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Research on Performance of Buildings Structures and Materials

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A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Structures".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 August 2024 | Viewed by 12062

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Alireza Bahrami

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Guest Editor

Department of Building Engineering, Energy Systems and Sustainability Science, Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development, University of Gävle, 801 76 Gävle, Sweden
Interests: timber structures; reinforced concrete structures; steel-concrete composite structures; steel structures; green concrete; high-performance building materials; structural analysis and design; load-carrying performance; experimental and numerical investigations; static and dynamic analysis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Any building must possess acceptable structural performance to protect human safety, building functions, comfort, and property from various forces acting on the building. This point signifies the great importance of the performance investigations of the building structures. On the other hand, load-bearing structures of buildings are composed of building materials such as wood, concrete, steel, brick, etc. Therefore, the performance of buildings structures is closely related to the performance of the materials used in buildings.

The aim of this Special Issue is to cover research on the performance of building structures and traditional/high-performance/novel materials utilized in buildings under different conditions.

The submission of original research studies, experimental and/or numerical investigations, and review papers that are focused on the performance of buildings’ main structures, structural components, and materials is warmly encouraged.

Dr. Alireza Bahrami
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

timber structures
reinforced concrete structures
steel-concrete composite structures
steel structures
masonry structures
green concrete
building materials
performance and behavior of structures and building materials
experimental investigation
numerical modeling

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 4315 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical Investigation into the Strengthening of Concrete-Filled Steel Tube Composite Columns Using Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymers

by Saba M. Sabih, Salam J. Hilo, Mohammed J. Hamood, Salih S. Salih, Marwah M. Faris and Maysam A. Yousif

Buildings 2024, 14(2), 441; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14020441 - 6 Feb 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 743

Abstract

Hollow and concrete-filled steel tubes (CFSTs) are extensively employed as columns in various structural systems, yet they are susceptible to local buckling under axial compression loading. Local buckling tends to manifest near the column ends where moments are the highest. To address this issue and enhance the strength and ductility of CFSTs, carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRPs) emerge as a simple and effective solution, having been successfully utilized in prior studies. This investigation focuses on assessing the axial load behavior of CFRP-strengthened CFST slender columns using the finite element (FE) method. The study begins with a verification phase, followed by comprehensive parametric studies exploring the impact of CFRP layers, numbers, confinement lengths, and positions. The FE results demonstrate that a single CFRP sheet, with a thickness of 1.2 mm, enhances the composite column’s axial load resistance by 8.5%. Doubling the CFRP sheets to a total thickness of 2.4 mm increases the resistance to 23.5%, while three sheets totaling 3.6 mm and four sheets totaling 4.8 mm result in axial load resistances of 35.1% and 44.5%, respectively. Furthermore, the study reveals that varying the lengths of CFRP sheets improves axial load resistance by 8.5%, 4.6%, 0.1%, and 0.5% for length percentages of 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25%, respectively. These findings underscore the efficacy of CFRP in strengthening CFST columns and provide valuable insights into optimizing the design parameters for an enhanced structural performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Performance of Buildings Structures and Materials)

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32 pages, 9002 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of a Reliable Machine Learning Model to Predict Compressive Strength of FRP-Confined Concrete Cylinders

by Prashant Kumar, Harish Chandra Arora, Alireza Bahrami, Aman Kumar and Krishna Kumar

Buildings 2023, 13(4), 931; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13040931 - 31 Mar 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2044

Abstract

The degradation of reinforced concrete (RC) structures has raised major concerns in the concrete industry. The demolition of existing structures has shown to be an unsustainable solution and leads to many financial concerns. Alternatively, the strengthening sector has put forward many sustainable solutions, such as the retrofitting and rehabilitation of existing structural elements with fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites. Over the past four decades, FRP retrofits have attracted major attention from the scientific community, thanks to their numerous advantages such as having less weight, being non-corrodible, etc., that help enhance the axial, flexural, and shear capacities of RC members. This study focuses on predicting the compressive strength (CS) of FRP-confined concrete cylinders using analytical models and machine learning (ML) models. To achieve this, a total of 1151 specimens of cylinders have been amassed from comprehensive literature studies. The ML models utilized in the study are Gaussian process regression (GPR), support vector machine (SVM), artificial neural network (ANN), optimized SVM, and optimized GPR models. The input parameters that have been used for prediction include the geometrical characteristics of specimens, the mechanical properties of FRP composite, and the CS of concrete. The results of the five ML models are compared with nineteen analytical models. The results evaluated from the ML algorithms imply that the optimized GPR model has been found to be the best among all other models, demonstrating a higher correlation coefficient, root mean square error, mean absolute percentage error, mean absolute error, a-20 index, and Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency values of 0.9960, 3.88 MPa, 3.11%, 2.17 MPa, 0.9895, and 0.9921, respectively. The R-value of the optimized GPR model is 0.37%, 0.03%, 5.14%, and 2.31% higher than that of the ANN, GPR, SVM, and optimized SVM models, respectively, whereas the root mean square error value of the ANN, GPR, SVM, and optimized SVM models is, respectively, 81.04%, 12.5%, 471.77%, and 281.45% greater than that of the optimized GPR model. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Performance of Buildings Structures and Materials)

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14 pages, 3962 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Factors Influencing Choice of Wooden Frames for Construction of Multi-Story Buildings in Sweden

by Alireza Bahrami, Jonas Jakobsson and Tobias Söderroos

Buildings 2023, 13(1), 217; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13010217 - 12 Jan 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1729

Abstract

Construction of buildings with wooden frames higher than two stories has been permitted in Sweden since 1994. As construction of multi-story buildings with wooden frames is relatively new, people in the construction industry are more likely to construct these buildings with concrete frames. The current research evaluates the factors influencing the choice of wooden frames for construction of multi-story buildings in Sweden. The purpose of this study is to explain which advantages and disadvantages construction companies in Sweden consider with wooden construction and to highlight the factors for why multi-story buildings are built with wood to a lesser extent than with other materials. The main goal is to investigate what factors or assumptions construction companies base their decisions on, and whether experience and competence in wooden frames for construction of multi-story buildings are considered in short supply in Sweden today. The chosen method for this research is a descriptive survey study with a qualitative and quantitative approach. The survey is based on respondents from five leading building companies in Sweden with regard to the companies’ revenue. The respondents had either previous experience in constructing multi-story buildings with wooden frames, experienced respondents (ERs), or no experience, unexperienced respondents (UERs). 63% of the respondents were ERs, while 37% of them were UERs. It is resulted that the respondents think there is a lack of competence and experience in wooden frames for construction of multi-story buildings in Sweden. Factors that have the greatest impact on decisions to construct with wooden frames are positive environmental and climatic aspects as well as production advantages. Factors that are considered as major obstacles to construct with wooden frames are cost, acoustics, and moisture problems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Performance of Buildings Structures and Materials)

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15 pages, 4211 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Flexo-Compressive Strength of Reinforced Concrete Frame Elements Considering Corrosion Process

by Franco Carpio, Sergio Márquez-Domínguez, Andres Carmona, Rolando Salgado, Alejandro Vargas, José Barradas and Dariniel Barrera

Buildings 2022, 12(12), 2203; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12122203 - 13 Dec 2022

Viewed by 1838

Abstract

Frame buildings are prone to cracking because of their deformation by normal and extreme events such as temperature and earthquakes. Even though the crack widths are limited in the structural design, a cracked cover reduces the corrosion protection of reinforcing steel. Therefore, the load capacity of structures can be compromised prematurely. This paper aims to evaluate the flexo-compressive strength of deteriorated reinforced concrete (RC) elements in the corrosion process. To that end, a methodology to calculate the residual strength capacity was proposed, considering the influences of crack widths and cover width on the corrosion level—structure age relation of RC elements. The strength deteriorations caused by the concrete cracking and the steel corrosion were incorporated according to structure age. The residual strength was studied using parametric analyses, whose variables were the crack width, the cover width, the rebar diameter, and the structure age. The results showed that the cracked frame elements reduced their serviceability life by up to 62%, although their crack widths were within range recommended by the design codes (lesser than 0.30 mm). In 25 years, the corrosion effects reduce the element strength by up to 44%. This is due to the corrosion protection provided by the cracked cover becomes insignificant, reducing the initiation time. Thus, considering the corrosion deterioration can prevent strength overestimations up to 1.46 times. Additionally, according to their current state, the proposed methodology provides a practical estimation of flexo-compressive strength in corroded RC elements. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Performance of Buildings Structures and Materials)

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Graphical abstract

17 pages, 2726 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Performance Improvement of Innovative Shear Damper Using Diagonal Stiffeners for Concentrically Braced Frame Systems

by Chanachai Thongchom, Alireza Bahrami, Ali Ghamari and Omrane Benjeddou

Buildings 2022, 12(11), 1794; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12111794 - 26 Oct 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2725

Abstract

Although concentrically braced frame (CBF) systems enjoy high elastic stiffness and lateral strength, they show a low seismic energy absorption capacity. This dilemma is due to the buckling of CBFs’ diagonal members under compressive loading. To overcome the shortcoming, researchers have proposed the use of dampers to improve the behavior of CBF systems. Among the proposed dampers, the metallic shear damper is the most popular thanks to its suitable performance as well as its economic profit. The main shortcoming of the shear dampers is low stiffness. Therefore, in this article, an innovative approach is proposed to improve the behavior of the shear dampers. Subsequently, strengthening the shear damper with X-stiffeners is proposed, and its behavior is evaluated numerically and parametrically. Results indicate that by adding the X-stiffeners, the ultimate strength and elastic stiffness of the shear dampers are enhanced considerably. However, the properties of the stiffeners do not impact the stiffness in the nonlinear zone. Moreover, the behavior of the dampers is affected by parameters such as the ratio of the strength of the web plate to the flange plates, the ratio of the X-stiffeners to the flange plates, and the ρ factor. To consider the parameters to predict the behavior of the damper, required equations are proposed which demonstrate a good agreement with finite element results. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Performance of Buildings Structures and Materials)

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Review

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36 pages, 1575 KiB

Open AccessReview

A State-of-the-Art Review on Axial Compressive Behavior of Concrete-Filled Steel Tubes Incorporating Steel Fiber and GFRP Jacketing

by Alireza Bahrami and S. M. Priok Rashid

Buildings 2023, 13(3), 729; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13030729 - 9 Mar 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1847

Abstract

Several types of fibers have enhanced the structural response of reinforced concrete-filled steel tubes (CFSTs). This article presents a state-of-the-art review of studies done on the axial compressive behavior of steel and glass fiber-reinforced CFSTs. The aim of using fibers is to improve the response of the CFSTs. This research indicates the findings of experimental programs and analytical evaluations of the effects of the fiber incorporation on the behavior of the CFSTs. The results of this research work demonstrate that steel fibers (SFs) have enough evident improving effects on the failure mode and load-carrying capacity of the CFSTs. The SFs greatly increase the ductility of the CFSTs. To enhance the compressive strength and ductility of the CFSTs, adding the SFs by 1% to the concrete mix is more effective than adding by 1.5%. The use of the SFs mixed with expansion agent considerably increases the yield and ultimate loads of the CFSTs. More glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) sheets reduce buckling and develop the compressive strength of the CFSTs. The implementation of the GFRP jackets not only enhances the load-carrying capacity of the CFSTs, but also increases their ductility. The GFRP reinforcement techniques for the CFSTs are also effective in improving their structural stiffness and energy absorption capacity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Performance of Buildings Structures and Materials)

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