• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.327-335
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• 2023

The most popular building material, concrete, is intrinsically linked to the advancement of humanity. Due to the ever-increasing complexity of cementitious systems, concrete formulation for desired qualities remains a difficult undertaking despite conceptual and methodological advancement in the field of concrete science. Recognising the significant pollution caused by the traditional cement industry, construction of civil engineering structures has been carried out successfully using Geopolymer Concrete (GPC), also known as High Performance Concrete (HPC). These are concretes formed by the reaction of inorganic materials with a high content of Silicon and Aluminium (Pozzolans) with alkalis to achieve cementitious properties. These supplementary cementitious materials include Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS), a waste material generated in the steel manufacturing industry; Fly Ash, which is a fine waste product produced by coal-fired power stations and Silica Fume, a by-product of producing silicon metal or ferrosilicon alloys. This result demonstrated that GPC/HPC can be utilised as a substitute for traditional Portland cement-based concrete, resulting in improvements in concrete properties in addition to environmental and economic benefits. This study explores utilising experimental data to train artificial neural networks, which are then used to determine the effect of supplementary cementitious material replacement, namely fly ash, Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) and silica fume, on the compressive strength, tensile strength, and modulus of elasticity of concrete and to predict these values accordingly.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.133-142
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• 2017

Two-stage concrete (TSC), also known as pre-placed aggregate concrete, is characterized by its unique placement technique, whereby the coarse aggregate is first placed in the formwork, then injected with a special grout. Despite its superior sustainability and technical features, TSC has remained a basic concrete technology without much use of modern chemical admixtures, new binders, fiber reinforcement or other emerging additions. In the present study, an experimental database for TSC was built. Different types of cementitious binders (single, binary, and ternary) comprising ordinary portland cement, fly ash, silica fume, and metakaolin were used to produce the various TSC mixtures. Different dosages of steel fibres having different lengths were also incorporated to enhance the mechanical properties of TSC. The database thus created was used to develop fuzzy logic models as predictive tools for the grout flowability and mechanical properties of TSC mixtures. The performance of the developed models was evaluated using statistical parameters and error analyses. The results indicate that the fuzzy logic models thus developed can be powerful tools for predicting the TSC grout flowability and mechanical properties and a useful aid for the design of TSC mixtures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.547-559
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• 2023

We evaluated the applicability of machine learning techniques and the Kuz-Ram model for predicting the mean fragmentation size in open-pit mines. The characteristics of the in-situ rock considered here were uniaxial compressive strength, tensile strength, rock factor, and mean in-situ block size. Seventy field datasets that included these characteristics were collected to predict the mean fragmentation size. Deep neural network, support vector machine, and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) models were trained using the data. The performance was evaluated using the root mean squared error (RMSE) and the coefficient of determination (r²). The XGBoost model had the smallest RMSE and the highest r² value compared with the other models. Additionally, when analyzing the error rate between the measured and predicted values, XGBoost had the lowest error rate. When the Kuz-Ram model was applied, low accuracy was observed owing to the differences in the characteristics of data used for model development. Consequently, the proposed XGBoost model predicted the mean fragmentation size more accurately than other models. If its performance is improved by securing sufficient data in the future, it will be useful for improving the blasting efficiency at the target site.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.489-507
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• 2019

In order to obtain high bearing capacity and good ductility simultaneously, a structural column with hybrid normal and high strength steel (HNHSS) welded box section has been developed. Residual stress is an important factor that can influence the behaviour of a structural member in steel structures. Accordingly, the magnitudes and distributions of residual stresses in HNHSS welded box sections were investigated experimentally using the sectioning method. In this study, the following four box sections were tested: one normal strength steel (NSS) section, one high strength steel (HSS) section, and two HNHSS sections. Based on the experimental data from previous studies and the test results of this study, the effects of the width-to-thickness ratio of plate, yield strength of plate, and the plate thickness of the residual stresses of welded box sections were investigated in detail. A unified residual stress model for NSS, HSS and HNHSS welded box sections was proposed, and the corresponding simplified prediction equations for the maximum tensile residual stress ratio (${\sigma}_{rt}/f_y$) and average compressive residual stress ratio (${\sigma}_{rc}/f_y$) in the model were quantitatively established. The predicted magnitudes and distributions of residual stresses for four tested sections in this study by using the proposed residual stress model were compared with the experimental results, and the feasibility of this proposed model was shown to be in good agreement.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.177-185
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• 2016

This paper concerns the flexural behavior of steel fiber-reinforced ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) beams with compressive strength of 150 MPa. It presents experimental research results of hybrid steel fiber-reinforced UHPC beams with steel fiber content of 1.5% by volume and steel reinforcement ratio of less than 0.02. This study aims at investigating of compressive and tensile behavior of UHPC to perform a reasonable prediction for flexural capacity of UHPC beams. Tensile behavior modeling was performed using load-crack mouth opening displacement relationship obtained from bending test. The experimental results show that steel fiber-reinforced UHPC is in favor of cracking resistance and ductility of beams. The ductility indices range from 1.6 to 3.0, which means high ductility of hybrid steel fiber-reinforced UHPC. Test results and numerical analysis results for the moment-curvature relationship are compared. Though the numerical analysis results for the bending capacity of the UHPC beam without rebar is larger than test result, the overall comparative results show that the bending capacity of steel fiber-reinforced UHPC beams with compressive strength of 150 MPa can be predicted by using the established method in this paper.

• Magazine of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.91-100
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• 1990

In most of the structural members with initial cracks(or initial notches), the strength tends to decmase as the member size increases. This phenomenon is known as size effect. Among the structural materials of glass, metal or concrete, etc., concrete represents the size effect even without initial crack. According to the previous size effect law, the concrete mem¬ber of very large size can resist little stress. Actually, however, even the large size member can resist some stress if there is no initial crack made artificially, consequently showing a rather milder strength reduction compared to the severe strength reduction by tbe previously derived size effect law. In this study, the theoretical size effect law previously derived by Z.P. Bazant was discussed based on nonlinear fracture mechanics of concrete structures With dissimilar initial cracks, and the prediction models are proposed by regression analysis with the existing test data of more large size speciments for splitting tensile strength, shear strength and uniaxial compressive strength tests.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.577-598
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• 2018

The imperfect steel-concrete interface bonding is an important deficiency of the concrete-filled double skin tubular (CFDST) columns that led to separating concrete and steel surfaces under lateral loads and triggering buckling failure of the columns. To improve this issue, it is proposed in this study to use longitudinal and transverse steel stiffeners in CFDST columns. CFDST columns with different patterns of stiffeners embedded in the interior or exterior surfaces of the inner or outer tubes were analyzed under constant axial force and reversed cyclic loading. In the finite element modeling, the confinement effects of both inner and outer tubes on the compressive strength of concrete as well as the effect of discrete crack for concrete fracture were incorporated which give a realistic prediction of the seismic behavior of CFDST columns. Lateral strength, stiffness, ductility and energy absorption are evaluated based on the hysteresis loops. The results indicated that the stiffeners had determinant role on improving pinching behavior resulting from the outer tube's local buckling and opening/closing of the major tensile crack of concrete. The lateral strength, initial stiffness and energy absorption capacity of longitudinally stiffened columns with fixed-free end condition were increased by as much as 17%, 20% and 70%, respectively. The energy dissipation was accentuated up to 107% for fixed-guided end condition. The use of transverse stiffeners at the base of columns increased energy dissipation up to 35%. Axial load ratio, hollow ratio and concrete strength affecting the initial stiffness and lateral strength, had negligible effect of the energy dissipation of the columns. It was also found that the longitudinal stiffeners and transverse stiffeners have, respectively, negative and positive effects on ductility of CFDST columns. The conclusions, drawn from this study, can in turn, lead to the suggestion of some guidelines for the design of CFDST columns.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.365-373
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• 2016

Ultra-High-Performance Steel Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (SUPER Concrete) exhibits improved compressive and tensile strengths far superior to those of conventional concrete. These characteristics can significantly reduce the cross sectional area of the member and the anchorage strength of a headed bar is expected to be improved. In this study, the anchorage strengths of headed bars with $4d_b$ or $6d_b$ embedment length were evaluated by simulated exterior beam-column joint tests where the headed bars were used as beam bars and the joints were cast of 120 or 180 MPa SUPER Concrete. In all specimens, the actual yield strengths of the headed bars over 600 MPa were developed. Some headed bars were fractured due to the high anchorage capacity in SUPER Concrete. Therefore, the headed bar with only $4d_b$ embedment length in 120 MPa SUPER Concrete can develop a yield strength of 600 MPa which is the highest design yield strength permitted by the KCI design code. The previous model derived from tests with normal concrete and the current design code underestimate the anchorage capacity of the headed bar anchored in SUPER Concrete. Because the previous model and the current design code do not consider the effects of the high tensile strength of SUPER Concrete. From a regression analysis assuming that the anchorage strength is proportional to $(f_{ck})^{\alpha}$, the model for predicting anchorage strength of headed bars in SUPER Concrete is developed. The average and coefficient of variation of the test-to-prediction values are 1.01 and 5%, respectively.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.241-266
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• 2011

The Self Compacting Concrete, SCC is the new generation type of concrete which is not needed to be compacted by vibrator and it will be compacted by its own weight. Since SCC is a new innovation and also the high strength self compacting concrete, HSSCC behavior is like a brittle material, therefore, understanding the strength effect on the serviceability performance of reinforced self compacting concretes is critical. For this aim, first the normal and high strength self compacting concrete, NSSCC and HSSCC was designed. Then, the serviceability performance of reinforced connections consisting of NSSCC and HSSCC were investigated. Twelve reinforced concrete connections (L = 3 m, b = 0.15 m, h = 0.3 m) were simulated, by this concretes, the maximum and minimum reinforcement ratios ${\rho}$ and ${\rho}^{\prime}$ (percentage of tensile and compressive steel reinforcement) are in accordance with the provision of the ACI-05 for conventional RC structures. This study was limited to the case of bending without axial load, utilizing simple connections loaded at mid span through a stub (b = 0.15 m, h = 0.3 m, L = 0.3 m) to simulate a beam-column connection. During the test, concrete and steel strains, deflections and crack widths were measured at different locations along each member. Based on the experimental readings and observations, the cracked moment of inertia ($I_{cr}$) of members was determined and the results were compared with some selective theoretical methods. Also, the flexural crack widths of the members were measured and the applicability for conventional vibrated concrete, as for ACI, BS and CSA code, was verified for SCCs members tested. A comparison between two Codes (ACI and CSA) for the theoretical values cracking moment is indicate that, irrespective of the concrete strength, for the specimens reported, the prediction values of two codes are almost equale. The experimental cracked moment of inertia $(I_{cr})_{\exp}$ is lower than its theoretical $(I_{cr})_{th}$ values, and therefore theoretically it is overestimated. Also, a general conclusion is that, by increasing the percentage of ${\rho}$, the value of $I_{cr}$ is increased.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.159-168
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• 2011

In the present study, an improved design method was developed for the punching shear strength of interior slabcolumn connections and column footings with and without shear reinforcement. In the evaluation of the punching shear strength, the possible failure mechanisms of the connections and column footings were considered. The considered failures modes were inclined tensile cracking of concrete, yielding of shear re-bars, and concrete crushing of compression zone/strut. The punching shear applied to the concrete critical section was assumed to be resisted mainly by the compression zone. The punching shear strength of the concrete compression zone was evaluated based on the material failure criteria of the concrete subjected to the compressive normal stress and shear stress. For verification of the proposed design method, its prediction was compared with the existing test results. The result showed that the proposed method predicted the strengths of the test specimens better than the current design methods of the KCI code for both the shear reinforced and unreinforced cases.