• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.487-498
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• 2023

The present study investigated the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened with an ultrahigh performance concrete (UHPC) panel having various thicknesses. Two fabrication methods were introduced in this study; one was the direct casting of UHPC onto the bottom surface of the RC beams (I-series), and the other was the attachment of a prefabricated UHPC panel using an adhesive (E-series). UHPC panels having thicknesses of 10, 30, 50, and 70 mm were applied to RC beams, and these specimens were subjected to four-point loading to assess the effect of the UHPC thickness on the flexural strengthening of RC beams. The test results indicated that the peak strength and initial stiffness were vastly enhanced with an increase in the thickness of the UHPC panel, showing an improved energy dissipation capacity. In particular, the peak strength of the E-series specimens was higher than that of I-series specimens, showing high compatibility between the RC beam and the UHPC panel. The experimental test results were comparatively explored with a discussion of numerical analysis. Numerical analysis results showed that the predictions are in fair agreement with experimental results.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2024

In order to enhance the seismic performance of base-isolated structures on soft foundations, the hybrid system of base-isolated system (BIS) and shape memory alloy inerter (SMAI), referred to as BIS+SMAI, is for the first time here proposed. Considering the nonlinear hysteretic relationships of both the isolation layer and SMA, and soil-structure interaction (SSI), the equivalent linearized state space equation is established of the structure-BIS+SMAI system. The displacement variance based on the H₂ norm is then formulated for the structure with BIS+SMAI. Employing the particle swarm optimization, the optimization design methodology of BIS+SMAI is presented in the frequency domain. The evolvement rules of BIS+SMAI in the effectiveness, robustness, SMA driving force, inertia force, stroke, and damping enhancement effect are revealed in the frequency domain through changing the inerter-mass ratio, structural height, aspect ratio, and relative stiffness ratio between the soil and structure. Meanwhile, the validation of BIS+SMAI is conducted using real earthquake records. Results demonstrate that BIS+SMAI can effectively reduce the isolation layer displacement. The inerter can significantly increase the hysteretic displacement of SMA and thus enhance its energy dissipation capacity, implying that BIS+SMAI has better effectiveness than BIS+SMA. Although BIS+SMAI and BIS+ tuned inerter damper (TID) have practically the same effectiveness, BIS+SMAI has the lower optimum damping, significantly smaller inertia force, and higher robustness to perturbations of the optimum parameters. Therefore, BIS+SMAI can be used as a more engineering realizable hybrid system for enhancing the performance of base-isolated structures in soft soil areas.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.59-77
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• 2022

Currently, the design reference temperature of the buffer material for disposing of high-level radioactive waste is less than 100℃, so if the heat dissipation capacity of the buffer material is improved, the spacings of the disposal tunnel and the deposition hole in the repository can be reduced. First of all, this study tries to analyze the criteria for thermal-hydraulic-mechanical performance of the buffer materials and to investigate the researches regarding the enhanced buffer materials with improved thermal conductivity. First, the thermal conductivity should be as high as possible and is affected by dry density, water content, temperature, mineral composition, and bentonite type. the organic content of the buffer material can have a significant effect on the corrosion performance of a canister, so the organic content should be low. In addition, hydraulic conductivity of the buffer material should be less than that of near-field rock and swelling pressure should be appropriate for buffer materials to function properly. For the development of enhanced buffer materials, additives such as sand, graphite, and graphite oxide are typically used, and a thermal conductivity can be greatly improved with a very small amount of graphite addition compared to sand.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.1017-1029
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• 2016

When a welded circular hollow section (CHS) tubular joint is subjected to brace axial loading, failure position is located usually at the weld toe on the chord surface due to the weak flexural stiffness of the thin-walled chord. The failure mode is local yielding or buckling in most cases for a tubular joint subjected to axial load at the brace end. Especially when a cyclic axial load is applied, fracture failure at the weld toe may occur because both high stress concentration and welding residual stress along the brace/chord intersection cause the material in this region to become brittle. To improve the ductility as well as to increase the static strength, a tubular joint can be reinforced by increasing the chord thickness locally near the brace/chord intersection. Both experimental investigation and finite element analysis have been carried out to study the hysteretic behaviour of the reinforced tubular joint. In the experimental study, the hysteretic performance of two full-scale circular tubular T-joints subjected to cyclic load in the axial direction of the brace was investigated. The two specimens include a reinforced specimen by increasing the wall thickness of the chord locally at the brace/chord intersection and a corresponding un-reinforced specimen. The hysteretic loops are obtained from the measured load-displacement curves. Based on the hysteretic curves, it is found that the reinforced specimen is more ductile than the un-reinforced one because no fracture failure is observed after experiencing similar loading cycles. The area enclosed by the hysteretic curves of the reinforced specimen is much bigger, which shows that more energy can be dissipated by the reinforced specimen to indicate the advantage of the reinforcing method in resisting seismic action. Additionally, finite element analysis is carried out to study the effect of the thickness and the length of the reinforced chord segment on the hysteretic behaviour of CHS tubular T-joints. The optimized reinforcing method is recommended for design purposes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.15 no.4 s.65
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• pp.359-368
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• 2003

Design and detailing requirements of seismic provisions for Concentrically Braced Frames (CBF) were specified based on the premise that bracing members with large KL/r and low b/t have superior seismic performance. However, relatively few tests have been done to investigate the cyclic behavior of CBF. Therefore, the question lies on whether the compression member of CBF plays as significant a role as what has been typically assumed by design providers. In this paper, existing experimental data were reviewed to quantify the extent of hysteretic energy achieved by bracing members in past compression tests as well as the extent of degradation of the compression force given repeated cycling loading.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.1229-1242
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• 2017

In this paper, an interference aware distributed multi-channel MAC (IDMMAC) protocol is proposed for wireless sensor and actor networks (WSANs). The WSAN consists of a huge number of sensors and ample amount of actors. Hence, in the IDMMAC protocol a lightweight channel selection mechanism is proposed to enhance the sensor's lifetime. The IDMMAC protocol divides the beacon interval into two phases (i.e., the ad-hoc traffic indication message (ATIM) window phase and data transmission phase). When a sensor wants to transmit event information to the actor, it negotiates the maximum packet reception ratio (PRR) and the capacity channel in the ATIM window with its 1-hop sensors. The channel negotiation takes place via a control channel. To improve the packet delivery ratio of the IDMMAC protocol, each actor selects a backup cluster head (BCH) from its cluster members. The BCH is elected based on its residual energy and node degree. The BCH selection phase takes place whenever an actor wants to perform actions in the event area or it leaves the cluster to help a neighbor actor. Furthermore, an interference and throughput aware multi-channel MAC protocol is also proposed for actor-actor coordination. An actor selects a minimum interference and maximum throughput channel among the available channels to communicate with the destination actor. The performance of the proposed IDMMAC protocol is analyzed using standard network parameters, such as packet delivery ratio, end-to-end delay, and energy dissipation, in the network. The obtained simulation results indicate that the IDMMAC protocol performs well compared to the existing MAC protocols.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.173-185
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• 2019

This article presents a comparative study of the effect of steel layouts on the seismic behavior of transition steel-concrete composite connections, both experimental and analytical investigations of concrete filled steel tube-reinforced concrete (CFST-RC) and steel reinforecd concrete-reinforced concrete (SRC-RC) structures were conducted. The steel-concrete composite connections were subjected to combined constant axial load and lateral cyclic displacements. Tests were carried out on four full-scale connections extracted from a real project engineering with different levels of axial force. The effect of steel layouts on the mechanical behavior of the transition connections was evaluated by failure modes, hysteretic behavior, backbone curves, displacement ductility, energy dissipation capacity and stiffness degradation. Test results showed that different steel layouts led to significantly different failure modes. For CFST-RC transition specimens, the circular cracks of the concrete at the RC column base was followed by steel yielding at the bottom of the CFST column. While uncoordinated deformation could be observed between SRC and RC columns in SRC-RC transition specimens, the crushing and peeling damage of unconfined concrete at the SRC column base was more serious. The existences of I-shape steel and steel tube avoided the pinching phenomenon on the hysteresis curve, which was different from the hysteresis curve of the general reinforced concrete column. The hysteresis loops were spindle-shaped, indicating excellent seismic performance for these transition composite connections. The average values of equivalent viscous damping coefficients of the four specimens are 0.123, 0.186 and 0.304 corresponding to the yielding point, peak point and ultimate point, respectively. Those values demonstrate that the transition steel-concrete composite connections have great energy dissipating capacity. Based on the experimental research, a high-fidelity ABAQUS model was established to further study the influence of concrete strength, steel grade and longitudinal reinforcement ratio on the mechanical behavior of transition composite connections.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.277-288
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• 2022

A novel flat steel plate-concrete-corrugated steel plate (FS-C-CS) sandwich panel was proposed for resisting impact load. The failure mode, impact force and displacement response of the FS-C-CS panel under impact loading were studied via drop-weight impact tests. The combined global flexure and local indentation deformation mode of the FS-C-CS panel was observed, and three stages of impact process were identified. Moreover, the effects of corrugated plate height and steel plate thickness on the impact responses of the FS-C-CS panels were quantitatively analysed, and the impact resistant performance of the FS-C-CS panel was found to be generally improved on increasing corrugated plate height and thickness in terms of smaller deformation as well as larger impact force and post-peak mean force. The Finite Element (FE) model of the FS-C-CS panel under impact loading was established to predict its dynamic response and further reveal its failure mode and impact energy dissipation mechanism. The numerical results indicated that the concrete core and corrugated steel plate dissipated the majority of impact energy. In addition, employing end plates and high strength bolts as shear connectors could prevent the slip between steel plates and concrete core and assure the full composite action of the FS-C-CS panel.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.139-152
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• 2022

Steel-reinforced concrete (SRC) L-shaped column is the vertical load-bearing member with high spatial adaptability. The seismic behavior of SRC L-shaped column is complex because of their irregular cross sections. In this study, the hysteretic performance of six steel truss reinforced concrete L-shaped columns specimens under the combined loading of compression, bending, shear, and torsion was tested. There were two parameters, i.e., the moment ratio of torsion to bending (γ) and the aspect ratio (column length-to-depth ratio (φ)). The failure process, torsion-displacement hysteresis curves, and bending-displacement hysteresis curves of specimens were obtained, and the failure patterns, hysteresis curves, rigidity degradation, ductility, and energy dissipation were analyzed. The experimental research indicates that the failure mode of the specimen changes from bending failure to bending-shear failure and finally bending-torsion failure with the increase of γ. The torsion-displacement hysteresis curves were pinched in the middle, formed a slip platform, and the phenomenon of "load drop" occurred after the peak load. The bending-displacement hysteresis curves were plump, which shows that the bending capacity of the specimen is better than torsion capacity. The results show that the steel truss reinforced concrete L-shaped columns have good collapse resistance, and the ultimate interstory drift ratio more than that of the Chinese Code of Seismic Design of Building (GB50011-2014), which is sufficient. The average value of displacement ductility coefficient is larger than rotation angle ductility coefficient, indicating that the specimen has a better bending deformation resistance. The specimen that has a more regular section with a small φ has better potential to bear bending moment and torsion evenly and consume more energy under a combined action.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.793-804
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• 2023

In this study, cyclic loading tests were conducted to assess the seismic performance of cast-in-place (CIP) concrete-filled hollow core precast concrete columns (HPCC) constructed using steel ducts and rubber tubes. The outer shells of HPCC, with a hollow ratio of 47%, were fabricated using steel ducts and rubber tubes, respectively. Two combinations of shear studs & long threaded bars or cross-deformed bars & V-ties were employed to ensure the structural integrity of the old concrete (outer shell) and new CIP concrete. Up to a drift ratio of 3.8%, the hysteresis loop, yielding stiffness, dissipated energy, and equivalent damping ratio of the HPCC specimens were largely comparable to those of the solid columns. Besides the similarities in cyclic load-displacement responses, the strain history of the longitudinal bars and the transverse confinement of the three specimens also exhibited similar patterns. The measured maximum moment exceeded the predicted moment according to ACI 318 by more than 1.03 times. However, the load reduction of the HPCC specimen after reaching peak strength was marginally greater than that of the solid specimen. The energy dissipation and equivalent damping ratios of the HPCC specimens were 20% and 25% lower than those of the solid specimen, respectively. Taking into account the overall results, the structural behavior of HPCC specimens fabricated using steel ducts and rubber tubes is deemed comparable to that of solid columns. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the two combinations for securing structural integrity functioned as expected, and that rubber air-tubes can be effectively used to create well-shaped hollow sections.