• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.16 no.2 s.80
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• pp.249-260
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• 2004

The longitudinal steel connection of reinforced concrete bridge column is sometimes practically unavoidable, however the current Korean bridge design specifications have no special provisions about lap-splices of longitudinal steel. This paper reports experimental results of a research program investigating the seismic performance of circular RC bridge columns with respect to longitudinal steel connection detailing. Twenty-one circular column specimens were tested under quasi-static test. The columns with the entire longitudinal steel lap-spliced within plastic hinge region show relatively sudden strength degradation and low ductility than the columns with continuous longitudinal steel and the columns with half of longitudinal steel lap-spliced. However, the seismic performance of the column with mechanically connected longitudinal steel is similar to that of the column with continuous longitudinal steel. The final objectives of this study are to suggest appropriate longitudinal reinforcement connection details for the limited ductility design concept and to provide quantitative reference data and tendency for performance or damage assessment based on the performance levels such as cracking, yielding, collapse, etc. Ultimate displacement/drift ratio, displacement ductility, response modification factor, equivalent viscous damping ratio, residual deformation index, and effective stiffness are investigated and discussed in this paper.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.1-12
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• 2004

Due to the 1989 Loma Prieta, 1995 Hyogoken Nambu earthquakes, etc, a number of bridge columns  were collapsed in flexure-shear failures as a consequence of the premature termination of the column longitudinal reinforcement. Nevertheless, previous researches for the performance of bridge columns were concentrated on the flexural failure mode. It is well understood that the seismic behaviour of RC bridge piers was dependent on the performance of the plastic hinge of RC bridge piers, the ductility of which was desirable to be computed on the basis of the curvature. Experimental investigation was made to evaluate the variation of the curvature of the plastic hinge  region for the seismic performance of earthquake-damaged RC columns in flexure-shear failure mode. Seven test specimens in the aspect ratio of 2.5 were made with test parameters: confinement ratios, lap splices, and retrofitting FRP materials. They were damaged under series of artificial earthquakes that could be compatible in Korean peninsula. Directly after the pseudo-dynamic test, damaged columns were retested under inelastic reversal cyclic loading under a constant axial load, $P=0.1f_{ck}A_g$. Residual seismic capacity of damaged specimens was evaluated by analzying the moment-curvature hysteresis and the curvature ductility. Test results show that the biggest curvature was developed around 15cm above the footing, which induced the column failure. It was observed that RC bridge specimens with lap-spliced longitudinal steels appeared to fail at low curvature ductility but significant improvement was made in the curvature ductility of RC specimens with FRP straps wrapped around the plastic hinge region. Based on the experimental variation of the curvature of RC specimens, new equivalent length of the plastic hinge region was proposed by considering the lateral confinement in this study. The analytical and experimental relationship between the displacement and the curvature ductility were compared based on this proposal, which gave excellent result.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.17 no.1 s.85
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• pp.51-58
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• 2005

Moment frames have been widely used in building construction. In current design codes, concrete moment frames are classified into ordinary, intermediate, and special moment resisting concrete frames (OMRCF, IMRCF, SMRCF)). The objective of this study is to investigate the seismic behavior of columns in ordinary moment resisting concrete frames (OMRCF) and intermediate moment resisting concrete frames (IMRCF). For this purpose 3 story OMRCF and IMRCF buildings were designed and detailed in compliance to ACI 318 (2002) and KCI (1999). In this study the buildings were assumed to be located in seismic zone 1 classified by UBC (1997). This study considered the columns in the 1st story since these columns shall resist the largest axial and lateral forces during an earthquake. Eight 2/3 scale column specimens were made for representing the upper part and lower part of exterior and interior columns of the OMRCF and the IMRCF Quasi-static reversed cyclic loading was applied to each specimen with a constant or varying axial load. Test results show that seismic behaviors of columns are influenced by existence of lap splices, axial force levels, and lateral reinforcement at possible plastic hinging region. However, the effect of such variables strongly co-related to each other.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.517-538
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• 2016

This paper presents a probabilistic fragility analysis for two groups of bridges: simply supported and integral bridges. Comparisons are based on the seismic fragility of the bridges subjected to accelerograms of two seismic sources. Three-dimensional finite-element models of the bridges were created for each set of bridge samples, considering the nonlinear behaviour of critical bridge components. When the seismic hazard in the site is controlled by a few seismic sources, it is important to quantify separately the contribution of each fault to the structure vulnerability. In this study, seismic records come from earthquakes that originated in strike-slip and reverse faulting mechanisms. The influence of the earthquake mechanism on the seismic vulnerability of the bridges was analysed by considering the displacement ductility of the piers. An in-depth parametric study was conducted to evaluate the sensitivity of the bridges' seismic responses to variations of structural parameters. The analysis showed that uncertainties related to the presence of lap splices in columns and superstructure type in terms of integral or simply supported spans should be considered in the fragility analysis of the bridge system. Finally, the fragility curves determine the conditional probabilities that a specific structural demand will reach or exceed the structural capacity by considering peak ground acceleration (PGA) and acceleration spectrum intensity (ASI). The results also show that the simply supported bridges perform consistently better from a seismic perspective than integral bridges and focal mechanism of the earthquakes plays an important role in the seismic fragility analysis of highway bridges.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.479-499
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• 2014

This paper illustrates the damages of reinforced concrete and masonry minarets during October 23 (Erciş) and November 9 (Edremit), 2011 Van earthquakes in Turkey. Erciş and Edremit are townships located 90km and 18km from Van city center in Turkey, respectively. Ground accelerations and response spectrums for these earthquakes are given in this paper. A total of 63 reinforced concrete and masonry minarets are heavily damaged or collapsed in the city center and villages nearby after both earthquakes. Because of the fact that there is no Turkish standard and specification directly related to design of minarets, nearly all of the constructions are carried out by workers using only their own technical knowledge. So, all of the non-engineering reinforced concrete and masonry minarets completely collapsed or damaged heavily. From the study, it is seen that the damages are due to several reasons such as site effect, location, and length of the fault, reduction in cross section and formation of the discontinuity, use of plain reinforcement steel, use of concrete with insufficient strength, existence of short lap splices and incorrect end hook angle, larger mass and stiffness concentrations on some region, longitudinal reinforcements discontinuity, cracks at the cylindrical body, and damage of spire and end ornament. In addition to these reasons, the two earthquakes hit the minarets within seventeen days, causing progressive damage. So, the existing design and construction practices should be improved to provide sufficient earthquake performance. Also, it is recommended that there should be a safe distance between the minaret and surrounding structures to reduce the loose of life after earthquake.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.275-283
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• 2012

Steel Plate for Rebar Connection was recently developed to splice rebars in delayed slab-wall joints in high-rise building, slurry wall-slab joints, temporary openings, etc. It consists of several couplers and a thin steel plate with shear key. Cyclic loading tests on slab-wall joints were conducted to verify structural behavior of the joints having Steel Plate for Rebar Connection. For comparison, joints with Rebend Connection and without splices were also tested. The joints with Steel Plate for Rebar Connection showed typical flexural behavior in the sequence of tension re-bar yielding, sufficient flexural deformation, crushing of compression concrete, and compression rebar buckling. However, the joints with Rebend Connection had more bond cracks in slabs faces and spalling in side cover-concrete, even though elastic behavior of the joints was similar to that of the joints with Steel Plate for Re-bar Connection. Consequently, the joints with Rebend Connection had less strengths and deformation capacities than the joints with Steel Plate for Re-bar Connection. In addition, stiffness of the joints with Rebend Connection degraded more rapidly than the other joints as cyclic loads were applied. This may be caused by low elastic modulus of re-straightened rebars and restraightening of kinked bar. For two types of diameters (13mm and 16mm) and two types of grades (SD300 and SD400) of rebars, the joints with Steel Plate for Rebar Connection had higher strength than nominal strength calculated from actual material properties. On the contrary, strengths of the joints with Rebend Connection decreased as bar diameter increased and as grade becames higher. Therefore, Rebend Connection should be used with caution in design and construction.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.217-224
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• 2013

Design provisions for the development length of headed bars in ACI 318-08 include concrete compressive strength and yield strength of headed bars as design parameters but do not consider the effects of transvers reinforcement. In addition, they have very strict limitation for clear spacing and material strengths because these provisions were developed based on limited tests. In this study, splice tests using SD600 headed bars with $2d_b$ clear spacing and transverse reinforcement were conducted. Test results show that unconfined specimens failed due to prying action and bottom cover concrete prematurely spalled. The contribution of head bearing on the anchorage strength is only 15% on average implying that unconfined specimens failed before the head bearing was not sufficiently developed. Confined specimens with stirrups placed along whole splice length have enhanced strengths in bearing as well as bond because the stirrups prevented prying action and improved bond capacity. Bond failure occurred in locally confined specimens where stirrups were placed only at the ends of splice length. The stirrups at ends of splice lengths can prevent prying action but the bond capacity did not increase. From regression analysis of test results, an equation to predict anchorage strength of headed bars was developed. The proposed equation consists of bond and bearing contributions and includes transverse reinforcement index. The average ratio of tests to predictions is 1.0 with coefficient of variation of 6%.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.686-693
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• 2018

Various types of re-bar splicing methods have been developed and applied to reinforced concrete (RC) structures in the field. According to previous studies, the coupler splice is relatively superior to the lap splice in terms of cost efficiency when the diameter or strength of the re-bar is larger or higher. This study was performed to develop a filler type mechanical splice for a high-strength re-bar (SD600) in reinforced concrete structures. The deformed re-bars were inserted into a circular steel tube coupler and high-strength epoxy filler was then injected into the coupler. The splice system was completed by hardened filler in a coupler. The epoxy filler was used as the manufactured production epoxy to conduct experiments of filler type mechanical splice specimens, and to observe the failure loads and failure aspects of the specimens. For this goal, the experiment of one-way tensile test was conducted for the epoxy filler type mechanical splices specimens according to the compressive strength of epoxy, length of coupler, and diameter of re-bar. The shape of failure of the re-bar coupler splice showed that the re-bars were pulled between the lugs of the re-bars as a result of the shear fracture of the hardened epoxy. The actual failure load of the experiment specimen was approximately 2 times higher than the expected failure load of the epoxy filler, which greatly improves the failure load of the hardening epoxy filler due to the restraint of the steel coupler.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.73-80
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• 2022

In this study, details of NRC beam-column connections were developed in which beam and columns pre-assembled in factories using steel angles were bolted on site. The developed joint details are NRC-J type and NRC-JD type. NRC-J type is a method of tensile joining with TS bolts to the side and lower surfaces of the side plate of the NRC column and the end plate of the NRC beam. NRC-JD type has a rigid joint with high-strength bolts between the NRC beam and the side of the NRC column for shear, and with lap splices of reinforcing bar penetrating the joint and the beam main reinforcement for bending. For the seismic performance evaluation of the joint, three specimens were tested: an NRC-J specimen and NRC-JD specimen with NRC beam-column joint details, and an RC-J specimen with RC beam-column joint detail. As a result of the repeated lateral load test, the final failure mode of all specimens was the bending fracture of the beam at the beam-column interface. Compared to the RC-J specimen, the maximum strength of the specimen by the positive force was 10.1% and 29.6% higher in the NRC-J specimen and the NRC-JD specimen, respectively. Both NRC joint details were evaluated to secure ductility of 0.03 rad or more, the minimum total inter-story displacement angle required for the composite intermediate moment frame according to the KDS standard (KDS 41 31 00). At the slope by relative storey displacemet of 5.7%, the NRC-J specimen and the NRC-JD specimen had about 34.8% and 61.1% greater cumulative energy dissipation capacity than the RC specimen. The experimental strength of the NRC beam-column connection was evaluated to be 30% to 53% greater than the theoretical strength according to the KDS standard formula, and the standard formula evaluated the joint performance as a safety side.