• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 2009

Failure modes result in fracture or tearing, which may cause deterioration of resistance and reduction of inelastic deformation capacity. The potential failure modes for Special Concentrically Braced Frames (SCBFs) include fracture or tearing of the brace, net section fracture of the brace or gusset plate, fracture of the gusset plate welds, shear fracture of the bolts, block shear, excessive bolt bearing deformation, and buckling of the gusset plate. HSS tubular braces are commonly used in SCBFs, and net section fracture of the tubular brace may also occur through the brace net section at the end of the slot cut into the tube to slip over the gusset plate. This failure mode is categorized as a tension failure mode, and may cause dramatic loss of resistance and brittle behavior. Net section reinforcement is required according to AISC design specifications (AISC 2001). In this paper, the need to reinforce the net section area was discussed. Initially, the results of the net section fracture tests done by the University of California in Berkeley were presented with the modeling of these tests using FE models. To investigate the possibility of net section fracture in an actual frame, the slot end hole model was adapted to the frame FE model, and alternate near-fault histories were applied with tension-dominated cycles, since previous analyses showed that loading history was the most critical factor in net section fracture. The need for this reinforcement (cover plate) and the tension-dominated near-fault history were investigated.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2020

This paper presents experimental and numerical studies on effects of local damages on the in-plane elastic-plastic buckling and strength of a fixed parabolic steel tubular arch under a vertical load distributed uniformly over its span, which have not been reported in the literature hitherto. The in-plane structural behaviour and strength of ten specimens with different local damages are investigated experimentally. A finite element (FE) model for damaged steel tubular arches is established and is validated by the test results. The FE model is then used to conduct parametric studies on effects of the damage location, depth and length on the strength of steel arches. The experimental results and FE parametric studies show that effects of damages at the arch end on the strength of the arch are more significant than those of damages at other locations of the arch, and that effects of the damage depth on the strength of arches are most significant among those of the damage length. It is also found that the failure modes of a damaged steel tubular arch are much related to its initial geometric imperfections. The experimental results and extensive FE results show that when the effective cross-section considering local damages is used in calculating the modified slenderness of arches, the column bucking curve b in GB50017 or Eurocode3 can be used for assessing the remaining in-plane strength of locally damaged parabolic steel tubular arches under uniform compression. Furthermore, a useful interaction equation for assessing the remaining in-plane strength of damaged steel tubular arches that are subjected to the combined bending and axial compression is also proposed based on the validated FE models. It is shown that the proposed interaction equation can provide lower bound assessments for the remaining strength of damaged arches under in-plane general loading.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.49-58
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• 2020

In domestic construction sites, when installing steel pipe scaffolding and system scaffolding, the guardrails are installed after the installation of the work platforms. This conventional guardrail system (CGS) is always exposed to the risk of falls because the safety railing is installed later. In order to prevent fall disasters during erecting and dismantling scaffolds, it is necessary to introduce the advanced guardrail system (AGS) which installs railings in advance of climbing onto a work platform. For the introduction of the AGS, the structural performance of the system scaffolding applying the CGS and the AGS was compared and evaluated. The structural analysis of the system scaffold (height: 31 m and width: 27.4 m) with AGS confirmed that structural safety was ensured because the maximum stress of each element of the system scaffolding satisfies the allowable stress of each element. As a result of performance comparison of CGS and AGS for each element, the combined stress ratio of vertical posts in AGS was 6.4% lower than that of CGS. In addition, in the case of ledger and transom, the combined stress ratios of AGS and CGS were almost the same. The compression test of the assembled system scaffolding (three-storied, 1 bay) showed that the AGS had better performance than the CGS by 9.7% (8.91 kN). The cross bracing exceeds the limit on slenderness ratio of codes for structural steel design. But the safety factor for the compressive load of the cross bracing was evaluated as meeting the design criteria by securing 3 or more. In actual experiments, it was confirmed that brace buckling did not occur even though the overall scaffold was buckled. Therefore, in the case of temporary structures, it was proposed to revise the standards for limiting on slenderness ratio of secondary or auxiliary elements to recommendations. This study can be used as basic data for the introduction of AGS for installing guardrails in advance at domestic construction sites.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.73-84
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• 1993

In this research, configuration design optimization of plane truss structure has been tested by using decomposition technique. In the first level, the problem of transferring the nonlinear programming problem to linear programming problem has been effectively solved and the number of the structural analysis necessary for doing the sensitivity analysis can be decreased by developing stress constraint into member stress approximation according to the design space approach which has been proved to be efficient to the sensitivity analysis. And the weight function has been adopted as cost function in order to minimize structures. For the design constraint, allowable stress, buckling stress, displacement constraint under multi-condition and upper and lower constraints of the design variable are considered. In the second level, the nodal point coordinates of the truss structure are used as coordinating variable and the objective function has been taken as the weight function. By treating the nodal point coordinates as design variable, unconstrained optimal design problems are easy to solve. The decomposition method which optimize the section areas in the first level and optimize configuration variables in the second level was applied to the plane truss structures. The numerical comparisons with results which are obtained from numerical test for several truss structures with various shapes and any design criteria show that convergence rate is very fast regardless of constraint types and configuration of truss structures. And the optimal configuration of the truss structures obtained in this study is almost the identical one from other results. The total weight couldbe decreased by 5.4% - 15.4% when optimal configuration was accomplished, though there is some difference.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.39-55
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• 1992

In this research, a Three Level Decomposition technique has been developed for configuration design optimization of truss structures. In the first level, as design variables, behavior variables are used and the strain energy has been treated as the cost function to be maximized so that the truss structure can absorb maximum energy. For design constraint of the optimal design problem, allowable stress, buckling stress, and displacement under multi-loading conditions are considered. In the second level, design problem is formulated using the cross-sectional area as the design variable and the weight of the truss structure as the cost function. As for the design constraint, the equilibrium equation with the optimal displacement obtained in the first level is used. In the third level, the nodal point coordinates of the truss structure are used as coordinating variable and the weight has been taken as the cost function. An advantage of the Three Level Decomposition technique is that the first and second level design problems are simple because they are linear programming problems. Moreover, the method is efficient because it is not necessary to carry out time consuming structural analysis and techniques for sensitivity analysis during the design optimization process. By treating the nodal point coordinates as design variables, the third level becomes unconstrained optimal design problems which is easier to solve. Moreover, by using different convergence criteria at each level of design problem, improved convergence can be obtained. The proposed technique has been tested using four different truss structures to yield almost identical optimum designs in the literature with efficient convergence rate regardless of constraint types and configuration of truss structures.