Yasuo Kitane

Performances and damages to steel structures during the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu earthquake

Described herein are the performances of and damages to steel bridges and viaducts during the Hyogoken-Nanbu earthquake in relation to past design specifications. A particular emphasis is placed on the performance of steel bridge piers and their buckling, low-cycle fatigue and brittle crack failures. Numerical simulation of typical damage such as elephant-foot buckling, failure of bearing devices and dynamic interaction of steel piers from adjacent reinforced concrete piers is carried out and possible causes are discussed. Finally, concluding remarks on the key concepts for earthquake-resistant design of bridges, several recommendations for the improvement of steel pier design and comments on future research needs are made.

Strength of Bearing-type Multi-Row Bolted Connections of FRP Composite Members with Varying Cover Plate Stiffness

Elegance in Structures IABSE Conference, Nara, Japan (May 13-15, 2015, Nara Prefectural New Public Hall in Nara, Japan) JA-33

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites for bridge superstructures

Abstract: This chapter first reviews current structural applications of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites in bridge structures, and describes advantages of FRP in bridge applications. This chapter then introduces the design of a hybrid FRP-concrete bridge superstructure, which has been developed at The University at Buffalo for the past ten years, and discusses structural performance of the superstructure based on extensive experimental and analytical studies.

Effect of Bolt-Hole Position Errors on the Strength of Bearing-Type Multi-Row Bolted Connection of FRP Composite Members

The aim of the study is to evaluate the effect of bolt-hole position errors on the strength of bearing-type multi-row bolted connections with a double-lap configuration of fiber reinforced polymer composite members. To simulate errors in positioning bolt-holes in the loading direction of connections, the statistical technique of sampling known as Latin hypercube sampling has been adopted in this study. In the Latin hypercube sampling, the distribution is obtained using the results of goodness of fit tests. It has been seen from the goodness of fit tests that the strength of the two- to fourrow bolted connections with steel cover plates and two-row bolted connection with FRP cover Plates can be modeled by using the normal distribution and the three and four-row bolted connections with FRP cover plates can be modeled by using the Weibull distribution with a significance level of 0.05. The strength of bolted connections is obtained by performing progressive damage analysis of the connections numerically. The statistical analyses show that the bolt-hole positioning errors have significant effect on the strength of the bolted connections, and that the strength can either increase or decrease with a larger probability to decrease. Connections with steel cover plates are more sensitive to bolt-hole position errors than those with FRP cover plates. Ninety five percent non-exceedance strength of the connection with FRP cover plates is about 85% of the connection with bolt positions perfectly aligned, that of the connection with steel cover plates is about 71% of the perfect bolt position case.

Experimental Study on CFRP-Bonded Steel Plates with Thickness Reduction Using Underwater Epoxy

This paper presents a series of uniaxial loading tests on the thickness-reduced steel plates bonded with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) strand sheets using underwater epoxy as adhesive. Four sets of material test are carried out on epoxy coupons at different curing times. Repaired performance of CFRP-bonded steel plates is investigated in terms of initial stiffness, yield strength, and failure mode of the specimens. Test results showed that the structural performance of CFRP-bonded steel plates does not reach the expected design level due to a slow curing process of epoxy adhesive in this study. The curing effects of epoxy adhesive on the repaired performance are discussed.