• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.4
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• pp.435-444
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• 2022

This study proposes a novel longitudinal self-centering earthquake resistant system for reinforced concrete (RC) continuous bridges by using superelastic shape memory alloy (SMA) reinforcement and friction dissipation mechanism. The SMA reinforcing bars are implemented in the fixed piers to provide self-recentering forces, while the friction dampers are used at the movable substructures like end abutments to enhance the energy dissipation of the bridge system. A reasonable balance between self-centering and energy dissipation capacities should be well achieved by properly selecting the parameters of the SMA rebars and friction dampers. A two-span continuous bridge with one fixed pier and two abutments is chosen as a prototype for illustration. Different longitudinal earthquake resistant systems including the proposed one in this study are investigated and compared. The results indicate that compared with the designs of over-dissipation (e.g., excessive friction) and over-self-centering (e.g., pure SMAs), the proposed system with balanced design between self-centering and energy dissipation would perform satisfactorily in controlling both the peak and residual displacement ratios of the bridge system.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.319-342
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• 2008

Identification of the nonlinear hysteretic behavior of a reinforced concrete (RC) bridge pier subjected to earthquake loads is carried out based on acceleration measurements of the earthquake motion and bridge responses. The modified Takeda model is used to describe the hysteretic behavior of the RC pier with a small number of parameters, in which the nonlinear behavior is described in logical forms rather than analytical expressions. Hence, the modified extended Kalman filter is employed to construct the state transition matrix using a finite difference scheme. The sequential modified extended Kalman filter algorithm is proposed to identify the unknown parameters and the state vector separately in two steps, so that the size of the problem for each identification procedure may be reduced and possible numerical problems may be avoided. Mode superposition with a modal sorting technique is also proposed to reduce the size of the identification problem for the nonlinear dynamic system with multi-degrees of freedom. Example analysis is carried out for a continuous bridge with a RC pier subjected to earthquake loads in the longitudinal and transverse directions.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.91-102
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• 2007

Through lessons in recent earthquakes, the bridge engineering community recognizes the need for new seismic design methodologies based on the inelastic structural performance of RC bridge structures. This study represents results of performance-based fragility analysis of reinforced concrete (RC) bridge. Monte carlo simulation is performed to study nonlinear dynamic responses of RC bridge. Two-parameter log-normal distribution function is used to represent the fragility curves. These two-parameters, referred to as fragility parameters, are estimated by the traditional maximum likelihood procedure, which is treated each event of RC bridge pier damage as a realization of Bernoulli experiment. In order to formulate the fragility curves, five different damage states are described by two practical factors: the displacement and curvature ductility, which are mostly influencing on the seismic behavior of RC bridge piers. Five damage states are quantitatively assessed in terms of these seismic ductilities on the basis of numerous experimental results of RC bridge piers. Thereby, the performance-based fragility curves of RC bridge pier are provided in this paper. This approach can be used in constructing the fragility curves of various bridge structures and be applied to construct the seismic hazard map.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.499-521
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• 2016

In this paper, a probabilistic- and finite element-based approach to evaluate and predict the lifetime performance of reinforced concrete (RC) bridges undergoing various maintenance actions is proposed with the time-variant system reliability being utilized as a performance indicator. Depending on their structural state during the degradation process, the classical maintenance actions for RC bridges are firstly categorized into four types: Preventive type I, Preventive type II, Strengthening and Replacement. Preventive type I is used to delay the onset of steel corrosion, Preventive type II can suppress the corrosion process of reinforcing steel, Strengthening is the application of various maintenance materials to improve the structural performance and Replacement is performed to restore the individual components or overall structure to their original conditions. The quantitative influence of these maintenance types on structural performance is investigated and the respective analysis modules are written and inputted into the computer program. Accordingly, the time-variant system reliability can be calculated by the use of Monte Carlo simulations and the updated the program. Finally, an existing RC continuous bridge located in Shanghai, China, is used as an illustrative example and the lifetime structural performance with and without each of the maintenance types are discussed. It is felt that the proposed approach can be applied to various RC bridges with different structural configurations, construction methods and environmental conditions.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.563-572
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• 2017

Ordinary reinforced concrete (RC) and prestressed concrete bridges are two popular and typical types of short- and medium-span bridges that accounts for the vast majority of all existing bridges. The cost of maintaining, repairing or replacing degraded existing RC bridges is immense. Detecting the abnormality of RC bridges at an early stage and taking the protective measures in advance are effective ways to improve maintenance practices and reduce the maintenance cost. This study proposes a systematic method from influence line (IL) identification to damage detection with applications to RC bridges. An IL identification method which integrates the cubic B-spline function with Tikhonov regularization is first proposed based on the vehicle information and the corresponding moving vehicle induced bridge response time history. Subsequently, IL change is defined as a damage index for bridge damage detection, and information fusion technique that synthesizes ILs of multiple locations/sensors is used to improve the efficiency and accuracy of damage localization. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed systematic method is verified through experimental tests on a three-span continuous RC beam. The comparison suggests that the identified ILs can well match with the baseline ILs, and it demonstrates that the proposed IL identification method has a high accuracy and a great potential in engineering applications. Results in this case indicate that deflection ILs are superior than strain ILs for damage detection of RC beams, and the performance of damage localization can be significantly improved with the information fusion of multiple ILs.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.57-67
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• 2021

A thorough administration of the arterial road network requires a continuous supply of updated and accurate information about the traffic that travels on the roads. One of the ways to effectively obtain the traffic volume and weight distribution of heavy vehicles is the BWIM technique, which is actively being studied. Unlike previous studies, this study was performed to develop a simplified Bridge Weigh-In-Motion (BWIM) algorithm that can easily estimate the axle spacing and weight of a traveling vehicle by utilizing the structural characteristics of the bridge. A short span RC T-beam bridge with no crossbeam installed was selected for the study, and then the strain response characteristics of bridge deck and girder was checked through preliminary field test. Based on the preliminary field test results, a simplified BWIM algorithm suitable for the bridge to be studied was derived. The validity and accuracy of the BWIM algorithm derived in this study were verified through field test. As a result of the verification test, the proposed BWIM algorithm can estimate the axle spacing and gross weight of the travelling vehicles with the average percent error of less than 3%.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.517-528
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• 2013

The modular technology has been already applied in automotive industry, plant and shipbuilding industry. Recently, the modular technology was applied in bridge construction. The modular bridge is different from the existing precast bridges in terms of standardized design that the detailed design of members is omitted by using the standard modules; the design of the modular bridge is completed by only assembling the standard modules without design in member level. The girder-type precast modular bridge has been developed as a simply supported bridge. The girder-type precast modular bridge could be applied to the multi-span bridges through the continuity method. The continuity of the girder-type precast modular bridge is achieved by using the link slab which is easy to construction and appropriate to the rapid construction. The link slabs have been used as the type of reinforced concrete structure in US from the 1950's. In 2000's, the link slab using the engineered cementitious concrete (ECC link slab) has been developed. In this study, the RC type link slab which is more reproducible and economic relative to the ECC link slab was used for the continuity of the girder-type precast modular bridges, and the construction detail of RC type link slab was modified. In addition, the modified iterative design method of RC type link slab was proposed in this study. To verify the proposed design method, the flexural tests were conducted using the RC type link slab specimens. Also, the fatigue test using the mock-up specimen was conducted with cyclic loading condition up to two million cycles.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.343-355
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• 2013

Shear failure and core concrete crushing at plastic hinge region are the two main failure modes of bridge piers, which can make repair impossible and cause the collapse of bridge. To avoid the two types of failure of pier, a composite pier was proposed, which was formed by embedding high strength concrete filled steel tubular (CFT) column in reinforced concrete (RC) pier. Through cyclic loading tests, the seismic performances of the composite pier were studied. The experimental results show that the CFT column embedded in composite pier can increase the flexural strength, displacement ductility and energy dissipation capacity, and decrease the residual displacement after undergoing large deformation. The analytical analysis is performed to simulate the hysteretic behavior of the composite pier subjected to cyclic loading, and the numerical results agree well with the experimental results. Using the analytical model and time-history analysis method, seismic responses of a continuous girder bridge using composite piers is investigated, and the results show that the bridge using composite piers can resist much stronger earthquake than the bridge using RC piers.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.553-559
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• 2022

In this paper, RC snubber circuit design technology for oscillation suppression in half-bridge configuration of cascode gallium nitride (GaN) field effect transistors (FETs) is analyzed. A typical wide band-gap (WBG) device, cascode GaN FET, has excellent high-speed switching characteristics. However, due to such high-speed switching characteristics, a false turn-off problem is caused, and an RC snubber circuit is essential to suppress this. In this paper, the commonly used experimental-based RC snubber design technique and the RC snubber design technique using the root locus method are compared and analyzed. In the general method, continuous circuit changes are required until the oscillation suppression performance requirement is met based on experimental experience . However, in root locus method, the initial value can be set based on the non-oscillation R-C map. To compare the performance of the two aforementioned design methods, a simulation experiment and a switching experiment using an actual double pulse circuit are performed.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.194-197
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• 2006

This study represents results of fragility curve development for 4-span continuous bridge. 2 type bridge model is chosen frame type and 2-roller 1-hinge type. To research the response of bridge under earthquake excitation, Monte Carlo simulation is performed to study nonlinear dynamic analysis. For nonlinear time history analysis a set of 150 synthetic time histories were generated. Fragility curves in this study are represented by lognormal distribution functions with two parameters and developed as a function of PGA. Five damage states were defined to express the condition of damage based on the actual experimental damage data of bridge column. As a result of this research, the value of damage probability corresponding to each damage state were determined and frame type bridge are favorable under seismic event.