• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.176-184
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• 2005

When the weight if a concrete member makes problems. or when the cost of the concrete is relatively high, it may be economical to use a hollow concrete member. But a hollow R.C Pier may have poor ductility because of the brittle failure at the inner face of the hollow R.C Pier. This brittle failure results from the absence of the confinement at the inner face of the hollow R.C Pier. To avoid this brittle failure an internally confined hollow R.C Pier was developed. Test results show that the energy ductility ratio of a internally confined hollow R.C Pier have a superior energy ductility ratio to a general hollow R.C Pier.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.177-190
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• 2008

Material failure behavior is generally dependent on loading rate. Especially in brittle and quasi-brittle materials, rate dependent material behavior can be significant. Empirical formulations are often used to predict the rate dependency, but such methods depend on extensive experimental works and are limited by practical constraints of physical testing. Numerical simulation can be an effective means for extracting knowledge about rate dependent behavior and for complementing the results obtained by testing. In this paper, the failure behavior of a brittle material under different loading rates is simulated by molecular dynamics analysis. A notched specimen is modeled by sub-million particles with a normalization scheme. Lennard-Jones potential is used to describe the interparticle force. Numerical simulations are performed with six different loading rates in a direct tensile test, where the loading velocity is normalized to the ratio of the pseudo-sonic speed. As a consequence, dynamic features are achieved from the numerical experiments. Remarkable failure characteristics, such as crack surface interaction/crack arrest, branching, and void nucleation, vary in case of the six loading cases. These characteristics are interpreted by the energy concept approach. This study provides insight into the change in dynamic failure mechanism under different loading rates.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.349-356
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• 2020

Rock brittleness, which is closely related to the failure modes, plays a significant role in the design and construction of many rock engineering applications. However, the brittle-ductile failure transition is mostly ignored by the current statistical damage constitutive model, which may misestimate the failure strength and failure behaviours of intact rock. In this study, a new statistical damage model considering rock brittleness is proposed for brittle to ductile behaviour of rocks using brittleness index (BI). Firstly, the statistical constitutive damage model is reviewed and a new statistical damage model considering failure mode transition is developed by introducing rock brittleness parameter-BI. Then the corresponding damage distribution parameters, shape parameter m and scale parameter F₀, are expressed in terms of BI. The shape parameter m has a positive relationship with BI while the scale parameter F₀ depends on both BI and ε_e. Finally, the robustness and correctness of the proposed damage model is validated using a set of experimental data with various confining pressure.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.713-730
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• 2003

This paper contains the results of the study on the development of fracture and crack propagation in quasi-brittle materials, such as concrete or rocks, using the Discrete Element Method (DEM). A new discrete element numerical model is proposed as the basis for analyzing the inelastic evolution and growth of cracks up to the point of gross material failure. The model is expected to predict the fracture behavior for the quasi-brittle material structure using the elementary aggregate level, the interaction between aggregate materials, and bond cementation. The algorithms generate normal and shear forces between two interfacing blocks and contains two kinds of contact logic, one for connected blocks and the other one for blocks that are not directly connected. The Mohr-Coulomb theory has been used for the fracture limit. In this algorithm the particles are moving based on the connected block logic until the forces increase up to the fracture limit. After passing the limit, the particles are governed by the discrete block logic. In setting up a discrete polygon element model, two dimensional polygons are used to investigate the response of an assembly of different shapes, sizes, and orientations with blocks subjected to simple applied loads. Several examples involving assemblies of particles are presented to show the behavior of the fracture and the failure process.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.4A
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• pp.529-536
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• 2008

The failure behavior of structures is changed under different loading rates, which might arise from the rate dependency of materials. This phenomenon has been focused in the engineering fields. However, the failure mechanism is not fully understood yet, so that it is hard to be implemented in numerical simulations. In this study, the numerical experiments to a brittle material are simulated by the Molecular Dynamics (MD) for understanding the rate dependent failure behavior. The material specimen with a notch is modeled for the compact tension test simulation. Lennard-Jones potential is used to describe the properties of a brittle material. Several dynamic failure features under 6 different loading rates are achieved from the numerical experiments, where remarkable characteristics such as crack roughness, crack recession/arrest, and crack branching are observed during the crack propagation. These observations are interpreted by the energy inflow-consumption rates. This study will provides insight about the dynamic failure mechanism under different loading rates. In addition, the applicability of the MD to the macroscopic mechanics is estimated by simulating the previous experimental research.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.33-46
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• 1999

In spite of 6.8 magnitude and the neighborhood of the epicenter, the steel moment frame survived after Northridge earthquake without collapse or casualties. However, following investigation revealed that there were severe damages at the column-weld interface of welded flange-bolted web (WFBW) steel moment connection, which was believed to be economic and safe from earthquakes based on experience and past tests. In this paper, this unexpected brittle fracture of the steel moment connection is explored using linear elastic fracture mechanics and post-Northridge tests. A method to predict the brittle fracture strength of the steel moment connection is proposed. Using this method, the failure mode of the WFBW connection and reduced beam section (RBS) connection are presented.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1045-1062
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• 2015

Concrete-filled circular t steel tubular joints (CFSTJs) in practice are frequently subjected to fluctuated loadings caused by wind, earthquake and so on. As fatigue crack is sensitive to such cyclic loadings, assessment on performance of CFSTJs with crack-like defect attracts more concerns because both high stress concentration at the brace/chord intersection and welding residual stresses along weld toe cause the materials in the region around the intersection to be more brittle. Once crack initiates and propagates along the weld toe, tri-axial stresses in high gradient around the crack front exist, which may bring brittle fracture failure. Additionally, the stiffness and the load carrying capacity of the CFSTJs with crack may decrease due to the weakened connection at the intersection. To study the behaviour of CFSTJs with initial crack, experimental tests have been carried out on three full-scale CFCST T-joints with same configuration. The three specimens include one uncracked joint and two corresponding cracked joints. Load-displacement and load-deformation curves, failure mode and crack propagation are obtained from the experiment measurement. According to the experimental results, it can be found that he load carrying capacity of the cracked joints is decreased by more than 10% compared with the uncracked joint. The effect of crack depth on the load carrying capacity of CFCST T-joints seems to be slight. The failure mode of the cracked CFCST T-joints represents as plastic yielding rather than brittle fracture through experimental observation.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.742-745
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• 2004

The FRP-concrete composite deck system has advantages of corrosion free and easy construction. The system is, however, comprised of two brittle materials, so that it suffers from inherent disadvantage of lack of ductility. In this study, some conceptual design is presented for preventing the brittle failure of FRP-concrete composite deck at ultimate load level. 4-point bending tests are performed for FRP-concrete composite beams using FRC(Fiber Reinforced Concrete). The specimens use the box-shape FRP member in the lower portion. Four types of concrete with different compressive strengths and ductilities including normal mortar and 3 FRCs are placed in the upper portion. Typical failure mode in the test is identified; Concrete compressive failure occurs first at the maximum moment region, and the interfacial debonding between FRP and concrete member proceeds. Finally, the tensile rupture of FRP member occurs. The specimen using FRC with the high compressive ductility of concrete fails with less brittle manner than other specimens. The reason is that the ductility from the concrete in compression prevents the sudden loss of load-carrying capacity after compressive concrete failure.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1999.04a
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• pp.750-755
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• 1999

When the RC frame structures subjected to the seismic load, brittle shear failure of vertical members induces brittle collapse of whole structures. Failure mechanism like this is not desirable. So shear strengthening method to avoid this failure mechanism is needed. Recently, strengthening method using continuous fiber sheet is studied and used widely which have high elastic and high strength characteristics. In this study, RC columns which is strengthened by carbon fiber sheet in the form of tape or whole sheet were tested under the cyclic load. The parameter of this test is the amount of strengthening. As the amount of strengthening increase, strength, ductility and energy capacity increase. The failure mode of test results are shear and bond-split failure.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.99-115
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• 2007

In this paper, experimental investigations on the inelastic seismic behavior of tunnel form buildings (i.e., box-type or panel systems) are presented. Two four-story scaled building specimens were tested under quasi-static cyclic lateral loading in longitudinal and transverse directions. The experimental results and supplemental finite element simulations collectively indicate that lightly reinforced structural walls of tunnel form buildings may exhibit brittle flexural failure under seismic action. The global tension/compression couple triggers this failure mechanism by creating pure axial tension in outermost shear-walls. This type of failure takes place due to rupturing of longitudinal reinforcement without crushing of concrete, therefore is of particular interest in emphasizing the mode of failure that is not routinely considered during seismic design of shear-wall dominant structural systems.