• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.115-124
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• 2022

There are many different types of tanks on ships that meet various requirements. Each tank is required to undergo hydrostatic testing according to the Ship Safety Act after being installed onboard. In some hydrostatic tests, excessive deformation may occur. The overpressure of the air in the tank generated during testing is one of the possible causes of deformation. Based on the dimensions of the tank, nozzle, and pipes installed, it was confirmed that the overpressure of the air can cause problems with the structure, according to the Bernoulli equation. Additionally, finite element analysis (FEA) was performed on the tank structure to confirm the deformation and the stress occurring in the structure. From the perspective of deformation, the maximum deflection limit was set based on the criteria provided by the Eurocode and DNV. From the perspective of stress, the structural safety assessment was performed by comparing the allowable stress and equivalent stress generated in the structure. To determine whether the behavior of the actual structure was well implemented via FEA, beam theory was applied to the tank structure and compared with the FEA results. As a result of the analysis, severe deformation was found in some cases. This means that the overpressure of the air may be the cause of actual deformation. It was also confirmed that permanent deformation may occur.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.3
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• pp.387-400
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• 2022

The practice of using encased steel-concrete columns in medium to high-rise structures has expanded dramatically in recent years. The study evaluates existing methodologies and codal guidelines for estimating the ultimate load-carrying characteristics of concrete-encased short columns experimentally. The present condition of composite column design methods was analyzed using the Egyptian code ECP203-2007, the American Institute of Steel Construction's AISC-LRFD-2010, Eurocode EC-4, the American Concrete Institute's ACI-318-2014, and the British Standard BS-5400-5. According to the codes, the axial load carrying characteristics of both the encased steel and concrete sections was examined. The effect of load-carrying capacities in different forms of encased steel sections on encased steel-concrete columns was studied experimentally. The axial load carrying capacity of twelve concrete-encased columns and four conventional reinforced columns were examined. The conclusion is that the confinement was not taken into account when forecasting the strength and ductility of the encased concrete, resulting in considerable disparities between codal provisions and experimental results. The configuration of the steel section influenced the confining effect. Better confinement is achieved with the laced and battened section than with the infilled steel tube reinforced and conventionally reinforced section. The ECP203-2007 code reported the most conservative results of all the codes used.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.315-323
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• 2022

Shear connectors are key elements that ensure integrity in a composite system. The primary purpose of a shear connector is to bring a high degree of interaction between composite elements. A wide variety of connectors are available for hot-rolled composite construction, connected to the beam through welding. However, with cold-formed members being very thin, welding of shear connectors is not desirable in cold-formed composite constructions. Shear connectors for cold-formed elements are limited in studies as well as in the market. Hence in this study, three different types of shear connectors, namely, single-channel, double channel, and self-tapping screw, were considered, and their performance assessed by the Push-out test as per Eurocode 4. The connection between channel shear connectors and the beam was made using self-tapping screws to avoid welding. The performance of the connectors was analyzed based on their ultimate capacity, characteristic capacity, ductility, and slippage during loading. Strength to weight ratio was also carried out to understand the proposed connectors' suitability for conventional ones. The results showed relatively higher initial stiffness and ductility for double channel connectors than other connectors. Also, self-tapping screws had a higher strength to weight ratio with low ductility.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.84 no.1
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• pp.63-76
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• 2022

Major engineering requirements and technological developments in the steel construction industry are discussed to support a new innovative system, namely corrugated web beams, for future structural projections. These new-generation steel beams, fabricated as welded plate girders with corrugated webs, are designed to combine large spans with very low weight. In the present study, the flexural capacity of optimally designed trapezoidal and sinusoidal corrugated web beams was aimed at. For this purpose, the new metaheuristic methods, specifically hunting search and firefly algorithms, were used for the minimum weight design of both beams according to the rules of Eurocode EN 1193 15 and DASt-Ri 015. In addition, the strengthening effects of the corrugation geometry at the web posts on the load capacity of fabricated steel beams were tested in a reaction frame. The experimental tests displayed that the lateral capacity of trapezoidal web beams is more durable under flexural loads compared to sinusoidal web beams. These thin-walled beams were also simulated using a 3-D finite element model with plane strain to validate test results and describe the effectiveness of the ABAQUS software.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.201-219
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• 2022

This paper firstly proposed high performance composite columns for cold-region infrastructures using ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) and ultra-high strength steel (UHSS) Q960E. Then, 24 square UHPC-filled UHSS tubes (UHSTCs) at low temperatures of -80, -60, -30, and 30℃ were performed under axial loads. The key influencing parameters on axial compression performance of UHSS were studied, i.e., temperature level and UHSS-tube wall thickness (t). In addition, mechanical properties of Q960E at low temperatures were also studied. Test results revealed low temperatures improved the yield/ultimate strength of Q960E. Axial compression tests on UHSTCs revealed that the dropping environmental temperature increased the compression strength and stiffness, but compromised the ductility of UHSTCs; increasing t significantly increased the strength, stiffness, and ductility of UHSTCs. This study developed numerical and theoretical models to reproduce axial compression performances of UHSTCs at low temperatures. Validations against 24 tests proved that both two methods provided reasonable simulations on axial compression performance of UHSTCs. Finally, simplified theoretical models (STMs) and modified prediction equations in AISC 360, ACI 318, and Eurocode 4 were developed to estimate the axial load capacity of UHSTCs at low temperatures.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.487-495
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• 2021

The use of prestressed concrete box girder bridges built by segmentally balanced cantilevers has bloomed in the last decades due to its significant structural and construction advantages in complex topographies. In Colombia, this typology is the most common solution for structures with spans ranging of 80-200 m. Despite its popularity, excessive deflections in bridges worldwide evidenced that time-dependent effects were underestimated. This problem has led to the constant updating of the creep and shrinkage models in international code standards. Differences observed between design processes of box girder bridges of the Colombian code and Eurocode, led to the need for a validation of in-service status of these structures. This study analyzes the long-term behavior of the Tablazo bridge with data scarcity. The measured leveling of this structure is compared with a finite-element model that consider the most widely used creep and shrinkage models in the literature. Finally, an adjusted model evidence excessive deflection on the bridge after six years. Monitoring of this bridge typology in Colombia and updating of the current design code is recommended.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.709-718
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• 2023

The absence of an important portion of the web plate in steel beams with multiple circular perforations, cellular beams, causes the web plate to undergo distortions prior to and during lateral torsional buckling (LTB). The conventional LTB equations in the codes and literature underestimate the buckling moments of cellular beams due to web distortions. The present study is an attempt to develop analytical methods for estimating the elastic buckling moments of cellular beams. The proposed methods rely on the reductions in the torsional and warping rigidities of the beams due to web distortions and the reductions in the weak-axis bending and torsional rigidities due to the presence of web openings. To test the accuracy of the analytical estimates from proposed solutions, a total of 114 finite element analyses were conducted for six different standard IPEO sections and varying unbraced lengths within the elastic limits. These analyses clearly indicated that the LTB solutions in the AISC 360-16 and AS4100:2020 codes overestimate the buckling loads of cellular beams within elastic limits, particularly at shorter span lengths. The LDB solutions in the literature and the Eurocode 3 LTB solution, on the other hand, provided conservative buckling moment estimates along the entire range of elastic buckling.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.461-474
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• 2023

Concrete-filled steel tubes are among the most efficient compressive structural members because the strength of the concrete is enhanced given that the surrounding steel tube confines the concrete laterally and the steel tube is restrained with regard to inward deformation due to the concrete existing inside. Accurate estimations of the ultimate compressive strength of CFT are important for efficient designs of CFT members. In this study, an analytical procedure that directly formulates the interaction between the concrete and steel tube by considering the nonlinear Poisson effect and stress-strain curve of the concrete including the confinement effect is proposed. The failure stress of concrete and von-Mises failure yield criterion of steel were used to consider multi-dimensional stresses. To verify the prediction capabilities of the proposed analytical procedure, 99 circular CFT experimental data instances from other studies were used for a comparison with AISC, Eurocode 4, and other researchers' predictions. From the comparison, it was revealed that the proposed procedure more accurately predicted the ultimate compressive strength of a circular CFT regardless of the range of the design variables, in this case the concrete compressive strength, yield strength of the steel tube and diameter relative to the thickness ratio of the tube.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.547-564
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• 2023

This study investigates the effect of bolt preloading on the rotational stiffness of stainless steel end-plate connections. An experimental programme incorporating 11 full-scale joint specimens are carried out comparing the behaviours of fully pre-tensioned (PT) and snug-tightened (ST) flush/extended end-plate connections, made of austenitic or lean duplex stainless steels. It is observed from the tests that the presence of bolt preloading leads to a significant increase in the rotational stiffness. A parallel finite element analysis (FEA) validated against the test results demonstrates that the geometric imperfection of end-plate has a strong influence on the moment-rotation response of preloaded end-plate connections, which is crucial to explain the observed "two-stage" behaviour of these connections. Based on the data obtained from the tests and FE parametric study, the performance of the Eurocode 3 predictive model is evaluated, which exhibits a significant deviation in predicting the rotational stiffness of stainless steel end-plate connections. A modified bi-linear model, which incorporates three key properties, is therefore proposed to enable a better prediction. Finally, the effect of bolt preloading is demonstrated at the system (structure) level considering the serviceability of semi-continuous stainless steel beams with end-plate connections.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.251-262
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• 2023

There are many examples of steel structures subjected to severe environmental conditions with bolted connections directly exposed to extreme climatic agents such as freeze-thaw cycles or low temperatures. Some examples are: steel bridges, mining transfer towers, wind towers... These service conditions neither are included in Eurocode 3 or EN1090-2, nor there are references in other international standards. In this experimental research, 46 specimens of non-slip joints with HV M20 bolts and four different types of contact surfaces have been studied. Half of the specimens were subjected to fourteen twelve-hours freeze-thaw cycles, with periodic immersion in water and temperature oscillation. Subsequently, half of the connections were subjected to a slip test under monotonic load at temperature of -20 ± 0.5 ℃ and the other half at room temperature. The results were compared with others equal joints not subjected to freeze-thaw cycles and kept at room temperature for the same time. This finally resulted in 4 sets of joints by combining the freeze-thaw degradation or not with the low-temperature conditions or not in the slip testing. Therefore, a total of 16 different conditions were studied by also considering 4 different contact surfaces between the joined plates in each set. The results obtained show influence of environmental conditions on the slip resistant capacity of these joints.