• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.185-207
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• 2013

In flexural strength design of normal-strength concrete (NSC) beams, it is commonly accepted that the distribution of concrete stress within the compression zone can be reasonably represented by an equivalent rectangular stress block. The stress block it governed by two parameters, which are normally denoted by ${\alpha}$ and ${\beta}$ to stipulate the width and depth of the stress block. Currently in most of the reinforced concrete (RC) design codes, ${\alpha}$ and ${\beta}$ are usually taken as 0.85 and 0.80 respectively for NSC. Nonetheless, in an experimental study conducted earlier by the authors on NSC columns, it was found that ${\alpha}$ increases significantly with strain gradient, which means that larger concrete stress can be developed in flexure. Consequently, less tension steel will be required for a given design flexural strength, which improves the ductility performance. In this study, the authors' previously proposed strain-gradient-dependent concrete stress block will be adopted to produce a series of design charts showing the maximum design limits of flexural strength and ductility of singly-and doubly-NSC beams. Through the design charts, it can be verified that the consideration of strain gradient effect can improve significantly the flexural strength and ductility design limits of NSC beams.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.64 no.1
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• pp.11-21
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• 2017

It has been observed in the past that, the reinforced concrete (RC) bridge columns are very often subjected to torsional moment in addition to flexure and shear during seismic vibration. Ignoring torsion in the design can trigger unexpected shear failure of the columns (Farhey et al. 1993). Performance based seismic design is a popular design philosophy which calls for accurate prediction of the hysteresis behavior of structural elements to ensure safe and economical design under earthquake loading. However, very few investigations in the past focused on the development of analytical models to accurately predict the response of RC members under cyclic torsion. Previously developed hysteresis models are not readily applicable for torsional loading owing to significant pinching and stiffness degradation associated with torsion (Wang et al. 2014). The present study proposes an improved polygonal hysteresis model which can accurately predict the hysteretic behavior of RC circular and square columns under torsion. The primary curve is obtained from mechanics based softened truss model for torsion. The proposed model is validated with test data of two circular and two square columns. A good correlation is observed between the predicted and measured torque-twist behavior and dissipated energy.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.1051-1064
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• 2016

Link-to-column connections in Eccentrically Braced Frames (EBFs) have critical role in their safety and seismic performance. Accordingly, in this study, contribution of supplemental stiffeners on hysteretic behavior of the link-to-column connection is investigated. Considered stiffeners are placed on both sides and parallel to the link web between the column face and the first stiffener of the link. Hysteretic behaviors of the link beams with supplemental stiffeners are numerically investigated using a pre-validated numerical model in ANSYS. It turned out that supplemental stiffeners can change energy dissipation mechanism of intermediate links from shear-flexure to shear. Both rectangular and trapezoidal supplemental stiffeners are studied. Moreover, optimal placement of the supplemental stiffeners is also investigated. Obtained results indicate a discrepancy of less than 9% in maximum link shear of the numerical and experimental specimens. This indicates that the numerical results are in good agreement with those obtained from the test. Trapezoidal supplemental stiffeners improve rotational capacity of the link. Moreover, use of two supplemental stiffeners at both ends of the link can more effectively improve hysteretic behavior of intermediate links. Supplemental stiffeners would also alleviate the imposed demands on the connections. This latter feature is more pronounced in the case of two supplemental stiffeners at both ends of the link.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.287-303
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• 2014

8 steel reinforced concrete (SRC) columns with the encased steel ratio of 13.12% and 15.04% respectively were tested under the test axial load ratio of 0.33-0.80 and the low-frequency cyclic lateral loading. The cross sectional area of composite columns was $500mm{\times}500mm$. The mechanical properties, failure modes and deformabilities were studied. All the specimens produced flexure failure subject to combined axial force, bending moment and shear. Force-displacement hysteretic curves, strain curves of encased steels and rebars were obtained. The interaction behavior of encased steel and concrete were verified. The hysteretic curves of columns were plump in shapes. Hysteresis loops were almost coincident under the same levels of lateral loading, and bearing capacities did not change much, which indicated that the columns had good energy-dissipation performance and seismic capacity. Based on the equilibrium equation, the suggested practical calculation method could accurately predict the flexural strength of SRC columns with cross-shaped section encased steel. The obtained M-N curves of SRC columns can be used as references for further studies.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.53-58
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• 2017

A fine stage is developed for the 3-DOF error compensation of a linear axis in order to improve the positioning accuracy. This stage is designed as a planar parallel mechanism, and the joints are based on a flexure hinge to achieve ultra-precise positioning. Also, the effect of Abbe's offsets between the measuring and driving coordinate systems is minimized to ensure an exact error compensation. The mode shapes of the designed stage are analyzed to verify the desired 3-DOF motions, and the workspace and displacement of a piezoelectric actuator (PZT) for compensation are analyzed using forward and inverse kinematics. The 3-DOF error of a linear axis is measured and compensated by using the developed fine stage. A marked improvement is observed compared to the results obtained without error compensation. The peak-to-valley (PV) values of the positional and rotational errors are reduced by 92.6% and 91.3%, respectively.

• KCI Concrete Journal
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.73-84
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• 2000

A new form of construction utilizing structural steel as the boundary elements in ductile flexural concrete walls is proposed to solve the bar congestion problems in such a heavily reinforced region, while maintaining the ductility and energy absorption capacity comparable to their traditional form. Two wall specimens containing rectangular hollow structural sections (HSS) and channels at their ends respectively, and one companion standard reinforced concrete wall specimen with concentrated end reinforcement were constructed and tested under reversed cyclic loading to evaluate the construction process as well as the structural performance. Initially, all three specimens were chosen and detailed with some caution to have approximately the same flexural capacity without change of the original shape and dimension of a rectangular cross section correction. Analysis and comparison of test results indicated that the reversed cyclic responses of three walls showed similar hysteretic properties, but in those with steel boundaries, local buckling of the corresponding steel webs and flanges following significant yielding was a dominant factor to determine the hysteretic response. The monotonic and cyclic responses predicted based on a sectional approach was also presented and found to be in good agreement with measured results. Design recommendations considering local instability of the structural steel elements and the interaction between steel chords and a concrete web member in such a composite wall are presented.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.69-88
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• 2015

Self-consolidating concrete (SCC) is a stable and cohesive high consistency concrete mix with enhanced filling ability properties that reduce the need for mechanical compaction. Limited standards and specifications have been reported in the literature on the structural behavior of reinforced self-compacting concrete elements. The significance of the research presented in this paper stems from the need to investigate the effect of enhanced fluidity of SCC on the structural behavior of high strength self-consolidating reinforced concrete beams. To meet the objectives of this research, twelve reinforced concrete beams were prepared with two different generations of superplasticizers and designed to exhibit flexure, shear, or bond splitting failure. The compared beams were identical except for the type of superplasticizer being used (second generation sulphonated-based superplasticizer or third generation polycarboxylate-based superplasticizer). The outcomes of the experimental work revealed comparable resistance of beam specimens made with self-compacting (SCC) and conventional vibrated concrete (VC). The dissimilarities in the experimental values between the SCC and the control VC beams were not major, leading to the conclusion that the high flowability of SCC has little effect on the flexural, shear and bond strengths of concrete members.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.135-160
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• 2007

Recently, CFT column has been well-studied and reported on, because a CFT column has certain superior structural properties as well as good productivity, execution efficiency, and improved rigidity over existing columns. However, CFT column still has problems clearing the capacity evaluation between its steel tube member and high-strength concrete materials. Also, research on concrete has examined numerical values for high-strength concrete filled steel square tube columns (HCFT) to explain transformation performance (M-${\phi}$) when a short-column receives equal flexure-moment from axial stress. Moment-curvature formulas are proposed for HCFT columns based on analytic assumption described in this paper. This study investigated structural properties (capacity, curvature), through a series of experiments for HCFT with key parameters, such as strength of concrete mixed design (58.8 MPa), width-thickness ratio (D/t), buckling length to sectional width ratio (Lk/D) and concrete types (Zeolite, Fly-ash, Silica-fume) under eccentric loads. A comparative analysis executed for the AISC-LRFD, AIJ and Takanori Sato, etc. Design formulas to estimate the axial load (N)-moment (M)-curvature (${\phi}$) are proposed for HCFT columns based on tests results described in this paper.

• Transactions of the Society of Information Storage Systems
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.70-75
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• 2009

Most hard disk drives uses load/unload technology because of benefits as like an increased areal density, a reduced power consumption and an improved shock resistance. However, ramp tilt induced by ramp manufacture and assembly causes mechanical problems such as unload fail in case of exceeding ramp tolerance. In this paper, we focus on experimental analysis for unloading characteristics affected by ramp tilt. We repeatedly perform load/unload test as 500,000 cycles for original model and ramp tilt model. This paper shows that it is possible to analyze unload characteristics through measuring scratch and wear of suspension lift-tab, ramp, suspension dimple-flexure and disk. We also identify structural relation between suspension lift-tab and ramp through scratch and wear of suspension lift-tab and ramp. As the result of measurement and analysis, we can investigate decrease of unloading performance in ramp tilt model.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.385-404
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• 2005

The paper presents a model to calculate reinforcement strain using measured crack width in members under applied tension, flexure, and/or shear stress. Crack mapping using a new type of distributed coaxial cable sensors for health monitoring of large-scale civil engineering infrastructure was recently proposed and developed by the authors. This paper shows the results and performance of such sensors mounted on near surface of two flexural beams and a large scale reinforced concrete box girder that was subjected to cyclic combined shear and torsion. The main objectives of this health monitoring study was to correlate the sensor's response to strain in the member, and show that magnitude of the signal's reflection coefficient is related to increases in applied load, repeated cycles, cracking, and reinforcement yielding. The effect of multiple adjacent cracks, and signal loss was also investigated. The results shown in this paper are an important step in using the sensors for crack mapping and determining reinforcement strain for in-situ structures.