• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.211-229
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• 2007

An experimental investigation to determine the transfer length of a seven-wire prestressing strand in different concretes is presented in this paper. A testing technique based on the analysis of bond behaviour by means of measuring the force supported by the prestressing strand on a series of specimens with different embedment lengths has been used. An analytical bond model to calculate the transfer length from an inelastic bond stress distribution along the transfer length has been obtained. A relationship between the plastic bond stress for transfer length and the concrete compressive strength at the time of prestress transfer has been found. An equation to predict the average and both the lower bound and the upper bound values of transfer length is proposed. The experimental results have not only been compared with the theoretical prediction from proposed equations in the literature, but also with experimental results obtained by several researchers.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.64 no.5
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• pp.567-577
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• 2017

The traditional design procedure of a prestressed concrete (PC) cable-stayed bridge is complex and time-consuming. The designers have to repeatedly modify the configuration of the large number of design parameters to obtain a feasible design scheme which maybe not an economical design. In order to efficiently achieve an optimum design for PC cable-stayed bridges, a multi-parameter optimization technique is proposed. In this optimization technique, the number of prestressing tendons in girder is firstly set as one of design variables, as well as cable forces, cable areas and cross-section sizes of the girders and the towers. The stress and displacement constraints are simultaneously utilized to ensure the safety and serviceability of the structure. The target is to obtain the minimum cost design for a PC cable-stayed bridge. Finally, this optimization technique is carried out by a developed PC cable-stayed bridge optimization program involving the interaction of the parameterized automatically modeling program, the finite element structural analysis program and the optimization algorithm. A low-pylon PC cable-stayed bridge is selected as the example to test the proposed optimization technique. The optimum result verifies the capability and efficiency of the optimization technique, and the significance to optimize the number of prestressing tendons in the girder. The optimum design scheme obtained by the application can achieve a 24.03% reduction in cost, compared with the initial design.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.207-215
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• 2004

The objective of the present study is to understand the strengthening effects of reinforced concrete beam applied external prestressing with strand or CFRP(Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic). In the present study, the structural tests was performed to find the effects of stiffness and ductility for the strengthening RC beam. The experimental results show that proposed methods can increase the bending capacity such as strength, stiffness of the beam significantly and the ranged between 57% and 75% of the load-carrying capacity of the control beam.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.121-124
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• 2008

Fast construction of bridge substructures is a new trend of bridge design. A precast pier system with bonded prestressing bars was proposed. In this paper, quasi-static tests on precast prestressed piers were conducted to evaluate the seismic behavior of the precast piers with bonded prestressing bars. In order to strengthen the shear strength of the joints between column segments, steel tubes filled with mortar were used. Displacement ductility and energy dissipation capacity of the precast piers were evaluated. The suggested precast pier system showed better seismic performance than the required ductility. Based on the research results, an example bridge pier for light-railway lines was designed and design considerations were discussed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.411-426
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• 2001

This paper treats the failure analysis of prestressing steel wires with different kinds of localised damage in the form of a surface defect (crack or notch) or as a mechanical action (transverse loads). From the microscopical point of view, the micromechanisms of fracture are shear dimples (associated with localised plasticity) in the case of the transverse loads and cleavage-like (related to a weakest-link fracture micromechanism) in the case of cracked wires. In the notched geometries the microscopic modes of fracture range from the ductile micro-void coalescence to the brittle cleavage, depending on the stress triaxiality in the vicinity of the notch tip. From the macroscopical point of view, fracture criteria are proposed as design criteria in damage tolerance analyses. The transverse load situation is solved by using an upper bound theorem of limit analysis in plasticity. The case of the cracked wire may be treated using fracture criteria in the framework of linear elastic fracture mechanics on the basis of a previous finite element computation of the stress intensity factor in the cracked cylinder. Notched geometries require the use of elastic-plastic fracture mechanics and numerical analysis of the stress-strain state at the failure situation. A fracture criterion is formulated on the basis of the critical value of the effective or equivalent stress in the Von Mises sense.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.39-52
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• 2003

A computer program has been developed for the optimum design of prestressed concrete beams under flexure. Optimum values of prestressing force, tendon configuration, and cross-sectional dimensions are determined subject to constraints on the design variables and stresses. 28 constraints have been used including flexural stresses, cover requirement, the aspect ratios for top and bottom flanges and web part of a beam and ultimate moment. The objective function contains cost of concrete, prestressing force and formwork. Using this function, it is possible to obtain minimum cost design, minimum weight or cross-sectional area of concrete design and minimum prestressing force design. Besides the idealized I-shaped cross-section, which is widely used in literature, a general I-shaped cross-section with eight geometrical design variables are used here. Four examples, one of which is available in the literature and the others are modified form of it, have been solved for minimum cost and minimum cross-sectional area designs and the results are compared. The computer program, which employs modified grid search optimization method, can assist a designer in producing efficient designs rapidly and easily. Considerable savings in computational work are thus made possible.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.13 no.6 s.58
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• pp.204-211
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• 2009

In this study, the optimal method is applied to strengthening of RC hollow slab bridges using external prestressing. The Queen-post and King-post shapes are considered to find the effective tendon configurations. In order to achieve the objective rating factor, the optimal configurations and tendon forces are obtained by using the Sequential Unconstrained Minimization Technique (SUMT). The object function for optimal strengthening is constituted with the dimensionless function of material costs. The constraints are formulated by design specification and the rating factor. The validity of this study is presented by the analysis of the results of strengthening of the RC hollow slab bridges.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.339-352
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• 2015

Ancient masonry towers constitute a relevant part of the cultural heritage of humanity. Their earthquake protection is a topic of great concern among researchers due to the strong damage suffered by these brittle and massive structures through the history. The identification of the seismic behavior and failure of towers under seismic loading is complex. This strongly depends on many factors such as soil characteristics, geometry, mechanical properties of masonry and heavy mass, as well as the earthquake frequency content. A deep understanding of these aspects is the key for the correct seismic vulnerability evaluation of towers and to design the most suitable retrofitting measure. Recent tendencies on the seismic retrofitting of historical structures by means of prestressing are related to the use of smart materials. The most famous cases of application of prestressing in towers were discussed. Compared to horizontal prestressing, vertical post-tensioning is aimed at improving the seismic behavior of towers by reducing damage with the application of an overall distribution of compressive stresses at key locations.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.1567-1576
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• 2023

The reactor containment building (RCB) in nuclear power plants (NPPs) plays an important role in protecting the reactor systems from external loads as well as preventing radioactive leaking. As we witnessed the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi (Japan) in 2011, the earthquake is one of the major threats to NPPs. The purpose of this study is to evaluate effects of concrete material models and presstressing forces on the seismic performance evaluation of RCB in NPPs. A typical RCB designed in Korea is employed for a case study. Detailed three-dimensional nonlinear finite element models of RCB are developed in ANSYS. A series of pushover analyses are then performed to obtain the pushover curves of RCB. Different capacity curves are compared to recognize the influence of different material models on the nonlinear behavior of RCB. Additionally, the effects of prestressing forces on the seismic performances of the structure are also investigated. Moreover, a set of damage states corresponding to damage evolutions of the structures is proposed in this study.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.4A
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• pp.447-456
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• 2008

This paper suggests a modified debonding failure model for the externally bonded prestressed CFRP plate strengthening system. In order to reduce the error that may occur in the experimental results, statistical analysis of the experimental results produced by previous researchers was conducted to propose a debonding failure model. The experimental results of beams strengthened with bonded CFRP plates have made it possible to verify the debonding failure occurring before the final failure in the prestressing system. The corresponding strain increased with the effective prestress. Accordingly, the debonding failure model was modified by considering the effective prestress so as to fit with the CFRP prestressing system.