Carbon fibre-reinforced plastics (CFRP) are widely used in aerospace, automobile and other structural applications due to their superior mechanical and physical properties. CFRP outperform conventional metals in high strength-to-weight ratio. Usually, CFRP parts are manufactured near to net-shape;however,machining is unavoidable when it comes to assembly. Drilling the holes are essential to facilitate riveting and bolting of the components. However, conventional drilling (CD) induces different types of damages such as cracking, fibre pull-out, sprintling and delamination due to the abrasive nature, inhomogeneity and anisotropy of CFRP. A novel technique, ultrasonically-assisted drilling (UAD) is hybrid machining technique in which highfrequency (typically above 20 kHz) vibration are superimposed on a standard twist drill bit in axial direction using ultrasonic transducer. UAD has shown several advantages such as thrust force reduction, improving surface quality and lower bur-formation in drilling of conventional metals. UAD has also effectively been used for drilling brittle materials.

Os estudos focando a otimização do reforço dos tubos de concreto para obras de saneamento são importantes por estes componentes estarem vinculados a grandes necessidades sociais que ainda atingem o Brasil e outros países em desenvolvimento bem como pelo fato destes componentes serem produzidos em série, o que gera economia de escala. Neste sentido, a utilização de fibras como reforço dos tubos trás consigo um grande número de vantagens aplicativas e de desempenho. A tendência internacional de busca por um consenso no dimensionamento e controle do concreto reforçado com fibras (CRF) como material estrutural está sendo direcionada para o fib Model Code 2010. Geralmente, para a caracterização do CRF são utilizados os ensaios de flexão de vigas. Porém, a moldagem desses corpos de prova para o controle do CRF dos tubos apresentou resultados inadequados em estudos anteriores. A definição do reforço ótimo de tubos de CRF através da tentativa e erro no ensaio de compressão diametral do componente deve ser evitada pelos elevados gastos (financeiros, de material e tempo) associados a esta metodologia. O projeto deve ser atingido através de modelos confiáveis que possam otimizar o reforço através da previsão adequada do desempenho do componente. Da mesma forma, deve-se obter procedimentos de controle do material que sejam concatenados com os procedimentos de controle do produto. Neste sentido, esta tese propõe uma metodologia para a caracterização e controle do comportamento mecânico do CRF para a produção de tubos, que permita modelar o comportamento do componente no ensaio de compressão diametral e verificar sua adequação a uma aplicação estrutural. O estudo foi dividido em três fases principais. Na primeira houve a avaliação de um método de ensaio alternativo ao de flexão de prismas para o controle do CRF. Na segunda fase experimental houve a incorporação de modificações no método de ensaio de compressão diametral do componente de modo a aproximá-lo à filosofia do fib Model Code 2010. Nesta etapa foram avaliados tubos com reforço de fibras de aço, macrofibras poliméricas e vergalhões para comprovar a pertinência da nova metodologia de ensaio. Na terceira fase do estudo foi realizada uma simulação numérica para previsão de comportamento dos componentes ensaiados utilizando os parâmetros do material caracterizados através do método de ensaio alternativo validado na primeira fase. Os resultados obtidos na modelagem foram comparados com o resultado experimental do ensaio do componente de modo a validar a metodologia proposta. Os resultados demonstraram a adequação do ensaio Barcelona para a caracterização e controle do comportamento mecânico do CRF destinado à produção de tubos. Essa caracterização poderá subsidiar simulações numéricas do comportamento do componente no ensaio de compressão diametral. Com isto, ábacos de projeto de tubos de concreto reforçados com diferentes tipos de fibras poderão ser desenvolvidos, identificando as classes resistentes que serão atendidas dependendo do diâmetro do tubo e do teor de fibras empregados. Esta tese aponta também para a necessidade de uma revisão na normalização vigente, estabelecendo critérios relacionados ao comportamento pós-fissuração que avaliem o estado limite de serviço e o estado limite último. Isto permitirá uma avaliação homogênea do tipo de reforço e tornará mais adequada a comparação entre distintos tipos de reforço (fibras ou convencional). / The international trend for a consensus about the design and control of fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) as a structural material is based on the fib Model Code 2010. Generally, in order to characterize the FRC, bending tests are used. However, the moulding of these control test specimens of the FRC pipes is not quite simple as has been shown by previous studies. The design of FRC pipes through trial and error in the component-crushing test should be avoided. This test shall be limited to the acceptance control or final validation of a new component, designed through reliable models that optimize the reinforcement and the component performance. These models should allow both design and prediction of the component behaviour related to the quality control. In that sense, this thesis proposes a methodology for characterizing and controlling the mechanical behaviour of FRC for the production of pipes. This study allows modelling the component behaviour in crushing test and verifying their suitability for structural application. The methodology considered consisted in three main topics: evaluation of an alternative method of FRC control test; modification of the procedure of the crushing test method in order to approach the fib Model Code 2010 philosophy, and prediction the mechanical behaviour of the components comparing numerical simulation results with experiments results. In this last topic, the characterization of the materials performance by the alternative test method was considered. The results indicated that the Barcelona test is suitable in order to characterize and control the mechanical behaviour of the FRC used for the production of pipes. This characterization is able to support numerical simulations of the component behaviour in crushing test. It allows the development of design tables identifying the pipes resistant classes considering a variety of parameters such as types and contents of fibres and pipes diameters. This thesis also points out the need for a review of the current standards, establishing parameters related to the post-cracking behaviour to assess the serviceability limit state and the ultimate limit state. This allows a homogeneous evaluation of the reinforcement type and makes it more suited to comparing different types of reinforcement (fibre or conventional).

Currently, the production of most non-asbestos organic (NAO) friction materials depends on a long and energy intensive manufacturing process and an unsustainable supply of synthetic resins and fibres; it is both expensive and bad for the environment. In this research, a new, more energy efficient, manufacturing process was developed which makes use of a naturally derived resin and natural plant fibres. The new process is known as 'cold moulding' and is fundamentally different from the conventional method. It was used to develop a new brake pad for use in low temperature (<400 °C) applications, such as rapid urban rail transit (RURT) trains. A commercially available resin based upon cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) was analysed and found to have properties suitable for cold moulding. In addition, hemp fibre was identified as a suitable composite reinforcement. This was processed to improve its morphology and blended with aramid to improve its thermal stability. Each stage of cold mould manufacture was thoroughly investigated and the critical process parameters were identified. The entire procedure was successfully scaled up to produce an industrially sized 250 kg batch of material and the resultant composites were found to have appropriate thermal and mechanical properties for use in a rail brake pad. The tribological performance of these composites was iteratively developed through a rigorous testing and evaluation procedure. This was performed on both sub- and full-scale dynamometers. By adding various abrasives, lubricants, and fillers to the formulation it was possible to produce a brake pad with similar friction characteristics to the current market material, but with a 60% lower wear rate. In addition, this brake pad caused 15% less wear to the brake disc. A detailed examination of both halves of the friction couple found that cold moulded composites exhibit a different wear mechanism from the current market material, which was suggested to be the reason for their superior properties. Cold moulding is 3.5x faster and uses 400% less energy than the conventional method.

The classical test to confirm the performance of a given fibre design for use in reinforced concrete is the pull-out test. While attempts have been made to simulate the performance of such pull-out tests, in practice it has been found that there is a significant disparity between prediction and real-life performance. The high strength of steel reinforcing fibres is a consequence of the cold wire drawing process and subsequent fabrication. Residual stresses exist in cold drawn wire as a consequence of the elastic response to a non-uniform distribution of plastic strain. This also introduces a yield strength profile where yield strength varies radially through the wire. The question arises as to whether fibre design should use a starting material model that considers these properties. This thesis examines whether the tensile test, simple bend test and pull-out test provide enough information to define a starting material model that may be used for further design and simulation of such fibres. Since the details of the wire drawing process and material specification are proprietary and therefore unknown, a sensitivity study was conducted to determine which aspects of the wire drawing process have the greatest effect on the pull-out curve and the following were established as being significant: • Plastic strain due to wire drawing was shown to be the most important factor. • The bilinear curve was shown to be a suitable approximation for the stress-strain curve. • Replacing the plastic strain profile with a single value of average equivalent plastic strain is practical. The following were established as having negligible effect: • The consequences of the hooked-end forming process. • The residual stress profiles due to wire drawing provided that the above was also excluded. • The hardening law While inverse analysis demonstrated that all tests provide sufficient information to determine the required properties for this bilinear material model, the pull-out test was shown to provide more accurate approximations of the maximum pull-out force at the first and second peaks and the bend test was shown to produce more accurate approximations of the energy associated with pull-out. Good correlation with the baseline pull-out curve was found for both the isotropic and the kinematic hardening laws and it is concluded that behaviour during pull-out is insensitive to the hardening law. Sensitivity analysis and characterisation of the material model using an experimental pull-out curve demonstrated the importance of the coefficient of friction. Full characterisation using the pull-out curve therefore requires the solution to a three-variable problem: yield strength, tangent modulus and coefficient of friction. This was a suggested topic for further study. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering / MEng (Mech) / Unrestricted

While the increase in shear strength of Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete (SFRC) is well recognized, it has yet to be found common application of this material in building structures and there is no existing national standard that treats SFRC in a systematic manner. The aim of the diploma work is to investigate the shear strength of fibre reinforced concrete beams and the available test data and analyse the latter against the mostpromising equations available in the literature. The equations investigated are:Narayanan and Darwish’s formula, the German, the RILEM and the Italian guidelines. Thirty articles, selected among over one hundred articles taken from literature, have been used to create the database that contains almost 600 beams tested in shear. This large number of beams has been decreased to 371 excluding all those beams and test that do not fall within the limitation stated for this thesis. Narayanan and Darwish’s formula can be utilized every time that the fibre percentage, the type of fibres, the beam dimensions, the flexural reinforcement and the concrete strength class have been defined. On the opposite, the parameters introduced in the German, the RILEM and the Italian guidelines always require a further characterization of the concrete (with bending test) in order to describe the post‐cracking behaviour. The parameters involved in the guidelines are the residual flexural tensile strengths according to the different test set‐ups. A method for predicting the residual flexural tensile strength from the knowledge of the fibre properties, the cylindrical compressive strength of the concrete and the amount of fibres percentage is suggested. The predictions of the shear strength, obtained using the proposed method for the residual flexural tensile strength, showed to be satisfactory when compared with the experimental results. A comparison among the aforementioned equations corroborate the validity of the empirical formulations proposed by Narayanan and Darwish nevertheless only the other equations provide a realistic assessments of the strength, toughness and ductility of structural elements subjected to shear loading. Over the three investigated equations, which work with the post‐cracking characterization of the material, the Italian guideline proposal is the one that, due to its wide domain of validity and the results obtained for the gathered database of beams, has been selected as the most reliable equation.

Faserverbundwerkstoffe werden häufiger für Leichbauanwendungen eingesetzt. Thermoplastische Matrixmaterialien gewinnen in der letzten Zeit immer mehr an Bedeutung wegen höherer Produktivität, niedriger Kosten und besserer Umweltfreundlichkeit sowie Recyclingsfähigkeit. Im Rahmen des Projektes SFB 639 werden Spacer-Strukturen aus GF (Glas)- und PP (Polypropylen)-Filamenten verstärkten Textilien hergestellt. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Montage von textilen Preformen mittels Nähtechnik und den mechanischen Eigenschaften genähter thermoplastischer Faserverbundwerkstoffe. Das Ziel ist, durch Untersuchungen der Festigkeitseigenschaften von genähten thermoplastischen Faserverbundwerkstoffen die Möglichkeiten gezielter Verbesserung der mechanischen Eigenschaften herauszufinden. Als Versuchsmaterial werden Twintex®-Gewebe und Mehrlagengestrick (hergestellt im ITB) aus GF- und PP-Filamenten verwendet. Durch Zug-, Schub-, Biege- und interlaminare Scherfestigkeitsuntersuchungen ist festzustellen, dass das Nähen an mehrschichtigen thermoplastischen faserverstärkten Verbundwerkstoffe positiv wirken kann. Durch Verwenden thermoplastischer Nähfäden wie beispielsweise Polyester-Nähfäden kann die Zugfestigkeit des Verbundes sogar erhöht werden. Ohne Verminderung der Zugfestigkeit kann das Nähen die Schlagzähigkeit thermoplastischer Faserverbundwerkstoffe wesentlich erhöhen. Bei der Schlagbelastung erzeugen die Nähte neue Arten des Bruchs, so dass mehr Energie aufgenommen wird. Durch das Nähen lässt sich die Schlagzähigkeit besonders bei Faserverbundwerkstoffen mit thermoplastischer Matrix bei niedrigen Temperaturen erhöhen. Die Zugfestigkeitsuntersuchungen von genähten überlappenden Faserverbunden zeigen, dass das Nähen die Zugfestigkeit überlappender Bauteile leicht erhöhen kann. Die Erfahrungen mit der Wirkung von Überlappungen der Verstärkungstextilien in Faserverbundbauteilen mit duromerer Matrix sind nicht auf thermoplastische Matrices zu übertragen. Der Konsolidierungsprozess mit thermoplastischer Matrix mittels Presstechnologie erzwingt eine konstante Wandstärke, so dass lokal im Überlappungsbereich ein erhöhter Faservolumenanteil theoretisch zu erwarten und praktisch nachgewiesen ist. Zur Vorbereitung der Montage von Faserverbundbauteilen kann das Einbringen von Löchern zur Aufnahme von Bolzen oder Schrauben erforderlich sein. Ein Konzept für ein maschinelles Verfahren zur Lochverstärkung wird in dieser Arbeit vorgeschlagen. Der Konstrukteur von Faserverbundbauteilen muss außerdem berücksichtigen, dass ein Gewinn an Schlagzähigkeit mit Verlusten bei den In-Plane-Eigenschaften verbunden ist. Durch eine optimale Wahl der Nahtparameter lassen sich gewünschte Eigenschaften des Faserverbundwerkstoffes einstellen. Trotz vielfältiger, auch berechtigter Kritik besitzt das Nähen als Montageverfahren für Preformen eine Perspektive, wenn die Nähte zielführend positioniert und schonende Nähprozessbedingungen gewährleistet werden.

Earthquakes are one of the biggest problems in civil engineering all over the world. Due to earthquakes, great disasters in cities with collapsed structures and human losses have been caused. More specific, old buildings that have been built based on old regulations and design building codes do not fulfil anymore the new criteria of seismic designing.In this study, an old building has been evaluated for the seismic load in order to decide if there is a need for strengthening it using retrofitting methods. The seismic evaluation is based on Eurocode 8 and after the application of retrofitting techniques the building fulfilled its seismic design criteria. The existing building is a four-storey, concrete structure that has been built in 1970 and is located in Athens (the capital city of Greece). The seismic evaluation is conducted by using the software Seismostruct.Two analyses are performed in order to evaluate the seismic behavior of the building. First, an eigenvalue analysis is conducted before and after retrofitting. By using this analysis the torsional sensitivity of the building has been checked. Then, using pushover analysis, the comparison of the target displacement (expected displacement of the building for the design seismic action) for each limit state and the displacement of the building when the first member of the building reached the corresponding limit state, is presented. Target displacement must not be greater than this displacement in order to ensure the safety of the building. If the comparison shows that target displacement is greater, the weak links in the facility should be identified and the proper retrofitting method should be applied for the improvement of the seismic behavior of the building. Pushover analysis is conducted before and after the application of retrofitting methods.After performing the eigenvalue and pushover analysis of the existing building it was found that the building was torsional sensitive and shear failures occurred in many beams of the structure. Regarding the bending failures, the target displacement was not greater than the displacement of the building when the first member of the building reached any of the corresponding limit states. Therefore the building was safe against bending failures. With the application of X-shaped steel braces in selected frames, the building had higher stiffness and it was not torsional sensitive but shear failures occurred again in many beams. Furthermore, compressive failures occurred in columns that were connected with the steel braces. Finally, with the application of fibre reinforced plastic jacketing in the members that failed in the previous pushover analysis there were no shear or compressive failures. Finally the structure was safe against seismic actions.The application of retrofitting methods improved the seismic behavior of the building and the structure fulfilled the updated regulations of Eurocode 8 regarding seismic design. This project thesis may give rise to further studies and researches concerning seismic retrofitting and seismic damage prevention.

This work aims to investigate the flexural behaviour of continuous hybrid reinforced concrete T-beams (HRCT). The investigations consist of three parts; the computational part, the experimental part and the finite element analysis. The computational part included two parts, the first one is developing an analytical programme using MATLAB software to investigate the moment-curvature behaviour of HRCT-beams and to design the experimental specimens. This was followed by the experimental part, where six full-scale reinforced concrete continuous T beams were prepared and tested. One beam was reinforced with glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars while the other five beams were reinforced with a different combination of GFRP and steel bars. The ratio of GFRP to steel reinforcement at both mid-span and middle-support sections was the main parameter investigated. The results showed that adding steel reinforcement to GFRP reinforced concrete T-beams improves the axial stiffness, ductility and serviceability in terms of crack width and deflection control. However, the moment redistribution at failure was limited because of the early yielding of steel reinforcement at the beam section that did not reach its moment capacity and could still carry more loads due to the presence of FRP reinforcement. The second part of the computational part included the comparison between the experimental results with the ultimate moment prediction of ACI 440.2R-17, and with the existing theoretical equations for moment capacity, load capacity, and deflection prediction. It was found that the ACI 440.2R-17 design code equations reasonably estimated the moment capacity of both mid-span and middle-support sections and consequently predicted the load capacity of the HRCT-beams based on fully ductile behaviour. However, Qu's and Safan's equations underestimated the predicted moment and load-capacity of HRCT-beams. Also, Bischoff's and Yoon's models underestimated the deflection at all stages of the load for both GFRP and HRCT- beams. For the numerical part, a three-dimensional finite element model has been developed using ABAQUS software to examine the behaviour of HRCT-beams. The experimental results were used to validate the accuracy of the FEM, where an acceptable agreement between the simulated and experimental results was observed. Accordingly, the model was used to predict the structural behaviour of continuous HRCT-beams by testing different parameters.

End-gated and centre gated mouldings have been assessed with varying thickness and sprue geometries for the centre gate. Alternative image analysis techniques are used to measure the orientation and length of injection moulded short and long fibres composite components. The fibre orientation distribution (FOD) measurements for both geometries have been taken along the flow path. In shear flow the FOD changes along the flow path, however the FOD remains relatively constant during expansion flow. The core width and FOD at the skin within a long glass fibre (LGF) specimen is different in comparison to a short glass fibre (SGF) specimen. Fibre length measurements have been taken from the extrudate, sprue and 2 positions within the centre gate cavity. The size of the sprue has little influence on fibre breakage if the moulding is more than 1 mm thick The SGF FOD prediction models within Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Insight 2014 (ASMI) have been validated against measured SGF data. At present, by default, the models over-predict the <cos2θ> for most geometries. When the coefficients are tailored for each model, drastic improvements are seen in the FOD prediction. The recently developed SGF RSC model accurately predicts the FOD in shear, in a thin geometry, whereas the Folgar-Tucker model predicts the FOD accurately in expansion flow. The measured LGF fibre length distribution (FLD) and FOD have been validated against the LGF prediction models. The LGF models are currently under predicting the breakage and over-predicting <cos2θ>. The breakage prediction improves if measured FLD of the extrudate is input into the model. / Autodesk Ltd.

Рассмотрены конструктивные и технологические решения по усилению изгибаемых железобетонных конструкций композитными материалами на основе углеродного волокна. Выявлены используемые системы для усиления железобетонных конструкций. Проведен сравнительный анализ существующих систем усиления на основе углеродных волокон. Определена экономическая эффективность такого способа усиления для изгибаемых железобетонных элементов. Приведена методика расчета усиления изгибаемых железобетонных элементов композитными материалами. Произведен расчет усиления различными композитными материалами на примере железобетонных элементов: балка, монолитная плита перекрытия. Выполнено сравнение различных вариантов усилений и предложен коэффициент условной полезности, позволяющий экономически обосновать выбор способа усиления и прогнозировать стоимость усиления конструкции. / Design and technological solutions for reinforcing of bending concrete structures with composite materials based on carbon fiber are considered. The used systems for strengthening reinforced concrete structures are re-vealed. A comparative analysis of existing reinforcement systems based on carbon fibers is carried out. The economic efficiency of this reinforcement method for bending concrete elements is determined. The calculation technique for bending concrete elements reinforced by composite materi-als is given. The calculation of reinforcement by various composite materials is made on the example of reinforced concrete elements: a beam and a monolithic floor slab. The comparison of various amplification variants is made and the conditional utility coefficient is proposed, which makes it possible to economically justify the choice of the gain method and to predict the cost of strengthening the structure.