• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.429-448
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• 2016

This paper presents a finite element (FE) model for predicting the behaviour of steel column-column connections under axial compression and tension. A robustness approach is utilised for the design of steel column-column connections. The FE models take into account for the effects of initial geometric imperfections, material nonlinearities and geometric nonlinearities. The accuracy of the FE models is examined by comparing the predicted results with independent experimental results. It is demonstrated that the FE models accurately predict the ultimate axial strengths and load-deflection curves for steel column-column connections. A parametric study is carried out to investigate the effects of slenderness ratio, contact surface imperfection, thickness of cover-plates, end-plate thickness and bolt position. The buckling strengths of steel column-column connections with contact surface imperfections are compared with design strengths obtained from Australian Standards AS4100 (1998) and Eurocode 3 (2005). It is found that the column connections with maximum allowable imperfections satisfy the design requirements. Furthermore, the steel column-column connections analysed in this paper can be dismantled and reused safely under typical service loads which are usually less than 40% of ultimate axial strengths. The results indicate that steel column-column connections can be demounted at 50% of the ultimate axial load which is greater than typical service load.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.27-35
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• 2010

Asphalt Plug Joint(APJ) is an buried expansion joint that enabling the smooth connection of expansion gap and road pavement by filling the gap with bituminous mixture of 20% bitumen and 80% aggregate by weight, so it secures evenness and expansion or contraction using the material's properties. Although APJ is designed to have a 6-7 year lifecycle, there are some cases where it is damaged within the first six months. This early damage cause traffic congestion due to frequent repair works, and social cost exceeding the installation cost of the joint. So, in this research, we have developed a new system of Buried Folding Lattice Joint(BFLJ) which can overcome the disadvantages of APJ, and have analyzed and compared it's performance with the conventional APJ through experiment with specimens. As a result of the experiment, APJ had crack formation on both ends of the gap plate, spreading to the surface of the expansion joint. With this result, we can conclude that the reason for early damage is the tension failure due to the concentration of strain in the asphalt mixture along the end of gap plate and the debonding along the joint section. In contrast, the newly developed BFLJ induced even transformation in the joint by applying moving stud and high performance material, and resolved APJ's disadvantage of strain concentration. Therefore, it could be seen that the newly developed BFLJ could overcome the disadvantages of APJ and prevent early damage.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 2015

Developed in this study were Octagonal-hollow-section(OHS) struts, whose compressive strengths against flexural and local buckling is higher than H-shape or rectangular-hollow-section(RHS) struts with the same unit weight. OHS members are also advantageous in handling and storing compared to circular hollow sections(CHS). OHS members were fabricated from HR Plates by cold forming and fillet welding. 5 numbers of 20m long OHS struts were assembled, each of which consist of two 9.6m long OHS member and two end connection elements made of cast iron. The compressive strength of the OHS strut was evaluated by comparing the test results, design codes and FEM analysis each other. Test results show that all of the struts have almost same or larger compressive strength than Korean Road Bridge Design Code(KRBDC) (2012). The initial imperfections can be estimated by using measured strains and are turned out to be less than L/450 for all the struts tested. The results of FEM analysis show that the variation of initial imperfection has less effects on the compressive strength for struts with vertical surcharge than for those with self-weight only, while the strength decreases as the initial imperfection increases. As the result of this study, the allowable initial imperfection for 20m long OHS struts is recommended to be less than L/350 on job sites.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.73-80
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• 2022

In this study, details of NRC beam-column connections were developed in which beam and columns pre-assembled in factories using steel angles were bolted on site. The developed joint details are NRC-J type and NRC-JD type. NRC-J type is a method of tensile joining with TS bolts to the side and lower surfaces of the side plate of the NRC column and the end plate of the NRC beam. NRC-JD type has a rigid joint with high-strength bolts between the NRC beam and the side of the NRC column for shear, and with lap splices of reinforcing bar penetrating the joint and the beam main reinforcement for bending. For the seismic performance evaluation of the joint, three specimens were tested: an NRC-J specimen and NRC-JD specimen with NRC beam-column joint details, and an RC-J specimen with RC beam-column joint detail. As a result of the repeated lateral load test, the final failure mode of all specimens was the bending fracture of the beam at the beam-column interface. Compared to the RC-J specimen, the maximum strength of the specimen by the positive force was 10.1% and 29.6% higher in the NRC-J specimen and the NRC-JD specimen, respectively. Both NRC joint details were evaluated to secure ductility of 0.03 rad or more, the minimum total inter-story displacement angle required for the composite intermediate moment frame according to the KDS standard (KDS 41 31 00). At the slope by relative storey displacemet of 5.7%, the NRC-J specimen and the NRC-JD specimen had about 34.8% and 61.1% greater cumulative energy dissipation capacity than the RC specimen. The experimental strength of the NRC beam-column connection was evaluated to be 30% to 53% greater than the theoretical strength according to the KDS standard formula, and the standard formula evaluated the joint performance as a safety side.