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Advances in Polymer-Reinforced and Fibre-Reinforced Concrete

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A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Fibers".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2023) | Viewed by 9985

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Grzegorz Świt

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Kielce University of Technology, Aleja Tysiąclecia Państwa Polskiego 7, 25-314 Kielce, Poland
Interests: bridges; structural health monitoring (shm); diagnostic methods; acoustic emission (ae); non-destructive methods (NDT)

Dr. Anna Adamczak-Bugno

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Kielce University of Technology, Av. 1000-an. of Polish State 7, 25-314 Kielce, Poland
Interests: acoustic emission method; FEM; fracture mechanics; SHM systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Aleksandra Krampikowska

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Kielce University of Technology, Kielce, Poland
Interests: acoustic emission method, nondestructive testing, SHM systems, mechanisms of steel cracking,, composites, stress corrosion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The progressive increase in the share of composite elements with an increasingly complex material structure necessitates the intensive development of new and existing technologies for the production of this class of materials. It is practically impossible to find a modern structure that does not contain one element made of composite materials. Due to their excellent properties, including relatively high strength and low weight, these materials have been used in numerous areas, including in the transport, aviation and construction industries. One of the most efficiently developed materials of this type are cement matrices reinforced with polymers and fibers of natural and synthetic origin.

We are pleased to invite you to submit your manuscript to this Special Issue that focuses on the broadly understood subject of polymer-reinforced and fiber-reinforced concrete. We encourage you to submit manuscripts on topics including, but not limited to, modification of the composition and parameters of polymer-reinforced and fiber-reinforced concrete, modeling and calculations, and the diagnostics of the condition of these materials.

This Special Issue has been proposed and organized primarily as a way to showcase the latest advances in polymer-reinforced and fiber-reinforced concrete.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Grzegorz Świt
Dr. Anna Adamczak-Bugno
Dr. Aleksandra Krampikowska
Guest Editors

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. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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

polymer-reinforced concrete
fiber-reinforced concrete
composites
diagnostics methods
numerical analysis
modifications of composition

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 3201 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigating the Bond Strength of FRP Laminates with Concrete Using LIGHT GBM and SHAPASH Analysis

by Muhammad Nasir Amin, Babatunde Abiodun Salami, Muhammad Zahid, Mudassir Iqbal, Kaffayatullah Khan, Abdullah Mohammad Abu-Arab, Anas Abdulalim Alabdullah and Fazal E. Jalal

Polymers 2022, 14(21), 4717; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14214717 - 3 Nov 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2463

Abstract

The corrosion of steel reinforcement necessitates regular maintenance and repair of a variety of reinforced concrete structures. Retrofitting of beams, joints, columns, and slabs frequently involves the use of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) laminates. In order to develop simple prediction models for calculating the interfacial bond strength (IBS) of FRP laminates on a concrete prism containing grooves, this research evaluated the nonlinear capabilities of three ensemble methods—namely, random forest (RF) regression, extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), and Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LIGHT GBM) models—based on machine learning (ML). In the present study, the IBS was the desired variable, while the model comprised five input parameters: elastic modulus x thickness of FRP (E_fT_f), width of FRP plate (b_f), concrete compressive strength (f_c′), width of groove (b_g), and depth of groove (h_g). The optimal parameters for each ensemble model were selected based on trial-and-error methods. The aforementioned models were trained on 70% of the entire dataset, while the remaining data (i.e., 30%) were used for the validation of the developed models. The evaluation was conducted on the basis of reliable accuracy indices. The minimum value of correlation of determination (R² = 0.82) was observed for the testing data of the RF regression model. In contrast, the highest (R² = 0.942) was obtained for LIGHT GBM for the training data. Overall, the three models showed robust performance in terms of correlation and error evaluation; however, the trend of accuracy was obtained as follows: LIGHT GBM > XGBoost > RF regression. Owing to the superior performance of LIGHT GBM, it may be considered a reliable ML prediction technique for computing the bond strength of FRP laminates and concrete prisms. The performance of the models was further supplemented by comparing the slopes of regression lines between the observed and predicted values, along with error analysis (i.e., mean absolute error (MAE), and root-mean-square error (RMSE)), predicted-to-experimental ratio, and Taylor diagrams. Moreover, the SHAPASH analysis revealed that the elastic modulus x thickness of FRP and width of FRP plate are the factors most responsible for IBS in FRP. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Polymer-Reinforced and Fibre-Reinforced Concrete)

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21 pages, 9604 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparative Study on the Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Beam Retrofitted with CFRP Strengthening Techniques

by Aditya Kumar Tiwary, Sandeep Singh, Raman Kumar, Kamal Sharma, Jasgurpreet Singh Chohan, Shubham Sharma, Jujhar Singh, Jatinder Kumar and Ahmed Farouk Deifalla

Polymers 2022, 14(19), 4024; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14194024 - 26 Sep 2022

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2556

Abstract

Lateral reinforcement has a significant impact on the strength and ductility of concrete. Extra confinement is provided in this project by carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets wrapped around the outside of reinforced concrete (RC) beams. To determine the failure criteria and maximum load-carrying capacity of beams, numerous specimens were cast and tested in a flexural testing machine. This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation of functionally damaged reinforced concrete beams repaired in flexure with CFRP sheets. The most essential variable in this study is the CFRP sheet scheme, and seven different strengthening schemes (B1 to B7) were explored in the experimental program. In conclusion, the findings of the study showed that flexural retrofitting of reinforced concrete beams with CFRP sheets is functionally effective, with restored strength and stiffness values roughly equivalent to or greater than those of the control beam (CB1). The efficiency of the flexural retrofitting mechanism appears to vary depending on the layout of the CFRP sheet. Steel rupture and concrete crushing were shown to be the most common failure modes in the investigation, causing CFRP sheets to break in retrofitted beams. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Polymer-Reinforced and Fibre-Reinforced Concrete)

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15 pages, 3143 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Interlaminar Shear Characteristics of Typical Polyurethane Mixture Pavement

by Guohua Gao, Min Sun, Chuanchang Xu, Guangzhen Qu and Yaohui Yang

Polymers 2022, 14(18), 3827; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14183827 - 13 Sep 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1213

Abstract

Polyurethane (PU) can be used as a road material binder, and its mechanical properties, durability, temperature stability, and other road performance metrics are good. However, the interlayer bonding between PU mixtures and asphalt mixtures is poor. The influence of the pavement structure, interlayer treatment scheme, load, and environmental factors on the interlayer shear characteristics of PU mixture composite pavement is analysed. Further, dynamic modulus, Hamburg rutting, accelerated loading, and inclined shear tests were conducted, and the typical PU mixture pavement shear stress was calculated. The interlaminar shear stress of double layer PU mixture pavement, polyurethane–asphalt composite pavement, and typical asphalt pavement were calculated. The results showed that the PU mixture has a low rutting deformation rate, stable mechanical properties, and strong resistance to the coupled action of temperature, water, and loading. The double-layer PU mixture structure has good water-temperature stability and fatigue resistance; however, freeze–thaw and accelerated loading cause great damage to the double-layer PU mixture structure. The residual shear strength ratio after freeze–thaw cycles and accelerated loading is only 50.3% and 35.6%, respectively, while the influence on the double-layer asphalt mixture structure is less. The theoretical calculation results of different pavement structures show that when the temperature increases from 10 °C to 50 °C, the interlaminar shear stress of polyurethane–asphalt composite pavement increases by about 20%. Additionally, the shear stress of pavement PU mixture pavement and typical asphalt pavement is mainly affected by load, and the temperature changes have an obvious effect on the interlayer shear stress of polyurethane–asphalt composite pavement. The calculated maximum shear stress of the three pavement structures with different working conditions is less than the interlaminar shear strength measured by the inclined shear test, indicating that the interlaminar treatment scheme of composite specimens can meet the shear resistance requirements of the three typical pavement structure types. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Polymer-Reinforced and Fibre-Reinforced Concrete)

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17 pages, 2426 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study on Flexural Fatigue Properties of POM Fiber Airport Pavement Concrete

by Zhenhui Wang, Rongxin Guo, Guoshou Liu, Luxin Guo and Yong Yan

Polymers 2022, 14(15), 2979; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14152979 - 22 Jul 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1498

Abstract

Polyoxymethylene (POM) fiber is a new polymer fiber with the potential to improve the performance of airport pavement concrete. The effect of POM fiber on the flexural fatigue properties of concrete is an important issue in its application for airport pavement concrete. In this study, four-point flexural fatigue experiments were conducted using ordinary performance concrete (OPC) and POM fiber airport pavement concrete (PFAPC) with fiber volume contents of 0.6% and 1.2%, at four stress levels, to examine the flexural fatigue characteristics of these materials. A two-parameter Weibull distribution test of flexural fatigue life was performed, after examining the change in flexural fatigue deformation using the cycle ratio (n/N). A flexural fatigue life equation was then constructed considering various failure probabilities (survival rate). The results show that POM fiber had no discernible impact on the static load strength of airport pavement concrete, and the difference between PFAPC and OPC in terms of static load strength was less than 5%. POM fiber can substantially increase the flexural fatigue deformation capacity of airport pavement concrete by almost 100%, but POM fiber had a different degree of detrimental impact on the fatigue life of airport pavement concrete compared to OPC, with a maximum decrease of 85%. The fatigue lives of OPC and PFAPC adhered to the two-parameter Weibull distribution, the single- and double-log fatigue equations considering various failure probabilities had a high fitting degree based on the two-parameter Weibull distribution, and their R² was essentially over 0.90. The ultimate fatigue strength of PFAPC was roughly 4% lower than that of OPC. This study on the flexural fatigue properties of POM fiber airport pavement concrete has apparent research value for the extension of POM fiber to the construction of long-life airport pavements. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Polymer-Reinforced and Fibre-Reinforced Concrete)

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17 pages, 5264 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study of SPRC Impact Resistance Based on the Weibull Distribution and the Response Surface Method

by Song Chen, Ziling Xu, Zeli Liu, Chen Wang and Jiuhong Jiang

Polymers 2022, 14(11), 2281; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14112281 - 3 Jun 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1527

Abstract

Silica-fume–polyvinyl-alcohol-fiber-reinforced concrete (SPRC) is a green and environmentally friendly composite material incorporating silica fume and polyvinyl alcohol fiber into concrete. To study the impact resistance of SPRC, compressive-strength and drop hammer impact tests were conducted on SPRC with different silica-fume and polyvinyl-alcohol-fiber contents. The mechanical and impact resistance properties of the SPRC were comprehensively analyzed in terms of the compressive strength, ductility ratio and impact-energy-dissipation variation. Based on the impact resistance of the SPRC, the impact life of SPRC with different failure probabilities was predicted by incorporating the Weibull distribution model, and an impact damage evolution equation for SPRC was established. The impact life of SPRC under the action of silica-fume content, polyvinyl-alcohol-fiber content and failure probability was analyzed in depth by the response surface method (RSM). The research results show that, when the content of silica fume is 10% and the content of polyvinyl alcohol fiber is 1%, the compressive strength and impact resistance of SPRC are the best. The RSM response model can effectively predict and describe the impact life of SPRC specimens under the action of three factors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Polymer-Reinforced and Fibre-Reinforced Concrete)

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