• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.448-456
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• 2016

Severe accident scenarios in nuclear reactors, such as nuclear meltdown, reveal that an extremely hot molten core may fall into the nuclear reactor cavity and seriously affect the safety of the nuclear containment vessel due to the chain reaction caused by the reaction between the molten core and concrete. This paper reports on research focused on the type and amount of vapor produced during the reaction between a high-temperature molten core and concrete, as well as on the erosion rate of concrete and the heat transfer characteristics at its vicinity. This study identifies themass fraction and melting temperature as the most influential properties of concrete necessary for a safety analysis conducted in relation to the thermal interaction between the molten core and the basemat concrete. The types of concrete that are actually used in nuclear reactor cavities were investigated. The $H_2O$ content in concrete required for the computation of the relative amount of gases generated by the chemical reaction of the vapor, the quantity of $CO_2$ necessary for computing the cooling speed of the molten core, and the melting temperature of concrete are evaluated experimentally for the molten core-concrete interaction analysis.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.203-210
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• 2019

Concrete structures in marine environment are susceptible to chloride attack, where chloride diffusion results in the corrosion of steel bar and further lead to the cracking of concrete cover. This process causes structural deterioration and affects the response of concrete structures to different forms of loading. This paper presents the use of ABAQUS Finite Element Software in simulating the processes involved in concrete's structural degradation from chloride diffusion to steel corrosion and concrete cover cracking. Fick's law was used for the chloride diffusion, while the mass loss from steel corrosion was obtained using Faraday's law. Pressure generated by steel corrosion product at the concrete-steel interface was modeled by applying uniform radial displacements, while concrete smeared cracking alongside the Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) was used for concrete cover cracking simulation. Results show that, chloride concentration decreases with penetration depth, but increases with exposure time at the concrete-steel interface. Cracks initiate and propagate in the concrete cover as pressure caused by the steel corrosion product increases. Furthermore, the crack width increases with the exposure time on the surface of the concrete.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.645-658
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• 2018

Despite being one of the most abundantly used construction materials because of its exceptional properties, concrete is susceptible to deterioration and damage due to various factors particularly corrosion, improper loading, poor workmanship and design discrepancies, and as a result concrete structures require retrofitting and strengthening. In recent times, Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites have substituted the conventional techniques of retrofitting and strengthening of damaged concrete. Most of the research studies related to concrete strengthening using FRP have been performed on undamaged test specimens. This contribution presents the results of an experimental study in which concrete specimens were damaged by mechanical loading and elevated temperature in laboratory prior to application of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) sheets for strengthening. The test specimens prepared using concrete of target compressive strength of 28 MPa at 28 days were subjected to compressive and splitting tensile testing up to failure and the intact pieces of the failed specimens were collected for the purpose of repair. In order to induce damage as a result of elevated temperature, the concrete cylinders were subjected to $400^{\circ}C$ and $800^{\circ}C$ temperature for two hours duration. Concrete cylinders damaged under compressive and split tensile loads were re-cast using concrete and rich cement-sand mortar, respectively and then strengthened using CFRP wrap. Concrete cylinders damaged due to elevated temperature were also strengthened using CFRP wrap. Re-cast and strengthened concrete cylinders were tested in compression and splitting tension. The obtained results revealed that re-casting of specimens damaged by mechanical loadings using concrete & mortar, and then strengthened by single layer CFRP wrap exhibited strength even higher than their original values. In case of specimens damaged by elevated temperature, the results indicated that concrete strength is significantly dropped and strengthening using CFRP wrap made it possible to not only recover the lost strength but also resulted in concrete strength greater than the original value.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.491-503
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• 2009

This paper presents a design framework developed using axiomatic design (AD) theory that can be applied in the design process of porous concrete. The main contribution of this paper is the definition of an AD framework based on the needs and functional requirements of porous concrete. The framework shows how AD theory can be used to provide guidelines for proportioning and manufacturing porous concrete. The advantage of the AD approach is that it systemizes the way to decouple design parameters and makes designers to think rationally between what we want to achieve and how we propose to satisfy the functional requirements of porous concrete. In this paper, test results of laboratory-size porous concrete specimens under compression were analyzed to evaluate the performance of the porous concrete based on the desired functional requirements.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2006.05b
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• pp.629-632
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• 2006

This study investigated the engineering properties of crushed sand, based on improvement quality technology, and washed sand concrete by conducting mock-up test, in order to verify the availability of crushed sand for full sized structure. Test results showed that fluidity, air content, supersonic waves and corrosion state of concrete using crushed sand had favorable results. In addition, it is found that compressive strength, drying shrinkage length change, hydration heat and neutralization of crushed sand concrete exhibited similar tendency, with that of washed sand concrete. The crushed concrete using developed quality improvement technology shows comparable performance to washed sand concrete.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.501-516
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of precast concrete pier cap system. The proposed precast pier cap provides an alternative to current cast-in-place systems, particularly for projects in which a reduced construction time is desired. Five large-scale pier cap specimens were constructed and tested under quasistatic monotonic loading. The computer program, RCAHEST (Reinforced Concrete Analysis in Higher Evaluation System Technology) was used for the analysis of reinforced concrete structures. A bonded tendon element is used based on the finite element method, and can represent the interaction between the tendon and concrete of a prestressed concrete member. A joint element is used in order to predict the inelastic behaviors of segmental joints with a shear key. This study documents the testing of the precast concrete pier cap system under monotonic loading and presents conclusions and design recommendations based on the experimental and analytical findings. Additional full-scale experimental research is needed to refine and confirm design details, especially for actual detailing employed in the field.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.689-695
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• 2017

The constitutive relation is an important factor in analysis of confined concrete in composite structures. In order to propose a constitutive model for nonlinear analysis of confined concrete, lateral restraint mechanism of confined concrete is firstly analyze to study the generalities. As the foundation of the constitutive model, peak stress and peak strain is the first step in research. According to the generalities and the Twin Shear Unified Strength Theory, a novel unified equation for peak stress and peak strain are established. It is well coincident with experimental results. Based on the general constitutive relations and the unified equation for peak stress and peak strain, we propose a unified and convenient constitutive model for confined concrete with fewer material parameters. Two examples involved with steel tube confined concrete and hoop-confined concrete are considered. The proposed constitutive model coincides well with the experimental results. This constitutive model can also be extended for nonlinear analysis to other types of confined concrete.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.70 no.6
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• pp.751-763
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• 2019

Steel-concrete composition is widely used in the construction due to efficient utilization of materials. The service load behavior of composite structures is significantly affected by cracking, creep and shrinkage effects in concrete. In order to control these effects in concrete slab, an efficient and novel strategy has been proposed by use of fiber reinforced concrete near interior supports of a continuous beam. Numerical study is carried out for the control of cracking, creep and shrinkage effects in composite beams subjected to service load. A five span continuous composite beam has been analyzed for different lengths of fiber reinforced concrete near the interior supports. For this purpose, the hybrid analytical-numerical procedure, developed by the authors, for service load analysis of composite structures has been further improved and generalized to make it applicable for composite beams having spans with different material properties along the length. It is shown that by providing fiber reinforced concrete even in small length near the supports; there can be a significant reduction in cracking as well as in deflections. It is also observed that the benefits achieved by providing fiber reinforced concrete over entire span are not significantly more as compared to the use of fiber reinforced concrete in certain length of beam near the interior supports in continuous composite beams.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.663-681
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• 2012

This paper presents a parametric study of the plastic hinge length of circular reinforced concrete columns using a three-dimensional finite element analysis method, and using the Taguchi robust design method to reduce computational cost. Parameters examined include the longitudinal reinforcing ratio, the shear span-to-depth ratio, the axial force ratio and the concrete compressive strength. The study considers longitudinal reinforcement with yield strengths of 414 MPa and 685 MPa, and proposes simplified formulas for the plastic hinge length of circular reinforced concrete columns, showing that increases in plastic hinge length correlate to increases in the axial load, longitudinal reinforcing and shear span-to-depth ratios. As concrete strength increases, the plastic hinge length decreases for the 414 MPa case but increases for the 685 MPa case.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.563-564
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• 2009

Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) compared to normal concrete is exhibiting extremely high strength characteristics with compressive strength and tensile strength reaching 200MPa and 15MPa, respectively. The mechanical characteristics of UHPC can be thus exploited advantageously in the construction of structure through the reduction of the cross-sectional area and fabrication of slim and light-weight of the structural members. In the case where the structural member is made of UHPC, the occurrence of crack can be prevented by releasing the restraint provided by the form in due time. This research performs parametric study of the failure characteristics of concrete such as failure energy and softening curve suggested by the viscous crack model approximating the failure of concrete. The scope of this research contains the results of tests performed to investigate the strength of UHPC during early elapsed time.