Use of high-strength steel (HSS) reinforcing bars could provide constructability and economic benefits for the construction of structures, reducing the initial and ultimately the life-cycle cost of bridge and building structural elements. This thesis summarizes work performed in a research project on the use of HSS reinforcing bars for concrete...
Aging and deficient infrastructure has become a major problem throughout the world. This is particularly evident in the case of reinforced concrete (RC) bridges. The cost of replacing these bridges is often prohibitive, thus engineers must find ways to strengthen them. Many older RC bridges predate the modern understanding of...
The ability to engineer stiffness and strength in any desired direction make composites an ideal material candidate for various applications when compared to their traditional isotropic counterparts. In spite of this, the ability to model the material response in composites has yet to be fully explored. Composite research largely focuses...
The Timoshenko beam theory, as an engineering alternative to
the elementary and exact theories, introduces a factor, k', called
the shear coefficient which has been given various interpretations and
values. It is the objective of this study to experimentally evaluate
k' for a brass bar of rectangular cross-section.
Analytical results...
Whale blubber is the insular tissue layer located between the dermis and the superficial fascia layer which sheathes the whale's musculature. It is made up of a lipid matrix ramified with strong, structural collagen and elastic fiber bundles, but little is known of its mechanical properties. Knowing these properties adds...
Identifying material characteristics of composites is important in designing any
structural system. The aerospace industry relies on these material properties not only to
design a functional aircraft, but also a safe and reliable one. Since carbon fiber
composites are relatively new materials, little is known about its characteristics under
certain...
As oriented strand board (OSB) increases in use as an engineered wood product, improving the in-plane shear properties will allow more efficient use of the material as well as open up other opportunities for OSB to be used in engineered wood products with high shear stresses. Based on classical laminated...
Large numbers of 1950's vintage conventionally reinforced concrete (CRC) bridges remain in-service in the national bridge inventory. Many of these bridges are lightly reinforced for shear. Evaluation of these bridges to prevent unnecessary and costly repairs requires refined analytical techniques. This dissertation presents finite element (FE) modeling and comparisons of...
Increasing load magnitudes and loss of reinforcing steel cross-sectional area from corrosion creates the potential for low-cycle fatigue (LCF) in conventionally reinforced concrete (CRC) bridge girders lightly reinforced for shear. LCF of reinforcing steel may be of particular concern. Little data are available for LCF of reinforcing steel without stress...