• Computers and Concrete
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.439-448
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• 2017

Reinforced concrete (RC) infrastructures often require strengthening due to error in design, degradation of materials properties after prolong utilization and increases load carrying capacity persuaded by new use of the structures. For this purpose, a newly proposed Side Near Surface Mounted (SNSM) composite technique was used for flexural strengthening of RC beam specimens. Analytical and non-linear finite element modeling (FEM) using ABAQUS were performed to predict the flexural performance of RC specimens strengthened with S-NSM using steel bars as a strengthening reinforcement. RC beams with various SNSM reinforcement ratios were tested for flexural performance using four-point bending under monotonic loading condition. Results showed significantly increase the yield and ultimate strengths up to 140% and 144% respectively and improved failure modes. The flexural response, such as failure load, mode of failure, yield load, ultimate load, deflection, strain, cracks characteristic and ductility of the beams were compared with those predicted results. The strengthened RC beam specimens showed good agreement of predicted flexural behavior with the experimental outcomes.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.567-576
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• 2019

Time-dependent creep analysis of a rotating functionally graded cantilever beam with trapezoidal longitudinal cross section subjected to thermal and inertia loading is investigated using first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT). The model described in this paper is a simple simulation of a turbine blade working under creep condition. The material is a metal based composite reinforced by a ceramic where the creep properties of which has been described by the Sherby's constitutive model. All mechanical and thermal properties except Poisson's ratio are assumed to be variable longitudinally based on the volume fraction of constituent. The principle of virtual work as well as first order shear deformation theory is used to derive governing equations. Longitudinal distribution of displacements and stresses are investigated for various volume fractions of reinforcement. Method of successive elastic solution is employed to obtain history of stresses and creep deformations. It is found that stresses and displacements approach their steady state values after 40000 hours. The results presented in this paper can be used for selection of appropriate longitudinal distribution of reinforcement to achieve the desired stresses and displacements.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.533-546
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• 2019

This study presents an experimental investigation on six beam-column joint specimens under the lateral cyclic loading. The aim was to explore the effectiveness of steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) in reducing the transverse shear stirrups in beam-column joints of the reinforced concrete (RC) frames with strong-columns and weak-beams. Two RC and four SFRC specimens with different types of reinforcement detailing and steel fibers of volume fraction in the range of 0.75-1.5% were tested under gradually increasing cyclic displacements. The main parameters investigated were lateral load-resisting capacity, hysteresis response, energy dissipation capacity, stiffness degradation, viscous damping variation, and mode of failure. Test results showed that the diagonally bent configuration of beam longitudinal bars in the beam-column joints resulted in the shear failure at the joint region against the flexural failure of beams having straight bar configurations. However, all SFRC specimens exhibited similar lateral strength, energy dissipation potential and mode of failure even in the absence of transverse steel in the beam-column joints. Finally, a methodology has been proposed to compute the shear strength of SFRC beam-column joints under the lateral loading condition.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.81 no.5
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• pp.539-550
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• 2022

A detailed experimental program was conducted to investigate the flexural behavior of ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) beams reinforced with high strength steel (HSS) rebars with a specified yield strength of 600 MPa via direct tensile test and monotonic four-point bending test. First, two sets of direct tensile test specimens, with the same reinforcement ratio but different yield strength of reinforcement, were fabricated and tested. Subsequently, six simply supported beams, including two plain UHPC beams and four reinforced UHPC beams, were prepared and tested under four-point bending load. The results showed that the balanced-reinforced UHPC beams reinforced with HSS rebars could improve the ultimate load-bearing capacity, deformation capacity, ductility properties, etc. more effectively owing to interaction between high strength of HSS rebar and strain-hardening characteristic of UHPC. In addition, the UHPC with steel rebars kept strain compatibility prior to the yielding of the steel rebar, further satisfied the plane-section assumption. Most importantly, the crack pattern of the UHPC beam reinforced with HSS rebars was prone to transform from single main crack failure corresponding to the normal-strength steel, to multiple main cracks failure under the condition of balanced-reinforced failure, which validated by the conclusion of direct tensile tests cooperated with acoustic emission (AE) source locating technique as well.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.76-85
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• 2022

One of the most fundamental challenges when designing controllers for dynamic systems is the adjustment of controller parameters. Usually the system model is used to get the initial controller, but eventually the controller parameters must be manually adjusted in the real system to achieve the best performance. To avoid this manual tuning step, data-driven methods such as machine learning were used. Recently, reinforcement learning became one alternative of this problem to be considered as an agent learns policies in large state space with trial-and-error Markov Decision Process (MDP) which is widely used in the field of robotics. However, on initial training step, as an agent tries to explore to the new state space with random action and acts directly on the controller parameters in real systems, MDP can lead the system safety-critical system failures. Therefore, the issue of 'safe exploration' became important. In this paper we meet 'safe exploration' condition with Control Barrier Function (CBF) which converts direct constraints on the state space to the implicit constraint of the control inputs. Given an initial low-performance controller, it automatically optimizes the parameters of the control law while ensuring safety by the CBF so that the agent can learn how to predict and control unknown and often stochastic environments. Simulation results on a quadrotor UAV indicate that the proposed method can safely optimize controller parameters quickly and automatically.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.217-230
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• 2023

Methods for designing the post-tensioned anchorage zones at ultimate limit state has been specified in current design codes based on strut-and-tie models (STM). However, it is still not clear how to estimate the serviceability behavior of the anchorage zones. The serviceability is just indirectly taken into account by means of the reasonable reinforcement detailing. To address this issue, this paper is devoted to developing a modified strut-and-tie model (MSTM) to predict the behavior of concentric anchorage zones throughout the loading process. The principle of stationary complementary energy is introduced into STM at each load step to satisfy the compatibility condition and generate the unique MSTM. The structural behavior of anchorage zones can be achieved based on MSTM from loading to failure. Simplified formulas have been proposed to estimate the first cracking load, bearing capacity and maximum crack width with the consideration of the details of reinforcement bursting bars. The proposed model provides a definite method to control the bursting crack width in concentric anchorage zones. Four specimens with different bearing plate ratios have been designed and tested to validate the proposed method.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.485-497
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• 2024

Ring beam is the main anchorage zone of the tendons in the nuclear power prestressed concrete containment vessel (PCCV). Its safety is crucial and has a great influence on the overall performance of PCCV. In this paper, two half-scale ring beams were tested to investigate the mechanical performance of the anchorage zone in the PCCV under multidirectional pressure. The effect of working condition with different tension sequences was investigated. Additionally, a half axisymmetric plane model of the containment was established by the finite element simulation to further predict the experimental responses and propose the local reinforcement design in the anchorage zone of the ring beam. The results showed that the ultimate load of the specimens under both working conditions was greater than the nominal ultimate tensile force. The original reinforcement design could meet the bearing capacity requirements, but there was still room for optimization. The ring beam was generally under pressure in the anchorage area, while the splitting force appeared in the under-anchor area, and the spalling force appeared in the corner area of the tooth block, which could be targeted for local strengthening design.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.1275-1282
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• 2005

This paper deals with the numerical study for excavation crossing the fault zone and the change of support pattern in field. The numerical analyses by FLAC program were performed to evaluate the suitable support pattern influenced by the width of Fault Zone, considering rock mass condition(RMR classification). Based on the results, it is found that partial reinforcement or degrading support pattern is suitable, when the width of Fault is under 3m. But when the width of Fault is more than 6m(0.5D), extra support pattern for fault zone is acceptable. At field, this result is generally used as a guide in the construction of roadway tunnel, but it is also possible to vary this assessment along the condition of fault.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2009

Shape memory alloy has been used to improve the tensile strength of composite by the occurrence of compressive residual stress in matrix using its shape memory effect. In order to fabricate shape memory alloy composite, TiNi alloy fiber and Al2024 sheets were used as reinforcing material and matrix, respectively. In this study, TiNi/Al2024 shape memory alloy composite was made by using hot press method. In order to investigate bonding condition between TiNi reinforcement and Al matrix, the micro-structure of interface was observed by using optical microscope and diffusion layer of interface was measured by using Electron Probe Micro Analyser. And the mechanical properties of composite with three parameters(volume fraction of fiber, cold rolling amount and test temperature) were obtained by tensile test. The most optimum bonding condition for fabrication the TiNi/Al2024 composite material was obtained as holding for 30min. under the pressure of 60MPa at 793K. The strength of composite material increased considerably with the volume fraction of fiber up to 7.0%. And the tensile strength of this composite increased with the reduction ratio and it also depends on the volume fraction of fiber.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.660-670
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• 2009

Neighboring construction becomes mainstream of Ground excavation in downtown area. This causes the displacement, deformation, stress condition, etc of the ground surroundings. Therefore Neighboring construction have an effect on Neighboring structure. All these years a lot of Neighboring construction carried out, and the accumulation of technology also get accomplished. But earth retaining structure collapse happens yet. Types of earth retaining structure collapse are 12. 1. Failure of anchor or strut system, 2. Insufficiency of penetration, 3. H-pile Failure on excessive bending moment, 4. Slope sliding failure, 5. Excessive settlement of the back, 6. Deflection of H-pile, 7. Joint failure of coupled H-pile, 8. Rock failure when H-pile penetration is rock mass, 9. Plane arrangement of support systems are mechanically weak, 10. Boiling, 11. Heaving, 12. Over excavation. But field collapses are difficult for classification according to the type, because collapse process are complex with various types. When we consider the 12 collapse field, insufficient recognition of ground condition is 4 case. Thorough construction management prevents from fault construction. For limitations of soil survey, It is difficult to estimate ground condition exactly. Therefore, it should estimate the safety of earth retaining system, plan for necessary reinforcement, according to measurement and observation continuously.