• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.173-190
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• 2019

Steel-confined reinforced concrete (SCRC) columns feature highly complex and invisible mechanisms that make damage evaluation and pattern recognition difficult. In the present article, the prevailing acoustic emission (AE) technique was applied to monitor and evaluate the damage process of steel-confined RC columns in a quasi-static test. AE energy-based indicators, such as index of damage and relax ratio, were proposed to trace the damage progress and quantitatively evaluate the damage state. The fuzzy C-means algorithm successfully discriminated the AE data of different patterns, validity analysis guaranteed cluster accuracy, and principal component analysis simplified the datasets. A detailed statistical investigation on typical AE features was conducted to relate the clustered AE signals to micro mechanisms and the observed damage patterns, and differences between steel-confined and unconfined RC columns were compared and illustrated.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.121-134
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• 2023

This paper tested 11 concrete-encased concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) composite columns and one reinforced concrete column under combined axial compression and lateral loads. The primary parameters, including the loading system, axial compression ratio, volume stirrup ratio, diameter-to-thickness ratio of the steel tube, and stirrup form, were varied. The influence of the parameters on the failure mode, strength, ductility, energy dissipation, strength degradation, and damage evolution of the composite columns were revealed. Moreover, a two-parameter nonlinear seismic damage model for composite columns was established, which can reflect the degree and development process of the seismic damage. In addition, the relationships among the inter-story drift ratio, damage index and seismic performance level of composite columns were established to provide a theoretical basis for seismic performance design and damage assessments.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.269-283
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• 2024

When a reinforced concrete (RC) structure is exposed to a corrosive environment for an extended period of time, the material qualities deteriorate, resulting in a loss in seismic performance. Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) have been used to reinforce the corroded RC structure, which can achieve reinforcement effectiveness for a small change in cross-section size. In this work, finite element models of unjacketed RC pier and ECC jacketed pier were established and verified by experimental tests, with the buckling effect of longitudinal reinforcement considered. Compared with the unjacketed pier, the displacement of the pier top of the ECC jacketed pier was reduced by about 9.52% under earthquake action. In the case of moderate and major earthquakes, the probability of exceedance of ECC jacketed pier is significantly reduced. For the case of rare earthquake loading, with the ECC jacket, the e of the pier experiencing serious damage and complete damage states is reduced by 10.29% and 29.78%, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.735-742
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• 2012

This paper presents the experimental results of axially loaded stub columns of slender steel hollow square section(SHS) strengthened with carbon fiber reinforced polymers(CFRP) sheets. 6 specimens were fabricated and the main parameters were: width-thickness ratio(b/t) and CFRP retrofitting. From the tests, it was observed that two sides would typically buckle outward and the other two sides would buckle inward. A maximum increase of 33% was achieved in axial-load capacity. Also, stiffness and ductility index(DI) were compared between unretrofitted specimens and retrofitted specimens. In the last section, a prediction formula of the ultimate strength developed using the experimental results is presented.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2015

This study suggests mixing steel fibers in concrete to secure the toughness of the columns. Therefore, to evaluate the structural behavior of welded built-up square columns filled with steel fiber reinforced concrete, ten stub column specimens were fabricated for compressive loading test with variables of steel fiber mixing ratio and loading condition. It is deduced that the steel fibers continue to provide tensile strength even after the concrete cracks and thus improve the strength and behavior of the column when bending moment is applied to it. A small amount of steel fibers can improve compressive strength and bending strength and thus produce economically efficient results when employed in structural design.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.106-115
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• 2011

This study proposed a new methodology for seismic capacity evaluation of low-rise reinforced concrete (RC) buildings based on non-linear required spectrum. In order to verify the reliability of the proposed method, relationships between results obtained using the proposed method and the non-linear dynamic analyses were investigated. Compared with the seismic protection index (Es=0.6) defined in the Japanese Standard, the applicability of the method was also estimated. Research results indicate that the method proposed in this study compares reasonably well with the detailed evaluation methods. Using the seismic evaluation method developed in this study, the seismic capacity category and earthquake damage degree of low-rise RC buildings corresponding to a specific earthquake level can be effectively estimated.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.111-118
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• 2010

Reinforced steel corrosion due to concrete carbonation is one of main factors on the durability of RC structure. The carbonation velocity have an effect on carbon dioxide density, concrete quality and structural shape. Specially, these problems have increased in urban area. This study investigates the carbonation status of the bridges and quantifies the effect of carbonation based on various domestic field data. The failure probability of durability is evaluated on the basis of reliability concept. According to experimental results of the carbonation depth, the carbonation depth increased with structural age and carbonation velocity decreased with high strength of concrete. In most cases, the failure probability of durability by carbonation was more than 10%. Also, The results requires the minimum cover thickness of 70-80mm for target safety index(${\beta}$=1.3) proposed by Korean concrete specification.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.109-115
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• 2015

High performance fiber reinforced cementitious composite (HPFRCC) can provide high fracture energy absorption as well as high strength with high fiber volume fraction. The increased fracture energy helps resisting high frequency loadings, such as earthquake, impact or blast. This study investigates the flexural performance of slurry infiltrated fiber concrete (SIFCON), one of the important HPFRCC, with respect to varying fiber volume fraction. The maximum fiber volume fraction was 8.0 % and reduced to 6.0% by 0.5% and the maximum volume fraction is obtained by packing fibers with simple tapping by hands. The used fiber was a steel fiber with the length 30 mm and the diameter of 0.5 mm. The flexural strengths were 48.7 MPa at 8.0 % and 22.8 MPa at 6.0 %. The measured flexural strength is much higher compared to other cememtitious composite materials but decreased proportional to the fractions. This result implies that for SIFCON considered herein the reduced amount of steel fibers may affect its flexural performance in a negatively way. The flexural toughness, an index to represent the fracture energy absorption, also decreased with the reduced fiber amount.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.269-282
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• 2015

Civil structures should be designed with the lowest cost and longest lifetime possible and without service failure. The efficient and sustainable use of materials in building design and construction has always been at the forefront for civil engineers and environmentalists. Timber is one of the best contenders for these purposes particularly in terms of aesthetics; fire protection; strength-to-weight ratio; acoustic properties and seismic resistance. In recent years, timber has been used in commercial and taller buildings due to these significant advantages. It should be noted that, since the launch of the modern building standards and codes, a number of different structural systems have been developed to stabilise steel or concrete multistorey buildings, however, structural analysis of high-rise and multi-storey timber frame buildings subjected to lateral loads has not yet been fully understood. Additionally, timber degradation can occur as a result of biological decay of the elements and overloading that can result in structural damage. In such structures, the deficient members and joints require strengthening in order to satisfy new code requirements; determine acceptable level of safety; and avoid brittle failure following earthquake actions. This paper investigates performance assessment and damage assessment of older multi-storey timber buildings. One approach is to retrofit the beams in order to increase the ductility of the frame. Experimental studies indicate that Sprayed Fibre Reinforced Polymer (SFRP) repairing/retrofitting not only updates the integrity of the joint, but also increases its strength; stiffness; and ductility in such a way that the joint remains elastic. Non-linear finite element analysis ('pushover') is carried out to study the behaviour of the structure subjected to simulated gravity and lateral loads. A new global index is re-assessed for damage assessment of the plain and SFRP-retrofitted frames using capacity curves obtained from pushover analysis. This study shows that the proposed method is suitable for structural damage assessment of aged timber buildings. Also SFRP retrofitting can potentially improve the performance and load carrying capacity of the structure.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.617-627
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• 2018

After earthquakes FRP sheets are often used for the rehabilitation of damaged Reinforced Concrete (RC) beamcolumn connections. Connections with minor to moderate damage are often dealt with by applying FRP sheets after a superficial repair of the cracks using resin paste or high strength mortar but without infusion of thin resin solution under pressure into the cracking system. This technique is usually adopted in these cases due to the fast and easy-to-apply procedure. The experimental investigation reported herein aims at evaluating the effectiveness of repairing the damaged beam-column connections using FRP sheets after a meticulous but superficial repair of their cracking system using resin paste. The investigation comprises experimental results of 10 full scale beam-column joint specimens; five original joints and the corresponding retrofitted ones. The repair technique has been applied to RC joints with different joint reinforcement arrangements with minor to severe damage brought about by cyclic loading for the purposes of this work. Aiming at quantitative concluding remarks about the effectiveness of the repair technique, data concerning response loads, loading stiffness and energy absorption values have been acquired and commented upon. Furthermore, comparisons of damage index values and values of equivalent viscous damping, as obtained during the test of the original specimens, with the corresponding ones observed in the loading of the repaired ones have also been evaluated and commented. Based on these comparisons, it is deduced that the technique under investigation can be considered to be a rather satisfactory repair technique for joints with minor to moderate damage taking into account the rapid, convenient and easy-to-apply character of its application.