• Computers and Concrete
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.633-648
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• 2014

The seismic safety of concrete dams is one of the important problems in the engineering due to the vast socio-economic disasters which may be caused by collapse of these infrastructures. The accuracy of the risk evaluation associated with these existing dams as well as the efficient design of future dams is highly dependent on a proper understanding of their behaviour due to earthquakes. This paper develops an anisotropic damage model for arch dam under strong earthquakes. The modified Drucker-Prager criterion is adopted as the failure criteria of the dynamic damage evolution of concrete. Some process fields and other necessary information for the safety evaluation are obtained. The numerical results show that the seismic behaviour of concrete dams can be satisfactorily predicted.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.485-499
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• 2023

Both damage and unsaturated conditions accelerate the transport of erosive media inside concrete. However, their combined effects have not been fully investigated. A multiscale mortar model using representative volume elements is developed, capturing the number and distribution in each phase. Afterwards, mortar damage microstructure evolution is simulated in the tensile process. Finally, the unsaturated mortar transport is predicted and analysed. The results indicate that damage significantly affects the diffusion process in the early stage, while the transport performance is weakened due to the obstruction of the nontransport phase in the later stage. The higher the saturation and the more connected pores, the faster the diffusion rate of chloride ions. Chloride ions spread around the cracks in a tree-like manner along. The model can very well predict the chloride ion transport performance of unsaturated and damaged mortar.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.42 no.8 s.279
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• pp.537-541
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• 2005

Silicon nitride is one of the most successful engineering ceramics, owing to a favorable combination of properties, including high strength, high hardness, low thermal expansion coefficient, and high fracture toughness. However, the impact damage behavior of $Si_3N_4$ ceramics has not been widely characterized. In this study, sphere and explosive indentations were used to characterize the static and dynamic damage behavior of $Si_3N_4$ ceramics with different microstructures. Three grades of $Si_3N_4$ with different grain size and shape, fine-equiaxed, medium, and coarse-elongated, were prepared. In order to observe the subsurface damaged zone, a bonded-interface technique was adopted. Subsurface damage evolution of the specimens was then characterized extensively using optical and electron microscopy. It was found that the damage response depends strongly on the microstructure of the ceramics, particularly on the glassy grain boundary phase. In the case of static indentation, examination of subsurface damage revealed competition between brittle and ductile damage modes. In contrast to static indentation results, dynamic indentation induces a massive subsurface yield zone that contains severe micro-failures. In this study, it is suggested that the weak glassy grain boundary phase plays an important role in the resistance to dynamic fracture.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.449-462
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• 2014

Seismically induced structural damage, as well as any damage caused by a natural catastrophic event, covers a wide area. This suggests to supervise the event consequences by vision tools. This paper reports the evolution from the results obtained by the project RADATT (RApid Damage Assessment Telematics Tool) funded by the European Commission within FP4. The aim was to supply a rapid and reliable damage detector/estimator for an area where a catastrophic event had occurred. Here, a general open-source methodology for the detection and the estimation of the damage caused by natural catastrophes is developed. The suitable available hazard and vulnerability data and satellite pictures covering the area of interest represent the required bits of information for updated telematics tools able to manage it. As a result the global damage is detected by the simple use of open source software. A case-study to a highly dense agglomerate of buildings is discussed in order to provide the main details of the proposed methodology.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.21-34
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• 2002

A model of the process of local buckling in tubular steel structural elements is presented. It is assumed that this degrading phenomenon can be lumped at plastic hinges. The model is therefore based on the concept of plastic hinge combined with the methods of continuum damage mechanics. The state of this new kind of inelastic hinge is characterized by two internal variables: the plastic rotation and the damage. The model is valid if only one local buckling appears in the plastic hinge region; for instance, in the case of framed structures subjected to monotonic loadings. Based on this damage model, a new finite element that can describe the development of local buckling is proposed. The element is the assemblage of an elastic beamcolumn and two inelastic hinges at its ends. The stiffness matrix, that depends on the level of damage, the yielding function and the damage evolution law of the two hinges define the new finite element. In order to verify model and finite element, several small-scale frames were tested in laboratory under monotonic loading. A lateral load at the top of the frame was applied in a stroke-controlled mode until local buckling appears and develops in several locations of the frame and its ultimate capacity was reached. These tests were simulated with the new finite element and comparison between model and test is presented and discussed.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.67-79
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• 2015

Acoustic emission analysis is an effective technique for monitoring the evolution of damage in a structure. An experimental analysis on a set of reinforced concrete beams under flexural loading was carried out. A mixed AE analysis method which used both parameter-based and signal-based techniques was presented to characterize and identify different failure mechanisms of damage, where the signal-based analysis was performed by using the Hilbert-Huang transform. The maximum instantaneous energy of typical damage events and the corresponding frequency characteristics were established, which provided a quantitative assessment of reinforced concrete beam using AE technique. In the bending tests, a "pitch-catch" system was mounted on a steel bar to assess bonding state of the steel bar in concrete. To better understand the AE behavior of bond-slip damage between steel bar and concrete, a special bond-slip test called pullout test was also performed. The results provided the basis of quantitative AE to identify both failure mechanisms and level of damages of civil engineering structures.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.153-162
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• 2021

This paper aims to simulate the isotropic elastic damage theory of Liu Jun (2012) using the self-programmed UMAT subroutine in the interface of ABAQUS. Liu Jun (2012)'s method based on the mechanic theory can not be used interactively with the currently commonly used finite element software ABAQUS. The advantage of this method in the paper is that it can interact with ABAQUS and provide a constitutive program framework that can be modified according to user need. The model retains the two scalar damage variables and the corresponding two energy dissipation mechanisms and damage criteria for considering the tensile and compressive asymmetry of concrete. Taking C45 concrete as an example, the relevant damage evolution parameters of its tensile and compressive constitutive model are given. The study demonstrates that the uniaxial tensile stress calculated by the subroutine is almost the same as the Chinese Concrete Design Specification (GB50010) before the peak stress, but ends soon after the peak stress. The stress-strain curve of uniaxial compression calculated by the subroutine is in good agreement with the peak stress in Chinese Concrete Design Specification (GB50010), but there is a certain deviation in the descending stage. In addition, this paper uses the newly compiled subroutine to simulate the shear bearing capacity of the shear key in a new structural system, namely the open-web sandwich slab. The results show that the damage constitutive subroutine has certain reliability.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.481-495
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• 2015

Many hydropower stations in southwest China are located in regions of brittle rock mass with high geo-stresses. Under these conditions deep fractured zones often occur in the sidewalls of the underground caverns of a power station. The theory and methods of fracture and damage mechanics are therefore adopted to study the phenomena. First a flexibility matrix is developed to describe initial geometric imperfections of a jointed rock mass. This model takes into account the area and orientation of the fractured surfaces of multiple joint sets, as well as spacing and density of joints. Using the assumption of the equivalent strain principle, a damage constitutive model is established based on the brittle fracture criterion. In addition the theory of fracture mechanics is applied to analyze the occurrence of secondary cracks during a cavern excavation. The failure criterion, for rock bridge coalescence and the damage evolution equation, has been derived and a new sub-program integrated into the FLAC-3D software. The model has then been applied to the stability analysis of an underground cavern group of a hydropower station in Sichuan province, China. The results of this method are compared with those obtained by using a conventional elasto-plastic model and splitting depth calculated by the splitting failure criterion proposed in a previous study. The results are also compared with the depth of the relaxation and fracture zone in the surrounding rock measured by field monitoring. The distribution of the splitting zone obtained both by the proposed model and by the field monitoring measurements are consistent to the validity of the theory developed herein.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.347-351
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• 2020

A material changes its physical and chemical properties through the interaction with radiation and also the neutrons, which is electronically neutral so that the penetration depth is relatively deeper than that of other radioactive way including alpha or beta ray. Therefore, the radiation damage by neutron irradiation has been intensively investigated for a long time with respect to the safety of nuclear power plants. The damage induced by neutron irradiation begins with the creation of point defects in atomic scale in the unit of picoseconds, and their progress pattern can be characterized by microstructural defects, such as dislocation loops and voids. Their morphological characteristics affect the properties of neutron-irradiated materials, therefore, it is very important to predict the microstructure at a given neutron irradiation condition. This paper briefly reviews the evolution of radiation damage induced by neutron irradiation and introduces a phase-field model that can be widely used in predicting the microstructure evolution of irradiated materials.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.581-582
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• 2010