ABSTRACT
Recently, the demand for strengthening and rehabilitation of existing RC structures has increased due to the corrosion of internal steel reinforcement, variations in temperature, and increasing loading. As a result, several experimental studies have been performed to investigate the structural behaviour of strengthening RC beams with CFRP sheets, but few for GPC beams; therefore, this investigation focuses on the behaviour of strengthening GPC beams with CFRP sheets. In this experimental work, a set of ten specimen beams with the same cross section of 100 × 250 mm and 850 mm length with a 750 mm clear span were cast in two groups of five beams each. First group (flexural group) to study the flexural behavior, and the second one for the shear behaviour (shear group). In each group, the first beam was carried out as an RC control beam and the second as a GPC control beam without strengthening, while the other three beams were cast as GPC beams and strengthened with various schemes of CFRP sheets. All specimens were tested up to failure under two-sided static loading (four-point bending). The first cracking, yielding, and ultimate failure loads, the deflection values at midspan, the longitudinal bar strain, and the concrete strain were recorded for all tested specimens. The experimental results indicated that the Flextural Strengthening of GPC with CFRP sheet increased the First Cracking, yield and ultimate load capacity by 25.33%, 15.3% and 15% respectively, as well as, deflection was decreased by 16% on average while ductility and toughness have improved by 10% and 12% on average compared to R.C Beam.On the other side, the Shear Strengthening of GPC with CFRP strips increased the First Cracking, yield and ultimate load by 43%, 70% and 68% respectively, as well as, shear ductility has improved by 8% on average compared to R.C Beam. Overall, the different schemes of externally bound CFRP sheets have improved the flexural and shear behaviour of GPC beams.
ABSTRACT
The article aims to investigate the effect of different austenitization temperatures on the hot ductility of C-Mn-Al High-Strength Low-Alloy (HSLA) steel. The thermo-mechanical simulator of physical processes Gleeble 1500D was used for steel hot ductility study. Hot ductility was estimated by measuring the reduction of area after static tensile testing carried out at temperatures in the range 600 °C to 1200 °C with the step of 50 °C. Evaluation of fracture surfaces after austenitization at 1250 °C and 1350 °C with a holding time of the 30 s showed significant differences in the character of the fracture as well as in the ductility. The fracture surfaces and the microstructure near the fracture surfaces of samples at a test temperature of 1000 °C for both austenitization temperatures were analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Light Optical Microscopy (LOM), and AZtec Feature analysis (particle analysis of SEM). AlN and AlN-MnS precipitates at grain boundaries detected by the detailed metallographic analysis were identified as the main causes of plasticity trough in the evaluated steel. Moreover, using Thermo-Calc software, it was found that AlN particles precipitate from solid solution below the temperature of 1425 °C.
