• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.97-107
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• 2019

The frame structures investigated in this paper is composed of Concrete encased columns with L-shaped steel section and steel beams. The seismic behavior of this structural system is studied through experimental and numerical studies. A 2-bay, 3-story and 1/3 scaled frame specimen is tested under constant axial loading and cyclic lateral loading applied on the column top. The load-displacement hysteretic loops, ductility, energy dissipation, stiffness and strength degradation are investigated. A typical failure mode is observed in the test, and the experimental results show that this type of framed structure exhibit a high strength with good ductility and energy dissipation capacity. Furthermore, finite element analysis software Perform-3D was conducted to simulate the behavior of the frame. The calculating results agreed with the test ones well. Further analysis is conducted to investigate the effects of parameters including concrete strength, column axial compressive force and steel ratio on the seismic performance indexes, such as the elastic stiffness, the maximum strength, the ductility coefficient, the strength and stiffness degradation, and the equivalent viscous damping ratio. It can be concluded that with the axial compression ratio increasing, the load carrying capacity and ductility decreased. The load carrying capacity and ductility increased when increasing the steel ratio. Increasing the concrete grade can improve the ultimate bearing capacity of the structure, but the ductility of structure decreases slightly.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.673-688
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• 2022

Post-earthquake fire is a major threat since most structures are designed allowing some damage during strong earthquakes, which will expose a more vulnerable structure to post-earthquake fire compared to an intact structure. A series of experimental research on steel-concrete composite beam-to-column joints subjected to fire after cyclic loading has been carried out and a clear reduction of fire resistance due to the partial damage caused by cyclic loading was observed. In this paper, by using ABAQUS a robust finite element model is developed for exploring the performance of steel-concrete composite joints in post-earthquake fire scenarios. After validation of these models with the previously conducted experimental results, a comprehensive numerical analysis is performed, allowing influential parameters affecting the post-earthquake fire behavior of the steel-concrete composite joints to be identified. Specifically, the level of pre-damage induced by cyclic loading is regraded to deteriorate mechanical and thermal properties of concrete, material properties of steel, and thickness of the fire protection layer. It is found that the ultimate temperature of the joint is affected by the load ratio while fire-resistant duration is relevant to the heating rate, both of which change due to the damage induced by the cyclic loading.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.81 no.1
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• pp.11-28
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• 2022

This paper considers the combination of cyclic and axial loads to investigate the hysteretic performance of H-section 6061-T6 aluminum alloy members. The hysteretic performance of aluminum alloy members is the basis for the seismic performance of aluminum alloy structures. Despite the prevalence of aluminum alloy reticulated shells structures worldwide, research into the seismic performance of aluminum alloy structures remains inadequate. To address this deficiency, we design and conduct cyclic axial load testing of three H-section members based on a reliable testing system. The influence of slenderness ratios and bending direction on the failure form, bearing capacity, and stiffness degradation of each member are analyzed. The experiment results show that overall buckling dominates the failure mechanism of all test members before local buckling occurs. As the load increases after overall buckling, the plasticity of the member develops, finally leading to local buckling and fracture failure. The results illustrate that the plasticity development of the local buckling position is the main reason for the stiffness degradation and failure of the member. Additionally, with the increase of the slenderness ratio, the energy-dissipation capacity and stiffness of the member decrease significantly. Simultaneously, a finite element model based on the Chaboche hybrid strengthening model is established according to the experiment, and the rationality of the constitutive model and validity of the finite element simulation method are verified. The parameter analysis of twenty-four members with different sections, slenderness ratios, bending directions, and boundary conditions are also carried out. Results show that the section size and boundary condition of the member have a significant influence on stiffness degradation and energy dissipation capacity. Based on the above, the appropriate material constitutive relationship and analysis method of H-section aluminum alloy members under cyclic loading are determined, providing a reference for the seismic design of aluminum alloy structures.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.717-729
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• 2019

A horizontal cyclic test was carried out to study the seismic performance of lightweight aggregate concrete filled steel tube (LACFST). The constitutive and hysteretic model of core lightweight aggregate concrete (LAC) was proposed for finite element simulation. The stress and strain changes of the steel tube and concrete filled inside were measured in the experiment, and the failure mode, hysteresis curve, skeleton curve, and strain curve of the test specimens were obtained. The influence of axial compression ratio, diameter-thickness ratio and material strength were analysed based on finite element model. The results show that the hysteresis curve of LACFST indicated favourable ductility, energy dissipation, and seismic performance. The LACFST failed when the concrete in the bottom first crushed and the steel tube then bulged, thus axial force imposed by prestressing was proved to be feasible. The proposed constitutive model and hysteretic model of LAC under the constraint of its steel tube was reliable. The bearing capacity and ductility of the specimen increase significantly with increasing thickness of the steel tube. The bearing capacity of the member improves while the ductility and energy dissipation performance slightly decreased with the increasing strength of the steel and concrete.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.59-63
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• 2012

The spacer grid is one of the main structural components in a fuel assembly. It supports fuel rods, guides cooling water and maintains geometry from external impact load and cyclic stress by the vibration of nuclear fuel rod, it is necessary to have sufficient strength against dynamic external load and fatigue strength. In this study, the mechanical properties and fatigue characteristics of laser beam welded zircaloy thin sheet are examined. The material used in this study is a zirconium alloy with 0.66 mm of thickness. The fatigue strength under cyclic load was evaluated at stress ratio R=0.1. S-N curves are presented with statistical testing method recommend by JSME- S002 and compared with S-N curves at R.T. and $315^{\circ}C$. As a result of the experimental approach, the design guide of fatigue strength is proposed and the results obtained from this study are expected to be useful data for spacer gird design.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.1055-1071
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• 2016

The paper presents an innovative steel moment frame with the replaceable reinforced concrete wall panel (SRW) structural system, in which the replaceable concrete wall can play a role to increase the overall lateral stiffness of the frame system. Two full scale specimens composed of the steel frames and the replaceable reinforced concrete wall panels were tested under the cyclic horizontal load. The failure mode, load-displacement response, deformability, and the energy dissipation capacity of SRW specimens were investigated. Test results show that the two-stage failure mode is characterized by the sequential failure process of the replaceable RC wall panel and the steel moment frame. It can be found that the replaceable RC wall panels damage at the lateral drift ratio greater than 0.5%. After the replacement of a new RC wall panel, the new specimen maintained the similar capacity of resisting lateral load as the previous one. The decrease of the bearing capacity was presented between the two stages because of the connection failure on the top of the replaceable RC wall panel. With the increase of the lateral drift, the percentage of the lateral force and the overturning moment resisted by the wall panel decreased for the reason of the reduction of its lateral stiffness. After the failure of the wall panel, the steel moment frame shared almost all the lateral force and the overturning moment.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.16 no.6 s.84
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• pp.823-832
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• 2004

The purpose of this research is to investigate the flexure-shear behavior of bridge columns under seismic loads. Four full scale circular reinforced concrete columns were tested under cyclic lateral load with constant axial load. The selected test variables are aspect ratio(1.825, 2.5, 4.0), transverse steel configuration, and longitudinal steel ratio. Volumetric ratio of transverse hoop of all the columns is 0.0023 in the plastic hinge region. It corresponds to $24\%$ of the minimum requirement of confining steel by Korean Bridge Design Specifications, which represent existing columns not designed by the current seismic design specifications or designed by limited ductility concept. The columns showed flexural failure or flexure-shear failure depending on the test variables. Failure behavior and seismic performance are investigated and discussed in this paper.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.539-548
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• 2022

Steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) are one of the most important and widely used lateral load-bearing systems. The reason for this is easier execution than reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls, faster construction time, and lower final weight of the structure. However, the main drawback of SPSWs is premature buckling in low drift ratios, which affects the energy absorption capacity and global performance of the system. To address this problem, two groups of SPSWs under cyclic loading were investigated using the finite element method (FEM). In the first group, several series of circular rings have been used and in the second group, a new type of SPSW with concentric circular rings (CCRs) has been introduced. Numerous parameters include in yield stress of steel plate wall materials, steel panel thickness, and ring width were considered in nonlinear static analysis. At first, a three-dimensional (3D) numerical model was validated using three sets of laboratory SPSWs and the difference in results between numerical models and experimental specimens was less than 5% in all cases. The results of numerical models revealed that the full SPSW undergoes shear buckling at a drift ratio of 0.2% and its hysteresis behavior has a pinching in the middle part of load-drift ratio curve. Whereas, in the two categories of proposed SPSWs, the hysteresis behavior is complete and stable, and in most cases no capacity degradation of up to 6% drift ratio has been observed. Also, in most numerical models, the tangential stiffness remains almost constant in each cycle. Finally, for the innovative SPSW, a relationship was suggested to determine the shear capacity of the proposed steel wall relative to the wall slenderness coefficient.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2019

In the present study, the behavior of steel plate shear walls (SPSW) with variable column flexural stiffness is experimentally and numerically investigated. Altogether six one-bay one-story specimens, three moment resisting frames (MRFs) and three SPSWs, were designed, fabricated and tested. Column flexural stiffness of the first specimen pair (one MRF and one SPSW) corresponded to the value required by the design codes, while for the second and third pair it was reduced by 18% and 36%, respectively. The quasi-static cyclic test result indicate that SPSW with reduced column flexural stiffness have satisfactory performance up to 4% story drift ratio, allow development of the tension field over the entire infill panel, and cause negligible column "pull-in" deformation which indicates that prescribed minimal column flexural stiffness value, according to AISC 341-10, might be conservative. In addition, finite element (FE) pushover simulations using shell elements were developed. Such FE models can predict SPSW cyclic behavior reasonably well and can be used to conduct numerical parametric analyses. It should be mentioned that these FE models were not able to reproduce column "pull-in" deformation indicating the need for further development of FE simulations with cyclic load introduction which will be part of another paper.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.445-460
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• 2021

This study experimentally explored the behaviour of 12 concrete filled steel tube (CFST) and steel tube columns subjected to lateral cyclic loading. The L/D ratio was 12.3 while D/t ratios were 45.4, 37.8 and 32.4, classifying these 12 specimens into 3 groups. Each group included 3 CFST and 1 steel tube columns and were tested to failure. The experimental results indicated that CFST specimens reached the state of 'collapse prevention' (drift 4%) prior to the occurrence of local buckling. Strength degradation of CFST specimens did not occur up to the failure by buckling. This showed the favourable characteristic of CFST columns in preventing collapse of structures subjected to earthquakes. The high energy absorption capability in the post collapse limit state was appropriate for dissipating energy in structures. Compared to steel tube columns, CFST columns delayed local buckling and prevented inward buckling. Consequently, CFST columns exhibited their outstanding seismic performance in terms of the increased ultimate resistance, capacity to sustain 2-3 additional load cycles and significantly higher drift. A simple and reasonably accurate model was proposed to predict the ultimate strength of CFST columns under lateral cyclic loading.