• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제18권5호
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• pp.535-543
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• 2019

Building on/with expansive soils with no treatment brings complications. Compacted expansive soils specifically fall short in satisfying the minimum requirements for transport embankment infrastructures, requiring the adoption of hauled virgin mineral aggregates or a sustainable alternative. Use of hauled aggregates comes at a high carbon and economical cost. On average, every 9m high embankment built with quarried/hauled soils cost $12600MJ.m^{-2}$ Embodied Energy (EE). A prospect of using mixed cutting-arising expansive soils with industrial/domestic wastes can reduce the carbon cost and ease the pressure on landfills. The widespread use of recycled materials has been extensively limited due to concerns over their long-term performance, generally low shear strength and stiffness. In this contribution, hydromechanical properties of a waste tyre sand-sized rubber (a mixture of polybutadiene, polyisoprene, elastomers, and styrene-butadiene) and expansive silt is studied, allowing the short- and long-term behaviour of optimum compacted composites to be better established. The inclusion of tyre shred substantially decreased the swelling potential/pressure and modestly lowered the compression index. Silt-Tyre powder replacement lowered the bulk density, allowing construction of lighter reinforced earth structures. The shear strength and stiffness decreased on addition of tyre powder, yet the contribution of matric suction to the shear strength remained constant for tyre shred contents up to 20%. Reinforced soils adopted a ductile post-peak plastic behaviour with enhanced failure strain, offering the opportunity to build more flexible subgrades as recommended for expansive soils. Residual water content and tyre shred content are directly correlated; tyre-reinforced silt showed a greater capacity of water storage (than natural silts) and hence a sustainable solution to waterlogging and surficial flooding particularly in urban settings. Crushed fine tyre shred mixed with expansive silts/sands at 15 to 20 wt% appear to offer the maximum reduction in swelling-shrinking properties at minimum cracking, strength loss and enhanced compressibility expenses.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.201-215
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• 2019

In this research, the behavior of tube-in-tube BRBs (TiTBRBs) has been investigated. In a typical TiTBRB, the yielding core tube is located inside the outer restraining one to dissipate energy through extensive plastic deformation, while the outer restraining tube remains essentially elastic. With the aid of FE analyses, the monotonic and cyclic behavior of the proposed TiTBRBs have been studied as individual brace elements. Subsequently, a detailed finite element model of a representative single span-single story frame equipped with such a TiTBRB has been constructed and both monotonic and cyclic behavior of the proposed TiTBRBs have been explored under the application of the AISC loading protocol at the braced frame level. With the aid of backbone curves derived from the FE analyses, a simplified frame model has been developed and verified through comparison with the results of the detailed FE model. It has been shown that, the simplified model is capable of predicting closely the cyclic behavior of the TiTBRB frame and hence can be used for design purposes. Considering type of connection detail used in a frame, the TiTBRB member which behave satisfactorily at the brace element level under cyclic loading conditions, may suffer global buckling due to the flexural demand exerted from the frame to the brace member at its ends. The proposed TiTBRB suit tubular members of offshore structures and the application of such TiTBRB in a typical offshore platform has been introduced and studied in a single frame level using detailed FE model.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.365-382
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• 2019

In steel frame-tube structures (SFTSs) the application of flexural beam is not suitable for the beam with span-to-depth ratio lower than five because the plastic hinges at beam-ends can not be developed properly. This can lead to lower ductility and energy dissipation capacity of the SFTS. To address this problem, a replaceable shear link, acting as a ductile fuse at the mid length of deep beams, is proposed. SFTS with replaceable shear links (SFTS-RSLs) dissipate seismic energy through shear deformation of the link. In order to evaluate this proposal, buildings were designed to compare the seismic performance of SFTS-RSLs and SFTSs. Several sub-structures were selected from the design buildings and finite element models (FEMs) were established to study their hysteretic behavior. Static pushover and dynamic analyses were undertaken in comparing seismic performance of the FEMs for each building. The results indicated that the SFTS-RSL and SFTS had similar initial lateral stiffness. Compared with SFTS, SFTS-RSL had lower yield strength and maximum strength, but higher ductility and energy dissipation capacity. During earthquakes, SFTS-RSL had lower interstory drift, maximum base shear force and story shear force compared with the SFTS. Placing a shear link at the beam mid-span did not increase shear lag effects for the structure. The SFTS-RSL concentrates plasticity on the shear link. Other structural components remain elastic during seismic loading. It is expected that the SFTS-RSL will be a reliable dual resistant system. It offers the benefit of being able to repair the structure by replacing damaged shear links after earthquakes.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제31권1호
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• pp.13-25
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• 2019

Reactive powder concrete (RPC) is a type of ultra-high strength concrete that has a relatively high brittleness. However, its ductility can be improved by confinement, and the use of RPC in composite RPC filled steel tube columns has become an important subject of research in recent years. This paper aims to present an experimental study of axial capacity calculation of RPC filled circular steel tube columns. Twenty short columns under axial compression were tested and information on their failure patterns, deformation performance, confinement mechanism and load capacity were presented. The effects of load conditions, diameter-thickness ratio and compressive strength of RPC on the axial behavior were further discussed. The experimental results show that: (1) specimens display drum-shaped failure or shear failure respectively with different confinement coefficients, and the load capacity of most specimens increases after the peak load; (2) the steel tube only provides lateral confinement in the elastic-plastic stage for fully loaded specimens, while the confinement effect from steel tube initials at the set of loading for partially loaded specimens; (3) confinement increases the load capacity of specimens by 3% to 38%, and this increase is more pronounced as the confinement coefficient becomes larger; (4) the residual capacity-to-ultimate capacity ratio is larger than 0.75 for test specimens, thus identifying the composite columns have good ductility. The working mechanism and force model of the composite columns were analyzed, and based on the twin-shear unified strength theory, calculation methods of axial capacity for columns with two load conditions were established.

• 대한건축학회논문집:구조계
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• 제35권12호
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• pp.137-148
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• 2019

Korean piloti-type buildings are comprised of pilotis in the first story and shear walls in the upper stories. This vertical irregularity causes excessive lateral plastic deformation on the first story while the upper stories stay elastic. Meanwhile, asymmetric position of structural components such as core walls and columns of RC piloti-type buildings tends to produce torsional irregularities of the structures. Korean Building Code(KBC2016) requires the special seismic load and torsional amplification factor to apply to the piloti-type buildings lower than six-story or 20m if it has vertical and torsional irregularities when the building corresponds to seismic design category C or D. Many Korean low-rised RC buildings fall into the class. Therefore, the special earthquake load and torsional amplification factor are often applied to a building simultaneously. However, it has not been studied enough how much influence each parameter has on buildings with vertical and torsional irregularities at the same time. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of factor special seismic load and torsional amplification on seismic performance of irregular buildings. In this study, a damaged 4^th story piloti-type building by the Pohang earthquake was selected and the earthquake response analysis was carried out with various seismic design methods by the KBC 2016. The effect of the design parameters on seismic performance was analyzed by the dynamic analysis of models with special seismic load and torsional amplification factor based on the selected building. It was concluded that the application of the torsional amplification factor to the reference model to which special seismic design was applied, does not significantly affect the seismic performance.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제27권5호
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• pp.457-472
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• 2021

Reinforced concrete (RC) buildings in Taiwan have suffered failure from strong earthquakes, which was magnified by the non-ductile detailing frames. Inadequate reinforcement as a consequence of the design philosophy prior to the introduction of current standards resulted in severe damage in the column and beam-column joint (BCJ). This study establishes a finite element analysis (FEA) of the non-ductile detailing RC column, BCJ, and three-story building that was previously tested through a tri-axial shaking table test. The results were then validated to laboratory specimens having the exact same dimensions and properties. FEA simulation integrates the concrete damage plasticity model and the elastic-perfectly plastic model for steel. The load-displacement responses of the column and BCJ specimens obtained from FEA were in a reasonable agreement with the experimental curves. The resulting initial stiffness and maximum base shear were found to be a close approximation to the experimental results. Also, the findings of a dynamic analysis of the three-story building showed that the time-history data of acceleration and displacement correlated well with the shaking table test results. This indicates the FEA implementation can be effectively used to predict the RC frame performance and failure mode under seismic loads.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제44권2호
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• pp.199-210
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• 2022

This study build finite element analysis (FEA) models describing the bending events of coiled tubing (CT) at the wellhead and trips into the hole, accurately provide the state of stress and strain while the CT is in service. The bending moment and axial force history curves are used as loads and boundary conditions in the diametrical growth models to ensure consistency with the actual working conditions in field operations. The simulation diametrical growth results in this study are more accurate and reasonable. Analysis the factors influencing fatigue and diametrical growth shows that the internal pressure has a first-order influence on fatigue, followed by the radius of the guide arch, reel and the CT diameter. As the number of trip cycles increase, fatigue damage, residual stress and strain cumulatively increase, until CT failure occurs. Significant residual stresses remain in the CT cross-section, and the CT exhibits a residual curvature, the initial residual bending configuration of CT under wellbore constraints, after running into the hole, is sinusoidal. The residual stresses and residual bending configuration significantly decrease the buckling load, making the buckling and buckling release of CT in the downhole an elastic-plastic process, exacerbating the helical lockup. The conclusions drawn in this study will improve CT models and contribute to the operational and economic success of CT services.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.29-42
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• 2022

In mountainous areas of China, concrete poles with connectors are widely employed in power transmission due to its convenience of manufacture and transportation. The bearing capacity of the poles must have degenerated over time, and most of the steel connectors have been corroded. Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) offers a durable, light-weight alternative in strengthening those poles that have served for many years. In this paper, the bearing capacity and failure mechanism of CFRP sheet strengthened existing reinforced concrete poles with corrosion steel connectors were investigated. Four poles were selected to conduct flexural capacity test. Two poles were strengthened by single-layer longitudinal CFRP sheet, one pole was strengthened by double-layer longitudinal CFRP sheets and the last specimen was not strengthened. Results indicate that the failure is mainly bond failure between concrete and the external CFRP sheet, and the specimens fail in a brittle pattern. The cross-sectional strains of specimens approximately follow the plane section assumption in the early stage of loading, but the strain in the tensile zone no longer conforms to this assumption when the load approaches the failure load. Also, bearing capacity and stiffness of the strengthened specimens are much larger than those without CFRP sheet. The bearing capacity, initial stiffness and elastic-plastic stiffness of specimen strengthened by double-layer CFRP are larger than those strengthened by single-layer CFRP. Weighting the cost-effective effect, it is more economical and reasonable to strengthen with single-layer CFRP sheet. The results can provide a reference to the same type of poles for strengthening design.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제41권5호
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• pp.761-773
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• 2021

This study presents a 3D non-linear finite element (FE) assessment of dynamic soil-structure interaction (SSI). The numerical investigation has been performed on the time domain through a Finite Element (FE) system, while considering the nonlinear behavior of soil and the multi-directional nature of genuine seismic events. Later, the FE outcomes are analyzed to the recorded in-situ free-field and structural movements, emphasizing the numerical model's great result in duplicating the observed response. In this work, the soil response is simulated using an isotropic hardening elastic-plastic hysteretic model utilizing HSsmall. It is feasible to define the non-linear cycle response from small to large strain amplitudes through this model as well as for the shift in beginning stiffness with depth that happens during cyclic loading. One of the most difficult and unexpected tasks in resolving soil-structure interaction concerns is picking an appropriate ground motion predicted across an earthquake or assessing the geometrical abnormalities in the soil waves. Furthermore, an artificial neural network (ANN) has been utilized to properly forecast the non-linear behavior of soil and its multi-directional character, which demonstrated the accuracy of the ANN based on the RMSE and R² values. The total result of this research demonstrates that complicated dynamic soil-structure interaction processes may be addressed directly by passing the significant simplifications of well-established substructure techniques.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제85권5호
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• pp.679-691
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• 2023

Many codes allow designers to use the bending moment diagram computed by elastic analysis and modify it by a certain amount of moment redistribution (MR) to account for plastic behaviour of continuous beams. However, several researchers indicated that the MR at the ultimate limit state (𝛽_u) for some beams deviate significantly from the specified values of various codes. This paper examines the applicability of the provisions on 𝛽_u in ACI 318-19 and Eurocode 2 through numerical investigations and comprehensively explores the influencing factors. The results show that some parameters not considered in those codes influence 𝛽_u to a certain extent, where the ratio of tensile reinforcement ratio at intermediate support to tensile reinforcement ratio at midspan (𝜌_s1/𝜌_s2) and load type are crucial parameters to consider. The specific combination of these two parameters may make the codes overestimate or significantly underestimate the 𝛽_u. On the other hand, the yield state of both critical sections is found to have an important influence on the influence degree of each parameter on 𝛽_u. The yield conditions are investigated, and an empirical judgment equation is proposed. In addition, the influence laws of the critical parameters on 𝛽_u have been further proved by theoretical derivation. Finally, due to 𝜀_t is found to have a better linear correlation with 𝛽_u than x_u/d, equations as a function of 𝜀_t for predicting the 𝛽_u of continuous beams under the two loads are proposed, respectively.