• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.70 no.1
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• pp.43-54
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• 2019

Due to various numerical problems, crack analysis of reinforced concrete members using the finite element method is confronting with substantial difficulties, rendering the prediction of crack patterns and crack widths a formidable task. The root cause is that the conventional analysis methods are not capable of tracking the crack sequence and accounting for the stress relief and re-distribution during cracking. To address this deficiency, the crack queuing algorithm has been proposed. Basically, at each load increment, iterations are carried out and within each iteration step, only the most critical concrete element is allowed to crack and the stress re-distribution is captured in subsequent iteration by re-formulating the cracked concrete element and re-analysing the whole concrete structure. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the crack queuing algorithm, crack analysis of concrete members tested in the literature is performed with and without the crack queuing algorithm incorporated.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.43-49
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• 2010

The piping failure probability of the reactor coolant system in Kori unit 1 was evaluated considering stress corrosion cracking. The P-PIE program (Probabilistic Piping Integrity Evaluation Program) developed in this study was used in the analysis. The effect of some variables such as oxygen concentration during start up and steady state operation, and operating temperature, which are related with stress corrosion cracking, on the piping failure probabilities was investigated. The effects of leak detection capability, the size of big leak, piping loops, and reactor types on the piping failure probability were also investigated. The results show that (1) LOCA (loss of coolant accident) probability of Kori unit 1 is extremely low, (2) leak probability is sensitive to oxygen concentration during steady state operation and operating temperature, while not sensitive to the oxygen concentration during start up, and (3) the piping thickness and operating temperature play important roles in the leak probabilities of the cold leg in 4 reactor types having same inner diameter.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.87-90
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• 2001

In particle or short-fiber reinforced composites, cracking of the reinforcements is a significant damage mode because the broken reinforcements lose load carrying capacity. This paper deals with elastic stress distributions and load carrying capacity of intact and cracked ellipsoidal inhomogeneities. Three dimensional finite element analysis has been carried out on intact and broken ellipsoidal inhomogeneities in an infinite body under pure shear. For the intact inhomogeneity, as well known as Eshelby(1957) solution, the stress distribution is uniform in the inhomogeneity and non-uniform in the surrounding matrix. On the other hand, for the broken inhomogeneity, the stress in the region near crack surface is considerably released and the stress distribution becomes more complex. The average stress in the inhomogeneity represents its load carrying capacity, and the difference of average stresses between the intact and broken inhomogeneities indicates the loss of load carrying capacity due to cracking damage. The load carrying capacity of the broken inhomogeneity is expressed in terms of the average stress of the intact inhomogeneity and some coefficients. It is found that the broken inhomogeneity with higher aspect ratio still maintains higher load carrying capacity.

• The Journal of Engineering Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.31-50
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• 2006

Shrinkage may cause cracking in concrete. In practice such cracking must be considered in most concrete applications because, under normal conditions, drying of the concrete is unavoidable, and when drying takes place shrinkage occurs. Cracked concrete is an inferior concrete because it is weaker, more permeable, and more susceptible to chemical attack. The development of the strength of LAC with aging depends on a few factors such as type of the cement, W/C ratio, curing conditions and periods. The higher the strength of LAC, the lower the possibility of shrinkage cracking. Hence, the strength of LAC in the hypocaust system depends to a large extent on the effect of cracking decrease of the antifoaming rate to drying shrinkage in cement.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.51-69
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• 2016

A large number of welded steel moment-resisting framed (SMRF) structures failed due to brittle fracture induced by ductile fracture at beam-to-column connections during 1994 Northridge earthquake and 1995 Kobe (Hyogoken-Nanbu) earthquake. Extensive research efforts have been devoted to clarifying the mechanism of the observed failures and corresponding countermeasures to ensure more ductile design of welded SMRF structures, while limited research on the failure analysis of the ductile cracking was conducted due to lack of computational capacity and proper theoretical models. As the first step to solve this complicated problem, this paper aims to establish a straightforward procedure to simulate ductile cracking of welded joints under monotonic tension. There are two difficulties in achieving the aim of this study, including measurement of true stress-true strain data and ductile fracture parameters of different subzones in a welded joint, such as weld deposit, heat affected zone and the boundary between the two. Butt joints are employed in this study for their simple configuration. Both experimental and numerical studies on two types of butt joints are conducted. The validity of the proposed procedure is proved by comparison between the experimental and numerical results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.219-240
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• 2007

An analytical-numerical procedure has been presented in this paper to take into account the nonlinear effects of concrete cracking and time-dependent effects of creep and shrinkage in the concrete portion of the continuous composite beams under service load. The procedure is analytical at the element level and numerical at the structural level. The cracked span length beam element consisting of uncracked zone in middle and cracked zones near the ends has been proposed to reduce the computational effort. The progressive nature of cracking of concrete has been taken into account by division of the time into a number of time intervals. Closed form expressions for stiffness matrix, load vector, crack lengths and mid-span deflection of the beam element have been presented in order to reduce the computational effort and bookkeeping. The procedure has been validated by comparison with the experimental and analytical results reported elsewhere and with FEM. The procedure can be readily extended for the analysis of composite building frames where saving in computational effort would be very considerable.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.429-438
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• 2020

To shorten the construction times of nuclear facility structures, three high-strength concrete mixtures were developed with specific consideration given to their curing temperatures, their economic efficiency, and the practicality of their quality control. This study was conducted to examine the temperature rise profiles of these three concrete mixtures and the potential for early-age thermal cracking in the primary containment vessel of a nuclear reactor with a wall thickness of 1200 mm. The one-layer placement height of the concrete for the primary containment vessel was increased from the conventional 3 m to 3.5 m. A nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) was conducted using the thermal properties of concrete determined from the isothermal hydration and adiabatic hydration tests, and tuned through comparisons made with temperature rise profiles obtained for 1200-mm-thick mock-up wall specimens cured at temperatures of 5, 20, and 35℃. The hydration heat performance of the three concrete mixtures and their potential to produce thermal cracking in nuclear facilities indicate that the mixtures have considerable potential for practical application to the primary containment vessel of a nuclear reactor at various curing temperatures, fulfilling the minimum requirements of the ACI 301 and minimizing the likelihood of the occurrence of thermal cracks.

• Journal of Applied Reliability
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.141-151
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• 2013

The study of environmental stress cracking (ESC) by contact with plastic rulers and PVC erasers which was artificially added to the external stress was carried out in order to accelerate the chemicals crack. To analyze a blooming plasticizer that migrates from the inside of blended eraser to the surface of the eraser, the ESC experiments were carried out at room temperature and $50^{\circ}C$ conditions. The chemicals crack shape caused by the plasticizer and the brittle fracture shape resulted from the external stress were observed in consequence with the cross-sectional surface analysis of the ruler crack by the ESC. The bending strength of the plastic rulers were fractured prior to the yield point and it had low bending flexure stress. We presented that ESC of polymer materials was affected by the polarity of the chemicals and polymer, the exposure time to chemicals, the exposure temperature and the level of strain on the polymer.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.453-469
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• 2021

The cracking at the transverse diaphragm cutout is one of the most severe fatigue failures threatening orthotropic steel decks (OSDs), whose mechanisms and crack treatment techniques have not been fully studied. In this paper, full-scale experiments were first performed to investigate the fatigue performance of polished cutouts involving the effect of an artificial geometrical defect. Following this, comparative experimental testing for defective cutouts strengthened with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) was carried out. Numerical finite element analysis was also performed to verify and explain the experimental observations. Results show that the combinative effect of the wheel load and thermal residual stress constitutes the external driving force for the fatigue cracking of the cutout. Initial geometrical defects are confirmed as a critical factor affecting the fatigue cracking. The principal stress 6 mm away from the free edge of the cutout can be adopted as the nominal stress of the cutout during fatigue evaluation, and the fatigue resistance of polished cutouts is higher than Grade A in AASHTO specification. The bonded CFRP system is highly effective in extending the fatigue life of the defective cutouts. The present study provides some new insights into the fatigue evaluation and repair of OSDs.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.107-117
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• 2023

Textile-reinforced concrete composite (TRC) is a new alternative material that can satisfy sustainable development needs in the civil engineering field. Its mechanical behaviour and properties have been identified from the experimental works. However, it is necessary for a numerical approach to consider the effect of the parameters on TRC's behaviour with lower analysis duration and cost related to the experiment. This paper presents obtained results of the numerical modelling for TRC composite using the cracking model for the cementitious matrix in TRC. As a result, the TRC composite exhibited a strain-hardening behaviour with the cracking phase characterized by the drops in tensile stress on the stress-strain curve. This model also showed the failure mode by multi-cracking on the TRC specimen surface. Furthermore, the parametric studies showed the effect of several parameters on the TRC tensile behaviour, as the reinforcement ratio, the length and position of the deformation measurement zone, and elevated temperatures. These numerical results were compared with the experiment and showed a remarkable agreement for all cases of this study.