• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.8 no.5 s.39
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• pp.15-24
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• 2004

The purpose of this study is to investigate the inelastic behavior and ductility capacity of reinforced concrete bridge piers including P-delta effects. A computer program, named RCAHEST (Reinforced Concrete Analysis in Higher Evaluation System Technology), for the analysis of reinforced concrete structures was used. Material nonlinearity is taken into account by comprising tensile, compressive and shear models of cracked concrete and a model of reinforcing steel. The smeared crack approach is incorporated. In addition to the material nonlinear properties, the algorithm for large displacement problem that may give an additional deformation has been formulated using total Lagrangian formulation. The proposed numerical method for the inelastic behavior and ductility capacity of reinforced concrete bridge piers is verified by comparison with reliable experimental results.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.197-206
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• 2003

A three-dimensional (3-D) method of analysis is presented for determining the free vibration frequencies and mode shapes of solid and hollow hemispherical shells of revolution of arbitrary wall thickness having arbitrary constraints on their boundaries. Unlike conventional shell theories, which are mathematically two-dimensional (2-D), the present method is based upon the 3-D dynamic equations of elasticity. Displacement components μ/sub Φ/, μ/sub z/, and μ/sub θ/ in the meridional, normal, and circumferential directions, respectively, are taken to be sinusoidal in time, periodic in θ, and algebraic polynomials in the Φ and z directions. Potential (strain) and kinetic energies of the hemispherical shells are formulated, and the Ritz method is used to solve the eigenvalue problem, thus yielding upper bound values of the frequencies obtained by minimizing the frequencies. As the degree of the polynomials is increased, frequencies converge to the exact values. Novel numerical results are presented for solid and hollow hemispheres with linear thickness variation. The effect on frequencies of a small axial conical hole is also discussed. Comparisons are made for the frequencies of completely free, thick hemispherical shells with uniform thickness from the present 3-D Ritz solutions and other 3-D finite element ones.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.171-182
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• 2004

This study investigates the biomechanical efficacies of vertebroplasty which is used to treat vertebral body fracture with bone cement augmentation for osteoporotic patients using image and finite element analysis. Simulated models were divided into two groups: (a) a vertebral body, (b) a functional spinal unit(FSU). For a vertebral body model, the maximum axial displacement was investigated under axial compression to evaluate the effect of structural integrity. The stiffness of each FE model simulated was normalized by the stiffness of intact model. In the case of FSU model, 3 types of compression fractures were formulated to assess the influence on spinal curvature changes. The FSU models were loaded under compressive pressure to calculate the change of spinal curvature. The results according to the various factors suggest that vertebroplasty has the biomechanical efficacy of the increment of structural reinforcement in a patient who has relatively high level of BMD and a patient with the amount of 15％, PMMA injection of the cancellous bone volume. The spinal curvatures after compression fracture simulation vary from 9$^{\circ}$ to 17$^{\circ}$ of kyphosis compared to that the spinal curvature of normal model was -2.8$^{\circ}$ of lordosis. These spinal curvature changes cause the severe spinal deformity under the same loading. As the degree of compressive fracture increases the spinal deformity also increases. The results indicate that vertebroplasty has the increasing effect of the structural integrity regardless of the amount of PMMA or BMD and the restoration of decreased vertebral body height may be an important factor when the compressive fracture caused the significant height loss of vertebral body.