• Computers and Concrete
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.195-216
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• 2008

This paper presents a new hypoelasticity model which was implemented in a nonlinear finite element formulation to analyze reinforced concrete (RC) structures. The model includes a new hypoelasticity constitutive relationship utilizing the rotation of material axis through successive iterations. The model can account for high nonlinearity of the stress-strain behavior of the concrete in the pre-peak regime, the softening behavior of the concrete in the post-peak regime and the irrecoverable volume dilatation at high levels of compressive load. This research introduces the modified version of the common application orthotropic stress-strain relation developed by Darwin and Pecknold. It is endeavored not to violate the principal of "simplicity" by improvement of the "capability" The results of analyses of experimental reinforced concrete walls are presented to confirm the abilities of the proposed relationships.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.455-479
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• 2015

This paper presents a numerical analysis of reinforced concrete slabs under missile impact loading. The specimen used for the numerical simulation was tested by the Technical Research Center of Finland. LS-DYNA, commercial available software, is used to analyze the model. The structural components of the reinforced concrete slab, missile, and their contacts are fully modeled. Included in the analysis is material nonlinearity considering damage and failure. The results of analysis are then verified with other research results. Parametric studies with different longitudinal rebar ratios, shear bar ratios, and concrete strengths are conducted to investigate their influences on the punching behavior of slabs under the impact of a missile. Finally, efficient designs are recommended.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.31-40
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• 2002

The purpose of this study is to investigate the seismic behavior of RC bridge piers and to provide the data for developing improved seismic design criteria. The accuracy and objectivity of the assessment process may be enhanced by the use of sophisticated nonlinear finite element analysis program. A computer program, named RCAHEST(reinforced concrete analysis in higher evaluation system technology), for the analysis of reinforced concrete structures was used. Material nonlinearity is taken into account by comprising tensile, compressive and shear models of cracked concrete and a model of reinforcing steel. The smeared crack approach is incorporated. n boundary plane at which each member with different thickness is connected, local discontinuity in deformation due to the abrupt change in their stiffness can be taken into account by introducing interface element. The effect of number of load reversals with the same displacement amplitude has been also taken into account to model the reinforcing steel and concrete. In the companion paper, the proposed numerical method for seismic damage evaluation of RC bridge piers is verified by comparison with the reliable experimental results.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.74 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2020

For the large deformation of shear walls under vertical and horizontal loads, there are difficulties in obtaining accurate simulation results using the response analysis method, even with fine mesh elements. Furthermore, concrete material nonlinearity, stiffness degradation, concrete cracking and crushing, and steel bar damage may occur during the large deformation of reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls. Matrix operations that are involved in nonlinear analysis using the traditional finite-element method (FEM) may also result in flaws, and may thus lead to serious errors. To solve these problems, a planar four-node element was developed based on vector mechanics. Owing to particle-based formulation along the path element, the method does not require repeated constructions of a global stiffness matrix for the nonlinear behavior of the structure. The nonlinear concrete constitutive model and bilinear steel material model are integrated with the developed element, to ensure that large deformation and damage behavior can be addressed. For verification, simulation analyses were performed to obtain experimental results on an RC shear wall subjected to a monotonically increasing lateral load with a constant vertical load. To appropriately evaluate the parameters, investigations were conducted on the loading speed, meshing dimension, and the damping factor, because vector mechanics is based on the equation of motion. The static problem was then verified to obtain a stable solution by employing a balanced equation of motion. Using the parameters obtained, the simulated pushover response, including the bearing capacity, deformation ability, curvature development, and energy dissipation, were found to be in accordance with the experimental observation. This study demonstrated the potential of the developed planar element for simulating the entire process of large deformation and damage behavior in RC shear walls.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.147-160
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• 2020

A stochastic probabilistic model for harbor structures such as rubble-mound breakwater has been formulated by using the generalized Wiener process considering the nonlinearity of damage drift and its nonlinear uncertainty, by which the damage path with real-time can be tracked, the residual useful lifetime at some age can also be analyzed properly. The formulated stochastic model can easily calculate the probability of failure with the passage of time through the probability density function of cumulative damage. In particular, the probability density functions of residual useful lifetime of the existing harbor structures can be derived, which can take into account the current age, its present damage state and the future damage process to be occurred. By using the maximum likelihood method and the least square method together, the involved parameters in the stochastic model can be estimated. In the calibration of the stochastic model presented in this paper, the present results are very well similar with the results of MCS about tracking of the damage paths as well as evaluating of the density functions of the cumulative damage and the residual useful lifetime. MTTF and MRL are also evaluated exactly. Meanwhile, the stochastic probabilistic model has been applied to the rubble-mound breakwater. The related parameters can be estimated by using the experimental data of the cumulative damages of armor units measured as a function of time. The theoretical results about the probability density function of cumulative damage and the probability of failure are very well agreed with MCS results such that the density functions of the cumulative damage tend to move to rightward and the amounts of its uncertainty are increased as the elapsed time goes on. Thus, the probabilities of failure with the elapsed time are also increased sharply. Finally, the behaviors of residual useful lifetime have been investigated with the elapsed age. It is concluded for rubble-mound breakwaters that the probability density functions of residual useful lifetime tends to have a longer tail in the right side rather than the left side because of the gradual increases of cumulative damage of armor units. Therefore, its MRLs are sharply decreased after some age. In this paper, the special attentions are paid to the relationship of MTTF and MRL and the elapsed age of the existing structure. In spite of that the sum of the elapsed age and MRL must be equal to MTTF deterministically, the large difference has been shown as the elapsed age is increased which is due to the uncertainty of cumulative damage to be occurred in the future.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.23-34
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• 2022

This paper presents experimental studies on reinforced concrete moment resisting frames that have engineered cementitious composite (ECC) in plastic hinge length (PHL) of beam/column members and beam-column joints. A two-story frame structure reduced by a 1:3 scale was further tested through a shake-table (seismic simulator) using multiple levels of simulated earthquake motions. One model conformed to all the ACI-318 requirements for IMRF, whereas the second model used lower-strength concrete in the beam/column members outside PHL. The acceleration time history of the 1994 Northridge earthquake was selected and scaled to multiple levels for shake-table testing. This study reports the observed damage mechanism, lateral strength-displacement capacity curve, and the computed response parameters for each model. The tests verified that nonlinearity remained confined to beam/column ends, i.e., member joint interface. Calculated response modification factors were 11.6 and 9.6 for the code-conforming and concrete strength deficient models. Results show that the RC-ECC frame's performance in design-based and maximum considered earthquakes; without exceeding maximum permissible drift under design-base earthquake motions and not triggering any unstable mode of damage/failure under maximum considered earthquakes. This research also indicates that the introduction of ECC in PHL of the beam/column members' detailing may be relaxed for the IMRF structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.283-300
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• 2009

The characteristic response of a structure to blast load may be divided into two distinctive phases, namely the direct blast response during which the shock wave effect and localized damage take place, and the post-blast phase whereby progressive collapse may occur. A reliable post-blast analysis depends on a sound understanding of the direct blast effect. Because of the complex loading environment and the stress wave effects, the analysis on the direct effect often necessitates a high fidelity numerical model with coupled fluid (air) and solid subdomains. In such a modelling framework, an appropriate representation of the blast load and the high nonlinearity of the material response is a key to a reliable outcome. This paper presents a series of calibration study on these two important modelling considerations in a coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian framework using a hydrocode. The calibration of the simulated blast load is carried out for both free air and internal explosions. The simulation of the extreme dynamic response of concrete components is achieved using an advanced concrete damage model in conjunction with an element erosion scheme. Validation simulations are conducted for two representative scenarios; one involves a concrete slab under internal blast, and the other with a RC column under air blast, with a particular focus on the simulation sensitivity to the mesh size and the erosion criterion.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.233-242
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• 2023

The unscented Kalman filter (UKF), which is widely used to estimate the states of nonlinear dynamic systems, can be improved to realize robust system identification by using multiple sigma-point sets. When using Kalman filter methods for system identification, artificial noises must be appropriately selected to achieve optimal estimation performance. Additionally, an appropriate scaling factor for the sigma-points must be selected to capture the nonlinearity of the state-space model. This study entailed the use of Bouc-Wen hysteresis model to examine the nonlinear behavior of a single-degree-of-freedom oscillator. On the basis of the effects of the selected artificial noises and scaling factor, a new UKF method using multiple sigma-point sets was devised for improved robustness of the estimation over various signal-to-noise-ratio values. The results demonstrate that the proposed method can accurately track nonlinear system states even when the measurement noise levels are high, while being robust to the selection of artificial noise levels.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.295-317
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• 2020

Investigation of the stability of arch dam abutments is one of the most important aspects in the analysis of this type of dams. To this end, the Bakhtiari dam, a doubly curved arch dam having six wedges at each of its abutments, is selected. The seismic safety of dam abutments is studied through time history analysis using the design-based earthquake (DBE) and maximum credible earthquake (MCE) hazard levels. Londe limit equilibrium method is used to calculate the stability of wedges in abutments. The thrust forces are obtained using ABAQUS, and stability of wedges is calculated using the code written within MATLAB. Effects of foundation flexibility, grout curtain performance, vertical component of earthquake, nonlinear behavior of materials, and geometrical nonlinearity on the safety factor of the abutments are scrutinized. The results show that the grout curtain performance is the main affecting factor on the stability of the abutments, while nonlinear behavior of the materials is the least affecting factor amongst others. Also, it is resulted that increasing number of the contraction joints can improve the seismic stability of dam. A cap is observed on the number of joints, above which the safety factor does not change incredibly.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.3
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• pp.287-299
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• 2024

Composite skew plates are aesthetically appealing light weight structural units finding wide applications in floors and roofs of commercial buildings. Although bending and vibration characteristics of these units have received attention from researchers but the domain of first and progressive failure has not been explored. Confident use of these plates necessitates comprehensive understanding of their failure behavior. With this objective, the present paper uses an eight noded isoparametric finite element together with von-Kármán's approach of nonlinear strains to study first ply and progressive failure up to ultimate damage of skew plates being subjected to uniform surface pressure. Parameters like skew angles, laminations and boundary conditions are varied and the results are practically analyzed. The novelty of the paper lies in the fact that the stiffness matrix of the damaged plate is calculated by considering material degradation locally only at failed points at each stage of first and progressive failure and as a result, the present outputs are so close to experimental findings. Interpretation of results from practical angles and proposing the relative performances of the different plate combinations in terms of ranks will be of much help to practicing engineers in selecting the best suited plate option among many combinations.