• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제15권6호
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• pp.405-417
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• 2023

While ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) is commonly reinforced with micro straight steel fibers in existing applications, studies have indicated that the use of deformed steel macro-fibers leads to enhanced ductility and post-peak responses for UHPC structural elements, which is of particular importance for earthquake-resistant structures. However, there are potential concerns regarding the use of UHPC reinforced with macro-fibers due to the issues of workability and fiber distribution. The objective of this study was to address these issues by extensively investigating the restricted and non-restricted deformability, filling ability, horizontal and vertical velocities, and passing ability of UHPC containing macro hooked-end steel fibers. A new approach is suggested to examine the homogeneity of fiber distribution in UHPC. The influences of ultra-fine fillers and steel macro-fibers on the workability of fresh UHPC and the mechanics of hardened UHPC were examined. It was found that although increasing the ratio of quartz powder to cement led to an improvement in the workability and tensile strain hardening behavior of UHPC, it reduced the fiber distribution homogeneity. The addition of 1% volume fraction of macro-fibers in UHPC improved workability, but reduced its compressive strength, which is contrary to the effect of micro-fiber inclusion in UHPC.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제47권1호
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• pp.37-50
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• 2023

This paper presented an investigation into steel tubes encased high-strength concrete (STHC) composite walls, wherein steel tubes were embedded at the boundary elements of high-strength concrete walls. A series of cyclic loading tests was conducted to evaluate the failure pattern, hysteresis characteristics, load-bearing capacity, deformability, and strain distribution of STHC composite walls. The test results demonstrated that the bearing capacity and ductility of the STHC composite walls improved with the embedding of steel tubes at the boundary elements. An analytical method was then established to predict the flexural bearing capacity of the STHC composite walls, and the calculated results agreed well with the experimental values, with errors of less than 10%. Finally, a finite element modeling (FEM) was developed via the OpenSees program to analyze the mechanical performance of the STHC composite wall. The FEM was validated through test results; additionally, the influences of the axial load ratio, steel tube strength, and shear-span ratio on the mechanical properties of STHC composite walls were comprehensively investigated.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제1권2호
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• pp.163-185
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• 2013

The use of post-compressed plates (PCP) to strengthen preloaded reinforced concrete (RC) columns is an innovative approach for alleviating the effects of stress-lagging between the original column and the additional steel plates. Experimental and theoretical studies on PCP-strengthened RC columns have been presented in our companion papers. The results have demonstrated the effectiveness of this technique for improving the strength, deformability and ductility of preloaded RC columns when subjected to axial or eccentric compression loading. An original and comprehensive design procedure is presented in this paper to aid engineers in designing this new type of PCP-strengthened RC column and to ensure proper strengthening details for desirable performance. The proposed design procedure consists of five parts: (1) the estimation of the ultimate load capacity of the strengthened column, (2) the design of the initial pre-camber displacement of the steel plate, (3) the design of the vertical spacing of the bolts, (4) the design of the bearing ends of the steel plates, and (5) the calculation of the tightening force of the bolts. A worked example of the design of a PCP-strengthened RC column is shown to demonstrate the application of the proposed design procedure.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.105-111
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• 2020

In this study eleven beam of steel fibre-reinforced concrete were tested on concentrated load in order to evaluate the shear strength and deformation of the beams after burning. Variables considered in the test include spaces of shear reinforcement (stirrups) and temperature (normal temperature at 38℃, 300℃, 600℃ and 900℃). The steel fiber used is set at 0.5% of the concrete volume. The phenomenon of the test results shows that although the beams were tested to achieve shear failure, the fact that all the tested beams did not encounter any shear failure. It has shown the influence of steel fibers and stirrups that plays a role in determining the mode of collapse. The concrete shear capacity of steel fibrous concrete beams installed with stirrups in altered spacing variations is not significantly different from each other, while beam deformability increases when the space stirrups are reduced. Furthermore, models of the developed-steel fibrous shear strength are compared and discussed with experimental results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제20권2호
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• pp.267-293
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• 2016

It is well known that, in order to accurately predict the behaviour of steel structures a requirement the definition of the mechanical behaviour of beam-to column joints is of primary importance. This goal can be achieved by means of the so-called component method, which, in order to obtain the whole behaviour of connections, provides to break up joints in basic components of deformability and resistance. One of the main joint components used to model bolted connections is the so-called equivalent T-stub in tension, which is normally used to predict the behaviour of bolted plates in bending starting from the behaviour of the single bolt rows. In past decades, significant research efforts have been devoted to the prediction of the behaviour of bolted T-stubs but, to date, no particular attention has been devoted to the characterization of their plastic deformation capacity. To this scope, the work presented in this paper, taking into account the existing technical literature, proposes a new theoretical model for predicting the whole behaviour up to failure of bolted T-stubs under monotonic loading conditions, including some complexities, such as the bolt/plate compatibility requirement and the bolt fracture, which are necessary to accurately evaluate the ultimate displacement. After presenting the advances of the proposed approach, a comparison between theoretical and experimental results is provided in order to verify its accuracy.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제30권5호
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• pp.311-321
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• 2022

The interfacial bond strength of partially encased composite (PEC) structure tends to 0, therefore, the cast-in-place concrete theoretically cannot embody better composite effect than the fabricated structure. A total of 12 specimens were designed and experimented to investigate the energy dissipation and damage of fabricated PEC beam through unidirectional cyclic loading test. Because the concrete on both sides of the web was relatively independent, some specimens showed obvious asymmetric concrete damage, which led to specimens bearing torsion effect at the later stage of loading. Based on the concept of the ideal elastoplastic model of uniaxial tensile steel and the principle of equivalent energy dissipation, the energy dissipation ductility coefficient is proposed, which can simultaneously reflect the deformability and bearing capacity. In view of the whole deformation of the beam, the calculation formula of energy dissipation is put forward, and the energy dissipation and its proportion of shear-bending region and pure bending region are calculated respectively. The energy dissipation efficiency of the pure bending region is significantly higher than that of the shear-bending region. The setting of the screw arbors is conducive to improving the energy dissipation capacity of the specimens. Under the condition of setting the screw arbors and meeting the reasonable shear span ratio, reducing the concrete pouring thickness can lighten the deadweight of the component and improve the comprehensive benefit, and will not have an adverse impact on the energy dissipation capacity of the beam. A damage model is proposed to quantify the damage changes of PEC beams under cyclic load, which can accurately reflect the load damage and deformation damage.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제65권3호
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• pp.303-314
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• 2018

Shear walls are a typical member under a complex stress state and have complicated mechanical properties and failure modes. The separated-elements model Genetic Evolutionary Structural Optimization (GESO), which is a combination of an elastic-plastic stress method and an optimization method, has been introduced in the literature for designing such members. Although the separated-elements model GESO method is well recognized due to its stability, feasibility, and economy, its adequacy has not been experimentally verified. This paper seeks to validate the adequacy of the separated-elements model GESO method against experimental data and demonstrate its feasibility and advantages over the traditional elastic stress method. Two types of reinforced concrete shear wall specimens, which had the location of an opening in the middle bottom and the center region, respectively, were utilized for this study. For each type, two specimens were designed using the separated-elements model GESO method and elastic stress method, respectively. All specimens were subjected to a constant vertical load and an incremental lateral load until failure. Test results indicated that the ultimate bearing capacity, failure modes, and main crack types of the shear walls designed using the two methods were similar, but the ductility indexes including the stiffness degradation, deformability, reinforcement yielding, and crack development of the specimens designed using the separated-elements model GESO method were superior to those using the elastic stress method. Additionally, the shear walls designed using the separated-elements model GESO method, had a reinforcement layout which could closely resist the actual critical stress, and thus a reduced amount of steel bars were required for such shear walls.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• 제3권3호
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• pp.233-267
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• 2018

Conventional seismic design of concentrically braced frame (CBF) structures suggests that the gusset plate connecting a steel brace to beams and/or columns should be designed as non-dissipative in earthquakes, while the steel brace members should be designed as dissipative elements. These design intentions lead to thicker and larger gusset plates in design on one hand and a potentially under-rated contribution of gusset plates in design, on the other hand. In contrast, research has shown that compact and thinner gusset plates designed in accordance with the elliptical clearance method rather than the conventional standard linear clearance method can enhance system ductility and energy dissipation capacity in concentrically braced steel frames. In order to assess the two design methods, six cyclic push-over tests on full scale models of concentric braced steel frame structures were conducted. Furthermore, a 3D finite element (FE) shell model, incorporating state-of-the-art tools and techniques in numerical simulation, was developed that successfully replicates the response of gusset plate and bracing members under fully reversed cyclic axial loading. Direct measurements from strain gauges applied to the physical models were used primarily to validate FE models, while comparisons of hysteresis load-displacement loops from physical and numerical models were used to highlight the overall performance of the FE models. The study shows the two design methods attain structural response as per the design intentions; however, the elliptical clearance method has a superiority over the standard linear method as a fact of improving detailing of the gusset plates, enhancing resisting capacity and improving deformability of a CBF structure. Considerations were proposed for improvement of guidelines for detailing gusset plates and bracing members in CBF structures.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제20권2호
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• pp.133-148
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• 2021

The paper presents a simplified force-based seismic design procedure for the preliminary design of steel haunch retrofitting for the seismic upgrade of deficient RC frames. The procedure involved constructing a site-specific seismic design spectrum for the site, which is transformed into seismic base shear coefficient demand, using an applicable response modification factor, that defines base shear force for seismic analysis of the structure. Recent experimental campaign; involving shake table testing of ten (10), and quasi-static cyclic testing of two (02), 1:3 reduced scale RC frame models, carried out for the seismic performance assessment of both deficient and retrofitted structures has provided the basis to calculate retrofit-specific response modification factor Rretrofitted. The haunch retrofitting technique enhanced the structural stiffness, strength, and ductility, hence, increased the structural response modification factor, which is mainly dependent on the applied retrofit scheme. An additional retrofit effectiveness factor (ΩR) is proposed for the deficient structure's response modification factor Rdeficient, representing the retrofit effectiveness (ΩR=Rretrofitted /Rdeficient), to calculate components' moment and shear demands for the retrofitted structure. The experimental campaign revealed that regardless of the deficient structures' characteristics, the ΩR factor remains fairly the unchanged, which is encouraging to generalize the design procedure. Haunch configuration is finalized that avoid brittle hinging of beam-column joints and ensure ductile beam yielding. Example case study for the seismic retrofit designs of RC frames are presented, which were validated through equivalent lateral load analysis using elastic model and response history analysis of finite-element based inelastic model, showing reasonable performance of the proposed design procedure. The proposed design has the advantage to provide a seismic zone-specific design solution, and also, to suggest if any additional measure is required to enhance the strength/deformability of beams and columns.

• 콘크리트학회논문집
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• 제21권3호
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• pp.311-318
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• 2009

본 연구는 고축력과 반복횡력을 받는 초고강도 RC 띠철근 기둥의 실험적 연구를 수행하였다. 콘크리트 압축강도 100 MPa 초고강도 RC 띠철근 기둥의 횡보강근의 양을 제안하는 것이다. 철근콘크리트 구조물의 실제 보를 스터브로 이상화한 1/2개 층의 기둥 실험체를 계획하여 1/3 크기의 19개 실험체를 제작하였다. 주요 변수는 축력비, 횡보강근의 형상 및 체적비로 하였다. 실험 결과, 띠철근 기둥의 강도와 연성은 횡보강근의 형상과 체적비의 영향을 받는 것으로 나타났으나, 무엇보다 축력비에 가장 큰 영향을 받는 것으로 나타나 초고강도 콘크리트 기둥의 횡보강근량 설계를 위해서는 축력비에 따른 적절한 횡보강근의 형상으로 보다 합리적인 설계가 이루어져야 할 것으로 판단된다. 또한, 초고강도 철근콘크리트 기둥의 충분한 연성확보를 위하여 최소한의 변위연성능력 4이상을 확보할 수 있도록 설계식을 제안하였다. 따라서 이는 축력비와 함께 횡보강근의 형상, 간격 및 주근의 개수 등을 고려한 유효횡구속감소계수 (${\lambda}^c$)를 적용한 것이므로 횡보강근량 산정시 보다 합리적일 것으로 판단된다.