• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.758-766
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• 1997

Non-brittle fracture behaviour of the two composite structures made of two different brittle materials was investigated using 3-point bending test. First, the layered and fibrous macro-composites were fabricated using the material easily formed, yet showing a brittle fracture behaviour similar to ceramics. The layered and fibrous Al2O3 /Al2O3 composites with weak interface were also fabricated using plate of 2 mm thickness and rod of 3 mm diameter respectively. Comparison of the mechanical properties between these two structures was performed in the lights of flexural strength and work of fracture for the composites consisting of Al2O3 and simulated materials respectively. The strength ratio of layered structure to the monolith of same volume was 0.6 and the ratio of fibrous one was about 0.2 for the composites made of simulated brittle material. The ratio of the work of fracture of the fibrous to the layered was 0.47. For Al2O3/Al2O3 composites, the strength ratio of layered and fibrous structures to the monolith with same volume were about 0.6 and 0.2 respectively. The ratio of work of fracture of the fibrous to the layered was 0.6. These confirmed that the layered structure was superior to the fibrous one in terms of flexural strength and work of fracture.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.469-477
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• 2021

Keratin fibres are waste products of the poultry industry. Natural materials made from chicken feather fibres (CFFs) are used in concrete-reinforced composites in this study. Brittleness is a major problem of high-strength concrete (HSC) that leads to sudden failure at the ultimate capacity of concrete. Hence, this work aims to investigate effects of using CFFs on improving the brittle behaviour of HSC. Two scenarios are performed to analyse the effectiveness of using CFFs. HSC containing different ratios of CFF (0% as the control, 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, 2%, and 3%) by volume are tested in the first scenario. Glass fibres (GF) are used to replace CFFs in the other scenario. Tests of fresh, hardened and morphological properties for concrete are performed. Results showed the enhanced brittle behaviour of HSC when using both types of fibres. The preferable ratio of both types of fibres is 1% by volume. Flexural and splitting tensile strengths increased by about 44.9 % and 42.65 % for mixes containing 0.1% GF, respectively. While they were increased by about 21.6 % and 21.16 % for mixes containing 0.1% CFF, respectively.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.349-356
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• 2020

Rock brittleness, which is closely related to the failure modes, plays a significant role in the design and construction of many rock engineering applications. However, the brittle-ductile failure transition is mostly ignored by the current statistical damage constitutive model, which may misestimate the failure strength and failure behaviours of intact rock. In this study, a new statistical damage model considering rock brittleness is proposed for brittle to ductile behaviour of rocks using brittleness index (BI). Firstly, the statistical constitutive damage model is reviewed and a new statistical damage model considering failure mode transition is developed by introducing rock brittleness parameter-BI. Then the corresponding damage distribution parameters, shape parameter m and scale parameter F₀, are expressed in terms of BI. The shape parameter m has a positive relationship with BI while the scale parameter F₀ depends on both BI and ε_e. Finally, the robustness and correctness of the proposed damage model is validated using a set of experimental data with various confining pressure.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.243-260
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• 2008

The present article summarises the fundamental characteristics of concrete behaviour which underlie the formulation of an engineering finite element model capable of realistically predicting the behaviour of (plain or reinforced) concrete structural forms in a wide range of problems ranging from static to impact loading without the need of any kind of re-calibration. The already published evidence supporting the proposed formulation is complemented by four additional typical case studies presented herein; for each case, a comparative study is carried out between numerical predictions and the experimental data which reveals good agreement. Such evidence validates the material characteristics upon which the FE model's formulation is based and provides an alternative explanation regarding the behaviour of structural concrete and how it should be modelled which contradicts the presently (widely) accepted assumptions adopted in the majority of FE models used to predict the behaviour of concrete.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.3-16
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• 2008

The underground construction and mining are facing many geomechanics challenges stemming from, geological complexities and stress-driven rock mass degradation processes. Brittle failing rock at depth poses unique problems as stress-driven failure processes often dominate the tunnel behaviour. Such failure processes can lead to shallow unravelling or strainbursting modes of instability that cause difficult conditions for tunnel contractors. This keynote address focuses on the challenge of anticipating the actual behaviour of brittle rocks in laboratory testing, for empirical rock mass strength estimation, and by back-analysis of field observations. This paper summarizes lessons learned during the construction of deep Alpine tunnels and highlights implications that are of practical importance with respect to constructability. It builds on a recent presentation made at the $1^{st}$ Southern Hemisphere International Rock Mechanics Symposium held in Perth, Australia, in September this year, and includes results from recent developments.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.590-597
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• 2016

In this study, six kinds of low-carbon steel specimens with different ferrite-pearlite microstructures were fabricated by varying the Nb content and the transformation temperature. The microstructural factors of ferrite grain size, pearlite fraction, interlamellar spacing, and cementite thickness were quantitatively measured based on optical and scanning electron micrographs; then, Charpy impact tests were conducted in order to investigate the correlation of the microstructural factors with the impact toughness and the ductile-brittle transition temperature (DBTT). The microstructural analysis results showed that the Nb4 specimens had ferrite grain size smaller than that of the Nb0 specimens due to the pinning effect resulting from the formation of carbonitrides. The pearlite interlamellar spacing and the cementite thickness also decreased as the transformation temperature decreased. The Charpy impact test results indicated that the impact-absorbed energy increased and the ductile-brittle transition temperature decreased with addition of Nb content and decreasing transformation temperature, although all specimens showed ductile-brittle transition behaviour.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.265-273
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• 2024

Predicting fracture properties requires an understanding of structural failure behaviour in relation to specimen type, dimension, and notch length. Facture properties are evaluated using various testing methods, wedge splitting test being one of them. The wedge splitting test was numerically modelled three dimensionally using the finite element method on self compacting concrete specimens with varied specimen and notch depths in the current work. The load - Crack mouth opening displacement curves and the angle of rotation with respect to notch opening till failure are used to assess the fracture properties. Furthermore, based on the simulation results, failure curve was built to forecast the fracture behaviour of self-compacting concrete. The fracture failure curve revealed that the failure was quasi-brittle in character, conforming to non-linear elastic properties for all specimen depth and notch depth combinations.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.29-38
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• 2017

Stone masonry is one of the oldest construction types due to the natural and free availability of stones and the relatively easy construction. Since stone masonry is brittle, it is also very vulnerable and in the case of earthquakes damage, collapses and causalities are very likely to occur, as it has been seen during the last Italian earthquake in Amatrice in 2016. In the recent years, some researchers have performed experimental tests to improve the knowledge of the behaviour of stone masonry. Concurrently, there is the need to reproduce the seismic behaviour of these structures by numerical approaches, also in consideration of the high cost of experimental tests. In this work, an alternative simplified procedure to numerically reproduce the diagonal compression and shear compression tests on a rubble stone masonry is proposed within the finite element method. The proposed procedure represents the stone units as rigid bodies and the mortar as a plastic material with compression and tension inelastic behaviour calibrated based on parametric studies. The validation of the proposed model was verified by comparison with experimental data. The advantage of this simplified methodology is the use of a limited number of degrees of freedom which allows the reduction of the computational time, which leaves the possibility to carry out parametric studies that consider different wall configurations.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.37-49
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• 2019

In this study, the shear behaviour of reinforced concrete (RC) beams that were retrofitted using precast panels of ultra-high performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) is presented. The precast UHPFRC panels were glued to the side surfaces of RC beams using epoxy adhesive in two different configurations: (i) retrofitting two sides, and (ii) retrofitting three sides. Experimental tests on the adhesive bond were conducted to estimate the bond capacity between the UHPFRC and normal concrete. All the specimens were tested in shear under varying levels of shear span-to-depth ratio (a/d=1.0; 1.5). For both types of configuration, the retrofitted specimens exhibited a significant improvement in terms of stiffness, load carrying capacity and failure mode. In addition, the UHPFRC retrofitting panels glued in three-sides shifted the failure from brittle shear to a more ductile flexural failure with enhancing the shear capacity up to 70%. This was more noticeable in beams that were tested with a/d=1.5. An approach for the approximation of the failure capacity of the retrofitted RC beams was evolved using a multi-level regression of the data obtained from the experimental work. The predicted values of strength have been validated by comparing them with the available test data. In addition, a 3-D finite element model (FEM) was developed to estimate the failure load and overall behaviour of the retrofitted beams. The FEM of the retrofitted beams was conducted using the non-linear finite element software ABAQUS.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1045-1062
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• 2015

Concrete-filled circular t steel tubular joints (CFSTJs) in practice are frequently subjected to fluctuated loadings caused by wind, earthquake and so on. As fatigue crack is sensitive to such cyclic loadings, assessment on performance of CFSTJs with crack-like defect attracts more concerns because both high stress concentration at the brace/chord intersection and welding residual stresses along weld toe cause the materials in the region around the intersection to be more brittle. Once crack initiates and propagates along the weld toe, tri-axial stresses in high gradient around the crack front exist, which may bring brittle fracture failure. Additionally, the stiffness and the load carrying capacity of the CFSTJs with crack may decrease due to the weakened connection at the intersection. To study the behaviour of CFSTJs with initial crack, experimental tests have been carried out on three full-scale CFCST T-joints with same configuration. The three specimens include one uncracked joint and two corresponding cracked joints. Load-displacement and load-deformation curves, failure mode and crack propagation are obtained from the experiment measurement. According to the experimental results, it can be found that he load carrying capacity of the cracked joints is decreased by more than 10% compared with the uncracked joint. The effect of crack depth on the load carrying capacity of CFCST T-joints seems to be slight. The failure mode of the cracked CFCST T-joints represents as plastic yielding rather than brittle fracture through experimental observation.