• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.137-155
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• 2013

Brittle fracture of structures excited by earthquakes can be prevented by adding a tuned mass damper (TMD). This TMD must be optimum and suitable to the physical conditions of the structure. Compressive strength of concrete is an important factor for brittle fracture. The application of a TMD to structures with low compressive strength of concrete may not be possible if the weight of the TMD is too much. A heavy TMD is dangerous for these structures because of insufficient axial force capacity of structure. For the preventing brittle fracture, the damping ratio of the TMD must be sufficient to reduce maximum shear forces below the values proposed in design regulations. Using the formulas for frequency and damping ratio related to a preselected mass, this objective can be only achieved by increasing the mass of the TMD. By using a metaheuristic method, the optimum parameters can be searched in a specific limit. In this study, Harmony Search (HS) is employed to find optimum TMD parameters for preventing brittle fracture by reducing shear force in additional to other time and frequency responses. The proposed method is feasible for the retrofit of weak structures with insufficient compressive strength of concrete.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.160-165
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• 1997

The instrumented Charpy impact test is generally used to evaluate the dynamic fracture toughnesses for varying engineering materials. However, the test is known to be difficult to evaluate the dynamic fracturetoughnesses for very brittle materials because of the small crack initiation load which may be engulfed by the inertia load of the instrumented tup. To evaluate the dynamic fracture toughnesses of very brittle materials, such as chalk or plaster,it is thus, necessary to develop a load sensitive instrumented tup. In this study, a polymer tup, which has very small Young's modulus comparing to one of the conventional steel tup, is used for the instrumented Charpy impact test, and a proper testing method to evaluate the dynamic fracture behavior of very brittle materials is developed. The results show that the developed method can measure rapidly changing loads from the moment of contact between the tup and the specimen to dynamic crack initiation of the very brittle materials.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.47-54
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• 2020

A brittle fracture is one of the source of structural damage and can bring a fatal accident. The inner shell of LNG storage tank should be designed and applied to construction by ensure that no brittle crack will occur under -162℃ condition. In point of view of fracture mechanics brittle fracture in the structure could be referred as crack initiation and crack arrest. It should be designed no crack initiation. However, in the unlikely event of a brittle fracture occurring, a back-up function of arresting the brittle crack should be included for the design. In this paper investigated the characteristics of 9% Ni steel thick plates of having a capability of arresting brittle cracks under the thickness of 33 mm, 37mm, 40 mm. First, charpy test has performed to evaluate the fundamental brittle impact fracture property of 9% Ni steel under the temperature of 24℃, -162℃ and -196℃. In addition, Duplex ESSO tests were also performed under -196℃ to evaluate the capability of crack arrest for 9% Ni steel. From the experiments results, it was confirmed that all the thickness of 9% Ni steel plates exhibits sufficient brittle crack arrest fracture toughness for the application of LNG storage tank as a inner shell.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.711-717
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• 1999

A multilayer-structure material containing ductile and brittle layer simultaneously was examined and compared with a single layer material using fracture mechanical properties. We found that impact strength of multilayer structure material was considerably higher than single layer's and toughness was enhanced by about two times or higher in similar glass transition temperature($T_g$) region and the same dimension. The superposition principle of impact pulse was used for interpretation of kinetic stress wave as a high-velocity crack proceeds in the plastic. It was understood that the optimum condition of ductile/brittle thickness ratio could be designed in the final toughness enhancement of multilayer.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.15 no.4 s.57
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• pp.250-263
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• 2005

Progressive and localized brittle failures around an excavated opening by the overstressed condition can act as a serious obstacle to ensure the stability and the economical efficiency of construction work. In this paper, the characteristics of the brittle failure around an circular opening with stress level was studied by the biaxial compressive test using sealed specimen and by the numerical simulation with $PFC^{2D}$, one of the discrete element codes. The occurring pattern and shape of the brittle failure around a circular opening monitored during the biaxial loading were well coincided with those of the stress induced failures around the excavated openings observed in the brittle rock masses. The crack development stages with stress level were evaluated by the detailed analysis on the acoustic emission event properties. The microcrack development process around a circular opening was successfully visualized by the particle flow analysis. It indicated that the scaled test had a good feasibility in understanding the mechanism of the brittle failure around an opening with a high reliability.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.263-273
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• 2007

When a tunnel or an underground structure is excavated in deep geological environments, the failure process is affected and eventually dominated by stress-induced fractures growing preferentially parallel to the excavation boundary. This fracturing is generally referred to as brittle failure by spatting and slabbing. Continuum models with traditional failure criteria such as Hoek-Brown or Mohr-Coulomb criteria have not been successful in prediction of the extent and depth of brittle failure. Instead cohesion weakening and frictional strengthening (CWFS) model is known to predict brittle failure well. In this study, CWFS model was applied to predict the brittle failure around a circular opening observed in physical model experiments. To obtain the input parameters for CWFS model, damage-controlled tests were carried out. The predicted depth and extent of brittle failure using CWFS model were compared to the results of the physical model experiment and numerical simulation using traditional model.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.385-391
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• 2013

The influence of Cu and Ni on the ductile-brittle transition behavior of metastable austenitic Fe-18Cr-10Mn-N alloys with N contents below 0.5 wt.% was investigated in terms of austenite stability and microstructure. All the metastable austenitic Fe-18Cr-10Mn-N alloys exhibited a ductile-brittle transition behavior by unusual low-temperature brittle fracture, irrespective of Cu and/or Ni addition, and deformation-induced martensitic transformation occasionally occurred during Charpy impact testing at lower temperatures due to reduced austenite stability resulting from insufficient N content. The formation of deformation-induced martensite substantially increased the ductile-brittle transition temperature(DBTT) by deteriorating low-temperature toughness because the martensite was more brittle than the parent austenite phase beyond the energy absorbed during transformation, and its volume fraction was too small. On the other hand, the Cu addition to the metastable austenitic Fe-18Cr-10Mn-N alloy increased DBTT because the presence of ${\delta}$-ferrite had a negative effect on low-temperature toughness. However, the combined addition of Cu and Ni to the metastable austenitic Fe-18Cr-10Mn-N alloy decreased DBTT, compared to the sole addtion of Ni or Cu. This could be explained by the fact that the combined addition of Cu and Ni largely enhanced austenite stability, and suppressed the formation of deformation-induced martensite and ${\delta}$-ferrite in conjunction with the beneficial effect of Cu which may increase stacking fault energy, so that it allows cross-slip to occur and thus reduces the planarity of the deformation mechanism.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.559-565
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• 2015

The ductile-brittle transition behavior of two austenitic Fe-18Cr-10Mn-N-C alloys with different grain sizes was investigated in this study. The alloys exhibited a ductile-brittle transition behavior because of an unusual brittle fracture at low temperatures unlike conventional austenitic alloys. The alloy specimens with a smaller grain size had a higher yield and tensile strengths than those with a larger grain size due to grain refinement strengthening. However, a decrease in the grain size deteriorated the low-temperature toughness by increasing the ductile-brittle transition temperature because nitrogen or carbon could enhance the effectiveness of the grain boundaries to overcome the thermal energy. It could be explained by the temperature dependence of the yield stress based on low-temperature tensile tests. In order to improve both the strength and toughness of austenitic Fe-Cr-Mn-N-C alloys with different chemical compositions and grain sizes, more systematic studies are required to understand the effect of the grain size on the mechanical properties in relation to the temperature sensitivity of yield and fracture stresses.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.735-758
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• 2015

This work deals with unilateral effect of quasi-brittle materials, such as concrete. For this propose, a two-dimensional meso-scale model is presented. The material is considered as a three-phase material consisting of interface zone, matrix and inclusions - each constituent modeled by an appropriate constitutive model. The Representative Volume Element (RVE) consists of inclusions idealized as circular shapes randomly placed into the specimen. The interface zone is modeled by means of cohesive contact finite elements developed here in order to capture the effects of phase debonding and interface crack closure/opening. As an initial approximation, the inclusion is modeled as linear elastic as well as the matrix. Our main goal here is to show a computational homogenization-based approach as an alternative to complex macroscopic constitutive models for the mechanical behavior of the quasi-brittle materials using a finite element procedure within a purely kinematical multi-scale framework. A set of numerical examples, involving the microcracking processes, is provided. It illustrates the performance of the proposed model. In summary, the proposed homogenization-based model is found to be a suitable tool for the identification of macroscopic mechanical behavior of quasi-brittle materials dealing with unilateral effect.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.33-46
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• 1999

In spite of 6.8 magnitude and the neighborhood of the epicenter, the steel moment frame survived after Northridge earthquake without collapse or casualties. However, following investigation revealed that there were severe damages at the column-weld interface of welded flange-bolted web (WFBW) steel moment connection, which was believed to be economic and safe from earthquakes based on experience and past tests. In this paper, this unexpected brittle fracture of the steel moment connection is explored using linear elastic fracture mechanics and post-Northridge tests. A method to predict the brittle fracture strength of the steel moment connection is proposed. Using this method, the failure mode of the WFBW connection and reduced beam section (RBS) connection are presented.