• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.37-57
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• 2012

The behavior of beam-column joints in moment resisting frame structures is susceptible to damage caused by seismic effects due to poor performance of the joints. A good number of researches were carried out to understand the complex mechanism of RC joints considered in current seismic design codes. The traditional construction detailing of transverse reinforcement has resulted in serious joint failures during earthquakes. This paper introduces a new design philosophy involving the use of additional diagonal bars within the joint particularly suitable for low to medium seismic effects in earthquake zones. In this study, ten full-scale interior beam-column specimens were constructed with various additional reinforcement details and configurations. The results of the experiment showed that adding additional bars is a promising approach in reinforced concrete structures where earthquakes are eminent. In terms of overall cracking observation during the test, the specimens with additional bars (diagonal and straight) compared with the ones without them showed fewer cracks in the column. Furthermore, concrete confinement is certainly an important design measure as recommended by most international codes.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.49-57
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• 2021

A study was conducted to secure structural performance as well as improve workability by improving the reinforcement details of special shear wall and coupling beams. Based on the specimen in which the existing diagonal bundle reinforcement and shear reinforcement were placed, the specimens replaced with thick diagonal reinforcing bars and the specimens replaced with horizontal reinforcing bars were selected as variables. As a result of the experiment, the specimen, which replaced the existing diagonal reinforcement with a thick-diameter reinforcement, showed a similar behavior to that of the basic specimen, and it was evaluated that it can be applied as an alternative to the details.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.6
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• pp.799-810
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• 2022

This study investigated the effect of the strengthening efficiency of unbonded steel-bar truss system on the out-of-plane behavior of perforated masonry walls. Four full-scale unreinforced masonry (URM) walls with two different planes were prepared using the unbonded steel-bar truss system and a URM walls without strengthening. All masonry walls were tested under constant axial and cyclic lateral loads. The obtained test results indicated that the pinching effect in the out-plane behavior of masonry walls tends to decrease in the in- and out-of-plane strengthened URM walls using the unbonded steel-bar truss system with the higher prestressing force ratio (R_p) of vertical reinforcing bars in the unbonded steel-bar truss system, regardless of the perforated type of the masonry wall. Consequently, the highest maximum shear resistance and cumulative dissipated energy at peak load in the post-peak behavior were observed in the in- and out-plane strengthened URM walls with the highest R_p values, which are 2.7 and 6.0 times higher than those of URM. In particular, the strengthening efficiency of the unbonded steel-bar truss system was primarily attributed to the vertical prestressed steel-bars rather than the diagonal steel-bars, which indicates that the strains in the vertical prestressed steel-bars at the peak load were approximately 1.6 times higher than those in the diagonal steel-bars.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.447-455
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• 2013

In this study, reinforced concrete slabs with steps were experimentally studied to analyze their structural performance and to suggest reinforcing details in the step. Because the stepped slabs may behave very poorly in terms of bending strength, stiffness, deflection, cracking, etc., the study is aimed to suggest proper reinforcing details such that the same bending strength is obtained as that without steps. The bending strengths of 12 test specimens with a variety of different reinforcing detail types or other parameters were compared with each other. The specimen without any additional reinforcement in the step had a very low bending strength and significant damage, and the specimens with diagonal reinforcements in the step showed substantial early cracks, experienced hinging of the step, and had a substantial loss of the bending strength. In contrast, the specimens with a combination of U-bars, reversed U-bars, L-bars, and reversed L-bars performed very well and almost reached to 100% of the slab bending strength. The U-bars and reversed U-bars were effective in controling the diagonal cracks, while the L-bars and reversed L-bars were effective in preventing from yielding of slab reinforcement near the step.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.7-15
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• 2007

A mechanical model was developed to predict the behavior of point-loaded RC slender beams (a/d > 2.5) without stirrups. It is commonly accepted by most researchers that a diagonal tension crack plays a predominant role in the failure mode of these beams, but the failure mechanism of these members is still debatable. In this paper, it was assumed that diagonal tension failure was triggered by the concrete cover splitting due to the dowel action at the initial location of diagonal tension cracks, which propagate from flexural cracks. When concrete cover splitting occurred, the shape of a diagonal tension crack was simultaneously developed, which can be determined from the principal tensile stress trajectory. This fictitious crack rotates onto the crack tip with load increase. During the rotation, all forces acting on the crack (i.e, dowel force of longitudinal bars, vertical component of concrete tensile force, shear force by aggregate interlock, shear force in compression zone) were calculated by considering the kinematical conditions such as crack width or sliding. These forces except for the shear force in the compression zone were uncoupled with respect to crack width and sliding by the proposed constitutive relations for friction along the crack. Uncoupling the shear forces along the crack was aimed at distinguishing each force from the total shear force and clarifying the failure mechanism of RC slender beams without stirrups. In addition, a proposed method deriving the dowel force of longitudinal bars made it possible to predict the secondary shear failure. The proposed model can be used to predict not only the entire behavior of point-loaded RC slender shear beams, but also the ultimate shear strength. The experiments used to validate the proposed model are reported in a companion paper.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.79-92
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• 2022

The amount and configuration of transverse reinforcement are known as critical parameters that significantly affect the lateral confinement of concrete, the ductility capacity, and the plastic hinge length of RC columns. Based on test results, this study investigated the effect of the three variables on structural indexes such as neutral axis depth, lateral expansion of concrete, and ductility capacity. Five reinforced concrete column specimens were tested under cyclic flexure and shear while simultaneously subjected to a constant axial load. The columns were reinforced by two types of reinforcing steel: rectangular hoops and spiral type reinforcing bars. The variables in the test program were the shape, diameter, and yield strength of transverse reinforcement. The interactive influence of the amount of transverse reinforcement on the structural indexes was evaluated. Test results showed that when amounts of transverse reinforcement were similar, and yield strength of transverse reinforcement was 600 MPa or less, the neutral axis depth of a column with spiral type reinforcing bars was reduced by 28% compared with that of a column reinforced by existing rectangular hoops at peak strength. While the diagonal elements of spiral-type reinforcing bars significantly contributed to the lateral confinement of concrete, the strain of diagonal elements decreased with increases of their yield strength. It was confirmed that shapes of transverse reinforcement significantly affected the lateral confinement of concrete adjacent to plastic hinges. Transverse reinforcement with a yield strength exceeding 600 MPa, however, increased the neutral axis depth of normal-strength concrete columns at peak strength, resulting in reductions in ductility and energy dissipation capacity.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.153-172
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• 2024

Due to the fast development of constructions in recent years, there has been a rapid consumption of fresh water and river sand. In the production of concrete, alternatives such as sea water and sea sand are available. The near surface mounted (NSM) technique is one of the most important methods of strengthening. Aluminum alloy (AA) bars are non-rusting and suitable for usage with sea water and sand concrete (SSC). The goal of this study was to enhance the shear behaviour of SSC-beams strengthened with NSM AA bars. Twenty-four RC beams were cast from fresh water river sand concrete (FRC) and SSC before being tested in four-point flexure. All beams are the same size and have the same internal reinforcement. The major factors are the concrete type (FRC or SSC), the concrete degree (C25 or C50 with compressive strength = 25 and 50 MPa, respectively), the presence of AA bars for strengthening, the direction of AA bar reinforcement (vertical or diagonal), and the AA bar ratio (0, 0.5, 1, 1.25 and 2 %). The beams' failure mechanism, load-displacement response, ultimate capacity, and ductility were investigated. Maximum load and ductility of C25-FRC-specimens with vertical and diagonal AA bar ratios (1%) were 100,174 % and 140, 205.5 % greater, respectively, than a matching control specimen. The ultimate load and ductility of all SSC-beams were 16-28 % and 11.3-87 % greater, respectively, for different AA bar methods than that of FRC-beams. The ultimate load and ductility of C25-SSC-beams vertically strengthened with AA bar ratios were 66.7-172.7 % and 89.6-267.9 % higher than the unstrengthened beam, respectively. When compared to unstrengthened beams, the ultimate load and ductility of C50-SSC-beams vertically reinforced with AA bar ratios rose by 50-120 % and 45.4-336.1 %, respectively. National code proposed formulae were utilized to determine the theoretical load of tested beams and compared to matching experimental results. The predicted theoretical loads were found to be close to the experimental values.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.113-121
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• 2018

U-flanged truss beam is composed of u-shaped upper steel flange, lower steel plate of 8mm or more thickness, and connecting lattice bars. Upper flange and lower plate are connected by the diagonal lattice bars welded on the upper and lower sides. In this study the structural experiments on the U-flanged truss beams with various shapes of upper flange were performed, and the flexural and shear capacities of U-flanged truss beam in the construction stage were evaluated. The principal test parameters were the shape of upper flange and the alignment space of diagonal lattice bars. In all the test specimens, the peak loads were determined by the buckling of lattice bar regardless of the upper flange shape. The test results have shown that the buckling of lattice bar is very important design factor and there is no need to reinforce the basic u-shaped upper flange. However, the early lattice buckling occurred in the truss beam with upper steel bars because of the insufficient strength and stiffness of upper chord, and the reinforcement in the upper chord is necessary. The formulae of Eurocode 3 (2005) have presented more exact evaluations of lattice buckling load than those of KBC 2016.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.113-127
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• 2020

In this study, the behavior of external beam-column joints reinforced by plain and deformed bars with non-seismic reinforcement details is investigated and compared. The beam-column joints represented in this study include a benchmark specimen by seismic details in accordance with ACI 318M-11 requirements and four other deficient specimens. The main defects of the non-seismic beam-column joints included use of plain bar, absence of transverse steel hoops, and the anchorage condition of longitudinal reinforcements. The experimental results indicate that using of plain bars in non-seismic beam-column joints has significantly affected the failure modes. The main failure mode of the non-seismic beam-column joints reinforced by deformed bars was the accumulation of shear cracks in the joint region, while the failure mode of the non-seismic beam-column joints reinforced by plain bars was deep cracks at the joint face and intersection of beam and column and there was only miner diagonal shear cracking at the joint region. In the other way, use of plain bars for reinforcing concrete can cause the behavior of the substructure to be controlled by slip of the beam longitudinal bars. The experimental results show that the ductility of non-seismic beam-column joints reinforced by plain bars has not decreased compared to the beam-column joints reinforced by deformed bars due to lack of mechanical interlock between plain bars and concrete. Also it can be seen a little increase in ductility of substructure due to existence of hooks at the end of the development length of the bars.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.459-469
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• 2020

An external prestressed steel-bar truss unit was developed as a new strengthening technology to enhance the seismic performance of an in-plane masonry wall structure while taking advantage of the benefits of a prestressed system. The presented method consists of six steel bars: two prestressed vertical bars to introduce a prestressing force on the masonry wall, two diagonal bars to resist shear deformation, and two horizontal bars to maintain the configuration. To evaluate the effects of this new technique, four full-scale specimens, including a control specimen, were tested under combined loadings that included constant-gravity axial loads and cyclic lateral loads. The experimental results were analyzed in terms of the shear strength, initial stiffness, dissipated energy, and strain history. The efficiency of the external prestressed steel-bar truss unit was validated. In particular, a retrofitted specimen with an axial load level of 0.024 exhibited a more stable post behavior and higher energy dissipation than a control specimen with an observed complete sliding failure. The four vertical bars of the adjacent retrofitting units created a virtual column, and their strain values did not change until they reached the peak shear strength. The shear capacity of the masonry wall structure with external prestressed steel-bar truss units could be predicted using the model suggested by Yang et al.