• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제39권1호
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• pp.81-93
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• 2021

Splitting tensile strength (STS) is an important mechanical parameter of concrete. This study offers novel methodologies for the early prediction of this parameter. Artificial neural network (ANN), which is a leading predictive method, is synthesized with two metaheuristic algorithms, namely atom search optimization (ASO) and equilibrium optimizer (EO) to achieve an optimal tuning of the weights and biases. The models are applied to data collected from the published literature. The sensitivity of the ASO and EO to the population size is first investigated, and then, proper configurations of the ASO-NN and EO-NN are compared to the conventional ANN. Evaluating the prediction results revealed the excellent efficiency of EO in optimizing the ANN. Accuracy improvements attained by this algorithm were 13.26 and 11.41% in terms of root mean square error and mean absolute error, respectively. Moreover, it raised the correlation from 0.89958 to 0.92722. This is while the results of the conventional ANN were slightly better than ASO-NN. The EO was also a faster optimizer than ASO. Based on these findings, the combination of the ANN and EO can be an efficient non-destructive tool for predicting the STS.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제11권3호
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• pp.193-206
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• 2021

Extensive research has been conducted on the basic mechanical property and structural applications of engineered cementitious composites (ECC). Despite the high tensile ductility and high toughness of ECC, transverse steel reinforcement is still necessary to confine ECC for high performance. However, limited research has examined performance of ECC confined with practical amount of transverse reinforcement. This paper presents the results of axial compression tests on 14 square ECC columns and 4 conventional concrete columns (used as control specimens) with transverse reinforcement. The test variables were spacing, configuration (square ties or square and diamond shape ties), and yield strength of stirrups. The test showed that ECC columns confined with steel stirrup had good compressive ductility, and the stirrup spacing had the greatest effect on the compressive performance. The self-confinement effect of ECC results in a more uniform but slower expansion of the whole column compared with CC ones. The test results are then compared against the predictions from a number of existing models for conventional confined concrete. It is indicated that these models fail to predict the axial strains at peak axial stress and the trend of the stress-strain curve of steel stirrups-confined ECC with sufficient accuracy. Several new equations are then proposed for the compressive properties of steel-confined ECC based on test results and potential approaches for future studies are proposed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제77권6호
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• pp.753-763
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• 2021

Feasibility studies of a reinforced concrete (RC) deep pile foundation system with the compressed air energy storage (CAES) technology were conducted in previous studies. However, those studies showed some technical limitations in its serviceability and durability performances. To overcome such drawbacks of the conventional RC energy pile system, various steel-concrete composite pile foundations are addressed in this study to be utilized as a dual functional system for an energy storage medium and load-resistant foundation. This study conducts finite element analyses to examine the applicability of various composite energy pile foundation systems considering the combined effects of structural loading, soil boundary forces, and internal air pressures induced by the thermos-dynamic cycle of compressed air. On this basis, it was clearly confirmed that the role of inner and outer tubes is essential in terms of reliable storage tank and better constructability of pile, respectively, and the steel tubes in the composite pile foundation can also ensure improved serviceability and durability performances compared to the conventional RC pile system.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• 제25권6호
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• pp.667-674
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• 2013

Improving the earthquake resistance of buildings through seismic retrofitting using steel braces can result in brittle failure at the connection between the brace and the building, as well as buckling failure of the braces. This paper proposes a new seismic retrofit methodology combined with glass fiber sheet (GFS) and non-compression X-brace system using carbon fiber (CFXB) for reinforced concrete buildings damaged in earthquakes. The GFS is used to improve the ductility of columns damaged in earthquake. The CFXB consists of carbon fiber bracing and anchors, to replace the conventional steel bracing and bolt connection. This paper reports the seismic resistance of a reinforced concrete frame strengthened using the GFS-CFXB system. Cyclic loading tests were carried out, and the hysteresis of the lateral load-drift relations as well as ductility capacities were investigated. Carbon fiber is less rigid than the conventional materials used for seismic retrofitting, resulting in some significant advantages: the strength of the structure increased markedly with the use of CF X-bracing, and no buckling failure of the bracing was observed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제88권5호
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• pp.451-462
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• 2023

Lumped Damage Mechanics (LDM) is a theory proposed in the late eighties, which assumes that structural collapse may be analyzed as a two-phase phenomenon. In the first (pre-localization) stage, energy dissipation is a continuous process and it may be modelled by means of the classic versions of the theory of plasticity or Continuum Damage Mechanics (CDM). The second, post-localization, phase can be modelled assuming that energy dissipation is lumped in zones of zero volume: inelastic hinges, hinge lines or localization surfaces. This paper proposes a new LDM formulation for cracking in concrete structures in tension. It also describes its numerical implementation in conventional finite element programs. The results of three numerical simulations of experimental tests reported in the literature are presented. They correspond to plain and fiber-reinforced concrete specimens. A fourth simulation describes also the experimental results of a new test using the digital image correlation technique. These numerical simulations are also compared with the ones obtained using conventional Cohesive Fracture Mechanics (CFM). It is then shown that LDM conserves the advantages of both, CDM and CFM, while overcoming their drawbacks.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제50권6호
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• pp.741-754
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• 2014

The conventional PHC pile-footing connection is the weak part because the surface area and stiffness are sharply changed. The Composite PHC pile reinforced with the transverse shear reinforcing bars and infilled-concrete, hereafter ICP pile, has been developed for improving the flexural and shear performance. This paper investigates the cyclic behavior and performance of the ICP pile-footing connection. To investigate the behavior of the connection, one PHC and two ICP specimens were manufactured and then a series of cyclic loading tests were performed. From the test results, it was found that the ICP pile-footing connection exhibited higher cyclic behavior and connection performance compared to the conventional PHC pile-footing connection in terms of ductility ratio, stiffness degradation and energy dissipation capacity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 한국건축시공학회 2017년도 춘계 학술논문 발표대회
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• pp.101-102
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• 2017

This study was carried out as basic study to apply to construction site the HPC method which is being developed. The construction cost of HPC method was analyzed in comparison with conventional method (half slab method). With regard to research method, it was decided that data on construction work carried out by half slab method was analyzed. According to the results of study, in case of being applied to the construction work using a divided column, the number of columns was decreased. So, it was shown that member production cost, and transport and assemblage cost reduced. In case of being applied to construction work using an undivided column, the analysis showed that there was little difference in construction cost. Therefore, the analysis showed that, if HPC construction method was applied to large structure using a large column, the construction cost was reduced to some extent in comparison with conventional half slab method.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 한국콘크리트학회 2005년도 봄학술 발표회 논문집(I)
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• pp.59-62
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• 2005

Seven columns laterally reinforced with either mechanically anchored crossties or conventional crossties under cyclic loading are tested. 4 columns are specimens for flexural strength and 3 columns are for shear strength. Main variable is anchorage types of crossties. Conventional hooks, 180$^{\circ}$ standard hook-mechanical anchorage and all mechanical anchorage type are used. The specimens are tested under 10$\%$ axial load of nominal axial capacity of the columns combined with increasing lateral load. From the flexure test, it is found that columns with mechanical anchorages exhibit superior performance in terms of ductility and energy dissipation. The crossties with mechanical anchorages reduce buckling length of longitudinal rebar. From the shear test, it is found that. 3 specimens exhibit almost the same strength, displacement, and shear failure mode at ductility factor =2.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제11권1호
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• pp.17-34
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• 2001

An improved method has been developed for the computation of the section forces and stiffness in nonlinear finite element analysis of RC plane frames. The need for a new approach arises because the conventional technique may have a questionable level of efficiency if a large number of layers is specified and a questionable level of accuracy if a smaller number is used. The proposed technique is based on automatically dividing the section into zones of similar state of stress and tangent modulus and then numerically integrating within each zone to evaluate the sectional stiffness parameters and forces. In the new system, the size, number and location of the layers vary with the state of the strains in the cross section. The proposed method shows a significant improvement in time requirement and accuracy in comparison with the conventional layered approach. The computer program based on the new technique has been used successfully to predict the experimental load-deflection response of a RC frame and good agreement with test and other numerical results have been obtained.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제81권5호
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• pp.551-563
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• 2022

Bolted connector could be an alternative to replace the conventional welded headed stud in steel-ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) lightweight composite structures. In this paper, a novel demountable bolted shear connector, consisting of a high-strength bolt (HSB) and a specially-designed nut which is pre-embedded in a thin UHPC slab, is proposed, which may result in the quick installation and disassembly, due to the mountable, demountable and reusable features. In order to study the shear behavior of the new type of bolted shear connector, static push-out tests were conducted on five groups of the novel demountable bolted shear connector specimens and one group of conventional welded headed stud specimen for comparison. The effect of the bolt shank diameter and aspect ratio of bolt on failure mode, shear stiffness, peak slip at the steel-UHPC interface, shear strength and ductility of novel bolted connectors is investigated. Additionally, design formula for the shear strength is proposed to check the suitability for assessment of the novel demountable bolted shear connectors.