December  2006  

Ultimate strength of steel fibre reinforced self compacting concrete flexural elements

Ganesan N, Indira P.V and Santhosh Kumar P.T.

An attempt has been made to study the effect of steel fibres on the strength and behaviour of Self Compacting Concrete (SCC) flexural elements. Twenty beams were cast for this study out of which two were plain SCC beams without fibres. The variables in this study were aspect ratio (0, 15, 25 and 35) and percentage of volume fraction of fibres (0, 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75). First crack load and the post cracking behaviour were found to have improved significantly due to the addition of fibres. A marginal improvement in the ultimate strength was observed. The addition of fibres enhanced the ductility significantly. The optimum volume fraction of fibres for better performance in terms of strength and ductility was found to be 0.5 percent. Experimental values of the ultimate moment were compared with various analytical models. The comparison indicate that Swami and Taan model compares better with the test results than that of the other models.



















Shear behaviour of steel fibre reinforced concrete beams with low shear span to depth ratios

N. Lakshmanan, T.S. Krishnamoorthy, K. Balasubramanian, B.H. Bharathkumar, and S. Gopalakrishnan

It is well established that reinforced concrete (RC) beams without web reinforcement fail suddenly and even in the case of the beams provided with stirrups, there is a sudden reduction in load carrying capacity beyond the peak load. Studies in the recent past indicate that the use of steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) in beams appears attractive due to the enhancement of tensile strength, first crack strength and ultimate strength. This paper presents the results of the experimental investigations conducted on SFRC beams with web reinforcement to evaluate the shear strength and development of an analytical model to predict the shear strength of the test beams. It is seen that the shear carried by concrete is far more in SFRC beams and hence sufficient anchorage for longitudinal steel has to be provided. Care should be taken while giving cutting lengths schedule to ensure necessary anchorage. A good agreement between the experimental and theoretical shear capacities of steel fibre reinforced concrete beams with a shear span to depth ratio of 2.0, suggests the validity of the above mathematical modeling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ultimate flexural strength of reinforced concrete circular hollow sections

Durgesh C. Rai, Kamlesh Kumar and Hemant B. Kaushik

Reinforced concrete circular hollow sections are chiefly used in shaft type staging for supporting overhead water tanks, other tower structures and chimneys. As per current Indian practice such sections are designed using working stress approach, which neither explicitly ensures safety against collapse nor results in economic design. Further, it is necessary that these structures are checked for the ultimate-load conditions in view of large tensile stresses caused by horizontal loads due to earthquake and strong wind conditions, which is also stipulated in IS 456 : 2000. The analysis for ultimate flexural strength involves selecting a position of neutral axis in terms of an angle and calculating the ultimate axial force and ultimate bending moment resisted by the resulting stress envelope of steel and concrete, for which IS 456 : 2000 recommended material models for limit state design method is used. Closed-form expressions are presented for generating envelopes of ultimate flexural resistance in terms of axial force and bending moment interaction curve. For some commonly occurring parameters, these interaction curves are also plotted in non-dimensional form, which can be easily used for analysis and design of thin RC hollow circular sections.

 

 

 

 










Some additional stresses to be considered in the design of PSC pipes

N.G. Joshi

All the designs of prestressed concrete (PSC) pipes in India are done as per IS 784 : 2001 but certain stresses which are not harmful for small diameters and low pressures are not considered in the code. Since PSC pipes of larger diameters and higher pressures are being used, it is obligatory to check these stresses. In an endeavour to extend the diameter and pressure range without affecting durability of PSC pipes, an attempt has been made to indicate these stresses. Guidelines have been taken from 'Worksheet of German Standards' for design of PSC pipes.