Experimental Investigation on Durability of Reinforced Concrete Beams in A Simulated Marine Environment

1. IntroductionConcrete is widely used for nearshore and offshore marine structures and bridges (Song et al.,2000; Wang and Song, 2004). Experience has shown that the durability of marine concrete structuresis generally good; however, some cases of serious deterioration also exist due to the lack of durability(Metha and Gerwick, 1982). Under marine conditions, concrete, especially concrete in the splashand tidal zone, is attacked, resulting in corrosion of reinforcing bars. Corrosion of rein…     

Recovery of the seabed following marine aggregate dredging on the Hastings Shingle Bank off the southeast coast of England

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dredging intensity on the physical and biological recovery times of the seabed following marine aggregate dredging. Two areas of seabed, previously subject to, respectively, relatively high and lower levels of dredging intensity, were identified on the Hastings Shingle Bank. Two reference areas were also selected for comparative purposes. All four sites were monitored annually over the period 2001–2004, using a combination of acoustic, video and grab sampling techniques. Since the site was last dredged in 1996, this was intended to provide a sequence of data 5–8 years after cessation of dredging. However, an unexpected resumption of dredging within the high intensity site, during 2002 and 2003, allowed an additional assessment of the immediate effects and aftermath of renewed dredging at the seabed. The early stages of recovery could then be assessed after dredging ceased in 2003. Results from both dredged sites provide a useful insight into the early and latter stages of physical and biological recovery. A comparison of recent and historic dredge track features provided evidence of track erosion. However, tracks were still visible 8 years after the cessation of dredging. Within the high dredging intensity site, recolonisation was relatively rapid after the cessation of dredging in 2003. Rather than indicating a full recovery, we suggest that this initial ‘colonization community’ may enter a transition phase before eventually reaching equilibrium. This hypothesis is supported by results from the low intensity site, where biological recovery was judged to have taken 7 years. Further monitoring is needed in order to test this. An alternative explanation is that the rapid recovery may be explained by the settlement of large numbers of Sabellaria spinulosa. As the resumption of dredging within the high intensity site limited our assessment of longer-term recovery it is not yet possible to assume that a 7-year biological recovery period will be applicable to other, more intensively dredged areas at this or more distant locations.     

Finite Element Method for Design of Reinforced Concrete Offshore Platforms

A design method of reinforced concrete (R. C.) offshore platforms with nonlinear finite element analysis is proposed. According to the method, a computer program is developed. In this program nonlinear constitutive relationships and strength criteria of concrete and steel bars are included, and the progressive cracking and crushing of the concrete are taken into account. Based on the stress distribution obtained by the nonlinear finite element analysis, the amount of reinforcement in the control sections can be computed and adjusted automatically by the program to satisfy the requirement of the design. The amount of reinforcement required in the control sections, which are obtained with the nonlinear finite element analysis, is agreeable to that obtained in the experiment. This shows that the design method of R. C. offshore platform with the nonlinear finite element method proposed by the authors is reliable for practical use.     

Factors affecting corrosion and approaches for improving durability of ocean reinforced concrete structures

Investigation shows that concrete corrosion is a common problem for ocean reinforced concrete (R.C.) structures along China’s coast. A discussion of the corrosion characteristics, based on real project cases and field surveys, is presented in this paper. These factors that might affect corrosion, such as environmental effects, construction quality, cover thickness, property of the concrete material and structure type, are evaluated. Based on the analysis of these corrosion characteristics and affecting factors, the approaches available to improve the durability of ocean R.C. structures are proposed.     

基于剩余强度衰减的混凝土疲劳寿命估算方法

从疲劳过程中材料静载强度不断退化的本质出发，提出一个混凝土剩余强度衰减模型，模型的参数可简单地由试验S—N曲线确定。将模型应用于复杂多级疲劳荷载作用下的混凝土剩余疲劳寿命估算时，可以得到令人满意的结果。     

Failure and size effect for notched and unnotched concrete beams

Modelling failure in geomaterials, concrete or other quasi‐brittle materials and proper accounting for size effect, geometry and boundary effects are still pending issues. Regularised failure models are capable of describing size effect on specimens with a specific geometry, but extrapolations to other geometries are rare, mostly because experimental data presenting size effect for different geometries and for the same material are lacking. Three‐point bending fracture tests of geometrically similar notched and unnotched specimens are presented. The experimental results are compared with numerical simulations performed with an integral‐type non‐local model. Comparisons illustrate the shortcomings of this classical formulation, which fails to describe size effect over the investigated range of geometries and sizes. Finally, experimental results are also compared with the universal size effect law. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical modeling of the elastoplastic damage behavior of dry and saturated concrete targets subjected to rigid projectile penetration

The objective of the present paper is to present a numerical study on the penetration performance of concrete targets with 2 different water contents. Numerical analysis has been performed by using the finite element code Abaqus/Explicit, in which a coupled elastoplastic damage model has been developed for saturated/unsaturated concrete under a wide range of confining pressures. The performance of proposed model has been firstly verified by simulating the triaxial compression tests and penetration tests realized with saturated/dry concretes. Comparisons of available experimental results and numerical simulations show that the proposed model is able to reproduce satisfactorily the mechanical behavior of saturated and dry concretes. A higher failure stress and a more important pores closing are generally obtained in dry concrete samples with respect to saturated ones. Furthermore, the main observed patterns of penetration test realized with saturated concrete targets are also satisfactorily simulated by the numerical results. Therefore, the proposed model is used to numerically predict the penetration performance of dry concrete target, and the penetration performance of dry/saturated concrete target is discussed. We observe that in dry concrete target, the penetration of projectile is strongly declined, and a smaller damage zone is created. The numerical predictions and discussions can help engineers to enhance their understandings on the influence of hydraulic conditions on structural vulnerability of concrete structures subjected to near‐field detonations or impacts.     

Sensitivity analysis applied to finite element method model for coupled multiphase system

Today multiphysics problems applied to various fields of engineering have become increasingly important. Among these, in the areas of civil, environmental and nuclear engineering, the problems related to the behaviour of porous media under extreme conditions in terms of temperature and/or pressure are particularly relevant. The mathematical models used to solve these problems have an increasing complexity leading to increase of computing times. This problem can be solved by using more effective numerical algorithms, or by trying to reduce the complexity of these models. This can be achieved by using a sensitivity analysis to determine the influence of model parameters on the solution. In this paper, the sensitivity analysis of a mathematical/numerical model for the analysis of concrete as multiphase porous medium exposed to high temperatures is presented. This may lead to a reduction of the number of the model parameters, indicating what parameters should be determined in an accurate way and what can be neglected or found directly from the literature. Moreover, the identification parameters influence may allow to proceeding to a simplification of the mathematical model (i.e. model reduction). The technique adopted in this paper to performing the sensitivity analysis is based on the automatic differentiation (AD), which allowed to develop an efficient tool for the computation of the sensitivity coefficients. The results of the application of AD technique have been compared with the results of the more standard finite difference method, showing the superiority of the AD in terms of numerical accuracy and execution times. From the results of the sensitivity analysis, it follows that a drastic simplification of the model for thermo‐chemo‐hygro‐mechanical behaviour of concrete at high temperature, is not possible. Therefore, it is necessary to use different model reduction techniques in order to obtain a simplified version of the model that can be used at industrial level. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A note on the generation of periodic granular microstructures based on grain size distributions

This short communication discusses an algorithm suited for the generation of periodic microstructures of granular media. Its particular features are a user‐defined grain size distribution, a representative volume element which is intrinsically periodic ab initio and a user‐defined termination criterion, controlled by an increase of volume fraction. For low densities our particle packings resemble fluids or gases, while we aim to reach for rather dense particle packings, similar to granular solids. The generated microstructures can thus be readily incorporated into large multiscale simulations, e.g. on the integration point level of a finite element analysis of a particular sand or concrete. The individual grain size distribution of the granular medium is incorporated through the introduction of different growth rates governing the final particle size distribution. We briefly sketch the generation of the representative volume element within a serial event‐driven scheme and demonstrate how periodic boundary conditions are ensured throughout the representative volume element generation process. The potential of the suggested algorithm will be illustrated through the generation of two different periodic multi‐disperse microstructures. They are based on different given grain size distributions, one for a quartz sand with a low non‐uniformity index and one for concrete aggregates classified as A32 by the German standard norm DIN 1045 to have a rather large variation in grain size. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A J2‐plasticity model based on bounding surface concept

This article presents the development of a J₂ small strain plasticity model based on bounding surface concept, along with numerical examples to demonstrate model behaviors and identification of model parameter using laboratory test data. The model is motivated by the need for simulating permanent deformation accumulation of asphalt concrete mixtures, which leads to rutting in flexible pavements under repeated traffic loading. The proposed model accounts for the observation that rutting is mostly caused by shearing and takes advantage of the fact that bounding surface concept allows for the progressive accumulation of plastic deformation under constant amplitude loading condition. Analytical solutions are given for typical laboratory testing conditions. The model can be calibrated using repeated simple shear test data that are typically available for asphalt concrete mixtures. It is shown that the model is easy to use and provides a promising alternative for modeling permanent deformation accumulation in materials subjected to repetitive (cyclic) loading. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.