• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.1-12
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• 2004

Due to the 1989 Loma Prieta, 1995 Hyogoken Nambu earthquakes, etc, a number of bridge columns  were collapsed in flexure-shear failures as a consequence of the premature termination of the column longitudinal reinforcement. Nevertheless, previous researches for the performance of bridge columns were concentrated on the flexural failure mode. It is well understood that the seismic behaviour of RC bridge piers was dependent on the performance of the plastic hinge of RC bridge piers, the ductility of which was desirable to be computed on the basis of the curvature. Experimental investigation was made to evaluate the variation of the curvature of the plastic hinge  region for the seismic performance of earthquake-damaged RC columns in flexure-shear failure mode. Seven test specimens in the aspect ratio of 2.5 were made with test parameters: confinement ratios, lap splices, and retrofitting FRP materials. They were damaged under series of artificial earthquakes that could be compatible in Korean peninsula. Directly after the pseudo-dynamic test, damaged columns were retested under inelastic reversal cyclic loading under a constant axial load, $P=0.1f_{ck}A_g$. Residual seismic capacity of damaged specimens was evaluated by analzying the moment-curvature hysteresis and the curvature ductility. Test results show that the biggest curvature was developed around 15cm above the footing, which induced the column failure. It was observed that RC bridge specimens with lap-spliced longitudinal steels appeared to fail at low curvature ductility but significant improvement was made in the curvature ductility of RC specimens with FRP straps wrapped around the plastic hinge region. Based on the experimental variation of the curvature of RC specimens, new equivalent length of the plastic hinge region was proposed by considering the lateral confinement in this study. The analytical and experimental relationship between the displacement and the curvature ductility were compared based on this proposal, which gave excellent result.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.1017-1038
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• 2015

This paper presents a strengthening method that involves the use of ferrocement jackets and chamfers to relocate plastic hinge for non-seismically designed reinforced concrete exterior beam-column joints. An experimental study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the proposed strengthening method. Four half-scale beam-column joints, including one control specimen and three strengthened specimens, were prepared and tested under quasi-static cyclic loading. Strengthening schemes include ferrocement jackets with or without skeleton reinforcements and one or two chamfers. Experimental results have indicated that the proposed strengthening method is effective to move plastic hinge from the joint to the beam and enhance seismic performance of beam-column joints. Shear stress and distortion within the joint region are also reduced significantly in strengthened specimens. Skeleton reinforcements in ferrocement provide limited improvement, except on crack control. Specimen strengthened by ferrocement jackets with one chamfer exhibits slight decrease in peak strength and energy dissipation but with increase in ductility as compared with that of two chamfers. Finally, a method for estimating moment capacity at beam-column interface for strengthened specimen is developed. The proposed method gives reasonable prediction and can ensure formation of plastic hinge at predetermined location in the beam.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.201-212
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• 2014

The plastic hinge region of RC pier ensures its nonlinear behavior during strong earthquake events. It is assumed that the piers secure sufficient strength and ductility in order to prevent the collapse of the bridge during strong earthquake. However, the presence of a lap-splice of longitudinal bars in the plastic hinge region may lead to the occurrence of early bond failure in the lap-splice zone and result in significant loss of the seismic performance. The current regulations for seismic performance evaluation limit the ultimate strain and displacement ductility considering the eventual presence of lap-splice, but do not consider the lap-splice length. In this study, seismic performance test and analysis are performed according to the cross-sectional size and the lap-splice length in the case of longitudinal bars with lap-splice located in the plastic hinge region of existing RC bridge columns with circular cross-section. The seismic behavioral characteristics of the piers are also analyzed. Based upon the results, this paper presents a more reasonable seismic performance evaluation method considering the lap-splice length and the cross-sectional size of the column.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.241-248
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• 2012

This paper presents a reinforced concrete composite column method in order to improve seismic performance of reinforced concrete column specimens by selectively applying steel fiber-reinforced mortars at the column plastic hinge region. In order to evaluate seismic improvement of the newly developed column method, a series of cyclic load test of column specimens under a constant axial load was investigated by manufacturing three specimens, two reinforced concrete composite columns by applying steel fiber-reinforced mortars at the column plastic hinge region and one conventional reinforced concrete column. Both concrete and steel fiber-reinforced mortar was cast-in placed type. From cyclic load test, it was found that the newly developed steel fiber-reinforced columns showed improved seismic performances than conventional reinforced concrete column in controlling bending and shear cracks as well as improving seismic lateral load-carrying capacities and lateral deformation capacities.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.285-292
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• 2012

Fixed connection is generally used for beam and column connections of concrete structures, but significant damages at the connection due to severe earthquakes have been reported. In order to reduce damages of the connection and improve seismic performance of the connection, several innovative connections have been suggested. One newly proposed connection type allows a rotation of the connection for applications in rotating or rocking beams, columns, and shear walls. Such structural elements would provide a nonlinear lateral force-displacement response since their contact depth developed during rotation is gradually reduced and the stress across the sections of the elements is non-linearly distributed around a contact area, which is called an elastic hinge region in the present study. The purpose of the present study is to define the elastic hinge region or length for the rocking columns, through investigating the cross-sectional stress distribution during their lateral behavior. Performing a finite element analysis (FEA), several parameters are considered including axial load levels (5% and 10% of nominal strength), different boundary conditions (confined-ends and cantilever types), and slenderness ratios (length/depth = 5, 7, 10). The FEA results showed that the elastic hinge length does not directly depend on the parameters considered, but it is governed by a contact depth only. The elastic hinge length started to develop after an opening state and increased non-linearly until a rocking point(pre-rocking). However, the length did not increase any more after the rocking point (post-rocking) and remained as a constant value. Half space model predicting the elastic hinge length is adapted and the results are compared with the numerical results.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.03a
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• pp.250-257
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• 2002

Pseudo dynamic test is an on-line computer control method to achieve the realism of shaking table test with the economy and versatility of the conventional quasi-static approach Pseudo dynamic tests of six full-size RC bridge piers have been carried out to investigate their seismic performance. For the purpose of precise evaluation, the experimental investigation was conducted to study the seismic performance of the real size specimen, which is constructed for highway bridge piers in Korean peninsula. Since it is believed that Korea belongs to the moderate seismicity region, five test specimens were designed in accordance with limited ductility design concept. Another one test specimen was nonseismically designed according to a conventional code. Important test parameters were transverse reinforcement and lap splicing. Lap splicing was frequently used in the plastic hinge region of many bridge columns. Furthermore, the seismic design code is not present about lap splice in Korean Roadway Bridge Design Code. The results show that specimens designed according to the limited ductility design concept exhibit higher seismic resistance. Specimens with longitudinal steel lap splice in the plastic hinge region appeared to significantly fail at low ductility level.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.885-890
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• 2002

Pseudo dynamic test is an on-line computer control method to achieve the realism of shaking table test with the economy and versatility of the conventional quasi-static approach. Pseudo dynamic tests of four full-size RC bridge piers have been carried out to investigate their seismic performance. For the purpose of precise evaluation, the experimental investigation was conducted to study the seismic performance of the real size specimen, which is constructed for highway bridge piers in Korean peninsula. Since it is believed that Korea belongs to the moderate seismicity region, three test specimens were designed in accordance with limited ductility design concept. Another one test specimen was nonseismically designed according to a conventional code. Important test parameters were transverse reinforcement and lap splicing. Lap splicing was frequently used in the plastic hinge region of many bridge columns. Furthermore, the seismic design code is not present about lap splice in Korean Roadway Bridge Design Code. The results show that specimens designed according to the limited ductility design concept exhibit higher seismic resistance. Specimens with longitudinal steel lap splice in the plastic hinge region appeared to significantly fail at low ductility level.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.571-583
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• 2017

A kind of accordion-web RBS connection, "Tubular Web RBS (TW-RBS)" connection is proposed in this research. TW-RBS is made by replacing a part of web with a tube at the desirable location of the beam plastic hinge. This paper presents first a numerical study under cyclic load using ABAQUS finite element software. A test specimen is used for calibration and comparison of numerical results. Obtained results indicated that TW-RBS would reduce contribution of the beam web to the whole moment strength and creates a ductile fuse far from components of the beam-to-column connection. Besides, TW-RBS connection can increase story drift capacity up to 9% in the case of shallow beams which is much more than those stipulated by the current seismic codes. Furthermore, the tubular web like corrugated sheet can improve both the out-of-plane stiffness of the beam longitudinal axis and the flange stability condition due to the smaller width to thickness ratio of the beam flange in the plastic hinge region. Thus, the tubular web in the plastic hinge region improves lateral-torsional buckling stability of the beam as just local buckling of the beam flange at the center of the reduced section was observed during the tests. Also change of direction of strain in arc shape of the tubular web section is smaller than the accordion webs with sharp corners therefore the tubular web provides a better condition in terms of low-cycle fatigue than other accordion web with sharp corners.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.1361-1365
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• 2001

Recombinant immunotoxins are hybrid cytotoxic proteins designed to selectively kill cancer cells. A divalent immunotoxins, [B3(FabH1)-PE38]2, was constructed by recombining Fab domain of B3 antibody as a cell-targeting domain and Pseudo monas exotoxin A (PE) as a cytotoxic domain. Monoclonal antibody, B3, is the murine antibody (IgG1k) directed against Lewis Y-related carbohydrate antigens, which are abundant on the surface of many carcinomas. Fab fragment of this antibody was used in this study with the modified hinge sequence where last two cysteines out of three were mutated to serine. PE is a 66 kDa bacterial toxin that kills eukaryotic cells by inhibiting protein synthesis with ADP ribosylation of ribosomal elongation factor 2 (EF2). Fc region of B3 antibody was substituted with the truncated form of PE (38 kDa, PE38) on DNA level. [B3(FabH1)-PE38]2 was formed by disulfide bond between cysteines in the modified hinge region of B3(FabH1)-PE38. Each polypeptide for recombinant immunotoxins was overexpressed in Escherichia coli and collected as inclusion bodies. Each inclusion body was solubilized and refolded, and cytotoxic effects were measured. Divalent immunotoxins, [B3(FabH1)-PE38]2, had ID50 values of about 10 ng/mL on A431 cell lines and about 4 ng/mL on CRL1739 cell lines. Control immunotoxins, B3(scFv)-PE40, had ID50 values of about 28 ng/mL on A431 cell lines and about 41 ng/mL on CRL1739 cell lines. Divalent immunotoxins, [B3(FabH1)-PE38]2, had higher cytotoxic effects than B3(scFv)-PE40 control immunotoxins.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.527-552
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• 2013

Development of flexural yielding and large rotation ductilities in the plastic hinge zones of frame members is synonymous with the spread of bar reinforcement yielding into the supporting anchorage. Yield penetration where it occurs, destroys interfacial bond between bar and concrete and reduces the strain development capacity of the reinforcement. This affects the plastic rotation capacity of the member by increasing the contribution of bar pullout. A side effect is increased strains in the compression zone within the plastic hinge region, which may be critical in displacement-based detailing procedures that are linked to concrete strains (e.g. in structural walls). To quantify the effects of yield penetration from first principles, closed form solutions of the field equations of bond over the anchorage are derived, considering bond plastification, cover debonding after bar yielding and spread of inelasticity in the anchorage. Strain development capacity is shown to be a totally different entity from stress development capacity and, in the framework of performance based design, bar slip and the length of debonding are calculated as functions of the bar strain at the loaded-end, to be used in calculations of pullout rotation at monolithic member connections. Analytical results are explored parametrically to lead to design charts for practical use of the paper's findings but also to identify the implications of the phenomena studied on the detailing requirements in the plastic hinge regions of flexural members including post-earthquake retrofits.