• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.35-51
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• 2020

Integral abutment bridges (IABs) are those bridges without expansion joints. A single row of steel H-piles (SHPs) is commonly used at the thin and stub abutments of IABs to form a flexible support system at the bridge ends to accommodate thermal-induced displacement of the bridge. Consequently, as the IAB expands and contracts due to temperature variations, the SHPs supporting the abutments are subjected to cyclic lateral (longitudinal) displacements, which may eventually lead to low-cycle fatigue (LCF) failure of the piles. In this paper, the potential of using finite element (FE) modeling techniques to estimate the LCF life of SHPs commonly used in IABs is investigated. For this purpose, first, experimental tests are conducted on several SHP specimens to determine their LCF life under thermal-induced cyclic flexural strains. In the experimental tests, the specimens are subjected to longitudinal displacements (or flexural strain cycles) with various amplitudes in the absence and presence of a typical axial load. Next, nonlinear FE models of the tested SHP specimens are developed using the computer program ANSYS to investigate the possibility of using such numerical models to predict the LCF life of SHPs commonly used in IABs. The comparison of FE analysis results with the experimental test results revealed that the FE analysis results are in close agreement with the experimental test results. Thus, FE modeling techniques similar to that used in this research study may be used to predict the LCF life of SHP commonly used in IABs.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.189-198
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• 2019

This paper aims to study the mechanical performance of three-tower four-span suspension bridges with steel truss girders, including the static and dynamic characteristics of the bridge system, and more importantly, the influence of structural parameters including the side-main span ratio, sag-to-span ratio and the girder stiffness on key mechanical indices. For this purpose, the Oujiang River North Estuary Bridge which is a three-tower four-span suspension bridge with two main spans of 800m under construction in China is taken as an example in this study. This will be the first three-tower suspension bridge with steel truss girders in the world. The mechanical performance study and parametric analysis are conducted based on a validated three-dimensional spatial truss finite element model established for the Oujiang River North Estuary Bridge using MIDAS Civil. It is found that a relatively small side-main span ratio seems to be quite appropriate from the perspective of mechanical performance. And decreasing the sag-to-span ratio is an effective way to reduce the horizontal force subjected to the midtower and improve the antiskid safety of the main cable, while the vertical stiffness of the bridge will be reduced. However, the girder stiffness is shown to be of minimal significance on the mechanical performance. The findings from this paper can be used for design of three-tower suspension bridges with steel truss girders.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.103-118
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• 2009

It has been reported that more than thirty five percent of steel bridges in the USA are structurally deficient because of structural degradations. The degraded structures need either full replacement or rehabilitation such that they are able to provide the required services for a longer period of time. The cost for repair in most cases is far less than the cost of replacement. Moreover, repair method generally takes less time than replacement and also reduces service interruption time. Modern advanced composites have been used in aerospace and automotive fields since World War II. In the recent past, because of the high strength-to-weight ratio and high stiffness-to-weight ratio, these composite materials have been introduced to civil engineering infrastructures primarily for repair and rehabilitation of concrete structures. However, only a few preliminary studies on repair of corroded steel structures using theses composite materials are reported in the literature available in the public domain. Thus, in this study, a series of laboratory tests was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of this repair method using carbon fiber reinforced polymer composite. The paper discusses the test method and test results obtained from these tests.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.131-138
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• 2015

In this paper, the modified live-load and designed formula are studied according to the fact the highway bridge design specifications are recently revised. The two examples for composite steel plates and PSC girder bridges are studied. The envelope is analyzed with the finite element models and lateral load distribution method applying the existing highway bridge specification(2010), the newly revised highway bridge specification(2015) and AASHTO LRFD. In case of composite steel plates, length changes between spans are studied, and in case of PSC girder. changes of the number of cross-beams and spans, and span-lengths, are analyzed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Advanced Composite Structures
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.51-58
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• 2010

This work examines the identification of stiffness reduction in damaged reinforced concrete bridges under moving loads, and carries out the performance assessment after repairing using advanced composite materials. In particular, the change of stiffness in each element before and after repairing, based on the Microgenetic algorithm as an advanced inverse analysis, is described and discussed by using a modified bivariate Gaussian distribution function. The proposed method in the study is more feasible than the conventional element-based method from computation efficiency point of view. The validity of the technique is numerically verified using a set of dynamic data obtained from a simulation of the actual bridge modeled with a three-dimensional solid element. The numerical examples show that the proposed technique is a feasible and practical method which can inspect the complex distribution of deteriorated stiffness although there is a difference between actual bridge and numerical model as well as uncertain noise occurred in the measured data.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.413-421
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• 2020

For steel-concrete girders made composite using shear studs, initial damage on studs induced by weld defect, unexpected overloading, fatigue and others might degrade the service performance and even threaten the structural safety. This paper conducted a numerical study to investigate the static behavior of damaged stud shear connectors that were embedded in ultra high performance concrete (UHPC). Parameters included damage degree and damage location. The material nonlinear behavior was characterized by multi-linear stress-strain relationship and damage plasticity model. The results indicated that the shear strength was not sensitive to the damage degree when the damage occurred at 2/3d (d is the stud diameter) from the stud root. An increased stud area would be engaged in resisting shear force as the distance of damage location from stud root increased and the failure section becomes inclined, resulting in a less reduction in the shear strength and shear stiffness. The reduction factor was proposed to consider the degradation of the shear strength of the damaged stud. The reduction factor can be calculated using two approaches: a linear relationship and a square relationship with the damage degree corresponding to the shear strength dominated by the section area and the nominal diameter of the damaged stud. It was found that the proposed method is preferred to predict the shear strength of a stud with initial damage.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.137-146
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• 2006

In this paper, a numerical study on the evaluation of the redundancy according to the dimension and spacing of cross beams in the composite twin steel plate girder bridges that are generally recognized as a non-redundant load path structures, has been performed. Specifically, a two-lane three-span continuous (40+50+40m) bridge with I-section cross beams which serve as cross bracing, and without a lateral bracing were considered. The material and geometric nonlinear analyses were conducted to evaluate the ultimate loading capacity of the intact and damaged bridge in which one of the two girders is seriously fractured. Through the numerical analyses, it was recognized that there is little difference in redundancy according to the variation of the dimension and spacing of the cross beams for both intact and damaged bridges.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.83-90
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• 2010

Composite materials can be used economically and efficiently in civil engineering applications when standards and procedure for analysis, design, construction and quality control are to be established. Bridge systems, including the girders and cross-beams, and concrete decks behave as the specially orthotropic plates. For such systems with sections, boundary conditions other than Navier solution types, it is very difficult to obtain its analytical solution. To design the bridge made by the composite materials, cross-section was used as the form-core shape for economical reason and finite difference method was used for output of the stress value. The Tsai-Wu failure criterion for stress space is used. In this paper, the rate of tensile strength reduction due to increased size was considered. And also numerical study is made for these cases.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.519-524
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• 2002

The long span PSC deck of composite girder bridge should be needed in order to improve the endurance and to simplify the structure of the steel bridge. However, there have been few domestic research activities about long-span PSC decks for the steel bridges with a small number of girders. In this study, a literature survey is performed to develop a new deck system for the steel bridge with a small number of girders. By considering the characteristics of a small number of girders bridge system, a cast-in-place long span PSC deck is proposed for a small number of girders bridges. To examine structural behavior and safety of the proposed PSC deck, the real scale partial models of the deck(12m$\times$3.2m) are tested under the static loading. In the test, the failure mode and behavior of each specimen, and ultimate load carrying capacity of the proposed PSC deck are identified.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2014.05a
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• pp.10-11
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• 2014

Energy load of building affected by insulation performance of building's exterior. and insulation system can be classify interior insulation, exterior insulation, sandwich insulation according to install place of insulation. but within interior insulation system, corner wall and the cross outer wall-slab insulation part may occur thermal bridges. And then, within exterior insulation system is more superior insulation performance than interior insulation, but it has difficult to apply, easily broken at high building because of strong wind load. And also difficult to maintenance exterior insulation system. So, in this study, to found requirement performance of cast-in-place sandwich insulation system that is superior insulation performance and easy construction and maintenance. requirement performance of cast-in-place sandwich insulation system is 1) To avoid thermal bridges in the insulation performance, 2) Both sides concrete wall can be composite action in the structural performance. Because of this study, can develops cast-in-place sandwich insulation system and this insulation system contribute to improve insulation performance of apartment-house and high building.