• Composites Research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.18-28
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• 2004

In order to evaluate the strength of carbody structures of railway rolling stock made of laminated fiber-reinforced composite materials, total laminate approach was introduced. Structural analyses were conducted to check the basic design of hybrid composite carbody structures of the Korean Tilting Train eXpress(TTX) with the service speed of 180km/h. The mechanical tests were also conducted to obtain strengths of composite laminates. The results show that all stress components of composite carbody structures are inside of failure envelopes and total laminate approach is recommended to predict the failure of hybrid composite carbody structures at the stage of the basic design.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.1501-1510
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• 2015

The frequency selective surface (FSS) embedded hybrid composite materials have been developed to provide excellent mechanical and specific electromagnetic properties. Radar absorbing structures (RASs) are an example material that provides both radar absorbing properties and structural characteristics. The absorbing efficiency of an RAS can be improved using selected materials having special absorptive properties and structural characteristics and can be in the form of multi-layers or have a certain stacking sequence. However, residual stresses occur in FSS embedded composite structures after co-curing due to a mismatch between the coefficients of thermal expansion of the FSS and the composite material. In this study, to develop an RAS, the thermal residual stresses of FSS embedded composite structures were analyzed using finite element analysis, considering the effect of stacking sequence of composite laminates with square loop (SL) and double square loop (DSL) FSS patterns. The FSS radar absorbing efficiency was measured in the K-band frequency range of 21.6 GHz. Residual stress leads to a change in the deformation of the FSS pattern. Using these results, the effect of transmission characteristics with respect to the deformation on FSS pattern was analyzed using an FSS Simulator.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.419-433
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• 2021

In composite structures, shear connectors are crucial components to resist the relative slip between the steel and concrete, and thereby to achieve the composite actions. In the service stage, composite structures are usually in elastic state, so the elastic stiffness of the shear connection is a quite important parameter in the structural analysis of composite structures. Nevertheless, the existing studies mainly focus on the load-slip relationship rather than the tangent stiffness at the initial elastic stage. Furthermore, when composite beams subjected to torque or local load, shear connections are affected by both tensile force and shear force. However, the stiffness of shear connections under combined effects appears not to have been discussed hitherto. This paper investigates the initial elastic stiffness of stud connections under combined effects of biaxial forces. The initial expression and the relevant parameters are obtained by establishing a simplified analytical model of the stud connection. Afterwards, parametric finite element analysis is performed to investigate the effects of the relevant factors, including the stud length, stud diameter, elastic modulus of concrete, elastic modulus of steel and volume ratio of reinforcement. The feasibility of the proposed modelling has been proved by comparing with sufficient experimental tests. Based on the analytical analysis and the extensive numerical simulations, design equations for predicting the initial elastic stiffness of stud connections are proposed. The comparison between the equations and the data of finite element models demonstrates that the equations are accurate enough to serve for engineering communities.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.109-128
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• 2010

The expediency of using tubular composite steel and concrete columns of annular cross-sections in construction is discussed. The new type space framework with tubular composite columns of multi-storey buildings and its rigid beam-column joints are demonstrated. The features of interaction between the circular steel tube and spun concrete stress-strain states during the concentrical and eccentrical loading of tubular composite members are considered. The modeling of the bearing capacity of beam-columns of composite annular cross-sections is based on the concepts of bending with a concentrical force and compression with a bending moment. The comparison of modeling results for the composite cross-sections of beam-columns is analysed. The expediency of using these concepts for the limit state verification of beam-columns in the methods of the partial safety factors design (PSFD) legitimated in Europe and the load and resistance factors design (LRFD) used in other countries is presented and illustrated by a numerical example.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2019

Steel-concrete composite walls have been proposed and developed for applications in various types of structures. The double-skin profiled composite walls, as a natural development of composite flooring, provide structural and architectural merits. However, adequate intermediate fasteners between profiled steel plates and concrete core are required to fully mobilize the composite action and to improve the structural behavior of the wall. In this research, two new types of fasteners (i.e., threaded rods and vertical plates) were proposed and three specimens with different fastener types or fastener arrangements were tested under axial compression. The experimental results were evaluated in terms of failure modes, axial load versus axial displacement response, strength index, ductility index, and load-strain relationship. It was found that specimen with symmetrically arranged thread rods sustained more stable axial strain than that with staggered arranged threaded rods. Meanwhile, vertical plates are more suitable for practical use since they provide stronger confinement to profiled steel plate and effectively prevent the steel plate from early local buckling, which eventually enhance the composite action and increase the axial compressive capacity of the wall. The calculation methods were then proposed and good agreement was observed between the test results and the predicted results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.267-279
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• 2013

This article describes a simple and cost effective fabrication procedure by using hand lay-up technique that is employed for the manufacturing of thin-walled axi-symmetric composite shell structures with carbon, glass and hybrid woven fabric composite materials. The hand lay-up technique is very commonly used in aerospace and marine industries for making the complicated shell structures. A generic fabrication procedure is presented in this paper aimed at manufacture of plain Carbon Fabric Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) and Glass Fabric Reinforced Plastic (GFRP) shells using hand lay-up process. This paper delivers a technical breakthrough in fabrication of composite shell structures without any joints and wrinkling. The manufacture of stiffened CFRP shells, laminated CFRP shells and hybrid (carbon/glass/epoxy) composite shells which are valued by the aerospace industry for their high strength-to-weight ratio under axial loading have also been addressed in this paper. A fabrication process document which describes the major processing steps of the composite shell manufacturing process has been presented in this paper. A study of microstructure of the glass fabric/epoxy composite, carbon fabric/epoxy composite and hybrid carbon/glass/fabric epoxy composites using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) has been also carried out in this paper.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.765-777
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• 2022

Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) can be used in the UHPC-steel composite structures especially for bridge structures to achieve high stiffness and high fatigue resistance with low self-weight. The structural performances of UHPC-steel composite slabs subjected to hogging moment have a significant influence on the global stiffness and durability of UHPC-steel composite structures. In order to study the structural behaviors of non-steam-cured UHPC-steel composite slabs subjected to negative moment, five composite slabs combined the thin UHPC layers to steel plates via shear stud connecters with the diameter of 16mm were fabricated and tested under negative moment. The test program aimed to investigate the effect of stud spacing and longitudinal reinforcement ratios on the failure mode, load-deflection behaviors, cracking patterns, bond-slips, and carrying capacities of composite slabs subjected to negative moment. In addition, direct tensile tests for the dog-bone UHPC specimens with longitudinal reinforcement bars were carried out to study the effect of reinforcement bars on the tensile strength of UHPC in the thin structure members. Based on the experimental results, analytical models were also developed to predict the cracking load and ultimate load of UHPC-steel composite slabs subjected to negative moment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.212-215
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• 2004

The hybrid composite carbody structures were considered as the carbody system of Korean Tilting Train eXpress(TTX) to achieve the lightweight design. The TTX carbodies are composed of the carbody shell made of the sandwich composite structure and the undeframe made of the metal structure. The sandwich structures were used to minimize the weight of carbody, and the metal underframe was used to modify the design easily and to keep the strength of underframe by the installation of the electrical equipments. The sandwich carbody structures will be cured in an autoclave. In this paper, the manufacturing processes of the TTX carbody structures were introduced briefly.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.33-46
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• 2003

This study focuses on the influence of a composite external strengthening on the natural frequencies of a steel beam with open cracks. In a first step, the leading parameters associated with the effect of the composite strengthening are experimentally identified. An analytical model is developed in order to quantify the importance of the force transfer within the resin interface. In a second step, the analytical model of a cracked beam with composite external strengthening is compared to experiments.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.211-224
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• 2022

Multi-objective optimization was conducted to obtain the optimal configuration of a composite sandwich structure with honeycomb-foam hybrid core subjected to underwater shock waves, which can fulfill the demand for light weight and energy efficient design of structures against underwater blast. Effects of structural parameters on the dynamic response of the sandwich structures subjected to underwater shock waves were analyzed numerically, from which the correlations of different parameters to the dynamic response were determined. Multi-objective optimization of the structure subjected to underwater shock waves of which the initial pressure is 30 MPa was conducted based on surrogate modelling method and genetic algorithm. Moreover, optimization results of the sandwich structure subjected to underwater shock waves with different initial pressures were compared. The research can guide the optimal design of composite sandwich structures subjected to underwater shock waves.