• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.88-93
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• 2021

SAW (Submerged Arc Welding) is often used for ship construction or welding pressure vessels and involves spraying a flux in a powder form to a welding site to a certain thickness and continuously supplying electrode wires therein. This welding method enables high current welding up to 1,500 to 3,000 A. Arc efficiency is higher than 95% and the technique allows clean work as it creates less welding fume, which is composed of fine metal oxide particles, and the arc beam is not exposed. In this study, SM490C-TMC thick plates were heterogeneously welded by SAW. Mechanical properties of welds were measured, and welds were assessed macroscopically and for adhering magnetic particles. The following conclusions were drawn. Bending tests showed no spots exploded on sample surfaces or any other defect, and plastic deformation testing confirmed sufficient weld toughness. These results showed the 1F welding method has no shortcomings in terms of bending performance.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.407-426
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• 2022

Superior to traditional welded studs, high strength friction-grip bolted shear connectors facilitate the assembling and demounting of the composite members, which maximizes the potential for efficiency in the construction and retrofitting of new and old structures respectively. Hence, it is necessary to investigate the structural properties of high strength friction-grip bolts used in steel concrete composite beams. By means of push-out tests, an experimental study was conducted on post-installed high strength friction-grip bolts, considering the effects of different bolt size, concrete strength, bolt tensile strength and bolt pretension. The test results showed that bolt shear fracture was the dominant failure mode of all specimens. Based on the load-slip curves, uplifting curves and bolt tensile force curves between the precast concrete slab and steel beam obtained by push-out tests, the anti-slip performance of steel-concrete interface and shear behavior of bolt shank were studied, including the quantitative analysis of anti-slip load, and anti-slip stiffness, frictional coefficient, shear stiffness of bolt shank and ultimate shear capacity. Meanwhile, the interfacial anti-slip stiffness and shear stiffness of bolt shank were defined reasonably. In addition, a total of 56 push-out finite element models verified by the experimental results were also developed, and used to conduct parametric analyses for investigating the shear behavior of high-strength bolted shear connectors in steel-concrete composite beams. Finally, on ground of the test results and finite element simulation analysis, a new design formula for predicting shear capacity was proposed by nonlinear fitting, considering the bolt diameter, concrete strength and bolt tensile strength. Comparison of the calculated value from proposed formula and test results given in the relevant references indicated that the proposed formulas can give a reasonable prediction.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.81 no.6
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• pp.715-728
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• 2022

A new type of buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) with a longitudinally profiled steel plate working as the core (LPBRB) is proposed and experimentally investigated. Different from conventional BRBs with a constant thickness core, both stiffness and strength of the longitudinally profiled steel core along its longitudinal direction can change through itself variable thickness, thus the construction of LPBRB saves material and reduces the processing cost. Four full-scale component tests were conducted under quasi-static cyclic loading to evaluate the seismic performance of LPBRB. Three stiffening methods were used to improve the fatigue performance of LPBRBs, which were bolt-assembled T-shaped stiffening ribs, partly-welded stiffening ribs and stiffening segment without rib. The experimental results showed LPBRB specimens displayed stable hysteretic behavior and satisfactory seismic property. There was no instability or rupture until the axial ductility ratio achieved 11.0. Failure modes included the out-of-plane buckling of the stiffening part outside the restraining member and core plate fatigue fracture around the longitudinally profiled segment. The effect of the stiffening methods on the fatigue performance is discussed. The critical buckling load of longitudinally profiled segment is derived using Euler theory. The local bulging behavior of the outer steel tube is analyzed with an equivalent beam model. The design recommendations for LPBRB are presented finally.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.81-90
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• 2023

The maximum drifts are important to the seismic evaluation of steel buildings and connections, but the information can hardly be obtained from the post-earthquake field investigation. This research studies the feasibility of using the loss rate of bolt pretension as an earthquake damage predictor. Full-scale tests were made on four steel connections using bolted-web-welded-flange details. One connection was unreinforced (UN), another was reinforced with double shear plates (DS), and the other two used reduced beam sections (RBS). The preinstalled strain gauges were used to control the pretensions and monitor the losses of the high-strength bolts. The results showed that the loss rate of bolt pretension was highly related to the damage of the connections. The pretensions lost up to 10% in all the connections at the yield drifts of 0.5% to 1%. After yielding of the connections, the pretensions lost significantly until fracture occurred. The UN and DS connections failed with a maximum drift of 4 %, and the two RBS connections showed better ductility and failed with a maximum drift of 6%. Under the far-field-type loading protocol, the loss rate grew to 60%. On the contrary, the rate for the specimen under near-fault-type loading protocol was about 40%. The loss rate of bolt pretension is therefore recommended to use as an earthquake damage predictor. Additionally, the 10% and 40% loss rates are recommended to predict the limit states of connection yielding and maximum strength, respectively, and to define the performance levels of serviceability and life-safety for the buildings.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.319-336
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• 2024

Ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) has attracted increasing attention in prefabricated steel-concrete composite beams as achieving the onsite construction time savings and structural performance improvement. The inferior replacement and removal efficiency of conventional prefabricated steel-UHPC composite beams (PSUCBs) has thwarted its sustainable applications because of the widely used welded-connectors. Single embedded nut bolted shear connectors (SENBs) have recently introduced as an attempt to enhance demountability of PSUCBs. An in-depth exploration of the mechanical behavior of SENBs in UHPC is necessary to evidence feasibilities of corresponding PSUCBs. However, existing research has been limited to SENB arrangement impacts and lacked considerations on SENB geometric configuration counterparts. To this end, this paper performed twenty push-out tests and theoretical analyses on the shear performance and design recommendation of SENBs. Key test parameters comprised the diameter and grade of SENBs, degree and sequence of pretension, concrete casting method and connector type. Test results indicated that both diameters and grades of bolts exerted remarkable impacts on the SENB shear performance with respect to the shear and frictional responses. Also, there was limited influence of the bolt preload degrees on the shear capacity and ductility of SENBs, but non-negligible contributions to their corresponding frictional resistance and initial shear stiffness. Moreover, inverse pretension sequences or monolithic cast slabs presented slight improvements in the ultimate shear and slip capacity. Finally, design-oriented models with higher accuracy were introduced for predictions of the ultimate shear resistance and load-slip relationship of SENBs in PSUCBs.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.519-528
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• 2008

A simple steel-concrete composite deck is developed for preventing the lateral torsional buckling of girders that are under construction and for reducing the term of works using H-shaped rolled beams as bridge girders. A new type of shear connectors is also developed for the composite behavior between a simple steel-concrete composite deck and the rolled beams by the connecting conditions between the deck and the girders. One is a connector bolt that is lengthened and split or tightened with two nuts and the other is an I-shaped rolled beam welded on a steel plate with a number of holes punched through the web. In this study, to estimate the shear strength of those shear connectors the push-out tests are performed and the test results are compared with that of the previous studies and the codes. The result of the push-out tests of the connector bolts showed that the shear performance is similar to that of the stud connector and revealed that the equation for the shear strength in the Korean Specification of Highway Bridge overestimates the shear capacity of the connector bolt whose diameter is larger than 19mm. From the push-out tests of punched I-shaped rolled beams with varying welding amounts, with the small amount of welding, shear capacity is governed by the shear capacity of welding. On the other hand, shear capacity is governed by the size of the punched I-shaped rolled beams, regardless of the amount of welding.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.151-157
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• 2014

Since recently developed Ultra-High-Performance-Concrete (UHPC) provides very high strength, stiffness, and durability, many studies have been made on the application of the UHPC to bridge decks. Due to high strength and stiffness of UHPC bridge deck, the structural contribution of top flange of steel girder composite to UHPC deck would be much lower than that of conventional concrete deck. At this point of view, this study proposes a inverted-T shaped steel girder composite to UHPC deck. This girder requires a new type of shear connector because conventional shear connectors are welded on top flange. This study also proposes three different types of shear connectors, and evaluate their ultimate strength via push-out static test. The first one is a stud shear connector welded directly to the web of the girder in the transverse direction. The second one is a puzzle-strip type shear connector developed by the European Commission, and the last one is the combination of the stud and the puzzle-strip shear connectors. Experimental results showed that the ultimate strength of the transverse stud was 26% larger than that given in the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications, but a splitting crack observed in the UHPC deck was so severe that another measure needs to be developed to prevent the splitting crack. The ultimate strength of the puzzle-strip specimen was 40% larger than that evaluated by the equation of European Commission. The specimens combined with stud and puzzle-strip shear connectors provided less strength than arithmetical sum of those. Based on the experimental observations, there appears to be no advantage of combining transverse stud and puzzle-strip shear connectors.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.58.1-58.1
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• 2010

In solar cell module manufacturing, single solar cells has to be joined electrically to strings. Copper stripes coated with tin-silver-copper alloy are joined on screen printed silver of solar cells which is called busbar. The bus bar collects the electrons generated in solar cell and it is connected to the next cell in the conventional module manufacturing by a metal stringer using conventional hot air or infrared lamp soldering systems. For thin solar cells, both soldering methods have disadvantages, which heats up the whole cell to high temperatures. Because of the different thermal expansion coefficient, mechanical stresses are induced in the solar cell. Recently, the trend of solar cell is toward thinner thickness below 180um and thus the risk of breakage of solar cells is increasing. This has led to the demand for new joining processes with high productivity and reduced error rates. In our project, we have developed a new method to solder solar cells with a laser heating source. The soldering process using diode laser with wavelength of 980nm was examined. The diode laser used has a maximum power of 60W and a scanner system is used to solder dimension of 6" solar cell and the beam travel speed is optimized. For clamping copper stripe to solar cell, zirconia(ZrO)coated iron pin-spring system is used to clamp both joining parts during a scanner system is traveled. The hot plate temperature that solar cell is positioned during lasersoldering process is optimized. Also, conventional solder joints after $180^{\circ}C$ peel tests are compared to the laser soldering methods. Microstructures in welded zone shows that the diffusion zone between solar cell and metal stripes is better formed than inIR soldering method. It is analyzed that the laser solder joints show no damages to the silicon wafer and no cracks beneath the contact. Peel strength between 4N and 5N are measured, with much shorter joining time than IR solder joints and it is shown that the use of laser soldering reduced the degree of bending of solar cell much less than IR soldering.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.671-682
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• 2012

The use of sinusoidal corrugated web girder for the box-type girders and gable steel main frames has recently been increasing very much. The reasons are that the thin web of the girder affords a significant weight reduction compared with rolled beam and welded built-up girder, and that corrugation prevents the buckling failure of the web. Improvements of the automatic fabrication process makes mass production of the corrugated web and unit possible, and applications of this girder have been extended considerably. Thus, the research for the optimum design processer considering the production data is needed practically. For doing this research, we develope the discrete optimum structural design program in consideration of production list data for the research, and the program apply to the single girder under the uniform load and the concentrated load as numerical example. We consider objective function as minimum weight of the girder, and use slenderness ratio, stress of flanges and corrugated web, and the girder deflection as the constraint functions. And also the Genetic Algorithms is adopted to search the global minimum point by using the production list as a discrete design variable. Finally, to verify the optimality of the design, we conduct a comparison of the results of the discrete optimum design with those of the continuous one, and also analyze the characteristics of the optimum cross-section.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.731-740
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• 2008

This paper deals with the fatigue behavior and strength of a new-type of steel-concrete composite bridge deck. The new-type composite bridge deck consists of corrugated steel plate, welded T-beams, stud-type shear connectors and reinforced concrete filler. A total of eight composite bridge deck specimens were fabricated, the fatigue tests were conducted under four-point bending test with three different stress ranges in constant amplitude. According to the test results, the fatigue crack generated at the welding part of the corrugated steel plate, progressed down to the bottom of the steel plate and encountered the crack, which came out from the opposite side at the same position. After the two cracks were connected at the bottom of the steel plate, the lower flange was cut off and the fatigue crack developed up to the T-beam. And the displacements and strains of fatigue test specimens were increasing with cyclic loading number, these were changed sharply at the fatigue failure. The fatigue results are compared with the design S-N curves specified in the Korea Highway Bridge Design Specifications and data in NCHRP 102 and NCHRP 147 report. The new-type composite bridge deck has a stress category of C, which means that new-type composite bridge deck can be designed by the current fatigue design specifications provided for steel members.