• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2001

Due to aesthetic, economic, and structural performance, the use of structural hollow sections as columns in both continuous moment resisting and nominally pinned construction is attractive. Connecting the beams to these sections is somewhat problematic as there is no access to the interior of the section to allow for the tightening of a standard bolt. Therefore, bolts that may be tightened from one side, i.e., blind bolts, have been developed to facilitate the use of site bolting for this arrangement. This paper critically reviews available information concerning blind bolting technology, especially the performance of fasteners in shear, tension, and moment resisting connections. Also provided is an explanation of the way in which the results have been incorporated into design guidance covering the particular case of nominally pinned connections. For moment resisting connections, it is concluded that whilst the principle has been adequately demonstrated, sufficient data are currently not available to permit the provision of authoritative design guidance. In addition, inherent flexibilities in the connections mean that performance equivalent to full strength and rigid is unlikely to be achievable: a semicontinuous approach to frame design will therefore be necessary.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.29-38
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• 2008

It is well-known that the strength properties of wood connections depend on the density of the wood members, the diameter of the fasteners, the number of fasteners, and the arrangement of the fasteners, etc. In this study, the connection with inserted steel plates and drift pins was made in different configurations. The specimens were Larch and Sugi glulam connections. The specimens were loaded in tension, and the yield loads of the connections were obtained. The values obtained from the tests were compared with the predicted values. Good agreement between the yield loads obtained from the tension failure tests and the predicted yield loads were shown. It was shown that the density of the wood member barely affected the strength properties of the connections. The strength decreases of the Sugi glulam connections by the group effect were less than those of the Larch glulam connections.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.21-41
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• 2016

Cold-formed steel structures are increasingly attractive due to their benefits of good mechanical performance and constructional advantages. However, this type of construction is still not fully exploited as a result of the acknowledged difficulties involved in forming construction-efficient and cost-effective connections. Furthermore, there is a lack of information on the structural behavior of the cold-formed steel connections. In this study, the research on various cold-formed steel connections was comprehensively reviewed from both fundamental and structural points of view, based on the available experimental and analytical data. It reveals that the current design codes and guidelines for cold-formed steel connections tend to focus more on the individual bearing capacity of the fasteners rather than the overall structural behavior of the connections. Significant future work remains to be conducted on the structural performance of cold-formed steel connection. In addition, extensive previous research has been carried out to propose and evaluate an economical and efficient connection system that is obtained from the conventional connecting techniques used in the hot-rolled industry. These connecting techniques may not be suitable, however, as they have been adopted from hot-rolled steel portal frames due to the thinness of the sheet in cold-formed steels. The review demonstrates that with the increasing demand for cold-formed steel constructions throughout the world, it is crucial to develop an efficient connection system that can be prefabricated and easily assembled on site.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1103-1117
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• 2015

It is known that material properties, connection quality and manufacturing methods are among the important factors directly affecting the behavior of steel connections and hence steel structures. The possible performance differences between a fabricated connection and its computer model may cause critical design problems for steel structures. Achieving a reliable design depends, however, on how accurately the material properties and relevant constitutive models are considered to characterize the behavior of structures. Conventionally, the stress and strain fields in structural steel connections are calculated using the finite elements method with assumed material properties and constitutive models. Because the conventional strain gages allow the measurement of deformation only at one point and direction for specific time duration, it is not possible to determine the general characteristics of stress-strain distributions in connections after the laboratory performance tests. In this study, a new method is introduced to measure displacement distribution of simple steel welded connections under tension tests. The method is based on analyzing digital images of connection specimens taken periodically during the laboratory tension test. By using this method, displacement distribution of steel connections can be calculated with an acceptable precision for the tested connections. Calculated displacements based on the digital image correlation method are compared with those calculated using the finite elements method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.31-51
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• 2012

This paper presents a computational study that explores the design of rigid steel frames by considering construction related costs. More specifically, two different aspects are investigated in this study focusing on the effects of (a) reducing the number of labor intensive rigid connections within a frame of given geometric layout, and (b) reducing the number of different member section types used in the frame. A genetic algorithm based optimization framework searches design space for these objectives. Unlike some studies that express connection cost as a factor of the entire frame weight, here connections and their associated cost factors are explicitly represented at the member level to evaluate the cost of connections associated with each beam. In addition, because variety in member section types can drive up construction related costs, its effects are evaluated implicitly by generating curves that show the trade off between cost and different numbers of section types used within the frame. Our results show that designs in which all connections are considered to be rigid can be excessively conservative: rigid connections can often be eliminated without any appreciable increase in frame weight, resulting in a reduction in overall cost. Eliminating additional rigid connections leads to further reductions in cost, even as frame weight increases, up to a certain point. These complex relationships between overall cost, rigid connections, and member section types are presented for a representative five-story steel frame.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.455-469
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• 2012

Given the importance of mathematical connections in instruction, this paper analyzed the objects and the methods of mathematical connections according to the lesson flow featured in 20 elementary lessons selected as effective instructional methods by local educational offices in Korea. Mathematical connections tended to occur mainly in the introduction, the first activity, and the sum-up period of each lesson. The connection between mathematical concept and procedure was the most popular followed by the connection between concept and real-life context. The most prevalent method of mathematical connections was through communication, specifically the communication between the teacher and students, followed by representation. Overall it seems that the objects and the methods of mathematical connections were diverse and prevalent, but the detailed analysis of such cases showed the lack of meaningful connection. These results urge us to investigate reasons behind these seemingly good features but not-enough connections, and to suggest implications for well-connected mathematics teaching.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.293-302
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• 2020

Connections play a significant role in strength of structures against earthquake-induced loads. According to the post-seismic reports, connection failure is a cause of overall failure in reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Connection failure results in a sudden increase in inter-story drift, followed by early and progressive failure across the entire structure. This article investigated the cyclic performance and behavioral improvement of shape-memory alloy-based connections (SMA-based connections). The novelty of the present work is focused on the effect of shape memory alloy bars is damage reduction, strain recoverability, and cracking distribution of the stated material in RC moment frames under seismic loads using 3D nonlinear static analyses. The present numerical study was verified using two experimental connections. Then, the performance of connections was studied using 14 models with different reinforcement details on a scale of 3:4. The response parameters under study included moment-rotation, secant stiffness, energy dissipation, strain of bar, and moment-curvature of the connection. The connections were simulated using LS-DYNA environment. The models with longitudinal SMA-based bars, as the main bars, could eliminate residual plastic rotations and thus reduce the demand for post-earthquake structural repairs. The flag-shaped stress-strain curve of SMA-based materials resulted in a very slight residual drift in such connections.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.23-35
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• 2021

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate whether consumers' mental simulation and self-brand connections influence purchase intention and how the characteristics of advertisings' nonverbal information (congruence among multisensory cues) and verbal messages (self-referencing point and narrative structure) jointly shape mental simulation and self-brand connections. Research design, data and methodology: This paper develops a sportswear advertising and totally collected 225 data through the online survey platform "WenJuanXing". To exam the hypotheses in this paper, structural equation model is conducted in AMOS 21.0 via using 210 valid data. Results: The findings reveal that consumers who engage in mental simulation or establish the connections between them and the brands are more likely to present high purchase intention. Moreover, the characteristics of congruence among multisensory cues, self-referencing points and narrative structure can not only facilitate consumers' mental simulation but also encourage consumers to create connections between them and the brands. Conclusions: This paper develops the advertising research via exploring the characteristics of advertisings' nonverbal information (multisensory cues) and verbal messages simultaneously. And suggesting that both of consumers' mental simulation and self-brand connections are the important approaches for advertisers to effectively increase consumers' purchase intention. Finally, the limitations and suggestions are concluded for the future research.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.547-564
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• 2023

This study investigates the effect of bolt preloading on the rotational stiffness of stainless steel end-plate connections. An experimental programme incorporating 11 full-scale joint specimens are carried out comparing the behaviours of fully pre-tensioned (PT) and snug-tightened (ST) flush/extended end-plate connections, made of austenitic or lean duplex stainless steels. It is observed from the tests that the presence of bolt preloading leads to a significant increase in the rotational stiffness. A parallel finite element analysis (FEA) validated against the test results demonstrates that the geometric imperfection of end-plate has a strong influence on the moment-rotation response of preloaded end-plate connections, which is crucial to explain the observed "two-stage" behaviour of these connections. Based on the data obtained from the tests and FE parametric study, the performance of the Eurocode 3 predictive model is evaluated, which exhibits a significant deviation in predicting the rotational stiffness of stainless steel end-plate connections. A modified bi-linear model, which incorporates three key properties, is therefore proposed to enable a better prediction. Finally, the effect of bolt preloading is demonstrated at the system (structure) level considering the serviceability of semi-continuous stainless steel beams with end-plate connections.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.117-122
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• 2002

Flat Plate structures subjected to lateral load are susceptible to the brittle failure, therefore deformability of plate-column connections should be ensured to resist against earthquake. However, according to previous study, existing experiments overestimate the deformability of connections and current design provision do not accurately explains them. In the present study, parametric study using nonlinear finite element analysis was performed. Based on the numerical results, seismic design method considering the deformability of connections was developed.