• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.1233-1240
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• 2005

As the geotechnical technologies have grown, the size of civil structures has become bigger than before, thereby requiring large-scale geotechnical testing equipments which can evaluate the mechanical behavior of large size testing materials such as gravel, crushed rock and so on. These kind of large testing equipments are usually used to evaluate the mechanical characteristics of large size material which are applied in the large infra structures like dam, seashore structure, coastal landfill, soil-structure interaction and seismic response of large-scale structure. In this research, state-of-the-art information in the field of geotechnical engineering was collected and summarized for such large-scale experimental equipments as large-scale geo-centrifuge, large-scale triaxial testing machine, large-scale direct shear testing apparatus and large-scale oedometer.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.337-348
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• 2020

Experimental testing has been considered as one of the most straightforward approaches to realize the structural behavior for earthquake engineering studies. Recently, novel and advanced experimental techniques, which combine numerical simulation with experimental testing, have been developed and applied to structural testing practically. However, researchers have to take the risk of damaging specimens or facilities during the process of developing and validating new experimental methods. In view of this, a small-scale structural laboratory has been designed and constructed in order to verify the effectiveness of newly developed experimental technique before it is applied to large-scale testing for safety concerns in this paper. Two orthogonal steel reaction walls and one steel T-slotted reaction floor are designed and analyzed. Accordingly, a large variety of experimental setups can be completed by installing servo-hydraulic actuators and fixtures depending on different research purposes. Meanwhile, a state-of-the-art digital controller and multiple real-time computation machines are allocated. The integration of hardware and software interfaces provides the feasibility and flexibility of developing novel experimental methods that used to be difficult to complete in conventional structural laboratories. A simple experimental demonstration is presented which utilizes part of the hardware and software in the small-scale structural laboratory. Finally, experimental layouts of future potential development and application are addressed and discussed, providing the practitioners with valuable reference for experimental earthquake engineering.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.667-684
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• 2008

Numerous devices exist for reducing or eliminating seismic damage to structures. These include passive dampers, semi-active dampers, and active control devices. The performance of structural systems with these devices has often been evaluated using numerical simulations. Experiments on structural systems with these devices, particularly at large-scale, are lacking. This paper describes a real-time hybrid testing facility that has been developed at the Lehigh University NEES Equipment Site. The facility enables real-time large-scale experiments to be performed on structural systems with rate-dependent devices, thereby permitting a more complete evaluation of the seismic performance of the devices and their effectiveness in seismic hazard reduction. The hardware and integrated control architecture for hybrid testing developed at the facility are presented. An application involving the use of passive elastomeric dampers in a three story moment resisting frame subjected to earthquake ground motions is presented. The experiment focused on a test structure consisting of the damper and diagonal bracing, which was coupled to a nonlinear analytical model of the remaining part of the structure (i.e., the moment resisting frame). A tracking indictor is used to track the actuator ability to achieve the command displacement during a test, enabling the quality of the test results to be assessed. An extension of the testbed to the real-time hybrid testing of smart structures with semi-active dampers is described.

• Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.25-31
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• 2006

With the increasing demand of foreign language education in colleges, an effective testing and study system is also needed especially for large scale classes. In this paper, 1 propose a new online system for running large scale foreign language classes which supports not only testing function but also individually customized studying and diagnosis functions. Using the proposed system enables saving of testing space and helps all students get equally good testing and study environment regardless of class size and lecturers.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.571-582
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• 1998

Testing of steel roof purlins is usually performed on full scale models in large vacuum test rigs. To undertake a comparison between web cleat connected purlins and flange bolted purlins a series of tests were performed on a 1:4 small scale model vacuum test rig. Various modelling issues need to be addressed to ensure reasonable comparison with actual constructed roof framing methods but still be suitable for an economical comparison between the connection methods. Model test results were supported by, and found to be in reasonable agreement with, deflection predictions from computer models based on finite element methods. This paper discusses the testing methods adopted and the value of small scale model testing programs as a means of obtaining comparisons between framing options.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.175-183
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• 2022

To study the working mechanism and size effect of an innovative dovetail UHPC joint originated from the 5th Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, a large-scale testing subject to negative bending moment was conducted and compared with the previous scaled specimens. The static responses, i.e., the crack pattern, failure mode, ductility and stiffness degradation were analyzed. It was found that the scaled specimens presented similar working stages and working mechanism with the large-scale ones. However, the post-cracking ductility and relative stiffness degradation all decrease with the enlarged length/scale, apart from the relative stiffness after flexural cracking. The slab stiffness at the flexural cracking stage is 90% of the initial stiffness while only 24% of the initial stiffness reserved in the ultimate stage. Finite element model (FEM) was established and compared with the experiments to verify its effectiveness in exploring the working mechanism of the innovative joint. Based on this effective method, a series of FEMs were established to further study the influence of material strength, pre-stressing level and ratio of reinforcement on its deflection-load relationship. It is found that the ratio of reinforcement can significantly improve its load-carrying capacity among the three major-influenced factors.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.6C
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• pp.295-304
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• 2012

In this study, a resonant column testing system which is the largest in Korea has been developed to evaluate the dynamic deformation characteristics of coarse granular geomaterials, and the performance and the applicability of the testing system have been verified. The system has been developed as a typical Stokoe type device whose boundary conditions are fixed bottom and free top with additional mass, and can adopt a large specimen with 200 mm in diameter and 400 mm in height. The driving and measurement instruments are configured as high performance and precision systems, hence the automated testing system is appropriate to drive enough stress and to measure the behavior precisely for the test in practical manner. The dynamic response of the mechanical components and the applicability of the system have been evaluated using metal specimens as well as polyurethane specimens, and its precision was verified by comparing its results with those from other equipment and/or methods. To confirm the applicability of the large system for coarse geomaterials, the resonant column test results from both large and normal scale apparatus for the same material were compared and it was found that the result can be partially affected by scale. Finally, the dynamic deformation characteristics of coarse geomaterial which is used for construction of large dam was evaluated using the large system and its practicality could be confirmed.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.133-160
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• 2016

Hurricanes are among the most costly natural hazards to impact buildings in coastal regions. Building roofs are designed using the wind load provisions of building codes and standards and, in the case of large buildings, wind tunnel tests. Wind permeable roof claddings like roof pavers are not well dealt with in many existing building codes and standards. The objective of this paper is to develop simple guidance in code format for design of loose-laid roof pavers. Large-scale experiments were performed to investigate the wind loading on concrete roof pavers on the flat roof of a low-rise building in Wall of Wind, a large-scale hurricane testing facility at Florida International University. They included wind blow-off tests and pressure measurements on the top and bottom surfaces of pavers. Based on the experimental results simplified guidelines are developed for design of loose-laid roof pavers against wind uplift. The guidelines are formatted so that use can be made of the existing information in codes and standards such as American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) 7-10 standard's pressure coefficients for components and cladding. The effects of the pavers' edge-gap to spacer height ratio and parapet height to building height ratio are included in the guidelines as adjustment factors.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.1415-1424
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• 2009

Measuring dynamic properties of gravel-sized materials demands large specimens. Due to the difficulties in experiment as well as equipment, the dynamic properties of gravel-sized material has rarely been investigated. To realize free-free end condition more properly and stabilize specimen during testing with new specimen support system, a free-free resonant column testing device, which is capable of testing gravel-sized materials and constraining a specimen in free-free boundaries, is developed. We report the calibration of the equipment and preliminary testing results on Jumunjin sand. The testing data are compared with the previous data obtained from the existing fixed-free resonant column test.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.25-34
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• 2009

Since the particle sizes of the coarse materials used in dam or harbor constructions are much larger than those of typical soils, it is desirable that large shear testing apparatuses are used when performing shear tests on the coarse materials to obtain as accurate results as possible. Two large-scale shear testing apparatuses, large direct shear testing apparatus and large triaxial shear testing apparatus, are commonly used. Currently in Korea, however, there have not been many cases in which shear tests were done using the large apparatus due to mainly difficulties in manufacturing, diffusing, and operating them. In present study, both large direct shear tests and large triaxial shear tests were performed on the coarse materials, which are used as dam fill materials, for 6 test cases in which particle sizes, specimen sizes, vertical pressure (confining pressure) conditions were little different, and then, the shear strength characteristics of the materials were compared with the two different shear tests. The test results showed that, by the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion, overall the shear strength obtained by the large direct shear tests was larger than that by the large triaxial shear tests. Moreover, the shear strength under the normal stress of 1,000 kPa was about 10 to 70% larger for the large direct shear tests than for the large triaxial shear tests, revealing the larger differences in the coarse materials, compared to typical soils.