• Wind and Structures
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.371-391
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• 2021

Tornadoes are the most devastating meteorological natural hazards. Many empirical and theoretical numerical models of tornado vortex have been proposed, because it is difficult to carry out direct measurements of tornado velocity components. However, most of existing numerical models fail to explain the physical structure of tornado vortices. The present paper proposes a new empirical numerical model for a tornado vortex, and its load effects on a low-rise and a tall building are calculated and compared with those for existing numerical models. The velocity components of the proposed model show clear variations with radius and height, showing good agreement with the results of field measurements, wind tunnel experiments and computational fluid dynamics. Normal stresses in the columns of a low-rise building obtained from the proposed model show intermediate values when compared with those obtained from existing numerical models. Local forces on a tall building show clear variation with height and the largest local forces show similar values to most existing numerical models. Local forces increase with increasing turbulence intensity and are found to depend mainly on reference velocity Uref and moving velocity Umov. However, they collapse to one curve for the same normalized velocity Uref / Umov. The effects of reference radius and reference height are found to be small. Resultant fluctuating force of generalized forces obtained from the modified Rankine model is considered to be larger than those obtained from the proposed model. Fluctuating force increases as the integral length scale increases for the modified Rankine model, while they remain almost constant regardless of the integral length scale for the proposed model.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.267-275
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• 2019

Tabriz is a large Iranian city and the capital of the East Azerbaijan province. The bed rock of this city is mainly consisted of marl layers. Marl layers have some outcrops in the northern and eastern parts of city that mainly belong to the Baghmisheh formation. Based on their colors, these marls are classified into three types: yellow, green, and gray marls. The city is developing toward its eastern side wherein various civil projects are under construction including tunnels, underground excavation, and high-rise building. In this regard, the swelling behavior assessment of these marls is of critical importance. Also, in lightweight structures with foundation pressure less than swelling pressure, several problems such as walls cracking and jamming of door and windows may occur. In the present study, physical properties and swelling behavior of Baghmisheh marls are investigated. According to the X-ray diffractometer (XRD) results, the marls are mainly composed of Illite, Kaolinite, Montmorillonite, and Chloride minerals. Type and content of clay minerals and initial void ratio have a decisive role in swelling behavior of these marls. The swelling potential of these marls was investigated using one-dimensional odometer apparatus under stress level up to 10 kPa. The results showed that yellow marls have high swelling potential and expansibility compared to the other marls. In addition, green and gray marls showed intermediate and low swelling potential and swelling pressure, respectively.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.201-206
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• 2021

The significance of high-quality development and green total factor productivity has attracted widespread attention and research, while few studies on green total factor productivity that considers the use of water resources have been conducted in the context of water shortages and water stress. In this study, the green total factor productivity of water use from 2005 to 2015 in mainland China is evaluated based on the global Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index. Results show that: (1) China's green total factor productivity of water use has been improving since 2005 with an annual global Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index of 1.0104. (2) At the regional level, the eastern zone in mainland China owns the highest green total factor productivity of water use, while that in the intermediate zone ranks last. (3) The green total factor productivity of water use in the southern region (1.0113) significantly higher than that in the northern region (1.0095), and also higher than the national average level in the same period. BPC index has been the most important incluencing factor of green total factor productivity of water use at both national level and regional level since 2011.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.125-141
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• 2023

Firstly, a new kind of prismatic tensegrity structures with redundant cables is defined, the topology, geometry and forming conditions of which are introduced further. The development of its mechanical properties including self-stress states and structural stiffness with the increment of the twist angle is also investigated carefully. Combined with the topology of this kind of structures, a reasonable erection scheme is proposed, in which some temporary lifting points need to be set and two groups of vertical cables are tensioned in batches. Then, a simplified dynamic relaxation method is employed to track the erection process inversely, which aims to predict each intermediate equilibrium state during the construction, and give the key structural parameters that can effectively guide the construction. The removal of the active cables, the relaxation or tension of the passive cables are simulated by controlling their axial stiffness, so that the structural composition as well as the serial numbers of the elements always keep invariant regardless of the withdrawal of the slack cables. The whole analysis process is clear in concept, simple to implement and easy to popularize. Finally, several examples are given to verify the practicability and effectiveness of the proposed method further.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.659-664
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• 2013

The aim of this study is to determine the drought stress index through photochemical analysis in red pepper (Capsiumannuum L.). The photochemical interpretation was performed in the basis of the relation between Kautsky effect and Photosystem II (PSII) following the measurement of chlorophyll, pheophytin contents, and $CO_2$ assimilation in drought stressed 5-week-old red pepper plants. The $CO_2$ assimilation rate was severely lowered with almost 77% reduction of chlorophyll and pheophytin contents at four days after non-irrigation. It was clearly observed that the chlorophyll fluorescence intensity rose from a minimum level (the O level), in less than one second, to a maximum level (the P-level) via two intermediate steps labeled J and I (OJIP process). Drought factor index (DFI) was also calculated using measured OJIP parameters. The DFI was -0.22, meaning not only the initial inhibition of PSII but also sequential inhibition of PSI. In real, most of all photochemical parameters such as quantum yield of the electron transport flux from Quinone A ($Q_A$) to Quinone B ($Q_B$), quantum yield of the electron transport flux until the PSI electron acceptors, quantum yield of the electron transport flux until the PSI electron acceptors, average absorbed photon flux per PSII reaction center, and electron transport flux until PSI acceptors per cross section were profoundly reduced except number of QA reducing reaction centers (RCs) per PSII antenna chlorophyll (RC/ABS). It was illuminated that at least 6 parameters related with quantum yield/efficiency and specific energy fluxes (per active PSII RC) could be applied to be used as the drought stress index. Furthermore, in the combination of parameters, driving forces (DF) for photochemical activity could be deduced from the performance index (PI) for energy conservation from photons absorbed by PSII antenna until the reduction of PSI acceptors. In conclusion, photochemical responses and their related parameters can be used as physiological DFI.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.67-79
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• 2005

The field plate load test has a good potential for determining modulus since it measures both plate pressure and settlement. Conventionally the modulus has been assumed to be a constant secant value defined from the settlement of the plate at a given load intensity. A constant modulus (modulus of subgrade reaction, k), however, may not be a representative value of subgrade soil under working load. Field strain(o. stress)-dependent modulus characteristics of subgrade soils, at relatively low to intermediate strains, are important in the pavement design. In this study, the field strain dependent moduli of subgrade soils were obtained using cyclic plate load test. Testing procedure and data reduction method are proposed. The field crosshole and laboratory resonant column tests were also performed to determine field nonlinear modulus at $0.001\%\;to\;0.1\%$ strains, and the modulus values and nonlinear trends are compared to those obtained by cyclic plate load tests. Both modulus values match relatively well when the different state of stress between two tests was considered, and the applicability of field cyclic plate load test for determining nonlinear modulus values of subgrade soils is verified.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.131-142
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• 1999

Purpose: Either gated myocardial perfusion SPECT or attenuation corrected SPECT can be used to improve specificity in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. We investigated in this study whether gating or attenuation correction improved diagnostic performance of rest/stress perfusion SPECT in patients having intermediate pre-test likelihood of coronary artery disease. Materials and Methods: Sixty-eight patients underwent rest attenuation-corrected T1-20l/dipyridamole stress gated attenuation-corrected Tc-99m -MIBI SPECT using an ADAC vertex camera (M:F=29:39, aged $59{\pm}12$ years, coronary artery stenosis ${\geq}70%$, one vessel: 13, two vessel: 18, three vessel: 8, normal: 29). Using a five-point scale, three physicians graded the post-test likelihood of coronary artery disease for each arterial territory (1:normal, 2: possibly normal, 3:equivocal, 4. possibly abnormal, 5: abnormal). Sensitivity, specificity and area under receiver-operating-characteristic curves were compared for each operator between three methods : (A) non-attenuation-corrected SPECT; (B) gated SPECT added to (A): and (C) attenuation-corrected SPECT added to (B). Results: When grade 3 was used as the criteria for coronary artery disease, no differences in sensitivity and specificity were found between the three methods for each operator. Areas under receiver-operating-characteristic curves for diagnosis of coronary artery disease revealed no differences between each modality (p>0.05). Conclusion: In patients at intermediate risk of coronary artery disease, gated SPECT and attenuation- corrected SPECT did not improve diagnostic performance.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-28
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• 2015

In this paper, the dynamic response of functionally gradient steel (FGS) composite cylindrical panels in steady-state thermal environments subjected to impulsive loads is investigated for the first time. FGSs composed of graded ferritic and austenitic regions together with bainite and martensite intermediate layers are analyzed. Thermo-mechanical material properties of FGS composites are predicted according to the microhardness profile of FGS composites and approximated with appropriate functions. Based on the three-dimensional theory of thermo-elasticity, the governing equations of motionare derived in spatial and time domains. These equations are solved using the hybrid Fourier series expansion-Galerkin finite element method-Newmark approach for simply supported boundary conditions. The present solution is then applied to the thermo-elastic dynamic analysis of cylindrical panels with three different arrangements of material compositions of FGSs including ${\alpha}{\beta}{\gamma}M{\gamma}$, ${\alpha}{\beta}{\gamma}{\beta}{\alpha}$ and ${\gamma}{\beta}{\alpha}{\beta}{\gamma}$ composites. Benchmark results on the displacement and stress time-histories of FGS cylindrical panels in thermal environments under various pulse loads are presented and discussed in detail. Due to the absence of similar results in the specialized literature, this paper is likely to fill a gap in the state of the art of this problem, and provide pertinent results that are instrumental in the design of FGS structures under time-dependent mechanical loadings.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.951-972
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• 2015

The focus of the present study is to investigate both local and global behaviour of a precast concrete sandwich panel. The selected prototype consists of two reinforced concrete layers coupled by a system of cold-drawn steel profiles and one intermediate layer of insulating material. High-definition nonlinear finite element (FE) models, based on 3D brick and 2D interface elements, are used to assess the capacity of this technology under shear, tension and compression. Geometrical nonlinearities are accounted via large displacement-large strain formulation, whilst material nonlinearities are included, in the series of simulations, by means of Von Mises yielding criterion for steel elements and a classical total strain crack model for concrete; a bond-slip constitutive law is additionally adopted to reproduce steel profile-concrete layer interaction. First, constitutive models are calibrated on the basis of preliminary pull and pull-out tests for steel and concrete, respectively. Geometrically and materially nonlinear FE simulations are performed, in compliance with experimental tests, to validate the proposed modeling approach and characterize shear, compressive and tensile response of this system, in terms of global capacity curves and local stress/strain distributions. Based on these experimental and numerical data, the structural performance is then quantified under various loading conditions, aimed to reproduce the behaviour of this solution during production, transport, construction and service conditions.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.134-144
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• 2011

In this paper, the global study trends for material behaviors are investigated regarding the static and dynamic hardenings and final fractures of marine structural steels. In particular, after reviewing all of the papers published at the 4th and 5th ICCGS (International Conference on Collision and Grounding of Ship), the used hardening and fracture properties are summarized, explicitly presenting the material properties. Although some studies have attempted to employ new plasticity and fracture models, it is obvious that most still employed an ideal hardening rule such as perfect plastic or linear hardening and a simple shear fracture criterion with an assumed value of failure strain. HSE (2001) presented pioneering study results regarding the temperature dependency of material strain hardening at various levels of temperature, but did not show strain rate hardening at intermediate or high strain rate ranges. Nemat-Nasser and Guo (2003) carried out fully coupled tests for DH-36 steel: strain hardening, strain rate hardening, and temperature hardening and softening at multiple steps of strain rates and temperatures. The main goal of this paper is to provide the theoretical background for strain and strain rate hardening. In addition, it presents the procedure and methodology needed to derive the material constants for the static hardening constitutive equations of Ludwik, Hollomon, Swift, and Ramberg-Osgood and for the dynamic hardening constitutive equations of power from Cowper-Symonds and Johnson-Cook.