Full-depth, precast panel deck systems are becoming more common in bridge installation and repair. The objective of these systems is to achieve the performance of cast-in-place systems while simultaneously saving time and money. The structural behavior of these systems has been the subject of scrutiny in recent research. The Utah Department of Transportation demolished a steel I-girder bridge containing a precast panel deck system and provided two full-scale specimens for this project. Destructive testing was performed at Utah State University on the specimens to investigate three failure modes: flexural, beam shear, and punching shear. Finite-element models were created using ANSYS software to replicate experimental behavior. Overall, it was found that the elastic, post-elastic, and ultimate behavior of the full-scale bridge sections containing precast panel deck systems can be accurately predicted in analytical models. Another aspect of this project was to investigate changes in dynamic behavior as the system was subjected to flexural yield and failure. Point loads were applied and removed in increments, and dynamic testing was conducted at each load level. It was found that significant damage is somewhat noticeable by monitoring the changes in natural frequencies.

The ultimate shear capacity of prestressed concrete beams is difficult to predict accurately, especially after being in service for an extended period of time. The Utah Department of Transportation asked researchers at Utah State University to experimentally determine the existing shear capacity of 41-year-old prestressed, decommissioned concrete bridge girders and then provide recommendations on how to increase that ultimate shear capacity. This thesis presents the research findings that relate to the existing shear capacity of the prestressed concrete girders. Eight AASHTO Type II bridge girders were tested up to failure by applying external loads near the supports to determine their ultimate shear capacities. The measured results were then compared to calculated values obtained using the AASHTO LRFD bridge design code, and the ACI 318-08 design code. Prestress losses were also measured by means of a cracking test and then compared to values calculated according to the AASHTO prestress loss equations. Both the ultimate shear capacities and the residual prestress forces were used to evaluate the girders after being in service for more than 40 years.

This thesis presents the results of a research project to develop methods to carry out fire safety design of welded steel tubular trusses at elevated temperatures due to fire exposure. It deals with three subjects: resistance of welded tubular joints at elevated temperatures, effects of large truss deflection in fire on member design and effects of localised heating. The objectives of the project are achieved through numerical finite element modelling at elevated temperatures using the commercial Finite Element software ABAQUS v6.10-1 (2011). Validation of the simulation model for joints is based on comparison against the test results of Nguyen et al. (2010) and Kurobane et al. (1986). Validation of the simulation model for trusses is through checking against the test results of Edwards (2004) and Liu et al. (2010).For welded tubular joints, extensive numerical simulations have been conducted on T-, Y-, X-, N- and non-overlapped K-joints subjected to brace axial compression or tension, considering a wide range of geometrical parameters. Uniform temperature distribution was assumed for both the chord and brace members. Results of the numerical simulations indicate for gap K- and N-joints (two brace members, one in tension and the other in compression) and for T-, Y- and X-joints with the brace member under axial tensile load (one brace member only, in tension), it is suitable to use the same ambient temperature calculation equation as in the CIDECT (2010) or EN 1993-1-8 (CEN, 2005a) design guides and simply replace the ambient temperature strength of steel with the elevated temperature value. However, for T-, Y- and X-joints under brace compression load (one brace member only, in compression), the effect of large chord deformation should be considered. Large chord deformation changes the chord geometry and invalidates the assumed yield line mechanism at ambient temperature. For approximation, the results of this research indicate that it is acceptable to modify the ambient temperature joint strength by a reduction factor for the elastic modulus of steel at elevated temperatures. In the current fire safety design method for steel truss, a member based approach is used. In this approach, the truss member forces are calculated at ambient temperature based on linear elastic analysis. These forces are then used to calculate the truss member limiting temperatures. An extensive parametric study has been carried out to investigate whether this method is appropriate. The parametric study encompasses different design parameters over a wide range of values, including truss type, joint type, truss span-to-depth ratio, critical member slenderness, applied load ratio, number of brace members, initial imperfection and thermal elongation. The results of this research show that due to a truss undergoing large displacements at elevated temperatures, some truss members (compression brace members near the truss centre) experience large increases in member forces. Therefore, using the ambient temperature member force, as in the current truss fire safety design method, may overestimate the truss member critical temperature by 100 °C. A method has been proposed to analytically calculate the increase in brace compressive force due to large truss deformation. In this method, the maximum truss displacement is assumed to be span/30. A comparison of the results calculated using the proposed method against the truss parametric study results has shown good agreement with the two sets of results, with the calculation results generally being slightly on the safe side. When different members of a truss are heated to different temperatures due to localised fire exposure, the brace members in compression experience increased compression due to restrained thermal expansion. To calculate the critical temperature of a brace member in a localised heated truss, it is necessary to consider this effect of restrained thermal expansion. It is also necessary to consider the beneficial effects of the adjacent members being heated, which tends to reduce the increase in compressive force in the critical member under consideration. Again, an extensive set of parametric studies have been conducted, for different load ratio, slenderness and axial restraint ratio. The results of this parametric study suggest that to calculate the critical temperature of a brace member, it is not necessary to consider the effects of the third or further adjacent members being heated. For the remainder of the heated members, this thesis has proposed a linear elastic, static analysis method at ambient temperature to calculate the additional compressive force (some negative, indicating tension) in the critical member caused by the heated members (including the critical member itself and the adjacent members). The additional compressive force is then used to calculate the limiting temperature of the critical member. For this purpose, the approximate analytical equation of Wang et al. (2010) has been demonstrated to be suitable.

Esta dissertação apresenta uma avaliação do comportamento de estacas hélice contínua quanto à capacidade de carga, ao recalque e à segurança e confiabilidade, a partir de um cenário de análise em que foi considerado um banco de dados de 58 provas de carga estáticas, realizadas em estacas hélice contínua de 13 obras distintas. Esta pesquisa está focada principalmente no comportamento carga-recalque e confiabilidade de fundações em estacas hélice contínua. Nesta análise foi também verificada a aplicabilidade do método proposto por Aoki (1989) para determinação da curva carga-recalque destas provas de carga. Os valores de capacidade de carga medidos foram comparados com os previstos pelos método Aoki & Velloso (1975), o método Decourt & Quaresma (1978), o método de Cabral (1996), e o método Alonso (1996). Estes métodos também foram utilizados para previsão de transferência de carga nas estacas, necessária para a previsão da curva carga-recalque pelos método de Aoki (1989). Adicionalmente, com os resultados das provas de carga foram estimadas para cada obra a probabilidade de ruína da fundação, e de ocorrência de recalques superiores a um valor limite. / This dissertation presents an evaluation of the behavior of continuous flight auger piles on ultimate capacity, settlments, safety and reliability, from a scenario analysis in which we considered a database of 58 static load tests, performed on piles of 13 distinct sites. However, this research is focused on the loaddisplacement behavior and reliability of this type of foundation. This analysis also verified the applicability of the method proposed by Aoki (1989) to determine the load-displacement curve of these pile load tests. The values of measured pile capacity were compared with those provided by the method Aoki & Velloso (1975), the method Decourt & Quaresma (1978), the method Cabral (1996), and the method Alonso (1996). These methods were also used to predict the load transfer along the piles, necessary to predict the load-displacement curve by the method of Aoki (1989). Additionally, the results of these load tests were used to estimate the probability of failure of the foundations tested, and the occurrence of settlements exceeding a threshold value.

The current design procedure for steel frame structures is a two-step process including an elastic analysis to determine design actions and a separate member capacity check. This design procedure is unable to trace the full range of load-deflection response and hence the failure modes of the frame structures can not be accurately predicted. In recent years, the development of advanced analysis methods has aimed at solving this problem by combining the analysis and design tasks into one step. Application of the new advanced analysis methods permits a comprehensive assessment of the actual failure modes and ultimate strengths of structural steel systems in practical design situations. One of the advanced analysis methods, the refined plastic hinge method, has shown great potential to become a practical design tool. However, at present, it is only suitable for a special class of steel frame structures that is not subject to lateral torsional buckling effects. The refined plastic hinge analysis can directly account for three types of frame failures, gradual formation of plastic hinges, column buckling and local buckling. However, this precludes most of the steel frame structures whose behaviour is governed by lateral torsional buckling. Therefore, the aim of this research is to develop a practical advanced analysis method suitable for general steel frame structures including the effects of lateral-torsional buckling. Lateral torsional buckling is a complex three dimensional instability phenomenon. Unlike the in-plane buckling of beam-columns, a closed form analytical solution is not available for lateral torsional buckling. The member capacity equations used in design specifications are derived mainly from testing of simply supported beams. Further, there has been very limited research into the behaviour and design of steel frame structures subject to lateral torsional buckling failures. Therefore in order to incorporate lateral torsional buckling effects into an advanced analysis method, a detailed study must be carried out including inelastic beam buckling failures. This thesis contains a detailed description of research on extending the scope of advanced analysis by developing methods that include the effects of lateral torsional buckling in a nonlinear analysis formulation. It has two components. Firstly, distributed plasticity models were developed using the state-of-the-art finite element analysis programs for a range of simply supported beams and rigid frame structures to investigate and fully understand their lateral torsional buckling behavioural characteristics. Nonlinear analyses were conducted to study the load-deflection response of these structures under lateral torsional buckling influences. It was found that the behaviour of simply supported beams and members in rigid frame structures is significantly different. In real frame structures, the connection details are a decisive factor in terms of ultimate frame capacities. Accounting for the connection rigidities in a simplified advanced analysis method is very difficult, but is most critical. Generally, the finite element analysis results of simply supported beams agree very well with the predictions of the current Australian steel structures design code AS4100, but the capacities of rigid frame structures can be significantly higher compared with Australian code predictions. The second part of the thesis concerns the development of a two dimensional refined plastic hinge analysis which is capable of considering lateral torsional buckling effects. The formulation of the new method is based on the observations from the distributed plasticity analyses of both simply supported beams and rigid frame structures. The lateral torsional buckling effects are taken into account implicitly using a flexural stiffness reduction factor in the stiffness matrix formulation based on the member capacities specified by AS4100. Due to the lack of suitable alternatives, concepts of moment modification and effective length factors are still used for determining the member capacities. The effects of connection rigidities and restraints from adjacent members are handled by using appropriate effective length factors in the analysis. Compared with the benchmark solutions for simply supported beams, the new refined plastic hinge analysis is very accurate. For rigid frame structures, the new method is generally more conservative than the finite element models. The accuracy of the new method relies on the user's judgement of beam segment restraints. Overall, the design capacities in the new method are superior to those in the current design procedure, especially for frame structures with less slender members. The new refined plastic hinge analysis is now able to capture four types of failure modes, plastic hinge formation, column buckling, local buckling and lateral torsional buckling. With the inclusion of lateral torsional buckling mode as proposed in this thesis, advanced analysis is one step closer to being used for general design practice.

Esta dissertação apresenta uma avaliação do comportamento de estacas hélice contínua quanto à capacidade de carga, ao recalque e à segurança e confiabilidade, a partir de um cenário de análise em que foi considerado um banco de dados de 58 provas de carga estáticas, realizadas em estacas hélice contínua de 13 obras distintas. Esta pesquisa está focada principalmente no comportamento carga-recalque e confiabilidade de fundações em estacas hélice contínua. Nesta análise foi também verificada a aplicabilidade do método proposto por Aoki (1989) para determinação da curva carga-recalque destas provas de carga. Os valores de capacidade de carga medidos foram comparados com os previstos pelos método Aoki & Velloso (1975), o método Decourt & Quaresma (1978), o método de Cabral (1996), e o método Alonso (1996). Estes métodos também foram utilizados para previsão de transferência de carga nas estacas, necessária para a previsão da curva carga-recalque pelos método de Aoki (1989). Adicionalmente, com os resultados das provas de carga foram estimadas para cada obra a probabilidade de ruína da fundação, e de ocorrência de recalques superiores a um valor limite. / This dissertation presents an evaluation of the behavior of continuous flight auger piles on ultimate capacity, settlments, safety and reliability, from a scenario analysis in which we considered a database of 58 static load tests, performed on piles of 13 distinct sites. However, this research is focused on the loaddisplacement behavior and reliability of this type of foundation. This analysis also verified the applicability of the method proposed by Aoki (1989) to determine the load-displacement curve of these pile load tests. The values of measured pile capacity were compared with those provided by the method Aoki & Velloso (1975), the method Decourt & Quaresma (1978), the method Cabral (1996), and the method Alonso (1996). These methods were also used to predict the load transfer along the piles, necessary to predict the load-displacement curve by the method of Aoki (1989). Additionally, the results of these load tests were used to estimate the probability of failure of the foundations tested, and the occurrence of settlements exceeding a threshold value.

Thin-walled cold-formed steel (CFS) has exhibited inherent structural and architectural advantages over other constructional materials, for example, high strength-to-weight ratio, ease of fabrication, economy in transportation and the flexibility of sectional profiles, which make CFS ideal for modern residential and industrial buildings. They have been increasingly used as purlins as the intermediate members in a roof system, or load-bearing components in low- and mid-rise buildings. However, using CFS members in building structures has been facing challenges due to the lack of knowledge to the fire performance of CFS at elevated temperatures and the lack of fire design guidelines. Among all available design specifications of CFS, EN1993-1-2 is the only one which provided design guidelines for CFS at elevated temperatures, which, however, is based on the same theory and material properties of hot-rolled steel. Since the material properties of CFS are found to be considerably different from those of hot-rolled steel, the applicability of hot-rolled steel design guidelines into CFS needs to be verified. Besides, the effect of non-uniform temperature distribution on the failure of CFS members is not properly addressed in literature and has not been specified in the existing design guidelines. Therefore, a better understanding of fire performance of CFS members is of great significance to further explore the potential application of CFS. Since CFS members are always with thin thickness (normally from 0.9 to 8 mm), open cross-section, and great flexural rigidity about one axis at the expense of low flexural rigidity about a perpendicular axis, the members are usually susceptible to various buckling modes which often govern the ultimate failure of CFS members. When CFS members are exposed to a fire, not only the reduced mechanical properties will influence the buckling capacity of CFS members, but also the thermal strains which can lead additional stresses in loaded members. The buckling behaviour of the member can be analysed based on uniformly reduced material properties when the member is unprotected or uniformly protected surrounded by a fire that the temperature distribution within the member is uniform. However if the temperature distribution in a member is not uniform, which usually happens in walls and/or roof panels when CFS members are protected by plaster boards and exposed to fire on one side, the analysis of the member becomes very complicated since the mechanical properties such as Young’s modulus and yield strength and thermal strains vary within the member. This project has the aim of providing better understanding of the buckling performance of CFS channel members under non-uniform temperatures. The primary objective is to investigate the fire performance of plasterboard protected CFS members exposed to fire on one side, in the aspects of pre-buckling stress distribution, elastic buckling behaviour and nonlinear failure models. Heat transfer analyses of one-side protected CFS members have been conducted firstly to investigate the temperature distributions within the cross-section, which have been applied to the analytical study for the prediction of flexural buckling loads of CFS columns at elevated temperatures. A simplified numerical method based on the second order elastic – plastic analysis has also been proposed for the calculation of the flexural buckling load of CFS columns under non-uniform temperature distributions. The effects of temperature distributions and stress-strain relationships on the flexure buckling of CFS columns are discussed. Afterwards a modified finite strip method combined with the classical Fourier series solutions have been presented to investigate the elastic buckling behaviour of CFS members at elevated temperatures, in which the effects of temperatures on both strain and mechanical properties have been considered. The variations of the elastic buckling loads/moments, buckling modes and slenderness of CFS columns/beams with increasing temperatures have been examined. The finite element method is also used to carry out the failure analysis of one-side protected beams at elevated temperatures. The effects of geometric imperfection, stress-strain relationships and temperature distributions on the ultimate moment capacities of CFS beams under uniform and non-uniform temperature distributions are examined. At the end the direct strength method based design methods have been discussed and corresponding recommendations for the designing of CFS beams at elevated temperatures are presented. This thesis has contributed to improve the knowledge of the buckling and failure behaviour of CFS members at elevated temperatures, and the essential data provided in the numerical studies has laid the foundation for further design-oriented studies.