Reinforced concrete structures

Reinforced concrete beams can experience local low concrete strength under certain conditions, for example, poor construction practices can cause problems such as concrete voids, surface cavities, block cracking, surface sinks and create areas of low concrete strength. This study presents the response of flexural hinge-supported reinforced concrete beams with different local areas of low concrete strength along the span. Modified models are adopted to describe the concrete properties and an ideal elastic-plastic model is adopted for the steel properties. The beam was divided into three main parts: one sensitive to bending moment, the second sensitive to shear, and the third sensitive to bond. The variables included two types of concrete strength and one reinforcement diameter. The results show that the most critical region with low concrete strength along the span of the beam is the confluence zone near the supports, which is reflected in the ductility of the load-deflection curves. A new generalized empirical model is developed to predict the effect of bearing capacity reduction from local low-strength concrete.

Existing composite floor design approaches require technical data on strength and ductility of shear connectors, which can be defined only by shear tests. The article discusses the failure modes of composite floor shear connection, made of powder-actuated shear connectors. The influence assessment of the main detailing parameters on the strength and deformability of shear connectors was executed.  The database for analysis included the results of shear tests performed by both the authors and other researchers. According to the results of the study, the dependence of the strength and deformability of shear connectors on their height, orientation relative to the shear force vector, the strength of the concrete slab and the geometric parameters of the profiled flooring was estimated.

There are a large number of works on a comprehensive assessment of the seismic resistance of buildings and structures. However, these studies, as a rule, do not take into account the random nature of the seismic impact, which is a pronounced non-stationary random process. An adequate assessment of the seismic resistance of buildings and structures is possible only on the basis of methods that allow taking into account the large variability of seismic impact parameters. The article presents a probabilistic method for calculating multi-storey reinforced concrete buildings designed in seismic regions, taking into account the interaction of a building with a non-linearly deformable foundation. The developed technique makes it possible to provide the required level of seismic resistance for the designed buildings based on the non-collapse criterion. As an ex-ample, the calculation of a multi-storey reinforced concrete building is considered. External seismic action is represented as a non-stationary random process. The external seismic action is considered as a non-stationary random process, which is obtained by multiplying the stationary random process by a deterministic envelope function. The parameters necessary for constructing the envelope and the stationary random process were obtained from the results of processing the available database of intense earthquakes. The stationary random process was generated by the shaping filter method. The impact parameters are based on the results of processing the available database of intense earthquakes. When modeling reinforced concrete structures, a concrete model is used with the function of damage accumulation under cyclic loads, as well as taking into ac-count the degradation of the strength and stiffness of the material during an intense earthquake. Accounting for the interaction of the building with the soil base is implemented using the SSI interface (Soil Structure Interaction). To prevent the influence of waves reflected from the boundaries of a limited ground massif, a PML layer (Perfectly Matched Layer) is used. The calculation was carried out using explicit methods for integrating the equations of motion on a computing cluster using parallel computing technology. The presented technique makes it possible to investigate the nature of the destruction of reinforced concrete structures during intense earthquakes and to identify zones with a deficiency in bearing capacity. The proposed probabilistic approach to modeling seismic impact as an implementation of a non-stationary random process with given parameters, together with taking into account the nonlinear deformation of the reinforced concrete structures of the building and foundation, allows you to control the level of reliability and design buildings with a given seismic resistance.

The stress-strain state of precast monolithic reinforced concrete shells from enlarged elements taking into account the installation conditions. The results of experimental-theoretical studies of precast monolithic reinforced concrete shells of complex geometry assembled from enlarged elements are given. The studies were carried out on full-scale composite shells 48x48 m and diameter 96m, its enlarged elements 3x18m and 3x24m as well as on the shell model on a scale of 1:10 and 1: 4. The stress-strain state of shells of a similar type was studied with different mounting and splitting designs. Recommendations are given on rational methods for the construction of shells from enlarged elements for public buildings.