Corrosion of reinforcing steel causes shorter life spans in bridges throughout the United States. The use of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) materials as the flexural reinforcement in bridge girders has been extensively studied. However, CFRP transverse reinforcement has not been as rigorously investigated, and many studies have focused on CFCC stirrups. The use of C-Grid as an option for transverse reinforcing has not been previously investigated. This thesis concludes that C-Grid is a viable shear design option and presents the initial recommendations for design methods. These methods provide a basis for the design of C-Grid shear reinforcing that could be used as a starting point for future testing of full scale specimens. This testing program first determined the mechanical properties of C-Grid and its development length. Four 18 ft long 19 in. deep beams, modeled after prestressed Bulb-T beams, were created to test the C-Grid, as well as steel and CFCC stirrups. The beams were loaded with a single point load closer to one end to create a larger shear load for a given flexural moment. Overall beam displacement was measured to determine when flexural reinforcement yielding was reached, and beams were fitted with rosettes and instrumentation to capture initiation of shear cracking. Shear capacity calculations following four methods were compared to test results. The design method should follow the AASHTO modified compression field theory with equations for β and θ. The manufacturer's guaranteed strength should be used for design as long as that strength is the average reduced by three standard deviations. Shear crack widths are controlled to a similar size as steel stirrups when using at least two layers of grid. / Master of Science

Corrosion of reinforcing steel is a major cause of damage to bridges in the United States. A possible solution to the corrosion issue is carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) material. CFRP material has been implemented as flexural reinforcement in many cases, but not as transverse reinforcing. The CFRP material studied in this thesis was NEFMAC grid, which consists of vertical and horizontal CFRP tows that form an 8 in. by 10 in. grid. The use of NEFMAC grid as transverse reinforcing has not been previously investigated. First, the development length of NEFMAC grid was determined. Next, an 18 ft long 19 in. deep beam, modeled after prestressed Bulb-T beams, was created with NEFMAC grid reinforcement. The beam was loaded with a single point load near the support to induce shear failure. Beams were fitted with instrumentation to capture shear cracking data. Shear capacity calculations following four methods were compared to test results. Lastly, a parametric study with strut-and-tie modeling was performed on Precast Bulb-T (PCBT) girders to determine the amount of CFRP grid needed for reinforcement in the anchorage zone. This thesis concludes that NEFMAC grid is a viable shear design option and presents the initial recommendations for design methods. These methods provide a basis for the design of NEFMAC grid shear reinforcing that could be used as a starting point for future testing of full scale specimens. When designing with NEFMAC grid, the full manufacturer's guaranteed strength should be used as it is the average reduced by three standard deviations. AASHTO modified compression field theory provides the best prediction of shear capacity. For anchorage zone design, working stress limits for CFRP grids need to be increased to allow more of the strength to be implemented in design. / Master of Science

As vigas mistas de aço-concreto vêm ganhando espaço no mundo e no Brasil. Sua grande vantagem é o aproveitamento das melhores propriedades que cada material apresenta. O aço possui excelente resposta para esforços tanto de tração como os de compressão e o concreto para esforços de compressão. As vigas mistas envolvem basicamente o perfil de aço, a laje de concreto, os conectores e as armaduras. Na interface destes materiais ocorrem fenômenos que merecem destaque, como grau de interação, cisalhamento na superfície de contato e separação vertical. Os procedimentos normalmente empregados em projetos de estruturas convencionais de concreto armado e de aço fornecem muitas respostas para questões semelhantes nas estruturas mistas, porém, no geral, não abordam a questão mais relevante que é a ligação entre o aço e o concreto. Na vizinhança dos conectores de cisalhamento, a laje da viga mista de aço e concreto está sujeita a uma combinação de cisalhamento longitudinal e momento fletor transversal, por isso a interface é a região que necessita de uma análise cuidadosa. Esses aspectos são os objetos principais da pesquisa. Adicionalmente são discutidos os procedimentos de projetos adotados pelas normas brasileira (NBR 8800-86), americana (AISC) e européia (EUROCODE 4): nas regiões de ligações entre os materiais por meio de conectores em perfis de aço sob lajes de concreto, no controle da fissuração em seções solicitadas por momentos negativos e nas armaduras transversais de costura. / The use of composite steel-concrete beams is increasing in Brazil and in the world, because this is to take advantage of the best properties of each material. Steel has an excellent response to compression and tension and concrete has to compression. Composite beams include basically the steel beam, concrete slab, connectors and reinforcement. Some phenomena in the interface of these materials must be considered, like the degree of interaction, shear in contact surface and uplift. The procedures normally taken in design of conventional structures of reinforced concrete and steel structures supply many answers to similar questions in composite structures, but, in general, they do not approach the most relevant question which is the bond between steel and concrete. The slab of composite steel-concrete beam is affected by a combination of longitudinal shear and transverse flexure, in the neighborhood of the shear connector. The analysis of the behavior of the slab and the reinforcement are main aspect of the work. In addition, some design procedures adopted by Brazilian Standard (NBR 8800-86), American Standard (AISC-2005) and European standard (EUROCODE 4) are discussed, in especial the related to connects, the crack control in sections with hogging moment and in transverse reinforcement.

A previously completed study in the field of concrete block construction by Ahmed and Feldman (2012) indicated that, on average, the reinforcing bars in non-contact lap splices, where the lapped bars are located in adjacent cells, only develop 71% of the tensile resistance of spliced bars which are in contact. An experimental program was therefore initiated to design and evaluate remedial measures which can potentially increase the tensile resistance of non-contact lap splices to that of contact lap splice of the same lap length. Implementation of the proposed measures in various field situations was also analyzed. Six unique remedial splice details, along with standard contact and unaltered non-contact lap splices were evaluated and compared. The mitigative details included providing additional confinement, installing knock-out webs, placing splice reinforcement between the lapped bars, and combinations of these aforementioned details. Three replicates of each splice detail were constructed for a total of 24 wall splice specimens. Each wall splice specimen was reinforced with No. 15 Grade 400 deformed steel reinforcing bars with 200 mm lap splice lengths at located the midspan. The specimens were tested in a horizontal position under a monotonic, four-point loading geometry. Load and deflection data were collected throughout testing and were subsequently used in an iterative moment-curvature analysis to calculate the maximum tensile resistance of the spliced reinforcement. This was then used to compare the structural performance of each remedial splice detail to the standard contact and non-contact lap splices. The wall splice specimens which contained non-contact lap splices with knock-out webs, s-shaped, and transverse reinforcement in the splice region achieved similar tensile capacities as the wall splice specimens with standard contact lap splices. Industry professionals have indicated that the installation of the remedial measures evaluated in this study would not affect the constructability of masonry assemblages in field situations. The splice detail with knock-out webs confined within the lap splice length was determined to be the most viable procedure as it can be installed to increase the resistance of non-contact lap splices in almost all construction situations. This remedial procedure was able to improve the tensile resistance of the lapped reinforcement by 63% compared to the wall splice specimens with standard non-contact lap splices.

As vigas mistas de aço-concreto vêm ganhando espaço no mundo e no Brasil. Sua grande vantagem é o aproveitamento das melhores propriedades que cada material apresenta. O aço possui excelente resposta para esforços tanto de tração como os de compressão e o concreto para esforços de compressão. As vigas mistas envolvem basicamente o perfil de aço, a laje de concreto, os conectores e as armaduras. Na interface destes materiais ocorrem fenômenos que merecem destaque, como grau de interação, cisalhamento na superfície de contato e separação vertical. Os procedimentos normalmente empregados em projetos de estruturas convencionais de concreto armado e de aço fornecem muitas respostas para questões semelhantes nas estruturas mistas, porém, no geral, não abordam a questão mais relevante que é a ligação entre o aço e o concreto. Na vizinhança dos conectores de cisalhamento, a laje da viga mista de aço e concreto está sujeita a uma combinação de cisalhamento longitudinal e momento fletor transversal, por isso a interface é a região que necessita de uma análise cuidadosa. Esses aspectos são os objetos principais da pesquisa. Adicionalmente são discutidos os procedimentos de projetos adotados pelas normas brasileira (NBR 8800-86), americana (AISC) e européia (EUROCODE 4): nas regiões de ligações entre os materiais por meio de conectores em perfis de aço sob lajes de concreto, no controle da fissuração em seções solicitadas por momentos negativos e nas armaduras transversais de costura. / The use of composite steel-concrete beams is increasing in Brazil and in the world, because this is to take advantage of the best properties of each material. Steel has an excellent response to compression and tension and concrete has to compression. Composite beams include basically the steel beam, concrete slab, connectors and reinforcement. Some phenomena in the interface of these materials must be considered, like the degree of interaction, shear in contact surface and uplift. The procedures normally taken in design of conventional structures of reinforced concrete and steel structures supply many answers to similar questions in composite structures, but, in general, they do not approach the most relevant question which is the bond between steel and concrete. The slab of composite steel-concrete beam is affected by a combination of longitudinal shear and transverse flexure, in the neighborhood of the shear connector. The analysis of the behavior of the slab and the reinforcement are main aspect of the work. In addition, some design procedures adopted by Brazilian Standard (NBR 8800-86), American Standard (AISC-2005) and European standard (EUROCODE 4) are discussed, in especial the related to connects, the crack control in sections with hogging moment and in transverse reinforcement.

no / Precast concrete floors are widely used in building construction, but there is little detailed design guidance on their application in steel-framed buildings. Traditionally the steel beams have been designed to support the precast slabs on their top flange. However, there are an increasing number of composite frames and slim floor constructions where the precast slabs are designed to interact structurally with the steel frame. Composite action can be developed by welded shear connectors attached to the steel beams and by transverse reinforcement; however, this form of construction is currently outside the provisions of the current codes of practice. This paper discusses some of the particular issues that affect this form of construction, and presents design guidance using the Eurocode methodology.

Longitudinal slab splitting in composite hot rolled girders and joist girders was investigated. Two different type of framing configurations were studied with two tests conducted per configuration. The framing configurations were designated as either flush-framed or haunched, which describes the framing of the joists into the joist girders or H-shape. Each floor system consisted of at least one exterior or spandrel joist girder, one interior joist girder, and in three of the four tests, an exterior or spandrel H-shape. The nominal lengths of the girders were 30 ft 4 in. with a centerline spacing of 7 ft for the flush-framed tests and 6 ft 9 in. for the haunch tests. Varying amounts of transverse reinforcement were used in the slab over each girder. Shear connectors were all 0.75 in. diameter headed shear studs of varying lengths. The results of these tests were used to determine the minimum amount of transverse reinforcement required to prevent longitudinal splitting from controlling the strength of the section. A comparative analytical study was performed to generate a design procedure for determining the appropriate amount of transverse reinforcement. This consisted of adapting existing procedures in reinforced concrete for similar shear problems and generating alternative procedures based on existing research for composite construction. Results from these methods were then calibrated against experimental data obtained in this study. / Master of Science

[pt] Neste trabalho é feito o estudo da influência do cobrimento da armadura longitudinal e dos grampos suplementares na resistência de pilares de concreto submetidos à compressão excêntrica. Para este fim foram ensaiados pilares curtos, com armadura longitudinal contínua e pilares com emenda na armadura. Foi elaborado um modelo para o cálculo da distribuição da tensão normal e da tensão de aderência nas barras de emendas comprimidas que reproduziu bem o verificado experimentalmente. Mostra-se a importância da tensão de ponta na transmissão de forças na emenda. Se alerta sobre como a técnica normalmente empregada no reparo dos pilares onde as armaduras apresentam corrosão, que consiste na retirada parcial ou total do que restou do cobrimento para o tratamento e/ou substituição da armadura, e posterior reposição da camada de cobrimento, pode levar a ruptura do elemento por perda de aderência. Mostra-se como não colocar os grampos suplementares pode levar a perda da estabilidade do elemento. / [en] In this work, the influence of the longitudinal reinforcement cover and supplementary transversal reinforcement on the ultimate strength of the concrete columns under eccentric compression is studied. For this purpose, tests on short columns with continuum and lapped spliced bars were carried out. A theoretical model for the calculation of the stress and bond distributions on the splice length is proposed and tested with the experimental data of this work, showing a good agreement. The relevance of the end bearing effect on the transmission of the forces in the splice is shown. An alert again the usual technique used to repair the corroded bars inside the column, i.e., to remove partially or totally the remaining concrete cover to treat or substitute the damaged reinforcement bars, and lately to put back the concrete cover. This technique may provide the element failure by the lost of bond between the remaining concrete surface and reinforcement bars. It is shown how the absence of supplementary transversal reinforcement can lead to the instability of column.

Neste estudo foram analisados experimentalmente o comportamento de 24 pilares curtos de Concreto de Ultra Alta Resistência - CUAR, confinados por armaduras helicoidais, avaliando especificamente os acréscimos de resistência e ductilidade obtidos com diferentes níveis de pressão lateral de confinamento. Na etapa experimental foram realizados ensaios de pilares curtos de CUAR com as seguintes características: - seção circular de 7,2 cm de diâmetro e comprimento de 23 cm, e quatro níveis de resistência à compressão do concreto sendo eles, 165, 175, 200 e 229 MPa, dosados sem e com adição de fibras metálicas; - diferentes espaçamentos das armaduras helicoidais, de modo que fossem obtidas situações com baixo, médio e alto índice de confinamento e taxa de armadura longitudinal fixa. Os ensaios de compressão centrada foram realizados com controle de deslocamento, de modo que foram obtidas as curvas força x deslocamento completas. Constatou-se que a seção resistente dos pilares de CUAR é a formada pelo núcleo de concreto confinado, área delimitada pelo eixo da armadura transversal. Observou-se que o CUAR com fibras metálicas apresenta maior deformação do núcleo de concreto confinado em relação ao núcleo de concreto confinado de CUAR sem adição de fibras metálicas, indicando dessa forma, que os pilares de CUAR com fibras metálicas apresentam comportamento mais dúctil. Para as situações de alto confinamento foram gerados ao concreto do núcleo confinado significativos acréscimos de resistência e deformação axial, aumentando a resistência do concreto confinado em relação a resistência do concreto não confinado em: 82,26%, 75,34%, 90,46% e 70,51%, respectivamente, e as deformações axiais do concreto confinado em relação a deformação axial do concreto não confinado em: 433%, 474%, 647% e 550%. Finalmente, acredita-se que os resultados obtidos poderão trazer subsídios para aplicações futuras desta técnica de confinamento na construção de novos elementos estruturais e no reforço de pilares submetidos a elevados níveis de solicitação axial. / This study evaluated experimentally the behavior of 24 short columns of Ultra High Strength Concrete - UHSC confined by helical transverse reinforcement, specifically evaluating strength increases and ductility obtained with different levels of lateral pressure of confinement. In the experimental phase short UHSC columns with the following characteristics were tested: - circular cross section of 7.2 cm diameter and 23 cm length, four levels of concrete strength (165, 175, 200 and 229 MPa), with and without addition of metallic fibers; - different spacing of transverse reinforcement, so that situations were obtained with low, medium and high level of confinement, while the longitudinal reinforcement ratio was fixed. The centered compression tests were conducted with displacement control, so that complete force x displacement curves were obtained. It was found that the resistant section of UHSC columns is formed by the confined concrete core delimited by the axis of the transverse reinforcement. It was observed that the axial displacement reached in columns with steel fibers was higher than without fibers, indicating that columns with steel fibers exhibit more ductile behavior. For high confinement levels significant axial strength and displacement increases were observed. Increases of axial strength of confined concrete in comparison to unconfined concrete were 82.26%, 75.34%, 90, 46% and 70.51%. Axial displacements were increased by 433%, 474%, 647% and 550%. Finally, it is believed that the results could provide information for future applications of this technique in construction of a new type of columns or in strengthening of columns subjected to high levels of axial force.

Self-compacting concrete is an innovative construction material / its priority to normal vibrated concrete is that there is not any vibration requirement. Bond strength of reinforcement is one of the key factors that ensures the usefulness of any reinforced concrete structure. In this study, 6 full-scale concrete beams spliced at the mid-span were tested under two-point symmetrical loading. Test variables were bottom cover, side cover, free spacing between longitudinal reinforcement, lap-splice length and presence of transverse reinforcements within the lap-splice region. Specimen SC_22_44_88_800 had cover dimensions close to the code limits and had 36db lap splice length. This specimen showed flexural failure. Specimen SC_44_44_44_710 had 32db lap splice and cover dimensions greater than code minimums. This specimen showed yielding primarily. With the increasing loading, however, bond failure occurred with side splitting. ACI 408 descriptive equation for normal vibrated concrete predicted bar stresses of the unconfined specimens produced with self-compacting concrete acceptably well. The predicted values were lower than the measured values to be on the safe side. The error varied between 3.4% and 6.5%. All predictions of the ACI408 descriptive equation was higher than the measured bar stresses of the confined specimens produced with SCC. All the calculated values were unsafe. The error varied between 10.6% and 34.5%. Specimen SC_44_22_22_530_T4 with 24db lap splice length had side cover and spacing between bars 63.3% and 56.7% less than the ACI 318 limits. The calculated bar stress was 21.6% higher than the measured value. The main reason of the deviation was inadequate cover dimensions. In specimen SC_44_22_22_530_T6, number transverse reinforcement was increased to 6 stirrups to overcome the small cover and spacing problem. However, increased number of stirrups inside a small side and face cover caused weak plane and measured bar stress decreased.