• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제49권4호
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• pp.407-417
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• 2023

After a disaster like the catastrophic earthquake, the government have to use rapid assessment of the condition (or damage) of bridges, buildings and other infrastructures is mandatory for rapid feedbacks, rescue and post-event management. Many domain schemes based on the measured vibration computations, including least squares estimation and neural fuzzy logic control, have been studied and found to be effective for online/offline monitoring of structural damage. Traditional strategies require all external stimulus data (input data) which have been measured available, but this may not be the generalized for all structures. In this article, a new method with unknown inputs (excitations) is provided to identify structural matrix such as stiffness, mass, damping and other nonlinear parts, unknown disturbances for example. An analytical solution is thus constructed and presented because the solution in the existing literature has not been available. The goals of this paper are towards access to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services, promotion of inclusive and sustainable urbanization and participation, implementation of sustainable and disaster-resilient buildings, sustainable human settlement planning and manage. Simulation results of linear and nonlinear structures show that the proposed method is able to identify structural parameters and their changes due to damage and unknown excitations. Therefore, the goal is believed to achieved in the near future by the ongoing development of AI and control theory.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제14권4호
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• pp.181-189
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• 2023

The Covid-19 pandemic has increased demand for chlorine-based sanitizing solutions, most of which contain hypochlorous acid (HOCl) as an active agent. Free chlorine (HOCl) in these sanitizers is crucial for their efficacy. Disposable test strips are affordable and convenient tools for determining various qualitative and quantitative parameters. In this study, disposable opto-chemical test strips were developed by physically immobilizing 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) and o-dianisidine (o-D) reagents on chromatography and filter paper-based test strips for the visualization and detection of free chlorine in the form of HOCl. The reagents undergo a rapid color change upon reaction with chlorine through a redox reaction. The paper-based test strips showed rapid color change within a minute and a low sample volume requirement (1 ml). This portable, disposable paper-based test strip is a simple and cost-effective way to rapidly detect the presence of HOCl sanitizers for home and field applications. Both TMB and o-D successfully detected chlorine. Chromatography paper proved to be the more efficient option among the two papers used as substrates for the reagents (TMB and o-D). It exhibited high retention capacity and high performance in terms of color transformation when reacting with HOCl, even after two months of storage.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제90권5호
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• pp.493-504
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• 2024

This paper presents the methodology and results for the investigation of the structural safety of 40 aged underground water tanks to support the weight of photovoltaic (PV) systems that were supposed to be placed on their roof reinforced concrete (RC) slabs. The investigation procedure included (1) review of available documents; (2) visual inspection of the roof RC slabs; (3) carrying out a series of nondestructive (ND) tests; and (4) analysis of results. Out of the 40 tanks, eleven failed the visual inspection phase and were discarded from further investigation. The roof RC slabs of the tanks that passed the visual inspection were subjected to a series of ND tests that included infrared thermography, impact echo, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), Schmidt hammer, concrete core compressive strength, and water-soluble chloride content. The NDT results proved that eight more tanks were not suitable to support the PV systems. Based on the results of the visual inspection and testing, a probabilistic decision-making criterion was established to reach a decision regarding the structural integrity of the roof slabs. The study concluded that the condition of the drainage filter was essential in protecting the tanks and its intact presence can be used as a strong indication of the structural integrity of the roof RC slabs.

• 한국식품영양과학회지
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• 제7권1호
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• pp.43-52
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• 1978

It is well known that water holding capacity plays an important role in processing such meat products as frankfurter-type sausage and fish meat paste products as kamaboko and fish sausage. Consumer qualities of meat products, such as appearance, flavor, as well as drip and shrinkage on cooking, depend greatly on the degree of water binding. In this paper, the water holding capacities of fish paste and salt added paste of white corvenia, Argyrosomus argentatus and file fish, Novodon modestus were measured by centrifuging and press method before and after cooking. And the effects of the addition of phosphates and starch to enhance water binding and stabilize gel formation were also discussed. In addition, the experimental conditions which are suitable to determine the water binding of fish meat paste product were suggested. The results were expressed in percent of water absorbed by the filter paper when pressed or released by pressor or centrifuge to the weight of sample. From the results. a proper condition to measure the water holding capacity of fish meat paste was that 3.0 g of sample which was previously added with 10 percent water was centrifuged at 13,400 G or 12,000 rpm for 15 minutes for the centriguging method and for press method, 0.3 g sample with 10 percent of water added was extracted by an oil pressor at $30\;kg/cm^2$ for 1 minute. Water holding capacity of fresh paste of white corvenia was relatively higher than that of file fish and the difference between species of fish was greater than the difference between measurments by two methods. Sodium chloride had a great effect on enhancing the water holding capacity of fish meat paste giving better effect when 3.0 percent of salt was added. Phosphates used except calcium phosphate revealed a certain enhancement in water binding, yielding best effect at 0.3 percent addition, and metaphosphate seemed to be more effective in order. The addition of corn starch, however, appeared to be not so effective for enhancement of water binding in fresh-salt-added fish meat paste but in cooked fish paste which might be attributed to absorption of water by starch grain and swelling during the heating and consequently enforced gel strength of cooked fish paste. And the water holding capacity of cooked fish paste was proportionally related to its gel strength.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제65권5호
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• pp.547-556
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• 2018

Based on the shaking table tests of a 1:3.52 scale one-bay and one-story ancient wooden structure, a simplified structural mechanics model was established, and the structural state equation and observation equation were deduced. Under the action of seismic waves, the damage rule of initial stiffness and yield stiffness of the joint was obtained. The force hammer percussion test and finite element calculations were carried out, and the structural response was obtained. Considering the 5% noise disturbance in the laboratory environment, the stiffness parameters of the mortise-tenon joint were identified by the partial least squares of singular value decomposition (PLS-SVD) and the Extended Kalman filter (EKF) method. The results show that dynamic and static cohesion method, PLS-SVD, and EKF method can be used to identify the damage degree of structures, and the stiffness of the mortise-tenon joints under strong earthquakes is reduced step by step. Using the proposed model, the identified error of the initial stiffness is about 0.58%-1.28%, and the error of the yield stiffness is about 0.44%-1.21%. This method has high accuracy and good applicability for identifying the initial stiffness and yield stiffness of the joints. The identification method and research results can provide a reference for monitoring and evaluating actual engineering structures.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제7권4호
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• pp.313-325
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• 2016

South Africa recognises piped water as the main source of safe drinking water supply. Remote areas do not have access to this resource and they rely solely on surface water for survival, which exposes them to waterborne diseases. Interim point of use solutions are not practiced due to their laboriousness and alteration of the taste. Bio-ultra low pressure driven membrane system has been noted to be able to produce stable fluxes after one week of operation; however, there is limited literature on South African waters. This study was conducted on three rivers namely; Umgeni, Umbilo and Tugela. Three laboratory systems were setup to evaluate the performance of the technology in terms of producing stable fluxes and water that is compliant with the WHO 2008 drinking water guideline with regards to turbidity, total coliforms and E.coli. The obtained flux rate trends were similar to those noted in literature where they are referred to as stable fluxes. However, when further comparing the obtained fluxes to the normal dead-end filtration curve, it was noted that both the Umbilo and Tugela Rivers responded similarly to a normal dead-end filtration curve. The Umgeni River was noted to produce flux rates which were higher than those obtainable under normal dead-end. It can be concluded that there was no stabilisation of flux noted. However, feed water with low E.coli and turbidity concentrations enhances the flux rates. The technology was noted to produce water of less than 1 NTU and 100% removal efficiency for E.coli and total coliforms.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제63권4호
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• pp.567-574
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• 2017

Sedimentation tanks are essential structures to filter the suspended sediments in the inlet flow which are constructed at the inlet of the basins forked from rivers and irrigation canals. The larger the constructed tank, the better the sedimentation process is conducted. However, the construction and dredging costs increase. In this regard, improving the performance and sedimentation efficiency seem necessary by alternative methods. One of these effective methods is using baffle plates. Most of the studies carried out in this field are on the use of these baffles in the primary and secondary sedimentation tanks. Hence, this study is carrier out with the objective of increasing the retention efficiency in the irrigation sedimentation tanks using baffles. To reach this goal, the experiments were carried out in a flume with length 8 meters, width 0.3 meters, and height 0.5 meters, considering a sedimentation tanks with a length of 3 meters, in three different inlet concentration, three flow rates and three Froude numbers. The baffles were mounted at the bottom of the tank and the effects of the angle, height and position in the tanks were investigated. The results showed that on average, employing the baffles increased the sedimentation efficiency 5 to 6% and the highest value was obtained for angle 60 with respect to the flow direction. According to the results of this study, the most favorable height and position of these baffles were obtained to be in 40% of the depth of the flow and 50% of the length of the sedimentation tank, respectively. Also, by increasing the number of baffles, the sedimentation efficiency decreased. Regarding the sedimentation regions in this case, more than 80% of the settled sediments were observed in the middle of the tank measured from the inlet.

• Computers and Concrete
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.135-147
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• 2012

At mesoscale, concrete is considered as a three-phase composite material consisting of the aggregate particles, the cement matrix and the interfacial transition zone (ITZ). The reconstruction of the internal structures for concrete composites requires the identification of the boundary of the aggregate particles and the cement matrix using digital imaging technology followed by post-processing through MATLAB. A parameter study covers the subsection transformation, median filter, and open and close operation of the digital image sample to obtain the optimal parameter for performing the image processing technology. The subsection transformation is performed using a grey histogram of the digital image samples with a threshold value of [120, 210] followed by median filtering with a $16{\times}16$ square module based on the dimensions of the aggregate particles and their internal impurity. We then select a "disk" tectonic structure with a specific radius, which performs open and close operations on the images. The edges of the aggregate particles (similar to the original digital images) are obtained using the canny edge detection method. The finite element model at mesoscale can be established using the proposed image processing technology. The location of the crack determined through the numerical method is identical to the experimental result, and the load-displacement curve determined through the numerical method is in close agreement with the experimental results. Comparisons of the numerical and experimental results show that the proposed image processing technology is highly effective in reconstructing the internal structures of concrete composites.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제20권6호
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• pp.763-791
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• 2015

"Wind and Ports" is a European project that has been carried out since 2009 to handle wind forecast in port areas through an integrated system made up of an extensive in-situ wind monitoring network, the numerical simulation of wind fields, the statistical analysis of wind climate, and algorithms for medium-term (1-3 days) and short term (0.5-2 hours) wind forecasting. The in-situ wind monitoring network, currently made up of 22 ultrasonic anemometers, provides a unique opportunity for detecting high resolution thunderstorm records and studying their dominant characteristics relevant to wind engineering with special concern for wind actions on structures. In such a framework, the wind velocity of thunderstorms is firstly decomposed into the sum of a slowly-varying mean part plus a residual fluctuation dealt with as a non-stationary random process. The fluctuation, in turn, is expressed as the product of its slowly-varying standard deviation by a reduced turbulence component dealt with as a rapidly-varying stationary Gaussian random process with zero mean and unit standard deviation. The extraction of the mean part of the wind velocity is carried out through a moving average filter, and the effect of the moving average period on the statistical properties of the decomposed signals is evaluated. Among other aspects, special attention is given to the thunderstorm duration, the turbulence intensity, the power spectral density and the integral length scale. Some noteworthy wind velocity ratios that play a crucial role in the thunderstorm loading and response of structures are also analyzed.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제8권5호
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• pp.663-674
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• 2015

Many seismically vulnerable regions in India and worldwide are located on deep soil deposits which extend to several hundred meters of depth. It has been well recognized that the earthquake shaking is altered by geological conditions at the location of building. As seismic waves propagates through uppermost layers of soil and rock, these layers serve as filter and they can increase the duration and amplitude of earthquake motion within narrow frequency bands. The amplification of these waves is largely controlled by mechanical properties of these layers, which are function of their stiffness and damping. Stiffness and damping are further influenced by soil type and thickness. In the current study, an attempt has been made to study the seismic site response of deep soils. Three hypothetical homogeneous soil models (e.g., soft soil, medium soil and hard soil) lying on bedrock are considered. Depth of half space is varied from 30 m to 2,000 m in this study. Controlled synthetic motions are used as input base motion. One dimensional equivalent linear ground response analyses are carried out using a computer package DEEPSOIL. Conventional approach of analysing up to 30 m depth has been found to be inadequate for deep soil sites. PGA values are observed to be higher for deeper soil profiles as compared to shallow soil profiles indicating that deeper soil profiles are more prone to liquefaction and other related seismic hazards under earthquake ground shaking. The study recommends to deal the deeper soil sections more carefully for estimating the amplification factors for seismic hazard assessment at the surface.