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Strength, Ductility and Durability of Strengthened or Repaired Reinforced Concrete...
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Strength, Ductility and Durability of Strengthened or Repaired Reinforced Concrete or Masonry Structures

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction and Building Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 September 2023) | Viewed by 3969

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Firas Al Mahmoud

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institut Jean Lamour, UMR 7198, CNRS, Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France
Interests: strengthening; repair; reinforced concrete; concrete structures; structural analysis; FE modelling; structural stability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Numerous existing reinforced concrete (RC) or masonry structures were designed in compliance with past design codes and deteriorated over time due to many factors, such as earthquakes, accidental impacts and damage to structural parts due to the aging of construction materials or fire damage, corrosion of steel reinforcements, and/or impact of vehicles. The need to strengthen civil engineering structures is becoming a serious problem for facilities owners. The first traditional techniques for strengthening structures used steel plates or post-tensioned cables bonded in the tension regions. The limitations of such methods stem from the high additional weight imposed on the structure and the dubious durability of its strengthening due to corrosion or other environmental impacts. The many materials used to overcome the above-mentioned problems include fibre-reinforced polymers (FRP), ultra-high performance fibre concrete (UHPC), shape memory alloys (SMA), fibre-based textile reinforced mortar (TRM) and vegetable fibres composite materials (VFC). Some strengthening or repairing materials do not meet certain ductility and resistance criteria (in the post-elastic domain), which are necessary to absorb seismic energy. Long-term durability is often stated as the main reason for using the aforementioned materials. However, their durability depends on the choice of constituent materials, the method and conditions of processing, and surrounding environmental conditions throughout their service lives. Although previous studies demonstrated the use of these materials for strengthening structures, a number of issues related to the lack of a clear understanding of their long-term performance hampered their widespread implementation.

This Special Issue aims to cover a wide array of subjects, from dealing with the strengthening and repair of RC and masonry structures. It will cover state-of-the-art, advanced strengthening materials. Special attention will be given to the ductility and durability of these strengthening systems.

Manuscript Submission Information

Authors are invited to send their original research findings regarding the behaviour of strengthened or re-paired structures, components and materials subjected to static or dynamic loading. Manuscripts are expected to contribute to the scientific understanding of the response of strengthened or repaired structures, especially in terms of failure mode, hysteretic response, load-bearing capacity, ductility, stiffness degradation, energy dissipation and their ductility and durability. Papers that promote knowledge are of relevance and interest, provided that they include an analysis of the experimental data and proper conclusions. Additionally, the use of analytical modelling and numerical simulations to support experimental results is highly encouraged.

Dr. Firas Al Mahmoud
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • concrete structures
  • masonry structures
  • corrosion
  • strengthening
  • repair
  • FRP
  • UHPC
  • SAM
  • VFC
  • TRM
  • static loading
  • dynamic loading
  • service life
  • ductility
  • durability

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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27 pages, 7652 KiB  
Article
Tensile Fatigue Properties of Ordinary Plain Concrete and Reinforced Concrete under Flexural Loading
by Huating Chen, Zhenyu Sun, Xianwei Zhang and Jinhong Fan
Materials 2023, 16(19), 6447; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16196447 - 28 Sep 2023
Viewed by 899
Abstract
Many bridge structural components are subjected to repetitive vehicle load and temperature gradient action. The resulting cyclic tensile stresses within the structures could cause premature fatigue failure of concrete, dramatically impairing structural components’ durability and sustainability. Although substantial knowledge of fatigue properties on [...] Read more.
Many bridge structural components are subjected to repetitive vehicle load and temperature gradient action. The resulting cyclic tensile stresses within the structures could cause premature fatigue failure of concrete, dramatically impairing structural components’ durability and sustainability. Although substantial knowledge of fatigue properties on low-strength pavement concrete and high-strength structural concrete has been obtained, research on the most widely used normal-grade ordinary concrete in bridge engineering is still ongoing. Therefore, a four-point bending fatigue test of 97 C50 concrete specimens under a constant amplitude sinusoidal wave was conducted in the laboratory, the flexural fatigue behavior of plain and reinforced concrete specimens was studied, and the cyclic deformation evolution of concrete under fatigue loading was obtained. The empirical fatigue S-N equations of concrete with a failure probability p of 0.1~0.5 were derived through statistical analysis of the test results. The fatigue life of the tested specimens exhibited a two-parameter Weibull distribution. In addition to the maximum stress level Smax, the stress ratio R is also a key factor affecting the flexural fatigue life of concrete N. The semi-logarithmic and logarithmic equations were almost identical at the tested stress levels, the latter predicting longer fatigue life for Smax < 0.70. The restraining effect from steel reinforcement slightly lengthened the concrete’s fatigue cracking initiation life. The insight into concrete flexural fatigue properties from this study not only contributes to a better understanding of structural concrete, but also provides a basis for the practical evaluation of concrete or composite bridge decks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strength, Ductility and Durability of Strengthened or Repaired Reinforced Concrete or Masonry Structures)
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17 pages, 5803 KiB  
Article
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of Pilotis Structures Supported by Drift-Hardening Concrete Columns
by Shiyu Yuan, Takashi Takeuchi and Yuping Sun
Materials 2023, 16(19), 6345; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16196345 - 22 Sep 2023
Viewed by 732
Abstract
Pilotis structures consisting of upper concrete bearing-walls and a soft first story have been well used in residential and office buildings in urban areas to primarily accommodate parking lots. In this research, drift-hardening concrete (DHC) columns developed by the authors are proposed to [...] Read more.
Pilotis structures consisting of upper concrete bearing-walls and a soft first story have been well used in residential and office buildings in urban areas to primarily accommodate parking lots. In this research, drift-hardening concrete (DHC) columns developed by the authors are proposed to form the pilotis story with the aims of reducing its excessive residual drift caused by stronger earthquakes than anticipated in current seismic codes, mitigating damage degree, and enhancing resilience of the pilotis story. Nonlinear dynamic analysis was conducted to investigate the dynamic response characteristics of the wall structures supported by DHC columns. To this end, two sample six-story one-bay pilotis structures were designed following the current Japanese seismic design codes and analyzed. One sample structure is supported by ductile concrete (DC) columns, while the other is supported by DHC columns, which have the same dimensions, steel amount, and concrete strength as DC columns. Three representative ground motions were adopted for the nonlinear dynamic analysis. The analytical parameter was the amplitude of peak ground acceleration (PGA), scaled by the peak ground velocity (PGV) ranging between 12.5 cm/s and 100 cm/s with an interval of 12.5 cm/s. The analytical results have revealed that the residual drift of the pilotis story composed of DHC columns could be reduced to nearly zero under selected earthquakes scaled up to PGV = 100 cm/s, owing to not only the inherent self-centering ability of DHC columns but also the shake-down effect, which implies that the use of DHC columns can greatly enhance resilience of pilotis structures under strong earthquake inputs and promote its application in the buildings located in strong earthquake-prone regions. The maximum inter-story shear forces (MISFs) along the building height of the two models are also compared. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strength, Ductility and Durability of Strengthened or Repaired Reinforced Concrete or Masonry Structures)
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18 pages, 9607 KiB  
Article
Sensitivity Analysis of Factors Influencing Blast-like Loading on Reinforced Concrete Slabs Based on Grey Correlation Degree
by Zhixiang Xiong, Wei Wang, Yangyong Wu and Wei Liu
Materials 2023, 16(16), 5678; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16165678 - 18 Aug 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 673
Abstract
Blast simulators are capable of applying blast-like loading to components in a safe and controlled laboratory environment, overcoming the inherent shortcomings of blast testing in terms of data acquisition, test cycle time, and cost. In this paper, reasonable assumptions and refinements are made [...] Read more.
Blast simulators are capable of applying blast-like loading to components in a safe and controlled laboratory environment, overcoming the inherent shortcomings of blast testing in terms of data acquisition, test cycle time, and cost. In this paper, reasonable assumptions and refinements are made to the components and shape of the impact module, a key component of the blast simulator, to achieve diversity in simulated blast loading. By designing four rubber shapes, the importance of ellipsoid rubber as an elastic cushion for simulating blast loading was determined. In order to assess the effectiveness of this optimization, numerical calculations based on a calibrated finite element model were performed around four factors: flat rubber thickness, ellipsoid rubber thickness, impact velocity, and impact modulus mass. Additionally, a grey correlation sensitivity analysis was carried out to evaluate the effect of these factors on the impact loading on the reinforced concrete (RC) slab. The results indicate that peak pressure and impulse had opposite sensitivities to velocity and mass. Changes in ellipsoid rubber thickness had a more positive effect on the impact loading than flat rubber thickness. An in-depth study of the role of these influencing factors is important for the design and improvement of impact modules. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strength, Ductility and Durability of Strengthened or Repaired Reinforced Concrete or Masonry Structures)
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Review

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36 pages, 8256 KiB  
Review
A Review on Cementitious and Geopolymer Composites with Lithium Slag Incorporation
by Hongxiang Gou, Madhuwanthi Rupasinghe, Massoud Sofi, Rajesh Sharma, Gianluca Ranzi, Priyan Mendis and Zipeng Zhang
Materials 2024, 17(1), 142; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17010142 - 27 Dec 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 955
Abstract
This study critically reviews lithium slag (LS) as a supplementary cementitious material (SCM), thereby examining its physiochemical characteristics, mechanical properties, and durability within cementitious and geopolymer composites. The review reveals that LS’s particle size distribution is comparable to fly ash (FA) and ground [...] Read more.
This study critically reviews lithium slag (LS) as a supplementary cementitious material (SCM), thereby examining its physiochemical characteristics, mechanical properties, and durability within cementitious and geopolymer composites. The review reveals that LS’s particle size distribution is comparable to fly ash (FA) and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), which suggests it can enhance densification and nucleation in concrete. The mechanical treatment of LS promotes early hydration by increasing the solubility of aluminum, lithium, and silicon. LS’s compositional similarity to FA endows it with low-calcium, high-reactivity properties that are suitable for cementitious and geopolymeric applications. Increasing the LS content reduces setting times and flowability while initially enhancing mechanical properties, albeit with diminishing returns beyond a 30% threshold. LS significantly improves chloride ion resistance and impacts drying shrinkage variably. This study categorizes LS’s role in concrete as a filler, pozzolan, and nucleation agent, thereby contributing to the material’s overall reduced porosity and increased durability. Economically, LS’s cost is substantially lower than FA’s; meanwhile, its environmental footprint is comparable to GGBS, thereby making it a sustainable and cost-effective alternative. Notwithstanding, there is a necessity for further research on LS’s fine-tuning through grinding, its tensile properties, its performance under environmental duress, and its pozzolanic reactivity to maximize its utility in concrete technologies. This study comprehensively discusses the current strengths and weaknesses of LS in the field of building materials, thereby offering fresh perspectives and methodologies to enhance its performance, improve its application efficiency, and broaden its scope. These efforts are driving the sustainable and green development of LS in waste utilization and advanced concrete technology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strength, Ductility and Durability of Strengthened or Repaired Reinforced Concrete or Masonry Structures)
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