• Asian Spine Journal
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.1060-1068
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• 2018

Study Design: Retrospective study. Purpose: Lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration is an important cause of low back pain. Overview of Literature: Spinal fusion is often reported to have a good course for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). However, many studies have reported that adjacent segment degeneration is accelerated after lumbar spinal fusion. Radiography is a simple method used to evaluate the orientation of the vertebral column. magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the method most often used to specifically evaluate intervertebral disc degeneration. The Pfirrmann classification is a well-known method used to evaluate degenerative lumbar disease. After spinal fusion, an increase in stress, excess mobility, increased intra-disc pressure, and posterior displacement of the axis of motion have been observed in the adjacent segments. Methods: we retrospectively secured and analyzed the data of 15 patients (four boys and 11 girls) with AIS who underwent a spinal fusion surgery. We studied the full-length view of the spine (anterior-posterior and lateral) from the X-ray and MRI obtained from all patients before surgery. Postoperatively, another full-length spine X-ray and lumbosacral MRI were obtained from all participants. Then, pelvic tilt, sacral slope, curve correction, and fused and free segments before and after surgery were calculated based on X-ray studies. MRI images were used to estimate the degree to which intervertebral discs were degenerated using Pfirrmann grading system. Pfirrmann grade before and after surgery were compared with Wilcoxon signed rank test. While analyzing the contribution of potential risk factors for the post-spinal fusion Pfirrmann grade of disc degeneration, we used generalized linear models with robust standard error estimates to account for intraclass correlation that may have been present between discs of the same patient. Results: The mean age of the participant was 14 years, and the mean curvature before and after surgery were 67.8 and 23.8, respectively (p<0.05). During the median follow-up of 5 years, the mean degree of the disc degeneration significantly increased in all patients after surgery (p<0.05) with a Pfirrmann grade of 1 and 2.8 in the L2-L3 before and after surgery, respectively. The corresponding figures at L3-L4, L4-L5, and L5-S1 levels were 1.28 and 2.43, 1.07 and 2.35, and 1 and 2.33, respectively. The lower was the number of free discs below the fusion level, the higher was the Pfirrmann grade of degeneration (p<0.001). Conversely, the higher was the number of the discs fused together, the higher was the Pfirrmann grade. Conclusions: we observed that the disc degeneration aggravated after spinal fusion for scoliosis. While the degree of degeneration as measured by Pfirrmann grade was directly correlated by the number of fused segments, it was negatively correlated with the number of discs that remained free below the lowermost level of the fusion.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.41-46
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• 2018

The wireless sensor network system has the advantage of confirming the behavior of the entire facility by improving the disadvantages of conventional monitoring system. As a result, it is widely proposed as safety diagnosis and measurement of structures, water management systems, and management systems for dam structures. However, there is a lack of research that can evaluate the condition of facilities such as safety at the same time as monitoring. In this study, it is proposed a wireless sensor network system which can evaluate the behavior characteristics of facilities and evaluate the safety status for improving the technical disadvantages on conventional monitoring system. The geotechnical risk factors for the reservoir dam facility were evaluated and the limit values for the risk factors causing the failure of the facility were set. In other words, the system was set up so that the risk factors can be measured and the limit status can be evaluated immediately for each factor. In this study, numerical analysis is carried out for seepage and slope stability analysis using the typical cross section for reservoir dams. The stress-porewater coupling finite difference numerical analysis is performed for establishing the limit displacement for reservoir dam structures. It is developed a system that can estimate the time to reach the critical value by regression analysis using the measured datas.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.796-805
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• 2020

Purpose: A static loading test was performed to evaluate the ultimate flexural strength of a girder in which 80MPa high-strength concrete was synthesized on the compressive flange of the I-shape steel girder. Method: This test is designed and fabricated two types of specimens with different shear-connection specifications, and evaluated their ultimate flexural behavior until reaching the extreme event limit states. In addition, the ultimate strength was evaluated by comparing the test results and the results of the strain compatibility method. Result: By confirming the displacement within 0.02mm as a result of the relative slip measurement, it was verified that the two specimens secured perfect bonding. Therefore, the difference in the shear specification does not have a great effect on the stiffness, and if the specimens are completely synthesized, there is no difference in the behavior until it reaches the extreme-event limit states. Conclusion: The girder to be tested has a working load within the elastic range and meets the usability requirements for allowable deflection. Therefore, even if a part of the casing is subjected to the tensile force at the level of cracking, the deck will first reach the compression failure due to the role of the reinforcing bar.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.101-107
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• 2020

Road surface measurement is an essential process for quantifying the degree and displacement of roughness in road surface management. For safer road surface management and quick maintenance, it is important to accurately measure the road surface while mounted on a vehicle. In this paper, we propose a sophisticated road surface measurement system that can be measured on a moving vehicle. The proposed road surface measurement system supports more accurate measurement of the road surface by using a high-performance line laser sensor. It is also possible to measure the transverse and longitudinal profile by matching the position information acquired from the RTK, and the velocity adaptive update algorithm allows a manager to monitor in a real-time manner. In order to evaluate the proposed system, the Gocator laser sensor, MRP module, and NVIDIA Xavier processor were mounted on a test mobile and tested on the road surface. Our evaluation results demonstrate that our system measures accurate profile base on the MSE. Our proposed system can be used not only for evaluating the condition of roads but also for evaluating the impact of adjacent excavation.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.116-122
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• 2021

This study quantitatively evaluated the performance improvement of a circular reinforced concrete pier under dynamic load with strengthening using a steel plate. Various three-dimensional elements were applied using the finite element program ABAQUS. The analytical parameters included the ratios of the steel cover length to the pier's total height and the ratios of the steel cover thickness to the pier diameter for inelastic-nonlinear analysis. The lower part of the pier had fixed boundary conditions, and lateral repetitive loads were applied at the top of the pier. The pier was investigated to evaluate the dynamic performance based on the load-displacement curve, stress-strain curve, ductility, energy absorption capability, and energy ratio. The yield and ultimate loads of piers with steel covers increased by 3.76 times, and the energy absorption capability increased by 4 times due to the confinement effects caused by the steel plate. A plastic hinge part of the column with a steel plate improved the ductility, and the thicker the steel plate was, the greater the energy absorption capacity. This study shows that the reinforced pier should be improved in terms of the seismic performance.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2021

In recent years, many construction projects become large and complicated, and construction accidents also steadily increase, which grows interest in the safety and maintenance during construction. Many of the construction accidents are related to temporary construction and structures, but the safety evaluation and management during construction are unclear and indefinite due to the short operating period and continuous change in the formation of the temporary structure. The system support, which is one of the temporary structures to support the pouring load of concrete, was proposed to easily install and dismantle members with connection parts pre-manufactured. The use of the system support is increasing to improve the safety of the temporary structure during construction. However, the system support, which consists of multiple members, still has uncertainties in connectivity between members and supports of vertical members. Therefore, this study analyzed the structure, load, and accident cases of the system support to define the damage scenarios for member connection, support condition, and lateral displacement. The decrease rate of the critical load was analyzed according to the damage scenarios based on the defined unit structure of the system support. In addition, this study provided vulnerable members for each damage scenario, which could induce instability of the temporary structures during design, construction, and operation of the structure.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.231-241
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• 2021

Although the deterioration of bridges may occur due to various causes, one of the representative causes is that the chloride used for deicing in the winter penetrates bridge members and results in corrosion. This study aims to quantify the ageing degree resulting from the corrosion of a bridge, apply it to the inelastic dynamic analysis model of the bridge, perform a seismic fragility analysis, and evaluate the relationship between the ageing degree and the seismic fragility curve. It is important to appropriately define the threshold values for each damage state in seismic fragility analyses considering the ageing degree. The damage state was defined using the results of existing experimental studies on the characteristics of the deterioration in the displacement ductility capacity of the pier, according to the ageing degree. Based on the seismic fragility analyses of six types of bridges divided by three types of bearing devices and two pier heights, it was found that the seismic vulnerability tends to increase with the ageing degree. The difference in seismic vulnerability with respect to the ageing degree exhibits a tendency to increase as the damage state progresses from slight to moderate, severe, and collapse.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.438-443
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• 2022

In this study, the lateral loading test was performed to analyze structural performance of multi-span plastic greenhouse through full-scale experiment and numerical analysis. In order to analyze the lateral stiffness and stress, we installed 9 displacement sensors and 19 strain gauge sensors on the specimen, respectively, and load of l mm per minute was applied until the specimen failure. In the comparison between the full-scale experiment and the structural analysis results of a multi-span greenhouse with venlo-type roof according to bracing installation, there was a large difference in the lateral stiffness of the structure. By installing a brace system, the lateral stiffness measured near the side elevation of the specimen increased by up 44%. As the bracing joint used in the field did not secure sufficient rigidity, the external force could not be transmitted to the entire structure properly. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a bracing construction method and design standards in order for a greenhouse to which bracing applied to have sufficient performance.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.11-21
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• 2022

Currently, in the domestic construction industry, the free web method has been emerging as a potential solution to the shortage of skilled workers due to the prolonged COVID-19 crisis, as it helps in securing economic feasibility through shortening the construction period and reducing labor costs. To consider one part of the construction method, in this study, the bending behavior according to the load was evaluated for the SY slope-type beam formwork, which was manufactured at a factory, assembled with rebar, brought into the site, and then poured into the site. For the SY Beam standard cross-sectional shape, a cross-sectional dimensional width of 400mm and depth 600mm determined through structural modeling using the MIDAS GEN program were applied. A total of 6 specimens were made with a member length of 5,000mm, 5 specimens and one RC specimen in the comparison group were manufactured in real-size format using the thickness of the steel plate(0.8, 1.0, 1.2mm) as a variable, and bending experiments were performed. In the bending test, the steel plate deck showed high initial stiffness and maximum strength as it yielded, which showed that it sufficiently contributed to the flexural strength. It is judged that additional analysis and experimental studies for 1.05, 1.1, and 1.15mm are needed to derive the appropriate steel plate thickness and the method for calculating the tensile force contribution of the steel plate to secure the manufacturing, construction and economic feasibility of SY Beam in the future.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.167-174
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• 2022

The objective of this study is to evaluate the dynamic properties of DUS (damping-up system) composed of the materials with excellent damping capacity, and to compare with those of the conventional hangar bolt. The main parameters are the type and hardness (𝜂_H), of rubber and the prestress force (value converted from the compression strain (𝜂_R) in the stress-strain relationship of rubber). The dynamic properties were examined from the natural frequency (𝜔_n), maximum response acceleration (A_m), amplification coefficient (𝛼_p), maximum relative displacement (𝚫_m), and damping ratio (𝜉_D). The test results showed that the A_m, 𝛼_p, and 𝚫_m values of DUS were 46.3%, 46.6% and 62.9% lower, respectively, and the 𝜉_D value was 3.89 times higher, when compared to those of the conventional hangar bolt. In particular, the 𝛼_p value was 1.3 for DUS, and 2.45 for the conventional hanger bolt, which were similar to those of rigid and flexible components specified in KDS 41 17 00, respectively. Consequently, in the optimal details of DUS, the 𝜂_H values of 50 and 45 were required for the NR (natural rubber) and EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer), and the 𝜂_R value of 5% was also recommended.