• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.85 no.4
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• pp.531-543
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• 2023

The existing concrete bridges are time-varying working systems, where the maintenance strategy should be planned according to the time-varying performance of the bridge. This work proposes a time-dependent residual capacity assessment procedure, which considers the non-stationary bridge load effects under growing traffic and non-stationary structural deterioration owing to material degradations. Lifetime bridge load effects under traffic growth are predicated by the non-stationary peaks-over-threshold (POT) method using time-dependent generalized Pareto distribution (GPD) models. The non-stationary structural resistance owing to material degradation is modeled by incorporating the Gamma deterioration process and field inspection data. A three-span continuous box-girder bridge is illustrated as an example to demonstrate the application of the proposed procedure, and the time-varying reliability indexes of the bridge girder are calculated. The accuracy of the proposed non-stationary POT method is verified through numerical examples, where the shape parameter of the time-varying GPD model is constant but the threshold and scale parameters are polynomial functions increasing with time. The case study illustrates that the residual flexural capacities show a degradation trend from a slow decrease to an accelerated decrease under traffic growth and material degradation. The reliability index for the mid-span cross-section reduces from 4.91 to 4.55 after being in service for 100 years, and the value is from 4.96 to 4.75 for the mid-support cross-section. The studied bridge shows no safety risk under traffic growth and structural deterioration owing to its high design safety reserve. However, applying the proposed numerical approach to analyze the degradation of residual bearing capacity for bridge structures with low safety reserves is of great significance for management and maintenance.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.1A
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• pp.1-13
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• 2008

The web of a horizontally curved plate girder bridge is, in general, subject to not only longitudinal flexural in-plane stress but also out-of-plane bending stress. Therefore, the induced stresses in the fillet welded joints at the intersection of the web and flange plates in the curved plate girder bridge can be considerably high, and the welded joints of gusset plates connecting the main girder to the floor beams or sway bracings can be subject to much more severe situation than those in the ordinary straight plate girder bridge. In order to investigate the cause of fatigue crack occurred in a curved girder bridge that has been served in about 23 years, in this study, field load tests have been performed to obtain the stress characteristics at the welded joint under the real traffic flow. Using the test results, we have investigated the causes of the occurrence of various fatigue cracks and have estimated the fatigue lives for the cracks. In addition, the characteristics of structural behavior at welded joint of the curved girder bridge have been examined by comparing the FE analysis and the field test result.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.2A
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• pp.207-214
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• 2008

This study presents a way to validate the quality level of the proposed connection type and verify the experimental test, and performs a 3D nonlinear analysis corresponding to the experimental test. Two mixed-structure beams were cast and tested under a four-point static loading. Force-displacement relation, force-strain relation, force-opening width, and failure mode were observed from comparing the numerical results of the adopted FE model. Nonlinear analysis of mixed structures was carried out by utilizing the contact elements of a general purpose structural analysis computer program (ABAQUS). The results of numerical and experimental simulation show that the proposed L-shaped connection has greater stiffness under flexural loading and better structural performance with regard to the connection.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.3A
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• pp.383-390
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• 2008

A Precast Prefabricated Bridge Column using steel tube and prestressing bar was proposed for the application of precast method on substructure. A column specimen designed by the proposed bridge column system was made and performed a quasi-static test. The failure mode appeared to be a flexural failure and there is no damage on column segment connection. And it is good use of the self-centering ability by prestressing force. Test results showed that a column specimen satisfy the earthquake specification, and the structural stability was verified. Nonlinear finite element analysis was performed and compared with the test results. Force-displacement relation and location of crack from the analysis results were compared with the test results and it agreed well. The quantitative analysis was also performed by a parametric study using this modeling technique.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.4A
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• pp.581-590
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• 2008

The panels are used as a composite part of the completed deck. They replace the main bottom transverse deck reinforcement and also serve as a form surface for the cast-in-place concrete upper layer that contains the top of deck reinforcement. In this paper, three types of the detail for joints was selected and their structural performance in terms of strength and crack contral was investigated through static tests on composite beams. Form the results, the validity of loop joints for continuity of half-depth precast deck was observed and especially an overlapping length of loop joint and transverse reinforcement were checked. The results suggest that increasing the loop overlapping length increases the flexural strength of half-depth precast deck with loop joints. In terms of crack contral, the loop joint with transverse reinforcement showed better performance.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.1A
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• pp.61-69
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• 2010

Unbonded precast concrete piers have better seismic performances than conventional reinforced concrete piers. In this research, seismic performances of unbonded precast prestressed concrete piers are analyzed using OpenSEES. Main parameters of analysis are concrete strength, jacking force ratio, ratio of tendon, and size of precast segment. In results, as the ratio of tendon and jacking force ratio increase, the flexural strength increases at softening state and ultimate state. Concrete strength and size of precast segment are negligible. But initial jacking force ratio leads to early yielding of prestressing tendon. Since compressive strain in core concrete is much less than ultimate strain, it can be expected that the amount of transverse steel reinforcement is to be reduced in comparison with conventional reinforced concrete column.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.177-183
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• 2023

Various failure modes occur in the concrete beams reinforced with GFRP(Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic) under initial condition and repairing patterns. In this study, the failure behaviors of concrete beams restrengthened with GFRP sheet with slightly higher elastic modulus than concrete were investigated. For the tests, concrete beams with 24 MPa were manufactured, and the effects of initial notch, overlapping, end-strip reinforcement, and fiber anchors were analyzed on failure load. The cases of GFRP overlap around notch and the initial notch showed increasing failure loads similar to those of normal restrengthened case since the epoxy of the saturated GFRP sufficiently repaired the notch area. Compared to the control case without restrengthening of GFRP, the concrete with initial notch showed 0.78 of loading ratio and normal restrengthening showed 4.43~5.61 times of increasing ratio of failure loading, where interface-debonding from flexural crack were mainly observed. The most ideal failure behavior, break of GFRP, was observed when end-strip over 1/3 height from bottom and fiber anchor were installed, which showed increasing failure load over 150 % to normal restrengthening.

• Composites Research
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.388-394
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• 2023

In composites manufacturing, increasing resin impregnation is a key way to speed up the manufacturing process and improve product quality. While resin improvement is important, simple fiber surface treatments can also improve resin flowability. In this study, different plasma treatment times were applied to carbon fiber fabrics to improve the impregnation between resin and fiber. Electrical resistivity measurements were used to evaluate the dispersion of resin in the fibers, which changed with plasma treatment. The effect of fiber surface treatment on resin spreadability could be observed in real time. When inserting a carbon fiber tow into the resin, the amount of resin that soaked into the tow was measured to objectively compare resin impregnation. Five minutes of plasma treatment improved the tensile and compressive strength of the composite by more than 50%, while reducing the void content and increasing the fire point impregnation flow rate. Finally, a dynamic flexural fatigue test was conducted using a portion of the composite used as an architectural composite part, and the composite part did not fail after one million cycles of a 3 kN load.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.205-216
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• 2023

Concrete structures may become vulnerable during their lifetime due to several reasons such as degradation of their material properties; design or construction errors; and environmental damage due to earthquake. These structures should be repaired or strengthened to ensure proper performance for the current service load demands. Several methods have been investigated and applied for the strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) structures using various materials. Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) reinforcement is one of the most recent type of material for the strengthening purpose of RC structures. The main objective of the present research is to identify the behavior of reinforced concrete slabs strengthened with FRP bars by using near surface mounted (NSM) technique. Validation study is conducted based on the experimental test available in the literature to investigate the accuracy of finite element models using LS-DYNA to present the behavior of the models. A parametric analysis is conducted on the effect of FRP bar diameters, number of grooves, groove intervals as well as width and height of the grooves on the flexural behavior of strengthened reinforced slabs. Performance of strengthening RC slabs with NSM FRP bars was confirmed by comparing the results of strengthening reinforced slabs with control slab. The numerical results of mid-span deflection and stress time histories were reported. According to the numerical analysis results, the model with three grooves, FRP bar diameter of 10 mm and grooves distances of 100 mm is the most ideal and desirable model in this research. The results demonstrated that strengthening of reinforced concrete slabs using FRP by NSM method will have a significant effect on the performance of the slabs.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.277-290
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• 2023

In order to study the mechanical properties of basalt fiber reinforced ultra-fine fly ash concrete (BFUFARC), the effects of ultra-fine fly ash (UFA) content, basalt fiber content, basalt fiber length and water reducing agent content on the compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength of the composite material were studied through experimental and theoretical analysis. Also, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) was employed to analyze the mesoscopic structure in the fracture surface of composite material specimens at magnifications of 500 and 3500. Besides, the energy release rate (G_c) and surface free energy (γ_s) of crack tip cracking on BFUFARC in different basalt fiber content were studied from the perspective of fracture mechanics. Further, the cracking resistance, reinforcement, and toughening mechanisms of basalt fibers on concrete substrate were revealed by surface free energy of BFUFARC. The experimental results indicated that basalt fiber content is the main influence factor on the splitting tensile strength of BFUFARC. In case that fiber content increased from 0 to 0.3%, the concrete surface free energy at the tip of single-sided crack showed a trend of increased at first and then decreased. The surface free energy reached at maximum, about 3.59 × 10^-5 MN/m. During the process of increasing fiber content from 0 to 0.1%, G_C-2_γS showed a gradually decreasing trend. As a result, an appropriate amount of basalt fiber can play a preventing cracking role by increasing the concrete surface free energy, further effectively improve the concrete splitting tensile performance.