A Comparative Study of Piers with DSCT and Steel Piles

Because of climate changes, the demand for securing marine space is increasing owing to problems such as sea level rise, design wave height increase, and lack of land and space, and research on the development of a new high-performance pier has been conducted. In the existing pier supported by steel piles, buckling failure and corrosion problems may lead to a risk of structural safety, and maintenance is difficult owing to a narrow span. The new type of double-skinned composite tubular (DSCT) structure, which has been extensively studied recently, is filled with concrete between the inner and outer tubes, increasing the strength of concrete because of the three-axis confined effect. In addition, it is advantageous in terms of ductility. Furthermore, owing to the hollow cross-section, it is economical because it weighs less than the concrete-filled steel tubular (CFT) structure, effectively saving materials. In this study, the performance of a pier with 30 steel piles and that of a pier supported with 20 DSCT piles was compared under the same external force through finite element analysis. Consequently, it was confirmed that the pier with DSCT piles showed higher performance in displacement and stress than the existing pier with steel piles.

Analysis of Chloride Deterioration and Structural Safety Evaluation of Bridge Barriers

Recently, there has been an increase in the chloride deterioration of bridges on urban highways owing to the excessive usage of deicing agents in winter, thus necessitating repair and maintenance measures to ensure the durability of concrete. In this study, the status of the damages occurring in the concrete barriers, such as walls and median partitions, of bridges on urban highways in Seoul was investigated. After collecting a total of 306 cores from various sites, a chloride analysis test was performed on a total of 918 samples obtained by dividing each core into three parts. The results were analyzed using the depth, upper and lower parts of the barrier, damage conditions, and route. In addition, the safety of the structure was evaluated in the case of repair by removing the corroded reinforcing bars (main reinforcing bars and spacers) directly exposed to chloride.

FLEXURAL SIMULATION ANALYSIS OF RC T-GIRDERS STRENGTHED WITH POLYURETHANE CEMENT-PRESTRESSED STEEL WIRE ROPES

To verify the effectiveness of polyurethane cement-prestressed steel wire ropes for flexural reinforcement of reinforced concrete T-girders, this paper conducts flexural test research on 12 pieces of T-girder specimens. Through the ABAQUS finite element program to build a model for numerical simulation, the results show polyurethane cement prestressed steel wire rope reinforcement can significantly increase the yield load and ultimate load of reinforced girders. Taking a girder in the test (20mm reinforcement thickness of polyurethane cement) as an example, yield load and ultimate load increased by 61.5% and 102.3% compared to unreinforced girder. The finite element model calculation results of T-girder bending reinforcement are in good agreement with the bending reinforcement test, and the error is only about 2%. For different strength concrete, the yield load increases slightly with the increase of concrete strength. For T-girders with different reinforcement ratios, the bearing capacity of strengthened girders changes significantly with the increase of longitudinal reinforcement ratio. The yield load of girders with reinforcement ratio of 1.82% and 1.35% is 29.84% and 65.85% higher than that of girders with reinforcement ratio of 0.91%. The yield deflection is 13.18% and 3.99% higher than that of girders with reinforcement ratio of 0.91%. It can be concluded that the bending reinforcement method of polyurethane cement prestressed steel wire ropes can effectively strengthen the main girder and ensure the structural safety.

Development of a Pre-Evaluation and Health Monitoring System for FAST Cable-Net Structure

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is one of China’s major pieces of national infrastructure. A variable cable-net structure is used as the main supporting structure of the active reflector. The displacement of the cable net works through actuators. The realization of linkage control is a multi-degree-of-freedom and complex coupling control system. Due to factors such as the temperature difference between day and night, as well as actuator failure, the reflector control accuracy and even structural safety are affected during the position-control process of the cable net, so realizing evaluation of control accuracy and fault warning of the reflector is a significant problem. This paper proposes a pre-evaluation and health monitoring system based on advanced mechanical simulation technology. Through this system, on-site staff can expeditiously analyze the model to determine whether the cable net is currently in a safe state, predict the fatigue degree of the components, and maintain the structure when appropriate. The pre-evaluation and health monitoring system adequately ensure the stable functioning of the FAST cable net, improve the efficiency of on-site maintenance work, and markedly reduce the safety risk of the structure.

Analysis of Structural Response of Subway Shield Tunnel Lining under the Influence of Cavities

The existence of cavities behind the shield tunnel lining can cause cracking, broken pieces, water leakage, and other problems, which reduces the durability and safety of the shield tunnel segment structure. In order to clarify the mechanism of cavity damage, a more systematic study of the effects of cavities on the shield tunnel lining structure from the angle, depth, and the number of cavities is carried out using model tests and numerical simulations without considering the effects of the stiffness reduction effect at the tunnel segment joints and groundwater seepage in this paper. The findings show that the bending moment value and the cavity angle value are approximately linear with the increase of single cavity angle, and the bending moment at the vault arch is reversed when the angle of the cavity behind the arch is greater than 30°. With the increase of single cavity depth, the axial force and bending moment at the cavity increase, and the distribution of bending moment remains unchanged, and the bending moment tends to be stable and unchanged beyond a certain depth. With the increase of single cavity angle and depth, the structural safety coefficient of the segment decreases, and the degree of influence is angle value > depth value. The existence of multiple cavities intensifies the influence of each cavity on the segment, especially when there are cavities behind the top and bottom of the vault; the bending moment value of the top of the vault increases by 22.53% compared with that of the single cavity condition.

Kriging Model for Reliability Analysis of the Offshore Steel Trestle Subjected to Wave and Current Loads

Offshore steel trestles (OSTs) are exposed to severe marine environments with stochastic wave and current loads, making structural safety assessment challenging and difficult. Reliability analysis is a suitable way to consider both wave and current loading intensity uncertainties, but the implicit and complex limit state functions of the reliability analysis usually imply huge computational costs. This paper proposes an efficient reliability analysis framework for OST using the kriging model of optimal linear unbiased estimation. The surrogate model is built with stochastic waves, current parameters, and the corresponding load factors. The framework is then used to evaluate the reliability of an example OST subjected to wave and current loads at three limit states of OST, including first yield (FY), full plastic (FP), and collapse initiation (CI). Three different distributions are used for comparison of the results of failure probability and reliability index. The results and the computational cost by the proposed framework are compared with that from the Monte Carlo sampling (MCS) and Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) method. The influences of sample number on the prediction accuracy and reliability index are investigated. The influence of marine growth on the reliability analysis of the OST is discussed using MCS and the kriging model. The results show that the reliability analysis based on the kriging model can obtain the reliability index for the OST efficiently with less calculation time but similar results compared with MCS and LHS. With the increase of the number of samples, the prediction accuracy of the kriging model increases, and the corresponding failure probability fluctuates greatly at first and then tends to be stable. The reliability of the example OST is reduced with the increase of marine growth, regardless of the limit state.

Suggestion of Safety Certification Standards and Performance Evaluation Methods for Fabricated Mobile Scaffold in South Korea

At construction sites, various types of temporary equipment and structures are used for safety and work efficiency. However, various temporary equipment-related accidents frequently occur for many reasons, including inappropriate installation, usage, and material and structural imperfections. A mobile scaffold is one of the most commonly used indoor temporary equipment for work in high places. In general, the main structural members of the mobile scaffold, such as the mainframes, horizontal members, braces, caster wheels, outriggers, and handrails, are installed on the construction site for this purpose. This means that the load-carrying capacity of the equipment can vary depending on the assembly details. In Korea, there are safety certification standards applied for frequently used temporary equipment, such as scaffolds and shoring. However, the standards concern the strength criteria for the member itself, rather than the global load-carrying capacity. Therefore, it is difficult to review whether the fabricated mobile scaffold has sufficient load-carrying capacity, or to confirm the structural safety considering the various uncertainties affecting the structural performance. In this study, rational safety certification standards and evaluation methods are suggested for fabricated mobile scaffolds. The suggested safety certification standards present structure-level criteria for checking the load-carrying capacity, horizontal stiffness of the structure, and overturning risk. It is expected that the structural performance for safety can be directly checked based on the suggested safety certification standards and performance evaluation methods during the safety certification stage.

Earthquake Resistance Optimization and Evaluation of Bridge Piers Structural Form and Dimensions Based on Demand to Capacity Ratio and Yielding Points of Force-Displacement

The evaluation of structural safety must be taken after each earthquake. The importance losses of life and materials carries the significance of the works in the field of earthquake engineering. The purpose of this study was to optimize and evaluate the earthquake resistance of bridge piers by adopting different cross-section forms and dimensions for bridge supports under earthquake action. Two methods of seismic design were used in the optimization and evaluation process. These methods were demand to capacity ratio (DCR) and yielding point. The results of demand to capacity ratio shown that the values of DCR for all piers forms models were increased when the dimension of pier cross section were increased and the values of DCR became less than 1.0, indicating that the increasing in dimensions leading to rise the capacity of bridge supports to carry the earthquake loads in transverse and longitudinal direction. Comparing with models, solid wall pier form had the lower value of DCR, indicating that solid wall piers were suitable in the design of bridge supports to resist the lateral loads of earthquake and it has enough stiffness and capacity under earthquake action. The results of performance points shown that the yielding points were increased when the dimensions of piers were increased for all piers form in transverse and longitudinal direction. The maximum values were appeared within support No. 1 and support No. 4. Solid wall form of pier had the higher values of yielding points, meaning that this type of piers form had higher seismic capacity and it will resist the earthquake action more than others piers form. This study recommended that to use third model for each pier form in the design of bridges structures to resist the earthquake load. Also this study was recommended to use solid wall piers as supports in construction of bridge structure within areas had earthquake action.

Outlier Detection Based on Multivariable Panel Data and K-Means Clustering for Dam Deformation Monitoring Data

A dam is a super-structure widely used in water conservancy engineering fields, and its long-term safety is a focus of social concern. Deformation is a crucial evaluation index and comprehensive reflection of the structural state of dams, and thus there are many research papers on dam deformation data analysis. However, the accuracy of deformation data is the premise of dam safety monitoring analysis, and original deformation data may have some outliers caused by manual errors or instruments aging after long-time running. These abnormal data have a negative impact on the evaluation of dam structural safety. In this study, an analytical method for detecting outliers of dam deformation data was established based on multivariable panel data and K-means clustering theory. First, we arranged the original spatiotemporal monitoring data into the multivariable panel data format. Second, the correlation coefficients between the deformation signals of different measuring points were studied based on K-means clustering theory. Third, the outlier detection rules were established through the changes of the correlation coefficients. Finally, the proposed model was applied to the Jinping-I Arch Dam in China which is the highest dam in the world, and results indicate that the detection method has high accuracy detection ability, which is valuable in dam safety monitoring applications.