillingwastecontaining
4%oil whenstabilisedwith5%cement, 10%fly ash
and 20% lime, contributed to giving a compressive
strengthof 0.0014MPaat theendof 28days curing.
AccordingtotheCaliforniabearingratio(CBR) test,
this valueis suitablefor sub-basecoarsematerial in
highwayconstruction(Tuncanet al. 2000).
Theobjectiveof theresearchpresentedinthispaper
istoinvestigatetheeffect of incorporatedmineral oil
on the cement solidification process and its conse-
quent effect on thefresh and hardened properties of
theresultant mortar. Laboratorytestswereconducted
todeterminewhether compactedsamplesaresuitable
for anend-usescenariorather thandisposal.
3 METHODSANDMATERIALS
3.1 Materials
AnASTM type 1 cement (Cement Australia) which
meetsgeneral purpose(GP) requirements(AS3972
10) was used. The fine aggregate used was that of
1092
Calgadoublewashedsand(RoclaQuarryProductsPty
Ltd) with an absorption capacity of 0.65%, specific
gravity of 2.57 and median particle size of 0.5mm.
Thewater sourcedfor usewasof drinkingwater stan-
dard(pH 7.4; 2.29S/cm). Glenium, apolycarboxy-
lateEther polymer based high-rangewater reducing
admixture(HWR)(BASFConstructionChemicalsPty
Ltd) was used. The mineral oil (Castrol Motorcycle
Fork Oil SAE 10) used had a viscosity similar to
mediumcrudeoil (35mm
2
/sec@40
C).
3.2 Mix proportions
The composition of the mortar was in accordance
with AS 2350.12 with the mix proportions being 1
part of cement and 3 parts of sand (by mass) at a
fixed water/cement ratio (w/c) of 0.50. Each mor-
tar batch comprised cement (225g), fine aggregate
(675g), water (112.4g), HWR (0.2ml) withbetween
0to67.5gof addedoil whichhasbeenreportedas%
bysandmass.
3.3 Preparing, casting and curing
of test specimens
Themixingmethodologyfollowedtheprocedureout-
lined in AS 2350.12 06 except for oil addition.
Oil was weighed(%by sandmass) andaddedto the
sandandthenpremixedthoroughlywithaspatulaand
then added to the other ingredients. All laboratory
workwasconductedat222
C. HWRhasbeenused
with all mixes to givereproducibleflow(6010%)
proven to be most suitable for proper consolidation
of specimensbyhand. Theprotocol for mouldingthe
mortar(ASTMC109) wasadoptedandmodifiedmin-
imiseany impact of theprotocol on any subsequent
leaching tests. No mould release agents were used,
insteadthemouldwerelinedwithnon-sticktape. The
cubemoulds weresealedusingziplock plastic bags
to prevent water from evaporating and stored in a
moistatmospherefor 24hutilisingalargeplasticbox.
Demouldingtookplaceafter that andspecimenshav-
ing 505050mmdimensions were sealed in zip
lockplasticbagsandthereafterplacedinacuringtank
filledwithwater for upto28daysat atemperatureof
22.00.5
C.
3.4 Test methods
The fresh mortars were tested for flow (ASTM
C1437-07), wetdensity(ASTMC138-10), air content
(TESTINGBluhm&FeuerherdtGmbH,ASTMC231-
10) andsettingtimes(H-3085HumboldtVicatTester,
ASTM C807-08). The compressive strength of each
mixwastestedaccordingtoASTM C109-08usingan
AveryCompressionTestingMachinewithamaximum
capacityof 1993kNandappliedloadrateof 1.5kN/s.
Mixesweretestedintriplicateformwhichcomprised
of 9specimens.
Table1. Effectof highrangewaterreducer(HWR) onflow.
Flow(%)
Oil 0.0ml 0.1ml 0.2ml 0.3ml
(%) HWR HWR HWR HWR
0 40 45 54 60
2 46 49 70 77
4 49 51 63 78
6 53 55 62 82
8 56 59 62 88
10 60 64 70 92
Figure2. Effect of oil onflowof mortar mixes.
4.1 Effect of HWR on flow
Theworkabilityof amortar isakeyfactor inconsoli-
datingspecimensfordetermininghardenedproperties.
Flows below50%wereunworkableandthoseabove
70% exhibited the signs of the onset of bleeding
and segregation. The flow was set to 6010%and
the addition of 0.2ml HWR fitted this requirement
(Table1).
4.2 Effect of oil on fresh mortar properties
Thecontrol mixwithoutHWRwasbelowtherequire-
ment flow value. The addition of oil was found to
increase flow but not proportionally (Fig. 2). This
increase in flow for mixes containing oil is a simi-
lar toother studiesreportedinliterature(Hamadetal.
2003; Abdelaziz 2009).
Measurementof thewetdensityof all mixesshowed
thataddingoil tothemixdecreasedthewetdensityof
freshmortar (Fig. 3). Thenotedreductionindensity
for all mixesrangedfrom2%to7%comparedtothe
control mix. This is inpart may be explained by the
different densitiesof thecomponent materialsusedin
the mixes. The effect of density decreases has been
noted in an another study (Abdelaziz 2009). Theair
content was foundto decreaseas withincreasingoil
(Fig. 4). Thisobservedreductionmaybeattributedto
1093
Figure3. Wet densityof mortar mixes.
Figure4. Effect of oil onair content inmortars.
Figure5. Effect of oil oncompressivestrength.
oil fillingupvoidsandthereforewithmoreoil, there
islessair content.
4.3 Effect of oil on hardened mortar properties
Thebehaviourof 1,7and28dayscompressivestrength
of specimensincorporatingmineral oil wasquitedif-
ferent fromthat without oil (Fig. 5). All mixesfollow
a similar trend wherehigher oil contents in mortars
resultedindecreasedcompressivestrength.
Figure6. Effect of oil onsettingtime.
All specimens showedanincreaseincompressive
strength from1 to 28 days with therateof strength
development decreasing with both age and increas-
ing oil content. The development of compressive
strength with maturity shows that cement hydration
occursinall mixesbuttovaryingextents. Therelative
decreasenotedinstrengthdevelopmentwithincreased
oil content suggests that cement hydration is being
inhibited. The reduction in compressive strength of
cementitious-basedmaterialsduetotheincorporation
of oilymaterialshaspreviouslybeenreported(Ajagbe
et al. 2012; Ayininuola2009).
The inhibition of cement hydration is also seen
in the setting times (Fig. 6). Increased oil con-
tent contributed to an increase in setting time. This
increase may be attributed to the presence of oil
coatingthecementparticlesandretardingtheirhydra-
tion by hinderingtheformation of cement hydration
phases andthereforedelayingthesettingof themor-
tar. Other studies havealsodemonstratedthat setting
timehasincreasedwhenincorporatingoily materials
(Tremblay et al. 2002). Theauthors of this previous
studyreportedthattheeffectof organiccompoundson
cementhydrationisvariableandhighlyconcentration
dependant.
It should be noted that the changes noted in the
air content cannot explain the change observed in
compressive strength. The decrease of void content
inmixeswouldtendtosuggestanincreaseinthecom-
pressive strength rather than a decrease in strength.
Basedonthis result, it appears that theair content is
not dominant in decreasing strength duetoincreased
oil content. Thereductionincompressivestrengthof
mortar containing oil can be possibly attributed to
increasedbondweakness intheinterfacial transition
zone between the cement paste and fine aggregate
rather thananychangeinair content.
Fromthepoint of viewof stability, resultssuggest
that thesolidificationof oil yieldsadequatecompres-
sive strength for many end-uses. Although with the
additionof 2%of oil, thecompressivestrengthat 28
days reducedto 31.2MPa, this valueremains higher
thantheminimumvaluespecifiedfor useinthecon-
struction of sidewalks given by Ontario provincial
standards for roads and public roads. Even with 8%
oil content, thecompressivestrengthnotedat 7days
1094
(14.5MPa)still complieswithuseinsub-baseandbase
materials.Indeed,theincorporationof 10%of oil leads
toacompressivestrengthat28daysof 11.7MPa. Even
throughthis strengthis 25%that of thecontrol mix,
it remainsat anacceptablelevel for oil-contaminated
landfill and to be used in masonry rendering
systems.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The incorporation of oil into mortars was found to
decreasecompressivestrength, largelyduetoinhibit-
ing cement hydration. However, the observed com-
pressive strengths covered a wide range of values
indicatingvariousfeasibleend-usescenarioswerestill
possible for oil impacted mortar. Therefore, while
stabilisation of oil contaminated material resulting
from the oil industry or contaminated sites appear
to be a viable method of treating oil contaminated
materials, fundamental knowledge is still needed to
establishrelationshipsbetweenoil contentandmortar
performance.Thisisnecessaryforthedevelopmentof
constructionmaterialswithsuitablecharacteristicsfor
re-useratherthandisposal.Furtherresearchisrequired
withmorecomplexandrealisticoilymaterialsrelated
to thepetroleumindustry to assess if thefundamen-
tal knowledgegeneratedisapplicabletocement-based
constructionmaterials. Inaddition, further investiga-
tionis neededonboththepermeability, leach-ability
behavior of stabilisedmortarstobetter understandthe
causesof decreasedstrengthandthepotential release
of oil fromsuchmortars.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Theauthorsgratefullyacknowledgethefinancial sup-
port providedbytheLibyanEmbassyinAustraliafor
thisresearchtoproceed.Theauthorsalsoacknowledge
the support and cooperation provided by Mr. Rami
Hadad, Manager, Civil laboratories at theUniversity
of Technology, Sydney. Theauthorswouldalsoliketo
extendtheir special gratitudetoMs. YouliyaGorgees
for her technical assistance.
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1096
Anexperimental investigationintothetensilestrength
of steel fibrereinforcedconcrete
A. Amin& S.J. Foster
Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety, School of Civil
and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Australia
D. Boillet &A. Muttoni
School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering,
cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
ABSTRACT: Thematerial characterizationof steel fibrereinforcedconcrete(SFRC), whichisrequiredfor its
implementationindesigncodes, shouldbebasedonnominal propertiesthat describeitspost-crackingstrength
intension. Inthecaseof brittleandquasi-brittlematerials, suchas concrete, thetensileparameters areoften
derivedindirectly; however, for materialswithmoreductility, suchasSFRC, thereisconjecturewhether or not
anindirect measuremay beusedto establishthestress versus crack openingdisplacement relationship, such
as useof three- or four-point prismtest. Inthis paper wecomparetheresults obtainedfromprismtests back
analysed using themethodology of the2010 fib Model Codewith datafromdirect tension tests. Theresults
suggestthatthetensionpredictionsof theModel Codecanbeimprovedbyadoptingtherigidplasticmodel with
thestressdeterminedat thepoint correspondingontheCMOD
4
.
1 INTRODUCTION
Researchintotheuseof steel fibresasreinforcement
for shear andtensileactionsinconcretemembershas
beenongoingformorethanfivedecades(Romualdi &
Batson,1963;Voo&Foster,2003;Ngetal.,2012).The
tensilestrengthof plainconcrete, beingaquasi-brittle
material,diminishesquicklytozeroaftercracking.For
steel fibrereinforcedconcrete(SFRC), however, the
fibres provide post-cracking tensile capacity due to
theability of thefibrestobridgeandtransmit tensile
forcesacrosscracks.Dependingonthemechanical and
geometrical characteristicsof thefibres, thepresence
of fibres cansignificantly improvethepost-cracking
tensilebehaviour of theconcrete.
One of the reasons for the limited utilisation of
SFRCinstructural applicationshasbeenthedifficulty
inestablishingthecharacteristic tensileproperties of
thecompositeto adegreeneededto beeasily incor-
porated into existing or new design procedures. The
most important propertywhenconsideringthedesign
of astructural member manufacturedwithSFRCisits
post cracking, or residual, tensilestrength.
Beforecracking,thecharacteristicbehaviourisgen-
erallyrepresentedbythetensilestress-strainresponse;
after cracking, the behaviour is expressed in terms
of stress versus crack opening displacement (-w)
relationship(Fig. 1).
The -w relationship for SFRC can be directly
obtained from a uniaxial tensile test, which is
Figure1. Stressversusstrain/w for SFRC.
expensiveinthatitrequiresspecializedequipmentand
istimeconsuminginitspreparation, orindirectlyafter
aninverseanalysisfromathree- orfour-pointbending
test, assummarizedinFigure2.
The use of three- or four-point bending tests on
concreteprisms, together withaninverseanalysis, to
determine the tensile properties of SFRC has been
described by de Oliveira e Sousa et al. (2002). The
prismspecimensmaybenotchedor unnotchedonthe
sideof theextremetensilefibre.
Whileamethodology for thedeterminationof the
tensilestrengthusingprismtestshasbeenestablished
(di Prisco et al., 2009) and appears in thefib Model
1097
Figure2. Approachestodeterminethetensilepropertiesof
SFRC.
Table1. Mechanical propertiesof SFRC mixes.
Fibre f
cm
E
o
f
ct
Mix FibreType Vol. (MPa) (GPa) (MPa)
DA-0.5-EH end-hooked 0.5% 56.2 33.0 3.85
DA-1.0-EH end-hooked 1.0% 60.1 31.5 3.92
DA-0.5-S straight 0.5% 63.7 34.7 4.03
DA-1.0-S straight 1.0% 63.0 35.8 4.30
Code (2010) using notched prismspecimens, it has
yet to beadequately experimentally validated. While
thefibprescribeaprismgeometry, themethodologyis
independent of thespecimengeometry or, indeed, on
whether theprismisnotchedor unnotchedor testing
three- or four-point bending. Inthiscontext, anongo-
ingexperimental programisbeinginitiatedat UNSW
Australiato investigatethetensileproperties of sev-
eral softeningSFRCmixes. Someearlyresultsof this
project arereportedinthispaper.
Four SFRC mixes (Table 1) were cast and tested.
The SFRC mixes were fabricated using two types
of commercially available steel fibres: end-hooked
(EH) Dramix
RC-65/35-BN colddrawnwirefibres
and OL13/0.20 straight (S) high carbon steel fibres;
both manufactured by Bekaert. The EH fibres were
0.55mmin diameter, 35mmlong and had a tensile
strength of 1340MPa. The S fibres were 0.2mmin
diameter, 13mmlong and had a tensile strength of
more than 1800MPa. The fibre volumetric dosages
adopted in this study were 0.5%and 1.0%for both
fibre types. The aggregate used was basalt with a
maximumparticlesizeof 10mm.
Thecompressivestrengthcharacteristicsof thecon-
creteusedinthestudyweredeterminedfrom100mm
diameter cylinders testedafter 28days of moist cur-
ing at 23
C; the results are summarized in Table 1.

Themeancompressivestrength(f
cm
) wasdetermined
fromthree cylinders tested under load control at a
rateof 20MPaper minute, as per AS1012.9 (1999).
Figure3. Detailsof uniaxial tensiontest specimens.
Themodulusof elasticity(E
o
) wasobtainedinaccor-
dancewithAS1012.17(1997). Thetensilestrengthof
thematrix (f
ct
) wasobtainedfromthedog-bonetests
(describedbelow).
Theuniaxial tensiletest wasconductedonanhour
glassshapedspecimencommonlyreferredtoadog-
bone specimen. This shape was introduced by Van
Vliet(2000) Figure3showsthespecimensizeandtest
setupdetailsadoptedinthisstudy.
The dog-bone specimens were tested in a stiff
Instron servo-hydraulic testing machine. The speci-
menswereconnectedtothetestingmachineviaaseries
of bolted connections to 16mm8.8 grade threaded
rods embedded 100mmwithin thesample. Oneend
of thetest arrangement was connected to thetesting
machinethroughauniversal joint, theother througha
fixedplaten.
Tomeasurethecrackopeningdisplacement(COD),
twoLVDTswereattachedtotheNorthandSouthfaces,
with two LSCTs on the East and West faces of the
specimen.Thegaugelengthswere230mm.Thetesting
configuration and transducer arrangement is seen in
Figure4.
Theload was applied using displacement control,
initially at rate of 0.12mm/min until the formation
of the dominate crack. After cracking, the rate was
increasedto0.2mm/minwithadditional rateincreases
introducedasthetest progressed.
Thenotchedthree-pointbeamtestswereperformed
ontwodifferent sizedprisms; 150mmsquaresection
1098
Figure4. Photographof uniaxial test showingtransducers.
by500mmlongprismsand100mmsquaresectionby
500mmlongprisms.The150mmsquareprismshada
notchdepthof 45mm; the100mmsquareprismshad
a notch depth of 30mm. Thenotches werecut with
a diamond blade saw. The spans were 456mmand
400mmfor the150mmand 100mmsquarebeams,
respectively.
Theprismaticspecimensweretestedusingaclosed
looptestsystembyapplyingaclipgaugeontheunder-
sideof thebeamat thenotchtomeasureandcontrol
thecrackmouthopeningdisplacement(CMOD) atthe
extremetensilefibre. Thetest wasoperatedsuchthat
theCMODincreasedataconstantrateof 0.05mmper
minute, for thefirst two minutes, andthenincreased
to0.2mmper minuteuntil theCMODreached4mm.
3 TEST RESULTS
Theexperimental resultsfor theuniaxial testsarepre-
sented in Figures 5 to 8. Each curve represents the
averageof thefour displacement transducers placed
on thesides of thespecimens. Thepoints plottedon
the axes of the figures are the tensile strengths of
thematrix, withtheaveragesfor eachseriesgivenin
Table1.
Theloadversus CMOD responses fromthethree-
pointnotchedbendingtestsarepresentedinFigures9
to 12. Plotted within each of the figures are results
fromthetwosizedspecimens(100mm100mmand
150mm150mm). The larger, 150mm150mm,
prismscarrythehigher loads.
4 INVERSEANALYSIS
By assuming a predefined constitutive relationship,
theinverseanalysis techniqueis intended to convert
Figure5. Uniaxial responseof MixDA-0.5-EH.
Figure6. Uniaxial responseof MixDA-1.0-EH.
Figure7. Uniaxial responseof MixDA-0.5-S.
theload-deformationresponsetothatof astress- COD
(-w)relationship.Thefib Model Code(2010)defines
two stress-crack opening constitutive laws, a rigid
plastic law(Fig. 13a) and alinear post cracking law
(Fig. 13b).
Therigidplasticmodel (Fig13a) identifiesaplastic
strength, f
Ftu
, basedontheultimatebehaviour of the
material andcomputedas:
1099
Figure8. Uniaxial responseof MixDA-1.0-S.
Figure9. Flexural tensilestrengthfor mixDA-0.5-EH.
Figure10. Flexural tensilestrengthfor MixDA-1.0-EH.
whereb is thewidthof thesample, h
sp
is theheight
of thesampleless thenotch depth, l is thespan, F
j
is theloadat thejthindex wherej ={1, 2, 3, 4}and
correspondstoaCMOD={0.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5}mm.
Thelinearpostcrackingmodel (Fig. 13b)isdefined
by the parameters f
Fts
and f
Ftu
, which represent
Figure11. Flexural tensilestrengthfor MixDA-0.5-S.
Figure12. Flexural tensilestrengthfor mixDA-1.0-S.
Figure13. Simplifiedmodels: (a) rigidplastic model; (b)
linear post crackingmodel.
the notional serviceability and ultimate limit states,
respectively, andaretakenas:
wherew
u
isthemaximumacceptedCODinstructural
design, takenasw
u
=1.5mm.
1100
Table 2. Comparison of results excluding boundary
factors.
Tensilestrength
flexural model (MPa)
Measuredtensile Linear
stress(MPa) Rigid Model
Plastic
Mix w=0.5mmw=1.5mmf
Ftu
f
Fts
f
Ftu
DA-0.5-EH 1.27 1.07 1.44 2.10 1.57
DA-1.0-EH 2.70 1.87 2.10 3.49 2.36
DA-0.5-S 0.60 0.60 0.67 1.67 0.82
DA-1.0-S 1.39 0.67 1.00 2.37 1.22
5 ANALYSISANDDISCUSSION
5.1 Boundary effects
Thepresenceof aboundaryrestrictsafibrefrombeing
freely orientated. An orientation factor, k
t
, may be
appliedtotheuniaxial testresultstoremovetheinflu-
enceof theboundariesonthedistributionof thefibres,
thus converting the results to that of an equivalent
3Dfibredistributionfreeof boundaryinfluences(Lee
et al., 2011). For anelement approximately squarein
sectionandtestedintension, theboundary influence
canbeapproximatedas:
wherel
f
isthefibrelengthandb istakenastheaverage
of thewidthanddepthof thespecimen.
For thecaseof notchedprismspecimens inbend-
ing, theboundaryeffect isinfluencednot onlybythe
sides (walls) of thespecimenbut alsoby thetopand
bottom of the specimen. At the bottom, the effect
is negated by the cutting of the notch and at the
top by the compressive zone. In this case, and pro-
videdthatl
f
/b 1, theboundaryinfluencefactor may
be adapted fromthe 2D approximation of Ng et al.
(2012) as:
5.2 Tensile strength results
Thetest resultsarepresentedinTable2, without con-
siderationof theboundary effect andinTable3with
consideration of the boundary effect. For the direct
tensiontestresults, theboundaryeffectfactor isgiven
byEquation5andfor thenotchedbendingprismtests
by Equation6. Thepredictedresults aretakenas the
averageof thefour prismtests, i.e. thetwo 100mm
squareandtwo150mmsquareprisms.
Table 3. Comparison of results including boundary
factors.
Tensilestrength
flexural model (MPa)
Measuredtensile Linear
stress(MPa) Rigid Model
Plastic
Mix w=0.5mmw=1.5mmf
Ftu
f
Fts
f
Ftu
DA-0.5-EH 1.15 0.97 1.38 2.05 1.51
DA-1.0-EH 2.44 1.69 2.02 3.35 2.27
DA-0.5-S 0.60 0.60 0.66 1.66 0.82
DA-1.0-S 1.39 0.67 0.99 2.33 1.20
5.3 Uniaxial and bending tests
Thefractureprocessesof all thespecimensconsisted
of threekey stages. Thefirst stageinvolved thefor-
mationof mesoor hairlinecrackof lessthan0.05mm
width; onceinitiated, thecrack propagatedalongthe
weakest cross section along asurface. At this stage,
the peak stress had been achieved. This was shortly
followedbyasharpreductioninload, coincidingwith
asignificant openingof thecrack, astheelasticstrain
energy stored in the specimen, and testing rig, was
recovered. Thus, no displacement data is available
betweenthepeak loadandthat correspondingto the
stabilisedcrack. Itwasobserved, however, thattheini-
tial loadafter crackinghaddroppedbelowthat of the
peak residual strength of theSFRC specimens. This
supportstheconceptof VooandFoster (2003) thatthe
fibres do not engage immediately but require some
displacement/slipalongtheirlengthbeforebeingfully
effective.
After the crack had stabilised, the load again
increasedasthefibresbecameengaged. Thelongtail
of thecurvesreflectstheprogressively smoothresid-
ual capacity of thespecimens. Soonafter crackingit
was clear that theconcreteprovided no contribution
tothetensilestrengthandthat thestrengthwasdueto
thefibresalone.
Two sets of data are presented in Tables 2 and 3
for theuniaxial tensiletest, that isfor crackwidthsof
w=0.5mmandfor w=1.5mm. Thesecrack widths
aretakento represent theserviceability andultimate
limit conditions, respectively.
It is worthy of notethat with an increasein fibre
content from0.5% to 1.0%, by volume, with either
fibre type, did not result in a doubling of either
the residual flexural strength nor the uniaxial ten-
silestrength. Thisphenomenonindicatesthat thereis
a diminishing benefit with increased fibre contents.
This can beexplained fromthefollowing: at higher
fibrecontentsthefractureplanesbecameincreasingly
irregular; local crushingof theconcretesurrounding
the fibres was observed; with an increase in fibre
content so too was thereadecreasein proportion of
engaged fibres. A similar observation was reported
in Htut (2010) and is evidence of a limiting fibre
volume.
1101
Figure 14. Determination of stress for an average width
of w
u
.
Threedistinct phases describetheresponseof the
three-point notchedbendingtest: (i) anelastic phase
upto cracking; (ii) aflexural hardeningresponseup
to theonset of crack localization; (iii) areductionof
loadwithincreasingCOD.
5.4 Comparison of direct and indirect tests
Comparingtheresidual tensilestrengthsobtainedfrom
the inverse analysis of the three-point notched tests
withtheuniaxial tensiletest data(Tables 2and3), it
is seen that applying the methodology of fib Model
Code(2010) isnon-conservative, for boththeservice-
abilityandultimatelimitstates. Forthecasewherethe
results arenot compensated for theboundary effect,
theerror of thelinear crackingmodel at theultimate
limit state ranges from+26% to +82% and from
+29%to+178%fortheserviceabilitylimitstate.The
rigid plastic model fared better with a relative error
rangeof +12%to +49%at theultimatelimit state,
but remainsconsiderablynon-conservative.
For thecasewheretheresultsarecompensatedfor
the boundary effect, the error of the linear cracking
model attheultimatelimitstaterangesfrom+34%to
+79%andfrom+37%to+177%for theserviceabil-
ity limit state. For therigidplastic model therelative
error rangefor w=1.5mmis+10%to+48%.
Mayaet al. (2012) developed asimplified proce-
dure, to good effect, for assessing the tensile stress
across a crack for determining the punching shear
capacityof SFRC slabs. Adoptingasimilar approach
andtakingthepost crackingrelationshipfor theten-
sile-wcurveasapproximatelylinear, therigidplastic
model canbeappliedwithacrackwidthattherootof
thenotchequal to 2w
u
=3.0mm. Assuming(i) rigid
body rotations and (ii) thedepth of thecompressive
zone is h
sp
/10 (Fig. 14), CMOD
u
for the ultimate
conditionis:
For the notch depths adopted in this study of
0.3D, CMOD
u
=4.43mm (Eq. 7). In Table 4, the
results of the tests are compared for the rigid plas-
tic model but with the stress f
Ru
, corresponding to
CMOD
u
=4.43mm, substitutedfor f
R3
inEquation1.
Table 4. Comparison of test results for rigid plastic
model calculated at CMOD
u
=4.43mm and with f
FTu
=
f
FTu(4.43mm)
/3.
Measuredtensile Tensilestrength
stressat w=1.5mm flexural model
Mix (MPa) (MPa)
DA-0.5-EH 1.07(0.97) 1.15(1.10)
DA-1.0-EH 1.87(1.69) 1.53(1.47)
DA-0.5-S 0.60(0.60) 0.43(0.43)
DA-1.0-S 0.67(0.67) 0.50(0.50)
Note: () calculatedwithboundaryeffect factors.
In this casetheerror bounds with correction for the
boundary(wall) effect are28%to+13%. Theseare
withinanacceptablerange, giventhenatural variabil-
ity of thedata, and suggest that this adjusted model
maybeappropriatefor design.
If flexural testsareconductedtoEN 14651(2007)
with prisms of 150mmsquareand anotch depth of
25mm, Equation 7 would give CMOD
u
=3.67mm.
This is closeto thekey measurement point CMOD
4
.
It is thus suggested that the rigid plastic model be
adoptedwiththeresidual tensilestressassessedwith
f
R3
replacedbyf
R4
inEquation1.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Theobjectiveof thisresearchistopresentandanalyse
two different approaches for determining thetensile
characteristics of SFRC, namely a uniaxial tension
testandthethree-pointnotchedbendingtestcombined
withtheinverseanalysismethodologyof thefib Model
Code(2010).
Two simplified constitutive laws describing the
bending behaviour of softening SFRC are proposed
in the fib Model Code 2010, namely the rigid plas-
tic model and the linear post cracking model. The
preliminary results obtainedthus far suggest that the
predictions made through both methodologies sig-
nificantly overestimatethepost cracking strength of
SFRC. Of thetwoapproaches, therigidplasticmodel
fared the best for predicting the strength taken at a
CODequal to1.5mm.
To improve the adequacy of the Model Code
approach, it isrecommendedthat:
1. theboundary influenceonthefibrebeconsidered
in determining thepredicted serviceand strength
limit capacities; and
2. therigidplasticmodel beadoptedwiththecapacity
takenasf
RTu
=f
R4
/3.
Lastly,furthermodel validationisneededbeforethe
fib Model Codemodel isadoptedintoroutinedesign
practice.Testingisneeded, conductedforprismsman-
ufactured to EN 14651 (2007), matched with direct
tensile tests, for a wide variety of fibre types and
volumetricratios.
1102
REFERENCES
AS1012.9. 1999. Methods of Testing Concrete
Determination of the compressive strength of concrete
specimens. StandardsAustralia.
AS1012.17. 1997. MethodsofTestingConcrete Determina-
tionof thestaticchordmodulusof elasticityandPoissons
ratioof concretespecimens. StandardsAustralia.
de Oliveira e Sousa, J.L.A., Gettu, R. & Barragn B.E.
2002. Inverse analysis of the notched beamresponse
for determining the -w curve for plain and fiber rein-
forcedconcretes. Anales de Mecnica de la Fractura 19:
393398.
di Prisco, M., Plizzari, G. &Vandewalle, L. 2009. Fibrerein-
forcedconcrete: newdesignperspectives. Materials and
Structures42:12611281.
EN 14651. 2007. Test Method for Metallic Fibre Con-
crete Measuring the Flexural Tensile Strength (Limit
of Proportionality (LOP), Residual. EuropeanCommittee
for Standardization: 17pp.
fib Model Code. 2010. Model Code 2010 Final Draft, Vol. 1,
Bulletin 65. FdrationInternationaleduBton: 350pp.
Htut, T.N.S. 2010. Fracture processes in steel fibre rein-
forced concrete. PhD Dissertation. School of Civil and
Environmental Engineering,TheUniversityof NewSouth
Wales, Australia.
Lee, S.C., Cho, J. &Vecchio, F. J., 2011. Diverseembedment
model forsteel fibrereinforcedconcreteintension: model
development. ACI Materials Journal 108(5): 516525.
Maya, L.F,. Fernndez Ruiz, M., Muttoni, A. & Foster, S.J.
2012. Punching shear strength of steel fibre reinforced
concreteslabs. Engineering Structures 40: 8394.
Ng, T.S., Htut, T.N.S., & Foster, S.J. 2012. Fractureof steel
fibrereinforced concrete theunified variableengage-
ment model. UNICIV Report R-460. School of Civil and
Environmental Engineering,TheUniversityof NewSouth
Wales, Australia: 114pp.
Romualdi, J.P., & Batson. G.B. 1963. Behaviour of rein-
forcedconcretebeamswithcloselyspacedreinforcement.
Proceedings, ACI Journal 60(6): 775789.
vanVliet, M.R.A. 2000. Sizeeffectintensilefractureof con-
creteand rock. PhD Dissertation. Delft University, The
Netherlands.
Voo, J.Y.L. &Foster, S.J. 2004. Tensilefractureof fibrerein-
forcedconcrete: variableengagementmodel. Indi Prisco,
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1103
Comparisonof theanalytical modelstodeterminemodulusof rupture
of self-compactingconcreteandconventional concrete
FarhadAslani & Shami Nejadi
ABSTRACT: Self-compactingconcrete(SCC) canbeplacedunder its ownweight withnovibrationefforts
andiscohesiveenoughtobehandledwithoutsegregationandbleeding. Modificationinthemixdesignmayhave
aninfluenceonthematerialsmechanical properties. Therefore, it isimportant toinvestigatethat whether all of
theassumedhypothesesfor conventional concrete(CC) todesignstructuresarealsovalidfor SCC structures.
Modulus of rupture(MOR) or flexural strengthis anindirect measurement of thetensilestrengthof concrete
andisusedtopredict crackingmoment incritical regionsinreinforcedconcretemembers. Thispaper reviews
andcomparestheaccuracyof thefivemodelsfor predictionof MOR for theSCC mixturesandtenmodelsfor
theCC mixtures. Inaddition, comparisonsaremadebetweenthepredictedvaluesby MOR modelsandactual
measuredflexural strengthof about 175SCC mixtures.
1 INTRODUCTION
Self-compacting concrete (SCC) basically consists
of the same components as conventional concrete
(cement, water, aggregates, admixtures, and mineral
additions),butthefinal compositionof themixtureand
its fresh characteristics are different. In comparison
withconventional concrete(CC), SCCcontainslarger
quantities of mineral fillers such as finely crushed
limestoneor fly ash, higher quantities of high-range
water-reducing admixtures, and the maximum size
of thecoarseaggregateissmaller.Thesemodifications
inthecompositionof themixtureaffectthebehaviorof
theconcreteinitshardenedstate(Aslani andNejadi,
2011a; 2011b). Due to increasing use of SCC, it is
importanttoestimateaccuratelythecritical properties
of thismaterial for asafeanalysisanddesign. Oneof
thecritical propertiesisthemodulusof rupture(MOR)
of concrete.
Tensilestrengthof concreteisanimportant param-
eter for determiningdeflectionandminimumflexural
reinforcement. Many design codes use the MOR as
the cracking strength. Concrete tensile strength is
generally considered as a negligible characteristic
in reinforced concrete applications. This is because
the tensile strength has little effect, and is gener-
ally ignoredindeterminingtheflexural resistanceof
reinforcedconcretemembers. For durability reasons,
however, itisdesirabletopreventprestressedconcrete
structures fromcracking under permanent loadings
and to control cracking in reinforced concrete ele-
ments. In addition, minimumflexural reinforcement
is usually determined so that the flexural strength
is greater than thecracking moment to ensuresome
level of ductility. For serviceability limit states, ten-
silestrengthisoftenamoreimportant parameter than
compressivestrength. Serviceabilitycriteriaaregain-
ingimportanceas owners areincreasingly interested
indurability as well as safety becauseit affects total
long-term cost and cost-effectiveness of structures
during their design life. Tensile strength is a limit-
ing parameter in many practical applications, such
as segmental prestressed concrete bridges (Lgeron
and Paultre, 2000). Hence, there is a need to pro-
videdesignerswiththebestpredictionof SCCtensile
strength.
Theflexural andtensilestrengths of SCC aretyp-
ically improved relative to CC due to the improved
microstructureof thepaste, particularlytheimproved
interfacial transition zone and the denser bulk paste
(KlugandHolschemacher 2003). Turcryet al. (2002)
foundthattheflexural strengthwasslightlyhigher for
SCC thanaCC of comparablecompressivestrength.
According to EFNARC (2005), SCC should exhibit
similar tensilestrength as CC becausepastevolume
does not have a significant effect on strength. Kim
(2008) found that MOR of SCC mixtures contain-
ingriver gravel washigher thanthat of thelimestone
SCCmixtures.Also,SCCmixturesexhibitlowerMOR
values when compared with the CC mixtures. Das
and Chatterjee (2012) revealed that flexural tensile
strengthof SCCwasdistinctlyhigher thanthatof CC,
byaround7.4%.
Thispaper reviewstheaccuracyof fivemodelsfor
prediction of MOR of SCC and ten models for CC.
The predicted MOR models are compared with the
actual measuredexperimental valuesin175mixtures
of SCC.
1105
Table1. MOR experimental resultsdatabase.
Reference SCC*
Fine
aggregate
Coarse
aggregate
Favaet al. (2003) 2 Natural Sand Natural Gravel
Leemannand
Hoffmann(2005)
9 Natural Sand Natural Gravel
Koehler and
Fowler (2007)
85 Limestone,
Dolomitic
Limestone,
Dolomite,
Granite,
Traprock,
River Sand
Limestone,
River Gravel,
Dolomite
Kim(2008) 14 Natural Sand River gravel
andlimestone
Trkel and
Kandemir
(2010)
4 Crushed
limestone,
and
olivinebasalt
Limestoneand
olivinebasalt
Corinaldesi
andMoriconi
(2011)
1 Quartz sand Natural Gravel
Khaeel et al.
(2011)
12 Natural sand Uncrushed
gravel,crushed
gravel,crushed
limestone
Vilanovaet al.
(2009)
34 Various Various
Mohammadhassani
et al. (2012)
8 Natural Sand,
River Sand
Crushed
granite
Dehwah(2012) 5 Dunesand Crushed
limestone
DasandChatterjee
(2012)
1 Natural Sand Natural Gravel
*Number of SCC mixdesigns.
2 MOR EXPERIMENTAL RESULTSDATABSE
FOR SCC MIXTURES
An experimental results database fromvarious pub-
lished investigations is an effective tool for study-
ing theapplicability of thevarious MOR estimation
models for SCC. To apply the models to a partic-
ular concrete mixture accurately, it is necessary to
useonlyinvestigationsthat aresufficientlyconsistent
withtheappliedtestingmethodology.TheSCCexper-
imental resultsincludedinthedatabaseweregathered
mainly frompapers presentedat various conferences
andpublishedarticles.Thedatabaseincludesinforma-
tionregardingthecompositionof themixtures, fresh
properties of SCC, testing methodology, and condi-
tions. MOR has not been investigated as much as
the other aspects of SCC. In addition, the available
published experimental data in the literature are not
extensive.
Table1isageneral summary of theconcretemix-
turesincludedinthedatabase. Thedatabaseincludes
test results fromelevendifferent investigations, with
Table 1 (continued). SCC MOR experimental results
database
Reference Cement type Filler type f
c
Favaet al. (2003) Blended
cement
GGBFS*
and
Limestone
Cylinder
(150mm
300mm)
Leemannand
Hoffmann(2005)
Ordinary
Portland
Cement
(OPC)
Flyash Prisms
(120mm
120mm
360mm)
Koehler and
Fowler (2007)
PC-I/II,
PC-III, PC-I
FlyAsh Cylinder
(100mm
200mm)
Kim(2008) PC-III FlyAsh Cylinder
(100mm
200mm)
Trkel and
Kandemir
(2010)
OPC FlyAsh Cylinder
(100mm
200mm)
Corinaldesi
andMoriconi
(2011)
Portland
limestone
blended
cement type
CEM II/A-L
42.5R
Limestone Cubic
(100mm)
Khaeel et al.
(2011)
OPC Metakaolin Cylinder
(100mm
200mm)
Vilanovaet al.
(2009)
Various Various Various
Mohammadhassani
et al. (2012)
OPC Silicafume Cubic
(100mm)
Dehwah(2012) OPC Silicafume
andFlyash
Cubic
(100mm)
DasandChatterjee
(2012)
OPC Flyash Cubic
(150mm)
*GroundGranulatedBlast FurnaceSlag(GGBFS).
a total of 175 different SCC mixtures. Table 1 also
includes information regarding the fine and coarse
aggregate type, cement type, filler type, and type
of specimenutilizedinthecompressivestrengthtest
(SUCST). Dominantpropertiesof theavailablemixes
inthedatabasearethatthecuringageis28days,typeof
cement isOrdinaryPortlandCement (OPC), typesof
filler areflyashandlimestone, typeof fineaggregate
is natural sand, types of coarseaggregatearenatural
gravel andcrushed, andtypesof SUCST arecylinder
(100mm200mm) andcubic(100mm).
3 SCCANDCC MOR MODELSDATABASE
Intheliterature, several analytical andnumerical mod-
els try to represent theMOR for both SCC and CC
mixtures. Tables 2 and 3 are shown ten CC MOR
modelsandfiveSCC MOR models.
Table 2 include CC MOR models of Carasquillo
et al. (1981), Ahmad and Shah (1985), CEB-FIP
1106
Table2. MOR modelsfor CC mixtures.
Reference CC MOR Models
Carasquilloet al.
(1981)
f
cr
=0.94
f

c
21MPa<f

c
<83MPa
AhmadandShah
(1985)
f
cr
=0.44f
2/3
c
CEB-FIP (1990) 150mm150mm
f
cr
=2.1
f

c
8
10
2/3
100mm100mm
f
cr
=2.33
f

c
8
10
2/3
ACI 363(1992) f
cr
=0.97
f

c
Lgeronand
Paultre(2000)
f
cr
=0.94
f

c
f
cr
=0.5f
2/3
c
CanadianCode
(CSAA23.3, 2004)
f
cr
=0.6
f

c
20MPa<f

c
<80MPa
Leemannand
Hoffmann(2005)
f
cr
=0.11f

c
NewZealandCode
(NZS3101, 2006)
Normal weight concrete
f
cr
=0.8
f

c
fornon-prestressedconcretemembers
f
cr
=0.6
f

c
for prestressedconcretemembers
f
cr
=0.8
f

c
AASHTO(2006) Lower boundf
cr
=0.63
f

c
Upper boundf
cr
=0.97
f

c
ACI Code(2008) f
cr
=0.62
f

c
concretefor prestressedmembers
f
cr
=0.5
f

c
Table3. MOR modelsfor SCC mixtures.
Reference SCC MOR Models
LeemannandHoffmann(2005) f
cr
=0.12f

c
Kim(2008) f
cr
=0.95f
0.75
c
Dehwah(2012) f
cr
=0.0368f

c
+4.2932
DasandChatterjee(2012) f
cr
=0.762
f

c
Mohammadhassani et al. (2012) f
cr
=0.6
f

c
(1990), ACI 363(1992), LgeronandPaultre(2000),
Canadian Code (CSA A23.3, 2004), Leemann and
Hoffmann (2005), New Zealand Code (NZS 3101,
2006), AASHTO(2006), andACI Code(2008). Also,
LeemannandHoffmann(2005), Kim(2008), Dehwah
(2012), Das andChatterjee(2012), andMohammad-
hassani et al. (2012) MOR SCC models areincluded
inTable3.
4.1 Comparison between SCC MOR
experimental results and calculated
CC MOR models
Figure1(aj) shows comparisonof theMOR experi-
mental results versus calculated values fromtheCC
mixture models in Table 2. Furthermore, Figure 2
shows theMOR results versus compressivestrength
for theSCC mixtures listedinthedatabase(Table1)
and comparison of the models in Table 2. Also,
inTable4, CC MOR predicted/experimental values,
coefficients of correlation factor (R
2
), and over or
under estimate percentage of CC prediction models
areincluded.
As shown in Table 4 for the CC models, the
Carasquillo et al. (1981), ACI 363(1992), AASHTO
(2006)provideabetterpredictionof MORwithacoef-
ficient of correlationfactor (R
2
) of 0.80comparedto
0.70 for Ahmad and Shah (1985) and Lgeron and
Paultre(2000),0.68forCEB-FIP(1990)andLeemann
and Hoffmann (2005), 0.62 for New Zealand Code
(NZS 3101, 2006), 0.54 for ACI Code (2008), and
0.49for CanadianCode(CSA A23.3, 2004).
Also, these three model predictions are overesti-
matedwiththe2.74%for theCarasquilloetal. (1981)
model, 5.75%for theACI 363(1992) andAASHTO
(2006)models.AsshowninFigure2, CCmodelscom-
pared to MOR results versus compressive strength:
Carasquillo et al. (1981), Ahmad and Shah (1985),
ACI 363(1992), andAASHTO(2006) providebetter
prediction. However, theother CC modelsprediction
propertiesaresummarizedinTable4.
4.2 Comparison between SCC MOR
experimental results and calculated
SCC MOR models
Figure3(ae) showscomparisonof theMOR experi-
mental resultsversuscalculatedvaluesfromtheSCC
mixture models in Table 3. Furthermore, Figure 4
shows theMOR results versus compressivestrength
for theSCC mixtures listedinthedatabase(Table1)
andcomparisonof themodelsinTable3.Also, inTable
5, SCC MOR predicted/experimental values, coeffi-
cients of correlation factor (R
2
), and over or under
estimate percentage of SCC prediction models are
included.
As shown in Table 5 for the SCC models, Lee-
mannandHoffmann(2005) providebetter prediction
of MORwithacoefficientof correlationfactor(R
2
) of
0.76comparedto0.69for DasandChatterjee(2012),
0.63 for Dehwah (2012), 0.43 for Mohammadhas-
sani et al. (2012), and 0.41 for Kim(2008). Also,
Leemann and Hoffmann (2005) model prediction is
overestimatedwiththe4.02%. Theother SCCmodels
prediction properties aresummarized inTable5. As
showninFigure4, for theMOR results versus com-
pressivestrength, noneof theSCC MOR modelshas
agoodprediction.
1107
Figure1. Comparisonof MOR for SCC experimental resultsversuscalculatedvaluesfor variousCC predictionmodels.
1108
Figure1. Continued.
Figure 2. Comparison of MOR for SCC experimental
results versus calculated values for various CC prediction
models.
Table4. CC modelspredictionproperties.
CC MOR Models
Reference Pred./Exp. R
2
O, U*
Carasquilloet al. (1981) 1.028 0.80 2.74O
AhmadandShah(1985) 0.957 0.70 4.40U
CEB-FIP (1990) 0.984 0.68 1.58U
ACI 363(1992) 1.061 0.80 5.75O
LgeronandPaultre 1.088 0.70 8.12O
(2000)
CanadianCode 0.656 0.49 52.0U
(CSA A23.3, 2004)
LeemannandHoffmann 0.955 0.68 4.70U
(2005)
NewZealandCode 0.875 0.62 14.2U
(NZS3101, 2006)
AASHTO(2006) 1.061 0.80 5.75O
ACI Code(2008) 0.678 0.54 47.4U
*Over estimate(O) andunder estimate(U) percentage
1109
Figure3. Comparisonof MOR for SCC experimental resultsversuscalculatedvaluesfor variousSCC predictionmodels.
1110
Figure 4. Comparison of MOR for SCC experimental
results versus calculated values for various CC prediction
models.
Table5. SCC modelspredictionproperties.
Reference SCC MOR Models
Pred./Exp. R
2
O, U
LeemannandHoffmann(2005) 1.041 0.76 4.02O
Kim(2008) 2.919 0.41 65.7O
Dehwah(2012) 0.923 0.63 8.23U
DasandChatterjee(2012) 0.833 0.69 19.9U
Mohammadhassani et al. (2012) 0.656 0.43 52.3U
5 CONCLUSIONS
Insummary thefollowingconclusions canbedrawn
fromthisstudy:
The Carasquillo et al. (1981), ACI 363 (1992),
AASHTO (2006) CC MOR models aremorecon-
servative rather than other models. The overall
predictionsof thesemodelsarenot reliable.
The Leemann and Hoffmann (2005) SCC MOR
model isconservativebut arenot morereliable.
The main problem of the SCC models is they
areeachbasedonspecificresearcher experimental
results.
ThereisamajorneedfordevelopingnewSCCMOR
model thatcancover all differentpropertiesof SCC
mixtureswithaccurateprediction.
REFERENCES
AASHTO. 2006. Interimbridge design specifications and
commentary, American Association of Highway and
TransportationOfficials(AASHTO), Washington, D.C.
ACI Committee 363.1992. State of the art report on high-
strength concrete. ACI363-R, American Concrete Insti-
tute, FarmingtonHills, Michigan.
Ahmad, S.H. & Shah, S.P. 1985. Structural properties of
high-strength concrete and its implications for precast
prestressedconcrete. PCI Journal 30(6): 92119.
Aslani, F. & Nejadi S. 2011a. Comparison of the Ana-
lytical Models to Determine Modulus of Elasticity of
Self-Compacting Concrete and Conventional Concrete.
Structural Engineering World Congress (SEWC), Como,
Italy; 2011, p. 111.
Aslani, F. & Nejadi S. 2011b. Evaluation and Comparison
of theAnalytical Models to DetermineTensileStrength
of Self-CompactingConcreteandConventional Concrete.
Structural Engineering World Congress (SEWC), Como,
Italy; 2011, p. 111.
Carrasquillo, R.L., Nilson, A.H., &Slate, F.O. 1981. Proper-
ties of High-StrengthConcreteSubjectedto Short-Term
Loads. ACI JOURNAL Proceedings 78(3): 171178.
CEB-FIP. 1990. High-strength concrete state of the art
report. ThomasTelford, London.
Corinaldesi,V.&Moriconi,G.2011.Characterizationof self-
compactingconcretes preparedwithdifferent fibers and
mineral additions. Cement & Concrete Composites 33(5):
596601.
CSA Technical Committee. 2004. Reinforced Concrete
Design.A23.3-04.Designof concretestructures,Rexdale,
Ontario. CanadianStandardsAssociation.
Das, D. & Chatterjee, A. 2012.A comparison of hard-
enedpropertiesof fly-ash-basedself-compactingconcrete
and normally compacted concrete under different cur-
ing conditions. Magazine of Concrete Research 64(2):
129141.
Dehwah, H.A.F. 2012. Mechanical properties of self-
compacting concrete incorporating quarry dust powder,
silicafumeor flyash. Construction and Building Materi-
als 26: 547551.
EFNARC. 2005. The European Guidelines for Self-
Compacting Concrete. Farnham, UK: European Federa-
tionof Producers andContractors of Specialist Products
for Structures.
Fava,C.,Bergol,L.,Fornasier,G.,Giangrasso,F.&Rocco,C.
2003. Fracturebehaviourof self compactingconcrete. 3rd
International Symposium on Self-Compacting Concrete,
1720August, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Khaleel, OR., Al-Mishhadani, S.A. & Razak, H.A. 2011.
TheEffect of CoarseAggregateonFreshandHardened
Propertiesof Self-CompactingConcrete(SCC). Procedia
Kim, Y.H. 2008. Characterization of Self-consolidating
Concretefor theDesignof Precast, PretensionedBridge
Superstructure Elements, PhD Thesis, Texas A&M
University.
Klug, Y., & Holschemacher, K. 2003. Comparison of
the hardened properties of self-compacting and nor-
mal vibrated concrete. 3rd International Symposium on
Self-Compacting Concrete, Reykjavik, Iceland, 596605.
Koehler, E.P. & Fowler, D.W. 2007. Aggregates in Self-
ConsolidatingConcrete. Final Report, ICARProject108,
TheUniversityof TexasatAustin.
Leemann, A. & Hoffmann, C. 2005. Properties of self-
compacting and conventional concrete differences
and similarities. Magazine of Concrete Research (57)6:
315319.
Mohammadhassani, M., Zamin J umaat, M. & J ameel, M.
2012. Experimental investigation to comparethemodu-
lus of ruptureinhighstrengthself compactingconcrete
deep beams and high strength concrete normal beams.
Construction and Building Materials 30: 265273.
NewZealandStandard. 2006. Concretestructuresstandard.
NZS3101. Thedesignof concretestructures, Wellington,
NewZealand.
Turcry, P., Loukili, A., & Haidar, K. 2002. Mechanical
properties, plastic shrinkage, and free deformations of
1111
self-consolidating concrete. First North American Con-
ference on the Design and Use of Self-Consolidating
Concrete, Chicago, IL: ACBM, 335340.
Trkel, S. &Kandemir,A. 2010. FreshandHardenedProper-
tiesof SCC MadewithDifferentAggregateandMineral
Admixtures. Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
22(10): 10251032.
Vilanova, A. 2009. Influenceof thedosificationanddiffer-
ent types of cements and additives on the mechanical
properties of SCC. Doctoral Thesis. Escuela de Inge-
nierosdeCaminos, Canalesy Puertos. Departamentode
Ingeniera Civil: Construccin. Universidad Politcnica
deMadrid.
1112
Effectsof flyashoncompressivestrengthof structural concrete
R.J. Case, K. Duan&T.G. Suntharavadivel
Faculty of Science, Engineering and Health, Central Queensland University, Gladstone, Australia
ABSTRACT: A systematicstudyof flyasheffectsonthecompressivestrengthof concreteispresented, where
an experimental programhas been designed to examine the role of fly ash in influencing the compressive
strengthof concrete. Various percentages of fly ashareaddedto concretemixtures as partial replacements of
bothcementandfineaggregateor sand.Thecompressivestrengthsof concreteaged7and28daysaremeasured
on thespecimens with replacement ratios of 15%, 30%and 45%fly ash as well as on fly ash freeconcrete
specimens. Theseobservedcompressivestrengthsarecomparedintermsof replacement method, i.e. cement or
sandreplacement, andreplacement ratio. It isfoundthat whilefor bothreplacement methods, anoptimumfly
ashratioexistswherethemaximumcompressivestrengthsof fly ashcontainingconcretecanbeachieved, the
sandreplacementmethodproducessuperior concreteintermsof compressivestrength.Theexperimental results
also demonstratethat in comparison with their fly ash freecounterparts, thecompressivestrength of fly ash
containingconcreteimprovesmoreslowlybutmorestronglywithaging. Furthermore, theobservedphenomena
arediscussedintermsof hydrationreactionandinterfacebehaviours.
1 INSTRUCTION
The use of fly ash (FA) in concrete materials as
a replacement of cement and/or sand has attracted
increasing attention fromboth industries and R&D
communities (Bharatkumar et al, 2001; Cao et al,
2000; Case et al, 2012; McCarthy & Dhir, 2005;
Papadakis, 1999; Poonet al, 2000; Siddique, 2003&
2004; Sumer, 2012; Suntharavadivel etal, 2012). This
is mainly becauseof anumber of advantages associ-
atedwiththeadditionof flyashinconcrete, including
reducedwaterdemands, increaseddurability, therecy-
clingnatureof fly ashandless energy consumedfor
thefabricationof FA-containingconcrete. Theprevi-
ous studies have demonstrated that the light weight
FA-containing concrete with limited strength reduc-
tioncanbeachievedbyoptimisingtheflyashfraction,
andindeed, insomeinstances, theFA-containingcon-
cretewithcompressivestrengthhigher thanitsflyash
free counterpart has been reported (Siddique, 2003;
Sumer, 2012). While most of previous studies have
beenconcentratedontheuseof fly ashas areplace-
mentof cement, therehavealsobeeninvestigations, in
which, flyashwasconsideredasareplacementof fine
aggregateor sand. However, limitedresearches have
beencarriedout to comparethedifferences between
thesetworeplacement methods(Papadakis, 1999).
It has beenestablishedthat theadditionof fly ash
improves thelong-termstrengthof concretethrough
pozzolanicactivitywherehydrationreactionwill acti-
vate the unfixed SiO
2
and Al
2
O
3
in FA to produce
hydratedgel, whicheffectively bondstheingredients
together (Papadakis, 1999; Cao et al, 2000; Sumer,
2012).AsparticularlyClassF flyashisrichwithSiO
2
and Al
2
O
3
, the addition of Class F fly ash in con-
creteisparticularlybeneficial tocompressivestrength.
However, thestrengthdevelopment of FA-containing
concreteisusuallyslowbecausethesmall surfacearea
associated with largeparticles in FA is availablefor
hydrationreaction. Thestrengthdevelopment mecha-
nisms associatedwithfly ashadditionimplicatethat
both replacement method and replacement ratio will
influencetheconcretestrength.
The present study is to investigate the influence
of fly ash as the replacements of both cement and
sand on concrete properties, and to compare which
replacementmethodismoreeffectiveintermsof com-
pressivestrengthandworkability. For this purpose, a
systematic experimental study is undertaken to test
the influences of fly ash added as the replacements
of cement andsandonthecompressivestrengthand
slump index. The experimental programconsists of
concretemixtures containingvarious fractions of fly
ashasthereplacementsof bothcementandfineaggre-
gate. Theresultsarecomparedwitheachother aswell
aswiththeoriginal FA-freeconcrete. Thedifferences
between the cement and sand replacements are dis-
cussedinterms of thedifferent properties of fly ash,
cementandfineaggregate, andtheinterfacesbetween
flyashandtheother constituents.
2.1 Materials
Theconcreteingredientsincludingcement,fineaggre-
gate or sand and coarse aggregate are all provided
1113
Table1. Mixproportionsof concretespecimens(g).
Fine Coarse 10mm 20mm Fly
Code Cement Water Sand Sand agg agg Ash
FA00CN 509.3 229.2 123.9 436.0 519.7 550.2 0.0
FA15CR 432.9 229.2 123.9 436.0 519.7 550.2 76.4
FA30CR 356.5 229.2 123.9 436.0 519.7 550.2 152.8
FA45CR 280.1 229.2 123.9 436.0 519.7 550.2 229.2
FA15SR 522.2 229.2 114.6 403.3 519.7 550.2 42.0
FA30SR 522.2 229.2 105.3 370.6 519.7 550.2 84.0
FA45SR 522.2 229.2 96.0 337.9 519.7 564.1 126.0
by a local company. The fly ash is Class F, and is
also sourced locally. Thecoarseaggregates havethe
maximumsizeof 20mm.
2.2 Mix design
Three replacement ratios, 15%, 30% and 45% FA
were chosen for both cement and sand replacement
methods. Themix proportions of theconstituents of
theusedconcretemixturesarelistedinTable1where
FA00CN represents no FA, FA15CR stands for
15%FA replacement of cement, andFA15SR, 15%FA
replacement of sand.
2.3 Specimen preparation
The compressive concrete specimens were prepared
inaccordancewithAustralianStandardAS2012.8.1
2000 (Standards Australia, 2000). For the specimen
preparation, the mixtures of cement, water, sand,
aggregate and fly ash according to the ratios given
in Table 1 were cast into the cylinder moulds with
nominateddiameterof 100mmandheightof 200mm,
andweredemouldedafter 24hours.Thesedemoulded
specimens were then kept in water bath for further
curinguntil about onehour beforecompressivetests.
This process produced standard compressive speci-
menswithaspect ratioof 2.
2.4 Testing
Compressive tests were carried out in conforming
to Australia StandardAS 1012.9 1999 (Standards
Australia, 1999). The loading of the standard speci-
menswasperformedinaCONTR 50-C3122loading
frame, andloadsweremeasuredusingaloadcell with
capacity of 3,000kN. According to theAS 1012.9
1999 (Standards Australia, 1999), both ends of the
specimenwerecapped, beforetesting, usingasulphur
mixturetoensurealevel surfacefor testing. Figure1
shows thesetup of experiments and acapped speci-
men. All theconcretemixtureslistedinTable1were
testedat 7and28days.
The load was applied via a load-control mode,
andloadingratewasmaintainedat 20MPa/min. Dur-
ing the experiments, the specimens were monotoni-
cally loaded until failure, and the load-time curves
were recorded by the machine control panel. The
compressivestrengths arecalculated by dividing the
Figure 1. (a) Setup for compression tests and (b) a com-
pressivespecimenwithbothends cappedwiththelayers of
sulphur mixtures.
Table2. Themeasuredcompressivestrengthsof thetested
concretemixturesat theages7and28days.
Fly
c-07

c-28
Code Ash% (MPa) (MPa)
c-07
FA free-7
c-28
FA free-28
FA00CN 0.0 44.9 100.0% 52.0 100.0%
FA15CR 15.0 37.2 83.0% 48.0 92.2%
FA30CR 30.0 39.8 88.6% 60.1 115.6%
FA45CR 45.0 35.8 79.9% 50.8 97.6%
FA15SR 15.0 48.1 107.3% 57.3 110.1%
FA30SR 30.0 45.3 101.0% 58.6 112.6%
FA45SR 45.0 45.3 101.0% 55.3 106.4%
peak loadwiththespecimencross-sectionareas. The
measured compressive strengths of these concrete
mixturesarelistedinTable2.
3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTSAND
DISCUSSIONS
3.1 Fly ash effects on compressive strength
of concrete
Theexperimental results fromthecompressivetests
arelistedinTable2andalsoplottedinFig. 2, inwhich
1114
Figure 2. The plots of compressive strength vs. fly ash
replacement ratiomeasuredonthespecimensof (a) all con-
cretemixes; concretemixescontainingFA as(b) cement- and
(c) finesand-replacements.
itcanclearlybeseenthattheinfluencesof flyashaddi-
tiononconcretecompressivestrengtharesignificant
in terms of both strength development and strength
levels.
As usually observed, thecompressivestrengths of
all thetestedconcretemixturesgrowwithcuringtime,
and the compressive strength of concrete with fly
ashas partial replacement of cement grows later but
accelerating with age. This is why theearly strength
of concretecontainingcement-replacement fly ashis
usually lower thanthat of FA-freeconcreteas shown
Figure3. Theplotsof relativestrengthvs. fly ashreplace-
ment ratio measured on the specimens of (a) all concrete
mixes; concrete mixes containing FA as (b) cement- and
(c) finesand-replacements.
inTable2by thecompressivestrengthof 7day con-
crete mixtures. For the crucial 28 day strength, the
compressive strength levels, which are marginally
lower or even higher than that of FA-free concrete
can be achieved from concrete containing cement-
replacementbyoptimizingtheflyashproportion.This
is demonstrated in thecurrent study by 60.1MPaof
the28day compressivestrengthof concretecontain-
ing30%cement-replacement flyash, whichis15.6%
higherthanthecompressivestrengthof 52MPa,which
wasmeasuredontheFA-freeconcretespecimenatthe
1115
ageof 28days. Itcanalsobenoticedthatthecompres-
sivestrengthsof theconcretespecimenscontainingfly
ashas partial replacement of finesandaregenerally
higher than their FA-freecounterparts at theages of
both7and28days.
3.2 Effects of fly ash contents and replacement
methods on strength development
As shown in Table 2 and Fig. 2, one of major fea-
tures of FA-containing concreteis that thecompres-
sive strength develops slowly but strongly, and at
the later stage, the strength development will accel-
erate. This trend becomes more obvious when the
relativestrengthsof FA-containingconcrete, whichis
definedastheratioof compressivestrengthoverthatof
FA-freeconcreteat thesameage, areplottedagainst
fly ash ratios as shown in Fig. 3. Figure 3 shows
that the28dayrelativestrengthsof bothcement- and
sand-replacement FA-containing concrete mixtures
aresignificantlyhigher thanthose7daycounterparts.
This is astrong evidenceof theaccelerated strength
developmentsinFA-containingconcrete.
This lately-starting accelerating strength develop-
menthasbeenattributedtothelargeparticlesizesinfly
ash(Papadakis, 1999; Caoet al, 2000; Sumer, 2012).
It has been argued that the large particle sizes lead
to less surface area available for hydration reaction
althoughfly ashcontainsthecompositionssimilar to
thoseof cement for pozzolanicactivity. Thisprovides
notonlyacomprehensiveexplanationfor thestrength
development behaviour of the cement-replacement
containingconcretemixturesbut alsorationalizesthe
high early strengths of the concrete mixes contain-
ing sand-replacing fly ash. Therationalebehind this
highearly strengthis that thefly ashaddedas apar-
tial replacement of sandprovides extraunfixedSiO
2
and Al
2
O
3
to produce more hydrated gel while the
sameamountof cementiskeptinthemix. Asaresult,
additional bonding is formed in the early stage of
pozzolanicactivity.
3.3 Optimum replacement ratios
Animportant commonfeatureshowninFig. 2isthat
all four plotsof compressivestrengthvs. flyashratio
show an optimumfly ash replacing ratio where the
maximumcompressivestrengthcanbeachieved.This
finding is significant to theconcretemix design for
particularlystructural applications.
Thephysicsbehindthisphenomenonmayoriginate
fromthecombinedeffectsof theflyash-aggregateand
cement-aggregateinterfacesandthedifferentstrength
of cement andfly ash. Whileit has beenarguedthat
theinterfacebetweenflyashandaggregateisstronger
thanthat betweencement andaggregate, thestrength
of fly ash may belower than cement and finesand.
In the cement-replacement FA containing concrete,
whentheflyashreplacingratioislower thantheopti-
mum, theremaybenotenoughstronginterface, andas
aresult, theconcretefractureiseasily initiatedinthe
interface, and theconcretecontaining higher fly ash
ratiojust failsbecauseof theinherent lowstrengthof
flyash.
It should be noted that the above rationale also
applies to theoptimumstrengthbehavior of thecon-
crete mixtures containing sand-replacement fly ash.
However, thiseffect of flyashinthistypeof concrete
mixes is asuperpositiononthecompressivestrength
of FA-freeconcrete.
3.4 Implications of experimental results
from this study to structural applications
Thecrucial 28day compressivestrengthsof concrete
containingfineaggregatereplacement FA arehigher
thanthat of FA-freeconcrete, andthismeansthat this
typeof concretemixesisperfectly suitablefor struc-
tural applications in terms of compressive strength,
the one of most important measurements for struc-
tural concrete. However, because the expensive and
high CO
2
emission cement remains in the mix, the
economicandenvironmental benefitsassociatedwith
theutilizationof flyash,whichotherwiseisjustsimply
awaste, cannotberealized. Therefore, thebestwayof
takingadvantageof thefly ashis to usefly ashas a
partial replacement of cement.
Theexperimental resultsshowninTable2andFigs2
and 3 show that the strength of concrete containing
30% cement-replacing fly ash at 28 days is 15.6%
higher than that of fly ash free concrete. While this
is most likely a feature depending on the sources
andpropertiesof fly ashitself (Suntharavadivel et al,
2012), itdoesindicatethattheconcretemixescontain-
ingfly ashasapartial replacement of cement canbe
optimizedfor structural applications.
4 CONCLUDINGREMARKS
The findings from a study on the fly ash influ-
ences on concrete were presented in this paper. The
experimental results revealedanumber of important
features associated with the utilization of fly ash as
apartial replacement of bothcement andfineaggre-
gate, andthesefeaturesareanalysedanddiscussedin
termsof bothinterfacebehavioursandtheproperties
of constituents in concrete. More specifically, main
conclusionsdrawnfromthisstudyareasfollows:
1. Thestrengthdevelopment inFA-containingcon-
cretemixturestypicallystartslateandwill acceler-
ateatlaterstage.Thisbehaviorcanbeattributedto
lessavailablesurfaceareaassociatedwiththelarge
particlesizesinflyashfor hydrationreaction.
2. Both the7day and28day strengths of concrete
mixturescontainingsand-replacement flyashare
higherthanthoseof FA-freeandcement-replacing
FA concretemixtures. Thisphenomenonisratio-
nalizedintermsof extraconstituentsavailablefor
pozzolanicactivity.
1116
3. It hasbeenobservedthat thereexistsanoptimum
fly ashratio for all four strengthvs. fly ashratio
plots, wherethemaximumcompressivestrength
canbeachieved.Thisphenomenonwasexplained
based on the pozzolanic activity in the fly ash-
aggregateandcement-aggregateinterfaceregions
andthepropertiesof ingredientsinconcrete.
4. Theimplications of theoptimumfly ashratio to
the structural applications of concrete are also
discussed.
In summary, all the features observed in FA-
containing concretemixes can betraced back to the
pozzolanicactivitiesassociatedwiththecompositions
incementandflyashaswell asaggregate.Asaresult,
therelativeamountsof fly ashandcement aswell as
the particle sizes in fly ash and cement play a very
important role.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge Mr Travis Frame
and Ms Paula Ronayne of the CQU Rockhampton
Campus Civil Laboratory for their contributions to
the experimental work presented in the paper. The
authorswouldalsoliketoexpresstheirappreciationsto
CementAustralia, inparticular EngineeringManager
RobDruitandAreaManagerJ eff Zawillafortheirhelp
insupplyingFlyAshmaterial andassociatedmaterial
data.
REFERENCES
Bharatkumar, B., Narayanan, R., Raghuprasad, B. &
Ramachandamurthy, D. 2001. Mixproportioningof high
performanceconcrete. Cem. Concr. Compos. 23: 7180.
Cao, C., Sun, W. & Qin, H. 2000. Theanalysis onstrength
andflyasheffect of roller-compactedconcretewithhigh
volumeflyash. Cem Concr Res 30: 7175.
Case, R., Duan, K. &Suntharavadivel, T.G. 2012. Oneffects
of fly ash as a partial replacement of cement in con-
crete strength. Accepted for publication in Appl Mech
Mater (International Conference on Civil, Architectural
and Hydraulic Engineering, Zhangjiajie, China, 1012,
August 2012)
McCarthy, M. &Dhir, R. 2005. Developmentof highvolume
flyashcementsfor useinconcreteconstruction. Fuel 84:
142332.
Papadakis, V.G. 1999. Effect of fly ashonPortlandcement
systems: Part I. Low-calciumflyash. Cem Concr Res 29:
17271736.
Poon, C.S., Lam, L. & Wong, Y.L. 2000. A study on high
strength concrete prepared with large volumes of low
calciumflyash. Cem. Concr. Res. 30: 44755.
Siddique, R. 2003. Effectof fineaggregatereplacementwith
ClassF flyashonthemechanical propertiesof concrete.
Cem. Concr. Res. 33: 53947.
Siddique, R. 2004. Performance characteristics of high-
volume Class F fly ash concrete. Cem. Concr. Res. 34:
48793.
Standards Australia, 1998. Australian Standard
AS1012.3.1-1998: Methodof testingconcrete Method
3.1: Determinationof propertiesrelatedtotheconsistency
of concrete Slump test. Strathfield, NSW, Australia:
StandardsAustraliaInternational.
StandardsAustralia, 1999.AustralianStandardAS1012.9-
1999: Methodof testingconcrete Method9: Determi-
nationof thecompressivestrengthof concretespecimens.
Strathfield, NSW, Australia: Standards Australia
International.
Standards Australia, 2000. Australian Standard
AS1012.8.1-2000: Methodof testingconcrete Method
8.1: Method for making and curing concrete
Compressionandindirect tensiletest specimens. Strath-
field, NSW, Australia: StandardsAustraliaInternational.
Sumer, M. 2012. Compressivestrengthandsulfateresistance
propertiesof concretescontainingClassF andClassCfly
ashes. Construct Bldg Mater 34: 531536.
Suntharavadivel, T.G., Chau, K.W., Duan, K. &Ashwath, N.
2012. Useof coal fly ashinconcretemix. Submittedto:
Vimonsatit, V., Singh, A., Yazdani, S. (eds.), Research,
Development, and Practice in Structural Engineering
and Construction; ASEA-SEC-1, Perth, November 28
Decmber 2, 2012.
1117
Browncoal flyashgeopolymer mortar
R. Dirgantara
STT Harapan College, Medan, Indonesia
D.W. Law, T.K. Molyneaux& D. Kong
ABSTRACT: Theuseof industrial by-productstopartlyor totallysubstituteOrdinaryPortlandcement(OPC)
hasbecomeanareaof significantresearchinrecentyears.Thedrivingforcehasbeennotonlyeconomic, butalso
environmental, astheproductionof OPChasgreatlycontributedtotheproductionof CO
2
totheatmosphere.The
useof theseindustrial by-productsaspartial replacementsfor OPChasnowbecomewell established, withclass
F FlyAsh(FA) andGroundGranulatedBlastfurnaceSlag(GGBS) beingthemostwidelyused. Recentresearch
has also shown that concretewith similar strengths to both OP and blended cements can beachieved using
classF FA asa100%replacement binder withasuitablealkali activator. Thismaterial isknownasgeoploymer
concrete, withseveral commercial productsrecentlycomingontothemarket. InVictoriaFA isproducedfrom
Brown Coal (BC), which is generally classifiedas class C FA andas such can not beusedas areplacement
material for concrete. However, thereactiontoformgeopolymer concreteisdifferenttothatwhentheFA isused
asapartial replacement material. Assuch, thepossibility existstouseBC or classC FA tomakegeopolymer
concrete. Thispaper reportsonaresearchproject investigatingtheuseof BC FA tomakegeopolymer mortars.
1 INTRODUCTION
Environmental concerns have arisen regarding the
energy consumption and theemission of CO
2
in the
production of OPC as the main binder material in
concrete (Davidovits 1994b). Other concerns have
also highlighted theuseof coal as aprimary energy
sourceintheworld. Theuseof coal releases FA as a
by-product, some of which becomes environmental
waste(NaikandSingh1993).
FA as an industrial by-product contains silicate
materialsthat havebeenusedasanalternativebinder
material to OPC. Class F FA is themost commonly
used in the synthesis of this alkali-activated binder
(Guo et al. 2010). The use of FA as a replacement
material for OPC is well established (Oscar 1999;
Berryet al. 2009; Fansuri et al. 2012).
The feasibility of using FA as the binder to cre-
ategeopolymer concretehasbeendemonstratedusing
100%of classFFA(Berryetal.2011).However,much
of theFA produced worldwideis class C FA, which
can not beused as areplacement material for OPC,
dueto thechemical composition adversely affecting
thepropertiesof theconcreteproduced.
Theactivationprocessfor geopolymer concretesis
dueto theactivation of thealuminosilicates by high
concentrationalkali (Davidovits1994a)ratherthanthe
activationof theFA by theCa(OH)
2
producedby the
hydrationof theOP cement (Neville1981). Henceif
the composition of the aluminosilicates in the class
C FA is sufficient it may befeasibleto usethemto
producegeopolymer concrete.
Some preliminary research has been undertaken
usingclass C FA (also referredto as highCaFA) to
explorethefeasibilityof usingitasabinderingeopoly-
mer concrete (Guo et al. 2009; Chindaprasirt et al.
2011).Thisresearchhasshownthepossibilityof using
class C FA to create an alkali-activated binder with
strengths similar to thoseobtained fromclass F FA.
Thispotential useof classCFA couldresultinutiliza-
tionof awidespreadindustrial by-product fromcoal
burning power stations, which presently aredumped
intotheenvironment resultinginthesavingof natural
resourcesandenergy.
The potential demonstrated for class C FA could
also beapplied to BC FA that is produced in theLa
TrobeValley inVictoria. TheBC FA is alsonot used
atpresentasareplacementmaterial inconcretedueto
theadverseeffectsof thechemical compositiondueto
thehighCaOandSO
3
content.Thispaperreportsona
researchprojectundertakentoinvestigatethepossible
useof BC FA toproducegeopolymer mortarsandthe
optimizationof themixdesign.
2 MATERIALS
2.1 Brown coal fly ash
TheFA usedinthisstudycamefromLoyYangpower
stationintheLaTrobeValley, Victoria, Australia. The
1119
Table1. Chemical compositionof flyashmaterials.
LaTrobeValleybrowncoal
flyash*
ClassC FA
Oxide(%) (browncoal) LoyYang Yallourn Hazelwood
SiO
2
47.52 60.4 1.4 6.6
Al
2
O
3
17.29 13.3 2.1 1.8
Fe
2
O
3
5.98 8.5 24.5 8.7
CaO 2.25 1.0 12.3 28.4
MgO 4.63 2.2 18.0 18.8
K
2
O 0.50 1.2 0.4 0.4
Na
2
O 6.26 2.1 11.0 4.5
TiO
2
1.26 1.7 0.1 0.2
P
2
O
5
0.74
SO
3
13.03 3.4 21.7 15.6
Cl <0.1 <0.1 3.4
Cl
2
O 0.44
Mn
2
O 0.10
LOI 7.6 8.2 11.7
*(Macpheeet al. 1993)
LaTrobeValley contains large deposits of low-rank
brown (ligniteand sub-bituminous) coal also known
asBC.
Previousresearchhasshownthesignificant varia-
tioninmajor chemical compositiondespitethesource
andtypeof burningcoal (FrenchandSmitham2007).
ASTM C618-12definesFA into2classes, classF
and class C. Class F is produced from burning
anthraciteandbituminouscoals, whileclassC ispro-
duced fromlignite and sub-bituminous coals. Both
have pozzolanic properties, and in addition to this,
classCalsohassomecementitiouspropertiesandthe
total calcium(CaO) content is typically higher than
classF.
ASTMC618-12alsodifferentiatestheFA basedon
theminimumpercentageof silicondioxide(SiO
2
),alu-
minumoxide(Al
2
O
3
) andironoxide(Fe
2
O
3
), andthe
maximumsulfurtrioxide(SO
3
)content.Theminimum
combinedcontent of silicondioxide, aluminumoxide
andironoxideis 70%and50%for class F andclass
C respectively. The maximumsulfur trioxide (SO
3
)
content is5.0%for bothclassesof FA.
Basedonthetypeof coal usedandpreviouslypub-
lished data the Loy Yang FA was classified as class
CFA (Macpheeet al. 1993). However, fromchemical
analysisundertakenonsamplessuppliedbyLoyYang
for thisstudyitwasfoundthatLoyYangFA couldnot
becategorizedasclassCduetothehighsulfurtrioxide
content (Table1).
Due to variations in the coal used and the burn-
ingprocess, it wouldbeanticipatedthat thechemical
compositionwouldvaryoveranextendedtimeperiod.
As such, thevariations observedbetweenthecurrent
studyandthepreviousdataarenot unexpected.
BC FA fromLoyYang has ahigh silicon dioxide
(SiO
2
) contentscomparetoYallournandHazelwood,
twoother power stationsatLaTrobeValley(Macphee
etal.1993).ItalsohasrelativelyhigherAl
2
O
3
compare
to general characteristic FA fromsubbituminous and
lignitecoals(Oscar 1999).
2.2 Alkali activators
Sodiumhydroxide solution (15M NaOH) was pro-
curedfromScienceSupplyAustraliaPtyLtd. GradeD
sodium silicate (Na
2
SiO
3
) with a 2.00 ratio liquid
sodium silicate (Na
2
O=14.7% and SiO
2
=29.4%)
of 1.52g/cc density was supplied by PQ Australia
PtyLtd.
3 MIX PROPORTIONS, CASTING,
ANDTESTING
3.1 Mix design of specimens
Thegeopolymerizationstronglydependsonthechem-
ical properties of the FA, the availability of soluble
silicates and aluminates, and the concentration of
addedsodiumhydroxide(Fansuri et al. 2012).
Thedosageandmodulusof activator havesignifi-
cant influenceontheproperties of themortar (Wang
et al. 1994). Thedosageof activator isdefinedasthe
ratio of theNa
2
O content of thealkalineactivator to
themassof thebinder, whereastheactivator modulus
(M
S
) isthemassratioof theSiO
2
totheNa
2
Ointhe
alkalineactivator. Thealkali modulusof activator was
variedbasedonthecompositionof theLoyYangFA
suppliedandtheother component of themix.
Several setsof specimenswerepreparedtotest the
compressivestrengthof theBC FA geopolymer mor-
tar.Thecontentof theFA inthemixturewasevaluated
bymassratioof theFA tototal weightof mixture(wt%
FA). For all specimens, theFA content was designed
tohaveminimum10wt%of themassof themixture.
A sodium silicate solution with composition of
14.7%Na
2
O, 29.4%SiO
2
and 55.90%water, and a
15M sodiumhydroxidesolutionwithcompositionof
37.5%NaOHand62.5%water wereusedasthealkali
activator.
The liquid mass (water content) was determined
taking into account all of the water in the mixed
alkali activators (water quantity of sodium silicate
andsodiumhydroxidesolutions). Thesolidmasswas
determined by accounting for all solid materials of
thebinder and aggregateincluding thesolid content
of thesodiumsilicateandsodiumhydroxidesolutions
(LloydandRangan2010). Inorder toobtainawork-
ablegeopolymermortarmolding, aliquidtosolidratio
(water content) of 1015%wasmaintained.
The alkali modulus of activator was investigated
overarangefrom2.6to3.4.Thecontentof alkali acti-
vator wascalculatedincludingsilicondioxide(SiO
2
)
andsodiumoxide(Na
2
O) content fromtheBC FA.
Table2showsthemix proportionof mortar speci-
mens. Theinitial mixtureMixG7repwasareplicated
mixfrompreviousworkusingthesamesourceof BC
FA (Lawet al. 2013). Mixtures 1to 4werevariation
basedonthisinitial mix.
Detailsof mixtureratiosareshowninTable3.
1120
Table2. Mixproportionsof browncoal flyashmortars.
Mass(kg)
Mixture Flyash Sand Na
2
SiO
3
NaOH
MixG7rep 0.513 1.427 0.293 0.087
Mix1 0.613 1.338 0.245 0.123
Mix2 0.279 1.677 0.363 0.021
Mix3 0.263 1.536 0.419 0.053
Mix4 0.282 1.565 0.391 0.053
Table 3. Mass ratios of brown coal fly ash mortar mix
design.
Massratio
Mixture SiO
2
/Na
2
O Liquid/Solid Flyashwt%
MixG7rep 3.28 0.104 22.10
Mix1 3.30 0.102 26.44
Mix2 3.11 0.102 11.94
Mix3 2.66 0.133 11.56
Mix4 2.75 0.123 12.30
3.2 Mortars mixing and casting
The mixing was performed using a 5 liter Hobart
mixer. Directlyafter mixingthemortar wasplacedin
505050mmcubicmolds. Themortar specimens
werecompactedwithtwo-layer placingandtamping,
andplacedonavibrationtable.
Thespecimenswereleft for 24hoursat roomtem-
perature. The molds and specimens then covered to
prevent moisture loss and put in the oven heated at
120
C for 10 hours. Elevated curing has been sug-

gestedto assists thechemical reactionthat occurs in
geopolymer mortars (Lloyd and Rangan 2010). The
specimenswerelefttocool atroomtemperaturebefore
being demolded. The specimens were kept at room
temperatureprior totesting.
3.3 Testing
Compressivestrengthmeasurementsof mortarswere
performedonaUniversal TestingMachinewithinitial
strokeof 1mm/min. Threecubesweretestedfor each
datapoint. Thespecimensweretestedat 3and7days
after casting.
4 TESTINGRESULTSANDDISCUSSION
Compressive strength result of BC FA geopolymer
mortars (mean and standard deviation) are given in
Table4.
Thestrengthsobtainedrangefrom13.44MPa, Mix
3 at 7 days to a maximumof 56.81MPa, Mix 2 at
7 days. The maximumstrengths obtained are com-
parable to those obtained from previous research
Table 4. Compressive strength of brown coal fly ash
mortars.
CompressiveStrength(MPa)
3days 7days
Mortar sample Mean SD Mean SD
MixG7rep 23.08 2.40 21.49 3.84
Mix1 24.66 3.84 22.63 9.67
Mix2 49.18 15.82 56.81 13.22
Mix3 N/A N/A 13.44 3.65
Mix4 N/A N/A 20.68 4.90
MixG7* 28.4 N/A 32.60 N/A
*(Lawet al. 2013)
Figure1. Compressivestrength(7days) vsalkali modulus
ratio(SiO
2
/Na
2
O) of browncoal flyashgeopolymermortars.
on class F and class C FA. The strengths are also
comparable to those obtained fromOPC specimens
and are indicative that BC FA geopolymer can pro-
ducecompressivestrengths acceptablefor useinthe
constructionindustry.
Theresultsshowminimal variationbetween3and
7days, whichwouldbeexpecteddueto theelevated
curingtemperaturesapplied. Similarresultshavebeen
observed by other authors and is attributed to the
geopolymer materialsrequiringheatcuringtoachieve
activationof thebinder (Sindhunata2006).
Alkali modulusSiO
2
/Na
2
Oplaysimportant rolein
determiningcompressivestrengthof geopolymermor-
tar strength. Figure1shows thealkali modulus mass
ratio in this work ranged between 2.6 to 3.4. With
increasing alkali modulus the compressive strength
canalsobeimproved. However, theincreaseof com-
pressivestrengthis nolonger evident for anincrease
aboveanalkali modulusratioof 3.11.
The Mix G7rep mortar had compressive strength
23.08MPaand21.49MParespectivelyfor3and7days
test. Theresult shows areductioninthe3day and7
day compressivestrengthfrompreviouswork Mix 7,
28.4MPaand32.6MPa(Lawet al. 2013). Thisvaria-
tioninstrengthwasunexpectedgiventhatthetwomix
designs wereidentical. Theonly variationwas inthe
batchof theBCFA fromLoyYang. Additional testing
1121
is to beundertakento determineif thevariationwas
duetovariationsinthechemical compositionsinthe
batchesor duetoinherentvariationinthestrengthsof
themortarsproducedbytheBC FA.
AnimprovedperformancewasnoticeableinMix2
when alkali modulus of activator was reduced from
3.28 to 3.11, which gave results of 49.18MPa and
56.81MParespectivelyfor 3and7daystest.
The liquid to solid ratio of Mix 2 was less than
other mixes, which yielded the highest compressive
strength. Geopolymer mortars with lower liquid to
solid ratio are normally stronger than higher ratio,
andFA hasverynarrowrangesof liquidtosolidratio
(Fansuri et al. 2012). Accordingly, thehighest liquid
to solid ratio of Mix 3 gave the lowest compressive
strengthof themortar series.
Based on the chemical composition, it can be con-
cludedthat LoyYangBC FA shouldnot beclassified
as either class C or class F FA according to ASTM
C618-12.
This paper focused on the use of industrial by-
productsBC FA asabinder for geopolymer concrete.
It shows that using 100%BC FA as abinder with a
suitablealkali activatorprovidecompressivestrengths
comparable to class F and class C FA geopolymer
mortars and comparable to those obtained for OPC
mortars.Thiswouldindicatetheuseof BCgeopolymer
asacementitiousmaterial ispotentiallyfeasible.
PresentlyLaTrobeValleyBC FA isnot beingused
as binders in concrete (Macphee et al. 1993). How-
ever, preliminary study usingvaryingproportions of
FA haveshown promising results. Further investiga-
tionisneededtoprovidedatatoimprovetheprospect
of useasageopolymer concrete.
The optimumcompressive strength was obtained
withanalkali modulus of 3.11, givinga7day com-
pressivestrengthof 56.91MPa. Thiscorrespondedto
aliquidtosolidratioof 0.102andratioof 11.94wt%
FA tototal mixtureweight.
Themajorityof thecompressivewasachievedafter
3 days, with minimal increaseobserved from3 to 7
days. Thisisattributedtotheheat curing.
Futureresearchis neededtodeveloptheoptimum
mixdesigntoreachtheoptimumstrengthconsidering
thevariation of thechemical composition of theBC
FA.Thiswill befollowedbyresearchtodeterminethe
mechanical propertiesanddurabilitycharacteristicsof
theBC FA geopolymer concrete.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Theauthorswouldliketothank PQAustraliaPtyLtd
forprovidingtheSodiumSilicateandLoyYangPower
Stationfor providingtheBrownCoal FlyAsh.
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thestrengthof aggregates madefromcoal fly ashusing
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French, D. & SmithamJ. 2007. Fly Ash Characteristics and
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High-Ca Fly Ash and other Ca-Bearing Materials. 2009
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KY, USA.
Guo, X., Shi H., ChenL. &DickW.A. 2010.Alkali-activated
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Fly Ash. Second International Conference on Sustain-
ableConstructionMaterialsandTechnologies. Universita
PolitecnicadelleMarche, Ancona, Italy.
Macphee, D.E., Black C.J. & Taylor A.H. 1993. Cements
Incorporating Brown Coal Fly Ash fromThe Latrobe
ValleyRegionofVictoria,Australia.Cement and Concrete
Research 23(3): 507517.
Naik, T.R. & Singh S.S. 1993. Fly Ash Generation and
Utilization AnOverview.
Neville,A.,M.1981.Properties of Concrete.London,Pitman
PublishingLimited.
Oscar, E. 1999. Coal FlyAsh: aretrospectiveandfuturelook.
Fuel 78(2): 133136.
Sindhunata 2006. A Conceptual Model of Geopolymerisa-
tion. PhD, TheUniversityof Melbourne.
Wang, S.-D., Scrivener K.L. & Pratt P.L. 1994. Factors
AffectingTheStrengthof Alkali-activatedSlag. Cement
and Concrete Research 24(6): 10331043.
1122
Evaluationof freshpropertieseffect onthecompressivestrength
of polypropylenefibrereinforcedpolymer modifiedconcrete
N. Ghosni, K. Vessalas& B. Samali
ABSTRACT: Investigationsonthecharacteristicsof FibreReinforcedConcrete(FRC)havegainedmomentum
inthelastfewdecades. Employingsuitablepolymericfibresandadditivesinconcretetoimproveitsperformance
is an important consideration in the construction industry. This research aims to investigative the effect of
polypropylene(PP) fibrevolumepercentagewithintheconcretemixwithandwithoutthepresenceof polymeric
materialsontherheological propertiesof concreteanditsbehaviour under compression. PP fibresexhibit low
elasticmodulus, highelongationandareof lowcost, makingthesefibresmostsuitablefor inclusioninPolymer
ModifiedConcrete(PMC). Traditionally, PP fibresareusedinconcretetoreduceplastic shrinkageandmicro
cracking.AccompanyingPPfibreadditionstoPMCsareoftenstyrenebutadiene(SB) copolymerlatexadditions;
usedtoimprovethebondingof PP fibresinthecementingmatrix. Thispaper reportsonthefindingsof using
different percentages of PP fibres with PMCs incorporating 10%SB latex and 30%fly ash (FA) for partial
replacement of Portland cement. Slump, mass per unit volume, air content, high rangewater reducer agents
amount andcompressivestrength, will beassessedandcomparedtoplainconcretedevoidof PP fibre, SB latex
andFA additions, after periodof curingappliedat 7, 28and56daysof ageing.
1 INTRODUCTION
Useof Polypropylene(PP)fibresinconcretehavebeen
investigatedmorecloselyinrecentdecades. PP isone
of thewidelyusedfibresfordifferentapplicationssuch
asautomobile, interiors, textilesetc. (R. Brown, 2002)
thatisathermoplastic, hydrophobicmaterial withlong
polymer structure. This fibreis agood choiceto be
addedtoconcreteasit hasnon-polar bundlesthat do
not clingtogether. This characteristic of thePP fibre
helpswiththedispersionintheconcretematrix (D.J.
Hannant, 1980). Another advantage of a PP fibre is
thehydrophobic naturethat does not affect themix-
ingwaterproportion(Daniel, 1998).Aspolypropylene
is low-modulus and also has high elongation nature,
it will helpwiththeenergy absorptionandalsofrac-
tureenergyof themixmatrix(Nanni andMeamarian,
1991).
One of the concerns in fibre reinforced cementi-
tiousmixesisthebondstrength.AccordingtoBartoss
clarifications (Bartos, 1981), there are two types of
bonds recognised: the tensile bond and the shear
bond. Former, controls the transfer of stress paral-
lel to thelongitudinal axis which is categorised into
elastic shear bond and frictional shear bond. Lat-
ter is directly responsible for strength of composite
reinforced with discontinuous fibres. A very impor-
tant parameter for afibrereinforced concretewould
bethepullout strength of theexamined fibrewhich
in this project is the polypropylene fibre. The addi-
tion of Styrene Butadiene Latex (SBLatex) can be
consideredasachemical additivetoincreasethebond.
Although, ithasbeenreportedinpreviousstudiesthat
polypropylene fibres can have sufficient bond with
thecementitious matrix to prevent thefibrepull out
(MindessandVondran,1988,Wangetal.,1988,Bentur
etal., 1989), itmaynotbeapplicabletoall typesof PP
fibres.
On investigating PP fibres, many results have
been proposed some of which have yielded diver-
gent outcomes. For instance, as regards to compres-
sive strength, Mindness andVondran, (Mindess and
Vondran, 1988), havereporteda25%increaseincom-
pressive strength at 0.5 volume percentage of the
polypropylene fibres whereas Massoud, Abou-Zeid
andFahmy, (Massoudetal., 2003), reportthattherole
of polypropylenefibersisinsignificantindifferentiat-
ingcompressivestrengthusingthesamefibrevolume.
It is concludedthat belowthe0.1%volumepercent-
agedosagerate, fibreshavenostatisticallysignificant
effect onthecharacteristics of thehardenedconcrete
(Midwest-Research-Institute, 1994).
In PP fibre mixes, workability of fresh concrete
has been reported to be reduced (Bayasi and Zeng,
1993). With0.5%of 12.7mmand19mmPP fibres,
slumptestresultsshowed11.6%and88.5%reduction,
respectively. Other researchworkshavealsoreported
thatfibreadditioncanaffectconcreteslumpnoticeably
(PantazopoulouandZanganeh, 2001,Al-Tayyibetal.,
1988). Byadding0.4%byweightof PPfibres, alarge
reductionincompressivestrengthandalsoworkabil-
ity is reported(Barr andNewman, 1985). According
1123
Table1. Mixdesignandproportions.
Fine 10mmCoarse 20mmCoarse
PC FA Aggregate Aggregate Aggregate Fibre(V
f
) Water SB latex
MixID (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
) (%) (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
)
C 430.0 0.0 635.0 390.0 700.0 0.0 150.5 0.0
CF 301.0 129.0 635.0 390.0 700.0 0.0 150.5 0.0
CFL 301.0 129.0 635.0 390.0 700.0 0.0 150.5 43.0
PM0.25L 301.0 129.0 635.0 390.0 700.0 0.25 150.5 43.0
PF0.25L 301.0 129.0 635.0 390.0 700.0 0.25 150.5 43.0
PM0.5L 301.0 129.0 635.0 390.0 700.0 0.5 150.5 43.0
PF0.5L 301.0 129.0 635.0 390.0 700.0 0.5 150.5 43.0
PM1L 301.0 129.0 635.0 390.0 700.0 1.0 150.5 43.0
PF1L 301.0 129.0 635.0 390.0 700.0 1.0 150.5 43.0
PM0.25 301.0 129.0 635.0 390.0 700.0 0.25 150.5 0.0
PM1 301.0 129.0 635.0 390.0 700.0 1.0 150.5 0.0
PF1 301.0 129.0 635.0 390.0 700.0 1.0 150.5 0.0
toSiddiqueetal. (Siddiqueetal., 2008) PPfibershave
anon-desirableeffect ontheair content of concrete.
Withtheadditionof PP fibers, air content of concrete
hasbeenreportedtoincrease.
This project studies the material properties of non-
traditional FRCsandFRPMCs. Nanni etal (Nanni and
Meamarian, 1991), indicatethat typical applications
of polypropylenehavebeen between 0.1 to 0.3%by
volumesofar; anditsapplicationhavebeenprimarily
as asecondary reinforcement for shrinkageandtem-
perature cracking control, mechanical and dynamic
characteristics. However, inorder toachieverelatively
significant improvements in the mechanical proper-
tiesof thefibrereinforcedconcrete, thereneedstobe
greaterthan0.5%volumeamountof fibres(Nanni and
Meamarian, 1991). According to above statements,
fibrepercentageused in this project is 0.25%, 0.5%
and1%toopennewhorizonsinthisarea. Higher val-
ues of PP fibres canhardly beusedinconcretewith
conventional castingmethods as theamount of fibre
will noticeably affect themixingprocedure. Withthe
additionof fibrestoconcretemix, somemodifications
must be applied to the mixing sequence, otherwise,
thefibredispersion can not beachieved completely.
AS1012.2ssuggestedmixingtimeinterval isquoted
bellow:
A. Mixfor 2min(addwater asestimated, andadmix-
tureswithinfirst minute)
B. Rest for 2min
C. Mixfor 2min
D. Stopandmeasureslumpwithinthenext 3min
If this process is to befollowed, thepossibility of
weak fibredispersionishighandfinal product isnot
ahomogeneousmix. Inorder tohaveamoreuniform
mix and make sure that fibres are dispersed evenly
in the mix, researchers have tried different mixing
sequences. For instance, Manolisetal. (Manolisetal.,
1997) haveallowed35minutesof mixingtimeafter
thefibreswereaddedtothepreparedconcretemixto
achieveagoodfibredispersion. Inthisproject, tofol-
lowtheASrequirementsandat thesametimesatisfy
theneedfor moremixingtime, thefollowingscenario
hasbeenfollowed:
A. Mixfor 3min(addwater asestimated, andadmix-
tureswithinthefirst minute)
B. Rest for 2min
C. Mixfor 3min
D. Stopandmeasureslumpwithinthenext 3min
Withthisprocess,full fibredispersionwasachieved
andnosegregationwasobserved.
2.1 Materials
Fibrillated and Monofilament polypropylene fibres
(19mmand18mmlong,respectively)havebeenintro-
ducedtothemixwith0.25%, 0.5%and1%volumeof
thewholemix.Thesemixesalsoincludetheadditionof
30%fly ash(FA) for partial replacement of Portland
cement (PC) and utilisation of manufactured coarse
andfinesandstoreplacenatural coarseandfinesand,
respectively, toaimforproducingagreener concrete.
Water ratio to cementitious material of themix is
fixedat0.35andatargetslumpof 8020isset.Water
usedfor concretemixisdrinkingtapwater.
2.2 Mix design
Asthebasemix designfor all stagesof theproject is
notchanging, theamountof rawmaterial usediscon-
stantandthewatertocementitiousmaterial proportion
isalsoconstantandequal to35%. Inthemixes, PChas
beenpartiallyreplacedwith30%FA and10%SBlatex
wasaddedtoall thepreliminarymixes.Itisworthmen-
tioningthat all FRC mixescontainingSB Latex have
the same amount of 10% of the additional material
inside. Theamount of SB Latex addedis by mass of
cementitious material. FRC mix designs aredetailed
inTable1. Mixes whichshowedhigher performance
1124
withregards to themechanical properties inthefirst
phaseof thisprojectwerealsotestedwithoutpolymer.
These FRCs are also listed in Table 1, fromamong
thelower percentageandhigher percentageandalso
thetwo different types, FRC mixes arepreparedand
tested.
The testing programinvolves adding various forms
(that is, fibrillated and monofilament) and different
lengthsof PP fibresatdifferentpercentages, withand
withoutSBlatexaddition, andcontrol mixeswithand
without theadditionof manufacturedsand. Thefresh
concretepropertiesinclude: slumptest, aircontentand
massper unit volume.
Inthefreshconcretepropertiestestsall theproce-
duresarefollowedaccordingtoAustralianStandards.
For freshly mixed concreteproperties, AS 1012.3.1-
1998was usedfor themeasurement procedures. Wet
density and the air content were additionally deter-
mined in accordance with the test method require-
ments of AS 1012.5-1999 and AS 1012.4.2-1999,
respectively. For vibration and compaction of con-
crete, the procedure listed in AS 1012.8.1-2000 is
followedandall mouldedtest specimens wereexter-
nally vibrated using a vibration table. Compressive
strength testing was carried out after 7, 28 and 56
days ageing. A universal testing machine applying
axial loads on100200mmcylinders wereused. A
straingaugeis attachedtothespecimens toestablish
thestress-strainrelationshipunderloadduringthetest
cyclefortheselectedmixes.Adatatakerhasbeenused
tocollect andsavethedata.
Datafromtests pertaining to thefresh properties of
FRPMCs arepresentedinTable2showingthefresh
properties of mixes all containing PP fibres. The
amountof cementitiousmaterial aswell asaggregates,
water, HWR, fibreandLatexaredetailedbefore. The
amount of HWR usedineachmix hasbeendifferent
asaslumpof 80mmwastargeted. Althoughafewof
themixes couldnt reach that slump, even with high
amountsof HWR, most mix designsshowedpromis-
ingresultsintermsof freshproperties. Massper unit
volumeof theconcretemixeshasalsobeenmeasured
tohavethevolumedensityof theengineeredconcrete.
Usually, thevolumedensity of conventional concrete
is approximately 2,400to 2,500kg/m
3
; this property
is measured then to evaluatetheeffects of fibreand
polymer on concretedensity and also usethis value
for further calculations. Air content is also measured
andpresented. Knowingtheamount of entrappedair
intheconcretehelpswithquantitativeanalysisof the
test resultsandmayhelpexplaincertainbehaviour of
the concrete mix. The first few rows of Table 2 are
representativeof thereferencemixesandtherest are
Table2. Freshproperties.
Volume
Slump HWR AC Density
MixID W/C (mm) (ml/m
3
) (%) (Kg/m
3
)
C 0.35 60 1317 0.8 2510
CF 0.35 75 1000 1 2450
CFL 0.35 80 223 3.2 2370
PM0.25L 0.35 77 923 4 2320
PF0.25L 0.35 90 539 2.7 2330
PM0.5L 0.35 80 1320 4.9 2320
PF0.5L 0.35 90 770 4.3 2320
PM1L 0.35 70 1923 5 2300
PF1L 0.35 75 1154 3 2310
PM0.25 0.35 60 1923 1.8 2380
PM1 0.35 55 1615 2.6 2290
PF1 0.35 65 1846 1.5 2290
for thePMC, FRCandFRPMCs. Itisworthmention-
ingagainthat all themixesfor thisproject, except the
referenceCandCL; contain30%FA asareplacement
toPC.
Results of Table 2 show that in mixes where SB
Latexispresent, theamount of HWRneededtoreach
the target slump is lower. Therefore, it can be con-
cluded that SB Latex helps with the workability of
the mix. Furthermore, the amount of HWR needed
for FRPMCs is higher than that of PMC and lower
thantheFRCs. ThisindicatesthatbyaddingPPfibres
tothemix, theworkability decreases. Theamount of
HWR used in monofilament containing mixes was
muchhigher thanthatof fibrillatedfibreswhichshow
that monofilament PP fibresdecreasetheworkability
of the mix more than fibrillated PP fibres. Further-
more, visual inspection of themixes showed that by
adding HWR to monofilament FRCs, thereis arisk
of segregationbeforegettingthedesiredslumpespe-
cially in higher percentages. In mixes where fibres
arepresent, adecreaseinvolumedensityisobserved.
This is most probably dueto thelower volumeden-
sityof PP fibres. ThistrendcanalsobeappliedtoFA
and SB Latex as well. It can beconcluded fromthe
results that by adding SB Latex, mixes show higher
air content. Asstatedby Ohamainliterature(Ohama
1998) Latexisknownasanair introducingadmixture
in cementitious mixtures which agrees with theout-
come of this project. Mixes with Monofilament PP
fibresshowhigher amount of air content thanthat of
fibrillatedfibres.
Resultsof testsunder compressiveloadareillustrated
in table3. Regarding theeffect of SB Latex and PP
fibres onhardenedproperties of concretesomecon-
clusions arepresented. Considering thecompressive
strengthpropertiesit isobservedthat inFRCs, 0.25%
of monofilament PP fibre has reached the 56 days
compressivestrengthinearlier agecomparingto the
control concrete. In lower percentages (0.25%), PP
1125
Table3. CompressiveStrength.
MixID 7days 28days 56days
C 61.0 73.0 76.4
CF 46.0 57.5 70.3
CFL 31.5 40.0 49.9
PM0.25L 31.0 36.5 52.2
PF0.25L 30.0 39.0 52.2
PM0.5L 25.5 31.5 37.0
PF0.5L 26.5 34.0 38.0
PM1L 17.5 23.0 25.0
PF1L 27.0 37.5 48.0
PM0.25 38.0 66.4 72.1
PM1 37.5 43.4 49.0
PF1 38.5 58.0 65.6
Figure1. Comparativecompressivestrength.
fibres have contributed to the compressive strength
propertiesandhaveimprovedthecompressivestrength
by nearly 3% in FRCs and 105% in FRPMCs in
later ages. Furthermore, fibrillated fibres proved to
bemorebeneficial inbothlower andhigher percent-
age usage of fibres but not the middle percentage
ranges whereas monofilament PP fibreshowedgood
performancewithlower percentages. Resultsindicate
that incorporatingSB Latex with PP fibres does not
affect theefficiency of PP fibres inFRPMC regard-
ingthecompressivestrengthsignificantly. Inaddition,
strength gain trend can relatively be considered the
sameinall FRPMCmixesinvestigatedinthisproject.
Moreover,adding10%SBlatex,resultsinreductionof
compressivestrengthby aconsiderableamount. Due
to thepresenceof FA in themixes, all compression
testswerealsoperformedtoobtain56daycompressive
strength.
To study theeffect and performanceof PP fibres
in concrete, PM0.25 is selected fromthe mixes and
analyzed and plotted in Figure 1. This FRC has
achievedthe56daystrengthearlier andgainedhigher
strength than normal concrete in 56 days. Most of
FRCs strength is comparable to that of reference at
later agesbut all of theFRPMCshaveshownalower
compressive strength at 7 days. With this particular
fibre, the strength gain reaches the reference at 18
daysandstartstoimprovewithtime.After56days, the
compressivestrengthcurveseemstoget closer tothe
referenceconcreteandcontinuesaparallel trendwith
thereferenceconcrete. To get thegraph, threemixes
with0.25%monofilament fibrehavebeentestedand
resultswereaveragedandplotted.
A formula to be able to predict the compressive
strengthof theseFRCs andFRPMCs canbeworked
out. For fibre reinforced concrete, not much work
has been done but for FA concrete, some formulas
and prediction models have been presented (Babu
and Nageswara Rao 1993; de Larrard and Sedran
2002; Han, KimandPark 2003; Hwang, Noguchi &
Tomosawa2004).
A systematic and thorough investigation was under-
takenondifferentaspectsof FRC, PMCandFRPMCs.
The issues associated with the mentioned concrete
types have been identified resulting in establishing
the goals of the project which can be categorised
as: IncorporatingFA inmixesat higher percentages
to achieve an environmentally friendly concrete and
alsoinvestigationonmechanical behaviourof different
percentageof FRC, PMC andFRPMC.
Theresults of this project arepromising in terms
of using PP fibres (monofilament and fibrillated) in
theconcretemix. Theadvantages and disadvantages
of usingSBlatexasthepolymericadditiveinthecon-
cretemixisstudies.Thisstudyalsoconsiderstheeffect
of adding 30%FA in theconcretemix as areplace-
ment of PC to help achieving greener concrete and
environmentallyfriendlybuildingswithsustainability.
PP fibres wereadded to themix by 0.25%, 0.5%
and 1%of the volume of the mix. Two types of PP
fibre have been used, monofilament and fibrillated.
A fixedpercentageof 10%of SB latex was addedto
investigatethebehavior of thepolymeric material in
thematrix.
TheresultsshowthatbyaddingSBlatexby10%as
apolymer additivetothemixes, compressivestrength
of concretedecreases. Byaddinglowerpercentagesof
fibre to the mix the mechanical properties increase.
A summaryof theresultsarediscussedbelow.
1. From among the fibre percentages used in this
project, 0.25% helps with improvement of com-
pressivestrength.Theimprovementof thecompres-
sivestrengthisapproximately3%to5%.
2. Betweenthetwo types of fibreusedinthis study
namely, monofilament and fibrillated, monofila-
ment fibres help more to enhance or maintain
the compressive strength in lower percentages
whereasfibrillatedfibresareeffectivetomaintain
thecompressivestrengthinbothhigher andlower
percentageswithslight deviations.
1126
3. Incorporating SB Latex with PP fibres does not
affecttheefficiencyof PPfibresinFRPMCregard-
ingthecompressivestrengthsignificantly.
4. Strength gain trend can relatively be considered
thesameinall FRPMC mixes investigatedinthis
project. Furthercalculationsonthetrendscanshow
towhat extent theymaybedifferent.
5. Adding 10% of SB latex, results in reduction of
compressivestrengthbyaconsiderableamount.
REFERENCES
Al-Tayyib, A. J., Al-Zahrani, M. M., Rasheeduzzafar &
Al-Sulaimani, G. J. (1988) Effect of polypropylenefiber
reinforcement on the properties of fresh and hardened
concrete in theArabian Gulf environment. Cement and
Concrete Research, 18, 561570.
Barr, B. &Newman, P. D. (1985)Toughnessof polypropylene
fibre-reinforcedconcrete. Composites, 16, 4853.
Bartos, P. (1981) Review paper: Bond in fibre reinforced
cements andconcretes. International Journal of Cement
Composites and Lightweight Concrete, 3, 159177.
Bayasi, Z. & Zeng, J. (1993) Properties of Polypropylene
Fiber ReinforcedConcrete. American Concrete Institute,
90, 605610.
Bentur, A., Mindess, S. & Vondran, G. (1989) Bonding in
polypropylene fibre reinforced concretes. International
Journal of Cement Composites and Lightweight Concrete,
11, 153158.
D. J. Hannant, J.W. (1980) Fibrecementsandfibreconcretes.
Building and Environment, 15, 200219.
Daniel, J. I., Roller, J. J., andAnderson, E. D. (1998) Fiber
reinforced Concrete.
Manolis, G. D., Gareis, P. J., Tsonos, A. D. & Neal, J. A.
(1997) Dynamic properties of polypropylene fiber-
reinforcedconcreteslabs. Cement and Concrete Compos-
ites, 19, 341349.
Massoud, Abou-Zeid& Fahmy (2003) Polypropylenefibers
andsilicafumeconcreteforbridgeoverlays. Submitted for
Presentation and Publication In the 82ndAnnual Meeting
of the Transportation Research Board.
Midwest-Research-Institute (1994) Emission Factor Doc-
umentation for AP-42 Section 11.6, Portland Cement
Manufacturing. U. S. Environmental ProtectionAgency
Officeof Air Quality Planning and Standards Emission
InventoryBranch.
Mindess,S.&Vondran,G.(1988)Propertiesof concreterein-
forcedwithfibrillatedpolypropylenefibresunder impact
loading. Cement and Concrete Research, 18, 109115.
Nanni,A. &Meamarian, N. (1991) Distributionandopening
of fibrillated polypropylene fibers in concrete. Cement
and Concrete Composites, 13, 107114.
Pantazopoulou, S. J. &Zanganeh, M. (2001)Triaxial Testsof
Fiber-ReinforcedConcrete. Journal of Materials in Civil
R. Brown, A. S. A. K. R. N. (2002) Fiber reinforcement of
concretestructures. University of Rhode Island, URITC
PROJ ECT NO. 536101.
Siddique, R., Khatib, J. & Kaur, I. (2008) Useof recycled
plastic in concrete: A review. Waste Management, 28,
18351852.
Wang,Y.,Victor, C. L. &Backer, S. (August1988)Modelling
of fibre pull-out from a cement matrix. The Interna-
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Concrete, 10.
1127
Engineered cementitious composites incorporating recycled concrete fines
Junxia Li, Podianko Surya & En-Hua Yang
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
ABSTRACT: Recycled concrete fines (RCF) are fine aggregates and particles from the demolition waste of
old concrete. Unlike recycled coarse aggregates, RCF is seldom used to replace sands in concrete due to its high
surface area and attached old mortar on the surface of RCF. This paper reports on a study of the replacement
of sand by RCF in the production of Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC). ECC is a high performance
fiber-reinforced cementitious composite which exhibits tensile strain-hardening behavior with extreme tensile
ductility of 35%. It was found that ECCspecimens with RCF yielded a higher tensile strength while maintaining
high tensile ductility. And ECCincorporates high RCF content can still achieve tensile strain-hardening behavior.
This study confirms the potential of incorporating RCF into ECC.
Keywords: Recycled concrete fines, Engineered Cementitious Composites, Strain-hardening cementitious
composites
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Recycled concrete fines (RCF) in concrete
The reuse of construction and demolition waste not
only reduces the environmental burden by minimizing
landfill, but also preserves the finite raw materials.
Recycled concrete aggregate is available currently in
large quantities, which results from the demolition
of old concrete structures. Coupled with shortage of
non-reactive natural aggregate, it is a real and urgent
need to reuse the waste aggregate. Many studies have
proven that recycled coarse aggregate can be an excel-
lent source substitution of natural aggregate for new
concrete production (Sagoe-Crentsil et al. 2001, Katz
2004, Kou et al. 2011).
Generally, it is believedthat fine fractionof recycled
concrete aggregate, known as recycled concrete fines
(RCF), has limited application because of its larger
water absorption which can jeopardize the concrete
properties. This is attributed to the high surface area,
and old mortar attached to the particles, which also
prevents the proper bonding between the matrix and
aggregate (Tam et al. 2005, Katz 2006, Meyer 2009).
Investigations on the use of RCF as a partial
replacement of natural sand in concrete were car-
ried out to show that the strength at early ages was
marginallylower, modulus of elasticityof concrete was
reduced by 15% to 20%, and drying shrinkage of con-
crete was increased by about 40% (Ravindrarajah &
Tam, 1987). A reduction of compressive strength and
increased shrinkage also occurred in Khatibs work
(2005). Evangelista & Brito (2007) reported that the
use of RCF does not jeopardize the mechanical prop-
erties of concrete, up to 30% replacement, while the
modulus of elasticity was reduced with the increas-
ing RCF replacement ratio. The feasibility of utilizing
RCF together with recycled coarse aggregate for self-
compacting concrete has been demonstrated by Kou &
Poon (2009). The maximumcompressive strength was
achieved by using 25%50% RCF as a replacement of
river sand. Yaprak et al. (2011) conducted experiments
to prove that water absorption of RCF was higher than
normal fine aggregate and air content values for the
fresh concrete increased. According to the test results
obtained, the compressive strength for the hardened
concrete decreased.
1.2 Potential new application in engineered
cementitious composites (ECC)
Engineered cementitious composites (ECC) are high
performance fiber-reinforced cementitious compos-
ite (HPFRCC) developed for structural applications.
ECC exhibits tensile strain hardening behavior with
strain capacity in the range of 35% (Li 2003),
whereas the fiber content is only 2% by volume or
less. The ultra high ductility is achieved by optimiz-
ing the microstructure of the composite employing
the micromechanics-based model (Yang & Li, 2010).
This approach can take into account the fiber, matrix
and interface properties on composite tensile strain-
hardening behavior. Based on the guidance of the
micromechanical model, microsilica sand with aver-
age and maximum grain sizes of 110 and 200 m
respectively, is widely used.
Nevertheless, the availability of microsilica sand
is constrained by locality. In this research, RCF is
identified as a potential candidate for substitution of
1129
microsilica sand in the production of ECC with two
goals, one is to achieve high tensile ductility, and the
other is to improve the sustainability of the built envi-
ronment by reusing waste stream material (Lepech
et al. 2008).
2 DESIGN GUIDELINE OF RCF-ECC
2.1 Micromechanical model
ECC is designed using a well-defined tool called
micromechanical model. Desirable composite behavior
can be tailored by adjusting the material microstruc-
tures. There are two fundamental requirements for
strain-hardening behavior.
First for all, the steady-state flat crack extension
can prevail under tension, which requires the crack
tip toughness J
tip
to be less than the complementary
energy J
b
calculated from the bridging stress versus
crack opening curve, as illustrated by Marshall and
Cox (1988).
where J
tip
=K
2
m
/E
m
,
0
is the maximum bridging
stress corresponding to the opening
0
, K
m
is the
matrixfracture toughness, and E
m
is the matrixYoungs
modulus.
Another condition for the strain-hardening behavior
is that the matrix first cracking strength
fc
must not
exceed the maximum fiber bridging strength
0
.
Where
fc
is determined by the matrix fracture K
m
,
pre-existing internal flaw size a
0
, and the () curve.
Eqs. (1) governs the crack propagation mode, while
Eqs. (2) controls the initiation of cracks. Satisfaction
of both Eqs. (1) and (2) is necessary to achieve the
strain-hardeningbehavior. Details of micromechanical
model can be found in Yang and Li (2010).
2.2 Use of RCF
Li et al. (1995) presents results of experimental
research and theoretical calculations based on
micromechanics to investigate the effect of fine aggre-
gate on the strain hardening behavior of fiber rein-
forced cementitious composites. It concludes that
the addition of aggregate increases elastic modu-
lus, matrix toughness and matrix tensile strength.
A large increase in matrix toughness and matrix ten-
sile strength can lead to a violation of the inequality
sign in Eqs. (1) and (2). Therefore, to ensure a robust
strain-hardening behavior in the composite, the quan-
tity and the particle size of aggregate used in ECC are
constrained. Aggregate to cement ratio is 0.8, the aver-
age and the maximum particle sizes are 110 m and
250 m respectively.
Table 1. Properties of RCF.
Particle size Density Water absorption Fineness
(m) (g/cm
3
) (%) modulus
0600 2.01 11.3 1.95
0300 2.07 11.3 1.44
Figure 1. Particle size distribution of RCF.
The use of RCF, however, may become an advan-
tage in ECC. The weak bonding between RCFparticles
and matrix may lead to a lower matrix toughness and
a lower matrix tensile strength, which helps the com-
posite to satisfy Eqs. (1) and (2). For that reason, larger
size and higher quantity of RCF may be used to pro-
duce ECC with tensile strain-hardening behavior. In
addition, the use of RCF is also desirable for eco-
nomical and environmental considerations due to the
substitution of fine aggregate.
3.1 Materials
A brand of green cement Lafarge Phoenix was used,
which complies with the requirements specified in the
British Standard EN197-1: 2000 CEMII/B-M32.5 R.
The recycled concrete fines (RCF) were supplied by
Pan-United Concrete Pte Ltd in Singapore. The corre-
sponding physical properties are shown in Table 1 and
the particle size distribution of RCF in different size
range is shown as Figure 1.
In this study, short polyvinyl alcohol fiber (PVA)
8 mm long was used. Its characteristics are listed in
Table 2. In addition, the surface of PVA fibers was
coated with hydrophobic oiling agent of 1.2% by
weight to control the interface properties of the fiber
and matrix.
The chemical admixture used was a Superplasti-
sizer (W.R. Grace, ADVA181) commercially available
in Singapore.
3.2 Mix proportions
According to the analysis using micromechanical
model, RCF/cement and water/cement, RCF particle
1130
Table 2. Properties of PVA fiber.
Youngs
Diameter Tensile strength Elongation modulus
d
f
(mm)
t
(MPa)
f
(%) E
f
(GPa)
0.044 1640 5.3 41.1
Table 3. Mix proportions.
Mix Cement Water RCF Fiber
1
SP
2
M0 1.0 0.35 0 2%
M0.2 1.0 0.35 0.2 2%
M0.8 1.0 0.35 0.8 2%
M0.8-300 1.0 0.45 0.8 2%
M0.8-600 1.0 0.45 0.8 2%
1
Volume fraction;
2
SP (Superplastisizer) is 0.81.2% by mass of cement.
size was identified as an important factor in governing
the composite properties of RCF-ECC. An experimen-
tal program was designed with three purposes. The
first is to understand the effect of RCF content on
composite mechanical performance such as compres-
sive strength, flexural properties andtensile properties.
The second aim is to use one of the suitable mix pro-
portions to produce RCF-ECC. Another is to evaluate
the influence of the composite behavior with differ-
ent RCF particle sizes. For the objectives of current
investigation, three groups of composite mixes were
applied, as shown in Table 3. In the symbol Mx-y, x
denotes RCF/cement ratio, y denotes the maximum
particle size of RCF.
3.3 Test methods
The RCF-ECC mixture was prepared according to the
following procedure: cement and water are first mixed
for 2 minutes and then fibers were slowly added to
achieve maximumuniformity of fiber dispersion. RCF
was put into the mix at last and was mixed in high speed
for 3 minutes to attain a homogeneous state.
Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used
for the microstructure analysis of RCF. Evalua-
tion of surfaces provided morphological and bond-
ing information related to the composite mechanical
properties.
To evaluate composite performance, compressive
test and flexural test were performed. Three cylinders
for each mix were cast, capped with dental stone and
tested in compression machine with 3000 kN capac-
ity under load control at a loading rate of 25 kN/min.
Coupon specimens 300 75 12 mmwere employed
for flexural test. All the specimens were cured in open
air under humidity (65 RHat average) and temperature
(28
C at average) conditions.
Figure 2. SEM micrograph of the particle of RCF.
Figure 3. SEM micrograph of the particle of microsilica
sand.
4.1 Microstructure of recycled concrete fines
A study of the microstructure of the recycled concrete
fines (RCF) showed that the particles are irregular
and angular in shape and the surface is generally
rough and porous. The result is consistent with that
of Ravindrarajah & Tam (1987).
Compared with the microsilica sand, the RCF is
found to have a scattered particle shape and size, as
shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3. The RCF consists of
crushed aggregate particles (Figure 4) and partially
hydrated cement paste which is made up of unhy-
drated cement grains and hydrated products of cement
(Figure 5).
In Figure 4, RCF (d <300 m) used as fine aggre-
gate in place of microsilica sand showed a distinctive
morphology covered by small particles, which contain
calcium silicate hydrate, calcium hydroxide usually in
the shape of relatively large hexagonal crystals, and
ettringite of needle shape (Neville 1995).
The morphology study of the RCF reveals that two
detrimental effects influence the quality. These are
1131
Figure 4. SEM micrograph of crushed aggregate particle.
Figure 5. SEM micrograph of hydrated cement product.
Table 4. Mechanical Properties of RCF-ECC.
Compressive Flexural Strain
strength strength capacity*
Group (MPa) (MPa) (%)
ECC-M0 52.8 8.3 2.23
ECC-M0.2 49.7 9.8 1.57
ECC-M0.8 49.4 9.3 0.79
ECC-M0.8-300 28 6.3 3.83
ECC-M0.8-600 24.6 4.8 1.84
*inversely calculated fromthe load-deflection curve (Qian &
Li, 2007)
(1) the high surface area and porosity, which lead to
high water absorption and (2) the coating with small
particles, which damage the bond between the new
matrix and the RCF.
4.2 Compressive strength of RCF-ECC
The average compressive strengths of each of the
composite mixes are listed in Table 4.
It is observed that the compressive strength is a
slightly drop when RCF is incorporated at the same
water/cement ratio (0.35). The drop is due to the
weak interfacial transition zones (ITZ) between the
RCF particles and matrix, which makes the compos-
ite less resistant to mechanical attacks. Besides that,
the porous adhered mortar can induce damage effect,
which results in a composite with higher porosity. The
compressive strength keeps constant until the ratio of
RCF/cement increases up to 0.8, although more weak
ITZ and higher porosity tend to decrease the strength.
An increase of water/cement ratio from0.35 to 0.45
results in a great loss of compressive strength about
50%, therefore, the effect of water/cement is very
important in choosing a matrix for the composite.
Comparing with RCF-ECC of the different par-
ticle size ranges, the enhancement of strength with
smaller particles shows that the matrix is denser. And
it may be explained by self-cementing properties of
RCF (Poon et al. 2006). Higher content of unhydrated
cement particles should be found in RCF size range
0 300 m.
4.3 Flexural behavior of RCF-ECC
Figure 6 shows the flexural stress-deflection behav-
ior of RCF-ECC composite with particle size range
1132
Figure 6. Flexural behavior of mixes.
Figure 7. Flexural behavior comparison of M0.8-300 and
M0.8-600.
0 300 m, characterized by the typical strain hard-
ening behavior of ECC. As can be seen, the flexural
strength of M0.2 or M0.8 is around 20% higher than
M0 due to the presence of RCF. However, for a higher
RCF ratio, the increasing matrix toughness leads to
reduced strain hardening behavior and correspond-
ing strength and ductility, which can be known from
the values of flexural strength and strain capacity in
Table 4.
After comparing M0.8 with M0.8-300, the flex-
ural strength decreases for 32% and strain capacity
increases three times when water/cement ratio rises
from 0.35 to 0.45. It further proves that water/cement
ratio is critical for composite behavior.
In Figure 7, at constant water/cement ratio of 0.45,
M0.8-300 with lower particle size enhances the ulti-
mate strength and ductility than M0.8-600 due to lower
matrix toughness.
It is demonstrated that RCF-ECCcan be designed to
maintain their ductility, provided the amount of RCF,
water/cement ratio and RCF particle size are properly
controlled.
5 CONCLUSION
An experimental program was conducted to study the
use of recycled concrete fines (RCF) as global replace-
ments of microsilica sand in the production of ECC.
The experimental results indicate that it is viable to
produce ECC made with RCF. RCF-ECC can exhibit
strain hardening behavior with high RCF content.
However, excessive use of RCF can lead to a sup-
pression of desirable strain-hardening behavior and
accompanying material ductility. Although an increase
in water/cement ratio can achieve high strain harden-
ing, a great loss of strength can be seen. Thus, the
amount of RCF should be properly controlled accord-
ing to the performance requirements; water/cement
ratio should not be larger than 0.45 because of the
low strength; and RCF particle size below 300 m is
better for attaining strain hardening behavior.
Moreover, the scanning electron microscope (SEM)
study of RCF particles provides information from a
viewof microstructure, which can give some guidance
for use of RCF in other applications.
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1133
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1134
Effect of different concentrations of lime water on mechanical
properties of high volume fly ash concrete
X.H. Ling, S. Setunge & I. Patnaikuni
RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
ABSTRACT: High volume fly ash concrete typically has around 50%or more of the cement content of concrete
replaced by fly ash. This material has potential to reduce the environmental impact associated with production
of concrete. One constraint observed in high volume fly ash concrete is the slower strength gain leading to low
28 day compressive strengths compared to Portland cement concrete. Preliminary work at RMIT University has
shown that use of ultrafine fly ash and lime water can improve the mechanical and material properties of high
volume fly ash concrete. This paper presents an investigation on the effect of different concentrations of lime
water as mixing water on mechanical properties of high volume fly ash concrete. Raw fly ash and ultra fine
fly ash with different concentrations of lime water are used in making high volume fly ash concrete. Ultrafine
fly ash is generated by grinding raw fly ash with a micronizer. Compressive strength, modulus of elasticity,
flexural strength and drying shrinkage of high volume fly ash concrete are determined in the laboratory and the
results are presented here. Comparison of the strength and elastic properties of different mixes indicates that the
concentration of lime water influences the strength development of high volume fly ash concrete.
Keywords: High volume fly ash concrete, ultrafine fly ash, lime water, compressive strength, elastic modulus,
mechanical and material properties.
1 INTRODUCTION
Concrete is the most widely used construction mate-
rial in the world due to its good durability and low
cost. There is about 3.3 billion tonnes of cement pro-
duced in 2010 up from 1.37 billion tonnes in the year
1994 (U.S.G.S., 2011). However, use of cement in
concrete has raised some issues on the sustainability
of the material, considering that production of each
tonne of cement releases one tonne of carbon dioxide
to the environment. This concern has led to exploration
of many supplementary cementitious materials which
could substitute large proportions of cement used to
produce concrete.
Fly ash is a by-product from the coal based thermal
power stations. It can be utilized in various engineering
applications such as cement, concrete, bricks, backfill
or road embankments, wall tiles, and glass ceramic.
The utilization of fly ash, especially in concrete pro-
duction, has significant environmental benefits such
as reducing the use of energy, greenhouse gas pro-
duction, amount of fly ash that must be disposed in
landfills, and saving of the other natural resources
and materials. Fly ash particles are typically spheri-
cal, finer than Portland cement and lime, ranging in
diameter from less than 1 m to no more than 150 m
(Shanthakumar et al., 2010). The spherical shape of
fly ash can improve the workability of the fresh con-
crete, while its small particle size acts as filler of voids
in concrete and can improve the concrete durability
(Hardjito and Rangan, 2005). Its high content of sili-
con dioxide (SiO
2
) reacts with the calcium hydroxide,
Ca(OH)
2
that is produced in cement hydration process
to formthe calciumsilicate hydrate (C-S-H) gel which
can improve the properties of both the fresh and hard-
ened concrete (Oner et al., 2005). The calciumcontent
in fly ash plays a significant role in strength devel-
opment and final compressive strength, with a higher
calcium content resulting in faster strength develop-
ment and higher compressive strength (Wallah and
Rangan, 2006).
Geopolymer concrete presents one extreme of such
innovations, where 100% fly ash or slag is used
instead of cement in making concrete. It can be
used in many infrastructure applications (Hardjito and
Rangan, 2005). Fly ash that are rich in Silica (Si) and
Aluminium (Al), are activated by alkaline liquids by
the geopolymerization process to form the binder in
geopolymer concrete. The alkaline liquids comprise a
combination of sodium silicate solution and sodium
hydroxide solution (Hardjito, 2005). A high range
water reducer (superplasticiser) is normally used to
improve the workability of fresh geopolymer concrete
(Wallah and Rangan, 2006).
Despite many benefits offered by geopolymer con-
crete, their high dependence on the mixing, curing and
chemical composition of fly ash has inhibited ready
acceptance by the industry. Longer processing time
1135
including mixing, rest period and curing often can
increase the duration of construction period. Complex
curing regimes are needed for achieving a comparable
strength to cement based concrete.
Another material which receives a lot of attention
is high volume fly ash concrete which overcomes
the issues associated with curing. High volume fly
ash (HVFA) concrete is an alternative where 5070%
replacement of Portland cement is being explored in
making concrete suitable for structural applications.
It is environmentally and economically beneficial
(Hardjito and Rangan, 2005, Bilodeau and Mohan
Malhotra, 2000). However strength development has
been observed to be low in HVFA concrete.
A research project commenced at RMIT University
in Melbourne has aimed to develop a HVFA concrete
without compromising the cost of the manufacturing
process nor the rate of strength development. This
paper presents a comprehensive review of attempts
made at developing sustainable concrete with normal
production processes. Gaps in current research have
been identified and early results of the experimental
study conducted at RMIT University in Melbourne to
developa HVFAconcrete withvaryinglime water con-
centrations are presented. Potential applications of the
newmaterial and further research needs are identified.
2 HIGHVOLUME FLYASH CONCRETE
High volume fly ash (HVFA) concrete uses high vol-
umes of fly ash to replace the Portland cement content.
Replacement levels as high as 60% has been reported
to be successful (Hardjito and Rangan, 2005). HVFA
concrete has been proven to be more durable and
resource-efficient than the OPC concrete (Malhotra,
2002). The HVFA technology has been trialled in the
field, for example the construction of roads in India,
implemented 50% OPC replacement by the fly ash
(Desai, 2004). The use of fly ash can improve worka-
bility, easier flowability, pumpability, compactability,
reduce heat of hydration and increase resistance to
sulfate attack, alkali-silica reactivity (ASR) and other
types of deterioration as compared to normal mixes
(Solis et al., 2010). HVFA concrete have very high
durability with respect to the reinforcement corrosion,
alkali-silica expansion, sulfate attack, and have supe-
rior dimensional stability and resistance to cracking
from thermal shrinkage, autogenous shrinkage, and
drying shrinkage (Mehta, 2004).
HVFA concrete has better surface finish and
quicker finishing time when power finish is not
required (Mehta, 2004). It has slower setting time and
will have a corresponding effect on the joint cutting
and lower power finishing times for slabs. One major
issue with HVFA is the slower strength gain where
usually 90 days will be needed to gain the full strength
potential (Mehta, 2004). It is known that the strength
development of HVFA mixes is relatively slow due to
the slowpozzolanic reaction of the fly ash. With HVFA
concrete mixtures, the strength enhancement between
7 and 90 days often exceeds 100%, therefore some
researchers believe that it is unnecessary to overde-
sign them with respect to a given specified strength
(Mehta, 2004).
HVFA concrete has better cost economy due to
lower material cost and highly favorable lifecycle cost
(Solis et al., 2010, Mehta, 2004). These concretes have
superior environmental friendliness due to ecological
disposal of large quantities of fly ash, reduced carbon
dioxide emissions, and enhancement of resource pro-
ductivity of the concrete construction industry (Mehta,
2004, Bilodeau and Mohan Malhotra, 2000).
There are distinct advantages in HVFA concrete
where time and heat of curing is not a major factor
affecting compressive strength. The work presented
here attempted to develop a HVFA concrete which
has similar compressive strength as OPC. In develop-
ing the research program, a comprehensive review of
previous attempts at HVFA concrete was conducted
to understand the current state of the knowledge on
HVFA concrete. It was noted that percentage of fly
ash used as replacement of OPC ranges from 15% to
85%. However, it is noted that when the proportion of
fly ash increased to 85%, 28 day compressive strength
was reduced by more than 60%. The larger the total
cementitious content and the lower the water cementi-
tious ratio, better compressive strength properties have
been observed. Use of a polycarboxylate polymer has
been shown to improve the properties, increasing the
7 day strength to be as high as 60 MPa with 40% fly
ash in the concrete mix replacing cement.
In identifying methods of improving the perfor-
mance of HVFA concrete two potential avenues to
enhance reactivity of fly ash have been identified.
According to Obla et al. (2003), one method to enhance
reactivity of fly ash is reducing particle size. Xu (1997)
has investigated that Butler and Mearing found that
fly ash particles in the range of 10 to 50 m mainly
act as void fillers in concrete, whereas the particles
smaller than 10microns are more reasonably classified
as pozzolanic reactive in 1986. The use of ultra fine fly
ash significantly increases the compressive strength of
HVFAconcrete if compared with the use of rawfly ash
as reported by some researchers (Chindaprasirt et al.,
2007, Kiattikomol et al., 2001). One attempt made to
enhance the strength performance of fly ash is thus
reduction of the particle size by grinding of fly ash.
It has been observed by other researchers that addi-
tion of lime to fly ash concrete improves durability.
Since fly ash react with Ca(OH)
2
in concrete to form
the binder, this phenomenon can be explained. Acom-
bination of reduced particle size and addition of lime
in liquid form was explored at RMIT to develop a bet-
ter performing HVFA concrete (Solikin et al., 2010,
Solikin et al., Solikin, 2012). The obvious method of
increasing the curing temperature was not considered
since it reduces the advantage in ease of manufacture.
3 HVFA CONCRETE MIX DESIGN
This preliminary work was carried out to develop the
process of mixing and curing regime, to understand
1136
Table 1. Mixture proportions of HVFA concrete.
Raw Ultra Water
Fly fine binder Fine Coarse Super
Mixture Ash Fly Ash Cement Water (w/b) Aggregate Aggregate plasticiser
No. Mix (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
) ratio (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
) (litre/m
3
)
1 Portland Cement 450 137 0.3 912 994 13.9
2 50% raw fly ash, lime water 1 225 225 139 0.3 811 994 10.2
3 50% ultra fine fly ash, 225 225 135 0.3 653 1153 5.6
lime water 1
6 Solikins-50% ultra fine 225 225 141 0.31 835 994 7.0
fly ash, lime water 1
(Solikin et al., 2010)
the effect of adding different concentration of the
lime water and the use of ultra fine fly ash in the
mixture and to find the best mixture proportion of
HVFA concrete. For this preliminary work, several
mixtures of HVFA concrete of 50% fly ash were
manufactured to study the effect of different concen-
trations of lime water on mechanical properties, such
as compressive strength, flexural strength, modulus
of elasticity and drying shrinkage of it. This HVFA
concrete consists of fly ash and Portland cement as
binder, water or lime water, coarse and fine aggregates
and super plasticiser. Test specimens in the form of
100 200 mm cylinders, 100 100 350 mm rect-
angular beams and 75 75 280 mm prisms were
made. The pH of water or saturated lime water and
slump were measured for every mixture before mix for
moulding. The cementitious or fly ash materials were
firstly mixed separately with coarse and fine aggre-
gates in different mixer. The concrete were demoulded
and cured in water tank until the test date of 7 days, 28
days and 56 days. Five different mixtures were man-
ufactured as given in Table 1 and the mass of each
component of a mixture is given in terms of kg per
cubic metre of concrete. The total binder of the mix
proportion is 450 kg/m
3
with water binder (w/b) ratio
of 0.3. Three 100 200 mm concrete cylinders were
tested for every compressive strength test and modulus
of elasticity test. Three 100 100 350 mm concrete
rectangular beams were testedfor eachflexure strength
test. Three 75 75 280 mm prisms were measured
for drying shrinkage for each mixture. The lime water
1, 2 and 3 in Table 2 represent 3 grams (g), 6 g and
12 g of hydrated lime powders mixed into 1 litre of tap
water, respectively.
4 DETAILS OF THE EXPERIMENTAL STUDY
4.1 Materials
Tarong Class F or low calcium fly ash obtained from
Cement Australia Pty Ltd, Australia, was used. The
chemical composition of the fly ash as given by
Cement Australia Pty Ltd, is presented in Table 2.
Table 2. Chemical composition of fly ash.
Tarong Fly Ash %
45 m res 13
LOI(Loss On Ignition) 0.8
Al
2
O
3
22.8
CaO 0.1
Fe
2
O
3
0.8
K
2
O 0.58
MgO 0.2
NaEq 0.39
Na
2
O 0.01
P
2
O
5
0.1
SO
3
0.1
SiO
2
73.1
TiO
2
1.4
Table 3. Results of particle size distributions of raw fly ash
and ultra fine fly ash.
d
10
d
25
d
50
d
75
d
90
Mean (m) (m) (m) (m) (m)
Raw fly 13 1 2 6 17 35
ash
Ultra fine 7 1 1 4 8 13
fly ash
The specific gravity of the fly ash is 2.1. Two types
of fly ash, raw fly ash and ultra fine fly ash are used.
Rawfly ash was ground in micronizer to produce ultra
fine fly ash. The results of particle size distributions
of the fly ashes are given in Table 3. The particle size
distribution tests were performed by using Malvern
Mastersizer 2000. The results of raw fly ash (Table 3)
showed that 90% of the volumes of raw fly ash are
smaller than 35 m while only 10% of the volumes of
raw fly ash are bigger than 35 m. The mean particle
size of raw fly ash is 13 m. For ultra fine fly ash,
90% of the volumes of fly ash are smaller than 13 m
while only 10% of the volumes of fly ash are bigger
1137
Figure 1. SEM image of raw fly ash.
Figure 2. SEM image of ultra fine fly ash.
than 13 m. The mean particle size of ultra fine fly
ash is 7 m, which is smaller than the mean particle
size of raw fly ash.
The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images
of raw and ultra fine fly ash are shown in Figure 1 and
Figure 2. As can be seen, the particle shapes of the fly
ash were generally spherical and the particle size of
the ultra fine fly ash is smaller than the raw fly ash.
Ordinary Portland cement of specific gravity 3.0
was used. Coarse aggregates of 10 mm with specific
gravity of 2.75 and fine aggregates of sand with spe-
cific gravity of 2.65 were used. High range water
reducer (HRWR) of aqueous solution of sodium naph-
thalene formaldehyde sulphonate (Sikament NN) with
specific gravity of 1.2 supplied by Sika Australia Pty
Ltd, Victoria, Australia, was used.
Four types of mixing water were used in this exper-
imental work, which are tap water, lime water 1, lime
water 2 and lime water 3. Specific gravity of tap water
is 1. The lime water 1, 2 and 3 were made by mixing 3
grams, 6 grams and 12 grams of hydrated lime powder
into one litre of tap water, respectively. These hydrated
lime powders are mixed and dissolved in the tap water
at least one day before casting concrete to become sat-
urated lime water. This saturated lime water was kept
for 24 hours to sediment before mixing into concrete.
Table 4. pH values of mixing water.
Water Tap Lime Lime Lime
Type water water 1 water 2 water 3
pH 8.0 10.511.0 11.111.5 12.012.5
Only the top layer of the water was used as mixing
water and the solid hydrated lime was left. The pH of
mixing water was measured before mixed for every
mixture. The pH value was presented in Table 4. The
alkalinity of saturated lime water is much higher than
the tap water. The higher value of alkalinity of lime
water which resulted from Ca(OH)
2
(hydrated lime) is
useful when it reacts with pozzolanic material such as
fly ash.
The cementitious or fly ash materials and aggre-
gates were dry mixed together in the rotating pan mixer
of 140 litres capacity for about 6 minutes. 90%of satu-
rated lime water was then added into the solids without
stopping the mixing. It was followed by adding the
last 10% of lime water and half of the superplasti-
ciser. The amount of superplasticiser added into the
mixture was controlled depending on the condition
of the mixture. The wet mixing was continued for
another 3 minutes. The slump of the fresh concrete
was measured and the result is shown in Table 5. The
HVFA concrete hardens in short period after the mix-
ing. Hence it was cast into the moulds immediately
after mixing, in three layers for cylindrical and pris-
matic specimens. For compaction of the specimens,
each layer was vibrated for 10 to 15 seconds on a
vibrating table. The test cylinders were removed from
the moulds one day after casting and cured in water
tank until the day of test.
Reducing the fly ash particle size and use of lime water
as anactivator is beingconsideredas potential methods
of improving properties of HVFA concrete. The sur-
face area of rawflyashandultra fine flyashwere found
by using Blaine test apparatus. After grinding by using
micronizer, the surface area of raw fly ash, 364 m
2
/kg
was changed to ultra fine fly ash, 525 m
2
/kg based on
cement fineness (Solikin et al., 2010). The fineness
of the fly ash was increased by 40% after the grind-
ing process (Solikin et al., 2010) Scanning Electron
Microscopic (SEM) analysis shows that the particle
size of ultra fine fly ash is smaller than the raw fly ash
(Solikin et al., 2010). Saturated lime water was used as
mixing water in manufacturing HVFA concrete. The
density of saturated lime water was slightly higher
than the tap water since some hydrated lime particles
are dissolved in it (0.08%) (Solikin et al., 2010). The
alkalinity of saturated lime water is higher than that of
the tap water. The increase of alkalinity in lime water
resulting from Ca(OH)
2
(hydrated lime) was expected
1138
Table 5. Early results of the experimental work.
Compressive Flexural Modulus of
Slump Strength (MPa) Strength (MPa) Elasticity
Mixture Measurement (GPa)
No. Mix (mm) 7 days 28 days 56 days 28 days 56 days 28 days
1 Portland Cement 75 47.6 56.9 60.5 7.7 9.0 45.5
2 50% raw fly ash, lime water 1 65 30.6 39.3 45.8 4.4 6.0 61.3
3 50% ultra fine fly ash, lime water 1 76 40.4 59.7 64.3 7.1 8.5 55.4
6 50% ultra fine fly ash, N/A N/A 78.7 85.0 N/A N/A 45.1
lime water 1 (Solikin
et al., 2010)
Figure 3. Compressive strength versus age (days) of
concrete.
to be useful in activating fly ash further. Fly ash is a
pozzolanic material, its engineering behaviour can be
improved by the addition of cement or lime (Kumar
et al., 2007). It is interesting to note that the strength
of fly ash concrete increases with the increase in the
lime content and longer curing period (Sivapullaiah
and Moghal, 2011). Early results of the experimen-
tal work were shown in Table 5. Mixture No. 6 was
the results of previous experimental work at RMIT
University as a comparable data (Solikin et al., 2010).
The compressive strength of three 100 200 mm con-
crete cylinders were tested at the ages of 7, 28 and
56 days after casting in accordance with the test pro-
cedures given in the Australian Standards, AS 1012.9-
1999, Methods of Testing Concrete Determination of
the compressive strength of concrete specimens. MTS
hydraulic compression test machine was used to test
the compressive strength of concrete. The tests were
conducted with loading rate of 157 kN/minute. The
average results of the compressive strength of three
concrete cylinders at 7, 28 and 56 days are presented
in Table 5 and Figure 3.
The results of the five mixtures showed that the
higher the concentration of lime water, the higher
the compressive strength of concrete. Mixture No. 5,
which was using lime water 3, showed significant
increase inthe compressive strengthbetweenthe age of
Figure 4. Flexural strength versus age (days) of concrete.
7 days and 28 days. It has lower compressive strength
at 7 days of age but it has higher compressive strength
at 28 and 56 days of age.
For both the Mixtures No. 2 and 3 lime water 1 was
used, the difference between them is the particle size
of fly ash used. Raw fly ash was used in Mixture No. 2
while ultra fine fly ash wa used in Mixture No. 3. The
results showed that the use of smaller particle size of
fly ash led to higher compressive strength of concrete.
All the compressive strength results of Mixture No. 3
at 7, 28 and 56 days of age are higher than that of
Mixture No. 2. The compressive strengths of all the
mixtures were increasing with age.
5.2 Flexural strength
The flexural strength or modulus of rupture test of
the concrete mixtures was conducted according to
the Australian Standard, AS 1012.11-2000, Methods
of Testing Concrete Determination of the modu-
lus of rupture, by using compression test machine
with loading rate of 1 0.1 MPa/min at the ages of
28 and 56 days. 100 100 350 mm concrete rectan-
gular beams were manufactured for this modulus of
rupture test. For each test, three specimens were used
to determine the modulus of rupture for every mix-
ture. The results of the flexural strength of concrete
are shown in Table 5 and Figure 4.
The results showed that flexural strength of all the
HVFA concretes were lower than that of the control
1139
Figure 5. Modulus of elasticity at the age of 28 days of
concrete.
Portland cement concrete, Mixture No.1. Among the
HVFA concrete, Mixture No. 3, with ultra fine fly ash
has the highest flexural strength.
Mixture No. 2, 4 and 5 with raw fly ash in the
mixture but different concentration of lime water. The
results showed that the Mixture No. 4 and 5, which
has higher amount of lime, developed higher flexu-
ral strength compared to Mixture No. 2. The flexural
strengths of all the mixtures increased with age as the
compressive strength.
5.3 Modulus of elasticity
The modulus of elasticity test was conducted based
on the Australian Standard AS 1012.17-1997, Meth-
ods of Testing Concrete Determination of the static
Modulus of Elasticity and Poissons ratio of concrete
specimens were determined by using compression
testing machine with loading rate of 15 2 MPa/min
at curing age of 28 days. The test load was taken as
equivalent to 40 percent of the average compressive
strength of three concrete cylinders that were tested
in accordance with AS 1012.9 on the same day as the
modulus test. 100 200 mm concrete cylinders were
manufactured for this modulus of elasticity test. For
each mixture, three specimens were used to deter-
mine the modulus of elasticity. Each specimen was
loaded for at least three times. The results of modu-
lus of elasticity of concrete are shown in Table 5 and
Figure 5.
The results showed that the Mixture No. 5, with the
highest amount of lime saturation, has the highest elas-
tic modulus value. The modulus of elasticity increases
with the compressive strength of concrete.
Test specimens for drying shrinkage test were
75 75 280 mmprisms with the gauge studs at both
ends. The procedure for drying shrinkage test is based
on the Australian Standard, AS 1012.13-1992, Meth-
ods of Testing Concrete Determination of the drying
shrinkage of concrete for samples prepared in the field
or in the laboratory. Three prism specimens were cast
and measured for drying shrinkage for each mixture.
The average value of these three specimens was taken
as the drying shrinkage of the concrete. Horizontal
Figure 6. Drying shrinkage (microstrain) versus age (days)
of concrete. The age zero represents seven days after casting
when the first initial measurements were taken.
length comparator was used for the length measure-
ments. The shrinkage measurements started on the
seventh day after casting the concrete and were con-
tinued once a week. During the drying shrinkage tests,
the specimens were kept in a humidity chamber at 65%
relative humidity at approximately 23
C. The results
of the drying shrinkage (in microstrain) are presented
in Figure 6.
Only four mixtures were manufactured for this dry-
ing shrinkage test. From the results, it can be seen that
the use of smaller particle size of fly ash, ultra fine fly
ash in Mixture No. 3, has the lowest value of drying
shrinkage strains with increased age of concrete. The
results also showed that the Mixture No. 4 and 5, which
have higher amount of lime, resulted in lower value of
drying shrinkage strains than the Mixture No. 2, which
had raw fly ash and lime water 1.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Preliminary experimental results have demonstrated
that reducing the particle size and adding higher con-
centrations of lime water can assist in developing
HVFA concrete mixes with potential to offer similar
mechanical properties as OPC. However, further work
is needed to explore the mechanism of strength devel-
opment and longer term properties such as creep and
shrinkage of HVFA concrete with higher volumes of
ultra fine fly ash and lime water of different concentra-
tions. The review of published work has revealed that
there is a gap in research to develop concrete mixes
with high volumes of fly ash (over 70%) with compa-
rable 28 day compressive strengths to OPC concrete.
Work presented here demonstrates potential of devel-
oping a newHVFAconcrete with similar properties as
OPC concrete.
REFERENCES
Bilodeau, A. & Mohan Malhotra, V. 2000. High-volume fly
ash system: Concrete solution for sustainable develop-
ment. ACI Structural Journal, 97, 4148.
Chindaprasirt, P., Chotithanorm, C., Cao, H. T. &
Sirivivatnanon, V. 2007. Influence of fly ash fineness on
1140
the chloride penetration of concrete. Construction and
Building Materials, 21, 356361.
Desai, J. P. Construction and Performance of High-Volume
Fly Ash Concrete Roads in India. Eighth CANMET/ACI
International Conference on Fly Ash, Silica Fume, Slag,
and Natural Pozzolans in Concrete, 2004 Las Vegas, USA,
American Concrete Institute.
Hardjito, D. 2005. Studies on Fly Ash-Based Geopolymer
Concrete. Doctor of Philosophy, Curtin University of
Technology.
Hardjito, D. & Rangan, B. V. 2005. Development and Proper-
ties of Low-calciumFlyAsh-based Geopolymer Concrete.
Perth, Australia: Curtin University of Technology.
Kiattikomol, K., Jaturapitakkul, C., Songpiriyakij, S. &
Chutubtim, S. 2001. A study of ground coarse fly ashes
with different finenesses from various sources as poz-
zolanic materials. Cement and Concrete Composites, 23,
335343.
Kumar, A., Walia, B. S. & Bajaj, A. 2007. Influence of
Fly Ash, Lime, and Polyester Fibers on Compaction
and Strength Properties of Expansive Soil. Journal of
Materials in Civil Engineering, 19, 242248.
Malhotra, V. M. 2002. High-Performance High-Volume Fly
Ash Concrete. ACI Concrete International, 24, 15.
Mehta, P. K. 2004. High-performance, high-volume fly ash
concrete for sustainable development.
Obla, K. H., Hill, R. L., Thomas, M. D. A., Shashiprakash,
S. G. & Perebatova, O. 2003. Properties of Concrete Con-
taining Ultra-Fine Fly Ash. ACI Materials Journal, 100,
426433.
Oner, A., Akyuz, S. &Yildiz, R. 2005. An experimental study
on strength development of concrete containing fly ash
and optimum usage of fly ash in concrete. Cement and
Shanthakumar, S., Singh, D. N. & Phadke, R. C. 2010.
Methodology for Determining Particle-Size Distribution
Characteristics of FlyAshes. Journal of Materials in Civil
Sivapullaiah, P. V. & Moghal, A. A. B. 2011. Role of Gyp-
sumin the Strength Development of FlyAshes with Lime.
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, 23, 197206.
Solikin, M. 2012. High performance concrete with high vol-
ume ultra fine fly ash reinforced with basalt fibre. PhD,
RMIT University.
Solikin, M., Setunge, S. & Patnaikuni, I. Experimental
Design Analysis of Ultra Fine Fly Ash, Lime Water and
Basalt Fibre in Mix Proportion of High Volume Fly
Ash Concrete. Proc. 3rd CUTSE International conference
Sarawak, Malaysia, 89 November 2011.
Solikin, M., Setunge, S. & Patnaikuni, I. 2010. Experimental
design analysis of ultra fine fly ash, lime water, and basalt
fibre in mix proportion of high volume fly ash concrete.
Solis, A. V., Durham, S. A., Rens, K. L. & Ramaswami, A.
Sustainable Concrete for the Urban Environment: A Pro-
posal to Increase Fly Ash Use in Concrete. In: Weinstein,
N., ed. Green Streets and Highways 2010 Conference,
2010 Denver, Colorado. ASCE, 3333.
U.S.G.S. 2011. Cement statistics and information. annual
publications.
Wallah, S. E. & Rangan, B. V. 2006. Low-calcium Fly
Ash-based Geopolymer Concrete: Long-term Properties.
Perth, Australia: Curtin University of Technology.
Xu, A. 1997. Fly ash in concrete, New Jersey, Noyes
Publications.
1141
Recycled aggregate concrete prepared with water-washed aggregates
An investigative study
C.Y. Lo, S.H. Chowdhury & J.H. Doh
Griffith School of Engineering, Griffith University, Gold Coast campus, Queensland, Australia
ABSTRACT: In an experimental study, specimens of concrete mixes prepared using water-washed recycled
aggregates (RA) with a fixed water to cement ratio of 0.45 and with 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% replacements of
coarse aggregates by RAs are tested for tensile and compressive strengths and elastic modulus values. For the
concrete mix produced with washed RAs and with a 75% replacement of coarse aggregates by RAs, 19% 35.3%
and 1.4%improvements, respectively in compressive strength, indirect tensile strength and modulus of elasticity,
compared with its counterpart prepared using non-washed aggregates, were observed. Initial experimental results
show that removal of loose and weak particles attached to the surfaces of RAs by washing, can improve the
performance of RACs produced.
1 INTRODUCTION
Environmental impacts caused by construction and
demolition (C&D) activities not only consumes nat-
ural resources in the form of building materials and
energy consumption, but also poses a serious threat
of disposing of waste materials. These can jeopar-
dise the principle of sustainability of the industry
(Tam 2009). In Australia, the amounts of C&D wastes
generated are increasing steadily. From 200203 to
200607, there was a 16.8% increase in the amount
of C&D wastes generated and 13% increase from
200607 to 200809 nationwide. The recycling rates
of C&D wastes were 56.9%, 57.8% and 55.1% in
200203, 200607and200809, respectively(Depart-
ment of Sustainability Environment Water Population
and Communities Queensland 2011). Local govern-
ments and environmental protection agencies have
since introduced levies on disposing of C&D wastes.
The current levy (as in 2011) ranged from $30 to
$117 per tonne, depending on locations and local
legislations (ACTDepartment of Territory and Munic-
ipal Services 2000; Australian Bureau of Statistics
2010; Department of Environment and Resource Man-
agement 2010; Department of Environment Climate
Change and Water 2010; Environment Protection
Authority South Australia 2010; Environment Protec-
tion Authority Victoria 2010; Mitchell and Mugga
Lane Resource Management Centres 2010). These
regulations passively force the industry to adopt new
waste management strategies and improve the com-
petitiveness of recycled alternatives, and support the
more efficient use of virgin materials (Department
of Sustainability Environment Water Population and
Communities Queensland 2011). This also enables the
industry to clearly quantify the economic benefits of
minimisation and recycling of waste products, in this
case turning masonry wastes into recycled aggregates
(RA). RAproducts are vastlyavailable onthe east coast
of Australia (Cement Concrete &AggregatesAustralia
2008; 2010). Recent researches indicate the practical-
ities of the utilisation of RAs in high-end applications
of concrete as positives (Abbas et al. 2006; Domingo-
Cabo et al. 2009; Evangelista & de Brito 2007; 2010;
Levy & Helne 2007; Tam et al. 2007a; 2007b;). A
more comprehensive review of performance of RAs
can certainly encourage the use of RAs in high-
end construction applications such as, as in recycled
aggregate concretes (RAC).
2 METHODOLOGY
The performance of RACs varies depending on the
replacement percentages of coarse aggregates and the
properties of the RAs used. Improvement techniques
have been developed to improve the performance of
RAs invarious applications. The RAs usedinthis study
were collected from a centralised recycling plant in
Brisbane, Australia. The RAs were washed with water
before using in the preparation of the RACs. The aim
of having washed aggregates is to remove loose parti-
cles and fine materials attached to the surfaces of RAs.
Earlier study (Tamet al. 2007b) showed that RACs can
achieve a satisfactory level of compressive strengths
when proper mixing approaches are used and with the
modification of mix designs. However, the other per-
formances of RACs, like the modulus of elasticity and
durability are still subject to a degree of uncertainty.
This study examine the physical and mechanical prop-
erties of RACs produced using water washed RAs
with a fixed water to cement ratio of 0.45 and with
25%, 50%, 75% and 100% replacements of coarse
aggregates by RAs. Properties including compressive
1143
strengths, indirect tensile strengths and modulus of
elasticity values were measured by testing RAC spec-
imens at 7 days, 14 days, 21 days and 28 days after the
pouring of concrete. Specimens made of correspond-
ing mixes prepared using non-washed RAs were tested
in an earlier study (Lo & Chowdhury 2011).
3 MATERIAL PROPERTIES
RACs with a fixed water to cement ratio of 0.45
and with 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% replacements
of coarse aggregates by washed and non-washed
RAs were prepared according to Australian Standard
AS1012 (1993). Portland cement Type GP (General
Purpose) was used as the binder. In mixes with washed
aggregates, coarse RAs were presoaked for 24 hours
before washing. The fully saturated RAs were then
charged into a concrete drum mixer filled with water
and agitated. Full contents were then sieved through
a 4.75 mm sieve for screening the fines. Note that
the minimum size of coarse aggregates used in this
Table 1. Sieve analysis results for aggregates.
Percentage passing by weight
Natural Aggregates Recycled Aggregates
Sieve
size (mm) 10 mm 20 mm 10 mm 20 mm
26.5 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
19.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
13.2 100.0 87.5 100.0 79.2
9.5 99.9 28.3 81.9 6.6
6.7 87.1 1.4 19.3 2.0
4.8 41.1 1.4 19.3 1.5
3.4 5.9 0.3 0.5 1.1
2.4 1.0 0.3 0.5 0.8
Table 2. Aggregate properties.
Aggregate Bulk density Specific Water
type (t/m
3
) gravity absoption (%)
NA 20 mm 1.5 2.8 0.53
RA 20 mm 1.3 2.5 4.88
NA 10 mm 1.5 2.7 0.70
RA 10 mm 1.3 2.3 5.20
Table 3. Concrete mix designs.
Coarse aggregate Coarse aggregates Coarse aggregates Fine aggregates Cement Water
replacement ratios (%) (natural) (kg/m
3
) (recycled) (kg/m
3
) (natural) (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
)
25 831.2 277.1 596.8 466.7 210
50 554.1 554.1 596.8 466.7 210
75 277.1 831.2 596.8 466.7 210
100 0 1108.2 596.8 466.7 210
study was 10 mm graded aggregates and maximum
aggregate size was 20 mm.
The sieve analysis results for both natural and recy-
cled aggregates for the two maximum sizes of 10 and
20 mm are presented in Table 1. Washed RAs were
then oven dried for 24 hours and air-cooled for a mini-
mumof 24 hours prior to concrete mixing. On average
removals of approximately 2% of fine material by
weight were observed due to washing. Other relevant
properties for 10 mm and 20 mm natural aggregates
(NA) and RAs were as shown in Table 2.
To maintain the fixed water to cement ratio of 0.45
for all mixes, moisture conditions of fine and coarse
aggregates were obtained prior to preparation of each
concrete mix. Specimens made from each concrete
mix were tested to assess their compressive and tensile
strengths and modulus of elasticity values according
toAustralian StandardAS 1012 (1993). All specimens
were demoulded after 24 hours of casting and moist
cured for 28 days before testing. Result for each prop-
erty is the median of values obtained from testing of
3 specimens.
Mix designs used for preparing the different con-
crete mixes are presented in Table 3.
The 28-day compressive and tensile strengths and
elastic modulus values were measured for each RAC
mix made using washed RAs and with course aggre-
gate replacement percentages of 25%, 50%, 75% and
100% by testing relevant specimens. Similar results
were obtained by testing corresponding specimens
made of RAC mixes using non-washed RAs (Lo &
Chowdhury 2011). Results for specimens made of
control mixes with natural aggregates only i.e. contain-
ing 0% replacement of coarse aggregates by RAs as
reported in Lo & Chowdhury (2011) are also used for
comparison purposes. The results from current test-
ing and those from Lo and Chowdhury (2011) are
presented together in Table 4.
4.1 Compressive strengths
The minimum and maximum 28-day compressive
strengths achieved for RACs with washed RAs were
45 MPa and 49.5 MPa, respectively the minimum
being for a 100% replacement of coarse aggregates by
1144
RAs and the maximum being that for 25% replace-
ment of coarse aggregates. The compressive strength
test results for the RACs using washed and non-
washed RAs with varying replacement percentages of
coarse aggregates are plotted in the same graph as in
Figure 1. It can be seen that there were improvement
in compressive strengths for RACs with washed RAs,
over their non-washed counterparts to a maximum of
19%for mixes with 75%replacement of coarse aggre-
gates. Note that the improvements were nominal up
to 50% replacement of coarse aggregates clarifying
the fact that for lower percentages of coarse aggregate
replacements, washing of RAs is not very effective.
4.2 Tensile strengths
The minimum and maximum 28-day tensile strength
achieved for RACs with washed RAs were 3.7 MPa
and 3.9 MPa, respectively the minimum being for
50% and 75% replacements of coarse aggregates by
RAs and the maximum value of 3.9 MPa was obtained
for a 100%replacement of coarse aggregates. The ten-
sile strength test results for the RACs using washed and
non-washed RAs with varying replacement percent-
ages of coarse aggregates are plotted in the same graph
as in Figure 2. It can be seen that there were improve-
ment in tensile strengths for RACs with washed RAs,
over their non-washed counterparts to a maximum
of 35% for mixes with 75% replacement of coarse
aggregates. Note that the variations in strengths for all
replacement levels of washed RAs follow a similar
trend. Reductions in strengths compared with con-
trol mix were less than 7.2% for all mixes. When
compared with non-washed RA samples, increases in
strengths with increases in replacement percentages
were observed. The tensile strengthtest result observed
at 75% replacement level with non-washed RAs was
relatively low. In general, however, the test data indi-
cates that washedRAs have a positive impact onRACs,
albeit the trends and levels of improvements are to be
verified with more data.
The minimum and maximum 28-day modulus of elas-
ticity achieved for RACs with washed RAs were
Table 4. Test results
Coarse aggregate Aggregate Compressive Tensile Modulus of
replacement ratios (%) condition strength (MPa) Strength (MPa) elasticity (GPa)
0% (control mix) Non-washed 55.5 4.0 33.7
25% Washed 49.5 3.8 33.7
Non-washed 49.8 3.6 33.7
50% Washed 47.0 3.7 30.7
Non-washed 45.5 3.2 32.7
75% Washed 48.0 3.7 29.3
Non-washed 40.3 2.8 29.7
100% Washed 45.0 3.9 30.1
Non-washed 41.5 3.3 29.6
29.6 GPa and 33.7 GPa, respectively the minimum
being for a 100% replacement of coarse aggregates by
RAs and the maximum being that for 25% replace-
ment of coarse aggregates. The modulus of elasticity
test results for the RACs usingwashedandnon-washed
RAs with varying replacement percentages of coarse
aggregates are plotted in the same graph as in Figure 3.
It can be seen that there were improvements in mod-
ulus of elasticity for RACs with washed RAs, over
their non-washed counterparts to a maximum of 6.4%
for mixes with 50% replacement of coarse aggregates.
Note that the improvements were nominal across all
replacement percentages of coarse aggregates high-
lighting the fact that the RAC samples have achieved
a minimumof 86%of the 28-day modulus of elasticity
of normal aggregate concrete (control mix). This also
clarifies that the uses of washed RAs improve modulus
of elasticity of RACs very marginally.
Figure 1. 28-day compressive strengths of RACs.
Figure 2. 28-day tensile strengths of RACs.
1145
Figure 3. 28-day modulus of elasticity of RACs.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper investigated RACs produced with water
washed RAs with a fixed water to cement ratio of
0.45 and with replacement of 25%, 50%, 75% and
100% coarse aggregates by RAs. Compressive and
tensile strengths and modulus of elasticity values were
determined for specimens prepared using RACs with
washed and non-washed aggregates as well as normal
aggregate concrete (NAC). For 28-day compressive
strengths, there were improvements for RACs with
washed RAs over their non-washed counterparts of a
maximum of 19% for mixes with 75% replacement of
coarse aggregates. RAC samples with 100% replace-
ment of coarse aggregates achieved 81% of NACs
compressive strength. For 28-day tensile strengths,
there were improvements for RACs with washed RAs
over their non-washed counterparts of a maximum
of 35% for mixes with 75% replacement of coarse
aggregates. RAC samples with 75% replacement of
coarse aggregates achieved a minimum of 69% of
NACs tensile strength. The effects of washed RAs
were positive across most coarse aggregate replace-
ment percentages. There were reduction in modulus of
elasticity values for RACs prepared with both washed
and non-washed RAs compared to those of NACs.
The maximum reduction was by as much as 13%
of the modulus value for NAC and happened for
RACs with 75%replacement of coarse aggregates and
non-washed aggregates.
The findings of this study are very encouraging for
the fact that washed RAs have a positive impact on
the properties and performance of RACs. It has been
observed that the effects of washed RAs are more pro-
nounced at higher replacement percentages of coarse
aggregates by RAs. Due to the limited samples tested
and results obtained in this study, median values were
used to interpret the test data.
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Fouriner, B. & Foo, S. 2006. Environmental Benefits of
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ACT Department of Territory and Municipal Services. 2000.
The next step in the no waste strategy. http://www.tams.
act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/12462/thenextstep
inthenowastestrategy.pdf. Accessed on 15 June 2012.
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Australia, Sydney.
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Recycled Aggregates in Construction, CCAA, Sydney.
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Domingo-Cabo, A., Lzaro, C., Lpez-Gayarre, F., Serrano-
Lpez, M. A., Serna, P. & Castao-Tabares, J. O. 2009.
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Materials 21(10): 19281939.
1146
Mechanical properties of polymer concrete with different types of resin
W.P. Lokuge & T. Aravinthan
ABSTRACT: Polymer concrete is reported to have better mechanical properties than its counterpart, Ordinary
Portland Cement (OPC) concrete. It is gaining increased popularity as a new construction material due to its
high compressive, tensile and flexural strengths, short curing time, impact resistance, chemical resistance and
freeze-thaw durability. It can be used to repair concrete structures, build slabs and beams of small cross sections
and sleepers. A research program has been initiated to improve fundamental understanding of this material and
to provide the knowledge required for its broad utilization.
In this experimental program, two types of resins (vinylester and epoxy resin) combined with fly ash and
sand were used to make polymer concrete mortar. The weight percentages used in the mix designs were selected
after analyzing volumetric properties of sand. This paper presents and discusses the results from an investigation
of uniaxial compressive stress-strain relationship of polymer based concrete. The effect of resin (binder), and
fly ash contents on the compressive strength, flexural strength, split tensile strength and modulus of elasticity
of vinylester and epoxy resin based polymer filler is reported. It has been found that epoxy resin based polymer
concrete and vinylester based polymer concrete can achieve compressive strengths of 75 MPa and 113 MPa
respectively. Vinylester polymer concrete showed 4% ultimate strain, while that for epoxy polymer concrete was
8%. Tensile strengths were as high as 15 MPa for both types of polymer concrete. The results show that the
polymer based filler materials are suitable for both compression and tensile loading situations.
1 INTRODUCTION
Polymer concrete (PC), also known as synthetic resin
concrete and plastic resin concrete is described as
a composite material of fine and coarse aggregate,
mineral filler and polymer binder, with no cement
(Blagga &Beaudoin, 1985). It is reported to have used
in a range of civil and structural applications such
as bridge decking, concrete crack repair, pavement
overlays, hazardous waste containers, waste water
pipes and decorative construction panels (Garas &
Vipulanandan, 2003, Jo et al. 2008b). It has high
strength properties, rapid setting times, freeze-thaw
resistance and ability to withstand corrosive environ-
ments (Rebeiz et al., 1995). Polymer concrete is lighter
and stronger than Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC)
concrete (Zijlstra 2007) which is a major advantage,
particularly in structural applications. Research work
related to polymer concrete was initiated decades ago
(Vipulanandan &Paul, 1993, Fattah &Hawary, 1999).
Blagga &Beaudoin(1985) reportedthat the amount
of binder used is generally small, but depends on the
size of the filler. If coarse filler is used, typically 5 to
15 percent of binder is required, however if fine filler is
used, uptobut not limitedto30percent of binder canbe
needed. In order to develop the most economical PC,
it is necessary to use minimum amount of polymer
and best method of curing. Several researchers used
slightly different percentages of resin and aggregate.
Vipulanandan & Paul (1993) used weight of resin to
be 1020% and weight of aggregate to be 8090%
whereas Barbuta et al. (2010) used 12.818.8% of
resin. Rebeiz & Craft (2002) suggested maximum
weight of aggregate to resin ratio should be 9 to 1.
It is reported in the past that different filler materials
such as fly ash and silica fume gave different proper-
ties. PC with fly ash gave better compressive strength
than PC with silica fume (Barbuta et al. 2010, Rebeiz
et al. 2004). Further, it is documented that PC with
fly ash gives better flexural strength and split tensile
strength (Barbuta et al., 2010).
1.1 Vinylester resin
Vinylester in comparison to polyester and epoxy resin
holds the middle of the performance spectrum and
although not as cheap as polyester, vinylester still pro-
vides a lower cost than epoxy resin. Peters (1998)
reported that unlike other thermosets, vinylester does
not have to sacrifice heat and chemical resistance to
achieve a high resiliency and toughness. As vinylester
possesses a low ester content and low saturation
in comparison to polyester, it exhibits a greater
resistance to hydrolysis, low peak exotherms dur-
ing cure and less shrinkage during cure (Peters,
1998). Sirivivatnanon (2003) stated that vinylester
polymer concrete has a better chemical resistance,
is tougher and more resilient than most polyesters.
1147
Additionally, a higher full cure time of seven days
is typically required compared to four to seven days
for polyesters. The author further mentioned that with
respect to polyester and epoxy polymer concretes, the
compressive strength range and coefficient of thermal
expansion of vinylester is lower.
Vinylester polymer concrete is also used as an over-
lay on concrete bridge decks. However compared to
polyester overlays, the vinylester polymer concrete
is more costly, harder to handle, exhibits deteriora-
tion due to thermally-induced cracks and bond failure
between the concrete and overlay.
1.2 Epoxy resins
Epoxy resin is typically used in applications such as
the aerospace industry, motor racing and racing yachts
and takes the higher end of the performance spectrum.
Note that the aerospace industry uses the highest per-
formance epoxy resin, where curing temperatures of
the resinare at approximately180
C. Some epoxies are

cured at ambient temperatures, thus giving a reduction
in production costs. Such epoxy resins are of particu-
lar interest in structural engineering applications, due
to their structural performance and durability.
Epoxy polymer concrete has superior chemical
resistance, excellent structural properties, good adhe-
sion to a variety of surfaces and exhibits a minimal
degree of shrinkage during curing. Blagga &Beaudoin
(1985) stated that in addition to the abovementioned
properties, epoxy based polymer concrete also inher-
its good creep and fatigue resistance and low water
absorption. It is reported that epoxy polymer concrete
showcases a flexural strength up to ten times greater
than that in cement concrete, superb for structural
engineering applications.
Blagga & Beaudoin (1985) stated that epoxy poly-
mer concretes are mainly used in special applications,
including skid-resistant overlays in highways, indus-
trial flooring, resurfacing of deteriorated structures
and epoxy plaster for exterior walls.
Having identified the importance of vinylester and
epoxybasedPCinstructural applications, this research
program aimed at investigating the mechanical prop-
erties of PC further.
An experimental program was designed to investigate
the several engineering properties of vinylester and
epoxy based polymer concrete.
2.1 Materials
2.1.1 Resin
The resin was the main binding material for the poly-
mer concrete and was required to be mixed with a
catalyst. The purpose of incorporating the catalyst was
to chemically start the curing process of the resin
and hence harden the mix into a polymer concrete. It
Table 1. Properties of resin.
Property Vinylester Epoxy
Viscosity 420580 9001100
(mPas @25
C)
Gel time 3545 40
(minutes) 1% Norox 925H Kinetix H160
hardener
Table 2. Chemical composition of fly ash (by mass%).
Si0
2
A1
2
0
3
Fe
2
0
3
Ca0 Mg0 Na
2
O K
2
0 S0
3
51.8 24.4 9.62 4.37 1.5 0.34 1.41 0.26
was important that the catalyst and resin were fully
mixed together to ensure that the molecular struc-
ture of the mixture was uniform and that the resin
would cure properly. For epoxy polymer concrete, a
volume percentage of 20% catalyst to resin was used.
For vinylester polymer concrete, a volume percentage
of 1.73% catalyst to resin was used. Properties of the
two types of resin used in this study are reported in
Table 1.
2.1.2 Sand
Fine dry sand was obtained from Wagners in
Queensland, Australia with a bulk density of
1494 kg/m
3
and particle size smaller than 425 m. The
sand was dried in an oven at 110
C for approximately
24 hours before used in the mix.
2.1.3 Fly ash
Unprocessed concrete grade fly ash with d50 of
approximately 15 m was obtained from Wagners in
Queensland, Australia. Chemical composition of fly
ash is given in Table 2. Preparation work of the fly ash
included breaking down large clumps into a fine pow-
der and ensuring that there were no impurities in the
storage drum.
2.1.3.1 Mix proportions
Mix design procedure is not well documented for
PC in the literature. Different researchers used dif-
ferent methods in doing this. Many researchers
adopted design of experiments (Barbuta et al, 2010,
Muthukumar & Mohan, 2004) while others select mix
designs randomly (Jo et al. 2008b). Therefore there
is no common agreement among the research com-
munity for mix design procedure for PC. A different
approach to address the same problem was initiated
by a team of researchers at University of Southern
Queensland (Lokuge et al. 2011). Polymer concrete
mix design was based on the air voids in sand. Using
the bulk specific gravity, saturated surface dry (SSD)
specific gravity, apparent specific gravity, it was found
out that the industrial sand used in this study has 43%
1148
Table 3. Mix proportions for Vinylester concrete (by
volume).
Sample Sand Resin Fly ash
S57R43 64.9 35.1 0
S57R40F3 64.4 33.6 2.0
S57R30F13 65.6 25.6 8.8
S57R22F21 66.6 19.0 14.4
S57R20F23 66.8 17.4 15.8
Table 4. Mix proportions for Epoxy concrete (by weight).
Sample Sand Resin Fly ash
S57R43 64.9 35.1 0
S57R40F3 65.2 32.8 2.0
S57R30F13 66.2 25.0 8.8
S57R22F21 67.0 18.5 14.5
S57R20F23 67.2 16.9 15.9
of air voids. The objective of this research is to fill
this 43% of voids using different proportions of either
vinylester or epoxy resin and fly ash.
Table 3 and Table 4 show the details of the spec-
imens for vinylester and epoxy polymer concrete
respectively. They are identified using the volume
percentages of sand, resin and fly ash. For example
S57R40F3 specimen had 57% sand, 40% resin and
3% fly ash (all are volume percentages).
These volume percentages were converted to weight
percentages in order to get the mix proportions.
The mix design batches were cast into the correctly
labeled 50 mm diameter and 100 mm high moulds
and allowed to cure in a temperature controlled room
of 24
C.
2.2 Testing
Compressive testing was undertaken in accordance
with the technical requirements outlined in standard
ASTM D 695 M-91. Avery testing machine with
500 kN capacity was used with a loading rate (cross-
head speed rate) of 2 mm/min (Figure 1). Specimens
were tested for compressive strength at 7, 21 and 28
days. Stress-strain relationships for PC were obtained
using platen to platen method.
Flexural tests were performed in accordance with
ISO178:1993 using specimens with a width of 16 mm,
height of 9 mm and a length of 160 mm.
Specimens were simply supported at a 144 mm
span and were tested under three point loading. They
were tested using a loading rate of 1 mm/min in a
10 kN MTS testing machine (Figure 2). The load and
mid span deflection were recorded up to failure to
determine the strength and elastic properties of PC.
Specimens were tested for tensile strength at 7
days using 500 kN capacity Avery testing machine
(Figure 3).
Figure 1. Compressive strength testing.
Figure 2. Flexural strength testing.
Figure 3. Split tensile testing.
1149
Figure 4. Strength development with age.
Compressive strength gain with respect to age is shown
in Figure 4.
All the batches gain their maximumstrength around
the age of 28 days. At the age of 7 days all the batches
reached at least 80% of the 28-day compressive
strength under the adopted curing method.
It is interesting to note that from Figure 5 that
compressive strength is reduced when the fly ash
percentage is increased and the resin percentage is
reduced for vinylester polymer concrete. On the con-
trary, epoxy polymer concrete shows an increasing
trend in the compressive strength with the increas-
ing fly ash percentage which is consistent with the
findings of Barbuta et al. (2010) for epoxy resin
mortar with fly ash. Past researchers reported fly
ash percentages from 6% to 20% (Barbuta et al.
2010, Gorninski et al. 2004, Gorninski et al. 2007).
Gorninski et al. (2007) reported that increasing fly ash
content reduced the voids and increased the compres-
sive strength for polymer concrete. Nevertheless they
argued that the strength level of the resin itself will
contribute to the overall compressive strength of poly-
mer concrete. Epoxy resin has the greater degree of
toughness and bond strength compared to vinylester
resin. Therefore, with increasing fly ash epoxy based
polymer concrete shows increasing strength while
vinylester based polymer concrete shows decreasing
strength.
Figure 5. Compressive strength variation with fly ash.
3.2 Stress-strain relationship
It can be seen from Figure 6 that the higher the resin
percentage is the higher the ultimate strain of the
material. It has been found that epoxy resin based
polymer concrete and vinylester based polymer con-
crete can achieve compressive strengths of 75 MPa
and 113 MPa respectively. Vinylester polymer con-
crete showed 4% ultimate strain, while that for epoxy
polymer concrete was 8%.
The strain corresponding to peak axial stress
increases with increasing resin content in the mix for
both the types of PC (Figure 6). A similar trend is
reported for recycled PET polymer concrete (Jo et al.
2008a). The strain corresponding to the peak stress has
a range of 0.02 to 0.04 which is much higher than that
for the normal strength concrete. It can be concluded
from Figure 6 that the ductility of polymer concrete
increases with increasing resin content.
The modulus of elasticity of each specimen was cal-
culated using the stress-strain relationship reported in
Figure 6. Linear regression analysis was performed for
the data set in the elastic region of each curve and the
results thus obtained are shown in Figure 7.
As opposed to normal strength concrete, poly-
mer concrete has about 10 times lower modulus of
elasticity. However it increases with increasing fly
ash content. A similar observation was reported by
Gorninski et al (2004) for polyester PC.
1150
Figure 6. Stress-strain relationships.
Figure 7. Modulus of elasticity.
3.4 Tensile strength
The split tensile strengths for vinylester and epoxy
polymer concretes are very similar.
It can be seen from Figure 8 that both types of PC
showa decrease in split tensile strength when fly ash is
increased and subsequently resin is decreased. When
the fly ash content is more, the bond between the resin
and fly ash must be lower and hence the tensile strength
is lower. The maximum tensile strength for vinylester
polymer concrete is approximately 15.2 MPa and
decreases to approximately 10.8 MPa, equating to a
decrease of 29%. The maximum tensile strength for
epoxy polymer concrete is approximately 14.8 MPa
and decreases to approximately 12.5 MPa, equating to
a decrease of 15%.
Figure 8. Tensile strength.
Figure 9. Flexural strength.
Epoxy polymer concrete shows a greater tensile
strength than that for vinylester polymer concrete with
an increase in fly ash.
3.5 Flexural strength
Figure 9 shows that the flexural strength is decreas-
ing with increasing fly ash content for both types of
polymer concrete. This is consistent with the find-
ings of Barbuta et al. (2010) for epoxy based polymer
concrete.
4 CONCLUSIONS
In this research paper, the influence of various param-
eters such as resin type (vinylester and epoxy), resin
content, fly ash content on mechanical properties of
polymer concrete is investigated. The experimental
investigation is based on tests conducted for compres-
sive, tensile and flexural strengths and stress-strain
relationships of the polymer concrete samples. The
following conclusions are derived from this study.
The addition of fly ash as filler material in both
vinylester and epoxy PC, results in an economical
mixture, while a marginal reduction in compressive
strength and ultimate strain. However, the ductility
can be improved with increasing resin content.
On the other hand, modulus of elasticity increases
with increasing fly ash content while the flexural
strength decreases with increasing fly ash content.
1151
There is only marginal difference in the tensile
strength when the fly ash content is changed.
Vinylester PC performs better than epoxy PC in
compressive strength. Nevertheless, it can be con-
cluded that epoxy PC out-performs by showing
a marginal difference in the compressive strength
with increasing fly ash content.
With a combination of excellent mechanical prop-
erties, low water absorption, ability to withstand envi-
ronmental conditions, chemical attackandfreeze-thaw
degradation and ability to adhere to other materials,
polymer concrete with a mix of sand, fly ash and resin
(vinylester and epoxy) provides an excellent material
for many structural engineering applications.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are very grateful to Mr. Andrew OKeeffe
from University of Southern Queensland for con-
ducting the experimental program as part of his
undergraduate project.
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Barbuta, M., Harja, M. & Baaran, I. 2010. Comparison of
mechanical properties for polymer concrete with different
types of filler, Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering,
ASCE, 22(7): pp. 696701.
Blagga, A & Beaudoin, J.J. 1985. Polymer Modified Con-
crete, Division of Building Research, National Research
Council Canada, Canadian Building Digest 241, Ottawa.
Fattah, H.A. & Hawary, M.M. 1999. Flexural behavior
of polymer concrete, Construction and Building Materi-
als, 13: 253262.
Garas, V.Y. & Vipulanandan, C. 2003. Review of Polyester
Polymer Concrete Properties, Report for Innovative
Grouting Materials andTechnology (CIGMAT), Houston.
Gorninski, JP., Dal Molin, DC. & Kazmierczak, CS. 2004.
Study of the modulus of elasticity of polymer concrete
compounds and comparative assessment of polymer
concrete and Portland cement concrete, Cement and
Concrete Research, 34(11): 20912095.
Gorninski, JP., Dal Molin, DC. & Kazmierczak, CS. 2007.
Comparative assessment of isophtalic and orthophtalic
polyester polymer concrete: Different costs, similar
mechanical properties and durability, Construction and
Building Materials, 21: 546555.
Jo, B.W., Park, S.K. & Lee, K.S. 2008a. Prediction of stress-
strain relationship for polyester polymer concrete using
recycled polyethylene terephthalate under compression,
Advances in Cement Research, 20(4): 151159.
Jo, B.W., Park, S.K. & Park, J.C. 2008b. Mechanical prop-
erties of polymer concrete made with recycled PET and
recycled concrete aggregates, Construction and Building
Materials, 22: 22812291.
Lokuge, Weena, Sirimanna, Chamila and Aravinthan, Thiru,
2011. Influence of Fly Ash Proportions on Properties of
Polymer Concrete with Polyester Resin, Proceedings of
Concrete 2011, Perth, Australia
Muthukumar, M. & Mohan, D. 2004. Optimization of
mechanical properties of polymer concrete andmixdesign
recommendation based on design of experiments, Journal
of Applied Polymer Science, 94(3): pp. 11071116.
Peters, S 1998 Handbook of composites, 2nd Edn, Chapman
and Hall, London, UK.
Rebeiz, KS. & Craft, AP. 2002. Polymer concrete using coal
fly ash, Journal of Energy Engineering, 128(3): pp. 6273.
Rebeiz, KS., Sherhal, SP. & Craft, AP 2004. Properties of
polymer concrete using fly ash, Journal of Materials in
Civil Engineering, ASCE, 16(1): pp. 1519.
Rebeiz, K.S. Serhal, S.P. &Fowler, D.W. 1995. Shear strength
of reinforced polyester concrete using recycled PET,
Journal of Structural EngineeringNewYork, N.Y., 121(9):
pp. 13701375.
Sirivivatnanon, V, 2003, Polymer modified concrete, spe-
cial concrete and applications, The Civil Engineering
Handbook, Edn. 2, CRC Press, LLC.
Vipulanandan, C. & Paul, E 1993. Characterization of
polyester polymer and polymer concrete, Journal of Mate-
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Zijlstra, E. 2007. Polymer concrete, if not concrete, what
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1152
Investigation on the mathematical models of chloride diffusion coefficient in
concrete exposed to marine environment
F. Nabavi, S. Nejadi & B. Samali
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australia
ABSTRACT: Degradation of reinforced concrete (RC) in maritime structures has become a worldwide problem
due to its excessive costs of maintenance, repair, and replacement in addition to its environmental impacts and
safety issues. Degradation of both concrete and steel which is the main reason of reduction in the service life
of RC structures strongly depends on the diffusion process of moisture and aggressive species. In this paper,
the major and popular mathematical models of diffusion process in concrete are surveyed and investigated.
Predominantly in these models, the coefficient of chloride diffusion into the concrete is assumed to be constant.
Whereas, experimental records indicate that diffusion coefficient is a function of time. Subsequently, data
analysis and comparisons between the existing analytical models for predicting the diffusion coefficient with
the existing experimental database are carried out in this study. Clearly, these comparisons reveal that there are
gaps between the existing mathematical models and previously recorded experimental results. Perhaps, these
gaps may be interpreted as influence of the other affecting parameters on the diffusion coefficient such as
temperature, aggregate size and relative humidity in addition to the water cement ratio. Accordingly, the existing
mathematical models are not adequate enough to predict the diffusion coefficient precisely and further studies
need to be performed. At the present, an extensive experimental and analytical research in this regard is being
conducted in the CBIR group, University of Technology Sydney.
1 INTRODUCTION
Reinforced concrete has been used for construction of
infrastructures around the globe due to its durability,
good compressive strength and relatively lower cost.
However, diffusion of aggressive ions such as chlo-
ride into the concrete can cause severe deterioration of
structure due to corrosion of embedded steel reinforc-
ing. Corrosion of reinforcing steel in concrete caused
by chloride transport in concrete in marine envi-
ronment has received increasing attention in recent
years because of its widespread occurrence and high
cost of maintenance and repair. Reinforced concrete
structures are generally exposed to various environ-
mental conditions during their lifetime. Therefore,
degradation of materials and subsequently premature
deterioration may occur which can significantly affect
the service life of the structures (Gjrv, 2009).
According to the recent intensive study commis-
sioned by the United States Federal Highway Admin-
istration (FHWA), the annual direct cost of corrosion
in the United States was 276 billion dollar in 1998, or
3.1%of the gross domestic product (GDP) (Koch et al.
2001). Cost analysis of corrosion were also conducted
in other countries, such as the United Kingdom, Japan,
Australia and Kuwait. Even though the level of effort
varies greatly among these studies, all of them have
estimated the total annual cost of corrosion as ranging
between 1% and 5% of each countrys gross national
product (GNP).
2 MATHEMTICAL MODELS OF DIFFUSION
PROCESS
There are a few number of mechanisms such as dif-
fusion, absorption, migration in an electrical field by
which chloride transport can take place in concrete.
Diffusivity is the relationship between the concen-
tration flux J of diffusing material and the gradient of
the chemical potential that is assumed to drive the mass
diffusion process. Most of the conducted studies on
diffusion-basedmathematical models are supportedby
Ficks law of diffusion. Ficks law relates the diffusive
flux to the concentration field, by postulating that the
flux goes from the regions of high concentration to
the region of low concentration, with a magnitude that
is proportional to the concentration gradient (spatial
derivative) dimension.
Ficks Second Law can be expressed as follows:
where =the concentration rate of diffusive flux
(mol/m
3
), t =the time (sec), D=the diffusion coef-
ficient (m
2
/s), and x =the location (m).
1153
If we assume that the diffusion coefficient is not
constant and depends upon the coordinate and/or con-
centration ratio, Ficks Second Law can be defined as
Eq. (2):
Since the chloride ions diffusion into reinforced
concrete (RC) structures is the main cause of deterio-
ration of RCstructures, the present study will focus on
this phenomenon. Generally, due to chloride diffusion,
a concentration gradient develops near the concrete
surface. Thus, the time, at which the critical chloride
content (threshold value) reaches the steel surfaces and
depassivates it, can be regarded as the initiation time
of corrosion. The gradient of chloride content is often
described by an error function model (RILEM, 1996)
which fulfils the condition of Ficks second law of
diffusion as shown in Eq. (3):
where C
(x,t)
=the chloride content (gradient) at depth
x at time t (%/m
3
), C
s
=the chloride concentration at
the concrete surface (%/m
3
), x =the depth from con-
crete surface (m), D= the diffusion coefficient (m
2
/s),
erf =the error function, and t time (s).
The Ficks law is used to describe the diffusion
process based on two assumptions firstly, the fluxing
species must not react with the matrix and secondly the
matrix is homogenous in structure and composition.
Recently, an inclusive ion transport process for pre-
dicting of the chloride ingress into reinforced concrete
structures has been described by the NernstPlanck
equation (Samson & Marchand, 2008). This model,
which is well established based on the traditional elec-
trochemical theorem (Glasstone, 1946), describes the
ion transport as a combination of three different mech-
anisms including: diffusion, convection (carried along
by moisture movement, i.e. by absorption or hydraulic
pressure), and electrical migration.
Kropp (1995) stated that depending on the environ-
mental exposure conditions as well as on the moisture
content of the concrete element, the ingress of chlo-
rides into concrete occurs through coupled multiple
transport mechanisms. However, most models for
chloride ingress in concrete are still based on the Ficks
second law of diffusion as the main transport mech-
anism. Moreover, diffusion-based models such as
Bamford & Price (1997) and Tang & Gulikers (2007)
have been found broadly acceptable for long-term
monitoring of chloride ingress in concrete structures.
Basheer et al. (1996) expressed their mathematical
model based on Ficks law and incorporated the quan-
tity of chloride binding with the matrix to the equation.
Applying the principle of mass conservation to the
concentration of chloride ion couple utilizing Ficks
diffusion law yields:
where C =the free chloride concentration in the
porous media (mol/cm
3
); S =the quantity of bound
chloride ions (mol/cm
3
); =the content of water in
which diffusion occurs (per unit mass of cement),
and D
i
=the chloride diffusion coefficient in the pore
solution (cm
2
/s).
Since the diffusion and concentration of chloride
ions into concrete and on the reinforcement surface
are long-term process, using the proposed potential
for accelerated diffusion will be established to deter-
mine the diffusivity at any time. Liang et al. (1999), by
usingTang &Nilsson (1992) equation and considering
the influence of the added potential for acceleration,
suggested the following expression based on Ficks
second law:
where J
ix
=the flux of chloride ion, D
e
the effec-
tive diffusion coefficient for the free chloride ion,
C
f
=the concentration of free chloride ion (mol/L),
e =the valency of ion, F =the Faradays constant
(96500 Coul/mol), E =the electrical field density
(volt/m), R=8.31(j/ mol.K) the ideal gas constant, and
T =the absolute temperature (K).
The total chloride ion concentration C
t
, in
V =Ax can be obtained from Eq. (6) as follows:
where C
b
is the bound chloride ion (mol/L), the total
porosity of concrete, and d the degree of saturation by
the pore water solution.
The equation of continuity for the chloride ion is
presented by Eq. (7) and shown in Figure 1:
By expanding the Taylors series and substituting in
Eq. (7), it can be rewritten as:
Assuming that C
f
and C
b
are parts of a reversible
process, the forward and backward absorption rates
can be written as Eq. (9) and Eq. (10), respectively:
1154
Figure 1. Scheme for the equation of continuity of
chloride ion.
where k
a
and k
b
are forward and backward deposi-
tion coefficient, respectively. The net absorption rate
(Crank, 1975) is shown in Eq. (11):
Equations (10) and (11) yield:
If both porosity and the effective diffusion coeffi-
cient for mature concrete are independent of space and
time, that is, both and D
e
are constant with respect
to x and t, then Eq. (12) can be rewritten as:
where C =C/C
en
, =C
b
/C
bsat
, z =x/L,
=D
e
/dL
2
t, =eFEL/RT, =C
bsat
/dC
en
.
C
en
is the chloride concentration at the interface
of the concrete surface to the external environment
(surface chloride concentration), C
bsat
the maximum
concentration that can be absorbed by the concrete,
and L the cover thickness of concrete.
FromEqs. (11), (12), and (13), the non-dimensional
Eq. (14) and Eq. (15) can be driven:
and;
Equations (14, 15), which were driven simultane-
ously fromthe diffusion of accelerated chloride ions in
an electric field and the absorption in concrete pores;
, , , and are all constant with respect to z and .
If C
b
0 then 0, Eq. (15) should be modified
as follows:
Substituting Eq. (16) into Eq. (14), the governing
Eq. (17) can be obtained:
Finally, Liang et al. (1999) expressed the exact ana-
lytical solution by using Laplace transform equation
as following:
erfc(x) is called the complementary error function
and is defined as Eq. (19):
Many researchers have used Ficks second law to
predict the initiation time of chloride induced corro-
sion with a given diffusion coefficient D and surface
chloride content C
s
, based on the assumption that
cement matrix in concrete is chemically inert and
evenlyporous (Hootonet al. 2002&Funahashi, 1990) .
However, these hypothesis and models have been chal-
lenged since Bamforth & Price (2000) addressed the
time-dependent characteristic of chloride transport in
terms of Dand C
s
. Later, Bentz et al. (1996) study
confirmed the change of D with time.
Nernst & Einstein (Crank, 1975) proposed their
model based on the relation between the diffusion
and electro-migration of ions in the same electrolyte.
Based on Nernst-Einstein equation, if concrete is con-
sidered to be a solid electrolyte, the diffusion of
charged species iin concrete is related to its partial
conductivity
i
.
where, D
i
is the diffusivity of species i (cm
2
/s), R the
ideal gas constant (8.314 J/mol.K), T the absolute tem-
perature (K),
i
the partial conductivity of species i
1155
(S/cm), Z
i
the charge of species i, F Faradays constant
(96500 Coul/mol), C
i
the concentration of species i
(mol/cm
3
).
If the partial conductivity
i
and the concentration
C
i
are determined, the diffusivity of species i, D
i
can
be calculated from Eq. (20).
However, the partial conductivity
i
can be
defined as:
where is the conductivityof concrete, and t
i
the trans-
ference number of species i, which can be defined as,
where Q
i
and I
i
are the electric quantity and cur-
rent contribution of species i respectively, to the total
electric quantity Q and current I .
If the diffusivity of an ion is to be determined first
the Nernst-Einstein equation, and second the transfer-
ence number of this ion should be known. A simple
and proper approach is to make the transference num-
ber approximately equal to 1.0. For example, if the
concrete is filled with a concentrated salt solution, the
transference number may be assumed as 1.0, and C
i
may be considered equal to the chloride concentration
in the pore solution, or in the fill the concrete. When
T =298 KandC
cl
=0.05 mol/cm
3
. Inthis model also
the chloride diffusion coefficient has been assumed as
a constant factor.
3 MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF CHLORIDE
DIFFUSION COEFFICIENT
The main weakness and imperfection of the transport
process models is the assumption of constant diffusion
coefficient for concrete. However, experimental data
illustrates that the diffusion coefficient is a function of
time.
Mangat & Molloy (1994) have proposed the fol-
lowing mathematical relationship to determine the
diffusion coefficient as a time-dependent parameter. In
this model the water cement ratio is the only assumed
influencing factor on the diffusion coefficient.
where D
i
is the chloride diffusion coefficient in the
pore solution.
Song et al. (2008) introduced their mathematical
model based on the time-dependent diffusion coeffi-
cient and surface chloride concentration phenomenon
shown by Eq. 12. In fact, capillary pores reduce
when they are partially blocked as the cement matrix
hydrates (Winslow et al. 1994), which implies loss of
paths for chloride ions.
Table 1. Database of diffusion coefficient.
Diffusion Coefficient Vs. Time
t D
W/C (day) (*10
12
) Reference
0.32 1 d 7.39 Luping & Nilsson (1992)
0.32 3 d 6.22
0.32 7 d 4.93
0.32 28 d 3.22
0.32 90 d 1.79
0.32 180 d 1.74
0.4 7 d 3 Polder (1995)
0.4 28 d 2
0.4 98 d 1
0.54 7 d 4 Luping & Nilsson (1992)
0.54 28 d 3
0.54 98 d 2.5
0.58 28 d 52.3 Mangat & Molloy (1994)
0.58 90 d 23.8
0.58 270 d 10
0.7 1 d 45.6 Luping & Nilsson (1992)
0.7 3 d 26.95
0.7 7 d 21.1
0.7 28 d 14.5
0.7 90 d 15.3
Figure 2. Comparison of theoretical and experimental
results of the chloride diffusion coefficient into the concrete
with w/c =0.32.
where D
t
is the diffusion coefficient at time t (m
2
/s),
D
0
the diffusion coefficient at time t
0
(m
2
/s), t
0
the
standard time (one year or 28 days), t time (s), and m
a constant.
4 DATABASE ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS
In this analysis the diffusion coefficient magnitude
versus time with different w/c ratio is determined
by using Equation 23. Subsequently, these values of
diffusioncoefficients are comparedbyavailable exper-
imental database which have been summarised in
Table 1.
Comparisons between calculated theoretical values
and experimental results of chloride diffusion coeffi-
cient utilizing different water cement ratio versus time
are presented through Figures 2 to 6.
In Figures 2 and 3 for the concrete specimens with
w/c ratios 0.32 and 0.4, respectively, there exist a
1156
with w/c =0.4.
with w/c =0.54.
with w/c =0.58.
with w/c =0.7.
gap approximately 1 10
12
(m
2
/sec) between the
theoretical model and tests results.
In addition, comparison of the diagrams shown in
Figures 3, 4, and 5 reveals that by increasing the w/c
ratio in excess of 0.4, the existing gap between mathe-
matical model and experimental results increases. For
instance, when we increase w/c ratio from0.4 to 0.7 the
existing gap increases from 1 10
12
to 15 10
12
for 90 days (Fig. 5) and from 1 10
12
to 30 10
12
for 28 days (Fig. 4).
Table 2. Mathematical models of chloride transport into the
concrete.
Mathematical Model Presented by
Ficks Second Law
D, constant
t
=D
x
2
Ficks Second Law
D, depend on the
concentration
t
=. (D.)
RILEM Report 14,
(1996) D, constant C
(x,t)
= C
s
1 erf
x
2(Dt)
1
2
Liang et al. (1999)

Added Potential
J
ix
= D
e
C
f
x

eFE
RT
C
f
Nernst-Einstein (1975),
D, depends on partial
conductivity of species
D
i
=
RT
i
Z
2
i
F
2
C
2
i
Basheer et al. (1996)
Effect of chloride
binding capacity
(free chloride)
C
t
=div[D
i
(C)]
1
S
t
Mangat and Molloy,
(1994) D, a function
of W/C ratio Song et al.
D
t
=D
i
t
0.6 25
w
c
(2008)
D
(t)
=D
0
t
0
t
m
This study clearly illustrates that up to w/c =0.5,
the differences between the model and experiment
results are negligible while the mathematical model
shows higher diffusion coefficient. However, beyond
w/c =0.5, the differences are getting increased by
incising the w/c ratio while the experimental results
exhibit higher diffusion coefficient.
Furthermore, it should be emphasized that the
other influencing parameters such as amount of coarse
aggregate and changes of surface chloride concen-
tration with time in tidal/splash zone which are also
responsible for diffusion coefficient difference have
not beenreflectedinthe existingmathematical models.
5 SUMMARYAND CONCLUSIONS
The major source of degradation and deterioration of
RC structures is due to the diffusion of chloride into
concrete. Many comprehensive studies and investiga-
tions have been already conducted to model mathe-
matically this phenomenon. Most of these models are
based on Ficks lawwhich assumes that diffusion coef-
ficient is constant and independent of time. Whereas,
the experimental results are shown that the diffusion
coefficient is a time-dependent parameter.
These mathematical models have been summarised
in Table 2.
Two proposed mathematical models by Mangat
(Eq. 23) and Song (Eq. 24) of diffusion coefficient
1157
as a time-dependent parameter were analysed and
compared with experimental database. The presented
comparative study on the transfer process of the chlo-
ride diffusion versus time, exhibits the gaps between
analytical and experimental results (see Figures 26).
These gaps reveal that influence of the other responsi-
ble parameters in addition to water cement ratio such
as aggregate size, temperature and humidity must be
included precisely in the mathematical models.
To predict the service life of RC structures accu-
rately, the deviation of the chloride diffusion coeffi-
cient with time should be determined. Subsequently,
an appropriate mathematical model has to be proposed
to model the diffusion coefficient at any given time
intervals accurately.
Currently, the authors are conducting an exten-
sive experimental program to propose a mathematical
model of chloride diffusion coefficient considering the
time-dependent nature of the diffusion process as well
as other influencing parameters.
REFERENCES
Bamforth PB, Price W.F. 1997. An international review
of chloride ingress into structural concrete. Transport
Research Laboratory report 359, Scotland.
Bamforth PB, Price W.F. 2000. Factors influencing chloride
ingress into marine structures. In: Dhir RK, Jones MR,
editors. Concrete 2000. 110518.
Basheer P.A.M., Chidiact S.E., Long A.E. 1996. Predic-
tive Model for Deterioration of Concrete Structures.
Construction and Building Materials, Vol. 10 (1): 2737.
Bentz E.C., Evans C.M., Thomas M.D.A. 1996. Chloride dif-
fusion modelling for marine exposed concretes. In: Page
CL, Bamforth PB, Figg JW, editors. Corrosion of rein-
forcement in concrete construction. Cambridge, UK: The
Royal Society of Chemistry Publication. 13645.
Crank J. 1975. The Mathematics of Diffusion. 2d Ed.,
Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Funahashi M. 1990. Predicting corrosion free service life of
a concrete structure in a chloride environment. ACI Mater
J. 87: 5817.
Gjrv, O. E. 2009. Durability Design of Concrete Structures
in Severe Environments. Taylor & Francis Group, NY.
Glasstone S. 1946. Textbookof physical chemistry. NewYork:
Van Nostrand Ed.
Hooton RD, Geiker MR, Bentz EC. 2002. Effects of curing
on chloride ingress and implications on service life. ACI
Mater J. 99: 2016.
Jastrzebski Z.D. 1987. The Nature and Properties of Engi-
neering Materials. 3d Ed., John Wiley & Sons, NewYork.
359.
Koch, G.H., Brongers, M. P. H., Thompson, N. H., Virmani,
Y. P., and Payer, J. H. 2001. Corrosion Cost and Pre-
ventive Strategies in United States. FHWA-RD-01-156
(Springfield, VA: National Technical Information Service.
Kropp J. 1995. Chlorides in concrete. In: Performance criteria
for concrete durability. RILEM report 12: E&FN SPON.
13864.
Liang M.T., Wang K.L., Liang C.H. 1999. Service Life Pre-
diction of Reinforced Concrete Structures. Cement and
Concrete Research 29: 14111418.
Mangat, P. S., Molloy, B. T. 1994. Prediction of long term
chloride concentration in concrete. Mater. Struct. 27:
338346.
Rilem report 14. 1996. Durability design of concrete struc-
tures. In: Sarja A, Vesikari E, editors. E&FN Spon.
Samson E, Marchand J. 2008. Modeling the transport of ions
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Song, H.W., Lee, C.H., Yong, A.K. 2008. Factors Influenc-
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113121.
Tang L.P., Nilsson L.O.1992, ACI Mater J 89 (1): 49.
Tang LP, Gulikers JP. 2007. On the mathematics of time-
dependent apparent chloride diffusion coefficient in con-
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Winslow DN, Cohen MD, Bentz DP, Snyder KA, Garboczi
EJ. 1994. Percolation and pore structure in mortars and
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vice Life Design of Concrete Structures Exposed to
Chlorides. Cement & Concrete Composites 31: 591600.
1158
Investigation of flint glass for partial replacement of fine aggregate
in fly ash cement-based mortars
A. Ngadimin, K. Vessalas, P. Thomas & P. Hamedanimojarrad
University of Technology Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
ABSTRACT: This paper reports on the findings of an investigation into the evaluation of using flint glass (FG)
sourced frompost-consumer products, available inAustralias waste stream, as a replacement of fine aggregate in
fly ash (FA) cement-based mortars. Workability, compressive strength and strength activity index were assessed
in 3 phases of the research study, which includes: (1) partial replacement of sand by FG at 5%, 10% and 15%;
(2) partial replacement of Portland Cement (PC) with FA at 10%, 20% and 30% using a fixed amount of FG;
and, (3) variation of water/cementitious material ratio (w/cm) from 0.45 to 0.55 using a fixed amount of FA
and FG. Results indicate that FG is suitable for partial substitute of fine sand in mortars up to 15% in terms of
compressive strength; however, the value of strength attained is highly dependant on the w/cm used.
Keywords: Flint glass, mortar, compressive strength, fine aggregate, fly ash, water-to-cementitious
material ratio
1 INTRODUCTION
Australias affluent economy has contributed notably
to waste generation. From 1997 to 2007, the vol-
ume of waste generated has increased two-fold from
22.7 million tonnes to 43.8 million tonnes (Australian
Bureau of Statistics, 2010). In Australia, landfill is
the preferred method of waste disposal, as it provides
an instant solution to the waste problem; in fact, the
amount of waste sent to landfill has increased almost
three-fold, from 12.3 million tonnes to 31.5 million
tonnes (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010). Along-
side the growth in economy also comes the increasing
need to construct. The demand for construction mate-
rials such as sand and Portland Cement (PC) for use in
concrete, the worlds most popular construction mate-
rial, is forever increasing. Being a finite resource, the
supply of sand is slowly being depleted. In 2000, more
than 19% of construction sand in Sydneys construc-
tion industry was imported from various areas outside
the metropolitan region. It is predicted that the deficit
of sand in the Sydney metropolitan region will be in the
magnitude of 74% or 4.9 million tonnes per annum in
2010/11 to 2014/15 and 86%or 5.95 million tonnes per
annumin2015/16to2019/20(DonReed&Associates,
2000).
Collected waste cullet (crushed) glass can be
reused in the production of new glass products (Price,
2006). However, due to manufacturing constraints,
the amount of cullet reused in the production of new
glass are limited to 20% (United States Environmen-
tal Agency, 1992); hence, excess cullet is available. In
2003, 1.02 million tonnes of glass were produced and
only 40% was recycled with the remainder dumped
in landfill (Ise, 2007). If the trend in waste gener-
ation continues, existing landfill capacities in New
South Wales (NSW) will have reached capacity by the
year 2016 forcing redirection of its waste stream to
neighbouring states (Pickin, 2009).
Colour control in glass is significantly affected by
the presence of trace elements, restricting the poten-
tial of collected waste glass for inclusion in new, glass
products. In order to mitigate the problem of glass
waste, alternative applications need to be identified.
Price (2006) has reported many alternate uses of glass
cullet such as road pavement aggregate, asphalt pave-
ment, concrete aggregate, fibreglass insulation, glass
fibre, abrasives and fertilizer among other applica-
tions. The utilization of glass in concrete and cement
mortars is of particular interest in the research findings
reported in this study.
2 GLASS AGGREGATE
The use of glass in concrete has been reported to
decrease slump, air content and unit weight (Topcu &
Canbaz, 2003). This change reported in fresh prop-
erties with the addition of glass as aggregate in
concrete has been attributed to the increased angu-
larity of crushed glass and increased water demand.
This requirement for more water has not only been
observed in post-consumer waste glass studies, but a
study by Chen et al. (2006) found that concrete mixes
1159
containing waste glass for use in E-glass exhibited
increased water demand due to an increase in glass
content even though the angularity of E-glass parti-
cles was less angular than soda-lime glass particles.
This increase in water demand, however, was not found
in studies involving self-compacting concrete (SCC)
and the use of glass as aggregate (Ling et al., 2011). In
contrast, the low water absorption of recycled glass as
reported by Liu (2011) and Ling & Poon (2011) was
found to lower the water demand of SCC mixes and
increase resistance to segregation.
Taha & Nounu (2008) reported the effects of par-
ticle size distribution of glass on the fresh properties
of concrete. The authors indicated that when used as
sand replacement (with higher percentage of coarse
material than sand), concrete had reduced consistency
and density in addition to increased segregation and
bleeding; however, when used in a powder form (with
lower percentage of coarse material than sand), fresh
properties were enhanced. From this finding, Taha &
Nounu (2008) deduced that when finely ground to a
particle size below 45-m, the texture and shape of
glass is beneficial in improving the fresh properties of
concrete.
Topcu & Canbaz (2003) reported the use of 15%,
30%, 45% and 60% glass as an aggregate replace-
ment in concrete and observed a decrease in 28 day
compressive strength in the magnitude of 8%, 30%,
31%and 49%, respectively, compared to control spec-
imens devoid of glass. Park et al. (2004) confirmed the
decrease in compressive strength corresponded to an
increase in glass content and stated that this was caused
by the lack of adhesive strength between the surface
of the waste glass aggregates and the cement paste.
Dumitru et al. (2010) found that for the same age,
concrete containing 45% glass as aggregate replace-
ment resulted in a compressive strength increase of
8% higher than the control. This is not in agreement
with the findings reported by Topcu & Canbaz (2003)
and Park et al. (2004); with the variability in results
affected by the size of particles used in each study.
Dumitru et al. utilised finer-sized glass particles that
were in the range of 0.33 mm while Topcu & Canbaz
used coarser particles in the size range of 416 mm.
The findings suggest that the particle size distribution
of glass plays a pivotal role indeterminingthe resulting
compressive strength of concrete.
As a replacement to cement, glass has also shown
a decrease in compressive strength in relation to an
increase in content used. As observed by Park (2004),
the use of amber, clear and green glass has insignif-
icant effects on the hardened properties of concrete.
However, at finer particle sizes, when used as cemen-
titious material in concrete, Karamberi & Mousatsou
(2004) observed that green and amber coloured glass
demonstrated higher pozzolanic activity when com-
pared to clear (flint) glass up to 7 days of age. However,
as 28 days was reached, the pozzolanic activity of clear
glass gradually increased to reach that of the green
and amber glasses. This observation was attributed to
particle size. The authors indicated that at fine par-
ticle sizes, glass particles provided a greater surface
area for reaction. The varying chemical composition
of each coloured glass was activated, which may in turn
lead to the development of different hydration products
(Karamberi & Moutsatsou, 2004).
The particle size distribution of powdered glass for
partial cement replacement has also been noted to
affect the hardened properties of concrete. Shao et al.
(1999) and Pereira de Oliveira et al. (2010) have found
that by reducing the particle size of glass, an increase
in compressive strength resulted. Shao et al. (1999) has
foundthat concrete incorporating38-mglass demon-
strated a compressive strength that was higher than fly
ash concrete up until 90 days of age. This result was
attributed to the reaction of soda (Na
2
O) in glass acting
as a catalyst in forming calciumsilica hydrate (C-S-H)
at an early age and promoting strength development
(Shao et al., 1999).
3 RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE
Research efforts in the past have substantiated that the
use of glass as cementitious replacement is beneficial
to both the fresh and hardened properties of concrete.
However, the behaviour of cementitious product varies
with the chemical composition and source of the waste
glass. Limited data has been investigated on the prop-
erties of cement pastes, mortars and concrete using
waste glass in Australia. The objective of this research
is to investigate the influence of waste glass aggregate
as a partial replacement of fine aggregate natural sands
on the properties of Portland cement (PC) based mor-
tars, containing fly ash (FA) as a partial replacement of
PC and to achieve an optimum w/cm that will produce
improved mechanical performance.
With the success of this study, it is envisaged that
the growing waste disposal problems in Australia can
be greatly eliminated by re-using glass as sand replace-
ment in concrete and cement mortars. The use of waste
glass as a partial replacement of natural sand aggregate
also helps to reduce the demand for this diminishing
resource.
In the preparation of mortar mixes, the following 2
binders were used: ordinary general purpose Portland
Cement (PC) supplied by Australian Cement Ltd. in
addition to Eraring fly ash (FA) supplied by Blue Cir-
cle Southern Cement Pty Ltd. Fine aggregates used
consisted of: flint glass (FG) obtained from a 20 kg
batch sourced from post consumer products in Syd-
ney, Australia and double washed sand (CS) supplied
by Rocla Quarries Ltd. A high range water-reducing
admixture (HWR),Glenium supplied by BASF Con-
struction Chemicals Pty Ltd. was used to maintain the
1160
Table 1. Chemical compositions of raw materials.
Oxides PC FA FG
SiO
2
20.00 64.2 74.00
Al
2
O
3
4.60 25.5 1.30
Fe
2
O
3
3.80 3.92 0.04
CaO 64.30 2.27 10.50
MgO 1.80 0.69 0.20
Na
2
O 1.24 13.00
K
2
O 0.60 0.08 0.30
TiO
2
0.97 0.01
MnO 0.08
P
2
O
5
0.33
SO
3
2.60 0.20
flow of mortar mixes to a fixed value. The chemical
compositions of the raw materials used in this study
are as shown in Table 1.
The FG in its as received form was too coarse for
use as a replacement of CS. To prepare the material for
investigation, a combination of two treatment meth-
ods were utilized: (1) FGtreatment method that aimed
to remove foreign contaminants from the batch; and,
(2) FG processing method, which aimed to clean FG
through milling to its specified size. The FGtreatment
method was derived from a trial and error process.
In essence, FG was cleaned with water and alcohol,
and foreign materials were removed from the batch by
means of visual inspection. The FGprocessing method
consisted of pulverizing the cleaned FG to the spec-
ified size by using a disc mill manufactured by J.P.
Van Gelder Pty Ltd. Two steps of pulverization were
employed, the first aimed at reducing FG to a smaller
size to avoid jamming the mill while the second served
to reduce the size of particles to the required range of
0.075-2.36 mm to classify as a fine aggregate (ASTM
C33/C33M-11a).
Since the workability of fresh mortars is an impor-
tant factor in determining the hardened properties, in
particular, compressive strength, consistent flow mea-
sured in accordance with AS 2701 2001, was set
at 65 15%, which was deemed desirable for each
mortar mix considering the angularity of CS and FG.
Flow above 80% would have resulted in the onset of
undesirable bleeding and segregation, which would
compromise the hardened properties of mortars while
flow below 50% would result in an overly dry mix
that would interfere with the consolidation of mortar
into the moulds. In order to attain a consistent flow, a
polycarboxylic-ether based high-range water reducing
admixture (HWR), Glenium was introduced in mixes
following ASTM C1240-11.
The experimental study was separated into 3 inter-
connecting phases using the mix designs listed in
Table 2:
Phase 1 investigation of the effect of FG as a fine
aggregate replacement at 5%, 10% and 15% (by
weight of CS).
Phase 2 determines if the replacement of PC by
FA at 10%, 20% and 30% (by weight of PC) can
result in activation of FG and promote the strength
of mortar.
Phase 3 determines if varying w/cm ratio from
0.45 to 0.55 has an effect on the activation of FG
and the promotion of strength gain in mortar.
Table 2 depicts the mix proportions of each of the
described phases.
Three mortar prisms representative of each mix
were moulded in accordance to AS 2350.12 2006
using the hand compaction technique for consolida-
tion of mortar as stated in ASTM C109/C109M-11b.
At 7, 28 and 56 days of ageing in lime-saturated water,
the specimens were removed for the determination
of compressive strength. Testing procedures following
AS 2350.11 2006 criteria were used and compres-
sive strength, f
cm
, was determined using a calibrated an
Avery 7112CCG 1800 kN hydraulic universal testing
machine fitted with a maximum load indicator. Prior
to testing, the dimensions of the mortar prisms were
measured to an accuracy of 0.1 mm using electronic
vernier callipers.
In addition to compressive strength, strength activ-
ity index (SAI) was also determined as it provides a
measure of level of strength development relative to
control mortar devoid of any FG addition. SAI was
determined from Equation 1 (ASTM C311-11b):
whereAis the average compressive strengthof test mix
(MPa); and, B is the average compressive strength of
the control mix (MPa).
5.1 Workability
The HWR demand required for each set of mortar
mixes was determined from conducting preliminary
trials and measuring the flow with varying additions
of HWR. These trials were carried out to ensure that
the flowobtained was reproducible and within the per-
missible flow range of 65 15% required for proper
consolidation of mortar into moulds. Table 2 shows
the amount of HWR required for the 3 phases of
this research study and the accompanying flow values
obtained for each set of mixes.
In phase 1 it is shown that the demand of HWR
increases with an increase in FG content (Table 2),
which may have possibly been caused by the angular-
ity and harsh surface texture of FG requiring a higher
water demand (Topcu & Canbaz, 2003). Addition-
ally, the particle size distribution of FG (Figure 1)
indicates finer particle fractions compared to CS,
which may contribute to increased surface area and,
thus, increased workability. It is also quite possible
that the water absorption capacity of glass may also
affect the workability; however, this parameter was not
investigated as part of this study.
1161
Table 2. Mix design proportions and HWR demand of mortars.
Binder Aggregate
Mix Designation w/cm Water (g) PC (g) FA (g) CS (g) FG (g) HWR Demand (mL) Flow (%)
0FG 0.50 225.0 450.0 0.0 1350.0 0.0 1.6 63
5FG 0.50 225.0 450.0 0.0 1282.5 67.5 1.6 54
10FG 0.50 225.0 450.0 0.0 1215.0 135.0 1.9 52
15FG 0.50 225.0 450.0 0.0 1147.5 202.5 2.2 52
10FG 0FA 0.50 225.0 450.0 0.0 1215.0 135.0 1.9 68
10FG 10FA 0.50 225.0 405.0 45.0 1215.0 135.0 1.4 74
10FG 20FA 0.50 225.0 360.0 90.0 1215.0 135.0 0.7 58
10FG 30FA 0.50 225.0 315.0 135.0 1215.0 135.0 0.4 55
0.45WCM 10FG 10FA 0.45 202.5 405.0 45.0 1215.0 135.0 2.0 74
0.50WCM 10FG 10FA 0.50 225.0 405.0 45.0 1215.0 135.0 1.6 59
0.55WCM 10FG 10FA 0.55 247.5 405.0 45.0 1215.0 135.0 0.0 57
Figure 1. Particle size distribution of FG and CS.
In the case of phase 2, the reduction in workabil-
ity caused by FG was outperformed by the apparent
water-reducing properties of FA (Table 2). It is widely
known that the spherical particle shape of FA con-
tributes to particles to rolling over one another, easing
inter-particle movement (Mora et al., 1993, Wei et al.,
2003).
5.2.1 Compressive strength
At 28 days, the compressive strength of 5FGand 15FG
mortars were similar to control, only being lower by
3.0%and 4.0%, respectively. In contrast, 10FGmortar
exhibited 3.0% higher compressive strength than the
control. The lower compressive strength achieved by
5FG mortar can be possibly attributed to the inade-
quate amount of FG used in the mix, not providing
enough silica to react with the calcium hydroxide
resulting from the hydration of cement products. Even
though 15FG provided enough silica to react with
calcium hydroxide, the loss in strength occurring at
both 7 and 28 days can be possibly attributed to
the lack of adhesion between the coarse, angular
particles with the cement matrix (Dumituru et al.,
2010). At 56 days, the compressive strength of 10FG
and 15FG mortars exceeded the control by 1.9 MPa
Figure 2. Compressive strength (f
cm
) versus curing age in
days for phase 1 mortars.
and 5.8 MPa, respectively (Figure 2). At 5% FG and
10% FG additions, the amount of silica provided by
glass to react with calcium hydroxide liberated from
cement hydration may have been consumed at 28 days.
The additional amount of silica in batches containing
higher glass content (15% FG) took in excess of 28
days to react with calcium hydroxide in cement hence
1162
Figure 3. Compressive strength (f
cm
) versus curing age in
days for phase 2 mortars.
Figure 4. Strength Activity Index (compressive strength of
mortar compared to control mortar strength) versus curing
age in days for phase 3 mortar.
explaining possibly why the compressive strength of
15FG exceeded that of 5FG and 10FG at a later age.
In Phase 2, the compressive strength of mortar with
a fixed amount of 10%FGand replacement of PCwith
10%, 20% and 30% FA was determined (Figure 3).
Compressive strengths of all mortars were lower than
the control for all curing ages. Compared to the control
mortar, only the 10% FG and 10% FA mortar met the
requirement of AS 3972-2010 that states that the min-
imum strength of a type general purpose (GP) cement
mortar must be 35 MPa and 45 MPa at 7 days and 28
days of curing, respectively. Even after curing for 56
days, the compressive strength of the 10% FG and
10% FA mortar remained highest compared to those
mortars containing higher FA additions.
Figure 4 depicts the compressive strength of mortar
containing a fixed amount of FAat 10%and FGat 10%
at various w/cms (Phase 3). The w/cm is observed
to have a significant effect on the strength of FA-FG
mortars with decreasing w/cm resulting in increased
strength. This is expected, as an increase in w/cm in
the cementitious system will result in an increase in
pore volume leading to reduced strength (Karemberi &
Moutsatsou, 2004).
5.2.2 Strength Activity Index (SAI)
At 7 days, the SAI of the 0.45 w/cm mortar was 125%.
Further curing for 28 days and 56 days has resulted in
a consistent SAI at 121% and 118%, respectively, for
the same 0.45 w/cmmortar (Figure 4). Eventhoughthe
SAI of 0.55 w/cm mortar did not exceed the controls
strengthat all ages, it shouldbe notedthat it exceeds the
SAI requirement of 75%specified inASTMC618-12.
6 CONCLUSIONS
FGhas demonstrated its potential for use as fine aggre-
gate replacement in mortars. Use of up to 15% FG
signifies acceptable results for all ages up to 56 days
in terms of compressive strength achieved. At a fixed
amount of 10% of FG, the addition of up to 30% FA
did not increase compressive strength up to 56 days of
curing. When the w/cm ratio was decreased in mortar
containing a fixed amount of FA and FG, a notable
increase in compressive strength is found in ages up
to 56 days.
Overall, FGhas performedwell as a replacement for
fine aggregate in mortar. It has demonstrated compara-
ble strength. Its use as a green alternative to sand and
its ability to address Australias growing waste prob-
lemshould be considered for use in construction. Even
so, other factors affecting the behaviour of FG mortar
such as drying shrinkage, alkali-silica reactivity, flex-
ural strength among many other properties must be
studied before its use can be commercialised.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work is supported by the University of Technol-
ogy, Sydney. The authors of this paper wouldespecially
like to thank Prof. Abhi Ray, Mr Rami Haddad, Mr
David Hooper and Ms Youliya Gorgees for providing
constant guidance throughout the project.
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Future. Melbourne, Australia: Department of Environ-
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Price A. 2006. Market Development Study Used Glass for
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Scharz N. Neithalath. 2007. Influence of a Fine Glass Pow-
der on Cement Hydration: Comparison to Fly Ash and
Modelling the Degree of Hydration. Cement & Concrete
Research (38): 429436.
Shao Y. Lefort T. Moras S. Rodriguez D. 1999. Studies
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1164
Effect of polyvinyl alcohol fibre and fly ash on flexural tensile properties of
concrete
A. Noushini, K. Vessalas, N. Ghosni & B. Samali
ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the effect of synthetic fibre and fly ash (FA) on post peak response and
fracture properties of concrete. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibres were added as intrinsic reinforcement to concrete
and 30%of cement was replaced with fly ash as an environmental friendly additive to reduce cement consumption.
Samples were prepared abiding by relevant standards and tested accordingly. Limit of Proportionality (LOP) of
the mentioned concretes has been assessed. Notched rectangular prisms have been tested to evaluate the residual
flexural tensile strength and limit of proportionality of conventional and FA modified concrete as well as fibre
reinforced concrete (FRC). Cylindrical samples have been tested to determine the compressive strength and
indirect tensile strength of each concrete. Tests have been conducted at 28 days of ageing. Results gathered from
different mix designs are compared to control and other mixes.
1 INTRODUCTION
Ductile behaviour of concrete under loading condi-
tions is of attention and interest. Ductile behaviour is
defined as the ability of the concrete matrix to absorb
energy, maintaining load bearing capacity. It is impor-
tant to have a concrete matrix where tensile strain
increases, when the first crack occurs and beyond.
In concrete, improving the post peak response is a
requirement as concrete does not have to exhibit suf-
ficient post peak behaviour. To evaluate the concrete
post peak properties, different types of tests are pre-
sented in standards world widely, where flexural tests
are of great attention.
The reason flexural test is well known is that it
simulates the real condition in a more practical and
simpler way than that of other tests such as the ten-
sion test (Gopalaratnam & Gettu 1995). Furthermore,
the notched beam test using crack mouth opening dis-
placement (CMOD) has proven to be a good test to
evaluate the post peak behaviour and toughness of
fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) (Gopalaratnam and
Gettu, 1995).
Researchers have used different methods to calcu-
late the energy absorption and energy dissipation of
the concrete matrix. These methods involve static and
dynamic methods. In this research, the aim is to stati-
cally study the behaviour of the concrete up to and after
the maximumstress to evaluate the post peak response
of the normal concrete as well as concrete modified
with fly ash (FA) and synthetic fibres.
As a commonly used material to replace cement,
FA is known to be an environmentally friendly com-
ponent of a concrete matrix. The replacement amount
of cement varies from as low as 10% up to about
70% of total mass of cementitious material. When
high amounts of what are used, some parts of FA
does not react in the matrix and remains unreacted
even after long periods of curing (Lam et al., 1998).
In this study, 30% of cement is replaced with FA. To
evaluate the behaviour of cementitious material under
three point loading, experimental studies have been
carried out previously, most of which were limited
to mortar samples (Nicolas Burlion, 2001), nonethe-
less, the stress-strain behaviour of concrete has also
been examined by researchers more closely in recent
years (Gabet, 2008). Results of an experiment by Lam
et al. showthat by using FAthe post-peak compressive
behaviour of concrete increases and the strain value at
maximum stress improves (Lam et al., 1998). In the
same research, it was revealedthat byreplacingcement
with high volumes of FA, the fracture properties of
concrete improve.
An approach introduced to improve the post peak
behaviour and ductile performance of concrete is using
synthetic fibres as intrinsic reinforcement, which has
been utilized in this research.
Where fibres are present in the mix, at crack loca-
tion, fibres bridge the crack to help increase the tensile
strain. Pantazopoulouet et al. studied that, fibres con-
tribute to tensile resistance due to the post peak ductile
behaviour before failure but the addition of fibre pre-
vents particle movement in the matrix which lowers the
Poisons ratio regardless of the fibre type used (Pan-
tazopoulou & Zanganeh 2001). Addition of synthetic
fibres does not affect the pre peak behaviour (Med-
dah and Bencheikh, 2009), whereas in the post peak
response the reverse is true. The post peak behaviour of
concrete andits elastic behaviour has beeninvestigated
in past studies and the results suggest that although
1165
Table 1. Properties of PVA fibres.
Type Specific gravity Diameter Thickness Cut length Tensile strength Youngs modulus Elongation
[g/cm
3
] [mm] [dtex] [mm] [MPa] [GPa] [%]
W2-6 1.29 0.014 1.8-2.3 6 1500 41.7 7
W2-12 1.29 0.014 1.8-2.3 12 1500 41.7 7
Table 2. Mix proportions.
Cement Fly Ash Sand 10 mmAgg. 20 mmAgg. HWR 6 mm PVA 12 mm PVA Water
Materials [kg/m
3
] [kg/m
3
] [kg/m
3
] [kg/m
3
] [kg/m
3
] [Lit/m
3
] [kg/m
3
] [kg/m
3
] [kg/m
3
] Water/C*
NFRC.1 430 0 635 390 700 0.923 0 0 151 0.35
NFRC.2 301 129 635 390 700 1.215 0 0 151 0.35
FRC.1 301 129 635 390 700 2.597 6.450 0 151 0.35
FRC.2 301 129 635 390 700 3.506 0 6.450 151 0.35
*Cementitious materials (binders)
fibre addition does not greatly increase the flexu-
ral strength it generally improves concrete toughness
(Buratti et al., 2011). Moreover, synthetic fibres have
been reported to improve the post peak response of
concrete aiding to reduce the rate of strength loss from
the peak value (Pantazopoulou & Zanganeh 2001).
Other investigations performed on long synthetic
and steel fibres (e.g. more than 30 mm length)
reported that fibres significantly improve the post peak
behaviour and residual flexural strength of plain con-
crete (Buratti et al., 2011). However, in this present
study, the main focus is to evaluate whether or not
shorter synthetic fibres with the length of approxi-
mately 10 mmor less can also affect concrete post peak
behaviour.
2.1 Materials and mixing
Cement used in this study was Shrinkage limited Port-
land cement (PC). Fly ash was also used for partial
replacement of Portland cement in mixes. The fine-
ness of FA by 45 m sieve was determined to be 94%
passing (tested in accordance with AS 3581. 11998).
A maximum nominal size of 20 mm aggregate
was used in all mixes. All aggregates used in mix
design were sourced from Dunmore, Australia, which
includes 50/50 blended fine/coarse manufactured sand
and 10 mmand 20 mmcrushed latite gravel. The grad-
ing of all aggregates complies with the Australian
Standard; AS 2758.1 specifications and limits.
All aggregates were prepared to saturated surface
dry condition prior to batching. Drinking grade tap
water was used for all mixes after conditioning to
room temperature (23 2
C). Furthermore, in order

to improve the slump, a polycarboxylic-ether based
high range water reducing admixture (HWR) was
used. Non-coated polyvinyl alcohol fibre of 2 different
geometries, 6and12 mm, were usedwiththeir physical
properties shown in Table 1.
Mix proportions are given in Table 2. Series 1 and
2 indicate plain concrete with and without fly ash and
with no fibres, respectively. Series 1 (NFRC.1, non-
fibre reinforced concrete) contains 100% PC while
series 2 (NFRC.2) has 30% FA as partial replacement
for Portland cement. Series 3 and 4 are categorised for
PVA fibre reinforced concretes. Series 3 (FRC.1) has
0.5% volume fraction of 6 mm fibres whereas series
4 (FRC.2) contains the same fibre volume fraction,
0.5%, of 12 mm PVA fibres.
Mixes were designed to obtain compressive
strength at 28 days (f
cm
) of 60 MPa to conform to
AS 3600 requirements as structural concrete (rang-
ing from 20 MPa to 100 MPa) even after adding fibres
which may cause strength reduction, along with a
slump of 80 20 mm. In order to obtain the desired
slump, HWR dosage was varied. For each series of
mixes, 6 cylindrical specimens of 100 200 mm were
moulded for compressive and indirect tensile tests
(three for each test) at 28 days of ageing, as well
as 3 prismatic samples of 150 150 550 mm in
dimensions for flexural tests.
For NFRC mixes, mixing was performed in accor-
dance withAS1012.2. However, for FRCmixes, due to
the presence of the fibres, the standard mixing regime
suggested in Australian Standard for conventional
concrete was modified. Accordingly, after a compre-
hensive pre study, a mixing sequence was achieved
based on Australian Standards with modifications as
explained below.
Fine aggregates were firstly dry mixed with PVA
fibres in a vertical pan mixer. Coarse aggregates were
then added and the mixture was further mixed for 3
minutes. Thereafter, cement, fly ash and water were
introduced and mixed for a further 3 minutes. In order
to adjust the slump, HWR was added within the first
minute of adding cementitious materials. Following
the 3 minute mixing, a rest period for 2 minutes was
1166
Figure 1. Typical arrangement for 3-point bending test
over notched sample with measuring CMOD (BS EN
14651:2005).
applied followed by an additional 3 minutes of mixing
to achieve a completely homogeneous concrete. Slump
was taken to check the workability and, thereafter,
freshly mixed concrete was placed into the moulds and
compacted using an external vibrating table.
Curing of test specimens was carried out in accor-
dance with AS 1012.8.
All procedures were followed in accordance with
Australian Standards (AS) except for flexural tensile
strength test on notched samples due to lack of a spe-
cific standardinAS. This test was carriedout following
European standard; BS EN 14651.
2.2 Flexural samples preparations
The specimens used for the flexural test were
150 150 550 mm prisms prepared in accordance
with BS EN14651 specifications. All specimens were
cast in steel moulds. The procedure of filling the
moulds was carried out following the above mentioned
standard method by filling approximately 90% of the
height of the test specimen before compaction. Com-
paction was performed by external vibration using a
table vibrator. After 25 days of curing, a middle notch
was sawn using a rotating diamond blade wet saw. This
age was selected for notching the samples due to the
criteria mentioned by the standard to let the specimens
be cured for a minimum of 3 days after sawing. The
specimens were rotated 90
around their longitudinal

axis and then sawn through the width at mid-span as
shown in Figure 1. The width of the notch is less
than 5 mm and the depth is approximately 25 mm.
the distance h
sp
, as shown graphically in Figure 1, is
125 1 mm. Test specimens were then returned to cur-
ing tanks for further curing until 28 days and removed
from water 3 h before testing.
2.3 Flexural testing procedure
Three-point bending test on notched concrete prisms
with the typical arrangement shown in Figure 1 was
used to determine the limit of proportionality (LOP)
and residual flexural tensile strength of specimens. A
500 kN universal testing machine, capable of mea-
suring loads to an accuracy of 0.1 kN, with a con-
trolled load rate applied to produce a constant rate
of crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD) was
used. A clip gauge (extensometer) with an accuracy of
Table 3. Compressive and indirect tensile strength at 28
days.
Compressive strength f
c
Tensile strength f
ct.sp
Average Standard Average Standard
Mix strength deviation strength deviation
reference [MPa] [MPa] [MPa] [MPa]
NFRC.1 73.5 1.2 6.7 0.1
NFRC.2 60.0 3.2 5.1 0.5
FRC.1 61.5 2.5 5.3 0.2
FRC.2 58.5 2.8 5.0 0.3
0.01 mmwas also used to measure CMOD. For CMOD
values less than 0.1 mm, the load rate was adjusted
so that CMOD could increase at a constant rate of
0.05 mm/min. When CMOD=0.1 mm, the machine
was adjusted to increase CMOD at a constant rate
of 0.3 mm/min. The values of load and corresponding
CMOD were recorded at a rate of 5 Hz during the test.
3.1 Compressive and indirect tensile strength
Compressive and indirect tensile or splitting tests were
performed on 100 200 mm cylindrical specimens
following AS 1012.9 and AS 1012.10 procedures,
respectively, at the age of 28 days as an important
index to industry in characterising concrete mechan-
ical properties before performing the flexural tests.
(Table 3).
By looking at the results presented in Table 3, it
can be seen that NFRC.1 with 100% PC has higher
compressive strength (f
c,28
) as well as splitting tensile
strength (f
ct.sp,28
) at 28 days of ageing. The other three
concrete series having 30% FA as partial replacement
for PC, with and without PVA fibres, show approxi-
mately 20% lower strength, both in compression and
tension. This can possibly be due to the fact that the
pozzolanic reaction which occurs due to presence of
fly ash is slower than the Portland cement reaction
(hydraulic), which results in slower strength develop-
ment. The pozzolanic reaction can only take place if
there is enough calcium hydroxide available, as a by-
product of the hydraulic reaction (Hannesson et al.,
2012). It is also noted from the results that adding
PVA fibre at 0.5% volume fraction at both 6 and
12 mm geometric lengths has an insignificant effect
on compressive and tensile strength, although 6mm
fibre increases the strength slightly. Higher fibre vol-
ume fractions, e.g. 1%, were also investigated in trial
mixes, however, due to the low slump observed, maxi-
mumachievable fibre content can be reported as 0.5%
for both 6 and 12 mm uncoated PVA fibres.
3.2 Three-point bending test results
Three-point bending tests were performed over four
series of concrete samples at the age of 28 days with
1167
Figure 2. Load-CMOD curves for three samples of
NFRC.1.
Figure 3. Load-CMOD curves for three samples of
NFRC.2.
load and CMODmeasured. Aload-crack mouth open-
ing displacement, F-CMOD, relationship was estab-
lished by mounting a clip-gauge on the opening of the
notch. These results are indicated in Figures 2 to 5.
From this relationship, the load at the limit of pro-
portionality (F
L
) can be evaluated. F
L
is equal to the
highest value of the load recorded up to a CMOD of
0.05 mm according to the European standard. Accord-
ingly, concrete limit of proportionality (LOP) can be
calculated using the expression given below (Eq. 1);
where f
f
ct
L is the limit of proportionality (LOP) in
Newtons per square mm (MPa), F
L
is the load cor-
responding to the LOP in Newtons, b (150 mm) and l
(500 mm) are the width and span length of the speci-
men and h
sp
(125 mm) is the distance between the tip
of the notch and the top of the specimen.
All these expressions were defined assuming a
linear stress distribution on the cross section.
From the analysis of the F-CMOD relationship of
NFRC.1 (Fig. 2) incorporating 100%Portland cement,
the value of 21.8 kN can be characterised for F
L
and
LOP value was calculated as 7.0 MPa using the above
mentioned equation.
Following the same analysis for the other three con-
crete series by using Figures 35, F
L
and LOP were
calculated and the results are presented in Table 4. F
L
can be defined as the load corresponding to the first
Figure 4. Load-CMOD curves for three samples of FRC.1.
Figure 5. Load-CMOD curves for three samples of FRC.2.
Figure 6. Typical Load-Crack Mouth Opening Displace-
ment (CMOD) curve and definition of the reference points
on the curve. BS EN 14651.
crack and limit of proportionality (LOP) is the stress
at first crack (Giaccio et al., 2008).
From the load-CMOD curve, residual flexural ten-
sile strength can also be calculated representing the
load capacity at different CMODs as graphically
illustrated in Figure 6.
In this study, the procedure proposed in European
standard; BS EN 14651, is used to determine the
residual flexural tensile strength of FRCs and plain
concretes with the expression given in Equation 2.
where f
R, j
is the residual flexural tensile strength cor-
responding with CMOD=CMOD
j
(j =1, 2, 3, 4) in
MPa whichare CMOD
1
=0.5 mm, CMOD
2
=1.5 mm,
CMOD
3
=2.5 mm and CMOD
4
=3.5 mm. F
j
is the
load corresponding with CMOD
j
and the other param-
eters are the same as the description for Equation 1.
1168
Table 4. Limit of proportionality at 28 days.
Mix F
L
LOP F
1
f
R,1
reference [kN] [MPa] [kN] [MPa]
NFRC.1 21.8 7.0 2.7 0.9
NFRC.2 14.5 4.6 4.2 1.3
FRC.1 15.0 4.8 5.0 1.6
FRC.2 15.5 5.0 6.0 1.9
Figure 7. Load-CMOD curves for all comparative mixes.
According to the above mentioned standard, the
residual flexural tensile strength values are calculated
by assuming a linear elastic distribution of stresses at
the fracture point.
The load-CMOD curves of all concrete mixes indi-
cate that after the peak load, a load decay has occurred
and the value of F
j
corresponds to CMOD
2
=1.5 mm
and is approximately equal to zero, which gives zero
residual flexural tensile strength (f
R,j
) and only f
R,j
can
be calculated for CMOD
1
=0.5 mm. The results for
f
R,1
are presented in Table 4.
NFRC.1with100%PCshows higher F
L
andlimit of
proportionality compared to all other mixes, which can
be due to the higher value of compressive strength (f
c
)
and tensile strength (f
ct.sp
) of 73.5 MPa and 6.7 MPa,
respectively.
Comparing NFRC.2, (incorporating 30% fly ash as
partial replacement of PC), with FRCs, (incorporating
30%FAand 0.5%volume fraction of PVAfibres), it is
noticeable that all concretes have the same F
L
and LOP
as well as the same f
c
and f
ct.sp
although FRC.1 with
0.5%of 12 mmPVAfibres shows the highest value for
LOPwhile its compressive and tensile strength was the
least.
Figure 7 presents comparative results of the
F-CMODrelationshipfor all four concrete series. Each
curve is representative of one series taken from the
curve a of the three curves illustrated for each mix in
Figures 2 to 5, which is approximately the average of
those three specimens.
From Figure 7 and also the value of f
R,1
calcu-
lated in Table 4, it is observed that concrete having
FA shows a higher value of residual flexural tensile
strength at CMOD
1
=0.5 mm compared to concrete
without fly ash.
FA concretes, exhibiting lower load bearing capac-
ity but larger crack mouth opening displacement
and final mid-span deflection, have been previously
reported by lam et al. It has also been indicated that an
increase in FAcontent reduces f
c
but improves fracture
properties (Lam et al., 1998).
In the case of FRC mixes, the residual flexural
tensile strength corresponding to crack opening of
0.5 mm (f
R,1
) indicates a low improvement compared
to NFRC.2. Generally, the synthetic fibres show a
noticeable drop in strength after the first peak, even
with high fibre content. This can be mostly due to the
elastomeric nature and properties of synthetic fibres,
which is known to have low strength characteristics.
Once concrete begins to crack, synthetic fibres require
a large deformation to occur before fibres are stretched
enough and begin to carry the load (Sukontasukkul
et al., 2010). However, in this study, no significant
effect is observed by using PVA fibres. This may be
due to the short length and diameter of monofilament
fibres used in the matrix. These results also comply
with a previous study which indicates that shorter
and low volumes of fibres do not affect crack initi-
ation, crack propagation and also post peak response
of concrete (Meddah and Bencheikh, 2009).
It can be inferred from the results that replacing 30%
of PC by FA, decreases both compressive and indirect
tensile strength at 28 days. Moreover, adding 0.5%vol-
ume fraction of PVA fibres do not significantly affect
the compressive and tensile strength of concrete and
only slight changes have been observed in 28 days, evi-
dencing that 6 mm PVA fibres increased both param-
eters whereas 12 mm fibres decreased these values at
the same percentage.
Furthermore, from the flexural tensile test results,
it has been observed that prior to the peak response
of all concrete series was almost similar showing the
same stiffness. However, a slight improvement in post-
peak flexural response of concrete having FA was
observed. Furthermore, the post-peak behaviour of
FRCs was found to be approximately the same as
NFRC.2 although a subtle improvement had occurred.
It is quite possible that PVA fibres with 6 mm and
12 mm length have very low effect on the post-peak
flexural capacity of plain concrete.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to express their gratitude to Mr
Michael Kelly for his assistance with the experimen-
tal testing program. The support of Mr Rami Haddad,
Civil Engineering Laboratories Manager at the Uni-
versity of Technology Sydney (UTS) is also gratefully
acknowledged.
1169
REFERENCES
Buratti, N., Mazzotti, C. & Savoia, M. 2011. Post-cracking
behaviour of steel and macro-synthetic fibre-reinforced
concretes. Construction and Building Materials, 25,
27132722.
Gabet, T., Malcot, Yann, Daudeville, Laurent 2008. Triaxial
behaviour of concrete under high stresses: Influence of the
loading path on compaction and limit states. Cement and
Giaccio, G., Tobes, J. M. & Zerbino, R. 2008. Use of small
beams to obtain design parameters of fibre reinforced
concrete. Cement and Concrete Composites, 30, 297306.
Gopalaratnam, V. S. & Gettu, R. 1995. On the char-
acterization of flexural toughness in fiber reinforced
concretes. Cement and Concrete Composites, 17,
239254.
Hannesson, G., Kuder, K., Shogren, R. & Lehman, D. 2012.
The influence of high volume of fly ash and slag on
the compressive strength of self-consolidating concrete.
Construction and Building Materials, 30, 161168.
Lam, L., Wong,Y. L. &Poon, C. S. 1998. Effect of FlyAshand
Silica Fume on Compressive and Fracture Behaviors of
Concrete. Cement and Concrete Research, 28, 271283.
Meddah, M. S. & Bencheikh, M. 2009. Properties of con-
crete reinforced with different kinds of industrial waste
fibre materials. Construction and Building Materials, 23,
31963205.
Nicolas Burlion, G. P.-C. A. N. D. 2001. Experimental
analysis of compaction of concrete and mortar. Interna-
tional Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in
Sukontasukkul, P., Pomchiengpin, W. & Songpiriyakij, S.
2010. Post-crack (or post-peak) flexural response and
toughness of fiber reinforced concrete after exposure to
high temperature. Construction and Building Materials,
24, 19671974.
1170
Investigation into cavitation as a cause of rate-dependent fatigue loss
in submerged concrete members
M. Sagan, C. Fujiyama & K. Maekawa
Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Japan
ABSTRACT: Water is known to decrease the fatigue life of concrete members. The reduction can be partially
explained by the established water-induced reductions in both shear transfer and compressive strength, but even
considering these two phenomena, there is still an order of magnitude that is unaccounted for. The authors
investigated the effect of loading rate-dependent pore pressure changes on fatigue life. Rate-dependence has
been observed, but results also predict low pore pressures. Such pressures may lead to cavitation in concrete
cracks, which may be a significant factor in loss of fatigue life. The authors attempted to verify the presence
of cavitation both visually and through sonic pressure data. Experiments were performed on concrete members
using various different loading conditions to induce rapid crack opening and closing. Research into this topic
may prove to be beneficial in the prediction of cavitation, and ultimately to develop a relationship between
dynamic loading conditions and loss of fatigue strength through cavitation.
1 INTRODUCTION
The reduction of compressive strength in submerged
concrete has been well-documented in both experi-
ment and practice, and many design codes already
have clauses that give a simple reduction factor. Sim-
ilarly, the loss of shear transfer due to water is also
known, and empirical models providing a reduction
factor based on crack shear and opening displacement
exist (Maekawa et al. 2006).
The reduction of fatigue strength in submerged con-
crete has also been documented in recent years. This
is of particular relevance to bridge decks subjected to
high cycles of traffic and exposed to the environment,
where it is a major source of damage.
Until the late 70s, fatigue strength (the stress
level that a member could undergo before failure at
2,000,000 cycles) of concrete was thought to be 55
60% of static strength, regardless of environmental
conditions. However, subsequent research found that
the fatigue strength in water was reduced to 30% of
the static strength in water (Ozaki & Shimura 1980).
Sources have since reported that the reduction in
fatigue life (number of cycles until failure) under sub-
merged conditions is 1/200 (Matsui 1987). While the
mechanism has not been qualitatively explained, it is
reasonable to believe that it is partially attributable to
both compressive strength loss and shear transfer loss
described above. However, even coupling these losses
(Fig. 1), there is still an order of magnitude separating
the difference predicted in analysis and the difference
observed in experiment (Fig. 2). Note that this study is
restricted to standard temperatures, so the influence of
water discussed in this paper excludes the well-known
phenomena of freeze-thaw action.
Figure 1. Analytical S-N diagram showing fatigue life of
RC slabs undergoing wheel-type loading, including reduc-
tions for Shear Transfer and Compression. An order of
magnitude different from observed results (Maekawa et al.
2006). Note that an S-N (Stress-Number of cycles) dia-
gram gives the number of cycles that a member can be
subjected to before failure, where the maximumstress in each
cycle is a certain fraction of its static strength (this fraction
is the normalized amplitude).
Inadditiontothe general unexplainedloss of fatigue
life in the presence of water, there seems to be a strong
rate-dependency, wherein rapidly-applied loads will
cause failure under significantly fewer cycles than
slowly-applied loads. This trend will be analyzed and
qualitative explanations will be suggested.
2 MODELLING
2.1 Modelling of concrete and water
It is reasonable to assume that one of the chief param-
eters contributing to the water-induced reduction of
1171
Figure 2. Experimental S-N diagram showing fatigue life
of RC slabs. The submerged case had a fatigue life 1/200 that
of dry case (Matsui 1987).
Figure 3. COM3 systemused for nonlinear analysis of rein-
forced concrete. Fundamental constitutive relations exist for
compression, tension and shear transfer.
concrete fatigue life is the pore-water pressure. While
moisture within concrete pores can travel relatively
freely over long periods of time, waters viscosity may
stifle the movement under rapid deformation in the
concrete skeleton. If water (generally considered to
be an incompressible fluid) is unable to move freely,
even small deformation of the concrete skeleton would
cause sharp rises or falls in pore-pressure. These pres-
sures exerted on the concrete skeleton could cause
accelerated damage and reduced fatigue life. If pore-
pressure is indeed a key parameter in this study, then
the reduction of concrete fatigue life should have a
significant loading rate-dependency.
It was deemed necessary to have a model that deals
with moisture kinematics from the concrete skeleton.
Biots theory for porous materials (Biot 1941), com-
monly used in fields such as geotechnical engineering,
was utilized to model concrete as a two-phase system.
The theory was implemented on top of COM3
(Fig. 3), a nonlinear analysis method for modelling
reinforced concrete in three dimensions using consti-
tutive relations, supporting multi-directional cracking
and progressive damage.
2.2 Implementation of Biots model
Biots model assumes stress in the structure is influ-
enced isotropically by pore-water pressure, i.e.:
Figure 4. Permeability-deformation relationship to be used
in analysis based on empirical data (Wang et al. 1997).
where
ij
is total stress,
ij
is the effective stress on
the solid skeleton,
ij
is the unit tensor, and p is the
scalar pore-water pressure. This assumption does not
apply in the situation we are interested in, namely the
stress on crack surfaces, which are anisotropic based
on the stress history. Clearly, pore-water pressure will
act perpendicular to the crack. Thus we have updated
the model with:
where l
i
is the unit directional vector normal to the
crack plane.
Taking u as the displacement of the skeleton, w as
the displacement of pore-water, n as the porosity and
as permeability, the dynamic equilibrium of phases
can be written as:
where g is acceleration due to gravity and and
w
are the densities of the concrete (including pores) and
water respectively.
Utilizing studies of the relationship between per-
meability of cracked concrete and crack-opening
displacement (Wang et al. 1997) (Fig. 4), a three-
dimensional relationship was developed giving the
directional permeability
i
as a function of the trans-
verse strains
jj
and
kk
:
where * is the intrinsic permeability and a is deter-
mined through experiment.
As negative pressures in the original Biot for-
mulation were unrestricted, an updated relation was
developed, restricting negative pressures to a vacuum
using the following relation (with the convention being
that p =1 atm represents a vacuum, p =0 represents
1172
Figure 5. Mesh of deck member used in analysis. To reduce
required processing, only one side of the deck member is
modeled (taking advantage of symmetry).
atmospheric pressure, and p <0 represents positive
pressure):
(compression, positive pressure)
(tension, negative pressure)
where K
w
, K
c
and K
f
are the bulk moduli of water, the
concrete skeleton and composite respectively.
2.3 Analysis
Computational analysis was performed on a deck
member of dimensions L3000 W2000 D190 mm,
the same as what was used in a related study (Matsui
1987) (Fig. 5). Only half the deck was modeled to take
advantage of symmetry. A moving 80 kN wheel-load
was simulated, travelling longitudinally along the top
side of the member. Four different saturation scenar-
ios were chosen: fully saturated, upper-side-saturated,
lower-side-saturated, and dry. To determine the level
of loading rate-dependence, different velocities of the
wheel-load were used: 77 km/h and 0.77 km/h. With
these four saturation cases and two speed cases, eight
different cases (labeled for convenience in Table 1)
were analysed.
Each case was processed, and the midspan displace-
ment was extracted. The effect of the two wheel-load
velocities was compared in each saturation case. (Note
that for the following cases, although each cycle was
individually processed, the graphs show a reduced
number of oscillations at later stages for the sake of
visual clarity.)
As expected, the difference between results in the
dry case (D-F, D-S) was found to be almost negligible,
suggesting that the fatigue life of concrete in dry con-
ditions is loading rate-independent. Surprisingly, the
lower-layer saturated case (B-F, B-S) also displayed
very little rate-dependence, and the fatigue life was
Table 1. Reference names of loading cases.
Saturation condition
Loading Upper two Lower two
Speed Fully layers layers
(km/h) saturated saturated saturated Dry
77.0 A-F U-F B-F D-F
0.77 A-S U-S B-S D-S
Figure 6. Analytical midspan deflection of RC deck mem-
ber, fully saturated, under wheel-type loading at 77 km/h
(A-F) and 0.77 km/h (A-S).
similar to that of the dry case. Possible reasons for this
will be discussed shortly.
The fully-saturated case (A-F, A-S) showed a lower
fatigue life than the previous cases, and also showed
some rate-dependence, with the fatigue life under the
fast loading rate was about 1/2 to 1/3 that of the
slow-case (Fig. 6). Perhaps most interestingly, the
upper-layer saturated case (U-F, U-S) showed a high
level of rate-dependence. While the slower loading rate
(U-S) gave a longer fatigue than the fully-saturated
case (both A-F and A-S), the faster loading rate (U-F)
had a lower fatigue life than the fully-saturated case,
about 1/8 that of the slow-case (Fig. 7).
The reason why the analysis shows that upper-side-
saturated case seems to be more rate-dependent is
that restrictions on pore pressure have been imposed.
The upper side of the bridge deck mainly undergoes
compression, and positive pressure (compression) is
unrestricted, allowing high pore pressures to be gener-
ated when under rapid deformation (Fig. 8), damaging
the concrete skeleton. On the other hand, negative pres-
sure (tension) is restricted, so the lower-side-saturated
case which is mainly under tension does not experi-
ence high pore pressures (Fig. 9). (Note that negative
pressures are denoted as positive numbers here, due to
the tension-compression convention.)
One distinct difference between the rapid wheel-
load and the slow wheel-load to note from Figure
9 is that the rapid case is reaching negative pres-
sures that approach 1 atm (the vacuum pressure).
1173
Figure 7. Analytical midspan deflection of RC deck mem-
ber, with upper layer saturated, under wheel-type loading at
77 km/h (U-F) and 0.77 km/h (U-S).
Figure 8. Pore pressure of upper element at midspan of
RC deck, upper-layer-saturated, both fast and slow load-
ing. High pressures responsible for apparent rate-dependent
fatigue loss.
Figure 9. Pore pressure of lower element at midspan of RC
deck, lower-layer-saturated, both fast and slow loading. Low
pressures responsible for apparent lack of rate-dependency
in fatigue loss.
The implications of this will be discussed in the next
section.
3 CAVITATION
3.1 Possible presence of cavitation
Based on the above analysis, rapid loading of saturated
concrete causes high pore-pressure changes, and of
Figure 10. Left: Simple phase diagram of water, showing
the occurrence of vaporization at lowpressures. Right: Apro-
peller that has experienced cavitation damage (Xahlee.org,
2003).
Figure 11. The process of cavitation damage on a surface.
The progressive implosion of cavitation bubbles and forma-
tion of high-energy jets are displayed (Lockstockaue.com,
2012).
particular interest, negative pressures that approach
1 atm (or an absolute pressure of zero). Accord-
ing to basic physical chemistry, water with pressure
reaching these values should vaporize (Fig. 10). This
vapor should occur in the form of cavitation bubbles,
which collapse soon after formation. The collapse pro-
duces a high-energy high-temperature jet (Fig. 11),
which can damage materials that it comes into contact
with. For this reason, cavitation is a leading cause of
damage in high-cycle marine devices such as pumps
and propellers (Fig. 10). If cavitation is present and
causes comparable damage in submerged concrete
under high-cycle loading, this phenomenon may be
the cause of fatigue loss that can explain the differ-
ence between experiment and analysis that has existed
up to this point.
3.2 Detection of cavitation
To determine whether the predicted pressure drops
indeed cause cavitation within the cracks of the con-
crete, experiments were performed. First, the issue
of how to reliably detect the presence of cavitation
was investigated. The method adopted was the analy-
sis of sonic pressure data from the area of interest, in
the hopes that the high frequency sound caused by
bubble formation and collapse would be detectable
by a hydrophone with a high sampling rate. Tests
were performed on a submerged concrete column sub-
jected to reverse-cycle push-over loading (Fig. 12),
as well as simply-supported two beams subject to
cyclic loading applied at midspan (Fig. 12), one con-
crete and one made from sheets of plexiglass (so that
the crack area could be observed visually). Both had
1174
Figure 12. Left: Reverse-cyclic pushover test setup. Lower
section submerged in water. Hydrophone is adjacent to base
section. Right: Plexiglass specimen setup. Mostly submerged
in water. Hydrophone is placed below midpoint.
Figure 13. Loading data alongside hydrophone sonic data
for reverse-cycle pushover test. The sonic data has been fil-
tered into high frequency components. Some high-frequency
sounds are observed during crack opening.
prefabricated cracks at midspan. The hydrophone was
located directly adjacent to the specimen in each case.
The data recorded was sampled at 200 kHz, giving
a Nyquist frequency (the highest detectable frequency
for a given sampling rate) of 100 kHz.
3.3 Interpretation of results
The sonic data was analyzed using Fourier analy-
sis, by both taking Short-Time Fourier Transforms
(spectrograms) (Fig. 13) and filtering the signal into
Figure 14. Submerged simply-supported plexiglass beam
undergoing cyclic loading. Spectrogram of sonic data is
shown with time-domain, frequency domain, and load data
plotted alongside. The graphs indicate high pressures at
high frequencies at crack-opening (coincident with loading)
and lower pressures at lower frequencies at crack-closing
(coincident with unloading).
different frequency components (Fig. 14). Under a
variety of loading conditions, both methods tended to
show higher frequency terms at crack opening stage.
This method became problematic when it was found
that the sound of the specimen cracking caused the
same high frequency periodic sounds that it had been
hoped would be characteristic of cavitation, so it was
decided that this method was insufficient. Addition-
ally, the test conditions were such that water could
travel freely into and out of the crack on opening and
closing. This is not necessarily characteristic of the
conditions of a bridge-deck, where cracks may be more
isolated from free-flowing water.
Ultimately, testing has thus far yielded inconclu-
sive results. Inherent flaws in the test design must be
considered. Considering Figure 15, it is possible that
the cavitation bubbles produced fall into the upper-left
portion of the graph, those that are too small to be vis-
ible to the naked eye and have frequencies too high to
be detected by the hydrophone used.
4 CONCLUSION
In light of the analysis presented in this paper, it is
reasonable to assume that pore water pressure, which
has shown to be highly rate-dependent, exerts non-
negligible stresses on the concrete skeleton, causing
damage. Fromthis, we can say that pore water pressure
is one of the chief parameters contributing to the water-
induced reduction of concrete fatigue. The analyzed
examples included a case in which a RC deck member
was saturated only in the upper compressive layer, and
1175
Figure 15. Cavitation bubble peak frequencies for corre-
sponding bubble sizes. p
and p
v
denote reference pressure
and vapor pressure respectively (Brennen 2011).
the rate-dependence of the fatigue life was almost an
order of magnitude.
It has also been shown that, depending on the load-
ing rate, pore pressures may reach that of vaporization,
leading to the possibility of the occurrence of cavita-
tion, which is a major cause of damage in high-cycle
marine devices. Although the experiments performed
so far have been unable to confirm this hypothesis,
further studies will be undertaken.
It is possible that with the inclusion of losses due to
rate-dependent cavitation damage and pore-pressures
exerted on the concrete skeleton, an updated analytical
model of water-induced fatigue loss (which currently
includes water-induced compression and shear trans-
fer losses) may be able to match the losses observed
in experiment.
REFERENCES
Biot, M. A. 1941, General theory of three-dimensional
consolidation, Journal of Applied Physics, 12, 155164.
Brennen, C.E. 2011. Invited Lecture: An Introduction to Cav-
itation Fundamentals, Warwick Innovative Manufacturing
Research Forum 2011.
Maekawa, K., Gebreyouhannes, E., Mishima, T. & An, X.
2006. Three-Dimensional Fatigue Simulation of RCSlabs
under Traveling Wheel-Type Loads, Journal of Advanced
Concrete Technology, Vol. 4, No. 3, 445457.
Matsui, S. 1987. The Effect of Water on the Fatigue Strength
of RC. Slabs Under Moving Loads, Concrete Engineering
Annual Report Compilation, 92, pp. 627632.
Ozaki, S. &Shimura, M. 1980. Compressive Fatigue Strength
of Concrete in Water, Proc. of the 35th Annual Con-
ference of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. 5,
pp. 293294.
Ozaki, S., Sugata, N. & Mukaida, K. 1995. Investigation on
the Reductionof Fatigue Strengthof SubmergedConcrete,
Proc. of International Conference on Concrete Under
Service Conditions, CONSEC 2, 16941703.
Wang, K., Jansen, D.C., Shah, S.P. & Karr, A.F. 1997. Perme-
ability study of cracked concrete, Cement and Concrete
Research, Volume 27, Issue 3.
1176
Mechanical properties of fibre reinforced reactive powder concrete
after exposure to high temperatures
S. Sanchayan, N. Gowripalan & S.J. Foster
ABSTRACT: Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) is a high-performance concrete that exhibits excellent mechan-
ical properties and durability characteristics, owing to its homogeneity, dense microstructure and the presence
of fibres. This research studies its behaviour with exposure to high temperature. The results include residual
compressive strength and modulus of elasticity for two RPC mixes, one containing steel fibres and a second
with PVA fibres. Temperature exposures up to 700
C were investigated. Testing of RPC cylinders containing

steel fibres exposed to temperatures above 400
C show a violent explosive reaction under thermal loading with

precautions needed in the laboratory to guard against the explosive effect. The results showan increase in residual
compressive strength up to a temperature of 300
C; but beyond 300
C, the strength is reduced considerably. The

elastic modulus also showed a steady loss at high temperatures and the research methodology and results are
presented within.
1 INTRODUCTION
Concrete technology is constantly evolving push-
ing the limits of concrete compressive strengths. In
these series of developments, reactive powder con-
crete (RPC) is a relatively recent innovation that can
have compressive strengths of up 200 MPa, and greater
(Richard and Cheyrezy 1995). Much of its improved
mechanical properties are due to its dense micro
structure, homogeneity and presence of steel fibres.
The dense micro structure is achieved by optimiz-
ing the packing density of the mix by incorporating
fine particles such as silica fume and/or silica flour.
Such optimization requires the use of third generation
superplasticiser that are effective in dispersing parti-
cles. Homogeneity is improved by eliminating coarse
aggregates completely and improving the mechanical
properties of the paste. The addition of steel fibres
helps to improve both the strength and ductility.
For new materials, it is essential to understand their
behaviour under different loading conditions before
adopting into full scale applications. High temperature
exposure is one of such loading condition. However,
limited experiments have been reported in literature on
the behaviour of RPC under such conditions (Tai, Pan
et al. 2011; Peng, Kang et al. 2012) and in most of these
studies, the strength achieved was below 125 MPa.
Concrete, in general, is perceived as a good mate-
rial under high temperature environments as compared
with steel and timber. However, some concretes show
explosive spalling during heating to elevated temper-
atures that can lead to loss of cross section and, there-
fore, affect the structural performance of members
constructed with these materials. Such spalling is
caused mainly by the build-up of pore pressures and
thermal stresses (Khoury 2000).
Explosive spalling in normal concrete is unlikely
to occur if the free moisture content is below 34%
(Zhukov 1976). Various micro-structural studies con-
ducted on RPC indicated the absence of capillary
porosity (Cheyrezy, Maret et al. 1995), meaning that
the amount of free water, which can cause explosive
spalling, is very low. However, it is reported that high
strength and ultra-high strength concretes, which are
achieved by densified particle packing using micro
filler particles such as silica fume, suffer explosive
spalling even in their dry state (Hertz 1992).
The objectives of this study is to investigate the
behaviour of two RPC mixes with nominal compres-
sive strength in excess of 150 MPa and containing
different fibres. The behaviour is studied by conduct-
ing residual property tests after exposure to high tem-
perature to obtain compressive strength and modulus
of elasticity as a function of temperature. Ultra-sonic
pulse velocity measurements were also carried out on
the cylinders before and after being subjected to high
temperature. The results are presented below.
2.1 Materials and mix design
The cement used in this study was Type 1 general
purpose cement complying to AS3972. The undensi-
fied silica fume used was manufactured by SIMCOA,
1177
Table 1. Mix design data (mass ratios).
Component RPC-SF RPC-SF-PVA
Cement 1 1
Silica fume 0.25 0.25
Sydney sand 1.1 1.1
Supperplasticizer 0.062 0.062
Steel fibres 0.172 0.087
PVA fibres 0 0.014
Water 0.17 0.17
Western Australia. The fine aggregate was Sydney
sand with maximum particle size of 600 m and was
dried at 105
C. The superplasticizer was Glenium 51.

Two, RPC-SF and RPC-SF-PVA, RPC mixes were
studied. RPC-SF contained 13 mm long by 0.2 mm
diameter steel fibres, occupying 2% of the total vol-
ume. In the RPC-SF-PVA mix 50% of the total fibre
volume was fine filament 12 mm length and 0.2 mm
diameter PVA fibres, with the other 50% provided
by steel fibres. The steel fibres were manufactured
by Dramix and have a reported minimum strength of
1800 MPa and elastic modulus of 200 GPa. The PVA
fibres were manufactured by Kuraray, Japan and have
a reported minimum strength of 1000 MPa, an elastic
modulus of 29 GPa and a melting point of 220
C.
The detail mix data is presented in Table 1. The
quantities are expressed as ratios relative to the mass
of cement.
2.2 Mixing and fabrication
All the materials were batched using an electronic bal-
ance and mixed using a horizontal pan type mixer. The
dry constituents were mixed for 10 minutes and then
the water and superplasticiser were added, together.
Mixing was continued until the mix had a even plastic
consistency. The fibres were then sprinkled into the
mix and mixing was continued for another 5 minutes.
Thirty cylinders of 100 mm diameter and 200 mm
height were cast for each batch in steel moulds and
were stored in a controlled environment room at 50%
relative humidity (RH) and 26
C for a period of 24
hours. After 24 hours, the cylinders were de-moulded
and cured for a further 72 hours at 90
C in a hot water
bath. At the end of the curing period, the cylinders
were removed from the hot water bath and stored in
the controlled environment roomat 50%RHand 26
C,
until the time of testing.
Three cylinders were tested for compressive
strength on the day they were taken out of hot water
bath, after a period of air cooling, another three were
tested on the day of testing, which was from 100
days to 200 days after casting. Test results indicated
no appreciable difference with the age after the com-
pletion of the 96 hour curing period. One cylinder
was tested for modulus of elasticity on the day of
the test. The mean compressive strengths obtained
for the batch were 170 MPa for the RPC-SF mix and
Figure 1. Testing temperature profile.
158 MPa for the RPC-SR-PVA mix. The elastic mod-
uli were 46.3 GPa and 42.1 GPa for the RPC-SF and
RPC-SR-PVA mixes, respectively.
2.3 Heating regime
An electric furnace was used to heat the specimens to
their desired temperatures. Seven target temperatures
were selected starting at 100
C to 700
C, increments
of 100
C. Three cylinders were tested for each target

temperature. The cylinders were heated to the target
temperature from the room temperature at the rate of
5
C/min and were allowed to soak at the target tem-

perature for 3 hours. At the end of the soaking period,
the furnace was turned off allowing the cylinders to
naturally cool to room temperature. Pilot experiments
undertaken as a part of the study showed that RPCpose
a potential of explosive behaviour when subjected to
temperatures above 400
C. Thus, as a measure to safe-

guardthe furnace incase of suchanevent, the cylinders
were placed in a steel box prior to placing in the fur-
nace. Further, the cylinders that were to be subjected to
C were dried at 105
C until a
constant mass was reached (i.e. no further mass loss).
The heating profile and the furnace arrangement are
shown Figures 1 and 2, respectively.
2.4 Experimental procedure
Before entering the furnace, ultra sonic pulse veloc-
ity (USPV) measurements were undertaken on all the
cylinders. After the heating and subsequent cooling
period, USPVmeasurements were first undertaken for
each cylinder. One cylinder was then tested to obtain
the residual elastic modulus and, lastly, the three cylin-
ders were tested to obtain the residual compressive
strength. All the mechanical property tests were car-
ried out in accordance with respect to the respective
parts of Australian Standards AS1012.
1178
Figure 2. Furnace arrangement showing steel specimen
box.
Figure 3. Mass loss.
3.1 Mass loss
The mass loss in the concrete cylinders is calculated
as the percentage change in mass after exposure to the
heating regime. The mass loss predominately occurs
due to loss of water, in all three forms (namely, free
water, adsorbed water and chemically bound water),
and other physical and chemical transformations. Fig-
ure 3 presents the mass loss as a percentage of initial
mass for the mixes considered in this study.
All the cylinders of the RPC-SF mix that were sub-
jected to temperatures above 400
C exploded, even
after oven drying at 105
C for as long four weeks.

Therefore the data for RPC-SF was only obtained
for temperatures up to 300
C. Thus the use of RPC

in high temperature and fire environments must be
questioned.
From the results, it is apparent that the bulk of the
mass loss occurs between the temperatures 200
C and
400
C. The results of the 105
C oven drying environ-

ment show that the total available evaporable water
content is between 2.5 to 3 percent, for both of the
mixes, whereas the initial mixing water content was
about 6.0 to 6.5 percent. From this, it can be inferred
Figure 4. First derivative of mass losses.
that the bulk of the mass loss is due to dehydration
beyond 300
C, which releases considerable amount

of chemically bound water into the concrete pores.
A clear picture can be seen by considering the first
derivatives of the mass loss (Fig. 4). The peak of the
curve occurs between temperatures 200
C and 400
C,
indicatingthe bulkof the mass loss occurs inthis range.
The PVA fibres have a melting point of 220
C. At
C, the fibres were observed

to have been completely vaporised.
3.2 Residual compressive strength
The residual compressive for the two mixes are pre-
sented in Figure 5 as a ratio of the original strength.
The RPC-SF cylinders did not survive the tempera-
ture exposure beyond 400
C, that is, the cylinders had

exploded in the furnace.
The original strength was retained up to the tem-
perature of 400
C; there was even an 18% strength

increase was found at 300
C. Beyond 400
C, the
strength drops considerably. At 500
C the residual
strength is 50% of the original strength at 700
C, the
residual strength is 20% of the original strength.
The strengthincrease that occurredduringthe initial
temperatures may be either due to removal of moisture
in the matrix, which can lead to increase of surface
forces (Behnood et al., 2009), or due to hydro thermal
conditions that may exist due to lower porosity of the
matrix causing crystalline transformation of hydration
products. However, as the specimens subjected to oven
drying at 105
C were also found to cause an approx-

imately 18% increase in strength, it is reasonable to
conclude that the initial drying process is the major
reason for strength increase at the lower temperature
range.
Beyond300
Cit has beenshownalreadyusingmass

loss relationship the bulk of the mass loss is due to
dehydration meaning that there is a decomposition of
the cement matrix beyond 300
C, causing a steady loss

of strength.
3.3 Residual modulus of elasticity
Figure 6 presents ratio of residual elastic modulus to
the initial elastic modulus; beyond 300
C, the loss in
1179
Figure 5. Residual compressive strength.
Figure 6. Residual modulus of elasticity.
elastic modulus for increasing temperatures becomes
significant. At 400
C, the elastic modulus was 40%

of the initial measurement and at 500
C, the elastic
modulus was 20% of the initial measurement.
The loss of elastic modulus is an indication of the
damage caused to the matrix due to the high temper-
ature exposure. It is deduced from the results that the
concrete matrix start to undergo considerable dam-
age beyond 300
C and further corroborates the results

inferred from the mass loss measurements presented
above.
3.4 Ultra sonic pulse velocity measurements
The change in the ultrasonic pulse velocity measure-
ments can also be an indicator of the degree of damage
suffered by the matrix. Figure 7 shows the change in
the ultrasonic pulse velocity, expressed as the ratio of
the final velocity after exposure to the initial veloc-
ity before exposure. The mean initial velocity was
4.6 km/s, for both mixes.
3.5 Explosive spalling
At temperatures of about 400
C, the RPC-SF cylin-

ders, both with or without prior oven drying, exploded
violently (Figs. 8 and 9). On the other hand, the RPC-
SF-PVA specimens, where one-half of the steel fibres
were replaced with PVA fibres, did not explode.
Figure 7. Relative change in ultra-sonic pulse velocities.
Figure 8. Exploded cylinders of RPC-SF mix not oven
dried prior to testing.
Figure 9. Exploded cylinders of RPC-SF mix that were
oven dried at 105
C prior to testing.
At temperatures of 500
C and above, the RPC-SF-

PVA specimens showed some cracking; however, the
cylinders stayed intact. The steel fibres were observed
to have oxidized at temperature of 500
Cand above. At
these temperatures, the fibres become more brittle and,
thus, contributed less to the integrity of the cylinders.
Figure 11 shows the cracked cylinders of RPC-SF-
PVA at 500
C.
1180
Figure 10. Cracked cylinder of RPC-SF-PVA (oven dried)
and heated to 500
C.
4 CONCLUSIONS
This paper presented the results of an experimental
investigation of two RPCmixes tested at elevated tem-
peratures. One mix contained two percent by volume
of steel fibres, the other one percent by volume of steel
fibres and one percent by volume of PVAfibres. Com-
pressive strengths, moduli of elasticity and ultrasonic
pulse velocity measurements were undertaken.
The following conclusions can be drawn from the
above experimental study:
1. Regardless of type of fibres, RPC shows consider-
able increase in strength during the earlier exposure
to temperatures, up to 300
C;
2. This increase in strength is attributed to removal of
free moisture and a subsequent increase of surface
forces;
3. At temperatures above 400
C, RPC is prone to
explosive spalling, of a violent nature. This is due
to release of chemically bound water and its lower
porosity;
4. Addition of synthetic PVA fibres with a melting
point below 300
C help to lessen the problem of

explosive spalling;
5. Lastly, at temperatures above 400
C, SF-PVA RPC
suffers considerable damage to its micro-structure,
leading to steady loss in stiffness.
Further study is needed to identify the ways of
reducing the problem of explosive spalling and deter-
mining the optimal PVA fibre fraction to balance
strength and ductility considerations with that of
exposure to fire and elevated temperatures.
REFERENCES
Behnood, A. & M. Ghandehari 2009. Comparison of com-
pressive and splitting tensile strength of high-strength
concrete with and without polypropylene fibers heated to
high temperatures. Fire Safety Journal 44(8): 10151022.
Cheyrezy, M., Maret, V. & Laurent, F. 1995. Microstructural
analysis of RPC (reactive powder concrete). Cement and
Concrete Research 25(7): 14911500.
Hertz, K. D. 1992. Danish investigations on silica fume con-
cretes at elevated temperatures. ACI Materials Journal
89(4): 345347.
Khoury, G. A. 2000. Effect of fire on concrete and con-
crete structures. Progress in Structural Engineering and
Materials 2(4): 429447.
Peng, G.-F., Y.-R. Kang, Huang, Y.-Z., Liu, X.-P. & Chen,
Q. 2012. Experimental Research on Fire Resistance of
Reactive Powder Concrete. Advances in Materials Science
and Engineering 2012: 6.
Richard, P. & M. Cheyrezy 1995. Composition of reactive
powder concretes. Cement and Concrete Research 25(7):
15011511.
Tai, Y.-S., H.-H. Pan, & Kung, Y.-N. 2011. Mechanical prop-
erties of steel fiber reinforced reactive powder concrete
following exposure to high temperature reaching 800
C.
Nuclear Engineering and Design 241(7): 24162424.
Zhukov, V. V. 1976. Reasons for the explosive spalling of
heated concrete. Beton I Sjeljesobeton (3): 2628.
1181
Assessment of bottom ash use as fine aggregate replacement in concrete
R. Satsangi
Eastern Region, Hanson Construction Materials Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia
K. Vessalas
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia
S. Russell
Eastern Region, Hanson Construction Materials Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: Concrete is the most common construction material used worldwide. Fine aggregate constitutes
approximately 25% of the total volume of concrete. Currently, most fine aggregate used in concrete consists of
naturally occurring sands, which are sourced from sand quarries. In the future, Sydney will face a sand shortage,
with most quarries becoming exhausted. This will likely lead to increased demand in using sands hauled from
longer distances, adversely impacting the environment. This project investigates the feasibility of using bottom
ash (BA) as a novel sand replacement in concrete. BA is defined as a by-product of coal burning power stations.
The BAs used in this study were sourced from 3 different power stations in NSW to assess the practicality of
using BA for replacement of sand in concrete. Compared to control concrete, Bayswater BA concretes showed
improved performance at 20% replacement of sand content with higher compressive strength and lower drying
shrinkage.
1 INTRODUCTION
Concrete is recognised as the most widely used con-
struction material in the world for various reasons
including its reputation for durability, efficiency, cost
effectiveness and architectural flexibility. With mil-
lions of cubic metres of concrete consumed in NSW
alone and the industry contributing $1.2 billion to the
NSW economy, it is the base for our economy and
modern society (CCAA 2011). In effect, it is impor-
tant that concrete is seen to be produced and consumed
in a sustainable manner for the better future.
The main constituents of concrete include cement,
water, coarse aggregates, fine aggregates and admix-
tures which are becoming increasing popular to
enhance the properties of concrete to better suit its
application (Kerkhoff, Kosmatka & Panarese 2003).
Due to concretes high demand in the construction
industry, Earths finite resources are becoming a
prominent issue.
Due to the high demand of concrete in NSW, there
has been considerable concern of the depleting natural
sand sources in the NSW region. The fine aggregate
(sand) makes up about 2530% of the total concrete
volume. Currently, most of the natural sand sources
for the Sydney metropolitan region include Clarence,
Somersby and Kurnell. In the near future, most of
the sand sources will either be depleted or exhausted,
which will induce sand to be transported from longer
distances increasing to the cost of concrete in NSW
and also to its environmental impact.
Bottom ash is a by product of the combustion of
coal in a coal powered power plant. This research
study explores the feasibility of using bottomash (BA)
as a partial fine aggregate replacement in concrete
from the following power plants including: Bayswa-
ter (BBA), Mt. Piper (MTP) andWallerawang (WNG).
Fresh properties (slumpand mass per unit volume) and
hardened properties (compressive strength and dry-
ing shrinkage) of concrete with and without BA are
assessed.
BBA, MTP and WNG were selected as a partial fine
aggregate replacement (by weightof the total fine
aggregate content) at 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%. The
following commercially available raw materials were
utilised in the concrete mixes:
a) General Purpose Cement Kandos (GP-C)
b) Fly Ash Mt. Piper (FA)
c) 20 mm Concrete Agg. Kulnura (20CA)
d) 10 mm Concrete Agg. Kulnura (10CA)
e) Fine Sand Clarence (CFS)
f) Coarse Sand Clarence
1183
Table 1. XRF analysis- bottom ashes.
Oxides SiO
2
Al
2
O
3
Fe
2
O
3
CaO MgO Na
2
O K
2
O
FA (%) 65.1 23.8 3.4 1.9 0.5 0.5 1.5
BBA (%) 62.2 21.6 8.5 2.7 1.0 0.1 0.9
MTP (%) 70.7 22.8 1.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 1.8
WNG (%) 65.0 22.9 2.2 0.6 0.3 0.3 2.1
Table 2. Experimental procedure (set 1).
(kg/m
3
) (L/m
3
)
Mix C.
No. Mat. CA FS MS BA Admix. H
2
O
1 327 1070 659 165 0.0 1.31 166
2 327 1070 659 0 165 1.96 166
3 327 1070 577 0 247 1.64 166
4 327 1070 494 0 330 1.70 166
5 327 1070 412 0 412 1.64 166
(kg/m
3
) (L/m
3
)
Mix C.
2
O
1 327 1070 659 165 0.0 1.31 166
6 327 1070 659 0 165 1.47 166
7 327 1070 577 0 247 1.65 166
8 327 1070 494 0 330 2.29 166
9 327 1070 412 0 412 2.90 166
All aggregate were conditioned prior to mixing to
ensure saturated surface dry conditions were achieved
in accordance with AS 1012.2-1994: Preparation of
concrete mixes in the laboratory. The chemical com-
position as determined by X-ray florescence (XRF)
analysis of the BAs are given in Table 1. The parti-
cle size distribution of the BAs was determined by the
test method prescribed in AS 1141.11.1. The percent-
age passing 75 m was found to be 8%, 20%, 18% for
the BBA, MTP and WNG, respectively.
A constant water-to-cementitious material ratio
(w/cm) of 0.51 was used in all concrete mixes. Table 2
to 4 summarises the proportion of the mixes. Stan-
dardconcrete cylinders measuring100 mmindiameter
by 200 mm in height were moulded and demoulded
after 24 h moist curing. Compressive strength was
determined at 7, 28, 56 and 91-days where a represen-
tative set of 3 concrete cylinders were tested for each
age interval. The relevant Australian Standard proce-
dures were used in the mixing, moulding, curing and
compressive strength testing of concrete specimens
including: AS 1012.2-1994 (1994), AS 1012.3.1-1998
(1998), AS 1012.5-1999 (1999), AS 1012.8.1-2000
(2000) and AS 1012.9-1999 (1999).
(kg/m
3
) (L/m
3
)
Mix C.
2
O
1 327 1070 659 165 0.0 1.31 166
10 327 1070 659 0 165 1.80 166
11 327 1070 577 0 247 2.45 166
12 327 1070 494 0 330 3.11 166
13 327 1070 412 0 412 3.74 166
Table 5. Legend for tables 36.
Abbreviation Meaning
CM Cementitous Material
CA Coarse Aggregate
FS Fine Sand
MS Manufactured Sand
BA BottomAsh
Admix Total admixture content
H
2
O Water
Table 6. Mix number to mix description.
Mix No. Mix Description
1 Control
2 CFS80-BBA20
3 CFS70-BBA30
4 CFS60-BBA40
5 CFS50-BBA50
6 CFS80-MTP20
7 CFS70-MTP30
8 CFS60-MTP40
9 CFS50-MTP50
10 CFS80-WNG20
11 CFS70-WNG30
12 CFS60-WNG40
13 CFS50-WNG50
3 RESULTS & DISCUSSION
3.1 Fresh concrete: Workability and mass per unit
volume (MPV)
Summarises the fresh properties of the concrete mixes.
The slump was chosen to be fixed and it was controlled
within 80 15 mm (Australian Industry Standard-
normal concrete). It was crucial that the slump value
remained within the tolerance prescribed as it influ-
enced the correct amount of compaction required for
the preparation of compressive strength cylinders and
drying shrinkage specimens.
Table 7 compares the MPV of mixes containing BA
and Clarence fine sand. As can be seen from, the MPVs
decreased with increased addition of BA. Plausible
1184
Table 7. Fresh concrete properties
Slump Density
Mix (mm) (kg/m
3
)
Control 95 2470
CFS80-BBA20 95 2370
CFS70-BBA30 95 2330
CFS60-BBA40 85 2315
CFS50-BBA50 85 2275
CFS80-MTP20 80 2340
CFS70-MTP30 80 2315
CFS60-MTP40 80 2285
CFS50-MTP50 80 2245
CFS80-WNG20 80 2305
CFS70-WNG30 80 2290
CFS60-WNG40 80 2245
CFS50-WNG50 80 2215
Table 8. Specific gravity-fine aggregates.
Specific gravity
Bayswater BA 1.9
Mt. Piper BA 1.71
Wallerwang BA 1.62
Clarence FS 2.61
reasoning behind the observed decreasein MPV can
be possibly affiliated to the lower specific gravity of
the BA mixes as outlined in Table 7.
3.2 Hardened concrete: Compressive strength
Table 8 shows the compressive strength of all mixes. It
can be seen that the control mix reached higher com-
pressive strength than the BAmixes with the exception
of the CFS80-BBA20 mix after 28 days. Figure 1
depicts the development of compressive strength upto
91 days curing for the Bayswater BA mixes. The com-
pressive strength of concrete increased with increasing
age at a decreasing rate.
There are two main phenomenon that can be possi-
bly affiliated with the results obtained from this study
including; the increase in later age strength achieved
due to the chemical and mineralogical composition of
the bottomash while a decrease in strength caused due
to the aggregates low elastic modulus, deformability
and water absorption properties.
As detailed in Table 1, all BAs have the same major
oxide components as fly ashes which include SiO
2
,
Fe
2
O
3
andAl
2
O
3
. The similarity in the composition of
the BAs as compared to fly ash allows the material to
potentially possespozzolanic properties with decreas-
ing particle size <75 m. The potential of the BBA
to possess pozzolanic properties provides a plausible
explanation of the higher later age strength observed
for the CFS80-BBA20 mix, (i.e. Clarence fine sand
Table 9. Compressive strength results.
Curing (Days) 7 28 56 91
Compressive strength results summary (MPa)
Set 1
Control Mix 21.5 34.0 41.0 48.0
CFS80-BBA20 20.0 34.0 43.0 50.0
CFS70-BBA30 16.0 28.5 37.5 42.0
CFS60-BBA40 15.5 28.5 36.0 40.5
CFS50-BBA50 13.5 25.5 33.0 40.0
Set 2
CFS80-MTP20 19.0 31.5 39.0 43.0
CFS70-MTP30 18.0 28.0 36.0 40.5
CFS60-MTP40 16.0 28.0 35.0 40.0
CFS50-MTP50 15.0 27.5 34.0 40.5
Set 3
CFS80-WNG20 18.0 31.5 36.5 42.0
CFS70-WNG30 16.0 29.0 36.0 40.5
CFS60-WNG40 14.5 26.5 32.5 37.5
CFS50-WNG50 13.5 24.5 32.0 37.5
Figure 1. Compressive strength results-set 1.
80%and BBA20%) after 28 days. It is therefore possi-
ble that the silica identified by XRF in the BBA could
be reacting with the calcium hydroxide formed during
the cement hydration process to formcalcium silicate
hydrates (Equation 1) thus, increasing the strength of
the concrete with age.
Equation 1: Pozzolanicreaction
3.3 Hardened concrete: Drying shrinkage
Table 9 summarises the drying shrinkage obtained
from the investigation. In the mixes with the BAs, the
general trendwas observedtobe that the dryingshrink-
age increases with the increase in BA content of the
mix; however, as depicted in Figure 2, it is observed
that the dryingshrinkage of the mixCFS80- BBA20
was lower than the drying shrinkage of the control mix.
At week13, the dryingshrinkage of the CFS80-BBA20
was 70 m lower than the control mix.
The observed reduction in drying shrinkage may
be possibly described using the research undertaken
1185
Table 10. Drying shrinkage results.
Drying Period (Days) 7 14 21 28 56 91
Drying shrinkage (s)
Set 1
Control Mix 210 300 360 410 500 560
CFS80-BBA20 200 270 350 370 460 490
CFS70-BBA30 210 310 390 420 500 560
CFS60-BBA40 220 330 410 440 540 580
CFS50-BBA50 180 290 370 410 510 550
Set 2
CFS80-MTP20 230 330 400 430 510 560
CFS70-MTP30 220 330 390 440 530 560
CFS60-MTP40 250 370 460 490 580 615
CFS50-MTP50 280 410 480 525 595 630
Set 3
CFS80-WNG20 240 330 395 430 520 560
CFS70-WNG30 265 380 460 490 580 620
CFS60-WNG40 275 390 460 500 575 610
CFS50-WNG50 300 430 520 455 615 650
Figure 2. Drying shrinkage results-set 1.
by Y.Bai, F. Darcy and P.A.M Basheer (Bai, Darcy, &
Basheer 2005). These authors attempt to explain the
internal curing effect caused due to use of porous
aggregate in concrete mixes. The authors describe that
the porous aggregate (i.e. BA) can promote the supply
of water internally to the concrete, without permit-
ting that there is an excessive capillary attraction force
(Andrade, Rocha &Cheriaf 2009). Since the porous
aggregate acts like a natural reservoir, it compensates
for the water which is lost in the capillary or later gel
pores thus reducing the drying shrinkage of the con-
crete as observed in the drying shrinkage results of
CFS80-BBA20.
4 CONCLUSIONS
From this investigation, it can be concluded that BA
can be satisfactorily used as a partial fine aggregate
replacement in concreteupto 20% of the total fine
aggregate content with minimal affect on the fresh
and hardened concrete properties; however, it was also
concluded that when 20% Bayswater BA is used as
a partial sand replacement it results in lower MPV,
higher later age compressive strength and lower drying
shrinkage, therefore offers an improved performing
concrete.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank Hanson Construction
Materials for their support during the conduction of
this research investigation.
REFERENCES
Andrade, L.B., Rocha, J.C., Cheriaf, M. 2009, Influence of
coal bottom ash as fine aggregate on fresh properties of
concrete, Construction and Building Materials Volume
23, pages 609614.
AS 1012.2-1994 (1994). Methods of testing concrete, Method
2: Preparation of concrete mixes in the laboratory.
AS 1012.3.1-1998 (1998). Methods of testing concrete,
Method 3.1: Determination of properties related to the
consistency of concrete Slump test.
5: Determination of mass per unit volume of freshly mixed
concrete.
AS 1012.8.1-2000 (2000). Methods of testing concrete,
Method 8.1: Method for making and curing concrete
Compression and indirect tensile test specimens.
9: Determination of the compressive strength of concrete
specimens.
Bai, Y., Darcy, F. &Basheer, P.A.M., 2005, Strength and dry-
ing shrinkage properties of concrete containing furnace
bottom ash as fine aggregate, Construction and Building
Materials, Volume 19, Pages 691697.
Concrete: The Responsible Choice 2011, Educational Video,
CCAA, Sydney.
Kerkhoff, B., Kosmatka, S.H., Panarese, W.C., 2003, Design
and Control of Concrete Mixtures, 14th edition, Portland
Cement Association, Illinois USA.
Wikipedia 2010a Concrete, Article, Wikipedia, viewed on
16thMay2011, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete>
1186
Assessment of compressive strength of elastomeric modified concrete
incorporating waste tyre rubber
N. Sharifi, K. Vessalas & Bijan Samali
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
ABSTRACT: This paper reports on the fundamental findings of utilizing Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR)
waste tyre granules as a potential source for replacing coarse aggregate in elastomeric modified concrete (EMC).
EMCs incorporating 2%, 4%, 6%and 10%of SBRgranules (1215 mm) are assessed for their fresh and hardened
properties compared to control concrete devoid of SBR granule additions. Fresh concrete was investigated for
slump, air content, and wet density while hardened concrete was evaluated for compressive strength at 7, 28 and
56 days of age. A decrease in slump, density up to 4% and compressive strength of 10 to 44% for 28 days of
age, with the addition of SBR granules and an increase in the value of air content were observed.
1 INTRODUCTION
Sustainable development is defined as the develop-
ment that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs. (WCED 1987). With an increased
awareness of environmental pollution and a reduction
in naturally existing resources, sustainable develop-
ment practices couldfinda highstage amongconstruc-
tors and governmental decision makers. Civil engi-
neering structures, especially buildings, are among
the largest consumers of natural resources such as
aggregates, water, and metal. Moreover, the mentioned
structures are responsible for a significant portion
of greenhouse emissions, especially if they are con-
structed with the most commonly used construction
material: concrete (Chen, Okudan & Riley 2010).
On the other hand, accumulation of solid waste
without any secure market to absorb it, has raised the
question of what is the best solution to reduce the sig-
nificant amount of waste with the minimum usage of
other energy resources.
One approach in solving the above issue is to iden-
tify waste suitable for use in the construction industry.
This approach is not only a solution to decrease the
amount of waste in the natural environment, but it can
also be an appropriate and economical option to utilise
waste to build more sustainable civil infrastructure.
A number of detected recycling materials, such as
waste tyre granules, have shown significant useful
properties other than being environmental friendly,
which distinguishes them from other construction
materials.
Therefore, Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) gran-
ules sourced from waste tyre has been introduced as
a new approach to solve environmental challenges.
Several works have been devoted to the use of rubber
particles recovered from waste tyres to replace natural
aggregates in concrete mix. Eldin & Senouci (1994)
examined the engineering properties of rubberised
concrete and developed a neural network to predict
the compressive strength. Batayneh, Marie & Asi
(2008) concluded that although theres a significant
reduction in strength of elastomeric modified concrete
(EMC) the lower wet density, can still meet the cri-
teria, accepted by industry, of light weight concrete.
Khaloo, Dehestani &Rahmatabadi (2008) have exclu-
sively studied the mechanical and physical properties
of concrete containing fine, coarse, and combined rub-
ber as a substitute of aggregates. Aiello & Leuzzi
(2010) studied the fresh and hardened characteristics
of EMCs incorporating shredded waste tyre having
the same geometric dimensions as the replaced aggre-
gates in conventional concrete. Yilmaz & Degirmenci
(2009) also determined the characteristics of concrete
mix incorporating waste tyre rubber and high vol-
umes of fly ash. Unlike the other research works,
these authors reported a higher flexural strength in
specimens containing rubber particles.
This paper reports on the fresh and mechanical
performance of EMC incorporating SBR waste tyre
granules as partial replacement of coarse aggregate.
EMCs incorporating 2%, 4%, 6% and 10% of SBR
granules (1215 mm) are assessed for air content,
slump, wet density and compressive strength com-
pared to control concrete devoid of SBR granule
additions.
2 RESEARCH PROGRAM
2.1 Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) granules
The SBR granules used in this study are a general pur-
pose synthetic elastomer, manufacturedfroma copoly-
mer of styrene and butadiene. These elastomeric
1187
Figure 1. SBR granules 1215 mm.
granules were sourced from waste four-wheel drive
tyres with the size of particles varying from 12 to
15 mm. The relative wet density of the SBR granules
was determined to be 0.92 kg/m
3
. An illustration of
the typical SBR granules used in this study is shown
in Figure 1. The SBR granules were used to partially
replace 10 mm and 20 mm gravels at 2%, 4%, 6% and
10% by mass of aggregate.
2.2 Mix materials
The raw materials used in batching of the concrete
mixes included shrinkage limited Portland cement
(PC), manufactured blended 50/50 fine and coarse
sand(BS) as the fine aggregate component, and10 mm
and 20 mm gravel as the coarse aggregate (CA) frac-
tion. In addition, fly ash (FA) sourced from Eraring
power station was used as a supplementary cemen-
titious material (SCM) addition to partially replace
Portland cement (PC) at 30%. Drinkable grade water
conditioned to 23 2
C was used for all mixes.

The physical properties of all aggregates are sum-
marised in Table 1. A high range water-reducing
admixture (HWR) was also used to obtain the desired
slump of 80 20 mm. For all mixes, a fixed water-
to-cementitious-material ratio (w/cm) of 0.35 was
employed.
2.3 Specimen preparation and testing
The proportioning of aggregates is shown in Tables 2
and 3. SBR granules were replaced by total mass of
coarse aggregates. SBR granules were premixed with
other aggregates for 3 min prior to the adding of PC,
FA and water. The raw materials were mixed based on
the listed test method criteria of AS 1012.2-1994.
Table 1. Physical properties of aggregates.
Particle bulk density Water absorption
Aggregate type (kg/m
3
) (%)
10 mm CA 2700 1.8
20 mm CA 2710 1.6
Blended sand 2650 1.2
Table 2. Experimental program.
SBR 10 mm 20 mm
Mix granules coarse coarse
identification (%) aggregate (%) aggregate (%)
C 0 100 100
R2 2 99 99
R4 4 98 98
R6 6 97 97
R10 10 95 95
All test specimens were demoulded after 24 h and
then cured in lime-saturated water in line with the stan-
dard temperature zone curing conditions (23 2
C)
specified in Section 9 of AS 1012.8.1-2000 and
Section 9 of AS 1012.8.2-2000.
For each concrete mix, the fresh properties mea-
sured were slump, air content (AC) and wet den-
sity following criteria listed under AS 1012.3.1-1998,
AS 1012.4.1-1999 and AS 1012.5-1999 test meth-
ods, respectively. Cylindrical specimens of dimensions
100 mm diameter by 200 mm high were moulded for
determination of compressive strength in accordance
with the test method requirements of AS 1012.8.1-
2000. Testing for strength was carried out after curing
for 7, 28 and 56 days following requirements of test
method AS 1012.9-1999 (12).
3.1 Fresh concrete properties
Table 4 lists HWR additions, wet density and AC of
all mixes. As shown in Figure 2a., an increase of
SBR granules used in the EMC mixes resulted in a
decrease in wet density. Figure 2b. depicts the amount
of HWR needed to obtain the correct slump of all
mixes. Although the amount of HWR required was
noted to increase with increasing additions of SBR
granules used in EMC mixes, a workable mix was still
observed during the consolidation of test specimens.
A possible explanation behind this noted reduction
in wet density is the relative wet density differences
between BS and SBR granules (2.65 for BS compared
to 0.92 for SBR granules). It is also worth mention-
ing that Siddique &Naik (2004) reported that a higher
amount of air was present in EMC mixes due to the
1188
Table 3. Concrete mix proportions.
Portland Blended 10 mm coarse 20 mm coarse Styrene Butadiene
cement Fly ash sand aggregate aggregate Water Rubber granules
Mix (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
)
C 301.0 129.0 635.0 390.0 700.0 150.5 0.0
R2 301.0 129.0 633.0 386.0 688.0 151.0 11.0
R4 301.0 129.0 633.0 382.0 681.0 151.0 22.0
R6 301.0 129.0 633.0 378.0 674.0 151.0 33.0
R10 301.0 129.0 633.0 371.0 660.0 151.0 54.0
Table 4. Fresh properties of the concrete.
High range
water reducer Wet density Air content
Mix (ml/m
3
) (kg/m
3
) (%)
C 75 2450 1. 0
R2 1077 2427 1.05
R4 1092 2413 1.2
R6 1338 2399 1.2
R10 1415 2363 1.8
non-polar surfaces of rubber particles and their ten-
dency to capture air within their roughened surfaces.
These authors also reported that SBR particles are
hydrophobic and attract more air and, therefore, repel
water. This possibly has contributed to the observed
reduction in density.
3.2 Hardened concrete properties
The properties of the hardened EMCs are summarised
in Table 5.
3.2.1 Compressive strength
The effect of SBR granules on concrete strength is
shown in Figure 3. With increasing additions of SBR
granules in EMCs, compressive strength is noted to
be lower when compared to the equivalent strength
for control concrete at 7, 28 and 56 days. One pos-
sible reason for this decrease could be attributed to
the lower stiffness of the SBR granules compared to
mineral aggregates, as aggregates contribute to the
compressive strength of the concrete. SBR granules
could also act as voids in concrete under axial loads
and that could lead to lack of strength under compres-
sive loads. Moreover, the compressive strength of all
mixes is observed to increase with age and this is likely
due to the hydration process of cementitious materials
contributing to strength in the concrete.
3.2.2 Compressive strength to density ratio
Another relationship evaluated in this investigation
is that of compressive strength-to-density ratio. The
compressive-strength-to-density ratio of concretes
incorporating only SBRgranules is shown in Figure 4.
It can be seen that a possible correlation exists between
Figure 2. Effect of SBR granules on fresh properties of the
concrete.
reduced strength equating to reduced density of the
concrete mix.
3.2.3 Modes of failure
The failure patterns of EMCspecimens were observed
to be different to the failure pattern observed in control
1189
Table 5. Compressive strength (MPa).
Mix 7 days 28 days 56 days
C 46.0 57.5 70.0
R2 42.0 51.5 67.0
R4 40.0 48.5 49.0
R6 38.5 46.0 46.5
R10 30.0 32.0 39.0
Figure 3. Compressive strength of control and EMCs
with age.
Figure 4. Compressive-strength-to-density ratio.
concrete. For EMCs, failure was noted to gradually
occur under the application of compressive stress near
ultimate strength, while at fracture no fragmentation
was observed. EMCspecimens remained intact as one
body even after failure. During uniaxial compressive
strength loading of EMCs, it was noted that at ulti-
mate strength, fewer cracks were observed in the failed
specimens with increasing addition of SBR granules.
This is possibly due to the SBR granules acting in the
role of preventing crack propagation. This statement
is supported by similar research findings carried out
by Eldin & Senouci (1994) and Khaloo, Dehestani &
Rahmatabadi (2008). Considering the characteristic
elastic behaviour exhibited by SBR granules, EMCs
are possibly also able to carry post-failure loads. This
is an attractive feature, particularly in relation to safety
issues associated with normal concrete exhibiting a
brittle-like failure.
4 CONCLUSIONS
1. An increase of SBR granules used in the mix
resulted in an increase in the amount of HWR
required to achieve the same slump; however, the
level of the workability of the mix was still within
the acceptable range.
2. With addition of SBR granules, AC of the fresh
concrete increased.
3. The density of EMCs was lower than control con-
crete; therefore, EMC is a candidate material for
applications needing light weight concrete.
4. In terms of compressive strength, the lowest value
of 32 MPa was exhibited by the EMC using 10%
SBR granules at 28 days of age; however, the
amount of natural aggregates preserved by replac-
ing with SBR granules could justify the usage of
waste tyre in concrete as a cost-beneficial environ-
mentally friendly construction material.
5. EMC specimens containing SBR granules did not
exhibit a brittle-like failure pattern as that of nor-
mal concrete. No fragmentation was observed after
failure and specimens remained intact even after
failure.
This study has merely focused on the fresh prop-
erties and compressive strength behaviour of concrete
containing SBR granules sourced from waste tyres as
a possible partial replacement of coarse aggregate in
concrete. Further research is required to investigate
characteristics of the bonding between SBR gran-
ules and the cement matrix in order to enhance the
mechanical properties such as compressive strength.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Support from Centre for Built Infrastructure Research
(CBIR) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
is gratefully acknowledged. Also the authors would
like to thank the technical support provided by the
Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
(FEIT) Concrete and Structures Laboratory at UTS.
REFERENCES
Aiello, M.A. & Leuzzi, F. 2010, Waste tyre rubberized
concrete: Properties at fresh and hardened state, Waste
1190
Batayneh, M.K., Marie, I. &Asi, I. 2008, Promoting the use
of crumb rubber concrete in developing countries, Waste
Chen, Y., Okudan, G.E. & Riley, D.R. 2010, Sustainable per-
formance criteria for construction method selection in
concrete buildings, Automation in Construction, vol. 19,
no. 2, pp. 235244.
Eldin, N.N. & Senouci, A.B. 1994, Measurement and predic-
tion of the strength of rubberized concrete, Cement and
Concrete Composites, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 287298.
Khaloo, A.R., Dehestani, M. & Rahmatabadi, P. 2008,
Mechanical properties of concrete containing a high vol-
ume of tire-rubber particles, Waste Management, vol. 28,
no. 12, pp. 24722482.
Siddique, R. & Naik, T.R. 2004, Properties of concrete
containing scrap-tire rubber an overview, Waste Man-
agement, vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 563569.
WCED , W.C.o.E.a.D. 1987, Our Common Future, Oxford.
Yilmaz, A. &Degirmenci, N. 2009, Possibility of using waste
tire rubber and fly ash with Portland cement as con-
struction materials, Waste Management, vol. 29, no. 5,
pp. 15411546.
AS 1012.8.1-2000, Method for making and curing con-
crete, Method 8.1: Compression and indirect tensile test
specimens, Australian Standard, 2000.
AS 1012.8.2-2000, Method for making and curing concrete,
Method 8.2: Flexure test specimens, Australian Standard,
2000.
AS 1012.3.1-1998, Method of testing concrete, Method 3.1:
Determination of properties related to the consistency of
concrete Slump test, Australian Standard, 1998.
AS 1012.5-1999, Method of testing concrete, Method 5:
Determination of mass per unit volume of freshly mixed
concrete, Australian Standard, 1999.
Determination of the compressive strength of concrete
specimens, Australian Standard, 1999.
Determination of the modulus of rupture, Australian
Standard, 2000.
Determination of the static chord modulus of elasticity
and poissons ratio of concrete specimens, Australian
Standard, 1997.
1191
Acids attack on silica fume high-strength concrete
ABSTRACT: This paper reports the results of a study on the corrosion of high strength concrete with silica
fume subjected to 15% concentration of sulphuric acid, hydrochloric acid and lactic acid. Silica fume were used
to replace 8% and 15% of the cement, by weight. The results showed that partial replacement of cement with
silica fume had no effect on lactic acid resistance, improved the hydrochloric acid resistance and worsened the
sulphuric acid attack. Sulphuric acid attack resulted in concrete disintegration at an almost constant rate, the
hydrochloric attack rate was reduced with time, whereas the lactic acid attack resulted leaching of corrosion
products, at a slower rate under stagnant condition.
1 INTRODUCTION
Portland cement concrete is the most commonly used
constructionmaterial for sewer system. However, dete-
rioration of sewer pipes is not uncommon due acid
attack on alkaline concrete by biogenic sulphuric acid
(BSA), which is highly ionized mineral acid and may
results in pH less than 2. Monteny et al. (2000) char-
acterized the sulphuric acid attack by the following
chemical reactions:
The primary corrosion product formed on the con-
crete surface is gypsum, an expansive product, which
results cracking and spalling of concrete. In addition,
the reaction of gypsumwith calciumaluminate phases
in the cementitious matrix can form highly expansive
ettringite, leading to micro- and macro-cracking in
concrete. The main hydration product of calcium sili-
cates, namely C-S-Hgel, reacts with the sulphuric acid
to form silica gel.
In a similar way, the chemical reactions involved in
hydrochloric acid attack on concrete are given by:
Lactic acid is commonly associated with the han-
dling of milk, buttermilk and cheese, but also present
in various fermentation processes with acetic acid. It
is highly destructive to concrete through its reaction
with lime in concrete to form soluble materials. Con-
crete floors in pig houses are subjected to attack by
Table 1. Properties of 28-day old silica fume mortars (Torii
and Kawamura (1994)).
Total Pore vol.
Silica Comp pore >0.1 m Ca(OH)
2
fume Str. vol. to Total (%)
(%) W/C MPa (10
3
cc/g) (%) by wt.
0 0.55 45.3 39.8 17.6 4.1
5 0.55 44.4 50.7 13.8 3.1
10 0.54 45.1 36.1 11.6 2.3
20 0.54 46.6 29.0 29.0 1.3
30 0.53 50.2 28.4 28.4 0.8
lactic acid and acetic acid, formed in spilled and soured
meal-water mixtures.
This paper reports the results on an investigation
into the resistance of concrete (with and without silica
fume) to hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid and lactic
acid with time in a stagnant condition.
1.1 Acids attack on concrete past research
Torii and Kawamura (1994) investigated the effects
of replacing cement with high fineness silica fume, a
super-pozzolan, on compressive strength, total pore
volume and calcium hydroxide content of mortar.
Table 1 summarizes their results for the physical
chemical properties of 28-day mortar.
The results show that the pore structure of sil-
ica fume mortar is dense and homogeneous when
compared to plain mortar mix. 28-day compressive
strength of mortar with 30% silica fume was higher
than that for the control mortar. In addition, the cal-
cium hydroxide content was decreased from 4.1% for
the control mortar to 0.8% for mortar with 30% silica
fume.
1193
Table 2. Total pore volume of silica fume mortar after 1-year
in sulphuric acid (Torii and Kawamura (1994)).
In water In 2% sulphuric acid
Silica Total Pore vol. Tot. pore Pore vol.
fume pore vol. >0.1 m to vol. >0.1 m to
(%) (10
3
cc/g) total (%) (10
3
cc/g) total (%)
0 33.8 22.1 47.0 45.7
5 30.1 11.6 57.2 43.3
10 44.7 22.6 66.7 40.5
20 33.8 17.8 21.1 32.2
30 17.8 36.5 26.7 33.7
Table 3. Sulphuric acid attack on silica fume concrete (Sri
Ravindrarajah and Mercer (1993)).
Weight loss (%)
Silica 560-day after 12 weeks
Cement fume Cube str.
(%) (%) (MPa) 5% H
2
SO
4
15% H
2
SO
4
100 0 89.7 54.1 51.5
92% 8 76.9 61.5 68.9
85% 15 102.1 60.2 60.9
Table 4. Curing effect on sulphuric acid attack on silica
fume concrete (Sri Ravindrarajah and Mercer (1993)).
Weight loss (%)
Silica after 12 weeks
Cement fume H
2
SO
4
(%) (%) (%) Water-cured Air-stored
100 0 5 54.1 40.1
100 0 15 51.5 29.1
92 8 5 61.5 53.2
92 8 15 68.9 48.0
Table 2 shows the effect of sulphuric acid attack on
the pore volume for mortar incorporating silica fume.
The total pore volume and the amount of pore volume
greater than 0.1m were found to increase notably.
Both, the principal corrosion product gypsumand cal-
cium hydroxide in the corroded portion of the mortar
were decomposed and disappeared.
Sri Ravindrarajah and Mercer (1993) investigated
the sulphuric acid attack on 560-day old high strength
concrete. Tables 3 and 4 summarizes the weight loss in
concrete specimens after exposing to 5% (pH=0.54)
and 15% (pH=0.08) sulphuric acid for 12 weeks.
The sulphuric acid attack on matured high strength
concrete was: (a) increased when cement was partially
replaced with silica fume and fly ash; (b) generally
increased with the increase in the acid concentra-
tion; and (c) increased for moist-cured concrete. The
increased acid attack for silica fume concrete may be
partly due to the increased amount of acid sensitive
C-S-Hgel due to pozzolanic reactions of reactive silica
and lime. Similar observations with silca fume con-
crete were reported by Mehta (1978), Berke (1989),
Yamato et al. (1989), and Sri Ravindrarajah (1992).
Bassuoni and Nehdi (2007) studied the effect of
cement replacement with silica fume, fly ash, slag and
limestone on the sulphuric acid attack in two phases
on self-compacting concrete. In phase I exposure with
pH threshold of 2.5 for 6 weeks, an improved perfor-
mance inthe acidresistance was achievedusingbinary,
ternary and quaternary binders, primarily due to dilu-
tion effect of cement. In phase II exposure with a pH
threshold of 1.0, the significant mass loss was due to
decomposition of the hydration product, C-S-H.
Yoshida et al. (2010) studied the sulphuric acid
attack on concrete with and without blast furnace slag.
The results showed that slag concrete had significantly
increased the resistance of concrete to acid attack. The
weight loss after 26 weeks of acid attack was reduced
from 82% for the control concrete to 45% for the con-
crete with 60% slag content in the blended cement.
This indicates that the sulphuric acid attack is closely
related to Ca(OH)
2
content in the concrete.
De Ceukelarie (1992) observed that the changing
mineralogy due to leaching processes causing strength
loss in concrete subjected to hydrochloric acid attack.
Zivica (1999) reported that the use of chemically mod-
ified silica fume was found to reduce the intensity of
hydrochloric acid attack.
De Belie et al. (1997) studied the corrosion of con-
crete subjected to a combination of lactic and acetic
acids, as a function of the binder materials types. They
found that the addition of 10% fly ash by weight of
cement to a high-quality concrete made with cement
had significantly reduced the corrosion of concrete by
these organic acids.
2.1 Materials
General purpose cement confirming to AS3972 was
used in the production of the high strength concrete
mixes. Condensed silica fume from Norway was used
in two of the mixes. Table 5 shows the compositions
of the concrete mixes used for acid resistance test. The
silica fume content was 0%, 8% and 15% of the of the
binder materials, by weight. Ahigh range water reduc-
ing admixture (superplasticiser) was used to obtain
workable concrete mixes.
2.2 Casting, curing & testing of concrete
specimens
High strength concrete mixes were prepared in a pan
type concrete mixer and a number of 100mm diameter
by 200mm high cylindrical specimens were cast in
steel moulds for compressive strength test and acid
resistance tests. A vibrating table was used to obtain
1194
Table 5. Compositions for the high-strengthconcrete mixes.
Silica Silica
Cement fume fume Agg. Water
Mix (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
) (%) (kg/m
3
) (kg/m
3
)
1 500 0 0 1805 150
2 460 40 8 1815 180
3 410 90 15 1815 138
Table 6. Changes in pH of the acid solutions (15%).
Type of acid Initial pH pH after 14 days
Hydrochloric 0.22 1.97
Lactic 1.78 3.25
Sulphuric 0.08 0.36
full compaction in the cast specimens. The specimens
were demoulded after 24 hours of casting and stored
either in water at 20
C or in laboratory conditions of
20 2
C and 60 10 % R.H. until testing.

The compressive strength of high strength concrete
mixes at 28 days was about 80 MPa. The corro-
sion resistance of concrete to 15% concentration of
hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid and lactic acid were
carried out on 6 months old water-cured and air-stored
concrete cylindrical specimens. During the acid resis-
tance test, one-half of the 200 mm high cylinders were
immersed in the acid solutions in separate plastic con-
tainers in the laboratory environment. The corrosion
test specimens were removed from the acid solutions
at 7 days interval and subjected to wire-brush cleaning
under running tap water to remove the corrosion prod-
ucts. This procedure subjected new concrete surface
to acid attack. The specimens were surface dried and
weighed to determine the weight loss, which indicates
the intensity of acid attack on concrete.
At the end of 14 days, the acid solutions were dis-
carded and new solutions were used to maintain the
concentration of the acid. The changes in pH of the
acid solutions after 14 days of corrosive activity are
given in Table 6. It was not possible to maintain the
same pH throughout the acid resistance test. Although
the concentration of the acids was the same, pH of
them was found to vary noticeably.
3.1 Effect of acid type on acid resistance of concrete
Sulphuric acid solution had the lowest pHof 0.08 com-
pared to 1.78 for the lactic acid solution and 0.22 for
the hydrochloric acid solution. Considering the acid-
ity of these acids, the attack by the sulphuric acid is
expected to be the highest due to very low pH.
Figures 1 to 3 show the weight loss for the high
strength concrete, with and without silica fume due to
corrosion of concrete by hydrochloric acid, sulphuric
Figure 1. Hydrochloric acid attack on silica fume concrete.
Figure 2. Sulphuric acid attack on silica fume concrete.
Figure 3. Lactic acid attack on silica fume concrete.
acid and lactic acid. The corrosion rate is found to be
affected by the type of acid. Sulphuric acid attack on
high strength concrete was more severe compared to
hydrochloric acid and lactic acid. In addition, a steady
rate of acid corrosion was recorded with sulphuric
acid.
After 21 days of exposure to lactic acid, the weight
loss for high strength concrete specimens was around
5.0%. During the first 14 days, the pH of lactic acid
solution was found to increase from 1.78 to 3.25. This
indicates that the lactic acid attacked the hydration
products of cement and the soluble corrosion prod-
ucts diluted the acid solution. The initial corrosion rate
1195
Figure 4. 15% Sulphuric acid attack on high-strength con-
crete after 20 weeks.
for concrete by lactic acid is low and once the new
surface was exposed by the removal of the corrosion
products and the new lactic acid solution was replaced
the diluted acid, the rate of corrosion was increased
significantly, as seen from Figure 3.
Figure 4 shows the high-strength concrete surface
which was subjected to sulphuric acid after 20 weeks
of acid exposure. The sulphuric acid attack was very
severe and significantly high intensity of concrete
corrosion was observed. Once the interfacial bond
between the aggregate particles and cement paste
was weakened by the acid attach, the wire brushing
action removed any loose aggregate particles and con-
tributed to increased weight loss as observed by Sri
Ravindrarajah and Mercer (1993).
Less corrosive acids such as hydrochloric acid
and lactic acid were unable to dislocate a significant
amount of aggregate particles from the concrete, as
seen from Figure 5. The acid attack caused precipi-
tation of white corrosion products at the surface of
the concrete and some loss in the surface mortar was
observed. However, there was no loss of aggregate
from the concrete.
3.2 Effect of cement replacement by silica fume on
acid resistance of concrete
It is well-known that the use of silica fume in concrete
decreases the permeability of concrete through pore
volume reduction and pore-size modification due to
the pozzolanic reaction of reactive silica with calcium
hydroxide, as shown inTable 1. In addition, silica fume
also reduces the calcium hydroxide content in con-
crete. However, C-S-H gel component in silica fume
concrete is increased and this in turn improves the
strength of concrete.
When silica fume concrete is subjected to high
concentration of corrosive acids such as sulphuric
Figure 5. 15% Lactic acid attack on high-strength concrete
after 20 weeks.
acid, C-S-H gel is attacked by the acids and con-
crete corrosion is becoming more significant. As the
results, strength and stiffness of the attacked part of
the concrete specimens are seriously reduced, resulting
cracking and spalling.
The results shown in Figure 1 to 3, clearly indicates
that the acid resistance of concrete containing silica
fume is dependent on the type of acid used. Figure
3 shows that the lactic acid attack on high strength
concrete is insensitive to the cement replacement by
8% or 15% by silica fume.
The hydrochloric acid resistance to high strength
concrete is improved with the increase in the cement
replacement with silica fume (Figure 1). However, the
sulphuric acid attack is increased when cement was
partiallyreplacedwithsilica fume (Figure 2). This con-
firms finding of Mehta (1978), Berke (1989), Yamato
et al. (1989).
4 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the reported results on the acid resistance of
high-strength concrete with silica fume the following
conclusions are made.
(a) Acid attack on high strength concrete, with and
without silica fume, is mainly influenced by the
type of acid, even though they may have the same
high concentration of 15%.
(b) Lactic acid is the least corrosive acid and the soft
and soluble corrosion products formed rapidly at
the acid-exposed concrete surface to neutralise the
acidity of the lactic acid solution.
(c) Hydrochloric acid attack is not severe and slowed
down with exposure time.
(d) Sulphuric acid attack is very severe and significant
weight loss was recorded. The depth of corrosion
1196
increased due to the degradation of the interfa-
cial bond between aggregate particles and cement
paste matrix.
(e) Partial replacement of cement with silica fume up
to 15% by weight caused: (i) no effect on the lac-
tic acid attack; (ii) reduced the hydrochloric acid
attack; and (iii) worsened the sulphuric acid attack.
(f) The general opinion of improved durability of con-
crete by incorporating silica fume is found to have
serious limitation when even the high strength
concrete is subjected to acidic environment.
REFERENCES
Bassuoni, M. T., and Nehdi, M. L. 2007. Resistance of self-
compacting concrete to sulphuric acid attack with consec-
utive pH reduction. Cement and Concrete Research. 37:
10701084.
Berke, N. S. 1989. Resistance to microsilica concrete to
steel corrosion, erosion and chemical attack. Proc. CAN-
MET/ACI Third int. conf. on fly ash, silica fume, slag
and natural pozzolans in concrete, Trondheim, Norway,
American Concrete Institute, USA.
De Belie, N., Debruyckere, M., Van Nieuwenburg, D., and
De Blaere, B. 1997. Attack of concrete floors in pig houses
by feed acids: Influence of fly ash addition and cement
bound surface layers. Journal of Agricultural Engineering
Research. 68: 101108.
De Ceukelaire, L.1992. The effects of hydrochloric acid on
mortar. Cement and Concrete Research. 22: 903014.
Mehta, P. K. 1985. Studies on chemical resistance of
low water/cement ratio concrete. Cement and Concrete
Research. 15: 969978.
Monteny, J., Vineke, E., Beeldens, A., De Belie, N., Taerwe,
L., Van Gemert, D., and Verstraete, W. 2000. Chemical,
microbiological, and in-situ test methods for biogenic sul-
phuric acid corrosion of concrete. Cement and Concrete
Research 30(4): pp. 623634.
Sri Ravindrarajah, R. 1992. Effect of cement paste quality and
aggregate type on the acid resistance of concrete. Proc.
FIP92, Complementary Volume. Budapest, Hungary.
Sri Ravindrarajah, R. and Mercer, C. M. 1993. Sulphuric acid
attack on high strength concrete. In Proc. of the sixth int.
conf. on Durability of building materials and components,
Omiya, Japan, 2629 October 1993. E & FN Spon.
Torii, K. and Kawamura, M. 1994. Effects of fly ash and
silica fume on the resistance of mortar to sulphuric acid
and sulphate attack. Cement and Concrete Research 24:
361370.
Yamato, T., Soeda, M. and Emota, Y. 1989. Chemical resis-
tance of concrete containing condensed silica fume. Proc.
CANMET/ACI Third int. conf. on fly ash, silica fume, slag
and natural pozzolans in concrete, Trondheim, Norway,
American Concrete Institute, USA.
Yoshida, S., Taguchi, F., Nawa, T., and Watanabe, H. 2010.
Sulfuric acid resistance of belite-cased cement concrete
mixed with GGBFS. Proc. of the 6th int. conf. on Concrete
under severe conditions, Merida, Mexico, 79 June 2010.
Zivica, V. 1999. Acidic resistance of materials based on the
novel use of silica fume in concrete. Construction and
Building Materials. 13: 263269.
1197
Drying shrinkage of concrete made from recycled concrete aggregate
B.A. Whiting, T.J. McCarthy & E. Lume
School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Wollongong,
Wollongong, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT: This paper describes the procedure and results of a range of experiments conducted on a com-
mercially available recycled concrete aggregate (RCA). The work quantifies the effect RCA has on the drying
shrinkage of newconcrete mixes, termedrecycledaggregate concrete (RAC). The RCAproduct was characterised
by analysing thin sections, particle shape and texture, particle size distribution, percentage of solid contaminants,
water absorption and particle densities. Three concrete mixes were prepared and tested for 7 and 28 day com-
pressive strengths and 112 days of drying shrinkage. The mixes included a 40 MPa conventional aggregate mix
and two equivalent RAC mixes, one utilizing 30% fly ash as a partial cement replacement. Due to the adhered
mortar found on the aggregate particles, the RCA had rougher particle textures, increased water absorptions and
lower densities than conventional aggregates. As a result the RAC mixes suffered lower compressive strengths
and higher drying shrinkages than the control mix.
1 INTRODUCTION
One area that has been the subject of much research
and investigation in recent times is how to reduce
the quantity of demolition and construction waste
sent to landfill. According to the Australian Bureau
of Statistics (2007), the construction and demolition
industry contributed to 42% of the solid waste pro-
duced in 20022003. Of this, only 44% was recycled
in some form, with the remaining waste being sent
to landfill. While landfill can result in some posi-
tive outcomes such as reclaiming land from disused
quarries, a report prepared for the Department of the
Environment, Water, Heritage andArts by Hyder Con-
sulting Pty Ltd (Pickin 2009) has found many regions
throughout Australia are reaching their landfill capac-
ities. The paper argues, the available supply of landfill
is a scarce resource that should be used conservatively
(Pickin 2009, p. 2). Continued studies investigating
ways to encourage the recycling of construction and
demolition waste materials are valuable to reduce the
percentage of waste going to landfill and to create a
more sustainable future.
The key issues facing any recycled product are that
they need to be safe, perform well and be economical.
There are many concerns regarding the performance
of concrete made from RCA. Use of RCA has been
reported to provide a loss in most fresh and hardened
properties of concrete (Poon et al. 2007). Essentially,
this is due to the presence of less dense and more
porous mortar adhered to the RCA rock particles
(Montgomery & Sturgis 1996). CSIROs guide to the
use of RCAin concrete proposes that RCAcan be used
in low grade concrete applications such as pavements.
It further recommends only replacing 30% of the vir-
gin coarse aggregate with high quality RCA (CSIRO
2002). One of the main reasons for this lowpercentage
of substitution is to control the high drying shrinkage
of concrete made fromRCA(CSIRO2002, Poon et al.
2007, Sagoe-Crentsil et al. 2001).
This paper outlines an experimental programme
that investigated the drying shrinkage of RAC incor-
porating effectively 100% RCA as a replacement for
natural coarse aggregate. If more RCA could be used
in a mix, the greater the theoretical demand for the
product, and thus less waste could be sent to landfill.
It was reported by Poon et al. (2007) that fly ash
as a 2535% partial cement replacement can reduce
the drying shrinkage of RAC. This has been opposed
by results from other studies such as Corinaldesi &
Moriconi (2009). This paper details a series of exper-
iments aimed to test this finding by Poon et al.
(2007).
Identifying ways to improve the performance of
RCA has the potential to increase its use and therefore
eventually reduce the amount of waste sent to land-
fill, allowing for more sustainable practice. One way
to achieve this is to examine in depth the properties of
RCA and the concrete that it is used in.
2 EXPERIMENT PROGRAM
2.1 Materials
2.1.1 Aggregates
A commercial 20 mm nominal size RCA was sourced
froma Western Sydney recycling plant. This aggregate
was characterised by a range of aggregate property
1199
Table 1. Fly ash properties/composition.
Properties/ Properties/
composition (%) composition (%)
Fineness 89.00 CaO 2.27
LOI 1.20 K
2
O 1.24
SiO
2
64.20 MgO 0.69
Al
2
O
3
25.50 SO
3
0.20
Fe
2
O
3
3.92
tests andusedintwoconcrete mixes testedinthis study.
Local 10 mmand 20 mmnominal sized crushed basalt
aggregate was used as a control aggregate for both
aggregate property testing and concrete testing. Afine
Kurnell sand and coarse Emu Plains sand were used
in the concrete mixes.
The RCA and 20 mm control aggregate were tested
and analysed for particle shape and texture, particle
size distribution, percentage of solid contaminants,
water absorption and particle density. Selected of rock
particles from the RCA were prepared into thin sec-
tions to gain a qualitative understanding of the types of
rocks present in the RCAproduct used in the aggregate
and concrete testing. A total of twenty-one aggregate
particles were preparedintothinsections andanalysed.
2.1.2 Binders
A General Purpose cement was used in the concrete
mixes. One mix incorporated a low-calcium fly ash as
a 30% partial cement replacement. The properties and
composition of this fly ash are shown in Table 1.
2.2 Mix compositions
Three concrete mixes (shown in Table 2) were pre-
pared and tested for slump, vebe time, 7 and 28 day
compressive strength and 112 days of drying shrink-
age. The recycled aggregate mixes were designed to be
equivalent to a well-established 40 MPa control mix.
This concrete grade was chosen because Poon et al.
(2007) tested a 40 MPa concrete in their experiment
program.
The particle size distribution was determined for the
aggregates to AS 1141.11.1. While both the control
aggregate and the RCA complied with the AS 2758.1
grading requirement for a nominal 20 mm one-sized
aggregate (see Figure 5) it was found that the RCA
had significantly more 5 mm and 10 mm particles. To
avoid differences caused by the variations in grading,
less 10 mm nominal basalt and more RCA was used
in the RAC mixes until they had an overall aggregate
grading equivalent to the control mix. The same mass
of coarse aggregate was used in all mixes as shown
in Table 2. Figures 12 present the overall aggregate
particle size distribution of the control and RACmixes
before and after the aggregate proportion adjustment
respectively.
The proportion between the cement, fly ash, poz-
zolith 370C and fine sand for the fly ash (FARAC)
Table 2. Concrete mix proportions.
Control RAC FARAC
Material kg/m
3
kg/m
3
kg/m
3
Cement 350 350 279
Fly ash 0 0 119
RCA 0 940 940
20 mm crushed basalt 720 0 0
10 mm crushed basalt 280 60 60
Coarse sand 563 563 563
Fine sand 280 280 200
Water* 182 182 179
Pozzolith 370C 1050 mL 1050 mL 1194 mL
*Initial prediction for water required with SSD aggregates.
Figure 1. Overall grading of control mix and RAC mix
without the aggregate proportion adjustment.
Figure 2. Overall grading of control mix and RACmix after
aggregate proportion adjustment.
mix with 30% fly ash partial cement replacement is
provided in Table 2.
2.3 Concrete mixing and fresh concrete testing
The mixes were prepared for equivalent slumps rather
than equivalent water to cement ratios. This approach
1200
was adopted because literature reports (Abdelfatah &
Tabsh 2008) that RAC mixes require more water than
equivalent mixes incorporating conventional aggre-
gates to achieve and maintain a practical workability.
Further, the amount of water in a mix influences the
compressive strength and, more importantly in this
study, the drying shrinkage of the hardened concrete
(Neville 1995).
The concrete mixes were prepared and sampled to
AS 1012.1 and AS 1012.2 respectively. Slump tests to
AS 1012.3.1 were used to determine the water content
required to be added to the mixes. The Vebe tests were
undertaken after equivalent slumps were achieved to
AS1012.3.3 in an attempt to provide more information
regarding the workability of the mixes.
2.4 Compressive strength testing
Three 100 mmdiameter by 200 mmtall cylinders were
prepared to AS 1012.8.1 for each mix for both 7 day
and 28 day compressive strength testing. These cylin-
ders were left to dry in their moulds for 24 hours before
being de-moulded and placed in lime-saturated water
until tested.
The concrete specimens were tested to AS 1012.9
as closely as possible. The cylinders were capped with
gypsum plaster on the day, after being removed from
the curing tank.
One significant variation from standardised testing
in this portion of the study was that the compressive
strength cylinders were moist cured in lime-saturated
water at a temperature of 13
Crather thanthe 23 2
C
specified by AS 1012.8.1. This would have notably
affected the 7 day compressive strength results.
2.5 Drying shrinkage testing
Three concrete drying shrinkage specimens were pre-
pared for each mix as closely to AS 1012.13 as
possible. These specimens were left in their moulds
for 24 hours before being de-moulded and placed in
lime-saturated water in a controlled environment with
the water temperature maintained at 23 2
C.
After seven days of moist curing the specimens were
surface dried and the initial length of the specimens
were measured using a vertical comparator five con-
secutive times until the measurements were within the
0.001 mm of the mean of the measurements, before
being placed on a rack in a controlled environment.
Each specimen was measured at 1, 2, 7, 14, 21, 28, 56
and 112 days after being removed from the moist cur-
ing tank. The specimens were measured three times at
each drying period to check continuously the validity
of each measurement and an average was taken for the
shrinkage measurement for that specimen at the appro-
priate drying time. The orientation and placement of
each specimen was kept constant throughout the 112
days testing. The specimens were kept in the controlled
drying room at all times. The drying environment
conditions were maintained to the requirements
specified in AS 1012.13.
Figure 3. Thin section microscopic photograph Quartzite.
Figure 4. Thin section microscopic photograph Basalt.
3.1 Aggregate property tests
3.1.1 Particle shape and texture
The majority of RCA particles were observed to have
similar angular shapes as the crushed basalt control
aggregate. The surface texture of the RCA however
is somewhat rougher than the basalt aggregate due
to mortar adhered to the particles. This rougher sur-
face has the potential to increase the amount of water
required for a practical workability. Therefore this
property also has the potential to increase the drying
shrinkage of the concrete that it is used in.
3.1.2 Types of rocks in sample
Through the analysis of thin sections under a micro-
scope the following rock types were found to be
present in the RCA product: chert, vain quartz,
quartzite (Fig. 3), tertiary basalts (Fig. 4), altered
basaltic breccia/sandstone, dacite porphyry, slag and
monzanitic porphyry. These are common rock types
found in quarries surrounding Sydney, NSW. This
analysis was qualitative as it was not possible to
determine the relative proportions of each rock type.
1201
Figure 5. Particle size distribution of RCA and control
aggregate within the AS 2758.1 20 mm nominal size grading
requirements.
Table 3. Aggregate property results.
Crushed
Property basalt RCA
Nominal size, mm 20 20
Solid contaminants, % 0.0 0.4
Water absorption, % 1.92 4.69
(AS 1141.6.2)
Apparent particle density, kg/m
3
2799 2739
(AS 1141.6.2)
Dry basis particle density, kg/m
3
2656 2359
(AS 1141.6.2)
SSD basis particle density, kg/m
3
2707 2498
(AS 1141.6.2)
3.1.3 Particle size distribution
The particle size distribution of the RCA product and
the control aggregate was determined following AS
1141.11.1. As shown in Figure 5, both of these aggre-
gates were found to satisfy the grading requirements
of a 20 mm nominal sized aggregate outlined in AS
2758.1.
3.1.4 Solid contaminants
Throughout the experiments a range of solid contami-
nants were observed in the commercial RCA product.
These included porcelain, asphalt, wood, masonry and
other ceramics. However, the product clearly had a
negligible quantity of these contaminants. Asample of
15 kg was found to only contain 0.4% solid contam-
inants by weight (Table 3). This very low solid con-
taminant level has been achieved by strict feedstock
separation at the recycling plant where incoming clean
concrete waste is both stored and crushed separately
from the rest of the incoming material.
3.1.5 Water absorption
The water absorption of the RCA and the 20 mm con-
trol aggregate were determined to AS 1141.6.2. Two
samples were tested for both aggregates and the results
averaged. As shown in Table 3, the RCA was found to
have a significantly greater water absorption than the
Table 4. Consistency testing results.
Consistency test Control RAC FARAC
Slump, mm (AS 1012.3.1) 80 77 88
Vebe, sec (AS 1012.3.3) 1.6 1.47 0.78
natural crushed basalt aggregate. This is due to the
porous nature of the mortar adhered to the particles of
the RCA. To overcome concrete workability issues it
is therefore important to maintain the RCAin the satu-
rated surface dry condition before mixing. If a mix was
prepared with the aggregates below the saturated sur-
face dry condition, the mix would require more water
to maintain a practical degree of workability. This
in return could increase the drying shrinkage while
decreasing the compressive strength of the concrete.
3.1.6 Particle densities
The apparent, dry basis and SSD basis particle den-
sities were determined using the pycnometer method
(AS 1141.6.2). Two samples were tested for both the
RCA and the 20 mm control aggregate and the results
were averaged. The RCAcan be considered to be a nor-
mal weight concrete aggregate based on the definition
in AS 2758.1.
Table 3 illustrates that the RCA has a significantly
lower SSD basis and dry basis particle densities than
the control aggregate. As these densities consider both
the impermeable andpermeable voids, the results show
that the RCA particles are more porous and less dense
when considering the complete volume of a particle.
It is likely that the higher porosity/lower density
means that the RCA particles are less rigid and have
lower elastic moduli than conventional aggregates due
to the presence of adhered mortar. The elastic prop-
erties of coarse aggregates have a great effect on the
drying shrinkage of concrete. While concrete dries and
the adsorbed water is lost from the hydrated cement,
tensile strains are induced in the cement, causing the
aggregates to go into compression. The higher the elas-
tic modulus or rigidity of the aggregates, the greater
the restraint against these shrinkage strains can be
provided thus decreasing the drying shrinkage of the
concrete (Neville 1995). Therefore low elastic prop-
erties found in RCA could provide one reason for the
high drying shrinkages found in RAC.
3.2 Fresh concrete properties
The final slump test and vebe test results for each mix
are shown in Table 4. It can be seen that while all
the slumps are similar, the FARAC required signifi-
cantly less vebe time, although it is of the same order
of magnitude.
The 7 day compressive strength tests indicated that
the mixes were adequate and the experiment could
1202
Figure 6. Average compressive strength results with max
and min results.
continue. All of the control mix specimens achieved
compressive strengths greater than 40 MPa at 28 days
of curing as shown in Figure 5, indicating that the
mix was successful in achieving a 40 MPa grade mix.
Figure 6 shows that the RAC mix was unsuccessful in
achieving a 40 MPa concrete mix. This could be due
to the following reasons:
a) Higher water content for slump due to rougher
aggregate surface textures and some possible action
from the higher water absorption as it is hard to
maintain/provide SSD condition.
b) Lower strength and density of RCA particles due
to adhered mortar on surfaces.
c) Lower overall strength of RCA rock particles.
The FARACmix achieved significantly lower com-
pressive strength results than the control due to the
pozzolanic nature of fly ash. This mix would gain
strength at a slower rate.
As shown in Figure 6, the RAC mix was measured
to have a significantly greater drying shrinkage than
the control mix throughout the experiment with a 25%
average increase in the 112 day drying shrinkage to
the control. The FARAC mix only had a 7% average
increase in the 112 day drying shrinkage to the control
mix. This result supports the finding by Poon et al.
(2007) that fly ash as a partial cement replacement
can reduce the 112 day drying shrinkage of RAC.
The following was found/concluded from this study:
The RCAwas a high quality product with negligible
solid contaminants. This was achieved by effec-
tive recycling procedures where incoming clean
concrete feedstock is identified at the gate then
stored and crushed separately from the rest of the
feedstock materials.
Despite being a quality product, the RCA had infe-
rior aggregate properties compared to the control
Figure 7. Average drying shrinkage results.
aggregate andthe majorityof conventional concrete
aggregates. This is primarily due to the presence
of adhered mortar on the aggregate particles. This
mortar produces rougher particle surface textures,
higher water absorptions, higher porosity and lower
particle densities.
The analysis of thin sections indicated the sheer
variability of materials that can be found in one
sample of a RCA product produced in Western
Sydney.
The compressive strength testing indicated that
RAC suffered decreased compressive strengths
compared to an equivalent mix incorporating con-
ventional aggregates. For this reason, lower per-
centages of RCAto conventional aggregates would
be valid.
The 7 day compressive strength results would have
been affected by the low moist curing temperature
applied to the specimens.
RAC has significantly greater values of drying
shrinkage compared to an equivalent mix incorpo-
rating conventional aggregates. When effectively
utilising 100% RCA as a coarse aggregate in a
40 MPa concrete this increase can be to the extent
of 25% at 112 days of drying.
The increase in drying shrinkage could be due to
lower elastic modulus of the adhered mortar on the
RCA particles; the rougher texture of the mortar
affectingthe amount of water requiredina workable
concrete; the varying types of rocks in the RCA;
and the high water absorption of the RCA particles
requiring more water when the aggregates are not
perfectly in the SSD condition.
The FARAC mix drying shrinkage results support
the results of Poon et al. (2007) where the drying
shrinkage of RAC was reduced by the addition of
fly ash as a 30% partial cement replacement. The
addition of fly ash to reduce the drying shrinkage of
RAC may be applicable for low concrete strength
grade applications such as pavements.
For RACapplications requiring higher compressive
strength grades, concrete consisting of lower levels
of RCA substitution for conventional aggregates
would likely be more practical.
1203
Improvements are still required in the performance
of structural concretes that incorporate recycled aggre-
gates. This work indicates that using 100% recycled
coarse aggregates results in a small loss of strength
when compared to a virgin basalt aggregate. More
tests are needed to compare with other rock types.
The presence of a range of rocks within the RCA will
result in concretes being similar to those made with
the weakest aggregates.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful to Mr Jose Abrantes and
A./Prof Christopher Fergusson of the School of Earth
and Environmental Sciences at the University of
Wollongong for assistance in preparing the thin
sections and analysis of rock types. Thanks are also
due to Mr Fernando Escribano and Mr Ian Laird for
technical assistance throughout the project.
REFERENCES
Abdelfatah, A.S. & Tabsh, S.W. 2008. Influence of recycled
concrete aggregates on strength properties of concrete.
Construction and Building Materials 23(2): 11631167.
Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2007. Waste generation,
Australias Environment: Issues and Trends 2007, 4613.0.
Australian Standard AS 1012.1. Methods of testing con-
crete, Method 1: Sampling of fresh concrete, Standards
Australia, 1993.
Australian Standard AS 1012.2. Methods of testing concrete,
Method 2: Preparation of concrete mixes in the laboratory,
Standards Australia, 1994.
Australian Standard AS 1012.3.1. Methods of testing con-
crete, Method 3.1: Determination of properties related
to the consistency of concrete Slump test, Standards
Australia, 1998.
crete, Method 3.3: Determination of properties related
to the consistency of concrete Vebe test, Standards
Australia, 1998.
crete, Method of making and curing concrete, Com-
pression and indirect tensile test specimens, Standards
Australia, 2000.
Australian Standard AS 1012.9. Methods of testing concrete,
Method 9: Determination of the compressive strength of
concrete specimens, Standards Australia, 1999.
Australian Standard AS 1012.13. Methods of testing con-
crete, Method 13: Determination of the drying shrinkage
of concrete for samples prepared in the field or in the
laboratory, Standards Australia, 1992.
Australian Standard AS 1141.6.2. Methods for sampling and
testing aggregates, Method 6.1: Particle density and water
absorption of coarse aggregate Pycnometer method,
Standards Australia, 1996.
Australian Standard AS 1141.11.1. Methods for sampling
and testing aggregates, Method 11.1: Particle size distri-
bution Sieving method, Standards Australia, 2009.
Australian Standard AS 2758.1. Aggregate and rock for
engineering purposes, Part 1: Concrete aggregates, Stan-
dards Australia, 1998.
Corinaldesi, V. & Moriconi, G. 2009. Influence of mineral
additions on the performance of 100% recycled aggre-
gate concrete. Construction and Building Materials 23(8):
28692876.
CSIRO. 2002. Guide to the use of recycled concrete and
masonry materials. Standards Australia, HB 1552002.
Montgomery, D. & Sturgiss, D. 1996. Properties of concrete
incorporating recycled concrete aggregates. Institution of
Engineers: 153.
Neville, A. M. (ed. 4) 1995. Properties of concrete. London:
Pearson.
Pickin, J. 2009. Australian landfill capacities into the future,
Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the
Arts, Australian Government.
Poon, C., Kou, S. & Chan, D. 2007. Influence of fly ash as
cement replacement on the properties of recycled aggre-
gate concrete. Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
19(2): 709717.
Sagoe-Crentsil, K., Brown, T. & Taylor, A.H. 2001. Per-
formance of concrete made with commercially produced
coarse recycled concrete aggregate. Cement and Concrete
Research 31(5): 707712.
1204
Editors:
Bijan Samali, Mario M. Atard & Chongmin Song
Editors
Samali
Atard
Song
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From Materials to Structures: Advancement through Innovation is a
collection of peer-reviewed papers presented at the 22nd Australasian
Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials (ACMSM22)
held in Sydney Australia, from 11-14 December 2012 by academics,
researchers and practising engineers mainly from Australasia and the
Asia-Pacifc region. The topics under discussion include:
Biomechanics
Composite structures and materials
Concrete, masonry, steel and timber structures
Earthquake engineering and structural dynamics
Fire engineering
Geomechanics
Foundation engineering
Pavement engineering
Rehabilitation of structures
Rock engineering
Site investigation
Soil improvement and reinforcement
Structural optimisation
Sustainable materials
From Materials to Structures: Advancement through Innovation will be
a valuable reference for academics, researchers and practising engineers
working in structural and material engineering and mechanics.
an informa business

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