• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.459-477
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• 2012

This paper attempts to determine the inclination of the compression strut within variable angle truss models for RC beams loaded in shear-flexure through a proposed semi-analytical approach. A truss unit is used to analyze a reinforced concrete beam, by the principle of virtual work under the truss analogy. The inclination of the compression strut is then theoretically derived. The concrete contribution is addressed by utilizing the compatibility condition within each truss unit. Comparisons are made between the predicted and published experimental results of the seventy one RC beams with respect to the shear strength and the inclined angle of the compression strut at this state to investigate the adequacy of the proposed semi-analytical approach.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.73 no.5
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• pp.515-527
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• 2020

This paper presents a stress field approach for the shear capacity of stirrup-reinforced concrete beams that explicitly incorporates the contribution of principal tensile stresses in concrete. This formulation represents an extension of the variable strut inclination method adopted in the Eurocode 2. In this model, the stress fields in web concrete consist of principal compressive stresses inclined at an angle θ combined with principal tensile stresses oriented along a direction orthogonal to the former (the latter being typically neglected in other formulations). Three different failure mechanisms are identified, from which the strut inclination angle and the corresponding shear strength are determined through equilibrium principles and the static theorem of limit analysis, similar to the EC-2 approach. It is demonstrated that incorporating the contribution of principal tensile stresses of concrete slightly increases the ultimate inclination angle of the compression struts as well as the shear capacity of reinforced concrete beams. The proposed stress field approach improves the prediction of the shear strength in comparison with the Eurocode 2 model, in terms of both accuracy (mean) and precision (CoV), as demonstrated by a broad comparison with more than 200 published experimental results from the literature.

• Biomaterials and Biomechanics in Bioengineering
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2016

Well-ordered porous materials are very promising in orthopedics since they allow tailoring the mechanical properties. Finite element (FE) analysis is commonly used to evaluate the mechanical behavior of well-ordered porous materials. However, FE results generally differ importantly from experimental data. In the present article, three types of manufacturing irregularities were characterized on an additive manufactured porous titanium sample having a simple cubic unit-cell: strut diameter variation, strut inclination and fractured struts. These were included in a beam FE model. Results were compared with experimental data in terms of the apparent elastic modulus (Eap) and apparent yield strength (SY,ap). The combination of manufacturing irregularities that yielded the closest results to experimental data was determined. The idealized FE model resulted in an Eap one order of magnitude larger than experimental data and a SY,ap almost twice the experimental values. The strut inclination and fractured struts showed the strongest effects on Eap and SY,ap, respectively. Combining the three manufacturing irregularities produced the closest results to experimental data. The model also performed well when applied to samples having different structural dimensions. We recommend including the three proposed manufacturing irregularities in the FE models to predict the mechanical behavior of such porous structures.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.273-283
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• 2018

Previous experimental researches indicate that reinforced concrete beam-column joints play an important role in the mechanical properties of moment resisting frame structures, so as to require proper design. In order to get better understanding of the beam-column joint performance, a rational model needs to be developed. Based on the former considerations, two typical models for calculating the shear carrying capacity of the beam-column joint including the inelastic reinforced concrete joint model and the softened strut-and-tie model are selected to be introduced and analyzed. After examining the applicability of two typical models mentioned earlier to interior beam-column joints, several adjustments are made to get better predicting of the test results. For the softened strut-and-tie model, four adjustments including modifications of the depth of the diagonal strut, the inclination angle of diagonal compression strut, the smeared stress of mild steel bars embedded in concrete, as well as the softening coefficient are made. While two adjustments for the inelastic reinforced concrete joint model including modifications of the confinement effect due to the column axial load and the correction coefficient for high concrete are made. It has been proved by test data that predicted results by the improved softened strut-and-tie model or the modified inelastic reinforced concrete joint model are consistent with the test data and conservative. Based on the test results, it is also not difficult to find that the improved beam-column joint model can be used to predict the joint carrying capacity and cracks development with sufficient accuracy.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.73 no.2
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• pp.143-152
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• 2020

Deep coupling beams are more prone to suffer brittle shear failure. The addition of steel fibers to seismic members such as coupling beams can improve their shear performance and ductility. Based on the test results of steel fiber reinforced concrete(SFRC) coupling beams with span-to-depth ratio between 1.5 and 2.5 under lateral reverse cyclic load, the shear mechanism were analyzed by using strut-and-tie model theory, and the effects of the span-to-depth ratio, compressive strength and volume fraction of steel fiber on shear strengths were also discussed. A simplified calculation method to predict the shear capacity of SFRC deep coupling beams was proposed. The results show that the shear force is mainly transmitted by a strut-and-tie mechanism composed of three types of inclined concrete struts, vertical reinforcement ties and nodes. The influence of span-to-depth ratio on shear capacity is mainly due to the change of inclination angle of main inclined struts. The increasing of concrete compressive strength or volume fraction of steel fiber can improve the shear capacity of SFRC deep coupling beams mainly by enhancing the bearing capacity of compressive struts or tensile strength of the vertical tie. The proposed calculation method is verified using experimental data, and comparative results show that the prediction values agree well with the test ones.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.395-398
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• 2005

To understand an influence of rectangular openings on the structural behavior in reinforced concrete deep beams, results of 52 specimens were analyzed. The structural behavior such as load-deflection relationship, load-maximum crack width relationship, and maximum strength was significantly affected by inclination of concrete strut beneath opening.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.194-202
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• 2014

Steering axis of suspensions is an important factor that affects ride and handling quality in the vehicle chassis development. Macpherson strut and double wishbone's steering axis are defined geometrically, but multi-link suspensions can not be geometrically analyzed. In this case instant axis theory is commonly used to find a steering axis. Since the steering axis is moving with varying caster and kingpin inclination angle, this method approximately corresponds with exact solution. In this paper, we propose a velocity analysis method to find a pure rotational axis of the wheel relative to suspension arms, that is exact solution of the steering axis. This paper extends the method to analyze the steering axis of multi-link suspensions with bushing compliance. The analysis results applied to double wishbone and multi-link suspensions demonstrate validity and accuracy of the proposed method.