• Computers and Concrete
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.267-278
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• 2016

In order to observe the internal damage of concrete in real time, we introduced acoustic emission nondestructive detecting technology into a series of fracture tests; the test results revealed the whole process that concrete undergoes when it sustains damage that leads to failure, according to the change rules of the acoustic emission parameters. The results showed that both the initiation and unstable loads can be accurately determined using the abrupt change of the acoustic emission rate curves and the turning point of the acoustic emission parameters' accumulative curves. The whole process, from damage to failure, includes five phases, beginning with damage, such as cracking, a stable crack growth process, a critical unstable stage, and unstable propagation. The brittle fracture characteristics of concrete change when steel bars are joined, because the steel bars and the concrete structure bond, which causes an increase in the acoustic emission signals within the fracture process of the reinforced concrete. The unstable propagation stage is also extended. Our research results provide a valid methodology and technical explanations, which can help researchers to monitor the cracking process of concrete structures, in real time, during actual projects.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.173-184
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• 2019

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the true fracture energy and monitor the damage progression in steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) specimens using acoustic emission (AE) features. Four point bending test is carried out using pre-notched plain and fibre reinforced (0.5% and 1% volume fraction) - concrete under monotonic loading. AE sensors are affixed at different locations of the specimens and AE parameters such as rise time, AE energy, hits, counts, amplitude and duration etc. are obtained. Using the captured and processed AE event data, fracture process zone is identified and the true fracture energy is evaluated. The AE data is also employed for tracing the damage progression in plain and fibre reinforced concrete, using both parametric- and signal- based techniques. Hilbert - Huang transform (HHT) is used in signal based processing for evaluating instantaneous frequency of the acoustic events. It is found that the appropriately processed and carefully analyzed acoustic data is capable of providing vital information on progression of damage on different types of concrete.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.181-194
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• 2006

The masonry is a complex heterogeneous material and its shear deformation and fracture is associated with very complicated progressive failures in masonry structure, and is investigated in this paper using a mesoscopic mechanical modelling, Considering the heterogeneity of masonry material, based on the damage mechanics and elastic-brittle theory, the newly developed Material Failure Process Analysis (MFPA) system was brought out to simulate the cracking process of masonry, which was considered as a three-phase composite of the block phase, the mortar phase and the block-mortar interfaces. The crack propagation processes simulated with this model shows good agreement with those of experimental observations by other researchers. This finding indicates that the shear fracture of masonry observed at the macroscopic level is predominantly caused by tensile damage at the mesoscopic level. Some brittle materials are so weak in tension relative to shear that tensile rather than shear fractures are generated in pure shear loading.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.225-236
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• 2017

The purpose of this work is to predict ductile fracture of structural steel under extremely low cyclic loading experienced in earthquake. A cumulative damage model is proposed on the basis of an existing damage model originally aiming to predict fracture under monotonic loading. The cumulative damage model assumes that damage does not grow when stress triaxiality is below a threshold and fracture occurs when accumulated damage reach unit. The model was implemented in ABAQUS software. The cumulative damage model parameters for steel base metal, weld metal and heat affected zone were calibrated, respectively, through testing and finite element analyses of notched coupon specimens. The damage evolution law in the notched coupon specimens under different loads was compared. Finally, in order to examine the engineering applicability of the proposed model, the fracture performance of beam-column welded joints reported by previous researches was analyzed based on the cumulative damage model. The analysis results show that the cumulative damage model is able to successfully predict the cracking location, fracture process, the crack initiation life, and the total fatigue life of the joints.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.291-295
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• 2003

The occurrence of ductile fracture is the working limit of many metal forming processes. It is necessary to predict the criteria and to apply the condition in a process design. Over the years. the way for clarifying conditions have been studied and presented. However such a way needs lots of experiments and analysis. In this study, in order to determine the critical damage value of a used material Cu 4N, it was performed a tensile test and FEM analysis by using DEFORM 2D. For applying the obtained critical damage value it was also performed a upsetting test by using DEFORM 2D. The way of determining a critical damage value which is presented in this study will make possible to find easily it which is one of the working limit factor. And the way of determining a critical damage value will make possible to find in multi-pass drawing process.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.366-372
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• 2009

Recently, in order to achieve smooth fracture plane and minimize the excavation damage zone in rock blasting, controlled blasting methods which utilize new technologies such as electronic delay detonator (EDD) and a notched charge hole have been suggested. In this study, smooth blastings utilizing three wing type notched charge holes are simulated to investigate the influence of explosive initial density on the resultant fracture plane and damage zone using dynamic fracture process analysis (DFPA) code. Finally, based on the dynamic fracture process analyses, novel smooth blasting method, ED-Notch SB (Electronic Detonator Notched Charge Hole Smooth Blasting) is suggested.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.933-961
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• 2015

Damage by high-speed impact fracture is a dominant mode of failure in several applications of concrete structures. Numerical modelling can play a crucial role in understanding and predicting complex fracture processes. The commonly used mesh-based Finite Element Method has difficulties in accurately modelling the high deformation and disintegration associated with fracture, as this often distorts the mesh. Even with careful re-meshing FEM often fails to handle extreme deformations and results in poor accuracy. Moreover, simulating the mechanism of fragmentation requires detachment of elements along their boundaries, and this needs a fine mesh to allow the natural propagation of damage/cracks. Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) is an alternative particle based (mesh-less) Lagrangian method that is particularly suitable for analysing fracture because of its capability to model large deformation and to track free surfaces generated due to fracturing. Here we demonstrate the capabilities of SPH for predicting brittle fracture by studying a slender concrete structure (column) under the impact of a high-speed projectile. To explore the effect of the projectile material behaviour on the fracture process, the projectile is assumed to be either perfectly-elastic or elastoplastic in two separate cases. The transient stress field and the resulting evolution of damage under impact are investigated. The nature of the collision and the constitutive behaviour are found to considerably affect the fracture process for the structure including the crack propagation rates, and the size and motion of the fragments. The progress of fracture is tracked by measuring the average damage level of the structure and the extent of energy dissipation, which depend strongly on the type of collision. The effect of fracture property (failure strain) of the concrete due to its various compositions is found to have a profound effect on the damage and fragmentation pattern of the structure.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.169-188
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• 2004

A coupled damage-viscoplasticity model is presented for the analysis of localisation and size effects. On one hand, viscosity helps to avoid mesh sensitivity because of the introduction of a length scale in the model and, on the other hand, enables to represent size effects. Size effects were analysed by means of three-point bending tests. Correlation between the fracture energy parameter measured experimentally and the density fracture energy modelling parameter is discussed. It has been shown that the dependence of nominal strength and fracture energy on size is determined by the ligament length in comparison with the width of the fracture process zone.

• Composites Research
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.44-50
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• 2003

The damage zone around a crack tip occurring before the fracture is a significant domain. which affects the toughening mechanism of materials. In this study. the growth process of damage zone in the vicinity of crack tip for rubber-modified epoxy resin is investigated using an acoustic emission(AE) analysis. The weight fractions of rubber(CTBN 1300$\times$B) in rubber-modified epoxy resin are 5 wt% and 15 wt%. The fracture toughness($K_{IC}$) and the fracture energy($G_{IC}$) were measured using 3 point bending single-edge notched specimens. The damage zone and rubber particles distributed around the crack tip were observed by a polarized optical microscope and an atomic force microscope(AFM). The damage zone around crack tip of rubber-modified epoxy resin was formed at 13 % loading and developed until 57 % loading of the fracture load. The crack initiated at 57 % loading grew repeatedly in the stick-slip propagation behavior. Based on time-frequency analysis, it was confirmed that AE signals with frequency bands of 0.15~0.20 MHz and 0.20~0.30 MHz were generated from cavitation and stable/unstable cracking inside the damage zone.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.534-541
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• 2004

The modeling of crack initiation and propagation is very important for the failure analysis of concrete. The cracking process in concrete is quite different from that of other materials, such as metal and glass, in that it is not a sudden onset of new free surface but a continuous forming and connecting of microcracks. The failure process of concrete by cracking causes irreversible deformations and stiffness degradation. Those phenomenon can be modeled using plasticity and damage theory in macroscopic aspect. In this study, a plastic-damage model based on homogenized crack model considering velocity discontinuity and damage variable which is a function of plastic strain is proposed for fracture analysis of concrete. Finally, the plastic-damage model is verified with experimental data.