• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.454-467
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• 2013

A practical Ship Inner Shell Optimization Method (SISOM), the purpose of which is to improve the safety of the seagoing transport ship by decreasing the maximum Still Water Bending Moment (SWBM) of the hull girder under all typical loading conditions, is presented in this paper. The objective of SISOM is to make the maximum SWBM minimum, and the section areas of the inner shell are taken as optimization variables. The main requirements of the ship performances, such as cargo hold capacity, propeller and rudder immersion, bridge visibility, damage stability and prevention of pollution etc., are taken as constraints. The penalty function method is used in SISOM to change the above nonlinear constraint problem into an unconstrained one, which is then solved by applying the steepest descent method. After optimization, the optimal section area distribution of the inner shell is obtained, and the shape of inner shell is adjusted according to the optimal section area. SISOM is applied to a product oil tanker and a bulk carrier, and the maximum SWBM of the two ships is significantly decreased by changing the shape of inner shell plate slightly. The two examples prove that SISOM is highly efficient and valuable to engineering practice.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.39-45
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to establish flexural behavior of high-strength concrete beams confined in the pure bending zone with stirrups. The experiment was carried out on full-scale high-strength reinforced concrete beams, of which the compressive strengths were 40 MPa and 70 MPa. The beams were confined with rectangular closed stirrups. Test results are reviewed in terms of flexural capacity and ductility. The effect of web reinforcement ratio, longitudinal reinforcement ratio and shear span to beam depth ratio on ductility are investigated. The analytic method is based on finite element method using fiber-section model, which is known to define the behavior of reinforced concrete structures well up to the ultimate state and is proven to be valid by the verification with the experimental results above. It is found that confinement of concrete compressive regions with closed stirrups does not affect the flexural strength but results in a significantly increased ductility. Moreover, the ductility tends to increase as the quantity of stirrups increases by reducing the spacing of stirrups.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.735-751
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• 2012

Although being one of the most popular strengthening techniques in reinforced concrete beams, the use of steel plates bonded to the soffit raises problems of ductility. This study aims at investigating the influence of the use of perforated steel plates instead of solid steel plates on the ductility of reinforced concrete beams. A total of nine reinforced concrete beams were tested. In addition to an unplated beam, eight beams with perforated steel plates of two different thicknesses (3 mm and 6 mm) were subjected to monotonic loading. Effect of bonding the plates to the beams with anchor bolts and with additional side plates bonded to the sides of the beam with and without anchors is also investigated. The use of bolts in addition to epoxy was found to greatly contribute to the ductility and energy absorption capacity of the beams, particularly in specimens with thick plates (6 mm) and the use side plates in addition to the bottom plate was found to be ineffective in increasing the ductility of a concrete beam unless the side plates are attached to the beam with anchors bolts. The thickness of the plate was found to have little effect on the bending rigidity of the beam.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.132-139
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• 2008

To meet demand of big capacity and high speed rotation for washing machine, more stress from bending and twisting are complexly loaded onto the shaft supporting the horizontal drum, causing problems in fracture strength and fatigue life. Also, Vibration occurs due to the frequency of the rotating parts. But, shaft has various design factors such as diameter and distance between bearings according to configuration of shaft, the optimal values can't be easily determined. Using a design of experiment (DOE) based on the FEM (Finite Element Method), which has several advantages such as less computing, high accuracy performance and usefulness, this study was performed investigating the interaction effect between the various design factor as well as the main effect of the each design factor under bending, twist and vibration and proposed optimum design using center composition method among response surface derived from regression equation of simulation-based DOE.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.127-139
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• 2019

Bridges, offshore oil platforms and other infrastructures usually require at some point in their service life rehabilitation for reasons such as aging and corrosion. This study explores the application of adhesively bonded CFRP patches in repair of corroded circular hollow sectional (CHS) steel beams. An experimental program involving three-point bending tests was conducted on intact, corroded, and repaired CHS beams. Meso-scale finite element (FE) models of the tested beams were developed and validated by the experimental results. A parametric study using the validated FE models was performed to examine the effects of different CFRP patch parameters, including patch dimensions, number of plies and stacking sequence, on efficiency of the repair system. Results indicates that the corrosion reduced elastic stiffness and flexural strength of the undamaged beam by 8.9 and 15.1%, respectively, and composite repair recovered 10.7 and 18.9% of those, respectively, compared to undamaged beam. These findings demonstrated the ability of CFRP patch repair to restore full bending capacity of the corroded CHS steel beam. The parametric study revealed that strength and stiffness of the repaired CHS beam can be enhanced by changing the fiber orientations of wet composite patch without increasing the quantity of repair materials.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.85 no.3
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• pp.407-417
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• 2023

Precast assembled bridge piers with hybrid connection (PASP) use both tendons and socket connections. To study the seismic performance of PASP, a full-scale in-situ test was performed based on an actual bridge project. The elastic-plastic fiber model of PASP was established using finite element software, and numerical analyses were performed to study the influence of prestress degree and socket depth on the PASP seismic performance. The results show that the typical failure mode of PASP under horizontal load is bending failure dominated by concrete cracking at the joint between the column and cushion cap. The cracking of the pier concrete and opening of joints depend on the prestress degree and socket depth. The prestressing tendons and socket connection can provide enough ductility, strength, restoration capability, and bending strength under small horizontal displacements. Although the bearing capacity and post yield stiffness of the pier can be improved to some extent by increasing the prestressing force, ductility is reduced, and residual deformation is increased. Overall, there are reasonable minimum socket depths to ensure the reliability of the socket connection.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.467-482
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• 2022

One of the major failure modes in composite sandwich structures is the separation between skins and core. In this study, the effect of employing foam filled composite corrugated core on the skin/core debonding (resistance to separation between skin and core) is investigated both experimentally and numerically. To this aim, triangular corrugated core specimens are manufactured and compared with reference specimens only made of PVC foam core in terms of skin/core debonding under bending loading. The corrugated composite laminates are fabricated using the hand layup method. Also, the Vacuumed Infusion Process (VIP) is employed to join the skins to the core with greater quality. Utilizing an End Notched Shear (ENS) fixture, three point bending tests are performed on the manufactured sandwich composite panels. The results reveal that the resistance to separation capacity and flexural stiffness of sandwich composite has been increased about 170% and 76%, respectively by using a triangular corrugated core. The Cohesive Zone Model (CZM) with appropriate cohesive law in ABAQUS finite element software is used to model the progressive face/core interfaces debonding the difference between experimental and numerical results in predicting the maximum born load before the skin/core separation is about 6 % in simple core specimens and 3% in triangular corrugated core specimens.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.679-691
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• 2023

The application of short, fiber-reinforced polymer composite pipes has been increasing rapidly. A comprehensive review of the prior research reveals that the majority of the previously-reported studies have been conducted on the filament-wound composite pipes, and fewer studies have been reported on the mechanical behavior of short, randomly-oriented fiber composite pipes. On this basis, the main objective of this research endeavor is to investigate the mechanical behavior and failure modes of short, randomly-oriented glass-fiber composite pipes under three-point bending tests. To this end, an experimental study is performed in order to explore the load-bearing capacity, failure mechanism, and deformation performance of such pipes. Fourteen properly-instrumented composite pipe specimens with different diameters, thicknesses, lengths, and nominal pressures have been tested and also simulated using the finite element approach for verification purposes. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the diameter-to-thickness ratio, length-to-diameter ratio, and nominal pressure on the mechanical behavior and deformation performance of short, randomly-oriented glass-fiber composite pipes.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.173-184
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• 2023

In this study, mechanical, flexural post-cracking, and torsional behaviors of recycled steel fiber-reinforced concrete (RSFRC) incorporating steel fibers obtained from recycling of waste tires were investigated. Initially, three concrete mixes with different fiber contents (0, 40, and 80 kg/m³) were designed and tested in fresh and hardened states. Subsequently, the flexural post-cracking behaviors of RSFRCs were assessed by conducting three-point bending tests on notched beams. It was observed that recycled steel fibers improve the post-cracking flexural behavior in terms of energy absorption, ductility, and residual flexural strength. What's more, torsional behaviors of four RSFRC concrete beams with varying reinforcement configurations were investigated. The results indicated that RSFRCs exhibited an improved post-elastic torsional behaviors, both in terms of the torsional capacity and ductility of the beams. Additionally, numerical analyses were performed to capture the behaviors of RSFRCs in flexure and torsion. At first, inverse analyses were carried out on the results of the three-point bending tests to determine the tensile functions of RSFRC specimens. Additionally, the applicability of the obtained RSFRC tensile functions was verified by comparing the results of the conducted experiments to their numerical counterparts. Finally, it is noteworthy that, despite the scatter (i.e., non-uniqueness) in the aspect ratio of recycled steel fiber (as opposed to industrial steel fiber), their inclusion contributed to the improvement of post-cracking flexural and torsional capacities.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.193-204
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• 2022

The need for establishing the contribution of pultruded FRP encasements and additional FRP wraps around these encasements to the shear strength and load-deflection behavior of reinforced concrete beams is the main motivation of the present study. This paper primarily focuses on the effect of additional wrapping around the composite beam on the flexural and shear behavior of the pultruded GFRP (Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer) beams infilled with reinforced concrete, taking into account different types of failure according to av/H ratio (arch action, shear-tension, shear-compression and pure bending). For this purpose, nine hybrid beams with variable shear span-to-depth ratio (av/H) were tested. Hybrid beams with 500 mm, 1000 mm, and 1500 mm lengths and cross-sections of 150x100 mm and 100x100 mm were tested under three-point and four-point loading. Based on the testing load-displacement relationship, ductility ratio, energy dissipation capacity of the beams were evaluated with comprehensive macro damage analysis on pultruded GFRP profile and GFRP wrapping. The GFRP wraps were established to have a major contribution to the composite beam ductility (90-125%) and strength (40-75%) in all ranges of beam behavior (shear-dominated or dominated by the coupling of shear and flexure). The composite beams with wraps were showns to reach ductilities and strength values of their counterparts with much greater beam depth.