Conventional fixed base walls are typically characterized by yielding that results in permanent damage, residual drifts and costly losses due to the service shutdown for structural repairs. Controlled rocking masonry walls have been developed as a solution to prevent structural damage when seismic events take place. These systems purposely allow the wall to rock from its foundation and have an uplift at the base, thus replacing the typical yielding at the base of conventional fixed-base walls. Controlled rocking masonry walls have traditionally been controlled by using unbonded post-tensioning strands to provide the self-centering behaviour. Although post-tensioning has shown favourable results, its implementation is difficult in practical applications, and post-tensioning losses due to yielding of the strands at large deformations can reduce their self-centering ability. In order to overcome such issues, an alternative controlled rocking system for masonry walls was developed recently, which is designed to self-center through vertical gravity loads only, instead of the post-tensioning tendons. The rocking response of this alternative system is controlled by using energy dissipation devices, so the system is referred to as Energy Dissipation-Controlled Rocking Masonry Walls (ED-CRMWs). The vertical gravity loads are primarily transferred to the ED-CRMWs from the floor slab at each level. Therefore, the wall-slab interaction should be investigated in order to ensure a fully resilient system. In this regard, the current study identifies and categorizes the potential issues that are expected to occur due to the interaction between the wall rocking mechanism and the floor slab, and then investigates the most common of these issues using a parametric study. The parametric study focuses on the vertical incompatibility of displacements that a hollow- core slab suffers when its supporting walls uplift by different displacements during seismic events. Three different spans, four different cross-sections and two different alternatives of prestress configurations are considered in this study. The models were developed using ABAQUS 6.18 commercial software. The results show the cracking/yielding behaviour of the slabs and their displacement capacities at five different stages. The obtained results are promising for the usage of hollow-core slabs on ED-CRMWs or similar systems that require this interaction, as the range of displacement capacities can accommodate many of the vertical displacement incompatibilities expected in many potential situations. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

No / The chapter describes the ongoing work on modeling the semi-rigid composite beam-column connections of composite beams with precast hollow core slabs. Using the finite element (FE) software ABAQUS, a three-dimensional (3D) model of a composite joint is set up. The technique of simulating bolt force, endplate, concrete elements, reinforcement, and shear connectors, and the interaction between slabs and steel beams is presented in the chapter. Preliminary results on the steel joint and simplify composite joint are also presented in the chapter. FE model for the bare steel joints and the simplified composite joints are presented, and the result of the simplified composite model showed good agreement with the experimental result but with lower joint stiffness. Further work on the full finite element model of composite joints is still going on.

This paper describes the finite element modelling of steel beams acting compositely with proprietary precast hollow core slabs. A companion paper (Lam D, Elliott KS, Nethercot DA. Experiments on composite steel beams with precast hollow core floor slabs. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Structures and Buildings 1999; in press [1]) reports results of full scale bending tests and compression slab tests. The finite element package ABAQUS was used to extend the scope of the experimental work, by first demonstrating that a 2-dimensional plane stress analysis is sufficiently accurate, providing that the correct material input data and shear stud characteristics obtained from isolated push-off tests are used. The FE results are within 5% of the experimental results. An extensive parametric study was carried out to investigate the flexural behaviour of composite beams with variations in transverse reinforcement ratio, stud spacing and steel UB section.

This paper describes the 3-dimensional finite element modelling of composite connection with steel beams and precast hollow core slab. A finite element model to simulate the structural behaviour of the composite beam was described and was used to study the behaviour of a wide range of composite connections to gain a better understanding of the structural behaviour especially the moment¿rotation characteristic of the connections. Parametric studies were carried out to investigate the structural behaviour with variations in: size of the beam, thickness of the endplate, thickness of column web, depth of precast hollow cored slab and stud spacing. Through the parametric study, the structural behaviour of the composite connection has been discussed in detail, and recommendations for the design purpose has been made.

Precast concrete hollow core floor units are frequently used in multistorey steel- framed buildings where they bear on to the top flanges of universal beams. The steel beam is normally designed in bending in isolation from the concrete slab and no account is taken of the composite beam action available with the precast units. Although some commercial data are avail- able, there is no general design guidance to cover the wide range of material and geometric variables found in this form of construction. This paper summarizes research carried out at the University of Nottingham on this form of construction and presents the results of three full-scale bending tests of steel beams acting com- positely with proprietary precast hollow core slabs. The 150 mm deep units were attached to the universal beams through 19 mm diameter headed shear studs, and tested in four-point bending over a span of 6 m. For typical geometry and serial sizes the composite beams were found to be twice as strong and nearly three times as sti as the equivalent isolated steel beams. The failure mode was ductile, and may be controlled by the correct use of small quantities of tie steel and in situ infill concrete placed between the precast units. To generalize the findings, isolated push- off tests and eccentric compression tests were used to study the horizontal interface shear resistance of the headed studs and the strength of the slab, respectively.

no / The recently published report on Rethinking Construction in the UK has highlighted the need to reduce on-site activities as part of its drive for greater efficiency, improved quality and greater certainty in the delivery of construction projects. For multi-storey buildings, the use of precast slabs in the floors - particularly if this can be done without the need for in-situ screeds - drastically reduces the volume of on-site concreting required. Although the use of precast hollow core slabs in steel framed buildings are common, their use in composite design with steel beams is relatively new. By designing the steel beams and precast hollow core slabs compositely, a reduction in beam size and overall floor depth can be achieved, which would lead to an overall reduction in construction cost. This paper summarises the recent developments and on-going research on composite construction with precast hollow core slabs.

Precast prestressed hollow core units are commonly used in the construction of the flooring system in precast buildings. These units without transverse reinforcement bars are designed to resist seismic loading as replacement for fixed-base precast wall panels in the construction of warehouse buildings. Thus, this research seeks to investigate the seismic performance of the units constructed as a subassemblage (single wall) subjected to biaxial loading and as a superassemblage (multi-panel) subjected to quasi-static lateral loading. A design procedure for warehouse building using precast hollow core walls under Damage Avoidance Design (DAD) is proposed. In addition, a risk assessment under Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering (PBEE) is evaluated using the latest computational tool known as Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA). A comparative risk assessment between precast hollow core walls and fixed-base monolithic precast wall panels is also performed. Experimental results demonstrate that rocking precast hollow core walls with steelarmouring do not suffer any non-structural damage up to 2.0% drift and minor structural damage at 4.0% drift. Results revealed that the wall with unbonded fuse-bars and 50% initial prestressing of unbonded tendons performed the best compared with other types of energy dissipators. Furthermore, 12mm diameter of fuse-bar is recommended as there is no uplifting of the foundation beam during ground shaking. Hence, this type of energy dissipator is used for the construction of seismic wall panels in warehouse buildings. One of the significant findings is that the capacity reduction factor (Ø ) which relates to global uncertainty of seismic performance is approximately equal to 0.6. This value can be used to estimate the 90th percentile of the structures without performing IDA. Therefore, the structural engineers are only required to compute Rapid-IDA curve along with the proposed design procedure.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Physics / Kristan L. Corwin / Current portable near-infrared optical frequency references offer modest accuracy and instability compared to laboratory references. Low pressure reference cells are necessary to realize features narrower than the Doppler broadened overtone transitions, and most setups to date have occurred in free-space. Hollow-core photonic crystal fibers offer a potential alternative to free-space setups through their small cores (~10’s of µm) and low-loss guidance. Furthermore, HC-PCF can be made into fiber cells that could be directly integrated into existing telecommunications networks. Efforts were made to fabricate these fiber cells with a low pressure of molecules trapped inside, but this has proven to be quite challenging. Therefore, investigation of these fibers is conducted by placing the ends of the fiber inside vacuum chambers loaded with acetylene (12C2H2). The linewidths of several P branch transitions (near 1.5 µm) are investigated as a function of acetylene pressure and optical pump power in three different HC-PCFs. Frequency modulation spectroscopy is then implemented on the acetylene-filled HC-PCF to generate sub-Doppler dispersion features that are useful for frequency stabilization using standard servo electronics. Instability and accuracy of this near-IR optical reference were then determined by analysis of heterodyne experiments conducted with frequency combs referenced to a GPS-disciplined rubidium oscillator. The instability and accuracy of this HC-PCF reference are within an order of magnitude of free-space experiments, as expected based on the ratio of linewidths observed in the two experiments. Therefore, HC-PCF has been shown to be suitable for potential frequency references. Further work is necessary to fabricate gas fiber cells with high optical transmission and low molecular contamination.

A maioria dos edifícios de concreto pré-moldado, construídos no Brasil e no exterior, é constituída por lajes alveolares. Este trabalho considera o estudo da continuidade dessas lajes. No cálculo desses elementos, a prática comum é considerá-los como simplesmente apoiados. Para melhorar o desempenho, é possível promover a continuidade nos apoios intermediários. Isso pode ser feito colocando armadura na região tracionada da ligação, no interior da capa, ou através de barras concretadas dentro dos alvéolos. O objetivo deste trabalho é investigar o comportamento de pavimentos formados por lajes alveolares com continuidade, com armadura na capa. Para isso, foi realizado um estudo envolvendo análise teórica e experimental em três modelos. Esses modelos, em escala real, foram submetidos a um carregamento transversal, distribuído de forma linear. Os estudos teóricos consideraram uma simulação numérica com elementos de viga e a fórmula de Branson para descrever o comportamento não linear físico do material. Além disso, foram avaliadas as expressões dos principais códigos nacionais e internacionais, no que diz respeito à ruptura por cisalhamento da seção transversal e da interface laje-capa. Os resultados da análise experimental indicaram que o modelo 1 rompeu por cisalhamento da seção transversal, com o mecanismo de tração diagonal do concreto. O modelo 2 apresentou ruptura por cisalhamento da interface. No modelo 3, a ruptura foi por flexão. O comportamento dos modelos ensaiados foi governado pela fissuração da capa na região de momento negativo. A análise teórica com elementos de barra representou de forma satisfatória o comportamento dos modelos ensaiados. As únicas formulações que apresentaram resultados coerentes com os três ensaios foram: EUROCODE 2:2004, para o cálculo da resistência ao cisalhamento da interface, e FIB MODEL CODE 2010, para o cálculo da resistência ao cisalhamento da seção transversal. Conclui-se que a continuidade melhora o desempenho das lajes alveolares, uma vez que reduz os deslocamentos no meio do vão e aumenta a capacidade de carga. / Most buildings of precast concrete built in Brazil and abroad consist of hollow core slabs. This paper considers the study of the continuity of these slabs. In design of these elements the common practice is to consider them as simply supported. To improve the performance it is possible to promote the continuity in the intermediate supports. This can be done by placing reinforcement in the tensioned region of the connection, inside the topping, or by bars concreted inside the voids. The aim of this work is to investigate the behavior of hollow core floors with continuity, with reinforcement in the topping. For this, a study involving theoretical and experimental analysis was conducted in three models. The full-scale models were subjected to a transverse loading distributed linearly. The theoretical studies have considered a numerical simulation with beam elements and the Branson formula to describe the physical nonlinear behavior of the material. Furthermore, the specifications of the major Brazilian and international codes were evaluated, with respect to failure by shear of the cross section and the slab-topping interface. The results of the experimental analysis indicated that the model 1 failed by shear of the cross section with the mechanism of diagonal tension of the concrete. Model 2 presented shear failure of the interface. In model 3, the failure was by flexure. The behavior of the tested models was ruled by cracking of the topping in region of negative bending moment. Theoretical analysis with beam elements represented satisfactorily the behavior of the tested models. The only formulations that presented consistent results with the three tests were: EUROCODE 2:2004, to calculate the shear strength of the interface, and FIB MODEL CODE 2010, for calculating of the shear strength of the cross section. It is concluded that the continuity improves the performance of the hollow core slabs, as it reduces the displacements at mid-span and increases the bearing capacity.

Ensaios não destrutivos são testes que não causam danos a estrutura ensaiada, o que os torna um excelente auxílio aos métodos de ensaios tradicionais quando estes apresentam alguma dificuldade de serem executados. Desta forma, este trabalho visa utilizar os ensaios de esclerometria e ultrassom, dando ênfase na transmissão indireta, para determinar a resistência à compressão nas primeiras idades do concreto e possibilitar um melhor controle tecnológico do material. Para se obter a relação entre os dados experimentais não destrutivos e a resistência à compressão, foram realizados ensaios em duas etapas. A primeira etapa foi desenvolvida em corpos de prova cilíndricos e prismáticos com três traços diferentes de concreto, onde foi variado o consumo de cimento. Na segunda etapa os ensaios foram realizados em uma laje alveolar produzida em laboratório. Com os dados coletados nos ensaios foi possível determinar a relação de crescimento da resistência, do índice esclerométrico e da velocidade do pulso ultrassônico ao longo do tempo, além das correlações velocidade x resistência, velocidade x índice esclerométrico; e a correlação múltipla entre os três fatores. Com base nisto, concluiu-se que é viável ter um bom controle tecnológico da resistência do concreto a partir dos ensaios não destrutivos. Este trabalho não obteve uma equação universal que correlacionasse os parâmetros para todos os tipos de traço de concreto, porém foram obtidas correlações satisfatórias para os traços ensaiados. Desta forma, é possível afirmar que o ensaio de ultrassom, especificamente posição indireta de 30 centímetros, e a esclerometria são ferramentas possíveis de serem aplicadas como auxílio à obtenção da resistência à compressão nas primeiras idades. / Non-destructive tests are tools that do not cause damage to the evaluated structure, which is an excellent support for traditional test methods. Therefore, this work used non-destructive tests such as rebound method and ultrasound, emphasizing the indirect transmission, to determine compression strength in the early age sand enable a better technological control of the material. Two-step tests were performed to see if there is a relationship between non-destructive test data and the compressive strength. The first one was performed in specimens with three different concrete compositions, where the cement ratio was varied, where as the second was carried out in a laboratory hollow core slab. With the experimental data was possible to determine the relationship of the compression strength, rebound number and ultrasonic pulse velocity over time; as the correlations strength x velocity, velocity x rebound number; and a multiple correlation between the three tests. Based on this, it was concluded that it is possible to have a good technological control of the concrete strength from non-destructive tests. A universal equation that correlates parameters for all types of concrete compositions was not found, but satisfactory correlations were obtained for the tested concretes. In this way, it is possible to affirm that the ultrasound test, specifically indirect position of 30 centimeters, and rebound method are possible tools to be applied as aid to obtain the compression strength in the early ages.