• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.655-667
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• 2018

To evaluate the stability of a rock slope with one pre-exiting vertical crack, this paper performs corresponding probabilistic stability analysis. The existence of cracks is generally ignored in traditional deterministic stability analysis. However, they are widely found in either cohesive soil or rock slopes. The influence of one pre-exiting vertical crack on a rock slope is considered in this study. The safety factor, which is usually adopted to quantity the stability of slopes, is derived through the deterministic computation based on the strength reduction technique. The generalized Hoek-Brown (HB) failure criterion is adopted to characterize the failure of rock masses. Considering high nonlinearity of the limit state function as using nonlinear HB criterion, the multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) is used to accurately approximate the implicit limit state function of a rock slope. Then the MARS is integrated with Monte Carlo simulation to implement reliability analysis, and the influences of distribution types, level of uncertainty, and constants on the probability density functions and failure probability are discussed. It is found that distribution types of random variables have little influence on reliability results. The reliability results are affected by a combination of the uncertainty level and the constants. Finally, a reliability-based design figure is provided to evaluate the safety factor of a slope required for a target failure probability.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.77 no.4
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• pp.559-569
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• 2021

This study was conducted to investigate the residual bearing capacity of steel-concrete composite beams under high-cycle fatigue loading through experiments and theoretical analysis. Six test beams with stud connectors were designed and fabricated for static, complete fatigue, and partial fatigue tests. The failure modes and the degradation of several mechanical performance indicators of the composite beams under high-cycle fatigue loading were analyzed. A calculation method for the residual bearing capacity of the composite beams after certain quantities of cyclic loading cycles was established by introducing nonlinear fatigue damage models for concrete, steel beam, and shear connectors beginning with the material residual strength attenuation process. The results show that the failure mode of the composite beams under the given fatigue load appears to be primarily affected by the number of cycles. As the number of fatigue loadings increases, the failure mode transforms from mid-span concrete crushing to stud cutting. The bearing capacity of a 3.0-m span composite beam after two million fatigue cycles is degraded by 30.7% due to premature failure of the stud. The calculated values of the residual bearing capacity method of the composite beam established in this paper agree well with the test values, which indicates that the model is feasibly applicable.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.51-66
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• 2022

The article presents the results of finite element analyses carried out on skirted footings. The bearing capacity increases with the provision of the flexible and rigid skirt, but the effectiveness varies with various other factors. The skirts are more efficient in the case of cohesionless soils than cohesive and c-ϕ soils. Efficiency reduces with an increase in the soil strength and footing depth. The rigid skirt is relatively more efficient compared to the flexible skirt. In contrast, to the flexible skirt, the efficiency of the rigid skirt increases continuously with skirt length. The difference in the effectiveness of both skirts becomes more noticeable with an increase in the strength parameters, skirt length, and footing depth. The failure mechanism also changes significantly with the inclusion of a rigid skirt. The rigid skirt behaves as a solid embedded footing, and the failure mechanism becomes confined with an increase in the skirt length. Few small-scale laboratory tests were carried out to study the flexible and rigid skirt and verify the numerical study results. The numerical analysis results are further used to develop nonlinear equations to predict the enhancement in bearing capacity with the provision of the rigid and flexible skirts.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.101-109
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• 2023

Steel brace strengthening is the most popular seismic rehabilitation method for school buildings. This is because the design can be conducted by using relatively easy nonlinear pushover analysis and standard modeling in codes. An issue with steel brace strengthening is that the reinforced building should behave elastically to satisfy performance objectives. For this, the size of steel braces should be highly increased, which results in excessive strengthening cost by force concentration on existing members and foundations due to the considerable stiffness and strength of the steel braces. The main reason may be the brittle failure mode of columns, so this study investigated the relationship between the efficiency of steel brace strengthening and column failure modes. The result showed that the efficiency is highly dependent on the shear capacity ratio of columns and structural analysis methods. School buildings reinforced by steel braces do not need to behave elastically when the shear capacity ratio is low, and pushover analysis is used, which means reducing steel material is possible.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.65-75
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• 2016

In this study, we constructed a database by collecting field pullout test data of the soil nailing using pressurized grouting, and suggested a method to estimate the ultimate pullout resistance using nonlinear regression analysis to overcome the problems of ultimate pullout resistance estimation using graphical methods. The load-displacement curve estimated by nonlinear regression showed a very high correlation with the field pullout test data. Estimated ultimate pullout load by nonlinear regression method was average 29% higher than estimated ultimate pullout load using previous graphical method. A sigmoidal growth model was found to be the best-fitting nonlinear regression model against rapid pullout failure. Further, an asymptotic regression model was found to be the best fit against progressive nail pullout. The unit ultimate skin friction suggested in this research reflected in the domestic geotechnical characteristics and the specifications of the pressurized grouting method. This research is expected to contribute towards establishing an independent design standard for the soil nailing by providing solutions to the problems that occur when using design charts based on foreign research.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.76-85
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• 2015

We have developed a software to predict failure time of the rock slope based on analysis of the data from real time displacement measurements with respect to time. The software consists of four modules that play roles in analytical methods such as inverse velocity method, log time-log velocity method, log velocity-log acceleration method and nonlinear least square method to estimate failure time. VisualBasic.NET on the MS Visual Studio platform was utilized as a development tool to efficiently implement the modules and the graphical user interface of the software. Displacement data obtained from laboratory physical model studies of plane sliding were used to explore the applicability of the software, and to evaluate the possibility of predicting potential slope failure. It seems possible to estimate failure time using developed software for sliding plane having exponential type of deformability.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.461-474
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• 2020

Analysing the incompatible deformation and damage evolution around the tunnels in mixed strata is significant for evaluating the tunnel stability, as well as the interaction between the support system and the surrounding rock mass. To investigate this issue, confined compression tests were conducted on upper-soft and lower-hard strata specimens containing a circular hole using a rock testing system, the physical mechanical properties were then investigated. Then, the incompatible deformation and failure modes of the specimens were analysed based on the digital speckle correlation method (DSCM) and Acoustic Emission (AE) data. Finally, numerical simulations were conducted to explore the damage evolution of the mixed strata. The results indicate that at low inclination angles, the deformation and v-shaped notches inside the hole are controlled by the structure plane. Progressive spalling failure occurs at the sidewalls along the structure plane in soft rock. But the transmission of the loading force between the soft rock and hard rock are different in local. At high inclination angles, v-shaped notches are approximately perpendicular to the structure plane, and the soft and hard rock bear common loads. Incompatible deformation between the soft rock and hard rock controls the failure process. At inclination angles of 0°, 30° and 90°, incompatible deformations are closely related to rock damage. At 60°, incompatible deformations and rock damage are discordant due that the soft rock and hard rock alternately bears the major loads during the failure process. The failure trend and modes of the numerical results agree very well with those observed in the experimental results. As the inclination angles increase, the proportion of the shear or tensile damage exhibits a nonlinear increase or decrease, suggesting that the inclination angle of mixed strata may promote shear damage and restrain tensile damage.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.335-340
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• 2000

The influence of lap splice of longitudinal bars in the plastic hinge zone on the nonlinear behavior characteristics of RC piers has been investigated through the scale model tests. The seismic performance of bridge piers with lap splice is found to be insufficient due to the premature bond failure. On the other hand it is confirmed that the preventing lap splice in the plastic hinge zone enhance the seismic performance considerably even without the seismic details of transverse reinforcements. Bases on these experimental results new seismic detailing concept appropriate to moderate seismicity region has been proposed.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.327-334
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• 2000

The seismic performance evaluation of the existing non-seismic detailed RC piers has risen as urgent task for rational and cost-effective seismic retrofitting works as well as development of new seismic design concept. The scale model test has been conducted to investigate nonlinear behavior characteristics and the seismic performance of existing piers with lap-spliced longitudinal reinforcements in the plastic hinge zone which are of the solid circular and the hollow rectangular section. The lap splice in this zone is found to cause premature bond failure. The experimental results show very poor seismic performance of circular section pier but relatively large ductility of the rectangular one.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.202-212
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• 2000

This study investigates the ductility capacity of slender-wide reinforced concrete walls under predominant flexural moment loading. The experimental work for this study aims to provide design guidelines for bar detailing in critical regions under compressive stress in particular in case of slender-wide RC walls. According to the experimental observation the Bernoulli hypothesis of linear strain distribution is no longer valid and the ultimate compressive strain of concrete is significantly reduced, It is postulated that the nonlinear strain distribution causes the concentrated compressive stressed region and hence the premature crushing failure at the toe of walls. The reduced ultimate strain and nonlinear strain distribution need transverse reinforcement for confinement and more realistic models for the strength and displacement estimation of slender-wide RC wall.