• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.327-333
• /
• 2016

Reinforced concrete structures have found wide usage in land and maritime applications. However, the corrosion of reinforced concrete has been recognized as a serious problem from economic and safety standpoints. In previous studies, the corrosion behavior of the inner steel bar embedded in mortar (W/C: 0.4, 0.5) was investigated using electrochemical methods. In this study, multiple mortar test specimens (W/C: 0.6) with six different cover thicknesses were prepared and immersed in flowing seawater for five years. Subsequently, equations related to the cover thickness, period of immersion, and corrosion characteristics of the embedded steel bar were evaluated using electrochemical methods. Prior to immersion, the corrosion potentials indicated an increase with increasing cover thickness, and after five years, all corrosion potentials demonstrated a trend in the positive direction irrespective of the cover thickness. However, the relationships between the corrosion potential and cover thickness were not in complete agreement. Furthermore, after five years, all of the corrosion potentials indicated values that were nobler compared to those obtained prior to immersion, and their corrosion current densities also decreased compared to their values obtained prior to immersion. It was considered that the embedded steel bar was easily corroded because of the aggression of water, dissolved oxygen, and chloride ions; a higher W/C ratio also assisted the corrosion process. The corrosive products deposited on the surface of the steel bar for five years cast a resistance polarizing effect shifting the corrosion potential in the nobler direction. Consequently, it was considered that the W/C ratio of 0.6 showed nearly same results as those of W/C of 0.4 and 0.5. Therefore, the corrosion potential as well as various parameters such as the cover thickness, period of immersion, and W/C ratio must be considered at once for a more accurate evaluation of the corrosion property of reinforced steel exposed to marine environment for a long period.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.83-91
• /
• 2021

In this study, to improve the connection performance between the existing reinforced concrete (R/C) frame and the strengthening member, we proposed a new H-section steel frame with elastic pad (HSFEP) system for seismic rehabilitation of existing medium-to-low-rise reinforced concrete (R/C) buildings. This HSFEP strengthening system exhibits an excellent connection performance because an elastic pad is installed between the existing structure and reinforcing frame. The method shows a strength design approach implemented via retrofitting, to easily increase the ultimate lateral load capacity of R/C buildings lacking seismic data, which exhibit shear failure mechanism. Two full-size two-story R/C frame specimens were designed based on an existing R/C building in Korea lacking seismic data, and then strengthened using the HSFEP system; thus, one control specimen and one specimen strengthened with the HSFEP system were used. Pseudodynamic tests were conducted to verify the effects of seismic retrofitting, and the earthquake response behavior with use of the proposed method, in terms of the maximum response strength, response displacement, and degree of earthquake damage compared with the control R/C frame. Test results revealed that the proposed HSFEP strengthening method, internally applied to the R/C frame, effectively increased the lateral ultimate strength, resulting in reduced response displacement of R/C structures under large scale earthquake conditions.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.28-36
• /
• 2021

It is known that buried rebars inside concrete structures are protected from corrosion due to passive layer. It is very important to delay the timing of corrosion or evaluate a detection of corrosion initiation for the purpose of cost-beneficiary service life of a structure. In this study, corrosion monitoring was performed on concrete specimens considering 3 levels of cover depth(60 mm, 45 mm, and 30 mm), W/C(water to cement) ratio(40.0%, 50.0%, and 60.0%) and chloride concentration(0.0%, 3.5%, and 7.0%). OCP(Open Circuit Potential) was measured using agar-based socket type sensors. The OCP measurement showed the consistent behavior where the potential was reduced in wet conditions and it was partially recovered in dry conditions. In the case of 30 mm of cover depth for most W/C ratio cases, the lowest OCP value was measured and rapid OCP recovery was evaluated in increasing cover depth from 30 mm to 45 mm, since cover depth was an effective protection against chloride ion ingress. As the chloride concentration increased, the effect on the cover depth tended to be more dominant than the that of W/C ratio. After additional monitoring and physical evaluation of chloride concentration after specimen dismantling, the proposed system can be improved with increasing reliability of the corrosion monitoring.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.602-608
• /
• 2019

The purpose of this study was to calculate the temperature difference of the sectional elevation according to the asphalt thickness of the steel box girder bridge deck and provide data on the design basis accordingly. Asphalt thicknesses produced four steel box girder model specimens of 0mm, 50mm, 100m and 150mm. In each model, 17 to 23 temperature sensors were attached to upper concrete and steel box girders. Six temperature gauges were selected to compare the temperature difference with Euro codes. The maximum and lowest temperature were calculated at the reference atmospheric temperature of each model, and the temperature difference (slope) was calculated based on this calculation. Four models of temperature difference are presented at each model. The 0mm to 100mm temperature difference models showed a -0.9 to -1.5 degree lower temperature difference compared to the temperature difference of Euro codes at the top of the slab. Overall, the measured temperature difference was found to be between 5.45% and 8.33% compared to the Euro code. The standard error coefficient, which was calculated by multiplying the average temperature with the standard error, was calculated from a range of 2.50 to 2.51 times the average at the top and bottom. It is estimated that the proposed temperature difference model can be used as a basic data when calculating temperature difference criteria for bridges in Korea.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.103-110
• /
• 2022

The purpose of this study is to experimentally evaluate the stiffness and strength reduction according to the reinforcing bar details of the vertically divided reinforced concrete shear walls. To confirm the effect of reducing strength and stiffness according to vertical division, four real-scale specimens were fabricated and repeated lateral loading tests were performed. As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that the strength and stiffness were decreased according to the vertical division. In particular, as the stiffness reduction rate is greater than the strength reduction rate, it is expected that safety against extreme strength can be secured when the load is redistributed according to vertical division. As a result of checking the crack pattern, a diagonal crack occurred in the wall subjected to compression control among the divided walls. It was confirmed that two neutral axes occurred after division, and the reversed strain distribution appeared in the upper part, showing the double curvature pattern. In future studies, it is necessary to evaluate the stiffness reduction rate considering the effective height of the wall, to evaluate additional variables such as wall aspect ratio, and to conduct analytical studies on various walls using finite element analysis.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.50-58
• /
• 2014

Due to the cost burden of new construction, the necessity of repair and retrofitting of aged structures is sharply increasing as the domain of repair and retrofitting construction is expanding. Because of the necessity, new technologies for repair and retrofitting are continuously studied in Korea and foreign countries. Steel adhesive method, fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) surface adhesive method, and external prestressing method are used to perform the repair and retrofitting works in Korea. In order to consider a repair method using steel mesh reinforced cement mortar (SMCM), 3-point flexural member test was conducted considering repair area and layer number of SMCM. Five types of specimens including ordinary reinforced concrete (RC) specimen with dimensions of $1400{\times}500{\times}200$ (mm) were cast for testing the deflection measurement, a LVDT was installed at the top center of the specimens. Also, a steel strain gauge and a concrete strain gauge were placed at the center of the specimens. A steel strain gauge was also installed on the shear reinforcement. The 3 point flexural member test results showed that the maximum load of SMCM reinforced specimen was higher than that of basic RC specimen in all of the load-displacement curves. Also, the results showed that, when the whole lower part of the basic RC specimen was reinforced, the maximum load and strain were 1.18 and 1.37 times higher than that of the basic RC specimen, respectively. Each specimen showed a slightly different failure behavior where the difference of the results was caused by the difference in the adhesive level between SMCM and RC. Particularly, in SM-B1 specimen, SMCM spalled off during the experiment. This failure behavior showed that the adhesive performance for RC must be improved in order to utilize SMCM as repair and retrofitting material.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.463-471
• /
• 2016

A shear strength model for the high-shear ring anchor consisting of a steel ring and a rod was developed based on the shear tests on single high-shear ring anchors. The shear strength was found to be proportional to $f_{ck}{^{0.75}}$ which is a similar characteristic to the strength of shear connectors used in composite structures. The effects of the compressive strength of concrete, edge distance, and embedment length of rod are included in the proposed model. Comparison with 22 tests shows that the average and the coefficient of variation of test-to-prediction ratios are 1.01 and 7.57%, respectively. Push tests on the specimens having four high-shear ring anchors at each face were conducted and the measured shear strengths were compared with the predictions by the proposed model. For the specimen with an edge distance of 100 mm, a splitting failure occurred and for the specimens with an edge distance of 150 mm, a failure mode mixed with splitting and bearing occurred, which were very similar to the failures of shear tests on single high-shear ring anchors. In case of a splitting failure, the overlap of failure surfaces could be prevented by providing the longitudinal spacing of 400 mm which is four times of the edge distance. In case of a bearing failure, the failure area is less than 150 mm from the center of the anchor and therefore the overlap of failure surfaces could be prevented by providing the longitudinal spacing of 200 mm. The average of the test-to-prediction ratios of Push tests is 98%, which means that the proposed mode can be applied to predict the shear strength of the multiple high-shear rings.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.151-157
• /
• 2014

Since recently developed Ultra-High-Performance-Concrete (UHPC) provides very high strength, stiffness, and durability, many studies have been made on the application of the UHPC to bridge decks. Due to high strength and stiffness of UHPC bridge deck, the structural contribution of top flange of steel girder composite to UHPC deck would be much lower than that of conventional concrete deck. At this point of view, this study proposes a inverted-T shaped steel girder composite to UHPC deck. This girder requires a new type of shear connector because conventional shear connectors are welded on top flange. This study also proposes three different types of shear connectors, and evaluate their ultimate strength via push-out static test. The first one is a stud shear connector welded directly to the web of the girder in the transverse direction. The second one is a puzzle-strip type shear connector developed by the European Commission, and the last one is the combination of the stud and the puzzle-strip shear connectors. Experimental results showed that the ultimate strength of the transverse stud was 26% larger than that given in the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications, but a splitting crack observed in the UHPC deck was so severe that another measure needs to be developed to prevent the splitting crack. The ultimate strength of the puzzle-strip specimen was 40% larger than that evaluated by the equation of European Commission. The specimens combined with stud and puzzle-strip shear connectors provided less strength than arithmetical sum of those. Based on the experimental observations, there appears to be no advantage of combining transverse stud and puzzle-strip shear connectors.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.185-193
• /
• 2015

Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) has been developed to overcome the low tensile strengths and brittleness of conventional concrete. Considering that UHPC, owing to its composition and the use of steel fibers, develops a compressive strength of 180 MPa as well as high stiffness, the top flange of the steel girder may be superfluous in the composite beam combining a slab made of UHPC and the steel girder. In such composite beam, the steel girder takes the form of an inverted-T shaped structure without top flange in which the studs needed for the composition of the steel girder with the UHPC slab are disposed in the web of the steel girder. This study investigates experimentally and analytically the flexural behavior of this new type of composite beam to propose details like stud spacing and slab thickness for further design recommendations. To that goal, eight composite beams with varying stud spacing and slab thickness were fabricated and tested. The test results indicated that stud spacing running from 100 mm to 2 to 3 times the slab thickness can be recommended. In view of the relative characteristic slip limit of Eurocode-4, the results showed that the composite beam developed ductile behavior. Moreover, except for the members with thin slab and large stud spacing, most of the specimens exhibited results different to those predicted by AASHTO LRFD and Eurocode-4 because of the high performance developed by UHPC.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.761-769
• /
• 2014

Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) has been developed to overcome the low strengths and brittleness of conventional concrete. Considering that UHPC, owing to its composition and the use of steel fibers, develops a compressive strength of 180 MPa as well as high stiffness, the top flange of the steel girder may be superfluous in the composite beam combining a slab made of UHPC and the steel girder. In such composite beam, the steel girder takes the form of an inverted-T shaped structure without top flange in which the studs needed for the composition of the steel girder with the UHPC slab are disposed in the web of the steel girder. This study investigates experimentally and analytically the flexural behavior of this new type of composite beam to propose details like stud spacing and slab thickness for further design recommendations. To that goal, eight composite beams with varying stud spacing and slab thickness were fabricated and tested. The test results indicated that stud spacing running from 100 mm to 2 to 3 times the slab thickness can be recommended. In view of the relative characteristic slip limit of Eurocode-4, the results showed that the composite beam developed ductile behavior. Moreover, except for the members with thin slab and large stud spacing, most of the specimens exhibited results different to those predicted by AASHTO LRFD and Eurocode-4 because of the high performance developed by UHPC.