• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.247-254
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• 2010

Due to lightweight and high durability of glass-fiber reinforced polyester (GFRP) materials, they are promising alternatives to conventional construction materials such as steel, concrete and wood. As good application examples of GFRP materials, several types of temporary arch bridges were suggested and verified by finite element analyses in our previous study where snap-fit GFRP decks were applied. In this paper, we conduct a structural performance test to verify safety and serviceability of the temporary arch bridge, where snap-fit GFRP decks are assembled by bolts. The structural problems occurred in this test are also discussed and improvement of temporary arch bridges is suggested to resolve the occurred structural problems.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.363-370
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• 2016

Lightweight geopolymers are more readily produced and give higher fire resistant performance than foam cement concrete. Lowering the density of solid geopolymers can be achieved by inducing chemical reactions that entrain gases to foam the geopolymer structure. This paper reports on the effects of adding different concentrations of aluminum powder on the properties of cellular structured geopolymers. The apparent density of lightweight geopolymers has a range from 0.7 to $1.2g/m^3$ with 0.025, 0.05 and 0.10 wt% of a foaming agent concentration, which corresponds to about 37~60 % of the apparent density, $1.96g/cm^3$, of solid geopolymers. The compressive strength of cellular structured geopolymers decreased to 6~18 % of the compressive strength, 45 MPa of solid geopolymers. The microstructure of geopolymers gel was equivalent for both solid and cellular structured geopolymers. The workability of geopolymers with polyprophylene fibers needs to be improved as in fiber-reinforced cement concrete. The lightweight geopolymers could be used as indoor wall tile or board due to fire resistance and incombustibility of geopolymers.

• Advanced Composite Materials
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.25-40
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• 2008

The research and development in soundproof materials for preventing noise have attracted great attention due to their social impact. Noise insulation materials are especially important in the field of soundproofing. Since the insulation ability of most materials follows a mass rule, the heavy weight materials like concrete, lead and steel board are mainly used in the current noise insulation materials. To overcome some weak points in these materials, fiber reinforced composite materials with lightweight and other high performance characteristics are now being used. In this paper, innovative insulation sheet materials with carbon and/or glass fabrics and nano-silica hybrid PU resin are developed. The parameters related to sound performance, such as materials and fabric texture in base fabric, hybrid method of resin, size of silica particle and so on, are investigated. At the same time, the wave analysis code (PZFlex) is used to simulate some of experimental results. As a result, it is found that both bundle density and fabric texture in the base fabrics play an important role on the soundproof performance. Compared with the effect of base fabrics, the transmission loss in sheet materials increased more than 10 dB even though the thickness of the sample was only about 0.7 mm. The results show different values of transmission loss factor when the diameters of silica particles in coating materials changed. It is understood that the effect of the soundproof performance is different due to the change of hybrid method and the size of silica particles. Fillers occupying appropriate positions and with optimum size may achieve a better effect in soundproof performance. The effect of the particle content on the soundproof performance is confirmed, but there is a limit for the addition of the fillers. The optimization of silica content for the improvement of the sound insulation effect is important. It is observed that nano-particles will have better effect on the high soundproof performance. The sound insulation effect has been understood through a comparison between the experimental and analytical results. It is confirmed that the time-domain finite wave analysis (PZFlex) is effective for the prediction and design of soundproof performance materials. Both experimental and analytical results indicate that the developed materials have advantages in lightweight, flexibility, other mechanical properties and excellent soundproof performance.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.195-204
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• 2017

The effects of plaster on the behavior of single-story single-bay masonry-infilled steel frames under in-plane base accelerations have been experimentally investigated by a shake-table. Tested structures were made in a 1/3 scale, with realistic material properties and construction methods. Steel frames with high and low flexural rigidity of beams and columns were considered. Each type of frame was tested with three variants of masonry: (i) non-plastered masonry; (ii) masonry infill with conventional plaster on both sides; and (iii) masonry infill with a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) net reinforced plaster on both sides. Masonry bricks were made of lightweight cellular concrete. Each frame was firstly successively exposed to horizontal base accelerations of an artificial accelerogram, and afterwards, to horizontal base accelerations of a real earthquake. Characteristic displacements, strains and cracks in the masonry were established for each applied excitation. It has been concluded that plaster strengthens the infill and prevents damages in it, which results in more favorable behavior and increased bearing capacity of plastered masonry-infilled frames compared to non-plastered masonry-infilled frames. The load-bearing contribution of the adopted PVC net in the plaster was not noticeable for the tested specimens, probably due to relative small cross section area of fibers in the net. Behavior of masonry-infilled steel frames significantly depends on frame stiffness. Strong frames have smaller displacements than weak frames, which reduces deformations and damages of an infill.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.4A
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• pp.597-604
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• 2006

Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) is a relatively new material in the bridge construction. With high strength to weight ratios, excellent durability, and low life-cycle costs of FRP, FRP bridge decks can offer a low dead load, reduced maintenance, and long service life. Due to the lightweight of FRP, if existing concrete decks can be replaced with the FRP decks, the load carrying capacity of superstructure can be increased without strengthening of girders. In this study, we have conducted an experiment on 7 cases of connection conditions with steel girder by using bolts considering a rational and economical method of connection and compared with the results of FEM analysis. From the experimental result, if the bolts are strong enough to resist shear force between the FRP bridge deck and the steel girder, it will be structurally secure to use the zigzag method.