ALBERT

Description: As concrete is a building material that is widely used in the field of infrastructure construction, and its quality is related to the quality and service life in infrastructure engineering, concrete strength is an important reference index that reflects the concrete quality. Based on this, two commercial concretes A and B are selected in Henan Province, China, to perform the concrete strength test under same condition curing and standard condition curing in the pull-out post-insert method, cubic compression, rebound method, and drilling core method. The relationships between the different curing conditions, cubic compressive strength, core sample strength, rebound strength, and pull-out force of different commercial concretes are compared and analyzed. Through a comparative analysis and while considering the convenience and accuracy requirements, the strength curves of the two different concretes based on the pull-out post-insert method were fitted and analyzed, and the local strength curve test in Henan based on the pull-out post-insert method was established. The research results provide technical support for evaluating the strength of concrete structures using the pull-out post-insert method, which has important engineering significance for improving the popularize and application of the pull-out post-insert method.

Description: The experimental work presents results on the fatigue performance of composite beams in the negative moment region and the changes of stiffness and deformation of composite beams under repeated loads; fatigue tests were carried out on two double-layer composite beams. The fatigue performance of composite beams with different reinforcement ratios under complete shear connection and the variation of deflection, strain of the reinforcement, strain of steel beam, and crack growth under fatigue load were obtained. The results showed that the fatigue resistance performance of concrete slab with low reinforcement ratio was much lower than that of concrete slab with high reinforcement ratio whereas, under the fatigue load, the stress of the welding nail in the negative moment region was small and the slip was almost negligible. The degradation of stiffness and the development of cracks were mainly due to the degradation of bond-slip between the concrete and reinforcement. The fatigue failure mode was the fracture of the upper reinforcement in negative moment region. The results obtained in this study are helpful in the design of composite beam.

Description: In this paper, the whole life cycle (failure-reinforcement-failure) durability and related fatigue properties of prestressed hollow beam under carbonation erosion environment were studied. According to a 20 m hollow slab beam, the model of prestressed hollow beam was designed and made, and the durability and fatigue tests for the whole life cycle of prestressed hollow beam were carried out. The results showed that the compressive strength and elastic modulus of the specimens increased by about 20% under the action of carbonization erosion. With the increase of fatigue loading cycles, the crack occurrence and development speed of carbonized erosion components were greater than those of healthy components, and the fatigue life decreased sharply from 3 million cycles to 50,000 cycles. Pasting carbon fiber and steel plate had better reinforcement effect on the damaged prestressed plate beam and could help improving the fatigue life of the reinforced component. Comparing the reinforcement of different strengthening methods, it is found that the steel-plate-reinforced components have better mechanical properties and antifatigue attenuation characteristics than the carbon-fiber-reinforced ones. The research results have important theoretical value for improving the durability of structure and prolonging its service life.

Description: In order to reveal the influence of freezing and thawing on fatigue properties of the prestressed concrete beam, a kind of novel freeze-thaw test method for large concrete structure components was proposed, and the freeze-thaw experiments and fatigue failure test of prestressed concrete hollow beams were performed in this paper. Firstly, the compressive strength and dynamic elastic modulus of standard specimens subjected to different numbers of freeze-thaw cycles (0, 50, 75, and 100) were determined. Then, the static and dynamic experiments were performed for prestressed concrete beams under different freeze-thaw cycles. Depending on the static failure test results, the fatigue load for the prestressed concrete beam model was carried out, the fatigue tests for prestressed concrete beam under freezing and thawing cycles were done, and the influence of fatigue loading times on dynamic and static characteristics of prestressed concrete beam was also studied. Finally, the relation between fatigue characteristics and numbers of freeze-thaw cycles was established, and the fatigue life prediction formulas of prestressed concrete beams under freeze-thaw cycles were developed. The research shows that the freezing and thawing cycles had obvious influence on fatigue life, and the freezing and thawing cycles should be taken into account for life prediction and quality evaluation of prestressed concrete beams.

Description: As a kind of important engineering material, steel fiber-reinforced concrete was used widely in civil engineering. Up to now, steel fiber-reinforced concrete was usually produced by the traditional mixing method. For the reason of uniform distribution of fiber, the reinforcement of mechanical properties of concrete was inadequately performed. In this paper, C50 steel fiber-reinforced concrete and C60 steel fiber-reinforced concrete were manufactured by traditional mixing and vibratory mixing methods, respectively, and then, the cube compression test, flexural test, splitting tensile test, and the bending test were carried out. The reinforcement effects of mechanical properties were analyzed by comparing the traditional mixing and vibratory mixing methods. The results show that vibratory mixing can effectively improve the distribution of steel fibers in concrete and can increase the density of steel fiber concrete, and therefore, it effectively improves the mechanical properties of steel fiber-reinforced concrete when compared to the traditional mixing method.

Description: A bridge structure is subjected to different external loads and environmental effects during its operation, which results in different types and degrees of damage to the structure during its service life. Reinforcement is often required to maintain regular operation and extend its service life. However, a reinforced bridge structure continues to be subjected to vehicle loads and environmental erosion. Therefore, research on the durability deterioration mechanisms and fatigue life decay of reinforced structures is key to ensuring the long service lives of bridge structures. To study the influence of freeze–thaw cycle erosion on the basic mechanical properties and fatigue characteristics of a bridge structure and a strengthened structure, 2 m long prestressed hollow slab beams were designed and fabricated based on the principle of a similarity ratio and subsequently pre-cracked by fatigue failure. The prestressed hollow slab beams were strengthened after fatigue damage by two methods: pasting steel plates and pasting carbon fiber cloths. After this, a freeze–thaw cycle test was conducted to study the dynamic and static mechanical index changes and the attenuation of the fatigue characteristics of the prestressed strengthened hollow slab beams under freeze–thaw cycle erosion. Meanwhile, a numerical model for reinforced structures was established based on the ABAQUS software to study the mechanisms governing the attenuation of the fatigue life of the prestressed hollow slab beams with different freeze–thaw cycles. The results showed that the deflections and strains observed for the two methods were less than those prior to reinforcement. For instance, the deflection in the span decreased by 14–15%, and the compressive strain decreased by 5.2% to 6%. Under the fatigue load, the prestressed hollow slab beams strengthened by the two methods could withstand a fatigue load cycle of 2 million, and the reinforced components exhibited good fatigue resistance. Under cyclic erosion and fatigue loading, the deflections and strains in the reinforced prestressed hollow slab beams were increased by varying degrees, such as a 30–40% increase in the tensile strain and a 65–70% increase in the span. The fatigue life of the reinforced hollow slab beams decreased with the increasing number of freeze–thaw cycles, and the decay rate of the fatigue life was accelerated.