• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.625-639
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• 2019

The concept of the combined seismic and energy retrofitting of existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings was examined in this paper through a number of case studies conducted on model buildings (simulating buildings of the '60s-'80s in southern Europe) constructed according to outdated design standards. Specifically, seismic and thermal analyses have been conducted prior to and after the application of selected retrofitting schemes, in order to quantify the positive effect that retrofitting could provide to RC buildings both in terms of their structural and energy performance. Advanced materials, namely the textile reinforced mortars (TRM), were used for providing seismic retrofitting by means of jacketing of masonry infills in RC frames. Moreover, following the application of the TRM jackets, thermal insulation materials were simultaneously provided to the RC building envelope, exploiting the fresh mortar used to bind the TRM jackets. In addition to the externally applied insulation material, all the fenestration elements (windows and doors) were replaced with new high energy efficiency ones. Afterwards, an economic measure, namely the expected annual loss (EAL) was used to evaluate the efficiency of each retrofitting method, but also to assess whether the combined seismic and energy retrofitting is economically feasible. From the results of this preliminary study, it was concluded that the selected seismic retrofitting technique can indeed enhance significantly the structural behaviour of an existing RC building and lower its EAL related to earthquake risks. Finally, it was found that the combined seismic and energy upgrading is economically more efficient than a sole energy or seismic retrofitting scenario for seismic areas of south Europe.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2024

The paper presents the experimental investigation of RC beams retrofitted with Textile Reinforced Mortar (TRM), featuring enhanced bond capacity. Anchoring systems, including an extension of retrofitting length and the use of chemical anchors, are newly employed to improve the structural performance of the RC beam retrofitted with TRM. For the experimental investigation, a total of seven shear-critical RC beams, with and without stirrups, were designed and constructed. The structural behaviors of specimens retrofitted with the proposed TRM methods were compared to those of non-retrofitted specimens or specimens strengthened with conventional TRM methods. Crack pattern, force-displacement relationship, and absorbed energy were evaluated for each specimen. The experimental results indicate a significant improvement in the shear capacity of the RC beam with the proposed retrofitting method. Therefore, it is concluded that the application of an extended retrofitting length and chemical anchors to the TRM retrofitting method can effectively enhance the bond capacity of TRM, thereby improving the shear performance of RC beams.

• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.185-196
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• 2022

In this study, carbon fiber and coated glass fiber are applied to warp and weft fiber in order to reduce the amount of carbon fiber used in carbon fiber fabrics, which are often used for reinforcement of building structures. A low-cost thermoplastic resin was coated on glass fibers to prepare a shape-stabilizing glass fiber. A unidirectional carbon fiber sheet was manufactured using the prepared coated glass fiber and carbon fiber. In order to identify whether it can be used for reinforcing architectural and civil structures, it was attached to a concrete specimen and its mechanical properties were analyzed. The optimum manufacturing conditions for the coated glass fiber were 0.3 mm in diameter of the coating nozzle, the coating temperature was 190 ℃, and the coating speed was 0.3 m/s. 14 mm was optimal for the weft spacing of the coated glass fiber. The flexural strength of the concrete reinforced with the manufactured unidirectional carbon fiber sheet was slightly lower than that of the concrete reinforced with carbon fiber fabric, but it was confirmed that the reinforcement effect was better when the amount of carbon fiber was considered.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.369-373
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• 2019

Construction industry is one of the largest markets for composite materials. Composite materials are mostly utilized as surface coatings or concrete reinforcements, and they can hardly be found as a load bearing member in buildings. The three-dimensional composite structures with considerable bending, compressive and shear strengths are capable to be used as construction load bearing members. However, these composites cannot compete with other materials due to higher manufacturing costs. If the cost issue is resolved or their excellent performance is taken into consideration to overcome disadvantages related to economic-competitive challenges, these 3D composites can significantly reduce the construction time and result in lighter and safer buildings. Sandwich composite panels reinforced with 3D woven glass fabrics are amongst composites with highest bending strength. The current study investigates the possibility of utilizing these composite materials to construct ceilings and their application as slabs. One-to-one scale experimental loading of these composite panels shows a remarkable bending strength. Simulation results using ABAQUS software, also indicate that theoretical predictions of bending behavior of these panels are in good agreement with the observed experimental results.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.411-425
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• 2020

Unreinforced masonry (URM) walls present low shear strength and are prone to brittle failure when subjected to inplane seismic overloads. This paper discusses the shear strengthening of URM walls with Textile Reinforced Mortar (TRM) jackets. The available literature is thoroughly reviewed and an extended database is developed including available brick, concrete and stone URM walls retrofitted and subjected to shear tests to assess their strength. Further, the experimental results of the database are compared against the available shear strength design models from ACI 549.4R-13, CNR DT 215 2018, CNR DT 200 R1/2013, Eurocode 6 and Eurocode 8 guidelines as well as Triantafillou and Antonopoulos 2000, Triantafillou 1998, Triantafillou 2016. The performance of the available models is investigated and the prediction average absolute error (AAE) is as high as 40%. A new model is proposed that takes into account the additional contribution of the reinforcing mortar layer of the TRM jacket that is usually neglected. Further, the approach identifies the plethora of different block materials, joint mortars and TRM mortars and grids and introduces rational calibration of their variable contributions on the shear strength. The proposed model provides more accurate shear strength predictions than the existing models for all different types of the URM substrates, with a low AAE equal to 22.95%.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.09c
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• pp.11-17
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• 2010

Numerical analysis was carried out in order to simulate the development of the large deformation that took place on the reinforced earth wall, a part of the Tottori expressway planned to pass Hyogo, Japan. Since this reinforced earth wall had experienced unexpected deformation of the wall during construction, the wall was re-constructed twice. However, the wall deformation showed no sign to cease even at the final stage of the construction. Countermeasures to re-stabilize the wall were demanded. In part I of this paper, it was manifested that subsidence of a 3-meter weak soil due to seepage flow was responsible for the large deformation. A part of concrete panel wall was severely damaged due to extremely large pulling force of geotextile induced by the hammock state. As for the countermeasures, "grouting with slag system" was applied to fill voids of the backfill, and also to prevent further development of settlement in the weak soil layer. "Ground anchor" was also considered to achieve the prescribed factor of safety.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Rural Architecture
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1-8
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• 2016

This study is to investigate the meaning and value of Usonian Automatic House System(UAHS) of Frank Lloyd Wright in his later period, focused on materials, methods, and his thoughts. The results of this study are follows. UAHS was the outcome of moderate cost and prefab house which Wright had successively attempted after the early Prairie period. The construction was simple and comparatively cheap, but subsequent automatics were difficult and expensive to build. Nevertheless, it was sufficiently flexible to support a rather wide range of house designs. Concrete was the inert mass and a plastic material. Wright saw a kind of weaving coming out of it. He also saw a kind of concrete masonry, steel for warp and masonry units for woof in the automatic concrete block. The reinforced bars in hollowed joints of concrete block increased the safety factor and affected the expression of the construction through the stabilization they provided. But they did not give concrete block the capability of structural span. Standardization as the soul of the machine might be seen in UAHS. The concrete blocks were more cheap, lighter, and larger hollowed plain than textile blocks in 1920s. But the variety of pattern and different block types in the UAHS were achieved at some sacrifice of standardization. The repetitive nature of production was compromised for artistic goals. The sense of compromise was not maximized, however, because the units as installed looked far more repetitive than they actually were.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.2
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• pp.173-189
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• 2022

This study presents an experimental and numerically study about the effects of fiber reinforcement ratio on the behavior of concrete-filled steel tubes (CFST) under dynamic impact loading. In literature have examined the behavior of GFRP and FRP wrapped strengthened CFST elements impact loads. However, since the direction of potential impact force isn't too exact, there is always the probability of not being matched the impact force of the area where the reinforced. Therefore, instead of the fiber textile wrapping method which strengthens only a particular area of CFST element, we used fiber-added concrete-filled elements which allow strengthening the whole element. Thus, the effect of fiber-addition in concrete on the behavior of CFST elements under impact loads was examined. To do so, six simply supported CFST beams were constructed with none fiber, 2% fiber and 10% fiber reinforcement ratio on the concrete part of the CFST beam. CFST beams were examined under two different impact loads (75 kg and 225 kg). The impactors hit the beam from a 2000 mm free fall during the experimental study. Numerical models of the specimens were created using ABAQUS finite element software and validated with experimental data. The obtained results such as; mid-span displacement, acceleration, failure modes and energies from experimental and numerical studies were compared and discussed. Furthermore, the Von Misses stress distribution of the CFST beams with different ratio of fiber reinforcements were investigated numerically. To sum up, there is an optimum amount limit of the fiber reinforcement on CFST beams. Up to this limit, the fiber reinforcement increases the structural performances of the beam, beyond that limit the fiber reinforcement decreases the performances of the CFST beam under transverse impact loadings.