• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.937-974
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• 2016

While extensive efforts have been made in the past to develop finite element models (FEMs) for concrete-filled steel tubular columns (CFSTCs), these models may not be suitable to be used in some cases, especially in view of the utilisation of high strength steel and high strength concrete. A method is presented herein to predict the complete stress-strain curve of concrete subjected to tri-axial compressive stresses caused by axial load coupled with lateral pressure due to the confinement action in square and rectangular CFSTCs with normal and high strength materials. To evaluate the lateral pressure exerted on the concrete in square and rectangular shaped columns, an accurately developed FEM which incorporates the effects of initial local imperfections and residual stresses using the commercial program ABAQUS is adopted. Subsequently, an extensive parametric study is conducted herein to propose an empirical equation for the maximum average lateral pressure, which depends on the material and geometric properties of the columns. The analysis parameters include the concrete compressive strength ($f^{\prime}_c=20-110N/mm^2$), steel yield strength ($f_y=220-850N/mm^2$), width-to-thickness (B/t) ratios in the range of 15-52, as well as the length-to-width (L/B) ratios in the range of 2-4. The predictions of the behaviour, ultimate axial strengths, and failure modes are compared with the available experimental results to verify the accuracy of the models developed. Furthermore, a design model is proposed for short square and rectangular CFSTCs. Additionally, comparisons with the prediction of axial load capacity by using the proposed design model, Australian Standard and Eurocode 4 code provisions for box composite columns are carried out.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.131-146
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• 2020

Evaluation of earthquake impacts in settlements with a high risk of earthquake occurrence is important for the determination of site-specific dynamic soil parameters and earthquake-resistant structural planning. In this study, dynamic soil properties of Karliova (Bingol) city center, located near to the intersection point of the North Anatolian Fault Zone and the East Anatolian Fault Zone and therefore having a high earthquake risk, were investigated by one-dimensional equivalent linear site response analysis. From ground response analyses, peak ground acceleration, predominant site period, 0.2-sec and 1-sec spectral accelerations and soil amplification maps of the study area were obtained for both near-field and far-field earthquake effects. The average acceleration spectrum obtained from analysis, for a near-field earthquake scenario, was found to exceed the design spectra of the Turkish Earthquake Code and Eurocode 8. Yet, the average acceleration spectrum was found to remain below the respective design spectra of the two codes for the far-field earthquake scenario. According to both near- and far-field earthquake scenarios in the study area, the low-rise buildings with low modal vibration durations are expected to be exposed to high spectral acceleration values and high-rise buildings with high modal vibration durations will be exposed to lower spectral accelerations. While high amplification ratios are observed in the north of the study area for the near-distance earthquake scenario, high amplification ratios are observed in the south of the study area for the long-distance earthquake scenario.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.79-96
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• 2005

The use of high-strength concrete (HSC) has significantly increased over the last decade, especially in offshore structures, long-span bridges, and tall buildings. The behavior of such concrete is noticeably different from that of normal-strength concrete (NSC) due to its different microstructure and mode of failure. In particular, the shear capacity of structural members made of HSC is a concern and must be carefully evaluated. The shear fracture surface in HSC members is usually trans-granular (propagates across coarse aggregates) and is therefore smoother than that in NSC members, which reduces the effect of shear transfer mechanisms through aggregate interlock across cracks, thus reducing the ultimate shear strength. Current code provisions for shear design are mainly based on experimental results obtained on NSC members having compressive strength of up to 50MPa. The validity of such methods to calculate the shear strength of HSC members is still questionable. In this study, a new approach based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) was used to predict the shear capacity of NSC and HSC beams without shear reinforcement. Shear capacities predicted by the ANN model were compared to those of five other methods commonly used in shear investigations: the ACI method, the CSA simplified method, Response 2000, Eurocode-2, and Zsutty's method. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to evaluate the ability of ANNs to capture the effect of main shear design parameters (concrete compressive strength, amount of longitudinal reinforcement, beam size, and shear span to depth ratio) on the shear capacity of reinforced NSC and HSC beams. It was found that the ANN model outperformed all other considered methods, providing more accurate results of shear capacity, and better capturing the effect of basic shear design parameters. Therefore, it offers an efficient alternative to evaluate the shear capacity of NSC and HSC members without stirrups.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.123-134
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• 2017

Ultimate axial strength of longitudinally stiffened cylindrical steel shells for wind turbine tower was investigated by applying the geometrically and materially nonlinear finite element method. The effects of radius to thickness ratio of shell, shape and amplitude of initial imperfections, area ratio between effective shell and stiffener, and stiffener spacing on the ultimate axial strength of cylindrical shells were analyzed. The ultimate axial strengths of stiffened cylindrical shells by FEA were compared with design buckling strengths specified in DNV-RP-C202. The shell buckling modes obtained from a linear elastic bifurcation FE analysis as well as the weld depression during fabrication specified in Eurocode 3 were introduced in the nonlinear FE analysis as initial geometric imperfections. The radius to thickness ratio of cylindrical shell models was selected to be in the range of 50 to 200. The longitudinal stiffeners were designed according to DNV-RP-C202 to prevent the lateral torsional buckling and local buckling of stiffeners.

• 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.13 no.4
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• pp.123-132
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to calculate and propose rational multi-lane loading factors for bridge design considering the probability of simultaneous truck passing in adjacent lanes and real truck weights. The probability of simultaneous truck passing is calculated by analyzing video image taken at various locations in highways and national roads. Weigh-In-Motion system data at two locations are used, which is combined with the probability of multiple presence to calculate the multi-lane loading factors for typical 2 lane and 5 lane bridges. Statistical properties of multi-lane loading factors are also calculated assuming that locations for video images and WIM data represent the overall traffic condition in the country. Results are compared with various design codes in the world and they show that the values are between the current Korea Bridge Design Code and AASHTO LRFD specification or Eurocode and are similar to Canadian Code.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.825-832
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• 2010

Although a critical section reaches its flexural strength in reinforced concrete structures, the structure does not always fail because moment redistribution occurs during the formation of plastic hinges. Inelastic deformation in a plastic hinge region results in plastic rotation. A plastic hinge mainly depends on material characteristics. In this study, a plastic hinge length and plastic rotation are evaluated using the flexural curvature distribution which is derived from the material models given in Eurocode 2. The influence on plastic capacity the limit values of the material model used, that is, ultimate strain of concrete and steel and hardening ratio of steel(k), are investigated. As results, it is appeared that a large ultimate strain of concrete and steel is resulting in large plastic capactiy and also as a hardening ratio of steel increases, the plastic rotation increases significantly. Therefore, a careful attention would be paid to determine the limit values of material characteristics in the RC structures.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.153-161
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• 2017

Liquid storage tank is one of the major infrastructures and generally used to store gases, drinking and utilizing water, dangerous fluids, fire water and so on. According to the recent reports and experiences, the tank structures are damaged in many earthquakes due to their low energy dissipating capacity. Therefore, many researchers have been tried to know the dynamic properties of the tanks including liquids. However, vary limited experimental studies are carried out using relatively small tank models. In this study, a series of shaking table tests are performed with maximum 2 m cubic rectangular liquid storage tanks made of steel to measure the natural frequency and estimate damping coefficient of impulsive and convective mode of the tanks. Especially, the damping values under different shapes and excitation methods are estimated by logarithmic decrement method and half power band-pass method and compared with current design code and standards such as ASCE 7, Eurocode 8 and NZS. Test results show that the impulsive mode damping is around 2% which is proposed by general standards and codes but the impulsive mode damping is 0.13% average that is slightly lower than the code recommendation.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.657-680
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• 2016

Reinforced concrete (RC) deep beams are structural members that predominantly fail in shear. Therefore, determining the shear strength of these types of beams is very important. The strut-and-tie method is commonly used to design deep beams, and this method has been adopted in many building codes (ACI318-14, Eurocode 2-2004, CSA A23.3-2004). In this study, the efficiency of artificial neural networks (ANNs) in predicting the shear strength of RC deep beams is investigated as a different approach to the strut-and-tie method. An ANN model was developed using experimental data for 214 normal and high-strength concrete deep beams from an existing literature database. Seven different input parameters affecting the shear strength of the RC deep beams were selected to create the ANN structure. Each parameter was arranged as an input vector and a corresponding output vector that includes the shear strength of the RC deep beam. The ANN model was trained and tested using a multi-layered back-propagation method. The most convenient ANN algorithm was determined as trainGDX. Additionally, the results in the existing literature and the accuracy of the strut-and-tie model in ACI318-14 in predicting the shear strength of the RC deep beams were investigated using the same test data. The study shows that the ANN model provides acceptable predictions of the ultimate shear strength of RC deep beams (maximum $R^2{\approx}0.97$). Additionally, the ANN model is shown to provide more accurate predictions of the shear capacity than all the other computed methods in this study. The ACI318-14-STM method was very conservative, as expected. Moreover, the study shows that the proposed ANN model predicts the shear strengths of RC deep beams better than does the strut-and-tie model approaches.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.211-227
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• 2020

To explore the feasibility of eliminating the longitudinal rebars and stirrups by using ultra-high-performance fiber reinforcement concrete (UHPFRC) in concrete encased steel composite stub column, compressive behavior of UHPFRC encased steel stub column has been experimentally investigated. Effect of concrete types (normal strength concrete, high strength concrete and UHPFRC), fiber fractions, and transverse reinforcement ratio on failure mode, ductility behavior and axial compressive resistance of composite columns have been quantified through axial compression tests. The experimental results show that concrete encased composite columns with NSC and HSC exhibit concrete crushing and spalling failure, respectively, while composite columns using UHPFRC exhibit concrete spitting and no concrete spalling is observed after failure. The incorporation of steel fiber as micro reinforcement significantly improves the concrete toughness, restrains the crack propagation and thus avoids the concrete spalling. No evidence of local buckling of rebars or yielding of stirrups has been detected in composite columns using UHPFRC. Steel fibers improve the bond strength between the concrete and, rebars and core shaped steel which contribute to the improvement of confining pressure on concrete. Three prediction models in Eurocode 4, AISC 360 and JGJ 138 and a proposed toughness index (T.I.) are employed to evaluate the compressive resistance and post peak ductility of the composite columns. It is found that all these three models predict close the compressive resistance of UHPFRC encased composite columns with/without the transverse reinforcement. UHPFRC encased composite columns can achieve a comparable level of ductility with the reinforced concrete (RC) columns using normal strength concrete. In terms of compressive resistance behavior, the feasibility of UHPFRC encased steel composite stub columns with lesser longitudinal reinforcement and stirrups has been verified in this study.