• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2017

Finite element model updating is very effective procedure to determine the uncertainty parameters in structural model and minimize the differences between experimentally and numerically identified dynamic characteristics. This procedure can be practiced with manual and automatic model updating procedures. The manual model updating involves manual changes of geometry and analyses parameters by trial and error, guided by engineering judgement. Besides, the automated updating is performed by constructing a series of loops based on optimization procedures. This paper addresses the ambient vibration based finite element model updating of long span reinforced concrete highway bridges using manual model updating procedure. Birecik Highway Bridge located on the $81^{st}km$ of Şanliurfa-Gaziantep state highway over Firat River in Turkey is selected as a case study. The structural carrier system of the bridge consists of two main parts: Arch and Beam Compartments. In this part of the paper, the arch compartment is investigated. Three dimensional finite element model of the arch compartment of the bridge is constructed using SAP2000 software to determine the dynamic characteristics, numerically. Operational Modal Analysis method is used to extract dynamic characteristics using Enhanced Frequency Domain Decomposition method. Numerically and experimentally identified dynamic characteristics are compared with each other and finite element model of the arch compartment of the bridge is updated manually by changing some uncertain parameters such as section properties, damages, boundary conditions and material properties to reduce the difference between the results. It is demonstrated 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 %49.1 to %0.6 by model updating. Also, a good harmony is found between mode shapes after finite element model updating.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.1A
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• pp.35-43
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• 2006

In this paper, procedures and research results involved in the development of glass reinforced composite bridge deck of hollow section were presented. Laminate design for the 3 cell deck section was performed. Structural characteristics such as serviceability, strength, failure and stability for DB24 load were analytically studied through the finite element analysis for the composite deck plate girder bridge. Composite deck tube was fabricated with pultrusion and extensive tests such as flexural test, girder-connection test, barrier-connection test, compression fatigue test and flexural fatigue test were carried out to evaluate structural behavior experimentally. Also, field load test was conducted for the demonstration plate girder bridge with composite deck and requirements for the strength and serviceability were reviewed.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.4A
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• pp.597-604
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• 2006

Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) is a relatively new material in the bridge construction. With high strength to weight ratios, excellent durability, and low life-cycle costs of FRP, FRP bridge decks can offer a low dead load, reduced maintenance, and long service life. Due to the lightweight of FRP, if existing concrete decks can be replaced with the FRP decks, the load carrying capacity of superstructure can be increased without strengthening of girders. In this study, we have conducted an experiment on 7 cases of connection conditions with steel girder by using bolts considering a rational and economical method of connection and compared with the results of FEM analysis. From the experimental result, if the bolts are strong enough to resist shear force between the FRP bridge deck and the steel girder, it will be structurally secure to use the zigzag method.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.6A
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• pp.943-953
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• 2006

We investigated experimentally the static behavior of an orthotropic bridge deck which is made from glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) and polyurethane foam. The bridge deck consists of many unit cells with rectangular holes which are filled with the foam to improve its structural behavior in its weak axis. It is found that although the elastic modulus of the foam compared to that of the GFRP is about the order of, the structural behaviors in the weak axis such as nominal strength, stiffness, etc. are greatly improved. Owing to the low mass density of the foam used in this study, the bridge deck is still light enough with the improved structural properties. Webs of the cells filled with the foam did not significantly contribute to the strength development of the deck. However, the propagation of a crack initiated in a cell is caught by the webs and limited to the inside of that cell only, which makes the load-displacement behavior of the foam-filled GFRP deck less brittle.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.401-416
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• 2024

Long-span structures, such as bridges, can experience different seismic excitations at the supports due to spatially variability of ground motion. Regarding current bridge designing codes, it is just EC 2008 that suggested some regulations to consider it and in the other codes almost ignored while based on some previous studies it is found that the effect of mentioned issue could not be neglected. The current study aimed to perform a comprehensive study about the effect of spatially varying ground motions on the dynamic response of a reinforced concrete bridge under asynchronous input motions considering soil-structure interactions. The correlated ground motions were generated by an introduced method that contains all spatially varying components, and imposed on the supports of the finite element model under different load scenarios. Then the obtained results from uniform and non-uniform excitations were compared to each other. In addition, the effect of soil-structure interactions involved and the corresponding results compared to the previous results. Also, to better understand the seismic response of the bridge, the responses caused by pseudo-static components decompose from the total response. Finally, an incremental dynamic analysis was performed to survey the non-linear behavior of the bridge under assumed load scenarios. The outcomes revealed that the local site condition plays an important role and strongly amplifies the responses. Furthermore, it was found that a combination of wave-passage and strong incoherency severely affected the responses of the structure. Moreover, it has been found that the pseudo-static component's contribution increase with increasing incoherent parameters. In addition, regarding the soil condition was considered for the studied bridge, it was found that a combination of spatially varying ground motions and soil-structure interactions effects could make a very destructive scenarios like, pounding and unseating.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.137-158
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• 2009

This paper investigates the behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) circular columns under combined loading including torsion. The main variables considered in this study are the ratio of torsional moment to bending moment (T/M) and the level of detailing for moderate and high seismicity (low and high transverse reinforcement/spiral ratio). This paper presents the results of tests on seven columns subjected to cyclic bending and shear, cyclic torsion, and various levels of combined cyclic bending, shear, and torsion. Columns under combined loading were tested at T/M ratios of 0.2 and 0.4. These columns were reinforced with two spiral reinforcement ratios of 0.73% and 1.32%. Similarly, the columns subjected to pure torsion were tested with two spiral reinforcement ratios of 0.73% and 1.32%. This study examined the significance of proper detailing, and spiral reinforcement ratio and its effect on the torsional resistance under combined loading. The test results demonstrate that both the flexural and torsional capacities are decreased due to the effect of combined loading. Furthermore, they show a significant change in the failure mode and deformation characteristics depending on the spiral reinforcement ratio. The increase in spiral reinforcement ratio also led to significant improvement in strength and ductility.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.26 no.B
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• pp.111-118
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• 2006

The reinforced concrete structure is one of the most popular structures in real construction. Concrete has been strengtened rapidly due to the development of new material and construction technology. But as the concrete has been getting stronger, the brittleness of material has increased and the better ductility has been required. So, the study for strengthening stiffener has been urgently needed. As we said above, it is expected that the use of high strength steel and concrete will be increased. However, The experimental data is not enough for solving problems of the use of high strengthened steel and concrete. In this research, we analyzed 45 combinations of the strength levels of concrete, the thickness of material and the steel strength with regard to simple Reinforced Concrete SLAB Beam bridge. The program MIDAS CIVIL was used to find the optimal combination. As a result, it was found that strength ratio per unit section is in inverse proportion to the strength of material and that the strengths of steel are respectively 400 MPa for low strengthened concrete and 300 MPa for high strengthened concrete. For economic aspect and usability, the effect of high strength steel is not as high as we expected it would be.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.289-304
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• 2013

A reliable concrete constitutive material model is critical for an accurate numerical analysis simulation of reinforced concrete structures under extreme dynamic loadings including impact or blast. However, the formulation of concrete material model is challenging and entails numerous input parameters that must be obtained through experimentation. This paper presents a damage scale analytical model to characterize concrete material for its pre- and post-peak behavior. To formulate the damage scale model, statistical regression and finite element analysis models were developed leveraging twenty existing experimental data sets on concrete compressive strength. Subsequently, the proposed damage scale analytical model was implemented in the finite element analysis simulation of a reinforced concrete pier subjected to vehicle impact loading and the response were compared to available field test data to validate its accuracy. Field test and FEA results were in good agreement. The proposed analytical model was able to reliably predict the concrete behavior including its post-peak softening in the descending branch of the stress-strain curve. The proposed model also resulted in drastic reduction of number of input parameters required for LS-DYNA concrete material models.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.3 no.3 s.9
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• pp.85-93
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• 2003

Steel, concrete and their combination materials are the most 6commonly used materials for civil engineering structural systems such as buildings, bridge structures and other structures. Recently, however, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites, a relatively new composite material made of fibers and polymer resins, have been gradually used in structural systems as an alternative structural material. This paper describes a comparison of design strength equations for steel column and FRP composite column based on design philosophies. The safety factors used in allowable stress design (ASD) are relatively higher in FRP structural design than steel structural design. Column critical stress equations of FRP composites column from an experimental study can be represented by Euler elastic buckling equation at the long-range of slenderness, and an exponential form at the short-range of slenderness as defined in Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) of steel column. The column strength of steel and FRP composite columns in large slenderness is independent of material strength, this result verified the elastic buckling equation as derived by Eq. (15) and Eq. (5).

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.371-382
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• 2009

The concrete plates are most widely used structural elements in the hulls of floating concrete structures such as concrete barges and pontoons, bridge decks, basement floors and liquid storage tanks. The study on the behavior of high-strength fiber reinforced concrete (HSFRC) plates was carried out to evaluate the performance of plates under in-plane and transverse loads. The plates were tested in simply supported along all the four edges and subjected to in-plane and traverse loads. In this experimental program, twenty four 150 mm diameter cylinders and twelve plate elements of size $600{\times}600{\times}30$ mm were prepared and tested. Water-to-cementitious materials ratios of 0.3 and 0.4 with 10% and 15% silica fume replacements were used in the concrete mixes. The fiber volume fractions, $V_f$ = 0%, 1% and 1.5% with an aspect ratio of 80 were used in this study. The HSFRC mixes had the concrete compressive strengths in the range of 52.5 to 70 MPa, flexural strengths ranging from 6.21 to 11.08 MPa and static modulus of elasticity ranging from 29.68 to 36.79 GPa. In this study, the behavior of HSFRC plate elements subjected to combined uniaxial in-plane and transverse loads was investigated.