Access Type

Open Access Dissertation

Date of Award

January 2016

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

First Advisor

Hwai-Chung Wu

Abstract

FINITE ELEMENT MODELING OF FRP STRENGTHENED CONCRETE BEAMS

AND COLUMNS AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES

By

BASSMA I. GAWIL

October 2016

Advisor: Dr. Hwai-Chung Wu

Major: Civil and Environmental Engineering (Structural Engineering)

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Collapse of buildings or bridges is one of the worst scenarios to which built-infrastructure

may be subjected during their lifetime. In recent years, due to external environmental conditions

(temperature and humidity). Often times these effects are not immediately evident and develop

years later – making determination of responsibility difficult and repair expensive.

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) has proven efficient and economical for the development

and repair of new and deteriorating structures in civil engineering. New construction includes all

composite bridge decks or FRP bars. The mechanical properties of advanced composites (high

strength, light weight) make them ideal for widespread applications in construction worldwide.

The present investigation intends to study the effects of changing temperature on the

mechanical properties of FRPs composites and the effect of deteriorated composites on the

structural behavior of FRP bonded concrete structures when subjected to realistic environmental

conditions. The overall approach was consisting of computations using finite element models to

simulate beam or column performance using ABAQUS software. Computer simulations based on advanced methods, such as the finite element method (FEM), are reliable and effective

alternatives to structural analysis for the study of structural response and performance.

Also, temperature effect on failure loads of FRP strengthened beam and column with

adhesive material and the contact bonding are enabled in the cohesive behavior option of the

contact interaction property in this study.

In addition, the temperature effect was implemented in the ABAQUS-CAE three

dimensional extended finite element package to account for the bond strength deterioration at the

interface between concrete and FRP strengthening fabric.

In this work, ABAQUS/CAE 6.13-1 was used to simulate several test results from

previous works. The FE results were validated with the experimental performance data,

regarding failure mode and load-displacement behavior. One of the major advantages of this

software is the flexibility of implementing, revising, analyzing the model, and producing results.

Finally, conclusions and suggestions for future research are presented.

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