• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.03a
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• pp.866-873
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• 2009

CFRD (Concrete Faced Rockfill Dam) has been world-widely constructed due to a lot of advantages compared with rockfill dam and recently, sand/gravel materials, instead of crushed rock materials, are also utilized as a main rockfill material to overcome geological and environmental problems. In this paper, the process of water infiltration into the originally unsaturated sand/gravel-fill dam is studied using two-dimensional saturated-unsaturated seepage theory. According to the results of seepage analysis, if the effective drainage zone is installed in the dam, the reservoir water infiltrate into the dam along a downward flow path towards the lower drainage area. The main body constructed with sand/gravel materials, therefore, remains unsaturated.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.211-226
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• 2004

A relatively simple multiple-vertical-line-element macro model has been incorporated into a standard computer code DRAIN-2D. It was used in blind predictions of seismic response of cantilever RC walls subjected to a series of consequent earthquakes on a shaking table. The model was able to predict predominantly flexural response with relative success. It was able to predict the stiffness and the strength of the pre-cracked specimen and time-history response of the highly nonlinear wall as well as to simulate the shift of the neutral axis and corresponding varying axial force in the cantilever wall. However, failing to identify the rupture of some brittle reinforcement in the third test, the model was not able to predict post-critical, near collapse behaviour during the subsequent response to two stronger earthquakes. The analysed macro model seems to be appropriate for global analyses of complex building structures with RC structural walls subjected to moderate/strong earthquakes. However, it cannot, by definition, be used in refined research analyses monitoring local behaviour in the post critical region.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.705-733
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• 2012

In this work, an experimental examination was carried out to study interfacial stresses developed at the junction zones between carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) fabrics (~1 mm thickness) and tensile concrete portion in CFRP retrofitted RC beams. In this respect, initially six similar RC beams of $150{\times}150{\times}1000mm$ dimensions were prepared. Three of which were strengthened with CFRP fabrics at the tensile side of the beams. Furthermore, a notch was cut at the center of the bottom surface for all of the studied beams. The notch was 15 mm deep and ran across the full width of tension side of the beams. The mentioned interfacial stresses could be calculated from strains measured using strain gauges mounted on the interface zone of the tensile concrete and the CFRP sheet. Based on the results obtained, it is shown that interfacial stresses developed between CFRP fabrics and RC beam had a noticeable effect on debonding failure mode of the latter. The load carrying capacity of CFRP strengthened RC specimens increased ~75% compared to that of the control RC beams. This was attributed to the enhancement of flexural mode of the former. Finally, finite element analysis was also utilized to verify the measured experimental results.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.63 no.5
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• pp.575-583
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• 2017

The study covers the behavior of reinforced concrete deep beams loaded under 4-point bending, failed by shear and repaired using bonding glass fiber reinforced plastics fabrics (GFRP) patches. Two rehabilitation methods have been used to highlight the influence of the composite on the ultimate strength of the beams and their failure modes. In the first series of trials the work has been focused on the reinforcement/rehabilitation of the beam by following the continuous configuration of the FRP fabric. The patch with a U-shape did not provide satisfactory results because this reinforcement strategy does not allow to increase the ultimate strength or to avoid the abrupt shear failure mode. A second methodology of rehabilitation/reinforcement has been developed in the form of SCR (Strips of Critical Region), in which the composite materials reinforcements are positioned to band the inclined cracks (shear) caused by the shear force. The results obtained by using this method lead a superior out come in terms of ultimate strength and change of the failure mode from abrupt shearing to ductile bending.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.3
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• pp.379-386
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• 2018

The present study addresses the direct and indirect methods of determining the mode-I fracture toughness of concrete using experimental tests and particle flow code. The direct method used is compaction tensile test and the indirect methods are notched Brazilian disc test, semi-circular bend specimen test, and hollow center cracked disc. The experiments were carried out to determine which indirect method yields the fracture toughness closer to the one obtained by the direct method. In the numerical analysis, the PFC model was first calibrated with respect to the data obtained from the Brazilian laboratory test. The crack paths observed in the simulated tests were in reasonable accordance with experimental results. The discrete element simulations demonstrated that the macro fractures in the models are caused by microscopic tensile breakages on large numbers of bonded particles. The mode-I fracture toughness in the direct tensile test was smaller than the indirect testing results. The fracture toughness obtained from the SCB test was closer to the direct test results. Hence, the semi-circular bend test is recommended as a proper experiment for determination of mode-I fracture toughness of concrete in the absence of direct tests.

• 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.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.455-463
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• 2018

This study developed a method to quantitatively measure the size of cracks in concrete using X-ray CT images. We prepared samples with a diameter of 50 mm and a length of 100 mm by coring cracked concrete block that was obtained by chipping. We used a micro-focus X-ray CT, then applied the 3DMA method (3 Dimensional Medial axis Analysis) to the 3D CT images to find effective parameters for damage assessment. Finally, we quantitatively assessed the damage based on sample locations, using the damage assessment parameter. Results clearly show that the area near the chipping surface was damaged to a depth of 3 cm. Furthermore, X-ray methods can be used to evaluate the porosity index, burn number, and medial axis, which are used to estimate the damage to the area near the chipping surface.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.49-70
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• 2014

Steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) is known as one of the efficient modern composites that can greatly enhance the material performance of cracked concrete in tension. Such improved tensile resistance mechanism at crack interfaces in SFRC members can be heavily influenced by methodologies of treatments of crack direction. While most existing studies have focused on developing the numerical analysis model with the rotating-angle theory, there are only few studies on finite element analysis models with the fixed-angle model approach. According to many existing experimental studies, the direction of principal stress rotated after the formation of initial fixed-cracks, but it was also observed that new cracks with completely different angles relative to the initial crack direction very rarely occurred. Therefore, this study introduced the direct tension force transfer model (DTFTM), in which tensile resistance of the fibers at the crack interface can be easily estimated, to the nonlinear finite element analysis algorithm with the fixed-angle theory, and the proposed model was also verified by comparing the analysis results to the SFRC shear panel test results. The secant modulus method adopted in this study for iterative calculations in nonlinear finite element analysis showed highly stable and fast convergence capability when it was applied to the fixed-angle theory. The deviation angle between the principal stress direction and the fixed-crack direction significantly increased as the tensile stresses in the steel fibers at crack interfaces increased, which implies that the deviation angle is very important in the estimation of the shear behavior of SFRC members.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.101-111
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• 2012

In the ALC(Autoclaved lightweight concrete) manufacturing process, if the pre-cured semi-cake is removed after proper time is passed, it will be hard to retain the moisture and be easily cracked. Therefore, in this research, we took the research by multiple regression analysis to find relationship between variables for the prediction the hardness that is the control standard of the removal time. We study the relationship between Independent variables such as the V/T(Vibration Time), V/T movement, expansion height, curing time, placing temperature, Rising and C/S ratio and the Dependent variables, the hardness by multiple regression analysis. In this study, first, we calculated regression equation by the regression analysis, then we tried phased regression analysis, best subset regression analysis and residual analysis. At last, we could verify curing time, placing temperature, Rising and C/S ratio influence to the hardness by the estimated regression equation.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.31-40
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• 2002

The purpose of this study is to investigate the seismic behavior of RC bridge piers and to provide the data for developing improved seismic design criteria. The accuracy and objectivity of the assessment process may be enhanced by the use of sophisticated nonlinear finite element analysis program. A computer program, named RCAHEST(reinforced concrete analysis in higher evaluation system technology), for the analysis of reinforced concrete structures was used. Material nonlinearity is taken into account by comprising tensile, compressive and shear models of cracked concrete and a model of reinforcing steel. The smeared crack approach is incorporated. n boundary plane at which each member with different thickness is connected, local discontinuity in deformation due to the abrupt change in their stiffness can be taken into account by introducing interface element. The effect of number of load reversals with the same displacement amplitude has been also taken into account to model the reinforcing steel and concrete. In the companion paper, the proposed numerical method for seismic damage evaluation of RC bridge piers is verified by comparison with the reliable experimental results.