• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.1277-1297
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• 2015

Post-tensioned precast segmental bridge columns have shown high level of strength and ductility, and low residual displacement, which makes them suffer minor damage after earthquake loading; however, there is still lack of confidence on their lateral response against severe seismic loading due in part to their low energy dissipation capacity. This study investigates the influence of major design factors such as post-tensioning force level, strands position, columns aspect ratio, steel jacket and mild steel ratio on seismic performance of self-centring segmental bridge columns in terms of lateral strength, residual displacement and lateral peak displacement. Seismic analyses show that increasing the continuous mild steel ratio improves the lateral peak displacement of the self-centring columns at different levels of post-tensioning (PT) forces. Such an increase in steel ratio reduces the residual drift in segmental columns with higher aspect ratio more considerably. Suggestions are proposed for the design of self-centring segmental columns with various aspect ratios at different target drifts.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.661-678
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• 2015

Buckling Restrained Braces (BRB) have been widely used in the construction industry as they utilize the most desirable properties of both constituent materials, i.e., steel and concrete. They present excellent structural qualities such as high load bearing capacity, ductility, energy-absorption capability and good structural fire behaviour. The effects of size and type of filler material in the existed gap at the steel core-concrete interface as well as the element's cross sectional shape, on BRB's fire resistance capacity was investigated in this paper. A nonlinear sequentially-coupled thermal-stress three-dimensional model was presented and validated by experimental results. Variation of the samples was described by three groups containing, the steel cores with the same cross section areas and equal yield strength but different materials (metal and concrete) and sizes for the gap. Responses in terms of temperature distribution, critical temperature, heating elapsed time and contraction level of BRB element were examined. The study showed that the superior fire performance of BRB was obtained by altering the filler material in the gap from metal to concrete as well as by increasing the size of the gap. Also, cylindrical BRB performed better under fire conditions compared to the rectangular cross section.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.591-602
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• 2007

The results of Reactivity-Initiated Accidents (RIA) experiments have been analysed and the main variables affecting the fuel failure propensity identified. Fuel burn-up aggravates the mechanical loading of the cladding, while corrosion, or better the hydrogen absorbed in the cladding as a consequence of corrosion, may under some conditions make the cladding brittle and more susceptible to failure. Experiments point out that corrosion impairs the fuel resistance for RIA transient occurring at cold conditions, whereas there is no evidence of important embrittlement effects at hot conditions, unless the cladding was degraded by oxide spalling. A fuel failure threshold correlation has been derived and compared with experimental data relevant for BWR and PWR fuel. The correlation can be applied to both cold and hot RIA transients, account taken for the lower ductility at cold conditions and for the different initial enthalpy. It can also be used for non-zero power transients, provided that a term accounting for the start-up power is incorporated. The proposed threshold is easy to use and reproduces the results obtained in the CABRI and NSRR tests in a rather satisfactory manner. The behaviour of advanced PWR alloys and of MOX fuel is discussed in light of the correlation predictions. Finally, a probabilistic approach has been developed in order to account for the small scatter of the failure predictions. This approach completes the RIA failure assessment in that after determining a best estimate failure threshold, a failure probability is inferred based on the spreading of data around the calculated best estimate value.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.25-26
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• 2007

At the time when nanostructured materials (NSMs) are becoming a major focus of materials research, the attention of researchers is turning more to their mechanical performance. In contrast with conventional coarse grained materials, which are either strong or ductile, but rarely both at the same time, it is expected that with NSMs both high strength and ductility can be achieved and confirmed by several experimental studies. In spite of the significant interest and efforts in the mechanical properties of NSMs, deformation mechanisms during plastic deformation as well as elastic deformation are not well established yet. In this talk, the deformation mechanisms of NSMs under various grain sizes, temperatures and strain rates were investigated. It is based on recent modelling that appears to provide a conclusive description of the phenomenology and the mechanisms underlying the mechanical properties of NSMs. Based on the theoretical model that provides an adequate description of the grain size dependence of elasticity and plasticity covering all grain size range from coarse down to the nanoscale, the tensile deformation response of NSMs, especially focusing on the deformation mechanisms was investigated.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.327-330
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• 2018

This study is conducted as a preliminary research to verify the feasibility of Ti-based Oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloy. Pure-Ti powder is mixed with $Y_2O_3$ powder and subsequently, mechanically alloyed at $-150^{\circ}C$. The Ti-based ODS powder is hot-isostatically pressed and subsequently hot-rolled for recrystallization. The microstructure consists of elongated grains and Y excess fine particles. The oxide particle size is larger than that of the typical Fe-based ODS steel. Tensile test shows that the tensile ductility is approximately 25%, while the strength is significantly higher than that of pure Ti. The high-temperature hardness of the Ti-ODS alloy is also significantly higher than that of pure Ti at all temperatures, while being lower than that of Ti-6Al-4V. The dimple structure is well developed, and no evidence of cleavage fracture surface is observed in the fracture surface of the tensile specimen.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.92-100
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• 2017

Due to the presence of ferrite phase in the finished welds, austenitic stainless steel welds (ASSWs) are considered susceptible to the thermal aging embrittlement during long-term service in light water reactor environment. In this study, the thermal aging embrittlement of typical ASSWs, E308 and ER316L welds, were evaluated after the long-term exposure up to 20,000 h at $400^{\circ}C$, which is considered as an accelerated thermal aging condition. After thermal aging, the decrease of tensile ductility and fracture toughness was observed. The microstructure observation with high resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed that spinodal decomposition in ferrite phase of both E308 and ER316L welds would be the main cause of the degradation of mechanical properties. Also, it was shown that the difference of thermal ageing embrittlement between ER316L and E308 welds was significant, such that the reduction of fracture resistance for ER316L weld was much larger than that of E308 weld.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.181-191
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• 2014

This research presents the nonlinear analysis model for reinforced concrete shear wall systems with special boundary elements as proposed by the Korean Building Code (KBC, 2009). In order to verify the analysis model, analytical results were compared with the experimental results obtained from previous studies. Established analytical model was used to perform nonlinear static and dynamic analyses. Analytical results showed that the semi-special shear wall improved significantly the performance in terms of ductility and energy dissipation as expected based on previous test results. Furthermore, nonlinear incremental dynamic analysis was performed using 20 ground motions. Based on computer analytical results, the ordinary shear wall, special shear wall and newly proposed semi-special shear wall systems were evaluated based on the methods in FEMA P965. The results based on the probabilistic approaches accounting for inherent uncertainties showed that the semi-special shear wall systems provide a high capacity/demand (ACMR) ratio owing to their details, which provide enough capacity to sustain large inelastic deformations.

• Composites Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.135-140
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• 2013

The static test was performed to verify the effect of the joint in the UHPC bridge deck slab and the minimum lap-spliced length was presented. A total of six test members was fabricated to estimate the static behavior of the steam curing UHPC bridge deck slab joint by the four points bending test method. The lap-spliced joint type was expected to be not only simple but also efficient in UHPC structure because of the high bond stress of UHPC. Test results show that the decrease of maximum flexural strength was about 30% and the minimum lap-spliced length which behaved similar to the continued reinforcement in strength and ductility was 150 mm.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.229-245
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• 2017

Post-earthquake observations revealed that seismic performance of beam-column connections in precast concrete structures affect the overall response extensively. Seismic design of precast reinforced concrete structures requires improved beam-column connections to transfer reversed load effects between structural elements. In Turkey, hybrid beam-column connections with welded components have been applied extensively in precast concrete industry for decades. Beam bottom longitudinal rebars are welded to beam end plates while top longitudinal rebars are placed to designated gaps in joint panels before casting of topping concrete in this type of connections. The paper presents the major findings of an experimental test programme including one monolithic and five precast hybrid half scale specimens representing interior beam-column connections of a moment frame of high ductility level. The required welding area between beam bottom longitudinal rebars and beam-end plates were calculated based on welding coefficients considered as a test parameter. It is observed that the maximum strain developed in the beam bottom flexural reinforcement plays an important role in the overall behavior of the connections. Two additional specimens which include unbonded lengths on the longitudinal rebars to reduce that strain demands were also tested. Strength, stiffness and energy dissipation characteristics of test specimens were investigated with respect to test variables. Seismic performances of test specimens were evaluated by obtaining damage indices.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.691-704
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• 2014

Reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls are commonly used for building structures to resist seismic loading. While the RC shear walls can have a high load-carrying capacity, they tend to fail in a brittle mode under shear, accompanied by forming large diagonal cracks and bond splitting between concrete and steel reinforcement. Improving seismic performance of shear walls has remained a challenge for researchers all over the world. Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC), featuring incredible ductility under tension, can be a promising material to replace concrete in shear walls with improved performance. Currently, the application of ECC to large structures is limited due to the lack of the proper constitutive models especially under shear. In this paper, a new Cyclic Softening Membrane Model for reinforced ECC is proposed. The model was built upon the Cyclic Softening Membrane Model for reinforced concrete by (Hsu and Mo 2010). The model was then implemented in the OpenSees program to perform analysis on several cases of shear walls under seismic loading. The seismic response of reinforced ECC compared with RC shear walls under monotonic and cyclic loading, their difference in pinching effect and energy dissipation capacity were studied. The modeling results revealed that reinforced ECC shear walls can have superior seismic performance to traditional RC shear walls.