• The Transactions of the Korea Information Processing Society
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.477-487
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• 2000

When volume data is visualized by the ray casting method, the color value of each pixel in the image is obtained by composing the color contributions of the sample points that lie on the ray cast from the pixel point. In most ray tracing methods including Levoy's classical method, the color composition is formulated as a summation of the color contributions of the discrete sample points. However, the more precise color composition is formulated as differential equations over the color contributions of the continuous sample points. The discrete formulation is used, because analytical solutions to the continuous formulations are hard to find. In this paper, however, we have discovered a semi-analytical solution to the continuous formulation of a typical ray tracing of volume data. We have applied both Levoy's method and ours to the same set of data, and compared the visual quality of both results. The comparison shows that our method produces a more fine-grained visualization of volume data.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.711-731
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• 2020

This paper deals with free vibration of FG sandwich annular sector plates on Pasternak elastic foundation with different boundary conditions, based on the three-dimensional theory of elasticity. The plates with simply supported radial edges and arbitrary boundary conditions on their circular edges are considered. The influence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) waviness, aspect ratio, internal pores and graphene platelets (GPLs) on the vibrational behavior of functionally graded nanocomposite sandwich plates is investigated in this research work. The distributions of CNTs are considered functionally graded (FG) or uniform along the thickness of upper and bottom layers of the sandwich sectorial plates and their mechanical properties are estimated by an extended rule of mixture. In this study, the classical theory concerning the mechanical efficiency of a matrix embedding finite length fibers has been modified by introducing the tube-to-tube random contact, which explicitly accounts for the progressive reduction of the tubes' effective aspect ratio as the filler content increases. The core of structure is porous and the internal pores and graphene platelets (GPLs) are distributed in the matrix of core either uniformly or non-uniformly according to three different patterns. The elastic properties of the nanocomposite are obtained by employing Halpin-Tsai micromechanics model. A semi-analytic approach composed of 2D-Generalized Differential Quadrature Method (2D-GDQM) and series solution is adopted to solve the equations of motion. The fast rate of convergence and accuracy of the method are investigated through the different solved examples. Some new results for the natural frequencies of the plate are prepared, which include the effects of elastic coefficients of foundation, boundary conditions, material and geometrical parameters. The new results can be used as benchmark solutions for future researches.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.335-341
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• 2017

In this paper, beam finite elements with higher-order derivatives' continuity are formulated and evaluated for various boundary conditions. All the beam elements are based on Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. These higher-order beam elements are often required to analyze structures by using newly developed higher-order beam theories and/or non-classical beam theories based on nonlocal elasticity. It is however rare to assess the performance of such elements in terms of boundary and loading conditions. To this end, two higher-order beam elements are formulated, in which $C^2$ and $C^3$ continuities of the deflection are enforced, respectively. Three different boundary conditions are then applied to solve beam structures, such as cantilever, simply-support and clamped-hinge conditions. In addition to conventional Euler-Bernoulli beam boundary conditions, the effect of higher-order boundary conditions is investigated. Depending on the boundary conditions, the oscillatory behavior of deflections is observed. Especially the geometric boundary conditions are problematic, which trigger unstable solutions when higher-order deflections are prescribed. It is expected that the results obtained herein serve as a guideline for higher-order derivatives' continuous finite elements.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.193-201
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• 2023

In this study, a nonlinear truss finite element is developed to analyze structures with negative Poisson effect-induced tensile buckling. In general, the well-known buckling phenomenon is a stability problem under a compressive load, whereas tensile buckling occurs because of local compression caused by tension. It is not as well-known as classical buckling because it is a recent study. The mechanism of tensile buckling can be briefly explained from an energy standpoint. The nonlinear truss finite element with a torsional spring is formulated because the finite element has not been reported in the literature yet. The post-buckling analysis is then performed using the generalized displacement control method, which reveals that the torsional spring plays an important role in tensile buckling. Structures that mimic a negative Poisson effect can be constructed using such post-buckling behaviors, and one of the possible applications is a mechanical switch. The results obtained are compared to those of analytical solutions and commercial finite element analysis to assess the validity of the proposed finite element model. The numerical results show that the developed finite element model could be a viable option for the basic design of nonlinear structures with a negative Poisson effect.