• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.88-98
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• 2011

Masonry structure is a style of building which has been widely applied as residential facilities of low and middle stories, commercial and public facilities etc. But it is possible to destroy by loss of adhesive strength or sliding when lateral forces, such as earthquake, occurs. This study proposes a seismic retrofit method for masonry structure and its seismic performance is demonstrated by shaking table test. Two specimens per each shaking direction were made, having out-of-plane(weak axis) and in-plane(strong axis) direction. External load of 1 ton was also applied for each specimen during the test, to model the behavior of reinforced masonry wall. As a result of shaking table tests, it is shown that the specimen applying the proposed seismic retrofit method showed acceptable behaviors in both of Korea building design criteria(0.14g) and USA seismic criteria suggested by IBC(0.4g). However, it was observed that stiffness of the specimen toward out-of-plane was rapidly decreasing when seismic excitations over 0.14g were loaded. In comparison of relative displacements, maximum relative displacement of specimens which were accelerated toward out-of-plane with 0.4g at once was 29~31% of maximum relative displacement when specimens were gradually accelerated from 0.08g to 0.4g, while the maximum relative displacement of specimens accelerated toward in-plane has similar value in both cases. Therefore, it is concluded that the wall accelerated toward out-of-plane is more affected by hair crack or possible fatigues caused by seismic excitation.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.81-89
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• 2011

This paper introduces a recently developed thinning-out timber framed earth retaining wall system. Timber framed retaining walls are usually designed by using design code of gravity type retaining wall but internal stability of timber framed earth retaining walls is often neglected. In this study, it is recommended to use the design code for segmental retaining walls by National Concrete Masonry Association (NCMA, 1997) to check internal stability of timber framed earth retaining wall. Based on the several shear test results for 3 types of timber frames, a simple design chart including internal stability is suggested.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.266-274
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• 2002

The impact-echo test, which is to evaluate the integrity of concrete and masonry structures nondestructively, is an excellent method in the practical application. However, there are cases that the Impact-Echo testing nay result in the low reliability. In this study, the reliability of the Impact-Echo testing was investigated through the numerical simulation of the Impact-Echo testing. The finite element analysis and the analysis based on the dynamic stiffness matrix method was incorporated for the numerical simulation, in which the cases of a sandwiched shear stiffness, an incr＋easing or decreasing stiffness, and a homogeneous stiffness. Based on the results of the analysis were considered, this study proposed the approaches to Improve the reliability of the Impact-Echo testing.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.13-22
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• 2010

Masonry infill walls are frequently used as interior partitions and exterior walls in low- or middle- rise RC buildings. In the design and assessment of buildings, the infill walls are usually treated as non-structural elements and they are ignored in analytical models because they are assumed to be beneficial to the structural responses. Therefore, their influences on the structural response are ignored. In the case of buildings constructed in the USA in highly seismic regions, infill walls have a lower strength and stiffness than the boundary frames or they are separated from the boundary frames. Thus, the previously mentioned assumptions may be reasonable. However, these systems are not usually employed in most other countries. Therefore, the differences in the seismic behaviors of RC buildings with/without masonry infill walls, which are ignored in structural design, need to be investigated. In this study, structural analyses were performed for a masonry infilled low-rise RC moment-resisting frame. The infill walls were modeled as equivalent diagonal struts. The seismic behaviors of the RC moment-resisting frame with/without masonry infill walls were evaluated. From the analytical results, masonry infill walls can increase the global strength and stiffness of a structure. Consequently, the interstory drift ratio will decrease but seismic forces applied to the structure will increase more than the design seismic load because the natural period of the structure decreases. Partial damage of the infill walls by the floor causes vertical irregularity of the strength and stiffness.