• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.165-183
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• 2022

Most transportation departments have recognized and developed procedures to address the ever-increasing weights of trucks traveling on bridges in a service today. Transportation agencies also recognize the issues with overheight vehicles' collisions with bridges, but few stakeholders have definitive countermeasures. Bridges are becoming more vulnerable to collisions from overheight vehicles. The exact response under lateral impact force is difficult to predict. In this paper, nonlinear impact analysis shows that the degree of deformation recorded through the modeling of the unprotected vehicle-girder model provides realistic results compared to the observation from the US-61 bridge overheight vehicle impact. The predicted displacements are 0.229 m, 0.161 m, and 0.271 m in the girder bottom flange (lateral), bottom flange (vertical), and web (lateral) deformations, respectively, due to a truck traveling at 112.65 km/h. With such large deformations, the integrity of an impacted bridge becomes jeopardized, which in most cases requires closing the bridge for safety reasons and a need for rehabilitation. We proposed different sacrificial cushion systems to dissipate the energy of an overheight vehicle impact. The goal was to design and tune a suitable energy absorbing system that can protect the bridge and possibly reduce stresses in the overheight vehicle, minimizing the consequences of an impact. A material representing a Sorbothane high impact rubber was chosen and modeled in ANSYS. Out of three sacrificial schemes, a sandwich system is the best in protecting both the bridge and the overheight vehicle. The mitigation system reduced the lateral deflection in the bottom flange by 89%. The system decreased the stresses in the bridge girder and the top portion of the vehicle by 82% and 25%, respectively. The results reveal the capability of the proposed sacrificial system as an effective mitigation system.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2000.04b
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• pp.100-110
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• 2000

In practical design of girder bridges or reinforced concrete slab bridges with T-type piers, it is usually assumed that vertical movements of superstructures are completely restrained at the locations of bearings(shoes) on a cap beam of the pier, The resulting vertical reactions are applied to the bearing for the calculation of bending moments and shear forces in the cap beam. However, in reality, the overhang parts of the cap beam will deform under the dead load of superstructures and the live load so that it may act as an elastic foundation. Due to the settlement of the elastic foundation, the actual distribution of the reactions at the bearings along the cap beam may be different from that obtained under the assumption that the vertical movements are fixed at the bearings. In the present study, investigated is the effects of elastic deformations of the T-type pier on the distribution of reactions at the bearings along the cap beam through 3-dimensional finite element analysis. Herein, for this purpose the whole structural system including the superstructure and piers as well is analyzed. It appears that the conventional practice which neglects the elastic deformations of the cap beam exhibits considerably different distributions of the reactions as compared with those obtained from the present finite element analysis. It is, therefore, recommended that in order to assess the reactions at bearings correctly the whole structural system be analyzed using 3-dimensional finite element analysis.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.85 no.4
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• pp.469-484
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• 2023

A deep recursive bidirectional Cuda Deep Neural Network Long Short Term Memory (Bi-CuDNNLSTM) layer is recruited in this paper to predict the entire force time histories, and the corresponding hysteresis and backbone curves of reinforced concrete (RC) bridge piers using experimental fast and slow cyclic tests. The proposed stacked Bi-CuDNNLSTM layers involve multiple uncertain input variables, including horizontal actuator displacements, vertical actuators axial loads, the effective height of the bridge pier, the moment of inertia, and mass. The functional application programming interface in the Keras Python library is utilized to develop a deep learning model considering all the above various input attributes. To have a robust and reliable prediction, the dataset for both the fast and slow cyclic tests is split into three mutually exclusive subsets of training, validation, and testing (unseen). The whole datasets include 17 RC bridge piers tested experimentally ten for fast and seven for slow cyclic tests. The results bring to light that the mean absolute error, as a loss function, is monotonically decreased to zero for both the training and validation datasets after 5000 epochs, and a high level of correlation is observed between the predicted and the experimentally measured values of the force time histories for all the datasets, more than 90%. It can be concluded that the maximum mean of the normalized error, obtained through Box-Whisker plot and Gaussian distribution of normalized error, associated with unseen data is about 10% and 3% for the fast and slow cyclic tests, respectively. In recapitulation, it brings to an end that the stacked Bi-CuDNNLSTM layer implemented in this study has a myriad of benefits in reducing the time and experimental costs for conducting new fast and slow cyclic tests in the future and results in a fast and accurate insight into hysteretic behavior of bridge piers.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.545-566
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• 2009

Bridge columns are subjected to combined actions of axial force, shear force and bending moment during earthquakes, caused by spatially-complex earthquake motions, features of structural configurations and the interaction between input and response characteristics. Combined actions can have significant effects on the force and deformation capacity of RC columns, resulting in unexpected large deformations and extensive damage that in turn influences the performance of bridges as vital components of transportation systems. This paper evaluates the seismic response of three prototype reinforced concrete bridges using comprehensive numerical models that are capable of simulating the complex soil-structural interaction effects and nonlinear behavior of columns. An analytical approach that can capture the shear-flexural interacting behavior is developed to model the realistic nonlinear behavior of RC columns, including the pinching behavior, strength deterioration and stiffness softening due to combined actions of shear force, axial force and bending moment. Seismic response analyses were conducted on the prototype bridges under suites of ground motions. Response quantities of bridges (e.g., drift, acceleration, section force and section moment etc.) are compared and evaluated to identify the effects of vertical motion, structural characteristics and the shear-flexural interaction on seismic demand of bridges.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.117-124
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• 2017

Load testing is one of the important tests to determine if the structural elements can be used at the intended locations for which they have been designed. It is nothing but gradually applying the loads and measuring the deflections and other parameters. It is usually carried out to determine the behaviour of the system under service/ultimate loads. It helps to identify the maximum load that the structural element can withstand without much deflection/deformation. It will also help find out which part of the element causes failure first. The load-deflection behaviour of the road bridge girder has been studied by carrying out the load test after simulating the field conditions to the extent possible. The actual vertical displacement of the beam at mid span due to the imposed load was compared with the theoretical deflection of the beam. Further, the recovery of deflection at mid span was also observed on removal of the test load. Finally, the beam was checked for any cracks to assert if the beam was capable of carrying the intended live loads and that it could be used with confidence.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.9 no.3 s.32
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• pp.431-440
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• 1997

The paper describes a theoretical model for the prediction of bridge temperatures from meteorological data measured at bridge site and local meteorological center together with existing finite element heat transfer theory and solar radiation transfer theory to determine the time dependent temperature distribution of bridge. In this analytical model, the most adequate equation for the calculation of solar radiation on the bridge surface, which is dominant in day time is described based on the results of several experimental studies for the solar energy. The validity of this model is tested against field data obtained from long term experimental program on Sadang Viaduct in Seoul. Also, this paper describes the linear correlation between design variables and meteorological data to establish analytical criteria for the prediction of the average temperature, which are responsible for the longitudinal deformation of the bridges and of the vertical differential temperature profiles. which are responsible for the bending deformations from the long term experimental results.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.219-229
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• 2003

The extended tangent stiffness matrices and force-deformation relations of the elastic catenary element were initially derived through the addition of the unstrained length of cables to unknown nodal 'displacements. A beam-column element was then introduced to model the deck and pylon of cable-stayed bridges. The conventional geometric nonlinear analysis, initial force method, and TCUD method were summarized, with an effective method combining two methods presented to determine the initial shapes of cable-stayed bridges with dead loads. In this combined method, TCUD method was applied to eliminate vertical and horizontal displacements at cable-supported points of decks and on top of pylons, respectively. The initial force method was also adopted to eliminate horizontal and vertical displacements of decks and pylons. Finally, the accuracy and validity of the proposed combined method were demonstrated through numerical examples.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.443-451
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• 2007

The improvement of stiffness by the increase of thickness of deck plate or the reinforcement of longitudinal rib is one method among the effective methods to control fatigue damages occurring in orthotropic steel deck. It is likely that the increase of stiffness is effective to restrain local deformation caused by axial load in the steel deck. Therefore, in this study, the parameter studies for the reinforced structural details such as the bulk-head plate and vertical rib which is established to reduce the resultant stresses in the connection parts of the longitudinal rib and floor beam were performed with FE analysis. From the results, it was known that the reinforced structural detail with the bulk-head plate in the longitudinal ribs reduced overall the principal stresses at the connection parts, but the stress concentration increased in the weld toe parts which are occurring fatigue cracks. Also, it was estimated that the reinforced structural detail with the vortical rib in the longitudinal ribs because of the reduction of stress concentration in the weld toe parts is more effective details than the bulk-head plate.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.69-77
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• 2009

The shortage of bearing capacity and settlement, shear deformation may occur when constructing a structure such as harbor, airport and bridge on soft ground such as marine clay, silty clay, sandy soil because it is very soft. The various ground improvement methods were applied to obtain preceding settlement of soft ground and strength increase. The vertical drain method has been used to reduce the required time for consolidation of the soft ground. Especially, the PBD (Plastic Board Drain) has been widely used among in the vertical drain method. In this study, a behavior of characteristic was evaluated by operating a compound drainage capacity test about the PBD (Plastic Board Drain) method applied in soft clay in deep depth. As a result, the settlement gradually occurred with increase of surface load. The consolidation settlement was processed with dissipation of pore pressure after surface load of $500kN/m^2$. Accordingly, it was found that change of settlement through load steps was resulted from dissipation of pore pressure. It was also found that the drainage capacity of vertical drains was considerably reduced with pressure increase and time elapse.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.521-528
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• 2017

In this study, vertical loading tests were conducted to investigate the nonlinear behaviors of the fastening systems that have generally been used in the concrete track of domestic railway lines. Nonlinear load-displacement curve models were derived based on the test results. The uplift forces generated in the fastening systems were evaluated by applying the derived nonlinear models as well as the existing linear models. The influence of the factors on the maximum uplift force of the fastening system was analyzed through a parameter study on the distance between neighboring sleepers, the horizontal distance between the center of the bearing and the nearest fastening system from the deck end, and the height of the bridge girder. From the evaluation results it is known that, for economical track and bridge design, due to deck end deformation, it is necessary to consider the nonlinear behavior of the fastening system in the calculation of the uplift force of the fastening systems.