• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.119-134
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• 1994

In order to assess the possibility of using steel fibers in the fissured ciays, uniaxial compression tests were performed on both unreinforced and reinforced clay samples containing a pre-existing crack. Test results showed that the steel fiber reinforcement increased resistance to cracks initiation and their propagation, and therefore increased both stress at crack growth initiation and peak stress at failure. The increase in resistance to cracks initiation and their propagation was related to the arresting or deflecting the crack propagation in clay samples by steel fibers. A theoretical interpretation of experimental results was made using fracture mechanics theory and pull-out mechanisms in fiber reinforced materials. It was revealed that the steel fibers had bridging effect through their pull-out action that caused an increased resistance to the propagation of the cracks in the samples. The predicted pull-out force based on theoretical analyses agreed reasonably well with the measured values obtained from pull-out tests.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.133-151
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• 2016

Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC) has been originally developed in Japan to offset a growing shortage of skilled labors, is a highly workable concrete, which is not needed to any vibration or impact during casting. The utilizing of fibers in SCC improves the mechanical properties and durability of hardened concrete such as impact strength, flexural strength, and vulnerability to cracking. The purpose of this investigation is to determine the effect of steel fibers on mechanical performance of traditionally reinforced Self-Competing Concrete beams. In this study, two mixes Mix 1% and Mix 2% containing 1% and 2% volume friction of superplasticizer are considered. For each type of mixture, four different volume percentages of 60/30 (length/diameter) fibers of 0.0%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 2% were used. The mechanical properties were determined through compressive and flexural tests. According to the experimental test results, an increase in the steel fibers volume fraction in Mix 1% and Mix 2% improves compressive strength slightly but decreases the workability and other rheological properties of SCC. On the other hand, results revealed that flexural strength, energy absorption capacity and toughness are increased by increasing the steel fiber volume fraction. The results clearly show that the use of fibers improves the post-cracking behavior. The average spacing of between cracks decrease by increasing the fiber volume fraction. Furthermore, fibers increase the tensile strength by bridging actions through the cracks. Therefore, steel fibers increase the ductility and energy absorption capacity of RC elements subjected to flexure.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.925-928
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• 2008

Fiber is an important ingredient in strain-hardening cementitious composite (SHCC), which can control fracture of cementitious composite by bridging action. The properties of reinforcing fiber, as tensile strength, aspect ratio and elastic modulus, have great effect on the fracture behavior of SHCC. To apply SHCC to structural member, SHCC must have economical efficiency and workability as well as own excellent tensile performance. For these purposes, four-point bending and direct tensile tests on SHCC with only hybrid synthetic fibers, total fiber volume fraction, $V_f$, is 1.5%, are carried out. The research emphasis is on the mechanical properties of SHCC made in Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and Polyethylene (PE) fibers, and how this affects the composite property, and ultimately its strain-hardening performance. Also, effect of hybrid type and water-cement ratio on the behavior of SHCC was evaluated in this paper.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.433-442
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• 2023

This study presents the visually observed behavior of fibers embedded in concrete samples that were subjected to a flexural bending test. Three types of fibers such as macro polypropylene, macro polyethylene, and the hybrid of steel and polyvinyl alcohol were mixed with cement by a designated mix ratio to prepare a total of nine specimens of each. The bending test was conducted by following ASTM C1609 with a net deflection of 2, 4, and 7 mm. The X-ray computed tomography (XCT) was carried out for 7 mm-deflection specimens. The original XCT images were post-processed to denoise the beam-hardening effect. Then, fiber, crack, and void were semi-manually segmented. The hybrid specimen showed the highest toughness compared to the other two types. Debonding based on 2D XCT sliced images was commonly observed for all three groups. The cement matrix near the crack surface often involved partially localized breakage in conjunction with debonding. The pullout was predominant for steel fibers that were partially slipped toward the crack. Crack bridging and rupture were not found presumably due to the image resolution and the level of energy dissipation for poly-fibers, while the XCT imaging was advantageous in evaluating the distribution and behavior of various fibers upon bending for fiber-reinforced concrete beam elements.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.467-484
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• 2023

Despite the significant features of fiber-reinforced cementitious composites (FRCCs), including better mechanical, fractural, and durability performance, their high content of cement has restricted their use in the construction industry. Although ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) is considered the main supplementary cementitious material, its slow pozzolanic reaction stands against its application. The addition of nano-sized mineral modifiers, including nano-silica (NS), is an alternative to address the drawbacks of using GGBFS. The main object of this empirical and numerical research is to examine the effect of NS on the strain-hardening behavior of cementitious composites; ten mixes were designed, and five levels of NS were considered. This study proposes a new method, using a four-point bending test to assess the use of nano-silica (NS) on the flexural behavior, first cracking strength, fracture energy, and micromechanical parameters including interfacial friction bond strength and maximum bridging stress. Digital image correlation (DIC) was used for monitoring the initiation and propagation of the cracks. In addition, to attain a deep comprehension of fiber/matrix interaction, scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis was used. It was discovered that using nano-silica (NS) in cementitious materials results in an enhancement in the matrix toughness, which prevents multiple cracking and, therefore, strain-hardening. In addition, adding NS enhanced the interfacial transition zone between matrix and fiber, leading to a higher interfacial friction bond strength, which helps multiple cracking in the composite due to the hydrophobic nature of polypropylene (PP) fibers. The findings of this research provide insight into finding the optimum percent of NS in which both ductility and high tensile strength of the composites would be satisfied. As a concluding remark, a new criterion is proposed, showing that the optimum value of nano-silica is 2%. The findings and proposed method of this study can facilitate the design and utilization of green cementitious composites in structures.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.23 no.6 s.165
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• pp.1026-1038
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• 1999

Interlaminar fracture toughness of carbon/epoxy composite materials has been studied under tensile and flexural loading by the use of width tapered double cantilever beam(WTDCB) and end notched flexure(ENF) specimens. This study has significantly examined the effect of various interfacial ply orientation, ${\alpha}(0^{\circ},\;45^{\circ}\;and\;90^{\circ})$ and crack propagation direction, ${\theta}(0^{\circ},\;15^{\circ},\;30^{\circ}\;and\;45^{\circ})$ in terms of critical strain energy release rate through experiments. Twelve differently layered laminates were investigated. The data reduction for evaluating the fracture energy is based on compliance method and beam theory. Beam theory is used to analyze the effect of crack propagation direction. The geometry and lay-up sequence of specimens are considered various conditions such as skewness parameter, beam volume, and so on. The results show that the fiber bridging occurred due to the non-midplane crack propagation and causes the difference of fracture energy evaluated by both methods. For safer and more reliable composite structures, we obtain the optimal stacking sequence from initial fracture energy in each mode.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.121-128
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• 2012

In this paper, nonlinear analysis for reinforced concrete structure for power transmission line is performed by considering the characteristics of the failure, which are depend on loading conditions and concrete material models. On the numerical evaluation for the failure behavior, the finite element analysis is applied. For the concrete material model, microplane model based on concrete damage is introduced. However, to describe the crack bridging effect of long and short fiber of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC), tensile softening model is suggested and applied for SFRC. An numerical results by finite element technique are compared with the experiment results for box culvert specimen. Comparing on the experimental and analytical results, validity and reliability of numerical analysis are investigated.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.909-912
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• 2008

Fiber is an important ingredient in strain-hardening cementitious composite (SHCC), which can control fracture of cementitious composite by bridging action. The properties of reinforcing fiber, as tensile strength, aspect ratio and elastic modulus, have great effect on the fracture behavior of SHCC. But SHCC has serious problem as drying shrinkage because silica powder is used to make SHCC in order to improve bond strength between reinforcing fibers and cement matrix. Therefore, curing method (period and temperature) is very important for SHCC to show high tensile performance. a variety of experiments have being performed to access the performance of SHCC recently. This research emphasis is on the mechanical properties of SHCC made in Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), Polyethylene (PE) fibers and steel cord (SC), and how curing method affects the composite property, and ultimately its strain-hardening performance.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.311-320
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• 2022

TBM concrete segment requires a higher level of material properties compared to general concrete structures due to difficulties in maintenance and uncertainty in ground conditions. In this regard, recently, as one of the methods to achieve enhancement effect on concrete strength, many researchers have been focusing on adding CNTs to concrete mixture. However, even CNTs do not compensate the weakness that concrete exhibits brittle behavior after cracking. Separately, over the past few decades, a number of studies have been conducted on fiber reinforced concrete which exhibits ductile behavior due to fibers bridging cracks. However, only limited studies have been conducted to employ the advantages of the both materials together. In this study, an experimental program has been conducted to investigate the effect of CNTs on the workability and the compressive behavior of PVA-ECC which exhibits ductile tensile behavior with well-distributed cracks even without a conventional rebar. In addition to the compression test, SEM analysis has been also conducted for detailed investigation in the microstructure. The variable was the CNTs mix ratio, which were set to 0.00, 0.25, and 0.50 wt.% to the binding materials. It was observed though the test results that as the CNTs mix ratio increased, the workability considerably decreased with the reduced slump and slump flow. From the compression test results, it was also investigated that the compressive behavior was improved since the compressive strength, the strain corresponding to the compressive strength, and the modulus of elasticity increased with an increase of CNTs mix ratio. The contents of this paper will be useful for relevant research areas such as fiber reinforced concrete with CNTs which might be applied for high performance TMB concrete segments.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.1332-1336
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• 2005

It could make the LIghtweight Piezoelectric Composite Actuator (LIPCA) damageable by the cyclic large deformation. If the progressive microvoid coalescence of LIPCA interlaminar took place, the decrease of the stiffness and the weakness of stress transmission and fiber bridging effect would make the fatigue characteristics worse suddenly. Therefore, it is required to study the variation of fatigue behavior and interlaminar condition in LIPCA under resonant frequencies. These studies such as the changeable fatigue phase and interlaminar behavior of LIPCA affected by the resonant frequencies should be carried out due to the strong anisotropy of CFRP layer. Hence, these studies are as follows. 1) The residual stresses distribution of interlaminar in LIPCA using the Classical Lamination Theory (CLT). 2) Comparative analysis of interlaminar behavior for the intact LIPCA versus LIPCA containing an artificial delamination during resonant frequency.