• Computers and Concrete
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.339-355
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• 2022

The high cost of ultra-high-performance engineered cementitious composite (UHP-ECC) is currently a crucial issue, especially in terms of the polyethylene (PE) fibers use. In this paper, cheap calcium carbonate whiskers (CW) were evaluated on the feasibility of hybrid with PE fibers. Diverse combinations of PE fibers and CW were employed to investigate the multi-scale enhancement on the UHP-ECC performance. A probabilistic-based UHP-ECC tensile strain reliability analysis approach was utilized, which was in general agreement with the experimental results. Furthermore, a multi-dimensional integrated representation was conducted for the comprehensive assessment of UHP-ECC. Results illustrated that CW improved the compressive strength and energy dissipation capacity of UHP-ECC owing to the microscopic strengthening mechanism. CW and PE fiber further promoted the saturated cracking of composite by multi-scale crack arresting effect. In particular, PE1.75-CW0.5 specimen possessed the best overall performance. The ultimate cracking width of PE1.75-CW0.5 group had 98 ㎛, which was 46.18% lower compared to PE2-CW0 group, the 28d compressive strength were slightly improved, the tensile strain capacity was comparable to that of PE2-CW0 group. The results above demonstrated that combinations of PE fiber and CW could significantly enhance the comprehensive performance of UHP-ECC, which was beneficial for large-scale engineering applications.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.311-321
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• 2022

The interfacial bond strength of partially encased composite (PEC) structure tends to 0, therefore, the cast-in-place concrete theoretically cannot embody better composite effect than the fabricated structure. A total of 12 specimens were designed and experimented to investigate the energy dissipation and damage of fabricated PEC beam through unidirectional cyclic loading test. Because the concrete on both sides of the web was relatively independent, some specimens showed obvious asymmetric concrete damage, which led to specimens bearing torsion effect at the later stage of loading. Based on the concept of the ideal elastoplastic model of uniaxial tensile steel and the principle of equivalent energy dissipation, the energy dissipation ductility coefficient is proposed, which can simultaneously reflect the deformability and bearing capacity. In view of the whole deformation of the beam, the calculation formula of energy dissipation is put forward, and the energy dissipation and its proportion of shear-bending region and pure bending region are calculated respectively. The energy dissipation efficiency of the pure bending region is significantly higher than that of the shear-bending region. The setting of the screw arbors is conducive to improving the energy dissipation capacity of the specimens. Under the condition of setting the screw arbors and meeting the reasonable shear span ratio, reducing the concrete pouring thickness can lighten the deadweight of the component and improve the comprehensive benefit, and will not have an adverse impact on the energy dissipation capacity of the beam. A damage model is proposed to quantify the damage changes of PEC beams under cyclic load, which can accurately reflect the load damage and deformation damage.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2016

The abundance of multi-drug resistance ATPase binding cassette and deranged self-renewal pathways shown in cancer stem cells (CSCs) played a crucial role in tumorigenesis, tumor resistance, tumor recurrence, and tumor metastasis. Therefore, elucidation of CSCs biology can improve diagnosis, enable targeted treatment, and guide the follow up of GI cancer patients. In order to achieve chemoquiescence, seizing cancer through complete ablation of CSCs, CSCs are rational targets for the design of interventions that will enhance responsiveness to traditional therapeutic strategies and contribute in the prevention of local recurrence as well as metastasis. However, current cancer treatment strategies fail to either detect or differentiate the CSCs from their non-tumorigenic progenies mostly due to the absence of specific biomarkers and potent agents to kill CSCs. Recent advances in knowledge of CSCs enable to produce several candidates to ablate CSCs in gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, especially cancers originated from inflammation-driven mutagenesis such as Barrett's esophagus (BE), Helicobacter pylori-associated gastric cancer, and colitis-associated cancer (CAC). Our research teams elucidated through revisiting old drugs that proton pump inhibitor (PPI) and potassium competitive acid blocker (p-CAB) beyond authentic acid suppression, chloroquine for autophage inhibition, sonic hedgehog (SHH) inhibitors, and Wnt/β-catenin/NOTCH inhibitor can ablate CSCs specifically and efficiently. Furthermore, nanoformulations of these molecules could provide an additional advantage for more selective targeting of the pathways existing in CSCs just like current molecular targeted therapeutics and sustained action, while normal stem cells intact. In this review article, the novel approach specifically to ablate CSCs existing in GI cancers will be introduced with the introduction of explored mode of action.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.455-464
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• 2023

Seismologists now suggest that the earth has entered an active seismic period; many earthquake-related events are occurring globally. Consequently, numerous casualties, as well as economic losses due to earthquakes, have been reported in recent years. Primarily, significant and colossal damage occurs in reinforced concrete (RC) buildings with masonry infill wall systems, and the construction of these types of structures have increased worldwide. According to a report from the Ministry of Education in the Republic of Korea, many buildings were built with RC frames with masonry infill walls in the Republic of Korea during the 1980s. For years, most structures of this type have been school buildings, and since the Pohang earthquake in 2017, the government of the Republic of Korea has paid close attention to this social event and focused on damage from earthquakes. From a long-term research perspective, damage from structural collapse due to the short column effect has been a major concern, specifically because the RC frame with a masonry infill wall system is the typical form of structure for school buildings. Therefore, the short column effect has recently been a major topic for research. This study compares one RC frame with four different types of RC frames with masonry infill wall systems. Structural damage due to the short column effect is clearly analyzed, as the result of this research is giving in a higher infill wall system produces a greater shear force on the connecting point between the infill wall system and the column. The study is expected to be a useful reference for research on the short column effect in RC frames with masonry infill wall systems.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.465-474
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• 2023

The point load test (PLT) is a widely-used alternative method in the field to determine the uniaxial compressive strength due to its simple testing machine and procedure. The point load test index can estimate the uniaxial compressive strength through conversion factors based on the rock types. However, the mechanism correlating these two parameters and the influence of the mechanical properties on PLT results are still not well understood. This study proposed a theoretical model to understand the mechanism of PLT serving as an alternative to the UCS test based on laboratory observation and literature survey. This model found that the point load test is a self-confined compression test. There is a compressive ellipsoid near the loading axis, whose dilation forms a tensile ring that provides confinement on this ellipsoid. The peak load of a point load test is linearly positive correlated to the tensile strength and negatively correlated to the Poisson ratio. The model was then verified using numerical and experimental approaches. In numerical verification, the PLT discs were simulated using flat-joint BPM of PFC3D to model the force distribution, crack propagation and BPM properties' effect with calibrated micro-parameters from laboratory UCS test and point load test of Berea sandstones. It further verified the mechanism experimentally by conducting a uniaxial compressive test, Brazilian test, and point load test on four different rocks. The findings from this study can explain the mechanism and improve the understanding of point load in determining uniaxial compressive strength.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.487-498
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• 2023

The present study investigated the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened with an ultrahigh performance concrete (UHPC) panel having various thicknesses. Two fabrication methods were introduced in this study; one was the direct casting of UHPC onto the bottom surface of the RC beams (I-series), and the other was the attachment of a prefabricated UHPC panel using an adhesive (E-series). UHPC panels having thicknesses of 10, 30, 50, and 70 mm were applied to RC beams, and these specimens were subjected to four-point loading to assess the effect of the UHPC thickness on the flexural strengthening of RC beams. The test results indicated that the peak strength and initial stiffness were vastly enhanced with an increase in the thickness of the UHPC panel, showing an improved energy dissipation capacity. In particular, the peak strength of the E-series specimens was higher than that of I-series specimens, showing high compatibility between the RC beam and the UHPC panel. The experimental test results were comparatively explored with a discussion of numerical analysis. Numerical analysis results showed that the predictions are in fair agreement with experimental results.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.577-594
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• 2023

Engineered cementitious composites with calcined clay limestone cement (LC³-ECC) as a kind of green, low-carbon and high toughness concrete, has recently received significant investigation. However, the complicated relationship between potential influential factors and LC³-ECC compressive strength makes the prediction of LC³-ECC compressive strength difficult. Regarding this, the machine learning-based prediction models for the compressive strength of LC³-ECC concrete is firstly proposed and developed. Models combine three novel meta-heuristic algorithms (golden jackal optimization algorithm, butterfly optimization algorithm and whale optimization algorithm) with support vector regression (SVR) to improve the accuracy of prediction. A new dataset about LC³-ECC compressive strength was integrated based on 156 data from previous studies and used to develop the SVR-based models. Thirteen potential factors affecting the compressive strength of LC³-ECC were comprehensively considered in the model. The results show all hybrid SVR prediction models can reach the Coefficient of determination (R²) above 0.95 for the testing set and 0.97 for the training set. Radar and Taylor plots also show better overall prediction performance of the hybrid SVR models than several traditional machine learning techniques, which confirms the superiority of the three proposed methods. The successful development of this predictive model can provide scientific guidance for LC³-ECC materials and further apply to such low-carbon, sustainable cement-based materials.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.351-363
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• 2023

Reducing the self-weight of reinforced concrete structures problem is discussed in this paper by using two types of self-weight reduction, the first is by using lightweight coarse aggregate (crushed brick) and the second is by using styropor block. Experimental and Numerical studies are conducted on (LWAC) lightweight aggregate reinforced concrete slabs, having styropor blocks with various sizes of blocks and the ratio of shear span to the effective depth (a/d). The experimental part included testing eleven lightweight concrete one-way simply supported slabs, comprising three as reference slabs (solid slabs) and eight as styropor block slabs (SBS) with a total reduction in cross-sectional area of (43.3% and 49.7%) were considered. The holes were formed by placing styropor at the ineffective concrete zones in resisting the tensile stresses. The length, width, and thickness of specimen dimensions were 1.1 m, 0.6 m, and 0.12 m respectively, except one specimen had a depth of 85 mm (which has a cross-sectional area equal to styropor block slab with a weight reduction of 49.7%). Two shear spans to effective depth ratios (a/d) of (3.125) for load case (A) and (a/d) of (2) for load case (B), (two-line monotonic loads) are considered. The test results showed under loading cases A and B (using minimum shear reinforcement and the reduction in cross-sectional area of styropor block slab by 29.1%) caused an increase in strength capacity by 60.4% and 54.6 % compared to the lightweight reference slab. Also, the best percentage of reduction in cross-sectional area is found to be 49.7%. Numerically, the computer program named (ANSYS) was used to study the behavior of these reinforced concrete slabs by using the finite element method. The results show acceptable agreement with the experimental test results. The average difference between experimental and numerical results is found to be (11.06%) in ultimate strength and (5.33%) in ultimate deflection.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.559-572
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• 2024

Problems of under-sized dams (small dams with large basin area) could get worse under the global warming condition. This study evaluates the possible change of these problems with the Namgang Dam, an under-sized dam in Korea. For this purpose, first, this study simulates the dam inflow data using a rainfall-runoff model, which are then used as input for the reservoir operation. As a result, daily dam storage, dam release, and dam water supply are derived and compared for both past observed period (1973~2022) and future simulated period (2006~2099) based on the global warming scenarios. Summarizing the results are as follows. First, the inflow rate in the future is expected to be increased significantly. The maximum inflow could be twice of that observed in the past. As a result, it is also expected that the frequency of the water level reaching the high level is increasing. Also, the amount and frequency of dam release are to be increased in the future period. More seriously, this increase is expected to be concentrated on rather extreme cases with large dam release volume. Simply, the condition for flood protection in the downstream of the Namgang Dam is becoming worse and worse. Ironically, the severity of water shortage problem is also expected to become much worse. As the most extreme case, the frequency of no water supply was zero in the observed period, but in the future period, it becomes once every five years. Both the maximum consecutive shortage days and the total shortage volume are expected to become more than twice in the future period. To prevent or mitigate this coming problem of an under-sized dam, the only countermeasure at this moment seems to be its redevelopment. Simply a bigger dam with larger dam reservoir can handle this adverse effect more easily.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.595-603
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• 2024

In the construction industry, there has been a surge in the implementation of high-tech equipment in recent years. Various technologies are being considered as potential solutions for future construction projects. Building information modeling (BIM), which utilizes advanced equipment, is a promising solution among these technologies. The need for safety inspection has also increased with the aging structures. Nevertheless, traditional safety inspection technology falls short of meeting this demand as it heavily relies on the subjective opinions of workers. This inadequacy highlights the need for advancements in existing maintenance technology. Research on building safety inspection using 3D laser scanners has notably increased. Laser scanners that use light detection and ranging (LiDAR) can quickly and accurately acquire producing information, which can be realized through reverse engineering by modeling point cloud data. This study introduces an innovative evaluation system for building safety using a 3D laser scanner. The system was used to assess the safety of an existing three-story building by implementing a reverse engineering technique. The 3D digital data are obtained from the scanner to detect defects and deflections in and outside the building and to create an as-built BIM. Subsequently, the as-built structural model of the building was generated using the reverse engineering approach and used for structural analysis. The acquired information, including deformations and dimensions, is compared with the expected values to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed technique.