Journal Home Online First Current Issue Archive For Authors Journal Information 中文版

2020, Volume 14, Issue 1

Abstract

Keywords

Related Research

Back to Top

Frontiers of Structural and Civil Engineering >> 2020, Volume 14, Issue 1 doi: 10.1007/s11709-019-0541-7

Fused structures for safer and more economical constructions

. School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia.. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Durability for Marine Civil Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518061, China.. School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, The University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia

Accepted: 2019-09-23 Available online: 2019-09-23
HTML14 PDF 27 Collect 0

Next Previous

Abstract

Safety margin and construction costs are two conflicting goals for a structure. By providing a fuse in a structure that is triggered at a certain level of over-loading, further increase of loading is prohibited and failure of the structure is changed to a safer mode. As overloading is controlled and a safer failure mode is enforced, a fused structure requires a smaller safety factor thus leading to more economical construction without compromising safety. The use of a fuse will also facilitate safer use of advanced construction materials such as fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites. In this case, a fuse can transfer the sudden and dangerous failure mode associated with brittle FRP debonding or rupture to a safe and ductile failure mode at the fuse location. This paper introduces a new type of fused structure as well as an associated design philosophy and approach, in addition to examples of engineering applications.

Related Research