• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.58 no.2
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• pp.277-300
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• 2016

Cold-formed steel (CFS) sections are becoming an increasingly popular solution for constructing floors in residential, healthcare and education buildings. Their reduced weight, however, makes them prone to excessive vibrations, increasing the need for accurate prediction of CFS floor modal properties. By combining experimental modal analysis of a full-scale CFS framed building and its floors and their numerical finite element (FE) modelling this paper demonstrates that the existing methods (based on the best engineering judgement) for predicting CFS floor modal properties are unreliable. They can yield over 40% difference between the predicted and measured natural frequencies for important modes of vibration. This is because the methods were adopted from other floor types (e.g., timber or standard steel-concrete composite floors) and do not take into account specific features of CFS floors. Using the adjusted and then updated FE model, featuring semi-rigid connections led to markedly improved results. The first four measured and calculated CFS floor natural frequencies matched exactly and all relevant modal assurance criterion (MAC) values were above 90%. The introduction of flexible supports and more realistic modelling of the floor boundary conditions, as well as non-structural $fa{\c{c}}ade$ walls, proved to be crucial in the development of the new more successful modelling strategy. The process used to develop 10 identified and experimentally verified FE modelling parameters is based on published information and parameter adjustment resulting from FE model updating. This can be utilised for future design of similar lightweight steel floors in prefabricated buildings when checking their vibration serviceability, likely to be their governing design criterion.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.20-26
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• 2009

The dominant incidents category for onshore and offshore natural gas transmission pipelines in the world is associated with outside forces. Incidents in the outside forces category embrace acts of nature, which typically cause widespread structural damage, as well as act of man, whose effects tend to cause dents and/or gouges localized at point of contact that are referred to as mechanical damage. Therefore, these damage types must be better addressed to avoid unnecessary and costly repairs and the possibility of catastrophic events. First of all, the characterizing features of mechanical damage in gas pipelines were evaluated by using of excavator or boring machine. There is no reliable method for evaluating the safe operating pressure of pipeline affected by mechanical damage. It is especially important to evaluate the remaining strength of damaged pipelines due to outside force. Therefore, the full scale burst tests were conducted to evaluate the remaining strength of pipe with mechanical damage that combines a dent and a gouge. This paper is supposed to provide information that will assist in developing a criterion to assess serviceability in pipelines with mechanical damage.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.60-67
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• 2004

The designer of a tall building even in moderate and low seismic regions should, in finalizing the desist consider the probable impact of the design basis earthquake on the selected structural system. In this study, seismic response analysis was conducted to evaluate the seismic performance of concentrically braced steel highrise buildings which were designed only for governing wind loading under moderate seismicity. The main purpose of this analysis was to see if the wind design would create a system whose elastic capacity clearly exceeds the probable demand as suggested by the design basis earthquake. The strength demand-to-capacity study revealed that the wind-designed steel highrise buildings with the aspect ratio of larger than five can withstand the design basis earthquake elastically by a sufficient margin due to the system over-strength resulting from the wind-serviceability criterion. The maximum story drift demand from the design basis earthquake was just 0.25% (or half the limit of Immediate Occupancy performance level in FEMA 273)

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.293-303
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• 2017

Maximum deflection in a beam is a serviceability design criterion and occurs generally at or close to the mid-span. This paper presents a methodology using neural networks for rapid prediction of mid-span deflections in reinforced concrete beams subjected to service load. The closed form expressions are further obtained from the trained neural networks. The closed form expressions take into account cracking in concrete at in-span and at near the interior supports and tension stiffening effect. The expressions predict the inelastic deflections (incorporating the concrete cracking) from the elastic moments and the elastic deflections (neglecting the concrete cracking). Five separate neural networks are trained since these have been postulated to represent all beams having any number of spans. The training, validating, and testing data sets for the neural networks are generated using an analytical-numerical procedure of analysis. The proposed expressions have been verified by comparison with the experimental results reported elsewhere and also by comparison with the finite element method (FEM). The proposed expressions, at minimal input data and minimal computation effort, yield results that are close to FEM results. The expressions can be used in every day design since the errors are found to be small.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.685-698
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• 2001

In this paper, a general method for the automatic search for Strut-and-Tie (S&T) models representative of possible resistant mechanisms in reinforced concrete elements is proposed. The representativeness criterion here adopted is inspired to the principle of minimum strain energy and requires the consistency of the model with a reference stress field. In particular, a highly indeterminate pin-jointed framework of a given layout is generated within the assigned geometry of the concrete element and an optimum truss is found by the minimisation of a suitable objective function. Such a function allows us to search the optimum truss according to a reference stress field deduced through a F.E.A. and assumed as representative of the given continuum. The theoretical principles and the mathematical formulation of the method are firstly explained; the search for a S&T model suitable for the design of a deep beam shows the method capability in handling the reference stress path. Finally, since the analysis may consider the structure as linear-elastic or cracked and non-linear in both the component materials, it is shown how the proposed procedure allows us to verify the possibilities of activation of the design model, oriented to the serviceability condition and deduced in the linear elastic field, by following the evolution of the resistant mechanisms in the cracked non-linear field up to the structural failure.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.547-563
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• 2015

Deflection in a beam of a composite frame is a serviceability design criterion. This paper presents a methodology for rapid prediction of long-term mid-span deflections of beams in composite frames subjected to service load. Neural networks have been developed to predict the inelastic mid-span deflections in beams of frames (typically for 20 years, considering cracking, and time effects, i.e., creep and shrinkage in concrete) from the elastic moments and elastic mid-span deflections (neglecting cracking, and time effects). These models can be used for frames with any number of bays and stories. The training, validating, and testing data sets for the neural networks are generated using a hybrid analytical-numerical procedure of analysis. Multilayered feed-forward networks have been developed using sigmoid function as an activation function and the back propagation-learning algorithm for training. The proposed neural networks are validated for an example frame of different number of spans and stories and the errors are shown to be small. Sensitivity studies are carried out using the developed neural networks. These studies show the influence of variations of input parameters on the output parameter. The neural networks can be used in every day design as they enable rapid prediction of inelastic mid-span deflections with reasonable accuracy for practical purposes and require computational effort which is a fraction of that required for the available methods.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.18 no.5 s.95
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• pp.579-588
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• 2006

In recent years, the availability of high-strength reinforcing and prestressing steels leads us to build economically and efficiently designed concrete structural members. One of critical problems faced to the structural engineers dealing with these types of structural member is controls of crack width that is used as a criterion for the serviceability in the limit state design. Especially, flexural cracking must be controlled to secure the structural safety and to improve the durability as well as serviceability of the load carving members. The proposed method utilizes the results of pure tension test in which tensile loads are applied both side of specimen, done by Ikki. The bond characteristics of deformed reinforcing bar under pure tension is considered by the area of concrete and rib area. The results of proposed method are compared with the test data and the results show that the proposed method can take into account the dimensions, variation of sectional properties, and direction of reinforcing and gives more accurate maximum bond stress and corresponding relative slip than the existing methods. the characteristics of bonding is considered by using dimensionless slip magnitude and effective reinforcement ratio. The validity of the proposed equation is verified by test experimental data.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.15-19
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• 2008

The most typical capping method for concrete structures is a sulfur-mortar compound capping, provided it satisfied the standard criterion set forth by ASTM C 617, but this conventional bonded-type method has many problems. It exhibits relatively the smaller unreliable value of the strength of high-strength concrete due to the differences of elasticity and strength between the cylinder and the cap, and manifests poor serviceability such as dangerous working tasks or a waste of the working time. To prevent these problems, unbonded-type capping methods have taken the place of the conventional methods in recent years. One of the popular methods is the use of synthetic rubber like a neoprene pad. Serious problems still remain in this method, which include the consideration of its chemical characteristics in consideration of the selection, the safekeeping and the economy of the pads. Moreover, the synthetic rubber pads cannot be used in concrete cylinder with strength greater than 80 MPa according to ASTM C 1231-00. New 'sand-capping method' presented in this study, can be applicable to the compressive strength evaluation of the high strength concrete in the range of $70{\sim}100\;MPa$. This new method has better simplicity and reliability than those of existing 'sand-box', because usual materials such as standard sand and simply-devised apparatus are used for the capping system. The statistical analysis of the test results revealed that the new sand-capping method exhibited the smallest deviation and dispersion, attesting for its much better reliability than other methods specified in ASTM C 1231/1231M.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.641-657
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• 2020

A unique lightweight string truss deployable bridge assembled by thin-walled fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) and metal profiles was designed for emergency applications. As a new structure, investigations into the static structural performance under the serviceability limit state are desired for examining the structural integrity of the developed bridge when subjected to unsymmetrical loadings characterized by combined torsion and bending. In this study, a full-scale experimental inspection was conducted on a fabricated bridge, and the combined flexural-torsional behavior was examined in terms of displacement and strains. The experimental structure showed favorable strength and rigidity performances to function as deployable bridge under unsymmetrical loading conditions and should be designed in accordance with the stiffness criterion, the same as that under symmetrical loads. In addition, a finite element model (FEM) with a simple modeling process, which considered the multi segments of the FRP members and realistic nodal stiffness of the complex unique hybrid nodal joints, was constructed and compared against experiments, demonstrating good agreement. A FEM-based numerical analysis was thereafter performed to explore the effect of the change in elastic modulus of different FRP elements on the static deformation of the bridge. The results confirmed that the change in elastic modulus of different types of FRP element members caused remarkable differences on the bending and torsional stiffness of the hybrid bridge. The global stiffness of such a unique bridge can be significantly enhanced by redesigning the critical lower string pull bars using designable FRP profiles with high elastic modulus.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.127-145
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• 2016

Composite column design is strongly influenced by the computation of the critical buckling load, which is very sensitive to the effective flexural stiffness (EI) of the column. Because of this, the behaviour of a composite column under lateral loading and its response to deflection is largely determined by the EI of the member. Thus, prediction models used for composite member design should accurately mirror this behaviour. However, EI varies due to several design parameters, and the implementation of high-strength materials, which are not considered by the current composite design codes of practice. The reliability of the design methods from six codes of practice (i.e., AS 5100, AS/NZS 2327, Eurocode 4, AISC 2010, ACI 318, and AIJ) for composite columns is studied in this paper. Also, the reliability of these codes of practice against a serviceability limit state criterion are estimated based on the combined use of the test-based statistical procedure proposed by Johnson and Huang (1997) and Monte Carlo simulations. The composite columns database includes 100 tests of circular concrete-filled tubes, rectangular concrete-filled tubes, and concrete-encased steel composite columns. A summary of the reliability analysis procedure and the evaluated reliability indices are provided. The reasons for the reliability analysis results are discussed to provide useful insight and supporting information for a possible revision of available codes of practice.