• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.7-15
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• 2007

A mechanical model was developed to predict the behavior of point-loaded RC slender beams (a/d > 2.5) without stirrups. It is commonly accepted by most researchers that a diagonal tension crack plays a predominant role in the failure mode of these beams, but the failure mechanism of these members is still debatable. In this paper, it was assumed that diagonal tension failure was triggered by the concrete cover splitting due to the dowel action at the initial location of diagonal tension cracks, which propagate from flexural cracks. When concrete cover splitting occurred, the shape of a diagonal tension crack was simultaneously developed, which can be determined from the principal tensile stress trajectory. This fictitious crack rotates onto the crack tip with load increase. During the rotation, all forces acting on the crack (i.e, dowel force of longitudinal bars, vertical component of concrete tensile force, shear force by aggregate interlock, shear force in compression zone) were calculated by considering the kinematical conditions such as crack width or sliding. These forces except for the shear force in the compression zone were uncoupled with respect to crack width and sliding by the proposed constitutive relations for friction along the crack. Uncoupling the shear forces along the crack was aimed at distinguishing each force from the total shear force and clarifying the failure mechanism of RC slender beams without stirrups. In addition, a proposed method deriving the dowel force of longitudinal bars made it possible to predict the secondary shear failure. The proposed model can be used to predict not only the entire behavior of point-loaded RC slender shear beams, but also the ultimate shear strength. The experiments used to validate the proposed model are reported in a companion paper.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.131-143
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• 2023

The CFRP bar was used to achieve more ductile and durable headed-stud shear connectors in composite components. Three series of push-out tests were firstly conducted, including specimens reinforced with pure steel fibers, steel and CFRP bars. The distributed stress was measured by the commercial PPP-BOTDA (Pre-Pump-Pulse Brillouin optical time domain analysis) optical fiber sensor with high spatial resolution. A series of numerical analyses using non-linear FE models were also made to study the shear force transfer mechanism and crack response based on the test results. Test results show that the CFRP bar increases the shear strength and stiffness of the large diameter headed-stud shear connection, and it has equivalent reinforcing effects on the stud shear capacity as the commonly used steel bar. The embedded CFRP bar can also largely improve the shear force transfer mechanism and decrease the tensile stress in the transverse direction. The parametric study shows that low content steel fibers could delay the crack initiation of slab around the large diameter stud, and the CFRP bar with normal elastic modulus and the standard reinforcement ratio has good resistance to splitting crack growth in headed stud shear connectors.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.3 no.2_3
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• pp.91-102
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• 2006

To place concrete overlays has become a standard application in the strengthening and rehabilitation of concrete structures such as bridges, tunnels, parking decks and industrial buildings. In general, connectors are used to ensure a monolithic behavior of the two concrete layers. Within the framework of the development of a new connector wedge splitting tests and shear tests were performed, in addition nonlinear finite element analyses were applied to investigate the load transfer behavior of the connectors for different prototypes. The numerical simulation results were compared to experimental data. The computed load-displacement curve demonstrates good correspondence with the curves obtained in the experiments, and the experimental crack patterns are reasonably simulated by the computed crack propagation. Both numerical and experimental investigations on the wedge splitting test and on the shear test served as basis for the development of new type of connectors.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.116-124
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• 2002

Natural resources fur the construction materials such as good soil, sand, and coarse aggregates have been encountered to be short due to excessive use by human. Even though some soil has been found to be unsuitable for construction materials, soil with reinforcement can naturally be an answer to these alternatives. According to recently published papers on fiber mixed soil, fiber mixed with soil can improve shear strength, compressive strength and post-peak load strength retention. In this study, a series of tests were performed to clarify the characteristics of fiber mixed soil and to give basic data for design and construction and their engineering properties, that is, unconfined compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, shear strength, crack by drying, freeze-thaw, creep and Poisson\`s ratio, were investigated and analyzed. It has been shown that fiber mixed soil is one of good alternatives fur the civil and building construction materials.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.72 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2019

The mechanical behavior of Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composites (FRCC) under direct shear is studied through experiment and analytical simulation. The cementitious composite considered contains 55% replacement of cement with fly ash and 2% (volume ratio) of short discontinuous synthetic fibers (in the form of mass reinforcement, comprising PVA - Polyvinyl Alcohol fibers). This class of cementitious materials exhibits ductility under tension with the formation of multiple fine cracks and significant delay of crack stabilization (i.e., localization of cracking at a single location). One of the behavioral parameters that concern structural design is the shear strength of this new type of fiber reinforced composites. This aspect was studied in the present work with the use of Push-off tests. The shear strength is then compared to the materials' tensile and splitting strength values.

• KCI Concrete Journal
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.57-68
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• 2000

The effect of structure size on the nominal strength of unidirectional fiber-polymer composites, failing by propagation of a kink band with fiber microbuckling, is analyzed experimentally and theoretically. Tests of novel geometrically similar carbon-PEEK specimens, with notches slanted so as to lead to a pure kink band (without shear or splitting cracks), are conducted. The specimens are rectangular strips of widths 15.875, 31.75. and 63.5 mm (0.625, 1.25 and 2.5 in and gage lengths 39.7, 79.375 and 158.75 mm (1.563, 3.125 and 6.25 in.). They reveal the existence of a strong (deterministic. non-statistical) size effect. The doubly logarithmic plot of the nominal strength (load divided by size and thickness) versus the characteristic size agrees with the approximate size effect law proposed for quasibrittle failures in 1983 by Bazant This law represents a gradual transition from a horizontal asymptote, representing the case of no size effect (characteristic of plasticity or strength criteria), to an asymptote of slope -1/2 (characteristic of linear elastic fracture mechanics. LEFM) . The size effect law for notched specimens permits easy identification of the fracture energy of the kink bandand the length of the fracture process zone at the front of the band solely from the measurements of maximum loads. Optimum fits of the test results by the size effect law are obtained, and the size effect law parameters are then used to identify the material fracture characteristics, Particularly the fracture energy and the effective length of the fracture process zone. The results suggest that composite size effect must be considered in strengthening existing concrete structural members such as bridge columns and beams using a composite retrofitting technique.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.400-412
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• 2013

For the composite behavior of steel tube and inner concrete, the shear connectors should be applied to the CFT structures. However, the present design codes don't provide the design criteria that can be applied on shear connectors in the CFT structures typically filled with plain concrete. This study has been carried out to propose design criteria (shear strength and resistance factor) for the stud shear connectors in CFT structures. Experimental tests using the push-out specimens with the plain concrete blocks and finite element analysis were conducted for the purpose of verifying the main failure mode to propose the shear strength of studs in CFT structures. From the results of this study, the main failure mode of studs in CFT structures is splitting crack of concrete and this failure mode reduces shear strength of studs in CFT structures relatively to those embedded in RC blocks.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.171-178
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• 2003

Wing and secondary cracks are unique types of cracks observed in rock masses subjected to uniaxial and biaxial compressive loading conditions. In this study, morphological features of wing and secondary cracks developed in gypsum specimens are investigated in the macro and micro scales. Along the path of wing crack, microtensile cracks are observed. Microtensile cracks coalesce with pores and show branch phenomenon. From the onset of the wing crack, multiple initiations of microtensile cracks are observed. Microtensile cracks show tortuous propagation paths and relatively constant aperture of the cracks during the propagation. It is shown that microtensile cracks propagate by splitting failure. At the micro scale, microfsults are observed in the path of the secondary cracks. Along the path of the secondary cracks, separation of grains and conglomerate grains, oblique microfaults, and irregular aperture of microfault are observed. These features show that the secondary cracks are produced in shear mode. The measured sizes of fracture process zone across the propagation direction near the tip of wing and secondary cracks range from 10$\mu{m}$ to 20$\mu{m}$ far wing cracks and from 100$\mu{m}$ to 200$\mu{m}$ for secondary cracks, respectively.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.3-8
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• 2008

Polymer-cement composites are known repair materials. The aim of this work is to investigate the influence of various amount of dispersion of carboxylated styrene-butadience copolymer on the selected mechanical properties of polymer-cement concrete (PCC) and on its adhesion to ordinary concrete. The compressive, flexural and tensile strengths as well as frost resistance and fracture resistance of the composites are tested. Adhesion strength of PCC to ordinary concrete, as one of most important performance of good repair material is evaluated and analyzed using three test methods. The results obtained in standard pull-off test are compared with the two other tests. The first one, which is an adaptation of WST (wedge splitting test) characterizes crack propagation in the plane of bond created during repair. In the second test the resistance to shear is a measure of adhesion strength.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.77 no.2
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• pp.273-291
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• 2021

The strut-and-tie method (STM) has been widely accepted and used as a rational approach for the design of disturbed regions ('D' regions) of reinforced concrete members such as in corbels and deep beams, where traditional flexure theory does not apply. This paper evaluates the applicability of the equilibrium based STM in strength predictions of deep beams (with rectangular and circular cross-section) and corbels using the available experiments in literature. STM is found to give fairly good results for corbel and deep beams. The failure modes of these deep members are also studied, and an optimum amount of distribution reinforcement is suggested to eliminate the premature diagonal splitting failure. A comparison with existing empirical and semi empirical methods also show that STM gives more reliable results. The nonlinear finite element analysis (NLFEA) of 50 deep beams and 20 corbels could capture the complete behaviour of deep members including crack pattern, failure load and failure load accurately.