Finite element and design code assessment of reinforced concrete haunched beams

Gulsan, Mehmet Eren,Albegmprli, Hasan M.,Cevik, Abdulkadir Techno-Press 2018 Structural Engineering and Mechanics, An Int'l Jou Vol.66 No.4

This pioneer study focuses on finite element modeling and numerical modeling of three types of Reinforced Concrete Haunched Beams (RCHBs). Firstly, twenty RCHBs, consisting of three types, and four prismatic beams which had been tested experimentally were modeled via a nonlinear finite element method (NFEM) based software named as, ATENA. The modeling results were compared with experimental results including load capacity, deflection, crack pattern and mode of failure. The comparison showed a good agreement between the results and thus the model used can be effectively used for further studies of RCHB with high accuracy. Afterwards, new mechanism modes and design code equations were proposed to improve the shear design equation of ACI-318 and to predict the critical effective depth. These equations are the first comprehensive formulas in the literature involving all types of RCHBs. The statistical analysis showed the superiority of the proposed equation to their predecessors where the correlation coefficient, $R^2$ was found to be 0.89 for the proposed equation. Moreover, the new equation was validated using parametric and reliability analyses. The parametric analysis of both experimental and predicted results shows that the inclination angle and the compressive strength were the most influential parameters on the shear strength. The reliability analysis indicates that the accuracy of the new formulation is significantly higher as compared to available design equations and its reliability index is within acceptable limits.

Effects of sulphuric acid on mechanical and durability properties of ECC confined by FRP fabrics

Gulsan, Mehmet Eren,Mohammedameen, Alaa,Sahmaran, Mustafa,Nis, Anil,Alzeebaree, Radhwan,Cevik, Abdulkadir Techno-Press 2018 Advances in concrete construction Vol.6 No.2

In this study, the effects of sulphuric acid on the mechanical performance and the durability of Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) specimens were investigated. The carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) and basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) fabrics were used to evaluate the performances of the confined and unconfined ECC specimens under static and cyclic loading in the acidic environment. In addition, the use of CFRP and BFRP fabrics as a rehabilitation technique was also studied for the specimens exposed to the sulphuric acid environment. The polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber with a fraction of 2% was used in the research. Two different PVA-ECC concretes were produced using low lime fly ash (LCFA) and high lime fly ash (HCFA) with the fly ash-to-OPC ratio of 1.2. Unwrapped PVA-ECC specimens were also produced as a reference concrete and all concrete specimens were continuously immersed in 5% sulphuric acid solution ($H_2SO_4$). The mechanical performance and the durability of specimens were evaluated by means of the visual inspection, weight change, static and cyclic loading, and failure mode. In addition, microscopic changes of the PVA-ECC specimens due to sulphuric acid attack were also assessed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to understand the macroscale behavior of the specimens. Results indicated that PVA-ECC specimens produced with low lime fly ash (LCFA) showed superior performance than the specimens produced with high lime fly ash (HCFA) in the acidic environment. In addition, confinement of ECC specimens with BFRP and CFRP fabrics significantly improved compressive strength, ductility, and durability of the specimens. PVA-ECC specimens wrapped with carbon FRP fabric showed better mechanical performance and durability properties than the specimens wrapped with basalt FRP fabric. Both FRP materials can be used as a rehabilitation material in the acidic environment.

Rehabilitation of normal and self-compacted steel fiber reinforced concrete corbels via basalt fiber

Gulsan, Mehmet Eren,Al Jawahery, Mohammed S.,Alshawaf, Adnan H.,Hussein, Twana A.,Abdulhaleem, Khamees N.,Cevik, Abdulkadir Techno-Press 2018 Advances in concrete construction Vol.6 No.5

This paper investigates the behavior of normal and self-compacted steel fiber reinforced concrete (SCC-SFRC) corbels rehabilitated by Basalt Fiber Mesh (BFM) and Basalt Fiber Fabric (BFF) for the first time in literature. The research objective is to study the effectiveness of BFM and BFF in the rehabilitation of damaged reinforced concrete corbels with and without epoxy injection. The experimental program includes two types of concrete: normal concrete, and self-compacted concrete. For normal concrete, 12 corbels were rehabilitated by BFM without injection epoxy in cracks, with two values of compressive strength, three ratios of steel fiber (SF), and two values of shear span. For self-compacted concrete, 48 corbels were rehabilitated with different parameters where 12 corbels were rehabilitated by BFM with and without epoxy injection, 18 heated corbels with three different high-temperature level were rehabilitated by repairing cracks only by epoxy injection, and 18 heated corbels with three different high-temperature level were rehabilitated by repairing cracks by epoxy and wrapping by BFF. All 48 corbels have two values of compressive strength, three values volumetric ratios of SF, and two values of the shear span. Test results indicate that RC corbels rehabilitated by BFM only without injection did not show any increase in the ultimate load capacity. Moreover, For RC corbels that were repaired by epoxy without basalt wrapping, the ultimate load capacities showed an increase depending on the mode of failure of corbels before the rehabilitation. However, the rehabilitation with only crack repairing by epoxy injection is more effective on medium strength corbels as compared to high strength ones. Finally, it can be concluded that use of BFF is an effective and powerful technique for the strengthening of damaged RC corbels.

Cytotoxicity and biocompatibility of high mol% yttria containing zirconia

Kazi Gulsan Ara Sathi,Yamagiwa Ryo 대한치과보존학회 2020 Restorative Dentistry & Endodontics Vol.45 No.4

Objectives: Yttria-stabilized tetragonal phase zirconia has been used as a dental restorative material for over a decade. While it is still the strongest and toughest ceramic, its translucency remains as a significant drawback. To overcome this, stabilizing the translucency zirconia to a significant cubic crystalline phase by increasing the yttria content to more than 8 mol% (8YTZP). However, the biocompatibility of a high amount of yttria is still an important topic that needs to be investigated. Materials and Methods: Commercially available 8YTZP plates were used. To enhance cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation, the surface of the 8YTZP is sequentially polished with a SiC-coated abrasive paper and surface coating with type I collagen. Fibroblast-like cells L929 used for cell adherence and cell proliferation analysis, and mouse bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSC) used for cell differentiation analysis. Results: The results revealed that all samples, regardless of the surface treatment, are hydrophilic and showed a strong affinity for water. Even the cell culture results indicate that simple surface polishing and coating can affect cellular behavior by enhancing cell adhesion and proliferation. Both L929 cells and BMSC were nicely adhered to and proliferated in all conditions. Conclusions: The results demonstrate the biocompatibility of the cubic phase zirconia with 8 mol% yttria and suggest that yttria with a higher zirconia content are not toxic to the cells, support a strong adhesion of cells on their surfaces, and promote cell proliferation and differentiation. All these confirm its potential use in tissue engineering.

Finite element and design code assessment of reinforced concrete haunched beams

Mehmet Eren Gulsan,Hasan M. Albegmprli,Abdulkadir Cevik 국제구조공학회 2018 Structural Engineering and Mechanics, An Int'l Jou Vol.66 No.4

This pioneer study focuses on finite element modeling and numerical modeling of three types of Reinforced Concrete Haunched Beams (RCHBs). Firstly, twenty RCHBs, consisting of three types, and four prismatic beams which had been tested experimentally were modeled via a nonlinear finite element method (NFEM) based software named as, ATENA. The modeling results were compared with experimental results including load capacity, deflection, crack pattern and mode of failure. The comparison showed a good agreement between the results and thus the model used can be effectively used for further studies of RCHB with high accuracy. Afterwards, new mechanism modes and design code equations were proposed to improve the shear design equation of ACI-318 and to predict the critical effective depth. These equations are the first comprehensive formulas in the literature involving all types of RCHBs. The statistical analysis showed the superiority of the proposed equation to their predecessors where the correlation coefficient, R2 was found to be 0.89 for the proposed equation. Moreover, the new equation was validated using parametric and reliability analyses. The parametric analysis of both experimental and predicted results shows that the inclination angle and the compressive strength were the most influential parameters on the shear strength. The reliability analysis indicates that the accuracy of the new formulation is significantly higher as compared to available design equations and its reliability index is within acceptable limits.

Stochastic finite element based reliability analysis of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) corbels

Mehmet Eren Gulsan,Abdulkadir Cevik,AhmetEminKurtoglu 사단법인 한국계산역학회 2015 Computers and Concrete, An International Journal Vol.15 No.2

In this study, reliability analyses of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) corbels based on stochastic finite element were performed for the first time in literature. Prior to stochastic finite element analysis, an experimental database of 84 sfrc corbels was gathered from literature. These sfrc corbels were modeled by a special finite element program. Results of experimental studies and finite element analysis were compared and found to be very close to each other. Furthermore experimental crack patterns of corbel were compared with finite element crack patterns and were observed to be quite similar. After verification of the finite element models, stochastic finite element analyses were implemented by a specialized finite element module. As a result of stochastic finite element analysis, appropriate probability distribution functions (PDF’s) were proposed. Finally, coefficient of variation, bias and strength reduction (resistance) factors were proposed for sfrc corbels as a consequence of stochastic based reliability analysis.

Comprehensive experimental investigation on mechanical behavior for types of reinforced concrete Haunched beam

Albegmprli, Hasan M.,Gulsan, M. Eren,Cevik, Abdulkadir Techno-Press 2019 Advances in concrete construction Vol.7 No.1

This study presents a comprehensive experimental investigation on mostly encountered types of Reinforced Concrete Haunched Beams (RCHBs) where three modes of RCHBs investigated; the diversity of studied beams makes it a pioneer in this topic. The experimental study consists of twenty RCHBs and four prismatic beams. Effects of important parameters including beam type, the inclination angle, flexure and compressive reinforcement, shear reinforcement on mechanical behavior and failure mode of each mode of RCHBs were examined in detail. Furthermore crack propagation at certain load levels were inspected and visualized for each RCHB mode. The results confirm that RCHBs have different behavior in shear as compared to the prismatic beams. At the same time, different mechanical behavior was observed between the modes of RCHBs. Therefore, RCHBs were classified into three modes according to the inclination shape and mode of failure (Modes A, B and C). However, it was observed that there is no significant difference between RCHBs and prismatic beams regarding flexural behavior. Moreover, a new and unified formula was proposed to predict the critical effective depth of all modes of RCHBs that is very useful to predict the critical section for failure.

3D FE modeling and parametric analysis of steel fiber reinforced concrete haunched beams

Al Jawahery, Mohammed S.,Cevik, Abdulkadir,Gulsan, Mehmet Eren Techno-Press 2022 Advances in concrete construction Vol.13 No.1

This paper investigates the shear behavior of reinforced concrete haunched beams (RCHBs) without stirrups. The research objective is to study the effectiveness of the ideal steel fiber (SF) ratio, which is used to resist shear strength, besides the influence of main steel reinforcement, compressive strength, and inclination angles of the haunched beam. The modeling and analysis were carried out by Finite Element Method (FE) based on a software package, called Atena-GiD 3D. The program of this study comprises two-part. One of them consists of nine results of experimental SF RCHBs which are used to identify the accuracy of FE models. The other part comprises 81 FE models, which are divided into three groups. Each group differed from another group by the area of main steel reinforcement (A_s) which are 226, 339, and 509 mm². The other parameters which are considered in each group in the same quantities to study the effectiveness of them, were steel fiber volumetric ratios (0.0, 0.5, and 1.0)%, compressive strength (20.0, 40.0, 60.0) MPa, and the inclination angle of haunched beam (0.0°, 10.0°, and 15.0°). Moreover, the parametric analysis was carried out on SF RCHBs to clarify the effectiveness of each parameter on the mechanical behavior of SF RCHBs. The results show that the correlation coefficient (R²) between shear load capacities of FE proposed models and shear load capacities of experimental SF RCHBs is 0.9793, while the effective inclination angle of the haunched beam is 10° which contributes to resisting shear strength, besides the ideal ratio of steel fibers is 1% when the compressive strength of SF RCHBs is more than 20 MPa.

Fiber reinforced concrete corbels: Modeling shear strength via symbolic regression

Ahmet E Kurtoglu,Mehmet E Gulsan,Hussein A Abdi,Mohammed A Kamil,Abdulkadir Cevik 사단법인 한국계산역학회 2017 Computers and Concrete, An International Journal Vol.20 No.1

In this study, a novel application of symbolic regression (SR) is employed for the prediction of ultimate shear strength of steel fiber reinforced (SFRC) and glass fiber reinforced (GFRC) corbels without stirrups, for the first time in the literature. A database is created using the test results (42 tests) conducted by the authors of current paper as well as the previous studies available in the literature. A symbolic regression based empirical formulation is proposed using this database. The formulation is unique in a way that it has the capability to predict the shear strength of both SFRC and GFRC corbels. The performance of proposed model is tested against randomly selected testing set. Additionally, a parametric study with a wide range of variables is carried out to test the effect of each parameter on the shear strength. The results confirm the high prediction capacity of proposed model.

Mechanical and durability properties of fly ash and slag based geopolymer concrete

Kurtoglu, Ahmet Emin,Alzeebaree, Radhwan,Aljumaili, Omar,Nis, Anil,Gulsan, Mehmet Eren,Humur, Ghassan,Cevik, Abdulkadir Techno-Press 2018 Advances in concrete construction Vol.6 No.4

In this paper, mechanical and short-term durability properties of fly ash and slag based geopolymer concretes (FAGPC-SGPC) were investigated. The alkaline solution was prepared with a mixture of sodium silicate solution ($Na_2SiO_3$) and sodium hydroxide solution (NaOH) for geopolymer concretes. Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) concrete was also produced for comparison. Main objective of the study was to examine the usability of geopolymer concretes instead of the ordinary Portland cement concrete for structural use. In addition to this, this study was aimed to make a contribution to standardization process of the geopolymer concretes in the construction industry. For this purpose; SGPC, FAGPC and OPC specimens were exposed to sulfuric acid ($H_2SO_4$), magnesium sulfate ($MgSO_4$) and sea water (NaCl) solutions with concentrations of 5%, 5% and 3.5%, respectively. Visual inspection and weight change of the specimens were evaluated in terms of durability aspects. For the mechanical aspects; compression, splitting tensile and flexural strength tests were conducted before and after the chemical attacks to investigate the residual mechanical strengths of geopolymer concretes under chemical attacks. Results indicated that SGPC (100% slag) is stronger and durable than the FAGPC due to more stable and strong cross-linked alumina-silicate polymer structure. In addition, FAGPC specimens (100% fly ash) showed better durability resistance than the OPC specimens. However, FAGPC specimens (100% fly ash) demonstrated lower mechanical performance as compared to OPC specimens due to low reactivity of fly ash particles, low amount of calcium and more porous structure. Among the chemical environments, sulfuric acid ($H_2SO_4$) was most dangerous environment for all concrete types.