• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1569-1582
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• 2015

This study explores the lateral deflections of diagonal braces in concentrically-braced earthquake-resisting frames. The performance of this widely-used system is often compromised by the flexural buckling of slender braces in compression. In addition to reducing the compressive resistance, buckling may also cause these members to undergo sizeable lateral deflections which could damage surrounding structural components. Different approaches have been used in the past to predict the mid-length lateral deflections of cyclically loaded steel braces based on their theoretical deformed geometry or by using experimental data. Expressions have been proposed relating the mid-length lateral deflection to the axial displacement ductility of the member. Recent experiments were conducted on hollow and concrete-filled circular hollow section (CHS) braces of different lengths under cyclic loading. Very slender, concrete-filled tubular braces exhibited a highly ductile response, undergoing large axial displacements prior to failure. The presence of concrete infill did not influence the magnitude of lateral deflection in relation to the axial displacement, but did increase the number of cycles endured and the maximum axial displacement achieved. The corresponding lateral deflections exceeded the deflections observed in the majority of the previous experiments that were considered. Consequently, predictive expressions from previous research did not accurately predict the mid-height lateral deflections of these CHS members. Mid-length lateral deflections were found to be influenced by the member non-dimensional slenderness (${\bar{\lambda}}$) and hence a new expression was proposed for the lateral deflection in terms of member slenderness and axial displacement ductility.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.453-464
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• 2017

The square tubed-reinforced concrete (TRC) column is a kind of special concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) columns, in which the outer thin-walled steel tube does not pass through the beam-column joint, so that the longitudinal steel reinforcing bars in the RC beam are continuous through the connection zone. However, there is a possible decrease of the axial bearing capacity at the TRC column to RC beam connection due to the discontinuity of the column tube, which is a concern to engineers. 24 connections and 7 square TRC columns were tested under axial compression. The primary parameters considered in the tests are: (1) connection location (corner, exterior and interior); (2) dimensions of RC beam cross section; (3) RC beam type (with or without horizontal haunches); (4) tube type (with or without stiffening ribs). The test results show that all specimens have relatively high load-carrying capacity and satisfactory ductility. With a proper design, the connections exhibit higher axial resistance and better ductility performance than the TRC column. The feasibility of this type of connections is verified.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.785-796
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• 2022

Concrete-encased steel (CES) beam, in which structural steel is encased in a reinforced concrete (RC) section, is widely applied in high-rise buildings as transfer beams due to its high load-carrying capacity, great stiffness, and good durability. However, these CES beams are prone to shear failure because of the low shear span-to-depth ratio and the heavy load. Due to the high load-carrying capacity and the brittle failure process of the shear failure, the accurate strength prediction of CES beams significantly influences the assessment of structural safety. In current design codes, design formulas for predicting the shear strength of CES beams are based on the so-called "superposition method". This method indicates that the shear strength of CES beams can be obtained by superposing the shear strengths of the RC part and the steel shape. Nevertheless, in some cases, this method yields errors on the unsafe side because the shear strengths of these two parts cannot be achieved simultaneously. This paper clarifies the conditions at which the superposition method does not hold true, and the shear strength of CES beams is investigated using a compatible truss-arch model. Considering the deformation compatibility between the steel shape and the RC part, the method to obtain the shear strength of CES beams is proposed. Finally, the proposed model is compared with other calculation methods from codes AISC 360 (USA, North America), Eurocode 4 (Europe), YB 9082 (China, Asia), JGJ 138 (China, Asia), and AS/NZS 2327 (Australia/New Zealand, Oceania) using the available test data consisting of 45 CES beams. The results indicate that the proposed model can predict the shear strength of CES beams with sufficient accuracy and safety. Without considering the deformation compatibility, the calculation methods from the codes AISC 360, Eurocode 4, YB 9082, JGJ 138, and AS/NZS 2327 lead to excessively conservative or unsafe predictions.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.91-106
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• 2022

Concrete-filled square stainless steel tubes (CFSSST), which possess relatively large flexural stiffness, high corrosion resistance and require simple joint configurations and low maintenance cost, have a great potential in constructional applications. Despite that the use of stainless steel may result in high initial cost compared to their conventional carbon steel counterparts, the whole-life cost of CFSSST is however considered to be lower, which offers a competitive choice in engineering practice. In this paper, a comprehensive experimental and numerical program on 24 CFSSST stub column specimens, including 3 austenitic and 3 duplex stainless steel square hollow section (SHS) stub columns and 9 austenitic and 9 duplex CFSSST stub columns, has been carried out. Finite element (FE) models were developed to be used in parametric analysis to investigate the influence of the tube thickness and concrete strength on the ultimate capacities more accurately. Comparisons of the experimental and numerical results with the predictions made by design guides ACI 318, ANSI/AISC 360, Eurocode 4 and GB 50936 have been performed. It was found that these design methods generally give conservative predictions to the ultimate capacities of CFSSST stub columns. Improved calculation methods, developed based on the Continuous Strength Method, have been proposed to provide more accurate estimations of the ultimate resistances of CFSSST stub columns. The suitability of these proposals has been validated by comparison with the test results, where a good agreement between the predictions and the test results have been achieved.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.67-77
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• 2022

In South Korea, U-type girder development was attempted as a means to increase the length of I-type girder, but due to the large self-weight according to the post-tension method, the application of rail bridges of 30m or less is typical. There are not many examples of application of pre-tension type girder. This study does not limit the post-tension method, but applies the pre-tension method to induce a reduction in self-weight and materials used due to the reduction of the cross-section. In addition, we intend to apply the on-site pre-tensioning method using the internal reaction arm of the U-type girder. The prestressed concrete U-type girder bridge is composed of a concrete deck slab and a composite section. Compared to the PSC I-type, which is an open cross-section because the cross section is closed, structural performance such as resistance and rigidity is improved, the safety of construction is increased during the manufacturing and erection stage, and the height ratio is reduced due to the reduction of its own weight. Therefore, it is possible to secure the aesthetic scenery and economical of the bridge. As a result, it is expected that efficient construction will be possible with high-quality factory-manufactured members and cast-in-place members. In this paper, the introduction of the pre-tension method on-site and the analytical performance verification of the anchoring block for tension are included.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.695-702
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• 2007

The Thermal Prestressing Method for continuous composite girder bridges is a new design and construction method developed to induce initial composite stresses in the concrete slab at negative bending regions. Due to the induced initial stresses, prevention of tensile cracks at the concrete slab, reduction of steel girder section, and reduction of reinforcing bars are possible. Thus, the construction efficiency can be improved and the construction can be made more economical. The method for determining the optimum heating region of the thermal prestressing method has not been established although such method is essential for improving the efficiency of the design process. The trial-and-error method used in previous studies is far from efficient, and a more rational method for computing optimal heating region is required. In this study, an efficient method for determining the optimum heating region in using the thermal prestressing method was developed based on the neural network algorithm, which is widely adopted to pattern recognition, optimization, diagnosis, and estimation problems in various fields. Back-propagation algorithm, commonly used as a learning algorithm in neural network problems, was used for the training of the neural network. Through case studies of two-span and three-span continuous composite girder bridges using the developed procedure, the optimal heating regions were obtained.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.725-736
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• 2011

In a composite beam, a shear connector is installed to resist the horizontal shear on an interface between steel beams and reinforced concrete slabs. The steel-wire-integrated deck plate slab is commonly used at the wide section beam. Then vertical bars are installed at the upper wire of the ends of the steel truss girder to ensure safety during the construction. The new type of shear connector is made of deformed bar and steel plates, and must function as vertical bars but must have higher shear capacity. This paper examines the ways to develop and utilize this new shear connector. From the push-out experiments, a shear connector made of a continuous deformed bar and steel plate showed a higher shear capacity and ductility than a ${\phi}16$ stud connector, and functioned as a vertical bar.

• 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.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.125-146
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• 2006

Stonecutters Bridge of Hong Kong is a cable-stayed bridge with two single-column pylons each 298 m high and an aerodynamic twin deck. The total length of the bridge is 1596 m with a main span of 1018 m. The top 118 m of the tower will comprise structural steel and concrete composite while the bottom part will be of reinforced concrete. The bridge deck at the central span will be of steel whilst the side spans will be of concrete. Stonecutters Bridge has adopted a twin-girder deck design with a wide clear separation of 14.3 m between the two longitudinal girders. Although a number of studies have been conducted to investigate the aerodynamic performance of twin-girder deck, the actual real life application of this type of deck is extremely limited. This therefore triggered the need for conducting the present studies, the main objective of which is to investigate the performance of Stonecutters Bridge against flutter at its in-service stage as well as during construction. Based on the flutter derivatives obtained from the 1:80 scale rigid section model experiment, flutter analysis was carried out using 3-D finite element based single parameter searching method developed by the second author of this paper. A total of 6 finite element models of the bridge covering the in-service stage as well as 5 construction stages were established. The dynamic characteristics of the bridge associated with these stages were computed and applied in the analyses. Apart from the critical wind speeds for the onset of flutter, the dominant modes of vibration participating in the flutter vibration were also identified. The results indicate that the bridge will be stable against flutter at its in-service stage as well as during construction at wind speeds much higher than the verification wind speed of 95 m/s (1-minute mean).

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2017

In this paper, a model updating procedure based on the response surface method combined with the multi-objective optimization was proposed and applied for updating of the FE models representing a low-rise reinforced concrete building before and after the seismic retrofit. The dynamic properties to be matched were obtained from vibration tests using a small shaker system. By varying the structural parameters according to the central composite design, analysis results from the initial FE model using a commercial software were collected and used to produce two regression functions each of which representing the errors in the natural frequencies and mode shapes. The two functions were used as the objective functions for multi-objective optimization. Final solution was determined by examining the Pareto solutions with one iteration. The parameters representing the stiffnesses of existing concrete, masonry, connection stiffness in expansion joint, new concrete, retrofitted members with steel section jacketing were selected and identified.