• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.5 no.1 s.15
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• pp.1-10
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• 2003

The objective of pavement design, just as with the design of other structures, is to obtain the most economical designs at specified levels of reliability. Methods that yield designs with different levels of reliability are undesirable, and over the course of time design approaches in the U.S. and Europe have converged toward the Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) format in order to assure uniform reliability. At present the LRFD format has been implemented in concrete, steel, wood and bridge design specifications. In this paper, reliability theories are used to illustrate the development of an LRFD format for Mechanistic-Empirical (M-E) design of flexible pavements as an alternative of its reliability module. It is shown in this paper that ten candidate pavement sections designed with a reliability level using the AASHTO design guide (1986) do not have uniform structural reliability in terms of pavement mechanistic distress such as fatigue cracking and the uniform reliability can be achieved by using the LRFD format.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.1543-1548
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• 2011

Structural analysis is performed to design anchor straps for a large-scale-liquefied-natural-gas (LNG) storage tank with corner protection and an inner tank by considering structural integrity. Anchor straps made of 9% nickel steel are attached to the inner tank, corner protection, and concrete raft to prevent the failure of the inner tank during both normal and emergency operating conditions. Two finite element (FE) models were analyzed in this study. One is a stand-alone model of the anchor strap, while the other is an extended model of the substructure of the anchor strap, inner tank, and corner protection. Three-dimensional shell elements are used to effectively assess the bending and axial behavior of structures. The Tresca stress values in each part of the two models are calculated for operation under five different load-condition cases: normal operation, leakage of the LNG, hydro test, and two earthquake conditions.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.101-109
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• 2018

Modular structural systems have been used increasingly for low- and mid-rise structures such as school and apartment buildings. Studies have recently been conducted on the application of the modular structural system to high-rise buildings. To provide sufficient resistances and economical construction for the high-rise modular structural system, a composite unit modular structure was proposed. In this study, the strength of the non-symmetric composite column for the proposed composite unit modular structure was investigated through a series of tests. The experimental study focused on the effect of the slenderness of the column, eccentricity, and through bars on the strength of such a column. Design equations for the non-symmetric column for a modular unit structure were also proposed. From the results, it was found that the proposed design equations provide reasonable strength prediction of the non-symmetric composite column for the modular unit structure.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.413-424
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• 2018

The factors affecting the shear strength of the angle shear connectors in the steel-concrete composite beams can play an important role to estimate the efficacy of a composite beam. Therefore, the current study has aimed to verify the output of shear capacity of angle shear connector according to the input provided by Support Vector Machine (SVM) coupled with Firefly Algorithm (FFA). SVM parameters have been optimized through the use of FFA, while genetic programming (GP) and artificial neural networks (ANN) have been applied to estimate and predict the SVM-FFA models' results. Following these results, GP and ANN have been applied to develop the prediction accuracy and generalization capability of SVM-FFA. Therefore, SVM-FFA could be performed as a novel model with predictive strategy in the shear capacity estimation of angle shear connectors. According to the results, the Firefly algorithm has produced a generalized performance and be learnt faster than the conventional learning algorithms.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.34-47
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• 2019

This case study is concerned with the project of the explosive demolition for the DCRE Incheon plant located in Hakik district in Incheon city. The building was severely aging due to the high temperature and sea winds of hundreds of degrees emitted by chimney-shaped steel structures inside the building. Due to this, the concrete of the column and the beam fell off and rusted rebar were exposed, and some of the slabs were severely damaged, making it difficult for workers to access the structure. Therefore, it is not possible to apply a mechanical demolition method in which heavy equipment enters the interior of the building, and an explosive demolition method was applied to allow the building to be demolished without dismantling the internal facilities of the building. The order of blasting proceeded in the order of (1) building ${\rightarrow}$ (2) chimney 2 ${\rightarrow}$ (3) chimney 1. A total of 406 electronic detonators (Unitronic 600) was used to sequentially initiate the explosives installed at appropriate in building and chimneys.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.297-306
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• 2019

The extension of existing RC buildings is a challenging process, which requires efficient connection between existing and new materials to guarantee load transferring between the lap-spliced longitudinal columns' reinforcement. Therefore, the length of the columns' starter bars is a crucial factor, which decisively affects the seismic response of the new columns. In particular, when the length of the starter bars is short, then the length of the lap splices of reinforcement is inadequate to ensure load transfer between steel bars and concrete, with an indisputable detrimental impact on the seismic behaviour of the columns. Moreover, in most of the existing RC buildings the column starter bars are of particularly short length, while they have probably been bent, cut or corroded. In the present study, the effectiveness of both welded rebar and mechanical splices of reinforcement in ensuring load transferring between the starter bars and the longitudinal reinforcement of the new column was experimentally evaluated. Four cantilever column subassemblages were constructed and subjected to earthquake-type loading. Three of the specimens were used to examine different types of shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), while in the fourth subassemblage mechanical splices were tested. The hysteretic response of the columns was evaluated and compared to the behaviour of a fifth specimen with continuous reinforcement, tested by Kalogeropoulos and Tsonos (2019). Test results clearly demonstrated that the examined types of SMAW were equally satisfactory in ensuring the ductile seismic performance of the columns, while the mechanical splices found to be more susceptible to exhibit slipping of the bars.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.151-166
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• 2019

This paper introduces a new efficient analytical method, based on shear deformations obtained with 2D elasticity theory approach, to perform an explicit closed-form solution for calculation the interfacial shear and normal stresses in plated RC beam. The materials of plate, necessary for the reinforcement of the beam, are in general made with fiber reinforced polymers (Carbon or Glass) or steel. The experimental tests showed that at the ends of the plate, high shear and normal stresses are developed, consequently a debonding phenomenon at this position produce a sudden failure of the soffit plate. The interfacial stresses play a significant role in understanding this premature debonding failure of such repaired structures. In order to efficiently model the calculation of the interfacial stresses we have integrated the effect of shear deformations using the equilibrium equations of the elasticity. The approach of this method includes stress-strain and strain-displacement relationships for the adhesive and adherends. The use of the stresses continuity conditions at interfaces between the adhesive and adherents, results pair of second-order and fourth-order coupled ordinary differential equations. The analytical solution for this coupled differential equations give new explicit closed-form solution including shear deformations effects. This new solution is indented for applications of all plated beam. Finally, numerical results obtained with this method are in agreement of the existing solutions and the experimental results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.501-511
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• 2022

Earthquake Resistant Design Philosophy seeks (a) no damage, (b) no significant structural damage, and (c) significant structural damage but no collapse of normal buildings, under minor, moderate and severe levels of earthquake shaking, respectively. A procedure is proposed for seismic design of low-rise reinforced concrete special moment frame buildings, which is consistent with this philosophy; buildings are designed to be ductile through appropriate sizing and reinforcement detailing, such that they resist severe level of earthquake shaking without collapse. Nonlinear analyses of study buildings are used to determine quantitatively (a) ranges of design parameters required to assure the required deformability in normal buildings to resist the severe level of earthquake shaking, (b) four specific limit states that represent the start of different structural damage states, and (c) levels of minor and moderate earthquake shakings stated in the philosophy along with an extreme level of earthquake shaking associated with the structural damage state of no collapse. The four limits of structural damage states and the three levels of earthquake shaking identified are shown to be consistent with the performance-based design guidelines available in literature. Finally, nonlinear analyses results are used to confirm the efficacy of the proposed procedure.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.461-473
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• 2022

Energy-saving block and invisible multiribbed frame composite wall (EBIMFCW) is an important shear wall, which is composed of energy-saving blocks, steel bars and concrete. This paper conducted seismic performance tests on six 1/2-scale EBIMFCW specimens, analyzed their failure process under horizontal reciprocating load, and studied the effect of axial compression ratio on the wall's hysteresis curve and skeleton curve, ductility, energy dissipation capacity, stiffness degradation, bearing capacity degradation. A formula for calculating the peak bearing capacity of such walls was proposed. Results showed that the EBIMFCW had experienced a long time deformation from cracking to failure and exhibited signs of failure. The three seismic fortification lines of the energy-saving block, internal multiribbed frame, and outer multiribbed frame sequentially played important roles. With the increase in axial compression ratio, the peak bearing capacity and ductility of the wall increased, whereas the initial stiffness decreased. The change in axial compression ratio had a small effect on the energy dissipation capacity of the wall. In the early stage of loading, the influence of axial compression ratio on wall stiffness and strength degradation was unremarkable. In the later stage of loading, the stiffness and strength degradation of walls with high axial compression ratio were low. The displacement ductility coefficients of the wall under vertical pressure were more than 3.0 indicating that this wall type has good deformation ability. The limit values of elastic displacement angle under weak earthquake and elastic-plastic displacement angle under strong earthquake of the EBIMFCW were1/800 and 1/80, respectively.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.595-603
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• 2024

In the construction industry, there has been a surge in the implementation of high-tech equipment in recent years. Various technologies are being considered as potential solutions for future construction projects. Building information modeling (BIM), which utilizes advanced equipment, is a promising solution among these technologies. The need for safety inspection has also increased with the aging structures. Nevertheless, traditional safety inspection technology falls short of meeting this demand as it heavily relies on the subjective opinions of workers. This inadequacy highlights the need for advancements in existing maintenance technology. Research on building safety inspection using 3D laser scanners has notably increased. Laser scanners that use light detection and ranging (LiDAR) can quickly and accurately acquire producing information, which can be realized through reverse engineering by modeling point cloud data. This study introduces an innovative evaluation system for building safety using a 3D laser scanner. The system was used to assess the safety of an existing three-story building by implementing a reverse engineering technique. The 3D digital data are obtained from the scanner to detect defects and deflections in and outside the building and to create an as-built BIM. Subsequently, the as-built structural model of the building was generated using the reverse engineering approach and used for structural analysis. The acquired information, including deformations and dimensions, is compared with the expected values to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed technique.