Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Committee Chair

Ever J Barbero

Committee Co-Chair

Udaya Halabe

Committee Member

Eduardo Sosa

Abstract

Using fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) to strengthen dilapidated and failing reinforced concrete structures is becoming more frequent and often a cheaper alternative to traditional strengthening methods. Computer Aided Design Environment for Composites (CADEC) assists in the design and analysis of composite materials but lacks a user-friendly environment for the design and verification of strengthened reinforced concrete beams and columns. Therefore, design software methods are needed to develop an add-on application.;The development of the design software methods was done using C# (pronounced "C Sharp"), an object-orientated language, because of the object classes. The object classes were used to allow other design philosophies to be implemented when creating usable applications. The object classes are organized into required strengthening (bending, shear, pure axial, and combination of axial and bending) and major design steps (preliminary design, original design, FRP configuration and design, and verification). An application was created to validate the design software methods. The application was created using Windows Forms that were organized into four paths (beams in flexure, beams in shear, columns, and beam-columns). Each path allowed the users to enter required parameters and then used associated object classes to automate the design process with minimal user involvement.;Analysis of the developed application using available strengthening design examples resulted in identical or very minor differences between the object classes used and the examples. Any major differences were anticipated because of the design of the class methods requiring a percent error. Overall, the object classes were effective; though some of the methods were often redundant and inefficient. The application was also over simplified allowing potential user errors to happen if the user is not familiar with the application's operation.

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