• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.3295-3300
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• 2012

Three Dimensional finite element method (FEM) was used to obtain the stress intensity factor for subsurface cracks and surface cracks existing in inhomogeneous materials. A geometry model, i.e. a solid containing one or several 3D cracks is defined. Several distributions of local node density are chosen, and then automatically superposed on one another over the geometry model. Nodes are generated by the bubble packing, and ten-noded quadratic tetrahedral solid elements are generated by the Delaunay triangulation techniques. To examine accuracy and efficiency of the present system, the stress intensity factor for a semi-elliptical surface crack in a plate subjected to uniform tension is calculated, and compared with Raju-Newman's solutions. Then the system is applied to analyze interaction effects of two dissimilar semi-elliptical cracks in a plate subjected to uniform tension.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.81-91
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• 2011

This study was conducted to evaluate the necessity of the anchor lug system in continuously reinforced concrete pavement(CRCP) by comparing longitudinal displacements of CRCPs with and without anchor lugs, and to investigate the effect of horizontal cracking on CRCP performance by measuring the vertical displacements. The measurements before and after the anchor lug section was separated were conducted for 12 days in June, and for 14 days in August after the abrupt displacements according to cutting disappeared, respectively. This short term measurement results showed that when anchor lugs were installed, a daily displacement variation at any location was less than 0.1mm; therefore, longitudinal movements were negligibly small. When there were no anchor lugs, longitudinal displacements mainly occurred near the free end and the displacement variation was small; therefore, an expansion joint system seems to be employed at a CRCP terminus without installing anchor lugs. However, further studies are needed to verify the terminus behavior due to annual temperature changes. The horizontal crack width variation was ignorable and did not affect the vertical displacement of the slab. Therefore, the horizontal crack did not delaminate the slab and did not seem to reduce the structural capacity and performance of CRCP.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.141-149
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• 2009

This study was conducted to investigate the causes that induce the T-shape cracks at the joints in the jointed concrete pavements(JCPs). The finite element models of JCP including dowel bars were developed and the stress distribution in the slab was investigated under environmental loads. To investigate the effect of dowel bars on the transverse stresses at the joints that induce the T-shape cracks, the slab curling behavior was analyzed with and without dowel bars. In addition, the stress concentration was investigated when the dowel bar was not installed at the mid-depth of the slab. The results of this study showed that the transverse stresses were not affected by the dowel bars if the dowel bars were installed at the mid-depth of the slab. However, if the dowel bars were not installed at the mid-depth, the transverse stresses were concentrated at the dowel bar locations when the slab curled. The stress concentration was dependent on the contact characteristics between the dowel bar and concrete, and was significantly large when the dowel bar not installed at the mid-depth was located far from the edge of the slab. Therefore, to mitigate T-shape cracking in JCP, dowel bars should be very carefully installed and leveled at the proper locations.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.802-810
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• 2003

In this paper, the modified singular fracture process zone (S-FPZ) model is proposed to consider variation of a fracture criterion for continuous crack propagation in concrete. The fracture properties of the proposed fracture model are strain energy release rate at a micro-crack tip and crack closure stress (CCS) versus crack opening displacement (COD) relationship in the FPZ. The proposed model can simulate the estimated fracture energy of experimental results. The analysis results of the experimental data shows that specimen geometry and loading condition did not affect the CCS-COD relation. But the strain energy release rate is a function of not only specimen geometry but also crack extension. Until 25 mm crack extension, the strain energy release rate is a constant minimum value, and then it increased linearly to the maximum value. The maximum fracture criterion occurred at the peak load for an large size specimen. The fracture criterion remains the maximum value after the peak load. The variation of the fracture criterion is caused by micro-cracking and micro-crack localizing. The fracture criterion of strain energy release rate can simply be the size effect of concrete fracture, and it can be used to quantify the micro-tracking and micro-crack localizing behaviors of concrete.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.355-364
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• 2014

The restrained volume changes of concrete due to variations of temperature and moisture produce transverse cracks in continuously reinforced concrete tracks (CRCTs). Such cracks are known to significantly affect the behaviors and long-term performance of CRCT. To investigate the effects of the transverse cracks on the behavior of CRCT and to develop more reasonable maintenance standards for cracks, in this study, the stress distribution of the track concrete layers (TCL) and the hydraulically stabilized base course (HSB) with transverse cracks were numerically predicted by a three dimensional finite element analysis when CRCT was subjected to train loads. The results indicate that the bending stresses of TCL and vertical stresses at the interfaces between TCL and HSB increased as the cracks were deepened. In addition, vertical stresses were locally concentrated near reinforcing steel in cracks in TCL when full-depth cracks developed, which may lead to punch-outs in CRCTs. Comparably, the effects of crack width and spacing were not as significant as crack depth. This study indicates that ensuring the long-term performance of CRCTs requires adequate maintenance not only for crack width and spacing but also for crack depth. Our results also show that locating HSB joints between sleepers is beneficial to the long-term performance of CRCTs.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.10-20
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• 2013

Because of the defect in design, damage in using period, and deterioration in long term exposure to severe environmental condition, degradation of performance in RC (Reinforced Concrete) structures has occurred. This paper contains durability performance evaluation in railway bridges which covers eight districts through field investigation. For the target structures, durability performance is evaluated and the critical problems in use are derived. Additionally, service lifes for the deteriorated structures are evaluated through Durability-Environment index method based on the results from field investigation, and the results are compared with those from the condition assuming the structures without defect, damage, and deterioration. The target structures which consist of RC T girder, PSC girder, RC box, and Rahmen are investigated and the critical damage patterns are derived. They are evaluated to be cracks in PSC girder end, flexural cracks in PSC girder, crack around EPT anchor, and flexural cracks in RC T girder and RC box. The reasons for the critical patterns are also investigated. This study can be utilized for the repair planning considering the different district and the structure types.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.58-66
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• 2002

The objective of this study is to examine the fracture characteristics of concrete at early ages such as critical stress intensity factor, critical crack-tip opening displacement, fracture energy, and bilinear softening curve based on the concepts of the effective-elastic crack model and the cohesive crack model. A wedge splitting test for Mode I was performed on cubic wedge specimens with a notch at the edge. By taking various strengths and ages, load-crack mouth opening displacement curves were obtained, and the results were analyzed by linear elastic fracture mechanics and the finite element method. The results from the test and analysis showed that critical stress intensity factor and fracture energy increased, and critical crack-tip opening displacement decreased with concrete ages from 1 day to 28 days. By numerical analysis four parameters of bilinear softening curve from 1 day to 28 days were obtained. The obtained fracture parameters and bilinear softening curves at early ages may be used as a fracture criterion and an input data for finite element analysis of concrete at early ages.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.27-39
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• 2007

This paper investigates numerically characteristics of the fluid flow in spatially correlated variable-aperture fractures under effective normal stress conditions. Spatially correlated aperture distributions are generated by using the geostaistical method (i.e. Turning Bands algorithm). In order to represent a nonlinear relationship between the effective normal stress and the fracture aperture, a simple mechanical formula is combined with a local flow model. Obtained numerical results indicate that the fluid flow is significantly affected by the geometry of aperture distribution varying according to the applied effective normal stress as well as the spatial correlation length of aperture distribution. Moreover, by using results simulated in this study, the modified Louis formula representing the relationship between the effective normal stress and the effective permeability of fracture is proposed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.37 no.12
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• pp.1503-1512
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• 2013

In this study, we proposed an indentation evaluation method for fracture toughness using cohesive finite element simulations. First, we examined the effect of material properties (yield strain, Poisson's ratio, and elastic modulus) on crack size during Vickers indentation and then generated a regression formula that explains the relations among fracture toughness, indentation load, and crack size. We also proposed another indentation formula for fracture toughness evaluation using the contact size a and E/H (H: hardness). Finally, we examined the relation between the crack size and the indenter shapes. Based on this, we can generate from the formula obtained using the Vickers indenter a formula for an indenter of different shapes. Using the proposed method, fracture toughness is directly estimated from indentation data.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.4D
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• pp.387-393
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• 2010

This paper studies static crack growth of asphalt pavement using the extended finite element method (XFEM). To consider nonlinear characteristics of asphalt concrete, a viscoelastic constitutive equation using the Maxwell chain is used. And a linear cohesive crack model is used to regularize the crack. Instead of constructing the viscoelastic constitutive law from the Prony approximation of compliance and retardation time measured experimentally, we use a smooth log-power function which optimally fits experimental data and is infinitely differentiable. The partial moduli of the Maxwell chain from the log-power function make analysis easy because they change more smoothly in a more stable way than the ordinary method such as the least square method. Using the developed method, we can simulates the static crack growth test results satisfactorily.