RCAAP Repository

ABSTRACT This paper resorts to a simplified dynamic analysis methodology for the study of vibrations in railway bridges produced by the passage of a typical passenger train, or EUT (Electric Unit Train). It starts from a model with fifteen degrees-of-freedom, namely vertical (bounce) and horizontal displacements (sway) and rotations about the longitudinal (roll), transverse (pitch) and vertical (yaw) axes. In this methodology, dynamic models of the train and the bridge are assumed to be initially uncoupled, yet being bound by the interaction train-bridge forces. Thus, the loads are evaluated for the train running on a rigid and fixed deck, considering geometric irregularities, different for each rail line, in both the vertical and horizontal track planes, as well as in the wheels. The contact forces are statically condensed at the vehicle’s centre of gravity and applied on a simplified 3D beam model. To represent the train passage over the bridge, functions are used to describe the interaction forces at each node of the beam model, as time evolves. Thus, it is possible to identify the dynamic response caused by the geometric irregularities and also evaluate the dynamic amplification obtained for any internal force, which is compared to the impact coefficient proposed by the Brazilian standards for the design of railway bridges (NBR 7187), used in quasi-static analysis. For the sake of an illustration, a thirty-six-metre-span concrete bridge with box girder section was considered. A study was carried out to find out the parameters of the irregularity functions that could potentially lead to maximal amplification of internal forces in the bridge.

ABSTRACT This paper does a review of the recent achievements on the knowledge of UHPFRC properties and in the development of design procedures. UHPFRC is defined as a new material, with unique properties (high ductility, low permeability, very high strength capacity in compression, higher toughness) in comparison to conventional concrete. It is important to know both material and mechanical properties to fully take advantage of its outstanding properties for structural applications. However, since this is a new material, the current design codes are not well suited and should be reviewed before being applied to UHPFRC. In the first part, the following material properties are addressed: hydration process; permeability; fibers role; mix design; fiber-matrix bond properties workability; mixing procedure; and curing. In the second part, the mechanical properties of the material are discussed, together with some design recommendations. The aspects herein examined are: size effect; compressive and flexural strength; tensile stress-strain relation; shear and punching shear capacity; creep and shrinkage; fracture energy; steel bars anchorage and adherence. Besides, the tensile mechanical characterization is described using inverse analysis based on bending tests data. In the last part, material behavior at high temperature is discussed, including physical-chemical transformations of the concrete, spalling effect, and transient creep. In the latter case, a new Load Induced Thermal Strain (LITS) semi-empirical model is described and compared with UHPC experimental results.

Abstract Compressive strength testing method has been widely used as indirect way for evaluate the concrete quality, due to it simplest execution, reliability of the results achieved and low cost of execution. Independently, if the concrete was side or ready-mixed, it is necessary to achieve the compressive strength requirements stated during structure design, essentially because this parameter allows the obtainment of the average strength of the reinforced concrete structure analyzed. Following, as for ready-mixed, as for side-mixed concretes, it is need to ensure the correspondence between the concrete design parameters and the concrete mixed, namely these parameters are summarized in terms of the compressive strength and homogeneity in the different phases of the construction. This way, the present work aims to do the analysis of the dispersions of the compressive strength of concretes mixtures (corresponding to compressive strength classes of 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 MPa), and identify some influence factors, in this case, the influence of the workers team variation. Two mixtures (35 MPa and 40 MPa) were ready-mixed, while five of the concrete mixtures were side-mixed, by five different worker’s group with same time of experience on concrete’s manufacture. The results demonstrate that the variation of the workers team presents a high influence for the homogeneity of the compressive strength of the concrete.

Abstract This work involved the structural optimization of precast concrete rigid frames with semi-rigid beam-to-column connections. To this end, several frames were simulated numerically using the Finite Element Method. Beams and columns were modeled using bar elements and their connections were modeled using spring elements, with variable bending stiffness. The objective function was based on the search of the least stiff connection able to ensure the global stability of the building. Lastly, a connection model with optimal stiffness was adopted to design the frame. Semi-rigid beam-to-column connections with a constraint factors of 0.33 sufficed to ensure the maximum allowable horizontal displacement and bending moment of the connection, with a global stability parameter of 1.12. This confirms that even connections with low constraints generate significant gains from the structural standpoint, without affecting construction and assembly-related aspects.

Abstract Due to environmental issues, the concrete chain seeks to reduce CO2 emissions. However, growing demand from developing countries causes the increase of CO2 emissions in production to exceed decreases generated by industrial actions, such as improving kilns and clinker replacement. New strategies are important. Changes in the concrete formulation, making it more efficient, can help if these changes produce concrete with the same performance and lower cement consumption. In this regard, the improvement of packing and dispersion of particles increases this efficiency. The better the packing, the lower the volume of voids between particles, thereby requiring lower fluid content (water) to permit flow. The dispersion of the particles also decreases the water content for the same fluidity. The less the water content, the smaller the water/cement (w/c) ratio, and the greater the resistance. Thus, both strategies increase the efficiency by uncoupling obtaining fluidity from the water content. This study investigated the influence of packing and dispersion on the efficiency of cement use in concrete. The increase of packing and the complete dispersion of fine particles has been shown to improve efficiency, as measured by the ratio between binder consumption and compressive strength (the performance parameter used in most practical applications).

Abstract The need to use reduced sample sizes, in order to attain improved spatial resolution in (µ-CT) tests applied in Portland cement composites, makes researchers perform the fractionation of materials to obtain samples with dimensions compatible with the capacity of the scanning equipment, which might cause alterations in the microstructure under analysis. Therefore, a test specimen (TS) with dimensions compatible with the scanning capacity of a microtomography system that operates with an X-ray tube and voltage ranging from 20 to 100 kV was proposed. Axial compression strength tests were made and their total porosity was assessed by an apparent density and solid fraction density ratio, which were obtained by means of mercury and helium pycnometry and µ-CT technique, respectively. The adoption of that TS has shown to be viable for providing a sample with a higher level of representation.

Abstract The structural design under seismic loading has been for many years based on force methods to consider the effects of energy dissipation and elastoplastic behavior. Currently, displacement-based methods are being developed to take into account elastoplastic behavior. These methods use moment-curvature relationships to determine the ductility capacity of a structural element, which is the deformation capacity of the element before its collapse. The greater the plastic displacement or rotation a structural member can achieve before it collapses, the more energy it is capable of dissipating. This plastic displacement or rotation capacity of a member is known as the member ductility, which for reinforced concrete members is directly related to efficient concrete confinement. This study investigates at which extents transverse reinforcement detailing influences reinforced concrete column ductility. For this, a bridge located in Ecuador is modeled and analyzed, and its ductility evaluated considering several cases of axial loading and concrete confinement levels. After the performed displacement-based analyses, it is verified whether the response modification factor defined by AASHTO is adequate in the analyzed case.

Abstract This study aims the possibility of using the pull-out test results - bond tests steel-concrete, that has been successfully carried out by the research group APULOT since 2008 [1]. This research demonstrates that the correlation between bond stress and concrete compressive strength allows estimate concrete compressive strength. However to obtain adequate answers testing of bond steel-concrete is necessary to control the settings test. This paper aims to correlate the results of bond tests of type pull-out with its variables by using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). Though an ANN is possible to correlate the known input data (age rupture, anchorage length, covering and compressive strength of concrete) with control parameters (bond stress steel-concrete). To generate the model it is necessary to train the neural network using a database with known input and output parameters. This allows estimating the correlation between the neurons in each layer. This paper shows the modeling of an ANN capable of performing a nonlinear approach to estimate the concrete compressive strength using the results of steel-concrete bond tests.

Abstract The aim of this work is to evaluate the behavior and strength of composite slabs considering the influence of the friction at the sheeting-concrete interface in the region of the support. Results from tests conducted in the Structural Engineering Department of Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) were used. A Steel Deck 60 system was considered, which consists of a trapezoidal profile with “V” shaped embossments. Deflections, end slips and strains of the steel decks were measured, allowing for the analysis of the behavior of the composite slab system and for the determination of its failure mode. The influence of friction of the region of support in the longitudinal shear resistance was evaluated through the partial shear connection method, which also allowed for establishing criteria and determination of analytical expressions for calculating the ultimate load. Comparative analyses reveal that the influence of the friction of the region of support in the shear-bond resistance is more significant in composite slabs with short shear spans. Design expressions which incorporate friction will also be presented. Their application have demonstrated the efficiency of the method for evaluating the longitudinal shear resistance.

Abstract This work deals with numerical modeling of mechanical behavior in quasi-brittle materials, such as concrete. For this propose, a two-dimensional meso-scale model based on RVE existence is presented. The material is considered as a three-phase material consisting of interface zone (ITZ), matrix and inclusions - each constituent modeled by an independent constitutive model. The Representative Volume Element (RVE) consists of inclusions idealized as circular shapes symmetrically and non-symmetrically placed into the specimen. The interface zone is modeled by means of cohesive contact finite elements. The inclusion is modeled as linear elastic and matrix region is considered as elastoplastic material. Our main goal here is to show a computational homogenization-based approach as an alternative to complex macroscopic constitutive models for the mechanical behavior of the brittle materials using a finite element procedure within a purely kinematical multi-scale framework. Besides, the fundamental importance of the representing dissipative phenomena in the interface zone to model the complex microstructural responses of materials like concrete is focused in this work. A set of numerical examples, involving the microcracking processes, is provided in order to illustrate the performance of the proposed modeling.

Abstract Global stability analysis is becoming increasingly important in the design of reinforced concrete buildings, especially in the slender ones, due its sensitivity to lateral displacement. The loss of stability is usually associated with the intensity of the second order effects and, in that sense, the gamma-z (γz) coefficient is an important evaluation parameter for this problem. This work aims to verify the γz efficiency as a global stability parameter based on the buckling load factors of the structures and their respective critical buckling modes. To this purpose, a comparative analysis is performed in several idealized structures, from which an approximate equation for calculating the critical load factor based on the γz coefficient is obtained. This equation was verified by numerical analysis of Finite Elements Method models of real reinforced concrete buildings. It was concluded that the proposed equation presents satisfying results within a certain range of γz.

Abstract The Brazilian standard ABNT NBR 15200: 2012 details a procedure for decreasing the required time of fire resistance in buildings with good fire safety characteristics. It called equivalent time method. This name can confuse the less habituated to the fire safety area, because the Brazilian procedure is not equal to the original equivalent time method, European. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the equivalent time method, to detail the origins of the Brazilian method and present their limitations no explicit in the Brazilian standard. Some unknown aspects of most researchers or technical means are presented. It should be highlighted the abundant bibliography presented to aid the understanding of a seemingly simple issue, but it incorporates many concepts of fire safety, not always understood by the users.

Abstract Modeling the traffic loads on bridges has been the subject of numerous studies. Defining a live load model to be used for bridge design is not an easy task. It demands among many other things a reliable dataset, a well-defined procedure for filtering data and also the determination of statistics for single and multiple presence occurrences. This study examines and characterizes the live load statistics for Brazilian concrete bridges. Single and multiple truck presence are evaluated for different bridge spans and truck daily volume. The sample is comprised of the thirteen months of data from a High Speed Weigh-In-Motion station (HS-WIM) in a resolution of one hundredth of a second currently operating on the Fernão Dias highway, also known as BR-381. The system provides eleven thousand records on a daily basis. After the filtering process three thousand trucks remain. The station takes measures in an same-direction two-lane highway, which allows the evaluation and characterization of both single and multiple presence statistics. Three case of multiple presence are considered: following, side-by-side and staggered cases. The consideration of truck multiple presence on concrete bridges is mandatory to understand and characterize live load models. The results show that with the exception of the side-by-side case, the frequency of multiple truck presence is significantly affected by span length. It also shows that the daily truck volume considerably affects the multiple presence statistics for all load patterns. The results show that the general tendency of the occurrence of all multiple presence events is to increase as the truck volume increases.

Abstract The effect of alkali concentration and curing temperature regime on fly ash-based geopolymer pastes was investigated in this study by using NaOH solutions. Prismatic specimens were molded, cured at 65 °C and 85 °C and submitted to flexural and compressive strength tests. Unreacted fly ash and geopolymers were characterized by X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis. In general, the mechanical strength was enhanced by increasing the molar concentration and the curing temperature. This trend was confirmed by thermogravimetric data. However, for a lower amount of NaOH there were no significant differences between the strength results. The mixture with the highest strength was obtained with the 16 M NaOH solution and curing temperature of 85 °C, which resulted in flexural strength of 4.20 MPa, compressive strength of 21.35 MPa and also the highest weight loss of 9.89%.

Abstract In recent years, due to the destructive and unproductive character of pavement specimen extraction, pavement maintenance technology intensified the use of non-destructive techniques for pavement evaluation which resulted in the development of several devices and evaluation methods. This paper describes the use of technology based on low frequency ultrasonic tomography for evaluation of concrete pavement parameters. The equipment was applied in three experimental sections with different concrete pavements built at the University of Sao Paulo campus. The ultrasonic signal processing is given. The results analysis enables the efficient and reliable identification of thickness and reinforcement position within the concrete slab. Construction problems were evidenced in one of experimental sections with thickness deficiencies and reinforcement in a position below projected. Furthermore, the use of a novel concrete quality indicator was correlated with the presence of transverse cracks and alkali-silica reaction within the sections.

Abstract During construction of precast girder bridges, there is the concern on rollover instability of the beams when exclusively supported by elastomeric bearing pads. This type of failure has been the focus of recent research due several accidents reported. However, these studies have not considered the nonlinear behavior of elastomeric bearing pads and the lift-off effect. Therefore, this paper presents a parametric study with a finite element model calibrated with experimental results, reported in the literature, through a nonlinear geometrical analysis and considering that concrete behaves linearly. Besides, the experimental results are compared to simplified approaches which account the pad nonlinear behavior and the lift-off effect by utilizing its secant rotational stiffness. From the results, the difference between the instability load from nonlinear geometrical analysis and experimental results was 8.7 %, and the simplified eigenvalue solution and experimental was 11.4 %, which was the best fit compared to the other existing analytical models. From the parametrical analysis, the instability load was considerably decreased by varying the initial lateral deflection, the skewed pad rotation, top flange width and the span of the beam.

Abstract This article presents a model for penetration of chloride by diffusion in reinforced concrete structures based on the solution of the Fick's 2nd Law, using the finite element method (FEM) in two-dimensional domain. This model predicts the time, in a given situation, so that a certain limit of chlorides for depassivation of reinforcement is reached, characterizing the end of service life. Several approaches for the chloride surface concentration and for the diffusion coefficient are used, parameter which must be corrected due to the effects of temperature, solar radiation, exposure time, and relative humidity. Moreover, a parametric analysis is carried out in order to study the factors involved and their impact on the ingress of chlorides by diffusion, contributing to a better understanding of the phenomenon. In addition, the developed model is applied to the cities of Vitória (ES) and Florianópolis (SC) to analyze the service life for different concrete covers, making a comparison with the Brazilian standard.

Abstract This work presents a study on the behavior of reinforced concrete beams strengthened in bending by the addition of concrete and steel on their tension side and having expansion bolts as shear connectors at the junction between the beam and the jacket, subjected to a cyclic loading. The experimental program included tests on six full scale reinforced concrete beams, simply supported, initially with rectangular cross section 150 mm wide and 400 mm high, span of 4000 mm and total length of 4500 mm. All the beams, after receiving two cycles of static loading in order to create a pre-cracking condition, were strengthened in bending by partial jacketing and then subjected to cyclic loading until the completion of 2x106 cycles or the occurrence of fatigue failure. Following the cyclic loading, the beams that did not fail by fatigue were subjected to a static load up to failure. The main variables were the beam-jacket interface condition (smooth or rough), the flexural reinforcement ratio in the beam and in the jacket, and cyclic load amplitude. On the basis of the obtained test results and the results of previous studies of similar beams tested only under static loading, the behavior of the strengthened beams is discussed and a proposal for the beam-jacket connection design is presented, for the cases of predominantly static and cyclic loading.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the genotypic resistance profiles of HIV-1 in children failing highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Forty-one children (median age = 67 months) receiving HAART were submitted to genotypic testing when virological failure was detected. cDNA was extracted from PBMCs and amplified by nested PCR for the reverse transcriptase and protease regions of the pol gene. Drug resistance genotypes were determined from DNA sequencing. According to the genotypic analysis, 12/36 (33.3%) and 6/36 (16.6%) children showed resistance and possible resistance, respectively, to ZDV; 5/36 (14%) and 4/36 (11.1%), respectively, showed resistance and possible resistance to ddI; 4/36 (11.1%) showed resistance to 3TC and D4T; and 3/36 (8.3%) showed resistance to Abacavir. A high percentage (54%) of children exhibited mutations conferring resistance to NNRTI class drugs. Respective rates of resistance and possible resistance to PIs were: RTV (12.2%, 7.3%); APV (2.4%, 12.1%); SQV(0%, 12.1%); IDV (14.6%, 4.9%), NFV (22%, 4.9%), LPV/RTV (2.4%, 12.1%). Overall, 37/41 (90%) children exhibited virus with mutations related to drug resistance, while 9% exhibited resistance to all three antiretroviral drug classes.

Persistence of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Vectobac WDG) and methoprene (Metoprag S-2G) was evaluated against Aedes aegypti late third instar larvae of the Rockefeller strain in a semi-field bioassay. Tests were performed in Rio de Janeiro, using containers made of plastic, iron, concrete and asbestos, placed in a shaded area. The formulations used were 0.2 g of Vectobac-WDG and 1g of Metoprag S-2G per 100 liters of water in house storage containers. Vectobac WDG was tested twice, in March and in April/May, 2002. In March (temperature ranging from 21.5 to 39.3 ºC), 70-100% mortality was observed by the 7th day and declined abruptly thereafter. No significant differences were observed among the container types. In April/May (18.6 to 34.8 ºC) mortality was higher than 70% to 30-36 days in all cases, except in the iron container (40% mortality on the 12th day). Metoprag S-2G was evaluated in April/May, 2002, and induced mortality higher than 70% up to 15 days in the plastic and iron containers and only seven days in the concrete container. In the asbestos container, maximal mortality was achieved on day one post-treatment (66%). Our results point to a low persistence of both formulations in the weather conditions of Rio de Janeiro.