• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.691-702
• /
• 2018

This paper presents experimental and analytical results of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) confined steel tubular columns under transverse impact loads. Influences of applied impact energy, thickness of FRP jacket and impact position were discussed in detail, and then the impact responses of FRP confined steel tubes were compared with bare steel tubes. The test results revealed that the FRP jacket contributes to prevent outward buckling deformation of steel at the clamped end and inward buckling of steel at the impact position. For the given applied impact energy, specimens wrapped with one layer and three layers of FRP have the lower peak impact loads than those of the bare steel tubes, whereas specimens wrapped with five layers of FRP exhibit the higher peak impact loads. All the FRP confined steel tubular specimens displayed a longer duration time than the bare steel tubes under the same magnitude of impact energy, and the specimen wrapped with one layer of FRP had the longest duration time. In addition, increasing the applied impact energy leads to the increase of peak impact load and duration time, whereas increasing the distance of impact position from the clamped end results in the decrease of peak impact load and the increase of duration time. The dynamic analysis software Abaqus Explicit was used to simulate the mechanical behavior of FRP confined steel tubular columns, and the numerical results agreed well with the test data. Analytical solution for lateral displacement of an equivalent cantilever beam model subjected to impact load was derived out. Comparison of analytical and experimental results shows that the maximum displacement can be precisely predicted by the present theoretical model.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.727-736
• /
• 2017

The application of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) in steel structures primarily includes two categories, i.e., the bond-critical application and the contact-critical application. Debonding failure and buckling failure are the main failure modes for these two applications. Conventional electrometric techniques may not provide precise results because of the limitations associated with single-point contact measurements. A nondestructive full-field measurement technique is a valuable alternative to conventional methods. In this study, the digital image correlation (DIC) technique was adopted to investigate the bond behavior and buckling behavior of CFRP-steel composite members. The CFRP-to-steel bonded joint and the CFRP-strengthened square hollow section (SHS) steel column were tested to verify the suitability of the DIC technique. The stereo-DIC technique was utilized to measure continuous deformation. The bond-slip relationship of the CFRP-to-steel interface was derived using the DIC data. Additionally, a multi-camera DIC system consisting of four stereo-DIC subsystems was proposed and applied to the compressive test of CFRP-strengthened SHS steel column. The precise buckling location and CFRP delamination of the CFRP-strengthened SHS steel column were identified. The experimental results confirm that the stereo-DIC technique can provide effective measurements for investigating the behaviors of CFRP-steel composite members.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.91-105
• /
• 2020

Steel-concrete composite beam with profiled steel sheet has gained its popularity in the last two decades. Due to the ageing of these structures, retrofitting in terms of flexural strength is necessary to ensure that the aged structures can carry the increased traffic load throughout their design life. The steel ribs, which presented in the profiled steel deck, limit the use of shear connectors. This leads to a poor degree of composite action between the concrete slab and steel beam compared to the solid slab situation. As a result, the shear connectors that connects the slab and beam will be subjected to higher shear stress which may also require strengthening to increase the load carrying capacity of an existing composite structure. While most of the available studies focus on the strengthening of longitudinal shear and flexural strength separately, the present work investigates the effect of both flexural and longitudinal shear strengthening of steel-concrete composite beam with composite slab in terms of failure modes, ultimate load carrying capacity, ductility, end-slip, strain profile and interface differential strain. The flexural strengthening was conducted using carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) or steel plate on the soffit of the steel I-beam, while longitudinal shear capacity was enhanced using post-installed high strength bolts. Moreover, a combination of both the longitudinal shear and flexural strengthening techniques was also implemented (hybrid strengthening). It is concluded that hybrid strengthening improved the ultimate load carrying capacity and reduce slip and interface differential strain that lead to improved composite action. However, hybrid strengthening resulted in brittle failure mode that decreased ductility of the beam.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.759-783
• /
• 2010

In this paper, compressive strength of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) confined concrete cylinders is formulated using a hybrid method coupling genetic programming (GP) and simulated annealing (SA), called GP/SA, and a robust variant of GP, namely multi expression programming (MEP). Straightforward GP/SA and MEP-based prediction equations are derived for the compressive strength of CFRP-wrapped concrete cylinders. The models are constructed using two sets of predictor variables. The first set comprises diameter of concrete cylinder, unconfined concrete strength, tensile strength of CFRP laminate, and total thickness of CFRP layer. The most widely used parameters of unconfined concrete strength and ultimate confinement pressure are included in the second set. The models are developed based on the experimental results obtained from the literature. To verify the applicability of the proposed models, they are employed to estimate the compressive strength of parts of test results that were not included in the modeling process. A sensitivity analysis is carried out to determine the contributions of the parameters affecting the compressive strength. For more verification, a parametric study is carried out and the trends of the results are confirmed via some previous studies. The GP/SA and MEP models are able to predict the ultimate compressive strength with an acceptable level of accuracy. The proposed models perform superior than several CFRP confinement models found in the literature. The derived models are particularly valuable for pre-design purposes.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.257-262
• /
• 2018

Vibrational problems in the domestic Small Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (SHAWT) are due to flap wise vibrations caused by varying wind velocities acting perpendicular to its blade surface. It has been reported that monitoring the structural health of the turbine blades requires special attention as they are key elements of a wind power generation, and account for 15-20% of the total turbine cost. If this vibration problem is taken care, the SHAWT can be made as commercial success. In this work, Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) wires made of Nitinol (Ni-Ti) alloys are embedded into the Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) wind turbine blade in order to reduce the flapwise vibrations. Experimental study of Nitinol (Ni-Ti) wire characteristics has been done and relationship between different parameters like current, displacement, time and temperature has been established. When the wind turbine blades are subjected to varying wind velocity, flapwise vibration occurs which has to be controlled continuously, otherwise the blade will be damaged due to the resonance. Therefore, in order to control these flapwise vibrations actively, a non-linear current controller unit was developed and fabricated, which provides actuation force required for active vibration control in smart blade. Experimental analysis was performed on conventional GFRP and smart blade, depicted a 20% increase in natural frequency and 20% reduction in amplitude of vibration. With addition of active vibration control unit, the smart blade showed 61% reduction in amplitude of vibration.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.20 no.4 s.72
• /
• pp.14-19
• /
• 2005

One area in which composites have been used rather extensively is for fabricating pressure vessel. These structures can be readily manufactured by filament winding, which is, as far as composite fabrication techniques are concerned, a relatively inexpensive method for producing composite structures. Unfortunately, the higher strength material and fabrication costs are not the only disadvantages of fiber-reinforced polymer composites when they are compared to metals. Additionally, these materials tend to exhibit brittle behavior. This is of particular concern when they are subjected to a low-velocity impact during routine handling a significant amount of structural damage can be introduced into the composites. The goals of this paper are to understand the impact damage behavior and identify the effect of surface coating materials on impact resistance in filament wound composite pressure vessels. For these, a series of low velocity impact tests was performed on specimens cutting from the full scale pressure vessel by the instrumented impact testing machine. The specimens are classified into two types with and without surface protective material. The visualization for impact damage is made by metallurgical microscope. Based on the impact force history and damage, the resistance parameters were employed and its validity in identifying the damage resistance of pressure vessel was reviewed. As the results, the impact resistance of the filament wound composites and its dependency on the protective material were evaluated quantitatively.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.121-127
• /
• 2010

An experimental study of composite beam with perforated fiber reinforced polymer(FRP) plank as a permanent formwork and the tensile reinforcement was performed. A combined formwork and reinforcement system can facilitate rapid construction of concrete members since no conventional formwork is needed, which requires time consuming assembly and dismantling. In order for a smooth FRP plank to act compositely with the concrete, the surface of the FRP needs to be treated to increase its bond properties. Aggregates were bonded to the FRP plank using a commercially available epoxy and perforated web of plank. No additional flexural or shear reinforcement was provided in the beams. For comparison, two control specimens were tested. One control had no perforated hole in the web of FRP plank and the other had internal steel reinforcing bars instead of the FRP plank. The beams were loaded by central patch load to their ultimate capacity. This study demonstrates that the perforated FRP plank has the potential to serve as a permanent formwork and reinforcing for concrete beam.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.171-180
• /
• 2008

The aim of this paper is to clarify the structural performance of RC beams strengthened with Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer(CFRP) plates using channel-type anchorage system. Twelve RC beams were specifically designed without and with a channel-type anchorage system, which was carefully detailed to enhance the benefits of the strengthening plates. All the twelve beams were identical in terms of their geometry but varied in their internal reinforcement, concrete strength. All the beams were tested under four point bending and extensively instrumented to monitor strains, cracking, load capacity and failure modes. The structural response of all the twelve beams is then critically analyzed in terms of deformability, strength and failure processes. It is shown that with a channel-type anchorage system, a brittle debonding failure of a strengthened beam can be transformed to an almost ductile failure with well-defined enhancement of structural performance in terms of both deformation and strength.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.37 no.12
• /
• pp.1465-1471
• /
• 2013

The electrical and mechanical properties of room temperature vulcanized (RTV) silicone rubber composites are investigated as functions of multi-walled carbon nanotube (CNT), carbon black (CB), and thinner content. The thinner is used to improve the CNT and CB dispersion in the matrix. The electrical and mechanical properties of the composite with CNT are improved when compared to the composite with CB at the same content. As the thinner content is 80 phr, the electric resistance of the composite decreases significantly with the CNT content and shows contact point saturation of CNT at 2.5 phr. As the thinner content increases, the dispersion of conductive particles improves; however, the critical CB content increases because of the reduction in the CB weight ratio. It is believed that an electrode that needs good flexibility and excellent electrical properties can be manufactured when the amount of CNT and CB are increased with the thinner content.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.27 no.5
• /
• pp.218-223
• /
• 2006

We examined the effects of ${\beta}$-glucan-reinforced PLGA film and scaffold on HDFs (human dermal fibroblast) attachment and proliferation. The PLGA films were prepared by simple solvent-casting method. The prepared films were grafted with $(1{\to}3)(1{\to}6)-{\beta}-glucan$ in various ratios after plasma treatment on surface. The surface of the film was characterized by contact angle measurement, scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Fourier-transform infrared spectrophotometer (FT-IR). The amount of $(1{\to}3)(1{\to}6)-{\beta}-glucan$ in the prepared film was indirectly determined by phenol-sulfuric acid method. The HDFs (Human dermal fibroblasts) were used to evaluate the cell attachment and proliferation on PLGA specimens before and after plasma/${\beta}-glucan$ treatment. The result showed that the plasma treated groups exhibited more mont of ${\beta}-glucan$ might be grafted than the non plasma treated groups. Cell attachment was significantly enhanced in the plasma/${\beta}-glucan$ grafted group after 4 hours incubation (p<0.05) due to the improved hydrophilicity and cytoactivity effect of the ${\beta}-glucan$. The cell proliferation of plasma/${\beta}-glucan$ (2mg/ml) grafted group was the highest rate among the groups (p<0.05).