F. Javier Baeza

• University of Alicante

The potential of ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) for strengthening masonry structures is evaluated in this work, both under normal service conditions and after exposure to high temperatures, as a significant gap has been identified on this topic at the present time. The mechanical properties of UHPC exposed up to 800 °C are analyzed by means...

En esta investigación se ha estudiado el uso de nanoadiciones conductoras, como los nanotubos de carbono (NTC) y productos de grafito (PG), en probetas de cemento para desarrollar las funciones de percepción de la deformación y calefacción. Para ello, se han fabricado probetas de pasta de cemento con adición de 1% NTC y 5% PG y se han realizado ens...

A key feature that determines the seismic performance of masonry buildings is the ability of the walls to withstand in-plane cyclic loads. In this context, Textile Reinforced Mortars (TRM) have proven to be a very suitable strengthening solution, although their effectiveness after high temperature exposure is currently practically unexplored. This...

While rammed earth structures are a sustainable design alternative, they are particularly vulnerable to horizontal forces such as seismic loads. Traditional seismic design techniques follow four main principles. (i) Improving connections and forming closed contours. (ii) Stabilizing structural elements by providing resistance and deformation capaci...

The behavior of masonry walls strengthened with Textile Reinforced Mortars (TRM) is a topic that has received considerable attention from researchers in recent years. However, the response of such elements after exposure to high temperature is an issue that remains to be explored extensively. This study analyzes the behavior of TRM-strengthened bri...

Although one of the main advantages of Textile Reinforced Mortars (TRM) is their non-combustible character, their behavior against fire or high temperatures has not been sufficiently studied at present. This work analyzes the behavior of different commercial systems containing inorganic mortars and fabric reinforcements based on glass, carbon and b...

Although the confinement of compressed columns with composite materials has been extensively studied during the last decades, scarce research has been conducted in the particular case of reinforcement of stone or masonry elements subjected to high temperatures. This work reports an experimental study on the mechanical behavior of cylindrical stone...

The European transport infrastructure sector is facing challenges to develop in a sustainable way, improving consumer safety and providing reliable performance in all conditions. A solution towards creating safer, more durable roads is investigated as part of the EU Horizon 2020 funded MASTRO project, which aims to develop intelligent bulk material...

Cement composites with hybrid conductive fillers carbon nanotubes (CNT) and graphite products (GP), have been tested as strain sensors under varying temperatures (0 °C–60 °C), and moisture conditions (0%–100% saturation degree (SD)). Cement pastes with 1% CNT and 5% GP (purified expanded graphite) presented resistivity values between 50 and 75 Ohm·...

Masonry walls exhibit low tensile strength and high material heterogeneity, which makes them especially vulnerable against cyclic loading conditions, such as those typical in earthquakes. This paper presents the experimental results obtained from tests on three masonry walls reinforced with textile reinforced mortar (TRM) materials subjected to in-...

Historical buildings are located in the city center, near squares where celebrations take place. These festivities usually include pyrotechnic events that impose blast loadings on historical buildings. In this paper, a methodology for the analysis of the dynamic response of historical buildings is presented, and applied to the Altamira Palace — a h...

This paper aims to study the viability of conductive cement paste and conductive concrete with the hybrid addition of carbon nanotubes (CNT) and graphite powder (GP) as a self-heating material for heating, ice formation prevention and de-icing in pavements. Different heating tests, ice-preventing tests and de-icing tests were performed with cement...

The current experimental study is focused on the mechanical performance of masonry walls under in-plane cyclic shear forces. All specimens were fabricated with a central window, in which the geometry considered the recommendations of the Spanish structural seismic design code. Windows represent a weak area in the masonry structure, in which there a...

The mechanical properties of stone materials can be severely affected by exposure to high temperatures. The effect of fire on stone buildings could cause irreversible damage and make it necessary to retrofit the affected elements. Particularly, the strengthening of columns by confinement with composites has been widely improved during the last deca...

The bond mechanism between steel and concrete can be compromised during a fire and is one of the least investigated phenomena in concrete research. In this work we present a thorough review of the experimental data available on this topic. The results from the tests reported by a number of researchers have been systematically collected in a databas...

Sustainability requirements are gaining importance in the construction industry, which needs to take specific measures in the design and construction of concrete structures. The use of recycled aggregates in concrete may be of special interest. Recycling a construction waste will close the life cycle of the original materials (e.g., concrete). Thus...

Different studies in the literature indicate the effectiveness of CNTs as reinforcing materials in cement–matrix composites due to their high mechanical strength. Nevertheless, their incorporation into cement presents some difficulties due to their tendency to agglomerate, yielding a non-homogeneous dispersion in the paste mix that results in a poo...

Architectural heritage is usually built with masonry structures, which present problems under lateral in-plane loading conditions, such as wind pressure or earthquakes. In order to improve the shear behavior of masonry, the use of a fabric-reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM) has become an interesting solution because of its synergy of mechanical...

There are many available studies on the reinforcement of columns by confinement with composite materials. However, in the particular case of stone elements, there is a lack of information regarding the performance of this solution under adverse conditions, which may occur during the life service of the structure. In this research, the confinement o...

This database contains experimental results that have been collected on steel-to-concrete bond strength after high temperature exposure. The results are sourced from a state of the art based on the available scientific literature in January 2019. The total number of references is 17, making a total of 466 experiments

In the last decades, there are many reports on the use of composites as reinforcement of structural elements under compression, especially regarding the confinement of concrete structures, but works on stone or masonry columns are limited. Initially, FRP jackets were used because their high structural performance. However, they present some drawbac...

En los últimos años, la crisis financiera global y la desaceleración económica que ha castigado a sectores como el de la construcción y obras públicas en España ha supuesto una drástica reducción de la demanda y calidad del alumnado que cursa titulaciones de Ingeniería Civil en todo el país. La investigación propuesta pretende explorar las sinergia...

The electrical resistivity of carbon fiber reinforced cement composites (CFRCC) has been widely studied for the functional applications of these composites. CFRCC with enhanced electrical properties can be used as strain or damage sensor, heating or deicing material, or anode in different electrochemical techniques, like chloride extraction or cath...

This document presents a systematic analysis of the damage causes of industrial masonry chimneys, i.e. cracking patterns, materials’ degradation and structural displacements. The methodology includes an adequate geometric evaluation with identification of each observed lesion, their situation and their environmental conditions. The industrial proce...

Steel rebars corrosion is one of the most important problems of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. The mechanical performance loss of RC elements because of steel corrosion can be aggravated under horizontal loads (e.g. wind pressure or seismic actions). This paper presents a methodology for the study of the seismic behavior of a residential typo...

The current version of the European standard for concrete structures gives tabulated data for the evolution of the mechanical properties of normal strength concrete subjected to elevated temperatures. However, the standard acknowledges the lack of sufficient data for the case of high strength concrete with limestone aggregate and there are no provi...

The development of information and communication technologies (ICT) and robotics is currently demonstrating its potential impact on different fields of application. With regard to cultural heritage, and architectural and engineering heritage in particular, these new technologies are changing the possibilities for structural capacity assessment and...

The new cable-stayed bridge built for the North-South axis road of Bari in order to overpass the railway of RFI and Ferrotramviaria s.p.a. has been recently built and opened to the traffic. The bridge is 626 m long and the central cable-stayed bays have a total length of 225 m. They are supported by cables connected to a central upside down Y-shape...

The fountain in the center of the Plaza de los Luceros is one of the most important monuments of the city of Alicante (Spain). This modernist structure was built by the local artist Daniel Bañuls in 1930, and is composed of a central body and four horse sculptures. It has been re-paired several times in the early years of XXI century, even the monu...

Cement composites with nano-additions have been vastly studied for their functional applications, such as strain and damage sensing. The capacity of a carbon nanofiber (CNF) cement paste has already been tested. However, this study is focused on the use of CNF cement composites as sensors in regular concrete samples. Different measuring techniques...

This paper presents a structural analysis of a masonry chimney, which is being catalogued as local interest heritage, according Eurocode 8. The chimney, located in Alicante (Spain), is severely damaged, and it shows several longitudinal cracks, and mortar loss between bricks. In order to guarantee the structural safety under seismic forces, the chi...

The present paper describes the application of an evolutionary algorithm to the optimum design of the reinforcement of timber beams using FRP laminates and sheets. The objective function is the material cost of the strengthening and is subjected to ten constraints derived from the ultimate limit states for flexural and shear behaviour as well as th...

BuildingInformationModeling (BIM) es una metodología de trabajo colaborativo para la creación y gestión de proyectos de arquitectura, ingeniería y construcción (AEC por sus siglas en inglés). Su objetivo principal es centralizar toda la información en un único modelo de información digital, generado por todos los agentes involucrados. La literatura...

Resumen La adición de fibras de carbono en materiales cementicios permite, además de mejorar sus prestaciones mecánicas, su utilización en otras funciones no estructurales, p. ej., sensor de deformaciones. Al incluir adiciones crecientes de fibras en pastas de escoria de alto horno activada alcalinamente se consiguió mejorar su resistencia a compre...

Building information modelling (BIM) is a collaborative work methodology for the creation and management of a construction project. Its aim is to centralize all project information in a digital information model created by all agents involved in its development. BIM supposes the evolution of traditional design systems based on plans, since it incor...

Resumen La versión actual del Eurocódigo 2 aporta datos tabulados para la evolución de las propiedades mecánicas de hormigones de resistencia convencional. Pero en el caso de hormigones de alta resistencia de áridos calizos se reconoce la falta de datos suficientes. Este trabajo presenta los resultados experimentales obtenidos en un hormigón conven...

The development of biocomposites has valorized some natural products related to natural processes or crop industries. In this regard, Posidonia oceanica is a marine phanerogam typical of Mediterranean coasts, in which due to tourism industry a lot of resources are destined to remove and treat Posidonia residues left on beaches. In this work an alte...

Alkaline activation has become a useful procedure to obtain high strength cement composites without Portland cement. Different industrial byproducts can be activated using this technique, e.g. blast furnace slag, fly ash or metakaolin. Thus a new generation of more sustainable composites is being developed. However, the main disadvantage of these c...

This paper aims to study the feasibility of highly conductive carbon fiber reinforced concrete (CFRC) as a self-heating material for ice formation prevention and curing in pavements. Tests were carried out in lab ambient conditions at different fixed voltages and then introduced in a freezer at -15°C. The specimens inside the freezer were exposed t...

This paper presents a structural analysis of a masonry chimney built in the 1950’s, which is currently being catalogued as local interest heritage. Several authors have studied the dynamic properties in masonry buildings [1-2]. These papers analyze the behavior of different chimneys using the finite element method with a linear analysis, taking int...

The present paper outlines the application of a genetic algorithm for the structural constrained optimization problem of the reinforcement of timber beams using composite materials. The genetic algorithm uses an objective function with adaptive penalization as well as an adaptive mutation scheme. The aim is to minimize the material cost of strength...

Additions to concrete may change some of its basic properties in several ways depending on the nature of these additions. The addition of fibers, in particular, has enabled new concrete characteristics, making standard concrete a very modern composite material. If the fibers are electrical conductors, the properties that change in addition to the m...

Keywords: bond strength; concrete structures; high strength concrete; concrete damaged plasticity; finite element analysis.

The results of the ambient-vibration based investigations carried out to assess the structural behaviour of masonry are presented. The chimney, dating back to 1950, and about 24 m high, is characterised by the presence of major cracks on the northeast facade. The assessment procedure includes full-scale ambient vibration testing, modal identificati...

En el conjunto de materiales de construcción habituales en la edificación y las obras de ingeniería, el hormigón destaca entre otras razones por su excelente comportamiento frente a las altas temperaturas y la exposición al fuego. El presente estudio se centra en la adherencia residual entre el hormigón y las barras de acero corrugado soldable tras...

A study on the static and dynamic properties of sawn timber beams reinforced with glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) is reported in this paper. The experimental program is focused on the behavior of unidirectional wooden slabs, and the main objective is to fulfill the service state limit upon vibrations using GFRP when an architectonical retrofi...

This paper presents a structural analysis of a masonry chimney built in the 1940s, which is currently being cataloged as local interest heritage. This structure has not served any industrial purpose for the last thirty years. The chimney is located in the town of Agost (Alicante - Spain) and directly exposed to the prevailing winds from the sea, as...

A study on the static and dynamic properties of timber beams reinforced with FRP is reported in this paper. The main objective is to determine the best FRP reinforcement configuration when an architectonical retrofitting solution is designed. With this final purpose three different stages have been developed. First of all an analytical and experime...

The viability of carbon nanofiber (CNF) composites in cement matrices as a self-heating material is reported in this paper. This functional application would allow the use of CNF cement composites as a heating element in buildings, or for deicing pavements of civil engineering transport infrastructures, such as highways or airport runways. Cement p...

El presente artículo analiza la eficacia de diferentes esquemas de refuerzo mediante materiales compuestos en vigas de madera laminada de género Picea Abies, y dimensiones 304x16x8 cm3, dentro del ámbito de la rehabilitación de forjados unidireccionales. Para ello se procede a la modelización numérica de las mismas, junto con varias tipologías de r...

The purpose of this paper is to study the dynamic behavior of a pedestrian bridge in Alicante (Spain), which showed vertical and horizontal vibration problems. Moreover, the deck's structural steel showed severe corrosion damage. Hence two cases were analyzed; before retrofitting the structure using glass fiber reinforced composites (GFRP), and aft...

In the present paper, changes in mechanical properties of Portland cement-based mortars due to the addition of carbon nanotubes (CNT) and corrosion of embedded steel rebars in CNT cement pastes are reported. Bending strength, compression strength, porosity and density of mortars were determined and related to the CNT dosages. CNT cement paste speci...

The electrical resistivity of carbon fiber reinforced cement composites (CFRCCs) has been widely studied, because of their utility as multifunctional materials. The percolation phenomenon has also been reported and modeled when the electrical behavior of those materials had to be characterized. Amongst the multiple applications of multifunctional c...

In recent years, several researchers have shown the good performance of alkali activated slag cement and concretes. Besides their good mechanical properties and durability, this type of cement is a good alternative to Portland cements if sustainability is considered. Moreover, multifunctional cement composites have been developed in the last decade...

Dentro de los cambios introducidos en el EEES, se incluyeron desde el curso 2011/2012 nuevas metodologías docentes en las asignaturas de Cálculo de Estructuras I y II en el Grado en Ingeniería Civil. En el caso de Cálculo de Estructuras I, se procedió a la incorporación de prácticas de laboratorio con diferentes tipologías de perfiles y materiales,...

Este artículo muestra la experiencia educativa en el ámbito de la resistencia de materiales en el grado de Ingeniería Civil, realizada la Universidad de Alicante. Con el reciente cambio en el plan de estudios, se han incorporado diez sesiones de laboratorio a la asignatura Cálculo de Estructuras I, con el objetivo de mejorar el aprendizaje de los a...

In this research, strain-sensing and damage-sensing functional properties of cement composites have been studied on a conventional reinforced concrete (RC) beam. Carbon nanofiber (CNFCC) and fiber (CFCC) cement composites were used as sensors on a 4 m long RC beam. Different casting conditions (in situ or attached), service location (under tension...

Desde finales del siglo XIX una de las características más importantes del hormigón como material estructural ha sido su buen comportamiento frente al fuego. El estado del arte en la actualidad cubre adecuadamente las variables que definen este comportamiento y los reglamentos de diseño recogen prescripciones para el dimensionamiento: tablas para e...

Se presenta un estudio de las propiedades estáticas y dinámicas de vigas de madera reforzadas con laminados de fibra de vidrio (GFRP). El objetivo es analizar el estado límite de servicio (ELS) de vibraciones, y la mejora de la ductilidad, mediante el uso de refuerzos de GFRP dentro de la rehabilitación de forjados unidireccionales. Se estudiaron d...

This paper reports on recent work that is directed at studying the changes in the mechanical properties of Portland cement based mortars due to the addition of carbon nanofiber (CNF). Both flexural and compression strength has been determined and related to the CNF addition to the mix, to the curing time and to the porosity and density of the matri...

Fiber reinforced concretes (FRC) are technologically important due to their combination of good structural properties, durability and multifunctional properties. The behavior of a structure under dynamic actions is determined by its dynamic mechanical properties and its total overall damping. In this work the influence of the steel fiber (SF) and c...

Gypsum, relegated in contemporaneous architecture to a secondary, auxiliary or decorative role, has been traditionally employed in some parts of Spain for building structural pillars, floors, massive walls, mortars, etc. The authors have studied this gypsum in its several local forms, from its firing in the kiln to the building process in order to...

The construction of concrete structures using silica fume (SF) additions is a common practice because it is well known that this pozzolanic material improves the compressive strength of concrete, among many other mechanical and physical properties. The response of a structure under dynamic actions is highly determined by the dynamic mechanical prop...

In this work, cement paste samples with 1% (by cement mass) of a conductive carbon fiber admixture have been studied under uniaxial compression. Three different arrangements were used to measure the resistivity of the samples. According to the results obtained, the resistance should be measured using the four wire method in order to obtain good sen...

The electrical resistivity of carbon fiber (CF) reinforced concrete with electrical continuity within the cement paste and sand/cement ratio 0.75 depends on the CF content and gravel/sand (g/s) ratio. For resistivity ≤500 Ω.cm, the mortar must exceed 62 vol.% and the cement paste must exceed 44 vol.%. The minimum resistivities provided by double pe...

This paper presents an analytical, numerical and experimental approach to detect, measure, locate and track moving loads in a structural element using discrete strain measures. An analytical model considering an Euler-Bernoulli beam was first studied in simple supported beam. Then a computer algorithm was implemented by using numerical models to au...