• Computers and Concrete
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.327-341
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• 2020

Advanced forms of structural design (e.g., displacement-based methods) require knowledge of the non-linear force-displacement behavior of both the overall building and individual lateral load resisting elements, i.e., walls or building cores. Similarly, understanding the non-linear behaviour of the elements in a structure can also allow for a less conservative structural response to be calculated by better understanding the cracked (i.e., effective) properties of the various RC elements. Calculating the non-linear response of an RC section typically involves using 'black box' analysis packages, wherein the user may not be in complete control nor be aware of all the intricate settings and/or decisions behind the scenes. This paper introduces a user-friendly and transparent analysis program for predicting the back-bone force displacement behavior of slender (i.e., flexure controlled) RC walls, building cores or columns. The program has been validated and benchmarked theoretically against both commonly available and widely used analysis packages and experimentally against a database of 16 large-scale RC wall test specimens. The program, which is called WHAM, is written using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to promote transparency and allow users to further develop or modify to suit individual requirements. The program is available free-of-charge and is intended to be used as an educational tool for structural designers, researchers or students.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.285-301
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• 2023

During the construction of E75 highway through Grdelica gorge in Serbia, a major failure occurred in the zone of reinforced rock slope. Excavation was performed in highly anisotropic Paleozoic schist rock formation. The reinforcement consisted of the two rows of micropile wall with pre-stressed anchors. Forces in anchors were monitored with load cells while benchmarks were installed for superficial displacement measurements. The aim of the study is to investigate possible causes of instability considering different probability distributions of the strength of discontinuities and anchor bond strength by applying different optimization techniques for finding the critical failure surface. Even though the deterministic safety factor value is close to unity, the probability of failure is governed by variability of shear strength of anisotropic planes and optimization method used for locating the critical sliding surface. The Cuckoo search technique produces higher failure probabilities compared to the others. Depending on the assigned statistical distribution of input parameters, various performance functions of the factor of safety are obtained. The probability of failure is insensitive to the variation of bond strength. Different sampling techniques should yield similar results considering that the sufficient number of safety factor evaluations is chosen to achieve converged solution.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.1A
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• pp.53-59
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• 2010

Recently, NDTs (Non-Destructive Techniques) using infrared camera are widely studied for detection of damage and void in RC (reinforced concrete) structures and they are also considered as an effective techniques for maintenance of infrastructures. The temperature on concrete surface depends on material and thermal properties such as specific heat, thermal conductivity, and thermal diffusion coefficient. Different porosity on cement mortar due to different mixture proportions can show different heat behavior in cooling stage. The porosity can affect physical and durability properties like strength and chloride diffusion coefficient as well. In this paper, active thermography which uses flash for heat induction is utilized and thermal characteristics on surface are evaluated. Samples of cement mortar with W/C (water to cement ratio) of 0.55 and 0.65 are prepared and physical properties like porosity, compressive strength, and chloride diffusion coefficient are evaluated. Then infrared thermography technique is carried out in a constant room condition (temperature $20{\sim}22^{\circ}C$ and relative humidity 55-60%). The mortar samples with higher porosity shows higher residual temperature at the cooling stage and also shows reduced critical time which shows constant temperature due to back wall effect. Furthermore, simple equation for critical time of back wall effect is suggested with porosity and experimental constants. These characteristics indicate the applicability of infrared thermography as an NDT for quality assessment of cement based composite like concrete. Physical properties and thermal behavior in cement mortar with different porosity are analyzed in discussed in this paper.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.19-28
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• 2014

Recently, the proportion of long tunnel has increased for efficient use of land due to limited land area, driving convenience and high speed. RMR and Q-System of empirical methods has been mainly used for tunnel support design in domestic. Although shotcrete is the key to NATM tunnel, the related studies are insufficient. So, steel fiber reinforced shotcrete is applied to II~V grade rocks on domestic and foreign applications. And same amount of shotcrete is equally applied to tunnel roof and wall regardless of the applied rock load. Shotcrete is applied excessively rather than the original proposed value of RMR and Q-System. Thus, this study is to reevaluate the application part of plain shotcrete and steel fiber reinforced shotcrete of tunnel in Daebo granite, and to propose the reasonable application method of steel fiber reinforced shotcrete. Field test and numerical back analysis using measurements were performed to verify stability. According to results, if RMR values are the upper class in the III grade, it can be designed in accordance with upper grade. In addition, if rock condition is good as a mountain tunnel in Daebo granite, it can be applied for plain shotcrete to III grade rocks because there is also no stability problems. And although steel fiber reinforced shotcrete is applied only crown of the tunnel in IV grade rocks, it is possible to secure stability for falling rock by key-block.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.15-29
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• 1999

This study presents an analytical method of estimating the developed horizontal active thrusts against GRS-RW( Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil Retaining Wall) system adapted to the case of distanced surcharge. In addition, the design charts that could be used for preliminary design of GRS-RW system are presented. The proposed method of analysis uses two body translation mechanism as well as force polygon concept. taking into account the effect of facing's rigidity. Besides. the effect of tension cracks in c-\Phi$ soils, seismic effects and horizontal distance from the back face of wall to uniformly distributed surcharge loadings are also included. The results of horizontal active thrusts obtained from the developed method of analysis are compared with those from Jarquio's modified Boussinesq equation.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.113-132
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• 1999

Recently in Korea, application of the soil nailing is gradually extended to the sites of excavations and slopes having various ground conditions and field characteristics. Design of the soil nailing is generally carried out in two steps, The First step is to examine the minimum safety factor against a sliding of the reinforced nailed-soil mass based on the limit equilibrium approach, and the second step is to check the maximum displacement expected to occur at facing using the numerical analysis technique. However, design parameters related to the soil nailing system are so various that a reliable design method considering interrelationships between these design parameters is continuously necessary. Additionally, taking into account the anisotropic characteristics of in-situ grounds, disturbances in collecting the soil samples and errors in measurements, a systematic analysis of the field measurement data as well as a rational technique of the optimum design is required to improve with respect to economical efficiency. As a part of these purposes, in the present study, a procedure for the optimum design of a soil nailing excavation wall system is proposed. Focusing on a minimization of the expenses in construction, the optimum design procedure is formulated based on the genetic algorithm. Neural network theory is further adopted in predicting the maximum horizontal displacement at a shotcrete facing. Using the proposed procedure, various effects of relevant design parameters are also analyzed. Finally, an optimized design section is compared with the existing design section at the excavation site being constructed, in order to verify a validity of the proposed procedure.