With the recent development of material science, high strength steel (HSS) has become a practical solution for landmark buildings and major projects. The current codes for design of bearing-type bolted connections of steel constructions were established based on the research of conventional steels. Since the mechanical properties of HSS are different from those of conventional steels, more works should be done to develop the appropriate approach for the design of bearing-type bolted connections in HSS. A review of the research carried out on bearing-type bolted connections fabricated from conventional steel and HSS is presented. The up-to-date tests conducted at Tongji University on four connection types fabricated from three grades of HSS with nominal yield strengths of 550, 690, and 890 MPa are presented. The previous research on failure modes, bearing resistance and the design with consideration of bolt hole elongation are summarized. It is found that the behavior of bolted connections in HSS have no drastic difference compared to that of conventional steel connections. Although the ductility is reduced, plastic deformation capacity of HSS is sufficient to ensure the load redistribution between different bolts with normal construction tolerances. It is also found that behavior of each bolt of multi-bolt connections arranged in perpendicular to load direction is almost identical to that of a single-bolt connection with the same end distance. For connections with bolts arranged in parallel to load direction, the deformation capacity of the whole connection depends on the minimum value between the end distance and the spacing distances in load direction. The comparison with existing design codes shows that Eurocode3 and Chinese GB50017-2017 are conservative for the design of bolted connections in HSS while AISC 360-16 may overestimate the bearing resistance of bolted connections.

This paper presents a review of fracture modeling of concrete. The complex material, such as concrete, has been widely used in construction industries and become trending issue in the last decades. Based on comprehensive literature review, there are two main approaches considered to-date of concrete fracture modeling, such as macroscopic and micromechanical models. The purpose of this review is to provide insight comparison from different techniques in modeling of fracture in concrete which are available. In the first section, an overview of fracture modeling in general is highlighted. Two different approaches both of macroscopic and micromechanical models will be reviewed. As heterogeneity of concrete material is major concern in micromechanical-based concrete modeling, one section will discuss this approach. Finally, the summary from all of reviewed techniques will be pointed out before the future perspective is given.

Microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) is a recently proposed method that is environmentally friendly and has considerable potential applications in artificial biotreated geomaterials. New artificial biotreated geomaterials are produced based on the MICP technology for different parent soils. The purpose of this study is to explore the strength-increase mechanism and microstructural characteristics of the biotreated geomaterial through a series of experiments. The results show that longer mineralization time results in higher-strength biotreated geomaterial. The strength growth rate rapidly increases in the beginning and remains stable afterwards. The calcium ion content significantly increases with the extended mineralization time. When standard sand was used as a parent soil, the calcium ion content increased to a factor of 39 after 7 days. The bacterial cells with attached calcium ions serve as the nucleus of crystallization and fill the pore space. When fine sand was used as a parent soil, the calcium ion content increased to only a factor of 7 after 7 days of mineralization. The nucleus of crystallization could not normally grow because of the limited pore space. The porosity and variation in porosity are clearly affected by the parent soil. Therefore, the strength of the biotreated geomaterial is affected by the parent soil properties, mineralization time, and granular material pore space. This paper provides a basis for theory and experiments for biotreated geomaterials in future engineering practice.

This paper discusses the adoption of Artificial Intelligence-based techniques to estimate seismic damage, not with the goal of replacing existing approaches, but as a mean to improve the precision of empirical methods. For such, damage data collected in the aftermath of the 1998 Azores earthquake (Portugal) is used to develop a comparative analysis between damage grades obtained resorting to a classic damage formulation and an innovative approach based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). The analysis is carried out on the basis of a vulnerability index computed with a hybrid seismic vulnerability assessment methodology, which is subsequently used as input to both approaches. The results obtained are then compared with real post-earthquake damage observation and critically discussed taking into account the level of adjustment achieved by each approach. Finally, a computer routine that uses the ANN as an approximation function is developed and applied to derive a new vulnerability curve expression. In general terms, the ANN developed in this study allowed to obtain much better approximations than those achieved with the original vulnerability approach, which has revealed to be quite non-conservative. Similarly, the proposed vulnerability curve expression was found to provide a more accurate damage prediction than the traditional analytical expressions.

In this work we conducted classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulation to investigate the mechanical characteristics and failure mechanism of hexagonal boron-nitride (h-BN) nanosheets. Pristine and defective structure of h-BN nanosheets were considered under the uniaxial tensile loadings at various temperatures. The defective structure contains three types of the most common initial defects in engineering materials that are known as cracks, notches (with various length/size), and point vacancy defects (with a wide range of concentration). MD simulation results demonstrate a high load-bearing capacity of extremely defective (amorphized) h-BN nanosheets. Our results also reveal that the tensile strength decline by increasing the defect content and temperature as well. Our MD results provide a comprehensive and useful vision concerning the mechanical properties of h-BN nanosheets with/without defects, which is very critical for the designing of nanodevices exploiting the exceptional physics of h-BN.

A better understanding of the mechanical behavior of the multi-layered structure under external loading is the most important item for the structural design and the risk assessment. The objective of this study are to propose and develop an analytical solution for the mechanical behaviors of multi-layered structure generated by axisymmetric loading, and to investigate the impact of anisotropic layers and interlayer conditions on the multi-layered structure. To reach these objectives, first, according to the governing equations, the analytical solution for a single layer was formulated by adopting the spatial Hankel transform. Then the global matrix technique is applied to achieve the analytical solution of multi-layered structure in Hankel domain. The sliding and bonded interlayer conditions were considered in this process. Finally, the numerical inversion of integral transform was used to solve the components of displacement and stress in real domain. Gauss-Legendre quadrature is a key scheme in the numerical inversion process. Moreover, following by the verification of the proposed analytical solution, one typical three-layered flexible pavement was applied as the computing carrier of numerical analysis for the multi-layered structure. The results have shown that the anisotropic layers and the interlayer conditions significantly affect the mechanical behaviors of the proposed structure.

There are two major challenges faced by modern society: energy security, and lowering carbon dioxide gas emissions. Thermo-active diaphragm walls have a large potential to remedy one of these problems, since they are a renewable energy technology that uses underground infrastructure as a heat exchange medium. However, extensive research is required to determine the effects of cyclic heating and cooling on their geotechnical and structural performance. In this paper, a series of detailed finite element analyses are carried out to capture the fully coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical response of the ground and diaphragm wall. It is demonstrated that the thermal operation of the diaphragm wall causes changes in soil temperature, thermal expansion/shrinkage of pore water, and total stress applied on the diaphragm wall. These, in turn, cause displacements of the diaphragm wall and variations of the bending moments. However, these effects on the performance of diaphragm wall are not significant. The thermally induced bending strain is mainly governed by the temperature differential and uneven thermal expansion/shrinkage across the wall.

For reinforced concrete members subjected to high temperature, the degree of in-service loading, commonly expressed as the loading ratio, can be highly influential on the structural behavior. In particular, the loading ratio may be pivotal in relation to the phenomenon of load-induced thermal strain. Despite its potentially pivotal role, to date, the influence of the loading ratio on both material and structural behavior has not been explored in detail. In practice, real structures experience variation in imposed loading during their service life and it is important to understand the likely response at elevated temperatures across the loading envelope. In this paper, the effect of the loading ratio is numerically investigated at both material and structural level using a validated finite element model. The model incorporates a proposed constitutive model accounting for load-induced thermal strain and this is shown to outperform the existing Eurocode 2 model in terms of accuracy. Using the validated model, the specific case of flats slabs and the associated connections to supporting columns at various loading ratios are explored. For the cases examined, a marked difference in the structural behavior including displacement direction was captured from low to high loading ratios consistent with experimental observations.

Analyzing static and dynamic problems including composite structures has been of high significance in research efforts and industrial applications. In this article, equivalent single layer approach is utilized for dynamic finite element procedures of 3D composite beam as the building block of numerous composite structures. In this model, both displacement and strain fields are decomposed into cross-sectional and longitudinal components, called consistent geometric decomposition theorem. Then, the model is discretized using finite element procedures. Two local coordinate systems and a global one are defined to decouple mechanical degrees of freedom. Furthermore, from the viewpoint of consistent geometric decomposition theorem, the transformation and element mass matrices for those systems are introduced here for the first time. The same decomposition idea can be used for developing element stiffness matrix. Finally, comprehensive validations are conducted for the theory against experimental and numerical results in two case studies and for various conditions.

The embedded cantilever retaining walls are often required for excavation to construct the underground facilities. Significant numbers of numerical and experimental studies have been performed to understand the behavior of embedded cantilever retaining walls under static condition. However, very limited studies have been conducted on the behavior of embedded retaining walls under seismic condition. In this paper, the behavior of a small scale model embedded cantilever retaining wall in dry and saturated sand under seismic loading condition is investigated by shake table tests in the laboratory and numerically using software FLAC2D. The embedded cantilever walls are subjected to sinusoidal dynamic motions. The behaviors of the cantilever walls in terms of lateral displacement and bending moment are studied with the variation of the two important design parameters, peak amplitude of the base motions and excavation depth. The variation of the pore water pressures within the sand is also observed in the cases of saturated sand. The maximum lateral displacement of a cantilever wall due to seismic loading is below 1% of the total height of the wall in dry sand, but in case of saturated sand, it can go up to 12.75% of the total height of the wall.

Seismic control of cable-stayed bridges is of paramount importance due to their complex dynamic behavior, high flexibility, and low structural damping. In the present study, several semi-active Fuzzy Control Algorithms (FCAs) for vibration mitigation of Lali Cable-Stayed Bridge are devised. To demonstrate the efficiency of the algorithms, a comprehensive nonlinear 3-D model of the bridge is created using OpenSees. An efficient method for connecting MATLAB and OpenSees is devised for applying FCAs to the structural model of the bridge. Two innovative fuzzy rule-bases are introduced. A total of six different fuzzy rule-bases are utilized. The efficiency of the FCAs is evaluated in a comparative manner. The performance of fuzzy control systems is also compared with a sky-hook and a passive-on system. Moreover, the sensitivity of efficiency of control systems to the peak ground acceleration is evaluated qualitatively. In addition, the effect of time lag is also investigated. This study thoroughly examines the efficiency of the FCAs in different aspects. Therefore, the results can be regarded as a general guide to design semi-active fuzzy control systems for vibration mitigation of cable-stayed bridges.

Strain Energy of the structure can be changed with the damage at the damage location. The accurate detection of the damage location using this index in a force system is dependent on the degree of accuracy in determining the structure deformation function before and after damage. The use of modal-based methods to identify damage in complex bridges is always associated with problems due to the need to consider the effects of higher modes and the adverse effect of operational conditions on the extraction of structural modal parameters. In this paper, the deformation of the structure was determined by the concept of influence line using the Betti-Maxwell theory. Then two damage detection indicators were developed based on strain energy variations. These indices were presented separately for bending and torsion changes. Finite element analysis of a five-span concrete curved bridge was done to validate the stated methods. Damage was simulated by decreasing stiffness at different sections of the deck. The response regarding displacement of a point on the deck was measured along each span by passing a moving load on the bridge at very low speeds. Indicators of the strain energy extracted from displacement influence line and the strain energy extracted from the rotational displacement influence line (SERIL) were calculated for the studied bridge. The results show that the proposed methods have well identified the location of the damage by significantly reducing the number of sensors required to record the response. Also, the location of symmetric damages is detected with high resolution using SERIL.

Tunnels extend in large stretches with continuous lengths of up to hundreds of kilometers which are vulnerable to faulting in earthquake-prone areas. Assessing the interaction of soil and tunnel at an intersection with an active fault during an earthquake can be a beneficial guideline for tunnel design engineers. Here, a series of 4 centrifuge tests are planned and tested on continuous tunnels. Dip-slip surface faulting in reverse mechanism of 60-degree is modeled by a fault simulator box in a quasi-static manner. Failure mechanism, progression and locations of damages to the tunnels are assessed through a gradual increase in Permanent Ground Displacement (PGD). The ground surface deformations and strains, fault surface trace, fault scarp and the sinkhole caused by fault movement are observed here. These ground surface deformations are major threats to stability, safety and serviceability of the structures. According to the observations, the modeled tunnels are vulnerable to reverse fault rupture and but the functionality loss is not abrupt, and the tunnel will be able to tolerate some fault displacements. By monitoring the progress of damage states by increasing PGD, the fragility curves corresponding to each damage state were plotted and interpreted in related figures.

Carbonation of concrete is a process which absorbs carbon dioxide (CO₂). Recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) may own greater potential in CO₂ uptake due to the faster carbonation rate than natural aggregate concrete (NAC). A quantitative model was employed to predict the CO₂ uptake of RAC in this study. The carbonation of RAC and the specific surface area of recycled coarse aggregates (RCAs) were tested to verify accuracy of the quantitative model. Based on the verified model, results show that the CO₂ uptake capacity increases with the increase of RCA replacement percentage. The CO₂ uptake amount of 1 m³ C30 RAC within 50 years is 10.6, 13.8, 17.2, and 22.4 kg when the RCA replacement percentage is 30%, 50%, 70%, and 100%, respectively. The CO₂ uptake by RCAs is remarkable and reaches 35.8%–64.3% of the total CO₂ uptake by RAC when the RCA storage time being 30 days. Considering the fact that the amount of old hardened cement paste in RCAs is limited, there is an upper limit for the CO₂ uptake of RCAs.

As a typical compression member, the concrete-filled steel tube has been widely used in civil engineering structures. However, little research on recycled self-compacting concrete filled circular steel tubular (RSCCFCST) columns subjected to eccentric load was reported. In this study, 21 specimens were designed and experimental studies on the stress-strain relationship of were carried out to study the mechanical behaviors. Recycled coarse aggregate replacement ratio, concrete strength grade, length to diameter ratio and eccentric distance of specimens were considered as the main experimental parameters to carry out eccentric compression tests. The corresponding stress-strain relationship curves were used to analyze the influence of concerned parameters on eccentric load-bearing capacity of RSCCFCST columns. The experimental results show that the strain of the eccentric compression stress-strain curves increase with the increase of recycled coarse aggregate replacement ratio and concrete strength grade. With increase of eccentric distance, the ductility of specimens increases while the bearing capacity decreases. Moreover, a phenomenological model of RSCCFCST columns is proposed, which exhibits versatile ability to capture the process during loading. The present study is expected to further understanding the behaviors and to provide guidance of RSCCFCST columns in design and engineering applications.

In this study, the dynamic behavior of a developed bypass viscous damper is evaluated. Bypass viscous damper has a flexible hose as an external orifice through which the inside fluid transfer from one side to the other side of the inner piston. Accordingly, the viscosity coefficient of the damper can be adjusted using geometrical dimensions of the hose. Moreover, the external orifice acts as a thermal compensator and alleviates viscous heating of the damper. According to experimental results, Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model, a numerical formula and the simplified Maxwell model are found and assessed; therefore, the verification of numerical and computational models are evaluated for simulating. Also, a simplified procedure is proposed to design structures with bypass viscous dampers. The design procedure is applied to design an 8-story hospital structure with bypass viscous dampers, and it is compared with the same structure, which is designed with concentric braces and without dampers. Nonlinear time history analyses revealed that the hospital with viscous damper experiences less structural inelastic demands and fewer story accelerations which mean fewer demands on nonstructural elements. Moreover, seismic behaviors of nonstructural masonry claddings are also compared in the cases of hospital structure with and without dampers.

Finite element analysis is developed to simulate the breakage of capsule in capsule-based self-healing concrete. A 2D circular capsule with different core-shell thickness ratios embedded in the mortar matrix is analyzed numerically along with their interfacial transition zone. Zero-thickness cohesive elements are pre-inserted into solid elements to represent potential cracks. This study focuses on the effects of mismatch fracture properties, namely fracture strength and energy, between capsule and mortar matrix into the breakage likelihood of the capsule. The extensive simulations of 2D specimens under uniaxial tension were carried out to investigate the key features on the fracture patterns of the capsule and produce the fracture maps as the results. The developed fracture maps of capsules present a simple but valuable tool to assist the experimentalists in designing appropriate capsule materials for self-healing concrete.