• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.4146-4158
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• 2022

Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) has been widely utilized in military and civil protective structures to resist intensive loadings attributed to its excellent properties, e.g., high tensile/compressive strength, high dynamic toughness and impact resistance. At present, aiming to improve the defects of the traditional vertical concrete cask (VCC), i.e., the external storage facility of spent fuel, with normal strength concrete (NSC) shield, e.g., heavy weight and difficult to fabricate/transform, the feasibility of UHPC applied in the shield of VCC is numerically examined considering its high radiation and corrosion resistance. Firstly, the finite element (FE) analyses approach and material model parameters of NSC and UHPC are verified based on the 1/3 scaled VCC tip-over test and drop hammer test on UHPC members, respectively. Then, the refined FE model of prototypical VCC is established and utilized to examine its dynamic behaviors and damage distribution in accidental tip-over and end-drop events, in which the various influential factors, e.g., UHPC shield thickness, concrete ground thickness, and sealing methods of steel container are considered. In conclusion, by quantitatively evaluating the safety of VCC in terms of the shield damage and vibrations, it is found that adopting the 300 mm-thick UHPC shield instead of the conventional 650 mm-thick NSC shield can reduce about 1/3 of the total weight of VCC, i.e., about 50 t, and 37% floor space, as well as guarantee the structural integrity of VCC during the accidental drop simultaneously. Besides, based on the parametric analyses, the thickness of concrete ground in the VCC storage site is recommended as less than 500 mm, and the welded connection is recommended for the sealing method of steel containers.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.213-222
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• 2024

Determination of jointed rock mass properties plays a significant role in the design and construction of underground structures such as tunneling and mining. Rock mass classification systems such as Rock Mass Rating (RMR), Rock Mass Index (RMi), Rock Mass Quality (Q), and deformation modulus (Em) are determined from the jointed rock masses. However, parameters of jointed rock masses can be affected by the tunnel depth below the surface due to the effect of the in situ stresses. In addition, the geomechanical properties of rocks change due to the effect of metamorphism. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to apply correlation analysis to investigate the relationships between rock mass properties and some parameters related to the depth of the tunnel studied. For this purpose, the field work consisted of determining rock mass parameters in a tunnel alignment (~7.1 km) at varying depths from 21 m to 431 m below ground surface. At the same excavation depths, thirty-seven rock types were also sampled and tested in the laboratory. Correlations were made between vertical stress and depth, horizontal/vertical stress ratio (k) and depth, k and Em, k and RMi, k and point load index (PLI), k and Brazilian tensile strength (BTS), Em and uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), UCS and PLI, UCS and BTS. Relationships were significant (significance level=0.000) at the confidence interval of 95% (r = 0.77-0.88) between the data pairs for the rocks taken from depths greater than 166 m where the ratio of horizontal to vertical stress is between 0.6 and 1.2. The in-situ stress parameters affected rock mass properties as well as metamorphism which affected the geomechanical properties of rock materials by affecting the behavior of minerals and textures within rocks. This study revealed that in-situ stress parameters and metamorphism should be reviewed when tunnel studies are carried out.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.87-94
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• 2007

Reuse of recycled aggregate from demolished concrete structure is beneficial and necessary from the viewpoint of environmental preservation and effective utilization of resources. The most important mechanical properties of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) are the compressive strength, the tensile and the flexural strengths, the bond strength and the elastic modulus of such concrete. In particular, the stress-strain relation and fracture process of RAC in compression is especially important in theoretical and numerical analysis as well as engineering design of RAC structures. In this paper, to clarify the characteristics of fracture process in RAC, acoustic emission(AE) method is applied to detect micro-cracking in concrete under compression. From AE parameters, it is found that cracking and fracture behaviors in recycled aggregate concrete fairly differ from that of normal and recycled sand concrete.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.4277-4283
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• 2012

Slip coefficient, whose value is dependent on the condition of contact surface at the friction joint of high tension bolt, is determined by slip load. Because contact area affects slip load, contact area that varies with bolt hole size is also related to the slip coefficient. In this study, we manufactured 32 specimens and performed bending and tension tests in order to examine changes in slip coefficient and load with material type, bolt diameter, and size of bolt hole. Slip load of specimens with oversize bolt hole had strength that was more than 80% higher than the slip load of specimens with standard bolt hole, and it also exceeded the design slip strength. In addition, we observed significant correlation between net-section ratio and slip ratio of specimens with oversize and standard bolt hole. However, some differences between the specimens are thought to have been caused by reduction in initial axial force of high tension bolt, which is an important parameter of slip coefficient. It is self-evident that increased bolt hole size would lead to decrease in design strength as it reduces both slip coefficient and bolt axial force. Nevertheless, we suggest that some flexibility in regulation of bolt hole, as long as it does not threaten the structural stability, may be a positive factor in terms of workability and efficiency.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.532-541
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• 2019

Even though shotcrete is a main support for securing the stability of tunnel, the performance of shotcrete is not properly checked due to various difficulties arisen from the characteristics of materials themselves which constitute shotcrete, such as steel fibers and accelerators, and the on-site quality control. In this study, the actual conditions of shotcrete applied to expressway tunnel construction sites were tried to find out, and then some improvement was tried to derive. For this purpose, the characteristics of steel fibers and accelerators supplied to the expressway construction sites were investigated. Also, shotcrete specimens were prepared at the tunnel sites and performance tests were carried out. For steel fiber, domestic production states were investigated, and carbon content and tensile strength were measured using the steel fibers collected in the construction sites. For three types of accelerators such as aluminate, cement mineral and alkali-free, basic properties and total amount of alkali contents were analyzed. Shotcrete specimens were prepared using on-site shotcrete machine with regard to mix designs and types of accelerators. Using these specimens, uniaxial compression tests and flexural tests were performed. As the results, compressive strength, flexural strength, flexural toughness, and etc. were compared with types of acclerators and mix designs.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.3562-3569
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• 2013

The performance of concrete structure decreases with change in time and the external environment. In order to reinforce the structure, the research about new material development and application of newly developed materials are widely conducted. In the case of composite FRP, it received good attention in the academia due to its high intensity-weight ratio, excellent corrosion resistency as well as good workability. When applying at the construction field, however, the utilization of FRP did not increase as much due to lack of reliability and design standard. Current study investigated the material characteristics during the temperature change at high temperature and the structural behavior from restraint effect for GFRP reinforcing materials. Two experimental variables were set in this study: GFRP reinforcements due to tensile properties of temperature and restraint compression effects. Three concrete specimen were selected for each set temperatures. For this reason, as a variable to experiment with the effects confined compression concrete members value and tensile properties with temperature reinforcement GFRP, experiment produced three pieces each for each set temperature, the concrete specimen, which is confined in the GFRP was selected each I did. For the temperature change during the experiment, the concrete specimen were mounted in order to expose to experimental high temperature for certain period of time. For compression performance evaluation, reinforcement effect from horizontal constraint of the fiber were measured using an Universal Material Testing Machine (UTM). Finally, this study revealed that the binding characteristics of GFRP materials from temperature change decreased. Also, this study showed that the maximum compression intensity decreased as the temperature increased up to $150^{\circ}C$ in the constraints ability of the GFRP reinforcements during the horizontal constraint of concrete.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.25-32
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• 2023

In this study, a double wall system is introduced, which was invented to simplify the complicated manufacturing process of the existing precast concrete (PC) double wall systems and to remove defects such as laitance that may occur during the production of concrete panels. An experimental study was conducted to investigate the tensile resisting capacity of the steel tube which is embedded in the precast concrete panel to keep the spacing between PC panels and to prevent damage of the PC panels during transportation and casting concrete onsite. The experiment was planned to determine the detail of effective steel tube connection considering the steel plate treatment method according to the formation of the opening, the presence of embedded concrete, and the reinforcement welding for additional dowel action as key variables. As a result, the ultimate tensile strength increased by 20-30% compared to the control specimen (ST) except for the steel tube specimen (ST_CP) which has steel plates bent inward at the end part of the steel tube. Since the specimen (ST_CON) filled with concrete inside the control specimen has no additional process and cost for the steel tube connections compared to the control specimen during the production of the developed double wall system, it is determined to be the appropriate detail of steel tube connection.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.809-820
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• 2008

A new modified full scale double tee slabs with the length of nib plate - 1,500 mm were suggested, designed, and experimentally evaluated up to the loading of flexural failure. This slabs were composed of the tee section which was same to original PCI double tee and the plate section which was modified in a new shape, and the prestressing force was applied at the bottom of tee section only. This specimens were made from the domestic precast factory. The safety and serviceability of the modified nib plate with the dapped ends were evaluated up to the ultimate flexural strength of tee section. As the experimental loading increased, the flexural crackings developed first in the bottom of the slab and they changed to the increased flexural shear and inclined shear crackings in the nib and dapped portion of the double tees. The suggested modified double tee slabs failed in ductile above the design loading with many evenly distributed flexural crackings. The thickness of nib plate - 250 mm does not show any cracking under the service loading and show several minor flexural cracking up to the ultimate state of tee portion. The proposed specimens were satisfied with the strength and ductility requirements in the design code provisions in the tests. Additional experimental tests are required to reduce the depth and tensile reinforcement of nib plate concrete for the practical use of this system effectively.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.39-47
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• 2012

This paper describes large-scale pullout test results of geosynthetic strip, which can be applied in reinforced earth wall with block-type wall facing. The pullout tests are conducted to evaluate the strain distribution, the induced pullout force and the pullout strength. The maximum pullout force is appeared regardless of reinforcement width and normal stress when end displacement is less than 15 mm. The pullout behavior based on horizontal spacing of reinforcement was similar in relationship between pullout force and end displacement. The strain distribution and pullout force distribution of the geosynthetic strip are concentrated in the front part of reinforcement, and it appeared clearly in higher normal stress condition This means that the pullout behavior of geosynthetic strip is affected by the bond between soil and friction resistance reinforcement according normal stress. Therefore, the pullout resistance design is reasonable when pullout behavior of geosynthetic strip should be evaluated by effective length considering tensile characteristic.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.389-397
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• 2010

Concrete has excellent mechanical properties, high durability, and economical advantages over other construction materials. Nevertheless, it is not an easy task to apply concrete to long span bridges. That's because concrete has a low strength to weight ratio. Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) has a very high strength and hence it allows use of relatively small section for the same design load. Thus UHPC is a promising material to be utilized in the construction of long span bridges. However, there is a possibility of crack generation during the curing process due to the high binder ratio of UHPC and a consequent large amount of hydration heat. In this study, adiabatic temperature rise and mechanical properties were modeled for the stress analysis due to hydration heat. Adiabatic temperature rise curve of UHPC was modeled superposing 2-parameter model and S-shaped function, and the Arrhenius constant was determined using the concept of equivalent time. The results are verified by the mock-up test measuring the temperature development due to the hydration of UHPC. In addition, models for mechanical properties such as elastic modulus, tensile strength and compressive strength were developed based on the test results from conventional load test and ultrasonic pulse velocity measurement.