• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.67-78
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• 2021

The use of composite beams with partial interaction, with less shear connectors than those required for full interaction, may be advantageous in many situations. However, these beams tend to show higher deflections compared to beams with full interaction, and codified expressions for the calculation of such deflections are not fully developed and validated. Thus, this paper presents a comprehensive numerical study on the deflections of steel-concrete composite beams with partial interaction. Efficient numerical models of full-scale composite beams considering material nonlinearities and contact between their parts have been developed by means of the advanced software ABAQUS, including a damage model to simulate the concrete slab. The FE models were validated against experimental results, and subsequently parametric studies were developed to investigate the influence of the shear connection degree and the coefficient of friction in the deflection of composite beams. The comparison of predicted deflections using reference codes (AISC, Eurocode-4 and AS-2327.1) against numerical results showed that there are still inaccuracies in the estimation of deflections for the verification of the serviceability limit state, according to some of the analyzed codes.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.523-533
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• 2020

The current study focuses on the effect of the end shape of steel pipe piles on installation effort and bearing resistance using the pressing method of installation under dense ground conditions. The effect of pile rotation on the installation effort and bearing resistance is also investigated. The model steel piles with a flat end, cone end and cutting-edge end were used in this study. The test results indicated that cone end pile with the pressing method of installation required the least installation effort (load) and showed higher ultimate resistance than flat and cutting-edge end piles. However, pressing and rotation during cutting-edge end pile installation considerably reduces the installation effort (load and torque) if pile penetration in one rotation equal to the cutting-edge depth. Inclusion of rotation during pile installation reduces the ultimate bearing resistance. However, if penetration of the cutting-edge end pile equal to the cutting-edge depth in one rotation, the reduction in ultimate resistance can be minimized. In comparing the cone and cutting-edge end piles installed with pressing and rotation, the least installation effort is observed in the cutting-edge end pile installed with penetration rate equal to the cutting-edge depth per rotation.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.463-476
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• 2021

The concept of using Steel-concrete (SC) composite walls as retaining walls has recently been introduced by the authors and their effectiveness of resisting out-of-plane loads has also been demonstrated. In this paper, an improved analytical formulation based on partial interaction theory, which has previously been developed by the authors, is presented. The improved formulation considers a new loading condition and also accounts for cracking in concrete to simulate the real conditions. Due to a limited number of test specimens, further finite element (FE)simulations are performed in order to verify the analytical procedure in more detail. It is observed that the results from the improved analytical procedure are in excellent agreement with both experimental and numerical results. Moreover, a detailed parametric study is conducted using the developed FE model to investigate effects of different parameters, such as distance between shear connectors, shear connector length, concrete strength, steel plate thickness, concrete cover thickness, wall's width to thickness ratio, and wall's height to thickness ratio, on the behavior of SC composite walls subjected to out-of-plane loads.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.111-126
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• 2021

Concrete cracking due to brittle tension strength significantly prevents fully utilization of the materials for "flexural-shear failure" type shear walls. Theoretical and experimental studies applying fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) have achieved fruitful results in improving the seismic performance of "flexural-shear failure" reinforced concrete shear walls. To come to an understanding of an optimal design strategy and find common performance prediction method for design methodology in terms to FRC shear walls, seismic performance on shear walls with PVA and steel FRC at edge columns and plastic region are compared in this study. The seismic behavior including damage mode, lateral bearing capacity, deformation capacity, and energy dissipation capacity are analyzed on different fiber reinforcing strategies. The experimental comparison realized that the lateral strength and deformation capacity are significantly improved for the shear walls with PVA and steel FRC in the plastic region and PVA FRC in the edge columns; PVA FRC improves both in tensile crack prevention and shear tolerance while steel FRC shows enhancement mainly in shear resistance. Moreover, the tensile strength of the FRC are suggested to be considered, and the steel bars in the tension edge reaches the ultimate strength for the confinement of the FRC in the yield and maximum lateral bearing capacity prediction comparing with the model specified in provisions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.77 no.4
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• pp.559-569
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• 2021

This study was conducted to investigate the residual bearing capacity of steel-concrete composite beams under high-cycle fatigue loading through experiments and theoretical analysis. Six test beams with stud connectors were designed and fabricated for static, complete fatigue, and partial fatigue tests. The failure modes and the degradation of several mechanical performance indicators of the composite beams under high-cycle fatigue loading were analyzed. A calculation method for the residual bearing capacity of the composite beams after certain quantities of cyclic loading cycles was established by introducing nonlinear fatigue damage models for concrete, steel beam, and shear connectors beginning with the material residual strength attenuation process. The results show that the failure mode of the composite beams under the given fatigue load appears to be primarily affected by the number of cycles. As the number of fatigue loadings increases, the failure mode transforms from mid-span concrete crushing to stud cutting. The bearing capacity of a 3.0-m span composite beam after two million fatigue cycles is degraded by 30.7% due to premature failure of the stud. The calculated values of the residual bearing capacity method of the composite beam established in this paper agree well with the test values, which indicates that the model is feasibly applicable.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.395-406
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• 2021

This study experimentally and analytically investigates the shear behavior of corroded reinforced concrete (RC) beams repaired using steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) in the flexural zone. The experimental parameters are the corrosion degree (0%, 12%, and 17%) and the steel fiber volume in the SFRC (1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0%). The test results reveal that corrosion degree significantly affects the shear resistance of the beams. The shear capacity of the beam with the corrosion degree of 17% was higher than that of the uncorroded beam, whereas the shear capacity of the beam with the corrosion degree of 12% was lower than that of the uncorroded beam. The shear efficiency of damaged beams can be recovered by repairing them using SFRC that contains a reasonable amount of steel fibers. In addition, two methods to estimate the shear capacity of the repaired beams are developed using the modified truss analogy and strut-and-tie models. The estimated shear capacity of the beam using the modified truss analogy model agrees well with the experimental data.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.129-138
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• 2022

Collecting and labeling sufficient training data, which is essential to deep learning-based visual inspection, is difficult for manufacturers to perform because it is very expensive. This paper presents a steel plate surface defect detection system with industrial-grade detection performance by training a small amount of steel plate surface images consisting of labeled and non-labeled data. To overcome the problem of lack of training data, we propose two data augmentation techniques: program-based augmentation, which generates defect images in a geometric way, and generative model-based augmentation, which learns the distribution of labeled data. We also propose a 4-step semi-supervised learning using pseudo labels and consistency training with fixed-size augmentation in order to utilize unlabeled data for training. The proposed technique obtained about 99% defect detection performance for four defect types by using 100 real images including labeled and unlabeled data.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.77-88
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• 2022

Schiff base quinazoline derivative viz., 3-((2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzylidene)amino)-2-methylquinazolin-4(3H)-one (SB-Q), was synthesized in this study. Its corrosion protection impact on mild steel (MS) in 1 M hydrochloric acid solution was examined by performing weight loss measurements. The protective efficacy of SB-Q on MS in 1 M HCl was investigated based on its concentrations, immersion period, and immersion temperature. SB-Q was found to be an efficient inhibitor for the corrosion of MS. Its inhibition efficiency was improved by increasing the concentration of SB-Q to an optimal concentration of 500 ppm. Its inhibition efficacy was 96.3% at 303K. Experimental findings revealed that its inhibition efficiency was increased with increasing immersion time, but decreased with an increase in temperature. The adsorption of SB-Q molecules was followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. The adsorption of the examined inhibitor molecules on the surface of mild steel was studied by density functional theory (DFT). DFT investigation confirmed weight loss findings.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.553-568
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• 2022

This paper explored the viability of utilising titanium alloy bolts in the construction industry through an experimental programme, where a total of sixty-six titanium alloy (Ti/6Al/4V) bolts were tested under axial tension, pure shear and combined tension and shear. In addition, a series of Charpy V-notch specimens machined from titanium alloy bolts, conventional high-strength steel bolts, austenitic and duplex stainless steel bolts were tested for impact toughness comparisons. The obtained experimental results demonstrated that the axial tensile and pure shear capacities of titanium alloy bolts can be reasonably estimated by the current design standards for steel structures (Eurocode 3, AS 4100 and AISC 360). However, under the combined tension and shear loading conditions, significant underestimation by Eurocode 3 and unsafe predictions through AS 4100 and AISC 360 indicate that proper modifications are necessary to facilitate the safe and economic use of titanium alloy bolts. In addition, numerical models were developed to calibrate the fracture parameters of the tested titanium alloy bolts. Furthermore, a design-based selection process of titanium alloy bolts in the structural applications was proposed, in which the ultimate strength, ductility performance and corrosion resistance (including galvanic corrosion) of titanium alloy bolts was mainly considered.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.78 no.4
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• pp.455-471
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• 2021

The present work focuses on experimental and numerical performance of the ferrocement RC walls reinforced with welded steel mesh, expanded steel mesh, fiber glass mesh and tensar mesh individually. The experimental program comprised twelve RC walls having the dimensions of 450 mm×100 mm×1000 mm under concentric compression loadings. The studied variables are the type of reinforcing materials, the number of mesh layers and volume fraction of reinforcement. The main aim is to assess the influence of engaging the new inventive materials in reinforcing the composite RC walls. Non-linear finite element analysis; (NLFEA) was carried out to simulate the behavior of the composite walls employing ANSYS-10.0 Software. Parametric study is also demonstrated to check out the variables that can mainly influence the mechanical behavior of the model such as the change of wall dimensions. The obtained numerical results indicated the acceptable accuracy of FE simulations in the estimation of experimental values. In addition, the strength gained of specimens reinforced with welded steel mesh was higher by amount 40% compared with those reinforced with expanded steel mesh. Ferrocement specimens tested under axial compression loadings exhibit superior ultimate loads and energy absorbing capacity compared to the conventional reinforced concrete one.