• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.527-544
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• 2018

The paper presents the study on a change in modal parameters and structural stiffness of cable-stayed Fiberline Bridge made entirely of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) composite used for 20 years in the fjord area of Kolding, Denmark. Due to this specific location the bridge structure was subjected to natural aging in harsh environmental conditions. The flexural properties of the pultruded GFRP profiles acquired from the analyzed footbridge in 1997 and 2012 were determined through three-point bending tests. It was found that the Young's modulus increased by approximately 9%. Moreover, the influence of the temperature on the storage and loss modulus of GFRP material acquired from the Fiberline Bridge was studied by the dynamic mechanical analysis. The good thermal stability in potential real temperatures was found. The natural vibration frequencies and mode shapes of the bridge for its original state were evaluated through the application of the Finite Element (FE) method. The initial FE model was created using the real geometrical and material data obtained from both the design data and flexural test results performed in 1997 for the intact composite GFRP material. Full scale experimental investigations of the free-decay response under human jumping for the experimental state were carried out applying accelerometers. Seven natural frequencies, corresponding mode shapes and damping ratios were identified. The numerical and experimental results were compared. Based on the difference in the fundamental natural frequency it was again confirmed that the structural stiffness of the bridge increased by about 9% after 20 years of service life. Data collected from this study were used to validate the assumed FE model. It can be concluded that the updated FE model accurately reproduces the dynamic behavior of the bridge and can be used as a proper baseline model for the long-term monitoring to evaluate the overall structural response under service loads. The obtained results provided a relevant data for the structural health monitoring of all-GFRP bridge.

• Composites Research
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.59-65
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• 2014

Most of energy are obtained from oil, coal, and natural gas, most likely, fossil fuel which is limited throughout the world. Recently, high crude oil price, climate change, oil depletion, etc. are main reason to get attention to non-fossil energy including renewable energy in the world. In this study, we studied analysis and design of structure system composed of pultruded fiber reinforced polymer composite (PFRP) which has many advantages such as high specific strength and stiffness, high corrosion resistance and chemical resistance. For the design and construction of floating-type structure, PFRP structural members may be the first choice. Design of tracking-type floating PV generation structure was performed by using the results of the finite element analysis. The structure is fabricated and installed on the water surface. Before the installation of the structure, safety related problems associated with installation and operation are investigated using the finite element simulation and it was found that the structure is safe enough to resist externally applied loads.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.57-76
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• 2024

The management of waste tire rubber has become a pressing environmental and health issue, requiring sustainable solutions to mitigate fire hazards and conserve natural resources. The performance of waste materials in structural components needs to be investigated to fabricate sustainable structures. This study aims to investigate the behavior of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) reinforced rubberized concrete (GRRC) compressive components under compressive loads. Nine GRRC circular compressive components, varying in longitudinal and transverse reinforcement ratios, were constructed. A 3D nonlinear finite element model (FEM) was proposed by means of the ABAQUS software to simulate the behavior of the GRRC compressive components. A comprehensive parametric analysis was conducted to assess the impact of different parameters on the performance of GRRC compressive components. The experimental findings demonstrated that reducing the spacing of GFRP stirrups enhanced the ductility of GRRC compressive components, while the addition of rubberized concrete further improved their ductility. Failure in GRRC compressive components occurred in a compressive columnar manner, characterized by vertical cracks and increased deformability. The finite element simulations closely matched the experimental results. The proposed empirical model, based on 600 test samples and considering the lateral confinement effect of FRP stirrups, demonstrated higher accuracy (R² = 0.835, MSE = 171.296, MAE = 203.549, RMSE = 195.438) than previous models.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.513-531
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• 2018

In this article, static, buckling and free vibration analyses of a sinusoidal micro composite beam reinforced by single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with considering temperature-dependent material properties embedded in an elastic medium in the presence of magnetic field under transverse uniform load are presented. This system is used at micro or sub micro scales to enhance the stiffness of micro composite structures such as bar, beam, plate and shell. In the present work, the size dependent effects based on surface stress effect and modified strain gradient theory (MSGT) are considered. The generalized rule of mixture is employed to predict temperature-dependent mechanical and thermal properties of micro composite beam. Then, the governing equations of motions are derived using Hamilton's principle and energy method. Numerical results are presented to investigate the influences of material length scale parameters, elastic foundation, composite fiber angle, magnetic intensity, temperature changes and carbon nanotubes volume fraction on the bending, buckling and free vibration behaviors of micro composite beam. There is a good agreement between the obtained results by this research and the literature results. The obtained results of this study demonstrate that the magnetic intensity, temperature changes, and two parameters elastic foundations have important effects on micro composite stiffness, while the magnetic field has greater effects on the bending, buckling and free vibration responses of micro composite beams. Moreover, it is shown that the effects of surface layers are important, and observed that the changes of carbon nanotubes volume fraction, beam length-to-thickness ratio and material length scale parameter have noticeable effects on the maximum deflection, critical buckling load and natural frequencies of micro composite beams.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.97-103
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• 2017

The objective of this study is to develop and commercialize an on-board fuel storage system for CNG vehicles. A type 4 vessel is made of resin-impregnated continuous filament windings on a polyamide (PA6) liner. In particular, this study localized the PA6 liner's fabrication and development. To analyze the filament winding, a specimen test was performed, and the results were verified values obtained using finite element analysis. In this study, the filament winding and fibers were optimized for a 207 bar composite cylinder in a compressed natural gas vehicle.

• Composites Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.25-30
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• 2007

The advanced fiber-reinforced laminated composites are widely used in a variety of engineering applications such as aerospace, marine, mechanical and civil engineering for weight savings because of their high specific strength and stiffness. The material properties of ply is known to have larger variations than that of conventional materials and very sensitive to the loading direction. Therefore, it is important to consider the variations on designing the laminated composite. This paper demonstrates the importance of considering uncertainties through examining the effect of material properties variations on various design requirements such as tip deflection, natural frequency and buckling stress using COMSOL-MATLAB interface.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.3A
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• pp.447-455
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• 2006

A general purpose of 4-node co-rotational resultant shell element is developed for the solution of nonlinear problems of reinforced concrete, steel and fiber-reinforced composite structures. The formulation of the geometrical stiffness presented here is defined on the mid-surface by using the second order kinematic relations and is efficient for analyzing thick plates and shells by incorporating bending moment and transverse shear resultant forces. The present element is free of shear locking behavior by using the ANS (Assumed Natural Strain) method such that the element performs very well as thin shells. Inelastic behaviour of concrete material is based on the plasticity with strain hardening and elasto-plastic fracture model. The plasticity of steel is based on Von-Mises Yield and Ivanov Yield criteria with strain hardening. The transverse shear stiffness of laminate composite is defined by an equilibrium approach instead of using the shear correction factor. The proposed formulation is computationally efficient and versitile for most civil engineering application and the test results showed good agreement.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.315-328
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• 2023

The main goal of the present study was to assess the effects of eggshell powder (ESP) and halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) on the mechanical properties of abaca fiber (AF)-reinforced natural composites. For this purpose, a limited number of indentation tests were first performed on the AF/polypropylene (PP) composites for different HNT and ESP loadings (0 wt.% ~ 6 wt.%), load amplitudes (150, 200, and 250 N), and two types of indenters (Vickers or conical). The Young's modulus, hardness and plasticity index of each specimen were calculated using the indentation test results and Oliver-Pharr method. The accuracy of the experimental results was confirmed by comparing the values of the Young's modulus obtained from the indentation test with the results of the conventional tensile test. Then, a feed-forward shallow artificial neural network (ANN) with high efficiency was trained based on the obtained experimental data. The trained ANN could properly predict the variations of the mentioned mechanical properties of AF/PP composites incorporated with different HNT and ESP loadings. Furthermore, the trained ANN demonstrated that HNTs increase the elastic modulus and hardness of the composite, while the incorporation of ESP reduces these properties. For instance, the Young's modulus of composites incorporated with 3 wt.% of ESP decreased by 30.7% compared with the pure composite, while increasing the weight fraction of ESP up to 6% decreased the Young's modulus by 34.8%. Moreover, the trained ANN indicated that HNTs have a more significant effect on reducing the plasticity index than ESP.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.97-107
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• 2003

To obtain a more accurate response from larninated composite structures, the effect of transverse shear deformation, transverse normal strain/stress, and nonlinear variation of in-plane displacements vis-$\\grave{a}$-vis the thickness coordinate should be considered in the analysis. The improved higher-order theory was used to determine the critical buckling load and natural frequencies of laminated composite structures. Solutions of simply supported laminated composite plates and sandwiches were obtained in closed form using Navier's technique, with the results compared with calculated results using the first order and other higher-order theories. Numerical results were presented for fiber-reinforced laminates, which show the effects of ply orientation, number of layers, side-toithickness ratio, and aspects ratio.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.457-471
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• 2023

To make up for the performance weaknesses of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC), expand the application range of RAC, and alleviate the environmental problems caused by excessive exploitation of natural coarse aggregates (NCA), this study proposes a basalt fiber-reinforced recycled aggregate concrete (BFRRAC)-filled square steel tubular columns that combines two modification methods of steel tube and fiber, which may greatly enhance the mechanical properties of RAC. The axial compression performance for BFRRAC-filled square steel tubular columns was reported during this study. Seven specimens with different replacement ratios of recycled coarse aggregate (RCA), length-diameter ratios, along with basalt fiber (BF) contents were designed as well as fabricated for performing axial compression test. For each specimen, the whole failure process as well as mode of specimen were discovered, subsequently the load-axial displacement curve has obtained, after which the mechanical properties was explained. A finite element analysis model for specimens under axial compression was then established. Subsequently, based on this model, the factors affecting axial compression performance for BFRRAC-filled square steel tubes were extended and analyzed, after which the corresponding design suggestion was proposed. The results show that in the columns with length-diameter ratios of 5 and 8, bulging failure was presented, and the RAC was severely crushed at the bulging area of the specimen. The replacement ratio of RCA as well as BF content little affected specimen's peak load (less than 5%). As the content of BF enhanced from 0 kg/m³ to 4 kg/m³, the dissipation factor and ductility coefficients increased by 10.2% and 5.6%, respectively, with a wide range.