• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제45권3호
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• pp.437-454
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• 2022

Elliptic-braced simple resisting frame as a new lateral bracing system installed in the middle bay of frame in building facades has been recently introduced. This system not only creates a problem for opening space from the architectural viewpoint but also improves the structural behavior. Despite the researches on the seismic performance of lateral bracing systems, there are few studies performed on the effect of the stiffness parameters on the elastic story drift and calculation of period in simple braced steel frames. To overcome this shortcoming, in this paper, for the first time, an analytical solution is presented for calculating elastic lateral stiffness in a simple steel frame equipped with elliptic brace subjected to lateral load. In addition, for the first time, in this study, a precise formulation has been developed to evaluate the elastic stiffness variation in a steel frame equipped with a two-dimensional single-story single-span elliptic brace using strain energy and Castigliano's theorem. Thus, all the effective factors, including axial and shear loads as well as bending moments of elliptic brace could be considered. At the end of the analysis, the lateral stiffness can be calculated by an improved and innovative relation through the energy method based on the geometrical properties of the employed sections and specification of the used material. Also, an equivalent element of an elliptic brace was presented for the ease of modeling and use in linear designs. Application of the proposed relation have been verified through a variety of examples in OpenSees software. Based on the results, the error percentage between the elastic stiffness derived from the developed equations and the numerical analyses of finite element models was very low and negligible.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.245-254
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• 2023

Through qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis, the contradictory conclusions about the stability of the settled goaf with two-layer coal seams subject to building load were obtained. Therefore, it is necessary to combine the additional stress method and numerical simulation to further analyze the foundation stability. Through borehole analysis and empirical formula analogy, the height of water-conducting fracture zone in No.4 coal and No.9 coal were obtained, providing the calculation range of water-conducting fracture zone for numerical simulation. To ensure the accuracy of the elastic modulus of broken gangue, the stress-strain curve were obtained by broken gangue compression test in dried state of No.4 coal seam and in soaking state of No.9 coal seam. To ensure the rationality of the numerical simulation results, the actual measured subsidence data were retrieved by numerical simulation. FISH language was used to analyze the maximum building load on the surface and determine the influence depth of building load on the foundation. The critical building load was 0.16 MPa of No.4 settled goaf and was 1.6 MPa of No.9 settled goaf. The additional stress affected the water-conducting fracture zone obviously, resulted in the subsidence of water-conducting fracture zone was greater than that of bending subsidence zone. In this paper, the additional stress method was analyzed by numerical simulation method, which can provide a new analysis method for the treatment and utilization of the settled goaf.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제47권1호
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• pp.51-69
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• 2023

In tied-arch bridges, a properly designed connection between the arch and the deck may become crucial, since the forces in the structure may be significantly reduced. This implies substantial material savings and, consequently, cheaper constructions. The introduction of the Nielsen cable arrangement (composed of V-shaped inclined hangers) in the last century was a milestone because it was able to reduce deflections and bending moments both in the arch and in the deck. So far, the Nielsen cable arrangement has proven to be successful in traditional vertical arch bridges. However, despite its advantages, it has not been widely applied to spatial arch bridges. Thus, this article analyses the difference between the structural behavior of spatial arch bridges with Nielsen-type cable arrangements with respect to those with classical vertical hanger configurations. The main goal is to verify whether the known effectiveness of the Nielsen cable arrangement for classical arch bridges is still preserved when applied to spatial arch bridges. In order to achieve this objective, and as the first part of our study, a set of different all-steel bridges composed of vertical and inclined arches with straight decks have been compared for both cable arrangements. As a major conclusion, for planar vertical arch bridges, the Nielsen-type cable arrangement is always the most effective. In addition, it also seems that, for spatial arch bridges composed of a straight deck and an inclined arch, it still keeps most of its effectiveness as long as the arch is moderately inclined.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제81권1호
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• pp.81-91
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• 2022

The effects of interaction between concrete-gypsum interface and edge crack on the failure behavior of the specimens in senicircular bend (SCB) test were studied in the laboratory and also simulated numerically using the discrete element method. Some quarter circular specimens of gypsum and concrete with 5 cm radii and hieghts were separately prepared. Then the semicircular testing specimens were made by attaching one gypsum and one concrete sample to one another using a special glue and one edge crack is produced (in the interface) by do not using the glue in that part of the interface. The tensile strengths of concrete and gypsum samples were separately measured as 2.2 MPa and 1.3 MPa, respectively. during all testing performances a constant loading rate of 0.005 mm/s were stablished. The proposed testing method showed that the mechanism of failure and fracture in the brittle materials were mostly governed by the dimensions and number of discontinuities. The fracture toughnesses of the SCB samples were related to the fracture patterns during the failure processes of these specimens. The tensile behaviour of edge notch was related to the number of induced tensile cracks which were increased by decreasing the joint length. The fracture toughness of samples was constant by increasing the joint length. The failure process and fracture pattern in the notched semi-circular bending specimens were similar for both methods used in this study (i.e., the laboratory tests and the simulation procedure using the particle flow code (PFC2D)).

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제29권4호
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• pp.471-486
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• 2022

The effect of segmental joints is one of main importance for the segmental lining design when tunnels are excavated by a mechanized process. In this paper, segmental tunnel linings are analyzed by two numerical methods, namely the Beam-Spring Method (BSM) and the Solid-Interface Method (SIM). For this purpose, the Tehran Subway Line 6 Tunnel is considered to be the reference case. Comprehensive 2D numerical simulations are performed considering the soil's calibrated plastic hardening model (PH). Also, an advanced 3D numerical model was used to obtain the stress relaxation value. The SIM numerical model is conducted to calculate the average rotational stiffness of the longitudinal joints considering the joints bending moment distribution and joints openings. Then, based on the BSM, a sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the influence of the ground rigidity, depth to diameter ratios, slippage between the segment and ground, segment thickness, number of segments and pattern of joints. The findings indicate that when the longitudinal joints are flexible, the soil-segment interaction effect is significant. The joint rotational stiffness effect becomes remarkable with increasing the segment thickness, segment number, and tunnel depth. The pattern of longitudinal joints, in addition to the joint stiffness ratio and number of segments, also depends on the placement of longitudinal joints of the key segment in the tunnel crown (similar to patterns B and B').

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제44권6호
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• pp.845-865
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• 2022

In this study, the performance of shear deficient reinforced concrete (RC) beams with rectangular cross-sections, which were externally bonded reinforced (EBR) with high strength CFRP and GFRP strips composite along shear spans, has been experimentally and analytically investigated under vertical load. In the study, the minimum CFRP and GFRP strips width over spacing were considered. The shear beam with turned end to a bending beam was investigated by applying different composite strips. Therefore various arising in each of strength, ductility, rigidity, and energy dissipation capacity were obtained. A total of 12 small-scaled experimental programs have been performed. Beam dimensions have been taken as 100×150×1000 mm. Four beams have been tested as unstrengthened samples. This paper focuses on the effect of minimum CFRP and GFRP strip width on behaviours of RC beams shear-strengthened with full-wrapping, U-wrapping, and U-wrapping+longitudinal bonding strips. Strengthened beams showed significant increments for flexural ductility, energy dissipation, and inelastic performance. The full wrapping strips applied against shear failure have increased the load-carrying capacity of samples 53%-63% interval rate. Although full wrapping is the best strengthening choice, the U-wrapping and U-wrapping+longitudinal strips of both CFRP and GFRP bonding increased the shear capacity by 53%~75% compared to the S2 sample. In terms of ductility, the best result has been obtained by the type of strengthening where the S5 beam was completely GFRP wrapped. The experimental results were also compared with the analytically given by ACI440.2R-17, TBEC-2019 and FIB-2001. Especially in U-wrapped beams, the estimation of FIB was determined to be 81%. The estimates of the other codes are far from meeting the experimental results; therefore, essential improvements should be applied to the codes, especially regarding CFRP and GFRP deformation and approaches for longitudinal strip connections. According to the test results, it is suggested that GFRP, which is at least as effective but cheaper than CFRP, may be preferred for strengthening applications.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제47권6호
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• pp.693-707
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• 2023

This article investigates the static thermo-mechanical response of anisotropic thick laminated composite plates on Visco-Pasternak foundations under various thermal load conditions (linear, non-linear, and uniform) along the transverse direction (thickness) of the plate, while keeping the mechanical load constant. The governing equations, which represent the thermo-mechanical behavior of the composite plate, are derived from the principle of virtual displacements. Using Navier's type solution, these equations are solved for the composite plate with simply supported condition. The Visco-Pasternak foundation type is included by considering the impact of the damping on the classical foundation model, which is modeled by Winkler's linear modulus and Pasternak's shear modulus. The excellent accuracy of the present solution is confirmed by comparing the results with those available in the literature. The study investigates the impact of geometric ratios, thermal expansion coefficient ratio, damping coefficient and foundation parameters on the thermo-mechanical flexural response of the composite plate. Overall, this article provides insights into the behavior of composite plates on visco-Pasternak foundations and may be useful for designing and analyzing composite structures in practical applications.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제46권2호
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• pp.221-236
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• 2023

In order to study the seismic response of the main plant of steel reinforced concrete (SRC) structure of the CAP1400 nuclear power plant under the influence of different high-mode vibration, the 1/7 model structure was manufactured and its dynamic characteristics was tested. Secondly, the finite element model of SRC frame-bent structure was established, the seismic response was analyzed by mode-superposition response spectrum method. Taking the combination result of the 500 vibration modes as the standard, the error of the base reactions, inter-story drift, bending moment and shear of different modes were calculated. Then, based on the results, the influence of high-mode vibration on the seismic response of the SRC frame-bent structure of the main plant was analyzed. The results show that when the 34 vibration modes were intercepted, the mass participation coefficient of the vertical and horizontal vibration mode was above 90%, which can meet the requirements of design code. There is a large error between the seismic response calculated by the 34 and 500 vibration modes, and the error decreases as the number of modes increases. When 60 modes were selected, the error can be reduced to about 1%. The error of the maximum bottom moment of the bottom column appeared in the position of the bent column. Finally, according to the characteristics of the seismic influence coefficient αj of each mode, the mode contribution coefficient γj•Xji was defined to reflect the contribution of each mode to the seismic action.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.23-39
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• 2023

One of the important problems of concrete placing is the concrete compaction, which can affect the strength, durability and apparent quality of the hardened concrete. Therefore, vibrating operations might be accompanied by much noise and the need for training the involved workers, while inappropriate functioning can result in many problems. One of the most important methods to solve these problems is to utilize self-compacting cementitious composites instead of the normal concrete. Due to their benefits of these new materials, such as high tensile, compressive, and flexural strength, have drawn the researchers' attention to this type of cementitious composite more than ever. In this experimental investigation, six mixing designs were selected as a base to acquire the best mechanical properties. Moreover, forty-eight rectangular composite panels with dimensions of 300 mm × 400 mm and two thickness values of 30 mm and 50 mm were cast and tested to compare the flexural and impact energy absorption. Steel fibers with volume fractions of 0%, 0.5% and 1% and with lengths of 25 mm and 50 mm were imposed in order to prepare the required cement composites. In this research, the composite panels with two thicknesses of 30 mm and 50 mm, classified into 12 different groups, were cast and tested under three-point flexural bending and repeated drop weight impact test, respectively. Also, the examination and comparison of flexural energy absorption with impact energy absorption were one of the other aims of this research. The obtained results showed that the addition of fibers of longer length improved the mechanical properties of specimens. On the other hand, the findings of the flexural and impact test on the self-compacting composite panels indicated a stronger influence of the long-length fibers.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제46권6호
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• pp.773-791
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• 2023

Connections with damage concentrated to pre-selected components can enhance seismic resilience for moment resisting frames. These pre-selected components always yield early to dissipate energy, and their energy dissipation mechanisms vary from one to another, depending on their position in the connection, geometry configuration details, and mechanical characteristics. This paper presents behaviour insights on two types of beam-to-beam connections that the angles were designed as energy dissipation components, through the results of experimental study and finite element analysis. Firstly, an experimental programme was reviewed, and key responses concerning the working mechanism of the connections were presented, including strain distribution at the critical section, section force responses of essential components, and initial stiffness of test specimens. Subsequently, finite element models of three specimens were established to further interpret their behaviour and response that were not observable in the tests. The moment and shear force transfer paths of the composite connections were clarified through the test results and finite element analysis. It was observed that the bending moment is mainly resisted by axial forces from the components, and the dominant axial force is from the bottom angles; the shear force at the critical section is primarily taken by the slab and the components near the top flange. Lastly, based on the insights on the load transfer path of the composite connections, preliminary design recommendations are proposed. In particular, a resistance requirement, quantified by a moment capacity ratio, was placed on the connections. Design models and equations were also developed for predicting the yield moment resistance and the shear resistance of the connections. A flexible beam model was proposed to quantify the shear resistance of essential components.