• Computers and Concrete
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• 제12권5호
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• pp.613-625
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• 2013

In this study, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) analysis is used to predict the compression strength of polypropylene fibre mixed concrete. Polypropylene fibre admixture increases the compression strength of concrete to a certain extent according to mix proportion. This proportion and homogenous distribution are important parameters on compression strength. Determination of compression strength of fibre mixed concrete is significant due to the veridicality of capacity calculations. Plenty of experiments shall be completed to state the compression strength of concrete which have different fibre admixture. In each case, it is known that performing the laboratory experiments is costly and time-consuming. Therefore, ANN analysis is used to predict the 7 and 28 days of compression strength values. For this purpose, 156 test specimens are produced that have 26 different types of fibre admixture. While the results of 120 specimens are used for training process, 36 of them are separated for test process in ANN analysis to determine the validity of experimental results. Finally, it is seen that ANN analysis predicts the compression strength of concrete successfully.

• 한국지반공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국지반공학회 2005년도 춘계 학술발표회 논문집
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• pp.910-915
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• 2005

In this study a series of tests(bench scale test) are carried out for increasing in strength of clayey soil by EK-Injection method. In addition, the effects of strength increase in the treated sample are measured by operating the vane shear test device during 25 days at 5 days intervals in order to estimate the effect of ground improvement caused by diffusion. The test results show that the strength increase was developed approximately double to 7 times in comparison to initial shear strength, and outstanding strength increase was created as much as 7 times while injecting the sodium silicate and phosphoric acid in anolyte and catholyte. In addition, the measured shear strength with the influence of diffusion and reduction of water-content had a tendency to converge in constant value in proportion to elapsed time. As a result of this study, strength increment developed by the influence of EK-Injection and diffusion rather than the reduction of water-content were high as 1000% on average

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제35권3호
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• pp.327-341
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• 2020

The use of high-strength steel and concrete in the construction industry has been gaining increasing attention over the past few decades. With it comes the need to utilise high-strength structural bolts to ensure the design load to be transferred safely through joint regions, where the space is limited due to the reduced structural dimensions. However, research on the behaviour of high-strength structural bolts under various loading combinations is still insufficient. Most of the current design specifications concerning high-strength structural bolts were established based on a very limited set of experimental results. Moreover, as experimental programs normally include limited design parameters for investigation, finite element analysis has become one of the effective methods to assist the understanding of the behaviour of structural components. An accurate and simple full-range stress-strain model for high-strength structural bolts under different loading combinations was therefore developed, where the effects of bolt fracture was included. The ultimate strength capacities of various structural bolts obtained from the present experimental program were compared with the existing design provisions. Furthermore, design recommendations concerning the pure shear and tension, as well as combined shear and tension resistance of Grade 10.9 high-strength structural bolts were provided.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.183-196
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• 2018

The rheological behaviour of high strength self compacting concrete (HS-SCC) studied through an experimental investigation is presented in this paper. The effect of variation in supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) $vis-{\grave{a}}-vis$ four different types of processed crushed sand as fine aggregates is studied. Apart from the ordinary Portland cement (OPC), the SCMs such as fly ash (FA), ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) ultrafine slag (UFS) and micro-silica (MS) are used in different percentages keeping the mix -paste volume and flow of concrete, constant. The combinations of rheology, strength and durability are equally important for selection of mixes in respect of high-rise building constructions. These combinations are referred to as the rheo-strength and rheo-durability which is scientifically linked to performance based rating. The findings show that the fineness of the sands and types of SCM affects the rheo-strength and rheo-durability performance of HS-SCC. The high amount of fines often seen in fine aggregates contributes to the higher yield stress. Further, the mixes with processed sand is found to offer better rheology as compared to that of mixes made using unwashed crushed sand, washed plaster sand, washed fine natural sand. The micro silica and ultra-fine slag conjunction with washed crushed sand can be a good solution for high rise construction in terms of rheo-strength and rheo-durability performance.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제14권5호
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• pp.785-809
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• 2014

In this paper, an Adaptive nerou-based inference system (ANFIS) is being used for the prediction of shear strength of high strength concrete (HSC) beams without stirrups. The input parameters comprise of tensile reinforcement ratio, concrete compressive strength and shear span to depth ratio. Additionally, 122 experimental datasets were extracted from the literature review on the HSC beams with some comparable cross sectional dimensions and loading conditions. A comparative analysis has been carried out on the predicted shear strength of HSC beams without stirrups via the ANFIS method with those from the CEB-FIP Model Code (1990), AASHTO LRFD 1994 and CSA A23.3 - 94 codes of design. The shear strength prediction with ANFIS is discovered to be superior to CEB-FIP Model Code (1990), AASHTO LRFD 1994 and CSA A23.3 - 94. The predictions obtained from the ANFIS are harmonious with the test results not accounting for the shear span to depth ratio, tensile reinforcement ratio and concrete compressive strength; the data of the average, variance, correlation coefficient and coefficient of variation (CV) of the ratio between the shear strength predicted using the ANFIS method and the real shear strength are 0.995, 0.014, 0.969 and 11.97%, respectively. Taking a look at the CV index, the shear strength prediction shows better in nonlinear iterations such as the ANFIS for shear strength prediction of HSC beams without stirrups.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제12권6호
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• pp.919-933
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• 2017

A series of Brazilian tests under diameter compression for disc specimens was carried out to investigate the strength and failure behavior by using acoustic emission (AE) and photography monitoring technique. On the basis of experimental results, load-displacement curves, AE counts, real-time crack evolution process, failure modes and strength property of granite specimens containing two pre-existing holes were analyzed in detail. Two typical types of load-displacement curves are identified, i.e., sudden instability (type I) and progressive failure (type II). In accordance with the two types of load-displacement curves, the AE events also have different responses. The present experiments on disc specimens containing two pre-existing holes under Brazilian test reveal four distinct failure modes, including diametrical splitting failure mode (mode I), one crack coalescence failure mode (mode II), two crack coalescences failure mode (mode III) and no crack coalescence failure mode (mode IV). Compared with intact granite specimen, the disc specimen containing two holes fails with lower strength, which is closely related to the bridge angle. The failure strength of pre-holed specimen first decreases and then increases with the bridge angle. Finally, a preliminary interpretation was proposed to explain the strength evolution law of granite specimen containing two holes based on the microscopic observation of fracture plane.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제7권3호
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• pp.175-181
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• 2019

Low-calcium fly ash (LCFA) were used to prepare cement/LCFA specimens in this study. The basic physical properties including water demand, fluidity, setting time, soundness and drying shrinkage of cement/LCFA paste were investigated. The effects of curing time, immersion time and wet-dry cycles in 3% $Na_2SO_4$ solution on the compressive strength and the microstructures of specimens were also discussed. The results show that LCFA increases the water demand, setting time, soundness of cement paste samples. 50% and 60% LCFA replacement ratio decrease the drying shrinkage of hardened cement paste. The compressive strength of plain cement specimens decreases at the later immersion stage in 3% $Na_2SO_4$ solution. The addition of LCFA can decrease this strength reduction of cement specimens. For all specimens with LCFA, the compressive strength increases with increasing immersion time. During the wet-dry cycles, the compressive strength of plain cement specimens decreases with increasing wet-dry cycles. However, the pores in the specimens with 30% and 40% LCFA at early ages could be large enough for the crystal of sodium sulfate, which leads to the compressive strength increase with the increase of wet-dry cycles in 3% $Na_2SO_4$ solution. The microstructures of cement/LCFA specimens are in good agreement with the compressive strength.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제15권6호
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• pp.431-444
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• 2023

This study investigated the use of latex-modified sand concrete reinforced with sisal fibers (LMSC) as a repair material. Notably, no prior research has explored the application of LMSC for this purpose. This paper examines the interface bond strength and the type of failure between LMSC as a repair material and the normal concrete (NC) substrate utilising four different surfaces: without surface preparation as a reference (SR), hand hammer (HA), sandblasted (SB), and grooved (GR). The bond strength was measured by bi-surface shear, splitting tensile, and pull-off strength tests at 7, 28, and 90 days. Scanning electron microscopy analysis was also performed to study the microstructure of the interface between the normal concrete substrate and the latex-modified sand concrete reinforced with sisal fibers. The results of this study indicate that LMSC has bonding strength with NC, especially for HR and SB surfaces with high roughness. Therefore, substrate NC surface roughness is essential in increasing the bonding strength and adhesion. Eventually, The LMSC has the potential to repair and rehabilitate concrete structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제90권2호
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• pp.117-125
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• 2024

This article presents the behaviour and design of cold-formed steel (CFS) web-stiffened lipped channel beams that primarily fail owing to the buckling interaction of distortional and global buckling modes. The incorporation of an intermediate stiffener in the web of the lipped channel improved the buckling performance leads to distortional buckling at intermediate length beams. The prediction of the strength of members that fail in individual buckling modes can be easily determined using the current DSM equations. However, it is difficult to estimate the strength of members undergoing buckling interactions. Special attention is required to predict the strength of the members undergoing strong buckling interactions. In the present study, the geometric dimensions of the web stiffened lipped channel beam sections were chosen such that they have almost equal distortional and global buckling stresses to have strong interactions. A validated numerical model was used to perform a parametric study and obtain design strength data for CFS web-stiffened lipped channel beams. Based on the obtained numerical data, an assessment of the current DSM equations and the equations proposed in the literature (for lipped channel CFS sections) is performed. Suitable modifications were also proposed in this work, which resulted in a higher level of design accuracy to predict the flexural strength of CFS web stiffened lipped channel beams undergoing distortional and global mode interaction. Furthermore, reliability analysis was performed to confirm the reliability of the proposed modification.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제41권4호
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• pp.495-508
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• 2012

The strength theory of concrete is significant to structure design and nonlinear finite element analysis of concrete structures because concrete utilized in engineering is usually subject to the action of multi-axial stress. Experimental results have revealed that lightweight aggregate (LWA) concrete exhibits plastic flow plateau under high compressive stress and most of the lightweight aggregates are crushed at this stage. For the purpose of safety, therefore, in the practical application the strength of LWA concrete at the plastic flow plateau stage should be regarded as the ultimate strength under multi-axial compressive stress state. With consideration of the strength criterion, the ultimate strength surface of LWA concrete under multi-axial stress intersects with the hydrostatic stress axis at two different points, which is completely different from that of the normal weight concrete as that the ultimate strength surface is open-ended. As a result, the strength criteria aimed at normal weight concrete do not fit LWA concrete. In the present paper, a multi-axial strength criterion for LWA concrete is proposed based on the Unified Twin-Shear Strength (UTSS) theory developed by Prof Yu (Yu et al. 1992), which takes into account the above strength characteristics of LWA under high compressive stress level. In this strength criterion model, the tensile and compressive meridians as well as the ultimate strength envelopes in deviatoric plane under different hydrostatic stress are established just in terms of a few characteristic stress states, i.e., the uniaxial tensile strength $f_t$, the uniaxial compressive strength $f_c$, and the equibiaxial compressive $f_{bc}$. The developed model was confirmed to agree well with experimental data under different stress ratios of LWA concrete.