• Advances in concrete construction
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.1-27
• /
• 2013

Discrete steel fibres can increase significantly the bending and the shear resistance of concrete structural elements when Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete (SFRC) is designed in such a way that fibre reinforcing mechanisms are optimized. To assess the fibre reinforcement effectiveness in shallow structural elements failing in bending and in shear, experimental and numerical research were performed. Uniaxial compression and bending tests were executed to derive the constitutive laws of the developed SFRC. Using a cross-section layered model and the material constitutive laws, the deformational behaviour of structural elements failing in bending was predicted from the moment-curvature relationship of the representative cross sections. To evaluate the influence of the percentage of fibres on the shear resistance of shallow structures, three point bending tests with shallow beams were performed. The applicability of the formulation proposed by RILEM TC 162-TDF for the prediction of the shear resistance of SFRC elements was evaluated. Inverse analysis was adopted to determine indirectly the values of the fracture mode I parameters of the developed SFRC. With these values, and using a softening diagram for modelling the crack shear softening behaviour, the response of the SFRC beams failing in shear was predicted.

• Advances in concrete construction
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.55-64
• /
• 2019

Chloride corrosion has become the main factor of reducing the service life of reinforced concrete structures. The object of this paper is to propose a theoretical model that predicts the service life of chloride-corrosive concrete under fatigue load. In the process of modeling, the concrete is divided into two parts, microcrack and matrix. Taking the variation of mcirocrack area caused by fatigue load into account, an equation of chloride diffusion coefficient under fatigue load is established, and then the predictive model is developed based on Fick's second law. This model has an analytic solution and is reasonable in comparison to previous studies. Finally, some factors (chloride diffusion coefficient, surface chloride concentration and fatigue parameter) are analyzed to further investigate this model. The results indicate: the time to pit-to-crack transition and time to crack growth should not be neglected when predicting service life of concrete in strong corrosive condition; the type of fatigue loads also has a great impact on lifetime of concrete. In generally, this model is convenient to predict service life of chloride-corrosive concrete with different water to cement ratio, under different corrosive condition and under different types of fatigue load.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.72 no.4
• /
• pp.479-489
• /
• 2019

The corrosion of reinforcement leads to a gradual decay of structural strength and durability. Several models for crack occurrence prediction and crack width propagation are investigated in this paper. Analytical and experimental models were used to predict the bond strength in the period of corrosion propagation. The manner of flexural strength loss is calculated by application of these models for different scenarios. As a new approach, the variation of the concrete beam neutral axis height has been evaluated, which shows a reduction in the neutral axis height for the scenarios without loss of bond. Alternatively, an increase of the neutral axis height was observed for the scenarios including bond and concrete section loss. The statistical properties of the parameters influencing the strength have been deliberated associated with obtaining the time-dependent bending strength during corrosion propagation, using Monte Carlo (MC) random sampling method. Results showed that the ultimate strain in concrete decreases significantly as a consequence of the bond strength reduction during the corrosion process, when the section reaches to its final limit. Therefore, such sections are likely to show brittle behavior.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.38 no.3
• /
• pp.271-280
• /
• 2021

In this study, the fatigue property of U rib-to-crossbeam connections in orthotropic steel bridge (OSB) crossbeams under heavy traffic vehicle load was investigated considering the effects of in-plane shear stress. The applicability of an improved structural stress (ISS) method was validated for the fatigue behavior analysis of nonwelded arc-shaped cutout regions in multiaxial stress states. Various types of fatigue testing specimens were compared for investigating the equivalent structural stress, fatigue crack initiation positions, and failure modes with the unified standards. Furthermore, the implications of OSB crossbeams and specified loading cases are discussed with respect to the improved method. The ISS method is proven to be applicable for analyzing the fatigue property of nonwelded arc-shaped cutout regions in OSB crossbeams. The used method is essential for gaining a reliable prediction of the most likely failure modes under a specific heavy traffic vehicle load. The evaluated results using the used method are proven to be accurate with a slighter standard deviation. We obtained the trend of equivalent structural stress in arc-shaped cutout regions and validated the crack initiation positions and propagation directions by comparing them with the fatigue testing results. The implications of crossbeam spans on fatigue property are less significant than the effects of crossbeams.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.31-36
• /
• 2007

A quantitative prediction method for initial crack length in a carbon/epoxy (CF/EP) composite beam using active piezoelectric transducers was established in this study. Wavelet Transform (WT)-based signal processing and identification technique in time-frequency domain was developed to facilitate the determination of damage presence and severity. Dynamic response of a CF/EP composites beam containing a continuously expanding crack, coupled with a pair of active piezoelectric disks, was examined under a narrow band excitation, and then applied with the proposed signal processing technique.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.90 no.6
• /
• pp.591-600
• /
• 2024

This study investigated the acceleration response and shape change characteristics of a gravity quay wall according to the magnitude of the applied acceleration. The quay wall was defined as a port facility damaged by the Kobe earthquake. Four experimental scenarios were established based on the inclination condition grades, considered to be a significant defect factor in the quay wall. Then, the shaking table test was conducted using scaled-down quay wall models constructed per each scenario. The ground acceleration was gradually increased from the peak ground acceleration (PGA) of 0.1 g to 0.7 g. After each ground acceleration test, acceleration installed on the wall and backfill ground and inclination on the top of the wall were measured to assess the amplification of peak response acceleration and maximum response amplitude and the change in the inclination of the quay wall. This study also analyzed the separation of the quay wall from the backfill and the crack pattern of the backfill ground according to PGA values and inclination condition grades. The result of this study shows that response acceleration could provide a reasonable prediction for the changes in the inclination of the quay wall and the crack generation and propagation on the backfill from a current inclination condition grade.

• Geotechnical Engineering
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.139-162
• /
• 1995

The possibility of the development of gas driven hydrofractures at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant(WIPP) is investigated through analytical and numerical calculations and through laboratory experiments. First, an investigation of the chemical reactions involved shows that a large volume of gas could potentially be generated through the oxidation of iron in the waste. Simple ground water'flow calculations then show that unless regions of high permeability has been created, this gas volume will build up the pressure high enough to cause tensile damage in the horizontal planes of weakness or in the halite itself. The analytical calculations were performed using the concepts of linear elastic fracture mechanics and the numerical calculations were done using the finite element method. Also, laboratory tests were conducted to illustrate possible failure mechanisms. It is possible that after growing horizontal crack in the weaker anhydride layer, the crack could break out of this layer and propagate upward into the halite and toward the ground surface at an inclined argle of around 53$^{\circ}$ above horizontal. To prevent this latter phenomenon the anhydrite must have a fracture toughness less than 0.5590 times than that of the halite. Through the tests, three types of crack(radial vertical cracks, horizontal circular cracks and cone -shaped cracks) were observed.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.55-66
• /
• 1999

This paper presents an analytical prediction of the hysteresis behavior of reinforced concrete long column with rectangular section under the cyclic loading state. The mechanical characteristic of cracked concrete and reinforcing bar in concrete has been modeled, considering the bond effect between reinforcing bar and concrete, the effect of aggregate interlocking at crack surface and the stiffness degradation after the crack has taken place. The strength increase of concrete due to the lateral confining reinforcement has been also taken into account to model the confined concrete. The formulation of these models for concrete and reinforcing bar has been based on the smeared crack concept that the stress-strain relationship of reinforced concrete element would be defined using the average values. In addition to the material nonlinear properties, the algorithm for large displacement problem that may give an additional deformation has been formulated using total Lagrangian formulation. The analytically predicted behavior was compared with test result and they showed good agreement in overall behavior.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.283-290
• /
• 2015

This paper proposes a method for predicting flexural strength of hybrid steel fiber-reinforced ultra-high strength concrete beams. It includes an experimental test framework and associated numerical analyses. The experimental program includes flexural test results of hybrid steel fiber-reinforced ultra-high strength concrete beams with steel fiber content of 1.5% by volume. Tensile softening characteristics play an important role in the structural behavior of steel fiber-reinforced ultra high performance concrete. Tension softening modeling is carried out by using crack equation based on fictitious crack and inverse analysis in which load-crack mouth opening displacement relationship is considered. The comparison of moment-curvature curves of the numerical analysis results with the test results shows a reasonable agreement. Therefore, the numerical results confirms that good prediction of flexural behavior of steel fiber-reinforced ultra high strength concrete beams can be achieved by employing the proposed method.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.24 no.3 s.174
• /
• pp.701-709
• /
• 2000

As the welding spot forms a singular geometry of an external crack type, fatigue failure of spot-welded specimens can be evaluated by means of a fracture parameter. Recasting the load vs. fatigue life relationships experimentally obtained, we predicted the fatigue life of spot-weld specimens with a single parameter denoted the equivalent stress intensity factor. This crack driving parameter is demonstrated to successfully describe the effects of specimen geometry and loading type in a comprehensive manner. The suggested fatigue life formula for a single spot weld can play a key role in the design and assessment of spot-welded panel structures, in that the fatigue strength of multi-spots is eventually determined by the fatigue strength of each single spot. We therefore attempt to evaluate the effectiveness and validity of $K_e$ in predicting the fatigue life of auto seat belt anchor panel. We first establish finite element models reflecting the actual mechanical behavior of 3 types of seat belt anchor specimens. Using finite element models elaborately established, we then obtain the effective crack driving parameter $K_e$ composed of its ductility -dependent modal components. It is confirmed that the $K_e$ concept successfully predicts the fatigue life of multi-spot welded panel structures represented by auto seat belt anchors here.