• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.565-582
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• 2023

The present research reports the application of engineered cementitious composites (ECC) as an alternative to conventional concrete to improve the seismic behavior of short columns. Experimental and finite element investigation was conducted by testing five reinforced engineered cementitious composite (RECC) concrete columns (half-scale specimens) and one control reinforced concrete (RC) specimen for different shear-span and transverse reinforcement ratios under cyclic lateral loads. RECC specimens with higher shear-span and transverse reinforcement ratios demonstrated a significant effect on the column lateral load behavior by improving ductility (>5), energy dissipation capacity (1.2 to 4.1 times RC specimen), gradual strength degradation (ultimate drift >3.4%), and altering the failure mode. The self-confinement effect of ECC fibers maintained the integrity in the post-peak region and reserved the transmission of stress through fibers without noticeable degradation in strength. Finite element modeling of RECC specimens under monotonic incremental loads was carried out by adopting simplified constitutive material models. It was apprehended that the model simulated the global response (strength and stiffness) and damage crack patterns reasonably well.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.417-435
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• 2021

The optimal distribution of steel fibers over different layers of concrete can be considered as an appropriate method in improving the structural performance and reducing the cost of fiber-reinforced concrete members. In addition, the use of waste tire rubber in concrete mixes, as one of the practical ways to address environmental problems, is highly significant. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the flexural behavior of functionally graded steel fiber-reinforced concrete containing recycled tire crumb rubber, as a volume replacement of sand, after exposure to elevated temperatures. Little information is available in the literature regarding this subject. To achieve this goal, a set of 54 one-, two-, and three-layer concrete beam specimens with different fiber volume fractions (0, 0.25, 0.5, 1, and 1.25%), but the same overall fiber content, and different volume percentages of the waste tire rubber (0, 5, and 10%) were exposed to different temperatures (23, 300, and 600℃). Afterward, the parameters affecting the post-heating flexural performance of concrete, including flexural strength and stiffness, toughness, fracture energy, and load-deflection diagrams, along with the compressive strength and weight loss of concrete specimens, were evaluated. The results indicated that the flexural strength and stiffness of the three-layer concrete beams respectively increased by 10 and 7%, compared to the one-layer beam specimens with the same fiber content. However, the flexural performance of the two-layer beams was reduced relative to those with one layer and equal fiber content. Besides, the flexural strength, toughness, fracture energy, and stiffness were reduced by approximately 10% when a 10% of natural sand was replaced with tire rubber in the three-layer specimens compared to the corresponding beams without crumb rubber. Although the flexural properties of concrete specimens increased with increasing the temperature up to 300℃, these properties degraded significantly with elevating the temperature up to 600℃, leading to a sharp increase in the deflection at peak load.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.27-42
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• 2018

Behavior of soil is usually described with continuum type of failure models such as Mohr-Coulomb or Drucker-Prager model. The main advantage of these models is in a relatively simple and efficient way of predicting the main tendencies and overall behavior of soil in failure analysis of interest for engineering practice. However, the main shortcoming of these models is that they are not able to capture post-peak behavior of soil nor the corresponding failure modes under extreme loading. In this paper we will significantly improve on this state-of-the-art. In particular, we propose the use of a discrete beam lattice model to provide a sharp prediction of inelastic response and failure mechanisms in coupled soil-foundation systems. In the discrete beam lattice model used in this paper, soil is meshed with one-dimensional Timoshenko beam finite elements with embedded strong discontinuities in axial and transverse direction capable of representing crack propagation in mode I and mode II. Mode I relates to crack opening, and mode II relates to crack sliding. To take into account material heterogeneities, we determine fracture limits for each Timoshenko beam with Gaussian random distribution. We compare the results obtained using the discrete beam lattice model against those obtained using the modified three-surface elasto-plastic cap model.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.1138-1147
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• 2020

Objective: A study was made investigate factors affecting body surface temperature changes after weaning in sows, whether these can be used to aid detection of natural estrus and how they relate to subsequent reproductive performance. Methods: A total of 132 sows were selected during summer from a breeding farm, with mean parity of 3.6±2.3 and 28.5±0.9 days lactation length. Four daily measurements (6:00, 8:00, 16:00, and 18:00) of vulva (VST), udder (UST), ear base and central back skin temperatures for individual sows were taken by an infrared thermometer, continuing up to 8 days post weaning. Results: The VST obtained from sows showing estrus at 4 days post-weaning (4DPW), 5DPW, and 6DPW showed a peak at the fourth day post-weaning, but then started to decrease. The VST of sows not detected in standing heat (NDPW) remained at a lower level during the experiment, but UST was increased soon after weaning. The VST-UST temperature differences during daytime of sows that were showing behavioural standing heat on 4DPW, 5DPW, 6DPW, and 7DPW were 0.46℃±0.123℃, 0.71℃±0.124℃, 0.66℃ ±0.171℃, and 0.58℃±0.223℃, respectively. The NDPW sows had the highest UST observed, but also the lowest VST so that a more negative value of temperature difference (-0.31℃) was seen during first few days post-weaning. A total of 119 sows were observed to show standing heat and were bred. The later the estrus, the smaller the litter size (p = 0.005). Conclusion: Sows which did not show behavior indicative of stable standing heat after weaning had a VST which remained at a lower level, but the UST increased soon after weaning. Therefore, for sow heat detection under field conditions, the changes of VST and UST and difference between the two should be considered together to increase the accuracy of detection.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.229-236
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• 2015

This paper describes the effect of aggregate size on compressive behavior of high-strength steel fiber reinforced concrete. The Specified compression strength is 60 MPa and the range of fiber volume fraction is 0~2%. The main variable is the aggregate size, which was used for the aggregate size of 8 and 20 mm. So, ten concrete mixtures were prepared and tested to evaluate the fresh and hardened properties of SFRC at curing ages (7, 14, 28, 56 and 91 days), respectively. Items estimated in this study are the fresh properties (air contents, slump), hardened properties (compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, post-peak response and compressive toughness). As a result, the aggregate size has little effect on the compressive strength and modulus of elasticity. On the other hand, the ductile behavior was shown after post peak and the compressive toughness was increasing as decreasing the aggregate size. These effects are clearly represented in the fiber volume fraction 2%, which are the point appeared fiber ball. It is considered that the decreasing the aggregate size has effect on the fiber dispersibility.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.411-427
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• 2007

Reliability in tunnel analysis is necessary to accomplish technically sound design and economical construction. For this, a thorough understanding of the construction procedure including the ground-support interaction has to be obtained. This paper describes a proper modelling technique to simulate the behavior of the steel fiber reinforced shotcrete (SFRS) which maintain the supporting capability in post-failure regime. The additional supporting effect of the steel support was also verified by 3-D analyses and a new load distribution factor were proposed. The use of the plastic moment limit (PML) alone can eliminate the occurrence of the awkwardly high tensile stress in the shotcrete and can successfully model the post-peak ductile behavior of the SFRS. But with this method, moment is limited whenever the stress caused by moment reaches tensile strength of the shotcrete irrespective of the stress by axial force. Therefore, it was necessary to find a more comprehensive method which can reflect the influence of the moment and axial force. This can be accomplished by the proper use of "liner element" which is the built-in model in FLAC. In this model, the peak and residual strength as well as the uniaxial compressive strength of the SFRS can be specified. Analyses were conducted with these two models on the 2-lane road tunnels excavated in class IV and V rock mass and results were compared with the conventional elastic beam model. Results showed that both models can reflect the fracture toughness of the SFRS which could not be accomplished by the elastic beam model.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.89 no.6
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• pp.617-626
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• 2024

The study investigated the behavior of plain and fibered Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) beams under varying loading conditions using integrated analysis of the flexure and acoustic emission tests. The loading rate of testing is -0.25 -2 mm/min. It is observed that on increasing loading rate, flexural strength increases, and toughness decreases. The acoustic emission testing revealed that higher loading rates accelerate crack propagation. Fiber effect and matrix cracking are identified as significant contributors to the release of acoustic emission energy, with fiber rupture/failure and matrix cracking showing rate-dependent behavior. Crack classification analysis indicated that the rise angle (RA) value decreased under quasi-static loading. The average frequency (AF) value increased with the loading rate, but this trend reversed under rate-dependent conditions. K-means analysis identified distinct clusters of crack types with unique frequency and duration characteristics at different loading rates. Furthermore, the historic index and signal strength decreased with increasing loading rate after peak capacity, while the severity index increased in the post-peak zone, indicating more severe damage. The sudden rise in the historic index and cumulative signal strength indicates the possibility of several occurrences, such as the emergence of a significant crack, shifts in cracking modes, abrupt failure, or notable fiber debonding/pull-out. Moreover, there is a distinct rise in the number of AE knees corresponding to the increase in loading rate. The crack mapping from acoustic emission testing aligned with observed failure patterns, validating its use in structural health monitoring.

• Architectural research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 2015

Early investigations focused mainly on manipulating the confinement effect to develop a reinforced concrete column with lateral hoops. Based on this legacy model, Li's model incorporated the additional confinement effect of a steel jacket. However, recent experiments on plain concrete cylinders with steel jackets revealed relatively large discrepancies in the estimates of strength enhancement and the post-peak behavior. Here, we describe a modified constitutive law for confined concrete with an unbonded external steel jacket in terms of three regions for the loading stage. We used a two-phase heterogeneous concrete model to simulate the uniaxial compression test of a $150mm{\times}300mm$ concrete cylinder with three thicknesses of steel jackets: 1.0 mm, 1.5 mm, and 2.0 mm. The proposed constitutive model was verified by a series of finite element analyses using a finite element program. The damaged plasticity model and extended Drucker-Prager model were applied and compared in terms of the level of pressure sensitivity for confinement in 3D. The proposed model yielded results that were in close agreement with the experimental results.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.151-156
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• 1997

An experimental study was performed on the pull-out behavior of 90-deg standard hooks from exterior beam-column connections. The effects of the number of hooked bars of joint area were investigated. Under the pull-out action of hooked bars, the damage and cracking of joint area tends to be more extensive as the number of hooks pulling out from a joint increases. The pull-out strength and post-peak ductility of hooked bar are adversely influenced by the increase in number of hooks pulling out from an exterior joint. Current hooked bar anchorage design guidelines may be improved by considering the effect of the number of hooked bars on anchorage conditions at exterior joints.

• KCI Concrete Journal
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.181-189
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• 1999

An experimental study was performed on the Pull-out behavior of 90-deg standard hooks from the exterior beam-column connections. the effects of the number of hooked bars and fiber reinforcement of the joint area were investigated with the following conclusions : (1) Under the pull-out action of hooked bars. the damage and cracking of joint area the number of hooks pulling out from a joint increases; (2) Substitution of the transverse column (confining) reinforcement with steel fibers at the joint region effectively reduces the extent of cracking in exterior joints caused by the pull-out of hooked bars; (3) The pull-out strength and post-peak ductility of hooked bars are adversely influenced by the increase in number of hooks pulling out from an exterior joint. Current hooked bar anchorage design guidelines may be improved by considering the effect of the number of hooked bars on anchorage conditions at the exterior joints; and (4) The strength and ductility of hooked bars under pull-out forces are positively influenced by substituting the conventional confining reinforcement of exterior joints with steel fibers . The application of steel fibers to the exterior joints is an effective technique for improving the anchorage conditions of hooked bars, and also for reducing the congestion of reinforcement in the beam-column connections.