• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.4
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• pp.475-483
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• 2018

Square tubular columns are commonly used in moment resisting frames, while through-diaphragm connection is the most typical configuration detail to connect the H-shaped beam to the column. However, brittle fracture normally occurs at the complete joint penetration weld between the beam flange and the through-diaphragm due to the stress concentration caused by the geometrical discontinuity. Accordingly, three improved types of through-diaphragm are presented in this paper to provide smooth force flow path comparing to that of conventional connections. Tensile tests were conducted on four specimens and the results were analyzed in terms of failure modes, load-displacement response, yield and ultimate capacity, and initial stiffness. Furthermore, strain distributions on the through-diaphragm, the beam flange plate, and the column face were comprehensively evaluated and discussed. It was found that all the proposed three types of improved through-diaphragm connections were able to reduce the stress concentration in the welds between the beam flange and the through-diaphragm. Furthermore, the stress distribution in connection with longer tapered through-diaphragm was more uniform.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.187-196
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• 2020

Double skin composite wall system owns several structural merits in terms of high load-carrying capacity, large axial stiffness, and favorable ductility. A recently proposed form of truss connector was used to bond the steel plates to the concrete core to achieve good composite action. The structural behavior of rectangular high walls under compression and T-shaped high walls under eccentric compression has been investigated by the authors. Furthermore, the influences of the truss spacings, the wall width, and the faceplate thickness have been previously studied by the authors on short walls under uniform compression. This paper experimentally investigated the effect of width-to-thickness ratio on the compressive behavior of short walls. Compressive tests were conducted on three short specimens with different width-to-thickness ratios. Based on the test results, it is found that the composite wall shows high compressive resistance and good ductility. The walls fail by local buckling of steel plates and crushing of concrete core. It is also observed that width-to-thickness ratio has great influence on the compressive resistance, initial stiffness, and strain distribution across the section. Finally, the test results are compared with the predictions by modern codes.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.69-78
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• 2000

Creep of concrete is the most dominating factor affecting time-dependent deformations of concrete structures. Especially, creep deformation for design and construction in prestressed concrete structures should be predicted accurately because of its close relation with the loss in prestree of prestressed concrete structures. Existing creep-prediction models for special applications contain several impractical factors such as the lack ok accuracy, the requirement of long-term test and the lack of versatility for change in material properties, ets., which should be improved. In order to improve those drawbacks, a methodology to modify the creep-prediction equation specified in current Korean concrete structures design standard (KCI-99), which underestimates creep of concrete and does not consider change of condition in mixture design, is proposed. In this study, short-term creep tests were carried out for early-age concrete within 28 days after loading and their test results on influencing factors in the equation are analysed. Then, the prediction equation was modified by using the early-age creep test results. The modified prediction equation was verified by comparing their results with results obtained from long-term creep test.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.271-283
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• 2010

Testing of ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) is one of the most popular and actual non-destructive techniques used in the estimation of the concrete properties in structures. In this paper, artificial neural network (ANN) approach has been proposed for the evaluation of relationship between concrete compressive strength, UPV, and density values by using the experimental data obtained from many cores taken from different reinforced concrete structures with different ages and unknown ratios of concrete mixtures. The presented approach enables to find practically concrete strengths in the reinforced concrete structures, whose records of concrete mixture ratios are not yet available. Thus, researchers can easily evaluate the compressive strength of concrete specimens by using UPV values. The method can be used in conditions including too many numbers of the structures and examinations to be done in restricted time duration. This method also contributes to a remarkable reduction of the computational time without any significant loss of accuracy. Statistic measures are used to evaluate the performance of the models. The comparison of the results clearly shows that the ANN approach can be used effectively to predict the compressive strength of concrete by using UPV and density data. In addition, the model architecture can be used as a non-destructive procedure for health monitoring of structural elements.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.81-88
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• 2023

Numerous factors contribute to the deterioration of reinforced concrete structures. Elevated temperatures significantly alter the composition of the concrete ingredients, consequently diminishing the concrete's strength properties. With the escalation of global CO2 levels, the carbonation of concrete structures has emerged as a critical challenge, substantially affecting concrete durability research. Assessing and predicting concrete degradation due to thermal effects and carbonation are crucial yet intricate tasks. To address this, multiple prediction models for concrete carbonation and compressive strength under thermal impact have been developed. This study employs seven machine learning algorithms-specifically, multiple linear regression, decision trees, random forest, support vector machines, k-nearest neighbors, artificial neural networks, and extreme gradient boosting algorithms-to formulate predictive models for concrete carbonation and thermal impact. Two distinct datasets, derived from reported experimental studies, were utilized for training these predictive models. Performance evaluation relied on metrics like root mean square error, mean square error, mean absolute error, and coefficient of determination. The optimization of hyperparameters was achieved through k-fold cross-validation and grid search techniques. The analytical outcomes demonstrate that neural networks and extreme gradient boosting algorithms outshine the remaining five machine learning approaches, showcasing outstanding predictive performance for concrete carbonation and thermal effect modeling.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.485-497
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• 2024

Ring beam is the main anchorage zone of the tendons in the nuclear power prestressed concrete containment vessel (PCCV). Its safety is crucial and has a great influence on the overall performance of PCCV. In this paper, two half-scale ring beams were tested to investigate the mechanical performance of the anchorage zone in the PCCV under multidirectional pressure. The effect of working condition with different tension sequences was investigated. Additionally, a half axisymmetric plane model of the containment was established by the finite element simulation to further predict the experimental responses and propose the local reinforcement design in the anchorage zone of the ring beam. The results showed that the ultimate load of the specimens under both working conditions was greater than the nominal ultimate tensile force. The original reinforcement design could meet the bearing capacity requirements, but there was still room for optimization. The ring beam was generally under pressure in the anchorage area, while the splitting force appeared in the under-anchor area, and the spalling force appeared in the corner area of the tooth block, which could be targeted for local strengthening design.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.405-413
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• 2020

Current study on the buckling analysis of steel plate in composite structures normally focuses on applying finite element method to derive the buckling stress. However, it is time consuming, computationally complicated and tedious for general use in design by civil engineers. Therefore, in this study an analytical study is conducted to predict the buckling behavior of steel plates in composite structures. Hand calculation method was proposed based on energy principle. Novel buckling shapes with biquadratic functions along both loaded and unloaded direction were proposed to satisfy the boundary condition. Explicit solutions for predicting the critical local buckling stress of steel plate is obtained based on the Rayleigh-Ritz approach. The obtained results are compared with both experimental and numerical data. Good agreement has been achieved. Furthermore, the influences of key factors such as aspect ratio, width to thickness ratio, and elastic restraint stiffness on the local buckling performance are comprehensively discussed.

• Architectural research
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.53-58
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• 2013

High strength concrete is being used increasingly in mass structure projects. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of temperature during mixing, placing and curing on the strength development, hydration products and pore structures of high strength concrete in mass structures. The experiments were conducted with two different model walls, viz.: 1.5 m and 0.3 m under typical summer and winter weather conditions. The final part of this study deal with the clarification of the relationship between the long-term strength loss and the microstructure of the high strength concrete at high temperatures. Test results indicated that high elevated temperatures in mass concrete structures significantly accelerate the strength development of concrete at the early ages, while the long-term strength development is decreased. The long-term strength loss is caused by the decomposition of ettringite and increased the total porosity and amount of small pores.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.517-526
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• 2004

In the resent years, the early evaluation of concrete quality, construction and maintenance has been considered as all is of major concern due to the increase of loading and the degradation of structures related with time. This paper presents evaluation of structural safety performance using measured data of construction, on the basis of a field measurements for the prevention of unreliable concrete works. Measurements analyzed in this paper are early quality condition and performance assessment, serviceability performance by cracks and deflection, rating performance by loading, durability performance by chloride attack and carbonation. Thus, a quantitative assessment model of resistance capacity was developed here to meet the requirement for deteriorated concrete structures. The model focuses on damage mechanical of concrete structures deteriorated by initial damage factors for concrete quality and environment factors such as chloride and carbonation attacks. These results could provide useful information for concrete structures interested in design, construction and maintenance.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1999.04a
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• pp.299-304
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• 1999

Cracking of concrete is one of the main issues of structural design next to ensuring the load-bearing capacity. Thermal cracking is a recurring concern in the production of concrete structures in particular when large, massive structures are considered. Thremal stresses arise from the differential temperature distribution either within s sturcture or between newly cast sectons and adjoining older parts. There are many different methods of reducing thermal stresses. A method often used for reducing temperature within a structure, is to cool the inner core with embedded cooling pipes. In this study, finite element method is employed for thermal analysis of concrete structures. To calculate water temperature variation in pipe, the conservation of thermal energy in internal flow was adopted. The cooling effect of pipe cooling is studied with several factors like convective coefficient, water temperature, concrete heat characteristics