• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.203-210
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• 2019

Concrete structures in marine environment are susceptible to chloride attack, where chloride diffusion results in the corrosion of steel bar and further lead to the cracking of concrete cover. This process causes structural deterioration and affects the response of concrete structures to different forms of loading. This paper presents the use of ABAQUS Finite Element Software in simulating the processes involved in concrete's structural degradation from chloride diffusion to steel corrosion and concrete cover cracking. Fick's law was used for the chloride diffusion, while the mass loss from steel corrosion was obtained using Faraday's law. Pressure generated by steel corrosion product at the concrete-steel interface was modeled by applying uniform radial displacements, while concrete smeared cracking alongside the Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) was used for concrete cover cracking simulation. Results show that, chloride concentration decreases with penetration depth, but increases with exposure time at the concrete-steel interface. Cracks initiate and propagate in the concrete cover as pressure caused by the steel corrosion product increases. Furthermore, the crack width increases with the exposure time on the surface of the concrete.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.88-96
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• 2020

In this study, the effect of cyclic wetting-drying on the self-healing of cementitious materials containing superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) were experimentally evaluated. In each cycle, cracked cement paste specimens containing various SAP dosages were exposed to wet conditions for 1 h, during which the capillary water absorption tests and water flow tests were conducted, and then exposed to dry conditions for 47 h. The capillary water absorption test results showed that the sorptivity values of the specimen without SAPs, SAP 0.5%, SAP 1.0%, and SAP 1.5% specimens were decreased by approximately 22.9%, 36.8%, 42.8%, and 46.3%, respectively, after 8 cycles. In addition, the water flow test results showed that the amount of water runoff through the cracks of all cracked specimens gradually decreased over wet/dry cycles, especially the reduction ratio of the amount of water runoff increased with increasing SAP dosage. Furthermore, the swelling behavior of SAPs in cracks by in gress water was con firmed via X-ray computed tomography (CT) analysis. These results indicate that the effective crack width can be reduced as SAPs absorb water and swell, while the water absorbed in SAPs can be released to crack surfaces under dry conditions, further promoting healing product formation. This study demon strates that the in corporation of SAPs can in crease the water tightness of cracks, thereby improving the self-healing efficiency of cementitious materials.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.293-296
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• 2008

The member deflection is one of the most important considerations for the serviceability evaluation of reinforced concrete (RC) structures, and the concept of the effective moment of inertia has been generally used for its estimation. However, the actual service load applied on an existing RC beam may not be easily obtained, for which the estimation of beam deflection by existing methods can be difficult work. Therefore, based on the close relationships between cracks and deflection in a RC beam, this study proposed a method to estimate the deflection of RC beams directly from the condition of cracks not using the actual loads acting on the member as its input data. The proposed method extensively utilized the relationships among sums of crack widths, average strains, and curvatures, and modification factors obtained from regression analysis were also introduced to improve its accuracy. The deflections of members were successfully estimated by the proposed method independent from applied loads, which was also easy to apply compared to the existing methods based on the effective moment of inertia. This new method, however, has limitations in its applicability in that it is less accurate than the existing methods because the magnitude of acting load is not involved in the estimation process of member deflection, and that it requires the measurement of crack widths along the whole length of a member.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.425-438
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• 2019

A scaled model test was performed to evaluate the stability of subway twin tunnels excavated in the sedimentary rocks with subhorizontal bedding planes. The size of studied tunnel was 6.2 m×6.8 m and pillar width was 4 m. The anisotropic model test specimen was manufactured with the modeling materials suitable for in-situ rocks by way of dimensional analysis. Fracture and deformation behaviors of tunnels according to applied loads were investigated through the biaxial compression test. As the load was increased on the model specimen, the first crack occurred in the middle part of the pillar across twin tunnels and the gradual fractures progressed at crown and floor of twin tunnels. All the cracks in pillar were generated along the existing bedding planes so that they were found to be the main cause of the pillar failure. In addition, the test results were verified by numerical analysis on the experimental conditions using FLAC ubiquitous joint model. The distribution of plastic regions obtained from numerical analysis were in general agreement with test results, confirming the reliability of the scaled model test conducted in this study.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.285-291
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• 2011

In this study the mechanical performance of the new wave dissipating block is evaluated through experiment and numerical analysis. Also, by selecting adequate reinforcement, the improvement of the structural performance is examined. The reinforcement is designed by predicting the amount of tensile force and the location where the tensile stress develops in the new wave dissipating block through numerical analysis. The new wave dissipating block is reinforced with the ordinary steel bars and the fiber reinforced plastic(FRP) bars which have advantages in ocean environment in terms of corrosion and fatigue. The test result shows that the fracture resistance of the un-reinforced concrete block is 350 kN which is about 6.2 times that of the weight of the block. All the test blocks which are reinforced by either steel of FRP bars show strength capacity of over 900 kN which is the maximum load of the test equipment. Although the single reinforcement with larger-diameter bars has advantage in terms of construction convenience, it is recommended to use multiple number of smaller-diameter bars in order to reduce the crack width.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.72 no.3
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• pp.383-393
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• 2019

Horizontal openings in reinforced concrete (RC) beams are quite often used to accommodate service pipelines. Several research papers are available in the literature describing their effect. RC beams with vertical openings are commonly used to accommodate service lines in residential buildings in Kuwait. However, there are lack of design guidelines and best practices reported in the literature for RC beams with vertical openings, whereas the detailed guidelines are available for beams with horizontal openings. In the present paper, laboratory experiments are conducted on nine RC beams with and without vertical openings. Parametric study has been carried out using nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) with changes in the diameter of the opening, various positions of the opening along the length and width of the beam, edge distance, etc. 50 finite element simulations were conducted. The FEA results are verified using the results from the laboratory experiments. The study showed that the load carrying capacity of the beam is reduced by 20% for the RC beam with vertical openings placed near the center of the beam compared to a solid beam without an opening. Significant reduction in load carrying capacity is observed for beams with an opening near the support (${\approx}15%$). The overall stiffness of the beam, crack pattern and failure modes were not affected due to the presence of the vertical opening. Furthermore, an artificial neural network (ANN) analysis is carried out using the FEA generated data. The results and observations from the ANN and FEA are in good agreement with experimental results.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.219-235
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• 2022

Strengthening slender reinforced concrete (RC) columns is a challenge. They are susceptible to overall buckling that induces bending moment and axial compression. This study presents the precise three-dimensional finite element modeling of slender RC columns strengthened with fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites sheets with various patterns under concentric or eccentric compression. The slenderness ratio λ (height/width ratio) of the studied columns ranged from 15 to 35. First, to determine the optimal modeling procedure, nine alternative nonlinear finite element models were presented to simulate the experimental behavior of seven FRP-strengthened slender RC columns under eccentric compression. The models simulated concrete behavior under compression and tension, FRP laminate sheets with different fiber orientations, crack propagation, FRP-concrete interface, and eccentric compression. Then, the validated modeling procedure was applied to simulate 58 FRP-strengthened slender RC columns under compression with minor eccentricity to represent the inevitable geometric imperfections. The simulated columns showed two cross sections (square and rectangular), variable λ values (15, 22, and 35), and four strengthening patterns for FRP sheet layers (hoop H, longitudinal L, partial longitudinal L_w, and longitudinal coupled with hoop LH). For λ=15-22, pattern L showed the highest strengthening effectiveness, pattern L_w showed brittle failure, steel reinforcement bars exhibited compressive yielding, ties exhibited tensile yielding, and concrete failed under compression. For λ>22, pattern L_w outperformed pattern L in terms of the strengthening effectiveness relative to equivalent weight of FRP layers, steel reinforcement bars exhibited crossover tensile strain, and concrete failed under tension. Patterns H and LH (compared with pattern L) showed minor strengthening effectiveness.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.107-115
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• 2011

In this study, the vibration analysis of the underground box structures induced train movement is studied. In order to perform these analysis, dynamic data, which was measured when subway is in service, are gained by attaching accelerometers on the structure such as lower beam, lateral wall and upper slab. Also, accelerometers are attached on the lower beams and side walls of the gravel ballast and concrete ballast sections in order to compare vibration due to ballast materials. The vibration results of upper slabs and lower beams reveal that the vibration on the upper slabs is greater than the lower beams. Also, the results of the crack gauge on the upper slab show that crack width dose not change due to vibration, These means that the effect of the vibration on the structure is very limited. In order to evaluate the vibration of the structure, acceleration unit is converted to velocity unit comparing with the existing velocity data gained from the platforms.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.421-424
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• 2008

Ultra high strength steel fiber-reinforced concrete is characterized with high tensile strength and ductility. This paper revealed the influence of fiber volume fraction on the tensile softening behaviour of ultra high strength steel fiber-reinforced concrete and developed tensile softening model to predict the deformation capacity by finite element method analysis with experimental results. The initial stiffness of ultra high strength steel fiber-reinforced concrete was constant irrespective of fiber volume fraction. The increase of fiber volume fraction improved the flexural tensile strength and caused more brittle softening behaviour. Finite element method analysis proposed by Uchida et al. was introduced to obtain the tensile softening curve from three point notched beam test results and we proposed the tensile softening model as a function of fiber volume fraction and critical crack width.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.357-376
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• 2024

In this paper, weakly bonded ultra-high-strength steel bars (UHSS) were used as longitudinal reinforcement in recycled aggregate concrete shear walls to achieve resilient performance. The study evaluated the repairability and hysteresis performance of shear walls before and after retrofitting. Quasi-static tests were performed on recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) and steel fiber reinforced recycled aggregate concrete (FRAC) shear walls to investigate the reparability of resilient shear walls when loaded to 1% drift ratio. Results showed that shear walls exhibited drift-hardening properties. The maximum residual drift ratio and residual crack width at 1% drift ratio were 0.107% and 0.01mm, respectively, which were within the repairable limits. Subsequently, shear walls were retrofitted with bonded X-shaped CFRP strips and steel plates wrapped at the bottom and retested. Except for a slight reduction in initial stiffness, earthquake-damaged resilient shear walls retrofitted with a composite method still had satisfactory hysteresis performance. A revised damage assessment index D, has been proposed to assess of damage degree. Moreover, finite-element analysis for the shear wall before and after retrofit retrofitting was established in OpenSees and verified with experimental results. The finite element results and test results were in good agreement. Finally, parametric analysis was performed.