• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.401-416
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• 2018

Composite beams with web openings are vulnerable to Vierendeel bending failure. The available methods provide quite conservative estimates of Vierendeel bending resistance. An alternative design method to compute the resistance was proposed in this study, based on quadratic nonlinear interactions of normalized shear force, axial force and Vierendeel bending moment. The interactions of the top and bottom Tee section must satisfy mutual conditions to prevent the Vierendeel failure. The normalized shear force and Vierendeel bending moment of the composite part were used instead in the top Tee interaction. The top Tee axial force was computed based on force equilibrium. Based on a rigid-plastic model, the composite resistance is estimated using an effective slab width of the vertical shear resistance. On using the proposed method, nonlinear reductions due to shear loads and axial forces are not required, in contrast to prior methods. The proposed method was validated against experiments from literature. The method limitations and accuracy as well as the Vierendeel behavior were investigated by finite element simulations, with varied composite beam parameters. The proposed design loads are less conservative than earlier estimates and deviate less from the simulations.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.10
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• pp.85-96
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• 2007

The application of soil nailing method has increased because it provides easier construction, economic efficiency, and stability than existing support methods. The mechanical comprehension of the soil-nailing system has not been established and the resisting shear force and bending moment of the soil-nail have been disregarded for the design of soil-nailing system. The soil nail consists of cement associated with rebar and resists shear force and bending moment mobilized by applied loading or soil-self weight. In this study, the slope analysis in the consideration of the resisting shear force and bending moment of the nail has been performed using $FLAC^{2D}$, which is programed by the finite difference method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.529-537
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• 2009

A key parameter in the design of a laterally loaded pile is the determination of its performance level. Performance level of a pile is usually expressed as the maximum head deflection and bending moment. In general, uncertainties in the performance of a pile originates from many factors such as inherent variability of soil properties, inadequate soil exploration programs, errors taking place in the determination of soil parameters, limited calculation models as well as uncertainties in loads. This makes it difficult for practicing engineers to decide for the reliability of laterally loaded piles both in cohesive and cohesionless soils. In this paper, limit state functions and consequent performance functions are obtained for single concrete piles to predict the maximum bending moment, a widely accepted design criterion along with the permissible pile head displacement. Analyses were made utilizing three dimensional finite element method and soil-structure-interaction (SSI) effects were accounted for.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.73 no.3
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• pp.353-365
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• 2020

In the previous studies, the authors proposed the use of laminated veneer lumber - carbon fiber reinforced polymer (LVL-CFRP) composite beams for structural application. Bond strength of the LVL-to-CFRP interface and flexural strengthening schemes to increase the bending capacity subjected to positive and negative moment were discussed in the previous works. In this article, theoretical models are proposed to predict the moment capacity when the LVL-CFRP beams are subjected to negative moment. Two common failure modes - CFRP fracture and debonding of CFRP are considered. The non-linear model proposed for positive moment is modified for negative moment to determine the section moment capacity. For the debonding based failure, previously developed bond strength model for CFRP-to-LVL interface is implemented. The theoretical models are validated against the experimental results and then use to determine the moment-rotation behaviour and rotational rigidity to compare the efficacy of various strengthening techniques. It is found that combined use of bi- and uni-directional CFRP U-wrap at the joint performs well in terms of both moment capacity and rotational rigidity.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.185-197
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• 2019

Considering the increasing use of tubular profiles in civil construction, this paper highlights the study on the behavior of welded connections between square hollow section column and I-beam, with emphasis on the assessment of the joint stiffness. Firstly, a theoretical analysis of the welded joints has been done focusing on prescriptions of the technical literature for the types of geometries mentioned. Then, a numerical analysis of the proposed joints were performed by the finite element method (FEM) with the software ANSYS 16.0. In this study, two models were evaluated for different parameters, such as the thickness of the cross section of the column and the sizes of cross section of the beams. The first model describes a connection in which one beam is connected to the column in a unique bending plane, while the second model describes a connection of two beams to the column in two bending planes. From the numerical results, the bending moment-rotation ($M-{\varphi}$) curve was plotted in order to determine the resistant bending moment and classify each connection according to its rotational capacity. Furthermore, an equation was established with the aim of estimating the rotational stiffness of welded I beam-to-RHS column connections, which can be used during the structure design. The results show that most of the connections are semi-rigid, highlighting the importance of considering the stiffness of the connections in the structure design.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.371-384
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• 2020

The steel-concrete double composite girder in the negative flexural region combines an additional concrete slab to the steel bottom flange to prevent the local steel buckling, however, the additional concrete slab may lower down the neutral axis of the composite section, which is a sensitive factor to the tensile stress restraint on the concrete deck. This is actually of great importance to the structural rationality and durability, but has not been investigated in detail yet. In this case, a series of 5.5 m-long composite girder specimens were tested by negative bending, among which the bottom slab configuration and the longitudinal reinforcement ratio in the concrete deck were the parameters. Furthermore, an analytical study concerning about the influence of bottom concrete slab thickness on the cracking and sectional bending-carrying capacity were carried out. The test results showed that the additional concrete at the bottom improved the composite sectional bending stiffness and bending-carrying capacity, whereas its effect on the concrete crack distribution was not obvious. According to the analytical study, the additional concrete slab at the bottom with an equivalent thickness to the concrete deck slab may provide the best contributions to the improvements of crack initiation bending moment and the sectional bending-carrying capacity. This can be applied for the design practice.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.611-620
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• 2007

The beam-column connection is the critical design section of general steel frame structures owing to the behavioral characteristics of the structural system. As most members of a frame structure are composed of rolled section beams, the cross-section of the beam members is governed by the negative bending moment near beam-column connections. Such a design concept leaves a redundant load-carrying capacity at the positive bending regions of the beam members leading to design inefficiency. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to redistribute the beam end moments and reduce the stresses at the beam-column connections for a more efficient design of steel frame structures. In this study, reaction-moment prestressing method (RMPM) was proposed for the innovative design and construction of steel frame structures. The RMPM is a prestressing method utilizing the elastic bending deformation of a beam member induced by temporary prestressing for the distribution of a relatively large bending moment to other sections for the efficient use of the beam section. By the application of the RMPM, the negative bending moment at the beam-column connections can be significantly reduced, ultimately leading to possible use of smaller beam sections. Through a series of model tests and numerical analyses of steel frame structures, the moment distributing effect and feasibility of the RMPM was verified.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.225-237
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• 2012

This paper presents an experimental investigation of the flexural behavior of square hollow steel section (HSS) beams subjected to pure bending. Totally six unfilled and nine ultra high performance concrete (UHPC)-filled HSS beams were tested under four-point bending until failure. The effects of the steel tube thickness, the yield strength of the steel tube and the strength of concrete on moment capacity, curvature, and ductility of UHPC-filled HSS beams were examined. The performance indices named relative ductility index (RDI) and strength increasing factor (SIF) were investigated with regard to different height-to-thickness ratio of the specimens. The flexural strengths obtained from the tests were compared with the values predicted by Eurocode 4, AISC-LRFD and CIDECT design codes. The results showed that the increase in the moment capacity and the corresponding curvature is much greater for thinner HSS beams than thicker ones. Eurocode 4 and AISC-LRFD predict the ultimate moment capacity of the all UHPC-filled HSS beams conservatively.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.181-196
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• 2023

Marine structures including offshore wind turbines (OWTs) always work under cyclic loads, which arouses much attention on the fatigue design. The tripod substructure is one of the typical foundation forms for fixed OWTs. The three-planar tubular Y-joint (3Y joint) is one of the important components in fatigue design as it is most likely to have cracks. With the existence of the multiplanar interaction effect, calculating the hot spot stress (HSS) of 3Y joints is complicated. To assist with fatigue design, the distributions of stress concentration factor (SCF) and multiplanar interaction factor (MIF) along weld toe curves induced by the out-of-plane bending moment are explored in this study. An FE analysis method was first developed and verified against experimental results. This method was applied to build a numerical database including 1920 FE models covering common ranges of geometric parameters. A parametric study has been carried out to reveal the distribution patterns of SCF and MIF. After multidimensional nonlinear fittings, SCF and MIF distribution formulas have been proposed. Accuracy and reliability checking prove that the proposed formulas are suitable for calculating the HSS of 3Y joints.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.43-57
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• 2022

One of the instances which demand structural engineer's greatest attention and upgradation is the changing live load requirement in bridge design code. The challenge increases in developing countries as the pace of infrastructural growth is being catered by the respective country codes with bigger and heavier vehicles to be considered in the design. This paper presents the case study of India where Indian Roads Congress (IRC) codes in its revised version from 2014 to 2017 introduced massive Special vehicle (SV) around 40 m long and weighing 3850 kN to be considered in the design of road bridges. The code does not specify the minimum distance between successive special vehicles unlike other loading classes and hence the consequences of it form the motivation for this study. The effect of SV in comparison with Class 70R, Class AA, Class A, and Class B loading is studied based on the maximum bending moment with moving load applied in Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis. The spans considered in the analysis varied from 10 m to 1991 m corresponding to the span of Akashi Kaikyo Bridge (longest bridge span in the world). A total of 182 analyses for 7 types of vehicles (class B, class A, class 70R tracked, class 70R wheeled, class AA tracked, AA wheeled, and Special vehicle) on 26 different span lengths is carried out. The span corresponding to other vehicles which would equal the bending moment of a single SV is presented along with a comparison relative to Standard Uniformly Distributed Load. Further, the results are presented by introducing a new parameter named Intensity Factor which is proven to relate the effect of axle spacing of vehicle on the normalized bending moment developed.