• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.517-527
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• 2017

In this paper, the effect of active confinement on the compressive behaviour of circular steel tube-confined concrete (STCC) and concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) columns is investigated. In STCC columns the axial load is only applied to the concrete core, while in CFST columns the load is carried by the whole composite section. A new method is introduced to apply confining pressure on fresh concrete by laterally prestressing steel tubes. In order to achieve different prestressing levels, short-term and long-term pressures are applied to the fresh concrete. Three groups of STCC and CFST specimens (passive, S-active and L-active groups) are tested under axial loads. The results including stress-strain relationships of composite column components, secant modulus of elasticity, and volumetric strain are presented and discussed. Based on the elastic-plastic theory, the behaviour of the steel tube is also analyzed during elastic, yielding, and strain hardening stages. The results show that using the proposed prestressing method can considerably improve the compressive behaviour of both STCC and CFST specimens, while increasing the prestressing level has insignificant effects. By applying prestressing, the linear range in the stress-strain curve of STCC specimens increases by almost twice as much, while the improvement is negligible in CFST specimens.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2017

In order to avoid collapse of bridges in earthquakes bridge piers are generally designed to attain sufficient ductility. This full-ductility design method has merits for securing the seismic safety readily against strong earthquakes but, it has weakness of high cost design because of excessive safety margin. Recently, in many countries with high seismic technologies, the seismic design concept tends to shift from the collapse prevention design to the performance-based one which requires different performance (damage) levels according to the structural importance. In order to establish this performance-based design method the displacement ductility of confined concrete members should be evaluated quantitatively. And the stress-strain model of confined concrete is indispensible in evaluating displacement ductility. In this study, 6 test groups with different lateral reinforcement ratios were prepared. 10 same specimens with circular section for each group were tested to obtain more reliable test results. The characteristic values necessary for composing the stress-strain model were obtained from experiments. Based on these characteristic values the new stress-strain model modifying the Hoshikuma's one has been proposed.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.609-616
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• 1998

Structural analyses are preformed for the high pressure steam turbine casings of the nuclear and the fossil power plants. An axisymmetric boundary element program for analysis of the casings is developed and applied in the process of practical structural design. To show the useful-ness and accuracy of the developed program results of the analysis are compared with those of the finite element analysis under hydrostatic test pressure, To check the validity of the axisymmetric numerical analysis of the casings the stresses resulting from the hydrostatic test pressure are measured using the strain gate. The results of the numerical analyses are compared and discussed with those of the experiments.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.393-402
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• 2017

Many vibration-based global damage detection methods attempt to extract modal parameters from vibration signals as the main structural features to detect damage. The local flexibility method is one promising method that requires only the first few fundamental modes to detect not only the location but also the extent of damage. Generally, the mode shapes in the lateral degree of freedom are extracted from lateral vibration signals and then used to detect damage for a beam structure. In this study, a new approach which employs the mode shapes in the rotary degree of freedom obtained from the macro-strain vibration signals to detect damage of a beam structure is proposed. In order to facilitate the application of mode shapes in the rotary degree of freedom for beam structures, the local flexibility method is modified and utilized. The proposed rotary approach is verified by numerical and experimental studies of simply supported beams. The results illustrate potential feasibility of the proposed new idea. Compared to the method that uses lateral measurements, the proposed rotary approach seems more robust to noise in the numerical cases considered. The sensor configuration could also be more flexible and customized for a beam structure. Primarily, the proposed approach seems more sensitive to damage when the damage is close to the supports of simply supported beams.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1103-1117
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• 2015

It is known that material properties, connection quality and manufacturing methods are among the important factors directly affecting the behavior of steel connections and hence steel structures. The possible performance differences between a fabricated connection and its computer model may cause critical design problems for steel structures. Achieving a reliable design depends, however, on how accurately the material properties and relevant constitutive models are considered to characterize the behavior of structures. Conventionally, the stress and strain fields in structural steel connections are calculated using the finite elements method with assumed material properties and constitutive models. Because the conventional strain gages allow the measurement of deformation only at one point and direction for specific time duration, it is not possible to determine the general characteristics of stress-strain distributions in connections after the laboratory performance tests. In this study, a new method is introduced to measure displacement distribution of simple steel welded connections under tension tests. The method is based on analyzing digital images of connection specimens taken periodically during the laboratory tension test. By using this method, displacement distribution of steel connections can be calculated with an acceptable precision for the tested connections. Calculated displacements based on the digital image correlation method are compared with those calculated using the finite elements method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.379-392
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• 2015

A number of acceleration-based damage detection methods have been developed but they have not been widely applied in engineering practices because the acceleration response is insensitive to minor damage of civil structures. In this article, a damage detection approach using the long-gauge strain sensing technology and the principle component analysis technology is proposed. The Long gauge FBG sensor has its special merit for damage detection by measuring the averaged strain over a long-gauge length, and it can be connected each other to make a distributed sensor network for monitoring the large-scale civil infrastructure. A new damage index is defined by performing the principle component analyses of the long-gauge strains measured from the intact and damaged structures respectively. Advantages of the long gauge sensing and the principle component analysis technologies guarantee the effectiveness for structural damage localization. Examples of a simple supported beam and a steel stringer bridge have been investigated to illustrate the successful applications of the proposed method for structural damage detection.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.655-670
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• 2004

This paper aims to evaluate the effect of typhoons on fatigue damage accumulation in steel decks of long-span suspension bridges. The strain-time histories at critical locations of deck sections of long-span bridges during different typhoons passing the bridge area are investigated by using on-line strain data acquired from the structural health monitoring system installed on the bridge. The fatigue damage models based on Miner's Law and Continuum Damage Mechanics (CDM) are applied to calculate the increment of fatigue damage due to the action of a typhoon. Accumulated fatigue damage during the typhoon is also calculated and compared between Miner's Law and the CDM method. It is found that for the Tsing Ma Bridge case, the stress spectrum generated by a typhoon is significantly different than that generated by normal traffic and its histogram shapes can be described approximately as a Rayleigh distribution. The influence of typhoon loading on accumulative fatigue damage is more significant than that due to normal traffic loading. The increment of fatigue damage generated by hourly stress spectrum for the maximum typhoon loading may be much greater than those for normal traffic loading. It is, therefore, concluded that it is necessary to evaluate typhoon induced fatigue damage for the purpose of accurately evaluating accumulative fatigue damage for long-span bridges located within typhoon prone regions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.685-698
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• 2001

In this paper, a general method for the automatic search for Strut-and-Tie (S&T) models representative of possible resistant mechanisms in reinforced concrete elements is proposed. The representativeness criterion here adopted is inspired to the principle of minimum strain energy and requires the consistency of the model with a reference stress field. In particular, a highly indeterminate pin-jointed framework of a given layout is generated within the assigned geometry of the concrete element and an optimum truss is found by the minimisation of a suitable objective function. Such a function allows us to search the optimum truss according to a reference stress field deduced through a F.E.A. and assumed as representative of the given continuum. The theoretical principles and the mathematical formulation of the method are firstly explained; the search for a S&T model suitable for the design of a deep beam shows the method capability in handling the reference stress path. Finally, since the analysis may consider the structure as linear-elastic or cracked and non-linear in both the component materials, it is shown how the proposed procedure allows us to verify the possibilities of activation of the design model, oriented to the serviceability condition and deduced in the linear elastic field, by following the evolution of the resistant mechanisms in the cracked non-linear field up to the structural failure.

• International Journal of Railway
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.175-179
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• 2009

The welding deformation and its prediction method at the HAZ (Heat-Affected Zone) are presented in this paper. The inherent strain method is well known as analytical method to predict welding deformation of large scale welded structure. Depend on the size of welding deformation in welding joints, the fatigue life, the stress concentration factor and the manufacturing quality of welded structure are decided. Many welded joints and its manufacturing control techniques are also required to railway rolling stock and its structural parts such as railway carbody and bogie frame. Proposed methods in this paper focus on the two different the inherent strain area at HAZ. This is main idea of proposed method and it makes more reliable result of welding deformation analysis at the HAZ.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.678-685
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• 2012

The objective of this study is to monitor the health status of harbor caissons which have potential foundation damage. To obtain the objective, the following approaches are performed. Firstly, a structural damage monitoring(SDM) method is designed for interlocked multiple-caisson structures. The SDM method utilizes the change in modal strain energy to monitor the foundation damage in a target caisson unit. Secondly, a finite element model of a caisson system which consists of three caisson units is established to verify the feasibility of the proposed method. In the finite element simulation, the caisson units are constrained each other by shear-key connections. The health status of the caisson system against various levels of foundation damage is monitored by measuring relative modal displacements between the adjacent caissons.