• Computers and Concrete
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• 제22권1호
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• pp.93-100
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• 2018

It is seldom possible that geotechnical materials like rocks and concretes found without joints, cracks, or discontinuities. Thereby, the impact of micro-cracks on the mechanical properties of them is to be considered. In the present study, the effect of micro-crack on the failure mechanism of rock specimens under uniaxial compression was investigated experimentally. For this purpose, thermal stress was used to induce micro-cracks in the specimens. Several cylindrical and disk shape specimens were drilled from granite collected from Zanjan granite mine, Iran. Some of the prepared specimens were kept in room temperature and the others were heated by a laboratory furnace to different temperature levels (200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 degree Celsius). During the experimental tests, Acoustic Emission (AE) sensors were used to monitor specimen failure at the different loading sequences. Also, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was used to distinguish the induced micro-crack by heating in the specimens. The fractographic analysis revealed that the thin sections heated to $800^{\circ}C$ and $1000^{\circ}C$ contain some induced micro-fractures, but in the thin sections heated to $200^{\circ}C$, $400^{\circ}C$ and $600^{\circ}C$ have not been observed any micro-fracture. In the next, a comprehensive experimental investigation was made to evaluate mechanical properties of heated and unheated specimens. Results of experimental tests showed that induced micro-cracks significantly influence on the failure mode of specimens. The specimens kept at room temperature failed in the splitting mode, while the failure mode of specimens heated to $800^{\circ}C$ are shearing and the specimens heated to $1000^{\circ}C$ failed in the spalling mode. On the basis of AE monitoring, it is found that with increasing of the micro-crack density, the ratio of the number of shear cracks to the number of tensile cracks increases, under loading sequences.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제19권5호
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• pp.393-405
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• 2019

This paper evaluates the geotechnical and geo-engineering properties of the South Pars Zone (SPZ) marls in Assalouyeh, Iran. These marly beds mostly belong to the Aghajari and Mishan formations which entail the gray, cream, black, green, dark red and pink types. Marls can be observed as rock (soft rock) or soil. Marlstone outcrops show a relatively rapid change to soils in the presence of weathering. To geotechnically characterise the marls, field and laboratory experiments such as particle-size distribution, hydrometer, Atterberg limits, uniaxial compression, laboratory direct-shear, durability and carbonate content tests have been performed on soil and rock samples to investigate the physico-mechanical properties and behaviour of the SPZ marls in order to establish empirical relations between the geo-engineering features of the marls. Based on the experiments conducted on marly soils, the USCS classes of the marls is CL to CH which has a LL ranging from 32 to 57% and PL ranging from 18 to 27%. Mineralogical analyses of the samples revealed that the major clay minerals of the marls belong to the smectite or illite groups with low to moderate swelling activities. The geomechanical investigations revealed that the SPZ marls are classified as argillaceous lime, calcareous marl and marlstone (based on the carbonate content) which show variations in the geomechanical properties (i.e., with a cohesion ranging from 97 to 320 kPa and a friction angle ranging from 16 to 35 degrees). The results of the durability tests revealed that the degradation potential showed a wide variation from none to fully disintegrated. According to the results of the experiments, the studied marls have been classified as calcareous marl, marlstone and argillaceous lime due to the variations in the carbonate and clay contents. The results have shown that an increase in the carbonate content leads to a decrease in the degradation potential and an increase in the density and strength parameters such as durability and compressive strength. A comparison of the empirical relationships obtained from the regression analyses with similar studies revealed that the results obtained herein are reasonably reliable.

• 한국세라믹학회지
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• 제35권2호
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• pp.137-144
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• 1998

고온초전도체 61심 Bi-2223 선재간의 초전도 접합부위를 화학적 부식 및 열적· 기계적 반복 공정에 의하여 제조하였다. 초전도 선재 테이프의 은 피복재 한쪽 표면을 초전도체와 반응하지 않는 부식액(NH4OH:H2O2=1:1)으로 화학적으로 제거한 다음, 두 시편을 일출가압 성형하여 접합시편을 제조하였고 일련의 서로 다른 열적· 기계적 처리를 거쳐 접합부의 물성 및 미세구조를 분석하였다. 접합부를 따라 임계전류(Ic) 변화와 전류전압 곡선의 특성을 측정하기 위하여 여러 단자를 접합부 주위에 설치하여 부위별 I~V 특성을 측정한 결과 단심선재에 비하여 다심선재에서 선재 전체의 통전 능력을 좌우하는 천이구간의 임계전류값이 높았다. 그러나 단심에 비해 다심선재는 천이급속도를 나타내는 n값이 다심선재내 각각의 초전도 core들의 상호작용에 의하여 낮은 값을 나타내었다. 접합부의 임계전류 통전성은 반복적인 가압성형 공정과 서냉반응 열처리 공정에 의하여 향상되었다.

• Advances in biomechanics and applications
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• 제1권4호
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• pp.239-252
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• 2014

This study aimed to assess the biomechanical performance of a new generation of artificial ligament, which can be considered "bioactive" and "biointegrated," implanted in sheep. Thirty sheep were implanted: 15 sheep received the artificial ligament grafted with a bioactive polymer (grafted) and 15 received the artificial ligament without a bioactive polymer (non-grafted). The animals were sacrificed 3 or 12 months after implantation. The knee kinematics, namely flexion-extension, anterior drawer, and varus-valgus tests, were evaluated using a fully characterized custom-made device. Afterward, the specimens were tested under uniaxial tension until failure. The flexion-extension showed significant differences between (grafted or non-grafted) artificial and native ligaments 3 months after implantation. This difference became non-significant 12 months postoperatively. The anterior tibial drawer was significantly increased 3 months after implantation and remained significantly different only for non-grafted ligament 12 months after implantation. Twelve months after implantation, the differences between grafted and non-grafted ligament biomechanical properties were significant in terms of stiffness. In terms of load to failure, grafted ligaments seem to have had slightly better performance than non-grafted ligaments 12 months postoperatively. Overall these results suggest that grafted artificial ligaments have slightly better biomechanical characteristics than non-grafted artificial ligaments 12 months after implantation in sheep.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제14권1호
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• pp.9-17
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• 2018

Brazilian splitting tests, uniaxial compression tests and triaxial compression tests are carried out on the coal samples cored from Shanxi group $II_1$ coal seam of Jiaozuo coal mine, Henan province, China, to obtain their property parameters. Considering the bedding has notable effect on the property parameter of coal, the samples with different bedding angles are prepared. The effects of bedding on the anisotropic characteristics of the coal seam are investigated. A geological geomechanical model is built based on the geology characteristics of the Jiaozuo coal mine target reservoir to study the effects of bedding on the fracture propagations during hydraulic fracturing. The effects of injection pressure, well completion method, in-situ stress difference coefficient, and fracturing fluid displacement on the fracture propagations are investigated. Results show bedding has notable effects on the property parameters of coal, which is the key factor affecting the anisotropy of coal. The hydraulic cracks trends to bifurcate and swerve at the bedding due to its low strength. Induced fractures are produced easily at the locations around the bedding. The bedding is beneficial to form a complicated fracture network. Experimental and numerical simulations can help to understand the effects of bedding on hydraulic fracturing in coalbed methane reservoirs.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제8권4호
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• pp.285-294
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• 2019

In the present paper, the fiber theory has been employed to model the reinforced concrete (RC) deep beams (DBs) considering the reinforcing steel bar-concrete interaction. To simulate numerically the behavior of materials, the uniaxial materials' constitutive laws have been employed for reinforcements and concrete and the bond stress-slip between the reinforcing steel bars and surrounding concrete are taken into account. Because of the high sensitivity of DBs to shear deformations, the Timoshenko beam theory has been applied. The shear stress-strain (S-SS) relationship has been defined by the modified compression field theory (MCFT) model. By modeling about 300 RC panels and employing a produced numerical database, a study has been carried out to show the sensitivity of the MCFT model. This is performed based on the multiple linear regression (MLR) models. The results of this research also illustrate how different parameters such as characteristic compressive strength of concrete, yield strength of reinforcements and the percentages of reinforcements in different directions get involved in the shear behavior of RC panels without applying complex theories. Based on the results obtained from the analysis of the MCFT S-SS model, a relatively simplified numerical S-SS model has been proposed. Application of the proposed S-SS model in modeling and analyzing the considered samples indicates that there is a good agreement between the simulated and the experimental test results. The comparison between the proposed S-SS model and the MCFT model indicates that in addition to the advantage of better accuracy, the main advantage of the proposed method is simplicity in application.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제3권4호
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• pp.235-248
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• 2006

This investigation presents an analysis procedure for simulating the compressive behavior of a rectangular concrete column confined by fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) under uniaxial load. That is, the entire stress-strain curve can be drawn through the present analysis procedure. The modified Mander's stress-strain model (Mander, et al. 1988) and finite element method are adopted in this analysis procedure. The numerical analysis results are compared with the experimental results to verify the accuracy of the analysis procedure. This study offers a useful analysis procedure of researching the compressive behavior of rectangular concrete columns confined by FRP. Two main parameters, the number of FRP layers and the radius of the round corners of a rectangular column, are investigated. The numerical results show that non-uniform stresses occur and reduce the sectional effective area owing to the geometry of the confined rectangular column. The stresses are concentrated at the corners of the rectangular column. Compressive strength of a rectangular column increases greatly because the number of FRP layers increase. The maximum predicted compressive stress of the rectangular column has approximately 10% error as compared to the experimental results. Comparing the numerical and experimental results demonstrates that the accuracy of this analysis procedure is credible. Besides, the stress-strain curves of the R30 models, which are rectangular concrete column with large radius of round corners, are almost bilinear. This calculated results conform to the expectation and show the present analysis procedure are more suitable than Mander's model (1988) to analyze the compressive behavior of the rectangular concrete column confined by FRP.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제17권4호
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• pp.593-610
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• 2016

In this study, an innovative and smart glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) hybrid bar was developed for stronger durability of concrete structures. As comparing with the conventional GFRP bar, the smart GFRP Hybrid bar can promise to enhance the modulus of elasticity so that it makes the cracking reduced than the case when the conventional GFRP bar is used. Besides, the GFRP Hybrid bar can effectively resist the corrosion of conventional steel bar by the GFRP outer surface on the steel bar. In order to verify the bond performance of the GFRP hybrid bar for structural reinforcement, uniaxial pull-out test was conducted. The variables were the bar diameter and the number of strands and pitch of the fiber ribs. Tensile tests showed a excellent increase in the modulus of elasticity, 152.1 GPa, as compared to that of the pure GFRP bar (50 GPa). The stress-strain curve was bi-linear, so that the ductile performance could be obtained. For the bond test, the entire GFRP hybrid bar test specimens failed in concrete splitting due to higher shear strength resulting in concrete crushing as a function of bar deformation. Investigation revealed that an increase in the number of strands of fiber ribs enhanced the bond strength, and the pitch guaranteed the bond strength of 19.1 mm diameter hybrid bar with 15.9 mm diameter of core section of deformed steel the ACI 440 1R-15 equation is regarded as more suitable for predicting the bond strength of GFRP hybrid bars, whereas the CSA S806-12 prediction is considered too conservative and is largely influenced by the bar diameter. For further study, various geometrical and material properties such as concrete cover, cross-sectional ratio, and surface treatment should be considered.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제9권4호
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• pp.257-273
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• 2012

Based on the heterogeneous characterization of concrete at mesoscopic level, Realistic Failure Process Analysis ($RFPA^{3D}$) code is used to simulate the failure process of concrete-filled tubular (CFT) stub columns. The results obtained from the numerical simulations are firstly verified against the existing experimental results. An extensive parametric study is conducted to investigate the effects of different concrete strength on the behaviour and load-bearing capacity of the CFT stub columns. The strength of concrete considered in this study ranges from 30 to 110 MPa. Both the load-bearing capacity and load-displacement curves of CFT columns are evaluated. In particular, the crack propagation during the deformation and failure processes of the columns is predicted and the associated mechanisms related to the increased load-bearing capacity of the columns are clarified. The numerical results indicate that there are two mechanisms controlling the failure of the CFT columns. For the CFT columns with the lower concrete strength, they damage when the steel tube yields at first. By contrast, for the columns with high concrete strength it is the damage of concrete that controls the overall loading capacity of the CFT columns. The simulation results also demonstrate that $RFPA^{3D}$ is not only a useful and effective tool to simulate the concrete-filled steel tubular columns, but also a valuable reference for the practice of engineering design.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.227-237
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• 2018

Today, the modeling of concrete as a material within finite element simulations is predominantly done through nonlinear material models of concrete. In current sophisticated computational systems, there are a number of complex concrete material models which are based on theory of plasticity, damage mechanics, linear or nonlinear fracture mechanics or combinations of those theories. These models often include very complex constitutive relations which are suitable for the modeling of practically any continuum mechanics tasks. However, the usability of these models is very often limited by their parameters, whose values must be defined for the proper realization of appropriate constitutive relations. Determination of the material parameter values is very complicated in most material models. This is mainly due to the non-physical nature of most parameters, and also the large number of them that are frequently involved. In such cases, the designer cannot make practical use of the models without having to employ the complex inverse parameter identification process. In continuum mechanics, however, there are also constitutive relations that require the definition of a relatively small number of parameters which are predominantly of a physical nature and which describe the behavior of concrete very well within a particular task. This paper presents an example of such constitutive relations which have the potential for implementation and application in finite element systems. Specifically, constitutive relations for modeling the plane stress state of concrete are presented and subsequently tested and evaluated in this paper. The relations are based on the incremental theory of elastic strain-hardening plasticity in which a non-associated flow rule is used. The calculation result for the case of concrete under uniaxial compression is compared with the experimental data for the purpose of the validation of the constitutive relations used.