• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.19-43
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• 2014

A risk assessment framework for evaluating building structures is implemented in this study. This framework allows considering sources of uncertainty both on structural capacity and seismic demand. In particular randomness on seismic load, incident angle, material properties, floor mass and structural damping are considered; in addition the choice of fibre modelling versus plastic hinge model is also considered as a source of uncertainty. The main objective of this work is to study the contribution of these sources of uncertainty on the fragilities of steel and steel-reinforced concrete composite 3D building structures. The fragility curves are expressed in the form of a two-parameter lognormal distribution where vertical statistics in conjunction with metaheuristic optimization are implemented for calculating the two parameters.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.217-227
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• 2018

This paper utilizes 3D FEM to provide deeper insights about the structural behaviour of a 6.1 m span steel culvert, which was previously tested under extreme loading. The effect of different input parameters pertaining to the backfill soil has been investigated, where the structural response is compared to field measurements. The interface choice between the steel and soil materials was also studied. The results enabled to realize the major influence of the friction angle on the load effects. Moreover, the analyses showed some differences concerning the estimation of failure load, whereas reasons beyond this outcome were arguably presented and discussed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.379-395
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• 2013

Aim of this paper is to apply to a steel truss bridge a methodology that takes into account the consequences of extreme loads on structures, focusing on the influence that the loss of primary elements has on the structural load bearing capacity. In this context, the topic of structural robustness, intended as the capacity of a structure to withstand damages without suffering disproportionate response to the triggering causes while maintaining an assigned level of performance, becomes relevant. In the first part of this study, a brief literature review of the topics of structural robustness, collapse resistance and progressive collapse takes place, focusing on steel structures. In the second part, a procedure for the evaluation of the structural response and robustness of skeletal structures under impact loads is presented and tested in simple structures. Following that, an application focuses on a case study bridge, the extensively studied I-35W Minneapolis steel truss bridge. The bridge, which had a structural design particularly sensitive to extreme loads, recently collapsed for a series of other reasons, in part still under investigation. The applied method aims, in addition to the robustness assessment, at increasing the collapse resistance of the structure by testing alternative designs.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.153-174
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• 2012

Micromechanical facture models can be used to predict ductile fracture in steel structures. In order to calibrate the parameters in the micromechanical models for the largely used Q345 steel in China, uniaxial tensile tests, smooth notched tensile tests, cyclic notched bar tests, scanning electron microscope tests and finite element analyses were conducted in this paper. The test specimens were made from base metal, deposit metal and heat affected zone of Q345 steel to investigate crack initiation in welded steel connections. The calibrated parameters for the three different locations of Q345 steel were compared with that of the other seven varieties of structural steels. It indicates that the toughness index parameters in the stress modified critical strain (SMCS) model and the void growth model (VGM) are connected with ductility of the material but have no correlation with the yield strength, ultimate strength or the ratio of ultimate strength to yield strength. While the damage degraded parameters in the degraded significant plastic strain (DSPS) model and the cyclic void growth model (CVGM) and the characteristic length parameter are irrelevant with any properties of the material. The results of this paper can be applied to predict ductile fracture in welded steel connections.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.309-325
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• 2012

The risk of progressive collapse in steel framed buildings under fire conditions is gradually rising due to the increasing use of combustible materials. The fire resistance of such steel framed buildings is evaluated by fire tests. Recently, the application of performance based fire engineering makes it easier to evaluate the fire resistance owing to various engineering techniques and fire science. The fire resistance of steel structural members can be evaluated by the comparison of the limiting temperatures and maximum temperatures of structural steel members. The limiting temperature is derived at the moment that the failure of structural member results from the rise in temperature and the maximum temperature is calculated by using a heat transfer analysis. To obtain the limiting temperatures for structural steel of grades SS400 and SM490 in Korea, tensile strength tests of coupons at high temperature were conducted. The limiting temperatures obtained by the tensile coupon tests were compared with the limiting temperatures reported in the literature and the results of column fire tests under four types of loading with different load ratios. Simple limiting temperature formulas for SS400 and SM490 steel based on the fire tests of the tensile coupons are proposed. The limiting temperature predictions using the proposed formulas were proven to be conservative in comparison with those obtained from H-section and hollow section column fire tests.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.385-392
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• 2001

The stiffness of pavement is scarcely considered in structural analysis of the superstructure bridge. It will be reasonable in the case of asphalt concrete pavement over concrete deck plate because stiffness of the pavement compared with concrete deck plate can be ignored. Additionally, it is considered correct to do a design with a safety. However, various pavement materials which have even value reaching to the elastic modulus of concrete are applied to the orthotropic steel deck plate which has a relatively less stiffness comparing with the concrete deck plate. In this paper, the steel plate deck of the bridge of real project was modeled considering the pavement stiffness for the FEM analysis and the linear elastic analysis was performed. It was assumed to be perfectly bonded between the steel plate deck and the pavement and the temperature effect was ignored. It was analyzed on the vertical deflection of steel deck plate influencing to the serviceability of pavement and the bending stress of steel deck plate related to the fatigue life. As a result, It was indicated that the structural behavior of the orthotropic steel deck plate could be affected by the stiffness of pavement in some cases.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.66-73
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• 2021

In the existing study of steel beams with openings, openings are located at a location where the distance to the support point is equal to or greater than the section height. Considering the facilities using the openings in the steel beam, the distance from the opening to the support point may be closer than the height of the beam section. Therefore, research on this is needed. This study is an experimental study to understand the structural performance of beams with openings close to the ends subjected to Cyclic Loading. In addition, in this study, we want to understand the structural performance through experiments on beams with openings reinforced with vertical or horizontal steel plates.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.51-59
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• 2013

The use of light-gauge steel framing in low-rise commercial and industrial building construction has experienced a significant increase in recent years. In such construction, the wall framing is an assembly of cold-formed steel (CFS) studs held between top and bottom CFS tracks. Current construction methods utilize heavy hot-rolled steel sections, such as steel angles or hollow structural section tubes, to transfer the load from the end seats of the floor joist and/or from the load-bearing wall studs of the stories above to the supporting load-bearing wall below. The use of hot rolled steel elements results in significant increase in construction cost and time. Such heavy steel elements would be unnecessary if the concrete slab thickening on top of the CFS wall can be made to act compositely with the CFS track. Composite action can be achieved by attaching stand-off screws to the track and encapsulating the screw shank in the deck concrete. A series of experimental studies were performed on full-scale test specimens representing concrete/CFS flexural elements under gravity loads. The studies were designed to investigate the structural performance of concrete/CFS simple beams and concrete/CFS continuous headers. The results indicate that concrete/CFS composite flexural elements are feasible and their structural behavior can be modeled with reasonable accuracy.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2018

The Zhuhai Opera House has an external structure consisting of a type of spatial steel, where the stress of steel elements varies with the ambient temperature. A structural health monitoring system was implemented at Zhuhai Opera House, and the temperatures and stresses of the structures were monitored in real time. The relationship between the stress distribution and temperature variations was analysed by measuring the temperature and stresses of the steel elements. In addition to measurements of the structure stresses and temperatures, further simulation analysis was carried out to provide the detailed relationship between the stress distributions and temperature variations. The limited temperature measurements were used to simulate the structure temperature distribution, and the stress distributions of all steel elements of the structure were analysed by building a finite element model of the Zhuhai Opera House spatial steel structure. This study aims to reveal the stress distributions of steel elements in a real-world project based on temperature variations, and to supply a basic database for the optimal construction time of a spatial steel structure. This will not only provide convenient, rapid and safe early warnings and decision-making for the spatial steel structure construction and operation processes, but also improve the structural safety and construction accuracy of steel space structures.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.10 no.2 s.35
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• pp.177-186
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• 1998

The concrete filled steel tubular column have to superior in compressive load carrying capacity, compared with same section typed hollow steel tube column, and have many excellent structural properties, such as stiffness improvement by filled concrete, improvement of ductility by reinforced effect of local buckling, and the like. However, it has not clear the effect of interaction between steel tube and filled concrete, stress portion ratio and fracture mechanism of concrete. This study investigated to structural properties for high strength concrete filled steel tube column by loading conditions through a series of experiments. Especially, this study investigated the properties of structural behaviors for concrete filled steel tube column stress ratio by loading conditions and failure mechanism of filled concrete.