• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.3 no.6
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• pp.889-910
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• 2012

Because of the heavy demand of confining steel to restore the column ductility in seismic regions, it is more efficient to confine these columns by hollow steel tube to form concrete-filled-steel-tube (CFST) column. Compared with transverse reinforcing steel, steel tube provides a stronger and more uniform confining pressure to the concrete core, and reduces the steel congestion problem for better concrete placing quality. However, a major shortcoming of CFST columns is the imperfect steel-concrete interface bonding occurred at the elastic stage as steel dilates more than concrete in compression. This adversely affects the confining effect and decrease the elastic modulus. To resolve the problem, it is proposed in this study to use external steel confinement in the forms of rings and ties to restrict the dilation of steel tube. For verification, a series of uni-axial compression test was performed on some CFST columns with external steel rings and ties. From the results, it was found that: (1) Both rings and ties improved the stiffness of the CFST columns and (2) the rings improve significantly the axial strength of the CFST columns while the ties did not improve the axial strength. Lastly, a theoretical model for predicting the axial strength of confined CFST columns will be developed.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.431-444
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• 2022

The unique thermomechanical properties of shape memory alloys (SMAs) make it a versatile material for strengthening and repairing structures. In particular, several research studies have already demonstrated the effectiveness of using the heat activated shape memory effect of nickel-titanium (Ni-Ti) based SMAs to actively confine concrete members. Despite the proven effectiveness and wide commercial availability of Ni-Ti SMAs, however, their high cost remains a major obstacle for applications in real structural engineering projects. In this study, the shape memory effect of a new, much more economical iron-based SMA (Fe-SMA) is characterized and the compressive behavior of concrete confined with Fe-SMA strips is investigated. Tests showed the Fe-SMA strips used in this study are capable of developing high levels of recovery stress and can be easily formed into hoops to provide effective active and passive confining pressure to concrete members. Compared to concrete cylinders confined with conventional carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites, Fe-SMA confinement yielded significantly higher compressive deformation capacity and residual strength. Overall, the compressive behavior of Fe-SMA confined concrete was comparable to that of Ni-Ti SMA confined concrete. This study clearly shows the potential for Fe-SMA as a robust and cost-effective strengthening solution for concrete structures and opens possibilities for more practical applications.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.74-79
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• 2017

The fire extinguishing performance of hybrid nozzle systems is improved by injecting an extinguishing agent concentrically into the target site and, in this study, water mist is used as a water curtain to confine the droplets of the agent. In this study, we numerically investigated the effect of the foundation angle and injection pressure on the performance of a hybrid nozzle by evaluating the mean radius of the volume fractions of the agent and water mists. An experiment involving a water mist nozzle was carried out to validate the numerical method and then the droplet behaviors, e.g., stochastic collision, coalescence and breakup, were calculated with 2-way interaction Discrete Particle Modeling (DPM) in the steady state for the hybrid nozzle system. The mean radius of the water mists increased by about 40 %, whereas that of the agent decreased by about 21 %, when the injection pressure was increased from 30 bar to 60 bar. In addition, the mean radius of the agent increased by about 24 % as the foundation angle of the hybrid nozzle head increased from $30^{\circ}$ to $60^{\circ}$. As a result, it can be inferred that the injection angle and pressure are important factors for hybrid water mist designs.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2023

Stemming is a process applied to blast holes to prevent gases from escaping during detonation. A stemming material helps confine the explosive energy for longer and increases rock fragmentation. This study developed a stemming material based on a shear-thickening fluid (STF) that reacts to dynamic shock. Two blasting experiments were conducted to Field-verify the performance of the STF-based stemming material. In the first experiment, the pressure inside the blast hole was directly measured based on applying the stemming material. In the second field verification, tunnel blasting was performed, and the blasting results of sand stemming and, that of the STF-based stemming case were compared. The measurement results of the pressure in the blast hole showed that when the STF-based stemming material was applied, the pressure at the top of the blast hole was lower than in the sand stemming case, and the stemming ejection was also lower. The results of the field application verify that the excavation performance of the STF-based stemming case in the tunnel blasting was superior to that of the sand stemming case.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.135-135
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• 2015

Tubes are of extreme importance in industries as for fluid channels or wave guides. Furthermore, some weapon systems such as cannons use the tubes as gun barrels. To increase the service life of such tubes, a protective coating must be applied to the tubes' inner surface. However, the coating methods applicable to the inner surface of the tubes are very limited due to the geometrical restriction. A small-diameter cylindrical magnetron sputtering gun can be used to deposit coating layers on the inner surface of the large-bore tubes. However, for small-bore tubes with the inner diameter of one inch (~25 mm), the magnetron sputtering method can hardly be accommodated due to the space limitation for permanent magnet assembly. In this study, a new approach to coat the inner surface of small-bore tubes with the inside diameter of one inch was developed. Instead of using permanent magnets for magnetron operation, an external electro-magnet assembly was adopted around the tube to confine the plasma and to sustain the discharge. The electro-magnet was operated in pulse mode to provide the strong axial magnetic field for the magnetron operation, which was synchronized with the negative high-voltage pulse applied to the water-cooled coaxial sputtering target installed inside the tube. By moving the electro-magnet assembly along the tube's axial direction, the inner surface of the tube could be uniformly coated. The inner-surface coating system in this study used the tube itself as the vacuum chamber. The SS-304 tube's inner diameter was 22 mm and the length was ~1 m. A water-cooled Cu tube (sputtering target) of the outer diameter of 12 mm was installed inside of the SS tube (substrate) at the axial position. The 50 mm-long electro-magnet assembly was fed by a current pulse of 250 A at the frequency and pulse width of 100 Hz and 100 usec, respectively. The calculated axial magnetic field strength at the center was ~0.6 Tesla. The central Cu tube was synchronously driven by a HiPIMS power supply at the same frequency of 100 Hz as the electro-magnet and the applied pulse voltage was -1200 V with a pulse width of 500 usec. At 150 mTorr of Ar pressure, the Cu deposition rate of ~10 nm/min could be obtained. In this talk, a new method to sputter coat the inner surface of small-bore tubes would be presented and discussed, which might have broad industrial and military application areas.