• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.505-523
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• 2018

Static pushover analyses of typical existing reinforced concrete frames, designed according to the previous generations of design codes in Greece, have established these structures' inelastic characteristics, namely overstrength, global ductility capacity and available behaviour factor q, under planar response. These were compared with the corresponding demands at the collapse limit state target performance point. The building stock considered accounted for the typical variability, among different generations of constructed buildings in Greece, in the form, the seismic design code in effect and the material characteristics. These static pushover analyses are extended, in the present study, in the time history domain. Consequently, the static analysis predictions are compared with Incremental Dynamic Analysis results herein, using a large number of spectrum compatible recorded base excitations of recent destructive earthquakes in Greece and abroad, following, for comparison, similar conventional limiting failure criteria as before. It is shown that the buildings constructed in the 70s exhibit the least desirable behaviour, followed by the buildings constructed in the 60s. As the seismic codes evolved, there is a notable improvement for buildings of the 80s, when the seismic code introduced end member confinement and the requirement for a joint capacity criterion. Finally, buildings of the 90s, designed to modern codes exhibit an exceptionally good performance, as expected by the compliance of this code to currently enforced seismic provisions worldwide.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.127-145
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• 2012

One of the most important and challenging steps in seismic vulnerability and performance assessment of highway bridges is the determination of the bridge component damage parameters and their corresponding limit states. These parameters are very essential for defining bridge damage state as well as determining the performance of highway bridges under a seismic event. Therefore, realistic damage limit states are required in the development of reliable fragility curves, which are employed in the seismic risk assessment packages for mitigation purposes. In this article, qualitative damage assessment criteria for ordinary highway bridges are taken into account considering the critical bridge components in terms of proper engineering demand parameters (EDPs). Seismic damage of bridges is strongly related to the deformation of bridge components as well as member internal forces imposed due to seismic actions. A simple approach is proposed for determining the acceptance criteria and damage limit states for use in seismic performance and vulnerability assessment of ordinary highway bridges in Turkey constructed after the 1990s. Physical damage of bridge components is represented by three damage limit states: serviceability, damage control, and collapse prevention. Inelastic deformation and shear force demand of the bent components (column and cap beam), and superstructure displacement are the most common causes for the seismic damage of the highway bridges. Each damage limit state is quantified with respect to the EDPs: i.e. curvature and shear force demand of RC bent components and superstructure relative displacement.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.599-610
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• 2023

To avoid debonding failure, a novel type of hybrid anchorage (HA) is proposed in this study that uses a slotted plate to lock the ends of the fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) sheet in addition to the usual bonding over the substrate of the strengthened member. An experimental investigation was performed on three groups of RC beams, which differed from one another in either concrete strength or steel reinforcement ratio. The test results indicate that the end self-locking of the CFRP sheet can improve the failure ductility, ultimate capacity of the beams and its utilization ratio. Although intermediate debonding occurred in all the strengthened beams, it was not a fatal mode of failure for the three specimens with end anchorage. Among them, FRP rupture occurred in the beam with higher concrete strength and lower steel reinforcement ratio, whereas the other two failed by concrete crushing. The beam strengthened by HA obtained a relatively high percentage of increase in ultimate capacity when the rebar ratio or concrete strength decreased. The expressions in the literature were inspected to calculate the critical loads at intermediate debonding, FRP rupturing and concrete crushing after debonding for the strengthened beam. Then, the necessity of further research is addressed.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.133-154
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• 2023

Obscured structural members are mostly under-evaluated during condition assessment due to lack of visual inspection capability. Insufficient information about the integrity of these structural members poses a significant risk for public safety. Time domain reflectometry (TDR) is a novel approach in structural health monitoring (SHM). Ordinary coaxial cables "as is" without a major modification are not suitable for SHM with TDR. The objective of this study is to propose a practical and cost-effective modification approach to commercially available coaxial cables in order to use them as a "cable sensor" for damage detection with the TDR equipment for obscured structural members. The experimental validation and assessment of the proposed modification approach was achieved by conducting 3-point bending tests of the model piles as a representative obscured structural member. It can be noted that the RG59/U-6 and RG6/U-4 cable sensors expose higher strain sensitivity in comparison with non-modified "as is" versions of the cables used. As a result, the cable sensors have the capability of sensing both the presence and the location of a structural damage with a maximum aberration of 3 cm. Furthermore, the crack development can be monitored by the RG59/U-6 cable sensor with a simple calibration.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.17 no.1 s.85
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• pp.27-34
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to investigate the structural behavior of RC Piers using high strength concrete and high strength rebars. The high strength concrete offers many advantages such as enhanced mechanical performance and durability, in addition to member size reduction. The high strength rebars are used here to reduce the amount of rebars, which facilitates the placement of concrete and labor works. Five RC piers were tested under a constant axial load and a cyclically reversed horizontal load. The seismic design of piers were implemented, according to the current Korean Bridge Design Code. The test variables include concrete compressive strength, steel strength, and steel ratio. The test results indicate that RC piers using the high strength concrete and high strength rebars exhibit ductile behavior and appropriate seismic performance, in compliance with the design code. The present study allows more realistic application of high strength rebars and concrete to RC piers, which will provide enhanced durability as well as more economy.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.188-197
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• 2010

This paper presents research result to study the change of structural capacity of reinforced concrete beams with various shear reinforcement ratios after damage by fire load. In addition, fundamental data are given in order to predict the strength variation of RC member due to fire damage by evaluating the previous calculation method codified in codes. Nine RC beam specimens were made and exposed to the fire controled by the standard fire curve. And the structural capacity was evaluated through a failure test under simple support condition. Previous code formula, ACI code and Eurocode were reviewed and used for the calculation of the strength of specimens damaged by fire. From the test, RC beam specimens exhibited very brittle failure when it exposed to fire controled by standard fire curve during more than one hour. And this failure pattern tended to be more serious when shear reinforcement ratio decreased or fire loading duration increased. From the evaluation of the calculation process in code, the change of strength due to fire can be properly predicted if the damage of materials is well defined.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.93-101
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• 2022

RC Slab bridges in Korea account for more than 70% of the total bridges for more than 20 years of service. As the number of aging structures increases, the importance of safety diagnosis and maintenance of structures increases. For highway bridges, cracks are a main cause of deck deterioration, which is very closely related to the decrease in bridge durability and service life. In addition, the damage rate of expansion joints and bearings accounts for approximately 73% higher than that of major members. Therefore, this study defined damage scenarios combined with devices damages and deck deterioration. The stress distribution and maximum stress on the deck were then evaluated using design vehicle load and daily temperature gradient for single and combined damage scenarios. Furthermore, this study performed damage-spread analysis and predicted condition ratings according to a deck deterioration model generated from the inspection and diagnosis history data of cracks. The heterogeneous damages combined with the member damages of expansion joints and bearings increased the rate of crack area and damage spread, which accelerated the time to reach the condition rating of C. Therefore, damage to bridge members requires proper and prompt repair and replacement, and otherwise it can cause the damage to bridge deck and the spread of the damage.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.38-46
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• 2024

In Korea, more than 60% of the population lives in apartment buildings with wall structures that exhibit brittle behavior during earthquakes. Therefore, in recent performance-based seismic design, the selection of the energy dissipation coefficient for reinforced concrete (RC) walls in nonlinear dynamic analysis is very important. Previous experimental studies have reported that the main factors affecting the energy dissipation capacity of RC walls are the axial force ratio, the spacing of transverse reinforcement of boundary element, and the aspect ratio. The Architectural Institute of Korea and the Korea Concrete Institute proposed a concentrated plastic hinge model and the energy dissipation coefficient for each RC member in the guideline 「Nonlinear Analysis Model for Performance-Based Seismic Design of Reinforced Concrete Building Structures, 2021.」 The proposed equation for the energy dissipation coefficient does not include the factors of axial force ratio and spacing of transverse reinforcement of boundary element. The aspect ratio is applied to the flexural plastic model, despite considering shear-dominated behavior. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the effect of the aspect ratio according to the analysis model. In this study, the influence of each factor on the energy dissipation coefficient was analyzed by comparing the results of existing experimental research, nonlinear analysis using the fiber element model of a nonlinear analysis program(Perform 3D), and the energy dissipation coefficient proposed in the guideline. As the axial force ratio increased, the energy dissipation coefficient decreased, and as the spacing of transverse reinforcement of boundary element decreased, the energy dissipation coefficient increased. Additionally, as the aspect ratio increased, the energy dissipation coefficient tended to increase, with the aspect ratio showing the greatest influence.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.795-802
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• 2007

Recently, various strengthening methods using carbon fiber sheets (CFS) have been developed for the rehabilitation of structures and applied to the concrete member. However, still research need arises in order to verify the structural capacity of RC member which experienced bond loss between concrete and CFS after strengthening. This is because previous research has focused on the development of design process and evaluation of structural capacity only for retrofit. The appearance of this loss may be initiated at just after retrofit construction. And it will be more serious when the layer number of CFS increases. In order to minimize above mistake in retrofit design using CFS, more exact evaluation process to predict the bond loss of CFS is required. The objective of this research is to study the variation of flexural structural capacity of beam which has experienced bond loss after strengthening using CFS. Experimental and analytical study are performed and evaluation of the previous formula is conducted. Test result showed that the significant strength deterioration was not found until the bond loss of 20%. Overall structural behavior of the beams can be predicted by nonlinear sectional analysis.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.401-409
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• 2014

This research develops tools and strategies for optimizing RC column sections applied in tall buildings. Optimization parameters are concrete strength and section shape, the objective function for which is subject to several predefined constraints drawn from the original structural design. For this purpose, we developed new components for StrAuto, a parametric modeling and optimization tool for building structure. The components receive from external analysis solvers member strengths calculated from the original design model, and output optimized column sections satisfying the minimum cost. Using these components, optimized sections are firstly obtained for each predefined concrete strength applied to the whole floors in the project building. The obtained results for each concrete strength are comparatively examined to determine the fittest sections which will also result in the fittest vertical zoning for concrete strength. The main optimization scenario for this is to search for the vertical levels where the identical optimized sections coincide for the two different concrete strengths in concern, and select those levels for the boundaries where a concrete strength will be changed to another. The optimization process provided in this research is a product of an intensive development designed for a specific member in a specific project. Thus, the algorithm suggested takes on a microscopic and mathematical approach. However, the technique has a lot of potential that it can further be extensively developed and applied for future projects.