Yes / The flexural performance of geopolymer concrete (GPC) T-beams reinforced longitudinally with GFRP bars under a four-point static bending test was investigated. Six full-scale simply supported T-beams were cast and tested; one control specimen was made with ordinary Portland cement concrete (OPCC), while the other five beams were made of geopolymer concrete. The G-GPC2 was designed to attain the same theoretical moment capacity as the G-OPCC6 control beam. The main parameters investigated were the reinforcement ratio of ρ_f/ρ_b= 0.75, 1.05, 1.12, 1.34 and 1.34 for G-GPC1, G-GPC2, G-GPC3, G-GPC4, and G-GPC5, respectively, and compressive strength of geopolymer concrete. Based on the results of the experiments, the ultimate strain of GPC did not show the same behaviour as that of OPCC, which affects the mode of failure. The beam capacity and deflection were, respectively, overestimated and underestimated using the ACI 440 2R-17 predictive equations.

Yes / This paper numerically investigates flexural performance of Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) beam reinforced with Steel-Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composite Bars (SFCBs) in terms of flexural stiffness, moment capacity, deflection, ductility and energy dissipation. The effect of various parameters, include the inner steel core area ratio of SFCB, yield strength of inner steel core, elastic modulus and ultimate strength of outer-wrapped FRP, reinforcement ratio, type and strength of concrete were studied. The results demonstrate that the inner steel core area ratio of SFCB, reinforcement ratio and the elastic modulus of SFCB's outer FRP have significant effect on the overall flexural performance of SFCB reinforced UHPC beam. The overall flexural performance of SFCB reinforced UHPC beam is slightly improved by increasing the yield strength of inner steel core of SFCB, but not affected by the ultimate strength of SFCB's outer FRP when specimen occurred compression failure. The results also exhibit that the flexural performance of UHPC beam reinforced with SFCBs is significantly improved when compared to those of reinforced high strength concrete (HSC) beam and normal strength concrete (NSC) beam. The flexural stiffness and the moment capacity of SFCB reinforced UHPC beam at the ultimate point were 2.0 and 2.4 times, respectively, of those of reinforced NSC counterpart. / Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (BK20201436), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2018M642335), the Science and Technology Project of Jiangsu Construction System, China (2018ZD047, 2021ZD06), the Science and Technology Project of Gansu Construction System, China (JK2021-19), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51678514), the Science and Technology Innovation Fund of Yangzhou University, China (2020-65), the Open Foundation of Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center of Prefabricated Building and Intelligent Construction, China (2021), the Science and Technology Cooperation Fund Project of Yangzhou City and Yangzhou University, China (YZU212105), the Practice and Innovation Plan for Postgraduates in Jiangsu Province, China (SJCX21_1589), the Blue Project Youth Academic Leader of Colleges and Universities in Jiangsu Province, China (2020) and the Deputy General Manager Science and Technology Project of Jiangsu Province, China (FZ20200869). References

Yes / Concrete requires a vast amount of aggregate and cement production. Although there are some efforts in the literature to reduce the amount of Portland cement in the concrete mixture to lessen the greenhouse gas release, a limited number of studies were conducted to investigate the possibility of using this geopolymer mixtures to serve as a structural component. Therefore, this study firstly aimed to produce geopolymer concrete from construction and demolition waste-based precursors, including masonry units (red clay brick, roof tile, hollow brick, etc.) and glass. In addition, recycled aggregates produced from the concrete waste portion of the CDW were used to obtain 100% recycled construction material on the scale of the binder and aggregate phase. Then, this study investigated the possible use of this proposed geopolymer concrete to produce structural components that perform similar to conventional concrete. Therefore, the structural properties of reinforced geopolymer concrete beams produced from the recycled construction demolition wastes were evaluated in this study by conducting laboratory experiments. To this end, bending tests were performed on reinforced conventional concrete beam specimens and reinforced geopolymer concrete beam specimens. The test observations clearly showed that construction demolition waste could be recycled to produce new constructional components, considering its advantage of promoted sustainability. / The authors gratefully acknowledge the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme’s financial assistance under Grant Agreement No: 869336 and Acronym: ICEBERG and the financial assistance of the Scientific and Technical Research Council (TUBITAK) of Turkey and the British Council under Grant no:218M102. This work was also supported by Newton Prize 2020.

Abstract: Recently, fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials have been used in the field of civil engineering constructions especially in corrosive environments. They can be used as internal reinforcement for beams, slabs, and pavements, or as external reinforcement for rehabilitation and strengthening different structures. One of their innovative applications is the concrete-filled FRP tubes (CFFTs) which are becoming an alternative for different structural members such as piles, columns, bridge girders, and bridge piers due to their high performance and durability. In such integrated systems, the FRP tubes act as stay-in-place forms, protective jackets for the embedded concrete and steel, and as external reinforcement in the primary and secondary direction of the structural member. Extensive research was developed on CFFTs as columns, but comparatively limited research was carried out on CFFTs as beams especially those with rectangular sections. The circular sections exhibit magnificent confinement efficiency in case of columns. However, the rectangular sections have higher moment of inertia and flexural stiffness to resist the applied loads and deformations in case of beams. Moreover, the construction and architectural requirements prefer the rectangular section of beams, rather than the circular beams, due to its stability during installation and its workability during connecting to other structural members like slabs and columns. Also, CFFTs that are completely filled with concrete are not optimal for applications governed by pure bending, because the excess weight of the cracked concrete below the neutral axis may increase the transportation and installation cost. This dissertation presents experimental and theoretical investigations on the flexural behaviour of rectangular CFFT beams with steel rebar. These hybrid FRP-concrete-steel tubular rectangular beams contain outer rectangular filament-wound glass-FRP (GFRP) tubes to increase the sectional moment of inertia, to provide flexural and shear reinforcement, and to protect the inner structural elements (concrete and steel) against corrosion. The outer tubes were fully-or-partially filled with concrete and were reinforced with steel rebar at the tension side only. Inner hollow circular or square filament-wound GFRP tubes, shifted toward the tension zone, were provided inside the CFFT beam to eliminate the excess weight of the cracked concrete at the tension side, to confine actively the concrete at the compression side and to act as reinforcement at the tension side. The surfaces of tubes adjacent to concrete were roughened by sand coating to fulfill the full composite action of such hybrid section. Several test variables were chosen to investigate the effect of the outer and inner tubes thickness, fibers laminates, and shape on the flexural behaviour of such hybrid CFFT beams. To fulfil the objectives of the study, twenty-four full-scale beam specimens, 3200 mm long and 305×406 mm2 cross section, were tested under a four-point bending load. These specimens include eight fully-CFFT beams with wide range of tube thickness of 3.4 mm to 14.2 mm, fourteen partially-CFFT beams with different outer and inner tubes configurations, and two conventional steel-reinforced concrete (RC) beams as control specimens. The results indicate outstanding performance of the rectangular fully and partially-CFFT beams in terms of strength-to-weight ratio and ductility compared to the RC beams. The fully-CFFT beams with small tube thickness failed in tension by axial rupture of fibers at the tension side. While, the fully-CFFT beams with big tube thickness failed in compression by outward buckling of the outer tube compression flange with warning signs. The results indicate also that the flexural strength of the fully-CFFT beams was ascending nonlinearly with increasing the tubes thickness until a certain optimum limit. This limit was evaluated to define under-and-over-reinforced CFFT sections, and consequently to define the tension and compression failure of fully-CFFT beams, respectively. The inner hollow tubes act positively in reinforcing the partially-CFFT beams and confining the concrete core at the compression side. The strength-to-weight ratio of the partially-CFFT beams attained higher values than that of the corresponding fully-CFFT beams. Generally, the partially-CFFT beams failed gradually in compression due to outward buckling of the outer tube compression flange with signs of confining the concrete core at the compression side. The inner circular voids pronounced better performance than the square inner voids, however they have the same cross sectional area and fiber laminates. Theoretical section analysis based on strain compatibility/equilibrium has been developed to predict the moment-curvature response of the fully-CFFT section addressing the confinement and tension stiffening of concrete. The analytical results match well the experimental results in terms of moment, deflection, strains, and neutral axis responses. In addition, analytical investigation was conducted to examine the validity of the North American design codes provisions for predicting the deflection response of fully and partially-CFFT beams. Based on these investigations, a new power and assumptions were proposed to Branson’s equation to predict well the effective moment of inertia of the CFFT section. These assumptions consider the effect of the GFRP tube strength, thickness and configuration, in addition to the steel reinforcement ratio. The proposed equations predict well the deflection in the pre-yielding and post-yielding stages of the hybrid FRP-concrete-steel CFFT rectangular beams. / Résumé: Les matériaux composites en polymère renforcé de fibres (PRF) ont récemment été utilisés dans le domaine des constructions de génie civil, en particulier dans les environnements corrosifs. Elles peuvent être utilisées comme une armature interne pour des poutres, dalles et les trottoirs, ou comme une armature externe pour la réhabilitation et le renforcement de différentes structures. L'une de leurs applications novatrices est les tubes de polymères renforcés de fibres remplis de béton (TPFRB ) qui sont en train de devenir une alternative pour divers éléments structuraux tels que les pieux, les colonnes, les poutres et les piliers de ponts en raison de leur haute performance et durabilité. Dans de tels systèmes intégrés, les tubes PRF agissent comme un coffrage permanent, une chemise protectrice pour le béton et l'acier encastrés, et comme une armature externe dans les directions longitudinale et transversale de l'élément structural. La recherche a été concentrée sur les TPRFB comme des colonnes, mais très peu de recherche a été effectué les TPRFB comme des poutres particulièrement celles à section rectangulaire. La section circulaire présente une efficacité de confinement efficace en cas de colonnes. Toutefois, la section rectangulaire a un moment d'inertie plus élevé et une rigidité flexionnelle plus efficace pour résister les charges appliquées et les déformations dans le cas des poutres. Par ailleurs, les travaux de construction et les exigences architecturales préfèrent la section rectangulaire des poutres, plutôt que les poutres circulaires, en raison de sa stabilité pendant l'installation et sa maniabilité lors de la connexion à d'autres membres structuraux comme les dalles et les colonnes. En outre, les poutres TPRFB qui sont complètement remplis de béton ne sont pas optimales pour les applications contrôlées par la flexion pure, puisque le béton fissuré en dessous de l'axe neutre ne contribue pas à la résistance et augmente le poids propre et les coûts de transport et d'installation. Cette thèse présente des études théoriques et expérimentales sur le comportement en flexion de poutres rectangulaires (TPRFB) en béton armé. Ces poutres rectangulaires tubulaires hybrides en PRF-béton-acier sont composées de tubes rectangulaires externes fabriquées par enroulement filamentaire. Ces tubes fournissent un renforcement de flexion et de cisaillement; et protègent le béton armé contre la corrosion. Les poutres peuvent être soient entièrement ou partiellement remplies de béton. Des tubes intérieurs ( de section circulaires ou carrés) en polymères renforcés de fibres de verre (PRFV) sont positionnés dans la zone tendue de la poutre afin de réduire le poids et d’éliminer le béton fissuré en traction. Pour augmenter l'action composite de la section hybride, les surfaces des tubes adjacents au béton ont été rendues rugueuses par enrobage de sable. Plusieurs variables ont été choisis pour étudier l'effet de l’épaisseur des tubes extérieurs et intérieurs, les laminés de fibres, et la forme sur le comportement en flexion de ces poutres hybrides (TPRFB). Pour atteindre les objectifs de l’étude, vingt-quatre échantillons de poutre pleine grandeur, ayant une longueur de 3200 mm et une section transversale de 305×406 mm2, ont été testés sous une flexion à quatre points. Ces échantillons comprennent huit poutres de TPRFB entièrement remplis avec une large gamme d'épaisseur du tube externe de 3.4 mm à 14.2 mm, quatorze poutres de TPRFB partiellement remplis avec différentes configurations de tubes extérieurs et intérieurs, et deux poutres en béton armé conventionnel, comme échantillons de référence. Les résultats indiquent une performance exceptionnelle des poutres rectangulaires de TPRFB entièrement et partiellement remplies en termes du rapport de la résistance sur la masse et de la ductilité par rapport aux poutres en béton armé conventionnel. Les poutres de TPRFB entièrement remplies avec un tube de petite épaisseur ont rompu de façon moins ductile en tension par rupture axiale des fibres. Les poutres de TPRFB entièrement remplies et ayant une grande épaisseur ont rompu de façon ductile en compression par flambage local vers l’extérieur des parois en compression du tube externe. Les résultats indiquent également que la résistance à la flexion des poutres de TPRFB entièrement remplies augmente d’une façon non linéaire avec l'augmentation de l'épaisseur des tubes jusqu'à une certaine limite optimale. Cette limite a été évaluée pour définir les sections TPRFB sous-armées et surarmées et, par conséquent, pour définir la rupture en tension et en compression des poutres de TPRFB entièrement remplies, respectivement. Les tubes creux intérieurs agissent positivement dans le renforcement des poutres de TPRFB partiellement remplies et en confinant le noyau de béton du côté en compression. En général, les poutres de TPRFB partiellement remplies ont rompu en compression par flambage local vers l'extérieur des parois en compression du tube externe. Les vides circulaires intérieurs ont montré une meilleure performance que les vides carrés intérieurs, bien qu’ils aient la même superficie de la section transversale et le même taux de PRF. Une analyse théorique basée sur la compatibilité des déformations d’une section en flexion a été développée pour prédire la réponse moment-courbure de la poutre TPRFB en tenant compte des pourcentages de confinement externe et interne. Les résultats analytiques et les résultats expérimentaux s’accordent en termes de moment, flèche, déformations, et positions de l'axe neutre. En outre, une étude analytique a été menée afin d'examiner la validité des codes de conception nord-américains pour prédire la réponse en flexion des poutres TPRFB. En se basant sur les résultats de ces études, de nouvelles équations ont été proposées pour mieux prédire le moment effectif d'inertie de la section et une nouvelle procédure de conception pour prédire les capacités ultimes. Ces équations considèrent l'effet de la résistance des tubes en PRFV externe et interne que le taux d’armature en acier. En outre, ils prédisent bien la flèche dans les phases avant et après la limite élastique des poutres rectangulaires hybrides à haute performance.

The flexural capacity of the new hollow flange steel section known as LiteSteel beam (LSB) is limited by lateral distortional buckling for intermediate spans, which is characterised by simultaneous lateral deflection, twist and web distortion. Recent research based on finite element analysis and testing has developed design rules for the member capacity of LiteSteel beams subject to this unique lateral distortional buckling. These design rules are limited to a uniform bending moment distribution. However, uniform bending moment conditions rarely exist in practice despite being considered as the worst case due to uniform yielding across the span. Loading position or load height is also known to have significant effects on the lateral buckling strength of beams. Therefore it is important to include the effects of these loading conditions in the assessment of LSB member capacities. Many steel design codes have adopted equivalent uniform moment distribution and load height factors for this purpose. But they were derived mostly based on data for conventional hot-rolled, doubly symmetric I-beams subject to lateral torsional buckling. In contrast LSBs are made of high strength steel and have a unique crosssection with specific residual stresses and geometrical imperfections along with a unique lateral distortional buckling mode. The moment distribution and load height effects for LSBs, and the suitability of the current steel design code methods to accommodate these effects for LSBs are not yet known. The research study presented in this thesis was therefore undertaken to investigate the effects of nonuniform moment distribution and load height on the lateral buckling strength of simply supported and cantilever LSBs. Finite element analyses of LSBs subject to lateral buckling formed the main component of this study. As the first step the original finite element model used to develop the current LSB design rules for uniform moment was improved to eliminate some of the modelling inaccuracies. The modified finite element model was validated using the elastic buckling analysis results from well established finite strip analysis programs. It was used to review the current LSB design curve for uniform moment distribution, based on which appropriate recommendations were made. The modified finite element model was further modified to simulate various loading and support configurations and used to investigate the effects of many commonly used moment distributions and load height for both simply supported and cantilever LSBs. The results were compared with the predictions based on the current steel code design rules. Based on these comparisons, appropriate recommendations were made on the suitability of the current steel code design methods. New design recommendations were made for LSBs subjected to non-uniform moment distributions and varying load positions. A number of LSB experiments was also undertaken to confirm the results of finite element analysis study. In summary the research reported in this thesis has developed an improved finite element model that can be used to investigate the buckling behaviour of LSBs for the purpose of developing design rules. It has increased the understanding and knowledge of simply supported and cantilever LSBs subject to non-uniform moment distributions and load height effects. Finally it has proposed suitable design rules for LSBs in the form of equations and factors within the current steel code design provisions. All of these advances have thus further enhanced the economical and safe design of LSBs.