Advancement and Applications of Japanese High Performance Steel in Structural Engineering

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Applications of steel to building structures in Japan can date back to the first steel factory, Shueisha Printing Plant, constructed in 1894. History of steel bridges in Japan can trace back to the first steel bridge, Kurogane Bridge in Nagasaki, constructed in 1868 using wrought iron. As the developments of large-scale structures, new construction technologies and demanding structural performance, a variety of high performance steels (HPSs) have been developed. In this study, history of applications of HPSs to building and bridge structures in Japan is briefly reviewed. The characteristics of typical HPSs in both buildings and bridges are introduced, respectively, and their impacts on structural engineering are also discussed. INTRODUCTIONConstructions of large-scale and large-span structures in developed countries tend to decrease in recent decades, and structural scales of most projects are becoming smaller in countries such as Japan and America. As a rival of reinforced concrete structures, steel structures are confronting a more and more competitive situation. Partially motivated by this concern, a number of high performance steels (HPSs) have been proposed to reduce construction cost, and employed in both building and bridge structures. As progress of new design concepts, connection details, fabrication technologies and mechanics, various properties such as higher strength, ductility, weldability, toughness, weathering and fireproofing properties, are increasingly demanded in practice. For example, design concept based on whole life cycle cost (LCC) is gaining more attention in steel bridges [1], which not only considers initial construction cost, but also maintenance expenses. From the viewpoint of LCC, durability related characteristics, such as weathering and fracture-resistant properties, are becoming more important issues for structural steels.Before discussion on HPS, its definition is distinguished in different countries. In the USA, HPS is defined as having an optimized balance of strength, weldability, toughness, ductility, corrosion resistance and formability, to achieve the best overall performance of structures while remaining cost-effective [2][3][4]. A series of HPSs, HPS50W, HPS70W and HPS100W, were developed for steel bridges [3], where the aforementioned material properties are all considered through new manufacturing technologies including developments in metallurgical, rolling and heat-treatment.On the other hand, HPS in Japan commonly represents steels that have one or several virtues in strength, ductility, fire-proofing, weathering, weldability, toughness, cold formability, connecting feasibility [5,6], etc. Therefore, the definition of HPS in Japan is broader than that in the USA, and there are more steel grades for HPS in Japan. In this study, Japanese HPSs developed respectively

Construction process monitoring of a large-span steel truss roof based on response-increment comparison strategy

“…Because of the high mechanical properties of steel, the large-span spatial structures mostly use steel as construction material and its seismic resistance is also verified by several researchers [8][9][10]. For a large-span steel truss structure (LSTS), the existing assembly methods on site mainly include high-altitude assembly (HA), sectional lifting (SL), integral lifting (IL) and cumulative slip (CS) [11][12][13][14].…”

Axial Behavior of High-Strength Concrete-Filledhigh-Strength Square Steel Tubular Stub Columns

“…This helps to achieve better mechanical behavior and reduce the cross-section of the column, which can improve building space usage. Using the current technology, the production of high-strength materials has become possible [1], and the use of these materials is promising as they afford significant advantages [2]. However, current design codes, such as Eurocode 4 [3], AISC 360 [4], and GB 50936 [5], set several limitations on the application of high-strength steel tube and concrete, as reported by several previous studies [6][7][8].…”