• Biomaterials and Biomechanics in Bioengineering
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.9-20
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• 2019

Living beings are formed of advanced biological and mechanical systems which exist for millions of years. It is known that various animals and insects right from small ants to huge whales have different weight carrying capacities, which is generally expressed as a ratio of their own bodyweights i.e., Strength to Bodyweight Ratio (SBR). The puzzle is that when a rhinoceros beetle (scientific name: Dynastinae) can carry 850 times its own bodyweight, why a man cannot accomplish the same feat. There are intrinsic biological and mechanical reasons related to their capacities, as per biomechanics. Yet, there are underlining principles of engineering and structural mechanics which tend to solve this puzzle. The paper attempts to give a plausible answer for this puzzle through structural mechanics and experimental modeling techniques. It is based on the fact that smaller an animal or creature, it has larger value of weight lifting by self-weight ratio. The simple example of steel prism model discussed in this paper, show that smaller the physical model size, larger is its SBR value. To normalize this, the basic length of the model need to be considered and when multiplied with SBR, a constant is arrived. Hence, the aim of the research presented is to derive this constant on a pan-living being spectrum through size/scaling effect.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.23 no.7 s.166
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• pp.1182-1195
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• 1999

The purpose of this study is to investigate experimentally the effects of both seismic loading and crack length on the fracture behavior of piping system with a circumferential crack in nuclear power plants. The experiments were performed using both large scale piping system facility and 4 points bending test machine under PWR operating conditions. The difference in the load carrying capacities between cracked piping and non-cracked piping was also investigated using the results from experiments and numerical calculations. The results obtained from the experiments and estimation are as follows : (1) The safety margin under seismic loading is larger than those under quasi static loading or simple cyclic loading. (2) There was no significant effect of crack length on tincture behavior of piping system with both a surface crack and a through-wall crack. (3) The load carrying capacity in cracked piping was reduced by factors of 7 to 46 compared to non-cracked piping.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Structure & Construction
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.19-26
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• 2018

This paper presents the shear strengthening effect of externally post-tensioning (EPT) method using high-strength steel rod in pre-cracked reinforced concrete (RC) beams. Three- and four-point bending tests were performed on a total of 8 specimens by adjusting the strengthening depths in the deviator position of EPT. The effective strengthening depths were 435, 535, and 610 mm. The pre-loading up to about 2/3 of ultimate load capacity measured in unstrengthened RC beam were applied in the beam to be post-tensioned. The EPT method was then applied to the pre-damaged RC beams and re-loading was added until the end of the test. EPT restored deflections of 3 mm or more, which account for about 40% of deflection when the pre-loading was applied. The shear strengthening increases more than 3 times and 36~107% in terms of the stiffness and load-carrying capacity compared to unstrengthening RC beams. The increased load-carrying capacities of the post-tensioned beam with strengthening depths of 435 and 535 mm are almost the same as 36~61%, and those of 610 mm are 84~107%, which shows the greatest shear strengthening effect.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1990.10a
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• pp.91-94
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• 1990

The object of this study is to develop computer programs with which ordinary engineers can analyse or design steel-concrete composite teams using optimization technique. Various design ana construction techniques which could maximize load carrying capacities and control concrete tension cracks effectively are studied and included in the programs. Analysis results show that proposed construction techniques can reduce steel weight by about 10%∼20% compared with ordinary composite beam. Concrete tensile stresses can also be controlled affectively by the suggested techniques.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.167-170
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• 2005

This paper summarizes the results of a series of numerical evaluations (Lee et al., 2004, 2005) on the performance of pre-cracked reinforced concrete (RC) beams coated with polymeric composites. It was intended to numerically show the superior characteristics of the polymeric composites for enhancing the strength and ductility of existing concrete structures. Further, the predicted load-carrying and energy absorbing capacities of the beams were compared with previous experiments to verify the predictive capability of implemented computational model.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.281-298
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• 2007

The load carrying capacity of a bridge needs to be properly assessed to operate the bridge safely and maintain it efficiently. For the evaluation of load carrying capacity considering the current state of a bridge, static and quasi-static loading tests with weight-controlled heavy trucks have been conventionally utilized. In these tests, the deflection (or strain) of the structural members loaded by the controlled vehicles are measured and analyzed. Using the measured data, deflection (or strain) correction factor and impact correction factor are calculated. These correction factors are used in the enhancement of the load carrying capacity of a bridge, reflecting the real state of a bridge. However, full or partial control of the traffic during the tests and difficulties during the installment of displacement transducers or strain gauges may cause not only inconvenience to the traffic but also the increase of the logistics cost and time. To overcome these difficulties, an alternative method is proposed using an excited response part of full measured ambient acceleration data by ordinary traffic on a bridge without traffic control. Based on the modal properties extracted from the ambient vibration data, the initial finite element (FE) model of a bridge can be updated to represent the current real state of a bridge. Using the updated FE model, the deflection of a bridge akin to the real value can be easily obtained without measuring the real deflection. Impact factors are obtained from pseudo-deflection, which is obtained by double-integration of the acceleration data with removal of the linear components on the acceleration data. For validation, a series of tests were carried out on a steel plategirder bridge of an expressway in Korea in four different seasons, and the evaluated load carrying capacities of the bridge by the proposed method are compared with the result obtained by the conventional load test method.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.13-16
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• 2008

Corbels are short cantilevers that project from the faces of a column and are a type of stress disturbed member, resisting both the ultimate shear force applied to them by the beam, and the ultimate horizontal force caused by shrinkage, temperature changes, and creep of the supported elements. Recently, as there have been an increase in the use of high-strength concrete and the concern about corrosion problems, lots of researches about hybrid reinforcing technique, applying strategically high performance reinforcements to the concrete elements, are performed. In this study, fiber reinforced high strength concrete corbels were constructed and tested for applying hybrid reinforcing technique to the corbels using steel fibers and headed bars. The results showed that the performance in terms of load carrying capacities, stiffness, ductility, and crack width was improved, as the steel fibers were added and the percentage of steel fibers was increased. In addition, the corbel specimens used headed bars as main tension ties showed superior load carrying capacities, stiffness, and ductility to the corbel specimens anchored main tension ties by welding to the transverse bars.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.453-464
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• 2018

The objective of this study is to devise an alternative strengthening method to the ones available in the literature. So, external steel members were used to enhance both flexural and shear capacities of reinforced concrete (RC) beams having insufficient shear capacity. Two types of RC beams, one without stirrups and one with lacking stirrups, were prepared in the study. These beams were strengthened with external steel clamps devised by the authors and with external longitudinal reinforcements. Although the use of clamps alone didn't have a significant effect on the load carrying capacity of the tested beams, the ductility increased approximately tenfold and the failure behavior changed from brittle to ductile. Although the use of clamps and longitudinal reinforcements together did not significantly increase the ductility of the beams, it approximately doubled their load capacities. The results of the experimental study were compared to the ones obtained from nonlinear finite element analysis (NLFEA) and it was observed that they were compatible. Finally, it can be concluded that the devised method could be applied to structural members as an alternative to methods in application due to lightness, low-cost, easy applicable and reliable.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.497-516
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• 2014

The ultimate carrying capacity of axially loaded welded square box section members made of medium and high strength steels (nominal yield stresses varying from 345 MPa to 460 MPa), with large width-to-thickness ratios ranging from 35 to 70, is analyzed by finite element method (FEM). At the same time, the numerical results are compared with the predicted results using Direct Strength Method (DSM), modified DSM and Effective Yield Strength Method (EYSM). It shows that curve a, rather than curve b recommended in Code for design of steel structures GB50017-2003, should be used to check the local-overall interaction buckling strength of welded square section columns fabricated from medium and high strength steels when using DSM, modified DSM and EYSM. Despite all this, EYSM is conservative. Compared to EYSM and modified DSM, DSM provides a better prediction of the ultimate capacities of welded square box compression members with large width-thickness ratios over a wide range of width-thickness ratios, slenderness ratios and steel grades. However, for high strength steels (nominal yield strength greater than 460 MPa), the numerical and existent experimental results indicate that DSM overestimates the load-carrying capacities of the columns with width-thickness ratio smaller than 45 and slenderness ratio less than 80. Further, for the purpose of making it suitable for a wider scope, DSM has been modified (called proposed modified DSM). The proposed modified DSM is in excellent agreement with the numerical and existing experimental results.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.373-384
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• 2007

For structural health monitoring (SHM) of civil infrastructures, displacement is a good descriptor of the structural behavior under all the potential disturbances. However, it is not easy to measure displacement of civil infrastructures, since the conventional sensors need a reference point, and inaccessibility to the reference point is sometimes caused by the geographic conditions, such as a highway or river under a bridge, which makes installation of measuring devices time-consuming and costly, if not impossible. To resolve this issue, a visionbased real-time displacement measurement system using digital image processing techniques is developed. The effectiveness of the proposed system was verified by comparing the load carrying capacities of a steel-plate girder bridge obtained from the conventional sensor and the present system. Further, to simultaneously measure multiple points, a synchronized vision-based system is developed using master/slave system with wireless data communication. For the purpose of verification, the measured displacement by a synchronized vision-based system was compared with the data measured by conventional contact-type sensors, linear variable differential transformers (LVDT) from a laboratory test.