• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.605-628
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• 2008

In bridge structures, damage may induce an additional deflection which may naturally contain essential information about the damage. However, inverse mapping from the damage-induced deflection to the actual damage location and severity is generally complex, particularly for statically indeterminate systems. In this paper, a new load concept, called the positive-bending-inspection-load (PBIL) is proposed to construct a simple inverse mapping from the damage-induced deflection to the actual damage location. A PBIL for an inspection region is defined as a load or a system of loads which guarantees the bending moment to be positive in the inspection region. From the theoretical investigations, it was proven that the damage-induced chord-wise deflection (DI-CD) has the maximum value with the abrupt change in its slope at the damage location under a PBIL. Hence, a novel damage localization method is proposed based on the DI-CD under a PBIL. The procedure may be summarized as: (1) identification of the modal flexibility matrices from acceleration measurements, (2) design for a PBIL for an inspection region of interest in a structure, (3) calculation of the chord-wise deflections for the PBIL using the modal flexibility matrices, and (4) damage localization by finding the location with the maximum DI-CD with the abrupt change in its slope within the inspection region. Procedures from (2)-(4) can be repeated for several inspection regions to cover the whole structure complementarily. Numerical verification studies were carried out on a simply supported beam and a three-span continuous beam model. Experimental verification study was also carried out on a two-span continuous beam structure with a steel box-girder. It was found that the proposed method can identify the damage existence and damage location for small damage cases with narrow cuts at the bottom flange.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.985-988
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• 2008

Maglev is a system that a train runs levitated above a rail. Therefore it is very important to maintain a constant levitation gap for achieving serviceability and ride comfort. This study is a cooperation research subject of the 3-1 subject, performance improvement of maglev track structures, of the Center for Urban Maglev Program in Korea, started in 2006. The aim of this study is development of rapid constructions of bridge superstructure for maglev. At present, precast deck is widely used because of its superiority to cast-in-place concrete on quality and the term of works. The research group suggested basic systems of maglev guideway with PSC-U type and trapezoidal open steel box type girder, and precast deck, cooperating with Korea Railroad Research Institute, the managing institute of the 3-1 subject. In this study, full-scale structure was fabricated for structural safety evaluation of precast decks and rail, and a static performance test of those structures was performed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.333-345
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• 2008

concrete deck bridges are increasingly aplied to twin- girder bridges and open-stel box girder bridges.One of the most dificult isues in the design of shear conect ors is the mater of achieving ful composite action. Many connectors in smal area require a significant section los of precast decks resulting in difficult reinforcement details. In this closer spacing than the required minimum spacing in the design codes was evaluated through static tests. Test results s howed that the ultimate strength decreased as the conector spacing was reduced. The strength enhancement was observed due to aditional reinforcement for precast slabs or for shear pockets. Thus, the design of group stud shear connection needs to anticipate failure modes and the conector failure should be induced. Based on the test results, an empirical equation consi dering stud spacing was proposed to evaluate the ultimate strength of group stud shear conection. Fatigue tests showed n o reduction in fatigue life of the group stud shear conection in the range of this research. Details of the precast decks wer e enhanced using the findings of the study.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.303-312
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• 2007

Steel box girder bridges are being commonly designed for medium-span bridges of span length. Composite truss bridges with steel diagonals instead of concrete webs can be an excellent design alternative, because it can reduce the dead weight of superstructures. One of the key issues in the design of composite truss bridges is the joint structureconnecting the diagonal steel members with the upper and lower concrete slabs. Because the connection has to carry concentrated combined loads and the design provisions for the joint are not clear, it is necessary to investigate the load transfer mechanism and the design methods for each limit state. There are various connection details according to the types of diagonal members. In this paper, the joint structure with group stud connectors welded on a gusset plate is used. Push-out tests for the group stud connectors of were performed. The test results showed that the current design codes on the ultimate strength ofthe stud connection can be used when the required minimum spacing of stud connectors is satisfied. Flexure-shear tests were conducted to verify the applicability of the design provisions for combined load effects to the strength of joint structures. To increase the pullout strength of the connection, bent studs were proposed and utilized for the edge studs in the group arrangement of the joint. The results showed that the details of the joint structure were enhanced. Thereafter, design guidelines were proposed.