• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.13 no.1 s.53
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• pp.195-204
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• 2009

Application of steel plates is one of widely used methods for shear strengthening of reinforced concrete beams that are insufficient of shear capacity. While the existing method applying solid steel plates provides good shear rigidity, however, it is concerned by brittle bond failure patterns, inefficient material usage, and low constructability. The use of strap type steel plates has also shortcomings of low strenthening effect due to small interface bonding area and ununified behavior between plates and main body. Therefore, this study aims to introduce the shear strengthening method using slit type steel plate, which can solve out the problems aforementioned, and to verify its strengthening effects on shear capacity. A total of 13 specimens strengthened by slit type steel plates were fabricated with primary test parameters of plate width, slit spacing, and plate thickness. The test results from this study were also compared to those from the existing research on RC beams strengthened by strap type steel plates, and the strengthening effects on shear capacity of specimens having bonded slit type steel plates were quantitatively analyzed. The test results showed that the RC beams strengthened by slit type steel plates had greater shear capacities than those with strap type steel plates, which is considered to be the effects of improved composite behavior and larger interface bonding area in the RC beams strengthened by the slit type steel plates.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.72-81
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• 2007

This study mainly aims at suggesting plans applicable to the outdoor of environment-friendly communities in Korea by leveraging more natural conditions and materials when creating an outdoor biotop for an environment-friendly community and generating material types and development techniques enabling a natural circulation system. To this end, materials used in the outdoor of environment-friendly communities and traditional residential areas in Korea and biotop materials found in natural areas were examined. First, when the case examples of environment-friendly communities were reviewed, biotop spaces and materials that may function as habitats were hardly found. Materials used in biotop were mainly man-made structures made of artificial or processed materials, such as concrete, stones, bricks, woods and steels. Meanwhile, the outdoor space of traditional Korean villages had stone walls, soil walls, rock piles and composite piles, which composed of natural materials such as rocks, soil and plants, that naturally formed porous spaces along with the introduction of plants and provided habitats for a variety of insects. In natural areas, naturally created biotop spaces, such as rock piles, log piles, old tree deployment, branch piles, hay stacks and defoliated leaves, were found. Meanwhile, when spaces and materials available for biotop creation were reviewed to create an environment-friendly residential complex, they were divided into fences and hedges, green spaces between parks and residential buildings, ponds and waterscape spaces, zones separating pedestrian walks and roadways, breast walls and slope boundary, plant box and pergola. For each space, materials used for creating biotops and that were found in traditional Korean residential areas and natural areas were applied and suggested.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.731-748
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• 2016

Pile-to-pilecap connection performance is important as Integral abutment bridges (IABs) have no expansion joints and their flexible weak-axis oriented supporting piles take the role of the expansion joint. This connection may govern the bridge strength and the performance against various lateral loads. The intention of this study is to identify crack propagation patterns when the pile-to-pilecap connection is subjected to lateral loadings and to propose novel connections for improved performance under lateral loadings. In this study, eight different types of connections were developed and modeled, using Abaqus 6.12 to evaluate performances. Three types were developed by strengthening the connections using rebar or steel tube: (i) PennDOT specification; (ii) Spiral rebar; and (iii) HSS tube. Other types were developed by softening the connections using shape modifications: (i) cylindrical hole; (ii) reduced flange; (iii) removed flange; (iv) extended hole; and (v) slot hole connection types. The connections using the PennDOT specification, HSS tube, and cylindrical hole were shown to be ineffective in the prevention of cracks, resulting in lower structural capacities under the lateral load compared to other types. The other developed connections successfully delayed or arrested the concrete crack initiations and propagations. Among the successful connection types, the spiral rebar connection allowed a relatively larger reaction force, which can damage the superstructure of the IABs. Other softened connections performed better in terms of minimized reaction forces and crack prevention.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.481-492
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• 2020

To study the rail mapped deformation caused by the pier settlement of simply - supported bridges with China Railway Track System III (CRTS III) slab ballastless track (SBT) system under the mode of non-longitudinal connection ballastless track slab, this study derived an analytical solution to the mapped relationships between pier settlement and rail deformation based on the interlayer interaction mechanism of rail-pier and principle of stationary potential energy. The analytical calculation results were compared with the numerical results obtained by ANSYS finite element calculation, thus verifying the accuracy of analytical method. A parameter analysis was conducted on the key factors in rail mapped deformation such as pier settlement, fastener stiffness, and self-compacting concrete (SCC) stiffness of filling layer. The results indicate that rail deformation is approximately proportional to pier settlement. The smaller the fastener stiffness, the smoother the rail deformation curve and the longer the rail deformation area is. With the increase in the stiffness of SCC filling layer, the maximum positive deformation of rail gradually decreases, and the maximum negative deformation gradually increases. The deformation of rail caused by the pier settlement of common-span bridge structures will generate low-frequency excitation on high-speed trains.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.491-502
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• 2006

This paper summarizes full-scale test results on CFT column-to- flat plate connections has gained wide acceptance subjected to gravity loading. CFT construction has gained wide acceptance in a relatively short time in domestic building construction practice due to its various structural and construction advantages. However, efficient details for CFT column to flat plate connections have not been proposed yet. Based on the strategies that maximize economical field construction, several connecting schemes were proposed and tested. Test results showed strength and connection stiffness exceeding those of R/C flat p late counterparts. A semi-analytical procedure is presented to model the behavior of CFT column-to-flat plate connections. The five parameters to model elastic to post-punching catenary action range are calibrated based on the limited test data of t to progressive collapse prevention design is also illustrated.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.58 no.2
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• pp.277-300
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• 2016

Cold-formed steel (CFS) sections are becoming an increasingly popular solution for constructing floors in residential, healthcare and education buildings. Their reduced weight, however, makes them prone to excessive vibrations, increasing the need for accurate prediction of CFS floor modal properties. By combining experimental modal analysis of a full-scale CFS framed building and its floors and their numerical finite element (FE) modelling this paper demonstrates that the existing methods (based on the best engineering judgement) for predicting CFS floor modal properties are unreliable. They can yield over 40% difference between the predicted and measured natural frequencies for important modes of vibration. This is because the methods were adopted from other floor types (e.g., timber or standard steel-concrete composite floors) and do not take into account specific features of CFS floors. Using the adjusted and then updated FE model, featuring semi-rigid connections led to markedly improved results. The first four measured and calculated CFS floor natural frequencies matched exactly and all relevant modal assurance criterion (MAC) values were above 90%. The introduction of flexible supports and more realistic modelling of the floor boundary conditions, as well as non-structural $fa{\c{c}}ade$ walls, proved to be crucial in the development of the new more successful modelling strategy. The process used to develop 10 identified and experimentally verified FE modelling parameters is based on published information and parameter adjustment resulting from FE model updating. This can be utilised for future design of similar lightweight steel floors in prefabricated buildings when checking their vibration serviceability, likely to be their governing design criterion.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.439-447
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• 2018

The structural behaviors of cylindrical barns as a specific engineering structure have been considered as a complicated computing process. The structure design against the earthquake load, to protect by using the code, is an urgency avoiding unexpected damages. The situation has been subjected to the applied design method if there would be no failure across the construction procedures. The purpose of the current study is to clarify the behaviors of cylindrical reinforced concrete barns through the analytic methods across the mass and Lagrangian approaches through the whole outcomes comparison indicating that the isoparametric element obtained from the Lagrangian approach has been successfully applied in the barns earthquake analysis when the slosh effects have been discarded. The form of stress distributions is equal with $s_z$ closed distributions to one another.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.1015-1039
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• 2014

The widening project on Freeway No.1 in Taiwan has a total length of roughly 14 kilometers, and includes three special bridges, namely a 216 m long-span bridge crossing the original freeway, an F-bent double decked bridge in a co-constructed section, and a steel and prestressed concrete composite bridge. This study employed in-situ monitoring in conjunction with numerical modeling to establish a real-time monitoring system for the three bridges. In order to determine the initial static and dynamic behavior of the real bridges, forced vibration experiments, in-situ static load experiments, and dynamic load experiments were first carried out on the newly-constructed bridges before they went into use. Structural models of the bridges were then established using the finite element method, and in-situ vehicle load weight, arrangement, and speed were taken into consideration when performing comparisons employing data obtained from experimental measurements. The results showed consistency between the analytical simulations and experimental data. After determining a bridge's initial state, the proposed in-situ monitoring system, which is employed in conjunction with the established finite element model, can be utilized to assess the safety of a bridge's members, providing useful reference information to bridge management agencies.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.399-414
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• 1997

This paper presents an investigation into the seismic response characteristics of a proposed ligh-weight pedestrian cable-stayed bridge made entirely from Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastics(GFRP). The study employs three dimensional finite element models to study and compare the dynamic characteristics and the seismic response of the GFRP bridge to a conventional Steel-Concrete (SC) cable-stayed bridge alternative. The two bridges were subjected to three synthetic earthquakes that differ in the frequency content characteristics. The performance of the GFRP bridge was compared to that of the SC bridge by normalizing the live load and the seismic internal forces with respect to the dead load internal forces. The normalized seismically induced internal forces were compared to the normalized live load internal forces for each design alternative. The study shows that the design alternatives have different dynamic characteristics. The light GFRP alternative has more flexible deck motion in the lateral direction than the heavier SC alternative. While the SC alternative has more vertical deck modes than the GFRP alternative, it has less lateral deck modes than the GFRP alternative in the studied frequency range. The GFRP towers are more flexible in the lateral direction than the SC towers. The GFRP bridge tower attracted less normalized base shear force than the SC bridge towers. However, earthquakes, with peak acceleration of only 0.1 g, and with a variety of frequency content could induce high enough seismic internal forces at the tower bases of the GFRP cable-stayed bridge to govern the structural design of such bridge. Careful seismic analysis, design, and detailing of the tower connections are required to achieve satisfactory seismic performance of GFRP long span bridges.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.257-289
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• 2015

Shear connectors are generally used to link the slab and girders together in slab-on-girder bridge structures. Damage of shear connectors in such structures will result in shear slippage between the slab and girders, which significantly reduces the load-carrying capacity of the bridge. Because shear connectors are buried inside the structure, routine visual inspection is not able to detect conditions of shear connectors. A few methods have been proposed in the literature to detect the condition of shear connectors based on vibration measurements. This paper proposes a different dynamic condition assessment approach to identify the damage of shear connectors in slab-on-girder bridge structures based on power spectral density transmissibility (PSDT). PSDT formulates the relationship between the auto-spectral densities of two responses in the frequency domain. It can be used to identify shear connector conditions with or without reference data of the undamaged structure (or the baseline). Measured impact force and acceleration responses from hammer tests are analyzed to obtain the frequency response functions at sensor locations by experimental modal analysis. PSDT from the slab response to the girder response is derived with the obtained frequency response functions. PSDT vectors in the undamaged and damaged states can be compared to identify the damage of shear connectors. When the baseline is not available, as in most practical cases, PSDT vectors from the measured response at a reference sensor to those of the slab and girder in the damaged state can be used to detect the damage of shear connectors. Numerical and experimental studies on a concrete slab supported by two steel girders are conducted to investigate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed approach. Identification results demonstrate that damages of shear connectors are identified accurately and efficiently with and without the baseline. The proposed method is also used to evaluate the conditions of shear connectors in a real composite bridge with in-field testing data.