• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.361-372
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• 2019

Tubular joints are used in the construction of offshore structures and other land-based structures because of its ease of fabrication. These joints are subjected to different environmental loadings in their lifetime. At the time of fabrication or modification of an existing offshore platform, tubular joints are usually strengthened to withstand the environmental loads. Currently, various strengthening techniques such as ring stiffeners, gusset plates are employed to strengthen new and existing tubular joints. Due to some limitations with the present practices, some new techniques need to be addressed. Many researchers used Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) to strengthen tubular joints. Some of the studies were focused on axial compression of Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) strengthened tubular joints and found that it was an efficient technique. Earlier, the authors had performed studies on Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) strengthened tubular joint subjected to axial compression. The study steered to the conclusion that FRP composites is an alternative strengthening technique for tubular joints. In this work, the study was focused on axial compression of Y-joint and in plane and out of plane bending of T-joints. Experimental investigations were performed on these joints, fabricated from ASTM A106 Gr. B steel. Two sets of joints were fabricated for testing, one is a reference joint and the other is a joint strengthened with CFRP. After performing the set of experiments, test results were then compared with the numerical solution in ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL). It was observed that the joints strengthened with CFRP were having improved strength, lesser surface displacement and ovalization when compared to the reference joint.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.62-70
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• 2023

We proposed a technique for predicting Stress-Life (S-N) curve or fatigue life using geometric features of a ply-overlap joint structure in which plies of two composite materials are partially or wholly laminated and bonded. Geometric features that could affect fatigue properties of a structure were selected as variables. By analyzing relationships between geometric variables and material constants of the Epaarachchi-Clausen model, a fatigue model for composites, relational expressions of these two factors were proposed. To verify the prediction accuracy of the proposed method, fatigue life of a CFRP/GFRP ply-overlap joint was predicted. Predicted life and life obtained by test data-based model were compared to actual life. High prediction accuracy was confirmed by calculating the coefficient of determination of the predicted S-N curve.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.93-100
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• 2008

The use of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites is significantly growing in construction and infrastructure applications where durability under harsh environmental conditions is of great concern. In order to examine the applicability of FRP rebar as a reinforcement in flexural member, flexural tests were conducted. 12 beams with different FRP materials such as CFRP, GFRP and Hybrid FRP and reinforcement ratio were tested and analyzed in terms of failure mode, moment-deflection, flexural capacity, ductility index and sectional strain distribution. The test results were also compared with the theoretical model represented in ACI 440.1R06. Test results indicate that the flexural capacity of the beams reinforced by FRP bars can be accurately predicted using the ultimate design theory. They also show that the current ACI model for computing the deflection overestimates the actual deflection of GFRP series and underestimates the deflection of CFRP series.

• Composites Research
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.30-38
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• 2000

In this paper, a system of falling weight impact tester was built up to evaluate the impact energy absorbing characteristics and impact strength of CFRP laminate plates in consideration of stress wave propagation theory. Delamination area of impacted specimens for the different ply orientation was measured with ultrasonic C-scanner to find correlation between impact energy and delamination area. Absorbed energy of quasi-isotropic specimen having four interfaces was higher than that of orthotropic laminates with two interfaces. The more interfaces, the more absorbed energy. Hybrid specimen containing GFRP layer was higher than that of normal specimens.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.72-79
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• 2021

A circular saw is an effective tool for cutting glass and carbon-fiber hybrid composites. This study investigated tool wear and cut quality when reusing saw blades. The carbide saws wear four times faster than the new ones, and polycrystalline diamond (PCD) is very resistant to tool wear, except at the end of its lifespan. The cut cross-section quality is affected by the blade type, tool wear, and spindle speed. Alternate top bevel (ATB)-type blades are suitable for cutting fiber-reinforced plastics, but triple-chip grind (TCG)-type blades are unsuitable because they cause fiber-pullout defects. Tool wear and low spindle speeds increase the occurrence of arc scratches, due to the rear saw blade. A microscopic examination showed that the burr, which is a mixture of fiber chips and epoxy matrix, was bonded on top, and glass-fiber delamination occurred on the bottom glass-fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) surface.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.677-684
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• 2007

This study investigates the failure mechanism of RC beams strengthened with GFRP (glass fiber reinforced polymer) sheets. After analyzing failure mechanisms, the various methods to prevent the debonding failures, such as increasing bonded length of GFRP sheets, U-shape wrappings and epoxy shear keys are examined. The bonded length of GFRP sheets are calculated based on the assumed bond strengths of epoxy resin. The U-shape wrappings are either adopted at the end or center of the CFRP sheets bonded to the beam soft. The epoxy shear keys are embedded to the beam soft to provide sufficient bond strength. The end U-wrappings and the center U-wrappings are conventional, while epoxy shear keys are new details developed in this study. A total six half-scale RC beams have been constructed and tested to investigate the effectiveness of each methods to prevent debonding failure of GFRP sheets. From the experimental results, it was found that increasing bonded length or end U-wrappings do not prevent debonding failure. On the other hand, the beams with center U-wrappings and shear keys reached an ultimate state with their sufficient performance. The center U-wrappings tended to control debonding of the longitudinal GFRP sheets because the growth of the longitudinal cracks along the edges of the composites was delayed. In the case of shear keys, it was sufficient to prevent debonding and the beam was failed by GFRP sheets rupture.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.429-436
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• 2010

Recently, (terahertz ray) applications have emerged as one of the most promising new powerful nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques. In this study, a new T-ray time-domain spectroscopy system was utilized for detecting and evaluating layup effect and flaw in FRP composite laminates. Extensive experimental measurements in reflection and thru-transmission modes were made to map out the T-ray images. Especially this was demonstrated in thick GFRP laminates containing double saw slots. In carbon composites the penetration of terahertz waves is limited to some degree and the detection of flaws is strongly affected by the angle between the electric field(E-field) vector of the terahertz waves and the intervening fiber directions. The artificial defects investigated by terahertz waves were bonded foreign material, simulated disbond and delamination and mechanical impact damage. The effectiveness and limitations of terahertz radiation for the NDE of composites are discussed.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.18 no.2 s.92
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• pp.293-298
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• 2006

The reinforced concrete(RC) structures strengthened with fiber reinforced plastic(FRP) has been accepted by the construction engineering community for rehabilitation. FRP composites can present many advantages like a corrosion resistance, strength-weight ratio, relatively short application time, and cost effectiveness. The beams under design load, however, are cracked and result in degrading the strength. It is difficult to recognize cracks and deflections on the surface of the concrete members retrofitted with FRP through the life cycle. For these reasons, if they result in the effects, which were below the expected strength, we must monitor the state of concrete structures all the time in order to take an appropriate measure. Fiber Bragg Grating(FBG) sensor excel as monitoring of investigating the stress state of the retrofitted beams with FRP. The main objective of this study is to measure strain by experiment and analyze the behavior of RC beams retrofitted with FRP using FBG sensor. The kinds of FRP which were used in research are carbon, glass and improved hybrid FRP(IFRP) that has capacity than any other FRP. Other variables are the length of FRP, the number of sheet.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.1337-1358
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• 2016

The current study focuses on the assessment and interface response of reinforced concrete elements with composite materials (carbon fiber reinforced polymers-CFRPs, glass fiber reinforced polymers-GFRPs, textile reinforced mortars-TRM's, near surface mounted bars-NSMs). A description of the transfer mechanisms from concrete elements to the strengthening materials is conducted through analytical models based on failure modes: plate end interfacial debonding and intermediate flexural crack induced interfacial debonding. A database of 55 in total reinforced concrete columns (scale 1:1) is assembled containing elements rehabilitated with various techniques (29 wrapped with CFRP's, 5 wrapped with GFRP's, 4 containing NSM and 4 strengthened with TRM). The failure modes are discussed together with the performance level of each technique as well as the efficiency level in terms of ductility and bearing/ bending capacity. The analytical models' results are in acceptable agreement with the experimental data and can predict the failure modes. Despite the heterogeneity of the elements contained in the aforementioned database the results are of high interest and point out the need to incorporate the analytical expressions in design codes in order to predict the failure mechanisms and the limit states of bearing capacities of each technique.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.3
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• pp.283-290
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• 2019

In global competition manufacturing companies have to produce modern, new constructions from advanced materials in order to increase competitiveness. The aim of my research was to develop a new composite cellular plate structure, which can be primarily used for structural elements of road, rail, water and air transport vehicles (e.g. vehicle bodies, ship floors). The new structure is novel and innovative, because all materials of the components of the newly developed structure are composites (laminated Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) deck plates with pultruded Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic (GFRP) stiffeners), furthermore combines the characteristics of sandwich and cellular plate structures. The material of the structure is much more advantageous than traditional steel materials, due mainly to its low density, resulting in weight savings, causing lower fuel consumption and less environmental damage. In the study the optimal construction of a given geometry of a structural element of a road truck trailer body was defined by single- and multi-objective optimization (minimal cost and weight). During the single-objective optimization the Flexible Tolerance Optimization method, while during the multi-objective optimization the Particle Swarm Optimization method were used. Seven design constraints were considered: maximum deflection of the structure, buckling of the composite plates, buckling of the stiffeners, stress in the composite plates, stress in the stiffeners, eigenfrequency of the structure, size constraint for design variables. It was confirmed that the developed structure can be used principally as structural elements of transport vehicles and unit load devices (containers) and can be applied also in building construction.