Publications related to Ductile adhesively-bonded timber joints - Part 1: Experimental investigation

Influence of model uncertainty and long term deformations in action effects calculation in reinforced concrete structures

Most codes of practice adopt a semi probabilistic design approach for the dimensioning and assessment of structures. Accordingly, structural safety is ensured by performing limit state verifications using design values determined with adequately calibrated ...

EPFL2024

Influence of fiber orientation on the tensile behavior of UHPFRC and reinforced UHPFRC under static and fatigue loadings

Jian Zhan

Ultra-high performance fiber reinforced cementitious composite (UHPFRC) is a modern class of cementitious building materials. Because of its superior mechanical properties and durability, it is increasingly used globally to rehabilitate, strengthen and mod ...

EPFL2024

Insights from an extensive triaxial testing campaign on a shale for comparative site characterization of a deep geological repository

Lyesse Laloui, Alessio Ferrari, Eleonora Crisci

Several boreholes were drilled for site comparison of a deep geological repository (DGR) in Northern Switzerland. The main target of the exploration program was the >100m thick Opalinus Clay, the designated host rock encountered at approximately 450 to 100 ...

Elsevier2024

Short-term behavior of glass fiber-polymer composite bending-active elastica beam under service load application

Thomas Keller, Landolf-Giosef-Anastasios Rhode-Barbarigos, Tara Habibi

Bending-active elastica beam is a structural configuration that is based on the elastic deformation of an initially straight beam. This deformation occurs when horizontal displacements are applied to a sliding support, causing the beam to bend into an arch ...

2024

Enabling simultaneous reprocessability and fire protection via incorporation of phosphine oxide monomer in epoxy vitrimer

Véronique Michaud, Valentin Rougier

The conception of epoxy thermosets with both reprocessability and flame retardancy delineates a new horizon in polymer science, offering a material solution that is not only superior in fire safety but is also environment friendly. Herein, a flame-retardan ...

Journal Mater Sci Technol2024

Instabilities in Elastic and Magneto-Elastic Beams and Shells: from Shell Buckling to the Design of a Programmable Braille Reader

Arefeh Abbasi

In this thesis, we conduct a comprehensive investigation into structural instabilities of both elastic and magneto-elastic beams and shells, resulting in a creative proposal to design a programmable braille reader. Methodologically, we combine numerical si ...

EPFL2024

Experimental and analytical investigation of shear-reinforced concrete and dowel action

Marko Pejatovic

Codes of practice can be overly conservative, particularly for the shear resistance of reinforced concrete beams with shear reinforcement when large loads act close to supports. This thesis addresses the topic by proposing a refined design approach based o ...

EPFL2024

FLO:RE – A new floor system made of reused reinforced concrete and steel elements

Maléna Bastien Masse, Numa Joy Bertola, Célia Marine Küpfer, Corentin Jean Dominique Fivet

Carefully extracting reinforced concrete (RC) elements from soon-to-be demolished structures and reusing them as load-bearing components is an emerging circular low-carbon alternative to building new structures. As floor construction typically accounts for ...

IABSE2024

Shear and steel-fibre reinforcement for the punching resistance of flat slabs at internal and edge columns

Diego Hernández Fraile

Reinforced concrete flat slabs consist of a continuous, thin concrete plate that rests on a grid of columns. The supporting surface of the columns is very small compared to the floor plan dimensions, leading to concentrations of shear forces near the colum ...

EPFL2024

A global framework for data-informed bridge examination

Eugen Brühwiler, Philippe Schiltz, Numa Joy Bertola

Examining the performance of an existing bridge requires information on several aspects, such as design choices, material properties, and ongoing degradation processes. It often happens that some critical information is not available. The traditional appro ...

2024

Micro modeling of irregular stone masonry walls using mathematical programming

Katrin Beyer, Qianqing Wang, Ketson Roberto Maximiano Dos Santos

While understanding the shear strength of stone masonry structures is important for the design and the mainte- nance, we still lack computational tools for predicting the strength as a function of the stone layout. Here we implement an end-to-end image bas ...

Springer2024

Water weakening and the compressive brittle strength of carbonates: Influence of fracture toughness and static friction

Marie Estelle Solange Violay, Barnaby Padraig Fryer, Corentin Jean-Marie Rémi Noël

Water is ubiquitous within the pore space of rocks and has been shown to affect their physical and mechanical behaviour. Indeed, water can act on the rock strength via mechanical (i.e., reducing the effective stresses) or chemical effects (e.g., mineral di ...

2024

Additive Manufacturing of Bioinspired Mineral-Based Composites

Ran Zhao

Biominerals are used by natural organisms for example as structural supports and optical sensors. They are produced from a limited number of elements and under ambient conditions. Nevertheless, they often possess excellent mechanical properties and sometim ...

EPFL2024

Experimental Investigation on Size-Effect of Rubble Stone Masonry Walls Under In-Plane Horizontal Loading: Overview and Preliminary Results

Katrin Beyer, Savvas Saloustros

Rubble stone masonry is a common construction typology of historical city centres and vernacular architecture. While past earthquakes have shown that it is one of the most vulnerable masonry construction typologies, there are few experimental campaigns giv ...

2024

Contributions to rebar-to-concrete interaction and its structural implications for design and monitoring applications

Enrique Corres Sojo

Bond between reinforcing bars and concrete has been the focus of extensive research over the last century. This is well-justified as the functioning of reinforced concrete intimately depends on the interaction between rebar and concrete, as for example cra ...

EPFL2024

Exploring the potential of the critical shear crack theory for reinforced and post-tensioned glass beams: Initial analysis and experiments

Alain Nussbaumer, Pieter Christian Louter, Jagoda Cupac

In the evolution of structural glass beam elements, the requirements for post-fracture load bearing capacity and safe failure behaviour have led to the development of reinforced and post-tensioned beams. Maximum bending capacity in the post-fracture state ...

2023

Energy dissipation in fiber-polymer composites adhesive joints under cyclic loading

Ghazaleh Eslami

Sustainable development has emerged as a paramount consideration in various fields of industry, including construction, to preserve the environment and its finite resources. Lightweight structures, such as fiber-polymer composite structures, address both s ...

EPFL2023

Experimental testing and structural analysis of composite tile – reinforced concrete domes

Savvas Saloustros

Conventional formworks for concrete curved shells either are expensive, complex and wasteful or have formal restrictions. Using tile vaults (also known as timbrel, Guastavino, thin-tile or Catalan vaults) as stay-in-place formwork for concrete shells could ...

2023

Multi-scale characterization and modeling of notched strength and translaminar fracture in hybrid thin-ply composites based on different carbon fiber grades

Guillaume Clément Broggi

Owing to their high specific stiffness and strength, Carbon Fiber Reinforced Composites (CFRP) are ideal candidates for the development of lightweight high-performance structures. Within this family, thin-ply composites allow for wider design freedom and p ...

EPFL2023

Reinforcement bond performance in 3D concrete printing: Explainable ensemble learning augmented by deep generative adversarial networks

Xianlin Wang

Integrating various reinforcements into 3D concrete printing (3DCP) is an efficient method to satisfy critical requirements for structural applications. This paper explores an explainable ensemble machine learning (EML) method to predict the bond failure m ...

Elsevier2023