February  2009  

Dynamic response of reinforced concrete rectangular bunkers under earthquake force

Indrajit Chowdhury

Bunkers and silos plays an important role in storing granular materials in various industries, like power plants, steel pants, oil and gas fields etc. For earthquake analysis of such bunkers, the bunker and its contents are usually considered as a lumped mass on which the earthquake force acts and the inertial forces so generated are transferred to the supporting frame. No methodology exists to determine the dynamic pressure induced on the wall due to the stored material which gets excited at higher mode. In zone prone to moderate and strong earthquake this force could induce significant effect on the bunker wall. Present paper proposes a method, based on which one can estimate such dynamic pressure that could generate on the bunker walls and arrive at a more realistic design.



















Adjustments simplified in mix design of concrete - A case study with variability of aggregates

Krishan Juneja

When the properties of the actual available aggregates at site turn out to be different from those assumed in the mix design, the original proportioning may yield an uneconomical product. In such cases, instead of redesigning, each time such differences crop up, it is possible to achieve an economical and practical design, either by the actual values of aggregate properties such as surface area, fineness modulus and void content of the components or by concept of equivalent mortar volumes to yield satisfactory concrete properties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finite element analysis of prestressed concrete beams considering realistic cable profile and friction

Saleem Akhtar, K.K.Pathak and S.S. Bhadauria

Prestressed concrete is one of the most important engineering materials, which is effectively used for tension as well as compression loading. Because of the complex nature of interaction between cable and concrete, accurate analysis of stresses in prestressed concrete structures is a challenge. The two important issues in stress analysis are realistic cable modeling and consideration of friction. In this study an innovative approach has been developed to address these issues. Cable profile is modeled as B-spline curve. A plane stress Finite Element software has been developed. Using the software various validation and new problems are successfully analysed.