• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제35권5호
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• pp.475-486
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• 2023

Ballast particles have an irregular shape and are discrete in nature. Due to the discrete nature of ballast, it exhibits complex mechanical behaviour under loading conditions. The discrete element method (DEM) can model the behaviour of discrete particles under a multitude of loading conditions. DEM is used in this paper to simulate a series of three-dimensional direct shear tests in order to investigate the shear behaviour of railway ballast and its interaction at the microscopic level. Particle flow code in three dimension (PFC3D) models the irregular shape of ballast particles as clump particles. To investigate the influence of particle size distribution (PSD), real PSD of Indian railway ballast specification IRS:GE:1:2004, China high-speed rail (HSR) and French rail specifications are generated. PFC3D built-in linear contact model is used to simulate the interaction of ballast particles under various normal stresses, shearing rate and shear box sizes. The results indicate how shear resistance and volumetric changes in ballast assembly are affected by normal stress, shearing rate, PSD and shear box size. In addition to macroscopic behaviour, DEM represents the microscopic behaviour of ballast particles in the form of particle displacement at different stages of the shearing process.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제50권1호
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• pp.15-24
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• 2024

This research presents dynamical reaction investigation of pore-dependent and nano-thickness beams having functional gradation (FG) constituents exposed to a movable particle. The nano-thickness beam formulation has been appointed with the benefits of refined high orders beam paradigm and nonlocal strain gradient theory (NSGT) comprising two scale moduli entitled nonlocality and strains gradient modulus. The graded pore-dependent constituents have been designed through pore factor based power-law relations comprising pore volumes pursuant to even or uneven pore scattering. Therewith, variable scale modulus has been thought-out until process a more accurate designing of scale effects on graded nano-thickness beams. The motion equations have been appointed to be solved via Ritz method with the benefits of Chebyshev polynomials in cosine form. Also, Laplace transform techniques help Ritz-Chebyshev method to obtain the dynamical response in time domain. All factors such as particle speed, pores and variable scale modulus affect the dynamical response.

• Advances in materials Research
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• 제13권1호
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• pp.55-62
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• 2024

Cu-based sulfides have recently emerged as promising thermoelectric (TE) materials due to their low cost, non-toxicity, and abundance. In this research, point defect structure of Cu_2-xZnSnS₄ (x=0.1, 0.2, 0.3) samples were synthesized by the mechanical alloying method. Mixed powders of Cu, Zn, Sn and S were milled using high energy ball milling at a rotation speed of 300 rpm in Ar atmosphere. The milled Cu_2-xZnSnS₄ powders were heat-treated at 723 K for 24 h, and subsequently consolidated using spark plasma sintering (SPS) under an applied pressure of 60 MPa for 15 min. The thermal conductivity of the sintered Cu_2-xZnSnS₄ samples was evaluated. A well-defined Cu_2-xZnSnS₄ powders were successfully formed after milling for 16 h, with the particle sizes mostly distributed in the range of 60-100 nm. The lattice constants of aand cdecreased with increasing composition value x. The thermal conductivity of sintered x=0.1 sample exhibited the lowest value and attained 0.93 W/m K at 673 K.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제30권6호
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• pp.547-558
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• 2020

With the development of economy and construction technology, more and more bridges are built in complex mountainous areas. Accurate assessment of wind parameters is important in bridge construction at complex terrain. In order to investigate the wind characteristics in the high-altitude difference area, a complex mountain terrain model with the scale of 1:2000 was built. By using the method of wind tunnel tests, the study of wind characteristics including mean wind characteristics and turbulence characteristics was carried out. The results show: The wind direction is affected significant by the topography, the dominant wind direction is usually parallel to the river. Due to the sheltering effect of the mountain near the bridge, the wind speed and wind attack angle along the bridge are both uneven which is different from that at flat terrain. In addition, different from flat terrain, the wind attack angle is mostly negative. The wind profiles obey exponential law and logarithmic law. And the fitting coefficient is consistent with the code which means that it is feasible to use the method of wind tunnel test to simulate complex terrain. As for turbulence characteristics, the turbulence intensity is also related to the topography. Increases sheltering effect of mountain increases the degree of breaking up the large-scale vortices, thereby increasing the turbulence intensity. Also, the value of turbulence intensity ratio is different from the recommended values in the code. The conclusions of this study can provide basis for further wind resistance design of the bridge.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제31권1호
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• pp.21-29
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• 2020

The wind field measurement of severe winds such as hurricanes (or typhoons), thunderstorm downbursts and other gales is important issue in wind engineering community, both for the construction and health monitoring of the wind-sensitive structures. Although several wireless data transmission systems have been available for the wind field measurement, most of them are not specially designed for the wind data measurement in structural wind engineering. Therefore, the field collection is still dominant in the field of structural wind engineering at present, especially for the measurement of the long-term and high-frequency wind speed data. In this study, for remote wind field measurement, a novel wireless long-term and high-frequency wind data acquisition system with the functions such as remote control and data compression is developed. The system structure and the collector are firstly presented. Subsequently, main functions of the collector are introduced. Also novel functions of the system and the comparison with existing systems are presented. Furthermore, the performance of this system is evaluated. In addition to as the wireless transmission for wind data and hardware integration for the collector, the developed system possesses a few novel features, such as the modification of wind data collection parameters by the remote control, the remarkable data compression before the data wireless transmission and monitoring the data collection by the cell phone application. It can be expected that this system would have wide applications in wind, meteorological and other communities.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제22권5호
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• pp.1019-1038
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• 2016

The use of high-strength concrete (HSC) in precast concrete segmental bridges (PCSBs) can minimize the superstructure geometry and reduce beam weight, which can accelerate the construction speed. Dry joints between the segments in PCSBs introduce discontinuity and require special attention in design and construction. Cracks in dry joints initiate more easily than those in epoxy joints in construction period or in service. Due to the higher rupture strength of HSC, the higher cracking resistance can be achieved. In this study, shear behavior of dry joints in PCSBs was investigated by experiments, especially focusing on cracking resistance and shear strength of HSC dry joints. It can be concluded that the use of HSC can improve the cracking resistance, shear strength, and ductility of monolithic, single-keyed and three-keyed specimens. The experimental results obtained from tests were compared with the AASHTO 2003 design provisions. The AASHTO 2003 provision underestimates the shear capacity of single-keyed dry joint C50 and C70 HSC specimens, underestimates the shear strength of three-keyed dry joint C70 HSC specimens, and overestimates the shear capacity of three-keyed dry joint C50 HSC specimens.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제38권12호
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• pp.1373-1377
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• 2014

핫스탬핑 공정은 고강도의 강을 얻을 수 있는 방법으로써, 일반적으로 보론강을 오스테나이트 온도까지 가열한 후, 성형과 냉각을 통해 제품을 생산한다. 열처리된 보론강은 1500MPa 이상의 강도를 가지기 때문에 경량화와 안전성을 동시에 향상시킬수 있는 특징이 있다. 뿐만아니라 우수한 성형성으로 인한 치수정밀도가 기존 강판대비 90 % 이상 향상되어 우수한 성형품질을 확보할 수 있는 장점도 있다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 디스크 레이저를 사용하여 핫스탬핑 강판의 맞대기 및 겹치기 용접을 실시하여 용접특성을 파악하였다. 실험결과, 맞대기 용접에서는 맞댄면의 갭에 영향으로 인해 겹치기 용접과 비교하여 더 빠른 속도에서도 완전 용입을 얻을 수 있었으며, 모든 용접부에서 열영향부에서 화이트밴드가 관찰되었다.

• Composites Research
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• 제34권5호
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• pp.269-276
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• 2021

프리프레그 압축성형(PCM, Prepreg Compression Molding) 공정은 고품질 CFRP(Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic) 제품을 제조할 수 있는 고속성형기술이다. 오토클레이브 공정에 비해 폐기물 발생이 적고 사이클타임을 크게 줄일 수 있어 항공우주 및 자동차 산업에서 다양한 연구가 진행되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 PCM 공정의 품질을 높이기 위해 프리프레그의 경화거동을 따라 프레스의 압축압력을 단계별로 증가시키는 성형법에 대해 연구하였고, 이러한 다단 압축 성형법이 우수한 품질의 CFRP 제품을 생산하고 사이클타임을 단축할 수 있는 좋은 수단임을 확인하였다. 그리고 상온에서 적층한 프리프레그를 금형에 투입하여 예열과 성형을 동시에 함으로써 별도의 예열 공정 없이 제품을 성형할 수 있었다. 또한 평판 성형에 최적화된 공정조건을 3차원 형상물에 동일하게 적용한 결과 외관상 평판과 유사한 제품을 공정조건 수립 과정 없이 만들 수 있었다.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제36권2호
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• pp.91-103
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• 2023

Tuned liquid dampers (TLDs) are increasingly being used as efficient dynamic vibration absorbers to mitigate wind-induced vibration in super high-rise buildings. However, the damping characteristics of screens and the control effectiveness of actual structures must be investigated to improve the reliability of TLDs in engineering applications. In this study, a numerical TLD model is developed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and a simulation method for achieving the coupled vibration of the structure and TLD is proposed. The numerical results are verified using shaking table tests, and the effects of the solidity ratio and screen position on the TLD damping ratios are investigated. The TLD control effectiveness is obtained by simulating the wind-induced vibration response of a full-scale structure-TLD system to determine the optimal screen solidity ratio. The effects of the structural frequency, damping ratio, and wind load amplitude on the TLD performance are further analyzed. The TLD damping ratio increases nonlinearly with the solidity ratio, and it increases with the screens towards the tank center and then decreases slightly owing to the hydrodynamic interaction between screens. Full-scale coupled simulations demonstrated that the optimal TLD control effectiveness was achieved when the solidity ratio was 0.46. In addition, structural frequency shifts can significantly weaken the TLD performance. The control effectiveness decreases with an increase in the structural damping ratio, and is insensitive to the wind load amplitude within a certain range, implying that the TLD has a stable damping performance over a range of wind speed variations.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제32권4호
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• pp.267-279
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• 2023

Data modelling and interpretation for structural health monitoring (SHM) field data are critical for evaluating structural performance and quantifying the vulnerability of infrastructure systems. In order to improve the data modelling accuracy, and extend the application range from data regression analysis to out-of-sample forecasting analysis, an improved most likely heteroscedastic Gaussian process (iMLHGP) methodology is proposed in this study by the incorporation of the outof-sample forecasting algorithm. The proposed iMLHGP method overcomes this limitation of constant variance of Gaussian process (GP), and can be used for estimating non-stationary typhoon-induced response statistics with high volatility. The first attempt at performing data regression and forecasting analysis on structural responses using the proposed iMLHGP method has been presented by applying it to real-world filed SHM data from an instrumented cable-stay bridge during typhoon events. Uncertainty quantification and correlation analysis were also carried out to investigate the influence of typhoons on bridge strain data. Results show that the iMLHGP method has high accuracy in both regression and out-of-sample forecasting. The iMLHGP framework takes both data heteroscedasticity and accurate analytical processing of noise variance (replace with a point estimation on the most likely value) into account to avoid the intensive computational effort. According to uncertainty quantification and correlation analysis results, the uncertainties of strain measurements are affected by both traffic and wind speed. The overall change of bridge strain is affected by temperature, and the local fluctuation is greatly affected by wind speed in typhoon conditions.