• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.1065-1084
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• 2016

The analysis and design of skeletal structures is greatly influenced by the behaviour of beam-to-column connections, where patented designs have led to a wide range of types with differing structural quantities. The behaviour of beam-to-column connections plays an important role in the analysis and design of framed structures. This paper presents an overview of the influence of connection behaviour on structural stability, in the in-plane (bending) mode of sway. A computer-based method is presented for geometrically nonlinear plane frames with semi-rigid connections accounting for shear deformations. The analytical procedure employs transcendental modified stability functions to model the effect of axial force on the stiffness of members. The member stiffness matrix were found. The critical load has been searched as a suitable load parameter for the loss of stability of the system. Several examples are presented to demonstrate the validity of the analysis procedure. The method is readily implemented on a computer using matrix structural analysis techniques and is applicable for the efficient nonlinear analysis of frameworks. Combined with a parametric column effective length study, connection and frame stiffness are used to propose a method for the analysis of semi-rigid frames where column effective lengths are greatly reduced and second order (deflection induced) bending moments in the column may be distributed via the connectors to the beams, leading to significant economies.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.1051-1064
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• 2016

Link-to-column connections in Eccentrically Braced Frames (EBFs) have critical role in their safety and seismic performance. Accordingly, in this study, contribution of supplemental stiffeners on hysteretic behavior of the link-to-column connection is investigated. Considered stiffeners are placed on both sides and parallel to the link web between the column face and the first stiffener of the link. Hysteretic behaviors of the link beams with supplemental stiffeners are numerically investigated using a pre-validated numerical model in ANSYS. It turned out that supplemental stiffeners can change energy dissipation mechanism of intermediate links from shear-flexure to shear. Both rectangular and trapezoidal supplemental stiffeners are studied. Moreover, optimal placement of the supplemental stiffeners is also investigated. Obtained results indicate a discrepancy of less than 9% in maximum link shear of the numerical and experimental specimens. This indicates that the numerical results are in good agreement with those obtained from the test. Trapezoidal supplemental stiffeners improve rotational capacity of the link. Moreover, use of two supplemental stiffeners at both ends of the link can more effectively improve hysteretic behavior of intermediate links. Supplemental stiffeners would also alleviate the imposed demands on the connections. This latter feature is more pronounced in the case of two supplemental stiffeners at both ends of the link.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.263-270
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• 2016

Recent Engineered nanoparticles were increasingly exposed to environmental system with the wide application and production of nanomaterials, concerns are increasing about their environmental risk to soil and groundwater system. In order to assess the transport behavior of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), a saturated packed column experiments were examined. Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and a DLS detector was used for concentration and size measurement of AgNPs. The column experiment results showed that solution chemistry had a considerable temporal deposition of AgNPs on the porous media of solid glass beads. In column experiment, comparable mobility improvement of AgNPs were observed by changing solution chemistry conditions from salts (in both NaCl and $CaCl_2$ solutions) to DI conditions, but in much lower ionic strength (IS) with $CaCl_2$. Additionally, the fitted parameters with two-site kinetic attachment model form the experimental breakthrough curves (BTCs) were associated that the retention rates of the AgNPs aggregates were enhanced with increasing IS under both NaCl and $CaCl_2$ solutions.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.1147-1155
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• 2007

The applicability of in situ biobarrier or microbial filter technology for the remediation of groundwater contaminated with chlorinated solvent was investigated through column study. In this study, the effect of packing materials on the reductive dechlorination of PCE was investigated using Canadian peat, Pahokee peat, peat moss and vermicompost (or worm casting) as a biobarrier medium. Optimal conditions previously determined from a batch microcosm study was applied in this column study. Lactate/benzoate was amended as electron donors to stimulate reductive dechlorination of PCE. Hydraulic conductivity was approximately $6{\times}10^{-5}-8{\times}10^{-5}\;cm/sec$ and no difference was found among the packing materials. The transport and dispersion coefficients determined from the curve-fitting of the breakthrough curves of $Br^-$ using CXTFIT 2.1 showed no difference between single-region and two-region models. The reductive dechlorination of PCE was efficiently occurred in all columns. Among the columns, especially the column packed with vermicompost exhibited the highest reductive dechlorination efficiency. The results of this study showed the promising potential of in situ biobarrier technology using peat and vermicompost for the remediation of groundwater contaminated with chlorinated solvents.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.261-279
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• 2010

Generally, a box tube, which is used for an existing square CFT structure, is made by welding four plates. The manufacturing efficiency of this steel tube is poor, and it also needs special welding technology to weld its internal diaphragm and the through diaphragm. Therefore, an interior-anchor-type square steel tube was developed using the method of cold-forming thin plates to prevent welding of the stress concentration position, and to maximize the section efficiency. And, considering of the flow of beam flange load, the efficiency of erection and the weldability of the diaphragm to thin walled steel column, the external diaphragm connection was selected as the suitable type for the welded built-up square CFT column to beam connection. And, an analytical study and tests were conducted to evaluate the structural performance of the suggested connection details and to verify the suggested equations for the connection details. Through this study, the composite effect of the internal anchor to concrete, the resistance and stress distribution of the connections before and after the existing column is welded to the beam, the effective location of welding in connection were analyzed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.851-865
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• 2014

Full penetration welded steel moment-resisting frame (SMRF) structures with welded box sections are widely employed in steel bridges, where a large number of steel bridges have been in operation for over fifty years in Japan. Welding defects such as incomplete penetration at the beam-column connections of these existing SMRF steel bridge piers were observed during inspection. Previous experiments conducted by the authors' team indicate that gusset stiffeners (termed fillets in this study) at the beam-web-to-column-web joint of the beam-column connections may play an important role on the seismic performance of the connections. This paper aims to experimentally study the effect of the fillet radius on seismic performance of the connections with large welding defects. Four specimens with different sizes of fillet radii were loaded under quasi-static incremental cyclic loading, where different load-displacement relations and cracking behaviors were observed. The experimental results show that, as the size of the fillet radius increases, the seismic performance of the connections can be greatly improved.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.73-81
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• 2004

In this study, experimental research was carried out to improve earthquake-resistant performance for the retrofitting of reinforced concrete beam-column joints using carbon fiber materials in existing reinforced concrete building. Six reinforced concrete beam-column joints were constructed and tested to evaluate the retrofitting effect of test variables, such as the retrofitting materials and retrofitting region(plastic hinge, beam-column joint) under load reversals. Test results show that retrofitting specimen(RPC-CP2, RPC-CR, RJC-CP, RJC-CR), using new materials(carbon fiber plate, carbon fiber rod and carbon fiber sheet), designed by the improvement of earthquake-resistant performance and ductility, attained more load-carrying capacity and stable hysteretic behavior.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.399-408
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• 2017

This paper experimentally studies the cyclic behavior of hybrid connections between steel coupling beams and concrete shear walls with embedded steel columns. Four beam-to-wall connection specimens with short and long embedded steel columns are tested under monotonic and cyclic loads, respectively. The influence of embedment length of columns on the failure mode and performance of connections is investigated. The results show that the length of embedded steel columns has significant effect on the failure mode of connections. A connection with a long embedded column has a better stiffness, load-bearing capacity and ductility than that of a short embedded column. The former fails due to the shear yielding of column web in the joint panel, while failure of the latter is initiated by the yielding of horizontal reinforcement in the wall due to the rigid rotation of the column. It is recommended that embedded steel columns should be placed along the entire height of shear walls to facilitate construction and enhance the ductility.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.76 no.4
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• pp.479-489
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• 2020

This paper proposed a novel form of reinforced concrete (RC) shear wall confined with boundary columns. The structural effect of applying steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) in the wall-column systems was studied. Three full-scale wall samples were constructed including two RC wall-RC column samples with different stirrup ratios and one RC wall-SFRC column sample. Low frequency cyclic testing was carried out to investigate the failure modes, hysteretic behavior, load-bearing capacity, ductility, stiffness degradation and energy dissipation. ABAQUS models were set up to simulate the structural behavior of tested samples, and good agreement was achieved between numerical simulation and experimental results. A further supplementary parametric study was conducted based on ABAQUS models. Both experimental and numerical results showed that increasing stirrup ratio in boundary columns did not affect much on load bearing capacity or stiffness degradation of the system. However, applying SFRC in boundary columns showed significant enhancement on load bearing capacity. Numerical simulation also shows that the structural performances of RC wall-SFRC column system were comparable to a wall-column system fully with SFRC.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.237-250
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• 2015

Beam-column joints are highly vulnerable locations which are to be designed for high ductility in order to take care of unexpected lateral forces such as wind and earthquake. Previous investigations reveal that the addition of steel fibres to concrete improves its ductility significantly. Also, due to presence of slab the strength and ductility of the beam increases considerably and ignoring the effect of slab can lead to underestimation of beam capacity and defiance of strong column weak beam concept. The influence of addition of steel fibres on the strength and behaviour of steel fibre reinforced high performance concrete (SFRHPC) interior beam-column-slab joints was investigated experimentally. The specimens were subjected to reverse cyclic loading. The variable considered was the volume fraction of crimped steel fibres i.e., 0%, 0.5% and 1.0%. The results show that the addition of steel fibres improves the first crack load, strength, ductility, energy absorption capacity and initial stiffness of the beam.