Lacing reinforcement plays a critical role in the design and performance of reinforced concrete (RC) slabs by distributing the applied loads more evenly across the slab, ensuring that no specific area of the slab is overloaded. In this study, nine slabs, divided into three groups according to the investigated parameters, were meticulously designed and evaluated to study the interplay between the lacing reinforcement and other key parameters. Each slab was crafted for simple support and was subjected to both static and repeated two-point load tests. The lacing reinforcement had an angle of 45° with various tension and lacing steel. The repeated-tested specimens with lacing reinforcement experienced smaller ductility than those of similar static-tested specimens, where the reduction in ductility factor ranged between 8.4% and 22.3% for all specimens. Additionally, the tested slabs were analyzed numerically using the ABAQUS software package. The validated FE test program was used to study the effect of varying the lacing reinforcement ratio, the compressive strength of concrete, and the material types of the tension and lacing reinforcements. The lacing reinforcement becomes more effective in increasing the slab capacity when using the higher compressive strength of concrete.
Concrete pavements are essential to modern infrastructure, but their low tensile and flexural strengths can cause cracking and shrinkage. This study evaluates fiber reinforcement with steel and carbon fibers in various combinations to improve rigid pavement performance. Six concrete mixes were tested: a control mix with no fiber, a mix with 1% steel fiber (SF1%), a mix with 1% carbon fiber (CF1%), and three hybrid mixes with 1% fiber content: 0.75% steel /0.25% carbon fiber (SF0.75CF0.25), 0.25% steel /0.75% carbon fiber (SF0.25CF0.75), and 0.5% steel /0.5% carbon fiber ((SF0.5CF0.5). Laboratory experiments including compressive, flexural, and splitting tensile strength tests were conducted at 7, 28, and 90 days, while Finite Element Analys
... Show MoreThe main objective of this study is to characterize the main factors which may affect the behavior of segmental prestressed concrete beams comprised of multi segments. The 3-D finite element program ABAQUS was utilized. The experimental work was conducted on twelve simply supported segmental prestressed concrete beams divided into three groups depending on the precast segments number. They all had an identical total length of 3150mm, but each had different segment numbers (9, 7, and 5 segments), in other words, different segment lengths. To simulate the genuine fire disasters, nine beams were exposed to high-temperature flame for one hour, the selected temperatures were 300°C (572°F), 500°C (932°F) and 700°C (1292°F) as recomm
... Show MoreThe effect of considering the third dimension in mass concrete members on its cracking behavior is investigated in this study. The investigation includes thermal and structural analyses of mass concrete structures. From thermal analysis, the actual temperature distribution throughout the mass concrete body was obtained due to the generation of heat as a result of cement hydration in addition to the ambient circumstances. This was performed via solving the differential equations of heat conduction and convection using the finite element method. The finite element method was also implemented in the structural analysis adopting the concept of initial strain problem. Drying shrinkage volume changes were calculated using the procedure suggested
... Show MoreThis paper introduces an experimental study on the behavior of confined concrete filled aluminum tubular (CFT) column to improve strength design, ductility and durability of concrete composite structures under concentrically loaded in compression to failure. To achieve this: seven column specimens with same concrete diameter 100mm and without steel reinforcement have been examined through experimental testing, which are used to study the effects of the thickness of the aluminum tube encased concrete ( thickness : 0mm, 2mm, 3mm, 4mm and 5mm with same length of column 450mm), length of column (thickness 5mm and length of column 700mm) and durability (thickness 5mm and length of column 450mm) on the structural behavior of &
... Show MoreRutting is a crucial concern impacting asphalt concrete pavements’ stability and long-term performance, negatively affecting vehicle drivers’ comfort and safety. This research aims to evaluate the permanent deformation of pavement under different traffic and environmental conditions using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) prediction model. The model was built based on the outcomes of an experimental uniaxial repeated loading test of 306 cylindrical specimens. Twelve independent variables representing the materials’ properties, mix design parameters, loading settings, and environmental conditions were implemented in the model, resulting in a total of 3214 data points. The network accomplished high prediction accuracy with an R
... Show MoreThe effect of considering the third dimension in mass concrete members on its cracking behavior is investigated in this study. The investigation includes thermal and structural analyses of mass concrete structures. From thermal analysis, the actual temperature distribution throughout the mass concrete body was obtained due to the generation of heat as a result of cement hydration in
addition to the ambient circumstances. This was performed via solving the differential equations of heat conduction and convection using the finite element method. The finite element method was also implemented in the structural analysis adopting the concept of initial strain problem. Drying shrinkage volume changes were calculated using the procedure sug
In the recent years, some of the newly constructed asphalt concrete pavements in Baghdad as well as other cities across Iraq showed premature failures with consequential negative impact on both roadway safety and economy. Frequently, load associated mode of failure (rutting and fatigue) as well as, occasionally, moisture damage in some poorly drained sections are the main failure types found in those newly constructed road. In this research, hydrated lime was introduced into asphalt concrete mixtures of wearing course in two methods. The first one was the addition of dry lime on dry aggregate and the second one was the addition of dry lime on saturated surface dry aggregate moisturized by 2.0 to 3.0 percent of water. For each
... Show MoreFrequently, load associated mode of failure, rutting and fatigue, are the main failure types found in some newly constructed roads within Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, and some suburban areas. The use of excessive amount of natural sand in asphalt concrete mixes which is attractive to local contractors could be one of the possible causes to the lack of strength properties of the mixes resulting in frustration in the pavement performance. In this study, the performance properties of asphalt concrete mixes with two natural sand types, desert and river sands, were evaluated. Moreover, five replacement rates of 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% by weight of the fine aggregate finer than 4.75 were used. The performance properties including moisture susc
... Show MoreReinforcing asphalt concrete with polyester fibers considered as an active remedy to alleviate the harmful impact of fatigue deterioration. This study covers the investigation of utilizing two shapes of fibers size, 6.35 mm by 3.00 mm and 12.70 mm by 3.00 mm with mutual concentrations equal to 0.25 %, 0.50 % and 0.75 % by weight of mixture. Composition of asphalt mixture consists of different optimum (40-50) asphalt cement content, 12.50 mm nominal aggregate maximum size with limestone dust as a filler. Following the traditional asphalt cement and aggregate tests, three essential test were carried out on mixtures, namely: Marshall test (105 cylindrical specimens), indirect tensile strength test (21 cylindrical specimens)
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