This paper presents the numerical study to simulate the flexural behavior of normal strength, high strength and hybrid reinforced concrete beams, under two points load with two different reinforcement ratio. The hybrid beam consists of two layers: the compressive layer is made of high strength concrete, and the tension layer is made of normal strength concrete. The simulation was done with a finite element model using the commercial finite element code, ANSYS (v.9.0). The concrete component material is modeled, the internal steel reinforcement modeled using ''LINK'' elements. The modeled behavior shown a good agreement with the experimental data. The maximum percentage difference in ultimate load-carrying capacity is 8% at the ultimate load level.Analytical study also included the effect of increasing the depth of the normal strength concrete for the hybrid reinforced concrete beam and the effect of increasing the compressive strength for high strength concrete and normal strength concrete respectively on the behavior and the load carrying capacity of the hybrid reinforced concrete beams.
In this study, eight rectangular reinforced concrete beams strengthened by bottom steel plates firmly interconnected to them by headed-stud shear connectors are manufactured using self compacting concrete and tested up to failure under two point loads to demonstrate the effect of steel-plate thicknesses, lengths, and the shear-connector distributions on the behavior, ductility and strength of this type of beams. A trial mix conforming to the EFNARC Constraints had been successfully carried out to satisfy the three fresh tests of SCC, these tests are flowability, passing ability and segregation resistance. The results show that there is a substantial improvement in the flexural resistance, increasing the flexural stiffness and decreasing the ductility ratio due to thickening steel plate, On contrary, increasing the spacing between shear connectors to 50% had slight effect on the flexural resistance, but subsequent increase of their spacing to 100% had seriously lowered that resistance, The spacing between shear connectors has a primary effect on the average flexural stiffness and ductility ratio. In regard to the steel plate length, its shortening has reduced the flexural resistance significantly, decreased the average flexural stiffness and had increased the ductility ratio. The experimentally determined ultimate flexural strength had been compared with its corresponding one computed by the "Strength Method" using ACI requirements where high agreement gained between them due to the nearly perfect interaction provided by SCC. The eight composite beams had also been analyzed by the non-linear three dimensional Finite Element Analysis employing ANSYS program (release 12.1),where high agreement is achieved compared with experimental results.
The finite element method capable of simulating the behavior of deep foundations subjected to negative skin friction in Basrah soil is investigated. Single piles under drag forces are analyzed using the PLAXIS program with an axisymmetric model. Linear elastic, Soft Soil and Mohr-Coulomb constitutive relations are adopted, where higher order triangular element is chosen for pile and soil clusters. Both pile and soil are modeled using (15)-node triangular elements. Three sites in Basrah province (Umm Qasr Port, Khor Al-Zubair, and Shatt AlArab Hotel) were selected to perform this study. The soil profile and layer characteristics are obtained from the soil investigation reports. Where the negative skin friction is evaluated due to filling loads. It is Conclusion thatSmall relative displacements are necessary to activate the negative skin friction. The elastic shorting for pile effect negative skin friction, due to increase relative displacement. The elastic shorting of the driven pile is more than that of the bored pile due to the less cross-sectional area of the driven pile. The results revealed proportional relation between the developed drag forces and pile section dimensions, interface friction factor, and fill height, with a maximum effect on the section dimension and minimum effect on the interface factor. The locations of neutral points are not sensitive to the above-mentioned factors.