• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.315-337
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• 2023

The steel structure is an assembly of individual structural members joined together by connections. The connections are the focal point to transfer the forces which is susceptible to damage easily. It is challenging to replace the affected connection parts after an earthquake. Hence, steel plates are utilised as a structural fuse that absorbs connection forces and fails first. The objective of the present research is to develop a beam-column end plate connection with single and dual fuse and study the effect of single fuse, dual fuse and combined action of fuse and damper. In this research, seismic resilient beam-column end plate connection is developed in the form of structural fuse. The novel connection consists of one main fuse was placed horizontally and secondary fuse was placed vertically over main fuse. The specimens are fabricated with the variation in number of fuse (single and dual) and position of fuse (beam flange top and bottom). From the fabricated ten specimens five specimens were loaded monotonically and five cyclically. The experimental results are compared with Finite Element Analysis results of Arunkumar and Umamaheswari (2022). The results are critically assessed in the aspect of moment-rotation behaviour, strain in connection components, connection stiffness, energy dissipation characteristics and ductility. While comparing the performance of total five specimens, the connection with fuse exhibited superior performance than the conventional connection. An equation is proposed for the moment of resistance of end-plate connection without and with structural fuse.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.1045-1067
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• 2016

Concrete bridges with corrugated steel webs and prestressed by both internal and external tendons have emerged as one of the promising bridge forms. In view of the different behaviour of components and the large shear deformation of webs with negligible flexural stiffness, the assumption that plane sections remain plane may no longer be valid, and therefore the classical Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam models may not be applicable. In the design of this type of bridges, both the ultimate load and ductility should be examined, which requires the estimation of full-range behaviour. An analytical sandwich beam model and its corresponding beam finite element model for geometric and material nonlinear analysis are developed for this type of bridges considering the diaphragm effects. Different rotations are assigned to the flanges and corrugated steel webs to describe the displacements. The model accounts for the interaction between the axial and flexural deformations of the beam, and uses the actual stress-strain curves of materials considering their stress path-dependence. With a nonlinear kinematical theory, complete description of the nonlinear interaction between the external tendons and the beam is obtained. The numerical model proposed is verified by experiments.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.313-333
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• 2013

The web-encased steel-concrete composite (WESCC) beam is a new developed steel-concrete composite beam. Experiments of six simply supported WESCC beam specimens were conducted. The effects of the shear-span ratio and steel section type were all investigated on the static behaviors such as failure modes, failure mechanism and bearing capacity. The experimental results denoted that all specimens failed in bending mode and the degree of combination between the bottom armor plate of steel shape and concrete were very well without any evident slippage, which demonstrated that the function of bottom armor plate and web were fully exerted in the WESCC beams. It could be concluded the WESCC beams have high stiffness, high load carrying capacity and advanced ductility. The design methods are proposed which mainly consist the bearing capacity calculation of bending and flexural rigidity. The calculation results of the bearing capacity and deflection which take the shear deflection into account are in agreement with the experimental results. The design methods are useful for design and application of the innovative composite beams.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.279-293
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• 2019

The overall seismic performance of existing pre 1960-70s reinforced concrete (RC) structures is significantly affected by the inadequate length of columns' lap-spliced reinforcement. Due to this crucial structural deficiency, the cyclic response is dominated by premature bond - slip failure, strength and stiffness degradation, poor energy dissipation capacity and low ductility. Recent earthquakes worldwide highlighted the importance of improving the load transfer mechanism between lap-spliced bars, while it was clearly demonstrated that the failure of lap splices may result in a devastating effect on structural integrity. Extensive experimental and analytical research was carried out herein, to evaluate the effectiveness and reliability of strengthening techniques applied to RC columns with lap-spliced reinforcement and also accurately predict the columns' response during an earthquake. Ten large scale cantilever column subassemblages, representative of columns found in existing pre 1970s RC structures, were constructed and strengthened by steel or RC jacketing. The enhanced specimens were imposed to earthquake-type loading and their lateral response was evaluated with respect to the hysteresis of two original and two control subassemblages. The main variables examined were the lap splice length, the steel jacket width and the amount of additional confinement offered by the jackets. Moreover, an analytical formulation proposed by Tsonos (2007a, 2019) was modified appropriately and applied to the lap splice region, to calculate shear stress developed in the concrete and predict if yielding of reinforcement is achieved. The accuracy of the analytical method was checked against experimental results from both the literature and the experimental work included herein.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.411-427
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• 2016

While the cyclic behaviour of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP)-confined columns is studied rather extensively, the cyclic response especially the energy dissipation of FRP-confined damaged and undamaged square RC columns is not yet fully understood. In this paper, an experimental and numerical investigation was conducted to study the cyclic behavior of two different types of Carbon FRP (CFRP)-confined square RC columns: strengthened and repaired. The main variables investigated are initial damage, confinement of CFRP, longitudinal steel reinforcement ratio. The experimental results show that lower initial damage, added confinement with CFRP and longitudinal reinforcement enhance the ductility, energy dissipation capacity and strength of the columns, decrease the stiffness and strength degradation rates of all CFRP-confined square RC columns. Two hysteretic constitutive models were developed for confined damaged and undamaged concrete and cast into the non-linear beam-column fiber-based models in the software Open System for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (OpenSees) to analyze the cyclic behavior of CFRP-confined damaged and undamaged columns. The results of the numerical models are in good agreement with the experiments.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.1283-1301
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• 2014

Ground motion modification is extensively used in seismic design of civil infrastructure, especially where few or no recorded ground motions representative of the design scenario are available. A site in Los Angeles, California is used as a study site and 28 ground motions consistent with the design earthquake scenario are selected. The suite of 28 ground motions is scaled and modified in the time domain (TD) and frequency domain (FD) before being used as input to a bilinear SDOF system. The median structural responses to the suites of scaled, TD-modified, and FD-modified motions, along with ratios of he modified-to-scaled responses, are investigated for SDOF systems with different periods, strength ratios, and post-yield stiffness ratios. Overall, little difference (less than 20%) is observed in the peak structural accelerations, velocities, and displacements; displacement ductility; and absolute accelerations caused by the TD-modified and FD-modified motions when compared to the responses caused by the scaled motions. The energy absorbed by the system when the modified motions are used as input is more than 20% greater than when scaled motions are used as input. The observed trends in the structural response are predominantly the result of changes in the ground motion characteristics caused by modification.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.261-271
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• 2018

Fiber reinforced cementitious composites (FRCC) materials that exhibit strain-hardening and multiple cracking properties under tension were recently developed as innovative building materials for construction. This study aims at exploring the use of FRCC on the seismic performance of coupling beams with conventional reinforcement. Experimental tests were conducted on seven FRCC precast coupling beams with small span-to-depth ratios and one ordinary concrete coupling beam for comparison. The crack and failure modes of the specimens under the low cycle reversed loading were observed, and the hysteretic characteristics, deformation capacity, energy dissipation capacity and stiffness degradation were also investigated. The results show that the FRCC coupling beams have good ductility and energy dissipation capacities compared with the ordinary concrete coupling beam. As the confinement stirrups and span-to-depth ratio increase, the deformation capacity and energy dissipation capacity of coupling beams can be improved significantly. Finally, based on the experimental analysis and shear mechanism, a formula for the shear capacity of the coupling beams with small span-to-depth ratios was also presented, and the calculated results agreed well with the experimental results.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.699-718
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• 2015

The effect of reinforcing concrete members with high strength steel bars with yield strength up to 600 MPa on the overall seismic behavior of concrete moment frames was studied experimentally and numerically. Three geometrically identical plane frame models with two bays and two stories, where one frame model was reinforced with hot rolled bars (HRB) with a nominal yield strength of 335 MPa and the other two by high strength steel bars with a nominal yield strength of 600 MPa, were tested under simulated earthquake action considering different axial load ratios to investigate the hysteretic behavior, ductility, strength and stiffness degradation, energy dissipation and plastic deformation characteristics. Test results indicate that utilizing high strength reinforcement can improve the structural resilience, reduce residual deformation and achieve favorable distribution pattern of plastic hinges on beams and columns. The frame models reinforced with normal and high strength steel bars have comparable overall deformation capacity. Compared with the frame model subjected to a low axial load ratio, the ones under a higher axial load ratio exhibit more plump hysteretic loops. The proved reliable finite element analysis software DIANA was used for the numerical simulation of the tests. The analytical results agree well with the experimental results.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.501-524
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• 2014

This paper presents a type of composite box girder with corrugated webs and concrete filled steel tube slab to overcome cracking on the web and reduce self-weight. Utilizing corrugated steel web improves the efficiency of prestressing introduced into the top and bottom slabs due to the accordion effect. In order to understand the loading capacity of such new composite structure, experimental and numerical analyses were conducted. A full-scale model was loaded monotonically to investigate the deflection, strain distribution, loading capacity and stiffness during the whole process. The experimental results show that test specimen has enough loading capacity and ductility. Based on experimental works, a finite element (FE) model was established. The load-displacement curves and stress distribution predicted by FE model agree well with that obtained from experiments, which demonstrates the accuracy of proposed FE model. Moreover, simplified theoretical analysis was conducted depending on the assumptions which were confirmed by the experimental and numerical results. The simplified analysis results are identical with the tested and numerical results, which indicate that simplified analytical model can be used to predict the loading capacity of such composite girder accurately. All the findings of present study may provide reference for the application of such structure in bridge construction.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.73 no.6
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• pp.699-714
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• 2020

Force based design (FBD) approach is prevalent in most of the national seismic design codes world over. Direct displacement based design (DDBD) and energy based design (EBD) approaches are relatively new methods of seismic design which claims to be more rational and predictive than the FBD. These three design approaches are conceptually distinct and imparts different strength, stiffness and ductility property to structural members for same plan configuration. In present study behavioural assessment of frame of six storey RC building designed using FBD, DDBD and EBD approaches has been performed. Lateral storey forces distribution, reinforcement design and results of nonlinear performance using static and dynamic methods have been compared. For the three approaches, considerable difference in lateral storey forces distribution and reinforcement design has been observed. Nonlinear pushover analysis and time history analysis results show that in FBD frame plastic deformation is concentrated in the lower storey, in EBD frame large plastic deformation is concentrated in the middle storeys though the inelastic hinges are well distributed over the height and, in DDBD frame plastic deformation is approximately uniform over the height. Overall the six storey frame designed using DDBD approach seems to be more rational than the other two methods.