• Advances in nano research
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.495-511
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• 2023

In this research, the impact of micro-silica, nano-silica, and polypropylene fibers on the fracture energy of self-compacting concrete was thoroughly examined. Enhancing the fracture energy is very important to increase the crack propagation resistance. The study focused on evaluating the self-compacting properties of the concrete through various tests, including J-ring, V-funnel, slump flow, and T50 tests. Additionally, the mechanical properties of the concrete, such as compressive and tensile strengths, modulus of elasticity, and fracture parameters were investigated on hardened specimens after 28 days. The results demonstrated that the incorporation of micro-silica and nano-silica not only decreased the rheological aspects of self-compacting concrete but also significantly enhanced its mechanical properties, particularly the compressive strength. On the other hand, the inclusion of polypropylene fibers had a positive impact on fracture parameters, tensile strength, and flexural strength of the specimens. Utilizing the response surface method, the relationship between micro-silica, nano-silica, and fibers was established. The optimal combination for achieving the highest compressive strength was found to be 5% micro-silica, 0.75% nano-silica, and 0.1% fibers. Furthermore, for obtaining the best mixture with superior tensile strength, flexural strength, modulus of elasticity, and fracture energy, the ideal proportion was determined as 5% micro-silica, 0.75% nano-silica, and 0.15% fibers. Compared to the control mixture, the aforementioned parameters showed significant improvements of 26.3%, 30.3%, 34.3%, and 34.3%, respectively. In order to accurately model the tensile cracking of concrete, the authors used softening curves derived from an inverse algorithm proposed by them. This method allowed for a precise and detailed analysis of the concrete under tensile stress. This study explores the effects of micro-silica, nano-silica, and polypropylene fibers on self-compacting concrete and shows their influences on the fracture energy and various mechanical properties of the concrete. The results offer valuable insights for optimizing the concrete mix to achieve desired strength and performance characteristics.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.517-532
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• 2023

Tower structures have been widely used in communication and transmission engineering. The failure of joints is the leading cause of structure failure, which make it play a crucial role in tower structure engineering. In this study, the aluminum alloy three tube tower structure is taken as the prototype, and the middle joint of the tower was selected as the research object. Three different stainless steel-aluminum alloy composite joints (SACJs), denoted by TA, TB and TC, were designed. Finite element (FE) modeling analysis was used to compare and determine the TC joint as the best solution. Detail requirements of fasteners in the TC stainless steel-aluminum alloy composite joint (TC-SACJ) were designed and verified. In order to systematically and comprehensively study the mechanical properties of TC-SACJ under multi-directional loading conditions, the full-scale experiments and FE simulation models were all performed for mechanical response analysis. The failure modes, load-carrying capacities, and axial load versus displacement/stain testing curves of all full-scale specimens under tension/compression loading conditions were obtained. The results show that the maximum vertical displacement of aluminum alloy tube is 26.9mm, and the maximum lateral displacement of TC-SACJs is 1.0 mm. In general, the TC-SACJs are in an elastic state under the design load, which meet the design requirements and has a good safety reserve. This work can provide references for the design and engineering application of aluminum alloy tower structures.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.125-147
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• 2020

Damage detection of structures is one of the most important topics in structural health monitoring. In practice, the response is not available at all structural degrees of freedom, and due to the installation of sensors at some degrees of freedom, responses exist only in limited number of degrees of freedom. This paper is investigated the damage detection of structures by applying two approaches, AllDOF and Dynamic Condensation Method (DCM), based on the Modified Modal Strain Energy Method (MMSEBI). In the AllDOF method, mode shapes in all degrees of freedom is available, but in the DCM the mode shapes only in some degrees of freedom are available. Therefore by methods like the DCM, mode shapes are obtained in slave degrees of freedom. So, in the first step, the responses at slave degrees of freedom extracted using the responses at master degrees of freedom. Then, using the reconstructed mode shape and obtaining the modified modal strain energy, the damages are detected. Two standard examples are used in different damage cases to evaluate the accuracy of the mentioned method. The results showed the capability of the DCM is acceptable for low mode shapes to detect the damage in structures. By increasing the number of modes, the AllDOF method identifies the locations of the damage more accurately.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.739-759
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• 2012

The tailoring optimization technique recently developed by the author for improving structural response and energy absorption of composites is extended to sandwich shells using a previously developed zig-zag shell model with hierarchic representation of displacements. The in-plane variation of the stiffness properties of plies and the through-the thickness variation of the core properties are determined solving the Euler-Lagrange equations of an extremal problem in which the strain energy due to out-of-plane strains and stresses is minimised, while that due to their in-plane counterparts is maximised. In this way, the energy stored by unwanted out-of-plane modes involving weak properties is transferred to acceptable in-plane modes. As shown by the numerical applications, the critical interlaminar stress concentrations at the interfaces with the core are consistently reduced without any bending stiffness loss and the strength to debonding of faces from the core is improved. The structural model was recently developed by the author to accurately describe strain energy and interlaminar stresses from the constitutive equations. It a priori fulfills the displacement and stress contact conditions at the interfaces, considers a second order expansion of Lame's coefficients and a hierarchic representation that adapts to the variation of solutions. Its functional d.o.f. are the traditional mid-plane displacements and the shear rotations, so refinement implies no increase of the number of functional d.o.f. Sandwich shells are represented as multilayered shells made of layers with different thickness and material properties, the core being treated as a thick intermediate layer.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.755-778
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• 2010

Near-fault ground motion with directivity or fling effects is significantly influenced by the rupture mechanism and substantially different from ordinary records. This class of ground motion has large amplitude and long period, exhibits unusual response spectra shapes, possesses high PGV/PGA and PGD/PGA ratios and is best characterized in the velocity and the displacement time-histories. Such ground motion is also characterized by its energy being contained in a single or very few pulses, thus capable of causing severe damage to the structures. This paper investigates the characteristics of near-fault pulse-like ground motions and their implications on the structural responses using new proposed measures, such as, the effective frequency range, the energy rate (in time and frequency domains) and the damage indices. The paper develops also simple mathematical expressions for modeling this class of ground motion and the associated structural responses, thus eliminating numerical integration of the equations of motion. An optimization technique is also developed by using energy concepts and damage indices for modeling this class of ground motion for inelastic structures at sites having limited earthquake data.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.129-145
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• 2020

Seismic resilience is a key feature for buildings that play a strategic role within the community. In this framework, not only the structural and non-structural elements damage but also the protracted structural dysfunction can contribute significantly to overall seismic damage and post-seismic crisis situations. Reduction of the residual and peak displacements and energy dissipation by replaceable elements are some effective aspects to pursue in order to enhance the resilience. Control systems able to adapt their response based on the nature of events, such as active or semi-active, can achieve the best results, but also require higher costs and their complexity jeopardizes their reliability; on the other hand, a passive control system is not able to adapt but its functioning is more reliable and characterized by lower costs. In this study it is proposed a strategy for the optimization of the dissipative capacity of a seismic resistant system obtained placing in parallel two different groups dissipative Re-Centering Devices, specifically designed to enhance the energy dissipation, one for the low and the other for the high intensity earthquakes. In this way the efficiency of the system in dissipating the seismic energy is kept less sensitive to the seismic intensity compared to the case of only one group of dissipative devices.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.169-174
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• 2001

Low cycle fatigue tests are performed on high strength low alloy steels that be developed for submarine material. The relation between absorbed plastic strain energy and numbers of cycle to failure is examined in order to predict the low cycle fatigue life of structural steels by using plastic strain energy method. The cyclic properties are determined by a least square fit techniques. The life predicted by the plastic strain energy method is found to coincide with experiment data and results obtained from the Coffin-Manson method. Also the cyclic behavior of structural steels is characterized by cyclic softening with increasing number of cycle at room temperature. Especially, low cycle fatigue characteristics and microstructural changes of structural steels are investigated according to changing tempering temperatures. In the case of PFS steels, the $\varepsilon$-Cu is formed in 550C of tempering temperature and enhances the low cycle fatigue properties.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.26 no.6_spc
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• pp.697-704
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• 2016

The second shutdown drive mechanism (SSDM) that is classified into seismic category I as an active mechanical equipment shall maintain the structural integrity and its designed inherent safety functions during and/or after normal operation, anticipated operational occurrences, accidents and seismic occurrences. Therefore, not only a structural integrity assessment through numerical analyses but also a qualification test by using the prototype SSDM shall be conducted to verify the adequacy of the SSDM design. This paper describes a sort of seismic qualification test of the prototype SSDM to demonstrate that the structural integrity and operability (functionality) of SSDM are maintained during and/or after seismic excitations. From the results, this paper shows that the SSDM satisfies all design requirements without any malfunctions during and after the seismic test.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.140-146
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• 2008

The damage evaluation method for framed structures using continuous wavelet transform (CWT) is proposed. CWT is applied to the response acceleration of a structure subjected to earthquake load to decompose the response acceleration corresponding to each scale, then the normalized energy value for each scale is calculated. The difference between the normalized energy curvature (NEC) in each node before and after damage indicates a damaged element, which makes it possible to assess the soundness of structural elements. As damage becomes more severe the difference in normalized energy curvature becomes larger. The NEC calculated from the signal corresponding to high scale in CWT analysis is found to be a good index that shows the location and severity of damage.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.143.2-143.2
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• 2011

Energy foundations and other thermo-active ground structure, energy wells, energy slab, and pavement heating and cooling represent an innovative technology that contributes to environmental protection and provides substantial long-term cost savings and minimized maintenance. This paper focuses on earth-contact concrete elements that are already required for structural reasons, but which simultaneously work as heat exchangers. Pipes, energy slabs, filled with a heat carrier fluid are installed under conventional structural elements, forming the primary circuit of a geothermal energy system. The natural ground temperature is used as a heat source in winter and heat sink in summer season. The system represented very high heating and cooling performance due to the stability of EWT from energy slab. Maximum heat pump unit COP and system COP were 4.9 and 4.3.