• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.8
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• pp.2960-2973
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• 2022

Since Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP) accident in 2011, the importance of research on various severe accident phenomena has been emphasized. Particularly, detailed analysis of combustion risk is necessary following the containment damage caused by combustion in the Fukushima accident. Many studies have been conducted to evaluate the risk of local hydrogen concentration increases and flame propagation using computational code. In particular, the potential for combustion by local hydrogen concentration in specific areas within the containment has been emphasized. In this study, the process of flame propagation generated inside a reactor core to containment during a loss of coolant accident (LOCA) was analyzed using MELCOR 2.1 code. Later in the LOCA scenario, it was expected that hydrogen combustion occurred inside the reactor core owing to oxygen inflow through the cold leg break area. The main driving force of the oxygen intrusion is the elevated containment pressure due to the molten corium-concrete interaction. The thermal and mechanical loads caused by the flame threaten the integrity of the containment. Additionally, the containment spray system effectiveness in this situation was evaluated because changes in pressure gradient and concentrations of flammable gases greatly affect the overall behavior of ignition and subsequent containment integrity.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.439-454
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• 2007

In this paper a damage imaging technique using pre-stack migration is developed using Lamb (guided) wave propagation in composite structures for imaging multi damages by both numerical simulations and experimental studies. In particular, the paper focuses on the experimental study using a finite number of sensors for future practical applications. A composite laminate with a surface-mounted linear piezoelectric ceramic (PZT) disk array is illustrated as an example. Two types of damages, one straight-crack damage and two simulated circular-shaped delamination damage, have been studied. First, Mindlin plate theory is used to model Lamb waves propagating in laminates. The group velocities of flexural waves in the composite laminate are also derived from dispersion relations and validated by experiments. Then the pre-stack migration technique is performed by using a two-dimensional explicit finite difference algorithm to back-propagate the scattered energy to the damages and damages are imaged together with the excitation-time imaging conditions. Stacking these images together deduces the resulting image of damages. Both simulations and experimental results show that the pre-stack migration method is a promising method for damage identification in composite structures.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.407-412
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• 2001

In this research, damage behavior of singly oriented ply (SOP) fiber metal laminate (FML) subject to concentrated load was studied. The static indentation tests were conducted to study fiber orientation effect on damage behavior of FML. During the static indentation tests, Acoustic Emission technique (AE) was adopted to study damage characteristics of FML. AE signals were obtained by using AE sensor with 150kHz resonance frequency and the signals were compared with indentation curves of FML. As fiber orientation angle increases, the crack initiation load of SOP FML increases because the stiffness induced by fiber orientation is increased. The penetration load of SOP FML is influenced by the deformation tendency and boundary conditions. Cumulative AE counts were well predicted crack initiation and crack propagation and AE amplitude were useful for prediction of damage failure mode. During the matrix cracking, fiber debonding and fiber breakage, AE amplitude has $45{\sim}60dB,\;60{\sim}80dB\;and\;90{\sim}100dB$, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.93-100
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• 2001

Brittle materials are very weak for impact because of typical characteristics which happen to be easily fractured with low fracture toughness and crack sensitivity. When brittle materials are subjected to impact due to small spheres, high contact pressure is occurred to impact surface and then local damage on specimen is developed, since there are little plastic deformations due to contact pressure compared to metals. This local damage is a dangerous factor which gives rise to final fracture of structures. In this research, the crack propagation process of soda lime glass by impact of small sphere is explained and the effects of the constraint conditions of impact spheres and materials for the material damage were studied by using soda-lime glass. that is the effects for the materials and sizes of impact ball, thickness of specimen and residual strength. Especially, this research has focused on the damage behavior of ring crack, cone crack and several kinds of cracks.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.231-243
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• 1994

To better understand the fundamental problems of the true micro-damage in medium-grained granite under uniaxial compressive stress, micro-damage localization, initiation and propagation have been observed in a great detail in contact portion of two grains such as quartz and feldspar. For this purpose, new experimental system allowing us to observe the micro-damaging process continuously was developed. Earlier studies used the specimens of unloaded state and it is difficult to visualize stress-induced microcracks under unloading state. Thus, direct observation under loading state is very important for understanding the true micro-damage process. The results explain well the mechanism of micro-damage at two grains, and mechanics of the micro-damage is clarified well by Hertzian fracture mechanics.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.329-339
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• 2019

The strategy for the management of earthquakes is shifting from post recovery to prevention; therefore, seismic performance management requires quantitative predictions of damage and the establishment of strategies for initial responses to earthquakes. Currently, seismic performance evaluation for seismic management in Korea consists of two stages: preliminary evaluation and detailed evaluation. Also, the priority of seismic performance management is determined in accordance with the preliminary evaluation. As a deterministic method, preliminary evaluation quantifies the physical condition and socio-economic importance of a facility by various predetermined indices, and the priority is decided by the relative value of the indices; however, with the deterministic method it is difficult to consider any uncertainty related to the return-year, epicenter, and propagation of seismic energy. Also this method cannot support tasks such as quantitative socio-economic damage and the provision of data for initial responses to earthquakes. Moreover, indirect damage is often greater than direct damage; therefore, a method to quantify damage is needed to enhance accuracy. In this paper, a Seismic Risk Assessment is used to quantify the cost of damage of road facilities in Pohang city and to support decision making.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.36-43
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• 2023

In this study, a four-point bending test was conducted to assess and detect the damage to reinforced concrete structures using the acoustic emission (AE) technique. Based on the crack investigation results, flexural failure was classified into four stages and compared with the characteristic analysis results of AE parameters. The parametric characterization indicated that the activity of the primary AE signal was high in the early stage, and that of the second signal increased after the flexural cracks stabilized. Because the secondary AE signal included noise generated by friction, parameter-based analysis for damage assessment was performed using the primary signal; the secondary signal was used as complement. The activity analyses of the primary and secondary signals effectively classified crack propagation; however, determining the macrocracks and yielding of reinforcing bars had certain limitations. Nevertheless, applying the damage index with cumulative AE energy is a complementary technique for detecting and assessing structure damage that well detects the occurrence of macrocracks.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.475-486
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• 2023

Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) is an important task of civil engineering structure monitoring and inspection, but minor damage such as small cracks in local structure is difficult to observe. If cracks continued expansion may cause partial or even overall damage to the structure. Therefore, monitoring and detecting the structure in the early stage of crack propagation is important. The crack detection technology based on machine vision has been widely studied, but there are still some problems such as bad recognition effect for small cracks. In this paper, we proposed a deep learning method based on sweep signals to evaluate concrete surface crack with a width less than 1 mm. Two convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are used to analyze the one-dimensional (1D) frequency sweep signal and the two-dimensional (2D) time-frequency image, respectively, and the probability value of average damage (ADPV) is proposed to evaluate the minor damage of structural. Finally, we use the standard deviation of energy ratio change (ERVSD) and infrared thermography (IRT) to compare with ADPV to verify the effectiveness of the method proposed in this paper. The experiment results show that the method proposed in this paper can effectively predict whether the concrete surface is damaged and the severity of damage.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.2196-2204
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• 1996

The damage mechanism by the impact of steel ball on the soda-lime glass having a different surface roughness was investigated. An initiation and a propagation behavior of cracks formed by each impact velocity were quantitatively studied. A 4-point bending test was carried out to evaluate the remaining bending strength of a scratched soda-lime glass which impacted by the steel ball. As the surface roughness was increased, the shape of cracks became more irregular rather than those of the smooth specimens. The phenomenon of turning up in the wing of cone cracks occurred even at the lower velocity than the critical velocity caused the crushing. The threshold velocity of cracks initiation generally became lower than those of smooth specimen. An initiation and a propagation behavior of radial cracks had no relation with the direction of scratch on the surface. The remaning benidng strength of the scratched specimen according to impact velocity had no big difference compared with those of the smooth specimen.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.817-828
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• 2022

In this study, considering dissipated energy in fracture process zone (FPZ), a novel criterion based on maximum strain energy release rate (SER) for orthotropic materials is presented. General case of in-plane loading for cracks along the fibers is assumed. According to the experimental observations, crack propagation is supposed along the fibers and the reinforcement isotropic solid (RIS) concept is employed as a superior model for orthotropic materials. SER in crack initiation and propagation phases is investigated. Elastic properties of FPZ are extracted as a function of undamaged matrix media and micro-crack density. This criterion meaningfully links between dissipated energy due to toughening mechanisms of FPZ and the macroscopic fracture by defining stress intensity factors of the damaged zone. These coefficients are used in equations of maximum SER criterion. The effect of crack initiation angle and the damaged zone is considered simultaneously in this criterion and mode II stress intensity factor is extracted in terms of stress intensity factors of damage zone and crack initiation angle. This criterion can evaluate the effects of FPZ on the fracture behavior of orthotropic material. Good agreement between extracted fracture limit curves (FLC's) and available experimental data proves the ability of the new proposed criterion.