• Computers and Concrete
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.579-596
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• 2016

This paper describes a method of the refined plastic hinge approach in the framework of the higher-order element formulation that can efficaciously evaluate the limit state capacity of a whole reinforced concrete structural system using least number of element(s), whereas the traditional design of a reinforced concrete structure (i.e. AS3600; Eurocode 2) is member-based approach. Hence, in regard to the material nonlinearities, the efficient and economical cross-section analysis is provided to evaluate the element section capacity of non-uniform and arbitrary concrete section subjected to the interaction effects, which is helpful to formulate the refined plastic hinge method. In regard to the geometric nonlinearities, this paper relies on the higher-order element formulation with element load effect. Eventually, the load redistribution can be considered and make full use of the strength reserved owing to the redundancy of an indeterminate structure. And it is particularly true for the performance-based design of a structure under the extreme loads, while the uncertainty of the extreme load is great that the true behaviour of a whole structural system is important for the economical design approach, which is great superiority over the conservative optimal strength of an individual and isolated member based on traditional design (i.e. AS3600; Eurocode 2).

• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.103-113
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• 1996

This paper presents practical notional-load plastic-hinge method for a two-dimensional steel structure design. The proposed method incorporates the refined plastic-hinge concept for spread of plasticity together with a practical notional-load approach. The proposed method can assess realistically both strength and behavior of a structural system and its individual members in a direct manner. As a result, the method can be used for design without tedious separate member capacity checks, including the calculation of K-factor. The strengths predicted by the proposed method are then compared with those predicted by the exact plastic-zone analysis as well as by the conventional LRFD procedure. A good agreement is generally observed. The displacement predictions are compared with the plastic-zone solutions. Analysis and design guidelines in using the proporsed method are given in detail. Analysis and design procedures are recommended. Member sizes determined by the proposed method are compared with those determined by the LRFD method. It is concluded that the procedures are suitable for adoption in practice.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.679-702
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• 2013

During an earthquake, soils filter and send out the shaking to the building and simultaneously it has the role of bearing the building vibrations and transmitting them back to the ground. In other words, the ground and the building interact with each other. Hence, soil-structure interaction (SSI) is a key parameter that affects the performance of buildings during the earthquakes and is worth to be taken into consideration. Columns are one of the most crucial elements in RC buildings that play an important role in stability of the building and must be able to dissipate energy under seismic loads. Recent earthquakes showed that formation of plastic hinges in columns is still possible as a result of strong ground motion, despite the application of strong column-weak beam concept, as recommended by various design codes. Energy is dissipated through the plastic deformation of specific zones at the end of a member without affecting the rest of the structure. The formation of a plastic hinge in an RC column in regions that experience inelastic actions depends on the column details as well as soil-structure interaction (SSI). In this paper, 854 different scenarios have been analyzed by inelastic time-history analyses to predict the nonlinear behavior of RC columns considering soil-structure interaction (SSI). The effects of axial load, height over depth ratio, main period of soil and structure as well as different characteristics of earthquakes, are evaluated analytically by finite element methods and the results are compared with corresponding experimental data. Findings from this study provide a simple expression to estimate plastic hinge length of RC columns including soil-structure interaction.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.699-715
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• 2010

This paper investigates the structural responses of axially restrained steel beams under fire conditions by a nonlinear finite element method. The axial restraint is represented by a linear elastic spring. Different parameters which include beam slenderness ratio, external load level and axial restraint ratio are investigated. The process of forming a mid-span plastic hinge at the mid-span under a rising temperature is studied. In line with forming a fully plastic hinge at mid-span, the response of a restrained beam under rising temperature can be divided into three stages, viz. no plastic hinge, hinge forming and rotating, and catenary action stage. During catenary action stage, the axial restraint pulls the heated beam and prevents it from failing. This study introduces definitions of beam limiting temperature $T_{lim}$, catenary temperature $T_{ctn}$ and warning time $t_{wn}$. Influences of slenderness ratio, load level and axial restraint ratio on $T_{lim}$, $T_{ctn}$ and $t_{wn}$ are examined.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.185-190
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• 2010

Application of CAE analyses are wide spread in shaping processes and structural safety verification of plastic products. The importance of CAE analysis and its contributions are getting increase since the processibility and structural safety of product can be predicted. CAE analysis for complex shaped product need a lot of time for modeling and computation compare with simpler one. Therefore careful simulation modeling is required for complex shaped product. Structural analysis for plastic door handle of automobile has been performed and structural safety has been investigated for various load directions and modeling cases. Large stress occurred at the hinge in handle regardless of load direction and modeling case. Consequently hinge is considered structurally very weak among the parts in plastic door handle. It is concluded that simple modeling rather than total modeling with adequate boundary condition equivalent to real situation gives reasonable computational results with saving modeling effort and computation time.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.339-349
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• 2017

In this paper, a conventional refined plastic hinge analysis is improved to account for the effects of local buckling and lateral-torsional buckling. The degradation of flexural strength caused by these effects is implicitly considered using practical LRFD equation. The second-order effect is captured using stability functions to minimize modeling and solution time. An incremental-iterative scheme based on the generalized displacement control method is employed to solve the nonlinear equilibrium equations. A computer program is developed to predict the second-order inelastic behavior of space steel frames. To verify the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed program, the obtained results are compared with the existing results and those generated using the commercial finite element package ABAQUS. It can be concluded that the proposed program proves to be a reliable and effective tool for daily use in engineering design.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.9 no.2 s.42
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• pp.29-36
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to investigate the inelastic behavior of reinforced concrete bridge columns with unbonding of main reinforcements at plastic hinge region. A computer program, named RCAHEST (Reinforced Concrete Analysis in Higher Evaluation System Technology), for the analysis of reinforced concrete structures was used. Material nonlinearity is taken into account by comprising tensile, compressive and shear models of cracked concrete and a model of reinforcing steel. The smeared crack approach is incorporated. The effect of unbonding of main reinforcements at plastic hinge region has been also taken into account to model the concrete and reinforcing steel. The proposed numerical method for the inelastic behavior of reinforced concrete bridge columns with unbonding of main reinforcements at plastic hinge region is verified by comparison with reliable experimental results.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.397-402
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• 2003

This paper presents strut-and-tie models for predicting shear strength of RC interior beam-column joints considering the plastic hinge rotation of adjacent beams. On seismic design of frame system, it is controlled beams to occur plastic hinges and to be ductile so as to dissipate earthquake energy efficiently. The plastic hinge deformation of beams is used as analysis parameter in terms of strain of beam tensile bars at column face. The shear strengths of beam-column joints are evaluated by combining direct strut mechanism with truss mechanism. It is assumed that the max force transferred by direct strut mechanism is based on the strength of cracked concrete element, and that by truss mechanism is based on bond capacity.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.63 no.5
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• pp.669-681
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• 2017

The design of reinforced concrete buildings must satisfy the serviceability stiffness criteria in terms of maximum lateral deflections and inter story drift in order to prevent both structural and non-structural damages. Consideration of plastic hinge formation is also important to obtain accurate failure mechanism and ultimate strength of reinforced concrete frames. In the present study, an iterative procedure has been developed for the analysis of reinforced concrete frames with cracked elements and consideration of plastic hinge formation. The ACI and probability-based effective stiffness models are used for the effective moment of inertia of cracked members. Shear deformation effect is also considered, and the variation of shear stiffness due to cracking is evaluated by reduced shear stiffness models available in the literature. The analytical procedure has been demonstrated through the application to three reinforced concrete frame examples available in the literature. It has been shown that the iterative analytical procedure can provide accurate and efficient predictions of deflections and ultimate strength of the frames studied under lateral and vertical loads. The proposed procedure is also efficient from the viewpoint of computational time and convergence rate. The developed technique was able to accurately predict the locations and sequential development of plastic hinges in frames. The results also show that shear deformation can contribute significantly to frame deflections.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.147-160
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• 2006

GA-based fuzzy optimum design algorithm incorporated with the refined plastic hinge analysis method is presented in this study. In the refined plastic hinge analysis method, geometric nonlinearity is considered by using the stability functions of the beam-column members. Material nonlinearity is also considered by using the gradual stiffness degradation model, which considers the effects of residual stresses, moment redistribution through the occurence of plastic hinges, and the geometric imperfections of the members. In the genetic algorithm, the tournament selection method and the total weight of the steel frames. The requirements of load-carrying capacity, serviceability, ductility, and constructabil ity are used as the constraint conditions. In fuzzy optimization, for crisp objective function and fuzzy constraint s, the tolerance that is accepted is 5% of the constraints. Furthermore, a level-cut method is presented from 0 to 1 at a 0 .2 interval, with the use of the nonmembership function, to solve fuzzy-optimization problems. The values of conventional GA optimization and fuzzy GA optimization are compared in several examples of steel structures.