response modification factor (r factor) is one of the seismic design parameters to be considered in evaluating the performance of buildings during strong motions. this paper has tried to evaluate the response modification factor of concrete coupled shear wall structures with various length/depth ratios of spandrel beams. the effect of diagonal reinforcement of spandrel beam was also evaluated o...

A lot of concrete structures are deteriorating to dangerous levels throughout Japan. These concrete structures need to be inspected regularly to be sure that they are safe enough to be used. The inspection method of these concrete structures is typically the impact acoustic method. In the impact acoustic method the worker taps the concrete on the surface with hammer. So it is necessary to set u...

Building materials are significant contributor of indoor radon after the soil. The indoor radon level depends upon the radon flux coming out from wall, ceiling and roofs of the dwellings. The radon flux from the wall that in most cases is concrete depends upon many factors like radium content, porosity, moisture, composition of mix design for construction of concrete and age of concrete. The pr...

With the extensive use of self-consolidating concrete (SCC) worldwide, it is important to ensure that such concrete can secure uniform in-situ mechanical properties that are similar to those obtained with properly consolidated concrete of conventional fluidity. Ensuring proper stability of SCC is essential to enhance the uniformity of in-situ mechanical properties, including bond to embedded re...

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the workability of fresh portland cement concrete while it is still in the mixing truck by determining fundamental rheological parameters (plastic viscosity and yield stress). Nine concrete mixtures with different values of yield stress and plastic viscosity were tested in a concrete truck. The measurements made with the truck were based on the ty...

The columns of frame structures are the key load-bearing components and the exterior columns are susceptible to attack in terrorist blasts. When subjected to blast loads, the columns would suffer a loss of bearing capacity to a certain extent due to the damage imparted which may lead to their collapse and even cause the progressive collapse of the whole structure . The concrete-filled steel col...

Nonlinear simulations for structures under disasters have been widely focused on in recent years. However, precise modeling for the nonlinear behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls, which are the major lateral-force-resistant structural member in high-rise buildings, still has not been successfully solved. In this paper, based on the principles of composite material mechanics, a multi...

In this paper, a new approach for nonlinear numerical modelling of the reinforced concrete shear walls with consideration of bar-concrete interaction and shear deformation is proposed. Bar and concrete stress-strain relations, the bar-concrete interaction, the shear stress-strain relation and, also, their cyclic behavior including the strength degradation and stiffness degradation are adopted a...