• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.78 no.2
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• pp.163-174
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• 2021

Track-bridge interaction has become an essential part in the design of bridges and rails in terms of modern railways. As a unique ballastless slab track, the longitudinal continuous slab track (LCST) or referred to as the China railway track system Type-II (CRTS II) slab track, demonstrates a complex force mechanism. Therefore, a comprehensive track-bridge interaction study between multi-span simply supported beam bridges and the LCST is presented in this work. In specific, we have developed an integrated finite element model to investigate the overall interaction effects of the LCST-bridge system subjected to the actions of temperature changes, traffic loads, and braking forces. In that place, the deformation patterns of the track and bridge, and the distributions of longitudinal forces and the interfacial shear stress are studied. Our results show that the additional rail stress has been reduced under various loads and the rail's deformation has become much smoother after the transition of the two continuous structural layers of the LCST. However, the influence of the temperature difference of bridges is significant and cannot be ignored as this action can bend the bridge like the traffic load. The uniform temperature change causes the tensile stress of the concrete track structure and further induce cracks in them. Additionally, the influences of the friction coefficient of the sliding layer and the interfacial bond characteristics on the LCST's performance are discussed. The systematic study presented in this work may have some potential impacts on the understanding of the overall mechanical behavior of the LCST-bridge system.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Structure & Construction
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.3-10
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• 2018

This paper described the shear strengthening effect by deviator location in pre-damaged reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened with externally post-tensioning steel rods. Three reinforced concrete beams as control beam and eight post-tensioned beams using external steel rods were tested to fail in shear. The externally post-tensioning material was a steel rod of 22 mm diameter, and it had a 655 MPa yield strength and an 805 MPa tensile strength. Specimens depend on multiple variables, such as the number of deviators, location of deviator, and load pattern. The pre-damaged loads up to about 2/3 of ultimate shear capacities were applied to specimens using displacement control and the diagonal shear crack just occurred at these loading levels. And then, the post-tensioning up to when a strain of steel rod reaches about $2000{\mu}{\varepsilon}$ was continuously applied to beam. A displacement control was changed to a load control during post-tensioning. The post-tensioning resulted in increase of load-carrying capacity and restoration of existing deflection. Also, it prevented the existing diagonal cracks from excessively growing. Two deviators effectively improved the load capacity when compared with in case of test which one deviator at mid-span installed. When deviators were located near region which the diagonal crack occurred on, the strengthening impact by post-tensioning was greater.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.329-337
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• 2008

During the continuous casting of boron-bearing steel, the corner cracks on the slab are formed by deformation with low strain rate and rapid cooling at the unbending temperature within the range of 800- $1000^{\circ}C$. Especially, the rapid cooling in the corner of slab during the continuous casting leads to as corner cracking. Therefore, in this study, the hot tensile tests applied to the different cooling rates were taken into account in order to study the effect of cooling rate on the hot ductility of boron-bearing steel. The results revealed that increasing cooling rate deteriorate the hot ductility of boron- bearing steel. Rapid decreasing of the hot ductility is caused by formation of a film-like ferrite and precipitate at the austenite grain boundaries. The morphology of the precipitates in the boron-bearing steel was monitored by PTA (Particle Tracking Autoradiography) and TEM, we observed MnS and BN compound and their morphology was quite different depending on the cooling rates. When the cooling rate is increased, rodshape MnS and BN precipitates can be formed along the austenite grain boundaries. It can cause that weakening the boundary region and decreasing the hot ductility of boron-bearing steel.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.74-85
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• 2022

The purpose of this paper is to review the applicability of the current standards for the evaluation method of input variables and performance level in seismic performance evaluation by dynamic plastic analysis of the concrete gravity-type dam to which MCE is applied, and to suggest improvements. To this end, a domestic concrete gravity-type dam was selected as a target facility, dynamic plasticity analysis was performed under various conditions, and applicability to input variables such as concrete tensile strength and breaking energy, was reviewed. By analyzing the effect of cracks at the bottom of the gravity dam on the stability of the activity, an improvement plan for the performance level evaluation method required to secure the water storage function was derived. If the proposed improvement plan is applied, it will have the effect of deriving more reasonable evaluation results than the current seismic performance evaluation method to which MCE is applied.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.93-105
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• 2022

With the exploitation of natural resources in China, underground resource extraction and underground space development, as well as other engineering activities are increasing, resulting in the creation of many defective rocks. In this paper, uniaxial compression tests were performed on rocks with double holes and fractures at different angles using particle flow code (PFC2D) numerical simulations and laboratory experiments. The failure behavior and mechanical properties of rock samples with holes and fractures at different angles were analyzed. The failure modes of rock with defects at different angles were identified. The fracture propagation and stress evolution characteristics of rock with fractures at different angles were determined. The results reveal that compared to intact rocks, the peak stress, elastic modulus, peak strain, initiation stress, and damage stress of fractured rocks with different fracture angles around holes are lower. As the fracture angle increases, the gap in mechanical properties between the defective rock and the intact rock gradually decreased. In the force chain diagram, the compressive stress concentration range of the combined defect of cracks and holes starts to decrease, and the model is gradually destroyed as the tensile stress range gradually increases. When the peak stress is reached, the acoustic emission energy is highest and the rock undergoes brittle damage. Through a comparative study using laboratory tests, the results of laboratory real rocks and numerical simulation experiments were verified and the macroscopic failure characteristics of the real and simulated rocks were determined to be similar. This study can help us correctly understand the mechanical properties of rocks with defects and provide theoretical guidance for practical rock engineering.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.1
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• pp.93-105
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• 2022

The brittleness of concrete can be overcome by fiber reinforcement that controls the crack mechanisms of concrete. Corrosion-related durability issues can be prevented by synthetic fibers (SFs), while macro synthetic fibers have proven to be particularly effective to provide ductility and toughness after cracks. This experimental study has been performed to investigate the comparative flexural and mechanical behavior of four different macro-synthetic fiber-reinforced concretes (SFRCs). Two polyamide fibers (SF1 and SF2) with different aspect ratios and two different polypropylene fiber types (SF3 and SF4) were used in production of SFRCs. Four different SFRCs and reference concrete were compared for their influences on the toughness, compressive strength, elastic modulus, flexural strength, residual strength and splitting tensile strength. The outcomes of the study reveal that the flowability of reference mixture decreases after addition of SFs and the air voids of all SFRC mixtures increased with the addition of macro-synthetic fibers except SFRC2 mixture whose air content is the same as the reference mixture. The results also revealed that with the inclusion of SFs, 11.34% reduction in the cube compressive strength was noted for SFRC4 based on that of reference specimens and both reference concrete and SFRC exhibited nearly similar cylindrical compressive strength. Results illustrated that SFRC1 and SFRC4 mixtures consistently provide the highest and lowest flexural toughness values of 36.4 joule and 27.7 joule respectively. The toughness values of SFRC3 and SFRC4 are very near to each other.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.1
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• pp.121-131
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• 2022

The main goal of this study is to prepare a program for analyzing High Strength Steel Fibrous Reinforced Concrete (HSSFRC) slabs and predict the response and strength of the slab instead of preparing a prototype and testing it in the laboratory. For this purpose, new equations are proposed to represent the material properties of High Strength Steel Fibrous Reinforced Concrete. The proposed equations obtained from performing regression analysis on many experimental results using statistical programs. The finite element method is adopted for non-linear analysis of the slabs. The eight-node "Serendipity element" (3 DoF) is chosen to represent the concrete. The layered approach is adopted for concrete elements and the steel reinforcement is represented by a smeared layer. The compression properties of the concrete are modeled by a work hardening plasticity approach and the yield condition is determined depending on the first two stress invariants. A tensile strength criterion is adopted in order to estimate the cracks propagation. many experimental results for testing slabs are compared with the numerical results of the present study and a good agreement is achieved regarding load-deflection curves and crack pattern. The response of the load deflection curve is slightly stiff at the beginning because the creep effect is not considered in this study and for assuming perfect bond between the steel reinforcement and the concrete, however, a great agreement is achieved between the ultimate load from the present study and experimental results. For the models of the tension stiffening and cracked shear modulus, the value of Bg and Bt (Where Bg and Bt are the curvature factor for the cracked shear modulus and tension stiffening models respectively) equal to 0.005 give good results compared with experimental result.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.299-330
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• 2022

This review article highlights the physical, mechanical, and chemical properties of coconut shells, and the fresh and hardened properties of the coconut shell concrete are summarized and were compared with other types of aggregates. Furthermore, the structural behavior in terms of flexural, shear, and torsion was also highlighted, with other properties including shrinkage, elastic modulus, and permeability of the coconut shell concrete. Based on the reviewed literature, concrete containing coconut shell as coarse aggregate with normal sand as fine showed the 28-day compressive strength between 2 and 36 MPa with the dried density range of 1865 to 2300 kg/m³. Coconut shell concretes showed a 28-day modulus of rupture and splitting tensile strength values in the ranges of 2.59 to 8.45 MPa and 0.8 to 3.70 MPa, respectively, and these values were in the range of 5-20% of the compressive strength. The flexural behavior of CSC was found similar to other types of lightweight concrete. There were no horizontal cracks on beams which indicate no bond failure. Whereas, the diagonal shear failure was prominent in beams with no shear reinforcements while flexural failure mode was seen in beams having shear reinforcement. Under torsion, CSC beams behave like conventional concrete. Finally, future recommendations are also suggested in this study to investigate the innovative lightweight aggregate concrete based on the environmental and financial design factors.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.199-213
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• 2022

Experimental and discrete element approaches were used to examine the effects of F shape non-persistent joints on the failure behaviour of concrete under uniaxial compressive test. concrete specimens with dimensions of 200 cm×200 cm×50 cm were provided. Within the specimen, F shape non-persistent joint consisting three joints were provided. The large joint length was 6 cm, and the length of two small joints were 2 cm. Vertical distance between two small joints change from 1.5 cm to 4.5 cm with increment of 1.5 cm. In constant joint lengths, the angle of large joint change from 0° to 90° with increments of 30°. Totally 12 different models were tested under compression test. The axial load rate on the model was 0.05 mm/min. Concurrent with experimental tests, numerical simulation (Particle flow code in two dimension) were performed on the models containing F shape non-persistent joint. Distance between small joints and joint angles were similar to experimental one. the results indicated that the failure process was mostly governed by both of the Distance between small joints and joint angles. The axial loading rate on the model was 0.05 mm/min. The compressive strengths of the samples were related to the fracture pattern and failure mechanism of the discontinuities. Furthermore, it was shown that the compressive behaviour of discontinuities is related to the number of the induced tensile cracks which are increased by increasing the joint angle. In the first, there were only a few acoustic emission (AE) hits in the initial stage of loading, and then AE hits rapidly grow before the applied stress reached its peak. Furthermore, a large number of AE hits accompanied every stress drop. Finally, the failure pattern and failure strength are similar in both approaches i.e., the experimental testing and the numerical simulation approaches.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.4A
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• pp.267-279
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• 2009

A numerical model that can simulate the nonlinear behavior of ultra high strength fiber reinforced concrete (UHSFRC) structures subjected to monotonic loading is introduced. The material properties of UHSFRC, such as compressive and tensile strength or elastic modulus, are different from normal strength reinforced concrete. The uniaxial compressive stress-strain relationship of UHSFRC is designed on the basis of experimental result, and the equivalent uniaxial stress-strain relationship is introduced for proper estimation of UHSFRC structures. The steel is uniformly distributed over the concrete matrix with particular orientation angle. In advance, this paper introduces a numerical model that can simulate the tension-stiffening behavior of tension part of the axial member on the basis of the bond-slip relationship. The reaction of steel fiber is considered for the numerical model after cracks of the concrete matrix with steel fibers are formed. Finally, the introduced numerical model is validated by comparison with test results for idealized UHSFRC beams.