• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.1079-1092
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• 2020

A parametric study of several parameters relevant to design safety on the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) rod response under a drop accident is presented. In the view of the complexity of interactions between the independent safety-related parameters, a factorial design of experiment is employed as an efficient method to investigate the main effects and the interactions between them. A detailed single full-length fuel rod is used with consideration of post-irradiated fuel conditions under horizontal and vertical free-drops onto an unyielding surface using finite-element analysis. Critical drop heights and critical g-loads that yield the threshold plastic strain in the cladding are numerically estimated to evaluate the fuel rod structural resistance to impact load. The combinatory effects of four uncertain parameters (pellet-cladding interfacial bonding, material properties, spacer grid stiffness, rod internal pressure) and the interactions between them on the fuel rod response are investigated. The principal finding of this research showed that the effects of above-mentioned parameters on the load-carrying capacity of fuel rod are significantly different. This study could help to prioritize the importance of data in managing and studying the structural integrity of the SNF.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.437-445
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• 2021

Retrofitting of structures has gained importance over the recent years. Particularly, Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) column strengthening has become a challenge to the structural engineers, owing to the risks and complexities involved in it. There are several methods of RCC column strengthening viz. RCC jacketing, steel jacketing and Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) wrapping etc., FRP wrapping is the most promising alternative when compared to the others. The large research database shows FRP wrapping, through lateral confinement, improves the axial load carrying capacity of the columns under concentric loading. However, its confining efficiency reduces under eccentric loading. Hence a relative newer technique called Near Surface Mounting (NSM), in which Carbon FRP (CFRP) strips are epoxy grouted to the precut grooves in the cover concrete of the columns, has been thrust domain of research. NSM technique strengthens the column nominally under concentric load case while significantly under eccentric case. A novel configuration of NSM in which the vertical NSM (VNSM) strips are being connected by horizontal NSM (HNSM) strips was numerically investigated under both concentric and eccentric loading. It was found that the configuration with 6 HNSM strips performed better under eccentric loading than under concentric loading, while the configuration with 3 HNSM strips performed better under concentric loading than under eccentric loading. Hence an optimum of 4 HNSM strips is recommended as strengthening measure for the given column specifications. It was also found that Aluminum alloy cannot be used instead of CFRP in NSM applications owing to its lower mechanical properties.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.845-865
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• 2022

In this study, the performance of shear deficient reinforced concrete (RC) beams with rectangular cross-sections, which were externally bonded reinforced (EBR) with high strength CFRP and GFRP strips composite along shear spans, has been experimentally and analytically investigated under vertical load. In the study, the minimum CFRP and GFRP strips width over spacing were considered. The shear beam with turned end to a bending beam was investigated by applying different composite strips. Therefore various arising in each of strength, ductility, rigidity, and energy dissipation capacity were obtained. A total of 12 small-scaled experimental programs have been performed. Beam dimensions have been taken as 100×150×1000 mm. Four beams have been tested as unstrengthened samples. This paper focuses on the effect of minimum CFRP and GFRP strip width on behaviours of RC beams shear-strengthened with full-wrapping, U-wrapping, and U-wrapping+longitudinal bonding strips. Strengthened beams showed significant increments for flexural ductility, energy dissipation, and inelastic performance. The full wrapping strips applied against shear failure have increased the load-carrying capacity of samples 53%-63% interval rate. Although full wrapping is the best strengthening choice, the U-wrapping and U-wrapping+longitudinal strips of both CFRP and GFRP bonding increased the shear capacity by 53%~75% compared to the S2 sample. In terms of ductility, the best result has been obtained by the type of strengthening where the S5 beam was completely GFRP wrapped. The experimental results were also compared with the analytically given by ACI440.2R-17, TBEC-2019 and FIB-2001. Especially in U-wrapped beams, the estimation of FIB was determined to be 81%. The estimates of the other codes are far from meeting the experimental results; therefore, essential improvements should be applied to the codes, especially regarding CFRP and GFRP deformation and approaches for longitudinal strip connections. According to the test results, it is suggested that GFRP, which is at least as effective but cheaper than CFRP, may be preferred for strengthening applications.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.151-160
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• 2010

The number of cases of collapsed plastic greenhouses in farmlands has increased due to the heavy local snowfall caused by extraordinary atmospheric phenomena. Consequently, the economic losses of farmers have also increased. However the government policy in relation to damage pretension is insufficient and collapse case is repeated every year. The main reason for frame collapse is that the moment capacity of a steel pipe is not sufficient to resist a heavy snowload. In this study, experiments were conducted on the current frame system of a greenhouse with a tension tie. The frame consisted of two sections(${\phi}25.4{\times}1.5$, ${\phi}31.8{\times}1.5$), and its span length was 6.5 m. A temporary tension tie using a steel wire and a fabric rope was connected to the two joints, to which a curved beam and a straight column were connected. The pretension force was applied at the tension tie, and a vertical force simulating snowfall was applied until failure. The fabric rope frame increased the load-carrying capacity by 10-45% compared to the normal frame without a tension tie, and the steel wire frame increased the load-carrying capacity by 58-73% compared to the normal frame without a tension tie. Steel wire was found to be more effective as far as strength is concerned, but its connection details and pretension application are more difficult and complicated than those of the fabric rope. The test results thus show that the fabric rope is more preferable.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.95-102
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• 2023

This study investigated the structural performance of wire-integrated steel decks with varied lattice end support conditions through finite element analysis. The results indicated that the steel decks with the lattice foots positioned above the supporting structural member have the higher system stiffness compared to the cases with the lattice foots shifted away from the support. It is also observed that the contribution of the end vertical bars on both the system stiffness and the strength is negligible when the lattice foots are located on the support. It is, especially, revealed that the end vertical bars can be eliminated when the lattice foot length is not smaller than 40mm. The ultimate load-carrying capacity of the system is not significantly affected by the lattice end support condition. The failure mode of the system is the top bar buckling at the center of the deck plate, the lattice end buckling, and the combination of both depending of design intention.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.411-422
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• 2017

In this study, to investigate the seismic performance of beam-column joints using concrete-encased and -filled circular steel tube(CEFT) columns, two types of tests were performed: (1) column - flange tension test and (2) beam - column joint cyclic load test. In column - flange tension test, test parameters were concrete encasement and connection details: flange width and strengthening rebar. Five specimens were tested to investigate the load-carrying capacity and the failure mode. Test results showed that increase of flange width from 200mm to 350mm result in increase of connection strength and stiffness by 61% and 56%, respectively. Structural performances were further improved with addition of tensile rebars by 35% and 92%, respectively. In cyclic loading test, three exterior beam-column joints were prepared. Test parameters were strengthening details including additional tensile rebars, thickened steel tube, and vertical plate connection. In all joint specimens, flexural yielding of beam was occurred with limited damages in the connection regions. In particular, flexural capacity of beam-column joint was increased due to additional load transfer through tube - beam web connection. Also, connection details such as increase of tube thickness and using vertical plate connection were effective in improving the resistance of panel zone.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.309-314
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• 2017

This paper presents a theoretical investigation of the dynamic characteristics of externally pressurized air pad bearings with closed loop grooves. These grooves are made on the surface of bearings to reduce the number of supply holes so that manufacturing costs can be reduced. The semi-implicit method is applied to calculate the time varying pressure profile on the air bearing surface owing to the advantages of numerical stability and fast time tracing characteristics. The static pressure of the groove bearings is much higher than that without grooves, so the groove bearings can provide high load carrying capacity. The equation of motion considering vertical motion and tilting motion are also solved using the Runge-Kutta 4th order method. By combining the semi-implicit method and the Runge-Kutta method, fast calculations of the dynamic behavior of the air bearing can be achieved. The variations of bearing reaction force, air film reaction moment, height, and tilting angle are investigated for the step force input, which is 20% higher than the bearing reaction, when the nominal clearance is 6 mm. The effect of the groove width and the groove depth are investigated by calculating the dynamic behavior. The possibility of the air hammering with the depth of the groove is found and discussed.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.47-57
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• 2024

Recently, in newly constructed apartment buildings, the exterior wall structures have been characterized by thinness, having various openings, and a significantly low reinforcement ratio. In this study, a nonlinear finite element analysis was performed to investigate the crack damage characteristics of the exterior wall structure. The limited analysis models for a 10-story exterior wall were constructed based on the prototype apartment building, and nonlinear static analysis (push-over analysis) was performed. Based on the finite element (FE) analysis model, the parametric study was conducted to investigate the effects of various design parameters on the strength and crack width of the exterior walls. As the parameters, the vertical reinforcement ratio and horizontal reinforcement ratio of the wall, as well as the uniformly distributed longitudinal reinforcement ratio and shear reinforcement ratio of the connection beam, were addressed. The analysis results showed that the strength and deformation capacity of the prototype exterior walls were limited by the failure of the connection beam prior to the flexural yielding of the walls. Thus, the increase of wall reinforcement limitedly affected the failure modes, peak strengths, and crack damages. On the other hand, when the reinforcement ratio of the connection beams was increased, the peak strength was increased due to the increase in the load-carrying capacity of the connection beams. Further, the crack damage index decreased as the reinforcement ratio of the connection beam increased. In particular, it was more effective to increase the uniformly distributed longitudinal reinforcement ratio in the connection beams to decrease the crack damage of the coupling beams, regardless of the type of the prototype exterior walls.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.219-229
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• 2015

An experimental study was performed for thin-walled rectangular concrete-filled tubular (CFT) columns. The present study mainly focused on evaluation of the axial load-carrying capacity of concrete-filled tubular columns using high-strength steel and slender section. The test parameters were width-to-thickness ratio, concrete strength, steel yield strength, and the use of stiffeners. Five specimens were tested under monotonic axial loading. Although elastic local buckling occurred in the slender-section specimens with high-strength steel, the specimens exhibited considerable post-buckling reserve. The test results also satisfied the predictions of a current design code. The specimens strengthened with vertical stiffeners exhibited improved strength and ductility when compared with the un-stiffened specimens.

• Magazine of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.139-148
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• 1995

The test results from three one fourth scale models using high strength Reinforced Concrete $f_x=704\;kg/cm^2,\;f_y=5.830\;kg/cm^2$ are presented. Such specimens are considered to represent the critical 3 storics of 60-story tall building of a structural wall system in area of high seismicity respectively. They are tested under inplane vertical and horizontal loading. The main varlable is the level of axial stress. The amounts of vertical and horizontal reinforcement are identical for the three walls testcd. The cross-section of all walls is barbell shape. The aspectratio($h_w/I_w$) of test specimen is 1.8. The aim of the study is to investigate the effects of levels of applied axial stresses on the inelastic behavior of high-strength R /C tall walls. Experimental results of high strength R /C tall walls subjected to axial load and simulated sels rnic loading show that it is possible to insure a ductlle dominant performance by promotmg flex ural yielding of vertical reinforcement and that axial stresses within $O.21f_x$ causes an increase in horizontal load-carrying capacity, initial secant st~ffness characteristics, but an decrease in displacement ductility. energy dissipation index and work damage index of high strength K /C tall walls