• Computers and Concrete
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.735-758
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• 2015

This work deals with unilateral effect of quasi-brittle materials, such as concrete. For this propose, a two-dimensional meso-scale model is presented. The material is considered as a three-phase material consisting of interface zone, matrix and inclusions - each constituent modeled by an appropriate constitutive model. The Representative Volume Element (RVE) consists of inclusions idealized as circular shapes randomly placed into the specimen. The interface zone is modeled by means of cohesive contact finite elements developed here in order to capture the effects of phase debonding and interface crack closure/opening. As an initial approximation, the inclusion is modeled as linear elastic as well as the matrix. Our main goal here is to show a computational homogenization-based approach as an alternative to complex macroscopic constitutive models for the mechanical behavior of the quasi-brittle materials using a finite element procedure within a purely kinematical multi-scale framework. A set of numerical examples, involving the microcracking processes, is provided. It illustrates the performance of the proposed model. In summary, the proposed homogenization-based model is found to be a suitable tool for the identification of macroscopic mechanical behavior of quasi-brittle materials dealing with unilateral effect.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.595-613
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• 2018

The objective of our study is to analyze the behavior of bonded, riveted and hybrid (bonded / riveted) steel / steel assemblies by tensile tests and to show the advantage of a hybrid assembly over other processes. the finite element method with the ABAQUS numerical code was used to model the fracture behavior of the different assemblies. Cohesive zone models (CZM) have been adopted to model crack propagation in bonded joints using a bilinear tensile separation law implemented in the ABAQUS finite element code. The riveted assemblies were modeled with the XFEM damage method identified in this ABAQUS numerical code. Both CZM and XFEM methods are combined to model hybrid assemblies. The results are consistent with the experimental results and make it possible to guarantee the validity of the applied numerical model. The use of a hybrid assembly shows a high resistance compared to other conventional methods, where the number of rivets has been highlighted. The use of the hybrid assembly improves mechanical strength and increases service life compared to a single lap joint and a riveted joint.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.81 no.1
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• pp.39-50
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• 2022

Layer separation (delamination) is an essential threat to fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) plates under dynamic, static, and fatigue loads. Under compressive load, the growth of delamination will lead to structural instability. The aim of this paper is to present a method using shape memory alloy (SMA) stitches to suppress the delamination growth in a FRP plate and to improve the buckling behavior of the plate with a rectangular hole. The present paper is divided into two parts. Firstly, a closed-form (CF) formulation for evaluating the buckling load of the FRP plate is presented. Secondly, the finite element method (FEM) will be employed to calculate the buckling loads of the plates which serves to validate the results obtained from the closed-form method. The novelty of this work is the development of the closed-form solution using the p-Ritz energy approach regarding the stress-dependent phase transformation of SMA to trace the equilibrium path. For the FEM, the Lagoudas constitutive model of the SMA material is implemented in FORTRAN programming language using a user material subroutines (VUMAT). The model is simulated in ABAQUS/Explicit solver due to the nature of the loading type. The cohesive zone model (CZM) is applied to simulate the delamination growth.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.175-182
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• 2023

In general, the design of structures and its construction processes are fundamentally dependent on their foundation and supporting ground. Thus, it is imperative to understand the behavior of the soil under certain stress and drainage conditions. As it is well known that certain characteristics and behaviors of soils with fines are highly dependent on water content, it is critical to accurately measure and identify the status of the soils in terms of water contents. Liquid limit is one of the important soil index properties to define such characteristics. However, liquid limit measurement can be affected by the proficiency of the operator. On the other hand, dynamic properties of soils are also necessary in many different applications and current testing methods often require special equipment in the laboratory, which is often expensive and sensitive to test conditions. In order to address these concerns and advance the state of the art, this study explores a novel method to determine the liquid limit of cohesive soil by employing video-based vibration analysis. In this research, the modal characteristics of cohesive soil columns are extracted from videos by utilizing phase-based motion estimation. By utilizing the proposed method that analyzes the optical flow in every pixel of the series of frames that effectively represents the motion of corresponding points of the soil specimen, the vibration characteristics of the entire soil specimen could be assessed in a non-contact and non-destructive manner. The experimental investigation results compared with the liquid limit determined by the standard method verify that the proposed method reliably and straightforwardly identifies the liquid limit of clay. It is envisioned that the proposed approach could be applied to measuring liquid limit of soil in practical field, entertaining its simple implementation that only requires a digital camera or even a smartphone without the need for special equipment that may be subject to the proficiency of the operator.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.529-547
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• 2011

This paper presents the global-local finite cover method (GL-FCM) that is capable of analyzing structures involving local heterogeneities and propagating cracks. The suggested method is composed of two techniques. One of them is the FCM, which is one of the PU-based generalized finite element methods, for the analysis of local cohesive crack growth. The mechanical behavior evaluated in local heterogeneous structures by the FCM is transferred to the overall (global) structure by the so-called mortar method. The other is a method of mesh superposition for hierarchical modeling, which enables us to evaluate the average stiffness by the analysis of local heterogeneous structures not subjected to crack propagation. Several numerical experiments are conducted to validate the accuracy of the proposed method. The capability and applicability of the proposed method is demonstrated in an illustrative numerical example, in which we predict the mechanical deterioration of a reinforced concrete (RC) structure, whose local regions are subjected to propagating cracks induced by reinforcement corrosion.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.95-106
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• 1996

In this study, a constitutive model which can describe the anisotropic and plastic behaviors of natural cohesive soils, was developed based on anisotropic bounding surface theory. The model was fomulated by the concepts of the improved anisotropic bounding surface function, nonassociated flow rule with new plastic potential function, anisotropic hardening rule, and new mapping rule governing the plastic behavior inside bounding sutraface. Comparing with the results of Ku consolidation and triaxial shearing tests, the predictions by the proposed model agree quite well with real soil responses.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.173-183
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• 2019

This study presents experimental and numerical results of prestressed concrete composite beams with different casting and stressing sequence. The beams were tested under three-point bending and it was found that prestressed concrete composite beams could not achieve monolith behavior due to interface slippage between two layers. The initial stress distribution due to different construction sequence has little effect on the maximum load of composite beams. The multi-step FE analyses could simulate different casting and stressing sequence thus correctly capturing the initial stress distribution induced by staged construction. Three contact algorithms were considered for interaction between concrete layers in the FE models namely tie constraint, cohesive contact and surface-to-surface contact. It was found that both cohesive contact and surface-to-surface contact could simulate the interface slip even though each algorithm considers different shear transfer mechanism. The use of surface-to-surface contact for beams with more than 2 layers of concrete is not recommended as it underestimates the maximum load in this study.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.351-374
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• 2022

Softening function is the primary input for modeling the fracture of concrete when the cohesive crack approach is used. In this paper, based on the laboratory data on notched beams, an inverse algorithm is proposed that can accurately find the softening curve of the concrete. This algorithm uses non-linear finite element analysis and the damage-plasticity model. It is based on the kinematics of the beam at the late stages of loading. The softening curve, obtained from the corresponding algorithm, has been compared to other softening curves in the literature. It was observed that in determining the behavior of concrete, the usage of the presented curve made accurate results in predicting the peak loads and the load-deflection curves of the beams with different concrete mixtures. In fact, the proposed algorithm leads to softening curves that can be used for modeling the tensile cracking of concrete precisely. Moreover, the advantage of this algorithm is the low number of iterations for converging to an appropriate answer.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.10
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• pp.73-84
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• 2007

For standard piezocones with shoulder filter elements immediately behind the cone tip, general dissipation curves show monotonically decreasing pore pressure from the initial value. However, dilatory dissipation behavior, showing a temporary increase in pore pressure followed by a decrease in the hydrostatic pressure, has been observed in lightly overconsolidated cohesive soils $(1. This unusual dissipation behavior was reported mostly in heavily overconsolidated ground and previous researches were limited to such cases. In this study, the mechanism of dilatory dissipation in lightly overconsolidated cohesive soils was investigated. The relativities of the ground properties evaluated from the CPTu data to the dilatory dissipation were analyzed. And, finite difference analyses on dissipation after cone penetration were performed. It was found that dilatory dissipation occurs in lightly overconsolidated soils since the higher excess pore pressure at the cone face propagates upward to the shoulder filter. Also, it was shown that the ratio of initial excess pore pressure at the cone face to that of the shoulder filter $({\Delta}u_{1i}/{\Delta}u_{2i})$, which is related to overconsolidation ratio (OCR) and hydrostatic pressure $(u_0)$, affects the dilatory dissipation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.61-68
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• 2008

Resilient modulus has been used for characterizing the stress-strain behavior of subgrade soils subjected to traffic loadings. With the recent release of the M-E Design Guide, highway agencies are further encouraged to implement the resilient modulus test to improve subgrade design. The subgrade design for the trackbed, however, is primarily relying on the static test results such as $K_{30}$ and deformation modulus, Ev. Therefore applicability of the resilient modulus for the design of trackbed needs to be evaluated. In this study, physical property tests, unconfined compressive tests and resilient modulus tests were conducted to assess the resilient and permanent strain behavior of 14 cohesive subgrade soils. A predictive model for estimating the resilient modulus is proposed based on the results of unconfined compressive tests and tangent elastic modulus, unconfined compressive strength, failure strain, secant modulus at peak, and yield strain. The predicted resilient moduli using the predictive models compared satisfactorily with measured ones. Although the permanent strain occurs during the resilient modulus test, the permanent behavior of subgrade soils is currently not taken into consideration.