Name: Gillermo Rojas Orts

Title of the project: Structural Strength Analysis and Concept Development of FRC Structures

Project description

The scope of this PhD project can be described as follows:

Introductory part:

• Identification and analysis of the main factors influencing the crack behaviour of FRC structural elements.
• Propose an inverse method for obtaining the mean properties from the three-point bending test (NS-EN 14651, 2005) to characterize the parameters of the - and - constitutive models.
• Review of the material constitutive models included in the literature.
• Review of the different testing methods available and their reliability for the characterization of the material properties for the application on structural elements.
• Review of the formulation of the crack control in SFRC structures proposed by the new revision of the EC-2 and the MC2010.

Body of research:

• Analysis of the post-cracking response of fiber reinforced concrete elements considering the tension-stiffening to determine the behavior of the material and estimate crack widths and crack spacing in linear and membrane elements. This includes the analysis of the bond factor in fiber reinforced concrete in comparation with the plain concrete.
• Review of the formulation for the control of cracking in membrane, shell and slab elements when including fibers in the concrete.
• Application of the formulation for control of cracking of post-tensioned fiber reinforced concrete slabs, more particularly post-tensioned slabs using unbounded tendons.
• Proposal of a new design methodology of elevated post-tensioned hybrid reinforced slabs.

Research method:

Date of start of PhD: June 2022