The current research work investigates the behaviour of steel and composite beams as well as beam-to-column connections at elevated temperatures. Significant attention is needed to identify the main issues, as the behaviour is profoundly different from that at ambient temperature. Local buckling of the beam flange outstands has been found to be highly significant in accelerating the development of catenary action in fire, since this action is reliant on hinges forming which may result from local buckling. Local buckling of the beam web, which experiences a non-uniform temperature variation, is also important because the mechanical properties of the steel are degraded non-uniformly from their ambient values. Current formulations for web buckling at ambient temperature therefore need substantial revision at elevated temperatures. Very large compressive forces are developed within the beams initially and these induce large stresses in the column web; hitherto this has not been considered. Developing a formulation representing the mechanics of this potential failure zone in the column web in the compression region of the connection is a useful and needed addition to research in the topic. Predicting the critical temperature in a connection that causes failure of the bolts, end plate and column flange in the tension zone of the connection is considered in this research work. An elastic analysis of a panel zone in a rigid or semi-rigid joint in a steel frame, which is based on simple equilibrium considerations that takes into account the shear and flexural deformations of the panel zone, is developed at elevated temperatures. In order to model the structural response of a composite beam restrained by cooler members in a steel compartment fire in a frame structure at elevated temperature, recourse is needed to a geometric nonlinear formulation, since the beam transverse deflections are not negligible and the axial compressive force in the member is also substantial at the early stages of the fire. This thesis presents such a formulation, which incorporates partial interaction between the concrete slab and steel component, as well as the degradation of the stiffnesses of the components of the composite beam prior to yield at elevated temperature.

This thesis details a study of the structural behavior of Hybrid-Composite Beams (HCB) consisting of a fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) shell with a concrete arch tied with steel prestressing strands.  The HCB offers advantages in life cycle costs through reduced transportation weight and increased corrosion resistance. By better understanding the system behavior, the proportion of load in each component can be determined, and each component can be designed for the appropriate forces. A long term outcome of this research will be a general structural analysis framework that can be used by DOTs to design HCBs as rapidly constructible bridge components. This study focuses on identifying the load paths and load sharing between the arch and FRP shell. Testing was performed by applying point loads on simple span beams (before placing the bridge deck) and a three beam skewed composite bridge system.  Curvature from strain data is used to find internal bending forces, and the proportion of load within the arch is found. Additionally, a stress integration method is used to confirm the internal force contributions.  The tied arch carries about 80% of the total load for the non-composite case without a bridge deck.  When composite with a bridge deck, the arch has a minimal contribution to the HCB stiffness and strength as it is below the neutral axis. For this composite case the FRP shell and prestressing strands resist about 85% of the applied load while the bridge deck carries the remaining 15% to the end diaphragms and bearings. / Master of Science

The objective of the research presented in this thesis was to study and optimize the transverse deck reinforcement for a skewed concrete bridge deck supported by Hybrid Composite Beams (HCB's).  An HCB consists of a Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer outer shell, a concrete arch, and high strength seven wire steel strands running along the bottom to tie the ends of the concrete arch together.  The remaining space within the shell is filled with foam.  The concrete arch does not need to be cast until the beam is in place, making the HCB very light during shipping.  This lowers construction costs and time since more beams can be transported per truck and smaller cranes can be used.  HCB's are quite flexible, so AASHTO LRFD's design model for bridge decks, as a one-way slab continuous over rigid supports, might not apply well to the HCB's deck design. A skewed three HCB girder bridge with a reinforced concrete deck and end diaphragms was built in the laboratory at Virginia Tech.  Concentrated loads were applied at locations chosen to maximize the negative and positive moments in the deck in the transverse direction.  The tests revealed that the transverse reinforcement was more than adequate under service loads. An Abaqus model was created to further study the behavior of the bridge and to help create future design recommendations.  The model revealed that the HCB bridge was behaving more like a stiffened plate at the middle section of the bridge, indicating that the flexibility of the girders needed to be considered. / Master of Science

The behavior and strength of welded shear studs are subjects of ongoing study. In recent years, research has shown that the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) specification equations for shear stud strength are unconservative for studs placed in deck with ribs transverse to the steel beam. Twenty-four solid slab push-out tests, 93 composite slab push-out tests, and bare stud tests were performed to study the effects on stud strength of friction, normal load, position of studs in the ribs of steel deck, concrete strength, and stud properties. Stud diameters ranged from 3/8 in. to 7/8 in., deck heights ranged from 2 in. to 6 in., and both single and pairs of studs were tested. The push-out test results from this study were combined with other studies to propose a new stud strength prediction model. Three new beam tests were performed to study the effect of the stud position in the ribs of the steel deck. The results of these tests, along with 61 other beam tests, were used to verify the new stud strength prediction model. A reliability study was performed to determine resistance factors for stud strength and beam strength. / Ph. D.

A dual approach integrating structural tailoring and adaptive materials technology and designed to control the dynamic response of cantilever beams subjected to external excitations is addressed. The cantilevered structure is modeled as a thin-walled beam of arbitrary cross-section and incorporates a number of non-classical effects such as transverse shear, warping restraint, anisotropy of constituent materials and heterogeneity of the construction. Whereas structural tailoring uses the anisotropy properties of advanced composite materials, adaptive materials technology exploits the actuating/sensing capabilities of piezoelectric materials bonded or embedded into the host structure. Various control laws relating the piezoelectrically-induced bending moment with combined kinematical variables characterizing the response at given points of the structure are implemented and their effects on the closed-loop frequencies and dynamic response to external excitations are investigated. The combination of structural tailoring and control by means of adaptive materials proves very effective in damping out vibration. In addition, the influence of a number of non-classical effects characterizing the structural model on the open and closed-loop dynamic responses have been considered and their roles assessed. / Ph. D.

A test program for the Hybrid-Composite Beam (HCB) was conducted prior to its use for the replacement of a skewed, simply-supported bridge (Tide Mill Bridge). The HCB is an innovative combination of conventional materials and ideas in a structural beam. The beam consists of a concrete arch tied with prestressing strand that is placed within a Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) box. Behavior in individual HCB's and a three HCB-system was examined to determine the appropriateness of the current design methodology developed by John Hillman and the simplifying assumptions made within it. Such assumptions include strain compatibility and linear-elastic behavior. Three HCB's were tested at the structures laboratory at Virginia Tech. During individual beam tests, the predicted behavior of the FRP box and prestressing strand agreed with experimental results. The tests revealed the arch was susceptible to local bending and behaved far differently from predicted. Overall, the beams were shown to behave linearly. A final test was performed to apply the design live load to the system. Slight non-linear behavior was observed in the beams. Distribution factors for the system were also investigated and compared to AASHTO and Hillman's model. AASHTO factors were conservative for exterior girders but unconservative for interior girders. Hillman's factors were often conservative but were in agreement for the shear in the exterior girder. The current design procedure appeared to predict FRP and strand behavior well, but the behavior of the arch appeared to differ greatly from the other components of the HCB. / Master of Science

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Civil Engineering / Hayder A. Rasheed / Thin-walled structures are major components in many engineering applications. When a thin-walled slender beam is subjected to lateral loads, causing moments, the beam may buckle by a combined lateral bending and twisting of cross-section, which is called lateral-torsional buckling. A generalized analytical approach for lateral-torsional buckling of anisotropic laminated, thin-walled, rectangular cross-section composite beams under various loading conditions (namely, pure bending and concentrated load) and boundary conditions (namely, simply supported and cantilever) was developed using the classical laminated plate theory (CLPT), with all considered assumptions, as a basis for the constitutive equations. Buckling of such type of members has not been addressed in the literature. Closed form buckling expressions were derived in terms of the lateral, torsional and coupling stiffness coefficients of the overall composite. These coefficients were obtained through dimensional reduction by static condensation of the 6x6 constitutive matrix mapped into an effective 2x2 coupled weak axis bending-twisting relationship. The stability of the beam under different geometric and material parameters, like length/height ratio, ply thickness, and ply orientation, was investigated. The analytical formulas were verified against finite element buckling solutions using ABAQUS for different lamination orientations showing excellent accuracy.

As vigas mistas de aço e concreto, por empregarem cada um desses materiais dentro de suas melhores características mecânicas, são uma boa solução estrutural para vários problemas de engenharia. Em função da geometria, carregamento e restrições de deslocamentos essas vigas apresentam vários modos de falhas que precisam ser verificados no seu dimensionamento. Nesse contexto, esse trabalho tem como objetivo estudar o comportamento das vigas mistas em situações onde a aplicação da não linearidade geométrica pode a priori ser importante. Em vigas simplesmente apoiadas, com a linha neutra localizada no perfil de aço e em vigas contínuas na região de momentos negativos, o perfil de aço está sujeito à compressão. Nessas situações os modos de falha de flambagem local, flambagem lateral por torção e flambagem distorcional (no caso de perfis I enrijecidos) podem ocorrer principalmente quando o perfil de aço é do tipo não compacto. Em vigas mistas com aberturas no perfil de aço, por exemplo, para passagem de tubulações, também há modos de falhas adicionais que devem ser investigados. O trabalho em questão foi conduzido empregando-se o código desenvolvido no CEMACOM com pequenas alterações para a priori permitir analisar problemas com pequenas não linearidades geométricas. Em paralelo empregou-se o software ANSYS customizado para analisar problemas com não linearidades geométricas significativas. Vários exemplos foram analisados empregando-se ambos os softwares e os resultados obtidos mostram o bom funcionamento do ANSYS customizado e do script para modelar vigas mistas. Por outro lado, algumas vigas analisadas demonstraram a carência de alguns recursos do programa desenvolvido no CEMACOM. / The steel - concrete composite beams are a good structural solution to various engineering problems. The main advantage of steel - concrete composite beams is to employ each of these materials within their best mechanical characteristics, which results in a more efficient stiffness/ weight ratio. Due to the geometry, loading and displacement constraints, these beams present several failure modes that need to be verified in their design. In simply supported beams, the steel profile is subjected to compression when the neutral line is located in the steel profile. In continuous beams, the steel profile is subject to compression in the hogging moment region. In these situations, local buckling, lateral - torsional buckling, and distortional buckling failure modes (in the case of I stiffened profiles) may occur. Local buckling becomes important when the steel profile is of the non-compact type. In several practical situations it is also common to use composite beams with openings in the steel profile, for example, for passage of pipes. This solution also introduces failure modes that must be investigated. A priori these problems require the use of a nonlinear geometric analysis to be studied. The work in question was conducted using the code developed in CEMACOM with small changes to a priori allow analyzing problems with small geometric nonlinearities. In parallel, the customized ANSYS software was used to analyze problems with significant geometric nonlinearities. Several examples were analyzed using both software and the results obtained show the proper functioning of the customized ANSYS and the script to model mixed beams. On the other hand, some analyzed beams demonstrated the lack of some resources of the program developed in CEMACOM.

As vigas mistas de aço e concreto têm sido muito empregadas em obras civis de pequeno e grande porte. O emprego em conjunto de vigas de aço e lajes de concreto armado visa explorar as melhores características de cada um dos elementos, gerando uma solução estrutural econômica e eficiente. Os conectores de cisalhamento, que são os dispositivos de união desses elementos, permitem a transferência do esforço cortante ao longo da estrutura. O presente trabalho trata-se de uma continuação do estudo realizado por Tamayo (2011), o qual desenvolveu um código computacional em linguagem Fortran 90, utilizando o método dos elementos finitos, que é capaz de representar estruturas de vigas mistas em análises de curta duração. A teoria da plasticidade associada com um algoritmo de retorno explícito para o concreto e aço foi empregada em um procedimento incremental iterativo. O presente trabalho visa incluir a análise de serviço no código elasto-plástico, ou seja, a consideração dos efeitos de longa duração que interferem na distribuição de tensões e deformações da estrutura. A teoria da solidificação proposta por Bazant e Prasannan (1988) foi empregada para analisar os efeitos devido à fluência do concreto. Para o cálculo da fluência empregou-se um modelo reológico baseado na cadeia de Kelvin em série. Usando conceitos da série de Dirichlet, os parâmetros desta cadeia foram obtidos através de uma aproximação por mínimos quadrados. Em conjunto com a teoria da solidificação, os modelos de fluência e retração, propostos pelo Comité Euro-International du Béton (1990), foram utilizados. O amolecimento do concreto foi adicionado ao modelo computacional. Para os conectores de cisalhamento foi testada uma nova formulação empregando uma rigidez secante. As tarefas de pré e pós processamento foram realizadas através do software GiD que auxiliou nas etapas de geração da geometria e malha de elementos finitos, confecção de arquivo de entrada, e visualização dos resultados. Exemplos testados experimentalmente foram empregados para validação do modelo numérico proposto. / Steel-concrete composite beams have been widely applied to both small and large civil works. The combined use of steel beams and reinforced concrete slabs aims to explore the best features of each one, creating an efficient structural solution with low cost. The shear connectors are the device joining the steel beam and concrete slab, allowing the transfer of shear along the structure. This work follows the research of Tamayo (2011) who developed a program in Fortran 90 language, using the finite element method, capable of representing composite beam structures in short time analyzes. The associated theory of plasticity with an explicit return algorithm for concrete and steel was used in an incremental iterative procedure. This study aims to include the service analysis into the code, which means to account for long-term effects that influence the stress and strain distribution in the structure. The solidification theory proposed by Bazant and Prasannan (1988) was used to examine the creep effects of concrete. For the creep calculation, a rheological model based on the Kelvin chain in series was employed. Using concepts of Dirichlet series, the chain parameters were obtained through a least squares approximation. Together with the solidification theory, the creep and shrinkage models proposed by the Comité Euro-International du Béton (1990) were used. The concrete softening was added to the computational model. A new formulation using secant stiffness was tested for the shear connectors modeling. The pre and post processing tasks were performed using the GiD software, which was used for geometry and finite element mesh generation, input file writing, and results viewing. Specimens tested experimentally were used for the validation of the proposed numerical model.

As vigas mistas de aço e concreto, por empregarem cada um desses materiais dentro de suas melhores características mecânicas, são uma boa solução estrutural para vários problemas de engenharia. Em função da geometria, carregamento e restrições de deslocamentos essas vigas apresentam vários modos de falhas que precisam ser verificados no seu dimensionamento. Nesse contexto, esse trabalho tem como objetivo estudar o comportamento das vigas mistas em situações onde a aplicação da não linearidade geométrica pode a priori ser importante. Em vigas simplesmente apoiadas, com a linha neutra localizada no perfil de aço e em vigas contínuas na região de momentos negativos, o perfil de aço está sujeito à compressão. Nessas situações os modos de falha de flambagem local, flambagem lateral por torção e flambagem distorcional (no caso de perfis I enrijecidos) podem ocorrer principalmente quando o perfil de aço é do tipo não compacto. Em vigas mistas com aberturas no perfil de aço, por exemplo, para passagem de tubulações, também há modos de falhas adicionais que devem ser investigados. O trabalho em questão foi conduzido empregando-se o código desenvolvido no CEMACOM com pequenas alterações para a priori permitir analisar problemas com pequenas não linearidades geométricas. Em paralelo empregou-se o software ANSYS customizado para analisar problemas com não linearidades geométricas significativas. Vários exemplos foram analisados empregando-se ambos os softwares e os resultados obtidos mostram o bom funcionamento do ANSYS customizado e do script para modelar vigas mistas. Por outro lado, algumas vigas analisadas demonstraram a carência de alguns recursos do programa desenvolvido no CEMACOM. / The steel - concrete composite beams are a good structural solution to various engineering problems. The main advantage of steel - concrete composite beams is to employ each of these materials within their best mechanical characteristics, which results in a more efficient stiffness/ weight ratio. Due to the geometry, loading and displacement constraints, these beams present several failure modes that need to be verified in their design. In simply supported beams, the steel profile is subjected to compression when the neutral line is located in the steel profile. In continuous beams, the steel profile is subject to compression in the hogging moment region. In these situations, local buckling, lateral - torsional buckling, and distortional buckling failure modes (in the case of I stiffened profiles) may occur. Local buckling becomes important when the steel profile is of the non-compact type. In several practical situations it is also common to use composite beams with openings in the steel profile, for example, for passage of pipes. This solution also introduces failure modes that must be investigated. A priori these problems require the use of a nonlinear geometric analysis to be studied. The work in question was conducted using the code developed in CEMACOM with small changes to a priori allow analyzing problems with small geometric nonlinearities. In parallel, the customized ANSYS software was used to analyze problems with significant geometric nonlinearities. Several examples were analyzed using both software and the results obtained show the proper functioning of the customized ANSYS and the script to model mixed beams. On the other hand, some analyzed beams demonstrated the lack of some resources of the program developed in CEMACOM.