• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.81-90
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• 2019

The shear behavior of soil-concrete interface is mainly affected by the surface roughness of the two contact surfaces. The present research emphasizes on investigating the effect of roughness of soil-concrete interface on the interface shear behavior in two-layered laboratory testing samples. In these specially prepared samples, clay silt layer with density of $2027kg/m^3$ was selected to be in contact a concrete layer for simplifying the laboratory testing. The particle size testing and direct shear tests are performed to determine the appropriate particles sizes and their shear strength properties such as cohesion and friction angle. Then, the surface undulations in form of teeth are provided on the surfaces of both concrete and soil layers in different testing carried out on these mixed specimens. The soil-concrete samples are prepared in form of cubes of 10*10*30 cm. in dimension. The undulations (inter-surface roughness) are provided in form of one tooth or two teeth having angles $15^{\circ}$ and $30^{\circ}$, respectively. Several direct shear tests were carried out under four different normal loads of 80, 150, 300 and 500 KPa with a constant displacement rate of 0.02 mm/min. These testing results show that the shear failure mechanism is affected by the tooth number, the roughness angle and the applied normal stress on the sample. The teeth are sheared from the base under low normal load while the oblique cracks may lead to a failure under a higher normal load. As the number of teeth increase the shear strength of the sample also increases. When the tooth roughness angle increases a wider portion of the tooth base will be failed which means the shear strength of the sample is increased.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.375-384
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• 2022

The variation of the undrained shear strength (c_u) is an important consideration for assessing slope stability in engineering practice. Previous studies focused on the three-dimensional (3D) stability of slopes in normally consolidated clays generally assume the undrained shear strength increases linearly with depth but does not vary in the horizontal direction. To assess the 3D stability of slopes with spatially varying undrained shear strength, the kinematic approach of limit analysis was adopted to obtain the upper bound solution to the stability number based on a modified failure mechanism. Three types failure mechanism: the toe failure, face failure and below-toe failure were considered. A serious of charts was then presented to illustrate the effect of key parameters on the slope stability and failure geometry. It was found that the stability and failure geometry of slopes are significantly influenced by the gradient of c_u in the depth direction. The influence of c_u profile inclination on the slope stability was found to be pronounced when the increasing gradient of c_u in the depth direction is large. Slopes with larger width-to-height ratio B/H are more sensitive to the variation of c_u profile inclination.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.81 no.5
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• pp.551-563
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• 2022

Bolted connector could be an alternative to replace the conventional welded headed stud in steel-ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) lightweight composite structures. In this paper, a novel demountable bolted shear connector, consisting of a high-strength bolt (HSB) and a specially-designed nut which is pre-embedded in a thin UHPC slab, is proposed, which may result in the quick installation and disassembly, due to the mountable, demountable and reusable features. In order to study the shear behavior of the new type of bolted shear connector, static push-out tests were conducted on five groups of the novel demountable bolted shear connector specimens and one group of conventional welded headed stud specimen for comparison. The effect of the bolt shank diameter and aspect ratio of bolt on failure mode, shear stiffness, peak slip at the steel-UHPC interface, shear strength and ductility of novel bolted connectors is investigated. Additionally, design formula for the shear strength is proposed to check the suitability for assessment of the novel demountable bolted shear connectors.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.63-77
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• 2017

The failure mechanism of a deep hard rock tunnel under high geostress and high geothermalactivity is extremely complex. Uniaxial compression tests of granite at different temperatures were conducted. The complete stress-strain curves, mechanical parameters and macroscopic failure types of the rock were analyzed in detail. The brittleness index, which represents the possibility of a severe brittleness hazard, is proposed in this paperby comparing the peak stress and the expansion stress. The results show that the temperature range from 20 to $60^{\circ}C$ is able to aggravate the brittle failure of hard rock based on the brittleness index. The closure of internal micro cracks by thermal stress can improve the strength of hard rock and the storage capacity of elastic strain energy. The failure mode ofthe samples changes from shear failure to tensile failure as the temperature increases. In conclusion, the brittle failure mechanism of hard rock under the action of thermal coupling is revealed, and the analysis result offers significant guidance for deep buried tunnels at high temperatures and under high geostress.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.257-272
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• 2018

The research of shear connectors composed from mechanical couplers with rebar anchors, embedded in concrete, and steel bolts, as a mean of shear transfer in composite connections is presented in the paper. Specific issues related to this type of connections are local concrete pressure in the connector vicinity as well as the shear flow along the connector axis. The experimental research included 18 specimens, arranged in 5 series. Nonlinear numerical analyses using Abaqus software was conducted on corresponding FE models. Different failure modes were analysed, with emphasis on concrete edge failure and bolt shear failure. The influence of key parameters on the behaviour of shear connector was examined: (1) concrete compression strength, (2) bolt tensile strength and diameter and (3) concrete edge distance. It is concluded that bolted shear connectors with mechanical couplers have sufficient capacity to be used as shear connectors in composite structures and that their behaviour is similar to the behaviour of post installed anchors as well as other types of connectors anchored without the head.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.103-117
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• 2023

This paper presents an investigation on the shear resistance of corrugated web steel beams (CWBs) with a circular web opening. A total of five specimens with different diameters of web openings were designed and tested with vertical load applied on the top flange at mid-span. The ultimate strengths, failure modes, and load versus middle displacement curves were obtained from the tests. Following the tests, numerical models of the CWBs were developed and validated against the test results. The influence of the web plate thickness, steel grade, opening diameter, and location on the shear strength of the CWBs was extensively investigated. An XGBoost machine learning model for shear resistance prediction was trained based on 256 CWB samples. The XGBoost model with optimal hyperparameters showed excellent accuracy and exceeded the accuracy of the available design equations. The effects of geometric parameters and material properties on the shear resistance were evaluated using the SHAP method.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1017-1027
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• 2018

To explore the influence of coal thickness on the mechanical behavior and the failure characteristics of rock-coal-rock (RCR) mass, the experimental investigation of uniaxial compressive tests was conducted first and then a systematic numerical simulation by particle flow code (PFC2D) was performed to deeply analyze the failure mechanical behavior of RCR specimens with different coal thicknesses in conventional compression tests. The overall elastic modulus and peak stress of RCR specimens lie between the rock and the coal. Inter-particle properties were calibrated to match the physical sample strength and the stiffness response. Numerical simulation results show that the deformation and strength behaviors of RCR specimens depend not only on the coal thickness, but also on the confining pressure. Under low confining pressures, the overall failure mechanism of RCR specimen is the serious damage of coal section when the coal thickness is smaller than 30 mm, but it is shear failure of coal section when the coal thickness is larger than 30 mm. Whereas under high confining pressures, obvious shear bands exist in both the coal section and the rock section when the coal thickness is larger than 30 mm, but when the coal thickness is smaller than 30mm, the failure mechanism is serious damage of coal section and shear failure of rock section.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.723-737
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• 2016

In this paper an approach was described for determination of direction of sliding block in rock slopes containing planar non-persistent open joints. For this study, several gypsum blocks containing planar non-persistent open joints with dimensions of $15{\times}15{\times}15cm$ were build. The rock bridges occupy 45, 90 and $135cm^2$ of total shear surface ($225cm^2$), and their configuration in shear plane were different. From each model, two similar blocks were prepared and were subjected to shearing under normal stresses of 3.33 and $7.77kg/cm^{-2}$. Based on the change in the configuration of rock-bridges, a factor called the Effective Joint Coefficient (EJC) was formulated, that is the ratio of the effective joint surface that is in front of the rock-bridge and the total shear surface. In general, the failure pattern is influenced by the EJC while shear strength is closely related to the failure pattern. It is observed that the propagation of wing tensile cracks or shear cracks depends on the EJC and the coalescence of wing cracks or shear cracks dominates the eventual failure pattern and determines the peak shear load of the rock specimens. So the EJC is a key factor to determine the sliding direction in rock slopes containing planar non-persistent open joints.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.235-244
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• 2011

Failures of segmental bridges have been attributed to the inadequate joint connection techniques, which led to corrosion of the post-tensioned tendons connecting the segmental joints. The principal objective of this study is to evaluate the performances of the in-situ cast joint and epoxy applied shear key joints as a function of shear and ultimate strengths. Furthermore, shear behavior and strength of shear key joints in ultra high performance precasted concrete segmental bridges are experimentally evaluated to understand its shear failure behavior. The test parameters of shear key shape and type, load-displacement relations, cracking behavior, concrete strength, and fracture modes are considered in the study. Also, several parameters which influence the mechanical behavior of the shear key joint are analyzed. Based on the study results, the optimal shear key shape and joint type are proposed for the joint design and analysis guidelines.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.461-474
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• 2020

Analysing the incompatible deformation and damage evolution around the tunnels in mixed strata is significant for evaluating the tunnel stability, as well as the interaction between the support system and the surrounding rock mass. To investigate this issue, confined compression tests were conducted on upper-soft and lower-hard strata specimens containing a circular hole using a rock testing system, the physical mechanical properties were then investigated. Then, the incompatible deformation and failure modes of the specimens were analysed based on the digital speckle correlation method (DSCM) and Acoustic Emission (AE) data. Finally, numerical simulations were conducted to explore the damage evolution of the mixed strata. The results indicate that at low inclination angles, the deformation and v-shaped notches inside the hole are controlled by the structure plane. Progressive spalling failure occurs at the sidewalls along the structure plane in soft rock. But the transmission of the loading force between the soft rock and hard rock are different in local. At high inclination angles, v-shaped notches are approximately perpendicular to the structure plane, and the soft and hard rock bear common loads. Incompatible deformation between the soft rock and hard rock controls the failure process. At inclination angles of 0°, 30° and 90°, incompatible deformations are closely related to rock damage. At 60°, incompatible deformations and rock damage are discordant due that the soft rock and hard rock alternately bears the major loads during the failure process. The failure trend and modes of the numerical results agree very well with those observed in the experimental results. As the inclination angles increase, the proportion of the shear or tensile damage exhibits a nonlinear increase or decrease, suggesting that the inclination angle of mixed strata may promote shear damage and restrain tensile damage.