• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.34 no.5
• /
• pp.769-782
• /
• 2020

A Prestressed stayed steel column is an efficient and lightweight way with regard to enhancing the stability behaviour of a compression column. In the past, researchers primarily concentrated on investigating the behaviour of stayed steel columns with horizontal crossarms. However, this article focuses on prestressed stayed steel columns with split-up crossarm system, in which the crossarms are aslant and rotational symmetrically arranged. A mathematical formula calculating the optimal pretension that corresponds to the maximum critical buckling load was established according to geometric analysis based on the small deformation assumption. It was demonstrated that critical buckling mode of this stayed column is different from the one with horizontal crossarms. The governing imperfection direction that should be adopted in the nonlinear buckling analysis was determined in this work. In addition, the effects of crossarm inclination, stay diameter, and crossarm length on the stability behaviour were investigated. An influencing factor denotes the ratio of the load carrying capacity of the prestressed stayed steel column to the Euler load of the main column was also obtained.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.57 no.6
• /
• pp.1065-1084
• /
• 2016

The analysis and design of skeletal structures is greatly influenced by the behaviour of beam-to-column connections, where patented designs have led to a wide range of types with differing structural quantities. The behaviour of beam-to-column connections plays an important role in the analysis and design of framed structures. This paper presents an overview of the influence of connection behaviour on structural stability, in the in-plane (bending) mode of sway. A computer-based method is presented for geometrically nonlinear plane frames with semi-rigid connections accounting for shear deformations. The analytical procedure employs transcendental modified stability functions to model the effect of axial force on the stiffness of members. The member stiffness matrix were found. The critical load has been searched as a suitable load parameter for the loss of stability of the system. Several examples are presented to demonstrate the validity of the analysis procedure. The method is readily implemented on a computer using matrix structural analysis techniques and is applicable for the efficient nonlinear analysis of frameworks. Combined with a parametric column effective length study, connection and frame stiffness are used to propose a method for the analysis of semi-rigid frames where column effective lengths are greatly reduced and second order (deflection induced) bending moments in the column may be distributed via the connectors to the beams, leading to significant economies.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.191-208
• /
• 2009

Observations from experiments and real fire indicate that restrained steel beams have better fire-resistant capability than isolated beams. Due to the effects of restraints, a steel beam in fire condition can undergo very large deflections and the run away damage may be avoided. However disgusting damages may occur in the beam-to-column connections, which is considered to be mainly caused by the enormous axial tensile forces in steel beams resulted from temperature decreasing after fire dies out. Over the past ten years, the behaviour of restrained steel beams subjected to fire during heating has been experimentally and theoretically investigated in detail, and some simplified analytical approaches have been proposed. While the performance of restrained steel beams during cooling has not been so deeply studied. For the safety evaluation and repair of steel structures against fire, more detailed investigation on the behaviour of restrained steel beams subjected to fire during cooling is necessary. When the temperature decreases, the elastic modulus and yield strength of steel recover, and the contraction force in restrained steel beams will be produced. In this paper, an incremental method is proposed for analyzing the behaviour of restrained steel beams subjected to cooling. In each temperature decrement, the development of deformation and internal forces of a restrained beam is divided into four steps, in order to consider the effect of the recovery of the elastic modulus and strength of steel and the contraction force generated by temperature decrease in the beam respectively. At last, the proposed approach is validated by FE method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.65 no.1
• /
• pp.81-89
• /
• 2018

Stone column installation is a convenient method for improvement of soft ground. In very soft clays, in order to increase the lateral confinement of the stone columns, encasing the columns with high stiffness and creep resistant geosynthetics has proved to be a successful solution. This paper presents the results of three dimensional finite element analyses for evaluating improvement in behaviour of ordinary stone columns (OSCs) installed in soft clay by geotextile encasement under monotonic and cyclic loading by a comprehensive parametric study. The parameters include length and stiffness of encasement, types of stone columns (floating and end bearing), frictional angle and elastic modulus of stone column's material and diameter of stone columns. The results indicate that increasing the stiffness of encasement clearly enhances cyclic behaviour of geotextile encased stone columns (GESCs) in terms of reduction in residual settlement. Performance of GESCs is less sensitive to internal friction angle and elasticity modulus of column's materials in comparison with OSCs. Also, encasing at the top portion of stone column up to triple the diameter of column is found to be adequate in improving its residual settlement and at all loading cycles, end bearing columns provide much higher resistance than floating columns.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.443-456
• /
• 2017

Many authors have established the usefulness of concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) sections as compression members while few have proved their utility as flexural members. To explore their prospective as part of CFST frame structures, two types of connections using extended end plate and seat angle are proposed for exterior joints of CFST beams and CFST columns. To investigate the performance and failure modes of the proposed bolted connections subjected to static loads, an experimental program has been executed involving ten specimens of exterior beam-to-column joints subjected to monotonically increasing load applied at the tip of beam, the performance is appraised in terms of load deformation behaviour of joints. The test parameters varied are the beam section type, type and diameter of bolts. To validate the experimental behaviour of the proposed connections in CFST beam-column joints, finite element analysis for the applied load has been performed using software ATENA-3D and the results of the proposed models are compared with experimental results. The experimental results obtained agree that the proposed CFST beam-column connections perform in a semi-rigid and partial strength mode as per specification of EC3.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.33-56
• /
• 2001

It is well known fact that all rocks exhibit brittle properties and time depends strain properties (creep). An understanding of the time dependent deformation behaviour of rocks is believed to be essential in the field of civil and tunnelling. The rock and concrete creep in various forms of loading conditions and physical environment are reviewed. A comparison of creep behaviour between rocks and concrete is provided, in order to bring two existing relatively independent methods of predicting creep strain closer together. It was felt that the physical process in the creep of rocks would be similar to the process in creep of concrete. Since experiments and observations have shown that non-elastic (creep) mechanical behaviour of all crystalline solids (i.e., concrete, rocks, ceramics and refractories) and single materials have a common base. Also a comparison of the results for the accepted methods of estimating creep in rocks and concrete under - multiaxial loading was attempted to extend the knowledge of deformational characteristics of these two materials.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.207-224
• /
• 2016

Granulated coal ash (GCA), a mixture of the by-product from milling processes with a small amount of cement added, has recently come to be used as a new form of geomaterial. The shear strength and deformation behaviours of GCA are greatly determined by its relative density or void ratio. A series of drained triaxial compression tests were performed on cylindrical specimens of GCA at confining pressures of between 50 kPa and 400 kPa at initial relative densities of 50%, 70% and 80%. Experimental results show that a rise in relative density increases the peak shear strength and intensifies the dilation behaviour. The initial tangent modulus and secant modulus of the stress-strain curve increase with increasing initial relative density, whereas the axial and volumetric strains at failure decrease with level of initial relative density. The stress-dilatancy relationships of GCA at different relative densities and confining pressures display similar tendency. The dilatancy behaviour of GCA is modelled by the Nova rule and the material property N in Nova rule of GCA is much larger than that of natural sand.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.76 no.4
• /
• pp.491-503
• /
• 2020

This study extends previous experimental research on the shear behaviour of macrosynthetic fibre-reinforced concrete beams and compares them to steel fibre-reinforced concrete beams with similar mechanical and geometrical properties. This work employed two fibre types: 60/0.9 (long/diameter) double hooked-end steel fibre and 60/85 monofilament polypropylene fibre. Beams were tested by shear loading covering parameters, such as two different cross-section widths, two shear-span-to-effective-depth ratios, two fibre types and using repetitions with and without transverse reinforcement. For quantitative comparison purposes, crack pattern evolution was studied along increasing loads levels. Effects were studied by photogrammetry, including influence of fibres on crack propagation in uncracked and dowel zones, influence of fibres on stirrup behaviour, and shear deformation or kinematics of critical shear cracks. The results evidenced similar effectiveness for both fibre types in controlling shear crack propagation and horizontal dowel cracking. Both fibres provided similar shear ductility and shear deflections. Consequently, the authors confirm that residual flexural tensile strengths are a convenient parameter for characterising the shear behaviour of fibre-reinforced concrete beams.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.125-139
• /
• 2016

For seismic retrofitting of masonry walls, the use of fibre reinforced cement-based mortar for bonding the fibre grids can eliminate some of the shortcomings related to the use of resin as bonding material. The results of an experimental testing program on masonry walls retrofitted with fibre reinforced mortar and fibre grids are presented in this paper. Seven squat masonry walls were tested under unidirectional lateral displacement reversals and constant axial load. Steel anchors were used to increase the effectiveness of the bond between the fibre grids and the masonry walls. Application of fibre grids on both lateral faces of the walls effectively improved the hysteretic behaviour and specimens could be loaded until slip occurred in the horizontal joint between the masonry and the bottom concrete stub. Application of the fibre grids on a single face did not effectively improve the hysteretic behaviour. Retrofitting with fibre reinforced mortar only prevented the early damage but did not effectively increase deformation capacity. When the boundaries of the cross sections were not properly confined, midplane splitting of the masonry walls occurred. Steel anchors embedded in the walls in the corners area effectively prevented this type of failure.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.443-456
• /
• 2021

Structural design of the vertical displacements and shear strains in the earth fill (EF) dams has great importance in the structural engineering problems. Moreover, far fault earthquakes have significant seismic effects on seismic damage performance of EF dams like the near fault earthquakes. For this reason, three dimensional (3D) earthquake damage performance of Oroville dam is assessed considering different far-fault ground motions in this study. Oroville Dam was built in United States of America-California and its height is 234.7 m (770 ft.). 3D model of Oroville dam is modelled using FLAC3D software based on finite difference approach. In order to represent interaction condition between discrete surfaces, special interface elements are used between dam body and foundation. Non-reflecting seismic boundary conditions (free field and quiet) are defined to the main surfaces of the dam for the nonlinear seismic analyses. 6 different far-fault ground motions are taken into account for the full reservoir condition of Oroville dam. According to nonlinear seismic analysis results, the effects of far-fault ground motions on the nonlinear seismic settlement and shear strain behaviour of Oroville EF dam are determined and evaluated in detail. It is clearly seen that far-fault earthquakes have very significant seismic effects on the settlement-shear strain behaviour of EF dams and these earthquakes create vital important seismic damages on the swelling behaviour of dam body surface. Moreover, it is proposed that far-fault ground motions should not be ignored while modelling EF dams.