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The partially prestressed concrete beam with unbonded tendon is still an active field of research because of the difficulty in analyzing and understanding its behavior. The finite-element (FE) simulation of such beams using numerical software is very scarce in the literature and therefore this study is taken to demonstrate the modeling aspects of unbonded partially prestressed concrete (UPPSC) beams. This study aims to present the three-dimensional (3-D) nonlinear FE simulations of UPPSC beams subjected to monotonic static loadings using the numerical analysis package ANSYS.

The sensitivity study is carried out with three different mesh densities to obtain the optimum elements that reflect on the load–deflection behavior of numerical models, and the model with optimum element density is used further to model all the UPPSC beams in this study. Three half-symmetry FE model is constructed in ANSYS parametric design language domain with proper boundary conditions at the symmetry plane and support to achieve the same response as that of the full-scale experimental beam available in the literature. The linear and nonlinear material behavior of prestressing tendon and conventional steel reinforcements, concrete and anchorage and loading plates are modeled using link180, solid65 and solid185 elements, respectively. The Newton–Raphson iteration method is used to solve the nonlinear solution of the FE models.

The evolution of concrete cracking at critical loadings, yielding of nonprestressed steel reinforcements, stress increment in the prestressing tendon, stresses in concrete elements and the complete load–deflection behavior of the UPPSC beams are well predicted by the proposed FE model. The maximum discrepancy of ultimate moments and deflections of the validated FE models exhibit 13% and −5%, respectively, in comparison with the experimental results.

The FE analysis of UPPSC beams is done using ANSYS software, which is a versatile tool in contrast to the experimental testing to study the stress increments in the unbonded tendons and assess the complete nonlinear response of partially prestressed concrete beams. The validated numerical model and the techniques presented in this study can be readily used to explore the parametric analysis of UPPSC beams.

The developed model is capable of predicting the strength and nonlinear behavior of UPPSC beams with reasonable accuracy. The load–deflection plot captured by the FE model is corroborated with the experimental data existing in the literature and the FE results exhibit good agreement against the experimentally tested beams, which expresses the practicability of using FE analysis for the nonlinear response of UPPSC beams using ANSYS software.

The ultimate capacity and ductility behavior of a reinforced concrete (RC) beam generally depends on its constituent material properties. This study aims to use ANSYS to accentuate the nonlinear parametric finite element (FE) simulations of RC sections under monotonic loading.

The concrete matrix and steel reinforcement are the primary constituent materials of RC beams. The material properties such as tensile reinforcement area, tensile bars yield strength, concrete compressive strength and strain rate in tensile reinforcement at nominal strength have significantly influenced the ultimate response of RC beams. Therefore, these intensive parameters are considered in this study to ascertain their effect on the RC beam's ultimate behavior. The nonlinear response up to the ultimate load capacity and the crack evolutions of RC beams are predicted efficiently.

The parametric study reveals that increasing the tensile steel reinforcements (from Ast = 213–857 mm2) significantly improves the ultimate load capacity by 229% and yield deflections by 20%. However, it declines the ultimate deflection by 47% and ductility by 56% substantially. Varying the strain limit (?tn = 0.010–0.0015) of tensile reinforcement has proficiently increased the ultimate load-resisting capacity by 20%, whereas the ductility declined by 62%. When the concrete strength increases (from fck = 25–65 MPa), the cracking load increases profoundly by 51%, whereas the ultimate capacity has found an insignificant effect.

The load-deflection response plots extracted from the proposed numerical model exhibit satisfactory accuracy (less than 9% deviation) against the experimental curves available in the literature, which emphasizes the proficiency of the proposed FE model.

Cracking, deformation and rutting are the most prevalent types of pavement distress, and these deformations and flow characteristics greatly distress the pavement features while also limiting its use. In India, on the other hand, more than 300 million scrap tyres are generated each year, and their disposal has become a severe environmental issue. Furthermore, the scrap generated by the used tyre must be disposed of properly. Hence, this study presents the experimental investigations of bitumen incorporating with Crumb rubber as main additive along with SBS polymer, to enhance the engineering property.

Crumb rubber (CR) was used as an additive along with styrene–butadiene–styrene (SBS) polymer to enrich the engineering qualities of the bitumen to reduce the disposal problem of scrap tyres and reduce the risk of environmental pollution. Because SBS polymer is expensive, response surface methodology modelling's central composite design (CCD) was used to optimise the number of tests. CCD modelling's input factors (process variables) were the inclusion rates of SBS and CR, which ranged from 2% to 5% and 4% to 10%, respectively, by total weight. Furthermore, the influence of SBS polymer and CR on the characteristics of modified bitumen was prioritised.

The addition of SBS and CR enhanced the bitumen's penetration resistance at service temperatures. Furthermore, increasing the SBS and CR concentration affected the flow characteristics of the modified bitumen and enhanced its viscosity. The addition of SBS and CR as bitumen modifiers increased penetration resistance by 24.06%. The Dynamic Shear Rheometer test demonstrated that the complex modulus of virgin bitumen increases with increasing SBS and CR content, which is consistent with the shifting softening point trend. The dosing rate of up to 3.5% SBS and 11% CR considerably contributed to the creation of polymer link networks, which increased the complex modulus of the bitumen by 16.5%. The CCD model's analysis of variance and Pareto bar chart demonstrated that the dose of CR is significant in improving the engineering features of the virgin bitumen rather than the SBS.

The utilisation of CR as a bitumen modifier may solve the problem of waste tyre disposal while also lowering the risk of environmental damage. Furthermore, because the presence of CR increased the engineering properties, particularly the complex modulus of virgin bitumen, the use of CR in combination with SBS polymer can be an efficient and cost-effective strategy to improving bitumen qualities.

This paper aims to present nonlinear numerical simulations using the versatile finite element (FE) analysis tool ANSYS and theoretical analysis based on code provisions to assess the load-carrying capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) beams under two-point monotonic static loadings.

Four quarter-size FE models with load and geometry symmetry conditions were constructed, the load-bearing capacity and associated mid-span deflections at critical points are verified against the full-scale experimental RC beams available in the literature. These developed FE models incorporated the tension stiffening effects and bond–slip behaviour. Theoretical analyses based on Indian standard code IS: 456–2000 and ACI 318–19 were also carried to verify the experimental and numerical predicted moments at critical loading points.

The load-deflection curves predicted through FE models exhibit closer corroboration with the experimental curves throughout the loading history. The contour plots for deflections, concrete principal stresses, reinforcement yield stresses are satisfactorily predicted by the FE models, which reveal the complete information of nonlinear behaviour of RC beams. The developed model well captured the initial and progressive crack patterns at each load increments.

The FE modelling is an efficient, valid and economical tool that is an alternative to the expensive experimental program and can be used to explore, analyse and fully understand the nonlinear response of RC beams under static loadings.

The ultimate moment capacity evaluated based on ACI 318–19 code provision show a better correlation with the experimental data as compared to the IS: 456–2000 code provision. The ultimate loads and associated centre-span deflections predicted by RN-2, RN-3, RB-12 and RB-16 FE model show a discrepancy of 1.66 and –0.49%, –4.68 and –0.60%, –9.38 and –14.53% and –4.37 and 4.21%, respectively, against the experimental results, which reveals that the developed ANSYS FE models predict consistent results and achieved a reasonable agreement with the experimental data.

This study aims to present comprehensive nonlinear material modelling techniques and simulations of reinforced concrete (RC) beams subjected to short-term monotonic static load using the robust and reliable general-purpose finite element (FE) software ANSYS. A parametric study is carried out to analyse the flexural and ductility behaviour of RC beams under various influencing parameters.

To develop and validate the numerical FE models, a total of four experimentally tested simply supported RC beams are taken from the available literature and two beams are selected from each author. The concrete, steel reinforcements, bond-slip mechanism, loading and supporting plates are modelled using SOLID65, LINK180, COMBIN39 and SOLID185 elements, respectively. The validated models are then used to conduct parametric FE analysis to investigate the effect of concrete compressive strength, percentage of tensile reinforcement, compression reinforcement ratio, transverse shear reinforcement, bond-slip mechanism, concrete compressive stress-strain constitutive models, beam symmetry and varying overall depth of beam on the ultimate load-carrying capacity and ductility behaviour of RC beams.

The developed three-dimensional FE models can able to capture the load and midspan deflections at critical points, the accurate yield point of steel reinforcements, the formation of initial and progressive concrete crack patterns and the complete load-deflection curves of RC beams up to ultimate failure. From the numerical results, it can be concluded that the FE model considering the bond-slip effect with Thorenfeldt’s concrete compressive stress-strain model exhibits a better correlation with the experimental data.

The ultimate load and deflection results of validated FE models show a maximum deviation of less than 10% and 15%, respectively, as compared to the experimental results. The developed model is also capable of capturing concrete failure modes accurately. Overall, the FE analysis results were found quite acceptable and compared well with the experimental data at all loading stages. It is suggested that the proposed FE model is a practical and reliable tool for analyzing the flexural behaviour of RC members and can be used for performing parametric studies.