• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.215-244
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• 2004

There is an ever-increasing demand for assessment of earthquake effects on transportation structures, emphasised by the crippling consequences of recent earthquakes hitting developed countries reliant on road transportation. In this work, vulnerability functions for RC bridges are derived analytically using advanced material characterisation, high quality earthquake records and adaptive inelastic dynamic analysis techniques. Four limit states are employed, all based on deformational quantities, in line with recent development of deformation-based seismic assessment. The analytically-derived vulnerability functions are then compared to a data set comprising observational damage data from the Northridge (California 1994) and Hyogo-ken Nanbu (Kobe 1995) earthquakes. The good agreement gives some confidence in the derived formulation that is recommended for use in seismic risk assessment. Furthermore, by varying the dimensions of the prototype bridge used in the study, and the span lengths supported by piers, three more bridges are obtained with different overstrength ratios (ratio of design-to-available base shear). The process of derivation of vulnerability functions is repeated and the ensuing relationships compared. The results point towards the feasibility of deriving scaling factors that may be used to obtain the set of vulnerability functions for a bridge with the knowledge of a 'generic' function and the overstrength ratio. It is demonstrated that this simple procedure gives satisfactory results for the case considered and may be used in the future to facilitate the process of deriving analytical vulnerability functions for classes of bridges once a generic relationship is established.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.181-197
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• 2015

Assessing the condition of paint on civil structures is an important but challenging and costly task, in particular when it comes to large and complex structures. Current practices of visual inspection are labour-intensive and time-consuming to perform. In addition, this task usually relies on the experience and subjective judgment of individual inspectors. In this study, hyperspectral imaging and classification techniques are proposed as a method to objectively assess the state of the paint on a civil or other structure. The ultimate objective of the work is to develop a technology that can provide precise and automatic grading of paint condition and assessment of degradation due to age or environmental factors. Towards this goal, we acquired hyperspectral images of steel surfaces located at long (mid-range) and short distances on the Sydney Harbour Bridge with an Acousto-Optics Tunable filter (AOTF) hyperspectral camera (consisting of 21 bands in the visible spectrum). We trained a multi-class Support Vector Machines (SVM) classifier to automatically assess the grading of the paint from hyperspectral signatures. Our results demonstrate that the classifier generates highly accurate assessment of the paint condition in comparison to the judgement of human experts.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.19
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• pp.313-320
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• 1999

Steel railway bridge gets vibration from moving load ; additionally, this kind of moving load is going to be a sufficient reason, which causes fatigue damage to steel railway bridge. Fatigue damage and stress curve were raised by moving load depends on span length in steel railway bridge. In other words, stress curve appears index regarding every axial load in short span, but self weight lets stress curve's change decrease in proportion to increasing span length. Thereby, we have studied that how the steel railway bridge appear fatigue damage in proportion to span length of steel railway bridge. Dynamic strain was measured in 4 steel plate-girder railway bridge during the trains was passing, which is located on the line of Kyoung-chun railway. And time history response analysis has been done in order to ensure actual survey. The results of this study show the decreased of the fatigue damage in steel railway bridge according to length of span. This paper ends is bases research of fatigue design in steel railway bridges according to span length.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.7_spc
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• pp.461-472
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• 2016

Damage potential has been investigated for a domestic metropolitan railway bridge subjected to 2016 Gyeongju earthquake which has been reported as the strongest earthquake in Korea. For this purpose, nonlinear static pushover analyses for the bridge piers have been carried out to evaluate ductility capacities. Then, the capacities have been compared with those suggested by Railway Design Standards of Korea. This comparison shows that all piers possess enough safety margins. Nonlinear dynamic time-history analysis has also been conducted to estimate both displacement and shear force demands for the bridge subjected to ground motions recorded at stations in near of Gyeongju. Maximum demands reveal that response under the ground motions remains essentially in elastic. In addition, for a further assessment of the bridge under the Gyeongju earthquake, fragility analyses have been performed using those ground motions. The fragility results indicate that the recorded earthquakes do not significantly affect the damage exceedance probability of the bridge piers.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.63 no.5
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• pp.647-657
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• 2017

To achieve this goal, two four-span concrete box-girder bridges with typical configurations of California highway bridges are selected as representative bridges: an integral abutment bridge and a seat-type abutment bridge. A detailed numerical model of the representative bridges is created in OpenSees to perform dynamic analyses. To examine the effect of earthquake incidence angle on the fragility of skewed bridges, the representative bridge models are modified with different skew angles. Dynamic analyses for all bridge models are performed for all earthquake incidence angles examined. Simulated results are used to develop demand models and component and system fragility curves for the skewed bridges. The fragility characteristics are compared with regard to earthquake incidence angle. The results suggest that the earthquake incidence angle more significantly affects the seismic demand and fragilities of the integral abutment bridge than the skewed abutment bridge. Finally, a recommendation to account for the randomness due to the ground motion directionality in the fragility assessment is made in the absence of the predetermined earthquake incidence angle.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.99-112
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• 2004

It is known that lap splices in the longitudinal reinforcement of reinforced concrete (RC) bridge columns are not desirable for seismic performance, but it is sometimes unavoidable. Lap splices were practically located in the potential plastic hinge region of most bridge columns that were constructed before the 1992 seismic design provisions of the Korea Bridge Design Specification. The objective of this research is to evaluate the seismic performance of reinforced concrete (RC) bridge piers with lap splicing of longitudinal reinforcement in the plastic hinge region, to develop an enhancement scheme for their seismic capacity by retrofitting with glassfiber sheets, and to assess a damage of bridge columns subjected to seismic loadings for the development of rational seismic design provisions in low or moderate seismicity region. Nine (9) test specimens with an aspect ratio of 4 were made with three confinement ratios and three types of lap splice. Quasi-static tests were conducted in a displacement-controlled way under three different axial loads. A significant reduction of displacement ductility was observed for test columns with lap splices of longitudinal reinforcements, whose displacement ductility could be greatly improved by externally wrapping with glassfiber sheets in the plastic hinge region. A damage of the limited ductile specimen was assessed to be relatively small.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.571-587
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• 2012

This paper presents results of a numerical analysis performed on a corrugated steel plate (CSP) bridge during a backfilling process. The analysed bridge structure was a box culvert having a span of 12315 mm as well as a clear height of 3550 mm. Obtained calculation results were compared with the experimental ones. The paper is presented with the application of the Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua (FLAC) program based on the finite differences method (FDM) to determine behaviour of the soil-steel bridge structure during backfilling. The assumptions of a computational 2D model of soil-steel structure with a non-linear interface layer are described. Parametric analysis of the interface element is also given in order to receive the most realistic calculation results. The method based on this computational model may be used with large success to design calculations of this specific type of structure instead of the conventional and fairly inaccurate analytical methods. The conclusions drawn from such analysis can be helpful mostly for the assessment of the behaviour of steel-soil bridge structures under loads of backfilling. In consideration of an even more frequent application of this type of structure, conclusions from the conducted analysis can be generalized to a whole class of similar structural bridge solutions.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.515-526
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• 2007

In this study, the models and methods for the safety assessment of Steel-Concrete Hybrid Cable-Stayed Bridge, which consists of steel composite girder and concrete girder erected by the FCM(Free Cantilever Method) and FSM(Full Staging Method) are proposed for the assurance of structural safety and the prevention against bridge collapse during construction. By the structural reliability approach that reasonably considers the uncertainties associated with the resistance and the load effect, the resistance and the load distribution characteristics of Steel-Concrete Hybrid Cable-Stayed Bridgeare defined and the strength limit state equations of permanent structures and temporary structures during construction are suggested. An AFOSM algorithm and MCS technique are used for the reliability analysis of cables, pylons, girders, steel-concrete conjunction part and temporary bents. Also, component reliability analyses are performed at the construction stages based on the structural system model. To demonstrate their rationality and practicality, the proposed models and approaches are applied to a real bridge. The sensitivity analyses of main parameters are performed in order to identify the critical factors that control the safety of similar bridges. As a result, it may be stated that the proposed models could be implemented as a rational and practical approach for the safety assessment of Steel-Concrete Hybrid Cable-stayed bridges erected by FCM and FSM during construction.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.547-558
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• 2020

With the development of economy and construction technology, more and more bridges are built in complex mountainous areas. Accurate assessment of wind parameters is important in bridge construction at complex terrain. In order to investigate the wind characteristics in the high-altitude difference area, a complex mountain terrain model with the scale of 1:2000 was built. By using the method of wind tunnel tests, the study of wind characteristics including mean wind characteristics and turbulence characteristics was carried out. The results show: The wind direction is affected significant by the topography, the dominant wind direction is usually parallel to the river. Due to the sheltering effect of the mountain near the bridge, the wind speed and wind attack angle along the bridge are both uneven which is different from that at flat terrain. In addition, different from flat terrain, the wind attack angle is mostly negative. The wind profiles obey exponential law and logarithmic law. And the fitting coefficient is consistent with the code which means that it is feasible to use the method of wind tunnel test to simulate complex terrain. As for turbulence characteristics, the turbulence intensity is also related to the topography. Increases sheltering effect of mountain increases the degree of breaking up the large-scale vortices, thereby increasing the turbulence intensity. Also, the value of turbulence intensity ratio is different from the recommended values in the code. The conclusions of this study can provide basis for further wind resistance design of the bridge.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.283-300
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• 2015

Visual condition inspections remain paramount to assessing the current deterioration status of a bridge and assigning remediation or maintenance tasks so as to ensure the ongoing serviceability of the structure. However, in recent years, there has been an increasing backlog of maintenance activities. Existing research reveals that this is attributable to the labour-intensive, subjective and disruptive nature of the current bridge inspection method. Current processes ultimately require lane closures, traffic guidance schemes and inspection equipment. This not only increases the whole-of-life costs of the bridge, but also increases the risk to the travelling public as issues affecting the structural integrity may go unaddressed. As a tool for bridge condition inspections, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or, drones, offer considerable potential, allowing a bridge to be visually assessed without the need for inspectors to walk across the deck or utilise under-bridge inspection units. With current inspection processes placing additional strain on the existing bridge maintenance resources, the technology has the potential to significantly reduce the overall inspection costs and disruption caused to the travelling public. In addition to this, the use of automated aerial image capture enables engineers to better understand a situation through the 3D spatial context offered by UAV systems. However, the use of UAV for bridge inspection involves a number of critical issues to be resolved, including stability and accuracy of control, and safety to people. SLAM (Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping) is a technique that could be used by a UAV to build a map of the bridge underneath, while simultaneously determining its location on the constructed map. While there are considerable economic and risk-related benefits created through introducing entirely new ways of inspecting bridges and visualising information, there also remain hindrances to the wider deployment of UAVs. This study is to provide a context for use of UAVs for conducting visual bridge inspections, in addition to addressing the obstacles that are required to be overcome in order for the technology to be integrated into current practice.