• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.279-293
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• 2019

The overall seismic performance of existing pre 1960-70s reinforced concrete (RC) structures is significantly affected by the inadequate length of columns' lap-spliced reinforcement. Due to this crucial structural deficiency, the cyclic response is dominated by premature bond - slip failure, strength and stiffness degradation, poor energy dissipation capacity and low ductility. Recent earthquakes worldwide highlighted the importance of improving the load transfer mechanism between lap-spliced bars, while it was clearly demonstrated that the failure of lap splices may result in a devastating effect on structural integrity. Extensive experimental and analytical research was carried out herein, to evaluate the effectiveness and reliability of strengthening techniques applied to RC columns with lap-spliced reinforcement and also accurately predict the columns' response during an earthquake. Ten large scale cantilever column subassemblages, representative of columns found in existing pre 1970s RC structures, were constructed and strengthened by steel or RC jacketing. The enhanced specimens were imposed to earthquake-type loading and their lateral response was evaluated with respect to the hysteresis of two original and two control subassemblages. The main variables examined were the lap splice length, the steel jacket width and the amount of additional confinement offered by the jackets. Moreover, an analytical formulation proposed by Tsonos (2007a, 2019) was modified appropriately and applied to the lap splice region, to calculate shear stress developed in the concrete and predict if yielding of reinforcement is achieved. The accuracy of the analytical method was checked against experimental results from both the literature and the experimental work included herein.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.3
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• pp.233-244
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• 2019

Steel jacketing technique is a retrofitting method often employed for static and seismic strengthening of existing reinforced concrete columns. When no continuity is given to angle chords as they cross the floor, the jacket is considered "indirectly loaded", which means that the load acting on the column is transferred partially to the external jacket through interface shear stresses. The evaluation of load transfer mechanism between core and jacket is not straightforward to be modeled, due to the absence of knowledge of a proper constitutive law of the concrete-to-steel interface and to the difficulties in taking into account the mechanical nonlinearities of materials. This paper presents an incremental analytical/numerical approach for evaluating the compressive response of RC columns strengthened with indirectly loaded jackets. The approach allows calculating shear stresses at the interface between core and jacket and predicting the axial capacity of retrofitted columns. A proper constitutive law is proposed for modelling the interaction between the steel and the concrete. Based on plasticity rules and the non-linear behaviour of materials, the column is divided into portions. After a detailed parametric analysis, comparisons are finally made by theoretical predictions and experimental results available in the literature, showing a good agreement.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.271-280
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• 2019

In this paper, numerical and experimental assessments have been conducted in order to investigate the capability of using CFRP for the seismic capacity improvement and relocation of plastic hinge in reinforced concrete connections. Two scaled down exterior reinforced concrete beam to column connections have been used. These two connections from a strengthened moment frame have been tested under uniformly distributed load before and after optimization. The results of experimental tests have been used to verify the accuracy of numerical modeling using computational ABAQUS software. Application of FRP plate on the web of the beam in connections to improve its capacity is of interest in this paper. Several parametric studies were carried out for CFRP reinforced samples, with different lengths and thicknesses in order to relocate the plastic hinge away from the face of the column.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.791-804
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• 2022

As a type of semi-rigid connection, the top and seat angle connections are popular in current structures owing to their good cyclic performance and simple erection. However, their stiffness and load bearing capacity are relatively insufficient. This study proposes two strengthening methods to further increase the stiffness and strength of bolted-angle joints while maintaining satisfactory energy dissipation capacity (EDC) and ductility. Cyclic loading tests were conducted on six joint specimens with different strengthened angle components. Based on the test results, the influence of the following important factors on the cyclic behavior of steel joint specimens was investigated: the position of the rib stiffeners (edge rib stiffeners and middle rib stiffener), steel strength grade of rib stiffeners (Q345 and Q690), and additional stiffeners or not. In addition, the finite element models of these specimens were built and validated through a comparison of experimental and numerical results. The stiffness and bearing capacity of the bolted-angle joints could be improved significantly by utilizing the novel strengthened joints proposed in this study. Moreover, this can be achieved with almost no increase in the amount of steel required, and the EDC of this joint could also satisfy the requirements of seismic codes from various countries.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.151-159
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• 2015

In this study, experimental research was carried out to evaluate and improve the seismic performance of reinforced concrete beam-column joint regions using strengthening materials (CFRP sheet, AFRP sheet, embedded CFRP rod) in existing reinforced concrete structure. Therefore it was constructed and tested seven specimens retrofitting the beam-column joint regions using such retrofitting materials. Specimens, designed by retrofitting the beam-column joint regions of existing reinforced concrete structure, were showed the stable failure mode and increase of load-carrying capacity due to the effect of crack control at the times of initial loading and confinement of retrofitting materials during testing. Specimens LBCJ-CRUS, designed by the retrofitting of CFRP Rod and CFRP Sheet in reinforecd beam-column joint regions were increased its maximum load carrying capacity by 1.54 times and its energy dissipation capacity by 2.36 times in comparison with standard specimen LBCJ for a displacement ductility of 4 and 7. And Specimens LBCJ-CS, LBCJ-AF series were increased its energy dissipation capacity each by 2.04~2.34, 1.63~3.02 times in comparison with standard specimen LBCJ for a displacement ductility of 7.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.25-36
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• 2017

In the 1994 Northridge earthquake, connection damage initiated from the beam bottom flange was prevalent. The presence of a concrete slab and resulting composite action was speculated as one of the critical causes of the prevalent bottom flange fracture. In this study, four seismic retrofit schemes are proposed in order to salvage welded steel moment connections with composite floor slabs in existing steel moment frames. Because top flange modification of existing beams is not feasible due to the presence of a concrete floor slab, three schemes of bottom flange modification by using welded triangular or straight haunches or RBS(reduced beam section), and beam web strengthening by attaching heavy shear tab were cyclically tested and analyzed. Test results of this study show that haunch and web-strengthened specimens can eliminate the detrimental effect caused by composite action and ensure excellent connection plastic rotation exceeding 5% rad. Design recommendations for each retrofit scheme together with supplemental numerical studies are also presented.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.289-298
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• 2016

An experimental research was performed using fibers for the purpose of retrofitting existing reinforced concrete circular columns. Glass fiber (GF) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) were used as well as combined GF+PET (HF). PET has high tensile strength (over 600 MPa) and high ductility (about 15%), but has very low elastic modulus (about 1/6 of GF). A total of four columns was tested against laterally applied reverse cyclic load: control column, GF-, PET-, and HF-strengthened columns. All columns retrofitted using fibers demonstrated improved moment capacity and ductility. Moment capacity of GF-, PET-, and HF-strengthened columns was 120%, 107%, and 120% of the control column, respectively. Drift ratio of all retrofitted columns also increased by 63 ~ 83% over the control column. The final failure mode of the control column was main bar buckling. The final failure mode of the GF- and HF-strengthened columns was GF rupture while that of the PET-strengthened column was main bar rupture in tension. No damage was observed for PET at the ultimate stage due to excellent strain capacity intrinsic to PET. Current test results indicate that PET can be effectively used for seismic retrofit of RC columns. It is noted that the durability characteristics of PET needs to be investigated in the future.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.439-445
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• 2013

The soil-structure interaction(SSI) effect should be considered to accurately assess the seismic response of structure constructed on soft soil site other than the hard bedrock. Recently, the demand of SSI analysis has increased due to strengthening of the regulatory guidelines of nuclear power plant such as the USNRC SRP 3.7.2. In this study an accuracy and running time of the KIESSI-3D program for large-scale 3D SSI analysis were investigated. The seismic SSI analysis using the KIESSI-3D program was performed for several examples of large-scale three-dimensional soil-structure interaction system. The analysis results were compared with those of the ACS/SASSI program. Good agreements in transfer functions at selected locations showd that KIESSI-3D yields accurate solution for large-scale SSI problem. Moreover, it was found that running speed of the KIESSI-3D for large-scale 3D SSI analysis is much faster than that of the ACS/SASSI about 30~2000 times.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.40-48
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• 2014

In this study, experimental research was carried out to evaluate and improve the seismic performance of reinforced concrete beam-column joint regions using strengthening materials (embedded CFRP rod and CFRP sheet) in existing reinforced concrete building. Therefore it was constructed and tested six specimens retrofitting the beam-column joint regions using such retrofitting materials. Specimens, designed by retrofitting the beam-column joint regions of existing reinforced concrete building, were showed the stable failure mode and increase of load-carrying capacity due to the effect of crack control at the times of initial loading and confinement of retrofitting materials during testing. Specimens RBCJ-SRC2, designed by the retrofitting of CFRP Rod and CFRP Sheet in reinforecd beam-column joint regions were increased its maximum load carrying capacity by 1.97 times and its energy dissipation capacity by 2.08 times in comparison with standard specimen RBCJ for a displacement ductility of 4 and 7. Also, specimens RBCJ-SRC2 were increased its maximum load carrying capacity by 1.09~1.11 times in comparison with specimen RBCJ-SR series. And Specimens RBCJ-CS, RBCJ-SR series, RBCJ-SRC2 were increased its energy dissipation capacity by 1.10~2.30 times in comparison with standard specimen RBCJ for a displacement ductility of 5, 6.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.41-54
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• 1999

Because of relatively heavy dead weight of concrete itself and unavoidable heat of massive concrete in bridge piers, circular hollow columns are widely used in Korean highway bridges. Since the occurrence of 1995 Kobe earthquake, there have been much concerns about seismic design for various infrastructures, inclusive of bridge structures. It is, however, understood that there are not much research works for nonlinear behavior of circular hollow columns subjected to eqrthquake motions. The objective of this experimental research is to investigate nonlinear behavior of circular hollow reinforced concrete bridge piers under the quasi-static cyclic load, and then to enhance their ductility by strengthening the plastic hinge region with glassfiber sheets. Particularly for this test, constant 10 cyclic loads have been repeatedly actuated to investigate the magnitude of strength degradation for the displacement ductility factor. Important test parameters are seismic design, confinement steel ratio, axial force and load pattern. It is observed from quasi-static tests for 7 bridge piers that the seismically designed columns and the retrofitted columns show better performance than the nonseismically designed colums, i.e. about 20% higher for energy dissipation capacity and about 70% higher for curvatures.