Determination of rheological phenomenon is very difficult, because there are many unknown inputs parameters, e.g. concrete age, the size of elements, relative humidity of the surrounding environment, cement hydration rate, temperature influence, type of strain and treatment. This Ph.D. thesis deals with the effective cross-section thickness and its effect on the behaviour of concrete constructions that is how the rheological phenomena change in time as a result of the application or removal of insulation layer from the concrete surface. Long-term experimental measurements of specimens and real bridge constructions were performed. The data collected from these measurements were described, evaluated and mathematical modifications for the standards Model Code 2010 and Model B4 (B3) have been proposed. Using these new computational formulas is possible to take into consideration the changes in the effective cross-section thickness and therefore make the computational models for concrete structures more accurate.

The design for load tests of reinforced concrete members subjected to pure torsion. Calculation of ultimate torsional strenght of the reinforced concrete members with different theoretical approaches. Creating a mathematical model in Atena 3D software. Evaluation and comparison of the experimental results with the analytical part of the project. Recommendations for implementation of a similar type of experimental tests.

This master thesis deals with the strain, stress and reliability analysis of the safety frame of racing car. The safety frame is a part of passive safety, which it becomes active in a case of impact. The safety frame makes a reinforcement of the car body and provides its sufficient stiffness. The first part of the master thesis is focused on determination of stress and strain states during the static loading tests and their analysis. The loading conditions are prescribed by homologation regulations of Fédération Internationale de l´Automobile (FIA). The problem is solved, making use of computational modeling utilizing the Finite Element Method (FEM). The first part of thesis is used for the stiffness and safety analysis under the static loading test. The second part deals with the effect of loading velocity on the stress and strain states using the computational modeling and solver LS-DYNA.

Design and manufacture of test elements for experimental laboratory testing of shear damage. Testing of selected mechanical characteristics of test elements. Experimental analysis of test elements in the lab, creating a mathematical model in ATENA software, static analysis. Evaluation of experimental analysis and comparison with the values of static analysis. Final overall evaluation.

This master thesis deals with static load test and static assessment of selected segments of reinforced concrete ceiling construction of the Hennebique system at the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University in Brno. This thesis contains: the execution of the static load test, the data evaluation of the static load test and the data evaluation of the complementary laboratory testing, geometric orientation of bearing elements, the checking of the ceiling placement in the peripheral position, and the diagnosis of the reinforcing of the construction. This thesis also includes the static assessment according to various standard norm rules and the numerical analysis in ATENA software program.

To investigate the passive force-displacement relationships provided by a transitional zoned backfill consisting of cement treated aggregate (CTA) and compacted gravel, a series of full-scale lateral abutment load tests were performed. The transitional zoned backfill was designed to minimize differential settlement adjacent to bridge abutments for the California High Speed Rail project. Tests were performed with a 2-D or plane strain backfill geometry to simulate a wide abutment. To investigate the effect of skew angle on the passive force, lateral abutment load tests were also performed with a simulated abutment with skew angles of 30º and 45º. The peak passive force developed was about 2.5 times higher than that predicted with the California HSR design method for granular backfill material with a comparable backwall height and width. The displacement required to develop the peak passive force decreased with skew angle and was somewhat less than for conventional granular backfills. Peak passive force developed with displacements of 3 to 1.8% of the wall height, H in comparison to 3 to 5% of H for conventional granular backfills.The skew angle had less effect on the peak passive force for the transitional backfill than for conventional granular backfills. For example, the passive force reduction factor, Rskew, was only 0.83 and 0.51 for the 30º and 45º skew abutments in comparison to 0.51 and 0.37 for conventional granular backfills. Field measurements suggest that the CTA backfill largely moves with the abutment and does not experience significant heave while shear failure and heaving largely occurs in the granular backfill behind the CTA backfill zone.

more funding must be allocated for their rehabilitation or replacement. The Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Long-Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) Program has been developed to help bridge stakeholders make the best decisions concerning the allocation of these funds. This is done through the use of high quality data obtained through numerous testing processes. As part of the LTBP Pilot Program, researchers have performed live load tests on the U.S. Route 15 Southbound bridge over Interstate-66. The main performance and behavior characteristics focused on are service strain and deflection, wheel load distribution, dynamic load allowance, and rotational behavior of bridge bearings. Data from this test will be used as a tool in developing and refining a plan for long-term bridge monitoring. This includes identifying the primarily loaded girders and their expected range of response under ambient traffic conditions. Information obtained from this test will also aid in the refinement of finite element models by offering insight into the performance of individual bridge components, as well as overall global behavior. Finally, the methods and results of this test have been documented to allow for comparison with future testing of this bridge, which will yield information concerning the changes in bridge behavior over time. / Master of Science

The diploma thesis focuses on analysing the current Railway Infrastructure Administration methodology for designing the sleeper substructure concerning the construction's deformation resistance, its comparison with the multi-layered method, which is used in the road engineering and finite element method. It deals with various methodologies of determining the deformation resistance of the track substructure.

Fundações constituídas de estacas pré-moldadas cravadas têm, na questão dos controles executivos, significativas vantagens em relação às estacas moldadas in loco: desde a simplicidade executiva dos diagramas de cravação até a sofisticação teórica dos ensaios de carregamento dinâmico, há sempre a possibilidade de expeditas verificações de comportamento da cravação, de homogeneidade de estaqueamento e até estimativas da capacidade de carga. No entanto, assim como o grande número de dispositivos de controle para esse tipo de estaca representa uma vantagem, a diversidade de formas existentes de interpretá-los representa, igualmente, uma desvantagem. Em face disso, a presente pesquisa compilou 881 registros de ensaios de carregamento dinâmico (708 em estacas de concreto e 173 em estacas de aço) e os comparou com as estimativas de resistência da Equação de Energy Approach. A aplicabilidade da equação foi testada aos dois materiais de estaca, principalmente quando se estudaram variações do parâmetro Ksp em relação às diversas grandezas envolvidas na cravação, seus extremos empíricos e uma proposta de calibração à fórmula dinâmica por meio desse parâmetro chave. O estudo dos ensaios dinâmicos também levou à proposição de uma equação para se estimar a energia efetivamente transferida à estaca no golpe do martelo por meio da nega e do repique elástico. O presente estudo também dedicou uma seção à questão das tensões dinâmicas de compressão na cravação, avaliando estimativas de tensões por meio da Equação de Gambini e propondo duas versões alternativas ao método: uma primeira, simplificada e uma de cunho prático, com objetivo de possibilitar rápidas estimativas das tensões de compressão quando ainda em campo. / Driven precast piled foundations have significant advantages in respect of quality control over cast-in-place piles - from the executive simplicity of the blow count diagrams to the theoretical sophistication of dynamic load tests - there is always the possibility of fast and practical driving behavior check, homogeneity and even load capacities estimation. However, as the large number of available quality controls represents an advantage, that diversity can equally represent a disadvantage in respect to interpretation and methodology. Therefore, the present research compiled 881 records of dynamic load tests (708 on concrete piles and 173 on steel piles) and compared them with the resistance estimation with the Energy Approach Equation. The applicability of the equation was tested for both materials, especially when studying its main parameter (Ksp) variation related to several variables involved in pile driving, its empirical extremes and a calibration to the dynamic formula by means of Ksp. The study of the dynamic tests also led to the proposition of an equation to estimate the effective transferred energy to the pile in the hammer stroke by means of the blow count (set) and the elastic rebound. The study also devoted a section to the issue of dynamic compression stresses during driving, evaluating it through Gambini\'s Equation and proposing two alternative versions of that formula: a simplified one and a practical formulation in order to enable field estimations.

O ensaio SPT (Standard Penetration Test), é o ensaio de campo geotécnico mais usado no Brasil e grande parte do mundo. A ampla utilização deste ensaio no âmbito da engenharia geotécnica deve-se à sua simplicidade, baixo custo, grande experiência prática e facilidade de aplicação dos seus resultados. Os principais objetivos do ensaio são a determinação do índice de resistência do solo (NSPT) e amostragem. Apesar de ser muito utilizado na estimativa da capacidade de carga de fundações, o ensaio SPT tem sido questionado pelo fato de que o índice NSPT é utilizado em correlações empíricas baseadas em observações práticas, sem nenhum fundamento científico. Além do mais, seus resultados apresentam significativas dispersões. Para analisar racionalmente os resultados do ensaio e de possibilitar a comparação dos diferentes resultados de distintas equipes, é necessário conhecer as quantidades de energia envolvidas na penetração do amostrador no solo. Tais análises requerem o conhecimento da eficiência do equipamento (η) e a força de reação dinâmica do solo à cravação do amostrador (RD). Neste cenário, o presente trabalho aborda a interpretação racional dos resultados de ensaios SPT a partir de simulações numéricas realizadas com o software Abaqus/Explicit®. Esse programa fornece os deslocamentos do amostrador (Δρ), força de reação dinâmica do solo (RD), e as forças de reação nas paredes laterais externa e interna do amostrador (R1 e R2). Baseando-se nos resultados dos modelos numéricos, foi possível calcular a eficiência do equipamento, a partir da força de reação dinâmica do solo, as resistências unitárias de atrito atuantes nas paredes e a resistência unitária na ponta do amostrador. Também foi possível determinar a relação entre as resistências unitárias de atrito desenvolvidas no interior e exterior do amostrador (fator de atrito a). Os resultados obtidos foram comparados com resultados de trabalhos experimentais e valores teóricos determinados com base no Princípio de Hamilton da conservação da energia. Também foi possível simular uma prova de carga dinâmica com energia crescente no amostrador, variando a altura de queda do martelo. Isso confirmou que a resistência mobilizada do solo para certa energia aplicada pode estar bem abaixo da ruptura e apenas representar um ponto na curva de resistência mobilizada versus deslocamento. / The Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is one of the most used geotechnical tests in the world. The wide use of this test in the context of geotechnical engineering is due to its simplicity, low cost, large practical experience and its ease of application of results. The main objectives of the test are the determination of soil resistance index (NSPT) and sampling. Despite being widely used in estimating the bearing capacity of foundations, the SPT test has been questioned by the fact that the NSPT index is used in empirical correlations based on practical observations, with no scientific basis. Furthermore, its results show significant dispersions. To analyze rationally the test results and to make possible to compare different results obtained from different equipment, it is necessary to know the amounts of energy existing during the penetration of the sampler into soil. Such analyses require information about the equipment efficiency (η) and the dynamic soil reaction force during the sampler penetration (RD). In this scenario, this work addresses the rational interpretation of SPT test results from numerical simulations performed with the Abaqus/Explicit software. This program provides the sampler displacements (Δρ), the dynamic soil reaction force (RD) and the external and internal reaction forces acting on the sampler walls (R1 e R2). Based on the results of the numerical models, it was possible to calculate the efficiency of the equipment, from the dynamic soil reaction force, the unit friction resistance acting on the sampler walls and the unit resistance at the sampler tip. In addition, it was possible to estimate the relationship between the unit friction resistance acting on the internal and external walls of the sampler (friction factor a). The numerical results were compared with experimental results and theoretical values, obtained using the Hamilton\'s principle of conservation of energy. Furthermore, it was possible to simulate a dynamic load test with increasing energy applied to the sampler, by varying the height of fall of the hammer. It was obtained the confirmation that resistance mobilized for a certain level of energy applied to the sampler may be below the failure load and represent only a point on the graph curve mobilized resistance versus displacement.