• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.765-784
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• 2015

Connections are usually designed either as pinned usually associated with simple construction or rigid normally is associated with continuous construction. However, the actual behaviour falls in between these two extreme cases. The use of partial strength or semi-rigid connections has been encouraged by Euro-code 3 and studies on semi-continuous construction have shown substantial savings in steel weight of the overall construction. Composite connections are proposed in this paper as partial or full strength connections. Standardized connection tables are developed based on checking on all possible failure modes as suggested by "component method" for beam-to-column composite connection on major axis. Four experimental tests were carried out to validate the proposed standardised connection table. The test results showed good agreement between experimental and theoretical values with the ratio in the range between 1.06 to 1.50. All tested specimens of the composite connections showed ductile type of failure with the formation of cracks occurred on concrete slab at maximum load. No failure occurred on the Trapezoidal Web Profiled Steel Section as beam and on the British Section as column.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.93-114
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• 2011

Flange and web local buckling in beam plastic hinge regions of steel moment frames can prevent beam-column connections from achieving adequate plastic rotations under earthquake-induced forces. This threat is especially valid for existing steel moment frame buildings with beams that lack adequate flange/web slenderness ratios. As the use of fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) have increased in strengthening and repair of steel members in recent years, using FRPs in stabilizing local instabilities have also attracted attention. Previous computational studies have shown that longitudinally oriented glass FRP (GFRP) strips may serve to moderately brace beam flanges against the occurrence of local buckling during plastic hinging. An experimental study was conducted at Izmir Institute of Technology investigating the effects of GFRP reinforcement on local buckling behavior of existing steel I-beams with flange slenderness ratios (FSR) exceeding the slenderness limits set forth in current seismic design specifications and modified by a bottom flange triangular welded haunch. Four European HE400AA steel beams with a depth/width ratio of 1.26 and FSR of 11.4 were cyclically loaded up to 4% rotation in a cantilever beam test set-up. Both bare beams and beams with GFRP sheets were tested in order to investigate the contribution of GFRP sheets in mitigating local flange buckling. Different configurations of GFRP sheets were considered. The tests have shown that GFRP reinforcement can moderately mitigate inelastic flange local buckling.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.337-346
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• 2019

The present paper tries to contribute fill the gap of application of the component method to tubular connections. For this purpose, one typical joint configuration in which just one component can be considered as active has been studied. These joints were selected as symmetrically loaded welded connections in which the beam width was the same as the column width. This focused the study on the component 'side walls of rectangular hollow sections (RHS) in tension/compression'. It should be one of the main components to be considered in welded unstiffened joints between I beams and RHS columns. Many experimental tests on double-sided I-beam-to-RHS-column joint with a width ratio 1 have been carried out by the authors and a finite element (FE) model was validated with their results. Then, some different analytical approaches for the component stiffness and strength have been assessed. Finally, the stiffness proposals have been compared with some FE simulations on I-beam-to-RHS-column joints. This work finally proposes the most adequate equations that were found for the stiffness and strength characterization of the component 'side walls of RHS in tension/compression' to be applied in a further unified global proposal for the application of the component method to RHS.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.87-102
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• 2021

To investigate the failure form, bending stiffness, and residual bearing capacity of monolithic composite beams with laminated slab throughout the fire process, fire tests of four monolithic composite beams with laminated slab were performed under constant load and temperature increase. Different factors such as post-pouring layer thickness, lap length of the prefabricated bottom slab, and stud spacing were considered in the fire test. The test results demonstrate that, under the same fire time and external load, the post-pouring layer thickness and stud spacing are important parameters that affect the fire resistance of monolithic composite beams with laminated slab. Similarly, the post-pouring layer thickness and stud spacing are the predominant factors affecting the bending stiffness of monolithic composite beams with laminated slab after fire exposure. The failure forms of monolithic composite beams with laminated slab after the fire are approximately the same as those at room temperature. In both cases, the beams underwent bending failure. However, after exposure to the high-temperature fire, cracks appeared earlier in the monolithic composite beams with laminated slab, and both the residual bearing capacity and bending stiffness were reduced by varying degrees. In this test, the bending bearing capacity and ductility of monolithic composite beams with laminated slab after fire exposure were reduced by 23.3% and 55.4%, respectively, compared with those tested at room temperature. Calculation methods for the residual bearing capacity and bending stiffness of monolithic composite beams with laminated slab in and after the fire are proposed, which demonstrated good accuracy.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.1403-1419
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• 2015

When precast concrete infill panels are connected to steel frames at discrete locations, interaction at the structural interface is neither complete nor absent. The contribution of precast concrete infill panels to the lateral stiffness and strength of steel frames can be significant depending on the quality, quantity and location of the discrete interface connections. This paper presents preliminary experimental and finite element results of an investigation into the composite behaviour of a square steel frame with a precast concrete infill panel subject to lateral loading. The panel is connected at the corners to the ends of the top and bottom beams. The Frame-to-Panel-Connection, FPC4 between steel beam and concrete panel consists of two parts. A T-section with five achor bars welded to the top of the flange is cast in at the panel corner at a forty five degree angle. The triangularly shaped web of the T-section is reinforced against local buckling with a stiffener plate. The second part consists of a triangular gusset plate which is welded to the beam flange. Two bolts acting in shear connect the gusset plate to the web of the T-section. This way the connection can act in tension or compression. Experimental pull-out tests on individual connections allowed their load deflection characteristics to be established. A full scale experiment was performed on a one-storey one-bay 3 by 3 m infilled frame structure which was horizontally loaded at the top. With the characteristics of the frame-to-panel connections obtained from the experiments on individual connections, finite element analyses were performed on the infilled frame structures taking geometric and material non-linear behaviour of the structural components into account. The finite element model yields reasonably accurate results. This allows the model to be used for further parametric studies.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.742-745
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• 2004

The FRP-concrete composite deck system has advantages of corrosion free and easy construction. The system is, however, comprised of two brittle materials, so that it suffers from inherent disadvantage of lack of ductility. In this study, some conceptual design is presented for preventing the brittle failure of FRP-concrete composite deck at ultimate load level. 4-point bending tests are performed for FRP-concrete composite beams using FRC(Fiber Reinforced Concrete). The specimens use the box-shape FRP member in the lower portion. Four types of concrete with different compressive strengths and ductilities including normal mortar and 3 FRCs are placed in the upper portion. Typical failure mode in the test is identified; Concrete compressive failure occurs first at the maximum moment region, and the interfacial debonding between FRP and concrete member proceeds. Finally, the tensile rupture of FRP member occurs. The specimen using FRC with the high compressive ductility of concrete fails with less brittle manner than other specimens. The reason is that the ductility from the concrete in compression prevents the sudden loss of load-carrying capacity after compressive concrete failure.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1291-1303
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• 2015

Damage caused by low velocity impact is so dangerous in composites because although in most cases it is not visible to the eye, it can greatly reduce the strength of the composite material. In this paper, damage development in U-section glass/polyester pultruded beams subjected to low velocity impact was considered. Different failure criteria such as Maximum stress, Maximum strain, Hou, Hashin and the combination of Maximum strain criteria for fiber failure and Hou criteria for matrix failure were programmed and implemented in ABAQUS software via a user subroutine VUMAT. A suitable degradation model was also considered for reducing material constants due to damage. Experimental tests, which performed to validate numerical results, showed that Hashin and Hou failure criteria have better accuracy in predicting force-time history than the other three criteria. However, maximum stress and Hashin failure criteria had the best prediction for damage area, in comparison with the other three criteria. Finally in order to compare numerical model with the experimental results in terms of extent of damage, bending test was performed after impact and the behavior of the beam was considered.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.153-168
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• 2003

This paper discusses the results and observations from a large-scale fire test conducted on a slim floor system, comprising asymmetric beams, rectangular hollow section beams and a composite floor slab. The structure was subjected to a fire where the fire load (combustible material) was higher that that found in typical office buildings and the ventilation area was artificially controlled during the test. Although the fire behaviour was not realistic it was designed to follow as closely as possible the time-temperature response used in standard fire tests, which are used to assess individual structural members and forms the bases of current fire design methods. The presented test results are limited, due to the malfunction of the instrumentation measuring the atmosphere and member temperatures. The lack of test data hinders the presentation of definitive conclusions. However, the available data, together with observations from the test, provides for the first time a useful insight into the behaviour of the slim floor system in its entirety. Analysis of the test results show that the behaviour of the beam-to-column connections had a significant impact on the overall structural response of the system, particularly when the end-plate of one of the connections fractured, during the fire.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.7
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• pp.2570-2575
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• 2024

The study aims to develop a novel, lead-free, flexible and lightweight composite shielding material against ionizing radiation. For this, it was used bismuth oxide (Bi₂O₃) in RTV-2 silicon matrix. The shielding tests were carried out in both diagnostic X-ray energies and intermediate gamma-ray energy range of up to 662 keV to determine the radiation attenuation properties of this material in terms of attenuation ratio, half value layer, tenth value layer, mean free path and lead equivalency of samples in weight of 30%, 40%, 50% in Bi₂O₃. In the diagnostic X-ray energy range, half value layer, tenth value layer and lead equivalency (in mm Pb) of the produced samples were measured at 80 and 100 kVp narrow beam conditions according to the requirements of EN IEC 61331-1 standard. The results show that lead equivalent values of the produced novel sheets was measured to be 0.16 mm Pb, corresponding to a 6 mm thickness of the flexible sample when it contains 30% wt. Bi₂O₃ in RTV matrix. The experimental findings for durability and flexibility also indicated that this new RTV-based flexible, lead -free shielding composite can be used safely for especially for manufacturing aprons, garments and thyroid guards used in mammography, radiology, nuclear medicine and dental applications in practice.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1423-1450
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• 2015

The paper presents the details and results of an experimental study on bolted end-plate joints of industrial type steel building frames. The investigated joints are commonly used in Lindab-Astron industrial buildings and are optimized for manufacturing, erection and durability. The aim of the research was to provide an experimental background for the design model development by studying load-bearing capacity of joints, bolt force distribution, and end-plate deformations. Because of the special joint details, (i.e., joints with four bolts in one bolt-row and HammerHead arrangements), the Eurocode 3 standardized component model had to be improved and extended. The experimental programme included six different end-plate and bolt arrangements and covered sixteen specimens. The steel grade of test specimens was S355, the bolt diameter M20, whereas the bolt grade was 8.8 and 10.9 for the two series. The end-plate thickness varied between 12 mm and 24 mm. The specimens were investigated under pure bending conditions using a four-point-bending test arrangement. In all tests the typical displacements and the bolt force distribution were measured. The end-plate plastic deformations were measured after the tests by an automatic measuring device. The measured data were presented and evaluated by the moment-bolt-row force and moment-distance from centre of compression diagrams and by the deformed end-plate surfaces. From the results the typical failure modes and the joint behaviour were specified and presented. Furthermore the influence of the end-plate thickness and the pretension of the bolts on the behaviour of bolted joints were analysed.