Crack-Based Assessment of Concrete Structures – New Ways to Interpret Cracks in Shear Critical Members
Event details
| Date | 02.06.2026 |
| Hour | 12:00 › 13:00 |
| Speaker | Prof. Giorgio T. Proestos, Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University in the United States. |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
Abstract
Concrete structures can crack as a result of extreme events or normal service conditions. Cracks, being one of the few visual indicators of distress in concrete structures, often raise questions about the safety of structural members. Many advanced methods exist to predict crack patterns and compare them with observations; however, in many cases, developing such models is not economically practical for rapid assessments. Additionally, if the predicted crack shapes and crack widths do not fully agree with observations, questions may remain regarding the applicability of the modeling approach. The structural engineering field lacks methods that use crack information in concrete structures as direct input to determine how close a member is to failure and to quantify how dangerous the observed cracks are. This seminar will describe recent research on the development of crack-based assessment methods for reinforced concrete members. The seminar will first introduce several large-scale experiments conducted on shear-critical beams and monitored using high-resolution, full-field-of-view, three-dimensional digital image correlation equipment. The presentation will describe how the detailed displacement field data are used to determine crack shapes and local crack kinematics, and how these data can be used to identify the shear transfer mechanisms along critical cracks. The presentation will then describe how the Two Parameter Kinematic Theory can be integrated with measured crack information to conduct crack-based assessments of deep beams. The results indicate the importance of accounting for crack properties and demonstrate how doing so significantly improves structural assessments. The seminar will conclude with a discussion of ongoing research and how the results are being used to develop generalized crack-based assessment methods.
Short Biography
Dr. Proestos is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University in the United States. His expertise is in the behavior, modeling, and experimental investigation of reinforced and prestressed concrete structures, with particular emphasis on the shear and torsional response of members. Dr. Proestos’s research in the Structural Engineering and Mechanics Group focuses on large-scale experimental testing, the development of practical tools for the assessment of concrete structures, the development of design procedures, and the development of new constitutive models and modeling techniques. Dr. Proestos serves as the Secretary of Joint ACI-ASCE Committee 445, Shear and Torsion, and leads a new initiative as Chair of Joint ACI-ASCE Subcommittee 445-F, Interface Shear. In 2018, he received the ACI Chester Paul Seiss Award, and in 2017, he received the ACI Design Award.
Concrete structures can crack as a result of extreme events or normal service conditions. Cracks, being one of the few visual indicators of distress in concrete structures, often raise questions about the safety of structural members. Many advanced methods exist to predict crack patterns and compare them with observations; however, in many cases, developing such models is not economically practical for rapid assessments. Additionally, if the predicted crack shapes and crack widths do not fully agree with observations, questions may remain regarding the applicability of the modeling approach. The structural engineering field lacks methods that use crack information in concrete structures as direct input to determine how close a member is to failure and to quantify how dangerous the observed cracks are. This seminar will describe recent research on the development of crack-based assessment methods for reinforced concrete members. The seminar will first introduce several large-scale experiments conducted on shear-critical beams and monitored using high-resolution, full-field-of-view, three-dimensional digital image correlation equipment. The presentation will describe how the detailed displacement field data are used to determine crack shapes and local crack kinematics, and how these data can be used to identify the shear transfer mechanisms along critical cracks. The presentation will then describe how the Two Parameter Kinematic Theory can be integrated with measured crack information to conduct crack-based assessments of deep beams. The results indicate the importance of accounting for crack properties and demonstrate how doing so significantly improves structural assessments. The seminar will conclude with a discussion of ongoing research and how the results are being used to develop generalized crack-based assessment methods.
Short Biography
Dr. Proestos is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University in the United States. His expertise is in the behavior, modeling, and experimental investigation of reinforced and prestressed concrete structures, with particular emphasis on the shear and torsional response of members. Dr. Proestos’s research in the Structural Engineering and Mechanics Group focuses on large-scale experimental testing, the development of practical tools for the assessment of concrete structures, the development of design procedures, and the development of new constitutive models and modeling techniques. Dr. Proestos serves as the Secretary of Joint ACI-ASCE Committee 445, Shear and Torsion, and leads a new initiative as Chair of Joint ACI-ASCE Subcommittee 445-F, Interface Shear. In 2018, he received the ACI Chester Paul Seiss Award, and in 2017, he received the ACI Design Award.
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free
Organizer
- CONSTRUCT Lab
Contact
- Prof. David Ruggiero