• Computers and Concrete
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.383-397
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• 2013

Two-dimensional tensile stresses are occurring at the back of the anchorage of the tendons of prestressed concrete bridges. A new method named "tensile stress region" for the design of the reinforcement is presented in this paper. The basic idea of this approach is the division of an anchor block into several slices, which are described by the tensile stress region. The orthogonal reinforcing wire mesh can be designed in each slice to resist the tensile stresses. Additionally the sum of the depth of every slice defined by the tensile stress region is used to control the required length of the longitudinal reinforcement bars. An example for the reinforcement design of an anchorage block of an external prestressed concrete bridge is analyzed by means of the new presented method and a finite element model is established to compare the results. Furthermore the influence of the transverse and vertical prestressing on the ordinary reinforcement design is taken into account. The results show that the amount of reinforcement bars at the anchorage block is influenced by the layout of the transverse and the vertical prestressing tendons. Using the "tensile stress region" method, the ordinary reinforcement bars can be designed more precisely compared to the design codes, and arranged according to the stress state in every slice.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.250-260
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• 2018

In order to control the quadcopter using reinforcement learning, hovering of 1-axial drones prototype is implemented through reinforcement learning. A complementary filter is used to measure the correct angle, and the range of angles is from -180 degrees to +180 degrees using modified complementary filter. The policy gradient method is used together with the REINFORCE algorithm for reinforcement learning. The prototype learned in this way confirmed the difference in performance depending on the length of the episode.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.305-317
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• 2018

Steel reinforced Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) components have been proposed for seismic structural applications, for example in coupling beams, infill panels, joints, columns, and flexural members. The development of strain in the steel reinforcement of cementitious components has been shown to vary based on both the steel reinforcement ratio and the applied deformation history. Strain in the steel reinforcement of reinforced ECC components is an important structural response metric because ultimate failure is often by fracture of the steel reinforcement. A recently proposed bond-slip model has been successfully calibrated to cyclically tested reinforced ECC beams wherein the deformation history contained monotonically increasing cycles. This paper reports simulations of two-dimensional finite element models of reinforced ECC beams to determine the appropriateness and significance of altering a phenomenological bond-slip model based on the applied deformation history. The numerical simulations with various values of post-peak bond-slip softening stiffness are compared to experimental results. Varying the post-peak bond-slip softening stiffness had little effect on the cracking patterns and hysteretic response of the reinforced ECC flexural models tested, which consisted of two different steel reinforcement ratios subjected to two different deformation histories. Varying the post-peak bond-slip softening stiffness did, however, affect the magnitude of strain and the length of reinforcing bar that strain-hardened. Overall, a numerical model with a constant bond-slip model represented well various responses in reinforced ECC beams with multiple steel reinforcement ratios subjected to different deformation histories.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.337-346
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• 2005

The paper reports on a study of bond strength between reduced-water-content concrete and tensile reinforcement in spliced mode. Three different diameters (12, 16 and 22 mm) of tensile steel were spliced in the constant moment zone, where there were two bars of same size in tension. For each diameter of reinforcement, a total of nine beams ($1900{\times}270{\times}180mm$) were tested, of which three beams were with no axial force (positive bending) and the other six beams were with axial force (combined bending). The splice length was selected so that bars would fail in bond, splitting the concrete cover in the splice region, before reaching the yield point. It was found that there was a considerable size effect in the experimental results, i.e., as the diameter of the reinforcement reduced the bond strength and the deflection recorded at the midspan increased significantly, whilst the stiffness of the beams reduced. It was also found for all reinforcement sizes that higher bond strength and stiffness were obtained for beams tested in combined bending than that of the beams tested in positive bending only.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.43-50
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• 2016

A reinforcement is required to ensure the structural safety in case of railway embankment excavation under railway load. A large diameter soil nailing with concrete wall is applied as the reinforcement method instead of the conventional soil nailing system. In this study, a series of 3 dimensional numerical analyses are performed to investigate the optimum reinforcement considering 15 different conditions based on the length, lateral spacing, diameter, and inclination of the reinforcement. The interface between soil nail and perimetric grout is considered by means of cohesion, stiffness and perimeter of the grout. 0.3 m of reinforcement diameter is assessed as the most appropriate based on the economical viewpoint though ground displacement decreases with the increase of diameter, however the difference of displacement is negligible between 0.4 m and 0.3 m of diameter. Surface settlement, lateral displacement of wall, and stress of reinforcement are calculated and economic viewpoint to reinforce embankment considered. Consequently, the optimum reinforcement conditions considering those factors are evaluated as 3 m in length, 0.3 m in diameter, 1.5 m in lateral spacing, and 10 degree of inclination angle in the case of 3 m of excavation depth. Additionally, inclined potential failure surface occurs with approximately 60 degrees from the end of nails and the surface settlement and wall lateral displacement are restrained successfully by the large diameter soil nailing, based on the result of shear strain rate.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.594-601
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• 2019

A true MSEW abutment is an abutment type that directly supports the load of a superstructure. Metal strips, which are in-extensile reinforcements, should be used to minimize abutment deformation. A study to derive the application conditions of a True MSEW abutment was carried out by Zevogolis(2007). As a result, the pullout factor of safety of the uppermost reinforcement was estimated to be the smallest. Therefore, the pullout factor of safety of the uppermost reinforcement is the most important design factor. Parameter analysis was conducted with the abutment length, abutment heel, and abutment height as variables. The pullout factor of safety increased with increasing abutment length and abutment heel length. This is because the contact area increases and the superstructure is dispersed as the abutment length and abutment heel length increase. The pullout factor of safety converges at an abutment length of 1.2m and an abutment heel length of 0.9m. This is because the effective length of the reinforcement is reduced due to the increase in contact area. On the other hand, the extension of the superstructure will increase if the abutment length and abutment heel length are increased excessively. In addition, earth-volume is increased if the abutment height increases excessively. This acts as an upper load on the MSE wall. Therefore, it needs to be examined carefully.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.211-217
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• 2011

Although a compression splice length does not need to be longer than a tension splice length due to end bearing effect, current design codes impose a longer compression lap splice than a tension lap splice in high strength concrete. Hence, new criteria for the compression lap splice including concrete strength effect need to be found for economical design of ultra-high strength concrete. An experimental study has been conducted using column specimens with concrete strength of 80 and 100 MPa with transverse reinforcement. The test results showed that splice strengths improved when the amount of transverse reinforcement increased. However, end bearing strength did not increase when larger amount of transverse reinforcement is provided within the spliced zone. Therefore, the splice strength enhancement was attributed to the improvement of bond. From regression analysis of 94 test results including specimens made with concrete strength of 40 and 60 MPa, a new design equation is proposed for compression lap splice in the concrete compressive strength ranging from 40 to 100 MPa with transverse reinforcement. By using the proposed equation, the incorrect design equations for lap splice lengths in tension and compression can be corrected. In addition, the equation has a reliability equivalent to those of the specified strengths of materials.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.69-79
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• 2014

This paper presents the experimental results of flexural behavior of steel beam strengthened with fiber reinforced polymer plastic (FRP) strips subjected to static bending loading. Four H beams were fabricated strengthened with aramid strips and carbon strips and one control specimen were also fabricated. Among them two specimens were strengthened with partial length. The H-beams had two types of failure mode, depending on the length of the FRP strips:(1) strip debonding in beams with partial length reinforcement and (2) strip rupture in beams with full length reinforcement. From the test, it was observed that maximum increase of 16% was also achieved in bending-load capacity.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.74 no.3
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• pp.313-323
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• 2020

Non-destructive tests are commonly used in construction industry to access the quality and strength of concrete. However, till date there is no non-destructive testing method that can be adopted to evaluate the bond condition of reinforced concrete beams. In this regard, the presented research work details the use of ultra-sonic pulse velocity test method to evaluate the bond condition of reinforced concrete beam. A detailed experimental research was conducted by testing four identical reinforced concrete beam samples. The samples were loaded in equal increments till failure and ultra-sonic pulse velocity readings were recorded along the length of the beam element. It was observed from experimentation that as the cracks developed in the sample, the ultra-sonic wave velocity reduced for the same path length. This reduction in wave velocity was used to identify the initiation, development and propagation of internal micro-cracks along the length of reinforcement. Using the developed experimental methodology, researchers were able to identify weak spots in bond along the length of the specimen. The proposed method can be adopted by engineers to access the quality of bond for steel reinforcement in beam members. This allows engineers to carryout localized repairs thereby resulting in reduction of time, cost and labor needed for strengthening. Furthermore, the methodology to apply the proposed technique in real-world along with various challenges associated with its application have also been highlighted.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.80 no.5
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• pp.585-594
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• 2021

Ductility is very important parameter in seismic design of RC members such as beams where it allows RC beams to dissipate the seismic energy. In this field, the curvature ductility has taken a large part of interest compared to the deflection ductility. For this reason, the present paper aims to propose a general formula for predicting the deflection ductility factor of RC beams under mid-span load. Firstly, the moment area theorem is used to develop a model in order to calculate the yield and the ultimate deflections; then this model is validated by using some results extracted from previous researches. Secondly, a general formula of deflection ductility factor is written based on the developed deflection expressions. The new formula is depended on curvature ductility factor, beam length, and plastic hinge length. To facilitate the use of this formula, a parametric study on the curvature ductility factor is conducted in order to write it in simple manner without the need for curvature calculations. Therefore, the deflection ductility factor can be directly calculated based on beam length, plastic hinge length, concrete strength, reinforcement ratios, and yield strength of steel reinforcement. Finally, the new formula of deflection ductility factor is compared with the model previously developed based on the moment area theorem. The results show the good performance of the new formula.