• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.253-266
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• 2021

The sufficient early strength of primary support is crucial for stabilizing the surroundings, especially for the tunnels constructed in soil. This paper introduces the Steel-Concrete Composite Support System (SCCS), a new support with high bearing capacity and flexible, rapid construction. The bearing characteristics and construction performance of SCCS were systematically studied using a three-dimensional numerical model. A sensitivity analysis was also performed. It was found that the stress of a π-shaped steel arch decreased with an increase in the thickness of the wall, and increased linearly with an increase in the rate of stress release. In the horizontal direction of the arch section, the nodal stresses of the crown and the shoulder gradually increased in longitudinally, and in the vertical direction, the nodal stresses gradually decreased from top to bottom. The stress distribution at the waist, however, was opposite to that at the crown and the shoulder. By analyzing the stress of the arch section under different installation gaps, the sectional stress evolution was found to have a step-growth trend at the crown and shoulder. The stress evolution at the waist is more likely to have a two-stage growth trend: a slow growth stage and a fast growth stage. The maximum tensile and compressive stresses of the secondary lining supported by SCCS were reduced on average by 38.0% and 49.0%, respectively, compared with the traditional support. The findings can provide a reference for the supporting technology in tunnels driven in loess.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.183-190
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• 2022

The construction of an underground silo structure was the first stage of erecting the Gyeongju low-and-intermediate-level radioactive waste disposal facility. The facility, completed in 2014, has a scale of 100 000 drums and is currently in operation. The underground silo structure, 25 and 50 m in diameter and height, respectively, consists of cylindrical (for storing waste packages) and dome parts. The dome is divided into lower (connected to the operation tunnel) and upper parts. The wall of the underground silo structure is an approximately 1-m-thick reinforced concrete liner. In this study, finite element analysis was performed for each phase of the construction sequence and operation of the underground silo structure. Two-dimensional axial symmetric finite element analysis was implemented using the SMAP-3D program. Three-dimensional finite element analysis was also performed to examine the reliability of the two-dimensional axial symmetric finite element model. The structural behavior of the underground silo structure was predicted, and its structural safety was examined.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

De -icing salts have been used commonly in areas where snow or ice is a seasonal safety hazard for roadway, however, the salts is one of main causes on serious deterioration of road infrastructures in crowded urban city like Seoul. In order to establish maintenance strategy of road infrastructures under de-icing salts laden environment, it is necessary to examine environmental characteristics and its response to the existing facilities. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the deterioration environment of road infrastructures. Additional purpose is to develop a design model and details for durability design of infrastructures under de-icing salts laden environment, considering mainly a build-up rate of surface chlorides. Concentration of external chloride solution and surface chloride content were calculated at the level of average de-icing salts for 5 years, ratio of auxiliary road of 17.5 to 30%, and effective exposure area to snow 50 to 80%. The chloride build-up rate was 0.073 ~ 0.077% / year and the maximum surface chloride content was calculated to be 2.2 ~ 2.31% by concrete wt. This study is expected to be used for establishing integrated strategy of road infrastructures, such as predicting chloride profiles or degree of chemical corrosion to exposure concrete.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.2135-2146
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• 2022

A nuclear energy facility is one of the most critical facilities to be safely protected during and after operation because the physical destruction of its barriers by an external attack could release radioactivity into the environment and can cause harmful effects. The barrier walls of nuclear energy facilities should be sufficiently robust to protect essential facilities from external attack or sabotage. Physical protection system (PPS) vulnerability assessment of a typical small nuclear research reactor was carried out by simulating an external attack with a tri-nitro toluene (TNT) shaped charge and results are presented. The reinforced concrete (RC) barrier wall of the research reactor located at a distance of 50 m from a TNT-shaped charge was the target of external attack. For the purpose of the impact assessment of the RC barrier wall, a finite element method (FEM) is utilized to simulate the destruction condition. The study results showed that a hole-size of diameter 342 mm at the front side and 364 mm at the back side was created on the RC barrier wall as a result of a 143.35 kg TNT-shaped charge. This aperture would be large enough to let at least one person can pass through at a time. For the purpose of the PPS vulnerability assessment, an Estimate of Adversary Sequence Interruption (EASI) model was used, which enabled the determination of most vulnerable path to the target with a probability of interruption equal to 0.43. The study showed that the RC barrier wall is vulnerable to a TNT-shaped charge impact, which could in turn reduce the effectiveness of the PPS.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.211-217
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• 2022

New buildings have been designed using different seismic design standards that have been revised. However, the seismic performance of existing buildings is evaluated through the same performance evaluation guidelines. Existing buildings may not satisfy the performance targets suggested in the current guidelines, but there are practical limitations to discriminating the existing buildings with poor seismic performance through a full investigation. In this regard, to classify buildings with poor seismic performance according to the applied standard, this study aimed to evaluate performance-based investigation of the seismic design proposals of buildings with different design standards. The target buildings were set as RC ordinary moment frames for office occupancy. Changes in seismic design criteria by period were analyzed, and the design spectrum changes of reinforced concrete ordinary moment resisting frames were compared to analyze the seismic load acting on the building during design. The seismic design plan was derived through structural analysis of the target model, compared the member force and cross-sectional performance, and a preliminary evaluation of the seismic performance was performed to analyze the performance level through DCR. As a result of the seismic performance analysis through the derived design, the reinforced concrete ordinary moment frame design based on AIK 2000 has an insufficient seismic performance level, so buildings built before 2005 are likely to need seismic reinforcement.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.185-195
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• 2023

Antalya is located south part of minor Asia, one of the biggest cities in Türkiye. As a result of population growth and vast migration to Antalya, many parts of the city that were not suitable for construction due to its geological conditions have become urban areas, and most of these urban areas are full of poorly engineered buildings. Poor engineering has been combined with unplanned urbanization, that causes utter vulnerability to disasters in Antalya. When an earthquake-prone city, Antalya faces with an earthquake risk, fear arises in society. To overcome this problem, it has become necessary to investigate the building stock, expressed in hundreds of thousands, in a fast and reliable way and then perform an urban transformation to create the perception of structural safety. However, the excessive building stock, labor, and economic problems made the implementation stage challenging and revealed the necessity of finding alternative solutions in the field. The present study presents a novel approach for assessment and model based on a rapid visual inspection method to transform areas under earthquake risk in Türkiye. The approach aimed to rank the interventions for decision-making mechanisms by making comparisons in the scale hierarchy. In the present study, to investigate the proposed approach, over 26,000 buildings were examined in Antalya, which is the fifth largest city in Türkiye that has a population of over 2.5 Million. In the results of the study, the risk classification was defined in the framework of building, block, street, neighborhood, and district scales.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.113-130
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• 2023

Hybrid simulation (HS) has attracted community attention in recent years as an efficient and effective experimental technique for structural performance evaluation in size-limited laboratories. Traditional hybrid simulations usually take deterministic properties for their numerical substructures therefore could not account for inherent uncertainties within the engineering structures to provide probabilistic performance assessment. Reliable structural performance evaluation, therefore, calls for stochastic hybrid simulation (SHS) to explicitly account for substructure uncertainties. The experimental design of SHS is explored in this study to account for uncertainties within analytical substructures. Both computational simulation and laboratory experiments are conducted to evaluate the pseudo-random Sobol sequence for the experimental design of SHS. Meta-modeling through polynomial chaos expansion (PCE) is established from a computational simulation of a nonlinear single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) structure to evaluate the influence of nonlinear behavior and ground motions uncertainties. A series of hybrid simulations are further conducted in the laboratory to validate the findings from computational analysis. It is shown that the Sobol sequence provides a good starting point for the experimental design of stochastic hybrid simulation. However, nonlinear structural behavior involving stiffness and strength degradation could significantly increase the number of hybrid simulations to acquire accurate statistical estimation for the structural response of interests. Compared with the statistical moments calculated directly from hybrid simulations in the laboratory, the meta-model through PCE gives more accurate estimation, therefore, providing a more effective way for uncertainty quantification.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.3
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• pp.337-348
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• 2023

The optimization of reinforced concrete (RC) cantilever retaining walls is a complex problem and requires the use of advanced techniques like metaheuristic algorithms. For this purpose, an optimization model must first be developed, which involves mathematical complications, multidisciplinary knowledge, and programming skills. This task has proven to be too arduous and has halted the mainstream acceptance of optimization. Therefore, it is necessary to unravel the complications of optimization into an easily applicable form. Currently, the most commonly used method for designing retaining walls is by following the proportioning limits provided by the ACI handbook. However, these limits, derived manually, are not verified by any optimization technique. There is a need to validate or modify these limits, using optimization algorithms to consider them as optimal limits. Therefore, this study aims to propose updated proportioning limits for the economical design of a RC cantilever retaining wall through a comprehensive parametric investigation using the genetic algorithm (GA). Multiple simulations are run to examine various design parameters, and trends are drawn to determine effective ranges. The optimal limits are derived for 5 geometric and 3 reinforcement variables and validated by comparison with their predecessor, ACI's preliminary proportioning limits. The results indicate close proximity between the optimized and code-provided ranges; however, the use of optimal limits can lead to additional cost optimization. Modifications to achieve further optimization are also discussed. Besides the geometric variables, other design parameters not covered by the ACI building code, like reinforcement ratios, bar diameters, and material strengths, and their effects on cost optimization, are also discussed. The findings of this investigation can be used by experienced engineers to refine their designs, without delving into the complexities of optimization.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.3A
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• pp.349-356
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• 2008

Recently FRP (Fiber Reinforcement Polymer) is widely used for the strengthening of damaged RC beams. Although many tests were carried out to verify flexural capacity of RC beams strengthened with FRP sheet or plate, the behavior of strengthened RC beams has not yet clearly verified. To investigate the strengthening efficiency of the Near Surface Mounted Reinforcement (NSMR) technique experimentally and analytically, a total of 7 specimens have been tested. The experimental results revealed that specimens strengthened with NSMR improved the flexural capacity of RC beams. Also, while the NSMR specimens utilized CFRP reinforcement efficiently compared to the EBR (Externally Bonded Reinforcement) specimen, the NSMR specimens still have debonding failure between epoxy and concrete interface. This study has proposed the model to predict failure modes and failure loads. Good agreement was obtained between the predicted and the experimental results.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.1A
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• pp.135-146
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• 2008

In this paper, a hybrid damage monitoring scheme for prestressed concrete (PSC) girder bridges by using sequential acceleration and impedance signatures is newly proposed. Damage types of interest include prestress-loss in tendon and flexural stiffness-loss in a concrete girder. The hybrid scheme mainly consists of three sequential phases: damage alarming, damage classification, and damage estimation. In the first phase, the global occurrence of damage is alarmed by monitoring changes in acceleration features. In the second phase, the type of damage is classified into either prestress-loss or flexural stiffness-loss by recognizing patterns of impedance features. In the third phase, the location and the extent of damage are estimated by using two different ways: a mode shape-based damage detection to detect flexural stiffness-loss and a natural frequency-based prestress prediction to identify prestress-loss. The feasibility of the proposed scheme is evaluated on a laboratory-scaled PSC girder model for which hybrid vibration-impedance signatures were measured for several damage scenarios of prestress-loss and flexural stiffness-loss.