• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.613-625
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• 2021

Non-seismically designed eccentric reinforced concrete beam-column joints were extensively used in existing reinforced concrete frame buildings, which were found to be vulnerable to seismic action in many incidences. To provide a fundamental understanding of the seismic performance and failure mechanism of the joints, three 2/3-scale exterior beam-column joints with non-seismically designed details were cast and tested under reversed cyclic loads simulating earthquake excitation. In this investigation, particular emphasis was given on the effects of the eccentricity between the centerlines of the beam and the column. It is shown that the eccentricity had significant effects on the damage characteristics, shear strength, and displacement ductility of the specimens. In addition, shear deformation and the strain of joint hoops were found to concentrate on the eccentric face of the joint. The results demonstrated that the specimen with an eccentricity of 1/4 column width failed in a brittle manner with premature joint shear failure, while the other specimens with less or no eccentricity failed in a ductile manner with joint shear failure after beam flexural yielding. Test results are compared with those predicted by three seismic design codes and two non-seismic design codes. In general, the codes do not accurately predict the shear strength of the eccentric joints with non-seismic details.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.49-58
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• 2024

The purpose of this study was to develop a system capable of restoring the seismic performance of a precast concrete (PC) connection damaged by an earthquake. The developed PC connection consists of a top-and-seat angle, post-tensioning (PT) tendons, and U-shaped steel. The PC beam can be replaced by cutting the PT tendons in the event of damage. In addition, the seismic performance of the developed PC beam-column connection was evaluated experimentally. A PC beam-column connection specimen was fabricated, and a quasistatic cyclic loading test was conducted to a maximum drift ratio of 2.3%. Subsequently, the PC beam was replaced by a new PC beam, and the repaired PC connection was loaded to a maximum drift ratio of 5.1%. The structural performance of the repaired PC connection was then compared with that of the original PC connection. The difference in the load at the drift ratio of 2.3% between the original and the repaired PC specimens was only 0.2%. The residual drift ratio in the repaired PC specimen did not exceed 1.0% at the 2.0 % drift ratio cycles, which satisfies the life safety performance level specified in ACI 374.2R-13. When the developed PC connection system is used, structural performance can be restored by rapidly replacing the damaged elements.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.203-218
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• 2024

Beam-column joints in the frame structure are at high risk of brittle shear failure which would lead to significant residual deformation and even the collapse of the structure during an earthquake. In order to improve the damage issue and enhance the recoverability of the beam-column joints, a sector lead rubber damper (SLRD) has been developed. The SLRD can increase the bearing capacity and energy dissipation capacity, and also demonstrating recoverability of seismic performance following cyclic loading. In this paper, the hysteretic behavior of SLRD was experimentally investigated in terms of the regular hysteretic behavior, large deformation behavior and fatigue behavior. Furthermore, a parametric analysis was performed to study the influence of the primary design parameters on the hysteretic behavior of SLRD. The results show that SLRD resist the exerted loading through the shear capacity of both rubber parts coupled with the lead cores in the pre-yielding stage of lead cores. In the post-yielding phase, it is only the rubber parts of the SLRD that provide the shear capacity while the lead cores primarily dissipate the energy through shear deformation. The SLRD possesses a robust capacity for large deformation and can sustain hysteretic behavior when subjected to a loading rotation angle of 1/7 (equivalent to 200% shear strain of the rubber component). Furthermore, it demonstrates excellent fatigue resistance, with a degradation of critical behavior indices by no more than 15% in comparison to initial values even after 30 cycles. As for the designing practice of SLRD, it is recommended to adopt the double lead core scheme, along with a rubber material having the lowest possible shear modulus while meeting the desired bearing capacity and a thickness ratio of 0.4 to 0.5 for the thin steel plate.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.36-44
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• 2024

This paper presents the application of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and Region of Interest (ROI) techniques for concrete crack analysis. Surfaces of concrete structures, such as beams, etc., are exposed to fatigue stress and cyclic loads, typically resulting in the initiation of cracks at a microscopic level on the structure's surface. Early detection enables preventative measures to mitigate potential damage and failures. Conventional manual inspections often yield subpar results, especially for large-scale infrastructure where access is challenging and detecting cracks can be difficult. This paper presents data collection, edge segmentation and ROI techniques application, and analysis of concrete cracks using Convolutional Neural Networks. This paper aims to achieve the following objectives: Firstly, achieving improved accuracy in crack detection using image-based technology compared to traditional manual inspection methods. Secondly, developing an algorithm that utilizes enhanced Sobel edge segmentation and ROI techniques. The algorithm provides automated crack detection capabilities for non-destructive testing.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.77-86
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• 2007

The more demands on efficient utilization of resources, the more structural engineers prefer to select remodeling to improve old building's capacity. A series of four shear wall specimens were tested under constant axial stress and reversed cyclic lateral loading in order to evaluate the effect of the opening on the lower center of the wall induce by remodeling. Consequently, the existence of opening was verified to induce a different failure, which was caused by reduction of compression strut area formed on the wall to diagonal direction. Especially, the ultimate strength of the wall with an opening was revealed approximately 35% lower than that of the wall without an opening. And the similar results were appeared in characteristics of stiffness and energy dissipation capacity.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.327-335
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• 2009

In the seismic region, non-ductile structures often form soft story and exhibit brittle collapse. However, structure demolition and new structure construction strategies have serious problems, as construction waste, environmental pollution and popular complain. And these methods can be uneconomical. Therefore, to satisfy seismic performance, so many seismic retrofit methods have been investigated. There are some retrofit methods as infill walls, steel brace, continuous walls, buttress, wing walls, jacketing of column or beam. Among them, the infilled frames exhibit complex behavior as follows: flexible frames experiment large deflection and rotations at the joints, and infilled shear walls fail mainly in shear at relatively small displacements. Therefore, the combined action of the composite system differs significantly from that of the frame or wall alone. Purpose of research is evaluation on the seismic performance of infill walls, and improvement concept of this paper is use of SHCCs (strain-hardening cementitious composites) to absorb damage energy effectively. The experimental investigation consisted of cyclic loading tests on 1/3-scale models of infill walls. The experimental results, as expected, show that the multiple crack pattern, strength, and energy dissipation capacity are superior for SHCC infill wall due to bridging of fibers and stress redistribution in cement matrix.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.345-351
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• 2017

This study evaluated the effectiveness of V-shaped ties as an alternative to the supplementary crossties specified in ACI 318-14 on the flexural ductility of reinforced concrete columns. From column specimens tested under constant axial loads and reversed cyclic lateral loads, the mode of failure and lateral load-lateral displacement relationship were measured according to the variation of the applied axial load levels. After the columns reached the peak lateral load capacity, the $90^{\circ}$ hooks of the crossties gradually opened, which eventually caused premature buckling of the longitudinal reinforcement and severe crushing of the core concrete, whereas no V-ties were extracted from the core concrete until the column failure. As a result, the cumulative work damage indicators up to 80% of the peak lateral load for V-tie columns under the axial load level of 0.2, 0.4, and 0.55 was as much as 2.4, 2.3, and 5.2 times higher, respectively, than those of the companion crosstie columns. The superiority of the V-ties to the conventional crossties in enhancing the flexural ductility of columns became more prominent as the axial load level increases.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.383-389
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• 1993

The effects of light and $CO_2$ on the electrophysiological characteristics of guard cells in the intact leaf and in the detached epidermis have been investigated. Guard cells in intact leaves showed the membrane hyperpolarization in response to light. The biggest induced change of the membrane potential difference (PD) in the guard cells of the intact leaf was 13 m V by light and 42 mV by $CO_2$ in Commelina communis. Similar results were obtained with Tradescantia virginiana. However, there were no changes of membrane PD in detached epidermis. In order to determine the influence of the mesophyll on the changes of membrane PD, infiltration of the mesophyll cells with photosynthetic inhibitors was performed. In CCCP infiltrated leaf discs the guard cell membrane was depolarized slightly by red-light and hyperpolarized by $CO_2$, but in leaf discs infiltrated with DCCD and DCMU the guard cell membrane was hyperpolrized by both red-light and $CO_2$ as the control leaf discs. In azide infiltrated leaf discs the guard cell membrane showed no response to light and there was a much reduced membrane hyperpolarization by $CO_2$ compared to other responses. It was likely that azide caused leaf damage and the activity of cell metabolism was decreased greatly, resulting in small membrane PD changes by $CO_2$ and no changes by redlight. Therefore, it can be suggested that red light was sensed by the mesophyll and the light induced guard cell membrane hyperpolarization was related to energy produced by cyclic-photophosphorylation, but ${CO_2}-induced$ guard cell membrane hyperpolarization was not related to photosynthesis. Alkalisation of the vacuole was observed when the intact leaf was exposed to $CO_2$, indicating that membrane hyperpolarization was mainly the result of proton efflux.efflux.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Advanced Composite Structures
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.1-10
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• 2011

This study investigates the performance of composite (steel-concrete) frame structures through numerical experiments on individual connections. The innovative aspects of this research are in the use of connections between steel beams and concrete-filled tube (CFT)columns that utilize a combination of low-carbon steel and shape memory alloy (SMA) components. In these new connections, the intent is to utilize the recentering provided by super-elastic shape memory alloy tension bars to reduce building damage and residual drift after a major earthquake. The low-carbon steel components provide excellent energy dissipation. The analysis and design of these structures is complicated because the connections cannot be modeled as being simply pins or full fixity ones they are partial restraint (PR). A refined finite element (FE) model with sophisticated three dimensional (3D) solid elements was developed to conduct numerical experiments on PR-CFT joints to obtain the global behavior of the connection. Based on behavioral information obtained from these FE tests, simplified connection models were formulated by using joint elements with spring components. The behavior of entire frames under cyclic loads was conducted and compared with the monotonic behavior obtained from the 3D FE simulations. Good agreement was found between the simple and sophisticated models, verifying the robustness of the approach.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.289-298
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• 2016

An experimental research was performed using fibers for the purpose of retrofitting existing reinforced concrete circular columns. Glass fiber (GF) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) were used as well as combined GF+PET (HF). PET has high tensile strength (over 600 MPa) and high ductility (about 15%), but has very low elastic modulus (about 1/6 of GF). A total of four columns was tested against laterally applied reverse cyclic load: control column, GF-, PET-, and HF-strengthened columns. All columns retrofitted using fibers demonstrated improved moment capacity and ductility. Moment capacity of GF-, PET-, and HF-strengthened columns was 120%, 107%, and 120% of the control column, respectively. Drift ratio of all retrofitted columns also increased by 63 ~ 83% over the control column. The final failure mode of the control column was main bar buckling. The final failure mode of the GF- and HF-strengthened columns was GF rupture while that of the PET-strengthened column was main bar rupture in tension. No damage was observed for PET at the ultimate stage due to excellent strain capacity intrinsic to PET. Current test results indicate that PET can be effectively used for seismic retrofit of RC columns. It is noted that the durability characteristics of PET needs to be investigated in the future.