• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.709-722
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• 2014

Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) is an innovative new material that, in comparison to conventional concretes, has high compressive strength and excellent ductility properties achieved through the addition of randomly dispersed short fibers to the concrete mix. This study presents the results of an experimental investigation on the behavior of axially loaded UHPC short circular columns wrapped with Carbon-FRP (CFRP), Glass-FRP (GFRP), and Aramid-FRP (AFRP) sheets. Six plain and 36 different types of FRP-wrapped UHPC columns with a diameter of 100 mm and a length of 200 mm were tested under monotonic axial compression. To predict the ultimate strength of the FRP-wrapped UHPC columns, a simple confinement model is presented and compared with four selected confinement models from the literature that have been developed for low and normal strength concrete columns. The results show that the FRP sheets can significantly enhance the ultimate strength and strain capacity of the UHPC columns. The average greatest increase in the ultimate strength and strain for the CFRP- and GFRP-wrapped UHPC columns was 48% and 128%, respectively, compared to that of their unconfined counterparts. All the selected confinement models overestimated the ultimate strength of the FRP-wrapped UHPC columns.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.699-710
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• 2020

Pitting corrosion commonly shaped in hull structure due to marine corrosive environment seriously causes the deterioration of structural performance. This paper deals with the ultimate strength behaviors of stiffened ship panels damaged by the pits subjected to uniaxial compression. A series of no-linear finite element analyses are carried out for three stiffened panels using ABAQUS software. Influences of the investigated typical parameters of pit degree (DOP), depth, location and distribution on the ultimate strength strength are discussed in detail. It is found that the ultimate strength is significantly reduced with increasing the DOP and pit depth and severely affected by the distribution. In addition, the pits including their distributions on the web have a slight effect on the ultimate strength. Compared with regular distribution, random one on the panel result in a change of collapse mode. Finally, an empirical formula as a function of corrosion volume loss is proposed for predicting the ultimate strength of stiffened panel.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.741-759
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• 2020

Steel plate-concrete composite slabs provide attractive features, such as more effective loading transfer, and more cost-effective stay-in-place forms, thereby enabling engineers to design more high-performance light structures. Although significant studies in the literatures have been directed toward designing and implementing the steel plate-concrete composite beams, there are limited data available for understanding of the composite slabs. To fill this gap, nine the composite slabs with different variables in this study were tested to unveil the impacts of the critical factors on the ultimate strength behavior. The key information of the findings included sample failure modes, crack pattern, and ultimate strength behavior of the composite slabs under either four-point or three-point loading. Test results showed that the failure modes varied from delamination to shear failures under different design factors. Particularly, the shear stud spacing and thicknesses of the concrete slabs significantly affected their ultimate load-carrying capacities. Moreover, an analytical model of the composite slabs was derived for determining their ultimate load-carrying capacity and was well verified by the experimental data. Further extensive parametric study using the proposed analytical methods was conducted for a more comprehensive investigation of those critical factors in their performance. These findings are expected to help engineers to better understand the structural behavior of the steel plate-concrete composite slabs and to ensure reliability of design and performance throughout their service life.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.613-632
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• 2014

In the early design stage of ships, the two most important structural analyses are performed to identify the structural capacity and safety. The first step is called global strength analysis (longitudinal strength analysis or hull girder strength analysis) and the second step is local buckling analysis (stiffened panel strength analysis). This paper deals with the ultimate strength performance of Arctic Sea Route-going commercial ships considering the effect of low temperature. In this study, two types of structural analyses are performed in Arctic sea conditions. Three types of ship namely oil tanker, bulk carrier and container ship with four different sizes (in total 12 vessels) are tested in four low temperatures (-20, -40, -60 and $-800^{\circ}C$), which are based on the Arctic environment and room temperature ($20^{\circ}C$). The ultimate strength performance is analysed with ALPS/HULL progressive hull collapse analysis code for ship hulls, then ALPS/ULSAP supersize finite element method for stiffened panels. The obtained results are summarised in terms of temperature, vessel type, vessel size, loading type and other effects. The important insights and outcomes are documented.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.465-481
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• 2018

The use of external carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates is one of the most effective techniques existing for the confinement of circular concrete specimens. Currently, several researches have been made to develop models for predicting the ultimate conditions of this type of confinement. As most of the major existing models were developed based on limited experimental database. This paper presents the development of new confinement ultimate conditions, strength and strain models, for concrete cylinders confined with CFRP composites based on a statistical analysis of a large existing experimental database of 310 cylindrical concrete specimens wrapped with CFRP. The database is used to evaluate the performance of the proposed and major existing strength and strain models. Based on the two different statistical indices, the coefficient of determination ($R^2$) and the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), the two proposed confinement ultimate conditions presents a good performance compared to the major existing models except the models of Lam and Teng (2003) and Youssef et al. (2007) which have relatively similar performance to the proposed models.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.509-526
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• 2018

The direct strength method adopted by the AISI Standard and AS/NZS 4600 is an advanced design method meant to substitute the effective width method for the design of cold-formed steel structural members accounting for local instability of thin plate elements. It was proven that the design strength formula for the direct strength method could predict the ultimate strength of medium strength steel welded section compressive and flexural members with local buckling reasonably. This paper focuses on the modification of the direct strength formula for the application to high strength and high performance steel welded section columns which have the nominal yield stress higher than 460 MPa and undergo local buckling, overall buckling or their interaction. The resistance of high strength steel welded H and Box section columns calculated by the proposed direct strength formulae were validated by comparison with various compression test results, FE results, and predictions by existing specifications.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.413-429
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• 2013

The primary aim of this study is to develop a three dimensional finite element (FE) model to predict the axial stress-strain relationship and ultimate strength of the FRP-wrapped UHPC columns by comparing experimental results. The reliability of four selected confinement models and three design codes such as ACI-440, CSA-S806-02, and ISIS CANADA is also evaluated in terms of agreement with the experimental results. Totally 6 unconfined and 36 different types of the FRP-wrapped UHPC columns are tested under monotonic axial compression. The values of ultimate strengths of FRP-wrapped UHPC columns obtained from the experimental results are compared and verified with finite element (FE) analysis results and the design codes mentioned above. The concrete damage plasticity model (CDPM) in Abaqus is utilized to represent the confined behavior of the UHPC. The results indicate that agreement between the test results and the non-linear FE analysis results is highly satisfactory. The CSA-S806-02 design code is considered more reliable than the ACI-440 and the ISIS CANADA design codes to calculate the ultimate strength of the FRP-wrapped UHPC columns. None of the selected confinement models that are developed for FRP-wrapped low and normal strength concrete columns can safely predict the ultimate strength of FRP-wrapped UHPC columns.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.171-183
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• 2019

As China's infrastructure continues to grow, concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) structures are attracting increasing interest for use in engineering applications in earthquake prone regions owing to their high section modulus, high strength, and good seismic performance. However, in a corrosive environment, the seismic resistance of the CFST columns may be affected to a certain extent. This study attempts to investigate the mechanical behaviours of square CFST members under both a cyclic load and an acid rain attack. First, the tensile mechanical properties of steel plates with various corrosion rates were tested. Second, a total of 12 columns with different corrosion rates were subjected to a reversed cyclic load and tested. Third, comparisons between the test results and the predicted ultimate strength by using four existing codes were carried out. It was found that the corrosion leads to an evident decrease in yield strength, elastic modulus, and tensile strain capacity of steel plates, and also to a noticeable deterioration in the ultimate strength, ductility, and energy dissipation of the CFST members. A larger axial force ratio leads to a more significant resulting deterioration of the seismic behaviour of the columns. In addition, the losses of both thickness and yield strength of an outer steel tube caused by corrosion should be taken into account when predicting the ultimate strength of corroded CFST columns.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.47-56
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• 2009

The first diagonal cracking and ultimate shear load of reinforced girder made of ultra high performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) were investigated in this paper. Eleven girders were tested in which eight girders failed in shear. A simplified formulation for the first diagonal cracking load was proposed. An analytical model to predict the ultimate shear load was formulated based on the two bounds theory. A fiber reinforcing parameter was constituted based on the random assumption of steel fiber uniform distribution. The predicted values were compared with the conventional predictions and the test results. The proposed equation can be used for the first cracking status analysis, while the proposed equations for computing the ultimate shear strength can be used for the ultimate failure status analysis, which can also be utilized for numerical limit analysis of reinforced UHPFRC girder. The established fiber reinforcing theoretical model can also be a reference for micro-mechanics analysis of UHPFRC.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.447-450
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• 2005

A prefabricated composite hollow slab with perforated I-beams was suggested for the replacement of deteriorated concrete decks or the construction of new composite bridges with long-span slabs. Composite slabs with embedded I-beams have considerably higher stiffness and strength. For the application of prefabricated composite slabs to bridges, joints between slabs should satisfy the requirements of the ultimate limit state and the serviceability limit state. In this paper, three types of the detail for loop joints were selected and their structural performance in terms of strength and crack control was investigated through static tests on continuous composite slabs. A main parameter was the detail of the joint, such as an ordinary loop joint and loop joint with additional reinforcements. Even though there was no connection of the steel beams at the joints, the loop joints showed good performance in terms of strength. In terms of crack control, the loop joint with additional reinforcements showed better performance. In ultimate limit state, the continuous composite slabs showed good moment redistribution and ductility.