The compressive resistance of concrete in new structures is usually characterized on the basis of tests performed on concrete cylinders or cubes under relatively rapid loading conditions. Although efficient for material characterization, these tests do not acknowledge a number of phenomena potentially influencing the compressive resistance of concrete in actual structures. For this reason, when performing a structural analysis, strength reduction factors are usually considered in codes of practice modifying the uniaxial strength of material tests. In this paper, a detailed investigation of the influence of material brittleness and internal stress redistributions on the structural response of reinforced concrete members is presented. This work is based on a number of theoretical considerations and supported by the experimental results of more than 400 reinforced concrete columns tested with or without eccentricity and gathered from the literature. The results show the pertinence of considering a brittleness factor in the calculation of the structural resistance of reinforced concrete columns and compression zones of beams. The results of this work are eventually formulated in terms of code‐like proposals, currently considered in the draft of the new Eurocode 2 (prEN 1992‐1‐1:2018).

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

<p>An early warning method based on the HLM indices for monitored bridges is proposed in this paper. Only three basic values, the highest value, the lowest value and the mean value in each periodicity (daily periodicity, weekly periodicity, lunar periodicity, etc.), are reserved in this method. These values are categorized and added to corresponding sub-tables of the periodical database. Based on these three key values, a series of mathematical models of early warning indices is established to make a statistical analysis of bridge behavior. The indices include the load-carrying capacity index, loading intensity index, volatility index and directional movement index. This method has already been successfully applied to Yufeng bridge health monitoring system in China’s Jiangsu Province and achieved fine results.</p>