• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.75-84
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• 2023

Currently, polymer matrix nanocomposites (PMCs) are a prominent area of research due to their outstanding mechanical, thermal, and durability properties. The increase in recent studies justifies the possibility of using PMCs in structural retrofitting and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure and serving as new structural material. Using nanotechnology, nanocomposite panels in flooring combine concrete and steel, providing a very high level of performance. In sports flooring, high-performance concrete has become a challenge for reducing sports injuries and refinement in rehabilitation. As a composite material, this type of resistant concrete is one of the most durable and complex multi-phase materials. This article uses polyvinyl alcohol polymer (PVC) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes as concrete matrix fillers. Solution methods have been used for dispersing PVC and carbon nanotubes in concrete. The water-cement ratio, carbon nanotube weight ratio, and heat treatment parameters influenced the concrete nanocomposite's tensile and compressive strength. The dispersion of carbon nanotubes in cement paste and the observation of nano-microcracks in concrete was evaluated by scanning electron microscope (SEM).

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.93-102
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• 2010

Recently, FRP usage for strengthening RC structures in civil engineering has been increasing. Especially, the use of FRP to strengthen structures against blast loading is growing rapidly. To estimate FRP retrofitting effect under blast loading, blast tests with nine $1,000{\times}1,000{\times}150\;mm$ RC panel specimens, which were retrofitted with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP), Polyurea, CFRP with Poly-urea and basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) have been carried out. The applied blast load was generated by the detonation of 15.88 kg ANFO explosive charge at 1.5 m standoff distance. The data acquisitions not only included blast waves of incident pressure, reflected pressure, and impulse, but also included central deflection and strains at steel, concrete, and FRP surfaces. The failure mode of each specimen was observed and compared with a control specimen. From the test results, the blast resistance of each retrofit material was determined. The test results of each retrofit material will provide the basic information for preliminary selection of retrofit material to achieve the target retrofit performance and protection level.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.117-132
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• 2023

The most prevalent and oldest type of structure is unreinforced masonry (URM) structures; URM walls are still a widely used construction material in India and many other developing countries due to their simplicity, ease of construction, economic sustainability, and ability to be built with locally available materials. URM walls are significantly weak while carrying lateral loads. The poor performance of URM walls during earthquakes has necessitated investigating an effective method for strengthening a newly built masonry building or retrofitting an old structure. Wire mesh, being cost-effective and easily available, satisfies the requirements to strengthen new and old URM buildings. The use of wire mesh to strengthen and retrofit the URM structure is simple to use, quick to construct, and inexpensive, especially in developing nations where heavy machinery and highly qualified labour are lacking. The current paper reviews the effectiveness of steel wire mesh as a reinforcing material for enhancing masonry strength. The finding gave encouraging results for the field application of wire mesh.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.503-509
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• 2011

ECC is a micro-mechanically designed cementitious composite which exhibits tightly controlled crack width and strain hardening behavior in uniaxial tension while using a moderate amount of reinforcing fiber, typically less than 2% fiber volume fraction. Recently, a variety of applications of this material ranging from repair and retrofit of structures, cast-in-place structures, to precast structural elements requiring high ductility are developed. In the present study, a retrofitting method using ECC reinforced with high strength rebar was proposed to enhance load-carrying capacity and crack control performance of deteriorated reinforced concrete (RC) beams. Six beam specimens were designed and tested under a four-point loading setup. The flexural test revealed that load-carrying capacity and crack control performance were significantly enhanced by the use of ECC and high strength rebar. This result will be useful for practical field applications of the proposed retrofitting method.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.499-511
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• 2018

This paper aims to investigate the seismic performance of the prestressed steel strips retrofitted RC beam-column joints. Two series of joint specimens were conducted under compression load and reversed cyclic loading through quasi-static tests. Based on the test results, the seismic behavior of the strengthened joints specimens in terms of the failure modes, hysteresis response, bearing capacity, ductility, stiffness degradation, energy dissipation performance and damage level were focused. Moreover, the effects of the amount of the prestressed steel strips and the axial compression ratio on seismic performance of retrofitted specimens were analyzed. It was shown that the prestressed steel strips retrofitting method could significantly improve the seismic behavior of the RC joint because of the large confinement provided by prestressed steel strips in beam-column joints. The decrease of the spacing and the increase of the layer number of the prestressed steel strips could result in a better seismic performance of the retrofitted joint specimens. Moreover, increasing the axial compression ration could enhance the peak load, stiffness and the energy performance of the joint specimens. Furthermore, by comparison with the specimens reinforced with CFRP sheets, the specimens reinforced with prestressed steel strips was slightly better in seismic performance and cost-saving in material and labor. Therefore, this prestressed steel strips retrofitting method is quite helpful to enhance the seismic behavior of the RC beam-column joints with reducing the cost and engineering time.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.16 no.1 s.79
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• pp.94-101
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• 2004

This study shows the test results of seven RC beams retrofitted with modified polymer system and parametric study about the effects of tensile strength of retrofitting materials by analytical method on the flexural behavior. The main parameters are the retrofitted depth and length. The beams are loaded to the failure by four-point loading. Test results show that the effect of the retrofitted length on the structural behavior is more significant than that of depth. As the retrofitted depth is increased, the beams represents the brittle failure mode The non-linear analysis is carried out to grasp the effect of the tensile strength of retrofitting material on the structural behavior. As the retrofitted depth and length are increased, the tensile strength becomes more effective so these parameters should be considered to determine the retrofitted area. The analytical results show that failure strength is less than that of experimental results, but the stiffness is vice versa.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.50-58
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• 2014

Due to the cost burden of new construction, the necessity of repair and retrofitting of aged structures is sharply increasing as the domain of repair and retrofitting construction is expanding. Because of the necessity, new technologies for repair and retrofitting are continuously studied in Korea and foreign countries. Steel adhesive method, fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) surface adhesive method, and external prestressing method are used to perform the repair and retrofitting works in Korea. In order to consider a repair method using steel mesh reinforced cement mortar (SMCM), 3-point flexural member test was conducted considering repair area and layer number of SMCM. Five types of specimens including ordinary reinforced concrete (RC) specimen with dimensions of $1400{\times}500{\times}200$ (mm) were cast for testing the deflection measurement, a LVDT was installed at the top center of the specimens. Also, a steel strain gauge and a concrete strain gauge were placed at the center of the specimens. A steel strain gauge was also installed on the shear reinforcement. The 3 point flexural member test results showed that the maximum load of SMCM reinforced specimen was higher than that of basic RC specimen in all of the load-displacement curves. Also, the results showed that, when the whole lower part of the basic RC specimen was reinforced, the maximum load and strain were 1.18 and 1.37 times higher than that of the basic RC specimen, respectively. Each specimen showed a slightly different failure behavior where the difference of the results was caused by the difference in the adhesive level between SMCM and RC. Particularly, in SM-B1 specimen, SMCM spalled off during the experiment. This failure behavior showed that the adhesive performance for RC must be improved in order to utilize SMCM as repair and retrofitting material.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.51-54
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• 2005

Reinforced Concrete structures have been commonly regarded as fire-resisting constructions. In the case of high-strength concrete, however, the behavior of a concrete member under fire and after fire has characteristics in different way with normal strength concrete members because of spalling. The resonable evaluation about the residual strength and stiffness of members as well as material properties has to be conducted before reusing the fire-damaged structures or retrofitting or strengthening them. Therefore, the guideline is needed for evaluation the residual strength and stiffness. In this study, the fire test is conducted with parameters like concrete strength, fire time and cover thickness, etc. The loads-deflection curves are used for comparison and analysis with the parameters.

• KCI Concrete Journal
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.61-68
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• 2002

An experimental investigation on the flexural fatigue behavior of a RC bridge slab retrofitted with Carbon Fiber Sheet (CFS) is presented. The test slab was almost identical to the slab of a highway viaduct in terms of the amount of reinforcement, quality of concrete and thickness of the slab, which was 18cm. Repeated load corresponding to 3.0, 4.5 or 6.0 times of the design load was applied to the test slab. Normal type and high-elastic modulus type of CFS were used for strengthening. The test slabs were loaded in dry or wet condition. Two different types of an-choring system were adapted. Some of the test slabs were damaged by the repeated load and retrofitted by CFS, then loaded again to see the improvement of the fatigue life. Infrared Thermography was also performed to investigate the debonding condition of CFS. From the test results, Carbon Fiber Sheet can be applied to the RC bridge slabs as a feasible retrofitting material.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.595-602
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• 2004

In this study, the roughness of fracture surfaces in cementitious material has been characterized by roughness number (RN). A systematic experimental investigation was carried out to examine the dependency of fracture parameters on the aggregate sizes as well as the loading rates. Three aggregate sizes (0.1875 in, 0.5 in, and 0.75 in) and two loading rates (slow and fast loading rate) were used. A total of 52 compression tests and 53 tension tests were performed. All fracture parameters exhibited an increase, to varying degrees, when aggregates were added to the mortar matrix. The fracture surfaces of the specimens were digitized and analyzed. Fracture roughness was monotonically increased as maximum aggregate sizes increase.