• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.611-626
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• 2017

The research reported herein is concerned with the model testing of piles socketed in soft rock which was simulated by cement, plaster, sand, water and concrete hardening accelerator. Model tests on a single pile socketed in simulated soft rock under axial cyclic loading were conducted and the bearing capacity and accumulated deformation characteristics under different static, and cyclic loads were studied by using a device which combined oneself-designed test apparatus with a dynamic triaxial system. The accumulated deformation of the pile head, and the axial force, were measured by LVDT and strain gauges, respectively. Test results show that the static load ratio (SLR), cyclic load ratio (CLR), and the number of cycles affect the accumulated deformation, cyclic secant modulus of pile head, and ultimate bearing capacity. The accumulated deformation increases with increasing numbers of cycles, however, its rate of growth decreases and is asymptotic to zero. The cyclic secant modulus of pile head increases and then decreases with the growth in the number of cycles, and finally remains stable after 50 cycles. The ultimate bearing capacity of the pile is increased by about 30% because of the cyclic loading thereon, and the axial force is changed due to the applied cyclic shear stress. According to the test results, the development of accumulated settlement is analysed. Finally, an empirical formula for accumulated settlement, considering the effects of the number of cycles, the static load ratio, the cyclic load ratio and the uniaxial compressive strength, is proposed which can be used for feasibility studies or preliminary design of pile foundations on soft rock subjected to cyclic loading.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2010

A total of 28 wall panels were cast and tested under uniformly distributed axial load in one-way in-plane action to study the effect of slenderness ratio (SR) and aspect ratio (AR) on the ultimate load. Two concrete formulations, normal concrete (NC) and self compacting concrete (SCC), were used for the casting of wall panels. Out of 28 wall panels, 12 were made of NC and the remaining 16 panels were of SCC. All the 12 NC panels and 12 out of 16 SCC panels were used to study the influence of SR and the remaining 4 SCC panels were tested to study the effect of AR on the ultimate load. A brief review of studies available in literature on the strength and behaviour of reinforced concrete (RC) wall panels is presented. Load-deformation response was recorded and analyzed. The ultimate load of SCC wall panels decreases non-linearly with the increase in SR and decreases linearly with increasing values of AR. Based on this study a method is proposed to predict the ultimate load of reinforced SCC wall panels. The modified method includes the effect of SR, AR and concrete strength.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.661-678
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• 2024

The utilization of geopolymer recycled aggregate concrete (GRAC) as the infilled core of the concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns provides superior economic and environmental benefits. However, limited research exists within the field of geopolymer recycled aggregate concrete considered a green and sustainable material, in addition to the limitation of the design guidelines to predict the behavior of such an innovative new material combination. Moreover, the behavior of high-strength concrete is different from the normal-strength one, especially when there is another material of high-strength properties, such as the steel tube. This paper aims to investigate the behavior of the axially loaded square high-strength GRACFST columns through the nonlinear finite element analysis (NLFEA). A total of thirty-two specimens were simulated using ABAQUS/Standard software with three main variables: recycled aggregate replacement ratio (0, 30, and 50) %, width-to-thickness ratios (52.0, 32.0, 23.4, and 18.7), and length-to-width ratio (3, 5, 9, and 12). During the analysis, the response in terms of the axial load versus the longitudinal strain was recorded and plotted. In addition, various mechanical properties were calculated and analyzed. In view of the results, it has been demonstrated that the mechanical properties of high-strength GRACFST columns such as ultimate load-bearing capacity, compressive stiffness, energy absorption capacity, and ductility increase with the increase of the steel tube thickness owing to the improvement of the confinement effect of the steel tube. In contrast, the incorporation of the recycled aggregate adversely affected the mentioned properties except the ductility, while the increase of the recycled aggregate replacement ratio improved the column's ductility. Moreover, it has been found that the increase in the length-to-width ratio significantly reduced both the failure strain and the energy absorption capacity. Finally, the obtained NLFEA results of the ultimate load-bearing capacity were compared with the corresponding predicted capacities by numerous codes. It has been concluded that AISC, ACI, and EC give conservative predictions for the ultimate load-bearing capacity since the confinement effect was not considered by these codes.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.33-45
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• 2014

Use of geotextile as reinforcement material to improve the weak soil is a popular method these days. Tensile strength of geotextile and the soil-geotextile interaction are the major factors which influence the improvement of the soil. Change in fine content within the sand can change the interface behavior between soil and geotextile. In the present paper, the bearing capacity of unreinforced and geotextile-reinforced sand with different percentages of fines has been studied. A series of model tests have been carried out and the load settlement curves are obtained. The ultimate load carrying capacity of unreinforced and reinforced sand with different percentages of fines is compared. The interface behavior of sand and geotextile with various percentages of fines is also studied. It is observed that sand having around 5% of fine is suitable or permissible for bearing capacity improvement due to the application of geosynthetic reinforcement. The effectiveness of the reinforcement in load carrying capacity improvement decreases due to the addition of excessive amount of fines.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.161-171
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• 2022

This paper presents a failure type assessment curve method to judge the failure type of transmission tower segments. This novel method considers the equivalent static wind load characteristics and the transmission tower members' load-bearing capacities based on numerical simulations. This method can help judge the failure types according to the relative positions between the actual state points and the assessment curves of transmission tower segments. If the extended line of the actual state point intersects with the horizontal part's assessment curve, the segment would lose load-bearing capacity due to the diagonal members' failure. Another scenario occurs when the intersection point is in the oblique part, indicating that the broken main members have caused the tower segment to fail. The proposed method is verified by practical engineering case studies and static tests on the scaled tower segments.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.1183-1191
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• 2016

The internal crack propagation, the failure mode and ultimate load bearing capacity of the steel-concrete-steel composite beam under the four-point-bend loading is investigated by the numerical simulation. The results of load - displacement curve and failure mode are in good agreement with experiment. In order to study the failure mechanism, the composite beam has been modeled, which part interface interaction between steel and concrete is considered. The results indicate that there are two failure modes: (a) When the strength of the interface is lower than that of the concrete, failure happens at the interface of steel and concrete; (b) When the strength of the interface is higher than that of the concrete, the failure modes is cohesion failure, i.e., and concrete are stripped because of the shear cracks at concrete edge.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.375-388
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• 2017

This paper presents a combined experimental, numerical, and analytical study on elliptical concrete-filled steel tubular (E-CFT) and rebar-stiffened elliptical concrete-filled steel tubular (RE-CFT) subjected to axial loading. ABAQUS was used to establish 3D finite element (FE) models for the composite columns and the FE results agreed well with the experimental results. It was found that the ultimate load-bearing capacity of RE-CFT stub columns was 20% higher than that of the E-CFT stub columns. Such improvement was attributed to the reinforcement effects from the internal rebar-stiffeners, which effectively enhanced the confinement effect on the core concrete, thereby significantly improved both the ultimate bearing capacity and the ductility of the E-CFT columns. Based on the results, equations were also established in this paper to predict the bearing capacities of E-CFT and RE-CFT stub columns under axial loading. The predicted results agreed well with both experimental and numerical results, and had much higher accuracy than other available methods.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1996.03a
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• pp.99-106
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• 1996

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.255-267
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• 2017

Soft clay strata can suffer significant settlement or stability problems under building loads. Among the methods proposed to strengthen weak soils is the application of a stone masonry trench (SMT) beneath RC strip foundations (as a masonry pad-stone). Although, SMTs are frequently employed in engineering practice; however, the effectiveness of SMTs on the ultimate bearing capacity improvement of a strip footing rested on a weak clay stratum has not been investigated quantitatively, yet. Therefore, the expected increase of bearing capacity of strip footings reinforced with SMTs is of interest and needs to be evaluated. This study presents a two-dimensional numerical model using the discrete element method (DEM) to capture the ultimate load-bearing capacity of a strip footing on a soft clay reinforced with a SMT. The developed DEM model was then used to perform a parametric study to investigate the effects of SMT geometry and properties on the footing bearing capacity with and without the presence of surcharge. The dimensions of the SMTs were varied to determine the optimum trench relative depth. The study showed that inclusion of a SMT of optimum dimension in a soft clay can improve the bearing capacity of a strip footing up to a factor of 3.5.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.469-488
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• 2011

This paper consists of two parts; the first part describes the laboratory work concerning the behavior of lightweight aggregate concrete filled steel tubes (LACFT). Based on eccentricity tests, fifty-four specimens with different slenderness ratios (L/D= 3, 7, and 14) were tested. The main parameters varied in the test are: load eccentricity; steel ratio; and slenderness ratio. The standard load-strain curves of LACFT columns under eccentric loading were summarized and significant parameters affecting LACFT column's bearing capacity, failure mechanism and failure mode such as confinement effect and bond strength were all studied and analyzed through the comparison with predicted strength of concrete filled steel tube columns (CFT) using the existing codes such as AISC-LRFD (1999), CHN DBJ 13-51-2003 (2003) and CHN CECS 28:90 (1990). The second part of this paper presents the results of parametric study and introduces a practical and accurate method for determination of the maximum compressive strength of confined concrete core ($f_{max}$), In addition to, the study of the effect of aspect-ratio and length-width ratio on the yield stress of steel tubes ( $f_{sy}$) under biaxial state of stress in CFT columns and the effect of these two factors on the ultimate load carrying capacity of axially loaded CFT/LACFT columns.