• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.1215-1240
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• 2015

In this paper, the Theory of Plastic Mechanism Control (TPMC) is applied to the seismic design of dual systems composed by moment-resisting frames and Chevron braced frames. The application of TPMC is aimed at the design of dual systems able to guarantee, under seismic horizontal forces, the development of a collapse mechanism of global type. This design goal is of primary importance in seismic design of structures, because partial failure modes and soft-storey mechanisms have to be absolutely prevented due to the worsening of the energy dissipation capacity of structures and the resulting increase of the probability of failure during severe ground motions. With reference to the examined structural typology, diagonal and beam sections are assumed to be known quantities, because they are, respectively, designed to withstand the whole seismic actions and to withstand vertical loads and the net downward force resulting from the unbalanced axial forces acting in the diagonals. Conversely column sections are designed to assure the yielding of all the beam ends of moment-frames and the yielding and the buckling of tensile and compressed diagonals of the V-Braced part, respectively. In this work, a detailed designed example dealing with the application of TPMC to moment frame-chevron brace dual systems is provided with reference to an eight storey scheme and the design procedure is validated by means of non-linear static analyses aimed to check the actual pattern of yielding. The results of push-over analyses are compared with those obtained for the dual system designed according to Eurocode 8 provisions.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1423-1450
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• 2015

The paper presents the details and results of an experimental study on bolted end-plate joints of industrial type steel building frames. The investigated joints are commonly used in Lindab-Astron industrial buildings and are optimized for manufacturing, erection and durability. The aim of the research was to provide an experimental background for the design model development by studying load-bearing capacity of joints, bolt force distribution, and end-plate deformations. Because of the special joint details, (i.e., joints with four bolts in one bolt-row and HammerHead arrangements), the Eurocode 3 standardized component model had to be improved and extended. The experimental programme included six different end-plate and bolt arrangements and covered sixteen specimens. The steel grade of test specimens was S355, the bolt diameter M20, whereas the bolt grade was 8.8 and 10.9 for the two series. The end-plate thickness varied between 12 mm and 24 mm. The specimens were investigated under pure bending conditions using a four-point-bending test arrangement. In all tests the typical displacements and the bolt force distribution were measured. The end-plate plastic deformations were measured after the tests by an automatic measuring device. The measured data were presented and evaluated by the moment-bolt-row force and moment-distance from centre of compression diagrams and by the deformed end-plate surfaces. From the results the typical failure modes and the joint behaviour were specified and presented. Furthermore the influence of the end-plate thickness and the pretension of the bolts on the behaviour of bolted joints were analysed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.477-488
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• 2009

A slip critical joint has various values to adopt the proper slip coefficient in various conditions of faying surfaces in the following codes: AISC, AIJ and Eurocode 3. However, the Korean Building Code still regulates the unique slip coefficient, 0.45, regardless of the diverse faying conditions. In this study, the slip resistance test, including five kinds of surface treatments were conducted to obtain the proper slip coefficients available to steel plate KS SM490A. The faying surfaces were comprised of a clean mill, rust, red lead paint, zinc primer, and shot blast treatment. The candidates for high strength bolts were torque-shear bolts, torque-shear bolts with zinc coating, and ASTM A490 bolts. Based on the test results, the specimens with a shot blasted surface and rusted surface exhibited $k_s$, 0.61, and 0.5, respectively. It is recommended that the specimens with zinc primer exhibit $k_s{\geq}0.40$. The clean mill treated surface had prominently lower values, 0.27. For red lead painted treatment, the thickness of the coating affects the determinant of slip coefficient, so it is necessary to establish a minimum $k_s$ of 0.2, with a coating thickness of 65 ${\mu}m$. During 1,000 hours of relaxation, the uncoated surfaces exhibited the loss of clamping force behind 3%, while the coated surfaces within a certain limited thickness exhibited the loss of clamping within a range of 4.71% and 8.37%.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.429-448
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• 2016

This paper presents a finite element (FE) model for predicting the behaviour of steel column-column connections under axial compression and tension. A robustness approach is utilised for the design of steel column-column connections. The FE models take into account for the effects of initial geometric imperfections, material nonlinearities and geometric nonlinearities. The accuracy of the FE models is examined by comparing the predicted results with independent experimental results. It is demonstrated that the FE models accurately predict the ultimate axial strengths and load-deflection curves for steel column-column connections. A parametric study is carried out to investigate the effects of slenderness ratio, contact surface imperfection, thickness of cover-plates, end-plate thickness and bolt position. The buckling strengths of steel column-column connections with contact surface imperfections are compared with design strengths obtained from Australian Standards AS4100 (1998) and Eurocode 3 (2005). It is found that the column connections with maximum allowable imperfections satisfy the design requirements. Furthermore, the steel column-column connections analysed in this paper can be dismantled and reused safely under typical service loads which are usually less than 40% of ultimate axial strengths. The results indicate that steel column-column connections can be demounted at 50% of the ultimate axial load which is greater than typical service load.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.499-526
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• 2013

Seismic isolation is an effective method for the protection of buildings and their contents during strong earthquakes. This research work aims to assess the appropriateness of the linear and nonlinear models that can be used in the analysis of typical low-rise base isolated steel buildings, taking into account the inherent nonlinearities of the isolation system as well as the potential nonlinearities of the superstructure in case of strong ground motions. The accuracy of the linearization of the isolator properties according to Eurocode 8 is evaluated comparatively with the corresponding response that can be obtained through the nonlinear hysteretic Bouc-Wen constitutive model. The suitability of the linearized model in the determination of the size of the required seismic gap is assessed, under various earthquake intensities, considering relevant methods that are provided by building codes. Furthermore, the validity of the common assumption of elastic behavior for the superstructure is explored and the alteration of the structural response due to the inelastic deformations of the superstructure as a consequence of potential collision to the restraining moat wall is studied. The usage of a nonlinear model for the isolation system is found to be necessary in order to achieve a sufficiently accurate assessment of the structural response and a reliable estimation of the required width of the provided seismic gap. Moreover, the simulations reveal that the superstructure's inelasticity should be taken into account, especially if the response of the structure under high magnitude earthquakes is investigated. The consideration of the inelasticity of the superstructure is also recommended in studies of structural collision of seismically isolated structures to the surrounding moat wall, since it affects the response.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.123-132
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to calculate and propose rational multi-lane loading factors for bridge design considering the probability of simultaneous truck passing in adjacent lanes and real truck weights. The probability of simultaneous truck passing is calculated by analyzing video image taken at various locations in highways and national roads. Weigh-In-Motion system data at two locations are used, which is combined with the probability of multiple presence to calculate the multi-lane loading factors for typical 2 lane and 5 lane bridges. Statistical properties of multi-lane loading factors are also calculated assuming that locations for video images and WIM data represent the overall traffic condition in the country. Results are compared with various design codes in the world and they show that the values are between the current Korea Bridge Design Code and AASHTO LRFD specification or Eurocode and are similar to Canadian Code.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.825-832
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• 2010

Although a critical section reaches its flexural strength in reinforced concrete structures, the structure does not always fail because moment redistribution occurs during the formation of plastic hinges. Inelastic deformation in a plastic hinge region results in plastic rotation. A plastic hinge mainly depends on material characteristics. In this study, a plastic hinge length and plastic rotation are evaluated using the flexural curvature distribution which is derived from the material models given in Eurocode 2. The influence on plastic capacity the limit values of the material model used, that is, ultimate strain of concrete and steel and hardening ratio of steel(k), are investigated. As results, it is appeared that a large ultimate strain of concrete and steel is resulting in large plastic capactiy and also as a hardening ratio of steel increases, the plastic rotation increases significantly. Therefore, a careful attention would be paid to determine the limit values of material characteristics in the RC structures.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.153-161
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• 2017

Liquid storage tank is one of the major infrastructures and generally used to store gases, drinking and utilizing water, dangerous fluids, fire water and so on. According to the recent reports and experiences, the tank structures are damaged in many earthquakes due to their low energy dissipating capacity. Therefore, many researchers have been tried to know the dynamic properties of the tanks including liquids. However, vary limited experimental studies are carried out using relatively small tank models. In this study, a series of shaking table tests are performed with maximum 2 m cubic rectangular liquid storage tanks made of steel to measure the natural frequency and estimate damping coefficient of impulsive and convective mode of the tanks. Especially, the damping values under different shapes and excitation methods are estimated by logarithmic decrement method and half power band-pass method and compared with current design code and standards such as ASCE 7, Eurocode 8 and NZS. Test results show that the impulsive mode damping is around 2% which is proposed by general standards and codes but the impulsive mode damping is 0.13% average that is slightly lower than the code recommendation.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.657-680
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• 2016

Reinforced concrete (RC) deep beams are structural members that predominantly fail in shear. Therefore, determining the shear strength of these types of beams is very important. The strut-and-tie method is commonly used to design deep beams, and this method has been adopted in many building codes (ACI318-14, Eurocode 2-2004, CSA A23.3-2004). In this study, the efficiency of artificial neural networks (ANNs) in predicting the shear strength of RC deep beams is investigated as a different approach to the strut-and-tie method. An ANN model was developed using experimental data for 214 normal and high-strength concrete deep beams from an existing literature database. Seven different input parameters affecting the shear strength of the RC deep beams were selected to create the ANN structure. Each parameter was arranged as an input vector and a corresponding output vector that includes the shear strength of the RC deep beam. The ANN model was trained and tested using a multi-layered back-propagation method. The most convenient ANN algorithm was determined as trainGDX. Additionally, the results in the existing literature and the accuracy of the strut-and-tie model in ACI318-14 in predicting the shear strength of the RC deep beams were investigated using the same test data. The study shows that the ANN model provides acceptable predictions of the ultimate shear strength of RC deep beams (maximum $R^2{\approx}0.97$). Additionally, the ANN model is shown to provide more accurate predictions of the shear capacity than all the other computed methods in this study. The ACI318-14-STM method was very conservative, as expected. Moreover, the study shows that the proposed ANN model predicts the shear strengths of RC deep beams better than does the strut-and-tie model approaches.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.849-864
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• 2019

One way to achieve sustainable construction is to reduce concrete consumption by use of more sustainable and higher strength concrete. Modern building codes do not cover the use of ultra-high strength concrete (UHSC) in the design of composite structures. Against such background, this paper investigates experimentally the mechanical properties of steel fibre-reinforced UHSC and then the structural behaviors of UHSC encased steel (CES) members under both concentric and eccentric compressions as well as pure bending. The effects of steel-fibre dosage and spacing of stirrups were studied, and the applicability of Eurocode 4 design approach was checked. The test results revealed that the strength of steel stirrups could not be fully utilized to provide confinement to the UHSC. The bond strength between UHSC and steel section was improved by adding the steel fibres into the UHSC. Reducing the spacing of stirrups or increasing the dosage of steel fibres was beneficial to prevent premature spalling of the concrete cover thus mobilize the steel section strength to achieve higher compressive capacity. Closer spacing of stirrups and adding 0.5% steel fibres in UHSC enhanced the post-peak ductility of CES columns. It is concluded that the code-specified reduction factors applied to the concrete strength and moment resistance can account for the loss of load capacity due to the premature spalling of concrete cover and partial yielding of the encased steel section.