The objective of this work is to investigate the fatigue behavior of reinforced concrete(RC) beams strengthened with externally bonded carbon fiber reinforced polymer(CFRP) and steel plate. An experimental investigati...The objective of this work is to investigate the fatigue behavior of reinforced concrete(RC) beams strengthened with externally bonded carbon fiber reinforced polymer(CFRP) and steel plate. An experimental investigation and theoretical analysis were made on the law of deflection development and stiffness degradation, as well as the influence of fatigue load ranges. Test results indicate that the law of three-stage change under fatigue loading is followed by both midspan deflection and permanent deflection, which also have positive correlation with fatigue load amplitude. Fatigue stiffness of composite strengthened beams degrades gradually with the increasing of number of cycles. Based on the experimental results, a theoretical model by effective moment of inertia method is developed for calculating the sectional stiffness of such composite strengthened beams under fatigue loading, and the calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental results.展开更多
This article presents an experimental study on the flexural performance of reinforced concrete(RC)beams with fiber reinforced cementitious composites(FRCC)and hybrid fiber reinforced cementitious composites(HFRCC)in t...This article presents an experimental study on the flexural performance of reinforced concrete(RC)beams with fiber reinforced cementitious composites(FRCC)and hybrid fiber reinforced cementitious composites(HFRCC)in the hinge portion.Beam specimens with moderate confinement were used in the study and tested under monotonic loading.Seven diverse types of FRCC including hybrid composites using fibers in different profiles and in different volumes are employed in this study.Companion specimens such as cylindrical specimens and prism specimens are also used to study the physical properties of composites employed.The moment?curvature,stiffness behavior,ductility,crack pattern and modified flexural damage ratio are the main factors considered in this study to observe the efficacy of the employed hybrid composites.The experimental outputs demonstrate the improved post yield behavior with less rate of stiffness degradation and better damage tolerance capacity than conventional technique.展开更多
This study presents experimental and numerical investigations of simply supported steel reinforced concrete(RC)beams under fire.The temperature field of cross sections,the vertical deflection at mid-span,and specifica...This study presents experimental and numerical investigations of simply supported steel reinforced concrete(RC)beams under fire.The temperature field of cross sections,the vertical deflection at mid-span,and specifically the axial expansion displacement at beam-ends were measured during the fire tests.A novel finite element(FE)model of a RC beam under fire was developed,in which the water loss in the heat transfer analysis and the concrete transient strain in the mechanical analysis were considered.Based on the validated FE model proposed in this study,parametric studies were conducted to investigate the effects of the beam type,the protective layer thickness,and the load ratio on the thermal and mechanical behavior of simply supported RC beams.It was found that greater fire resistance and fire performance of girder beams in comparison to secondary beams contributed to the non-structural reinforcements,which effectively compensated for the reduced tensile capacities of structural reinforcements because of the degradation of the material properties.In addition,the history of normal stress distributions of concrete under fire can be divided into three phases:expansion,stress redistribution and plateau phases.展开更多
Four-point bending tests were conducted up to failure on eleven reinforced concrete (RC) beams and strengthening beams to study the effectiveness of externally pouring ultra high toughness cementitious composites (UHT...Four-point bending tests were conducted up to failure on eleven reinforced concrete (RC) beams and strengthening beams to study the effectiveness of externally pouring ultra high toughness cementitious composites (UHTCC) on improving the flexural behavior of existing RC beams.The strengthening materials included UHTCC and high strength grade concrete.The parameters,such as thickness and length of strengthening layer and reinforcement in post-poured layer,were analyzed.The flexural behavior,failure mode and crack propagation of composite beams were investigated.The test results show that the strengthening layer improves the cracking and ultimate load by increasing the cross section area.Introducing UHTCC material into strengthening not only improves the bearing capacity of the original specimens,but also disperses larger cracks in upper concrete into multiple tightly-spaced fine cracks,thus prolonging the appearance of harm surface cracks and increasing the durability of existing structures.Compared with post-poured concrete,UHTCC is more suitable for working together with reinforcement.The load?deflection plots obtained from three-dimensional finite-element model (FEM) analyses are compared with those obtained from the experimental results,and show close correlation.展开更多
Rehabilitation of existing structures with fiber reinforced plastic(FRP)has been growing in popularity because they offer superior performance in terms of resistance to corrosion and high specific stiffness.The strain...Rehabilitation of existing structures with fiber reinforced plastic(FRP)has been growing in popularity because they offer superior performance in terms of resistance to corrosion and high specific stiffness.The strain coordination results of 34 reinforced concrete beams(four groups)strengthened with different methods were presented including external-bonded or near-surface mounted glass or carbon FRP or helical rib bar in order to study the strain coordination of the strengthening materials and steel rebar of RC beam.Because there is relative slipping between concrete and strengthening materials(SM),the strain of SM and steel rebar of RC beam satisfies the double linear strain distribution assumption,that is,the strain of longitudinal fiber parallel to the neutral axis of plated beam within the scope of effective height(h0)of the cross section is in direct proportion to the distance from the fiber to the neutral axis.The strain of SM and steel rebar satisfies the equation εGCH=βεsteel,where the value of β is equal to 1.1-1.3 according to the test results.展开更多
With the digital image technology,a crack detection method of reinforced concrete bridge was studied for the performance assessment.The effects including the image gray level,pixel rate,noise filter,and edge detection...With the digital image technology,a crack detection method of reinforced concrete bridge was studied for the performance assessment.The effects including the image gray level,pixel rate,noise filter,and edge detection were analyzed considering cracks qualities.A computer program was developed by visual C++6.0 programming language to detect the cracks,which was tested by 15cases of bridge video images.The results indicate that the relative error is within 6%for cracks larger than 0.3 mm cracks and it is less than 10%for crack width between 0.2 mm and 0.3 mm.In addition,for the crack below 0.1 mm,the relative error is more than30%because the bridge is in safe stage and it is very difficult to detect the actual width of crack.展开更多
To study the flexural behavior and calculation model,8 coral aggregate concrete(CAC)beams with different types of steel were designed.The flexural behavior of CAC beam was tested.The failure mode,bearing capacity,the ...To study the flexural behavior and calculation model,8 coral aggregate concrete(CAC)beams with different types of steel were designed.The flexural behavior of CAC beam was tested.The failure mode,bearing capacity,the maximum crack width(ws)and average crack spacing(lm)were studied.A calculation model for the bearing capacity of CAC beam was proposed.The results indicated that with the steel strength increased,the cracking moment(Mcr)and ultimate moment(Mu)of CAC beam increased,and the development of the ws gradually slowed,which effectively inhibited the formation of cracks and improved the flexural behavior of CAC beam.For CAC structures in the ocean engineering,it is recommended to use organic new coated steel to extend its effective service life.In addition,considering the influence of steel corrosion,a calculation model for the Mcr,Mu,lm and ws of CAC beam was established.展开更多
Tests were carried out on 8 self-compacting reinforced concrete(SCC) beams and 4 normal reinforced concrete beams. The effects of mode of consolidation,load level,reinforcing ratio and structural type on long term beh...Tests were carried out on 8 self-compacting reinforced concrete(SCC) beams and 4 normal reinforced concrete beams. The effects of mode of consolidation,load level,reinforcing ratio and structural type on long term behavior of SCC were investigated. Under the same environmental conditions,the shrinkage-time curve of self-compacting concrete beam is very similar to that of normal concrete beam. For both self-compacting reinforced concrete beams and normal reinforced concrete beams,the rate of shrinkage at early stages is higher,the shrinkage strain at 2 months is about 60% of the maximum value at one year. The shrinkage strain of self-compacting reinforced concrete beam after one year is about 450×10-6. Creep deflection of self-compacting reinforced concrete beam decreases as the tensile reinforcing ratio increases. The deflection creep coefficient of self-compacting reinforced concrete beam after one and a half year is about 1.6,which is very close to that of normal reinforced concrete beams cast with vibration. Extra cautions considering shrinkage and creep behavior are not needed for the use of SCC in engineering practices.展开更多
With consideration of the differences between concrete and steel,three solutions using genetic evolutionary structural optimization algorithm were presented to automatically develop optimal strut-and-tie model for dee...With consideration of the differences between concrete and steel,three solutions using genetic evolutionary structural optimization algorithm were presented to automatically develop optimal strut-and-tie model for deep beams.In the finite element analysis of the first method,the concrete and steel rebar are modeled by a plane element and a bar element,respectively.In the second method,the concrete and steel are assigned to two different plane elements,whereas in the third method only one kind of plane element is used with no consideration of the differences of the two materials.A simply supported beam under two point loads was presented as an example to verify the validity of the three proposed methods.The results indicates that all the three methods can generate optimal strut-and-tie models and the third algorithm has powerful capability in searching more optimal results with less computational effort.The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm III has also been demonstrated by other two examples.展开更多
Cold-formed steel structures are steel structure products constructed from sheets or coils using cold rolling, press brake or bending brake method. These structures are extensively employed in building construction in...Cold-formed steel structures are steel structure products constructed from sheets or coils using cold rolling, press brake or bending brake method. These structures are extensively employed in building construction industry due to their light mass, ductility by economic cold forming operations, favorable strength-to-mass ratio and other factors. The utilization of cold formed steel sections with concrete as composite can hugely reduce the construction cost. However, the use of cold formed steel members in composite concrete beams has been very limited. A comprehensive review of developments in composite beam with cold formed steel sections was introduced. It was revealed that employing cold-formed steel channel section to replace reinforcement bars in conventional reinforced concrete beam results in a significant cost reduction without reducing strength capacity. The use of composite beam consisting of cold-formed steel open or close box and filled concrete could also reduce construction cost. Lighter composite girder for bridges with cold-formed steel of U section was introduced. Moreover, types of shear connectors to provide composite action between cold-formed steel beam and concrete slab were presented. However, further studies to investigate the effects of metal decking on the behavior of composite beam with cold-formed steel section and introduction of ductile shear connectors were recommended.展开更多
In order to overcome the wide crack of ordinary reinforced concrete (RC) at service stage which affects the service performance and durability of structures,a kind of concrete structure with skin textile reinforcement...In order to overcome the wide crack of ordinary reinforced concrete (RC) at service stage which affects the service performance and durability of structures,a kind of concrete structure with skin textile reinforcement is proposed,namely a part of concrete cover of RC members is replaced by textile reinforced concrete (TRC).The flexural experimental results indicate that when the reinforcement ratios of steel bars are constant,compared with control beams,the average value of crack loads of the beams,whose reinforcement ratios of textile are 0.018%,0.036% and 0.055%,increases by 15.5%,20.4% and 31.1%,respectively,the average value of yield loads respectively increases by 12.5%,19.9% and 21.1% and the average value of ultimate loads respectively increases by 8.5%,26.0% and 44.0%,respectively.Considerable reduction in cracks width and spacing is observed for specimens with a TRC layer,and when the beams yield,the maximum crack width of the beam with textile stuck no sand and the beam with textile stuck sand is reduced by around 60% and 70%,respectively.Surface treatment of textile and mixing polypropylene fiber into fine grained concrete contribute to enhance the service performance of the flexural element.Embedding U-shaped hoop has almost no effect on the control of the crack width.Finally,the calculation method of ultimate bearing capacity of this flexural component with TRC layer was presented.Comparison between the calculated and the experimental values reveals satisfactory agreement,and the maximum error is no more than 6%.展开更多
The special reinforced concrete composite beam consists of a steel fiber reinforced self-stressing concrete composite layer and a reinforced concrete T-beam, and constructional bars are set up at their bonding interfa...The special reinforced concrete composite beam consists of a steel fiber reinforced self-stressing concrete composite layer and a reinforced concrete T-beam, and constructional bars are set up at their bonding interface. Fatigue properties of the composite beam under the action of negative moment were experimentally studied. Through inverted loading mode the load-beating state of a composite beam was simulated under the action of negative moment. With the ratios of constructional bars being 0, 0.082% and 0.164% respectively as parameters, the effects of constructional bars on the properties of composite beam, such as fatigue life, crack propagation, rigidity loss as well as damage behavior of bonding interface, were studied. The mechanism of the constructional bars on the fatigue properties of the composite beams and the restriction mechanism of crack widths and rigidity loss were analyzed. The test results show that the constructional bars can enhance the shear resistance of the bonding interface between composite layer and old concrete beam and restrict expanding of steel fiber reinforced self-stressing concrete, which are beneficial to synergistic action of composite layer and old concrete beam, to reducing the stress amplitude of bars and the crack width of composite layer, and to increasing the durability and fatigue life of the composite beam.展开更多
基金Project(51108355)supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject(2011CDB269)supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province,China
文摘The objective of this work is to investigate the fatigue behavior of reinforced concrete(RC) beams strengthened with externally bonded carbon fiber reinforced polymer(CFRP) and steel plate. An experimental investigation and theoretical analysis were made on the law of deflection development and stiffness degradation, as well as the influence of fatigue load ranges. Test results indicate that the law of three-stage change under fatigue loading is followed by both midspan deflection and permanent deflection, which also have positive correlation with fatigue load amplitude. Fatigue stiffness of composite strengthened beams degrades gradually with the increasing of number of cycles. Based on the experimental results, a theoretical model by effective moment of inertia method is developed for calculating the sectional stiffness of such composite strengthened beams under fatigue loading, and the calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental results.
基金support of Reliance Industries and Bakaert Industries, India for providing fiber for the experimental work
文摘This article presents an experimental study on the flexural performance of reinforced concrete(RC)beams with fiber reinforced cementitious composites(FRCC)and hybrid fiber reinforced cementitious composites(HFRCC)in the hinge portion.Beam specimens with moderate confinement were used in the study and tested under monotonic loading.Seven diverse types of FRCC including hybrid composites using fibers in different profiles and in different volumes are employed in this study.Companion specimens such as cylindrical specimens and prism specimens are also used to study the physical properties of composites employed.The moment?curvature,stiffness behavior,ductility,crack pattern and modified flexural damage ratio are the main factors considered in this study to observe the efficacy of the employed hybrid composites.The experimental outputs demonstrate the improved post yield behavior with less rate of stiffness degradation and better damage tolerance capacity than conventional technique.
基金Project(51578548)supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject(2018JJ3202)supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province,ChinaProject(17C0681)supported by the Educational Departmental Science Research of Hunan Province,China
文摘This study presents experimental and numerical investigations of simply supported steel reinforced concrete(RC)beams under fire.The temperature field of cross sections,the vertical deflection at mid-span,and specifically the axial expansion displacement at beam-ends were measured during the fire tests.A novel finite element(FE)model of a RC beam under fire was developed,in which the water loss in the heat transfer analysis and the concrete transient strain in the mechanical analysis were considered.Based on the validated FE model proposed in this study,parametric studies were conducted to investigate the effects of the beam type,the protective layer thickness,and the load ratio on the thermal and mechanical behavior of simply supported RC beams.It was found that greater fire resistance and fire performance of girder beams in comparison to secondary beams contributed to the non-structural reinforcements,which effectively compensated for the reduced tensile capacities of structural reinforcements because of the degradation of the material properties.In addition,the history of normal stress distributions of concrete under fire can be divided into three phases:expansion,stress redistribution and plateau phases.
基金Project(50438010) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
文摘Four-point bending tests were conducted up to failure on eleven reinforced concrete (RC) beams and strengthening beams to study the effectiveness of externally pouring ultra high toughness cementitious composites (UHTCC) on improving the flexural behavior of existing RC beams.The strengthening materials included UHTCC and high strength grade concrete.The parameters,such as thickness and length of strengthening layer and reinforcement in post-poured layer,were analyzed.The flexural behavior,failure mode and crack propagation of composite beams were investigated.The test results show that the strengthening layer improves the cracking and ultimate load by increasing the cross section area.Introducing UHTCC material into strengthening not only improves the bearing capacity of the original specimens,but also disperses larger cracks in upper concrete into multiple tightly-spaced fine cracks,thus prolonging the appearance of harm surface cracks and increasing the durability of existing structures.Compared with post-poured concrete,UHTCC is more suitable for working together with reinforcement.The load?deflection plots obtained from three-dimensional finite-element model (FEM) analyses are compared with those obtained from the experimental results,and show close correlation.
基金Project(11B033)supported by the Foundation for Excellent Young Scholars of Hunan Scientific Committee,ChinaProject(116001)supported by the Consultative Program of the Chinese Academy of Engineering+1 种基金Project(11JJ6040)supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province,ChinaProject(2010GK3198)supported by the Science and Research Program of Hunan Province,China
文摘Rehabilitation of existing structures with fiber reinforced plastic(FRP)has been growing in popularity because they offer superior performance in terms of resistance to corrosion and high specific stiffness.The strain coordination results of 34 reinforced concrete beams(four groups)strengthened with different methods were presented including external-bonded or near-surface mounted glass or carbon FRP or helical rib bar in order to study the strain coordination of the strengthening materials and steel rebar of RC beam.Because there is relative slipping between concrete and strengthening materials(SM),the strain of SM and steel rebar of RC beam satisfies the double linear strain distribution assumption,that is,the strain of longitudinal fiber parallel to the neutral axis of plated beam within the scope of effective height(h0)of the cross section is in direct proportion to the distance from the fiber to the neutral axis.The strain of SM and steel rebar satisfies the equation εGCH=βεsteel,where the value of β is equal to 1.1-1.3 according to the test results.
基金Project(51178193)supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject(2009 353-344-570)supported by the Ministry of Transport of ChinaProject(2010-02-051)supported by the Transportation Department of Guangdong Province,China
文摘With the digital image technology,a crack detection method of reinforced concrete bridge was studied for the performance assessment.The effects including the image gray level,pixel rate,noise filter,and edge detection were analyzed considering cracks qualities.A computer program was developed by visual C++6.0 programming language to detect the cracks,which was tested by 15cases of bridge video images.The results indicate that the relative error is within 6%for cracks larger than 0.3 mm cracks and it is less than 10%for crack width between 0.2 mm and 0.3 mm.In addition,for the crack below 0.1 mm,the relative error is more than30%because the bridge is in safe stage and it is very difficult to detect the actual width of crack.
基金Projects(11832013,51878350)supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject(B200201063)supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities,ChinaProject(BK20180433)supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province,China。
文摘To study the flexural behavior and calculation model,8 coral aggregate concrete(CAC)beams with different types of steel were designed.The flexural behavior of CAC beam was tested.The failure mode,bearing capacity,the maximum crack width(ws)and average crack spacing(lm)were studied.A calculation model for the bearing capacity of CAC beam was proposed.The results indicated that with the steel strength increased,the cracking moment(Mcr)and ultimate moment(Mu)of CAC beam increased,and the development of the ws gradually slowed,which effectively inhibited the formation of cracks and improved the flexural behavior of CAC beam.For CAC structures in the ocean engineering,it is recommended to use organic new coated steel to extend its effective service life.In addition,considering the influence of steel corrosion,a calculation model for the Mcr,Mu,lm and ws of CAC beam was established.
基金Project(50278097) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
文摘Tests were carried out on 8 self-compacting reinforced concrete(SCC) beams and 4 normal reinforced concrete beams. The effects of mode of consolidation,load level,reinforcing ratio and structural type on long term behavior of SCC were investigated. Under the same environmental conditions,the shrinkage-time curve of self-compacting concrete beam is very similar to that of normal concrete beam. For both self-compacting reinforced concrete beams and normal reinforced concrete beams,the rate of shrinkage at early stages is higher,the shrinkage strain at 2 months is about 60% of the maximum value at one year. The shrinkage strain of self-compacting reinforced concrete beam after one year is about 450×10-6. Creep deflection of self-compacting reinforced concrete beam decreases as the tensile reinforcing ratio increases. The deflection creep coefficient of self-compacting reinforced concrete beam after one and a half year is about 1.6,which is very close to that of normal reinforced concrete beams cast with vibration. Extra cautions considering shrinkage and creep behavior are not needed for the use of SCC in engineering practices.
基金Project(50908082) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject(2009ZK3111) supported by the Science and Technology Department of Hunan Province,China
文摘With consideration of the differences between concrete and steel,three solutions using genetic evolutionary structural optimization algorithm were presented to automatically develop optimal strut-and-tie model for deep beams.In the finite element analysis of the first method,the concrete and steel rebar are modeled by a plane element and a bar element,respectively.In the second method,the concrete and steel are assigned to two different plane elements,whereas in the third method only one kind of plane element is used with no consideration of the differences of the two materials.A simply supported beam under two point loads was presented as an example to verify the validity of the three proposed methods.The results indicates that all the three methods can generate optimal strut-and-tie models and the third algorithm has powerful capability in searching more optimal results with less computational effort.The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm III has also been demonstrated by other two examples.
文摘Cold-formed steel structures are steel structure products constructed from sheets or coils using cold rolling, press brake or bending brake method. These structures are extensively employed in building construction industry due to their light mass, ductility by economic cold forming operations, favorable strength-to-mass ratio and other factors. The utilization of cold formed steel sections with concrete as composite can hugely reduce the construction cost. However, the use of cold formed steel members in composite concrete beams has been very limited. A comprehensive review of developments in composite beam with cold formed steel sections was introduced. It was revealed that employing cold-formed steel channel section to replace reinforcement bars in conventional reinforced concrete beam results in a significant cost reduction without reducing strength capacity. The use of composite beam consisting of cold-formed steel open or close box and filled concrete could also reduce construction cost. Lighter composite girder for bridges with cold-formed steel of U section was introduced. Moreover, types of shear connectors to provide composite action between cold-formed steel beam and concrete slab were presented. However, further studies to investigate the effects of metal decking on the behavior of composite beam with cold-formed steel section and introduction of ductile shear connectors were recommended.
基金Project(51108451)supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject(BK2011220)supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province,China+2 种基金Projects(2010QNA45,2011FZA4017)supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of ChinaProject(2012M511817)supported by the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of ChinaProject(1102082C)supported by the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province,China
文摘In order to overcome the wide crack of ordinary reinforced concrete (RC) at service stage which affects the service performance and durability of structures,a kind of concrete structure with skin textile reinforcement is proposed,namely a part of concrete cover of RC members is replaced by textile reinforced concrete (TRC).The flexural experimental results indicate that when the reinforcement ratios of steel bars are constant,compared with control beams,the average value of crack loads of the beams,whose reinforcement ratios of textile are 0.018%,0.036% and 0.055%,increases by 15.5%,20.4% and 31.1%,respectively,the average value of yield loads respectively increases by 12.5%,19.9% and 21.1% and the average value of ultimate loads respectively increases by 8.5%,26.0% and 44.0%,respectively.Considerable reduction in cracks width and spacing is observed for specimens with a TRC layer,and when the beams yield,the maximum crack width of the beam with textile stuck no sand and the beam with textile stuck sand is reduced by around 60% and 70%,respectively.Surface treatment of textile and mixing polypropylene fiber into fine grained concrete contribute to enhance the service performance of the flexural element.Embedding U-shaped hoop has almost no effect on the control of the crack width.Finally,the calculation method of ultimate bearing capacity of this flexural component with TRC layer was presented.Comparison between the calculated and the experimental values reveals satisfactory agreement,and the maximum error is no more than 6%.
基金Project(50578027) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
文摘The special reinforced concrete composite beam consists of a steel fiber reinforced self-stressing concrete composite layer and a reinforced concrete T-beam, and constructional bars are set up at their bonding interface. Fatigue properties of the composite beam under the action of negative moment were experimentally studied. Through inverted loading mode the load-beating state of a composite beam was simulated under the action of negative moment. With the ratios of constructional bars being 0, 0.082% and 0.164% respectively as parameters, the effects of constructional bars on the properties of composite beam, such as fatigue life, crack propagation, rigidity loss as well as damage behavior of bonding interface, were studied. The mechanism of the constructional bars on the fatigue properties of the composite beams and the restriction mechanism of crack widths and rigidity loss were analyzed. The test results show that the constructional bars can enhance the shear resistance of the bonding interface between composite layer and old concrete beam and restrict expanding of steel fiber reinforced self-stressing concrete, which are beneficial to synergistic action of composite layer and old concrete beam, to reducing the stress amplitude of bars and the crack width of composite layer, and to increasing the durability and fatigue life of the composite beam.
