• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.23-33
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• 2020

An advancing cutting roof for gob-side entry retaining with no-pillar mining under specific geological conditions is more conducive to the safe and efficient production in a coalmine. This method is being promoted for use in a large number of coalmines because it has many advantages compared to the retaining method with an artificial filling wall as the gateway side filling body. In order to observe the inner structure of the gateway cutting roof and understand its stability mechanism, an equivalent material simulation experiment for a coalmine with complex geological conditions was carried out in this study. The results show that a "self-stabilization bearing structure" equilibrium model was found after the cutting roof caving when the cut line deviation angle was unequal to zero and the cut height was greater than the mining height, and the caving roof rock was hard without damage. The model showed that its stability was mainly controlled by two key blocks. Furthermore, in order to determine the optimal parameters of the cut height and the cut line deviation angle for the cutting roof of the retaining gateway, an in-depth analysis with theoretical mechanics and mine rock mechanics of the model was performed, and the relationship between the roof balance control force and the cut height and cut line deviation angle was solved. It was found that the selection of the values of the cut height and the cut line deviation angle had to conform to a certain principle that it should not only utilize the support force provided by the coal wall and the contact surface of the two key blocks but also prevent the failure of the coal wall and the contact surface.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.109-120
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• 2013

This paper presents the results of a laboratory investigation into a study on undrained characteristics of a geogrid-encased stone column (GESC) installed in soft clay under cyclic load. In order to analyze behavior of settlement, pore water pressure, stress concentration ratio and strain of the GESC compared to a stone column, a series of reduced-scale laboratory tests were performed. The model tests show that GESC provides a simple and effective method of deformation resistance and settlement restraint when a short-term cyclic load is applied. The maximum strain of geogrid occurred at 1.2D and 1.5D from the top of the column. This paper highlights the importance of considering overlay effect and replacement ratio on cyclic load supporting GESC.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.53-64
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• 2018

Nondestructive testing methods are required to assess the condition of civil structures and formulate their maintenance programs. Axial force identification is required for several structural members of truss bridges, pipe racks, and space roof trusses. An accurate evaluation of in situ axial forces supports the safety assessment of the entire truss. A considerable redistribution of internal forces may indicate structural damage. In this paper, a novel compressive force identification method for prismatic members implemented using static deflections is applied to steel beams. The procedure uses the Euler-Bernoulli beam model and estimates the compressive load by using the measured displacement along the beam's length. Knowledge of flexural rigidity of the member under investigation is required. In this study, the deflected shape of a compressed steel beam is subjected to an additional vertical load that was short-term measured in several laboratory tests by using fiber Bragg grating-differential settlement measurement (FBG-DSM) sensors at specific cross sections along the beam's length. The accuracy of midspan deflections offered by the FBG-DSM sensors provided excellent force estimations. Compressive load detection accuracy can be improved if substantial second-order effects are induced in the tests. In conclusion, the proposed method can be successfully applied to steel beams with low slenderness under real conditions.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.197-202
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• 2008

In this paper, a hybrid vibration-impedance approaches is newly proposed to detect the occurrence of damage, the location of damage, and extent of damage in steel plate-girder bridges. The hybrid scheme mainly consists of three sequential phases: 1) to alarm the occurrence of damage, 2) to classify the alarmed damage, and 3) to estimate the classified damage in detail. Damage types of interest include flexural stiffness-loss in girder and bolts-loose in supports. In the first phase, the global occurrence of damage is alarmed by monitoring changes in acceleration features. In the second phase, the alarmed damage is classified into subsystems by recognizing patterns of impedance features. In the final phase, the location and the extent of damage are estimated by using modal strain energy-based damage index method and root mean square deviation method. The feasibility of the proposed system is evaluated on a laboratory-scaled steel plate-girder bridge model for which hybrid vibration-impedance signatures were measured for several damage scenarios.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.309-323
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• 2024

The gust factor and turbulence intensity are two crucial parameters that characterize the properties of turbulence. In tropical cyclones (TCs), these parameters exhibit significant variability, yet there is a lack of established formulas to account for their probabilistic characteristics with consideration of their inherent connection. On this condition, a probabilistic analysis of gust factors and turbulence intensities of TCs is conducted based on fourteen sets of wind data collected at the Sutong Cable-stayed Bridge site. Initially, the turbulence intensities and gust factors of recorded data are computed, followed by an analysis of their probability densities across different ranges categorized by mean wind speed. The Gaussian, lognormal, and generalized extreme value (GEV) distributions are employed to fit the measured probability densities, with subsequent evaluation of their effectiveness. The Gumbel distribution, which is a specific instance of the GEV distribution, has been identified as an optimal choice for probabilistic characterizations of turbulence intensity and gust factor in TCs. The corresponding empirical models are then established through curve fitting. By utilizing the Gumbel distribution as a template, the nexus between the probability density functions of turbulence intensity and gust factor is built, leading to the development of a generalized probabilistic model that statistically describe turbulence intensity and gust factor in TCs. Finally, these empirical models are validated using measured data and compared with suggestions recommended by specifications.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.15-30
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• 2024

In this paper, detailed wind field data of the full path of typhoon "Bailu" were obtained based on site measurements. Typhoon "Bailu" made first landfall southeast of the Taiwan Strait with a wind speed of approximately 30 m/s near the center of the typhoon eye and a second landfall in Dongshang County in Fujian Province. The moving process is classified into 3 regions for analysis and comparison. Detailed analyses of wind characteristics including wind profile, turbulence intensity, gust factor, turbulence integral scale and wind power spectral density function at the full process of the typhoon are conducted, and the findings are presented in this paper. Wind speed shows significant dependence on both the direction of the moving path and the distance between the typhoon center and measurement site. Wind characteristics significantly vary with the moving path of the typhoon center. The relationship between turbulence intensity and gust factor at different regions is investigated. The integral turbulence scales and wind speed are fitted by a Gaussian model. Such analysis and conclusions may provide guidance for future bridge wind-resistant design in engineering applications.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.24 no.A
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• pp.179-184
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• 2004

Each year, new technological advancements for repair-purpose are being introduced to overlay the old deterioration of RC bridge deck at highway by latex-modified concrete. The days may come when this old problem will be successfully resolved. While the experimental works and researches are very active at both laboratory and field, only a few theoretical studies were performed on interfacial problems, especially on stress distribution and concentration of RC beam overlayed by latex-modified concrete. The repaired and strengthened structures would induce a premature failure due to the stress concentration at the adhesive layer of different material before the design expected failure. This paper investigated and proposed an analytical model for predicting interfacial shear and normal stresses of RC beam repair-purpose overlayed by latex-modified concrete. This would be used for predicting interfacial stresses and preventing premature failure at interfaces. This study modified Smith-Teng method for applying to cementitious repairing material, which was based on a direct governing equation and linear-elastic approach for interfacial normal and shear stresses. The proposed theoretical model was verified using commercial FEA program, LUSAS, in terms of interfacial stresses predicted by the proposed model and calculated by LUSAS.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.561-571
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• 2021

Cofferdams made of teel sheet piles are commonly utilized as support structures for excavation of sea-crossing bridge foundations. As cofferdams are often subject to tide variation, it is imperative to consider potential effects of tide on stability and serviceability of sheet piles, particularly, ultralong steel sheet piles (USSPs). In this study, a real USSP cofferdam constructed using new construction technology in Nanxi River was reported. The design of key parts of USSP cofferdam in the presence of tidal action was first introduced followed by the description of entire construction technology and associated monitoring results. Subsequently, a three-dimensional finite-element model corresponding to all construction steps was established to back-analyze measured deflection of USSPs. Finally, a series of parametric studies was carried out to investigate effects of tide level, soil parameters, support stiffness and construction sequence on lateral deflection of USSPs. Monitoring results indicate that the maximum deflection during construction occurred near the riverbed. In addition, measured stress of USSPs showed that stability of USSP cofferdam strengthened as construction stages proceeded. Moreover, the numerical back-analysis demonstrated that the USSP cofferdam fulfilled the safety requirements for construction under tidal action. The maximum deflection of USSPs subject to high tide was only 13.57 mm at a depth of -4 m. Sensitivity analyses results showed that the design of USSP cofferdam system must be further improved for construction in cohesionless soils. Furthermore, the 5th strut level before concreting played an indispensable role in controlling lateral deflection of USSPs. It was also observed that pumping out water before concreting base slab could greatly simplify and benefit construction program. On the other hand, the simplification in construction procedures could induce seepage inside the cofferdam, which additionally increased the deflection of USSPs by 10 mm on average.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.23-35
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• 2023

Steel bolted joint is an important part of steel structure, and its damage directly affects the bearing capacity and durability of steel structure. Currently, the existing research mainly focuses on the identification of corroded bolts and corroded bolts respectively, and there are few studies on multiple states. A detection framework of corroded and loosened bolts is proposed in this study, and the innovations can be summarized as follows: (i) Vision Transformer (ViT) is introduced to replace the third and fourth C3 module of you-only-look-once version 5s (YOLOv5s) algorithm, which increases the attention weights of feature channels and the feature extraction capability. (ii) Three states of the steel bolts are considered, including corroded bolt, bolt missing and clean bolt. (iii) Line segment detector (LSD) is introduced for bolt rotation angle calculation, which realizes bolt looseness detection. The improved YOLOv5s model was validated on the dataset, and the mean average precision (mAP) was increased from 0.902 to 0.952. In terms of a lab-scale joint, the performance of the LSD algorithm and the Hough transform was compared from different perspective angles. The error value of bolt loosening angle of the LSD algorithm is controlled within 1.09%, less than 8.91% of the Hough transform. Furthermore, the proposed framework was applied to fullscale joints of a steel bridge in China. Synthetic images of loosened bolts were successfully identified and the multiple states were well detected. Therefore, the proposed framework can be alternative of monitoring steel bolted joints for management department.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.209-221
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• 2012

The flutter reliability analysis of long span bridges requires use of a software tool that predicts the uncertainty in a flutter response due to uncertainties in the model formulation and input parameters. Existing flutter analysis numerical codes are not capable of dealing with stochastic uncertainty in the analysis of long span bridges. The goal of the present work is to develop a software tool (FREASB) to enable designers to efficiently and accurately conduct flutter reliability analysis of long span bridges. The FREASB interfaces an open-source Matlab toolbox for structural reliability analysis (FERUM) with a typical deterministic flutter analysis code. The paper presents a brief introduction to the generalized first-order reliability method implemented in FREASB and key steps involved in coupling it with a typical deterministic flutter analysis code. A numerical example concerning flutter reliability analysis of a long span suspension bridge with a main span of 1385 m is presented to demonstrate the application and effectiveness of the methodology and the software.