• Architectural research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.39-48
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• 2005

Main objective of this research is to evaluate performance of high-strength concrete (HSC) columns for ductility and strength. Eight one-third scale columns with compressive strength of 69 MPa were subjected to a constant axial load corresponding to 30 % of the column axial load capacity and a cyclic horizontal load-inducing reversed bending moment. The variables studied in this research are the volumetric ratio of transverse reinforcement (${\rho}_s=1.58$, 2.25 %), tie configuration (Type H, Type C and Type D) and tie yield strength ($f_{yh}=549$ and 779 MPa). Test results show that the flexural strength of every column exceeds the calculated flexural capacity based on the equivalent concrete stress block used in the current design code. Columns with 42 % higher amounts of transverse reinforcement than that required by seismic provisions of ACI 318-02 showed ductile behaviour, showing a displacement ductility factor (${\mu}_{{\Delta}u}$) of 3.69 to 4.85, and a curvature ductility factor (${\mu}_{{\varphi}u}$) of over 10.0. With an axial load of 30 % of the axial load capacity, it is recommended that the yield strength of transverse reinforcement be held equal to or below 549 MPa.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.308-319
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• 2005

Piezo-ceramics are special materials which transform energy between mechanical and electrical forms. Bender-elements are composite materials consisting of thin piezo-ceramics and elastic shims, and are widely used as actuators and transducers in the field of electronics, robotics, autos and mechatronics utilizing the effectiveness of energy transformation capability. In geotechnical engineering, commercial bender-elements are used in laboratory as source and receiver in the measurements of soil stiffness. The elements were built by using various metal shims sandwiched between piezo-ceramics and coating over the composite in the research. A pair of elements were buried in a concrete block and used as source and receiver to measure the stiffness of the concrete. The test results were verified by comparing with the resonant column testing results. In a preliminary stage of the development of an in-situ seismic testing equipment using bender-elements for soft clay materials, shear waves were generated and measured by burying the elements in the barrel of kaolinite and water mixture. The measured shear wave signals were so distinct for the first-arrival pick that applicability of the elements in the field measurements is very promising.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.411-425
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• 2020

Unreinforced masonry (URM) walls present low shear strength and are prone to brittle failure when subjected to inplane seismic overloads. This paper discusses the shear strengthening of URM walls with Textile Reinforced Mortar (TRM) jackets. The available literature is thoroughly reviewed and an extended database is developed including available brick, concrete and stone URM walls retrofitted and subjected to shear tests to assess their strength. Further, the experimental results of the database are compared against the available shear strength design models from ACI 549.4R-13, CNR DT 215 2018, CNR DT 200 R1/2013, Eurocode 6 and Eurocode 8 guidelines as well as Triantafillou and Antonopoulos 2000, Triantafillou 1998, Triantafillou 2016. The performance of the available models is investigated and the prediction average absolute error (AAE) is as high as 40%. A new model is proposed that takes into account the additional contribution of the reinforcing mortar layer of the TRM jacket that is usually neglected. Further, the approach identifies the plethora of different block materials, joint mortars and TRM mortars and grids and introduces rational calibration of their variable contributions on the shear strength. The proposed model provides more accurate shear strength predictions than the existing models for all different types of the URM substrates, with a low AAE equal to 22.95%.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.87 no.5
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• pp.487-498
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• 2023

Unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings are extensively adopted in many of the growing nations, particularly in India. Window or door openings are required for architectural or functional reasons, which pose a threat to the building's safety. The past earthquakes have shown that the seismic capability of these structures was very weak. Strengthening these unreinforced masonry walls using welded wire mesh (WWM) is one of the most commonly and economical methods. The present experimental study investigates the impact of openings on the shear behaviour of URM walls and the effectiveness of WWM in enhancing the shear performance of masonry wall. In the experimental program 16 specimens were cast, 8 unstrengthen and 8 strengthened specimens, under 8 unstrengthen and strengthened specimens, every 2 specimens had 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% openings and all these walls were tested under diagonal compression. The results show that the shear carrying capacity reduces as the opening percentage increases. However, strengthening the URM specimens using WWM significantly improves the peak load, shear strength, ductility, stiffness, and energy dissipation. Furthermore, the strengthening of the URM walls using WWM compensated the loss of wall capacity caused by the presence of the openings.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.455-467
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• 2023

Impact damper is a passive damping system that controls undesirable vibration with mass block impacting with stops fixed to the excited structure, introducing momentum exchange and energy dissipation. However, harmful momentum exchange may occur in the random excitation increasing structural response. Based on the mechanism of impact damping system, a semi-active impact damper (SAID) with controllable impact timing as well as a semi-active control strategy is proposed to enhance the seismic performance of engineering structures in this paper. Comparative experimental studies were conducted to investigate the damping performances of the passive impact damper and SAID. The extreme working conditions for SAID were also discussed and approaches to enhance the damping effect under high-intensity excitations were proposed. A numerical simulation model of SAID attached to a frame structure was established to further explore the damping mechanism. The experimental and numerical results show that the SAID has better control effect than the traditional passive impact damper and can effectively broaden the damping frequency band. The parametric studies illustrate the mass ratio and impact damping ratio of SAID can significantly influence the vibration control effect by affecting the impact force.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.525-534
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• 2014

Environmental problems typically occurring in abandoned mine lands (AML) include: contaminated and acidic surface water and groundwater; stockpiled waste rock and mill tailings; and ground subsidences due to mining operations. This study examines the effectiveness of various geophysical techniques for mapping potential hazard and contaminated zones. Four AML sites with sedimentation contamination problems, acid mine drainage (AMD) channels, ground subsidence, manmade liner leakage, and buried mine tailings, were selected to examine the applicability of various geophysical methods to the identification of the different types of mine hazards. Geophysical results were correlated to borehole data (core samples, well logs, tomographic profiles, etc.) and water sample data (pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and heavy metal contents). Zones of low electrical resistivity (ER) corresponded to areas contaminated by heavy metals, especially contamination by Cu, Pb, and Zn. The main pathways of AMD leachate were successfully mapped using ER methods (low anomaly peaks), self-potential (SP) curves (negative peaks), and ground penetrating radar (GPR) at shallow penetration depths. Mine cavities were well located based on composite interpretations of ER, seismic tomography, and well-log records; mine cavity locations were also observed in drill core data and using borehole image processing systems (BIPS). Damaged zones in buried manmade liners (used to block descending leachate) were precisely detected by ER mapping, and buried rock waste and tailings piles were characterized by low-velocity zones in seismic refraction data and high-resistivity zones in the ER data.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.177-186
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• 2005

World widely, the occurrences of earthquakes have been increased recently including to nations which earthquake often happen to like Japan. Taking into account that the earthquake acceleration at design was 0.154 g at the contigency level earthuake (CLE) with its geological condition, it resulted that this method must be the most efficient condition against the earthquake vibration to two lane cut-and cover tunnel. The correlations between the result of the shaking table test and its numerical analysis showed that the test data of the bending stress due to the earthquake vibration have been underestimated about 5 percents in case of the cut slope 1 : 0.6 and about 10 percent in case of the cut slope 1 : 1.2. However, on average, the results showed a similar tendency that the higher the height of the backfill of the EPS block was, the less the bending stress was.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.205-214
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• 2010

Masonry structures have been used throughout the world for the construction of residential buildings. However, from a structural point of view, the masonry material is characterized by a very low tensile strength. Moreover, the bearing and shear capacity of masonry walls have been found to be vulnerable to earthquakes. In this study, to improve the seismic performance of masonry walls, hexagonal blocks were developed and six masonry walls made with hexagonal block were tested to failure under reversed cyclic lateral loading. This paper focuses on an experimental investigation of different types of wall with hexagonal blocks, i.e. walls with different hexagonal blocks and with different reinforcing bar arrangements, subjected to applied cyclic loads. The cracking, damage patterns and hysteretic feature were evaluated. Results from the hexagonal masonry wall were shown more damage reduction and less brittle failure in comparison to the existing rectangular masonry walls.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.365-372
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• 2002

This experimental investigation was conducted to examine the behavior of eight a third scale columns made of high-strength concrete(HSC). The columns were subjected to constant axial load corresponding to target value of 30 percent of the column axial load capacity and a cyclic horizontal load-inducing reversed bending moment. The variables studied in this research are the volumetric ratio of transverse reinforcement(Ps=1.58, 2.25 ％), tie configuration(hoop-type, cross-type, diagonal-type) and tie yield strength(fy=5,600, 7,950 kgf/$\textrm{cm}^2$). Test results indicated that the flexural strength of all the columns did not exceed calculated flexural capacities based on the equivalent concrete stress block used in current design code. Columns with 42 percent higher amounts of transverse reinforcement than that required by seismic provisions of ACI 318-99 were shown ductile behavior. With axial load of 30 percent of the axial load capacity, the use of high-strength steel as transverse reinforcement may lead to equal or higher ductility than would be achieved with low-strength steel.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.215-223
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• 2005

Piezo-ceramics are special materials which transform energy from mechanical to electrical forms and vice versa. Bender elements are composite materials consisting of thin piezo-ceramics and elastic shims, and are widely used as actuators and transducers in the field of electronics, robotics, autos and mechatronics utilizing the effectiveness of energy transformation capability. In geotechnical engineering, commercial bender elements are used in laboratory as source and receiver in the measurements of soil stiffness. The elements were built by using various metal shims sandwiched between piezo-ceramics and coating over the composite in the research. A pair of elements were buried in a concrete block and used as source and receiver to measure the stiffness of the concrete. The test results were verified by comparing with the resonant column testing results. In a preliminary stage of the development of an in-situ seismic testing equipment using bender elements for soft clay materials, shear waves were generated and measured by burying the elements in the barrel of kaolinite and water mixture. The measured shear wave signals were so distinct for the first-arrival pick that applicability of the elements in the field measurements could be very promising.