• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.72 no.3
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• pp.305-312
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• 2019

This paper investigates the effect of utilizing vacuum bagging process to enhance the bond behavior between fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites and concrete substrate. Sixty specimens were prepared and tested using double-shear bond test. The effect of various parameters such as vacuum, fiber type, and FRP sheet length and width on the bond strength were investigated. The experimental results revealed that utilizing vacuum leads to improve the bond behavior between FRP composites and concrete. Both the ultimate bond forces and the maximum displacements were enhanced when applying the vacuum which leads to reduction in the amount of FRP materials needed to achieve the required bond strength compared with the un-vacuumed specimens. The efficiency of the enhancement in bond behavior due to vacuum highly depends on the fiber type; using carbon fiber showed higher enhancement in the bond strength compared to the glass fiber when vacuum was applied. On the contrary, specimens with glass fiber showed higher enhancement in the maximum slippage compared to specimens with carbon fibers. Utilizing vacuum does not affect the debonding failure modes but lead to increase in the amount of attached concrete on the surface of the debonded FRP sheet.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.357-373
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• 2022

The high-temperature gas-cooled reactor pebble-bed module project is the first commercial Generation-IV NPP(Nuclear Power Plant) in China. A new joint is used for the vertical support of RPV(Reactor Pressure Vessel). The steel corbel is integrally embedded into the reactor-cabin wall through eight asymmetrically arranged pre-stressed high-strength bolts, achieving the different path transmission of shear force and moment. The vertical monotonic loading test of two specimens is conducted. The results show that the failure mode of the joint is bolt fracture. There is no prominent yield stage in the whole loading process. The stress of bolts is linearly distributed along the height of corbel at initial loading. As the load increases, the height of neutral axis of bolts gradually decreases. The upper and lower edges of the wall opening contact the corbel plate to restrict the rotation of the corbel. During the loading, the pre-stress of some bolts decreases. The increase of the pre-stress strength ratio of bolts has no noticeable effect on the structure stiffness, but it reduces the ultimate bearing capacity of the joint. A simplified calculation model for the elastic stage of the joint is established, and the estimation results are in good agreement with the experimental results.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.81 no.6
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• pp.751-767
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• 2022

In the hogging bending moment area, continuous composite beams are subjected to the ultimate limit state of lateral-torsional buckling (LTB), which depends on web stiffness as well as concrete slab and shear connection stiffnesses. The design of the LTB and the determination of the elastic critical moment are produced approximately, using the European Standard EN 1994-1-1:2004, for continuous composite steel beams, but is applicable only for those with a plane web steel profile. Also, and from the previous researches, the elastic critical moment of the continuous composite beams with corrugated sinusoidal web steel profiles was determined. In this paper, a finite element analysis (FEA) model was developed using the ANSYS 16 software, to determine the elastic critical moments of continuous composite steel beams with various corrugated web profiles, such as trapezoidal, zigzag, and rectangular profiles, which were evaluated against numerical data of the sinusoidal one from the literature. Ultimately, the failure load of a composite steel beam with various web profiles was predicted by studying 46 models, based on FEA modeling, and a procedure for predicting the elastic critical moment of composite beams with various web steel profiles was proposed. When compared to sinusoidal web profiles, the trapezoidal, zigzag, and rectangular web profiles required an average increase in load capacity and stiffness of 7%, 17.5%, and 28%, respectively, according to the finite element analysis. Also, the rectangular web steel profile has a greater stiffness and load capacity. In contrast, the sinusoidal web has lower values for these characteristics.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.765-777
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• 2022

Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) can be used in the UHPC-steel composite structures especially for bridge structures to achieve high stiffness and high fatigue resistance with low self-weight. The structural performances of UHPC-steel composite slabs subjected to hogging moment have a significant influence on the global stiffness and durability of UHPC-steel composite structures. In order to study the structural behaviors of non-steam-cured UHPC-steel composite slabs subjected to negative moment, five composite slabs combined the thin UHPC layers to steel plates via shear stud connecters with the diameter of 16mm were fabricated and tested under negative moment. The test program aimed to investigate the effect of stud spacing and longitudinal reinforcement ratios on the failure mode, load-deflection behaviors, cracking patterns, bond-slips, and carrying capacities of composite slabs subjected to negative moment. In addition, direct tensile tests for the dog-bone UHPC specimens with longitudinal reinforcement bars were carried out to study the effect of reinforcement bars on the tensile strength of UHPC in the thin structure members. Based on the experimental results, analytical models were also developed to predict the cracking load and ultimate load of UHPC-steel composite slabs subjected to negative moment.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.653-671
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• 2023

In practice, the interference influence caused by adjacent footings of structures on geo-reinforced loose soil has a considerable impact on their behavior. Thus, the goal of this study is to evaluate the behavior of two strip footings in close proximity on both geocell and geogrid reinforced soil with different reinforcement layers. Geocell was made from geogrid material used to compare the performance of cellular and planar reinforcement on the bearing pressure of twin footings. Extensive experimental tests have been performed to attain the optimum embedment depth and vertical distance between reinforcement layers. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) analysis has been conducted to monitor the deformation, tilting and movement of soil particles beneath and between twin footings. Results of tests and PIV technique were verified using finite element modeling (FEM) and the results of both PIV and FEM were used to utilize failure mechanisms and influenced shear strain around the loading region. The results show that the performance of twin footings on geocell-reinforced sand at allowable and ultimate settlement ranges are almost 4% and 25% greater than the same twin footings on the same geogrid-reinforced sand, respectively. By increasing the distance between twin footings, soil particle displacements become smaller than the settlement of the foundations.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.409-422
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• 2022

The use of calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement as a rapid-hardening cement admixture or eco-friendly alternate for ordinary Portland cement (OPC) has been attempted over the years, but the cost of CSA cement and availability of suitable aluminium resource prevent its wide practical application. To propose an effective ground improvement design in sandy soil, this study aims at blending a certain percentage of CSA with OPC to find an optimum blend that would have fast-setting behavior with a lower carbon footprint than OPC without compromising the mechanical properties of the cemented sand. Compared to the 100% CSA case, initial speed of strength development of blended cement is relatively low as it is mixed with OPC. It is found that 80% OPC and 20% CSA blend has low initial strength but eventually produces equivalent ultimate strength (28 days curing) to that of CSA treated sand. The specific OPC-CSA blend (80:20) exhibits significantly higher strength gain than using pure OPC, thus allowing effective geotechnical designs for sustainable and controlled ground improvement. Further parametric studies were conducted for the blended cement under various curing conditions, cement contents, and curing times. Wet-cured cement treated sand had 33% lower strength than that of dry-cured samples, while the stiffness of wet-cured samples was 25% lower than that of dry-cured samples.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.143-152
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• 2020

The wind design of buildings is typically based on strength provisions under ultimate loads. This is unlike the ductility-based approach used in seismic design, which allows inelastic actions to take place in the structure under extreme seismic events. This research investigates the application of a similar concept in wind engineering. In seismic design, the elastic forces resulting from an extreme event of high return period are reduced by a load reduction factor chosen by the designer and accordingly a certain ductility capacity needs to be achieved by the structure. Two reasons have triggered the investigation of this ductility-based concept under wind loads. Firstly, there is a trend in the design codes to increase the return period used in wind design approaching the large return period used in seismic design. Secondly, the structure always possesses a certain level of ductility that the wind design does not benefit from. Many technical issues arise when applying a ductility-based approach under wind loads. The use of reduced design loads will lead to the design of a more flexible structure with larger natural periods. While this might be beneficial for seismic response, it is not necessarily the case for the wind response, where increasing the flexibility is expected to increase the fluctuating response. This particular issue is examined by considering a case study of a sixty-five-story high-rise building previously tested at the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory at the University of Western Ontario using a pressure model. A three-dimensional finite element model is developed for the building. The wind pressures from the tested rigid model are applied to the finite element model and a time history dynamic analysis is conducted. The time history variation of the straining actions on various structure elements of the building are evaluated and decomposed into mean, background and fluctuating components. A reduction factor is applied to the fluctuating components and a modified time history response of the straining actions is calculated. The building components are redesigned under this set of reduced straining actions and its fundamental period is then evaluated. A new set of loads is calculated based on the modified period and is compared to the set of loads associated with the original structure. This is followed by non-linear static pushover analysis conducted individually on each shear wall module after redesigning these walls. The ductility demand of shear walls with reduced cross sections is assessed to justify the application of the load reduction factor "R".

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.17 no.6 s.90
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• pp.955-962
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• 2005

Still no accurate theory exists for predicting ultimate shear strength of deep reinforced concrete beams because of the structural and material non-linearity after cracking. Currently, the load capacity assesment is performed for the upper structure of the bridges and containing non-reliability in the applications and results. The purpose in this study is to evaluate analytically the complex shear behaviors and normal strength for the reinforced concrete deep beams and to offer the accuracy load capacity assesment method based on the reliability theories. This paper presents a method for the load capacity assesment of reinforcement concrete deep beams using nonlinear finite element analysis. A computer program named RCAHEST (Reinforced Concrete Analysis in Higher Evaluation System Technology), for the analysis of reinforced concrete structures was used. Material non-linearity is taken Into account by comprising tensile, compressive and shear models of cracked concrete and a model of reinforcing steel. From the results, determine the reliability index for the failure base on the Euro Code. Then, calculate additional reduction coefficient to satisfy the goals from the reliability analysis. The proposed numerical method for the load capacity assesment of reinforced concrete deep beams is verified by comparison with the others methods.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.259-266
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• 2012

A general earthquake resistant design philosophy of ductile frame buildings allows beams to form plastic hinges adjacent to beam-column connections. In order to carry out this design philosophy, the ultimate bond or shear strength of the beam should be greater than the flexural yielding force and should not degrade before reaching its required ductility. The behavior of RC members dominated by bond or shear action reveals a dramatic reduction of energy dissipation in the hysteretic response due to the severe pinching effects. In this study, a method was proposed to predict the deformability of reinforced concrete members with short-span-to-depth-ratios, which would result in bond failure after flexural yielding. Repeated or cyclic loading produces a progressive deterioration of bond that may lead to failure at lower cyclic bond stress levels. Accumulation of bond damage is caused by the propagation of micro-cracks and progressive crushing of concrete in front of the lugs. The proposed method takes into account bond deterioration due to the degradation of concrete in the post yield range. In order to verify bond deformability of the proposed method, the predicted results were compared with the experimental results of RC members reported in the technical literature. Comparisons between the observed and calculated bond deformability of the tested RC members showed reasonably good agreement.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.665-679
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• 2015

The strain rate of reinforced concrete (RC) structures stimulated by earthquake action has been generally recognized as in the range from $10^{-4}/s$ to $10^{-1}/s$. Because both concrete and steel reinforcement are rate-sensitive materials, the RC beam-column joints are bound to behave differently under different strain rates. This paper describes an investigation of seismic behavior of RC beam-column joints which are subjected to large cyclic displacements on the beam ends with three loading velocities, i.e., 0.4 mm/s, 4 mm/s and 40 mm/s respectively. The levels of strain rate on the joint core region are correspondingly estimated to be $10^{-5}/s$, $10^{-4}/s$, and $10^{-2}/s$. It is aimed to better understand the effect of strain rates on seismic behavior of beam-column joints, such as the carrying capacity and failure modes as well as the energy dissipation. From the experiments, it is observed that with the increase of loading velocity or strain rate, damage in the joint core region decreases but damage in the plastic hinge regions of adjacent beams increases. The energy absorbed in the hysteresis loops under higher loading velocity is larger than that under quasi-static loading. It is also found that the yielding load of the joint is almost independent of the loading velocity, and there is a marginal increase of the ultimate carrying capacity when the loading velocity is increased for the ranges studied in this work. However, under higher loading velocity the residual carrying capacity after peak load drops more rapidly. Additionally, the axial compression ratio has little effect on the shear carrying capacity of the beam-column joints, but with the increase of loading velocity, the crack width of concrete in the joint zone becomes narrower. The shear carrying capacity of the joint at higher loading velocity is higher than that calculated with the quasi-static method proposed by the design code. When the dynamic strengths of materials, i.e., concrete and reinforcement, are directly substituted into the design model of current code, it tends to be insufficiently safe.