• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제37권1호
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• pp.79-93
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• 2011

A simple mechanical model is proposed to demonstrate qualitatively the pancake progressive collapse of multi-storey structures. The impact between two collapsed storeys is simulated using a simple algorithm that builds on virtual mass-spring-damper system. To analyze various collapse modes, columns and beams are considered separately. Parametric studies show that the process of progressive collapse involves a large number of complex mechanisms. However, the proposed model provides a simple numerical tool to assess the overall behavior of collapse arising from a few initiating causes. Unique features, such as beam-to-beam connection failure criterion, and beam-to-column connection failure criterion are incorporated into the program. Besides, the criterion of local failure of structural members can also be easily incorporated into the proposed model.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제2권4호
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• pp.281-300
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• 2014

This study presents the experimental results of twenty three reinforced concrete beams with rectangular web openings externally strengthened with Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRP) composites bonded around openings. All tested beams had the same geometry and reinforcement details. At openings locations, the stirrups intercepted the openings were cut during fabrication of reinforcement cage to simulate the condition of inclusion of an opening in an existing beam. Several design parameters are considered including the opening dimensions and location in the shear zone, the wrapping configurations, and the amount and the type of the FRP composites in the vicinity of the openings. The wrapping configurations of FRP included: sheets, strips, U-shape strips, and U-shape strips with bundles of FRP strands placed at the top and sides of the beam forming a fan under the strips to achieve closed wrapping. The effect of these parameters on the failure modes, the ultimate load, and the beam stiffness were investigated. The shear contribution of FRP on the shear capacity of tested beams with web openings was estimated according to ACI Committee 440-08, Canadian Standards S6-06, and Khalifa et al. model and examined against the test results. A modification factor to account for the dimensions of opening chords was applied to the predicted gain in the shear capacity according to ACI 440-08 and CSA S6-06 for bonded Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymers (GFRP) around openings. The analytical results after incorporating the modification factor into the codes guidelines showed good agreement with the test results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제51권3호
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• pp.225-241
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• 2024

For several reasons, cold-formed steel (CFS) beams are often manufactured with holes. Nevertheless, because of holes, the reduction in the web area causes a decrease in the bending strength. Edge stiffeners are presently added around the holes to improve the bending strength of flexural members. Therefore, this research studies CFSZ-beams with stiffened holes and investigates how edge stiffener affects bending strength and failure modes. Nonlinear analysis was carried out using ABAQUS software and the developed finite element (FE) model was verified against tests from previous studies. Using the verified FE model, a parametric study of 104 FE models was conducted to investigate the influence of key parameters on bending strength of Z- sections. The results indicated that the effect of holes is less noticeable in very thin Z-sections. Moreover, adding edge stiffeners around the holes improves the flexural capacity of Z-beams and sometimes restores the original bending capacity. Because the computational techniques used to solve the CFS buckling mode with stiffened holes are still unclear, a numerical method using constrained and unconstrained finite strip method (CUFSM) software was proposed to predict the elastic distortional buckling moment for a wide variety of CFSZ-sections with stiffened holes. A numerical method with two procedures was applied and validated. Upon comparison, the numerical method accurately predicted the distortional buckling moment of CFS Z-sections with stiffened holes.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• 제10권3호
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• pp.297-306
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• 2016

This paper developed an analytical software, called Simulation of Concrete Structures (SCS), which is used for numerical analysis of shear-critical prestressed steel fiber concrete structures. Based on the previous research at the University of Houston (UH), SCS has been derived from an object-oriented software framework called Open System for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (OpenSees). OpenSees was originally developed at the University of California, Berkeley. New module has been created for steel fiber concrete under prestress based on the constitutive relationships of this material developed at UH. This new material module has been integrated with the existing material modules in OpenSees. SCS thus developed has been used for predicting the behavior of the prestressed steel fiber concrete I-beams and Box-beams tested earlier in this research. The analysis could well predict the entire behavior of the beams including the elastic stiffness, yield point, post-yield stiffness, and maximum load for both web shear and flexure shear failure modes.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제34권4호
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• pp.499-509
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• 2020

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the degradation law of stiffness of steel-concrete composite beams after certain fatigue loads. First, six test beams with stud connectors were designed and fabricated for static and fatigue tests. The resultant failure modes under different fatigue loading cycles were compared. And an analysis was performed for the variations in the load-deflection curves, residual deflections and relative slips of the composite beams during fatigue loading. Then, the correlations among the stiffness degradation of each test beam, the residual deflection and relative slip growth during the fatigue test were investigated, in order to clarify the primary reasons for the stiffness degradation of the composite beams. Finally, based on the stiffness degradation function under fatigue loading, a calculation model for the residual stiffness of composite beams in response to fatigue loading cycles was established by parameter fitting. The results show that the stiffness of composite beams undergoes irreversible degradation under fatigue loading. And stiffness degradation is associated with the macrobehavior of material fatigue damage and shear connection degradation. In addition, the stiffness degradation of the composite beams exhibit S-shaped monotonic decreasing trends with fatigue cycles. The general agreement between the calculation model and experiment shows good applicability of the proposed model for specific beam size and fatigue load parameters. Moreover, the research results provide a method for establishing a stiffness degradation model for composite beams after fatigue loading.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제28권3호
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• pp.209-224
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• 2022

In this study, the numerical analysis model of π-beam explosion is established to compare and analyze the failure modes of the π-beam under the action of explosive loads, thus verifying the accuracy of the numerical model. Then, based on the numerical analysis of different protection forms of π beams under explosive loads, the peak pressure of π beam under different protection conditions, the law of structural energy consumption, the damage pattern of the π beam after protection, and the protection efficiency of different protective layers was studied. The testing results indicate that the pressure peak of π beam is relatively small under the combined protection of steel plate and aluminum foam, and the peak value of pressure decays quickly along the beam longitudinal. Besides, as the longitudinal distance increases, the pressure peak attenuates most heavily on the roof's explosion-facing surface. Meanwhile, the combined protective layer has a strong energy consumption capacity, the energy consumed accounts for 90% of the three parts of the π beam (concrete, steel, and protective layer). The damaged area of π beam is relatively small under the combined protection of steel plate and aluminum foam. We also calculate the protection efficiency of π beams under different protection conditions using the maximum spalling area of concrete. The results show that the protective efficiency of the combined protective layer is 45%, demonstrating a relatively good protective ability.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제1권3호
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• pp.329-340
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• 2001

Cyclic response of "shear" connections between steel outrigger beams and reinforced concrete core walls is presented in this paper. The connections investigated in this paper consisted of a shear tab welded onto a plate that was connected to the core walls through multiple headed studs. The experimental data from six specimens point to a capacity larger than the design value. However, the mode of failure was through pullout of the embedded plate, or fracture of the weld between the studs and plate. Such brittle modes of failure need to be avoided through proper design. A capacity design method based on dissipating the input energy through yielding and fracture of the shear tab was developed. This approach requires a good understanding of the expected capacity of headed studs under combined gravity shear and cyclic axial load (tension and compression). A model was developed and verified against test results from six specimens. A specimen designed based on the proposed design methodology performed very well, and the connection did not fail until shear tab fractured after extensive yielding. The proposed design method is recommended for design of outrigger beam-wall connections.

• 한국지진공학회논문집
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• 제28권1호
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• pp.47-57
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• 2024

Recently, in newly constructed apartment buildings, the exterior wall structures have been characterized by thinness, having various openings, and a significantly low reinforcement ratio. In this study, a nonlinear finite element analysis was performed to investigate the crack damage characteristics of the exterior wall structure. The limited analysis models for a 10-story exterior wall were constructed based on the prototype apartment building, and nonlinear static analysis (push-over analysis) was performed. Based on the finite element (FE) analysis model, the parametric study was conducted to investigate the effects of various design parameters on the strength and crack width of the exterior walls. As the parameters, the vertical reinforcement ratio and horizontal reinforcement ratio of the wall, as well as the uniformly distributed longitudinal reinforcement ratio and shear reinforcement ratio of the connection beam, were addressed. The analysis results showed that the strength and deformation capacity of the prototype exterior walls were limited by the failure of the connection beam prior to the flexural yielding of the walls. Thus, the increase of wall reinforcement limitedly affected the failure modes, peak strengths, and crack damages. On the other hand, when the reinforcement ratio of the connection beams was increased, the peak strength was increased due to the increase in the load-carrying capacity of the connection beams. Further, the crack damage index decreased as the reinforcement ratio of the connection beam increased. In particular, it was more effective to increase the uniformly distributed longitudinal reinforcement ratio in the connection beams to decrease the crack damage of the coupling beams, regardless of the type of the prototype exterior walls.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제85권2호
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• pp.179-195
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• 2023

The performance of reinforced concrete (RC) beam specimens strengthened using a newly proposed Side Near Surface Mounted (S-NSM) technology was investigated experimentally in this work. In addition, analytical and nonlinear finite element (FE) modeling was exploited to forecast the performance of RC members reinforced with S-NSM utilizing steel bars. Five (one control and four strengthened) RC beams were evaluated for flexural performance under static loading conditions employing four-point bending loads. Experimental variables comprise different S-NSM reinforcement ratios. The constitutive models were applied for simulating the non-linear material characteristics of used concrete, major, and strengthening reinforcements. The failure load and mode, yield and ultimate strengths, deflection, strain, cracking behavior as well as ductility of the beams were evaluated and discussed. To cope with the flexural behavior of the tested beams, a 3D non-linear FE model was simulated. In parametric investigations, the influence of S-NSM reinforcement, the efficacy of the S-NSM procedure, and the structural response ductility are examined. The experimental, numerical, and analytical outcomes show good agreement. The results revealed a significant increase in yield and ultimate strengths as well as improved failure modes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제73권3호
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• pp.353-365
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• 2020

In the previous studies, the authors proposed the use of laminated veneer lumber - carbon fiber reinforced polymer (LVL-CFRP) composite beams for structural application. Bond strength of the LVL-to-CFRP interface and flexural strengthening schemes to increase the bending capacity subjected to positive and negative moment were discussed in the previous works. In this article, theoretical models are proposed to predict the moment capacity when the LVL-CFRP beams are subjected to negative moment. Two common failure modes - CFRP fracture and debonding of CFRP are considered. The non-linear model proposed for positive moment is modified for negative moment to determine the section moment capacity. For the debonding based failure, previously developed bond strength model for CFRP-to-LVL interface is implemented. The theoretical models are validated against the experimental results and then use to determine the moment-rotation behaviour and rotational rigidity to compare the efficacy of various strengthening techniques. It is found that combined use of bi- and uni-directional CFRP U-wrap at the joint performs well in terms of both moment capacity and rotational rigidity.