• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.75 no.6
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• pp.675-684
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• 2020

An innovative retrofit method using pre-stressed steel strips and externally-bonded steel plates was presented in this paper. With the aim of exploring the seismic performance of the retrofitted RC interior joints, four 1/2-scale retrofitted joint specimens together with one control specimen were designed and subjected to constant axial compression and cyclic loading, with the main test parameters being the volume of steel strips and the existence of externally-bonded steel plates. The damage mechanism, force-displacement hysteretic response, force-displacement envelop curve, energy dissipation and displacement ductility ratio were analyzed to investigate the cyclic behavior of the retrofitted joints. The test results indicated that all the test specimens suffered a typical shear failure at the joint core, and the application of externally-bonded steel plates and that of pre-stressed steel strips could effectively increase the lateral capacity and deformability of the deficient RC interior joints, respectively. The best cyclic behavior could be found in the deficient RC interior joint retrofitted using both externally-bonded steel plates and pre-stressed steel strips due to the increased lateral capacity, displacement ductility and energy dissipation. Finally, based on the test results and the softened strut and tie model, a theoretical model for determining the shear capacity of the retrofitted specimens was proposed and validated.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.619-637
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• 2015

A field based non-destructive hardness method is being developed to determine plastic strain in steel elements subjected to seismic loading. The focus of this study is on the active links of eccentrically braced frames (EBFs). The 2010/2011 Christchurch earthquake series, especially the very intense February 22 shaking, which was the first earthquake worldwide to push complete EBF systems into their inelastic state, generating a moderate to high level of plastic strain in EBF active links for a range of buildings from 3 to 23 storeys in height. Plastic deformation was confined to the active links. This raised two important questions: what was the extent of plastic deformation and what effect does that have on post-earthquake steel properties? A non-destructive hardness test method is being used to determine a relationship between hardness and plastic strain in active link beams. Active links from the earthquake affected, 23-storey Pacific Tower building in Christchurch are being analysed in the field and laboratory. Test results to date show clear evidence that this method is able to give a good relationship between plastic strain and demand. This paper presents significant findings from this project to investigate the relationship between hardness and plastic strain that warrant publication prior to the completion of the project. Principal of these is the discovery that hot rolled steel beams carry manufacturing induced plastic strains, in regions of the webs, of up to 5%.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.19-36
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• 2019

Cyclic behaviour of composite (steel-concrete) plate shear walls (CPSW) with variable column flexural stiffness is experimentally and numerically investigated. The investigation included design, fabrication and testing of three pairs of one-bay one-storey CPSW specimens. The reference specimen pair was designed in way that its column flexural stiffness corresponds to the value required by the design codes, while within the other two specimen pairs column flexural stiffness was reduced by 18% and 36%, respectively. Specimens were subjected to quasi-static cyclic tests. Obtained results indicate that column flexural stiffness reduction in CPSW does not have negative impact on the overall behaviour allowing for satisfactory performance for up to 4% storey drift ratio while also enabling inelastic buckling of the infill steel plate. Additionally, in comparison to similar steel plate shear wall (SPSW) specimens, column "pull-in" deformations are less pronounced within CPSW specimens. Therefore, the results indicate that prescribed minimal column flexural stiffness value used for CPSW might be conservative, and can additionally be reduced when compared to the prescribed value for SPSWs. Furthermore, finite element (FE) pushover simulations were conducted using shell and solid elements. Such FE models can adequately simulate cyclic behaviour of CPSW and as such could be further used for numerical parametric analyses. It is necessary to mention that the implemented pushover FE models were not able to adequately reproduce column "pull-in" deformation and that further development of FE simulations is required where cyclic loading of the shear walls needs to be simulated.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.97-108
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• 2021

In bridge abutment structures, lateral squeeze due to lateral stress of embankment placement and thermal movement of the bridge structure leads to failure of approach slabs, girders, and bridge bearings. Recently, GRS (Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil) integral bridge has been proposed as a new countermeasure. The GRS integral bridge is a combining structure of a GRS retaining wall and an integral abutment bridge. In this study, numerical analyses which considered construction sequences and earthquake loading conditions are performed to compare the behaviors of conventional PSC (Pre-Stressed Concrete) girder bridge, traditional GRS integral bridge structure and GRS integral bridge with bracket structures (newly developed LH-type GRS integral bridge). The analysis results show that the GRS integral bridge with bracket structures is most stable compared with the others in an aspect of stress concentration and deformation on foundation ground including differential settlements between abutment and backfill. Furthermore, the GRS integral bridge with/without bracket structures was found to show the best performance in terms of seismic stability.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.329-335
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• 2019

Structural fuses are made up from oriented steel plates to be used to resist seismic force with shear loading resistance capabilities. The damage and excessive inelastic deformations are concentrated in structural fuses to avoid any issues for the rest of the surrounding elements. Recently developed fuse plates are designed with engineered cutouts leaving flexural or shear links with controlled yielding features. A promising type of link is proposed to align better bending strength along the length of the link with the demand moment diagram is a butterfly-shaped link. Previously, the design methodologies are purely based on the flexural stresses, or shear stresses only, which overestimate the dampers capability for resisting against the applied loadings. This study is specifically focused on the optimized design methodologies for commonly used butterfly-shaped dampers. Numerous studies have shown that the stresses are not uniformly distributed along the length of the dampers; hence, the design methodology and the effective implementation of the steel need revisions and improvements. In this study, the effect of shear and flexural stresses on the behavior of butterfly-shaped links are computationally investigated. The mathematical models based on von-Mises yielding criteria are initially developed and the optimized design methodology is proposed based on the yielding criterion. The optimized design is refined and investigated with the aid of computational investigations in the next step. The proposed design methodology meets the needs of optimized design concepts for butterfly-shaped dampers considering the uniform stress distribution and efficient use of steel.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.539-552
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• 2022

Concentrically braced frames (CBFs) possess high stiffness and strength against lateral loads; however, they suffer from low energy absorption capacity against seismic loads due to the susceptibility of CBF diagonal elements to bucking under compression loading. To address this problem, in this study, an innovative damper was proposed and investigated experimentally and numerically. The proposed damper comprises main plates and includes a flange plate angled at θ and a trapezius-shaped web plate surrounded by the plate at the top and bottom sections. To investigate the damper behaviour, dampers with θ = 0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90° were evaluated with different flange plate thicknesses of 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 mm. Dampers with θ = 0° and 90° create rectangular-shaped and I-shaped shear links, respectively. The results indicate that the damper with θ = 30° exhibits better performance in terms of ultimate strength, stiffness, overstrength, and distribution stress over the damper as compared to dampers with other angles. The hysteresis curves of the dampers confirm that the proposed damper acts as a ductile fuse. Furthermore, the web and flange plates contribute to the shear resistance, with the flange carrying approximately 80% and 10% of the shear force for dampers with θ = 30° and 90°, respectively. Moreover, dampers that have a larger flange-plate shear strength than the shear strength of the web exhibit behaviours in linear and nonlinear zones. In addition, the over-strength obtained for the damper was greater than 1.5 (proposed by AISC for shear links). Relevant relationships are determined to predict and design the damper and the elements outside it.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.761-773
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• 2021

This study presents a 3D non-linear finite element (FE) assessment of dynamic soil-structure interaction (SSI). The numerical investigation has been performed on the time domain through a Finite Element (FE) system, while considering the nonlinear behavior of soil and the multi-directional nature of genuine seismic events. Later, the FE outcomes are analyzed to the recorded in-situ free-field and structural movements, emphasizing the numerical model's great result in duplicating the observed response. In this work, the soil response is simulated using an isotropic hardening elastic-plastic hysteretic model utilizing HSsmall. It is feasible to define the non-linear cycle response from small to large strain amplitudes through this model as well as for the shift in beginning stiffness with depth that happens during cyclic loading. One of the most difficult and unexpected tasks in resolving soil-structure interaction concerns is picking an appropriate ground motion predicted across an earthquake or assessing the geometrical abnormalities in the soil waves. Furthermore, an artificial neural network (ANN) has been utilized to properly forecast the non-linear behavior of soil and its multi-directional character, which demonstrated the accuracy of the ANN based on the RMSE and R² values. The total result of this research demonstrates that complicated dynamic soil-structure interaction processes may be addressed directly by passing the significant simplifications of well-established substructure techniques.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.193-203
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• 2022

In this study, in order to compare the seismic performance of steel structure beam-column connection details and non-scallop connection details mainly used in Korea, a full-scale static cyclic loading test and FEM analysis were conducted through the same modeling as the experiment. For quantitative numerical comparison, the strain concentration ratio and moment transfer efficiency used in previous studies were cited. As the welding area of the beam web decreased, the deformation rate of the beam flange increased, and the plastic deformation capacity according to the rotation angle decreased or brittle fracture occurred. Comparing the analysis results with the experimental results, the possibility of brittle fracture tended to increase when the web welding ratio for the total cross-sectional area of H-shaped fell below 60%.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.13-24
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• 2023

Tunnels may undergo a larger or a smaller response compared with the free-field soil. In the pseudo-static procedure, the response of the tunnel is most often characterized by a curve that relates the racking ratio (R) with the flexibility ratio (F), where R represents the ratio of the tunnel response with respect to the free-field vibration and F is the relative stiffness of the tunnel and the surrounding soil. A set of analytical and empirical curves that do not account for the depth and the aspect ratio of the tunnel are typically used in practice. In this study, a series of dynamic analyses are conducted to develop a set of F-R_m relations for use in a frame analysis method. R_m is defined as an adjusted R where the rocking mode of deformation is removed and only the racking deformation is extracted. The numerical model is validated against centrifuge test recordings. The influence of aspect ratio, buried depth of tunnel on results is investigated. The results show that R_m increases with the increase of the buried depth and the aspect ratio. The widely used F-R relations are highlighted to be different compared with the obtained results in this study. Therefore, the updated F-R_m relations with proposed equations are recommended to be used in practice design. The rocking response decreases with either the decrease of the difference of stiffness between surrounding soil and tunnel or the larger aspect ratio of the tunnel section.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.473-491
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• 2022

The research investigates experimentally the effect of confinement on structural behavior at the ends of beam-column in reinforced concrete (RC) frames. In the experimental study, five specimens consisting of 1/3-scaled RC frames having single-bay, representing the traditional deficiencies of existing buildings constructed without receiving proper engineering service is investigated. The RC frame specimens were produced to represent most of the existing buildings in Turkey that have damage potential. To decrease the probable damage to the existing buildings exposed to earthquakes, the carbon Textile Reinforced Mortar (TRM) strengthening technique (fully wrapping) was used on the ends of the RC frame elements to increase the energy dissipation and deformation capacity. The specimens were tested under reversed cyclic lateral loading with constant axial loads. They were constructed satisfying the weak column-strong beam condition and consisting of low-strength concrete, such as compressive strength of 15 MPa. The test results were compared and evaluated considering stiffness, strength, energy dissipation capacity, structural damping, ductility, and damage propagation in detail. Comprehensive investigations of these experimental results reveal that the strengthening of a brittle frame with fully-TRM wrapping with non-anchored was effective in increasing the stiffness, ductility, and energy dissipation capacities of RC bare frames. It was also observed that the frame-only-retrofitting with an infill wall is not enough to increase the ductility capacity. In this case, both the frame and infill wall must be retrofitted with TRM composite to increase the stiffness, lateral load carrying, ductility and energy dissipation capacities of RC frames. The presented strengthening method can be an alternative strengthening technique to enhance the seismic performance of existing or moderately damaged RC buildings.