• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.75-82
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• 2018

This study suggests an optimal design process of an LMU, which is installed on the top side of offshore structures. The LMU is consist of EB(elastomeric bearing) and steel plate, and supports the vertical loads of offshore structures and assists its stable installation. The structural design requirement of the LMU is related to its stiffness. This study utilizes the finite element analysis to predict the stiffness. The stiffness of the EB depends on the size of the bearing. Thus, the design variables in this study are defined as the thickness, the width and the number of plates. Since the LMU has different loads for different locations, its stiffness should be designed differently. The multiobjective function is introduced to attain the target stiffness. In this process, the metamodel using the kriging interpolation method is adopted to replace the true stiffness.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.106-111
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• 2017

In this study, the stiffness of an LMU (Leg Mating Unit), which is a device required for installing the top side part of an offshore structure, was examined through structural analysis. This unit is mounted on the supporting point of the structure and is used to absorb the shock at installation. It is a cylindrical structure with an empty center. To support the vertical load, elastomeric bearings (EBs) and iron plates are laminated in layers. The stiffness of the EBs is basically influenced by the size of the bearings, but it varies with the number of laminated sheets inside the same sized structure. The relationship between the stiffener and the compressive stiffness is investigated, and its design is suggested. The stiffness of the EBs is analyzed by calculating the reaction force, while controlling the displacement. First, the relationship between the size of the reinforcing plate and the compressive stiffness is considered. Next, the relationship between the number of stacked reinforcing plates and the compression stiffness is considered. Different loads are required for each installed point. The goal is to design the compression stiffness in such a way that the same deformation occurs at each point in the analysis. In this study, ANSYS is used to perform the FE analysis.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.383-397
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• 2018

Traditional base isolation systems focus on isolating the seismic response of a structure in the horizontal direction. However, in regions where the vertical earthquake excitation is significant (such as near-fault region), a traditional base-isolated building exhibits a significant vertical vibration. To eliminate this shortcoming, a rocking-isolated system named Telescopic Column (TC) is proposed in this paper. Detailed rocking and isolation mechanism of the TC system is presented. The seismic performance of the TC is compared with the traditional elastomeric bearing (EB) and friction pendulum (FP) base-isolated systems. A 4-storey reinforced concrete moment-resisting frame (RC-MRF) is selected as the reference superstructure. The seismic response of the reference superstructure in terms of column axial forces, base shears, floor accelerations, inter-storey drift ratios (IDR) and collapse margin ratios (CMRs) are evaluated using OpenSees. The results of the nonlinear dynamic analysis subjected to multi-directional earthquake excitations show that the superstructure equipped with the newly proposed TC is more resilient and exhibits a superior response with higher margin of safety against collapse when compared with the same superstructure with the traditional base-isolation (BI) system.