Numerical Simulation and Economic Design of Concrete Shear Walls Reinforced with GFRP Bars

• Author / Creator

  Talaei, Fereshte

• Premature corrosion of reinforcing steel is a cause of concern for steel-reinforced concrete structures, since it causes them to deteriorate before their design operational life is attained. The Use of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) bars in reinforced-concrete (RC) structures has been shown to be an effective alternative to mitigate the corrosion problems that occur in steel-reinforced structures subjected to chemical attack or adverse environmental conditions, such as parkade slabs and bridge superstructures. However, the high price, limited design knowledge, and uncertainty about long-term performance in FRP-reinforced structures have prevented widespread use of this type of reinforcement in civil infrastructure, despite its potential advantages over conventional steel. To address these problems, this study presents an investigation in the economic design of FRP-reinforced concrete shear walls considering typical design constraints found in practice. Shear walls were chosen due to their important role in providing stiffness and strength to RC buildings, with FRP reinforcement being an attractive option to provide these elements with a superior durability than steel, while having a comparable performance in non-seismic areas. Thus, the study objective is to show how FRP can be used as an economic and efficient alternative to conventional steel reinforcement in shear wall structures. To examine the feasible design scenarios in which FRP can be used to have a comparable performance to that of steel reinforcement, a finite-element analysis model for FRP-reinforced concrete walls is developed and validated with experimental results. The model was validated with the test data obtained from three mid-rise FRP-reinforced walls tested at the University of Sherbrooke in 2013. After validation, the model is used to assess the design scenarios in which FRP can be used at minimum cost considering variables such as strength, deflection, cracking, long-term creep, and cost. The governing design constraints create a feasible zone in a diagram of longitudinal reinforcement vs. wall width. For comparison, a similar analysis is performed for conventional, steel-reinforced shear walls. It was found that in FRP-reinforced shear walls, due to the relatively high flexibility of the FRP material, deflections and crack width constraints at service conditions govern the feasible zone. However, in steel reinforced shear walls the strength constraint is the governing constraint instead of deflection for the design scenarios considered in the study. Although there is a notable difference between the initial price of steel and FRP bars, the optimal design scenario solution for the shear walls reinforced with FRP reinforcement is only slightly more expensive than the flexural optimal solutions for the steel-reinforced shear walls, with FRP-reinforced structures having comparable (or superior) strength, deformation capacity, and cracking resistance than their steel-reinforced counterparts.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Design
  • Models
  • Concrete
  • FRP
  • Shear walls
  • Cost-optimization

• Graduation date

  Fall 2017

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3V98055D

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.