• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.229-236
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• 2004

Radiation hardening is a multiscale phenomenon involving various processes over a wide range of time and length. We present a multiscale model for estimating the amount of radiation hardening in pressure vessel steel in the environment of a light water reactor. The model comprises two main parts: molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and a point defect cluster (PDC) model. The MD simulation was used to investigate the primary damage caused by displacement cascades. The PDC model mathematically formulates interactions between point defects and their clusters, which explains the evolution of microstructures. We then used a dislocation barrier model to calculate the hardening due to the PDCs. The key input for this multiscale model is a neutron spectrum at the inner surface of reactor pressure vessel steel of the Younggwang Nuclear Power Plant No.5. A combined calculation from the MD simulation and the PDC model provides a convenient tool for estimating the amount of radiation hardening.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.659-676
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• 2005

The novel form of composite walling system consists of two skins of profiled steel sheeting with an in-fill of concrete. The behaviour of such walling under in-plane shear is important in order to utilise this system as shear elements in a steel framed building. Steel sheet-concrete interface governs composite action, overall behaviour and failure modes of such walls. This paper describes the finite element (FE) modelling of the shear behaviour of walls with particular emphasis on the simulation of steel-concrete interface. The modelling of complex non-linear steel-concrete interaction in composite walls is conducted by using different FE models. Four FE models are developed and characterized by their approaches to simulate steel-concrete interface behaviour allowing either full or partial composite action. Non-linear interface or joint elements are introduced between steel and concrete to simulate partial composite action that allows steel-concrete in-plane slip or out of plane separation. The properties of such interface/joint elements are optimised through extensive parametric FE analysis using experimental results to achieve reliable and accurate simulation of actual steel-concrete interaction in a wall. The performance of developed FE models is validated through small-scale model tests. FE models are found to simulate strength, stiffness and strain characteristics reasonably well. The performance of a model with joint elements connecting steel and concrete layers is found better than full composite (without interface or joint elements) and other models with interface elements. The proposed FE model can be used to simulate the shear behaviour of composite walls in practical situation.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.95-106
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• 2020

Castellated beams fabricated from standard I-sections are being used for several structural applications such as commercial and industrial buildings, multistory buildings, warehouses and portal frames in view of numerous advantages. The advantages include enhanced moment of inertia, stiffness, flexural resistance, reduction in weight of structure, by passing the used plate girders, the passage of service through the web openings etc. In the present study, experimental and numerical investigations were carried out on concrete encased steel castellated beams with hexagonal openings under flexural loading. Various positions of openings such as along the neutral axis, above the neutral axis and below the neutral axis were considered for the study. From the experimental findings, it has been observed that the load-carrying capacity of the castellated beam with web opening above neutral axis is found to be higher compared to other configurations. Nonlinear finite element analysis was performed by using general purpose finite element software ABAQUS considering the material nonlinearities. Concrete damage plasticity model was employed to model the nonlinearity of concrete and elasto-plastic model for steel. It has been observed that FE model could able to capture the behaviour of concrete encased steel castellated beams and the predicted values are in good agreement with the corresponding experimental values.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.409-423
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• 2017

This paper presents an experimental study on damage evolution laws of solid-web steel reinforced concrete (SRC) T-shaped columns along the direction of the web under various loadings. Ten specimens with a scale ratio of 1/2 and a shear span ratio of 2.5 were designed and fabricated. The influences of various parameters, including the axial compression ratio, steel ratio, and loading mode, were examined. The mechanical performances including load-displacement curve and energy dissipation capacity under the monotonic and low cyclic loadings were analyzed. Compared with the monotonic loading, bearing capacity, ultimate deformation capacity, and energy dissipation capacity of the specimens decrease to some extent with the increase of the displacement amplitude and the number of loading cycle. The results show that the damage process of the SRC T-shaped column can be divided into five stages, namely non-damage, slight-damage, steadily-developing-damage, severe-damage and complete-damage. Finally, based on the Park-Ang model, a modified nonlinear damage model which combines the maximum deformation with hysteretic energy dissipation is proposed by taking into account the dynamic influence of the aforementioned parameters. The results show that the modified model in this paper is more accurate than Park-Ang model and can better describe the damage evolution of SRC T-shaped columns.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.583-594
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• 2019

In the areas highly exposed to earthquakes, concrete-filled steel tube columns (CFSTCs) are known to provide superior structural aspects such as (i) high strength for good seismic performance (ii) high ductility (iii) enhanced energy absorption (iv) confining pressure to concrete, (v) high section modulus, etc. Numerous studies were reported on behavior of CFSTCs under axial compression loadings. This paper presents an analytical model to predict ultimate load capacity of CFSTCs with circular sections under axial load by using multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS). MARS is a nonlinear and non-parametric regression methodology. After careful study of literature, 150 comprehensive experimental data presented in the previous studies were examined to prepare a data set and the dependent variables such as geometrical and mechanical properties of circular CFST system have been identified. Basically, MARS model establishes a relation between predictors and dependent variables. Separate regression lines can be formed through the concept of divide and conquers strategy. About 70% of the consolidated data has been used for development of model and the rest of the data has been used for validation of the model. Proper care has been taken such that the input data consists of all ranges of variables. From the studies, it is noted that the predicted ultimate axial load capacity of CFSTCs is found to match with the corresponding experimental observations of literature.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.199-212
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• 2019

This paper presents an investigation on seismic behavior of out-of-code Q690 circular high-strength concrete-filled thin-walled steel tubular (HCFTST) columns made up of high-strength (HS) steel tubes (yield strength $f_y{\geq}690MPa$). Eight Q690 circular HCFTST columns with various diameter-to-thickness (D/t) ratios, concrete cylinder compressive strengths ($f_c$) and axial compression ratios (n) were tested under the constant axial loading and reversed cyclic lateral loading. The obtained lateral load-displacement hysteretic curves, energy dissipation, skeleton curves and ductility, and stiffness degradation were analyzed in detail to reflect the influences of tested parameters. Subsequently, a simplified shear strength model was derived and validated by the test results. Finally, a finite element analysis (FEA) model incorporating a stress triaxiality dependent fracture criterion was established to simulate the seismic behavior. The systematic investigation indicates the following: compared to the D/t ratio and axial compression ratio, improving the concrete compressive strength (e.g., the HS thin-walled steel tube filled with HS concrete) had a slight influence on the ductility but an obvious enhancement of energy dissipation and peak load; the simplified shear strength model based on truss mechanism accurately predicted the shear-resisting capacity; and the established FEA model incorporating steel fracture criterion simulated well the seismic behavior (e.g., hysteretic curve, local buckling and fracture), which can be applied to the seismic analysis and design of Q690 circular HCFTST columns.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.123-133
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• 2023

This paper proposes a thermography-based coating thickness estimation method for steel structures using model-agnostic meta-learning. In the proposed method, a halogen lamp generates heat energy on the coating surface of a steel structure, and the resulting heat responses are measured using an infrared (IR) camera. The measured heat responses are then analyzed using model-agnostic meta-learning to estimate the coating thickness, which is visualized throughout the inspection surface of the steel structure. Current coating thickness estimation methods rely on point measurement and their inspection area is limited to a single point, whereas the proposed method can inspect a larger area with higher accuracy. In contrast to previous ANN-based methods, which require a large amount of data for training and validation, the proposed method can estimate the coating thickness using only 10- pixel points for each material. In addition, the proposed model has broader applicability than previous methods, allowing it to be applied to various materials after meta-training. The performance of the proposed method was validated using laboratory-scale and field tests with different coating materials; the results demonstrated that the error of the proposed method was less than 5% when estimating coating thicknesses ranging from 40 to 500 ㎛.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.769-788
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• 2022

In this paper a mathematical model for the prediction of the fire resistance of slim-floor steel beams based on an Artificial Neural Network modeling procedure is presented. The artificial neural network models are trained and tested using an analytical database compiled for this purpose from analytical results based on FEM. The proposed model was selected as the optimum from a plethora of alternatives, employing different activation functions in the context of Artificial Neural Network technique. The performance of the developed model was compared against analytical results, employing several performance indices. It was found that the proposed model achieves remarkably improved predictions of the fire resistance of slim-floor steel beams. Moreover, based on the optimum developed AN model a closed-form equation for the estimation of fire resistance is derived, which can prove a useful tool for researchers and engineers, while at the same time can effectively support the teaching of this subject at an academic level.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.643-658
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• 2024

To date, shell-solid and fibre element model analysis are the most commonly used methods to investigate the seismic performance of concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) bridge piers. However, most existing research does not consider the loss of bearing capacity caused by the fracture of the outer steel tube. To fill this knowledge gap, a refined finite element (FE) model considering the ductile damage of steel tubes and the behaviour of infilled concrete with cracks is established and verified against experimental results of unidirectional, bidirectional cyclic loading tests and pseudo-dynamic loading tests. In addition, a parametric study is conducted to investigate the seismic performance of CFST bridge piers with different concrete strength, steel strength, axial compression ratio, slenderness ratio and infilled concrete height using the proposed model. The validation shows that the proposed refined FE model can effectively simulate the residual displacement of CFST bridge piers subjected to highintensity earthquakes. The parametric analysis indicates that CFST piers hold sufficient strength reserves and sound deformation capacity and, thus, possess excellent application prospects for bridge construction in high-intensity areas.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1998.04a
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• pp.315-320
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• 1998

The experimental set-up and one-dimensional analytical model have been developed to investigate the tensile behavior of reinforced concrete member due to restrained drying shrinkage. The experimental results have been compared with the analytical prediction of the maximum residual stress of steel and concrete due to restrained shrinkage. The tensile residual stress concrete by one-dimensional bilinear model shows 0.19 and 0.63 of tensile strength for 0.83% and 3.29 of steel ratio. The residual tensile stress of concrete increases as the steel ratio increases. The effect of steel fiber has not influenced the residual stress due to restrained shrinkage of concrete.