• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.7
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• pp.895-906
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• 2015

Background: Mitigation of primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC) is a significant issue in the nuclear industry. Advanced nickel-based alloys with lower susceptibility have been adopted, although they do not seem to be entirely immune from PWSCC during normal operation. With regard to structural integrity assessments of the relevant components, an accurate evaluation of crack growth rate (CGR) is important. Methods: For the present study, the extended finite element method was adopted from among diverse meshless methods because of its advantages in arbitrary crack analysis. A user-subroutine based on the strain rate damage model was developed and incorporated into the crack growth evaluation. Results: The proposed method was verified by using the well-known Alloy 600 material with a reference CGR curve. The analyzed CGR curve of the alternative Alloy 690 material was then newly estimated by applying the proven method over a practical range of stress intensity factors. Conclusion: Reliable CGR curves were obtained without complex environmental facilities or a high degree of experimental effort. The proposed method may be used to assess the PWSCC resistance of nuclear components subjected to high residual stresses such as those resulting from dissimilar metal welding parts.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.17 no.4 s.88
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• pp.631-635
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• 2005

Aggregate gradation effects on cracking-related displacements of concrete are investigated in the laboratory using the German cracking frame. Concrete workability was assessed by use of the slump and drop tests for two different concrete mixtures consisting of gap-graded and dense-graded aggregates. Shrinkage strain, cracking frame strain, and concrete strain were measured and used to compare to strength gain and creep development. The measured and calculated strains of the different aggregate gradations were compared each other. Gradation effects on strength and stress development relative to tensile cracking at saw-cut tip were also investigated. Test results revealed that the gap-graded concrete has indicated larger shrinkage and creep strains than dense-grade concrete perhaps because of its higher volume concrete of cement mortars in the mixture.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.417-432
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• 2004

An analytical model which can simulate the post-cracking nonlinear behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) members such as bars and panels subject to uniaxial and biaxial stresses is presented. The proposed model includes the description of biaxial failure criteria and the average stress-strain relation of reinforcing steel. Based on strain distribution functions of steel and concrete after cracking, a criterion to consider the tension-stiffening effect is proposed using the concept of average stresses and strains. The validity of the introduced model is established by comparing the analytical predictions for reinforced concrete uniaxial tension members with results from experimental studies. In advance, correlation studies between analytical results and experimental data are also extended to RC panels subject to biaxial tensile stresses to verify the efficiency of the proposed model and to identify the significance of various effects on the response of biaxially loaded reinforced concrete panels.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.139-151
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• 2022

Filling materials poured into precast member joint are subjected to restraint stress by the precast member and joint reinforcement. The induced stress will likely cause cracks at early ages and performance degradation of the entire structure. To prevent these issues and design reasonable joints, it is very important to analyze and evaluate the restrained shrinkage cracks of filling materials at various restraint conditions. In this study, a new time zero-that defines the shrinkage development time of a filling material-is proposed to calculate the accurate amount of shrinkage. The tensile stresses and strengths at different ages were compared through the ring test (AASHTO PP34) to evaluate the crack potential of the restrained filling materials at various restraint conditions. The mixture which contained an expansive additive and a shrinkage reducing agent exhibited high resistance to shrinkage cracking owing to the high-drying shrinkage compensation effect. The high-performance, fiber-reinforced cement composite, and ultra-high-performance, fiber-reinforced cement composite yielded very high resistance to shrinkage and cracking owing to the pull-out property of steel fibers. To this end, multiple nonlinear regression analyses were conducted based on the test results. Accordingly, a modified tensile stress equation that considered both the geometric shape of the specimen and the intrinsic properties of the material is proposed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Rheology Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.77-80
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• 2002

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.641-650
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• 2010

The concrete cracking from the restrained stress caused by the shrinkage may play significant cause of deterioration of concrete structures by allowing the permeation of sulphate and chloride ions which in turn triggers corrosion of steel reinforcement. In particular, the cracking becomes more critical as water binder ratio (W/B) is reduced and concrete strength increases. Therefore, it needs to evaluate correctly the comprehensive shrinkage behavior of concrete with high strength: high-strength concrete (HSC), ultra-highstrength concrete (UHSC). The unrestrained shrinkage tests, however, cannot estimate the net shrinkage effectively which affects cracking after full development of strength and stiffness because it does not consider the degree of restraint, strength development, stress relaxation, and so on. Therefore, in this study, both free and restrained shrinkage tests with variables of W/B (W/B of 30, 25 and 16%) and admixtures (fly ash (FA) and granulated blast-furnace slag (BFS)) for HSC, very-high-strength concrete (VHSC) and UHSC were performed. The test results indicated that the autogenous shrinkage and total shrinkage at drying condition were reduced as W/B increased and FA, BFS were added, and the cracking behavior was suppressed as W/B increased and FA was added.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.317-327
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• 2024

This study investigated the chloride-induced stress corrosion cracking (CISCC) behavior expected to occur in welds of austenitic stainless steel, which are considered candidate materials for dry storage containers for spent nuclear fuel. The behavior was studied by varying temperature, relative humidity (RH), and chloride concentration. 304L-ER308L welded plates were processed into U-bend specimens and exposed to a cyclic corrosion chamber for 12 weeks. The CISCC behavior was then analyzed using electron microscopy. A previous study by the authors confirmed that CISCC occurred in ER308L at 60 ℃, 30% RH, and 0.6 M NaCl via selective corrosion of δ-ferrite. When the temperature was lowered from 60 ℃ to 50 ℃, CISCC still occurred. However, when the humidity was reduced to 20% RH, CISCC did not happen. This can be attributed to the retardation of the deliquescence of NaCl at lower humidity, which was insufficient to promote CISCC. Furthermore, increased chloride concentration to 1.0 M resulted in the absence of CISCC and widespread surface corrosion with severe pitting corrosion because of the increase in thin film thickness.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.123-130
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• 2019

As a cold-weather-concrete construction technique for enhancing the sustainability and improving efficiency of cold-weather construction, the cracking timing, the starting point of deterioration for concrete, due to the shrinkage of the blast furnace slag cement concrete including accelerator was evaluated. As a result, by using blast furnace slag and accelerator, the cracking was developed faster with higher cracking potential under the restrained conditions at constant age and free-shrinkage strain. It can be considered that the results of decreased stress relaxation by creep or increased restraint with increased free-shrinkage strain causes the increased cracking development speed. Hence, it should be considered the necessary of cracking due to the shrinkage when blast furnace slag or accelerator was used for cold-weather construction.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.173-188
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• 2016

Generally, thermal stress induced by hydration heat causes cracking in mass concrete structures, requiring a thorough control during the construction. The prediction of the thermal stress is currently undertaken by means of numerical analysis despite its lack of reliability due to the properties of concrete varying over time. In this paper, a method for the prediction of thermal stress in concrete structures by adjusting thermal stress measured by a thermal stress device according to the degree of restraint is proposed to improve the prediction accuracy. The ratio of stress in concrete structures to stress under complete restraint is used as the degree of restraint. To consider the history of the degree of restraint, incremental stress is predicted by comparing the degree of restraint and the incremental stress obtained by the thermal stress device. Furthermore, the thermal stresses of wall and foundation predicted by the proposed method are compared to those obtained by numerical analysis. The thermal stresses obtained by the proposed method are similar to those obtained by the analysis for structures with internally as well as externally strong restraint. It is therefore concluded that the prediction of thermal stress for concrete structures with various boundary conditions using the proposed method is suggested to be accurate.

• 한국도로학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.93-102
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• 2008

An energy based crack growth model is developed in this study to simulate the propagation of top-down cracking in asphalt pavements. A viscoelastic fracture mechanics approach, generalized J integral, is employed to model the crack growth of asphalt concrete. Laboratory fatigue crack propagation tests for three different asphalt mixtures are performed at various load levels, frequencies and temperatures. Disk-shaped specimens with a proper loading fixture and crack growth monitoring system are selected for the tests. It is observed from the tests that the crack propagation model based on the generalized J integral is independent of load levels and frequencies, while the traditional Paris' law model based on stress intensity factor is dependent of loading frequencies. However, both models are unable to take care of the temperature dependence of the mixtures. The fatigue crack propagation model proposed in this study has a good agreement between experimental and predicted crack growth lives, which implies that the energy based J integral could be a better parameter to describe fatigue crack propagation of viscoelastic materials such as asphalt mixtures.