Fatigue analysis is a critical stage in the design of any structural component. Typically fatigue is analysed during post-processing, but as the size of the analysed component increases, the amount of data stored for the analysis increases simultaneously. This increases the computational and memory requirements of the system, intensifying the work load on the engineer. A continuum mechanics approach namely ’Continuous time fatigue model’, for fatigue analysis is available in a prior study which reduces the computational requirements by simultaneously computing fatigue along with the stress. This model implements a moving endurance surface in the stress space along with the damage evolution equation to compute high-cycle fatigue. In this thesis the continuous time fatigue model is compared with conventional model (ie.Cycle counting) to study its feasibility. The thesis also aims to investigate the continuous time fatigue model and an evolved version of the model is developed for non-proportional load cases to identify its limitations and benefits.

The fatigue characteristics of concrete are studied based on laboratory tests and numerical simulations. A series of compressive cyclic loading tests have been carried out on concrete samples. The effects of maximum and minimum load level on the evolution strain rate, energy dissipation, acoustic emissions (AE) and P-wave speed are analysed. Based on particle based numerical simulations, damage models corresponding to single-level and multi-level cyclic loading tests are proposed. The damage variable in the numerical model is time- and stress-dependent and is characterized by the progressive reduction of the bond diameter. The mechanical behaviour of concrete during cyclic loading tests is well reproduced in the numerical simulation. A real time fatigue failure prediction method is proposed based on the hysteresis occurrence ratio and hysteresis energy ratio. The AE characteristics during the laboratory tests are reproduced by the numerical simulations. AE counts and energy are characterized by broken bonds and released bond strain energy, respectively.

The increased use of thermoplastics in load carrying components, especially in the automotive industry, drives the needs for a better understanding of its complex mechanical properties. In this thesis work for a master degree in solid mechanics, the mechanical properties of a PA 6/66 resin with and without reinforcement of glass fibers experimentally been investigated. Topics of interest have been the dependency of fiber orientation, residual strains at unloading and compression relative tension properties. The experimental investigation was followed by simulations implementing existing and available constitutive models in the commercial finite element code LS-DYNA. The experimental findings showed that the orientation of the fibers significantly affects the mechanical properties. The ultimate tensile strength differed approximately 50% between along and cross flow direction and the cross-flow properties are closer to the ones of the unfilled resin, i.e. the matrix material. An elastic-plastic model with Hill’s yield criterion was used to capture the anisotropy in a simulation of the tensile test. Residual strains were measured during strain recovery from different load levels and the experimental findings were implemented in an elastic-plastic damage model to predict the permanent strains after unloading. Compression tests showed that a stiffer response is obtained for strains above 3% in comparison to tension. The increased stiffness in compression is although too small to significantly influence a simulation of a 3 point bend test using a material model dependent of the hydrostatic stress.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Statement of problem: Yttria-partially stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal (Y-TZP) all-ceramic restorations have been reported to suffer from chipping or cracking of the veneering porcelain (VP) as the most common complication. There is little information in the literature regarding the influence of surface treatment on VP shear bond strength to Y-TZP after cyclic loading. Purpose of this study: The goals of this study were (1) to investigate the influence of zirconia surface treatments on veneering porcelain shear bond strength and (2) to investigate the influence of cyclic loading on the shear bond strength between VP and Y-TZP. Materials and Methods: 48 cylinder–shaped specimens (6mm in diameter and 4mm in height) were divided into 4 groups containing 12 specimens each according to the surface treatment. As a control group (C), no further treatment was applied to the specimens after grinding. Group H was heat-treated as a pretreatment according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. Group S was airborne-particle abraded with 50 µm alumina (Al2O3) particles under a pressure of 0.4 MPa for 10 seconds. In the group SH, the heat-treatment was performed after the airborne-particle abrasion. A VP cylinder (2.4 mm in diameter and 2 mm in height) was applied and fired on the prepared Y-TZP specimens. The shear bond strength was tested using a universal testing machine. Six specimens from each group were subjected to fatigue (10,000cycles, 1.5Hz, 10N load) before testing. Results: The 3-way ANOVA showed no statistically significant effect of surface treatment and cyclic loading on shear bond strength. The highest mean shear bond strength was recorded for the air-particle abrasion group without cyclic loading (34.1 + 10 MPa). The lowest mean shear bond strength was the air-particle abrasion group with cyclic loading (10.7 ± 15.4 MPa). Sidak multiple comparisons procedure demonstrated cyclic loading specimens had significantly lower shear bond strength than non-cyclic loading specimens after air-particle abrasion without heat treatment (p=0.0126) Conclusion: Within the limitations of this study, (1) Shear bond strength between Y-TZP and VP is not affected statistically by surface treatment using heat treatment, airborne-particle abrasion, and heat treatment after airborne-particle abrasion. (2) There is significant difference in shear bond strength with air-particle abrasion between with and without cyclic loading groups. This difference suggested that air-particle abrasion should be avoided in clinical situations as a surface treatment without heat treatment.

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A series of lateral load tests were performed on a full-scale pile cap with three different backfill conditions, namely: with no backfill present, with densely compacted clean sand in place, and with loosely compacted clean sand in place. In addition to being displaced under a static loading, the pile cap was subjected to low frequency, small displacement loading cycles from load actuators and higher frequency, small displacement, dynamic loading cycles from an eccentric mass shaker. The passive earth pressure from the backfill was found to significantly increase the load capacity of the pile cap. At a displacement of about 46 mm, the loosely and densely compacted backfills increased the total resistance of the pile cap otherwise without backfill by 50% and 245%, respectively. The maximum passive earth pressure for the densely compacted backfill occurred at a displacement of approximately 50 mm, which corresponds to a displacement to pile cap height ratio of 0.03. Contrastingly passive earth pressure for the loosely compacted backfill occurred at a displacement of approximately 40 mm. Under low and high frequency cyclic loadings, the stiffness of the pile cap system increased with the presence of the backfill material. The loosely compacted backfill generally provided double the stiffness of the no backfill case. The densely compacted backfill generally provided double the stiffness of the loosely compacted sand, thus quadrupling the stiffness of the pile cap relative to the case with no backfill present. Under low frequency cyclic loadings, the damping ratio of the pile cap system decreased with cap displacement and with increasing stiffness of backfill material. After about 20 mm of pile cap displacement, the average damping ratio was about 18% with the looser backfill and about 24% for the denser backfill. Under higher frequency cyclic loadings, the damping ratio of the pile cap system was quite variable and appeared to vary with frequency. Damping ratios appear to peak in the vicinity of the natural frequency of the pile cap system for each backfill condition. On the whole, damping ratios tend to range between 10 and 30%, with an average of about 20% for the range of frequencies and displacement amplitudes occurring during the tests. The similar amount of damping for different ranges of frequency suggests that dynamic loadings do not appreciably increase the apparent resistance of the pile cap relative to slowly applied cyclic loadings.

Recent developments in constructions have heightened the need for protecting existing buried infrastructure. New roads and buildings may be constructed over already existing buried infrastructures e.g. buried utility pipes, leading to excessive loads threatening their stability and longevity. Additionally applied loads over water mains led to catastrophic damage, which result in severe damage to the infrastructure surrounding these mains. Therefore, providing protection to these existing buried infrastructure against increased loads due to new constructions is important and necessary. In this research, a solution was proposed and assessed, where the protection concept would be achieved through the inclusion process of geogrid-reinforcing layers in the soil cover above the buried infrastructure. The controlling parameters for the inclusion of geogrid-reinforcing layers was assessed experimentally and numerically. Twenty-three laboratory tests were conducted on buried flexible and rigid pipes under unreinforced and geogrid-reinforced sand beds. All the investigated systems were subjected to incrementally increasing cyclic loading, where the contribution of varying the burial depth of the pipe and the number of the geogrid-reinforcing layers on the overall behaviour of the systems was investigated. To further investigate the contribution of the controlling parameters in the pipe-soil systems performance, thirty-five numerical models were performed using Abaqus software. The contribution of increasing the amplitude of the applied cyclic loading, the number of the geogrid-reinforcing layers, the burial depth of the pipe and the unit-weight of the backfill soil was investigated numerically. The inclusion of the geogrid-reinforcing layers in the investigated pipe-soil systems had a significant influence on decreasing the transferred pressure to the crown of the pipe, generated strains along its crown, invert and spring-line, and its deformation, where reinforcing-layers sustained tensile strains. Concerning rigid pipes, the inclusion of the reinforcing-layers controlled the rebound that occurred in their invert deformation. With respect to the numerical investigation, increasing the number of the reinforcing-layers, the burial depth of the pipe and the unit-weight of the backfill soil had positive effect in decreasing the generated deformations, stresses and strains in the system, until reaching an optimum value for each parameter. Increasing the amplitude of the applied loading profile resulted in remarkable increase in the deformations, stresses and strains generated in the system. Moreover, the location of the maximum tensile strain generated in the soil was varied, as well as the reinforcing-layer, which suffered the maximum tensile strain. / Government of Egypt

Reinforced concrete (RC) structures constitute a significant portion of the building inventory in earthquake-prone regions of the United States. Accurate analysis tools are necessary to allow the quantitative assessment of the performance and safety offered by RC structures. Currently available analytical approaches are not deemed adequate, because they either rely on overly simplified models or are restricted to monotonic loading. The present study is aimed to establish analytical tools for the accurate simulation of RC structures under earthquake loads. The tools are also applicable to the simulation of reinforced masonry (RM) structures. A new material model is formulated for concrete under multiaxial, cyclic loading conditions. An elastoplastic formulation, with a non-associative flow rule to capture compression-dominated response, is combined with a rotating smeared-crack model to capture the damage associated with tensile cracking. The proposed model resolves issues which characterize existing concrete material laws. Specifically, the newly proposed formulation accurately describes the crack opening/closing behavior and the effect of confinement on the strength and ductility under compressive stress states. The model formulation is validated with analyses both at the material level and at the component level. Parametric analyses on RC columns subjected to quasi-static cyclic loading are presented to demonstrate the need to regularize the softening laws due to the spurious mesh size effect and the importance of accounting for the increased ductility in confined concrete. The impact of the shape of the yield surface on the results is also investigated. Subsequently, a three-dimensional analysis framework, based on the explicit finite element method, is presented for the simulation of RC and RM components under cyclic static and dynamic loading. The triaxial constitutive model for concrete is combined with a material model for reinforcing steel which can account for the material hysteretic response and for rupture due to low-cycle fatigue. The reinforcing steel bars are represented with geometrically nonlinear beam elements to explicitly account for buckling of the reinforcement. The strain penetration effect is also accounted for in the models. The modeling scheme is validated with the results of experimental static and dynamic tests on RC columns and RC/RM walls. The analyses are supplemented with a sensitivity study and with calibration guidelines for the proposed modeling scheme. Given the computational cost and complexity of three-dimensional finite element models in the simulation of shear-dominated structures, the development of a conceptually simpler and computationally more efficient method is also pursued. Specifically, the nonlinear truss analogy is employed to capture the response of shear-dominated RC columns and RM walls subjected to cyclic loading. A step-by-step procedure to establish the truss geometry is described. The uniaxial material laws for the concrete and masonry are calibrated to account for the contribution of aggregate interlock resistance across inclined shear cracks. Validation analyses are presented, for quasi-static and dynamic tests on RC columns and RM walls. / Ph. D.

Efficient road network and connectivity play vital role in the development of any country. Majority of the rural roads are unpaved and connectivity of rural roads is always a major challenge. Unpaved roads are also used for temporary transportation facilities like access roads, haul roads for mines, forest roads and parking lots. Since these roads do not have asphalt surfacing, they are subjected to early failures due to distresses like rutting, pot holes and depressions . Stabilization of unpaved roads using geosynthetics has been proved to be promising in increasing the lifespan of these roads because they facilitate economical, aesthetic and effective design of the roads. Inclusion of geosynthetic layers at the interface of subgrade soil and granular sub-base, reduces the surface heave, ensures a better stress distribution and reduces the stresses transferred to the subgrade soil, as demonstrated by earlier researchers. Wide variety of geosynthetics like woven and nonwoven geotextiles, uniaxial and biaxial geogrids and geocells are used as reinforcement in road sections. Geotextiles improve the strength by interfacial friction, lateral restraint and membrane effect. Geogrids provide additional benefit of interlocking. Geocells are honeycomb shaped geosynthetic cellular confining systems filled with aggregates in which the reinforcement action is derived not only by friction and interlocking, but also by confinement. Load-deformation characteristics of reinforced soil-aggregate systems under static, repeated and cyclic loads is a potential topic of interest considering the fact that the design of geosynthetic reinforced unpaved roads is still under development and experimentation. The objective of the present study is to understand the beneficial use of geosynthetics in unpaved roads and to provide clear insight into the influence of geosynthetics on the cyclic loading characteristics of unpaved roads through laboratory experiments. California Bearing Ratio (CBR) tests were carried out on unreinforced and reinforced soil-aggregate systems to study the effect of various parameters such as type of reinforcement, form of reinforcement, quantity of reinforcement, and water content of the subgrade soil on the load-penetration response of the various systems. Modified CBR tests were also carried out to understand the influence of boundary of the mould and anchorage of reinforcement on the behavior of reinforced soil-aggregate systems. Behavior of unreinforced and reinforced soil-aggregate systems under repeated and cyclic loading is also studied to understand the resilience of the composite systems. From the measured stress-strain response, the elastic and plastic strains developed in various systems are compared. Different moduli such as secant modulus, cyclic modulus and resilient modulus are computed for different systems and compared. To investigate the effectiveness of geosynthetics in improving the load - bearing capacity, repeated load tests were carried out on model sections of unpaved road constructed in a steel test tank of size 750 mm × 750 mm × 620 mm. The effect of various parameters like the form of reinforcement, quantity of reinforcement, height of geocell layer and the position of geocell layer on the load-deformation behaviour of the unpaved model road sections was studied. Static and cyclic triaxial tests were carried out on unreinforced and reinforced granular sub-base materials to understand their stress strain behavior under static and cyclic loading conditions. The influence of quantity and form of reinforcement on the stress-strain behaviour of these materials was studied. From the studies it is observed that the use of reinforcement increases the CBR value of the soil-aggregate systems. Studies with two different sizes of CBR moulds indicated that the boundary effect in the standard CBR mould leads to the overestimation of the CBR value, resulting in unconservative design of road sections. Providing anchorage to the reinforcement in CBR tests did not produce an appreciable change in the load-penetration behavior. From the repeated load tests it was observed that the reinforced systems did not show any improvement in the load-deformation behaviour at low levels of rut depth. At higher rut depths, the reinforced systems developed less plastic settlements and more elastic settlements and low resilient modulus compared to unreinforced systems. From the model tests on unpaved road sections, it was observed that the improvement in the cyclic load resistance of the road due to the inclusion of geocell layer depends on the height of the geocell layer and its position. Increasing the height of geocell layer resulted in improved performance up to certain height of the geocell layer, beyond which, further increase in the height reduced the load resistance because of the inadequate granular overlay thickness and inadequate compaction of aggregate within the geocell pockets. Static and cyclic triaxial tests showed that the geogrid and geocell reinforced granular sub-base material sustained higher peak stresses and exhibited increase in modulus compared to the unreinforced specimens. Results of element and model tests carried out in this study gave important insight into the load-deformation characteristics of reinforced soil-aggregate systems under static, repeated and dynamic loads. The results provide guidelines regarding the selection of type, quantity and configuration of geosynthetic reinforcement while designing unpaved roads and the expected performance of these reinforced unpaved roads.

Résumé: L’objectif de cette thèse est d’interpréter la dégradation des aspérités des joints rocheux sous différentes conditions de chargement. Pour cela, la variation des aspérités durant les différentes étapes du cisaillement d’un joint rocheux est observée. Selon le concept appelé “tiny windows”, une nouvelle méthodologie de caractérisation des épontes des joints a été développée. La méthodologie est basée sur les coordonnées tridimensionnelles de la surface des joints et elles sont mesurées après chaque essai. Après la reconstruction du modèle géométrique de la surface du joint, les zones en contact sont identifiées à travers la comparaison des hauteurs des “tiny windows” superposées. Ainsi, la distribution des zones de la surface en contact, endommagées et sans contact ont été identifiées. La méthode d’analyse d’image a été utilisée pour vérifier les résultats de la méthodologie proposée. Les résultats indiquent que cette méthode est appropriée pour déterminer la taille et la distribution des surfaces du joint en contact et endommagées à différentes étapes du cisaillement. Un ensemble de 38 répliques ont été préparées en coulant du mortier sans retrait sur une surface de fracture obtenue à partir d’un bloc de granite. Différentes conditions de chargement, incluant des chargements statiques et cycliques ont été appliquées afin d’étudier la dégradation des aspérités à différentes étapes du procédé de cisaillement. Les propriétés géométriques des “tiny windows” en contact en phase pré-pic, pic, post-pic et résiduelle ont été analysées en fonction de leurs angles et de leurs auteurs. Il a été remarqué que les facettes des aspérités faisant face à la direction de cisaillement jouent un rôle majeur dans le cisaillement. Aussi, il a été observé que les aspérités présentent différentes contributions dans le cisaillement. Les aspérités les plus aigües (“tiny windows” les plus inclinées) sont abîmées et les aspérités les plus plates glissent les unes sur les autres. Les aspérités d’angles intermédiaires sont définies comme “angle seuil endommagé” et “angle seuil en contact”. En augmentant la charge normale, les angles seuils diminuent d’une part et, d’autre part, le nombre de zones endommagées et en contact augmentent. Pour un petit nombre de cycles (avec faible amplitude et fréquence), indépendamment de l’amplitude, une contraction apparaît ; par conséquent, la surface en contact et les paramètres de résistance au cisaillement augmentent légèrement. Pour un grand nombre de cycles, la dégradation est observée à l’échelle des aspérités de second ordre, d’où une baisse des paramètres de résistance au cisaillement. Il a été aussi observée que les “tiny windows” avec différentes inclinaisons contribuent au processus de cisaillement, en plus des “tiny windows” les plus inclinées (aspérités plus aigües). Les résultats de la méthode proposée montrent que la différenciation entre les zones en contact et celles endommagées s’avère utile pour une meilleure compréhension du mécanisme de cisaillement des joints rocheux. / Abstract: The objective of the current research is to interpret the asperity degradation of rock joints under different loading conditions. For this aim, the changes of asperities during different stages of shearing in the three-dimensional joint surface are tracked. According to a concept named ‘tiny window’, a new methodology for the characterization of the joint surfaces was developed. The methodology is based on the three-dimensional coordinates of the joints surface that are captured before and after each test. After the reconstruction of geometric models of joint surface, in-contact areas were identified according to the height comparison of the face to face tiny windows. Therefore, the distribution and size of just in-contact areas, in-contact damaged areas and not in-contact areas are identified. Image analysis method was used to verify the results of the proposed method. The results indicated that the proposed method is suitable for determining the size and distribution of the contact and damaged areas at any shearing stage. A total of 38 replicas were prepared by pouring non-shrinking cement mortar on a fresh joint surface of a split granite block. Various loading conditions include monotonic and cyclic loading were applied to study the asperities degradation at different stages of shearing. The geometric properties of the in-contact tiny windows in the pre-peak, peak, post-peak softening and residual shearing stages were investigated based on their angle and height. It was found that those asperities facing the shear direction have the primary role in shearing. It is remarkable that different part of these asperities has their own special cooperation in shearing. The steepest parts (steeper tiny windows) are wore and the flatter parts (flatter tiny windows) are slid. The borderlines between these tiny windows defined as “damaged threshold angle” and “in-contact threshold angle”. By increasing normal load, both the amounts of threshold angles are decreased and contact and damaged areas increased. During low numbers of cycles (with low amplitude and frequency), independent of the type of cycle, contraction occurs and consequently the contact area and the shear strength parameters slightly increased. During larger number of cycles, degradation occurred on the second order asperities, therefore the shear strength parameters slowly decreased. It was also observed that tiny windows with different heights participate in the shearing process, not just the highest ones. The results of the proposed method indicated that considering differences between just in-contact areas and damaged areas provide useful insights into understanding the shear mechanism of rock joints.