• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.673-693
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• 2005

A general step-by-step simulation for the time-dependent analysis of segmentally-erected prestressed concrete box-girder bridges is presented. A three dimensional finite-element model for the balanced-cantilever construction of segmental bridges, including effects of the load history, material nonlinearity, creep, shrinkage, and aging of concrete and the relaxation of prestressing steel was developed using ABAQUS software. The models included three-dimensional shell elements to model the box-girder walls and Rebar elements representing the prestressing tendons. The step-by-step procedure allows simulating the construction stages, effects of time-dependent deformations of materials and changes in the structural system of the bridges. The structural responses during construction and throughout the service life were traced. A comparison of the developed computer simulation with available experimental results was conducted and good agreement was found. Deflection of the bridge deck, changes in stresses and strains and the redistribution of internal forces were calculated for different examples of bridges, built by the balanced-cantilever method, over thirty-year duration. Significant time-dependent effects on the bridge deflections and redistribution of internal forces and stresses were observed. The ultimate load carrying capacities of the bridges and the behavior before collapse were also determined. It was observed that the ultimate load carrying capacity of such bridges decreases with time as a result of time-dependent effects.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.119-129
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• 2022

It is essential to control the lateral displacement and differential axial shortening of the vertical elements in high-rise buildings. The differential axial shortening can cause challenges in the serviceability and safety of non-structural and structural elements, respectively. Hence, in this study, the differential axial shortening of the vertical elements and effects of long term behaviors of concrete are analyzed in 120-story high-rise buildings via the construction sequence analysis. Consequently, the axial shortening of the vertical elements is classified into elastic, creep, and shrinkage shortening, and dominant factors to the maximum axial shortening are analyzed. In addition, the serviceability of the non -structural elements is checked with a differential axial shortening at 30 years after completion of construction, and member forces at design and construction stages in girders and outrigger walls are compared.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.139-146
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• 2009

Experimental study was performed to evaluate the long-term behavior of CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced polymer) strips under sustained loads including prestressing force in strengthening RC members with post-tensioned CFRP strips. Two types of CFRP strip such as unidirectional CFRP strip and hybrid CFRP strip which is composed of carbon fiber and steel plate were considered. Also two types of loading scheme were included in this study. Direct sustained loading test had been carried out to estimate the creep deformation and relaxation of CFRP strips including slip deformation at both mechanical anchorages for over 700 days. Also, flexural sustained loading test had been conducted to estimate the initial prestress losses on clamping the CFRP strips at jacking anchorages for over 90 days. From the sustained loading tests, it was observed that stress losses of unidirectional CFRP strips due to the creep deformation and relaxation of material itself and slip deformation at mechanical anchorage were ignorable. On the other hand, significant stress losses caused by the yielding of steel embedded in CFRP strips were found in case of hybrid CFRP strips due to the initial jacking force over steel yielding stress. Also, initial prestress losses during setting of CFRP strips on mechanical anchorage were about 10% of intial jacking force, which must be considered in the design.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.113-119
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• 2002

In the prestressed concrete structures, stresses are gradually redistributed with time due to the creep and shrinkage of concrete and the stress relaxation of prestressed steel. In this study a numerical procedure and computer program is developed to analyze the behavior of prestressed concrete structures considering the time-dependent properties of material. It accounts for the aging, creep and shrinkage of concrete and the stress relaxation of prestressed steel. The structural model uses two dimensional plane frame elements with three nodal degree of freedom and is analyzed based on the finite element method. Member cross section can consist of concrete, reinforcement and prestressing steel. Two different set of equations for the prediction of time-dependent material properties of concrete are presented, which are ACI, CEB-FIP. Analytical studies for different examples of prestressed concrete structures have been performed to demonstrated the capabilities and practical applicabilities of the developed program.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.5
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• pp.577-601
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• 2019

The paper investigates the influence of the rheological parameters which characterize the creep time, the long-term values of the mechanical properties of viscoelastic materials and a form of the creep function around the initial state of a deformation of the materials of the hollow bi-layered cylinder on the dispersion of the flexural waves propagated in this cylinder. Constitutive relations for the cylinder's materials are given through the fractional exponential operators by Rabotnov. The dispersive attenuation case is considered and numerical results related to the dispersion curves are presented and discussed for the first and second modes under the first harmonic in the circumferential direction. According to these results, it is established that the viscosity of the materials of the constituents causes a decrease in the flexural wave propagation velocity in the bi-layered cylinder under consideration. At the same time, the character of the influence of the rheological parameters, as well as other problem parameters such as the thickness-radius ratio and the elastic modulus ratio of the layers' materials on the dispersion curves, are established.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2008

This paper presents experimental and analytical results on the long-term behavior of the reinforced recycled aggregate concrete beams under sustained loading. In this experimental program, three beams with different conditions of aggregates replacement (natural aggregate 100%, recycled coarse aggregate 100%, recycled fine aggregate 50%) were subjected to the sustained flexural loading that was a half of the nominal flexural capacity over a period of 1 year. The beam were designed with net span of 2,000 mm and rectangular cross-section of 170 mm width and 170 mm effective depth. The beams were instrumented and monitored to observe the change in the long-term behavior due to creep and shrinkage of concrete under sustained loading. The predictions of long-term deflection by ACI code, Branson, Mayer, Neville, EMM and AEMM were compared with the experimental results. From the experimental results, the reinforced concrete beams with recycled aggregates showed the same performance as that of a beam with natural aggregate. The proposed method to predict the long-term deflections of reinforced recycled aggregate concrete beams gives a good estimation for experimental results.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.333-349
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• 2013

As the capacity of spent nuclear fuel storage pool at reactor sites becomes saturated in ten years, long term dry storage strategy has been recently discussed as an alternative option in Korea. In this study, we reviewed safety-criteria-related research results on spent nuclear fuel performance and integrity under long-term dry storage and proposed the direction and the scope of future domestic research and development. Creep and hydride effect in relation to the embrittlement are known to be the major degradation mechanisms of the spent fuels during the long term dry storage. However, recent research results showed that hydride reorientation and hydride embrittlement are one of the most critical factors to the spent fuel integrity. Accordingly safety criteria of US and Japan for the storage system are basically founded on those mechanisms. However, in Korea, not only in-pile but out-of-pile experimental data have not been generated to understand fuel cladding degradation and to determine the criteria to ensure the safety. In addition, the transient behavior of the spent fuel during transportation also needs to be thoroughly examined. Therefore, various experimental research and development will be required to establish our own safety criteria for future long-term dry storage of domestic spent fuels.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.559-594
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• 2015

A nonlinear creep function incorporated into the elastic visco-plastic model may describe the long-term soil deformation more accurately. However, by applying the conventional procedure, there are challenges to determine the model parameters due to limitation of suitable data points. This paper presents a numerical solution to obtain several parameters simultaneously for a nonlinear elastic visco-plastic (EVP) model using the available consolidation data. The finite difference scheme using the Crank-Nicolson procedure is applied to solve a set of coupled partial differential equations of the time dependent strain and pore water pressure dissipation. The model parameters are determined by applying the algorithm of trust-region reflective optimisation in conjunction with the finite difference solution. The proposed method utilises all available consolidation data during dissipation of the excess pore water pressure to determine the required model parameters. Moreover, the reference time in the elastic visco-plastic model can readily be adopted as a unit of time; denoting creep is included in the numerical predictions explicitly from the very first time steps. In this paper, the settlement predictions of thick soft clay layers are presented and discussed to evaluate and compare the accuracy and reliability of the proposed method against the graphical procedure to obtain the model parameters. In addition, comparison of the available experimental results to the numerical predictions confirms the accuracy of the numerical procedure.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.1265-1272
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• 2010

In view of the frequent start-ups and load changes in the recent past, there is a need for fossil-fuel power plants to be more efficient and reliable for long-term operation. Under high-temperature and high-pressure conditions, severe creep and fatigue damages can occur in major plant facilities, particularly, turbines and boilers. For highly stable operation and better maintenance, various techniques that facilitate a systematic assessment of the service life of critical facilities have been developed. However, to date, in Korea, to evaluate the remaining life of major facilities of fossil power plant, qualitative or semiquantitative analyses are carried out without following any standard guidelines or procedure. In this study, a standard code for assessing the remaining life of major plant facilities is proposed. This code takes into account creep and fatigue damage, which are generally accepted as dominant causes of damage to facilities. KEPIC (Korea Electric Power Industry code) is scheduled to include this guideline in 2010.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.597-609
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• 2020

Accident Tolerant Fuels have been widely studied since the Fukushima-Daiichi accident in 2011 as one of the options on how to further enhance the safety of nuclear power plants. Deposition of protective coatings on nuclear fuel claddings has been considered as a near-term concept that will reduce the high-temperature oxidation rate and enhance accidental tolerance of the cladding while providing additional benefits during normal operation and transients. This study focuses on experimental testing of Zr-based alloys coated with Cr-based coatings using Physical Vapour Deposition. The results of long-term corrosion tests, as well as tests simulating postulated accidents, are presented. Zr-1%Nb alloy used as nuclear fuel cladding serves as a substrate and Cr, CrN, Cr_xN_y layers are deposited by unbalanced magnetron sputtering and reactive magnetron sputtering. The deposition procedures are optimized in order to improve coating properties. Coated as well as reference uncoated samples were experimentally tested. The presented results include standard long-term corrosion tests at 360℃ in WWER water chemistry, burst (creep) tests and mainly single and double-sided high-temperature steam oxidation tests between 1000 and 1400℃ related to postulated Loss-of-coolant accident and Design extension conditions. Coated and reference samples were characterized pre- and post-testing using mechanical testing (microhardness, ring compression test), Thermal Evolved Gas Analysis analysis (hydrogen, oxygen concentration), optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (EDS, WDS, EBSD) and X-ray diffraction.