• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.2A
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• pp.75-83
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• 2012

In this study, an analytical studies were carried out for the buoyancy preflexion method to improve structural performance of concrete floating structures. The buoyancy preflexion means that the preflexion effects were induced to the floating structure due to the difference in buoyancy between the pontoon modules composing the floating structures. In order to verify the buoyancy preflexion effects, an analytical studies were carried out for the floating structures. The size and dimensions of FE model were determined through the structural design process. The parameter of this analytical study was length ratios of central module part, which induces buoyancy preflexion effects, to the total length. The analysis results were pre-compression on the bottom concrete slab and displacement of freeboard due to buoyancy preflexion effects. These results were processed according to the loading step, buoyancy preflexion loads on the bottom and live loads on the topside. Then, the buoyancy preflexion effects on structural performance was analyzed. As the results of this study, it was found that the buoyancy preflexion significantly influence on structural performance of floating structures. According to the length ratio, the buoyancy preflexion effects have a tendency of parabolic form and maximized at the length ratio of 40~60%. The buoyancy preflexion method is simple in principle and easy in application. Also, it can effectively induce pre-compression on the bottom concrete slab. Therefore, it can be concluded that the buoyancy preflexion method contribute to the improvement of structural performance and decreasing of the cross-sectional depth of floating structures.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.723-730
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• 2008

Due to the higher ratio of live load to total loads of railway bridges, the accumulated damage by cyclic fatigue is significant. Moreover, it is highly possible that the initiated crack grows faster than that of highway bridges. Therefore, it is strongly needed to assess the safety for the accumulated damage analytically. The initiation and growth of fatigue-crack are related with the stress range, number of cycles, and the stiffness of the structural system. The stiffness of the structural system includes uncertainties of the planning, design, construction and maintenance, which varies as time goes. In this study, the authors developed the design and risk assessment techniques based on the reliability theories considering the uncertainties in load and resistance. For the probabilistic risk assessment of crack growth and the remaining life of the structures by the cyclic load of railway and subway bridges, response surface method (RSM) combined with first order second moment method were used. For composing limit state function, the stress range, stress intensity factor and the remaining life were selected as input important random variables to the RSM program. The probabilities of failure and the reliability indices of fatigue life for the considered specimen under cyclic loads were evaluated and discussed.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.549-562
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• 2017

The US railroad network carries 40% of the nation's total freight. Railroad bridges are the most critical part of the network infrastructure and, therefore, must be properly maintained for the operational safety. Railroad managers inspect bridges by measuring displacements under train crossing events to assess their structural condition and prioritize bridge management and safety decisions accordingly. The displacement of a railroad bridge under train crossings is one parameter of interest to railroad bridge owners, as it quantifies a bridge's ability to perform safely and addresses its serviceability. Railroad bridges with poor track conditions will have amplified displacements under heavy loads due to impacts between the wheels and rail joints. Under these circumstances, vehicle-track-bridge interactions could cause excessive bridge displacements, and hence, unsafe train crossings. If displacements during train crossings could be measured objectively, owners could repair or replace less safe bridges first. However, data on bridge displacements is difficult to collect in the field as a fixed point of reference is required for measurement. Accelerations can be used to estimate dynamic displacements, but to date, the pseudo-static displacements cannot be measured using reference-free sensors. This study proposes a method to estimate total transverse displacements of a railroad bridge under live train loads using acceleration and tilt data at the top of the exterior pile bent of a standard timber trestle, where train derailment due to excessive lateral movement is the main concern. Researchers used real bridge transverse displacement data under train traffic from varying bridge serviceability levels. This study explores the design of a new bridge deck-pier experimental model that simulates the vibrations of railroad bridges under traffic using a shake table for the input of train crossing data collected from the field into a laboratory model of a standard timber railroad pile bent. Reference-free sensors measured both the inclination angle and accelerations of the pile cap. Various readings are used to estimate the total displacements of the bridge using data filtering. The estimated displacements are then compared to the true responses of the model measured with displacement sensors. An average peak error of 10% and a root mean square error average of 5% resulted, concluding that this method can cost-effectively measure the total displacement of railroad bridges without a fixed reference.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.209-224
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• 2014

With more and more built long-term structural health monitoring (SHM) systems, it has been considered to apply monitored data to learn the reliability of bridges. In this paper, based on a long-term SHM system, especially in which the sensors were embedded from the beginning of the construction of the bridge, a method to calculate the localized reliability around an embedded sensor is recommended and implemented. In the reliability analysis, the probability distribution of loading can be the statistics of stress transferred from the monitored strain which covered the effects of both the live and dead loads directly, and it means that the mean value and deviation of loads are fully derived from the monitored data. The probability distribution of resistance may be the statistics of strength of the material of the bridge accordingly. With five years' monitored strains, the localized reliabilities around the monitoring sensors of a bridge were computed by the method. Further, the monitored stresses are classified into two time segments in one year period to count the loading probability distribution according to the local climate conditions, which helps us to learn the reliability in different time segments and their evolvement trends. The results show that reliabilities and their evolvement trends in different parts of the bridge are different though they are all reliable yet. The method recommended in this paper is feasible to learn the localized reliabilities revealed from monitored data of a long-term SHM system of bridges, which would help bridge engineers and managers to decide a bridge inspection or maintenance strategy.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.6A
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• pp.799-808
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• 2008

The analysis of vehicular loads reflecting the domestic traffic circumstances is necessary for the development of adequate design live load models in the analysis and design of cable-supported bridges or the development of fatigue load models to predict the remaining lifespan of the bridges. This study intends to develop an ANN(artificial neural network)-based Bridge WIM system and Influence line-based Bridge WIM system for obtaining information concerning the loads conditions of vehicles crossing bridge structures by exploiting the signals measured by strain gauges installed at the bottom surface of the bridge superstructure. This study relies on experimental data corresponding to the travelling of hundreds of random vehicles rather than on theoretical data generated through numerical simulations to secure data sets for the training and test of the ANN. In addition, data acquired from 3 types of vehicles weighed statically at measurement station and then crossing the bridge repeatedly are also exploited to examine the accuracy of the trained ANN. The results obtained through the proposed ANN-based analysis method, the influence line analysis method considering the local behavior of the bridge are compared for an example cable-stayed bridge. In view of the results related to the cable-stayed bridge, the cross beam ANN analysis method appears to provide more remarkable load analysis results than the cross beam influence line method.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.120-129
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• 2023

To evaluate the vertical loads on railway bridges, conventional load tests are typically conducted. However, these tests often entail significant costs and procedural challenges. Railway conditions involve nearly identical load profiles due to standardized rail systems, which may appear straightforward in terms of load conditions. Nevertheless, this study aims to validate load tests conducted under operational train conditions by comparing the results with those obtained from conventional load tests. Additionally, static and dynamic structural behaviors are extracted from the measurement data for evaluation. To ensure the reliability of load testing, this research demonstrates feasibility through comparisons of existing measurement data with sensor attachment locations, train speeds, responses between different rail lines, tendency analysis, selection of impact coefficients, and analysis of natural frequencies. This study applies to the Dongho Railway Bridge and verifies the applicability of the proposed method. Ten operational trains and 44 sensors were deployed on the bridge to measure deformations and deflections during load test intervals, which were then compared with theoretical values. The analysis results indicate good symmetry and overlap of loads, as well as a favorable comparison between static and dynamic load test results. The maximum measured impact coefficient (0.092) was found to be lower than the theoretical impact coefficient (0.327), and the impact influence from live loads was deemed acceptable. The measured natural frequencies approximated the theoretical values, with an average of 2.393Hz compared to the calculated value of 2.415Hz. Based on these results, this paper demonstrates that for evaluating vertical loads, it is possible to measure deformations and deflections of truss railway bridges through load tests under operational train conditions without traffic control, enabling the calculation of response factors for stress adjustments.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.745-765
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• 2014

In this paper, it is aimed to determine the finite element model updating effects on the structural behavior of long span concrete highway bridges. Birecik Highway Bridge located on the 81stkm of Sanliurfa-Gaziantep state highway over Firat River in Turkey is selected as a case study. The bridge consist of fourteen spans, each of span has a nearly 26m. The total bridge length is 380m and width of bridge is 10m. Firstly, the analytical dynamic characteristics such as natural frequencies and mode shapes are attained from finite element analyses using SAP2000 program. After, experimental dynamic characteristics are specified from field investigations using Operational Modal Analysis method. Enhanced Frequency Domain Decomposition method in the frequency domain is used to extract the dynamic characteristics such as natural frequencies, mode shapes and damping ratios. Analytically and experimentally identified dynamic characteristics are compared with each other and finite element model of the bridge is updated to reduce the differences by changing of some uncertain parameters such as section properties, damages, boundary conditions and material properties. At the end of the study, structural performance of the highway bridge is determined under dead load, live load, and dynamic loads before and after model updating to specify the updating effect. Displacements, internal forces and stresses are used as comparison parameters. From the study, it is seen that the ambient vibration measurements are enough to identify the most significant modes of long span highway bridges. Maximum differences between the natural frequencies are reduced averagely from %46.7 to %2.39 by model updating. A good harmony is found between mode shapes after finite element model updating. It is demonstrated that finite element model updating has an important effect on the structural performance of the arch type long span highway bridge. Maximum displacements, shear forces, bending moments and compressive stresses are reduced %28.6, %21.0, %19.22, and %33.3-20.0, respectively.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.16 no.6 s.84
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• pp.733-740
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• 2004

This study presents the behaviors of the typical architectural precast prestressed concrete beams, inverted tee and rectangular beams, subjected to combined flexural and torsional loads. For this purpose, two inverted-tee beams were designed with a parking live load, $5 kN/m^2$, and a market load $12 kN/m^2$ according to the currently used typical shape in the domestic building site. Also, two rectangular beams were also designed as the same bottom dimension and area, and reinforced for similar strength as in the cases of inverted tee beams. Total of four beams were tested, under combined bending and torsion, analysed and compared. Test results showed that the cracking and ultimate flexural strength of the beams decreased under torsional loading. However, two different shaped-beams had roughly the same load resisting capacity in service and ultimate states.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.359-364
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• 2017

A machine such as bean crusher machine is subjected to different loads and vibration. Due to this vibration there will be certain deformations which affect the performance of the machine in adverse manner. This paper proposed a vibration analysis of bean crusher machine using ANSYS. The Finite Element Method (FEM) analysis is carried out to study the effect of vibration on the structure in order to ensure the safety. This work helps the machine developer make a better product at the early design stage with lower cost and faster development time. To do this, firstly, using Inventor, a CAD model is prepared. Secondly, the analysis is to be carried out using ANSYS 15. The modal analysis and random vibration analysis of the structure was conducted. The analysis shows that the proposed design was successfully shows the minimum deformation when the vibration was applied in normal condition.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.21 no.3 s.75
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• pp.101-106
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• 2006

Formwork is a temporary structure that supports its weight and that of freshly placed concrete as well as construction live loads. In constructions site, pipe supports are usually used as shores which are consisted of the slab formwork. The strength of a pipe support is decreasing as it is frequently being used at the construction site. Among the accidents and failures that occur during concrete construction, there are many formwork failures which usually happen at the time concrete is being placed. The objective of this study is to find out the strength change of used pipe support and unused pipe supports according to aging. In this study, 2857 pipe supports were prepared. Among these pipe supports, 2337 pipe supports were lent to the construction companies free of charge. 520 pipe supports were kept on the outside. Compressive strength was measured by knife edge test and plate test at each 3 month. Test results show that the strength of unused pipe supports as well as used pipe supports was decreasing according to age, use frequency and load carrier, and the strength of used pipe supports was lower than the strength of unused pipe supports at the same age. So, the strength of used pipe supports from 191 days to present day was not satisfied the specification of KS F 8001. In this study, the strength of pipe support according to age, use frequency and load carrier was predicted using SPSS 12.0. It was known that the strength of pipe support using for 5 years was reduced to 42.8%. According to these results, it shows that attention has to be paid to formwork design using used pipe supports. Therefore, the present study results will be able to provide a finn base to prevent formwork collapses.