Wide spaced reinforced masonry (WSRM) walls that contain vertical reinforced cores at horizontal spacing up to 2000mm are commonly used in high wind zones of Australia although their inplane shear resistance is not well understood. This thesis aims at providing better insight into the behaviour of WSRM walls subjected to inplane lateral loading through experimental and numerical investigations. The interactions between the unreinforced masonry (URM) panels and vertical reinforced cores are first determined using an elastic finite element analysis and the potential failure paths hypothesized. The hypotheses are then validated using a series of full-scale WSRM and Non-WSRM wall tests under monotonic and cyclic lateral loading by keeping the spacing between the vertical reinforced cores as the main design variable. Load-displacement response of these shear walls indicates that the current classification of the WSRM in AS3700 (2001) as those walls containing vertical reinforced grouted cores at 2000mm maximum spacing is appropriate. A finite element model (FEM) based on an explicit solution algorithm is developed for predicting the response of the masonry shear walls tested under static loading. The FEM has adopted macroscopic masonry failure criteria and flow rules, damaged plasticity model for grout and tension-only model for reinforcing bars reported in the literature, and predicted crack opening and post-peak load behaviour of the shear walls. By minimising the kinetic energy using appropriate time scaling, the FEM has provided reasonable and efficient prediction of load flow, crack patterns and load–displacement curves of the shear walls. The FEM is further validated using full-scale tests on WSRM walls of aspect ratios and pre-compression different to that tested before. The validated FEM is used to examine the appropriateness of the prescriptive design details for WSRM concrete masonry shear walls provided in AS3700 (2001) allowing for a large scatter in material properties. It is shown that the inplane shear capacity formula provided in AS3700 (2001) for squat WSRM shear walls is non-conservative.

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The main aim of the research was to study the behaviour of a silty clay under two-way cyclic loading. Equipment was developed for the application of a sinusoidally varying deviator stress to a sample in the triaxial cell. The equipment was designed to apply deviator stresses in both compression and extension during each cycle. ii A programme of monotonic and two-way cyclic triaxial tests has been performed on samples of Keuper Marl, isotropically consolidated to a range of stress histories. The build-up of strain and pore pressure during repeated loading is discussed. A model is developed, within the framework of the critical state theory of soil mechanics, to predict the amount of pore pressure produced by a given number of loading cycles at a known stress level. An extension of the model is suggested whereby the varied loading, more appropriate to offshore foundation conditions, may be analysed. In addition, a programme of monotonic and cyclic simple shear tests has been performed. The equipment has been developed, during the course of the research, to enable the direct measurement of pore pressure during shear. At attempt has also been made to monitor the change in lateral stress during shear by means of an instrumented membrane. The results of the simple shear tests have been analysed and are presented in terms of horizontal shear stress and effective vertical stress. An attempt has been made. to deduce the principal stresses present in a sample subject to simple shear loading and a method of relating the results from monotonic tests using simple shear and triaxial devices is discussed.

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Fatigue crack growth behavior of AA7050 T7451 aluminum alloy under mode II loading condition in two orientations was investigated. Compact shear specimens were prepared in TL and LT directions. A loading frame for mode II type of loading was manufactured. Using the loading frame and the specimen, KIIC values and mode II fatigue crack growth rates were calculated. Fractographic analysis of the fracture surfaces of both mode II fracture toughness test specimens and mode II fatigue crack growth test specimens were done to examine the effects of mode II load. KIIC values were measured between 1.3 and 1.5 times the KIC values for this alloy. As for mode II fatigue crack growth rates, TL orientation shows the highest mode II fatigue crack growth resistance.

<p>  </p> <p>Post-installed bonded anchors find a wide range of application in construction industry due to their versatility and flexibility in accommodating diverse engineering needs. Engineering practices often encounter situations where space constraints within a building member lead to unusual anchor group geometric configurations. Multiple anchor groups with small inter-group spacing (closely spaced anchor groups) emerge as a result. The stress-field and overall behaviour of individual anchor groups is affected by the presence of other closely spaced anchor groups. Situation become more intricate when these closely-spaced anchor groups are installed in close proximity of edge, subjected to different loading conditions and involve different eccentric loading scenarios.</p> <p>The current design standards provide limited and very conservative guidelines for designing and analysing closely spaced anchor groups where spacing between neighbouring anchor groups is less than the critical anchor spacing. This paper presents a 3-dimensional (3D), Finite Element (FE) study on the tension and shear behaviour of closely spaced anchor groups under various geometric and loading conditions. Different parameters such as inter-group spacing, presence of nearby edge and loading positions (eccentricities and symmetry of loading) for models loaded in tension, are numerically investigated. In case of shear loads, anchor groups with similar / different edge distance in the direction of loading and different loading positions are investigated. In this study, concrete cone break-out failure for tension loaded anchor groups and concrete edge failure for shear loaded anchor groups are considered as critical failure modes. </p> <p>Numerical analysis is carried out using microplane model for concrete with relaxed kinematic constraint as the constitutive law. 3D, finite element, Mascroscopic Space Analysis (MASA) program is used to numerically investigate the behavior of closely spaced anchor groups under different geometric and loading conditions. The numerical modelling approach is first verified and validated against available experimental results on anchor groups and then used to carry out a detailed and systematic study. Parametric study on a wide range of geometric configurations containing multiple anchor groups subjected to different loading positions (centric / eccentric) is carried out.</p> <p>Comparison study is conducted to check the numerical resistance capacities against analytical values calculated using existing concrete capacity design (CCD) method incorporating existing reduced embedment depth / edge distance approach and newly developed virtual edge approach. The virtual edge approach considers a virtual edge to assign individual tributary areas to individual anchor groups in calculating the concrete breakout resistance of anchorages. Evaluation of results indicate that virtual edge approach is appropriate, rational and reasonably conservative to consider the influence of presence of neighbouring anchor group on the capacity of given anchorage. A new set of guidelines is recommended to design closely space anchor groups for arbitrary geometric and loading conditions.</p>

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Ce travail décrit une étude expérimentale sur des tôles en Ni-Ti à température ambiante en cisaillement plan simple, et pour des vitesses de déformation de 10-4 à 103/s. En quasi-statique (10-4-10-2/s), la mesure optique du champ de déplacement est indispensable à cause du faible déplacement (0.3mm). Des essais à vitesse de déformation intermédiaire (10-1-101/s) ont été réalisés avec la Machine MTS modifiée, capable d'aller à 300mm/s. Une caméra rapide est nécessaire pour suivre ces tests. Enfin, des barres de Hopkinson sont utilisées pour les essais à haute vitesse (102-103/s).Les efforts se sont concentrés sur la méthodologie afin d'explorer les limites expérimentales. Au niveau mécanique, des efforts ont été apportés sur la conception des montages des mors pour combiner des exigences contradictoires. Au niveau mesure, des caméras optiques fonctionnant jusqu'à 5M images/s ont été utilisées. La texture des images, la peinture, la lumière, la taille d'élément et l'incertitude sont analysées. De plus, la caméra infrarouge est utilisée pour confirmer l'observation optique sous faibles vitesses de déformation.Finalement, des essais ont été réalisés pour 7 ordres de grandeurs de la vitesse de déformation, avec identification de la relation contrainte-déformation et observation de l'évolution de la bande de transformation. On observe : (i) Une augmentation de la contrainte avec la vitesse de déformation. (ii) Un champ de déformation non homogène, même en faible vitesse, avec une bande à 10 degrés par rapport à la direction de cisaillement. (iii) Deux bandes séparées à haute vitesse (102/s), ce qui indique que la bande de localisation dépend de la vitesse de chargement. / This work describes an experimental study on a NiTi alloy at the ambient temperature (Pseudoelastic behavior) under the double in-plane shear loading over strain rates from 10-4 to 103/s. Under quasi-static loadings (10-4-10-2/s), the optical full-field measurement is necessary because of the very small displacement (0.3mm). The intermediate loading rates (10-1-101/s) are realized with a modified MTS machine able to load at 300mm/s. Moreover, a high-speed camera is needed to follow such tests. Finally, the Split Hopkinson bars are used to perform tests at impact loading rates (102-103/s).The main effort has been made on the methodological study to explore the experimental possibility. For the mechanical level, the attention has been paid on the design of the clamping system to cope with the contradictory requirements. For the measuring level, different optical cameras with sampling rate till to 5M frames/second are used. The texture, the painting, the lightening, the element size and the uncertainty are analyzed. Furthermore, an infrared camera was used at lower loading rates to confirm the DIC measurement.The tests are continually performed over 7 decades of the strain rate. The nominal stress-strain curves and the detailed observation of the transformation band evolution are measured. The main findings are as follows: (i) Regular stress increase with the strain rate; (ii) an inhomogeneous strain field under in-plane shear condition, even at very low strain rates, with a band at 10 degrees from the shear direction under lower strain rates. (iii) Two separated bands at the strain rate of 102/s, which suggests that the localized transformation bands are rate dependent.