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Advanced Studies on Strength and Cracking of Prestressed and Reinforced...
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Advanced Studies on Strength and Cracking of Prestressed and Reinforced Concrete Structures

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Structures".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2025 | Viewed by 14072

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Marco Bonopera

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Mechanics, Sound & Vibration Laboratory, Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Interests: behavior of reinforced prestressed concrete and steel structures; bridge engineering; engineering materials; machine learning; finite element method; structural health assessment and monitoring
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Kuo-Chun Chang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Interests: dynamic structural tests; structural mechanics; earthquake resistance design; passive structural control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Concrete is one of the most common materials in the field of structural engineering. For this reason, its mechanical behavior and, even more, that of prestressed and reinforced concrete, has been a research topic through several approaches for years. Although the literature is full of manuscripts on this argument, ranging from experiments to numerical studies, a comprehensive and precise description of strength and cracking exhibited by prestressed and reinforced concrete structures is still a challenge. This is due to many complicated and combined phenomena that are involved, such as compression crushing, tensile cracking, strain softening, stiffness degradation, interaction between concrete and reinforcement, environmental and long-term conditions of concrete, strand and reinforcement corrosion, prestressing losses and fatigue loading. Therefore, it is crucial to still accurately investigate the effect of such phenomena on the performance of concrete buildings, bridges and infrastructures.

This Special Issue aims to gather advanced contributions that feature studies on prestressed and reinforced concrete structures, including ordinary, high-strength, lightweight, fiber-reinforced and recycled concretes. It is our pleasure to invite you to submit a work and share this call for papers with your colleagues. High quality manuscripts related to (but not limited to) the following topics of strength and cracking of prestressed and reinforced concrete structures are welcome:

  • Advanced construction technologies;
  • Development of design standards;
  • Laboratory and field investigations;
  • Monitoring techniques of deterioration conditions;
  • Nondestructive testing methods;
  • Linear and nonlinear analyses of geometric and material properties;
  • Advanced discrete and finite element modeling;
  • Serviceability issues under dynamic and static loading;
  • Strengthening and repair interventions.

Dr. Marco Bonopera
Prof. Dr. Kuo-Chun Chang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • concrete
  • cracking
  • durability
  • limit-state behavior
  • mechanical strength
  • nondestructive testing
  • numerical modeling
  • prestressed structure
  • reinforced structure
  • service conditions

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 6817 KiB  
Article
Thermal Effects on Prestress Loss in Pretensioned Concrete Girders
by Qu Yu, Yongqing Yang and Yu Ren
Buildings 2024, 14(8), 2325; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14082325 - 27 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1104
Abstract
The fabrication process of pretensioned prestressed concrete (PC) girders involves temperature changes, which affect the effective prestress and mechanical properties of the girders. Currently, there is a lack of a holistic understanding and accurate calculation methods for the prestress variation due to temperature [...] Read more.
The fabrication process of pretensioned prestressed concrete (PC) girders involves temperature changes, which affect the effective prestress and mechanical properties of the girders. Currently, there is a lack of a holistic understanding and accurate calculation methods for the prestress variation due to temperature change (PVTC), leading to technical challenges in calculating effective prestress in pretensioned PC girders. This study investigates the PVTC in three stages considering the time-varying interaction between concrete and tendons, proposes a new method to consider the effect of a deviator on the PVTC of a bent tendon, conducts an experimental study to validate the theoretical analysis, and develops measures for reducing the PVTC. The results show that the presented method provides reasonable predictions of PVTC, and the PVTC of the girder with steam curing is up to 80.3 MPa. Based on the presented method, measures for reducing the PVTC are proposed. This study provides new insights into computing the PVTC and improves the design and fabrication of pretensioned PC girders. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Studies on Strength and Cracking of Prestressed and Reinforced Concrete Structures)
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21 pages, 7579 KiB  
Article
Effect of Recycled Concrete Aggregates on the Concrete Breakout Resistance of Headed Bars Embedded in Slender Structural Elements
by Maurício de Pina Ferreira, Karoline Dantas dos Santos, Manoel José Mangabeira Pereira Filho and Luciana de Nazaré Pinheiro Cordeiro
Buildings 2024, 14(7), 2102; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14072102 - 9 Jul 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1004
Abstract
Recycled concrete aggregates are potentially interesting for the precast concrete industry as they provide a new use for high-quality waste from its products’ life cycle. In precast concrete structures, it is common to use headed bars in several connection types between structural members. [...] Read more.
Recycled concrete aggregates are potentially interesting for the precast concrete industry as they provide a new use for high-quality waste from its products’ life cycle. In precast concrete structures, it is common to use headed bars in several connection types between structural members. This paper presents the results of experimental tests to investigate the impact of replacing coarse natural aggregates with coarse recycled concrete aggregates in the concrete breakout strength of cast-in headed bars embedded in slender structural elements. Results of 12 tests on 16 mm headed bars embedded in 500 × 200 × 900 mm concrete members with an effective embedment depth of 110 mm are presented. The percentage of replacement of natural aggregates by recycled concrete aggregates was 0%, 30%, and 100%, and the flexural reinforcement ratio of the structural elements varied from 0.5% to 3.5%. The behavior and strength of the tested specimens are discussed, and comparisons with theoretical strength estimates are presented. The results showed that the concrete breakout strength of the headed bars was not affected by the use of recycled concrete aggregates and that the flexural reinforcement ratio significantly impacts the load-carrying capacity of the headed bars as they control the crack widths before failure. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Studies on Strength and Cracking of Prestressed and Reinforced Concrete Structures)
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20 pages, 6631 KiB  
Article
Flexural Performances of Novel Wet Joints with Sleeve Connections in Precast Composite Floor System
by Wenbin Zhang, Yan Feng, Xiangqiang Zeng, Ming Xu, Liang Gong and Lijun Rui
Buildings 2024, 14(3), 822; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14030822 - 18 Mar 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1292
Abstract
A new type of assembled integral multi-ribbed composite floor system with novel wet joint and steel sleeve connections, which exhibits satisfactory strength and stiffness, was proposed in the previous study. To further study the flexural performances of the joints, six groups of specimens, [...] Read more.
A new type of assembled integral multi-ribbed composite floor system with novel wet joint and steel sleeve connections, which exhibits satisfactory strength and stiffness, was proposed in the previous study. To further study the flexural performances of the joints, six groups of specimens, including two cast in situ concrete slabs and four composite slabs sized 4700 mm × 1200 mm × 300 mm and 2450 mm × 1200 mm × 300 mm, were investigated under four-point flexural tests. Four main influence factors were experimentally studied, i.e., casting methods, joint amounts, shear span lengths, and steel sleeve layout directions, on the failure modes, crack distributions, and deflection–load carrying capacity relationship. Test results indicated that the proposed composite slab system could provide the ultimate bearing capacity lower by 7% than that of the cast in situ concrete slabs, largely exceeding the code-predicted strength. No strain difference between the steel sleeve connections and steel rebars indicated good wet joint connection behavior. More hollow-core sections and long shear spans increased the potential of interfacial splitting cracks, leading to a shorter elastic stage and lower elastic stiffness. A finite element model was further parametrically conducted to explore the structural performances. Finite element results also indicate that the precast concrete slab had a more significant influence on the failure loads than the influences of concrete compressive strength and lap-splice steel rebar strength. These findings indicate that the proposed composite slab systems possess a satisfactory performance in the ultimate bearing capacity and deformability. Thus, such an assembled integral multi-ribbed composite floor system can be widely applied in construction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Studies on Strength and Cracking of Prestressed and Reinforced Concrete Structures)
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27 pages, 12310 KiB  
Article
Flexural Stiffness and Crack Width of Partially Prestressed Beams with Unbonded Tendons
by Bernardo T. Terán-Torres, Adolfo A. Elías-Chávez, Pedro L. Valdez-Tamez, Jose A. Rodríguez-Rodríguez and César A. Juárez-Alvarado
Buildings 2023, 13(11), 2717; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13112717 - 28 Oct 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1301
Abstract
The original concept of “Total Prestress” consists of creating compressions in concrete without generating tension stresses for service load, while in "Partially Prestressed” elements, tensions are allowed in the service stage, which would produce some cracking depending on applied loads that will be [...] Read more.
The original concept of “Total Prestress” consists of creating compressions in concrete without generating tension stresses for service load, while in "Partially Prestressed” elements, tensions are allowed in the service stage, which would produce some cracking depending on applied loads that will be taken with non-prestressed reinforcement. Using criteria and design recommendations can guarantee maximum flexural capacity and admissible serviceability requirements of partially prestressed elements; however, there is insufficient research for estimating more accurately the required parameters for the design and review of these types of elements. Because of this, the present investigation consisted in the realization of experimental studies in continuous partially prestressed beams with unbonded tendons for the evaluation of the flexural behavior for different stages of load determining the actual stresses and the strains taking into account the structural stiffness decrease and its effect on deflections. The dimensions of the specimens were selected based on common dimensions presented on slabs. The tested specimens considered variables such as the relationship between the length of the continuous spans, the cross-section, and the partial prestressing ratio. Afterward, equations were proposed to predict the decrease in the structural stiffness, depending on the degree of cracking, the type of cross-section, the partial prestressing ratio, and the magnitude of the applied load and the tension and compression stresses to estimate the probable deflections for a particular loading stage. The crack width equation presented a difference of −16% to +18% with respect to the experimental data, while the flexural stiffness equation showed a highly accurate correlation to the experimental data. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Studies on Strength and Cracking of Prestressed and Reinforced Concrete Structures)
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18 pages, 6729 KiB  
Article
Numerical Assessment on Continuous Reinforced Normal-Strength Concrete and High-Strength Concrete Beams
by Sensen Shi, Miao Pang and Tiejiong Lou
Buildings 2023, 13(5), 1157; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13051157 - 27 Apr 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1780
Abstract
High-strength concrete (HSC) has been broadly applied to various civil structures for its advantages including high compressive strength and excellent durability and creep resistance. However, the brittleness of HSC raises concern about its use in practice. So far study on continuous reinforced HSC [...] Read more.
High-strength concrete (HSC) has been broadly applied to various civil structures for its advantages including high compressive strength and excellent durability and creep resistance. However, the brittleness of HSC raises concern about its use in practice. So far study on continuous reinforced HSC beams is limited. This work investigates the structural response of reinforced HSC continuous beams, and the results are compared with those of the counterparts made of normal-strength concrete (NSC). By applying a finite element method verified by experimental data, a comprehensive assessment is performed on two-span reinforced NSC and HSC (compressive strengths of 30, 60 and 90 MPa) continuous beams. A wide range of flexural reinforcement ratios are used to cover both under-reinforced and over-reinforced beams. The results show that reinforced HSC beams exhibit better flexural performance in terms of ultimate load, deformation, flexural ductility and moment redistribution, when compared to reinforced NSC beams. Formulae relating flexural ductility and moment redistribution with either neutral axis depth or tensile steel strain are suggested. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Studies on Strength and Cracking of Prestressed and Reinforced Concrete Structures)
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22 pages, 5463 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Web Shear Design Procedures for Precast Prestressed Hollow Core Slabs
by Ahmed K. El-Sayed, Abdulaziz I. Al-Negheimish, Abdulrahman M. Alhozaimy and Mohammed A. Al-Saawani
Buildings 2023, 13(1), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13010023 - 22 Dec 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2588
Abstract
Precast, prestressed hollow core slabs (HCS) are commonly used by the construction industry for floor and roof systems worldwide. Generally, the web shear strength governs the shear design of such members. This is because the web width resisting shear stresses is relatively small [...] Read more.
Precast, prestressed hollow core slabs (HCS) are commonly used by the construction industry for floor and roof systems worldwide. Generally, the web shear strength governs the shear design of such members. This is because the web width resisting shear stresses is relatively small and the prestressing force at the bottom of the slabs restrains flexural cracking. Although most of the available design codes follow Mohr’s circle of stress for estimating the web shear cracking capacity of HCS, they produce different and scattered predictions. This paper gives more insight into the web shear design provisions of prestressed HCS in five of the available design codes. These codes include ACI 318, Eurocode 2, European standard EN 1168, CSA-A23.3, and AASHTO LRFD design specifications. A set of 229 data points was established from experimental investigations available in the literature on prestressed HCS that failed in the web shear. The dataset was used for evaluating the web shear design methods in the five codes. The results of the analysis indicated that both the simplified method of AASHTO and the ACI 318-19 method produced very conservative predictions. In contrast, the Eurocode 2 method produced unconservative predictions for most of the specimens in the dataset, whereas the ACI 318-05 method gave unconservative predictions for deeper sections. On the other hand, reasonable predictions were obtained by the EN 1168 method while the CSA-A23.3 method provided better predictions. Proposed modifications were presented for improving the predictions of the ACI 318, Eurocode 2, and EN 1168 web shear design methods for prestressed HCS. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Studies on Strength and Cracking of Prestressed and Reinforced Concrete Structures)
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16 pages, 5812 KiB  
Article
Numerical Assessment on Bonded and Unbonded Prestressed Concrete Beams
by Miao Pang, Xing Liu, Yi Dong and Tiejiong Lou
Buildings 2022, 12(10), 1658; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12101658 - 11 Oct 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2873
Abstract
The tendon stress in bonded prestressed concrete (BPC) beams is section-dependent while it is member-dependent in unbonded prestressed concrete (UPC) beams, leading to marked difference between these two structural systems. However, little work has addressed the bond effect of steel tendons. This research [...] Read more.
The tendon stress in bonded prestressed concrete (BPC) beams is section-dependent while it is member-dependent in unbonded prestressed concrete (UPC) beams, leading to marked difference between these two structural systems. However, little work has addressed the bond effect of steel tendons. This research presents comparative investigations of BPC and UPC beams with various prestress levels. A numerical model is experimentally validated. Numerical assessments are conducted for simply supported and continuous scenarios, focusing on the effects of bond condition and prestress level. The results show that BPC beams exhibit better crack pattern (i.e., smaller crack width with larger crack zone) than UPC beams. The difference in ultimate loads or deflections between BPC and UPC beams depends heavily on the prestress level (the values of UPC beams are around 64% and 94% of those of BPC beams at prestress levels of 25% and 75%, respectively). Unbonded tendons produce greater moment redistribution in continuous scenarios than bonded tendons. It is also shown that the ACI code cannot well describe the bond impact of steel tendons on moment redistribution in continuous scenarios. A modified ACI equation is proposed, which can predict accurately the moment redistribution in both BPC and UPC beams. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Studies on Strength and Cracking of Prestressed and Reinforced Concrete Structures)
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