• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.10-18
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• 1996

Arched openings are generally excavated in underground construction works. Since stress distribution around openings depends on geological structure in rock mass, any shape of arched openings fully conformed with in-situ stress condition should be recommended to maintain mechanical safety of structures. Shape of arched openings is specified by both roof curvature and height-width ratio, and especially this report presents deformation behaviors related with roof curvature. Scale model tests and numerical studies of various shaped openings are conducted, where rectangular opening shows the greatest convergence. Through the anlayses of various arched opengings, as radius of roof curvature is increased, roof lowering and sidewall closure are remarkably increased, whereas floor heaving is increased little by little. By the way, it is useful that displacements of openings are roughly estimated in the stage of preliminary investigation. To find out elastic displacements of arched openings with any roof curvature, regressional formula and charts by least square method are represented. In addition elastoplastic deformation behavoirs of arched openings concerning associated adn non-associated flow rule are discussed.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.21-35
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• 2015

The objective of this study is to examine the effect of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) on the shear strengths of deep beams with web openings. A total of 18 high-strength concrete deep beams with web openings were tested. Twelve were externally wrapped with four layers of CFRP, six of them strengthened in the horizontal direction and the others in the vertical direction. The parameters of the configuration of CFRP, the sizes of the openings and the locations of the openings were covered in this study. The test results indicates the shear strengths of deep beams with openings sized $60{\times}40mm$ were about 16% higher than that with openings sized $68{\times}68mm$. For deep beams with openings sized $60{\times}40mm$, the lower the locations of openings the higher the shear strengths were. The test results also indicate the shear strengths of deep beams with web openings strengthened by CFRP wrapped in the vertical direction can be enhanced by about 10%. However, the shear strengths of deep beams with web openings strengthened by CFRP wrapped in the horizontal direction can only be enhanced by about 6%. The shear strengths of deep beam, with different size and location of web openings and strengthened by different configuration of CFRP can be reasonably predicted by the empirical formulas of Kong and Sharp.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.33-39
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• 1999

In a compartment fire with openings, convective heat transfer consists of natural convection from the hot bodies and forced convection by airflow through the openings. The same finite volume method that was applied to pure natural convection in part I was utilized without modification to the square cavity with two openings. The objective of this study is to investigate effects of the openings on temperature distribution. Flow patterns, temperature distribution and heat transfer were compared for different Rayleigh numbers and with and without the openings.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.281-300
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• 2014

This study presents the experimental results of twenty three reinforced concrete beams with rectangular web openings externally strengthened with Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRP) composites bonded around openings. All tested beams had the same geometry and reinforcement details. At openings locations, the stirrups intercepted the openings were cut during fabrication of reinforcement cage to simulate the condition of inclusion of an opening in an existing beam. Several design parameters are considered including the opening dimensions and location in the shear zone, the wrapping configurations, and the amount and the type of the FRP composites in the vicinity of the openings. The wrapping configurations of FRP included: sheets, strips, U-shape strips, and U-shape strips with bundles of FRP strands placed at the top and sides of the beam forming a fan under the strips to achieve closed wrapping. The effect of these parameters on the failure modes, the ultimate load, and the beam stiffness were investigated. The shear contribution of FRP on the shear capacity of tested beams with web openings was estimated according to ACI Committee 440-08, Canadian Standards S6-06, and Khalifa et al. model and examined against the test results. A modification factor to account for the dimensions of opening chords was applied to the predicted gain in the shear capacity according to ACI 440-08 and CSA S6-06 for bonded Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymers (GFRP) around openings. The analytical results after incorporating the modification factor into the codes guidelines showed good agreement with the test results.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.4
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• pp.475-493
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• 2022

The results of research focusing on the experimental and numerical performance of ferrocement RC beams with openings reinforced with welded steel mesh, expanded steel mesh, fiber glass mesh, and polyethylene mesh independently are presented in this article. Casting and testing of fourteen reinforced concrete beams with dimensions of 200×100×2000 mm under concentric compression loadings were part of the research program. The type of reinforcing materials, the volume fraction of reinforcement, the number of mesh layers, and the number of stirrups are the major parameters that change. The main goal is to understand the impact of using new appealing materials in reinforcing RC beams with openings. Using ANSYS-16.0 Software, nonlinear finite element analysis (NLFEA) was used to demonstrate the behavior of composite RC beams with openings. A parametric study is also conducted to discuss the variables that can have the greatest impact on the mechanical behavior of the proposed model, such as the number of openings. The obtained experimental and numerical results demonstrated the FE simulations' acceptable accuracy in estimating experimental values. Furthermore, demonstrating that the strength gained of specimens reinforced with fiber glass meshes was reduced by approximately 38% when compared to specimens reinforced with expanded or welded steel meshes is significant. In addition, when compared to welded steel meshes, using expanded steel meshes in reinforcing RC beams with openings results in a 16 percent increase in strength. In general, when ferrocement beams with openings are tested under concentric loadings, they show higher-level ultimate loads and energy-absorbing capacity than traditional RC beams.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.353-360
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• 2022

Due to the dense and complicated working environment, the construction industry is susceptible to many accidents. Worker's fall is a severe problem at the construction site, including falling into holes or openings because of the inadequate coverings as per the safety rules. During the construction or demolition of a building, openings and holes are formed in the floors and roofs. Many workers neglect to cover openings for ease of work while being aware of the risks of holes, openings, and gaps at heights. However, there are safety rules for worker safety; the holes and openings must be covered to prevent falls. The safety inspector typically examines it by visiting the construction site, which is time-consuming and requires safety manager efforts. Therefore, this study presented a worker-driven approach (the worker is involved in the reporting process) to facilitate safety managers by developing integrated computer vision and inertia sensors-based mobile applications to identify openings. The TensorFlow framework is used to design Convolutional Neural Network (CNN); the designed CNN is trained on a custom dataset for binary class openings and covered and deployed on an android smartphone. When an application captures an image, the device also extracts the accelerometer values to determine the inclination in parallel with the classification task of the device to predict the final output as floor (openings/ covered), wall (openings/covered), and roof (openings / covered). The proposed worker-driven approach will be extended with other case scenarios at the construction site.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.4
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• pp.371-390
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• 2024

Investigating the impact of openings on the structural behavior of ferrocement I-beams with two distinct types of reinforcing metallic and non-metallic meshes is the primary goal of the current study. Up until failure, eight 250x200x2200 mm reinforced concrete I-beams were tested under flexural loadings. Depending on the kind of meshes used for reinforcement, the beams are split into two series. A control I-beam with no openings and three beams with one, two, and three openings, respectively, are found in each series. The two series are reinforced with three layers of welded steel meshes and two layers of tensar meshes, respectively, in order to maintain a constant reinforcement ratio. Structural parameters of investigated beams, including first crack, ultimate load, deflection, ductility index, energy absorption, strain characteristics, crack pattern, and failure mode were reported. The number of mesh layers, the volume fraction of reinforcement, and the kind of reinforcing materials are the primary factors that vary. This article presents the outcomes of a study that examined the experimental and numerical performance of ferrocement reinforced concrete I-beams with and without openings reinforced with welded steel mesh and tensar mesh separately. Utilizing ANSYS-16.0 software, nonlinear finite element analysis (NLFEA) was applied to illustrate how composite RC I-beams with openings behaved. In addition, a parametric study is conducted to explore the variables that can most significantly impact the mechanical behavior of the proposed model, such as the number of openings. The FE simulations produced an acceptable degree of experimental value estimation, as demonstrated by the obtained experimental and numerical results. It is also noteworthy to demonstrate that the strength gained by specimens without openings reinforced with tensar meshes was, on average, 22% less than that of specimens reinforced with welded steel meshes. For specimens with openings, this value is become on average 10%.

• Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.14-19
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• 2023

In summer, the natural ventilation performance for varying greenhouse width is very important in the glasshouses for year round cultivation. The effect of the side openings and greenhouse width on natural ventilation performance was analyzed by simulation. The necessary ventilation rate with different solar radiation transmittance increased significantly when the outside temperature grows higher. The necessary ventilation rate of 40% transmittance was about half of that of 90% transmittance. In consequence, shading effect on temperature control in greenhouse is significant in summer. When the total area of the openings for ventilation is constant, the maximum ventilation rate happens when the area of roof openings is equal to the area of side openings. This maximum ventilation rate is about 3 times of that of the greenhouse with roof openings and without side openings. Therefore, the side openings are advantageous to improve the natural ventilation in greenhouses. As the greenhouse width increases, the influence of side openings on the ventilation rate is becoming smaller. If the natural ventilation rate of the greenhouse with roof and side openings is to become double of that of the roof openings only, the width should be narrower than 38.4m for the Venlo type and 64m for Wide span type.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.93-108
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• 1998

In this study, the analytic solutions and numerical methods were used to estimate the shape and size effects on the stability of underground openings. The stability of underground openings was evaluated by scrutinizing the effects of the rock mass quality, the state of in-situ stresses and the lateral earth pressure coefficient on the displacement, the stress concentration and the plastic region developed in the vicinity of the openings. The analytic solutions have shown that the stress concentration factor is inversely proportional to the radius of curvature of openings. Through parametric study on the various shapes and sizes of underground openings the characteristics of the controlling factors concerned with the stability were analyzed. Then, the study was extended to the horseshoe-shaped openings commonly used for under ground storage. Through the extended study the effects of the stress ratio and the height-towidth ratio of openings on the maximum displacement and plastic region developed around the openings were estimated. The results have shorn that the height-to-width ratio of domestic storage caverns can be increased economically without stability problem, as far as the lateral earth pressure coefficient is appropriate.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.15-31
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• 2006

Beams with web openings are an attractive system for multi-storey buildings where it is always desirable to have long spans. The openings in the web of steel beams enable building services to be integrated within the constructional depth of a floor, thus reducing the total floor depth. At the same time, the increased beam depth can give high bending moment capacity, thus allowing long spans. However, almost all of the research studies on web openings have been concentrated on beam behaviour at ambient temperature. In this paper, a preliminary numerical analysis using ABAQUS is conducted to develop a general understanding of the effect of the presence of web opening on the behaviour of steel beams at elevated temperatures. It is concluded that the presence of web openings will have substantial influence on the failure temperatures of axially unrestrained beams and the opening size at the critical position in the beam is the most important factor. For axially restrained beams, the effect of web openings on the beam's large deflection behaviour and catenary force is smaller and it is the maximum opening size that will affect the beam's response at very high temperatures. However, it is possible that catenary action develops in beams with web openings at temperatures much lower than the failure temperatures of the same beam without axial restraint that are often used as the basis of current design.