• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.319-336
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• 2015

Life cycle performance of corrosion affected RC structures is an important and challenging issue for effective infrastructure management. The accurate condition assessment of corroded RC structures mainly depends on the effective evaluation of deterioration occurring in the structures. Structural performance deterioration caused by reinforcement corrosion is a complex phenomenon which is generally uncertain and non-decreasing. Therefore, a stochastic modelling such as the gamma process can be an effective tool to consider the temporal uncertainty associated with performance deterioration. This paper presents a time-dependent reliability analysis of corrosion affected RC structures associated bond strength degradation. Initially, an analytical model to evaluate cracking in the concrete cover and the associated loss of bond between the corroded steel and the surrounding cracked concrete is developed. The analytical results of cover surface cracking and bond strength deterioration are examined by experimental data available. Then the verified analytical results are used for the stochastic deterioration modelling, presented here as gamma process. The application of the proposed approach is illustrated with a numerical example. The results from the illustrative example show that the proposed approach is capable of assessing performance of the bond strength of concrete structures affected by reinforcement corrosion during their lifecycle.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.511-519
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• 2017

The reliability of reinforced concrete structures is frequently compromised by the deterioration caused by reinforcement corrosion. Evaluating the effect caused by reinforcement corrosion on structural behaviour of corrosion damaged concrete structures is essential for effective and reliable infrastructure management. In lifecycle management of corrosion affected reinforced concrete structures, it is difficult to correctly assess the lifecycle performance due to the uncertainties associated with structural resistance deterioration. This paper presents a stochastic deterioration modelling approach to evaluate the performance deterioration of corroded concrete structures during their service life. The flexural strength deterioration is analytically predicted on the basis of bond strength evolution caused by reinforcement corrosion, which is examined by the experimental and field data available. An assessment criterion is defined to evaluate the flexural strength deterioration for the time-dependent reliability analysis. The results from the worked examples show that the proposed approach is capable of evaluating the structural reliability of corrosion damaged concrete structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.63 no.6
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• pp.703-712
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• 2017

The composite blades of offshore wind turbines accumulate structural damage such as fatigue cracking due to harsh operation environments during their service time, leading to premature structural failures. This paper investigates various fatigue crack models for reproducing crack development in composite blades and proposes a stochastic approach to predict fatigue crack evolution and to analyse failure probability for the composite blades. Three typical fatigue models for the propagation of fatigue cracks, i.e., Miner model, Paris model and Reifsnider model, are discussed to reproduce the fatigue crack evolution in composite blades subjected to cyclical loadings. The lifetime probability of fatigue failure of the composite blades is estimated by stochastic deterioration modelling such as gamma process. Based on time-dependent reliability analysis and lifecycle cost analysis, an optimised maintenance policy is determined to make the optimal decision for the composite blades during the service time. A numerical example is employed to investigate the effectiveness of predicting fatigue crack growth, estimating the probability of fatigue failure and evaluating an optimal maintenance policy. The results from the numerical study show that the stochastic gamma process together with the proper fatigue models can provide a useful tool for remaining useful life predictions and optimum maintenance strategies of the composite blades of offshore wind turbines.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.133-143
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• 2015

Civil engineering infrastructure is aging and requires cost-effective maintenance strategies to enable infrastructure systems operate reliably and sustainably. This paper presents an approach for determining risk-cost balanced repair strategy of corrosion damaged reinforced concrete structures with consideration of uncertainty in structural resistance deterioration. On the basis of analytical models of cover concrete cracking evolution and bond strength degradation due to reinforcement corrosion, the effect of reinforcement corrosion on residual load carrying capacity of corroded reinforced concrete structures is investigated. A stochastic deterioration model based on gamma process is adopted to evaluate the probability of failure of structural bearing capacity over the lifetime. Optimal repair planning and maintenance strategies during the service life are determined by balancing the cost for maintenance and the risk of structural failure. The method proposed in this study is then demonstrated by numerical investigations for a concrete structure subjected to reinforcement corrosion. The obtained results show that the proposed method can provide a risk cost optimised repair schedule during the service life of corroded concrete structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.75 no.4
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• pp.455-464
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• 2020

Reinforcement corrosion is one of the major problems in the durability of reinforced concrete structures exposed to aggressive environments. Deterioration caused by reinforcement corrosion reduces the durability and the safety margin of concrete structures, causing excessive costs in managing these structures safely. This paper aims to investigate the effects of reinforcement corrosion on the load bearing capacity deterioration of the corroded reinforced concrete structures. A new analytical method is proposed to predict the crack growth of cover concrete and evaluate the residual strength of concrete structures with corroded reinforcement failing in bond. The structural performance indicators, such as concrete crack growth and flexural strength deterioration rate, are assumed to be a stochastic process for lifetime distribution modelling of structural performance deterioration over time during the life cycle. The Weibull life evolution model is employed for analysing lifetime reliability and estimating remaining useful life of the corroded concrete structures. The results for the worked example show that the proposed approach can provide a reliable method for lifetime performance assessment of the corroded reinforced concrete structures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.499-511
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• 2019

The reliability of reinforced concrete structures is frequently compromised by the deterioration caused by reinforcement corrosion. Evaluating the effect caused by reinforcement corrosion on structural behaviour of corrosion damaged concrete structures is essential for effective and reliable infrastructure management. In lifecycle management of corrosion affected reinforced concrete structures, it is difficult to correctly assess the lifecycle performance due to the uncertainties associated with structural resistance deterioration. This paper presents a stochastic deterioration modelling approach to evaluate the performance deterioration of corroded concrete structures during their service life. The flexural strength deterioration is analytically predicted on the basis of bond strength evolution caused by reinforcement corrosion, which is examined by the experimental and field data available. An assessment criterion is defined to evaluate the flexural strength deterioration for the time-dependent reliability analysis. The results from the worked examples show that the proposed approach is capable of evaluating the structural reliability of corrosion damaged concrete structures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.499-507
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• 2018

In this paper splitting failure on rock pillars among the underground caverns has been studied. The damaged structure is considered to be thin plates and then the failure mechanism of rock pillars has been studied consequently. The critical load of buckling failure of the rock plate has also been obtained. Furthermore, with a combination of the basic energy dissipation principle, generalized formulas in estimating the number of splitting cracks and in predicting the maximum deflection of thin plate have been proposed. The splitting criterion and the mechanical model proposed in this paper are finally verified with numerical calculations in FLAC 3D.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.246-257
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• 2015

The progressive degradation paths of structures have quantitatively been tracked by using stochastic processes, such as Wiener process, gamma process and compound Poisson process, in order to consider both the sampling uncertainty due to the usual lack of damage data and the temporal uncertainty associated with the deterioration evolution. Several important features of stochastic processes which should carefully be considered in application of the stochastic processes to practical problems have been figured out through assessing cumulative damage and lifetime distribution as a function of time. Especially, the Wiener process and the gamma process have straightforwardly been applied to armors of rubble-mound breakwaters by the aid of a sample path method based on Melby's formula which can estimate cumulative damage levels of armors over time. The sample path method have been developed to calibrate the related-parameters required in the stochastic modelling of armors of rubble-mound breakwaters. From the analyses, it is found that cumulative damage levels of armors have surely been saturated with time. Also, the exponent of power law in time, that plays a significant role in predicting the cumulative damage levels over time, can easily be determined, which makes the stochastic models possible to track the cumulative damage levels of armors of rubble-mound breakwaters over time. Finally, failure probabilities with respect to various critical limits have been analyzed throughout its anticipated service life.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.423-432
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• 2020

Hydraulic conductivity is one of the engineering properties of soil. This study focusses on the influence of cement content on the hydraulic conductivity of cemented sand, which is investigated based on the results from numerical analysis and laboratory testing. For numerical analysis the cemented samples were scanned using X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) while laboratory testing was carried out using a triaxial setup. Numerical analysis enables us to simulate flow through the sample and provides insight to the microstructure. It quantifies the pore volume, proportion of interconnected voids and pore size distribution in both cemented and uncemented samples, which could be computed only through empirical equations in case of laboratory testing. With reduction in global voids, the interconnecting voids within the samples also reduce with cement content. Gamma cumulative distribution function is used to predict the percentage of voids lesser than a given pore volume. Finally, the results obtained from both numerical analysis and laboratory testing are compared.