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The Use of Fibers in the Field of Structural and Earthquake Engineering: Experimental Measurements and Numerical Simulations

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A special issue of Fibers (ISSN 2079-6439).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 13336

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Konstantinos Katakalos

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Guest Editor

Laboratory for Strength of Materials & Structures, Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University Campus, Egnatia Street, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: experimental studies; biomechanical properties; finite element simulations; dynamic loadings; smart materials; structural engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. George C. Manos

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Co-Guest Editor

Department of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54006 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: earthquake engineering; structural dynamics; experimental methods and numerical simulations of structural systems; earthquake performance of existing structures and earthquake retrofitting; earthquake behavior of cultural heritage structures; earthquake behavior of industrial facilities

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The use of fibers in new materials for civil engineering applications has seen a substantial increase in the last few years. There is a great demand for applying innovative materials (composite materials, composite mortars, smart concrete, etc.) for extending the life of existing structures by either repairing or strengthening them, or for giving specific solutions to the extreme demands on new structures. The manuscripts submitted for this Special Issue could combine numerical simulations of various problems in the field of Structural and Earthquake Engineering with relevant experimental studies through laboratory or in situ measurements. Particular applications may include dynamic and earthquake response of structures and components or influences arising from seismic retrofitting towards upgrading the dynamic and earthquake performance of structures and components. Fields of application include a variety of either modern or existing structures or cultural heritage structures constructed with a variety of materials including steel, reinforced concrete, masonry, etc.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

Inorganic fiber matrices;
Composite materials;
Innovative fiber materials;
Fiber nanocoatings and nanocomposites;
Strengthening of structures;
Strengthening of cultural heritage structures;
Dynamic response of structures using new materials;
Future perspectives for composites in structural engineering.

Dr. Konstantinos Katakalos
Prof. Dr. George C. Manos
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. Fibers is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2000 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

fiber materials
composite materials
nanofibers
nanocomposites
structural engineering
strengthening of structures

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 4586 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Flexural Behavior of Pultruded GFRP–Concrete Composite Beams Strengthened with GFRP Stiffeners

by Muataz I. Ali, Abbas A. Allawi and Ayman El-Zohairy

Fibers 2024, 12(1), 7; https://doi.org/10.3390/fib12010007 - 9 Jan 2024

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1861

Abstract

The utilization and incorporation of glass fiber-reinforced plastics (GFRP) in structural applications and architectural constructions are progressively gaining prominence. Therefore, this paper experimentally and numerically investigates the use of GFRP I-beams in conjunction with concrete slabs to form composite beams. The experimental design incorporated 2600 mm long GFRP I-beams which were connected compositely to concrete slabs with a 500 mm width and 80 mm thickness. The concrete slabs are categorized into two groups: concrete slabs cast using normal-strength concrete (NSC), and concrete slabs prepared using high-strength concrete (HSC). Various parameters like the type of concrete (normal and high-strength concrete), type of stiffeners bonded to the composite section (bolt–epoxy or bolt only), and inclusion of corrugated metal sheets were investigated. To obtain the full shear connection between the GFRP I-sections and concrete slabs, two rows of shear connectors in the form of bolts were utilized. These shear connectors were erected to the top flange of the GFRP I-sections to compositely connect between the GFRP I-beams and the concrete slabs as well as the corrugated metal sheets. The strengthening of the shear webs of GFRP I-beams with GFRP T-section stiffeners resulted in an enhancement in the flexural and shear strength. The failure loads in the case of the bolt–epoxy connection for the stiffeners were 8.2% and 10.0% higher than those in the case of bolt only when the concrete compressive strengths were 20.1 MPa and 52.3 MPa, respectively. Moreover, the effect of the concrete compressive strength was vital where the failure loads increased by 79.9% and 77.1% when HSC was used instead of NSC for the cases of bolt–epoxy and bolt only, respectively. The epoxy adhesive used in conjunction with mechanical connectors, specifically bolts, resulted in sufficient composite action and delayed shear failure within the web of the GFRP beam. For the specimens with bolt–epoxy connection, strain levels in the concrete slabs were consistently higher than in the other specimens with bolts alone at the same loading level. The concrete slabs integrated with HSC registered strain levels that were 20.0% and 21.8% greater for bolt–epoxy and bolt-only connections, respectively, when compared to those using normal-strength concrete (NSC). This discrepancy can likely be credited to the enhanced composite interaction between the concrete slabs and the GFRP I-beams. In addition, ABAQUS software (version 6.2) was used to develop FE models to analyze the tested composite beams and provide a parametric study using the verified models. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Use of Fibers in the Field of Structural and Earthquake Engineering: Experimental Measurements and Numerical Simulations)

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20 pages, 20500 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mechanical Performance of Cementitious Materials Reinforced with Polyethylene Fibers and Carbon Nanotubes

by Rashad R. AlAraj, Adil K. Tamimi, Noha M. Hassan and Kazi Parvez Fattah

Fibers 2024, 12(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.3390/fib12010001 - 20 Dec 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1894

Abstract

The cracking of cementitious materials due to their quasi-brittle behavior is a major concern leading to a loss in strength and durability. To limit crack growth, researchers have incorporated microfibers in concrete mixes. The objective of this study is to determine if nano-reinforcements can arrest cracks and enhance the material performance in comparison to microfibers. A total of 28 specimens were prepared to investigate and compare the effects of incorporating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a nano-reinforcement and polyethylene (PE) fibers at a macro-level and their combination. Compressive and flexural strengths were experimentally tested to assess the mechanical performance. The microstructure of the mortar samples was also examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The ductility increased by almost 50% upon the addition of CNTs, while no significant enhancement was witnessed for the compressive strength. The flexural strength increased by 169% and the flexural strain by 389% through the addition of the combination of CNTs and PE fibers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Use of Fibers in the Field of Structural and Earthquake Engineering: Experimental Measurements and Numerical Simulations)

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13 pages, 8705 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Bending Behavior Analysis of Box Beams with the Reinforcement of Composite Materials for Wind Turbine Blades

by Ofelia Maldonado-Santiago, Jose Billerman Robles-Ocampo, Eduardo Gálvez, Perla Yazmin Sevilla-Camacho, Sergio de la Cruz, Juvenal Rodríguez-Reséndiz and Edwin Hernández

Fibers 2023, 11(12), 99; https://doi.org/10.3390/fib11120099 - 22 Nov 2023

Viewed by 1850

Abstract

Wind turbine blades in excessive wind conditions present extreme deflection problems. For this reason, an analysis of the structural response of composite reinforced box beams is developed. For this purpose, reinforced box beams were fabricated to improve the bending strength in the flapwise direction of the wind turbine blades. The box beams were analyzed with three-dimensional models using the Finite Element Method (FEM) and validated with bending tests at four-points and two-points. The box beam meets the characteristics of lightness and mechanical strength. Experimental four-point bending results showed that reinforced cross-sections decrease displacements by 30.09% and increase their stiffness to 43.41% for a box beam without structural reinforcement. In addition, the two-point bending results showed a difference of 18.98% between the displacements of the beams with structural reinforcements. In the FEM analysis, a maximum error of 11.24% was obtained when correlating the maximum displacement value with the experimental results of the beams. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Use of Fibers in the Field of Structural and Earthquake Engineering: Experimental Measurements and Numerical Simulations)

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17 pages, 6398 KiB

Open AccessArticle

High-Temperature Behavior of Polyethylene-Terephthalate-Fiber-Reinforced Sand Concrete: Experimental Investigation

by Mohammed Benzerara, Yasmina Biskri, Messaoud Saidani, Fayçal Slimani and Redjem Belouettar

Fibers 2023, 11(5), 46; https://doi.org/10.3390/fib11050046 - 16 May 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2369

Abstract

At ambient temperature, concrete exhibits excellent mechanical properties. However, understanding the behavior of concrete under high-temperature conditions is crucial, especially for civil engineering applications during fire incidents. The growing use of plastic-based products has led to a significant increase in polymer waste, posing environmental challenges. The valorization of this plastic waste in the form of fibers presents both economic and environmental advantages. This study focuses on the study of the behavior of sand concrete incorporating polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibers with percentages of 1% and 2% at high temperatures (100, 300, 500 and 700 °C). Specimens are tested for residual mass loss, residual compressive and tensile strength. A complementary analysis of SEM makes it possible to confirm and better clarify the morphology of the concretes of sand before and after the rise in temperature. The results obtained from this study indicate that the residual resistance is reduced with the rise in temperature for all the concretes studied, except in the temperature range of 300 °C, in which a slight improvement in resistance is noticed. The incorporation of PET fibers in the test concretes does not enhance their residual behavior significantly. However, it does serve as an effective solution by reducing the susceptibility to spalling, by preventing cracking and by fulfilling a similar role to that of polypropylene fibers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Use of Fibers in the Field of Structural and Earthquake Engineering: Experimental Measurements and Numerical Simulations)

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24 pages, 22504 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical Study of the Performance of Existing Prestressed Cylindrical Concrete Pipes Strengthened with Reinforced Concrete or Carbon-Reinforced Fiber Polymer Jackets—Part B

by Konstantinos Katakalos, Lazaros Melidis, George Manos and Vassilios Soulis

Fibers 2022, 10(11), 93; https://doi.org/10.3390/fib10110093 - 28 Oct 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1992

Abstract

A popular water pipe system, used in many countries, is one formed by prestressed cylindrical concrete pipes (PCCP). This study used the results of an experimental investigation on ten (10) PCCP samples taken from an existing water pipeline. The objective was to investigate their bearing capacity under three-edge bending or internal hydraulic pressure loads to check the capability of specific retrofitting/strengthening schemes to upgrade this bearing capacity and thus enhance the operational period (Part A). In this part B study, the measured response of the PCCP pipes was made to validate a numerical approach aimed at numerically simulating the behavior of the original and retrofitted PCCP pipes under hydraulic internal pressure. From the obtained numerical results, it was seen that the assumed nonlinear mechanisms for the concrete volume and steel membrane were verified by comparing numerical predictions with measurements in terms of strain response of the steel membrane, damage patterns of the concrete volume, and the overall internal pressure versus radial expansion response. The numerical predictions of the bearing capacity contribution of the fully active prestress as well as the three specific jacketing schemes, including carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) or reinforced concrete (RC) jackets, were also verified from comparisons with the corresponding measured response. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Use of Fibers in the Field of Structural and Earthquake Engineering: Experimental Measurements and Numerical Simulations)

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28 pages, 9896 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental Investigation of the Structural Performance of Existing and RC or CFRP Jacket-Strengthened Prestressed Cylindrical Concrete Pipes (PCCP)—Part A

by George Manos, Konstantinos Katakalos, Vassilios Soulis, Lazaros Melidis and Vassilios Bardakis

Fibers 2022, 10(9), 71; https://doi.org/10.3390/fib10090071 - 24 Aug 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2509

Abstract

A popular water pipe system used in many countries is one formed by prestressed cylindrical concrete pipes (PCCPs) formed by identical precast moduli joined together in situ. This technology was and still is quite popular in many water supply systems internationally. This technology was mainly selected at the time due to its cost-based comparative advantage. However, over the years, numerous incidents of structural failures have been reported for this type of pipeline, causing, in some cases, serious disruption of the water supply. This study summarizes the results of an experimental investigation on ten (10) PCCP specimens taken from an existing water pipeline with the objective of investigating their bearing capacity under either three-edge bending or internal hydraulic pressure loads. Moreover, there is a need to check the capability of specific retrofitting/strengthening schemes to upgrade this bearing capacity and thus enhance the operational period. Provided that the prestressing wires are fully active according to design specifications, the original specimen performed satisfactorily for the set internal hydraulic pressure limit of 8.5 bar. Specimens retrofitted with either internal or external CFRP or RC jacketing performed satisfactorily for internal hydraulic pressure levels well above this 8.5 bar limit. A critical factor is, as expected, the loss of prestress. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Use of Fibers in the Field of Structural and Earthquake Engineering: Experimental Measurements and Numerical Simulations)

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