• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.51-59
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• 2011

With the increased demand for membrane structures in recent years, there have been many studies of their mechanical properties, to the extent that such structures have become recognized as independent structures with a level of safety and durability comparable to those of other general structures. But in reality, the study for the maintenance of membrane structures has not been as active. In particularly, the study of watertightness from the perspective of maintenance has been very limited. Accordingly, a study on securing watertightness performance and the guidelines for maintenance is necessary. In this study, through a case study of water leakage accidents in membrane structures overseas, causes of leakage were selected from the membrane material itself, joint parts and open door of roof part in membrane structure. The water leakage and deterioration elements were analyzed from those leakage causes. The degree of importance of the water leakage and deterioration index was also designated using the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) method. As a result, the basic technical index was suggested for the maintenance of the roofs of large-span membrane structures to prevent water leakage. This index will be used to make a guideline for the long-term maintenance of the roofs of large-span membrane structures.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.11-24
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• 2018

Full-scale measurements of wind action on the open roof structure of the WuXi grand theater, which is composed of eight large-span free-form leaf-shaped space trusses with the largest span of 76.79 m, were conducted during the passage of Typhoons HaiKui and SuLi. The wind pressure field data were continuously and simultaneously monitored using a wind pressure monitoring system installed on the roof structure during the typhoons. A detailed analysis of the field data was performed to investigate the characteristics of the fluctuating wind pressure on the open roof, such as the wind pressure spectrum, spatial correlation coefficients, peak wind pressures and non-Gaussian wind pressure characteristics, under typhoon conditions. Three classical methods were used to calculate the peak factors of the wind pressure on the open roof, and the suggested design method and peak factors were given. The non-Gaussianity of the wind pressure was discussed in terms of the third and fourth statistical moments of the measured wind pressure, and the corresponding indication of the non-Gaussianity on the open roof was proposed. The result shows that there were large pulses in the time-histories of the measured wind pressure on Roof A2 in the field. The spatial correlation of the wind pressures on roof A2 between the upper surface and lower surface is very weak. When the skewness is larger than 0.3 and the kurtosis is larger than 3.7, the wind pressure time series on roof A2 can be taken as a non-Gaussian distribution, and the other series can be taken as a Gaussian distribution.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.365-377
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• 2015

Large-amplitude vibration of overhead sign structures can cause unfavorable psychological responses in motorists, interfere with readability of the signs, and lead to fatigue cracking in the sign structures. Field experience in Texas suggests that an overhead sign structure can vibrate excessively when supported within the span of a highway bridge instead of at a bent. This study used finite element modeling to analyze the dynamic displacement response of three hypothetical sign structures subjected to truck-passage-induced vertical oscillations recorded for the girders from four actual bridges. The modeled sign bridge structures included several span lengths based on standard design practices in Texas and were mounted on precast concrete I-girder bridges. Results revealed that resonance with bridge girder vertical vibrations can amplify the dynamic displacement of sign structures, and a specific range of frequency ratios subject to undesirable amplification was identified. Based on these findings, it is suggested that this type of sign structure be located at a bridge bent if its vertical motion frequency is within the identified range of bridge structure excitation frequencies. Several alternatives are investigated for cases where this is not possible, including increasing sign structure stiffness, reducing sign mass, and installing mechanical dampers.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.479-492
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• 2002

A finite element aerodynamic model that can be used to analyse flutter instability of long span bridges in the time domain is presented. This approach adopts a simplified quasi-steady formulation of the wind forces neglecting the vortex shedding effects. The governing equations used are effective only for reduced velocities $V^*$ sufficiently great: this is generally acceptable for long-span suspension bridges and, then, the dependence of the wind forces expressions of the flutter derivatives can be neglected. The procedure describes the mechanical response in an accurate way, taking into account the non-linear geometry effects (large displacements and large strains) and considering also the compressed locked coil strands instability. The time-dependence of the inertia force due to fluid structure interaction is not considered. The numerical examples are performed on the three-dimensional finite element model of the Great Belt East Bridge (DK). A mode frequency analysis is carried out to validate the model and the results show good agreement with the experimental measurements of the full bridge aeroelastic model in the wind tunnel tests. Significant parameters affecting bridge response are introduced and accurately investigated.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.37-51
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• 2000

Identification of damage location based on modal measurement is an important problem in structural health monitoring. The damage index method that attempts to evaluate the changes in modal strain energy distribution has been found to be effective under certain circumstances. In this paper two damage index methods using bending strain energy and shear strain energy have been evaluated for numerous cases at different locations and degrees of damage. The objective is to evaluate the feasibility of the damage index method to localize the damage on large span concrete bridge. Finite element models were used as the test structures. Finally this method was used to predict the damage location in an actual structure, using the results of a modal survey from a large concrete bridge.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.481-496
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• 2015

A Lead Extrusion Damper (LED) is experimentally studied under various frequencies and displacement amplitudes. Experimental results show that the force-displacement hysteresis loops of the LED are close to rectangular and the force-velocity hysteresis loops exhibit nonlinear hysteretic characteristic. Also, the LED can provide consistent energy dissipation without any stiffness degradation. Based on the experimental results, a mathematical model is then proposed to describe the effects of frequency and displacement on property of LED. It can be proved from the comparison between experimental and numerical results that the mathematical model can accurately describe the mechanical behavior of LED. Subsequently, the seismic responses of the Schwedler reticulated shell structure with LEDs are analyzed by ANSYS software, in which three different installation forms of LEDs are considered. It can be concluded that the LED can effectively reduce the displacement and acceleration responses of this type of structures.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.345-354
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• 2010

This paper presents an experimental investigation of the structural performance of a large-span girder bridge with an under-tension system. Typical long-span structures with beam and girder members have greater structural member depths and sizes to carry the moment and deflection. An under-tension system can be an effective structural system, as it allows the cables to resist some portions of the vertical loadings and deflections. To evaluate the serviceability and ultimate strength of the under-tension system, two $10m{\times}2.4m$ experimental under-tension systems were built and tested. One was developed with an H-beam section, and the other was made with a PF500 section that had the advantages of fast construction and lower construction cost. In the test, the maximum deflections at the mid-point of both beams were effectively reduced using under-tension systems. Also, the increased tension forces in the cable reduced the deflections. The PF500 members, which had a new shape and were developed using the module systems, performed better than the typical H-beam sections in terms of the deflections and ultimate strength.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.132-145
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• 2009

Faults in rock mass have strong influences on the behaviors of rock structure such as rock slope, tunnel and underground space. Thus, it is very important to analyse for the characteristics of fault rocks in design for tunnel. But, due to the limitation of geotechnical investigation in design stages, tunnel engineers have to carry out the face mapping and additional geological survey during tunnel excavation to find the distribution of faults and the engineering properties of faults for support and reinforcement design of tunnel. In this study, various geological survey and field tests were carried out to analyse the characteristics of the large thrust fault zone through the large sectional tunnel is constructed in mica-schist region. Also, the distribution of structural geology, the shape of thrust faults and the mechanical properties of fault rock were studied for the reasonable design of the reinforcement and support method for the highly fractured fault zone in the large-span tunnel.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.1483-1499
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• 2015

With the improvement of the quality of construction materials and the development of construction technologies, large-scale long-span steel frame buildings have been built recently. The P.E.B system using tapered members is being employed as an economically-efficient long-span structure owing to its advantage of being able to distribute stress appropriately depending on the size of sectional areas of members. However, in December 2005 and in February 2014, P.E.B buildings collapsed due to sudden loads such as snow loads and wind gusts. In this study, the design and construction of the P.E.B system in Korea were analyzed and its structural safety was evaluated using the finite element analysis program to suggest how to improve the P.E.B system in order to promote the efficient and rational application of the system.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.663-684
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• 2016

Conical vortices generated at the corner regions of large-span flat roofs have been investigated by using the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique. Mean and instantaneous vector fields for velocity, vorticity, and streamlines were measured at three visual planes and for two different flow angles of $15^{\circ}$. The results indicated that conical vortices occur when the wind is not perpendicular to the front edge. The location of the leading edge corresponding to the negative peak vorticity and maximum turbulent kinetic energy was found at the center of the conical vortex. The wind pressure reaches the maximum near the leading edge roof corner, and a triangle of severe suctions zone appears downstream. The mean pressure in uniform flow is greater than that under turbulent flow condition, while a significant increase in the fluctuating wind pressure occurs in turbulent streams. From its emergence to stability, the shape of the vortex cross-section is nearly elliptical, with increasing area. The angle that forms between the vortex axis and the leading edge is much smaller in turbulent streams. The detailed flow structures and characteristics obtained through FLUENT simulation are in agreement with the experimental results. The three dimensional (3-D) structure of the conical vortices is clearly observed from the comprehensive arrangement of several visual planes, and the inner link was established between the vortex evolution process, vortex core position and pressure distribution.